Blue moon and Red Fire

Chapter 26: Reconnecting.

Inuyasha stretched out over the soft covers with jerky, uncomfortable movements, “...” His face twisted with subtle agitation and he rolled over on to his side, pausing to blindly fumble over Souta's bed with soft touches until his fingers brushed against the pillow underneath his head. He flipped it over and laid the side of his face on to the cool side, but it seemed as soon as he'd found that small bit of relief, it faded into hot cloth again. “Ehhh...”

He moaned softly with discomfort, he was covered in sweat, he felt the warm liquid streaming down his bare chest and soaking the waist band of his pants, slowly drenching the rest.. 'Damn...too hot...' Sleepy golden eyes pried open and fixed on to the window, by now he'd formed a damp spot on the bed and his pants hand become uncomfortably wet. His throat was dry and he felt thirsty from all of the water he'd lost, not to mention his skin felt like he'd been baked in an oven for hours.

Inuyasha clamped his hand over his forehead and groaned, it was a dry 72 degrees outside, and his body was doing overdrive on heat. 'Kouga must be in hell right now.' He thought absentmindedly, it gave him a small consolation, but not as much as a thought like this had on previous occasions.'Wait...Kouga...Souta, Houjo...' Inuyasha rolled on to his back and sat up, the bed was empty save for himself, he heard nothing but the soft hiss of wind rustling leaves and songs of birds outside. 'He's probably asleep...'

Souta and Houjo were already gone, he remembered Souta waking up at some obscene hour and telling him he was leaving, though Inuyasha was so tired he couldn't even open his eyes. He was weak and he slept harder then he would have liked to, something he attributed to recovering from his week inside of the hole, maybe it was why he was so hungry too.

Inuyasha climbed out of bed and looked back at the sweat spot left on the bed, another reason he hated heat, not because of the sweating, because his scent was so much stronger then normal it made him easier to track. Of course, that was the whole idea. 'At least nothing can get at me here.' He thought to himself, absentmindedly he reached over and scratched his limp left arm in a restless habit. He'd threw away the sling having gotten annoyed with it the day before, but this arm was still weak and it began hurting if he moved it to much in any one direction, so he kept it still and let it hang lifelessly at his side.

He didn't move, he lay there, inhaling the soft traces of Souta's scent that still remained, lingering between consciousness and sleep for 20 more minutes He found himself missing him already, as hot as he was he wanted to feel Souta's body in his arms. This was why he hated heat. 'Is he asleep...' Inuyasha wondered, and he wanted to kick himself for even thinking of it. He felt embarrassed for wondering about Kouga, for thinking about him at all. 'Damn wolf...' He snorted, but even still he was curious, and as silly as he felt he found himself moving towards the door with quiet steps on bare feet.

He crept down the stairs and leaned over the railing curiously. Kouga was stretched out over the ground, his chest armor was thrown aside and his skin sheened in sunlight with sweat, his hair blowing softly with each burst of wind that swept in from the gaping void in the wall where the window used to be. He looked just as uncomfortable and miserable as Inuyasha had been, and he was most likely half awake by now.

Inuyasha jumped down the stairs and landed with soft steps, trailing silently until he stood over Kouga, knowing he should be staying away from him, but unable to. He couldn't help staring with a silent awe and a profound curiosity that made him want to know everything about Kouga's wellbeing. He was somehow drawn to Kouga by something different, something that shouldn't have existed, he was worried. And he resented the feeling, resented that he'd felt it thousands of times for Souta and Kagome and all of his friends, a weakness, a vulnerability in himself, one only reserved for those he liked, those he felt strongly for, and even then he felt awkward having them. And some how Kouga had gotten a hold of it, and awkward wasn't nearly strong enough a word, it was a chaotic turmoil.

“Unnn...” Kouga grunted sleepily, burning in the heat uncomfortably. His eyes clinched and then pried open, his blurry vision met the red of Inuyasha's pants, and sharped as he lifted his head and his eyes met with Inuyasha's. 'Inu...yasha?' He was surprised to see him standing there, at first wondering why, then his eyes flinched and trembled when he realized that he was staring up at Inuyasha of all people. The very last person he wanted to see.

They stared at each other in silence, completely still, awkward and nervous. Kouga had to avert his thoughts to keep from blushing, he couldn't look at Inuyasha without thinking of the dark, cold place under the desert where he was trapped with him. The memory of himself holding on to Inuyasha like a life line, when they...Damnit! He wished he could move his legs! Why was *he* here!? “...”

Inuyasha looked away, and finally turned around and left silently.

Kouga a breath of relief slipped past his tightly clinched lips and he let his head fall back on to the ground. 'Houjo's gone...' He thought, 'And I can't even get to him.' He felt a familiar frustration, fueled by the resentful awkwardness left over from Inuyasha's presence. He wanted to get out of here, he wanted to at the very lest get away from Inuyasha, he hated him even more then ever for making him feel this way. It made him feel his weakness even more strongly that he could do nothing about it... 'I need some water...'

! - ! - !

Souta sighed to himself exasperatedly, the boy folded his arms over his desk and laid his head on top of them. His eyes rolled over the other 20 students sitting around him, their slouching forms, their half attentive eyes, their restless bodies. Even among them he stood out, his attention span seemed to be shorter then usual. His eyes were always either unfocused or averted from the teacher half the time, he constantly looked out of the window compulsively, even when he didn't realize it, and he couldn't hope to repeat anything that had been said by anyone. His mind was clearly somewhere else, the last place on earth he was focused on was his teacher, and for that he'd been reprimanded a few times already.

A soft sheet of air swept over the side of his body and he tilted his head towards the window for the countless time that day, staring out into the sunlight and paved world. He felt himself slipping back into his old ruminations, he couldn't concentrate, it was as if every time he began to focus something intentionally distracted him, in school at least. It was as if the channel kept changing in his mind, he couldn't stay on one thought for very long. Sometimes he couldn't think at all, he'd just stare blankly until something aroused him back into awareness. 'What's wrong with me?' He thought to himself, still staring out the window while the voices of others faded into the background. 'Why can't I just pay attention again? I never used to have this problem...'

He seemed to be having a lot of problems. First he started seeing things, then he started hearing things, then he couldn't concentrate, the next thing he knew, he some how managed to touch something he wasn't suppose to be seeing in the first place. He was starting to worry.

“Souta.”

Souta's name rung through his ears with an energetic jolt, he flinched with surprise and sat up right, his eyes fixed on his teacher almost fearfully, he knew immediately that he was in trouble, again. “Y-yes?” His startled and rather loud action drew the whole class's attention, and to Souta's dismay, their amusement also. 'Oh man..'

Souta had never known his teacher to be a mean woman, and he generally never had any problems with her. He was always attentive, never said anything, always did his work, not once was he ever in trouble, until a few weeks ago. “You'll be our first volunteer.” She announced.

Souta looked around at the expectant class staring back at him and he began to feel nervous, with all of these eyes fixed on him he began to feel like he was on a stage, in the middle of a play, and had forgotten his lines. What was he supposed to say? “What? But I-I didn't volunteer for anything?...Volunteer for what?” He asked nervously and rather erratically, again drawing a few burst of laugher from the awaiting class.

The teacher smiled, most likely in amusement, or at least that how it felt to Souta. “For our first math problem.” She told him, pointing to the board. “Why don't you come on up and show the class how it's done. Remember to show your work.”

Souta finally picked up the hint that he was being punished for not paying attention, with a nervous quelling in his stomach he slowly stood up from his seat, knowing he had no way out of this. This was the first time he ever was called to the front of the class, he'd barely even touched a blackboard and did well to avoid situations like this. Admittedly he was shy, to say the least, and possibly the thing he hated most in the world was to have people watching him, to have the spot light and everyone's attention focused on him. He felt as if he was suddenly being prosecuted, as if he was being judged, and he feared what the verdict would be.

He was so busy contemplating how nervous he was he nearly tripped over the leg of a desk, again inciting laugher from the rest of the class. It seemed like an eternity until he finally reached it and finally looked at what he'd been charged with, having held his head down the entire walk. A simple math problem, he knew how to do it, and he would have found he knew the answer off hand if he thought about it. But standing at the blackboard with the eyes of the many girls and boys looking at his back made him freeze inside and he was unable to write a single number.

“What's the matter Souta?” The teacher asked, much to loudly for Souta's liking, loud enough for the other boys and girls to hear and began to giggle faintly behind him. “You know this don't you?” She had been sure he did, since he seemed to well enough on the homework.

Souta swallowed hard and nodded, he was petrified, and it seemed like every movement he made drew more attention to himself and made everyone see him more queerly.

“Then what's the problem? Go ahead.” She coaxed him.

But Souta didn't move, and he cringed when he heard the class began to laugh at him again. His mind was so unfocused, racing through countless things that he couldn't even even remember how to do such a simple problem, and the anxiety made his already dismal concentration drop to nearly non-existent levels. “I...can't.” He uttered horsely. He hated himself right now, why did he freeze?

The woman sighed, she didn't understand it. “Alright, go back to your seat and pay attention.”

Souta went back to his seat and cursed himself. Why did he always appear so dumb when he was called upon to preform something in a crowd? He knew math as well as any pupil in the classroom, and no doubt he could read better than any of them, and he could talk fluently and expressively when he was sure of himself. Then why did strange faces make him freeze? He sat with his ears and neck burning, hearing the pupils whispering about him, hating himself, hating them. He sat still as stone and a storm of emotion surged through him. 'What's wrong with me! Why can't I think?'

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

Inuyasha dropped his guard and let his left arm fall limply to his side, weak and aching with pain. He fell back against the hard, cold walls and let himself slide down to the floor, the floor was damp under his feet, the air was chilled and humid, the darkness provided a cool blanket over the basement. At the very least it was 30 degrees cooler here then upstairs, and he preferred the dark, his body was tight, his left arm was stiff and inflexible, and if his movements were anywhere as awkward as they felt, he'd rather not see them. It would be like staring at an open and rotting wound he could do nothing to heal.

His body was damp with sweat and his throat was dry and scratchy, and for all of the sweat coating him, his body felt dry. He was thirsty, and it should have just been a simple matter of just going up stairs and getting some water, however, such a simple action was remarkably hard, all because of Kouga. “Damn wolf.” He mumbled to himself in the darkness, the last thing he wanted to see was Kouga, and he hated the fact that he even had to think about him.

The very idea of the wolf made an inherent sense of shame rise inside of him, he could still feel the residual sensations of Kouga's arms around him vividly, the feeling of his cold, trembling, nearly lifeless body in his own. He remembered the strange dream that had filled him with a child like horror and Kouga's voice pulling him back, he remembered the pained howls of the injured wolf that created a crushing sense of empathetic pain and frantic worry that made him want to do everything he could to take it away. All that was left over from then was the embarrassment of ever having felt them at all, and he felt silly because his shame wouldn't have been so great had those feelings been for someone like Souta, or Houjo, anyone who wasn't his worst enemy and constant rival. He hated it, and his shame burned into aggravation, he began to curse the wolf for having ever come in contact with each other, it would have been better not to have met each other at all then to go through this.

Finally his throat became so dry that he couldn't stand it, the hell with Kouga, 'Why am I avoiding him! I don't care if he sees me.' He felt silly for avoiding him like this, for fearing any confrontation with him, for fearing what he might say, or think, or what he remembered by looking into his eyes. He felt silly for not being able to get Kouga out of his mind, and he hated constantly being uneasy and nervous.

! - ! - !

Kouga reached up and dug his claws into the wooden frame and began pulling up the weight of his body. With a grunt he slipped his elbows on to the windowsill and lifted himself up with slow and steady increments, his arms trembled with strain and weakness after several hours of repetition. His once manageable weight now felt as if it had grown to unbearable levels, his body was wet with sweat, the fruit of high temperatures, strenuous activity, and his current state of heat.

He'd lost count of how many time's he'd climbed up to his feet only to tumble back down again, most would have simply given up on it and for a time Kouga had felt the same way, but after a while he'd become almost numb to his actions. It was like an obsessional compulsion, just something he felt as though he had to do at this point, and he put no mental capacity into it. ''Too damn hot...' Kouga finally pulled himself up, leaning weakly against the wall to keep from spilling out onto the ground. His mouth hung open and he panted with deep gasps, his heart pounded in his chest and he felt his lungs burning up through his throat with the need for air.

'Hungry...Houjo's food would be good right now...Houjo...where are you anyway...I wonder if he's eaten anything?' There was a crushing pain in his stomach of hunger, he wanted to grip something in his hands so hard that it would turn to food. But the familiar feelings had accompanied him for his entire life and he was long used to working through them. He turned around and pressed his his back against the wall beside the broken window, his arms were shaking severely now, he could feel a bare trace of the soreness that would come later. 'Ginta and Hakkaku, I bet they would like Houjo's cooking.' His mind sorted without focus, he felt hazy.

Houjo had offered to make him something at some god-awful hour in the morning, but Kouga had bitterly refused, he had become angry at the boy. He was angry that he couldn't do such a simple task himself, he was furious that Houjo had to even offer to help him. He was resentful at the idea that Houjo might have thought he was weak, or even remotely helpless, it filled him with a strong surge that made him hate just about everything. It started to seem like that been the wrong idea, and now that he wasn't angry at the world anymore, he became angry at himself for being hungry, for being weak and tired.

Kouga looked outward with an overwhelming culmination of feeling inside of him that left him confused and speechless. He felt his arms trembling as they held his weight up, and a strange disorientation. “...”Kouga grew dizzy, his mind became blank, and everything became dark.

He found himself, after an interval of unconsciousness, upon his hands and knees, his head whirling, his eyes staring in bleak astonishment at the ground, wondering where he was, feeling that he was emerging from a dream. When he looked up he found Inuyasha staring at him with a look on his face Kouga wished he didn't recognize.

Inuyasha looked down on him with an uncertain, fearful amazement on his face. When he realized Kouga was awake, he nearly flinched and immediately shifted his eyes away. He searched for something to speak, forgetting why he'd been so reluctant to go around Kouga in the first place for that brief moment. He wanting strongly to inquire about how he was feeling but too embarrassed altogether. He'd spent a vast amount of time hating Kouga, and still felt in some way that Kouga was he enemy, and he was afraid to show himself at any capacity to him, any such vulnerability could only incur attack. So he left all together, not uttering a word, feeling that vulnerability even more strongly for being there in the first place. He shut silent voices out of his mind that hinted at the truth. He hated Kouga because he knew that he was suffering and that he was powerless to help him. He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to it's fullness how weak they had become, the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with fear and despair.

He sat in silence, staring at the spot where Inuyasha had been with a lingering feeling of anxiety, even when he couldn't think of why at the moment. “God it's hot.” he mumbled with mild aggravation, Kouga rolled onto his back and laid still. He could feel the dull ache in his arms and torso become sharp and his muscles became stiff, they were rendered immobile the second he tried to move them, a light headed feeling still lingered as the disorientedness faded. “Damn heat.” And he felt so hot he could barely breathe. Resentfully, he knew he would be completely helpless for a while.

Kouga closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, inhaling Inuyasha's scent that lingering more powerfully then ever. He had to look back to make sure that Inuyasha wasn't still standing there, great, now there was still something to taunt him even as he tried not to think about Inuyasha. 'Damn mutt. Why does it have to be so hot!' He was starting to resent Inuyasha again now.

Kouga looked around, trying to find something, anything to divert his attention from Inuyasha. He didn't find anything that could hold it past the first glance, but he did find something curious. “...” On the table there was a book, and Kouga immediately recognized it as one of Houjo's. “Huh?” It was just in reach, Kouga stretched his aching arm out to the table and managed to slide it into his grasp with his fingers. “What is all that stuff he carries anyway?” Kouga wondered, he remembered seeing Houjo dump all of these things out of his book bag before they went down the well last time. And he vaguely remember seeing Houjo stuffing them back in this morning, they must have been important to him because he did it with such meticulous care.

Kouga pried it open and held it before his eyes, even the small weight of the book seemed to grow into a ton on his exerted arms and he quickly had to set it down on the ground. Kouga instead pulled it close and rolled over on to his side, his tail draped across his waist.

Kouga wasn't much of the reading type, he'd barely picked up a book in all of his life, and thusly he ignored all of the words in small print, too impatient for that. He was captivated by the 1000s of amazing images scattered through out the pages, full of detail and color, so vivid that he doubted they could have been done by a human hand and so vast there was no way they could be created by one single person. Out of all of them Kouga recognized merely a small portion of what was depicted. There were images he understood, the exotic animals, the awe inspiring structures, there were bizarre and seemed obscure, things that Kouga could only identify by their shapes and colors. Others were charts and diagrams, the only images he was sure was done by a person, though he didn't know of what they depicted exactly, farther enticing his curiosity.

He sat there curiously, quickly losing track of time and forgetting most other things that had occupied his mind before hand. He was astounded that Houjo owned such a vast collection of things in a single book, let alone read it, Kouga wasn't so sure he was capable of the same thing. 'He reads all of this? No wonder he's so smart.' Kouga remembered seeing other books of this size in Houjo's bag, he began to wonder what they contained. 'I'll have to ask him when he gets back..'

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

Houjo didn't think he'd ever wanted a day to be over this badly in his entire life. The boy sat listlessly slouched in his chair, holding his head in his hands and vaguely fixing his eyes wanton on to the teacher. No, he didn't think he'd ever wanted school to be over any more then he did right now. Not even all those times in elementary school when summer break was just 30 minutes away and the clocks seemed to stop, not even that day in the seventh grade where he started to come down with the flu in the middle of 6 period and it was 70 degrees outside. If he had the opportunity, he wasn't sure if he could trust himself not to walk out the door right now.

The teachers words began to drift away from him and he had to force himself to focus again, to remind himself of the lesson that was being taught. An itchy bead if sweat rolled down his cheek and he wished for some type of breeze to cool him down, he could feel his skin starting to dry. 'The snow was better then this heat... I guess that's why Kouga likes it so much' He was hot, he was thirsty, and he couldn't stop thinking about Kouga. 'I wonder how he's doing..' Houjo's hand reached up and began playing with the jewel shard hanging inside of his shirt subconsciously. 'I wonder what Inuyasha's doing for that matter...Geez, I hope they aren't arguing...' He'd noticed Inuyasha and Kouga hadn't even made eye contact with each other let alone talk, Inuyasha had seemed adamant about being left alone with Kouga, Houjo was nearly certain there was enough hostility in that to start an argument between them. It was amusing to Houjo more than anything else, they were like children, like smaller siblings that had this broad rivalry, a competition traversing every aspect of their lives. But he'd seen them work together in the most unexpectant ways, 'Their like brothers, if I didn't know any better I'd say they're related.' A weak, tired smile of amusement. That's how he saw them, like brothers.

The teacher called for the class to take out their science text books and turn to chapter 11, section 3. Houjo leaned over the side of his desk and reached one hand into his half open book bag. “?” The first thing he noticed was that it wasn't packed as tightly as it usually was, it meant little to him until he searched through what contents were there and found that a book was missing. “Oh man...” Houjo sighed to himself, “I must've left it at Souta's house...”

With his book unfortunately left behind, Houjo just folded his arms and laid his head down on his desk shiftlessly, closing his eyes. His normally occurring interest in class had evaporated, leaving him a half lifeless mass living only for the final bell. He decided that today was simply a loss, at this point very little could pull him out of this dismal spell, his mind resided a short distance outside the front door waiting for his body. Maybe it would be easier tomorrow, maybe it would just take awhile to focus after such a reprieve from school as the one he had had. Maybe tomorrow.

! - ! - !
! - ! - !
It had been hours now, the day seem to stretch on endlessly, so long that Inuyasha started to lose a sense of what to do with himself. The Hanyou decided to take a long stint of training outside, although it was hotter then the basement was, there was more room and he felt as though he had finally come to the point where he was able to watch his own movements and not feel horribly frustrated and awkward at them. It most definitely was hotter, he hadn't realized how much of a difference there was between it and the damp basement until the sun began beaming down on him like a single ray of unyielding heat.

His body was still tight and his movements were awkward enough to make him still feel uneasy watching them, his endurance had been shot to hell, his agility was much lower then it ever was ever was as a child. What had to be the worst of it all was the weakness, and while both arms were weaker then normal, the left seem so disproportionately weaker then the right that he was almost too frustrated to do anything with it at all. The entire experience had been a painful reminder that he was still recovering and he knew he needed to continue training. But he'd lost his usual desire for it. Before he'd felt like he needed to prove something, like needed to get stronger to completely beat out Kouga in every way he could, just the wolf's presence stoked a competitive speaker. He'd found a supreme satisfaction in his growing strength, wanting to leave the smug wolf in awe and fear of his power. He wanted to feel the ferocity of sparring with him, now he simply felt as if he missed Kouga, and a part of him wanted him back more then anything...

When he reached his limit, Inuyasha returned to the house with an dissatisfied, unsettled feeling, he entered through Souta's window instead of the front door. His thirst had grown so strongly that he couldn't put it off any longer, and with out realizing it he crept down stairs so that he wouldn't possibly be noticed and slipped into the kitchen. The blinds were pulled down so the room was dim, Inuyasha could feel even the slightest temperature drop and inertly sought it out and was thankful for it.

He felt his stomach stir and contract painfully with a slow, rumbling growl of hunger, but his thirst took priority. He turned on the faucet and a gush of water began pouring out, Inuyasha slipped his head as near as possible and began drinking. The fluid cooled his hot, dry throat and made his thirst even stronger at the first taste. He drank until he had his fill, but the water only sharpened his dull hunger and he felt new sweat begin to seep out from the heat.

“Damn heat.” Inuyasha groaned, looking toward the refrigerator in the dull light. With an anticipating hope he pulled it open and he was met with an unexpected burst of cool air, “...ahh.” He closed his eyes and stood idle, letting the air wash over his face and his chest, food be damned. “I wonder if...” Curiously Inuyasha opened the freezer above the refrigerator compartment and was met with a blissfully frigid cloud of air, a white, wispy puff sweeping out of the ice filled container. “Ahh....” He let out a breath of relief and basked in the coolness.

“Huh?” A cold, dull scent finally reached his nose and he began sniffing the air curiously. “Is that...” He could swear he smelt strawberries... Inuyasha shifted through the frozen items crowding the space with disregard until he came across the source, a large smile formed on his lips and elation filled him like an excited child. “It is.” He announced to himself with delight, it was strawberry ice cream, compliments of Houjo.

! - ! - !

Kouga slipped his hand under the book's spine and slipped his thumb in front of the pages to hold it open. Lazily he rolled over onto his back and held the book up above his head, his eyes skimming over the small text with a bit of trouble, but a little trouble was never enough to detour him from anything.

At first he had no interest in the words what so ever, he was purely contented to look at the pictures. But there were so many that he didn't know what were depicted, and eventually he became curious enough to look at the fine print. Those words most often then not explained the picture to Kouga barely, always leaving him with more questions. Eventually he came across some abstract image, a depiction of a DNA strand to be exact, that made he curious enough to dove into the other text where he was sure the answers would be.

He squinted his eyes in deep concentration, there were many words he didn't know, and in many instances even though he knew the words he didn't understand what was being said. Sometimes it took him longer then he would have liked to get through a single paragraph, other time he could breeze through an entire page, depending on the difficulty of the subject.

'Houjo probably knows this stuff.' He thought to himself. 'I bet he can go through this stuff easy. Geez, how can he read all of this?' Maybe if someone has been learning things like this their whole lives, they understood it easily after a while. Or maybe they were just born with that kind of talent. Kouga wasn't sure if he had it or not, but he was curious, a new hunger began to awaken in him, stronger then any desire for food he'd ever had. He wanted to know about the world around him, he wanted to see all of this time for himself with his own eyes, and he wanted to understand his own better as well.

The more this hunger grew, the less he thought about his current state, the less claustrophobic, weak and helpless he felt, especially when he was reading this book. He concluded the next paragraph with the conviction that he had somehow overlooked something terribly important in life. He had once aspired to learn everything he could about life, had once reveled in feeling, had let his crude imagination roam when he was younger. But the impulse to dream had been slowly beaten out of him by experience, he'd grown to admire and hate Ginta because of that, he was the one out of them that still had retained his dreaming imagination the most. Now it surged up again and he hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing. He aspired towards Houjo with a childish admiration, wishing to see the world with as much knowledge as he had. It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving in what he read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.

Kouga shifted the book away from his face and tilted his head back, taking in deep breaths of the air. 'What's that smell...it smells kind familiar...' Kouga sniffed curiously, riffling through the other cold, dulled scents with disregard until he identified the most important of all. 'Is that... chocolate?' Kouga's ears perked and his tail shifted anxiously underneath him, he knew that smell, he'd recognize it anywhere. It was chocolate, and it was cold! The two of the greatest words anyone could have ever said to him right now, just short of Houjo. And it was coming from the kitchen, his favorite place, of course!

His stomach began to growl with hunger and more then ever he started to feel how weak his energy was from lack of food. Kouga wiped away the sweat on his forehead, he'd been contented to simply lay here because it was much cooler then moving. Now he couldn't stand it. “Hungry...” Kouga laid the book down and sat upright, wishing that he could will his legs into movement, for this one moment.

It wasn't that simple, and with a frustrated anger, Kouga grasped on to the couch and pulled himself up on to his knees. Slowly and painstakingly he carried himself toward the kitchen, grabbing on to anything he could to advance himself. It wasn't until he was just at the steps and in near reaching distance did he realize that the scent of Inuyasha he smelled wasn't just lingering, it was actually coming from the kitchen. '...' He froze reluctantly, suddenly not as egger as he had once been. He wanted that chocolate badly, each second he was enticed by it's scent his hunger grew stronger, he was starting to salivate. But he had an almost inhibiting fear of Inuyasha's presence, he couldn't face the hanyou, he didn't want to face the hanyou, and neither did he want to think about happened.

For a full moment he debated with himself, and eventually his stomach over took him like so many instincts sometimes over rid his feelings and he decided to go through with it after all. It was dark in the kitchen, and cooler, he could feel a steady circulation of cold air lightly almost immediately after entry, he couldn't find the words to describe how good it felt on his overheated flesh. As soon as he could reach it, Kouga grabbed on to the counter top and pulled himself up on to his knees first, then gained a lose balance on his stiff, lifeless legs, holding all of his weight on to the counter before Inuyasha could see him otherwise. It was dim, but he could see Inuyasha perfectly well, the half-breed. Sat in the doorway of the open refrigerator, his legs crossed with a gallon of strawberry ice cream resting in his lap, digging through it haphazardly.

Their eyes locked and they stared at each other with an almost fearful uncertainty, Kouga had never experienced such a shyness and he hated that Inuyasha could make him so nervous with just a simple glance. They both searched feverishly through the other's eyes, trying to comprehend what the other was thinking, both of them were so busy that neither seemed to realize that the other was doing the exact same thing.

'This is stupid.' Kouga began to feel ashamed as Inuyasha watched him in his weakness and wished to retreat, but he was so hungry he might pass out before he got halfway out of the room, and that would be infinitely worse. “What's with the stupid look Inuyasha.” Kouga pried his eyes away from Inuyasha uneasily and looked up into the freezer, where he could see another gallon of chocolate ice cream sitting inside the source of the coldest air.

Inuyasha quickly scrambled to regain himself, for a few seconds he couldn't think of anything to say, he couldn't think of what he should be doing. But eventually his expression stiffened and he dropped his head, glaring down at the strawberry ice cream cooling his lap and abdomen with it's contact. “Mangy wolf.” He grumbled, taking another spoon full of the cold substance.

“Mutt.” Kouga retorted, he pulled himself along the counter, holding himself up with his hands, forcing his legs forward with just the right movement of his hips. Feeling substantially foolish for being like this in front of Inuyasha, Kouga forced himself to turn around and lift himself up on to the counter to rest. He couldn't reach the freezer, and he didn't want to reach over Inuyasha for fear he might stumble and fall. Grudgingly, he relented, since it was what he came for any way, there was no used being here if he wasn't going to have his chocolate. “Just...shut up and give me the chocolate ice cream.”

'?” Inuyasha looked up at him blankly.

Kouga rolled his eyes. “The browns stuff above you.” He refrained from insulting Inuyasha defensively.

Inuyasha shot him a glare before he looked over his shoulder into the refrigerator where he found nothing fitting the description, then he looked up into the freezer and just barely caught a glimpse of the chocolate ice cream. He assumed this was why Kouga was here, he'd had brief experiences with Kouga's fondness of chocolate, most notably he remembered hearing him mumbled something about Houjo and chocolate while he was asleep in that hole... Damnit, he was thinking of the hole again. “Ah shut up, you talk too much.” Inuyasha shot back, extending his hand and picking out the gallon of ice cream.

Kouga carefully slid down off the counter and let himself fall with a small thump to the ground as gracefully as he knew how, placing himself right into the current of cooler air that wasn't being blocked by Inuyasha. He paused to straiten out his legs in to an awkward position, then leaned back against a cabinet before taking the ice cream. He had no idea why he said what he said next, he had no idea where it came from, but as he pried open the top and cold scent of the ice cream intensified, it managed to somehow slip out. “Thank you.” He half mumbled, it took him a moment to realize what he'd said, and he seemed immediately surprised at himself. Immediately he wanted to call out something insulting to cover his words, to assert himself in an attempt to hide his weakness.

Inuyasha reached over into a half open drawer and pulled out a spoon, he tossed it softly over to Kouga who caught it seamlessly. “Hn.” He half grunted, staring down at the swirl of soft pink the entire time. Ok, that wasn't so bad, Inuyasha reasoned. It was awkward as hell, but he imagined it being a lot worse. He could almost imagine himself sparing with Kouga again, he never though he'd want to do anything with someone he hated so much. He wanted Kouga to heal, to get better, so he could stop feeling this awkward worry about him, the feeling tore at him with frustration and anger, but he couldn't help feeling it none the less. It just didn't seem right when Kouga didn't have that fire in his eyes, when he didn't have any confidence at all where there used to be an overabundance of it. He seemed empty as of late, defeated, as if something inside of him had been crushed, would he still be like...would he end up like that...if they fought and...

He felt as if a haziness had left him at the first swallow of the sugary treat, his weakness began to fade and an energy returned. “Oh god this stuff is good.” Kouga grinned with immense satisfaction, his tail subconsciously wagging with contentment. It was chocolate in a way he never had it before, he could feel it chilling his throat and cooling his entire body from the inside. The sweet scent of it enticed his hunger and excited his senses like the caffeine of black coffee in the morning. It was safe to say that he really liked chocolate, every time he thought of it he was reminded of Houjo.

Inuyasha smirked, he couldn't remember a time when he'd seen Kouga so happy. Everything before that fateful fight that left them like this seemed little more then a dream, a hazy string of experiences that he'd awakened from in to a cold, hard, relentless reality that pounded the both of them with their own weakness and mortality. This was the first time since then he'd seen a glimpse of Kouga's old self that he had feared was lost forever, and it was like something completely new. He was so relieved he could have laughed out loud. “Greedy bastard.” He said, holding back the swelling feeling that made him almost giddy and light headed.

Kouga glared back at him, a ghost of a smirk twinging at the edge of his lips. “Your one to talk, you ate more then I have.” He replied discardingly.

“Tch.” Inuyasha set the ice cream on the floor beside him, the spoon still hanging in his mouth while he stood up, gently licking the remaining traces that clung to the metal with the tip of his tongue. He scratched his ear lazily with one hand as he walked toward the sink, he could see Kouga watching him subtly, he could see his eyes studying his left arm hanging limply at his side. He nearly reacted and tried to hide it, but he stood aside from the prideful instincts that had driven most of his action through out his life. He wasn't comfortable, and he was self-conscious about it every second, but he also felt a familiar trust in Kouga knowing that the wolf suffered a worse affliction that he had, he felt as if the wolf wouldn't betray him in this. He came to the sink, his thirst returning with a soft hinting after eating that ice cream.

This time he got a glass, then he turned the faucet's handle and released the loud gush of water, filling the glass to the rim and drinking it in swift gulps. He repeated this until he had his fill. And just as he was about to set the glass aside he thought of Kouga, of how thirsty he must have been. Kouga didn't have to tell him, not that he ever would, Inuyasha knew because Kouga had been working just as hard as he had, he was in the same state of heat, in the same hot air, he knew Kouga about as well as he knew himself in a sense. Quietly he filled the glass and passed it back to the wolf, though he made the mistake of using his left hand instead of his right.

Kouga looked upon Inuyasha curiously, not expecting such a considerate act, and immediately suspicious of it's motives. It was, by the way, a terrible instinct to be suspicious of it, he was vague aware of that. “I could have gotten it myself.” He said with a natural defensiveness, unsure of the thought behind this action, fearing that *Inuyasha* was starting to see him weakly enough to do things for him, his worst enemy. And that was something he couldn't possibly bare.

For some reason Inuyasha felt a strange laughter welling up inside of him, he didn't want to laugh at Kouga, but he couldn't stop it from bursting forward in an amused eruption at something he couldn't find any amusement in. “Not with those legs of yours.” He said bluntly.

Kouga glared at him, starting to feel an annoyed anger rise from his depleting temper. He almost spoke, but his attention was drawn to strongly to Inuyasha's left arm to form the words. Inuyasha's fingers had grip far too lose, and his palm was slipping, his entire arm trembled under the weight. It was odd, how weak that single arm was, he knew it would cave in any second now, the sight was enough to cool his anger. “Your one to talk Inuyasha, you can barely hold your arm up.” He said with a confident satisfaction, taking the glass and drinking the water with loud gulps.

Inuyasha flexed his finger subconsciously. “Whatever.” He reached out to take the glass back and refill it, but Kouga ignored him, brushing his hand away instead. “?” He watched as Kouga grabbed on to the counter top and pulled himself on to his knees with a small grunt, then slowly rising to an unsteady balance on his feet. By then he was close enough to the sink to do it himself, a single arm laid on top of the counter top to keep him from slipping as he extended the cup under the running water. “Heh.” Inuyasha folded his arms and watched with a subdued respect. He felt better after that, his worry dulled, seeing that Kouga's determination or us stubbornness had not weaned.

They sat in the cool, dim room in a half comfortable silence, both contented enough with their ice cream to notice how awkward they were feeling. There were some elusive, profound, recondite things that men found hard to say to other men, but with Inuyasha and Kouga it was the little things in life that become hard to say, for these tiny items shape their destiny.

! - ! - !

“It was horrible.” Souta sighed as he walked into the front door, stripping himself of his book bag and tossing it aside carelessly. “This had to be the worst day of school I ever had.”

“It wasn't the best of days for me either.” Houjo set his book bag against the wall with more care then Souta had, he stopped at the door and looked around. “But it wasn't *that* bad.”

“Yeah, speak for your self.” Souta felt the dryness in his throat with each word his spoke that had persisted through out the day, he had been so nervous and scared it seemed nothing could quench it. His body thirsted for cool water and he inanely followed the craving toward the kitchen. “I'm a complete wimp, I don't know what happened to me, it was so stupid.”

Houjo searched vaguely for Kouga throughout the living room only to come up empty, all he found was his science book laying open on the ground. “Don't think to much about it Souta, it happens to everyone sometimes.” He set the book down on the table, hoping he wouldn't forget it again, then followed Souta in the kitchen in search of any traces of Kouga. “This just wasn't your day, that's all, you'll be alright.”

Souta felt along the walls for a light switch blindly, his eyes rolling over the dim objects and figures in the darkness. “Hey, here they are...” Souta drifted curiously away from the wall and stood over the sleeping forms of Inuyasha and Kouga. Inuyasha laid on his back, half stretched out across the floor messily, Kouga lay in the small space beside him, on his side, his arms wrapped around his legs and hugging them close to his chest. Souta could remember only one time they were in such close proximity to each other and weren't fighting, when he had been so sick he wanted to die. 'No, I guess they were fighting that time too...'

Houjo leaned against the counter and watched the two with curious astonishment. They had been completely ignoring each other, last time he'd talk with Inuyasha the hanyou had been adamant about not being left alone with Kouga. “I wonder what happened.”

“I dunno.” Souta shrugged. He crouched down and stared longingly at Inuyasha, he wanted to curl up next to him and retreat from the rest of the world, he wanted to feel safe in the only place in the world he felt really and truly safe. But he couldn't to that, Inuyasha would be angry at him for such an action. With a deep sigh he stood up and left the room, allowing himself to fall face first on the living room couch with a loud groan. He felt tired, wanting only to clinch Inuyasha and sleep along with them.

Houjo leaned over the back of the couch and looked down on the boy, “You alright?”

“I don't know.” Souta folded his arms over his head as if to block out the world.“I can't concentrate anymore, I can't even pay attention in school.” He loathsomely admitted.

“A lot of people can't concentrate, that's not too bad.” Houjo told him, he reached down and rubbed his back, hoping to comfort him.”You'll just have to try harder, and if you still can't then...we'll figure out something.”

The soothing sensation stirred faint memories of when he younger, and his parents used to rub his stomach to settled him down coax him to sleep at bed time. It was ascetic, dulling the desire to clinch something, namely Inuyasha, tightly in his arms. He was grateful for Houjo. “That's not even all of it, I keep hearing things, and seeing things.”

“You mean things like that boy at Kouga's den kinda things?” Houjo asked, his voice holding obvious dismay.

“...” Souta glanced back at him, “You don't believe me huh?”

“I didn't say that.” Houjo shook his head, his voice was clearly skeptical and he made no attempt to hide it. “Honestly I don't know what to believe anymore.”

“I guess I can't blame you...” Souta burred his head into the cushions and closed his eyes, his arms still yearned to hold on to something. “I might just be going crazy.”

Houjo laughed softly. “You seem pretty sane to me.”

“Yeah right.” Souta sighed. He felt him self sinking, the haze of coming sleep made his mind start to wonder aimlessly. “My mom and my grandpa, I wonder where they are...” He yawned with a deep breath.

“I'm sure they're fine.” Houjo said absentmindedly, half watching Souta slip into unconsciousness while his mind began to drift to it's own devices. “Don't worry about it.”

“We...gotta fix the window before they get back you know.”

“I know, we're gonna do it tomorrow ok?”

“And...the basement...” Souta's voice slurred and faded away into soft, slow breaths, his body became lose and still before he fell completely asleep.

! - ! - !