Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Chapter Nine: Waking Up in Your Arms

MMMmmm. The breeze felt kind of nice.

Breeze?

Kagome cracked open one eye only to find that her world was a blur. She felt weightless, out of control. Her stomach felt like it dropped out from underneath her, like she was on a roller coaster. She grabbed tightly to the closest thing to her.

Red… fabric?

It was so familiar. For a moment she didn't believe her eyes. Her fingers trembled as she opened her left hand and flattened her palm against the chest of the man holding her. There was a startled gasp above her, then the world crashed to a halt. Arms of steel tightened around her, threatening to cut off her air supply. Silver hair…

Ah, who needed to breathe anyhow?

"Thank the gods…"

The relief in his voice actually worried Kagome. Was Inuyasha hurt? Did someone die? Was her family okay? What was wrong? Who was hurt?

"Inuyasha?"

"I thought… I thought…" He cleared his voice, tightening his arms once more around her before setting her down gently and standing up straight. Turning his back to her he said gruffly, "You're late."

"Late?"

What was surprising was the fact that there was no confusion as there usually was when she woke up lately, or disorientation about when or where she was. Or who she was really with. This was Inuyasha.

"I…" His voice caught for a moment. It was rough and gravely sounding. "We thought…" There was a long moment of silence that Kagome was unwilling to break. Finally he just blurted it out. "Are you planning on leaving us?"

"WHAT?" The miko took a step back in shock. That was the very last thing she expected him to say. "Of course not! I don't want to ever leave you!" She backpedaled a bit, not wanting to scare off the hanyou with any personal revelations. Even after all this time it still embarrassed him. "I don't want to leave any of you!"

His eyes were full of anguish when he turned to face her. "You stayed away so long this time. And you just left. Didn't say a word to me. To any of us. Not one word! You just left." His voice was rough and strained, hands clenching and twitching. "I couldn't get through the well to you." Looking away he paused for a moment. "I thought… we all thought… that you sealed it."

"Oh Inuyasha!" She threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. To heck with not wanting to frighten him away. "Never. I'd never ever seal the well. It would kill me to leave you."

He let his arms fall around her and hug her back. At first gently, then forcefully, as if he was afraid to ever let her go.

"You left me…"

Kagome's heart nearly broke at his whispered words.

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Inuyasha sat in the corner of the hut with his arms wrapped around his sword and his eyes closed. It was easier to focus all of his attention on Kagome that way. He could filter out the other smells and concentrate on her scent. He could train his ears on her so he could even hear her heartbeat if he listened hard enough. All day Sango, Miroku, and Shippo had already been merciless in their teasing about how he wouldn't let the miko out of his sight for even a moment. At least this way he could obsess about her without looking like he was obsessing.

"So you did not seal the well as we had feared," Inuyasha heard monk say. The hanyou snorted, Kagome only told them that a hundred times already. How many times did he have to hear it?

A slight rustling of hair brushing against fabric indicated that Kagome was shaking her head. "No," she said with a thread of patience. "I didn't seal the well."

The fire crackled. Miroku's staff jangled as he was attempting to scoot closer to Sango without her noticing. Inuyasha wasn't sure he understood the monk's desire to get his face smacked every day, at least once. Sure he understood the need to be close to the person you care about. He even understood the desire to touch. After all, he lived for the moments Kagome held his hand or rested her head against his shoulder. Heck, one of the best things about battles was that Kagome would tend to his wounds and patch him up, even though he didn't really need it. But the monk KNEW that he would get hit if he touched the slayer THERE!

"This other Inuyasha seems to be courting you."

A muscle in the hanyou's forehead twitched. Inuyasha wanted to snarl at Sango for bringing that little tidbit of information up, but kept silent. There was a slight possibility that Kagome wasn't quite aware of that fact that she was being courted, and he really didn't want her to be thinking about it. Or considering it.

"It was just a date, Sango," giggled Kagome.

Just a date. Not a courtship. She doesn't love him. He can't steal her from me. Inuyasha sighed. If only I could find him so I can just kill him.

"But did you not say that 'dating' is how young men and women find their mates?"

Inuyasha grit his teeth. He bet that Miroku said the word 'mate' just to get a rise out of him. Well that was just TOO BAD. He wasn't going to get suckered into the conversation like that. Why was Kagome 'dating' this guy anyhow? Just because he had his name it didn't make him HIM. Come to think about it, didn't she 'date' that other boy awhile back? That wimpy one. The idiot who called Kagome 'Escargot Pudding' or some nonsense when they were in some sort of 'play' at her school. What was his name again? His brows pulled together as he glared at the sandy haired boy in his head. What was Kagome doing 'dating' anyone at all anyhow?

He was so busy picturing mangled male bodies (some with sandy brown hair and some with wolf tails) that he almost missed Kagome talking about The Date.

"First we went to the movies. We had sodas and popcorn."

Big deal, grumped Inuyasha. Kagome had taken HIM to the movies before too. THEY had sodas and popcorn. Plus they had candy too. Two different kinds!

"We had such a good time! It was a comedy, so we laughed a lot through the whole thing. Then after the movie we went out to have some ice cream. The other Sango and Miroku were there too."

So what? Kagome had taken HIM places in her time to eat hundreds of times.

"Then he held my hand and we walked to the arcade to play some video games with the other Shippo. It was fun. I played a video game where I had to dance."

Inuyasha's jaw clenched as he struggled not to explode. HE HELD HER HAND? It was difficult keeping himself from jumping up and demanding explanations. Or chewing her out. Or shaking her. Or heading down to the well to go hunt this guy down and cut him into ribbons. Teeny tiny little ribbons. Itsy bitsy little pieces of…

"It sounds very sweet," Sango sighed happily, much to Inuyasha's irritation. Did the slayer HAVE to encourage her?

Jealousy threatened to overwhelm him. He felt the demon in him clawing at his gut, roaring in protest that someone was trying to take her away from him. It demanded retribution. It demanded blood. His hold on his sword barely kept him from transforming into a full demon, though he could feel it pulsing in him, trying to get out. It was something that only happened when his life was in danger. But Kagome WAS his life, and at the moment he was in very real danger of losing her.

Yes, it always caused his possessive instincts to flare up whenever Kouga showed up to make his unrealistic claims on Kagome. But Inuyasha never REALLY thought that Kagome would leave him for the wolf, regardless of the things he said to her. He didn't think that she would REALLY stay with any of those wimpy future boys either. She had promised to stay with him, and he believed her.

But that was before she had Inuyasha the Kind and Sweet, Glorious Lord of Perfection. How could a hanyou with no real home, or manners, or couth, or education, or money, or… hmmm… what did he have to offer her? Inuyasha scowled.

"Do you love him?" asked Shippo.

Inuyasha leapt to his feet, nearly throwing his sword to the ground. At her startled glance his tightened his grip, then sheathed his sword before storming out of the hut. He wanted to cut things down or beat something up. Instead he settled for jumping up on the roof and moving as far away from the sound of their voices as he could, trying to tune them out. He wanted to be able to hear her voice, but not hear her words.

It screamed of cowardice, but he couldn't listen anymore. He couldn't stand to hear if she loved this other Inuyasha or not. He was… afraid. For the first time, there was the possibility that he would lose her to another male. Really and truly lose her.

After all, this other Inuyasha was kind to her. He said sweet things and did sweet things and was just… well… sweet. And that's always the kind of thing that always got her so swoony. She liked sweet. She liked romantic. She liked all the things that this other Inuyasha was. Things that HE wasn't. And the other Inuyasha was even human! He was someone that she could go out in the world with and not feel shame. Someone who wouldn't have to wear a hat to hide his ears. She wouldn't have to worry about… about their children (Inuyasha's claws dug into his arms, drawing blood, at the thought) having dog ears and being ridiculed for being monsters or freaks. She could have a nice normal life with a nice normal man.

She likes my ears, he reminded himself, feeling a bit pathetic for grasping at straws.

He stared out into the night, wishing he could find the answers there. Bowing his head he realized that the answers weren't there. Being with the human… that could make her happy. It would be noble, he supposed, if he gave her up to the human. He could bow out of her life and let her be nice and normal and happy.

NO! his soul roared fiercely. No! She belongs with me! No one can protect her the way I can. No one… no one can love her the way I do.

How can he make her choose HIM? How can he make her see that he will make the best mate? How can he make sure that she stays with him forever? How can he make sure that he doesn't lose her?

"I'll do anything," Inuyasha swore to the stars.

"Anything?"

Inuyasha almost fell off the roof when Kaede spoke. How had he not heard her? He let himself drop to the ground gracefully, covering up his surprise. Falling like that's what he meant to do.

"What do you want, old woman?"

"It seems," said Kaede, "That it is not me who wishes anything, Inuyasha."

"Feh."

For a moment she was quiet, and together they looked at the stars. Though five seconds of that was all Inuyasha could take before becoming jittery.

"Spit it out already, old woman."

"You would do well to learn patience, Inuyasha." Her expression was scolding, but soon changed into something softer. "Would you become human, Inuyasha? If it meant that you could live in Kagome's time and be with her always?" Kaede looked back out at the stars serenely as she asked her question.

Inuyasha glowered his most menacing glare. "It ain't possible, old woman, so it's stupid to talk about it."

"Aye. But if it was possible?"

Was it possible? Looking into the hut he saw Kagome setting up her bedding. Her cheeks were still pink from blushing over Sango and Miroku's comments about the date. His eyes made contact with hers and she gave him a smile that made his heart skip a couple beats.

"She likes me the way I am."

"That she does." Kaede was silent for another moment. "Would a life with her be possible on her side of the well if you stay as you are?"

"She likes me the way I am." His claws dug into the wood of the door frame.

Kagome was setting up her bedding on the other side of the fire pit from Sango and Miroku. Near the corner where he always slept. She flashed him another smile as she scooped up Shippo in her arms and started telling him a bedtime story, Kirara sitting at her knee, listening as intently to the fairy tale about three unusually intelligent pigs and the big bad wolf.

She belonged here. With him.

"There is no doubt of that, Inuyasha. What I ask, is if you can live in her time if you remain a half demon. Or do you expect that she will give up her family and friends, her life, to live here with you? Where will you make your home?"

Inuyasha grunted his reply.

Kaede's voice got quieter, gentler. "I only wish for you to think of the future, Inuyasha. To think of what will be best for Kagome." She paused. "And for you."

With those parting words she went back into the hut.

Kagome belonged in the past, he was sure of that. Just look at her with Shippo. Look how happy she is here. Look how happy she makes us all. But, he knew that he couldn't give her a home here, not like she was used to. Not one with hot and cold water that ran in her house through pipes. No air conditioners to keep the house cool in the summer or heaters to keep it warm in the winter. No microwaves to make the ramen in three minutes or less. No shopping malls, movie theaters, or ice cream parlors. And her mother, brother, and grandfather. She would miss them.

He could live in her time, he supposed. It was confusing and smelly and he hated wearing those stupid hats. But… if that was the only way he could be with Kagome… Of course, there was no guarantee that the jewel could grant his wish to be human. No one had ever really tried it before. No, becoming human wasn't a good option. He couldn't protect her as well as a human.

Kagome liked him just the way that he was.

She liked both times, so she should be able to keep traveling to both times. Well, unless he was forced to destroy the well to keep her… Why couldn't they keep going back and forth through the well, anyhow? Why do they even have to make the choice at all?

Why can't things just stay the same?

He wondered if that wish would work on the jewel. A wish that would keep things just like this for the rest of his life. Things were perfect the way that they were. Traveling together. Spending days on end together. Talking under the stars when everyone else was asleep. Moments when he could look in her eyes and think that he sees tenderness and love. Knowing that this is where he belonged, his family. Fighting together. He smiled, even fighting with each other was fun.

But would Kagome be happy with a life like that?

Kaede is worrying about the wrong things, Inuyasha decided. It isn't a matter of choosing WHERE. It is a matter of choosing WHO. He would follow Kagome anywhere or anywhen as long as she chose him.

Insecurities began to battle with irritation.

Why is she even considering this pale imitation anyhow? I protect her! I take care of her! She promised to stay by MY side! Fire began to consume him. How dare that human try to take her away from me! From ME!

Besides, he had a connection with Kagome that no one else in the world had. He was connected to her through the well. It was no quirk of fate that brought her to him, it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to find him. The well only let the two of them through. It didn't send him to the future or take her to the past, it transported them to each other.

Of course, they were connected by magic in more ways than one. They were also connected through the rosary around his neck. He touched the beads around his neck. It might be a connection he hated at times, and was maybe a bit painful when he really ticked her off, but it was still a connection.

They were bound together.

Okay, sure, the formal words were never actually spoken, but it was always understood that she belonged to him. And, he admitted to himself, that he belonged to her as well. Everyone knew that. Everyone! It was understood that they were mates, or that would be when the time was right. They were promised to each other… sort of. She promised to stay with him for as long as he would let her, and he promised to always protect her. That meant that they were promised to each other for always. So this human was WAY out of line attempting to court his mate. He had every right to defend what was his!

Just as Inuyasha worked himself up into a nice white hot rage his ears picked up the sound of Kagome letting out a contented sigh as she fell asleep. He peeked back in and saw her snuggle into her sleeping bag. She looked happy, and it was awfully hard to keep his rage fired up when she looked so peaceful.

Like she was exactly where she wanted to be.

Quietly he snuck into the hut and crouched beside her, letting her scent wrap him in a blanket of peace. Her eyes were closed, but by her breathing he could tell that she wasn't asleep yet. For a moment he remembered what it was like when she woke up in his arms earlier that day. It felt right. He couldn't lose her. It would kill him.

"Oi," he said quietly as he nudged her leg, trying to not wake the kit who was just starting to drift into deep sleep beside her.

Her eyes fluttered open sleepily. "Hey."

He wanted to ask her to go for a walk with him. He wanted to talk with her. He wanted to make her understand that she couldn't leave him. He wanted…

"…Kagome…"

She sat up slowly. "Yes?"

Inuyasha blinked. Yes? For one confusing moment he thought that he had been talking out loud, that she had consented to be his. Officially. Of course, once he realized she was just asking what he wanted, he felt a little deflated.

"Do you want something?" she asked as she quietly unzipped her sleeping bag and began to sit up.

Yes. He wanted so many things right then that he couldn't figure out the how to say any of them. He opened his mouth, but snapped it shut quickly. This was too important. Messing this up was NOT an option. He couldn't take the chance of saying the wrong thing. He needed time to find the right words. Words that would tell her everything he needed to say. The ones that would keep her with him always. Blurting out stuff was bound to get him in trouble. It always did.

Should he ask for Miroku's help? Nah, can't trust a thing that lecher says when it comes to females. Shippo was just a kid. A sharp kid, but still just a kid. Maybe Sango. Hmm… maybe not. She was sure to tell him to talk to her all syrupy sweet like that OTHER Inuyasha, plus she would squeal to Kagome and ruin the surprise before he got to say anything. There was also the fact that they were nosy and were sure to spy on them the whole time if they knew. Kagome's mom always had good advice, but it was unlikely she would help him convince her daughter to stay in the past with him.

"Inuyasha?"

A warm hand touched his forehead and his eyes closed. Inhaling deeply he tried to drown himself in her scent. The hand moved to his cheek.

"Inuyasha? Are you okay?"

"Keh," he said in response, reluctantly opening his eyes. "I'm not some weak human, I'm fine."

With a pounding heart, he slowly reached up and covered her hand with his, trapping it against his cheek. When he gathered his courage he looked her in the eyes. His heart did a little flip flop when he saw how her eyes had softened. Her smile was gentle and sweet. And she didn't try to move her hand from his.

He couldn't think of a single thing to say. All he could do was feel.

Tomorrow he would find the words. If it killed him (or worse, humiliate him) he would find the words. He just needed a little bit more time. Actually, he had kinda hoped that she would just KNOW so he wouldn't have to tell her, but that hadn't been working for him so far. It was painful doing this the human way. Why did they have to rely so much on words anyhow? Didn't they have any instinct at all?

"Go to sleep, Kagome."

Tomorrow was going to be one of the hardest days of his life.

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Author's Notes:

Thank you for the reviews! Some of you guys are good guessers. Interesting that so many people mentioned The Twilight Zone. I loved that show! I'm always wondering 'what if". Plus, haven't you ever just wondered what it would be like to find out you were just someone's imagination?

I'd like to give you answers, but them I'm afraid it would ruin the chapters ahead. Hopefully all the questions will be answered by the end of the story. Six more chapters to go!