Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Strawberry Summer	By : QueenoftheDream Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Kouga/Kagome Views: 3312 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I make any money in writing this fic.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
April 8, 1887
The night previous, Kagome was summarily sent to bed without supper, and not a word was said to her by any of her family. When she woke up in the morning, an entirely new butterfly had taken up residence in the pit of her gut- anxiety. She knew that her mother would still be livid after her incident with Koga, and although Kagome wanted to fight back, she knew that it was, for all intents and purposes, useless.
She came down in the morning to do her normal chores. Though it was before dawn, the cool air was muggy and humid. By the time she had finished milking the cow, she was distinctly uncomfortable. As the sun rose, she headed inside for breakfast.
When she got inside, she was met with a cold stare from her mother, who had served breakfast without her. Sota spared her a pitying glance as she sat to dig into her room-temperature food. The meal was taken in relative silence, apart from Grandpa’s gummy mashing and grumbling. Her mother refused to even look at her, and Kagome felt a mixture of anger and guilt swirling around in her chest along with a definite sense of chastisement. Without a word, she left her clean dishes and trudged outside.
She dragged the wash basin up next to the house and grabbed a pail with a sigh. Koga was probably out in the pasture, Michael was undoubtedly loafing around the barn with his broken collarbone, and Josephine was almost certainly inside patching up Michael’s endless flurry of holey trousers, socks, and shirts. All in all, it was a quiet, lonely day on the homestead, and Kagome felt the normally soothing, quiet open spaces stretching on forever. She felt as if she stood on the edge of a vast and empty plain with naught but the wind and shivering wheat stalks across the way as her company. With a huff of irritation, she shrugged off the fog of poetic woe and got back to work.
Several sloshing trips to the well later, the tub was filled with water, and Kagome went back inside to collect the sheets for their spring washing.
As she dragged and scrubbed the linens on the tin washboard, her mind wandered. Was Mother right? Is Joseph Hopkins truly a better match, Mr. Allen simply being a flight of fancy, a folly of youth? Her expression grew sour, and she mentally vented her frustrations at Hopkins’s irritating existence, at Mother’s disapproval, and at her own heart’s fascination with the new ranch hand.
After the sheets were sufficiently mashed, squished, and wrung out, she hauled them to the clothesline and slung them over, watching them bob and sway in the light wind. Next, she trudged into the fenced-in garden to do some weeding. The bean stalks were creeping along nicely, and the squash were looking especially healthy. She left her little strawberry patch as is, and picked out the weeds from between her mother’s cabbage heads while contemplating what exactly it was about Koga Allen that had so captured her fancy.
Was it his striking blue eyes or the rich dark hair peeking out from under his hat? Maybe it was the way his calloused hands wrapped neatly around her own… Or perhaps the way the corded muscles of his arms flexed as he tossed bales of hay.
Her tiny handful of weeds was paltry and dry, so she didn’t even bother tossing it into the chicken pen, much to the disapproval of the hens. Her mind still wandered as she made her way up the front porch steps and into the house to work on reviving some of her holey old stockings. After entering the house, careful not to let the door slam behind her, she removed her boots and began toward the stairs to retrieve her socks for darning.
What she didn’t expect was Mother to come wheeling around the corner. Kagome didn’t have time to throw her hands up before her mother’s palm came flying at her cheek, connecting with a loud smack that sent Kagome reeling backward with a screech.
Hand clapped to her stinging cheek, she looked at her mother, and she knew that her wide eyes and pursed lips betrayed her desire to strike back. Mother, however, looked beyond livid. Dark brown eyes were shadowed by dangerously low brows, and her chest heaved. Kagome knew better than to open her mouth, so she bridled her rage and waited for the impending enraged tirade. She watched the other woman’s nostrils flare with each heavy breath.
“Do you ever think before you act?” Her mother’s voice was deadly quiet, and Kagome stood motionless in the hall, unsure whether to stand tall in defiance or cower in the wake of the venomous harangue. The elder woman screwed her eyes shut and balled her hands into fists by her side. “Do you ever think? What will the neighbors say? What would the Hopkins family say when they find out you’ve been dallying with a filthy stable boy? Their son’s love, passed around stable hands and cowboys like a camp follower.”
Kagome opened her mouth to object- after all, there had been no romantic liaisons or dalliances between her and Koga- but she was cut off when her mother raised a small hand.
“What would your father say- God rest his soul- about this? Your father gave you everything, treated you like a normal girl and saw to it that everybody else did as well, despite the Indian blood. Before he died, he built a safe life for all of us so that we might be set up for a good future and the prospect of a good marriage for you. But not you. No, not you.” She shook her head slowly as a disgusted scowl inched across her face.
“You would throw it all away for some half-breed laborer. A lifetime of work, of planning, of concern, and you would scorn it for a petty dalliance with a man who would use you and discard you like a common prostitute.” Kagome’s face burned with a combination of anger and shame, and she took a deep breath before closing her eyes.
“Mama, you must know that isn’t my intention,” Kagome murmured in as much of a placating tone as she could muster. “While I will say once again that marrying Joseph Hopkins holds very little appeal, I can tell you that there is nothing going on between Mr. Allen and I. He has never been anything less than professional and polite.” She watched her mother’s lips press into a thin, hard line, and the hall went dark for a moment as a fleeting cloud blotted out the sun. “Mr. Allen is only my friend, Mother. You’ve seen him enough to know that there’s nothing about the way he looks at me that would indicate a desire for anything other than friendship.” As she uttered the statement in all of its bald truth, Kagome felt her heart give a small, painful squeeze.
Her mother’s shoulders sagged as she let out a heavy sigh. “That may be true, but I see a look in your eyes that I am none too fond of.” Kagome felt her cheeks heat under her mother’s narrowed gaze. “You act as a wicked and willful child, and whatever I say to you, you always turn and do the opposite. Just remember to think.” Her tone was still strict, but Kagome recognized it to be her way of reconciling differences for the time being. After all, a homestead divided ended up with animals running loose and chaos overrunning the house.
Seeing that the argument had come to its conclusion, Kagome started for the upstairs hallway once more to retrieve her clothes for darning, but her mother held up a hand. “Before you do the mending, I should like you to take this lunch out to your brother. He’s been working like a dog to try and compensate for Michael’s injury, so no doubt he will be hungry.” Kagome nodded and slipped her feet back into her boots before retrieving the small wicker basket from the kitchen and carrying her cargo outside.
The sky was overcast and glum, and she looked pensively to the smudged clouds as she made her way to the barn where Sota was most likely to be working. She walked around the barn to the back where there was an old, round tree stump that everyone on the ranch made use of as a makeshift table. When she arrived, however, she saw that Josephine had already laid out a small picnic for Sota, who was happily munching on a slice of pork sandwiched between slabs of cornbread. His eyes flitted greedily down to the basket, but he looked back up at his sister, mumbling, “Sorry, Josie is already feeding me,” around a mouthful of food.
She gave the teen, who was wolfing down his food like a starving animal, a sardonic glare before trudging away. The thought crossed her mind to eat the meal herself and save herself the trouble of preparing her own midday meal. However, a small treasonous part in the back of her mind spoke up. After all, nobody was looking… She could take it to Koga. The guy had to eat at some point, right?
She pursed her lips to squash a smile and set off for the front of the barn with a spring in her step that spoke of secretly and giddily breaking the rules. Breaking Mama’s rules, the rules of propriety, who knows? It could have even been against the law, but she briskly shuffled into the barn all the same.
To her good luck, Koga was sitting inside, perched on an overturned bucket as he diligently cleaned the dirt from under his fingernails with his knife. When Kagome stepped into the light in the front of the barn, casting a shadow upon the floor before him, he looked up. At seeing her, his lips curved in a kind smile, and Kagome’s stomach did an excited flop in reply.
“Well, Miss Kagome. Is that all for me?” he asked as he stood, towering over her as she approached. She nodded with a shy grin, knowing that a dark blush adorned her cheeks. “You’re in luck, young lady, as I’ve just swept these floors. They’re clean enough to eat off of, I reckon.” Kagome shot him a scandalized look, but his face folded into a sly smirk. “Provided there’s a blanket to put over it.”
Kagome scoffed, rolling her eyes as a grin worked its way across her cheeks. “Is that your idea of a joke? You really need to work on your humor if that’s the case.” Koga gave a chuckle as he shielded his eyes from the flurry of straw bits that flew at his face as Kagome snapped the old flannel blanket open to set upon the ground. Kagome sent him a sly look. “You ‘swept,’ huh?” He simply shrugged and sat down upon the blanket, peeking into the basket.
As Kagome started to turn toward the house to get her own meal, Koga stopped her. “Hey! The meal is much appreciated and all, but could you find it in your heart to stay with me? Eating a good meal just isn’t worth much if it’s eaten all by one’s lonesome. Company, even from a little girl, always makes food taste better.”
“I’m not a little girl,” was Kagome’s immediate retort, and she nearly smacked her hand to her lips for how rude she sounded. All the same, she sat on the opposite edge of the blanket from him.
Koga’s eyebrows flew up toward his hairline as his mouth crooked to the side in a half-grin. “Oh, is that so? Then what are you?” he replied to her.
“I-“ Kagome sputtered, locking her fingers together in a cat’s cradle of twisted digits. “I’m a young lady!” She nearly winced when she heard how unconvincing she sounded. It was pathetic. Here she was, sitting on the floor of a damned barn, trying to gain the affections of an older man who was not only a stranger for all intents and purposes, but an employee of the family business. Why she could kick herself for her impetuosity-
Koga cut into her thoughts. “I suppose that’s so, Miss Kagome. That you are.” She felt herself go completely rigid, and her wide eyes locked onto his as he took the first bite out of his sandwich. “S’good,” he managed to get out around the half-chewed lump of food in his cheek, and Kagome gave a bashful smile in return.
She fumbled with the edge of the blanket as a soft, chilly breeze swept into the barn, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. They sat together while Koga finished his midday meal in comfortable silence, and when he finished, he tipped his hat at her with a small grin before heading back to work. Kagome gathered up the blanket and plate and then walked back to the house with a perky smile stretched across her cheeks. She hastily prepared her own meal and wolfed it down before brushing past Mama to retrieve her socks from upstairs.
The rest of the day, Kagome sat in the main room, mindlessly darning socks and repairing minor rips in her clothes while she wrapped herself in the titillated cloud swirling around her mind. Koga had admitted that he did not see her as a child! At least not anymore, that is. She sat with a lazy smirk while her fingers mechanically worked at mending the clothes. She never gave pause as to why she felt that way about the seemingly simple, harmless words he had said to her or whether it was even right for her to react, even mentally, in such a manner. Nothing mattered except that she was seen as a young woman, and she was beginning to feel like one, too.
At dinner, she ate the meal serenely and had the peace of mind that her mother had not seen her take the food to Koga instead of Sota. When she climbed into bed at the end of the day, she did so with a warm snugness in her heart, and she fell asleep with a spark of confidence alight in her mind.
The next day, Kagome snuck another small picnic out to Koga. She hadn’t even made it out the door before she saw Mama glowering at her from the hall. This time, of course, she was inevitably caught by her mother, who looked like she would completely blow her top but for the swift damage control that Kagome enacted.
“What sort of employers would we be if we didn’t even bother to feed our stay-on workers? He’s not received any wages that I can see, so the poor man should be temporarily compensated.” While Mama gave Kagome a scowl that would scare the old floral paper off the walls, Kagome knew she had free license to keep her lunch appointments with her new friend. As a bonus, it gave her a peculiar sort of pride to know that she was feeding him and fulfilling a wifely sort of duty. She knew it was silly and far-fetched to think of it in that way, but she still cradled the notion inside her heart with a sort of childish glee.
Kagome resolved that every day, just past noon, she would bring out a small meal to the barn, where Koga would wait for her. Not only was it a good deed, but it also gave her more of an opportunity to get to know their new employee better. Apart from the basics he had supplied at dinner the first day they had all met him, she knew nothing of his past, his likes and dislikes, or even his age.
That day, she worked up enough nerve to ask him about his age. Since there was no truly graceful way to ask such a personal question, she simply dove in as he dug through the small basket to get to the food inside.
“Ehm, Mr. Allen-“
“Koga,” he interjected as he uncovered a small hunk of bread. “The name is Koga. Mr. Allen makes me sound like I’m about ten years older than I already am.”
She gave an inner cheer as he did all the work and cleared the way for her questioning. “Koga,” she began, feeling the strange way his name sounded in her mouth, “about that. I was just wondering, um, how old you were.” He looked quizzically at her, and she rapidly backpedaled. “N-not that it’s my business or that I wish to pry. Of course, that’s not my intention. I was just curious-“
He laughed as he spread some of the freshly churned butter on his slice of bread. “You’re lucky I am such a mild-mannered fellow. A model citizen, really,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the smile from his face at the joking statement. “One day, your inquisitive nature will most certainly get the best of you, Miss. As to your question, I am twenty four years old, nearly twenty five now that I think on it.”
“Oh? When is your birthday?” Kagome enthusiastically asked as she rolled a piece of straw between her fingers.
“The first of August. And what of you, Miss?”
Kagome felt her face flush and she looked down at her lap as her cheeks lifted in a bashful grin. “Me, I just turned sixteen a few weeks prior to your arrival.” Koga nodded in acknowledgement and speedily ate his lunch. Oddly enough, he made himself quite scarce after he finished, leaving Kagome to load the basket back up by herself. Just as she put the hastily folded blanket into the basket, she looked up to see Sota standing in front of her. Judging by his pursed lips and upturned nose, she was most likely in trouble.
She simply sauntered past him, trying her best to look aloof and detached. Sota, however, did not fall for the act, and leaped in front of her.
“You know Mama doesn’t want you hanging around the help, Kagome,” he lectured, and his eyebrows drew down over his dark eyes.
Kagome shrugged. “I was simply feeding him. Mama knows of this arrangement, so I see no problem with it.” She tried to shoulder past him, but he just walked next to her.
“Yes, I know that, but don’t think I don’t know your little game here. ‘Oh, how old are you sir? Heehee.’” Sota did his best impression of his sister, speaking in a falsetto while clasping his hands together and batting his eyelashes. Kagome leveled a glare at him that would wither a field, but he persisted. “Honestly, Kagome, you’re a terrible sneak. You’re sweet on him, and everyone can tell.” Kagome felt her face flush, and she cast her eyes down in embarrassment as she sped up her pace.
“You can buy my silence, though,” Sota murmured, and Kagome turned to cast him a questioning look. “Eggs. Every day until he leaves.” He folded his arms over his chest and tucked his chin in.
Kagome groaned. “Anything but getting the eggs, Sota. You know I hate going in that smelly old coop, and those chickens have it in for me! I would swear it on the Bible; they want me dead,” she whined. He shook his head with a sly smirk.
“Eggs or nothing.” Kagome scoffed, but acquiesced all the same to his ultimatum. She went about the rest of her chores that day knowing that he had something to hold over her head. Of course, he most likely would never act upon it unless something drastic came up, so she was assured of his silence for the most part. Still, at the same time it was humiliating for her little brother to be pressing and backing her into a corner over something so silly.
By the end of the night when she crawled into bed, she was at peace with the situation. Sota would never rat on her unless he needed to or she did something horrible to him. Aside from that, it’s not like she was doing anything rash or unladylike. She was simply making a friend. All in all, her mind was settled and tranquil as she drifted off to sleep. That is, until she remembered that tomorrow was Sunday, and she would be forced to endure Joseph Hopkins’s presence at church. In an instant, her calm mood transformed into irritation, and she fell asleep with a seed of agitation in her mind.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Strawberry Summer