A/N: I've seen alot of people excited over the character of Kiri. Well, let me tell you, she's my favorite new character too! She is a lot like Sesshoumaru, just doing what she wants, not giving a damn about what anyone else thinks. And yes, to the person who requested this, there WILL be somebody who will come and sweep her off her feet, (I'm going to enjoy writing that...) but not yet...you gotta wait a bit...but it will be worth it... :)

Chapter 4: Consequences

The next day, Kuro saw Suki again in the village streets. When she saw him, she smiled and a happy blush formed on her face. "Suki," he said, feigning just friendliness. "It's nice to see you again."

She nodded. "Do you want to walk around and talk for a bit? It seems like ages..."

He followed her with a smile as they went around towards the back of the village, where no one could spot them. They had polite talk along the way, but it meant little to them. They really wanted to get somewhere out of the way of prying eyes. And quickly...

"So, how is everyone in your family?" Kuro asked, as they stopped, half concealed behind a hut.

"Fine," she said, smiling brightly, happiness reflected in her indigo eyes. "And yours?"

"Same." he said, coming closer to her, not being able to contain himself from touching her any longer.

"And you?" she asked, as he wrapped his arms around her, her arms snaking around his neck.

"Perfect." he said, pressing his lips to hers. They stayed like that for some time, until they broke the kiss, recieving a slight gasp from Suki. Kuro could hear her heart beating as fast as his own. That sound was music to his ears, assurance if how much she felt for him, how much she enjoyed being here with him.

She smiled, and her hands came to reach up and rub his ears.

And Kuro didn't mind one bit. The only other person who had ever rubbed his ears like that was his mother, when he was very young. It felt good to have the furry ears rubbed like that every so often. But I can't let her get away with that...

With a sneaky grin, he bent down and kissed her cheek, and then trailed down to her neck. Suki hadn't expected that. She pulled away in suprise, playfully swatting at him. "Kuro!"

He grinned, as he pulled her back into his arms once more, where she belonged. They smiled at each other and leaned in for another kiss...

"SUKI!" An angry voice rang out. Kuro and Suki both turned, and gasped.

It was Miroku, and he was looking as mad as ever.

The couple seperated, but Suki said, "F-father...please, understand..."

He glared at her. It was a glare that could shatter glass. "I understand enough Suki."

"But, Father..." she pleaded, tears welling in her eyes. She knew what her father would do now.

"Go, home Suki. Now." he ordered. "I'll speak with you later."

Suki gave one last pleading look at her father, and then ran back to her house, tears falling from her eyes.

Kuro stared at the angry monk, afraid. "U-Uncle Miroku-sama...we were..."

"I know what you were doing Kuro." Miroku said, his indago eyes flaming. Kuro could see his grip on his staff becoming tighter. "I told you Suki would not see any men before the age of eighteen." His voice was deadly serious.

Kuro's ears lowered on his forehead. He was in big trouble this time. He had stepped WAY too far over the line. He knew the monk would probably never forgive him for touching his daughter. He said nothing, only fearing it might get him into worse trouble.

"We're going to your hut, now." Miroku said, swinging the staff around very close to Kuro's body to point the way back to his hut. Kuro sighed, and led the way, only imagining what might be done to him as soon as he got home.

When Kuro walked into the hut, with a very solem look on his face, everyone was puzzled. And even more when Miroku walked in, madder than ever. It wasn't every day the monk had to bring him home.

"Miroku-sama...Kuro, what's going on?" Kagome asked.

Of course, Kiri knew what Miroku's death glare meant. She decided to tell Kuro to be more discreet next time he and Suki left to "talk".

"What's the deal, monk?" Inuyasha asked.

Miroku looked right over at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, " he said, "This morning I found your son with none other than Suki."

Kagome's eyes darted over toward Kuro. He lowered his and his black ears flattened on his forehead. She, at least, knew what was going on.

However, his father had yet to understand. "So?"

"I would not be here right now, if they were just talking, Inuyasha." Miroku said. "I mean, your son was together with Suki. In a way that I told you I would not allow."

Inuyasha pasued. "Wait...you mean Kuro was..." He looked over at his son staring at the floor, now wishing it would open up and swallow him to confirm the story.

Miroku started in. "Inuyasha, I told you that Suki is to court no man until she is eighteen, I made that clear--"

"Look, Miroku," Inuyasha said, "I know Kuro is...well...But I'm sure he--"

"Inuyasha, I know only what I saw with my own eyes." The monk stated. "And I can't let this continue. I can't make execptions for friends--"

"I know the runt screwed up big time, but that's no reason to fly off the handle--"

Miroku roared, "Keep your son away from my daughter until she is of age!" he said, storming out of the hut.

Once he had gone, everyone looked back at Kuro, whom was now praying that the floor would be so kind as to let him fall into an endless abyss.

"Kiri," Kagome said. "Leave the hut."

She stared. "But Mother--"

"Please leave." Kagome said, fire seething in her eyes. "We have to talk to your brother."

Kiri left, but not first without grumbling about "that baka Kuro".

Inuyasha glared at Kuro, perhaps scarier than Miroku had done. "You," he said, folding his arms. "Are in big trouble, runt."

Kuro slid down the wall to sit on the floor, facing his parents. "Father, Mother...you must understand--"

"Understand what?" Inuyasha asked. "That you purposly broke a rule we and Miroku set down?"

"No, I don't mean--" Kuro said, but he was cut off by his angry mother.

"Kuro," Kagome said, "That's not just it. You lied to us about what you were doing with Suki the other day."

"But it was true!" he tried defending himself. "At first...we haven't been doing this for a long time!"

"Look, pup," Inuyasha said, very angry now, since a vein in his forehead was twitching. "Just because the monk wants to kill you, doesn't mean we're going all sympathetic on you. You screwed up big time, Kuro. And we're not going to let you get away with it."

That was as much as Kuro could take. Though he wasn't as hot headed as his father, his boiling point wasn't that hard to reach. "So, I'm getting punished for something I feel?"

"Kuro..." Kagome said, trying to calm him down, since she knew his temper could be as bad as her own.

"You're punishing me just because of the way I feel about her? That's not fair!"

"Guess what, runt? Life ain't fair! And you're life is a lot more fair then mine or your mother's was. Keep that in mind, cuz I can make yours a lot worse." Inuyasha said, a harsh look of warning coming through his amber eyes.

Kuro gulped. Talking back like that had probably shortened his lifespan by a few years.

"To clear this up, we're not punishing you for what you feel, kid. This is because you lied to us and did something we specificially told you not to do. And," Inuyasha added. "If I were you, I'd stay as far away from Miroku's family as possible, before he decides life would be better if you weren't a man."

Kuro sighed, staring at the floor. It felt as if a knife was being shoved through his ribs. Not only was he not allowed to see Suki, but he probably had ruined any chance of a future with her even after she was eighteen. Miroku wouldn't forgive him easily.

"Kuro," Kagome said, "We understand how you feel, but--"

"Do you?" Kuro asked. "I doubt it."

"Believe me, we do." Inuyasha cut in. "And let me tell you something, you can't just jump into these kinds of things like that, you have to wait some time."

"Time?" Kuro said. "I've waited for her all my life! And finally, she comes to see me for who I am, and you take her away! Well, Father, let me tell you something, at least I ACT on my feelings!"

He didn't want to stick around and see how his already angry parents would react to that comment. He stormed out of the hut, to find Kiri had been listening all the time outside of the curtain.

"Don't say anything." Kuro muttered angrily. "I'm not in a good mood."

"I noticed." She said. "Mother and Father are going to kill you when you get back."

"You know what?" he said, as he walked away. "Maybe I don't care!"

Suki cried in her mother's arms. "Father, please understand..."

"Miroku, you're being too harsh on her!" Sango yelled back to her husband, who was now sitting on the other side of the hut, still fuming after he had told the youkai exterminator why her daughter had run home in tears. "I mean, its not some boy we don't know, its Kuro-kun. You said yourself he was a good boy!"

"That was before." Miroku said, still not looking over to his wife and daughter.

"Before what?" Sango roared. "Before you realized your daughter was pretty enough to have boys fawning after her?"

"No," the monk said, now polishing his staff. "That was before I knew that he had...intentions towards my daughter."

"INTENTIONS?" Sango shrieked. "No more intentions then what you had towards the women you pursued. In fact, you had worse!"

"Leave me out of this!" He said. "I told you before, I will have no man courting my daughter until she is eighteen. Old enough to be married and make her own decisions."

"I was married at seventeen." Sango said. "And you asked me to marry you when I was sixteen!"

"We're not talking about ourselves, we're talking about our daughter! It is the father's choice on when his daughter gets married, and Sango, I will not relent!"

Sango started to brim with fury, and Miroku decided to justify himself a bit. "Sango, I am only looking out for her wellfare. It is better that she is married later when she is old enough. Old enough to understand what she is getting into. By then, she will be old enough to handle children and whatever comes along. I don't want her rushing into things too young."

"But to break off her relationship with Kuro entirely..." Sango said, staring down at the still crying Suki. "That is where you are cruel."

Miroku turned away. "I am only fulfilling my duty as a father."

Suki continued to cry tears of sadness as her mother held her.

Kuro sat in Goshinboku, watching the setting sun. Why does this have to happen to us? he thought. Suki and I...we belong together. Why doesn't anyone understand that?

"Kuro!" A voice said.

"Go away Kiri, before I make you!" he replied.

"Kuro, get down here NOW!" the female voice yelled.

He gulped. Oops. It was his mother. "No." he said.

Kuro could hear her muttering about how she needed a kotadoma rosary for him as well. "Kuro, come down here, or I will get your father out here."

Kuro jumped down. He folded his arms inside of his red haori. "What?"

Kagome sighed. "I just wanted to talk Kuro."

"Talk?" he said. "Mother, it's not fair! I just want to be with Suki! But everything's holding me back! I've never felt this way about anything before, why can't anyone understand that?"

"I do." Kagome said. "I do because that's the same way I felt about your father. But things happen, Kuro. And you have to let time solve them."

"But Mother...two years! I have to wait two years before I can court her!" Kuro said.

Kagome didn't reply to his comment, she looked up at Goshinboku. "You know the story of how me and your father met, Kuro."

"Yes," he sighed, bored. "You told me many times before. You came from another world through the well and Father was sealed to this tree."

Kagome touched the spot where Inuyasha had been. "That's right. Right here, eighteen years ago, I met him. It was here, in my time...well..." She blushed and said nothing, remenesing the memory. "This spot was where he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, and it was here, Kuro, that you tried to be born."

Kagome remembered what her mother had told her, a long time ago. "This tree holds all our memories. It's been through everything we've been through. It remembers all your happiness, and all your sad times. But Kuro...It took your father and I a long time to finally realize what would make us both happy, and Kuro, if you really love Suki, then wait for her, and then, I can assure you, it is well worth it."

Kuro sighed. "But...what if Uncle Miroku-sama won't allow me to marry her?"

Kagome smiled. "I think he will. It's not you at all, Kuro. It's just that he doesn't want Suki leaving him until she is ready. Or more likely, when he is ready. Trust me Kuro, if you want a future with Suki-chan, then wait."

"Mother," he asked. "What do you...think of me and Suki?"

Kagome suprised him by giggling. "Well, I've gotten used to the idea. Even when you were babies, you seemed to be together. I think it's the cutest thing I've seen since your father's ears." Kuro stared. Like Inuyasha, he didn't get what was with her obession over their ears. "Just don't tell your father we had this talk. He wants you to think we rule by fear rather than reason."

As she walked away, Kuro only had one thought, Maybe...she's right...I'll just have to wait...

Kuro was still sitting in Goshinboku, after the moon had risen. He was still thinking over everything that had gone on in the day. I wonder if Suki and I will ever be allowed to be together...

Suddenly, he heard a rustle in the brush. He looked down, having his claws ready in case it was a youkai.

"Kuro?" he recognized that voice.

"Suki." he said, jumping down. When they stared into each other's eyes, it was like they hadn't seen each other in ages. He could tell by her scent that she had been crying most of the day.

"Kuro," she said. "I'm so sorry...Father...he's..."

"It's all right." he said, "It doesn't matter."

She blinked away more tears threatening to fall. "But Kuro...what are we going to do? We'd never be allowed..."

"We'll have to wait." he said. "Wait for two years, until you are allowed to see men."

She looked at the ground. "But...I'd go crazy...not being able to see you like this..."

She took the words right out of my mouth. He thought. Unable to contain himself any longer, he took her in his arms, comforting her. "Suki..." he said. "We'll still find ways...We'll have to be quick and sneaky about it...but we'll find a way. But, when you're eighteen, I'll ask your father if we can be together. Can...can you wait that long?"

Suki nodded, her head leaning against his chest. "If Father would say yes, I'd wait that long."

"We can only hope." Kuro said. While she tried to bury her head back into the front of his haori, he said, "Look at me Suki."

She obliged, lifting up her tear stained face. "Kuro?"

He cupped her face in his hands, making her give an inaudible gasp. "Suki," he said. "Once you're eighteen, we'll never be seperated. And then someday...I'll ask your father if we can be married."

Suki gave a tremendous gasp as Kuro said this and then brought his mouth to hers. She gave in, and kissed him back, letting him hold her like this one last time. "I...I have to go. Before they realize I'm gone." she said, but she wished she didn't have to leave.

"Go." he said. "I don't want you getting in more trouble."

She looked at him with one last sad look, and then turned and ran back towards the village.

As he watched her go, he thought, I will someday...I will ask Uncle Miroku-sama for her hand, and then...one day...she'll be mine...

A/N: Well...that was...something...Anyway, I put in some Inu and Kag for you, and some Miroku and Sango. I hope you enjoyed it.

Anyway, I know I'm evil, but still...sighhhhh...Well, it is labeled 'drama' after all...