Notes: I just gotta send a SHOUT OUT to those who have left reviews, I love them, each and every one. Particularly the ones threatening my life if I don't update quickly!! LOL You guys rock! I was really REALLY unsure about the direction I was taking last time, so I am glad you enjoyed it. And on the Kutabare…yeah, its interesting what you can find when you uncheck the exact match box on a online language translator. Just remember, should you visit Japan and visit a street vendor, and get yourself beaten up by an irate Japanese lady, when you get the word Kutabare mixed up with a word for say some kind of fruit or something, you did not learn the language HERE from this FANFIC author! LOL Keep the reviews coming guys, I love them!! Each and everyone is ADORED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!!
Okay, as for this update, no big news, no new words to translate..(hehe) This is the second half of what was suppose to be Chapter 8 that had to be cut cause the chapter got too long. I really struggled with what to with Kagome in regards to the sake. I didn't want to just wave a magic wand and make her problems with drinking go away, because I want to be realistic…but I also want to begin working towards InuYasha's nightmares and resolution and such. And, I confess, I wanted you all on the edge of your seats for a couple days...LOL Anyway, hope you enjoy how I handled it. And Yes, I definitely agree, Shippo needs a TIME OUT! But, remember, just as every good deed has its own rewards, every bad deed has its own consequences...
----Loss----
----Chapter Nine----
---Truthful Lies----
InuYasha approached the well, more than ready to return to the future and Kagome. He was grateful that Kagome hadn't been with him, hadn't heard the things Shippo had said. Seeing Kaede had been good. He knew she of all people would understand about Kagome's drinking, would confirm that he had done the right thing.
InuYasha remembered how he had once roamed the forest, fueled by anger and hate. His only desire to be a full demon. He'd had no one back then. No friends, no family, no love or kindness. His life was consumed by hate and anger. Then he met Kikyo, and she showed him the beauty of what could be. He knew happiness for the first time since haha-ue had died. InuYasha frowned, remembering how Naraku had torn them apart, stealing their future over his sick greed and love for hurting people. When he woke from his death Kagome had been there. His own beautiful tenshi, ready to take on the challenge of bringing his heart back from the hell Naraku had cast it into.
Soon after the little kitsune had joined, then Miroku. InuYasha laughed, remembering how Miroku had hit the nail on the head. He had been in love with Kagome by then. But Kikyo had just been revived, and the confusion and pain began. Still he seethed when the monk went near Kagome with his pleas for her to bear his child and his constant groping. InuYasha had secretly been extremely grateful when the demon slayer joined up with them. Miroku seemed to prefer her bottom to Kagome's and InuYasha was able to allow him to live. It wasn't long before his ire was shifted to stinking wolf. Forget the fact that Koga eventually became like a brother, just as Miroku had. InuYasha smiled, realizing for the first time he had been able to think about Miroku and Sango without the gut wrenching pain.
His smile faded when he got to the well and saw the angry blue crayon marks on the side of the well that Kaede had warned him about. Two characters, a male with dog ears and a female stood headless, heads in the process of flying off. Tessiaga was obviously the tool used to behead the man and woman.
Tessiaga was held by a kitsune.
------------------------------
InuYasha jumped out of the well in the future, stomped out of the well house and crossed the shrine grounds in a matter of seconds. He had cleaned up the well, once again thankful that Kagome hadn't been with him, the only thing that had kept him from cleaning off the well with Shippo's face was the fact that he was so angry he was sure he would have killed him.
He considered jumping up to Kagome's window. He was far from in the mood for conversation. But, in a few months, this would be his family too. Well, for all intense purposes, they had been for almost as long as he had known Kagome. He knew they cared about him. Hell, maybe Higurashi no haha-ue could help. Maybe she had some wise insight. He almost smiled, Higurashi no Sofu-ue may be the shrine priest, but Higurashi no haha-ue was the one with all the wisdom.
He opened the door, smelling something wonderful coming from the kitchen. There was always a wonderful smell in the Higurashi kitchen. He had really come to love being here, so much that it was more home to him than any place had ever been. What did he have back there? A tree? Here he had a warm bed and blankets, pillows and the woman he loved. He had family all around who cared about him. Why did he always want to drag Kagome away from here?
"InuYasha? is that you?" Mrs. Higurashi called from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'm…"
"Thank kami, there is a problem." She approached swiftly, wringing her hands in an obvious panic.
"Is Kagome hurt? Was there an accident or some..."
"Kagome seems to be missing. The school called looking for her. Kagome was not in any of her afternoon classes."
"She didn't come home or call on that talking box thing you gave her?" InuYasha felt the panic spread through him, it was like the night he had woken to find Kagome gone at the cabin, the night he found her and thought she was…
"No. And that is just not like my Kagome. I called her friend's Eri and Yuka and they would not even come to the phone!" Mrs. Higurashi was near tears, InuYasha patted her shoulder.
"Then I called Ayumi, and she told me. InuYasha, Kagome was right to be worried about talking going around school."
"I don't understand." He looked at her, fighting to make some sense out of all of this. His mind had stopped working properly after hearing Kagome was missing.
"Her schoolmates, they were horrible to her. But not just them, even some of the sensei. Ayumi said Kagome got into a fight with another girl at lunch and she was the only one who was blamed. After that, Kagome wasn't seen in school."
"Don't worry, I'll find her." InuYasha ran up the stairs to Kagome's room, grabbing his bandana to tie over his ears.
"InuYasha, Take this with you." Mrs. Higurashi handed him her cell phone. He looked at it as if it was from another planet, to him it was.
"Uh…"
"That's right, I'm sorry." She opened the phone and showed him how to use it. "If it rings, push this button and put your ear right here. I will call if, when, she comes home, if you aren't back yet."
InuYasha tried to be encouraged by her words, but she hadn't seen Kagome, passed out looking for all the world like she was dead. Hadn't held her while she was throwing up, still begging for more sake. She hadn't seen his nightmares.
He nodded numbly, then turned and left, running in the direction of Kagome's school.
---------------------------
Shippo looked around one last time to be sure that the area was clear, and then slipped out of the high grass, running to the garden. As quick as he could he pulled up an armload of fresh vegetables, shoving them in his bag. He turned to run back into the high grass and his nose caught the smell of food cooking. Someone in the village had obviously had some luck hunting that day. It was a kindness the men in the village never neglected, to bring the elderly priestess a share of their bounty for her own evening meal, even though she always told them it wasn't necessary. Shippo salivated as the smell of roasting boar wafted over his nose. He turned and began to trudge back to his new home, miserable.
It didn't help to know that he could have been taking part in the meal; instead, he was set on a night in a dark hole, covered with sticks and grass. It had been his own choice. He could have backed out of course, but not now. Not after today, not after what he had said. Besides, he wouldn't have backed out if he could. Shippo reached up and rubbed the bump just over his right eye where InuYasha hit him.
Yeah, this was the good way to live. Nobody would be hitting him anymore.
"What's the matter InuYasha?" Shippo said, talking tough now that InuYasha was not just out of earshot, but not even in the same year. "Can't handle the truth?" He laughed, brushing the mud off a carrot and crunching into it.
"I've always been smarter than that dumbass, and he knows it. That's why he always had to show off. To impress HER."
He took another bite of the dirty carrot, wincing from the muddy taste. He tried to quickly drown the memory of cleaning vegetables at Kaedes with Kagome and Sango. It had always been their little "job" while InuYasha and Miroku would hunt for some kind of beast or fowl. But it was getting harder to make himself forget, but at the same time, it was starting to get hard to remember to hate her too.
A family, they were offering him a family, a home. Oh, he would give anything to accept! But, even if InuYasha could forgive him for today, he couldn't, wouldn't, take that chance. The risk was just too big.
Shippo threw the half-eaten carrot out of the hole and curled up against the cooling night, missing the warmth of sleeping in her arms.
--------------------------------------
InuYasha stood in the quiet park, looking down on an unconscious Kagome. He had been searching for over an hour, finally lead by her scent to this place where she lay, looking to be asleep curled up in a ball. An empty sake bottle on the ground next to her. The air reeked of the drink, and InuYasha didn't know if he could trust himself to be the one to wake her or not.
"Damn her! She promised!" he thought angrily to himself, picking up the empty bottle and smashing it against a tree. She had people at home who cared, who loved her and were just waiting to be there for her! How could she betray them like this?
Then he thought about what Higurashi no haha-ue had told him. They had been mean to her, made fun of her. Had it been enough to push her to this?
He remembered his life when he lived with his mother's people. The taunts of half-breed, and fetch brat. Even his own "brother" Sesshomaru. It would have been enough to make him drink, but he had never thought of it to be honest.
But still, she had promised!
He was confused he didn't know what, or how to feel. He sat down on the ground next to her. He had to get her home, and then he would have to decide if he could…
The wind picked up and InuYasha noticed a strange shift in the air around him. He still smelled the sake heavy in the air, but he no longer smelled it near Kagome's head. He began to sniff closer and found the scent was nowhere near her mouth or upper body, only around her knees where the empty bottle had laid.
InuYasha lay back on the grass, breathing heavily, almost laughing to himself in relief.
"She didn't drink it. Kami, she didn't drink it!"
She may have gotten it, but the fact that she didn't drink it, that she had stopped herself.
Slowly he got on his knees and crawled over to her; he kissed her cheek, and then carefully shook her awake.
"Kagome?"
Kagome jerked a little bit, and then opened her eyes.
"InuYasha?" She looked around, dazed, then sat up He wrapped his other arms around her, pulling her close.
"I'm here"
"InuYasha!" She started sobbing and fell against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was shocked by the intensity.
"Kagome! What the hell…what happened to you today?" He tightened his arms around her, softly rubbing her back.
InuYasha felt himself going from anger to pain to disbelief and back again many time while Kagome told him what happened that morning. At one point Kagome had to make him promise not to go to school and beat people up. Finally, he just held her, stroking her hair while he told her how much he loved her.
"InuYasha?" She spoke haltingly, afraid to tell him the next part.
He kissed her "Tell me"
She pulled back, dreading the coming words, but knowing just the same that she had to say them. She looked away from him.
"After I left school, I went to the store, and I bought sake."
"But you didn't drink it, I know."
Kagome looked at him "You saw?"
"Yeah"
"After I bought it, I came here. I opened it. I wanted to…oh boy I really wanted to."
"But you didn't." She shook her head. InuYasha pulled her close against him again.
"I'm proud of you."
"But, I wanted to so bad. Everything was so horrible and I felt so crummy. Then I remembered the phone, and I tried to call haha-ue, but my phone wouldn't connect here. I just sat her and cried for a long time, then something just I don't know, like told me, I was going to be okay, I was strong enough to handle this, it was okay for me to dump it out. So I did, and while I was doing it, I felt myself starting to feel a little stronger. Like maybe I was taking some control of my life back."
InuYasha backed off and looked down at her, smiling.
"Kagome, you never lost it. You just forgot you had it." He caressed her cheek with his thumb, then lowered his head to hers, brushing her lips with his. He laid his forehead against hers, so that their noses were touching.
"After that I just wanted to I don't know, calm down I guess, I was still so upset. I must have dozed off. I'm sorry."
"Kagome, at first, I thought…I thought you drank it. I was so angry. I saw you sleeping, and the empty bottle."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not okay! I'm so sorry."
"InuYasha, I have given you plenty of reason to think what you thought. It's okay"
He pulled her close against him, whispering into her ear.
"I love you."
---------------
Late that night they lay together in the quiet of a sleeping house. Neither spoke, lost in their own thoughts as they held one another. Kagome moved closer, resting her cheek on his bare chest.
"InuYasha?"
"Yeah?" He threaded his fingers into her hair, resting his head on top of hers.
"What would you say if I told you I want to put off going back to your time for two months to focus myself full time on school?"
"Aren't you in school full-time now?"
"Yes, but this would be different. I wouldn't be going to classes. I would be doing the same work and exams, but I would be doing it on my own at home, and haha-ue would give me the exams"
"You wouldn't have to go back there or see those people who hurt you again?" He dropped his hand down to her back and pressed her closer to him.
"No, never."
"I say, I never want to see you hurt like that again."
Kagome pulled her hands around to his chest, slowly moving them up to his face to pull his head to hers. She met him with her lips parted, eagerly allowing his tongue entrance. InuYasha skimmed her hip with his palm, reaching the hem of her nightshirt and sliding his hand up the side of her leg while he rolled her over onto her back. He broke off the kiss, giving her a shallower kiss with a brush of his lips, then kissing her chin before trailing kisses down the side of her neck and over her chest.
Kagome moaned softly, her hands kneading the muscles in his back as she arched her own to meet his lips. InuYasha reached his hand inside her nightshirt, up to her stomach, over her torso and brushed his thumb over her breast.
The click of an opening door was heard in the hallway as Sota made a late night trip to the bathroom. InuYasha felt the equivalent of a bucket of cold water thrown on him as he jerked his hand back out of the nightshirt and around Kagome, pulling her close to his chest once again. He felt her laughing silently next him.
"Baka! It's not funny!"
He growled and let go of her, flipping onto his side away from her. Kagome cuddled up to his back, curling her legs up behind his, spooning them together.
She laughed into his ear "You're the one who ripped the door off the frame."
InuYasha growled again. "You better be fucking planning on moving the wedding up too."
Kagome lost it and laughed out loud.
--------------------------------------------
InuYasha approached the well, waiting for Kagome to jump out. He was annoyed, she was late as usual. He rolled his eyes, deciding he was going after her. He put his hands on the side, preparing to jump in, when a smell brushed over his nose. Blood. Her blood. He looked down.
Kagome lay there, her neck slashed, the well splashed with blood.
Shippo stood next to her, laughing at him, holding Sango's dagger.
"Kagome!"
"Kagome!!!!!!!"
"InuYasha! Wake up," Kagome shook him, trying to wake him from the nightmare before his screaming woke the others.
He opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Kagome?"
"You had a nightmare InuYasha, its ok." She reached her arms out and he went into them, pulling her close.
Kagome was back to sleep in minutes, InuYasha lay awake the rest of the night, thinking.
---
The early sunlight had just begun to filter in through the window. InuYasha still lay awake, looking down at the one he held. She was so at peace, so calm, while he felt like a thunderstorm of fear was growing inside of him.
"Kagome…" He whispered, brushing his knuckles over her cheek, looking longingly at her, wishing he could be as at peace. "What would you say if I told you I never wanted to go back again?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10 Preview:
Kagome and InuYasha make hard decisions for the future, Shippo discovers that life on your own is a lot more than just
being free to do what you want when you want, Kagome returns to school to clean out her locker, with InuYasha by her side
Drama Drama Drama! Guess who's in the hallway?
Laterat home, Kagome has an apologetic visitor.
