2Thanks to Lacy for the art for this fic! Please follow her on tumblr at lacyjaybird to see more of her fantastic watercolours.
Kagome slumped onto the bed in her hostel. She was shining with sweat. Backpacking through Vietnam as a solo female traveller had been riveting, but she definitely wasn't prepared for how hot the weather would be during this time of year. She'd spent the entire day biking around town and wandering into the tailor shops that Hoi An was known for. On an impulse, she'd ordered just a few more items of clothing than she'd originally intended. Thank goodness I have a few hours before I have to go back out again to pick up my clothing, she mused. She needed some time sitting in an air-conditioned room before braving the heat again. Asia was beautiful, but damn was it ever hot in August.
Kagome had been wearing the same three outfits for a month. Though she'd certainly packed enough to keep her going, she was tired of wearing the same pieces for weeks on end. She was in luck though, since her desire for some fresh clothes came as she entered Hoi An, Vietnam, where travellers got custom fitted clothing for at least one tenth of the price it would have been at home.
Kagome had wandered into some tailor shops and purchased a few rompers. And then she wandered into a swimsuit shop and purchased some more. Before she knew it, she had spent way more than her budget had allowed. She justified it by the fact that she wouldn't be able to buy anything custom-made at home without it costing her a fortune.
She peeled off her wet clothes and pulled out her laptop, needing a little bit of some time on YouTube doing absolutely nothing productive. Her hostel room was completely empty – a luxury she'd not yet experienced during her travels. And just s she'd gotten comfortable in her bed, she heard the door of her room unlock.
Kagome was too tired to care that some stranger was entering her room while she was in lingerie. It's basically like I'm wearing a bikini anyway, she thought.
A tall man with dog-ears walked through her door. He looked just as sweaty as she. No surprise there, it was over 40 degrees.
"Hi," she said sheepishly.
"Hey," the stranger replied, not really caring that there was a scantily-clad girl on the bed.
"I'm Kagome. I apologize for my half-naked state. It's sweltering out there."
"You don't have to tell me twice," the man replied. "And my name's Inuyasha."
Kagome caught the British twang in his accent. And she couldn't help but notice that he was pretty handsome. She regretted the fact that she was in her grey grannie panties rather than something a little more presentable. "Where are you from?"
"London," he said with a smile. "You?"
"I'm Canadian!" She replied. "And London is beautiful. I'm jealous you get to live there."
"It's an absolute shithole," he replied.
Kagome laughed. "Clearly you're from London."
"Clearly," he smiled. "What are you doing lying around in your room today when there's a pool and a bar downstairs?"
"I've had a busy morning. I just need a second to relax, out of the heat."
"Fair enough."
One part of travelling that Kagome loved was how willing everyone was to make friends and meet people. Especially when the people inviting her downstairs for a drink was a man who had already charmed her. Accents will do that sometimes.
"Are you going to head downstairs to the pool at all?" He asked.
"Unfortunately I have to go pick up my clothes from the tailor," she said. "But I'll catch you afterwards?"
"Of course, love," he said with a wink as he grabbed his wallet and turned out the door.
Kagome gave a little sigh after he left. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend from back home and found herself lusting after a boy or two during her travels. And it didn't help that they would be sleeping so close to each other. Get your mind out of the gutter, Kagome! She chided to herself. She could not be fancying every guy that waltzed into her room and called her love. There were many English people travelling through Asia. She thought she'd become immune to the accent, but apparently not.
"Damnit," she said out loud to herself. She had really gone overboard. She could definitely justify buying the two sports bras. And the one piece she'd gotten was really cool. But did she really need those three pairs of pants and three other rompers? She was happy with everything she'd bought, but her backpack begged to differ. She was riding north to Hue in the morning, and she couldn't close her suitcase. "Damnit," she cursed again.
Just as she'd uttered the last syllable, the hot British guy walked through the door again.
"Did you even bother to leave the room today?"
"Yes! I did! I picked up all my clothing! Take a look!" Kagome picked up her black one piece that was absolutely perfect. A little revealing, yes, but it fit her like a glove and only set her back $20. It was a black ensemble with a long halter that she could tie in various ways. When she held it up to show him, it just looked like a heap of black fabric."
"I have no idea what that looks like, but it looks sexy."
Kagome laughed. "Good answer."
The two chatted for a little while about their lives. Inuyasha was a graphic designer who was travelling Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam for four months with some friends. Kagome talked about her dream of one day being a writer, and Inuyasha talked about his dream of tasting his mother's cooking again (though Asia was filled with delicious food, nothing beat homemade meal).
"Going back downstairs for another beer. Will I see you down there?"
"In a bit," Kagome responded. "I really have to figure out how to fit all these clothes into my bag."
"Yes, that looks like an absolute mess." Inuyasha grinned.
"I admit I may have gone a little overboard," she said sheepishly.
After Inuyasha had left for a few more beers, she stared at her pile of new clothes with a swirl exhaustion and excitement. She did not want to pack. What she did want to do, however, was try on all her new clothing and ignore the task-at-hand.
Inwardly squealing, Kagome reached for her low-cut black one piece. As she shimmied herself into it, she admired the smooth fabric that it was made out of. She had never owned anything custom made, let alone something that made her feel so, well, sexy.
She walked to the bathroom in the hostel to look at herself in the mirror and revel in her purchase. She definitely shouldn't have spent so much money, but damnit, she was going to let herself at least enjoy it.
Maybe I should go take some selfies. For science purposes, she justified to herself. But as she went to go back into her room, she realized she'd forgotten something.
Her key.
Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Kagome frantically reached for her pockets, and realized that she had none. Yes, she felt like a goddess in it, but it was absolutely not appropriate to be wearing it unless it was by the pool. And she did not want to ask the front desk for a spare key, since she a) did not want to pay yet another deposit and b) didn't want to interact with any official personnel wearing something that was probably as far from church-appropriate as it could get, to put it mildly.
She realized she had one option. Go ask her cute roommate to borrow the room key. Wearing her black ensemble.
Sighing, Kagome went down the elevator to find Inuyasha. She knew that her outfit would incite some stares.
Kagome walked down to the bar and found her roommate immediately, chatting with one of his friends.
"Hey," she said meekly as his eyes widened she entered his field of vision. "Um, I locked myself out of my room."
"Here you go, love," he handed her his keys without any protest.
"Thanks," she said as nonchalantly as possible, taking his keys and scurrying off into the elevator. That was humiliating. She might as well have said with a wink, "Hey cute guy who I was kind of flirting with, I promise that I didn't walk down into the bar with this slinky bathing suit just so you could ogle my cleavage. I just lost my keys! Promise!"
Kagome put her face into her hands, mortified at the thought at what she had just done. Though she didn't mind that look Inuyasha had given her, she usually liked to be a little subtler when she was flirting with the objects of her affections.
She ran back into her room, hoping not to get any more stares than she'd intended. She entered her room without an issue, thanks to her handsome roommate, and frantically started texting her friends whilst trying to brainstorm a cute yet less skimpy outfit to wear so she could return her roommate's keys with slightly more dignity.
Before she knew it, five minutes had passed. And then ten. She could not figure out what to wear. And she wasn't too keen on facing Inuyasha again. She might as well have been wearing a sign that said "PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LOOK AT MY TITS."
She heard a knock on the door. Fuck. It was Inuyasha.
"Hey," she said, opening the door in the same outfit he'd seen her in ten minutes prior. "Here are your keys. So sorry, I was about to bring them back down."
He glanced at her. "Sure you were," he said incredulously as he took the keys and walked back out the door. "Cheers."
As soon as the door slammed shut, Kagome slumped down onto her bed again. Yup, it had been a long and hot day, and now her attempt at flirting with a cute traveller had gone horribly south. This guy must think I'm some sort of depraved sex maniac who feels the need to flaunt around my cleavage like I've never met a cute guy before.
And things were going so smoothly, too! That is, until she'd practically (yet unintentionally) thrown herself at her object of affection.
She was happy she'd only be spending one more night in Hoi An. It had been awhile since she'd made a spectacle of herself.
AN: may or may not be based completely on something that just happened to me