Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

So, it's not as soon as I would have originally liked, but in comparison to how long it usually takes me to update, it didn't take forever, right? Anyways, please enjoy!

Walking Tightropes

Chapter 19: Little White Lies

When I first heard "Heart Attack" on the radio, I thought it was stupid that Demi Lovato included a part about being paralyzed when some guy was around. But now I understand- I understand completely and I really, really wish I didn't.

-x-

"So, where are we going for our date?" We had already driven past all the date spots I was familiar with and I was getting tired of guessing in my head. "I know you said it was a surprise, but I can't wait any longer."

"Dinner and a movie," Inuyasha answered, checking his blind spot before switching lanes. I made a face and he caught it just before I washed the look away. "What? Do you have something against food and movies?"

"No," I shook my head. "It's just that it's not very original. I'm a bit disappointed." I wasn't the type of girl who expected the best first date ever or thought that it would set the tone of the whole relationship, but dinner and a movie? "I expected something a little more creative."

"I forewent creativity for a stereotypical date so you could clearly understand that this is a date." Inuyasha glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "You didn't get the hint when I took you to the arcade."

"That was a date?" I groaned and rubbed the heel of my hand into my temple. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did! Don't you remember the e-mail? I definitely wrote 'it's a date.'"

"That could have been taken any way, and you know it." Inuyasha rolled his eyes and I crossed my arms over my chest. "You should have clarified."

"Something about the repeated emphasis on being 'friends' scared me off."

I shrunk a bit in my seat and looked out the window, slightly embarrassed. "I only said that because I didn't know if it was really a date and I didn't want to embarrass myself…"

"So much confidence," Inuyasha teased.

"It's not like you bothered to clear things up."

"Because we were friends who were going to have a very close friendship."

"Don't mock me."

"Fortunately for you, I caught on to all your hints and figured I should save you the trouble and ask you out."

"Hints?" I raised a brow at him. Was I really that obvious? "Like what?"

"Like the bikini, threatening to throw girls into the pool, the way you avoided me after each event," Inuyasha listed and I turned bright red. I was that obvious. "And then you placed a bet on me and tried to sabotage the leap frog race because you were that jealous."

I choked on air. "You knew about that?"

"No," he admitted. "But your best friend has a really big mouth, especially when she's drunk and wants to 'speed up the process.'"

"I'm going to kill her," I swore, shaking my head. How could Sango have done this to me? "I'm going to kill her."

"But we're finally on a date."

"She's still dead."

"I find your sabotage flattering though," Inuyasha grinned at me and I just raised my brow, doubting him. "It's very charming to know you would go to such lengths just for me." Inuyasha's grin only grew and he winked. "Very cute."

I hid my face in my hands and sunk down even lower in the seat. "I'm killing her tonight."

-x-

The restaurant Inuyasha took me to was a hole-in-the-wall kind of place near the artsy part of downtown Tokyo. The outside wasn't much to look at, but the actual restaurant was like something out of a movie. It was small with only a few tables and a bar against the left wall; the lighting was provided by faery lights that hung from the ceiling as well as candles that were set on each table. There was a little stage set up in the corner where a girl was sitting on a stool, strumming a guitar and singing some song that had to be an original. And, the table Inuyasha reserved was right by the large ceiling-to-floor window, giving me a perfect view of my surroundings.

Everything was perfect. The lighting, the girl singing, the candle on our table flickering and casting a shadow over Inuyasha's eyes, the very tempting sushi selection on the menu—it was fucking perfect.

And I just sat in my seat, silent. Blowing it.

In my mind I knew I was supposed to be speaking to fill the dead air in between us, but my tongue had effectively tied itself into a knot as soon as I ordered my drink. Inuyasha tried starting a conversation multiple times, but I just continued looking at my menu and hummed a response, unable to open my mouth, terrified that something stupid would come flying out.

I hated first dates. This particular first date took the phrase "crash and burn" to a whole new level, but I had never been a champion with them. First dates were the start of a "trial period" and tended to shake my confidence, leaving room for my nerves to overreact. Even though the past three weeks should have given Inuyasha a good grasp on my personality, we had been friends just playing with the idea of being more. He knew I could be a good friend and one hell of a flirt, but now we were on a date—the first date—and I was being scrutinized for true girlfriend talent.

Before Inuyasha, I kept my nerves under control by orchestrating dates at lighter, less serious places. Like we would go mini golfing or bowling and I usually carried the conversation by trash talking until I felt comfortable again. Letting Inuyasha surprise me as to where were going was a bad idea—a terrible idea. I was stuck at one of the most romantic restaurants I'd been to in all my years of dating, unable to find words that wouldn't lead to embarrassment.

I hated surprises.

I shifted nervously in my seat and the hem of my skirt rose again. I should have worn jeans, I cursed to myself, tugging on my skirt. I should have gone down swinging for my jeans. Sango should have had to literally force me into this damn skirt.

"So…" Inuyasha started and I immediately tensed. "Have you ever been here before?"

"No."

Silence.

"… Do you like it?"

"Yeah."

Silence.

"Okay…." Inuyasha scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "What movie do you want to see later?"

"Yes."

Inuyasha stared at me, jumpstarting the fire that was bound to burn across my cheeks at one point tonight. I bowed my head, hating myself even more for actually opening my mouth. This was what happened when I got nervous: everything came out wrong.

"Are you feeling alright, Kagome?"

"I'm fine," I insisted, but he still raised a brow at me. "I am, I promise. It's just…" I bit my lip. If I admitted I was nervous he'd know how much I liked him and that meant I lost.

"Just…" Inuyasha prodded, clearly wanting an answer that explained my sudden weird behavior. I didn't want to talk and end up putting my foot even further into my mouth. Inuyasha looked frustrated. "Kagome, if you don't want—"

"Is it weird that I prefer flirting more than actual dating?" I blurted out and Inuyasha gaped at me; he was either shocked by the fact that I was actually talking or shocked by the fact that I had just admitted my preference to being a tease. Probably the latter. "Does that say something about me?"

"Um…"

"Because we've been alone together plenty of times and I could still speak without making an idiot of myself, but now we're on a date and I'm too nervous to even think straight, let alone form sentences. Before it was more light and fun, but this feels more serious and it stresses me out."

Inuyasha's eyes squinted as he tried to understand. "So you don't like relationships?"

"No!" The last thing I wanted him to think was that I lived up to my reputation. Stupid, stupid mouth. "Of course I like relationships, of course. I mean it's less nerve-wracking when it's more of an informal thing."

"So you don't like dating?"

"I don't like dates." Inuyasha's brows furrowed in confusion. "It makes sense in my head."

Inuyasha put his elbow on the table and rested his cheek in his hand, shaking his head slightly. "Do your dates always go this well?"

"First dates always stress me out." There was no need to reveal how this date was a whole different level of stress. I always started to babble at some part during a date, but now I was genuinely afraid of admitting the wrong thing since my filter was disabled. I was terrified of screwing this one up. "I'm much better at second dates. Less stressful."

"But we've done this practically every day—just the two of us, eating."

"But not with actual menus," I pointed out, jabbing the plastic menu that was open in front of me, and Inuyasha looked like he was contemplating my sanity.

"But you were talking fine in the car earlier."

"The whole date thing hadn't set in yet." Inuyasha didn't seem to be buying it. "I know I sound stupid and kind of crazy, but the nerves are real. Trust me."

"You like me that much, huh?"Inuyasha asked, a crooked grin spreading across his face, and I ducked my head to hide my embarrassment.

"Are you always this cocky on dates?"

"Depends on the girl," Inuyasha smiled and I felt my cheeks heat up again. "So how do you usually get through your terrible first dates?"

"I just babble a lot and hope nothing too bad comes out," I admitted. "For some reason guys think it's charming and honest that I lost the ability to put a cork in my mouth, and honesty is oddly appealing. I personally think I'm being taken advantage of."

"You don't think honesty is the best policy?"

"Everyone has the right to their secrets."

"What are your secrets?"

I raised my brows at Inuyasha. "I'm nervous and babbling, not drunk and willing to reveal all my secrets." I shook my head. "That's stupid."

I could see another smile working onto Inuyasha face. Well, that was good. It was a relief to know Inuyasha was just like the others in the sense that he found my honesty charming. I might make it through this date with some dignity after all.

"Let's play twenty questions then."

I frowned before I could stop myself. "Again?"

"Considering the fact you can't talk without going off on a tangent, I think it'll help you stick to an actual topic." He smirked at me. "Unless you want me to continue to let you babble on freely in hopes you spill some of you deep dark secrets."

My secrets could never be told. Ever. All I needed was one slip-up about Dai for the whole relationship to blow up in my face.

"Fine," I finally conceded. "But no stupid questions. These are serious, get-to-know-you questions, alright? We're getting personal tonight."

"Perfect." Inuyasha sat back in his seat, his crooked grin spreading like butter on toast, and I hated myself for being so easily drawn to him. "I want to get to know you on a personal level anyways."

We made it through the appetizer and main course on the backs of simple questions that tended to unravel into actual conversations. A question about the short story I was writing for my college portfolio led to me explaining the inspiration for it which led me to telling Inuyasha about the time Grandpa encountered a snake in our backyard and tried to kill it with a shovel (it slithered too quickly for his comfort and he took off screaming like a girl and we had to get the neighbors for help which actually made Inuyasha laugh.) InuYasha told me about a similar experience, when his sister-in-law was trying to get rid of a bat that had flown into their house through the chimney and she ended up locking herself out of the house. By the time the waiter placed dessert on the table, our conversation had gotten so natural I (almost) forgot we were playing a game.

"Can you possibly explain to me your exes?"

Like I said, almost.

My smile immediately vanished. "No."

"No, what?"

"No, we're not having that conversation." I might not be the best at first dates, but that didn't mean I was stupid enough to dive into a conversation about my infamous dating history. "Why do you even care?"

"Just curious," Inuyasha shrugged, but I narrowed my eyes at him, not believing it was a simple case of curiosity. "And I don't even care about all of them. Just the ones who go to our school and that I have the greatest probability of meeting."

"Most guys prefer not to hear about their predecessors unless it's an absolute necessity."

"It is a necessity," he insisted. "It's not like they're some guys I'm never going to run into. Most of them probably go to school and could possibly be scheming to get you back and I'd like to know which ones to look out for."

"Trust me, none of them are trying to cozy back up to me." My horrendous break-ups encouraged guys to spread nasty rumors rather than try to win me back. "And didn't Ayame and Sango fill you in on all my exes while I was getting dunked into a chamber of cold, nasty water yesterday?"

"They just said their names and why you broke up with them. They didn't say which ones were, you know, serious."

"Are…" My smile widened with realization. "Are you jealous?"

"No!" Inuyasha protested too loudly so the entire restaurant turned to glare at him and he shrunk in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just concerned."

"Don't be," I laughed.

"What about Hojo? I feel like he'd try to get you back after his douchebaggery fizzles out."

I scoffed. "I'm positive Hojo hates me with every fiber in his body."

"What about that guy on the Shikon Times' staff?"

"Raiden?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha snapped his fingers, recognizing the name. "Him."

"We're just friends."

Inuyasha shook his head. "Definitely on my radar."

"You're ridiculous," I sighed, biting back a smile. "You have absolutely no reason to be jealous of my exes," I assured him. "None of them were serious. I mean, not in an I'm-completely-and-hopelessly-in-love-with-you kind of way. At least not on my part." It would be a bold faced lie to say the guys I dated never felt more, but dwelling on that tended to make me feel bad about myself. "None of them really had what I was looking for."

"So I don't need to be jealous of any of your exes?" Inuyasha asked for clarification.

"Nope."

"Is there anyoneI need to be jealous of?"

"Bank," I joked, laughing at the absurdity of the idea myself. There's no way in hell I would ever date Bankotsu. "I'm secretly in love with him."

Inuyasha laughed. "No seriously," he said, looking at me and the sincerity in his eyes made me pause. "Do I have any competition?"

Against my will, I hesitated.

"Uh… no. No," I repeated with more conviction, squashing down the little bit of guilt my conscience had managed to push into my mind. "You have no competition. But what about me?" I asked, clearing my throat and shoveling cake into my mouth. "Who am I competing with? Groupies? Erin?" I gasped and dropped my fork with a clatter onto the table. "Are you secretly hooking-up with Kouga?" Inuyasha tried to contain the water in his mouth, but a small stream dribbled down his chin as he started coughing. I tried to remain serious and not laugh. "I mean, I know we've joked about you two being a match made in heaven, but come on."

"Don't even joke like that," Inuyasha grimaced, shuddering at the idea while wiping his face with a napkin—I laughed at him. "There's no one."

"No one?"

"I mean, yeah, I have a fan club of screaming girls"—I couldn't stop the roll of my eyes—"but I only like you." Inuyasha's cheeks were a light shade of pink as he shoved a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. "So no," he mumbled, looking down at the plate. "No competition."

Whatever guilt I was feeling was completely eclipsed by complete joy and I immediately forgot it.

"You know," I started, smiling coyly at Inuyasha as he kept stuffing his mouth with cake and ice cream, avoiding eye contact. "I'm really starting to like this whole talking thing." Inuyasha stopped long enough to catch my eye and I beamed at him. "I like you, too."

Inuyasha froze and his fork fell from hand as his eyes widened and his face reddened and it all just made me smile harder.

"Damn, Kagome."

-x-

"Do you want to walk around downtown?"

"I thought we were going to the movies." I stepped out of the restaurant behind Inuyasha, pulling my jacket tighter around me, though it didn't do much for my shivering legs. Stupid Sango and her stupid ideas. "You know, since I'm too stupid to realize when I'm on a date."

"That was just a cover for if things sucked at the restaurant. I wanted to use the theater as an excuse to still be with you without the awkward pressure of talking."

"You were still planning on continuing on our date even if I royally screwed up?"

Inuyasha looked at me as if that was the dumbest question I had ever asked. "Yeah."

"Oh."

"So do you want to go downtown?" Inuyasha looked me over and must have taken note of the temperature drop and the fact that I was still in a tiny skirt. "Or we can go to the movies, too. It's really not a big deal or anything."

"No, I want to stay downtown." Even if it was freezing outside, I'd rather spend the extra two hours talking to Inuyasha. "I'd like to celebrate the fact that I successfully managed to take my foot out of my mouth."

"But—"

"And we'll be going in and out of shops and stuff, right?" Inuyasha nodded. "So I'll warm up in there. It'll be fine." I rubbed my hands over my legs to circulate enough blood flow to hopefully keep me warm for the walk and smiled up at Inuyasha. "Let's go."

The first place Inuyasha took me to was some herb shop that's sign featured a peace symbol overtop a tie-dyed background and InuYasha perused the isles for an extremely natural herbal tea (I suspected Inuyasha would be bribing his way on to Grandpa's good side.) After the herb shop we stopped by a record store and then a used book store that doubled as a café where I bought three books and Inuyasha drank two cups of coffee by himself.

Inuyasha was about to drag me down another block to another unknown location (he really loved his surprises) when we walked past a vintage clothing store. I pulled him inside after me because I could only pretend to be oblivious to the cold for so long; my legs were two seconds away from freezing into icicles and shattering and I really needed to buy a pair of jeans.

"How about these?" Inuyasha held up a pair of light washed jeans with stars on them and I wrinkled my nose. "What? Patterned jeans are in now. Everybody wears these!"

"I'm not insulting you knowledge of fashion," I assured him, laughing as his ears drooped, giving away his bruised ego. "But those don't match my sweater. Or my personal style for that matter."

"Whatever." Inuyasha shoved the jeans back on the rack and I kept searching. "What are you looking for then?"

"Just regular, plain, simple, boring jeans."

"Maybe you should keep the skirt on," Inuyasha mumbled under his breath and I hit his arm. "Kidding! Are these what you're looking for?"

"Yes," I smiled at the dark-washed pair of jeans he was holding in his hands. "Just a bigger size." Honestly, those looked like a size negative zero.

We finally found a pair of black jeans in my size and, after shopping for hats, shades, and a pair of irresistible short-overalls, Inuyasha finally pushed me behind the curtain of a dressing room before I could force him into trying on anymore tacky shirts and weird hats.

"There's a music shop about a block or two from here when you're done," Inuyasha said from the other side of the curtain as I stepped out of my skirt. "I usually just buy my strings there, but there are a lot of instruments we could try to play."

"I'm pretty sure I'm musically challenged and attempting to play an instrument will end in nothing but disaster."

"You can't be that bad."

"I almost failed first grade because my music teacher was appalled at my lack of ability to play the recorder." Inuyasha snorted and I smiled at my accomplishment as I put on my jeans. They were high-waisted and a little loose and stiff in some areas, but they were warm. "But how do you find all these places anyways? I've lived here my entire life and I've never heard of any of the places we've been."

"As a musician, I'm required to look in the more obscure parts of town for random gigs. It took me three days of intense job hunting to find that place we ate at tonight. I used to perform there after school before you told me about Midnight Blues."

"Interesting."

"I still go there when I have time off."

"So that's like your spot then." I cuffed the bottom of my jeans (they were too long) and then pulled back the curtain, smiling at Inuyasha as he pushed off the wall he was leaning against. "I guess that makes me special."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, but still laughed. "I guess." He gave me a once over. "As much as I liked the skirt, you look hot in jeans too."

I grinned. "I look good in everything."

After skimming the racks for band t-shirts (for Inuyasha) and Marvel Comics hoodies (for me), we finally made it to the register with three hats, two pairs of shades, a t-shirt for Inuyasha, my jeans (I had the cashier scan the tag I had ripped off after leaving the dressing room), and the short-overalls Inuyasha couldn't talk me out of buying. He basically had to shove me out of the store before I could blow more money on clothes I probably wouldn't even get around to wearing.

"We should get some dessert," I said after we had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

"We're going to the music store…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know that. I meant after I make your ears bleed with my horrific musicality. You're going to want something sweet and sugary to make you feel better."

"You can't be that bad."

"I am. But I think there's a cupcakery around here." The street signs started looking a bit familiar about two blocks ago. "I haven't been there, but I think Kikyo mentioned it was around this area. She said it was really good."

"Hm."

"She said you could get pretty much any kind of cupcake there. I wonder if you can get them with a bunch of toppings, like at fro-yo places. I would stack mine extra high with gummy worms. Not that that sounds very appetizing… My mom has been annoyingly helpful about my whole 'eat healthy' kick so there's practically no sweets at all in my house," I continued babbling as we rounded the corner. "I'm beating my brains out with nothing but celery sticks and carrots which is part of the reason why I'm always—"

Inuyasha's hand slid into mine and, involuntarily, my mouth stopped moving and words got caught in my throat and what could have been a subtle, but sweet moment became a huge deal because of the silence. My mind shut down for a solid five seconds and my heart rate sped up to an alarming rate.

I looked up at Inuyasha, but his eyes were trained forward. "Um…"

"My hands are cold," he mumbled, scratching the bridge of his nose. "Aren't you cold? I think it got even colder since we went inside the store."

No, I wasn't cold. I had just changed into clothes that actually covered my thighs and the warmth of the vintage shop still clung to my skin. And Inuyasha's own hand was extremely warm in mine; there was no way his hands were cold to begin with.

I smiled up at him and repositioned our hands so that our fingers were linked, watching as Inuyasha's lips quirked into smile even as he kept staring ahead of us.

"I guess I'm cold too," I sighed, leaning in closer to him. Inuyasha finally looked at me and I beamed up at him. "See? I can catch on to your hints, too."

Inuyasha blushed and shook his head. "Shut up, Kagome."

Walking down the street holding hands with Inuyasha felt like something from a dream—a fairy tale. Like I had finally found my prince and everything about him was good and great and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Despite this just being the beginning, holding hands felt like my happy ending and that thought made me dizzy. With joy, ecstasy, delirium, fear—I was just dizzy. And happy. Ridiculously happy.

But, because I had some sort of disease where I couldn't just appreciate the good things in life, guilt began creeping up on me.

I told Inuyasha that he had no competition, no one to worry about, but in reality there was Dai. Beautiful, insightful, perfect Dai who just so happened to be dating someone, but still—I should tell Inuyasha. Not blatantly of course (for the hundredth time, I'm not an idiot), but vaguely. Just to get it off my chest.

"We're still playing twenty questions, right?"

"I think it's more like a million, but yeah," Inuyasha shrugged. "Ask away."

"Have you ever been in love?" He raised a brow at me. "I'm just… curious."

"You mean jealous."

"I think we agreed that the correct wording was 'concerned.'" Inuyasha laughed and I jabbed him lightly in the side with my elbow. "Seriously, though. Answer the question."

"Um…" I was actually surprised when Inuyasha hesitated and I looked up to see him scratching his head. This was just supposed to be a question to lead into my vague confession about Dai— Inuyasha wasn't supposed to have an actual answer. And didn't we go over this in Lit when we were doing poetry? Didn't he already say he'd never been in love? There shouldn't be any hesitation. "Not really."

"Not really?" I repeated, skeptical. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just not really," he shrugged, but I glared at him, demanding more of an explanation. "Not really" did not fit the definition of "no." "Just…" he finally gave in, sighing. "The relationship never lasted long enough to progress into more, but it could have. Probably would have."

"Oh." It never occurred to me that Inuyasha really had that much of a serious dating history. I never even considered the fact that there could be someone from his past I could actually get jealous over. "So—"

"So now she's just a bitch from my past," he cut me off before I could ask any more questions. He turned to me and the look in his eyes said that it would be in my best interest not to dive deeper into that particular subject. "Come on, we're almost there."

"Don't you want to ask if I've ever been in love?"

"Why? You already said none of your boyfriends were that serious."

"Right." I bit my lip as we crossed the street, not waiting for the little "walk" sign to light up. "Well, I was in love. Not with one of my boyfriends, but—Hey!" Inuyasha stopped in the middle of the crosswalk and I hurried to push him forward, not wanting to get hit by the car that was zooming down the street. "You can't stop like that," I huffed when we were safely on the sidewalk. "We could have died!"

"That's a bit dramatic."

"A car was coming." He rolled his eyes. "You didn't see that car? It was way over the speed limit! I'm sorry I'm not a demon who thinks he's freaking invincible, but—"

"You were in love with somebody?"

"Uh…" The abruptness of the subject change and the serious look in Inuyasha's eyes threw me off a bit and I stood there gaping for a second before slowly nodding. "Yeah. But it was one of those unrequited things and when I did think about telling him, he asked out some other girl and they've been dating forever."

There. I said it. Kind of…

Whatever. The point is, I have no reason to feel guilty anymore.

"Are you telling me this because you might still have feelings for this guy and you want to give me some kind of heads up?"

I blanched. "What? No! I'm over this guy." Inuyasha quirked a brow at me. "I mean it took a while, but it's hard to remain infatuated with someone who seems to have no interest in you."

"So you told me about him because…"

"Because I didn't want you to think I'm some slut who's incapable of love."

Inuyasha scoffed. "For the billionth time, I don't think you're a slut. Or a whore or a bitch with a sex addiction."

"Thanks…" God, my reputation seriously sucked. "Even so, it's good to have proof." I turned around so I was standing in front of Inuyasha and I looked up into his eyes, grabbing his other hand. "I am capable of love. Okay?'

"Okay," he laughed. "I get it."

"Good."

"But I would have been fine without the proof." He let go of one of my hands and started walking again and I fell into step next to him. "Knowing you had some unrequited love is actually worse than your thirty exes."

"How?"

"With unrequited love there's always those 'what-if' scenarios that make it almost impossible to forget them. Like, if you get pissed at me, you might think, 'So-And-So would have handled the situation better,' because you'd never actually dated him. But because you liked him, you could make up a whole fantasy about how great he is." Inuyasha shook his head and I tried to rid the shocked look from my face. "Unrequited loves are basically placed on fucking pedestals."

"It's not like that."

"Really? Not even in the back of your mind?"

"Nope." Inuyasha still looked doubtful. "I actually did tell the guy I was in love with him once, when I got really drunk, and he didn't have the best reaction."

"Oh."

"Yeah." So what if Dai's bad reaction was 100% related to the fact that I threw up on him before I could even tell him I was in love with him? Leaving out that bit of truth couldn't hurt too much. "So, anyways, no need to worry about any 'what-if' scenarios."

"No competition?"

I took a deep breath and smiled up at him. "None at all."

A part of me felt bad and slightly stupid for ending up exactly where I started, but I tried to come clean. It wasn't my fault Inuyasha asked additional questions… It was the effort that counted, right? And it was only a few white lies. They couldn't hurt.

I felt a raindrop hit my nose and I looked up just as thunder clapped loudly above us.

"Shit," Inuyasha mumbled, looking up at the sky. "I think it's going to rain."

"Wow," I drawled. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Just hurry up," he said, pulling me along behind him as the few random raindrops quickly grew into a light drizzle. He looked back at me and shot me the crooked grin I was quickly becoming obsessed with. "I want to test your saxophone skills."

"I'm very saxy."

The rain started to fall harder, but I could still see Inuyasha's smile through the curtain of rain as he shook his head. "Shut up."

-x-

"So…" We stood awkwardly in front of my door, rocking back on our heels. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "It was great."

"Even the part where you got soaked in the rain because I didn't think to bring an umbrella?" Inuyasha, ever the genius, forgot to check the music stores' hours and when we got there it was closed, just like every other shop on the block. We ended up having to run all the way back to his car in the pouring rain. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. Spending all day in the dunk tank yesterday properly prepared me."

"Right," he smiled. "I didn't make you walk too much did I?" I shook my head and Inuyasha let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Kouga told me taking you downtown was stupid because you'd complain about how much your feet would hurt."

"You asked Kouga for dating advice?"

"I was at a low point and panicking."

"Trust me, don't take date advice from Kouga. The first few months of him and Ayame's relationship were terrible because his date ideas sucked."

"Glad I went with my instinct then."

"Smart decision."

"Yeah. Kouga's an idiot."

"Yeah."

Inuyasha coughed to clear his throat, but he didn't say anything. He rocked back on his heels and looked at the sky, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The crickets chirped around us and the wind blew softly. I watched the people in the house across the street turn off their porch lights while a car skidded in the distance. I counted about twenty stars in the sky, but still nothing happened.

"Uh, so I'm—"

"Are you going to kiss me tonight or wait another week to tease me?" Inuyasha's jaw went slack. Normally, that would never have come out of my mouth, but he was taking forever and we already wasted a week not dating when we could have been dating. "I mean, I'm ready for it, but if you're nervous…"

Inuyasha's cheeks were pink, but he still laughed. "I'm not nervous."

"Really? Because we've been standing here for five minutes looking at the sky and you haven't made one move."

"I was trying to let a mood set in before going in for the kill. You can't just kiss somebody out of the blue, Kagome."

"Why not? I love surprises!"

"You hate surprises," he reminded me.

"I can make exceptions for certain surprises."

"But I can't grab you and start shoving my tongue down your throat without looking like I'm harassing you."

"Whoa. Nobody said anything about tongue." I took a step back from him. "I'm starting to get a bit worried with how forward you are."

"Really?" Inuyasha raised his brow at me. "You, the girl who bluntly told me to kiss her, really wants to go there?"

"That just came out," I shrugged. "I babble a lot. I told you this."

"So it was just your nerves trying to fill dead space? You didn't really mean it."

"I never said that." Inuyasha caught my eyes before slowly starting to smile, taking a step closer, and my heart felt like it was going to burst and, despite how much I wanted this, I went into panic mode. "I mean, I only said that because you were taking too long and one of us had to be the man here. And I understand you have manners and wanted to be polite and not push yourself on me, but you don't have to hide your nerves with some stupid excuse about how—"

"Kagome," Inuyasha cut me off, grabbing my face with both hands and staring into my eyes. "Shut up."

"You tell me to shut up a lot and I don't think—"

"Shh…"

My heartbeat sped up as he hushed me, stepping even closer, and I tried to even my breathing so I wouldn't give myself away. I looked back and forth from Inuyasha's lips to his eyes, but Inuyasha only stared into my eyes, his intense gaze frozen in place.

"Well," I managed to whisper. "That was a very effective way to create a mood."

"Mmhmm." Inuyasha leaned in, his eyes smoldered and half lidded. "Just don't talk and ruin it."

His lips were close enough that I felt each exhaled breath; one of his hands wrapped in my in my hair, holding my bangs away from my face, and the other cradled my cheek softly as he moved in closer. There was only a hair between us and—

He veered off course and kissed my forehead.

Inuyasha was reeling with laughter when I pushed him off and scowled at him.

"That's not even funny."

"I'm sorry," Inuyasha apologized, but he was still grinning like an idiot and I rolled my eyes. "But it was too perfect to pass up."

"Goodnight, Inuyasha." I turned to get my keys out of my bag to open the door. I didn't hand myself over on a silver platter just to become a joke. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"No, no, wait." He grabbed my hand and turned me back around. "I'll be serious this time."

"The mood's already vanished."

"It's very easy to create a mood, Kagome." His voice dropped lower—to his huskier tone— as he placed his hands on my hips and started bridging the distance between us, but I turned my cheek to him. "If you're nervous…"

"Shut up," I laughed, pushing him away, but he came right back, just as close as before. I stared at him defiantly, but he shook his head, giving me a smug half grin and continuing to approach my mouth like my annoyance was just an act.

Which it was because the second his lips touched mine it was nothing but a distant memory. Inuyasha's lips were soft and his breath was minty from the piece of gum I leant him after our sprint through the rain. I could feel his stubble against my cheek and his arms around my waist as he pulled me closer. I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to lessen the space between us as much possible. The kiss felt like it went on for an eternity—and if an eternity had passed by in those few minutes, it would have been an amazing way to spend my life.

We finally pulled apart and stared into each other's eyes, before I couldn't take it anymore and looked away, averting my gaze to the wilting flower in the pot on our porch.

"I probably shouldn't have kissed you," I mumbled, staring at the flower instead of Inuyasha.

"Was it bad?" Inuyasha took a step away from me. "I mean, it's cold so my lips are kind of chapped, but—"

"No, it was great." I couldn't help but smile at his bashfulness. "I meant that I really didn't want you to leave. And when you do leave I won't be able to go to bed."

"Well, you can always invite me in." I just looked at him and he smirked. "I promise I won't say no."

"I'm not that kind of girl."

"Are you sure?" Inuyasha asked, stepping forward and into my personal space. He pressed his body flush against mine, the bricks of my house biting into my back.

"Yes."

"Really?" He tipped my chin up and I fought to keep up my indifferent façade.

"Really." He didn't look all that convinced. "Besides, I was ordered not to invite you in on the first date, no matter what. And my grandpa might kill you."

"Right," Inuyasha said, snapping his fingers. "I need to get into his good graces."

"And this would completely nullify the herbs you bought for his tea. So, you have to leave." I moved my hand to shoo him back off my porch and to his car. "Go on, get."

Inuyasha just stood there, his mouth twitching as he tried to keep from smiling and after a few seconds I gave in, a full smile spreading across my face. Inuyasha chuckled and kissed me again, lighter this time, and then stepped away.

"It's late," he said and I only nodded my head. I was still trying to recover from the kiss and coherent sentences weren't a priority of my brain at the moment. "I should probably go."

"Mmhmm."

Inuyasha snorted and shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kagome."

"Yeah." I cleared my throat and stood up straighter now that my knees weren't weak anymore. "It's your turn to bring breakfast."

"Are you sure you just don't want me?" My mind went completely blank at the idea and I could only gape at him. Inuyasha laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Kagome."

"G-goodnight," I stammered, forcing my mind to leave its own imagination. "Bye!"

Inuyasha waved at me over his shoulder as he sauntered to his car and climbed in. I watched him pull away from the curb and drive down the street and around the corner and stood on the porch listening to him get farther away until I couldn't hear the roar of Triple G's engine anymore.

-x-

"When I finally get kissed, I'll know. I've been kissed before, but they've all been missing that… thing. That thing. That moment when you kiss someone and everything around you becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person and you realize that that person is the only person that you're supposed to kiss for the rest of your life. And for one moment you get this amazing gift, and you wanna- and you wanna cry 'cause you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that it'll go away all at the same time."

-Drew Barrymore, Never Been Kissed

That's how my first kiss with Inuyasha felt.

And it scared the shit out of me.

-x-

Was it fluffy enough for you? Because I really tried for you guys, I did. And if you want more there's an ALTERNATIVE KISS SCENE posted on the tumblr page for Walking Tightropes (link in profile) so feel free to check that out. Don't forget to review!

~Kimiko888~

This marks the third update we've made all summer, which is quite a feat for the two of us. School starts up again soon, but hopefully we'll have time to fit in some writing! Thanks for your reviews, support, views, and of course your patience.

-hanmajo