Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

A Fool's Redemption	By : Grumblebear Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 23728 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Chapter
10 - Autumn’s Shifting Winds

She
was exhausted, and her head was beginning to hurt. All she wanted to
do was drag herself into bed and stay there for a while. But there
wasn’t any time for naps, and there hadn’t been for a few
days now. The gentle music floating up from the stage below did
nothing to ease her throbbing head. Rather, it was threatening to put
her to sleep. If she hadn’t been in pain and so tired she would
have been enjoying the evening. She sat with Inuyasha, high along the
curved inside of a large amphitheater that sat nestled within the
eco-dome. Tonight the theater was packed to capacity. Every spare
inch of seating was taken. Long
strings of lanterns hung overhead, providing more atmosphere than
light, and higher up, just beyond the lanterns, hovered the branches
of overhanging trees and the invisible barrier of the dome. Far above
that was the night sky, filled with stars. This was the last
night of the Autumn Festival, and Kagome couldn’t be happier.

At
the end of her third month in service to Inuyasha, the week long
festival had begun. The city held two festivals every year: one in
the fall that celebrated the arts, and another in the spring for
sports competitions. The entire city had been transformed for the
occasion. The atriums of all three towers had been turned into grand
exhibition halls in which nearly every manner of artistic medium had
been presented: painting, photography, sculpture, even some
architecture. By day there were events held for the display of each
gallery, and by night there were concerts for the performing arts,
held not only in the amphitheater of the dome, but also in the
theater that sat off to one side of the underground hall. Orchestral
concerts, plays and musical performances were all part of the
festivities. Being the red prince and an important figure within the
city, Inuyasha had been invited to almost every event, and as his
assistant, it was Kagome’s job to accompany him.

During
the festivals, all unnecessary work—work that wasn’t
required to keep the city running from day to day—was shut
down. Unfortunately for Kagome, her job monitoring the delicate
balances of the soil in the domes was a position that required
constant, daily attention. Even though her morning hours were cut
back significantly for the holiday week, she still had to stay at her
job long enough to complete all the soil testing that was her
responsibility for each day. Once she was done, it was off to
accompany Inuyasha through the festival for the rest of the day and
on into the night. Working for him during a normal week was
exhausting enough, but with the arrival of the festival, she had
found herself with very little time for rest, and absolutely no time
to herself.

One
thing that bothered her just as much as her lack of rest was her lack
of time to spend with Sango. It had been nearly two weeks since she
and her friend had shared any time together. Since her nights were
spent with Inuyasha, she and Sango rarely had any time together in
the evenings anymore, but on the days Kagome had off from her morning
job, they always tried to at least have breakfast together. But the
festival had robbed her of that now as well. Not only was Sango
helping to run the festival, she was also performing in it, and had
about as much free time as Kagome. Which was none.

Kagome
had seen her for the first time in days earlier that afternoon, as
she and Inuyasha had been leaving one of the sculpture displays.
Sango had approached them and, after exchanging a friendly hug with
Kagome, had turned to Inuyasha.

“My
performance is tonight,” she said. The comment sounded a bit
pointed. “You’re coming, aren’t you?”

Inuyasha
had stared off into the crowd, ignoring the question.

Sango
had grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked. “Aren’t
you?” she repeated irritably.

“Ow!
Jesus, yes! Fine!” He smacked her hand away. Kagome didn’t
understand why he was putting up a fight.

“Good,”
Sango smirked in triumph.

Kagome
remembered her friend had mentioned that she was going to be singing
in a small concert during the festival, but hadn’t gone into
detail about it. “What are you singing?”

Sango
turned back to her and smiled. “It’s a love song,
actually.” She blushed a bit. “ It’s a song about
longing to see the one you love, even though they’re out of
reach. The lyrics are in Italian, so you won’t be able to
understand the words, but hopefully the emotion of the song will be
understood.” She had turned back to Inuaysha with an imploring
look. “I wish you’d reconsider performing it with me. You
should be the one to play it, it’s your—“

“I
already told you no,” Inuyasha cut her off, snapping out of his
bored state. He gave her a glance that said he didn’t want to
discuss it further.

Sango
had sighed. “Whatever. Do what you want. At least come, okay?”

“We’ll
be there,” Kagome had assured her. “Even if I have to
drag him, we’ll be there.”

Her
friend gave her a grateful smile, and opened her mouth as if to
continue their conversation, but then a deep voice had called to
Inuyasha from behind, and they had turned to find Naraku approaching
with that perfect, engaging smile that never seemed to leave his
face.

She
had felt Sango touch her arm and heard her whisper, “I’ll
see you later.” By the time she’d turned back to her
friend, the girl had already taken off into the crowd. Naraku had
only paused to ask Inuyasha a quick question, and as she stood
waiting for them to finish their conversation, Kagome gazed up at the
handsome black-haired man, wondering what it was about him that
seemed to make her friend so skittish. He’d caught her stare
and flashed her a brilliant smile.

Now,
as the performance on the stage below came to an end and the audience
around her gave their applause, she found herself still wondering why
Sango seemed to act so strangely when it came to Naraku. The more she
thought about it, the more it confused her: the evening Sango had
made the comment about loving someone from afar while looking up at
Naraku’s terrace, the night he had approached their table, and
the way her friend always seemed to take flight when he approached.
Was it Naraku she loved? And if so, why did she always avoid him? Any
attempt she had made to get an answer from her friend had been
cleverly dodged, which only frustrated her more.

As
the people on stage began gathering their instruments, a gentle
mummer rose up from the audience as they waited for the next
performance. Kagome let her eyes wander over the crowd that spread
out below her, searching. It didn’t take long to find him.
Naraku and his two assistants sat in the middle of the crowd a couple
rows down to her left. With the curve of the theater, she found she
had an almost full-on view of him as he talked with the people around
him, charming as ever. He looked completely in his element,
surrounded by people eager to share his company. It was a sharp
contrast to her own companion. While Inuyasha often looked as if he
were merely tolerating the attention he received, Naraku seemed to
bathe in it.

She
shifted in her seat and pulled her light jacket closer to her body.
There was a chill in the air tonight, a promise of the winter ahead.

“Are
you cold?” Inuyasha’s voice drifted over to her. It was
the first thing he had said to her since they sat down. He’d
been acting strangely over the past few days. While he wasn’t
nearly as cross with her anymore, he was still very standoffish, as
if not quite sure how he should interact with her. And even though
she still got the feeling he was uncomfortable around her, she felt
as if, for the last week at least, she was becoming less of a
subordinate and more of a companion.

She
shook her head. “I’m fine.”

He
moved as if to take his coat off, but she held up a hand.

“I’m
okay, really.” She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you,
anyways.”

He
shrugged the coat back on and looked as if he was about to say
something, when they both noticed Sango walk out onto the stage.

She
was dressed in a long black evening dress that flared out from the
knees down, her hair piled in an elegant twist on top of her head.
Three musicians accompanied her: a cellist, a saxophonist, and a
pianist. The audience applauded lightly as they appeared and took
their places on stage, the murmur of the crowd fading to silence.

Sango
took her place at the microphone stand as the musicians took up their
instruments. Her hands were clasped together at her stomach, and she
turned her eyes to the floor for a few seconds. Kagome knew her
friend had been nervous about this performance, and silently prayed
the girl had found some way to calm her nerves. When Sango raised her
head once again, her eyes held a strangely heavy look, as if a sudden
weight had come over her. With a nod to the pianist, she took hold of
the microphone on its stand and turned her eyes up to the crowd.

The
gentle notes of the piano floated up from the stage as the song
began, and as Sango parted her lips to accompany the music, Kagome
suddenly found herself struck by the voice that drifted up to meet
her ears. She’d had no idea her friend possessed a singing
voice that was so… captivating. There was no other word for
it. As the other two instruments rose to accompany the piano, Sango’s
voice was gentle as a bell, and just as clear, a tender lilting sound
that was immediately filled with the weight of emotion she remembered
her friend had been hoping for. The words, while in a language
foreign to Kagome’s own, didn’t need to be in her
language to be understood. The longing, the sadness of lost love was
painfully and beautifully apparent, in the sound of the instruments,
and the sound of Sango’s voice.

Kagome
realized she had been holding her breath, and let out a sigh as the
music floated through the amphitheater around her. She glanced down
to where Naraku sat a few yards away. She was curious to know if the
music was having the same effect on him as it was on her. He sat
looking forward, watching quietly, but while his face still held that
easy smile, his eyes were dull, as if his mind was someplace far
away. He looked completely uninterested in what was going on around
him. Someone leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and they
shared a quiet laugh before he turned back to the stage with that
dull gaze.

Kagome
frowned. Was she wrong about the feelings between the two of them?
Or, if Sango did have feelings for him, was he simply unaware…
or didn’t care? And if it wasn’t Naraku she cared for,
then who was this mystery lover
whose memory made her voice so sad? Was he here somewhere in
the audience tonight? She let her eyes sweep over the crowd once
before turning her attention back to the stage, the music swelling
gently around her. Sango’s voice was so fragile, and yet so
strong, full of sorrow, but also of determination, and certainty.
Certainty to see that lost lover once again.

A
slight movement in Inuyasha’s lap caught her eye, and as the
song began it’s final verse, she looked down to find his hand
resting in his lap, the fingers of which moved faintly in time to the
song. She realized they were moving as if playing the notes of the
song on a piano. She glanced up at his face, propped in his other
hand. His lips were a thin line, and his eyes stared down at the
stage with a look she couldn’t quite read. Was it sadness? Or
regret? Maybe it was both.

You
should be the one to play it. It’s your—, Sango’s
words from earlier that day echoed in her head, and her eyes widened.
It’s your song, she finished the sentence in her head.
She stared at his moving fingers from the corner of her eye. He must
have written it. That’s why Sango had wanted him to perform it
with her. Knowing how shy he was about his playing, his quick
response to her urging made sense now.

The
song finished with a chorus of instruments, rising in a gentle
crescendo, then fading softly to silence. The audience wasted no time
in rising to their feet in applause, the sound thundering through the
bowl of the amphitheater. The performers on stage bowed deeply and
waved their appreciation. Kagome cheered along with the rest of them,
and noticed that Inuyasha was standing along with her, clapping and
smiling faintly. It surprised her at first, but then she thought
about it. The song was his creation after all. Even though he hadn’t
been the one to perform it, she was sure he was still proud of it.

As
the concert ended and they were leaving the amphitheater along with
the rest of the crowd, Kagome considered wandering off to find Sango
to congratulate her, but the mass of people was so thick she doubted
she would ever be able to find her friend in it. Deciding to wait for
another day, she fell into step next to Inuyasha. He looked tired,
but had announced that they were going down to his terrace for a
while, anyway. She had reluctantly agreed, and now she felt her
headache, which had subsided a bit with the distraction of Sango’s
performance, once again beginning to resurface, worse now than
before. The pain caused a faint wave of nausea to pass through her,
but she swallowed it down.

As
they walked through the dome along the dimly lit path, she looked up
at Inuyasha. His face was once again devoid of emotion, that familiar
bored expression had returned.

She
hesitated for a minute, then said, “You wrote that song, didn’t
you?”

Inuyasha’s
expression stiffened. “Did Sango tell you that?”

“No,
your fingers were moving during the song, as if you were the one
playing the piano.”

She
noticed him flex his hand, as if angry at it. He didn’t
respond.

“It’s
a beautiful song,” she said, hoping the praise wouldn’t
make him even more uncomfortable. She wasn’t expecting a
response this time. It was enough that he heard the compliment. He
never turned away anymore when she offered one.

A
minute went by, and they continued walking in silence, until she
heard him grumble, “She wrote the lyrics, I just wrote the
melody.”

She
was surprised by his response, and smiled brightly up at him. “Then
you both did an amazing job.”

Inuyasha
glanced down at her, and appeared to stiffen even more, his eyes
going wide for a moment, and a slight blush covering his cheeks. He
looked away just as quickly, but he didn’t seem upset. She drew
in a breath of crisp air. Progress. Now if she could just get some
rest and make this headache go away.

The
festival ended the following day. After a week of brilliant displays
all over the place, the city seemed strangely dull and colorless. Her
headache did not go away. She rose too quickly in the morning to swat
at her alarm, and a jolt of fresh pain stabbed through her head. It
was enough to send her back onto bed to bury her face in her pillow,
but she took a few deep breaths and willed herself to fight through
it. There just wasn’t any time to rest, she had a job to do. Or
rather, she had jobs to do. Either way, she would just have to work
through the pain.

She
only lasted until 10am. When she returned to the lab after running
the soil tests in the eco-dome, her face must have shown how much
pain she was in. Her coworker, the blonde, sent her home without
hesitation, and Kagome didn’t argue.

“You
look like you haven’t slept in days,” the girl said.

Kagome
smiled weakly, pulling off her lab coat.

“Are
you getting enough sleep? I know you have two jobs now, but don’t
you get any days to yourself at all?”

Kagome
started to shake her head then thought better of it. She shrugged
instead. “Inuyasha’s a busy man.” And with that she
excused herself, heading out the door and into the atrium, toward the
elevators, and toward the sanctuary of her room.

*****

Inuyasha
had been sitting on top of the iron framework of the new greenhouse
when he noticed Kagome walking through the conservatory, toward the
atrium, without her lab coat. It had been odd. She never took that
thing off while she was at work. When her blonde coworker came around
to do the soil testing in her place, he frowned and climbed down from
where he was working. Kagome never had anyone else do her work for
her. He knew, because he would watch for her every day to begin her
rounds in and out of the greenhouses. As long as she had been working
for him, she’d never missed a day of work.

As
the blonde headed into the grain house, he called out to her,
stopping her. She was a little flustered at first. The women who
weren’t used to talking to him were like that. Shy but eager,
like they would be if they met a celebrity.

“Where’s
Kagome?” he asked.

Her
expression fell for a moment, no doubt disappointed that he hadn’t
stopped her just to chat. “I sent her home a little while ago.
She wasn’t feeling well. I think she had a headache,” she
replied, her disappointment fading into concern.

Inuyasha
frowned again. Kagome had been moving a little slower than normal
when she woke him that morning, but he hadn’t thought anything
of it.

The
blonde looked up at him and said in a small voice, “She’s
been working a lot lately, and… I don’t think she’s
getting enough rest. She’s mentioned to me before that she gets
headaches when she's really worn out. She gets days off here, but I
don’t think she does when…” The girl trailed off
and didn’t finish the sentence.

She
didn’t need to. Inuyasha knew what she was implying. When
she’s working for me, he thought. He stared off through the
glass doors leading from the conservatory into the atrium. It was
almost time for his shift to end. He was nearly done with his work
for the day, he could leave a little early if he wanted to. He nodded
his thanks to the blonde and headed back to where his team was
working in the new greenhouse. A few minutes later, after letting
them know he was leaving for the day, he was headed back up to his
apartment, the glass elevator carrying him quickly up the inside of
the tower.

He
opened the door of the apartment quietly, and stepped inside. It was
dark; the long shades had been lowered over the windows, at least on
Kagome’s side of the loft. The air was cool on his skin as he
walked on silent feet up the stairs leading to her room. At the top,
peering through the sheer curtains, he saw her lying in her bed,
quiet and unmoving. He stilled his own breath and listened for hers.
When he heard it rise and fall softly, he let out a sigh of relief.
It was slow, and he knew that she was fast asleep.

Pushing
past the curtains, he stepped into the room and walked over to her
bed. She slept on her back, her head leaning to the side, a hand
resting next to her cheek on the pillow. A cloth lay beside her face,
a dark, wet spot in the pillowcase beneath it. He reached over to
pick it up and found it cool and damp in his hand. She must have laid
it on her forehead to take the edge off the pain, but turned in her
sleep, causing it to slip off.

He
considered replacing it, but decided not to. He didn’t want to
risk waking her. As he folded the cloth and placed it on the
nightstand, his attention was drawn to a pill bottle sitting there
next to a glass of water. He picked it up and read the prescription
label. Loradrine. Good stuff. She would be out for hours with that in
her system. He set the bottle back on the nightstand and looked down
at her sleeping face.

He
was still treading lightly around her, still unsure about the best
way to interact with her. And still too tempted to give her a hard
time just for the hell of it. He’d been selfish with her time
lately. The whole week of the festival he’d insisted she follow
him everywhere. He hadn’t considered that it would be so tiring
for her.

It
really wasn’t very fair either, asking her to work so much
without any time off. He’d decided not to give her nights off
back when he had still been angry with her, and hadn’t given it
a second thought since then. She was always there when he needed her
for something, and he had taken it for granted. He sighed and walked
around to the other side of her bed, to the opposite nightstand that
held her alarm clock. With a push of a button he saw it was set to
wake her at the normal time he woke every evening before he went out.
She had always been faithful to attend to him whenever he wanted, and
even now, when she was in pain, she had still taken the time to set
her alarm to make sure she would be ready to go when he was.

Determination.
He used to hate that about her. Now he admired it.

With
a flip of his finger, he switched off the alarm. He glanced back down
at her, then turned and headed through the curtains to his side of
the loft. It was time they both got some rest.

Hours
later, he awoke in his bed to find the entire apartment dark. Good,
he thought. She slept through the afternoon. He climbed out of
the bed and switched on his bedside lamp, illuminating his side of
the loft with soft light. It was bright enough to get dressed by, but
hopefully not enough to wake Kagome on the other side. He washed and
pulled on his clothes quietly, and was sitting on the chaise in his
dressing area, sliding on his shoes, when he heard movement in the
shadows from across the apartment.

Kagome
came hurrying over to him, her face apologetic. “I’m so
sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why, but my alarm
didn’t go off. I’ll be ready in a minute.” She
turned to head back to her side of the loft.

“Wait,”
he called out, and she stopped, turning back to him. He sat in his
chair, staring down at the ground, feeling strangely nervous all of a
sudden. He swallowed and asked, “How’s your head?”

She
looked confused. “I’m sorry?”

“You
left work early today because your head hurt, right?”

She
nodded. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“How
are you feeling now?” He dodged her question with one of his
own.

“Better,”
she replied, looking a bit suspicious at his sudden concern for her.

He
stood. “Good. I’m going out on my own tonight. You’re
going to stay here and rest.”

She
blinked at him. “You want me to… rest?” Now she
looked very suspicious. It made him suddenly irritated.
He was trying to be nice.

“Yes.
You wanna fight about it?” he almost growled.

“No,
I… it’s just that…” She appeared to be too
shocked to find the words she was looking for, and finally she shook
her head and smiled. “Thanks.”

He
snorted. “Whatever. Just stay in bed, you got that?”

“Alright.”

“And,”
he turned toward her, but averted his eyes, a little embarrassed by
what he was about to say. “I want you to think about what two
days during the week you want off. Tell me tomorrow what you decide.”

Kagome
stared at him in silence for a long time, and he found that, for
once, he actually enjoyed it. He had shocked her into silence. See?
I can be a nice guy after all.

“Okay,”
she replied softly.

He
could hear the relief and happiness in just that one word, and his
smugness was quickly wiped away by embarrassment once again. He
turned to head downstairs.

“Wait
a minute,” she called out and moved toward him, picking up a
brush from a table as she approached. He paused as she walked up
behind him. “Your hair is still tangled in the back.” She
reached up and began to run the brush through his long hair.

From
the corner of his eye, he could see her reflection in the large
three-paneled dressing mirror, and he watched as she smoothed his
hair carefully. Without thinking, he grumbled, “It’s just
gonna get messed up again, anyways.”

She
stilled for a moment, the pleasant look sliding from her face as
easily as if someone had wiped it away, replaced with a look of
sudden sadness and… something else he couldn’t
immediately identify. He silently scolded himself. They didn’t
talk about things like that. They didn’t even hint at it. It
just seemed to be too uncomfortable for both of them. But he’d
never seen a reaction like this from her. She looked genuinely upset.
All he had done was alluded to his night’s normal pleasures.

“Ah,
right,” she said softly.

He
studied her face in the mirror. She was still brushing his hair, but
much more slowly now, running the fingers of her free hand through
the strands alongside the brush. It was something she did once in
awhile. Normally he found it soothing, but this time he found it
troubling. Sadness, and what else? What else was it he saw in her
eyes as she stared at his back? Her lips parted slightly and she
turned her eyes downward, as if she were tearing them away from the
sight of him.

It
hit him suddenly with enough force to suck the breath from his chest.
Sadness, and longing. It was longing. He felt his heart leap
into his throat, and he had to force himself to swallow it back down.
He stepped away suddenly and half-turned to look at her, and his eyes
widened at what he found.

The
look was gone from her face, just as quickly as it had appeared. In
its place was that gentle smile she always gave him. It was just
Kagome, same as ever. Had he imagined it? No. She’s hiding
it. She doesn’t want me to know. A surge welled up
inside of him. He was angry suddenly, angry that she was hiding
something like that from him. He wanted to yell at her, shake her,
force her to be honest, force that look back onto her face.

“All
done,” she said cheerfully.

He
turned away quickly before his emotions could spill onto his face
where she might notice them. “Go to bed,” he said,
struggling to keep his voice calm, and then headed quickly down the
stairs. As he got to the door and opened it, he glanced back over his
shoulder to the landing at the top of the stairs. She was still
standing there, watching him. “Go to bed!” he barked, and
then walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Once
out in the silence of the hallway, he leaned back against the
apartment door and stared out across the atrium. Unbelievable. Had
she been hiding this from him the whole time? Or was it something
that had developed recently? He swallowed nervously, trying to make
sense of all the different threads of emotions tangling in his head.
If he had been unsure about her before, he was confused as hell now.
Stop it. Calm down and think clearly. He walked forward to the
railing and looked down to the ground floor of the atrium far below,
the people walking across it small as ants.

Longing.
Okay. He could deal with that. That was an easy one. He dealt with it
every day. It was easy. It should be easy.

But
this was Kagome. Just a few short months ago he had sworn that
he hated her. Of course, now he knew that hadn’t been the
truth, but old habits die hard. He took a deep breath and exhaled
slowly.

Why
not just go with it? The question rolled unexpectedly through his
head, and he considered it for a long time, his eyes staring blankly
out over the tower. The idea was both terrifying and intriguing at
the same time. He gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white
from the pressure, and only when he released his hold did he realize
that he was smiling faintly. What the hell. He would go with
it, for a little while anyway. There was probably no harm in just
that. He wasn’t sure how deep her feelings for him ran, but if
nothing else, he would have fun trying to find out.

*****

The
rest had done wonders for Kagome. Inuyasha had given her not only the
one night off, but the next as well. The day after that, Monday, was
one of her two chosen days off, and so she’d taken that night
to relax and spend some time with Sango. Three days off in all, and
now she felt refreshed.

She
was curled up on the small couch in her room, looking out over the
landscape. It was early afternoon, and Inuyasha would be home soon.
She always tried to stay up until he arrived back from his morning
shift, that way he wouldn’t have to wake her up if he needed
something. It was hard to keep from dozing off though. The warmth
seeping through the windows from the bright autumn day outside was
incredibly soothing.

The
sun was just beginning to slide into view at the top of the window.
Before long it would move lower in the sky and fill the entire
apartment with sun. After that, the shadows would start to grow long,
and eventually the sunset would wash the sky in all kinds of colors.
It was a process she usually napped through, though once in awhile
she would be able to catch the finale when Inuyasha decided to
prepare early for an evening.

She
heard the door click open, and then close, and she stood. “Welcome
home,” she called, moving through the curtains as he came up
the stairs to the loft.

Inuyasha
answered her greeting with a grunt, and headed straight into the
bathroom. He shut the door behind him with enough force to show that
he was cranky, but not quite mad. At least, not yet anyway.

She
made a face. He was still sporting the same attitude he’d woken
up with this morning. She sighed and returned to her room, brushing
the curtains out of her way as she passed through them. She assumed
from his curt response that he intended to spend the afternoon alone,
and so she happily tossed herself into bed, her knee-length skirt
flaring up in a puff of wind, then settling around her legs. She
wiggled up to the pillows and pulled one under her head, hugging it.

Damn,
she really loved this bed. It was just so comfortable. She closed her
eyes. Faintly, from the other side of the loft, she heard the sound
of water running. Must be taking a bath, she thought, letting
loose a yawn. Her mind quickly slipped into a hazy half-sleep.

She
had a dream about a long hallway lined along the floor with blue
lights, a life-sized male puppet dressed in French period clothing,
and a dog. A white dog with golden colored eyes. It was one of those
barely awake dreams that didn’t make any sense, floating from
random thing to random thing as the mind drifted off to sleep. She
heard her name once, then again, louder, enough to jar her awake
suddenly. She opened her eyes and pushed herself up on her elbows,
brushing the hair away from her face. Where the hell did that
dream come from? she wondered groggily.

“Kagome!”
Inuyasha shouted across the loft, startling her. He sounded annoyed.
He looked annoyed too. He stood in the doorway of his bathroom,
bare-chested with his pants still on, glaring at the fabric walls of
her room.

She
faintly remembered hearing someone call her name in the dream. That
must have been what woke her. She peered through the curtains at him,
bleary eyed. “Yes?” she called.

“God,
you fall asleep fast! Get over here!” He didn’t give her
time to argue, disappearing back into the bathroom as soon as he’d
said it.

She
stared at the empty doorway for a moment, daring herself to ignore
him and go back to sleep. In the end, she decided it wasn’t
worth the argument she was sure would ensue, and dragged herself off
the bed and toward his bathroom. The door was half-open as she
approached, and just before she walked in, she caught sight of his
pants as they flew through the air, landing in a pile just out of
sight. She stopped, her eyebrow twitching. Inuyasha was now not only
cranky, he was naked as well.

She
blew out a steady breath and walked up to the door. Without entering,
she called, “Are you decent?”

The
sound of water sloshing met her ears. “Yes. Get in here,”
he demanded.

She
walked in hesitantly, her eyes wandering around the
bathroom—everywhere but at the tub she heard him settling into.
Ever since the first time she had seen Inuyasha’s bathroom, she
had been envious of it. It was almost twice the size of her own, with
a toilet alcove and an elegant vanity to her left, a large tub and
separate, glass-enclosed shower room to her right. The bathtub was
the kind that was sunk into a wide ledge, so that there was plenty of
sitting room around it, and the basin itself looked large enough to
fit three people comfortably. A huge, fan shaped picture window was
set into the wall next to it, with the same breathtaking view as the
rest of the apartment. The shower room sat against the corner of the
far wall, next to the bathtub. Her own bathroom, while nice, just
couldn’t compare to this one, with its small, combined tub and
shower, much smaller vanity, and only about six feet of walking space
from one side to the other.

“I
want you to wash my hair,” she heard him grumble from the tub.
She looked over to find him sulking in the water, a pile of bubbles
floating all along the top of the water around him, up to his
shoulders.

She
stared at him, dumbstruck. He’d never asked her to do something
like that before. The most he ever let her touch him was to help him
dress and brush out his hair. And to haul his drunken ass around when
he got too wasted to do it himself. “Why?” she asked
cautiously, approaching the tub. The bubbles hid most of him from
sight, and she was grateful for that.

He
shrugged. “Just feel like it.” He didn’t look at
her as he reached over to pick up a bottle of shampoo sitting next to
the window and then held it out to her.

She
stood there, staring at it for a moment, as if it might bite her if
she reached out to take it. What a lazy bastard! she thought,
anger rolling through her.

He
shook it at her. “Come on.” He was getting impatient.

Pursing
her lips into a thin line, she finally reached out and took the
bottle from his hand.

He
settled back into the water and pointed to the ledge behind him.
“Just sit there and do it.”

With
a little sigh, she climbed up onto the raised area around the tub and
moved to sit behind him. She folded her legs beneath her body, but
the tile was too hard, so she crossed them in front of her instead.
Inuyasha sat in the water quietly, completely still as she adjusted
behind him. It was an awkward position. Even sitting as close to the
edge of the tub as she could, she still had to lean over her own legs
and down a bit to reach his head. With nothing to brace herself
against, she felt as if she might fall forward into the water, and as
she began shampooing his hair, she nearly did. Twice.

He
must have noticed, because after the second time, he gave out a
little snorting laugh. “Heh, stupid. Put your feet in the water
so you don’t fall in.”

She
glared at the back of his head for the ‘stupid’ comment,
but decided to let it pass, for now. She glanced down at the water.
The tub looked wide enough to put one leg on either side of him
without touching skin. She carefully unfolded her legs, pulled her
skirt up to her thighs, and placed one leg into the water on either
side of him. The water was almost too hot, just barely tolerable. But
he was right. When she leaned forward once again, her legs helped to
prop her up. Good. No more threat of falling into the naked man’s
bath.

It
was only then that she began to notice just how tangled and knotted
his hair really was. She vaguely remembered that he hadn’t
bothered to tie it back before he’d left for work that morning,
so it had probably been twisting and tangling in the wind all day. As
she finished shampooing, she said, “I need to rinse. Can you
hand me the sprayer?” The handheld shower head and its long
hose sat coiled on a hook at the head of the tub, and Inuyasha slid
forward in the water to grab the nozzle, pulling it with him as he
floated back into place between her legs.

He
moved a little too quickly, and the force of his body passing through
the water caused it to splash up a bit as he moved backwards, dumping
a small wave over the edge of the tub and onto the ledge. Kagome let
out a tiny squeak of surprise as the water soaked the bottom of her
skirt, and seeped into her underwear. She opened her mouth to yell at
him for it when she heard a mumbled “Sorry,” and he
handed the sprayer back to her. But it wasn’t the apology that
stopped her tirade. It was his hands.

He
sat facing forward, offering the nozzle to her over his shoulder, and
as the soap dripped from his skin, she found his hand covered in
gashes and purple bruises. As she slowly took the nozzle from him,
she looked closer, and found the wounds extended to his wrist and
halfway down his forearm as well. She’d seen these kinds of
injuries before. They were the natural consequences of his boulder
smashing habit.

That
was why he’d asked
her to wash his hair for him. It wasn’t because he was being
lazy, it was because it probably hurt like hell to use his hands
right now. Even for someone like Inuyasha, the body could only take
so much abuse. But the injuries had never been this bad before.
Gently, she began rinsing his hair, wondering why he had pushed
himself so hard. Her coworkers had said he only broke the rocks to
let off frustration. Was something bothering him so much that he’d
gone to the point of injuring himself?

Inuyasha
sat still and quiet between her legs as she applied conditioner to
his hair and gently began to work out the knots. She did her best to
ignore the uncomfortable feeling of the wet clothing beneath her. The
silence between them was awkward, but conversation would have been
even more so. After awhile, her back began to complain at the hunched
over position she was sitting in. She paused and pulled her fingers
from his hair, sitting up to stretch the muscles in her back, and
winced as a joint popped low in her spine.

Inuyasha
shifted in the water at her feet. “Are you almost finished?”

She
glared at the back of his head again. Here she was wet, uncomfortable
and achy, doing him a favor, and he had the nerve to start getting
impatient. “Be patient, Inuyasha. There’s a lot of
knots.” She tried to keep her voice neutral. If he knew he was
getting on her nerves it would probably only make him want to goad
her even more.

“You’re
so slow,” he complained, sinking into the water a bit.

She
sighed and took a handful of his hair, pulling him back up so she
wouldn’t have to bend over even more. “I’m slow at
everything, remember?”

“Ow!
Shit, that hurt!”

“Then
sit up so I don’t break my back doing this.”

To
her surprise, he did as she’d asked without argument. She went
back to work, threading her fingers through his slippery hair,
searching for any remaining knots.

They
sat in silence for a few minutes, until he spoke up suddenly. “You’re
not as bad as you used to be.”

“Huh?”
she asked, picking up the shower nozzle to begin rinsing his hair.

“With
the whole being slow thing. You’re not as bad as you used to
be,” he said, leaning back into the warm spray.

It
was a compliment, and she wasn’t quite sure how to react to it.
She blinked at the back of his head, trying to think of the best way
to respond, not really paying attention to what she was doing. The
sprayer wandered too close to one of his ears, something she had been
very careful to avoid until that point, and the water flowed over and
into his right ear.

He
jerked away suddenly. “Damn it, woman, watch what you’re
doing!” He shook his head to the side, trying to clear the
water.

“Sorry,”
she apologized. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Whatever.
Just don’t do it again.”

Or
what? she wanted to ask. She considered the back of his head
thoughtfully, recalling his ‘stupid’ comment earlier, her
wet clothes, and his impatience. The hell with it. She was going to
have some fun.

After
his hair was completely rinsed out, she paused just for a moment,
then reached forward with the nozzle, past his face, and then turned
it toward him. She pulled the trigger.

He
must have been caught completely off guard, because he nearly jumped
out of the tub. “Kagome! What the hell?” he yelled,
knocking the sprayer away and half-turning toward her.

She
smiled down at him, trying, and failing, to suppress a giggle. “That…
I did mean to do.”

He
spun around in the water to face her, angry golden eyes glaring at
her from beneath dripping bangs. Suddenly worried that she might have
really made him mad, she glanced to the side, searching for an escape
route. If she could just get out of his reach, she could probably
outrun him long enough for his anger to dissipate. But even as she
considered fleeing, she realized that Inuyasha would be able to catch
her before she even had one leg out of the tub.

As
if able to read her thoughts, he suddenly grabbed both of her ankles,
locking them in place beneath the water. She snapped her eyes back to
him, but his face was now hidden beneath his bangs. She couldn’t
tell if he was angry or not. Panicking, she tried to pull her legs
back, but he held fast. “Inuyasha, what—“ but her
voice caught in her throat as he suddenly leaned forward, rising a
bit in the water. His grip on her ankles loosened as he ran his hands
up the back of her legs, the tips of his fingers dragging along her
skin. It was all she could do to resist the shiver that fought to
crawl up her spine.

He
leaned forward even more as his hands reached the back of her knees.
He was leaning in between her legs now, his face still hidden from
view. “Inuyasha,” her voice came out as a tiny squeak.
“Wait. What are you—“ She didn’t get the
chance to finish.

He
yanked forward on the backs of her knees suddenly, pulling her off
the edge of the tub and into the water. She landed with a splash,
water and bubbles sloshing over the edge of the tub and spilling
across the tiled floor.

It
took her a moment to realize what had just happened, and as her
clothing floated in the water around her, she slowly looked up at
Inuyasha, who was still kneeling between her legs, a cocky smirk set
on his face.

“Wh…”
she blinked. “What are you doing?” she almost yelled,
reaching up to grip the sides of the tub angrily. She began pulling
herself out of the water, but he reached out and pushed her back
down. She tried again, with the same result. “Damn it,
Inuyasha. Let me out!” His only response was to push her down
again. She kept trying.

“Stay
down, damn it,” he grumbled. They went back and forth with this
odd sort of physical argument five or six times until Kagome finally
settled with an angry huff.

“Fine!
You win! Are you happy now?” she snapped.

His
hand hovered over her shoulder for a moment, as if unsure whether or
not she had really given up. When she made no further move to escape,
he gave her a victorious grin. “Very,” he said, turning
in the water and leaning back in between her legs to rest against her
chest.

Kagome
stilled suddenly, her heart jumping into her throat. He was naked,
and she was practically straddling him from behind. One leg was still
propped up on either side of him, and he rested his arms easily on
her thighs. A fierce blush rose to her face as she realized that the
bottom of her skirt had floated all the way up to her waist when
she’d been pulled in. She was suddenly squirming, trying to
push forward on him and pull her clothing back into place at the same
time. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
she demanded.

“Enjoying
my bath.”

“Inuyasha,
please let me out,” she pleaded, reaching again for the sides
of the tub.

He
responded by pushing back against her, as if to emphasize that he
wouldn’t let her out. “But the tub is so hard and
uncomfortable. Just sit here and be my pillow for a while.”

“My
clothes are gonna get ruined,” she argued.

He
sighed and slid down a bit, leaning his head back to rest on her
shoulder. “I’ll buy you new ones. Now shut up and be
still. It’s not so bad. The water’s still hot.”

She
turned her face away from him, pouting, staring out over the rest of
the bathroom. She knew she didn’t have a choice in the matter,
and glanced down. Mercifully, there were still enough bubbles along
the water's surface to hide everything below. Their position was
embarrassing enough without having to see it as well. His head was
propped against her shoulder, his eyes already closed, a serene
expression on his face. She had never seen him look so peaceful
before. She sighed, just enough for him to be able to feel the rise
and fall of her chest against his back, a final show of rebellion. As
expected, he ignored it.

They
settled back into silence once again. He had been right, the water
was still pleasantly warm, and since she had no other choice, she
relaxed against the tub and turned her head to look out the window.
As she did, her chin brushed against one of his ears and it twitched
in response. Despite her annoyance with him she had to suppress a
giggle.

She
soon became acutely aware of the feeling of his body pressed back
against hers. The scent of his freshly washed hair, his chest rising
and falling with each breath, the added warmth of his body. But most
troublesome of all was his hair. It floated in the water around her,
whispering along the skin of her arms. She had to resist the urge to
shiver more than once. Just when she didn't think she could take it
anymore, he finally spoke, breaking the silence.

“Hey,”
he said softly.

She
tilted her head down at him. “Hmm?”

“Why
didn't you come with me?”

“Come
with you?”

“After
you let me out.”

She
realized he was talking about when she had freed him from the lab.

“You
could have come with me. So why didn't you?” His voice was
nonchalant, as if he didn't really care what her answer would be.

She
stared down at him, surprised by his sudden question. “I
couldn't,” she replied, and added, much more irritably than she
had intended, “Someone had to clean up the mess.” She had
meant that someone had had to stay behind and clean up the
bureaucratic mess that resulted from shutting down the lab, but as
soon as the words left her mouth she realized they could have easily
been taken another way: that someone had to clean up the carnage that
Inuyasha had left behind.

He
was very still and very quiet against her.

Realizing
he had taken her words the wrong way, she said, “I'm sorry! I
didn't mean it like that.”

He
didn't respond, and now she was sure she had upset him. Her mind
raced, trying to think of something to say that would appease him,
and was about to blurt out the first thing that came to mind when she
noticed something rise up from under the water in front of him. He
was lifting something, but it was covered in bubbles, and she didn't
recognize it at first.

Suddenly,
a thought flashed in her mind. Where's the sprayer? She had
dropped it when he pulled her into the water, and had lost it after
that. “Inuyasha...” she said carefully.

He
turned the object toward her and pulled the trigger. Warm water shot
out and soaked her face. “Inuyasha!” she yelled, trying
to block the water with her hands. She tried to reach forward to grab
the sprayer from him, but he was pressing back against her, keeping
her pinned to the tub. After a few seconds, the barrage of water
stopped, and he finally sat up, smirking back at her. Without a word,
he reached down and pulled the drain open. The water and bubbles
immediately began sinking lower in the tub.

She
glared at him, not knowing whether to be angry or relieved. She
settled on mildly annoyed instead. “You're a bastard,”
she said. Now that he was no longer pinning her down, she lifted
herself back onto the edge of the tub. Inuyasha looked completely
unfazed, as if nothing had happened at all.

“Am
I done here?” she asked.

“Yeah,”
he said, rinsing the last of the bubbles from his hair as the water
continued draining around him. As she stood, he asked, “Where
are you going?”

“To
rinse off in the shower,” she replied, walking into the frosted
glass enclosure of the shower room. “So you can do the same in
all your nude glory out here.”

She
left the door to the shower open. No sense in closing it when she was
fully clothed. As the warm spray washed over her and rinsed the soap
from her clothing, she watched the blurred form of Inuyasha as he
stood up in the tub and finished rinsing off, only the white of his
hair and the tan of his skin distinguishable through the distorted
glass. He was taking an awfully long time to finish, she thought,
shutting off the water and wringing out her clothes as best she
could. As she bent down to begin twisting the fabric of her skirt, he
poked his head into the shower.

“Just
leave your clothes here and use this,” he said, reaching in to
hang one of his own thick bathrobes on a peg just inside the door. “I
don't want you dripping water all the way across the loft.” And
then he was gone again. She blinked at the spot where he had been,
and then turned her eyes to the robe. She couldn't decide if he was
being thoughtful or obnoxious, but it didn't really matter. The cold
air was beginning to make her shiver. She quickly closed the door,
discarded her wet clothes, and then wrapped herself in the thick
white material. It smelled like him, even though it was clean.

She
emerged from the shower to find herself alone in the bathroom. Being
careful not to slip on the still-wet tile, she walked out to the
loft. Inuyasha sat on his bed, one towel wrapped around his waist,
shaking another one across his head, re-tangling his hair all over
again.

She
sighed and walked over to him. “Stop that. You're going to get
it all tangled again. Let me do it.” He was just going to make
her do it anyways, might as well start now. She picked up a comb
lying on his night stand and reached out to take the towel from him,
but he suddenly grabbed her wrist and glanced up at her. She was
startled by his sudden action, but even more so by the look in his
eyes. He appeared distracted, as if troubled by something.

“I'll
do it. Go dry off.” He took the comb from her hand and then
released her.

She
stared down at him for a moment as he went back to work on his hair.

“I'm
gonna take a nap before we go out tonight,” he said. “You
should do the same.”

He
turned away from her, face hidden under the towel. Knowing he
wouldn't tell her what was bothering him even if she asked, she
nodded and headed back to her own side of the loft. She paused at the
curtains of her room, and glanced back at him. He was still sitting
on the edge of his bed, turned to look out the massive windows. He
had stopped toweling his hair, but hadn't yet lifted the comb. He
just sat there, staring out, looking as if his mind was suddenly
someplace far away.

Continued
in Chapter 11 – Wounds Unhealing

A/N:
I want to once again thank everyone for being so patient in-between
updates. Part of the reason it’s so slow going is because I’m
never home to write anymore. I’m home just long enough to eat,
shower, and sleep, then it’s back out the door. But now that
I’m the proud owner of a brand new laptop, I’ll be able
to take my writing with me, so hopefully that will help to speed
things up a bit.

Just
a quick clarification on chapter 9’s A/N. I mentioned Fluffy
would not be making an appearance mainly to avoid people making
assumptions about who the White Prince would be and then perhaps
suspecting Sesshomaru would play the part. To spoil the plot a little
for the sake of clarifying: the White Prince won’t be in this
story and was only mentioned as a plot device, and I didn’t
want people expecting him to pop into the story suddenly. Yes, if I
ever do a sequel Fluffy will likely fill the roll of this character.

So,
since this kills the idea that the White Prince is Miroku, just where
is that man hiding? Hmmm… ;)

By
the way, just in case anyone missed it, I completely re-edited
chapters 1 – 9, and they are now mostly error free. Made some
small revisions, and Kaede now takes the place of Esa, as mentioned
in chapter 3.

To
everyone who reviewed, thanks a ton! As always, reviews are
welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for the noms as well ;)

Drake220:
Thank you for your thoughtful review! I actually had the same
concerns about the setting. I wanted it to be fanciful and a little
over the top, but I was worried (still am to a point) that it would
seem so unrealistic that it would detract from the believability of
the story, and racked my brain trying to come up with a way to tone
down on the idealism, but in the end decided to just leave things the
way they were. I tried to think of ways to incorporate some conflict
into the beginning, but I wasn’t able to come up with anything
that satisfied me. But it is coming! There just hasn’t been any
reason for it to appear in the story yet. Don’t worry, this
isn’t just a ‘Happy, perfect world’ story, where
girl finds boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl finds a way to make
boy love her, and that’s the end of that ;). I’m afraid
there’s a bit more to it than that. In the meantime, I hope the
silliness of my setting won’t bother you too much :D!

Influential
music for this chapter

Pearls
– Ilaria Graziano, Cowboy Bebop Tank!

Kibou
no Sora – Eureka Seven OST 1

Yubiwa
– Sakamoto Maaya, Escaflowne: The Movie
- 9
- 10
- 11
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Fool's Redemption