(AN) Wow! so many reviews and only one negative one. I must be doing something right. Thanks to all who reviewed, especially you Dinoboy for your consistant reviews. Good to know people are still coming back. Thanks all and keep it up!

NVP

Chapter 12

While Kagome and Inuyasha headed for the well, the rest of the gang made their way back to the village. By the time they arrived it was nearly nightfall and Kaede was busy building a fire outside her hut. With nothing better to do, they settled in and simply enjoyed each others' company. Tor'mac and Kaede sat silently and watched the sun give way to darkness while Sango kept an eye on Miroku's wandering hands next to the fire. Shippo was playing with Kirara a few feet away when she suddenly stiffened and growled in Sango's direction.

"What's wrong, Kirara?" Shippo asked, following her stare.

He didn't see it at first, only when it moved. When it did he lunged in her direction.

"Sango, Move!" He yelled, panic clear in his voice. Sango looked up, startled at the sight of Shippo flying at her, but did as she was told and jumped up.

"Fox fire!"

The blue flames enveloped the creature that had been hiding behind Sango. It thrashed the air for a few seconds, then lay still as the flames died away with its life. When they moved closer for a better look Miroku patted Shippo's head.

"Good work, Shippo. That snake is very poisonous."

"I know," He said proudly. Tor'mac stepped up heavily behind him.

Tor'mac looked down at him, then at the snake, then back at Shippo, who only grinned up at him widely. Tor'mac motioned to the snake as though he expected him to do something. Shippo could only frown in confusion. Tor'mac stepped over him and picked it up and moved away from them.

"Thank you Shippo," Sango said kneeling in front of him.

"Hmm? Oh, sure." Shippo said, still distracted.

Tor'mac knelt down with his back to them and drew his dagger. From his position, all Shippo could see was that he seemed to be doing something to the dead snake. Not really sure he wanted to know what, he joined the others by the fire. After nearly an hour, Tor'mac returned with his latest work in his hands and held it up so that Shippo could see it better. Shippo's jaw nearly hit the ground at the sight of it.

There was the snake. Or rather, what was left of it. It's skull was now suddenly bleached white and still moist as well as its spine. Tor'mac had taken small pieces of the skin and made spacers between each vertebrae and lashed them together with what Shippo hoped was string to make a small necklace. When Tor'mac felt Shippo had stared enough he placed it around his neck. Shippo lifted the skull up to face him. Even the fangs were still intact and protruded forward menacingly back at him. He fiddled with it for a moment before smiling back up at Tor'mac.

"Neat, thanks Tor'mac," Shippo said before running to show the others his prize.

When Shippo had, Sango turned to Miroku quietly.

"Why do you suppose he did that?" She whispered.

Miroku shrugged, "It is his way. He's made it fairly obvious he's a hunter. Shippo killed the snake, Tor'mac simply felt he needed a trophy."

Sango thought a moment then giggled as an image of Shippo in Tor'mac's armor flashed through her mind. Miroku looked at her sideways and Sango shook her head. "Never mind, just a funny thought is all."

While her friends prepared to sleep, five hundred years in the future poor Kagome couldn't have been more awake. She'd been perfectly calm right up until she got to her front door. Now Inuyasha sat on her doorstep, his head resting on his hand as he watched her babble to herself as she paced back and forth in front of him.

"Kagome, what are you so worked up about? They never had a problem with me, why would they with you?" He said finally.

Kagome stopped and sighed, "You're right," She looked determinedly at her door, "Lets do this."

Inuyasha stood up and moved aside to let her pass. Kagome stood still for a moment, then her head drooped downwards, "Five more minutes?" She said shyly.

Inuyasha folded his arms, "Kagome," He said slowly, his patience wearing thin. She sighed again and moved into the doorway. As soon as she entered the house she picked up their voices in the dining room, "We'd better come back later, I don't want to interrupt," She said and tried to turn back to the door.

"Too bad."

Inuyasha took her hand and pulled her through the hallway to where her family sat talking to each other. Kagome stopped just outside, still out of sight.

"Inuyasha, would you go in first? I don't want to scare them," She whispered.

Inuyasha studied her a moment, deciding whether or not she was planning to run as soon as he left her alone. Satisfied that she wouldn't, he nodded and moved around the corner where they could see him.

"Hey, Inuyasha," Sota said, jumping up from his chair, "Where's Kagome?"

Inuyasha struggled with himself, unsure of where to begin. Kagome's mother saw his unsure expression and became worried.

"Is she alright, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked up at her, his guilt-ridden voice quiet, "She's fine now."

Her grandfather narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean she's fine now? What kind of trouble did you get her into this time?"

Inuyasha's gaze dropped to the floor, 'better get this over with…'

After he had explained the situation as best he could, he took Kagome's hand as she entered the room. Sota's face lit up immediately when he noticed the similarities between her and his hero. Her grandfather's jaw hit the table and his eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets.

Her mother rushed over and cradled her face in her hands, "Kagome, you're adorable!" She said looking up at her ears.

Kagome smiled, but it quickly faded when she realized what was coming. Her mother's hands moved up and began rubbing her ears. Surprisingly, it felt really good. Based on the reaction she'd always gotten from Inuyasha she had expected it to be annoying. Inuyasha fought hard to keep from laughing but a snicker eventually found a way out.

Kagome's grandfather stormed over to Inuyasha, "How could you even think to do something like this!"

"How about 'to save my life' for starters?" Kagome said dryly

He didn't listen, "Come Kagome, we'll expel the demon blood in you!"

"It won't work," Inuyasha said as he leaned against a wall, arms folded as usual.

Her grandfather's face turned red,"And just why is that? You don't think I can do it!

"I know you can't."

Her grandfather shook with anger, "Why you insolent little…"

Inuyasha cut him off, "Even if you could pull off a proper exorcism, all you would do is hurt Kagome."

Everyone frowned, including Kagome. Inuyasha continued, "The blood I gave her is part of her now. She's as much a half demon as if she were born that way."

Her grandfather slumped, defeated. Kagome patted his shoulder, "Hey, it's alright grandpa. I like being like this. I'm safer this way than I was before given how dangerous my life has become. This is for the best."

Inuyasha left the room to give the family some privacy. He didn't go far though, he said he'd be there for Kagome so he'd stay where he could keep an ear in the room. Kagome was giving a vague version of what had happened to her to ease their worries. When she was done they moved on to lighter subjects, finally letting the issue drop

Kagome talked with her family a while longer, then went looking for Inuyasha. He was waiting in her room, sitting against the wall.

"They finally let you go?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna take a bath before bed, ok?"

Inuyasha nodded and Kagome left him in silence. A while later, after her bath, Kagome returned already changed into her sleep clothes and sat down to try to do some of her homework.

"How do you plan on going back to that 'school' thing now?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome put her pen down. Until now it hadn't occurred to her that that might be a problem.

"I could just wear a hat like you do when you're here," She said smiling.

"Feh," was his only response.

Shortly thereafter, Kagome's studies wore her out and she headed for bed. Inuyasha took his place on the floor next to her. Before she retired completely, Kagome reached over and rubbed his ears and this time, he didn't pull away.

"See, it does feel good doesn't it?" Kagome laughed.

"Only when you do it," He said, looking over his shoulder at her.

Kagome smiled again. Inuyasha fell asleep with Kagome gently stroking his hair until she herself fell asleep. Inuyasha slept very well-for a while. Several hours later he awoke to a deep feeling that something was wrong. He tried to go back to sleep, wanting to return to the comfort of being near her but his mind wouldn't rest. He began patrolling the halls of her home instead, not really expecting to find anything. It was probably just his cautiousness of the feudal era that made him paranoid here. He walked down every hallway, checked every empty room, as well as Kagome's family and they were all fast asleep.

Satisfied with his sweep of the house, Inuyasha moved outside. Immediately he was bombarded with the many sounds and smells of Kagome's world. He took a moment to adjust, wanting to focus on only the ones nearby. There was something there. A vaguely familiar scent that he couldn't place and that was a feeling he was quickly tiring of, recalling when he'd detected Tor'mac.

Whoever it was, he'd been around them before and they shouldn't be here this late at night unannounced. Kagome's friends surly knew better than to come here so late. Inuyasha followed the scent around the house into the backyard. At first it seemed empty, until he heard a male voice grunt as if lifting something heavy. He followed the sound skyward to its source.

There, just climbing up onto a tree limb that overlooked Kagome's window was a dark figure. He was wearing some kind of mask to hide his face and apparently he hadn't noticed he wasn't alone yet.

'He will shortly.'

Inuyasha growled and leapt quietly up onto the same branch behind the intruder who was leaning out over his perch with a pair of binoculars. Inuyasha crept up behind him and for a moment considered simply knocking him out of the tree. Two stories would see to it that he didn't come around again.

He thought better of it though. Kagome probably wouldn't like a dead body in her backyard even if it was a peeping tom. Inuyasha leaned in close to his ear.

"Good view, huh?"

Scared out of his mind, the man lost his grip on the branch and started to fall. At the last moment Inuyasha caught him by the front of his black shirt and jumped the rest of the way to the ground. He held him tightly and practically screamed into his face.

"Listen, I don't know who the hell you are, but next time I catch you spying on my Kagome I'll find something taller than the tree to throw you off of, got it!"

The man nodded quickly as he whimpered and squirmed. Inuyasha gave one last, disgusted look before tossing him hard in the direction of the front gate. Inuyasha followed slowly as he ran around the house and under the arch that marked the top of the long stairway. Inuyasha stopped there and watched as the pervert fell over himself in a blind panic to get away all the way to the street below. Inuyasha made a mental note of his scent in case he encountered this one again. If he did, he wouldn't be as merciful as tonight.

'Damn, I should have ripped his mask off too, oh well.'

Inuyasha went back around the house to make sure no one else was around when he saw Kagome hanging out her window.

"Inuyasha? What's going on?" She called sleepily, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Nothing now, but you may want to close your curtains from now on."

Kagome took a few moments to put the pieces together, then looked down at him, worried.

"Did you see who it was?"

Inuyasha kicked at the dirt, not wanting to reveal his mistake, "Doesn't matter, he wont be back anytime soon. I saw to that.

Kagome relaxed and smiled down at him, "Why don't you come back in then, its cold out here."

Inuyasha nodded and jumped up to her window and crawled in. As soon as he was inside, Kagome threw her arms around him. Inuyasha was too surprised to react right away.

"Thank you, Inuyasha," She said into his chest.

Inuyasha quickly recovered and returned the gesture, "No problem, it's why I'm here remember." Inuyasha rested his chin on her head, taking in her scent.

Kagome smiled and just enjoyed the moment. That is until her door opened and her mother walked in.

"Kagome, what's all the fuss about...Oh!"

All sleepiness flew from her mother as she noticed their embrace. Kagome and Inuyasha jumped apart stuttering.

"Mom, it's not what it looks like. There was someone outside!"

Her mother gave her a coy look, "I'm sure there was dear," She said and closed the door, satisfied that her embarrassment had halted any further actions. She knew Kagome wasn't making up stories, she trusted her daughter, but she couldn't resist teasing her.

'She's just lucky it was me who came in and not her grandfather,' She thought as she made her way back to her room.

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