Five
Kagome awoke and was grateful to find her head was a bit fuzzy but clear. She'd slept deeply and was almost refreshed. She lost Hojo more than a year ago but she still slept on her side of the bed facing the wall. At first this position allowed her a few moments of blissful forgetting. She could pretend the other side of the bed wasn't empty. Now she was firmly grounded in the fact he was gone but at this point the habit was ingrained.
She slid from her cool sheets and padded barefoot to the bathroom. The tiny room was warm from the sun. She paused over the A/C vent and bathed in a refreshing stream of cool air.
Thank God for air conditioning! They never had that in Feudal Japan.
Japan... Inuyasha! He's really here.
She quickly brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair. He's seen me at my morning worst so to hell with makeup!
Kagome pulled on the same pair of jeans from the night before. Then she remembered Inuyasha's sense of smell and decided to don fresh jeans and a cool, crisp white sleeveless shirt. She paused by the bed and saw the comforter on Hojo's side held the impression of a human rear end.
She glanced up and saw her bedroom door standing open. There was no sign of Kiki but then why would there be. Dogs always avoided Inuyasha or followed him from a safe distance. She ran her hand down the bedding and knew he'd perched there and watched her while she slept. I should have known he'd do this. He used to stand sentry over us while we slept. It was silly to think he could have needed sleep after he spent 500 years in that sword.
Kagome peered into the kitchen and found it empty. Where in the hell has he gone? She'd been through every room in the house and it could only mean one thing. The roof!
She opened the French doors in the back of the kitchen and stepped out into the back yard. Not one leaf out of place. She sighed, retrieved a ladder from the storage shed and propped it against the back of the house. Kagome climbed up and looked out on the roof. Inuyasha perched on the highest point of the roof looking down on the neighborhood. He was stripped down to his linen shirt because of the heat.
"Bare legs and now bare arms. Kagome, why is it some part of you always has to be naked?" He spoke without turning towards her and she knew he'd been watching her haul the heavy ladder across the yard to the house. She ignored his tone and the baited comment.
"Good morning to you too. Aren't you worried someone might notice you up here?" She shimmied across the roof and sat beside him.
"No."
"Okay."
"Your people are weird. They wave at me as if we know each other. Look!" He pointed to a woman jogging past. She looked up and waved a friendly hand. I wonder what she thinks we are doing up here?
"Inuyasha she is being polite. Here it's considered rude if you don't waive or acknowledge your neighbors."
"It's an invitation for trouble". He grumbled.
Kagome put her hand under his chin and turned his face towards her.
"Why are you so grouchy? I thought you'd be happy to be freed from the Tetsusaiga?" Who did you leave behind Inuyasha? A wife? Children?
"This place is so foreign. Even the trees here aren't right. I turned on your television and it was gibberish." Kagome dropped her hand from his face but he didn't turn away.
"I can teach you English just as you taught me archery."
He gestured to the ghost moon that ever so faintly hovered in the bright blue morning sky. "Even the moon is not where it should be."
"We are on the other side of the world so that is why the moon is in a different spot. Those are palm trees, we are near the ocean."
"Kagome of course I can smell the ocean. But what is there to do here?"
"I guess you will have to find a new purpose. There isn't a battle here or a quest. Just … life."
He gave a half grin and flashed his right fang. "Life huh? But what is life with out a good battle?"
That was a rhetorical but what will I do with him? I've brought a warrior into a world where people jog on treadmills for exercise!
"I guess it's up to me to show you then." She smiled back.
"Is that a challenge skinny wench?"
"Bet your life on it you furry perv." That got her a full grin.
Kagome stood up and stretched. "Let's go to the ocean, it's the perfect place to spend a Sunday morning."
"Feh. Breakfast first. No wonder you are a stick. Your pantry is bare and you never fucking eat anything. What is wrong with you Kagome?"
She opened her mouth to ask him to back off the profanity when he swept her into his arms then leapt from the roof to the backyard. Her hair flew up around her face and she closed her eyes. It's almost as good as having my own set of wings. Inuyasha landed softy like a cat. Than he sat her down and went back into the house without her.
Kagome was breathless, than she remembered the ladder. Of course he would leave before I could ask him to put it away!
When she was young Kagome never imagined she'd have to bathe her husband. But it came to that all too quickly with Hojo, who would never be her husband. At first she made a sexy game of it than gave up as his body shut down.
Now she stood with her back to her bathroom door trying hard not to react to the sound of water sloshing over the rim of her overflowing bathtub. She managed to talk Inuyasha into letting her launder his kimono but he'd insisted on drawing his own bath. He was a grown hanyou and had his dignity.
Any minute now water will seep out from under this damned door. What the hell is he doing in there? Swimming? She placated her fears by shoving towels under the door and went to wash the kimono.
It was a flashback to the two years they'd spent together in her teens. Every time she went home she insisted on washing his robes. The first time she worried she might shrink them or fade the vivid red color. Later she was only concerned with getting the blood out.
Kagome turned the washer to large load, cold water and tossed in the heavy kimono. She kept his linen under garments separate. Kiki wandered up to her and whined.
"Smitten aren't ya girl" She asked in Japanese.
The dog cocked her golden head giving Kagome a questioning look.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. It happens to the best of us." She bent down and scratched between Kiki's ears. "Come on its breakfast time."
Kiki understood the word for breakfast whether it was spoken in English or Japanese. She did her best excited happy dance while wagging her tail and clicking her nails against the floor tiles.
