Disclaimer: Nope she still hasn't given to me, so still don't own him. –pout-
A/N: Patience is a virtue they say. I've got weird hours and don't get home from work until 10pm. So my tomorrow is kinda later than it is for ya'll.
Chapter 3 – Hanyou vs Hojo
Hojo smiled back, but his was genuine. "I came to buy you a gift. Your grandfather said you were sick again."
Inu Yasha suddenly stepped in front of Kagome. "Who are you?" He growled low in his throat.
Hojo blinked at the suddenly aggressive young man before him. "I'm Hojo, a friend of Kagome's."
Inu Yasha glared at the boy so hard that Hojo felt like he was about to melt into a puddle of goo. Kagome put one hand on Inu Yasha's shoulder and the other on his arm. She pulled him back a step and hissed. "Leave Hojo alone, he's only human." Inu Yasha's only reply was to grunt and glare harder at the boy, forcing Hojo to finally take a step back.
"Um, Kagome, who is this? I don't think I caught your name." He looked nervously at the girl behind the jealous hanyou. 'This guy gives me a strange feeling. Wait, I know what it is.'
"That's because I didn't give it." Inu Yasha barked.
"Inu Yasha!" Kagome took hold of his forelock, forcing him to look at her. "I asked you to be polite!"
"Inu Yasha? That's a pretty cool name. Are you related to Kagome?" Hojo knew that wasn't possible, but he needed to gather as much as he could about this 'man'.
Kagome blanched and sank her head onto Inu Yasha's shoulder, very aware of what was about to happen. "Related, you mean by blood? No!" Inu Yasha could feel his blood go cold. "No way!"
"Oh…" Hojo looked at Kagome curiously. "Then are you one of her friends? I've never met you before and I know just about everyone at school."
Kagome opened her mouth, but the response came from Inu Yasha. "I'm her boyfriend, you idiot." Kagome turned bright red and tried to hide behind a curtain of raven hair.
Hojo was in shock. "Ka-Kagome is that true?" 'Do you realize what he is?'
Kagome glanced at Inu Yasha and noticed he had a slight pink tint to his cheeks, as well. "Right, Kagome?" He said confidently, but his eyes were soft and unsure.
She slowly smiled, her cheeks fading from red to pink. "Yes, it's true."
Inu Yasha smiled and then turned his gaze back to Hojo. "See? Now, get lost."
"Inu Yasha!" Kagome howled.
"What!" He snapped back.
Kagome sighed and buried her face in her palm. 'Why do I even bother? Well, at least Hojo will leave me alone now.' She flashed the young boy an apologetic smile. "Don't mind him, Hojo. We were about to get something to eat, so I guess we'll see you later."
Just then three girls screeched to a halt beside the couple. "Kagome? Hojo!" The three gasped.
Hojo gave them his charming smile. "Hi Ayume, Eri, Yuka. Are you guys here with Kagome too?" He felt even more left out to think that Kagome's friends had been invited and he hadn't.
"Uh, um, well we just sort of ran into each other earlier." Yuka attempted to explain.
"Well, I'm really hungry, so we'll see you all later, okay?" Kagome took Inu Yasha by the arm and started to pull away. Ayume sprang in front of them causing Kagome to jump and Inu Yasha to growl.
"What are you guys getting? I wanted to get a pizza, but Yuka and Eri don't want one. Do you want to split one?"
Kagome smiled. "Sure I'll split one with you, but Inu Yasha doesn't want pizza-"
"I'll share with you, too. I've been craving pizza." Everyone turned to stare at Hojo. He blinked in confusion. "What? Did I say something weird?"
"Uh, no, not really. It's just we didn't think you ate that sort of stuff." Eri waved her hands in the air.
"You know it has all that grease and salt and cheese and meat and…" Yuka tried to explain once again. She didn't like that kind of food, because of all the grease.
"Hey, Kagome, I think I'll try this pi-za thing after all. It sounds pretty good." Inu Yasha licked his lips at all the things Yuka had just mentioned.
Inside Kagome was jumping for joy. But outside she said, "Oh, sorry Hojo, if Inu Yasha's going to share we wont have enough for you too."
Hojo felt like she'd kicked him in the gut. "Oh, all right. Well, I've got to go anyway. Glad to see you're feeling better Kagome." With that he turned and disappeared into the mall.
The three girls laughed once the boy was out of range. "He sure is hopeless." Yuka said.
Kagome chuckled and then rubbed her stomach when it growled. Inu Yasha eyed her and then smiled. "We'd better get Kagome something to eat before she tries to eat one of you."
Ayume and Yuka laughed. Eri snickered and whispered to her friends. "I think she'd rather take a bite of him." Inu Yasha blushed slightly at the comment. Kagome however didn't notice. She was making a bee line for the pizza shop.
At last the four girls and the hanyou sat down to enjoy their food. Kagome was still reeling a bit from Inu Yasha's comment. 'When did he start thinking of me that way? I thought he loved Kikyo.' She snuck a glance at the silver haired man beside her. He was practically devouring the whole pizza. 'He got over his hesitation pretty quick.' She glanced at Ayume who was sitting across from them. The girl was staring at the hanyou with amusement. Kagome sighed. She'd end up having to buy a whole other pizza at the rate her companion was inhaling the one they just purchased.
After lunch came the worst part yet, getting shoes. "Look, you won't have to wear them for long, just at the wedding. I promise. Please, just try them on." Kagome handed him the black dress shoes once more.
He scowled at them once more and crossed his arms. "There's no way I'm wearing those."
Kagome sighed deeply. "Inu Yasha, it will only be for an hour or so. Please. Don't tell me, you're too much of a wimp to even attempt to wear them."
"I'm not falling for that. I don't have to wear them, if I don't want to."
Kagome lowered her eyes and set the shoes on the bench beside her. "Fine, Inu Yasha, don't wear them. I'll just have to go to the wedding on my own." She was tired of fighting with him. An hour or so without him would be all right. She would just have to stick to her mom like glue.
Inu Yasha grunted and snatched up the hated shoes. He slipped one on. "I'll have to get a bigger size, these are too tight."
Kagome lifted her eyes to his and smiled slightly. "Thanks."
"Feh, you're not going anywhere without me." She smiled again, taking the shoes he offered and went to exchange them for a larger pair. After deciding on a pair of plain black slip on shoes, they were ready for the last items of clothes.
"We have to get you a tux." Kagome led the way to the formal wear store.
"What's a 'tuc'?"
"It's tux, and it's formal dress for men. It's an import from the western countries. Most of the time their only worn by the groom and members of the marriage parties, but my father's family is very formal and they insist everyone wear formal dress at their ceremonies."
Inu Yasha snorted. "You know these people sound like royal pains."
Kagome chuckled lightly. "They are. Oh, here we are." She stopped in front of the store and Inu Yasha glared through the window at the strange looking outfits. They entered and an elderly attendant came to assist them.
"What sort of occasion is it?"
"A formal wedding." Kagome explained. "We were looking for something very simple. Do you think you could help?"
"I will do my best to assist you." The attendant took Inu Yasha around the store to look at the different styles, while Kagome took a rest in a chair near the dressing rooms.
Inu Yasha finally found a tux that was simple but nice looking, and on sale none-the-less. It turned out he was a pretty good shopper. He smiled as the attendant brought him back to the dressing room and he found Kagome sleeping in her chair. 'She's so innocent when she sleeps.' He allowed her to sleep while he dressed in the tux to make sure it fit. He smirked at himself in the mirror. 'I look pretty good in this thing, wait till Kagome sees it.' He decided that he'd surprise her with it, rather than waking her up to see it now. He had the attendant wrap it in non-see-through plastic and then woke Kagome so she could pay for it.
"Inu Yasha, why won't you let me see it?"
"Because I said so. You'll just have to wait." He held the long plastic bag over one shoulder and the smaller bags in his other hand.
Kagome pouted. "Fine, then you don't get see what I'm going to wear."
Inu Yasha sputtered. "But..but..." He growled. "Fine, if that's the way you want it. I can wait."
Kagome growled back. "I can wait, too." About that moment the three girls popped back up meeting up with the couple as they were leaving the mall.
"You guys leaving?" Yuka sprang into step beside them.
"Yeah, we have to go home and pack." Kagome explained.
"Pack? Where are you going?" Ayume asked bouncing up beside Inu Yasha.
"My father's family is having a reunion and my mom's making me go." Kagome groaned. "It'll be for two whole weeks."
"That blows your summer vacation doesn't it?" Eri asked from behind them.
"Yeah, but at least it'll be at the beach this time."
"Really? We're going to the beach too, later this week." Ayuma exclaimed.
Kagome brightened. "Really! That's great! Maybe we'll see each other."
"Where are you staying?" Yuka asked.
"I don't know. I didn't bother to ask my mom."
"We'll give you a call later tonight and you can let us know. That way we can hang out." Eri told them as they made their way to the train station. A train pulled in when they arrived and the three head for it. "We'll see you two later. We're going to see a friend of Yuka's in the hospital. Bye." Eri waved as they disappeared through the doors.
"Kagome, aren't we going to get on that metal snake?"
Kagome shook her head at the hanyou. "No, that's not the right one. We have to wait for a different one. You see different trains go different places. That one's going deeper into downtown." She pointed at the sign in the window.
He nodded, understanding at least part of it. They waited for a little while, sitting on an open bench. Kagome was still dwelling on the 'Inu Yasha's girlfriend' thing, so they sat quietly, listening to the noises of the city. "There sure are a lot of people here."
Kagome glanced at him. "Without all the wars and famines, people were able to populate. And with the advances in medicine, we've learned to cure diseases and people live longer. So the world has gotten a lot more crowded." She sighed. "Which means it's also gotten a lot more polluted and noisier." She gave him a soft smile. "I think I like your time better."
He blinked in bewilderment. "Why do you say that?"
"People there are nicer and the world was a lot purer then. I also like the open spaces. Modern convinces are nice, but they can't take the place of those things."
"What about all the demons? Don't they worry you?"
Kagome smiled coyly. "No, why should they. I have you, don't I?"
Inu Yasha blushed. "Yeah, I guess so."
The train pulled in and Kagome stood. "Ready?" He nodded and followed her into the big metal contraption. The car wasn't as full as before and there was one remaining seat left. He let Kagome sit and he stood beside her. It wasn't far to their stop and they headed home to the shrine.
Iki pounced on them as the entered and stole Inu Yasha's bags from him, wanting to see what all he'd gotten. Sota was the next to attack. "Mom said you're coming with us tomorrow. That's great! We can hang out and go to the beach and-"
Inu Yasha looked to Kagome pleadingly as Sota tried to drag him away. "Sota, Inu Yasha isn't coming to play with you."
"Aw, but sis…"
"No, Sota. Now leave him alone."
"But…"
"Maybe you can hang out with us a little, okay?" Sota nodded and went off to play video games with a little pout. Kagome chuckled lightly and led the way to her room, taking up Inu Yasha's bags on the way.
Inu Yasha plopped on the bed. "Why'd you tell him that?"
"Oh, what harm could it possibly cause to let the little brat hang out with us, for a day or two?"
"What if I don't want him to?"
"Why, do you want to be alone or something?" Kagome blushed and sat down on the floor beside the bed, leaning against it.
She smiled slightly as she heard, first a small grunt and then an even softer, "Maybe."
'Well, I might as well ask him now. Yeah, it's now or never.' She fiddled with her fingers for a moment composing herself and taking a deep breath. "Inu Yasha, about today…you said I was your girlfriend." She paused and played with the carpet a little. "Did you really mean it, or were you just saying that because Hojo was there?"
Inu Yasha slid off the bed and sat on the floor beside her, keeping his eyes looked on Kagome's desk chair. "Of course, I meant it. I wouldn't have said it otherwise."
Kagome still didn't look at him. "But I thought you were in love with Kikyo."
Inu Yasha sighed deeply and continued to find the chair interesting. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about Kikyo and you. You two are total opposites. You do things I could never imagine Kikyo doing. For one thing, you accept me for who and what I am. You don't try to change me. Kikyo wanted me to become human. She wanted me to change for her. You've never asked that of me, just accepted me the way I am." He finally turned to look at her and she met his gaze. "That's how I realized that what she and I had was not really love; companionship perhaps, but not love."
He placed his hand over hers and rubbed his thumb over her small fingers. "When you come home and stay for even a little while, I start to feel strange inside, so lonely and cold." He raised his eyes to meet her gaze. "I care for you so much, Kagome." He took a deep breath and watched her eyes brim with unshed tears. "I…I love you, Kagome, and only you."
"Oh, Inu Yahsa." Kagome threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, tears of joy escaping her. "I love you, too. I have for so long."
He returned her embrace with tenderness. "I know," he whispered into her hair, "I was just too blind to see it."
"Kagome! Inu Yasha! Dinner's ready!" Iki's voice carried through the floor to the bedroom.
Kagome paused before responding and placed her hands over Inu Yasha's ears. He blinked at her in confusion and then winced slightly as she called back. "We'll be right there mom!" She smirked at him as she released his ears. "Hungry?"
He returned her smirk with one of his own. "Do you even need to ask?"
She chuckled and hugged him warmly before rising. "Come on then." He rose beside her and took her hand in his again, squeezing it warmly. Kagome returned the gesture and led him from the room.
Iki was setting the table with the meal, she made sure to give Inu Yasha three times as much as the rest of them. 'He has such an appetite.' She smiled to herself as her daughter and the young man entered. They both seemed very happy. 'Something must have happened today. They aren't usually this peaceful.' Her smile broadened as she saw them smile at one another and then both blush. 'Yes, something happened indeed.'
Kagome and Inu Yasha settled at the table side by side. "Mom, we have an extra suitcase, right?"
Iki nodded. "Yes, there's one in the basement. Don't forget to pack your clothes too."
"Oh, I won't. I've already packed most of my things, but we still need to pack Inu Yasha's."
"So, you've decided to go with us this year, Kagome." Gramps stirred the rice in his bowl a little. "It's been years since you've gone."
Kagome nodded but didn't respond to the unspoken question of why she hadn't gone. Inu Yasha could feel her tense a little and filled the uncomfortable silence with something he'd been wondering. "Why are you going old man? I thought that this was Kagome's father's side of the family."
"Gramps goes with us every year, just about." Sota snagged a piece of meat with his chopsticks and shoved it into his mouth.
Inu Yasha narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't tell me why."
"My son-in-law, Tokui, was a good man. Although he is no longer with us, we must still show respect enough for him to attend his families functions." Gramps continued to calmly eat away at his food.
Iki chuckled lightly. "Besides, he's a convenient babysitter, if I have something I need to do." Gramps scowled, Kagome snickered, and Sota protested.
"Hey! I don't need a babysitter any more. I'm almost eleven!"
Kagome continued to snicker. "Yes, you do. You're such a scaredy-cat, you can't even go to the corner store on your own."
"I can so!" Sota blushed and crossed his arms. "Hmph, like you were all independent and stuff when you were my age."
"And how would you know?" Kagome snorted. "By the time I was your age, I was already riding the train on my own."
"What!" Sota and Inu Yasha exclaimed at the same time. "You rode that big metal snake alone with all those weird men when you were his age!" Inu Yasha shook a trembling finger at Sota.
"You're lying! There's no way mom would have let you do that!" Sota protested in the same moment.
Kagome chose to ignore the overprotective hanyou and narrowed her eyes Sota then looked to her mom. "You tell him then."
Sota turned to see his mother nod. "Actually by the time Kagome was eleven she was walking to school on her own, riding the train on her own, and she even ran errands for me when I needed her too." Sota frowned in defeat. "Oh, Sota dear, don't worry about it. Girls mature a lot faster than boys and she was always fearless when it came to doing things her own. You're still young. In a few more years you'll be doing the same things, I'm sure." Sota continued to frown, but he didn't say any more.
The uncomfortable silence that followed was broken by the phone ringing. Inu Yasha jumped. "What was that?"
"It's just the phone. I'll get it. It's probably Ayume or Yuka." Kagome rose to answer the phone.
Sure enough, it was Yuka. "Did you find out what hotel you're staying at?"
"Oh, let me ask." Kagome stuck her head through the kitchen door from the living room. "Mom, what hotel are we staying at?"
"The Blue Lagoon, why?" Iki was a little suspicious and was wondering whether he daughter was trying to get out of attending the family functions.
"Oh, Eri, Yuka, and Ayume are going to the beach later this week and they wanted to meet up with Inu Yasha and me to hang out."
"Kagome, you aren't going to spend all your time with your friends while you're there. You are going to spend time with your family. Is that understood?"
Kagome winced at the thought. "I understand, but that doesn't mean I wont have time to spend with my friends, right?"
Iki sighed. 'She has a point. There will be time for her to spend with them.' "All right."
"Thanks mom." Kagome smiled and returned to the phone to explain everything to Yuka. The rest of the meal was pretty quiet and when they were done, everyone went to pack.
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A/N: Thanks for the great reviews! Fluff in next chap will be nice…mmm….yeah….nice
