The Call
~ Kitty
Chapter 1: … And I must go
…
"To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world."
- John Muir, Travels in Alaska
He moved with very little motion, just a small shift of balance to tip him over and off the last step, landing with a sharp crunch on the hard dirt surface. A long, dark braid dangled over his shoulder and he absently flipped it back, pausing to take in his surroundings with a look of disdain smeared across his angular face. The smells and sounds of the city invaded his senses with a jarring, crass intensity and he wanted nothing more than to swing himself around and back into the rickety little plane that had brought him to this place. His heavily booted feet took him to the back of the bush plane and he collected his worn, dusty pack quickly before trudging around the tiny building that served as a mini airline terminal. The other passengers that had arrived with him were heading inside to escape the blistering summer sun but to him, the less time he spent indoors the better. The air was lifeless here, somehow barren and empty, and he felt as though it latched onto him to siphon out his very life force. There was muted chatter around him and the harsh, grinding sound of metal wheels on rough pavement as the commuter airline crew hauled around the freight that he'd traveled with into Fairbanks. The unnatural movements in his periphery and the sounds of machinery and human voices grated on his senses, making him feel unbalanced, like he was at sea. Sunlight, harsh and overbright, bounced off of the metal and windshields in the parking lot, further throwing him off center as he struggled to adjust to the sudden rush of civilization attacking him from all sides.
A sharp ping sang out from his back pocket and the young man failed to stifle his flinching reaction to the sudden noise. He heaved a long, suffering groan, almost a growl, as he fished a cell phone out of his pocket to glance at the chipped and cracked screen.
"Just landed! See you at passenger pick up!"
A scowl cut deeply into his forehead and he resisted the urge to hurl the phone into the parking lot pavement. Instead, he clumsily punched in a response to the message and sought out a shaded corner to crouch in. His stance and 'bite your head off' expression kept workers and airline patrons alike at a distance. In his adolescence perhaps, the sidelong glances and hushed whispers would have made him painfully self conscious. But now, like how years of friction grows a callus, he'd settled into the hardened protective mental shell around his heart and the waggling tongues no longer caused him grief.
And so, he waited, silently stewing, while his glare seemed to burn holes into the ground beside him.
…
"Get your ass over here"
Miroku chuckled immensely to himself as they waited at the curb. He practically bounced as he swayed from foot to foot while reading the message. His movement helped dislodge the pressing, incessant buzzing insects trying to land on his arms and legs, which he kept in constant motion since his bug spray was buried somewhere deep inside their luggage. Beside him, his fiance rolled her eyes behind her dark sunglasses.
"He's seriously going to just leave you to die when we get out there," she told him. Miroku only smiled, sidling up closer and trying to discreetly slip an arm around her waist. The tall girl side-stepped his approach neatly, eyes locked onto the screen of her own phone and leaving Miroku to embrace nothing but air.
"Kagome's already at the hotel," she informed him, waving her hand beside her face to swat at the mosquitos clamoring for fresh tourist blood. They were huge. Heavy, floating black spots with spindly legs and probing mouths, the air was thick with them. Sango huffed as she tried to keep them off her face, the one stretch of skin she'd left undeeted. Miroku took a moment to admire her physique, the sturdy way she planted her feet, a hip cocked out to emphasize the roundness of his favorite feature. Athletic clothing looked good on her; even how the loose fitting cargo pants hung from her hips seemed to accentuate her proportions and now his thoughts turned in another direction.
"Think we can get Inuyasha and Kagome to… give us some private time tonight?"
Sango rolled her eyes again, shaking her head. She gave him a deadpan look and said flatly, "If he's anything like I remember, I think he'll make it a point to cockblock you this entire trip."
The young man sighed, it was probably true. He rocked back to his heels, leaving Sango to continue her text conversation with Kagome. Casting his eyes around, he made a face at the large, overly stuffed baggage piled at their feet. He nudged the contents with a booted foot, hearing the crinkling and clanging inside, the tools and supplies that would keep them alive for the next two weeks. Sango swatted his shoulder, giving him a look that demanded no nonsense, even as she continued to be engrossed with her phone. A few minutes later, a large van pulled up along the curb, bright lettering on its side indicating it was their ride.
"Springhill Suites?" the driver called, stepping out and glancing around.
"Here!" Miroku called, shouldering his pack and grunting as he struggled with the rest of the bags. Similarly laden, Sango shuffled towards the shuttle, gratefully dropping her luggage with a heavy thud.
"Jeez it's hot," she grumbled, "Isn't it supposed to be cold in the arctic?"
Miroku chuckled to himself as he buckled in. He was looking forward to seeing his friend again, for all Inuyasha's prickliness. He directed the shuttle driver to a small, commuter airline at the other side of the airport, and his eyes eagerly picked out a crouching figure hunched over in the shade. Twitchy, tanned arms hung limply over his knees, a nasty glower painted onto an otherwise handsome face. Sango beside him snorted as they approached.
"Yup, he hasn't changed," she stated, amusement evident in her voice, "this is going to be an interesting trip."
The instant he spotted them, Inuyasha stood abruptly, limbs stiff and lips pursed. He was the picture of prickly grumpiness, clearly uneasy in his surroundings. Miroku took a breath and braced himself before stepping out of the van.
"Hey roomie!"
"Fuck you."
The gruff young man brushed past him, muttering a stunted greeting to Sango as he unceremoniously climbed in and seated himself at the very back of the shuttle. Miroku could feel Inuyasha's glare at the back of his neck the entire ride into town. Without turning his head, he could clearly see his friend in his mind's eye: arms crossed, shoulders slouched. Sango was used to this frosty attitude and gazed out the window to take in her first sight of the northernmost city she'd ever been to. Surprising to her eyes, it had the feel of any other modern suburb, complete with supermarkets and a Walmart, restaurants, and Starbucks. And then she chastised herself. What did she expect, igloos? Beside her, a wide, warm hand found its way to hers and she smiled to herself, letting her fingers intertwine with Miroku's. She knew her assertion earlier was true. They were unlikely to find much private time these next two weeks. With a sigh, she mentally resigned herself to the fact that she would have to deal with a ravenously amourous fiance when they returned.
The ride was short and soon the shuttle was pulling into the hotel parking lot. Sango barely had time to step out when she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
"Sango!"
A slender figure bounced out of the sliding doors, arms open wide. "It's been ages! I can't believe we're finally doing this!"
Sango laughed as she returned the bear hug. "Oof! It's great to see you, Kagome! You look great!"
The girls pulled apart and Kagome laughed. "I better! I worked my ass off to get fit for this thing! You still have me scared to death that we're going to get eaten by something out there."
"Ahem," Miroku coughed, "Long time no see, Kagome."
Inuyasha had been standing awkwardly to the side, his jaws locked tight as he stood unhappily in the background. Everything was too loud, everything was too strange. He begrudgingly admitted to himself that perhaps he'd been a little too isolated for a little too long as the small reunion seemed like chaos to him. And then the new girl spun around to greet Miroku and Inuyasha got a good look at her beaming face.
It felt as if he'd been plunged into a snowmelt lake. He felt something turn to lead inside his chest and plummeted through his stomach to his feet. Blood drained from his face and his entire body went rigid stiff. His breath hissed as he gasped through tightly locked jaws. He was twenty-three again, and the crashing heartbreak returned in an avalanche of memory and familiar gut-twisting pain. He could no longer breath and he felt a rolling sensation of nausea ripple up the back of his throat.
"... and this is Inuyasha," Miroku was saying. Before the smiling young man could fully turn around, Inuyasha was gone, briskly grunting a greeting as he pushed his way past them and into the hotel. The receptionist could not check him in fast enough and he nearly crumpled the plastic key card in his white-knuckled fist. The elevator doors opened at a glacial pace and he when he heard their voices behind him as he waited, he turned tail and raced up the stairs, retreating like a wounded dog into his lonely room. The party he abandoned watched him go in confusion, oblivious as he stumbled to the bathroom and heaved the contents of his stomach while he forced back his tears.
…
The sun was toying with the horizon when he finally picked up the phone he'd been ignoring for the last several hours. He'd closed the black-out curtains and the screen's artificial brightness caused his eyes to squint and water.
"What." He said simply, neutrally.
"Dude, finally," Miroku said, "What's going on? We're trying to make plans for dinner."
"Go without me," Inuyasha replied, hanging up before Miroku could begin to utter an answer. He knew he couldn't hide in the hotel room forever. But oh, how tempting it was to abort this endeavor right now. He'd been mentally prepared to deal with the annoyance and the frustration that came along with keeping Miroku out of trouble. He'd spent a significant portion of his college experience rescuing the idiot from every situation imaginable. But that girl. Sango's friend. He could not endure her.
Inuyasha lay flat on his back on the bed. There was a tightness in his lungs that made him short of breath. A cold, unfeeling fist was squeezing down on his chest and his teeth pierced his lip as he struggled to tamp down the rising panic. The taste of iron in his blood was sharp and bitter. Then the tension snapped and he was holding his breath while his diaphragm spasmed. The would-be sob lodged in his throat and he held it there, remembering the tactics he'd used so long ago to silence his gasps and whimpers.
Let it pass.
When his body quieted, he chanced a small intake of air. The smallest little gasp before the lump in his throat threatened to spill out again. He bit down on both his lips as he held onto his quaking lungs.
Let it pass.
It took a long time for the convulsing to end. He lay there for hours, focused on his breathing, commanding his lungs to inhale smoothly. In the dark, his face was carefully set to neutral, almost serene, but when his concentration broke for even a second, the corners of his lips twisted and moisture seeped from the corners of his eyes. Eventually, he stood up, absently pulling open the curtains to gaze down at the river outside his window. The sight of water helped his mind think of other things. The ripples, the reflections. The swirls and the eddies. The hypnotic dance of light refracting on the water's surface and his mind quieted as his eyes lost their focus. Above the arctic circle, the summer sun did not truly set, and it was to the light of the midnight sun that Inuyasha was able to slowly drift into the blissful darkness of sleep.
…
"Good morning."
Inuyasha looked up to the sound of her voice, swallowing his first instinct to flee. It was difficult, to see the girl in front in him, the bright, hopeful eyes, the cheerful cheeks that dimpled as she tried to hold her smile. Instead it was a haunted mask that he saw and he grit his teeth as he forced himself to hold her eyes. She seemed startled by the fierceness of his gaze, frightened even. He realized he must surely be glaring at her and blinked, glancing away.
"Keh," he said in answer.
She stood in front of his table for a moment longer, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. The noises of the hotel breakfast buffet continued around them, the bustling of the hotel workers, the chatter of the guests. The ambient sounds around the room, with the thick, heavy smells of breakfast meats and coffee seemed to press in from all sides and he suddenly felt suffocatingly claustrophobic. Eventually the girl awkwardly tried to start again and he found it hard to listen to the question.
"We… we're going to REI to pick up last minute gear," she said, voice slipping as his lack of response discouraged her, "You want to come? … maybe…?"
'No.'
It was on the tip of his tongue. But the rational part of his brain quieted his reluctance. He also had a shopping list.
"Yeah," he said, "OK."
He kept his eyes on the table, hearing her let out a breath, like she was trying to laugh. The shadow she cast moved and fidgeted uncomfortably.
"Great… we're meeting in the lobby in ten minutes."
He grunted and stood, having tolerated as much as he could bear. Preparing to flee, he found himself briefly distracted by just how small she was. She hardly came up to his chin. His abrupt movement must have startled her. She jumped back like a frightened deer, her coffee dangerously close to spilling over her hands and shirt. She adjusted her grip and scampered away, and a heady relief washed over him. He could finally breathe.
It was an awkward walk to the store. The silence was thick and tense and eventually, Inuyasha couldn't suffer it any longer, picking up the pace until he could no longer hear their footsteps behind him. Kagome stared at his back, allowing the distance to grow greater and greater. The long swaying braid he wore had piqued her interest when she first saw him step out of the van. And despite his stern look, he was handsome, and she had been excited at the prospect of spending the two weeks in the wilderness with him. His abrupt departure yesterday was startling but it wasn't until his icy attitude this morning that she'd firmly landed on her conclusions about this stranger.
"Has he always been such an ass?" She whispered to Sango as they strolled. Sango frowned, perplexed as well.
"Well…," she said, "Not that much of one…"
"Are you sure he's gonna be ok to guide us?" Kagome asked, "I'm kind of not getting a good vibe from him."
"Think of him more like a safety net," Sango tried to soothe her friend, "he's mainly there in case something goes wrong."
"I guess…," Kagome said. She still wasn't quite convinced. It was only the four of them, and with Sango and Miroku being an item, she seemed to be heading in for an incredibly awkward, tension-filled two weeks, with an unstable, touchy hermit as her only reprieve from being the third wheel. This wasn't looking promising. And then she remembered the other part of their trip.
"Sango…," Kagome said. The taller girl reacted instinctively to the apprehension in her friend's voice. "Could you be my raft partner? I really don't think I'll be comfortable with Inuyasha…"
Sango resisted the urge to sigh. One week on foot, one week on water. That was the plan. And only the boys had real white water experience. But one look at Kagome's worried face and Sango let out the sigh.
"Let's see how things go," she said, "But if you're still not comfortable with him, sure, I can be your partner."
Kagome cracked a smile in relief, "Thanks Sango."
A little ways ahead, Miroku was power walking to catch up with his dark haired friend.
"Inuyasha!" he called, "Dude, seriously."
Inuyasha turned aggravated hazel eyes to the ponytailed man, hardly slowing his pace in the slightest. The expression on his face should have warned him away, but Miroku was determined to get to the bottom of his ex-roommate's bizarre behavior.
"What is wrong with you, Inuyasha? Kagome's way freaked out because of you!"
"Fuck off," Inuyasha said sharply, entirely unwilling to broach the subject. And then, under his breath, "as if you don't know…"
"Don't know what?" Miroku asked. It was with a mixture of annoyance, and concern that Miroku persevered. Grumpiness, he'd been prepared for, but this seemed like something else entirely.
"You're joking," Inuyasha ground out, keeping his voice low as they entered the store, "You must be fucking joking."
He led them in a beeline to the fuel section, blindly grabbing several canisters of kerosene and rushing toward the checkout counter.
"Inuyasha, I have no clue what you're talking about..."
Inuyasha rounded on his friend, very nearly spitting into his face while he thrust a scratched up, worn credit card at the startled cashier. "You really don't see it?"
"Don't see what, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, beginning to feel exasperated, "Remember our talks in college? I can't know unless you tell me!"
Miroku raked a frustrated hand through his hair, dislodging the modest ponytail at the nape of his neck. Man, did they sound like an old married couple, he thought to himself. Some things never seem to change.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha hissed in a barely contained whisper. Miroku was brought up short by the hardness in Inuyasha's voice.
"Kikyou! Kagome and Kikyou! They're practically twins!"
Miroku frowned, struggling to call up an image of Inuyasha's old college flame. "So… they look similar?" he tried.
"Try fucking identical! It's like Kagome's a clone of her!"
Miroku paused, the gears in his head turning. Inuyasha glared at him impatiently, waiting for something to click in the idiot's brain. Miroku made a face and shook his head.
"I don't know," he said, "I don't remember. And in any case, Kagome's completely different from your ex."
"Are you fucking BLIND?" Inuyasha bellowed. All shoppers in the store turned startled eyes to the bickering couple who'd been whispering irately to each other for the past several minutes. Miroku glanced around, embarrassed, noting that Sango and Kagome were staring as well.
Dropping his voice down to hardly a whisper, he spoke harshly into Inuyasha's ear.
"Don't. Ruin. This. Trip." he ordered, "It was a logistical nightmare and we've been saving for years. I honestly don't remember what your ex looked like. She hated us and pretty much made you disappear since senior year. Kagome. Is. Not. Her. She's completely different and you'll see that once you get to know her. So be nice."
Abruptly, Miroku stood back and plastered his best 'used car salesman' smile on his face. "Hey Sango, Kagome, you guys done?"
Kagome gave him a dubious look, an eyebrow raised, but nodded, "Yeah, we're ready to check out."
Sango's expression seemed far more peeved than anything else. 'These two seriously haven't grown up since freshman year,' she decided. Her ponytail swished as she tilted her head to ask, "Do you two boys need a room? Think you can get through this shopping trip without causing any more scenes?"
"He fucking started it!" Inuyasha snarled, his eyebrows stitched fiercely together. Then he caught sight Kagome's startled, worried face and his ire was instantly doused. Reeling himself back in, he swung around, grabbing his bags, and stomped away, taking up position just outside the store with his arms crossed tightly. Several shoppers took special care to give him a wide, wide berth as they entered and exited. Kagome glanced up at Sango for some kind of explanation. The taller girl just rolled her eyes.
"Those boys never grow up!" she muttered to herself.
Unstable, touchy, and very bad tempered hermit', Kagome amended in her mind. She paid up first and decided to suck it up and tackle the beast. There was determination in her face and stance as she swept out the doors of the store and marched up to him. Inuyasha sent her a suspicious sideways look but held his ground, despite his body instinctively leaning as far away as possible from the perceived source of pain. A slim hand went unconsciously to each hip as Kagome took a breath to speak.
"I won't be a fucking drag, I won't get in the way of your perfect little vacation, and I'm not interested in making friends," he informed her before she could even begin to form words. Kagome practically choked on her tongue. Coughing, she sputtered.
"W-what?"
"I'm saying, don't get your panties all knotted up," Inuyasha said venomously, internally dumbfounded by his own behavior, "We don't have to fucking sing kumbaya, I just need to get you guys from drop off to pick up and you'll fucking pay me, right?"
Her jaws worked open and closed as she tried to mentally maneuver around her disbelief with this man's behavior. While her brain tried to reconnect with her tongue, Inuyasha paused for a moment, holding his hard stare while taking a closer look at her features. His outburst had relieved much of his internal tension and the rush he felt helped him overcome his inner struggle enough to really look at her. The resemblance was haunting. For him, it was like a ghost had come back to life. Everything was achingly familiar, from the way her dark hair framed her high, elegant cheekbones to the point of her small, delicate chin. But if he really had to be nit picky, he thought, he could concede to Miroku. Kagome was a different person from Kikyou. She was more expressive, more direct, and somehow more compelling as her wide brown eyes stared into his. There was a spark of something bright and upbeat in her that Kikyou never had. In a brief moment of uncharacteristic metaphorical thinking, it briefly flashed in his mind that Kikyou was like ice, and Kagome was fire. And then her voice cut through his train of thought and brought him crashing back to the present.
"Has anyone ever told you, you're an ass?" she demanded, her ire clearly present in her voice and expression. There was more color in her voice, he thought, a musicality in her tone where Kikyou's would remain somber and level, even in anger. The mask of Kikyou his mind placed over Kagome slowly began to crack and peel away.
Blinking, Inuyasha snorted in response. "I've been called worse since the day I was born."
And now, the rest were finished and emerging from the store so he turned on his heel and began stomping off. Kagome gaped after him in disbelief, her initial hurt and confusion had now fully transformed into anger. Slim, purchase-laden shoulders heaved as she tried to take several calming breaths while Sango looked on in mild amusement.
"Ready to go?" Miroku asked nervously. He learned very quickly in his relationship that Sango's friend had a temper and it was one to respect. And those quick, shallow breaths were a sure sign of it.
"What is his problem?" Kagome exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. She glanced back at the pair, "Did someone shove a hedgehog up his butt?"
Sango snorted as she tried to contain a chuckle. Kagome raised tense, frustrated hands up beside her face before dropping them to slap against her thighs in apparent resignation. She began stomping off after the cause of her anger and in very much the same way Inuyasha had, her bags thumping heavily against her bare legs.
Miroku and Sango watched her go, each with their own thoughts. Sango made a face and sighed, "Well, if not for them, at least this is gonna be an entertaining trip for you and me."
Miroku could only frown and scratched his chin, clearly more apprehensive about these developments than his fiance was. Honestly, he'd long admired Kagome. The young woman was bright, energetic, and her positivity was infectious. Honestly, he'd been hoping Kagome and Inuyasha would have some kind of connection during this trip. His ex-roommate had been hiding from society for far too long and, Miroku thought despairingly, if there was any hope of bringing Inuyasha back from his self imposed exile, it would have been Kagome.
…
He sat hunched over, resting his weight on his elbows balanced atop his knees. Sunlight from the window competed with lamplight to illuminate the space and it felt warm where it landed on his back. The room was neat and clean, with hardly a towel or sheet out of place. The only evidence of occupation was the slight dimpled wrinkling on the bed where he'd slept the night before, and his pack near the door, which he stared at solemnly.
A knock at the door sounded hollow in the empty room. He ignored it.
The knock persisted.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes with just a hint of amusement. While it was quite obvious that Miroku enjoyed poking and prodding him to the point of madness, Inuyasha, too, played a game of agitating Miroku as far as he could go.
From behind the door, the polite knocking became a heavy pounding.
"Inuyasha!" the muffled call was clearly at the edge of his patience, "Inuyasha we need you to check our stuff! Are we bringing enough? Do we have enough food? C'mon man!"
He was getting really close, the harried edge to the usually smooth, suave voice was getting more evident. The seated figure made no move to stand up from the bed, and a corner of his lips began to stretch upward into a smirk. It was such a call back to their college days. Although, Inuyasha was certain he'd gotten locked out of their room far more often than Miroku. The damn perv.
Inuyasha frowned when a new, female voice sounded from beyond the door. He still hadn't figured out what he was going to do about this Kagome. Just the faintest stray thought of her made his heart recoil. Her voice was agitated, and there was a part of him that was distressed to hear it. He huffed to himself, pursing his lips and tried to steel his resolve to ignore his heart's response to everything related to her, and more importantly, the woman she resembled.
Eventually, they left him to his isolation and finally, he stood. As their last night with running water, he figured he may as well take advantage of the few aspects of modern amenities he actually appreciated. He bathed quickly, wrinkling his nose at the strange concoction of smells the hotel offered him in their little shampoo and conditioner bottles. In a gush of steam, he strolled out of the bathroom, toweling his hair before setting to work taming the long tresses.
A soft, subtle click was all the warning he had.
The door burst open, revealing her determined, angry face. So startled, Inuyasha didn't even notice Miroku's wide-eyed face peeking out from behind her. He was too stunned by the intrusion to focus on much else besides the looming, angry face that invaded his personal space and came to within an inch of his nose.
"I don't care what your hang up is, you are coming down to our room to double check our gear to make sure we don't die!" she informed him, grabbing at whatever was most accessible on his person, which, in this case, was his hair.
There was a half second frozen silence before a meek voice, wobbly from contained glee, spoke out behind her.
"Maybe…, maybe after he gets dressed though, Kagome?"
Within the span of a heartbeat, her face paled to a ghostly shade and she couldn't help her reflexive action to glance down and confirm what Miroku had implied.
For the second time that day, Kagome opened and closed her mouth stupidly, her brain having disconnected from the rest of her body. Inuyasha, in a similar state of stupefaction, vaguely heard his voice respond obediently.
"I'll… be right down."
Sango had a hearty, side-splitting laugh at Kagome's expense while Inuyasha, presumably, hastily clothed himself. Miroku was incopacitated on the bed, clutching his stomach in laughter.
"I still can't... believe... front desk gave you... a key card to his room!" he said between gasps
Kagome could only hold her face in her hands, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes in an attempt to rid herself of the image emblazoned into her eyelids. By the time he appeared at their room, Kagome had positioned herself firmly in a corner, her face beet red and a glare that could put his glower to shame burning a hole through the hotel carpet. Sango apparently pitied Kagome enough to spare her the humiliation of facing Inuyasha any more that evening, and handled the run through of their gear inventory.
"This is stupid, this is stupid, and this is stupid," Inuyasha said, indicating to large chunks of Miroku's gear. He spoke robotically, surprisingly composed given recent events.
"But, what if we need to chop firewood?" Miroku insisted, pouting as he moved the little hatchet to the reject pile.
"You won't, dumbass."
"Then, what about these for fileting fish?"
"As long as it's you carrying the extra weight."
The fileting knife and plastic cutting board were similarly discarded.
"And shouldn't we carry more water?"
"You're in a fucking river the whole time!"
"Alright," Sango cut in smoothly, "So there's nothing else we definitely need?"
Inuyasha grunted an affirmative and turned unceremoniously to march back out the door. As soon as he was in the elevator, he collapsed against the closest wall, unraveling as strength fled his legs. 'Just fucking great,' he thought to himself, 'Made an ass of myself, then gave her a full fucking show!'
Back in the room, Kagome had similarly crumpled to the floor, her face hot in her hands while Sango's chuckling turned to full bellied laughter beside her.
This trip was not getting off to a good start.
…
The next morning was a bit of a reversal of the previous evening.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Mirokuuuu!" Inuyasha's voice sounded through the door, "Get your ass up, Miroku!"
Under the covers, Kagome groaned. Perhaps it wasn't such a great idea they had, to party on their last night in civilization. It was just so hard to remember the time when the sun never set. She wasn't entirely sure how she managed to get into her clothes, blindly grabbing at whatever she'd laid atop her pack the night before. The electric light felt like a stab through her eyes and into her brain and her collision with the hard, flat chest just outside the door was unavoidable.
"Miroku up yet?" he demanded, glaring down onto the top of her head. He'd spent the whole night crystalizing his resolve to harden himself against the torture of her presence. But then her head tilted up to face him and he felt the armour around his heart beginning to crack all over again.
"Nnnnno, I don't think so," she answered, voice thick with sleep. Not awake enough to remember her dislike of this prickly young man, Kagome murmured a sleepy morning greeting, raising a fist to knuckle the sleep out of her eyes.
The sight of her, hair mussed, eyes hooded, and still half way in the land of dreams was far to intimate for him to handle. She stood so close to him, he could feel her breath against his chest, warm and insistent. There was a hard, pressing lump in his throat the next time he swallowed.
"Well, get him up then!"
His agitation added a growl to his voice and he fled before he had to see the startled hurt spread across her face. In short order, he found himself staring dejectedly into a steaming cup of coffee, once again trying to steel himself to face her again. He was probably going to get another earful from Miroku.
"They're getting ready," her voice spoke up in front of him. Resolutely keeping his eyes downcast, he grunted to show he'd heard. Instead of leaving him now that the message was delivered, he heard the chair across from him scrape against the floor and watched her small hands clasp each other on the tabletop. They fidgeted nervously, her thumbs rubbing each other as they sat across from each other for a brief silence.
"So… I heard from Miroku that you two have been friends since college," she started.
'Ah,' he thought, 'she's doing the small talk thing.'
Again, he grunted.
"I'm, uh… I'm sorry about last night…" she tried.
He consciously controlled his breathing, making sure not a muscle flinched. He grunted.
"I'm… really looking forward to this trip," she said, switching topics.
Grunt.
"Kind of nervous about it, too," she admitted, a hint of anxious laughter coloring her voice.
Grunt.
"I wonder if we'll see any bears," she mused.
Grunt.
"I guess as long as they're really far away."
Grunt.
"I hope we have good weather though…"
Grunt.
There was a pause then. He hoped she'd finally had enough and was irritated enough to leave him alone. He glanced at her hands, trying not to be so transfixed by how slender her fingers were as they toyed with each other. And then, a bubble of laughter from her startled him. This wasn't the reaction he'd expected and he looked up in spite of himself.
"Are you a caveman?" She asked him, an amused smile lighting her face, "Miroku said you weren't much for conversation but this is ridiculous!"
Her face… the painfully dear features in her round, full lips and wide-set brown eyes. But they were smiling at him and there was a sunniness to the expression that finally made her face seem foreign and new to him. He couldn't quite explain why but his body responded to her despite his sullen reservations and the quirk of a smile pulled at his lips. Her eyes seemed to catch the subtle movement and her smile brightened.
"So, um, did we have to wake up so early?" She asked him, "Our flight isn't for another couple hours."
The more he watched her, he found, the more she seemed to become Kagome, and not a shadow from his past. She became enough of her own person in his eyes for him answer her.
"Ever heard of 'hurry up and wait'?"
Her eyes sparkled, delighted that they were actually having a conversation now. She tilted her head curiously, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Yeah…," she said leadingly.
"There's a lot of that here," he said. And then he surprised himself by continuing. "Spazzing to be on time then waiting. Especially in the backcountry. I think they call it 'village time' or something."
She tried to stifle her laughter but he felt it anyway and for the first time, a true smile appeared shyly across his face.
"It's a different rhythm of life out there," he told her, "You don't need clocks. I get up when I feel like it, sleep when I'm tired. I always have something to do, but I'm never busy."
There was a very particular joy for him, when he was outside in the summer. To be able to recline against the soft mossy lichen and absorb the sun's radiance alongside the flowers and the trees. And now, as she smiled wistfully at him, imagining how idyllic it must be to live that way, he felt himself unfurling like a leaf, reaching up to capture its share of the golden warmth.
"It must be like paradise," she sighed.
And now, he saw past her, through her, thinking of his little cabin and the game trails surrounding it. Is it paradise? That didn't quite seem right.
"It's… been a haven," he murmured, more to himself than to her. Kagome sensed the shift in his mood and frowned slightly, but did not press for explanation. Instead, she nodded and fell quiet.
They sat together without a word for several minutes and he was struck by how easy the silence was. Around them, the noises of silverware clattering and others' conversations filled the background but the space between them felt warm and private.
"What..," his sudden vocalization surprised both of them, "What made you decide to come out here?"
Her smile was bright and immediate, somehow over pouring like sunshine over a mountain ridge. He was startled by how it flooded his senses and briefly captured his train of thought.
"Overwork," she answered, her expression turning sheepish, "Lost my passion, got burnt out, needed to get away."
She smiled to herself as she tucked her hair behind an ear and Inuyasha found himself following that small movement with rapt attention.
"But why Alaska?"
"In all honesty?" She said, looking straight into his eyes, a smile brighter than ever painted across her face. He felt himself freeze, his heart squeezing tight. But this time, it was a sensation that left him aching for more. She seemed oblivious to his sudden loss of breath and continued.
"Miroku showed me some pictures you sent him," she explained, her expression soft, her gaze direct, "Something about them just called to me, you know? I had to come see it for myself."
A buzz sounded from her pocket and she glanced away, breaking the spell. He struggled to recollect himself while she quickly read and chuckled down at the message.
"So, Sango wants you to go up and drag Miroku out of bed…" she said.
He blinked, then snapped to attention, hauling himself up out of the chair. Under his breath he began a string of curses as he departed. Kagome laughed after him, an easy laughter, without tension. And even while his focus had shifted to aggravation over Miroku's slow ass, there was something contagious about the sound of her mirth that slowly bled into his subconscious. He wasn't aware of it, couldn't be aware, but an edge to his personality was being sanded down and his body felt it in the way he breathed, smooth and easy.
Kagome smiled at his back as she watched him go. It was a short interaction, stunted and a bit awkward, but she felt she saw a glimpse of the man behind the crusty exterior and found something endearing in it. She felt significantly better about this trip.
In very short order, Inuyasha had Miroku down in the lobby, hair in disarray, but dressed and ready for action. He was berating the violet-eyed man while Sango and Kagome took care of calling their taxi and soon they were headed for the airport, where an old, small bush plane was waiting to take them into the wilderness.
A/N: so this is a bit different from my usual chapter stories. I'm making Inuyasha fully human and completely taking out all the demons and spiritual powers stuff (i may need help remembering that… haha). I normally gravitate away from making Inuyasha fully human because so much of his character centers around being half demon and the complexities that arise from it. And also, i love his random dog-like traits and superhuman senses. I feel like when you take that away, it's not Inuyasha anymore, he could be any grumpy male character with a backstory loaded with baggage. And yet, here we are doing just that :P
Anyways, let me know what you think! This is a bit of an experiment for me and I'm not really sure where it's going to go. Really needed to just get back into writing. Keeps me sane, you know?