IZON SHŌ

Chapter XLII

Forty second session.

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Kagome was going to use the time in the train to work in her laptop. She'd been given a new novel to proofread, and although it wasn't anything urgent, she thought so many hours in there would result productive... yet she didn't count with InuYasha sitting by her side. Despite giving him the window, because she would be focused on her screen, he still missed no chance to ask something, distracting her.

"That novel you are proofreading, what is it about?" She felt how he closed the distance, and his warmth, when he leaned towards her.

"It's romance, with a hint of the supernatural." She explained as she re-read the last line.

"Oh, I see." He didn't seem too convinced, and Kagome had no urge to say anything further when she saw him returning his gaze to the window.

Right after resuming her task, a train attendant came to ask them if they needed anything, and to remind them there was a buffet car. Both thanked her for the information. Kagome resumed her work once again, but not even half-way through the page, she heard InuYasha barging in again.

"Supernatural? Someone falls in love with a ghost?" The question was simple, and even logical within context.

"Not exactly." She began to explain, yet she soon understood he didn't really care about the novel's plot. "Don't you have something to read, or play on your phone? A show to watch, maybe?"

Now it was her with the questions.

"Alright, alright. I get it." He replied with half-a-smile, her hands gesturing he'd keep his distance.

Kagome saw him leaning against the window to look at the view, seemingly having decided to give her some space... until he extended a leg, and touched hers, knee with knee. Her first reaction was of surprise, then she realized InuYasha wasn't going to allow her to isolate herself, a smile blossoming on her lips as she met his gaze.

"You are terrible." She told him, closing her laptop.

He gave her a look, his head supported by a hand, the arm on the window's edge.

"That's how you like me." InuYasha made a slight shrug, as a smile touched his features, too smug for Kagome's heart.

"I think I'm spoiling you too much." She answered with all seriousness, waiting for his reaction.

"You think?" Came the very sarcastic question. "I can't really agree with that. I've been completely ignored the last twenty minutes."

"Ignored?" She said, almost shouting but holding back at the last second.

"That's right." He assured, the smile dancing on the edge of his lips.

Kagome appeared offended, and skimmed briefly around the place before bending forward slightly, just enough so the other passengers on the other side wouldn't be able to see her extend her hand and grab InuYasha's crotch. He jumped in his seat, changing his relaxed and carefree pose to one sitting straight and tense.

"What are you doing?" He smiled and furrowed his brow at the same time.

"Paying you attention." The answer had a deep seductive hint that came with the switch of the hand from grabbing to caressing.

InuYasha parted his lips slightly, and began to breathe in short mouthfuls, noting the immediate effect Kagome's caress was producing in his body; a tingling sensation on his forearms, neck and crotch, along with a faster and faster pounding of his heart.

"Don't do that." He asked, yet sounded all but convinced, his hips rising in search of more of that touch.

"Not feeling in the mood?" She poked, feigning innocence. She could note the tension forming underneath the cloth.

InuYasha let out a held back sigh, doing his best not to alert anyone around them, and with a smile, his hand soon found place in the space between both seats, pulling at Kagome's skirt from one side.

"No, no." Kagome denied, taking her hand from the caress with all haste, to hold his invasive one.

She felt him lean towards her ear, and felt the warm touch of his breath on her skin.

"Look at that. Only you want to play." The whisper bristled her skin slightly.

She looked at him, then shook her head, a smile touching her lips.

"Now, be honest, have you really not brought anything to read?" Her voice couldn't muster the seriousness she would have wanted; InuYasha kept pulling at the cloth of her skirt, and Kagome kept trying to stop him as best as possible.

"I can read later." He whispered near her ear again.

She stood up at once.

"I'm going for a coffee." She stated. "Want one?"

InuYasha looked at her with that keen expression he would use occasionally.

"Do you really want me to be more awake?" He didn't even bother trying to hide the bulge beneath his pants.

Her first reaction was surprise, and she felt the need of making sure nobody else was listening to their conversation and what was being implied; however, she soon forgot that worry, a smile slipping past her lips.

"You are terrible." She told him, took her purse and started down the corridor.

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Kagome yawned, her head resting on InuYasha's shoulder as a wireless earphone told her he was still going through the movies on the app in his phone, the second one they searched in so far.

"Just play that one." Kagome complained, tired of seeing the titles go by without ever choosing.

"Do you really want to watch fourth-class terror?" The question was charged of what appeared to be genuine incredulity.

"After twenty minutes of searching, I'd be ok with watching ads." She confessed, yawning again.

InuYasha laughed, and swiped to the next movie before reading its synopsis out loud.

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Kagome curled in on herself a bit more in the space she was in, breathing deeply before trying to open her eyes, but the comfortable sensation she was enveloped in just sunk her in her sleep more deeply. An instant later, the sounds around her began to slip inside her ears, giving her a first touch with her situation. She noted the voices, mere unintelligible noises from here and there, aside from the soft sway of the wagon on the rails, and after another deep breath, she turned her head slightly to open her eyes and find the light coming through the window.

She had her head resting on InuYasha's lap, who right now kept a pocket book in one hand, while the other was on her. She closed her eyes, then blinked a few times, slowly, trying to get her sight back, then laid there, staring at the features of her companion from that unique angle. He seemed focused on his reading, but it was more than probable he was already aware of she being awake, for she was feeling the way in which he caressed her head, through her hair, in a zone a bit lower from the crown.

Kagome became aware of how pleasant it was to lay like this, and share that moment. She found herself wishing for more instants like these, yet she also discovered a growing hollow settling on her chest before the uncertainty of not knowing if such a thing was possible. She decided to try and wave that sensation away, somehow; to leave such ghosts behind, at least for now.

"I thought you didn't bring any books." She accused, a hint of amusement mixed in, which InuYasha didn't miss given the smile that was drawn from his lips. Still, he didn't answer immediately, his eyes still fixed on the page he was reading. "Is it interesting?"

His smile remained there, and so did the silence.

Kagome sought a new way to distract him, and began to caress his abdomen through the shirt he was wearing, folding the cloth. He halted the caress through his hair, and held her hand instead, capturing it. That made her smile.

"Wait." She heard him say.

She observed his face from that unique angle, gift of the comfortable posture she kept, and extended a hand, through the book and him, to graze his jaw, stopping at the chin and from there descend to his neck, noticing the bulge of his adam's apple.

"You are like a child." The phrase sought to be a reproach, yet came too sweet.

Kagome smiled. She finally had his attention.

"What are you reading?" She asked, avoiding his beautiful golden eyes that right now were emanating too many emotions for her to explore.

InuYasha showed her the cover of the thin and small book.

"Tao te Ching." She read. "I've heard about it." Although she has yet to read it. "Read me something."

She had to admit she was finding the moment quite endearing, in the way that are those instants that become engraved because of the emotions involved.

InuYasha went back to the same page he kept open.

"If someone pretends to take over the world and change it, it's improbable that they'll achieve it. The world belongs to the spirit, and so it cannot be manipulated. They who try to change it, ruin it; They who pretend to keep it theirs, lose it."

Kagome waited, in case he kept reading, and only talked once she was sure he wouldn't.

"Uff." She voiced. "Too deep for a journey on train." She laughed and hid her face on InuYasha's abdomen, then heard him return her smile.

"Or, maybe, ideal for a journey on train."

She looked at him through the corner of her eyes, a furtive gaze through the folds she herself had made on his shirt.

Yes, it was an endearing moment to conserve in one's memory.

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The cold air of winter received them as soon as they stepped in Nakano, just outside the train station. Kagome sighed when she felt the temperature, and adjusted her jacket, which only covered a few fingers under her waist. InuYasha couldn't but note she didn't heed his warnings about the weather; he had told her to bring warm clothes, that it could snow these days and that in fact, the first snow of the year was already late.

He took his scarf off.

"Here." He told her, enveloping her neck.

"Don't. You'll catch a cold." She tried to refuse.

"I can endure this weather pretty well." He tried to joke, so that Kagome would accept.

"I think I'll need a longer jacket." She commented, as the dress did capers due to the gusts of wind that often blew about.

"And pants." He insisted, in the same way he'd done back in her apartment.

Kagome didn't say anything, just stared at him.

"Where to?" She asked, referring to the direction they had to take.

"That way." He pointed forward, not missing her stubbornness.

InuYasha usually made his way from the train station to his home by foot; it wasn't a long trip, at least not too long, and he was used to walking. With time, he grew accustomed to going through places that didn't evoke good memories, and to try to ignore the sensations he would experience as a result. However, this time that he was in Kagome's company, those places that were uncomfortable but a few months ago, seemed innocuous now. In fact, he almost forgot about them.

"I should have brought a gift for your mother." She told him, once they had just left the train station.

"It's not necessary." He attempted to calm her and made her think about something else. "Want me to carry your bags?"

He saw her refuse with a gesture.

"I knew I was forgetting something." Her anxiety was rising, InuYasha noted, and was also sure the real reason wasn't what she was voicing.

"It's not important, really." He said, yet he was interrupted, which gave him the feeling Kagome wasn't listening to him.

"We could look for a place and buy her something." She seemed to cheer up once she had that idea.

"Kagome, really, it's not necessary." He stopped to look at her as he said that.

She seemed to weight his words, and then began to create another idea in her mind.

"We could take her to eat somewhere." She sounded determined. "Do you know a place?"

Her anxiety got mixed in her voice much more than she would want. For InuYasha, it was evident.

"Are you really suggesting that?" He wanted to give a hint of amusement to his question, so that she would relax a little. "She has a cook for a son. Do you really think she'd prefer to eat outside?"

"Yes."

InuYasha observed her gaze a bit more. It was clear that Kagome was in need of controlling something of the future events, to regain her calm.

"Alright, how about this." He said, and she waited in silence, her gaze now more open, her anxiety seeping through. "We'll reach my mother's house, we'll greet her, we'll leave your things in the room." He saw how Kagome was starting to bite her lip, which would tear if she didn't stop. He reached for it with his hand, and gently pulled down so that she could understand his wish, of her letting up that gesture. "After that, we'll expose to her the idea of going out to eat. If she accepts, we'll go. If she doesn't, we'll prepare something together. The two of us."

In her eyes, much more transparent of what Kagome would admit, he saw he'd given her relief.

"Too many steps, I think, but I'm ok with it." She accepted, gifting him with a soft smile, a bit more rested.

InuYasha set one of her locks behind her ear, and then they resumed their way.

As they walked, he told her about the many stores he knew since he was a child, about the ones that changed owners and the ones that appeared during the time he'd been in Tokyo.

"How long have you been living in Tokyo?" She felt like asking. It seemed strange to be ignorant of so many details of the daily life of a person you've slept with so many times.

Kagome had the feeling of having started this by the feet, and almost smiled out of irony; relationships weren't her forte.

"Almost ten years." Was his answer.

It seemed simple, yet that same fact made her realize she'd never asked InuYasha about his age. And with that same thought came the next question...

Did it matter?

"Something wrong?" He inquired, probably because of the silence that came with his answer.

"No, nothing." She wanted to smile, needing to seem calm and confident.

"It's this way." InuYasha mentioned, turning a corner that led into a narrower path that barely had any pavement, and that forced them to stick to one house when a car came in front.

In the moment he stopped by the third house in that street, Kagome felt her stomach in a knot. She'd never had to meet the family of a boyfriend. In fact, the only time she went out with someone, it was a classmate from her first year at the University, and they were together only a couple of weeks, so neither of them met the other's parents.

"At this hour, mom should be home." He mentioned, and Kagome wished she could stop time.

She remained motionless, holding her bag by the handle, and doing a mental recap of her appearance. They'd been in a train for more than three hours, and they had to leave the apartment in a hurry due to the long shower they had taken. That memory, however, turned her cheeks a shade redder, and she couldn't but feel absurd and puerile because of it, even more when she noted that InuYasha was observing her with a mix of amusement and confusion.

"What?" She spat, wanting to face him, her tone of voice a bit higher than what was needed.

"Are you blushing?" The question was redundant. It was obvious she was.

"It's the cold." She attempted to deviate the topic.

"That's because you are wearing that skirt, and just those tights." He pointed at her legs. "Don't misunderstand me, I'm not complaining." His voice turned a note deeper, and Kagome soon understood what his words were hinting at. "Even so, why do you never wear pants?"

"I do wear them. Sometimes." She didn't have an answer to give.

"I've seen you with them only once." He stated.

Kagome was surprised, it wasn't usual for her to use pants. In fact, she only had a pair of jeans, and used them pretty much only by mistake. It was then that she recalled she had been wearing them the day they met.

"Are we really going to discuss my choice of clothes now?" She retorted.

However, he was smiling, and when she saw it, she understood what InuYasha had just done for her. Somehow, he managed to make her let go of all the anxiety that had been coalescing inside her.

She observed him insert his key in the lock, opening the door and pushing it, to let her pass.

InuYasha? Came the voice of a woman inside, and she felt that knot returning all too quickly, but now, it was in her throat.

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To be continued.

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A/N

Finally, Kagome has reached InuYasha's house.

I loved writing the events in the train.

I hope you've enjoyed your reading, and that you tell me in the comments.

Kisses,

Anyara.

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart