Chapter 8: The Sixth Hour- Ballroom Romance
Kagome could hear music, a tender, haunting music, solemn, like a music box. She was spellbound. And all of a sudden, she could see dancers moving with graceful elegance.
It seemed that, she was trapped in some strange half-conscious state and she couldn't seem to question what was going on, and why this was happening. She couldn't seem to wake up. It was too late now.
Kagome was standing in a ballroom, walled with mirrors and lit with chandeliers that hung off an impossibly high ceiling. The silk covering of the walls had faded and, in places, worn threadbare; while beneath her feet, was an enormous and well-polished, elaborate dance floor. Bubbles decorated the room; in fact the whole room looked as if it was glistening skin of one great bubble.
The men sported silken shirts open to the waist and tight velvet breeches. Some of them wore wide-brimmed, plumed hats; others had capes or carried staffs. The women's gowns left their shoulders bare and were covered head to foot in jewelry. They had their hair coiffed high, and many wore long gloves; while many wore masks that looked like elegant satire of demon faces that had an almost sinister look. Kagome shivered.
The dancers moved in a ring around the ballroom, with a kind of tired radiance, as though the party had been going on all night. Men who were not dancing lounged lazily against columns, or flirted from within a corner of the ballroom, while being surrounded by women. Maids and footmen were also running around and serving them trays of fruit and refilled their goblets. And always the dancers were watching through the eyeholes in their cruel half-masks, from which snouts came from below and horns came from above. Moving together or elegantly resting, they watched Kagome, or watched each other watching, and beneath the masks the mouths smiled at each other like daggers.
Kagome watched the dancers dance, and the dancers watched her, from behind their masks. As she walked through the dancing and thriving dancers, she noticed two women peering at her through their ugly masks and snickering. Kagome flushed, feeling horribly plain and self-conscious next to them.
Quickly turning away, she caught the reflection of someone in one of the mirrors. A very familiar someone, who was standing much farther away in the room, was staring at her intently. She whorled around expecting to see him, only to see he had vanished. Her pulse quickened slightly, and she walked quickly, trying to find him.
She was tense now, self-conscious, and among people she didn't know but who acted as if they knew something that she didn't. She moved hurriedly around the ballroom looking for him. She did not know why she wanted to find him, or what she would say to him. She just knew that this feeling inside her was telling her that it was important that she should find him.
As she looked, Kagome's body swayed in time with the music; it was like she had become the music and the dance. Enchanted and enchanting, she danced slowly across the ballroom floor as she searched for Inuyasha.
(Inuyasha's Profile)
She was beautiful. Inuyasha allowed a smirked as he regarded Kagome from his vantage point across the room. She was radiant, and he felt that he could watch her forever.
Other women flocked to him, trying to flirt with him and invite him to dance. But they were nothing compared to her. Ignoring the women, he walked towards the girl who seemed to be more and more in his thoughts lately. The girls behind him pouted slightly, and then moved on to more willing prey.
Apparently, Kagome had noticed his unwavering attention on her, and had begun making her own way to him. Then as his eyes met hers, she froze in place. She looked as if she couldn't take her eyes off him; she looked as if she was spellbound by him. Inuyasha smiled and quickened his pace to reach her.
(Kagome's Profile)
Without her realizing it, he was suddenly standing so close that they were almost touching. He was close enough for her to smell him; he smelled like dried spices and a hint of smoking embers. It wasn't like anything that she had ever smelt, and yet, it was familiar at the same time. She loved his smell.
She blushed. Inuyasha wasn't dressed in his usual red fire-rat clothing; but instead it a deep crimson red frock coat, diamante at the neck, shoulders, and cuffs. Ruffs of cream-colored cloth at his throat and wrists that showed off the color of his eyes better than anything else Kagome could think of.
But it was the eyes alone that Kagome was distracted by. She felt as if she could wander, lost, in them forever…
Kagome's heart beat erratically when Inuyasha had placed his hands lightly on her waist and said very softly, "You look beautiful. You are even more beautiful, than the first time we met."
Kagome could feel her face burning a deep crimson red to match Inuyasha's coat. Her head was so foggy that she couldn't seem to think straight. 'The last time? What did he mean?'
Kagome turned away in embarrassment. She found herself looking into another of the tall mirrors around the room. Behind her she saw Inuyasha, standing there with a faint blush covering his own cheeks. She saw him smile before she felt him wrap his arms around her shoulders and held her with her back against him. She could feel him breathing on the side of her neck, as if he was trying to memorize her scent. It was getting harder for her to breathe; her heart speed up, and she never wanted to leave the safety and warmth of his embrace.
"Care for a dance?" he asked her quietly.
"Yes," croaked out Kagome almost silently. She was finding it harder and harder to keep her eyes open. But she could see in the mirror that he was holding his hand out.
She turned around and, without thinking, she took his hand. She felt dizzy, and her heart felt as if it was about to burst from inside her chest.
Her dizziness ceased when she went spinning around the ballroom in Inuyasha's arms. From the way that Inuyasha was staring at her, she felt like the most beautiful woman in the room. All his attention was focused onto her. The touch of his hands on her body took her breath away. To dance with him seemed the easiest and most natural motion; as if she had danced with him hundreds of times before. When he told her that she was beautiful, she felt as if her insides were set ablaze.
"I feel… I feel like… I don't know what I'm feeling."
He looked amused at that. "You don't?"
"I cannot explain it," she answered him. "I feel like… I'm in a dream, but I don't remember ever dreaming anything like this!"
He laughed, but fondly. Just as she couldn't take her eyes off him, he didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off her. "That's what makes dreams so interested," he said, and whirled her around the room. "If you remembered everything about your dreams then life would become dull, don't you think?"
She smiled up at him. She thought how handsome he was; she had never met anyone as beautiful as him… but more than that, there was something in his face that was completely enjoying this moment. She also loved dancing with him… without the mocking or secretiveness that he had been treating with her this whole adventure.
"What… what is this place?" Kagome asked, gesturing to the ballroom and the dancers spinning around them. "Just where are we?"
"We are inside a dream bubble."
"A dream bubble?" Kagome repeated confused. "You mean… it's… not real?"
"In some ways it is, and in others it is not," was his typical answer.
"But then…" Kagome began, but before she could finish, Inuyasha put his finger to her lips to stop her from talking.
"Don't speak," he said in hushed tones. He pulled her closer, resting his head on top of hers, and inhaling her scent once again. Face feeling as if it were on fire, Kagome put her head against Inuyasha's chest and listened to his heart beating alongside her own.
They stayed that way for a long time, until Kagome remembered Sota.
"I need to go back," she said quietly, not wanting to leave the security of his arms. His arms had become her sanctuary and she couldn't think of a place that she rather be. "I need to get my brother." Inuyasha pulled back to look at her, his golden eyes meeting her brown ones.
"You don't really…" he murmured, sliding a clawed thumb down her jaw line and neck. Kagome shivered at his touch. Everything about him seemed to understand her, understand who she was.
She didn't know where… but their closeness felt so… familiar… as if he held her this way before… but a long, long time ago. She never wanted to leave him…
"Stay here. Stay with me," he said to her. His head leaned in very slightly.
"I…" said Kagome who was very confused now. "I don't know… I…"
"Besides," he said as they began to twirl around again. "Stealing is a sin. Most things that are stolen can be returned, but there are something's that can't be given back? You had stolen something from me that can never be returned."
"Stolen?" asked Kagome in confusion. "What have I stolen from you?"
Her resolve was weakening and they both could tell. He leaned forward, his breath fanning her ear, and his long silver hair tickling her cheek and whispered. "You've stolen my heart."
Kagome's erratically beating heart stopped at his declaration, as did the rest of her body. Kagome saw him lean down towards her, just as she found it even harder to keep her eyes open. And so she finally closed them, just as his warm lips covered hers. Kagome felt as if a blazing fire had exploded from inside her and spreading throughout her body.
It was a burning that she never felt before… and she never wanted it to end…
She was too full of shock to respond to his kiss, but all too soon he pulled away and began to dance with her again at a much faster pace.
Kagome felt like she was flying in his arms, as they danced faster and faster. As they twirled around, she could feel him pulling her closer. The dancers surrounding them spun out of control like a kaleidoscope; but Inuyasha was the only thing that Kagome could focus on.
She felt him let go of her hand and place it behind her neck and she felt the other one on her waist.
Kagome knew what was coming and her eyes closed. For the second time during the dance, she felt his lips on hers, and this time she knew what to do.
His mouth was soft and tender, but this kiss was much more passionate than the last. She gave into his spell, and this time she returned the kiss as passionately as he did. She wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss; and she felt, for the first time in her life, that she would die if she had to let go of him. Both of their arms pulled the other closer, encircling them tighter. She wanted this moment, this kiss, to last forever. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in this embrace, with their lips locked together.
Somewhere along her journey, Kagome realized, she had fallen in love with the Demon King.