Chapter 2

What in the hell did he just see? She seemed to go into her own world after she started speaking so openly. Then his ears picked up on a slight sloshing and the water in her glass was swirling as if going down a drain. It stopped as suddenly as it had started, and he looked up to see her biting her bottom lip. Did she somehow cause that? He stared at her hard for a minute, then he could smell the beginnings of tears and her anxiety rolling off of her in waves. Fuck, he better play it cool.

He sat there wracking his brain on how to calm the situation, and suddenly the song ended. He took a deep breath and touched her arm gently, trying to make sure his claws didn't knick her porcelain skin. She gasped quietly and looked up towards him and as he stared into her sea-blue eyes. He couldn't help but wonder what her world was like. Was she trapped in darkness, could she distinguish the changes in the light, or any type of movement? Had she always been blind or had she known the beauty of the world once upon a time?

He pulled his hand away as soon as Sango and Miroku returned to the table. Sango was barely out of breath, but Miroku was panting like a dog after a run. And I thought I was the one who was part dog. Heh.

As soon as the two sat down Kagome glanced at Sango, "Next one's mine, right?"

Sango smiled and shook her head for a second, "I don't have your stamina, I need one song break. Then yes, I will get back on the floor with you. In the meantime, Yash, why don't you take Kagome to dance?"

Yash felt his ears pin to his head, even if they weren't visible. Did the bitch really have to put me on the spot like that? He sits there shocked for a second, then nods, "Yeah, though I might have liked the opportunity to ask myself, Sango."

He glanced at Kagome and her cheeks were a bright red and she was staring down at the table. He can see little tremors in her water glass again, Fuck it really is her. I have to calm her down. I don't know how she's doing that. She smells mostly human but with a slight reptilian odor, but it smells like they are pets, not necessarily that she is part reptile. But maybe I'm wrong. Fuck, get out of your head!

"Kagome, do you wanna dance?" He said far too quickly, then held his hand out for her to take and led her to the dance floor as the next song just began pumping through the speakers. She looked up to him and nodded shyly. He was still so curious about her, but he couldn't give himself away. Her small hand fit in his larger one so perfectly as he wrapped his fingers around hers and pulled her to her feet.

"Thank you. I'm sorry about Sango, she can be so embarrassing. I don't know what she really thought was going to happen." He led her to the dance floor and she easily avoided touching anyone, even being blind, better than he did with his excellent vision. There's something about her, he has to figure out. But for right now, he wrapped his arm around the beauty and they began to dance.

Kagome was trying to figure out how to smooth things over with her stupid water glass when she heard the song ending, 'Please don't say anything to them' She felt herself secretly wishing so hard, If he blew her cover she was fucked. How could she explain this? As soon as Sango got back to the table, she made a break for it, "Next one's mine, right?" her voice comes out in a rush, but she's hoping it sounds like excitement and not nervousness and fear.

Sango shakes her head and responds, "I don't have your stamina, I need a break for at least one song. Then yes, I will get back on the floor with you." Then she turns to face Yash, "In the meantime, Yash, why don't you take Kagome to dance?"

Dammit, I just wanted a minute away from him, to get my head back in the right place! She heard his voice cut through her thoughts and she looked up to see him nodding, "Yeah, though I might have liked the opportunity to ask myself, Sango." Then he turned to her, "Would you like to dance, Kagome?"

She felt herself nod slowly, and he extended his hand towards her. She saw him watching his own clawed hands and her heart instantly melts a little. She gently put her hand in his, knowing he couldn't really hurt her, and as she looked up, she saw his ears pinned down to his head. He must be very uncomfortable.

She smiled instinctively as he led her across the dance floor. He really is kind, but he looked so scared. She's speaking before she even knew what to say, "Thank you. I'm sorry about Sango, she can be so embarrassing. I don't know what she really thought was going to happen." He looked back at her with a smirk and his ears perked up just a little bit. She tried and failed to hold back a small grin at seeing the cute appendages wiggle a little.

As they arrive on the dance floor, he does an amazing job at keeping pace with her moves, he couldn't follow her style, since she has had so much time to practice, although it's obvious he has had more time than his age shows, since he is using some moves that she knows were from a couple hundred years ago. After the song ends, he twirls her once, and pulls her against him as the last note fades. She can feel the deep blush appear on her cheeks, and it is such a foreign feeling. It seems like it has been centuries since she allowed herself to be close to someone. Not that she didn't ever date anyone, but it was dangerous to be with people for too long; lest her most grave secret be discovered.

As they separated and began the walk back to their table she's surprised to find herself slightly panting from both the exertion and excitement, but even more surprising, somehow he doesn't seem to be even close to out of breath. It's been a very long time since anyone was able to keep up with her, let alone outlast her. She can feel the smile spreading wide across her cheeks, and was pleasantly surprised to see him grinning back at her. Once they are in view of the table his smile mostly vanishes and is replaced by a small smirk that is much less noticeable. Miroku is wagging his eyebrows up and down while looking towards his friend, until Sango looks back at him, then he recovers his charming smile as he gazes at her like she is the most beautiful creature that ever walked the earth. Kagome's smile faltered for an instant as she felt a slight pang of jealousy, but she tried to recover quickly. Yash again seemed to be the only one who noticed anything, but he quickly schooled his features to alleviate the look of confusion.

She really is happy for her dear friend, but it's so hard to see it and know it is something she will never be allowed to have. For the first time in two millennia she wanted it, and maybe it's because she never really let herself think about it, but she really did want it.

Inuyasha was confused but hid it well. Why did she seem upset? It didn't seem to make any sense. He glanced over and saw their friends making goo-goo eyes at each other, but she wouldn't have been able to see them. Unless, of course, this was all a lie, but he couldn't smell any demon on her, so how would she have made the whole thing up? And more than that, why would she have bothered? He felt this very strong urge to figure this girl out. She was keeping secrets. So was he, but it bothered him more than it should've, especially since he probably wouldn't see her again. Unless the goofy faces the other two were making at each other was a sign of the relationship that would be starting. If they started dating, then he would undoubtedly see her a lot.

Then he glanced at Sango and wondered if she knew of her friend's secrets. If she had entrusted this to anyone at all, or if this was something, no one knew but her. Why could he not stop thinking about this girl and a secret that might not even exist? Was he insane? He looked back to Kagome and her eyes were on him, even if she couldn't see out of them. It didn't seem to matter that she was blind. Her eyes were still smiling at him. He was blown away by how much he was already falling for this girl. He took a draught of his beer, and she sipped her glass of wine. He was about to make small talk, when the server arrived with their meals. She had ordered a dainty little meal compared to his steak and shrimp.

He wasn't sure if he was paying for her meal with this not being an actual date, but he had brought along plenty of money if that was the case. It's not like his father hadn't left him enough of an inheritance to pay for anything he ever wanted, not to mention he had a good job in his old man's company even if his brother hated him. He followed through on his promise to their dad to give him an opportunity. Lucky him, as people often told him. Even though he would have been happier being able to chase his own dreams, he couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's not that he didn't like his job, it gave him everything he could ever hope for and a lot of opportunities to learn new things.

He knew one day soon he would have to retire for a few decades and come back under a new identity as Sesshomaru had suggested several centuries ago. It was the only way to make things work. The human world didn't know demons existed, and they had to create new identities every few decades. It didn't use to be this difficult, but now with everything so visible, with online accounts and websites, everyone knew who you were without ever knowing you. So he knew within the next few decades he would have to disappear and come back as his own son or something. Sesshomaru was on his 5th name already. He said it just made it easier.

How long had he been staring at this voluptuous creature while lost in his own head? Wait, her lips were moving! How much of the conversation had he missed?!

"- Yash?" Kagome's voice finally came into focus, what the hell is wrong with him?

"I'm so sorry Kagome, I think I zoned out for a minute, what did you ask me?" He felt like the biggest ass in all of history. But her grin seemed to get bigger for a second and she responded quickly and kindly.

"What exactly do you do, Yash?"

He felt himself blush a little, "I work for my father's company. I'm an attorney in my late father's law firm. He'd been grooming me to become an attorney since I was a young kid, I watched him go and help all the little guys, although my brother has taken on a lot bigger clients and kinda taking the point of helping people out of the equation."

Her smile falters a little at that statement, "I'm sorry, it sounds like he's kind of taken away the part that made it worth it for you away. I think it's very honorable that you want to help people though. That's such a sweet thing to choose to do, and it sounds like it's all for the right reasons. I hope someday you can find a way to recapture that part you're missing."

Something about this girl was driving him crazy, "What made you go into teaching?" His question comes out before he can stop it. What a dumb thing to ask!

But her smile is still as big as before, "I think there's so much to learn about history, and every day we live is going to be someone else's history someday. It's important to try to prepare the next generations to take care of things after we're gone. I know when I look through the history books they don't have everything right, but I hope we can tell the true story in ours. If not, the future children are going to be missing out on just as much." She seemed to catch herself and looked down shyly, "Sorry I didn't mean to blabber on like that. I get excited when thinking about things like that. I know it's not a moneymaker like being an attorney at law, but it is my current dream." The giggle that followed is like music to his ears and he feels them wiggle a little at the sound. Her grin magically gets bigger as they wiggle, and he feels his smile falter. Was she a witch? Could she see through his disguise? His ears trained forward, and he gave another smell in her direction. He can't sense anything out of the ordinary, no spell components, or anything that would set him to thinking something was wrong. Just the strange smell of snakes.

"So Kagome, do you have any pets?" He was going to figure this out.

She smiled a little smaller, "Nope. not yet. I used to have a pet cat, but the fat cat died before I moved from Greece. He was a chubby little stinker who liked to monopolize my time and my lap and always liked to prevent me from grading papers. I do miss him though." Her smile became a little wistful, but she seemed to shake it off after a second. "Why do you ask? Do I have cat hair on me or something?" She makes a show of wiping down her dress for a second but never took her eyes off of him.

"Nah, I actually didn't peg you for a cat lady, I thought a snake or reptile would suit you much better." her eyes go wide and she sits up straight.

"Ssnake? Wh-wh-why would you think that?"

Sango started giggling, "Kagome, I didn't know you were afraid of snakes! Wow, have you ever been bitten or is this a completely irrational phobia?"

Kagome glanced to Sango, "Oh it's an unfounded fear, they just kinda scare me a bit. But I love fuzzy creatures more than scaled ones." He could smell the anxiety rolling off of her, and she was clearly lying. Why would she lie about having a pet snake? And why would Sango not know she had a pet snake? There was much more to this than meets the eye.