Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything to do with Inuyasha.
Inuyasha looked at her curiously and waited for her to say more. When she didn't, he shifted his weight impatiently and made a little sound in the back of his throat. This seemed to snap Kagome out of whatever she had been thinking about and caused her to look up at him once again. She blushed, a little embarrassed about the gift she was giving him and slowly pushed it into his hands. He stared at it for a moment before seemingly coming to a conclusion.
"Is it— is it inside the paper?"
Kagome blinked, a little bit surprised that he had caught on so quickly where the others had needed so much explaining, and nodded. He stared at it, brow furrowed, and finally lifted his hand to open it. Using one claw he neatly ripped a clean cut line through the top of the paper and pulled the paper wrapping apart. What greeted him inside, was a small leather bound book. Reaching for the book, he took it in his hand and sniffed it to be sure it wasn't some kind of trick. When he was satisfied that it wasn't one of Shippo's little toy illusions he opened the book to the front page. He blinked in surprise and brought the book closer to his eyes to examine the picture he saw sitting there.
He would have had a much bigger reaction to the photo album if he had not seen one of these 'photos' once before. Kagome had shown these things to him twice before, explaining that they were sort of moment capturers put on paper. He remembered how she had shown him pictures from her yearbook one time when he had followed her through the well and recalled her explanation for the odd pictures. The picture sitting before him in the photo album was just the same as those he had seen on that day, only the subjects were much different. In the picture Inuyasha was looking at, stood Kagome, Souta, her mother, and her grandfather in front of the sacred tree. His eyes grew wide at the perfect detail of the picture and felt himself marveling yet again at the precision of these photo things. He quickly flipped the page and found himself looking at the faces of Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kaede standing in the same spot, only in the feudal era. Next he saw photo of the same picture only a few minutes after the first had been taken. The only difference between this one and the first was that Miroku had a large red slap print on his face and Sango looked livid.
He smirked at this picture and silently imagined how Miroku had 'accidently' let his hand slip onto Sango's bottom to deserve such a slap. He shook his head at the foolish monk, he'd never learn would he? The next picture made Inuyasha's eyes open in surprise as he realized the picture to be of himself. He was standing next to a tall oak tree with his arms folded in front of him and tucked into his haori sleeves. The wind had caught his silver hair and was blowing it out behind him. He had a very calm expression on his face, and he wasn't sure if he liked this one— it made him look weak.
"That one's my favorite." Kagome said quietly from behind his right shoulder. He gave a small jump as he realized she had been standing there ever since he had started looking through the album. He felt his eyes go from surprised to a little bit guilty as he realized what had happened that day, right after this picture had been taken. He had been standing there calmly thinking about nothing in particular, when he saw a small flash of light from behind a bush. He had sprung through the bushes at once to catch whoever was spying on him and had been angry to find Kagome looking back at him with a surprised look on her face. He had shouted at her a lot after that, and he knew he had hurt her feelings even if she wouldn't admit it. She wouldn't talk to him for three days after the incident. And now he knew she had only been there in the first place to get a picture for him. He felt his eyes soften at her comment and turned back to looking through the pictures after turning the corners of his mouth up in a brief smile for her. The next couple of pictures held a variety of shots of Shippo, Miroku, Sango, and himself that he smiled at when remembering the days the incidents had happened. But it was the last picture he decided, that meant the most to him. It was a picture of Kagome, just Kagome by herself. She was wearing a very pretty kimono and sitting on the edge of the well with one of her ever-present smiles fresh on her lips. He smiled, he couldn't help it....... no one had ever given him a gift like this before.
Kagome watched Inuyasha finish looking through the photo album and stared at the odd look on his face. For once he didn't look angry, confused, or arrogant— he just seemed happy. She felt a small smile creep over her face and stepped closer to him happily. She was going to ask him if he liked the photo album when he suddenly turned around to face her. Before her brain could even register what was going on, he had hugged her. Inuyasha was hugging her! She gasped in shock as she felt his strong arms circle around her in a gentle embrace. Although her mind was still in shock over this sudden action she felt her body melt under his warmth and hugged him back. How odd it was that they had known each other for so long, and had been through so much together, yet had hugged like this so few times? All she knew was that she didn't even need to hear him say thank you at this point. His simple gesture of gratitude was enough for both of them.
Inuyasha wasn't sure why he was hugging Kagome, all he knew was that the photo album she had given him was one of the nicest things anyone had ever given him. Nobody else he ever knew had spent so much time and effort making something for him. It meant a lot to him that someone actually cared enough for him to make something like that. It was true he hated looking weak, and hugging her like this wasn't something he would normally do. Maybe it was the way she had been screaming for him so worriedly earlier, like nothing else mattered at the moment but finding him. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had always been so kind to him— apart from all the sits— and he felt he owed her for that. He really didn't know, but at the moment it didn't matter because it felt good hugging her like this— as if something was being lifted off his conscious, and he didn't mind about the momentary weakness he was showing. He knew she wouldn't betray him in anyway and hugging her was something that felt almost natural to him.
Kagome felt herself slowly lean her head onto his shoulder with a sigh of happiness. Yes, she decided, Christmas was her favorite holiday. Inuyasha had his eyes closed she noted, and seemed to be unawares they were still hugging. Acutally it didn't bother her at all, the longer they hugged the better. She really cared about Inuyasha a lot, and she didn't ever want to see him hurt. With him hugging her like this she knew he cared about her as well, even it was only a little bit.
With that thought floating through her mind she suddenly remembered when she had shouted in his face earlier that day. Her eyes snapped open in guilt remembering the incident and frowned, disgusted with herself. She knew she had already apologized to him but it still didn't seem like it. She slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and peered at his ears hovering only a few inches above her eyes. She wondered what it was like living with such high hearing. Surely it wasn't as great as it might seem. She just cringed at the image of Inuyasha's cringing face, as it floated through her head. She wished she could do something else to make it up to him.....he was being so nice to her right now. She felt her fingers start to tingle and slowly started reaching upwards towards his sore ears.
Inuyasha still had his arms around her and wasn't really paying attention to where she was putting her hands. The feeling of fingers on his ears hit him all at once, making him gasp in surprise. His eyes shot open, to reveal two glaring irises as her fingers made contact with their destination. How dare she touch his ears, he hated it when people touched his ears! Especially Kagome's mother, that woman pulled so hard sometimes he felt like she was trying to rip them off. He lifted one arm from around Kagome, intent on shoving her away from the sensitive objects, when he felt her fingers begin to slowly caress the insides of his ears. His arm stopped in midair as the sensation hit him all at once. This was nothing like when Mrs. Higurashi grabbed at his ears. This was, this was totally different....
Kagome felt Inuyasha open his eyes when she brushed his ears with her fingertips and hoped she wasn't upsetting him. However, he pulled out of the hug as soon as he felt her touch his ears, and her heart sank sadly at his reaction— she had upset him. She decided to give his ears a quick apologetic rub before he started yelling at her, and moved to take her fingers away. She was about to leave his ears alone when her eyes opened wide at the new expression on his face. He had closed his eyes again and had the soft same expression he always had when he was asleep. She stared at him in bafflement. Wasn't he just mad at her a few moments ago or had she read his body language wrongly? His arms where hanging limp at his sides and he was just standing there as if totally relaxed. She moved her hands back onto his ears and gave them an experimental caress to see if he would start yelling at her yet. When he did nothing but continue to stand there, she took that as a sign he didn't mind. In all truth she was a little bit surprised. It had mostly been an impulsive thing when she reached up to rub his ears a few moments ago and she really hadn't expected him to actually let her keep doing it. She moved a little closer to him and ran her fingers along the silky backs of his ears in a soft soothing motion. Inuyasha made a small noise in the back of his throat and leaned forward until his head fell forward onto her shoulder. Kagome gasped in surprise, what was he doing? It had been one thing for him to give her a hug but this was so unlike Inuyasha she didn't know what to say.
"Um Inuyasha, do you want me to keep doing it?" she asked, a little bit confused as to what was going on. Inuyasha gave a muffled grunting noise that wasn't even extinguishable as a word and continued to rest his head on kagome's shoulder as if he were asleep. Kagome stood still for a moment wondering if she should continue with this or not. Obviously this was why he never wanted people touching his ears, and she felt a little guilty about going behind his back like this. He wasn't protesting or anything but somehow he seemed to be incapacitated by the touching of his ears and she seriously doubted whether he was even in the mind to tell her to stop even if he wanted her to.
When she looked at him looking so peaceful however, she couldn't bring herself to stop. His ears where so soft and he looked so cute with that look on his face that she couldn't resist. She reached out her hands and took a hold of his ears yet again. Inuyasha leaned heavily on her as her finger massaged the tips of his ears and slowly progressed down until they reached the spot where the skin on his ears attached to his skull. She rubbed in little circular motions there, but stopped in surprise when she distinctly felt Inuyasha shiver with pleasure under her touch. With a soft moan he gave way and fell against her completely unawares of what was going on around him. Kagome gave out a small squeak of surprise as she felt her legs give way under the weight. The result was Kagome landing heavily on the ground with an unconscious Inuyasha on top of her, preventing her from getting up. She managed to work her self into a sitting position and stared at Inuyasha in disbelief. Why hadn't he ever told her he turned into putty every time someone touched his ears? This was quite a great weakness to be hiding from her for so long. But then again.... She really couldn't blame him. He was always trying to act like the tough guy around everyone and he hated it when he was caught acting weak. This was probably a very embarrassing problem to him and that's why he had never let her touch his ears before.
Kagome glanced at Inuyasha again and felt a smile appear upon her lips despite herself. He was lying on top of her with the most peaceful look on his face she had ever seen. His head was resting on her chest with his soft silver hair flowing out behind him in long waves. She sighed as she happily brushed a loving hand across his cheek. He was always so beautiful when he slept that it made her smile just to look at him. She absently caressed his ears as she gazed into his sleeping face and found herself wondering if he'd ever have let her hold him like this if she hadn't rubbed his ears. She was just wondering if she should try to move him off of her when a low rumbling sound met her ears, making her gasp in surprise. Was he— was he purring? No, purring wasn't the right word for it. Dogs don't purr they make a similar noise, only deeper and not as easy to hear unless they really want you to. Inuyasha was definitely making some sort of noise of extreme happiness and whatever it was, was making her blush profusely though she hadn't the faintest idea why.
She quickly stopped caressing his ears and contented herself with just letting her hands rest on the soft appendages until the purring subsided. It was all a bit much. She had never seen this side of Inuyasha before, and she was beginning to get scared as to how he would feel about the whole situation when he woke up. Would he be mad at her? She sighed dismally, he would probably be furious. His pride would get the better of him and he would probably be screaming at her for hours.
She had been pondering these disheartening thoughts for the last ten minutes, when she began to feel Inuyasha beginning to stir in her lap. He was trying to say something but his speech was slow and forced, as if some small part of him was desperately fighting against some greater force inside of him to get the words across.
"Kagome...please....stop rubbing." Was all he managed to get out before he lost the will to speak any longer. Kagome looked at him in surprise and dropped her hands as he had asked. She was completely aghast that, first of all, he was aware that she had been rubbing his ears this whole time. And second of all, he had said please. She was about to ask him if he was still awake at the moment, when something caught the corner of her eye. It was the album. The whole reason they were both here in the first place. That little, carefully thought out Christmas gift. Kagome sighed and picked it up. Turning back to Inuyasha she lifted up the neck of his outer haori and slid the book into the secret pocket she knew he had under the heavy coat. She wanted to make sure he still had it when he woke up and she didn't want him to leave it behind....
Inuyasha opened his eyes. Finally. It had seemed like ages since he had lost himself to the ear rubbing. He always felt so peaceful and comfortable whenever he woke up after having his ears rubbed like that. He remembered how as a child his mother would gently rub his ears when he was sick to get him to fall asleep. It worked evertime, and unfortunately it still worked— not that he didn't love it. In fact it was the fact that he longed for this ear rubbing so much that frightened him. If anyone was ever to find out about this weakness......it could end up in his death and everyone else's.
He opened his eyes slowly, and blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. The first thing that he noticed as he opened his eyes was Kagome. She was hovering over him with a worried look on her face and Inuyasha closed his eyes again as he remembered how this particular ear rubbing had come to pass. He distinctly remembered that he had been standing when she had given him the Christmas present in the middle of a small clearing. He had given her a hug and he remembered feeling her fingers on his ears. He expected her to touch them like Mrs. Higurashi and yank them about, so he hadn't acted quick enough. He had expected it to be a painful ear rubbing, not a soft one. But he had been wrong, he touch was soft and he had almost immediately felt his mind empty of all thoughts.
There was his mistake. He had let her touch him, had hugged her himself, and in turn she had touched his ears and now she knew. She knew what he became every time someone touched his confounded ears and he had no idea what she thought of him now. She probably thought he was weak. A weak little puppy not worth the Christmas present she had worked so hard to put together...........he opened his eyes, expecting to see her embarrassment, and disgust after finding him to be so weak and was completely thrown for a loop when what he saw was only worry and a hesitant smile etched upon her face.
Inuyasha looked at her curiously and waited for her to say more. When she didn't, he shifted his weight impatiently and made a little sound in the back of his throat. This seemed to snap Kagome out of whatever she had been thinking about and caused her to look up at him once again. She blushed, a little embarrassed about the gift she was giving him and slowly pushed it into his hands. He stared at it for a moment before seemingly coming to a conclusion.
"Is it— is it inside the paper?"
Kagome blinked, a little bit surprised that he had caught on so quickly where the others had needed so much explaining, and nodded. He stared at it, brow furrowed, and finally lifted his hand to open it. Using one claw he neatly ripped a clean cut line through the top of the paper and pulled the paper wrapping apart. What greeted him inside, was a small leather bound book. Reaching for the book, he took it in his hand and sniffed it to be sure it wasn't some kind of trick. When he was satisfied that it wasn't one of Shippo's little toy illusions he opened the book to the front page. He blinked in surprise and brought the book closer to his eyes to examine the picture he saw sitting there.
He would have had a much bigger reaction to the photo album if he had not seen one of these 'photos' once before. Kagome had shown these things to him twice before, explaining that they were sort of moment capturers put on paper. He remembered how she had shown him pictures from her yearbook one time when he had followed her through the well and recalled her explanation for the odd pictures. The picture sitting before him in the photo album was just the same as those he had seen on that day, only the subjects were much different. In the picture Inuyasha was looking at, stood Kagome, Souta, her mother, and her grandfather in front of the sacred tree. His eyes grew wide at the perfect detail of the picture and felt himself marveling yet again at the precision of these photo things. He quickly flipped the page and found himself looking at the faces of Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kaede standing in the same spot, only in the feudal era. Next he saw photo of the same picture only a few minutes after the first had been taken. The only difference between this one and the first was that Miroku had a large red slap print on his face and Sango looked livid.
He smirked at this picture and silently imagined how Miroku had 'accidently' let his hand slip onto Sango's bottom to deserve such a slap. He shook his head at the foolish monk, he'd never learn would he? The next picture made Inuyasha's eyes open in surprise as he realized the picture to be of himself. He was standing next to a tall oak tree with his arms folded in front of him and tucked into his haori sleeves. The wind had caught his silver hair and was blowing it out behind him. He had a very calm expression on his face, and he wasn't sure if he liked this one— it made him look weak.
"That one's my favorite." Kagome said quietly from behind his right shoulder. He gave a small jump as he realized she had been standing there ever since he had started looking through the album. He felt his eyes go from surprised to a little bit guilty as he realized what had happened that day, right after this picture had been taken. He had been standing there calmly thinking about nothing in particular, when he saw a small flash of light from behind a bush. He had sprung through the bushes at once to catch whoever was spying on him and had been angry to find Kagome looking back at him with a surprised look on her face. He had shouted at her a lot after that, and he knew he had hurt her feelings even if she wouldn't admit it. She wouldn't talk to him for three days after the incident. And now he knew she had only been there in the first place to get a picture for him. He felt his eyes soften at her comment and turned back to looking through the pictures after turning the corners of his mouth up in a brief smile for her. The next couple of pictures held a variety of shots of Shippo, Miroku, Sango, and himself that he smiled at when remembering the days the incidents had happened. But it was the last picture he decided, that meant the most to him. It was a picture of Kagome, just Kagome by herself. She was wearing a very pretty kimono and sitting on the edge of the well with one of her ever-present smiles fresh on her lips. He smiled, he couldn't help it....... no one had ever given him a gift like this before.
Kagome watched Inuyasha finish looking through the photo album and stared at the odd look on his face. For once he didn't look angry, confused, or arrogant— he just seemed happy. She felt a small smile creep over her face and stepped closer to him happily. She was going to ask him if he liked the photo album when he suddenly turned around to face her. Before her brain could even register what was going on, he had hugged her. Inuyasha was hugging her! She gasped in shock as she felt his strong arms circle around her in a gentle embrace. Although her mind was still in shock over this sudden action she felt her body melt under his warmth and hugged him back. How odd it was that they had known each other for so long, and had been through so much together, yet had hugged like this so few times? All she knew was that she didn't even need to hear him say thank you at this point. His simple gesture of gratitude was enough for both of them.
Inuyasha wasn't sure why he was hugging Kagome, all he knew was that the photo album she had given him was one of the nicest things anyone had ever given him. Nobody else he ever knew had spent so much time and effort making something for him. It meant a lot to him that someone actually cared enough for him to make something like that. It was true he hated looking weak, and hugging her like this wasn't something he would normally do. Maybe it was the way she had been screaming for him so worriedly earlier, like nothing else mattered at the moment but finding him. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had always been so kind to him— apart from all the sits— and he felt he owed her for that. He really didn't know, but at the moment it didn't matter because it felt good hugging her like this— as if something was being lifted off his conscious, and he didn't mind about the momentary weakness he was showing. He knew she wouldn't betray him in anyway and hugging her was something that felt almost natural to him.
Kagome felt herself slowly lean her head onto his shoulder with a sigh of happiness. Yes, she decided, Christmas was her favorite holiday. Inuyasha had his eyes closed she noted, and seemed to be unawares they were still hugging. Acutally it didn't bother her at all, the longer they hugged the better. She really cared about Inuyasha a lot, and she didn't ever want to see him hurt. With him hugging her like this she knew he cared about her as well, even it was only a little bit.
With that thought floating through her mind she suddenly remembered when she had shouted in his face earlier that day. Her eyes snapped open in guilt remembering the incident and frowned, disgusted with herself. She knew she had already apologized to him but it still didn't seem like it. She slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and peered at his ears hovering only a few inches above her eyes. She wondered what it was like living with such high hearing. Surely it wasn't as great as it might seem. She just cringed at the image of Inuyasha's cringing face, as it floated through her head. She wished she could do something else to make it up to him.....he was being so nice to her right now. She felt her fingers start to tingle and slowly started reaching upwards towards his sore ears.
Inuyasha still had his arms around her and wasn't really paying attention to where she was putting her hands. The feeling of fingers on his ears hit him all at once, making him gasp in surprise. His eyes shot open, to reveal two glaring irises as her fingers made contact with their destination. How dare she touch his ears, he hated it when people touched his ears! Especially Kagome's mother, that woman pulled so hard sometimes he felt like she was trying to rip them off. He lifted one arm from around Kagome, intent on shoving her away from the sensitive objects, when he felt her fingers begin to slowly caress the insides of his ears. His arm stopped in midair as the sensation hit him all at once. This was nothing like when Mrs. Higurashi grabbed at his ears. This was, this was totally different....
Kagome felt Inuyasha open his eyes when she brushed his ears with her fingertips and hoped she wasn't upsetting him. However, he pulled out of the hug as soon as he felt her touch his ears, and her heart sank sadly at his reaction— she had upset him. She decided to give his ears a quick apologetic rub before he started yelling at her, and moved to take her fingers away. She was about to leave his ears alone when her eyes opened wide at the new expression on his face. He had closed his eyes again and had the soft same expression he always had when he was asleep. She stared at him in bafflement. Wasn't he just mad at her a few moments ago or had she read his body language wrongly? His arms where hanging limp at his sides and he was just standing there as if totally relaxed. She moved her hands back onto his ears and gave them an experimental caress to see if he would start yelling at her yet. When he did nothing but continue to stand there, she took that as a sign he didn't mind. In all truth she was a little bit surprised. It had mostly been an impulsive thing when she reached up to rub his ears a few moments ago and she really hadn't expected him to actually let her keep doing it. She moved a little closer to him and ran her fingers along the silky backs of his ears in a soft soothing motion. Inuyasha made a small noise in the back of his throat and leaned forward until his head fell forward onto her shoulder. Kagome gasped in surprise, what was he doing? It had been one thing for him to give her a hug but this was so unlike Inuyasha she didn't know what to say.
"Um Inuyasha, do you want me to keep doing it?" she asked, a little bit confused as to what was going on. Inuyasha gave a muffled grunting noise that wasn't even extinguishable as a word and continued to rest his head on kagome's shoulder as if he were asleep. Kagome stood still for a moment wondering if she should continue with this or not. Obviously this was why he never wanted people touching his ears, and she felt a little guilty about going behind his back like this. He wasn't protesting or anything but somehow he seemed to be incapacitated by the touching of his ears and she seriously doubted whether he was even in the mind to tell her to stop even if he wanted her to.
When she looked at him looking so peaceful however, she couldn't bring herself to stop. His ears where so soft and he looked so cute with that look on his face that she couldn't resist. She reached out her hands and took a hold of his ears yet again. Inuyasha leaned heavily on her as her finger massaged the tips of his ears and slowly progressed down until they reached the spot where the skin on his ears attached to his skull. She rubbed in little circular motions there, but stopped in surprise when she distinctly felt Inuyasha shiver with pleasure under her touch. With a soft moan he gave way and fell against her completely unawares of what was going on around him. Kagome gave out a small squeak of surprise as she felt her legs give way under the weight. The result was Kagome landing heavily on the ground with an unconscious Inuyasha on top of her, preventing her from getting up. She managed to work her self into a sitting position and stared at Inuyasha in disbelief. Why hadn't he ever told her he turned into putty every time someone touched his ears? This was quite a great weakness to be hiding from her for so long. But then again.... She really couldn't blame him. He was always trying to act like the tough guy around everyone and he hated it when he was caught acting weak. This was probably a very embarrassing problem to him and that's why he had never let her touch his ears before.
Kagome glanced at Inuyasha again and felt a smile appear upon her lips despite herself. He was lying on top of her with the most peaceful look on his face she had ever seen. His head was resting on her chest with his soft silver hair flowing out behind him in long waves. She sighed as she happily brushed a loving hand across his cheek. He was always so beautiful when he slept that it made her smile just to look at him. She absently caressed his ears as she gazed into his sleeping face and found herself wondering if he'd ever have let her hold him like this if she hadn't rubbed his ears. She was just wondering if she should try to move him off of her when a low rumbling sound met her ears, making her gasp in surprise. Was he— was he purring? No, purring wasn't the right word for it. Dogs don't purr they make a similar noise, only deeper and not as easy to hear unless they really want you to. Inuyasha was definitely making some sort of noise of extreme happiness and whatever it was, was making her blush profusely though she hadn't the faintest idea why.
She quickly stopped caressing his ears and contented herself with just letting her hands rest on the soft appendages until the purring subsided. It was all a bit much. She had never seen this side of Inuyasha before, and she was beginning to get scared as to how he would feel about the whole situation when he woke up. Would he be mad at her? She sighed dismally, he would probably be furious. His pride would get the better of him and he would probably be screaming at her for hours.
She had been pondering these disheartening thoughts for the last ten minutes, when she began to feel Inuyasha beginning to stir in her lap. He was trying to say something but his speech was slow and forced, as if some small part of him was desperately fighting against some greater force inside of him to get the words across.
"Kagome...please....stop rubbing." Was all he managed to get out before he lost the will to speak any longer. Kagome looked at him in surprise and dropped her hands as he had asked. She was completely aghast that, first of all, he was aware that she had been rubbing his ears this whole time. And second of all, he had said please. She was about to ask him if he was still awake at the moment, when something caught the corner of her eye. It was the album. The whole reason they were both here in the first place. That little, carefully thought out Christmas gift. Kagome sighed and picked it up. Turning back to Inuyasha she lifted up the neck of his outer haori and slid the book into the secret pocket she knew he had under the heavy coat. She wanted to make sure he still had it when he woke up and she didn't want him to leave it behind....
Inuyasha opened his eyes. Finally. It had seemed like ages since he had lost himself to the ear rubbing. He always felt so peaceful and comfortable whenever he woke up after having his ears rubbed like that. He remembered how as a child his mother would gently rub his ears when he was sick to get him to fall asleep. It worked evertime, and unfortunately it still worked— not that he didn't love it. In fact it was the fact that he longed for this ear rubbing so much that frightened him. If anyone was ever to find out about this weakness......it could end up in his death and everyone else's.
He opened his eyes slowly, and blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. The first thing that he noticed as he opened his eyes was Kagome. She was hovering over him with a worried look on her face and Inuyasha closed his eyes again as he remembered how this particular ear rubbing had come to pass. He distinctly remembered that he had been standing when she had given him the Christmas present in the middle of a small clearing. He had given her a hug and he remembered feeling her fingers on his ears. He expected her to touch them like Mrs. Higurashi and yank them about, so he hadn't acted quick enough. He had expected it to be a painful ear rubbing, not a soft one. But he had been wrong, he touch was soft and he had almost immediately felt his mind empty of all thoughts.
There was his mistake. He had let her touch him, had hugged her himself, and in turn she had touched his ears and now she knew. She knew what he became every time someone touched his confounded ears and he had no idea what she thought of him now. She probably thought he was weak. A weak little puppy not worth the Christmas present she had worked so hard to put together...........he opened his eyes, expecting to see her embarrassment, and disgust after finding him to be so weak and was completely thrown for a loop when what he saw was only worry and a hesitant smile etched upon her face.