East of the Moon
Chapter Eight

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Rose Gardens, White House, 10:24 a.m., August 8:

"Guess what?" Kagome asked with a smile as they walked along the White House's gardens, hand and hand.

"What?" Inuyasha asked as he smiled at the girl beside him.

"We've known each other for a month now," Kagome announced as her smile grew brighter.

"Really? I've been here for a month?" Inuyasha pursed his lips and thought about it. "That went by fast..."

"Time flies when you're having fun," Kagome said with a small giggle. He squeezed her hand as they rounded a bend in the beautiful gardens. She tilted her head to the side to look up at him, the sun reflecting off of her rosy cheeks and giving her an almost unearthly look.

"I guess so," Inuyasha said and his lips tilted upwards.

Her smiled widened as he paused in his steps. She blinked at him as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. He blushed and lowered his head. "Kagome... I have something I need to tell you..."

Kagome's breath stopped and she felt her heart fall from her chest and into her stomach. A small amount of hope rose within her. "Yes...?" she breathed.

He bit his lip and his fingers touched the silver ring hanging from his neck; the ring Kagome had given him. He licked his parched lips and his ears twitched as the soft wind caressed the fur.

She squeezed his hand reassuringly and smiled.

His hand reached into the pocket of his jeans where he had put his gift to Kagome. He hesitantly pulled out the rosary he'd been wearing since day one. Kagome watched him curiously as he held it out to her.

"I know it isn't as nice as a silver ring, but I thought that I should give you something in return," he said with a small smile as he held the beaded necklace out to her. Kagome stared at it in shock before smiling.

"You didn't have to get me anything," she berated as he slipped his rosary around her neck. "What did I tell you about not having to give something in return?"

"You told me the sun doesn't give the moon light expecting it will owe it one," Inuyasha clarified with a smile and rocked back and forth on his heels. "And I wanted to. The moon is sick and pale with grief and envy; it is greedy and it takes the light from the sun without a second thought. I don't want to do that." He shrugged. "If the moon were to ever return the favor, the sun would be very happy, I think."

"Well, thank you," Kagome said, and meant it. He shrugged again.

"I have something else to tell you, Kagome," he whispered and blushed brightly.

Kagome blinked in surprise.

"I... I've only known you for a month, Kagome... but..." he bit his lip and locked eyes with hers, the golden depths twinkling with emotion. "You're the closest I've ever been to a girl. You're the sweetest, kindest, prettiest, funniest girl I've ever known and who I'll ever know." He blushed furiously. "I'm really bad at this."

She looked at him and gently tilted her head to the side. "You're doing fine..."

"I think that I'm... in love with you," he finished with a bright blush on his cheeks.

Kagome's eyes widened before closing in bliss. A large smile sprung across her face as her cheeks stained a slight pink. She reopened her eyes to stare up at him, his body towering above her as she giggled slightly.

"I think that I'm in love with you, too, Inuyasha," she said sweetly and stood on the tips of her toes in order to reach his lips. They locked together and their arms came around each other, his powerful body holding her in place.

They stood in silence for a long moment, simply kissing one another before they had to pull away for air. She tilted her head to the side and smiled brightly as the wind whipped her hair to the side. She gazed up at him and he met her gaze equally.

"You're amazing," he whispered as her beauty captivated him.

"So are you," she murmured, and he gently spun her around.

---

Oval Office, White House, 12:42 p.m.:

Inuyasha was nervous. He currently stood in the oval office alone, awaiting the president to appear. The man had arrived home after visiting Missouri and giving a campaign speech. He licked his dry lips and looked around nervously. Kagome's father had demanded he come to talk to him and Inuyasha had a feeling that the talk was about to take place.

The doors to his left opened and he whipped his head in time to see several bodyguards enter and situate themselves throughout the room. Then the president entered, his tall frame towering above Inuyasha's body. After the president left the doorway, several more bodyguards entered and situated themselves. His father was among them.

Inuyasha turned his attention to the president standing behind the desk, acting nonchalant and unaware of the hanyou's presence.

Inuyasha gulped down a large lump that had situated itself in his throat. He felt uncomfortable and he flexed and relaxed his hand.

"Inuyasha," the president said with a calm voice as he turned his blue-eyed gaze towards the hanyou. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you, sir." Inuyasha walked forward and sat in a chair positioned in front of the man's desk. The president fiddled with things on his desk, acting indifferent yet again and Inuyasha squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

Finally, the president sighed and turned his heated gaze towards the teenaged boy. "Inuyasha, we have some things to discuss."

"Yes sir," Inuyasha murmured, keeping his voice low and his gaze downwards.

"It has come to my attention that you and my daughter have been becoming increasingly closer and closer," he drawled slowly, his lips pursing. "It has also come to my attention that against my wishes, against all better judgment, that you have had sexual relations with my daughter. My sixteen-year-old daughter. My only daughter."

There was a long pause where Inuyasha swallowed. "Yes... sir..."

"What were you thinking?" he demanded, his anger evident. "You're just teenagers and you allowed the waves of passion to sway your better judgment?"

"I love her, sir," Inuyasha whispered quietly.

The president's eyes widened in surprise before slamming his fist onto the mahogany desk. "No, you're a teenager; you don't know what love is. This is simply lust."

"I love her," he repeated, more firmly this time as he lifted his gaze to meet the president's.

He snarled at him and took a deep breath. "How do you know what love is? How can you be sure that you love her?"

"How can you be sure that I don't love her?" Inuyasha countered with narrowed eyes. "I love her and she loves her."

"She doesn't; Kagome wouldn't love you," he said crossly. "I allowed you to stay in my home, Inuyasha; I provided you with shelter and food. How do you repay me? You go out and fuck my daughter without my consent. She's too young for that kind of thing, but you didn't take that into consideration when you took her!"

Inuyasha's fury boiled over and he marched forward slamming his fists against the desk, sending a small crack into the polished wood. "You listen, and you listen good. I love Kagome! I don't care what the fuck you say because my feelings won't change. I'll tell her every fucking day that I love her; I won't let her ever doubt that I love her. You provided me shelter and food but only because I'm going to save all your sorry asses from some stupid prophecy that a crack pot probably wrote!

"Furthermore," he continued, his anger unforgiving as he stared down the president. He tried to ignore the bodyguards around him holding their guns. "It is not your decision what Kagome and I do. It is hers. She and I both agreed to do it because we love and care for each other." His lips drew back into a snarl and his eyes narrowed. "I don't care what the fuck you say; Kagome and I do what we want!"

"I won't allow you to see her anymore," Jones said calmly as if that were the end of the conversation.

Inuyasha snarled. "You have no power over whether I see Kagome or not. No matter what you do, I'll find a way to see Kagome; I'll find a way to be able to look at her every single day. You can't and won't stop me."

They stood in silence as they glared at each other and Inuyasha felt his nervousness drip away in favor of his anger and rage as this man tried to get him away from the girl he loved.

'I love her, and I won't let any one stop me,' he promised to himself.

"I forbid you to see my daughter. We'll be moving your room and making sure that you don't see Kagome for the rest of your stay here," Jones said. "After all this is done, I hope to never see you again. Perhaps I can heal some of the damage you've caused my daughter."

"Dad." The occupants of the room turned to see Kagome standing in the doorway, tears in her eyes. The demons in the room cursed themselves for not hearing or smelling her approach.

The girl walked into the room, tears dripping from her eyes, her hands clasped together as she tried to gain control of herself. Inuyasha would have run to her if not for the deadly glare her father was sending him.

"Kagome, what are you doing in here?" her father demanded, a small hint of his anger slipping away as he addressed his daughter.

"Don't send him away," she pleaded, tears falling down her cheeks. She turned to Inuyasha and smiled. "I love him. I love him so much and I don't want him to go away."

There was silence in the room. Inuyasha, choosing to ignore the glares her father sent him, walked to her and wrapped his arms around her. Kagome gripped his shoulders and sobbed into his chest. He looked down at her tenderly and ran soothing circles on her back. The occupants of the room watched the display between the two teenagers silently.

He rocked her gently, cooing to her softly as he tried to comfort her. Kagome sobbed and kept repeating 'don't send him away' half to her father and half to herself.

"Shhh, it's okay, baby," he assured her calmly, his cheek resting against the crown of her head. "It's going to be alright."

The circular room was silent except for Inuyasha's whispered comforts and Kagome's dying sobs.

After ten minutes of Kagome sobbing into her boyfriend's chest, the two split apart and Kagome stared at her father. "I love him, Dad; please don't make me leave him."

Softened by the display of his emotional daughter, the president of the United States was torn between tearing apart the two teenagers and allowing them to be together. The way they had fit in each other's arms, the way he had comforted her, the way they looked at each other, their gazes locking and a world of understanding flashing between them was simply beautiful to watch; and he found himself wondering if perhaps they truly did love each other. Perhaps it wasn't puppy love?

Inuyasha took a deep breath. "Please, sir, don't make me leave her. I need her."

Those words pushed him over the edge and he nodded. "I'll allow it. However," he said before the couple could celebrate, "You'll part at eight. I'll have bodyguards outside both your doors and I'll have your balconies locked from the outside. You two will not see each other after the sun sets."

The couple looked at each other and knew they had no choice.

Sadly, with their hands intertwined, the couple began to leave the room. Kagome sniffed and Inuyasha gently touched her cheek with his hand. She looked up at him and he smiled reassuringly at her.

They watched the couple leave, and before Inuyasha was about to exit the room, he glanced at his father and almost saw a look of approval in the man's eyes.

After the couple left, one of bodyguards muttered to Inutaisho, "They're just at it like bunnies, aren't they?"

---

Inuyasha's room, White House, 9:32 p.m., August 9:

Inuyasha stared at his ceiling, his head lightly banging on the wall. He was bored. He was lonely. He missed Kagome. They'd been apart for and hour and a half and he was bored out of his mind. He had grown so used to spending his nights with her. Ever since his last human night, he'd felt an increasing need to spend time with her.

After a moment of pondering he heard a thump. He glanced around and saw nothing until it came again, near his shoulder.

'Kagome...' He realized his girlfriend had heard his thumps and was returning with her own. He smiled and turned his attention to the wall.

"Inuyasha?" He heard her voice.

"Kagome?" he asked in surprise.

"The walls are thin," she answered his unspoken question. She sighed. "This sucks so much."

"Tell me about it," he agreed with a heavy sigh. "I never realized how boring this room was until I actually had to stay inside it."

"At least you're still close," Kagome said faintly and he smelled her tears through the thin walls.

"Hey now," he said comfortingly, "Don't cry, Kagome. We'll see each other in the morning."

"I just want to hold you," Kagome said sadly, "The bed is too big without you."

"Its not the end of the world, Kagome," he assured. "Just remember, when your lying in your bed all alone, feeling empty... just think about what makes you happy."

"What makes me happy also makes me sad," she protested. "If I think about you I realize you aren't there."

He placed his palm on the wall, where Kagome's voice was coming from and sighed, "I know, sweetie, I know."

---

Somewhere in the United States, 7:37 a.m., August 15:

A lone man stood in a shadowed room, a cruel smirk forming across his face as he stared a manuscript before him. His fiery red eyes glared at the opposite wall for a second before returning to the prophecy before him.

"Excellent," Naraku breathed. "I shall strike tonight. They are not aware of the full power in his prophecy. I will surely win. Fools, the free world will cease to exist once I've struck. My sniper may have failed me, but I will surely win if they are unaware of the full power they possess."

He turned towards a door and banged it open. "Arm the bombs. We start tonight."

---

Basement, White House, 7:45 p.m.:

It had been a long, lonesome week for the couple. Kagome had been pulled to do publicity cameos and Inuyasha had been trained and worked with thirteen hours a day, only letting him pause for food and sleep. Kagome and Inuyasha rarely saw each other, but it was understandable. The day had finally come. The day that would decide whether America would perish or prevail against the force known as Naraku.

The presidential family, along with more bodyguards than Inuyasha could count, were crammed in the basement as well, for their own protection. Inuyasha's father paced back and forth as he let out a small sigh. "The sun will set soon," Inutaisho said softly to the people in the room.

The others nodded. "The day of the prophecy."

They again nodded.

"The night of the new moon is about to begin," he muttered to himself and Inuyasha, who had been sharpening Tessaiga and loading his guns in a corner suddenly went ridged.

"What?" he choked out as he turned to face his father. "What did you say?"

"It is August fifteenth. The last new moon of the summer, the day of the prophecy," Inutaisho clarified and looked at his son quizzically. "Why do you ask?" he wondered out loud until it hit him.

The new moon.

"Shit," the two inu youkai said together.

Kagome peered at them and bit her lip. "What are we going to do, then?"

"We'll have to carry on," Inutaisho said firmly, "It's up to Inuyasha."

Inuyasha stared at his father in shock. Standing, he slipped Tessaiga's sheath through a belt look and tied a small string to try and keep it in place. It was hard to hold a sword in place when you were wearing blue jeans. He made sure the safeties were on his guns before slipping them into his proper holsters.

"I want a bazooka," he declared loudly with his hands on his hips.

"No," Inutaisho said at once and the inu hanyou pouted.

"That's no fun. What good is saving the world, if I can't do it with a bazooka? It would be an easy kill, anyway," Inuyasha argued.

"Inuyasha..." his father said crossly and the hanyou fell silent, a gentle sigh escaping him.

Kagome stood and walked to him, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. "Everything's going to be fine," she assured him. He might have seemed cool and collected on the outside, but on the inside she knew he was worried. She squeezed his shoulder. "I have faith in you."

"Kagome..."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Go save the world."

"Wow, I really feel like I'm in an action movie now," Inuyasha said with a cocky smirk as he began walking towards the staircase that would lead him to the outside; to his destiny.

His golden eyes turned back to the people in the room and he gave a small mock wave. Outside, the sun set and his body began to morph to his human form. "See ya later, guys. Next time you see me, I'll be an international hero!"

"Yeah right, we need to keep this under wraps. And for the record, you'd only be a national hero," his father said crossly, but his son didn't listen as he walked up the stairs and into the dying sunlight.

Inuyasha emerged into the yard of the White house and wasn't surprised to see a lone figure standing amid the grass. Inuyasha's hand trailed down to his gun at his side as his eyes locked on the figure. No doubt it was Naraku. He was ready; all these weeks of training were not going to be in vain.

His free hand lightly touched the silver ring around his neck.

His other hand lightly pulled his gun from its holder and he held it casually as he approached the figure. "Yo," he greeted nonchalantly, as if calling out to a friend in the halls of a high school.

The figure raised an amused eyebrow and smiled. "Greetings."

"I suppose you're Naraku, then," Inuyasha said lightly.

"And I suppose you're Inuyasha East," Naraku returned. Inuyasha said nothing. "Funny, I was expecting a little more than a mere human teenager."

"You know how our government is," Inuyasha said with a shrug. "They just keep getting more and more desperate."

"Indeed," Naraku agreed with a smirk. "Why not just dispose of it, then?"

Inuyasha pursed his lips and pretended to think. A moment later he smirked and cocked his gun, lifting it and pointing it at the shape-shifting demon. "I don't think so."

"Hm, that is your choice then," Naraku said coolly as his dark eyes studied the sculpted metal of the gun the human held. He raised an amused eyebrow before pulling out his own gun. "I won't make this easy on you, boy."

"If you did, I'd be severely disappointed," Inuyasha replied.

They stood in silence for a long moment before they both pulled their triggers.

Meanwhile, back inside the basement, the demons snapped their heads up. Inutaisho's eyes narrowed and he nodded to the other bodyguard demons. They relaxed.

"It has begun," Inutaisho said softly as his golden eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to pick up any sound his son and his enemy might be making. Kagome's hands clasped and she turned fearful eyes towards the bodyguard.

"Can you tell anything?" she asked hopefully.

"Not when people are talking," Inutaisho said calmly. "But I heard murmurs of what I assume was an exchange of words and then two gun shots."

"No screams of agony?" The president asked.

"No, I assume they both dodged," Inutaisho said calmly.

Kagome bit her lip and fiddled her fingers against one another. She was extremely anxious, and she didn't like the idea of Inuyasha being out there while he was human.

"Can't someone help him?" she asked hopefully.

"No, it could upset the balance of the prophecy," Bob the bodyguard said calmly from his corner. "We cannot interfere."

"But what if he dies?" Kagome asked.

"He won't. The prophecy says so."

"There are ways that a prophecy can be destroyed," Kagome said with a pout.

"Inuyasha will be fine; he's completely capable of winning this battle. We've made sure of it. We've trained him to the best of our abilities, everything a bodyguard needs to know; we've trained him with the best trainer the White House has to offer. The rest is up to him," Inutaisho stated calmly. He smiled slightly. "And I have the utmost confidence in my son to fulfill his destiny."

Kagome stared at him for a long time before nodding.

---

-I don't know if I said this in earlier chapters, but the White House does have rose gardens. They're really pretty (::has seen pictures::)

-Kagome was really angsty/moody this chapter. I really didn't mean to do that, but it turned out that way. It offered a bonding experience between the couple, methinks.

-Seriously, who wouldn't want a bazooka? And I have to ask: why he hell didn't they give it to him? Fools.

-Inu's dad seems calmer this chapter. That was intentional, aren't I just so awesome?