IZON SHŌ

Chapter XXXVII

Thirty seventh session

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"To wish something, isn't the same as willing something into being."

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Kagome!

She tensed up as soon as she heard her name, it was her brother calling, so she concluded her mother had seen her arrive, and not alone.

"Tell her I'll be there soon!" The room's door was open, so Souta should be able to hear her.

Good.

She perceived an answer given with less enthusiasm than the first statement.

InuYasha's hands were still around her in that intimate way of his, keeping her stuck to his body as if wanting to make her part of him, and Kagome could only think about how good it felt... and that she should pull him away to go out.

"We have to go." she mentioned, her gaze set on the lips that had been about to kiss her.

"You brought me only to tempt me." He muttered, her focus still prisoner of how his mouth moved.

A brief silence followed, through which InuYasha moistened his lips slowly, almost brutally so, yet elegantly so as well... as Kagome remained captive of that gesture, and of the pressure of his fingers on her body.

"Are you seeing something you like?" He asked.

In that moment she met his eyes, and that was even worse. She sighed and InuYasha smiled widely, letting out a laugh that echoed quite clearly through the solitary and silent house.

"Let's go to the sanctuary." Kagome asked, not moving.

InuYasha held her more firmly so that she wouldn't lose her balance as he took a step towards the door, guiding her backwards, and feeling how softly she was letting herself be led. Kagome even thought about how comfortable it felt to just trust him.

"Let's go." he accepted, before taking her lips in his; a lone movement of catching, tasting and letting go, the rhythm just right as to wake her desires without granting them.

He turned her around by the shoulders, and from there he gave her a little push towards the stairs.

"We'll leave soon." He heard her say, and smiled behind her.

The situation was strange, this was her home, the place in which she grew up and, obviously, the room they just left was still that of a teenager, an exposed sweet picture of a Kagome among study books.

They walked down the stairs in complete silence, one behind the other, listening to their own steps as their weight drew complains from the wood. Once they reached the first floor, Kagome extended a hand behind her, expecting InuYasha to understand her wish to hold his. For her, it was particular act of insecurity, seeking in him something to steel herself, completely aware of the madness it implied the act of bringing him here and expecting everyone to think they were some sort of colleagues; and quite sure that once they crossed the door outside, the bubble holding them would become exposed, and would quite probably burst.

"Kagome." He heard him say, making her look behind her sideways. Their eyes met, his gaze honest, and she knew he was going to kiss her.

Her hand was still being held when he placed another on her hip, to keep her close before leaning and giving her the kiss she needed. In that moment, the doorknob turned and Kagome recognized the sound of the door opening from the many years she had lived here.

"Are you still not dressed, Kagome?" The woman fell mute inmediately, her gaze now fixed on InuYasha. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just came in like an oni while looking for my daughter." She smiled then.

"Mom, this is InuYasha." She gestured towards him with an open hand.

"I'm glad to meet you." He bowed slightly, with reverence.

"I'm glad too, InuYasha." She answered, her smile still on, everything quite polite.

"You wanted me to change?" Kagome abruptly interrupted, almost impertinently so. Her mother looked at her, surprised.

"That's right, your grandfather wants you by his side to grant the blessings." She explained once the emotion passed.

"Alright, I'll be ready in a moment." She replied, diligent, almost a bit too anxious to do as her mother told her.

InuYasha observed the situation for an instant, and remained silent, waiting. Kagome went up the stairs a few steps, leaving him with her mother as if he had to say or do something, abandoning him to his luck. Fortunately, she seemed to react, looking back. He knew that expression, the ideas dancing inside her chestnut brown eyes.

"You wanted traditional clothing." She declared, making him understand that what had once been said as a joke was now a fact.

"Hmm, I do?" InuYasha hesitated, wondering how many years of independence and adulthood he was losing in this experience, by feeling so self-conscious between the girl that had caught his interest, and her mother.

"Yes, that's right. Come, I'll take you where the clothes are." Kagome descended a few steps and took InuYasha by the wrist before pulling towards the house interior.

"Kagome, maybe your... "Her mother spoke, manifesting in her obvious pause her doubt as to in what capacity was InuYasha here.

"InuYasha." Kagome replied.

"Your InuYasha?"

"Partner." She corrected. "Classmate. From cooking class." She was making a mess, she knew, and so took a deep breath.

"Well, I just want to say that maybe InuYasha doesn't want to wear them." Her mother was trying to be polite, even in the middle of this chaotic situation.

"Don't worry." InuYasha intervened, thinking he was helping Kagome, who right now was clutching his wrist with such strength, he believed she was cutting the blood flow to his hand. "I do want to live the experience fully, even more if Kagome will change too.

He wasn't comfortable lying, so he didn't, simply voicing the part of the truth he could use. The woman nodded, with the same neutral politeness she'd shown until now and from which he could not read anything. Maybe she thought her daughter's classmate from her cooking class was amenable, or maybe a strange character she hoped to be rid of soon; both were plausible.

"Come." Kagome insisted, leading him through the corridor by the stairs.

"I'll wait for you by the shamusho with your grandfather." Her mother said, seemingly calm.

InuYasha let himself be taken by a Kagome who sighed three times before coming by a closet, right by one side of the kitchen.

"Alright." She said, sliding open the furniture's doors. "We have light blue." She gestured towards one of the hung garments. "We have gray." She picked both, one in each hand. "Which one would you wear?"

She made the question while looking at his eyes, her features inexpressive, quite clearly as a result of what had just happened.

"I could wear the blue one, if I wanted to let half my leg bare." he pointed at the supposed height. "So I think I'll choose between the gray one, or the gray one."

Kagome observed the blue pants; it was obvious it had been made for someone shorter than InuYasha, maybe Souta or her grandpa. She clicked her tongue, the gray color looked insipid and sad, and after some meditation, she recalled something.

"I know!" She said with so much enthusiasm, InuYasha became bewildered; given her most recent mood, the contrast was stark. He saw her hanging both garments and closing the doors.

"What's with you?" He asked in a smile, wanting to joke about a bit with her; he liked to see her so cheerful. However, she was going through so many emotions that day he wondered if it was a good idea to add a restless laugh.

"Come with me." This time, she intertwined their fingers in a kinder gesture than her previous pull.

They came near the stairs, then climbed up to the second floor. Once there, Kagome opened another closet by the landing between her room and another door.

"Here it is." she mentioned, bringing out something red that remained folded inside one of the closet's shelves. "This one will look good on you."

"Red?" It wasn't the first time he'd wear something red, yet it was still strange to find such a color on a traditional garment.

"Yes, red. This style belongs to the Heian period." She began explaining, as they walked towards her room. "And that makes it quite special." She then extended it on the bed, then invited him to look at the kosode with a different cut than the traditional they usually wore, and with a peculiar way in which the hakama ended; with a pleat tight around the ankle, which in turn made the pants look as if swelled. "It'll fit you perfectly."

There was charm in that last sentence. InuYasha looked at her as she observed the garment, and thought that falling in love was indeed harmful for his criteria and appearance.

"Do you like it" The question came with a wide, intense smile; full of life, which he wasn't in any kind of position to ignore.

"Of course." The clothes didn't matter, it was her smile what kept him captive.

"Alright, put it on. I'm going to change too." She started towards the closet inside her own room. "I don't want my mother to come back for us."

He looked back at the garments on the bed, and noted, once more, that the only thing pretty in there was Kagome's smile.

He conscientiously dressed, stretching every cloth and tying every lace, even the one he had to wear over the whole of the garment. Kagome had disappeared a few minutes ago, almost the same he spent putting the clothes on. By the time she appeared again, he was already tying up the cord around his waist, responsible of holding his pants.

"I love how it looks on you." she said, looking at him from the door appreciatively. InuYasha smiled and formed his own opinion about what she was wearing. Red hakama and white hitoe, with a red string resting on her chest.

"Shrine maiden?" He asked. The garments were familiar to him, from the times he went to the temple with his mother.

"That's right, my grandfather wants me to be one." She smiled, getting closer. "Are you wearing the collar?" She asked, feeling his chest with her open hand.

"I am." He sought the pearls and showed them through an opening of his hitoe.

"Don't wear it beneath it, I'm sure it'll look better if you bring it out." The way in which she was looking at the collar, as she began to pull it out from between the clothes, made her look like an untarnished girl who was about to give her first kiss, and that filled him with tenderness and expectation.

He placed both hands on the curve of her hips, he liked to feel that part of her body and the way in which Kagome readied herself for him with only that. It was strange, that adventure that was to seduce, for you could find the most passionate details in the most common of things.

"It's done." She declared once the collar was out for everyone to see, yet her gaze didn't rise, knowing she would find a couple of golden eyes that would capture her before she had a say in it. "You are barefoot!" She shouted then, as if she had discovered water in a desert.

"I am." He accepted, swaying her hips back and forth, right and left.

"You can't go barefoot." In that moment she met his eyes, and immediately knew it had been a mistake.

Crap.

Receiving the kiss she couldn't avoid anymore, as much as for closeness as for desire, she sensed his lips grazing subtly hers, and felt herself fainting in a sigh, giving in, when a tongue began to caress the inside of her mouth. It wasn't easy to keep her mind clear when he, with his whole body, told her how much he desired her.

Kagome! Crap. Souta again.

This time she heard her brother running up the stairs as well.

"Kagome, grandpa is becoming impatient." Was the first thing the boy said when entering the room.

"I'm going for some sandals." She said, ignoring her brother.

Both of them watched her exiting the room until she disappeared from sight. Then, Souta looked at InuYasha.

"It looks good on you." He said, referring to the garments.

"Thanks." The situation was particular.

"I'm Souta." He introduced himself.

"InuYasha."

They looked at each other, measuring each other, then added no more.

Five minutes later, while silent, the three of them were already on their way to the temple. Souta then parted ways, going to the purification site, to be available and help with giving pointers to the visitors. Kagome knew the system, and the place everyone had. Usually, she wasn't in a hurry to help, for she didn't want her grandfather to keep considering her to tend to the temple in his instead, thinking the best suited for that job was Souta, who enjoyed these special days.

"There comes Kagome." She heard her mother's voice from the shamusho.

"I'm here, grandpa." She announced to the old man, who answered with a head gesture, not neglecting his duty, as well as giving response to the questions regarding the amulets or offerings.

InuYasha observed the way in which Kagome took her place and received a few indications from her mother. He stood right outside, and received a smile from Mrs. Higurashi when she came out, still too polite. At some distance away, he could see Kagome's brother nodding kindly to a middle-age couple. He placed his hands inside the sleeves of the kosode he wore, and gave himself a moment to observe the movement around him, and the green of the trees bordering everything. One of them caught his attention, it seemed taller than the rest, and made him recall the sacred tree that was in the sanctuary he had gone to with his mother on a few occasions, and that the latter usually visited. He looked at Kagome once again, and checked she was distracted with a pair of youths who were asking about the amulets.

He sighed, knowing a long stroll around the place was needed to kill time until she was free again. He turned around and decided to wander around the temple, but the feeling of someone taking him by the arm made him look sideways, finding Kagome's eyes.

"Come." she was smiling. The gesture was far from being one open and carefree, yet it was enough for him.

He let himself be led inside the shamusho, and to the old man's side, who was sitting there with this priest garments.

"Grandpa, I'd like you to meet InuYasha." Kagome's voice hesitated, as if she didn't want to label the introduction in any way.

InuYasha was sure, however; he didn't want to feign being some acquaintance.

"Boy." It was the first answer he received. "Are you going out with my granddaughter?" The second part of the greeting, although he didn't stop there. "It was about time she brought someone, so that Akitoki could let go of his hopes.

"Grandpa." Kagome seemed uncomfortable.

"What? I'm not telling a lie." The old man seemed completely impervious to others' judgements. This was the first structure that wasn't rigid at a first glance inside Kagome's family.

"Well, I just wanted you to meet InuYasha, and it's done." She concluded.

However, the old man wasn't done.

"And?" He insisted, staring at him with two measuring thin lines as eyes. It wasn't a simple question, and so he wouldn't give a simple answer.

"Your granddaughter and I are still defining what we are, yet I do hope to come back someday.

The old man stared at him for a moment longer, practically ignoring the people waiting in a queue to be attended.

"The clothes look good on you." He spoke then, before continuing with his duty.

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To be continued.

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A/N

A bit more of how the daily life, and family, starts to become part of their relationship.

I also wanted to leave a sort of wink of InuYasha's original vestments, because I love the clothes, and they themselves deserve everything.

A kiss, and thank you for reading and leaving a comment.

Anyara.

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart