InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Latex Blues ❯ Chapter 6

Part 6

Gray clouds hung low in the sky on Monday afternoon as Kagome walked home from school. Her first day back hadn't been as difficult as she had imagined it would be. She had been too distracted by math equations to think about much else. She was even fairly certain that she passed her Algebra test, amazingly enough. Eri, Yuka and Ayumi had wanted to go to Wacdnald's after school to celebrate, but Kagome hadn't felt up to it. Deep down, she felt as dismal as the weather. As she climbed the long row of stairs that lead to the shrine house, she heard the sound of thunder off in the distance. She found herself wondering if it was raining in the sengoku jidai. The rumble of thunder was closely followed by a flash of heat lightning, but the storm was still several miles way. Seeing the lightning reminded her, as it always did, of her encounter with Hiten and Manten, the lightning beasts. She had told them that she was Inuyasha's lover. Granted, she had done it so that they wouldn't skin her alive, but still…it hadn't been an altogether unpleasant thought. And when he had come to rescue her, she had almost believed it herself. That is, until Hiten had called her Inuyasha's beloved woman. After Inuyasha had denied it up and down, and had even gone as far as to say that she wasn't worth trading the tiniest jewel shard for, those happy little delusions had been pretty much trampled. Then there was the whole Kikyo debacle…

Kagome screeched her wandering mind to a halt. 'You said that you weren't going to think about him anymore!' she scolded herself. But just as she was thinking that, she found herself standing in front of the Goshimboku. She stared at the large scar in the bark of the ancient tree, where Inuyasha had been trapped for half a century before she had released him from his spell. 'Just like sleeping beauty…' she thought, 'if sleeping beauty had been raised by barbarians. But sleeping beauty fell in love with the prince who saved her…why do I keep doing this to myself?' She closed her eyes and turned her head away from the tree. When she opened them, she realized that she was now looking at the old well house.

"Gah!" she cried, closing her eyes again. 'It's not fair!' she thought frantically. 'How can I forget about him, when I see evidence of him everywhere I go?!'

"Enough!" she cried, chastising herself out loud. "I'm going into the house!" At that moment, she felt a drop of rain hit her on the nose. She reached her hand out, palm up, to feel for rain, when something solid landed in her outstretched hand. She blinked in surprise. It was the little jar of shikon shards. Her heart beginning to thump loudly in her chest, Kagome slowly directed her gaze upward, into the branches of the Goshimboku. There was nothing there. Puzzled, she turned to head back to the shrine before the rain began to come down in earnest, when she ran smack into a very familiar chest.

"Inuyasha?" she asked, looking up into his face.

"Kagome…" he said, looking down at her sheepishly. They stared wordlessly at each other for what seemed like an eternity, before Kagome broke the spell.

"Why are you here?" she asked. "Shouldn't you be out looking for shards?" She thought that she saw a pained expression cross his face, but it was gone so quickly that she might have imagined it. He stared at her intently for a few more moments, as if summoning his will to speak, when suddenly and unexpectedly, the sky opened up and a deluge fell on their heads.

"Great," Kagome said, water sputtering from her lips as she talked. "That's just great, really. Well, thanks for stopping by, but I have to go in now before I float away. I'd invite you to come in, but the smell of wet dog really bothers me, so sayounara, Inuyasha." Kagome said, turning toward the shrine house. He caught her by the arm as she tried to pass, and pulled her to his body in an embrace.

"I was afraid." He began.

"Inuyasha, the last time this happened you stole the shikon shards from me and pushed me down the well." she said, half-heartedly trying to push away from him. It wasn't an easy task for her. She had missed him so badly, and he didn't smell like a wet dog at all. In fact, he smelled like a forest after the rain; fresh, earthy and wonderful. It was so hard to pull away when all she wanted to do was breathe him in.

"Would you just be quiet for a second?" he said a little gruffly, holding her still against him. "It isn't easy for me to admit when I've been wrong!"

"Is that what you're doing?" she asked, looking up into his eyes.

"I would if you'd let me!" he said, holding her at an arms length, a scowl on his face. "Gods you're difficult, woman!"

"Hey! Some apology this is turning out to be!" she said, getting an edge to her voice.

"Alright, alright, knock it off! I didn't come out here to stand in the pouring rain and argue with you." he shouted over the growing din of the rain. Kagome looked up at her friend. The normally fierce and frightening Inuyasha was in a sad state. The rain had plastered his hair to his face, which was making his ears look huge and droopy. He looked absolutely pathetic, and it was all she could do not to laugh at him.

"Ok." she said, "I guess you've suffered enough." She hadn't exactly gotten an apology, but he'd come close, and she was willing to compromise.

"C'mon." she said, taking his hand, "Lets go inside. Just promise me that you won't get down on all fours and shake the water off," she joked. "you'll get my room all wet!" He gave her a puzzled look.

"How else do you expect me to dry off?"

Kagome brought him in the back door and up the stairs to her room, grabbing a couple of towels as they passed the bathroom. She made him stand in the hallway as she quickly changed into a warm, dry pair of gray and pink sweats, then wrapped a towel around her head and let him in.

"You'd better take your coat off." she observed as he entered the room. "It's soaked through. You'll catch a cold."

"Feh. Like I'm that- *achoo!*" he sneezed.

"See?" she said. She pushed him down into a stitting position on the floor and began to rub his long, thick silver hair dry with a towel.

"Someone's just talking shit about me, that's all!" he said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Probably Shippou…"

"Well, whatever the reason, your coat's dripping all over my rug, so please take it off!"

"Fine." he grumbled, loosening the ties around his waist. As the coat came off, something tiny fell out of it and landed on next to Kagome's foot. Before he could stop her, she bent down and picked it up. It was a full second before she realized that it was an unopened condom.

"I-Inuyasha," she began nervously, "I'm confused. Why did you keep this?"

"Uh… I don't know, really, I just…wanted to." He was glad that his back was to her, hiding the fact that he was blushing furiously.

"I, uh, wouldn't think you'd need such things, living in the sengoku jidai, and being a demon and all…" she stammered, trying to avoid an uncomfortable silence, but really only making things worse.

"Oh. No, I guess not." he said uncertainly, then added quickly "Besides, they wouldn't work anyway." Kagome's jaw almost hit the ground, but she tried her best to sound natural and unaffected when she spoke to him again.

"Inuyasha, you didn't try to put… I mean,… you didn't…?" was all she managed.

"What? No! I mean, well, maybe I tried to, but like I said, it didn't work." he said defensively.

"Um. I see…." she said small voice, closing her eyes tightly. The next part just slipped out.

"How come?" Inuyasha mumbled something incoherent.

"What?" she insisted. It was too late to turn back now. He still mumbled, but he was louder the second time.

"They didn't fit me. They were too small."