The upside to it raining and making it impossible to work on the house came with more downsides than Inuyasha expected. There wasn't much he could do back in the past, so he'd come through the well to help where he could. His counterparts were occupied elsewhere in the shrine with the old man, and he wasn't sure if he should be grateful that they took initiative or if he should go save Kagome's grandpa from that nightmare. He hadn't seen or heard anything that sounded like explosions since he left the well house, so that had to be a good sign.

"Have you given any thought to the wedding?"

That was another downside. He didn't even know where to begin when it came to planning wedding ceremonies, and to be blunt Kagome and him were technically married already. He never got to witness a proper ceremony before, being a hanyou, people would have seen him as a black smear on a good day. He didn't have the faintest idea of what Kagome wanted. He'd heard her speak about ideas for a dream wedding with Sango for years, but none of it made sense to him.

He told all of this to Michiru. They were alone in the kitchen and had no chance of being overheard in the middle of the day, so he took his opportunity. Put it all out there that he didn't know the first thing to do and that he didn't want to fail her by making the wrong decisions.

"Sweetheart, Kagome isn't going to get upset with you –"

"I meant you," Inuyasha said, flushed with embarrassment. "My mother isn't around anymore, and…you treat me like she did. I know Kagome won't be upset, but I don't want you to be either. Or the old man. And…and I already feel like there is some because we didn't do things in the right way, and –"

"What on earth made you think you did anything wrong?" Michiru watched his ears droop. "Inuyasha, you're doing everything the best way you know how. You're building a home for you and Kagome to start a family in. You've pushed Kagome to succeed in school. It sounds to me like you're doing everything right."

"But the test…"

Michiru nodded, knowing which test he was talking about. "That can happen at any time in life. No one is ever completely ready, either. We take things as they come to us and we change our plans as we need to. Don't let that scare you."

Inuyasha nodded, but she didn't feel like he'd be really convinced that it was okay until Kagome were closer to being done with school, at the very least. "When Daisuke and I were still dating, we had a…scare…if you will. He'd swore that he'd marry me on the spot if that test was positive," she smiled fondly at the memory of her late husband. "He was so determined to do things right, and when I learned I wasn't, I think he was just as disappointed as I was. We were still kids, not much older than you or Kagome. We weren't ready to be parents, but we were going to do our best because we'd talked about getting married.

Then one day, Daisuke brought me to the shrine. Told me that he wanted to simply sit under the Sacred Tree and enjoy how nice the day was. Of course I had no problem with this. What I didn't expect was that he'd planned to propose to me that day. He sat me down on the bench outside, took my hand, and laid it all out in his own words. Told me how much he loved me, how he wanted to start his life with me. Every ounce of it came from the heart, and it is one of my favorite memories of him.

I say this because I see the same qualities in you, Inuyasha. There are times you remind me so much of Daisuke that it's startling. He didn't know the finer details of what went into a wedding. Didn't know the differences in the paper we were looking at for the invitations. And you know what? Neither did I. We did the best we could and we chose things that we were happy with. We weren't trying to do what everyone else wanted because the day was meant to be for us, and even if it wasn't to other people's standards, we didn't care. You and Kagome are meant to decide what you want for this ceremony. We'll be here to support whatever you decide and help you along the way, but don't pick things because you think they're what we want."

The hanyou nodded again, and this time he looked less ashamed to be unfamiliar with something out of his norm. Michiru patted his hand gently, assuring him once again that she'd only ever seen him give his best in anything he did. How could he think he could actually disappoint her was unfathomable. "Where do I start, Mama?" he asked uncertainly. "I want…I want to do something, but I don't know where to begin?"

Michiru tapped her chin in thought, and Inuyasha could easily see where Kagome got that little tick from. "I know that you both are considered married by youkai culture, but have you ever actually proposed to Kagome like humans tend to?"

Kagome wasn't expecting to see Inuyasha waiting for her at the Sacred Tree that afternoon when she returned from school. He had told her that morning that he was going to work on their house and might not be back until late, but he'd stayed long enough to eat breakfast and watch her head off. The fact that he was back and the human and youkai weren't in sight made all sorts of questions pop up. Had he sent them off somewhere again? Had he gone back into one body? Her heart gave a lurch at the thought that she didn't get to say goodbye if that was the case. But then, it wasn't like she wouldn't see those sides of him again.

"Raining," he said when she approached. "Can't really work on a house when everything is soaked." Inuyasha gave a shrug before he pulled her against him for a hug. "Didn't want you to start thinkin' that something big had happened. Those two jackasses are helping Mama with dinner, by the way."

"Okay," she smiled. Just as she was starting to relax against his embrace, he pushed her back. "Too much?" Had she crossed the line again on accident? There were some days where Inuyasha was more inclined to touch her, maybe more than a quick peck on the lips, and others…well…

"No!" He spoke so quickly that it was startling. "No I – I want to tell you something. Actually – I have something for you, Kagome." He nudged her to sit down on the bench before crouching in front of her, reaching into the folds of his fire rat. "I…uh…I…"

"Inuyasha?" Kagome felt him take her hand and place something in the palm, closing her fingers around it. She couldn't make out what it was from the feel of the materials, but there had to be some kind of cording and…something sharp? He wouldn't take his hands off of hers to let her see.

He swallowed, watching her face. "I…made this. A while ago. Didn't…didn't know how to go about…saying anything about it, and it…felt like the right time." Inuyasha slowly moved his hands away, and watched Kagome's expression go from confused to surprised and back to confused as she looked between him and the necklace he placed in her hand. "One of my fangs," he explained. "Back when you thought I was going to Totosai to get my sword worked on, I…asked him if he could pull both. One for the sword, and one for this."

"Inuyasha, why? You told me it hurts for them to grow back."

"Yeah, but it also hurts a hell of a lot worse not being next to you all the time, Kagome. Even if we've got that mark now, it's not the same. I wanted you to have a piece of me with you when you're away." Great, now he was blushing. How was he gonna say what he had to say next?

She didn't understand where this came from, but she was touched all the same. Kagome slipped the black cord around her neck, letting the fang rest against her school uniform. Inuyasha looked like he wanted to keep talking, so she waited to tell him how much she loved the gesture.

She wasn't prepared when he did speak.

"Kagome…I'm not perfect. I'm half a man to most of the world. I say stupid shit before I think. I choose to swing my sword first and ask questions later. I don't have the best upbringing. There's a lot of things I was never taught growing up that I should know. My temper is horrible and that's probably never going to change. But I also love you with my entire being. You wear my mark without shame, knowing that there could be a time when someone says something against it. You're my world, Kagome. I don't know how to even start to be a worthy husband for you, much less how I'll be as a father, but there's no one else I'd rather figure it out with."

The tears that were falling down her cheeks had Inuyasha's ears pinned back. Oh fuck, he hadn't meant to make her cry! Before he could apologize, Kagome had launched herself into his arms, knocking him on his ass.

"Inuyasha that was the sweetest thing I think you've ever said," she cried, pressing her face into his neck. She had to quit crying; she knew her tears were getting all over him. "What brought this on?" she asked, wiping her cheeks. "That sounded like a… Inuyasha? Was that a proposal?"

"K-keh." He was fighting a losing battle with the heat in his cheeks today. "Thought that…you needed to hear it properly, like humans do."

Her arms wrapped around his neck as she dropped a kiss to the end of the hanyou's nose. "You already proposed to me months ago, Inuyasha."

"Not – not like I should've!" he countered. "That day was all about the mark. I didn't really ask you to marry me as I should have, Kagome, and I wanted to make up for it. You and Mama have been talking about starting to plan for the wedding and I never even asked you properly…"

Kagome sighed. She should have known that Inuyasha would worry over something like this. He'd been so scared of touching her even. This shouldn't have been surprising. "Whether it's a youkai proposal or a human one, you still proposed to me that day, Inuyasha. Just like you did now, and even without us being bound, my answer would still be yes."

Inuyasha looked up at her, relief etched across his face. He'd hoped that his word vomit came off as the proposal he'd hoped it'd be, because that was what Kagome deserved. She might have been fine with the original – how the hell she took that to be a proposal he'd never understand – but he felt she deserved more than that blunder. If Kagome was going to be so accepting of all sides of him, then he needed to be accepting of the customs that both sides dealt with.

Which meant, god help him, he was going to have to different papers for those invitation things.

I know these weren't much, but I hope you enjoyed at least one of these pieces for InuKag week. I didn't anticipate doing prompts for these for two years in Fever Bites, and this chapter count was higher than I imagined it would be.

I don't know what's next for Fever Bites but I'm not going to mark it as complete. It's too open ended to close. I need to work on Fever Dream, so I need to save some material for that. But also...I'm very burnt out after InuKag Week. I've said this elsewhere and I'll say it here too: I don't know when my buffer will be at a point to where I can post regularly. Pretend You're Mine will finish on Tuesday, and after that...I don't know.

Please don't give up on me. I'm trying my best, but I can't keep the pace of some creators in the fandom. My mental health is too close to the edge some days, and I need to focus on what makes me happy in the moment. If it's not the fic you're wanting updates on, please be patient. I want to give you the quality that you deserve, not the quantity that you expect.