So, so, so, sorry I haven't updated in the longest time! I've been terribly busy with school and got terminated from my waitressing job… On the plus side now that I have no job I can update more, so woohoo! Enjoy, and again sorry!


Kagome emerged into the clearing, her frilly blue dress danced around her from the breeze. The summer sun shone down on everything making the clearing appear all the more enchanting. She capered through the emerald green grass, a wide smile plastered on her lips. She felt like today would be a great day, she was going to apologize to Inuyasha for the argument they had, had the other day and to make up for it she had brought a peace offering of his favourite biscuits.

As she neared the Goshinboku she noticed smoke coming out from behind it; her smile disappeared into a look of concern; bewildered by what this could be coming from she ran towards it. As she peered around the enormous tree trunk she saw that a small fireplace was made. The worrisome look was then replaced by further confusion.

"Hey." Inuyasha's voice spoke behind her causing her to jump.

She spun around to face him. "Inuyasha you scared me!" She exclaimed.

Inuyasha smirked at her, "Keh, you scare too easily." He laughed.

Kagome frowned, 'Seems he got over the fight from yesterday…' She thought.

She watched him walk past her and over to the fireplace where she noticed he had a few petite fish dangling from a stick. He noticed her gazing at them.

"I got hungry. Obviously I hadn't planned on you coming here or anything…" He bluntly lied.

Kagome's face brightened and she giggled.

Inuyasha frowned at her. "What're you laughing at?" He questioned.

She continued to giggle, "Nothing, nothing."

He shook his head at her, and then his eyes fell upon her satchel. Every time she came to the clearing with the satchel equipped she had something delightful in it.

She noticed his not-so-subtle staring at it and smiling she handed it to him. Immediately he reached into it and found his prize without delay.

After scoffing down the biscuits Inuyasha started to roast the pint-sized fish over the flames of the fire.


At some point during their quiet cooking session storm clouds had begun to drift overhead. A loud clap of thunder broke the silence and caused Kagome to release a small scream. Kagome took a second to come into realization that she had relocated to Inuyasha's side. The two of them looked at each other, their faces both holding a blazing red blush.

Kagome quickly skidded away from him, "I-I'm sorry." She apologized quickly turning away.

Inuyasha also hastily turned his gaze elsewhere. "I-it's fine." He said quietly.

An awkward silence promptly took over. The sky was substantially dark considering it was still early in the afternoon; the dark clouds had completely engulfed the sun.

Kagome took a peek over her shoulder; Inuyasha was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire. The flames reflected off of his eyes making them appear as though they were glowing crimson. He turned one of the sticks flipping the fish onto its other side so it could evenly cook. She turned her gaze back to the surroundings that lay in front of her.

Suddenly a drop of rain protruded from the sky and struck her right in the nose. She wiped it away with her hand then without warning felt more drops coming down. Inuyasha turned to look at her; he was close enough to the trunk of the tree to be sheltered from the rain. A smirk grazed his features as he watched her swatting the falling drops.

She heard him release a laugh and turned to meet his gaze; he had a wide smile on his face and was giggling uncontrollably. She hadn't seen this side of him before, it caused her to start to smile too.

"You idiot come over here so you don't get all wet." He spoke, still grinning.

Kagome stood to her feet, her hair had become fairly damp as of now and rain water was dripping off the ends. She positioned herself to the right of Inuyasha, at a comfortable distance. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them close to her.

"Here." Inuyasha uttered handing her a tad over-cooked fish on a stick.

She took it and smelt it, it smelt surprisingly good! She had no idea Inuyasha could cook. Without thinking she took a tiny bite from it and burnt her tongue, causing her to cry out and nearly drop the stick.

Inuyasha looked at her and shook his head, "idgit." He said under his breath a smile breaking out.

Kagome smiled at him and let out a laugh. Then the two of them broke out into laughter, after a while Kagome forgot why she was laughing; she was just happy hearing Inuyasha's laughter, it was a rare occasion after all.

Suddenly Inuyasha's face became serious and his ears shot back. Kagome gazed at him perplexed; he stood to his feet and bared his teeth. "Get behind me Kagome." He ordered.

Kagome peered over her shoulder and distinguished the baboon from the day before; in a moment of total terror she hastily got to her feet and ran behind Inuyasha. Her heart began to pound as she got a terrible feeling.

The youkai took a step forward; it let out a deep cackle.

"Who are you?" Inuyasha questioned, a growl erupting from his throat.

"Call me Naraku." The Youkai replied, in an eerily slow way.

Kagome grabbed onto the back of Inuyasha's kimono, and peered over his shoulder.

This 'Naraku' character turned his attention over towards Kagome; she could feel his eyes on her. Inuyasha could sense Kagome's fear and pushed her directly behind him and out of Naraku's sight.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

Naraku laughed, "In good time, Inuyasha." He replied before taking one last long look over Kagome and then leaping backwards into the trees and out of sight.

Inuyasha cursed under his breath, "How does he know my name?" He uttered.

Kagome stared at the area where Naraku had disappeared into. She couldn't help but get a really dreadful feeling about all of this, and his name… It seemed so familiar, like she had heard it before…


After the incident with Naraku Inuyasha thought it was best to take Kagome home. He escorted her back to her cottage, when the coast was clear the two of them made a run for Kagome's window.

"Inuyasha I'm afraid." Kagome grabbed onto his kimono before he could turn and leave.

"I know, don't worry I'll be watching from the tree line. I won't let anything happen to you." He assured.

Kagome nodded. She looked down and stared at her feet; Inuyasha's clawed hand gently took her chin and tipped her head back up towards his face. Looking into his gentle golden eyes her heart skipped a beat, "Hey, I told you I will protect you. So stop worrying." He promised.

Kagome nodded, she released his kimono and watched as he departed into the forest. He leapt into a tree within her sights. She felt a tinge of relief building up in her knowing he was watching over her. She climbed through the small crevasse of her window.


Kagome departed from her bedroom and walked into the kitchen. Her mother was sitting by the hearth patching a pair of Sota's trousers.

"Oh Kagome, where have you been? I was worried when the weather started to get bad, I tried to call out for you but you didn't reply." Her Mother asked.

Kagome plastered a fake smile onto her features, "I went for a walk into the village, I'm sorry to have worried you."

Her mother's features softened. "It's alright, just let me know next time, please."

Kagome nodded to her, she took a slice of freshly baked bread, back into her room with her. She positioned herself next to the window, peering out into the falling rain.

She knew Inuyasha was watching over her and it made her feel a lot safer. She slowly nibbled on the bread and kept her eyes in the direction of the forest. When she started to feel drowsy she lay her head down on the pillow and continued to think about what had happened today.

Before she knew it she had finished her bread and dozed off.


Kagome was awoken by her Mother's gentle voice in her ears, "Kagome today we have something special planned for you. Time to get up." She spoke gently.

"Mmmmm…" Kagome mumbled, slowly stirring.

She heard the sound of her mother rummaging through her dresser; slowly and wearily she unsealed her eyes. Her Mother was holding the dress that Hojo had given kagome as a gift, now Kagome's attention was caught.

She bolted up, "What're you doing?" She asked.

Her mother laughed, "You need to get up and get yourself cleaned up, and we're going into the neighboring village to formally meet Hojo and his family." She smiled.

Kagome had to hide the fact she was completely against this, she smiled, "Lovely."

Kagome's hair was curled and cleaned to the point it was shining. Her mother had forced lipstick onto her and she was clad in the brilliant gown Hojo had gifted her as well as the dazzling shoes. Her mother had also required her to wear a corset under the gown as an extra factor. Kagome although her discomfort looked exquisite.

Her mother backed away and gazed over her handy-work. "My goodness Kagome you look beautiful!" She sang.

Kagome half smiled, she ran her hands down the fabric of the dress and blew a strand of hair out of her face. Looking at her features one could tell she was utterly unimpressed.

Her ribs ached from the corset as she painstakingly walked; her father helped her onto one of the horses. To her surprise her father was also looking quite handsome; he was dressed in formal clothes. Her Mother walked out of the house, also dressed formally, she looked beautiful; her hair was done up nicely and she wore a simple yet beautiful gown similar to Kagome's but less flashy.

Kagome broke out into laughter (Which made her chest ache due to the tight corset) as her brother Sota emerged from the house, he looked absolutely adorable in his clothes and his hair was styled properly to the side. He noticed her laughing and shot her a 'I'm going to kill you' look.

The family looked like a proper rich bunch; which would surely impress Hojo's wealthy family.

As Kagome's horse followed her fathers at a trot, she peered back into the trees behind the cottage. 'Inuyasha…' She thought.


Inuyasha had awoken to Kagome's laughter off in the distance a short ways away. He perched from his branch on the tree and peered off into the distance locating the exact place her beautiful laughter was coming from than effortlessly leapt from branch to branch till he was close enough to see the scene below.

Kagome and her family were riding away on horseback. He crept back into the brush as he caught Kagome peering back in his direction. He furrowed his brows and cursed, he couldn't leave her alone with that Naraku villain watching them. He sighed; he would have no choice but to follow her.

Later…

Inuyasha stayed back a ways as he followed behind the family, lucky for him their horses were slow, but the downside to that was he had grown excruciatingly bored. It had been two hours now and it didn't seem like they were getting any closer to wherever they were headed.

Having time to spare he figure he would climb up into the tree tops and peer around to see if he could catch any glimpses of where they were going. He climbed the nearest tall tree and leapt right to the top branch, to his relief he could see smoke not too far off.

Climbing back down the tree he effortlessly caught back up to the horses, staying hidden of course.


Kagome's father called out "We're here!" This caused her to jump a little. She peered ahead as the village's tall walls came into view. Her heart began to beat fast and she internally released curses right up until they got to the wall.

She peered up into the two towers on either side of the gate to the village, two men stood in either side looking them over.

"Ah Mr. Higurashi, the headsman is expecting you, come on through." One of the men hollered waving them in.

Kagome's father did a little thank you nod towards him.

The village was massive, and very, very busy. The streets were packed with horses, carriages and people. Kagome had seen this village once before as a child but did not remember it like this. Market stands lined the streets and small to large buildings were crowded together. Kagome contemplated what it would be like living here day-to-day and concluded she would much rather live in her current village, this was all so… overwhelming.

They continued through the village all the while people running up to them trying to offer them clothes and food, she watched as her father just smiled and politely told them no. She wondered how he could remain so calm. It wasn't long before they arrived at a huge mansion; it was at least twenty of Kagome's cottages put together!

She was in complete awe looking over it. Her father halted the horses and then descended from his, he then helped Kagome's mother off of her horse before helping Kagome down from hers. Kagome's stomach felt like it had twisted into knots, she gulped.

"I'll let the headsman know we've arrived." Her father alerted them before entering the mansion.

Kagome waited in anticipation before she saw her father return, and then behind him emerged an older handsome man with dark hair who looked like an older Hojo; beside him came Hojo himself.

Hojo waltzed up to Kagome and took her hand laying a delicate kiss on it. Kagome's cheeks turned utterly red. He then led her by the same hand to his father.

"Father this is Kagome. Kagome this is my Father." Hojo introduced the two with a wide dazzling grin across his face.

"Nice to meet you." Kagome uttered nervously, giving a little bow.

Hojo's father smiled a handsome smile at her, "No need for the formality after all we'll be family soon right!" He laughed.

Kagome's heart stopped in her chest and she strained from keeping herself falling over.

Hojo let out a hearty laugh, "Oh Dad she hasn't said yes as of yet."

Hojo's father raised a brow, "Well what's keeping you from asking her when I was your age girls were falling all around me begging for me to ask them to marry me!"

Hojo let out an awkward laugh.

"Oh well all in good time I suppose, anyways please come inside!" His father settled.

Kagome half-smiled and was led inside by Hojo while her family remained outside for a moment chatting with Hojo's father.

Hojo laughed, "Sorry about that…"

Kagome blushed deeply, "its fine… "

Hojo had led Kagome to their dining room, which was glorious! The whole inside was decorated with antique scrolls and artwork, the two of them sat at the head of the table side-by-side. It wasn't long before the rest of Kagome's family and Hojo's father joined them.

"So Kagome, what kinds of things are you interested in?" Hojo's father asked, breaking the silence that had shortly filled the room.

Kagome took a sip of her tea before saying, "Well, I enjoy…" She took a moment to think and noticed her mother's glare at her. "I enjoy sewing… and horseback riding, cooking, cleaning, that kind of thing…" She bluntly lied.

Hojo's father slapped him on the back, "Oh ho! Sounds like you two are a perfect match. Speaking of which Hojo, now that you two are here don't you have something to ask the young lady?"

Hojo nearing sprayed his mouthful of tea all over everything, "Uhm well I was going to wait until later…"

"No, no, don't be shy we've all been waiting for this!"

Hojo turned towards Kagome, his face a bright red. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and then his eyes flicked up to meet Kagome's which made her heart skip a beat. "I… Uhm…"

"Come on boy!" Hojo's father yelled.

"Will… Will you marry me?" Hojo finally asked.


Hope you enjoyed that chapter, the next one will for sure at some point come out before Friday! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!