Oops, forgot to respond to y'all last time. Oh well. This time I will. Anyway, now I get to set up a lot of stuff so pay attention to it. Enjoy and respond, as always. I live off them. Some fluff in this, which grows and grows with the next chapter and so on. Haha! I love fluff!

Chapter 9: A Hanyou's Pride

Once the blue light in the well subsided, Kagome took her time getting out of the well with a backpack stuffed to the brim with extra clothes, shampoo, a first aid kit, and of course packs of ramen for her half dog-demon. As she pulled the backpack off her shoulder so that she could stretch a bit, she shook her head at the yellow bag overflowing with noodles. She really was spoiling him. At this rate, he would demand nothing else from her but the noodles. But over the years it had almost become like a piece offering. He was always ornery when she would go home for the weekend, and nothing better to cheer him up than a good cup of ramen upon returning.

After all, she needed him to be calm if it was to settle her own nerves. How she thanked the heavens Inuyasha had decided not to come after her the night prior. God knows he would have killed Hojo immediately for stealing his spotlight. She certainly didn't like the idea of explaining to Inuyasha why she had actually let Hojo kiss her.

When she dusted herself off, she was surprised to realize that her hanyou wasn't waiting for her to return. As far as she could remember, he was always waiting for her to come back and pressuring her to continue the search for jewel shards. But as she thought harder, she realized there could only be one reason for why he wasn't there: a battle. Clutching her bow close to her, she began running towards Kaede's hut, she tried to scan the area in search of any shikon fragments, but found none. Normally, she could sense a shard from miles away, so it could only mean her friends were battling someplace far away. She began running towards Kaede's hut. The old miko was the only one Kagome could think of who might know of her friends' whereabouts.

The village was a new one that had been built after a dragon-demon nearly incinerated the entirety of the old one. The new location was turning out to be much better than the last. They were now located in a meadow with a few trees here and there to provide for shade. Kaede's new hut had to have the best view of all and within minutes she could see it. It was a short distance to the village from the well. All Kagome had to do was walk through some forest until she came to a small clearing. From that clearing, she could see the village on the hill beyond a small valley. She then descended back into a stretch of trees until she came upon another hill that would take her to the village. It was perhaps less than a third mile away from the well. When she reemerged from the well again, she groaned at having to climb a hill when there was an emergency at hand. This wasn't so easy with out that hanyou around who more flew than he did walk.

However, to her surprise, before she could get there, she saw Sango emerge from the door and give her a friendly wave, "Hey."

The miko stopped in her tracks. Sango seemed so calm and collected. So there wasn't a fight, then? "Er… hey Sango-chan. What's… going on? Anything I should know about?"

The exterminator gave her a curious stare. "Nnno. Just hanging around waiting for you to get back."

She set her boomerang against the wooden wall of the hut and looked around as if she was searching for something. She turned back to Kagome, "Uh, where's Inuyasha?"

"I thought he was with you. I could have sworn he went after you yesterday, even though he didn't want us to know about it."

Kagome nearly fell back from the weight of this news adding onto the weight of her backpack. She stumbled a few steps and put her hands over her mouth to stifle the terrified gasp. "He came?.!"

"Well I thought he did, at least. Maybe I was wrong," Sango replied with a shrug, oblivious to Kagome's flushed state.

The girl from the future continued to hold her breath and cover her eyes with her hands, wishing the world would just disappear forever. If Inuyasha had followed them… if he had found out that she was out with him… if he had seen them kissing. No! Even worse… if he had overheard what was behind why they kissed…

Her cheeks blushed a furious red and she let out an embarrassed groan. She scanned the hills and the valleys looking for his figure. There was certainly more to worry about than an angry hanyou. If she had to explain why she had kissed Hojo, she didn't know what he would think. And she sure as hell had to make sure that Inuyasha hadn't murdered Hojo for a simple kiss.

However, almost as quickly as it arose, the fear in her began to subside. If Inuyasha had seen what they were doing, he would have interfered immediately, right? Inuyasha hated it when he wasn't the center of attention, so there would be no way he'd let Hojo kiss her without a fight. She finally let the air out of her lungs. No. Inuyasha didn't see them. He just must have giving up searching for her when he found out that she was out for the evening.

A small stream ran through two large pine trees and made there way down into the valley where it would eventually meet up with the large river. As the hanyou's right foot blocked the path of waterflow for a moment, he could feel the icy coldness paralyzing his skin. Not that he hadn't spent the whole night in a cave drenched in cold rain with no wood to make a fire. But all Inuyasha really wanted right now was to curl up with a blanket someplace warm and let slumber take him. After last night, he was exhausted. Many trees lay around him torn from their roots, and many more possessed five scar lines which he knew belonged to him. In the new mornings light, he found it amazing that he could do so much damage and travel so much distance within just a few minutes.

In his hands he had clutched five wild flowers. There were the only ones left after he had destroyed the others. There was only one thing he was certain of now, and that was that these flowers would make Kagome happy, and nothing could mean more to him right now than that. He was full of hope but his head was bowed forward. He hadn't forgotten the heartbreak he had endured the night before, because it was still there. The hanyou didn't know if he had lost the battle to keep her or not, but it was definite that Hojo now stood quite a few points above him.

A big part of him said that it didn't matter what Kagome did or who she chose to be with. But there was another part, perhaps in equal, which said he had to be selfish. Whoever that voice had been the night before, it had stirred something within him. This wasn't just a question of Kagome being happy anymore. It became a question of her being happy with Inuyasha and only Inuyasha.

Inuyasha was a creature of great pride, and so he knew he could make Kagome happy if she stayed with him. Happier than that Hojo guy anyway. He couldn't protect her like he could. Probably hadn't even tried. And what of Hojo's devotion to Kagome? Did Hojo dream of Kagome every night and see her every waking morning? Was she the step in his walk too? Had she melted the ice around his heart? Did he pine for her when she was away from his grasp? This Kagome could have been loved by anyone, and yet the hanyou wondered if it was truly possible for anyone to love her as he did. Was that why he was so unwilling to let go? Because she deserved the best? But Inuyasha knew he was far from the best, afterall. Who knew what he wanted. Not he.

Only one seemed to know, or thought they knew, what he really wanted. The voice that had come out of nowhere. Inuyasha had not smelt anything coming near him last night, but then again, it had been raining, and thus any smells would have been washed away. Really he didn't know why he was being affected by that voice so much. Somehow his words, although nothing special in context, had embedded themselves deep within his mind. Between his thoughts of Kagome was where that voice resided, and the memory of its power over him was haunting. He hated not having complete control. It felt like he was vulnerable to some nameless face. There was someone out there that he couldn't touch, who had somehow cast a spell over him so as to make himself believable. Well, whoever he was, Inuyasha would meet up with him soon enough.

For now, his thoughts were too preoccupied with the fresh scent of Kagome. Already a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders to know that she had not abandoned them just yet. At least that meant he had a fighting chance to win her over. He glanced down at the small set of flowers in his clawed hand and tried to soothe the worry within him. Every time he did this it felt like he was revealing himself to her. Even after now, she couldn't find out how much she meant to him.

His thoughts went unchecked, for Kagome had caught sight of him and was running towards him. He tensed up again and hid the flowers behind him. Kagome stopped some three feet ahead of him. "Hi, Inuyasha. Um, where have you been?"

"Just around," Inuyasha said quickly.

His gaze never left Kagome's, which made the girl all the more nervous that he knew something. "Uh, listen… Sango said something about you coming to my era yesterday. Is this true?"

He held out the flowers and looked away from her. "I was gonna give you these yesterday so you would stop being mad…"

He paused for a moment. "…but you weren't home so I came back," he lied.

Kagome took the flowers into her hands and eyed them curiously. It didn't matter to her that this was so out of character for Inuyasha to do, but she was too overwhelmed with happiness to know that he was. When he had replaced the flowers in her vase time and time again, it brought warmness to her heart each time. She never got tired of it. It felt like she had been wanted, needed maybe. Before Inuyasha knew what hit him, she had him in another heart stopping embrace.

For a moment, he just stood there confused about what to do, praying that she wouldn't feel his rapid heartbeat or hear the shortness in his breath. But her touch so delicate yet so firm, he couldn't refuse her. Very slowly, his arms encircled her and brought her in closer. As he did, a dreamy smile appeared on his face, the one that he promised would never pass his lips. But at least for now, he would let it slide. The feel of her in his arms nearly pushed him over the edge. His nose rested on top of her head where he could inhale her wildflower scent. He memorized every sensation it brought to him, from the rise of his ears to the tingle in his toes. Only she had such a power over him. He didn't even remember that he was going to say this wasn't going to happen again. Any coherent thought was lost already. His very thoughts became slurred, 'Smell… touch… nice.'

The appearance of a lecherous monk interrupted their tender moment. 'Hey you two. If you wanted the hut for yourselves, you should have asked.'

He could have killed that bastard… slow… and very painfully. Kagome blushed and backed out of his embrace, much to his dismay, but he retained his composure and held his chin high. He opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped when he realized he didn't have any thing to say. "I... uh… hmm… you..."

He paused and let his brow fall forward as he thought hard about what to say. Eventually, he had to keep his pride by telling her the flower thing wouldn't happen again. The lingering sensations of her skin and hair prevented it so. He pointed at the flowers and scratched his head as he mumbled pronouns, "That… Uh, you… I … it's…"

Kagome noticed he was getting very fidgety with his fingers as he pointed at the flowers he had just given her. She answered the question before it was posed, "I know. Don't worry. I won't get use to it. This is just a one time thing. But thanks all the same."

She smiled sweetly and returned to put the flowers in another vase. Inuyasha stayed behind, seemingly frozen in that spot. His lips still refused to make a sound. Eventually, Kagome called him back to his senses, "Inuyasha, I brought ramen. I'll make you some."

The hanyou's mouth instantly began to water at the mention of food. He practically sprinted to the straw door and ran inside. However, he was immediately bombarded with the smells of a very strong incense. "Gaaahhhh!.!.!"

As fast as he had entered, he was out. An annoyed sound followed as he left. He held his hands over his nose and tried to fan the smell away, "What the fuck is that shit?"

Kagome came out followed by Miroku, who stated, "Sorry Inuyasha. I should have warned you. Kaede and Shippou are preparing some remedies for my injuries."

Miroku lightly touched a bandaged area on his hand where Naraku's bee's poison had spread during a recent battle. Inuyasha glared and shook a fist at this, "You couldn't just wait for it to heal itself, could you? I won't smell a thing for another few hours. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is, monk?"

Kagome came between the helpless monk and the infuriated hanyou. "Inuyasha, it's alright."

"A youkai could show up any minute and I wouldn't know in time. It is definitely not alright."

"Just go sit in the other room," Kagome pointed into the hut again.

Like a dog with its tail between its legs, Inuyasha yielded, as only his master could make him do. A new room had been added to help accommodate all the storage they had to deal with. Inuyasha huffed and did as he was told. He sat on the floor by the wall and held Tetsusaiga close to him. "Stupid monk. I can't smell a thing."

After a long period of silence, he sighed. So much for being untouchable. Just some incense and he was powerless against an assault.

"Have you thought about what I said?"

Inuyasha's ears perked up. It couldn't be. It was that voice again. The hanyou got to his feet in an instant and scanned his eyes around the room. There was nothing, and no scent to follow him with. But this companion couldn't be invisible, could he? "Who are you? What do you want?" Inuyasha commanded.

"It doesn't really matter who I am or what I want does it. All that really matters is that I am the key to your desires."

Inuyasha's breath shortened, "You mean Kagome, don't you? You're saying I should force her to stay her, that I could make her happy."

"You're not doubting yourself, are you, hanyou?"

"No, of course not!" Inuyasha protested, trying in earnest not to let this person take hold of his feelings.

"Then listen to me carefully. There is someone who can help you. A priestess on the other side of the valley. Her name is Saku. Go to her."

"And what can she do? Why should I believe you?" Inuyasha looked around the room squinting to see where the assailant might be lurking.

"Pathetic hanyou. I have always been close by, though you would not accept my help. You and I have more in common that you can know."

Inuyasha didn't know why, but somehow he didn't care to know who the voice was anymore. He lay his head down on the ground and simply waited for Kagome to come with his ramen. 'Saku, huh?'

To be continued…

So many reviews….. soooo happy…. hmmm…..

a100rinchhead: Afraid there isn't, but I can translate it for you sometime if you want. I'll send it to you. (hugs)

miko: Haha, good cause you're not supposed to. I'm so evil. (hugs)

Kamira: and I will, all in good time. It's kinda important too. (hugs)

Caline Daniels: Glad the whole butterfly metaphor is finally coming through. Haha! And I'm glad the cold fluff did its job. Warm fluff will come to make up for it. (hugs)

trekker4life: Haha, only us linguists now. Muhahaha! (hugs)

windgal: Do you now? Should I be worried? (hugs and runs to hide)

BlueMoonDog: Please explain how that is mean. Oh, and the song is in Spanish, which I am studying religiously. (hugs)

InuyashaGal: well my name should be a good indication of that question. Haha! Thanks for your neverending support. (hugs)

InUbAbYlOvEr: Aw, aren't you precious? He will be, but I'll make him better. I promise. (hugs)

kgperson: Yeah, but it's important stuff to know, and it makes the recovery even sweeter. Thanks for your support. (hugs)

Yumi Bowmistress: Wow, for reals? I'm flattered. Glad you liked it so much. (hugs)

Chinese Kagome: Woah, anxious, are we? Never fear, for I will. (hugs)

Joyfulsoul: And who says he won't? This is a hopeless romantic here, so wait for it. (hugs)

Orangepencils: Don't hate me! There is definitely a reason. I'll let you know eventually. (hugs)

Fanficlvu7Inu: Wow, an order! That's a new one! Your wish is my command! (hugs)

INUYASHALOVER45: One major point in the movie, so you may have to wait a while for that one. But it'll be worth it in the end. Promise. (hugs)

Jenn-silent breed: Yeah I know. It took me long enough. I'm setting up so much stuff for the future I can't see straight. The good stuff is coming. (hugs)

Random Reader: I never said you had to be witty, but thanks for putting in the effort anyway. I'll make you all happy again, I promise. (hugs)

laura: It'll get plenty corny for you, no worries. Thanks a bunch. (hugs)

Inuyasha-kagome-forever99: Wow, that's really saying something. Thank you so much! It's great to receive such praise as that. (hugs)