Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.

Update Dates: Sundays and Thursdays

Undeniable Love
Chapter 12 - I love you

By: Scaevola
Published 8/25/05
Updated 10/02/05

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hojo left the Higurashi shrine slowly, hating the fact that he couldn't see Kagome because of some stupid dog. He had never once heard Kagome talk about a dog to him, or whether she even liked dogs!

His mind ran back to the deep growling he had heard from Kagome's room earlier. Though he'd never admit it, the growling had frightened him. Hojo wasn't normally afraid of dogs, he had been around plenty of then before, but the one in Kagome's room sounded more violent than the others he had been around. Maybe it was supposed to be a guard dog or something for the shrine?

But why would a shrine need a guard dog? Sure they had some old artifacts and some other valuable things, but he didn't think the Higurashi shrine had ever been burglarized before. Hojo was determined to find out more about the dog.

He walked along the sidewalk towards the bus stop, but then decided to walk home instead. A walk would do him good instead of taking a bus, and it would probably give him the chance to find a gift or two for Kagome for when she got better.

He walked for what seemed like forever. He was passing the WacDonalds when Eri, Yuka and Ayumi all showed up.

"Hey Hojo!" called Eri.

He turned towards her to find the three girls hurrying towards him. He briefly wondered if they had known anything about Kagome's dog. He'd have to ask them about it.

"Hi! I should have known you girls would be here!" he waved back at them as he spoke.

"So Hojo," Yuka began. "How was Kagome?"

"How did you know I just went to see Kagome?" he asked.

Kagome's friends never ceased to amaze him, knowing just about everything there is to know about everyone.

"We didn't! We just guessed that you would see her!" laughed Eri.

Okay, so maybe they didn't always know everything and that time they had just been lucky. But if there was one person they knew about, it was Kagome.

"Hey, has Kagome ever mentioned anything about a dog to any of you?" he asked.

They all looked at each other, as if to make sure they all had the same answer, before nodding there heads no.

"Kagome's never said anything about a dog to us, Hojo. She just has that cat, Buyo." answered Ayumi.

"Yeah that's what I thought, but I just went to see her and a dog was obviously growling in her room. Mrs. Higurashi said she couldn't let me in because the dog was growling at me." he said.

"So Kagome has a new pet dog?" thought Eri aloud.

"It would seem so." answered Hojo.

Hojo began to think about what he should get Kagome while he was in the city. He could just get her some herbs and teas to help her get better, but for some reason he felt like he should get her something different this time. Maybe one of the girls would know?

"Hey, I was thinking of getting Kagome a gift or something on my way home and giving it to her next time I saw her, but I'm not sure what to get her. Do any of you have ideas?" he asked.

They all thought silently for a little bit, before Yuka snapped her fingers. "I got it!" she exclaimed.

The others all turned to her, waiting for her answer. "You can go buy her some things for her new pet dog Hojo! She might like that better than herbs, I'm sure she already has plenty of those."

They all nodded their head in agreement. "Okay. I guess I'll buy her a leash and other things for the dog, and give it to her next time I see her at school." With that Hojo hurried off to the nearest pet store. The others watched him go before turning around and heading into WacDonalds.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

InuYasha sat silently in Kagome's room for some time after Mrs. Higurashi had left. He noticed that the sun had not yet fallen, but night was swiftly approaching. He stood and ambled over to the window to peer outside.

Thinking that he should let some fresh air inside, he opened the window a tiny bit, ignoring the pungent smell of what Kagome called "gasorin" that came from those metal demons. Kagome would not smell it, her human senses weren't strong enough, so he'd put up with it for now. He turned back to the girl and picked up his Ramen at her nightstand.

He ate his Ramen slowly for once, savoring the taste. If anyone who had ever seen InuYasha eat before walked into the room then, they would have been very surprised.

Not only was he eating slowly, but he was actually eating with manners. Typically he'd slurp the food quickly, practically inhaling it. Of course, few knew that it was just a habit he had gained while constantly on the run when he was little, - never having the time to actually sit and eat for fear of demons finding him.

Now however, without the oh so familiar threat of an attack, InuYasha could finally stop and enjoy his Ramen in peace.

The sound of Kagome's steady breathing reminded him that Kagome's mom had left a bowl for her daughter as well, and he decided that, despite the chance to finally enjoy his meal, he'd best finish his Ramen quicker. Then he'd wake Kagome and have her eat while it was still warm.

Finishing the Ramen with a loud slurp, InuYasha placed his empty bowl on Kagome's desk and then walked over to Kagome's bed. He put his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her.

"Kagome." he whispered. She moaned and tried to turn away from his hand. He shook her again while calling her.

Her hand found his and she gripped it tightly as she rolled over. InuYasha was pulled down, nearly face to face with her as she held her hand like some stuffed animal.

"InuYasha..." she said, her voice barely a whisper in her sleep.

His face reddened in embarrassment at his situation, and after a few moments he finally managed to pry his hand out of hers.

"Oi, wench." he whispered, shaking her once more.

"Sit." The whispered command sent InuYasha to the ground with a slam.

'She even sits me in her sleep!' Briefly InuYasha wondered why he was never sat out of his trees in the feudal era while everyone was asleep. Putting the thoughts aside, he focused once more on waking Kagome up.

He tried to wake her up a few more times, and each time he tried he was sat by Kagome. InuYasha was starting to get annoyed. He was about to give up when Kagome's mom stepped into the room, closely followed by Sota.

"What did you do this time, InuYasha?" asked Mrs. Higurashi.

"Huh? How'd you know I did anything?" he asked.

"Well, the cracks in the ceiling and the loud thumps we could hear clued us in that something was wrong." she replied.

The she turned to Kagome, and noticed that she was still asleep. She began to laugh, realizing that Kagome had been sitting InuYasha in her sleep. InuYasha and Sota, not knowing why she had begun laughing, just watched her, both confused and worried for her sanity.

Apparently, they weren't the only one hearing her laugh though because not long after Mrs. Higurashi began to laugh, Kagome sat InuYasha again.

The sight of the half-demon begin slammed into the ground while not even doing anything sent Mrs. Higurashi into even more hysterical laughter. Eventually she left the room, managing to say - while still laughing - that she needed to go calm down.

Sota and InuYasha just stayed there, staring at the spot that Mrs. Higurashi was once standing in.

Finally, InuYasha spoke. "Uh...is something wrong with her?" he asked.

Sota jumped at the sound of InuYasha voice. "Huh? Oh...I hope not. That was weird."

They both stayed silent for some time, before InuYasha noticed that the sun was setting and it would start to get colder outside. He stood up and closed the window, grateful that he wouldn't have to smell the gasorin anymore.

He picked up the bowl of Ramen for Kagome, which was now cold. 'Damn it!' he thought, 'How do I heat this thing back up here?'

Then he noticed Sota, silently watching him. "Oi, twerp." he called. "How do you heat this up?" he held the bowl of Ramen for Sota to see.

"Oh! I can get Okasan to heat it up!" he took the bowl from InuYasha's hands and hurried down stairs, shouting behind him. "I'll be right back!"

Unfortunately for InuYasha, Kagome heard Sota's shouting, and sent InuYasha plummeting to the floor again. InuYasha got up as he heard Mrs. Higurashi begin to laugh again.

'I'll never forgive you for this!' InuYasha sent a glare at Kagome, but it soon softened into a small smile. She was so beautiful to him. He gently brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, which she seemed to lean into.

He withdrew his hand as Mrs. Higurashi and Sota came back into the room. The older women handed him a now warm bowl of Ramen.

"I'm sorry for laughing InuYasha. I just thought it was funny how my daughter seems to blame you for every little noise in room, and sits you for it even while she's sleeping." she said with a small sympathetic smile.

"Feh." InuYasha realized suddenly that he wasn't really angry at all with the woman. He always found it hard to stay angry when Kagome was near - he never knew why, but he hated not being able to control his feelings.

'If I want to be angry then I'll stay angry damn it!' He fixed the young girl a glare, which, much to his dismay, formed into a soft smile as she sighed and buried herself deeper into her blankets. 'Damn it! Stay angry!' He tried to recall his frustration and anger, but eventually gave up, knowing that he'd lost this particular battle.

InuYasha, son of InuTaisho, never defeated by any other demon, was constantly beat, mentally, physically, and verbally, by a human girl. How humiliating.

Mrs. Higurashi watched with amusement as InuYasha's glare softened into a smile while he watched Kagome. She'd known InuYasha's feelings for Kagome for some time now, just as she'd known Kagome's feelings for InuYasha, though she doubted they'd ever get around to telling each other. 'Time for me to step in!' she thought grimly.

Sota watched as InuYasha, who was always scowling, suddenly begin to smile, and his mother suddenly get a very determined look on her face. Something was definitely wrong. "Uhh...are you two alright?" he asked.

Both lovesick half-demon and determined mother snapped out of their thoughts and turned to face the boy.

Realizing he was the focus of attention now, Sota decided it was a good time for a change in subject.

"So err...should we try to wake up Kagome now?" he asked. "So she can eat?"

Mrs. Higurashi nodded and swiftly walked over to her daughter, trying to shake her awake.

Yet again, InuYasha met his best friend - the ground, or in this case - the floor. Mrs. Higurashi tried not to laugh, remembering how bad she had felt for laughing earlier. She ignored InuYasha's muffled curses and turned to him.

"Is that why you were getting sat earlier? You were trying to wake her up?" she asked

When InuYasha finally got up, he nodded, rather than speak, apparently afraid of being sat by Kagome again.

"Maybe you should leave the room while Sota and I try to wake her up, that way you won't be sat if she say it. Okay?" She waited for InuYasha to leave the room before turning to wake up her daughter.

After trying several times to wake Kagome without success, she finally had an idea.

Walking over to the alarm clock at Kagome's side, she quickly put the alarm clock out of reach from the bed and set the alarm to go off in a few minutes. Then she and Sota left the room to find InuYasha in the kitchen, covered with sutras.

"Your sutras don't work old man," said InuYasha, removing the pieces of paper from himself. "And even if they did, they wouldn't be enough to stop me."

"Father!" exclaimed Mrs. Higurashi. "Don't throw those at InuYasha!"

Her father had a large stack of sutras in one hand, and replied while still throwing them at InuYasha with the other. "He is a demon! Just look at what his presence is doing to the house! Our house is being corrupted!"

Mrs. Higurashi looked up at the ceiling, which was now sporting some very pronounced cracks in it. A piece of it fell down and hit her father in the head, who promptly blamed InuYasha for attacking him.

"Father! Stop it!" she yelled. "Kagome was sitting InuYasha before! It's not his fault!"

"Ah, so Kagome also doesn't want you in the house! You hear that, demon?" asked her father.

InuYasha knew that the old man's words weren't true, but he felt bad all the same. Memories of how Kagome had been so mad at him before came back to him, and his ears droops as he realized that he and Kagome hadn't truly spoken about it. She'd been unconscious the whole time he was taking care of her, and she might have only acted nice to him just then because she was injured. 'Could she really still be angry with me?' He hoped not.

Mrs. Higurashi noticed the sudden change in InuYasha, the way his ears droop and his shoulders slumped. She hoped that InuYasha wasn't taking her father's words seriously.

She was about to try and cheer up the hanyou, when she heard Kagome shouting. Apparently the alarm had finally gone off.

They all looked at each other before quickly racing up the stairs and into Kagome's room, only to find see her throw the alarm clock out the window.

"I'll say InuYasha did it." muttered Kagome. Then she turned around and saw all of them, including InuYasha, staring at her with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.

"Eep!" she said and quickly got back into the bed.

The others were still too much in shock to do anything. Did she just say she'd blame InuYasha for breaking the clock?

Finally InuYasha spoke. "Oi, what do you mean you'll say I did it?" he asked. "I wasn't even in the room!"

InuYasha walked over to the window, too see the alarm clock still intact on the pavement.

"Hey! you didn't even break it properly!" he exclaimed. "Next time you have to make sure it's in pieces if you're going to blame it on me!"

He acted as though he was insulted that Kagome would claim InuYasha had thrown the clock out of the window and it wasn't in pieces afterwards.

"There will be no more clock-breaking in my house!" exclaimed Mrs. Higurashi, in a completely serious tone.

She walked over to shut the window, apparently to make sure no more clocks were thrown outside.

Kagome's grandfather just rolled his eyes and left the room. His family was weirder than him sometimes, and he had to admit, that was a difficult thing to be.

Kagome put her head back against the pillow and started to get more comfortable, but InuYasha, knowing that if he didn't act soon she'd fall asleep again, and then they'd never be able to wake her up again without that clock - quickly got the bowl of Ramen and hurried over to her.

"Oh no you don't wench! You're not going back to sleep until you eat something!" he made her sit up slowly so that she could lean on the pillow before he began to help her eat.

Kagome's mom turned to see InuYasha gently feed Kagome, wiping her chin with a napkin occasionally.

She smiled at the tender display, a rude half-demon from 500 years in the past taking care of her daughter. When she had first met InuYasha, she would have never thought she'd see InuYasha being kind to her daughter like this.

She guessed it was all Kagome's doing. Over the course of two years she had opened him up, and he had slowly started to care for her, very much, despite all his denials. Kagome's mother thought that InuYasha would make an excellent husband.

Mrs. Higurashi excused herself to go clean up the clock outside, leaving her daughter, and the half-demon that she silently considered her son-in-law to be, alone.

InuYasha helped Kagome eat all her Ramen, she turned out to be very hungry, which anyone would be after healing from her wounds, and were silent for some time afterwards.

Kagome was tired. Even though she had just awaken, she felt like she hadn't slept for weeks.

InuYasha, on the other hand, was still thinking about how angry Kagome was with him last time he had been in the future. Finally, he couldn't keep it in anymore. He had to know!

"Kagome?" he asked.

"mmm?" Kagome, still very sleepy, mumbled.

"Kagome...I..." he trailed, not sure how to go on. He looked up to see Kagome had fallen asleep. 'I'll talk to her about it some other time.' he thought.

Then he got up and crawled to her side on the bed, brushing her hair slightly. He watched as a small content smile formed on her lips. He took in her scent, it was so Intoxicating... he had no way to describe it, other than that it was Kagome. The sudden urge to have her in his arms was overwhelming.

He gently lifted her up and wrapped his arms around her waist, so that she was in his lap and leaning into his chest. He put his chin on her head while holding her tightly. How he wished that he could always hold her like this.

But he couldn't. He was just some half-demon, from the past, while she was a human from the future. Two different times, two different races. There was no way that she could want to be with him. But he'd make sure that whoever she chose treated her right. He would protect Kagome long after Naraku was gone, long after she forgot about him.

"I'll always protect you, Kagome." he whisper, holding her close.

He nuzzled her hair while he spoke. "I don't know what happened Kagome, I don't know what you did, but before I met you, I didn't care. I didn't care whose blood was on these claws, I didn't trust anyone, I didn't care about anyone but myself. After I met you though... I can't help but think of the things I've done wrong, things I should have done. But most of all, I can't stop thinking about you."

He brought a clawed hangs to her hair and idly began to comb it. "I've done so many things to you, so many things I shouldn't have. I never realized why I felt so wrong when I made you cry, or when I made you angry. I...I guess it took a long time for me to admit, even to myself, that I cared for you."

InuYasha was so lost in what he was saying, and so lost in his thoughts about the raven haired beauty in his arms, that he didn't notice her heart pumping faster than before, or her quick breathing. He rambled on, unaware of his audience.

"It took me even longer though, to realize that I didn't just care for you. No, it is more than that. I love you Kagome, more than I could ever put into words." InuYasha yawed. Kagome's scent always relaxed him. He shifted slightly before drifting off into a peaceful sleep, holding a shocked Kagome in his arms.

Kagome took some time to calm down and fall asleep again, after hearing all that InuYasha had just said. But she finally fell to back to sleep in InuYasha's arms, dreaming of her love, her hanyou.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope that this chapter made up for the short one before! Please Review and tell me what you think:D