InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heart's Landfill ❯ Open Doors ( Chapter 46 )

A/N: As always all characters will be walking that fine line called OOCness. I have been most honored in the past few days by the wonderful Menaii, who on her sick bed drew a wonderful rendition of one of the scenes from the last chapter. Personally, I love it, because it's beautifully drawn and the feelings in the characters were brilliantly captured. Not to mention, I've never-ever had anyone honor me in such a way. Thank you so much Menaii, and the rest of you should definitely go check it out!! There's a link to it on my profile page on ff.net, and on mm.org, you all will find a link if you got back to chapter 45. Now that that's done, I want to thank you all for your wonderful patience and support; you guys have all been totally fantastic!! And a special thanks to my wonderful awe inspiring beta, Neko, for her continuous hard work on each and every one of my chapters. Oh, and if you belong to the IYFG make sure you get out and vote, kay? Kay!! Now that we understand each other, on to the chapter!!

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to anyone with the exception of Nya, Nola, Takira, Gage, Dr. Aikio, Maki, Moki, and Dinshu. All others belong to the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 46:

Open Doors

The street to the left and right of where he stood was barren of any other people, and the ground was slick as if it had just rained, but as he glanced down at his clothing, he noticed that he was dry as a bone. So, it caused him to wonder how the hell he'd gotten to this place.

Okay, you've had weirder dreams, Inuyasha, he told himself as he turned and started slowly in the opposite direction of the very noticeable dead end to his left.

Taking notice of the flickering neon signs that hung over a few of the establishments, he knew wherever he was; it was not a reputable part of any town.

The sound of a door opening and closing accompanied by a laughter that he'd recognize in a crowd of a million laughing people brought him to a stop, and he stared around him looking for her, but the street was still just as vacant as it was before.

Shaking his head, the hanyou shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking again, his head down as he watched the wet dark street pass below his feet.

“Come on, Dog-boy. Let's go, or we'll miss it,” her voice whispered around him and Inuyasha stopped, looked up and down the street, and strained his hearing to see if he could pinpoint her location. The only thing that greeted him was silence and the soft buzzing of the flickering neon signs around him.

As he started to move forward again, the voice came back, “You don't want to miss it, do you? Well, come on!”

“Where are you?” he called into the starless sky above him, but his only answer was the shutting of another door. Glancing around him, he shook his head in an attempt to make sense of what was going on.

He heard her giggle again and he looked up and to the right.

There she was a few doors in front of him, her hair blowing in a breeze that he couldn't feel, a beautiful smile on her face as she waved him forward. He smiled back at her as he took in the elegant, traditional style kimono she wore that was a little too similar to something that he'd seen his mother wear before.

She was so beautiful, so happy that just looking at her, made a resounding pulse rattle through his being as he took a step towards her.

She laughed and vanished from where she stood only to reappear a few feet further down the street.

“Kagome, wait up!” he called as his gait quickened to that of a slow trot.

She giggled again and turned, running further down the street as if they were playing a game of cat and mouse. He watched as she reached down and lifted the hem of the kimono so that it wouldn't get wet and he tried to use that moment to catch her, but once again she vanished and reappeared further down the block.

“Oi, how the hell am I supposed to catch you if you keep doing that?” he questioned playfully.

She stopped then, turned and stared at him, a soft smile on her face as she released the hem of her skirt.

Stopping, he stared back at her quizzically. The smile on her face seemed almost apologetic, didn't it? It was almost as if she wasn't really looking at him at all, but through him.

The hanyou swallowed convulsively. He could feel it, couldn't he? Someone was standing behind him, staring through him and that was the person she was talking to…the person she was calling to come follow her.

Everything in him told him not to look back, because some things were best left unknown, but he had to know, he had to see this person, this…this…

He spared another moment to look at her as she raised her hand, holding it out for someone to take, but he knew without having to be told that it wasn't him she was reaching out to.

“Kagome,” he whispered as he tried to take another step towards her in order to ask her what the hell she thought she was doing, but quickly found that his feet seemed to be cemented to the spot.

She blinked slowly, her eyes glistening with adoration, devotion, and a warmth that he'd never felt in his life, and then she whispered tenderly; “Come on, Takahashi, everyone's waiting. We can't keep them waiting forever, can we?”

That's me! That's me! She's calling to me, but why…why does it feel like it's not me she's talking to me, the hanyou thought desperately as the person behind him seemed to draw closer. He didn't know how he knew that, but he could feel it in the inner recesses of his body.

Inuyasha swallowed, spared another second to stare at the woman before him, before he slowly twisted his body so that he could look behind him. He gasped heavily and tried to step back, but that only caused him to fall to his butt on the wet cement, because his feet still wouldn't move.

There before him was a copy of himself dressed in a red hakama and haori similar to that of which he and his brother practiced in. His eyes though, weren't gold; they were as red as blood dripping from a warm body, his fangs hung from his mouth like sharpened ice picks, his cheeks bore burgundy jagged streaks, and his claws were grotesquely long as if someone had broken off the tips of steak knives and stuck them into his nail beds.

The hanyou shook his head and stared up at the…the demon that continued slowly towards him, his arms down at his sides, his red pools focused intently on her, on Kagome.

Inuyasha panicked, stood quickly to his feet and shouted urgently, “Run, Kagome, don't just fucking stand there, run!!” Turning his attention back to the demon that was much too close, he reached out to grab him in an attempt to keep him away from her, but his hands went straight through him as if he was a ghost, a figment of his imagination, or an enigma of some form.

“Who the fuck are you?” he questioned frantically, not willing to believe that in his own dreams this was even possible.

The demon stopped directly beside him, his face unreadable. He blinked, continued to stare ahead of him at Kagome as she continued to call to him.

The hanyou didn't know exactly when it happened, but all of sudden his replica was staring at him as if reading his thoughts, his past, and his future. There was such a confidence within him that it caused the hanyou to want to step back and this time his feet moved.

The imitation's head tilted quizzically to the right and then to the left, and then he spoke, his voice harsh, husky, and downright animalistic, “Your ignorance…is blocking us.”

Inuyasha blinked and allowed those words to twist through his mind before he looked back up and noticed that his replica was no longer before him. Instead, he was standing in front Kagome, his back to her as if he was protecting her from something or someone.

Takahashi stepped slowly towards them, unable to comprehend the meaning of exactly what this all meant.

“Kagome!”

She peeped from behind his replica, snaked her arms around his waist and leaned on him as she smiled sincerely at him, causing his heart to break. She glanced up at the demon, and then over at him and stated softly, “I love him, Dog-boy.”

“You don't love him, damn it! You love me! Kagome, you love me!” he shouted desperately. “I know you love me!”

“Do I?” she questioned earnestly as she interlaced her hand with that of the demon that hadn't taken his eyes off him once since reaching her.

“Yes, yes, you do! You have to love me! You… Damn it, Kagome, don't go with him!” he screamed as he watched them turn and start to leave, headed in the direction of a light that made him want to cover his eyes.

A cold hand wrapped around his, drawing his attention away from Kagome, and he glanced down agitatedly.

What the fuck? Not now! Not fucking now!!

“Let them go, Inuyasha. You'll always have me.”

The hanyou tried to jerk his hand away from her, but she held steadfast to him.

“Kik…Kikyo?”

She was standing there, a sad smile on her face, looking exactly as he'd remembered her almost a year ago; including the damned wedding dress he now despised!

“I'm here, I'm here for you. Let her go. She'd never love you the way I do.”

Inuyasha glared down at her and snapped, “Love me? You love me? You psychotic bitch, you don't know what the meaning of love is!!”

“I've always loved you, don't you know that?” she replied sweetly as if he hadn't just yelled at her.

He shook his head, tried again to pull his hand away from her, and stared up at Kagome and the demon that had taken his form as they walked further and further away from him.

Kagome, don't leave with him, he thought desperately. He's not me! He's not me!

Staring down at the spot where their hands met, Inuyasha watched as a black substance that seemed vile and sickening began to seep through covering his knuckles, and inching slowly towards his wrist.

A platinum wedding band appeared on his ring finger causing a burning sensation to rip through his body. He pushed violently against Kikyo, trying to get her to release him, to let him go, but the more he tried, the stronger she held on.

“I'm your wife, Inuyasha. You belong with me. You belong to me.”

He stared down at her, his eyes riddled with anger and disbelief! This wasn't happening! This was just a dream; it had to be! It had to be just a fucking dream!

The hanyou screamed as he looked away from Kikyo and at the silhouette of the woman that he desperately wanted…needed to reach, “Kagome!!”

“There are no such things as happy endings, Inuyasha,” Kikyo whispered. “Come, it's time to go; we've waited long enough to begin our lives haven't we?”

“No, no, no! Get the fuck away from me!” he screamed apprehensively, his head shaking from right to left as his feet started moving of it's own accord towards her. “Kikyo, let go of me! Kagome needs me! Let fucking go! She… Fuck! Shit!”

He looked up having felt a pair of eyes on him and watched as Kagome stood there as if she'd never left, her arms out to him, calling him to her, her eyes sad and downtrodden.

She didn't leave! She came back, he thought as his attention turned to the demon standing behind her. His head was down, a snarl on his face as he looked past him and at Kikyo.

Inuyasha blinked and swallowed convulsively.

The demon blinked as his knuckles loudly cracked in the silence that surrounding the four of them.

Kagome began to weep softly as she stared at him, her heart breaking more with every second that passed by.

Inuyasha stepped towards Kagome, his free hand urgently reaching out to her.

Kikyo tugged at his other hand, trying desperately to pull him in the other direction.

The replica's nostrils flared seconds before a vicious snarl escaped him, and he charged ferociously in Inuyasha's direction, causing the hanyou to duck and cover his head as the weight of the person holding his left hand evaporated.

The hanyou sat up, his eyes wide, his heart hammering in his chest as he stared around his bedroom, his breathing heavy and labored.

He closed his eyes, tried to slow his heart beat and whispered, “How fucked is that?”

“How fucked up was it?”

His head snapped to side connecting with Kagome's sleep filled eyes. “What?”

“You were screaming my name in your sleep. I tried to wake you, but you just kept screaming for me.”

“I don't talk in my sleep, Wench.”

“I didn't say you were talking,” she replied as she leaned back away from him. “You were screaming like I was in danger or something.”

He watched her for a few moments, knowing she was more than likely telling the truth. “I'm sorry about that,” he offered softly.

Settling back down in the bed so that he was half sitting up, he reached for her and pulled her down to him. As he held her tight to his side, he tried to tell himself that it was just a dream and that no one-Kikyo nor a fabricated demon-would come between them.

Closing his eyes, he stated, “Kagome, if I ever tell you to run, promise me you'll run.”

She was quiet for a moment before she responded, “I can't promise you that, Inuyasha. Because if you tell me to run from you, I honestly don't know if I could that.”

She loves…me, he thought sullenly as images of his demon replica danced before his eyes taunting him. “Your ignorance…is blocking us,” he heard the demon say, repeating the same words he'd said to Kagome a few hours earlier.

My ignorance is blocking us, he repeated silently while glancing down at her as he ran his hand down her bare arm and over the chill bumps coating her skin. Pulling the cover up just a little, he sighed. My ignorance is blocking us… What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Shaking his head, since he honestly didn't want to give a silly dream that much power; he pulled her closer and kissed the crown of her head as he closed his eyes and pretended to dose off.

Simonkal of Inuy

Kouga closed his eyes against the cool night breeze twisting around him. He hadn't expected for this little task to become such a big fucking deal, but he figured when he was dealing with back stabbing pricks and the like; it was to be expected.

Staring up at the apartment building, he narrowed his eyes and wondered for the millionth time just how the hell Din thought he'd be able to keep this information from him.

“Are you sure this is the place?” he questioned the bat youkai, Moki, who he'd contracted to track Dinshu since a few days after the mockery of a rape had occurred.

“Yes, this is it.”

“Do you remember the apartment number he went to?”

“Yes, 2325, but he didn't go in. He just talked through the door, and a few minutes later the place was flooded with police officers.”

“Really?” Kouga questioned, a slow smile stretching over his face. That fucking Dinshu. “Who lives at this address?”

Moki looked at him knowingly, but didn't reply as he stared up at the building, his pitch black eyes narrowed slightly.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Kouga leaned back against his rental car as he took his time glancing up and down the dark street. “Has he been here since then?”

“No, he's been at a location across town.”

Kouga thumbed at his chin, his mind working a mile a minute in an attempt to come up with a plan of sorts to beat Dinshu at his own game.

Of all the people that he had working for him, he never would've thought that Dinshu would've been smart enough to pull the wool over his eyes with regard to Kagome, but it appeared that that was exactly what he'd done.

The fucker had been apparently tailing Kagome for only God knows how long, while calling in and reporting that he was still tailing that lying bitch, Sango. All the while throwing in little snide remarks about how Kagome probably didn't want him or that perhaps she had moved on with her life and found a new man.

He figured he should've known something was up, because the damned bastard just seemed to have a little too much insight into things he wasn't supposed to know about.

“And your brother, Maki, has been keeping watch over there, right?”

“Yes, he says that all Dinshu has been doing is sitting on the roof of one building staring aimlessly at a building across the way.”

“Do you have the address of the building he's been…staring at?”

“Yes.” The bat demon reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a torn piece of paper before handing it to Kouga. “Maki said the place is heavily guarded. The only people that are allowed in the building without being escorted are the actual residents who can show two forms of id.”

Taking it from him, Kouga stared down at it before shoving it in his pocket. That fucking Dinshu. I guess I didn't give him enough credit, but, well, I guess it doesn't really matter now, does it?

“That so, huh? It almost sounds like there is something there that really needs protecting, doesn't it?” Kouga stated with a light chuckle.

Moki shrugged his shoulders off handedly. “Possibly. Should Maki and I infiltrate it?”

Kouga thought that over for a minute before he turned and smiled at the bat demon. “Do you know why I called you and your brother here to Tokyo?”

“Yes, you need help finding something you lost,” Moki answered matter-of-factly. Sniffing at the night air, he rolled his shoulders as he stated calmly, “Death is coming; can you smell it?”

“Is it?” Kouga questioned softly, one eye-brow raised higher than the other.

He knew Maki and Moki were the best of the best at getting things done when one didn't want to be found out, and they were exceptional assassins, trained in the ancient ways since the day they were born. And perhaps for that reason he should've utilized them more, but their innate knowledge of the unknown or rather the future was just something that did not sit right with him. There was just some things that one did not need to know, wasn't there?

The sound of a cell phone ringing cut through the silence that was growing between boss and crony, and Moki reached into his pocket pulling it out. “Yes?”

Kouga stared at the demon. He knew it was the bat demon's brother calling, but he couldn't make out what he was saying because when they talked to one another, they used an ancient language that was long dead and forgotten by most demons.

The wolf demon sighed lightly as the Moki finished talking and disconnected the call. “What is he up to now?”

“He just entered the building in question via the roof and a balcony that sits off of what appears to be the pent house.”

Kouga pushed up off the car and swallowed. He's planning on taking Kagome and doing exactly what? Doesn't he know that I'll fucking kill him if he hurts her? He has to fucking know that, the bastard!

He figured that somewhere along the way, Dinshu must have gotten his signals mixed! He had to know that Kagome belonged to him and was not something that he could just take because well, he didn't like the idea of having a fucking gun pointed in his fucking face!

Sure, he had allowed Din to fuck her once, the night of his bachelor party, and maybe in hind-sight that was a horrendous mistake, but it was not something that he could take back-it was done. Did Din actually think that he'd be okay with him fucking Kagome again? He couldn't be that dumb! He…he just couldn't be that fucking stupid, could he?

“Kill him,” Kouga declared callously. “Tell Maki to follow him, and if he comes within 100 feet of what I've lost, that he is to kill him.” He thought that over quickly and corrected, “Regardless of whether she's there or not, I want Dinshu dead. He's outlived his usefulness.”

Moki nodded dispassionately and queried, “And would you like us to return to you what you've lost?”

Kouga knew that unlike the others, Maki and Moki followed his orders to the `T'. If he told them to kill someone, come hell or high water, that person was going to end up dead. And without the entire world finding out, or anyone in the general vicinity getting in the way; that is unless some poor fool tried to intervene.

“No. If it is returned to me in that manner, it will never truly be mine again.” His intention had never been to kidnap Kagome and lock her away in some dungeon as if she was his sex slave, unless it came to that.

He wanted to be able to go to her and talk to her as he had done on so many other occasions, and he would. He just needed to get a lock on her location and get her world, that Dinshu had turned upside down in a matter of days, back in order, and then the ball would be back in his court.

Besides, she knew nothing of his criminal life, and he'd prefer to keep it that way for both their sakes.

“As you wish,” Moki stated, glancing up and down the street before preparing to take flight.

“Oh, and Moki, once that is done, I need you to clear up some unfinished business of Dinshu's. Her name is Sango,” Kouga stated, shoving one of his hands in his pockets while opening the driver's side door to his car with the other.

“With Dinshu's demise, will she still be able to connect you to him?”

“Does that really matter?”

“Perhaps it should,” Moki challenged. “I've read the papers, Nashitaku-sama, perhaps that woman has suffered enough.”

“Perhaps you should let me decide that, Moki,” Kouga snapped not really surprised that the bat demon was questioning him with regard to this particular kill. He, like his brother, hated dealing with women in this manner unless it was a life or death, or rather a jail or freedom situation connected directly to them.

Moki looked at him for a long moment before he spoke, “This thing that you've lost, will getting it back make the blood that will coat your hands at the end of this ordeal, worth it?”

Kouga glanced up at the demon that was hovering a few feet off the ground. “Perhaps at the end you will tell me,” he stated cryptically as he climbed into his car and shut the door, officially ending their conversation.

As the car pulled off, Moki watched the red of its taillights disappear before taking off into the night sky, his face expressionless. “Power is always put in the hands of the foolish,” he whispered as he shot off heading in the direction of his brother and their target, Dinshu.

Simonkal of Inuy

Kagome wasn't sure exactly when she'd fallen asleep or how long she'd been sleeping after Inuyasha's tossing and turning had initially awakened her, but she was damn sure that if the dogs in her life didn't let her get some sleep, neither one of them would like her in the morning.

She pulled the blanket up over head, and then tried to bury it under Inuyasha's warm body in order to shut out Ashton's constant whimpering, but it just wasn't working.

I know Inuyasha can hear him! He has to be able to, damn it! I bet he's ignoring him thinking that I'll get up and take him out!

The hanyou in question shifted, rolled to his side and pulled her closer, his breathing even and soft.

Ashton stopped whimpering for a fraction of a second and Kagome sighed as she peeked up from beneath the covers thinking that she was safe, but just as quickly as she did that the damned dog started up again. This time, it was more of an insistent pathetic whine that she swore was his attempt to peel the paint off of the walls.

Not only that, but he seemed to have moved closer to the bedroom and away from the living room where'd he'd taken to sleeping since they'd been staying with Inuyasha.

Damn it, Ashton! Why do you have to be house broken? Why can't you just piss on the floor like any other dog would?

As if in answer to her question, he released a whine that had to be loud enough to wake the dead, and she glanced up at Inuyasha's sleeping face and frowned.

Staring at him, she silently willed him to open his eyes, to hear Ashton and take him out.

Wake up, Inuyasha. Get up! Your dog needs to go out, she thought desperately.

She knew Ashton wasn't his dog, but they'd both kind of taken to handing over ownership of the animal when he did something bad or needed-like now at this ungodly hour-to go outside.

Damn it, Inuyasha, if you don't wake up right now, I'll pinch the shit out of you, she silently threatened as she stared from his sleeping face down to his pert nipple, which she was determined to attack if necessary.

She narrowed her eyes, closed in on his face in hopes that her proximity would wake him up, but to no avail.

Pulling her hand from under the covers, she continued to stare up at him as she prepared her thumb and forefinger to attack that sensitive little patch of skin.

Okay, I know I promised, but this is important! I need sleep, she thought in an attempt to rationalize what she was about to do.

She scowled at him, glanced at her fingers and inched them closer to his nipple. I'll just pinch him a little. Just enough that he'll think it was a mosquito bite or something, she told herself as her fingers inched even closer to his skin.

“Kagome?”

She froze, stared at his face, her fingers poised to strike. “Y…yeah?”

“What exactly do you think you're doing?” he questioned already knowing the answer, and his voice holding no sign of sleepiness.

“No-nothing, why?” she stuttered, hoping that she sounded as innocent as she did in her head.

Takahashi grunted out something that was caught between a laugh and a snort, but he didn't respond to what had to be a rhetorical question.

“Well, Ashton needs to go out and you wouldn't wake up,” she offered in hopes that he didn't know that in actuality she hadn't even tried.

“Did you try to wake me?” he questioned, his eyes still closed.

In order for him to ask her that question, she knew he had to have already known the truth, so she forewent lying and declared softly as she started drawing invisible circles into his bare chest, “I tried subconsciously; that counts right?”

His eyes cracked slowly open at that, and he just stared at her, his face caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to be serious. “So you were willing to break a promise that you made to me in order to get me to take the dog out rather than consciously waking me up?”

“Inuyasha?” she questioned in a whiny tone while batting her eyelashes at him.

Rolling his eyes as he pushed himself up into a seated position, he just shook his head at her and turned so that his feet were off the bed. “I swear, Wench, you're really something else.”

Feeling guilty now, she declared softly as she pushed up as well so that her weight was balanced on her left palm, “I wasn't really going to do it.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her and rolled his eyes while running his clawed fingers through his hair. “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” he quipped tauntingly.

“Fine, I'll take him out,” she stated quickly while kicking the covers off of her and climbing out of the bed.

Inuyasha could see the guilt she was feeling in her eyes, and as messed up as it was, it only served to make him feel guilty for making her feel guilty. Did that even make sense?

Quickly grabbing a pair of his oversized sweatpants off the chair nearest to her side of the bed, Kagome declared, “He's my dog, anyway. You go back to bed. I'll handle it.”

“He's only your dog when he's being cute, remember?” Inuyasha stood to his feet, walked around the foot of the bed and held his hand out.

Looking down at his waiting palm, she questioned, “What?”

“Give me the damn pants.”

“No it's okay, Inuyasha, I'll-“

“Please,” he declared exasperatedly, and then finished, “Woman, just give me the pants so I can go before he pisses on my floor and then I'm really upset.”

“I'll go with you then.”

Picking her up, he dropped her on the bed on her back and pulled the sweat pants off her with little effort as she tried to hold on to the waistband. “You just stay here and try not to break any more promises,” he responded sarcastically, a smirk on his handsome face.

“Inuyasha, I wasn't going-”

Pulling a random t-shirt over his head, he shot her look that clearly said, save the lies for someone that don't know any better. He figured it was well received since it did shut her up and caused her to swallow convulsively.

“Okay, so I was going to give you a little pinch, but it was for the better good of humanity. You know, neither one of us was going to like cleaning up dog piss. And it stains.”

Inuyasha stared at her for a minute, and then shook his head as the chuckle that he'd been trying to hold in from the moment he'd heard Ashton's first whine and felt Kagome attempt to ignore it escape him. Pulling the shirt the rest of the way down, he stalked slowly towards her.

Kagome scooted back as if she thought he was going to do something to her, but he caught her ankle and pulled her back towards him so that she was laying before him, her knees bent and her legs spread.

“Where exactly do you think you're going, Wench?”

“Takahashi, I-” she started as she stared at the devilish glint in his eyes, and cursed the fact that her period was on.

He ran his hand down the length of her inner thigh to the edge of the tight shorts she'd decided to sleep in as a reminder to him that he was not getting any tonight and probably not for the next few days. “You know you need to be punished, right?”

Kagome nodded reluctantly as he pushed her legs further apart and leaned down towards her. “Inuyasha, we can't. My per-“

“Shush,” he hissed softly. Leaning in closer, so that his body was mere inches from hers, he blew in her ear, trailed the tip of his tongue down the side of her neck, and nipped lightly at her collar bone causing her to moan.

Laying down on her, he allowed her to encircle his neck as he reached beneath her and palmed her ass roughly, squeezing it as he rocked his hips against her. “When your period goes off,” he started in a whisper, “I'm so going to make you pay. You do know that, don't you?”

The harlot actually rocked back against him and grinned as she replied seductively, “I can hardly wait.”

Pushing up off of her as Ashton started that annoying whining shit again, Inuyasha shook his head exasperatedly and smiled down at her. “You owe me big for this one.”

“I know, Dog-boy,” she quipped softly as she crawled back under the covers and tried to get her body to cool down. Watching him step out into the dark hallway, she couldn't help but to smile as he poked his head back in the door and quipped, “And for the record, I don't clean up dog piss, I pay people to do it for me.”

Kagome rolled her eyes and laughed as she fanned him away dismissively. Baka

“Alright runt, let's go,” she heard him say seconds before she heard the front door open and close behind him.

She felt like she was a school girl in love for the first time when she was around him. The things he did to her and the way he made her feel was just unexplainable.

Sure, at first, she thought that he was seriously upset with her for the whole `about to pinch' thing, but she quickly figured out that he was only toying with her, which was something that he seemed to take some pride in doing.

Stretching her hands over her head, Kagome then snuggled deeper into the covers as she glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Closing her eyes, she tried to force herself to fall asleep again, but she just couldn't make herself stop smiling.

How is it that a little over a few months ago, she wasn't even able to imagine herself feeling like this, let alone staying in some guy's house? And now…and now, she couldn't even remember what she thought about or even did before he came into her life.

He's good for me, she decided quickly as she rolled over onto her side, away from the door and facing the window. Since I met him, everything about me has changed. I'm…I think I might be stronger because of him.

She sighed thoughtfully and allowed her eyes to close as a yawn escaped her, leaving her feeling damn near exhausted. Shifting over slightly so that she was laying on his pillow, Kagome allowed the darkness to drag her slowly down into a world filled with thoughts and dreams of a silver haired hanyou, her hanyou…her boyfriend.

She wasn't sure how long she'd slept or even if she actually had, but as the bed behind her shifted and strong arms slipped around her waist, she smiled and slide back to meet him.

Rubbing her hands up and down his arms in an attempt to warm them up, she advised sleepily, “That was quick, but thanks for taking him.”

The only response she got was a gentle kiss to the back of her head, and she smiled again and cuddled a little closer to him, so that they were spooning.

The tips of his claws moved up under her shirt, across her flat stomach, and then down to her waistband where he allowed one finger then two fingers to slip in, and begin to pry it away from her skin.

“Uh uh, Dog-boy, you know we can't tonight,” she stated softly, reprimanding him with a playful slap to his wayward hand.

He stilled and she smiled, though she had to admit that she was finding his silence a little unnerving. Surely, he wasn't really upset with her. Reaching down, she found his clawed hand again and pulled it up to her breast. Positioning it so that he was palming her right breast, which he seemed to take much pleasure in doing, she whispered, “That's all you get tonight.”

As he kneaded her breast gently, she tried to fall back into that blissful world of sleep, but something… An annoying little voice in the back of her mind started whispering to her that something was off, or was it wrong?

She pushed that thought away, snuggled back into him, and smiled when he kissed the side of her neck.

Bringing her hand up to rub against his forearm that was wrapped around her waist, a thought occurred to her, Hair? Hair? Inuyasha doesn't-

Pushing that thought aside since it was stupid to even consider, she quieted her mind and just tried to enjoy the safety and comfort he offered.

Stillness, silence, the sound of soft breathing surrounded her, dragging her back down into that blissful world of slumber, and she inhaled as she allowed the forefingers of euphoria to claim her. However, just as it started to envelop her mind, body, and soul, her eyes snapped wide open.

At that same moment his hand stilled and she knew, just knew that…

Kagome glanced from right to left, and stared at the large window that stretched the length of the bedroom wall, hoping to see a reflection. The only thing that she saw was her own eyes filled with fear and trepidation.

She swallowed, her heartbeat increasing almost to the point that she was hyperventilating.

“Inu…yasha?” she queried unsurely. “Dog…boy?”

If asked to explain it, she didn't know how she would've begun, but she just knew in the pit of her belly that it wasn't him. Maybe it was in the way that he touched her, the way he smelled, his breathing, or maybe even just because of the silence.

She closed her eyes and swallowed as she silently prayed to whatever heavenly beings that may have been listening at the moment, Please let this be a dream! Please…please let this be a figment of my imagination!

No, she knew it wasn't him, because she'd never once been afraid of him. She'd never ever doubted his touch.

“Taka…hashi, please…please say something,” she whispered again, knowing she would get no answer.

Unable to bare it any longer, Kagome threw the covers back and jumped out of the bed! Grabbing the wireless lamp off the nightstand, she shouted, “Who's there?” Staring at the bed that was now vacant, she felt unbelievably stupid, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that someone had been there touching and kissing her.

She…she could still feel the wetness of his kiss on the back of her neck… She could still feel the heat of his hands on her skin, and she could…she could still smell his musky scent.

Allowing her eyes to roam the length of the room, she stepped back until she was flush against the wall. Inching her way around slowly towards the door, the lamp clasped tightly in her hands, she continued to scan the room, and then froze as she narrowed her eyes at the door leading to the darkened bathroom.

She saw the silhouette of what appeared to be a man standing there, but she couldn't make out one thing about his face. However, his stature…his build; it was familiar. It was almost as if she'd seen it one time too many.

She blinked, shook head and tried to tell herself that maybe she was just seeing things, but she couldn't be sure and damn it, she wasn't going to wait around to find out.

Throwing the lamp that she was holding in the general direction of the person or thing, she didn't wait around to see if it connected. Instead, she charged towards the door, but strong possessive arms stopped her dead in her tracks, ramming her left shoulder hard against the wall of Inuyasha's bedroom.

Flipping her around quickly, he pinned her against the wall so that her back was to him, and her hands held roughly over her head.

“I'm going to love this,” the stranger hissed in her ear.

That voice? She'd heard it before, she knew that. He was the one at my apartment!

Kagome kicked back, fought against him and tried to pull her hands out of his grasp, but the more she struggled, the tighter he held her.

“Who are you? What do you want? How did you get in here?”

He leaned in, licked the back of her right ear, and forced his knee between her legs pushing her knees apart. “Your friend was fun, but I think you are going to be a gala.”

The dots connected almost too quickly and she screamed at the top of her lungs, knowing he had to be talking about Sango, “Stop! Stop! No! No! Don't fucking touch me! Stop! No! Gods No! Inuyaaaaaaaaaasha!!”

He slammed her head against the wall roughly and punched her in her side in order to shut her up, and almost immediately darkness consumed her as her body went limp against his own, and her mind slowly faded to black.

Until Next Time... (Your .02 cents are greatly appreciated!)

Next Chapter: Foolish Endeavors

Acknowledgements:

Silverfeather ~ Zetsuii ~ Loulou4729*nsi* ~ InuGoddess715 ~ Genie666 ~ Angel-up-above-heaven ~ Tueske ~ Silverwolfhalfbeast ~ Lilsweetpea011 ~ Miss_Marilyn69 ~ Thesims1231 ~ Niiicko ~ Inukag-mirosan lover ~ Mynera ~ Ai Kisugi ~ 1love1 ~ Nicc85