Truly, Madly, Deeply Chapter 4, an inuyasha fanfic

A.N. You guys take yourselves for granted. Definitely. I love you all so much and adore your reviews (so much to the point where I print out some of my favorite my reviews and have a wall of ones that I loved lol) so when I take these hiatuses, I do so only because I need to. I'm a person who can't work well under stress and would have been dishing out angst ridden crap for almost half a year, so I've been straightening out my life as best as I can with those months I took off. Those who have been with me since Delightfully Disastrous know my whole 2005 summer keeps popping up this way and that and my home life hasn't been that great, but my New Year's Resolution is to finish all seven of these stories within '07. I hate to break my resolutions so you all won't see me taking another break for awhile.

So just for today, I'll play Santa. Merry Christmas! Here's my present to you all.

Thank you for the encouragement and support. I rely on you guys for that –wink- so in exchange:

Here's this chapter. Made extra long and with extra care:

Truly Madly Deeply.

Chapter Four

(Tsuki)

"You truly are a mad woman."

Sesshoumaru had agreed in the end to foot the bill for the petit girl, but had been regretting it somewhat when Kagome order half the menu.

Kagome put on an innocent face, a grin spread deeply on her face, "I have to disagree, I'm completely happy at the moment."

She bit into her triple-decker burger.

Sesshoumaru snorted, "You irk me."

Kagome cocked her head to the side and feigned innocence, "So wouldn't you be the mad one?"

Sesshoumaru let out a sound that resembled a chuckle. Kagome would have reveled in the sound had she not caught the small hint of annoyance in his next words. "Just eat your food and be happy that I'm paying for you."

Kagome suddenly blushed, "I am. Thank you, Sesshoumaru. In all honesty, I would have starved until we got back on the plane. I packed my wallet in my suitcase and so I'm not going to see that for awhile."

Five fries were chomped on with a pout.

Sesshoumaru merely smirked, "Somehow I am not surprised."

This woman defined everything he tried not to be… or rather was not allowed to be. This Kagome did not have a fitting attitude for her age and she would have forgotten her head were it not attached to her neck.

But she had a childish air about her that drew him in.

Maybe it was because he was actually envious of her. He was envious that she was able to break all the rules that he kept strictly.

And parts of him… seemed to hate her for her freedom, while some seemed amused.

Kagome picked at her chicken sandwich, her burger completely polished off, "You know if I'm bothering you, you can say so. I've just been such a pain to everyone haven't I?"

Sesshoumaru scoffed after a moment, "Had you bothered me, I have said so. I do not believe in courtesy."

Though, that was the complete God honest truth. When he thought about it genuinely, that realization was quite stark. She did not bother him. Not really, anyway.

Kagome smiled, "I'm glad. But, I owe you big time. I definitely do. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be here."

He agreed with her completely. There was no exaggeration in that statement at all. Within their first hour of meeting, she had fallen a sleep on him, mumbled about old ladies, harassed his lap, and dropped her ticket.

But had it been anyone else, he would never have cared or even had wanted to bother. He probably would have killed her actually… That's how it would have been if she were anyone else, so it was plausible to call her an exception.

But why exactly had she been an exception in the first place confused him.

Everything about her confused him.

But he was certain, though, that he did not… not like it.

(Tsuki)

"'And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting' You know…that's the only line I remember from The Raven."

Kagura laughed, "Kanna's favorite poem, and that's all I remember." She doubled over in pain, as the whispers of the wind wrapped around her heart and the scent of roses nearly suffocated her. Even back in her car, it was all so painful.

Their memories were so haunting.

But if she failed, that would be her, down with the rest of them.

Though Naraku seemed so confident that she would not come close to failure, it was something she was hoping would not happen but at the same time hoping it would.

The wind howled blew gently, and the whispers got louder.

"On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;"

Kagura placed her head in the crook of her shoulders in silence as the verse continued and finished what she had started.

"And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted— nevermore…"

Kanna…

Was she to take that as a sign?

And if so, as what should she take it as.

(Tsuki)

Sango hurried to Kagome's apartment. Her brother had been secretly living there for the past week since he had somehow managed to upset his and Kagome's mother.

What he did, Sango was not sure of…and honestly she did not want to know.

Mrs. Higurashi did not upset easily. If it was enough to upset her then it must have been some sort of homicide…that or he did not get into all Advance Placement courses as school…

Sango pulled into the driveway. It was a four story apartment. So far only three people lived there, including Kagome.

The first was a woman who hardly ever visited, who lived on the top floor. The second was a bachelor pad for two cousins. Both were complete flirts-the only difference was that one was gay.

Sango always forgot their names. But there was a good reason for that. They were really, really long…

She killed the engine and exited her car. She locked it before finding one of the many copies of the keys that Kagome had made for her apartment.

She hurried up the steps.

If she knew Souta, and lord knows she did, then she needed to do some major damage control on the apartment.

Sango headed onto the second level and using the key she opened the door that lead into Kagome's apartment.

"Oh my God, how the hell do you do this is one week?"

Dirty clothes were draped on furniture and books were everywhere. There was scraps of what used to be pizza on the hard wood floor. There was an open pizza box next to the scraps.

There were cans of soda every where and…

There was a crunch underneath Sango's sneakers, "Ew Souta! Egg shells? You pig!"

She cringe when she saw Kagome's favorite rugs on the backs of her couches. "Suuuuwe! C'mere Souta…suuuuweee!"

Her eyes suddenly widened and she went crashing to the floor. "Ow!"

Sango looked at what she tripped over and rolled her eyes when she saw that it was Souta. He snuggled deeper into the blanket that was wrapped around him. She shook her head and poked him with the toe of her foot.

"Get up. You have some cleaning to do."

Suddenly a girl exited Kagome's bedroom. She was wearing one of Kagome's pajama shirts.

She rubbed her eyes and asked groggily, "Souta…is that you making all that noise out here?"

Sango looked at her, her jaw hitting the floor, "You're a girl!" She kicked Souta harder, "What has Mirouku been teaching you?" Souta groaned and woke up.

The girl shrieked, "Who are you?!"

Souta bolted up at the exclamation and looked around. Seeing Sango, he asked groggily, "What's goin' on? …Sango?"

The brunette turned to Souta, "You know her?"

Sango inched away from him, "You did it with that girl in Kagome's bed… She'll kill you…" she whispered the last part menacingly.

The girl and Souta simultaneously blushed, "We didn't do anything!"

Souta grumbled in after thought, "Hence why I was sleeping on the floor."

Sango snorted, "Then you have a lot of explaining to do."

It turned out that the girl, Rin had spent the night because they had an all night study session cramming for a test for their night class that night.

"Well I'm glad that Souta didn't take advantage of you, Rin." She cast a glare at Souta who was up to his elbows in dish soap.

Souta pouted, "Sango… I'm an honest guy! Plus I already have a girlfriend."

Sango laughed, "Yeah, yeah. I'll leave you to keep cleaning while I bring Rin-chan home and throw your laundry in my washing machine. You can stop by to pick it up later."

Souta grinned, "Thanks, Sango. You're a life saver. Kagome would kill me if she saw her apartment like this. It's funny though… I can't even remember when it got this messy."

Sango laughed, "I just hope you don't rub off on Kohaku." She lugged a bag of his dirty clothes to the doorway. She suddenly scrunched up her nose. "When you get a house of your own it'll definitely be a hell hole, kiddo…"

Souta rubbed the back of his sheepishly, grimacing when a river of soap slid down his neck.

He cringed. "I need a shower…"

(Tsuki)

Kagome stared at the waning sun, "Almost home," she grinned.

Sesshoumaru just responded with a, "Hn."

Kagome rolled her eyes, "Reading again? Same book?"

Sesshoumaru did not glance up, "Hn."

"I'll take that as a yes."

She sighed and looked out of the window. After a moment started humming. There was a slight movement next to her as Sesshoumaru closed his book.

"What song are you mauling?"

Kagome turned sharply, ready to send back a sharp and clever retort of, 'your mom!', when she realized he was smiling slightly.

Kagome huffed, "Not like its any business of an eavesdropper, but 'Save Tonight.' It's stuck in my head for some stupid reason."

Sesshoumaru raised a brow, "I see…Trying to tell me something."

She crossed her arms, "Someone's conceited, huh? And no I am not... It's just a very catchy song."

Suddenly an elderly woman across the aisle from them laughed, "Are you two on your Honeymoon?"

Kagome blushed and squeaked as she leaned across Sesshoumaru, "You think I married that thing?"

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat, "That thing, is right here. And," he turned to the woman, "No, this is our first time meeting."

The woman clasped her hands together, "What luck that you both chose to sit together. It is so hard to find people who get along enough to sit in the same seats all through a whole plane ride together. I mean I've changed my location at least four times," she added the last, with a guilty giggle.

Sesshoumaru cocked his head to the side slightly. Kagome furrowed her brows together and pulled out her ticket, "But aren't there assigned seats? On the bottom of the slip it said where to go." She stretched her arm over to the aisle, not quite reaching it.

Sesshoumaru took it from her and handed it to the woman.

She skimmed it over and let out a small laugh, "Sweetie…What are you taking about? There isn't anything there…"

(Tsuki)

Half an hour later found the woman sleeping soundly, and Kagome was oddly quiet for a moment, before she laughed. "I guess I might have been seeing things… I mean I barely got any sleep last night."

Sesshoumaru only let out a, "Hn."

But what were the odds that both of them had visualized corresponding numbers. He was almost positive that there had been something on his ticket.

Kagome went back to humming and stifled a yawn.

Sesshoumaru turned off the overhead light. "Go to sleep."

Kagome searched for his face in the dark, but sleepily gave up, "Hn."

Sesshoumaru snorted and leaned back into his own seat as her breathing evened out. He closed his eyes and before he knew it, he was asleep.

(Tsuki)

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Who the hell schedule a dinner at midnight. I know dad's eccentric, but this is fucking nuts."

He struggled with the red tie. After a moment he threw it to the ground, frustrated, "Why couldn't you be born a clip on?!"

Kikyou reached around and with help from the bathroom mirror she tied his tie. "I don't know… there's something romantic about a late night dinner. You never know what could happen at midnight…"

Inuyasha snorted, "Yeah I do…I can just picture myself falling asleep in my appetizer."

(Tsuki)

Inuyasha! You ruined the foreshadowing Kikyou set up…. Lol Yay for chapter four! It's over and done and it's three thirty a.m. on Christmas morn! I'm almost halfway done with these seven chapters! Yay!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays,

Mikazuki Tsuki