Inuyasha found his eyelids closing. Odd, when did it get so hard to keep them open? Kagome's breath was fanning across his face, focused mainly on his lips. Everything about her was getting bigger, more overwhelming. He could do this, right?
Closing his eyes and wishing for the best, he leaned in the last few millimeters and pressed his lips lightly to Kagome's. Immediately all his thoughts vanished from his mind, leaving only Kagome. Her taste, the silky feel, the warmth. He couldn't get enough, and pulled his hands from her back to cradle her head to his, tilting it to gain more access.
Kagome was stunned to say the least. Her shy little hanyou, who at the slightest hug or mention of affection would turn bright red, was kissing her. And he was really really good. A little clumsy, the way he sought her desperately, like she would disappear in seconds, but other than that he was really good. He poured every feeling he had into the kiss, and she returned it full force. For a second, they both forgot about everything else, and just were.
This, of course, did not last long. "EWWW!" Souta screamed in agony from the door way. "MOM! Inuyasha and Nee-chan are kissing!" As suddenly as it had started, it was over, leaving two teens breathless and a very disgusted younger brother staring at them. "You kissed my sister?!" Souta asked, face twisted in disgust, "how gross is that?"
"Souta, get out of my room!" Kagome was an even brighter red than the hanyou was. "I swear to Kami, I'll kill you!" She struggled up, fighting out of Inuyasha's grip to slam the door shut. Leaning back against the door, she looked over at the panting Inuyasha that had fell back across the bed with his head to the wall and his legs to the floor.
Inuyasha was trying to readjust to the feeling of once again breathing when he heard a little giggle. Dragging his head up, he looked over at Kagome who had both hands over her mouth to stifle the now hysterical laughter coming from her. Thrilled that she was laughing at all he smiled and plopped his head back onto the mattress. "What's so funny?" He asked the ceiling.
"Did you see the look on his face?" She gasped, sliding down the door to rest with her legs drawn up to her chest. "It was like he ate a bug or something!" She started to giggle again, which got worse as Inuyasha joined her, first chuckling softly then full blown belly laughs.
As they both calmed down, both refusing to look at the other as it sent them into another bought of laughter. "What's the rest of your family going to say, 'bout us I mean?"
"Mama will be happy I think, she knows I've loved you for years now. Grandpa might just try to ofodo you, but that's nothing new. I think it's more of your being a guy that's courting me than the fact that you're a demon. Sota, well we just found out his reaction didn't we?" Kagome had moved across the room to sit next to Inuyasha, who had pulled himself around her to lay his head in her lap, trying to figure out a way to ask her to rub his ears without looking too obvious. "He's not upset; I think his hero kissing his sister was a little too much to take. Plus he finds the whole girl thing disgusting at his age. Give him a few years and he might be bugging you for pointers."
"Keh." Inuyasha did not find that prospect funny or amusing. He already had the coming of age discussion with the kit, with Miroku adding his own comments every time he had blushed. By the end of it, Inuyasha was too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye, Miroku was unconscious with several lumps, and Shippo was educated. As educated as Inuyasha could make him. All it took for the next week to send Inuyasha into a dark red was Shippo asking a seemingly innocent question or Miroku waggling his eyebrows in his direction. Kagome had finally taken pity on the hanyou and threatened the two with harsh consequences if they didn't leave him alone.
Kagome absentmindedly played with Inuyasha's ears, much to his great pleasure, while she continued. "Sango will be happy for me, she's like my sister. If Miroku says anything you can beat him, but he'll be happy for you. Shippo's like Sota, he might just get grossed out by the whole kissing thing. But really, does it matter what they say?"
"No. Your mine and I'm going to kiss you whenever I feel like it." Even for all his bravado, he still turned fire rat red. Kagome blushed too, but more from thinking about the first she got then actual embarrassment.
"Come on, lets go face the firing squad." Kagome nudged Inuyasha until he felt the need to move, rolling to his feet to pull Kagome up. Fighting the oncoming pink, he dropped a kiss to her lips before fleeing through the window, only to return a minute later with a small wrapped bundle. Curious, Kagome let him sit her at her desk while he unwrapped the cloth, reveling his surprise.
A thin silver chain with three stones, two blood red rubies the size and shape of teardrops and a white crystal Inu laying between them. It was finely wrought with extreme craftsmanship, simple and elegant. Dropping the cloth to the floor, he held the necklace in the palm of his hand. "Mother gave it to me before she died. She told me that my father had given her something similar when he was courting her. He had it made for me. The red's my family colors, if Sesshomaru ever acknowledges me as the son of Inu Tashio. Mother told me that if I ever found a mate, I was to give it to her. I was going to give it to you on your birthday, but I think this is better." He stepped carefully around her to drape it around her neck, getting it tied and her hair out of the way before he went back around to look at it again.
Kagome was staring down at the necklace, rendered speechless. Inuyasha had never had much, and hardly ever gave gifts. Giving her something from his parent's meant a lot to him, and in turn she realized just how much she had underestimated him. "Inuyasha, it's beautiful. Better then any ring."
"Ring?" That got his attention. What did rings have to do with this?
"Well, usually human males give rings to their intendeds, or fiancés, who they mean to marry. They give two, one when they propose, and another at the marriage ceremony." Kagome was hoping to placate him now, knowing that he would feel horrible and embarrassed about doing it wrong.
"I did it wrong then. Does that mean I can't marry you?" He whimpered, backing away from her swiftly. DAMNIT! He couldn't do anything right! First he screwed up on telling Kagome he loved her, then he did it wrong in pronouncing his intentions. This had to be the worse day of his life, including the day he got stuck to that tree. "I-I am sorry."
He truly believed he had blown his chance and she was going to reject him. Kagome would have laughed at the irony if she wasn't so concerned about her mate. Kneeling down in front of him, she caught his hiding face in her hands and made him look her in the eye. "Inuyasha, there is no right or wrong way about proposing to your mate. Just because some give rings, doesn't mean you should. Your father gave your mother a necklace, and you did the same. I don't want a ring, I love the necklace that you gave me, because it was from you! I love you and just because you did it your way, I'm not going to reject you.' She took you a deep breath and continued. "If I mess something up or accidentally break some youkai tradition, are you going to reject me?"
"Of course not!" He opened his mouth to start one of his usually tirades and then figured out the meaning behind her point. If he thought that she would reject him because of his ignorance, then she had the same right. "Damn it wench, using my own logic against me isn't very nice."
"So, you're engaged then? Finally." Kiobi asked her daughter and her future son in law. Both had looked slightly embarrassed when they had followed Sota down the stairs. After shooing said son out the door, she managed to get the two teenagers to sit down and talk. Of course she wasn't very surprised that the two of them had been caught 'making out' as her son put it, just about how long it took for the two of them to figure it out. "Kagome, I'm going to get you a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so you can have a check up, and the shot if you so choose."
"Shot?" Inuyasha knew what a doctor was, Kagome had explained that to him before, but the only shot he knew of wasn't one you choose.
"It's a medicine that will let a woman have sex without getting pregnant." Kiobi replied, sipping her tea as her daughter turned bright red and Inuyasha looked confused, and then crestfallen.
"No pups?" Of course it was Kagome's decision, but he thought…. Stupid, no one wants to have a half-breed's children. Just getting her to agree to be his mate was, should, be enough.
Standing, he mumbled something about going to the Goshinboku and left, shoulders and ears dropping. Kagome stared after him, confused on his sudden behavior. "What was that all about Kagome?" Kiobi asked, also confused. Usually men were ecstatic about birth control, and she didn't think either of them was ready to have children.
"I don't know mama, I didn't think he'd be ready for, er, pups, and neither am I, but…" She went over what her mother had said, and then what Inuyasha had. "What if he thinks that it's a permanent thing, like I'll never have pups?" Understanding his own view on himself, she hastily told mama that she'd be back later to pack some things for the feudal era, and ran after him.
She found him up on the tree, scratching into the wood of the limb as he whimpered. "Inuyasha, will you come down here for a second?"
He dropped down beside her without looking up at her, working to get himself under control. "It's alright Kagome, I understand." He sounded better than he had in the kitchen, but still not himself. "Why would you want to bear a filthy half-breed's pups?"
SLAP! Inuyasha's head snapped to the side and his eyes snapped open. "If you ever say something like that again, hell, you think something like that, I'll 's' you so hard you won't be able to have children! We've talked about this before!" She knew that both of them were strung out, after chasing Naraku and the jewel shards for so long without a break. Not wanting to take her previous emotional turmoil out on him, she grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the bench.
"Look, the shot isn't permanent. Every month, until we're both ready for pups, I get a shot and it'll make me non-fertile." She was trying to use words that she knew he would understand, and as a result she was flushing bright red. "When I stop taking the shot, we can have pups. When we are ready, ok?"
Inuyasha was still reeling from the slap that Kagome had deemed necessary to give him. "Look Inuyasha, I love you, and I'll love to have your pups, only when we're ready. I don't want to be pregnant until after Naraku's dead, I'm finished with school, and I'm married. Then we can have as many pup's as we want."
"Kagome, do you," Pause, Inuyasha playing with his haori sleeve, wondering how to word it so he didn't sound like an ass. "Have you thought about where you want to live?"
"Hai, in the past." Kagome smiled at him, reaching over to capture his restless hands. "I was going to drop out of school, because, let's face it, I'm not here as much as I should be. But if I'm going to move away, I'd like to finish that. But even with an education, I'd never be able to support both of us, and our pups, here. And you'd hate it, you'd be cooped up, unable to do anything. No, the past would be best, for both of us. Our family's there."
"Really? Do you mean that?" Inuyasha was perking back up, feeling his ears dart forward. Not that he didn't wouldn't live in her time, he would feel better if they lived where he felt that he could take care of them. "What about your family here?"
"They'll understand. I would rather give them up then never see you again." She smiled sadly. "I'll have to explain it to mama and the others, but-"
"Kagome, do you know how long youkai live?" Inuyasha was surprised that she hadn't already have figured this out. Sango must have not explained this part to her.
"Yeah, they're pretty much immortal. Hanyou's are the same, but live shorter life spans by a few centuries. Why?" A new fear overwhelmed her. "You'll die before me, won't you?"
"Not if you don't want me to. When youkai take human mates, they have the option of doing a blood bond. If you do it, it'll bind your life to mine, and make you live as long as I do. If we life in the past, we'd be able to live long enough to see your family again, and a few centuries more. It'll make you stronger, heal faster, and more resistant to injuries and sickness. The bad thing is, if one of us dies, the other dies too."
"You'd want to do that?"
"Hai."
"Then there's nothing more to talk about. I don't want to live without you. Come on," she grabbed his hand and started to pull him in the direction of the house. "you worried mama by running out so fast. If you don't understand something, ask, don't just make assumptions."
"Fine wench, just don't scare me so fucking bad." Inuyasha followed obediently behind her, smiling to himself. Keh, she'd just taken care of all his worries, why would he get mad?
Inuyasha and Kagome arrived back at the village three days later. Each had a silver slash on each left wrist and Inuyasha had his mating mark on his left forearm. Kagome had it on her neck, a blazing silver and red tattoo that screamed of her bond. Sango and Miroku already knew what the marks meant, so after a few lecherous comments, everyone fell back into routine. Even Shippo didn't have much to say, he was too happy about the fact that his mother was happy.
Inuyasha even pulled him aside and promised him that he would adopt him! Finally he had a mother and a father again! He'd been so excited he nearly missed the part about training and learning to hunt.
Unable to contain his joy, he leaped up to hug the slightly exasperated hanyou, who allowed it for exactly two seconds before throwing him off. Standing up, he grabbed the kitsune by the tail and thrust him into Kagome's arms, telling Shippo that she handled the hugs, not him.
Three days into the trip Kouga showed up, swaggering into camp with the same cocky grin. "Kagome! How is my little woman? Is mutt face treating you ok?" He continued to proclaim his love and devotion, heedless of the uproar he was causing.
Everyone froze, audible gulping could be heard from the women in the group. Shippo had taken residency upon Kirara and Miroku was trying to decide which prayer would do for the wolf demon. Kagome was trying to edge towards Inuyasha, whose back was to everyone and he was trembling. This was bad, Kagome thought, Kouga doesn't stand a chance.
"Inuyasha, it's ok, you know that I'm with you, I'm not going to leave." She placed a hand hesitantly on his shoulder, hoping to placate him long enough so she could send Kouga away. She didn't dare use the prayer beads around his neck, already having discussed and promised not to abuse them or use them against him unless he did something monumentally stupid. Or to save his life, but she joked that it was basically the same thing.
"It's not that…" A strangled gasp and more shaking, "I've just never-" more strangled gasps that sounded suspiciously like- "realized how stupid he sounds! Or how stupid he is!" He whirled around and started to laugh freely, face red with tears streaming down his cheeks. Clutching his side, he approached the bewildered wolf, who was wondering what had changed that made the hanyou this hysterical. Thrusting his marked forearm into his face, Inuyasha got out "Take a good whiff wimpy wolf! She ain't anybody's but MINE!" before dissolving into more hysterical laughter.
Kouga looked like someone had dropped an anvil on his head. "Kagome, is this true?" He wasn't really surprised at the news, hell every demon that crossed the pair wondered at the previous lack of mating scent, but he was still holding out for the impossible.
Sighing, Kagome looked down at her incapacitated mate. That wasn't how she envisioned this meeting going. Maybe it was just her, but shouldn't there be more blood, and less laughter? "Yes Kouga-kun, it's true. Inuyasha and I mated about a week ago."
"I figured somethin' like this would happen. Don't worry about it Kagome, if he ever breaks your heart you can always come back to me. Wolf demons don't mate for life." Now he was just trying to piss the hanyou off, who was pounding the ground with both fists, trying to catch his breath.
"Fat chance wolf cub, why don't you go chase your tail or something, us grown ups have things to do." Inuyasha gasped, finally rolling over to look up at his exasperated mate. "Hiya Kagome…what's with the frown?" He giggled, reaching up to pull her down.
"Inuyasha! Stop thaa-aat!" She gasped as he rolled over to start tickling her. Inuyasha was starting to wonder himself where his good mood had came from, maybe it had something to do with the chocolate he'd eaten. As he watched the wolf run off, looking slightly perturbed at the whole ordeal, he gave a playful shrug and went back to tickling his miko. Who wouldn't be?
Later that night…
"Inuyasha, I can't believe you ate the whole bag of chocolate! It was a three pound bag! No wonder you went loopy!" Kagome continued to scream at the now less than chipper and very sick hanyou. His only response was to groan and clutch his stomach, wishing that he had never even heard of chocolate. "I've been mated to you for less than two weeks and you pull something this stupid! I want to 'it' you so hard that you can't feel your legs for a week!"
"Kagome? Can you not yell right now; I don't feel so good." Came the muted reply. His head felt like it was about to explode, he wanted to throw up, and the rest of his body felt like lead. All he wanted to do was pass out but no, his mate just kept yammering at him.
"Hey Inuyasha?" This time her voice was more subdued, like she was thinking out loud.
"What wench, I'm kinda busy here." He cracked an eye to look up at her, his own voice softer and more tender. Inwardly, he gave a halfhearted snort. 'I'm going soft.'
"It's weird, everything's just falling in place. If you hadn't eaten the candy, you would have tore into Kouga for looking at me. And the only reason you had a chance to get to the chocolate was because I bought it as a pick me up for the last time you made me sad." She watched as his ears lowered even more. "And we've got seven more shards faster because we haven't been fighting as much."
"It's weird ya know? Even though so much has happened here that should have sent me running home and sealing the well, some of which involved you, I never felt the real urge to leave."
"News to me. Every time you ran home in tears I'd go nuts. I always thought I'd gone too far. And then I get pissed because you'd show up all happy and shit even though I worried the entire time you were gone." Getting his stomach under control, even though he still wanted to take a nice long cat nap, he sat up shakily. "I still can't believe you love me."
"Well I do, and nothing your idiotic brain can come up with can drive me away. What were you thinking, eating all that chocolate?"
"I was hungry! And you were out of ramen, I had to make due with what I had." He gave an angry sniff and turned his nose up, wincing as the sudden movement made him dizzy. Never ever again.
"Chocolate's bad for dogs. I'm surprised you didn't keel over." She giggled and pushed his shoulder, yelping as he growled and shoved her back. "So is junk food. I'm surprised you're not a roll of fat from all the ramen you eat."
"Now you've gone too far. As soon as I can stand up, you're in trouble." Kagome rolled her eyes at the heated threat and sat back down beside him, cradling his head as he came down from his sugar high. When he finally feel asleep, ears and feet twitching in his dream, accompanied by the occasional whine, she had the strangest urge to scratch his stomach.
~Fin~