Chapter 16

Kagome placed Kloie gently in her bed running her hand over the little girl's head she kissed her and shortly joined Inuyasha in the living room. He was sitting hunched over a bit his head resting against his knuckles, his eyes closed. She smiled a tiny smile secretly wishing he was asleep, if he were, she thought, she could curl up next to him on the sofa. Maybe…if he wants to stay the night….She felt her cheeks warm up at her own thoughts.

Inuyasha could feel her eyes on him, seeing her in that uniform earlier hadn't helped this situation at all! He felt her lips touch his forehead, using all of his will power to stay where he was Inuyasha opened his eyes staring straight into hers as she sat on the coffee table, "Kagome," he managed his voice weak, that look in her eyes told him just what she was thinking. They were alone most likely the only ones awake at such an hour on a week night in the complex and the child was sound asleep two rooms away. Yes she had to be thinking exactly what he was thinking!

"Yes?" She asked a smile spread across her face. Kagome moved to run her fingers through his hair, but he stopped her taking both of her hands in his own.

"I think I should go," he said at last.

"But why?" Kagome pouted, "You said we were going to talk…."

He squeezed her hand, "Yes, we need to talk about this, but...right now…" he swallowed hard the lump in his throat, pleading to God that she wouldn't lean any closer, those thin beautiful fingers of hers on his thigh were already teasing dangerously close… "I don't think I should be here right now." Inuyasha sucked in a breath taken aback by the look on her face. She was so angelic even in an act such as seduction, those dazzling eyes those pink soft lips puckered just a bit but enough to be seen clearly. She was perfect in every way to him, his angel his Kagome. Okay enough get a hold of yourself, he coaxed himself over and over, say something! Once he had regained control of his voice Inuyasha licked his lips and started again, "Don't you think being alone like this…we could get a little c-carried away?"

She gave him a spicy grin staring into his violet eyes it was either her imagination or his eyes seemed to deepen into another color…oh god she wanted him…."Well," she paused and kissed him, with no protest from him. She loved having such an effect on him "Not unless we wanted to."

Inuyasha touched her cheek still tasting her on his lips, "Even if we want to it might not be right." It hurt like hell to say that and he hated the look of utter disappointment in her eyes but he couldn't let something happen and have them regret it later.

To Kagome this was something new. She had always thought if two people wanted to do something then it was okay to do it. That made sense, right? Of course she had often heard in church that sex before marriage was wrong. Something so sacred should be saved for marriage which made sense in theory but what about people that were in love but for whatever reason were unable to marry? Or they knew for sure they would get married they just didn't know when? No these were just excuses…. she knew the truth she wanted to be with him, to be intimate. She knew that it wasn't for the right reasons. Kagome sighed inwardly even after accepting Christ into her life why did she still have these feelings? Was she bad for wanting this? For wanting him? "I guess I don't understand really…I mean how do we know what's too far if we don't…" Kagome trailed off.

What is she saying? Why would she say that? She has no idea what's she doing to me! Okay must calm down. We can't do this no matter how much we both want to, not now. Inuyasha chose his words carefully "I think you have to decide what you are doing with the person out of love or out of lust," Inuyasha spoke the words he believed, the words he knew in his heart were right but he was going mad! He wanted more then anything to hightail it out of there and drive home as quickly as possible. He had to get out of there and fast! He imagined pushing everything off the coffee table and slamming her against it, the look on her face, the sounds she would make. Oh my god! Stop it! Inuyasha tightened his jaw; he was definitely losing this battle.

"I think you can show love physically," she said.

Okay. Just calm down. Breathe. He mentally coached himself for several moments before speaking again. You have to be the strong one you can't let your feelings get the better of you. Think about Kagome and what's best for her. For the both of us. "Yes I agree fully with that. But if there's no commitment there I don't think we should…go all the way."

Rejection is a bitch. Kagome knew he wasn't rejecting her entirely but it sure as hell felt like it! Of course there's a commitment I love him isn't that enough! She said nothing and move to sit next to him on the sofa rather then in front of him.

He put his arm around her shoulder, "Aw Kags, come on, it's very frustrating to get eager and then have to stop, right?" Ha! Frustrated is far from what I feel right now!

She nodded.

"I just think it's more caring if we don't go any further then this," still she said nothing. "Kagome, I want to show you how I feel more then anything," he hugged her tighter feeling sad because she didn't seem to understand. He shivered, "I want to so bad I-" He blushed deeply; "…despite what I want….I know the danger in this..." Inuyasha kissed her head, "I hope you understand."

Kagome met his gaze and slid her arm around his waist, leaning her head against his shoulder; she remembered feeling such sadness earlier that day when Inuyasha had told her of his inexperience with women. How she had envied his ability to say that he was pure. But right now she was experiencing the other side of this situation. The frustrating side of it. She whined, he was right….

Both were silent for a long time.

I feel weird. What should I say? "Ssssooooo…" Kagome trailed on breaking the silence, "How many girlfriends have you had?" Random but I wouldn't mind knowing how many times he's given this speech.

Oh great….she goes from sex to ex girlfriends in a matter of seconds… will I ever understand this girl? "I don't think we should be talking about THAT, Kagome…" he shifted in his seat a little uncomfortable.

She poked him in the side, "Oh come on! I wanna know! Please tell me," she pouted squeezing his arm.

Inuyasha smiled and shook his head, "I don't think so." Before she could protest he covered her lips with his taking her breath away. "I really should go, we can talk more later," he said kissing her again. He cupped her face with his hands massaging her tongue with his own.

Kagome sat on the sofa several moments after he had gotten up and left, a silly grin curling her lips. Touching them she felt the tingling still on them from his kiss. God, I love that man.

Three Weeks Later

Inuyasha slipped out of his karate uniform and into his biking outfit, the ride home was a calm one. The wind felt good on his skin. He dropped in on Kaede and Kloie before heading up to his room for a shower. He dressed in a pair of tan khaki shorts with a side cargo pocket and a black shirt with the printed words 'Satan is a Nerd' across the front. He wore his hair in a high ponytail (not too high just higher then his normal low at the nape of his neck ponytails), his bangs slightly parted. After gathering his things for tonight's sermon he hugged Kloie and nabbed an apple from his grandmother's and left for the church. There he would meet up with Kagome; after his sermon tonight Inuyasha, Kagome, Tyler and Sari were going to dinner at Charlie's Place, Kagome's idea because of the discount.

That night Tyler's band led the youth group in worship with "Show me Your Glory" by Third Day, Kagome was surprised to hear Tyler singing something other then his usual edgy hard core opening songs. She looked at Inuyasha from across the room the look on his face told her he was just as surprised.

Sari did a solo of "I Believe in You" by Joy Williams; her performance in itself brought Kagome to tears, the band ended with "One of These Days" by FFH.

"You guys did great!" She whispered excitedly to Sari when she and Tyler sat next to her, the other band members, Kikyou and Mike, sat together on the sofa in the back. Kagome couldn't help but notice the glares the girl was giving her.

The head youth Pastor Jonathan was on stage giving the announcements, Kagome tapped Sari's shoulder, "Why is she looking at me like that?"

Sari turned, "Who? Kikyou?"

"Yeah, she always does it at bible studies and stuff why does she do that?"

Sari grinned, "She has the biggest crush on Inuyasha she always has and you are dating him so…"

"Oh." She folded her arms, "Well isn't she dating Mike?"

Tyler laughed half listening to the conversation, "Kikyou attempts to make Inuyasha jealous by clutching to Mike all the time. He doesn't like her like that but having a cute girl by his side makes him feel better I guess. I personally don't like her much."

"Well why is she in the band?"

Tyler shrugged, "She can sing pretty good and no one plays the keyboard as good as her she was born unnaturally good at it or something. I mean come on Kagome, I'm not going kick her out of the band just because she's clingy and I think she's annoying."

Kagome opened her mouth to speak then realized Jonathan had stopped talking and was staring at them his eyebrow raised, "I'm sorry are you all finished or should I wait?"

Some of the students laughed, Inuyasha shook his head chuckling, Kagome felt her face heat up, "No we're finished sorry Jonathan." Embarrassing!

"As I was saying, the rumors are true; Inuyasha is going to speak again tonight." Murmurs filled the room as he went up to claim the mic. that quickly turned to clapping.

Kagome could tell he was nervous but she smiled reassuringly when he looked her way, he smiled back.

"How's everyone doing tonight?" There was a decent response, he nodded, "Okay I want you to close your eyes and think about something that's important to you. It could be new clothes, a CD or a new video game you like to play, a boyfriend or a girlfriend. When you have this picture in your head, I want you to imagine bowing down to this person or item."

A few giggles were heard.

Inuyasha looked around the room, his eyes caught Kagome. Her eyes closed her lips curved into a smirk he couldn't help but bite back a chuckle, No dirty thoughts little girl this is serious. "Feels kinda weird doesn't it?" He said, "This is called idolatry and God says that idolatry is wrong, no, in the modern day we don't literally bow down and worship our favorite things like people did with their gods in the old days, but we sometimes put more importance on other things then God."

After several moments of silence he told them to open their eyes.

"In this day we get so caught up in the things we want, who we want to be with, needing this, wanting to go here wanting to go there. And without us realizing it, God has taken a back seat in our lives. These are our idols, idols can be anything." He paused, "Anything that becomes more important to us then God."

Someone raised their hand.

"Yes?"

A young girl with blonde hair stood, a hand on her hip, "So are you saying it's wrong to date? I've seen you around town with your girlfriend all the time and you two don't seem too hyped about God," she said matter-of-factly.

He clinched his jaw in frustration; her argument didn't even make sense! His eyes went to Jonathan in the back who motioned for him to go on, "No, I'm not saying that at all," he paused wetting his lips, "It's only wrong if your actions are more concerned with that person and more devoted to him or her then you are to God."

That last part made Kagome bite her lip, guilt hit her full force, she lowered her head, explains why he's been avoiding me a little lately.

Inuyasha looked around, the blonde had sat down apparently she had nothing to fire back at him. He made a mental note to say something to her parents about her uncalled for comment and in the middle of a service no less. "We can check for idols in our own lives by asking ourselves these three questions: What do I think most about? How do I spend my free time? If someone strongly examined my life what would they say was most important to me?"

Kagome was not pleased with any of the answers she came up with. She felt horrible.

"Do you want to tear down these idols tonight? We can make the Lord number one in our lives again by confessing our sin, changing our actions and spending more time with Him. God will give us strength to overcome these idols if we ask him." Inuyasha paused once more to take a sip of his water and take his Bible in his hand, "Can I have a volunteer read, Isaiah 2:12 through 18 please?"

Kagome stood quickly, she wanted to be a part of this, Inuyasha had a gift for teaching and any way she could help she wanted to. "Isaiah 2:12 to 18 The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled) for all the cedars of Lebannon, tall and lofty and all the oaks of Bashan for all the towering mountains and all the high hills for every tower and every fortified wall for every trading ship and every stately vessel. The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled the Lord alone will be exalted in that day and the idols will totally disappear." Nearly out of breath she met his gaze.

"What do these verses tell us?" He asked them.

When no one answered Kagome spoke up again, "That there is no point in putting your faith in anything else but the Lord because these things will one day be lost to us."

He nodded, "Thank you, any other ideas?" He looked around the room another hand rose, "Yes, Cassie?"

She stood carefully, "Idolizing anything other then God will leave you lonely and with no hope."

Inuyasha smiled, "Very good. Let's pray," Everyone bowed their heads with him as he led them in prayer, "Lord, thank you for this night and for letting us come together to worship you. Please Lord, help us to keep you number one in our lives. Help us to be strong in our faith and to do your will. And we also ask for some great fellowship tonight during the rest of the evening, Amen."

The service was closed with a final song and dismissed.

After everyone was gone except for Inuyasha, Tyler and Sari, Kagome poured herself a pibb, strong arms came around her from behind, Inuyasha held her close his lips against her ear, "I love you," he whispered pressing a kiss against her neck.

She leaned her head back pressing herself close against him wrapping her arms around his, "I love you too." Kagome smiled at him, it was the first time she said those words to him in person, it felt so good to finally say it. "Your message was amazing, made me think about things…"

He tilted his head against hers "Did it?"

She nodded, "Mmhm. I pictured you, is that bad?"

"No, it's not. I pictured you too," he said, "That's why I talked about it because I could relate. It's important to us and everyone else in the room, we can't hold anything before Him."

"Don't ever stop," she said suddenly a serious look in her eyes.

"What?" The look on her face made him blush a little.

"Don't ever stop teaching, Inuyasha. You are good at what you do, whether it's teaching self defense to little kids and adults or leading bible studies you are unnatural." She touched his cheek, "And in the good way." Kagome smiled, "Whatever you choose to do in this life I want to be there with you."

Kagome… He hugged her tight.

Their lips met in a long fierce kiss.

"Okay okay that's enough!" Tyler said.

"Yeah what is it with you two in the church?" Sari giggled taking her boyfriend's hand, "Let's go eat!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

May 15, 2005

I want to apologize for taking so long writing this chapter. It took me a while to write up a sermon for Inuyasha. This morning I was skimming through possible sermons for him and "idols" jumped out at me. I chose this subject because it has been a familiar topic in my own life. My priorities aren't always in the right place, hell I don't know if they ever are. I'm not trying to shove religion down anyone's throat. I'm not saying my interpretations of the Christian Bible are correct either. I'm just writing a story. Take care all and Thanks for Reading. -

pissiMissi