He really did have the shittiest luck.
Inuyasha scowled down at the event flyer he held in his hand, reading the words again. Apparently, the student council had decided on a "White Day" theme for their senior class's end-of-year graduation party.
Saturday, March 14th. Be there or be square.
But what about human? Could he also be human?
Because with his shitty luck there just so happened to be a new moon on White Day this year.
Dammit. Dammit. Fucking shit.
Glancing at the girl walking beside him, Inuyasha's face grew grim. He was pretty sure that Kagome hadn't put two and two together yet, not that he blamed her. They hadn't been together long enough for her to have experienced another new moon since that very first evening they'd spent together.
Because Valentine's Day had also been a new moon, almost one month ago.
Had it only been a month? It felt like a lot longer, what with them spending every day together since then. He wasn't complaining though; just the opposite, in fact. The alternative would've been far, far worse.
Inuyasha hadn't even realized how unsettled his soul had been over the past three years – forced as he was out of necessity to stay away from Kagome – until the moment he'd finally held her in his arms for the first time.
He couldn't explain it. It was like she was a balm to him. Her presence instantly filling him with warmth and contentment until even the idea of being without her caused an ache to settle deep in his bones.
It was why he'd brought Kagome home with him after school on Valentine's Day.
Tōga, to his credit, had sensed the shocking change in his son's aura immediately. Where once it had seethed with gruff agitation to the point of belligerence, now it was suddenly calm. He'd thought to chalk it up to the momentary elation of finally being so close to his truemate… That is, until Inuyasha's human change had come over him.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Tōga's attention had been drawn by the sound of Kagome gasping in awe. He'd winced in expectation of his son's usual reaction…only to then watch Inuyasha smile at the girl in return, amused by her awestruck expression.
Inuyasha had been amused?
He'd smiled?
Over his human transformation?
The thing his son hated above all else?
And still, the boy's aura remained calm!
It was then that Tōga knew that his son's painfully unsettled usual state could no longer be explained away as the standard fluctuations of hormonal adolescence. No, these two weren't even bound to one another yet, but they might as well have been. He could sense how Kagome's soothing aura flowing over the jagged edges of his son's soul, could sense how Inuyasha's in return reached out to provide hers with strength and support.
It humbled and disturbed him to realize now that he had been the source of his own son's silent suffering – could only guess at what it had been like for the poor girl as well – and all because he had made Inuyasha promise to stay away from her.
Well, that would end tonight.
Quickly a phone call had been made and Kagome's family summoned.
And once Kagome had explained to her mother that the boy she'd been heartbrokenly pining over for the past three years was, in fact, her truemate – and once the realities of such a truth were discussed openly – it had been decided that the propriety of keeping the pair apart simply because they were technically still in high school was much less important than ensuring that they not hurt their children any longer.
It was Kagome's grandfather who had been the hardest to convince, stating that he refused to allow his only granddaughter to be kidnapped by some youkai, never to be seen or heard from again. If each were to be allowed to always stay near the other, then they had to take turns staying at each other's homes overnight… in separate rooms, of course.
That settled, the new arrangement had begun that very night.
It had been somewhat awkward at first, to be so deeply connected to someone that neither of them actually knew very much about. And so, little by little they'd started to get to know one another.
They'd gone on dates, staying up late into the night sharing their secrets, their fears, their hopes and dreams. They'd cuddled on the couch, learning to compromise and take turns picking which movie they would watch. They'd done homework and studied for finals together, encouraging each other to succeed. And they'd shared passionate make-out sessions, Inuyasha sneaking the two of them up onto the auditorium's roof during lunch hours, so that they could be alone, just the two of them.
What had begun as an instinctual necessity had quickly bloomed into something much, much deeper…
Inuyasha and Kagome were well and truly in love.
Which brought Inuyasha back to today.
He'd already spoken with Kagome's mother, already withdrawn a hefty sum from his savings account in order to buy the ring. After all, it was traditional on White Day for men to reciprocate any gifts they'd received by bestowing even greater tokens of affection in return.
And an engagement ring would definitely be the greatest token of all.
Inuyasha had even been willing to overlook the fact that it was going to be a new moon that night – all so that he could follow through on the White Day tradition – because he knew how much Kagome liked that kind of sentimental shit.
Only now their graduation party had also been scheduled for the same night and there was NO WAY he was going out to such a public event on his night of vulnerability, romantic plans be damned.
Sighing, he snuck another glance at Kagome out of the corner of his eye. He loved how animated she was – so different from him – walking along beside him, wondering aloud what they should wear to the event and whether they should match or complement one another in their choices of formalwear.
Because they were a "they" now.
She was his. His Kagome.
That thought alone made him smile.
But his smile quickly faded back to a frown as he reread the flyer one final time. He hated having to take this from her, but there was nothing for it.
"We're not going." He spoke gruffly, effectively cutting Kagome's chatter off mid-sentence.
"Wha–What? Why?" She questioned, hurt creeping into her voice.
Inuyasha turned to face her, taking in her sad eyes, and felt compelled to explain in a voice soft enough so as not to carry.
"It's my night. You know? My night. I can't take you… Sorry." He looked dejected, the shame of his failure to make his truemate happy leaving a bitter taste in the back of his throat. "You can go without me if you want."
Her own disappointment forgotten, Kagome jumped immediately to his defence…even if that defence was against himself.
"What?! No way! I'm the one who forgot, so I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have remembered. And if you can't go then I don't wanna go either."
Inuyasha nodded, resigned to their mutual disappointment. They walked on in silence for a bit before Kagome stopped short, all but tripping herself on the sidewalk in her haste.
"What?" He questioned.
"I had an idea! What if we have our own White Day graduation party?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, what's the fun part of a grad party? You get all dressed up and go to a fancy hotel, right? You party with your friends, you get a room…"
Kagome trailed off, belatedly realizing the implications of what she'd just said.
Inuyasha was less subtle about it. "Get a room?!" He squeaked.
She cringed a bit, "What I mean is, instead of going to the school's grad party we could have our own. You and me. Maybe we could even invite Miroku and Sango as well. They know about your night already, don't they?"
Inuyasha nodded, considering her suggestion. "So we'd get all dressed up, rent some hotel rooms, and have our own party?"
"Sure! Why not? I bet we could even get your dad to spring for a limo! I bet he would've anyway if we were going to the actual grad party, so why not, right? Just think about it. It would be fun!"
Inuyasha stayed quiet for a moment more. He'd been planning to give her the ring for White Day, and with this plan he still could. In fact, it might even be better. They'd have a whole hotel room to themselves.
"Sure. Okay, let's do it."
"Really?!" Kagome exclaimed, clearly more than a little surprised that he'd agreed so easily.
"Yeah, sure. Why not, right?"
"Oh, this is so great! Okay, why don't you talk to your parents about booking the hotel and the limo and I'll take care of convincing Miroku and Sango to skip the official party in favour of hanging out with us!"
Inuyasha nodded silently, suddenly feeling nervous.
This was really happening.
It was gonna happen.
He was going to get Kagome alone for White Day and ask her to be his wife, his truemate for life.
Even as Kagome continued to beam up at him with a radiant smile, Inuyasha couldn't help but gulp as choking anxiety close like a fist around his throat,
Inuyasha's parents had, at first, not liked this plan at all.
His night of vulnerability was a secret his entire family had always tried to keep as private as possible. The old prejudices against hanyou may not have been as prevalent now as they once were, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Heck, even Sesshōmaru kept his mouth shut about it and his younger half-brother was not his favourite person in the world, to say the least.
Izayoi, especially, had been adamantly against the idea…That is, until Inuyasha had worked up the courage to tell his parents what his real plan for the weekend, to formally ask Kagome to become his mate. After that, his mother was quick to switch sides, helping Inuyasha to convince Tōga that this whole "private graduation party" thing was a good idea.
Outnumbered, Tōga had finally relented, renting the four friends a limo to take them to a rather fancy boutique hotel on the other side of town. It was one known in youkai circles for its discretion and was far enough away from the venue hosting the official grad event that Inuyasha was sure that no one he knew would see him in his human form and recognize him.
Still, when Saturday afternoon came around and it was time to get ready, Inuyasha couldn't help but be intensely nervous about the whole thing.
Just thinking about going out on his human night on top of his plan to ask Kagome to be his wife was enough to have him sweating through the first dress shirt he tried to put on.
Groaning, he forcefully wrenched his thoughts away from either of those two topics…only to succeed in directing them instead to the time in between when the limo would drop them off and when it would return to pick them up the next morning.
The time when he and Kagome could be alone.
Just the two of them.
In a hotel room.
He gulped.
"Inuyasha!" Izayoi voice broke into his panicked mind. "Miroku's here."
He shook his head to clear it some before calling back, "Huh? Already?"
Peeking his head out the doorway, Inuyasha watched as his best friend appeared, mounting the stairs two at a time, a garment bag draped over one shoulder.
Miroku smirked as he brushed past Inuyasha into his room. "Bro, you are a mess. You're gonna have to change that shirt."
Inuyasha glared at his smirking friend, a faint flush staining his cheeks at being called out. "Fuck off. You know what I'm planning to ask Kagome. You don't have to be such a fucking ass about it."
"Inuyasha, my friend, I've got your back. Why do you think I'm here so early?"
Inuyasha gave Miroku a questioning look, "To torment me?"
"Far from it. I'm here to help you relax," and instantly Inuyasha was on high alert, recognizing the glint of mischief in his friend's eyes.
Silently, Miroku walked over to Inuyasha's closet, hanging his garment bag up on the back of the door. He unzipped it, reaching his hands inside and down towards the bottom corners of the bag.
"Ta-da!" With a flourish, Miroku produced two decent-sized bottles of sake that he'd had hidden in the bag.
Inuyasha's eyes went wide. "Where the hell did you get those?!"
"Apparently Koga knows a guy who knows a guy who makes fake IDs and well, you know me…" Miroku trailed off with a shrug, pulling the fake ID from his back pocket and brandishing it in front of Inuyasha's face.
Shock, followed by excitement, followed by disappointment played in quick succession across Inuyasha's face before he finally hissed out a whispered, "Dude, we can't drink that in here! My dad's gonna smell it for sure!"
"Nuh-uh. I've been practising my ofuda," Miroku whispered back, holding out one of the bottles. There was an ofuda wrapped tightly around the widest part. "It's a barrier-like blessing and will block the smell from even youkai senses, see?"
Quickly, Miroku pulled the cap off the ceramic bottle and took a swig, not bothering to replace the cap when he was done. Inuyasha sniffed in Miroku's direction. He couldn't smell the alcohol coming from either the bottle or his friend.
A sly grin made its way onto Inuyasha's face. "Miroku, you may be lecherous as fuck, but you're also a goddamned genius."
Tonight was NOT turning out the way Kagome had been expecting.
To be honest, she wasn't sure what she'd been expecting… Some fun, maybe? Maybe some romance? Maybe even some laughs with their friends, doing crazy stuff like racing around the halls of the posh hotel in the middle of the night?
Whatever she'd thought tonight was going to be, Kagome had never for a second pictured herself dressed to the nines and sitting around in a hotel room while her truemate and his best friend rolled around on the floor in fits of drunken laughter.
She cast a baleful eye at the two human males sprawled on the floor.
"So your parents actually fell for that?" Miroku gasped, attempting to catch his breath before letting out another blast of laughter.
"Yup!" Inuyasha answered, his best human version of an evil youkai grin spreading across his face.
All of their parents had agreed to this private grad party on the condition that when the two hotel rooms were booked one would be for the girls and one for the guys.
Apparently the guys found their parents' naïveté rather hilarious.
Kagome and Sango shared a look of resigned disgust, both quickly losing patience with what the guys were insinuating so blatantly in front of them.
Perhaps they should have known that this was what would happen. After all, when the guys had arrived to pick them up, they'd been sporting a secret bottle of sake that they'd offered to share with the girls.
It had felt daring and exciting, and the girls had agreed, passing the bottle around, each taking a few swigs in the back of their privacy-screened limo.
Only it quickly became apparent that the guys were much more inebriated than the girls were and had already polished off most of the bottle on their own before leaving to pick them up.
And it had all gone downhill from there.
"Inuyasha, you're drunk," Kagome stated the obvious. "I thought we were going to have fun tonight! How about we go down to the hotel restaurant and get some food in you? You know, they have a dance floor down there, too…"
As she trailed off, Kagome thought she saw fear skitter through Inuyasha's eyes, but it was only for a split-second and then it was gone, the hanyou grumbling out a dismissive, "And why would I wanna do that?"
Sango rolled her eyes at her drunk friend's obvious stupidity. "Why would you want to have dinner and dance with your girlfriend during the grad party that you convinced us to have with you? Oh, I have no idea, Inuyasha. Really."
She snorted before continuing. "Kagome's right. You're piss drunk, just like this other good-for-nothing over here," Sango motioned with her head towards where Miroku was half sitting, half lying on the floor against the footboard of one of the two double beds in the room.
Inuyasha scoffed at Sango's words, "I'm hanyou, remember? I can take my liquor. I'm not some puny human."
"But tonight you are human, Inuyasha," Kagome reasoned. "Don't you think you should slow down?"
"Why?! Why should I?! This whole stupid night was your stupid idea! And now that we're having fun you want me to stop?! Baka wench!"
When Kagome had suggested going down to the hotel restaurant – out in the open where someone might recognize him – it had spooked Inuyasha. Add to that the disappointed looks she'd been shooting him for the past half hour, and you had the recipe for one seriously sake-enhanced emotional spiral.
The vicious words tumbled from Inuyasha's mouth before he even knew what he'd said, and certainly before he'd had a chance to think better of them.
Kagome gasped, flinching as though she'd been physically slapped. Hurt flooded her eyes… Not that she could bring herself to look at him when next she spoke.
"I thought tonight was going to be fun, and– and romantic! I mean, it's White Day, Inuyasha! It wasn't supposed to be an excuse for the two of you to get drunk off your asses. I thought… I thought…"
But, clearly, it didn't matter what she thought, did it?
Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tight against the pain of that realization. She stood, attempting to gather the remainder of her dignity around her, refusing to let the hot tears that prickled the backs of her eyes fall.
"I'm going to my room."
Sango and Miroku shared a look. They both knew what Inuyasha had originally been planning for this weekend and why he'd been nervous enough to land himself in this drunken predicament.
"Kagome, I don't think–"
"Save it, Sango. I think Inuyasha's made himself abundantly clear." Kagome turned away from the others, leaving the room without a backwards glance.
Inuyasha couldn't do much more than stare dumbly after his truemate.
Words failed him. He hadn't been able to say anything in his defence, nothing in an attempt to make her stay.
And at the sound of the heavy hinges of the suite's door clunking closed behind her, a painful weight settled in Inuyasha's heart.
How had it all turned so quickly? One minute he was trying to work up the courage to ask Kagome to head over to the girls' suite with him for some room service – all so he could talk to her alone and pop the question – and the next minute…
"Miroku, where's that other bottle?"
"Inuyasha, isn't it–"
An unforgiving snarl, aimed more at himself than anyone else, ripped from Inuyasha's throat.
"I said GIVE ME THE OTHER BOTTLE!"
Miroku handed him the bottle with a wary eye. Ignoring the look, Inuyasha pulled out the stopper and took a long swig.
How could everything have gone so wrong? All he'd ever wanted was Kagome…to make her happy, to make her his.
Now he'd be lucky if she ever spoke to him again.
His soul felt raw, the bone-deep ache of not having Kagome nearby returning. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like, that hell he'd been in over the past three years.
He shouldn't have forgotten so quickly, though, because now he feared it was a hell he would be doomed to know for the rest of his life.
Sunrise couldn't come fast enough.
Knock, knock, knock.
Kagome had been dozing in the armchair that sat in the far corner of the girls' suite when the sound of knocking startled her awake.
Knock, knock, knock.
No matter how she'd tried to convinced herself that she'd only been waiting up so that Sango could help her with the impossible-to-reach zipper on her dress, Kagome knew that, deep down, she'd been hoping that Inuyasha would come after her and apologize.
Knock, knock, knock.
Shaking herself from her doze, Kagome rose from her chair and moved to open the door.
"Okay, here we go. You're gonna be staying here tonight, Inu."
As soon as Kagome cracked the door open, Miroku pushed inside, half-guiding, half-dragging a very drunk and still-human Inuyasha into the suite behind him.
"Miroku, what the heck?! Where's Sango?"
Miroku groaned under the strain of keeping his hanyou friend on his feet. "After you left, Inuyasha decided to drown his sorrows and Sango, feeling sorry for this idiot, let him convince her to have a drink with us. Well, several drinks actually… which my dearest is now paying for."
Miroku made a mock retching motion to emphasize Sango's plight and Kagome winced in sympathy.
"Is she okay?"
"She's fine for the moment. I'm hoping the worst is out of her system, but I thought it best to bring Inuyasha over here before he passed out or got sick himself and then I had the two of them to deal with on my own rather than just one."
Kagome gave both guys a hard look. "It would serve you right, Miroku! I wish you hadn't bought any alcohol at all!"
"Kehhhh. I ain't no lightweight." Inuyasha slurred, clearly having difficulty focusing his eyes.
Miroku sighed, still quite drunk himself, "Yeah, I'll admit it wasn't my best idea, but will you take him? I need to get back to Sango. I don't like leaving her alone like that."
Rolling her eyes, Kagome conceded, "Fine. Go. I'll take him."
Miroku gave her a grateful half-smile before immediately dashing off back down the hall.
"Come on, Inu." she closed the suite door before tugging on Inuyasha's hand, urging him to stagger the rest of the way into the room.
"Where're we going?"
"Nowhere. We're staying here tonight, Inu."
"We are?" He glanced around, seemingly confused, before beginning to yank at the tie around his neck.
"Fuck, it's hot. Why is it so hot in here?"
"I think it's because you're drunk. Remember that project from health class last year? It's one of the common side effects of too much alcohol in the system." She gave him a stern look before continuing. "You should really drink some water. I'll go get some."
Leaving Inuyasha with a still-confused look on his face, Kagome quickly ducked into the room's ensuite, grabbing one of the wrapped drinking glasses on the counter and filling it with water.
When she emerged a few moments later she was not prepared for the sight that greeted her.
Inuyasha was standing in the middle of the hotel room, still with that slightly confused and more than a little unfocused look on his face… only now, he was 100-percent, totally and completely stark naked.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome squealed, barely keeping the glass of water from slipping out of her hand as she hastily spun back around.
She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to dispel the image of Inuyasha's lean and perfectly muscled body standing before her in all its glory.
It didn't work.
She tried again to speak, "Inuyasha, what are you doing?"
"I told you, lady, it's fucking hot!"
Slowly, Kagome half-turned back around, not daring to allow her eyes to drift past his neck. She gave him a confused and quizzical look, as though she expected him to say more.
"What?" He asked her roughly. Clearly, his drunken mind saw no problem with the current state of things.
"No-Nothing." Kagome's voice was breathless. Her eyes had slipped lower again. She couldn't seem to help it.
Inuyasha is right, she thought. It's definitely getting hot in here.
Gulping, she inched toward him, still trying to keep what she considered to be a safe distance. "Here. Drink this."
Inuyasha eyed her and the glass she held out suspiciously, eyes still glazed over with an unfocused gleam.
"It's just water. Look. See?" Kagome took a sip first then passed the glass back to Inuyasha. He took it and drained it quickly before passing it back to her.
As she set the empty glass on the bedside table her mind scrambled. She needed something else to occupy her thoughts, anything to keep her traitorous eyes from roaming over his hard body and–
Nope. Nope. Stop that right there, Kagome, she mentally berated herself.
Then a thought occurred to her. "Hey Inuyasha, could you… Could you help me unzip my dress?"
Inuyasha's eyes went wide as he sputtered incredulously.
Kagome quickly scrambled to explain. "I just need help with the zipper, I swear! I can't reach it!"
Inuyasha seemed unconvinced. He tried to scowl at her but his eyes crossed slightly in the attempt causing much of the effect to be lost.
"Forget it. Forget it!" She wasn't sure exactly why he was so dead set against helping her, but she wasn't going to argue with him in the state he was in.
"How about we just go to bed."
That suggestion only seemed to make things worse. Inuyasha snarled…or at least, Kagome presumed the sound he was making would have been a snarl if he had been in his hanyou form.
"Look, lady, I think I've been pretty nice up to this point, but you need to fuck right the hell off. I have a girlfriend. I AIN'T SLEEPING WITH YOU!" His volume rose as he ground out each word, until he was bellowing those last words so loudly that Kagome wondered if Miroku could hear him down the hall.
The very thought of it was completely mortifying! What the hell was his problem? Not that she necessarily wanted their first time to be when he was in his human form and totally wasted, but did he have to act so insulted by the very…?
Wait.
"Inuyasha, did you say…? Did you say that you have a girlfriend?" A tentative smirk beginning to curl the corners of her mouth.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he tipped his nose into the air before huffing out a very pointed, "Yes. I do!"
Well, what do you know… Inuyasha was so drunk he couldn't even recognize her.
Kagome wasn't sure whether she should be pissed that he would so casually strip naked in front of what he thought was a complete stranger or deliriously happy that even drunk off his ass he was completely loyal to her.
Not that she ever doubted him.
"Actually, she's more than my girlfriend. Or at least, she's gonna be."
Still mulling over whether to be pissed or amused, Kagome hadn't been expecting this new declaration. Her breath caught in her throat.
"What…? 'Gonna be'?" Her tone urged Inuyasha to continue before she began jumping to possibly life-changing conclusions.
"Uh-huh. Reallllly soon."
At that, her heart skipped a beat before picking up speed and attempting to escape her chest. "Soon? How soon exactly, Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha continued casually, apparently oblivious to the way she now hung on his every word. "Oh, I've got a whole big plan…uh…planned. See, she gave me chocolates for Valentine's Day."
Kagome smiled softly at that. "Oh, she did, did she?"
"Uh-huh. And they were perfect." He paused, a look coming over his face that made Kagome's heart squeeze. "She's perfect."
"She is?" It was a half-whisper and all Kagome could manage. She was beginning to feel a little lightheaded from how fast her heart was beating.
"Of course she is. I only hope she likes the ring I picked. I wanted it to be perfect for her. I wanted tonight to be perfect. 'Course I fucked it up." Groaning dejectedly, Inuyasha plopped down on the floor, a look of utter defeat on his face. "Kami, I miss her."
Kagome could only stare. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, attempting to speak around the large lump in her throat.
It was too much.
Too much.
The tears were already falling before she found her voice.
"Inuyasha, did…" She cut herself off with a sob. "Did you say 'ring'?"
Sullenly, Inuyasha leaned his face in his right palm, elbow propped on his knee, still completely oblivious to the emotional havoc he was wreaking upon the girl in front him. "Yeah, that's what I said. But it's too late now. She hates me."
Her heart felt full to overflowing with love for this man. She had to take a deep breath before she could reassure him. "Oh, I'm sure she doesn't hate you."
"I hope so, 'cause I love her so much I feel like I could puke."
Kagome couldn't stop herself from laughing at that. "Um, that might be the alcohol, actually."
"Huh. Maybe." He shrugged dismissively before slumping over sideways to sprawl on his stomach on the floor, bare ass on display.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome squeaked. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm tired! I'm going to sleep!" He huffed a bit, grumbling under his breath about "crazy wenches" as he balled his discarded formalwear into a makeshift pillow, arms crossing around the bundle to hold it in place.
Kagome just stood there for long moments, unable to do anything more than gape at the tempting expanse of skin on display: the breadth of his shoulders, the rippling muscles of his back, the trim waist that flared out to become the most delicious-looking ass she'd ever seen.
She stared, throat suddenly dry, until she just couldn't take it any longer. Not knowing what else to do, she climbed up onto the bed, fancy dress and all.
Inuyasha had been planning on proposing to her.
She pulled the covers up over her head, squeezing her eyes shut tight in a feeble attempt to calm her rampaging emotions. Of course, the moment her eyes closed the image of Inuyasha's naked body reappeared in her mind's eye.
"Argh!" She groaned, throwing the blankets off altogether in favour of simply clutching a pillow to herself tightly.
She was much too hot for blankets… And it was definitely going to be a long night.
Inuyasha felt it when his transformation took hold, ears retreating and relocating, fangs and claws elongating.
He sat up as the last of his hair faded from black to white. His head still felt slightly fuzzy and he shook it in an attempt to clear the fog.
His memories of the night before ended shortly after they'd made it up to the hotel room…
He remembered being incredibly nervous.
He remembered drinking a lot.
He remembered the hurt look in Kagome's eyes and the crushing pain in his chest when she'd left.
And that was it.
So how did he get here? Laying on the floor of a different room…
And as naked as the day he was born!
Inuyasha yelped, cursing loudly as he clamoured to his feet. He grabbed up his boxer-briefs from the pile of clothing he'd been laying on, shoving one and then the other leg in and hastily pulling them up when he heard movement coming from the bed beside him.
He froze.
"Huh? Wha–?" Kagome sat up slowly, rubbing at her eye with a fist.
Inuyasha's mind was racing. What had happened? How the heck did he get here and why was he naked and on the floor while Kagome was asleep on the bed, still in her dress by the looks of things?
His face must have betrayed some of the horror of his thoughts because a small amused smile curved Kagome's lips when she spoke. "I take it you don't remember what happened last night?"
Eyes wide, Inuyasha shook his head slowly before clearing his throat. "I uh… I remember…uh…the four of us in the other room. And I remember you were…angry with me."
Kagome gave him a look that he couldn't quite decipher. Was it…expectation maybe?
"Do you remember anything else?"
He cast his eyes around the room searching for some kind of clue, something to jog his memory.
"No…" He paused feeling more anxious the longer she looked at him like that. "Should I remember something, Kagome? How–? I mean, why was I naked?" That last word came out in a horrified whisper.
If something had happened between them and he'd hurt her, he would never forgive himself. What other explanation could there be for him sleeping on the floor rather than in the bed with her? And it was unnerving him that he still couldn't read the look on her face. If he had done something – especially after the absolute mess he'd made of things last night – then, truemate or no truemate, he was sure she would never agree to be his wife now.
"Dammit, Kagome. Just– Just tell me what happened!"
Something in Kagome's eyes softened when she registered the panic in his voice. "Don't worry, Inu, nothing bad happened."
The relief that washed through him at her words was a tangible thing. "Okay. Okay, good. Still, I need you to tell me what happened."
"Well, Miroku brought you over here after Sango got sick."
"Sango got sick?"
"Yeah." She gave him a stern look. "Apparently you convinced her to drink with you!"
One hand came up to rub at his temples. "Shit. Okay. Okay, then what?"
"Well, you kept complaining that you were hot and when I went to get you a drink of water…"
Inuyasha's eyes widened. "Don't– Don't fucking tell me I just stripped naked in front of you, Kagome!"
"Well…not exactly." Her cheeks flushed at the memory of that first sight of his naked body.
His brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you stripped in front of a stranger."
"I did WHAT?!"
Kagome couldn't help the guffaw that erupted from her as she laughed at his expense. He deserved it, after all. He had been the one to drink himself into a stupor.
Inuyasha's scowl let her know how little he thought any of this was funny.
Finally able to take a deep breath, Kagome calmed her giggles enough to explain. "What I mean is, you thought I was a stranger. You didn't recognize me but apparently that didn't matter because you still stripped naked while I was getting you a drink."
Inuyasha's cheeks bloomed in embarrassment. He sputtered for a moment before allowing the bluster of anger to cover it up. "Feh, it was only 'cause I was a weak human. My goddamn nose is useless on new moon nights. There's no way I'd ever not recognize you otherwise."
He sighed heavily at first hoping that was it… But the look on Kagome's face told him she still had more to say. "Okay, go on, what else happened."
"Well, I tried to get you to help me with the zipper on my dress. I couldn't reach it."
"Is that why you were sleeping in it?"
"Yeah, you outright refused to help me. You were super insulted actually. Told me to F-off because you have a girlfriend."
He couldn't help his lopsided grin, "'Course I did."
And then that look was back in her eye. The one Inuyasha couldn't quite read. "Actually, Inu, you said that I was more than your girlfriend."
His grin quickly faded, eyes again going wide with nervousness as he suddenly remembered why he'd thought drinking last night was such a good idea.
"I– I did?"
"Yep. Apparently you had a plan? You told me that you hoped…" She gulped, looking down at her hands twisting in her lap, willing herself to have the courage to continue. "You told me that you hoped I'd like the ring you'd picked out."
Fear blanketed Inuyasha's mind in paralysis. She wasn't looking at him. Why wasn't she looking at him?! "Ka-Kagome, I– I– I–"
"Yes."
It took Inuyasha a full minute to realize that Kagome had spoken. It took him another minute to register what she'd said.
When he did, he felt his heart stop.
"Wha…? Kagome, what did you just say?"
She raised her eyes to look at him then, and until the day he died Inuyasha was sure he would never forget the look of love and hope he saw shining there.
"I said yes, Inuyasha."
Faster than Kagome could blink, Inuyasha was in front of her. He scooped her up off the bed, crushing her to him, lips finding hers in a passionate kiss.
He prayed that she could feel the same hope and love in his kisses… And when her small hands came up to twine in the hair at the nape of his neck, he thought that maybe she could.
They were breathless when they finally broke apart. He nuzzled at the soft skin under Kagome's ear as she trailed her hands down from his neck, over the smooth planes of his still-naked chest.
"You know, I tried so hard not to stare at you when you were…naked…but when you kiss me like that…"
Inuyasha inhaled sharply as her words trailed off suggestively. He couldn't stop his tongue from darting out to taste the soft flesh of her throat, and she moaned softly in return, pressing her lips to his chest, right above his heart.
Kami, he loved this woman. And he wanted her… badly.
And then a thought occurred to him… She was his now. She had said yes.
When Inuyasha leaned away from Kagome's embrace his evil youkai grin was back, only this time it was decidedly more wicked. He caught her chin in his fingers, urging her to look up at him.
"It's only dawn. We still have a few hours until the limo comes back to pick us up. You think they'll be upset with us if I bind you before the wedding?"
She smiled, hunger erupting in her eyes. "Maybe? But I don't really care. Kiss me again, mate."
And so he did.
A/N: Special thanks goes to hnnwnchtr for sharing with me the twitter post that inspired this entire story. Thanks, lady! This one's for you!
Also, for those of you also reading To Fight For Tomorrow... Yes, I know that the next chapter is WAY overdue and that I left you all on a cliffhanger! Sorry about that! Had to get this done first!