Mocha Latte

-Kitty

Chapter 12: Sense of propriety


"Nay, nay, nay," her gravelly voice harried him, punctuated by a strike of her hand on his wrist, "No! Roll it out gently. And look here, you've torn it!"

Inuyasha bit back the urge to sigh, or growl, or slice through the old woman beside him, or some combination of all three options. He gingerly held up the torn dough, the shaggy mess looking limp and sad as it crumbled apart. The room was stuffy and dusty and pulsing with an uncomfortable energy and every part of him desperately wanted to escape back to the safe haven of Kagome's apartment. How did he get into this situation in the first place?

(Read in spongebob narrator voice) A few hours earlier…

He felt his entire body lift off the couch when the doorbell rang and his heart thudded against his ribcage. He lay rigid and frozen as he strained his ears, hardly breathing. A high strung silence stretched out as he waited to see if the sound had been real or just his imagination. Seconds passed and no further sound emanated from the door. Slowly, his body relaxed, returning to the state of serenity that saturated Kagome's apartment, which he was beginning to see as home.

Ding dong!

This time he found himself tumbling to the floor, the book in his hands landing beside him with a flutter and a thud. The figurines and lucky cats on the shelves and walls tinkled and giggled to watch him flail around before righting himself. He growled under his breath while climbing back onto the couch, debating internally whether he should move to answer the door. This was the first visitor to arrive without Kagome being here and he pondered the wisdom of making his presence known to the unknown stranger. And then a voice, muffled and dim, passed through the door to berate him.

"Young man," the old, grainy voice said, "If it is your intention to loiter around all day while Kagome keeps shelter above your head, you best get out here and make yourself useful!"

He narrowed his golden eyes at the accusation he heard in her tone, stubbornly keeping his seat on the couch cushions. If he were paying attention, he might have noticed a sparkle in the eyes of the lucky cats lining the shelf above Kagome's desk.

"I can disarm these charms with my eyes closed," the voice threatened, "Don't make me come in there to retrieve you."

Inuyasha shifted his jaw as he teetered on his dilemma. Cautiously, he inhaled deep into his lungs, trying to decipher the meager scent emerging from under the front door. The various tiny presences in the apartment watched him curiously as he carefully placed the charmed, beaded necklace over his head, the disguise falling over him swiftly, before standing to approach the intruder. With one stiff hand held open, claws ready, Inuyasha carefully pulled the door open, his rigid, suspicious expression glaring daggers at the petite, bent old figure standing on the welcome mat. The greying old lady - Kaede was it? - wrinkles deeper than a canyon, peered beyond him inside the messy apartment and clucked her tongue.

"Tsk," she muttered, "That girl is going to set us all alight one day."

She moved to step inside, immediately barricaded from entering as Inuyasha positioned himself defensively. She eyed with her single, bulging dark eye before harrumphing.

"Step aside, hanyou," she said bravely, "I'll not suffer any indignations from you this day."

In one hand, she carried a long, gnarled stick and she used it to prod at his side until he was growling audibly. She had no fear of his grumpy scowl or deep throated grumble, eventually pushing past him and into the room. Oddly enough, the room seemed to greet the old woman fondly, light reflecting warmly off the various reflective surfaces, tiny rainbows appearing in little pockets of sunlight. Inuyasha, on the other hand, had very different feelings towards the trespass.

"Oi!" he shouted, catching up to her, "You can't come in here!"

The old wrinkled eye was eagle sharp and seemed to pierce him as he tried to defend his precious oasis. Snorting through her nose, the old woman responded with an amused voice.

"Oh?" she said, "And what right to this space do you have to prevent my entry?"

"Keh," Inuyasha said, crossing his arms arrogantly, "I live here, you old bat."

"Ah, you live here," Kaede said, a sparkle entering her eye as she nodded a mocking acknowledgement, "So it is your name on the rental contract?"

It felt as though several thoughts raced in rapid succession through his mind, yet the conclusion of his brain was a frustrating, anxious blank.

"Eh?"

Kaede didn't seem to care for his mental malfunction, instead whisking into the kitchen. And it was the sound of running water that caused Inuyasha to blink, frown, and slink to the kitchen doorway to see what the old bat was doing.

"That girl," the old lady was muttering, gently, tapping the old electric kettle's lid, "You and her both, you're going to burn down our entire building any day now!"

Almost as if to answer the grumpy old woman, the lid of the kettle popped open with a distinctly disgruntled clang. The old lady snorted and rolled her eyes. Then she turned to him, a dishcloth hanging from her old gnarled hands.

"Well," she said, her hands finding her hips, "Make yourself useful, hanyou."

Between dusting and scrubbing and extracting a positively ghastly kitchen experiment growing fuzzy white moldy spots from the back of the fridge, Inuyasha was certain he'd experienced every bodily sensation he imaginable, from rolling nausea to light headed vertigo, having sneezing fits enough to cause even his body to complain for a more steady supply of oxygen. Gradually, the tower of dishes disappeared back into the kitchen cabinets and the counter was slowly cleared and wiped down. Still, the old lady pestered him to within an inch of his sanity.

At some point, he was hastily laden with an armful of supplies and hustled out the door, his brain a whirl. Before he knew it, he stood before the old woman's door, watching her fumble with her keys while the eggs she'd placed precariously atop his load wobbled in their bowl and threatened to scramble themselves on the pavement below. For some reason, he felt extremely loathed to find out what would happen if he allowed the fragile little white objects to fall.

He hardly had any time to fully acclimate to the new apartment, stuffy and thick with enchantment and old lady smells. By the time a wrinkle of disgust appeared by his nose, Kaede had ushered him to a rickety old table, even more ancient than Kagome's electric kettle. She set him to work immediately, peeling and mixing and rolling and chopping. The old woman was particularly fond of her old wooden spoon and was liberal in her usage of it, be it to stir together several ingredients, or to wrap his knuckles for wasting too much carrot as he peeled. Poked and prodded as he was, his keen nose only subconsciously took notice of the fragrances rising from the herbs and greens, from the sharp scent of onions to the clean freshness of pea shoots and broccoli. Supper was very nearly prepared by the time Kagome knocked on the door to save him, her eyes dancing with barely contained mirth to spot him seated at the dining table, sleeves rolled to his elbows and a kerchief around his head.

The wash of relief through his veins left him shuddering as his eyes begged her to get him out of here. She gave him a sympathetic look, but made no move to provide an escape route. Instead, she patted him on the shoulder before disappearing into Kaede's steaming, clanking, sizzling kitchen.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" he heard her say. Internally, he groaned, his suffering was not yet over for the day.

Eventually, he was relieved of his menial tasks as Kagome and the old bat sequestered themselves in the kitchen. Whatever it was they were making, it better be a whole damn feast for all the trouble he'd been made to go through! The smells wafting out were savory enough, and despite his grouchy mood, he couldn't deny that he was eagerly anticipating the meal. His ears perked up to hear Kagome's laughter spill out from the other room and he blinked several times, glancing around him as it suddenly occurred to him just how normal this little occasion was.

The old woman's apartment was foreign to him, yes, and her charms and pet spirits eyed him suspiciously from their physical shells. The air was thick with whatever ointments the old bat was using to preserve herself, and filled with the scents of aged and well used possessions. The aura was so very different than Kagome's welcoming, peaceful oasis, older, thicker, heavier, but he somehow felt comfortable here nonetheless, as if some part of Kagome's apartment had permeated into his skin and now he carried the soothing tranquility around with him. Or perhaps it was the proximity of the girl herself, in the room next over, with her laughter and easy chattering settling his nerves.

At long last, the table was set. Kaede rapped his wrist several times for mistaking which side various cutlery or glassware was set but eventually, they were all seated and presented with a platter laden with juicy, steamed dumplings. Beside it, wobbled a strange collection of amorphous, exploding dough wrapped meat which Kagome gleefully pointed out was his masterpiece, his toils amounting to a rather frightening glob of deconstructed dumpling innards.

"Thanks so much for preparing this, Kaede!" Kagome exclaimed eagerly, "Let's dig in!"

Things were silent for a minute or two, and Inuyasha had to hand it to the old bat, her cooking was good. But soon her dinner conversation had him frowning with both annoyance, and a little bit of fear.

"Just how long is this hanyou going to stay here, Kagome," Kaede pressed. She'd been pushing for his departure the entire meal and Inuyasha was really beginning to struggle with keeping his mouth shut at the table.

Kagome was her usual nonchalant self, shrugging carelessly as she reached for another dumpling. Idly, he was impressed by the quantity of dumplings disappearing into her mouth but his conscious mind was agitated by the topic of conversation.

"You know I always keep my door open," she said, sending him a sly wink, "he can stay as long as he wants."

The old woman blew out an indignant snort.

"It's not proper, young lady!" Kaede insisted, her face and voice completely serious.

"Why do you care suddenly?" Kagome asked, arching an eyebrow, "you never cared about the demons I brought back before."

Keade gave her a hard stare, lifting up her chopsticks to point aggressively at Inuyasha.

"None of them looked like this!"

Inuyasha frowned at the pointy objects being thrust at his nose, decidedly grumpy and growing grumpier by the minute. What was wrong with his looks? Was it the ears? The fangs? Surely he wasn't the ugliest demon Kagome had ever dealt with? But just as he thought to stand and make his ire known, Kagome turned towards him and her deep brown eyes caught his, before slowly roaming to run down and back up his body. Inexplicably, the protracted, wandering gaze brought a rush of heat through his chest before settling behind his cheeks while Kagome responded to the old bat.

"Hmm, you have a point but...," Kagome mused, her tone light and teasing, "I don't have a problem with it!"

The old woman harrumphed disapprovingly but Kagome only burst out laughing, clearly unconcerned with whatever it was Kaede took issue with. Kaede was still shaking her head and grumbling, the wrinkles by her mouth sagging deeper as the corners of her lips dragged them down.

"I will bring a proper room divider tomorrow," she said, "You can at least have the semblance of propriety."

"Yes, yes, Kaede," Kagome said to placate the old woman, before popping another dumpling into her mouth. Her voice never lost the tone of someone on the verge of laughter though, and that might have been the only thing keeping him from jumping in to yell at the old hag. That and the gentle hand that reached under the table to find his knee, a thumb rubbing tingling circles over his kneecap and lighting fires that flickered and danced up his thigh.

Much, much later, with Kagome deeply asleep under the covers of her bed, Inuyasha reclined on the couch with his eyes wide open long into the night. He thought of the darkness he'd come from, always on the run from his crime of merely existing. He thought of f the life of rags and hunger he'd lived, the loneliness and the cold. And then he blinked and looked down at himself now. The softness of the borrowed clothes tingled against his skin, the weight of the blankets pressing heavily around him. It surprised him, how quickly he'd acclimated to this routine, waking up warm and rested to the dark, rich smell of coffee every morning, watching Kagome rush off to work. His wounds had long healed and he was more than capable of fending for himself now. But still something anchored him here.

'He can stay as long as he wants.'

Inuyasha raised his eyes to the breathing lump on the bed, inhaling deep through his nose to absorb the quiet peace of the room. There was a part of him that almost wanted to cry as the realization washed over him. And in a soft voice into the still and silent space, he asked the slumbering owner of this apartment.

"What if I want to stay forever?"


A/N: inspired and dedicated to my grandma. She's a firecracker old dragon lady and will boss anyone and everyone around but some of my fondest childhood memories are of her. She also had a lot to say when she found out I was living with my boyfriend :P