InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ En Famille ❯ More than Friends ( Chapter 13 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

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Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.
Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
- Jane Howard
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The familiar ring tone woke her up, but Kagome was nice and warm and decided against going for her phone. Why did Miroku need to call if he was right there beside her? Snuggling closer to the arms holding her, she sighed and frowned the tiniest bit as an unfamiliar scent reached her. It was definitely not Miroku's cologne but she had smelled it somewhere very recently. How did it get into her apartment?

"Kagome your phone?"

How did Kouga get in?

Sitting up slowly, she glanced around and gulped, the events of the past few hours rushing back to her again. The stalker had been real, the call and flowers had really happened. Taking the phone with a nod and soft thanks, she flipped it open and put it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Go home"

With a gasp, she shrank down into the sofa, inadvertently moving closer to Inuyasha who was also awake and holding her again. "What do you want?"

"I want you to come home from his apartment already"

"C-Come home?"

"The fuck? Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha lifted her hand with the phone so he could speak to the man. "Listen you no good..."

The doorbell rang just then, making Kagome jump and Inuyasha curse some more. "Fucker hung up."

Closing her eyes, Kagome curled up again on the sofa, knees hugged to her chest, her head resting on top of them. She didn't know what to do, how had he known she was here? Was he constantly watching her? How?

"Kagome?"

Miroku

He was at the doorway. Kagome wanted to get up, rush into his arms, and beg him not to let go, but she found she could barely draw a steady breath.

"Kagome?"

There was concern in his tone, even as his footsteps came closer she could hear the worry in his voice.

"Kagome?"

He was in front of her now, lifting her head and making her face him, those deep violet eyes searching into hers. She blankly noticed the slight crinkles at the corners of his, created by his worry, and the movement of his lips calling her name again. This time though, he called her nickname, and this time, she finally let it all go.

"Gome- ooof!"

Miroku found himself suddenly seated on the carpet, his back leaning against Inuyasha's coffee table, a trembling, sobbing Kagome clinging to his neck. Instinctively curling up around her, Miroku held the girl tightly while looking up to the others for help. Inuyasha sat watching her from the sofa, Kouga leaned against the back of it, frowning down at her cell phone.

"He has her number," he mumbled.

Inuyasha gave a derisive snort, "You think? He only seems to know everything else about her, why not her cell phone number?"

They both instantly regretted their words as she whimpered and curled closer into the guy on the floor. It made sense that she would feel more comfortable around Miroku, he was one of her best friends, his family had been taking care of her since she was a child. But damn if it didn't irk Inuyasha to see how close the two were.

As for Kagome, she found it strange how she had held it all together until he arrived. She'd been terrified since her first call with the stalker and in need of a good cry ever since, but she'd held strong and pushed the tears back. Now it seemed the only thing she could do was snuggle into the familiar warmth and scent of Miroku, as if his mere presence could banish the threat all together. She fervently wished it could.

"What is it Gome?"

Miroku held her tight and looked up at them again, "What's going on? Why is she here?"

"Because he's waiting at her apartment," Inuyasha muttered, Kagome shuddered and Miroku didn't think his hold could get any tighter.

"Who is?"

"Her stalker," Kouga informed him, "Kagome has a stalker."

Sucking in a breath, Miroku froze for a moment and felt her flinch. "A stalker?"

"He's watching me," Kagome whimpered, "He told me to go home, just now, right when you were about to arrive. He's watching..."

Her phone rang again, Kagome mewled, Kouga answered, only to get hung up on. Three more of those calls and Inuyasha had the phone in pieces by the wall. Kagome had stopped crying, but her shaking was going to take a while, especially since Miroku wanted her to explain everything again.

"No I-I can't, not right now Roku, please not now," Kagome pleaded, feeling suddenly exhausted and cold.

Kouga nodded in agreement, "I turned down the guest room earlier, I was going to use it so I didn't have to drive home so late but I'll take the sofa and you can use it Kagome. You look like you could use another nap."

"Thank you," Kagome gave him a shaky smile, allowing Inuyasha to help her up and waiting for Miroku to stand before taking his hand again. "Come with me?"

"Sure"

Pulling her towards the guest room, he was surprised to see her take Inuyasha's hand too, "Kagome?"

"I feel safer," she whispered, "Safety in numbers I guess, I don't know, I just know I don't want any of us sleeping alone tonight."

"The bed's pretty big," Inuyasha mumbled.

"There's a window seat too," Kouga picked up a blanket from the hallway closet and followed them in. Kagome was tucked into the bed with Miroku and Inuyasha on each side of her, while Kouga took the afore mentioned window seat. The tired group didn't take long to fall asleep, except for Miroku, who waited until the other two guys were snoring to climb under the covers with Kagome. Still troubled by not knowing what was going on, he felt her reach for him and quickly pulled her close.

"Roku?"

"I'm right here."

Soothed by his hold, she quickly fell asleep again, melting sweetly into his arms.

(- And I'm not going anywhere -) Miroku tightened his hold just a bit as he also fell asleep.

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"Hey where are you going?"

"I'm going to check out her apartment"

Kouga slipped from the room and waited in the living room while Miroku extricated himself from Kagome's hold and came out to join him. Nodding silently in agreement, the two men quickly put their shoes on and headed out to the basement parking lot where Kouga's car was. They drove in silence, neither really in the mood to chat, and were greeted warmly by Kagome's doorman who'd just come on duty.

"She's not here though, from what Trev told me," Saul casually leaned back in his seat, "But you're welcome to wait for her upstairs if you've got keys."

"I do have them in fact," Miroku pulled out Kagome's keychain, which he'd picked up on his way out, "She sent us over to get some clothes and stuff, shouldn't take long."

"No worries," Saul beamed and waved them off.

Kouga huffed as they stepped into the elevator, "That was easy."

"I've only been here countless times," Miroku reminded him, "Of course he wouldn't be suspicious of me."

With a shrug, Kouga followed him to her door and into her apartment, both men freezing on the threshold for a second. The place was not only strewn with rose petals, it had been torn apart. Glass bottles were scattered around the floor and furniture, the curtains were ripped, the sofas stained, her decorations lying about instead of sitting on the shelves. They quickly checked the entire apartment, both becoming more and more worried and sickened as they went. Once they reached the bedroom, Miroku hesitated before opening the door and instantly regretted it once he had.

The first thing that reached them was the smell, a noxious smell that made them both cringe away. Finally moving in, they were stunned by the sight of her room. The bed had been rippped apart, the matress was covered in ripped cloths and crushed petals and papers. Worse than that, there were stains all over everything, white stains, unmistakably from a certain type of activity which brough bile to their throats as they even thought of it.

Reaching out for one of the few clean pictures, Miroku flipped it over and sucked in a breath. It was a picture of Kagome, nude, here in her room, having obviously just come out of the shower. Kouga made a sound suspiciously like a growl and picked up another wrinkled image. Again, Kagome, nude, this time in the shower. Over and over, pictures of her, dressed, undressed, half-dressed, on the bed, in the shower, in the tub, by the window.

Kouga suddenly spotted a black paper amist the mess and reached out for it, flipping it over and scanning through the brief message before handing it over.

Anger is a signal, and one worth listening to- don't piss me off anymore.

"The sick bastard" Miroku's voice quivered with rage.

Taking the note back, Kouga had his cell phone out and was calling Hiten, asking him to come over. The cops wouldn't want the scene disturbed he explained to the frustrated doctor.

"Think they'll be able to do anything?"

"Depends on how good those samples are, if they can find out who this creep is, she can put a restraining order against him. That's as much as we can hope for right now until we know more." Kouga shrugged, leading him out as he gave Hiten more info on what was going on.

The drive back to Inuysha's apartment was silent again and reaching it, they weren't surprised to find their friends awake. Kagome and Inuyasha looked at them expectantly, but they both just shook their heads and served themselves coffee. Once they had all changed and were good to go, they locked up his place and headed over to Sessh's house. This would take everyone's help.

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"What are you doing here at such an early hour?"

Sesshomaru greeted the foursome at the door, surprised to see his brother and Kouga out of bed before noon on a Saturday.

"We've got trouble," Miroku explained while they shuffled past him into the living room.

Sango popped her head out of the kitchen and beamed, "Hey guys! Be right with you!"

Sittlng down on the sofas and winged chairs, the group waited for her to appear, not surprised to see she had baby Kohaku with her.

"So what's the problem?" Sesshomaru got to the point.

Sango frowned, "Problem? Is that what got you two out of bed so early? Must be serious."

"Will you stop kidding around?!" Inuyasha snapped, "Kagome's in trouble not us."

"Kagome?" Lifting an eyebrow at the nervous young woman, Sessh finally noticed how very close they were all to her.

"I have a stalker," she explained, "I've been getting strange calls and gifts lately, nothing serious or worrying until yesterday."

"He threatened her," Kouga interrupted.

"Threatened you?" Sango paled, "How? When?"

Kagome shivered, "He told me to stop hanging out with Miroku or I wouldn't like it when he got me home." Closing her eyes, she missed the troubled looks shared by the group, "He said everything was almost ready, that he'd be seeing me soon."

"Oh my god," Sango visibly paled as she stood. "You must have been so scared."

"Yeah"

"You can't go home," Sesshomaru asserted, "We'll go pick up the things you absolutely must have and bring them back, you can have our guest room..."

"I can't stay here," Kagome interrupted, "Not that I don't appreciate it but..."

"No buts about it Kagome! You're not going back to that apartment!" Sango snapped, "There is no way, not as long as that creep is still out there."

"But you have a newborn baby to take care of," Kagome reminded her.

"I also have a sweet little girl you happen to adore and two very efficient nannys, speaking of which..." Sango rocked the sleeping baby and called for his nanny, who quickly came and took him to bed. "And I'm also very stubborn, I won't let you move back as if nothing's wrong Kagome, not a chance."

"She could stay with me," Inuyasha offered, "I do have a large apartment with two extra rooms, she could stay in one."

Kagome sighed, "No, you guys I don't think you understand..."

"You're the one who doesn't seem to understand Kagome, you have a stalker!" Sango insisted, "A man, who is most likely mentally ill and dangerous is keeping tabs on you. You can't just go on with life as normal."

"I know but I..."

"She's right," Kouga finally spoke up, "Miroku and I were at your apartment this morning Kagome, we weren't going to tell you but... he was back too."

Kagome and Sango gasped, the former paling quite noticeably, "He was b-back?"

"He left another card," Miroku felt her begin to tremble and drew her back against him.

"Card?" Sesshomaru sighed, rubbed his eyes and stood, "Let's get the facts straight ok? There's no point in arguing, let's just step back a moment and go over the details of what we do know."

The group agreed and Kagome explained everything, the gifts and phone calls she'd been recieving, the events of the day before, the phone call, the cards. Miroku and Kouga also explained about their earlier trip and what they had found. Kagome's hand shook so badly when they spoke of the mattress that Inuyasha had to take away the tea she'd been given when it splashed onto her skirt a little.

"He slashed it up?" Her voice was thin and high-pitched, "What for? What's the point?"

"There's obviously a very serious message in that," Sesshomaru watched Miroku rub her back soothingly, seeing the same questions he had in everyone else's eyes.

(- When did this start and how did we not see it? -)

Of course, he'd actually guessed at underlying feelings between those two many times before over the years, but had pushed them aside since they showed no strong signs of being more than friends. Obviously at some point they'd become more. He had to wonder how much more, and how that would play into this situation. The stalker was obviously not happy about Miroku coming into the picture. How long had the guy been watching her?

How much longer would he wait?

Jaken arrived then, coming with his usual letters and business memo's that needed taking care of. The group agreed to stop for a little and try to relax for a moment. Kouga, Inuyasha and Miroku were trying to get Kagome to eat when he left the room.

"No, I don't think I can hold anything down right now," Kagome insisted, "I'm feeling a little queasy."

"From the worry," Sango hugged her and led her into the kitchen, "Some crackers might help with that nausea, I ate them for the first few months when I had Rin, worked every time."

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Kagome took a few with a mumbled thanks and headed back out to the veranda just outside the living room. It was a bright day outside, even if it was a bit cold, and she shivered as she took a seat beside Kouga on a small bench.

Wrapping an arm around the girl, he kept chatting with Miroku and Inuyasha over the NFL and how their favorite teams were doing. They wanted to distract her, but obviously couldn't even distract themselves for long since they would randomly interject some new comment about what could be done to keep her safe.

"Kagome?"

Nothing

"Hey Kagome?"

Blank

"Gome!"

"Huh? What?"

Kagome finally blinked and looked around, realizing she was the center of attention again. "Oh sorry, just blanked out for a little, what were you saying? When did you all come out?"

"A few minutes ago," Sango informed her, "Now we're back to the main issue here."

"What are we going to do about this stalker business? You can't go home Kagome," Sesshomaru stated. "That's final."

Kagome huffed, "Well I'm not staying with you and Sango."

"You'll stay with Inuyasha and me," Miroku interrupted, "He has two guest rooms and if we both stay there we can make sure you always have someone accompanying you."

"Oh yeah that's going to be key too," Sango agreed, "I'm with her most of the day anyways, but with the baby I have to stay home quite a bit now. We can get Hilde to accompany her to work things."

"Kouga or I will meet up with you for lunch," Inuyasha offered, "And we'll drive you back to the apartment after work."

"No taxis"

"At least not alone"

"We had plans to go to D.C. for thanksgiving..."

(- Oh god this is such a mess -)

Kagome sat and listened helplessly as her friends planned out her life for the next few months. When Kouga gave her shoulders a brief squeese, she gave him a meek smile and closed her eyes, leaning back and listening quietly as they continued with their discussions.

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"You made it!"

Jak engulfed Kagome in a tight hug, Ban smiling and greeting Miroku a bit more calmly than his partner.

"Just barely" Kagome laughed and hugged him back.

After much arguing, they'd finally managed to convince their friends that a trip to DC wouldn't be that big a deal. They had been staying with Inuyasha for two weeks now and Kagome hadn't heard from her stalker since the flower incident. She still wasn't allowed into her apartment alone though, or anywhere else for that matter.

She was slowly going mad.

"Soo... what's going on with you two? You both look too stressed for everything to be ok," Jak led them into the living room after giving them a tour of their home.

"We've been staying with Inuyasha," Miroku explained, "The guy is enough to hassle anyone."

"Miroku" Kagome chastised him.

"Especially in the mornings I gather," Ban joked, having shared an apartment with Inuyasha during a trip they'd all taken during college.

"He's a sweetheart," Kagome insisted, "Just not very amicable any time before noon."

"Not unlike certain other folks in this room," Miroku teased.

Kagome huffed and slapped his chest playfully, "I don't take until noon!"

When he raised an eyebrow at that, she shrugged and took a cookie from the tray on the table, "Just until ten."

Jak laughed, "And that's a whole two hours earlier so you just leave her alone now."

"My hero," Kagome giggled and allowed herself to be swept out of the living room by Bankotsu, who wanted to have her opinion on some of the food. They had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner, with plenty of laughter and music. They played a dice game called 'Last Chance' where Miroku beat them all, and then went on to some poker and a game about movie trivia in teams of two. Neither Kagome nor Miroku could stop laughing when Jak did his impersonation of Vivien Leigh's last scene as Scarlett O'Hara's in Gone with The Wind. Kagome was praised by all when impersonating Audrey Hephburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's and singing Moon River.

It wasn't until Miroku dropped a nearby glass that they calmed and stole a glance at the time. It was well past 2am. Deciding it was time to go to bed, the couples headed off into their rooms with happy good night hugs and a few parting laughs.

Dropping her shoes, which she'd taken off much earlier, by the bed, Kagome sighed and pulled the bobby pins from her hair. She'd put it up in a messy bun for the night and was surprised to feel Miroku's fingers comb it out. Smiling when he kissed her temple, she turned and draped her arms over his shoulders.

"I'm so glad we came! This has been the most fun I've had in weeks," stepping up and giving him a quick kiss, she was glad when he deepened it and pulled her flush against him.

Staying with Inuyasha was taxing enough, but staying away from Kagome's bed was what really had Miroku so unnerved. They hadn't had sex in a month. Not that they hadn't slept together, they were often 'accidentally' falling asleep on the sofa while watching a movie or listening to the radio. But sleeping with her warm body was torture when it had been so long since they'd touched, and to his delight, her patience was as low as his.

Not wanting to breaking away to get undressed, they simply climbed onto the bed and helped each other with their clothes. Their first joining that night was wild and quick, both too eager to be patient and hold off. In truth, Kagome had her skirt up around her waist and Miroku's shirt was still on as they collapsed together on the bed, tremulous and fighting to catch their breaths.

"My god"

"I've missed you" Kagome nibbled on his lower lip and sighed.

Their urgency now sated, they removed the last of their clothing and pulled the blankets back, climbing into bed and curling up together under the warm comforter. They'd already talked a lot about her situation, wondering why she had a stalker, where he'd gone, what he was waiting for. Just because he'd let her be for two weeks, not one of her friends was willing to let her lifestyle go back to normal. The man was waiting, he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble before to give up so easily.

"What do you think he's planning?" Kagome whispered against Miroku's bare chest.

"I don't know," he admitted, his own words fanning her temple, "Whatever it is, he won't be going through with those plans."

The determination in his tone made her smile, feeling warm and tingly inside, "I know, you'd never let him right?"

"Damn right"

"Oh Roku," Kagome snuggled close and buried her face against his neck, kissing it when he tightened his hold on her.
(- How could any girl not fall in love with you? -)

Miroku nuzzled her hair and inwardly sighed. (- Why didn't I ever think this could happen? -)

Feeling warmed by the sweet touch, Kagome hummed and gave him a playful kiss on his shoulder, smiling when his hold loosened, his hands began to wander, and their caresses changed from sweet to sensual. Their thoughts followed along the same lines as their breathing picked up and their bodies warmed beneath the covers.

With his lips covering hers, Kagome slipped her arms around his neck and opened to him, feeling something deeper this time. Something that felt almost too exquisite to bear.

(- Falling in love was never a part of our deal but...-)

Miroku felt her lush form trembling beneath him and tightened his hold.

(- This has got to be it... -)

Tangling together, they kept their cries to a minimum, the air charged with an energy different than anything they'd felt before. For the first time, their eyes locked and held to one anothers in the most crucial moment. As he finally stopped, poised above her, trembling, panting, and joined as inimately with her as a person could be, a single thought flashed through both their minds.

(- This is love -)

Moving together, they finally sank into the bed again, sweaty, breathless, and hopelessly tangled together, neither willing to let go quite yet. Feeling Kagome's breathing evening out in sleep, Miroku nuzzled her cheek and curled protectively around her.

"Roku" her sleepy mumble reached him and brought a smile to his lips.

Kissing her cheek, he brushed his lips across her ear and gently soothed her, "Shh... just get some sleep... love..."

Within minutes the pair was fast asleep, their troubles and fears forgotten for one blissful night.

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Gomen for the wait, I hope you liked tihs chapter, let me know what you think!

See ya!

Oh yeah, and happy New Year too!

KawaiiChica