Chapter 42

Soft chirps clicked by the window and, despite the pane of cloudy and dew dripping glass between them, Inuyasha's ears twitched at the sound. He shifted his soaked body uncomfortably only to get the result of feeling how incredibly wet he was from the waist down. His soggy hakamas had soaked the sheets through and his lengthy hair had spread itself over the pillow, filling it with rainwater as well.

Shivers ran down his spine, making him realize how cold he really was. Goosebumps tickled on his damp arms and legs as he huddled closer to the nearest thing he could, pulling it tighter to his chest and bringing in his legs to dip his head in and bury it in some kind of wet, black velvet.

It took a few moments to realize the two, thick, moist strips of velvet that were pressing to his chest. Heated breaths blew onto his pale and dampened skin, snapping his eyes open to go wide, their thin black pupils narrowing in the light. Fingers curled over his side, medium length nails scraping his skin and making him tremble.

'No...way...How could I have not...How...' His thoughts were chopped. He couldn't even think right as his bare feet brushed over the smooth skin of a girl's leg. He trembled again and tried to pull back but the velvet lips that teased his chest were keeping him firmly in place.

'I didn't wake up...I didn't get out of her bed in time! How did we get like this? Why didn't I wake up when she even came within an inch from me?' He wondered, crazily trying to force his mind away from the tiny breaths and soft skin that pressed to his own. It was impossible to ignore.

Now. NOW! He had to get away from her and those tempting lips. He was supposed to be mad at her, she was supposed to be mad at him, they weren't supposed to holding each other like this. And he was about to lose it completely.

Inuyasha drew away, rather reluctantly, every inch of his body and heart telling him to stay and hold her close. His mind protested. His heart fought. But his mind won, as usual. He forced his trembling body away from hers, slipping his arms away from her waist and hair, his legs from hers, his nose from her hair though that scent lingered inside his nose.

Smoothness aside, the hanyou flopped right to the floor in his attempt to draw away. He lay, flat on his back, his hands running through his hair as he tried to figure it all out. Why he hadn't woken up. Why he had wrapped his arms around her without even realizing it. Why he had even slipped into the bed with her in the first place. It was all so insane how things were turning out, spinning out of hand and running rampant over their hearts.

"Inu...Inuyasha? Is that you down there?" The sound of Kagome's groggy, sleep-filled, voice sent the hanyou's ears on edge and flinging into a frantic flicking spree.

"K-Kagome!" He cried back, golden eyes following in the direction of his canine ears to stare up at Kagome's confused features. Her honey brown eyes barely cracked to stare down at him with an accusing tone. She knew. She knew.

Her eyes trickled down from his eyes and stopped at his lips, studying the tempting feature that had almost touched her own lips. Those eyes didn't stay for long. Slowly, they wandered down his pale, slender, neck and traveled down his shapely arms, memorizing each dip and hill, each shadow and muscle, before her eyes moved back up and across his shoulder. Dangerously, her eyes moved down to his chest where they locked and widened in awe.

A patch of gold caught her eye and snapped it to the spot in a widened glance. She examined the trinket, her vision wavering crazily from sleep. Despite how sleepy she was, she stared in shock and pleasant surprise at the golden heart locket that rest against his shaped chest, beautifully blending with the creamy color of Inuyasha's pale skin.

Silently and carefully, the hanyou tugged the corners of his yukata over his bare chest, aside the fact that he could have just as easily blurted out a dry comment, accusing her of being some kind of pervert. Grateful, though, Kagome blinked and pulled herself up to sit on the bed, her legs folded under her. How was it that he still had that necklace? Had he really held onto it for so long? Had he really been wearing it from time to time, all along? Right under her nose, right under those two folds of red and white, was the softest and sweetest side of Inuyasha that she had nearly never seen. It just didn't seem true. And that fuzz that surrounded the dazed girl's head as she thought deeper into the eye opening thoughts, plunged her into a state where everything was surreal.

The sound of Inuyasha's soothing yet dangerously firm voice shattered her thoughts in less than an instant, bringing her mind back to the surface as he spoke out: "We go back today. Forget school. Let's just go."

Kagome blinked several times before she could even think about forming words to answer him. It was just so odd, watching him sit himself up, the skin on his stomach rippling at the bend, and see him grasp the golden locket that rest around his neck. Still, the words didn't form, even after the hanyou had completely hidden the trinket and his bare chest from sight.

"N-Now?" Was all she could manage to choke out as the feeling of his strong arms tightened around her. She could remember so clearly how he curled around her, cradling her, and how she had just sank in comfortably without a care. Now there was so much tension between them that could never be severed.

"No. By saying 'we go back today' and 'let's go', I mean in ten years...yes, now!" He replied, scornfully and sarcastically as he snatched his red haori from her rolling chair to pull it over his yukata. Hurridly, as if that one fold of red fabric was the only thing hiding his bare body from sight, he tied it over his chest and reached for his Tessaiga. His fingertips brushed over the smooth sheath as a startling hand grasped his wrist, pulling a gasp from his throat and snapping his eyes to his holder.

"Kagome?" He questioned, staring into her eyes, her brows raised as she stared back at him. It was so weird touching her or even being near her at all anymore. Things were just so awkward now, so different now that they had tried to kiss each other on more than one occasion and failed, dramatically, each time.

'Kiss her. Kiss her.'

His mind was still screaming it. It took nearly all his weak morning strength to fight it down. After all, he just wanted to feel what it was like to kiss someone again. It had been ages since he had seen Kikyou, much less, dared to press his lips to hers. But it was so tempting when there was a perfectly...perfect girl right in front of him. Willing or not, was what he didn't know. And he respected Kagome far too much to do anything to her like that that she didn't like.

And there was no way of telling. All the miko did was stare, longingly, into those beautiful amber eyes. She loved those eyes, those ears, those everything. The shape of his lips, the size of his nose, the temperature of his body when it surrounded her. Everything. And now she was completely captivated by his eyes that the hanyou held his very soul in. Every emotion, every feeling or thought was swimming right there in those pools of melted gold. There were just so many emotions and everything else slipped in that it was hard to tell how he really felt.

"What do you want?" He asked, harshly, snapping her attention back and pulling her distance eyes back to their attentive stare.

"I...forget it. Nevermind." She said, her fingers loosening and slipping from around the inu half demon's wrist. On her way to drop her hand down to her side, she felt callused fingers wrap around her own wrist and catch her arm before it could reach the safety of her side.

"Yeah right. Now you've got me curious. Spit it out." He ordered, his tight to firm and tight though his razor blade nails never seared into her milky paper skin even once. He wouldn't let go, and Kagome could see that determination in his soulful eyes. He wouldn't let go until he got an answer out of her.

"I really...really...really really want to go to the store to get some supplies before we go back. That's it." She said, thinking about adding a few more 'really's to it, but decided against it and ended it there. She just kept getting stopped every time she started to go to the grocery store. What did the people have against her going to the store? As if that really was her real question.

"If you wanted to go that bad, why'd you wait to tell me?" Inuyasha asked, raising a brow, the other curling inward to give her a strange look as if he truly thought she was stupid or something. It kind of snapped her back to reality. He was still the same Inuyasha. The same arrogant, confident, hard headed, bold, sarcastic, stubborn, hanyou she knew.

"I don't know...it just...I don't know!" She sputtered, her arm dropping suddenly to her side as Inuyasha let go of her wrist. She could feel a cold ring of sweat around where he had held. Was she really that nervous that a drop of cold sweat could form any place his fingers touched?

"Well, get a move on it. Every second we wait, every day we've waited, that bastard of an incarnation it getting another step closer to ruining everything." He retorted, snatching up the black sheath that his precious father's fang rest in. His golden gaze flickered back to her before narrowing questioningly.

"I won't be long." Kagome stated quickly before she shot to the doorway and raced down the stairs. Inuyasha stood, listened, waited with a brow raised until the miko came rushing back up the stairs and into her room, pulling modestly at the hem of her lone pajama shirt. Silently, she hopped onto the bed to throw open her dresser, rummage for her school uniform, and rush back down the stairs.

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Horns honked constantly as the line of cars struggled to get moving again. Some shifted around each other, only to get blocked off in an odd angle. Kagome was glad she hadn't taken Inuyasha along. All those rapid moving and noisy cars would certainly drive him insane. Still on her mind, she noticed. She was thinking about him yet again. Never did her mind rest off of the sight of his bright amber eyes and silver hair. He stuck out from the rest of the people that spun in her mind. He took up the biggest space in her suitcase heart when, already, so many people were packed inside.

The miko skipped along the streets, curving around motionless cars to get to the other side of the street. So much for looking both ways. There were cars every which way. Morning traffic, all the regular Japan residents on their way to school and work. The place she wouldn't be going to day. Such a big change from the peaceful mornings in the warring era.

Her mind was fuzzy as she tested to see if she could think about anything or anyone OTHER than Inuyasha and his realm. So clouded and fuzzy that she didn't realize the warning screech of a honking horn and the squeal of tires across the road.

"Kagome!'

Her eyes flashed and widened as the sounds and the call of her name. Who's voice was that? Who was running towards her? She tried to move but her feet felt like they had melted into the road, holding her in place as the honking and squealing brakes grew louder and nearer.

Her arms flung out to catch the softness of human skin and arms slipped around her in a comforting embrace. Her last feel of closeness to another, the last touch of skin and warmness before she became a puddle on the road.

Screech. Honk. Breath. "Kagome?"

"W-What?" She blinked, her breathing quickened and rapid as she struggled to pull in breaths she had sworn had been stolen from her throat long ago. This time, she had sworn she would die. Last time, Inuyasha had been there to wrap his arms around there and hold her close, bury his face in her hand and tell her how scared he had been. He hadn't been around this time, had he? He was fast, she knew, but not THAT fast. He didn't care THAT much, did he?

Her eyes raised, her vision shaking as she huddled close to her rescuer, his arms wrapped around her waist to hold her in a light embrace. She felt cold, like she wasn't safe just yet as her eyes raised to a pair of concerned brown eyes that looked down on her.

"H-Houjo?"

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HAH! -points- It's finally up. What a bother...it took so long and it was quite boring...this chapter. 'Cept for the beginning and end. Those two were...'ahhhhh'...'oooohh'...yeah.

Yup. Well. Next chapter will be better. I AM modest...if you haven't realized that already.

And, don't worry, that one bad review didn't hurt my feelings. Everyone gets one once in awhile. I'm just glad you guys are loving it so far...just don't eat my head for the upcoming parts.

AHHH!...By the way, Raelin-Chan, that was supposed to be 'Plain out great in every way'. Plain out in every way...hmm...sounds more like at insult! Ah! Don't eat me! Oo'

Alright. I know I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter...this one is supposed to be real cool-like. So! It's up! Now time to sit back and wait for the lovely peoples to tell me what they think...and then off to the next- OW!...Stubbed my toe...and then off to the next chapter!

See ya for now!