BlueMoon Goddess: I hope people didn't think that I ended this story? Because I still have at least a few more chapters to go before this fic is done. But I guess from when I said "I'm going to end it here," most of you guys must've thought I was ending the story. Anyway, I do have this chapter up and I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, its characters, or the story 'Tempt me at Midnight' by Maureen Smith, which this fic is based on.

Summary: They were best friends since high school. But after the kiss they shared on New Year's Eve, feelings and desires he's never felt before come rushing in. Can he convince her that what they're feeling is real, that their meant to be more than just friends?


The next two weeks were heaven on earth. Inuyasha and Kagome spent every possible minute together, which was no easy feat considering their busy, demanding careers. But they found creative ways to make it work. When Inuyasha went to appear on some morning talk shows to talk about his successful case, she had accompanied him and once he was done for the day, they locked themselves in his penthouse, ordered take-out and devoured each other for the rest of the night. They spent countless hours in bed together, alternately making passionate love and talking, rediscovering little things about each other that amused and fascinated them. They made up trivia questions to test their knowledge of each other, neither surprised when they both passed with flying colors.

One weekend they tackled the job of repainting her living room, which she'd been wanting to do since her divorce. She'd never really cared for the color Koga had chosen, but she'd capitulated to keep the peace. Now, as she worked alongside Inuyasha, she found it incredibly therapeutic to cover the walls with a fresh coat of lime-green colored paint.

'Out with the old,' She thought. 'In with the new.' When she met Inuyasha's gaze, she knew he felt the same way.

They had nearly finished their task when he suddenly flicked a spatter of paint at her, hitting her squarely in the chest. After she recovered from her shocked indignation, she'd dunked her own brush in the pan and gone after him. Their laughter rang out as they chased each other around the room, taunting and slinging paint at each other. By the time they were through, their hair and clothes were smeared with paint, and the protective cloth draped across the floor was covered with lime-green colored footprints.

Later, as they cuddled in bed together, Kagome realized that in less than two weeks, Inuyasha had brought more joy and laughter into her house than she'd experienced in the two years she'd lived there with her ex-husband.


Near the end of the month, Sango had invited Kagome to going shopping for some last minute items for her nursey and after spending half an hour, they stopped for lunch for Sango to rest her feet and for the two to catch up on what was going on in their lives.

Halfway through their lunch though, Sango abruptly rose from her seat at the table.

Kagome stared at her. "Are you okay?"

"My water just broke." Sango said, holding her round belly.

"What?!" Kagome bolted from her chair, and went around to her friend. "Oh my God, we got to get you to the hospital."

"Kagome, it's alright." Sango said, as Kagome gently steered her to the front of the restaurant.

"I'll call Miroku and tell him to meet us at the hospital."

Several hours later, Kagome and Inuyasha entered the quiet hospital room where Sango reclined in the bed, two babies cradled lovingly in her arms. Miroku sat close beside her, as close as he could get without being in the bed with her. Both were beaming with joyous wonder as they gazed upon their newborn daughters' sleeping faces, so thrilled that they didn't notice their friends' arrival until Inuyasha and Kagome had nearly reached the bed.

"Congratulations." Kagome said softly, so as not to wake the babies.

The proud parents glanced up at them, both wearing identical rapturous grins. "Hey, guys."

"Hey yourselves." Kagome and Inuyasha huddled around the bed to get their first look at the sleeping infants in Sango's arms. The twin girls looked just like their mother with their matted dark brown hair and fair complexion.

"Oh, my God." Kagome breathed. "Their beautiful."

Inuyasha grinned. "They certainly take after you Sango."

Miroku smiled brightly. "I completely agree with you."

Inuyasha clapped him warmly on the back and handed him a Cuban cigar. "You did good Miroku."

"Congrats, daddy." Kagome said, smiling.

"Daddy." Miroku looked dazed. "Wow. I can't believe I'm a daddy."

Sango gave him a teasing smile. "You'll believe it when you're getting up for two a.m. feedings and diaper changes."

Everyone laughed.

Kagome added a floral arrangement to an already teeming assortment of bouquets, balloons, teddy bears, chocolates and other gifts that had been brought to the new parents. Then, perching on the edge of the bed, she smiled gently at Sango. "Hey, mommy, how are you feeling after eight hours of labor?"

"Wonderful." Sango sighed, gazing down at her daughters. "Two bundles of wonderfulness."

Miroku tenderly stroked his wife's cheek. "You were amazing, love."

"I just can't believe how composed you were when your water broke. You had to calm me down." Kagome laughed, remembering the mad scramble to get her friend to the hospital.

"But Miroku wasn't any better." Inuyasha added. He and Miroku were setting up some last minute changes for the nursery when Miroku had gotten the call from Kagome letting him know that his wife was in labor and to meet them at the hospital. "We almost got into three accidents just to get here. I'm surprised a police officer didn't try and stop us with the way you were driving."

"Sango grinned at Kagome and Miroku. "Haven't I told you guys for months that I know what I'm doing?"

"Yes ma'am." They humbly conceded, and Sango and Inuyasha chuckled.

"By the way, where is everyone?" Kagome asked curiously. "Inuyasha and I thought we'd have to fight our way into the room when we got here."

Sango grinned. "Miroku shooed everyone out so I could feed the twins. I think they all headed back to the house for a celebration dinner. But I'm glad you and Inuyasha are both here." She said. "Miroku and I would like to ask a very special favor of you."

Miroku smiled at them. "We want you to be the girls' godparents."

Inuyasha grinned broadly. Kagome gasped, so touched that tears sprang to her eyes. She and Inuyasha looked at each other, joined hands, then turned back to their friends and chorused, "We'd be honored."

Miroku and Sango beamed with pleasure. "Good."

Kagome sniffed. "I need a tissue."

She'd barely gotten out the words before Inuyasha removed a handkerchief from his pocket, handed it to her and she gently dabbed at her watery eyes.

"Look at our feisty, tough-talking Kagome getting all sentimental." Miroku teased. "What have you done to her, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha smiled into her eyes. "What has she done to me?" He murmured.

Kagome reached out and touched his face before she remembered that they had an audience. She glanced up in time to see Miroku and Sango exchange quiet, knowing smiles.

Flushing self-consciously, Kagome grinned at Sango. "May I please hold one of my precious goddaughter's?"

"Of course." Sango laughed as she gingerly handed over one of the babies. As Kagome cradled the warm, swaddled infant in her arms, something melted inside her.

"Aren't you a beautiful little angel." Kagome cooed. "Have you guys thought of any names yet?"

"Yes. Anika and Pia Morrow. You're holding Pia in your arms right now." Sango said.

"Pia." Kagome repeated, looking back at her goddaughter. "What a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl. You and you're sister are going to have your parents wrapped around little your fingers." To her delight, the sleeping newborn puckered her tiny lips. "Oh, guys, look—"

She glanced up and froze, arrested by the tender expression on Inuyasha's face as he stared at her with Pia. When their eyes met, a deep ache of longing swept through her, squeezing her heart almost painfully.

Glancing away, Kagome kissed Pia's silky crown of brown hair, then gently passed her to Miroku. "Here, Miroku, it's your turn."

As Miroku and Sango resumed cooing over their daughters, Kagome and Inuyasha smiled softly at each other. They left shortly afterward, promising to return the next day.

On the ride home they were unusually quiet, each absorbed in their own private thoughts. When they reached Inuyasha's high-rise, where they'd already agreed to spend the night together, they rode the elevator to the twentieth floor in silence.

Once inside the darkened penthouse, they removed their coats and hung them up in the foyer closet.

Their eyes met.

Without a word passing between them, Kagome took Inuyasha's hand and led him upstairs to his bedroom. They undressed each other slowly, then fell across the bed in a tangle of limbs. Moonlight poured through the wall of windows, cascading over them as they rolled around, mouths searching, hands caressing and exploring each other's bodies as if they hadn't already memorized every detail.

Rising over him, Kagome pushed Inuyasha down to the bed and straddled him. Gripping the thick base of his shaft, she positioned him and sank down. She heard his breath escape in a slow hiss, heard her own moan as her inner muscles tightened around his shaft. He steadied her hips with his hands as she began to move on him. Finding a rhythm, she let her head fall back and surrendered to her body's instincts, rocking, riding up and down his length with long, deep strokes. He groaned and fondled her breasts, arching his hips to meet every downward pump of hers.

They came together, shuddering and crying out each other's names. Kagome's heart soared as Inuyasha spent himself inside her, spurting liquid heat into her womb with violent pulses.

As their gazes locked, Kagome wondered if she was the only one who hoped they'd just created a new life.


"Mother, are you home?" Inuyasha called, once he entered his mother's house.

"In here, dearest!"

Munching on an apple he'd swiped from the kitchen, he followed the sound of his mother's voice to the sunroom located at the rear of her house. She was humming softly as she folded linen napkins and placed them around a table set with her best china and crystal. A centerpiece of fresh-cut flowers from her garden perfumed the air.

"Hello, mother." Inuyasha said around a mouthful of apple.

"Hello, dearest, how are you—" She glanced up, then froze. "Oh my goodness." She breathed, looking as if she'd seen a ghost.

Inuyasha would've glanced over his shoulder to check for an apparition hovering behind him, but he knew the ghost his mother saw was reflected in his own face.

After several moments, Izayoi blinked to clear her vision and let out a shaky laugh. "I'm sorry dearest. It's just…you look more and more like your father every day. It catches me by surprise sometimes."

Inuyasha smiled quietly. "I know."

She gazed at him a moment longer, then shook her head as if to banish the memories of her late husband, who had been killed in a tragic plane crash when Inuyasha was thirteen.

As she resumed folding her napkins, he sauntered over and leaned down to kiss her upturned cheek. Draping an arm around her shoulders, he surveyed the elegant place settings on the table. "Your turn to host the monthly book club luncheon?"

"Yes." She sent him a sly smile. "The ladies will be happy to see you. You know how much they enjoy showing you photos of their daughters, granddaughters and nieces, hoping you might take a shine to one of them."

At the thought of being ambushed by his mother's matchmaking friends, Inuyasha grimaced. "What time do they get here?"

"Two o'clock."

"I'll be gone by one."

Izayoi laughed.

Inuyasha crunched into his apple. "Need help setting the table?"

"No thank you, dearest. I'm almost finished." She poked him playfully in the ribs. "You don't know the proper way to fold napkins anyway."

He grinned. "Didn't seem like a skill I'd need in order to practice law."

She laughed. "No, I suppose it wouldn't. Anyway, what brings you by?"

"Can't I pay my own mother a visit?"

Izayoi glanced up from arranging silverware on the table. "Of course you can, I'm always happy to see my precious boy."

They traded affectionate smiles. As Inuyasha walked over and discarded his apple core in a plastic trash bag filled with cut flower stems, his mother asked. "How's Kagome? It has been awhile since I've seen her."

"She's good." He smiled softly, taking a seat at the table. "We're good."

"We?" Pausing in her task, Izayoi arched a finely sculpted brow. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

As Inuyasha grinned at her, he realized how much he'd looked forward to confiding in her. "Kagome and I are dating."

She went still. "Is that so?"

He nodded, all but bouncing on his heels.

"Well…" A slow, pleased smile spread across Izayoi's face. "It's about time."

Inuyasha stared at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I've been wondering how long it would take you to wake up and realize you're in love with her."

"What?" Inuyasha exclaimed, startled. "No, you don't understand. This just happened, while we were in California."

Izayoi smiled, shaking her head slowly at him. "Dearest, you've been in love with Kagome for years."

"Years!" Incredulous, he barked out a laugh. "Mother, come on."

"I'm not."

"What in the world makes you think I've been in love with Kagome for years?"

An intuitive gleam filled Izayoi's dark eyes. "A mother knows these things." At his skeptical look, she sighed. "Alright. Since you're a lawyer, I'll support my case with evidence."

"Alright, state your evidence." He said, leaning back in his seat.

"Exhibit A? The way you look at Kagome. The way your eyes light up whenever you talk about her. The way you can't help touching her, even for the briefest moments."

Inuyasha swallowed. "Circumstantial. Those examples don't prove anything."

"All right, Counselor. How about this example? When Kagome got married, you took it very hard."

Inuyasha clenched his jaw, every muscle in his body going rigid.

His mother's expression gentled. "I watched you during the wedding ceremony. You looked positively tortured, dearest. When the minister asked if anyone objected to the marriage, I swore you'd be on your feet and charging down that aisle. And you weren't very sociable at the reception either. Kagome had to practically beg you to dance with her, and the look on your face as you held her? Oh Inuyasha, it just about broke my heart. And what did you do after the reception? You drove to Miroku's restaurant, sat alone at the bar and got drunk. Not drunk from too much celebrating, no, you got lick-your-wounds drunk. The bartender had to fetch Miroku to drive you home, you were so incapacitated." She paused, arching a brow. "Strange behavior from someone whose best friend had just gotten married, don't you think?"

Inuyasha scowled, even as his chest tightened. "I knew she was making a big mistake by marrying that jerk. And yeah, I was a little sad that our friendship wouldn't be the same."

"Are you sure those are the only reasons you were so upset?"

He held his mother's quiet gaze a moment longer before his eyes slid away. Shaken and dumbfounded, he scrubbed a hand over his face and blew out a deep, ragged breath. Was it possible? Had he been in love with Kagome for years and not even known it? Or had he been in denial about his feelings?

"Do you know why you've had such a hard time settling down?" His mother gently prodded.

He sent her an ironic glance. "I haven't exactly been trying."

She smiled, soft and knowing. "That's because you've been secretly holding out for Kagome, no other woman will do."

Inuyasha said nothing.

His mother's words had struck a chord deep within him, unearthing truths he'd been unable, or unwilling, to acknowledge until now. Her description of his behavior at Kagome's wedding was frighteningly accurate. He had been miserable that day, starting from the moment he'd sneaked into the bridal suite and seen Kagome standing in front of the mirror, outrageously beautiful in her simple white wedding gown. He'd wanted a private moment with her, but her mother and bridesmaids had shooed him out of the room, fussing that the bride had to finish getting ready. Later, as Kagome came down the aisle toward her groom, she'd sought Inuyasha out among the gathered guests. When their eyes met, she'd smiled softly and winked. And something inside him had shriveled up and died.

Over the years, he'd often wondered what he would've said to her if they'd been left alone before the ceremony. Now, in a moment of stunning clarity, he realized that he'd intended to beg her not to go through with marrying Koga.

Shaken by the revelation, Inuyasha searched his mother's face. "Is that why you never said anything to me? You wanted me to figure it out on my own?"

She nodded, eyes twinkling. "I knew you would eventually. You're a smart man."

He smiled ruefully. "Not smart enough, obviously, if it took me all these years to see what was right in front of me."

Izayoi chuckled. "Better late than never."

"That's true." But Inuyasha was thinking about how much precious time had been wasted. If he'd recognized his feelings sooner, could he have claimed Kagome before Koga did? Could he have saved her from the pain and heartache of an emotionally abusive marriage? He'd never know, and that saddened him thoroughly.

His mother was watching him with a quiet, nostalgic expression. "You know, your father was quite the ladies' man when we met. So dashing and daring, and so charismatic. He could charm the pants off of any woman and none of them could resist them. Sound like anyone you know?"

At Inuyasha's sheepish grin, Izayoi laughed and gave him a knowing look.

Sobering after a moment, she continued. "When your father married me, none of those other women mattered. For the years I had him, that man never once cheated on me, and I never worried that he would. Because he loved me." She reached up and tenderly cupped Inuyasha's cheek. "That's the kind of love you have for Kagome. A rare, profoundly special love that only comes around once in a lifetime."

Inuyasha swallowed. "I don't want to lose her." He confessed, husky with emotion.

Izayoi's gaze softened. "Then don't." She said simply.

And Inuyasha vowed, right then and there, that he wouldn't.


BlueMoon Goddess: Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter, is going to be a bit of a trouble and someone might make an appearance. So until next time guys! ^_^