Wow! Chapter 17, can you believe it? I can hardly. This story seems so old, but I've got people reading it so I'm not complaining ^_^
Thank you to my reviewers: loozer-09, Hanamaru285, Guardian Angel of ALL Anime (I'm glad you liked the chapter so much and I hope you and Inuyasha will be happy together ^_^), lil-demon-nightmare (just because that rifle could kill Finn doesn't mean it could harm a super powerful youkai like me: Happy Youkai! ^_^), tao-fairlight, inuphoria (no, I won't be mean and make Inuyasha depressed; they'll be getting right together without any problems now), Hinoke (I'm glad Finn's death made you happy and thanks for the magic cookie! ^_^), Shadow Wraith, and Whitney Lin, and Hellkeeper.
Shadow Wraith: This little note here is in response to your review. Some of the comments you made in the review I did not appreciate. I don't know if you meant it to be a flame or were just expressing your opinion, but like I said, I did not appreciate your comments. If the scene was too descriptive for you, tough. I'm not holding your head and forcing you to read this story and I also changed the story rating to R because of that scene when I posted the chapter. Don't complain to me if you find it too descriptive –check the rating. Read responsibly and don't complain about something you read because you don't have to read it; no one is forcing you to; that can really hurt the author you're saying that to, me as an example. And you said to have respect for prudes. Have respect for the author since she –I- have not been making you read this. No one else has complained about this story. But just for you, when something heats up –kind of like the bathroom scene- I'll put a warning up so this won't happen again. Does that sound alright?
Having said all that, I would like to apologize if I offended you in any way, but I had to get it off my chest. I'm sure you would be hurt if I gave a review for one of your stories saying it was disgusting or something. But I just hope that maybe next time (if I didn't scare you away with this) you will have more consideration for the author's feelings. If it is constructive criticism I won't care if you put it into a review, but just some of your other comments rubbed me the wrong way. I hope you understand my position with this little rant o' mine and I hope I didn't offend you. Have a nice day! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the anime/manga Inuyasha nor the quote and/or lyric below. I borrowed the quotes from romantictokens.com.
Now onward with the fic!
How delicious is the winning
of a kiss at love's beginning.
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844)
Freedom and Love
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If
ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
To My Husband (First
Reading)
Kagome woke abruptly when she heard Inuyasha snoring along with the new jostling of the carriage. Sitting up from her current position, Kagome looked around the carriage cabin and smiled when she saw its two other inhabitants were fast asleep. Yiloku sat across from her with her arms crossed indignantly and a wretched scowl pasted to her lips. Inuyasha, who was sitting next to her, had his head leaning against the side of the carriage, mouth slightly open and a nice trail of saliva escaping from it, and scratchy snores escaped from his nasal cavity.
She sighed and reached to her feet for her black handbag –Yiloku had insisted she purchase it the last time they went shopping together. Out of it Kagome pulled a white handkerchief with a baby-blue border and wiped the drool from his chin. Upon the touch of soft cotton on his chin, Inuyasha inhaled sharply and shifted his position lightly, then commenced snoring.
For a few more minutes Kagome contented herself with watching Inuyasha and Yiloku dose, but soon she grew tired of it. Kagome leaned forward and shifted the curtain on the carriage door to see where they were. The sky was a hazy gray –the type of gray that makes a day depressing- and the horizon was rudely interrupted by a range of snow capped mountains even more gray then the sky. But those mountains were miles off. From the base of the mountains to the road the carriage wheeled upon, a great, flat plain of low green grass and trees –though the trees were few and far between. The grass looked bogged down as if giant feet had marched heavily upon them, but Kagome knew it was probably rain that made the ground look so.
Kagome shivered when she felt a pair of lips brush her left ear like angels' breath and a smooth, low voice whisper, "What are you looking at?"
She slightly turned to face the speaker who she knew was Inuyasha, shrugged nonchalantly, and replied, "Things."
Inuyasha settled back into the cabin seat: "Really? Who would have thought things would exist?"
"Me," Kagome snorted and playfully kicked Inuyasha's shin. "Did I wake you?"
"No," said Inuyasha, "you didn't. I woke up on my own, though it is a wonder anyone can sleep with this damn carriage moving so much. I forgot how bad the roads are around here."
"You've been here before?" Kagome laughed, "I don't even know where here is, so would you mind explaining?"
"Sesshoumaru lived out here once, but that was before he married Rin. Father and I would –well actually Dad would- take a couple days off and we would come out here to visit Sesshy. But you asked where this is. Ah… Eastern Yogo… Mid-Eastern to be exact. Rin and Sesshoumaru live in far Eastern Yogo. Rin very much wants to meet you, and I'm sure Sesshoumaru does too, but he'll act as if he could care less. Don't let his façade make you think he doesn't care, he just has a permanent stick up his-"
"Ahem" Yiloku cleared her throat with an agitated look upon her face. "You know how I feel about swearing little mister!"
"Sorry, Auntie," Inuyasha squeaked, blushed, and looked down.
"It is fine, Inuyasha, just do not let it happen again," Yiloku grinned and spoke to Kagome. "What Inuyasha is implying was correct about Sesshoumaru. He is just trying to tell you not to let Sesshoumaru's mannerisms bother you, and be as you will around his brother. Rin, I think, you will have no trouble adjusting to."
"That's good to hear," Kagome quietly said and closed her eyes; sleep seemed to come back to claim them.
Kagome dreamt about the night that really connected them as a couple…
Kagome walked slowly into the sitting room in Inuyasha's quarters. This was her first time in the room and she found it to be quite beautiful. On the side of the room opposite the door, the entire wall was made of glass allowing the view of the youkai capital city to penetrate the glass. All along the walls were paintings of Inuyasha's ancestors: some old demons, some young. Kagome walked thoughtfully around the room and carefully examined each painting. When she reached the last painting she noticed how much this one man looked like Inuyasha and what she remembered Sesshoumaru to look. Moving her head closer to the wall, Kagome read the name on the bronze plate mounted just below the painting and it read:
Son of Mathisaer, son of Tyrinau, son of Inukai- King Inuki
His offspring: Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha
King of the Youkai realm of the Third Age of Inu Youkai rule
Kagome started when she felt a presence enter the room –something odd she had started to do recently and she noticed it started happening after the Hathar and Uranin battle. Quickly whipping around, Kagome came face to face, or rather forehead to chin with Inuyasha and chuckled weakly.
"Hello," she whispered shyly.
"What are you so afraid of? I'm not upset you're in here," Inuyasha said and moved to a table just to the right of them.
Inuyasha reached to a minuscule handle that if one did not know it was there they would not see it and pulled it aside, revealing a set of drinking glasses and a few decanters of wine. He pulled out a decanter with pink colored wine in it, grabbed one of the glasses, and poured some of the wine into the glass. Inuyasha downed the alcohol without a second thought, and upon finishing the liquid his face scrunched together.
"Sour," Inuyasha spat more to himself than to her. "Do you want something to drink?"
"I don't drink wine without a meal present," Kagome explained and folded her hands simply. "I came here to see you and to see if you are alright. Ever since Finn Orpheus's funeral yesterday you've been moping and wearing a long face. It's not your fault that she died and your special forces are trying their hardest to find her killer, you know that. Let your mind be at ease," Kagome walked forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. He unenthusiastically began rubbing her back. She continued, "I'm not going anywhere; I'm right here. Can't you please be happy?"
Inuyasha pulled out of her embrace and took her face into his hands. Kagome could see fear and sadness and regret mixed with so many other things sparkling lackluster in his usually bright golden eyes, but not today, and especially not since the engagement ball. She wanted nothing more than at that depressing point in time than to take away all of Inuyasha's sorrow, for death seemed to haunt his every move and kill everyone he ever got close to. Sighing, Kagome realized that is probably how he felt and thought at this very moment and she desperately wanted to take him far away. Be his knight in shining armor just once, for he sadly needed it now.
"Inuyasha, please," Kagome begged, "say something. Anything. To let me know you're alright."
Walking away from a bewildered and concerned Kagome, he stopped in front of the glass that overlooked the city and his mind was taken back to simpler times. Times when he and his father and mother would pull one of the room's various sofas to rest before the window and the three of them would sit and talk about everything that happened that day. Inuyasha smiled and recalled he would often fall asleep listening half mindedly to his parents conversing about politics and such things beyond his six-year-old comprehension, but it did not matter now; they were gone and…
"Inuyasha," Kagome pressed again but stopped when Inuyasha looked at her with golden eyes seemingly sparkling like metallic stars. He was on the verge of tears.
"I'm going to go to bed, Kagome. Would you please excuse me," he said rather as a statement than a request.
Inuyasha briskly ate up the distance between the window and the door to his room which was on the far right wall of the room and Kagome jumped slightly with the loud bang that followed his door being slammed shut.
Tears started welling up in her eyes and she felt her heart breaking in despair and want for Inuyasha's happiness. It seemed that every time Inuyasha got close to putting his fingers around something good and palpable, some event, some monstrous event, would block his path and set him back. Slowly and extremely reluctantly Kagome left the room and shuffled dead-like back to her room.
She quietly closed the door behind her and walked to her armoire, throwing it open and extracting a rather mannish nightgown; though she had a distinct feeling it was not a nightgown but a man's nightshirt that Yiloku had mistakenly bought for her; she wore it nonetheless. Deftly Kagome pulled the heavy cotton fabric over her head and let it slide down her body. She smoothed out any imperfections in the way it laid on her, climbed into bed, and blew out the candle that flickered charmingly on her nightstand.
Kagome laid there. For how long, only she could guess, but sleep seemed to haunt another's eyes that night and she did noting but stare into the empty darkness of her room. Finally she decided to get something to read from Inuyasha's sitting area; she recalled there being many bookshelves lining the walls. Reaching to her nightstand, Kagome fumbled to grab hold of the candle and find matches, but she managed, and lit one of the matches, transferring its light to the candle wick. Kagome blew out the match before it burned her fingers and pulled the bedcovers aside.
It seemed within minutes Kagome found herself in the still illuminated sitting area of Inuyasha, and she had the sinking suspicion that the room was lit by more than fire; she could actually sense something fueling the flames. Shaking that aside she put her candle down on one of the room's various tables and perused the bookshelves. After spending what seemed like five hours –of course it was perhaps forty-five minutes- scouring every bookcase for a good book to read, but they were all about politics and such things.
Just as she made ready to leave, Kagome's eyes rested upon Inuyasha's bedroom door and her heart froze well into a heartbeat. Her breathing became deep, but labored, and she found herself walking toward it, hand outstretched for the door knob. Without a second thought, she opened his door and walked inside, closing it behind her.
"Kagome?" she heard a pleasantly surprised voice whisper and she knew it was Inuyasha –who else would be in his room at this late hour?
"Yes, it's me Inuyasha," Kagome said, though not on her first try. "I didn't wake you up did I?"
Kagome could hear bed sheets rustle and assumed Inuyasha got up or sat up; soon a light sprang to life and she saw him set a red lantern down on a bedside table. Inuyasha did both of the things she thought.
"No," Inuyasha shook his head, pale hair an orange color in the soft lantern light.
"That's good than," Kagome breathed out a breath she did not know she held. "I should probably go-"
"Stay!" Inuyasha exclaimed, and he silently berated himself for sounding too eager for her presence. He desperately wanted her to stay.
Kagome nodded in compliance, padded around to the side of his bed not occupied, and jumped on. For many moments that to both of them seemed like hours, they sat in silence but enjoyed the company the other offered. Finally, Kagome spoke.
"I don't know if this is a bad time to ask, but did you mean… mean what you said that night?" Kagome stuttered over words in nervousness.
"I said a lot of things that night, Kagome. Could you be more specific?" Inuyasha said wearily.
"Do you love me?" Kagome looked in straight in the eyes and he seemed surprised. "But… Well, now may not be the best time to answer so don't wor-"
Kagome was cut off by Inuyasha lips pressing against hers. She was taken by alarm with the kiss, but soon she began kissing him back, in just the same manner as in the bathing room those days before; tongues and all. Eventually they broke off their kisses, breathing in and out in an exhausted manner and smiled at the blissful look on their companions face.
Inuyasha was awfully shocked that he took the initiative to kiss her in his present emotional condition, but he did love Kagome and a kiss or two seemed the best way to show that, but of course the look on her face demanded vocal confirmation as well.
He cupped her smooth face in his hands and said, "I do love you. It's just with the things going on lately… please don't doubt that I love you."
"I never did," Kagome giggled.
(Okay Shadow Wraith. If you're still reading you might want to skip ahead to the non italic part of the story ^_^)
She turned her face slightly and kissed the palm of his left hand, and turned her head again to do the same treatment to his right hand. Then she moved over toward Inuyasha, and the hanyou smirked in silent approval as Kagome straddled his hips; his body between her legs. Yes, this is how he imagined them so many times after the bathing room incident and he was not about to let this chance stop. He would let it go how it would.
"What are you smirking so devilishly about?" Kagome asked slyly and began kissing his jaw line.
"I've imagined us doing this so many times that it's nice it's really happening," Inuyasha almost laughed with joy. His mood just went from sad to gleeful in less than five seconds.
"I'm glad I make you happy, you hentai," Kagome whispered in his ear and began unbuttoning his shirt at an alarming pace. Not that it alarmed him any.
Finally, Kagome removed his shirt and tossed it carelessly to the floor and began kissing his mouth and running her nails down his finely muscled chest, marveling at his rock hard abs and how he flinched with each stroke of her fingers. She started to get a sinking suspicion he was ticklish on his stomach and sides, and Kagome filed those thoughts away to use later on. Inuyasha began kissing Kagome a little deeper and sweeter, tasting the inside of her mouth and running his tongue along her teeth agonizingly slow, causing Kagome to moan into his mouth. Feeling that he was not doing enough, Inuyasha began running his hands up and down her sides, pausing just below her breasts –which agitated her; she wanted his hands all over and he knew it but choose to ignore it.
Soon Kagome grew tired of his –or lack of in her mind- ministrations and broke their kiss to take her nightgown, nightshirt, whatever it was off then commenced kissing him and grinding her hips against his, causing him to groan into their kiss. But even with her initiative, Inuyasha's hands still stayed exactly in the same areas; not for long though. Without breaking their contact he rolled them over so he was in the dominant position, and he began trailing kisses down her soft and sweet skin, down to her breasts. He took her left one into his mouth and teased the nipple with his tongue, lightly nibbling, sucking, and swirling his tongue around it until it hardened, and then he moved to her next one –equal treatment he laughed in his mind.
All the while Inuyasha kissed and sucked on her breasts, Kagome sighed and moaned in pleasure and ran her fingers through his silvery hair –she really did not know what to do with her hands. She whimpered slightly when Inuyasha stopped and moved up to kiss her on the mouth then ran kisses back to her ear, and all along her hairline. When he moved Kagome could feel his erection press against the inside of her thigh, the only thing keeping their skin from touching was the pajama pants he still wore. Kagome moved her hands down and began to untie his pants which instantly caught Inuyasha's attention.
"Oh, yeah," he said simply, "forgot about those."
And within seconds he pulled away from her and the pants were off. Kagome could not see how large he was because that part of his physique was in darkness and she was truly a little saddened by that.
Inuyasha lay down next to her and took her hand.
"Okay, just to get formalities and things out of the way: I, Inuyasha ask you, Kagome to be my mate. Being at mate is a lifetime thing; not even death can break it and we will be bonded for life. Do you accept me?" he asked as he said what seemed like age old, pre-rehearsed words.
"I accept," Kagome responded uncertainly.
"And I accept you," Inuyasha said hurriedly and made to get on top of her again but Kagome stopped him.
"What am I accepting here? Does it mean if we go any farther than we'll be life mates?"
"Yes," the hanyou said a bit impatiently.
"Well, then yes I do accept," she smiled.
"Finally," Inuyasha said sarcastically and resumed his position: his body between her legs.
"Wake up," Inuyasha said as he lightly shook Kagome's shoulders. Kagome opened both eyes to find the carriage had stopped rocking and the door leading out was open. Fresh, cool air poured in and Kagome reveled in it.
"Are we at your brothers?" Kagome asked sleepily as Inuyasha climbed out of the carriage and gave her a thumb up.
"So much for an answer," Kagome grumbled to herself. "Here we go!"
And with that she climbed out of the carriage on stiff legs.
And that's the end of chapter 17! Yay! I put some limey stuff in there. Please be honest and tell me if it was corney or just plain bad in description. It was my first time writing something like that so if it's bad tell me. *puts on pouty face*
I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading!
Buh-bye til next time readers!
P.S. Great update Cyclops and where's chapter 2?