InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On a Leash ❯ Cards and Chocolates ( Chapter 24 )

A/N: Well, a few questions to answer. First: No, they wouldn't know that Inu was back; he was in disguise with the hat and he just happened to be with Kagome. They might have thought he was another guy-I doubt they were paying attention, as they didn't stop. Second: How I picked Inu's b-day is actually because a friend of mine and I were looking at horoscopes, which for the record I don't believe in, and saw that Aquarius fit extremely well, so I figured "Why not?". I just recently found out that my page dividers for the early chaps aren't showing up so I'll have to go back and fix it… -sighs- FF.net, you're making me look like a doof.

The necklace Kagome gave Inuyasha isn't enchanted. And Inuyasha IS 18 now, because, well, I said so; basically, it's because he wasn't in his normal form during that 50 years, and Sesshoumaru calls it Inuyasha's official birthday. Inuyasha was locked in a room for a long time, and was too depressed to care about time and Kikyou didn't exactly leave a calendar with him. He was alive when pinned to the tree, believe it or not I really DO NOT want to argue this because it ends up annoying the seven hells out of me and I would rather just write the story than banter on trivialities. Now….

Chapter Twenty-Four: Cards and Chocolates

The month of January had passed with little other incident-Inuyasha spent his human period of that month inside the house playing video games with Kagome and Souta--and February seemed to follow suit.

Sango and Inuyasha practiced every day in the evening and usually the whole day on the weekends and days off. While Grampa had trained Inuyasha up quite a bit, Sango did prove to always be a challenge but the hanyou could defeat her. Their battles were always controlled yet cleverly executed. Neither one could say the other didn't get a lick in, however.

The first two weeks had been especially hard, and he had felt a bit drained after each practice-rightfully so; battling against a young woman whose family had trained to be able to defeat demons and had mastered her craft was no slouch in combat. He would win by narrow margins, but each time Inuyasha began to gain a sense of strength; Sango said he was improving.

As they wrapped up the final weeks of January, Inuyasha was on an equal footing with his training partner.

By the first half of February, Sango was having to go to her breaking point to try and defeat Inuyasha, and right now, Kagome was cheering them both on from the entryway.

"Come on, Sango! Don't let him push you back!" said girl shouted as her friend used her massive boomerang bone to block attacks from the transformed Tetsusaiga.

Sango grit her teeth for a moment before suddenly ducking and then smacking Inuyasha's legs with Hiraikotsu, effectively knocking him off his feet. She charged at him, drawing the sword from her hip with her right hand and holding her large weapon with her left.

"Inuyasha, you better move!" Kagome watched as her fiancé flipped backwards, kicking Sango's sword out of her hand and moving his own blade, which he'd never dropped, up to her throat.

The pair stood there, catching breath until they started laughing.

"Great job, Inuyasha," congratulated Sango, setting Hiraikotsu to the ground and retrieving her sword.

Inuyasha tucked his blade away with a flourish. "You're not bad either."

Grinning, Kagome walked over to them, bottles of water in hand. "Here." She handed one to each. "That was amazing, guys."

Sango appreciatively took a long drink from the bottle. "Thanks. Hey, Kagome, could you get me a towel?"

"I thought you brought one with you, Sango." Kagome tipped her head curiously.

She shrugged. "I forgot it today."

"Oh, ok. No problem." Smiling, the girl bounced out of the room.

Waiting for a moment, Sango wiped her hand off on the leg of her skin-tight black slayer's outfit and turned to the half-demon. "Tomorrow's Valentine's Day."

Inuyasha swallowed a mouthful of water. "Yeah, so?"

"Do you want me or Miroku to pick up something for Kagome from you?" Sango undid her hair tie so she could readjust her ponytail.

"What for?" He took another swig. "It's just some big commercial holiday. Besides, who wants to celebrate a holiday that has an imp flying around with a diaper on supposedly shooting you with magical arrows to make you fall in love?"

"I never understood that part either, but I'm sure Kagome would appreciate the gesture. You do care about Kagome, don't you, Inuyasha?" the girl asked, eyes crackling with a threatening light.

"Of course I do!" Inuyasha flushed, glaring at her nonetheless. "But do I have to show her on some specific day of the year?"

Sango shook her head. "No, of course not. It's just that she's going to get Valentine's from other guys at school."

A growl escaped the hanyou's lips, yet before he could make any accusations or death threats, Kagome re-entered the room with a couple of towels. "Sorry, I had to wait until Souta got out of the bathroom. There weren't any left in the linen closet."

Nodding, each took a towel from the girl.

Kagome smiled at them. "I can't wait until tomorrow."

Sango shot Inuyasha a furtive glance prior to smiling at her best friend. "Me either."

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"So, Inuyasha isn't planning on giving Kagome anything?" Miroku asked, driving Sango home later that night.

She shook her head, leaning against the window. "So it seems. But, she has something for him."

"I sense trouble on the horizon." He braked at a stoplight, the car engine idling demurely.

Sango looked to Miroku. "Your car sounds a little quieter than before, and the paint job's a lot better."

"Oh, that." The monk chuckled as the light flickered to green and they started rolling again. "A present from Sesshoumaru, for taking care of Inuyasha, and not being able to get all that blood out of the seats."

"You mean Sesshoumaru actually gave you this new Camry?" Sango blinked disbelievingly. Why wasn't she getting good perks for putting up with ill-tempered hanyou, too?

"Well, with a little convincing," Miroku replied nonchalantly, peeking at a woman wearing some rather tight clothing before turning the corner.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by 'convincing'?"

"He seemed less abhorrent to the idea when I merely said that I would entertain Inuyasha for a while with some humorous stories-perhaps the time I heard Kagura reciting "Oh, Captain, My Captain" to him would have been very funny to his little brother." Miroku pulled in front of Sango's house.

Shaking her head again, she sighed as she exited the vehicle, "Only you would blackmail our employer… And, Miroku?"

"Yes, lovely Sango?"

"Kindly remove your hand from my bottom."

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"Happy Valentine's Day, Higurashi!"

"Huh?" Kagome turned around as she entered the school building to see Houjou locking his bike up and starting to jog towards her. "Oh, you, too, Houjou."

"H-here," he panted, pulling out a square package wrapped in pink paper from his school case. "I got this for you."

Not knowing how to refuse the gift without hurting Houjou's feelings, Kagome hesitatingly accepted the parcel and opened it up. Inside of the box was a simple, silver charm bracelet with three charms on it: a rose, a dove, and a star. Beneath it was some wrapped chocolates. "Thank you, Houjou…" She slid the bracelet on and tucked the chocolate into her bag. She turned guilty eyes onto the boy, and said apologetically, "I didn't bring any Valentine's Day presents for anyone."

Houjou grinned, smoothing out his reddish-brown hair with a hand. "That's all right, Higurashi. There's always White Day, isn't there?"

Kagome smiled back. "Of course." She spotted Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi on the steps waving excitedly at her. "I better get going. Bye, Houjou." She gave a short nod before sprinting to where her friends stood.

"Kagome, did you just get a present from Houjou?" Yuka asked earnestly, snatching the girl by the wrist and hauling her up the last three steps.

She stumbled forward. "Y-yeah."

Eri gasped. "No fair! The last time you went out with him you smacked him in the nose!"

Kagome blinked, inquiring, "How do you know that?"

Waving a hand to negate the question, Eri peered intently at Kagome. "I've been trying to get Houjou's attention since the sixth grade, and you've only known him this year and he totally has the hots for you!" She stamped a foot. "It's not fair."

"It's not like I even want Houjou, Eri," Kagome responded in a subdued voice.

Yuka's jaw dropped. "You DON'T? Are you crazy?"

She shrugged, heading for the school doors. "No. I like Houjou-he's nice and all, but I'm just not interested in him that way."

Ayumi, always the quietest of the group, spoke up softly, a smile of the same on her face, "There's another guy, isn't there, Kagome?"

Kagome stopped and turned to look at her friends a few strides behind. Unlike Sango and Miroku, these three did not know about the arranged marriage-about the real Inuyasha.

"Kagome's got herself a real Valentine's Day sweetheart, doesn't she?" bubbled Eri, dreamy ideas of what her and Houjou's future hypothetical children would look like already dancing about her head; if Kagome was out of the way, obviously she would get Houjou.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kagome…" a roughly pleasant voice greeted from the doorway that she had her back to.

Turning, feeling the icy prickle, she wasn't surprised to see Kouga standing there. "You, too."

"I have something for you." Kouga smiled toothily at her, a fang catching the light.

Kagome simply sighed internally. "You do?" she asked flat-toned.

Kouga handed her a long velvet box. "Open it."

Complying, the girl gasped at what she saw there. "Kouga, I can't accept this!" She pushed it back to him, yet he merely waggled his head and extracted a beautiful-no doubt expensive-necklace from the box.

"It's rude to refuse a gift."

"W-well, I-uh," she spluttered as the wolf demon took the diamond pendant and slipped it over her head. The diamond was the size of Kagome's thumbnail, and plenty bigger than any gem she had ever owned before. It shimmered in a handsome array of iridescent colors. "K-Kouga…"

"That is the best clear diamond the jeweler had," he explained, apparently enjoying the shell-shocked look on the girl's face. "And the chain is made of real platinum."

"Kouga, I really can't accept this. It had to be extremely expensive." Kagome raised her hand to grasp either side of the chain, but was stopped by the boy's larger hand.

"It was-only the best for my Kagome."

"But-"

"My family is rich you know. I can afford it." He slid an arm around her waist. "Don't worry your pretty head about it. Meet me at the park after school and we can go for a walk together."

"But-" she started again, yet was foiled once more when Kouga gave her a peck on the head and dashed off. She sighed deeply. I know Inuyasha's not gonna like this… This wasn't how my Valentine's Day was supposed to go.

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"Welcome home, Sis," Souta greeted when Kagome came home that afternoon.

"Hey." She slipped her shoes off and crossed over to the staircase. Kagome was in better spirits, giggling to herself as she clutched the strap of her bag tighter. It had gotten slightly heavier from the candies and cards in there. "Where's Inuyasha?"

Souta popped a gumdrop in his mouth from the container in his hand. "He's playing Mortal Combat. Do you want me to get him?"

"Yeah." Kagome continued up the steps as her brother did as asked.

Going up to her room, she tossed her case beneath her desk and quickly took off the pendant Kouga gave her, putting it back in the velvet box, which she had stuck in her pocket on her the way home. Then she thumbed through the sock drawer of her dresser. Smiling, she found the small gold tin and a card taped onto it.

"What's up, Kagome?" asked Inuyasha as he entered the room.

The girl bounced over to him, the tin and card in hand. "Here, this is for you."

"Huh?" He took the present and looked to his fiancée's cheery face. He broke the tape and slit open the top of the envelope with a claw. Looking at the plucky Valentine ("I really hope we get to know each other a lot better. Hope this makes you smile!"), Inuyasha's gaze slid to Kagome as he flipped the tin's lid, revealing some lemon drops. He stared at the candies for a moment before peering dryly back to Kagome again. "Thanks, but I hope you're not expecting anything, because I didn't get you anything. All this Valentine's Day stuff is a load of bull."

Kagome blinked, feeling sad for a moment, before anger overtook the joviality in her eyes. "Talk about a left-handed compliment! I gave you a gift and you belittle it because it's for Valentine's Day? What's wrong with you?" she asked, both questions coming out as exclamations.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Inuyasha protested, flapping the lid harshly into place again. "It's what's wrong with you! It's just a stupid holiday card companies, candy makers, and jewelers devised to fill-in the money gap, that's all it is." He crossed his arms haughtily, signaling the end of the conversation.

But, Kagome wasn't ready to. "Have you no romantic bone in your body?"

"Keh. Why should anyone have to be romantic on a specific day of the year?"

"I'm not saying that, Inuyasha," she snipped. "What I mean is, how hard is for you to just give me a simple 'thank you' and a smile? You didn't have to give me anything but that."

"Hmph." He snorted, then took in a long exhale. Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. "What's that stench covering you?"

"What stench?" Kagome glared at him as he came closer, frowning, and sniffed the air around her.

Inuyasha growled. "It's that stupid wolf demon Kouga. What the hell were you doing with him? I told you I didn't want you to be around him."

"Who do you think you are? You can't just tell me who I can and can't be around."

"I'm your fiancé and you better damn well listen to me."

Gold sparked against the cobalt.

"Fine," Kagome said crisply, defiantly swallowing the slight cry that wanted to rise in her throat. "You want to know about what Kouga was doing today? He gave me that." She pointed sharply to the box containing the necklace sitting innocently on her desk. "And Houjou gave me this bracelet." She waved her wrist in front of the hanyou's nose, smacking it with the rose charm. "And it was very sweet of them both! And Kouga asked me to go for a walk in the park with him, and I am going to!"

Inuyasha gaped dubiously at her until he regained his faculties. "I've already told you, bitch, you're not allowed to go see that stupid, skinny wolf!"

Kagome stomped over to the desk, took the box in one huffy motion and marched by him. "You can't tell me what to do, jerk!"

Thinking fast, Inuyasha leapt in front of her just as she was going to go down the stairs. "Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't!" she screamed back into his face, getting extremely fed up. "Happy Valentine's Day, Inuyasha, you big, stupid jerk!" She pushed him once, making him flail and almost lose his balance.

Inuyasha grabbed hold of the railing as Kagome continued to obdurately tramp past. He whirled around and grabbed hold of her arm. "I'm coming with you then. There's no way in the seven hells I'm leaving you alone with that guy."

Facing him, blue eyes flickering with internal flame, Kagome's gaze bored into his. Slowly, a smile crossed her mouth. "All right." She reached into her pocket. "You can." Pulling the collar out of the pocket of her green skirt, the girl quickly secured it around her fiancé's neck and watched with some satisfaction as he changed into a dog.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"he ground out, slipping out of his clothes.

"Oh, so much."

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"Kagome, glad you showed up." Kouga grinned at her, but frowned when he spotted the husky at her side. "You brought your cur?"

She shrugged. "He was just begging to come."

"Oh, funny…"

"Oh, and, Kouga," she pulled out the box containing the necklace and handed it to the boy, "I really can't keep this."

He stared at it. "You…you don't like it?" he asked softly.

Kagome, who was totally prepared for this, launched into speech. "Kouga, I like it, but it's the fact that it just wouldn't be right of me to keep it. I think this walk with you will be a lot more…meaningful."

Inuyasha snorted.

Kouga stared at her for a moment before laughing, "That's my Kagome-humble as anything. All right, then. I don't want to offend you." He made to slip an arm around her but Inuyasha scooted over and growled possessively.

"Be glad I'm not gonna rip you to shreds for breathing near her. You better feel lucky I'm letting you even look at her. Not touching!"

"Uh…" Kagome blushed slightly, quickly saying, "I think he's saying, from one canine to another, that, um, you're on his turf."

"Of course," Kouga mumbled, glaring curiously at the dog.

"Let's go once around the park," suggested the girl with a feigned smile. "I really have to get home and study for math."

"Whatever you want, Kagome."

"Gag me…" Inuyasha woofed, trotting between the two as they began their trek.

"So, um, Kouga," began Kagome, holding tightly onto Inuyasha's chain link leash, "one of your friends…Ginta, I think, said you were home schooled for a while. That true?"

He nodded, his black ponytail swishing like a tail. "Yeah, I had a governess who taught me everything except English."

"Is that why you're a year behind in it?" she asked, looking at him.

"Yeah, but I'm learning it pretty fast." He flashed a grin at her and she laughed slightly.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and focused on everything else in the park-anything to get away from this mind-numbing conversation.

The trees were starting to come back to life, already becoming a healthy green hue in the buds. A few tiny flowers had bloomed, and grass was poking out from the earth. The air smelled like the beginning of spring.

A bunch of people were out, mostly couples holding hands or smooching (Inuyasha quickly double-checked on Kagome-good, none of that going on with her and skinny wolf) and a few vendors, but there were quite a few kids running around playing, and some people were walking their dogs.

Whenever Inuyasha walked by a fellow canine, they had a tendency to sniff after him, no doubt wondering about why he smelled like a half-demon.

As they were about halfway around the park, Inuyasha scented something almost enticing, but he couldn't place it. Hearing the tinkle of metal, he turned his head a bit to see a very well-groomed poodle trot up to him.

"Hello," she greeted, coming up and nuzzling her muzzle to his.

Inuyasha shied away, up close to Kagome's legs, who continued to chat with Kouga. "Uh, hey." He sniffed again and realized, with a groan, this was this poodle-bitch's time of heat.

And apparently, while looking for a mating partner, she'd honed in on him.

"Why don't you come here?" She trotted closer, a collar on but no leash.

"How about you stay away?" He ran up further, tugging Kagome forward.

"Careful, Inuyasha," the girl said, regaining her pace, "you'll make me trip."

"So," the poodle started, her white puff tail wagging, "why don't you-"

"Not interested," cut in Inuyasha.

Kagome heard her former-hanyou whimper. She glanced down and spotted the poodle harassing him. "Get out of here." She nudged the poodle with her foot away from Inuyasha.

The poodle sniffed indignantly, but continued to pursue Inuyasha at a little further distance. "Why do you smell so odd?"

"I'm a hanyou, ok, bitch?" he snapped. "I'm not interested, you hussy mutt." There was a quarter left of the walk.

"Mutt?I am a pureblood!"

"Ok, whatever. Just beat it. I think that terrier over by that last tree was willing."

"But, I want you…" She cuddled against Inuyasha's flank.

"Kagome, we're outta here!"

"-my pen pal lives in America, and she was telling me about her family's ice cream parlor-" Kagome was yanked forward as Inuyasha suddenly accelerated in speed. "Kya! Inuyasha!"

"Kagome!" Kouga shouted to her, a tad stupefied for a moment. "That damn dog…"

The wolf demon charged after her as the white-haired husky insanely dashed onward with a little white poodle loping daintily after.

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"You were bothered by a poodle?" Kagome laughed later, standing outside the bathroom as Inuyasha got dressed.

"I was being sexually harassed," he shouted from within the room.

"Yeah, by a poodle." The girl snickered.

"Shut up!"

Kagome continued to giggle even as her fiancé stormed out and glared at her while adjusting his button-up white shirt, before looking perplexed as to why it wasn't falling correctly. Finally, she came over to him. "You didn't button it right, you dork," she said teasingly. "Let me fix that." Her slender fingers went nimbly to work, unintentionally caressing the hanyou's muscles slightly as she re-buttoned his entire shirt.

After hearing his tale of woe about the poodle, and just thinking that was punishment enough, Kagome had forgiven him. Inuyasha was just a pain sometimes, and just wasn't very romantic. That's just the way he is, she concluded as she smoothed the wrinkles out of his shirt.

Souta emerged from his room, a strategy guide in hand and a sleepy-eyed Buyo hanging from his back. "Hey, Sis, I didn't know you were back."

"Mm-hmm." The boy stood there for a moment, appearing very pensive. "What is it, Souta?"

He snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah. There's something for you in your room." He grinned broadly at them, and winked at Inuyasha who stared back. "See ya." Souta trotted by them and down the stairs.

"Hmm, wonder what it is…" Kagome mused aloud, toddling towards her room with Inuyasha close behind. She pushed open her bedroom door, gasped, then let out a little squeal and clasped her hands together.

Inuyasha continued to gape confusedly as she darted inside the bedroom and plopped down on the floor. He sniffed, catching a flowery aroma, like roses.

He took a step in, and was immediately assaulted by Kagome, who had leapt back up faster than even he could see. "Wh-what?"

"You jerk!" she laughed, hugging him tightly around the middle. "You totally had me convinced."

"What?" he intelligently asked again.

"This of course, silly!" She pointed to the basket that had five red roses and one white rose in the very center of the arrangement. An unwrapped carton of chocolates sat beneath it. Kagome gave him another squeeze before looking up at him with a loving smile. "Thank you so much. Roses and cherry cordials, how did you know my favorite flower and candy?"

"I, uh-"

Kagome gave him another hug. "This is so sweet of you."

"Uh…yeah…" Inuyasha said slowly, trying to make sense of what was going on. "Uh, Kagome-"

"Oh, here," she released him and picked up two cards, passing him one of them. "The one you picked out was so nice. 'I've never been happier than I have with you'," she read from the small card left in her hand. She sighed contentedly once before giggling again.

True as that is…I didn't send her anything…Inuyasha thought, meeting up with his old friend confusion again. He glimpsed at the card in his own grasp. It was sealed with a short bit of clear tape.

Breaking the adhesive tape, Inuyasha opened the card. Within, there was a simple message:

Inuyasha-

You owe us for this. We figured you wouldn't do anything for Kagome, so we did. You can pay us back later.

---Miroku and Sango

P.S. Call your brother.

"What was it?" Kagome inquired, now going through her closet for a vase.

"Uh, just an advertisement."Inuyasha quickly ripped it into indistinct pieces and shoved them in his pocket; with any luck, it'd go through the wash and become dryer lint. "Well, I'm glad you liked it. Happy Valentine's Day, Kagome."

She smiled. "Thank you. Why did you do this for me?"

He smirked, before replying, "What? You don't think I know how to be a little romantic?"

Kagome shook her head, popping a cherry cordial in her mouth. "You win, you win."

"Heh. No kidding." Inuyasha smirked again. "I've gotta call Sesshoumaru."

"What for?"

One of his ears twitched. "I can hear my phone beeping."

"Oh, ok."

Inuyasha jogged out of the room. He'd thank Sango and Miroku later, but he sure as hell wasn't going to pay them back.

Then again, they did know the truth…

Maybe he would…

Going into his room, Inuyasha pulled out his cell phone from the chest he kept his clothes in. "Let's see here… What was Sesshoumaru's number…?"

"It's in the electronic telephone book," Myouga piped up from the hanyou's futon. "Just find it and click the green button."

Inuyasha managed to access the directory, and hit the aforementioned button when he highlighted his brother's name. "How'd you learn all that?" he inquired, bringing the phone up to where a human ear would be.

"I read the manual for something to do," the flea said simply.

"Kind of sad."

After two rings, the phone picked up. "Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru sounded as unsurprised as ever.

"You needed to speak to me."

"Tomorrow, little brother, we will head for our father's grave. The Black Pearl."

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A/N: First off, White Day is celebrated in Japan. It's March 14th and is the day you give a gift to whoever gave you a gift or Valentine on Valentine's Day. Second: my niece and I have been debating this, but is that tail Kouga has…is it his or did he steal it from one of his wolves as a fashion accessory? (I'm seriously wondering!) Sorry for taking so long, but it's been a little hard to plan out this chapter and earlier today and the day before I was a little down-in-the-dumps. I'm ok now. Anyways. Next chapter: A Scion's Trial. Sounds promising, huh?

~Moonlight Shadow