Touch

Summary: When Kagome's hands start twitching, she has no choice but to use them.

"You're just like your father."

Those were the words that Kagome Higurashi had grown up with. She was told that she looked "just like her father", that she smiled "just like her father", that her mannerisms, such as positioning her hand in front of her face to strategically hide her blushing cheeks while brushing away imaginary hair or grasping between her teeth the bottom corner of her lip while she was thinking, was "just like her father."

When she told her mother about the well that first time, her mother had remarked how she always ran toward danger, "just like her father," and as they embraced, she knew her mother was thinking of that last moment they'd had together, when he'd been called away to run toward danger for the last time. In her sense of duty, too, she was "just like her father."

But for all she was told she was "just like her father," Kagome knew that she was very like her mother in many ways.

She was an excellent cook, "just like her mother," despite the fact that Inuyasha almost always refused to eat anything but ramen. She loved deeply, "just like her mother."

And, "just like her mother", she was addicted to touch. And like many addictions, it was the sense of the forbidden that really enraptured her.

Inuyasha had discovered this similarity between mother and child early on, and from his first visit to the Higurashi house, he was subjected to intense ear-rubbing sessions whenever Mrs. Higurashi saw him.

And how many times had Kagome zoned out during one of the fights between Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha just imagining how that tail…pelt…thing must feel?

So the current situation didn't really take her by surprise.

His name was Hiei. He was one of the "spirit detectives" assigned to guard her and the Shikon no Tama against the burgeoning population of youkai that were, to her surprise, still alive—just behind a barrier. And what does a youkai do when he crosses the barrier at a point so near to an all-powerful jewel? He goes after it, of course.

Hiei wasn't the friendliest of the four, but he was strong, and silent, and she was pretty sure he never slept. Taking all this into account, she was glad it was him on duty this night as she woke up to the sound of a fight outside her bedroom window. She was halfway down the stairs when she felt Hiei's energy pulse, just like Inuyasha's would when those jagged stripes would appear on his face and he'd get a second wind. As she ran out the door, bow and arrows in hand, she was just in time to see the figure she assumed was Hiei, by his aura, cleave the reptilian youkai in two before collapsing himself. Whether it was in exhaustion or due to injuries, Kagome didn't know, but she ran inside anyways to exchange her weapon for her first aid kit and some food and water. When she returned to the shrine's courtyard, she caught sight of Hiei making his way to the Goshinboku.

Kagome took on a much more sedate pace, allowing him the time to reach the tree, and allowing herself time to study the youkai.

She had seen Hiei several times before—a couple times during the day, but mostly at night or shrouded in some kind of brush or shadows—since Koenma's pronouncement that she needed to be protected. Kagome was very pleased with what she had seen.

Very pleased.

However, though she was curious that first time in Koenma's office, never had her hands begun to twitch as they were now.

This wasn't the first time she had seen green skin on a youkai. She had learned through the years that youkai came in all shapes, colors, and sizes. She had seen green skin on many youkai, but usually it reminded her of mold. And she knew, courtesy of Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga, that many youkai were green on the inside…and even the thought made her want to bathe. This was the first time she had seen a youkai with green skin that simply made her think of forests, of wildness, the danger he contained.

But this anomaly alone was not enough to make her fingers twitch with desire. No, what really attracted her were the eyes scattered over his body. Unlike the eyes he kept uncovered, both crimson, these were more of a lavender, like the one on his forehead, usually covered by a white strip of cloth; though they had glowed crimson as he struck down his opponent. The part of her that had paid attention to high school biology wondered why his body had developed all the eyes. She supposed having eyes…everywhere (she guessed) could come in handy, but—

One of the eyes blinked, and as she gasped, her grip loosening on the items she had brought for him, she was grateful that she was already kneeling. Hiei noticed the hitch in her breath and his already unwelcoming look changed to one of complete disdain.

"Leave, miko," he spat out. "We both know you don't want to be here." His breathing was labored, but he was already beginning to heal and he tried to stand, to get away.

Knowing her opportunity was leaving soon, Kagome nervously shouted, "No!" Then, realizing she had been so loud, Kagome shrank back into herself a bit and brought her voice back to a whisper. "I mean…I…" She ran a hand through her hair in frustration before looking back at him earnestly. "Can I touch them? Please? Your eyes. I won't hurt them will I? Can I? Please?"

As realization dawned on him, the expression on his face changed from the previous disdain to confusion to confusion mottled with horror, as if he had looked at her and discovered she was really a bright pink dogopus or something.

He didn't say yes, but he didn't say no, so she took advantage of the opportunity while she could and, feather-light, stroked three fingers over the skin of his arm, watching in fascination as the eyes gently closed, and she felt a gentle vibration as she passed over each eye, like a silent purr; then each reopened as her fingers passed over, following them down the rest of the journey toward his hand.

She stopped just short of his wrist, somehow seeing that—touching his hand—more of an intimate gesture than she was willing at this point. And yet, as she would remember the event in the days to come, it was strange that she couldn't hold his hand, but in sheer fascination, her hands led her almost everywhere else. With her feather-light touch, her hands—the other one wanted in on the action too—stroked over his chest, his back, bringing her body to straddle his, hypnotized by the sight and sensation of the eyes, opening and closing and purring…

…Until Hiei abruptly grabbed her hands, his breathing labored once again, his eyes—the crimson pair on his face—piercing as he said in a rough voice, "I'll be changing back now."

"Oh," she said, despondently. And then Kagome was fully conscious of her surroundings and their current positions, and another thing's current position between her legs…"Oh!"

No sooner had she jumped off him than he had changed back into his more humanoid form, working to compose himself. Where she failed, he succeeded.

She was still blushing, rubbing her hands together nervously and sneaking looks at him when she said, quietly, "Perhaps you should, um, guard me more often."

"Perhaps." He smirked.

Kagome smiled and, before she had time to second guess herself, she raised herself up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, running away to the house, stopping only to wave and quietly shout back to him, "Mama's gonna love you!"