A/N: Review and fav! Thanks for the support!


Flying

June

"Is he coming up here?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe he will."

"If he doesn't, I wouldn't be surprised. He's too cool for stuff like this."

"Don't be silly, Sota. I'm sure he's happy to be here at his girlfriend's archery meet."

"Blegh. If I were him, I'd want to be doing something better than staying here and being bored to death. Can't I go fid Shippo? I know he's somewhere with his grandma."

"No—Kaede is busy with the team and doesn't need to be looking after you as well. Sit with us and watch your sister."

Sota sighed.

Behind a pair of sunglasses, Kagome sipped her soda absently, getting down to the ice and dregs at the bottom. She listened to her mother and brother's conversation, her eyes on the archers lined up on the field in front of them. Kikyo wasn't up yet; the first years were currently doing their best to out shoot the other two schools. Archery had always seemed interesting to Kagome, but she had never tried it. She silently and stubbornly refused to try Kikyo's "thing".

The archers finished their round and then paused, coaches coming out, refs heading to the targets to measure. Kagome glanced down the length of the bleachers to the far corner, where a boy in a white t-shirt and long black hair was standing, watching the match by himself. Ridiculous. He'd been dating Kikyo for months and still had never met the Higurashi family. What was he so scared of, she wondered.

She took another sip of soda only to find it was completely gone. Shaking her cup she sighed and stood up. "Mom, I'm getting a refill."

"Alright, Kagome."

She picked her way across the bench and then down the bleachers, apologizing to anyone she bumped into on the way. Archery meets weren't exactly exciting, so they didn't turn out a huge crowd. Mostly family members from the different schools and some supportive friends. Kikyo generally drew at least a few students from the school who would come because they idolized her talent and beauty, but they varied and Kagome didn't care too much to talk to them. But at least the crowds were smaller so she didn't have to wait in line for a drink, unlike the times she went to Sango and Yuka's softball games. It wasn't full summer yet, but it was warm enough that standing around under the sun began to feel like a chore.

Her cup full again, she walked to the other side of the bleachers, where Inuyasha noticed her with a glance. He was leaning over he railing, watching as the third years lined up. Kikyo was in the middle—she was one of the best, and so got one of the best positions.

Kagome leaned on the railing next to him, but he didn't greet her. She glanced through her sunglasses at him, at his firmly set jaw and dark eyebrows, his face serious as he watched the archers preparing to take their first shot. They watched the arrows fly across the field, and were close enough to hear the distant thwack as they hit their targets. Kagome watched Kikyo, and sometimes watched Inuyasha watching Kikyo, but he still didn't acknowledge her. She began to sip her soda. Loudly.

Inuyasha only lasted about thirty seconds. "Do you mind?" He snapped.

"Oh, hey, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a smile, "I didn't see you there."

"Grr. Obnoxious woman…don't you have something better to do than bother me, Jr.?"

"Well, yeah, watch Kikyo's meet. That's what I'm doing." She turned back to the field and slurped on her drink again.

"Mind doing that somewhere else?" He said with a twitch of the eye.

"Mmm, I could go sit with my family again, but then I'd be leaving you all alone, and then you would be sad."

"Yeah right."

She ignored him, and watched Kikyo take a break from the first set. Kaede stood next to her, saying something while Kikyo nodded. "Do you have something like that?"

"Something like what?" He asked.

"Like archery. Do you have something that you do like that?"

"Fight."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I'm serious."

"So am I."

"I mean like a real hobby or interest. I don't have anything like that."

"So? Why does it matter?"

She propped her chin in her hand, leaning over the turf beneath her. "My mom says archery is good for Kikyo. It gives her an outlet. She picked it up after my father died, did you know that? I think it gave her something to do so she didn't have to think about home and school all the time. I don't have anything like that." She cocked her head as Kikyo and her competitors lifted their bows again, standing strong as they drew back their arrows. "But I don't even know what I would do. I'm not good at very many things."

He looked at her for a second before turning to watch Kikyo's arrow strike her target. She was glad he didn't tell her to go away. He had stopped really saying that, or at least really meaning it, a while ago. She wondered when.

He said offhandedly. "You could join the Annoying club."

"Shut up, jerk."

He smirked. "Or I hear there's an opening on the Nag and Debate team."

"Maybe I'll go into fighting, like you. Know any gangs that could use a small, wiry girl?"

"Oh, yeah, dozens," His voice dripped with sarcasm. "They're hard to come by these days."

"Perfect. I'll start practicing." She jabbed at the air, the ice sloshing around in her cup.

He snorted. "Please, you wouldn't last two seconds. You'd end up half dead or worse and make it a huge pain in the butt for me to find your so-called gang and drag your sorry butt out of there. Just do me a favor and join the Annoying club instead."

She blinked. Then she slid her sunglasses onto her head and looked straight at him, not able to help the smile starting on her face. "You'd come to my rescue?"

He glanced at her cheeky grin and immediately looked away. "Don't be stupid. Who else would keep you from dying? It's not like I'd be doing you any favors of my own free will."

"Right, of course." She kept smiling at him, although now he was making it a point not to look at her. He was such a funny guy. She found herself enjoying his company more and more. He was fun to fight with sometimes, but he was even more fun to get along with. With a glance at Kikyo, who was leaving the field before the second round, she pushed off the railing. "Come on, then. Let's go sit with my family. It would make Sota's day."

"What?" Inuyasha said blankly, turning to her.

"My family. You've been dating Kikyo for like five months. It's about time you meet them."

"No."

"They don't bite."

"No."

"I'm sure it would make Kikyo happy."

"Kikyo doesn't bother me about it."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Quit being a coward."

"I am not being a coward."

"Well, I'm not leaving you here by yourself. That's lame, friends don't do that."

"We're not friends."

She frowned. She might enjoy his company sometimes, but he was still a big jerk, and although she didn't like the fighting as much, he obviously loved it. It's like it was his goal to get under her skin every time he saw her, and he never felt bad about it. She had been hounding him to apologize, which he simply said he never did. Well. She wouldn't let him win this time. "Of course we are." She grabbed him by a piece of the hair and pulled him behind her.

"Ow! You stupid girl! Is this how friends act?"

She ignored him. They got a few looks as they headed up the stairs, but she just smiled back at them as Inuyasha angrily called after her.

: : :


October

She was mad at him.

Fine, she could be mad at him. He was mad at her, too.

Again she had gone off on her own, walking the streets like there wasn't a murdering psycho on the loose, even when he'd expressly told her not to without him.

Well, all right, she hadn't been alone. Sango had been with her, and Sango wasn't any sort of pushover. But, still. The two girls could have been overtaken easily if Naraku had felt like it, and they knew he might have been near the hospital since that was where the girls had seen Kagura earlier that day.

It was Kagura's fault she was mad at him. Well, it might have been his fault for not telling Kagome about the woman's odd relationship with his half brother and his new charge, but whatever. He had his reasons for keeping it quiet. He hadn't been entirely silent—he'd told Miroku about it. He'd chosen not to mention it to Kagome because Kagome was often over zealous and might have done something stupid if she had thought that Rin might be in trouble, which just would have alerted Sessomaru to them, and might have put him on the defensive. As much as Inuyasha loved to make Sessomaru feel defensive, he figured now wasn't the time for that. Not when he was trying to quietly pry into Sessomaru's business without him knowing. Not when he was doing his best to secretly get things done at his father's business without his elder brother butting in.

He and Miroku were handling things, and both had agreed to keep it quiet from Kagome and Sango. The girls had enough to worry about already. Sango was obviously struggling with the fact that they had to sell their dojo, and she had already told the softball coach she'd have to quit after the next game because she would need to find a part time job. Kagome was safe for now, and Inuyasha was glad that she hadn't received any more threats or been dragged into any more cars. He might snap if something happened to her again. He was doing his best to handle this whole situation in a way contrary to any fight he'd ever been in, and he didn't want to let it all go to waste because he punched Naraku, or even his brother, in the face.

He wasn't used to handling things this way, and every time Miroku told him to be patient, he wanted to break something. But this was the way it had to be done. At least for now.

He glanced down at Kagome. She walked beside him, her shoulders tense, her chin held high. He could almost feel the breeze of frigid air coming off the cold shoulder she was giving him. He let a hot exhale escape his nose as he shook his head. She was being stubborn, but he found he wasn't as mad as he had been earlier. Had she needlessly made him nauseous at the thought of her being snatched off the streets and showing up in a ditch later? Yes, she had. And he'd made sure that she heard an earful when she got back to school, but, really, he was just glad she had come back in one piece.

She'd been up in arms already, though. They'd made a scene in the hallway, which had only been worsened when Koga that idiot had butted in and told him to quit barking at a lady. It had pissed him off further when Koga had tried to lead Kagome away, and Koga would have a black eye for a week as a result. Koga had always been quick, though, and gave Inuyasha good jab to the face in return. Kagome had smacked Inuyasha then, and hadn't even looked back when a teacher wandered out to order him and Koga to the principle's.

At least she had waited for him after school. He'd slammed out of the detention room to find her leaning against the wall. His heart had skipped a beat to see her there. He hadn't realized it, but that would have been the first time they hadn't walked home together in nearly six weeks. He would have had to go home alone. Yet here she was, waiting for him. He greeted her with a kinder tone, which she responded to coolly, but she had walked beside him anyway. She always seemed to forgive him.

At least for now. If he kept making her mad, she might eventually get tired of it. Then she wouldn't want to walk next to him anymore. He was so used to walking with her now. If she left, he would hate it. His chest felt uncomfortable and tight just at the thought, and he looked at Kagome and felt that she was too far away. He almost reached out to brush her wrist with his fingers, but then didn't.

"Hey," He said instead, "You still mad?" She didn't respond. "You hardly have any room to be. It's not like I was keeping it from you for fun or something. Either way, I'm s—"

"No room to be?" She snapped, finally turning her blazing brown eyes on him. He swallowed under their heat. "Of course I do, I have all the room to be mad! How could you not tell me about your brother and Kagura? How could you not tell me about Rin and Naraku? In fact, you never told me that she moved in with you in the first place! I found out because she just showed up at my house one day!"

"I was trying to figure it out myself, I didn't need you freaking out and—"

She cut him off again. "Figure it out yourself? You stubborn idiot! This isn't even about you! Any information you have that can help us help Kikyo, you should tell me immediately! It's my family who's in trouble! I'm the one who will have to deal with the consequences—"

"I know that, you idiot, why do you think I'm working so hard!"

"So, then, why don't you tell me things? You don't trust me!"

He blinked. "Don't be stupid."

"I am not being stupid!" She shouted back, her anger making her more emotional. "You don't! Friends are supposed to look out for each other, but you think I'm stupid and useless, so of course you don't trust me enough to tell me anything!" She was upset, really this time. About what? That she thought he didn't trust her?

"Will you shut up, you idiot, I don't think you're stupid!"

"Well, geeze, you sure could have fooled me!"

He bit his tongue, fighting back the flare of anger that she always seemed to coax out of him. She was so stubborn. He said in a more controlled tone. "I'm trying to apologize, if you'd give me a chance."

That seemed to floor her. Her eyebrows shot up so high he thought they might be lost in her hair forever. Immediately he felt his cheeks flush, knowing full well that this was out of character for him and she had recognized that. He turned away, saying, "D-don't think that that means I think what I did was wrong, ok? I was dealing with it just fine myself."

Her face returned to a look of irritation, but she didn't say anything. She kept walking, and he followed along beside her, trying not to look at her. And more often failing than not.

At the shrine steps he followed her to the top, which he usually did now. He wanted to be sure he saw her go inside, and even then he'd hang around for ten or twenty minutes after, just to make sure nothing else happened. After coming to her house that past weekend, he had even taken to walking her right to the door, granted that no one from her family was outside to watch him do so.

So even though she was still huffy, he followed her to the door, but instead of turning and telling him goodbye like usual, she said, "Wait here."

"Huh? What for?"

"Just wait," She said impatiently. Then she went inside.

He glared at the closed door but did as he was told.

She was taking forever. He moved from the immediate doorway to lean against the house. The house was quiet, so he wondered if anyone else was even home. After a few minutes the Higurashi's fat cat came by and sniffed at his shoes. He reached down to bet the animal, only to find that Buyo purred so heartily and rolled over so happily that he decided to give her a proper scratching. So he sat on the cobbled stones outside the house, watching the shade of the Sacred Tree's stretch longer across the courtyard, Buyo purring fat and happy on his lap, even when he tugged at her ears and poked at her paws.

"So, what," He said to the cat, his patience wearing thin again after the half hour of sitting outside, "Did she forget about me? Or is she trying to punish me?"

Buyo just purred. The cat's pleasure was startled as Inuyasha stood up, a growl in his throat as he swung the front door open without knocking. He kicked his shoes off and stomped through the house, quickly finding Kagome in the kitchen, where a pot was boiling and food was cooking in a skillet.

"What the?" He said, looking at the yellow apron she wore, her sleeves rolled up. She hadn't even changed out of her uniform, and her schoolbag was on the edge of the counter. "What the heck are you doing? You just going to leave me outside to dry out while you cook?"

She gave him an icy look, then went back to chopping vegetables.

He walked into the kitchen, looking down at the bento boxes filled with rice, ready to be decorated with meats and veggies. He was mad enough that he didn't bother getting out of her way, so she passed right under his nose to the bentos.

"Kagome," He growled. "I'm going home."

"Don't, stupid," She said, being equally as stubborn and not letting him get away with standing in her way. As a result she stood right beside him, her shoulder brushing his chest. "These are for Rin. I need you to take them home with you."

He paused, and when she returned to the stove to stir what was in the skillet, he looked down at the bentos again. "You're making her food? Why? We do feed her, you know. We're not animals."

"I know that, but she probably hasn't had any home cooked food in ages. Right?" She added sardonically, "Or do you have a love of cooking that I don't know about?"

"Well, it's not that I don't know how to…ya know…cook rice."

"Or Sessomaru? Does he cook?"

"Ha. As if. I don't even know if he eats."

Kagome nodded, confirming her own suspicions. Inuyasha pursed his lips together before letting out a sigh. How could he be mad at her now? If he was, he'd be the one being a jerk.

He leaned against the counter with his arms crossed and watched her work. She looked so serious. Before he might have thought that was strange, that he was only used to seeing her smiling or angry. Now he was used to the expression. All of her expressions were becoming familiar to him, and it just made her seem so…alive. Watching the tiny movements of her face flicker by from emotion to emotion on any given day made him feel like she was more alive than anyone else he knew. Or, at least, he'd never been allowed to become close enough with someone this alive. He liked it. It made him feel alive, too. As if everything before had been a dream and maybe now he was waking up.

So he let her work, watching as she molded rice balls, flicked her hair out of her face without touching it with sticky hands, squeaked at the pot before quickly taking it off the heat, taste the stir fry in the skillet before wincing and adding more spices. He had eaten Kagome's cooking before on several occasions, and although it was never anything amazing, it was always good and warm and made specifically for him. It had been a long, long time since he had watched anyone cook, though. Watching Kagome made him feel young, sitting on the edge of a chair that was too tall for him as his mother hummed over the stove.

Kagome's voice tugged him gently out of his reverie.

"You can trust me, you know," She said softly but firmly, carefully placing rice balls in a neat little row. "I can handle things better than you think. I won't screw things up or tell your secrets. I know I can't fix everything, but I just want to…know. Know about your life. Know what's going on with you." She turned the faucet on and let it wash over her hands. "I'm not as dumb as you think I am."

She hadn't looked at him once since the entire time she was working, and even now she wouldn't look at him when she spoke. His jaw clenched as he looked at her profile, so seriously slicing carrots into perfectly equal lengths. He recognized the subtle firmness of her face, the line of her mouth. She wasn't just mad. She was hurt. She was hurt that he had kept something so important from her. She was hurt that he, whom she willingly called friend, hadn't relied on her.

A pit in his stomach felt like it was pulling him toward her. His body rocked forward slightly as he almost stepped across the kitchen to take the knife from her hands so he could hold them. But he stopped, keeping his arms crossed to his chest. He couldn't keep touching her like that in little ways. He had been doing it all week, sometimes without even noticing until afterwards. He wasn't sure when his desire to touch her had changed. Before, he had avoided it like the plague, as though she burned him every time they touched. At the very least it had confused him and made him feel odd, so he had ignored it, choosing to believe she was simply Kikyo's weird little sister. Now it felt different. Now he felt like those small burns were something he needed to keep him sane. She had been more careful about the physical contact lately, keeping her hands more to herself than she had in the last six months. It bothered him and worried him, but he told himself it was fine. He felt like if he wasn't careful he might lose control and hug her every time he felt like he needed one, which would be all too often.

Instead, he spoke to her from where he was, "I don't think you're stupid. It's not like I didn't think you could handle it, it was just…" What had it been? Why hadn't he told her like he had Miroku? "I was trying to figure it out and I didn't want you in the middle of it because…I didn't want you to get hurt."

She turned to him then, more like cocked her head, her hair falling out from behind her ear as she listened to him with a sober expression.

He kept going, "At first I didn't know who Kagura was, I just knew that she had been hanging around school and that it made you paranoid enough to dress up like Kikyo every day. I knew that wasn't right. I've never seen you scared like that before, and I wasn't sure what to do about it. So when you finally told me everything about Naraku, I knew that Sessomaru was connected somehow and so was Rin. I should have told you then, but I didn't. It wasn't because I don't trust you." He looked her right in the eyes as he said it. He had to make sure that she understood him, he had to make sure that she knew that what he had done hadn't been because of her but for her. "You'd just been kidnapped, Kagome, and that, that freaked me out." He smiled humorlessly, looking away from her. "The last thing I wanted to do was act too hastily and end up getting you in more trouble. So I told Miroku about it, and he wanted to look into it more before doing anything. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

She was quiet. He looked at her again to see her stirring the skillet she glanced up at him, and this time she had a small smile. "I'm sorry, too. For getting so mad."

He smiled back. He felt a bit warm, and like that pit in his stomach was pulling him toward her again. Maybe he was standing too close to the stove. He watched Kagome cook for another minute before he said, "I think Rin is safe. Miroku dug up some dirt on her, and apparently her family was tangled up in some mess with Naraku, and her house burned down very 'mysteriously' soon after. She was the only one that survived, they think because she was so small. Her mother slid her under the bed, which kept her from breathing in too much smoke. She was in and out of the hospital and foster care for years. I have no clue how or why still, but somehow Sessomaru found her. Miroku said he found some records that showed an outside party paying for medical treatment, and I can only assume it was Sessomaru. I don't know what possessed him to bring her home, if it has something to do with Naraku or not, but at least I can tell you she's safe. She has a stupid amount of dresses and dolls, and Sessomaru lets her put her drawings of princesses and ponies all over the house."

At that he was glad to hear Kagome giggle. She smiled into the food she was making, and he felt himself put at ease to see it. "I'm glad," She said. "That little girl is very sweet, and she deserves to be taken care of."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," He responded lightly, "Sessomaru makes sure she is. Or at least, he makes sure his assistant makes sure she is. Either way, Sessomaru is a way better guardian for her than he ever was for me."

She snorted. "Don't remind me. It makes me angry just thinking about it."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Are you kidding me?" She said, her calmness dissipating as the fire inside her flared up again. "How could I not be angry? You deserve to be taken care of just as much as Rin does!"

At that he couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped him. "I'm plenty able to take care of myself. I don't need Sessomaru or anyone else."

"No one else, huh?" She said as she took the skillet over the bentos and carefully filled them. "Well, then, I guess that means you don't need this extra bento that I made for you."

"Eh, what? You made me one?" He leaned close over her shoulder as she filled the bentos. She nudged him away with a grin.

"Hey, I thought you said you didn't need anyone taking care of you?"

"Well, I mean, if food is involved maybe I'll let you. Only you, though." That seemed to catch her off guard, so he reached for a piece of cooked pork that sat on top of the closest bento.

"Inuyasha, no," She said with a cheeky smile, pulling his hand away. He smirked and grabbed her wrist bofore reaching over with his free hand to snatch a piece of meat. "Wait, no, these are for later!" She tried to grab at it, but he held her wrist at his side to keep her from stopping him from popping it in his mouth. He couldn't help but grin down at her as she watched him chew with a false pout. He could see the pink in her cheeks. She wasn't mad. He chuckled, and her false anger fell away into a laugh, which he was glad to hear. He hadn't heard it all day.

Setting the skillet down, she asked. "How is it?"

"Not bad. A little sweet for me."

She gave him a sidelong look. "I have a feeling you're impossible to please. Do you ever like anyone's cooking?"

"Well, I've only really had your cooking, and on Sunday your mom's. Other than that I don't think I've had home cooking since I lived with my own mom."

That surprised her. "Really? How long ago was that?"

"Like ten years." He shrugged, aware that her wrist was still in his hand and she was still standing close. Good. He liked her close. He could see the flecks of color in her brown eyes and the blush on her cheeks when she was embarrassed when she was this close. Dang it, there were those weird cravings to be touching her again. He should let go. But he really didn't want to.

"Ten years!" She exclaimed, gaping at him. "Really?"

"Well, yeah. Who else would have cooked for me?"

That bothered her, he could tell. With a small smile, he imagined a seven-year-old Kagome running into his eight-year-old self. No doubt she would have dragged him home and made him wait while she stood on a chair and cooked ramen or something else equally simple. He wished he had known her then. He wondered if he would have grown up different. He wondered if she was just as cute then as she was now.

"Oh." Was all she said. He watched her lick her lips, her very pink lips, he noticed, before she said, "Was your mom a good cook?"

"Mm." He looked down at the hardwood floor, picturing his long-haired mother with her heart shaped face and soft smile. It still hurt to think about her sometimes, but he supposed it was better than forgetting about her. "From what I remember, she was actually not that great at cooking. She burned it a lot. But she was always humming in the kitchen, and I never really minded her burned food. I miss it now."

The atmosphere had become serious again. Geeze, why had he talked about his mother? He should have known better. It never put him in a good mood. It just hurt his heart. He winced at his lameness before he clenched his jaw, chasing out his sorrow and replacing it with hardness. But a small hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to Kagome to see that she was smiling sadly. Not in a depressed way, but in a way that told him she understood the bittersweet memories of a parent.

She'd gotten him talking about his mother. Without even realizing it, he'd talked about his mother like it was easy. He straightened a little, but that same pit in his stomach only brought him closer to her, leaning near her face. It wasn't lost on him that this was the first time she had initiated physical contact with him in days, and that made him feel relieved. The pink in her cheeks deepened slightly and he smirked, giving her wrist a little tug. "There, you happy?"

"What?" She said, perplexed and a bit breathless.

"You still think I don't trust you? I told you about my mom, and I've never told anyone about her."

She blinked up at him, her eyes looking sweet as she searched his. He always felt like she was looking at more than just his eyes when their gazes locked. She was looking at all of him. All the parts of him that everyone assumed didn't exist because he was Inuyasha, the jerk of a bad boy who snarled at everyone.

"Anyone?" She said.

"Anyone." He replied with another little smirk.

They watched each other carefully, and he could feel the bubbling of the pot behind her and any other house-hold sounds fading away, like he had tunnel vision. At the end of the tunnel was Kagome, and she was looking very pink and kissable and the pit in his stomach was nearly making him sick it was pulling him toward her so hard. Her hand was on his shoulder but after a second it moved to his face, causing his heart to constrict and the pit to pull harder. She very carefully put her fingers on his cheek, running her thumb lightly over his eyebrow. The skin there was tender, and he supposed she was looking at a bruise that was forming from Koga's punch earlier.

"See," She told him softly with a small smile, "I told you that you need someone to take care of you."

He didn't dare move, afraid that if he did he might startle her away, and he didn't want that. He wanted her hands on him. "And I told you, if anyone's gonna take care of me, there's only you to do it." He wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore, or why. She just got things out of him that he never meant to say out loud. Like this next thing: "Kagome. Why did you kiss me before?"

Her thumb paused over his brow and her eyes flicked from the wound to his eyes. He might have regretted asking the question if his brain weren't so fuzzy and the pit in his stomach wasn't working its way into the rest of his body, leaning him even further towards her, his eyes getting caught on her lips more often than her eyes.

"Why?" She breathed, watching him come closer but doing nothing about it. Good. If she had moved away it probably would have brought him back to reality. But she wasn't moving, and her hand was still on his cheek, and on some subconscious level he knew that was encouraging.

"Yeah. Why."

Her face was red and she seemed distracted, her lips parted in a sign of surprise but her eyes droopy, like she was perfectly warm and comfortable. "Mm, because…I wanted to."

He would have smiled if he could have. But currently he couldn't. All he could do was watch her lips, his fingers moving from her wrist to trail up the skin of her bare arm. He had known it—if he wasn't careful, he would lose control, and here he was, throwing it right out the window. Dang it, this girl. Since when had she become something that he needed near him so much?

She swallowed, licking her lips again. "The food is burning."

Absently he noticed the smell of burning food, but if she thought she was going to slip out of his grasp now, she was crazy. "Good. Let it burn. I like it that way." He was so close that all that was left to do was turn his head slightly. And then he softly and purposefully kissed her.


Oh, gods. Spirits. Demons. Whoever it was that her grandfather was always saying watched over their shrine. She didn't care who. All she knew was that she was standing in her kitchen, kissing Inuyasha, and she wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. Actually, he was very much kissing her. And in her school uniform and tattered yellow apron, smelling like garlic and cooked pork, no less.

He didn't seem to mind. He was kissing her firmly, his hands moving to her waist, pulling her stomach against his. He felt strong, like she could lean against him completely and be totally safe. So she did, one hand resting against his chest, the other moving from his face to the back of his neck, sliding through his long, thick hair on the way.

How was this happening right now?

Vaguely she was aware of some nervous feelings—did she smell ok? Was she even a good kisser? She'd never really kissed anyone before, except Hojo at a Christmas party a year ago. He didn't seem to mind, and in fact he was expertly taking the lead, carefully turning his head and never bumping her nose. Kissing him was amazing. How was he so good at this?

Suddenly, the image of Kikyo's face flashed behind her closed eyes.

Oh.

Of course.

He'd had plenty of practice with Kikyo.

And then she felt panicked. She was kissing Inuyasha, who was in love with her sister, and whom her sister probably completely expected to come home to soon. Gosh, dang it. The word rebounding crossed her mind so quickly that she pushed against his chest, breaking the kiss and leaning away.

With his eyes still closed, his dark eyebrows knit together as he pulled her back, saying heavily, "Wait, Kagome, wait."

Kagome. Her own name. Not Kikyo's or anyone else's. Stupid jerk, making her so weak willed with just the sound of her own name. She let him pull her back and kiss her again, and this time he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her flush against him so she couldn't get away. That was fine with her. She loved the feeling of his strong arms around her, holding her up on her tiptoes as she locked her hands behind his neck.

Oh gosh, oh gosh, he was really good at this. She had secretly imagined kissing him a hundred times, and dreamt about it a hundred more, but those were nothing compared to the real thing. Nothing compared to the real feel of his lips, the real heat of his breath, the real weight of his hands on her back.

It was too soon that their kisses slowed, their breathing calming down until she found herself slowly pulling away and looking up at him. He looked back with those amber eyes that bored into her. He was looking at her strangely, the same way that he had looked at her in the minutes right before he had kissed her. The same way she had caught him looking at her several times this week. She recognized it now. It was want.

Suddenly and loudly, Sota's voice floated down the front hall toward them, followed by her mother's. She inhaled sharply and pulled back, only to find a resistance from Inuyasha's arms. It only lasted a second, before he let her slip away. She walked backwards until she hit the other counter, looking the short distance across to him, where he stood frozen, his chest still moving as he breathed a bit heavily.

Then Sota came from the hall, his laughter cut off by a wide grin as he said, "Inuyasha! I didn't know you were here!"

Inuyasha's eyes finally moved off of hers, turning to glance at her little brother and then mother.

"Hello, dear!" Asako called cheerily, carrying an armful of groceries. "And Inuyasha, so good to see you again! Oh, Kagome, have you already got dinner started? Will Inuyasha be eating with us?"

"No," Inuyasha said, pushing away from the counter, "I was just leaving."

Kagome's heart squeezed together inside her chest, the beating painful as she watched him walk away without looking at her. She caught her mother's eye, and Asako looked between the two of them quietly.

Sota chattered away as he helped his mother unload the groceries, and Kagome silently turned off the stove and pulled the pot off, looking down at the burned food.

"You alright, dear?" Asako asked cautiously. "That's an awful lot of bentos you've made there."

That's right. The bentos. Inuyasha had left without them. Technically she hadn't finished them. Should she call him back in? She thought she might die if she had to see his face again so soon. What if he looked guilty? What if he looked regretful? She couldn't do it. There was no way.

But.

Rin.

"Dang it all!" She growled, slamming her fist on the counter and startling Sota.

"Hey, watch it, sis!" He chastised, "What's got you so fired up?"

She ignored him, quickly flying to finishes off the bentos as best she could before finding lids for them. Asako just watched her, now asking questions. She would later, Kagome knew, but for now she was glad that her mother just let her do what she needed to.

Two minutes later she had the bentos in a bag and was hurriedly putting on her shoes, hoping Inuyasha hadn't gone to far and that she could catch up to him quickly. She burst out the front door, letting it swing shut behind her, but she was only able to run three steps before she had to screech to a halt.

Inuyasha was standing barely ten feet outside the front door. It looked like he had just…stopped. Well, now he had turned in surprise, at her sudden exit from the house.

She swallowed, feeling the heat rise in her face as she stared up at him in shock. She had thought for sure he would have booked it away from her house as quickly as possible. Instead, here he was, awkwardly looking back at her.

"Inuyasha, uh-um," Embarassingly, her voice cracked and she stopped to clear her throat. "Um, you forgot this, and, uh, I had hoped you hadn't gone too far so I could, uh, catch up. Um, here. Take these with you." She held out the bag, not able to look him in the eye.

Gosh, what could he be thinking right now? She was too horrified to know. But he had kissed her, right? But that didn't mean that any of it had been ok, no matter how much she had enjoyed it. Rebounding.

A soft chuckle gave her pause. She looked up to see Inuyasha looking at the bag of food with a smile so real and so gentle that it made her heart stop. He took it carefully, his hand brushing hers lightly, before he said in a soft voice, "Thanks. Rin will love them."

All she could do was give a shaky nod. He turned and headed away from the house, and Kagome watched him go, putting her fingers lightly to her lips.

Dang it.


Oh, hell.

He had kissed Kagome. Really good and kissed her. And his head was still spinning from it.

He couldn't believe it. What had he been thinking? Well, he hadn't been, that was the issue.

He had spent the majority of the year dating her sister—a relationship that had only ended because of some very unforeseen circumstances beyond their control. He loved Kikyo. Kikyo was the first person who had befriended him, the first person who had understood him. Kikyo was the one he had vowed to love forever, and the one he would have waited for forever if she had asked him to.

He had kissed Kagome in her house, barely avoiding being found by her mother and brother, who knew full well that he and Kikyo had been a thing. In fact, as far as they knew, he and Kikyo still were a thing. The only one who knew she had broken up with him was Kagome.

And the biggest issue was this:

That not once, not when he had waited outside the house for her, not when he had talked with her in the kitchen, not when he had been consumed with kissing her, had he thought of Kikyo. It had just been Kagome. Make Kagome smile, watch Kagome work, touch Kagome, kiss Kagome.

And, oh, man, had he liked kissing her. He always liked kissing, obviously, and he had thought that nothing could be better than kissing Kikyo, who was safe and beautiful and his. But now—now he knew that there was kissing Kagome, and kissing Kagome was amazing and wonderful and satisfying and flying. Kissing Kagome had made him fly.

He wanted to kiss her again.

Oh, hell.

He felt guilty. Thoughts of Kikyo swam through his mind darkly, reminding him of promises they had made, of times they had been together, of finally having someone in his life who cared about him.

And of how his heart had broken when she had told him she was leaving, without any sort of explanation. Now she had broken up with him, too. It had been nearly five days, and he felt each one heavily. He knew there were reasons, of course he did. Kikyo had done it for his own good. But that didn't stop his cheeks from heating up every time he remembered Kagome's soft lips, Kagome's body against his, Kagome's hands in his hair, Kagome kissing him like she desperately wanted to.

Oh, hell.

He was home before he realized how he had gotten there. He looked at the foreboding house, which now had a pink bicycle leaning against the side. He snorted. He'd never been allowed to have a bicycle. Whatever.

He walked inside and went to the kitchen, calling through the house, "Hey, Rin, Kagome sent you dinner."

"Kagome did?" She called back from the living room. "Yay!"

He set the bag of bentos on the counter and turned, fulling intending to put his head in the sink and let cold water run all over it. But he jumped when he saw Sessomaru standing in the doorway, looking at him sternly.

"What?" He snapped, brushing off his surprise with anger.

Sessomaru turned slightly, as though signaling that Inuyasha should follow him back to his office. "We need to talk."