InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Drifting ❯ Secrets ( Chapter 25 )

Secrets

 

InuYasha watched Kagome's face. He could tell that she was dreaming by the twitching in her muscles. From time to time she would mumble something, though InuYasha generally couldn't make out the words.

 

“Unh… Shippou…”

 

InuYasha stiffened. He could tell that she wasn't upset, though she was obviously dreaming of the kit. He'd… been having dreams, too. In his dreams, Shippou wasn't dead. He was just as alive as InuYasha, as were Kaede and Kirara. Half of the time when he woke up, he thought that Shippou would still be there, but they were just dreams…

 

Kagome flickered open her eyes and glanced at InuYasha. She gave a small smile, letting her eyes close once more, and shifted to a more comfortable position. InuYasha flinched as something dug into his leg.

 

InuYasha grumbled and reached into Kagome's pocket to figure out what was digging into him. Kagome gasped and tried to stop him, but it was too late. InuYasha held up the jewel and stared at it for a second before Kagome snatched it out of his hand and closed her fist around it.

 

“Why do you carry that around?”

 

Kagome's cheeks burned a fierce red. “It's… mine. I was born with it inside of me. I just can't… throw it away.”

 

InuYasha grasped Kagome more tightly and jumped out of the tree. He set her on her feet and stared at her balled fist. He was curious about her fierce protectiveness over the jewel, and wanted to ask her why, but the look in her eyes prevented him from saying anything.

 

Kagome tucked the Shikon no Tama back into her pocket, not allowing InuYasha to see it. But he had seen it in the tree, and he could have sworn that it had been pink. That can't be right, can it? He frowned. She purified it, and it turned white. I saw it. But he doubted himself.

 

“I'm going home to get some more clothes and a shower,” she said, turning away from him. She peeked back over her shoulder. “Do you… want to come with?”

 

“That kid going to be there?” InuYasha snorted, thinking of Hiroshi.

 

Kagome chewed on her lip. “Probably… he said he got a job at the shrine.”

 

InuYasha nodded darkly, scooped Kagome up, and jumped down the well with her.

 

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Sango admired Miroku's body for the first time. She knew that he was fit, but there wasn't much shape to him underneath all those robes. Last night they had undressed in the dark, and her admiration had been limited to what she could feel. Not that she had minded…

 

But this morning she had awoken to him admiring her body. She had nervously pulled a blanket up to her chin, but after a moment realized she was being ridiculous and let it fall. Of course, that wasn't to say she wasn't tense during her husband's visual perusal of her body. It was his hands that caused her to relax, as he ran them up and down her body, thoroughly enjoying himself and the tremors he sent through Sango.

 

Now Sango watched him as he stretched. The muscles on his chest and thighs captivated her. She remembered running her hands up and down his finely formed torso, and a pleased flush dusted her cheeks.

 

Miroku, well aware of Sango's persistent gaze on him, continued stretching to give her the full effect of his body, relishing her pleased stare. When he figured she'd feasted her eyes enough, he murmured, “It's not polite to stare.”

 

Sango bit her lip, and focused her eyes on his. He swallowed hard. He leaned in, his mouth tickling her ear. “That is,” he said, pausing to nibble on her ear lobe, “unless you plan on using whatever it is your eyes covet.”

 

Sango shivered as Miroku traced his finger along her stomach. In the daylight she could see his very real fascination with her body. It occurred to her that this was as new to him as it was to her, and the last remnants of her nervousness with her new husband vanished.

 

Sango relaxed into Miroku's touch, and the rest of the world faded away.

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Chiyo looked at her mistress's hut and decided that she wouldn't bother them until she was called for. She strolled back up the steps of the shrine where she had stayed the night and knelt down to pray at the idols. While she was praying, something ran into her leg and tugged on her clothing. She opened her eyes and looked to see a small demon chewing on her clothing.

 

The youkai whined at her, and she slowly considered what to do. It was obviously young, a baby. It was an odd shade of brown with light blue stripes running across its back. It had a protruding snout, navy blue eyes, and a black, wet nose. She reached down to feel its impossibly soft ears, and it whined softly. She looked around, but it didn't appear that any mother youkai was about to pounce on her for touching its offspring.

 

“Poor thing,” Chiyo whispered, “You've been left behind, too, haven't you?”

 

It yipped at her, and she scooped up the strange puppy to cradle it. It yawned, exposing a pink tongue and gave her a last whine before slipping off to sleep.

 

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Kagome peeked outside the well house in order to make sure there weren't any strangers around. The coast was clear, and she led InuYasha to her house. Inside she was only mildly surprised to see Hiroshi sitting at her kitchen table, talking amiably with her mother over lunch.

 

“Kagome, you're home! Was the wedding wonderful?” Kagome's mother gave her a quick hug before sweeping Hiroshi's plate off of the table and placing it in the sink.

 

Kagome nodded, wondering how her mother could be so open with Hiroshi there. She looked at the kid who had stood at her arrival and said, “Hiroshi, this is InuYasha. You guys haven't, uh, properly met before.”

 

Hiroshi nodded to InuYasha, who grudgingly returned the nod. Hiroshi looked around awkwardly for anything to say, and settled on the weather. Kagome rolled her eyes, knowing that the weather would probably never get InuYasha to say anything, and left the kid to fend for himself as she held a whispered conversation with her mother.

 

“Mama, how much does he know? Have you been telling him things?” Kagome anxiously tugged on a piece of her hair.

 

“Relax, Kagome,” her mother said, resting a hand on Kagome's shoulder, “I just told him that you were off to the wedding that he helped you shop for.”

 

“You know he's youkai, right?”

 

The woman gave Kagome a measured stare. “I saw him that day when he took his shirt off. A scorpion, I think?”

 

Kagome nodded slightly, wondering how much the two youkai could hear. She knew that InuYasha had good hearing, but with Hiroshi talking his ears off, it was possible that this conversation was private. She had no idea just how good Hiroshi's senses were. Sure, he was full demon, but she could tell that his class of demon wasn't as good as InuYasha's. I wonder how much he knows…

 

“Just don't… tell him anything, mama. I don't know how much he knows about… everything.”

 

Mrs. Higurashi gave an enigmatic smile as Kagome raised her voice everyone to hear. “Mama, do you want to make InuYasha some ramen or something? I'm going to take a shower.”

 

Kagome climbed the stairs in her house, something nagging at the back of her mind. She pondered over the last time she encountered Hiroshi, trying to figure out something he said, something she was forgetting, something odd.

 

“My parents were killed by-InuYasha!”

 

Kagome stopped dead in the middle of stair. Hiroshi had recognized InuYasha. But there was no way they could have met. Only a few people had met InuYasha in her time, and even then, it was mostly in passing.

 

Once in the shower she dismissed the issue, not even bothering to wonder over her strange friend Hiroshi for once, focusing instead on a larger problem. Did he see the jewel? Does he know? Kagome couldn't stop the dread that filled her at the thought that InuYasha knew her failure. Is it my fault? Did I taint it? She couldn't admit her deeper secret, that she preferred it this way. If I purify it again, I could lose myself again… She scrubbed her scalp fiercely. I won't fail again.

 

When she was done with her shower, Kagome padded down the stairs and peeked into the kitchen. InuYasha and her mother were in deep conversation, and InuYasha was tucking something into his haori. She stepped into the kitchen brightly, catching both of them by surprise. InuYasha looked sullen, though Kagome could see his features visibly soften as he looked at her. Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her daughter.

 

“Feel better?”

 

Kagome nodded. “Where did Hiroshi go?”

 

InuYasha let out a soft `keh', and Mrs. Higurashi said, “Back to the shrine. He was on lunch break when you arrived.”

 

Kagome nodded and stared out the window, before turning to grab InuYasha's hand. “Come on, InuYasha, let's head outside. It's a really nice day.”

 

InuYasha grunted and followed her out of the house. Kagome sat down on a ledge and looked back at InuYasha. He was staring back at her house. She looked in the same direction, but couldn't figure out what he was looking at.

 

“InuYasha?”

 

InuYasha turned his head slowly to look at Kagome, his expression unfathomable.

 

“What were you talking about with my mom?” she asked him.

 

InuYasha flinched and mumbled something incomprehensible. Kagome frowned and stared at the ground. He's hiding something.

 

InuYasha turned to examine the house again. “Do you want a house like this one?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“A house like this one… would take longer. But if you want one like this one…”

 

Kagome smiled. Whatever he was hiding didn't change anything. They were still going to be together.

 

“Any house will be perfect. And we can always add on to it if we need to.”

 

InuYasha sat down and moved Kagome to his lap with his arms around her. Soon, he said, his nose buried in her wet hair, his voice barely audible, “I'll tell you… soon.”

 

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AN: I do not own the rights to InuYasha

 

RisikaFox: I have to say, it's a little more relaxing to write fluff than angst. Thanks for the review!

 

OROsan0677: Aww, thanks! Just make sure to take a Tylenol before reading next time, lol. I miss Shippou, too, actually, though I didn't think that I would. He probably would have stopped these kids from taking themselves so seriously all the time.