Little by Little

Closing the Gap

Kagome stood up and grabbed Inuyasha's arm to get him up too.

"I want to go for a walk, we can come back any time, right?"

Kaede nodded. "If you do so quietly," she responded. She and Rin would probably be asleep by the time Inuyasha and Kagome returned.

Kagome smiled at the old woman before looking down at Inuyasha.

"C'mon."

Inuyasha blinked a few times.

"Sure," he muttered, following Kagome closely as they exited the hut.

Kagome slid her hand down his arm, finally ending at his hand and holding on gently. Inuyasha smiled; this was the first time they really got to be alone in almost three days' time. Everyone was so happy to see Kagome back. Sango and Miroku had introduced Kagome to their new additions and told Kagome all what had happened with them in that three years' time. They had even given Kagome a bit of what Inuyasha had been doing with his time. Inuyasha squawked when they had described his initial depression after she first disappeared, but they went on to explain all the good he had done. Inuyasha had become the official protector of the village, watching over it from his forest. He had flushed out any major predatory animals, and dealt with any demons stupid enough to enter his domain. The villagers also suspected he had something to do with the firewood that had mysteriously been laid out in the center of the village during a particularly rough winter.

Inuyasha shifted the grip, intertwining his fingers with Kagome's. Kagome smiled brighter, but her gaze fell to the ground in front of her as they walked along. Inuyasha realized after a few minutes that Kagome was leading him back to the Goshinboku. He glanced around when Kagome stopped suddenly. Inuyasha was puzzled when she pulled her hand away and turned to face him. She met his eyes for a brief second before turning her gaze off to the side. She was thinking of something.

With a huff she suddenly slipped her hands around Inuyasha's beads and yanked him down to her level. By the time Inuyasha figured out what was happening, Kagome was stepping off her tiptoes and pulling away from him. He blinked when his brain caught up to the moment. The shy peck did not match Kagome's flaming red face, and it wasn't what Inuyasha hoped for after a three year separation like they had had. Not remotely.

"I might get scolded for this but…"

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, and ducked back down to kiss her again. He was more aggressive than she had been—a little rougher, a little sweeter—moving his lips over hers with a little more pressure. He let off the pressure before pulling away. Kagome smiled and draped her wrists over his neck.

The smile told him he wasn't going to get scolded for being too aggressive.

She stood on tiptoe to meet his lips again. His hands fell casually to the small of her back, crossing his fingers and holding her up against his body. She nipped his bottom lips at some point and Inuyasha fell over that edge. He growled and smirked against the corner of her mouth. He pressed against her more roughly and shifted the angle of their lips. Inuyasha didn't know what the hell he was doing, but he was enjoying it. If he went too far he would just have to trust Kagome to stop him.

When she need a break, she did stop him with a gentle hand against his face, a thumb on his cheekbone and pushed away slightly. Inuyasha's eyes fluttered open to see Kagome looking down from his eyes, bottom lip between her teeth. He relaxed his grip on her back and left his hands on her hips.

When too many seconds passed like this, Inuyasha started to panic. He just knew he fucked something up. He glanced in the direction he knew the well was in. If she became homesick—if she left now and leapt into the well—would it accept her back?

"No, that's not even…" He scolded himself. Kagome was here now. She wasn't going to leave just because he did something stupid. And besides, Kagome had said herself the only reason the well worked that last time was because…

I wanted to be with you.

Yeah. Kagome had said that. She meant it too.

When he finally regained his nerve, he started: "Kagome—" but was cut off.

"What are we doing, Inuyasha?"

He blinked. He wasn't about to make assumptions on what she meant, so he played dumb, answering the obvious.

"Well, we were going for a walk. I'm not real sure what happened from there."

Her chuckle rid him of some of his unease.

"What I meant was…well…I…" she was struggling with the words.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Yeah..?"

"Mn…." Kagome bit her lip again.

Inuyasha turned his head away, focusing on some branches overhead.

"I'd hate to rush you, but…just say whatever it is."

Kagome took a deep breath.

"What I mean is…like…are we...? Do you…? Are we going to get married? Is that too soon or…?"

Kagome looked back up at Inuyasha's surprised face. He had never thought of it before. Well, sure, he knew he wanted to be with Kagome, but he never really thought about what that entailed. He should marry her, right? There was nothing much different about being married than what he hoped their life might be like. Yeah, what he really wanted was a marriage. He had just never heard it put into words before.

"Y-yeah. That's perfect—that's—that's better than perf—"

"I mean," Kagome interrupted, "it's not too soon is it? We could wait a while. We've…been separated for a long time."

"No, that's fine. We could do it whenever. Get married," Inuyasha choked out as a smile on his lips became acquainted with his flushed face.

"Yeah but… We've really only had three days this time."

Inuyasha shook his head.

"Forget about that. Nothing's changed—really—since then. Our feelings anyway. You still feel the same about me as you did back then, right?"

Kagome blinked once over those beautiful brown eyes of hers.

"No."

Inuyasha's smile vanished. A sudden chill replaced the heat in his face. When a blush became visible on her face, Inuyasha's own expression changed to that of puzzlement. Kagome smiled shyly.

"I don't feel the same as back then. Especially not after that kiss."

His blush returned as brightly as hers. "Ah."

Kagome shrunk down from him.

"You really don't feel like there's a gap?"

Inuyasha brought himself down to her level.

"And even if there were, I'd do my best to close it."

He brought his hands around her back again, and they closed the gap between themselves, leaning into each other and wrapping their arms around one another.

...

I usually publish these things at three in the morning, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know so I can fix them.

Chapter one is done, be on the look out for chapter two, when things really begin to heat up between the pair!