Disclaimer: Inuyasha? Inuyasha? He's not mine...

A/N: I said there's gonna be another one, so here it is! But since I had replaced the author's note with the actual Chapter 12, most of you now are reading both chapters, right? Read the author's note at the end!!!

Happy Birthday!

by Nankinmai

Chapter 13 - A Night on the Beach

People who still have lots of energy were having a bonfire underneath the waning half moon. However, the moon was too busy looking through a certain hotel window where it had a clear view of a sleeping couple. Inuyasha was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed while Kagome was curled up on the floor using the hanyou's lap as a pillow.

A slight breeze of the wind caused Kagome to curl up more for warmth and gave a slight moan. Keeping his eyes closed, Inuyasha gave his ears a twitch before snatching the covers off the bed to cover up the girl. As soon as she warmed up, Inuyasha felt Kagome relaxed and fall into deeper sleep. Inuyasha gave a slight grin before starting to fall back asleep himself. Unfortunately, he heard three pairs of footsteps and the door opening. He opened his eyes slowly to see Ayame being the first one to step through the door.

"Ka-"

"Shh, she's sleeping," whispered Inuyasha while pointed to the bundle on his lap.

"Gomen. There's a bonfire outside and we just thought you two would like to come. But if she's sleeping, we'll leave you alone," said Eri. As the girls were about to leave, Kagome gave a moan that she was waking up. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes awake, Inuyasha thought, 'Well, so much for that.'

"Somebody said something about something?" asked Kagome, looking from a disappointed Inuyasha to her giggling friends. Inuyasha gave a slight sigh before replying.

"Eri said there was a bonfire outside. Interested?"

"Sure," said Kagome as she stood up, half wanting to go and half wanting to stay with Inuyasha. After Kagome was ready, all five walked out to where the bonfire was. They spotted a band playing some popular music that Inuyasha found had quite a beat to it. There were already a lot of people near the bonfire dancing to the music. It wasn't long before the three girls lost all patience. They ran towards the crowd and started dancing with everybody, leaving Kagome and Inuyasha to sit down at a log not far from the makeshift dance floor. There was silence between the two before Inuyasha spoke up.

"Are they dancing?" asked the hanyou.

"Yeah. Did you want to?" asked the curious miko.

"Iie, I can't dance like that," replied Inuyasha, noticing one girl who seems to be able to wiggle her hip a lot. 'Nope, definitely can't do that,' thought Inuyasha. Suddenly, Kagome felt Inuyasha stiffened.

"What is it?" asked the miko while thinking, 'There can't be any demons around here, can there?'

"Kagome!" A familiar voice reached the two.

"Oh, no," said the disappointed Kagome, watching Hojo trying to get through the dancing crowd to where she was.

"Come on, let's get out of here," said Inuyasha, pulling Kagome onto his back. As soon as he made sure she was secure on tight, he speed along the beach, leaving behind a trail of flying sand. He didn't really care if anybody saw him, as long as Hobo wasn't anywhere nearby.

His view blocked by the crowd, Hojo didn't witness the speeding hanyou. So when he was finally able to reach the log where the couple had sat, he could only look around for Kagome. 'Where could she have gone? Surely not with that weird guy?' thought Hojo. After a while of looking for her, Ayame, Eri, and Yuka dragged Hojo onto the dancing floor.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Inuyasha sped down the beach and didn't stop until he noticed this part of the beach was deserted. Finally slowing down, he stopped and let Kagome off his back. She sat down on the sand and Inuyasha followed suit. They sat in silence for a long while, simply watching the waves trying to roll to where they legs were stretched out, only to fall back into the ocean. The glittering stars above laughed at the waves for its feeble attempts while the quarter moon tried to scold the stars for being so mean. Kagome giggled at her imagination, only to have the hanyou look curiously down at her.

"What's so funny?" asked Inuyasha.

"Nothing that my imagination haven't run away with," replied Kagome with a slight smile, only to shiver at the sudden cold breeze. Not having any extra clothes to offer her, Inuyasha scooted closer to Kagome and wrap his arm around her waist for warmth. Blushing slightly, she leaned her head onto his shoulders. They avoided each other's eyes, being content on simply watching the waves trying to roll closer.

A sudden burst of fireworks in the glittering sky caught their attention. They looked up to see many colorful fireworks displaying their beautiful colors. Inuyasha looked down at the girl next to him, wanting to know what they were. However, seeing the excited look on her face, he decided not to.

Noticing Inuyasha's stare, Kagome turned her head away from the fireworks display to look curiously at the hanyou. Pretty soon, she was absorbed into the deep amber eyes. Without thinking, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. Startled for a second, Inuyasha returned it with such gentleness that it was Kagome's turn to be surprised.

As the fireworks faded away into the stars, the two reluctantly parted in order to catch their breath. They smiled at each other, blushing a bit, before Inuyasha stood and helped Kagome up. Taking her hand, they slowly walked back to the bonfire, only to find everyone gone. So they turn around and walk back to the hotel.

Inuyasha opened the door for Kagome when they reached their room. Already asleep on the bed were three exhausted girls. As quietly as they could, the two took their turns getting ready for sleep. Although, Inuyasha required a little bit of help trying to figure everything out in the bathroom. The hanyou settled down on the floor, leaning on the bed like he had done earlier in the afternoon. He closed his eyes and was about to drift to sleep until he felt Kagome sat down besides him and leaned onto his shoulders as a pillow. Grabbing the sheet the girls had dropped onto the floor, he wrapped Kagome with it and had his arm around her waist again. He took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of the girl who had already fallen asleep as soon as she sat down. Smiling slightly, he sighed and drifted to sleep again.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

At the bottom of the shrine steps, he quietly watched Kagome said goodbye to her friends before they drove off. Then taking her hands, they slowly ascended the many steps towards the shrine. Meanwhile, Inuyasha let his mind wander as he reflected what happened.

~*~~*~~*~ Flashback starts ~*~~*~~*~

He had woken up to the sound of several girls giggling, trying to stifle the sound under their hands. Ignoring them, he kept his eyes closed and hugged Kagome tighter into his embrace. Unfortunately, the girls noticed this movement and giggled even more. This woke Kagome up who found her friends clutching their stomachs in laughter and a pissed hanyou.

Time seemed to have passed by really quickly for the rest of the day. Inuyasha and Kagome went back to their game of splashing each other with the ocean water to cool off while the three girls went off on their own again. Hojo tried to approach Kagome, only to be stopped by a bunch of toddlers who wanted to bury him in the sand. The toddlers won and forgot all about him as soon as they were done. As Hojo tried to call for help, Inuyasha found a dead fish floating near by. Grabbing it, he flung it to land on top of Hojo's face. The boy screamed out loud, not knowing what it was.

Inuyasha fell down into the shallow water laughing a little too hard. Kagome looked from Inuyasha to Hojo. She was about to scold him, but ended up laughing as well. Hearing her laugh, Inuyasha pulled Kagome down to him and gave her a quick peck on the lips. She blushed before standing up and pushing his head down into the water. She ran off, leaving the hanyou to chase after her.

~*~~*~~*~ Flashback ends ~*~~*~~*~

'Yep, it sure was great,' though Inuyasha. 'Boy, am I glad Kagome got me those trunks as my present.' He looked down to find a smiling Kagome looking up at him. Her birthday necklace around her neck reflected a ray of sunlight into Inuyasha's eyes. 'She never did take off that necklace the whole time.' He smiled at this thought as they finally reached the top of the shrine.

When they reached her house, Kagome went straight up to her room to change some supplies in her backpack. After getting a positive response about the beach, Mrs. Higurashi handed five boxes of ramen to Inuyasha. Kagome came down and gave her mother a hug before announcing that she was leaving. She ran out of the door, followed by a very happy Inuyasha. They smiled at each other as Kagome jumped into the Bone-Eaters Well first and Inuyasha followed right behind her.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Japanese terms: (See earlier chapters for other terms.)

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

A/N: Wow, I wrote a lot this time. Mainly paragraphs with very little dialogue... Well, hoped you liked it! We had some fluff and Hobo bashing! Not really, but you know what I mean, right? I'm currently debating with myself whether this should be the last chapter or not. There will definitely be any more events happening. If anything, maybe one more chapter as an epilogue with Miroku! Let me know what you think! Review please!!!

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

DemonChic - Thank you! I've gotten so many cuteness!!!

Usagi Kou - Thank you! Think my ego will burst anytime soon?

(Shoot, not many reviews... This is what I get for replacing the author's note with Chapter 12, isn't it?)

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Kagome - Are you going to continue writing in the future?

Nankinmai - I'm thinking about it. I have a few ideas, although some aren't really original. More like my versions of it.

Inuyasha - Keh! Thought so!

Nankinmai - However! I have all of spring break to try something to think of something good. So if I come up with anything, I'll try to start on it and probably won't post it until Spring Quarter starts.

Shippou - Am I going to be in it?

Nankinmai - We'll see.

Sesshoumaru - And me?

Nankinmai - Umm...

Naraku - What about me?

Inuyasha - You bastard. Get out of here!

Nankinmai - This is giving me a headache... And I still have to study for my Calculus final...

Kagome - You poor thing. Good luck on it! Ja ne, minna-san!

Inuyasha - Not you, Naraku! I still have some unfinished business with you!

Naraku - Kukuku....