A/N: Thanks everyone for reviewing. I can't believe I'm at 224! In the beginning I was hoping for 100, since I was a new author and all. I'm really glad that you liked chapter nineteen. I think it was one of the hardest chapters to write because I kept on dwelling on how Kagome and Inuyasha would meet again. Now I think I should be a little easier.
I got the ending planned out and everything. It's going to be so happy. Estimate on how much longer: 20 chapters, I think, but it shouldn't be too super long. Well, enjoy!
Chapter Twenty
One room, one palace- a place for two
"Inuyasha…" They both looked at each other. It was completely silent. Kagome couldn't think of anything to say. Things had happened so fast. She was yelling at him for screaming at the waitress and now… she was just staring at him. Kagome had wanted to see Inuyasha. She wanted to be by his side… but the first things that slipped out of her mouth didn't at all represent her feelings. "What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously.
"I…" Inuyasha was suddenly found at lost with words- the question was not what he had expected. He had never felt this way before around Kagome. He had always felt comfortable around her, like he had nothing to hide, but now he did. He had a lot to hide from her. "I can go where I want," he replied harshly. "This was just the next city I wanted to go to." He paused. "What about you? What are you doing here?" he shot back at her.
"You don't have to be so mean about it. Gosh." Kagome pulled out a chair and sat down at his table.
"Who said that you could just sit down?" Inuyasha said roughly.
"Oh, come on. You don't have to treat me like a total stranger. We're going to get married soon," she said in attempt to lighten the mood.
"Right." Inuyasha smiled at her. He looked her over carefully for the first time. She looked tired and her eyes showed sadness.
"And you still have to apologize for just leaving," Kagome exclaimed, remembering how hurt she was to find him gone that one morning.
"I left you a note," he answered slowly.
"I know you did… you know I can't read. You could have woken me up… I wanted to say goodbye to you." I thought it would be the last time I would ever see you; she wanted to add but did not.
"I'm…" Inuyasha swallowed hard. He had never said sorry to anyone. Never to his parents… never to a girl. "I'm sorry, Kagome," he said sincerely at last.
Kagome's eyes gleamed and a smile formed on her face. She had not expected Inuyasha to say sorry. He sounded so honest… his tone had completely changed.
"I thought that me leaving without waking you would be better for the both of us. I wouldn't have to see you disappear beyond the horizon… knowing that…"
"Knowing that we probably would never see each other again," she finished for him.
Inuyasha nodded slightly. "You didn't answer my question yet."
"Oh, right. It's long."
"I have all night to listen to your story." He slid back onto his chair into a more comfortable position.
"I don't want to spend all night with," Kagome joked.
"But your dear husband does." He laughed. They were finally getting used to each other's company again.
"Fine, but don't complain when you get bored."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I won't. Now go on with your long story already."
"Well, just after you left. I found the note you had written for me. I couldn't read it, so I had asked Sango to read it to me. I spent the night there and the following morning, Mr. Matsuo, Sango's father, was accused for being corrupt. Ximong, Kouga's father, had arrived that morning and found Sango's storage full of rice. I had never seen it there before and Sango had said that it was empty just the day before. Mr. Matsuo was then taken to jail. Sango, Miroku, and I went to ask for a trail, but Ximong had taken over as the judge and accused Mr. Matsuo of corruption until further evidence proves otherwise. Sango started to panic, so we broke into the jail that very night, but Mr. Matsuo wasn't there. I had seen Kouga that night out taking a carriage heading for the Forbidden Palace, and I had also overheard Ximong talking about wanting to have Mr. Matsuo taken to the Forbidden Palace as soon as he could. So now, we think that Mr. Matsuo is in the Forbidden Palace locked up somewhere and that's why I'm here- to help Sango free her father."
"Oh…" was all Inuyasha could manage from her story. He had been away from her for just a few days and all of this could happen?
Kagome continued, "But we don't know what to do now. We can't just walk into the Forbidden Palace. And Sango's father used to be good friends with Suga, but she has never met him before. Everything is just so complicated."
"You mean you just took off without a plan at all of what you would do once you got here?" Inuyasha asked skeptically.
"Yeah, that's we did." Kagome nodded.
Inuyasha wanted to help her. He could try to find out some information about Mr. Matsuo when he got back to the palace. It probably wouldn't be that hard, but people might get suspicious. "Do you plan to just stay at the inn?"
"Where else would I sleep, Inuyasha? On the streets?"
It probably wasn't too safe for a young girl like Kagome to be spending every night out sleeping in an inn. She didn't know how to fight, she wouldn't be able to protect herself at all and on top of that, this was a new city to her. He wanted her to come with him back to the palace, but he knew that was nearly impossible. He had to come up with a plan.
"What are thinking about?" Kagome asked him after he had turned silent.
"I was just…"
She raised an eyebrow and eyed him oddly. "I was just thinking about... it's none of your business anyway."
"Okay then…"
"Stay here, I have to talk to Myoga about something."
"Private?"
"Something you're not allowed to hear," he smirked.
Inuyasha took Myoga by the arm and dragged him to the back of the restaurant. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Do about what?"
"You know about what- Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice was tense.
"What do you mean? You have to be back to the palace tonight. I can ask about Mr. Matsuo tomorrow." Myoga faced Inuyasha, eye to eye. He felt that Inuyasha was not satisfied with his answer.
"Myoga… Isn't there some way to get Kagome, Sango, and Miroku inside the palace? It's not safe for them to be here in a town they hardly know."
"It's not safe for Kagome. Sango and Miroku will be fine," Myoga responded, gritting his teeth. They had already broken enough rules tonight for even being here, and now Inuyasha wanted to have Kagome, Sango, and Miroku and stay in the palace.
Inuyasha looked frustrated. "What about having Kagome be a servant? Wouldn't that work?"
"Well… maybe" Myoga replied hesitantly, he couldn't believe it he was letting this happen.
"Then it's set."
Inuyasha was turning to return back to the table, but Myoga stopped him. "If you take them to the palace with you, they're bound to find out that you're the emperor."
Shoot, Inuyasha thought. "We can… have her work in the kitchens. I will go see them after dark; it's going to work, don't worry." He forced on a smile.
He was determined to make it work. If anything was to happen to Kagome then it would be all his fault, and he was not going to let that happen. Once was enough. He felt the need to protect her for some odd reason. "Wait," Myoga said stopping him again, "you just told Kagome that you're here in the city to visit, like you did before. You never told her that you are now living in the palace."
Why were there so many problems? It was just one thing that he had to hide and look at all the other lies he would have to come up with. "I'll make up something." Inuyasha gritted his teeth.
"But-"
"Shut up, Myoga. I don't want to hear it."
Inuyasha strolled back to the table and sat down across from Kagome.
"So?" she asked slyly.
"I had to discuss some things over with Myoga."
"Obviously." Inuyasha was sure acting weird tonight.
"Well, I had received a letter from my father, and he has work at the palace so I'm going to be staying there for awhile."
"Oh, I thought that you were just visiting this city, like you had done before."
"Well, I am… kind of." Lying was one of Inuyasha's talents. He had done it so often as a child, but lying to Kagome was harder- and he didn't know why. "I snuck out tonight for dinner here. This restaurant had reminded me of," he hesitated, "your restaurant."
"What does this have anything to do with… anything?" Kagome did not understand him. She had asked him before what he was doing here and he had given her a simple answer, but now he was just rumbling on about why he was here.
"Since I'm staying at the Forbidden Palace, I just thought to offer you a place to stay," he spat in irritation.
"I didn't know you were that nice," Kagome looked at him with overwhelming awe.
"Just forget that I even thought about mentioning it."
"No, no. I would love to stay in the palace. Thank you!" She stood over and reached over the table to give him a hug.
"Let go," Inuyasha said, choking for air.
"Sorry," Kagome smiled at him and her smile made him forget about everything.
"But, you would have to work in the kitchens or as a servant. I just can't bring three people into the palace."
"That's fine," she said quickly, "I'll go and tell Sango and Miroku. Thank you again." And she left, leaving Inuyasha looking at her leave him.
&
"I can't believe Inuyasha is here," Sango told Miroku.
"Yeah, it's like destiny has things set up for them." He grinned, "Oh, hey Kagome. We thought that we would leave you two alone," he said as her saw approaching.
"Very funny."
"We did you a favor. You should thank us," Miroku was laughing. "It was hilarious when you were yelling at him."
"Whatever, but I do have good news if you would like to hear it and stop laughing at me!"
"Okay…" Miroku choked, trying to keep from laughing. It was just the scene where Kagome was yelling at Inuyasha kept playing back in his mind.
"Inuyasha has proposed that we stay in the Forbidden Palace."
"What!" Sango exclaimed, "Are you serious? In the Forbidden Palace?"
"Dead serious," Kagome beamed, "We just have to work there, but other than that, we have a place to stay and we'll probably be able to find Suga and meet him easier."
"You're amazing, Kagome." Sango embraced her.
&
"Your highness…" Myoga said bitterly.
"What, Myoga? And don't call me that!" Inuyasha responded irritably.
"It's not a good idea to have Kagome come to the palace with you. I can feel it."
"Now why would it not? Do you have something against her?"
"No… it's not that, but she's going to find out sooner or later that you're the emperor and it's just not going to be a pretty picture."
Inuyasha sighed. "She'll find out someday and maybe I'll tell her before she finds out for herself."
"Your highness…" Myoga said again.
"What did I just say about calling me that!" Inuyasha screamed.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I just-"
"I don't want to hear another word from you for the rest of the night." Inuyasha didn't want to think about the consequences right that instant. He just wanted for Kagome to come with him to the palace. She would be safe and he could probably find a way to free Sango's father.
I just don't want you to start having feeling for a common girl was what Myoga wanted to say. He sat there, hoping that Inuyasha's decision tonight would not turn out to be a big mistake.
&
Sango came over to Inuyasha's table to thank him along with Miroku and Kagome. Sango just could not believe that it was happening. She had come here without any plan, but now everything was going to work out.
"It is no problem. I hope that you'll be able to free your father soon. It's terrible that he was accused of something he did not do."
Sango nodded in agreement. "So when will be heading over to the Forbidden Palace?" Kagome asked.
"Right now?" He turned to Myoga to see if they should leave, but Myoga just turned away from him.
"He's mad at you, Inuyasha?"
"He's just in a bad mood, don't worry about it. We better get going."
"Okay," Kagome said deciding to drop the subject.
"Inuyasha," Myoga said in a harsh whisper.
"What?"
Myoga stepped away from the other into a corner, waiting for Inuyasha to follow suit.
"You can't bring them back tonight. It's too late. The guards will inspect the carriages more thoroughly. We should wait until morning, before the crack of dawn."
Inuyasha understood what he was saying. "Thanks Myoga."
"Just don't make any slips," he added.
"Oh, I won't," Inuyasha smirked. He walked back to the three-some and said, "We're going to have to wait until the morning to head to the palace. We will just have to a room for tonight, and then we'll leave before dawn."
"Sounds good," Sango said without even questioning him. "I'll go ask for a room." Things just couldn't be going any better. After they got into the palace, she would be able to find Suga and then find her father. Everything had to go right from now on.
&
"How can I help you miss?" the lady at the counter of the restaurant asked Sango. The restaurant was exactly like Kagome's. On the second story, there were rooms for lodgers.
"I would like two rooms for tonight please."
She looked down at her book to see what rooms were left. "I'm sorry, but we don't have a single room left."
"All of them are full?" Sango couldn't believe this.
"Yes, it hardly happens, but the emperor's parade will be in a couple days and people from the other cities have come to see that."
"What's the problem?" Inuyasha said as he approached.
"There's no more rooms left," Sango answered.
"Then we'll just go to another inn. There's plenty of them."
The lady shook her head. "Yes, but most are just as full as ours. Our business is usually slower than the other inns because most don't know about it, and even it is full. I can almost guarantee that there are no more rooms anywhere else."
"And why is that?" he asked confused.
"The emperor's parade," she signed, having to explain everything twice.
"The what!" Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears. Miroku heard him and remembered that Inuyasha was now the emperor. He felt kind of shaken up by the fact. He had completely forgotten- until now.
"Well… what if a pay 1,000 yen for a room," Inuyasha spoke slowly regaining his composure. How could he not know about his own parade? As emperor, he was not being acknowledged very well.
She smiled slightly. "I do have one more room then, but just one," she added.
She led them upstairs. It was her own room. "Have a nice stay."
"We only have one bed?" Kagome said, stating the obvious. With the five of them in one room, someone was bound to be sleeping on the ground.
"And I get," Inuyasha said defiantly.
Kagome opened her mouth to protest, but before she could say anything, Inuyasha added, "I paid for the room, or else we would have no room at all." He collapsed on the bed.
"Would you mind me joining you?" Kagome got on the other side of the bed and shoved him over. "You have to share at the very least. Can't you act like a gentleman at all?"
"No, I don't want to sleep with you." Inuyasha pushed her, trying to get her off of the bed, but Kagome rolled forward.
She landed on top of him. Their eyes locked and it seemed like the moment would last forever.
A/N: Hehe, their stuck in one room and look what happened in like the first minute they were in there. Lol. More to come soon. Uprisings in the palace- not really though.