Okay guys, this one's long and I got tired towards the end; sorry.^_^; Kagome's thoughts concerning his explanation may get a little confusing at parts, but bear with me okay? They're just things that she would be bound to consider in time anyway. You know I did! Lol As for the way Inu Yasha seems a bit OOC, I found that necessary for him to be a bit comforting. He'll revert a bit after this chapter is over.^_^ That's about it; enjoy!^_^

Merith- Lol don't worry, there should be another 10 chapters or so at least. This is most certainly NOT the end, and you have to have some history and explanation stuffs in there too right?^_^ *giggles* Still more fun surprises along the way! Love ya! *hugs*

haruka-san – No worries; this is one of two explanation chapters.^_^ To make it short, the Inu Yasha we've been seeing is the regular, Feudal era Inu Yasha. The one that kissed her and is with her now is the Inu Yasha that's still alive in her time. She just didn't know he was there until now.^_^ Hope that helps!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in it. If I did I'd be rich, but I'm not... and if I had lots of money I'd probably spend it on anime anyway so pleeaasseee, don't sue me.^_^ lol

Oh, and as always,

_= thoughts *_* = sound/ italicized "_" = speech

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Memories of the Present

Chapter 24: In the Attic

Morning came as it always did, and our hanyou had an open reminder of how late Kagome really slept; he'd forgotten about that part. Through the centuries past, he had gotten used to waking up at a decent hour, though he often worked late to make up for it. He still didn't need much sleep; it's not like he was suddenly human after all.

He was almost startled when she woke up after hours of him watching her sleep, but he smiled and squeezed her slightly none-the-less. Kagome's eyes fluttered open and soon she realized that she wasn't alone. She was a little worried until she noticed that something had been tickling her arm; that's what had woken her up in the first place. She spied a couple loose strands of silver hair dancing across her skin and smiled; it wasn't a dream...

... unless *this* was; "Inu Yasha?"

A slight grin spread across his face as he nuzzled more closely to the back of her neck; "Yeah?"

The dopey grin grew as she sighed and settled herself against him, if a bit nervously. "Please tell me I'm not dreaming."

He chuckled and held her tightly; "You're not."

Contented with that response, she turned over, still in his arms, and buried her face in his chest. She could hear his heartbeat quicken and she giggled slightly, cuddling up all the more. While he was distracted, she reached up and tweaked one of his ears, drawing a sharp intake of breath from him. She smiled, unsure at first, and began rubbing towards the base of one ear. Inu Yasha nuzzled her and then pulled away slightly. He hadn't breathed in almost a minute and it was starting to worry her. He seemed to have a look of intense concentration on his face, almost like he was trying to hold something back. Some thing like... he was purring! CUUTTEE!!!!

He hid his face and she giggled, happily rubbing his ear until she noticed the other one twitching. It was dancing around a bit more than usual, so, with a soft, "May I have this dance?" and a bewildered expression from our hanyou, she began rubbing that ear instead. The one she had previously occupied slumped over, completely relaxed and unmoving while the current ear got its well-deserved attention. After a while, she switched again and realized that they BOTH wanted to be rubbed. She sighed and laughed, "And they call women demanding." Kagome laughed and Inu Yasha looked at her quizzically, almost chuckling himself. He was too happy to care about anything right about then, anything but her that is, and was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get this silly grin off of his face for weeks. Not that he'd mind of course, but he'd get teased for it a bit, he was sure. Oh well, as long as Kagome was with him, I didn't matter. It had definitely been worth the wait.

The hanyou sighed and reluctantly removed himself from her back. Kagome had protested a bit, but Inu Yasha knew that they were running out of "alone time", and he really needed to talk with her before her family came home. Of course, he couldn't do anything on an empty stomach.

After telling her to stay in bed and sleep a little more, Kagome curled up and held her pillow tightly. She was missing him already, even though he had just left her side. More than anything, she was afraid that she might just wake up and he would no longer be there to comfort her. In her heart she knew that what he had said was true; he was Inu Yasha, but still, there were the subtle differences. It wasn't like she didn't like those differences, they were just... new; she'd have to get used to them because damned if she was going to let him go, especially now.

As she waited, Kagome's mind wandered to the gang, their friends. Her heart ached and she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes once more, but now wasn't the time for this; he'd have to talk to her about it eventually, and she would try not to worry about it until then. At that time there would be plenty of sorrow to make up for now. Still waiting, she grew more and more anxious until, at least, the door opened and she laughed; Inu Yasha came strolling into the room with a tray and a bowl. The tray was for Kagome; it consisted of a few pieces of French toast and some milk while the bowl was for himself, filled to the brim with, what else, ramen of course. She gratefully reached out for the breakfast when Buyo decided to make a grand appearance. He ran through the halls, well, as fast as he could anyway, and ran right under the hanyou's legs, causing him to trip and everything to go flying through the air. If she had gone to a circus that morning, she would not have seen an acrobatic feat such as this! He gracefully caught the tray in one hand, the plate with French toast on it, and her milk in the other, but managed to forget about his own breakfast, well, until it landed on his head at least.

She tried, oh how she tried to stifle her laughter, but honestly, who could after a scene like that? Kagome cracked up and fell over in bed, hitting her head on the wall in the process. Though Inu Yasha noticed, it was more than obvious that Kagome had no knowledge of the bump and continued to laugh at the drenched hanyou in front of her. Of course, he stormed off into the bathroom, pulling noodles out of his hair the entire way, but stopped for only a second to glare at the feline still under his feet before heading off.

After Kagome got over her laughing fit, she ate her breakfast and took the dishes downstairs before returning to her room. She noticed his clothes laying on the ground outside the bathroom door and decided to wash his shirt while he was in there. His pants, thankfully (yeah, thankfully to who hmm?), seemed to be untouched, so she left them there for him to change into when he got out of the shower. For a minute she almost knocked, almost walked in to show him how to use it; it was strange really, having him know her world better then she when before, even the simplest of things needed a great deal of explanation. It was kind of nice, but still... Her heart sank slightly in her chest, and she shook her head to be rid of the thoughts; there would be time for those later.

She continued downstairs, his shirt in hand, and put it into the washer, but really, how could she have known that turning on the washing machine would do wicked things to the temperature of his bath water?

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Okay, so she knew, but had forgotten, that's what she told him anyway. When he started yelling she cringed; she knew what was coming. Thankfully for her, his shirt was in the wash. Sure, it was the washer's fault that he was pissed now, but at least she was too busy staring at him to hear him yelling at her right?

Gods he was gorgeous. The way he stood there, glistening snow-white locks dangling loosely over his shoulders and chest, hanging down far enough to rest next to his belly button, it was enough to make her faint. His skin still shone with water droplets, as he had run out of the shower too quickly to dry off. Now that she thought about it, she had never noticed that he had been wearing modern clothes. Sure, it was an obvious conclusion, but she had never even taken notice of it, even when she brought his shirt down to be washed.

Of course, now he was wearing no shirt to speak of, but if memory served her, it was a regular white T-shirt, a bit baggy, but still slightly form fitting. He sported a pair of black jeans that hung off of his hips and flared slightly towards the bottom. They too were not tight, but they were not loose either, and, much to her amusement, he still seemed to have an obvious lack of footwear. She slightly wondered how he could have a job with no shoes when it hit her; she no longer had any idea about his life. He'd been alive so long, he must have a job and a house, things that she had taken for granted. He obviously couldn't live in a tree. Just how much had he changed?

Sometime in between the shoes and the housing arrangements, he had noticed that she was looking him over. He grinned knowingly and cleared his throat, at first receiving nothing, but at a second glance, gaining a small blush from the girl before him. She began to wring her hands nervously and he came to sit next to her.

At feeling his presence, Kagome stiffened slightly. The fact that she knew almost nothing about this Inu Yasha was still wreaking havoc on her mind. She loved him so much and the bond was definitely there, if not stronger, but how would this change things? Would it be for the better?

Inu Yasha noticed a slight look of worry flutter across her face. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Feeling Kagome stiffen slightly, he just sat there until she was more comfortable, and then began; "Kagome... look, we need to talk."

She gulped and took a slow, deep breath before closing her eyes and nodding. "I know." It had finally come.

She allowed herself to be held against him as he spoke, not wanting him to see her tears, lest it make them worse. She always cried more when she knew she had someone there to comfort her, and knowing that he was already in that position didn't make holding them back any easier. After a slight pause he began, and she listened patiently, trying to take in every word and, at the same time, ignore the pain that plagued her heart.

"I guess we'll start with that day, yesterday for you." She cringed slightly and enveloped herself more deeply into his embrace. "Everyone had gotten back, or woken up; I remember kicking Miroku's ass for being perverted... again." He chuckled softly at that. "They were apparently coming to see you off when it all happened. When they heard you call out, they ran, but made it far too late to do any good. From that day on I made a decision Kagome; one that I've stuck to for five centuries, and one that I will continue to stand by." He lay his head on hers and breathed deeply, rubbing Kagome's back as she tried to muffle her sobs against his chest.

"When you left I... I thought you wanted to go back to be with someone else. I had overheard you telling Sango that I kissed you and I was outraged. Of course, back then I didn't have the guts..."

"not like I do now either," he mumbled softly, "... and I thought you were trying to cover up for someone else. When you wouldn't tell me who it was, I got mad and that's where the whole argument began. Kind of ironic isn't it? I was jealous of myself." Kagome looked up at him, an almost frightened expression adorning her features. So he *had* kissed her! Wait, and that's why he had denied it, because he didn't know? He must've hated her! But... if this Inu Yasha kissed her... did he actually care about her? Why didn't he come see her earlier then? For the first time since yesterday, Kagome saw the past and present Inu Yashas as two totally different people. Her mind jumbled and played with the significance and the possibilities that went along with what had obviously been such a mistake, and, needless to say, it scared her. If he hadn't kissed her, would the well have been sealed? But then, if it wasn't, would he be there to kiss her in the first place and start the whole mess? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure it out, much less be upset at him for it, so she gave in and decided to listen a bit more, hoping it would answer some of the many questions bogging down her thoughts.

"... When you left, you took the Shikon no Tama with you, but you left the shards behind. Demons still came for the shards, but without the possibility of completing the jewel, the demons became less frequent and Naraku decided to show himself. He could no longer hide behind the power of his shards because they were still acting strangely. No one knew why they went crazy and no one knew how they just disappeared, no one but us at least. Eventually, it was decided that a higher power had taken them or that fate had its way, which, I suppose, is true, and the matter was put to rest and left to legend.

Naraku was severely weakened without the aid of the shards, and we easily defeat him, though we lost a few people in the battle." Inu Yasha held her more closely and sighed. He would wait to tell her, she couldn't take that right now.

"Miroku and Sango got together many years later, and raised three kids, two boys and a girl. We made sure that the boy would not grow up as lecherous as his father, but we had no trouble there, as lechery flows to every other son in Miroku's family. All of the kids were raised as both villagers and demon hunters, and after a few hundred years, Sango's village had been reborn and their business thrived. By then, youkai had become less common, mainly keeping to themselves as the rest killed each other off. When the Europeans came, most of them were killed or sold into an odd type of slavery. Luckily, I took up fort with Sesshoumaru, and we both survived."

She looked amazed, "You... and SESSHOUMARU?!"

He laughed, "Yeah, we eventually set aside our differences. It's the 'blood is thicker than water' thing, but he's still fun to piss off."

"You mean... he's still alive?" Inu Yasha could feel her tense and smiled.

"Don't worry, youkai aren't really *much* of a threat anymore." He watched her gawk at him for a moment and decided to continue. "Over the years, demons became more or less extinct, and more hanyou were born. We played a great part in wars and battles throughout history, both bloody and peaceful, but the demons had decided to stay out of human wars and sat back to watch."

"What about you?"

"Me? I had my promise to keep and I'd keep it no matter what. I fought in some battles, but stayed the hell away from Hiroshima; even we knew it was stupid to join that one. Demons may be hard to kill, but it's not impossible."

She lifted her head to look at him, "Inu Yasha, tell me something?"

He gazed deeply into her chocolate depths, "Anything."

"What's this promise you keep talking about? It sounds important, but you haven't told me."

His eyes widened under her gaze, sunny, golden pools contrasting with the rising blush in his cheeks. He gulped loudly and shifted uncomfortably, focusing his sight on the room around them, as to avoid her stare while he spoke.

He spoke softly, tenderly, almost too low for her to hear. Kagome leaned closer to him, watching the emotions play across his face and dance through his eyes. She wondered why he seemed so nervous. Maybe he had been trying to avoid telling her? She snapped back to attention when he started, face softened and sad, emotions glazed over with those of longing and pain.

"When I lost you..." He seemed to choke on those words, " I made a vow Kagome. I vowed that one-day, I would live long enough to see you again. I would live to tell you... to say what I had always been afraid to." He closed his eyes as the threat of tears pushed on, unconsciously tightening his grip on the trembling miko in his arms. "I lived for you Kagome. I spent my time waiting, watching over the land that this shrine would eventually stand on. I was there when your grandfather was born, when your mother was born, and... when you were born, Kagome."

Kagome felt a tug in her heart and her eyes began to overflow again. She clutched to him desperately, holding his back and pulling him against her with all of her strength. He had really been there; he had waited... for her?

"When I heard the shrine was being built, I was so happy; it was almost time. I watched your family grow, protecting them all throughout their lives. Your grandfather and mother remember, but I'm afraid your brother doesn't. You, on the other hand, wouldn't have believed it if you had remembered."

"The... the dream? Daddy?"

He began swaying gently, rocking her sobbing form, "That's right Kagome; it was me." A single tear fell as he watched her sob uncontrollably into his arms. He had never forgiven himself for letting her father get killed, and he probably never would. If only he had been there! He should've known that something was wrong, but he had been stuck at work. What a lame excuse; it was no excuse.

Feeling something on her hand, Kagome looked over and was surprised to watch a teardrop fall. Looking up, she saw him; his beautiful amber eyes were closed, hidden slightly by furrowed brows and a curtain of snow colored bangs. His ears were not only drooped, but beginning to lie flat against his head; he looked like he was in so much pain.

Tenderly she raised a hand, her sorrow momentarily forgotten as she tried to relieve his, stroking a single tear from his cheek. His eyes burst open, startled, trembling gaze focused on her, and her alone. Kagome dropped her eyes for only a second, and leaned closer to him, laying her head against his neck, the bridge of her nose just under his chin. One hand still cupping his face, the other wrapped around his neck, and she spoke to him softly, soothingly, "What were they like?"

Of course, that wasn't in the least what he had expected her to say, but he was more than happy for the distraction. He didn't exactly enjoy focusing on his guilt. "Who?"

"My family."

How can she sound like this; he didn't understand. Moments ago she was sobbing, and now she lay against him, attempting to comfort him instead? No matter the reason, he was glad for it.

"Your mother always liked to play with my ears. She would..." He laughed softly, "she had lots of friends, but she wouldn't play with a lot of them. She was like you, always studying, always busy, even when she was little. At night I would sneak in her window and tell her stories. She had heard all of the bed time stories, so I started telling her about you."

Kagome sighed happily, imagining Inu Yasha telling her mother bedtime stories. It was funny in a way, him being so good with kids after all this time, but it was comforting in so many more. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her how one day she'd have a daughter named Kagome. (I wonder if that would cause her to name her daughter Kagome and make IY tell her that and cycle through again. Man, time is weird.) I told her that you'd be beautiful, strong, and stubborn as an ox." Kagome sniffled and gave an annoyed pout; he laughed. "You know, whenever your grandfather caught me telling her stories, he'd yell at me and chase me with those stupid demon ward things. They never work, but MAN they're annoying!" Kagome giggled slightly at this, remembering all of the times he'd chased Inu Yasha with them in the past, and how she'd always have to break them up.

Inu Yasha... She began to remember the well, her friends, and Inu Yasha, her Inu Yasha. The pain and the memories began to flood back and, seeing this, the hanyou tried his best to take her mind off of it.

"You want to know why your grandfather's always chasing me with those stupid things?" She sniffled and nodded into his chest. "When he was little, he climbed up into the God tree where I had been sleeping. It was dark so he didn't see me, but when I noticed his scent was so close, I woke up and opened one eye. I guess he wasn't expecting it because he jumped and fell out of the tree, breaking his arm. Even I wasn't fast enough to catch him! Of course, his mom didn't believe that there was a monster in the tree. People didn't believe in demons by then and she figured it was just a child's imagination. You know, only you, your mom, your grandpa, and Souta have ever caught me off-guard."

"Really?"

"Mhmmm." She had begun to calm down a little, and he was more than thankful for that. He nuzzled the side of her head gently and she instinctively nuzzled back.

"Tell me about when I was little."

He chuckles, "You were a little brat."

"What?!"

Hehe, she's awake now!

"Seriously, you would get into all kinds of trouble and I'd have to bail you out. It was a wonder your mother ever kept track of you! Before that I had thought humans were weak, but you women are scary!"

She laughed and hit him playfully. "So... why didn't you ever come see me?"

"What?"

He watched as she pulled from him slightly, looking deeply into his eyes again. "If you've been alive all of this time, why didn't you ever come see me? You've been watching over my family; did you just decide not to watch over me?"

Inu Yasha was taken back at this. She looked so hurt! How could she think something like that?! "Kagome, I couldn't see you. If I had been there and interacted with my past self, who knows what effect that would've had on the time stream! I probably would've beaten the shit out of myself for all of the times you came home crying! I didn't know how much I was hurting you back then." He shook his head in a half-hearted attempt to rid himself of the memories; "Besides, I never really knew when you would come home, so it was really a wonder I never ran into you two... or, I guess I should say us. It wasn't that I didn't watch over you, I just couldn't talk to you. Instead, I watched you sleep and attempt to ignore that annoying Hojo guy. I also made it a little easier on you by talking to your family. They had all already known me, with the exception of Souta, so it wasn't hard for me to visit, especially after my past self came the first time. That's why no one had a problem with me, and why your mother didn't have any real objections to you traveling into the Sengoku Jedai; she knew that you'd at least live until this day, so she didn't worry as much."

"And you told them what would happen?"

He nods, "It was easier on them that way, and they knew you'd want some time to adjust."

Kagome pulled away from him slightly and curled up in his lap. As the hanyou watched, she hugged herself and began rocking again, worrying him to no end. "What's wrong?"

"What's WRONG?!" He flinched and she sighed, bringing new tears to life, "I... I'm sorry, it's just, this is all so much... and what about Inu Yasha... the past Inu Yasha? He'll have to go through all of that pain because of me. I wish I could stop it, I wish..."

Inu Yasha put his finger to her lips, "Don't wish that; it's better this way."

"But..."

"I had to learn the hard way; that's just how it is. I know you don't want to see me hurt, but it's for the best." Before she could object, he had pulled her off of his lap and stood up. He walked across the room and stopped, turning in the doorway to look at her over his shoulder. "Coming?" Reluctantly, she rose and followed him.

He led her down the hall and pulled on a little knob on the ceiling. A set of makeshift stairs folded down and he ascended into the attic. She had never been here before. Actually, come to think of it, she didn't even know that they *had* an attic.

Looking around, there seemed to be only one light source, a dim bulb that hung, swinging from a rafter in the ceiling. The room itself was almost high enough for Kagome to stand in the middle, where it sloped upwards on both sides. There was a window in the back, but it was covered over with cardboard, and the only way out was the stairs, which were currently being blocked by the hanyou. In the dreary light, she noted only one item in the entire room, and gave a startled gasp. "It... it can't be!"