A special thank you to…
sweetrosie…iamthefish…The Lonely Bird…Yellerz… bdrake07…Y .A.R…xxxHallia…mikogurl101… AngelMiko289…Miss Mee…RIPPP…Goddess of the Moonlit Sky…manga-is-my-anti-drug…chiclet180…MuffinLass… stupidxlovesong…silverkonekotsukari…ffgirlmoonie…Milda…Avelyn Lauren…AznxAngel…xxxvirus…TouchofPixieDust… TwilightZelda…Hearii-sama…shappie-moon…Mistress of Demons…readingwriting wench…yoli05…Smiley Gurl 87…Amaya Mishugosha…Milda…MeiunTenshi…Robin…
…
Disclaimer:
In the ambulance
Sesshomaru: Pwale! Wake up dammit!
Ambulance Person: Oh, yeah. 'Cause yelling at her to wake up really worked the first ten times you did it!
Sesshomaru: …"Yelling at her to"…Of course! Pwale! Don't you dare wake up!
(Pwale leaps up on the ambulance bed; the Ambulance Person rolls his eyes)
Pwale: The disclaimers! The disclaimers! They're making me tell! They're making me tell!
Sesshomaru: Tell what Pwale?
Pwale: That I don't own youuuuuuu!!!
Sesshomaru: …
Ambulance Person: What about the song?
Sesshomaru: I think she meant that to.
Ambulance Person: It's familiar, where's it from?
Sesshomaru: The Point.
…
Al: Why, welcome to my…secret lair!
Lawyer #1 & #2: …Mommy!
Al: MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!!!
…
The Stamp Of Gold
Come Together IV
By Pwalefriend
…
The next day Kagome sent Sango and Clingy to entertain the children and to apologize for her absence. Both of her friends cast her a single worried glance before they hurried off to do her bidding. After they were gone Kagome went to see Inuyasha.
He was waiting for her.
In fact, he was waiting for her with a gag and a rope to hog tie her with. But since she came in with a bat (one she had stolen from Shippo) at the ready his plan was shown obtuse.
"Inuyasha," Kagome said calmly, as if she hadn't just struck her cowering friend. "I have a gift for you."
Inuyasha's head jerked up and he glared at her.
"A farewell gift?" He snapped.
Kagome, looking around at the destruction throughout the room, decided that this wasn't a good question to answer.
Instead she only smiled.
"Come on, Inuyasha." She said, and led him by the hand out the door and down the hall and down the stairs and to the great outdoors.
"Where are we going, wench?" Inuyasha snapped. His curiosity and his anger (which had been battling) had reached a truce. He would be furiously curious.
"You'll see." Kagome said, still gripping his hand as she led him towards the moor. She smiled and smile that was half hopeful, half grim. Silently she remembered what Kaede had told her.
Flashback
"After Kikyo left, Inuyasha flew into a rage more terrible then ever before, I'm sure ye can imagine. We thought that eventually he would calm down with the help of Tetsusaiga, his horse. Ye see, no matter how pathetic it may sound, that horse always managed to help Inuyasha regain his senses. But not this time. This time, for some reason, Tetsusaiga wouldn't let Inuyasha anywhere near him. This made Inuyasha even angrier.
"When we told Sesshomaru of this latest development he rushed-"
At this point Kagome interrupted.
"Rushed?" Asked Kagome. Kaede offered a smile.
"Sesshomaru walked briskly," Kaede corrected herself. "To his brother's rooms. He was there for several hours. Not even Kagura knows what happened. When Sesshomaru finally came out he told us that Kikyo's betrayal had un-knotched Inuyasha just a little bit. He became more like a full-blooded demon. But ye can only be rid of a certain bloods affect, ye can never be rid of the physical blood itself. This, in Inuyasha's case, leads to a bit of insanity. Tetsusaiga can sense this, and it spooks him. He's a very sensitive horse. Inuyasha hasn't gone anywhere near that horse since. Many find this sad, since they miss each other terribly…"
End Flashback
Kagome wasn't so sure about missing each other, Tetsusaiga didn't really seem to mind, and the thought of Inuyasha being an animal person was simply ludicrous, but both of them certainly needed the exercise and Kagome was an animal person so it certainly was sad for her.
Also, Kagome suspected that Kaede had buttered up the facts, so as to make them more pathetic and cliché then they actually were.
"Kagome." Inuyasha snapped. "I'm in a very bad mood at the moment, so you had better tell me what's going on. Immediately."
"I don't have to." Kagome said happily. "If your lordship would bother to notice his surroundings…"
"What lordship?" Inuyasha asked, honestly confused. He was having a little bit of difficulty picking up on sarcasm that day.
Kagome twitched. She had wanted this to be disgustingly touching and cheesy and absolutely wince-worthy, but apparently it was going to turn into a normal Kagome-Inuyasha moment. Oh well, she could give it one more shot.
"Look, Inuyasha." Kagome said, reaching up to grab a hold of his shoulders and make him face the proper direction. She was satisfied that he had noticed their location when she felt the muscles under her hands tense and his sharp breath.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha hissed. "Are you completely stupid? Why are we here?"
"Because both you and Tetsusaiga need the exercise." Kagome said softly. "And don't worry about him attacking you. I've been putting your dirty shirts into his laundry for the past few months, ever since I found him. He's perfectly used to your smell now."
"How do you know that it's my smell that bothers him?" Inuyasha asked nervously. Kagome gave a little laugh.
"Because Kanna said so." She said.
"Kagome, I'm not so sure about this…" Inuyasha said, trying to back up. Kagome stopped him by giving him a little push.
"Yes, Inuyasha. I'm sure. And if it makes you feel any better I'll stay right here and watch. Now go on! He's all saddled up and ready to go!"
Inuyasha needed no further encouragement. He was on Tetsusaiga and the two of them were trotting circles around Kagome faster then you could say "Mount up."
And all Kagome could do was laugh.
…
Inuyasha was doing something as he brushed down Tetsusaiga that, in a lesser man, would have been called giggling. For years, ever since he'd been cursed, he'd wished that he could come to Tetsusaiga, and now he could, and whom did he have to thank you it? He had Kagome to thank for it, all of it.
How could he ever repay her?
He couldn't. He simply couldn't.
There was no way around it anymore, Inuyasha love Kagome. It was sort of funny…
For a long time he'd expected to eventually marry the daughter of a business associate. One of those brainless girls with the little dogs and offensive shopping habits. But then he'd fallen in love with Kikyo, and everyone knew how that had turned out.
Very, very badly.
And then…Kagome had come. And she'd not only put up with him, she'd fought with him, something that only people who had nothing to fear from him did. And she, she had every reason to fear him. In the beginning he had been all that kept her and her entire family from dying cold and alone on the streets, or from suffering a fate that most society considered far worse.
Remembering the idle threats he'd made against the Higurashi's back when his acquaintance with the daughter had first started, Inuyasha winced. The offhand disregard he'd treated such colorful people with back then, something he wouldn't dare now, pained him.
And the best part was that Kagome wasn't a brainless twit, nor did everyone love her. Kikyo had been perfect, so much as to make him feel lesser. When next to Kagome, he felt equal. He felt that he had found his match. A pair. A set. Kagome, unlike Kikyo, loved the arcane and the random knowledge as much as he did. Kikyo had been a dream that had been broken and snatched away. But Kagome was real. And she couldn't be broken and snatched away like-
…
Inuyasha froze, the curry brush still in his hand. Tetsusaiga, wondering why his rider had suddenly stopped, turned and whuffed at Inuyasha's arm. Inuyasha offered the horse a small, feeble smile and mumble of apology, then continued brushing. Tetsusaiga gave a little happy horse-sigh, and bent his head down to nibble at the fresh hay that was his dinner. Tetsusaiga was content. Inuyasha, a few seconds ago, had been, before he'd remembered the situation.
What was he thinking?
Not only had Kagome never shown any sign of loving him, but also she was likely to be leaving in the morning. It would take a saint to love him, and though Kagome Higurashi was many things, she was no saint.
And besides, there was still the curse.
What was the curse? No one but Inuyasha knew the full depth of it. It was one of those rules, when you curse someone and the curse isn't obvious, you have to tell them what it is. If it is obvious, you have to tell them how to break it. If you don't tell them what it is and you don't tell them how to break it, then they won't know they're under a curse and they might go to a psychiatrist who, chances are, will be able to accidentally break your curse. After all, among some other things, that's what they're paid for.
Now that that's cleared up I shall say, dear reader, that while Inuyasha knows perfectly well what his curse is and he knows perfectly well how it prevents him from ever having any sort of relationship with Kagome, as I mentioned before, only he knows. And as such you and I will have to wait a little longer.
'If I can't have her love…' Inuyasha thought, as a sheer ridiculous amount of people had before him. 'At least I can have her friendship. That will have to be enough.'
…
Kagome found Inuyasha in his room that night; the silly man was exhausted from his night's ride. He had actually fallen asleep in his bed. Well…his feet were on it anyway. Kagome laughed and, with the help of the Elementals, got him all the way under his covers without waking him. She was just turning to leave when he mumbled something in a distressed way. She turned back, sat down next to him, and smoothed a piece of his hair flat against the mattress.
"Are you sleeping? Can you hear me? Do you know that I am by your side?" Kagome sang softly. "Does it matter…If you hear me? When the morning comes I'll be there by your side. And in the morning when I wake up, she may be telling me goodbye. And in the evening when we break up, I'm wondering why-y-y-ayay…"
Clingy bounced up and down a little. It wasn't…a particularly bad song, they supposed…But their song was way better.
…
I apologize most profusely.
You see, first I found out that I was failing school due to missing work, I did most of that work, and then a close family member died. Afterwards, I got sick and still had more work to do. Somehow I managed to find time to finish this chapter, which by the way I had to start over because it was originally very, very, very bad. Pathetic, cheesy, and, to give a taste, I found (to my utmost dismay) that Kaede quoted Mrs. Bennet on several different occasions.
For those of you who don't know, that is about as bad as you can get.
But these are excuses, and as such…Sigh. I hope though, to soon catch up in school, get over whatever new form of sickness I caught and during the Winter Break I hope to not only catch up with this story but also finish writing several one-shots I've been working on.
In that vein, actually, I have a quiz, please post the answer in any review you would be so kind as to bless me with.
What is the maximum length a one-shot may be and still be acceptable?
…
Erm…
…
Where'd she go?
…
Oh dear. I found a note.
Dear Readers-
This is the most inexcusable and lengthy absence ever. You are quite justified in not reviewing. I hope you will, as I was created to hope that, but I cannot I blame if you do not. As such I will not be hunting down mauling those who do not review this chapter.
Yours truly,
The Review Lion
…
Uh…I think she's in the kitchen…
Anyway, see you next chapter, please stick around.
I'd like you to review, pretty please!
And everyone, thank that wonderful movie The Point. It made me want to write again.
Yours sincerely
Pwalefriend