A/N: For InuKag Week on tumblr – Day 4: Hands
If you would like to see the beautiful artwork I commissioned for this fic, please head on over to my tumblr page!
Double Shot of Heaven
Part 3
Kagome stumbled into the bathroom and hurried to steady herself against the sink as she began to sway. She started to regret that last double shot she had when the world slightly spun. Her eyes met her reflection in the mirror and she bit the inside of her cheek. All things considered, she didn't look that bad.
Her hair was no longer in the perfect, wavy locks pulled across one shoulder. Dark strands flowed in different directions, tousled tresses showing off her liberation from a bitter breakup. The dancing had caused her to sweat half of her make-up off, so with an unsteady hand she worked to unclasp her purse and fish out an eyeliner pen, mascara, and lip gloss - which had been horribly smudged from her lips thanks to a certain silver-haired, arrogant man.
She didn't allow her thoughts to linger on the heated kiss they shared surrounded by an array of flashing lights and electric melodies. If she had made a fool of herself, that was tomorrow Kagome's problem.
After making herself presentable - or at least what she hoped was presentable - Kagome pushed past the other drunk girls in the bathroom and slipped back out into the bar. The coolness of the bathroom chilled her sweat-covered skin and the flush to her cheeks. She had nearly forgotten what the term 'dancing up a sweat' really meant.
The dance floor still thrived, but Kagome decided another drink would be the perfect thing to wash away the last bit of regret left over from kissing Inuyasha. Before she made it back to her barstool, however, she spotted Inuyasha entering the establishment with a sour look on his face.
"Hey," she called out to him, grabbing his arm to stop him. Immediately, she noticed how he held his hand close to his chest, his knuckles painted red with blood. Her brows shot up as she quickly grabbed his hand in both of hers to examine the damage. "What the hell happened?!"
"Keh," he scoffed, pulling his hand out of her grasp. "It's nothin'."
"What do you mean, nothing?" she argued, accusatory brown eyes glaring up at him. Her attention was pulled to the window by a man who was attempting to stand, looking a little worse for wear. And even in her drunken state, she could tell the man had been the stranger who got a little too close to her when they were dancing. The one Inuyasha 'rescued' her from. "Are you kidding me?"
Inuyasha shrugged off her concern and pushed past her to the bar, Kagome following hot on his heels. Kouga greeted them once they settled back onto their barstools, and his deep blue eyes immediately spotted Inuyasha's bloodied knuckles.
Kouga turned his gaze to Kagome. "Why's he bleeding?" he asked, nodding toward Inuyasha.
"Because he's an idiot," Kagome declared as she forcefully pulled Inuyasha's hand close to her. "Do you have a towel or something?"
"Sure thing," Kouga said with a snicker. He handed her a towel that he wet with some vodka.
"Fuck!" Inuyasha yelled out as Kagome pressed the towel to his open wounds.
Kagome clicked her tongue. "Serves you right. What were you thinking picking a fight like that?"
He wouldn't meet her gaze. "He started it."
She narrowed her eyes. "And you called me a five year old?"
Kouga chuckled, earning himself a heated glare from Inuyasha. "Are you just going to stand there? Get us another round."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome chastised. "There's no need to be rude."
The bartender shrugged. "Don't worry, Kagome. His bark is worse than his bite." He quickly poured them a couple more beers and each a shot of whiskey before meandering down to the other end of the bar.
Inuyasha immediately downed his shot of whiskey and threw the towel onto the bartop. "What's your problem?" Kagome demanded, not impressed by his show of masculinity. First he had the audacity to pick a fight and now he acted like busting open his knuckles was no big deal.
"Can we just bury the hatchet on this one?" he requested.
"Only if I can bury it in your skull." Inuyasha smirked at her response, causing Kagome to sigh with a soft smile. "Give me your hand."
This time he didn't fight her as she grabbed his hand in both of hers. After examining the broken skin across his knuckles, Kagome turned over his hand to look for other signs of injury. His palm and finger-pads were calloused and rough to the touch - evidence the skin had made after years of toil - but she had a feeling they were only a small fraction of his story.
His fingers curled around one of her hands and she looked up to be greeted with his amber gaze. "I'm okay," he promised, and she knew by his tone that he was sincere.
"Fine," she finally relented with another sigh, letting go of his hand as she turned to down her shot of whiskey. Her heart was pounding far too hard beneath her breast at this point, meaning she needed more alcohol. She felt her phone buzz in her purse again and pulled it out to scroll through several messages her ex had sent her.
[Kagome please answer me. Just want to make sure you're okay] his apparently concerned text read.
"Hojo?" Inuyasha said.
Kagome immediately locked her phone. "Reading someone's texts over their shoulder is an invasion of privacy."
"Is that your ex?"
She took another sip of beer. "Like I said, he apparently can't stick with his decision." The fact that he dared to even ask if she was okay made Kagome's blood boil. "I mean, he was the one to break off an engagement via text message. He should learn to live with the choice he made and leave me the hell alone."
"Ouch," Inuyasha said with a grimace. "A little testy there, huh?"
If looks could kill.
"All right, Mr. High-And-Mighty," Kagome said as she turned toward him. "Don't think I haven't heard your phone buzzing half the night."
Inuyasha glanced over at his cell that had in fact been vibrating on top of the sleek, black bar. He honestly hadn't paid it much mind. He wasn't the kind of person who checked his phone every time it rang. It annoyed his friends and mother to no end, but he was more about living in the here and now.
"What about it?" he asked.
"Well, aren't you going to see who's been texting you all night?"
"Keh, if you think it's my ex, you've got another thing coming," he said with a chuckle. "She's not like yours. She sticks with her decisions."
Kagome folded her arms over her chest. "Oh, really?"
Just to prove a point, Inuyasha unlocked his phone and scrolled through his messages. Like he had thought, there were a few from his best friend, his mother, and his niece, all of which could wait until morning for him to respond. "You've got to be shittin' me," he mumbled as his eyes came to rest on the text buried at the bottom.
[I think I may have been too hasty when breaking off our relationship yesterday. Perhaps we could meet for dinner next week and discuss it. Let me know xoxo]
Kagome raised a brow at the stunned expression on his face. "Something wrong?"
"Kikyou actually texted me," he said, too surprised to realize Kagome had been right about his ex reaching out. Kikyou had always been firm in all the decisions she made, often weighing pros and cons, and even going so far as to do thorough research on even the most negligible issues.
Curiously, Kagome peeked over his shoulder to read the text message. "Wow… she's a very formal texter, isn't she?"
Inuyasha slid a glare her way. "Now who's invading someone's privacy?"
Kagome smiled and grabbed his phone out of his hand before he could protest. "Do you want to get back together with her?"
"I… I don't know," he tripped over his words, a light blush coming to his cheeks as he desperately attempted to grab his phone back from her.
She held it just out of his reach and laughed. "If it's not a firm 'no', then you're just bad news."
He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She literally dropped you at the first sign of you being an 'inconvenience' to her. Why would you want to take her back?"
Inuyasha opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it. How could he convey his feelings for Kikyou to a girl he just met at a bar? "You don't know-"
"The whole story?" she cut him off with a smile. "Well, from what little you told me, the ending was the best part." Kagome quickly typed a few keys on his phone and pulled up his camera. "Here, let's take a picture to commemorate this night of freedom from exes."
Kagome allowed no time for him to argue with her. Liquid courage swam through her veins and she found her lips on his again, and only a second later felt him kissing her back. His hand moved up to her jaw line, the rough pad of his thumb tracing her cheekbone.
Click!
She pulled away and slowly opened her eyes, the rush of heat from their kiss exploding in her chest. It took her a minute of staring into honey-glazed eyes for her to come to her senses. She cleared her throat. "There, see?"
Holding up his phone, Kagome showed Inuyasha the picture she had snapped. His eyes studied the photo - of a heartbroken boy being soothed by a heartbroken girl, the blur of people and lights in the background showing the world spun on around them, and yet, in that moment, it felt like only the two of them existed.
"It's, uh…" He fumbled for words, the room suddenly feeling too hot. "I… I like it."
"Good." She pulled his phone back and again started typing quickly on the keypad. He raised a brow curiously until she gave the phone back to him.
[Sorry. My schedule's booked.] Kagome had typed into a reply to Kikyou.
Attached to the text was the photo she had just taken, of Inuyasha kissing some strange woman at a bar. All he had to do was hit send.
And before he could second guess himself, he did just that.
Kagome smiled up at him. "You deserve better."
He grinned in return. "And what about you? Don't you deserve better?"
As if on cue, her phone buzzed again. Kagome bit her lip and unlocked it, seeing another text from Hojo.
[You really have me worried. Call me!]
Inuyasha snatched her phone out of her hand, much like she did to him. "Hey!" she cried out, not happy with being on the receiving end of that trick.
"Let's make it even."
His lips crashed against hers, leaving Kagome stunned and nearly knocked off her barstool. She wrapped her hands around the front of his shirt to steady herself, feeling his palm on the small of her back pull her toward him. The kiss was passionate and heated, making her want nothing more than to throw caution to the wind and finish what they had started on that dance floor.
Click!
Inuyasha pulled away while simultaneously helping to steady her on her barstool. She barely registered him typing away on her phone until he held it out for her to see.
He copied her in the way of responding to Hojo's text message.
[No need to worry. I'm not going home alone tonight.] he had typed, attaching the picture he had taken to the message.
Kagome clicked on the picture. She nearly didn't recognize herself; the woman in the photo had wild tresses and a warm flush to her cheeks, holding onto the man before her as if her life depended on it. She embodied freedom.
"I love it," she murmured, slowly clicking 'send'.
And then she quickly began to regret her decision.
"Don't even think about it," Inuyasha said, taking her phone from her hands and putting it face down on the bar top. "The shame is written all over your face."
Kagome swallowed slowly, working through her regrettable thoughts, and then gave him a shaky smile. "You know what, you're right. Screw him."
"Another round?" Kouga asked as he gestured to their empty shot glasses.
Kagome suddenly had a thought. "Kouga, do you have an ex that did you wrong?"
He looked at her curiously with his lips pulling into a lopsided smile. "Doesn't everyone?"
She laughed brilliantly. "I guess so."
Inuyasha chuckled. "Take a shot with us, fleabag."
Kouga scrutinized him, but poured the shots without contest. "Here you are. What are we drinking to?"
Kagome and Inuyasha shared a look. "To horrible exes. May they leave us so we can find better, and may they never come around again."
"To finding better," Inuyasha agreed, and all three of them downed their shots.
Looking back, Kagome would pinpoint this moment in which the best parts of her brain switched off and she allowed the fool to run her life, and her mouth. She had been so used to the type of intoxication that shut the soul down, like when she was with her ex, trapped in a soul-coffin, as shut down a person could be and still be able to breathe.
But with Inuyasha - a man she just met who intrigued her with his sharp tongue, surly attitude, and passionate kisses - the intoxication brought every fiber of her soul to a state of aliveness she had forgotten was possible.
His eyes, the color of the whiskey in her glass, drowned her completely. The rest of the night passed by in a blur, her fingers always reaching for him, the connection of his body pressed against hers a desire she had no strength to withstand. Her legs were unsteady beneath her as the world spun, her laughter a little too loud, her words a little too slurred, her lips unable to clearly divulge what her brain was trying to say.
"Inu...yasha," she purred what she hoped was seductively, her drunken smile giving away all of her lonely thoughts.
He laughed at her, the rumble in his chest comforting as she clung to him. "I knew you were a lightweight," he murmured.
And then Kouga's blue eyes were watching her, a half-smile, a concerned tone.
"Come on," Inuyasha beckoned to her and she didn't even bother to tell him no.
He wrapped his hand around hers - warm and calloused - as he led her away from the bar. She stumbled after him like a silly school girl following her crush through the halls of make-believe. The cool evening air briefly pulled her from the haze of her drunken mind.
"Where'we goin'?" she asked him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to help keep away the chill. It felt so good to bury into his warmth, a man who stood so steady beside her.
"Home."
Kagome nodded against him, because she finally realized that home was exactly where she should be. When a car pulled up beside them, she didn't question Inuyasha guiding her into its backseat, or giving her address to the driver - how did he know where she lived?
She gazed up at him, the dim light of passing street lamps causing his eyes to glow. Her hand found a place against his chest, and he leaned down to kiss her, his lips warm against her own. Some part of her tried to pull her from his arms, reason with her that a sober Kagome would never have been so brash, and regret was a fickle thing.
But the alcohol still buzzing through her system wiped out those thoughts completely.
"Let's go, hot mess," Inuyasha coaxed her out of the car and onto the sidewalk.
She giggled as she haphazardly leaned against him. "Th' hottest mess you've e'er seen."
His baritone laugh made her grin. He helped her stumble up the stairs to her apartment, and he easily fitted her key into her door, swinging it open into the darkness beyond. As soon as the door was shut behind him, she turned and slammed her lips to his. Her fingers tangled within his silver hair, deepening the kiss, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Kagome," his breathy voice whispered against her ear, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
She ignored his plea, instead pushing and pulling him toward her bedroom, dropping her purse and kicking off her shoes along the way. Inuyasha guided her to the bed, lowering her body to the mattress as he hovered over her, placing kisses down her neck.
And then he stopped, causing a slight whine to fall from her lips. "Kagome," he said, this time his voice more stern, his breath passing through his lips heavy and uneven.
Kagome wiggled beneath him, her hips grinding against a very sensitive spot, causing a groan to fall from his lips. "Inuyasha, please," she murmured, reaching up and pulling him closer, begging for him to help her forget the misery of the day for just a few precious hours.
He groaned again. "Stay still," he grumbled, holding himself over her with his hands and knees. "Moving will only make this harder for the both of us."
She smiled and bit her lower lip attempting to seduce him, to persuade him to give into the desires they both shared in that moment, and grinded her hips against him again.
Another deep moan came from his throat, as he forcefully pulled her hands away from his hair and held them over her head. "Kagome, don't." His words were deliberate, because he knew if pushed far enough, his self control would wither.
"Please," she begged, this time her seductive expression turning to pouting lips.
"I-I can't."
She swallowed hard. "Tell me I'm worth it, then."
Her words caught him off guard as Inuyasha looked down at her. She was beautiful, her glassy brown eyes gazing up at him, appealing to him the deepest fears of her heart. Obsidian hair lay in a mess around her shoulders, her bruising lips and flushed cheeks promising a night he didn't dare hope for. "Kagome…"
"Promise me," she quietly urged again in a breathy whisper. "Promise me I'm always going to be worth it."
Calloused hands reached to cup her face, his thumb running across her cheekbone to wipe away a lone tear. "I promise."
Kagome was desperate, a girl she had pledged to never become, but Inuyasha was infatuating and sexy and in bed with her. Her inhibitions had long left her, and so she reached up again and pulled him to her. This time he didn't fight her advances, their lips meeting in a vulnerable kiss, and the rest of night became a blur of complacency and tangled sheets.
