Age of the White Dawn Chapter 15: Things That go Thump in the Dark, an inuyasha fanfic

A/N: Hidey ho all. Yay! New chapter! I wrote this up in just one day! Yay! Er…mainly because I was procrastinating from doing my summer hw, but that's besides the point. Yeah, I started writing from two in the afternoon all the way until six, and then I got started a little on the next chapter but yeah. You see, I've been waiting to write this chapter since the eighth grade, and it's the summer of my going into sophomore year so you can see I've waited a long time to write this. Unfortunately, this isn't the whole chapter. Once again I had to chop the chapter in half, so the semi-good stuff should be in the next chapter…this chapter really didn't turn out as I wanted it to, though…

Any way, yeah. I've been helping Russian orphans. It's sad, because if they don't get adopted they have to go back Russia where they'll grow up and when they're 18 get kicked out of the orphanages without any means of supporting themselves. Ugh. Sorry, I just think that's sad. They're all so sweet though!

Hmm…I noticed something. Did you ever notice that in the comic Inu Yasha never really talks about Kagome's looks? Like in those other fics I noticed that they have him complimenting her physical appearance or reflecting on how beautiful she is. I've been studying the few volumes that I have, though, and I've noticed that he never really talks about how she looks! Maybe it's because since he's a hanyou he's kind of learned to look what's inside and not what's out? Or maybe I'm looking too deep into that. Whatever though, just thought I ought to let you know that he won't be mentioning her looks a lot because I think it's just a little ooc. Not a lot though. Gah, I'm shutting up before I say something stupid. …maybe it's too late for that. Okay, shutting up.

Age of the White Dawn

Chapter 14: Things That Go Thump in the Dark

Thump

Creak

Moan

Kagome's hands fisted into the covers.

Thump

Creak

Moan

She gritted her teeth and buried her head under the pillow, squeezing the sides over her ears.

Thump

Creak

Moan

Snarling under her breath, she flipped onto her side, face flaming red as she tried to think of something else. 'Inu Yasha,' she sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest and, against all odds, turning even redder. 'It's all his fault,' she pouted.

True to his word, he had led them all to the Snowy Pine Inn where she woke up a day later. Being the kind, considerate person he was, he wasted no time pointing out how he allowed Sango and her to have the room with the view while he just got some random room with a tree by it. It was only when they were walking back from dinner that Kagome discovered that Inu Yasha, so eager to please them of course, failed to mention that the "room with the view" was right next to the honeymoon suite. Speaking of which…

Creakity

Moan

Creakity

Kagome glared murderously through the dark at the ceiling. She was going to kill Inu Yasha. Okay, the said hanyou was acting a tad nicer as of late, and he did have the nicest eyes…she sighed into the mattress. Who was she kidding? Killing Inu Yasha was the very last thing she wanted to do to him.

Creak

Moan

Maybe she'd just sit him twenty times instead.

Creak

…

…Was it over?

She held her breath and cautiously lifted the pillow off her head. Slowly sitting up, she strained to hear any sound that might've implied that her newlywed neighbors were going to resume consummating their marriage. All her ears could pick up was the low murmur of voices.

They were talking.

Talking!

She nearly burst into joyful song. Talking she could deal with. Hopefully they'd keep talking until an argument broke out and then they'd sleep in separate rooms and they'd never do the jiggly-wiggly in her hearing range ever again, and, and… she pulled the blankets up under chin and snuggled into her pillow. 'And I can think of whom or what ever I want with no interruptions.'

Creak

She sat up and tried really hard not to scream out loud. Gods, who were these people? Bunny youkai?

Creak

She looked hopefully over at the futon Sango lay in. Surly the racket their neighbors were making woke her up too!

No such luck.

With a groan she flopped back down against her pillow, cheeks once again flushing while she mentally screamed at the couple to shut up. Naturally, they didn't oblige.

Creak

"…Hoji…"

Creak

"…Gross!" Kagome threw off her blankets. If they were about to get vocal, she was definitely leaving. 'Inu Yasha's room is all the way at the end of the hall. I'll just stay over there until the honeymooners get worn out…if they get worn out,' she decided.

Careful not to wake Sango, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, shivering as her bare feet made contact with the cold floor. Unlike the only other inn she stayed at, the floor wasn't carpet but a continuous slab of white marble.

Cringing at the cold, she began to painstakingly tip-toe to where she remembered the door was. She bit her lip; what she would do for a pair of fuzzy slippers and a decent nightgown right about now. Unfortunately she had to settle for a thin blanket draped about her shoulders. 'It's better than nothing,' she comforted herself, all the while silently praying that she found the door before she walked into it.

It took a while of groping blindly in the dark, but her hand finally bumped into something metallic, smooth and, like everything else, cold. 'Finally, the door knob. Almost home free!' She cheered to herself, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. The newlyweds were getting more and more vocal, and her poor ears weren't so virginal any more. She stifled a disgusted groan; what would her friends say if they knew where quiet, studious Kagome was now? Despite her valiant efforts not to, Kagome reddened at her friends imagined reactions.

Firmly gripping the doorknob, she shook such silly thoughts out of her head; now was not the time to get homesick.

She turned the knob slowly, wincing every time it happened to squeak, until finally the door was opened wide enough for her lithe body to easily walk though. Surprisingly, she didn't dive right out the door thanking the gods, as most would.

First, she stuck her head out the door and looked warily up and down the dark hall: not a person was in sight. Seemingly satisfied, she slipped out the door, making sure to silently close it behind her. Jerkily, as if afraid of appearing too conspicuous, she then pulled her blanket over her head and made her way down the hall all the while chuckling to herself. If any being saw her, they'd think she was sneaking off to some rendezvous with her secret lover…

She froze right in front of his door, fist raised mid-knock and her eyes growing ever-wider.

'It does look like we're secret lovers, doesn't it?' She thought, chewing on her bottom lip.

'Yeah, it does.' The annoying voice she'd been trying to ignore, in vein, agreed.

'I guess I better go back and just deal with my boinking neighbors.' Her hand fell limply back to her side, as if she'd just admitted defeat.

'Hey! Hold up! You don't have to sleep with him…just sleep with him.'

'Ugh! And why would I do that?'

'You like him. Maybe even lo—'

'N-no! I've only known him for, what, a month?' She tried to smother the telltale blush on her cheeks, the pout on her face oozing denial. 'I don't!'

'You like him.'

'You're insane.'

'You're the one talking to yourself.'

'Oh, shut up.' She mentally snapped, the voice actually obeying for once. With the defiant frown still on her face, she softly knocked twice on the door; her expression softened quite a bit at the sound of a loud thump and muttered cursed.

'I'll just take a little nap, that's all. And anyway, it's not like we're secretly harboring feelings for each other,' she reasoned, flushing.

With a sigh she took to rubbing her eyes tiredly, as well as attempting to stop blushing, and failed to notice the door open wide enough for a golden eye to peer suspiciously through.

What she didn't fail to notice was when the door in front of her was suddenly flung open revealing a very pissed looking hanyou. His usually mussed hair was downright wild now, with silver strands flipping outwards or curling softly about his face. Oddly enough, there were also a few leaves tucked behind his twitching ears, not to mention a few on his haori. His mouth hung open as if to angrily yell at her, but his eyes appeared surprised and genuinely confused. On the whole he was a rather comical sight.

But if Inu Yasha appeared clown-like it was only because Kagome appeared angel-like. When he opened the door he had every intention of telling her to buzz off and then go back to sleep, but he couldn't bring himself to yell at her. She had a pathetic blue blanket draped over her head and about her shoulder, deepening the black of the stray strands of hair that brushed against her pale-pink tinged cheeks. Yet, it wasn't her sleepy, child-like physical appearance that caused his voice to swiftly flee from him. It was the way her presence suddenly assailed his senses at just the opening of a door, the way he suddenly became conscious of the distance between him and her, the way her scent wafted over him every time she moved, the way, the way…

He shuddered. Those thoughts were starting to sound like they belonged to some love-sick school boy.

Gathering his wits, before he started drooling like a real dog, he snapped back to his usual blunt-bordering-on-rude self.

"What do you want wench?"

Kagome looked shyly down at her hands, "I was wondering if I could sleep with you—erm, I mean in your room, I meant room!" Her face was beginning to resemble an overgrown tomato.

"Why?" He asked, giving her a suspicious glare.

She rolled her eyes, "Here, lesse if you can figure out the answer yourself. Either I left the room because of my overly excited newlywed neighbors, or I actually took you up on your offer to make passionate love to you. What do you think?" She fixed him with an accusing stare; he silently stepped out of the way and allowed her to enter his room.

Snickering as he closed the door, he raised an eyebrow at the girl now occupying his bed,

"And what do you think you're doing?"

"Sitting on a bed."

"Did I say you could take the bed?"

"No," she sighed, and, looking a little hurt, slid down to the floor, leaving Inu Yasha feeling very guilty.

"Argh, overly sensitive bitch," he growled, "Did I say you couldn't have the bed?"

"No, but you just sa—"

"Take the bed, wench."

"But where do you sleep, then?" she protested.

He pointed out an open window to a tree, "I like to sleep in trees."

"Oh," she climbed back onto the bed and pointed to her hair, "does that explain your, uh…hair pieces?"

"What? Oh," he ran his fingers though his hair, managing to comb out a few of the leaves. He looked at them in faint amusement.

Kagome giggled.

"Shut up," he smirked, "bitch."

"Dummy."

"Wench."

"Jerk."

"Wench."

"Jerk."

"Wench."

"Jerk."

"Go to sleep Kagome."

"Okay. 'Night Inu Yasha." She lay down and performed her nightly ritual of snuggling into her pillow, before she smiled sleepily up at him. He sniffed and tossed his head indifferently, making it over to the window in one leap. Something kept him from going back to his earlier spot in his tree, though. Instead, he sat on the windowsill, legs hanging off the edge. He swung them lazily back and forth, training his intense gaze on the moon.

Kagome stared at Inu Yasha's back for a while, his silver hair almost white in the moonlight. She couldn't help but wonder about the funny expression on his face earlier when he just opened the door. He appeared almost dazed, and for the first time she couldn't read the emotion in his eyes. This in itself was perturbing; she was usually able to see pass the walls he put up, but his expression this time was so guarded, as if the emotion he was feeling was too precious or too confusing to reveal.

She shifted and flipped over to face the wall. Why was she worrying any way? It's not like it meant any thing. She flipped over a few more times before giving up and sitting up in bed.

She couldn't sleep.

"…Inu Yasha?"

"What now, wench?" He asked exasperatedly, still looking out the window.

"I can't sleep."

He turned to her in surprise, then scowled, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I dunno, maybe you can talk to me?" She suggested sheepishly.

"Are you asking me?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, casting her eyes down to her lap.
There was a sigh, followed by the hushed rustle of fabric. When she looked up again, it was to see Inu Yasha's irritated face.

"Budge over," he grumbled embarrassedly.

Kagome gave him a mock smile of indulgence and scooted over, "It wouldn't hurt you to be nice."

"Fine, thank you." He spat the latter out like it was some repulsive food he was forced into trying.

"There, now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Are you patronizing me?"

"No, of course not."

"Shut it."

"No."

"Wench."

"Jerk."

"…now what?"

Kagome cocked her head to the side and blinked thoughtfully in Inu Yasha's direction, "Hm…"

"Hm? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means I have an idea," she grinned excitedly, all signs of sleepiness magically vanished.

"Oh gods…"

Inu Yasha scooted away from the schoolgirl. He watched in horror as an evil gleam shined in her eyes and her lips parted to utter the words he would learn to dread,

"Let's play a game."

A/N: Did that chapter seem kind of choppy to you? Ah well. Tootles.