A/N: Here's the third chapter of IAWA! Please enjoy and review!
ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE LOOK AT THE DATES AT THE HEAD OF EACH SECTION! THEY'RE IMPORTANT!
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June 1, 2004. 5:10 AM. Inuyasha
His hands wouldn't stop shaking.
His entire body was trembling finely, but his hands were quaking so badly that his coffee was splashing in waves against the sides of his cup. His body would hardly move anymore. He knew it would completely stop functioning soon. Occasionally, blood would spatter onto the floor. He didn't give a damn.
Inuyasha realized that he was finally alone. He'd woken up hours before to find a team of nurses lifting him to get him onto a gurney, and he'd chased them all off, snarling and threatening them. He was going to stay right there and wait for Kagome. Ever since then, there had been people buzzing around the hall, rushing or bustling or worrying like him. It was agony; waiting to find out what would become of the rest of his life. He needed to know that they were alright. He needed to know that there was still a life for him. And now, finally, impossibly, the hall was deserted.
In the instant that he realized that, everything broke down.
The cup of coffee freed itself from his hands and fell to the floor, exploding in splashes of mud-like liquid. His knees were the next things to hit the ground, then his hands, and then his blood, seeping out of his wounds and tragically splattering against the tile.
"Oh, god!" he choked out.
His breath came fast and harsh, suffocating and loud. Raw like screams. His arms were shaking so badly that they barely supported him. He couldn't see a thing past the tears clouding over his eyes.
"Kagome!" he howled, his head tearing itself in two. Anger pressed against his skull; hatred and pure, raw anxiety.
"Oh, god, my son! My son, my son…Kagome…"
His weeping took over, and he stayed there, kneeling and bleeding and sobbing like only an utterly broken person could.
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August 5, 2003. 1:41 PM. Kagome.
Kagome giggled uproariously.
"Yeah right, like they'd ever pay any attention to us!" she exclaimed to her best friend Sango.
"Well we'll have to make them pay attention, won't we?"
Kagome laughed out loud. "Alright here's the plan." She pried her eyes off the gorgeous men far in front of her for just a second to make sure that Sango was paying attention. "You go wade out in the water, and strip off your top."
Sango began laughing as well. "Alright, then what?" she asked, playing along.
"Isn't it obvious? You run on shore and ask them to help you find it. After they've helped you recover your bikini top, you gracefully introduce me!"
Sango chuckled and swatted at Kagome. "Yeah right, Kag. Alright, how about we just ask to play. That's not so suspicious, right? They don't have to know that we hate volleyball."
Kagome sighed. "Whatever. You and I both know that we'll never get up the courage to confront guys like that."
The one Kagome had her eye on was tan and muscled in a lean kind of way and looked like a perfectly drool-worthy god in dark red swim-trunks. His hair was long silver, and though she couldn't really make out the details of his face from so far away, she could see that he had a ridiculously amazing body. Strangely, she could picture herself wrapping her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She blushed at the thought. He probably already had a girlfriend; guys that hot were never single.
Sango frowned, and pulled her sunglasses off and perched them on top of her head. "You know what? I'm sick and tired of passing up good opportunities because of shyness."
Kagome scoffed, not taking Sango seriously at all. Kagome was sick of it too, but that's the way she was. She couldn't really change that. "Good opportunities for what? A summer fling in which the only thing accomplished is one of them getting in your pants, and your heart getting broken? Yeah, that's something I'd like to work for."
"Kag, if you keep up that attitude, you'll never find out if there can be any other outcome. I'm going over there." Sango swept her hair up and secured it with a clip, then stood. "How do I look?"
Kagome eyed her best friend. Of course, Sango looked incredible in her pink and green bikini, her dark brown eyes and hair gleaming in the midday beach sun. "Well, your strap is twisted, but other than that, you look stunning, as always."
Sango grinned and brushed off the compliment, fixing the strap of her little bathing suit. "Yeah right, but thanks anyway. So are you coming or not?"
Kagome looked down at herself, studying her green and white suit. It was her favorite bikini. "Oh hell, why not?" Kagome stood and shook off as much sand as she could, and raised her own sunglasses. "Carpe diem, right?"
"Right. But the dark-haired one with the black suit is mine."
"Fine with me. The hanyou's way cuter."
"What, the guy with the silver hair?"
She nodded.
Sango made a face. "Whatever. You've always had horrible taste in men."
Kagome laughed, as they'd fought over the same guy more than once, and the two girls ventured over to introduce themselves to the group of guys and play a little beach volleyball.
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February 15, 2004. 4:10 PM. Kagome
Kagome squealed and skittered across the room. "Inuyasha! You just splattered me from head to toe with paint!" She looked down at herself. The dark blue pajamas she was wearing for the job were now decorated with linear splotches of light, pale green.
"Oh, did I?" Inuyasha looked over at her, roller hanging from his hand and dripping all over the plastic covering the floor of the small room.
That tone was way too innocent to be true. Kagome's eyes narrowed. "You big bully! Picking on me when I'm not looking."
"Picking on you? Picking on you! Kagome, I couldn't pick on you if I tried. You'd surely beat me up," he teased.
Kagome laughed and swung her brush in an arc, splattering mint-colored paint at him, getting him right across his black t-shirt.
Inuyasha jumped back and shielded his eyes. "Augh! I just painted that spot!" He pointed to an area on the wall she'd splattered. "Now I have to roll over it all over again."
"Oh big deal, you baby."
Inuyasha turned to her crossly. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Kagome sauntered sexily over to him.
A grin pealing across his face, Inuyasha opened his arms for her, and she slid happily in.
"I don't think I did quite hear you, actually?" he replied belatedly, while slowly lowering his head to meet her in a kiss.
"Oh, really?" she whispered, her lips half an inch away from his. "What happened to being an all-powerful hanyou?"
"Didn't I tell you?" He dropped his roller-brush and his hands slid around her waist. "I take breaks from that when it's convenient for me."
Kagome grinned and leaned in a little further. "Well, for clarificiation, I said that you're a big, huge baby!" She accented her point by slopping him across the face with her wet paintbrush, and proceeding to laugh uproariously.
She hurried away from him before he had the chance to grab her.
He stood there looking shocked for a moment, while Kagome was doubled over with choking laughter, then jumped into action, lunging towards her and grabbing the other sopping wet brush from the paint can.
With a shriek, Kagome scurried out of the way and ran across the room to safety.
Inuyasha changed course and leaped at her, looking to grab her right across the shoulders, but she ducked around him and spurred them into a short game of chase around the perimeter of the room.
In the blink of an eye Inuyasha was tackling her, then pulling her close and flipping them midair to protect her while he took the impact.
Kagome yelped and struggled to gain an advantage, but, all-out laughing now, Inuyasha rolled them and pinned her swiftly, kneeling over her and pinning her legs with his own and both her wrists with one large hand.
They were both still laughing loudly when he ducked down to give her one swift, deep kiss before pulling back and spreading paint all over her forehead. Kagome gasped for breath, caught between breathlessness from the kiss, laughing and panting from their game, and shrieking, as Inuyasha was currently using her face for a canvas.
"Inuyasha!" she managed to gasp out between choking laughs.
Grinning down at her, eyes twinkling, he painted the tip of her nose, then smeared it over both cheeks.
Somehow, miraculously, she managed to get out from beneath his hold, and, even more miraculously, get Inuyasha underneath her. He let her hold both his arms to the ground.
They both stayed that way for a moment, Kagome sitting on Inuyasha's hips and pinning him to the ground.
"So," Inuyasha said finally, after getting his fill of just staring at her. Kagome couldn't imagine that she looked at all decent, what with the paint covering her face and her grubby clothes on. "What else do you want to do to the room?"
"Well…" Kagome thought about it, and looked around. "We'll need a crib and changing table and other baby-furniture, obviously, but that'll come later."
"Yeah hon," he patronized, "how about after the walls are dry."
"Hey, did I give you permission to talk?" She pinched his arm lightly.
He just smirked up at her. "Hmm, Dominatrix Kagome. That's a side of you I haven't seen before."
Kagome averted her eyes playfully. "That's because it doesn't actually exist," she admitted.
"I know, babe." He was still smirking.
Kagome shook her head. "Anyway, I bet we could do some cool stuff on the walls with stencils. It's too boring with just the light green walls. Maybe a nice border?" she suggested. "Oh, and pretty curtains. Lace ones! And-and-oh! And a little rocking-horse! I had one of those as a kid; I loved it! Yasha, can we get a rocking-horse? Huh? Can we can we can we?" She was bouncing up and down like a little kid. She'd never thought decorating her unborn child's room could be so much fun.
Inuyasha grinned and finally freed his arms so he could hold of her hips. "Yes, Kagome, we can get a rocking-horse. Happy?"
She beamed down at him. "Very." She leaned down to kiss him. He deserved it by now.
"Ew," he teased, "you're gonna get paint all over my face." His hands eagerly flexed against her hips.
"And whose fault is that?" she answered, and planted her lips softly on his.
One of his arms immediately slid around her waist and the other traveled up so he could cup the back of her neck in his palm.
He flipped them smoothly over and cradled her in his arms, kissing her more deeply.
After a few moments, Inuyasha pulled back slightly and slipped one hand to rest on her stomach. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "I think I feel a difference." He smoothed his hand over the plains of her abdomen.
"You do not!" she giggled.
"No, no, I do. It's little, but I would bet anything that that little lump is my son."
"Excuse me? There is no lump in my stomach. And who says that it's going to be a boy?"
"I do." He grinned and leaned down to kiss her again.
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October 5, 2004. 3:56 AM. Inuyasha
When Inuyasha emerged from the shower, their bedroom was dark and Kagome was lying in bed, tucked tightly under the covers. He could tell she wasn't asleep, but her heavy breathing told him she was barely awake.
He let his towel fall to the floor, not bothering to put anything on, and slipped under the covers. He tentatively scooted closer and lay down on his side. He pulled in a deep breath laced with her scent, and wrapped an arm around her securely.
She jerked into full consciousness and realized what had awoken her. "Don't touch me," she whispered brokenly.
Inuyasha sighed and propped himself up on his elbow. Leaning over her, he kissed the side of her neck in the cover of the blackness of the room. His arm pulled her against him firmly. She felt so small. "Come on, Kagome. We can get through this. Don't do this." His kisses traveled lightly up her neck, and he nipped at her earlobe.
"Don't do what?" She wouldn't look at him, wouldn't dignify his advances with a physical response.
"Don't try to be distant." Giving up, he flopped onto his back and let his arm fall across his eyes. He'd long-since resigned himself to self-hatred. He'd become an expert at pushing back emotions in favor of apathy, and accepting the truth for what it was, no matter how horrible and gruesome. "You knew what I was when you mated me. Don't act so affronted."
"You told me that people change," she accused bitterly.
"Yeah, well, I lied. They don't."
She shook her head. "That's the lie. You have changed, I know you have."
He rolled his eyes and crawled over her, a leg and arm on either side of her curled body. "Kagome, look at me."
Complying, she rolled onto her back within the confines of his limbs. "Why would you do this, Inuyasha? Why would you make me feel like this again? I'm so tired of trying to figure out whether I can possibly love you anymore." She sounded so damn hurt, and her eyes screamed offenses and regrets.
It was too much to take, and his eyes left hers, settling in the darkness of the rest of the room. "I went back because I had to."
"Don't give me that self-sacrificing crap. You didn't have to do anything."
"I did, Kagome. You honestly thought that Naraku would just let me go, and I let you believe that because it was easier than telling you that I couldn't be what you wanted me to be. I mean…yeah, for a while we avoided him, but it didn't last as long as you thought, and it only made things worse."
"But…but weren't you happy that time? Why did you go back to that bastard? I just can't see how you could possibly go back after what happened to us. You're willingly repeating the mistakes you made, after you promised me you would never do it again! Have you forgotten the consequences?"
"You know perfectly well that I haven't forgotten. There's nothing that could possibly make me forget what I did. But I didn't choose to go back. I had to. Kagome…you just don't understand what would have happened to us if I hadn't complied. He would have punished me, and he would have done it by doing something horrible to you. If you think that I could have just sat back and let that happen, you're insane. I can't lose you too."
"Inuyasha…do you know how many nightmares I used to have that you wouldn't come home because you'd ended up on the wrong side of a job like the one you obviously had tonight? I don't want to do this anymore; I don't want to wake up alone in the middle of the night terrified that I'll never see you again, and knowing that I can never lead a safe life with you." Her words were just complaints, but her voice spoke volumes; it said that she had completely given up.
"I don't want that either. But what the hell am I supposed to do? If I do what Naraku says, yeah, I admit that there's a chance that I'll get hurt. But if I don't do what he says, it's definite that he'll come after you, and if that happens and I can't protect you…it's just not even a semblance of an option. For now, I've got to do what he says, until I find a way out of it."
Her eyes filled with tears again.
"Kagome, please, don't cry. Just…it doesn't help anything, and it makes me feel like the biggest schmuck on the planet."
"Good. You are the biggest schmuck on the planet." She looked up at him hollowly. "Inuyasha…you make me hate you sometimes. You know that, don't you."
He settled his weight on his elbows, then wiped the tears from her face. "I know. But don't be scared, Kagome. I'll always protect you."
"It's you I'm worried about, you moron, not me."
"What part of always didn't you understand? How can I protect you if I'm not around?"
The beginning of Kagome's smile died before it ever really existed. Her eyes were laced with their regular, compulsory sorrow. It never really left her expression anymore. "Inuyasha…" A soft hand touched his cheek, then dropped away as a tear trailed down over her temple. "I miss the days when a promise like that would have made me feel safe."
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August 5, 2003. 1:43 PM. Inuyasha
She had to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and even from so far away, he could smell that her scent was like heaven.
Inuyasha rated her age a couple years below his own, at a fresh twenty, and she was staring directly at him.
Their volleyball game was brought to a crashing halt as the two girls approached, but Inuyasha held eyes only for the slightly shorter one in the wondrously tiny green and white bikini.
Her figure was mouth-watering. She was perfectly petite and slightly curvy. Her hips were rather slim and her unabashedly visible abdomen was just sculpted enough. Something told him that if he were to take her in his arms and press her against himself, she would fit perfectly.
The girl realized that she'd been caught staring at him just as avidly, and she turned away with a blush, and whispered something to her friend that he didn't catch, as the wind blew her words away from him.
"Holy shit," he heard Kouga mutter.
Inuyasha spared him a glance to see that the wolf youkai was practically salivating, staring straight at the same one Inuyasha had already mentally claimed.
"Mine," Kouga declared simplistically.
Inuyasha growled challengingly. "Yeah right. Back off, Kouga."
Kouga smirked. "Not this time, dog-boy. This one is mine."
Inuyasha could feel his youkai side reacting violently to the statement. He had this incredible feeling about the girl. There was no way he could let her slip away to some bastard like Kouga. "She's not," he snarled back.
Soon the girls were within speaking distance.
They had a tiny five-second quarrel over who should speak first, and finally the girl in the pink and green bikini spoke.
"Hi."
It was a good start.
Miroku spent about thirty seconds spitting out something that, after a lot of jumbled words, amounted to a "Hi" in return.
The girls giggled predictably.
"We were wondering if we could join your game," the girl Inuyasha didn't really care about stated shyly. His girl bit her lip and kept her eyes on the sand.
"I'm Kouga," the youkai introduced himself. "These are Miroku and Houjo." He left out Inuyasha.
The hanyou rolled his eyes and bared his fangs at Kouga. The man was nothing but an annoyance.
"What's your name?" Inuyasha's girl asked him quietly, not looking him in the eye.
Inuyasha smiled at her charmingly and told her.
"I'm Kagome, and this is Sango," she introduced, still not really looking any of them in the eye.
Now that acquaintances were made, the six of them began playing. The girls didn't play too well, as they hadn't played since P.E. class in their first year of high school, but no one minded, especially as their bathing suits shifted all over the place every time they went for the ball. The guys found themselves dropping the balls and hitting at nothing more than air on multiple occasions because of those distractions.
The longer he watched her, the more surely he knew that this girl had the potential to change his life. And Inuyasha would take absolutely any change he could get.
So, before Kouga could get to her, Inuyasha asked, "Hey, Kagome, do you want to take a walk with me?"
She blushingly agreed after gaining reassurance from her friend, and they walked down the beach together.
He could feel Kouga glaring at his back.
They made small talk and he came to love the sound of her voice. She was such a gentle person.
Not very much later, he reached down and took her hand. She gripped his own in return, and it was then that he realized the magnitude of this new development. His life would never be the same.
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May 31, 2004. 5:08 AM. Kagome.
"You are Inuyasha's bitch, are you not?"
Kagome frowned and told herself to have courage. "I'm Inuyasha's mate, yes." She stared darkly into the eyes of a man she'd never met before. He reeked of evil, and his blood red eyes shone with it.
"So what is a pregnant bitch like you doing out of the den so early in the morning?" The man sneered at her contemptuously from where he sat like a dark king on a soiled throne.
The room in which she stood consisted largely of black marble, and there was a gothic, unnerving feeling about the place. Maybe it was just the man at the head of the room who made it so. He sat in pristine dark clothes, a look of malicious malcontent seemingly plastered onto his face as he stared at her almost greedily. His dark hair slithered out in tendrils, hanging limply down the front of his suit. This was Naraku; the man who had practically enslaved her mate.
"I'm here to talk to you about Inuyasha," she said bravely.
"I assumed as much. Tell me, bitch, does your mate know that you're here?" He raised a proud brow.
Kagome fidgeted. "No. And I'd appreciate if we could keep this quiet."
"Interesting. I'm intrigued. You may proceed."
She took a deep breath. "Inuyasha is a genuinely good person. He doesn't deserve to live the life he does, and he doesn't want it anymore. We'd like to start over together, but we can't do that when you refuse to let him go. That's why I'm here. To ask…" Kagome paused, swallowed her pride, and kneeled to her knees, "No, to beg that you release him from your services. Please, please do this. He deserves his own life."
The room was quiet for a few seconds. Kagome saw from the corner of her eye that the guards were shifting anxiously, but she refused to break eye contact with the dangerous man in front of her.
"Let me make sure that I understand," Naraku began. "You want me to release one of my best assassins for no reason other than your asking prettily?" Naraku sneered. "Stand up girl, because begging won't help. The fact that you have come here to get on your knees and beg a man you've never met for your mate's freedom is pitiful. Get out of my sight."
Kagome stood, outraged. "You can't do that! You have no right to make his life hell like you do, you bastard! Inuyasha is such a good person, but you won't let him live his own life! Why! You must have others to take his place! He can't be that important to you; please, just let him go!"
"Inuyasha belongs to me. His life belongs to me, and I will do with it what I see fit. It is not a belonging which I am willing to give up just to satisfy the crazed morals of one little girl."
"How dare you! You talk about people's lives like they're toys, you goddamn monster!"
"They are toys to me, little bitch, and watch your tongue." He rose from his chair.
"No, you should watch your tongue! How could you be so heartless! You've taken away everything that we had hoped to have! Time and again, you've proved yourself to be the dirtiest, most pathetic being on the face of the Earth by-"
Kagome was interrupted when Naraku's hand flew out and struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Instantly, a demon guard was gripping her by the back of her shirt. Kagome put her hand to her cheek in shock and pain.
"You want me to throw her out, sir?" the guard asked eagerly.
Naraku shook his head almost imperceptibly, and the guard slunk back into the small crowd. "Get out."
Those two small words were all it took. The throbbing already beginning in Kagome's cheek pushed her courage into remission and it failed her. She turned and ran.
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A/N: Ack! I got twice as many reviews for ch. 2 as I did for ch. 1! I'm flattered! You know what would be great? Twice as many for ch. 3 as I got for ch. 2! Like i said before: this entire story is finished; it just needs re-editing, so how quickly I update really depends on how many reviews I get.
Review replies:
Inuyasha'sChic: Here it is! Hope you enjoyed it.
ErrorDexis: Wups! I don't mean to be cruel! Hope this relieved the cliff-hanger tension. Thanks for your review!
i-luv-the-cat-sohma52: I made you cry? I don't think my writing has ever had that affect on someone before! Thank you so much!
SilverSqueakyInuEars: I am so unbelievably flattered. Thank you so, so much! Honestly, I read your review and went "Aww! Now I have to update!" And now I am! Thank you!
Thanks for reading! I would LOVE to hear your feedback, so please review!
THE ponkey