A/N: Sorry for the long time between updates. I have been really, really busy with school. Senior year is a pain in the butt…but anyway, I will update my other stories by Sunday, and again, sorry about the updates thing…

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Dream of Me
Chapter Seventeen

"You do? Seriously? From a dream?" Inuyasha blinked several times, trying to process the information. "That's great!" he smiled. "What is it?"

Kagome laughed at him. "Well, trying to show it to you now would be just a bit useless, wouldn't it?" she smirked. "I can not do it when I am human, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha nodded. "Sorry. I got excited and kind of forgot about that part."

Kagome could not help but smile. Then she gasped in realization. "Inuyasha, you had best get out of my room before my grandfather realizes…" But just as Kagome was nearing the end of her sentence, her grandfather's voice could be heard.

"I won't have such behavior in this house!" Inuyasha dodged several ofudas as the old man rushed up the stairs.

He sighed. "We weren't doing that, old man!" he growled. "Kagome was just talking to me about something! Do you have a problem with that?"

But Kagome's grandfather continued his rant about fornication in the Higurashi household. Finally, Kagome got tired of it, jerking Inuyasha into her room and slamming the door in his face.

"But Kagome, now he'll really think we're…" Inuyasha began.

"Then let him think what he wants, Inuyasha. If he can't trust me to be alone with you, then that's his problem, not mine." Kagome snapped.

Inuyasha smiled. He could not remember a time when the girl he loved had ever been so protective of him before. He liked it.

"But what about…?" he began.

Kagome chuckled. "You already know that Miroku will already have those ideas in his head. There is nothing we can do about him." She reminded him. "So, my suggestion is, while we wait for my grandfather to stop throwing charms at my door, we can simply enjoy each other's company."

Inuyasha smiled and took a seat on Kagome's bed, leaning up against her headboard. Kagome positioned herself so that her head was laying on his chest, Inuyasha's chin resting lightly on top of it. In this way, she was finally able to relax.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, could detect Kagome's scent even stronger now that she was in such close quarters with him. She smelled as she used to only a short time ago, when she had been human all the time. Inuyasha smiled. Now, she was a hanyou, except nights like tonight, and the scent that he found so intoxicating from her when she was human was magnified three-fold at this time. It made Inuyasha happy.

Kagome sighed deeply and then relaxed. She had fallen asleep in Inuyasha's arms. She moved slightly and he tensed, hoping not to wake her, but she didn't. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, and in a few moments, he joined her in her dreams.

Outside, the oldest member of the Higurashi household had given up his attempts at purifying both his granddaughter's bedroom door and her soon-to-be mate Inuyasha. No longer being able to hear any sound coming from inside the room, the old man was resigned to the fact that there was nothing he could do, and headed down the stairs to complain to his daughter-in-law about the whole situation.

"I don't like it!" he announced. "She should not be permitted to just do as she pleases when she is here. I do not care how old she is! I will not tolerate such behavior in this household!"

"Gramps…" Kagome's mother sighed. "Why not trust Inuyasha and Kagome for once. They are not going to go against your wishes right under your nose. What happened earlier was a perfectly normal scenario by today's standards, and it has not escalated beyond that. Kagome knows better…"

Shippo blinked in confusion. Sango, who had long since realized the direction in which the conversation was heading, had covered the small fox demon's ears to prevent him from hearing anything which he might ask the lecherous monk about later.

"Excuse me," she whispered. "Mr. Higurashi? I do not think Kagome and Inuyasha would…"

Miroku smiled. "You think Kagome and Inuyasha have already…"

"Miroku!" Sango snapped, indicating the kitsune in her arms.

"I didn't say anything bad yet, woman!" Miroku frowned. "Give me a break! It's the old man who is so concerned about it, anyways, not me!"

Ms. Higurashi nodded. "You see, Gramps? Her friends even say that they have done nothing of the sort. Now please, leave them be…"

"I wish they would spend their time downstairs where I can see them…" he growled.

"You wouldn't leave them alone if they were down here all the time. You would be breathing down Kagome's neck constantly, and throwing ofudas at Inuyasha at every chance you got…and you know it."

The old man displayed his best pouting face. "I still don't like it."

Meanwhile, Miroku made his way quickly up the stairs. Souta, Kagome's little brother, was busily killing zombies in his newest video game, but that did not prevent him from noticing that the monk had come upstairs. He nodded quickly to Miroku before going back to his electronic campaign of zombie death.

Miroku knocked softly on Kagome's door before he carefully swung it open. What he saw when he did open the door was one of the cutest sights he had ever seen…excepting Sango, of course.

Kagome and Inuyasha were curled up on Kagome's bed. Kagome's head was snuggled into Inuyasha's chest, and his arms were locked tightly around her middle. His head rested lightly atop hers. She was curled up into a small ball, grasping his haori in her hands, and he, Miroku noticed for possibly the second time since he'd known the arrogant and protective hanyou, looked completely relaxed and happy. He smiled and snuck back down the stairs.

"Sango, you ought to come have a look at this!" he grinned. "They look so comfortable!"

Sango, a confused look on her face, followed the monk back up the stairs quietly. Ms. Higurashi grabbed a camera and quickly followed suit. Gramps, his mouth hanging open, decided it would be best that he stay downstairs.

Sango smiled at the sight of her two best friends in front of her. There was a small clicking noise, and Ms. Higurashi glanced at them triumphantly, her camera in hand.

"I have an idea." She whispered to the two of them once they were back downstairs in the living room. "But in order for this to work, I am going to need your help with it. Now…exactly how long are you all planning on staying here?" she asked.

Sango shrugged. "That is up to Kagome and Inuyasha, really. But I imagine we will be here a little while longer…at least until Kagome is more aware of her hanyou powers. After all, this place is safer than our time, so it's better for Inuyasha to teach her in this time, rather than to learn the hard way in our time, if it can be helped."

Miroku nodded in agreement. "Well, I guess if you needed them to be here a little longer, there are always…ways of getting Inuyasha to see our way."

Ms. Higurashi permitted her eyebrow to raise, but the monk only smiled and nodded in return.

Sango cleared her throat. "Might I ask you why exactly you wished to know, Ms. Higurashi?"

"You will see. It is going to be a surprise. Well, a surprise for Inuyasha and Kagome, in any case…and you two are going to help me with all of the gory details…"

"What should we do about Shippo?" asked Miroku next.

Ms. Higurashi thought for a moment. "I think I will tell Souta about it…and maybe he will be able to distract Shippo for us for a couple of days while we work out all the kinks. He's a bit too young to be in on the secret just yet. I'd be afraid he would tell Kagome and Inuyasha."

"What do we need to do?" Sango smiled.

Ms. Higurashi retreated into her kitchen, and shortly thereafter returned with two disposable cameras. She handed one of them to Sango, and one to Miroku. Kagome had shown them how to use one when she had taken their picture long ago, after she first started coming through the well, so they were already well-versed in camera usage.

"You're going to need to be a bit sneaky for this one, because we don't want Kagome or Inuyasha to realize what we are doing just yet." She whispered to them, placing her index finger against her lips in emphasis. "Here is your mission…"

Sango and Miroku smiled brightly as Ms. Higurashi spilled all of the juicy details of her plan to them. She was right. This was going to require being very sneaky, but it was something that both of them could manage.

"What are you going to do with all of them when we are done?" Miroku blinked in confusion.

"Don't you worry about that just yet. You just take the pictures when you think the time is right, and full or not, I want both of your cameras back into my hands in three days." She instructed.

They both nodded. Now this was going to be interesting….

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A/N: There you go! Shorter than most of the other ones, I know, but I leave for a 24 hour Japanese Language Immersion Camp thing later today, so this may be the only update you all see until I return on Sunday. I hope you liked it! Please review!