Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

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Chapter 25: Princess

Inuyasha paused. His own lips were less that two inches away from Kagome's. He'd been mesmerized by them, had had no thought in his head but to kiss them, but something had interrupted him. Or someone, rather. A lot of someones. He could feel them all watching him intently. He blushed furiously, realizing that he'd been about to perform his first kiss in front of a room full of strangers.

He sat up straight and glared at them all. "I'm not doing this in front of you all!" he exclaimed. Everyone blinked at him in surprise for a few moments, and then the room started filling with the chatter of people commenting to each other. The majority of them had the grace to look at least look sheepish, but there were far too many grandmas with knowing smirks on their faces. No one moved to leave. "Out!" Inuyasha got up and started waving his arms at them. "Out, all of you, out!" Finally the crowd started moving, but it wasn't fast enough for Inuyasha, so he started pushing, herding them all towards the door. Finally all the strangers had left the room, and Inuyasha shut the door behind them. He could still hear the sounds of breathing from an extra person in the room, though, and a quick search revealed Miroku trying to hide behind a curtain. "You too!" Inuyasha firmly pointed him to the door.

"Inuyasha, surely you wouldn't ban your best friend from witnessing this important life event," Miroku said quickly.

As an answer, Inuyasha picked up the monk by his robes and hauled him to the door. He flung it open, then paused for a second to stare at the press of people standing in the hallway. The ones in front were trying to catch their balance after losing the door they'd been standing up against. Growling, Inuyasha shoved Miroku into the press, and shut the door again.

Inuyasha released a deep sigh. At last he was alone with Kagome. Then he felt his face heat up. He was alone with Kagome. Somehow he wished he could go back to the state of suspended thought he'd been in a few moments before, when he'd been about to kiss Kagome in front of everyone. He knew he still needed to kiss her, but somehow it had seemed much easier when his mind wasn't screaming at him about how embarrassing it was.

The suddenly empty room was having its effect, too. Everyone who'd been in here had been so certain that Inuyasha's kiss would wake the Princess. That confidence had infectiously filled the room, and with it pressed in all around him, Inuyasha had not thought to doubt. Now the room echoed empty, and, left to his own devices, Inuyasha discovered that he wasn't confident at all. What if he kissed her, and Kagome didn't wake up? After all, it was supposed to be the kiss of true love that would wake the Princess. Was what he felt for Kagome true love? And did she feel true love for him? To be honest, he wasn't sure at all what her feelings for him might be. He knew that he needed her in his life, but what if she didn't need him? What if she had forgotten about him already? What if she already had found herself a true love that wasn't him? Or, what if she didn't love anyone, and had no way to be awakened? Inuyasha wasn't certain which possibility would be worse, but both of them made him want to tear out his hair and howl in frustration.

He found himself pacing at the bedside, pausing every few seconds to look at Kagome, sometimes even going so far as to lean down over, before jerking back and going back to his pacing. Finally he admitted it to himself. He was sacred. If he couldn't wake Kagome, it would devastate him.

Finally he stopped and took a deep breath. He looked down at Kagome's beautiful face. His eyes traced over her soft lips. "I've just got to do it," he told himself. "I might fail if I try, but I'll definitely fail if I don't." He nodded sharply to himself, and, ignoring hot feeling of his face blushing scarlet, he bent down and gently pressed his lips to Kagome's.

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Kagome was dreaming. In her dream, she was reliving the day she'd left Inuyasha's palace to set out on her own. She'd arrived at the point where she'd fallen asleep against Shippo, but in the way of dreams, she was somehow still conscious of what was going on around her. She was aware of it when Inuyasha arrived and started talking to Shippo and Sango about her. The two told Inuyasha how she was going to the Eastern Palace to help protect Princess Kikyo, and then dream-Inuyasha remarked how that was good, he didn't need her hanging around anyway, when he was going to marry the Princess instead. He left, laughing an evil, rackus sort of laugh as he went. In her dream Kagome called out to him, but he just kept laughing and leaving.

Kagome was plunged into the deep forest again. She was alone—Sango and Shippo seemed to have disappeared. She wandered for what seemed like hours. After long while, she started to feel a presence hanging over her. She didn't recognize it at first, but she was tired and heartbroken, and wanted to be alone rather than pestered by mysterious presences. Frowning, she tried to hurry away from it, but it kept following her. Gradually she recognized it; the presence was definitely Inuyasha. She couldn't see him, it was more like a feeling of him watching her, but she knew it was him. Kagome started feeling angry. How dare he break her heart, leave her, and then continue to hover around her like this! He had no right! The ultimate insult came when she suddenly felt him kissing her lips. Kagome exploded into fury. How dare he?!? Gathering all her might, she struck out, futilely trying to slap the nebulous Inuyasha-presence.

Her hand connected.

Her eyes flew open.

"Ow!" Inuyasha was reeling back from her, his hand covering his slap-brightened cheek. Kagome looked down at her hand, which was also red from the contact. It stung a bit. "What was that for?!?" Inuyasha demanded angrily.

Still caught in the mood of her dream, Kagome responded back heatedly. "How dare you leave me like that!"

"Huh," thought Inuyasha, "she's mad that I took so long to find her and wake her up?" Out loud, he responded, "Look, I'm sorry, but I wasn't trying to leave you. I was looking for you all over, I just didn't know where to find you!"

"What do you mean you didn't know where to find me? You knew very well where to find me. You're the one who left me!" Kagome retorted.

"I didn't leave you!," Inuyasha insisted. "I was working my butt off trying to find you! I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, I spent this whole time trying to find you!"

"But why did you leave me in the first place? And the things you said! You broke my heart!" Kagome turned away from Inuyasha and started sobbing.

"What? What things? I didn't say anything!" Inuyasha said, horror-struck at her tears. Kagome tried to say something back, but it was incomprehensible through her hiccuping and crying. Exasperated, Inuyasha started feeling angry himself. "Look, if you wanted so badly for me to find you quicker, then why didn't you just tell me that you were the Princess!" he ended in a shout.

Kagome stopped crying and turned a death-glare on Inuyasha. "Don't make fun of me," she snarled in a low voice. "You said you didn't need me because you were going to marry the Princess."

"I never said that!" exclaimed Inuyasha. "And how could I say I 'don't need you because I'm marrying the Princess' if you ARE the Princess?!?"

Kagome shoved her face into Inuyasha's. "I AM NOT THE PRINCESS!"

"YES YOU ARE!" Inuyasha roared back.

"NO, I'M NOT!!"

"If you're not the Princess, then how come everyone in the palace thinks you are? Huh? And how come you feel under Naraku's spell, and how come you woke up when I kissed you?"

Kagome opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She tried again. "You're..." she paused. She sat back, and looked around the room. Bewilderment crossed her features. "This isn't the forest," she said slowly.

"Of course it isn't," Inuyasha said, frowning at her.

Kagome spent a moment studying the fancy bed she was sitting on, and then staring at the fancy room with its rich furnishings. "Where are we?" she asked, finally.

"You done yelling at me?" said Inuyasha crossly. When Kagome nodded, still distractedly looking around the room, he sighed and let the tension drain out of him. He settled himself on the bed next to her. "We're in the Eastern Palace, remember? You've been here for over a month, ever since you left me to go with Sango and Shippo to come protect the Princess. Or, I guess really it was to come be the Princess."

"You're the one who left me," Kagome replied with a small frown, finally turning her attention back to him. "And what do you mean, be the Princess?"

Inuyasha let her comment slide, focusing instead on her question. "You mean you really don't know?" Kagome shook her head slowly. "I'm surprised they didn't tell you," he said. "I wonder what they were thinking? But, anyway, Kagome," Inuyasha paused, and, barely blushing at all, took her hand. "There's really no doubt about it. You are Princess Kikyo."

There was a long pause. Finally, Kagome asked in a quavering voice, "Really?"

"Yeah, really."

There was another long pause. Inuyasha studiously watched his hand, still holding Kagome's. Every so often her fingers would twitch a little. He avoided raising his eyes to see her expression.

"So, I really fell under Naraku's spell?"

Inuyasha nodded, and Kagome realized now that she did have some sort of memory like that, now that her head was beginning to clear.

"And you really did kiss me awake again?" Kagome's emotions were still reeling, but she couldn't help her lips pulling into a small smile when she saw Inuyasha's face blush deep red. He nodded, ducking his head and hiding his eyes behind his bangs. His fingers tightened around her hand.

Kagome felt herself blushing too. She blushed even more when a small voice in the back of her head suggested it was too bad she hadn't been awake for it. The voice then suggested something that surprised Kagome so much that she immediately repeated it out loud. "Then, if I'm the Princess, that means we're betrothed to be married?"

A jolt ran through Inuyasha at her words, and something happy and excited started fluttering around inside him. "Yes," he finally managed to choke out.

The scent of salt and water startled him into looking at Kagome. Tears were running down her cheeks. "Uh, um, but, only if you want to be. I mean, if you have some other guy you'd rather be with, I won't force you to marry me," Inuyasha quickly backpedaled. "I don't want you to be unhappy," he finished, feeling lame.

Kagome shook her head and smiled. "I must still be dreaming, but I don't think I want to wake up." She locked eyes with Inuyasha, and they spent a long time staring at each other. After a minute, a blush stole across Kagome's cheeks, and a playful light entered her eyes. "You know," she said, "it really isn't fair that you got to be awake for our first kiss, when I wasn't. I think you owe me another one."

Inuyasha blushed the deepest red she'd seen yet, and spent a few minutes looking everywhere but her.

"Hmmm?" probed Kagome, while trying to catch his eye. "You going to pay up, or what?"

Inuyasha kept his head ducked, still refusing to look her in the eye, but he lifted a hand and ran his fingers through her hair, and then in a rush closed in and kissed her. The approach was quick, but the kiss itself was long.

Finally they pulled apart. Kagome's hand found Inuyasha's again, and they intertwined fingers. They both sat there for a moment, staring into space with goofy smiles.

A noise at the door finally drew them out of their reverie. "What was that?" asked Kagome.

"Oh, that's probably all the people standing outside," realized Inuyasha.

"Huh?" said Kagome.

Inuyasha chuckled a little. "Prepare yourself," he told her. "There's a lot of people out there who're really anxious to meet you."

Kagome took a long look at Inuyasha's suddenly mischievous face, and wondered what was in store for her.

"Come on, Kagome," he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. "If we keep them waiting too long they might break down the door." Inuyasha paused for a second, then said, "Oh, um, sorry, I guess maybe I should call you Princess Kikyo now."

"No, Kagome is fine," she replied immediately. "That's the name I'm used to. I think it's going to take me awhile to figure out this whole princess thing."

"Well, don't worry Kagome," said Inuyasha, "I'll be with you. You'll get the hang of it in no time."

With that, he drew her towards the door, which he flung open once they reached it. Several people immediately fell sprawling into the room. Behind them, masses of people crowded the hallway. As soon as they caught sight of her, their faces broke into beaming smiles. They dropped to the ground in low bows to her. "Princess!" they said.

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Thanks everyone for reading! We're not quite done yet, so please look forward to the next chapter!

-Silvanon