Forgotten Snow
Chapter Eleven


"Wow, the stars are beautiful tonight, huh, Inu-yasha?" Kagome said with a smile as she gazed up at the twinkling lights.

"I suppose," Inu-yasha said with a soft smile, his cheeks flushed pink from the winter wind. He smiled, "Want to hear something lame?"

Kagome looked up at him with a smile, "What?"

"Say the stars are beautiful again," Inu-yasha grinned boyishly his ears twitching away from the soft, night wind.

Kagome giggled, "The stars are beautiful tonight."

"Not as beautiful as you!" Inu-yasha chuckled, his eyes twinkling when Kagome lightly punched him. "See I told you it was lame."

"Yeah, it was," Kagome leaned into his shoulder as they walked down the path of the snowy park. "But you make it cute."

"Feh, everything about me is cute," Inu yasha grinned.

Kagome rolled her eyes and kissed him softly. "You're so conceited."

"You made me this way, love," Inu yasha said as he captured her lips. "I love you..."



Kagome awoke slowly, her eyes staring at the ceiling for a long time, shadows flew across the darkened room as starlight seeped through the window.

Sighing, Kagome glanced at her clock: five in the morning.

Today, she decided, she'd call in sick and have a nice day to herself. Smiling softly she got up to take a shower. In her high school years, she had been quite the thespian, so...

One hour later, Kagome was hacking and coughing into the phone. "Thanks again, Sango. Tell Inu-yasha I'm really sorry, ok?"

"Of course, Kagome," Sango's voice carried through the wires, "I hope you feel better soon."

"Me too, Sango, thank you," Kagome coughed and hung up the phone, "For giving me a free ticket out of here!"

She grinned again and grabbed her jacket. She was greeted with the crisp morning air as she strolled along the sidewalk. Snow fell from the sky in small little flakes, and her crystallized breath flew through the wintry air. "This is the life," she said absently as she placed a wool hat on her head. Her sparkling blue eyes looked ahead as she walked briskly across the street and to the park.

Her long, slender legs came to a halt outside of the park, and she sighed softly. Lodging her hands into her jacket pockets Kagome walked airily into the frosty land.

Small children ran screaming as they were plummeted with snowballs, their parents chasing after them and laughing happily. Junior high school girls ran giggling from the boys as they chased them with icicles, pretending to be serial killers. High school students sat on the wall that separated the play ground from a grassy clearing, them either smoking or commenting on how stupid younger children were and how much they hated them. (Ignoring the fact that they once were one.)

Kagome smiled as she took a familiar path into the woodsy groove. The evergreens shielded the snowflakes reign and left the mossy ground unveiled, dead leaves littered the floor and tree roots protruded from the ground, and small patches of snow appeared here and there. Kagome's feet left imprints in the soft underbrush, her shoes cracking red leaves and snapping spare twigs.

Finally, inside the groove of trees, Kagome came to a clearing in the path; the grassy area was covered by snow untouched by wandering children or playful adults. Kagome sat down on a bench and looked out at the peaceful scene. She was on the other side of the park, where a small pond was frozen over and snow was piling up to the size of small mountains.

Truly a sight to behold. And Kagome had a feeling she was the only one to see it all winter. Little people knew of this site, for the only way to get to it was to weave your way down the path in the woods, but adults were apprehensive to take their small children such a path and instead directed their children to mounds of fresh snow for building snow creatures. She and Inu…she cut her thoughts off.

"So pretty," She said absently as she tucked some hair behind her ear, her fingers grazing her earlobe, where small earrings were attached. But if some one were to look closely, they'd see a small scar no larger than the earring near the inside of her ear. The small puncture mark was barely noticeable and almost seemed like a birthmark, but Kagome hadn't acquired the mark until she was in high school. She giggled softly at the memory and closed her eyes, allowing the snow to gently caress her skin...like someone did to her so long ago...

"Inu yasha, my mother is in the other room!" Kagome hissed playfully and batted at the inu hanyou.

Inu yasha gave her a puppy dog look and made his lip quiver, "Don't you love me, Kagome?"

Kagome rolled her eyes, "Of course I love you, but you're being a nuisance!"

"Ah, you're no fun, besides, if you're silent your mother won't hear," Inu yasha whispered huskily and continued to kiss her.

"Inu-yasha. No, my mom will hear, at least wait until she's gone," Kagome yelped out as Inu yasha's lips traveled up her jaw line. "Inu yasha!!"

"Shh, Kagome," Inu yasha mumbled against her ear as he nibbled the earlobe softly.

"Inu yasha! Stop it that tickles!" Kagome giggled and she elbowed him in the abdomen.

Inu yasha's eyes widened in pain as her arm dug into his crotch. Tears sprung to the corner of his eyes as he bit down in pain...however, he accidentally latched his fangs onto the tender bit of flesh that was Kagome's ear.

"OW!" Kagome screeched out and tried to tug away from Inu yasha, whose fangs remained latched, but managed to tear the skin a little.

After a moment of shocked pain, Inu yasha released her ear and let out a moan of agony. He curled up into a ball and fell to the floor.

Kagome was clutching her ear as she bent down, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry Inu yasha! I didn't mean to, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Inu yasha said in a voice that was a slight pitch higher than it should be, "I'll be fine..."

Kagome, ignoring the small droplet of blood on her ear, knelt down by the fallen hanyou. "I'm so sorry; I totally did not mean to do that." Beside the situation, Kagome couldn't' help but giggle. "Want an ice pack or something?"

Inu yasha glared at her for a moment before smiling, "Nah, I'm fine now.

"
However, Never do that again," Inu yasha said fiercely. "That hurt like a bitch."

Kagome giggled, "Sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Inu yasha said, realizing that he'd bitten her ear, "Ouch, that's going to leave a mark."

"
Moron," Kagome muttered and smiled. "Well, if that didn't wake my mother up, nothing will." She smiled shyly and the hanyou's eyes widened briefly before breaking out into a grin.

"You mean…?" the girl nodded and the hanyou slowly slinked over her. That night they gave themselves everything they had to the other, sharing something that would stay with them forever more...

"Hey?" Kagome opened her eyes and her flashback shattered as she realized that she was out in the snow and a small pile of snow was collecting in her lap. She looked up at the person who had spoken to her and paled.

Inu yasha stood before her, his scarf blowing in the wind and a hat pulled over his adorable puppy ears. His golden eyes seemed amused and slightly hesitant as he gazed down at her. He held an umbrella over his head, shielding the snow from his already red face.

"Sango said you called in sick today," Inu yasha said curiously, "Funny, last time I checked falling asleep in the snow would make you sicker."

"I...was taking a walk when I had a dizzy spell and passed out," Kagome said quickly and fidgeted.

"I can smell when you lie, or have you forgotten that?" Inu yasha said with a grin. "So I take it you're playing hooky too, ne?"

"What?"

Inu yasha shrugged, "I didn't feel like coming into work today so I told Sesshoumaru that I got snowed in."

Kagome smiled softly and stood up, brushing the snow off her wet jeans. "Oh," She said, she brushed some snow from her shoulders and off her hair.

Inu yasha held the umbrella out for her and she gratefully stepped underneath it. The two stood in silence for a while before Inu yasha cleared his throat, "Want me to walk you back to your apartment?"

"I'd like that," Kagome said. It was funny, one minute they would be screaming at each other and the next they could actually be almost civil with each other. Almost like they were friends. She chuckled at that thought and gazed up at Inu yasha, his golden eyes were trained to the ground, making sure they didn't step on any ice.

She felt more comfortable around Inu yasha then she ever had with anyone else before. Not even Naraku had made her feel safe, and Kouga was just plain creepy. A few years back she'd met a boy named Hojo, but it hadn't worked out...Inu yasha was by far the greatest man she'd ever met, despite his faults.

She glanced around and realized that she was in front of her apartment building. "Hey, how did you know where I lived?" Kagome asked suspiciously.

Inu yasha blushed and pretended to be occupied with closing his umbrella and dusting off small amounts of snow from the doorknob of Kagome's apartment building. "I never said this was it, did I? You just did," he said quickly, "Well, I was going to go in and.....use the bathroom, but you know, this is yours so, I expect to see you at the office tomorrow."

Kagome rolled her eyes, "Yes sir."

Truth be told, Inu yasha had followed Kagome and Kouga on their date and it had taken everything he could to not rip the wolf's head off. Instead, he had growled deeply when he leaned into her for a kiss. It took him a moment, but he soon heard the deep warning from his throat and had left Kagome in a hurry, much to his relief.

As Kagome entered her apartment he softly smiled and continued on his way. He had a certain thing he needed to do at the office.