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an Inuyasha fanfiction
by
mkh2
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Two notes: raised the rating to PG because of one naughty word in chapter 2, though in the context used it wasn't that bad.
Also, I have two versions for this – one in both their views (mostly Kagome), and one in only Inuyasha's view. I'm going to post up Inuyasha's view with this story and the mostly Kagome view separately.
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~Who I am~
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Epilogue: I am Inuyasha
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"He was marking you." He peeked over at her and saw that she was waiting for him to continue. "As a… potential mate."
"Oh." Kagome blinked thoughtfully and leaned back, glancing at the sky momentarily before looking back at him. "Is that all?"
"Is that all?!" Inuyasha stared at her, aghast. "Is that all?!? Kagome, I could have forced you into being my mate—"
"But you didn't. I don't think you would have, not until I was ready," Kagome interrupted, saying so with the utmost sincerity.
"How do you know?" Inuyasha started tugging at the loose threads on the Tetsusaiga's hilt out of sheer nervousness.
"Because I know you, and you would never do anything to hurt me – not like that, and never on purpose. He's you, and you, whether you are the hanyou, the youkai, or the human will always be Inuyasha to me."
Inuyasha stared for a minute feeling relief wash over him in a calming wave. He let out a soft sigh before moving to sit next to her again.
They sat like that together for most of the night when, as the sun came up, a thought occurred to him.
"What do you mean, when you were ready?"
She laughed.
~
"Ne, Kagome, what did you mean by it, huh, huh?"
They had been traveling for an hour now, searching for the shards, Inuyasha content enough with her answer to let her stay but not enough as to let it drop. Kagome, though, seemed to beginning to regret losing her chance to go home.
She sighed softly and glanced over at the twitching white puppy ears on his head, careful to avoid his gaze. She had been doing that all day – avoiding his gaze, he means. She'd look at his hair, or his nose, or his ears, but she seemed bound and determined to not look him in the eyes.
Feh, like he'd let her get away with it.
He realized, again, that he was walking closer to her – he couldn't help it… the slight alteration in her scent practically screamed at him to get as close to her as possible – and took half a step off to the side to make some room, while his will was strong enough to let him. Was it his fault that she smelled so good this morning? Well, only a little…
Suddenly he realized with a start that she was running down the path. She ran at an incredible speed – for a human, that is – probably able to do so because she was unhindered by the heavy pack he carried on his back.
Ah, but he was a hanyou…
…and the inu-youkai in him loved a good chase.
It was largely instinctual, chasing, but he had to remember that she was not his mate, and this was not her idea of foreplay (he blushed at the thought), but it was a way for her to put distance between them.
"…not until I was ready."
Ooh! She just had too open her trap, didn't she?
"Kagome! Kagome, get back here!" He was not going to let his instincts override his sensibilities. She had shown him that she had enough faith and trust in him and his honor and integrity.
Aw, heck.
With a few good, smooth bounds, he landed lightly in front of her and turned to watch her run into his chest. She stiffened for a moment before her shoulders slumped forward in defeat.
That's right, Kagome, uh oh.
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"Inuyasha, put me down, put me down! I can walk, you know."
"Yeah, I know, I've seen ya. I've seen ya run too."
Inuyasha, to put it succinctly, was annoyed. More than a little annoyed, he felt angry – why would she run? He also felt a bit sad – did she not want to be near him? Maybe he did scare her off yesterday.
Kagome sighed, tapping her fingers lightly on Inuyasha's back, one elbow pressed just above his shoulder blade. He had picked her up and slung her over his shoulder in huff, ignoring her protests and pinning his ears to his head. She shouldn't have run, she should have known he'd give chase – she had often teased him about being dog-like, especially after that wimpy wolf had got on his back about being a puppy, though at first she had tried to console him. He figured out soon enough that she liked his puppy-like qualities, even putting on a show, sometimes, about scratching his ears with his foot or shaking the water off.
…He also knew that she knew better than to run from a dog, as she had often warned her little brother, and occasionally Shippou, about meeting with stray dogs.
"Always hold your ground – unless if you realize you've intruded into it's territory, then back away slowly; never look it in the eye or bare your teeth at it; and above all – don't run."
Oh yeah, she knew, alright, but he couldn't figure out why she did it.
He still felt a little excited.
They walked for half an hour, her complaining and whining the whole time when she first tried to trick him into letting her down.
"Please put me down? Inuyasha? I'm hungry…"
"Get some chips out of your bag then."
"You'll get crumbs in your hair."
"Feh."
What should he care? Even so, she pulled out the bag of chips, munching on them. He ignored the feeling of little crumbs falling in his hair, and had to work hard to stifle the pleased rumble that was building up in his chest as, after she finished her snack, she carefully removed any and all traces of the chip from the strands.
Soon enough she started again.
"Can we stop? I'm tired."
"How can you be tired? I'm the one doing all the work."
She was a silent for a moment – guess she realized she couldn't argue that point. Still, she seemed determined to get off as she quickly started in on her usual threat.
"I'll say it, Inuyasha, I'll say the word!"
"You really wanna risk breaking your legs under me?"
She grew very quiet, obviously the thought of what would happen with half of her hanging on either side of him upon his being "sat" was unpleasant enough to quail her tongue.
He continued walking, feeling somewhat hungry, but not willing to set her down. At first he barely noticed it. A small squirm here, a little twitch there, then she crossed her legs and squeezed as she made little disgruntled sounds somewhere behind him. Next thing he knew she was practically bouncing on his shoulder, an unpleasant feeling considering he was trying to keep the both of them balanced and the jarring effect her squirming was having on the shoulder straps biting into his other shoulder.
"Would you knock it off?"
"I can't help it… I have to go to the bathroom."
Judging from how long she's been making those movements and sounds, and considering the fact that he hadn't noticed her using the bathroom even once since regaining his sentient mind, he could believe her.
"Fine." Dropping her on the ground without ceremony, he watched, half amused as she sprang to her feet and practically flew at some bushes. After a moment he tossed the bag to her – she might need it – and sat to wait.
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Fifteen minutes. He sat there for fifteen minutes. Waiting. And waiting and waiting and waiting… What could possibly be taking her so long? Did she fall asleep or something? Maybe her zipper – whatever that was – was stuck. She's mentioned such "embarrassing" things before.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha called.
He heard her sigh and after a minute she reentered the clearing, dragging her ridiculously large pack behind her.
Standing, Inuyasha moved towards her. She quickly let go of her backpack, the large pack seeming to almost deflate where it sat, and stepped backwards, one hand clutching her stomach, the other held out in front of her.
"No more, no more – I think my spleen is going to rupture."
He froze. "What?"
"I– I'll walk, I'll behave, just please, don't carry me like that… I think my stomach's gonna bruise." She rubbed her hand over her abdomen gingerly. Did it really hurt?
He stared for a minute before, grabbing her bag, he sat down.
"Well, it is lunch time…" Not to mention he felt a little sorry for her.
"Yay! Fetch me some wood, would you?" and she set about setting up the stones, pot, water, and cups. He grumbled as he went to get the wood ("I'm not a dog! I don't 'fetch!'") and returned momentarily with the wood. She set up the fire and set the water to boil.
Inuyasha sat close to her, his knee just brushing hers, watching her watching the pot. He had never sat this close before, not really, except for one time when they were supposed to be guarding the soul of a dead princess… he had entertained thoughts of romance, despite the rather morbid surroundings, but those were quickly quashed when she snapped at him about being scared and they argued… and he felt too ashamed after the meeting with Kikyo so soon after to pursue her again, at least for a while. If only he just kept quiet and kissed her instead of questioning why she was so close to him, or at least put his arm around her! Ah, regrets…
It seems he wasn't the only one who could be so easily flustered. She scooted away.
He followed.
"Well?"
She refused to look at him or answer him, preferring instead to stare at the slowly roiling water in the pot and chewing on her bottom lip. He wanted to chew on her bottom lip. Stop that! He decided to try a different approach.
Poke, poke. Poke, poke.
She was a soft cream. She turned a light pink, then rose, then bright cherry red. He admired her color-changing abilities. She giggled.
Soon Inuyasha had tickled her into a little red, white, brown and green giggling heap on the forest floor, her breath coming in short gasps as she tried to stop her laughter.
"I give! I give! Just… stop!"
"Then tell me."
Kagome's laughter died down and raised her eyes to his. Despite the fact that her laughter was making it hard for her to keep her mouth closed she still managed to pout. She didn't want to explain to him… Was she really so ashamed of what she had said? Or was it…
Was it a mistake?
He prayed it wasn't. He had wanted to be with her for so long, he couldn't remember when he had first started feeling these emotions welling up in his chest, readying to burst forth if he didn't keep tight reins on them.
Naturally, he adored her scent – it really was a lie when he had said that her scent made him retch, and it was also a lie – not that he corrected it – when he said that Kikyo was more beautiful and more intelligent looking. Well, okay, maybe Kagome did have a sort of naïve look, but that was all the more appealing to him – even despite all the experience she had soon gained, she never lost that naivety and optimism, and he hoped she never would.
She was his first friend, his best friend, the first to teach him to trust, the first he felt he could depend on. She believed in him, and he in her – though he wasn't too good with showing his faith in her (he found that one of the best ways to get her to try harder, work harder, was to make her mad – it worked with the archery, it worked with her shikon-detecting abilities, it worked with almost completely purifying Naraku {which made him glad that he had never pushed her that far} – and since it was easy to do, he preferred to stick with what he knew.) He wanted her to be with him always, and she had said she would, even when he was going to "break up with her", because he felt it was the right thing to do – he had hurt her much too much, and he never wanted to do that.
Now, he wanted something more than that, and what she had said suggested to him that someday his hopes could be realized.
"…not until I was ready."
Isn't that what she meant? That maybe she wasn't ready now, but someday, someday she would be his mate?
"Please?"
She blinked up at him. He himself could hardly believe that he had said it – he was getting desperate, he had to know…
"I wouldn't mind being your mate someday."
Oh, no! He was wrong! She didn't mean—
Hold it… she said what?
"Ah… wha?"
She giggled and reaching up started massaging his ear, starting at the tip and working down the base.
If it was physically possible, she would be covered in a warm puddle of inu-hanyou goo right about now.
"I said, I would like to be your mate someday, if you want me."
Inuyasha lifted his molten gold gaze to hers and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Someday," he agreed and kissed her on the mouth softly, more a whisper of a kiss than anything.
They spent the rest of the day like that, in each other's arms.
…
Of course, they went back to their usual arguments the next morning.
"I need to head back home! I have tests! Homework! Obligations!"
"You have obligations here too!"
"Inuyasha, oswurai!"
As Shippou would say, "Ah, nice weather."
~End Epilogue – I am Inuyasha~
The "nice weather" comment was when, after Inuyasha spent the night at Kagome's house, thereby making it hard for her to study and depriving her of her bed, they had headed back, and Kagome, tired and upset over her test, was really cranky. Naturally, it wouldn't be polite to drag it on, so he "changed" the subject by greeting with the standard comment on the weather.
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No, Inuyasha was not being a pervert – he's still a bit hormonal (who wouldn't be at that age) but it's largely instinctual. Except for the fact that probably very few hanyou had managed to live to that age, he would probably have been looking for a mate for quite a while. Sesshoumaru might actually have one – there isn't that much known about him, but we can only assume – and even if he didn't it's probably because of his (insanely) high standards. Besides, being lord of the western lands is a full time responsibility. Shippou doesn't have a mate, despite being around fifty human years old, at least because, considering the kitsune developmental standards, he is still technically a pup. They're supposedly supposed to live to be 900 years old (I guess you get an extra tail per century or something starting at 100/200 because I've only heard of kitsune having up to nine tails and that is supposed to be a sign of age and power.)
Well, maybe he's a little perverted.
Don't look at me like I'm weird – I've loved looking into this sort of stuff since I was in fifth grade. I mean, when you're bored and there are some nice books on different forms of spirits, a book on werewolves and the like, and books on vampires, what's a fifth-grader to do? I especially liked the stories of were-kitsune (mostly Japanese legends, naturally), but one thing: you must be careful never to make and break a promise to a kitsune or you will have a lifelong, and very dangerous, enemy. I don't think I've ever seen Kagome actually make a promise to Shippou bigger than "I'll bring you a lolly." However, if you were lucky enough to save a kitsune, you'll have a lifelong friend.
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1 and ½ hours.