InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sight Unseen ❯ Come Together ( Chapter 16 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: SylverAngel 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.04.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 1.5K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.04.2003 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 1.5K | Status: Completed
Sight Unseen
Chapter 16: Come Together
One corner of Inuyasha's mouth rose, accompanying the low chuckle he couldn't help but let loose. One of the young performers was quite the little ham, much to the delight of his captive audience. Though he'd tried to keep his eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary, there were a few times he'd been drawn to pay attention to the scenes being acted out further away in the clearing. Until the windwalker child struck up a conversation with Kagome below his perch in the tree. Then the hanyou had ignored the skits for the most part, listening avidly to what the young demon had to say.
He let out a snort when the tale of their search for the Shikon no Tama was reduced to a comparison with putting the pieces of a simple bowl back together. If only it was such an unwanted item that no one else would want anything to do with it.
Kagome seemed to have a way with children, though. At least the two he'd now seen her with-- Shippo, and this winged boy. Make that three, including her brother as well. The girl answered the little demon's questions in as simple a way possible, and never once lost her patience when she was asked one thing after another. He had no idea how she could sit and listen to the child chatter on with no point whatsoever. At least the boy wasn't as annoying as Shippo.
With the mention of Kagome's blindness, Inuyasha's ears drooped. The girl had never blamed him, but that didn't mean he had let go of the guilt he felt. With all the times he'd come close to losing her, he should be happy she was merely blinded. But if it wasn't for him, nothing would've happened to her in the first place.
The hanyou sat up almost straight against the tree trunk, ears perking up once more, when the conversation below him brought up the subject of the windwalker leader. Unknowingly, he came to the same conclusion as Kagome. Tamaeri's mate was missing, not necessarily dead. Where was he? Had he defected and joined up with some rival clan? Had he been exiled for the same reason, or one like it, that the female they'd met with, Shiori, had been? Whatever the youkai had done, it seemed to have involved Maruku and his brother, who, from what the windwalker child had said, were siblings of his own father.
Inuyasha's mind continued to run through possibilities as the discussion below faded. He absently watched Kagome and the boy, eyes narrowed in thought. Was the fact that her mate was absent what it seemed Tamaeri had been hiding? His gaze turned from the two on the ground, towards the crowds of winged youkai. He'd long before pinpointed the windwalker leader's location, along with that of Maruku and Miroku, Sango, and Shippo.
The others were enjoying the performance. He could tell by the wide smiles on their faces. The monk seemed to be behaving himself for once, though that was most likely because Shippo sat between him and Sango.
The hanyou's eyes drifted past the trio, moving on to Tamaeri as his thoughts returned to their earlier meeting.
Inuyasha heard Kagome sigh, the small, lonely sound dragging his amber gaze away from where the windwalker child had joined his mother moments before. The girl below him had leaned back, resting her head against the tree. Her eyes were closed, brow furrowed a bit in thought.
She sighed again and her blue-gray eyes opened, gazing upwards sightlessly. It was slightly unnerving, but he knew she couldn't see him staring down at her. The sad expression on her face pulled at his heart. Before he could think about it and change his mind, he shifted on the branch so he could drop down beside her.
The rush of air and quiet rustle of the fabric of his clothes startled Kagome into jerking away from the tree and to the side. She leaned back on her hands, breathing quickly.
"It's just me, Kagome," Inuyasha reassured the frightened girl, settling down on the ground next to the spot she'd occupied.
"Oh, sorry, Inuyasha." She gave a nervous giggle before slowly scooting back against the tree trunk. "I forgot you were up there." She ducked her head, fingers absently smoothing her skirt over her legs.
They sat in silence for a moment, Inuyasha looking around at the windwalkers still watching the performances. Now that he'd joined Kagome on the ground, he wasn't sure what to do or say, and so stuck to what he'd been doing while up on the branch-- surveying their surroundings.
Kagome reached up and fiddled with her hair, wanting to break the quiet. The audience clapped, indicating the end of yet another skit, and giving her at least some way to try and start a conversation. "Some of them must be pretty good, huh, Inuyasha?"
"Some of what?" he questioned absently.
"The skits. Did you watch any of them?"
Inuyasha didn't answer.
'So much for attempting to talk to him,' Kagome thought, crossing her arms over her chest and turning her face away.
"Some."
It was several minutes later that the hanyou finally responded. Kagome had already forgotten what it was she had asked. She turned back to him with a puzzled look on her face. "Some what?"
Inuyasha focused most of his attention on the girl beside him, keeping half an ear open to everything else. "You asked if I'd watched any of the skits?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," she muttered.
The hanyou studied her for a moment before shaking his head and turning back to the youkai.
"Were they good?"
Inuyasha let out a snort and faced her. "What, you think I'm here for entertainment?"
"I... No. Just forget it," she sighed, leaning her head back and slouching lower against the tree.
"Keh," the hanyou replied, turning away in slight annoyance. "You were the one who wanted to talk." That wasn't quite the truth, but having her angry and possibly yelling at him was better than the strained silence creeping over them.
"Whatever."
"What is it with you, wench?" he growled. "You usually won't shut up. And now, you ask me something, then tell me to forget it?"
"Just leave it, Inuyasha," she murmured quietly. "It doesn't matter."
"What if I don't want to leave it?" the hanyou gritted out.
The threatening glare was totally lost on Kagome, however. She didn't respond, merely turned her face away.
"Keh. Stupid wench," Inuyasha muttered, pounding on the ground with a fist before standing up. Joining the girl on the ground had been a stupid idea anyway.
"Stay!"
The quiet entreaty stopped the hanyou from leaping immediately into the tree. He looked back down at Kagome, staring at the hand she held up in the hopes of stopping him from leaving.
"Please...?"
He didn't move, torn between returning to solitude and keeping the sad expression off her face. He watched as the unwanted emotion chased its way back across her features and her hand dropped to her side.
Sighing defeatedly, he plopped into a cross-legged position beside her once more.
"I'm sorry. If you don't want to, you don't have to sit here with me," Kagome told him as the uncomfortable silence returned.
Inuyasha grunted, folding his arms over his chest and staring moodily at the performers he could faintly see through a small gap in the gathering of winged youkai.
Kagome wished she could see him. She'd learned to judge some of what he was feeling from the way his ears lay, and now she wasn't even able to use those clues. "Inuyasha... are you mad at me?" she ventured, hoping she wouldn't provoke him into actually abandoning her this time.
"Should I be?" he returned, question for question.
"I... I hope you aren't." She fiddled nervously with the ends of her uniform tie.
Inuyasha turned to look at her, searching her face for some hint of what was truly bothering her. "What's wrong, Kagome?"
Her hands paused in their twisting of the fabric. He was actually questioning what was bothering her? He hadn't asked that many times before... but then again, they were hardly ever alone. Someone else, namely Shippo or Sango, usually caught on to her moods sooner than the hanyou did. Or, at least, as far as he would admit. "I...," she started, biting her lip as she inwardly debated telling him. Taking a deep breath, she finally screwed up her courage. "I can't tell even a little bit of what you're thinking, or feeling. I can't see... can't see your ears," she muttered almost incomprehensibly.
Of course Inuyasha, with his acute demon hearing, made out what she said fairly easily. He scowled, conscious now of the way his ears flattened slightly as he did so. "What the hell do my ears have to do with anything, wench?"
Kagome held up a hand in a placating gesture and rushed to soothe his anger. "It's just... Well, I can usually at least tell if you're mad, or worried, or sometimes even a little happy, by looking at your ears. You don't notice it, because they're part of you."
She could read him that easily? Maybe he'd have to start paying more attention to what he could be revealing without knowing it.
She continued on, unaware that the hanyou's golden eyes had narrowed as he watched her. "And I can't even go by that now. So how am I supposed to tell--"
"Keh, stupid wench," he interrupted. Before she could do more than gasp in protest, he'd grabbed her hand and dragged her closer. "If it means that much to you, here," he growled, lowering his head enough so she could reach the closest triangular ear. He dropped his own hand, allowing her free rein as he concentrated on relaxing.
Kagome was too surprised to react at first. She stayed where she was, awkwardly leaning on one hand, the other resting against the hanyou's head. "Inu... yasha?"
"Hurry up. I'm not likely to be so generous again."
She shook her head and pulled herself up into a kneeling position, her free hand resting in her lap. Gently, she ran her fingers along the back of his soft ear, mimicking the way she'd traced the young windwalker's feathers earlier. Her fingertips found their way to the edge, teasing the short hairs growing there.
Inuyasha resisted the urge to shiver at the touch he could feel all the way down to his toes. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all... He cut off that thought when he caught sight of the small smile lifting the corners of Kagome's lips. If it was making her happy... His eyes closed in pleasure as her fingers once again moved to scratch near the base of his ear, causing him to lean a bit into her hand.
The youkai audience's clapping at the end of another skit startled him into realizing what he was doing. His eyes flew open and he was about to pull away when her hand slid lower, brushing through the lock of hair that rested over his shoulder. Inuyasha froze, unconsciously holding his breath.
Kagome wasn't sure exactly what she was doing. She felt him go still and draw in a sharp breath. She never once stopped the movements of her hand, however, continuing to trail her fingertips along his cheek and up to his forehead. She traced each of his eyebrows, picturing them in her mind.
Inuyasha clenched his hands into fists where they rested on his legs, finally taking a shallow gulp of air. He should stop her... but he couldn't move to do so. He closed his eyes obediently when her fingers lowered slightly to flutter along his eyelashes.
Adding each feature to the mental image she was conjuring, Kagome followed a path from each one cheek, across his nose, to the other cheek, and then a bit lower. She hesitated for a barely noticeable moment of time. Before she could lose her nerve, she slowly traced her fingertips across his upper lip, the touch so light the hanyou wasn't sure if he imagined it or not. She repeated the action on his bottom lip, pausing slightly as it dawned on her what she'd just done.
"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered, the movement against her fingers shocking her into jerking away. She scooted away quickly, trying to take deep breaths and calm her rapidly beating heart. She clumsily felt her way along the tree and leaned against what she hoped was the opposite side. Drawing her knees to her chest, she rested her forehead on them to hide the fierce blush she could feel heating her cheeks.
Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes, blinking to bring things back into focus. He was still breathing shallowly, the feel of Kagome's fingertips lingering in the absence of her touch. It took a moment for his thoughts to clear enough that he realized the girl wasn't sitting next to him. He sat up straighter, scanning the areas around him in case she'd managed to stumble off. He let his shoulders drop in relief when he spotted her shoe around the other side of the tree trunk.
Taking a deep breath, he shifted to a crouch, intent on leaping back into the tree to deal with what had just occurred alone, but something in the way Kagome was sitting stopped him. Instead, he turned so his own back was against the tree, sitting close enough that he could touch the girl if he wanted. Close enough to reassure himself that she was there, yet far enough away that he could hopefully forget what he'd allowed her to do, and how it had affected him.
Kagome calmed down bit by bit, her back easing against the rough bark of the tree behind her. What on earth had possessed her to do such a thing? Inuyasha would probably be truly angry with her now. He'd been allowing her to touch his ear, nothing else. She'd taken a huge chance when her fingers moved down to his face. But she had needed to reconcile his voice with the image she held of him in her mind, remind herself so she wouldn't lose the memory of his face.
But... he hadn't stopped her...
Her mind circling around that thought, she shivered slightly at the cool breeze that was beginning to blow through the clearing.
Inuyasha glanced at her at the same moment, catching the tremor as it ran down her back. Impulsively, he reached a hand to her shoulder. "Kagome," he called softly, so as not to startle her with the contact.
The girl jerked her head up, blind eyes wide as she turned her face towards him.
Without saying another word, he drew his hand down her arm to her wrist and pulled slightly, to indicate she should get up.
Unsure of what he wanted, she shifted to her knees, then to her feet.
The hanyou pulled her around and in front of him before turning her and taking her other wrist to guide her down into his lap.
Kagome sat still as he wrapped his arms around her, unsure of what she was supposed to do, or think.
"You were cold," Inuyasha explained when he noticed the confusion on her face.
Apparently it was all the reason he was going to give.
Slowly, she relaxed, allowing the heat he gave off to seep into her. Resolving not to question his actions until she had a clearer mind, she shifted slightly in his hold to make herself more comfortable. "Thank you, Inuyasha," she quietly told him, not quite sure whether she meant for his understanding or for sharing his warmth, or both.
"Stop squirming." Though his tone was gruff, his arms tightened about her.
Chapter 16: Come Together
One corner of Inuyasha's mouth rose, accompanying the low chuckle he couldn't help but let loose. One of the young performers was quite the little ham, much to the delight of his captive audience. Though he'd tried to keep his eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary, there were a few times he'd been drawn to pay attention to the scenes being acted out further away in the clearing. Until the windwalker child struck up a conversation with Kagome below his perch in the tree. Then the hanyou had ignored the skits for the most part, listening avidly to what the young demon had to say.
He let out a snort when the tale of their search for the Shikon no Tama was reduced to a comparison with putting the pieces of a simple bowl back together. If only it was such an unwanted item that no one else would want anything to do with it.
Kagome seemed to have a way with children, though. At least the two he'd now seen her with-- Shippo, and this winged boy. Make that three, including her brother as well. The girl answered the little demon's questions in as simple a way possible, and never once lost her patience when she was asked one thing after another. He had no idea how she could sit and listen to the child chatter on with no point whatsoever. At least the boy wasn't as annoying as Shippo.
With the mention of Kagome's blindness, Inuyasha's ears drooped. The girl had never blamed him, but that didn't mean he had let go of the guilt he felt. With all the times he'd come close to losing her, he should be happy she was merely blinded. But if it wasn't for him, nothing would've happened to her in the first place.
The hanyou sat up almost straight against the tree trunk, ears perking up once more, when the conversation below him brought up the subject of the windwalker leader. Unknowingly, he came to the same conclusion as Kagome. Tamaeri's mate was missing, not necessarily dead. Where was he? Had he defected and joined up with some rival clan? Had he been exiled for the same reason, or one like it, that the female they'd met with, Shiori, had been? Whatever the youkai had done, it seemed to have involved Maruku and his brother, who, from what the windwalker child had said, were siblings of his own father.
Inuyasha's mind continued to run through possibilities as the discussion below faded. He absently watched Kagome and the boy, eyes narrowed in thought. Was the fact that her mate was absent what it seemed Tamaeri had been hiding? His gaze turned from the two on the ground, towards the crowds of winged youkai. He'd long before pinpointed the windwalker leader's location, along with that of Maruku and Miroku, Sango, and Shippo.
The others were enjoying the performance. He could tell by the wide smiles on their faces. The monk seemed to be behaving himself for once, though that was most likely because Shippo sat between him and Sango.
The hanyou's eyes drifted past the trio, moving on to Tamaeri as his thoughts returned to their earlier meeting.
Inuyasha heard Kagome sigh, the small, lonely sound dragging his amber gaze away from where the windwalker child had joined his mother moments before. The girl below him had leaned back, resting her head against the tree. Her eyes were closed, brow furrowed a bit in thought.
She sighed again and her blue-gray eyes opened, gazing upwards sightlessly. It was slightly unnerving, but he knew she couldn't see him staring down at her. The sad expression on her face pulled at his heart. Before he could think about it and change his mind, he shifted on the branch so he could drop down beside her.
The rush of air and quiet rustle of the fabric of his clothes startled Kagome into jerking away from the tree and to the side. She leaned back on her hands, breathing quickly.
"It's just me, Kagome," Inuyasha reassured the frightened girl, settling down on the ground next to the spot she'd occupied.
"Oh, sorry, Inuyasha." She gave a nervous giggle before slowly scooting back against the tree trunk. "I forgot you were up there." She ducked her head, fingers absently smoothing her skirt over her legs.
They sat in silence for a moment, Inuyasha looking around at the windwalkers still watching the performances. Now that he'd joined Kagome on the ground, he wasn't sure what to do or say, and so stuck to what he'd been doing while up on the branch-- surveying their surroundings.
Kagome reached up and fiddled with her hair, wanting to break the quiet. The audience clapped, indicating the end of yet another skit, and giving her at least some way to try and start a conversation. "Some of them must be pretty good, huh, Inuyasha?"
"Some of what?" he questioned absently.
"The skits. Did you watch any of them?"
Inuyasha didn't answer.
'So much for attempting to talk to him,' Kagome thought, crossing her arms over her chest and turning her face away.
"Some."
It was several minutes later that the hanyou finally responded. Kagome had already forgotten what it was she had asked. She turned back to him with a puzzled look on her face. "Some what?"
Inuyasha focused most of his attention on the girl beside him, keeping half an ear open to everything else. "You asked if I'd watched any of the skits?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," she muttered.
The hanyou studied her for a moment before shaking his head and turning back to the youkai.
"Were they good?"
Inuyasha let out a snort and faced her. "What, you think I'm here for entertainment?"
"I... No. Just forget it," she sighed, leaning her head back and slouching lower against the tree.
"Keh," the hanyou replied, turning away in slight annoyance. "You were the one who wanted to talk." That wasn't quite the truth, but having her angry and possibly yelling at him was better than the strained silence creeping over them.
"Whatever."
"What is it with you, wench?" he growled. "You usually won't shut up. And now, you ask me something, then tell me to forget it?"
"Just leave it, Inuyasha," she murmured quietly. "It doesn't matter."
"What if I don't want to leave it?" the hanyou gritted out.
The threatening glare was totally lost on Kagome, however. She didn't respond, merely turned her face away.
"Keh. Stupid wench," Inuyasha muttered, pounding on the ground with a fist before standing up. Joining the girl on the ground had been a stupid idea anyway.
"Stay!"
The quiet entreaty stopped the hanyou from leaping immediately into the tree. He looked back down at Kagome, staring at the hand she held up in the hopes of stopping him from leaving.
"Please...?"
He didn't move, torn between returning to solitude and keeping the sad expression off her face. He watched as the unwanted emotion chased its way back across her features and her hand dropped to her side.
Sighing defeatedly, he plopped into a cross-legged position beside her once more.
"I'm sorry. If you don't want to, you don't have to sit here with me," Kagome told him as the uncomfortable silence returned.
Inuyasha grunted, folding his arms over his chest and staring moodily at the performers he could faintly see through a small gap in the gathering of winged youkai.
Kagome wished she could see him. She'd learned to judge some of what he was feeling from the way his ears lay, and now she wasn't even able to use those clues. "Inuyasha... are you mad at me?" she ventured, hoping she wouldn't provoke him into actually abandoning her this time.
"Should I be?" he returned, question for question.
"I... I hope you aren't." She fiddled nervously with the ends of her uniform tie.
Inuyasha turned to look at her, searching her face for some hint of what was truly bothering her. "What's wrong, Kagome?"
Her hands paused in their twisting of the fabric. He was actually questioning what was bothering her? He hadn't asked that many times before... but then again, they were hardly ever alone. Someone else, namely Shippo or Sango, usually caught on to her moods sooner than the hanyou did. Or, at least, as far as he would admit. "I...," she started, biting her lip as she inwardly debated telling him. Taking a deep breath, she finally screwed up her courage. "I can't tell even a little bit of what you're thinking, or feeling. I can't see... can't see your ears," she muttered almost incomprehensibly.
Of course Inuyasha, with his acute demon hearing, made out what she said fairly easily. He scowled, conscious now of the way his ears flattened slightly as he did so. "What the hell do my ears have to do with anything, wench?"
Kagome held up a hand in a placating gesture and rushed to soothe his anger. "It's just... Well, I can usually at least tell if you're mad, or worried, or sometimes even a little happy, by looking at your ears. You don't notice it, because they're part of you."
She could read him that easily? Maybe he'd have to start paying more attention to what he could be revealing without knowing it.
She continued on, unaware that the hanyou's golden eyes had narrowed as he watched her. "And I can't even go by that now. So how am I supposed to tell--"
"Keh, stupid wench," he interrupted. Before she could do more than gasp in protest, he'd grabbed her hand and dragged her closer. "If it means that much to you, here," he growled, lowering his head enough so she could reach the closest triangular ear. He dropped his own hand, allowing her free rein as he concentrated on relaxing.
Kagome was too surprised to react at first. She stayed where she was, awkwardly leaning on one hand, the other resting against the hanyou's head. "Inu... yasha?"
"Hurry up. I'm not likely to be so generous again."
She shook her head and pulled herself up into a kneeling position, her free hand resting in her lap. Gently, she ran her fingers along the back of his soft ear, mimicking the way she'd traced the young windwalker's feathers earlier. Her fingertips found their way to the edge, teasing the short hairs growing there.
Inuyasha resisted the urge to shiver at the touch he could feel all the way down to his toes. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all... He cut off that thought when he caught sight of the small smile lifting the corners of Kagome's lips. If it was making her happy... His eyes closed in pleasure as her fingers once again moved to scratch near the base of his ear, causing him to lean a bit into her hand.
The youkai audience's clapping at the end of another skit startled him into realizing what he was doing. His eyes flew open and he was about to pull away when her hand slid lower, brushing through the lock of hair that rested over his shoulder. Inuyasha froze, unconsciously holding his breath.
Kagome wasn't sure exactly what she was doing. She felt him go still and draw in a sharp breath. She never once stopped the movements of her hand, however, continuing to trail her fingertips along his cheek and up to his forehead. She traced each of his eyebrows, picturing them in her mind.
Inuyasha clenched his hands into fists where they rested on his legs, finally taking a shallow gulp of air. He should stop her... but he couldn't move to do so. He closed his eyes obediently when her fingers lowered slightly to flutter along his eyelashes.
Adding each feature to the mental image she was conjuring, Kagome followed a path from each one cheek, across his nose, to the other cheek, and then a bit lower. She hesitated for a barely noticeable moment of time. Before she could lose her nerve, she slowly traced her fingertips across his upper lip, the touch so light the hanyou wasn't sure if he imagined it or not. She repeated the action on his bottom lip, pausing slightly as it dawned on her what she'd just done.
"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered, the movement against her fingers shocking her into jerking away. She scooted away quickly, trying to take deep breaths and calm her rapidly beating heart. She clumsily felt her way along the tree and leaned against what she hoped was the opposite side. Drawing her knees to her chest, she rested her forehead on them to hide the fierce blush she could feel heating her cheeks.
Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes, blinking to bring things back into focus. He was still breathing shallowly, the feel of Kagome's fingertips lingering in the absence of her touch. It took a moment for his thoughts to clear enough that he realized the girl wasn't sitting next to him. He sat up straighter, scanning the areas around him in case she'd managed to stumble off. He let his shoulders drop in relief when he spotted her shoe around the other side of the tree trunk.
Taking a deep breath, he shifted to a crouch, intent on leaping back into the tree to deal with what had just occurred alone, but something in the way Kagome was sitting stopped him. Instead, he turned so his own back was against the tree, sitting close enough that he could touch the girl if he wanted. Close enough to reassure himself that she was there, yet far enough away that he could hopefully forget what he'd allowed her to do, and how it had affected him.
Kagome calmed down bit by bit, her back easing against the rough bark of the tree behind her. What on earth had possessed her to do such a thing? Inuyasha would probably be truly angry with her now. He'd been allowing her to touch his ear, nothing else. She'd taken a huge chance when her fingers moved down to his face. But she had needed to reconcile his voice with the image she held of him in her mind, remind herself so she wouldn't lose the memory of his face.
But... he hadn't stopped her...
Her mind circling around that thought, she shivered slightly at the cool breeze that was beginning to blow through the clearing.
Inuyasha glanced at her at the same moment, catching the tremor as it ran down her back. Impulsively, he reached a hand to her shoulder. "Kagome," he called softly, so as not to startle her with the contact.
The girl jerked her head up, blind eyes wide as she turned her face towards him.
Without saying another word, he drew his hand down her arm to her wrist and pulled slightly, to indicate she should get up.
Unsure of what he wanted, she shifted to her knees, then to her feet.
The hanyou pulled her around and in front of him before turning her and taking her other wrist to guide her down into his lap.
Kagome sat still as he wrapped his arms around her, unsure of what she was supposed to do, or think.
"You were cold," Inuyasha explained when he noticed the confusion on her face.
Apparently it was all the reason he was going to give.
Slowly, she relaxed, allowing the heat he gave off to seep into her. Resolving not to question his actions until she had a clearer mind, she shifted slightly in his hold to make herself more comfortable. "Thank you, Inuyasha," she quietly told him, not quite sure whether she meant for his understanding or for sharing his warmth, or both.
"Stop squirming." Though his tone was gruff, his arms tightened about her.