KOTODAMA
"The soul that resides within words"
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Chapter XXVII
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It had been a long night-shift, longer than what InuYasha had expected. The result of having been for so many hours inside the Kyomu, was starting to have its toll on him, and the little he had figured out about to job given by Naraku, was the foreboding feeling of an even longer task ahead of him. The drug entering the club seemed to not leave a trace. However, InuYasha had taken it upon himself to follow its trail, for difficult as it may be.
Only a few knew about his family, just Myoga and Totosai, and they probably were able to understand that feeling inside him, as if some remnants of his father were inside him, when having to investigate something. He couldn't deny some strange pride either, one that should have no room in his orphan and lonely life. Even so, sometimes, such bonds were just undisputable.
InuYasha's ponderings were happening as he calmly walked; the same calm he usually noted when the night-life gave way to the day. He took a deep breath, maybe in defiance of what others may consider a better course, amidst the stench filling one of the most dangerous parts of the city; it didn't bother him, for despite it all, the air smelled like dawn. Curious, he found that impression, more than anything because he had never entertained such a thought, even though he knew so much of the streets' early mornings. His gaze skywards, and through the many buildings forming the alley around him, the darkness of the sky was complete, aided by the many lights coming from the city, hiding the stars. Almost as if drunk, he felt, yet soon blamed the lack of sleep, since he had consumed no alcohol in the twenty-four hours he had been awake.
He had to rest, his mind considered next, as much as he wished to continue with the usual tasks of his life. He recalled Mrs. Shoga, and her smile of wrinkled corners upon seeing him approach. A part of him felt guilty of being unable to be at the market, helping her with the boxes she needed to move, however, he also knew she had a pair of extra hands to help while he was away.
A sound captured his attention next, the kind that a bottle would make when rolling along the asphalt, and another of cartons being moved. He looked in bustle's direction, and found a person reaching for a bottle, then placing it back where it was.
InuYasha simply limited himself to turn the next corner, passing no judgement over the scene he had just witnessed. For, who was he to know about someone else's life, or about how well they were surviving it?
A few steps away, he found the backdoor to the Butsuda, the hotel ran by Miroku, and had the urge to sigh before the prospect of some hours of rest. He knocked twice on the wooden door, as it was usual, and a moment later, when it was opened, he found the man that usually was in charge in Miroku's absence.
"Hachi," InuYasha named him, before bowing softly. The man, of average stature and greyish hair, answered in kind.
"Welcome, lord InuYasha," were Hachi's words.
"Please, don't call me that," he tried to avoid such excessive formality, like many times before.
"Any friend of lord Miroku deserves my respect." Hachi closed the door, once InuYasha was inside.
"I'm not even sure Miroku deserves how much you consider him." InuYasha smiled.
"Oh, but of course he deserves it," Hachi ascertained. InuYasha didn't know his past, nor him for that matter. Every time Miroku had mentioned something that could go in that direction, he had ended up cutting it short by saying it was a long story.
"I won't put your word into question," InuYasha accepted.
He heard the man's smile, a few steps behind him.
"How long will you be staying today?" Hachi asked then, "It's so I can leave a note for lord Miroku."
"Just a couple of hours, I guess. I need to restore some energy," InuYasha confessed. He stopped once they reached the reception and gave way to Hachi, so he could go behind the desk kept there.
"I understand," the man accepted, while he looked for something inside a drawer. Next, he handed him a key, and a small box. InuYasha saw the content as Hachi said, "It may come in handy; tonight, the place has been busy."
The box had a couple of earplugs. InuYasha smiled; in part because of the meaning of said tools, and in part because of Hachi's innate politeness.
"Thank you," he said, before starting towards the room he usually used.
He couldn't help the memories surfacing as he approached it, a smile appearing on his lips when entering the key, before the picture of Kagome's quietness, born from the sounds coming through the walls separating that room from those around it, that first time he had brought her there. On one part, he had to admit it had been an impulsive act, yet a necessary one.
Upon stepping inside, the smell of the lavender air-freshener assaulted his senses. InuYasha understood the need for them, even more so given the lack of a window, for the vent on the high part, was the only thing keeping the air circulating. He neared the night stand, took the box containing a stack of wooden sticks, then went to the bathroom to let water pour over everything. He turned the light of the fake window off, and the neon spelling love faded; that was new, for it hadn't been there before, when Kagome and he stayed in the room. His mind recreated the giggle she would have let out, if she had been there to see it, then a sigh escaped him before what those bonds meant for him. He approached the bed then, and just fell on it, noting how the muscles on his back began to seek release for the tension they had accumulated throughout the day.
He remained there, staring at the ceiling; more concretely, at a stain that was at one side of it, a few centimeters away from the wall. It was the same stain that InuYasha had always thought to resemble a cat's paw, an idea that crossed his mind since the first time; the same night he had met Miroku. Such a train of thought took him straight to remembering that moment.
The encounter had happened a few years ago, which wasn't a long time if one considered the consistency of their friendship. They had met on the same street the backdoor to the Butsuda was; InuYasha had just came out of a fight with a gang that had sought to take possession of the place through punches and a few knives. The cut he had received on his side was proof enough of that. Miroku had come out to throw the trash in one of the containers in the alley, and had found him sitting on the floor, almost passing out from the pain and cold.
"I guess the other guy won," he had said, with a sort of solemn air about him, that could appear when one less expected it.
"You are wrong. I won," InuYasha clarified, his voice coming in short gasps due to the effort it was taking him to speak, yet full of conviction and some absurd pride.
"That doesn't look possible," Miroku continued.
InuYasha tried to retort, yet the cold, the pain, and blood loss had him far too weakened.
"Want me to call someone?" Miroku showed a courtesy that for InuYasha, came only as strange.
"No," was all he answered.
His friend, who back then was but a stranger, remained silent for an instant. InuYasha closed his eyes, hoping to see his dizziness fade, and so be able to evaluate if he would be able to return to the kyomu with his remaining strength. Or maybe, it'd be better to go to Kaede.
"I'm Miroku, what's your name?" he heard him introduce himself, interrupting his train of thought.
InuYasha opened his eyes with heavy calm, and looked at the man who seemed to want to help him just because he was there. He wanted to measure his honesty, yet he was too tired to do so.
"InuYasha," he accepted to say.
The surprise he felt when Miroku bowed to him, was still fresh in his mind, and it was the start of a series of acts of kindness that were thoroughly unusual to InuYasha. He aided him, and allowed him to spend some hours in the same room whose ceiling he was staring at now. It made him realize just how little time he usually spent with him, despite how generous he had been with him.
He sighed, exhausted. He closed his eyes, and the same train of thought brought him to draw the conclusion that he wasn't being fair with Kagome either. He wanted to speak with her, however, he just had no time. The sopor was starting to steadily spread through his body, and so he decided to leave Kagome a message, one she could answer while he slept.
It wasn't hard to find his phone, inside one of his sweater's pockets, although keeping his eyes open was slightly more difficult. He sought Kagome's number, and left her a note that was simple and to the point.
Can I come by your apartment, midday tomorrow?
He closed his eyes again next, and sleep soon began to claim him, yet it didn't take long for him to feel the phone vibrating in his hand, his eyes snapping back open from the jolt it gave him, amidst the lethargy he had been in.
It surprised him to see Kagome answering at that hour; just a few minutes away from the clock striking six in the morning.
"Are you working?" Read the message.
InuYasha replied, "I finished just a bit ago."
"I see, you are gonna sleep now?" Kagome wondered, not answering what he had asked yet.
"Yeah, for a bit." His words were simple, despite feeling like wanting to say much more.
"Alright. I'll be waiting when you wake up." Was her answer, in the end.
InuYasha read it a couple of times, seemingly trying to find between the lines, something that may mean reciprocity, for he was feeling far too many things in his chest; things that made him realize that Kagome wasn't just anybody for him. In truth, his feelings for her couldn't be further from indifference; he knew that, because he had accepted to be under Naraku's joke just for her well-being.
"Are you mad?" He sought to know. He knew her enough to note the coldness in her messages.
The phone lacked an answer, there in his hands, for a couple of minutes. InuYasha even came to think that Kagome may not reply at all, however, as he was starting to doze off again, the device vibrated in his hand.
"Yes, I am. A bit. Even so, I'll be waiting for you tomorrow."
The reply had a bittersweet taste to it. Maybe his own exhaustion was preventing him from fully comprehending it. InuYasha decided to close his eyes, finally, and in that moment, he saw the last smile Kagome had gifted him.
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Can I come by your apartment, midday tomorrow?
There it was, the message. Kagome had read it a few times already, since she woke up, and although she was feeling glad to have news of InuYasha, she was also annoyed at the pauses he was letting in whatever it was they both had. She thought that even if it were a friendship, friends don't just disappear on each other like that.
With her mind chewing that thought, Kagome took the towel she had left on her bed, and went to the bathroom, in search of an early shower. Water seemed to have a soothing effect on her, usually, yet now it didn't seem to be working. As she was wetting her hair, and tentatively reached for the shampoo that surely was on the small shelve, that she and Ayumi had inside the shower, her mind kept repeating InuYasha's message.
Can I come by your apartment, midday tomorrow?
"Of course you can! As you could yesterday, or the day before, or last week!" Her voice came out in a higher-pitch than what she expected, and that made her wonder, why didn't she retort with that, when she received the message?
"You like him," said, suddenly, the InuYasha in her mind. She even pictured him leaning against the door's frame.
"Oh, shut up," she spat, not hiding how fed up she was.
"But it's the truth. You like him," he insisted, in a tone that Kagome thought mocking.
She didn't feel like continuing with that conversation, given that the InuYasha that shared her thoughts and vital spaces, was right.
Finally, the water did manage to take with it, some part of her annoyance. Kagome still had no idea why she was mad, really. A part of her was anxious to see InuYasha, and the other wanted to reproach him for the abandonment he was leaving her in; however, she had no right over him. It was then when she wondered if it the issue, wasn't the title that they relationship, may or not receive. In the end, she still concluded that regardless, she had no right over him.
The thought continued in her mind, even as she picked two skirts on her hands, undecided for which one to wear.
"The green one; that looks good on you," Ayumi offered, entering her room. She was ready to go out.
Kagome looked at her, then at the skirt, deciding that her friend was indeed right, and that the green skirt was adequate for today. The color, along with the small cut on the left side, would give her optimism and confidence.
"Yes, I believe you are right; I'll go with the green one," she accepted, then brought it out of the closet, placing it over her body to model it for her friend.
"It does really suit you," Ayumi cheered, then added, "Will you be alright with him, alone?"
"I will, don't worry." Kagome tried to confer some security to her friend.
"Ok." Ayumi smiled, accepting her words. There was something peculiar in her gaze, and Kagome didn't miss it. In a way, it reminded her of her mother's, back when she thought her daughter hadn't studied enough for a test.
"Something the matter?" Kagome sought to know.
Her friend hesitated, her gaze darting to the most calling objects in the room; the desk, the window, the night-lamp. Finally, she returned to Kagome, who was waiting with her full attention.
"Nothing; I just came to say goodbye, my mother is expecting me for lunch." Ayumi reminded her.
"Give her my regards," Kagome wanted to be polite, even if her friend seemed to be holding something back. She noted something in the hand Ayumi was hiding behind the fold of the skirt she was wearing. It was then when her friend looked at her as a caring sister would.
"I know it's none of my business, Kagome," she hesitated, and Kagome saw how she tapped her leg with the hidden hand, "even so…"
And then, she darted to the inside of the room, leaving something on the desk.
"Goodbye, Kagome," she said, as she went out without looking back.
She neared the corner of the desk, and had to dedicate a moment to the small object Ayumi had left there. Once she understood what it was, her cheeks became all heated.
Ah, condoms. She thought.
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To be continued.
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A/N
This story fills me with joy, and nostalgia at the same time. It's entertaining on the surface, but it has many underlaying things that are quite meaningful.
Thank you for reading, and commenting.
A kiss,
Anyara
This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart