Chapter Nine
The one thing that always relaxed Kagome was a so-bad-it's-good, cringey movie. Ok, so back when she was a teenager she didn't necessarily watch them ironically…(what fourteen year old girl didn't love Troy Bolton?) But now, as an adult with a fully formed prefrontal cortex, Kagome could appreciate cheesy romance films for all of their terrible glory. The plots were painfully easy to follow, the production was usually subpar and the scripts were just *chef's kiss*. Throw anything supernatural into the mix and Kagome wouldn't hesitate. In the past few years Netflix had really upped the ante in their Christmas movies selection specifically. Hallmark had nothing on 'A Christmas Prince' or 'The Princess Switch'. And Vanessa Hudgens just happened to be in another shitty Christmas romance called 'The Knight Before Christmas'. Kagome loved a good play on words. So she settled into the oversized sectional, tucked the blanket around her legs and propped her bowl of popcorn on the pillow next to her. All the stress of training, missions to take down Naraku and frustration of not having any new information about her parents shoved into a box into the back of her mind for the next two hours.
The screen was still loading when the door behind her opened. Kagome rolled her eyes, she was not changing it. There were three other tv rooms they could watch baseball in. What she didn't expect was for Inuyasha to plop down on the couch two cushions away from her and ask, "What are we watching?"
He kicked his feet up to the ottoman and Kagome noticed he was dressed in gray joggers and barefoot. His eyes were trained on the tv but looked over to her expectantly when she didn't answer right away.
"The Knight Before Christmas."
"Like the children's book?" He asked, unable to hear the K.
"Um, not exactly." Kagome couldn't keep the humor out of her voice.
They both turned back to the large screen mounted on the wall across from them and watched as the opening scene revealed a snowy countryside and the words
Norwich, England
December 18, 1334
"Oh my god yes it's going to be time travel." Kagome gleefully mumbled to herself.
"Time travel?" It was clear he was confused. After a few more minutes of watching, "Ohh knight not night."
The screen changed to another location. "Ohio? So not only does he travel through time but he ends up in the Midwest?" Kagome hid her grin by eating a handful of popcorn. The two continued to watch the movie in companionable silence, until they couldn't hold their tongues.
….
Kagome snorted as the girl hit the love interest with her car. She full on cackled when the woman offered to take him home with her.
"No! He's a complete stranger!" Inuyasha balked, waving his arm at the screen.
"She is so dumb!" Kagome laughed in disbelief.
….
"Dripping wet in a towel. Classic!" Kagome's face hurt from grinning so much, her eyes following every movement on the screen.
"Oh my god she wants him so bad." Inuyasha groaned and then leaned over to grab some popcorn from Kagome's bowl. Instead of returning to his sitting position, he chose to lay horizontal with his head propped on his hand.
….
"Don't do it dude."
"He's gonna do it."
Inuyasha and Kagome both burst out laughing when the knight went behind the woman to 'help her knead the dough'.
….
"On the cheek? Boooo!"
….
When the movie couple finally did kiss, "Eh four out of ten." Kagome judged
"You didn't like that?" Inuyasha looked up at her.
Kagome didn't take her eyes off the screen, "Her hand looked weird and there wasn't any passion." Kagome scrunched her nose
….
"In love. After 6 days."
"He's old fashioned."
….
Inuyasha fake gagged at the crescendo of corny love profession. Kagome grimaced when the townsfolk literally applauded as they rode away on the horse. And then the credits rolled.
"What about a social security number? How is he supposed to get a job?" Inuyasha straightened up but turned his body towards Kagome. She moved the now empty popcorn bowl to the ottoman and curled her legs up on the couch.
"He should worry more about what he's going to put on his resume." Kagome grinned.
"That was truly terrible." But Inuyasha's face didn't match his words. Kagome knew he had enjoyed it just as much as she had.
"Oh that was nothing. There was this one where a hot ghost was haunting this bed and breakfast, the woman befriended him, they figured out who murdered him and then he was just alive again so they could be together!"
Inuyasha just stared at Kagome, blinking his eyes with his mouth agape.
"The Spirit of Christmas."
"I don't- I can't-," Inuyasha stuttered and then chuckled, "Why do you watch this shit?"
"They're kind of my guilty pleasure. Sometimes it's just fun to laugh at how awful and cheesy they are."
"I took you for more of a Witcher, Game of Thrones type of girl."
Kagome scoffed, "Too intense, my real life is serious enough. If I'm trying to relax, I want to laugh." She smiled.
"Hopefully it doesn't rot your brain." Inuyasha scratched his eyebrow and admired her sweet smile.
Kagome just rolled her eyes, "It's harmless. Besides, what do you do to relax? And don't say work out."
Inuyasha paused for a moment, looking away from Kagome, "I guess I like board games." He said lightly.
"Yeah?" He was surprised she sounded genuinely interested.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin before adding, "Trivia is my favorite."
"You know Netflix has Jeopardy..."
It was well past midnight as Kagome snuck into her room. The other three had been asleep for hours now and she didn't want to disturb them. After readying herself in the bathroom, Kagome laid down softly on her top bunk. She still had a smile on her face and she recalled the scenes from her night in the tv room. With Inuyasha.
He was weirdly good at answering the Jeopardy questions, he knew all of the history and literature ones. And she liked the competitive nature of it. The best was when he was so confident of an answer and she was the one who got it right. She bit her lip at the memory of him jokingly hitting her with a throw pillow over a question about a Disney channel movie from the late nineties.
Her stomach was filled with butterflies. Oh shit. She realized, the smile freezing on her lips. Her stomach was filled with fucking butterflies.
This had started as just a plan. A plan to get on Inuyasha's good side. A plan to get information about her parents. And now she had butterflies?! Stupid fucking Miroku. She just wanted someone to direct her annoyance at but her own body was the one betraying her. Tonight didn't feel like part of her plan. Tonight was real. And fun. And the more chances she gave Inuyasha, the more she liked him. And that scared the ever loving shit out of her.
Even though it was the middle of winter, the compound's pool was heated to a comfortable 85°. Still, with the night temperature nearing freezing, Kagome was the only one brave enough to be outside at this time. As she finished her last lap, she moved to the side of the pool where a forty-five pound weight plate sat. She lifted it into the water, held it against her chest and took a breath. She quickly sank underwater until she was seated on the bottom of the deep end.
Kagome's muscles were sore from the previous night's mission. They had run into Kagura again. She was the most elusive of Naraku's gang and a total bitch too. Kagome had taken a few blows with her wind attack and multiple bruises had bloomed up across her torso and legs. Suikotsu made sure there was no internal bleeding and told her to take it easy. Kagome hadn't exerted herself too much in training that morning but now her body was restless. It only grew more restless when she felt Inuyasha's youki approach.
Kagome continued to hold her breath but her meditation exercise couldn't continue if she let him distract her. She kept her eyes closed and took inventory of each muscle in her body starting at her toes. Flex, hold, release, flex, hold, release. She hadn't even gotten to her shoulders when she could feel his youki right above her. She would have sighed if she had any air in her lungs. Instead, she stood and slowly walked along the bottom of the pool to the shallow end. She felt very Blue Crush. Once her head was above the water, she moved the weight plate to the concrete edge.
"You know I can sense you right?" Her back was to him, but she knew he could hear her.
"I forget sometimes. I didn't want to startle you." Inuyasha called back as he walked around to join her. He was wearing red swim trunks and a black sweatshirt, a towel slung over her shoulder. Kagome tried not to think if this was a coincidence or if he knew she was out here to begin with. She covered up her thoughts with a dramatic roll of her eyes and a push back to the middle of the pool. Once she was where her feet couldn't touch she started treading water.
"So what else can you do?" Kagome cocked her head to the side, "With your powers, I mean." Inuyasha clarified.
Kagome smirked, "Besides purify every drop of demon blood in your body?" Teasing him just came naturally now.
"Yeah," Inuyasha reached behind his neck and pulled his sweatshirt over his head, "besides that." His tanned torso now on display.
Fucking hell. Kagome deserved a gold medal for not ogling his body. She should be fucking use to it by now. He, along with most of the male members, were usually shirtless during training and workouts. But, with the only lighting coming from the pool, the visual did something to her. Thank god he couldn't smell her while she was in the water. "Would you believe me if I told you I can fly?"
Inuyasha's hands froze as they knotted his long silver locks into a bun, "No fucking way."
Kagome laughed, "Of course I can't fly, you idiot." He kicked water at her before he crouched down to the edge. His biceps flexed as he lowered his body to stretch out and enter the water. His hip bones, his obliques, the dips and curves of each of his muscles. Kagome dunked herself underwater just to get away from the view of him. Is he fucking doing this on purpose? Her brain screamed. When she came back to the surface, the temptation of Inuyasha's body was out of view and he had moved further towards the deep end. He even managed to keep a respectable distance from her.
"So does my brother get to join or what?" She asked, needing a new topic to focus on.
Inuyasha dipped himself fully under the water and came back up with his bangs pushed into the rest of his hair, "He'll be introduced at the next meeting." Kagome hummed in contemplation.
"What? I thought that's what you wanted." All humor was gone from his voice.
"Sango has been acting weird lately."
"Weird how?" Inuyasha slowly moved in a circle around her.
"Jumpy, skittish, aloof."
"And?"
"Well…" Kagome only debated voicing her thought for a moment, "I'm wondering if that's because she is the one who has to initiate Miroku."
Inuyasha's amber eyes looked towards the dark night sky, "Even if I knew who was initiating Miroku, you know I couldn't tell you."
"I know," Kagome elongated the word, "But can you just indulge me in some speculation right now?" Her treading arms turned her to match his movement.
"Fine. What's the big deal if they have sex?"
"Miroku has feelings for Sango and even though she does a great job of deflecting, I know she likes his attention."
"Great, so they should have fun." He shrugged simply.
"Or it could ruin everything."
"How so?"
Kagome looked towards the heavens, exasperated, "Men." and then continued, "If you move too fast then it could ruin the potential. They haven't even explicitly said they like each other and now they have to have sex? It's ass backwards for a good relationship." Kagome hadn't noticed they were a mere five feet apart now.
"Or," Inuyasha's amber eyes glowed as they scanned her face, "maybe the intimacy could force them to address their feelings." His voice was low. So low. So low that Kagome wanted to move closer to him. So low that she wanted him to speak directly into her ear.
What the hell were they talking about again? For the second time in less than ten minutes, Kagome was glad her lower half was underwater.
"Maybe I shouldn't talk about my brothers sex life anymore." Kagome broke her gaze away from his and forced a laugh, "Shippo mentioned you have a brother?"
She could see the shift in his demeanor, "Half-brother."
"Same…?" Kagome prompted.
"Same dad, different moms. His mom is a inuyoukai too, where mine was human."
"Was?" Kagome asked softly. Inuyasha blew a breath out through pursed lips and then wiped a wet hand down his face. "You don't-" Kagome started to say to dissuade him from talking about it.
"My parents are both dead. Stab wounds to the chest. Them and another couple who were founding members of the rebellion were murdered the same night, the same way."
Kagome's mouth felt like sandpaper. It took everything in her power not to show any telling emotion. Was she still breathing? Why was it so hard to breathe all of the sudden? "Do you have any idea who did it?"
"Naraku." Inuyasha's voice was ice cold and his eyes shone with pure malice.
This was Kagome's first real lead. Her parents had to have fallen victim to the same man Inuyasha's had. And it only furthered the theory that it was a friend. That left two options: either one of the old members worked for Naraku and did his dirty work, or Naraku (or one of his wards) had shape shifting powers.
Kagome had to double check with Miroku but he had never heard of any youkai having shapeshifting abilities either. That led Kagome to the internet, and with literally billions of hits about youkais none of them mentioned shapeshifting. Ok. That's fine. So that narrowed down her search to the members of the Shikon Rebellion from twenty years ago. It was difficult to convince Shippo to let her see the documents from back then without revealing why, but the kid took her word for it being 'Naraku related'. There was no official roster of members but there were mission logs. Kagome went through every single one and wrote down every name she found. There were sixteen in all, not counting her or Inuyasha's parents. Sixteen was doable. Each google search started with the old member's first and last name along with 'city of Shikon'. She knew the murderer had been a man but she wasn't ruling out the women just yet. Seven members' searches resulted in archived obituaries. Kagome checked their pictures just to make sure and none of them were who she was looking for. For the remaining eleven, Kagome found LinkedIn profiles, company websites and even Facebook pages. She spent hours pouring over web links and pictures and fucking none of them were the fucking guy. She wanted to scream.
