True to Your Heart

A/N: Sorry for the long update!

Chapter 3: The Time Spent With Her

:&:o:&:o:&: Saturday, December 3 (continued) :&:o:&:o:&:

So this was how dogs felt like beside humans. Inuyasha nervously stared up into Kagome's face as she peered back at him curiously.

"You're…" she started.

Inuyasha tore his eyes away and shut them tightly, 'Please don't let her recognize me!'

"…so cute!" he heard her finish. Inuyasha nearly toppled over.

Kagome knelt down in front of him and ruffled the fur on his head, "Hey, boy. Well, at least I think you're a boy. You are, right?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth to say yes, but remembered that he couldn't speak. He gave a bark instead.

"Where's your owner?" Kagome asked next, her eyes filled with concern. She glimpsed at his neck, which was bare. "Hm, you don't have any tag or collar."

Her eyes glanced around the area and then landed back on him.

"You must be a stray," she said thoughtfully. "Then again, you look pretty well-groomed."

Inuyasha turned away and rolled his eyes. He was thinking about making a run for it…but there was this feeling inside of him that was keeping him back. A brief silence passed between the both of them.

Finally, Kagome clapped her hands together and declared, "Alright, I've decided! I'm taking you home with me!"

Inuyasha's head swiveled back toward her and his jaw dropped open, 'Say what!'

'If I ever get a dog, I'm never going to put a leash on it,' Inuyasha swore to himself.

"Come on, boy!" Kagome said cheerfully down to him. "We're almost there!"

She tugged on the scarf end she held. Inuyasha gave a low growl while he looked down at the other end of the long scarf, which was tightly tied around his neck in order for it to be like a leash. She had tied it on him before he could make an escape.

'I knew I should've run away while I had the chance to,' he thought with depression. He winced as his forehead collided with Kagome's leg for the hundredth time. 'Jeez, I walk faster than her even when I'm a dog.'

"Well, here we are," Kagome said down at him. "Welcome to Higurashi Shrine."

Inuyasha stared up at the shrine, which looked ten times bigger than he remembered it to be-what, with him being a dog at the moment. He choked when Kagome gave a large yank at the scarf around his neck as she began hauling him up the stairs.

"Oh, I can't wait to show Mom and Souta!" he heard Kagome saying to herself. "I've always wanted a dog-"

Blah. Blah. Blah. He really wanted to shut that big mouth of hers right now. He grinded his teeth together when Kagome gave another hard pull at the scarf.

This girl not only needed to work on her guest-greeting skills…she seriously needed to work on her pet-handling skills too.

"What a cute little dog!"

"What's this canine doing in here?"

Inuyasha inwardly sighed as Kagome's mother and grandfather stood over him.

"He's adorable," Mrs. Higurashi cooed.

"He's filthy," Grandpa coughed.

"He's clean," Mrs. Higurashi argued.

"He's a dog," Grandpa glared. "Since when were dogs clean?"

"Not all dogs are dirty, Father," Mrs. Higurashi shook her head as she knelt down and petted Inuyasha on the head. Despite himself, Inuyasha began wagging his tail. "Especially this one. Look how well-groomed he is."

Grandpa grunted, but didn't say another word. His eyes flickered over to Kagome. He asked, "Granddaughter, where did you find him?"

"I found him all alone at the park," Kagome answered, kneeling down and scratching Inuyasha behind the ears. "I figured he was a stray since he didn't have any tag or collar, but then again, what stray out there is well-groomed?"

"Apparently, this one," Mrs. Higurashi said thoughtfully. "Maybe he was separated from his owner…"

She suddenly gasped. Kagome and Grandpa stared at her.

"Maybe he was abducted!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed. "And then the person got tired of him and just let him loose!"

"In that case, wouldn't the dog just start heading back to its original home?" Grandpa asked gruffly.

'Which was exactly where I was heading until Kagome showed up,' Inuyasha grimly thought. He was feeling subconscious with Kagome so near him. She was still scratching him behind the ears. He hated to admit it, but her soft touch felt good. 'How come she wasn't this gentle when she was playing with my hanyou dog ears while we were little kids?'

"Either way, can we let him stay overnight? Please?" Kagome begged. "I've always wanted a dog. I've told you both plenty of times before, remember?"

"I remember," Mrs. Higurashi laughed. "You bug me about it at least once a year. I guess we could let him stay overnight…and we can let him stay here at the shrine until we find his owner. We can start posting up signs tomorrow around all the neighborhoods that are near here."

Kagome shot up and hugged her mother with a squeal.

"However, the dog is your responsibility, Kagome," Grandpa said sternly. "You're the one who has to make sure he's fed, walked, and bathed."

"I got it, I got it," Kagome assured him happily. "I'll take care of everything. You won't have to worry about a thing."

She threw her arms around Inuyasha's neck and squeezed hard.

Inuyasha choked for air, 'Help me…'

"Hey, what's all this noise about?" a young voice interrupted. All heads turned toward the doorway where a curious young boy was standing. When he spotted Inuyasha, he yelped and ran out of the room.

"Poor Souta," Kagome shook her head. "I can't believe he's afraid of dogs."

Inuyasha stared at the now empty doorway. The boy-Souta, who was most likely Kagome's little brother-was scared of dogs?

"I'm not giving you a bath today since you already look cleaned up," Kagome said to Inuyasha once they were in her room. Inuyasha was in a sitting position on the floor while Kagome stood over him. "But I, on the other hand, have to take a shower so you just stay here and relax."

'Just stay here and relax,' Inuyasha mimicked with his mind as Kagome walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. 'As if.'

He surveyed the room. Everything was pink. Literally.

'She's more girly than I thought.'

Inuyasha walked over to the desk in the corner of the room and jumped up onto the chair that was pulled out. Kagome's desk was neatly organized. Her books were kept at one end of the desk and framed pictures stood on the other.

With his sharp hearing, Inuyasha heard the shower next door turn on and Kagome faintly humming. He turned his attention back to what was on the desk and then, one photograph caught his eye. It was a picture of his and Kagome's kindergarten class.

In the picture, Inuyasha was on the bottom row with Kagome right above him in the second row. And, imagine that, she was yanking at his dog ears, which in turn, caused him to have a mad face, which ruined the chance for a "perfect" class picture.

'We always made a mess of things, now that I think about it,' Inuyasha thought. He then noticed that the corner of his mouth was twitching. 'Kami, was I about to smile about that?'

He shook his head fiercely and jumped down from the seat, settling beside Kagome's bed.

When Inuyasha heard the door open, he looked up and found himself staring at Kagome…who had nothing on but a towel wrapped around her body.

"How've you been?" Kagome asked cheerfully and walked over to him to give him a pat on the head. She then headed over to her closet to pull out some pajamas. Once she found them, she threw them onto the bed. Then, to Inuyasha's horror, she started to unravel the towel around her body.

Inuyasha hastily turned away and moved to the far corner of the room, his back facing Kagome.

'If I were in my hanyou form right now, I'd be red in the face,' Inuyasha thought, his face heating up.

"You're not only well-groomed, you're polite too," he heard Kagome remark with surprise.

Compared to Miroku, he really was polite…well, if you were referring to letting women have privacy while they changed that is. If Miroku were in his position right now, he would've, with no doubt, watched the whole process of Kagome putting on her clothes.

Inuyasha felt arms drape around him a moment later.

"Are you hungry, boy?" Kagome asked, now dressed in light blue pajamas. "I already ate dinner before I went on that walk, so I'm full…but how about you? Do you want something to eat?"

The truth was…he wasn't hungry. All that was happening at the moment made him lose his appetite.

"I guess you aren't hungry then," Kagome frowned when he didn't make any noise. "I guess we'll just go to sleep then."

She sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor, settling Inuyasha-whether he liked it or not-onto her lap. And then, she just stared at his face.

'Well this…is getting awkward…' Inuyasha turned his face away. 'What's with me? Usually, it's no big deal to stare at her straight in the face…but ever since the curse happened, it's been so hard to even look at Kagome in the face without feeling weird inside.'

"You have lovely eyes," Kagome said all of a sudden, bringing Inuyasha back to earth. "They're the same eye color as someone that I know."

Inuyasha slowly turned his face back toward her. He knew she was talking about him-his hanyou him that is.

"In fact, you remind me a lot of him," Kagome said softly, scratching him behind his ears again. "Your fur is similar to the color of his hair."

Inuyasha felt his heartbeat quicken. 'Is she realizing the truth?'

"Oh, well. It must all be a coincidence," Kagome confirmed. She stood up with him in her arms and laid him at the foot of her bed. Kagome stretched and plopped down beside him, making the bed bounce up and down briefly.

'Damn her, I'm getting dizzy from that.'

"Well, I hope you enjoy your time here," Kagome said. "We'll help you find your owner, don't you worry."

She looked down at him with a pondering look, "It's pretty cold…"

Kagome looked at the head of the bed and then back at Inuyasha.

"I'll let you sleep next to me," she said. "That way, we'll both be warmer."

And then, for the first time during the years that he'd known her, Inuyasha saw Kagome smile. She lifted him off the foot of the bed and put him under the covers, his head on one side of the pillow-the side closer to the wall.

"You can sleep on the side next to the wall so that way you don't fall off the bed," Kagome told him with a small laugh.

'How thoughtful of you,' Inuyasha rolled his eyes. He then realized that he'd never heard her laugh before either. It was a sweet sound to his ears.

Later, Kagome went under the covers beside him.

"You know what?" she said brightly. "I think I'll call you Inuyasha-chan."

'WHAT?'

"It just seems to suit you," she smiled at him again. "I don't know why, but it just does."

There was a long silence before Kagome started talking again.

"There was actually a time when I liked Inuyasha in that way when we were in kindergarten," Kagome said quietly, probably to herself. "But I don't know…I just lost that feeling when I saw that he didn't like me that way...that he didn't like me at all, actually."

Okay, what did she just say? Kagome liked liked him when they were little kids?

"We weren't even friends…we still aren't, actually," Kagome said with a bitter laugh. "I tried being his friend in grade school before, but he just brushed me away. And then he started calling me 'ugly girl', and I started yanking his ears and braiding his hair just to irritate him."

Inuyasha watched Kagome with annoyance when her bitter laugh turned into an amused one.

When Kagome calmed down, she said, "However, I do wonder why he came to the shrine today. I didn't let him ask what he wanted to ask me…and I was a little harsh on him too."

A little?

"Oh well…what's done is done," Kagome shrugged. "I have to get to sleep. It's getting late."

With that said, Kagome turned toward the lamp on the bedside table and switched it off. The room filled with blackness. However, Inuyasha's sharp eyes allowed him to adjust to the darkness fast. A moment later, he felt Kagome snuggle up beside him.

"Good night, Inuyasha-chan," she said.

And then, she gave him a quick kiss on the mouth.

A few minutes passed. Kagome fell asleep. Inuyasha remained awake. He felt his heart thudding against his chest again. His mouth still tingled from the kiss Kagome gave him.

'What's happening to me? Could it be that…I'm falling in love with her?'

It was 11:00 PM.

Inuyasha quietly snuck out of Kagome's bed and somehow managed to open the door. He tiptoed-if it's possible for a dog to tiptoe-out the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. He looked around and found salt and pepper shakers. Inuyasha hastily made way to the pepper shaker and took a big sniff.

ACHOO!

"Finally, I'm back in my hanyou form," Inuyasha said with relief. He picked up the phone that hung on the wall and dialed Miroku's number. Knowing Miroku, he was still up and on the internet….instant-messaging Sango to death. Miroku only lived with one other person, Mushin, since his parents died when he was little. Mushin was always sleeping, due to the fact that he was always drinking-so Inuyasha was always 99 percent sure that Miroku would pick up the phone if anyone called his house.

"Hello?" Miroku's voice answered.

"Hey, it's me," Inuyasha said quietly. "Can you call my house and tell whoever answers the phone that I'm at your house and that that's the reason why I'm taking forever to get home?"

"Sure thing…except, you're not at my house," Miroku replied with a sly voice. "Are you where I think you are? Perhaps, Kagome's house?"

"Shut up!" Inuyasha snapped silently, blushing-not that Miroku knew that. "I was in my dog form and she took me to her house! I couldn't change back until everyone in the house was asleep."

"I see."

"So can you call my house or not?" Inuyasha whispered impatiently.

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

"Because Sesshoumaru won't believe me. He believes anyone, but me."

"Fine…but you'd better tell me more about this later."

"Jeez…I will."

Both of them said their goodbyes. Inuyasha hung up the phone back on the wall beside the kitchen doorway and sighed tiredly.

"I'd better get out of here while I have the chance," he muttered to himself. He was about to walk through the kitchen doorway when someone flicked on the kitchen lights.

'Oh, crap!' Inuyasha thought, his eyes shutting tight against the brightness. He had gotten used to the darkness. A second later, he opened his eyes again and found himself looking at Kagome's little brother, Souta.

"Wh-wh-who-" Souta stammered, pointing a shaky finger at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha hurriedly tried to calm and quiet him down, "Sh! Listen, I'm-"

Souta didn't wait to hear what he had to say. Instead, he screamed the one word that Inuyasha did not want to hear at the moment.

"BURGLAR!"

A/N: Hehehe, another cliffhanger. I sure do use them a lot, don't I?

Ah! I'm WAY behind schedule for this fanfic! X.X I guess it means that I'll have to update a lot this week then.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story so far!

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