Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

A Time for Changes	By : Fuafuru46 Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 25528 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
Chapter 19 - Everybody fakes it, And everybody hurts sometimes
“Why not strike a deal with me?”
Sesshomaru opened the door to the dining room and looked down at her, “A deal?”
“An exchange. I saved the girl’s life, you save mine. Give me the relic that will separate me from Kagome.”

Tsuki opened the door to the apartment Inuyasha and Kagome shared. With a quick wiff of the nose Tsuki could smell the presence of another woman.
It’s probably Kikyo Kagome mumbled, watching Tsuki slowly slip off her shoes.
“Disgusting priestess scent, it’s much more potent than yours.”
Well, she’s far less charming than the two of us.
Tsuki smirked and opened up the refrigerator and pulled out another bottle of wine. She had just finished pouring herself a glass when she sensed another presence in the room. Turning slowly, she found Kikyo standing at the end of the counter, glaring.
Tsuki leaned back against the counter and sipped at her wine, red eyes dancing under an arched eyebrow. She took a magnet and planted a ticket onto the fridge.
“You have a holy wound,” Kikyo pointed to Tsuki’s hand. “I can senese it from here.”
“Congratulations for you, then.”
“You seriously think you two can survive in that body as a demon and a priestess?”
“Am I your concern, little girl?” Tsuki tilted her head and smirked. “Or perhaps you are trying to assess your competition in the situation?”
Competition?
Kikyo chuckled and picked up her purse, “I hardly find you or that pathetic girl a threat.”
“Your aggressive nature will only prove to be your undoing.” She placed her empty glass gently on the counter and bared her fangs. “Do not underestimate pack mentality. Nor me, porcelain doll.”
From his bedroom Inuyasha could shout, “Hey, Kagome? Is that you I hear?”
Kagome’s eyes flipped to blue and she looked to Inuyasha’s half-closed door, “Yep! I just got back.”
“Where the hell have you been? Boil up some ramen and coffee.”
Kagome chuckled and looked to Kikyo, who stood, stoic as always, listening to the transaction between the two. Inuyasha exited his room and put his arm around Kikyo tentatively. He could sense the tension in the air but wasn’t sure what to do. Kagome had her back turned to him, pulling ramen from the cupboards. He felt himself suck in a small breath, this was not what he thought, “running around all day” meant. Did she go out on a date?
Kikyo tilted her gaze up to him and pulled him down for a kiss. While Kagome could not see behind her, she could hear, and part of her frowned and felt irritated as she opened up two packets of ramen and removed the powders. Her sensitive demon hearing could pick up on Kikyo telling Inuyasha to call her and think about what she’d said.
“Have a good night, Kagome-san.”
Kagome felt the hair on her neck prickle as a wave of holy light filled the room. The wound on her hand throbbed and she bit her lip. When she turned around she had glued a smile to her face and waved, “Please, safe travels while getting home tonight.’
The door clicked shut as Kagome resumed pouring water into the pot on the stove.
Inuyasha hopped onto the barstool and smirked, “Awful nice outfit for groceries and Lady Kanade. Speaking of which, did you even buy groceries? Do we seriously only have ramen left?”
Kagome couldn’t help but laugh looking down at the pot of swirling noodles, “I went shopping for Sango, but if you want, I can go out and get some tomorrow morning.”
Inuyasha could feel a shift in her, like she felt sad. His ears flattened and he fiddled with an empty glass on the counter, “I’m not saying you look bad or anything. You look nice. Just not what you normally wear.’
“Well, thanks. It’s new, Sango helped me find it,” Kagome looked over her shoulder and smiled, stirring the noodles. “I had an event tonight anyway. Thus,” she gestured to the outfit, “The getup. Had to look nice.” She pulled two bowls from another cabinet. “And your day?”
Inuyasha rubbed his head, “Work mostly. She just came over a little while ago, since you were out.”
“I know you want privacy and stuff, but don’t hesitate to tell me to get lost for a day if you want some time with your girlfriend.”
There was something about the word girlfriend coming from Kagome’s mouth that made him feel unsettled. Thankfully a bowl of ramen was slid in front of him as a distraction. He picked up his chopsticks and started to poke at it. “What was the little event for, anyway?”
Kagome bristled and sat down on the stool next to him. She deliberately took a sip of her soup before answering him. “Tsuki’s friend.”
“Tsuki has friends? Aren’t they your friends too?” Inuyasha looked confused.
Kagome winced as her eyes flashed red, “I can live independently of this young woman, you damn hanyou. Just because I’m trapped here does not mean I’m incapable of my own thoughts and decisions.”
Kagome gasped and looked down at her bowl, her eyes turning back to blue. “Well, I guess she answered it for ya,” she laughed weakly and took another bite of soup.
“She’s sure moody.”
Kagome shrugged, “I can understand why.” She took a sip of water and looked at him, “So Sango’s going to America for a vacation.”
“No shit? Well good for her. Maybe she’ll keep Miroku in line for a little while,” Inuyasha laughed, slurping up the rest of his noodles.
“Yup. She’ll be back in time for exhibition, if I ever complete my sketches,” Kagome ran a hand through her hair.
As her hand reached up to meet her hair again he noticed the white of the bandaids from the corner of his eye. He snatched his hand out and grabbed her wrist, watching her wince. “What is this?”
“A bandage.”
“From what?”
Kagome sighed, “A wound.”
“Where did this wound come from?”
Kagome looked away and sighed again, “Me.”
“What?” Inuyasha tugged her hand over to him so he could turn it over. She was practically leaning forward under his face as he stared at the bandage, the red at the center a little duller than earlier today. “Why did you do that?”
“Oh because I did it on purpose, Inuyasha!” She snapped at him, attempting to yank her hand back.
“Then what did you do?”
“It’s a holy burn,” she hissed, bringing her hand to her chest. “I went to Lady Kanade’s to talk about my powers. So she had me recreate the power and this happened.”
“You burnt your own hand?”
Kagome glared, “I hurt Tsuki. If I use my powers I hurt Tsuki.”
“And if Tsuki uses her powers?”
“She doesn’t hurt me,” Kagome hopped down from the stool and burrowed onto the couch, wrapping a blanket around her, frustrated at the conversation. “I’m the weak link. Even though I get to control the body, she’s the one who’s stronger.”
Inuyasha sighed and leapt onto the couch beside her, “Kagome, you don’t have to be a priestess if you don’t want to. Why are you so set on using them?”
“They are a part of me. I have them for a reason,” Kagome growled, folding her arms in front of her chest. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. How is Kikyo?”
“Remember how I said her company wanted to send her back to the states? She accepted.”
“She accepted?” Kagome rolled her eyes and glared off into the living room. “Where is she going this time?”
“Somewhere in America.”
“Great, that’s really freaking vague. I can’t believe she would do that to you, Inuyasha! Show back up in your life and then leave you again? It’s so not fair to you. It’s not fair to just attach yourself and form a bond then leave----“
“She asked me to go with her.”
Kagome whipped her head to him, “She what?”
Inuyasha nodded. “She wants me to go with her.”
“And you said?” Kagome felt her grip on her shoulders tighten.
“Well, I can’t just run away from here. I do have a job and school,” Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head. “So I said I’d go help her find a new place to live in, you know, since it’s summer break.”
Kagome tried to smile but could feel her face crumbling; it took all of her composure to keep it together, “Maybe you and Sango will be on the same flight then? It would make customs way easier for you.”
Inuyasha tried to smile too, this felt so wrong, why did nothing feel close to excitement or joy. “Yeah, t least we’d have someone to talk to for the flight. It’ll take freakin’ forever.”
“How long are you going away for?”
Inuyasha looked away from her eyes, those big blue eyes looked like they wanted to cry even though Kagome was holding his hand and smiling. “For about three weeks, probably.”
Kagome glanced to the ticket on the fridge and smiled, “At least you’re not gone forever. I’m going to throw wild house parties while you get to play tourist.”
He ruffled her hair, “Don’t trash my room, okay?”
She eased herself off the couch and touched his ear gently, “Have a great time. We’ll have to have a movie night or something before you go. We can talk about it tomorrow, though. I’m going to change these bandages and head to bed.”

Kagome pushed close the door to her room and threw herself onto the bed. There were no tears, no cries, but just an overwhelming anxiety in her chest. I told you not to make me a promise Inuyasha. I knew you couldn’t keep it.
- - - - - - -
Kagome woke the next morning in her pajamas, somewhere in the midst of the night she had gotten changed. She rolled over in the bed and saw a blinking light on her laptop. That was strange, was someone trying to get ahold of her?
She rubbed the back of her head and woke up the screen, finding a video chat invitation from a certain PervyMonk12. Rubbing her eye she picked “accept” and was surprised to find Miroku jiggling his laptop trying to look in it.
“Miroku, is that you?”
Miroku smiled and waved at the screen, “HI KAGOME.”
Kagome laughed, “Japanese please.”
“Damnit, I forget to do that all the time,” Miroku chuckled, sitting himself down in his computer chair. “You look chipper. Did I wake you up?”
Kagome nodded and pulled out a granola bar from a side drawer of her desk, “It’s okay though. I have owed you a phone girl. You and your girlfriend harass me about it.”
“Oh my dearest, Kagome. It pains me that you think of our friendship as harassment.” Miroku faked being stabbed in the heart. “Tell me, Morning Sunshine, how are you?”
Kagome held the granola bar between her lips and gave him a thumbs up. She pulled it away and forced a weak smile, “Things are as good as they can be, given the circumstances.”
“Yes, distance is not good for our relationship.”
Kagome laughed and stuck up the middle finger to him. “Well you’re taking both Inuyasha and Sango away from me.”
Miroku chuckled, “Hold on though, what do you mean Inuyasha?”
“He’s going apartment hunting with Kikyo, about the same time Sango’s going.” She folded her legs underneath her and looked off into her room. ”I’m going to be alone for two weeks.”
“Well, you could always get on a plane and see me!”
Kagome shook her head and smiled, “You know I can’t afford that right now.”
“I thought the apartment was covered for the year. Plus your medical bills too.”
“That’s not the point, Miroku. I still save up each month and pay my rent so I will never owe that damn lady anything,” she barked. She touched her scar over her flannel t-shirt. “Besides my exhibition is right around that time.”
“So just come back when Sango does. I purposely made sure she’d be back in time for it.”
“Miroku, haha, I have to finish the artwork first. I’m still short on drawings and I can’t even take off time from work. You guys would be way too much of a distraction.”
Miroku scoffed and faked a sigh. “What else is going on? How’s the love life?”
Kagome tried not to choke on her granola bar from laughing. “I guess Tsuki has a date next week.”
Miroku raised an eyebrow, “Tsuki?” Kagome reached onto her desk and pulled up a hand mirror. Her reflection had red eyes and glared at Miroku, then looked away. “OH, that Tsuki. Well, good for her, right?”
“Guess so. Weird to sit back and watch things happen even though I’m right there.”
“Living inside a movie, or something?” Miroku asked, pulling up a notebook and turning open to a new page. “What’s it like not having classes? Summer courses are brutal here.”
Kagome laughed, “I’m still working on all my sketches. You know, making up for the classes I missed.”
She noted the small sad smile on Miroku’s face as he turned in his desk chair to look at her, “It’s been that long since I left, huh?”
Kagome nodded slowly, “I was with Koga only for a few days before you left.”
“I wanted so badly to see you while you were in the hospital, you know that, right?”
“Miroku, I would have killed you if you had passed up studying in America for me.”
“Hai, hai, I know that, Kagome,” Miroku turned another page and wrote something down in the column and glanced up at her. “Sango has been telling me a lot of what you’ve been up to.”
Kagome sighed, “I’m sure she has…”
“Hey, don’t say it like that, Kagome.” Miroku put down the book in front of the computer and smiled, “I’m just trying to be supportive, eh?”
“I know, I know, everyone has their best intentions in mind.”
“Maybe, but we all could be wrong.”
Kagome smiled and rubbed her messy hair. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“What do you want to do, Kagome?”
Kagome looked up at him in the monitor and was quiet for a while. She unraveled the bandage on her hand and held it up in the air, not caring if Miroku could see it. In her peripherals she could tell he was examining the wound, curious and ever concerned, but not one to pry her as hard as Sango did. The wound was gruesome, but healing still. “I want Tsuki and I to be separated.”
“Kagome, is that even possible?”
Kagome shrugged, “If she has her own personality, ideas, and beliefs, she deserves her own body. She’s a lot stronger than I am, tougher too.” She closed her fist and opened it again. “Someone told us there’s an ancient relic that will help separate us.”
“You actually believe in that mythical stuff?”
“It is what I’m studying in school,” she chuckled. “Besides, I never would have thought I’d believe in demons, priestesses, and everything in between and now I’m all of them. “
“You’re just a little oddity, aren’t ya?” Miroku teased. “But honestly Kagome, don’t you have any normal human desires?” He laughed, “don’t you want your degree, or a boyfriend, or a home, stuff like that, anymore?”
Kagome shrugged her shoulders, “I mean, I’m only a semester or two away from my degree. Regardless of Tsuki with me, she’ll let me get my education, I think.” Kagome leaned back on her computer chair and pulled out a sketchpad from the desk. “A home? If Kikyo and INuyasha get series I will, once again, be without a home. I’ll have to figure that out soon…”
“And boyfriend?”
Kagome glanced at the monitor and looked away, “No comment.”
“Come on, you haven’t thought about it?”
“Remember when I was normal, before any of this happened? I was already too busy then to even have a boyfriend. Now I’m living for two. No. N-O.”
“Even if the right someone came along?”
Kagome glared at him, “You know, Sango gives me enough lip about this, I don’t need the couple double teaming me. I want to get through my art installation, that’s what important to me.”
Miroku held up his hands in protest.
“Look. I’m going to take a shower and go to the gallery and see how it’s coming. I’ll talk to you later okay?”
Kagome didn’t wait for Miroku to finish protesting before she shut her computer monitor on him.

- - - - - - -
She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder and Kagome shook her head, almost knocking the cup of coffee clear out of her own hands. Inuyasha looked at her with a small smile, “You were daydreaming.”

“Right, sorry about that.” She looked down at her cup of coffee, now cold and bitter, and pushed it to the side. “What’s up with you?” She rested her head on her wrists on the counter.
“Got work at the café for a few hours.” He reached out and tentatively touched the top of her head. “You okay? I swear you’ve been daydreaming for at least fifteen minutes. I made a whole new pot of coffee and you didn’t even flinch.”
“Just got stuff on my mind.” She had yet to lift her head up.
Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head, “I know the feeling. Lots of decisions to be made.”
“Need to go to the store,” Kagome grumbled, rolling her head to the side to look up at him, seeing him smile. “Good morning…Inuyasha.”
He smiled, “Morning.” Inuyasha took a bite of his toast and slipped into his shoes. “You should come by the café tonight. Nana hasn’t seen you in a while.”
“You ever think time has its own prerogative?”
“What the hell you talking about?” Inuyasha laughed, throwing on a baseball cap. “What would time want with me?”
“You don’t think it works weirdly? There’s so much I can’t remember anymore.”
“What do you want to remember?”
Kagome smiled weakly and looked away, “Nevermind, I’m just being stupid.”
Inuyasha, who had already the door to leave, eased the door back shut. “Kagome?”
She glanced at the ticket on the fridge and closed her eyes. “Everyone keeps telling me to look forward, figure out what I want, and I still feel as though I’m living on borrowed time.”
“Borrowed time?”
Kagome finally sat up and looked at Inuyasha, folding her hands in her lap. “If it wasn’t for you, and if it wasn’t for Tsuki, I wouldn’t be here anymore. I’m just trying to be grateful to be here and everyone already wants my ‘what’s next’.”
Inuyasha walked towards her and slid his hand along her cheek, “You’re here, isn’t that what matters?”
Kagome leaned into his touch and looked sadly at him, “I have no idea where I’m going though. I’m here, and I’m grateful, but I feel like I’m not doing anything. I feel like I’m waiting to breathe again.”
“Do you want to go talk to Lady Kanade?”
Kagome shook her head, keeping her face close to the warmth of his touch, “Wanna come with me to work now? I’ll make you a mocha.”
Kagome smiled and pulled her face free, “I’ll walk with you, but I really have to go to the store. Plus, we need groceries right?” she tuck out her tongue, “Sick of the ramen?”
Inuyasha went to the door and tossed her shoes at her feet. “Well let’s go. Some of us get docked pay if we’re late.”

He grabbed her hand right before pulling her out the door.

- - - - -
On the big yellow couch Kagome sat with an easel in front of her. There were dabs of yellow paint on her fingertips as she moved to color the woman in the picture’s hair. There was a speckle of blue paint on top of her eyebrow.
Nana sat down on the couch beside her and rested her chin in her hand. “I could watch you paint and create for hours, Kagome.”
Kagome looked over to her and smiled, “Why is that?”
“It’s hard to say. But it’s almost like magic to me.” Nana’s hair was white again this week, but with blue streaks moving through it. Inuyasha was behind the counter wiping down the espresso machine. “It’s a magic I can’t say is duplicated in any other way.”
Kagome looked at her painting. Nana couldn’t help but notice how far away her eyes seemed, as if she was talking to the person in the painting. “Magic…”
“It’s magic that is so hidden but so apparent at the same time.” Nana played with the wrist warmers she was wearing. “I think of the moment when you pull a wool blanket up to your chin to go to sleep and if you’re lucky lighting strikes. The static electricity creates little lightning bolts in your bed in the darkness of the night, coming and going in a little dance.”
Kagome nodded slowly and smeared the yellow paint onto the canvass again. “Magic is walking into an empty space and filling it.”
“Filling it? With furniture?”
“No, it’s not just stuff, it’s just….” Kagome lifted her head up and looked back at Inuyasha and then to Nana. “It’s not just stuff anymore. I mean there is stuff, there’s meaningless stuff, but then you create these memories. The memories live in all these stupid little things, like coffee pots and couches, broken plates and sunhats, and somehow it fills the room with this overwhelming presence.” She closed her eyes, “And if all the warmth leaves, the presence isn’t there either.”
Kagome wiped her hands clean and looked at Nana, “I feel like everything’s about to change.”
“What makes you think that?” Nana smiled and touched Kagome’s arm, “Change can be a good thing, Kagome. Not everything will be as it has in the past.”
Kagome looked at the wound on her hand and frowned. “Something is just….it doesn’t feel right.” She tapped her chest for emphasis.
The door chimes jingled. Kagome lifted her head and was surprised to see Sesshomaru standing in front of her. Nana looked between the two, not knowing the relationship she was seeing. She did not, however, the shift of eye color in Kagome’s eyes.
Sesshomaru stared at the woman in the painting an then down at Tsuki, “It is quiet good, for a human.”
Tsuki smirked, “I doubt the Lord of all people could express emotions the way she does.”
“Ah, so you compliment your little human vessel?” Sesshomaru smirked down at her. “What keeps you here in this place?”
“The excellent service of course,” Nana jumped up, her hands on her hips. She stood two feet shorter than Sesshomaru and did not bat an eye of fear at him. “Can I help you with something, customer?”
Sesshomaru chuckled an looked to Tsuki, “I see you surround yourself with only the most confident of the humans.”
“No other way for us to survive,” Nana chirped. “I do not and will not fear you, demon Lord. My family has direct lineage to the Feudal times. I have been raised to know of demons.” She pulled a charm from around her neck and smiled. “You are more than welcome here. But I know you are more than likely here for Kagome. I shall leave you two.”
Sesshomaru looked to Tsuki. “I have brought information for you.”
“With no strings attached, now really?” Tsuki raised an eyebrow at him not basking her skepticism.
“You did in fact save my ward. I can at least show thanks with this.” Reaching into his breast pocket he handed her a vanilla envelope.
Tsuki opened it slowly and pulled out a picture. She raised her eyebrow.
“This is the best composite image of the relic I could find for you.”
“Ah, so the lord lied when we first met, stating you had the relic.”
“Perhaps more, this demon has so much property in so many places that it has been lost and tucked away.”
Before she could ask more a cup came hurdling towards Sesshomaru’s face, something he easily caught. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Author’s Notes: Safetysuit “Let Go”
- 18
- 19
- 20
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 Time for Changes