Chapter XXVI

Twenty sixth session

Every time Kagome had to climb the stairs to the temple, she'd count them. It was a habit stuck to her since the time she used to go to school and counting helped her remember the numbers. Then she used it to learn additions and multiplications, until it became a routine just to clear her mind.

When she reached the step number ninety-six, of the hundred that composed the stairs, she became able to see the lights, which were already turned on. Her grandfather was quite keen into making sure that everything was perfect around those special days, which he said should be remembered so that: we don't forget we also belong to the earth.

The sun could barely keep an orange streak on the horizon, which was quickly being consumed by the dark blue which could already let the light of some star through. Many times she would think about going to a place where one could see the stars freely, without the city lights in the way. Lately she'd also think about how she'd like to do that trip together with InuYasha, and that thought chained with another: he hadn't answered yet the message she left him a few hours ago.

She sighed, and glanced at the wrist he had passionately kissed the day before. At the moment, she didn't think about it, yet right there she had a tiny scar, a little longer than a centimeter, which she had done to herself a few years ago. InuYasha kissed it, without even knowing, not knowing what he had removed from her later. She pulled her sleeve down and covered that little mark which was almost invisible if you weren't looking for it.

She lifted her gaze and observed the house she grew up in, feeling that detachment she'd been noticing for years now, more than anything with that Kagome she once was. In the moment the thought appeared she decided she didn't want her mind to take her down that road, it hurt and she didn't want pain.

Her steps took her to the house, and stopped in front of the door for a moment, she usually needed that moment before smiling to her mother as soon as she saw her. It was strange, because she loved her mother, however she had a hard time holding an honest talk with her as it seemed as she always knew what her daughter was thinking, even if she was wrong. Sometimes Kagome believed that, in her mother's need to keep everything in order, she was unable to trust in someone else's decisions.

The door opened all of a sudden, even before she touched it.

"Kagome." Her mother seemed surprised, and was carrying a box of incense. "What are you doing here? Why haven't you come in?" She looked behind her, as if looking for something.

"Hi mom, Need help?" She knew her gaze was checking is she had come alone, so she deflected the topic.

"Oh, yes. Sure." She handed her the box. "You know how it goes."

Kagome nodded, as her mother went back inside. Of course she knew. She had lived in this temple almost her whole life, and came to the celebrations her grandfather held each month and a half. So, she approached the stone incense burners that were placed strategically at the temple's entrance and right beside the main shrine. When placing and lighting the incense sticks at the latter, she decided to rise a pray to the gods. She stood in front of the wooden image of the goddess Amaterasu, and joined her hands in front of her chest, closing her eyes. The slightly sweet aroma coming off from the sandalwood incense enveloped her, and in a short instant she felt comforted. She prayed for her family, for her grandfather, who was advanced in years, for Buyo, who was an old cat that had been living with them for years now, and then she halted her thoughts when InuYasha came into her mind. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted to separate her hands and take her session of praying as finished, however, she had that sensation of when you think something may fall and break because you didn't pay attention. She closed her eyes and joined her hands again to ask Amaterasu to look out for that kind man, and she also made sure to clarify it should happen even beyond her presence.

I don't care what he does with his life, it isn't for me, is for him, just because, just like I'd ask for any other person.

With such a flustered chain of sentences, she made her plea, and thanked before taking a step back from the shrine.

"Kagome."

She heard her name and turned around to look at the source of it.

"Hojō" She couldn't quite say to be surprised.

The young-man began to climb the short stairs between them. They had been classmates during high school, and it wasn't a secret to anyone who knew them that he was interested in her, not even to her mother; and there laid the question.

"I'm happy to see you." Hojō commented, once only two steps separated them.

Kagome didn't know how to answer, she felt intimidated by how close he was, forced in a way her mind couldn't quite get rid of, hence she couldn't feel happy to see him.

"Have you come to celebrate the beginning of winter?" she asked, skipping the part where she'd be impolite.

"You could say that." He accepted, and lowered his gaze.

Kagome almost sighed out of impotence before that attitude close to sweetness the young-man had, and the worst part was that she knew it wasn't faked; Hojō was like that, he was so through middle school, then high school. They had been close to dating a few years ago, before she changed. If she wanted, she could take him to bed in ten minutes, it was clear, yet it wasn't her plan. Except for once, maybe, when she was a bit drunk after the new year's dinner with some friends from high school and Hojō.

"I have to go home." Kagome pointed out, hoping to lighten the awkward conversation before it began.

"Of course." He stood aside.

For Kagome, it was clear he felt comfortable in her home, her mother made him feel that way, for he was, after all, the perfect boyfriend her daughter never had.

"How is Souta?" the question caught her by surprise.

"Well enough. We talk through messages." She didn't like to think about how detached she was from her family, and much less to let it show, even if just a glimpse. "But you can ask him, there he comes."

And it was true. Her brother approached them in a short run as soon as he saw them, greeting Hojō with an informal hand gesture, then turned towards her.

"Hi." He said, simply, without even the hint of an attempt to close the distance.

She smiled, after all, that was something she had sown, and was supposedly content with.

InuYasha had just started his five-minute break from work, and was now looking, again, at the message Kagome had left him in the morning.

I can't meet you today, I have a matter to attend. I can call you once I've returned to the apartment, if you want.

The day before they had a moment, he was sure of it. His gut and heart were screaming it, and those two never failed him, regardless of the situation being pleasant or not. They agreed to meet tonight, when he got off work. However, during the morning, after going out for a run, he found that message which actually didn't say anything concrete, just that they wouldn't see each other.

He still hadn't answered it.

A part of him wanted to do it, and tell Kagome yes, that she should call him as soon as she reached her apartment and that if she wanted he could come to see her, regardless of the hour. However, he needed to protect himself, for he felt much more vulnerable than normal, he was practically handing her the knife with which she could carve his chest open and touch his heart, and that scared him.

He saw then that another message had reached him, it was from Shiori. He'd read it later, as her messages were usually long.

"InuYasha." Iku called him. His time to rest had ended.

"Coming."

He looked at Kagome's message one more time, then the picture he'd taken the day before. He even dreamed of taking her dress off that night.

He sighed, put the phone in his jacket's pocket and went back to work.

"Tell us, Hojō. How is your new job?" Kagome's mother always liked to keep a cheerful conversation. Kagome, on her part, simply tried to be there without attracting too much attention to herself.

"Quite good, Miss Higurashi. They've asked me to remain this semester, and after evaluating my performance we'll talk about making me permanent." He explained.

Kagome remained silent, sitting at the stairs, while her mother and Hojō were standing beside her.

"I'm glad. Did you hear, Kagome?" She commented to her daughter.

She moved her gaze away from the lost point in which she'd set it, for doing so helped her allow other thoughts to occupy her mind.

"What? Sorry, I was distracted." She accepted.

"Of course." By the tone her mother used, she only missed the chance to add the usual: how surprising. "Hojō kun was talking about his job, and how they are going to give him a permanent place."

"Well, they may make me permanent." The young-man took the care to clarify, with his usual honest tone.

Kagome stared at those brown eyes he had, wondering why his honesty and qualities never reached her more deeply throughout the years they'd known each other, and yet InuYasha could perturb her in just a few weeks.

Well, there was the sex fact, and that she had never experienced it with Hojō, however she only had to see InuYasha to know she wanted to sleep with him. Maybe, simply, she just met them at different moments in her life.

"That's good news Hojō, I'm happy for you." She said, at the end of that reflection which no one would ever know.

He smiled, then evaded her gaze only to return to it a second later.

"By the way, I have some cinema tickets, for tomorrow." There it was, Kagome knew that at some point of the evening that moment would come, and she always felt incredibly bad for refusing, as much for Hojō as for the call of attention she usually got from her mother afterwards.

She took in some air, and looked inside her for the best loving tone she could use to give him a negative.

"Kagome." She heard her name and turned around. It was her grandfather. "I need help with this."

I'm saved. She thought.

Her grandfather was trying to lift a wooden figure which usually laid facing the entrance, and that for the ceremony he needed it to be right beside the sacred tree that was inside the temple.

"I'll go." Announced Hojō, going down the stairs, not giving time for a complain nor an answer. Kagome thought that maybe, after so many similar results, he already could guess what she'd say.

"Thank you." She muttered as he passed by her side.

She remained there, looking at the scene of that young-man helping her grandfather, he was a good person, and would have made a great couple with her friend Ayumi.

"He is a good boy, you should give him a chance." Her mother began to say. Since Kagome saw Hojō arrive, she knew that conversation was due to appear at some point.

"We've already talked about this, mom." She wanted to sound kind and clear.

"That boy adores you, and he's done so since I know him. All of your friends are already married or on their way to do so. What are you doing with your life, Kagome?" Her mother's words were usually like this, she couldn't remember a time when her own vision of the world hadn't been overshadowed by her mother's.

She stood up and tidied up her dress.

"At least try, daughter." She looked at her mother, with the clear idea of cutting the topic there, however she saw what made her halt her sharp words every single time; a genuine love, as genuine as her mother knew how, because not every love was the same, and each and every one gave only as much as they knew how.

She took a deep, deep breath and nodded softly. She knew her mother only wanted to be sure she was alright.

"I'll try. I'll go out with him and try." She accepted. Albeit that didn't mean she'd change her mind about Hojō.

Obviously, her mother hugged her breath out of her. Kagome couldn't say she didn't like those gestures of love; however, she couldn't help thinking she'd prefer if her mother hugged her just because of her being there, without conditions in the middle. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Hojō was observing them, curious.

It was past midnight when InuYasha found himself climbing the last stairstep of the building he lived at to reach the fourth floor. He played with the keys in his hand and felt his phone vibrate inside his jacket's pocket: he had a message from Shiori.

Thank you for the beer, I had a good time.

He stopped in the middle of the corridor, and messaged her back.

I'm glad. Did you arrive well?

He took the few steps separating him from his door, and introduced the key inside the lock as she received another message.

Perfectly. I'm already at home. Thank you.

Very well. Have a good night.

At a first glance, the messages didn't say anything about the relationship both of them had. The girl was kind and quite innocent, he could laugh with her and have a good time. If he meditated about it calmly, he didn't have friends to go out with just to have fun for a couple of hours without any other idea than that, and Shiori gave him that chance. He didn't know the exact intentions the girl had, yet his instinct told him that if he were to want to take her to bed, he could do so, and if the only thing he wanted was a friend, he'd also have that with her. He wasn't sure of what feelings she aroused in him, maybe he had seen himself in her innocence, back when he was only a few years younger than her.

He took his shoes off as he went in, and left the phone on the bed to start undressing, take a shower and sleep. He stretched his neck, he was tired, it had been a long day. He undid the buttons of his shirt and while he did so, his gaze fell on his phone, thinking that maybe it was time to leave aside the pride that had taken him to leave Kagome's message unanswered throughout the whole day. However, not knowing exactly what was that thing she needed to do, and was stopping her from seeing him today, made him question that step; after all, if she wanted to tell him, she would have done so in the first message, yet given how it was written, it gave the impression he didn't even deserve an explanation.

He breathed in a lungful of air, seeking to feel a bit less aggrieved, and let it out little by little. Then, he heard his phone ring, even before finishing his exercise to calm himself down. It was a call, not a message, and he found it strange. So, he took the device in his hands and looked at the picture of Kagome, dancing, waiting for him to answer. He knew he had little time to do so, two or three seconds before she cut the call, and his decision was to let them pass. The phone fell silent then, and InuYasha kept it between his hands a bit, waiting to know what would his tired brain decide. The phone rang again, and this time he answered without waiting much.

He didn't realize it was a video-call until Kagome appeared on the screen.

"Hi." He greeted her, making a gesture with his hand, trying to appear relaxed.

"Hi."

To be continued.

A/N

This chapter in particular shows us a few pieces of what lays beneath these two's sheets.

I've received some lovely comments which have served me as fuel to feed the muses who write this story. I'll answer to them little by little.

Thank you for reading, and keeping me company.

Kisses,

Anyara.

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart