Chapter two

An hour had passed since Inuyasha's first drink of what he found out was whiskey. The first bottle was gone and they were nearly half way done with the second. Kagome had smoked nearly half of the box of cigarettes. Inuyasha had decided that he wasn't really one for smoking. As the minutes passed Kagome changed back to her old self. Happy and vibrant, smiling at nothing. Inuyasha found that he was smiling himself. He loved seeing her this way. He stopped for a second. He loved seeing her this way? He looked at her again. Yeah, he thought. He did indeed.

The crickets were quieting down now, or he just could hear them as well. He didn't know. He felt warm all over. It was a comforting feeling. He looked at Kagome again. She was looking at her hands. She noticed him looking at her and nodded down at her hands.

"Look, Inuyasha. My hands look terrible." She smiled, turning them this way and that. "Fighting demons with a bow and arrows will do that to them, I guess." She laughed then. "I think I'm drunk, Inuyasha. Are you drunk yet?" She squinted at him as if he were really far away.

He laughed at this. Her words were just a little slurred, but she didn't seem to notice it. Inuyasha noticed. She watched him as he laughed outloud for several minutes. He poured another shot and took it. He grinned lazily at her.

"Yup."

Kagome started laughing at this.

"Did you just say 'yup', Inuyasha? You did, didn't you?"

He thought for a second or two and laughed with her.

A few minutes later Kagome stood, wiping her eyes and holding her sides from laughing. She nearly fell backwards, then forwards, but finally righted herself. She started to walk deeper into the woods.

"I'll be right back, Inuyasha."

I was confused for a second, but then realized that she probably need to relieve herself. That's not such a bad idea, he thought, and got up to stumble in the opposite direction.

He returned before she did and sat down to wait on her. A few minutes later she came stumbling out of the forest from a different direction than she had entered. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I got lost for a minute, but I finally found it.", she explained. "It's really dark out there." She stumbled, smiling, to where she had been sitting and attempted to sit back down. She missed.

Inuyasha caught her as she fell towards him. She didn't even try to catch herself. She laughed as she fell. He looked down at her smiling, waiting for her to regain sense so he could help her back up to try again.

She opened her eyes, giggles subsiding, to stare into the most beautiful golden orbs she had ever seen. They stayed like that for a moment, brown into gold, gold into brown. Inching down slowy, Inuyasha kissed Kagome softly on the lips.

Kagome stiffed, then quickly relaxed. Inuyasha pulled back at the stiffening, so Kagome gathered her courage and arched up to kiss him again.

Slowly the kiss deeped becoming something more than an innocent peck. Tongues met and danced for what seemed like hours. Finally coming up for air, Inuyasha looked down at a blushing Kagome as she breathed heavily. He was breathing alittle fast himself.

"What just happened?" Kagome asked, still recovering.

"I'm not sure."

"I'm sorry." Kagome said.

Inuyasha was puzzled by this.

"Why are you sorry? Was it bad?"

Kagome laughed and then quickly,

"Oh, Gods, no! It was, well, wonderful. I'm just sorry because I didn't warn you that alcohol is known for doing that sometimes."

"Known for doing what?"

"You know," Kagome said, looking down and squirming to get away. "Make you do crazy things. Things that you wouldn't normally do if you weren't drunk."

Inuyasha helped her sit up and get over to where she was sitting before. He thought for a moment, replaying what just happened in his mind. He had enjoyed it. What did that mean? Just the thought of doing it again aroused him, and that fact made him feel horrible. It was Kagome. Innocent little Kagome. He should think things like that about her. He looked at her again. She was looking down, and looking sad again. He had to say something.

"Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"I really liked it."

Shocked, Kagome looked up.

"You did?"

He smiled.

"Yeah."

They were silent for a moment.

"Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

Kagome slid over beside him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you for doing this for me."

She hugged him then. He felt his arms go around her on their own accord. Laying back in the grass, still holding each other, they slept.

Morning came and went. Inuyasha awoke early that afternoon, Kagome still in his arms. He hadn't slept that good in ages. It could have been the alcohol, but he knew better. It was Kagome. Kagome set him at peace. He looked down at her sleeping face. A small smile graced her lips. This brought a smile to his own.

Here lay the girl that had unbound him from the tree that had held him for 50 years. The one that shattered the Shikon no Tama. The one who had saved a small fox demon from death several times, and had befriended a monk and demon slayer. The teenage girl who had given up her life to follow through with her incarnation's duties. The young woman who had given up all hope of being with him, but stayed by him anyway because she loved him that much.

Kagome hadn't lost the only man that she had ever loved. He was right here. He knew that now. He couldn't let her go now. Not ever again.

He thought of all the times he had almost lost her. Replaying through his mind and nearly making him cringe. He thought of all the times he had missed her while she was in her time. The worry that he covered with anger. How he seemed to always feel broken or empty while she was gone.

Hugging her tighter with this thought, Kagome woke. She looked up to see Inuyasha still beside her, determination evedent on his face. She started to speak but was silenced with a kiss.

"Kagome." Inuyasha said as he broke the kiss.

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever leave me."

"I won't."

He held her close. He loved the smell of her hair. He loved how she felt in his arms. He loved her loyalty, her laugh... he even loved her sits. He loved...

"Kagome?"

"Yes?" She nearly purred, content at being held.

"I think... well... "

Kagome raised her eyebrows at him, waiting.

"Damn. Ok. I love you, Kagome. I love you."

Kagome didn't speak for a long time.

"I love you, too, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He loved a reincarnated priestess from the future in the past. Suddenly worry hit him.

"Kagome? Are we going to be able to do this? Stay together? Stay here?" Inuyasha asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Kagome smiled.

"Yes, Inuyasha. I would do anything to be with you."

They lay there until darkness fell. Holding each other, kissing, seldom speaking. Dreaming of the future, remembering the past, and loving the present.