A/N: It's been great working on this one. I love it to death, but all good things must come to an end.

My Favorite Color

(A song-fic to Chevelle's "The Red")

By: Yabou

Part 7 – Truth in Shades

Seeing red again, seeing red again

Inuyasha collapsed with the sobbing miko against the wall. Kagome slowly touched the beautiful red blood glistening on his fingertips. The color had never seemed so vibrant, so alive.

"Inuyasha?" She questioned his state of awareness. "Are you okay?"

He let out a weak "keh" and held her closer. "I'm fine. Are you okay, Kagome?"

She could see the questions darting through his eyes before he even began to ask them. "You didn't hurt me, Inuyasha." She slipped her hand into his. "You would never hurt me."

He stared deafly for at moment at the blood her pale white hand was covering. "How can you be so sure of everything?"

"What do you mean?" She nearly laughed at the hilarity of his remark. "I'm not so sure of anything anymore. You're the one who always seems so certain. It…it scares me, sometimes."

"Scares you?" His hands silently clenched as he relived the demonic experience.

"No," she rushed to correct her mistake. "Not like that. I don't mean it the way you think."

He looked away. "Then how do you mean it?"

"I…," she fought for the words. She began to feel the blood seeping through his clothing. "Inuyasha! You're hurt! Why didn't you say anything?"

"No." He forced her to stay when she started to move away. "Answer my question."

His eyes stared at her with a ferocity she had never seen before. They were begging her for an answer that she didn't want to reveal. Her darkest secrets came to the tip of her tongue as her heart was stolen away with his gaze…or at least what little of it she still held.

"I…" she tried to hold it back.

"You?" He pushed her as far as she would go.

At the combination of his soothing voice and the intensity behind his amber stare, a dam broke through, and she poured out her soul. "I'm so scared that it won't be all right. I'm afraid that everything will get so messed up because of what I did to the jewel. What if this was never supposed to happen in the first place? What if everything goes wrong because of me? What if it's all my fault? What if I never get to see you…all after the jewel is completed? What will I do? How can you be so certain when…when I could lose you?"

Stunned wasn't even a way to begin to explain it. Shock overcame his body, and he stared at her with a glazed expression on his face. 'What is she saying? Does she want to stay here?'

Kagome felt the tears brimming in her blue-gray eyes only moments before they stained her cheeks. 'He doesn't want me. I laid my heart on the line, and he doesn't want it. What do I do now?' "I'm s-so sorry." She pulled away again, but he held her firm.

"Kagome?" He turned her face with his thumb and index finger, smearing a small amount of blood across her cheek. "You don't want to leave?"

"No." She replied slowly.

"You want to stay here?"

She frowned. "Yes, of course I do. Where else would I want to be?"

"You really want to-."

"Yes!" She cut him off with a tilt of anger in her voice. 'Is he mocking me?'

"I…I want you to stay too."

This time, it was her turn to stare. "You do?"

After a moment, he nodded.

"Why?" She asked in a small voice.

He frowned at her. "I've always wanted you to stay. I've wanted you to always be here since the moment I met you."

"But you-."

"I was a little angry."

She smiled. "A little?"

"Or a lot…" he smirked back.

She paused. "But why?" 'Say the words I want to hear.'

A tinge of pink stained his cheeks. "You're home, Kagome. Since you've been here, I've always had a home. Wherever you are is where I have to be." He paused to let out a short sigh. "You once promised to stay by my side forever…would it be all right if I promised to stay by yours?"

A tear slid down her cheek. "I'd love that, Inuyasha."

She moved to give him a tight hug and laid her head against his shoulder. "You see, Inuyasha? That demon wasn't able to take you away from me. You were in your demon form after he was killed, but you still knew who I was. I knew that you could never hurt me."

He pulled back and looked at her face, still smudged with his red blood. "How can you think that?"

"Because, Inuyasha. Nothing about your demon form can change your heart." She replied, placing one hand against his heart. "And I know that you can always see you here because I always see you here." She placed a hand over her own heart. "No matter how angry or sad I may be."

He had never heard such senseless logic, but in his own soul he knew that it was true. To his heart, nothing had ever made more sense in his entire life. Closing his eyes, he leaned forward and did what his heart told him to. He brushed his lips against hers for the shortest of moments, waiting for her response.

She gasped in shock at the gentle touch of skin against skin. Closing her own eyes, she leaned into him in response, allowing her mouth to tell him what she felt through actions.

The kiss was shy, gentle, and a little awkward at first. Neither attempted to mold their flesh against the other; it was simply a whisper of words through touch.

"I love you, Kagome." She felt the words he breathed against her mouth.

Smiling, she whispered in return. "I love you too, Inuyasha."

Skin met again.

A timid feeling of butterflies rushed through the pit of her stomach.

A slight flutter ran through his heart.

It was the most wonderful thing they had ever felt. It was home.

Epilogue – Red

They say freak when you're singled out

He had been alone for so long that it was difficult to remember that he would never be alone again. He had a life with someone who was his world. He had a shelter through the storms of violent fury that rattled his brain, reminding him of the times when he was a true demon.

He remembered the times of scavenging and stealing to survive. He remembered being forced to learn the horrid ways when he was still just a small child. He could still see the burnt little hanyou learning about the evils of the mortal way. The human way.

A way he believed that he would never follow.

He could still hear the voices of men crying out at his shamed form. A disgrace to two races.

But, the words were steadily fading away to be replaced by a woman with ebony hair, blue-gray eyes, and the longest set of legs he had ever seen. He could hear her saying it everyday now. Repeating three little words that easily drowned out any other yell – "I love you."

He had soon realized after their gathering in the cave that he would never again be what he once had been because…he was no longer alone. He never would be again.

But the red, well it filters through...

"Kagome?" Sango waddled slowly into the room, holding her swollen belly and smiling like an idiot.

"Y-yes?" Her voice quivered with last minute jitters.

"Are you okay?" The older woman smiled. "You seem a little nervous."

She let out a deep breath. "I'm just fine. Do I look okay?"

Sango looked carefully over her appearance, as if searching for a single flaw. "Just perfect."

"Good." Kagome smiled. "Let's go, shall we?"

Sango walked out of Kaede's small hut and led her down the pathway to Goshinboku's comforting branches.

Kagome stayed a small distance behind and silently prayed. 'Goshinboku. You brought Inuyasha and I together, and so now I'm praying that you will bind us together for the rest of our lives. I know that things are complicated with my being from another time and all, but…I can promise to keep a secret if you can. I love my family dearly, and I praise you for allowing me to keep seeing them even after the jewel's completion,' said jewel sparkled as it dangled around a silver chain on her neck. 'But Inuyasha is my life. Inuyasha is my home. After all that we've been through, I can't help but pray for a little selfishness granted. Let me stay with him. Let me be his home, so that he can be mine. I will always be the "Miko of the Shikon no Tama," but I'm asking you now to let me be so much more. I pray that you let Inuyasha be happy for the rest of his life, and now I know that in order to do that I have to be here. So, please, just this once, answer this single selfish prayer.'

"Kagome?" Sango turned to her. "We're here."

Nodding slowly, she waited for the pregnant woman to enter the newly built shrine in front of the blossoming Goshinboku before she made her entrance.

Her eyes focused on the steps so that she wouldn't trip in the overly long ceremonial kimono, but at the sound of a gasp she was forced to look up.

She couldn't help but to gasp too. Inuyasha stood just inside the doors of the shrine in a ceremonial black kimono that was made of the purest silk. She hadn't been able to believe him when he had shown it to her a few months before the ceremony. Who knew that the hanyou would happen to own more clothing than she could ever dream of having? He still hadn't told her where it had come from, but Myouga had hinted at a change in heart from a certain elder brother who just happened to have mated a young human woman.

Inuyasha stared at the woman who would be his forever. Someone had obviously gotten confused when they had decided that he could deserve so much. She was perfect. Never in a million years would he have guessed that she would have chosen a vibrant shade of red for her ceremonial kimono. She had refused to allow him to see it until this very moment, and now, he could perfectly understand. Her hair was held loosely up with two silver chopsticks that he had picked out for her on their last trip to his father's castle.

His father had given them to his mother when they had been married.

Kagome had cried when he told her the story.

The kimono itself, made by Kagome's own mother, varied slightly from the traditional ways. It was only two simple layers and allowed her to float across the room. The bottom was composed of a black layer, like his own, and the top was a brilliant blood red without pattern or design.

She smiled at him; her face glowing in the candle light of the shrine.

Her grandfather stood off to one side and her mother on the other. Sesshoumaru stood in the back with Rin, and Sango and Miroku stood in front of them.

Sango moved forward first, allowing them both to dip one finger in a shallow bowl of saki. Silently, they turned and touched each other's lips with the red liquid.

"What has been said in harshness will not be said again." Sango recited.

Miroku took the bowl and held it in front of them. Inuyasha took a sip, and turned the cup so that Kagome drank from the same place.

"Past sins are forgotten. Life is born anew." Miroku spoke.

Kagome's mother stepped up and took the bowl next. She placed two rings in the bowl and allowed them to drink from it again.

A tear slid down the older woman's cheek. "Like a circle, your love will never end."

Kagome's grandfather grasped the bowl and took the rings. Placing one on the correct finger, he spoke. "Bound forever, to reunite in each life after this."

Rin stepped forward and smiled while holding the bowl. She sprinkled a few drops of the liquid over their foreheads.

"Always to remember the love you share this day."

Finally, Sesshoumaru took the bowl and stood before them. Taking Kagome's hand first, he pricked her finger with Inuyasha's claw and allowed the blood to flow into the cup. Using the same claw, he cut Inuyasha's finger and watched the blood mix with the heady drink.

He turned the cup first to Inuyasha who took one drink, and then to Kagome who took the second from the same place where Inuyasha's lips had met with the wood.

"In strength, in weakness, in anger, and in love, to always hold and protect the one you love. To see love in times of darkness and in light. To be, Inuyasha and Kagome, forever."

The room fell silent as the two stood silently before one another. The air was filled with electricity from their gaze.

A scrape of the door against its slide made all heads turn as Shippou poked in to watch. Letting out a loud sigh, he yelled. "Inuyasha, you can kiss her now! Hurry! I want cake!"

Rin giggled.

Inuyasha sighed. Leaning his forehead against hers, he whispered. "I love you, Kagome."

"I love you too, Inuyasha." A twinkle sparkled in her eye. "Now, are you going to kiss me? Or do I have to make you?"

He smiled and allowed his lips to capture hers. The taste of sweetened alcohol and blood was passed from skin to skin as they completed their wedding ceremony.

Kaede greeted them and blessed them underneath the boughs of Goshinboku as they celebrated their matrimony with their family and friends.

Hours after the ceremony had ended, and far into the reception, Inuyasha tugged Kagome away from the noisy village and under the Goshinboku.

"Did you notice this?" He showed her the blood red blossoms of the ancient tree.

"No." She wondered at their beauty in amazement. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah." He replied simply.

She smiled sweetly. "I love this color."

He gave her a perverted grin. "Yes, I do believe that it is my favorite color now."

She laughed and hugged him tightly. "I wonder why…"

"Well, why do you like it so much?" He playfully batted her hair.

"Because," she gave him a light kiss on the lips. "It brought you back to me."

He nodded, distracted by the kiss. "Yes, it looks wonderful off of you."

She quirked an eyebrow. "You mean on me."

He smiled. "Yes, that too." And covered her mouth with a breath-taking feeling of skin on skin before she could reply.

A/N: The End! Aw! Sweet, ne?

Yabou