A Strange Aroma
--- I just realized that I’ve wrote 20 chapters and still hasn’t “made a connection” with my readers. It’s been fun writing this fic, a chance to let my imaginations flow. And it’s been fun watching the numbers on my statistics chart climb up. I have to say, the whole reason I built this website was to put up this fic. It’s one of my proudest accomplishments. I’ve never been at anything for this long before.

--- Now to say a few things about what happened and what’s to come. First off, I’m sure my regulars have realized that Kagome and Inuyasha haven’t kissed yet. Haha, yes, I am evil. I’ve only made them embrace, not even a peck. Well, that’s soon about to change. *cough, cough* Just not in this chapter. ^_^ Second, some might be confused about the whole cavern episodes and why I slipped that in there. And I’m confessing right now, it has nothing major to do with the story. I just used it to bring two people together. ^__^ Those who are more perceptive may have already guessed who. Third, where is this going? Actually, I haven’t the faintest idea. *_* I have some idea what is going to happen in the end, but as to how many more chapters and how long it would take, I’m not sure. I’m just going with the flow. And lastly, enjoy the fic, and the site, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions, just refer to the contact page. And oh yea, the song Kagome was singing in the previous chapter, it was a section of the lyric from a song called “Always” by Kuraki Mai from the anime Detective Conan. Download it, it’s really good!!!

--- P.S. The original characters and the Inuyasha Manga/Anime DOES NOT belong to me. I don’t determine how that’s going to end, I write my own ending. And I’ll remember to write more of these “connections” in later chapters. Now back to “Lucky Seven”…



Inuyasha groaned in great pain, trying desperately not to fall asleep on Kagome’s bed. It’s already the afternoon, but his pain still hasn’t gone away. Kagome’s mother came back to cook them lunch, but Inuyasha didn’t eat any because of his injuries from Kagome and her grandfather.

Across from the bed, Kagome sat in her chair, cramming in half of her math textbook. After the pain he has gone through that morning, Inuyasha learned to be quiet and tried not to disturb the girl.

Kagome scratched her head, holding back a million curses of frustration. Although the only noise Inuyasha’s making were his groans of pain, it still annoyed her. The incident earlier that morning is still incredibly hard to forget. And whenever her brain drifts off, it would always flash back to that scene, and that shocked look on Inuyasha’s face.

Damn it, I can’t focus, it’s all his fault!!! Kagome cursed inside. Without realizing it, she banged her palm against the table top. The loud sound reached Inuyasha’s ears and increased tenfold, causing his ears to flatten against his head.

“Not so loud, bitch!!!” Inuyasha cursed without thinking. But when he saw the murderous look on Kagome’s face, he cupped his mouth right away and hoped she has not heard him.

But Kagome’s no idiot. Still mad at him for earlier that afternoon, she was not going to let this one slip. “What. Did. You. Call. Me!!!” Kagome hissed word by word. Suddenly Inuyasha got very scared of her. Her eyes turned blood-red, and her teeth clenched together. Inside his head, Inuyasha wondered if these “exams” can make a person turn youkai.

Gathering as much courage as possible, Inuyasha squeaked in a barely audible voice, “but… I call you bitch all the time. Why get so upset today?”

“I still haven’t forgiven you about what happened this morning, Inuyasha, so don’t push your luck.” Kagome turned back to her book as she said that to hide her blush.

Inuyasha scratched his head. He couldn’t understand why Kagome was still so mad at him. After all, she’s seen him naked twice and he’s not upset about it. Inuyasha sighed heavily, taking in a deep breath. And that’s when he smelled it. A scent that was unknown to him before, or maybe he just never took notice of it. He sniffed some more, trying to find where it had came from.

The aroma was incredibly nice, and it enticed him. It smelled like honey mixed with lilies and chrysanthemums (I challenge you to say chrysanthemums ten times fast), but with a slightly lighter sensation. Inuyasha’s toes tingled as he took another strong whiff, about to drown in that feeling like he was floating on air.

“What are you daydreaming about?” Kagome asked rhetorically when she saw Inuyasha’s expression suddenly change.

“Huh, what?” Inuyasha suddenly snapped back to reality. The smell was still there, but lighter now. “Oh, nothing, go back to your studying.”

Kagome gave him a raspberry for being bossy, and turned her attention back to trigonometry. Inuyasha closed his eyes, and tried to find that scent again, but if was so faint now that he couldn’t make it out anymore. Half thinking that maybe it’s because the new moon’s tonight, Inuyasha pounded Kagome’s bed and cursed silently at his human side.

Suddenly a loud ring reached Inuyasha’s ear and caused him to get up in a rush. He groaned at the headache his movement has given him. Kagome rose and pushed him down on the bed again. Seeing how much Inuyasha’s suffering finally made her soften a bit. “Calm down, baka, it’s just the telephone.” Kagome scratched his right ear; Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her in disdain. But the flickers of his ear gave him away and Kagome giggled at how much he was enjoying it.

“It’s for you, Kagome.” Kagome’s mother yelled from downstairs. “It’s Yuka-chan.”

“Hai!” Kagome yelled back, “I’ll be right down!”

“Oi, not so loud!!!” Inuyasha complained again.

Kagome smiled at him. “Gomen, I’ll be right back.” As she left the room she could hear a big grunt coming from Inuyasha.

Kagome ran downstairs in a hurry, almost tripping over one of Souta’s toy army man in the process. As she approached the living room, her mother handed her the telephone and went back to cleaning the floor.

“Moshi moshi.” Kagome said delightfully. She hasn’t talked with any of her friends in a week. It’s certainly a nice change from only having Inuyasha as a companion.

“Kagome-chan!” Kagome’s friend Yuka yelled happily. “Do you feel better now?”

Should I even ask what lies grandpa came up with this time? Kagome sighed. Nah, ignorance is bliss.

“Much better, arigatoo, Yuka-chan.” Kagome grinned although she knew Yuka couldn’t see her face.

“I just got back from school. We were out early because the midterms are starting tomorrow. Will you be healthy enough to go tomorrow?” Yuka sounded concerned.

“I’ll be fine.” Kagome kept the grin on her face. “We’re taking the math first tomorrow, right?”

“Right, and Japanese in the afternoon.” Yuka continued. “The day after tomorrow is the history and biology. And on Friday we finish with English.”

Kagome’s grin finally disappeared. “Argh, I’ll never catch up.”

Yuka waited a second to show her sympathy. “Have you been studying, Kagome-chan?”

Kagome clutched at the phone. “Only math, that’s my weakest subject. I also need to build up on English. But I’ll worry about that Thursday night.”

“Hey, Kagome-chan, I have an idea!” Yuka said excitedly. “How about we go over to your house tonight to form a study group? We’ll invite Emi-chan, Ayumi-chan, and even Hojo-kun.”

“Umm…” Kagome began to sweat a little. “My house isn’t such a good idea, Yuka-chan.”

“Why not?” Yuka asked innocently.

“Umm…” Kagome sweated even more. “My… uh… cousin, yes, cousin is staying with us tonight, and he’s not too keen on meeting with strangers.” Kagome gulped at the thought of her friends meeting Inuyasha. Studying is important, but nothing is worth exposing them to Inuyasha.

“But your house is big and you’re the only one who doesn’t share a room with your sibling.” Yuka sounded disappointed. “Can’t we just stay in your room and not come out? We won’t even have to meet your cousin.”

“Umm…” Kagome stuttered for the third time, running out of excuses.

Suddenly a large hand grabbed the receiver from her, Kagome almost shrieked in surprise. She raised her head and saw Inuyasha talking into the receiver in a weird manner. “This is Kagome’s cousin, you can come tonight. But I’ll beat all of you to a pulp if Kagome isn’t satisfied with her grade.” At that Inuyasha hung up, and smirked proudly at Kagome.

“What did you do that for!!!” Kagome yelled. “You might get exposed!!!” In truth she was more scared for her friends.

But Inuyasha just kept on grinning. “Have you forgotten, Kagome? I turn human tonight, I won’t get exposed. Besides, I’m doing this for your own good.”

“But… but what are you going to wear? You might scare my friends away with that sword and the yukata.” Kagome groaned.

Kagome’s mother suddenly popped out of nowhere. “Oh, don’t worry about that, honey, I bought Inuyasha some clothes while I was out this morning.”

Both Kagome and Inuyasha were shocked. “Mama, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Kagome looked ready to kill.

“Oh, I forgot!” Her mother replied cheerfully. She took out a big plastic bag from nowhere and handed it to Inuyasha. “There you go. I bought you a cap and a pair of sneakers too in case you want to go out any other time.” Ms. Higurashi left it at that and went back to humming and cleaning, leaving two teenagers stunned.

Kagome hauled Inuyasha back to her room and sat down on her bed with a thud. “Argh, now you’ve dragged me into this mess, you have to play along with it and wear the hideous cloths mama bought for you.” Kagome thought about all those ugly dresses her mother bought for her when she was little. Her father was the one with the fashion sense. And now she’s grown, she has tried her best to get out of shopping with her mother.

But Inuyasha looked absolutely delighted as he took out his new cloths from the plastic bag. “How do I put these on?”

Kagome turned to look at him absentmindedly. She took the shirt he had in his hand and was just about to show him how to put in on when she noticed the tag. “Whoa, DKNY!” She laid the long-sleeve shirt out on her bed and noticed just how cool it looked. “Hey, how come the stuff she buys me are all so ugly?!”

It was a red shirt with the DKNY logo on the chest part. The collar could be folded down, and both the collar and the cuff had two rings of black materials. There are three buttons on top, and one at each of the cuffs.

“Maybe she likes me better.” Inuyasha cackled while taking out something else from the bag. Kagome looked at it and snarled.

“Not fair!!!” Kagome gasped at the sight of Tommy Jeans. It was long, not too tight, and not too baggy. There weren’t any specific designs, but Kagome could tell by the sight that it would fit the hanyou perfectly. Her outraged expression only made Inuyasha cackle even more.

Next Inuyasha took out a pair of sneakers. Kagome rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, Nike?” But when she saw the logo, she almost fainted. “What! Air Jordan!!! This must’ve cost her over ten-thousand yen!!!”

Now the very smuck hanyou turned the bag upside down, and the last item, a cap, fell out. Kagome picked it up and rolled her eyes. “Damn it, even the cap is imported from America.” She raised the cap to eye level and blew a raspberry at the NBA logo. Now she really thinks her mother likes Inuyasha more.

“So, Kagome,” Inuyasha’s grin almost reached his eyes. “How exactly do you wear these things?”

Kagome rolled her eyes, turned around, and mimicked Inuyasha’s sly tone silently. But the hanyou’s hearing was just too good and he giggled at her jealousy.

“If you’re so smart, then figure it out youself.” Kagome abandoned the hanyou and ran downstairs to have a debate with her mother.

“Mama! No fair, how come Inuyasha get expensive and imported cloths?” Kagome complained. “I’m your daughter!”

“Now, now, Kagome,” her mother tried to calm her while she was grabbing the keys for the car, ready to go pick up Souta, “Inuyasha is our guest.”

“Guest?!” Kagome ran after her mother. “He practically lives here!”

Ms. Higurashi was putting on her shoes at top speed, trying to get out of her daughter’s grasp. “But he only has that one set of kimono. Be reasonable, Kagome.” With that, she ran out as quickly as possible.

“Mama…mama!!!” Kagome stomped her foot.

Behind her Inuyasha laughed, obviously has been there watching the whole time, and enjoying it. “See? Told ya she likes me better.” Then he gave her the most confident smirk ever.

Kagome ran past him, taking a second to stomp on his foot, then ran for her room, threw out Inuyasha’s new cloths, and locked the door behind her.

Inuyasha carefully picked up his new presents and stared at them with great interest. He was still laughing inside at Kagome’s temper tantrum. To his eyes, the cloths Ms. Higurashi bought for him were not very attractive, but if they made Kagome so mad, then they must be good. Now he just has to figure out the correct way to put them on.

Kagome stayed inside her room, studying, until she had to use the bathroom. Remembering the lesson from that morning, she locked the door this time. After she got out of the bathroom, she heard a few grunts and curses coming from the living room and went down to see what Inuyasha was up to.

Meanwhile, Inuysha had spent the last half an hour trying to put on his brand new shirt. He took off his fire rat fur, leaving only his pants on.

“Inuyasha, what are you grunting about?” Kagome complained while coming down the stairs. Inuyasha turned around at her voice, and what a sight!!!

Kagome had seen Inuyasha shirtless before, when she was trying to heal him or fighting with him, but never when he was clean and in peace. His muscles flexing, and his chest slightly moving with every breathe he takes. O man, six-pack, not good! Turn around, Kagome, turn around!!! Kagome couldn’t take her eyes off him now. She can feel her cheeks on fire, and her heart was about to jump out any second. And even worse (or better), Inuyasha was coming toward her, still shirtless.

The clueless hanyou has not noticed how quiet Kagome had suddenly become. He focused mainly on complaining. “Oi, Kagome,” he said while walking toward the girl, “these are great, but I still can’t figure out how to wear them. Why are they so weird?” He flung the shirt in front of him.

“Umm…” Kagome gripped the handle on the staircase so tight that her knuckles were turning white. “I’ve to study!!!” Feeling that if she didn’t leave the room that moment, she would’ve done something very embarrassing, Kagome dashed for her room, totally ignoring Inuyasha’s question.

“Oi, oi, Kagome!!” Inuyasha yelled at her. After Kagome disappeared from his eyesight and slammed the door, Inuyasha sighed. “Damn, is she still mad at me?” He sighed again, and then…

“It’s that smell again.” Inuyasha dropped the clothing that he was holding and sank to the floor, sniffing the air with all his might. He closed his eyes and let the smell surround him, entice him, excite him, causing him to dream, dreaming that he was floating on air…

“We’re back!!!” Unfortunately, Inuyasha’s trance was interrupted by Kagome’s mother’s sudden cheer, which was followed by Souta’s happy squeal. Inuyasha stood up immediately, the smell was gone again. Before he could ponder on where the smell was coming from, Souta had already run up to him.

“Inu-oniisan, why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Souta asked his hero innocently.

Before Inuyasha can answer, Ms. Higurashi came in. “Oh, honey, have you tried on your new clothes yet?” Then she whispered to Inuyasha only, “Is Kagome still upset?”

“No, not yet, can’t figure out how.” Inuyasha lowered his voice on the second part also. “Yeah, I think so. She just slammed the door on me for the second time.”

Ms. Higurashi sighed. Then turned her frown upside down and said to Souta. “Why don’t you take Inuyasha to your room and help him get into his new cloths?”

Souta nodded in glee. He grabbed the shirt and the pair of jeans and dragged Inuyasha up to his room.

After Ms. Higurashi put away her keys, she went upstairs to talk to her daughter. “Are you still upset, Kagome?”

“No, mama, why do you say that?” Kagome asked with a puzzling face.

“Well, Inuyasha just told me that you slammed the door on him again.”

“Oh…” Kagome couldn’t think of a good way to reply.

Then understandingly, and also with a grin, her mother leaned next to her ears and whispered. “When you went down, was Inuyasha shirtless?”

Her mother’s question caught her by such surprise that Kagome couldn’t think of a way to answer. So instead, she stuttered for the next ten seconds, with a full blush on her cheeks, and eyes opened wide.

Her mother giggled at her reaction. She patted her daughter’s shoulder and went out the room, still giggling.

The still stunned Kagome managed to find the strength to stand up and shut the door, locking it so that no one can disturb her until her friends come later.

I need a break from this crazy life. Kagome sighed with her back to the door. She also remembered to lock the windows and pull down her curtains. Next she put on some earmuffs, making sure that no one will disturb her for the next three hours.

And to her surprise, no one came knocking. If was surprisingly quiet in the house. But no matter how quiet it was, Kagome just couldn’t focus on math. Every time she dozes off and stares into the air, she either saw the bathroom scene from that morning, or the shirtless Inuyasha in the living room…

Forget this, Kagome shut her math book violently; I’ll never be able to focus. So instead she decided to take an afternoon nap. But even in her dreams she thought about nothing else but the embarrassing things that happened today.

In the deepest layer of her dreams, Kagome cursed out in vain: Damn you, Inuyasha!!!!!!

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