Chapter XXXI

Thirty first session

Meeting with Kōga had been something completely casual, and she came close to thinking there had to be some sort of astrological conjunction which was bent on taking away her calm that day, for she couldn't find any other reason for her emotion to be that tangled up. If she were one to believe in the prophecies from the universe, she'd say it was definitely realigning something in her life.

They got off the train together and began to walk while chatting about the weather, how cold it was starting to be or how soon they would be able to see snow. The next topic came from an ad they saw at the station's exit that announced a musical of an animated movie that was well known, until he mentioned what was nuclear for them.

"It's been a long time since we last saw each other." The phrase had a clear connotation for Kagome, it had been quite a few weeks since they did, for she was even delegating work matters.

She didn't know how to answer that, not believing she needed to explain herself.

"Let's grab a drink." Kōga's tone was friendly, his invitation didn't seem to harbour any hidden intentions, and she knew him already, and for a long time, to know.

"We don't do those things." She wanted to sound friendly, yet make clear her intent, that they were only sex-friends.

"That's true. We did other things." She should have predicted the comment, and the teasing involved in it. She had to admit he possessed some innate seduction skills.

Laughing before her own lack of brightness, she thought once again the day was placing before her some very strange situations.

"Alright, maybe we can now do these things." She tried to give a transitional feel to that encounter.

Kōga was a smart man, he'd know how to interpret it, although she wasn't sure if he'd like that kind of new relationship. From the start they agreed on being clear when being or not in the kind of relationship they had, and she was aware of she'd kept him in that zone of possibilities if she ever needed to seek refuge in a good session of sex. She still thought about it like that, it was hard for her to let go of that part that needed control and security.

"On top of the other things, right?" He smiled with such presumption when saying it, she couldn't help smiling along.

The morning began quite early for him, he had barely slept and his mind wouldn't leave him alone. He woke up more than once throughout the five hours of sleep he could manage, and each time his first thought was of Kagome. He felt annoyed by that light of obsession the matter was acquiring for him, even more after a whole day passed with her not contacting him once. Although it was true he could have called her or left her a message, inside him there were two powers clashing against each other: the fear and something resembling love. Before that clash the world stopped, paralyzed, and he was unable to make decisions. So, he went out to run fairly early, when the sun could be barely seen on the horizon and the streets were still being illuminated by artificial lights. It was the moment of the morning he liked the most, the one that cleared his mind and made him feel less pessimistic and sad.

He managed to do just a bit more than five kilometres, so he saw his phone measured now that he'd reached the gate of the building. He thought it enough to oxygenate his body and be able relax under the shower. His gaze sought the store that sold bread, just in case it was opened on a Sunday, and found out it was. After the run, he had a craving of a nice bun with cream, knowing it would be to go overboard with the sugar, yet sweetness was exactly what he needed right now. The shopgirl smiled at him with politeness, a young woman who seemed to want to earn something on a Sunday's shift, while she still studied. Walking back to the building, he tried to recall if he still had some grains of coffee to prepare, for it was one of his weaknesses.

He began to go up the stairs, climbing two steps with each stride, huffing slightly to keep the rhythm and reach the floor where he lived. He felt the sweat like a thin layer on his body and skin. He couldn't wait to reach the shower and let his muscles relax underneath the hot water. It was such the desire he could already feel the relief of such sensation on his body.

When reaching the landing of the stairs, he began to rummage through the keys in his hand, to find the one that would open the door. He didn't expect to find Kagome seating on the floor, using the wall to rest her back as she held her legs against her chest.

They gazes locked for an instant, without anyone muttering a word. She had in her hand a paper bag much like his own. He watched her standing up and shaking the back of her grey dress.

"Hi." She said, with a certain shyness he saw, highlighted by the blush on her cheeks.

"Hi." He felt like answering, not adding anything more, then walked up to the door and opened it.

Once inside, he left it open yet didn't invite her in, not rejecting her presence either; to be honest, he didn't even know how to greet her. Should a kiss do the trick like with any conventional couple?

"I brought you something for breakfast." She mentioned from the genkan, without taking her shoes off or coming in. She didn't close the door either.

InuYasha looked at her and tried to make his heart cease the crazy sprint it was running.

"Don't just stay there, come in." He said. "I'll make some coffee."

He caught on her features the beginning of a smile, and stopped looking at her out of fear of not being able to take his gaze away.

His hand began to prepare some things in the kitchen, as Kagome watched his movements from the other side of the bar that separated them. There, some high stools were placed for those who wanted to eat, which they'd used it a few times already. He could see her leaving on one of them her purse and her bag.

"I'll take a quick shower while the water boils." He mentioned, not meeting her eyes more than two seconds.

"Maybe it wasn't the best idea to drop by unannounced." He heard her mutter in something barely more than a whisper, and it seemed to him she was holding back her breath.

"I'm still angry with you, but I don't want you to go. Give me a moment." He chose sincerity, believing it to be the best course. He wasn't happy, but he still felt relieved to have her there.

His gaze caught her nodding without a word.

He went into the bathroom and closed the door, taking out his shirt not even two steps inside. As soon as he saw Kagome he realized how strong his feelings for her were, and how bad he was handling them. He'd promised himself to give her space and time for her usual barriers to dissolve little by little, at the pace she needed. However, a part of him hoped, while the other would often tell him he was just wasting his time.

The shower refreshed his body, and his ideas too, albeit slightly. He perceived that warmth through his back and allowed himself a couple of minutes to feel the hits from the drops of water on that zone. When he finished rinsing his hair, he closed the tap and took a towel to start drying himself, realizing, and only then, he hadn't brought any clothes with him. He ironically laughed at how absurd the situation was, knowing he'd have to exit the bathroom half-naked. How was it possible for him to worry about such a thing?

He tied the towel around his waist, dried his hair a bit with the other, applying some pressure so that the water would remain on the cloth. Then, he took a breath and went out the bathroom, looking sideways at Kagome who was in the kitchen, placing the buns on a couple of plates.

"The coffee will be ready soon." He heard her say.

"Thanks." Was all he answered with, as he sought some clean clothes inside the drawers he kept by one side of his bed.

He looked at Kagome once gain as she poured the hot water on the coffee, she did so softly so that it emulsified before falling through the filter and into the jar, just like he once explained to her. Taking advantage of the moment, while she was busy, he to let go of the tower, careful of keeping his front covered, sat and put on his underwear in an absurd burst of shame. He introduced one foot in his clothes, then the other, to then lift the garment to his thigh, and in that moment stand up and with a quick movement, lift it entirely and let the tower fall.

"Crap!" Kagome's shout came with the sound of something crashing against the ground.

"What's wrong?" He reacted immediately, reaching her in just a few quick steps. She had turned towards the sink, and was now letting some cold water fall on her hand.

"I dropped some hot water on myself." She clicked her tongue. "Just a dumb thing."

"But, how did it happen?" To pour some water on the coffee filter didn't require a degree.

He heard her sigh.

"I got distracted looking at you." She admitted, almost with reticence, and lifted her gaze before his dumbfounded expression. "You are handsome, don't judge me."

He stared at her. Kagome only met his eyes for the briefest of times, as if avoiding them. He surrounded her with an arm and leaned in search of her mouth with his own, feeling her tense during the first second, only for it to turn into a whisper that sounded like relief and acceptance. The tap water was still running, and he couldn't but think how his emotions right there were just like it, flowing unceasing.

He freed her from the kiss, and remained there, focused on what he may glimpse in her eyes.

"I missed you." He heard her saying, and that was almost like a sedative to his heart.

"And I, you."

He understood words were lacking in front of what he felt inside his chest, and through that also, that he couldn't find any other that could represent it. He stopped the water current and held her closer, taking a few short steps backwards and so avoid the fragments of the cup that had shattered against the floor.

"Let me see." he loosened his embrace and asked for her hand, which was now a shade redder around the curve between the thump and the index.

"It's nothing, it will pass." She tried to lessen the matter.

"Wait, I have something good for this."

Turning to the left, he opened a narrow door of one cupboard that was within his reach and brought out a small flash with a green ointment.

"This is something my mother makes with herbs she picks up during the summer. I grew up in a town surrounded by mountains and flora." He explained as he took some of the ointment with a finger, then applied it on the zone she had burnt herself.

Kagome could notice how she moved her hand away instinctively, escaping from the pain, and her mind made a strange connection between that gesture and how she would usually hush him with kisses. Her gaze fell to his mouth, without him noticing, and went back to his action.

"Thanks." He heard her say.

He smiled at her, kind, only wanting her to be alright.

"C'mon, sit on the other side and wait until I clean this." He asked, referring to the fragments of the shattered piece of ceramic that were now decorating the floor.

"I'm sorry." He heard her mutter.

"Why? For making me clean the kitchen while in my underwear?"

He smiled more openly, and went along, yet her cheeks took on a redder shade without ever looking at him.

"You can look my way, you know?" He pointed at her eyes when she followed the gesture of his hand. "All the time. I don't want more accidents."

Kagome opened her eyes, trying to appear offended, immediately retorting.

"As if I haven't already seen you with way less clothes than this!" She introduced the fingers of her healthy hand between the belt of his underwear and him, then pull at it only to release it shortly after, slapping the gum against his skin.

"Ouch." He let out as an answer. "It's not me the one that got burn just by looking."

He watched her open her mouth while looking straight into his eyes, then take a breath only to try to say something she couldn't find inside her thoughts, and finally, she pressed her lower lip with her teeth, showing the purest expression of the pleasant defeat she had just accepted. Then she went and left him a kiss on the cheek, close to the corner of his lips, only to pull away to the other side of the bar.

He couldn't help thinking that, sometimes, the little calamities were able to accommodate the energy of a situation.

His hands carefully picked up the cup's fragments, which was his favorite. He bought it at a near market, his first purchase since he'd began living alone, and was painted by hand with an emerald blue on which you could see the painter's strokes.

"I'm sorry." He heard her say. "Was it important to you?"

"The cup?" Suddenly, he became aware of how daily that scene was, with both of them as protagonists, and that warmed his heart. "No, it was just a cup."

He knew that hint of happiness was well worth a unique item.

"I'm glad." He heard her relief. "In any case, I owe you a cup."

She smiled, because she also felt happiness, and wanted to show it.

"Alright, I'll take you up on that."

He could notice Kagome's conformity, who directed her gaze elsewhere then, to some lost place through the window, albeit he was sure she had just lost herself in some of her own thoughts which she would probably not share.

"It's cold outside." He heard her break the silence.

"Yes, we are a month away from winter." He accepted, despite how strange the comment was.

He found curious how even a trivial conversation could add relevance when you are trying to reach a person.

"Even so, I'd like to invite you to spend the day outside." She linked the idea with the previous one.

"Outside?" He let the ceramic fragments fall inside the trash bin, then directed his gaze towards her, as if she needed to explain herself further.

Up until now they had shared very few activities outside and different from what they did in bed, and almost all of them were just preambles to it. In more than one occasion he thought about only spending the night with her, sharing an intimacy without sex.

"Yes, I'd like it." He caught how the phrase lost its strength as it came out of her, as if the terrain Kagome was treading were strange or unsafe for her.

"Do you know where you want to go? Do you want us to do an itinerary?" He tried to cheer her up, as he washed his hands.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, and could see that beautiful expression illuminate her eyes as when innocence takes hold of her. Usually, it would only last a second, or a thought, however that was enough for him to feel content.

"I've thought of a place." She accepted. That expression of innocent was still shining inside her chestnut brown of her iris.

He turned towards her, resting his elbows on the worktop as he dried his hands with a kitchen towel.

"Do tell." He asked, shorting the distance between their faces.

He felt the delicate caress of her hands on his cheek, her iris still shining with that candid illusion as her features got closer to kiss him. He didn't know what magic inhabited Kagome's kisses, yet his heart seemed to grow wings.

To be continued.

A/N

It fills me with love to write about these characters. About these days I realize it's been a year since I began to do so again, and I feel like it was only last month.

Thank you so much for keeping me company with IZON SHŌ and remember I'm publishing KOTODAMA, and that the releases will intertwine until the first one ends.

Kisses,

Anyara.

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart