Chapter IX

Ninth Session

Standing there was a foolish thing to do. As if waiting for something to happen without knowing what. She had returned from Sango's place after having lunch and talked with her during her children's nap, so her day of visit came to a close when all of them woke up at the same time. Miroku told them he'd take care of it, so they could stay together a bit longer, however her friend Sango wasn't able to string two words together without losing focus to pay attention to their children. Kagome understood that, yet it was still a situation too alien to her, making her feel out of place.

She said her goodbyes in a mix of thanks and promises to come back soon.

Remember that in a month it will be the twins' birthday. Sango reiterated when Kagome reached the door.

After that, she walked towards the train station through the calm residential streets of her friend's neighborhood. Once inside the train, she began to think about how short five years seemed when she numbered the things Sango and Miroku had done in that time, their three kids, for example. However, for her five years seemed so long, as if her life lacked being lived, as if it was blank that entire time. In between those thoughts, those blind looks she cast on the book she was reading and the memories of old moments and some others not so old that still burned on her skin, she made the choice of stepping off the train one station before hers and go back the few streets that separated her from InuYasha's apartment.

What would he be doing on a Sunday?

Would he have company?

Would he be home?

Would he think about her?

No, she probably wouldn't be his priority on a Sunday, much less if she considered that he had declared himself a sex addict. In that moment she considered the possibility of being just Thursday's catch.

She huffed, knowing it was a foolish thing to wait there for something to happen. Then she saw through the window a light being turned on and that made her heart miss a beat, she felt it so clearly her chest hurt and soon a butterfly began to bat and dance inside her stomach, who she tried to freeze by placing a hand over that zone. Kagome became completely conscious that those weren't good signs. The light went off, and immediately the possibility of InuYasha being on his way down, installed itself in her mind. She could just leave, the most rational part of her mind told her that was exactly what she should do, however the number of emotions she was going through at the moment left her static in place.

She saw him appear after one or two minutes, and even before crossing the door between them his gaze was already staring at her.

Crap. Crap. Crap. It repeated inside her mind. She was wishing to see him and that look she could distinguish even despite the distance of one street between them.

She didn't stop watching him since he left the building. He was dressed as usual, with some casual pants, normally jeans, and a shirt covered in part by a sport jacket which gave him enough seriousness while also showing how young he was. What was his age?

Those were details you don't really ask a one-night stand, although they were already three-night stands.

InuYasha approached the border of the street, and despite that not being a zone for a person to cross on foot, he had looked to both sides before finding the chance to do so with a short run. Kagome took half a step back when he came closer than two meters.

"Hello." He said, and she hoped he wouldn't ask her what she was doing there. "What are you doing here?"

Crap.

"I was on my way to my apartment." She pointed the way almost by inertia. Right after she realized it had been a mistake.

"You live around here." It wasn't a question.

"More or less." She looked at the ground. InuYasha's eyes were impressive when up close and streaked by a ray of afternoon light, illuminating them like they were the only existing thing.

"And, then... You were passing by?"

Kagome noticed how her stomach contracted before his closeness and raised a hand, only a few centimeters, desiring to touch him. "Yes."

The monosyllable didn't help to lighten the energy sparking between them just by seeing each other and that had done nothing more than to intensify as they came close.

"And you stopped here because..." InuYasha's tone was that of someone who knows all the winning cards are in his hands and just couldn't find the right way to turn the game in his favor.

Kagome's gaze turned to the right; in the direction she came from. She took an instant to answer because she knew she was on the losing side. She mustered the courage to glance at InuYasha through the corner of her eyes and she could almost say his features held an innocent expression, if it wasn't because of the subtle smile betrayed by the slightly risen left-side of his mouth.

"You were going somewhere?" That moment of calm allowed her to evade the question with another.

"You are playing dirty. Alright." His smiled widened, bending his head a little down. That gesture made their conversation ever so intimate, as the distance between them didn't go over half a meter. "Yes, I'm going somewhere."

Now it was Kagome who couldn't help but smile.

For some reason she became rapt with the way he was handling that moment. She had the feeling that while by InuYasha's side she could let go without problem, without fear. That thought took her to the verge of that emotion, and her gaze met his once again.

"Do you have to go alone or... Can you take me somewhere?" She asked, distilling some of that provocative tone she had become so skillful at using the last few years.

"Only if you let me escort you to your street." InuYasha saw there the chance to get to know a little more about Kagome. Moreover, she was using that subtle smile he had discovered in their last meetings and that made her sensual and enigmatic to him.

He felt that encounter, in part due to fortune, was granting him an opportunity to do things better. Maybe the key was to start with casual questions about small things, to then proceed to the ones that really mattered. InuYasha's back straightened when he glimpsed through at those things that really mattered. To take a step towards a different relationship of the one they had until now was something that made him insecure, and he preferred the occasional encounter and without compromises; without pain.

"Alright, I'll let you escort me there." Accepted, Kagome.

His heart missed a beat in that particular way he had known once upon a time and he kept hidden inside himself. To feel caused pain, that was why it was best to just desire, enjoy and not let it last any longer past the climax of sex. However, there he was, yearning to kiss that woman in front of him until she told him all of her stories.

"Let's go, then." He smiled at her, and began to walk besides her, guiding her.

InuYasha immediately realized the distance of one meter they usually kept between them, had halved.

"You'll tell me Where are we going?" Kagome's question sounded sneaky, much more than what she usually is. Her normal way was to show a permanent air of confidence and control.

"Intrigued?" He wanted to play with the answer, and that began to create a carefree ambience between them.

The sunset was beginning to highlight the horizon, and it wouldn't be long until the street's lights would be turned on.

"No, I just want to know If I'm going to get bored." That sincerity wasn't new, albeit InuYasha knew she only wielded it on the surface.

"Oh, I'm sure you will and you'll reproach me for it." He continued.

"What an expectation. Maybe I should just deviate and go back to my apartment to watch a bad Sunday movie." Kagome wished to prolong that light conversation. It felt good to only talk, it was comfortable.

"That's what you want?" InuYasha's tone of voice came as suggestive, and sincere at the same time, with a little dose of naive hope. Kagome needed to put some effort in defining such a mix, as she was more used to dealing with men that sought either to be seductive, or not, there wasn't anything else. The question seemed inoffensive, yet she couldn't answer it.

"Have you answered the survey they gave us?" She wanted to say something to break that thread of dialogue.

InuYasha halted his pace for a second, then continued it, finding that sudden change of conversation quite strange.

"Really? You want to talk about that?" He wasn't up to pretending he accepted that turn.

"A topic, like any other." Kagome wasn't up to letting go of her control and much less to confess she wanted to stay in his company, and that was the only reason he had found her in front of his building.

"Oh, of course." He said, ironically, "Did you know Mercury surrounds the sun four times in what the Earth takes to do it once?"

Now it was Kagome who stopped to look at him. InuYasha did the same.

"Why talk about that?" the question danced in her voice, swaying between anger and enjoyment.

"Do you really want to talk about the therapy?" As always, InuYasha came as much more honest than what she was used to handling.

"Why not?" He understood Kagome wouldn't grant him any space and despite seeking to keep himself focused on the conversation, he became distracted an instant by the mouth he yearned to kiss. His lips thinned for a second, enough to breathe a little deeper.

"Alright, let it be so." He preferred to continue with the topic she chose. "Do you have a desire for something, and have you made any efforts to halt that desire without success?" He recited her a question from the survey out of memory.

Kagome remained in silence for a moment, as she didn't remember the questions and that one had surprised her.

"You haven't even answered the first one" InuYasha sentenced, as they made their way.

"No, not that one." She didn't want to give in.

"Then, answer." He stood in front of her and looked directly in her eyes as he walked backwards. "Do you have desires of something, and have you made any efforts to halt said desire without success?"

Kagome parted her lips when she found herself thinking of him, but not exactly in the way her addiction would ask of her, but wishing to be with InuYasha like this a bit longer: strolling, talking and maybe kissing in some portal. Ever more after that private tone he had mixed in his voice when asking the question.

"And?" He insisted, when he noticed her looking at his lips while remaining silent.

"Of course, the sex." Kagome tried with all her might to stay in a secure zone for her.

"With me?" That sole phrase, full of intent in her companion's voice, made her hold a breath in order to not let a shiver slip through. She couldn't stop looking at him, and feared that little crevice of vulnerability she was feeling, were to suddenly escape through her words or some gesture she couldn't control.

"A Sunday?" She spat as soon as she could. She wanted to seem brave and carefree, so that InuYasha wouldn't notice how much he perturbed her.

"I see now!" He shouted, rising his tone just a bit. "I'm your guy for Thursdays."

He stopped and waited for her to do the same, staying a short distance from him.

"Maybe..." Her gaze caressed his neck, chest and one of his silverly locks falling over it, his mouth; she didn't want to meet his eyes. She went back to his chest, and thought of how she would have liked him to wear a collar around it for her to hold herself, now that she was starting to lose it.

"So, you have a boy for Mondays and Tuesdays," With every day he numbered, the distance between them shortened, and his voice became deeper. "And Wednesdays. "She became conscious of how InuYasha rose his arms a few centimeters, as if wanting to hug her. She could almost feel the warmth of his skin. Finally, she sought his eyes.

"Maybe..." She whispered, and moistened her lower lip, her tongue never showing itself.

InuYasha let out the air he held, in an effort to not touch her and succumb to her. He needed more of the woman in front of him, he needed to be her boy of every day. The uncertain sensation installed in his stomach told him so, and yes, he wanted to kiss her, and yes, he wanted to embrace her until she lost her breath between his arms. However, the unrest he felt was also a definite warning: No.

"And your Sunday boy, failed you?" the question came as a murmur.

He kept his composure in check, trying to never move any sliver of space closer to her. If he had to question his own emotions, he'd wish Kagome showed her their desires were aligned just a bit. It was hard to throw oneself to the abyss without some minimal precaution.

"No, this day I usually reserve it." She became aware of how much her body wished to embrace him, kiss him, and that excited her in the same measure it frightened her. The control usually wielded in her hand began to slip through her fingers, like every time she was with InuYasha and his potent emotivity.

Could he be conscious of that power he possessed?

"For what?" She heard him hold his breath.

For a moment she met an epiphany: He wasn't aware of the sensuality he distilled, and this one wasn't related to his physical beauty, which was prominent. Kagome felt tempted to take advantage of that leverage she believed to have; however, soon enough she knew she couldn't. A deep part of her recognized beauty, and he was beautiful in many ways.

"To take a stroll with my Thurday's boy." She touched his chest, in a gesture meant to be sweet and to serve as a conduct for the energy swirling between them.

InuYasha watched her an instant, not sure of being able to read what her chestnut gaze hid, but he could glimpse something in there, and was more than willing to explore it.

"In that case, let's take a stroll." He accepted and surrounded her shoulders with one arm. In this way, he created a carefree gesture which could be considered either one made between friends, or made between lovers.

He attempted to convince himself that closeness wasn't a problem, he had walked before with some casual partner before after all; however, he had never seen any of them more than once.

She let go, feeling the warmth of that man who seemed to handle her without reticence. Kagome looked at their feet, moving in sync without them even thinking about it. That was a comfortable tension. For a moment, she shuffled the idea of taking the hand on her shoulder, however she limited that contact to hold the corner of his jacket.

"And you are taking me to...?" She asked, enjoying the pleasure of that walk.

"Do you like ramen?" He looked at her and smiled.

Kagome became rapt, once more, at the honesty beneath that golden curtain in his eyes.

"Yes."

To be continued.

N/A

Every chapter begins with a basic idea and a goal to achieve. Curiously, on the way, InuYasha and Kagome play with my quill and go in circles as much as they want.

And I'm delighted!

I love when characters live.

Thank you for reading and accompanying me in this adventure to create.

Kisses

Anyara.

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart