InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reunion ❯ Chapter Thirteen: Apologizies ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen

A/N: Morning all! Thank you for the kind reviews! To Gloria - In chapter 8, after Kagome sits Inuyasha, Kouga does make reference to her choosing him over Inuyasha. Those feelings vanished when she stuck an arrow in him. I should have been more clear there, sorry. Yo, PJ! You have given me more reviews than anyone else. Thanks! I am glad that you enjoy the story so much. Simply a Lady and Caliko have given me multiple reviews, as well. Thank you. I don't have time to thank all my reviewers individually, but I will tell you that I appreciate each of you! Keep them coming and if you have any questions, I will try to answer them. Now, to work .... I don't own Inuyasha. If I did, I'd go broke buying ramen! (Plus, my kids would fight him for it!)

Kagome sat next to the fire. The day had gone by in a kind of blur. After the attack and the healing of Shippou, she had been busy treating Miroku's wounds. Getting the arrows out had been nasty business and the smell of burnt flesh where they had closed the wounds had nauseated her. Inuyasha had helped hold Miroku down during that part and even he had turned pale. But, then again, his nose was more sensitive than hers and it must have been really bad for him. She sighed and looked over at her hanyou. He was on the other side of the clearing with Sesshomaru and Daremo. It was very strange to see the brothers together without trying to kill each other! Shippou had recovered enough that he was talking with the little girl, Rin. Her outburst earlier had been unnerving, so soon after the ambush. It had become even worse, though, when she found out that Kouga had been responsible for her death. That he could have done that to her village upset her. She had always thought that his wolves had just attacked the village at random, not on his orders!Thinking of Rin caused her to think of Sesshomaru. He was showing depths that none of them thought he possessed. The idea that he cared for a human child, and that he could actually show tenderness towards her to soothe her fears, it was unreal. He had even gone so far as to offer to ressurect Daremo's companion that had been killed during the attack. Daremo had been shocked that the demon lord could do that, but he quickly accepted. Now, everything was .... smack ....back to normal, so to speak. She looked over at Miroku. He was laying on his back with a silly grin on his face and Sango was looking exasperated.

"He never stops!" Sango muttered.

"Ah, my beautiful Sango!" sighed Miroku. "You must be growing to like my attentions! That last slap wasn't nearly as hard as the others!"

"Don't flatter yourself, houshi-sama! I didn't want to aggravate the injuries that Kagome spent so much time in healing!" The exterminator actually snarled at him. She knew that he hadn't seen her cry over his gagged screams while Inuyasha held him down for the hot irons. She didn't want him to suspect that she cared for him because she didn't know how to handle it yet. 'Argh! I'm as bad as Inuyasha and Kagome were! What am I so afraid of?' But she already knew the answer to that. Until the monk could show her that he cared for her and not her body, she wouldn't trust him with the knowledge of her feelings for him.

Kagome smiled sadly. She had spent too many hours alone with Sango, talking about her feelings for the monk not to know what was going through her mind. 'I hope that you two find yourselves, soon. I want you to be as happy as Inuyasha and I are. Or were.' This last thought brought a tear to her eye. Since the healing of Shippou, Inuyasha had barely acknowleged her presence. True, he had helped with Miroku, but other than to ask for direction in what needed to be done, he hadn't spoken to her. She looked at him again, across the clearing. Her kettle of water that she had on the fire began to whistle and she saw his ears swivel in her direction. 'Now's my chance!' she thought. Quickly, she poured hot water over the instant ramen that she was preparing. 'They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! At least I'll get him to see me!' She rose from her position and made her way to the gathered men.

"Inuyasha? I brought you something to eat."

Inuyasha accepted the food from her with a nod but didn't speak as he began slurping down his ramen.

Sesshomaru looked on with curiousity mixed with mild disgust at his brothers table manners or lack there of. "What is that?" he asked. "I have never seen that type of food before."

"It's called ramen." answered Kagome. "There is more next to the fire. I prepared enough for everyone."

Daremo and his men grinned and started toward the fire. They had only had ramen a couple of times, but had come to like the pasta meal. Sesshomaru watched them leave for the other fire and called to Rin. "Rin. It is time to eat."

"Yes, Milord." She turned to Shippou. "I'll bring you something to eat." she told the kitsune, and then she skipped to her lord and held his hand as they went to the fire.

Kagome sat next to Inuyasha, waiting until he was done with his ramen. When he finished, she cleared her throat and spoke. "Inuyasha?"

He flicked an ear in her direction but said nothing.

"Inuyasha, let's go for a walk. I need to talk to you about what happened."

"Feh." Inuyasha snorted. "Why?"

"Please, Inuyasha." her eyes started to tear up.

"Alright, alright! Just don't start crying on me, I hate it when you do that."

Kagome smiled brightly. "Thank you, Inuyasha!" She stood up and pulled the reluctant hanyou to his feet. "Let's go!" She started into the woods with him in tow.

Sango watched them leave. She smiled to herself. 'Maybe now, things can get back to the way they are supposed to be.'

Kagome and Inuyasha walked in silence for several minutes. Kagome was working up the nerve to try what Sango had told her. Finally, she could stand the silence no longer. She stopped and turned to face the hanyou at her side. "Inuyasha, I have something to say to you. Please don't interupt until I am through." She looked at him, and then looked down, blushing, began to whine in the back of her throat. 'I can't believe I'm doing this! I feel so silly!'

Since she was looking down, she couldn't see Inuyasha's reaction to what she was doing, but she could hear him. It sounded like he was struggling to contain himself. She blushed harder, thinking that he was trying to keep control of his instinct to mate with her. 'It's working!' she thought. 'Now I'll show him that he is my chosen mate!' She looked up to look into her beloved ones eyes only to find that he wasn't controlling his lust for her but his laughter! She gaped at him for a second before her surprise turned into anger! "What's so funny?" she demanded.

Inuyasha could contain himself no more. He began laughing out loud until he was nearly gasping for breath.

"What's so funny!?" she demanded,again. "I swear if you don't tell me..."

Inuyasha held up his hand. "No, no." he gasped, still laughing. "Just tell me, what were you doing?"

"I was showing you that I could be submissive to you so that you would know that I wanted you for my mate!" Kagome shouted. "I didn't expect you to laugh at me!"

"So, that's what you were doing!" snickered the soon to be dead hanyou. "And who told you that THAT was the way to show submission?"

"Sango did!" Kagome paused. "Oh, no! She got it wrong?"

"Oh, no! She got the submission part right. It was just the wrong type of submission. You were whining like a pup submitting to an adult for discipline!" That said, he began laughing again.

"It's not funny!" she shouted. She turned from him and began to storm away.

"Wait, Kagome!" he reached out for her and pulled her into an embrace. He put his arms around her from behind and set his chin on the top of her head. "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, still agitated but becoming calmer.

He chuckled. "For trying. I know that it couldn't be easy for you to try to submit to me."

"I wanted to apologize .... for what happened." She leaned back into his embrace, relishing his warmth on her back.

"Kagome. I love you and that will never change. I know that you were only trying to keep me from killing him but ... it hurt. I felt betrayed."

"I would never betray you! You are my life."

"My mind knew that. My heart knew that. But my pride..." Inuyasha sighed. "It's over now. Let's move on to better things."

"Like what?" Kagome asked, turning her head to look into his eyes.

He smiled. "Like how to be properly submissive to your mate."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you tomorrow.