Water Damage

Kagome walked over the still wet wood floor and made small splashes as she dragged her sopping laundry bag out of the house. She focused on pulling it towards the open door. Her grumbling echoed by her husbands as he worked on the roof. She could see patches of red and white through the holes the the fallen branches had made in their roof during the storm.

That storm was the worst the village had seen this year. Inuyasha had warned her but neither could have predicted it was going to be this bad. The roof had holes and water flooded in, pouring all over them and their things. They shoved what they could to the far wall when the largest branch busted through the front of their house. Kagome had just gotten her jars crammed into the back food storage when Inuyasha scooped her up and they had spent the rest of the night in a nearby cave. And as nostalgic as camping out on a cave had been, she was too worried about all the things they had left behind. Inuyasha had shrugged it off telling her there was nothing they could do about it till the storm had passed.

Kagome pouted as she looked the water pooled in the dirt entry of her house, anything they had put under the floors was completely waterlogged. The futon was damp, but she knew it would take all day to dry it out, and she hoped she could get it dry before it smelled of mildew. Inuyasha had gotten that special for her, she hoped it wasn't ruined now. She shoved that into the laundry bag too. She would try to salvage it if she could. So much laundry to do now.

She listened to a familiar cursing come from above and had to hold back a chuckle. It was bad to encourage it when he did it, but it was like he was venting his frustration for the both of them.

Using her arms she yanked on the laundry bag to get it over the doorway and into the grass. It was just so heavy. It might be easier to take multiple trips, but all of these things had a chance to be cleaned and return to being good as new, they were just time-sensitive. Two trips was all she felt safe with.

The heavy bag was easier to guide through the slick grass and she lead a good ways from her home to where she could hang it to dry. Looking over her shoulder she saw her husband working away securing the roof. He met her gaze for a quick moment confirming she was okay and turned back to his job.

Her eyes drifted to the exposed skin of his chest. And she gave it an appreciative sigh. It wasn't often he took off his top layers, and she didn't want to waste it.

Where did his haori go anyway? She still had another trip she needed to take into the hut to get the rest of the laundry she had piled up. Inuyasha had already taken out the heavier items they had, including the futon, all of which they could do for was lay out in the sun and hope it might kill off the bacteria.

The items she could wash, she washed thoroughly, even using some of the soap she had made that spring. It wasn't the first time she got to use the soap, which was a little too harsh to use for bathing, but even with all the misfortune in the night, she found herself enjoying the simple pleasantries of using something she had made herself to wash her clothes and linens. It wasn't until she started back up the hill from the river after washing the first load that she realized how hot it was in the day. Inuyasha must have known it would get hot and stripped down early-in this instance, he was the smarter of the two. Inuyasha had mentioned he would be going around asking to borrow some tools when he got to a point where he needed them, so when she found her damaged roof unoccupied, she supposed that was where he had gone. She was pleased to see that her husband was courteous to string the line for her.

It was still damn hot work, lifting heavy articles of cloth over the line-which as nice as he was, her husband always strung a little too high for her. He forgot that people shorter than him existed. Namely, his wife, who stood a good head shorter than him. As often as he liked to pick her up like a small child, you'd think he would remember something like that.

Kagome found herself wiping the sweat from her brow with her sleeve several times over. She was muttering to herself about the heat as she stepped back into her house. She would love to change into something lighter, but the outfit she had worn upon returning to this world was one of the things she had to wash!

She checked on the futon and noted with relief that it felt dry to the touch. She still wanted to leave it out in the sun a few more hours as a precaution, but it looked like it wasn't going to be ruined after all.

As she gathered the piles of wet clothes she had haphazardly slopped onto the floor, she caught a bit of red, further up. Her husband's haori, neatly hanging over their pot rack on one of the unoccupied hooks. Had he gone into town without his top? Well, he wouldn't be the only man working bare-chested on this hot day. By her estimation it was probably entering the mid-thirties in celsius. She was ignoring the bead of jealousy should any of the gawking young ladies see her husband in all his...tan, lean-muscled, tall, sweating, bare-chested...glory...with his hair pulled into a messy bun and the angle of his hips…

Whoops. Now she felt even warmer. She really was going to die in this heat, and the image of her tall, dark, handsome young husband wasn't going to help…

She took a second look at her husband's coat before nodding to herself. It would be much cooler out of these Miko clothes, she thought, as she started to strip and fold her hakama neatly. She made her way over to his coat and noted that the floor was dry now. Inuyasha had opened the windows as well, to let the wind breeze through.

She redressed in her husband's much cooler garment and continued on her way for her second load of laundry. When she finished stringing the laundry, she returned to the house to sweep and wipe down all the surfaces of the dirty water. She felt Inuyasha's presence before she heard him climbing back onto the roof, still grumbling.

Kagome hummed as she went to work at cleaning the floor. It was still so hot and sunny out so hopefully the laundry would dry sooner rather than later. She took a small rag and placed it into the small bucket of water she had brought with her and wrung it out slightly. Plopping the rag down she ran the cloth over the wood floors, the sides of the cabinets, and every surface that had touched dirty water over the course of the night. It took quite a while for every inch of her house to be scrubbed, but given the size of the house, she was very glad it weren't larger. When she had finished her work there, she trotted out to see if any laundry was dry. Her husband was still hard at work, his loud hammering having started not long after he got back in the house. He didn't even look up as he pulled nails from between his teeth, his back showing sweat in the bright sun. Lucky he healed too fast to burn, or else he would definitely be blistering by now.

A few of the smaller items had managed to dry in the time she left them out, so she bundled them up and brought them in to fold. Not long after she got back in to fold, she heard the hammering stop and her husband leapt off the roof. He slid the door open, brushing his fringe from his face.

"Hey Kagome have you?-" Inuyasha stopped himself and stared at Kagome blankly.

"Have I?" She tilted her head to the side in question but didn't stop working. Placing the folded piece next to her she went to work on another. She noticed her husband's golden eyes travel down his haori she was wearing. Oh. He probably wanted it back. She didn't want to have to take it off and put her usual miko robes back on. Not in this sweltering weather. He would have to deal for now, she thought, turning her eyes back to her laundry.

But his gaze continued south and he made his way over to her. Mindful of avoiding the piles of clothing she had around her he crouched down next to her leaning so he was eye level.

"Uh, Kagome," She turned her attention back to him and he was giving her such an earnest look.

"I haven't seen you wear that in years," he said, his head tilting a bit to the side.

"Oh, yeah, well it's a lot cooler than my robes, you you're not getting it back for the time being." Kagome said with a chuckle, placing her folded tank top to the side. The wool skirt wouldn't be dry for a while yet. When she looked up again, her husband was just standing there, eyes perusing her form.

"Inuyasha?" She asked, bringing his eyes back to hers.

"I, uh, just-" her tried before he cleared his throat, "keh. You're pretty good at getting that tied up into something a woman should wear." Inuyasha immediately shook his head and Kagome's brows knit in confusion. Just what was he trying to say, now?

"Oh, forget it," Inuyasha muttered. He couldn't even remember why he had come back inside in the first place.

Kagome shrugged and folded the last item, then standing to put her laundry in their proper place. She was surprised when a hand wrapped around her waist as she passed her husband. She looked back to him, the slightest of smiles upon his lips and eyes averted. She didn't have time to question it as she felt his warm hand land on her thigh, his thumb petting her skin softly. Kagome smiled knowingly. So her husband wanted all of her attention.

"Hmm?" Kagome hummed humoring him. She set her folded laundry on top of the cabinet and let him spin her around to face him.

"Kagome, I," His fingertips slipped underneath the hem of red haori she was wearing, his claws tickling the back of her legs.

"You remember the last time you wore this thing like that?" Inuyasha said.

"I don't remember this," Kagome chuckled as his fingertips brushed up to the hem of her underwear.

"Yeah, well I would have loved to be able to do this." He joked.

"You weren't thinking anything of the sort, Inuyasha," she scolded, placing her hands at her hanyou husband's bare, broad shoulders. She remembered it well. He was human, she had been captured, and she was so relieved when he had busted down that door. They were in danger, and he was suffering from numerous cuts and blood loss, there was just no time for teenage hormones.

"I passed out pretty quick after I saw you in that basin, just seeing you then made me a little woozy." Kagome rolled her eyes even as a big grin spread on her face. He had spent too much time hanging around Miiroku to pick up that kind of phrasing.

"Is that so? Well," Kagome started as she felt the tips of his claws start to trace her panties, "I wasn't wearing underwear then, either, so-"

Inuyasha cut her off with a kiss. He smiled as he brought his head down to look her in the eye.

"We'll have to do something about that," he said, his voice low; that husky edge to it that he knew rolled shivers down her spine. He held the back of her head as she brought her lips to his again. He brought his other hand out from under the edge of cloth to grip her waist again. She gasped when he pushed her against the cabinet, hearing it thud against the wall. He used that to press his tongue against hers. She wrapped her arms securely around his neck, diving her hands into his loosely-bunned hair. He pinned her against the cabinet with his hips, by this time all thoughts of the nearly fixed roof and drying laundry gone from their minds. He broke from her mouth for a half-second of air, returning for her to grip his hair and press her lips roughly against his. She nibbled on his bottom lip a second before he broke a second time, dropping both hands to her backside to lift her up onto the cabinet. She made the cutest little squeaks when she's surprised. Inuyasha loved catching her off guard.

The squeak was replaced by a series of giggles when he began to kiss her neck. Right below the jaw was one of her ticklish places, and he loved that, too. His hands were back to stroking her legs as he kissed about her throat and nibbled along her ear. His own ears were twitching atop his head, asking for attention as well, and Kagome released her hold on his hair to rub them gently.

Inuyasha was nosing his way down between her breasts when he suddenly noticed the sound of footsteps approaching.

He pulled away from Kagome internally agreeing with her sound of protest. Inuyasha looked over to the doorway and glared. Kagome knew that look, she fixed and righted herself as Inuyasha took a step back to give her some room.

"Inuyasha!" A knock came at their entry way and Inuyasha stomped over to pushing away the mats to look at the human that came and interrupted them. He immediately recognized the man as the same human he borrowed the tools that now lay on his roof.

"What is it?" Inuyasha said rather rudely, wanting to get to the point. He really just wanted to get back to his wife.

"The Houshi's hut! It seems a tree fell over while there we were cleaning up the debris in and it fell right through the building." Inuyasha heard Kagome chuckle behind him and sighed. This was going to be a long day. He turned back to his wife, trying to plead with his eyes, as if somehow she could get him out of this. She hid her smile behind her hand and waved him off.

"Can you get everything taken care of without me?" Inuyasha asked, loudly enough for the man to hear, hoping he would feel bad for leaving the Miko alone to clean up the damages.

"I have been." Kagome laughed.

"Except the roof."

His shoulders sagged with a frown and Inuyasha pushed his way passed the villager, whose name he'd already forgotten, "Alright alright, lead the way."

"Thank you." The man said, and Inuyasha could tell he meant it. Didn't mean he felt any less bitter about this, "With you helping it's go much quicker."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called out after him, and Inuyasha knew it was too good to be true, "dinner will be ready when you get back! So don't worry about it."

He wouldn't be hungry when he got back. Not for food, anyway.

...

Another Collab fic with GrapefruitWannabe! It's so fun to do. She wanted a make-out scene and here it is! (also this has been unedited so I haven't even run it through spellcheck)