~Chapter Twenty Four~

Declarations of Love

When Inuyasha opened his eyes for a second time, the sun was sinking out the window. All that told him was that night was approaching, not how many days he'd been out. For all he knew, it could've been a week or just a day. But at least being awake was preferable to trudging through that semi-conscious fog he'd been walking in. It had been nothing short of hellish. Kagome was…

He craned his neck up and saw that she was sleeping, her head pillowed against her forearms, her eyes completely shaded by her thick swath of bangs. She was safe, whole, not bleeding and dying… He knew that she hadn't left his side and while part of him was so glad that she didn't, the other part of him felt so guilty because no doubt she was having the worst sleep of her life and that she probably hadn't eaten.

He shifted slightly, grimacing at the needles sticking out of his arms and the tube in his nose. The bandages wrapped around his shoulder and leg were constricting too. Damn it. He reached up, his movements slow and groggy from the drugs and ripped the tube off his face. Instantly, he began to breathe on his own and his nose burned in attempt to take in his own oxygen. But he could smell her, Kagome and it was instantly soothing.

The door opened quietly and a nurse bustled in with a clipboard. He watched her intently as she stopped short, staring at him before her eyes shifted to the oxygen tube dangling from the tank, to Kagome sleeping back up to his eyes. She shook her head and hurried over, silently, to check out his vitals.

He growled low as she shifted expertly behind Kagome, loathe to have this nurse disturb her, but she just smiled, "I won't disturb your mate, Inuyasha," she whispered reassuringly, drawing some blood- which was still much darker than it should be- and checking his heart rate, "You are looking far better this evening than you were yesterday," she commented, confirming the time he'd been in the hospital. She took a moment to lift the sheet and check his bandages, "You are one lucky hanyou."

"I wanna go home," he said low, his eyes flitting to Kagome then back up to the nurse, "I wanna get outta here. I'm fine now."

She nodded, "Perhaps tomorrow," she replied, before sweeping out of the room.

The sound of the door clicking shut and Kagome stirred at the disturbance. Inuyasha kept still, watching her, his face intense as she sat up, glanced at the door, yawned, rubbed her eyes and turned to face him. A few seconds she simply blinked at him and had he been a more humorous male, he might have laughed at how long it took her to realize that he was staring back at her. She jumped right out of her seat with a little scream, and he smirked, flicking his ears slightly. One of her hands jumped to her mouth and the other rested against her chest, like she was afraid her heart was going to jump out of it. She calmed down after a few breaths and gingerly sat back in her chair.

"Inuyasha!" She exclaimed in a half whisper, half cry. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?" She leaned down to touch his forehead, and then lifted the sheets to check his bandages.

"I'm fine," he replied, allowing her to coddle him, only because the morphine drip was making her words blend together, "I'm just... I'm just a little tired from the fucking drugs they have pounding into me."

He shifted again to the side of the little bitty bed he was on, grimacing a little when his body was hesitant to cooperate. He tapped the empty space beside him with his hand, "Come 'ere," he demanded, but his voice was lacking all that gruff arrogance that it usually had.

Kagome blinked at him in surprise. She glanced from him to the open spot on the bed, and then back to him. She fought the blush creeping up her neck, feeling feverish herself at the idea of snuggling up to him. She wondered if he remembered anything he said to her the night before, under the influence of his hallucinations. Did he feel the awkwardness coming off her in waves? She'd waited so long for him to say those words to her, to hear that he loved her as much as she loved him. She knew he struggled with communicating that to her and she thought, did it count as real if he didn't remember it so long as she heard it?

You're being silly now, Kagome, she chided herself. What was more important was that he pulled through the night and seemed to be sane, if only a little groggy and slow. So she bit her lip, glanced at the door, and climbed into the bed with him. She stretched out next to him, making sure he had plenty of room and making sure she didn't hurt him. Laying on her back, she gazed up at him with worried eyes.

"I thought I lost you..." Kagome finally said, closing her eyes and reaching out to touch his chest, very lightly. She wanted to feel close to him. She wanted to hear his heart beat. She shifted a little, until her ear was pressed against his chest, but not putting any weight onto him. He accommodated her, listing to the side and wrapping his arm around her. She reveled in the warmth he put out, even if it was a slight fever.

He scoffed, "You ain't gonna be rid of me as easy as a bullet," he commented.

Then, he rolled over, onto his side and cuddled her in close, a sort of awkwardly positioned hug because of the tubes and needles and bandages. He held her tight, pressed his face into the crook of her neck and let out a short sigh. She smiled and twined her hands through his hair, taking advantage of his weakened state to fondle the ears. She loved the ears and chuckled in her throat when they twitched.

"I talked to you earlier," he stated matter-of-factly, his voice muffled by her neck, "I remember it. Vaguely, at least," long pause from him, "I... I hope what I said didn't sound really stupid to you."

Kagome looked down at where he was hiding his face into her neck. He hid his eyes, and his face, when he felt vulnerable. He always had, though, in the past, he'd simply turn away from her or jump into a tree, not bury his nose in her hair.

"It didn't sound stupid." she replied softly. She was silent for a minute as she tried to figure out what to say to him. And waiting for her damned heart to get out of her throat so she could speak. Finally, she buried her face into his hair, holding him tightly, though careful of his wounds, and said, "So...mates...?" she asked, trying to sound like her whole world didn't depend on what he said to such a casual inquiry.

If he could blush harder, Inuyasha would have. His face flamed and he was sure he would pass out from the heat of it.

"Uh, well, yeah..." he stammered, combing his fingers through her hair. In his head, his youkai growled low in contentment. Why was this so hard to spit out? He had faced demons and death and alienation and torture, but he couldn't say what he was thinking? He was not so incompetent.

'This Inuyasha is not so stupid,' his youkai chuckled, sounding disconcertingly similar to Sesshoumaru.

'Feh,' he snorted back, before taking a deep breath to steal himself and pulling his face out of her shoulder. He grabbed her face with both his hands and pressed his forehead to hers, looking at her seriously despite the hard blush across his cheeks.

"Yes, Kagome, you are my mate," he growled out, lest his voice tremble, "And I've loved you for a really long time and everyone knows it and have been bugging me to spit it out so I'm spitting it out right now and..." as he talked, his voice got faster and faster until he ran out of wind. He took another breath to continue, but lost all his nerve and it whooshed out.

"I'm just gonna stop now..." he mumbled, making a pouty sorta face and dropping his eyes from hers. His face was beat red, turning even the roots of his hair a little pink.

She was silent for so long and he realized that she hadn't taken a breath for a few seconds. He winced, waiting for the blow, the flood of rejection for her to say 'No thanks, but you're really sweet…' he flipped his eyes up to hers, daring to look at her and saw that she was simply staring at him, her lips parted, her expression a little vacant.

"Kagome?" he prompted, despising the silence and lack of answer.

She shook herself, blinked and a little smile appeared on her face until it finally lit up her whole façade and it was his turn to forget to breathe. She leaned forward, kissed his nose and hunkered down to lay her cheek against his chest, "You are such a baka," she replied, "But I can live with a baka for a mate."

Inuyasha, despite much growling, was not allowed out of the hospital for another day. Sesshoumaru put his foot down and pulled the taiyoukai card, and so Kagome had spent the night in his hospital bed.

But then she'd helped him home, and three days had passed since his release from the hospital, and he was healed just as good as new. He boasted two scars from the unique bullets on his otherwise nearly flawless physique – minus the scar where Miroku had dug the jewel shard from his back – and he was pretty proud of them. Much to his chagrin, she'd caught him in the bathroom mirror, checking them out and had laughed at him for a solid ten minutes after that. His red face had made it that much better.

Living with him had changed a little. She still slept in his bed, but things were...different. There was a new tension between one. Not related to confessions of love, but what happens after. Sometimes, she was braver and kissed him at night, but she'd been too worried about his injuries to let anything go past kissing.

Even though she wanted more. Inuyasha wore less clothes to bed now than ever, and it was very difficult to stop at kissing with his bare chest taunting her. Insolent man…

Inuyasha would be home sometimes tonight from a hunt, but Kagome wasn't sure when. She'd spent all day reviewing some replies from universities, comparing which one was for her. If she even wanted to go. Gods only knew how she really hated school.

Now, as she stepped out of the shower, she felt refreshed. It was later at night, she'd already had dinner. She had full intentions of changing into sweats and sitting down to watch a movie until Inuyasha returned. She left the bathroom with her towels around her torso, humming under her breath as she moved into the cooler bedroom. A shiver raced down her spine as she opened a drawer and contemplated her selections.

Sesshoumaru had insisted that Inuyasha take a couple of days off to rest and relax.

"Claim your mate or something," Sesshoumaru had waved the hanyou out of his office, "Come back when you are done and we can talk about putting you back as my Hunter."

Of course, though, both of the brothers knew that Inuyasha was the best of the best and it would be impossible to keep him away from his job.

So, he had been sent out to take care of some punks who hung around schools and antagonized human kids walking home. It hadn't been a 'seek and destroy' operation, but more like a warning, 'Hey, the Hunters are watching. Stop fucking around.'

And now he was home. It was getting late and he was kinda hoping that maybe Kagome was in the mood for a movie or something. It had been a little tense between them lately, after he had come back from the hospital. Of course, he probably wasn't making it easier by walking around half naked all the time.

'You are such a dog,' his youkai muttered as the hanyou kicked off his shoes and rotated his shoulder. It was still sore from his injury, but the doctors said that it might take up to a week to fully heal because the bullet ripped his rotator cuff to shreds.

Kagome wasn't in the living room, but he was pretty sure he could smell a fresh shower and his suspicions were confirmed when he loped up the stairs and saw that the bathroom door was closed slightly still and the light was on.

Good, maybe he could get some more comfortable clothes on before she came outta the bathroom.

He turned the corner into the bedroom, pulling his shirt off as he went and his heart nearly jumped out of his body when he saw her standing in front of the dresser. She scared the ever living shit out of him; he could've sworn she was still in the bathroom…

He took one step into the open doorway and stopped dead in his tracks as her fingers released their hold on the towel and the wet strip of cloth hit the floor with a dull sound.

A/N:

Final Thoughts from Inuyasha:

Hot DAMN, girl!

Inuyasha and Co belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The script is mine.

Credits:

Kagome, Sango: Goldensomething

Inuyasha, Miroku, Koga: Jesachi

Sub-characters: Combined effort