InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ His Wish ❯ What the Future Holds ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been busy and inspiration is hard to come by. In other words, the same old excuses. Anyway. This story has become sooo much longer than I thought it would be. So cool how it's just writing its self. I no longer have control over how long it will be. But for the meantime, Enjoy.

 

Remember: Watching all the episodes and reading all the manga chapters does not make Inuyasha mine. If it did, hoo baby.

 

Reminder: Questions, comments, etc. please e-mail or review. Love ya much.

 

 

Chapter Eight: What the Future Holds

 

Inuyasha was roused from an extremely wonderful dream by the low murmur of voices above him. He wasn't conscious enough to hear what was being said, but he could tell that the speakers were female.

 

Then it hit him. He hadn't been dreaming. He had really kissed Kagome. And Kagome had really said that she was in love with him. Inuyasha was so overjoyed that he thought his heart would burst.

 

`She loves me. She loves me for who I am.' These two statements became a mantra in his mind, repeating over and over until Inuyasha had to repress the urge to scream it from the top of the highest tree. `And I love her.' He grinned to himself, just before he frowned. `But I haven't told her yet.'

 

“Kagome, maybe you should wake him up. It's almost dark.”

 

“Hai, Mama.”

 

The voices of Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome were still oblivious to the hanyou's state of consciousness. Inuyasha wasn't surprised though. After all, he was an expert at feigning sleep when it served his purposes. Several incidents involving a certain schoolgirl ogling a certain hanyou when she thought he was asleep came to mind. Not that he was bothered by the attention. Quite the contrary. Inuyasha treasured the moments when Kagome had watched him `sleep'. It was the only time he felt comfortable with anybody staring at him. Whenever Inuyasha was awake and people gawked, it was usually because they were afraid of him for being half demon, thought he was a disgrace for being half human, or pitied him for being both or neither. But Kagome always made him feel like she was seeing the whole of him, not just the parts.

 

Inuyasha's musings were interrupted when a gentle hand smelling of wildflowers and warmth caressed his forehead. He made a show of waking up reluctantly, which wasn't too far from the truth. He did not want to move from Kagome's lap. He was comfortable, damn it.

 

Another stroke of silky skin along his cheek prompted his eyes to flutter open. He blinked a couple of times to readjust his sight to the brightness of the late afternoon. How long had he been asleep? Inuyasha sat up slowly; worried that Kagome had been uncomfortable for any length of time. Rotating his head to look over his own shoulder brought the girl into view.

 

Kagome was smiling tenderly at him, her mother just a few steps behind her. Mrs. Higurashi had a relieved expression on her face, as if glad to see the hanyou sprawled all over her daughter. `Then again,' Inuyasha thought amusedly, `Kagome had to get her match-making skills from somewhere.'

 

Mrs. Higurashi was the first to break the silence between the three, “I'm happy to see you two made up.” She smiled at Inuyasha, “I expect you to stay for dinner and fill us all in as to what's been going on, Inuyasha.” Then, without even waiting for a response, Mrs. Higurashi turned on her heel and practically skipped into the house, humming all the way.

 

Inuyasha just stared after the older woman, wondering if all women acted that childish. Kagome only grinned and shook her head. A moment of silence. Then the tension began to build. There had been none to speak of with Mrs. Higurashi around, but once she was gone, it poured in. Inuyasha cocked his head to the side to get a better view of the schoolgirl beside him.

 

Kagome was fidgeting with her nails nervously, both of her hands in her lap. Her head was down and her long wavy hair was covering her face. Not that Inuyasha needed to see her face to know that she was beautiful to him. He reached out a hand to run his fingers through the black silk that masqueraded as hair. His touch brought the girl's gaze upward and gold locked with brown, although brown was too common a word. Mahogany. Chestnut. Rosewood. Cedar. Every time Inuyasha met her eyes, he was reminded of his forest. Eyes that reflected the deep earth tones of nature. Solid, steady, always under foot, but always there. Reliable, nurturing, nourishing. To be respected, but also feared. What Mother Earth gave, she could take away. All of this described Kagome. She wasn't just physically beautiful, but spiritually, mentally, and emotionally lovely beyond words. And scary as all hell when mad.

 

He couldn't help himself. Before he knew what he was doing, he was already kissing her. A delicate brush of lips, a bare touch, yet powerful and moving. Inuyasha didn't want to touch Kagome. He needed to, like breathing. He prolonged his contact by embracing the slight form of his `everything`. `Everything', because all that he was, needed, wanted was within her, Kagome. She was the source of his highest hopes, his wildest dreams, and his darkest fears. She also held his past, present, and future in the palm of her hand. She just didn't know it yet. Inuyasha decided to change that.

 

He pulled back from Kagome, opening his eyes (when had they shut?) to gaze at her. Her eyes were still closed, but her eyebrows were beginning to knit into a confused expression. She slowly exposed the forests behind her lids as she searched his face questioningly. Inuyasha had to smile at her. She looked so worried.

 

“Inuyasha?”

 

He sighed, leaning forward to place his forehead against hers. This was his favorite way to look at her. If his hair fell just right, it would cut off the rest of the world, curtaining the two of them in a little sanctuary. Inuyasha was staring right into Kagome's wood-colored eyes when he opened his mouth to say-

 

“NEE-CHAN! Mom says it's time for DINNER!!”

 

That wasn't what he was going to say. Inuyasha glanced up in time to see Souta widen his eyes at the scene he had just disturbed. A low growl came from, surprisingly, Kagome's throat. The hanyou barely had time to move out of the way before the schoolgirl shot off of her seat to chase down and possibly kill her younger brother, who had finally figured that running for his life would be a good idea.

 

Bemused, Inuyasha stood and ambled his way over to the Higurashi residence, watching the siblings (hopefully) mock-fight. He jumped straight into the air, however, when Mrs. Higurashi spoke from right behind him.

 

“What happens now, Inuyasha?” Her face was mature with wisdom and experience, but good humor and laughter kept her eyes young. Mrs. Higurashi had seen a lot in her few decades, but witnessing the growing relationship between this strange young man and her daughter was an event in its self. She could only remember how she felt with her first and only love, Kagome`s father. Mama silently prayed that her daughter wouldn't have to go through the same pain that she had. She returned her attention to Inuyasha.

 

The poor startled hanyou was gulping air in order to catch his breath to answer Mrs. Higurashi`s surprise question. “I (pant) honestly (pant) don't know, Higurashi-san.”

 

If he was expecting her to be upset that he didn't have plans for the future of her only daughter, Inuyasha was to be disappointed. At his admission to lack of insight, Mrs. Higurashi smiled brightly. “That's good to hear, Inuyasha.”

 

“What?” Obviously, he was confused. “You're not worried?”

 

“Oh, of course I'm worried,” Mrs. Higurashi replied. “Kagome's my oldest and my only daughter, so naturally I'll be anxious.” She patted Inuyasha on the shoulder. “But she knows who she loves and I trust her wholeheartedly.” Then turning to watch her children `play', she continued, “However, the future is never a certain thing. If you make specific plans, things will never go the way you want them to. If you don't have any hopes or dreams, then nothing will ever come about. But, if you don't know for sure what you want, or only have a general idea,” Here she turned to face Inuyasha, “and let things take their natural course, wonderful things can and will happen.” A short scream sounded across the yard and Mrs. Higurashi's head snapped back to courtyard. Kagome had Souta in a headlock. With her knees. And the boy was pleading for mercy. Looking back at the hanyou, she said, “Please excuse me,” and rushed over with the Jaws of Life to help her youngest.

 

Inuyasha tried to close his mouth, really he did. But Mrs. Higurashi's little speech had quite floored the boy. Finally, after witnessing the two Higurashi women turn on the poor boy and begin tickling him to death, he was able to get over his shock. `If I don't know. Hmm.' Inuyasha decided to put those thoughts in the back of his mind until later, when he could examine them properly. That accomplished, he proceeded over to the sea of human bodies (they had somehow ended up in a dog pile, no pun intended) to extract his Kagome and her relatives so they could all go and eat.

 

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Later that night…

 

After a filling meal of sukiyaki and instant ramen, Inuyasha curled himself up on a pile of zabuton in the living room, while Kagome and Mrs. Higurashi cleaned up the kitchen. Jii-chan was completing his nightly ritual of purifying the grounds and Souta was riveted to the TV and his videogames. With everyone either out of the way or distracted, Inuyasha could now properly analyze what Mrs. Higurashi had said earlier.

 

`What an interesting way to look at things,' he mused. `She's right though, now that I think about it.'

 

Inuyasha wondered how things with Kikyo might have turned out if they had just let things be, rather then trying to change their situations so drastically. `If we hadn't planned something that could have gone so obviously wrong or planned anything at all, where would I be now?' He paused for a moment, considering possible alternatives. But none of them filled him with the joy and contentment he felt with Kagome, now that he knew she loved him.

 

He shook his head at his thoughts, ignoring the strange and contemplating look Souta shot at him. `No. I would not change a thing about what happened. It was painful, but worth it in the end.'

 

“Inu-no-nii-chan?”

 

Inuyasha was startled from his thoughts. `I've gotta start paying better attention otherwise someone will be able to scare me to death.' To Souta, he said, “Yeah, kid? Whaddya want?”

 

Souta was kneeling in front of the hanyou, his dark hair tousled from the wrestling earlier. His wide brown eyes, so similar to his sister's, were staring intently at the dog-eared teenager/hero. Inuyasha had only seen the kid this serious once before, back when he'd asked him for love advice. The hanyou figured that this wasn't what Souta was after this time though. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if Souta were to jump on his case for abandoning Kagome. Inuyasha sat up straight and crossed his arms, meeting Souta's merciless gaze. He was not going to back down.

 

Five tense minutes passed with the two just staring at each other and Inuyasha was becoming a little creeped out by the intensity of the ten-year-old's eyes.

 

“Inuyasha.”

 

Said hanyou spooked and thus lost the staring contest. But Inuyasha was so caught up in worrying what the kid was going to say that he didn't even notice that Souta had called him by his full name. He visibly flinched though, waiting for Kagome's brother to reprimand him.

 

“Why are you wearing a school uniform?”

 

Inuyasha face-faulted. `Huh?` Rolling to his side and glancing up at the now very amused Souta, he growled softly. Not threatening, just annoyed. He righted himself and proceeded to dust off the questionable dark blue uniform.

 

Inuyasha found he rather liked the color. It helped him blend in better than the red of his fire-rat ever had. Of course his nifty new watch helped too, but that was different. However, with both the uniform and the watch set at the right disguise, he could become practically invisible, something he`d dreamed of in his childhood when he`d been cruelly ridiculed by humans and demons. Then things had changed after Kagome had entered his life. Sure the taunting was still present, but he no longer felt the need to hide. If Kagome could stand up to the insensitive bastards for him, then he could repay the favor by standing by her side.

 

A hand pulling on his sleeve brought Inuyasha back the present. Souta was looking askance at him, wondering why the hanyou wasn't answering his question. Inuyasha cleared his throat softly, while he thought of what to say.

 

“Well, uh, you see, I…” Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes, `Just say it.' Heaving another sigh, he opened his eyes and faced Souta. The younger boy had an eager gleam in his eye that made the hanyou suspicious. `Oh, well,' he shrugged mentally.

 

“You see, kid, I'm wearing this uniform because- ah, because-” `Damn it! Spit it out already.' “Because I'm going to Kagome's school,” he managed finally.

 

Souta blinked a couple of times, then rolled his eyes. “Well, duh, Inu-no-nii-chan. I kinda figured that already.” Inuyasha's jaw dropped to the floor. “What I wanted to know is why

you're going to Nee-chan's school?”

 

Inuyasha snapped his jaw off the floor and slapped himself for his stupidity. `Kid's smarter than I gave him credit for.' Turning back to Souta, Inuyasha proceeded to explain all about his Master Plan for coming to the future with his wish and surprising Kagome for her birthday.

 

At the end of the explanation, the younger boy just gaped at his hero. Inuyasha had put a lot of thought into this plan of his. Making sure that everyone would be comfortable, or at least on their way to being comfortable (Miroku was still having some trouble with the sexual harassment laws in the workplace), in this era took a lot of effort. Souta was duly impressed at what the hanyou had accomplished.

 

“Wow, Inu-no-nii-chan! You must really love Nee-chan to do all that.”

 

Inuyasha stiffened. Ears swiveling and nose sniffing, he quickly found where Kagome was hiding, listening in on their conversation. She was in the hall that led to the stairs, but also leading to both kitchen and living room. She had stopped just before the wall turned into shoji, allowing the thicker partition to hide her from view. Inuyasha could tell that she was so focused on hearing what he would say in response to Souta's claim, that she hadn't even registered his pause.

 

Smirking to himself, Inuyasha decided to be honest, both with Souta and himself. Keeping his senses on his Kagome, he answered her brother.

 

“Yeah, Souta. I do love Kagome.” He heard her sharp intake of breath. “I love her so much, sometimes it hurts.” A salty scent filled the air. Tears. “I think I've been in love with her since the first time we ever fought.”

 

The shoji slammed open and Inuyasha barely had time to face her before Kagome crashed into him. She threw her arms around his neck and her momentum had both of them tumbling backwards. Now on his back, Inuyasha had a bare second to draw a breath to keep from smothering before her mouth covered his.

 

Kagome's kisses were slightly frantic and traveled over his entire face, the tears on her cheeks tasting of joy and love. Inuyasha was so overwhelmed by this display, that he could only wrap his arms around the girl he loved and hold her tight.

 

“Ewww, Nee-chan. Get a room.” Souta's disgusted voice drifted through the haze of tears and kisses. Kagome pulled away only to collapse on top of Inuyasha's chest laughing. Inuyasha relaxed into a full body flop on the floor and turned his head towards Souta, who was now rolling with laughter, to glare playfully at the younger boy. “Ya know, kid, you just ruined a perfect moment here.”

 

This only brought on more peals of happy noises form both siblings. Kagome eventually gained enough control to work herself into a kneeling position, allowing Inuyasha to prop himself up on his elbows. He looked at her glowing face, glad to see that she was no longer crying. Her tears, even those of happiness, always left him confused and flustered. Inuyasha pushed up so he was now sitting cross-legged, facing Kagome. He gently cupped her smiling face in his hands to look deep into her forest eyes.

 

She was still smiling, only now it was more tender and loving than ever before. Inuyasha stroked her cheeks with his thumbs, erasing the remaining tear tracks. He leaned forward, forehead-to-forehead, gazing into those wonderful pools of color. Kagome let out a shuddering sigh, then softly whispered, “I love you, Inuyasha.”

 

A smile tilted his lips upward, just prior to his gently brushing her lips as he returned her words. “I love you, Kagome.”

 

The sound of clapping hands and catcalls brought the two would-be (if they could ever get some real privacy) lovers out of their little world. They both turned their heads towards the doorway that led into the kitchen. Standing in a nice straight line were Mama, Jii-chan, and Souta. They were all clapping and cheering as if they were attending a sporting event, rather than intruding upon the most romantic moment Kagome and Inuyasha had ever had in their lives.

 

Blushing and stuttering like mad, the teenagers quickly pulled away from each other, which brought several boos and hisses from the peanut gallery. Kagome shot to her feet, pointed an accusing finger at her interfering family, came up with nothing to say, and ran embarrassed from the room.

 

Inuyasha could only attempt to hide his reddened face and follow after Kagome, with hooting, hollering, and all around obscene commentary trailing behind him.

 

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Quick note:

Zabuton- those little cushions that take the place of chairs in Japanese households.

 

That's all.