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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do not profit from this story.


So Now We'll Let the Rain Fall

Chapter Nine: Promise


It was quiet. If Kagome had really been paying attention, she might have realized that it was too quiet. Like the calm before the storm, everything was at peace before all hell broke loose.

Then again, she probably didn't need to worry. Just because they were sleeping – Inuyasha's one arm pillowing her head with her hand somewhere between his neck and jaw – didn't mean there was any sort of calm. Inuyasha was in danger and Kagome had questions. She wanted to help him, to give him an option that didn't include suffering.

Of course, Inuyasha was impossible if nothing else, and Kagome knew it would be a struggle. He said that he was staying…for her. She didn't understand it – or maybe she did, a part of it. Kagome didn't want to leave Inuyasha, couldn't imagine not having him there. But being abused? It just brought out a whole new level she couldn't even comprehend.

Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking against the light from her window. It was still open she realized and the room was now freezing cold. Kagome couldn't feel herself care, not with the blankets around her and Inuyasha's warm body pressed up against her. It was still early morning, and on a Saturday she generally slept in until around noon. It was the advantage of being a teenager, of being someone that her mother knew wouldn't dare roll over until the sun was on the other side of the sky.

Of course, that would be why on this particular morning that things didn't go the way they normally would. Kagome believed that maybe it was fate, or karma pushing her limits on them, to see how far they could go until they broke. It didn't matter what was behind it.

Mrs. Higurashi decided to walk in.


It felt like waking up from a very painful, very wretched dream. Everything was hazy, heavy in a way that made his head pound before he was even fully awake. Consciousness overtook him slowly, and even then it still felt like an eternity. It wasn't until he heard Kagome's audible gasp that he forced his eyes open, golden orbs taking in the room.

Shit.

Because there, standing in all of her frail motherliness was Kagome's mom, and she looked about ready to kill something. Inuyasha thought that preferably it would be him, and so he shifted to the side, putting space between him and Kagome.

"Mom, you need to hear me out–"

"What is going on?" Mrs. Higurashi screeched, in outrage or horror or fear, Inuyasha couldn't figure it out. He tried to put his leg down on the floor but pain shot up instantly and he groaned, ducking his head down.

"Inuyasha, don't move okay? You're still hurt." Kagome sounded like she was crying. Hell, he could smell the salt – he knew she was crying.

What the hell had he done coming here last night? It didn't matter that his thoughts had been focused on her, he should've known better. Even broken and bleeding and not entirely conscious he should've realized. "I'm sorry," he whispered. What else could he even say? He tried to stand, taking in a harsh breath as he gathered his balance and stood on his own.

Mrs. Higurashi didn't stay quiet for long. Whether she was like that because she was in a stupor, he wasn't sure, but Inuyasha flinched when a book went flying across the room, missing him completely but the threat was still there. "Why are you here? Why?"

Somehow, Inuyasha didn't think the truth would be enough to save them.


Kagome could barely breathe, let alone speak.

She watched as the half-demon turned around to face her mother, meeting the older woman's gaze before having to drop it. There was only so much he could take in one glance, and Mrs. Higurashi had a fill he couldn't swallow. "I was hurt last night, I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry–"

The words were stuttered, a bit stuck like he couldn't force them out and Kagome had to end this, really she had to say something

"How did you even get in?" Mrs. Higurashi was breathing fast, still standing at the door, looking about ready to shut the door with them all inside or flee. Kagome wished it would be the second option.

Finally getting a hold of herself, Kagome slipped out from under the covers. "Mom, I let him in. He was bleeding, don't you see the bandages? His foster dad–"

"He's in your room and he was sleeping in your bed! Do you not see?" Mrs. Higurashi bit her lip. "What have you taken?"

Kagome swallowed harshly, the silence almost unbearable. "He didn't take anything! How could– Mom, he's hurt!"

But there must have been a part of her mom that wasn't thinking, that only reacted based on what she chose to see. Right now Kagome's words weren't penetrating. The only thing that mattered was Inuyasha's presence, and Kagome knew she had to get him out before things blew up and only got worse. She ran to his side, covering his body as best she could with her own, even though it was much smaller.

"What have you done?"

More senselessness, more things Kagome couldn't piece together. She gave Inuyasha his sweater, tensing when her mother's footsteps drew nearer. It was kind of an overload, the way it was all happening so fast. She had just woken up and Inuyasha was still hurt and her mother was panicking, seeing red and not listening to a word that came out of her mouth.

She had to try, just once more.

Turning around, Kagome let Inuyasha struggle with his sweater and shoulder. She had to speak up. "What's your problem?" It was short, blunt and probably not the best choice of words.

"My…?" Mrs. Higurashi stopped, her frown growing. "You can't be serious Kagome."

There was only one option.

Inuyasha jumped out of her window.

She turned and followed him down.


Inuyasha hadn't been expecting Kagome's fast leap out, not so soon. He barely managed to catch her, cradling her to his chest as she swung around. "What are you thinking?" he asked, his voice a harsh whisper. Mrs. Higurashi was screaming, yelling about cops and a whole bunch of other things he didn't want to think about. The small girl in his arms took up all of his head space, making his mind spin.

"Come on," Kagome said, grabbing and dragging him. "Let's go!"

Inuyasha knew this was a bad idea. He knew there wasn't one good thing that could come out of this. His life had been a revolving door of disappointment; he was used to the feeling, expected it. For some reason, the half-demon couldn't stop her though, not yet. Kagome was breathing hard, her footsteps pounding on the soft grass as they crossed backyards and hopped fences.

It was four blocks over when they stopped, Kagome's laboured breathing almost a wheeze. Inuyasha held her shoulders, pulling her tight to him and squeezing shut his eyes. "What the hell were you thinking?" he asked fiercely. "Why did you run?"

Kagome let out a breathless chuckle – or maybe it was a sob, he couldn't tell. She took a step back, red-rimmed eyes not shedding any tears as her hands grabbed his arms. "That's a stupid question."

There was a part of him that wanted to laugh. This entire morning was unbelievable – what time was it even? "Your mom is going to raise hell Kagome. She won't stop until she finds you."

"But-But I don't think…" Kagome took a deep breath and this time a tear did fall. She wiped it away hastily, looking down at the ground. "I can't stay there, not with her like that. Inuyasha, you're hurt and she… She didn't even blink. She wants to pretend that what we share doesn't exist, that you're just there to- to- to take advantage of me."

The half-demon nodded. "I know."

"And she's wrong!" Kagome screamed. More tears fell down her cheeks. "She's wrong Inuyasha and I don't think I can ignore her anymore and her stupid blind ways!"

Inuyasha took a deep breath, slowly moving his hands so that they slid up her shoulders and to her neck. He forced her to look at him, so that her brown gaze could meet his golden one. "You have to."


"I– What?" Kagome felt the panic start to bubble up all over again, the overwhelming feeling making her almost sick to her stomach. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you can't leave Kagome," Inuyasha whispered. His voice was soft but firm, like he knew exactly what he was talking about. "You have a family that cares and I won't take that away from you."

Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But they don't care about you!"

"I'm not their family," Inuyasha retorted sharply. "I'm the bad guy, remember? I'm the one with the record."

"You're being abused–"

"It doesn't matter." Inuyasha swallowed and Kagome watched as the line of his throat jolted. He looked so sure, but his golden eyes were still sad, broken. "You have to stay with your family. Don't abandon them because of me. What about your younger brother, Sota? You wouldn't see him again."

"I don't really see him anyways, not with his activities and…" Kagome felt a sob choke within her, making her trail off her words and pause. "You don't… You don't want me."

"That's–" Inuyasha gave a humourless chuckle. "I swear to god, if you actually think that I- I don't even know what I'd do."

Kagome couldn't follow what he was thinking, what was going through his mind. His body contradicted his words and it was messing with her head and heart. "Then what?" she asked. "What do you want?"

"You," Inuyasha whispered softly, hands cupping her jaw and sliding across her wet cheeks. "Dammit Kagome it's always you. Nothing is going to change that."

"But you don't want me. You're not making any sense," Kagome exclaimed, breathing hard. "Why won't you let us…run?"

"With what money?" Inuyasha asked. "We couldn't do it. I wouldn't torture us with those problems because Kagome I want to take care of you and I can't do that right now."

It was ridiculous, how the clouds just came out of nowhere. Or maybe they were there all along and she just never noticed. Water droplets started to fall from the sky, the freezing water making her shiver at the first touch. Of course it was raining. Moments like this thrived off the rain.

"I won't let you go without me," Kagome said, stomping her foot down adamantly. There were more tears on her face, but maybe they were drops from the sky. "Inuyasha, I just won't, okay? I love you and you are not going to leave me behind!"

The words were out of her mouth, flowing so naturally that she didn't even want to take them back. It was the truth. They'd been dancing around it for years, always knowing in the back of their minds but neither of them doing anything about it. There were too many problems, too many risks. Now, in the face of Inuyasha leaving her forever she wondered why she never said it before. At this moment it could be too late.

The rain had already fallen.


Inuyasha's golden eyes softened and his head bowed down, bracketed between the arms that held her tight. "Oh god, shit."

"Don't pull that on me," Kagome murmuring, nearly pleading. "It's not like you didn't know."

Inuyasha looked up at her, wondering how things got to be this way. Like rainfall it just came, the storm clouds moving in on their own will. Just like bad times, things would come and go. Inuyasha had to believe that this too would pass and that there would always be a future brighter than later days. It was how he survived all those years. It was how he knew that no matter what he'd end up with Kagome, here, standing in the middle of a storm and trying to piece things together that just wouldn't fit.

"Say something."

Pulling her tight to his body was the only thing he could do, the only thing he could think of that would make any sense. Inuyasha closed his eyes, burying his face in her black hair and wishing – not for the first time – that things could've been different. "You know I love you," he whispered then. "I won't go, okay? I won't leave."

"No you have to!" Kagome argued, the words almost lost as they got muffled by his sweater. "But when you go you have to take me with you."

"I won't let you give up your family." Inuyasha knew this conversation wasn't going to end. Not anytime soon at least.

Kagome sobbed again, hands clenched tighter in the material of his clothes. "Then we're stuck. You either leave without me or stay with me. And really, staying shouldn't even be an option."

"There's always another way Kagome," Inuyasha whispered. "We can do this, but it's going to be hard."

"Right," Kagome mumbled, bitterly laughing. "What's going to be harder than right now? You're bleeding still. I see it through the pants. We need to get you fixed up again."

"No, right now we need to figure this out," Inuyasha corrected. "We need to figure this out or we'll never get a chance. Do you understand?" The half-demon stared at Kagome, begging for her to just listen to him for once in her life. He had always thought of contingency plans, ways of getting out and keeping her around. None of them had really worked but now was not the time to dwell on things that seemed impossible.

Nodding, the black-haired girl sniffled. The rain had soaked her hair, making it frizz and curl. "What do we do Inuyasha?"

"We stop being friends," he said, plunging on ahead when her brown eyes went flat. "Listen to me! There is no way out of this where you can keep your family and me too, at least not publicly. There's one month left of high school, and then one summer. After that you're going to university."

Kagome opened her mouth because they hadn't talked about it. He knew that she had been accepted to almost all of them, but she hadn't made up her mind. "I haven't figured out yet–"

"You're going to figure it out now," Inuyasha cut her off, brushing the wet bangs out of her face. "You're going to figure it out and start planning to move far away from here, or as far as you want to go, okay? Because I will follow you. I will follow you and we can be together, there and then."

"But what about now?" The thought was heartbreaking, because while what he suggested was good in the long run, it made the present so much harder. "Why can't we be friends now?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "You really think your mom is going to let you go to a school far away if she knew we were still close to each other? Hell, if she thought we were dating it wouldn't happen. You'd be trapped. Everyone has to believe you cut ties Kagome. Everyone."

He watched the different emotions cross her face. She didn't want to accept it, he could tell. But there was no other way. Kagome bit her lower lip, shook a little. "I can't not talk to you."

"The shelter," Inuyasha whispered. "We'll have there, okay? Kaede won't say anything and Miroku and Sango… Well they won't. I'll talk to them, whatever it takes. We'll have that because your mom doesn't know."

Watching her nod almost tore him apart, even when she crashed back into him and hugged him tight. There was only one more month left and then he could get his own place. One month and whatever handful of weeks of summer that it would take for Kagome to move near her university campus. He would wait until then. Inuyasha would always wait.

"I'll be with you everywhere, I promise," he whispered into her ear, hugging her tightly like he could never let her go. Because in just a few short minutes he would, and from then on everything else would be stolen touches and looks from afar. "I promise, Kagome. Everywhere."


Comments to Acknowledge

CookieThief: Well I made an account a few months before I started posting my first story. Also, they were supposed to kiss this chapter. Yeah, sorry... But thank you!

NurNur: Thanks hun! I really hope you liked this chapter!

Osuwari13: Haha well I hope he likes it too! Thank you very much!


So... They were supposed to kiss here but I don't know what happened with that. Apparently they didn't want to kiss.

Oh, and the next chapter is the end. Yeah. Surprise?

Feedback is much appreciated through times of insanity (which is me, right now, slowly dying).