Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha, or Kagome! Sorry!
Author's Note: Ohayo! I'm back, minna-san! You know that episode when Kikyou falls off the cliff, but she survives anyway? I feel like saying: "I'm alive! I'm alive!" ^_^ So…did you miss me? I've been so busy in school that I didn't get a chance to work on chapter 26 until now…I just came back from Baltimore, on vacation…Anyway, just to let you all know, I'm very thankful for all the reviews I received for my one-shot fic, I Was Lying. I'm glad some many people liked it! And I might make it into a collection of sweet moments, so for those of you who love fluff, please review that story and give me some instances that you want me to "recreate!" I'll be happy to write more! Now, on to this fic, which I made extra long to make up for the long time that I had neglected it… So enjoy! Lots of fluff in here, too! (It's seven pages typed! o_0)
The Course of True Love Ne'er Did Run Smooth…
Chapter 26
Two figures tramped through the woods, one clad in red, the other white. Surprisingly, though, the one in a red kimono did not have long white hair and furry ears, like a casual bystander would have expected. Rather, the person with the puppy ears was wearing a white inner kimono trudging along beside a girl with black hair, flecked with white spots of snow.
"Inuyasha," Kagome asked in a quavering voice, "are you cold? You're only wearing a thin kimono, since I'm wearing your outer one. Though it is very warm and dry. Thank you, but I think you should wear it instead."
The white haired dog-demon shook his head, scattering snowflakes from his hair, as he replied, "No, Kagome. Keep it. I would rather get sick from the cold than let you get sick. Besides, I'm a half-demon. I'd get better much quickly, even if I did get sick. If you caught pneumonia or something and di- well, if something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself.
Kagome's heart warmed at his words, for although they weren't romantic and flowery, this was the closest he had ever gotten to verbally admitting that he loved her. The emotion in his voice was apparent. Though gruff, his voice seemed thick and husky compared to his usual bark. The young girl blushed at his sweet speech, and she pulled his hand closer to hers to hug him gently around the waist, unable to speak.
Inuyasha stared at her for a moment, seemingly aghast at her affection, before relaxing and drawing his strong arm around her slim body, so that she was curled closely to his chest, and smiled silently down at her ebony black hair. The two walked on in comfortable silence, perfectly content to just cuddle up to each other, as if sharing their body warmth. The snow continued to fall, flakes drifting silently down onto the thick layer of snow already on the ground. Kagome stayed relatively warm and dry, for the flurries that landed on her borrowed coat seemed to magically evaporate before the moisture could seep into the cloth. Inuyasha, however, was getting soaked. His white inner kimono, not repellent of rain and wind like his fire-rat kimono was, had dark spots all over it where the snow had fallen and melted. He shivered once, but then gritted his teeth and repressed it, using his half-demon blood to control his human body's automatic response to cold. He could not allow Kagome to know that he as cold. If she found out, the stubborn girl would insist on giving him back the coat, and then she would be cold, too, and probably get sick…. The dog hanyou hugged the girl a little tighter, as if to make sure she didn't fade away in front of him, for one of his more youkai-like characteristics came from dogs: possessiveness.
They continued walking, their footsteps leaving deep imprints in the ground, only to be covered up again in a matter of an hour, for the snow was so thick and fell so fast that it quickly and steadily hide the dark footprints with a thick blanket of snow. Inuyasha kept his sharp eyes peeled for some form of shelter, for he didn't want to be outside when night fell, if it continued snowing. By now, his white kimono was soaked through, and his bare feet seemed half-numb as he continued wading through the snow with Kagome. Ironically, it wasn't his sharp demon eyesight that spotted the old wooden cabin that was half buried in snow. Kagome was the one who had found it.
She gave a shout, and pointed towards the dark spot that stood amongst a sea of white. The two hurried towards it, Kagome lugging her backpack along behind her. Inuyasha reached the door first, and gave Kagome a hand to pull her over the broken step. They glanced at each other, then the hanyou cautiously pushed open the wooden door, which creaked in protest, and peered carefully through the opening into the dark interior. Kagome gave him and gentle nudge in the back after a pause, and they both stepped silently into the house.
"H-hello? Is anybody here?" Kagome asked in an over-fake voice, trying to disguise her fear with a loud bravado. There was no noise at all. Inuyasha's ears swiveled slowly around the room, trying to determine if there were already previous inhabitants in the house. He couldn't see a single thing, even with his eyesight, and he couldn't hear any suspicious noises either, so he declared,
"There's no one in here, Kagome."
The young teenage girl let out an audible sigh of relief, and her tense shoulders relaxed again as the potential for danger passed. Inuyasha let down his guard a bit, too.
"Good. Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's spend the night here," Kagome spoke cheerfully as she let her backpack strap slide off her shoulder. It dropped off the wooden floor with a heavy thump. Inuyasha blinked in surprise at her sudden decision, but didn't disagree. Bending down, the miko rummaged through her pack, and with a cry of discovery, brought out two long candles and their holders, a flashlight, and a set of matches, one after the other. Inuyasha crouched down and helped her light the candles with the matches, which he had finally gotten the hang of last month. With an expert flick, the match was scraped against the sulfur edge and he touched it quickly to each of the two candles, before blowing the flickering flame out with a single breath. Kagome smiled approvingly at him, and Inuyasha grinned widely back, extremely pleased with himself for having "mastered" the use of another one of the strange objects from Kagome's world. The girl in question took one of the white candlesticks and held it up, examining the room perfunctorily.
It had obviously been abandoned for a long time, for there were thick cobwebs and clouds of dust and debris in the corners and on the shelves. There was no furniture at all, except for a single lone wooden chair that stood forlornly against the wall. The walls and floors were gray and stained with dirt and grime, and the entire house consisted of only one room. Inuyasha wrinkled his nose in disgust at the dank, earthy stench that began to rise up from the floorboards as Kagome continued to step cautiously around the room.
She voiced his thoughts aloud as she sniffed loudly, and said, "Whew! This place stinks! Lucky I brought a can of air freshener with me!" Walking briskly over to her backpack, she once again stuck her hand inside its mysterious depths and emerged with a can of Hawaii citrus scented air freshener. Taking the cap off with a loud pop, Kagome began to spray the air with it. The hanyou sweatdropped. What kind of person brought "air freshener" with her on a Shikon hunt? No wonder she always complained that her backpack was heavy! What other stuff had the strange girl brought from her world? He shrugged to himself, and, seeing that Kagome was finished with her spraying, took a deep breath of the now citrus-y scented room, then sneezed loudly at all the dust that had suddenly invaded his lungs.
"Bless you!" Kagome called absentmindedly.
Inuyasha glanced confusedly at her. What was the crazy girl blessing him for? He was a demon! Demons weren't supposed to get blessed, especially not by mikos! He frowned, puzzled, and sniffed. Before he could ask Kagome for an explanation, he sneezed again, louder than before. Sniffing loudly to clear his nose, he walked over to the still-exploring girl.
"Kago- Achoo!" He sneezed again. And again.
"Bless you. There must be a lot of dust in here," Kagome mused thoughtfully. The hanyou rubbed his nose, which was starting to ache from all the sneezes, then grunted in agreement.
"Well, I guess we can't start a fire in here. No Ramen, tonight, Inuyasha." Kagome joked. The hanyou's ears drooped slightly at the thought of not having his favorite food, but quickly perked up again as Kagome continued, "But I have a whole bunch of snacks and ready-to-eat food in my backpack. We can eat potato chips and chocolate, if you want."
And so they did. The two travelers sat by the light of the candles and ate junk food until they were full and drowsy. Well, at least Kagome was drowsy. Inuyasha was full, but not sleepy at all because of his still soaking wet clothes. And when Kagome started to lean towards him as she got tired, she was startled awake upon feeling his wet clothes upon her face.
"Inuyasha!" She cried, "Your clothes are wet!"
"So?" Inuyasha asked indifferently.
"So, you've been in wet clothes this entire time! You'll catch cold!" she scolded, like a worried mother hen.
"No, I won't," the dog demon contradicted, "I'm a demon. Demons don't get sick."
Kagome frowned at him, and said, "Yes you will, if you keep wearing those wet clothes! You may be a youkai, but you're half human too!" Inuyasha scowled at her obvious and unwelcome reminder, and turned his back to her with his arms crossed, but then-
"Take your clothes off right now, Inuyasha!" The dog demon's eyes opened wide in surprise at Kagome's demand. "Please, take them off, for me?" Kagome whispered softly. It was meant to sound like an eloquent, heartfelt plea to pull on Inuyasha's heartstrings, but it came out all wrong, and to Inuyasha's ears, at least, it sounded more seductive that entreating. His heart started pounding loudly against his chest, and he moved his mouth, but no sound came out.
Kagome, having just noticed his awkward silence, but being still oblivious to what her last sentence had sounded like to him, stopped talking confusedly. She watched a mental replay of what had just happened, reviewed what she and he had just said, and, having finally figured out what had disturbed him, gasped. She had just asked Inuyasha to take his clothes off! What would he think of her now?
This only made the two even more awkward, and Kagome's cheeks began to flame a brilliant pink, for she was mortified at what she had just said. Her breathing got soft and shallow, coming in quick, small nervous pants, as if she had just finished running a race. Both of them faced away from each other, the tension between them thick and heavy. Inuyasha, whose ears were quivering and whose chest rose up and down unsteadily, took several deep breaths to calm himself down, then coughed lightly. The young girl blushed even harder at that, and she felt as if her heart was in her mouth as she stood there.
Finally, both of them said simultaneously,
"Kagome- "
"Inuyasha-"
They both stopped, turned towards each other, flustered, and turned away again.
"You go first." They both spoke again at the same time. Both laughed, embarrassed, but the awkward moment had past.
Kagome spoke softly, her hesitant voice wavering just a bit, as she said, "Um…never mind. You don't have to take…" Unwilling to bring up the topic again, she shook her head briskly and said, "Well, let's just go to bed. I'm kinda sleepy." She yawned, very unconvincingly, but Inuyasha let it pass.
The high schooler moved over to her backpack to bring out her blanket, but paused, uncertainly. It would be uncomfortable to sleep in her school uniform, but it seemed very unfair to force Inuyasha out of the cabin while she changed. After all, it was still snowing hard and freezing cold outside, and he was already stuck with a wet shirt. To make him go out and get wet again, just for the sake of her own selfish comfort, seemed too harsh, Kagome thought. So she sighed inwardly, shrugged, and got ready to crawl into the sleeping bag. Inuyasha, however, had noticed her momentary hesitation, and spoke gruffly, "If you want to change into those 'pa-ja-mas' or whatever you call them, I'll go wait outside." He squared his shoulders and walked over to the door, preparing to go out and face the storm, but the young girl stopped him.
Kagome felt a sudden wave of remorse at forcing him out, and suddenly, she cried out, "No! Stop! Don't go outside!"
The dog demon stopped and asked, "Why not?" The high schooler worded her reason carefully, making sure than she wasn't treading on any dangerous ground or hurting his pride by insinuating that he couldn't handle the cold.
"Um, well, it's cold outside…so if you open the door…all the cold air will come back in…and, eh… the room will be very cold."
Inuyasha inwardly sighed in relief, for the weather outside was still bitter and cold, but all he said aloud was, "Fine."
So eventually, after dragging out her blanket, Kagome was ready to go to sleep. But here she faced another dilemma. Was Inuyasha going to have to sleep on the bare ground, without a blanket, and nothing but his own cold, wet clothes to keep him warm? That sounded cruel and heartless, too. It was probably something that Kikyou wouldn't hesitate to do. But at that thought, Kagome was determined to show Inuyasha that there were many differences between her and the dead priestess that still roamed the earth.
Inuyasha, who was sitting with his back to the wall, legs folded and arms crossed, pricked up his ears as he heard Kagome's soft voice ask, "I-inuyasha?" She was already lying on the sleeping bag, which she was using as a mattress, but her head and upper body were propped up on one hand while the other was holding the edges of her warm, flannel blanket.
The hanyou looked inquiringly at her, but didn't reply.
"Um…aren't you going to go to sleep?"
"No, I'll stay here and keep guard," was the reply.
"Well… you could use the Tetsusaiga could bar the door against intruders. It's very reliable at doing that, right?" Kagome prompted him, hesitantly.
"Yeah, but… you only have one blanket." Inuyasha sorely wanted to get some sleep, for he was starting to feel tired, but he was unsure as to whether he should, during a snow storm, at night, while in an unfamiliar cabin. It seemed more reasonable to keep his distance from Kagome and guard her while she slept.
Kagome, heart thumping, said quietly, "Well, you…ah…could come and sleep here…if you want. This blanket's large enough for two people…"
Inuyasha's heart started beating faster again at her words, but, unwilling to show his reluctance, he said nonchalantly, "Okay." Kagome watched him out of the corner of her eye. It seemed to take an eternity for him to walk slowly towards her. Everything seemed to have been put into slow motion for those three long seconds of time. Inuyasha finally reached the edge of her blanket and kneeled down by her right side. He paused, seeming to hesitate. Kagome, unable to stand the suspense any longer, raised on hand up to gently pull on his shirt sleeve, forcing him to lay down.
But with a squeak of surprise, she bolted back up again. Inuyasha, alarmed, sat up quickly as well.
"What's wrong, Kagome?" He asked, concerned.
"Inuyasha! Your clothes are still wet! And cold! You're going to get sick if you go to sleep like that!" she cried. The dog demon glanced down at his shirt, which was as wet as if he had just jumped into a swimming pool. He opened his mouth to protest, but Kagome clenched her jaw and shouted, "Osuwari!"
The rosary around his neck glowed for a moment as the power of the spell yanked the hanyou to the ground with a loud thump.
"What was that for?" He yelled angrily, his voice muffled by the blanket.
Kagome got up and answered, "I'm going to keep on sitting you until you tell me that you'll take off your wet clothes and go to bed!"
"Wench! Whether or not my clothes are wet or not is none of your concern!" He growled from the ground.
"Oh, yes it is! I don't want to sleep all night next to a sopping wet dog-youkai, and I don't want to you catch a cold! Is that clear?"
Inuyasha leapt up, since the spell had worn off, and shouted angrily, "Crystal clear! If you don't want to get wet while you sleep and you can't stand having me watch you sleep, I'll just go outside!" Then, without waiting for a response, he took three giant strides towards the door, yanked it open, and disappeared out into the darkness of the stormy night, taking the Tetsusaiga with him.
Kagome ran towards the door and jerked it open, screaming, "Inuyasha! Come back inside you idiot! Do you want to catch pneumonia?!?!" She hurried after the disappearing figure of the dog demon, her big, red, borrowed kimono fluttering around her legs.
About half an hour later, two people stumbled back into the relative warmth of the cabin. Inuyasha, who was now even colder and wetter than before, and Kagome, whose cheeks were flushed with anger at his stubbornness. The dog demon had gone more than fifty yards away from the old abandoned house before Kagome had been able to catch up to him. Struggling to tug the stubborn hanyou back to the cabin, the miko had finally lost her temper and forced him to "sit" into the four feet deep snow. After that, all the resistance seemed to flee from the cold and wet dog demon, and he had allowed Kagome to drag him back into the house as they waded through the snow.
The candles had burned down to stubs by then, so the room was dark and cold. Groping around for a flashlight, with one hand still firmly grasping Inuyasha's arm, Kagome finally found her flashlight and turned it on with a click. Shining it towards the hanyou's face, she gasped. With one look at his purplish lips and pale skin, wincing at the icicles that had formed on the bangs of his hair, she pulled him towards the blankets and pulled out two more candlesticks to light up. By leaving the cabin with only one layer of clothes on, Inuyasha had put his own health at risk, and had paid the price. Kagome berated herself for "sitting" him, for that had just engulfed his whole body in more snow, and now the dog demon was as cold as an ice cube, half-frozen and shivering violently. He wasn't even responding to her frantic calls, although his eyes were still open. Sobbing with dread, she hugged him tightly, praying to the kami that he would not fall asleep on her.
Covering him with the warm blanket and shrugging off the fire-rat coat, she piled everything off top of his prone body, then rummaged through her backpack for her health book, which she knew had something about hypothermia. Pulling out the textbook with a trembling hand, she fumbled through the pages, almost ripping one of the pages in her hurry.
"Finally," she exclaimed as she spotted the title: 'How to Treat Hypothermia' at the top of a page. Talking aloud to herself, she read from the book, "'Bring the person indoors or to a dry place protected from the wind.' Okay. I've already done that. Now what?" She continued to skim her eyes over the page. "'Remove wet clothing and cover the victim with dry blankets.' Um…okay…" Kagome glanced at Inuyasha, whose teeth were now chattering loudly. Blushing furiously, she kept her eyes halfway averted as she peeled off the wet inner kimono and his red pants. Pulling the blankets over his naked body, and rubbing his cold hands in a futile attempt to help his circulation, she continued reading, "'Remove your own clothing and lie under the covers next to the patient to transfer your own body heat.' What?!?!" The teenaged girl's cheeks burned an even brighter red as she pondered what she would have to do. Just then, as she was about to skip that part and go on, she heard a ragged cough from beside her. Inuyasha was lucid again, and his glittering eyes seemed to burn into hers as he whispered hoarsely, "Ka…go…me? A-are you alright?"
Kagome's eyes teared up again at the fact that he cared more for her than for himself, and replied softly, "Yes, I'm fine, Inuyasha. Stay still, okay? You'll be fine." Brushing his forehead with her hand tenderly, she wrapped the blanket tighter around him and kissed him soothingly on his temple as he closed his eyes. She glanced at his sleeping form once more, making up her mind, before blowing out both of the candles, throwing the room into utter darkness, except for the meager light which shone in through the single window. She slid out of her school uniform, goose-bumps rising quickly on her arms, and quickly raised the edge of the blanket and crawled in beside her sick patient, having decided that it was better to sacrifice her pride than allow Inuyasha to die of hypothermia because of her. Gasping upon the feel of his cold bare skin brushing hers, her cheeks deepened to an unearthly shade of red, and she blushed again, for the millionth time, as she realized how strange of a predicament they were both in.
For some strange reason, once Kagome had fully settled herself next to the sleeping dog demon, he shifted towards her and wrapped his strong arms around her, pulling her close to his chest and nuzzling her neck affectionately, like a little puppy. Of course, he was asleep, so Kagome had no choice but to lay there and suffer his attentions, but nevertheless, her heart started beating quicker when she heard him take a deep breath, with his nose buried in her hair, and murmur drowsily, "Mmm… Kago…me…." And he set his tongue gently upon her and licked the nape of her neck lightly, causing Kagome once again to gasp in surprise. But once she got over the initial shock of feeling his tongue upon her skin, she couldn't help but enjoy his administrations, and smiled. Rubbing his arms slowly, chafing gently at his cold skin, she tried to keep him warm, for the blanket did little to counteract the cold of the cabin. But finding that it was uncomfortable to lean on her shoulder as she massaged his skin, she reached one arm out of the blanket, stretching it upwards so that she could play with the furry little dog ears on top of his head instead. Meanwhile, her other hand curled around his chest so that she was firmly pressed against Inuyasha, and in this position, the two lay next to each other until her heavy eyelids closed and Kagome slowly fell into a blissful dreamland.
A/N: So, did you like it? For those of you who were wondering, the blanket scenario here is only part of the fun! There's more fluff coming up in the next chapter! (Which I already wrote half of but haven't finished so I can't post yet) Inu-chan is going to get sick so that Kagome can take care of him! Yay! ::hundreds of rabid Inuyasha fan-girls attack foureyedbookworm for making Inu-chan sick:: Anyway! Stay tuned for more fluffiness! And onegai, review!
Review Responses:
Itadakimasu ~ Hi!!! Thanks so much for the long review! You're so funny! I wish you luck with the charity box! ^_^ Maybe the crickets will give you something! j/k Yep, I love it when Inuyasha is sweet…
C-Chan ~ Thanks for your opinion! I hope you enjoy this blanket scenario, even if it isn't the classic plot…Good luck at surviving college! (I'd be bored out of my mind…) ^.^
Laura-chan ~ Here's more for you! Glad you liked it!
totally-wicked ~ Thanks! I feel so special! My imaginary snow actually made you feel cold?!?! Wow! Cool! I know how busy you are, since I obviously am too, so I forgive you! J I wrote more fluff in this chappy, and there'll be more in the next, so keep reading and reviewing!
Kathrine ~ Yay! I'm glad you like my humble ficcy! Here's a blanket scenario for you! It's not that good, but oh well…gomen for taking so long to write it! Keep reviewing!
goddess of chaos ~ ::cringes:: I hope I haven't disappointed you, oh great and mighty powerful Goddess! Please don't cause me pain! ::bows profusely:: ^_^ I hope you enjoyed the fluffiness! There will be more soon!
chickittychick ~ Hey! No hard feelings! It's okay! I didn't know any Japanese either, until very recently. All the Japanese words I've added to my collection have been due to the great amount of Inuyasha fanfiction that I read! So don't feel bad, hun, 'cause I made a bunch of mistakes at first, too! And I'm still not an expert at it! Keep reading and writing! How's your story coming along?
gigi ~ Glad you liked it! Here's the blanket scenario, just for you!
Ice ~ I worked hard to make mine unique! Is it good? I hope you like my blanket scenario! By the way, Inuyasha and Kagome are my favorite couple, too!
Kodokuchan ~ Yeah, homework is probably the bane of all fanfiction authors all around the world! And I happened to be getting a lot of it lately! ::growls at the pile of papers on her desk:: Well, must be off now! Gotta go work on chapter 27!
Esther ~ Me too! I love fluffiness and waffiness too! Wow! Do you really think this would be good enough to be made into a movie! o_0 I'm not that good! But thanks for the encouragement! Keep reading!
Miyami ~ Yes, it is cold outside…was the blanket scenario warm enough for you? ^-^ Stay warm, and enjoy the fluff!
lizzy!! ~ It's okay! I was busy too! Take your time reading, and don't forget to review when you're done!
Sora Kazeno ~ Ack! I feel so stupid! I can't believe I did that! Ooops! Thanks so much for correcting me! But "he took off his pants" sounds fine to me, doncha think? ^_^ j/k jk
OreHnjEeH ~ Arigatou for the compliment! I'm so glad that you like my fic! How's college life? If you don't mind me asking, who's the other writer? I'm constantly in search of good fanfiction stories to read, and I would really appreciate it if you could tell me… Thanks again!
ArtemisMoon ~ Yay! Blanket scenario! Hope you like it! And yes, I absolutely love it when the characters get all shy and embarrassed! It's so fun to read, ne?
Thunk ~ Sure! Feel free to you whatever you want from my story as long as you give me some credit for it, k? Thanks for the advice about writing the blanket scenario! It really helped! Were my characters too OOC or corny? Please give me your opinion! Thanks!
strawberry goodness ~ MORE FLUFF?!?!?! I'll give you more fluff! ::picks up a giant cotton ball and prepares to throw it:: Not! Just kidding! ^_^ Well, there's plenty of fluff in here!
shinobu ~ Well, I'll have to put the undead priestess in sooner or later, since no Inu/Kag romance would be complete without resolving that issue…But I'll try to keep her out of the fic for as long as I can, just for you! And I'll try to update ASAP!
Neko ~ Sorry! I didn't get a chance to email you, because I was so busy in school…Gomen! Hope you get a chance to read this, though!
Seigan ~ Thanks! I personally enjoy long, 15+ fics myself! ^_^ Um…here's the thing with the blanket scenario. I actually have another copy of it written out that contains, ::ahem:: more graphic imagery. So if you want to read it, all you have to do is email me and put "blanket scenario" somewhere in the subject! I'll email you back and send you the more lemony version of the story ASAP! This applies to anyone who wants to read a more "graphic" blanket scenario!
Shichan Goddess ~ Thank you so much for reviewing so many times! I'm so pleased that you think I'm worth the time and effort of writing so long reviews! Arigatou! Yep, you're right about Inuyasha getting ill! He'll get sick in the next chapter, so that Kagome can take care of him! Yay! More fluff! I'll try to continue ASAP! Keep reading! And thanks for putting me on your favorite list! I'm honored!
niasdreams ~ ^_^ If you want the "other" version of this chapter, which contains some lime/lemon (not sure which yet) in it, I'll be happy to email it to you, once I finish writing it. Just email me a message with the words: "blanket scenario" somewhere in the subject! I'll email you back and send you the more "graphic" version of the story ASAP! K?
Heather ~ That was a short review! But that's okay! Here's your blanket scenario, hope you enjoy it!