Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Beautiful Stranger	By : SplendentGoddess Category: InuYasha AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 4035 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi or VIZ Productions, and I do not gain financially from my fanfic in any way.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7 – No Regrets

The next morning, Kagome awoke to a mild hangover, and an empty hotel room. There wasn't even the slight chance of misunderstanding and he was just in the bathroom, because the feel of his demonic aura was gone.

Her immediate reaction was to feel crushed. Sure, their night together had started as just a simple one-night-stand, but it hadn't ended that way, and despite herself, emotions had obviously come into play otherwise she wouldn't now be feeling betrayed. Here she was just muscling up the courage to try giving them a try, and she was going to give him her phone number, consequences be damned, and then apparently he'd had a change of heart? That...that coward!

Sniffling, she tried to tell herself not to jump to conclusions. She should probably at least look to see if he'd written her a note, first. Maybe he went ahead and gave her his phone number? Glancing at the nightstand, then, she saw that the notepad provided by the hotel had in fact been moved, away from the phone and closer to the edge of the nightstand, right next to her, and it had something written on it. It took a second for her to wipe a few wayward tears out of her eyes, and then she picked up the pad to read what it said.

“Just ran down for breakfast. BRB”

Wait...what?

And then she felt it, a demonic aura slowly getting closer and closer. Glancing at the clock, her eyes bugged a little when she realized it was only just a little after 7am. Checkout wasn't for four hours yet.

The beep of the door let her know he had her key card, and then the door swung open to reveal Inuyasha, fully dressed in his outfit from the night before, holding a cardboard tray with two to-go cups of coffee on it in his left hand, a paper to-go bag of some sort hanging from his mouth while he opened the door with his right hand while also holding the key card in that same hand.

She grinned up at him, hoping not to reveal the conclusion she'd foolishly jumped to upon waking, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, and one sniff of the air was all it took to have Inuyasha hastily setting the food and drinks down on the entryway table next to her cocktail purse as he rushed to her side, the door swinging closed on its own behind him.

“What's wrong?” he asked her frantically, his ears lowering to his head. “Are you regretting our arrangement?” As much as it'd pain him, if she regretted agreeing to see him again then he wouldn't hold her to it.

“Oh no, no no no...” she assured him as she sat up a little more fully in bed, unconsciously holding the blanket up over her chest. “I...I didn't see your note at first. I thought you had regretted-”

“I'll never regret anything that has to do with you,” he interrupted, his tone of voice soft, gentle. “Except if we do end up having a genuine relationship, and then somehow down the road I blow it and you dump me. That I'll regret.”

She chuckled a little, and then raised her right hand up to her head, winching a little as laughing had made her headache worse. Inuyasha didn't even comment that letting go of that edge of the blanket exposed her right breast.

“Headache?” he asked instead, producing a travel packet of aspirin from his pocket. “I stopped in the gift shop first before the coffee place,” he said as he handed her the aspirin before quickly grabbing one of the unopened bottles of water that were sitting on top of the hotel's minibar and handing it to her.

Downing the pills, Kagome mumbled her gratitude.

“I don't usually drink like that, and this is why,” she said. “Even though I've got a high enough tolerance that I can have a few drinks and not be a total slosh, and I remember everything the next morning, I also end up getting a killer headache.” Sniffing the air, herself, even though her sense of smell was nowhere near as strong as her companion's, she couldn't miss the scent of fresh coffee as she added, “But at least I'm not sick to my stomach. Bring that shit over here.”

Chuckling, Inuyasha grabbed the coffees and bag and climbed back up into bed to sit beside her. Kagome consciously decided to just let the blanket drop to her waist, then. She hadn't been trying to preserve her modesty before; she'd just been clutching it like a safety blanket in her emotional upset.

“One mocha latte,” Inuyasha said as he handed her her cup of coffee, and her eyes widened in surprise before understanding dawned.

“Oh, you're slick,” she said then. “I so did not catch on that you were quizzing me about what to bring me in the morning.”

He chuckled again.

“It hadn't started out that way. When I made that crack about ramen I was just joking around, although ramen really is my favorite food. But then yeah, it dawned on me that if I was nonchalant enough about it, I could find out if I should bring you coffee or tea this morning.”

“You know there's a pot right over there for making coffee or tea, right?” Kagome pointed out, as she gestured to the coffee pot on the side counter and the collection of tea bags and instant coffee packets.

Inuyasha crinkled his nose. “Bleh,” he said playfully, before taking a nice long sip from his to-go cup. “I told you, I'm addicted to espresso.” Then he grabbed the paper bag that had been sitting on the far side of him and plopped it down on the bed between them. “Plus besides bringing you a chocolate coffee, I also bought bagels. Figured you could use some bread in your stomach.”

“Yes please,” Kagome answered eagerly as she reached inside the bag, grabbing one of the two plain bagels inside plus the plastic knife and one of the two packets of cream cheese. Inuyasha then grabbed his own and they both ate their bagels in relative silence.

“Looks like things went well between Miroku and Sango last night,” he said casually after a little while.

“Oh?”

Nodding, Inuyasha explained, “I got enough of her scent to know it's her, and the feel of Miroku's reiki is unmistakable even if I didn't know his scent as well as I do. He not only went into a room up the hall with your friend, but the feel of his reiki tells me he's still there. I didn't stick around long enough to hear if they were awake yet or not.”

Kagome beamed a genuine smile at him at this news, and he did his best to imprint the moment to his memory forever, just in case she never looked at him like that again, although he would do his best to make sure she looked at him like that every day that they were together.

“Good, I'm so happy for her. Even if those two just agreed to keep it a one-night-stand, nothing wrong with that. Sango definitely deserved a night of fun, 'cause her life's usually work, work, work. She's a big girl; if Miroku's not interested in anything further it won't break her heart.”

Inuyasha nodded his understanding to that, then added, “Miroku's a bit of a player, it's true. But I've always believed he was just waiting for the right girl to come along. Who knows?”

“Well, and if you and I stay in touch, then they'll probably end up seeing each other again at some point even if they didn't plan on it,” Kagome added shyly. “I won't have much free time once school starts back up again, but I'm sure we could at least do lunch from time to time. I don't plan on disappearing to the point where we only text or speak over the phone and we never see each other in person ever again.”

“I...would like that...a lot. And I'm willing to take things however slowly you need to, not just between us, but I mean, with your family. If you need to wait a while before confessing to them who you're seeing, I understand.”

“We'll...figure that out, one day at a time, yeah. I don't want to keep you a secret, but I'm also not looking forward to hearing what my father will say about his 'reputation' and all that crap. Maybe...maybe we should just wait and see how our relationship goes, first, and if we're real or not. What if it turns out that outside of the bedroom we have nothing in common? What if we end up hating each other?”

Inuyasha nodded his understanding. “I'd hate for you to alienate yourself from your family for no reason,” he agreed.

“But, Inuyasha...” Grabbing his hand, Kagome looked into his eyes, and her heart melted. “I think...I think I'm already falling in love with you.” His breathing hitched, his eyes widening a bit. “I want to be sure,” she rushed to continue, “'cause I thought I was falling for Hojo, too, and then he showed his true colors, and I realized he was not the right man for me, but so far at least, from what I know of you, you're nothing like him.”

She explained then, what their breakup had been about. How Hojo had belittled her career goals and tried to treat her as his 'little woman' whose place was at home.

“I'm glad you dumped his ass,” Inuyasha told her once her story was over. “You definitely don't have to worry about that with me. I mean sure, I could totally support you financially, and I wouldn't mind since I'd know you weren't just be using me for my money, but I think it's awesome that you want to become a doctor, and especially a pediatrician. And you know I obviously don't mind that you said you don't want kids of your own for a while, since you and I also both know that if you ever did want kids, I couldn't give them to you. But just so you know? If it ever got to that point, I would be totally cool with adoption. I mean...”

Realizing he was rambling, he saw the somewhat shocked look on her face and cringed, mumbling a quiet, “Never mind. I'm getting way too ahead of myself.”

Kagome melted into a fit of giggles then.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I mean, you should probably ask me to marry you before we start talking about adoption,” she said, amused rather than upset.

He grimaced anyway, offering her a half smile as he figured he should explain.

“I ain't like that Hojo bastard. I'm not gonna just up and start talking about our lives together like he did with you, without your agreement at least. I know things might not work out between us. I'm just sayin'...just giving you my thoughts on the matter is all, so you don't gotta wonder what I would think about it. Now you know you hypothetically deciding you want kids after all wouldn't be a deal breaker on my end.”

Her eyes softened at that, and she took his hand again.

“And I appreciate that,” she stated honestly. “I do need to know what your positions are on these sorts of things. We both do, about each other, so that we can weigh the pros and cons of a potential relationship. If I wanted to have my own babies, then you being sterile would be an issue, although it'd still be workable if you didn't mind me using artificial insemination. Fortunately,” she continued right away before he could say anything on that point, “if and when I ever decide I want children, I would be okay with adoption, too. Skipping the whole pregnancy part is fine with me!” Chuckling again, she added, “But first things first.”

“Absolutely. Working on your medical career definitely comes first,” Inuyasha agreed right away.

Smirking, Kagome playfully countered with, “No, getting up and getting dressed comes first.”

“Ah man, I was hoping for a quickie before checkout,” he teased, not really serious.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Well in that case, what are you doing still dressed?”

Thirty seconds later, Inuyasha was as naked as she was, and Kagome would've started laughing again but she was silenced by his kiss.

Three separate 'quickies' later found them both enjoying each other's company in the shower that was large enough for two people. Kagome hadn't previously thought she'd bother with a shower in the hotel since everything had dried, planning on showering and then soaking in her own bathroom as soon as she got home, but now that she was freshly sticky again it had become more of a necessity. Inuyasha hadn't minded her excusing herself to the bathroom to shower, especially when she invited him to join her, and after taking turns soaping up each other's bodies they had quickie number four, which involved Kagome standing in front of him with her back to him as she leaned forward, her hands braced on the wall in front of her for balance as he slammed into her from behind, the sound of flesh slapping flesh echoing loudly in the enclosed space.

Afterwards, with both of them dressed in the main room, Inuyasha back in his old clothes again while Kagome wore the simple jeans and shirt she'd packed in her luggage for the morning after, he said, “I promise I won't try to pressure you into sex going forward. You want to take things slow and I respect that. You wanna make sure we're compatible outside of the bedroom. You've given me more than enough memories to jerk off to...” She giggled at his honestly. “...but if you ever want to do anything, if you're horny, you just say the word.”

“Will do,” she agreed with a smirk.

They'd already exchanged numbers, by adding themselves as contacts in each other's phones. Inuyasha had promised he'd be available at her beck and call, if she ever wanted to do lunch or dinner or just wanted somebody to go to the grocery store with her, because he didn't have a life. He'd said it with enough lightheartedness that Kagome had just grinned at him instead of letting the deeper meaning behind his words get her down.

“If you're trying to spoil me, it's working,” she said then, also with a teasing edge.

With it nearing time for checkout, and neither she nor Inuyasha receiving a text from either Sango or Miroku yet, Kagome decided to just check out of her room using the service on the TV and then sent Sango a brief text message herself, saying that she'd checked out and would be waiting for 'them' downstairs at the lounge. The hotel had a casual bar besides the Taboo nightclub, and while the club was currently closed the lounge opened at 10am, probably in anticipation of club goers needing hair of the dog the following day.

Inuyasha walked out with her, and as they passed Sango's room both of them could sense that Miroku was still in there, and Inuyasha even heard talking, but he didn't want to eavesdrop so he and Kagome quickly continued on to the elevator. Miroku had undoubtedly sensed the both of them walk by, too, so hanyou and miko both figured they'd be joining up with their respective companions before too much longer. A hypothesis that was confirmed when, not five minutes later, Kagome received a text back from Sango that said “We're on our way down.”

Arriving on the first floor, Inuyasha and Kagome went ahead and ordered a couple of drinks at the lounge, just a beer and mimosa, respectively. Kagome still had a bit of a hangover but she'd made a comment in the elevator about drinking alone so he ordered the beer for her sake. A simple yet kind gesture that really meant a lot to her. As did bringing her a mocha and bagel that morning.

Getting their drinks, they had a seat at the bar while awaiting the monk and martial artist's arrival. A couple other people who were sitting farther down gave them some looks but Kagome just glared back before engaging Inuyasha in random chitchat. A simple yet kind gesture that really meant a lot to him. Miroku and Sango showed up all smiles a few minutes later, the latter also wearing her comfortable 'next day' outfit, which, at the sight of the hanyou's wrinkled shirt, prompted Miroku to make a joke at his and his cousin's expense that they were the ones sporting the official 'walk of shame' uniform that morning.

Inuyasha did chuckle along with the others, but then daring to wrap his arm around Kagome's shoulder as he gave her an affectionate smile, he then met Miroku's eyes and said, “I'm not ashamed of anything, are you?”

It was Miroku's turn to grin, first at Inuyasha and then at Sango.

“No, no I'm not,” the houshi replied, earning a cute blush from the martial artist as he wrapped his arm around her, as well.

“Kagome?” Sango asked her client and best friend then, the single word perfectly articulating her need for clarification of...everything.

“I told you I'd never done the whole one-night-stand thing before, Sango,” Kagome started, her tone teasing. “So I guess it turns out I'm no good at it. Inuyasha and I plan on continuing to see each other.”

Sango's eyes widened at Kagome's confession, and for half a second the miko was afraid her best friend was actually about to start lecturing her on why somebody like her dating a hanyou would not be a good idea, but then the personal trainer said, “Miroku and I plan on seeing each other again, too!”

Grinning broadly then, Kagome held up her drink and said, “This calls for a celebration!” before downing the last of her mimosa.

o o o o o o o o o o

With both couples going their separate ways, for now, at least, playtime was most definitely over as Kagome thrust herself back into real life. With her family only having known that she and Sango had gone out for a 'girls night out' they remained in the dark regarding the more intimate details, or any details at all, really, since Kagome didn't tell her family where Sango had taken her. They had no idea she'd met a man or was now tentatively in an official relationship, or at least the experimental stages of one.

On the one hand, she felt guilty keeping such a secret from them, but on the other hand, it was kind of exciting, and naughty, having a secret lover her family knew nothing about.

She and Inuyasha texted each other daily, and spoke over the phone whenever Kagome's parents and brother weren't home, so as not to risk being overheard. Once school was back in session their evening texting usually didn't last long, since she had schoolwork to do, but even if they only sent each other quick hellos and goodbyes they still communicated every day.

True to her word, in regard to not letting them end up never seeing each other in person again, Kagome also managed to find the rare spare hour for a quick lunch date on occasion. She was a little worried that somebody would recognize her, that there would be gossip that would somehow or another get back to her mother or father, but a part of her, and not even an unconscious part, also couldn't say she didn't actually want that to happen. If her parents just suddenly confronted her one day then she would no longer have to worry about building up the courage to mention it first.

Nothing like that ever happened, though, and as the weeks turned into months, Kagome was pretty damn sure Inuyasha was the one. She didn't hesitate to tell him so, either, and he easily confessed that he felt the same way.

At first, it might have been infatuation based on the simple fact that she was the first woman willing to give him the time of day of her own free will, never mind being attracted to him physically and willing to have sex with him that first night. Now, though, as he got to know the real Kagome, her hopes and dreams and fears, as they had a few good arguments which she'd later joked just went to prove they were a real couple now, he realized that it hadn't really been a joke. They were a real couple now, and he'd never been happier.

He and Kagome even double-dated with Sango and Miroku a couple of times. The martial artist and houshi were also still going strong after all this time, and with much less secrecy than their friends. Miroku even came by the family dojo every so often, watching his girlfriend in action. She'd volunteered to teach him a few moves, once, but he'd made a joke about not being sure if he could control himself if she got him flat on his back, even in such a public setting, and blushing cherry red she hadn't offered to train him since.

Of course, when he'd first heard the story, Inuyasha had made a crack about his cousin being untrainable, or so he'd thought, but that apparently he'd been wrong and if anyone could train him, Sango could. It had been exceedingly obvious to the pair that the hanyou hadn't been referring to self-defense techniques. His vote of confidence had had poor Sango blushing a second time, and then when she'd tried to retaliate with a crack about how Kagome clearly already had him trained, Inuyasha hadn't even denied it.

“Yes, yes she does,” he'd agreed instead.

Now, with hanyou and miko both in agreement that they wanted to stay together indefinitely, and having officially 'taken it slow' long enough that they'd also worked their way back into the bedroom – namely Inuyasha's bedroom in his luxury apartment – Kagome felt the need to tell her family something because she really wanted to move out of her childhood home and go live with the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Finally, one night, she confessed to her mother that she was seeing someone. Not only that, but that she'd been seeing him ever since her 'girls night out' with Sango, although she also explained how 'seeing' consisted mostly of texting and brief lunch dates because of her studies. Fibbing only a little, knowing what she'd better omit, at least for now, she told her mother only that she had 'met' him that night with Sango and they had exchanged numbers, and that now, after getting to know each other better, they were seriously involved. With her mother already aware that Sango now had a steady boyfriend of her own, since Sango and Miroku's relationship wasn't a secret, Kagome even took it a step further and told her mother that her boyfriend was actually Miroku's cousin, and that she and Sango had met them together while they'd been out 'having fun' that night.

At her mother's inquiry as to why she'd kept it a secret for so long Kagome cited what'd happened with Hojo, and that at first she hadn't been sure if their relationship was going to go anywhere and she hadn't wanted to announce a new boyfriend prematurely if it turned they were incomparable. At least, unlike Hojo, he too had been willing to give their relationship a test run first, with the understanding that things might not work out between them. Now, though, now that they had both acknowledged their love for each other and their desire to stay together indefinitely, Kagome told her mother she'd known it was finally time to come clean. Hojo hadn't been the one, but this man was.

“I'm worried, though,” she admitted then. “I'm worried you and Daddy...might not approve of him.”

“Oh, Kagome...” her mother started then, trying to sound reassuring. “If he's related to Miroku then I'm sure everything's fine.” Thinking about it a moment, she tentatively added, “He's not some lowlife, is he?”

“Oh, no, no no no,” Kagome assured her mother right away. “In fact he's stinking rich, thanks to his father. His mother and Miroku's mother are sisters, so that's how they're related, but his father gave him a trust fund, so he's never had to work a day in his life. He's also super nice and not just some shallow spoiled trust fund brat. He's thoughtful, and charming, and totally respects and even admires my desire to become a doctor. Unlike when Hojo just up and started talking about our plans for our life together, without my input, he and I have been having those discussions much more naturally. I really do think he's the one, and he's told me he feels the same way.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mrs. Higurashi asked, “And so you were worried we wouldn't approve because…?”

Swallowing, Kagome confessed, “He's a hanyou.”
- 6
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