The couple walked into the living room to face their parents. They only saw Toga sitting there in one of the chairs that sat across from Inuyasha's couch. Izayoi and Ayumi was nowhere to be seen. Kagome looked at Toga with a scared expression on her face. Inuyasha felt her apprehension and nudged her forward. She walked to the couch and sat down with Inuyasha sitting beside her. Toga scooted forward and started. "Kagome I know you are scared and confused but there are some things that you need to know before we bring your mother in here. Izayoi convinced her to go to the store and buy some food for dinner tonight so we have some time. Kagome what do you know of demon mating and the rituals?"

Kagome stared at the older Inu. 'What does this have to do with the dreams?' "I only know that demons have mates and that they don't really have a ceremony like a wedding and such. What does this have to do with me?"

Inuyasha took hold of her hand and squeezed it a little. She looked at him and she instantly calmed a little. She turned her attention back to the older Inu when he started talking again.

"Kagome what I'm about to tell you is basically a crash course of demon mating and rituals. When a demon finds its mate, whether it be another demon, hanyou or human, they start having dreams about them doing the act… And this usually happens when the demon first meets its mate." He paused when Kagome realized what he was talking about. He continued. "Then, once the demon figures out whom their mate is, the demon starts courting or dating them, and the relationship usually goes from there like a normal human relationship; until the mating ceremony. Usually the dreams stop after the first mating. The mating ceremony is basically the demon equivalent of a human wedding ceremony. Once they mate, it is for life; and for eternity." He paused again. He watched as Kagome started to blush and look down as if in shame.

Kagome felt like she had got kicked in the stomach from shock. 'I'm Inuyasha's mate? And we're married in demon terms? And the dreams are visuals to let the demon know who its mate is… That's understandable… But wait….' "Then why are we still having the dreams if we…" She stopped herself. She didn't want Toga to know of her and his son's escapade.

He smiled lightly at his soon-to-be-daughter in law. "It's okay Kagome, I already know…"

She looked at him shocked and looked at Inuyasha. He had a guilty look on his face. "You told him?! Before we could even talk about it?!"

"I had to Kagome! I had to make sure that these dreams were 'the dreams'! And my father was the only one that could help us!"

"So what else does he know?! That we met at a bar and danced on the dance floor grinding on each other and that I was a virgin when you took me?!" He shook his head.

"I do now…"

She blushed and buried her face in a pillow that was on the couch. After she deemed it fine for her to be seen again she lifted her face to talk some more. "Okay so it's obvious that I'm Inuyasha's mate. Is that all? I thought something was really wrong…" She laughed a little after this. When she saw that the others weren't laughing or anything she stopped and looked at them. "That is it, right? I mean, what more could you tell me?"

Toga sighed across from her. "Kagome, when you two had sex, you were not marked as Inuyasha's mate and you did not commence the blood bonding ritual. That is where each of you take in some of the other's blood. This makes the weaker of the two stronger and able to live as long as the other. Each of you needs the other's blood to survive."

"W-What are you saying?" She asked him as she held onto Inuyasha's hand a little bit harder.

Toga sighed. 'Well here goes nothing…' "Kagome….without Inuyasha's blood in you, you will expire within a year. And when you go, Inuyasha will soon follow." He said with sadness laced into his voice.

Inuyasha sat there watching and listening to his father explaining to Kagome what he had been taught all of his life. He could sense the fear and worry rolling off Kagome. He pulled on her arm to pull her into his embrace. She looked at him with tear filled eyes. She let him place her in his lap. He emitted his low growl and made her calm down some as he felt her tears stain the shirt he was wearing. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to say so many things to her to make her understand, and not hate him in the end. All he could think of doing at the moment was hold onto her and whispered "I'm sorry" in her ear.

Kagome stopped crying after a while. She couldn't believe it. She was going to die; and Inuyasha would die after her. Why would the Kami's do this to a demon couple? What if they never found their mate? What if they chose the wrong person? She had so many questions but she only voiced one, "What happens now?"

"Well you two had sex in June so you have until June of next year to consummate the mating. Until then, your panic attacks and hypoglycemia will become more difficult to control. And it may shorten the time you have to consummate the mating…"

She thought of this and sat up straight Inuyasha's lap. "So all we have to do is have sex and drink some of each other's blood?! So we can go in there now and do it right?!"

"You have to be willing…" She heard being whispered behind her in her ear. She turned slightly to look at the amber eyes of her mate. She saw the worry and guilt laced in his demeanor and she could tell it on his face. She looked down and sighed. She stood from Inuyasha's lap and walked away from the living room. Inuyasha only hesitated a moment before he was following her out.

Toga watched the display between the couple. He sighed. He wished that he could do something to help his son out. But he couldn't; only his son and soon-to-be daughter in law could fix this. And he hoped that it happened in time; sooner rather than later.

Kagome found her way to the bedroom that her life changed forever. She sat down on the clean red satin sheets and smoothed out the wrinkles that she had caused. She reveled in the way they felt against her skin. She felt herself blush as the visions of the dreams she had had entered her mind. She sighed and felt Inuyasha at the door. She looked to him and he stood there looking at her. She sighed and turned away from him to lie down onto the bed. She sighed and felt her eyes close. She didn't realize how tired she was.

Inuyasha slowly walked over to the other side of his bed and sat down behind her. He still didn't know what to say. What could he say after his father, his sire, told his mate that they were going to die in less than nine months time if they didn't perform the blood bonding? He wanted to hold her, tell her that it was going to be okay, that she wouldn't die, that he lov… He halted his thinkings. 'Do I love her? I will come to love her eventually, but will she be able to love me?' "Kagome?"

"Hmm…"

"Are you okay?"

She sighed. She didn't know how or what to feel at the moment. "Inuyasha… I don't know. I just… I just need some time to think right now…"

He understood. He needed some time to think as well. With his mind made up, he scooted close to her behind, wrapped his arms gently around her and gave her a chaste kiss on her temple. "If you need anything just call me okay?" He felt her nod slightly and he relinquished his hold on her. She made a small whine when he pulled away and slightly smiled at her. He walked out of the room to let Kagome have her time.

She laid there for who knows how long when she felt tears run down her face. She was scared, betrayed, lonely and utterly confused. She wanted to be held by Inuyasha and at the same time she wanted to kill him slowly for bringing her into this. She just wanted to get the mating over with and get on with her life…with Inuyasha. She uttered a frustrated sigh. 'Why does it have to be him?! He is the most annoying, egotistical, maniacal, and he is the most…. wonderful man I have ever met.' She sighed as she rolled over onto her back and slung her arm over her eyes. She was so confused. 'Do I just do it with him? I am, technically, married to him… But do I love him enough to do it again? I have to do it again regardless of how I feel. He'll die after I die and I can't let that happen to him… but will I be able to love him after all of this?' She sighed again. "Inuyasha?" She called. She heard him walk into the room and stop at the foot of the bed.

"You need anything Kagome?"

She unveiled her eyes and looked up at him. "Just one thing." He paused to let her talk. She opened up her arms wide and made a pouty face. "Hold me?" He smiled slightly and got into his bed with her. She turned onto her side so that they were facing the other. He wrapped his arms around her and she cuddled into his arms. She sighed again.

He let her settle into his embrace and started to stroke her hair. Sighing again she was starting to get really sleepy. She wrapped her arms around his middle and cuddled even more so into his chest. She barely heard him say that he would be there when she woke up before she fell into the land of dreams.

Inuyasha watched her sleep as he stroked her hair slightly. It was hard to lay with her and think about what they would have to go through in the next couple of months. He figured the only way for her to mate with him willingly was he would have to prove to her that he was a good mate and also find love in one another. He just hoped that it would be before things got bad. And he knew that it with her health conditions it will only be six or seven months before the inevitable happened. He sighed and tears started to leak out of his eyes as he thought of the worse; Kagome hooked up in the hospital because her blood sugar couldn't be maintained. He didn't think he could handle it.

Kagome felt troubled by something as she came out of her sleep. She opened her weary eyes and saw Inuyasha with his eyes closed and a few tears streaking down his eyes. She wiped a tear away from his cheek. He opened his eyes and stared at her. She gave him a small reassuring smile and leaned forward and gave him a small but loving kiss. He accepted it and wrapped his arms around her form in a strong embrace. She eagerly returned it. Their hug lessened but their arms were still around each other. They looked into each other's eyes and stroked each other's hair; revealing in how it felt in their hands. "Why were you crying?" she asked after laying there for a few minutes.

He sighed as he took her hand from his hand and placed a kiss on top of it. "I'm worried about you…"

She sighed. "Why can't we just go ahead and do it? Does it have to be willingly?"

"Yes it does. In order for the bonding to work, it has to be done willingly. Or the blood would be rejected and you would become sicker. My blood would basically overtake yours and kill you…"

She sighed and hit her head on his chest. "Then I suggest we do this willingly huh?" she said against his chest.

He chuckled and kissed her head. "Yeah it would be best…"

They laid like that for a few minutes and Kagome had something on her mind. "Hey Inu?"

"Hmm?"

She looked up from his chest into his eyes as he looked down. "Is there a chance that we can love each other before we do it again? And is what I'm feeling from the initial mating or from spending time together? I'm just so confused… I want to be loved Inu and I feel like this is all my fault…"

He kissed her on the lips and it took her breath away. It was then that maybe love can come out of this. "Kagome this is no way your fault. We would have eventually met on that Monday and hit it off; and our relationship would've been normal. So just because all of this happened, it doesn't mean that it wasn't supposed to happen. So the feelings that you're feeling were there from the beginning; the situation is just different."

She sighed again. She didn't know what to think. But as she lay there in the arms of her 'mate' she felt somewhat okay with the way things came about; not so much of the whole dying if not 'mating' willingly part. But as sleep began to take her away again, she smiled at the way her dreams were playing out. He and her running around a field somewhere with two little children with doggy ears following them…