Until the End of Time
Chapter 2
Confessions
By: Devilspet
Inuyasha looked around now that he could actually move. He looked down and saw Kagome crying against him. This made him hurt more . . . not physically . . . mentally. It pained his heart to see her cry like that. he wished he could do something. He lifted his left arm in an attempt to embrace her; he put his arm around her waist and let it fall. Kagome looked up and gasped in surprise. " Ka-Kagome? Kagome . . . what cha' . . . cryin' for? Don't say you're cryin' for me?" he asked slowly, "Don't worry . . . it doesn't hurt . . . much . . . I can . . . barely . . . feel it."
Kagome's voice came out fearfully but stern, "Inu-Inuyasha, that's a bad sign . . . you can be seriously injured. And . . . have I told you how stupid you are?" Inuyasha smiled a bit and shook his head slowly, "No . . . you haven't. I'm guessing you're gonna tell me now, right?" Kagome smirked, "No . . . maybe later. Come on, we need to get you back to Kaede's hut. Kagome hoisted herself up, off the ground and helped Inuyasha up too, "Inuyasha?"
"Huh . . ." He answered. Kagome gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Thank you, Inuyasha . . .for waiting for me so long . . . and for trying to stay safe . . . which I know you were. You know . . . you're lucky to be alive. What happened?"
Inuyasha looked straight ahead, "First of all, you're very welcome. Second of all, I'm only alive because you found me. And finally, third of all, I was hiding in the Go-Shinboku tree . . . waiting for you and Sesshomaru found me, sleeping, and realized I was human . . . so he attacked me- or more like tried to like tried to kill me, thinking it would be easy, which it was. We were playin' attack-dodge for a while, with him doin' all the attacking since I didn't have me claws or any weapons."
"I got kinda tired after a while and I moved too slowly when he attacked so he got me in the shoulder, then he said he was gonna kill me, then go for you and the others . . . and that pissed me off so I attacked him and missed, and ha-ha, I ran head first into a tree. I collapsed to me knees then he said I wasn't worth killin' and told me I'd probably die tonight . . . I kinda believed him there . . . and then he left and I think I lost consciousness,"
When he finally finished, he heard a small whimper from his left. "Kagome?" When Kagome saw that he was looking at her . . . she hastily wiped away the tears, put a huge smile on her face, and looked up at him. "Kagome? What's the matter?" Inuyasha asked with a large amount of concern. Kagome's smile wavered a bit, but never left her face, "Nothing's wrong . . . why do you ask?"
Inuyasha' eyes filled with annoyance, "Oh . . . I dunno Kagome! You were only cryin'! Why would there any thing to worry about?!" He shouted as Kagome winced backward, "God Kagome! Why would I think any thing was wrong with you?!" his voice suddenly softened, "Come on, Kagome, you know I'll listen if you need to talk to someone. You can tell me any thing! Why don't you talk to me? Whether you like it or not I'll be there for you . . . always! You know that. Anything you wanna tell me, Kagome? Remember. I'll listen."
He leaned forward to kiss her gingerly on the lips. It was a quick but meaningful kiss. Kagome knew exactly what he meant by the kiss, it meant he would be there for her, always and forever. "I was really worried Inuyasha . . . I thought I lost you . . . I thought you were dead, Inuyasha! I thought it was my fault! I couldn't stand the thought! I'm sorry . . . you got hurt . . . and it was my fault," She looked down at her feet.
"Kagome . . ." he lifted her head with his good arm so she would look at him. He gasped to see that tears were glistening on her cheeks once again, "No . . . don't cry . . . it wasn't your fault, I was just bein' stupid like you said . . . I knew I shoulda been inside but I was too stubborn to leave . . . because . . . I wanted to make sure you were okay . . . so I came to wait . . . and I was gonna walk ya back . . . to make sure nothin' happened on the way. I- I just . . . feel better when I'm able to protect you . . . that's why I don't like it when you go home . . . 'cause I can't be there with you to protect you. I- I can't really explain it but . . . I- I just fell like I'm obligated to do that . . . like it's my one, sole duty or something. And it's not that I have to I- I actually . . . want to protect you. Do you understand?" Kagome blinked repeatedly and shook her head. Inuyasha snickered, "That's okay, I didn't really understand myself . . . and I said it!"
"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked as they walked back to Kaede's house. "Hmm, yes, Inuyasha?"
"No secrets . . . promise me you won't keep anything from me, okay?" Kagome blinked at Inuyasha but nodded, "Only if you promise the same thing," Inuyasha smiled and nodded as well. Kagome grinned and leapt into Inuyasha's arms. When Inuyasha tried to return the hug with his injured arm, he yelped in pain.
Kagome gasped and pulled away quickly to see a smirk on Inuyasha's face, 'That's weird,' she thought. She tilted her head as if asking him why. "Looks like I can feel my arm after all . . . I musta just been ignorin' it . . . that's good news right 'cause ya still look kinda worried?"
Kagome smiled. "Yeah . . . that's great news! Now, can we go back to Kaede's?" Inuyasha nodded and started to walk towards Kaede's hut, leaving Kagome behind. Kagome hesitated a few moments, but she hurried after him.
~*~
They got back to the hut and Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede all woke up from their sleep.
"So . . . Inuyasha, what happened to your shoulder?" Shippo teased. Inuyasha sat on the floor and allowed Kaede to inspect his wound. He growled at Shippo. "Sesshomaru happened. He attacked me . . . while I . . . was sleepin' and . . . I was human . . so I didn't . . . ouch . . . sense him comin' . . . he thought he'd have a better chance if I . . . was human . . . and he did. I was too slow dodging one of his attacks and he clawed me in the shoulder . . . I guess . . . I collapsed and the next thing I knew . . . Kagome found me . . . and brought me here . . ." he hissed through clenched teeth as Kaede put some rubbing alcohol, that Kagome brought from her own time, on the wound. There was another major sting in his shoulder and he winced in pain, "OUCH!! OLD LADY BE CAREFUL!!" he shouted. Kaede sighed, "I'm being as careful as possible, Inuyasha . . . calm down."
Kagome and Shippo were both snickering on the other side of the room.
"What are you two laughin' at?" Inuyasha snarled. Kagome laughed harder but Shippo walked forward toward Inuyasha and tried to speak but doubling over in laughter a few steps away from him, "Inu . . . yasha . . . you're being such a . . . ha ha . . . a big . . . ha-ha . . . a baby!"
Inuyasha snarled again, this time barring his dull, human teeth, which weren't very frightening, "Well . . . why don't you come over here and I'll give you a small dose of what this feels like, fox?" Inuyasha grabbed at Shippo but missed. Shippo's face paled a lot at that comment; he backed away from Inuyasha. "N-no th-thanks, Inuyasha . . . I'm fine," Shippo stammered. Inuyasha smirked in self-satisfaction, "That's what I thought . . . Hmph. Ouch!" he screamed as Kaede put some more alcohol on his wound. Everyone except Inuyasha and Kaede, who had to keep herself steady and forced the laugh back, burst out laughing at Inuyasha.
~*~
An hour passed and Sang, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede went back to sleep, or so Inuyasha thought. He was still up because of his wound every movement he made . . . it reminded him of his shoulder by stinging in pain . . . he was constantly whimpering. Kagome was having trouble sleeping because of Inuyasha . . . every time he whimpered it made her worry more and more. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and she scooted toward Inuyasha to talk to him, "Hey, Inuyasha . . . are you doing okay?" she whispered.
"Kagome . . . does it look or sound like I'm okay?" he asked irritably. Kagome looked down at the floor and spoke shyly, "No, I'm sorry . . . stupid question . . ." Inuyasha felt guilt build up in his heart, "No . . . Kagome, I'm sorry . . . that wasn't a stupid question . . . you have a right to ask, I guess . . . I mean . . . you're only worried." He reassured her.
There was a long silence between the two of them. "Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. "Yeah?"
"You said no secrets, right?" Kagome asked again. "Yeah, why? Is there a problem with that?" Inuyasha questioned her back. "No! Well . . . um . . . uh . . . no . . . but . . . kinda . . ." Kagome stammered. Inuyasha sighed, "Kagome, what are you sayin'?"
"Well, I've kinda . . . sorta been . . . keeping a secret from you . . ." Kagome mumbled. Inuyasha looked a little puzzled, 'A secret, huh? I wonder what it is . . .'
"Oh, well, do you wanna tell me it?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome gulped and nodded. "Well . . . I kinda . . . I sorta . . . um . . . how can I say this?" she gulped again and blurted it out quickly, "I love you." Inuyasha's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped and he spoke rather loudly, "WHAT?!" Then he realized how loud he spoke and softened his voice, "What did you say, Kagome?"
"I said that I love you, Inuyasha . . . see, I have for a long time . . . but I'm not allowed to say I don't anymore," she smirked, "because I promised . . . and I try very hard not to break promises . . . even though some don't always work out, I can keep this one," she told him softly and turned her smirk into a grin. Inuyasha leaned close in order to kiss her when they heard a snicker, 'WE HAVE AN AUDIENCE?!' Inuyasha mentally screamed. "Oh, God!" Kagome whimpered and turned a very, very dark red.
Luckily, from what Inuyasha could see, it was only Shippo who was awake. But, what he didn't know was that Sango and Miroku were up too, but they had enough sense to stay quiet.
"FOX! Just because I'm human doesn't mean I can't beat your ass!" he snarled at Shippo. "Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped, "You wouldn't do that?!" Inuyasha growled softly at Shippo then turned to Kagome with a smile, "No, of course not, anything for my Kagome." Kagome smiled back at him.
Sango and Miroku couldn't hold back their gasps this time and they let their jaws drop. Neither of them could believe their ears. Inuyasha just claimed Kagome as his and there was no protest from her. Miroku was truly confused. 'That means Inuyasha DOES love Kagome back, right? Damn it! This is weird!'
Inuyasha noticed the gasps and growled, "Miroku? Sango? Are you guys up, too?!" Miroku's eyes bulged, "SHIT!" he hissed. Sango shook her head and responded, "Yes, Inuyasha . . . we're awake but, go on, that was so sweet . . ."
Inuyasha cursed Sango under his breath, "Go to sleep! All of you! Listen up, my good senses are comin' back and if I catch any of you up, there'll be trouble!" Even though that was a total lie about his senses coming back, it seemed to work because after a few moments, everything went quiet. "Inuyasha, do I have to go back to sleep?" she asked in a very low whisper.
Inuyasha smiled at her and whispered back, "No, Kagome, you can stay. It'll help me to have some company. It'll keep my mind of my shoulder, unless you wanna go to sleep," Inuyasha answered. Kagome shook her head and snuggled up against Inuyasha's chest and made herself comfortable. Inuyasha didn't object when she did this, it actually made him a bit more comfortable himself.
Within a matter of minutes, Kagome was asleep against Inuyasha.
Kagome suddenly shifted in her sleep and scared Inuyasha. He looked down at her. There was sweat covering her face and she was clutching Inuyasha's shirt for dear life. Inuyasha looked at her worriedly, 'She must be havin' a nightmare . . . should I wake her?" Kagome twitched again. Inuyasha decided to wake her. "Kagome . . . wake up." He whispered while shaking her gently, "Kagome . . . come on. Wake up! You're only dreaming . . . wake up!" Kagome blinked her eyes open with a gasp.
"W-what happened?" Kagome asked Inuyasha. "You were havin' a nightmare . . . care to share it?" He asked and gave her a hug. Kagome shuttered and Inuyasha tightened his embrace. "If I can remember it . . . okay, now I remember."
Inuyasha prepared himself to listen and Kagome continued, "Well, I was walking through the woods coming from the well and heading back to this village, because I was gone in my time for a few weeks. And as I walked back I saw a trail of blood and I followed it . . . thinking that maybe I could help. So, I was following it for a while and I started to smell something really disgusting, but I couldn't tell what it was. I walked for a bit longer and I saw it," tears were starting to form in her eyes but she still continued.
"It was . . . you, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo . . . you were all dead and blood all around you, the smell was the stench of decay and I fell to my knees then I burst into tears. I couldn't see or hear anything around me so I didn't know what was coming behind me. But whatever it was, it attacked me, and then- and then . . ." Kagome couldn't continue, she burst into tears and buried her face in Inuyasha's shirt.
The sun began to rise slowly over the horizon and Inuyasha began to turn back into a half demon. He could feel his fangs and claws lengthen, his hair was turning back to its silver color, his eyes were changing golden once again, his dog ears were appearing on the top of his head again, and finally his power was coming back, seeping back through his veins and healing his shoulder.
"Come on, Kagome . . . please don't cry . . . you know I don't like that. And besides, you know I wouldn't let that happen. Can you please look at me, Kagome? Just let me see your eyes . . . come, on please, I love your eyes, but I don't love them more than I love you . . ." Inuyasha told her. Kagome gasped and looked up, she was speechless. He wiped the tears off her face and told her, "There, that's better . . . I like your eyes better when you aren't crying . . ."
~*~
Not only was Kagome speechless but Sango, Miroku, and Shippo were speechless as well- not that they would say anything but . . . they can still be speechless.
~*~
'He . . . said . . . that . . . and . . . he's in his . . . half demon form again. This is . . . way too . . . weird! Did he really mean that?' she thought as, she didn't realize it, she stared in his eyes, her head tilted to a side.
"What ya staring at, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, startling her. Kagome averted her gaze to the floor, "Nothing . . ." she said shyly. Inuyasha blinked and cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her head upwards so she would look at him. "No secrets, Kagome . . ." Inuyasha told her. "Damn it! Why'd I promise that? Well . . . anyway . . . I don't know; I was just thinking . . . that's all." Inuyasha tilted his head to one side, "Thinking? About what?" Kagome saddened a bit, "I was asking myself if you really meant that . . . did you?" Inuyasha looked confused. "What? You mean about loving you?" Kagome nodded.
"Kagome . . . how could you think that's not true?? I love you more than I ever loved Kikyo! I love you more than anything! I've loved you for such a long time!" Inuyasha told her quietly. Kagome felt anger build inside her, "Then why couldn't you ever tell me?!" she hissed at him.
Inuyasha shook his head and closed his eyes, "I'm sorry. Kagome, I couldn't, my pride as a demon wouldn't let me. See, a demon, even a half demon, loving a human is almost unheard of . . . it's not tolerated very well and it rarely ever happens . . . and if it does happen it's hard for a demon to admit their feelings, which I'm sure you've noticed by now, and I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you . . ." Inuyasha opened his eyes once again, "So, why couldn't you tell me? And can you try to make it simple please, my brain's kinda tired."
Kagome giggled and nodded, all anger left her. Kagome thought of a simple way to put it. "Um . . . afraid of rejection, afraid of being hurt, afraid of not knowing what you'd do . . . simple enough?" Inuyasha nodded. "It's simple enough . . . but . . . I woulda never done that, Kagome . . ." Kagome brightened almost immediately and threw herself at Inuyasha to give him a hug. Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, inhaling her lovely scent.
Sango and Miroku smiled as they watched the new couple but Shippo just stared on in disbelief. He decided to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Of course, that was a bad idea because it made him yelp in pain.
When Inuyasha hear the yelp, his ears perked up and listened for any more sounds. Immediately, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all closed their eyes tightly to pretend they were sleeping. When there were no more sounds, Inuyasha's ears relaxed and the three others silently sighed in relief.
Sango and Miroku shook their heads at Shippo for almost getting them killed and decided to go back to sleep before they were noticed. Shippo was still shocked but he also decided to go to sleep.
~*~ To be continued ~*~
Next Chapter- Decisions
Chapter 2
Confessions
By: Devilspet
Inuyasha looked around now that he could actually move. He looked down and saw Kagome crying against him. This made him hurt more . . . not physically . . . mentally. It pained his heart to see her cry like that. he wished he could do something. He lifted his left arm in an attempt to embrace her; he put his arm around her waist and let it fall. Kagome looked up and gasped in surprise. " Ka-Kagome? Kagome . . . what cha' . . . cryin' for? Don't say you're cryin' for me?" he asked slowly, "Don't worry . . . it doesn't hurt . . . much . . . I can . . . barely . . . feel it."
Kagome's voice came out fearfully but stern, "Inu-Inuyasha, that's a bad sign . . . you can be seriously injured. And . . . have I told you how stupid you are?" Inuyasha smiled a bit and shook his head slowly, "No . . . you haven't. I'm guessing you're gonna tell me now, right?" Kagome smirked, "No . . . maybe later. Come on, we need to get you back to Kaede's hut. Kagome hoisted herself up, off the ground and helped Inuyasha up too, "Inuyasha?"
"Huh . . ." He answered. Kagome gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Thank you, Inuyasha . . .for waiting for me so long . . . and for trying to stay safe . . . which I know you were. You know . . . you're lucky to be alive. What happened?"
Inuyasha looked straight ahead, "First of all, you're very welcome. Second of all, I'm only alive because you found me. And finally, third of all, I was hiding in the Go-Shinboku tree . . . waiting for you and Sesshomaru found me, sleeping, and realized I was human . . . so he attacked me- or more like tried to like tried to kill me, thinking it would be easy, which it was. We were playin' attack-dodge for a while, with him doin' all the attacking since I didn't have me claws or any weapons."
"I got kinda tired after a while and I moved too slowly when he attacked so he got me in the shoulder, then he said he was gonna kill me, then go for you and the others . . . and that pissed me off so I attacked him and missed, and ha-ha, I ran head first into a tree. I collapsed to me knees then he said I wasn't worth killin' and told me I'd probably die tonight . . . I kinda believed him there . . . and then he left and I think I lost consciousness,"
When he finally finished, he heard a small whimper from his left. "Kagome?" When Kagome saw that he was looking at her . . . she hastily wiped away the tears, put a huge smile on her face, and looked up at him. "Kagome? What's the matter?" Inuyasha asked with a large amount of concern. Kagome's smile wavered a bit, but never left her face, "Nothing's wrong . . . why do you ask?"
Inuyasha' eyes filled with annoyance, "Oh . . . I dunno Kagome! You were only cryin'! Why would there any thing to worry about?!" He shouted as Kagome winced backward, "God Kagome! Why would I think any thing was wrong with you?!" his voice suddenly softened, "Come on, Kagome, you know I'll listen if you need to talk to someone. You can tell me any thing! Why don't you talk to me? Whether you like it or not I'll be there for you . . . always! You know that. Anything you wanna tell me, Kagome? Remember. I'll listen."
He leaned forward to kiss her gingerly on the lips. It was a quick but meaningful kiss. Kagome knew exactly what he meant by the kiss, it meant he would be there for her, always and forever. "I was really worried Inuyasha . . . I thought I lost you . . . I thought you were dead, Inuyasha! I thought it was my fault! I couldn't stand the thought! I'm sorry . . . you got hurt . . . and it was my fault," She looked down at her feet.
"Kagome . . ." he lifted her head with his good arm so she would look at him. He gasped to see that tears were glistening on her cheeks once again, "No . . . don't cry . . . it wasn't your fault, I was just bein' stupid like you said . . . I knew I shoulda been inside but I was too stubborn to leave . . . because . . . I wanted to make sure you were okay . . . so I came to wait . . . and I was gonna walk ya back . . . to make sure nothin' happened on the way. I- I just . . . feel better when I'm able to protect you . . . that's why I don't like it when you go home . . . 'cause I can't be there with you to protect you. I- I can't really explain it but . . . I- I just fell like I'm obligated to do that . . . like it's my one, sole duty or something. And it's not that I have to I- I actually . . . want to protect you. Do you understand?" Kagome blinked repeatedly and shook her head. Inuyasha snickered, "That's okay, I didn't really understand myself . . . and I said it!"
"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked as they walked back to Kaede's house. "Hmm, yes, Inuyasha?"
"No secrets . . . promise me you won't keep anything from me, okay?" Kagome blinked at Inuyasha but nodded, "Only if you promise the same thing," Inuyasha smiled and nodded as well. Kagome grinned and leapt into Inuyasha's arms. When Inuyasha tried to return the hug with his injured arm, he yelped in pain.
Kagome gasped and pulled away quickly to see a smirk on Inuyasha's face, 'That's weird,' she thought. She tilted her head as if asking him why. "Looks like I can feel my arm after all . . . I musta just been ignorin' it . . . that's good news right 'cause ya still look kinda worried?"
Kagome smiled. "Yeah . . . that's great news! Now, can we go back to Kaede's?" Inuyasha nodded and started to walk towards Kaede's hut, leaving Kagome behind. Kagome hesitated a few moments, but she hurried after him.
~*~
They got back to the hut and Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede all woke up from their sleep.
"So . . . Inuyasha, what happened to your shoulder?" Shippo teased. Inuyasha sat on the floor and allowed Kaede to inspect his wound. He growled at Shippo. "Sesshomaru happened. He attacked me . . . while I . . . was sleepin' and . . . I was human . . so I didn't . . . ouch . . . sense him comin' . . . he thought he'd have a better chance if I . . . was human . . . and he did. I was too slow dodging one of his attacks and he clawed me in the shoulder . . . I guess . . . I collapsed and the next thing I knew . . . Kagome found me . . . and brought me here . . ." he hissed through clenched teeth as Kaede put some rubbing alcohol, that Kagome brought from her own time, on the wound. There was another major sting in his shoulder and he winced in pain, "OUCH!! OLD LADY BE CAREFUL!!" he shouted. Kaede sighed, "I'm being as careful as possible, Inuyasha . . . calm down."
Kagome and Shippo were both snickering on the other side of the room.
"What are you two laughin' at?" Inuyasha snarled. Kagome laughed harder but Shippo walked forward toward Inuyasha and tried to speak but doubling over in laughter a few steps away from him, "Inu . . . yasha . . . you're being such a . . . ha ha . . . a big . . . ha-ha . . . a baby!"
Inuyasha snarled again, this time barring his dull, human teeth, which weren't very frightening, "Well . . . why don't you come over here and I'll give you a small dose of what this feels like, fox?" Inuyasha grabbed at Shippo but missed. Shippo's face paled a lot at that comment; he backed away from Inuyasha. "N-no th-thanks, Inuyasha . . . I'm fine," Shippo stammered. Inuyasha smirked in self-satisfaction, "That's what I thought . . . Hmph. Ouch!" he screamed as Kaede put some more alcohol on his wound. Everyone except Inuyasha and Kaede, who had to keep herself steady and forced the laugh back, burst out laughing at Inuyasha.
~*~
An hour passed and Sang, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede went back to sleep, or so Inuyasha thought. He was still up because of his wound every movement he made . . . it reminded him of his shoulder by stinging in pain . . . he was constantly whimpering. Kagome was having trouble sleeping because of Inuyasha . . . every time he whimpered it made her worry more and more. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and she scooted toward Inuyasha to talk to him, "Hey, Inuyasha . . . are you doing okay?" she whispered.
"Kagome . . . does it look or sound like I'm okay?" he asked irritably. Kagome looked down at the floor and spoke shyly, "No, I'm sorry . . . stupid question . . ." Inuyasha felt guilt build up in his heart, "No . . . Kagome, I'm sorry . . . that wasn't a stupid question . . . you have a right to ask, I guess . . . I mean . . . you're only worried." He reassured her.
There was a long silence between the two of them. "Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. "Yeah?"
"You said no secrets, right?" Kagome asked again. "Yeah, why? Is there a problem with that?" Inuyasha questioned her back. "No! Well . . . um . . . uh . . . no . . . but . . . kinda . . ." Kagome stammered. Inuyasha sighed, "Kagome, what are you sayin'?"
"Well, I've kinda . . . sorta been . . . keeping a secret from you . . ." Kagome mumbled. Inuyasha looked a little puzzled, 'A secret, huh? I wonder what it is . . .'
"Oh, well, do you wanna tell me it?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome gulped and nodded. "Well . . . I kinda . . . I sorta . . . um . . . how can I say this?" she gulped again and blurted it out quickly, "I love you." Inuyasha's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped and he spoke rather loudly, "WHAT?!" Then he realized how loud he spoke and softened his voice, "What did you say, Kagome?"
"I said that I love you, Inuyasha . . . see, I have for a long time . . . but I'm not allowed to say I don't anymore," she smirked, "because I promised . . . and I try very hard not to break promises . . . even though some don't always work out, I can keep this one," she told him softly and turned her smirk into a grin. Inuyasha leaned close in order to kiss her when they heard a snicker, 'WE HAVE AN AUDIENCE?!' Inuyasha mentally screamed. "Oh, God!" Kagome whimpered and turned a very, very dark red.
Luckily, from what Inuyasha could see, it was only Shippo who was awake. But, what he didn't know was that Sango and Miroku were up too, but they had enough sense to stay quiet.
"FOX! Just because I'm human doesn't mean I can't beat your ass!" he snarled at Shippo. "Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped, "You wouldn't do that?!" Inuyasha growled softly at Shippo then turned to Kagome with a smile, "No, of course not, anything for my Kagome." Kagome smiled back at him.
Sango and Miroku couldn't hold back their gasps this time and they let their jaws drop. Neither of them could believe their ears. Inuyasha just claimed Kagome as his and there was no protest from her. Miroku was truly confused. 'That means Inuyasha DOES love Kagome back, right? Damn it! This is weird!'
Inuyasha noticed the gasps and growled, "Miroku? Sango? Are you guys up, too?!" Miroku's eyes bulged, "SHIT!" he hissed. Sango shook her head and responded, "Yes, Inuyasha . . . we're awake but, go on, that was so sweet . . ."
Inuyasha cursed Sango under his breath, "Go to sleep! All of you! Listen up, my good senses are comin' back and if I catch any of you up, there'll be trouble!" Even though that was a total lie about his senses coming back, it seemed to work because after a few moments, everything went quiet. "Inuyasha, do I have to go back to sleep?" she asked in a very low whisper.
Inuyasha smiled at her and whispered back, "No, Kagome, you can stay. It'll help me to have some company. It'll keep my mind of my shoulder, unless you wanna go to sleep," Inuyasha answered. Kagome shook her head and snuggled up against Inuyasha's chest and made herself comfortable. Inuyasha didn't object when she did this, it actually made him a bit more comfortable himself.
Within a matter of minutes, Kagome was asleep against Inuyasha.
Kagome suddenly shifted in her sleep and scared Inuyasha. He looked down at her. There was sweat covering her face and she was clutching Inuyasha's shirt for dear life. Inuyasha looked at her worriedly, 'She must be havin' a nightmare . . . should I wake her?" Kagome twitched again. Inuyasha decided to wake her. "Kagome . . . wake up." He whispered while shaking her gently, "Kagome . . . come on. Wake up! You're only dreaming . . . wake up!" Kagome blinked her eyes open with a gasp.
"W-what happened?" Kagome asked Inuyasha. "You were havin' a nightmare . . . care to share it?" He asked and gave her a hug. Kagome shuttered and Inuyasha tightened his embrace. "If I can remember it . . . okay, now I remember."
Inuyasha prepared himself to listen and Kagome continued, "Well, I was walking through the woods coming from the well and heading back to this village, because I was gone in my time for a few weeks. And as I walked back I saw a trail of blood and I followed it . . . thinking that maybe I could help. So, I was following it for a while and I started to smell something really disgusting, but I couldn't tell what it was. I walked for a bit longer and I saw it," tears were starting to form in her eyes but she still continued.
"It was . . . you, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo . . . you were all dead and blood all around you, the smell was the stench of decay and I fell to my knees then I burst into tears. I couldn't see or hear anything around me so I didn't know what was coming behind me. But whatever it was, it attacked me, and then- and then . . ." Kagome couldn't continue, she burst into tears and buried her face in Inuyasha's shirt.
The sun began to rise slowly over the horizon and Inuyasha began to turn back into a half demon. He could feel his fangs and claws lengthen, his hair was turning back to its silver color, his eyes were changing golden once again, his dog ears were appearing on the top of his head again, and finally his power was coming back, seeping back through his veins and healing his shoulder.
"Come on, Kagome . . . please don't cry . . . you know I don't like that. And besides, you know I wouldn't let that happen. Can you please look at me, Kagome? Just let me see your eyes . . . come, on please, I love your eyes, but I don't love them more than I love you . . ." Inuyasha told her. Kagome gasped and looked up, she was speechless. He wiped the tears off her face and told her, "There, that's better . . . I like your eyes better when you aren't crying . . ."
~*~
Not only was Kagome speechless but Sango, Miroku, and Shippo were speechless as well- not that they would say anything but . . . they can still be speechless.
~*~
'He . . . said . . . that . . . and . . . he's in his . . . half demon form again. This is . . . way too . . . weird! Did he really mean that?' she thought as, she didn't realize it, she stared in his eyes, her head tilted to a side.
"What ya staring at, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, startling her. Kagome averted her gaze to the floor, "Nothing . . ." she said shyly. Inuyasha blinked and cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her head upwards so she would look at him. "No secrets, Kagome . . ." Inuyasha told her. "Damn it! Why'd I promise that? Well . . . anyway . . . I don't know; I was just thinking . . . that's all." Inuyasha tilted his head to one side, "Thinking? About what?" Kagome saddened a bit, "I was asking myself if you really meant that . . . did you?" Inuyasha looked confused. "What? You mean about loving you?" Kagome nodded.
"Kagome . . . how could you think that's not true?? I love you more than I ever loved Kikyo! I love you more than anything! I've loved you for such a long time!" Inuyasha told her quietly. Kagome felt anger build inside her, "Then why couldn't you ever tell me?!" she hissed at him.
Inuyasha shook his head and closed his eyes, "I'm sorry. Kagome, I couldn't, my pride as a demon wouldn't let me. See, a demon, even a half demon, loving a human is almost unheard of . . . it's not tolerated very well and it rarely ever happens . . . and if it does happen it's hard for a demon to admit their feelings, which I'm sure you've noticed by now, and I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you . . ." Inuyasha opened his eyes once again, "So, why couldn't you tell me? And can you try to make it simple please, my brain's kinda tired."
Kagome giggled and nodded, all anger left her. Kagome thought of a simple way to put it. "Um . . . afraid of rejection, afraid of being hurt, afraid of not knowing what you'd do . . . simple enough?" Inuyasha nodded. "It's simple enough . . . but . . . I woulda never done that, Kagome . . ." Kagome brightened almost immediately and threw herself at Inuyasha to give him a hug. Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, inhaling her lovely scent.
Sango and Miroku smiled as they watched the new couple but Shippo just stared on in disbelief. He decided to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Of course, that was a bad idea because it made him yelp in pain.
When Inuyasha hear the yelp, his ears perked up and listened for any more sounds. Immediately, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all closed their eyes tightly to pretend they were sleeping. When there were no more sounds, Inuyasha's ears relaxed and the three others silently sighed in relief.
Sango and Miroku shook their heads at Shippo for almost getting them killed and decided to go back to sleep before they were noticed. Shippo was still shocked but he also decided to go to sleep.
~*~ To be continued ~*~
Next Chapter- Decisions
