InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Same Thing, Different Time ❯ Play With My Ears ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: Still don't own any part of InuYasha, and am still not seeking to gain anything in means of profit, rights, or anything else from creating this.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Same Thing, Different Time

by: aishiteru_inu

Part 17: You Can Play With My Ears

Instead of taking her to the house like he did the last time, InuYasha stopped near the huge Goshinboku tree on the outer edge of the courtyard, past the Sakura trees. Before, she had been able to retreat easily inside when she choose to get away from him, but this time she would not have such an easy way of disappearing.

Bending down, he allowed her to slip easily off his back.

"Arigato," she managed a soft expression of gratitude as she slid off and onto the grassy ground near the tree. He turned toward her as he straightened, but she was already walking past him in the direction of the house.

'She won't even look at me.' He thought in disgruntlement, and then called out to her, "How long are you going to be mad at me?"

"Forever."

He winched at her answer. She had said it quick, flat, and decisively, which indicated she meant it.

"That's a pretty damn long time," he muttered in a sulk, stabbing at the ground with the big toe of his foot.

"Plus a day." she added matter-of-factly as she continued her departure.

InuYasha stopped what he was doing; his head quickly snapped upward as did his ears, and he stared after her.

"That's not…! You can't be mad at me for that long!"

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't." He frowned.

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't!" His own ire came into place.

Twisting around to face him, her fists upon her hips, she announced, "Yes, I can!"

"NO, You Can't!" he bellowed back.

"Watch me then," she said, putting her nose up in the air a bit as she turned and resumed her leave.

He watched as the distance between them widened, knowing in just a short bit he would be left all alone again, and no better off than he was before.

"Hey!" he called out in an effort to get her to stop, momentarily forgetting the speech she had given him. Then in a much softer tone he said, "Kagome, wait."

Still, she did not respond.

In a measure similar to desperation, knowing one thing that fascinated her, the hanyou offered, "I--I'll let you… play with my ears… if you will stop being mad at me."

She froze in mid-stride. Did he say what she thought he said?

After several seconds, she managed to glance over her shoulder at him. He was still in the same spot where she had left him, and he had hooked his thumbs in the front belt loops of his pants. He wasn't even looking at her, seemingly more interested in the ground that he was scarring with his foot.

"You…You'd let me… play with your… ears?" she fumbled over the words that he had said in a stunned yet unbelieving tone. "Really?"

InuYasha kept his head down but gave her a couple of responding nods, grimacing slightly.

Slowly, Kagome turned, and as she walked back to where he was, she removed the bow and quiver from her. She laid them upon the ground nearby, along with her backpack, and then moved to stand directly in front of him.

Lifting his lids, his golden eyes watched her while she just waited there, her focus solely looking up at the top of his head.

"I…thought…that…" her voice murmur gently, her interest held in throng. "you didn't… like having your ears touched."

"Feh," he returned just as quiet, shrugging his shoulders. "If it makes you stop being mad at me…." He raised his head to look more fully upon her upturned face, then said in a child like manner, "Promise you won't be mad anymore."

"I promise. I won't be mad anymore." she pledged softly, not able to take her eyes off of his soft looking white ears. Her hands were up in readiness, but went no further than the height of her chest, as if waiting for him to indicate that she had free reign over them.

The look on her face was priceless. Now, all he had to do was to say, 'I win' or 'I told you you couldn't be mad forever'.

It was right there, at the tip of his tongue to do just that, as a slick grin started to kiss at the corner of his mouth, along with the added sparkle in his eyes, but then he caught a real good look at her expression and, with a jarring awareness, he stopped himself.

Her eyes held even more of a shine than what she had given to that boy a while ago; her lips were parted in awe with a touch of a smile in expectation, all the while her warm breath fanned against him. She was waiting… waiting for some sign from him that would indicate that she could…touch him.

The realization shook him.

He thought the look on her face was priceless a moment ago? It was beyond even that. This girl that stood before him, waiting so eagerly to 'touch' him, wasn't like the others that scorned and ridiculed him, that would yank and pull at his ears with curious and cruel intentions, or think and say he was a freak or worse. This girl didn't shun him because he was different, she was amazed by it. He knew that if he ruined this moment he would very well deserve that 'forever' she mentioned.

He inwardly cringed at the thought of what he just nearly did.

"InuYasha?" her voice broke him out of his reverie. "Are you alright? You look… kind of funny."

"Hai," he answered quietly, trying to hide his own expression by bowing his head further.

"If you… if it really bothers you to have your ears touched, I won't……"

"Keh, wench," Giving his mane a toss. "I told you that you could…"

When he heard the small laughter coming from her, his defenses instantly went up. With eyes narrowing, he demanded a bit sharper, "What are you laughing at?"

"The sound you made. Just not your usual 'Feh'." She laughed again, her eyes gleaming as they looked up into his.

That was it? That's what made her laugh? Definitely not what he would expect to have laughed at about him. He just shook his head.

InuYasha knew that she would not deliberately hurt him, but if he remained standing, she would not be able to reach his ears comfortably. It wasn't like the last time when their height difference had been equalized by the downward slope of the steps, and he didn't feel like getting them pinched or pulled from her getting unbalanced, so he knelt before her and tilted his head toward her slightly.

He sat there for a moment or so, but nothing happened, then he dared a glance upward to see what was the matter.

Kagome was standing there unsure as to what she should do. One side of her bottom lip was drawn between her teeth, as her gaze was fixed upon the triangle shaped ears. Her hands had started to reach out toward them, but were frozen in place halfway to them.

"You're suppose to actually put your fingers on them to be able to touch them," he mocked in a low tone, and he received a downward glance of her eyes. The hanyou understood her silent gaze, and added to encourage her, "It's alright, Kagome. I--I trust you."

As soon as those words were out of his mouth, InuYasha almost blanched. He trusted her? Where in the hell did that come from?

Kagome gave him a tentative smile, but he didn't see it as he had already dipped his head back down.

When he still did not feel anything, he thought that she wasn't going to touch them after all, but then her finger tips began to glide over the edge of one of them, from the tip all the way to the bottom and back up again. He felt them travel lightly down the back of his ear, and heard her faint intake of breath as she discovered, at leisure, the true texture and softness of the hair that covered them.

She didn't stop there, because after her light caresses he felt her place the fingers of one hand within his ear against the pinkish skin of the cartilage while the other smoothed across the back side.

He heard her gasp in awe, and her scent opened completely to him in her fascination, and he was engulf by the sweet musky smell of her. It was a sign that she had definitely dropped her anxiety and hostility of him. He liked that. And being where he was allowed him to breathe her in fully. It was like a calm peacefulness.

Kagome's fingers glided to the base of the back of his ears, and scratched him there gently. The longer she did that, the more he leaned into her administrations and nearly toppled over, if he had not grabbed hold of something to prevent him from landing on his face and making a fool of himself. It was just that the 'something' he grabbed with his clawed hands -- and which he still clung onto -- just happened to be Kagome's waist. Maybe falling on his face wasn't such a bad thing after all.

The hanyou couldn't look up at her. He was afraid that she would have the look of horror on her face in spite of everything, and he tensed for the moment to come when she would jerk or shoved away from him. He held his breath as the seconds ticked by, but then…nothing happened.

Setting himself back, he muttered awkwardly, "Sorry" but his hands didn't seem to be able to release their hold of her waist.

"It's ok," she replied warmly, and actually took a half a step toward him, allowing the corner of her hip to press almost against his chest as if to assist him to stay upright. "Am I hurting you?"

He took a moment before answering her; his voice deeper and a little strained. "No."

He waited again for her to move away or to say something about his monstrous hands upon her, but she surprised him once more. He heard something akin to a sigh of relief and felt her fingers resume their caresses.

Kagome did indeed release a sigh, having held her own breath until he answered her. She was surprised when he loss his balance and nearly knocked her over, but he had steadied her before that happened. Unconsciously, she nudged a hip into him just so she would have better support if he did that again.

She was really glad that he hadn't gotten up, because she wasn't ready to give up what she'd been dying to do ever since the moment she first saw him. She adored his ears and loved feeling the velvety soft roughness of the outside and the silky soft smoothness of the inside against her fingers, which reminded her…… And her fingers began stroking his ears again.

It was easy to pick up the increased rate of her heart as close as he was to her, and it wasn't racing because of fear either.

InuYasha felt her fingers venture into his hair; giving his scalp a bit of a scratch with her fingernails. That was something he didn't tell her she could do!

Before he said anything, her wandering strokes returned back to his ears, only they ventured back again to his head moments later. She teased his senses doing that. It felt nice…it felt really nice. It felt like… nothing he'd ever remembered feeling before, but it didn't matter, he was in a dreamy state of euphoria.

She stopped her administrations wondering if he had had enough, but then he did something that she wasn't expecting -- he nudged her midsection with the top of his forehead and rubbed her lightly there with it. When her fingers hadn't returned she heard a strange noise coming from him. It sounded like……something between……a growl and a whine? Was he…? Was he begging?

Almost immediately there was another nudge against her; another rub, and Kagome returned her touch to the erection of his ears.

InuYasha was dying. He just had to be, because nothing he had experienced in his life ever felt so wonderful. No one had ever done anything that made him feel so…good -- except maybe his mother, but that was long, long ago; almost, it seemed, another life time.

And her scent… It was so strong up against her as he was, breathing it in right from her skin. "Kagome,…" his voice was husky and low as her fragrance flooded his nostrils. "you really…" Sakura blossoms and sugar,…… "smell…" and newly damp earth mingled with venomous death. "A demon!"

His head jerked back and snapped up, just as his body did as he rose to his feet. He sniffed at the air to get a baring on what direction the odor came from, all the while his ears were vaguely registering, "I do not smell like a demon!"

"No, Baka, there's a demon nearby!" he snapped hotly, but the aggressively fierce emotion was not truly meant to be directed at her as much as it was toward whatever creature dared to come so near. His one goal: keeping her safe.

"Get behind me!"

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* END Of Part 17 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Please read and review.