A Wish upon A star
A/N: So sorry for the late update but I have a fair excuse... I was supposed to Post Chapter 19 for A Wish upon a star a few days ago but then my computer broke down and a few dozen files got deleted... and guess what? Chapter 19 got deleted along with it – and so did Chapter 3 of Sweet Summer Trip Catastrophe. I was depressed because I had put a lot of effort into those two chapters because I was tired of writing Inu and Kag fighting all the time and had actually included some cute fluff between the two... but then fate trashed the chapters so I was left with scratch to start all over again.
Not only that, but I figured out one person who I used to call a 'friend' back bighted on me and then we had this big fight and then on Saturday I was feeling like a depressed dog. -_-. My close friends couldn't stand me sulking in my room the whole weekend so they pulled me out and forced me to have fun outside of my house...
By the end of the weekend, I finally felt ready to write but school started again, so I had to find time to write my chapters while finding time to stuff my homework in as well.
So please have mercy on me and don't worry, the beginning of the chapter might be Sessh/Rin but the rest of it is ALL Inu/Kag ^.^... on with the chapter...
Oh- before I start, you may have noticed that the ratings have changed from Romance/Humor to Romance/Drama...
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Chapter Nineteen
Midnight Magic
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It took one week for Kagome to heal completely from her wounds. She was allowed to walk around the castle freely without any support even though Inu-Yasha insisted she stay in bed for a while longer.
Though Kagome was happy she was no longer in her bed, tension was rising in the castle as the dreaded date rose even closer.
Two months had passed since Kagome's arrival; two weeks were even a blur considering one week she had been passed out and the second she had to stay in bed twenty four/seven.
That meant, one month left till the engagement. The pressure was getting to everyone, even Sesshomuru and Kikyou who seemed to act not a bit in the least of the care of the engagement.
Inu-Yasha had been losing his temper at particularly nothing, Kagome had been avoiding any body known to the fact she was getting engaged, Kikyou had been in a nervous wreck and would jump whenever anyone talked to her and Sesshomuru, he had punched the table in frustration as the king and queen kept talking about who *fun* it would be.
It was a month away... and everyone was talking about it as if it were tomorrow.
The wolf siblings were already planning the decorations and the fact that Kagome and Kikyou were shown their wedding dresses didn't help lower the rising tension. The dresses were beautiful, but neither of them smiled as they tried the dresses on.
Kagome dreaded her steps down to the dining room, hoping desperately that today would be any other normal day – no talk about engagements, but then again she should have been expecting all this chaos.
As she walked in the room, she noticed that for once, Inu-Yasha was present for breakfast, though he didn't look in a least bit pleased that he had made his arrival. Sesshomuru's face was a tint red and he was slowly eating his breakfast as if to control his anger on what the King and Queen were talking about, Kikyou had her face buried in her hands and was taking deep breaths.
Kagome slowly made her way to the table and sat beside Kikyou who hadn't lifted her head from her hands.
"... Kagome! What a pleasure to see you here, just at the right time, I know we might be planning a tint too early, but what kind of engagement cake would you like? We were thinking..." The Queen rattled on and Kagome sighed nervously at her bad luck, gods...please have some mercy!
"Would you like some juice?" A maiden whispered to her, noticing her upset feature.
She looked at her, nodded and smiled. She had grown quite fond to the maiden who brought her juice every morning and couldn't help but smile as she saw her roll her eyes at the King and Queen.
As the maiden walked over to Sesshomuru, Sesshomuru jerked her forward and made her spill the orange juice over his shirt.
"Looks like I have to clean this up, I'll see you later" He quickly interrupted the King and Queen and got up, leaving an envying crowd behind him.
Rin shook her head and looked at the empty jug "I'll get more juice"
And with that, she scurried after Sesshomuru.
After she caught up with him in the kitchen quarters, she blew up "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Make me spill the juice over you!" She told him, as a matter-of-factly way.
"Oh, - that- ... come on, I couldn't stand my parents talk about my engagement any more" He shrugged and took of his soaking shirt and placed it on the counter beside the dishes.
Rin walked up to it and tried to ignore the fact she could basically see through his shirt underneath. Trying to avoid looking at the muscular, six ab chest she picked up the shirt and scrunched it into a ball. "I'll clean it for you"
He blinked "You don't have to"
"No, I insist, you're probably going to throw it into your room" She placed it into the bucket underneath the counter where she kept all her laundry and turned to Sesshomuru who was staring at her with a weird expression. "What?"
He coughed "I was just wondering, could you show me where you stay in the castle?"
She blinked and then looked to the floor "...Oh" was the only thing she said before scratching the back of her neck idly.
"I'm not forcing you to" He said hurriedly.
She shrugged "It's okay... follow me"
She led him through a small doorway in the kitchen which led to a staircase. It was small and he could swear there were cobwebs in the corner and humungous spiders nesting in them.
She led him quite high up to the top, and when she was finished he found himself staring into a dusty, small and empty room. He walked into it and heard the floorboards creak.
"I've never been here before" he said as he wondered where he was.
"It's the highest room in the servants' quarters, closest thing I've ever come to a real room" she said not showing a tint bit of expression in her voice.
He nodded as he spotted a small bed on the corner of the room. He looked at her and smiled as he made his decision. "From today, you'll sleep in my room"
She widened her eyes and gaped at him "You pervert! No way, you won't make me!"
He chuckled "I'll sleep somewhere else, but I can't stand you sleeping in a trash like this"
She nodded "I don't mind, really"
He sighed, "I won't mind sleeping somewhere else, there are a dozen rooms which I can rest in, but mines just the best..." He paused as he just realized he had sounded very much like his little brother "...right," He coughed "So, I'll move the stuff I need to the bedroom on top of mine, and by nightfall you should be in my bedroom"
She was about to protest but he left, leaving Rin in total despair.
"He's a complete idiot" She sighed to herself and then realized the upturn to this different location of her room. This would give her the opportunity to steal his sword... Tokijin.
..........................................
Kagome sighed as she walked through the corridors in the castle. Breakfast had –finally- finished and everyone had excused themselves out of the dining room, not being able to stand the table of the engagement any longer.
Kagome was passing by Miroku's door when his door swung open and she was jerked inside.
"Ah, Miroku, what's the deal?" She asked him as she rubbed her sore arm which he had grabbed onto quite roughly.
"Hush, I want to ask you something" He beckoned her further into the room and Kagome followed in curiosity.
"Okay..." she fumbled feebly and stared at Miroku's back as he tried to get something.
He finally turned around and showed Kagome a pot with the words 'me + you = Love'
She blinked "Miroku... if you hadn't noticed, I'm getting engaged already"
He laughed and shook his head "Not for you dummy!"
She smiled at her stupidity "Oh, then for who?"
"Sango!"
She mouthed an 'o' and then smiled sneakily "Someone here has a crush on San-go!"
"Who has a crush on Sango?" Inu-Yasha's voice came barging through the room, after reaching Kagome and Miroku he stopped abruptly at the sight in front of him.
Miroku was holding up the pot with the 'me + you = love' written on it and Kagome was smiling. He raised an eyebrow, shaking his head at Miroku's intentions "Miroku, she's engaged"
He sighed in frustration "I know! This isn't for Kagome –."
Kagome cut him off "I'm hurt"
Inu-Yasha smirked, he already knew Miroku was trying to win Sango over and knew that he wasn't actually giving the pot to Kagome but making this situation harder for him was definitely amusing "Yeah, that was pretty mean Miroku"
He rolled his eyes "It's not that I like her-."
"You mean you do? Kami Miroku! She's engaged!" Inu-Yasha walked up to Kagome's side and smirked as he watched Miroku struggle.
He shook his head and sighed "I don't like her in a love – love way-."
"That was so mean!" Kagome faked a crying scene, seeing what Inu-Yasha was trying to do and pushed her body in Inu-Yasha's side for comfort, he smirked and circled his arms around her trying to comfort the fake tears pouring down her face.
"Kagome sama, I didn't mean it in that way!" Miroku sighed in frustration – gods, he just wanted some advice and now he has a wailing girl in front of him, crying in Inu-Yasha's arms? This was- wait, crying in Inu-Yasha's arms?
He blinked as he saw the sight in front of him and smiled, well this could have some upturns. "Well, look who's crying into the brother of whose she's getting engaged to?"
They both froze and then noticed what they had just done, Kagome pulled away and Miroku blinked in confusion as he saw that her eyes weren't red at all and she seemed perfectly fine except for the deep blush he saw in his face.
He looked over to Inu-Yasha who was smirking but even he couldn't hide the pink tint appear in his cheeks.
"Well, well...now why is this couple blushing?" Miroku teased as Kagome gaped at him.
"CUT it off! Now what did you have to ask me?" She asked him, changing the topic – not daring to look at Inu-Yasha's pink face.
"Well," He said, noticing that the whole thing had been a fake and that he had been fooled "How should I give this to Sango?"
Inu-Yasha blinked at the pot "By handing it to her" he told him as if it were obvious.
"Not that kind of giving over! I meant, like – how, should I place it in her room or should I just give it to her hand from hand?" Miroku toyed with the idea as Kagome thought to herself.
"I think you should give it to her when you both get in a fight and then she'll completely melt when she sees it!" Kagome clasped her hands together and smiled brightly at the romantic idea she had always wished would happen in her life.
"Well, taking it that you're a female – you must know what woman's like so are you sure she would like that?" He asked Kagome, ignoring Inu-Yasha's complex expression.
"Every woman would like that! It's so extremely romantic!" She squealed as she thought of herself in the situation.
"So, imagine I did the same thing to you, what would you do?" Miroku asked her, imagining she was Sango.
"I would get extremely happy and I would come and give you a big hug, but considering that you gave it, I would ask first if you were telling the truth" She smiled at Miroku as he nodded.
"Would you do that to any guy?" Inu-Yasha asked, surprising them both.
Kagome blinked, seeing –she- was the main topic here. "Um... yeah, I guess, unless it was some weird weirdo who said it to me every day"
Inu-Yasha nodded idly and then shrugged, just noticing both of them were staring at him. "Just asking" he said casually, even though he was killing himself mentally for asking her such a stupid thing. The thought of her hugging him sprouting butterflies in his stomach at the moment... 'Baka...' he called her mentally as he let his imagination wander too far.
"I'm just going to talk to Sango, leave you two boys alone" She said, smiling at them both making Inu-Yasha blush even harder as he remembered her hugging him, even though it was just a scene.
'Damnit, I've never felt this before...' he cursed himself as he tried to push the tingling in his skin to go away.
After she left Miroku spoke "Don't let it go beyond innocence, it's for your own good"
He stared at Miroku, giving him a hard stare "I've got no idea what you're talking about"
Miroku shook his head and sighed and changed the topic abruptly "You think she'll like it if I touch her rear end while she hugs me?"
Inu-Yasha sighed and, groaned when Miroku when into detail about how good a woman's rear end feels.
...............................
Kagome glanced outside of Sango's bedroom window. It was dark outside and both of them had eaten their lunch and dinner inside Sango's room, even Sango was tired listening to the engagement talks let alone get a little jealous she wasn't part of the commotion.
"Beautiful night out isn't it?" Sango commented as she saw Kagome eyes gaze to the silent night outside.
"Yeah, no clouds and it is so quiet" Kagome whispered, almost feeling the solemn starts tell her to equal with them and quiet down.
"Well, it's past my bedtime, I'll see you tomorrow?" Sango asked.
Kagome shook her head, deciding she would sneak into Inu-Yasha's secret room and eat breakfast there "I might not come"
Sango nodded, "Who're you meeting all these days? You barely have any time for me"
Kagome froze. Had she been disappearing into Inu-Yasha's room so much that Sango had actually noticed? Well... she did go there in her spare time, and she HAD spent a night and half there as well...feeling too guilty to lie to her anymore she told half of the truth.
"Just spending time with Inu-Yasha, he's the only one who feels as bad about the engagement as me" Kagome responded, filling herself with that answer as well.
Sango studied her well before nodding and walking to her bed.
Kagome was about to leave before she heard Sango talk "Don't let it go past innocence, it's for your own good"
Kagome glanced at Sango "I don't know what you're talking about"
Sango sighed before changing the topic abruptly "I'm so tired, goodnight"
Kagome shook her head, confused and wished her a goodnight as well before walking out to the quiet corridor.
She amused herself at the pin drop silence of it all. It seemed as if the whole castle had gone to sleep, well... it was almost midnight, so that explained the silence.
Kagome looked up at the mysterious sky again. It seemed somehow that there were more stars out tonight. Feeling that she still had enough energy to stargaze on the beach she crept quietly down the stairs, straining her eyes to see in the dark staircase.
After reaching the ground corridor, she jumped over the railing and landed gracefully on the ground. She shivered as she felt the nightly cold breeze swift around her body and lift her hair, making it land gently on her shoulder again.
She regretted on wearing a short nightgown as she noticed that it was quite chilly outside. She ran quickly towards the gardens, enjoying the feel of the cold grass beneath her feet and smiled as she reached the forest.
She felt a shiver run down her spine as she stared into the darkness of the forest. She hadn't come in the forest or to the beach at night and the idea that something she lurked in the dark would jump out and scare her gave her the jitters.
Facing her little fear she walked into the forest, hearing an owl hoot from nearby and a few crickets chirp a few feet away from her. She went through the trees on her usual route and jumped when she felt another owl hoot which seemed from almost in front of her.
Hearing the stream in front of her she raced into the opening and studied the stream carefully.
She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life before. The stream was reflecting the moons beams, giving itself a mystical and wondrous look. Kagome reached down and dipped her hand in the water, enjoying the feel of the moonlit water rush over her fingertips.
After doing so, she got up and walked slowly towards the beach. As she reached the cliff, she noticed the big gap where Inu-Yasha and she had been attacked. She shivered at the memory of it and proceeded down the hill to walk into the sandy shore of the sea.
She was walking towards the water when she spotted Inu-Yasha sitting on the sand a few ways away from her. She smiled and ran up to him, smiling again when he glanced up at her to see who had arrived.
"You shouldn't be here, it's midnight" He said simply as he looked up at the stars.
She pouted "Well then neither should you"
He growled in defeat and shrugged casually before flumping back down on the sand beneath him. Kagome flopped down on the sand beside him and looked up at the stars with him, enjoying the presence of someone around her.
"Nice night isn't it?" she asked him as she darted a glance at him.
He sighed "Yep"
She nodded idly and then smiled as she looked up again at the stars "Do you believe in any sort of story the stars can tell?"
He laughed "I don't believe in that sort of crap"
She gasped "You must be joking!"
"Nope" He replied casually.
"You mean, you don't believe in stars watching over you, or finding you're true love by the way the stars are or -."
Kagome was cut of as Inu-Yasha spoke. "Nope, Nope and Nope, I don't believe in anything the stars tell, I just like looking up at them, they're just pretty lights in the sky"
She gaped at him "Well, do you want me to tell you a story?"
He sighed "I guess I have no choice?"
She giggled "You got it, so let me tell you a story my mother told me once"
He sighed in defeat and just stared up at the stars, waiting for her to continue "Feh"
She smiled "Well, my mother told me that the northern star is the brightest shining star in the sky, it leads all the other stars in the sky, so one day there was this man, he was lost in sea and he didn't know which way was home..."
"Let me guess, he looked at the northern star and figured which way was home?" He said simply.
Kagome sighed "...no silly, that's not the way it worked, let me finish the story - ... so the man always stargazed with his true love and they both gave themselves a star, the woman's star was above the northern star and the man's was south west. So when he was lost he looked up at the northern star and he saw that his true loves star was above the northern star. So he followed where his true loves star led and then he saw an island, and his true love was living there"
She stopped and smiled. Inu-Yasha looked over to where he had laid down and looked over at her, confused.
"That's the end?"
She blinked "Yeah, don't you get it?"
He shook his head "Not really, I don't see how the stars have to do anything with it"
"Well, they both gave themselves stars, and wherever they went, their stars led them to there. Whenever they were sick, their stars dimmed and so their partners knew where and how they were doing, every day if they were apart" Kagome smiled at the story.
Inu-Yasha blinked, caving in into the whole idea "So how do I know which one is my star?"
She smiled "See, the northern star is that one – you're name has eight letters in it and has an 's' which stars the word 'south', so mouth eight stars south from the northern star and – there, that one should be yours!"
He blinked as he dotted which star was 'his'. He blinked when he spotted a bright star shining quite alone from all the others.
"Which one is yours?" he asked innocently, making Kagome blush when she saw his puppy cute face.
"That one, six stars east from the northern star" She pointed towards a star which was diagonally across from his.
"Oh," He pondered on something for a while "And how do you know who is your true love?"
Kagome blushed at his question. She wasn't expecting something like this coming out of – him -.
She gulped away a lump in her throat as she answered "Well, love has four letters in it – L – o – v – and e. Each of the letters represents a star. So if you move four stars away from 'your' star either way, north, south, west or east your true love will be on of them"
He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to process the information "But what if the fourth star away from your star belongs to a male?"
Kagome giggled "Well, I asked my mom the same question, she said, out of four directions – one of them will be a female and that's your true love"
He nodded and then pointed towards his star and then counted the stars up the Kagome's, playing with the idea that 'she' might be in his categories of being his true love.
"Well, whoever made that up must have been wrong because your star is exactly four stars away from mine"
Kagome laughed, while blushing "It could be just coincidence"
He laughed nervously "Probably"
"It's probably just some stupid star myth" Kagome added.
"Yeah, stupid"
"Really stupid" Inu-Yasha added, somehow, the idea of her being his true love sent nervous jitters throughout his body and made his blood rush at the thought of it.
"Maybe you skipped a star or something" Kagome assured him, somehow the coincidence seemed to seem like plain old coincidence.
Inu-Yasha counted again, and skipped a heartbeat when he noticed his counting had been perfectly accurate. "A star probably isn't bright enough to shine tonight, that's why"
Kagome nodded, liking the thought very well. "I guess"
She laughed as she saw a firefly come and sit on Inu-Yasha's nose. He blinked and sneezed, scaring it away.
Kagome pouted "Aw that was the first time I saw a firefly"
He blinked at her, surprised "you must be kidding me"
She shook her head "I speak nothing but the truth" She said elegantly, making him grin.
"Well, if you want to see fireflies follow me" He got up and grabbed her hand, making her now o-so familiar blush return to her face. She cursed herself, was it just her or did she seem to be blushing more and more when she and Inu-Yasha were caught in an embarrassing situation.
He led her back into the forest, making her fasten up her pace as she started to feel a little scared by the darkness. He snickered as he felt her press close to him. "Don't tell me you're scared" he said, laughing quietly at her.
"I seem to get a little nervous in the dark, why may it matter to you?" She said, more like in her older sister's tone making Inu-Yasha cringe.
"Okay, were here, now don't say a word, and creep along quietly with me" he whispered into her ear making her shiver again, not because of the cold but because of his hot breath that brushed on her ear lobe.
She nodded and did as he asked. They walked silently in the darkness of the forest for a more steps then stopped in front of what seemed like to Kagome to be a large tree.
Inu-Yasha crouched down and picked up a stick, making Kagome wonder what he was going to do with it. He aimed it for the tree, and before Kagome could put two and two together, he had thrown the stick at the tree, making it come alive.
She gasped as she saw the tree light up with a million lights and what seemed to be thousands and thousands of fireflies fly out of it. She clutched Inu-Yasha's arm as she watched in amazement, as the fireflies circled around them, trying to fly away in what seemed like magical lights.
Inu-Yasha snuck a glance at the clutching girl beside him and smiled when he saw her amazed expression.
"This... this is so beautiful" she whispered as the fireflies started to head upwards, making Kagome feel she was is a fairy tale, the fireflies seeming very much like tiny fairies with light pockets in their hands.
He felt himself skip a heart beat as she pressed closer to his side. Gods, why did she make him feel this way? He shrugged off the feeling, he never really had physical contact with a lot of girls, and maybe this was normal?
She smiled as the fireflies flew off, leaving herself to watch the glowing tree where the fireflies which hadn't decided to fly off rested.
"That was amazing" She breathed out and as she noticed how close she had gotten to Inu-Yasha, jerked away immediately.
"Yeah, I found this out when I was a kid, I was running away from a spanking my mother was going to give me at night and I ran into this old tree here, it's been here since I was born – my little hideout" He sighed as he walked slowly up to the tree and patted it solemnly. "It's mine in the day and theirs in the night"
She blinked and it took her a second to realize he was directing 'theirs' to the fireflies. "You're so lucky you live here, you're kingdom has everything mine doesn't"
He shrugged "At least were sharing it with you"
She smiled, starting to feel a little drowsy "Yeah... well – I'll see you tomorrow, probably in your 'secret' room"
"You're not going to breakfast?" He asked her.
"Not after what happened today" she assured him and he laughed miserably at the memory.
"You're right, anyway, go get some rest – night"
She blinked, had he actually wished her a night?
She yawned the idea away and made her way back to the castle "Goodnight" she called back at him.
.....................................
It took me exactly from 7.45 p.m. to 11.05 p.m. to write that chapter ...
^.^
Okay...! Don't forget to review!!!
And till the next chapter... sayonara!!!
A/N: So sorry for the late update but I have a fair excuse... I was supposed to Post Chapter 19 for A Wish upon a star a few days ago but then my computer broke down and a few dozen files got deleted... and guess what? Chapter 19 got deleted along with it – and so did Chapter 3 of Sweet Summer Trip Catastrophe. I was depressed because I had put a lot of effort into those two chapters because I was tired of writing Inu and Kag fighting all the time and had actually included some cute fluff between the two... but then fate trashed the chapters so I was left with scratch to start all over again.
Not only that, but I figured out one person who I used to call a 'friend' back bighted on me and then we had this big fight and then on Saturday I was feeling like a depressed dog. -_-. My close friends couldn't stand me sulking in my room the whole weekend so they pulled me out and forced me to have fun outside of my house...
By the end of the weekend, I finally felt ready to write but school started again, so I had to find time to write my chapters while finding time to stuff my homework in as well.
So please have mercy on me and don't worry, the beginning of the chapter might be Sessh/Rin but the rest of it is ALL Inu/Kag ^.^... on with the chapter...
Oh- before I start, you may have noticed that the ratings have changed from Romance/Humor to Romance/Drama...
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Chapter Nineteen
Midnight Magic
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It took one week for Kagome to heal completely from her wounds. She was allowed to walk around the castle freely without any support even though Inu-Yasha insisted she stay in bed for a while longer.
Though Kagome was happy she was no longer in her bed, tension was rising in the castle as the dreaded date rose even closer.
Two months had passed since Kagome's arrival; two weeks were even a blur considering one week she had been passed out and the second she had to stay in bed twenty four/seven.
That meant, one month left till the engagement. The pressure was getting to everyone, even Sesshomuru and Kikyou who seemed to act not a bit in the least of the care of the engagement.
Inu-Yasha had been losing his temper at particularly nothing, Kagome had been avoiding any body known to the fact she was getting engaged, Kikyou had been in a nervous wreck and would jump whenever anyone talked to her and Sesshomuru, he had punched the table in frustration as the king and queen kept talking about who *fun* it would be.
It was a month away... and everyone was talking about it as if it were tomorrow.
The wolf siblings were already planning the decorations and the fact that Kagome and Kikyou were shown their wedding dresses didn't help lower the rising tension. The dresses were beautiful, but neither of them smiled as they tried the dresses on.
Kagome dreaded her steps down to the dining room, hoping desperately that today would be any other normal day – no talk about engagements, but then again she should have been expecting all this chaos.
As she walked in the room, she noticed that for once, Inu-Yasha was present for breakfast, though he didn't look in a least bit pleased that he had made his arrival. Sesshomuru's face was a tint red and he was slowly eating his breakfast as if to control his anger on what the King and Queen were talking about, Kikyou had her face buried in her hands and was taking deep breaths.
Kagome slowly made her way to the table and sat beside Kikyou who hadn't lifted her head from her hands.
"... Kagome! What a pleasure to see you here, just at the right time, I know we might be planning a tint too early, but what kind of engagement cake would you like? We were thinking..." The Queen rattled on and Kagome sighed nervously at her bad luck, gods...please have some mercy!
"Would you like some juice?" A maiden whispered to her, noticing her upset feature.
She looked at her, nodded and smiled. She had grown quite fond to the maiden who brought her juice every morning and couldn't help but smile as she saw her roll her eyes at the King and Queen.
As the maiden walked over to Sesshomuru, Sesshomuru jerked her forward and made her spill the orange juice over his shirt.
"Looks like I have to clean this up, I'll see you later" He quickly interrupted the King and Queen and got up, leaving an envying crowd behind him.
Rin shook her head and looked at the empty jug "I'll get more juice"
And with that, she scurried after Sesshomuru.
After she caught up with him in the kitchen quarters, she blew up "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Make me spill the juice over you!" She told him, as a matter-of-factly way.
"Oh, - that- ... come on, I couldn't stand my parents talk about my engagement any more" He shrugged and took of his soaking shirt and placed it on the counter beside the dishes.
Rin walked up to it and tried to ignore the fact she could basically see through his shirt underneath. Trying to avoid looking at the muscular, six ab chest she picked up the shirt and scrunched it into a ball. "I'll clean it for you"
He blinked "You don't have to"
"No, I insist, you're probably going to throw it into your room" She placed it into the bucket underneath the counter where she kept all her laundry and turned to Sesshomuru who was staring at her with a weird expression. "What?"
He coughed "I was just wondering, could you show me where you stay in the castle?"
She blinked and then looked to the floor "...Oh" was the only thing she said before scratching the back of her neck idly.
"I'm not forcing you to" He said hurriedly.
She shrugged "It's okay... follow me"
She led him through a small doorway in the kitchen which led to a staircase. It was small and he could swear there were cobwebs in the corner and humungous spiders nesting in them.
She led him quite high up to the top, and when she was finished he found himself staring into a dusty, small and empty room. He walked into it and heard the floorboards creak.
"I've never been here before" he said as he wondered where he was.
"It's the highest room in the servants' quarters, closest thing I've ever come to a real room" she said not showing a tint bit of expression in her voice.
He nodded as he spotted a small bed on the corner of the room. He looked at her and smiled as he made his decision. "From today, you'll sleep in my room"
She widened her eyes and gaped at him "You pervert! No way, you won't make me!"
He chuckled "I'll sleep somewhere else, but I can't stand you sleeping in a trash like this"
She nodded "I don't mind, really"
He sighed, "I won't mind sleeping somewhere else, there are a dozen rooms which I can rest in, but mines just the best..." He paused as he just realized he had sounded very much like his little brother "...right," He coughed "So, I'll move the stuff I need to the bedroom on top of mine, and by nightfall you should be in my bedroom"
She was about to protest but he left, leaving Rin in total despair.
"He's a complete idiot" She sighed to herself and then realized the upturn to this different location of her room. This would give her the opportunity to steal his sword... Tokijin.
..........................................
Kagome sighed as she walked through the corridors in the castle. Breakfast had –finally- finished and everyone had excused themselves out of the dining room, not being able to stand the table of the engagement any longer.
Kagome was passing by Miroku's door when his door swung open and she was jerked inside.
"Ah, Miroku, what's the deal?" She asked him as she rubbed her sore arm which he had grabbed onto quite roughly.
"Hush, I want to ask you something" He beckoned her further into the room and Kagome followed in curiosity.
"Okay..." she fumbled feebly and stared at Miroku's back as he tried to get something.
He finally turned around and showed Kagome a pot with the words 'me + you = Love'
She blinked "Miroku... if you hadn't noticed, I'm getting engaged already"
He laughed and shook his head "Not for you dummy!"
She smiled at her stupidity "Oh, then for who?"
"Sango!"
She mouthed an 'o' and then smiled sneakily "Someone here has a crush on San-go!"
"Who has a crush on Sango?" Inu-Yasha's voice came barging through the room, after reaching Kagome and Miroku he stopped abruptly at the sight in front of him.
Miroku was holding up the pot with the 'me + you = love' written on it and Kagome was smiling. He raised an eyebrow, shaking his head at Miroku's intentions "Miroku, she's engaged"
He sighed in frustration "I know! This isn't for Kagome –."
Kagome cut him off "I'm hurt"
Inu-Yasha smirked, he already knew Miroku was trying to win Sango over and knew that he wasn't actually giving the pot to Kagome but making this situation harder for him was definitely amusing "Yeah, that was pretty mean Miroku"
He rolled his eyes "It's not that I like her-."
"You mean you do? Kami Miroku! She's engaged!" Inu-Yasha walked up to Kagome's side and smirked as he watched Miroku struggle.
He shook his head and sighed "I don't like her in a love – love way-."
"That was so mean!" Kagome faked a crying scene, seeing what Inu-Yasha was trying to do and pushed her body in Inu-Yasha's side for comfort, he smirked and circled his arms around her trying to comfort the fake tears pouring down her face.
"Kagome sama, I didn't mean it in that way!" Miroku sighed in frustration – gods, he just wanted some advice and now he has a wailing girl in front of him, crying in Inu-Yasha's arms? This was- wait, crying in Inu-Yasha's arms?
He blinked as he saw the sight in front of him and smiled, well this could have some upturns. "Well, look who's crying into the brother of whose she's getting engaged to?"
They both froze and then noticed what they had just done, Kagome pulled away and Miroku blinked in confusion as he saw that her eyes weren't red at all and she seemed perfectly fine except for the deep blush he saw in his face.
He looked over to Inu-Yasha who was smirking but even he couldn't hide the pink tint appear in his cheeks.
"Well, well...now why is this couple blushing?" Miroku teased as Kagome gaped at him.
"CUT it off! Now what did you have to ask me?" She asked him, changing the topic – not daring to look at Inu-Yasha's pink face.
"Well," He said, noticing that the whole thing had been a fake and that he had been fooled "How should I give this to Sango?"
Inu-Yasha blinked at the pot "By handing it to her" he told him as if it were obvious.
"Not that kind of giving over! I meant, like – how, should I place it in her room or should I just give it to her hand from hand?" Miroku toyed with the idea as Kagome thought to herself.
"I think you should give it to her when you both get in a fight and then she'll completely melt when she sees it!" Kagome clasped her hands together and smiled brightly at the romantic idea she had always wished would happen in her life.
"Well, taking it that you're a female – you must know what woman's like so are you sure she would like that?" He asked Kagome, ignoring Inu-Yasha's complex expression.
"Every woman would like that! It's so extremely romantic!" She squealed as she thought of herself in the situation.
"So, imagine I did the same thing to you, what would you do?" Miroku asked her, imagining she was Sango.
"I would get extremely happy and I would come and give you a big hug, but considering that you gave it, I would ask first if you were telling the truth" She smiled at Miroku as he nodded.
"Would you do that to any guy?" Inu-Yasha asked, surprising them both.
Kagome blinked, seeing –she- was the main topic here. "Um... yeah, I guess, unless it was some weird weirdo who said it to me every day"
Inu-Yasha nodded idly and then shrugged, just noticing both of them were staring at him. "Just asking" he said casually, even though he was killing himself mentally for asking her such a stupid thing. The thought of her hugging him sprouting butterflies in his stomach at the moment... 'Baka...' he called her mentally as he let his imagination wander too far.
"I'm just going to talk to Sango, leave you two boys alone" She said, smiling at them both making Inu-Yasha blush even harder as he remembered her hugging him, even though it was just a scene.
'Damnit, I've never felt this before...' he cursed himself as he tried to push the tingling in his skin to go away.
After she left Miroku spoke "Don't let it go beyond innocence, it's for your own good"
He stared at Miroku, giving him a hard stare "I've got no idea what you're talking about"
Miroku shook his head and sighed and changed the topic abruptly "You think she'll like it if I touch her rear end while she hugs me?"
Inu-Yasha sighed and, groaned when Miroku when into detail about how good a woman's rear end feels.
...............................
Kagome glanced outside of Sango's bedroom window. It was dark outside and both of them had eaten their lunch and dinner inside Sango's room, even Sango was tired listening to the engagement talks let alone get a little jealous she wasn't part of the commotion.
"Beautiful night out isn't it?" Sango commented as she saw Kagome eyes gaze to the silent night outside.
"Yeah, no clouds and it is so quiet" Kagome whispered, almost feeling the solemn starts tell her to equal with them and quiet down.
"Well, it's past my bedtime, I'll see you tomorrow?" Sango asked.
Kagome shook her head, deciding she would sneak into Inu-Yasha's secret room and eat breakfast there "I might not come"
Sango nodded, "Who're you meeting all these days? You barely have any time for me"
Kagome froze. Had she been disappearing into Inu-Yasha's room so much that Sango had actually noticed? Well... she did go there in her spare time, and she HAD spent a night and half there as well...feeling too guilty to lie to her anymore she told half of the truth.
"Just spending time with Inu-Yasha, he's the only one who feels as bad about the engagement as me" Kagome responded, filling herself with that answer as well.
Sango studied her well before nodding and walking to her bed.
Kagome was about to leave before she heard Sango talk "Don't let it go past innocence, it's for your own good"
Kagome glanced at Sango "I don't know what you're talking about"
Sango sighed before changing the topic abruptly "I'm so tired, goodnight"
Kagome shook her head, confused and wished her a goodnight as well before walking out to the quiet corridor.
She amused herself at the pin drop silence of it all. It seemed as if the whole castle had gone to sleep, well... it was almost midnight, so that explained the silence.
Kagome looked up at the mysterious sky again. It seemed somehow that there were more stars out tonight. Feeling that she still had enough energy to stargaze on the beach she crept quietly down the stairs, straining her eyes to see in the dark staircase.
After reaching the ground corridor, she jumped over the railing and landed gracefully on the ground. She shivered as she felt the nightly cold breeze swift around her body and lift her hair, making it land gently on her shoulder again.
She regretted on wearing a short nightgown as she noticed that it was quite chilly outside. She ran quickly towards the gardens, enjoying the feel of the cold grass beneath her feet and smiled as she reached the forest.
She felt a shiver run down her spine as she stared into the darkness of the forest. She hadn't come in the forest or to the beach at night and the idea that something she lurked in the dark would jump out and scare her gave her the jitters.
Facing her little fear she walked into the forest, hearing an owl hoot from nearby and a few crickets chirp a few feet away from her. She went through the trees on her usual route and jumped when she felt another owl hoot which seemed from almost in front of her.
Hearing the stream in front of her she raced into the opening and studied the stream carefully.
She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life before. The stream was reflecting the moons beams, giving itself a mystical and wondrous look. Kagome reached down and dipped her hand in the water, enjoying the feel of the moonlit water rush over her fingertips.
After doing so, she got up and walked slowly towards the beach. As she reached the cliff, she noticed the big gap where Inu-Yasha and she had been attacked. She shivered at the memory of it and proceeded down the hill to walk into the sandy shore of the sea.
She was walking towards the water when she spotted Inu-Yasha sitting on the sand a few ways away from her. She smiled and ran up to him, smiling again when he glanced up at her to see who had arrived.
"You shouldn't be here, it's midnight" He said simply as he looked up at the stars.
She pouted "Well then neither should you"
He growled in defeat and shrugged casually before flumping back down on the sand beneath him. Kagome flopped down on the sand beside him and looked up at the stars with him, enjoying the presence of someone around her.
"Nice night isn't it?" she asked him as she darted a glance at him.
He sighed "Yep"
She nodded idly and then smiled as she looked up again at the stars "Do you believe in any sort of story the stars can tell?"
He laughed "I don't believe in that sort of crap"
She gasped "You must be joking!"
"Nope" He replied casually.
"You mean, you don't believe in stars watching over you, or finding you're true love by the way the stars are or -."
Kagome was cut of as Inu-Yasha spoke. "Nope, Nope and Nope, I don't believe in anything the stars tell, I just like looking up at them, they're just pretty lights in the sky"
She gaped at him "Well, do you want me to tell you a story?"
He sighed "I guess I have no choice?"
She giggled "You got it, so let me tell you a story my mother told me once"
He sighed in defeat and just stared up at the stars, waiting for her to continue "Feh"
She smiled "Well, my mother told me that the northern star is the brightest shining star in the sky, it leads all the other stars in the sky, so one day there was this man, he was lost in sea and he didn't know which way was home..."
"Let me guess, he looked at the northern star and figured which way was home?" He said simply.
Kagome sighed "...no silly, that's not the way it worked, let me finish the story - ... so the man always stargazed with his true love and they both gave themselves a star, the woman's star was above the northern star and the man's was south west. So when he was lost he looked up at the northern star and he saw that his true loves star was above the northern star. So he followed where his true loves star led and then he saw an island, and his true love was living there"
She stopped and smiled. Inu-Yasha looked over to where he had laid down and looked over at her, confused.
"That's the end?"
She blinked "Yeah, don't you get it?"
He shook his head "Not really, I don't see how the stars have to do anything with it"
"Well, they both gave themselves stars, and wherever they went, their stars led them to there. Whenever they were sick, their stars dimmed and so their partners knew where and how they were doing, every day if they were apart" Kagome smiled at the story.
Inu-Yasha blinked, caving in into the whole idea "So how do I know which one is my star?"
She smiled "See, the northern star is that one – you're name has eight letters in it and has an 's' which stars the word 'south', so mouth eight stars south from the northern star and – there, that one should be yours!"
He blinked as he dotted which star was 'his'. He blinked when he spotted a bright star shining quite alone from all the others.
"Which one is yours?" he asked innocently, making Kagome blush when she saw his puppy cute face.
"That one, six stars east from the northern star" She pointed towards a star which was diagonally across from his.
"Oh," He pondered on something for a while "And how do you know who is your true love?"
Kagome blushed at his question. She wasn't expecting something like this coming out of – him -.
She gulped away a lump in her throat as she answered "Well, love has four letters in it – L – o – v – and e. Each of the letters represents a star. So if you move four stars away from 'your' star either way, north, south, west or east your true love will be on of them"
He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to process the information "But what if the fourth star away from your star belongs to a male?"
Kagome giggled "Well, I asked my mom the same question, she said, out of four directions – one of them will be a female and that's your true love"
He nodded and then pointed towards his star and then counted the stars up the Kagome's, playing with the idea that 'she' might be in his categories of being his true love.
"Well, whoever made that up must have been wrong because your star is exactly four stars away from mine"
Kagome laughed, while blushing "It could be just coincidence"
He laughed nervously "Probably"
"It's probably just some stupid star myth" Kagome added.
"Yeah, stupid"
"Really stupid" Inu-Yasha added, somehow, the idea of her being his true love sent nervous jitters throughout his body and made his blood rush at the thought of it.
"Maybe you skipped a star or something" Kagome assured him, somehow the coincidence seemed to seem like plain old coincidence.
Inu-Yasha counted again, and skipped a heartbeat when he noticed his counting had been perfectly accurate. "A star probably isn't bright enough to shine tonight, that's why"
Kagome nodded, liking the thought very well. "I guess"
She laughed as she saw a firefly come and sit on Inu-Yasha's nose. He blinked and sneezed, scaring it away.
Kagome pouted "Aw that was the first time I saw a firefly"
He blinked at her, surprised "you must be kidding me"
She shook her head "I speak nothing but the truth" She said elegantly, making him grin.
"Well, if you want to see fireflies follow me" He got up and grabbed her hand, making her now o-so familiar blush return to her face. She cursed herself, was it just her or did she seem to be blushing more and more when she and Inu-Yasha were caught in an embarrassing situation.
He led her back into the forest, making her fasten up her pace as she started to feel a little scared by the darkness. He snickered as he felt her press close to him. "Don't tell me you're scared" he said, laughing quietly at her.
"I seem to get a little nervous in the dark, why may it matter to you?" She said, more like in her older sister's tone making Inu-Yasha cringe.
"Okay, were here, now don't say a word, and creep along quietly with me" he whispered into her ear making her shiver again, not because of the cold but because of his hot breath that brushed on her ear lobe.
She nodded and did as he asked. They walked silently in the darkness of the forest for a more steps then stopped in front of what seemed like to Kagome to be a large tree.
Inu-Yasha crouched down and picked up a stick, making Kagome wonder what he was going to do with it. He aimed it for the tree, and before Kagome could put two and two together, he had thrown the stick at the tree, making it come alive.
She gasped as she saw the tree light up with a million lights and what seemed to be thousands and thousands of fireflies fly out of it. She clutched Inu-Yasha's arm as she watched in amazement, as the fireflies circled around them, trying to fly away in what seemed like magical lights.
Inu-Yasha snuck a glance at the clutching girl beside him and smiled when he saw her amazed expression.
"This... this is so beautiful" she whispered as the fireflies started to head upwards, making Kagome feel she was is a fairy tale, the fireflies seeming very much like tiny fairies with light pockets in their hands.
He felt himself skip a heart beat as she pressed closer to his side. Gods, why did she make him feel this way? He shrugged off the feeling, he never really had physical contact with a lot of girls, and maybe this was normal?
She smiled as the fireflies flew off, leaving herself to watch the glowing tree where the fireflies which hadn't decided to fly off rested.
"That was amazing" She breathed out and as she noticed how close she had gotten to Inu-Yasha, jerked away immediately.
"Yeah, I found this out when I was a kid, I was running away from a spanking my mother was going to give me at night and I ran into this old tree here, it's been here since I was born – my little hideout" He sighed as he walked slowly up to the tree and patted it solemnly. "It's mine in the day and theirs in the night"
She blinked and it took her a second to realize he was directing 'theirs' to the fireflies. "You're so lucky you live here, you're kingdom has everything mine doesn't"
He shrugged "At least were sharing it with you"
She smiled, starting to feel a little drowsy "Yeah... well – I'll see you tomorrow, probably in your 'secret' room"
"You're not going to breakfast?" He asked her.
"Not after what happened today" she assured him and he laughed miserably at the memory.
"You're right, anyway, go get some rest – night"
She blinked, had he actually wished her a night?
She yawned the idea away and made her way back to the castle "Goodnight" she called back at him.
.....................................
It took me exactly from 7.45 p.m. to 11.05 p.m. to write that chapter ...
^.^
Okay...! Don't forget to review!!!
And till the next chapter... sayonara!!!