Scent

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi


Scent


InuYasha walked into the entryway of his house, letting the door drop shut.  He and Miroku had spent all afternoon helping Kaede’s cousin Tameo, the village headman,  repair an old house used by one of his tenant families. He was hot and hungry and well dusted from the building work, and wanted nothing more than to eat, wash up, and go to sleep, not necessarily in that order.  But soon as his feet hit the dirt floor of the entry way, he immediately knew something was up.

The air smelled . . . delicious. Enticing.  At first, just standing there,  he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.  There were strips of meat roasting on skewers in the fire pit and something tasty smelling coming from the soup pot.   That was part of it.  The air was touched with the sweet scent of summer flowers, tastefully arranged on the family altar.  That was another part of it.

He stepped up on the wooden floor.  Kagome looked up, where she was smoothing out the covers on the futon.  She was dressed in her good blue silk kosode with the red obi. He could just make out the smell of the sweet herbs she had packed it away in.  Some part of him wondered why she would be wearing her best silk around the house when another, sweeter smell hit him as he noticed the warm, wanting look in her eyes. And he knew, breathing in a deep breath, why the air in the house smelled so special.

She stood up, walked across the room and wrapped her arms around his neck.  “Sango is keeping Atae tonight,” she said.  Dropping a hand away from her neck, she ran her fingers lightly across his chest and undid the string to his suikan.  “The water in the bathtub is ready.”  She began to slide her fingers under the red fabric.  Looking back up at him, her eyes twinkling, she whispered, “And so am I.”  Reaching up, she brushed her lips invitingly against his.

Surrounded by the warm smell of the woman who loved him, he shrugged out of his jacket.  “You want to scrub my back?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything,” she replied.  Slipping her smaller hand inside of his, she led him towards the bath.