InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Autumn Bane ❯ Turnabout After Unfair Play ( Chapter 7 )

Author's Notes: Ok, I have just under a week to spend on this story, considering I will be having to start packing soon for yet another holiday (sort of)… and yes, I have noticed that only two chapters ago I was announcing my trip to Madeira and no sooner have I started on the story again then I'm off to America straight away.

But this really isn't going to be a pleasure trip since I'm going with my cousin and her mother to look after my slightly senile grandmother to help her prepare to move back to England. But since the old woman has missed out on a lot of my life (being that she fled across the ocean the very week I was born) she plans to take me to all the cool kiddie places like the zoo ^__^;; so if you see a girl with a rather improbable shade of short red hair playing with/getting mauled by the tigers in a zoo in Arizona… that will be me.

Autumn Bane

Chapter 7

Turnabout After Unfair Play

~Kagome~

Time literally seemed to stop. I blinked at him and he blinked at me.

That declaration had sounded awfully profound and meaningful… and it only confirmed what Miroku had been whispering into my ear for a while now. So the monk had been telling the truth… Did that make my feelings for Inuyasha real too?

I wasn't ready to confront this…

"Ok then…" I darted my gaze to the floor and backed towards the door again. "I really need to go to my mother now. Bye."

With that parting sentiment, I literally fled. I ran down the halls - heading blindly for my mother's room - but my mind was on more important matters than my mother's cold.

He was falling in love with me? Since when? Was he being truthful or was he just out to play with my feelings? What if this was just some nasty prank he had cooked up with Miroku?

No… no, that couldn't be it. I'd seen the look in his eyes. I could always tell when he was being untruthful because he always had a conceited glint in his eyes… but this time, he had looked about as honest and innocent as your average teenage boy. He had looked at me the same way one of the servants - Hojo - had looked at me. The boy had said he was in love with me with that open, beautifully earnest face - but he was a servant and I was a princess… besides, I hadn't really noticed him until he'd spoken of his feelings. At that point, my mother had found out and he was sent away. She'd said the only one deserving of my feelings was Inuyasha…

Which brought me back to the dog-eared hanyou in question…

He's not supposed to like me - we're supposed to hate each other! I mentally cried in anguish as I reached the screen door behind which my mother rested. I didn't enter. I had tears streaked down my face and I knew she would question me endlessly about them.

I took a moment to catch my breath and dry my face… but my heart still hurt, although I knew I didn't have a reason for it to do so. Inuyasha had said he had feelings for me… why would that induce heartache?

Maybe because I already knew that I was probably falling in love with him as well… and had been since the first moment I'd seen him this Autumn and swooned at the mere sight.

I sighed and blinked hot eyes for a few extra seconds to make sure my eyes were completely dry. Then I entered with a smile and a sigh.

"Good evening, Mother." I said pleasantly.

All I got was a cough and a muttered expletive about overly optimistic daughters in response. Sango smiled up at me from where she was tending a damp cloth over my mother's forehead.

It was going to be a long night….

~Inuyasha~

It was going to be one fuck of a long night.

I didn't say that! I didn't say that! I didn't say that! Dear god I did say that! Oh fuck! Oh damn! Oh shit! I'm so screwed! I didn't say that! I didn't say that!

That was basically my line of thought for the rest of night. I still couldn't believe I'd actually let those words slip past my lips! Damn Miroku and all his meddling… I had to wonder if Kagome even felt remotely the same way. What if Miroku was just playing a cruel trick on me and planting all these ideas and feelings into my head after that jibe I'd made about him having a chance with Sango only when I was willing to marry Kagome? What if she still hated me and I'd just made a complete fool out of myself?

A horrible, gnawing anxiety clawed at my belly, refusing to let me get a wink of sleep. I was too scared. What had I done? What was I going to do now? How on earth was I ever going to face Kagome again?

Maybe I should runaway to a distant land and become a hermit on a hillside? That would spare me from ever having to look at her again and it would keep him from having to marry her.

Yes. Maybe I did have feelings for her - but that still didn't mean I wanted to tie my life down with hers while I still had so much living to do first!

Not that she'd ever want to marry me… she's probably laughing about me with Sango this very minute. I'm such an idiot… how could I have made this kind of mistake?

It seemed like a long night, mainly because I was dreading sunrise and all the complications it would bring. I'd have to have breakfast with her and what was I supposed to say then?

But by the time the first light had broken over the outer boundary wall of the castle, I had decided that I would play it off as a joke. Kagome clearly was confused by my feelings - obviously she didn't return them. So I would go to her tomorrow and laugh it off - say that the expression on her face had been priceless and so on - the classic things that accompany my twisted sense of humour.

I was all psyched up and ready to go. Which was why I felt so disappointed when I arrived at breakfast to find she wasn't there.

"She's taking care of her mother still." Miroku said while he blew on his breakfast brew. He evidently hadn't heard about my confession last night; otherwise, I wouldn't have heard the end of it. "Something you want to talk to her about?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively. He meant my feelings, of course.

Too late, pal, I already talked about that.

"No, I just want her to return something of mine." Yeah, my dignity.

Well, at least I was reassured. If Miroku didn't know that I'd blabbed something stupid last night, then nobody knew. Either Kagome hadn't had the chance to spread the word, or perhaps she didn't plan to…

But I really needed to find her and put an end to the matter as quickly as possible. There was only so much pent-up tension one guy can take…

~Kagome~

I admit… I was avoiding Inuyasha. I didn't know how to deal with him and I was too chicken to face the possibility that what he'd said might have been a joke at my expense. I was seriously beginning to entertain my plan to leave Toshiyama and Inuyasha for another country and another warlord of my own design… but we all knew that men would fly to the moon before I ever accomplished that particular task.

I skipped breakfast in favour of looking after my mother, who only liked to hiss at my careful attentions. It made me sigh, but she was always particularly grumpy when she was ill. I longed for her to get better… but at the same time, I hoped she stayed ill - then I would be able to avoid Inuyasha for a little bit longer.

Eventually, however, I got bored of my mother's contempt for my affection so I left her in Sango's capable hands to get some fresh air… and hoped that Inuyasha and I wouldn't cross paths.

I did see a couple of people on my way around the compound. Kikyo was handing a small paper slip of medicinal herbs to some servants outside her hut. She saw me walking past but ignored me without the grace of a second glance. Miroku was making some lame attempts to chat up some teenage groupies… and largely succeeding by the flustered giggles they were emitting.

The blacksmith was still making that sword that I had noticed the other day when I'd asked for directions.

Curiosity got the better of me, and in my need for pleasant human conversation I went over to his bench and anvil. "What are you making?" I asked politely when I was close enough to be heard.

"A sword for his highness." The old man answered. Now that I could see him properly I realised he was actually demon… the slightly curved, yet pointy ears gave him away. Not surprising… I doubted anyone human got have such mastery of metal and weapons. The collection behind him was wonderful - better than anything I had ever seen anyone in my country possess.

"For Lord Inu?" I prodded.

"His son." He made a sucking sound through his teeth. "And with such a mighty blockhead as him, I have been told to make this sword idiot proof."

I smiled despite myself.

"Dropped his last sword down a well, the fool." he went on. "So this one shall be able to be called upon in a time of need… as long the sheath stays in the boy's hands."

"That's clever." I exclaimed. A magic sword. That was pretty impressive…

"It shall be able to slay armies in one swing." the black smith said proudly, and right then I realised he would probably have a tough time parting with it.

"Is it wise to give something that powerful to such an idiot?" I wondered aloud.

"Only youkai armies, my lady." he corrected me. "This sword is deigned only to destroy youkai so long as it is in service of the needy, innocent or human…"

Wow. How patronising. Seeing has how Inuyasha only ever thought of himself, I reckoned that he'd never be able to use that sword. Oh well. Too bad for him…

"I won't keep you from your work." I sidled away at last, in search of something less Inuyasha-orientated to do. But fate had other ideas for me.

"Inuyasha was looking for you this morning."

Miroku again. He suddenly appeared out of thin air at my side. He did that so often that I had to wonder if he was part ghost or something. But now he wanted to talk about Inuyasha, and that was the last thing I wanted to discuss with anybody… I wondered if Inuyasha had already told him about the thing he'd said last night… "Was he?" I feigned disinterest.

"Said he wanted something back off you." Miroku gave a shrug. "I have no idea what he meant."

"Me neither." Maybe he wanted his dignity back? But that was only if he actually meant what he'd said…

Some of my brooding must have shown on my face, and as Miroku seemed to be watching me very closely, he noticed it. "Lady Kagome… I've been thinking. You care for Inuyasha, don't you?"

I pouted slightly before screwing my face up and throwing my hands down to my sides in a huff. "Ok! Yes! I care about him! Now what are you going to do about it?!"

Miroku, for his part, looked delighted. "Perhaps you should tell him how you feel?" he suggested, still grinning. "It is obviously something you want off your chest."

Yes, it was definitely something I wanted out of my system… but I wasn't sure that expressing it to Inuyasha was the right way to go. What if that meant commitment? What if that led to marriage? I didn't want to marry and lose all my money and inheritance to someone else. I didn't want be some dolled up wife that was hidden away at all times and did nothing but make clothes and flower arrangements all day.

"I don't know…" I glanced up at Miroku earnestly. "I mean, he's already told me how he feels about me so-"

"Really?" This news seemed to shock him. "What did he say exactly?"

I blinked. "That he was falling in love with me."

"Ah yes… well he is, you know."

Perhaps it hadn't been a joke after all…? If the news had shocked Miroku then obviously they hadn't been collaborating together… unless Miroku was just acting.

"Yes, but what do I say to him now?" I demanded. "I don't know what to do!"

"Tell him how you feel." he urged.

"If I do that, things will have to change and I don't want them to change!" I folded my arms. "I want things to stay the same. I don't want to marry anyone. Not right now at least… even if I did love them."

"I see your point of view…" He stroked his chin whilst doing his 'wise man' impression.

"What if this is just a crush?" I asked. "A fleeting feeling that will fade in a matter of days. My mother talks about it all the time… what if it isn't love?"

"First of all, it is unwise to question the origins of our emotions. We should just live them out and enjoy them while they last. Second of all,"Here he looked at the castle. "Inuyasha once made a bet with me concerning marriage… and I have a few things I'd like to discuss with Lady Sango."

"Oh." I shrugged. "She's looking after my mother. You'll be lucky to drag her away."

"I shall try nonetheless." He smiled and waved as he bade goodbye.

By this point, I had been wandering around outside for quite a while under the sun, and I knew that princesses shouldn't get too much sun. Otherwise, they ran the risk of losing that moon glow colour of the skin. I had already lost a little of my customary paleness (much to my mother's insistent horror), but I still had time to regain it. Heading indoors away from the tanning sun was probably a good idea.

But instead I sat down in all my pristine kimonos on the steps leading up to the castle's entrance and gave a big sigh. I wasn't a very good princess… I stayed outdoors too much, ruined too many garments and my hair was too short. I was allergic to make-up, so wearing anything beyond a little eye gloss was out of the question… which meant my wedding was due to be a bit of a sorry sight. All brides wore make-up to the extreme on that day… but if I couldn't, would anyone be able to tell me apart from the guests? I had always hoped not… then maybe Inuyasha would marry Kikyo by mistake.

Of course, this line of thought only confirmed the fact that I had actually resigned myself to the reality that one day I was going to marry Inuyasha… I just hoped to put off the wedding day for as long as humanly possible.

Yes, I was still a poor excuse for a princess… to not want to marry her prince. I also wasn't exactly pure…

I'd already given my first real kiss away. When I was eight years old, in fact.

And who had been the lucky recipient?

Inuyasha.

That one had quite a story behind it… not that I'd told anyone and I doubt Inuyasha actually remembered.

It was really quite stupid, now that I sat down and recalled it properly… basically it had been during one of our 'arrangements'. We'd both been assigned to go down to the wildflower meadow beyond the gnarled oak tree to pick as many flowers as possible for my mother and my old maid to arrange later on. Of course, we just had to go together. After nearly an hour of deliberately trying to lose each other, or just plain kill each other with tree branches, we found the meadow and got to work.

Something about the flowers must have reminded me about something I had seen earlier that very day - when one of my mother's female servants had stolen a kiss from one of Lord Inu's samurai. I wasn't a complete naïve fool at that point. I knew what kisses were and I knew what love was and that people who married often kissed - usually to make babies. Of course when I asked for my mother to elaborate on that process, she usually only said that I was too young to understand and too young to make babies so I shouldn't trouble myself with them…

Actually, I'm still not at all sure about the entire process of making babies. But asking my mother again would be close to taking my life in my hands.

But there's one thing I know now - and that is you have to do more than kiss to make children… just don't ask me what it is because I have no idea. Although, when I was eight I had been told that my mother's female servant was pregnant, therefore I had decided that it was because she had kissed said samurai.

So while I'd been picking flowers, I'd turned to Inuyasha and said "If we're going to marry one day, are we supposed to kiss?"

He had stopped picking his weeds and poisonous fox glove to wrinkle his nose at me. "We're not getting married."

"Yes, we are."

"No, we're not."

"Mother says we are. So there." I had sniffed. Back then, my idea of marriage had been flippant. After all, my mother had bumped off my 'father' only two years before hand, so I thought that a wedding was a reasonable arrangement since I always had a fallback if I ever got tired of my husband. "Then we have to kiss."

I remember seeing him visibly stiffen at the mere thought of kissing. "That's gross! What about germs?! What about babies?!"

Obviously he had deducted the same conclusion as me.

"When we're married, we're supposed to have babies!" I huffed. He really could be infuriatingly slow sometimes. But he'd only pulled another face and continued picking his ugly weeds.

"I wonder what it's like." I had mused aloud.

"What what's like?"

"Kissing." I whirled on him, hands clasped behind my back along with the flowers I had gathered so far. "Let's try it!"

"No!" he had barked at me.

"It's only practising!" I had whined. "Don't be such a spoil sport!"

"I don't want to!"

Right then, I had marched up to grab him by the front of his shirt and lever him towards me. He had been a year older at that particular moment in time, but he was only just about beginning to catch up with me in terms of height. I was still taller, and as a result I could still bully him around. He was still coming to grips with his own strength and probably hadn't realised that he could overpower me any time he really wanted. "You kiss me right now or I'll scream in your ear!"

"Make me!" he'd growled.

"Oh, come on!" I had let him go and given him my pleading look. "I'll give you my pudding if you do it."

Bribery often worked with small minded boys. His ears had twitched. "All of it?"

"Yup." I had bobbed on the balls of my feet. "All of it."

He had picked at the pink flowers of his fox glove. "Alright…" he'd mumbled eventually. "But only if you give me the pudding!"

"Ok!" I'd piped and skipped forward.

Then with a flourish, I had lifted up the flimsy skirts of my summer yukata and draped them over his head. He'd probably had a stupefied look, but I hadn't been able to see it - I'd heard it in his voice though. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not touching your mouth directly!" No way was I about to get boy germs on me.

It was an infallible plan. Kiss him through the material of my yukata and avoid getting any boy diseases. Plus the yukata was a good way to act as a contraceptive. I had to remember that for when we married.

Only problem was… I had no idea how to find his mouth.

"Kagome… I can't breathe…"

With a frustrated sigh, I had dropped my skirts back to the ground and glared at him like it was all his fault. "It isn't working." I'd complained.

"But I want my pudding!" he'd complained even louder.

"You're not getting any!" I'd shouted back.

"I'll scream in your ear then!"

Inuyasha had a very loud scream… I wasn't sure I wanted to risk that wrath. The last time he'd yelled down my ear, I had pretty much gone deaf for three days.

"Fine!" I had snapped. "Close your eyes!"

He'd done so without too much convincing.

I had entertained the idea of leaving him there like that, imagining he would stay in the meadow till nightfall expecting a kiss from a princess… but I had always been a bit of a rebel and my curiosity of the hushed up world of romance and kissing (things that weren't allowed to be discussed in front of children like me and Inuyasha) had gotten the better of me. I wanted to be sleazy and dirty… just to see what it was like.

Inuyasha had made a very odd sight… puckered up and eyes screwed tightly shut. So I'd shut my eyes too, puckered up as well, and had gone in for the kill.

If any adults had been watching, it would have been 'aw' material for sure. I'm certain that the artist who used to paint my mother when she was younger and prettier would have found it the perfect portrait - two children standing in a wildflower meadow, kissing under the sun with flowers in hand.

In fact, it should have been painted. It would have lasted longer.

The moment the customary thirty seconds was up, we'd both dove apart from each other, gagging and wiping our mouths on our sleeves like we'd just sucked something rather bitter. We spat and coughed for a good few minutes before I'd look back and given him a haughty look.

"Well, you're not getting my pudding for that."

But that had been my first real kiss - not exactly a treasured memory, but it had marked a certain loss of innocence. Not that it had actually counted as proper kiss, and as for Inuyasha not remembering it… I guess it could be dismissed.

Either way, I kept reminding my mother that I was pure and innocent in every way when she asked if I'd been handled by other boys. I always left out the other little instances - like when Hojo had kissed me after telling me how he felt - a nice boy and a nice kiss, but I hadn't been all that sorry to see him sent away. Or that other time last year when the messenger's lad from Toshiyama had taken me behind the stables to show me what "Down the Rabbit Hole"meant.

Needless to say, that rabbit wouldn't be going down any more holes.

And I still don't know what it meant…

"Lady Kagome. You shouldn't dawdle on the castle steps."

A creepy shiver ran down my spine and I turned quickly to see Lord Inu's adviser gazing down at me through hooded eyes. Naraku was scary when he wasn't even trying…

"Sorry." I murmured quickly and all but ran past him to get inside and out of direct contact with his cold aura.

And who did I run straight into?

"Ack! Kagome!"

"Eek! Inuyasha!"

Run! Flee! My panicked brain commanded but I was rooted to the spot in horror. He'd finally cornered me… or I'd cornered him… by the look on his face, he was panicking just as much as me.

"Um… hi…" I managed.

It was pitiful really. We both knew what had happened. We both knew what was going on. But neither of us wanted to say it out loud.

I watched as Inuyasha seemed to cave in visibly and let out something that sounded like a cross between a gasp and a sigh as he closed his eyes. "Look - about what I said last night-"

"Me too." I blurted in a squeaky voice.

"What?" He stared at me, totally nonplussed.

"I…" Damn that lump in my throat - the lump that rose whenever I was about to cry. "I-I think I'm falling in love too…" Now it was my turn to shock us both.

His eyes widened. "With me?"

I clasped my hands over my mouth as I nodded, not trusting myself to speak - or cry for that matter.

Inuyasha opened his mouth, looking as though he was about to say something more… but then he quickly closed it. We were standing just inside the doors of the castle - which wasn't the most private place to hold a conversation. Servants, soldiers and maids were walking past constantly… any one of them might hear what we had to say.

So he grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's go somewhere quieter." He started dragging me away.

His hand was warm around mine, callused but comforting. My heart sped up, but my head just groaned.

I'm doomed…!

~Inuyasha~

My heart was thundering, but I ignored its painful beating as I hurried up the stairs to another floor - a quieter floor where I'd be able to talk with the girl I was tugging along behind me. She stumbled every now and then when I jerked her down different corridors, and she gasped her protest when I almost manoeuvred her arm out of its socket after a sharp dive into an empty room.

"Careful!"

"Sorry!" I released her small hand and quickly slid the door shut behind me. Then I turned to face her…

We were alone… but now neither of us was particularly willing to talk. Kagome's eyes remained trained on the floor as she nervously rubbed her fingers together. I just all out stared at her, waiting for her to say something comforting or life-saving. But she seemed to have as much to say as me… which wasn't saying a lot.

So finally I said, "Were you…serious?"

She nodded again, still peering at the floor. "Were you?"

I hesitated for a moment, long enough to make her look up at me uncertainly. I nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

"So…" She bit her lip and diverted her gaze again.

Yeah… now what?

The space between her eyebrows wrinkled slightly as she began to frown. "I don't really feel ready for this…"she said quietly.

She wasn't the only one. "Me neither."

Her eyes darted back to mine. "I mean, why do I love you?! I'm supposed to hate you - I have for the last ten years!" Those heaven coloured eyes were filling with tears.

"Wait - don't cry!" I stepped forward anxiously, reaching out to take her by the shoulder, but thought better of the action and put my hands down.

"Why not?" she sniffed. "This is kinda scary!"

"Yeah, but there's no need to cry about it." Anyway, I was sure that if she started crying, I would probably join in. Going against my earlier decision, I reached out and took her by the shoulders, earning myself a heart-rending puppy-eyed look from the princess. My gaze moved from her watery eyes, over her small, straight nose to her full lips.

There seemed to be some kind of impulsive tick going on in my brain recently… otherwise I never would have tilted my head down to press my own mouth against those full lips. I was hesitant. I was also insane. Normally, this kind of behaviour was out of the question. After hating this girl's guts since the day I had met her, my world had been tipped upside down in the last week or so. There were no words to describe how disturbing it was to go from seeing someone as the constant bane of my life to something quite the opposite… I had to be going insane…

But then again, she must have been going a little mad too if she was letting me kiss her without even a squeak of protest. She should have been battering me around the head and calling me a pervert… but instead she was only winding her arms around my neck in order to hold me closer. Was I betraying myself? It certainly felt like it… but this mutinous behaviour didn't seem so bad, especially when I settled my hands against her back, pressing her forward to fully drown in the taste of her lips…

It wasn't like this was the first time I had ever kissed her - oh no. There was that time when I was nine and she'd tackled me to the ground in some random field of corn and made me kiss her - she'd threatened to eat my pudding if I didn't do as she said. That had been a stupid, childish moment and an immature kiss. Now it was me who had started the kiss and this time, neither of us were particularly angry with each other.

My hand came up to curl into her hair and privately I revelled at the texture. I'd always envied her for her hair… yes, a lot of people looked at mine and thought 'phwoar!', but up close it was coarse and wiry - so strong that trying to trim or cut it was a nightmare. But Kagome's was like silk, shiny and soft all in one. I was almost sad to see she had cut it this year, but the shorter look suited her more than I liked to admit. Besides, the long hair had always given her an uncanny resemblance to a certain miko… I reckon that's why she cut it in the first place.

She tried to break away. "Inuya-"

No way was I going to let her talk - I was too scared to. So I sealed my lips over hers again and dreaded that I would eventually have to put her down and talk to her properly. I'd never been much of a 'let's talk things out' kind of guy. I wanted action! I knew that once we started talking, I would say something stupid to her… I always did… so I just wanted to enjoy it while I could. And yes… I was enjoying it. Perhaps the dream I'd had about kissing her had been a premonition since this certainly wasn't exactly the most unpleasant situation in my life. After all, she didn't taste as bad as I'd imagined. In fact she tasted like… well… nothing really, except maybe of warmth and gentleness, although I had my doubts about whether or not those were actual flavours.

Eventually, she outwitted me by pressing her hands against my shoulders and pulling herself out of the kiss. She seemed slightly dazed but I knew I was no better off. "Why did you do that?" she asked, scanning my face with searching eyes.

I shrugged. Because I damn well felt like it? "I don't know…"

She slowly laid her head against my shoulder… well, we were in each others arms, so there wasn't really much else to do. We were both a bit shocked at the way things were working out…

I know if our parents had just witnessed the kiss, the celebrations and wedding plans would already have been underway. They had no idea that the children they were urging together - with no hint of success in sight - had just declared love under their noses…

"I had no idea you felt like that…" she whispered to me.

He snorted lightly. "I kinda had an idea… when you kept blushing every time I did or said something nice-"

"Which wasn't very often." she pointed out dryly.

"I could still kinda tell though…" I sighed. "Plus, after Miroku kept telling me how you felt, it would take a real idiot not to notice."

"That's funny. Miroku was the one who told me how you felt, too…" Kagome shifted slightly. "I was talking to him just a minute ago… you know, I was so sure that you two were playing a trick on me, but he seemed really surprised when I told him that you had told me how you felt… but then he walked off talking about some bet about with marriage and Sango."

My blood ran cold.

"What?" My chest felt constricted.

"It was kinda weird really…" she went on. "He's been so confident as he keeps telling me you're in love with me but then he looks like he has a heart attack when you confirmed it…"

"Kagome…" I cringed a little, but forced myself to say it. "You didn't happen to tell Miroku that you wanted to marry me and have my children… did you?"

She pulled back quickly. "Never!" She looked startled. "I said I didn't want to marry you!"

"Miroku told me you did!"

I released her and she released me… we took carefully measured steps away from each other, beginning to glare daggers at the other… or maybe just glaring at each other because Miroku wasn't there to hone our wrath on.

"So you didn't tell him that you wanted to stop the fighting and just marry me?"I demanded hotly.

"I told him that I wanted to keep fighting forever!" she snapped. "I thought you told him that you were in love with me and wanted to convince me that I was in love with you too!"

"I never said that!" I shouted. "I only said what I said last night because I thought you were in love with me! He's been having us on because of some stupid thing I said about Sango only ever being interested in him the day I was willing to marry you!"

That's when everything fell quiet and we both realised our incredible mistake. It was all a lie. Everything that we had just done and said had no foundation, no basis and no truth. We weren't in love, we'd just been played.

Kagome had realised the same thing if the dangerous flash in her eyes was anything to go by. Her hard, steely eyes locked with mine and I matched the intensity of her anger with a deeper rage and resentment of my own.

"I'm going to kill him." she said steadily, but the venom was an almost tangent coating over her words.

"Not before I wrap that fucking bouzu around a fucking tree."

AN: Miroku! Look out! Here comes that boomerang!