#one corner of my room is very cluttered and the other corner is Extremely Barren. and I’m probably going to move it back soon so I’ve just

[beanmaster-pika]

My mom nixed the lemons so now I’m gonna smell like cinnamon for the rest of my life (<- exaggeration)

[uraharashouten]

@deivorous​ said:

What does Kisuke's inner world look like? Did it change substantially after he artificially manipulated Benihime?

First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this ask, because it was high time I wrote an inner world masterpost. It’s taken me some time to compose my thoughts on this, not because I hadn’t arrived at a good working knowledge of Kisuke’s inner world, but because of the second part of your question -- did it change?

It’s worthwhile to remind ourselves of how Kisuke forced his bankai without Benihime’s consent. There’s an excellent post on how he quite possibly perverted her powers in the process; or at least, their aesthetic. Personally, I’ve always imagined her as being a little passive-aggressive towards him on account of it as well -- though they are, after all, two sides of the same soul.

So let me begin with the first part -- his inner world. I have to say, first off, that several things have fed into my headcanons, so I’ll just take you on that journey.

First of all, my starting point was heavily influenced by @saranel​’s fiction Mono no Aware; specifically, the fact that at the center of Kisuke’s inner world there stands a maple tree. And that’s actually a good starting point, since Benihime is actually the name of a variety of maple:

Considering how profoundly the Shihōin -- one clan member in particular -- influenced him from the time of his youth, the maple theme was something with which I was on board (四楓院家 meaning House of the Four Maples).

The tree itself also became, for me, a good way to symbolize branching possibilities. In probability theory, a tree diagram may be used to represent a series of independent events or conditional probabilities. Each node on the diagram represents an event and is associated with the probability of that event, and the diagram branches into likely outcomes of each event. Imagining a thousand different possible outcomes is canonically his gift, and I think it’s wonderfully illustrated in this post.

I have always seen Urahara Kisuke as someone with a fluid, flexible mind, infinitely resourceful, a bricoleur of materials and opportunities around him; and his inner world would reflect that, being a place of constant making, un-making, and re-making.

@saranel​, incidentally, wrote her magnum opus long before Chapter 665, which makes her surprisingly prescient with what she imagined for Kisuke’s bankai. She didn’t guess it exactly, but she got enough right. This passage from her fic’s chapter notes are relevant to Kisuke’s inner world:

So in the bankai entry, I liken Kisuke's bankai to the universe and the way it works.  The idea behind his inner world is somewhat similar.  The first time he manages to enter it, he is originally lost in this vast, endless darkness.  As soon as he has mastered his fear, he finds himself in a solitary island of sorts, where a large maple tree dominates the small area.  When he tries to gain some distance and explore further, he discovers he is unable to go far, walking in place while never managing to escape the confines of that small island.  This was all meant to be a reference to the beginning of the universe, wherein everything was said to exist in an infinitely condensed form, until the event we know as the Big Bang, which caused that extremely condensed piece of matter to explode, its pieces scattering and forming our known universe.

I’ve kept the maple tree and the Big Bang (countless possibilities encapsulated, waiting to be expanded), and I’ve built upon these ideas for my own headcanons.

The tree itself varies in appearance. Acer palmatum ‘Beni hime’ are actually a dwarf maple tree variety, but in Kisuke’s inner world the tree can grow huge, taking over the entire sky. Depending on his current mood or circumstances, it may be covered with the verdant, tender leaves of spring, or the colorful red-hued leaves of full summer, or the branches may be barren and forlorn. it may be thriving or desolate. Here’s an excerpt describing it from my Battle in the Inner World thread with @sphaeraa​:

Benihime smiled beatifically and gazed upward toward the spreading maple.

Initially actual scale, it had grown, stretching its branches far and wide across the ceiling-sky; their thickness waning with each division, yet never seeming to reach a visible termination.

“Do you like our Probability Tree?” asked a Kisuke, from somewhere off to the left.

“I thought we were calling it our Tree of Branching Possibilities,” commented the Princess, wryly. “It is more poetic.”

Threadwork is part of Benihime’s aesthetic; whether putting the sutures on a surgical revision or pulling the strings to manipulate an outcome. In peaceful moments, Benihime herself can be found sitting beneath the maple tree, working on her embroidery. She’s never satisfied with it, always getting so far with it before plucking out the stitches and beginning again.  I discussed this headcanon quite awhile back with a Benihime roleplayer, who wrote about it beautifully.

Here’s another description from this thread with @adelha-mathilde​:

The tree. That tree, larger than any maple he imagined he might ever see in the flesh. It stood in the center of his world, a constant amidst constant change. Oh, not that the tree was ever the same; it was spring or it was fall, it was young and tender or old and stately. Sometimes its branches spread the entire breadth of the sky. Sometimes they were laden with moss; other times with snow. They were black and bare or tan and laden with verdant leaves, or auburn. But always it was there; always she waited beneath it, nimble jointed fingers pushing the bone-needle through the weave of her embroidery, which, too, was always the same and yet never the same. She bathed in its shadow and when he visited her there, he did, too. It was their tree.

As to the world itself, the landscape around the tree is constantly shifting and changing, such that a visitor would feel very disoriented. Again, from that aforementioned thread with @sphaeraa​, here’s a descriptive excerpt:

The dark-haired, regal figure shot him an unreadable glance and squared her shoulders. As she did so, the room, which resembled a cluttered spare room, grew to accommodate her increasing stature. Crates and furniture unfolded and reorganized proportionally to the change in space. The ceiling overhead became bright blue sky, then star-specked night, then ceiling again. She glanced at her feet, and the pattern and color of the rug beneath them rippled and shifted. Her embroidery lay, unfinished – forever unfinished – on a table in the corner. She glanced at it with a sigh of dissatisfaction. That would have to wait. Books rearranged themselves on shelves; in alphabetical order, then by color, then by size. Behind her stood the only constant, if such it could be called – a large, spreading maple. Its branches were, at the moment, laden with leaves of a healthy deep red hue – clearly thriving. It had not always been so, and likely would not be, but now it was in its prime.

And now, as to the question of whether this inner world has changed due to Urahara Kisuke’s manipulations of Benihime: yes and no, and here’s why. Ichigo’s world is the only one we get to see in the Bleach canon, and we see how it changes due to his developing understanding of himself and his zanpakutou. It is, however, true that Ichigo’s zanpakutou is a very special case. And for any other shinigami, that spirit is inexorably bound to the soul, a product of it, the id, if you will, as @nightbeat-cat​ mentioned to me in a recent discussion. Kisuke has always been who he is, and so has his zanapkautou, and thus so has his inner world -- but that world itself has always been a very mutable place, a place of mono no aware where there is no permanence. As I’ve mentioned, it’s a constantly-shifting landscape to reflect a shifty shopkeeper. I’m sure that, after he forced the issue and brought forth Benihime using the tenshintai, his tree was barren for quite some time after. It must have taken a great deal of coaxing Benihime for him to see spring again.

[inuyashasnook]

Feral - Chapter Two

I’m pretty sure that I’ll try to upload this series every Sunday. However, I can’t make the promise it’ll always be released on time due to the fact that I’m pretty much always on call for work. I absolutely need this summer job even if the schedule is pretty crappy since I’m applying to vet school in September and need a secondary vet on my application. Oh well. My s/o is also on weird night-shift schedules 7 on/ 7 off, possibly changing to 10 on/4 off out of town, and since I haven’t seen him for the last 4 months really, I want to spend some time with him. Plus, I’m the process of adopting an adorable kitten, in two Saturdays from now, so I’ll be missing in action that entire weekend since she’s 10 hours away from where I currently live.

So, I’ll try my best to stick to this schedule, but it might not always be feasible.  

I also want to thank everyone for the kind words and all the positive feedback on this story so far! It really warms my heart! I originally had no idea how this story idea would turn-out, but I’m glad people enjoy it!

I’ve been editing this for over 8 hours and I’m certain it’s still covered in grammatical errors. I apologize! 

»»———————————————- ♡ —————————————««
 Feral: Chapter 2 // FF.net Rating: M (nothing graphic, a bit more suggestive than the last chapter)

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After the tub had finished filling with warm water at a level she deemed acceptable, the professor figured it was time to invite over her new housemate. She’d have to think of a clever way of luring him out because he had taken off the second he had realised what was about to happen.

He was just like a puppy - curious at first, but gone in a flash at the sudden sight of danger.

Kagome scanned the bathroom for the nearly naked figure. Nowhere in sight. 

The woman grunted in displeasure at his sudden decision to finally not be in her way. That annoying dog hadn’t left her line of sight all day and he was finally choosing now for his great escape when she needed him. 

She peeked around the corner of the doorframe. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the dimly light corridor. 

Her next stop- the living room. She scanned every nook and cranny of the area, turning over her fuzzy blankets, checking behind the chic cream-colored leather couch. He was not here either. 

The same could be said of the kitchen. The white-haired man had not chosen to hide in her barren fridge or one of her cluttered cupboards. There was still no sight of the half-demon anywhere.

How could someone that had pestered her all day disappear just as suddenly?

The last place she determined was an acceptable hiding place for a full-grown man was her bedroom, which she had purposely locked earlier that morning to prevent him from going inside. This time, she was certain she had double-checked the door on her way to fill the tub and she couldn’t blame it on her sleep-laden brain like she had done the previous night.

When she turned the knob to test the door and make sure she truly wasn’t losing her marbles, it was unlocked.  

Kagome carefully opened her creaking bedroom door, examining the room under a very inquisitive eye. Her bedcovers were still in order, tucked in from when she had made her bed. None of her furniture was displaced, moved or their contents jumbled. 

Where o’ where could he have run off to?

A sudden movement under the bed caught her attention. She quickly dropped on all fours and brought her face close to the ground to get to the eye-level of the man that was now hiding under her bed.

He hastily turned his head to face hers, ears pressed towards his forehead to prevent them from scraping against the bottom of the furniture piece. He had his arms tucked neatly under his chest, resembling a cat loaf. He didn’t growl at her, but his scrunched facial features and curled lips radiated displeasure. 

“C’ mon! Come out from out of there and take a bath. You stink,” Kagome pleaded as she lightly tapped the floor in front of her to get him to come forward as if he was a pet dog.

The white-haired man wouldn’t budge. His golden orbs exuded determination. There was no way this human would get him to move a centimeter from where he was situated. What surprised him is when she temporarily left her crouched position and the room entirely. Kagome didn’t strike him as a woman who gave up so easily when she wanted something.

Tracking her movements around the house proved difficult because of his compromised position. He couldn’t quite tell where the padding of her footsteps was coming from.  

She returned a minute or two later with something that smelled delectable. 

Meat.

And she waved it right in front of his nose. 

His nose twitched a few times while his eyes fixated on the source of the scent. This allowed her to know that he had realised she had a treat for him. 

Kagome mentally and physically prepared herself to pull the piece of bacon away from him when she felt the need to. She had seen how fast her test subject could be. 

The professor slowly backed it away at first, wiggling the piece of meat further and further away from him, making the man inch forward. The half-demon couldn’t extend a clawed hand out due to his compromised position, and this was frustrating him. A low rumbling noise resembling that of a cat growling was slowly being emitted by the tucked-in figure trapped under the bed.

Her plan was working marvelously. 

As the white-haired man was nearing the edge of the bed, she bounced up from being crouched on her knees and took off running towards the bathroom as she figured she wouldn’t have long until he caught up with her. 

With the bathtub in sight and her socks sliding on the varnished bathroom tiles offering her little traction, this made it difficult for her to reach her goal. It was near, but it might not be near enough.  

The creature was only a few centimeters behind her. She could feel his presence behind her, causing the strands of hair at the nape of her neck to rise suddenly. The coiling of her stomach leading her to believe his aura was almost inhuman.

It wasn’t right. It was different.  

Not wasting another second, she threw the few pieces of bacon she had clutched within her hand, praying that the man would not beat her in grabbing them before they fell in the tub. Kagome exhaled at once, releasing the breath she had been holding when she heard the distinct sound of a small object hitting the water. 

Success!

A heartbeat later, she noticed a flash of white lunge for the pieces of bacon she had thrown in the bathtub. As his body hit the bottom of the porcelain structure ungracefully, the water splashed accordingly. Kagome’s bathroom walls were completely soaked, but hey—at least she had gotten him where she had wanted him. 

He had snatched the pieces of meat floating lazily in the tub and was ravenously wolfing it down, leaving him distracted while Kagome approached him. It was too late to back away from her when he noticed she was only a few centimeters away from him, holding a piece of cloth within her hand and a strange plastic bottle in the other. He sniffed in the bottle's direction a few times when she squeezed a decent-sized drop of the bottle’s content onto the surface of the cloth. A floral scent hit his nostrils at full force. It smelled just like her. 

She had never hurt him yet. Actually, it was quite the opposite so far. She had fed him and offered him a warm place to stay, especially since the air outside had gotten rather crisp as of late. She didn’t seem like the rest of the humans so far, running away at the mere sight of him. 

But, he couldn’t let his guard down. Enemies always struck when their target’s guards were lowered. 

The dog-eared man growled in protest and barred his jagged teeth when the professor first approached him with the piece of cloth. Their pitch slowly receded as the soft material contacted his barren skin, slowly rubbing circles. The water was lukewarm, unlike the frozen water he had been bathing in for his entire life up to this point, enhancing the comforting feeling of the bathing experience. 

It felt so soft. It was almost as if he was being stroked by his mother’s delicate and caring touch. How long had it been since they took away her from him? Plus, it’s not like he’d complain about being smothered in her smell.  

Too proud to admit defeat by such simple actions, the man huffed and looked away from the woman’s deep brown eyes. Kagome. Her voice emitted sounds he couldn’t understand, but she used a very reassuring tone while she continued to wash him from head to toe. He didn’t understand what she was trying to accomplish by running the wet cloth all over him, or what she was saying, but he would not protest or run away. If she would waste her time being in his presence, that would be her problem. 

Kagome blushed furiously as her prediction had come true. The man did not seem to know how to wash himself. It had been surprisingly easier to get him to sit still while she actively scrubbed his back. He didn’t fight her like a cat submerged in water would, which was how she imagined him reacting.

The hardest part of the whole experience, after that of getting him in the tub, had been to add shampoo to his hair. He was very sensitive around the area where his ears protruded, causing her to have to reassure him multiple times before he allowed her to lather up the stands that surrounded that area. 

His white mane was extremely matted and caked in dirt, so Kagome decided she’d have to add conditioner to his silky hair, hoping it would help her remove the knots after it had air-dried. She decided it was a bad idea to introduce a loud hair-blower right away, for fear it would startle him too much. She didn’t want to push her luck since he was already very skittish and on-guard.

The only place she had left to wash was there. There was no way she’d stoop that low and wash another man’s privates. Hell no. 

Sensing the distress in the woman beside him, he detected the changes in her scent having piqued in a way he’d never smelled in a human before, along with the distinct aroma of salty sweat. He turned back to face her, his ears perked and ready, helping him assess the surrounding situation. Eyes glancing around the tile-laden room, he tried to distinguish for any source of movement that wasn’t the woman. Had a danger appeared and escaped his watchful eye?  

What he felt next made the hairs on his arms and legs stand up. The woman had shoved her hand between his legs, at the level where his cloth draped around his hips. He jerked his head to look at her straight in the eyes, his irises enlarging and his face flushing to shades of a deeper and deeper red. The white-haired man’s ears jutted forward, like those of a German Shepherd puppy’s who hadn’t grown into them yet. His breathing hitched and his heartbeat thundered in his chest.

His clawed hand met hers, snatching the cloth from her slender fingers. This caused Kagome to retract her arm as quickly as she had laid it there, turning around and giving her companion the privacy he deserved. The professor also mentally noted that he seemed to be aware of the intimacy and delicacy of that. She fidgeted, her fingers and feet twitching nervously while she turned her back to the man. 

“Are you done?” she asked inquisitively, unsure what kind of answer her feral friend would return, inquiring mostly to calm her own nerves.

The room had grown into an awkward silence. The noise of the water droplets falling off of the man’s figure was the only thing grounding her and preventing her from running out of shame from her own bathroom.

She peeked over her shoulder and her eyes met those of tomato coloured half-demon. He faced her for only a few seconds, returning his gaze at the bottom of the tub while sitting in a strange dog-like position, his knees raised and his hands completely submerged under water. His pair of triangular Akita ears twitched nervously.

“Ok, good. I’ll rinse you now, okay? Don’t freak out,” she continued in the softest voice she could muster, pushing herself off from her knees into a standing position. 

Kagome leaned over the bathtub and turned the silver handle, allowing the water to reach a temperature that wouldn’t freeze the poor man. She proceeded by opening the drain, letting the mud-filled water her companion had been sitting in to seep out and grabbed the adjustable shower head. After testing the temperature once more, she carefully rinsed off the suds covering his body. 

As she went to cover his ears as one would do when bathing a dog to prevent liquid from entering their ears, he helped her by instinctively flattening them. He didn’t pull away immediately at her touch. The professor counted this as major progress. She rinsed the remaining shampoo out of his hair and secured the shower head back to its wall mount. The next step was to add a few globs of conditioner to his animal-like hair. The white tuft adorning his head reminded her so much of her late cat Buyo’s fluffy coat.

After she completed her task at hand and every centimeter of soap was rinsed off, she turned off the shower. Kagome ambled towards the closed toilet lid, where she had deposited a large cream towel and a pile of neatly folded clothes. 

It was then she sensed that she had made a terrible mistake. It was already too late, and she knew what was coming. 

It hadn’t even been a few seconds before she heard and felt the droplets of water scatter.  

Every surface of her bathroom now found itself drenched as the man had attempted to dry himself off of like a freshly bathed dog would. He wasn’t the only wet dog in the room - her sweatpants and sweater were now damp from all the water he had sent hurtling around the bathroom. 

She glared at him, causing his ears to droop significantly. A mirror image of a puppy, uncertain about what he had done wrong. 

“Next time, use this. Towel. Tao-wull,” Kagome repeated a few times as she approached him, holding the drying cloth to ease draping it around his shoulders while presenting it to him. 

She delicately enveloped his body in the absorbent material, and he shuddered at her soft touch. 

She calmly showed him how to dry off, as if he were a child, rubbing his shoulders and back with the towel as a mother would, leaving him to do the rest. He tried to dry the remaining areas that were damp by imitating the back-and-forth movements she had shown him, but he’d successfully dried off most of the water off his body when he shook himself off earlier. 

After inspecting him for missed spots and deciding that he passed the dryness test, Kagome handed him a pair of boxer briefs and large sleeping shorts that her ex-boyfriend Hojo had left at her house. The professor also had a few oversized T-shirt she hoped would do the trick. She wasn’t sure how the overall ensemble would fit since Hojo had been shorter and much scrawnier than the man that stood a couple meters in front of her. She was also not sure how she’d get him to put them on. 

She glanced over at the tall, muscular figure standing in front of her. She exchanged his towel for the briefs, handing him the smaller piece of material. He stood in front of her; the briefs clutched into a clawed fist, giving her a very confused, but curious look. His head was cocked to the side, resembling a dog hearing a noise for the first time.

Figuring it was the best way to teach him, Kagome removed her sweatpants, stepped out of them and held them in front of her in a presenting manner. She slowly grabbed their hem and slid them back on, entering one foot at a time, hoping her new companion would get the message. 

“Go on, put them on instead of that dirty rag,” she pressed on, tilting her chin as if to give him permission to mimic her. 

The white-haired man still stared at her in puzzlement before glancing at the pair of boxers in his hands. Without a second more of hesitation, he wiggled his rear out of the piece of cloth he had been wearing for god knows how long, allowing them to drop on them the floor. He then slid the pair of boxers on, with difficulty, piercing a few holes in them in his attempts to tug them onto his muscular thighs as Kagome had done with her pants. 

Kagome tried not to stare at the spectacle unfolding in front of her. 

The half-demon was now wearing very tight boxer briefs, which she considered an improvement over the loose and torn up rag. It would have to do for now since she didn’t have any pants or shirts that would fit him to perfection. The professor was certain that regardless of the T-shirt she’d try to lend him, it would end up looking like a crop top on her very tall guest. Which they, in fact, did.

“Let’s go to bed,” she muttered to herself, yawning loudly. 

That had been enough excitement for a day she decided. 

»»———————————————- ♡ —————————————««


As Kagome opened the door to her bedroom and her companion tailed behind her, she was still trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements. She wasn’t certain about leaving him on his own in the living room again, or even the guest bedroom, but having a man sleeping in the same room as her gave her a bad feeling. 

Perhaps if she helped socialize him more to teach him right from wrong, he could get “promoted” and get his own bedroom in her guest room. She didn’t have faith in him just yet though, that was for certain. Not after yesterday’s or today’s events, anyway. 

Kagome sauntered towards her closet to pull out an oversized duvet and an extra futon which she dragged towards the opposing corner of her room. Glancing back at the white-haired man, she saw him lazily splayed across her bed.

Kagome wasn’t having any of it. Although his intentions might not have been bad, the psychology professor did not find this acceptable. She’d have to teach him the rules of her household one way or another if he wanted to keep staying with her. Sharing a bed was just a no-no. 

Sighing and ignoring him for now, she set up the guest bed in a manner that would still allow her to keep an eye on him would he be noisy or destructive, but far enough she considered acceptable in her eyes. 

“Look, you have to sleep here okay? My bed is off limits,” she told him while patting the down-filled duvet, emitting a soft thumping noise.

He didn’t look at her directly, but one of his fluffy ears rotated in her direction. She knew he had heard her, but made the conscious decision to ignore her completely. The nerve! 

Kagome crossed her arms, sighed audibly and shifted her weight to one hip to stress her displeasure. The man would have to listen to her whether or not he wanted to. 

Picking up on her annoyance because of her scent spiking and her audible grunts, he gave up looking at the brightly illustrated book he was contemplating. His amber eyes met hers, but he refused to budge, giving her a stern but confused look since he wasn’t understanding what she wanted of him this time. 

He was comfortably laying on a soft surface, relaxing and she wanted him to do something. Again. 

Why couldn’t this human just let him do as he pleased? He could destroy her entire living area in two simple swipes if he wanted to. Why didn’t she realise this?  

Figuring that he wouldn’t come down without her physically dragging him away, she walked towards the bed and remarked that he had one of her bedside books opened up and tucked under his left arm. There was no way he could read, was there? 

She concluded that he was probably just looking at the images. She extended an arm out and snatched the book to see which one he had picked.

Demons of Japan? What an interesting choice.

Her country had such a rich and interesting mythology. There were also so many terms to designate demons, gods and deities. She chuckled to herself while imagining the strange man lying atop her as an Inugami. He reminded her so much of the ones in the stories that her mother used to read her as a child.

Her companion wasn’t exactly a spirit though, reminding her more of a dog demon. A stupid demon dog that tore into her kitchen the previous day. 

Inuyasha. Maybe that’s what she should call him since he didn’t seem to have a name. She decided that he had to have one since she couldn’t keep referring to him as the stranger or the man. Kagome had no idea at what point the white-haired man had been ostracized from the human population and if he had even received a name at birth. 

“Inuyasha, that’s enough. Go to bed,” she commanded, pointing toward the freshly prepared futon that lay a few meters in front of the pair. 

His ears perked up, and he faced her with a surprised expression for a brief second. It didn’t take long before he scowled at her and rose. 

It seemed like the puny human wanted him to move to a location further away in the room. At least she had provided him with a place to stay, so he’d refrain from angering her too much, although seeing her furious entertained him quite a bit. Kagome had fed him and gave him these uncomfortable pieces of fabric to wear which kept him warm, not that half-demons ever got cold though, of course. He figured he’d have to show some sign of respect since this human had treated him better than any of them ever had before.

Plus, she had this stupid smell. She smelled so freaking good and he couldn’t understand why she did either. God damned dog nose. 

He growled and pinned back his ears as he heaved his body and limbs off of her bed, unhurriedly making his way to the futon she had prepared for him. Ungracefully, he dropped onto the pile of blankets and turned to face away from Kagome’s bed. 

Good. Then the professor wouldn’t have to fall asleep with Inuyasha, who was now cohabiting her room, staring at her while she fell asleep. 

Kagome shut off her bedside lamp and crawled under her own down-filled comforter. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt that comforting and pleasant weight of a blanket wrapping around her petite figure. Curling and uncurling her toes a few times while stretching her limbs allowed her to relax and gradually lull her into a deep slumber.  

»»———————————————- ♡ —————————————««


This morning would be a nerve-wracking one.

She’d have to leave Inuyasha unattended while she went shopping for clothes to dress him. There was no way she’d bring him out in public with him dressed in either just a simple cloth or clothes that were several sizes too small. While they nicely accentuated his muscles, she imagined that they mustn’t be too enjoyable to wear all day.

She figured as much as her new roommate had torn off all of his clothes throughout the night. He was sprawled across the blankets snoring softly while in his birthday suit. 

Of course, he wouldn’t make things easy for her. 

He seemed to be aware that she had awoken as his ears jotted in her direction again, twitching slightly as she ruffled her own blanket and slip out of the warmth her bed previously enveloped her with.

Kagome left the room to use the restroom, hearing an extra pair of footsteps behind her. Entering the bathroom, she closed the door on a pair of golden eyes and a perplexed expression. When she finished her business and opened the wooden door once more, they greeted her with the same curious face. He hadn’t budged. 

Figuring this would be as good of a time as ever, she seized his arm and gently tugged him towards the entrance of the bathroom. They both made their way towards the white porcelain toilet. 

“Inuyasha, this is a toilet. Toi-le-tte. This is where you use the restroom,” she explained slowly. 

Teaching him how to knock would come later she figured. For now, the basics.  

Kagome pulled up the toilette seat to demonstrate the first important step.

“Toi,” he decidedly managed to stutter while showing Kagome exactly how it was supposed to be used as he recognized the smell associated with the piece of furniture. 

Catching her completely off guard and rendering her flushed from head to toe, she turned away in a flash, covering her eyes as she spun her heels to face away from him. She didn’t want to get caught peeping at a man. He, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by answering to nature’s call in front of her.

Relax Kagome, he’s more of a child than anything. He’s just completing his body’s natural biological functions. Nothing more.

There was no way Inuyasha was a normal case of a feral child. He was simply too aware of her expectations and sentiments to fit the normal profile of one. The man was making progress too fast, rendering him an incredible test subject. Despite what was unfolding in her bathroom, her discovery thrilled her.

Kagome waited a few more seconds until everything was quiet, when she deemed it safe, turning around to see him flashing her a large toothy grin, proud of himself for catching on so quickly. He was opening up to her much more quickly than she’d ever imagined possible for someone who had been kept distant from society for such a long period of time. She’d definitely have to note all this after she fed him some breakfast. 

“Good job,” she cooed as would a mother to her child when they correctly used their potty chair for the first time. “Now you just have to wash your hands. Like this.”

She twisted the left knob adorning a white countertop sink and rinsed her hands in slow, exaggerated movements. Kagome then pushed some soap into her hands and leisurely rubbed the soap between each of her fingers. Inuyasha’s golden eyes focused on her hands, his attention not peeling away for a second. He tracked every one of her movements rhythmically as would a hawk ready to dig its talons into a mouse. 

The woman finished up by rinsing off the suds that had formed between her digits. She dried all the remaining water off with the help of a baby pink hand towel a few centimeters away from the tap.

“Now you try,” she gestured at the sink.

Unceremoniously, he completed the task at hand with near perfection when it came to washing his hands. He had, however, not accomplished this feat without leaving a lot of water marks on her freshly washed mirror from splashing as the man seemed to enjoy playing in the warm liquid more than anything. 

After cleaning the newly made mess up and finishing the necessary preparations, the pair had an uneventful breakfast. She didn’t manage to make him eat with the help of utensils, but his eating pace had slowed down slightly, not acting as if he was on the verge of starvation anymore. 

Closing up her freshly typed report with the many observations she had mentally noted earlier that morning, she prepared herself to go shopping for some clothes. Not knowing Inuyasha’s size, she determined that she’d most likely have to estimate it, hoping that she’d at least be able to bring home a few items that properly fit him. 

She hoped at the very least as she watched a butt-naked man lay across the carpet of her living room, scratching his back with a clawed hand, once again glued to the moving images of her television.