A/N-I had this chapter ready last Sunday but my sister wouldn't let me on the computer and then I didn't have time to post it during the week. Uhh…I had something else to say but I forget it now…^_^;;;

Disclaimer-I don't own the Inuyasha characters.

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When Did Things Get Complicated?

Chapter XI

"Hah! I knew it!" Sango cried triumphantly. "I knew that you-"

"Shhh!!!" Kagome hissed, covering Sango's mouth. She stepped back when Sango calmed down.

"I'll miss you! Do you think they'd let me visit?" Sango asked.

"Miss me? Who?" Kagome asked.

"The demons! I figured that you'll probably go over there. But even better if he comes over here!" Sango told her.

"Wha? No! This-this can't go anywhere. I don' know what I was thinking! I shouldn't have. I wasn't thinking at all! If I had actually stopped to think it all through, I would've realized what a stupid idea it was," Kagome said, pacing he length of her room as Sango watched her go back and forth.

"Love isn't stupid," Sango told her seriously.

"Well, maybe it's not even love. We wouldn't know what love is," Kagome told her.

"Then what is it?"                               

"I don't know!"

"Is it lust then?" Sango asked.

"What?! No! Of course it isn't!" Kagome told her, appalled.

"Well, that only leaves love then and love certainly isn't stupid."

"This kind is! Do you realize how furious my mother will be? If it doesn't make her frail heart explode first, she'll lock me in the highest, most remote tower of the castle! She'd never let me out of her sight again! And what about his family? They'll slice me in half! Either way, I lose."

"Inu-Yasha didn't slice you in half and he's a demon," Sango pointed out. "And since when do you care what your mother thinks? For as long as I can remember, you couldn't care less what anyone thought."

"He was a child! I was a child! We're not children anymore! It's not that easy!" Kagome told her.

"It's only hard when you make it hard," Sango told her and then stood up. "I have to be running home for dinner now."

"I've got to be heading down for dinner too," Kagome said, sighing. "I'll see you later Sango."

Even though she had been talking about how it was all so hard and it wouldn't work out, Kagome couldn't help but smile. She was still smiling when she entered the dining hall.

"You seem to be in a good mood little sister," her brother, Shidosha commented when she took her seat after giving her mother a kiss on the cheek.

"I am…brother," Kagome said, though she had to force the polite words from her mouth and keep the ones she wanted to say inside at the same time.

"It's so good to see you smiling again Kagome," her mother said, putting on a strained smile. The war and the loss of her husband had taken its toll on Kikyo. Her eyes seemed weary and sad and her hair, streaked with gray, was piled listlessly atop her head. Lines ran across her forehead that weren't there before and she seemed so frail now.

"Guess what, Kagome?" Hachimitsu piped up. She didn't wait for an answer before going on, "Mama says my sewing's getting better. She says it might even be better than yours."

Shidosha chuckled. "You need to learn how to keep some things to yourself little one."

Hachimitsu frowned. "Why? She did say so."

"Yes, but yours would not be better than hers if she practiced," Kikyo rebuked lightly, looking over at Kagome. "I was only kidding with Hachimitsu when I said that."

"It's fine mama. I know my sewing isn't the greatest thing to look at," Kagome said, smiling.

"Now, son, tell me. How is the war going?" her mother asked.

Shidosha sighed. "Hmm…Both sides are suffering great loses. We're going to have to try harder. Right now we're-"

"Or we could negotiate a peace treaty," Kagome muttered before she could stop herself.

"If we reach a treaty, the demons will just attack us while we're not on our guard," her brother said.

"You don't know that," Kagome said challengingly, but immediately clamped her mouth shut. She needed to know when to shut up.

"Yes I do. They're demons. Lying is what they do just as we humans try to keep the peace," her brother said casually.

"P-p-peace?!" Kagome sputtered. "What peace? Is fighting how humans keep the peace? Humans have a lousy way of keeping the peace!"

"Peace cannot be gotten without bloodshed," her brother answered calmly.

"Bloodshed? No, bloodshed does not lead to peace! Bloodshed leads to more fighting and bloodshed. And not all demons lie! Some demons are good; others are bad, just as some humans are bad. Demons are not perfect and neither are humans," Kagome angrily said to him.

"Kagome! I've heard enough! Father w-"

"Father? Father wanted peace! He worked his whole life to create the shaky peace between the two kingdoms and as soon as he passes away, you crush the peace like a flooded river destroys a rickety bridge! Father didn't want war!" Kagome shouted, standing up now.

"If father didn't want war, why did he always talk to me about war strategies and training techniques?" Shidosha asked.

"That was as a last resort! Not so you could wage war as soon as he died!" Kagome shouted.

"Kagome," her mother said, pulling her into her seat. "Apologize to your brother."

Kagome's mouth dropped open in an unprincess-like manner as she sank into her seat. "You want war too mama? Do you have any idea what those families go through out there? The little children wait outside everyday, just praying that their fathers will come home safely with the troops. Do you have any idea how crushed the families are when the troops come home and see that their brother or their husband isn't with them?"

Her mother set her lips in a thin line as if thinking. "You are right Kagome. Ever since he died, I've been too wrapped up in my grief to give a thought to the people, hoping that your brother and the noble lords would take care of it all. Now I see that I must step in. I will open negotiations first thing tomorrow."

"M-Mother…This is crazy! Demons won't be restrained by a piece of paper with signatures on it! They're not to be trusted!" Shidosha protested, standing up.

"Shidosha! Is this war about your father or your own prejudice against demons? At first I thought that you were doing it to avenge your father's death, but now I think that your father's death is just your excuse to slay some demons," Kikyo said gently, yet sternly, rebuking him. "Thank you Kagome dear…For making me remember what's important right now."

Shidosha reluctantly sat back down and continued eating, having no more arguments to make.

Kagome's mouth dropped open again. That was it then…It was over? Kagome couldn't believe it…Just like that and life was back to normal. Almost anyway. It was over. Kagome smiled and gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying out of the dining hall.

She quickly ran towards the forest, stopping only to tell Sango the good news. She smiled as she spotted, upon entering the clearing, Inu-Yasha sitting up in the tree he had been in on the first day they met over seven years ago. He was staring off into the distance somewhere so she guessed him to be thinking.

She walked quietly to stand beneath the tree and looked up at him, shielding her eyes from the sun.

He smiled, though his eyes seemed sad, and, without even looking down at her, asked, "Are you trying to sneak up on me?"

Kagome sighed. "Yes, that was what I was originally trying to do. It didn't work too well I suppose," she said, climbing up into the tree. "But I have great news! My mother is looking into opening peace negotiations with your people tomorrow."

He looked at her and smiled, sadly, again. "You did it, didn't you?"

"Umm…Well, sort of. In a way I had something to do with it," Kagome admitted sheepishly. "I was arguing with my brother and my mother was listening. Turns out, I was talking to the wrong person the whole time. I should've just gone to my mother to begin with."

He smiled ruefully and shook his head.

"What? What's wrong? We'll have peace. The war will be over," Kagome began but he interrupted her.

He shook his head again. "No, no, Kagome. There'll be no peace."

"What? My mother is openi-" Kagome began, frowning.

"Kagome, my father's dead."

Kagome gasped. "Did he die in battle? Why didn't I hear of it?"

"No, not in battle. He was killed by someone. We don't know who or why or how. It happened a few hours before I came here. Now my brother has the throne and he's not going to listen to your mother. My father would've listened. He was very reasonable but Sesshoumaru is not going to."

"What? B-but…He has to!" Kagome protested, distraught. "If he doesn't there'll be no end!"

"I know, but Sesshoumaru won't care. He'll be glad when all of the humans are dead."

Kagome's shoulders slumped and she blinked in shock. Sighing, she asked hopefully, "Well, couldn't you…convince him or something?"

Inu-Yasha snorted. "Are you kidding me? I couldn't convince Sesshoumaru of anything." He laughed sadly. "You know, I didn't much care for my father when he was alive, but now that he's gone…"

Kagome had nothing really to say to that. Kagome sighed and tried to lean back, forgetting that she was in a tree. She squeaked as she realized there was nothing behind her for her to lean back on except air.

Seeing that she was losing her balance and was about to fall, Inu-Yasha grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the branch. He laughed. "You can't do that in a tree."

"Hmph," Kagome huffed, glaring down at the branch she was sitting on.

He laughed again and turned her carefully around so that she could lean against him and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her soft black hair.

They were silent for a moment before Kagome finally spoke. "You will try, won't you?"

He looked down at her and said, "Of course I'll try. No promises though…"

"All I'm asking is that you try," Kagome said, satisfied that he would at least attempt to talk to his brother. 

They sat in silence for a few moments, Kagome content to lean comfortably against him with his warm breath on her neck.

"Kagome?" Inu-Yasha asked softly.

"Mmm?" Kagome asked drowsily. The sleep she had been missing for awhile because of all her worries about the war, her brother, her mother, and everyone was beginning to take it's toll on her.

"I-I love you," he said softly.

"I love you too," Kagome whispered sleepily, because she knew that she did, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Immediately though, she regretted her words and tensed up slightly.

He turned her around so that he could look at her face. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. "Should I have not said anything?"

"N-no…It's just…" Kagome said, not sure how to explain what she was feeling. She was feeling hopeless, or maybe it was helpless…Whatever it was, it was confusing her and she didn't like it.

"Just what?"

"Well…So we love each other. So what?" Kagome asked.

"So what? How ca-" Inu-Yasha began but Kagome cut him off.

"There's nothing we can do about it at all! So what now?" Kagome asked. "What'll happen when-"

He kissed her gently on the forehead. "Why do we need to think about when or later? Why can't we just think about now?" he asked softly.

"Because no matter what, now will slowly but surely become when and later," Kagome insisted.

"Well, then we'll run away," Inu-Yasha suggested. "You always told me when we were younger how you wanted to."

Kagome sighed. "We're not eight years old anymore! We have to do something about this war. We can't run from this. Running will only make it worse."

"You said your mother was handling it now," Inu-Yasha pointed out.

"And you said that your brother wouldn't listen, remember?" Kagome reminded him.

Inu-Yasha sighed and leaned back against the tree. "You're right, or course…You know, my old man was the only one keeping all of the nobles and everyone else from saying their insults aloud. Now that he's gone…" he said, looking out over the tree tops towards the demon realm and clenching his fist, "…I'm all alone again…"

"You blockhead! You're not alone and you never will be! Not as long as I'm alive anyway," Kagome told him, lightly hitting his shoulder.

Inu-Yasha looked down at her, smiling faintly. She was right, again. Ever since he met Kagome, he hadn't been alone anymore. It was a strange realization. He had been so used to being alone, he didn't notice when he wasn't. She was the only person to not see him as a worthless half-breed, but as a friend.

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A/N-Uhh…I really have nothing else to say…I'm just not very loquacious (Waha! I used a vocab word! Bonus points for me! Wee!) today…That is so weird because any other day I always have a lot to say. It's not always very important but it's still stuff to say. Wow, that was a long author's note for having nothing to say…