Characters and plot belong to their rightful owners.

XXI.

Kagome hoisted herself over the well's ledge, the large yellow pack slung over her shoulder and her nose red.

Bringing her hands up to her face, rubbing them together and blowing hot air onto them, Kagome looked around the clearing. Inuyasha wasn't anywhere in sight. That probably meant that Rin had him busy, and that was a good thing. In her haste to evacuate any area and circumstance that involved Sesshoumaru and herself and the word 'alone', Kagome had devised the plan to get Rin and Inuyasha together.

So far, nothing had worked. The carolling had turned out horribly, with Inuyasha refusing to sing, never mind getting Sesshoumaru to participate. As it was, she wouldn't have wanted to touch him with a fifteen foot pole. Getting him to sing was like trying to teach cattle to talk. Or, in other cases, Kagome mused, Inuyasha proper etiquette (forks weren't his thing, though, and she certainly wasn't going to sacrifice her eye or other bodily parts – forks were, after all, miniature... pronged... swords by extension).

The "romantic night alone" hadn't worked solely because Shippou hadn't wanted to leave the warmth of the hut. At least, not when there was warm food (the roast she had spent all day making for the occasion) around.

Then she had moved to things more dramatic. Stargazing and sending them off to do things together. Alone.

Neither strategy had worked.

Either Rin didn't know how to seduce Inuyasha or she didn't like him as much as she said she did. Since the latter of the two wasn't as plausible as the first, Kagome completely disregarded it.

She would have to talk to Rin about getting to Inuyasha. Having been the stubborn hanyou's friend for nigh on eight years, Kagome figured that she was entitled to giving advice to possible suitors where her best friend was involved. She had decided that she was as qualified as any when it came to classifications and the like.

Everything else was just boring.

Even though she hadn't particularly liked it when her friends had set her up, Kagome deduced that the two situations were different completely, and that she, unlike her friends, was actually helping a relationship grow, while trying to escape her own, futile love-life.

She really was hypocritical.

Kagome mused silently as she trekked through the snow, through the village and into the makeshift home they had made for themselves in Edo.

The homey feel hit her immediately as she opened the door (something she had insisted upon once fall had rolled around) and a blast of heat hit her. The fire had died down to nothing but a flickering circle of hot stones and cherry-red coals.

Kagome hummed merrily as she set down her large pack and dug through it. Withdrawing the green plant from the yellow atrocity she called a bag, Kagome skipped to the doorway, humming as she went.

She was on her tippy toes, leaning against the door when it suddenly swung open, throwing Kagome off her balance and into the arms of the unknown assailant.

"What are you doing?" Sesshoumaru breathed into her ear, tightening his arms around her waist.

"Hanging stuff!" She replied irritably, trying not to think about the way blood was rushing to her cheeks or how he was holding her. Wasn't she the one who was supposed to get people kissing, and not getting caught hanging plants that would get people kissing?

Speaking of, Kagome glanced up quickly and inhaled sharply. Arm still raised, resting on his broad, broad shoulder, the green sprig still stuck in her hand, Kagome realized that it was the perfect positioning. Squeezing her eyes shut, Kagome groaned.

"I hate traditions, I hate traditions, I hate traditions!" She muttered under her breath, practically chanting the phrase.

"You know," Kagome started conversationally after a second of trying to calm her racing heart and red, red cheeks. Sesshoumaru decided that maybe the colour red wasn't so bad. Not when it was on the miko, at least. "In my time, there's this tradition."

Sesshoumaru cocked a brow and she narrowed her eyes at him. The arrogant man. "If you would." He said at last, indulging the childish woman and her wily ways.

Shooting the arrogant man an annoyed look, Kagome shook her head. "This tradition decrees that when two people come together under a sprig of mistletoe, they have to kiss." Kagome bit her lip, staring up into the unreadable eyes of Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha's brother. How ironic that she would be inviting her best friend's (and previous love interest) brother to kiss her.

As if her life wasn't messed up enough already.

Hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite! A small voice in the back of her mind tolled, and Kagome promptly squashed it. Inuyasha be damned, she was going to kiss Sesshoumaru one way or another.

"Indeed," said youkai intoned, his other eyebrow raising. Kagome cringed. It was coming. She knew it was coming. She could taste it coming. Apparently broccoli was not a suitable replacement for mistletoe. Damn her mother for telling her it would work, and damn Sesshoumaru for having an enhanced sense of smell.

Inuyasha and Rin could wait, Kagome decided in the back of her mind as her hand snaked up his arms and around his neck.

"That would be the case if it was mistletoe you were holding."

Kagome sighed. "Just shut up and kiss me."

There was no hesitation as his lips descended upon hers.

Sesshoumaru had a very... talented tongue.

And how!

(This is the end of Dignity Denied – the last chapter, if you will. The stage has been set, the curtain went up, and now the characters are taking their final bow. It's been fun, and I can't say I'm unhappy to see it go. Continuous oneshots are hard. Thanks for the support and to anyone who reviewed! – Incomprehensible)