"Phone…"
"…What?"
Kagome couldn't understand why her clock's alarm was blaring at her when it wasn't set to go off for another two hours. It had been hard to focus on the sound with the way Inuyasha's hips rocked into hers, but eventually it had dawned on her that it was her phone. Above her, he groaned in annoyance.
"Leave it," he whispered huskily, leaning down to nibble along her neck, grinding against her again. "They'll call back later."
She moaned, arching up into him. God, it was tempting to just fling the phone across the room and say to hell with it. Then again, if she did that she'd have to get another one, and that was a headache she didn't want to deal with. "It'll stop if I answer it," she told him, blindly reaching for the phone. Kagome shivered as he nipped her neck in reprimand, but she was moving on autopilot as she held the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Kagome! I'm sorry baby girl, I didn't want to wake you, but we have a problem –"
"Papa?" She blinked, hearing the stressed tone. "What's wrong?"
Inuyasha went stiff as a board above her. Aside from a long string of swears, his thoughts were screaming "don't move!" because sure as hell the bed would make a noise and the man on the other end would just know. Her father would just know that he was in Kagome's room, in her bed, and that his intentions wee anything but innocent. That terrifying thought should have been enough to calm his lower half down.
It should have. He was surprised to find that he was still aching for…something. Anything at this point. He wasn't picky.
"I know it's your day off, but we need your help down at the diner. Kino's had to go to the mainland because his daughter's appendix nearly burst and they've got her in surgery right now. Yusuke just called me and said that the new hires won't be showing up so now we have no waitstaff to open. I hate to ask you and Sango to come in, but I don't know what else to do –"
"Papa, it's okay –" Kagome attempted to sit up and knocked into Inuyasha without thinking. She looked up and realized they were nose to nose now. "We'll be okay –"
"I know that, but it isn't right," he continued. Since Kagome hadn't moved back, Inuyasha could clearly hear the older man berate the new employee's lack of consideration. He knew he should really move, but he couldn't bring himself to. The view, even under the circumstances, was too nice to back away from. Though if he were being honest, he'd like to get ahold of those no-shows and make them regret having Daisuke call at such an ungodly hour. His ears tuned into the last of the call to hear "We're going to talk more when you girls arrive. Sango said that she'll be by to pick you up."
Minutes later Kagome ended the call and offered him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that."
"Why are you apologizing, 'Gome? It's not your fault." And he had nearly convinced her to ignore the call. If anyone should apologize, he was more at fault for that. Though the new employees that Sango and Kagome had to fill in for really set the bar today, and the sun hadn't even risen yet.
"I know," she sighed. "It was supposed to be my day off too…"
Inuyasha chuckled at the pout in her voice. "There'll be other days." He wasn't sure if he meant her day off of something else. He wasn't even sure if what had happened earlier would happen again. He wanted it to, obviously, but that wasn't enough for him to go on.
"I guess," she agreed. Her legs had dropped from his waist when she attempted to sit up, pulling the blankets off them in the process. Kagome had noticed that the clock on her phone's screen read 4:18. 'Guess time really does fly when you're having fun.' The moonlight still shone brightly in the window, just enough for her to take in the state of her boyfriend.
Inuyasha's hair was a mess. His cheeks were slightly flushed. As her gaze moved downwards she realized in their earlier activities she'd begun to push his boxer briefs down his hips, and…oh.
She turned bright red as she looked up again. 'Oh god – he saw me looking at it!' "S-sorry. I didn't mean to – I mean I did but –" Kagome let out a noise of frustration before trying again. "C-can I… uh… can I… do…anything?" she asked, quickly pointing downward, because she as not about to get caught looking again.
Inuyasha couldn't stop the blush that covered his face and down his neck at her question. "D-don't worry about it," he replied quickly, jerking his boxers up over his ass once more. He sat back on his heels and cleared his throat. Oh he had a response for her question, but it wasn't the time for him to say that, or any of the suggestions his mind was conjuring up.
"I feel bad though. Are you sure?"
"T-trust me," he mumbled. "If you h-helped… I don't think you'd make it to work today." 'If I let her…I don't think we'd leave this room period.' No, it was better this way despite what his manhood felt. There was no passion-filled haze to cloud their minds, and they needed to talk before that happened.
Kagome felt her cheeks warm at his words. She knew he was right, but that didn't make the situation any better. He wasn't rejecting her; he didn't think his "problem" was priority. "Maybe next time?" she said, hoping that she wasn't coming on too strong.
"I – I – uh…y-yeah!" Inuyasha blushed harder when he realized he'd blurted that out far too quickly. At least his eager response made her giggle, so it wasn't a complete mess. The fact that she'd anticipated a future time where it could happen again gave him hope. "You should go take a quick shower to wake up. I'll start breakfast."
"You don't have to do that, Inuyasha."
"I want to, and it'll give me something else to focus on. Besides, you need to eat before you go to work." 'Right now I need any distraction I can get,' he thought as he looked at her. She sat there before him, a leg on either side of his, in just a rumpled baggy t-shirt and cotton panties. With her hair a mess and the kiss-swollen lips, it was an image he'd recall later when he took an ice-cold shower. Inuyasha let out a breath and moved off the bed first, holding out a hand for Kagome to take.
She got off the bed with a slight wobble, and he wanted to pretend that it was just coming out of sleep that had done it. Kagome smiled shyly at him as she collected some clothes. He had to swallow a groan. He was sorely tempted to go track down the no-shows and make them work so she wouldn't have to leave. It was selfish to want to keep her there with him knowing that her father was in a tight spot, and as soon as she disappeared into the bathroom he ran into his bedroom and searched for a pair of pants. Once he found them and got them on, he'd hoped that his issue would have started to go down, but no luck. As Inuyasha hobbled downstairs to the kitchen, he was deeply considering getting a sandwich bag and filling it with ice cubes and cramming that in the waistband of his jeans for some kind of relief.
Twenty minutes later Kagome had come downstairs and was met with freshly made coffee, bacon, eggs, and toast. Considering what had happened earlier, the kiss she gave him probably wasn't the best way to thank Inuyasha, but he didn't seem to mind. If he hadn't pulled back when he had, her food would have gone cold, and he wanted to make sure she ate before Sango arrived.
The driver glanced over at her passenger each chance she could get, chewing her lip in thought. When Sango had arrived at Kagome's house, she couldn't help but think that there was more to her friend's annoyance than having to work on her day off. It was weird, actually. Inuyasha had stayed over – no surprise there – and had been cleaning up breakfast when she walked in. He had fixed both of them a cup of coffee in to-go cups before they left, and not once did Sango see or hear anything that would suggest that they'd had a fight. In fact, the smile Kagome gave him before she left spoke volumes. She was anything but mad at him…wait.
"Did you two have sex?" she blurted out.
Kagome had been taking a sip of her coffee and choked at the question. Once she could stop coughing, she turned in her seat. "What in the world made you think that?!"
"You looked irritated!"
"And your mind went to sex!?"
Sango shrugged. "I don't know!" They were at a stoplight, so she looked over at Kagome and stared. "Well…did you? Was he bad? Tell me it ain't so Kagome!"
"Not…exactly." She dearly hoped that her red cheeks could be mistaken for the coughing fit and not recalling what she had nearly done.
"Then did he…" She gestured vaguely with her hand as the light changed to green. "You know…" Sango couldn't think of a nice way to describe what she wanted to ask, much less so early in the day.
Fortunately Kagome got the gist. "No – no! He didn't do that!" Then she realized her mistake when Sango's expression turned downright giddy.
"Oh, so something did happen!"
Kagome sighed. "Yeah."
"So tell me!" Sango bounced in her seat. "If we gotta be up this early give me the goods! I won't tell a soul!"
"There's not much to tell," Kagome shrugged, taking another drink from her cup. "Inuyasha woke me up. Said I was screaming for him – it was a…uh…one of those dreams – and I asked him if he'd stay with me a little while longer." She flicked her thumbnail against the plastic lid, making a ticking sound. "He got in bed with me….and he kissed me."
"You two have kissed tons of times-"
"Not like this," Kagome sighed. "It was different. We were…" Now she was making gestures with her hands, but they were so indiscernible that Sango's blank stare made her groan in frustration. "He was doing things! Good things! Very good things!"
"Oh." Sango's eyebrows rose considerably. She hadn't been specific, but the way she said 'very good things' led her to believe that it must have been. She glanced quickly at her friend, who was back to a brilliant shade of red. "So you two didn't have sex, and he didn't do that. I won't ask if you did that cause your face says no. Did you two get naked at least?"
"Uh…not quite."
"Not quite? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means I was in a t-shirt and panties and he was in boxers," Kagome said quickly. "Well, he was kinda in boxers. I may have…started pushing them down."
Sango's brows nearly escaped into her hairline. "Oh, naughty girl!" she teased, grinning. "Did you see it?"
"What- no!"
"Did you touch it at least?"
"Sango!"
"What?"
"No! I didn't touch it!" Kagome looked down at her hands, amazed the blush didn't reach her fingertips. "I felt it when he…rubbed against me."
Sango made a noise of disappointment. "You were both clothed, and you didn't get to see the prize in the cracker jack boxers. Wait – you felt it? Well…"
"Well, what?"
"How big was it?"
"Sango! I swear to god –"
"I'm asking the important questions, Kagome! The world has a right to know!"
"Yeah, well the 'world' best stay in the privacy of this car!" Kagome sighed, rolling her eyes. At least it wasn't one of the other girls she was talking to. They would have been relentless. Sango, to her credit, had a sense of humor about the conversation. "He was…impressive."
"Like biology textbook diagram impressive-"
Kagome snorted. "He puts those diagrams to shame."
Sango looked forward, mouthing "wow" as she made a left turn across the four-way intersection. Once she was past the turn, she glanced over at her friend again. "Did you get to touch anything? Kagome?" Why had she gone silent all of a sudden?
"I…touched his butt," she mumbled. "A few times. It was firm. And wonderful." Her coffee cup sat in the cup rest as her hands were occupied covering her face.
She couldn't help but snort at how Kagome was acting. Sure she hadn't known her as long as the other girls had, but she had learned quickly in high school that Kagome was the only one out of the group that had never dated. To see the nineteen-year-old so flustered could have been seen as pathetic by people who had more experience with relationships, but it made sense. Not only was Inuyasha the first boyfriend Kagome had ever had, but he had been a big part of her life before that. Sango was happy for her friend and wanted the best for her, but she had to know. "Okay, in all seriousness, I do have a question for you."
"Yeah?"
"With what happened…or rather didn't happen…is sex with Inuyasha something you've considered before?"
There was no pause, no hesitation in Kagome's voice when she said "Yes."
Sango pulled into the diner parking lot, hating that they were already at work. This was a conversation she felt could go on for hours if they'd had the opportunity. "That's a hell of a quick answer." There was no accusatory tone in her statement. She was just surprised.
"Yeah, I know." Kagome reached for her cup, finishing the contents. It was lukewarm by now anyway. "I've been thinking about it for a while now. I think… I think the dreams may have started even earlier than before we became a couple, so…" She trailed off, shrugging.
"If you hadn't gotten the phone call, do you think you would have done it? Would you have been ready for that?"
Kagome couldn't hide the blush. "Yeah, I think I would have." She shook her head, grabbed her purse, and exited the car. There would be time to think about that later. Right now she had to go fill in for some no-show newbie waitstaff. The very thought should have made her blood boil. At the very least it gave her a good boost of angry energy to feed off of for a few hours.
Inuyasha thought he was being a responsible son by checking in with his family. See how things are going, were there any tasks he was needed for that he wasn't aware of, things like that. Since he had been staying with Kagome more and more often, it only made sense.
Somehow his visit had turned into an interrogation.
"How's Kagome doing, sweetheart?" Izayoi asked with a knowing smile.
"She's…fine?" He knew that his parents had been landside recently. Hell, both families had all gone out to eat not three days ago!
"Has she gotten settled into her new home?"
Inuyasha looked to his father, whose grin wasn't helping matters at all. "Yeah. She got everything unpacked. She mentioned looking for some new furniture but with work she hasn't had much time."
"Are you sure she got everything unpacked?" Touga chuckled, winking at Izayoi. "Seems to me that there's something in her house that's still under wraps."
"What?" Inuyasha's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about? I helped Kagome unpack her things-"
Izayoi clapped her hands together. "Oh! Does this mean that we can have a ceremony now? Of course it would be out of order, but the times have changed. I doubt anyone would even raise an eyebrow over it-"
"Mother," he ground out. "What are you talking about?"
"The binding ceremony, of course!"
Inuyasha's eyes widened. "W-what?!"
"You said that you helped Kagome unpack all of her things," his mother explained. "Naturally we took that to mean that you and she-"
"Mother!"
Touga let out a bark of laughter at the horrified expression on his youngest son's face. "Let's not tease the boy, Iza. I think you have your answer anyway." Inuyasha had gone a few shades paler than he naturally was to blushing almost down to his tail as her meaning set in.
"That's a shame. I was looking forward to planning a new binding ceremony."
"Kagome and I haven't even talked about that!"
"Have you thought about it?" Touga asked.
Inuyasha shifted. "I…want to build up some savings before I even consider talking about it with Kagome. I want to have something that shows that I can provide for her, if she'll have me." Their relationship was still new, fresh. Inuyasha had a feeling that if he threw question like that at her it'd most likely terrify her. They were barely considered adults. For him, the question was a no-brainer. Of course he'd want to commit to her. He loved her. He knew she loved him. What he wasn't sure about was if she was ready to discuss the future. Too many things had happened with moving and getting settled; it didn't seem like the time to bring it up.
Izayoi smiled warmly, all teasing gone in her voice. "I can't imagine why she wouldn't, sweetheart. She is wonderful, and you both compliment each other so well."
"How are you accumulating these savings?" his father asked. "I do have connections on the island that would be willing to work with you-"
"Yeah, I met a few of them. Said they recognized Touga's boy," Inuyasha shrugged. "I'd hoped I could earn work on my own merit, not be known only as your son."
"From the things I've heard, being my son is only mentioned in passing during introductions." Touga had heard from one of his connections the day before, passing in the compliments of how Inuyasha took initiative. His son was a hard worker and made ever effort to get the job done and done well. Nothing about being his father had anything to do with those results.
Inuyasha frowned. "Then why did you ask me if you already knew?"
Touga shrugged. "I can't talk with my son about what's going on in his life?"
"Seems a bit redundant if you already know!"
"Not true! We weren't aware that you haven't bedded Kagome-"
"Mother!"
Izayoi got too much enjoyment out of teasing her son. Using his lack of intimacy in his relationship as the base of her jokes could have been seen as lowbrow humor to some. Then again she had always been considered the "black sheep" of her family, but Touga loved her sense of humor. And finding out how high Inuyasha's voice could go was a fun bonus. His mother wasn't supposed to speak of such things, apparently.
Kagome didn't come home from work until that evening.
She was exhausted and extremely pissed off. Her father had been even more furious the longer the day went with no sign from the waitstaff that Sango and herself were filling in for. The only silver lining to the day was that both girls would pocket the extra tips and the day's salary the others missed out on. As she trudged up the steps of her porch, she let out a sigh. While she was glad to be home, she was also hungry as hell, and as much as she loved the diner she had been around the food enough for a day. She didn't really want to eat it for supper. But it was so late, and she was so tired, she wasn't certain if she had the energy to even muster making a sandwich.
The door opened easily, which didn't surprise her. Inuyasha was home and- Kagome froze in place as the door clicked shut behind her. 'When did I start thinking of my home as his?' she wondered. She had no idea, but the longer she thought about it, the more natural it felt. She had given him a copy of the house key, so he could come over if she wasn't there – if it had been one of the girls, she'd have left the key in a hidden place.
"If you hadn't gotten the phone call, do you think you would have done it? Would you have been ready for that?"
Sango's words from that morning seemed to slam to the forefront of her thoughts. Kagome chewed her lip, letting her purse slip off her shoulder and into her hand. 'I still think the answer is yes,' she thought, walking into the dining room. 'But who knows. What if we never get a chance like that again? Would Inuyasha want to-'
"Kagome, you're back!"
"Inuyasha?" She dropped the purse onto the dining room table, surprised to find Inuyasha in the kitchen with oven mitts. "I thought… what are you doing up so late?"
"Waiting for you," he replied, bending to reach into the oven. When he stood, he held a large pizza up. "Sango sent me a message and told me that you had both gotten off of work. Did she head home?"
"Um, yeah. Said she was more tired than hungry." Kagome frowned as she watched him begin to cut the pizza. "You waited for me? Inuyasha, you didn't have to-"
Inuyasha gave her a look. "I'm not about to let you come home and cook something when you've been on your feet all day." He set down the knife and started to head towards the cabinets that held the plates when Kagome pushed him into the counter. The kiss was hurried and desperate, but he wasn't about to complain. He hadn't seen her since early that morning, and if she wanted a kiss, she was going to get one.
When she stepped back, Kagome was smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I just… you don't know how much that means to me, Inuyasha."
"I think I got a good idea," he grinned, perhaps a little bit stupid. Then he frowned as he realized just how late it was. "How come you were there all day? I thought you'd only be filling in for the morning shift?"
"Those people never came in." Kagome went on to describe how the day went at the diner. There was an influx of customers after a few days of relative calmness and adding that to the growing ire of her father had both girls taking on the afternoon shifts as extra hands. When she tried to tell Inuyasha that there were some benefits to the extra hours, he didn't seem as enthused.
"That don't matter!" he all but growled as he brought plates over and placed a couple slices on each. "You two can't run the entire floor all day! I don't know who the hell these mainlanders think they are, but crap like that doesn't fly here! It damn sure wouldn't in the sea-"
Kagome stepped behind Inuyasha and wrapped her arms around his waist. As soon as she touched him, the tenseness in his body melted away. "It's late, Inu," she mumbled into his back. "Papa'll deal with them when they do come in, and you know they'll come in thinking they're gonna get a paycheck. How about we eat? I'm hungry, and I know you have to be if you waited for me."
Instead of sitting down at the dining table to eat, Inuyasha had ushered Kagome into the living room with the scent of the plates. The chairs were comfortable enough, but you couldn't put your feet up and eat in them. He'd collected the pillows from around the living room and arranged them to make the couch extra plush as they enjoyed their pizza and watched the recorded tv shows on the DVR. The pizza Inuyasha had made had been wonderful. The recorded shows were alright – a bit lacking with the longer-running shows, but that seemed to be a trend. However, all of that was forgotten when Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's ankles and plopped her legs across his lap.
The moan she let out when he began to rub her feet might have sounded indecent, but he'd hit a good spot in the arch of her foot! She could have melted right there on the couch.
Inuyasha chuckled as he watched her head fall back against the mountain of pillows. "That feel good?"
"Mmmm. So good," she sighed. Without thinking it through, she said, "You know how some people say that food can be better than sex? They clearly haven't had a good foot rub."
He let out a bark of laughter. "Considering that I've never had sex I can't say one way or the other. But I'd think that they're doing something wrong if the food is better-" His hands stilled as it occurred to him that he'd just admitted to being a virgin. Of course Kagome knew, but it was another thing to say it out loud. Inuyasha couldn't hide his blush as he resumed the massage. He glanced her way and learned that he wasn't alone.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome didn't want the massage to end, but this weird switch in conversation needed to be addressed. She sat up, leaning on her arms. "About this morning…w-what are you-?!"
He'd grasped her under the knees and pulled her towards him. Now her but was pressed against the outside of his thigh, her backrest of pillows was gone, and he had a firm grip on her legs just above the knee. Kagome was pretty sure she had a wedgie, but she was too distracted by his hands to care.
"What about it?" Inuyasha asked, using his thumbs to rub circles into her legs.
"I – mmm – stop distracting me!" she all but whimpered as his hands moved upward a bit. Kagome debated reaching for the pillows or just laying back across the cushions but opted for leaning against the back. She needed to talk about this before she lost her nerve, and he had no intention of stopping the massage.
Not that she'd want him to.
Inuyasha didn't move his hands up again, but he wanted to. Really wanted to. "You can tell me anything, Kagome," he said gently. "If I went too far, or if you regret what happened, I –"
"No!" Kagome cut him off. "No, I…I don't regret anything about this morning. Well, except for the phone call. But with you… no, I don't think anything went too far."
"Kagome…" His heartbeat picked up. A small part of him had been worried that maybe he'd influenced her, that she wasn't ready for that, but to hear this…
"Inuyasha… if… if the phone hadn't rung… do you think…"
He swallowed thickly. So she had been thinking about it too, it seemed. "Would you… want to do that? With me?" Inuyasha wasn't stupid. He knew that she could have her choice of any man. The thought sickened him that there was a chance he could lose her, but he didn't want her to regret any decision she made.
"Yes," she replied, blushing. "I can't imagine doing that with anyone else." Kagome looked Inuyasha in the eye as she added, "I trust you."
Inuyasha couldn't have stopped the smile that crossed his face if he tried. He knew she loved him but putting her trust in him…he didn't think he could love her more. Perhaps that fear of losing her was just overthinking on his part. "I trust you too," he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her lips. "I think I have since we were kids."
"Yeah," she agreed, shifting so she could lay her head on his shoulder. "I can't believe we've come this far sometimes. It seems like… I dunno…" she giggled as she felt Inuyasha's hands resume their massage. "That tickles."
"You weren't complaining this morning."
Kagome lightly swatted his chest, making him laugh. "You just enjoy teasing me, don't you?"
"Well, you do make some beautiful sounds…"
"Inuyasha!" she squeaked. If the conversation had turned the way it had, it might not have felt as suggestive.
"What?"
She couldn't form a response. It was hard to think when he was rubbing her legs. Kagome hummed appreciatively instead. "Do you think that we'll have another…ah…moment like that?"
Inuyasha let out a groan as he said, "Fuck I hope so."
Kagome laughed into his shoulder as he patted her leg. He'd been as disappointed as she was to be interrupted, and she hoped that another opportunity would come along. This didn't feel like one of those things that they should push just to get it over with. It was important, and the moment needed to be right, as cheesy as that sounded in her head.
She stifled a yawn. It was late. She knew she needed to go to bed, but she didn't want to go to bed. To go to bed alone, after that morning was not something she looked forward to. But she also couldn't just ask Inuyasha to stay with her. She knew he'd say yes to whatever she offered, but it felt unfair to him. The next time she had the courage to ask him to stay in her bed with her, she wanted to ask him without leading him on. Right now it would be better if they resumed their normal habits. If only she could be bothered to get off the couch.
Inuyasha could feel her drifting off. He wasn't surprised, but it did create a problem. She hadn't changed out of her work clothes, and he didn't feel comfortable undressing her. Yes, he'd said he'd wanted another opportunity. He'd also want her to be awake so she could enjoy it too. Even if he was just helping her change clothes. He shifted, picking her legs up under the knees and moved her back against the pillows. Inuyasha reached for the throw blanket across the back of the couch, looking around.
'It is deep enough,' he reasoned, settling into the vacant space next to Kagome. He didn't much favor the thought of going to bed alone either. As he pulled the throw over the both of them, Kagome turned and curled into his chest with a content sigh. 'Any stiff joints are worth this,' he decided, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. He dropped a light kiss to her brow, hoping like hell that phone didn't ring in the morning.
