AN: Okay, okay, I'm sorry this took so long... hey, if you wanna blame anybody, blame Cloud... he's been distracting... bad Cloud, bad.... anyway... good news is, chapter 12 and 13 are done, and chapter 13 is 16 pages long... no real fluff involved, but the next few chapters will see our favorite pair through their first really big fight... the first of many... but that'll just draw them even closer, right?..... well, at least in this fic it will....

Anyway, hope you all enjoy, and, again, major apologies to all for the wait!

I know you've been hiding things

Using gentle words to shelter me...

Your words were like a dream

But dreams could never fool me

Not that easily

... just felt compelled to put in random song lyrics... does anyone know them, out of curiosity? Maybe I'll think up something special for whoever does... or maybe I'll get a brain fart and be unable to think up anything.... dunno, depends on whether or not sketching nude models permanently destroys my brain or not.... shudder I'm not looking forward to my next class...

hEyKyRa13

Protect Me

Chapter 10

The Fateful Night (Part 1)

Late the next morning, Inuyasha groggily pulled himself out of bed and out of his room, taking the time to stretch his arms over his head and arching his back before stepping out into the hallway. Considering the fact that it was still, technically, early for him, the hanyou moved around sluggishly, his normally acute senses practically drugged. His lethargic, trance-like state caused him to fail to notice his roommate's presence.

His ears twitched slightly upon hearing a soft humming in the kitchen, but did not turn away. It was only in this dazed stupor that his normal stubborn, arrogant self was still asleep, and in no position to offer any rude, offhand comments about what he would have referred to as "irritating, mirror-cracking ear torture". In this brief period before a decent dose of coffee returned him to normal, the hanyou actually found the daily, jovial tune rather non-torturous, maybe going as far as to say it was even pleasant… ah, but that coffee was sitting in his mug on the bar, ready to be gulped down and successfully drown out those irritating thoughts from his mind.

"Good morning, Inuyasha," Kagome chirped cheerfully, flipping a pancake expertly.

"Feh," was his response as he dropped himself into his chair and reached for the mug, downing the warmed liquid in one swig.

This was how every morning began. Kagome would cry herself into a deep slumber while the dog demon would reuse his earplug technique from the prison to try to sleep, although rarely would it work, so he'd be forced to stay up until she finally stopped. Then, in the morning, Kagome would wake, energized and ready to get over her homesickness. Once showered and refreshed, the girl would bounce into the kitchen, first brewing Inuyasha's morning coffee and setting it on the bar before turning her attention to Sango and Miroku's breakfast, humming to herself as she did so. She was completely oblivious to the cause of the hanyou's late mornings.

Though she knew the effects of the coffee, she smiled at him nonetheless as he grabbed the mug and chugged down its contents. Seconds later, the doorbell rang.

"Come in, you two!" Kagome called, cracking an egg over a stove while her companion put down the emptied mug, licking his lips.

"Morning, Kagome," Miroku called happily, walking in after Sango. "Morning, Inuyasha."

"Whatever."

Kagome smiled, shaking her head. His vocabulary had gone beyond 'feh'- the coffee had finally kicked in. Intending on throwing a meaningful glance at Sango, she was surprised to notice her friend's tense posture and livid expression. Confused, the girl turned to Miroku only to discover the root of the problem.

"What?" the young man exclaimed defensively at Kagome's suspicious face.

The girl crossed her arms over her chest. "What did you do this time?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" he demanded haughtily.

"Sango's behavior, for one."

"And the other?"

"The red hand mark on your right cheek."

Miroku's mouth opened, intending to correct her, but eventually, the heated glares from both women made him rethink the idea, and he closed his mouth with an audible snap.

Kagome shook her head, giggling. "He never learns, does he?"

Sango sighed, seating herself at the bar next to the slowly recovering Inuyasha. "Unfortunately."

"And then, I was, like, 'Oh yeah?'… And after that, they just looked at each other and ran!"

"Oh, really?" Kagome repeated, amused. "They just got up and ran?"

Shippo nodded firmly, reaching across the counter for a red crayon. "Yup. They were scared, scared of me, after I told them to leave the puppy alone."

Kagome looked up from wiping the counter, grinning. "Well, of course. After such a brave confrontation like that, who wouldn't be scared?"

Shippo paused, glancing at Kagome before slowly breaking out into a huge smile. "Yeah, I was pretty brave, huh?"

"I'm sure the puppy thought you were brave, too," Kagome agreed.

"Do you think it was related to Inuyasha?"

The girl choked down a laugh, biting her lip. "I don't know, Shippo… uh, maybe, you know? You… ah, never know… um, so, what are you drawing?" she asked, more to change the subject than out of curiosity.

The boy held up his picture to show off his work. Kagome smiled warmly, making out a blurry Inuyasha in red crayon, sporting his trademark frown. Short, jagged lines were his dog-ears and his fangs were small, short little triangles hanging from lips. His golden eyes were round, yellow circles with a ring of blazing red around his pupils, symbolizing his all too common raging temper.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at the thick, outlined shape coming from the dog demon's hand.

"It's a sword!" Shippo explained. "I gave him a big sword, so that someday, he might be as brave as me."

"Someday, huh?" Kagome repeated, grinning.

"Yup!"

"Kikyo?"

Kagome looked up from Shippo's drawing to see Kaede peek her head out from behind the office. "Kikyo, dear," she began, "what are you still doing her? Foolish child, don't you know your shift's been over a half an hour ago?"

Kagome's eyes went to the clock above Kaede's head, widening. It's hands read 9:27. "Oh, crap!"

"'Oh crap' is right!"

Kagome jumped, spinning around. Inuyasha stood leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across his chest, brows furrowed.

"'Bout time you noticed, wench," he spat. "I've been waiting outside for nearly an hour!"

"I'm sorry!" Kagome shot back, hurrying out from behind the counter, fingers flying over the knot of her apron. "I was expecting Sango to pick me up, but then Shippo showed up and I was just… hanging out!"

"Yeah!" Shippo put in, hopping to his feet. "See? I drew you, Inuyasha!"

The young man hardly took a look at the artwork before snatching it up and crumbling it into a ball and hurling it against the wall.

"Hey!" Shippo cried.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed, standing protectively in front of the child, frowning. She was used to him being rude, but this was rather mean, even for him, especially around Shippo.

"Do I look like I care!?" he snapped. "We don't have time for all these trivialities, so let's go, now!"

"What are you talking about!?" Kagome yelled defensively. "Why don't we have time? And where's Sango?"

"It doesn't matter, let's just go!" Inuyasha hissed, reaching out to grab Kagome's arm.

"Hey! Hey! Let me go!" she screamed, tugging her arm out of his grip and backing up against the counter.

Inuyasha scowled, growling low under his breath. Kagome gasped, almost frightened. She had never seen him behave so brutally before, especially when unprovoked. It was in his heated, violent state, as she tenderly rubbed her bruised arm, that she was rather abruptly reminded of the true strength of a half-demon. Her fingers traced the light marks made from his claws, barely scratching the skin, yet not far from drawing blood.

Inuyasha took deep breaths, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, obviously restraining himself. "I-do-not-have-time-for-this," he growled through a strained voice. "We-need-to-go-home-now!"

"Would you please calm down!?" Kagome begged, her own courage from her anger lost and now left with a small amount of fear. "Look, okay? I'm coming. Just give me a little time to-"

"I already told you, we have no time!" he interrupted crossly, stepping forward. "We have to go, now!"

"But, I- oh, HEY!" Before she could protest any further, Inuyasha promptly closed the gap between them and grabbed her around the waist, lifting and tossing her petite form over his shoulder rather barbarically.

"Hey!" Shippo cried, jumping up in front of them, holding out his arms bravely. "What are you going to do to Kikyo?"

Inuyasha growled, baring his fangs threateningly. "Out of my way, brat!"

Shippo opened his mouth to argue back, but hesitated, eyes widening. His nose wrinkled as he tested the air, reconfirming his suspicion. Inuyasha frowned, not liking the expression slowly transforming the kitsune's face. Not waiting for the child to comment on whatever it was that fascinated him, he brusquely moved him aside with his foot and walked past, bursting through the door into the night air. Shippo did little to stop him, transfixed to where he stood, quirking his head to one side in confusion.

"Inu-Inuyasha?"

"INUYASHA!"

Kagome didn't know whether or not he even noticed her screaming or beating against his back, but she wasn't about to let the possibility that he was ignoring her efforts stop her. At the very least, her screaming could carry through his sensitive ears enough to give him headaches for the rest of the night.

What she didn't know was that her efforts did have more of an effect than she realized. Stepping out into the breezy night, he winced. Surprisingly enough, it was her pounding that hurt more than her screaming- this thought made him cringe. He looked up at the inky black sky, dotted with stars but little more. It's happening too quickly.

Kagome's ranting paused when she felt Inuyasha's muscles bunch together below her as he knelt down, crouching. "What are you-"

Her sentence could hardly be finished as she suddenly found herself flying through the air, the hanyou having sprung like a grasshopper, the street far below them. As much as she wanted to be let down, now she was clinging onto Inuyasha's back as tightly as possible, burying her face in his neck, her eyes squeezed shut. She never really was a big fan of heights, now, was she?

Inuyasha landed with a soft thump on the rooftop of their apartment building and glanced down, eyes narrowing. Three floors down was their apartment, he knew, spotting an open balcony door with white sheen curtains floating out along the breeze.

He prepped for another jump. On his back, he felt Kagome once again tighten her grip, burying her face into his back, whimpering.

"Stop your whining, wench," Inuyasha barked.

"Give me a break!" Kagome snapped back. "I don't like heights!"

"Weakling," Inuyasha muttered, rolling his eyes before leaping off the roof, dropping three stories onto the balcony. He hesitated before entering, sniffing cautiously.

"Yeah, this is your room, alright," he muttered, releasing Kagome's legs to let her drop to her butt as he brushed by, waltzing through her room to the hallway. "The place reeks of your scent."

Kagome sat up, rubbing her side gingerly, glaring scornfully. "Are you saying I smell!?"

"Of course I am," Inuyasha replied as if he were teaching a simple idea to a small child.

Kagome snorted. "At least I smell like lavender and cinnamon. You smell like you grew up in a barn!"

"Feh!" was his only response as he disappeared into his own room.

"Jerk," Kagome muttered, pulling herself to her feet. Walking into her room, she turned and slammed the doors shut, saying something under her breath along the lines of "insufferable, manure-reeking mutt!"

"I heard that, you we- oomph!"

Kagome's head spun toward her open door and across the hallway to Inuyasha's room.

"Inuyasha?" she called out uncertainly.

Instead of hearing the hanyou's grumpy reply, Kagome heard thrashing and glass being broken. A loud thump and the door rattling made Kagome jump.

"Inuyasha! What's going on?" Kagome called out, rushing to his door and reaching for the knob.

"S-stay away!" called the half-demon hoarsely.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Kagome asked, pulling at the doorknob, frightened even more by the fact that it was jammed. Most likely the work of the hanyou.

"Go away! L-leave me alone!" he demanded again.

"Inuyasha, stop this! You're scaring me! Just open the door, okay? Please?"

Suddenly, the door finally gave way, and slowly cracked open. Trembling, Kagome pushed it further, taking a step and slipping inside.

"Inuyasha?" she called out, looking for his unmistakable head of white. The fact that she could not spot it immediately rather unnerved her, but as she searched, she could not resist taking in what she saw.

She had never been in Inuyasha's room before, not that she'd ever expected him to be so social as to simply invite her in. His room didn't exactly follow much of a theme as Kagome's did, but in a way, it didn't necessarily need to. A red patterned comforter rested somewhat askew atop a spacious, four-poster redwood queen sized bed in the corner. The opposite corner held a polished redwood bookcase of which whose contents now lay scattered on the ground. The third redwood piece was a chest of drawers that sat against the wall next to the door. A tall lamp that, under normal circumstances, would have stood next to the bed, now lay shattered on the floor. As she looked around, she had to pick her way through a ground layer of clothes apparently ripped from the closet.

Kagome frowned, her breath coming quicker. It looked like someone had come and vandalized the place. Naraku's face flashed in her mind's eye as her eyes scanned the room more frantically.

"Inuyasha! Where are you?"

The girl jumped at the sound of a low, barely audible groan coming from a pile of clothes almost hidden from view behind the foot of the bed. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Kagome bravely took one step at a time to bring herself in front of the pile, slowly sinking to her knees.

"Inuyasha? Is that you?" she whispered, leaning forward to poke a finger into the mass. Within an instant, though, she was flung back as a figure burst from the pile, scattering clothes everywhere.

Kagome fell to her butt for the second time that night, but this time, looking up into the face of a stranger. Dark hair cascaded in waves down a tall, lean figure and violet eyes focused intently on her. And, due to the fact that she was in hiding for her life, the first thing that came to mind was to do something to protect herself.

So she screamed.

"Would you shut up!?"

Kagome paused, startled out of her focus to concentrate on the stranger's voice. It sounded almost… familiar. After her initial hesitation, Kagome tried to appear intimidating by glaring scornfully at him.

"Who are you?" she demanded, hoping she sounded braver than she felt. "And what did you do with Inuyasha? I swear, if you did anything to him, I'll-"

"Do absolutely nothing, weakling," he growled.

Her eyes widened, taking in what he said slowly. No way!

She watched in amazement, too stunned to move, as he took one step toward her when he suddenly stopped and groaned, doubling over, his face contorting in what looked like pain. Within seconds, he was on his knees, clenching his teeth tightly to keep from crying out in pain, his entire body quivering in spasms.

Before she knew what she was doing, Kagome was at the young man's side, her hands resting on his shaking shoulders. "I-Inuyasha?" she stuttered, still reeling from the transformation, yet somehow knowing it was him.

Between convulsions, the young man glanced up at her through the corner of his eyes, unable to pull away. "I t-told you… to s-stay… away… w-wench…" he wheezed.

Of course, this did nothing but draw her closer, hovering over him like a mother hen. "Inuyasha, what happened? What's going on?"

"Y-you i-idiot," he hissed under his breath. "J-just leave m-me a-"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as his body stilled and he slumped forward, half onto Kagome's lap, deep in unconsciousness.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she chanted, staring at the hanyou now lying at her feet. And as she continued staring, she suddenly became aware of some startling changes beyond just the hair and eyes- in fact, it was the hanyou's very startling lack of "hanyou-ness" that surprised her. The fuzzy triangles she had come to be so accustomed to seeing disappeared in favor of a pair of pink, fleshy ears on either side of his face.

So stunned was she by this discovery that she boldly reached forward to his mouth, hooking a finger under his lip and gently pulling it out of the way. Sure enough, his demon canines were gone. Very carefully, she rolled his enormous form onto his side and reached for his hand, pulling it into her lap, ignoring the fact that his fingers twitched very lightly. Her fingers traced over his short, rounded nails, no longer the long, sharp weapons she remembered him constantly threatening her with.

A soft groan tore her eyes away from his hand to his face as the facts slowly dawned on her. "You're a human!"

AN: Heh, Miroku will never learn, will he?... What? Oh, yes! Inuyasha! He's human... so, if you can remember the events of the show in that fist episode he turns human, you can probably recognize some details that will show up in the next chapter. And no, the transformation does not normally hurt him at all, much less as much as in this chapter... but, think of it this way, the more he suffers, the more Kagome'll want to help, and the closer they'll end up becoming... that's my theory, and I'm stickin' to it!

Review Responses:

helmet-head: Yeah, after I reread it, I realized that would probably be what most of you would think- Naraku's finally come! But in reality, I never intended it to sound like that. But I didn't want to change it... I'm stubborn that way, I guess..

Inuyasha'smistress: hee... I thought the whole "Fluffy Puppy Poo" thing was hilarious the first time I wrote it... I was cracking up as I typed. And as for the dead person... well, the assumption was left on purpose... by me... so you're not stupid...

asylum100: I'm happy you're enjoying it. And the Sesshoumaru and Rin... "thing".... we can't call it a real relationship... yet... mwahahahahaha....

jschu25: Anyone who reviews for my stuff is never a brat... besides, you gotta let the world know, right? I don't have a calender, but I did get a really cool Shippo keychain that's on my backpack now. And for Christmas, my friend (I call her Tsume for a billion reasons which will not be explained, but for our purposes, we shall call her simply Tsume) got me a plushie Sesshoumaru... now all I need is the Inuyasha and possibly the Miroku... I already have Kirara... Although I have absolutely no idea why anyone would want a plushie Jaken...

Fyyrrose: smile I am very pleased you are so.... pleased... anyway, here's the next chapter for you, and I'll do my best to get cracking on the rest of the chapters... I'm rather surprised myself... I've already spit out over 160 pages and my writing streak is still going... granted, it was a little wobbly in doing chapter 12, but it's back to full force, now!... it gets me wondering how long this thing really will be?...hmmm, quoting the Tootsie Pop commercials.... "The world may never know"...

Next Chapter: Pretty much explained above, but Inuyasha's a human, Kagome knows, and it's up to your Inuyasha episode guides and your little imaginations to figure out the rest!