Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, no matter how much I'd like to.

Warnings: May cause nose bleed.

Love At First Drink: Chapter 12

Kagome Higurashi sighed wearily, rubbing her temples as she sat waiting for the stop light in her car. She was completely worn out from the long day, her energy almost completely drained.

'Thank the gods that it's Friday. Dinner was nice, but I think it's time to reacquaint myself with the soft comfort of my bed.' Kagome thought bleakly, turning into her apartment complex when the light turned green. Pulling into her parking space, conveniently located in front of her first floor apartment, she shut off the engine and got out. She then resignedly locked the door once it was shut, putting her keys in her pocket afterwards. She turned toward her building and stopped abruptly, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

'What…? I-Inuyasha…?'

Inuyasha Taisho stood before her, a few feet away, his ears once again sadly back into his hair, his golden eyes miserable and trained on her. Her eyes turned sad, too, and betrayed as the sight of him kissing that girl at the mall flashed in her mind once again. She mentally cursed her heart for unwillingly skipping a beat at the sight of him. But she didn't have the energy to be angry. She spoke up quietly before he could.

"What are you doing here?"

Inuyasha's face grew even sadder, if possible, as he saw her expression change. 'Gods, how can I let this happen? I'm such an idiot. I hurt her and now she hates me.'

"Kagome…..Kagome, I'm so sorry. What happened at the mall….it's…it's not what you think."

Kagome shook her head sadly, not believing him. "Inuyasha, please. Don't make this hard when it doesn't need to be. You already have someone. I understand."

"Kagome, no, please. Please, just listen to me. I'd like to explain."

He took a hesitant step forward, seeing her sigh, but nod. 'Let's hope you're right, Mama.' Kagome thought, thinking back to their conversation a couple days ago.

"If you really think you need to. But don't take long. I'm exhausted."

"I won't, I promise."

He took another few hesitant steps toward her and gently clasped her hand. Kagome blinked and looked helplessly up into his sincere eyes.

"Kagome… I know you must think I'm a jerk and I shouldn't even bother. But, I really want to explain. Even if you don't believe me after this, I still want you to be able to hear the truth."

Kagome stared into his truthful eyes and nodded weakly.

"Kagome…the day I was at the bar, my fiancé, Kikyo, broke up with me because I caught her sleeping with another guy."

Kagome's eyes widened drastically and before she could comment, Inuyasha continued.

"It was quite a shock for me, too," Inuyasha smiled weakly, seeing her expression. "The day at the mall, I came alone. I didn't even know Kikyo was there…Before I knew it, she was begging me to take her back, after all that happened." Inuyasha scowled, remembering. He then sighed and turned back to Kagome's surprised, yet sympathetic eyes. "She kissed me before I could stop her."

Kagome's eyes cleared in realization. Inuyasha shook his head and looked pained, looking away.

"And then I saw you and I knew what you thought you saw. Gods, I felt so stupid! I didn't know what to do. I just met you, Kagome, but…it felt like my heart was stabbed when you ran away."

Kagome's eyes widened, "Inuyasha…."

Inuyasha shook his head and smiled weakly again. "I'm sorry. I must look like an idiot. I just wanted you to know what really happened. I'll…I'll go now. I'm sorry."

He dropped her hand sadly, turning.

"No!" Inuyasha paused at the warm hand on his arm, stopping him from going any further. He turned back to Kagome slowly, his eyes questioning.

Inuyasha's eyes widened suddenly in surprise as he felt a warm body press against him and soft lips brush against his.

Time seemed to stand still.

The air around them seemed to hum and swirl as his hammering pulse echoed in his ears.

Sweetness; it was all around him.

And it was over all too soon, before he could even kiss back. Inuyasha couldn't look away from Kagome's chocolate brown eyes as she pulled away to look into his shocked golden ones.

"Kagome…?"

Kagome smiled happily in response, her cheeks slightly pink. "Oh, Inuyasha. Don't go. Please. I know now what happened. I'm the one who's sorry. I jumped to conclusions."

Inuyasha smiled back happily, his eyes bright with relief.

'She forgave me! Gods, I'm so lucky. I don't deserve her.'

"Kagome….thank you. I'm so sorry I hurt you. I promise- no, I swear that I will never hurt you again. I'll make it up to you."

Kagome looked up at him happily when, suddenly, blackness started to cloud the corners of her eyes. She blinked rapidly as Inuyasha started to go in and out of her focus and she reached forward, gripping Inuyasha's forearms for support. Kagome could barely hear Inuyasha's voice, like it was coming from the end of a large tunnel.

"Kagome?! Are you alright?!"

"Y-yeah, I'm-," Kagome tried to say, but the dizziness leaked into her brain, hitting her like a truck going 100 miles per hour. She backed away from Inuyasha, trying to steady herself. She rubbed her eyes vigorously as they clouded up and her head became light. Kagome's chest cavity seemed to her like it shrunk two sizes and she looked as if she was having to jerk each breath out of her lungs. Finally, it became too much to bear and she began to tilt backwards, fainting.

"Fuck!" Inuyasha cursed, diving forward, catching her in his arms before she hit the hard concrete. Being the doctor he was, Inuyasha moved quickly, kneeling and pulling her into his arms to check her pulse. Faint, but steady.

'Thank the gods…,'Inuyasha thought, breathing a tiny sight of relief. 'But what the hell happened?'

Inuyasha placed a slightly trembling clawed hand on her forehead and noticed no abnormal temperature. He gave her one more look-over and took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves, feeling quite a scare when she passed out.

'It must be over exhaustion,' he concluded after seeing nothing apparently wrong with her. 'Well, I better get her inside.'

And with that decided, Inuyasha hauled Kagome up bridal style into his arms like she weighed nothing and headed off toward her apartment.

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A/N: Sorry about the short chapter and the extremely long wait! Hope it was worth it.

Please review! Reviews make me happy and make me wanna update!

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