Kagome's Return chapter 19

Inu-yasha's answer . . .

Kagome's eyes twinkle. "Well, Inu-yasha?"

Inu-yasha thinks, 'what do I do? She wants me to say yes. But, how can I?'

Kagome thinks, 'Do I mention that I thought the arraignment among the three of us reminded me of a man and his wife and mistress. But with me playing the male part, and inu-yasha and Sesshomaru playing the female parts? No. He definitely would hate that and cause him to say no.'

Inu-yasha licks his lips. He looks around.

'Hmm.' Kagome thinks. 'Even if I don't mention it, perhaps, I should act like the man. A man would propose, so.'

Kagome kneels down before Inu-yasha. She takes his rough, scarred, clawed hand in her soft hands. She looks up at inu-yasha.

"Inu-yasha." She whispers, blinking with tears in her eyes. "I love you." A deep breath. "Will you marry me?"

Inu-yasha's eyes open wide. His jaw drops in surprise. 'I'm supposed to say that!' he thinks. 'And she's cheating, we were supposed to talk about this, first! The last time we really talked about this, I told her that to protect her, that meant that I couldn't marry her, or even be nice to her. But. Now, I can feel the power radiating from her. I feel, sure, that she can handle the danger, and she knows it. So, if I make that same argument again, she will not listen to it. She only, very reluctantly, agreed that I was right after the spring fertility festival.'

Kagome, still kneeling, looking up at him, waiting for him to speak.

He opens his mouth. He closes it. He thinks.'What do I say? If I say yes, then I agree to share her with Sesshomaru. And that thought makes me sick. So . . . I've got to say, no.'

"Inu-yasha?" Kagome whispers, her voice full of tears.

He licks his lips, 'but . . . if I say, no, then Sesshomaru will have her. And I can't stand that.'

Kagome slowly bows her head. Tears begin to drip to the ground. 'He's going to say, no. what do I do if he says no?' she thinks . . .

'If I say, no. I lose her.' Inu-yasha thinks, as his nostrils flare as he smells her sadness. 'If I say yes, I'll still be with her, I don't lose her. I can convince her that Sesshomaru is not good for her. I can win her, but, only if I say, yes. IS she worth the temporary, very temporary, sharing with Sesshomaru?'

"Yes." Inu-yasha hisses.

Kagome's head snaps up, "Yes?!" she squeals. Her muscles tense as she gathers herself.

"Yes, I'll marry you." Inu-yasha states.

Kagome jumps up, and hugs him tightly. She begins to shower his face with kisses.

Inu-yasha hugs her back, but not tightly, and he doesn't really respond to her kisses.

"Inu-yasha?" Kagome questions as she stops kissing him and pulls back a few centimeters.

"I don't like this." Inu-yasha growls. "And, I'm going to tell you, right now, that I'm going to hate every time that you're with him."

Kagome nods, she releases him and wipes her eyes. "I know, Inu-yasha." She sighs. "My mother wants me live happily ever after. I'd like to do that, as well. But, between you and him." She reaches up and runs her fingers along his jawline. "All I can hope for is that good days will cause the bad days to go away."

"You know that'll be arguments?" Inu-yasha asks in a surprised tone.

Kagome nods. "Between the two you, of course." She giggles. "You used to yell and scream whenever I had to go to school. I'd expect you to yell and scream whenever Sesshomaru is around."

"You're damn right, I'm going to yell and scream." He growls.

Kagome nods. "I do have some plans." Her eyes open wide, as she whispers, "can I share them with you?"

"No promises." He hisses.

"Ok. I understand." She whispers. "The next few days, Inu-yasha, are going to be busy. Sango's brother is still asleep, and we don't know what will happen when he awakens. I want to be there for Sango."

Inu-yasha grimaces, but nods. 'Sango and Kagome should have been born sisters.' He thinks.

"My grandfather did die." Kagome's voice catches. "My mother will need my help. She's going to have to report the death," she sighs, "Deal with the police, maybe. And the funeral. I have to be there for that."

He, still grimacing, nods.

Kagome reaches out and touches his arm. "I would like you to be there, if possible."

"He never liked me."

"So." Kagome shrugs. "That's what he wanted you to think. HE was always asking Sota about you." Her lips twitch, "My grandfather loved the past and you were a living link to it."

"He had a funny way to show it."

Kagome's eyes twinkle, "Would you have trusted him, if he had accepted you as part of his family, instantly?"

"No." Inu-yasha takes a deep breath and lets it out. "He never really tried to stop you and me, did he?" He asks himself. He nods. "I'll be there."

"And, I really need to explain to my mother, in detail, about what happened between Sesshomaru and I." A deep, angry growl from Inu-yasha. Kagome's lips twitch into a smile. "I'd really like to try to get a couple of nights sleep in my bed, too."

"Alone?" He barks, "Or with him?"

"Alone or with you." Kagome replies, her tone full of iron.

Inu-yasha blinks. "You mean that?"

"Yes. I'm not finished, yet, but, once I do, you'll understand."

"Go on."

"Sesshomaru and I had to," Kagome pauses, as she thinks about how to explain the adventure in New York, and Tokyo Airport. "We had to use our powers, in public, so, there probably will be problems on my side of the well."

"Fuck. You bug me. You yell at me! All the fucking time, about not showing myself, and then you and him!" Inu-yasha starts to yell.

"I know!" Kagome screams, trying to cut him off. "I know! I tried not too, but, we had to use them!"

Kagome and Inu-yasha glare at each other, breathing deeply.

"But, Inu-yasha," Kagome, shakes her head, trying not to cause their fight to grow worse, begin to speak. "In a few days, perhaps four or five, I hope, then things will be calm enough." She pauses.

"Calm enough for what?"

"Calm enough that you and I can vanish for a month or more. Alone, just the two of us."

Inu-yasha blinks.

Kagome reaches out and touches his cheek. "To make this, and I will admit it, weird relationship between the three of us to work, I must treat the two of you, fairly. He and I had time alone."

He growls, loudly.

She moves close to Inu-yasha, breathing lightly on his chest. "I want us to have time, alone, so we can grow closer together, my love."

"Sesshomaru?" Inu-yasha whispers.

"He'll accept it."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Inu-yasha sneers.

"He will." Kagome grins. "I know that he wants to depose his mother. But, he'll want to scout things and plan. So he will delay the attack on her, until we return."

Inu-yasha's eyes narrow. "I thought that if there was anyone he loved it was his mother."

Kagome shakes her head. "No. He and his mother have never really gotten along."

Inu-yasha purses his lips and frowns as he thinks, 'I don't have a lot of memories of Sesshomaru and his mother. But. Maybe. She could be correct.'

He looks at her. "Alone? Just the two of us?"

She nods. "There are some lovely, if deserted, mountain valleys that we've pasted through, during our travels. I thought that we could find a cave and spend a month, maybe more there."

"Doing what?"

Kagome shrugs, but a secretive smile appears on her lips. "Talk. Even though I know that you hate it. And other things."

"Other things?"

"Miroku-type things."

A pause . . .

"You mean this." He demands. "No going home. No schooling. No, nothing. Just you and me."

Kagome nods.

His eyes narrow. "And then what?"

"And then, we return home. By that time, Sesshomaru will want to attack his mother." Her hand grabs his wrist. "He'll want your help, and mine." She licks her lips. "I hope that helping him, will cause the two of you to trust each other. And, I've already promised him my support."

"Ah." Inu-yasha grumbles. "Then?"

Kagome takes a deep breath. "Then," Kagome slumps. "I'm not sure, Inu-yasha, Sesshomaru will be busy as lord of the western lands. I know that he wants you to help him."

"Hah."

"And," an unfocused look appears on Kagome's face. "I've got a task that I've got to do."

Inu-yasha frowns. "Is that what you were talking about with that bastard of a god tree?" he snarls.

Kagome nods. "Somehow, I've got to change the world. On my side of the well, mankind is slowly destroying the world. We are burning the forests, mining the earth, polluting the air and the sea."

"Why you?"

A pause, as Kagome gathers her thoughts. She sighs. "You're going to hate me for stopping your fight with the god tree."

"I already do." He snarls.

"Even more so." Kagome sighs, again. "The god tree used you, Kikyo and jewel."

Inu-yasha tenses. He begins to grind his teeth together.

"The god tree on my side of the well, knowing that mankind is destroying the world, contacted the god tree on this side of the well. They came up with a plan to use you, Kikyo and the jewel." She pauses.

Inu-yasha's eyes narrow in anger. "Go on. You've just repeated yourself."

"They grabbed Kikyo's soul and placed it in mine. And, then," Kagome sighs, "and, then, I fell through the well, which started their plan."

"Their plan." Inu-yasha hisses through clenched teeth.

"To use you, me, and our friends and enemies to shape mine, yours, our future. They wanted to create someone that would be powerful enough to change the world."

"You."

Kagome nods. "They treated our fights like a forge. They put us under pressure and if we won, we grew stronger. Even the journey with Sesshomaru was part of their plan."

Inu-yasha, biting off each word in anger, snarls, "Then, bitch, why did you stop me from killing that bastard."

Kagome glares back at him. "Because if anyone kills him, it will be me." She taps his chest, hard. "They may have interfered with your life, Inu-yasha. But, from everything that I've learned, my life has never been mine to live. Everything that I've done has been according to their, goddamned, plan!"

Inu-yasha, shocked out of his anger, stares at Kagome, open mouthed.

"You're alive, and, if you really want, you can leave me and try to find your own life. But, me!" Kagome yells, "When I went home, I felt horrible, Inu-yasha! Somehow, that acorn, has anchored me onto this side of the well. I can't live on that side of the well anymore!"

"Are you sure?" Inu-yasha whispers.

Kagome slumps, her anger gone as suddenly as it appeared, "I think so. It makes sense compared to some of the things that I've been told."

"You hated being on this side of the well." He whispers.

Kagome reaches out and touches his jaw. "No. I loved being on this side of the well. I hated being away from my family." Her mouth twitches into a smile. "And I really disliked being away from modern conveniences." Tears form in her eyes. "But, I think that I've found a new family."

"Me or Sesshomaru?" He snarls.

"Neither. Both of you. And Shippo, plus Miroku and Sango." Kagome's mouth twitches, "and, now that I know how to get them through the well, I'll bring mom and Sota through."

"Shippo? Sango? And the Monk?" Inu-yasha asks.

Kagome blinks. "Didn't I tell you?"

She thinks, 'have I told him about them? We've been so busy. I don't remember.'

"Tell me what?" He asks.

"I decided to adopt Shippo." Kagome says. "And, my mother shocked everyone by adopting Sango and Miroku."

"Fuck . . . " Inu-yasha says very slowly . . .

"And Miroku finally proposed to Sango." Kagome smiles.

Inu-yasha shakes his head. "Everything is being turned upside down."

Kagome nods. "Yes." She smiles. "If it helps, Inu-yasha, I'd really like to just spend a couple of days doing nothing, just to rest up from the last couple of days, if not hours. The last few days have been very complex and tiring. And, we're not going to get a break for another few days."

Inu-yasha snorts. "Yeah. Not that time stands still."

"I know."

A pause as Kagome and Inu-yasha look at each other's eyes.

"Shippo, hmm?" Inu-yasha mumbles. "You adopted him."

Kagome nods. "During the trip with Sesshomaru, when I was explaining how I felt about Shippo, I decided then, that I would adopt him."

Inu-yasha's eyes narrow. 'Do I like it? No. He is a jealous little kid, always wanting to be with her.'

"What about during that month alone."

"He will not be with us."

"Have you told him that?"

Kagome slumps. "Not yet." Her lips twist into a smile. "He will not like it. I'm sure. But, we need that personal time."

"No matter how much he whines?"

Kagome nods. "No matter what."

'Miroku and Sango. Well, that's not so bad. They needed to get married.' Inu-yasha thinks. 'And, now that he'll be getting some pillow time with her, that should stop him from grabbing Kagome.' He frowns. 'No. I'd better not assume that. Knowing Miroku, he'll assume that since he's getting pillow time from Sango, he deserves some pillow time with Kagome.'

"Inu-yasha?" Kagome asks, as she sees his frown.

"Miroku."

"What about him?"

"You know him, once he hears about this, this thing that you and Sesshomaru have thought up, he'll want to join in." Inu-yasha spits out.

Kagome nods. "Yes, I'm expecting that."

"And?"

"And, while refusing him, will disappoint him. Doing it with him, would hurt you and Sesshomaru more, so, no. He'll be disappointed." Kagome says firmly.

Inu-yasha glares into her eyes. "He better be."

A pause as they look into each other's eyes again.

"Inu-yasha?" Kagome whispers.

"Yes?"

She blinks. Her eyes begin to tear up. "You haven't said that you love me."

Inu-yasha frowns, as he thinks. 'I haven't, have I. No. I don't remember saying that.'

"This isn't going to work," Kagome's voice catches from the emotion in it. "Unless we all love other." She pauses. "If."

She pauses, again, licking her lips. She looks at the ground. "IF." She repeats, "if you don't love me and you are only saying that you'll marry me out of some perverse desire to hurt me and Sesshomaru, then please tell me. Don't lie to me. Please."

A pause . . .

"Inu-yasha?" She whispers again, her throat choking from suppressed emotions.

His clawed hand reaches out and grabs her chin, lifting her head.

Kagome's tear-filled eyes, blinks, as she tries to look into his eyes.

"Kagome." He whispers. He leans close to her.

Inu-yasha opens his mouth . . .

End of the chapter . . .

Evil cliffhanger . . .

Authors' note: sigh. Ok, ok. This is for all the reviewers that have mentioned my evil cliffhangers.

Prevue chapter 20

Inu-yasha opens his mouth and whispers. "I love you."

He kisses her.

Kagome melts into his arms as he hugs her, tightly.

Now, the real end of the chapter.

Authors' note: as Kagome indicates in the story, I am beginning to wrap up the story. There are some scenes I want to do, but, basically, once Inu-yasha said 'yes', I've created the triangle that I've been working toward. (It, as hinted in the story, won't be a totally happy relationship between the three, but, the happy days will outway and outnumber the bad.)

IF there are scenes, questions, things that you, the reader, need to be explained better, please tell me. Or, if there are scenes that you, the readers, think need to be seen/written, please tell me. There are still a few more chapters before the story ends. (I'll be cleaning up some of the loose ends. Inu & sess 'talking' about the relationship. Shippo and his reaction. Miroku and Sango's reaction. I might even do a Miroku, Sango, Shippo site-seeing the future chapter. A scene with the god tree. And a final scene with the group, as I set up my next storyline: Kagome: goddess of Japan.)

Thank you for reading

jeff shelton