InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ All Things Come Full Circle ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9

A lunch break, one pit stop, and a whole lot of running, left the shard hunters stopping for the night in a small sheltered clearing. Kagome and Sango were setting about preparing vegetables and some rabbits Inuyasha had caught earlier, Miroku was seated nearby, making conversation with the two girls as the cooked, and Inuyasha was sitting quietly within arms reach of Kagome. Inukigo was dozing lightly near the fire on her stomach with her head pillowed on her arms, and was accompanied by Shippou and Kirara. Shippou had curled up and was napping between her shoulder blades, and Kirara had done the same at the small of her back.

Kagome had thought that the sight of the three of them was unbelievably cute, and had quickly rushed to her bag and dug out a disposable camera that she had brought along. She quickly snapped a picture, rolled the film, and deposited the camera back in her bag. Inukigo’s left ear had flicked in her direction a few times, drawn by the strange sounds of the camera, but she never stirred from her position.

Inukigo woke up on her own when she scented the finished meal and stretched, careful to not dislodge the two small youkai on her back. Kirara woke as soon as Inukigo moved, stretched herself before walking off towards Sango. Shippou needed a little more coaxing, and Inukigo reached back to gently shake the kit awake so he would know that she was getting up. He didn’t seem as though he wanted to move, and tried to push her hand away before shifting around and cuddling into her back again. Inukigo laughed and shook him a little harder.

“You can sleep later, Shippou. We’re eating now.”

Shippou mumbled something, but didn’t move.

“If you don’t get up, you’re gonna fall off when I do.”

No response. Inukigo sighed.

“Alright then,” she said, then shifted around enough so she could sit up.

Shippou started awake when he hit the ground, not sure what had happened. Rubbing his head he turned to look up at Inukigo, who was still seated and peering over her shoulder at him.

“What did you do that for?” he half whined.

“I told you to get up,” she said with a shrug, “Not my fault you didn’t listen to me.”

Shippou crossed his arms and pouted. Inukigo smiled at him and turned slightly so she could ruffle his hair. He tried to resist, but was soon smiling back at her. Inukigo dropped her hand then crawled the short distance to the fire. She seated herself next to Inuyasha and Shippou took his spot next to her. She accepted a small wooden bowl of food and chopsticks from Kagome and handed them off to Shippou, then took her own meal when it was handed to her.

Inuyasha had been watching Inukigo from the moment she woke up. He was once again amazed by how close she had grown to Shippou. She was so patient with him, well that didn’t surprise him too much; she had infinite patience when compared to him. She acted the same way that Kagome did towards Shippou, and that made him wonder just how she was starting to see Shippou.

‘Her own pup maybe…? No, I don’t think so…a pack-pup sounds better. Shippou seems to be the same way. He doesn’t see her as a mother…Kagome fills that spot, but he does see Inukigo as family. He’s been going to her whenever Kagome is occupied with something.’

“Inuyasha?”

“Huh?” Kagome’s voice bringing him back to reality.

“Is something wrong? You haven’t touched your food.”

Inuyasha looked down to see the bowl and chopsticks in his hands that he had accepted without realizing.

“No, nothing’s wrong.”

“You sure? You were kinda spaced out there for a minute.”

“I’m sure. I was just thinking. It wasn’t anything really important,” he answered, digging into his meal.

Kagome didn’t look like she was really all that convinced, but shrugged and left him alone, eating her own meal. After inhaling two helpings, Inuyasha turned to Inukigo, drawing her attention away from her own food.

“I forgot to ask earlier…where the hell did you run off to when those demons attacked us? Took you an awful long time to join in the fight.”

Inukigo turned her attention back to her bowl and started poking at her food.

“I didn’t go anywhere. I was just a little behind you that’s all. It took me time to get there.”

Inuyasha sniffed the air discretely and picked up exactly what he expected to. The air around Inukigo was heavy with anxiety.

“Liar. You should know by now that lying to me doesn’t work. I can smell it on you every time.”

Inukigo looked at him from the corners of her eyes, a little peeved that she couldn’t get away with anything around him.

“I smelled something and went to check it out. That’s all.”

Inuyasha didn’t seem to be too satisfied with the information. By now everyone was paying attention to the two hanyous, interested in where the conversation was going.

“Oh? What was so interesting that it lured you away?”

Inukigo turned her head to glare at him, annoyance clearly written across her features.

“It wasn’t anything important, just drop it.”

Inuyasha snorted.

“Yeah, right. If it wasn’t important than I wouldn’t have to fight to get an answer from you. Spill it.”

Inukigo shot to her feet angrily after smacking her bowl on the ground.

“Kami, Inuyasha! Ugh, fine! You wanna know so bad? It was Sesshoumaru’s scent, alright?!”

Inuyasha was up and glaring at her as soon as the words left her mouth.

“Sesshoumaru?! What in the hell were you thinking, going off to confront him on your own?!”

“Moron! Just stop and listen for a minute would you?!” she yelled, poking him in the chest, “The scent was old! Sesshoumaru hadn’t been there for days. How stupid do you think I am? I know not to go after him alone.”

“You still shouldn’t have went off. What if he had still been around? You know what he would have done if he had found you.”

Inukigo growled and her fists tightened at her sides.

“Do you take me for a child?! Of course I know what he would have done to me if he had been there! Do you think I could ever forget the things that he’s done to me already?!”

Inuyasha flinched. He was being such an idiot with her today.

“No, Inukigo. I didn’t…”

Inukigo held up her hand to cut him off.

“Save it. Frankly, I’m too pissed off to accept any apology you can give me,” Inuyasha’s ears drooped as she walked around him and towards the tree line, “If you’re gonna come after me, I suggest you wait until I stop thinking that you’re an idiot. Otherwise I’ll be sure to kick you out of the tree,” she called back over her shoulder before jumping up and hiding herself among the branches.

Inuyasha plopped himself back down next to Kagome with a sigh. Kagome started to pat him on the back gently and he felt comforted by her touch. At least she didn’t think he was a complete moron.

Across the fire, Miroku leaned over towards Sango and covered his mouth with one hand as he whispered to her.

“And I thought that he only fought like that with Kagome-sama…”

Sango nodded her head in agreement.

Inuyasha, having heard the comment, whipped his head towards them.

“Care to repeat that, monk?” he snarled.

Miroku held up his hands defensively and laughed nervously.

“No…my apologies, Inuyasha. I did not mean to offend.”

“Keh!” Inuyasha grumbled, turning his head away. The action left him facing towards Shippou. The kit looked dejected again, just like he had that morning.

“Ooi, runt,” he said, catching Shippou’s attention, “What’s the matter? She hasn’t gone anywhere, just up in that tree,” he added, pointing at said tree. Shippou didn’t look appeased.

“Why do you have to do that.”

Inuyasha frowned in confusion.

“Do what?”

“Why do you have to make her so mad that she goes away? You do the same thing to Kagome. You make her mad, then she goes away down the well. Why do you have to be so mean to everyone, you stupid jerk!”

Inuyasha flinched inwardly and turned away to look at his lap, trying to pretend, albeit unsuccessfully, that Shippou’s words hadn’t stung him.

“It’s not like I mean to,” he said gruffly.

Kagome easily saw through Inuyasha’s act and draped one arm around his shoulders. Inuyasha glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes, a light flush coming across his face from her nearness.

“Shippou-chan,” Kagome said, looking around Inuyasha to see him, “That’s not fair. You know that Inuyasha doesn’t try to make us angry. He was just worried about Inukigo-chan, and I go back to my time through the well anyways. He usually only makes me mad when he refuses to let me leave.”

Inuyasha turned his head to glare at her. That last comment wasn’t exactly in his favour. Kagome sensed his annoyance and squeezed his shoulder to placate him. He relaxed and leaned towards her almost unnoticeably. Shippou didn’t look too happy about being reprimanded by Kagome, but didn’t make any further comments.

There was a heavy silence over the came for a few moments before Inuyasha dared to glance over his shoulder at the trees behind him.

“Think I should go give it a try?” he asked Kagome.

“I don’t know. It hasn’t been very long,” she replied, “Do you think she still might me mad at you?”

Inuyasha shrugged and stood up.

“Not sure. Might as well try though.”

Kagome nodded to him and he walked towards the tree. Heaving a sigh he jumped up into the branches. He found Inukigo easily enough, she was sitting with her back to the trunk of the tree just as she was that morning. He was happy to see that she didn’t have the cold, blank look on her face this time.

“Inukigo…?” he asked cautiously.

Inukigo looked at him, but didn’t speak. Inuyasha took her silence as a good sign.

‘Okay, so she’s not talking…but she didn’t kick me out of the tree…that’s good right?’

He slowly inched his way closer to her, keeping his eyes on her face. She kept staring into his eyes, waiting.

“I’m ready when you are, Inuyasha,” she said slowly.

He nodded his head and stopped moving towards her.

“You know that I was only worried about you running into Sesshoumaru on your own, right? I never meant to go far enough to make you upset.”

Inukigo nodded in acknowledgement.

“I know,” she turned her head away then looked at him from the corners of her eyes, “But that’s not what I want to hear you say.”

“Huh?” Inuyasha asked, tilting his head to one side, “What do you mean? What more do you want me to say?”

Inukigo turned to face him again, this time with a huge grin on her face.

“C’mon, Inuyasha, you should know…” she drawled.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her then he realized what it was that she wanted.

“Sly bitch…you were never mad in the first place, were you? No way, you ain’t gettin’ me to say it,” he huffed, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air.

Inukigo laughed at him.

“Alright, you caught me. But you will say it, if you want to get me out of this tree.”

“Iie.”

“I’m telling you, Inuyasha. Say it, or I’m not coming down out of the tree.”

Inuyasha looked down at her, his face still turned upwards.

“Is that a fact?” he asked nonchalantly.

Inukigo nodded once, a stubborn scowl marring her face. Inuyasha moved faster than she expected him to. Before she could blink he had grabbed her around the waist and the both of them were falling out of the tree. They landed with a THUMP on the ground at the edge of the campsite, drawing the attention of their companions, not that either of them noticed. Inukigo was flat on her back and Inuyasha was looming over her. They hadn’t been that far up the tree, so the fall didn’t do any damage to either of them.

Inuyasha glared down at Inukigo, and Inukigo glared right back.

“Damn it, Inuyasha! What did you go and do that for?!” she yelled, leaning up on one elbow as she tried to push him off. Inuyasha wouldn’t move, “Inuyasha, get off!”

“No,” he said flatly.

“What?”

“No, not until you understand this.”

“Inuyasha, you’re doing it again.”

“No I’m not!” he yelled, grabbing her shoulders and pinning her to the ground. He looked down at her baring his fangs, “Don’t you dare say that I’m overreacting. I wasn’t overreacting before and I’m not overreacting now.”

Inukigo rolled her eyes, obviously not agreeing with him. Inuyasha snarled and shook her roughly.

“You will take me seriously,” he growled out, making sure that her attention was focused completely on him, “Damn it, Inukigo. How can you say that I was overreacting, when you did something so stupid?! What if Sesshoumaru had found you, huh? What then? What do you really think that he would have done to you?”

He didn’t give Inukigo the chance to answer before he was going off again.

“Well I know. He would have killed you. He would have done it without hesitation. How can you say that I’m overreacting when I’m thinking about that? How can you, when I’m worried that I’ll find you half dead like I did last time, or worse!”

Inukigo stared back up at him with wide eyes. She had never thought about how Inuyasha felt that time, finding her beaten and bloody in the middle of a field. What must it have done to him, to see her that way and know who had caused it? How could she have been so foolish to not consider it before? Inuyasha was still staring down at her, willing her to understand what he was saying and feeling. Inukigo’s eyes shifted back and forth before final dropping away from his. Inuyasha sighed, satisfied that she had submitted, and leaned back so she could get up. She sat up, her head lowered.

“I’m sorry,” he heard her mutter quietly, and he kept all his senses focused on her, “I never thought about it that way. I won’t do it anymore.”

“Good,” Inuyasha said, standing up…and finally noticing their audience, “Aw, shit,” he cursed quietly.

Inukigo lifted her head to see what he was looking at, then blushed when she saw the four pairs of eyes that were staring back at them.

“Oh hell…this is all your fault!” she cried out, smacking Inuyasha on the back of the leg.

Inuyasha pitched forward slightly. She had caught him off guard with that shot to the back of his knee, and she had put a good amount of force behind it.

“Ooi! How is it my fault?!”

“You were the one that made us fall out of the tree!”

“Baka! You said you weren’t going to come down! What difference does that make anyway? They would have heard us even if we stayed up there!”

“Teme…” Inukigo growled, clenching her raised fist.

“Ahem!”

Inuyasha and Inukigo immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the rest of the group at Miroku’s cough.

“As entertaining as it is to watch the two of you bicker,” he was interrupted by the growling of the two hanyous, which he ignored, “It would be nice to hear an explanation for all this.”

The others nodded in agreement. Inuyasha and Inukigo exchanged nervous glances, knowing that they wouldn’t get out of this without giving up something. They both seemed to be silently debating who would be the one to tell them, until Inukigo finally conceded and turned to face the rest of her companions.

“Alright, seeing as how you probably won’t give up until you find out something, I’ll tell you what we’re talking about,” she took a deep breath as she prepared to spill the story, “Basically, Sesshoumaru hates my guts,” they didn’t seem too phased by that, “More than Inuyasha’s,” that piqued their interest, “Every time that we’ve every run into him he’s tried to kill us, or at least inflict bodily harm, but he’s always given me the worst of it. The last time I met up with him, I was by myself, and he left me half dead in the middle of a field. Then, Inuyasha found me. There, end of story.”

Her audience looked as though they were going to protest the lack of information, but she cut off their complaints.

“That’s all you’re getting. If you don’t like it, too bad.”

The group conceded, guessing that it was a personal matter that Inukigo didn’t really feel comfortable sharing. Inuyasha leaned up behind her and whispered so that only she could pick it up.

“If I had known that was all you were gonna say I could have done it.”

Inukigo growled lowly and whispered back.

“Oh, shut up,” then she continued a little more softly, “If Kagome asks later, you can tell her the whole story…if you want to.”

Inuyasha looked at her incredulously.

“Are you sure?”

Inukigo nodded her head slightly.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. I don’t know why, but it won’t bother me if Kagome knows. I’ll tell the others about it…eventually, I just…can’t right now.”

“Okay.”

Their quiet conversation was unknowingly interrupted by Miroku.

“I suppose then, that this was the reason for you becoming upset when we compared you to Sesshoumaru before?”

Inukigo stiffened. She should have known that they would dig for more information. She sighed before nodding her head.

“Hai.”

‘Well, that’s not the whole story, but they don’t need to know that yet.’

Miroku nodded, signalling that his curiosity was satisfied for the time being.

‘Good, they’re not gonna ask anymore.’

Inukigo strode over to the fire and flopped down next to it on her side. She absentmindedly stared into the flames, her mind falling back to the argument that she and Inuyasha had just had. She was so lost in her thoughts that she never noticed Shippou walk over and curl up next to her, nor did she notice when she started smoothing her fingers through his hair.

‘Forgive me, Inuyasha,’ she thought, sullenly, ‘I’ll make up for my stupidity, I promise.’

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A few hours later, everyone in the campsite was sleeping, except Inuyasha, Kagome, and Inukigo. Kagome was snuggled in Inuyasha’s lap while he leaned against the base of a tree. Inukigo was still lying on her side facing the now waning fire, her back to Inuyasha and Kagome.

Inuyasha and Kagome had been sitting quietly for some time, but Inuyasha could tell that she wanted to ask him something. She was fidgeting, and kept toying with her clothes and fingers, like she was trying to prepare herself to speak, and he had a pretty good idea of what it was she wanted to ask. There was only so much he could take before he grabbed her hands to still them. Kagome’s head shot up to look at him, a light flush on her face that had Inuyasha smiling in amusement.

“If there was something you wanted to ask Kagome, you can go ahead.”

The blush on Kagome’s face darkened and Inuyasha couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. Kagome frowned at him for laughing, but didn’t say anything about it. Instead she looked down at her lap and began to speak hesitantly.

“Well…there is one thing that I wanted to ask you about.”

“Oh?” he said innocently, though he already knew very well what she wanted.

“I was wondering…if you would tell me more about…what that argument you had with Inukigo-chan was about.”

Inuyasha nodded against her hair.

“I had a feeling that was what you wanted.”

Kagome pulled back from him so she could look up.

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. I would just like to know.”

Inuyasha smiled and brushed a hand over her cheek before tucking her hair behind her ear. Kagome smiled at his display of affection.

“I can tell you. Inukigo gave me permission earlier. She must have guessed that you would want a better explanation than the one she gave.”

“Would you have told me if she hadn’t given permission?” Kagome asked, tilting her head to one side.

Inuyasha shook his head in response.

“No. It’s something that she has a hard time with, and is apparently something that she doesn’t want many people to know.”

He heard a quiet ‘humph’ come from his sister’s direction, but ignored her.

“Was what Sesshoumaru did to her that awful?” Kagome asked sadly.

Inuyasha nodded as a grimace came to his face.

“The bastard tortured her,” Kagome could feel him gripping the back of her shirt tightly and could tell from his posture that on the inside he was raging.

She reached up and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, trying to calm him and ease some of his tension. Inuyasha sighed as his shoulders slumped. He knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to blow up during the explanation. He took a deep breath before he continued.

“In the beginning, Sesshoumaru would only attack me, and completely ignored Inukigo. We found out it was because he didn’t deem her worthy of his attention. The bastard treated her as if she were invisible.”

Kagome’s eyes widened. She knew that a normal person would be all too happy if a demon like Sesshoumaru ignored them during a fight, but Inuyasha and Inukigo were not normal people. They were fighters, and to be ignored during a battle would be a huge blow to their pride and would probably cut them deeper than she could imagine. But there was one thing that nagged at her.

“Inuyasha, why was it that Sesshoumaru ignored only Inukigo? Why not ignore the both of you?”

Inuyasha wasn’t sure if he should answer that question. It wasn’t really his place to share that information, and he didn’t know if Inukigo would object to it. The decision was made for him, however.

“He did it because…I…worshipped him.”

Inuyasha looked over Kagome’s shoulder, and Kagome turned around, both watching the female hanyou intently. Inukigo rolled over to face them and then sat up, keeping her eyes hidden beneath her bangs.

“What do you mean, Inukigo-chan?” Kagome asked quietly.

Inukigo looked up, and there was a sad smile on her face that tore at both Kagome and Inuyasha’s hearts.

“Before oyaji died, and I was still very little, Sesshoumaru was…my aniue. I idolized him, and worshipped the ground he walked on. Inuyasha once told me that I was like his shadow. He even taught me the basics of fighting. That’s why I resemble him so much when I fight.”

Inuyasha could see the deep pain in his sister’s eyes, even though it was fairly dark, and worried that recalling these memories out loud would hurt her.

“Inukigo, are you sure you wa-”

“It’s okay Inuyasha, I can say this,” Inukigo said, cutting him off. Inuyasha was reluctant, but let her continue.

Inukigo took a deep breath and prepared herself to finish explaining.

“Then, when Inuyasha and I were about five years old, oyaji died; protecting us and ofukuro. After that, Sesshoumaru became bitter and cold, and decided to blame us for oyaji’s death. It wasn’t until a few years after ofukuro’s death that he started coming around and picking fights. But he would always ignore me and go straight for Inuyasha. I could be standing right in front of him, and he wouldn’t even acknowledge my presence. I had been closer to him, and he knew that ignoring me would be the way to hurt me the most.”

Inukigo turned her head to the side, but Kagome didn’t say anything. She had a feeling that Inukigo wasn’t finished. Another sad smile, almost a grimace, came to Inukigo’s face.

“Then one day, I called out to him. I shouted out ‘aniue’. He was on me in seconds, and that was when he hit me. The force of it had me seeing stars, but I was strangely…happy. He had noticed me, and for a few moments I was happy. But then he said something that took those feelings away as quickly as they came. I’ll never forget his words. ‘Never again are you to refer to me in such a way. This Sesshoumaru has no sister’. Knowing that he had denied we were siblings was worse than what he was doing before. After that was when he started to go harder on me during the fights. And every time, he would rub in my face…that he had no sister.”

Inuyasha and Kagome looked on sadly as Inukigo hung her head and dug her claws deeply into the ground beside her.

Kagome was near tears. She had never imagined that Sesshoumaru could have been so cruel. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Inukigo - to be disowned by your big brother, who you looked up to and idolized for so long.

Inukigo scented the tears and turned her head to look towards her brother and Kagome. She saw the look that Kagome was sending her and sighed. She should have known that this would be Kagome’s reaction, the girl had such a big heart. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Inukigo crawled the short distance to Kagome and Inuyasha and sat down in front of them.

“Inukigo-chan…I…”

Inukigo held up her hand to stop Kagome from speaking and shook her head.

“Please, Kagome…just don’t. It’s not worth it.”

Kagome looked at Inukigo sadly.

“Isn’t it painful, Inukigo-chan?”

Inukigo was silent for a few moments, as if she was thinking about something, then nodded her head slowly.

“It is,” she confirmed, “But,” she added with a smile, “It’s okay. I have Inuyasha by my side, and now I have you and the others too. That helps a lot.”

Inuyasha and Kagome returned the smile and Inuyasha reached over and tweaked one of his sister’s ears. Inukigo laughed softly and tried to flick her ear away from his hand. Inuyasha caught her eyes, and saw something that he had fully expected to see, although he wasn’t sure if Kagome noticed it.

‘I can tell, Inukigo, even after everything Sesshoumaru has done to you, you still miss him. You still wish that things were like they were when we little…I do too, I guess. He always has been aniue, I’m sorry that I can’t fill that role.’

Inukigo let Inuyasha tweak her ear one last time before pulling her head away. She then looked at the pair, her eyes narrowing and a sly smile spreading slowly across her face. Inuyasha wasn’t sure he liked that look.

“Well I suppose I should go back and get some sleep,” she then leaned in with a suggestive look on her face, “I’ll just leave the two of you alone, and let you cuddle,” waggling her eyebrows at the word cuddle.

Kagome blushed lightly, but didn’t say anything. Inuyasha, on the other hand, realized what she was implying and his face matched his haori perfectly. He knew that she was referring to what she had smelled the night before, and she also seemed to know that he had not told Kagome about what she had discovered.

“Ooi! I think that dirty monk is starting to rub off on you.”

Inukigo laughed outright, and Kagome looked back and forth between the two, not really understanding what Inukigo was going on about or why Inuyasha was getting so defensive. Inukigo was still laughing lightly as she made her way back over to the dwindling camp fire and took up her previous position, lying on her side with Shippou curled up against her stomach. Shippou hadn’t even noticed her leave, but snuggled closer to her warmth now that she had returned.

Inuyasha was still in a defensive mood, and Kagome could feel his tenseness from her place in his lap. She looked up at him curiously.

“Inuyasha, is something wrong?”

Inuyasha seemed startled by her voice.

“N-no, nothing,” he stammered out quickly.

Kagome wasn’t convinced and narrowed her eyes accusingly.

“Are you sure?”

Inuyasha nodded his head jerkily. No way was he telling her that Inukigo had smelled what they had been doing the night before. She’d probably die from embarrassment. Kagome wasn’t very happy that he was keeping something from her, but told herself that if it was really important Inuyasha wouldn’t be hiding it from her. Inuyasha relaxed when Kagome showed no signs of asking further questions.

They sat there quietly for a few moments before Inuyasha spoke up. He didn’t really want to ask, but felt as though he should when he noticed that Kagome was nodding off.

“Ooi, Kagome,” he said just loud enough to catch her attention. She looked up at him drowsily.

“Nani?” she asked rubbing her eyes.

“Do you want to sleep here, or pull out your bedroll?”

Kagome thought about it for a moment. She had heard the reluctance in his voice and knew that he wanted her to stay with him. However, she wasn’t too happy about sleeping upright again.

“I want to stay here with you Inuyasha, I really do. It’s just that, sleeping sitting up…” she trailed off, rubbing her neck and remembering the kink that had been that that morning.

Inuyasha’s ears drooped.

“I guess you want your bedroll then?”

Kagome nodded.

“Yes, demo…”

When she trailed off Inuyasha looked down at her and was surprised to see her blushing.

“Hmm? What is it?”

Kagome toyed with her fingers and refused to look at him.

“Would…would you…stay with me?”

Inuyasha looked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Kagome didn’t answer but her blush deepened as if she were embarrassed to tell him outright what she wanted. When he thought about what could have gotten her embarrassed, his eyes widened.

“You want me to stay in the bedroll with you?”

Kagome nodded and Inuyasha smiled, even though he felt his face redden a little.

“Sure, if that’s what you want Kagome.”

Kagome looked up at him through her bangs.

“Really?”

Inuyasha smiled and nodded, causing Kagome to smile back. She stood up and took his hand, leading him towards her backpack, where her sleeping bag lay, still rolled up. She went about setting it up while Inuyasha stood next to her and waited. When she had the sleeping bag ready she crawled inside, then motioned for him to join her. Inuyasha pulled off his fire-rat haori, laying on the ground next to the sleeping bag, and crawled in next to her. The sleeping bag wasn’t meant for two people, so it took a bit of squirming around before they were both situated comfortably. When they finally settled down, Kagome’s back was squished tightly against Inuyasha’s chest, Inuyasha having wrapped both arms around her and crossing them over her stomach. He had also tossed one leg over both of hers, effectively pinning her against him. Kagome had to marvel at their position. She had thought that it would be uncomfortable to be squelched together so tightly, but she found herself feeling warm, content, and safer than she had ever felt in her life.

“Comfortable?” she heard Inuyasha ask from behind her.

“Hmm…yes, very,” she replied, laying her hands over his.

“Good,” he mumbled, burying his face in her hair, “Because I am, and I don’t think I could have moved if you weren’t.”

Kagome giggled and reached back to scratch the ear that she could reach. Inuyasha sighed blissfully and buried his face deeper in her hair. He parted her hair with his nose and gave her a nipping kiss on the back of her neck. Kagome shivered and cuddled up against him. She then yawned, causing Inuyasha to chuckle against the skin of her neck.

“Oyasumi, Inuyasha. Aishiteru.”

Inuyasha’s heart warmed. He knew that from now on, there was no way that he’d be able to sleep without Kagome beside him. He kissed her neck again.

“Night, Kagome.”

In moments both had drifted off into a peaceful, happy sleep.

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Finally got chapter 9 up, sorry I took so long. Wish I could update more regularly, but school interferes with that. Thanks to those who reviewed and I decided to answer a few questions this time!

Patriot -- Well, there’s actually a funny story behind the ‘kigo’ in Inukigo. When I first started writing ‘Long Awaited Reunion’ I wanted the character of Inuyasha’s sister to have a name that meant ‘dog demoness’ to complement Inuyasha’s name which means ‘dog demon’ or ‘dog spirit’. So, I was looking around for a translation site and it said that ‘kigo’ meant ‘demoness’, and so we get Inukigo. Now, a few weeks ago, I happened to be on a different site, and curiously wanted to know what the kanji for her name would be. Imagine my surprise when ‘kigo’ didn’t mean ‘demoness’ at all. As it turns out, ‘kijo’ is the proper word, ‘kigo’ means ‘sending word by’. Seeing as how it’s been about a year since I created her, the name Inukigo has stuck, so I didn’t want to change it to Inukijo. So there you go, her name means ‘sending word by dog’.

Inu-Shinta -- I will be going into Inuyasha’s past a bit more later on, as for the other stuff you asked about…no and no. Sorry, I don’t do ecchi fan arts, tasteful hentai maybe, but not ecchi, and no way am I writing a threesome. I’m not one to judge peoples’ preferences, but that is definitely not one of mine. I’m not even sure yet if I’m going to have Ayame show up in my fics. If I do she will be there to cause conflict, not to pair up with Kouga and Inukigo.