Chapter 11
by Nimrodel
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As morning sunlight flooded the room, hitting Kagome's face, she began to wake up. Feelings of warmth, happiness, and comfort flooded her senses. She was enveloped in something warm, and it felt wonderful. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking.
At first all she saw was red, everywhere. As her eyes focused, she smiled. She was in Inuyasha's arms; he had them wrapped around her tightly. He looked so peaceful, laying there. She had never seen a smile on his face like the one she saw now...he seemed so content just holding her. She couldn't resist leaning forward and placing the softest of kisses to his lips.
Blinking, he started waking up slowly. He stared at her for a second as though still dreaming, and said softly, "Kagome...?"
"It's me..." she whispered, hugging him tightly.
"Then it wasn't a dream?" he asked softly, holding her as though he never planned on letting go.
"No" she smiled, "I'm really here."
He kissed her softly, holding her close. Feelings of relief and happiness poured from his lips. When they finally parted, he whispered softly, "I'm so glad."
Her stomach ruined the moment by growling softly. She blushed.
"Hungry?" he teased, nuzzling her neck gently.
"Of course! I haven't eaten in days..." she let slip.
His eyes widened in alarm. "You what?!" He sat up, pulling her up as well. "We're going to go get you some breakfast immediately. What were you thinking, you baka? Not eating in days?!"
Kagome looked down. "It wasn't exactly by choice, Inuyasha..."
He looked at her for a minute, then sighed. "You can tell me why later, you're going to go eat right now." He looked down for a second, blushing. "I...If I yelled, I'm sorry. I was worried about you. You could've gotten sick or something..."
Touched by this moment of concern for her, she hugged him gently. He sighed, and helped her up. "Let's go down and get you some food, okay?" he said softly.
When Inuyasha walked into the kitchen with Kagome following him, everything became dead quiet. Someone's spoon hit their bowl.
Souta was the first to break the silence. "Nee-chan!"
Everyone was soon clustered around her, hugging her and asking her questions. Kagome managed to finally get a word in edgewise. "Yes, I'm back. Everything is okay now, the well is working."
"When did you come back?" asked Jii-chan.
"Last night..." Kagome replied.
"Why didn't you wake everyone up and tell us you were back, nee-chan?" asked Souta.
Kagome blushed. Her mom spoke up. "I think Kagome may have wanted to tell Inuyasha she was back first...so he would know the well was working. She was probably too tired to wake the rest of us..." Kagome's mom looked at her and Inuyasha knowingly.
Inuyasha blushed slightly. Somehow Kagome's mom seemed to guess they had slept in the same bed together...or maybe she was assuming. Either way, that look was unnerving.
"Speaking of the well..." he said softly, "I'd like to go back to my time for a little..." He looked up. "Thanks for everything..."
Kagome's mom smiled. "It was no problem, really. You can stay with us whenever you like, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha walked over to her, standing in front of her unsurely for a moment. After a minute he enveloped her in a big hug. "You've treated me like...like a son....No one's ever done that for me..." he whispered.
Kagome's mom just smiled, hugging him back a little. "You can call me mom, if you want..."
Inuyasha looked at her for a moment, stunned. "Thank you...mom." he said, a little unused to calling her that. "I...I guess I'll be going now..." He looked at Kagome. "Will you come with me?" he asked softly, a hint of pleading in his voice.
"Of course..." she said, although apprehension filled her. She had promised she's stop trying to steal his heart...what was she going to do?
Inuyasha smiled a little. "Good." he said, pulling her out the door. Once they were outside, he put his arm around her, walking with her in comfortable silence. He picked her up, and jumped into the well.
He jumped out of the well, still holding her gently. He didn't put her down, either. Smiling at her, he placed a tiny kiss on her forehead and began the walk to the village.
Right before he got there, he set her down. He looked at her apologetically, but obviously was a little embarrassed to show so much affection in front of the others yet. The walked into Kaede's hut. Everyone looked at them and dropped what they were doing.
"Kagome! Inuaysha!" They all shouted, running over to them. "You're back!"
Inuyasha smiled just a little. "Yep, we are."
"Inuyasha." A voice said. Inuyasha's breath caught in his throat, and he turned to the direction it came from.
Kikyo walked over to him, a cold smile on her face. "Inuyasha, you're back. Now we can be together forever..."
Inuyasha sat there stunned for a second. He barely heard Kagome's choked sobbed as she ran out of the door. Looking down at Kikyo he bit his lip slightly before pushing her away. He turned and ran after Kagome.
She was already out of sight. "Kagome!" he yelled. There was no answer, so he followed her scent.
She was sitting at the Goshinboku sobbing quietly. He sat down beside her, not sure what to do. He put his hand over hers. "Kagome, what's wrong?"
She pulled away a bit, still crying. "Kagome, tell me what is wrong." He said more firmly. She still didn't respond, so he grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. "Kagome, tell me!"
She looked up into his eyes, tears dripping down her cheeks. "Kikyo..." she whispered. "She made me promise...if she took the arrow out of the well, that I'd stop trying to steal your heart..." she cried a little. "I can't have you..."
He grabbed her chin, tilting her face up at his. "Kagome, weren't you listening to me at all last night?" He asked softly. "I said I loved you. Not Kikyo. You." he kissed her gently. "You can't steal my heart...it's yours already."
After Inuyasha told Kikyo that he loved Kagome, not her, she left. She didn't say much, just quietly walked away.
Inuyasha and Kagome had travelled back and forth between times quite a bit. They had told their friends and Kagome's family about their relationship, and everyone seemed to approve. Inuyasha was extremely relieved that Kagome's family wasn't mad or anything, although he was a little annoyed when all their friends insisted on teasing them.
Inuyasha was laying on a grassy hill with her, taking a small break from shard-hunting. They would take breaks like this every now and then, sneaking off and finding somewhere to just be together.
"My Kagome..." he whispered, curling around her gently.
She smiled at him. "All yours..." she said softly.
He kissed her cheek. "When we go back to your time, do you want to go on one of those 'date' things?" he asked, smiling.
Kagome laughed softly. "If you want...you take me on dates so often."
He smiled widely. "I like taking you on dates, love."
She rolled her eyes. "You work at the shrine the whole time I'm at school just to pay for them all though..." she said.
He grinned. "That's not all I use the money for..there's also flowers...chocolate...jewelry..." a playful glint appeared in his eye. "A diamond ring." He said, kissing the finger a wedding ring would go on.
Kagome's eyes opened wide. "A ri-!" she was cut off as he kissed her.
It's done! yay! Wow, that took waaaaayyy to long...^_^;; I'd really appreciate if everyone reviews now, and tell me what they thought now that it's done...tell me what you thought, what your favorite part was, anything you want. ^_^ I really enjoyed writing that last scene, I hope everyone liked it.