"You know one of these days it's going to be me sitting behind that easel drawing you."
Kagome scoffed as she flipped to a clean page. Once again it was just the two of them in the classroom, though she suspected that they wouldn't be alone for much longer. While some of the students still continued to schlump in a minute before the tardy bell, some were showing up earlier. The teacher acted like she was glad that more had taken interest in the class, Kagome knew better. She suspected that Kikyo did too if the secret smiles aimed her way were a clue. Or maybe she'd seen the way that Kagome had been ogling the art model.
Oh shit.
Was that against school policy?
She didn't think she had done anything wrong. As far as Inuyasha had ever mentioned, it was strictly a volunteering thing. Come to think of it, what did he do with his days? She knew he worked, but he never elaborated. Then again, she wasn't very forthcoming with a lot of personal details either, and he didn't pry.
Kinda hard to pry for information when you have your tongue run down the person's throat.
She sure as hell wasn't going to complain about that.
Before she could retort that it'd be a cold day in hell, more students were filing in and throwing their bags around the room. Her thoughts of what she was about to say were quickly replaced with wanting to scream about how these morons were damaging their expensive-ass art supplies. Did they not know that each time the pencil was dropped the lead would shatter a little more within the pencil? Or that charcoal sticks could turn to dust quicker than half the universe in that superhero movie? Not to mention the little pots of ink were impossible to get out of fabric –
Then Inuyasha stepped out from behind the folding curtain and she forgot her internal rant. She'd nearly said "holy shit" out loud when he crossed the room and dropped into the seat next to hers. It was almost always vacant, so he'd claimed it when Kikyo was seated at her desk. After that, the others in the class tended to leave it be, assuming he'd verbally claimed it when they weren't present. If her brain had been able to focus properly, she might have seen the looks of envy on a few faces of her peers.
Inuyasha was only wearing the cloth wrap around his waist, and holy gods above did he ever present a sight.
Kagome bit the inside of her cheek as she stared at him, hoping it wasn't so obvious that she was staring and trying to look more disinterested in the stack of muscle sitting right next to her. He leaned back in the chair, almost slouching, making the wrap scoot upwards on his thighs an inch. Her eyes followed the fabric, wondering if he was wearing anything underneath the wrap and for once kind of hoping he was with the way his knees were parted. They moved upwards, watching the dips and curves of his abdomen rise and fall as he breathed, across the firm planes of his pectorals…and to the shit-eating grin framed with stubble.
He saw her looking.
Shit, he knew she was looking!
"See something you like, sweetheart?" he whispered.
Even a week and a half later Inuyasha was still grinning like an idiot when he thought back to that first session where he was down to just the cloth wrap and how Kagome had reacted. The image of her blushing prettily, those soft lips opening and closing as she tried to find an excuse – it had been utterly delightful to reflect on. It got him through the days where his work hours drug or he had to deal with stupid delivery drivers and stock, but also at night when he was alone in his house.
A house he hadn't realized had been so big an empty before.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was gaining some semblance of a relationship with Kagome. His thoughts almost lead him into the idea that he was gaining her trust, but… as of now she saw them as two separate men. Where was the trust going to go when she knew the truth? Out the window, that's where. He was almost positive she'd want nothing to do with him once she knew. Even after fishing for her opinions and preferences of the "other man" as the "other man" he could anticipate how his heart was going to break when she declared that he needed to stay the hell away from her. The ache of knowing that when she came in to get her supplies she wouldn't seek him out. He wouldn't get to see her pretty smile or how her face would light up when he greeted her.
Dammit, he had to get her to see that she was talking to the same person! The question was how. Just how was he supposed to approach her and say "You know that model you've been drawing all semester? Yeah he's me. I've been taking some experimental drug to hide my half demon features and I didn't know that you were in this class but I've thought you were cute for years and didn't think you'd give me the time of the day if you knew the truth".
That…that wouldn't work at all.
He scowled, his good mood turned sour thanks to the logical side of his brain choosing to be "helpful". Once again it was mostly empty, save for the occasional student or faculty member dropping in to buy snacks that weren't available in the machines or too lazy to go to the dining hall. A good thing too, as the manager happened to walk by and jokingly told him to "perk up". The half demon rolled his eyes at the human that was too chipper for his own good sometimes.
Then again, of the two of them, his manager was more likely to get lucky at night.
That thought alone pissed him off and had him scowling again.
He had his suspicions that if he were to make an official claim for Kagome's hand in his human appearance, she wouldn't object – and therein lay his biggest issue. Only one day out of the month he could be entirely human, and that was only a handful of hours at night. The others he'd have to keep taking the suppression pills, and that was another set of problems. Dr. Mushin had never specified how long he could take them. It had only been an agreement between them for the duration of the semester for the modeling. Even Kikyo had expressed concerns about him taking the medicine, telling him to "grab the bull by the balls and just tell Kagome everything". Mushin wasn't even positive if they could be taken long term, so that eliminated any chance of taking them for the rest of his life.
"I gotta tell her the truth," he mumbled, ducking underneath the sales counter to retrieve another roll of receipt paper for the cash register.
"Tell who the truth?" a soft voice asked from the other side, making him yelp as he hit his head on the shelf.
"Kuh – uh…Higurashi!" Inuyasha damn near fucked up and called her by first name before he straightened up with the roll of paper in hand. "What brings you here today?"
Kagome gave him a skeptical look. "I wanted to pick up some extra pencils, maybe get some souvenirs to send home to my little brother before the end of term. Who do you need to tell the truth to?" she asked curiously, dropping her arms onto the edge of the counter and leaning forward. "Is there a girl you need to confess something to?"
The half demon rubbed his head and had to do a double take when he took in Kagome's appearance. Had he hit his head that hard or did she look differently today? Her hair fell around her shoulders in messy waves, framing the deep V-neck t-shirt she was wearing that fit her a little too well. His mouth went dry as he noticed the small silver chain that hung around her neck, dropping to lie just above the expanse of cleavage she was showing him.
It was a sight to behold and it had made his day a hell of a lot better.
Kagome normally wore looser shirts and blouses, so he couldn't understand why…wait. Was she...?
"I…uh, yeah," he said, watching her face show a flicker of disappointment. "It's my brother's wife," he added quickly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. "They just had twins a few months ago, and I might've told a white lie and said that they resembled my brother like she was wanting to hear."
Her expression looked surprised. "Oh? They don't?"
"Hell no," he laughed, "They look like her through and through. Same set you ablaze glare and all."
The way she joined him in laughter only added to his renewed good mood. He replaced the empty roll in the cash register and stepped around to join her, taking in the rest of her outfit. The jeans she wore…fuck they could have been painted on her the way they hugged her hips. The t-shirt stopped just short of the waist band, and he could glimpse a tiny sliver of skin that he was desperate to touch. This…was not helping his problem. At all. And she was doing her damndest to get a reaction out of him without stripping to her underwear. Although… he wouldn't have been against that – NO.
Focus. Work.
As he laid his hand against the small of her back, as he had developed a habit of doing, leading her to the art section. He knew he didn't have to walk with her over there, and she knew it too. She wanted his company, and if she didn't mind his touch, she would have shied away from him long before now. Yet she didn't; if anything, his ears picked up a tiny sigh of contentment when the pads of his fingers touched her back.
She was expecting his touch.
The urge to pull her into the stock room and get her to make more sounds like that was too tempting. It was the middle of the day, just before handfuls could come in during their lunch break. He was needed on the floor.
He wanted Kagome on the floor. Under him, preferably.
Fucking shit. Not good. Don't think like that!
She didn't "know" his name, so she couldn't murmur it to him right then even if he had the opportunity to get her alone. She didn't know that he was interested in her, and with only seeing her during his work hours it made it difficult to actually flirt when he wasn't looking human. But the biggest issue that was like a bucket of ice water over his libido was the fact that she didn't know the truth.
The half demon sighed as they reached the aisle with the pencils. Gods, he was in trouble. So much freaking trouble if he didn't think of a way to solve this where they wouldn't both be hurt in the end. She was like a precious gem to him and didn't deserve to be let down by another man.
Kagome flopped onto the couch with her pint of rum raisin ice cream and stared at the late night news without interest. The day hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped, and as it progressed it only seemed to get suckier.
The morning had been decent enough, considering the end of term was approaching and the last of her core classes for her degree was gearing up for finals. The ones geared towards her degree itself weren't due for that for another week. She hoped that Kikyo remembered that they would have a final coming up for the class. She'd heard some of the other students giggling about the syllabus but had never cared enough to remember to look at it to see what was so funny. Perhaps just a typo, knowing Kikyo.
Lunch had been uneventful, as always. She went to the dining hall and ordered a chicken tender plate with fries, found a seat and ate by herself. A mini sketchbook sat next to her to doodle on until she had to cross the campus to her next class. Only this time, she didn't even open it before she was stuffing it back in her bag, collecting her trash and heading to the entryway. Her feet led her to the bookstore, and she actually had a decent enough excuse for stopping in. With the approach of the end of term, she wanted to make sure she had enough pencils to get her through finals, and she did want to get a few college items for Souta to send home. She wasn't sure if she could swing making the journey back home for the holidays, and with her expenses for the apartment she was most likely going to be video-chatting with them instead.
Then she had stepped into the bookstore and seen the silver haired half demon duck behind the counter. She'd heard him mumbling something about telling a girl the truth, and her stomach dropped. Was he involved with a woman already? That would freaking figure, even if Inuyasha had told her that he was giving the guy the opportunity to take a chance before he missed it. If he was already in a relationship, then why did she feel upset about that, when Inuyasha was giving her a choice.
Maybe it was because she'd felt like she was putting herself on display by wearing her most revealing V-neck and low rise jeans today. She'd seen the look in his eyes when he really noticed her attire, and she thought he liked what he saw. So when his fingers brushed against the exposed skin of her back, she'd wanted to melt into his side.
And that had been it. He hadn't made any other indication of his interest in her, though she could swear that he was glancing at her more than once when she bent over to read the labels. She'd definitely heard a sound come from his direction, so maybe he was just shy about it? He'd told her that mumbling had been about his sister-in-law's kids, which wasn't out of the blue. He'd talked about them in passing with her before, but the way he tacked it on had her wondering if he'd done it to assure her that he was single.
She groaned, sinking further into the cushions, gripping the pint with increasingly cold fingers. Why was this so confusing! There was a man who had expressed deliberate interest in her, and she was trying to gauge if the half demon she had been smitten with for years could reciprocate. She felt like scum, no matter how much Inuyasha was understanding. He knew that she was crushing on the half demon, he knew that she had it bad for him, and he was still giving her an opening.
The evening hadn't gotten any better. She left the bookstore with her purchases, continued on through her classes, and as usual, Inuyasha was waiting to walk her to her final class. Kagome had thought she was doing a good job of hiding her disappointment with the day, because he hadn't mentioned anything about it. At least, not until he got behind the wheel of his truck. He'd asked if everything was okay, and before she could stop herself she was recounting the day's events to him on the drive home. Inuyasha had listened to her silently, letting her get out her frustrations and sadness, then took her hand in his free one and gave it a squeeze.
Her heart melted with that one little touch.
He hadn't told her that things would get better the next day. Hadn't offered false words of hope. Hadn't fed her some line about if she ever needed a shoulder he was there. He didn't need to say anything; that gesture said it all.
She hadn't let go of his hand until she slid out of the truck, and then it was taken up in his once more as they took the stairs to her apartment. It was one of those nights where they didn't speak much on the trek, and that was fine with her. She'd unloaded enough on the drive home as it was. He'd taken her in his arms as they stopped in front of the door, holding her tight against his chest. After drawing him bare chested for almost two weeks, knowing how buff he was underneath his clothes made her want to never leave that spot.
He really did give good hugs.
And goodnight kisses.
Very, very good goodnight kisses.
Toe-curling kisses.
Kisses that had her blurting out if he wanted to come inside for a bit before he went home.
The noise…that groan that came from his chest…it had made her shiver, and not because she was still pressed against him and could feel the vibration. The look in his eyes as he told her that he couldn't made her insides squirm.
"Trust me sweetheart," he purred, brushing his thumb across her bottom lip, "if I were to step inside your apartment tonight I wouldn't be leaving until the morning."
Her libido, if it could have made a sound, would have squealed in that moment.
Like a dumbass, she'd asked why not. She knew why not. He knew why not. They weren't established, and that was a huge fucking leap to take, even if her girly bits were screaming to not let him leave. She had to though, and if she felt gutted at their separation, his face echoed her thoughts. He didn't want to leave either, but she knew he would, if only to give her heart a chance at being happy. She watched from her open doorway as he returned to his truck, then locked it with a choked sob.
Why was this so hard?!
She'd bumped her head against the door a few times, angry at herself for all the things. She could make a decision. She could get the truth out of the half demon if she actually tried, she was sure of it. Kagome had wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and went to the kitchen for that ice cream.
Now, as she slouched and tucked into her frozen comfort, she knew she had to do something. The end of term was approaching quick, and not only would she not see the half demon until the start of the next term, but she didn't know if she'd ever see Inuyasha again. Not if she didn't make a decision.
