"The End to the Feudal Fairy Tale"

Chapter 12

Author's Notes: (see endnotes about one-shot) I bet you're all waiting to see what happens with all the scheming going on. Well, you'll have to read to find out! Oh and I promise a little fluff in this chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers, you are awesome! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. What about Sesshoumaru? It'd be like having a bodyguard. Oh…no one will let me have any fun. All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This story is mine though, so please respect it.

With resolve, Inuyasha folded his arms again. "You're gonna owe me big time."

Kagome gulped. Yep, she was going to be making ramen for Inuyasha for the rest of her life. She sighed loudly. Resigning herself to her fate, Kagome tugged at Inuyasha's arm and dragged him towards the rest of their group. At least she could enjoy the evening.

Inuyasha allowed himself to be dragged temporarily. From what he'd heard this evening, it was clear that Kagome was hiding something from him. He'd find out one way or another. If not, at least he would have enough ramen to last him a lifetime.

vvvvvvvvvv

Inuyasha glared at the orange ball in his hands. It felt weird, but he couldn't let the rest of them know that he had no idea what he was supposed to do with it. He tried to look out of the corner of his eye. Maybe there would be someone else who knew what was going on.

"Inuyasha-kun? Are you going to throw it or not?" Eri peeked around his arm.

"Uh-"

"C'mon Inuyasha. I know you're not very good at this game, but you at least know you're supposed to throw the ball into the hoop." Kagome winked.

He growled. "Keh." Not good at it? He'd show her.

After exhausting his three throws, Inuyasha was flexing his claws. Kagome noticed and grabbed his hand. "Relax, Inuyasha. There are plenty of different games." Inuyasha fought to control his anger.

"I want to play a different game. This one stinks." He snorted.

"Okay." Kagome started to pull the irate half demon away from the cowering man behind the booth. "Oh! I know!"

Suddenly, Inuyasha was pulled off to his right. He stole a glance at Kagome who was smiling brightly. She dragged him towards another booth. With a jolt, they stopped. "I think we lost them." Kagome breathed hard.

"Huh?" Why hadn't he noticed? Kagome's friends were nowhere in sight. "Keh."

"Here. I wanted you to try this one." She gingerly pointed towards some white objects stacked on a shelf.

Inuyasha looked puzzled. "What am I supposed to do with those?"

"Well, you get a ball and throw it at them."

"Sounds too easy." He crossed his arms reflexively.

"But you have to knock them all down off of the shelf to win. It isn't easy."

"Keh. I could do it in my sleep." Had she forgotten that he fought demons and monsters daily? No way some silly game was going to get the better of him.

"Really?" Kagome saw a golden opportunity. "Well then, why don't you prove it?"

He turned to stare at her.

"Why don't you win me a stuffed animal if you're so sure you can do it." Said Kagome.

"Keh. Easy." He strolled up to the booth and grabbed a ball from the table. Kagome bustled behind him and quickly laid some money on the counter. Snapping her purse shut, she sighed. Inuyasha was difficult to handle in her time.

Smirking broadly, Inuyasha drew his arm back. "Just watch, wench."

"Inuyasha-kun!" Three voices piped up at once and Inuyasha threw the ball as he turned.

"Watch it!" A man yelled as he narrowly avoided being hit by the stray ball.

"Damn!" Inuyasha cursed.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome chided before spinning to greet her friends. "Hi guys."

"Kagome-chan, there you are!"

"Yeah, we've looked all over for you." Yuka smiled. The other girls followed suit.

Kagome suddenly became very nervous. "What?"

Eri leaned close. "Were you two having a little fun all by yourselves?"

"What? N-n-no!" She blushed.

"You'll have to tell us later." Said Eri, winking.

"Wow, your boyfriend's really good at this." Ayumi stared towards the person in question who was now launching baseballs with remarkable speed.

Kagome faced the gloating boy and gasped. Not only had he knocked all of the bottles off of the shelf, he'd thrown the ball right through the booth. There were two other holes that indicated he'd done it multiple times. Clearly, Inuyasha was a little too good at this game. The man behind the counter, seeing a break in the crossfire, edged towards the frightening young man. "W-w-wh-at p-prize do y-you wan-nt?"

"Kagome?" Inuyasha seemed puzzled as he stared at the short man.

"Oh!" she snapped back to reality. "I'll take that one!"

The man shot to his feet and grabbed the gigantic stuffed animal. He handed it to Kagome and begged her to leave. "Um, sorry about that, he really doesn't know his own strength." She tried to laugh. "Come on, Inuyasha."

vvvvvvvvvv

"So, Inuyasha has departed with my reincarnation." Kikyou leaned slowly back against the god tree. "She is problematic." She sighed, watching the soft glow of her soul stealers as they flew in lazy circles. "There is something profound about her. I exist as I am now because a portion of our soul animated this body." Kikyou flexed her fingers, marveling at how difficult such a simple task had become.

"So many times you could have let me rest, but you persisted in saving me. For what?" She knew what. It had always been for Inuyasha. "Kagome is a fool, as is Inuyasha." With effort, Kikyou managed to sit down. She closed her eyes to think.

Inuyasha now was not the boy she'd fallen in love with so long ago. He had changed and her reincarnation had been the cause. "Inuyasha, once you would have become human to be with me. I thought that if you were human, I could be a normal woman." She opened her eyes long enough to take in a stray soul. "I wanted to change, so I wanted you to change too." Kikyou held a hand to her chest. "Cold." There was no way that she could be alive again. This was merely a state of death.

Leaning lightly on her longbow, Kikyou raised her body from the ground. "This is no time to ponder foolish things. Everything has been set in motion. Naraku will perish and my revenge will be complete." She took one last look at the portal between eras. "Enjoy these last days, they will not last."

vvvvvvvvvv

Shippo's stomach gurgled loudly as he sat outside the hut. "Aw, I gotta remember to find something else to eat when Kaede cooks." He'd only eaten a few bites of dinner, claiming to not be hungry. In reality, Shippo was starved. "Maybe I could find myself a snack." Looking around, he spotted Sango walking into the hut. Miroku was nowhere in sight. Perfect. Pocky would make an excellent snack.

Eagerly, Shippo bounded into Kaede's hut. "Sango, Kaede, have you seen Miroku?"

The two women turned to him. Sango clenched her fists and spoke politely. "Hello Shippo, I haven't seen him lately."

"He was causing problems with the girls of the village. So I sent him to gather a few herbs for me. He should be in the forest a little west of here. Why do ye need him?" Kaede added.

"Oh nothing important, he just promised to play with me." Shippo smiled.

"Well, he's always breaking promises and causing trouble." Sango was clearly upset over something.

"Alright guys, well, I'm gonna go find him." He quickly backed out the door.

As he ran, Shippo chuckled. He knew why Sango was mad. Since Miroku thought she was betrothed and wouldn't tell him, he'd tried to hint at it. He'd stared at her all evening and groped her a few extra times for good measure. Miroku was starting to look like a lunatic. "Just wait 'til he hears this!" Shippo continued to race through the tall grass.

vvvvvvvvvv

Kagome was grinning ear to ear.

"I still don't understand why you wanted that." Inuyasha huffed as they walked.

"But it's so cute!" Kagome squealed.

"I wish someone would win a cute little animal for me!" Yuka swooned.

"It's so romantic!"

"But why a dog?" Inuyasha whined.

"I like dogs." She replied, cuddling the large gray creature. "You're so adorable! I think I'll call you Fluffy!"

"No!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Huh? Is something wrong, Inuyasha-kun?" Eri asked.

"Listen, Kagome. Name the damned thing anything you want. Just. Not. Fluffy."

"But why? I think Fluffy is a cute name!" She retorted.

"No!"

"I could always call him Kouga." A sly grin appeared on her face.

"Kagome-"

"Or Miroku-"

"Kagome, stop it-"

"Or Inuyasha." She finished.

"Just wait a damn minute, wench! If you think you're gonna name it after some flea bag or perverted monk-" His ear twitched. "Wait. What did you say?"

"I think I'm going to call him Inuyasha." Kagome smiled.

"Oh. Well I guess that's okay." He scratched his head nervously.

The rest of the group just stood in awe of the whole situation. No wonder Kagome was constantly breaking up and making up with this guy. The both of them were arguing one minute and happy the next. It was enough to drive several best friends crazy. "Eri-chan, Ayumi-chan?" Yuka tapped her friends lightly on the shoulder.

"Huh?"

"We need to help them out!" She whispered.

"Right. They cause too much of a scene when we leave them alone." Eri added.

"Okay, but what are we going to do?" Finished Ayumi.

"I've got an idea! Hojo-kun!" Yuka called.

"Huh?" Hojo stepped closer to the girls. "What is it ladies?"

"If you were going to take a girl like Kagome-chan somewhere romantic at this festival, where would you go?" Yuka asked quietly.

"Um. Let me think for a moment." That was an odd question; did they mean Kagome? Was she having problems with her boyfriend? What if they were breaking up again? Maybe they wanted him to take Kagome somewhere nice. "Well, if I was going to take Higurashi-san somewhere nice, I guess I'd take her to the hillside where they have the fireworks display." Hojo explained.

"That's great Hojo-kun!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea! Thanks!" Yuka and the other girls raced towards Kagome and Inuyasha. Now they were on a mission.

"I talked to him last time! It's your turn!" Ayumi was pushed towards the front. Inuyasha and Kagome had quieted down for the moment.

"Um, Inuyasha-kun?" She ventured.

"What now?" Inuyasha yawned.

"Could I talk to you for a moment?" Ayumi pointed out a nearby bench. Inuyasha looked to Kagome for some sort of sign, but she just waved. Great.

Hojo glanced around and noticed that the group had migrated away from him. Scanning the crowd, he spotted Kagome alone. "This is my chance! Okay, Hojo, you can do this!" He cleared his throat and strode towards Kagome.

"Higurashi-san?"

"Huh? Oh, Hojo. Did you need something?" Kagome set the gigantic stuffed animal down and leaned against it.

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go see the fireworks with me?" He bowed a little.

"Um-" Kagome didn't see Inuyasha anywhere nearby, but he was with Ayumi so he would be fine. He probably couldn't even stand fireworks because they make such loud noises. She'd also let down Hojo more times than she could count. Surely it was safe now that he knew she was with Inuyasha. With Inuyasha?

"Higurashi-san?" Hojo asked gently.

"Sure." She nodded.

"Here. I'll carry this for you!" Hojo hefted the gigantic gray dog into his arms.

"You don't have to-"

"It's okay, come on." He started to lead her to the hillside.

After a few minutes of walking, Hojo turned and clearing a spot by knocking back people with the stuffed animal, they found a nice open spot to sit on. Kagome blanched, whispering a 'sorry' to all of the people who'd been pushed away, but soon relaxed as she sat down.

"I hear that the fireworks are going to be beautiful this year." Hojo said.

"Yeah. I've always liked them. I bet that Inuyasha will like them too."

"Is he here?" Hojo sounded suddenly nervous.

"No. I was talking about Inuyasha, here." She gestured towards the stuffed dog.

"Ah, right. Sorry."

"For what?"

"Never mind." Hojo tried to settle in next to Kagome. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Hojo leaned a little closer and she didn't move. So far, so good.

"Oh look they're starting!" Her attention was now fully on the sky that lit with blues and greens. "They're beautiful."

"You're beautiful." Hojo was staring at her.

Kagome blushed. It wasn't everyday that someone said something nice like that. "Thank you, Hojo-kun."

Out of nowhere, at least to Kagome, Hojo covered her hand with his. "Listen, Higurashi-san-" He was cut off by a loud boom.

He leaned close to her ear to continue.

vvvvvvvvvv

"Kouga! What are we doing?" Ginta breathed. He was exhausted after running all day.

"Would you shut up. We're looking for Naraku."
"But why? There's no way we can beat him. We should be looking for the other packs." Hakkaku plopped onto the ground.

"Do I have to explain this again?" Kouga growled. The other two cowered and held on to each other, afraid of their leader's rage. "Humph." He sighed. "Listen up, I'm not gonna say it again."

"O-okay."

"That bastard destroyed our pack, and stole my connection to Kagome. I promised that I'd help her. Besides, mutt face is gonna need all the help he can get." Kouga spat.

"Oh." They managed.

"Now that's enough resting, let's keep moving! We're gonna find Naraku and tell Kagome where he 's hiding. Got it?"

"Yes."

"What was that?"

"Yes!" Ginta and Hakkaku saluted before racing to catch up to their speedy leader. Kouga may not have his jewel shards any more, but he was still in far better shape than they were.

"Wait for us!"

vvvvvvvvvv

Ayumi eyed Inuyasha nervously. This guy was really cute, but incredibly intimidating. She swallowed hard. "Um-"

"What did you want, anyway?" He crossed his arms gruffly.

"Actually, we noticed that you and Kagome were fighting-"

"Okay? We fight all the time."

"Really? That's bad." She stared at her feet that had suddenly become very interesting.

"Huh? Why's that?" Inuyasha looked puzzled.

"Well, this is a special evening and well-" Ayumi struggled with her speech. "Do you see those people over there?" She indicated two people, holding hands and snuggling on the bench next to them.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, that's a good couple. They're in love. You can tell from the way they look each other in the eye, and how comfortable they seem together."

"Oh-" Inuyasha could see that this wouldn't end well.

"It's just that it doesn't seem that way between you and Kagome-chan and we wanted to help you."

"What?" The confusion was evident on his face.

"Why don't you take her over to see the fireworks? It'd be romantic." Ayumi prodded meekly.

"But, I can-"

"Ayumi-chan!"

"Eri-chan, Yuka-chan, what's the matter?" She tried to calm her anxious friends.

"It's Kagome-chan and Hojo-kun." Eri said.

"We can't find them anywhere." Yuka continued.

"Oh my. You don't think-" Ayumi twisted around to see a scowl burned into Inuyasha's face.

"Where do you think they went?" She hurriedly turned back to her friends.

"Hojo-kun probably got the wrong idea." Eri shrugged.

"I'll bet they're over by the fireworks!" Yuka's face lit up. "That has to be it!"

"Where are these fire-works things?" Inuyasha placed himself in the middle of the group.

"Uh- They're over on the hill." Eri pointed slowly.

"But Inuyasha-kun-"

"Hey, where'd he go?" Yuka looked around, but there was no trace of Inuyasha anywhere. "That was weird."

"Yuka-chan! Come on, let's go find them!" Grabbing the befuddled girl by the arm, Eri pushed through the crowd behind Ayumi.

Inuyasha was furious. This Hobo guy had kidnapped his Kagome from right under his nose. Wait a minute, his Kagome? He shook the thought from his head. This boyfriend business was starting to have strange effects. Inuyasha could only hope that the night would end soon. A loud bang shot him out of his thoughts. Fireworks exploded in the air, sending blossoms of color to fill the sky.

Sniffing the air, he picked out Kagome's scent and traced it until he could plainly see a large gray dog sitting next to two figures. He growled and stomped through the crowd. Inuyasha stopped a few paced behind them. Bits of red threatened to leak into his eyes.

There sat Kagome and Hojo. "You're beautiful." Inuyasha held back the urge to kill the boy. No one was allowed to say those things to Kagome. Next, he had the gall to hold her hand and lean in close to her ear. He was whispering something. Inuyasha wanted to tear him limb from limb when he heard. As he stepped forward, he was surprised to see Kagome jerk away and stand up.

"I have a boyfriend! I thought you finally understood that Hojo-kun." Kagome was on the brink of tears.

"But I thought, the two of you fought and-" Hojo was back peddling.

"Leave her alone." Inuyasha ground out through gritted teeth.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome ran back and grabbed him into a hug.

Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. "Can I kill him?" He whispered.

"No. But I wish I could let you scare him off." Kagome replied, wiping her eyes.

"There you are!" The girls appeared over the crest of the hill. "We were worried!"

"I'm fine guys, thanks." Kagome put on a fake smile and Inuyasha recognized it instantly.

"No she's not. This guy was bothering her." He motioned towards Hojo.

"Hojo-kun?"

"But you see, I thought that you guys wanted me to-" Hojo stood up "-and it seemed like they weren't dating and-"

"He does have a point there." Yuka put a finger to her chin. "You guys don't really seem like you're dating."

"Yeah, all you've done is to yell at each other all night." Eri chimed.

Kagome sighed. Obviously they'd found out the truth. There was no way that she could get them to believe her unless she did something drastic. She'd probably have to kiss him. Kagome blushed slightly at the thought. He'd kissed her the other night, she was sure of it, so why couldn't she do the same thing. She could kiss him and pretend it didn't mean anything if he could!

"Inu-" She tried her best to sound like a girlfriend as she leaned up towards Inuyasha's face.

"Huh?" This was crazy. Kagome was calling him pet names and leaning up towards him. Did they give her something weird to drink? Inuyasha was flailing for control. Kagome leaned up to his ear.

"Relax, I'm just trying to prove to them that we're together. Acting, remember?"

"Oh." Inuyasha breathed. "Okay." He started grinning.

In a swift motion, Inuyasha pulled Kagome back in front of him, pressing her close in a hug. Kagome blushed, but quickly caught on. "I'm so sorry for yelling, can you forgive me?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. We've really had a rough night." He said sweetly. Inuyasha knew he was good at this acting stuff.

"Inuyasha?" She pursed her lips and reached up to capture his shoulders with her hands. Pulling herself up, Kagome quickly captured Inuyasha's lips with her own.

Momentarily stunned, Inuyasha didn't react. He wasn't expecting anything quite like that. Kagome started to pull away, but he recovered and tugged her into another kiss.

Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, and Hojo felt their jaws drop to the floor. Here was Kagome, a friend they'd known almost their entire lives, kissing a guy in the middle of a crowded park. To say the least, they were stunned. The girls were a bit jealous too.

"Eh-hem." Eri coughed.

"Um-" Kagome broke away from Inuyasha's grasp and blushed furiously. "Sorry."

"It's all right." Ayumi replied. "It's also getting pretty late. Why don't we head home."

"Sounds good to me." Yuka yawned.

"Don't do that-" Eri said as she yawned too.

vvvvvvvvvv

Shippo finally saw the purple robes that indicated Miroku. "Miroku! There you are!" The monk in question stood up, basket in hand.

"Shippo? What is it?" He asked, putting a hand to his aching back.

"I know I said I'd get that information in the morning but-"

"What is it?"

"Well, I was talking to Sango and she told me something!" He chirped.

"She wouldn't tell me a thing." Miroku frowned. "So who is it?"

"Well, it's the lord of a village pretty far from here." Shippo closed one eye.

"And?"

Shippo wiggled his hand in front of Miroku. The monk started fishing through his robes anxiously and produced a box of pocky. Quickly, he handed it to Shippo.

"Thank you." Shippo took a deep breath and started again. "It's the Lord Hojo of the Hokkaido area." Shippo hoped that he'd believe him, after all, he'd just taken the name from someone Kagome had mentioned-

"How old is he?" Miroku totally believed him. This was too easy.

"I think she said he's older than her- I'd need to go ask."

"Could you?" Miroku pleaded.

"Sure, for two boxes." Shippo smirked and held two fingers in front of him.

"Fine, but I want an age and what he looks like!"

"Deal!"

"Deal!" Miroku smiled in triumph. This was too easy.

Shippo shook his hand and took off for the village. He only stopped briefly to consume his box of pocky.

vvvvvvvvvv

Many yawns later, the group had made the short journey back to the Higurashi shrine. Bowing a goodnight and bidding Kagome good luck with her boyfriend, the girls had been picked up and gone home. Hojo was the last to leave, apologizing profusely for his actions before calling a taxi to go home.

Inuyasha nervously eyed Kagome. It had all been acting, right? She didn't hate him, but something still nagged at him. Kagome hadn't told him what was bothering her. Maybe he could find out. Setting the giant stuffed dog down by the doorway, they started walking to the god tree. "Kagome?"

"Huh?"

"I did pretty good with that acting stuff." He smiled.

"A little too good I think." She mumbled. At least she'd gotten even. She'd kissed him and now she could pretend that nothing had changed.

"Well, I want my reward."

"What?" Kagome tilted her head to the side. "For what?"

"For acting. I told you you'd owe me." Inuyasha retorted.

"Oh. Well, I can make about ten cups of Ramen tonight, but that's all we have-"

"Not Ramen, I want something else."

"What else could you possibly want? I thought you wanted me to serve you Ramen until you burst?" Kagome set her hands to her hips and leaned slightly.

"I never said specifically what I wanted."

"So what is it?" At this point she was so confused that she thought nothing could faze her.

"I want you to tell me what's bothering you."

"No."

"Damnit! We had a deal, now you have to tell me." He marched closer to her, but Kagome turned away.

"Fine! It's you, okay?" She yelled.

"What?" Inuyasha cringed. What had he done?

"Don't give me that! I don't know what to think of you. I know that the other night, we- I- you- kissed me and then told me it meant nothing. Then tonight, you were acting, and I let you- and-" Kagome started sniffling.

"Kagome- You- I-" Inuyasha fumbled for something he could say, anything. He let his bangs cover his eyes. Quietly, he responded. "Listen, I told you to forget it because it can't happen. I have promises and we have a duty. When it's all over, you will go back to your time and I'll-"

"Don't say it." Kagome sobbed. "I understand that there can't be anything. I don't know if I want there to be. All I ask is all I've ever asked. Let me stay by your side. You promised me that."

"Okay." Inuyasha nodded.

"I'm going to bed now. We can go back to the feudal era in the morning." Kagome wiped her eyes and headed for the house.

Inuyasha silently retreated to the god tree as Kagome closed the kitchen door behind her. Slumping down in the doorway, she clutched the stuffed dog to her chest. Gingerly, she rubbed the animal's ears. "I know Inuyasha, I screwed up. I know that you have promises you can't break. But, " She pressed her nose to the stuffed dog's, "I have my promise too. And when this is all over, I will tell you."

vvvvvvvvvv

A/N: Hope you liked it! I promise I won't torture you guys much longer. When they get back, things are going to happen. Also, I wanted to try to highlight some of the other characters, giving a little motivation for what they're doing. Kikyou really isn't a bad character, it's just my opinion that she's been a problem for way too long. And Shippo just doesn't get to have enough fun in most of these fics.

Oh, and about that bonus fic. Only one person gave me a response to whom it should be about, so I am announcing my next fic: a humor one-shot about Sesshoumaru! (and dedicating it to that person v) Be prepared, it's going to get –um –interesting…

Again, thanks to all reviewers! I appreciate each and every one of you!