Chapter 18:

"THanks for walking me home Inuyasha." Kagome said when they got to her house that afternoon. "Do you want to come in for a minute?" She offered as she turn the key to open the door.

"Nah. I better get home. Miroku might be worried about me." Inuyasha said. "I'll see you around. K?"

"OK." Kagome said with a smile. Was that it? Really? He wasn't going to ask her anything? Should she invite him the Christmas partyshe was havingtomorrow. It was Christmas Eve was only three days away, and she had decided to invite all her friends over for a gift exchange. Inuyashahad turned to walk away. This was probably her only chance to invite him. "Hey Inu-" Inuyasha turned around."Yasha..."

"Hm?" Inuyasha said, his eyes widening, showing that he had heard her call his name.

"Umm... Do you want to come to a Christmas party I'm having tomorrow. You can bring your friend, Miroku?" Kagome said.

""Sure. What time?" Inuyasha asked.

"About six." Kagome said. "You can show up earlier is you need to though." She said as a blush covered her face.

Inuyasha smiled at her before he walked up to the steps. He stood directly in front of her, looking into her eyes with a soft expression on his face. She smiled sweetly as he looked down on her. Then he moved closer until their lips touched. It only lasted a few seconds, but for Kagome, it felt like forever. It wasn't her first kiss, but it felt like it should have been. Her cheeks were red and Inuyasha let out a bit of a chuckle. "You look cute when you blush." He said as he touched her soft, rosy cheek, which made her cheeks grow a darker shade of pink. She was speechless as she stared at his beautiful face. He still held a soft expression, with that sweet smil that made her feel like she was going to melt. Then he knees gave way and she fell into his arms. "You OK Kagome?" He asked.

"I umm... I'm sorry. My knees just-"

"Got weak?" Inuyasha asked with a smile.

"No. They didn't get weak!" Kagome said. "But I umm... Thanks." She said as she stepped inside. "I'll umm... see you tomorrow then?"

"Sure." Inuyasha said with a nod and watched until she shut her door. Then he turned around and started to walk away, heading down the few steps that lead to Kagome's door. Once he was out in the street though, a car pulled up and two burly looking men jumped out, grabbed Inuyasha, and shoved him into the car before they got in themselves.

Inuyasha sat between the two men. He looked to the other side of the car to see Koga staring back at him.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked.

"Did you just kiss my woman back there?" Koga asked.

"She's not your woman." Inuyasha replied. "She doesn't belong to anyone."

"You know what I meant. But did you kiss her?" Koga asked. All he need was a cigar and a black sute and he would be like a maffia (sry if I didn't spell that right).

"Yeah. So?" Inuyasha replied.

"Brute." Koga said before the man on Inuyasha's left jabbed Inuyasha in the gut with his elbow.

"You see, mutt face, Kagome is off limits. You hear? She's mine. Not yours. Got it? So you better leave her alone." Koga said before he crossed his arms over his chest. "I heard her invite you to her Christmas party tomorrow. You gonna go?"

"Why not? It would be rude for me to turn her down." Inuyasha said with a smirk.

"Tom." Kagome said before Inuyasha let out a cry of pain from being jabbed in the jut.

"Don't go. Or you'll regret the day yo uwere born." Koga warned.

"Is that so?" Inuyasha asked sarcastically. "And whatare you gonna do to me?"

"Oh you'll find out if you go to that party. I'll be there, so I'll know." Koga said.

"Why would Kagome invite you?" Inuyasha asked. Then he remembered Kagome's wanting to give him his last present from her. He chuckled at the though. I think for Chritmas, he's going to get a nice restraining order with an ungly sweater.Kagome told him. She was probably going to give it to him at her party.

"What's so funny Mutt?" Koga asked.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Inuyasha said. "I just remembered that Kagome said she was going to give you a nice present this Christmas. I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone what it was though. She really wants to surprise you."

"Really?" Koga said, not sounding too surprised. "I new it. She still does have feelings for me."

"Yep. She does." Inuyasha said. Feelings of hate. Inuaysha thought.

"Well then, I guess I'll definitelly be going." Koga said. "Oh! And I'll be sure to tell her Merry Christmas for you. Merry Christmas, you filthy animal." Koga said before th car stopped and Inuyasha was thrown, literally thrown, out of the car, landing in the trash.

It was nowhere hear where his house was. But he still know how to get home. He watched as Koga's car sped off. Once it was out of sight, he started walking until he saw a cab and had it pull over for him.

Once he was home, he went straight to his apartment, which was above an old resturaunt that never really got any business. He worked there, seeing as the own of the resturaunt didn't charge him rent if he worked for her, and he lived off of his tips, which was decent enough. The resturaunt was an old Italian resturaunt called Mama's Pasta.

"Hey Inuyasha! Where have you been?" A woman with a heavy Italian accent asked as Inuyash walked through the resturaunt, heading for his apartment.

"I was out Mama." Inuyasha replied. The woman wasn't related to him, but everyone who lived there just called her Mama. She was the one who owned the resturaunt, her children origonally were the only help she could get. Now her kids were all grown up and living on their own, making money which they continually lent her, even when she refused. She just had everyone call her Mama to remind her of how the place used to be.

Inuyasha ran up the steps and went into the apartment. "Miroku! I'm home!"

"Yo Inuyasha!" A man, about Inuyasha's age exclaimed from on the couch. He was lean, with black hair long enough to make a tiny paonytail, and a few earings in his ears. His blue eyes never looked away from the TV.

The apartment was small. One bedroom, which had two twin beds in it, a living room, kitchen, andone full bathroom that was connected to the living room and the bedroom. It was all painted tropical colors; peachy pink lime green, sky blue. Inuyasha and Miroku were just too lazy to repaint it, they just got used to it. The furnature matched the walls, and was very comfortable, so the boys decided to deal with it. They had a small Christmas tree set up in the corner of the living room with a few presents under it that they had recieved in the mail and were waiting til Christmas to open. THey never opened gfts til Christmas, unless their giver wanted them to open it then. They never got much, but it was enough. Usually it was money, maybe a few new appliances, decorations for the house, movies; just little things. The apartment wouldn't be able to handle anything too big.

"Hey Miroku? You wanna go to a party tomorrow?" Inuyasha asked as he hung his coat in the closet. The place didn't look like guys lived there at all. It was clean. No clothes thrown all over the place, no stinky smell, not trach on the floor,nothing. It was as if women lived there with them.

"Sure." Miroku said.

"OK. Kagome invited me to her Christmas party and told me to bring you. I'm gonna hit the sack." Inuyasha said as he heade into the bedroom. "Night."

"G'night." Miroku replied as he flipped the channel, starting to watch A Christmas Story for the tenth time so far. The movie really never got old to him.

AN- OK. Soooooooo sorry I didn't update earlier. This idea just now popped in my head and I couldn't stop typing. But I want to finish the majority of my stories by the end of the summer. So expect a few more new stories too from me. OK? So stories will actually be done before the end of July as I have planned it. But this is not one of them. This one will probably go into the beginning of the school year for me. I've only hit the rising action so far. I still need to get to the climax! LOL. Plz R&R. Thanx! TTFN!