Hitori ni Sasenai
by Lady Mac
A/N: Okay! I've finally decided where in the general canon this fits. It is immediately following the events of the first movie (Toki wo Koeru Omoi, a.k.a. Affections Touching Across Time), but it assumes that each season is about a year and there has been almost another year in which no major plot developments have occurred. This way, Kagome is almost eighteen at the start of the story and by now (chapter ten) she has become a legal adult (by American standards, anyhow) and is nearing her high school graduation. Okay, fine, so maybe the math doesn't work out perfectly. I don't really care. I do this to avoid my AP Calc homework. I mean, derivatives are kind of fun, but forget addition and subtraction. Who needs it? THIS IS ROMANTIC FLUFF!
I think I'll get down off my soapbox now and let you read the story.
Disclaimer: Blah blah Inuyasha blah blah blah blah Inuyasha blah blah. (Thanks to Gary Larson and The Far Side for that one.)
Chapter Ten
Last Dance
They ate at an expensive French restaurant in downtown Tokyo, which Inuyasha found to be a rather humbling experience. The waiter eventually had to bring him a pair of chopsticks, since he was finding it so difficult to use a fork and knife.
After that, though, the evening went smoothly. They arrived at the hotel slightly early, and all of Kagome's friends and classmates were eagerly introduced to her new fiancee, whom many of them had never even been told of. As promised, Inuyasha was on his very best behavior and was just about as congenial as anyone Kagome had ever met. He stuck rigidly to the stories Kagome had outlined for him about their "past," and no one could have guessed that both of them were bluffing.
As the evening wore on, more and more people showed up and the music grew steadily louder. Inuyasha began pressing his ears against his head when they went too close to the dance floor, and finally pulled her outside into the courtyard and started running with her down the path.
"Inuyasha! What are you doing?"
"Just come with me!" he grinned, pulling her behind him.
They stopped in the middle of the garden, at a spot secluded from the crowd between an apple tree and a fountain.
"How did you know this was here?" she asked, out of breath from the sudden sprint.
"I didn't," he said, grinning. "I just wanted to get away from all that racket so I could be with you." She smiled, and he placed his hands on the gentle swell of her belly. "Mm," he sighed.
Kagome placed one hand on his arm and stroked his cheek with the other. She gazed into his golden eyes, and he leaned down slowly and kissed her with a tenderness she seldom felt.
As he caressed her, she became aware of a presence near them. She broke the kiss and turned.
Houjou gasped and started. "Gomen nasai!" he cried hastily. "I - I'd just got here, I didn't mean to watch. I'm so sorry, I-"
"Houjou, it's all right," she said gently.
"I - I just wanted to talk to you ... alone ... for a minute."
"Oh. Okay." She turned to the silver-haired young man beside her. "Just stay here. We'll only be a minute, I promise."
"Stay where I can see you," he warned, fixing the brown-haired boy with a death glare.
He nodded fearfully, and Kagome laughed. "He won't hurt me, silly, and you'll be able to see us." She knew he would also be able to hear every word, but at least Houjou would feel they had some privacy. He took her elbow and guided her several paces down the path and invited her to sit on a stone bench. She accepted, lowering herself carefully to prevent her dress from creasing around her belly.
"Well," he said, sitting beside her but leaving several centimeters between them. "You ... you're looking very well."
"Thank you," she said, blushing and thinking of how little he really knew. "You look well, too."
"I ... I suppose he's the boyfriend, then," Houjou said, glancing at the boy who was watching them intently.
"More than that, actually," she said. "He ... he's my fiancee."
Inuyasha's ears perked up, and Houjou's breath caught in his throat. "You ... you mean you're engaged?"
She nodded, and watched as he glanced nervously at Inuyasha. "He's a wonderful man. Don't worry - he would never do anything to hurt me."
"But .. he .. his ears..."
"It's ... a family trait," she said, trying hard not to lie or give too much away.
He looked back at her and smiled a little. "So I guess when you guys have kids, they'll ... look like him, too?"
At the mention of her baby, Kagome's hand went instinctively to her belly, and Houjou gasped. "Kagome! You ... you aren't already..!"
"Keep it down!" she hissed, kicking herself mentally. "But yes, it ... it's true."
His mouth moved slowly. "H ... how long has ... has it been?"
"I'm just into the third month," she answered. "I'm due in early February."
"When ... when are you getting married?"
"Two weeks," she said. "It's going to be a very small ceremony at the shrine; just family."
"Yours and his?"
She stopped for a moment, then decided the truth was easy enough to pass off. "Just mine," she said, hoping he hadn't noticed her pause. "His parents both passed away, and his half-brother can't get away."
"He lives on his own then? Kagome, how old is he? He only looks eighteen or so."
He had caught her off-guard. What was she supposed to say? She didn't want to lie, but there was no way of simply bending the truth.
She caved. "Houjou, he ... he's seventy. Or ... like, five hundred."
He stared blankly at her. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm serious, Houjou, listen to me. You're not going to believe it, but it's true and you can't tell anyone."
He nodded, stunned. "O ... okay."
"He was born about the year 1500, in the Sengoku Jidai. His father was an inu-youkai and his mother was human. When he was about seventeen, he was imprisoned in a spell for fifty years." She took a deep breath. "I am the reincarnation of the priestess who trapped him, and I fell through the dry well at the shrine and into the past where I accidentally freed him from the spell. Then all this stuff happened with the Shikon no Tama, and for three years now I've been going to the past to find all the pieces of it before youkai can use them to become super-powerful."
"...and?" he said, barely believing it.
"There's only a bit left to find," she said, fingering the large piece that hung around her neck. "A demon named Naraku has about half of it, and we have the other half. See? But we think there's still a little bit more that neither of us has. We just have to find it, then get Naraku's piece."
He stared at her. "And ... and this is all true?"
"Every word," said Inuyasha, suddenly right there. "I'm a seventy-year-old hanyou from half a century ago who's going to be a father in six months." He sat beside Kagome on the bench, and looked across her to Houjou. "And I'm nervous as hell already without all this other shit going on." He put his arms protectively around Kagome and laid his ears back against his head.
"It's okay," she said, stroking his hair as he nuzzled her neck.
"Why did you tell him all that?" he whined. "Our life is complicated enough already."
"I couldn't lie." She looked at Houjou. "You've always been so good to me. It's the least I could do. I just ... I'm sorry it couldn't work between us."
"Why is everyone always after my bitch?" Inuyasha groused, snuggling further into her.
She rolled her eyes. "Inuyasha, if you weren't so clingy I'd 's' you right now for being so anal.
He squeezed her tightly. "Keh."
"So .. uh, where are you going to live?" Houjou ventured.
"In the Sengoku Jidai," she said. "Inuyasha's building us a nice house in the village, and it should be ready to live in by the time the wedding gets here."
"He's building it himself?" he asked, amazed.
She nodded. "For the most part. Some of the village men are helping out a little, but he designed it himself and for the most part it's been a solo project."
"That's amazing!"
"One of the many benefits of having youkai blood," Inuyasha boasted. "Of course, it's not just the blood. I've beaten more full youkai than you can shake a stick at."
"Or a legendary, super-powerful sword," Kagome quipped.
He growled softly. "That's a bonus. And besides, you know I've got more stamina and strength than any mortal man," he said suggestively.
"Inuyasha!"
"Oh, come on!" He rolled his eyes. "You're pregnant! Obviously he knows we've-"
"That's no reason to talk about it!"
Houjou turned bright red, but it went unnoticed by the quibbling couple.
"You talked to your girlfriends about it," he said matter-of-factly.
It was Kagome's turn to blush then. "Well .. but ... but you weren't right there when I told them."
Inuyasha glanced at Houjou, and the two suddenly burst into laughter. "Women!" Inuyasha howled. "I swear, I'll never understand them!"
"Me neither!" Houjou chortled. "All their ... reverse logic!"
"Reverse logic!" Inuyasha doubled over, cackling wildly.
Kagome decided she resented the joke. "Osuwari."
The necklace glowed pink and the dog-eared boy hit the gravel with a crunch.
He pried himself up. "Fuck, wench! What was that for?!?"
She gave him an evil glare. "Osuwari."
"AAaugh!"
"That's for being so insensitive."
He grumbled something into the ground.
Her eyes narrowed again. "Osu-"
"No!" He jumped up and kissed her hard, effectively stifling the rest of the incantation. His tongue pushed roughly through her lips, and she moaned into his mouth before she pulled back.
"...wari," she breathed.
He sat down on his heels on the ground in front of her. "I have a present for you," he announced, grinning and ignoring Houjou's stunned silence. He fished inside his tux jacket, and pulled out a small black box. "We're gonna have a wedding soon, and it occurred to me that we never officially got engaged, so ... I got you this." He shook it slightly, as if to call attention to it. "Now, I asked your mom about marriage customs, and she said the man gives the woman a diamond ring when he proposes, and then they exchange gold bands at the wedding. But ... I just didn't like that idea a whole lot. The diamond, I mean. It's all cold and hard and what not. And ... well, I just couldn't afford one. None of your money, you know." He turned the box over nervously. "But I did have this. My father gave it to my mother when I was born, and she gave it to me to give to my wife, so all I had to do was have it set for you." He watched her carefully, then opened the box.
Kagome's breath caught in her throat as she stared down at the pearl engagement ring he held before her. "Oh ... Inuyasha, it's beautiful!" The pearl itself was almost perfectly spherical and quite large by natural standards - she guessed it was almost a centimeter across - and it was the most radiant shade of pale pink she had ever seen - as if the Shikon no Tama had come from an oyster instead of a miko and a youkai. It was set in a delicate silver band, and the entire ensemble shone gently from its black velvet resting place that was embossed in the lid with the Mikimoto logo.
"Now, you know I would never wear something like this. But you, koishii ..." He slid the ring slowly onto her finger. "You're not a reckless animal like me. You're gentle and feminine and beautiful and I want you to be able to have everything you want."
Tears filled her eyes. "Oh, Inuyasha, you didn't have to do all this for me! All I want is just to have you with me."
"I need you to have this, though," he said. "To remind you of me when I'm not there, and to ... to remember this life, in case ... in case in the future, we can't come back here."
"If the well closes." Kagome looked at the ring and sighed. "Oh, but it's so beautiful." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.
"I love you," he purred, pressing himself between her legs.
She giggled and put her hands on his chest, keeping him back. "Keep your pants on," she teased. "Houjou's still here."
He snorted, but smiled a little at the other boy.
"Well, Kagome," Houjou said, "I guess you'll be leaving after you have the baby."
"That's the plan," she said.
He looked down at his hands. "Then ... I won't see you after that."
She nodded, suddenly feeling choked-up. "Yeah."
He struggled for a moment, then looked up at her. "May I have this dance?"
She smiled, then glanced at Inuyasha for confirmation. "A goodbye dance," she explained. "A slow song. You can watch."
He smiled at her, then stood up and allowed Houjou to escort Kagome back inside for their last dance.