Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Inuyasha.
Final Author Notes: This obvious romance story brought to you by the standards of fluff.
When a Lie Leads to Truth
(Chapter Ten/ Final Chapter)
The morning chill waxed its greatest and Inuyasha stirred in his sleep. He wrapped his firerat robe tighter around himself and burrowed down onto the small patch of ground which he himself had inadvertently warmed last night with his body heat. Two triangular ears flexed, and at last driven by the birds chirping anxiously about the unusual summer weather. Inuyasha rose. Reluctantly, he looked at withered flowers outside. His silent observations were greeted by Kouga's voice.
"Wake up, Dog Boy. We had better get a move on." Inuyasha obtained an intense look.
"What is it? Is it a demon?"
"Yeah. As a matter of fact, a tribe of snow lynx have wandered back in this direction. Sometimes they use this cave. They consider it theirs of sorts so their leader is just trying to tell us to move on."
"And you wanna just stand for that?"
"I've got no problem with it," Kouga said smoothly with his usual confidence. "If it came down to a fight I could win for certain. But that's not the issue here. They need the cave so why not let them use it?"
"Are you actually trying to tell me that you're being chivalrous? You're wasting your time, Kouga. Kagome isn't here for you to impress."
"Shut up, dog-boy. Come on. You can see for myself what I mean."
Interested, Inuyasha followed Kouga out of the cavern and up onto the top of the mountain containing it. From this high vantage point, Inuyasha could easily see a half-dozen small youkai making their way along the steep terrain. A single bold youkai, likely the size of a horse, directed his gaze up at them. In a demonic version of courtesy, he hauled himself aboard the top of a large boulder so that they could see for themselves the identity of the demon that had driven them off. With his sharp vision, Inuyasha could see that leader of the demons was a middle-aged male with a long scar down the side of his face. A number of other wounds spattered his hindquarters, giving him the appearance of a formidable veteran.
"That is Payu. He's leader of their tribe," said Kouga softly. "It isn't much. A few women and children. One or two adolescents. All the elder of his tribe died out a long time ago."
Inuyasha kept his gaze on the lynx tribe below him. Payu led them to the entrance of the cavern and all went inside save for one of the adolescents and the children. The young ones opted to play in the sunshine, and the single adolescent watched over them, occasionally being harassed by the children. This adolescent had a much more humanoid appearance than his leader. He was dressed in warrior's garb with a headband much like Kouga's and a spear to aid him. Every once in a while the boy snuck glances up at Kouga and Inuyasha perched on the cliffside.
"See, what did I tell you?" Kouga prompted. Inuyasha nodded. After watching the cubs tumble in play a few moments longer, he followed Kouga's suggestion to move on.
Unbeknownst to Inuyasha, drawing ever nearer were Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all riding on Kilala's back. Kilala groaned out a small protest and they landed at the side of a riverbank to rest.
By the river's edge, wild reeds grew tousled like mops of hair. Another grass of emerald green had been cropped by herbivores a few yards back, and it was on this rich carpet that Miroku and Sango descended to relax. Shippo busied himself by bringing empty water bottles to Kagome to fill while Sango filled Kilala's food dish with the special food the miko had brought from her own time.
Kagome herself chose to stand a little apart from her companions. The wide river before them commanded her attention nearly as much as their trail did. It was a beautiful river, pure crystal in appearance and glassy; unbroken by waves. Doubtless it was deep and ancient.
At the edge by the reeds, small fishes darted about and Kagome watched these until something more demanding transpired. Kagome's miko sense pulsed and she stuck her finger out in excitement.
"Look! On the far side of the bank! It's Inuyasha!" The hanyou's hair raised at that very moment as the miko's scent came wafting to him and he, likewise, caught sight of her.
"Damn it! How did she get here!" Turning on his heel, Inuyasha fled into the brush. Kagome screamed.
"Wait! Wait Inuyasha!" she hollered wading out into the water. Completely forgetting about Kilala, the determined miko began swimming across the river. She had reached the middle when the water began rippling.
"Uh-uh!" Kagome said blinking down at the water she treaded. On the other side of the bank, Inuyasha stopped. The anxious cries of Shippo and Sango convinced him to fly back to the river. The hanyou was just in time to see a giant, enraged youkai carp flick the miko out of his river with one swing of his gray tail. Satisfied, the fish sunk back into his deep in a mass of bubbles.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled vaulting forward to catch her. Ten feet off the ground his hands tucked themselves underneath her thighs and her shoulder came to rest comfortably against his chest. Inuyasha breathed out a sigh of relief as they landed. Immediately after, he exploded.
"What the hell were you thinking Kagome! You might have died! You're just lucky that youkai didn't decide to eat you! I can't keep my eyes off you for one measly second before you…" Inuyasha's tirade was interrupted by a loud wail and an unexpected embrace from the miko.
"Inuyasha you're alive! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me for saying such mean things to you! I'm really sorry. I just want you to know that I really, really love you Inuyasha. I do. I was just was a little unnerved with the things you were saying. Please come back home. How are your injuries?"
"Huh?" Inuyasha' mouth fell open in confusion. Before he had fully puzzled out the things Kaomge had said, she gave a loud sniff and burrowed herself into Inuyasha's chest. As she did so, this time the miko took a good look at it. A furious glare rapidly replaced her tears and she struggled to get out of Inuyasha's hold.
"So you look this much better only a day after getting torn to pieces do you? Inuyasha. I don't know what you were thinking but…" Inuyasha could only watch speechless as Kagome pulled his old rosary out a pocket and slung them around his neck.
"Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit!" From the bottom of his hole, Inuyasha grumbled.
"I knew…it was…too good to last…"
"Inuyasha!" Relentless, Kagome balanced on her toes by the hole. "Where is Kouga? Mind telling me what the two of you were doing?"
"If he has any intelligence, Kouga will stay away," Miroku said sagely. "He wouldn't wish to suffer Kagome's wrath as well."
"Say, aren't you worried that Kagome-chan will figure out you played a role in their deception?" Sango whispered to Miroku. Miroku paled.
"Inuyasha," Kagome began oblivious to them. "You are going to tell me everything and why you have been acting so crazy lately." Sango, Miroku, and even Shippo began to cough in embarrassment.
Roughly half an hour later, Kagome felt so dizzy she might have fainted. The miko could not believe what she was hearing. First about how her schoolfriends had ended up tricking not only Inuyasha but every one she knew and then how every one had conspired behind her back for one purpose, all because of some crazy superstition about a locket. Honestly, she did not know what was worse- the embarrassment or the anger.
"And then, " Inuyasha continued, "Miroku came up with this lame-brain idea of his to make you like me by fighting Kouga."
"But you went along with it, didn't you?" a tired Kagome said. "Sit boy!" There was a loud crash. Kagome stood wearily.
"Inuyasha, I said it once and I'll say it again. There is no such thing as a love curse on a locket. I gave yours as a gift only. I'm going for a walk."
Crows were celebrating the twilight and owls giving expectant "whos" when Kagome stopped walked in circles and returned within view of her companions. Sango and Miroku had long since built a camp fire on the meadow green. By the fire, a line of newts roasted on bamboo skewers. It would seem that everyone had forgone fishing.
Too tired and hungry to much care what she was eating, Kagome sat down by the fire and took up one of the newts. She crunched into it and made short work of it. Then, licking her fingers she looked up to Inuyasha whom was standing by her shoulder trying to get her attention. Kagome stood.
"What do you want Inuyasha?"
"Come on Kagome," Inuyasha spoke softly. "I need to talk to you." Kagome nodded.
The two of them walked not too far distant from the campsite, just a little beyond where Kagome had dared. Here, a small hill gave view to the especial splendor of the rapidly diminishing twilight and the stars newly emerging. The moon hovered about them with its steady glow.
"Kagome," Inuyasha began quietly. "I'm sorry for misleading you. I'm also sorry for misjudging you. I should known better." The slight growl to Inuyasha's voice put Kagome at alarm.
"What do you mean, Inuyasha? Better how?"
"I had no right to assume," Inuyasha said debasingly, "that you would bind yourself to a half-breed like me. I don't deserve someone like you; I'm not human."
"What just a minute Inuyasha!"
"When this is all done, when the hunt for the jewel is over," Inuyasha continued, "you can go back to your world and find someone much more worthy of you than I could be. Youch!" Inuyasha held a hand up to his suddenly stinging cheek. Finally he noticed Kagome's teardrops.
"Inuyasha you baka! You're so stupid, stupid, stupid!" Kagome threw herself at the hanyou and began rattling him by the front of his robes. "Do you know how much anguish I went through when I thought you were dead? And do you know how much you mean to me? Inuyasha, I told you before. I love you. I love you now as a hanyou and I will love you no matter what form you are in. I do want to be yours someday Inuyasha. I'm just confused. I just…want to cry so much." Inuyasha's eyes widened. Then, carefully, he lowered his arms around her to hold her tight.
"Kagome. I… I love you. Please stay here. With me?" Kagome smiled at her hanyou's meek question. Satisfied, she snuggled deep into his arms.
"Okay. But I expect to hear that more often from you from now on. And about the house- I guess we could live there- all of us for a while. It would help Kaede a lot if we we're always under her feet."
"Kagome." The half-demon nuzzled Kagome's locks contentedly.
"But you know," Kaogme giggled. "I still think we should get back at Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi for lying to us."
"I hear ya," Inuyasha growled.
"So what are we gonna do?" Kagome prompted with a mischievous twinkle. Inuyasha grinned.
On one of the warm weekends just before summer break, Kagome invited her friends Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka on a camping trip with her. It was a far cry from the Sengoku Jidai but her mother had helped her to find a nice large pond to fish in and a rented square marked out with sticks. In sacrifice to complete privacy there was tap water from a spigot and an outhouse maintained by park rangers by way of modern convenience. A few miles out from the largest lake, Kagome and Inuyasha had found a far smaller one and it was towards this one that they ushered Kagome's hapless schoolfriends.
"Come on guys," Kagome called out to her three best school friends. "You really have to come see this. Isn't that right, Inuyasha?"
"Yeah, sure," said the half-demon trying not to look so guilty. "There's a really good spot here."
"Stand on this little dock out here. The best fish bite at the center," said Kagome placing a pole in each of the three girl's hands. "Now you stay here, I'm going to go back and wait on the riverbank."
"I don't know," said Eri looking at their rickety platform. "I don't really think this is safe Kagome."
"Don't worry so much," Kagome said smiling at them. Inuyasha and I are right here watching you."
"Well, okay," said Eri casting her line. It made a soft splash into the murky water. Immediately, the water around it began to shiver with vibrations.
"Wh-at-tz that?" Ayumi stammered as the platform the three girls were on began to quiver. A giant sploosh erupted and the three girls screamed as their fishing poles capsized and an enormous gray fish swam around them like a predatory shark.
"What is that! It's huge!" Eri shrieked.
"Oh wow. I've never seen anything so radical in all my life," Ayumi said mildly as the fish stared right at them. It dove, and with one great swish of its tail, sent their platform coasting free of its mooring piers. All three girls screamed.
"Don't worry. I got you," Inuyasha called out. He leapt across to them and scooped up all three. Eri clung to his left side, Yuka, his right, and Ayumi clung to his back with a wide smile. Inuyasha leapt back to the riverbank and shook them off him.
"There," he said walking away from the frightened girls. "Safe and sound. See ya."
"Kagome!" Eri said standing to her feet shakily. "Did you see that? A giant fish just came out of the water and …aie…ew…nic." She fainted.
"It's true," Yuka shuttered. "It was the biggest fish I ever saw! As big as a whale! It…" Yuka stopped as Kagome shook her head.
"Now Yuka. Do you really want to go around telling fish tales like that? If you do, it won't be long before no body will believe anything you say."
"But Kagome!" Yuka protested. "You saw that fish didn't you? It was enormous!"
"Maybe. But perhaps you're exaggerating things a bit. You must be tired. Let's all go home."
"Ohmn," Yuka said before collapsing on the ground beside Eri. Ayumi just began skipping in circles around her two friends, humming happily. She startled Kagome by giving her a wide hug.
Later that night, when all three of Kagome's schoolfriends lay sleeping in their nylon tent, Inuyasha and Kagome stayed outside looking at the stars. Above, a wide milky stream of stars flowed like a river while beside them, the warm red glow of the fire flickered and spit in its task to keep them comfortable. Kagome sighed happily and snuggled deep into Inuyasha's haori. She sat up sharply when something interrupted her snuggling.
"Ouch. Inuyasha, what do you have in your haori? It feels like there's a box in the front of your shirt." Inuyasha colored.
"Oh. Yeah. That reminds me. I have something to give you Kagome." Inuyasha put his hand between the white and red pieces of his robe which doubled as a pocket.
"This is for you. Your mother helped me pick it out." Kagome gasped as she opened the box he had given her.
"Oh Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped again. She pulled a diamond engagement ring from the small box and slipped it on her hand. It fit perfectly.
"Thank you so much Inuyasha! I guess we really should pick a day." Boldly, Inuyasha pulled Kagome into a tight embrace. Kagome's head only just peeped out over his shoulder.
"You know, I guess I really should be grateful to Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi. Without them we might never have gotten together."
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha scowled just remembering how successfully they had tricked him. Kagome surprised him by sticking a pointer finger in his face.
"You know what I mean Inuyasha! Their lies made you finally want to tell the truth. Before, if any one even suggested that you like me you'd deny it!"
"Oh well," Inuyasha said stubbornly crossing his arms. "Just hurry up and forget about it."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome began warningly. Her lips rounded in the very beginnings of a sit command but did not finish. Inuyasha slammed his lips onto hers. Eagerly, Kagome gave into the kiss. When the first kiss ended, both of them growled and came back for more. Meanwhile, in the tent, three not so sleepy girls cheered.
THE END!