Disclaimers: I do not own Inuyasha

A/N Thank you so much for your reviews. I love to read them, they make me smile. You guys are all amazing and yes it will be very sad when this fic comes to an end. But for now, look forward to reading this chapter. I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to leave a lovely review. Happy Holidays! (:

Italics are some flashbacks, phone conversations, and stuff mkay? Awesome. (:

Awakened Dead

Chapter 23. Evening of December 17th

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They could be dancing right now.

Not that she was minding dancing with Bankotsu-san or even Jakotsu-san. They were great. But…

Why the freaking heck did she have to fall so hard for a moronic, more-stubborn-than-any-mule-alive, temperamental, and let's not forget sexier than hell half dog demon? Why?

… She must have been dropped on her head as a child.

'Why can't he just swallow his pride and try this whole 'possession' thing? Stupid hanyou.' She shot glares at him from across the room. He would look so handsome in a suit. But of course he was permanently stuck in those gaudy red clothes of his. 'Someday.'

"You know, it's awfully rude to be ignoring your date. I feel like you're cheating on me." Bankotsu teased. He had also glanced over to the brooding half demon, rolling his eyes at the childish behaviour. "It's his own fault for not taking up the offer. But I guess it is just like him. It's a family thing. His brother is just the same." A frown twisted at his lips.

"Lucky me." Kagome groaned. "But it's okay I guess. It wouldn't be like him to give in like this all the time." She sighed loudly, not that you could hear it over the loud music.

Aside from the grumpy ghost in the corner, the whole evening was turning out pretty well. Dinner had been fantastic for what they paid for. The decorations were beyond beautiful and sparkly (considering they were in the gym and all), she had felt like she had walked into a winter wonderland. The music was well chosen and a perfect balance of slow and colourful beats. She was enjoying herself, albeit not to the fullest, but that was okay.

Hell even Miroku and Sango were letting loose and having a ball. She had never seen Sango smile so much in one night. The Monk wasn't even misbehaving either, almost like he was sucking up to the Hunter. Maybe because she looked so pretty tonight? Or maybe because he didn't want to cut their 'close time' too short with his antics. Jeez, that boy really needed to suck it up and properly ask Sango-san out. It was obvious to the world that they adored each other despite all the fighting they've done in the past.

'Oh you mean just like you and Mr-I'm-too-sexy-for-my-body sulking over there?' Whispered a small voice in the back of Kagome's head.

'Oh yeah, Inuyasha. That is how it all started, isn't it? Us hating each other, but undeniably being attracted to one another.' Kagome's eyes finally found his, and she held his gaze for a little while. Almost as if in a trance. He had really pretty eyes. They could make her legs go weak if she stared long enough.

"Hey Kagome-chan? You're zoning out again." Bankotsu chuckled. "Am I really that boring?"

The multi ability girl blinked, clearing her thoughts, and looked up at her date. "Eh?" She mumbled, still somewhat zoned out. "I'm sorry I didn't catch that."

"Does dog boy over there really distract you that much? Jeez the mutt should have just done what I said then." The hunter cursed under his breath.

When their dance had finished, the two had walked back to their table for a small break for refreshments. Kagome had held in her giggles when she had spotted Kouga-sensei not too far away dancing with a giggly Ayame-hime. They were part of the chaperone group; though it was very unlikely that Ayame-hime was going to let Kouga-sensei go anywhere to split up any lovey dovey couples. She was apparently much too content with sucking the life out of him in a deathly hug.

Bankotsu-san laughed loudly at the scene, shifting his eyes over to look at Kagome. "You know, I'm glad you aren't one of those girls. I've had to deal with my fair share of fan girls that would die to be hugging me like that one." He jabbed his thumb at the couple. "It's not fun at all. Hell I'd rather be hunting then getting near a crazy girl like that."

"It's adorable though. And once they settle their feelings, I'm sure Ayame-hime will calm down." Kagome defended.

"Ayame-hime? Just how much have I missed while being gone?" Bankotsu asked, starring at the couple now with a new light. "I know they're demons. But how do you know them?"

"Oh, well it's not me that knows them completely. They're Inuyasha's friends from the Sengoku Jidai. They've been keeping an eye on us since you left to make sure we were safe and stuff." Kagome shrugged off. 'Course I'm not gunna say it was under Sesshoumaru-sama's orders since I know just how you feel about him..'

"Huh? Is that so?"

"Yea, actually Ayame-hime made quite the noisy entrance. And Kouga-sensei has been a really great help. He's actually a pretty decent guy when you get to know him. Inuyasha doesn't seem to think so, but then again you know him." She rolled her eyes with a small laugh.

"Unfortunately all too well. He needs to lighten up once in awhile." Bankotsu shook his head.

"Yea… Hey so how come Kagura-san isn't here tonight?" Kagome asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Bankotsu grunted, scratching the back of his neck. "She just said that she wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this. Not her style. That and she said something about a ritual and stuff. I dunno, I was too mesmerized by her beauty to even pay attention."

Kagome giggled. "You sound like a love sick puppy my friend."

"Tch, maybe I am…" Bankotsu said, a little smile at his lips. "She is amazing you know. She—"

"Ban-Ban! Gome-chan!" Jakotsu's giggles could be heard above all the music. He had pushed his way through the crowds of people, and yanked a chair back from the tables so that he could sit down. "Whew, it is so exhausting dancing this much." He fanned himself. "Oh and by the way, you didn't hear it from me but I spotted Miro-kun and Sango-chan in one of the far corners getting it on." He winked at Kagome.

What! No way were they making out! This couldn't be… Well no it could be… Wow, she would have to harass Sango-san for the details later. 'All of the details.' Kagome thought with a wry grin. "That's some news." She smiled. "I—"

"You're phone is ringing."

Kagome twisted in her seat to look up at the grumbling Inuyasha whom had his arms crossed and was looking down at her softly. One of his ears twitched, the hanyou staring expectantly at her. "Wh-what? My phone?" The girl repeated a bit slowly.

"What the hell did I just say?" Inuyasha grunted with a roll of his eyes.

Right, 'cause he had his super inhuman hearing. He could hear her cell ringing well before she could even tell someone was calling her.

Still though… Way to be a jerk about it!

Sighing, the girl had turned back to her table and reached over for her clutch. She had opened it up and pulled out her cell phone that was now flashing a missed call. 'Huh? From home? Why would they be calling me now?'

"Something wrong hon?" Jakotsu asked worriedly.

The miko slash necromancer shook her head. "No, just a missed call. I'll be back. I'm just going to call them back outside the gym." She pushed her chair and stood up, walking away with her phone in her grip and her hanyou trailing behind her. She didn't have to even look back to know that he was glaring at Bankotsu as if daring him to follow. 'Typical jealous male behaviour.' She shoved open the door to get out of the gym, exiting and standing far enough away so that she couldn't hear the booming music.

She didn't even have to dial in the numbers on her phone, because soon after exiting the gym, it started ringing again.

It was the house number.

What could they possibly need to tell her at this very moment? They knew she had a lift home plus Inuyasha as her trusty guard dog.

"Moshi Moshi." Kagome answered politely, but inwardly felt very annoyed.

"Kagome-chan!" Her mothers' frantic voice shouted. "Something is happening!" There was another voice on the other side, sounding much like her brother whom had asked for the phone.

"Kagome-onee-san!" Came his voice too.

"Souta, Mama, what's wrong? What are you talking about?" Kagome asked, her eyes connecting with Inuyasha's in a silent plea.

"There's these monsters outside the house! Lots of them! But that pink thing is keeping them away! Help! Gramps is about to go out and try something—!"

You have got to be kidding. Why tonight? Why?

"I'll be back, tell them not to leave the house." Inuyasha grunted, his figure quickly dispersing.

Kagome nodded. "Listen, everyone stay inside. No one is to leave the house. You're safe in there as long as the barrier stays up."

"Barrier? Is that what that is?" Souta asked.

"Yes now stay—"

"—Inuyasha-onii-san is standing outside! H-he doesn't look happy—Hey wait, he's gone." Souta said, his voice wavering over the line. "Nee-san, I'm scared."

"Don't worry. I'm coming back right now. Just stay inside, okay?" Kagome said gently.

"Y-yeah."

So much for a shot at a normal teenage life for a single evening. This was a disaster, no, a failure to launch. She could just see her life crumbling before her eyes.

Oh gods, she would get harassed by the girls tomorrow.

She shuddered at the thought of their angry faces surrounded by hell fire.

"Okay, now I'm going to hang up. But I will be home very soon. I just need to grab the others and we're on our way. Just go sit in the living room and put in a movie."

"Ok-okay." Souta stuttered. "Th-thanks onee-san." Then, he hung up the phone.

Kagome shut her phone just as Inuyasha returned, looking very grim. "So? What is it?" 'Please tell me he's just hallucinating. Please tell me it's not really happening.'

"Demons. A hell of a lot too." He growled. "Hate to say this, but we need everyone."

God damn! Why was the world against her?

"You get Sango-san and Miroku-san, I'll get the boys." Kagome said, the two splitting up from there.

Oh Kami, so much for a peaceful night. And she had a sick feeling that her dress wouldn't be looking so hot in the next fifteen minutes.

But that was just a hunch of course.

-X-

They were all sitting in the car, tense, cursing. Thank god they were in Bankotsu's car, because he was the one with the bag of toys in the trunk that could help them. Not that Kagome needed anything. It was the Hunters that needed all that stuff, and possibly Miroku.

"Why the hell have they gathered at your house Kagome? Do you know why, at all?" Bankotsu's eyes were looking right at her from the rear view mirror, and then glanced back to the road.

"I just started to hear it on my way home from school. But no one else can hear it, so maybe it's just me… But… B-but it felt like it was calling to all of us. I m-mean demons. Like only demons can hear it."

"A boy that I know stopped by today. He said something about a weird noise that he could hear. Something that was drawing him to my house. He was a young fox demon, claimed that it was some demon related sound. I-I don't know. I have no idea what he was talking about. But now apparently my house is surrounded by them and we need to move faster!" Kagome blurted, a little bit in hysterics considering this was her family they were talking about.

Miroku was frowning at his own reflection in the window, equally confused and frustrated about this matter. What could possibly be creating a signal to lour youkai to Kagomes' house? Especially since she wasn't even home to draw them near. She hadn't even been using her powers insanely like she had in the past. Everything was well under control.

So what then?

"You said your family is safe?" Sango questioned, just to be sure.

Kagome bit her lip, nodding. "Y-yes. I had placed a barrier around the house before I left. It's very strong, so it should hold back the creatures long enough for us to arrive." It was taking every ounce of self-control not to let her powers go berserk right now. She was clenching her fists, focusing on random objects, trying to settle her mind. Everything was being done right now. Because the important thing at this very moment was to remain composed.

"Almost there hon, just stay calm." Came Jakotsu's voice from the passengers seat.

Were these the demons that had escaped from hell? The ones that the boys had missed? Or were these new ones?

Why, why did they have to appear now? They—

The car came to an abrupt halt.

"We're here." Jakotsu announced.

She didn't even wait five seconds. She just unbuckled and shoved at Jakotsu's seat. The boy had gotten out fairly quickly, to her pleasure, which mean that she could get out as well.

And man oh man, was it ever freaking cold out! Her with her little dress, little jacket, strappy heels and of course her favourite part. No, not tights but yes… Pantyhose. Needless to say, the run up the steps were torture for mostly her feet. That and she had of course not even thought of formulating a plan of any sort. The only thoughts going through her head were killing those things before they even remotely got near her family. Oh and her frozen feet.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. The boy had appeared next to her as soon as she had reached the top of the stairs. Now where was he when she had been running up those stairs? She was and ice cube from all this snow and—

"What are you doing running in those? Are you stupid?" The hanyou barked, picking the girl up and holding her bridal style for the rest of the way back towards the house. "Do you want to freeze to death?"

"Just be quiet and tell m-me what's happening!" Kagome yelled back, already having caught sight of some of the flying demons.

"They're still safe. But there is something weird happening with your room." Inuyasha said mildly, leaping above a portion of the shrine and landing near the well house. He leapt once more in the air.

"What do you—" She cut herself off when they came to a halt nearly in front of her home. The first things she noticed were the circling, flying demons. Next were the ones that were crawling around, which there weren't as many of. Thirdly, was the darkest, and thickest black aura she had ever seen pooling out from her bedroom window. If she had to guess anything, she'd say that the noise or signal or whatever was coming from there.

"What is… That?" She was placed back on her feet, and took a small, uncertain step forward.

"I dunno. Is there anything in your room that could possibly cause something like that?" Inuyasha asked.

"No, I—" Kagome again cut herself off, a distant memory resurfacing.

…She had even put the old box back into storage with all the sutras plastered back on in the same spots. Though she had secretly put the Tessaiga under her bed knowing it would be good to have it on hand.

"Oh god." She swallowed hard.

So much for that theory. Good to have it her ass.

"Kagome-chan!" She could hear Sango yell from afar. Looked like they were coming after all, tools and everything.

Which was fantastic considering the obvious mistake the woman had made concerning the Tessaiga. Now look at where she had gotten herself. In her own yard, full of foul youkai and evil auras.

Kami, how could she have been so stupid? The signs had been there! The irritation, the unbalanced demonic aura, the heavy air… All of it! Why hadn't she thought of this earlier? Why hadn't she realized the reasoning behind all those sutras in the first place?

They were used to lock away a powerful demon. Not just Inuyasha, but the thing that took over his body. A very powerful monster created from the depths of hell.

"Glad you decided to wait for us before attacking the hordes." Came Miroku's light joke, though it had done nothing to lighten the mood. "What's wrong? Aside from the demons here. Why is she like this? And what is that black cloud!"

"The hell could create such a foul aura?" Bankotsu cringed, dropping his duffel bag to the ground.

"Wench?" Inuyasha tilted his head to the side. "What are you thinking?"

All eyes were on her, she knew it. She could feel it. Her own stupidity was what got her into this whole mess. "The Tessaiga is in my room, under my bed." She spoke up weakly.

"What?" Bankotsu asked. "Care to repeat that?"

Inuyasha shot him a glare, but equally wanted to know what she was talking about. "Kagome?"

The multi ability girl shook her head and cursed. "The Tessaiga is currently under my bed, without any form of seals. It's been that way since Halloween. I didn't think anything of it except now—"

"Aw crap." Bankotsu ran a hand through his bangs. "I never thought you did that. I was kinda under the impression it was safely tucked away. Not under your bed. Do you realize what's been done? Without those seals, that thing in there has slowly been juicing itself up to break free. It's most likely causing the sound that is attracting these monsters. It needs them to break free."

"Break free? But he's sealed!" Kagome shouted.

"Yeah, and so was he!" He jabbed a thumb at Inuyasha. "But you brought him out, so what's stopping that creep? He only possessed the body. And if you hadn't noticed, by using half the spell to get him out, you ended up weakening the whole thing overall. Without any new seals it can find a way to release it's own spirit from the sword and can take possession of any of these demons and get himself a new body!" Bankotsu all but yelled.

Of course this had naturally made Kagome feel worse. Again… Baka baka baka! She was ready to create her own cloud of misery over her head when Sango-san had spoken up to her defence.

"Then we fix the problem." The female Hunter cut in darkly. "We kill the demons, and end this so-called great evil demon, now."

"Sango-san…" Kagome mumbled weakly. "Even if we do manage to kill these things. How are we going to stop the sword?" 'Kami, this is my entire fault. I should have been paying more attention to everything. Here I go thinking I'm all well trained and much better at this unwanted job when I get this thrown in my face. A real Miko would have known about the Tessaiga. A real Miko would not have made these mistakes. Kikyo-san… or even Midoriko-sama would have known.' She thought solemnly. 'They would have stopped it in a heartbeat.'

"You guys take care of the flesh demons." Inuyasha spoke up.

All eyes were on him now, some not quite understanding what he was proposing.

"Look, I can't fight this battle as I am. I'm useless when it comes to this. But I can do something." He stared down now at Kagome, his eyes telling her how intent he was on protecting her. "I can return to the Tessaiga, and hold him back. That would give you enough time to seal it again and end this."

They were still silently gazing at him, the Hunters somewhat convinced about this plan. But before they could even utter a word Kagome had fiercely rejected the idea.

"No way! I'm not loosing you because of something as stupid as this!" She yelled. "How could you even suggest that? You are not going back. The point of this is to set you free not the other way around."

"Wench—" Inuyasha tried to speak.

"I said no! I won't have it!"

He wasn't going to leave her.

"But Kagome it's the only—" His words were lodged in his throat when he felt the familiar burning warmth surround him. This had been the same feeling he had received before he got his sorry ass blown into the sky and turned human.

She wouldn't let him.

"I told you." She began, closing her eyes to take in a deep breath. She reopened them, her blue orbs highlighted with a rim of pink. "I won't loose you." She had already formed her bow in her hand, its bright light catching the attention of both the circling youkai above and bellow. "I will free you. I promise. And until then, these pathetic excuses for demons can kiss. My. Ass." She growled inhumanly, raising her bow and drawing back the string, forming an arrow.

As if these pathetic creatures ruined her night. Her one possible chance at a normal evening event.

They were going to pay for it.

Especially that nameless youkai in the Tessaiga. He would feel her wrath.

Roaring sky demons had begun their decent, but were quickly blown away by the sheer ferocity of power that came from the single arrow that had been shot. She had easily taken fifteen plus demons down, quickly alerting the others of her strength. This in turn drew their attention strictly to her, most wanting to devour her flesh to gain more power.

"Well then." Jakotsu mused, unravelling the weapon he had brought with him. He had revealed a curved sword, a small grin tugging at his lips. "I guess this means the game is on."

Bankotsu chuckled as well. "I wish I had brought my Banryuu. But a shot gun filled with salt shells will do just fine for now." He heaved his gun over his shoulder and nodded at Sango and Miroku. "We'll take care of the small fry. You guys get the flying ones."

"Wench—" The hanyou tried again, but was quickly silenced.

"Just shut up, and let me protect you for a change." Kagome smirked, a look that was clearly stolen from him.

He couldn't help but feel a wave of warmth from her, and not due to her increasing spiritual powers either. This was different for him. He felt truly cared for by this woman. By his woman. It surprised him greatly because the truth was; Kikyo had never done such a thing for him. He had always been the one adamant about protecting her and her village. She had never tried to protect him from anything. Hell the best she'd ever done was seal him, other demon and all, into his own damn sword.

'Kagome…' Just thinking her name brought a smile to his face. He had done well when choosing his mate. This was definitely it. His love.

"Here we go!" Jakotsu laughed loudly. "I haven't had this much fun in ages!" He twirled his sword, half making others wonder why he was in charge of taking down the flying demon along side of Kagome.

Well, were they ever surprised. As it turned out, his sword had multiple blades attached to each other that made it extend quite the distance. He could easily behead a demon, and then it would shortly be purified and turned to ash by Kagome's arrow.

Well damn, all Sango-san and Miroku-san had to work with were sutras, salt and a small katana that Sango barely knew how to wield. Though it seemed that she wasn't having too much trouble slicing through anything considering her natural strength. And Miroku would then as well purify the small demon corpses and render them to ash. This way, no evidence would be left for any humans to find.

The miko slash necromancer had pulled back her bowstring yet again, super charging it with her spiritual powers. She was hell bent on protecting her precious people. Ranging from her family to her friends to Inuyasha. Especially him. He meant too much to her not only as her favourite guard dog, but also as her most trustworthy friend, and loved one. She couldn't possibly live without him in her life. Everything would be too dull and lifeless. She needed him.

'I will always protect you. All of you. This is my mistake, and I will make up for it. So please, let his power of mine become useful for once. And help me get rid of all of these monsters. I want them gone!' She mentally shouted, her blue eyes narrowing on her many targets. And she would get them all.

"Go back to where you came from and leave my family alone. Forever!" She hadn't even noticed the amount of spark in her arrow until she had sent it flying at the enemies. If it weren't for the fact that normal humans couldn't see spiritual powers, then she was positive the whole city would have seen this fabulous light show at the top of the Higurashi Shrine. Her arrow of light had created a small explosion of light, successfully cascading down and purifying all demonic creatures that had been crawling around her property.

Safe for Inuyasha of course who had been covered at the last minute with one of her trusted barriers.

Go her.

Once the light had died down, the teens were stunned into silence.

"Way to go Kagome-chan." Sango said first, a smirk twisting at her lips. "I never realized how much you had it in you."

Kagome had waved the barrier containing Inuyasha away, willing a tired smile at her lips. "Same to you, Sango-san. I didn't know you could fight with a katana."

She merely shrugged, brushing some pieces of burnt flesh off of her dress. "I just knew I guess. These ones also gave me a few pointers the other day during one of our training sessions." She motioned to the other hunters, earning a wink from Jakotsu and chuckled from Bankotsu.

"Don't start celebrating yet. We still have that to deal with." Miroku spoke up, pointing to the black cloud behind Kagome's barrier. "We need to stop that thing somehow before more demons decide to pop in for a pleasant visit."

"I vote we finish this now." Jakotsu piped happily.

"No, Jak are you insane—"

"Oh Ban-Ban, have a little faith, will you? You know this is the right thing to do." Jakotsu whined a bit. "And besides, I'm the one who knows the spells, so really, the decision is up to me and I already told Gome-chan."

"Wh-what? When did you—God damn Jak." Bankotsu cursed.

Miroku approached Sango, helping her dust herself off while checking her over for any signs of wounds. "What are you two talking about? Is there something we missed?" He asked, finally wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against him. He was completely aware that she was still handling a katana and made sure not to drop his hands any lower than her waist line.

Bankotsu only sighed loudly and nodded in defeat. "Yeah, I lied the other night about setting that thing free." He shot a small glare at Inuyasha.

The hanyou growled in response to the glare and stepped up next to Kagome. "You mean to say that this whole time you knew the full spell? And said shit about it?"

Jakotsu nodded. "I suppose. But to be fair, we were gone for a little bit. And I preferred to hand over the spell once I knew you weren't all bad and that you two would get along." He drawled out with a sneaky smile. "Oh and Ban-Ban was completely against it, but I wasn't going to let him have his way at all to begin with."

"You conniving—" Bankotsu started, but ended it with another sigh. "Grah. You are so hopeless when it comes to your match making Jak."

"I just like happy endings." Jakotsu defended with a pout. "So, in conclusion I know how to set Prince Inuyasha free. But the only thing is that we need to be fully prepared to do this. It will take a bit of work to prepare and your absolute focus to accomplish this Gome-chan, because this time around it will depend more on your Necromancer abilities and not your spiritual ones."

Her Necromancer powers?

Could she really do it? She wasn't all that trained when it came to that half of her life. She just could barely understand the fundamentals of it all. But if it was the only way to help Inuyasha…

"Let's do it."

-X-

"Onee-san! Where are you going? Are the monsters gone?"

Kagome smiled at her younger brother, patting him on the head. "Don't worry, you're all safe. Just stay in the house while I'm gone okay? I just need to change first, but I'm going to need to leave for a bit."

Yeah, cause her toes were most likely frost bitten by now. Stupid heels, stupid pantyhose!

"L-leave? But it's the middle of the night—" Souta tried to argue.

"Don't worry kid, she's with me." Inuyasha stood next to him, arms stuffed in either of his sleeves. "Wench, go change and grab the Tessaiga. And be careful." He warned, watching her go upstairs to her room where the dark cloud seeped slowly from under her door.

When Kagome had opened it, the cloud had instantly been purified wherever she stepped, the darkness slowly retreated back to the old, sheathed katana. Kagome had changed from her gorgeous dress into some jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater. She had put on some cozy long socks (two pairs actually) and grabbed a hat from her closest with some gloves. Her scarf and coat were already downstairs waiting for her, so she didn't bother pulling out a different jacket or scarf.

Crouching down next to her bed, she had peeked under, eyes widening at the dark aura surrounding the Tessaiga. 'There you are. You trouble maker.' She reached for it, dragging it out from under her bed. Standing up, she had walked over to her desk and shuffled her things around until she came across some extra sutras from when she set them up around her house. She infused two with an extra boost of her practically endless power before sticking them on the Tessaiga, silencing the crying demon blade.

'Take that, you stupid life altering youkai.' She mentally sneered at him.

They had left the house together, the girl keeping her extra barrier up around the house just to be safe. Though somehow she knew that for now no more demons would bother them for the evening.

They had first stopped at the Antique store, deciding to merely keep the Tessaiga there until tomorrow night. They didn't want to further endanger her family and figured this was the safest place imaginable for the blade to rest. Next they had gone over to Miroku-san's house where Jakotsu-san began to teach Kagome the final portion of the releasing spell. That's where they had spent most of their night.

The others had long ago fallen asleep by the time Kagome had called it a night. It was well into the hours of the early morning and they still had to attend school… Well not really but it was recommended that they did to pick up any final notes and hints for the upcoming exams.

The brothers had escorted Kagome home at around three AM. Sango-san had decided to sleep over at Miroku-san's and Bankotsu-san was currently slouched over in the passengers seat, dozing off. Jakotsu-san had been kind enough to let her out of the car and the rest had been up to Inuyasha from there. He had carried the exhausted miko up to her Shrine, across the vast grounds until they reached the outside of the barrier. If it weren't for the fact that he was a ghost and provided no form of warmth, he would have just been fine with wrapping her up in his haorie and sleeping inside the well house with her pressed up against him for heat.

Instead though, he had to shake her a bit so that she could open up the new barrier to first let them near the house. Well more like let him near the house since he was the demonic ghost and all. Then Kagome had to create her final barrier to get past the usual ghost proofing house spell, something that was really beginning to annoy her.

"No more… I wanna sleep." Kagome moaned tiredly. "Mah feet hurt." She slurred a bit. "And I'm c-cold."

Inuyasha snorted. "That's because it's freezing out there baka. You should have dressed warmer."

"Dun't call me baka." Kagome mumbled against his chest.

"Uh huh." He rolled his eyes, bringing her up to her room and removing her coat and boots from there. Then he tucked her in, content on sitting this one out so that she could warm up faster with her blankets all around her.

"…Tomorrow.." Kagome's muffled voice spoke.

"Huh? What was that wench?"

She snuggled deeper in her blankets, a big smile on her face. "Tomorrow, you'll be warm. I promise, I'll make you real again."

He smiled at her words, and that night he watched her carefully. However despite her promise, he still had his doubts. And if there were any screw-ups tomorrow, and tonight was his last night to spend with her, then he wouldn't miss any moments. He would relish this now and hope that tomorrow wouldn't end in sadness.

"I'm the luckiest half breed around. I'm glad Kikyo sealed me. I'm glad I met you Kagome. My mate." He ran a clawed hand down her cheek softly.

'Sleep well. And I hope you set some sort of alarm 'cause I'm not waking you up.' He grinned toothily, holding in his chuckled.

Now will she wake up pissed off tomorrow morning for being late, or happy to have slept in?

Well, we'd just have to wait and see.

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A/N Hopefully the next chapter will be the last plus an epilogue of sorts. Sorry for the late update. I went back home for the holidays but I'm not aloud to use my dad's work laptop (got a virus on it last time I used fanfiction), couldn't use my brothers computers (one has no internet and the other didn't have a word processing thing. Stupid gamer and all his games), my sisters computer in her words 'exploded' and finally I had no freaking idea there was a normal house computer (found out this morning). So many computers! And yet I couldn't use them! Until I found out about this desktop and started to type away. Haha… well anyways. I hope you guys all had a wonderful Christmas! I did! Happy New Year. I hope to finish this very soon! R&R!