Chapter 27

Kagome dumped the rest of the sheets back into the washing machine. Just a few moments ago, she had cleaned them and started to hang them up. Next thing she knew, she was shoved into the twisted pile of them, Inuyasha right on top of her and right in her face, his lips deadly close to her own.

She still kicked herself for saying anything. Maybe if she had just kept her mouth shut, she would have gotten that kiss. Even then, she didn't know if she actually wanted it. It was like she didn't even know her feelings. She had always felt so calm around the hanyou but only recently did she had those moments where her heart started to pound and her skin started to prickle, and those cold and hot flashes spread throughout her body.

The miko slammed the washing machine door shut and moved out of the laundry room, wiping her dirty hands on her green school skirt as she moved into the bathroom to wash her hands, her mind elsewhere.

"Yo…" Muttered a deep voice as he entered the bathroom, right behind Kagome.

She whirled around to meet Inuyasha's eyes, splashing water all over the surprised hanyou.

"Mm…" He snorted, his jaw tightening slowly as he glared at Kagome through slitted eyes. Water dripped from his bangs.

"S-Sorry…" Kagome murmured, her lips pulling back in a slight grin as she let out a small chuckle.

The hanyou pulled and hand up and pushed back his sagging bangs and wiped his face, the smallest of a grin sweeping over his features.

"I should go to the store…" Kagome whispered through a tiny smile.

It was odd, standing in front of him now or being close at all. What had just happened….they both acted as if they had forgotten. Maybe it was for the best. To never be spoken of ever again. If it hadn't really happened…the kiss…then why taunt about it almost happening? Neither of them needed that embarrassment right now.

"What for?" Inuyasha asked, his tone low and not very interested even though he was the one who had asked it in the first place.

"Uh…to get food, maybe, Inuyasha? That's why we go to the grocery store." Kagome replied matter-of-factly.

"I'm comin' with you." He replied, taking a step back to let her move past him, out of the bathroom. She pushed past, a strange expression on her face.

"Why would you want to go with me?" She asked, her brows raised at him. She had thought he was mad at her for letting him know that she had seen him crying. Now he wanted to follow her around like a little lost puppy?

"Nothin' better to do."

"Fine…."

"…Alright…"

"Good."

"Yeah"

"Alrighty then."

"I thought we were goin' to the store, Kagome, not playing the word game."

Finally, Inuyasha broke the miko's trance as she stood there, exchanging short words for quite awhile.

"Y-Yeah…come on…" Kagome replied, a stutter slurring her words as her head began to swirl. She swayed and caught herself on the doorframe where she stood for a moment, gathering thoughts.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha called out, soft concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, without him even having to ask. His concern was something she knew well now. But why did he worry so? Did he really think of her as such a friend? More?

'Do I…want….to be more than friends?'

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A deep breeze brushed by, a cold chill in the air that swept the green end of Sango's kimono. Her lips stung and burned and throbbed as her mind drifted back to the night before. The horror of just before and the pleasure of just after. One after another. Would it always be that way? Sango catching Miroku in the arms of another woman. Would they have to have a whole other fight just for those kisses and those precious words that had followed?

Sango stood by the pond that spread in front of her, the clear water sparkling on forever, as far as the eye could see as her eyes began to feel with tears and her cheeks held a rosy tinge.

"Sango…" Cooed a man's voice, right at the slayer's ear.

The way he murmured her name right into her ear made her tremble all over, and she knew who's it was. He had said it so many times the night before.

"Miroku…." She uttered his name back to him as her face turned only slightly, not enough to see the handsome monk's face but just enough to feel his breath on the side of her face.

A soft hand brushed aside her mahogany hair, his fingers twining in and out of the dark locks as he brought himself closer. Another soft breath moved over her pale skin and made sharp goose bumps appear all over her body. Softly, he kissed the back of her neck, a hand slipping around her waist as a choked breath left the slayer's lips and a blush crawled over her cheeks.

"S-Stop." She demanded, but the tone of her voice so weak that the monk could easily know she hardly meant it at all.

"Sango…we don't have to forget. No one has to know. We can keep it all to ourselves." Miroku suggested, his tone so much calmer and stronger willed than her own as he moved even closer to her.

Now, the slayer knew she probably wouldn't be able to do such a thing. As soon as Kagome returned, her and Inuyasha, she would want to spill it all. She would want to chat with Kagome, hours on end as she explain what each and every one of Miroku's kisses felt like on her lips and cheeks and jaw line and neck.

"Houshi-sama. I can't. We can't. It would ruin ever-"

"Shhh…." The monk cooed again as he pressed his lips to the back of her neck once more. "It's alright. Everything is going to be okay. We don't have to make up our minds now. It can be our secret, if you wish. Or we could forget. We could never touch each other like this again. It's your choice. But know this: I love you very, very much."

His words sent spiking chills down Sango's back and she couldn't help herself as she whirled around and threw her arms around the monk's neck, holding him tightly in her embrace.

So he really did love her, and she really did love him. So why hold back. Not only from themselves but from the world and people around them. So what if they were in love. Why did it have to ruin their little group, their quest, their everything. It didn't have to. Everything could be the same, right? If they played their cards right.

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"Would you hurry up, Inuyasha?" Kagome cried back to the hanyou who lagged so far behind as he stared at his surroundings with wide and fascinated eyes. It was odd, Kagome telling him to hurry up this time. Usually, it was her who stopped to gawk at the scenery, the sparkling ponds of clear water, the wavering green trees that never seemed to die, the hardworking villagers dressed in cloths she had never seen before.

Occasionally, Inuyasha would reach for the hilt of his rusty old sword only to curse Kagome for making him leave it back at her house so he wouldn't scare off the people on the street.

"Why don't you slow down, Kagome?" He mocked, picking up pace but still shifting his eyes around the streets and inside the stores that lined the paved side walks.

People rushed by, anxious to get to their appointments or see their friends. Some of the passer bys stopped and stared at the oddly dressed hanyou and some went on their way, eyeing him as they went along.

Without another word, the hanyou froze and stared wide eye at the sky. His amber eyes twinkled brightly at his discovery. Just like the tall oak trees in the feudal realm, the building stretched on, higher than the rest. He gazed at it like a child would gaze at a chocolate ice cream cone held by their mother, wagging a finger to tell him no as the delicious dessert dripped little brown drops over the pavement below. So unreachable. But not for this hanyou.

Silently, he slipped an arm around Kagome's waist and smirked at the little gasp that left her throat.

Her heart pounded as Inuyasha pulled her close and pressed her to the side of his body.

'Not again, not another mushy episode. My heart still hasn't slowed from the last one!' Kagome thought as the hanyou pulled her tighter against himself. But how wonderful his muscles felt beneath that baggy kimono. How solid and sturdy his body was. Someone she could always lean on.

She soon realized she had been deadly mistaken as Inuyasha crouched low for a short moment before he hurled himself and the miko into the air.

"INUYASHA! STOP! I HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO!" Kagome ordered, staring down at the people below them, staring up at the long haired boy as he soared upward and caught the side of the building. But for a moment, the only thing she was worried about was that thin, blue bandana falling over his silken dog ears.

Kagome sighed. There was no stopping him now as he scaled the large building with ease. He yanked the two of them up onto solid ground before he slipped his arm from around Kagome and turned to stare out at the city from a distance.

"You just had to, Didn't you, Inuyasha? Just couldn't resist…" Kagome sighed out, her hands on her hips as she narrowed her brown eyes at the hanyou in awe.

"Hey. You got a problem? I bet you've never even been up here before! You should be thanking me for taking you somewhere new!" Inuyasha scoffed back, his eyes breaking away from the horizon to narrow at her in anger. He took a wild step towards her. Kagome didn't even have to think as she stepped back one large step, so much closer to the end of the building.

"Thank you? Are you insane? You just swept me to the top of a four story building in two jumps! Everybody saw!" Kagome replied, leaning forward to clench a fist at him as he did the same.

"So? They probably though it was just cool!"

Inuyasha stepped forward, Kagome stepped back.

"Cool! How about INSANE!"

"Would you stop saying that?"

Inuyasha stepped forward, Kagome stepped back.

"No- Uh, Whoa…whoa!" Kagome cried as she began to sway violently on the edge of the building. She swayed, back and forth of the balls of her feet as she struggled not to fall, not to tip over the edge and plunge to her death.

"Kagome!" She heard Inuyasha call over the hammering of her heart as she slipped, lost balance, flung her arms into the air as she fell backwards and down, down, down.

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KER-SPLAT!

What? Oh...hi, there...

I mean...IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! -shifty eyes-