InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Dog Gods & Mortals (new version) ❯ Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: I'll make this short and sweet. 'Inuyasha' and all characters involved belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not to me. Any questions? No? Good, now on with the story.

 

This story has been posted before, under the same name. I was forced to remove it, due to complaints, but as you can see it is now rewritten and reposted, and hopefully I will not have the same problems with this version. For those of you who read my original version, this one has seen some changes in parts, and while the main plot of the story is unchanged I would still recommend rereading the entire story to avoid being confused.

 

CHAPTER 5

 

The next few days at the temple were both pleasant and horrible for Inuyasha. Pleasant because ever since her family had come to visit, Kagome had been in a good mood, and was practically bubbling over with happiness. It warmed Inuyasha's heart to see the woman he loved so much so happy. Her joy was also affecting the rest of the temple staff as well, with the exception of Kikyo. Kaede and all the temple priests had all come to care about Kagome nearly as much as he himself did, and were all glad to see her in such a good mood. This put them in a good mood as well.

 

However, with the light must come the dark, as Inuyasha knew all too well. Naturally, he mentally groaned, there would be something to ruin the good mood around the temple. One of them was the undeniable fact that Hojo seemed to be in too good a mood, and had suddenly gotten a little too bold around Kagome for Inuyasha's liking. The usually quiet boy had had a crush on Kagome practically ever since she came to the temple, but until now had been too shy to do anything about it than give her `puppy-dog' looks from across the room and the like. In the last couple of days however, he seemed to have developed more of a backbone and was taking a more active role in trying to win the priestess's heart. He had started talking to her more, and was rather thickly laying on the compliments. He also kept offering to help her with her chores (even when his own were unfinished, something the usually devoted boy had never done before to Inuyasha's knowledge). Worst of all was how he kept trying to give Kagome gifts at least once a day. Granted, usually they were just simple flowers from the temple gardens that Hojo had picked himself, but still, every time Inuyasha saw Hojo approaching with another gift in his hand Inuyasha could barely contain his jealousy. There were only three things that kept him from running over and ripping the boy's head off every time he did this. The first was his father's laws forbidding Gods to use their powers to kill mortals without a just cause, and he knew his father would not consider the boy giving his priestess a flower to fit in that category, and that the punishments his father dished out to those who broke his laws were often very severe. The second reason was because Hojo was actually a very good and devoted priest, despite his naivety. As much as he was annoying him right now, he was actually kind of fond of the boy and he would probably miss him if anything were to really happen to him. But the third and probably most important reason was that the fact remained that he had no claim over Kagome. Yes he loved her, but he had made no moves towards her and had no right to decide who she was or wasn't allowed to be with. He wanted her to be happy, and even if it would have ripped his heart out, he knew deep down he would not stop her from being with someone else if that was what she wished, either now or in the future. However, whoever she did end up with had better be good to her, because if he ever hurt her in any way he would personally rip his lungs out and feed them back to him. Still, Inuyasha couldn't help but feel relieved when it soon became clear to him, if not to Hojo, that his feelings were not returned and that Kagome felt nothing for the boy beyond friendship.

 

But as annoying as Hojo's latest attempts at courting Kagome were, they were not the only things that made the next few days difficult for Inuyasha. No, what was really starting to get under his skin was Kikyo's latest behaviour.

 

Kikyo had been strangely silent ever since his talk with her the day Kagome's family showed up, and she had become even more withdrawn than she was before. She didn't say a single word to anyone that she didn't have to, and while she was once again completing all of her duties, her efforts clearly lacked any kind of enthusiasm. It was almost like she was just going through the motions, and as soon as she was done she would retreat to her room to brood in private. Although most of the temple staff seemed more or less relieved that she wasn't bothering them anymore, frankly her behaviour was starting to scare him. What was even worse was the fact that Inuyasha could sense the underlying rage that Kikyo now carried, as if she was just buying her time before she got even with them all.

 

Inuyasha hated this. Even with the way Kikyo had been acting lately, he still cared about her as his priestess. There was a time not too long ago that he thought he might one day come to consider her his friend. He still remembered fondly the way she had been when he first came to the temple; she had been the one that made him feel the most comfortable here at first. He hated what she had become since then, but the way she was acting now seemed at times to be even worse. He still had hope that she would come around and start acting like the old Kikyo. If nothing else, he knew she didn't want to be let go as his priestess and would likely do anything to ensure that that wouldn't happen. But he found that lately being around her when she was so full of hate and anger was almost more than he could stand. The worst was when it was time for the offerings, when she would be standing right next to him for an hour or more at a time. He was beginning to dread that time of the day, and at a time or two actually felt sick to his stomach during the offering. Gods were never sick. He had also come to realize that her anger seemed to grow worse when she was around him or Kagome for too long. He thought that maybe it would be better to have her be apart from them and the rest of the temple staff as much as possible for a while, to maybe give her a chance to calm down and think about things without constantly being reminded of those things that made her angry… although just WHAT was making her so angry, he couldn't rightly say. Kagome had never done anything to her, and he had tried so hard to be patient with her - something that so wasn't in his nature - and had only stepped in when she had gone too far and it was clear she wasn't going to change her ways on her own. All he knew was that if this kept up, he might very well have to go through with his threat to remove her as his temple priestess, and he didn't want to do that.

 

The question was, how to get Kikyo some time to herself and not make her even angrier by making her feel as if she was being pushed aside? The answer to his problem came to him late one night when, out of boredom due to being the only one awake and having nothing to do, he decided to maybe read one of the scrolls in the library.

 

The next morning as he and the temple staff sat down to have breakfast, he decided to breach the topic.

 

“We'll be changing the duties around a bit for the next few days.” Inuyasha said once everyone was sitting down and the usual round of `good morning's was out of the way. “I was in the library last night, and frankly the place is a total mess. I couldn't find anything I was looking for.”

 

“You wish for us to clean it up and reorganise things in there, my lord?” Miroku asked, successfully hiding his surprise that Inuyasha had tried to find something in the library. He didn't think that in the two years he had been on Earth Inuyasha had so much as set foot in there even once.

 

“I do.” Inuyasha said calmly. “For the next couple of days Kikyo, I want you to work on straightening things out in there. Kagome can take over for you with the offerings until your done, and the rest of your duties can be handled between everyone else. I want you to concentrate entirely on the library for as long as it takes, because believe me it's going to take a lot of work to get that place in order again.”

 

Kikyo almost choked on the piece of bread she had just put in her mouth. She couldn't believe this! He wanted to give that whore her most important duties of helping with the offerings, and shut her away in that prison called the library?!? How dare he?! If she ever needed proof that the bitch was poisoning his mind against her, she had it now. She couldn't allow him to do this to her. She wouldn't let Kagome get that close to her God.

 

“But my lord, don't you need my help with the offerings? Why can't Kagome do the library, if she can read like she claims?” Kikyo asked, trying to sound reasonable and not let her shock and anger through her voice.

 

“Kagome may know how to read and write, but she is not as familiar with what is in the library as you are.” Inuyasha said. He realized now that maybe it was something of a mistake giving Kikyo's duty to Kagome, knowing that for reasons he still didn't fully understand Kikyo already saw the younger priestess as her rival. However, he still thought this might do Kikyo some good in the long run. And besides, he wasn't kidding about the state the library was in. Shippo's room was in better shape. “You've helped sort out things in the library before, Kikyo, and you have a much better idea of what's in there. You'll have a much easier job handling things in there. You just haven't had to do so much work in there at once before.”

 

“I already have duties though, why can't someone else do it?” Kikyo asked. She knew she was starting to sound like a spoiled child, but she couldn't help it. She hated this.

 

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. “Someone else?” He asked somewhat in disbelief that someone as smart as Kikyo couldn't figure out the problem with that. “Kikyo, Miroku's already got the task of sorting out everything that goes to the market next week, as well as deciding what we need to get. With Tale in the village so close to giving birth, Kaede and Hojo need to be ready to go help her at any given moment, and maybe even Kagome. Kohaku can still barely read, so his usefulness in there is severely limited. And like I said before, Kagome doesn't know what we do and don't have in there. It would take her at least twice as long to sort through everything in there. Surely you can see why it has to be you who cleans the place up?”

 

“But…” Kikyo started to say in a last ditch effort to get him to change his mind, when the annoyance that was making itself known on his face stopped her flat.

 

“Are you questioning my orders, Kikyo?” He asked quietly. He was getting rather sick of this, and was annoyed that she was still arguing in the face of the overwhelming logic that even she could see. He could tell by the look on her face that she understood why he wanted her to be the one to sort the library out, but that she still didn't want to submit; it was tiring. Besides, it was also part of that attitude problem she had been warned about. She had to learn to stop arguing with the orders of her superiors and especially her God. Inuyasha knew that at almost any other temple she would have been stripped of her rank and kicked out long before now if she continued to act the way she had been.

 

Finally realizing that she was pushing this too far, Kikyo looked down at her plate. “No my lord.” She said softly. She hated this, but she would follow his orders. But that bitch would not win this fight, she swore.

 

“Good.” Inuyasha said. Looking down at his plate, he realized that he had somehow finished without noticing. He guessed he could always go back for seconds, but as well off as the temple may be they still didn't have an abundance of food, and that his priests and priestesses, being mortals, needed what food they had far more than he did. Pushing his empty plate away from him he stood up and prepared to leave the room.

 

“Miroku, after you're done, explain to Kagome what to do and what to expect once the worshippers come in with their offerings. I'll be in my room until we're ready to let them in.” When Miroku bowed his head slightly in response to his God's words, Inuyasha turned and left the room.

 

Kagome watched her God and the unknown keeper of her heart leave the room before turning her attention back to the remains of her breakfast. She was excited by the idea of having a new duty to perform and hoped she would not screw it up, but she didn't really see why Kikyo was so desperate to hang on to the job besides the fact that it would be Kagome doing it instead of her. She had overheard Miroku complaining of this duty enough to know that it was mostly standing around listening to old men give variations on the `it is a true honour to be in the presence of a God' speech.

 

***

 

It might have been the same speech over and over, Kagome thought later, but who paid attention to the speeches when there was all that gold appearing on the alter? She couldn't believe how much gold items had been placed there in such a short amount of time. Yet, eventually even that got old to Kagome, and she realized what Miroku had meant when he said that this duty was usually boring. It was actually getting kind of hard to tell the different worshippers apart; there were so many fat old men who all dressed in the same style and who all gave practically the same speech (the `it is a true honour to be in the presence of a God' one that Miroku had warned her about). And there were a lot of worshippers today, so she was stuck dealing with this much longer than one would normally need to. Her feet were starting to get tired from standing there so long, and she was wondering why it was so important for her and Miroku to be here when nobody even looked at them. All they had to do was occasionally move some of the items from the alter in front of them to the table or floor behind them, to make room for more offerings. And Miroku did that, unless the item in question was big enough or heavy enough to require both of them.

 

However, after Kagome had suffered through an hour and a half of this, one worshipper came forward who was clearly NOT like the others who had been there earlier. It was a woman, which in itself was rather unusual. She was young, and very beautiful; tall, thin and extremely curvy in all the right places. Her hair was long, very blond and very curly. Her dress was died an extremely unusual and extremely vivid pink that almost seemed to glow, and served to bring out more colour in her face, not that she needed it with all of the face paint she was wearing. And speaking of the dress, if it could even be called that, it was the single most revealing garment Kagome had ever seen. The torso hugged her body like a second skin, and showed off far more of her breasts than a properly raised girl like Kagome could ever consider decent. As for the skirt, it was cut much shorter than usual, and what was left contained a high slit to show off even more leg. The woman's manner matched her appearance perfectly, as she just seemed to ooze sexuality as she slinked her way forward, the heavy scent of semi-expensive perfume carrying before her.

 

Kagome felt herself blush and bristle all at once. She knew enough to know a prostitute when she saw one, and she did not like the way she was looking over Inuyasha. On Inuyasha's other side, she heard Miroku groan softly. Apparently he knew what she was too, and wasn't happy about it. She also thought she might have heard Inuyasha mutter `not again' under his breath, although it was so soft she could barely hear it and she wasn't sure that she hadn't just imagined it.

 

“My lord.” The woman all but purred, putting Kagome even more on edge. “I have heard of your reasons for being on Earth, and have come here to humbly offer you my help in fulfilling it. I believe you will find me most suitable and skilled for the task.” She said as she struck an extremely provocative stance that showed off her bare legs and chest even more, if that was possible.

 

Kagome's heart sunk at those words. She knew full well what kind of `help' the woman was offering, though the rest of her words confused her. It made her feel sick to think of a woman like that sharing Inuyasha's bed, but knew that if Inuyasha wanted to accept, she could not say anything against his decision. She loved him, but she had no say what he did. He was the God, and she was nothing more than the priestess. He made the decisions and she was honour bound to follow his orders. Even if they broke her heart.

 

To her surprise and joy, Inuyasha let out a low growl and this time Kagome was sure she heard him as he muttered “Damn it all to hell, I thought those fucking rumours had stopped already. Fuck it, I didn't need this today.”

 

With a deep sigh of annoyance Inuyasha stood up, looking at the woman with anger that he was clearly trying to keep in check. “The rumours you heard were false woman, and I do not need your kind of `help'. So unless there's something else you want, you can leave now.”

 

The woman raised an eyebrow slightly, still looking a rather smug as if she was sure he was at any moment about to change his mind and drag her off to his room. Clearly this was one prostitute that was sure of her skills of the trade. “Are you sure about that my lord? I am very skilled, and have much experience. Not one of my clients has ever regretted being with me. One night and you may very well never want another.” Oh yeah, she was defiantly sure of herself and her skills abed.

 

Inuyasha on the other hand, just growled even louder, all attempts to hide his anger now gone. “Fuck, what are you, deaf.” He demanded in a voice loud enough to carry throughout the whole hall, which had grown otherwise strangely silent while this was going on, so much so that Kagome doubted wether any of the other worshippers that were left had even remembered to breath. “Listen up woman, and listen good because I'm sick of having to say this and will not be repeating myself. I have never been with a whore, and I never will. Frankly, I find the whole idea of buying and selling your body like that disgusting, and I'll tell you now I am not the only God to think that. Despite whatever fucking rumours you may have heard, I didn't come down to earth to get fucking laid! Now get out of my temple before I throw you out.” Inuyasha was full on yelling by the end of his speech, and even Kagome and Miroku were a little afraid of him. By the look of the remaining worshippers, some of them were so terrified by the God's anger that more than a few had wet themselves by this point.

 

The woman's smugness was long gone by now. She looked shocked and scared to have caused such anger in the God, and was clearly thinking that coming here wasn't nearly as good an idea as she had thought it would be. Without saying another word, she quickly turned to run out, as fast as if she had a whole hoard of the barbarians of the north on her tail.

 

Inuyasha let out another low growl before turning to Miroku. “Clear out the rest of the temple, I won't be taking any more offerings today.” Without waiting for an answer, Inuyasha started to glow with that strange red light that Miroku and Kagome both instantly recognized as the one that accompanied his teleportation. Sure enough, a second later he was gone.

 

It took very little effort on Kagome and Miroku's part to get the remaining worshippers out of the temple. Still very much shaken over having seen and heard the God's anger at the woman, they were happy to leave and come back tomorrow when he would hopefully be in a better mood. Once they were all gone, Miroku and Kagome started on the task of moving the items to the storage room.

 

Kagome was silent as they worked, and was experiencing a range of feelings. On one hand, she was relieved to know that Inuyasha wasn't going to take a woman like that to his bed. On the other, she was still somewhat scared, having not seen him that angry in a long time now.

 

Strangely enough, she also found herself disappointed by her God's words about not coming down to earth to `get fucking laid' as he so delicately put it. Truthfully, Kagome felt almost as if she had been rejected somehow, even though she knew she never had a chance with him anyway, even if he did know how much she loved him. She was still a virgin and hadn't had any plans to change that in the near future before now. But, somehow, recently she had begun to dream about what it would be like to be with Inuyasha that way. If she could have Inuyasha as her first she knew she would never regret it, even if nothing else came from it. But she would never have the courage to tell him that, and what he said in there told her that he had no desire to be with a mortal woman that way. Kagome struggled not to cry. It was only a foolish dream. So why did it hurt so much?

 

“He's not angry at anything we did, you know.” Miroku spoke up after they moved the last of the offerings into the storage room. It was getting rather full; it was probably a good thing that they were taking a lot of this stuff to the market next week. “He's always annoyed when those kind of women come to the temple. He probably won't come out of his room until tomorrow, or at least tonight.”

 

Kagome looked up in surprise. “Women like that have come to the temple before?” She had never seen or heard of any other prostitutes coming while she served there.

 

Miroku sighed and rubbed his forehead, suddenly looking tired. “Yeah, for the first year and a half after he arrived we would see a different prostitute at the temple almost every other week or so. He reacted to them all in almost exactly the same way. We haven't seen one since a couple of months before you came, I had hoped they had given up and were gone for good.”

 

“Why so many?” Kagome asked in confusion. “Why did so many prostitutes come here? I mean, I heard that some can end up rather well off but you wouldn't think that there would be all that many who would be able to afford the trip. And besides, what could they hope to gain from the God of Protection?”

 

It was Miroku's turn to look at her in surprise. “You don't know? You've never heard the rumours, have you?”

 

Kagome was confused again. She remembered Inuyasha saying something about rumours before, but in everything else that had come out of his mouth she had forgotten.

 

Taking her silence as a no, Miroku went on to explain. “When Inuyasha first arrived on earth, a rumour started going around. We don't know how or where it started, but people began to say that Inuyasha had actually come down to earth to find a mortal bride and we had hundreds of women coming to the temple hoping to become that bride. Inuyasha denied the rumours from the start, saying that they were ridiculous and he didn't understand how they could have started. That he came down to earth to help himself reconnect with his mortal followers and that that was it. It took nearly two years, but people finally seemed to get the message. He doesn't like us mentioning them in case doing so starts them up again. We had enough trouble getting them to stop the first time.”

 

“I see.” Kagome said thoughtfully, thinking it over. She could see how that could be a pain to have to deal with everyday. Part of her - the silly, childish part - couldn't help but wish that maybe it was true and that she could be the mortal woman chosen for such a position, but she quickly squashed that thought. Inuyasha did not lie. Even she, with the short amount of time she was there, had realized that. Only a complete fool could be around him for any extended period of time and not realize it. If he said the rumours were false, she would believe him. Her dream of being with Inuyasha would just have to remain a dream.

 

***

 

Working in the very next room, Kikyo could hear clearly the conversation going on between Miroku and Kagome. She barely restrained the urge to snort disbelievingly.

 

Yeah, sure the whore didn't know about the rumours, Kikyo thought scornfully. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that she had come here for any other reason than to try and ensnare Inuyasha, as so many others had tried and failed.

 

Kikyo also wasn't one to believe Inuyasha when he said that the rumours were false. His mouth might have said one thing, but she was certain that his eyes were saying something different. Naturally Inuyasha would have to say that they weren't true after they attracted so many whores. Of course he wouldn't want a woman like that, especially when the perfect woman was here already. Her. Kikyo was sure of it. She was the one who would become Inuyasha's bride. Only she was worthy of such an honour and no whore, especially not one named Kagome who pretended to be a priestess, was going to stand in her way.

 

***

 

The next few days were fairly routine. Inuyasha, as Miroku had predicted, had stayed in his room with the door shut until the next morning, but when he finally emerged for breakfast he was back to his old self, if maybe still a little grumpy.

 

Kikyo continued to work in the library as surprisingly her attitude improved greatly. After that first day, she realized that this wasn't her God's way of getting rid of her like she had thought it was. She couldn't believe how bad a shape the library was in, and didn't understand what had caused it to become that way when they barely used it. Maybe that was the whole problem, they rarely went in there and therefore paid little attention to how bad it was getting. She also understood why no one else could take on the job. Kagome would no doubt just make things worse, and Kohaku was an even worse choice. Miroku had his hands full getting ready for the trip to the market, and Tale went into labour on the second day of the arrangement. It was a difficult birth and had Kaede and Hojo not been there to help her, both her and her son would have likely died. While it still annoyed her that the whore was taking her place at the offerings, she could concede that she was the only one suited for such a task. She had also forgotten just how valuable some of the scrolls in here were until she saw them again. No doubt about it, this was truly an important job that her God had entrusted her with, and she had all but spat in his face about it.

 

Humbled and once again convinced of her God's continued faith in her, she did not complain about her work again. She would do her best job in here and make him proud of her. She would show him that she was devoted to following his orders and that she was the only true choice to be had as his future wife.

 

Inuyasha was pleased in the change of attitude Kikyo went through in the next few days. She didn't complain again once, and was going about her task with fervour. While she was still acting a bit more arrogant than Inuyasha would have liked, this was the best sign he had seen in a long time that maybe the old Kikyo was starting to come back. Despite problems at first, it seemed like this was a good idea of a task for her, and he was happy he had thought of it. He was considering giving her the duty of maintaining the library on a regular basis after this. He didn't want it to get into that state again, and she actually seemed to enjoy working in there. Maybe it would do her good in the long run to have such a responsibility.

 

Almost as good an outcome was the fact that this meant he was able to spend more time in Kagome's company. He was happy to have her by his side, even if he did have to listen to boring, fat old men in the process.

 

Finally, the day came that Miroku left for the market with the unwanted goods from the storage room to sell, and a list of things to buy while he was there. He was making the trip with two men from the village, so there was no point in anyone else from the temple going with him. While he was gone, Hojo would be helping with the offerings, as the garden was in good enough shape that it could stand a little less attention for a couple of days. That same afternoon, Kikyo finally finished with the library. When Inuyasha looked it over, he was impressed with what she had managed to accomplish in the space of only a few days. He resolved to ask if she would like to become permanently responsible for the library the next morning.

 

Most of the temple staff went to bed that night, hoping the pleasant change to Kikyo's behaviour was here to stay. Kikyo on the other hand was simply glad that now that that task was over she could take back her rightful place at Inuyasha's side during the offerings tomorrow morning.

 

***

 

As Kagome lay down that night, she once again found herself unable to sleep, although there was nothing there to keep her awake. After trying for about half an hour with no luck, she rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling with a sigh.

 

It was the third time this week that she had found herself unable to drift off to sleep, and she knew why. She wanted to see Inuyasha and talk to him before she turned in for the night. It wasn't the first time she had felt like this. She loved her late night chats with the deity, as when they talked in the gardens like that she could sometimes almost forget that he was the God and she the lonely priestess. It was as if they were simply two good friends, talking about their daily lives. She felt like she could allow herself to be freer in the way she spoke and interacted and didn't have to worry so much about being formal. As for Inuyasha, he showed another side of himself in these talks as well, a kinder, gentler side. Although everyone in the temple and village could see that Inuyasha was a good and just God, he rarely if ever showed his gentler side when he was around too many people. When it was just the two of them, he let it out more. Kagome felt honoured that he trusted and cared about her enough to show her that side of himself.

 

In all, their late night talks had become something she treasured and found herself looking forward to more and more. She loved the way he could unknowingly make her feel during them. Sometimes during these talks, she could almost allow herself to think that maybe he could one day have feelings for her the way she did for him. At any other time she knew that it was wrong to think like that, and that it could never happen, but sometimes during their talks she could allow herself to dream.

 

She loved her talks with Inuyasha so much, that some nights she found herself unable to sleep simply because she longed to see and talk to him so much that she would subconsciously keep herself awake until she would give in the urge to go find and talk to him. This sometimes made for sleepy days, which of course gave Kikyo an all-new reason to set in on her (though fortunately she hadn't done that in a while) but she couldn't help it. Tonight appeared to be another one of those nights, and it wasn't much longer before Kagome decided there wasn't much point in fighting it and got up.

 

She wondered if Inuyasha was up and waiting for her, but knew that was probably just wishful thinking. It wasn't like he would find himself longing for the nights when they stayed up talking the way she did.

 

***

 

Inuyasha was sitting out in the garden, wondering if maybe Kagome would come out and talk to him tonight. He knew he was selfish, keeping her from her rest like he did, but he just couldn't stop himself from loving their conversations as he did. When they were alone like this, he felt like he was freer to let his guard down, when there was no on else around to watch and listen and find a way to use it against him.

 

He hoped she wasn't still upset about that prostitute coming into the temple earlier this week. He was sure he felt distress when she came and offered her `help' like that, though maybe that was wishful thinking on his part. He had hoped that people like that had stopped coming; it had been so long since one had been here. To find that he was wrong was disappointing, but what he really hated was the fact that the first prostitute in months had to come in when Kagome was there. He also hoped he hadn't scared her too badly when he had lost his temper like that.

 

Despite all his fears, he realized that he was likely reading too much into it. Kagome had had a couple of late night talks with him since the incident and had seemed fine with everything, so he should probably stop worrying about it already. Besides, he might be secretly in love with her but it wasn't like she returned his feelings or anything. It wasn't likely that she was all that bothered by what happened, except maybe disgust at the thought of her God being with a whore, and a bit of fear and surprise when he yelled like that.

 

Inuyasha sighed to himself and leaned back on the bench to look at the nearly full moon in the sky. He should really just let the whole thing go. It had been over a week now, and it wasn't like he hadn't been in that situation before. It had bothered him in the past, sure, but never this much. What was so different about this time?

 

`Because in the past, he wasn't in love with a beautiful, wonderful woman who was there to see the whole thing, that was what was so different' he told himself as he let out another sigh. He sat there frowning in thought for a few more moments, before a wonderful smell reached his nose and he couldn't help but change his frown to a smile. Sure enough, when he looked up Kagome was walking down the path wearing that adorable shy smile of hers. He found it so cute that even after all this time she still acted as if she wasn't sure if she would be welcomed when she came to see him like this, but nevertheless always came.

 

He moved over, making room for her on the bench, all the while taking in her delectable scent. He absolutely loved the way she smelled. Unlike Kikyo, who these days practically drowned herself in that damn perfume that he had come to almost hate, Kagome's scent was entirely her own natural one and Inuyasha found it to be simply delectable. As a Dog God his sense of smell was very sensitive, and that Kagome's scent was so pleasant just made her all the more appealing in his eyes. Everything about her was just about perfect as far as Inuyasha was concerned, and he hated the fact that he couldn't do anything about it… or could he? He had had affairs with mortal women before after all, and Kagome seemed to like him well enough. Granted, none of the women in the past ever held such control over his heart, but that was hardly a reason to stay away from her. He'd been beating around the bush with his feelings for this girl for months now, why couldn't he just tell her how he felt and let her decide if she wanted anything to happen. He would never force her to do anything she didn't want to do, of course. But if he could have just one night with Kagome, he knew that he would be forever grateful and would treasure the memory of it for all entirety.

 

Shaking his head to get rid of such thoughts, he decided he better say something to get his mind off that idea before he did something he regretted. “Can't sleep again?”

 

“No.” Kagome said simply, looking down at her hands, which were resting in her lap. She was always shy and unsure of what to say at the start of these conversations. She usually got over it quickly enough, but the first few minutes always made her feel awkward.

 

“Well, just make sure you don't stay up too late, I know you've got quite a bit to do tomorrow.” Inuyasha said. “You know how hectic things can get when Miroku heads off to the market.” Kagome nodded, remembering how crazy things were the last time Miroku had gone away. From what she had heard, it was even worse before she came here.

 

The two talked about trivial things for a little while before they lapsed into a comfortable silence. Kagome looked up at the moon and sighed happily.

 

“It's a beautiful night.” She said softly.

 

“Yes it is.” Inuyasha said just as softly, though inwardly he continued with `though not nearly as beautiful as you'.

 

Kagome smiled and continued to watch the moon, unaware of the fact that all of Inuyasha's attention was not on the sky or the garden or anything else like that. All of Inuyasha's senses were focused solely on HER.

 

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile as he looked at Kagome. Sitting here in the moonlight like this, she looked even more beautiful than usual, if that was possible. The moonlight shone in her shiny black hair and cast a gentle glow on her face, which made her look like some kind of angel.

 

All at once, Inuyasha couldn't hold back his longing for her anymore. He needed her; he needed her like mortals needed air to breath. Gently, he took her face in his hand and turned her towards him. He realized that she was surprised by his actions; he had never touched her in such a gentle and intimate way before. He smiled gently at her, reassuringly, before moving forward to capture her lips with his own…