InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha World Travel, Where the F*** is Greece!! ❯ Greek Cultural Evening! ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

*~*~*~*~*

The days continued to fly by, events and places each flashes in a lifetime, yet as memorable as any year. There was the giant theatre that could seat an army, yet was built so well that you could hear coins being dropped on stage while sitting in the very back. Then there was the really, really old castle, which, as Mr. Higurashi informed him, was already 2000 years old in Inuyasha's time, and was now 2500 years ancient. Not that it didn't look it's age. In fact, with the exception of the lion arch and the tombs, it looked like a pile of field stones and nothing more, but it was interesting none the less. The "Corinth Canal" was really amazing too. 4 miles, and cut almost 100 feet into solid rock in some places. Inuyasha couldn't even fathom how they'd pulled that off. Hell, he couldn't fathom the damned boats that were going through it! They had whole "swimming pools" on them, and looked bigger than most palaces Inuyasha had seen. It made his head spin.

It had been while they were watching the boats go through that yet another pathetic old woman had approached them, trying to sell something. Mr. Higurashi had gone off to use the bathrooms, and he and Kagome had been just sitting there ogling the big "cruise ship" as Kagome called it, when she had wandered up.

"What do you want, baba." was Inuyasha's courteous greeting. For a moment, the old lady had looked confused, and then said something in a weird language Inuyasha couldn't understand. Kagome must have, however, because she stepped up in front of him and shook her head no. The old lady however, kept insisting, making gestures and pointing between Kagome and himself until Kagome suddenly turned an interesting shade of red, shouted something rather loudly, and turned her back on the old hag. Inuyasha looked at her funny.

"Another shawl Baba?" he'd asked, curious as to why her face was red. After a moment, Kagome shook her head. No, she wasn't selling shawls. "Then what was she selling?" Kagome muttered something so quiet and slurred even Inuyasha couldn't make it out. "What?"

She reddened a little more before saying quietly, "...fertility charm... ... ...for us..."

"Oh." Inuyasha's face was instantly a colour to match her own. They didn't mention anything to Mr. Higurashi as they silently climbed into the car. They were driving faster now, following wider roads with more cars, so Inuyasha couldn't get out and run, but it wasn't so bad. The windows were open, and Inuyasha occasionally stuck his head out as they passed even more orange and olive groves. However, slowly but surely, Inuyasha noticed the air become thick and oily again, tainted slightly with sea salt and a large number of people. Sure enough, they were heading back into the "city." Inuyasha scowled. It seemed like they had just left, and now they were back already! Surely two weeks hadn't passed that fast!

Kagome must have been thinking the same thing, because she pouted in her seat and said, "Two weeks isn't long enough! We have to leave in three days, and it feels like we just got here!"

Mr. Higurashi chuckled and then reminded her, "Well, we still have the cruise tomorrow, and then another whole day in Athens. It's not over yet."

Sigh, "I know, I just wish it didn't have to end at all."

Inuyasha couldn't have agreed more.

*~*~*~*~*

They stayed in the hotel they had passed their first night in, only this time, instead of having a street to look out over, they had a solid brick wall. Oh, and Inuyasha actually slept in a bed this time. He'd actually gotten used to them over the last week, as well as the strange clothes and bathrooms. Even the city wasn't as much of a shock now as it had been the first time, and it was cleaner as well. Inuyasha had instantly noticed the slimy piles of trash were no longer visible lining the streets. According to Shinji, it was because the "garbage strike" had ended a few days ago. Inuyasha was puzzled as to how the hell garbage would attack (strike) a city, but shrugged it off. It was over, nothing to worry about, and he could beat up some old smelly garbage monster any day.

*~*~*~*~*

The next day Kagome and him were both roused from peaceful slumber (in separate beds) by Mr. Higurashi, bright and early. An hour later they were dressed and ready, waiting on board a small, 1 day cruise ship for a tour of the nearby islands. It was a rather cold and rainy day, probably not the best for a cruise, but Kagome ignored it and insisted on being her usual bright and cheery self. Inuyasha, on the other hand, didn't care about weather. He was so tough it never effected him anyway, so who cares. With the highest of spirits, they set out, ready to go wherever their cruise ship took them.

The first island had been a quaint little place, situated on a sharp slope leading down from a high hill with a light house. The roads were small and narrow, lined with flowers and weaving drunkenly upwards to the summit. The lighthouse itself was in disrepair, but the view was certainly scenic.

Ten minuets later they were on the ship again, heading out to sea. Beside them, the coast was rugged and completely isolated, save for the occasional lonely house, or tiny village. There weren't many trees, but instead endless fields of yellow and purple flowers shaped like a thick draped cloth, folded out before them. Briefly Inuyasha wondered what it would be like to live there, in quiet solitude, not a demon or shard or care in the world, just him and Kagome...

*~*~*~*~*

Kagome watched as a lazy smile spread across Inuyasha's face, and mirrored it on her own. It was amazing what these last two weeks had done for the half demon. True to his word, neither of them had once mentioned shards or demons or Naraku for the whole trip, and the break from the constant tension seemed to be changing him. Kagome noticed, while he was still temperamental, Inuyasha tended to be less angry and more indifferent, and maybe even sometimes happy. She had seen Inuyasha smile more on this trip then in all the time she had previously known him combined.

Like now, he was smiling, just to himself, a faraway look in his eyes as he leaned over the cold metal railing beside her, and stared at the passing shore. The breeze played carelessly with his long silver/white hair, and his fuzzy ears twitched in the wind. A relaxed face, handsome and peaceful, smiled secretively outward, adding a hint of mystery, and then his eyes, shining tender and warm, something she rarely got to see in them. Kagome suddenly suppressed an urge to shift over along the rail and wrap her arms around him, sink into an embrace...

She shivered in the wind and hugged the railing instead. Leaning over just a bit farther, she stared down at the water as it splashed in their wake.

*~*~*~*~*

The next island was famous for all sorts of rich people going there. It was also, blessedly quiet as there were no cars or automobiles allowed on the island, unless they were used for service. The three of them spent an hour there, wandering the streets and climbing up to see the windmills and monuments to naval officers of the past. They shopped and talked, just relaxing and taking it easy until it was time to go. Once they were back on the boat they ate lunch in the hold and talked some more. Inuyasha decided to stalk up on his favorite, chicken Souvlaki, before going back to Japan. Kagome had a gyro, and all three of them shared a plate of baclava, although Inuyasha was sure he could have eaten three all by himself.

A while later, Inuyasha left to go outside and stare at the scenery again. Kagome said it was too cold outside, and instead stayed inside and talked with her father some more. Crazy woman, always talking, never got tired of blabber. He smirked at the though. He was interrupted, however, by voices. Normally, he wouldn't have cared, but these were voices he could understand, meaning they were from Japan. Cautiously, he peeked around the corner and saw that there were indeed Japanese people there, sitting huddled in a group against the sharp wind.

Oddly enough, it was comforting listening to them talk. Not that Inuyasha ever eaves dropped on anything if he could help it (sometimes he couldn't help it) but somehow, just being able to recognise the speech of strangers was comforting. It reminded him of home, made it seem closer. After all, if they could get here too, it couldn't be impossible to get back. He smiled, maybe going back home wouldn't be so terrible after all, only this time, he'd appreciated the place a lot more.

A little while later, Inuyasha walked back inside to find Kagome asleep in a corner, using a thin coat to prop her head up against the glass. Inuyasha quickly pulled his own sweater off and gently slipped it between the glass and the coat, watching her breath in and out, puffs of air coming out her nose and slightly disturbing the hair on her chest...

"Inuyasha."

He spun around quickly, as if he'd been caught doing something wrong, only to be faced with Mr. Higurashi.

*~*~*~*~*

He was going to do it. He'd seen the way Inuyasha had been looking at his daughter, and had no doubt about what the young man had been thinking. He had seen too, that they were rather close, and although Mr. Higurashi didn't have any objections to Inuyasha "courting" Kagome, he nonetheless, wanted to make sure that the hanyou realised Kagome was still too young for some things, in this time. Back in the Warring States Period, it was common for girls Kagome's age to be already married, but not here, and he wanted to make that clear to him...

However, when Inuyasha had spun around so suddenly, like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Shinji lost his nerve (and almost laughed). Kagome wasn't a stupid girl, she knew she was too young, and Inuyasha was already so jumpy around her anyway. One word from Kagome would be more than enough to stop any advances on her. In fact, the way they were acting, this relationship seemed almost like a best friendship, instead a romance affair, which was exactly the type of thing he wanted for Kagome anyway. Lust, passion, cheap words, they never lasted long, but friends, friendship was forever. His own relationship would never have lasted as long if he and his wife hadn't been best friends first...Maybe...maybe he should just say nothing, and let things run their natural course. Yes, perhaps that would be best.

So, instead he said, "They've got great slushies at the bar, want to try one?"

*~*~*~*~*

On the third island, they went on a two hour bus tour to see yet another ancient temple in ruins. Inuyasha thought it was getting rather tiresome, looking at old marble and columns all the time. However, it meant Inuyasha got to hold Kagome's hand again, so he didn't complain. Later on, they ate something called "Pistachio ice-cream" which was almost as good as the slushy things he tried earlier, and then to another, more modern temple, that apparently had some dead saint that walked around at night, because the old ladies kept on having to make new slippers for him all the time. It was a bunch of crock, Inuyasha would have smelt it if a dead guy had been walking around.

Hours later, they were approaching the city again, and even in the fading light Inuyasha could see the oily air hanging above it like a poisonous cloud. However, the lights looked pretty, and he and Kagome watched as they approached. There was only one set of stars this time, the sky was still cloudy, but still, they could be stars...all those lights... Kagome fell asleep in the car against Inuyasha again, and instead of waking her up, he carried her upstairs to the room behind Mr. Higurashi. For the second time that trip, he lay her down on the bed and tucked her in, but this time, he was smiling softly as he did it.

*~*~*~*~*

The next day was their last day in Athens, and Kagome was determined to make it last as LONG as possible. So, she woke everyone up at six, and made them rush about until they were ready, threatening sits and crying fits to anyone who dared cross her. Seven O'clock found them stopped at a bakery, buying a quick breakfast on the run, and soon, they were trudging up some monster hill to see yet another small temple that perched on upon it. Then they stayed at the top, mostly catching their breath for twenty minutes and taking in the view of the city, before heading back down to see the Museum of Athens. The museum was boring, or so Inuyasha thought, and it was also rather perverted. People stood staring at other people who had been turned to stone and weren't wearing any clothes. Inuyasha was glad to be out of there.

Somewhere between 11 and noon, the trio could be seen passing run down buildings and stores on their way to the Plaka district to eat lunch. Kagome was in the lead, charging ahead, ready to step on anything that got in her way. Mr. Higurashi was next, being more adept at weaving through large crowds, and finally, Inuyasha, who was lagging further and further behind.

Not that he was tired mind you. No, in fact, out of the tree of them, he had probably suffered least from all the walking they had done thus far. However, the smell was getting to him, and it seemed the more they walked, the stronger it became, and the harder it was to breathe. It was a surprisingly strong smell, made mostly of rotting fish bile and guts, but also laced with a very potent smell of too many people being jammed into one too small place, and stray animals. Still, Inuyasha could handle it. It was just some stupid smell after all, and would soon be passed. Any second now... Any second... any...second...

Suddenly the world veered sharply to the right. And it was all Inuyasha could do to protect himself as the side of the building came out and smacked him in the side of the head. He wasn't so lucky with the ground however. It landed a hard blow to the back of his skull, and soon, Inuyasha was seeing stars, and then nothing.

*~*~*~*~*

"Eewww! It reeks in here!! What is this place Papa?" Kagome wrinkled her nose and breathed through the neckline of her shirt. Before her in a rather wide ally large enough to fit a warehouse, people were jamming together like sardines in a can, and the whole place seemed reek to high heaven. It was so repulsing Kagome would have lost her lunch, had she had any yet.

"That's the Athens fish market, wouldn't buy anything from there though." Kagome nodded and began to look around for the third member of their party. When he didn't materialise out of the crowd a few seconds later, Kagome began to wonder what was taking him so long. She wanted to move and soon, because the smell was making her dizzy...

Of course! She gave her forehead a smack with the heel of her hand before tearing off back along the sidewalk. Sure enough, not fifty feet away there was a small crowd gathering, and after a quickly tearing the other spectators out of her way, she realised why. Inuyasha was lying on his side, bunched up parallel against a wall, obviously out cold. Not only that, the people in the back were pushing the people in the front forward, causing the whole mob to almost trample the unconscious boy, and, probably more severe of the two, making it even more difficult for everyone to breathe, especially Inuyasha.

Kagome gave up trying to be polite not a half second later and began using her slim frame to body check people out of the way. Even so, it still took her at least half a minute to reach Inuyasha. Having accomplished that, she knelt down beside him and, pulling her handkerchief out of her pocket, pressed it over his nose and mouth, hoping to filter out at least some of that reeking smell. Behind her, her father was busily speaking in Greek, tying to get the crowd moving again and finally giving them some space to breathe. However, Kagome realised, the best thing for Inuyasha right now would be to get him out of here all together. Only then would he be able to breathe freely and clear his nose.

So, pulling one arm around and over her shoulders, she yanked him to his feet and began to drag him away. Mr. Higurashi was soon beside her, supporting the other half of Inuyasha's weight and together, they managed to half carry half drag him almost two blocks away, before collapsing on a bench to catch their breath, and think of a more suitable plan. They couldn't very well drag Inuyasha all the way back to the hotel. Finally, it was decided that Kagome would stay there with Inuyasha while Shinji went and got the car.

It was possibly the longest half hour of Kagome's life. Waiting there, in the baking sun, the lingering smell of rotting fish carried strongly upon every breath or puff of air, which were few. It couldn't have been great for Inuyasha either, she thought, so she was very glad when her father's car suddenly materialised out of passing traffic. Fifteen minutes later, they were back in the nice air conditioned hotel. They lay Inuyasha down on his bed, and Kagome got a cloth to wipe his brow with, all the while telling her father about Inuaysha's sensitive nose, and how he couldn't stand smells that were too strong and how she should have realised that this would happen.

Quite some time later, Kagome's stomach began to growl again. Now that the repulsive smell of fish was out of the air, it wanted to eat food, and fast. Mr. Higurashi chuckled slightly as he told his daughter he would go out for some food and come back soon. Kagome contented herself to lie down on the bed beside Inuyasha's and doze, occasionally getting up to re-fold the moist cloth so it stayed cool, and waiting for Inuyasha to wake up, at least until she fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha came back to the world to find himself in a soothingly cool room with very little light to further aggravate the pounding in his head. His memory was soon up to par, and he realised that Kagome and her father had somehow brought him back to the hotel...but where were they?

A slight swish of air alerted him to the presence of someone sleeping beside him. The room was small, and so cramped that the two beds had been pushed against each other to make just barely enough room for the third. So, as it was he turned on his side and almost rolled right over Kagome who slept not an arms length away. Stupid girl must have fallen asleep waiting for him to wake up, which didn't surprise him. She'd been going like a madman almost since daybreak, no wonder she was tired.

She was also, Inuyasha thought (not for the first time) extremely cute. Lying there, without a care in the world, hair mussed, innocent face lax with peace, lips caught in just the slightest bit of a pout, her soft cheeks, flushed slightly pink...

Her pout deepened, and then it was broken by a yawn as she rolled and stretched, opening her bright eyes, shimmering with a mix of curiosity and confusion. She looked at him, and for a moment he was basked in her innocence, locked in a gaze that seemed to see through every wall he'd ever made, and every lie he'd ever told. The next instant he was staring at the wall, very conscious of the heat radiating from his cheeks. He'd almost been caught staring at her.

"Mn, you're awake." Kagome sat up and stretched some more. Inuyasha just nodded dumbly, moments passed.

"Are you feeling better now?" That made him blush. F*cking weak idiot collapsing in the middle of the street. He mentally cursed his demon side for a change, feeling ashamed. Oh, how great and mighty he must have looked being carried down the road by a teenage girl and a middle aged man. Pathetic, but then so was feeling sorry for yourself. Instantly he got a grip and grumbled that he was fine, adding in a "keh" just for good measure.

Kagome ignored the grumble and got up of the bed. "That's good" she said with a slight smile. Inuyasha watched her walk to the window and look out at the cement wall before them. Through the small portion that wasn't wall, Inuysha could see the shadows lengthening as mid afternoon approached.

Mid-afternoon! But this was their last day here, and it was wasting away while they sat stuck in a hotel room.

"Where's your pop?" He asked suddenly. Kagome wouldn't go anywhere without her father, so if they were going to leave, they'd need him too.

"Mn, he went out to get some food. Should be back any minute now."

There was a listless, almost flat tone in her voice that put Inuyasha on alert. Was something wrong? Well duh, but what was it? Inuyasha got up and joined her by the window. Staring out, he tried to think of some way to strike up a conversation, without looking like he was trying to get her to talk. This is what he came up with.

"Damn, fucking fish smell. If it wasn't for that we wouldn't have wasted half the bloody day."

Kagome made a noise beside him that sounded like a cross between a sigh, a contemplative hum, and a slight groan. Inuyasha looked down at her to see that she probably hadn't heard a word he said. Her eyes were as far away from him as the fluffy white clouds dotting the perfect blue sky, and they were beautiful. Slowly, as if something else was controlling his body, he shifted slightly to the side, until Kagome's back was brushing gently against his chest. Then, his arms went out, and before he rightly realised what they were doing, they had scooped Kagome's hands away from the glass, and brought them back against her chest as he encircled her in a comforting hug.

Kagome leaned back against him automatically before she too realised what was going on and stiffened at the same moment as Inuyasha. However, neither of them moved, and neither said a word. Finally, Kagome shifted around so that she could face Inuyasha's chest. Inuyasha, thinking she wanted to go, loosened his already non existent grip on her to let her do so, only to be wholly surprised when her own arms came up, encircling his back, and resting there, feather light, but firm. Inuyasha's heart suddenly felt very, very full. He renewed his grip on her, pulling her closer, bringing his head down to rest beside hers...

They stayed like that for a long time, until...

"Hey, Kagome, is Inuyasha up? I brought you some... ..."

Inuyasha instantly straightened as Kagome shot her hear around Inuyasha to peer directly into her father's face. It was eerily blank with surprise. Inuyasha saw him to, and instantly they were on opposite sides of the room, each looking very, very red.

Mr. Higurashi, who would have laughed if it had been any other girl in the young man's arms, just stared. After a moment, however, he re-gained the use of his tongue and brightly said, "Anybody in the mood for Gyros?"

*~*~*~*~*

5:00 came and found the trio all back to a healthy shade of skin tone and driving along a busy highway headed south to the temple of Poseidon at cape Sounion. The memories of that place were to be etched deeply into Inuyasha's mind for as long as he lived. Not because of the temple, no. It was just another collection of white marble columns standing on a rather large peninsula.

No, whenever he thought of that place from then on, he thought of Kagome. Kagome sitting beside him on a small cliff edge, staring out at the sparkling greeny-blue horizon. Kagome, jogging through a field of strange, exotic flowers, blowing in rhythm to the shimmer of her hair. Kagome, silhouetted against the setting sun, with ocean waves crashing at her feet...

Inuyasha didn't need to wonder what heaven looked like after that. He knew. He'd been there.

*~*~*~*~*

Night had fallen by the time they reached the city again. However, instead of returning to hotel room like Inuyasha thought, they drove back to the "Plaakaa" place and parked on a little side street, before getting out of the car and walking. Inuyasha wasn't the only one surprised by this. Kagome soon asked Shinji where they were going, as a small crowd began to build, heading in the same direction as they were. Shinji just smiled.

Finally, they came to a small, insignificant door that was being guarded by a man in the strangest outfit Inuyasha had ever seen. He was wearing a white blouse with long wide sleeves. Over that, he wore a rather tight embroidered dark vest, and below that, his pants were black, baggy and puffy, but way too short so that they ended just below his knees. The rest of his legs were covered by some skin tight white material, and on his feet were the ugliest shoes Inuyasha had ever seen. They had giant pom-poms, and curled up at the toes, and to top off the entire outfit, the man also had a hat.

If it wasn't for everyone else acting like that outfit was the most natural thing on the world, Inuyasha would have been on the ground suffocating in his own laughter. As it was, Inuyasha couldn't help a mirthful smile, which must have been misinterpreted as a friendly one, because the freak guarding the door turned to him and said in near perfect Japanese "Hello, and welcome to our Greek Cultural Evening."

Inside, loud, strange music was playing over the chatter of many voices in many different languages. Inuyasha looked over to see Kagome ogling everything giddily as they took their seats before the stage. After waiting a while, food appeared, and then, halfway through their meal, people appeared on stage and began introductions. At first, Inuyasha had no clue what was being said, and he wondered why Kagome's father wasn't translating everything like always for them. Then, the man with the black wand thing began speaking in Japanese.

"Hello, and welcome to the show. We hope that you have enjoyed the evening so far, and assure you that it will only get better as the night progresses. We have much in store for you tonight..." and so on and so forth. This was some type of dinner and show, where they did all sorts of things native to this place. Inuyasha was intrigued, some of it, like this "belly dancing" sounded very interesting indeed. Inuyasha quickly finished his food and sat back to watch...

As it turns out, interesting was NOT the word Inuyasha would have used to describe that particular dance. After watching a group of other young men and woman jump around on stage in time to some annoying music, the lights died down and a woman appeared. Inuyasha gawked. She was wearing clothes that exposed more of her body than Kagome's bathing suit thing. Her pants were all but see through, her breasts were covered but the rest of her chest was rather exposed, as were her arms and the whole length of her torso, including her stomach. It didn't take long for Inuyasha to figure out why, for suddenly, the woman began dancing and swaying provocatively to the music, while the muscles of her abdomen seemed to writhe with a life of their own. Inuyasha thought it was disgusting...and then a sudden image of Kagome, doing the exact same thing flashed unbidden in his mind.

He felt a tickle in his nose and quickly looked away, sniffling heavily as he tried to stop the spin of other images entering his mind now. He was more or less relieved when it was all over.

Dessert came, more of that ice-cream stuff he had liked, and with it, the young men and women returned to the stage, this time wearing different but equally laughable outfits. They danced for a bit more, some of it was alright, but it got boring to watch after a while. It was around then that they began to call volunteers from the audience, up to the stage to perform different tasks and play different games either with or against the dancers on stage.

For one of these so called games Kagome was chosen as a volunteer to go up on stage and do whatever new task they had come up with that time. They called quite a few people up, and the dancers quickly made a circle out of them on stage. Then they taught them a dance, to some quick music that soon had them spinning around and weaving about, finally stopping once again in a circle.

Then, it turned sour...

One of the older dancers, with a chocolate brown moustache and beard, pulled one of the male volunteers into the centre of the circle, and had him wait there. Then he chose a female, also from the circle, and whispered something in her ear. The girl blushed heavily, before swallowing something (which Inuyasha could only have guessed was her pride) and kissed the ugly male volunteer on the cheek. The room erupted with a loud round of whoops and cat-calls and cheers from the audience, and the two volunteers got to sit down.

By this time, Inuyasha was wishing that they would just stop and let Kagome come back to the table. No such luck. The cycle continued: dance, stop, and victims were chosen to kiss...and Inuyasha became more and more apprehensive as the number of volunteers slowly dwindled. Too quickly, only Kagome and some other pale faced man were left. Inuyasha held his breath as the man in the beard gave Kagome her instructions...

"You ready...now, you must kiss him, on the lips..." Inuyasha's sensitive hearing was over run as angry blood began to pound through his ears at those words. He watched as Kagome hesitated, only to be urged on by the riotous voices of the audience. Slowly, nervously, she took a step forwards. In that moment, Kagome was beautiful, timidly shy, blushing all over...

The next thing Inuyasha knew, he was under the bright lights of the stage facing Kagome, blocking her from her target. A sudden hushed silence fell over the crowd...

Inuyasha shot the bearded man a death glare and grabbed Kagome's hand, yanking her gently towards the edge of the platform. Kagome however, had her eyes wide open in shock and was being rather unresponsive.

"Come on Kagome, let's go." He growled. The audience had come back to life again, and they weren't happy about loosing their show. Kagome broke out of her trance to stare at them somewhat taken aback, and then the bearded man spoke...

"Ah, I am sorry. I did not know that she was already taken. Perhaps, you would kiss her instead, ne?" He then repeated what he had said out loud to the spectators in several languages, until the while room was one big encouraging cheer.

The cheer, however, turned sour when Inuyasha once again began dragging Kagome off the stage by her wrist. He was not some form of entertainment for these ass holes, and neither was Kagome. He was almost to the edge of the platform when he heard it, laughter.

Some piggy man in the front row was pointing at them, his face red as snickers of accusing mirth rolled off his tongue. He said something to his friends, and they laughed too. But Inuyasha couldn't understand them...

"They say you cannot be a man, if you are too embarrassed to kiss such a pretty girl."

Inuyasha whirled around to glare at the bearded man once again, who only shrugged as if to say, "hey, don't shoot the messenger." Another roll of laughter started again, and Inuyasha's indignant pride flared out into rage. How dare they! Him, Inuyasha, not a man?! A growl rose out of his throat as he glanced quickly at where Kagome stood by his side. He'd show them.

Kagome wasn't looking, her attention was focused on the crowd. Taking the element of surprise, he shot one hand around to the small of her back, and the other deep into her hair at the nape of her neck. He stepped forward in one smooth motion, tipping Kagome off balance and forcing her to fall back into the waiting cradle of his arms....

...and then his lips were on hers.

The world flashed against his closed eyelids as a jolt of sweet sensation leapt from his lips to his spine and stayed there. He was doing it, kissing Kagome, tasting her candy pink lips, holding her body against his own.

Two seconds later, some obscure part of his brain pulled his body upright and set an absolutely stunned Kagome back on her feet. She looked at him in a complete daze as the surrounding audience roared in approval. She looked so good like that.

Smirking and beaming triumph, and a little something else, he swept the catatonic Kagome off her feet and carried her bridal style back to the table. (So that she couldn't sit him) Once there, he set Kagome down gently in her chair before re-seating himself and taking up his familiar "I'm too cool for this" posture.

...He avoided making eye contact with Kagome's father for the rest of the evening.

*~*~*~*~*

Notes:

Yup, this all happened too...well sorta. There was a belly dancer, and the kissing game and stuff all happened, and cape Sounion is very, VERY pretty! There was a fertility charm seller at the Corinth canal, and the Athen's fish market is very VERY smelly, even in the colder month of March. I don't want to think about how bad it smells in the hotter months of the year.

I was also going to mention something else, maybe I'll put it as an out take at the end...driving along in the mountains you come across these little shrines by the sides of the road. Our guide only told us what they signified after we had passed the first twenty or so within the stretch of a few short kilometres. The shrines are set up to mark where some unfortunate soul has died in a car accident on those treacherous roads. One or two isn't back, but it become rather unnerving when you pass five or six per every treacherous curve or bump. Someone on our bus counted up to forty before everyone else got antsy and told him to shut up... We continued passing them for the next two hours...