Chapter 29

LIFE'S LITTLE TRUTHS

Kagome wondered aloud who could be at her door and Inuyasha's response was a simple and innocent shrug. She looked at him for a second and thought about how much he now knew about her life. What he probably thought of her?

"What do you mean what he thinks of you?" her mind answered back, "He's here isn't he? He's with you wanting to help out in whatever way he can."

She thought again, "Yea, I'm sure I'm his charity case for the year."

Kagome realized she was being rude to her guest by not even entertaining a conversation. "But what to do say now? Oh wait! He wanted to say something to me."

"Inuyasha," she started.

He looked up from staring at her carpet; it was the quietest she'd ever seen him besides when he was hovered over his work.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me?" she asked sweetly.

"I – um-" he started. She could tell he was nervous; although she didn't think she'd ever observed him as nervous ever before.

He was saved momentarily by the door bell and she excused herself to go answer it.

Inuyasha was initially lost in his own thoughts about what to say, how to say it and then how to anticipate her response. "If it's good then good," he smiled to himself, "If it's bad…" he didn't want to finish the thought.

After a few moments, he realized that Kagome had not returned. He then focused on the mumbling coming from the direction she'd gone in to answer the door. Quietly, he tried to decipher who it could be. The voice was heavier than a woman's voice, so Sango was out. And Miroku would've busted right past her and invited himself in already.

He could hear her voice, but it sounded strained and edgy for some reason. It was definitely a male presence at the door; she hadn't invited him in, and she sounded agitated.

Inuyasha decided sitting mutely on the couch was being of no help to her or his own questioning mind. He silently rose and walked out of the room and approached the front door where he could see Kagome's back.

As he got closer, the conversation became audible.

"I'm really sorry but I can't talk right now," she stated. There was clear concern in her tone.

"Kagome, please just let me explain myself," came the reply.

It sounded annoyingly familiar and as soon as Inuyasha came at Kagome's side, he realized why.

"Hojo," he addressed.

He young man in the hallway looked at him with clear spite, "Inuyasha. Would you give us a moment?"

"No!" Kagome answered. "Hojo, I don't even know how you know where I live, but this isn't a good time."

"Kagome you don't understand. It's really important that I speak with you," he answered.

Inuyasha wasn't sure what to do. It was apparent what Hojo was trying to do and even more apparent that Kagome wasn't too thrilled with him being there. But did he have any right over her? Or the right to throw someone out of an apartment that wasn't his?

"Ho-" she started, sounding exasperated.

"Kagome, why don't Hojo and I have a talk?" Inuyasha stated without another thought. He looked squarely at Hojo.

"Yash, this really has nothing to do with you," Hojo replied.

"Oh, I think it does." With that Inuyasha stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind him, leaving Kagome in the apartment alone.

Inuyasha turned around to face Hojo again.

"Oh so what? You're gonna' beat me up now?" Hojo immediately started in an edgy, defensive tone.

"Why would I waste my time and do that? You obviously don't take a hint," Inuyasha squared his shoulders; just in case.

"I thought we could behave like gentlemen about this Yash."

"What're you talking about?" Inuyasha's statements were short and sweet. Sometimes there were no need for words; his older brother had taught him that.

"I'm talking about the fact that I clearly made my intentions known about Kagome and you still persist on butting in," he stated.

"Pretty words, but she's not a toy to be passed around and then someone owns her. Obviously she's not interested," Inuyasha was keeping himself as even tempered as possible.

"As if you know about how to treat a woman. Look at how you treat Kikyio!"

He nearly squealed the last couple of words in an accusatory fashion; he'd also raised his voice slightly.

Inuyasha was silent, counting his words and his measuring his anger. It would be wrong to clock him without some sort of a warning; it'd be too easy.

Kagome was on the other side of the door, phone in hand ready to call Sango or Miroku, but not willing to miss another word of the conversation.

"Kikyio?" she whispered to herself. She heard no response from Inuyasha and wondered if he'd simply knocked Hojo out.

"I mean she would do anything for you and you treat her like dirt. She calls me and tells me about it and-"

Hojo continued and Kagome was relieved to know that they weren't fist fighting in front of her doorway. But enough was enough; she opened the door and stepped out.

"First, my business is none of yours," Inuyasha started, "second, whatever happens between you and Kikyio is not any of my concern, she is none of my concern."

"Boys," Kagome tried to stop them.

"So there's the Inuyasha we all know!" Hojo beamed. "Uncaring, heartless and brutish. You think you can just toss people aside; like your money is better than my money?"

"Listen to yourself!" Inuyasha replied, "You sound like a fuckin' idiot."

"Hojo! Inuyasha!" Kagome tried once more. See could see the anger building in Inuyasha's eyes.

"I'm an idiot for not coming here sooner," Hojo replied and looked at Kagome. He walked towards her, "I'm an idiot for not letting my feelings be known sooner too."

He took her hand into his and looked at her with longing.

She was dumbfounded by his gesture. "What planet is this guy from?" she wondered feeling quite awkward.

Inuyasha was baffled and for once didn't know what to say. He looked at Kagome.

She looked at Hojo and then Inuyasha, and then again at Hojo. Politely, she slipped her hand from his grasp.

"I'm sorry Hojo," she looked at him, "I'm afraid that I just don't feel the same way about you."

Hojo looked confused, crushed and disappointed.

"And Inuyasha," she looked at him, "I don't know what the hell to think about you. One minute you're hot, the next you're cold, you're all over the radar. Didn't you have something to say to me?"

Inuyasha was slightly taken aback by her straight forwardness and didn't know what to say.

"Yeah but-" he started unsure of what to reveal in front of Hojo. Being rejected would be bad enough, but not in front of that douche-bag. Besides, she'd just crushed Hojo and it didn't seem too pleasant.

"Hold one on second!" Hojo interrupted. "So you mean to tell me this whole time you simply just weren't interested in me?" He seemed suddenly unhinged.

"Hojo I'm sorry but-" she started sympathetically.

"Sorry! That's all you have to say!" he cut her off, "What the hell about lunch? And at the party? And the flowers I sent? I came all the way out here for you today!" His gentlemanly facade seemed to be coming undone.

Kagome was at a loss for words; his tone, demeanor and even usually sunny disposition suddenly seemed overshadowed with a completely different personality.

"Hojo, if you were keeping track of all that, I'll gladly repay you for the lunch and flowers-" she started as level-headedly as possible.

"Repay me?" He interrupted in again, "With what? Your empty bank accounts? Or your maxed out credit cards?"

Inuyasha had heard enough; he walked up to the young man and put a hand on his shoulder, "I think you need to leave before you make a bigger ass out of yourself."

"Get the hell off of me" he shrieked and thrust the hand away. "Who the hell does she think she is anyway? A guy goes to the ends of the world and she thinks I'm some sort of everyday chump that she's tossing aside! Good looking doesn't mean you have it all together," he continued to yell at the bewildered girl.

"I-" she stammered not sure whether to apologize or curse him out for assuming she was so shallow.

"Last I checked you were the one that was doing the pursuing. Besides, she already said everything you need to know," Inuyasha replied.

"Oh back off," came the heated response, "you'll treat her like every other one. Just like you treated Kikyio. First fuck em and then forget em. She'll just be another whore and a notch in your bed."

Those were probably the last words he got out before Inuyasha's anger exploded. The last thing Inuyasha remembered was seeing red and connecting his left fist with Hojo's cheek. A loud crack was heard in the hallway and less than a second later, Hojo was laid out on the floor below. Kagome had covered her mouth in shock with both hands.

Inuyasha gathered his emotions, "She's not a whore your mother-"

"Inuyasha!" she ran up to him within seconds. "Stop please!"

He looked at her and then looked down at Hojo who was now cradling his rapidly swelling cheek and groaning. He looked back at her.

"Sorry you had to see that," he finally responded getting his breathing and anger in check once more.

She nodded and looked at Hojo. Although she was hurt and angry with him, she still felt a bit sorry for him. Inuyasha saw this and wrapped an arm around her slightly to guide her back to the apartment.

"Obviously you need to stop letting Kikyio fill your mind with shit and stay the hell out of both our business," he warned the young man on the floor. "Get the hell up, get out and don't even think about looking in her direction unless you want to deal with me again."

"Go to hell," the man moaned.

Inuyasha shut the door after entering the room. After he had locked the door and turned around, he noticed that Kagome had already silently gone into the living room.

He followed after and found her staring out one of the windows; her arms crossed in front of her; her delicate face looking strewn with distress.

Quietly, he crossed the room and stood just behind and to the side of her.

"It's not your fault what happened so don't even think that for a second," he finally instructed sternly. His anger was slowly leaving him.

She sighed and remained silent. Inuyasha was unsure of what to do.

"Kagome-" he started.

"He's right though," she replied quietly.

"He's a piece of shit. That's all," Inuyasha replied.

She turned to face him; eyes filled to the brim with tears. He was surprised to see this.

"No I've been a complete fool this whole time," she continued. Her tone grew more frantic as the tears she was holding back escaped and cascaded down her face. "Here I thought my life was in my own control; that I had everything together. But look at this mess! My bills, my pathetic excuse for controlling my future and now court. I'm actually getting sued and I'm treating him like crap. I'm no better-"

"Hold on!" his hands went to her shoulders, "Kagome get a hold of yourself," he insisted.

She wiped some tears from her face; his hands were still gently yet firmly placed on her shoulders.

"I just," she sighed, "I wish sometimes things weren't so hard. I wish that back when I started taking care of my finances I had someone to turn to. Instead of feeling like a burden on my remaining family. I feel like – a failure."

He was at a loss for words; never before did he have to deal with something like this; someone so in need of another soul to at least talk to. It was surreal that she was opening up to him like this especially after everything they had gone through before.

She was silent and looked down at the floor as more tears fell freely. The last bit of her strength felt drained as the words left her mouth. It was hard enough to say that but even harder to say it in front of him. She felt exposed, yet completed defeated to stop it.

"I'm sorry," she continued to wipe her eyes and tried to get her sudden rush of emotions under control, "I'm just tired I guess. This was just the last straw. I swear I never get like this," she tried in vain to smile. "It's so stupid."

He gently coxed her chin up to look at him.

"This whole time," he started softly, "you've done everything on your own and you've always done it on your own. You're smart as hell and you can get through this. You're far from being a failure Kagome and you have nothing to apologize for. If there's anyone that I respect more than my father and dumbass brother, it's you. But sometimes you can and should ask for help when you need it. We all need help sometimes. And," he paused for a second as he looked at her, "I wish that I would be the person you turn to."

She looked at him in silence.

"If you feel tired or like you just don't know what else to do, I want you to be able to come to me without a moment of hesitation," he was even amazed at himself for the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"You can't always take everyone on yourself all the time Kagome," he encouraged.

She nodded through her sniffling and continued to wipe away the shame of her tears; never before had she lost control like this. In fact, the last time she remembered crying like this was after loosing her parents.

Although happy to hear his words, she was embarrassed now to even make eye contact with him. His voice was soothing, his eyes smoldering with emotion; she knew everything he said was from the heart.

"I know," she finally managed; her condition was still weak; she still felt like she was on the brink of breaking into tears again. But despite it, she managed to look up at him, "and thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."

He looked at her; her eyes red and puffy matching her button-nose; her hair slightly messy; her voiced quivered with still more unshed tears.

Inuyasha smiled; there was nothing more to do. His hands still rested on her shoulders. He felt as though if he let go, she might slip away. He realized at that moment how much that would hurt him.

Without another word he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against his chest.

She was in shock; her eyes initially wide open as her face pressed against him. He was warm; she couldn't remember feeling that warm ever. His arms felt strong, as if they were the only way she was standing at the moment.

Slowly as she inhaled his scent and his warmth penetrated into her skin, she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him as well; her faced sunk deeper into his chest. She wanted to disappear from the world for a moment and he was her protector.

He gently stroked her hair as she continued to relish the feel of his arms around her.

She walked into the ominous looking building; its cavernous stone walls and floors emitted nothing but a sense of frigid cold even with the warm weather outside. The air conditioner seemed to be on full blast and the security personnel didn't seem to be in the best of moods.

Kagome quickly checked through security and proceeded down the corridor after getting some quick directions from the information desk. People were walking around from one place to another inside the court house, and she felt even more anxious to be surrounded by so many of them.

She wore simple jeans and a button down shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a long pony tail, her makeup nothing more than a coating of gloss on her lips. She carried a shoulder bag and walked with a sense of urgency.

Finally, she seemed to reach her destination. The court room doors were still shut, a group of people pooled in front as they were waiting to go inside. A bulletin board to the left of the doors held some white papers with print on it. She walked over and realized it was the list of people that were to appear in the court that day. Scanning it, she found her name and the time; 9:30 am.

She sighed and stepped back against the wall while she waited for the doors to be opened. It was only 9:11 am. Her heart was pounding in her chest; what would this be like? Would she have to testify to her own defense in front of all these other people? What would the judge be like? The other lawyers that were fighting the case against her?

Just as her thoughts began to consume her and her eyes began to grow glassy, she heard her name being called out.

"Kagome!"

She looked up in surprise, almost expecting to see a police officer ready to lock her up for the debt. She looked again.

"Kagome!"

He fought his way through the crowd as he rushed towards her.

Kagome's heart fluttered; within seconds he stood before her.

"Inuyasha," she couldn't believe it, "What are you doing here?"

He smiled, "Well you said that this would be the time and date, so I figured you could use some support."

She was again at a loss for words, "Um," she smiled, "thanks."

"No problem," he smiled back and looked around, "Are we here?"

"Yea," she nodded, "that's the court room but its not open ye-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a guard walked up to the doors and unlocked them. Immediately, the people started to pour in.

"Never mind," she muttered.

"Let's go," he encouraged and the two walked in together and took their seats. Some time later, they waited for her name to be called as the judge started to review the other cases one at a time.

They walked out the court house about 2 hours later; she felt a rush of relief and reveled in the warm sunlight.

"I can't believe it!" she laughed. "I was so nervous and for that?"

Inuyasha smiled, "I told you to not let it stress you out so much. I'm glad it's over though."

"I know! God, do you know when I cancelled that contract? Back when I first moved here. I can't believe those people claimed they never got my letter and proof of new residence!"

"That the problem with these types of companies," Inuyasha replied.

"A back-dated, and completely incorrect gym issue. All this for that? The judge was so annoyed with the other attorney," she continued to walk alongside him.

"I can't believe all this was over some gym membership either, but at least it's all over. What did the judge say to you?" he asked.

She laughed, "Nothing really. He said asked me my side of the story after their lawyer stated why I was being sued. I couldn't believe it. I told him that I was moving and that was one of the acceptable criteria for breaking the contract with proof provided, which I did. He asked the lawyer to show him my contract, but they didn't even have that. The judge got so annoyed with them and basically said it was a huge waste of court time as well as mine. And that was it!"

"You got a good judge," he replied.

"Yep!" she smiled, "he was really understanding." She stopped walking and he noticed that she was no longer at his side. He stopped and turned to look back at her just a few paces away.

"What's up?" he asked casually.

"Inuyasha, thank you" she looked him squarely in the eyes and smiled. "It made everything so much easier to have to you next to me. I understand what you were saying before about that."

He looked at her as she smiled sweetly at him; the weather was perfect, the day gorgeous and she looked radiant as the weight of the world seemed to be lifted from her shoulders.

"You know," he started with a mischievous grin, "there's something I've been meaning to say for quite some time."

"Oh?" she looked at him inquisitively, "What's that?"

"I can't tell you though," he replied.

She was confused, "I don't understand."

He smiled and closed the gap between them; his hand held the side of her face as he bent towards her and finally planted the kiss that he wished he'd given her long before.

Initially surprised, Kagome returned the kiss with her own passion as the two stood in the middle of the busy square in the city. Yet, they were completely unaware of anyone else around them.

Sorry about the wait everyone. It's been insane as I've already said before. I've written, deleted, re-written and still re-written this chapter. Especially towards the end.

One of my wonderful reviewers pointed out that I shouldn't be replying to reviews at the end of my chaps at the cost of possibly getting caught and fic being deleted.

So I'll just wait until I update a new chapter to personally reply to all the reviews. Chissel, hope school is fun! I can't send you a PM so this'll have to do! )

Well I do think this is the bittersweet end guys. It's been really fun, but I've already started another fic and plan on posting the first chapter shortly.

I want to thank everyone that stuck with this till the end, especially the updating delays and especially thank those that reviewed. You guys are inspiring and I want to thank you for all the support.