Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-yasha… are we surprised?

Chapter Seven

"Kagome?" said Inu-yasha nervously a while later as they were all assembled eating dinner. She glared at him, making him shrink back a little in fear. Ooh, she could be scary when she wanted to.

"I was just wondering…can I talk to you alone, later?" She looked at him doubtfully, but accepted with a nod. The rest of their group, meanwhile, had put their heads together in a huddle, looking at the two of them suspiciously.

"Alone… do you suppose that means what I think it means?" said Miroku shrewdly.

"Ooh…" said Sango, trying ineffectively to hide a snigger, "has he finally decided to spit it out?"

"They were up late a few days ago, too," Shippou commented. "And they were hugging."

Blushing furiously, Inu-yasha tried to look threatening as he glared at them (at Shippou in particular). All it accomplished, however, was to bring Sango and Miroku into another fit of the giggles.

"AARGH!" yelled Inu-yasha and stomped off into the forest.

After a while someone came and sat down beside him, where he was resting by the base of a birch.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" asked Kagome calmly. He started as he noticed it was her and edged away a little, but when he saw that she no longer looked furious he relaxed.

"Um…" He hesitated, not sure of how to ask what he wanted to know. If there was anything he didn't want to do, it was bring her pain by rooting up unpleasant images.

"I need to know… if Sesshoumaru was there again, and if so, what he did. Wasn't that why you fainted?"

"Yes…" she replied quietly, then started talking slowly. "He…talked to me. And he was holding my hands in his – I tried to pierce him with an arrow, I really tried, but he was too fast… And he was saying stuff, like how much more boring it would be for him to stay there if I wasn't there to look at, and how he had come all the way here too see me, and how I should be happy over being complimented. Aargh, I just can't take it!" She fell quiet and looked down at her hands. Inu-yasha opened his mouth to say something, he wasn't really sure himself of what, but then she spoke again.

"Also… he kissed me."

Inu-yasha froze, going rigid all over. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. The thought of Sesshoumaru laying his lips on Kagome – on his Kagome – made him so full of rage he could barely contain himself. His breath came in ragged gasps as he felt his demon side rising and threatening to take him over.

'No!' a small part of his brain thought. 'Not so close to Kagome… Anything could happen… You could hurt her…' Gradually he regained control over his senses, forcing the demon back inside himself.

"Inu-yasha?" she asked, looking worried. He smiled at her soothingly.

"I'm OK. I was just a little overwhelmed." He cracked his knuckles. "I can't believe he did that to you. I will see to it that he never does again."

"Oooh, good, good," whispered Miroku, who was hiding with Sango and Shippou a bit further away, shamelessly eavesdropping. "Making pretty promises like that melts a girl's heart."

"You haven't promised me anything," said Sango casually. Miroku looked hesitant.

"But yesterday – "

"You promised you'd never stop groping my ass, not even after I turned sixty."

"And what is that if not a pretty promise? I think your ass is pretty!"

"You people make me sick," said Shippou in disbelief.

Inu-yasha and Kagome, oblivious to the sneaks further off, regarded each other in grave silence.

"And it wasn't the first time," said Kagome, her voice now barely more than a whisper. "When he first marked me, you know, that night, he kissed me too. And he…" she gulped. "He…" she tried again, and once again was forced to stop. "He was just so… disgusting. He touched me… oh! And he… He licked my face…" Her face twisted in repulsion. Inu-yasha's drew his breath in sharply.

'I just can't believe that man. I knew he was disgusting, but he's just so… so…' He couldn't even find any names ugly enough to give his brother. He was broken off in his thoughts by a sniffle next to him.

"Damn, I think I'm starting to cry again…"

"Ooh, they're so cute!" squealed Sango quietly as she saw Inu-yasha pull Kagome into a tight hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. After a while she reacted and hugged him back.

"Miroku, cover Shippou's eyes!" Sango said hastily.

"Geroff me… I've seen them hug before… damn it, I've seen you kiss and that's rated R if anything is…"

"I'm sorry…" Kagome whispered against Inu-yasha's jacket, with a trace of laughter in her voice. "Seems I turned on the waterworks again…"

Inu-yasha sat with her for a long while letting her cry it all out. Again. He knew she needed it. The rest of their gang left in disgust, Miroku and Sango disappointed over the lack of action and Shippou just disgusted by everything in general, featuring Sango and Miroku at the top of the list.

"He blew it," said Miroku resignedly. "Never had a way with women."

"No, she blew it," said Sango firmly.

"He did."

"She did."

"He did."

"She did."

'Holy mother of red-haired kitsunes,' thought Shippou to himself, 'how did I get landed with this group of morons?'

*************

"Sesshoumaru!"

Kagome woke gasping from yet another nightmare. She put her knuckles in her eyes, cursing him silently. Wasn't it enough that the demon occupied her every waking thought? Did he have to come to her at night too?

She sat up and saw that Inu-yasha was sitting a bit further off, guarding them as usual. Standing up quietly, she made her way over to him.

Inu-yasha was sitting with every sense alert, and so he easily noticed Kagome even without turning around.

"Nightmare, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"About Sesshoumaru?"

"How did you guess."

He looked at her and saw that her face was lined with worries. She was so scared, living with the fear of Sesshoumaru every day.

He got up quickly and walked over to where Shippou was lying, bending over the little kit and waving a hand in front of his face. He then put his ear close to the smaller demon's mouth and listened carefully, seemingly happy with what he heard. Smirking, he walked back to Kagome, who was staring at him with a very bemused expression.

"OK… that was weird."

"I just wanted to make sure the little squirt wasn't eavesdropping again. He's such a pain in the – "

"Shut up," said Kagome pleasantly. "I know you like him, although you won't show it." Inu-yasha was wearing his "yeah right"-look, but refrained from commenting.

"I'm really grateful that you're protecting us, Inu-yasha," Kagome then said, her face serious again. "You are really great, always staying up and watching over us while we sleep… I think you're wonderful."

"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since you caught me trying to ride your bike."

"I'm serious! Without you, I'd probably have died from fear already."

He watched her closely, the dark no problem for his eyes. She looked sad and frightened, and he regretted joking about what she had said.

"I'll always be here to protect you, Kagome. You don't have to worry about Sesshoumaru. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you better earlier…" He swallowed, thinking about the look on her face when Sesshoumaru dropped his Shikon shard in her hand. When Sesshoumaru scratched her throat. When Sesshoumaru came near her.

"I will do all in my power to keep him from coming that close to you again. I'll die myself before that happens."

"Inu-yasha…" She was meaning to thank him again, but what came out of her mouth was something entirely different.

"Do you love me?"

Horrified over what she had said she shut her mouth with a snap. What on earth had possessed her to say that??! She didn't know what she expected him to reply – a disdainful "no", a hesitant yes or a flustered stammer.

She knew she had not expected what he really said though.

"Of course."

With a loud clunk Kagome's jaw hit the forest floor and her eyes widened until they were the size of…something really big. Did he just say what she thought he did? She almost expected him to grin and say "Fooled ya!"

"I told you that before, didn't I?" he asked, looking mildly surprised at her shock. "When you woke up in the village, just before we started on this newest journey. I'm sure I did."

"I thought I was dreaming…"

Inu-yasha looked at her with a small frown. She wasn't looking angry or something, but she wasn't looking very happy, either. She was looking… dazed, that's the word. Was this a positive reaction?

"Yeah well," he said, shrugging his shoulders casually, deciding to change the subject, "isn't it time to go to bed? You don't want to stay up too late, now, you know you'll just be really tired tomorrow."

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something? Isn't there something you think you ought to know about?" she said, snapping out of the daze and glaring at him angrily. Damn it. She was angry after all.

"Like what?"

She reached her hand out and ran her fingers through his hair. She had wanted to do that for a long while.

"My feelings."

And she leaned forward and kissed him.

                      *************

References: The line "It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since you caught me trying to ride your bike", I stole that from Harry Potter, the first book. (Yeah, so I stole a line. Bite me.)

Note from obsessed sister: That's MY Inudarling's hair! Geroffa him! Hey, Fanny get off me! I'll kill her! MY Inudarling! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

…oh yeah, and did I mention my sister really really likes Inu-yasha?