The Touch

By: PallasStar

He manipulated the tissue, the nerves, and the skin of her right foot already having worked on the left... pressing his thumb into all the right places, pulling on her toes, rolling the sides of his palms where it felt needed, his fingers intuitively finding ways to soothe the aches and pains of one Higurashi Kagome's tired foot and near sprained ankle. Said school girl/miko was openly relaxing more and more the longer Inuyasha continued his ministrations.

It was the least he could do, having felt a little responsible for her near accident.

"I've never had someone rub my feet before... Where did you learn how to do this?" She asked sounding pleased, catching her friend a little off-guard. His eyebrows furled in question, as if he was supposed to have been taught how to touch someone in a way he felt was a little intimate. However, he envied the tone of contentment with which she spoke like a secret prize. Was she smiling?

"I... didn't learn, really. It's just normal, ain't it?" He shrugged, stroking and rubbing her ankle in circular motion.

"Mm, well, a lot of people learn it in my time. From books, or an instructor, or a tape."

"Naw, who needs any of that crap. All you need to know is to learn from what'ya have."

This was intimate; he just wasn't sure if he was ready to admit it to himself or out in the open. Part of him was hoping Kagome would just think he was trying to be apologetic, while another part of him wanted to Tetsusaiga the crap out of that part and hoped she realized just how special these actions were so he would never, ever have to say so himself. Being able to touch her like this was almost too much to handle skillfully. It secretly meant so much to him that she was letting him do this for her...

And Hell to him if he let that part of him that was bound to Kikyou come to mind... he felt an obligation to Kagome now, too; to protect her, to keep her healthy and strong, to keep her happy as much as no one else knew that. Maybe obligation wasn't the right word for her, but it aroused his guilt to consider that Kagome was not an obligation where as Kikyou was. Kagome had long since surpassed obligation status... He was fervent with loyalty and a whole mix of other things for the young woman.

And here he was massaging her other foot, which proved it.

Inuyasha tried not to watch her as he continued. It's not that he was embarrassed that he might be doing anything manually wrong, though that was a slight concern. And it's not that he didn't like his view, because he did. It was just too... distracting... for her to lay on her stomach while he sat against the wall with her feet near resting in his lap. He looked back down to his task in determination, applying his thumbs to her instep and dragging them in opposite directions, looping back to the starting point, up and down, over and over.. sometimes using the nails on this thumbs to awaken the nerves and increase her receptivity to sensation.

His patient exhaled noticeably; very long, very slow, very heavy. His ears twitched, and all massaging promptly stopped.

"Oy..." he said in a low, unsure tone. "You okay?"

Inuyasha couldn't see her expression, and she was almost so gone that he didn't think she had the strength to move her head in a nod. She tried though, keeping her pillow hugged to her face.

"Mmhmmm..." Kagome murmured groggily. "At this rate I'll fall asleep without having to feel much of the pain."

He figured if he were really doing something wrong, Kagome'd have him eat the wood paneling and the dirt underneath. So he resumed, happily proud to be doing something right, small, and rewarding for the mortal girl he often pushed to the point of physical, and sometimes emotional exhaustion. And actually did, this time. So, she deserved this treatment. And... well... When Kagome complained about her feet and took her tumble just after the rest of the group decided they wanted to attend the conveniently near-by festival, it was the perfect opportunity to spend time with her without actually having to mention it and make an ass out of himself. And of course, being so naturally considerate, Kagome encouraged Sango, Miroku, and Shippou to continue without them.

Yes... Finally.

The hanyou liked it when Kagome and himself could be alone like this, without being at each other's throats, having Miroku say something obliviously stupid to embarrass the Hell out of him, or having Shippou jumping into Kagome's lap, nuzzling her with a cheeky grin. He could be more himself outside of the watch of the others. Kagome also revealed more of her thoughts and bared more of her personality... and would also scoot closer to him than she would in front of their friends. He winced at the thought. Oh, it had been a long time since she'd done that, as uncomfortable as it had always made him feel. It'd been too long. Inuyasha had begun to miss her regardless of the fact that she traveled along side him almost constantly.

Thinking about these things served to pour more affection into his touch.

"Does it feel better?" Absent-mindedly, he used his palms to rub and caress the entire sole of her foot. After which he pulled his claws lightly down the back and the sides of her shin reaching from her knee, proceeding to gently draw the pads of his fingers down her skin, in order to try to draw her attention away from any pain that might still be resonating. Did she ever feel the same, he wondered?

Before Inuyasha could ponder that thought further, an intriguing mixture of subtle movements brought him back to the moment where in a soft, seducing fragrance teased his nostrils. A fragrance he could tell a hundred miles away with hundreds of thousands of other marked smells to sift through. It was one he could never get enough of, but had often privately sampled to the point where he'd have to leave the parameters to regain his ability to think in something other than dead-ends.

The poor dog-boy's ears flattened straight against his dizzy head, a rosy blush dusting the bridge of his sensitive nose. His heart was suddenly pounding harder, pumping blood and aiding hormones to all sorts of unmentionable places. Skin was on fire, everything else was one fire too for fuck's sake. And it had become almost a little too hard to breathe.

Dammit... he groaned inwardly.

Golden eyes regretfully traced curvy calves and shapely thighs until they disappeared under a familiar spring green skirt. He momentarily thought about how those ivory columns people called legs connected to her body... And to think, she almost broke one! But the only forbidden skin that was available to voyeur was the dip in her lower back from where her shirt rode up a little.

Heck. Maybe just a little more, a bit higher u-

"OSUWARI!" chirped the little Kagome dressed in ethereal white, sitting atop his left shoulder as if by magic.

"PERVERT!" mused the a similarly dressed Sango, perched upon his right.

The hanyou cringed at the thought of being plastered to the ground by the face while being pummeled with a Hiraikotsu. So much for that idea...

Honestly... he could never be so bold with the girl as Miroku was with many. It was rude, even for the brash Inuyasha. Beside the fact that he just wasn't the type, or so he liked to think. He'd find out in the future somehow, if at all, if he needed to. Just not with this girl. Not right then, not with all that was going on. She didn't need to be handled and groped. Or ogled. Kagome needed some appreciation, just so long as he didn't have to say anything or kiss up to her in front of everyone.

With a sigh of resignation, he gently let her feet down off his lap onto the floor. That was the end of their time together for the night, he gathered. And probably for a few more weeks. The thought warranted some anger.

If he hadn't stopped she would have had her peak and things would have been terribly awkward, although quite memorable. But he didn't want to have an aid in that... the time wasn't right. She hadn't even said it was okay. He really respected her and cared about her... In many unspoken ways.

He got up, scratching the back of his neck with a nervous hand.

"I guess you're done... I'll leave you to rest." Inuyasha paused, waiting for a reply that did not come. He knew she wasn't asleep, but decided it was better not to push Kagome for an answer. An argument wasn't what he wanted. Neither was the embarrassment of openly discussing the past moment with her.

As he carried himself out of small sleeping quarters, however, something suddenly hit him that would nag him relentlessly for the rest of the night. And probably would for many more lonely nights to come... to which he could only reply by folding his arms into the sleeves of his Haori.

She had never told him to stop.

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Disclaimer- Rumiko Takahashi owns "Inuyasha," not I. This was just a fan fictional piece, written by me, not based off of any of the Manga or Anime installments of "Inuyasha."

AN: Thank you to all of those who have read this story. I know my writing might be confusing, as this is the first story I've completed in three years ) I hope it wasn't too overly OOC/Fluffy. Some of you know how much I hate that. Well, please let me know what you thought, Suggestions, Comments, Rants or Raves... :) Merci