My thanks to: the hxc MollyDolly, premierarchange, Silverwolfpups. Warning, this story goes through many patches already covered by other fanfictions: I just want to have a try at writing another 10 chapter story (or shorter, if necessary) about the thing that I've wanted to write about, in as fresh a way as possible.
Tessadragon
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
Chapter 2
Very confused, Inuyasha sat hunched in the branches of the shrine's oldest tree, his eyes trained on Kagome's window: the girl had drawn her curtains, so he could only watch the occasional silhouette as she got up restlessly again and again, paced her room.
It's that friend of hers, he thought sourly. Then confusion reared its ugly head again, Does she want me to give her something? Like a ring? Or a jewel?
He supposed that he could, looking down at his Tetsusaiga. He gave a very sly sidelong glance at Kagome's house, checking that no one was around, then jumped to the ground, unsheathing the fang.
Gotta keep it small, he demanded of himself, turning to face the edge of the garden where he hoped he could do least damage, "C'mon Tetsusaiga, let's give Kagome something to remember." The demonic aura glowed burning white, and Inuyasha straightened up, his ears flattening, the glint of battle appearing in his golden-tawny eyes. "Kongosoha!" he yelled.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked, pulling the curtains open, "What on earth are you—oh! SIT!"
Bang!
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kagome stormed, swinging herself over her windowsill and climbing to the ground, running to him, "Are you trying to demolish the shrine?"
Inuyasha's body twitched feebly from the shallow pile of diamond shards, "Kagome…" within his voice came the threat, but Kagome ignored it. "Put that sword away, right now Inuyasha—before I seal you to the tree with an arrow for the next two weeks!"
"Kagome? Inuyasha?" her mother called, "Dinner's ready!"
Inuyasha made a strangled whimpering sound, and Kagome spun on her heel and ran back indoors.
"Coming!" Kagome said gladly.
Inuyasha struggled to his feet and limped inside.
"Boy, Inuyasha!" Souta stared at the half-demon, "Did Kagome rough you up again?"
Inuyasha went red, "I'm just having an off-day," he mumbled.
"Hmph," Kagome raised her head high, refusing to look at Inuyasha. "He was just trying to demolish the shrine."
Grandpa stared at the half-demon, his mouth hanging open.
"Father, swallow your food!" Kagome's mother chided, and he choked and swallowed, grabbed his glass and gulped some water. "Trying to demolish our shrine, Inuyasha?"
"It wasn't on purpose," the half demon said coolly. "I was…training." Somehow, admitting he'd been trying to do something that could be called tender-hearted, didn't appeal to him.
Kagome rolled her eyes and tucked into her food, reaching out her chopsticks to snatch a riceball from one of the platters, then heard a slight click, noticed with some detachment that Inuyasha had reached out at the same moment to snag the same riceball. Their eyes met, then Inuyasha drew back, "You have it."
Kagome went red, "No, you have it, Inuyasha."
"I said, you have it." With that, Inuyasha turned back to the food already on his plate and began shovelling it in.
Kagome's mother hid a small smile. "Father, shall I help you with the rest of the tidying the shelves? I bought some new feather dusters to replace the one you broke."
"Ah!" Grandpa exclaimed, "Yes, I have some new antiques to add." He clasped his hands enthusiastically, "Such fine quality shimenawa! They shall ward off all evil spirits…" Then a sneaky look entered his eyes, "Inuyasha, would you like to see?"
"I'm not an evil spirit," Inuyasha drawled, getting Grandpa's meaning. "And I'm not a guinea pig."
"And anyway, usually you only use those for ground-breaking ceremonies," Kagome added severely. Her mother laughed, "Father, please don't test your antiques on everyone, especially not that new…what was it? Sessho-seki?"
"Sessho-suki?" Inuyasha said, surprised.
"It's said to be a killing stone," Kagome said, glaring at her grandfather, "Have you really got one of those, Grandfather? Or is it another of your fakes?" Then she answered herself, "Yes, it's probably one of the stones from the garden."
"Wah!" Grandpa cried, "You people never have faith in me!"
"Of course we do, Father," Kagome and Souta's mother assured him, "The shrine has always been safe as long as we have lived here…"
Kagome sighed and gathered her and Inuyasha's plates, taking them to the kitchen. One of the plates slipped, and Inuyasha dived to catch it.
"Thanks," Kagome said quietly, as her grandfather continued his cry of faithlessness.
"Keh," Inuyasha replied, following her to the kitchen counter and putting the plate down with the others. "Kagome…can we go upstairs?"
Kagome looked at him, surprised.
"I'm going to show you the power of my antiques!" Kagome's grandfather declared, jumping to his feet, then dashed outside…
Then Inuyasha's eyes widened, "Damn!" Then he went running out after Inuyasha's grandfather.
"Huh?" Kagome stared after him, confused, then shook her head and went upstairs, suddenly tired.
"Diamonds!" Inuyasha's grandfather skidded to a halt in front of the pile of priceless gems. He clasped his hands and cast his eyes upwards, "Oh spirits of the sky! Thank you!"
"Um, nope, they're mine," Inuyasha said from behind him.
Inuyasha's grandfather spun around and stared at him, "What!"
"I made them," Inuyasha said with a shrug, then crouched and snatched up a handful, sifted them through his hand, the unbreakable shards clicking against his claws. He studied them, frowning, then looked up at Kagome's grandfather, "Hey, will Kagome like these?"
Kagome's grandfather blinked. "Well, they say diamonds are a girl's best friend…"
"Alright then," Inuyasha nodded and leapt to the tree branches, "Old man, you can have the rest," he added, barely glancing at Kagome's grandfather, who stared dumbfounded at him. Inuyasha didn't notice though, leaping in through Kagome's window, dropped the handful of diamonds on Kagome's bed: a glittering heap of riches.
"Let's see if she likes those," Inuyasha growled softly, then noticed one shard was rather larger than the rest. He picked it up again and studied it briefly, "Hmm." It was more riveting than the others, Inuyasha felt: more vibrant and beautiful. He pocketed it.
Kagome was coming up the stairs; Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head, "No way am I having her find some other excuse to sit me again!" More like, you're scared she'll like it so much that she does the stammering thing and throws her arms around you until you panic and do something to make her angry so that she says 'sit', his subconscious teased him, sounding remarkably like Kagome.
Leaping out of the window, he returned to what he'd come to know as his tree. Nestling in the crook of the branches, he sank into a meditative state, of which Kagome seemed to be his focus. Could I really think of…being with her forever? He thought, kinda timidly. Isn't she happy with us just being together?
He thought of Sango and Miroku, constantly remembering the happy glow on Kagome's face at the romantic couple. He imagined going down on one knee like that guy had, in front of Kagome. His cheeks went red. Imagine having Kagome…forever. Being with her…forever.
Maybe, he supposed, but that was a lie. Ramen, he kidded himself.
But I could kiss her. Really kiss her, and not feel so embarrassed about it…and she wouldn't shove me away if I tried to kiss her, right? He remembered ages ago when she'd done that, saying something about holding a phone, whatever that was.
I'll kiss her, he decided suddenly, irrelevantly. He didn't know how he'd come to this conclusion, but…
He glanced up towards Kagome's window. I'll wait until she's asleep. Just in case I chicken out.
No. I won't chicken out. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to jump back down from the branches, ran to the house, climbed the wall to Kagome's window and swung himself lightly over the windowsill.
Kagome was sitting at her desk, writing a letter. Startled, she turned, then saw it was Inuyasha. "Oh. Inuy—"
He reached her, and kissed her, kissed her harder than he'd planned to, because he was so scared of her shoving him away…
Her eyes squeezed tight then reopened.
Inuyasha's kissing me! She trembled, exalted and terrified at the same time. He's really kissing me… timidly she returned the kiss…
Then Inuyasha forced himself to break the kiss, one hand clenching the largest shard of the diamond. He pressed it into Kagome's hand, then kissed her again, on the mouth, kissed his way up her cheek, breathing lightly along her skin, as light as a butterfly wing, to her ear, then whispered into it: "Be mine, Kagome."
"I am," Kagome whispered, dazed.
"No," Inuyasha insisted, "Really be mine..." Go down on one knee! he urgently remembered, and knelt, then felt stupid. "I don't know what I'm meant to say," he mumbled.
Kagome stared at him. "Uh, Inuyasha, what are you doing?!"
"What does it look like?" he snapped. "I'm asking you to marry me!"