East of the Moon
Chapter three

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Random Pizza Hut, Washington DC, 10:02 p.m., July 8:

"So, you're half demon, half human?" Kagome asked as she took a sip of her Dr. Pepper. They were currently waiting for their pizza. Inuyasha was actually kind of surprised Pizza Hut was even open this late, though he figured it had something to do with the fact that he was at a pizza place with the president's daughter.

"Yeah, it's pretty horrible," Inuyasha said as he gulped down the rest of his root beer. Inuyasha sighed and rolled his eyes. "No one wants to hang out with the hanyou, the mixed blood imbecile; he has no feelings."

"Hanyou?"

"Hm?" Inuyasha paused. "Sorry, that's Japanese for 'half breed'." He shrugged. "My mum makes me take a Japanese class. I've done it since I was little."

"I'm half Japanese," Kagome said, smiling brightly, happy to see they had something in common. "My Dad's Caucasian; my mom's Japanese. I guess you could tell by my eyes, since I don't know any Japanese with blue eyes..."

Inuyasha laughed. "You also have fairer skin then Japanese."

"I take it you know a lot about Japan?"

Inuyasha laughed again and she smiled. "Yeah, Mum was born there; she likes to cram me with all this useless information."

"Your mom sounds nice," Kagome said with a smile.

"Yeah, she's great." Inuyasha smiled. "Izayoi Takahashi."

"Takahashi? Why don't you have the same last name?"

"Mum and Dad never got married." Inuyasha shrugged and stared at his empty glass.

"Why not?" Kagome asked, genuinely curious.

"Mum was the other woman," Inuyasha said with a sigh. "Dad claims that she seduced him, but I really don't think that's true; I think my Dad was just a dumb ass...it was his fault he was already married."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, my older brother, Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha said with a snort, "He teaches at Harvard. Never talked to him. How about you?" Inuyasha asked, and then realized he already knew that answer. He'd heard she was an only child.

"Actually, I do." Okay, so he was obviously wrong... "My younger brother, Souta. He's away at military school; I only see him during the summer and breaks."

"Where is he now?"

"Still in school."

"But it's July!" Inuyasha said in surprise as he stared at the girl before him. He was once again reminded of her beauty.

"His school doesn't get out until August." Kagome shrugged and then smiled brightly at Inuyasha. Inuyasha practically melted from her gorgeous smile. "So, how about we play a game?"

"A game?"

"One of my old friends taught this to me when she was crushing on a guy; the guy taught it to her," Kagome said with a grin as she turned twinkling blue eyes all around their table, making sure no one was listening. "It's called twenty questions."

"I've played that..."

"No, this is different. It's when we ask each other a question and you have to answer them. They can be yes or no, or they can be detailed answers, depending on how the question is phrased, okay?"

"Alright then, you start," Inuyasha said, amused with the girl's enthusiasm.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" she blurted out and then blushed brightly. He blinked before his cheeks flamed a bright red. That was not a question he'd expected.

"No," he mumbled. "I'm single."

"Me too," she said and giggled, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

"Let's see now." Inuyasha thought for a moment. "What's your favorite color?"

"To wear or to look at?"

"Both." Inuyasha shrugged, and raised an eyebrow at her, silently telling her to hurry up and answer the question.

"To wear I like green or blue, but my favorite color is yellow," Kagome said cheerfully and she looked to the side. "Oh, the pizza's here!" She smiled at the waiter and patted his arm. "Thanks for staying late for us; it means a lot to me," she said happily.

"Anything for you," he said and tipped his hat to Kagome. He nodded to Inuyasha and left the table, walking back into the kitchen. Kagome grabbed a slice and began eating immediately.

"You're really something, you know?" Inuyasha said as he took a piece too.

"Huh?" Kagome asked, wide eyed.

"You're just always so happy; how do you do that?" Inuyasha asked. He took a bite of his pizza slice as he gazed at her.

She smiled her bright, beautiful smile, something Inuyasha had grown accustomed to, even if he'd only known her for a few hours. She had perfect teeth, he finally noticed. Straight and white. 'Is there any fault to her?' he wondered as he stared at her.

"I don't have a reason to not be happy, so why bother spending my time on negative energy?" Kagome shrugged and took a second piece of pizza. "I think of my life very fortunate, and even when it gets a little down, I don't get too bummed about it because I know there's someone out there who's worse off than me."

"Hm, wish I could be more like you then." Inuyasha shrugged and ate the rest of his pizza.

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever something bad happens to me, I don't think about others worse off than me; I think about how the world's done me wrong and how everyone should burn in hell for it, or something." He shrugged. "I just kind of feel..." He glanced at her and found that she was staring at him, her blue eyes unwavering. 'How can she be so damn beautiful?' He gulped down a lump in his throat he didn't know was there. "Empty," he finally whispered.

Kagome cocked her head to the side and reached out a hand, grabbed his head, and shook it. He sputtered in surprise and stared at her. "What the hell, Kagome?"

"You don't sound empty to me." Kagome giggled and poked him in the chest. "If you ever feel empty again, think of something that makes you really happy; I guarantee you'll feel one zillion times better."

"Is zillion even a number?" Inuyasha asked skeptically.

"I don't know; if it wasn't, it is now," Kagome threw her head back and laughed, causing Inuyasha to stare at her neck.

'Damn you, Kagome...'

---

Kagome's room, White House, Washington DC, 2:32 a.m., July 9:

Inuyasha landed softly on Kagome's balcony before setting her down from where he'd been holding her in his arms. They ended up not going to the nightclub, and instead had walked around in Washington DC, talking about stuff. They would talk anywhere from favorite colors, to favorite bands, to the civil war in Africa, to the best kind of sushi, to Michael Jackson, to just about anything.

"I had fun tonight, Inuyasha," Kagome said, her smile pasted on her face. The whole time he'd spent with her, she'd never stopped smiling or laughing. She actually looked like she enjoyed his company, which was more than he could say about the majority of humanity.

"Me too," he said with a smile. She really was an amazing girl; funny, smart, kind and not to mention beautiful. He once again found himself melting under her gaze. "Goodnight."

"I suppose the night is still young for you, aye Mr. Seattleite?" Kagome asked with a small giggle. It was true; it was only twelve thirty back home. Inuyasha idly wondered how his mum was doing.

"Yes indeed, East Coastern Girl," Inuyasha joked back and hopped over onto his balcony. "Goodnight. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Probably, unless Dad makes me go do some stupid publicity crap..."

"Or I have to do that stupid training with my dad..."

"Just remembered what I said when you feel empty, ok?" Kagome said and gave a small little wave. "See ya later, Inuyasha."

"Yeah, bye." Inuyasha exited the balcony and into his room. He stared at his bed for a long moment before plopping down and falling asleep.

The next morning, he was rudely awakened by his father.

"What did I do now?" Inuyasha grumbled as he rubbed his eyes. He sat up in his large bed (something he was thrilled to see last night), and stared at his father with droopy, tired eyes.

"Where did you and Kagome go last night?" his father snapped angrily.

"Huh...?" Inuyasha asked as he tried to comprehend what his father was saying. His mind was kind of fuzzy from his lack of sleep.

"Where did you and Kagome go last night?" his father repeated, his agitation evident in his voice.

"Nowhere," he lied.

"You're a horrible liar, Inuyasha. Now tell me where you took the president's daughter, or else."

"I took her to Montana and fucked her brains out," Inuyasha said sarcastically before flopping down on his bed, preparing to return to sleep. But with a sarcastic and slightly disgusting comment like that, it was obvious that he wasn't getting off that easily.

"You what?" His father looked like he was about to break a blood vessel.

"I'm kidding; Jesus, Dad, go have a heart attack somewhere else." Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "We just went out and got pizza. We only talked."

His father crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "And?"

"We only talked. What? Did you think I took her somewhere and raped her?" Inuyasha sat up growing angry. "I wouldn't do that to her, or any other girl for that matter. So will you lay off? You can even go ask her! Damn it, Dad!"

His father grabbed his son's arms and hauled him out of bed. "Get dressed; you are going to be training so hard that you will not be able to feel your arms in the morning!"

"Dad!" his son whined angrily.

"You'll also be presenting a formal apology to Kagome and the president this morning, so I suggest you dress nicely first. They'll be expecting you in the Oval Office in half an hour."

"I hate you," he whispered.

"What?" his father asked, not hearing his son's words.

"I hate you," he snapped angrily.

"I'm sure you do. Now, if you'll excuse me." His father snorted and exited his son's room. Inuyasha watched him go and when he was sure his father was out of sight, he leapt forward and ripped apart all his down pillows on his bed, goose feathers flying every where.

"I hate you."

"Inuyasha?" He jumped and turned around to see Kagome in his doorway. The girl surveyed all the feathers floating in the air and she turned her attention to him. "Are you ok?"

"Peachy."

"You don't sound peachy." Kagome shrugged and walked towards him, trying to dodge as many feathers as she could. Some of the white feathers landed on her head and gave a startling contrast to her black hair.

"I'm sorry," he grumbled and stared at the mess he made. He let out a deep sigh.

"I'm the one who's sorry." Kagome lowered her head. "You got in trouble because of me."

"I've done worse; I think I'll live." Inuyasha shrugged and smiled. "Besides, I'm glad I did it."

---

Oval Office, Washington DC, 10:35 am:

"Mr. and Mrs. President, Ms. Kagome, I am incredibly sorry for the damage I may have caused you and your daughter, please accept my sincerest apologizes, because I really was not in my right mind when I took her out in the after hours and kept her out not only against your wishes, but I led her into dangerous parts of town that could cause her harm without the protection of her body guards."

"You're forgiven," the president said, "Just don't do it again."

"Thank you, sir," Inuyasha said as he was instructed and waited until he was dismissed from the room before darting a glance at Kagome. She smiled apologetically. She was so pretty...

Shaking his head, Inuyasha left the oval office and retreated to his room. He was slightly relieved to see that his bed was made with new pillows and the majority of the feathers were gone. He flopped down onto his bed and stared out the window.

After a long moment there was a knock at the door. "It's open," he called.

He heard her open the door and shut it. He'd known it was her the moment she knocked; her sweet scent penetrated his senses.

"I'm sorry," she said as she sat by him. She rubbed the back of her head nervously. Inuyasha glanced at her and a small smile appeared on his face.

"It's no problem. Like I said, I've done much worse." Inuyasha shrugged. "Now I have bragging rights: I got to apologize to the president...which reminds me, I have to tell him that my mum thinks he did an excellent job with our economy."

Kagome giggled and he felt happy again. It always seemed to lift his spirits when he could make her laugh. He glanced over at her and found that she was staring back. They both turned away quickly, Inuyasha's cheeks a bright pink.

"So then," Kagome said as she looked at the ceiling. She fell back onto his bed, her hair spilling around her as she rested her hands on her stomach. "What is your opinion on video gaming systems? PS2 or X Box?"

"They're both pretty cool, but I'd have to go with the PS2...now, if X Box had the Final Fantasy games, it would be X Box one hundred and ten percent." Inuyasha shrugged.

"You like Final Fantasy?" Kagome asked with a large grin and curious blue eyes.

"Do I? One of the best games I've ever played," Inuyasha smiled. "Do you?"

"Love them...though I've only played Final Fantasy eight," Kagome said.

"That's one of my favorites," Inuyasha agreed.

"I have posters; want to see?" Kagome asked excitedly. Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh as she seemed overly thrilled about showing him pieces of paper tacked to a wall. But who was he to deny her? He grinned as Kagome grabbed his hand.

Kagome dragged him into her room, waving to her bodyguards who stood positioned outside her doors, and pulled him to the nearest wall. He made a mental note not to ask about the Legolas poster again.

"See, here's two from FFVIII, here's one from FFX." She pointed to each one and Inuyasha noticed that she had yet to release his hand. He blushed brightly. "There are some anime posters in here, too. There's one from Cowboy Bebop, Trigun and Chobits."

"You like anime, I take it?" Inuyasha asked with a laugh.

"Yup!" Kagome chirped and pulled him to the next wall. "Here's a Linkin Park poster, a Blink-182 poster, a John Mayer poster." She squealed. "God I love him!" She released his hand, much to his dismay, and clapped her hands together before giving a little giggle. Inuyasha didn't understand why she liked a guy that wasn't that cute.

Before he could say anything, Kagome was flinging herself at her bed, all the while chanting 'I love you Legolas.' He watched her for a long moment before joining her on the bed, sitting near her as she lay, sprawled out, and staring up at the Lord of the Rings poster featuring the elf. Suddenly she pulled him down with her and she gave a little sigh.

"Look at him and tell me that he isn't dreamy," Kagome declared, seemingly ignorant to the fact she'd just pulled a guy onto the bed with her.

Inuyasha stared at the blonde, pointed eared Orlando Bloom and slowly turned towards Kagome. "He's not dreamy..."

Kagome turned towards him with a stricken look and he blushed.

"I mean, I'm a guy, Kagome. I'm sure if I were a girl, I'd think he was the dreamiest thing in the world..." He reassured the girl, and soon her wounded look was gone and she was giggling like a fanatic. "I'm never going to understand your kind, am I?"

"What kind?" Kagome asked, blinking in confusion.

"Girls. I'm never going to understand them." Inuyasha shrugged. Kagome lightly swatted at his shoulder, taking him by surprise. "What? You girls are a total mystery to me!"

"Inuyasha East," Kagome said firmly and he glanced at her, "you are the funniest guy I know."

"I am?" Inuyasha asked in amazement.

"You're the only guy I know, except Souta and Dad," Kagome murmured. "But if I were to meet any other guy, I'm sure you'd still be the coolest one of them all."

"Uh...thanks, Kagome."

"But Orlando Bloom is still my hunk." Kagome squealed as she envisioned herself meeting Orlando again.

---

White House's basement, Washington DC, 2:30 p.m., July 11:


Inuyasha grumbled as another punch was thrown at him. "Focus, you bubbling idiot," his father said crossly. Inuyasha growled and gripped the fake pellet gun he was holding. "You have to shoot them directly dead on or else it won't work!"

"Shut up, Dad," Inuyasha snarled as he shot at the targets ahead of him, his perfect eyesight allowed him to see the targets dead on...it was just his aim that was slightly off. "I'm doing the best I can."

"The best you can do right now is not good enough," one of his trainers said from his corner, where he was observing the conversation between father and son. "You must have a clear mind...and if you can't do that, think of something that makes you really angry."

'Being compared to Orlando Bloom,' he thought at once and paused. He let out a small chuckle and shook his head. 'I've been hanging around Kagome way too much. Alright, something that makes me feel angry.' He glanced at his father, 'Oh. I know.'

He pulled the trigger of his pellet gun and hit the target dead on. "Alright," Inuyasha said with a smirk.

"Don't get cocky, you egotistical moron," his father said coolly, Inuyasha sent him a glare.

"How is this supposed to help me, anyway? How do we know that this 'force' will be stopped by some lame bullets?" Inuyasha asked as he stared at his gun, held firmly in his hand.

"We don't, and we don't expect it to. It's supposed to help your aim. You will not be using a gun in this battle," his trainer said with a shrug.

"So how am I supposed to fulfill this prophecy if I've never even read it?" Inuyasha asked as he rocked back and forth on his heels, his golden eyes staring at the ceiling.

"The contents of the prophecy are not important," his father said. Inuyasha turned to look at him.

"How do you know that I'm even supposed to fulfill the prophecy?"

"You're the only name we could come up with." His father gently shook his head. "But, my life is resting in your hands. I do not feel confident that I will see the next winter."

Inuyasha squeezed his gun until the barrel snapped and he threw it down at his father's feet. "Well then, I'm so fucking glad you have so much faith in me, DAD!" He turned on his heel and began to stomp away. "I'm done for the day!"

He stormed up the stairs and into the hall of the bottom floor of the White House. With a snort he slammed into the kitchen. Several chefs all turned and stared at the boy. Though they weren't sure of his purpose in the white house, the employees were aware of his presence. They stared at him a moment until Inuyasha walked across the large kitchen and stormed through the opposite door leading to the backyard of the White House. (Up until his visit, he didn't even realize that the yard the people of the public see really is the backyard and that the front yard is really in the back of the White House and that it's really big!)

"Inuyasha!" He heard Kagome's voice and he paused a moment to look around for the girl. He saw her on the large balcony overlooking the backyard of the White House. He waved to her. "Hang on, I'll be right down!" she called and disappeared from sight. Several minutes later, she was running across the lawn towards him, her hair fluttering behind her as her bright eyes twinkled. He was melting again...God, he hated that.

"Hey," he greeted her when she reached him. She paused and leaned over, her hands resting on her knees as she caught her breath. After a moment of only panting, she stood upright and smiled brightly at him. "Nice to see you, too."

She grinned. "How was training?"

"Horrible, as always." Inuyasha shrugged and let out a small sigh.

Kagome smiled sympathetically as they began walking along the grounds of the White House, slowly and leisurely.

Kagome took a deep inhale of breath and smiled brightly, her face tilted towards the bright sun. "I always love summer. But my favorite season is spring."

"Why?" Inuyasha asked, watching as she tilted her face towards the beating sun, the light casting shadows across her face while at the same time casting rays of yellow sunlight upon her cheeks.

"It's so beautiful; flowers are beginning to bloom, the sky is clearing, the snow is melting..." Kagome sighed dreamily and wrapped her arms around her, hugging herself, her eyes closed as she savored the memories of the springtime. "Plus, it's the season of love."

"Uh oh, I'm friends with a hopeless romantic!" Inuyasha laughed when Kagome batted at his arm. He rubbed it idly and Kagome beamed at him, her oceanic orbs sparkling in the sunlight.

"What's your favorite season, then?" Kagome asked, laughter in her voice.

Inuyasha thought for a moment before licking his lips. "Either autumn or winter," he finally decided.

"Really? They're so cold, though," Kagome said with wide eyes.

"Maybe; but, during the first stages of autumn in Seattle, it's warm and sunny... and the leaves are changing color and falling to the ground. The smell is in the air, and plus, it's the perfect time to get an apple cider at Starbucks!" he said with a nod. Kagome burst out laughing.

"Inuyasha, you're really something else," Kagome said in between laughs, "What about winter?"

"It rains, all the time. Therefore, I have an excuse to stay inside and do nothing. Sometimes it will snow. Like, last winter, we had massive snow storms, the biggest we've had since the '50s or something; it was awesome. But, I also get an excuse to wear my scarf. I like my scarf...I miss my scarf," Inuyasha said wistfully. "Plus, it's right before spring, and because it's so cold and bleak, it makes you appreciate the 'season of love' all the more."

"Yeah, I never thought of it that way." Kagome took on a thoughtful look. "Without evil there cannot be a good, right?"

"Yes, and we all know that winter is evil," Inuyasha joked.

She smiled brightly and they continued walking, neither seeming to notice when their hands slipped together as they began walking hand and hand towards the White House's Rose Garden.

---

- I did my best with the rooms in the White House.

- The twenty questions game is something my beta, Jordy, taught me. It's also featured in her story The Ultimate Consequence on fictionpress. If you're interested there are links to her bio pages in my bio page.

- Zillion is a number

- Seattleite is a person who lives in Seattle, Washington.