KOTODAMA

"The soul that resides within words"

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Chapter XXII

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Kagome had walked this path many times. She knew all the routes that could take her, from different parts of the city, to the Temple her family had been in charge of for generations. If she were to be asked to make her way through them with her eyes closed, she was confident of being able to reach the same shintoist gate that awaited her today, at the roots of a long row of stairs.

"Do you always come this way?" Was InuYasha's question as they passed through a narrow street, whose entrance had a Torii gate. There was a small shrine placed between the two buildings, and that was one of the many curiosities one could find amidst the streets of Tokio.

"Sometimes."

Her answer was the truth, albeit it was one of the longest paths she knew, that took her to her family's Temple. She liked to cross this alley full of offerings and respectful wishes placed on the stone pedestals made for it, or that were simple hanging from the walls.

InuYasha remained silent for a moment. He seemed to be observing all the corners inside that place, as if looking to discover something. Kagome became thoughtful then, slowing down her pace as she cast her gaze on him while he strode forward, a few steps in front of her. It felt good to be by his side, marvelously comfortable, something she had been experiencing for hours, since they met that morning just outside her apartment, then on the way to the place Myoga was in charge of, and during the time they stayed there. Kagome felt like she was now privy to a bit more of what composed InuYasha's world, and that fact, indisputably, brought her closer to him.

A moment later she saw his steps coming to a halt, so hers did as well. The light could barely slip into the narrow street, yet it was bright enough to see the objects placed on each side of it, and InuYasha's profile as he slightly lifted it. Kagome's gaze was barely drawn to the wooden, moldy tablet InuYasha was observing, for it was captivated by the wildly innocent beauty she had before her. As an artist, she could describe all the reasons why the image that had her in such a rapture, was beautiful, yet all her mind could conjure was what her heart was telling her, so overwhelmingly racing she had to breathe through her mouth. From day one, since the very moment she first laid eyes on InuYasha, she knew someone who seemed practically born from her entelechy, would not be an existence she could ignore. However, the time they had shared until now had taken her, inevitably, a step further; she had fallen in love.

"Look, Kagome," he addressed her, casting his golden eyes on her. Kagome felt discovered, and despite knowing it was impossible for him to read her mind, she still adverted her eyes to the floor." Are you alright?" He wondered upon seeing her reaction, and she almost whimpered from pure anxiety, nodding quickly before adding words to her gesture.

"Yes, quite alright." She could feel the heat that had risen with unbelievable ease to her cheeks. Even so, she lifted her gaze to him. "Want to show me?"

The last thing in Kagome's mind in that instant, was the inscription InuYasha was pointing to. It was on the wooden tablet hanging on the wall, kept there by a small nail. Kagome's gaze was on it, and she could even understand the Kanji written there, but her mind as solely focused on InuYasha and his proximity. She could note the heat coming from him, and the soft tingle in her hand, close to his. She wanted to ask him about the kiss he had left on her lips, like an invisible and indelible print she could not forget, but her fear was there, fear of what InuYasha may say.

"Do you see it?" He interrupted her mental soliloquy, while stepping slightly closer; no more than a few centimeters, but Kagome felt as if he were stuck to her.

"No, what?" She moved away, just a palm's length, because otherwise she would turn around and give him back the kiss they had shared.

"This kind of writing is very old, but the tablet doesn't look as worn off, at least not as much as the writing itself," she heard him explain, and only then did the object catch her attention.

It was true. The kind of kanji used was not part of the unified system they used nowadays; the different so stark, the writing looked like it could be centuries old.

"I could be from someone whose family has preserved the dialect," Kagome pointed out, trying to seek a plausible cause.

"Yeah, of course," InuYasha accepted, his voice laced with a disappointment Kagome wasn't sure if someone else, aside from her, could catch.

She cast her gaze on the text once again.

"The story says that for them, death did not exist."

The words seemed like brought out of a book meant for love. It was a beautiful claim, although lacking in power if you didn't know its context; one of the many grandiose ideas that were circling the word, she thought.

"What do you like about it?" Kagome inquired; her gaze fixed on the tablet.

InuYasha remained silent for a moment, and she understood he was looking for the right words. It was a delicate silence, one she decided to enjoy, for it felt like made to keep each other company. It didn't last long, yet it was enough for her to feel she now had a bit more of InuYasha with her.

"I suppose I liked the idea that someone, a long time ago, wished that phrase to be real." The answer sounded to her even deeper than the phrase written on the tablet.

Kagome became captivated by the expression on InuYasha's features, as he observed the kanji. Her mind entertained a possibility then; one of taking his hand and staying by his side; venturing through life for a while, or forever.

"We should go on," he brought her out of her thoughts, taking away that brief moment of reverie she had formed. Her mother would have already asked her in what universe she was; and Kagome would have answered that 'in one full of desire and yearning.'

She wasn't sure why those two emotions were the ones that came to her mind, they seemed too obscure to what InuYasha evocated in her.

"Yeah, let's go," she accepted.

They started once again through that narrow alley, crossing the meters separating them from the end, in just a few minutes. Kagome thought about telling him she could make the rest of the walk alone, but she didn't want to leave InuYasha's company just yet. Much to her dismay, they didn't take long to reach the base of the mountain where her family's temple was.

"It's there?" she heard InuYasha's question, by her side. She shrugged slightly before his words, given they meant the ending of her time with him.

"Yes," Kagome hoped the subtle inflexion in her voice, would not betray her disappointment.

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Rain had poured throughout the afternoon, soft yet unceasing, making of the umbrella a must-carry accessory for Kagome and Ayumi. They had met at the train station that was nearby to the apartment they lived at, to go to a coffee shop that had opened but a few weeks ago.

"On my way here, I saw a pair of boots that could go really well with the blue dress I bought last week. You know, that one I haven't put on yet." Ayumi seemed cheerful, like always. She took Kagome by the arm in a gesture that spoke of closeness, as she talked about trivial matters that should help them relieve the stress of a long day of work.

"Will you buy them then?" Kagome wondered, in reply to her friend.

Ayumi shrugged and smiled. "Do you think I've got room to spare, for more boots?" Her words came tinted by the mischievous smile on her features.

"Maybe it's time for you to sort them out," Kagome pointed out.

Depending on the matter they were discussing, one of them was bound to be the voice of reason; a role that had a light motherly hint that made them feel like they were family. In Kagome's case, Ayumi was the one nagging her about her diet, and teaching her how to cook some things. For her friend, Kagome was the one organizing things in the apartment, rooms included.

"Maybe," Ayumi conceded, not without some disappointment.

Kagome turned a deaf ear to her words.

"Maybe, you could take them to one of those second-hand stores, and sell them," she spurred her a bit more.

Ayumi seemed to think about her next words carefully, or maybe she was trying to come up with a way to sort her stuff, so she wouldn't need to get rid of anything. Kagome gave her that moment of silence, and when she understood she wouldn't speak of the topic again, she brought another one up.

"I went to a community dining room or something like that, yesterday," she commented.

"Oh right! We didn't have much time to catch up this morning." Her friend's mood improved instantly, and Kagome thought she just wanted to speak of something that wasn't the way to make room for a pair of new boots.

"We didn't…" she had no chance to say anything else before Ayumi interrupted her.

"How is it? Inside?" Her curiosity made sense. Kagome herself had shown some reasonable interest for such places, despite having never visited one.

"Yeah, well; an acquaintance of InuYasha is in charge of the place, an elderly man, and we went to visit him yesterday," she explained.

"InuYasha." The tone Ayumi used to repeat the name was full of caution, almost fear; it was a warning to Kagome, one she decided to ignore.

"Yeah, we met outside our building, and from there we went to the city center," she continued, "Ayumi, you would be surprised by how incredible the place is. It's not too big, but its colorful and full of life."

"I can imagine," her friend's voice did not change, despite her words, "And how is it that InuYasha knows about that place? Does he eat there?"

Kagome had to stop the conversation for a moment, taking in Ayumi's words, and their meaning. During that short lapse of time, she pondered just how much did she truly know her; they had been together since middle school, and so she was a close and important friend. Up until know, they had always understood each other, living in a similar world as they did, and so their difference of opinion rarely went beyond what color they wanted for their curtains, or what food they wanted to eat.

"Not in the way I believe you are implying," she tried to clarify, not letting the conversation evolve into a conflict, "in fact, he helps maintain the place."

"And he brought you to… help?" The question was drowned in suspicion, one Kagome would have never imagined could come from her friend. She understood then, that if she were to tell her that InuYasha had donated the salary she had paid him, to that place, the misunderstanding would only become that much deeper.

"He wanted to show me the place," was her simple answer, not liking the turn the conversation, friendly at first, had taken.

Ayumi fell silent, and their steps were suddenly surrounded by the pitter-patter of the rain on their umbrella, and the voices of the people wandering that same street; almost thundering, in comparison to what they were a moment before.

Kagome noted her friend tightening her hold on her arm, even if slightly, to then add, "I don't want to sound offensive; it's just that I can see that you like InuYasha, and I'm worried he may not be the right one for you." The delicate touch in Ayumi's voice managed to remind Kagome that she was her friend, after all, and that she had always been a source of comfort for her.

"I know," she accepted, then leaned a bit against her friend's body in a gesture of intimate comprehension.

They shared a smile then, yet more than joy, it was meant to appease their mood. Through Kagome's mind came the idea that it would be best to not tell Ayumi how she had wanted InuYasha to enter with her into her family's Temple, and how he had kindly declined the offer.

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"I don't know why we always have to be the ones to do these things," Jakotsu complained, as he held one of the clients of the Kyomu by an arm around his shoulders, so the man could walk; he was far too drunk to keep himself standing. However, he was a good customer, hence the special treatment.

"I don't know why I always end up helping you with these things," InuYasha complained in turn, holding the man from the other arm.

"Maybe, because you can't live without me," he smiled a reply, then added, "or maybe, because I helped you rescue your girl from Renkotsu's hands the other day."

InuYasha only traced a subtle gesture with his lips that could, in some way, be interpreted as the start of a smile, yet he commented nothing about the topic.

"Will you tell me who she is?" Jakotsu tried to pry.

"No. Or at least, not yet." Was InuYasha's answer.

"That means there is something to tell," his friend pointed out, yet InuYasha kept the same hermetism about the matter. He trusted Jakotsu, and so he would probably end up telling him about Kagome at some point, yet he didn't want to do it in the middle of a job like this one.

They took a few more steps, then InuYasha said something, ignoring the previous topic, "how far have you left this guy's car?" he wondered out loud. They still needed to get him on his car, then drive him home.

"It should be on the next street," Jakotsu huffed.

The man, with his head hung low, blabbered something that none of them caught.

"What did he put in his system? Do you know?" InuYasha voiced his doubt, seeing as his state seemed born from something else than alcohol. It wasn't the first time they escorted him to his residence, but he had never been this wasted.

"Nothing that we served him, that's for sure," Jakotsu ascertained, "but now that you mention it, he doesn't look like someone who just drank too much."

The man blabbered again.

InuYasha furrowed his brow at that. He didn't think Naraku a saint, and he knew some clients consumed drugs, yet what was handed out in the Kyomu was under strict control; the club was a place for a different sort of vices. He stopped, forcing Jakotsu to halt his steps as well, and to adjust his hold on the man, before he began to rummage through his pockets. He didn't find much, and so he proceeded to slip his hand into the pockets of the man's pants.

"I always thought that if I'd ever saw you doing that, I'd be to me," Jakotsu joked, like usual when he was with InuYasha. He smiled at him, amused, just like every time he received those little jabs from his friend. "Now tell me, do you search your girl with that same diligence?"

InuYasha flashed Jakotsu a glance that the man knew as one of warning. He wasn't afraid of his friend, yet he did value his friendship, and so he wasn't about to tense the string beyond the limits InuYasha had imposed.

"Alright, alright, I give up. You'll tell me some day," Jakotsu accepted at the end.

InuYasha had only one more pocket to check, and when he thought he wouldn't find anything, he touched what seemed to be a small paper envelope, feeling through his fingers that there were two pills inside. He turned it around, now before his gaze, and found a seal; it was a mirror with a frame carefully carved, wrapped by a delicate cloth. None of them recognized it.

"Naraku isn't going to like this," he voiced, showing Jakotsu the seal.

"It won't be me who tells him," InuYasha held no doubt of his friend's words. He himself questioned his own loyalty in the matter.

The man blabbered again, then his body shook a couple of times before he puked. Jakotsu barely had time to move away before the foul-smelling viscosity fell where his shoes had been.

"Perfect, now we'll have to take him to a doctor," he sentenced.

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To be continued.

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A/N

I'm happy with the details in this chapter, and with how the story at the background allows me to, as it develops, speak of things I find entertaining. I hope you are enjoying it as well. Thank you for reading, and leaving comments.

Kisses,

Anyara

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart