Since no one seemed to have a problem with a fluff chapter, I decided to go with it. I now know how precisely I want to conclude the story, so the next couple chapters will be among the last. Please read and review! Thank you to those who have already been reviewing. Some of you have absolutely no idea how much you have affected the story with just little things you said that gave me huge ideas. ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
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Chapter Ten
"Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods." – Aristotle
Inuyasha was sulking. Yes. Once again. It seemed to be a familiar habit of his lately. At least his scenery was changing, for this time he was sitting on top of Kaede's hut. The surroundings were not was pretty as a tree or a cliff, but they were at least different. That counted for something, didn't it?
He wasn't sulking because of the others pretending that he didn't come up with the idea to kill the youkai. He found that it didn't matter. That, in itself, was a surprise. He was sulking because Kagome had refused to look at him all day. He couldn't help but think it was because he had almost kissed her. Is she scared I'll try again? Is it really that dreadful of a thought to her? Sure, he had ignored her too, but that was out of a childish desire for retaliation for her ignoring him first. To put it bluntly, Inuyasha's feelings were hurt. No. No they're not. Youkai's feelings do not get hurt. They don't have real feelings. Wasn't that what Sesshoumaru and his father had always told him? Still, Inuyasha wasn't completely youkai. Could it be my human side that makes me so vulnerable? It was plausible.
Of course, what the hanyou failed to realize is that both Sesshoumaru and his father were failures as youkai if youkai weren't allowed to have feelings. In fact, all evidence pointed to the fact that youkai had feelings and alot of them. Did not Inuyasha's father fall in love with a human? Inuyasha was proof of it. Sesshoumaru felt compelled to save a human girl, which showed he was not as heartless as he pretended. Had Tensaiga been his only reason, he would cast aside the girl immediately, not allowed her to continue following him. Kouga was also a full youkai, yet he proclaimed to love Kagome. None of this occurred to Inuyasha. He was too lost in his own self-contempt to realize that he had been taunted with lies since childhood. Such is often the case with those who are forced into being outcasts.
So, he sat on the roof. Alone. He had always been alone. That is, until Kikyo. Thinking of her caused an odd feeling to rise in his chest. It was something akin to guilt and to pain. He had loved her, or, at least, he thought he had. She had proclaimed to love him too. A hanyou. An outcast to both humans and youkai alike. It was perhaps one of the few things the two races had in common- a hatred for half-breeds. Hadn't even Kikyo wanted him to change to a human? No one wanted Inuyasha as he was. No one.
Except...maybe..Kagome. She accepted him. Didn't ask him to change. He had loved Kikyo...yet when he thought of Kagome, the feeling in his chest was quite different. Something clenched his heart everytime she smiled or said his name. That same heart felt like it was stopping when she would get herself into trouble. He felt...happy with her. He rarely felt happy in his life. Happiness in solitude is hard to find. Even Sesshoumaru chose to travel with companions. Jaken was annoying, but he had kept the youkai lord company for many long years. Perhaps even Sesshoumaru realized that isolation gave one too much time to think. It was dangerous, to have that much time to think. Most thoughts are not pleasant, and unpleasant thoughts can cause doubt in oneself.
It didn't matter. Inuyasha wasn't alone anymore. Well, sure, he was at the moment, but under the roof he was sitting on were his friends. Friends. The plural of friend. He had more than one now. He considered this in silence as he stared up at the stars. Night was a time for thinking thoughts that he would never allow to see the light of day. His thoughts were disrupted when he heard the stirring of something down on the ground. He peeked over the edge of the roof, to see the main object of his ruminations looking up at him. Flustered, he was glad for the darkness that hid his red cheeks. "Kagome." Yes. That was her name. Say something else, baka! "What are you doing?"
She offered a hesitant smile, causing that queer feeling in Inuyasha's chest to rise again. Her soft voice floated up to him, "Looking for you."
Golden eyes blinked down at her as Inuyasha considered his response. Responding to an impulse born of something he would rather not examine too closely, he lept down to the ground, turning his back to her, "Come on."
"Come on what?"
"Get on."
"Where are we going?"
Inuyasha was losing his patience and the impulsive idea seemed worse by the moment. "Just come on." This time, fortunately, Kagome obeyed. The hanyou ignored the feeling of her pressed to his back as he lept back up onto the roof of the hut. He knelt to allow the girl to get off more easily. "Be careful." He warned, "Don't fall."
Kagome had no intention of falling. While certainly not fatal, a fall from the hut would at least result in a sore rear end. She gave Inuyasha a puzzled smile, but kept her hands on his arm to steady herself. "Why are we up here?"
Inuyasha sat, silently helping Kagome do so as well before responding, "You said you were looking for me. I was up here. Now we're both up here." That would be called stating the obvious. Perhaps he just wanted her in his world for a while. Okay. So maybe a roof didn't warrant as a world, but it was a tiny little bit of it.
"Oh. So what were you doing?"
"Thinking."
"About?"
"Things."
What illuminating responses. Realizing that the conversation was left in her hands, Kagome nibbled on her bottom lip-something Inuyasha did his best to ignore- then started quietly, "Inuyasha, are you..." She cut off the question, casting her gaze downwards.
It was a night for impulses. The hanyou gently slid a finger under Kagome's chin and grasped it, turning her head towards his. He couldn't control her eyes and make her look at him, but he could at least turn her head. "Am I what?"
Frozen by his touch, Kagome found it near impossible to look away. "Are you upset about what.." Her cheeks flushed with color as she finished in one hurried breath, "whatalmosthappenedyesterday?"
"I'm upset it didn't happen." What the hell? Did I just say that out loud? DamnDamndamnDamnDamn...
"So am I."
DamnDamnDamnDa....huh? He stared dumbly at her, unable to believe she just responded that way. From the look on her face, she was just as startled by it. Apparently night was also the time for saying things that wouldn't normally be said in the light of day. Well, Inuyasha wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not that Kagome was in any way a horse. Because she wasn't. She was pretty and definitely not equine. Not that horses couldn't be pretty, but it was a cliche phrase. Not meant to be taken literally at all.
He hesitated for a moment more before lowering his head to gently brush his lips against hers. It was an experimental touch, to see if she'd draw back. She didn't. In fact, she leaned forward. That was really all the permission Inuyasha needed. He deepened the kiss, drawing her close to him and savoring her warmth. Kikyo hadn't been warm when she kissed him. Kagome was fire compared to Kikyo. Kikyo wanted to drag him to hell, but he found the exact opposite in Kagome's kiss. He felt Kagome's hands in his hair, moving upwards to his..."No." He commanded in a hoarse and almost panicked voice, breaking the kiss and gently trapping her hand in his. She couldn't touch the ears. Especially when he was kissing her. That was asking for trouble.
Kagome offered him a winsome smile, as if she understood, then snuggled closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Inuyasha felt oddly content just to hold her there, intertwining his fingers with hers. Lost in their own peace, it should be no surprise that neither of the two noticed the kitsune's departure from the hut and disappearance into the dark night.
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Well, I finally allowed them to kiss. ^_^ I made a vow when I started writing it that Inuyasha and Kagome would at least kiss in the story, and there you go! The next chapter should hopefully be out soon, now that I'm over my writer's block. Shippou doesn't have an easy path, or decision, ahead of him.
