Hulk and His Priestess

Chapter 8 A Little Push

A few weeks had gone by, and Bruce and Hulk were progressing nicely… well, Hulk was. Hulk was now able to transform without the need to get angry and he was able to let Bruce into his mind so that he could see what was going on. But Bruce was having a harder time relinquishing control of his body to the Other Guy. It was like Hulk accepted that they were the same person, but Bruce couldn't.

It probably had something to do with the fact that everytime Hulk transformed, he would play around, hug, and flirt with Kagome and Bruce was forced to watch. Bruce wouldn't say that he was jealous of the Other Guy, more like envious. Because while Kagome played around with Hulk, she was a little bit shyer around Bruce when they weren't working on his problem. She still spoke with him, but not with the same confidence she spoke with Hulk. Bruce was beginning to believe that Kagome likes the Other Guy more than him. Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous.

What Bruce didn't know was that Kagome had a huge crush on him, but Hulk did. Oh, Hulk knew perfectly well that Kagome liked him so he would show her how much he liked her too by being affectionate with her. But, he also had an ulterior motive. Hulk wanted Banner to realize that he had feelings for Kagome, and for him to give up this notion of being with Natasha.

It annoyed Hulk that Banner still thought of Natasha. Sure, Natasha was important to Hulk too at one point, but Kagome meant far and away much more to Hulk than Natasha ever could. Hulk couldn't understand why Banner's mind kept wandering back to Natasha when Kagome was right in from of him and was perfect for the both of them.

So, Hulk would make his flirting over the top sometimes to see if Banner would react and do something, but all Hulk ever heard was Banner sulking and beating himself up in his mind. Bruce felt conflicted, he liked Kagome, but still had this misplaced sense of loyalty towards Natasha. He also felt that he was too old for Kagome. He was, after all, 46 years old and Kagome was only 25. He was old enough to be her father. So he decided to leave well enough alone, much to the Other Guy's complaint.

Kagome, on the other hand, had no qualms about Bruce's age. After all, she once was in love 500-year-old Hanyou. What difference did 21 years make? The thing was, she didn't know how to approach Bruce. She knew that he often thought of someone else, Kagome heard him once mumble the name Natasha in his sleep when he first arrived. At the time she didn't think anything of it, but now it hurt her to think that maybe Bruce was in love with some woman. So Kagome decided that the best course of action would be to be friends with Bruce and see where it went from there.

One afternoon after another successful session with Hulk, not so much with Bruce, Kagome decided to maked her move.

"Hey, Bruce, how about after we shower and change you and I go to the movies, my treat."

Bruce hesitated for a minute, wringing his hands as he thought. Finally coming to a decision, "Sure, why not, it could be fun."

"Great, why don't you shower first and get ready, while I check to see what's playing," Kagome tells him.

"No, Kagome, you go ahead and go first, I'll see what's playing."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

Kagome agrees and goes upstairs to get ready. Meanwhile, Bruce looks online to see what's playing. He decides that they're either going to watch the latest James Bond movie on one called Heart of the Ocean with some actor named Chris Hemsworth who, for some reason, looks an awful lot like Thor. Personally, Bruce would rather see watch the Bond movie, but he'll let Kagome decide.

15 minutes later kagome comes out of the bathroom.

"Okay bathroom's free," She yells as she walks to her room in her robe and her hair wrapped in a towel.

Bruce gathers his things and heads for the shower. Meanwhile, Kagome is in her room, brushing and blow-drying her hair. She applies some make-up, a little bit of eyeshadow and eyeliner. Then she puts on a pair of black skinny jeans with a green blouse and applies some lip gloss. She puts on a pair of black ankle boots.

By the time she's finished, Bruce has already showered and changed and is waiting for her downstairs. He's standing nervously in the living room wringing his hand waiting for Kagome. Bruce doesn't know why he's so nervous, he just is. he sits down on the sofa and takes a deep breath.

"Get a hold of yourself, Banner, it's just a movie."

At that point he hears Kagome's door open, he stands up from the sofa and turns to face the stairs. Bruce's breath is caught in his throat when he sees Kagome coming down the stairs. She's a vision of loveliness and not for the first time he wishes he was 20 years younger. He is still convinced that Kagome could never be interested in an old man like him.

Kagome gives him a breath-taking smile when she reaches the bottom of the stairs.

"So what movie did you want to see?"

Coming out of his stupor, Bruce answers.

"Uh, well, we could either see Heart of the Ocean or the latest James Bond movie," Bruce tells her.

"Ooh, let's watch the James Bond one, I've always loved those movies," Kagome informs him.

"I was hoping you were going to say that, I finally get to watch it with someone who won't criticize the hell out of it for being unrealistic."

Kagome laughs, making his heart flutter. She grabs a light sweater and they head out to the theatre. They walk down the shrine steps, then make their way towards the theatre. As they walk, Kagome takes hold of Bruce's arm, he stiffens at first, but then he relaxes and enjoys the walk. They walk in a comfortable silence with each one enjoying the other's presence.

Getting to the theatre, they buy some popcorn, and sodas then head in. And while watching the movie, Bruce notices Kagome shiver so he tentatively wraps his arm around her shoulder. When she doesn't say anything he goes back to watching the movie. Meanwhile, Kagome is squealing in her head, she is so excited to have Bruce's arm around her shoulders she doesn't know what to do. Kagome takes a deep breath and leaned into Bruce, hoping he won't rebuff her. Fortunately, he only seems to tense for a second, then settle back down.

2 hours and 40 minutes later they get out of the theatre.

"That was a good movie, I hope it's not Daniel Craig's last Bond film, he makes a great Bond." Kagome comments.

"Yeah he does," Bruce agrees.

"Hey, do you want to get some sushi, there's a restaurant close by," Kagome asks.

Bruce smiles at her, "Yeah, I could eat."

They head over to Sushi Kanesaka and have dinner. Once they have eaten their fill, they walk back to the shrine, Kagome still holding on to Bruce's arm.

Once they made it up the shrine steps, they go inside. Kagome turns to Bruce to tell him she had a wonderful time, but he speaks at the same time, they both laugh.

"I just wanted to thank you for inviting me to the movies, Kagome, I had a wonderful time," Bruce tells her.

"Yeah I did too, maybe we can do that more often," Kagome says.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

They stand there in awkward silence until Kagome throws caution to the wind and reaches up and kisses Bruces on the cheek, she blushes and runs upstairs.

"Goodnight Bruce." She calls out when she reaches her room and shuts the door.

Bruce stands there in shock, he places a hand on his cheek where Kagome kissed him and smiles.

"Goodnight Kagome.