KOTODAMA
"The soul that resides within words."
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Chapter X
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"You are the beginning, and the end; not just because the world is infinite, but because I'm infinite by your side."
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They walked out of the club, and blended into the bustle of the main street. A few steps later, InuYasha turned into an alleyway, so narrow they could barely pass through without touching the walls. A few meters later, they came out on another street that seemed to connect with the back of the building they had been at, and through which InuYasha led her only to stop, abruptly, moments later, seemingly caught by surprise. Kagome managed to see a parked black car, and some people getting in before he drastically changed their course, forcing her to step back into the narrow alleyway they had come from.
Kagome was beginning to regret her choices of that day. Right now, she should be at home, preparing the dinner she was so share with her mother, her grandfather and her brother, not running around lonely alleyways one would find in a horror film.
After walking seldom meters, they turned right, into another alleyway just as narrow as the first one, to then turn left and enter a street that seemed to be wider, and secondary, as it gave to the back of many buildings facing the main street. She caught glimpse of some small restaurants, the narrow entrance to some love hotel… Kagome could barely keep up with InuYasha's pace, who instead of leading her gently, was much rather tugging her along.
"InuYasha." She tried to put an end to that race, yet he didn't seem receptive to communicate.
"I could rip you open with my claws." She heard the character inside her head, and knew those words would be at the beginning of her story, maybe when he is freed from the tree he had been sealed on.
"You wouldn't hurt me." She muttered, as an answer to her character, and which seemed to extend to the man holding her hand.
Upon hearing it, he looked at her, his brow furrowed, yet uttered no words.
They stopped, abruptly, by a wooden door underneath some narrow stairs leading to the rooftop of that building. Kagome observed the aspect of that entrance, whose windows were blocked by wooden planks from behind iron bars. Nothing on the outside gave the impression there could be someone inside; it seemed completely abandoned. InuYasha knocked on the door, twice, then thrice after a second passed, then once again a second later, and after waiting for a moment, they heard more than one lock before the wooden door opened with a weighty sound. Kagome felt how he tugged her hand again, this time inside.
"Wait." She let out, resisting his pull. InuYasha stopped to look at her.
His golden eyes looked like two incandescent flames when contrasted against the lugubrious air of the entrance to that place, a place Kagome couldn't even begin to imagine what could be waiting for her in, at least, not until she caught a strange scent between confinement and cheap potpourri.
"Now you are worried about entering an unknown place?" He retorted, causing a shiver to run up her spine, from which her body trembled.
"Yes. No. Well… yes. Is there a problem with that?" She hesitated, complained, then faced him. She had a right to make bad decisions and then act on them. "Besides, if you hadn't disappeared for so many days, I wouldn't have this huge curiosity." She faced those eyes which were looking at her as if a horn had suddenly grown on her forehead.
He stood there, staring at her for a short instant through which he seemed to be debating something within himself. Finally, he let go of her.
"You can go in, or you can stay outside. In here, we can talk. Out there, I can't do anything else for you." Was his stark answer. Certainly, he didn't owe her anything.
As for Kagome, she was aware of how all of her warnings flared, wielded by the logic telling her it wasn't a good idea to go inside such a lugubrious and unknown place, with a man who she barely knew, and had dealings with people inside places like the one they had just left. But then, there was her intuition, telling her it was alright to hold hands and go with him, wherever that may be.
She took a lungful of air, gathering her courage.
"Alright, let's go. Stop dragging your feet." She stepped inside, ahead of him, going into the first room. For a moment, perplexity forced InuYasha to remain there, standing.
The door behind him closed, and only then did Kagome realize there was another man in the room. This one had long, chestnut brown hair tied in a ponytail, and smiled as soon as he saw her, a mischievous glint shining on the blue of his eyes.
"Come in." He said, now standing by InuYasha's side.
She hesitated for a short moment, and turned around, starting down the hallway that was barely illuminated. Next, she heard a sound she could only recognize as a slap, and looked back.
"Miroku, don't." InuYasha spoke behind her. Now she knew the name of the man of the blue eyes.
"What have I done?" He asked, feigning an innocence betrayed by his smile, amidst his naughty air.
"Just drop it." InuYasha sighed.
They went on, and after walking a few meters of that dark hallway, which seemed to isolate the place from the outside, they found a small reception room with a narrow table.
"Wait here." InuYasha told her, once she had taken a few steps past the place.
Miroku moved behind the table, and after opening a drawer, he brought out a key that then he handed to InuYasha.
"The usual one." The man mentioned.
"Good." He accepted the keys, then turned around and signaled Kagome to continue with a silent gesture of his hand.
"And don't be too loud." Miroku used that same naughty tone. Kagome could have guessed it was a joke, yet her stomach still became upset.
"Dumbass." She heard InuYasha say to his friend, before gesturing her to keep going.
Kagome opted to stay silent and observe the place in order to know how to get out of there, in case she saw the need to escape; she was obeying a sort of strange certainty that could very well be wrong, after all.
They left behind the small reception room, and found themselves in a corridor painted with the color of red earth, too dark for her taste, and decorated with wooden fittings that made it look even oppressive. The came across many doors separated by just a few meters, which made her guess they were hotel rooms, and small ones at that; she had never been in a place like this. One of those doors had the symbol labelling it as the bathroom, and she couldn't help feeling uncomfortable before the prospect of having to share it. She hoped to be out of there soon, and to not need it.
To one side, there was a wooden stairwell.
"Through there." InuYasha indicated. He hadn't touched her, not since he let go of her hand, albeit he would always stay close.
She nodded, and began to climb the stairs that would creak beneath her weight, and as she did so, the sounds of what was happening inside the rooms of the second floor began to enter their ears. It wasn't had to imagine what was going on. Kagome felt how her cheeks reddened, and touched her face with the back of her hand.
"We are just going to talk." He clarified, once they reached the second floor. She looked at him sideways, after having her mind read, or maybe her own expression. For some reason, however, she knew she was safe by his side.
"It's not like I thought to do anything else." She clarified as well, hoping her voice sounded as firm as her words.
InuYasha looked at her with the intensity of one who observes, then pointed with a nod.
"The door at the end."
Once in front of the place he indicated, Kagome stood by one side, her gaze fixed on the floor while she held her purse in front of her, too shy before the passionate sighs and the complain of the beds. InuYasha opened the door, and waited for her to go in.
The room was relatively small, decorated by an overwhelming pink, and an overwhelming amount of plushies that Kagome entertained no thought of touching. In one part of her mind, however, she thought those toys must had quite a few stories and fights to tell.
There weren't any windows, albeit she did catch the presence of a square vent up high, by the bed that was just as pink as the rest of the room.
"Do you live here?" She asked, trying not to sound too surprised, yet having the feeling she failed miserably.
InuYasha let out a fake, ironic laugh.
"I don't. Miroku justs let's me stay here when I need to." He explained.
"Did I say something wrong?" She sought to know.
He took off the purse and placed it on the bed before seating and sighing. He seemed to be tired.
"No, you didn't." He replied. "We'll talk about the place I live in, someday, maybe."
Kagome sat by his side, just now realizing how tired she was from the emotions just lived, and there, they remained in silence, both seated at the end of a bed that would creak by just them sighing. The sound of the surrounding rooms became more and more evident amidst their silence, and the excessive moans of a woman seemed to have no end. Kagome felt her cheeks reddening even more, and involuntarily sought to see InuYasha's face, which seemed to be no different from her own; his features were serene, practically stern, his lips pressed into a line as his cheeks were tinted rosy, which lightened her mood when she thought how that color went well with the room. Suddenly, the woman singing them that concert of overwhelming pleasure, elevated the tone of her singing and Kagome let out a laugh, releasing the tension and the embarrassment she felt out of that woman. InuYasha stared at her, startled at first, only to become infected by her, little by little, until he started laughing along side her.
They laughed with absolute freedom, for what did it matter the noise they could make?!
For an instant, while their laughs lasted, they felt relaxed and free, like two life-long friends that were sharing a moment, and yet none of them sought to comprehend that; maybe, because it was complex and strange. Maybe, because it was unique.
Their gazes met, and their laugh became a smile. Kagome took a hand to her stomach out of the lingering ache that had accumulated there due to laughing with such energy. On the background, the woman once again exaggerated the volume of her moans, and both of them had to lift their eyebrows in surprise, only to hear the happy release of the man. InuYasha seemed on the edge of bursting out laughing once again, and Kagome just gestured him silence in a hush.
"Don't." She whispered, her laughs slipping through her smile. "If he hears us, we'll take away his inspiration."
"We've just laughed like mad." His logic was sound.
"Do you believe he could have heard us with the cries of his companion?" She had a point, and InuYasha found it fair.
"You are right." By then, everything laid in silence once again.
And they too, went back to silence.
Kagome wondered what was she actually doing there. It felt like they were hiding, and although the situation when they walked out of the club wasn't exactly pleasant, neither she believed herself to be so important for InuYasha to hide her.
Her mind set, she breathed in, deep, and began to form the question, yet it was he who talked first.
"Renkotsu knows how to hold a grudge." He began to say, "and I preferred to bring you here for a moment, so that he calms down. That way, we won't risk being followed."
The explanation had a certain logic to it, but she still found it a bit of an exaggeration.
"I should be at my mother's." She spoke. If she were to leave now, she could arrive there by dinner.
"Of course." He stood up. "I think enough time has passed."
Indeed, she wanted to get there for dinner, yet she still had questions.
"Wait, you still haven't told me why you broke your promise of calling me." She went straight to the point, despite knowing he may simply lack the interest of seeing her again, for it was also a possibility. However, she felt that wasn't the case.
He took a lungful of air through his mouth, held it in an instant, then let it out in a sigh as he let himself fall on the bed, which released a loud screech under his weight. He seemed much more exhausted than what she imagined, his hair spread out behind him and against that pink of the satin blanket, the golden brooch to a horrible decoration. If she had to think of a room for a scary story, it would be this one. There, she stared at InuYasha, who had his arms extended over his head, almost touching the pillows, which made the shirt under his red hoodie to lift up his waist, allowing Kagome to catch a glimpse of his abdomen. Her eyes contemplated that intimate hint, as if she were peeking through the lock of a door, and discovered that he had a bit of silvery hair slipping out from under the belt of his pants. So, she noted the way that discovery began to work in her mind, and let out the air she had been holding in, involuntarily.
"I told you I live with a friend." InuYasha began to say, her recent feelings completely unknown to him. "He got into some trouble, a fight, and came back with a broken arm, so… "
"Is he alright?" Before his words, Kagome couldn't help recalling the mischievous smile of that boy of red hair bind, and so felt worried. He was but a child, after all.
True it was that, in a first instance, she wished him what one would suffer in hell, together with some bad sounding words, given that the boy had stolen from her. However, that sensation had faded after she found out he lived with InuYasha, having the feeling that the latter was taking care of him.
"He stole your purse, remember?" He looked at her, turning his head slightly, without lifting it from the bed.
"I know. But that doesn't mean I want him to suffer." She made that clear.
InuYasha cast his gaze on her for a while more, in silence, to then look up again to continue his explanation.
"He is alright, just pissed off and with a useless arm." He told her the truth. "I've had to take care of him more than usual. The doctor and the expenses too."
There, she understood why he sounded so tired. He was working hard, maybe too much, and so she wasn't surprised when he closed his eyes. There, she traced the shape of his features, how his eyelashes seemed to curve up at the end, just enough as to not to touch his cheeks… and she suddenly felt a need of helping him with the burden he seemed to be carrying.
It was then when her mind formed an idea.
"InuYasha." She called him, and his attention, back. He didn't open his eyes, however, and just answered with a speculative and sleepy sound, inviting her to continue. "Could you pose for me?"
He opened his eyes, and casted a deep and intense gaze on her. Kagome felt her heart jumping in her chest; that was the intensity she wanted to portray on her drawings.
"What?" The question was exactly what she expected, one full of surprise, incredulity and, why not say it, also an implicit denial.
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To be continued.
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A/N
I loved this moment, of both of them laughing, and I'm enjoying a lot the interactions between these InuKag. I hope you are too.
Thank you for your good reception of this story, and for waiting for me to slowly unfold its truths.
A kiss, and thanks for reading and leaving comments.
Anyara.
This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart