Chapter 24

"I have school…tomorrow…" Kagome muttered, pulling the silken sheets to her chin, her eyes shut tightly.

"Your point?" Inuyasha retorted, his chin rested on the edge of the bed as he sat, cross legged, on the pillow Kagome had provided for him on the floor.

"Dunno…" The miko whispered back, nearly asleep.

Only a few moments ago, they had been holding each other with such protective arms and now here they were once more, back to normal again.

Kagome's long, dark lashes parted to reveal chocolate brown eyes that peered down at the sheets with a blank expression before narrowing.

"Hey…You're bleeding…" She said softly, her eyes following the small, round droplets of crimson that led to Inuyasha's arms, spread over the bed in front of him.

"What? Oh…whatever…it doesn't hurt." He said, turning over his palm to look at the small puncture wounds where his nails had pierced. He hadn't even noticed at all.

"Let me see it…" Kagome whispered, pulling lightly from the bed to hover over Inuyasha. She was always so protective of him and his wounds no matter what the size.

"What's your problem, Kagome? It's just a little cut!" Inuyasha replied, attempting to pull away his hand but a thin hand grasped his fingers and brought them back.

"I just want to see it…" She said, pulling the hand closer to her with no regard to the expression on the hanyou's face.

"No, it's nothing!" Inuyasha said, pulling his hand back, her touch warm and tingling but so awkward.

"So, you're bleeding! I just want to see it!" Kagome replied, tugging his hand back though he continued to edge away, his fingers twitching under her grasp.

"Ughhh…fine." The hanyou said, pulling from her grip and opening his palm to push it into Kagome's face.

The miko edged closer, staring at the tiny cuts. It really was nothing to a half demon like Inuyasha but still Kagome was concerned.

"W-what are you doing?" Inuyasha asked as Kagome suddenly leaned close, pulling his hand to her face. His fingers curled as he let his hand relax under her soft touch. She brought it closer and closer until her lips nearly brushed over his palm.

"Hey! What are you doing!" The confused and embarrassed hanyou cried, thrusting back out of Kagome's grasp.

She slowly shrank back, her eyes barely open. She looked so tired that it would be semi believable that she was sleeping the whole time.

"If you…kiss a cut….it'll heal faster." She finally replied, closing her eyes again and laying back down, the covers nearly over her head.

Inuyasha leaned back on the pillow, his arms the only thing propping him up. His amber-gold eyes wide with shock at her statement and actions. Was she really about to kiss his palm, claiming it was for mere good luck? Why had he pulled away if the look in his eyes proved otherwise than that he wanted to pull away.

"T-That's ridiculous…" He stuttered, heat rushing to his face as he stared anxiously at Kagome.

He felt his palm tingling. He even thought he could feel the gentle kiss of Kagome's lips on his palm. The shocked hanyou shook his hand wildly to rid the feeling. If it wasn't happening, he didn't want to be teased of it.

Everything was silent for a moment. Neither of them spoke. Most likely because Kagome was already asleep and Inuyasha was still too shocked and dumbfounded to say something.

"K-Kagome?" He mumbled out, his voice choking in his throat as he sat up straight and reached out his throbbing hand. He touched her back gently. When she didn't move, Inuyasha slowly pulled himself up onto the comfortable bed. He laid down next to Kagome, rocking the bed only slightly as he relaxed with a smile. Now, he found himself wondering if he secretly slept up there because the bed was so comfortable…or because of Kagome.

He lay wide awake, his hand tingling. He knew he had to admit it, if only to himself, before he could get any sleep.

'Well…' He thought. 'If she had….maybe…it wouldn't have been so bad…'

Darkness rimmed his sight as his lids slowly dropped, his tiredness catching up with him. The last thing the hanyou saw was Kagome's relaxed and sleeping features as he drifted off to sleep.

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Light poured into the room and stung the eyes of the hanyou who leaned comfortably against the bed.
"Uh...ugh..." He moaned as the light filtered through the billowing curtains and shown through his lids.
A clawed hand raised to his face to rub away the sleep in his eyes as he finally began to wake. He didn't need to blink or even wait that long for his amber eyes to adjust to the new lighting of the pink and white girl's room.
"Kagome?" He called out the girl's name and upon hearing no reply, pulled himself around to look at the bed he had been leaning against.
The silken bedspread was thrown carelessly to the end of the bed where it lay, crumpled. The pillow had a soft dent in the middle where the mortal's head had lain. A small frown tugged at the corners of Inuyasha's mouth at the empty sight.
He moved an arm over the sheets, taking in the scent that hit him harshly as he turned closer to the bed where the miko had laid. His hands moved over the soft sheets. It was still warm.
A sudden, sharp beep snatched Inuyasha's attention away from the warm feel of the bed. The ears perched upon his head flicked towards the noise and then flattened to his skull.
"What the...!" He cried, his eyes examining the contraption on the bedside table that gave off an irritating shriek.
He reached over and slammed his hand on the top of it.
"No way!" He cried, shaking the item harshly as the constant beeping only began to get louder. He remembered it. Awhile before, he had come in contact with the thing and ended up smashing it to bits.
'This must be a new one!' He thought, horrified. 'Why does she keep getting these things?'
He hit and shook the alarm clock again and again until the beeping finally slowed and became somewhat distorted. He waited a moment, everything becoming quieter. Suddenly, it started up again.
"AH!" Inuyasha screamed, finally fed up with the contraption.
He held the clock tightly in his hand as he brought it back and heaved it out the open window. It made a soft whooshing sound as it brushed past the curtains, followed by a violent cracking noise as it collided with the ground below.
Inuyasha's ears, active now, began to twitch as a light scent drifted to his nose.
"Well...there goes another one of Kagome's good alarm clocks." A boy's voice piped from the doorway.
The hanyou whirled around, his golden eyes meeting with young brown eyes.
"Do people in this family usually pop up at random times without warning?" Inuyasha pointed out blankly.
"We do it special for you." Souta replied, grinning as he stepped into the room, his eyes lighting up.
"Feh. Whatever." The hanyou replied, turning his head to face the window as a light breeze pulled through. "Where's Kagome?"
"You just missed her. She has school until Friday, you know. I think she said she had it on the weekends, too." Souta said, leaning closer to Inuyasha, taking him as a big brother once again. The hanyou didn't mind too much.
"And what's a Friday?" He asked, pulling his pale arms into his big kimono sleeves. A sigh escaped Souta's lips.
"A day of the week." He said, raising a brow slightly as he looked at the hanyou.
"And when is that?"
Souta rolled his eyes a little and pulled himself back to the doorway as another grin slipped over his face.
"Mama made breakfast. She made ramen!" the little boy exclaimed, expecting at least some kind of reaction from the hanyou.
Inuyasha moved one clawed hand through his silver hair as he blew out a soft breath through pressed lips. His mind had wandered, obviously some time ago.
"Inuyasha? Hey! I said ramen!" Souta cried, stepping over and poking him in the shoulder. He didn't budge an inch.
"Huh? Did you say ramen?" The hanyou finally reacted, running a pink tongue over his dry lips.
"Yeah!"
Inuyasha stood and watched Souta bound out before him, expecting him to follow. So he would. He stepped forward, stopping at the wooden desk, something catching his amber eye. He didn't have to tell Souta not to wait up, he was already down the stairs and eating the ramen. Inuyasha could smell it.
The hanyou's fingers slid onto the edge of the desk as he stared down at the book. Kagome's art book. The curiosity to see any new pictures ticked at his brain. He couldn't help but flip open the book.
'Just a quick look. No one will know.' He told himself as he flipped through the first pages of Sango and Kirara, then Sango and Kohaku, then Sango and Miroku, Miroku and some random girl, Shippo, and then all of them together. Page after page until Inuyasha's hand began to tremble. Had he imagined it all? All the pictures of him in glory, relaxation, anger, and sadness? Him in every way that the miko had seen him and even in ways she had not?
Page after page, he turned, searching for the pictures until everything was white. Blank. He had gone into blank pages. Had he really imagined them all? He didn't stop turning. Again and again until he almost felt like tearing the entire book apart. Page after page until dark sketches shot into sight. He stopped and stared down at the drawings. It was him. He lay on the floor, Kagome's hand clutched in his. It was the same one he had seen some time before. But why were they all the way at the back? Inuyasha couldn't remember them being like that before.
He flipped through a few more familiarly detailed pictures until he came across one he had never seen before.
There he was, smack dab in the very middle of the page. Everything about him was so real looking. It looked exactly like the real him. All those times, he guessed, that she stared intently at him, she had all those times to look back on as she drew him like this.

There he was. And there she was too. Inuyasha realized that the drawing was drawn recently as he brushed away a few eraser shavings and realized when the drawing took place. In that very bedroom. Kagome lay stretched across the bed, her head at the bottom of the bed and her feet just before her pillow, her knees pulled in. She was fast asleep, a limp hand pressed to the bed in front of her face. Then there was him. Inuyasha leaned against the bed as he had been since a few hours ago when he climbed out of Kagome's bed. His head hung low as he slept soundly. The both of them so relaxed, so at ease as they slept. Inuyasha could only wish he could sleep so peacefully.

..:-----...-.-.---..----:..

So...Ta-da...this one was pretty nifty, ne?

Well, I kinda liked it...and it's a sight to see when I like my own work.

Really, so...yeah.

You know what I just noticed...

You can't type two pieces of puncuation right after one another...so if a character was yelling and asking a question at the same time, either the question mark or the exclamation point would show up. That bugs me...dunno why...-twitch-