InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sever the Tie That Binds ❯ That Familiar Feeling ( Chapter 16 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Inuyasha and the original characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and no copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made of this work.

WARNING!: This chapter contains sexually explicit material. I am not responsible for what you view and if you are offended by such scenes or are underage please leave now.

A/N: I am soooo sorry for the longest update of my life, but real life’s been kicking my ass. I had a lot going on and had trouble getting time on the computer. But now everything is working, so here is your update. Thanks to everyone who wrote to me encouraging me to write, your comments are greatly appreciated. This chapter contains a flashback of a lemon, for those of you who’ve been waiting for this I hope I did good on it. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks for sticking it out with me everyone. Please R&R.

Chapter 16: That Familiar Feeling

I could feel his breath at the nape of my neck, tingling the skin there and sending shivers throughout my body. His breath coming out in pants as he thrust into me, his cock reaching places he had no business knowing about. My hips met his with equal fervor, desperate for the bliss of release only he could bring.

The sweat on our bodies made our skin slicker, allowing us to move easier, and my legs trembled as he brought me to newer levels I had only yet dreamed of. His skin was so hot against mine, turning the blood in my veins to fire, nearly burning me to ash. And God, I wanted him that much more. His hands were relentless cupping my breasts, teasing my nipples as I cried out in pleasure, arching into his waiting hands.

Before I could catch my breath his hands were replaced by his mouth as he sucked my taut nipple into his mouth, already hard to the touch. His mouth was hot, wet and felt so good I yelled that much harder as the moisture between my legs increased.

Arching my back, trying to bring myself closer to what I wanted, needed as his thrusts became faster, deeper. My mouth latched onto his neck, biting and sucking, leaving soft kisses that brought his moans to a deeper level as he drove himself deeper into my body so hard it should have hurt.

I only screamed that much harder for more. Begging him to bring me to my end. His mouth silenced my cries with a fierce kiss, his tongue beating mine into submission instantly. The kiss becoming more fervent as tongues and teeth collided almost painfully, tasting each other, and I couldn’t get enough.

“Oh God!…” I screamed as he altered his angle hitting the spot inside me that made me dig my nails into his back.

“Fucking hell Kagome!” he half moaned as he drove into me harder. Both of us now craving that completion, needing it like air. His dirty words encouraged me to rock my hips against his that much harder. How he could control me like this I didn’t know. The power he had over my body, the way I needed him, and I knew only he could make me lose control like this. I felt his hand slide between us, playing with the little nub he knew would make me lose it.

“There, right there…” I moaned incoherently, almost completely gone as he nearly broke my back.

“Cum-Cumming…” he said as he plummeted. I met my end as I felt him fill me to the brim, coating my inner walls with his scorching heat. I screamed his name as I came with him.

“Oh...oh Inuyasha!” I yelled when my climax hit. He rolled off of me as we both tried to catch our breath. Although tired and deliciously spent he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. I snuggled up to him as he placed soft kisses on my forehead and cheeks.

“I love you Kagome.” I heard him whisper as he drifted off to sleep. I lay there awake watching him sleep before whispering back.

“I love you too, Inuyasha.” I said as I pushed his bangs away from his eyes. I felt his arms tighten around me and I gave in to his unconscious demands as I wrapped my arms around him and followed him into an exhausted sleep.

I awoke with a start. My breathing coming out in short, choppy breaths as I tried to regain my bearings. It felt so real my arms still held goose-bumps and a slight sheen of sweat covered my body. It felt too real. I knew better than to say it was just a dream. It was a very real memory from my very real past that I had long ago forgotten about. At least tried to forget.

Why had it come back to haunt me now? After weeks of reliving every moment with him after he left me shattered. After everything I went through to move on with my life without him. After I had finally found some semblance of peace, why would these memories come to torment me through quiet hours of the night?

I didn’t want to ponder too much on it and chalked it up to nervousness about Taro’s party. It was only two days away, and perhaps worrying about Inuyasha had opened up old memories of him and I together. As far as I was concerned there was no other explanation.

I rolled over tiredly to glance at my alarm clock. It was 4:30 a.m. I decided to get up and get an early start instead of getting back up in another two hours. Dragging myself from the bed I waked into the kitchen and started the coffee pot. Waiting for my morning beverage I headed for a much needed shower. After finishing a quick shower I walked into the kitchen in my bathrobe and poured myself a mug of the heated brown liquid I had come to depend on in the mornings.

Adding two teaspoons of sugar and a lot of creamer I let it cool as I towel-dried my hair. Sitting down in front of the television I idly flipped through channels as I drank my coffee and pondered over my jarred thoughts.

Why had I suddenly thought of such a vivid memory? After everything I found myself thinking maybe he really did love me once upon a time. There were so memories that I, too cherished. Moments where I saw myself in his eyes, thought I could see right down to his soul. Moments when I knew I occupied a place in his heart. Moments when I knew he was mine, and I was his. I had hoped one day he might come back to me and love me as he once did, but I no longer wished for such a childish wish. I decided a long time ago that I no longer wanted to live in a fantasy.

I changed in the past six years, I wasn’t the same person. He had changed too. He wasn’t my Inuyasha anymore, and I wasn’t his Kagome, either. It was over, and we were going to be friends. The only question I had to ask myself was; Could I handle being only his friend when we once had so much more?

I suppose only time would tell. Heading to my bedroom closet I selected a simple outfit deciding to wear a casual pair of long tan pants, a long sleeve dark brown shirt with strappy brown and sand colored sandals. Curling my hair at the ends I arranged it to frame my face and then went to wake Taro. Laying out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for him I began preparing breakfast as I checked his homework and put his school things into his backpack. After we sat down to eat I packed his lunch adding a cupcake as an early birthday treat and placed his lunchbox in his backpack. Minutes later we were headed to the car.

As I drove to Sango’s I noticed he was drifting off in the back seat.

“He kiddo, you up back there?” I heard a muffled yawn and a sleepy “Yes.” in response.

“Hey you know what kiddo?”

“Huh?”

“Well I seem to remember a very important day coming up this weekend.” I know he perked up in his seat because his response was much more animated, excited. “Yeah Mommy! And guess, guess who’s coming mom, guess.”

“Satorou?”

“Yeah but guess who else.” I knew he was very excited. I let him invite his friends while I had made the arrangements with the parents. I could only think of one child in particular that he could be so excited about. The only girl in his class that he didn’t consider “icky.”

“Nope.” He giggled, obviously pleased with what he thought was a secret.

“I give up then,” I said feigning defeat. “Who?”

“Her name is Mayu, and she sits next to me in art. She chews gum a lot and she always gives me a piece, but she doesn’t give anyone else any. She says its our little secret cause we‘re not supposed to have gum.”

I smiled at his innocence and absolute cuteness. I remembered those days well. I had a friend like he did when I was his age. Only my pre-school friend turned out to be my high school sweetheart as we grew up together. I remember the childhood crush I had when Inuyasha first moved to Tokyo. I smiled, knowing how Taro must be feeling his first young crush. Mayu was a cute girl with long black hair that was usually pulled into two pigtails and she loved to wear jean skirts. I thought her and Taro looked cute together when I saw them play together on the playground.

“That’s nice of Mayu to share. Just don’t get caught chewing gum in class.”

“Kay Mommy.” He answered. After dropping Taro off I headed to work to finish another day that seemed to drag on. I thought about Taro and Mayu during my lunch hour, remembering how me and Inuyasha were at that age.

It was summer and I was outside in the front yard of the shrine playing hopscotch when I saw some big trucks driving down our street. Then they stopped in front of the house across the street from our family shrine and began unloading furniture and other things into the house. I turned to my mother with curious eyes as she sat on a lawn chair sipping an iced tea.

“Mommy what are they doing with all that stuff?”

“Looks like someone’s moving in honey. I guess we’re getting new neighbors.”

“New neighbors?” I asked.

“Yes dear,” My mom answered. “ And maybe they have a child your age you can play with.” She finished smiling. I grinned up at her as I drew pictures on our sidewalk with my different colored chalk, checking every few minutes for a glimpse of our new neighbors. After what seemed like hours to my immature mind a car pulled into the driveway of the house across the street.

A man stepped out first, he was tall and handsome with chiseled features. He had long black hair pulled into a low tail. He walked to the other side of the car and opened the passenger side door revealing a woman in a pretty pink sundress. She was very pretty, her kind face was smiling and she had her long, ebony hair free and flowing down her back in slight waves.

The last to exit the car was a young boy my age. He had long hair for a little boy, almost as long as mine and looked very much like the tall man I assumed was his father. He had his arms crossed and a scowl set on his face as I heard him say “I want to go home.”

The young woman in the pink dress that was his mother rubbed his back and told him this was their new home.

“Don’t worry, Inuyasha you’ll like it here. This house is bigger and close to your new school.”

“Don’t wanna go to stupid school.” The boy named Inuyasha griped.

“Come on now darling, it will be fun. There are lots of games to play in school and I’m sure you’ll make lots of new friends.” She goaded.

“Don’t want no new friends. Want my old friends.” He argued back, stomping his foot.

“ Now that’s enough Inuyasha.” His father’s stern voice cut in. “You’re a big boy now and you’ll make new friends. You need to give this new town a chance. Maybe things we’ll be better here than at our old house. Give it a try son.” he encouraged patting his back and following the movers into the house to direct where the furniture should go.

As my mother and I watched our new neighbors I turned to her with sad eyes.
“Momma, it doesn’t look like he wants to be friends with anybody.”
“Maybe he’s just nervous, Kagome. Why don’t we go introduce ourselves?” She asked rising to her feet and holding out her hand for me to take. I nodded enthusiastically and ran inside and grabbing two Popsicles from the freezer before grabbing my mother’s hand and walking with her across the street.

As we approached the yard I saw Inuyasha playing with some toy cars in the grass while his mother stood on the porch watching over him. Hiding the Popsicles behind my back me and my mother walked up to the gate. “Hello.” my mother greeted waving at his mother.

“Hello.” She replied waving back. “Please come in.” She offered opening the gate for us.

“Thank you. I am Nomi and this is my daughter Kagome.” She introduced us as I ducked behind my mother’s leg and peeked up at her. “We live and own the shrine across the street.” She finished.

The young woman shook my mothers hand replying:

“It’s nice to meet you both.” She said bending down to shake my hand as well. I shyly shook her hand. “Toga!” She yelled into the house. “Come meet our new neighbors.”

The tall man exited the house shortly after and looked at me and my mother. We introduced ourselves again and shook his hand as the mother spoke again.

“I’m Izayoi, and this is my husband Toga Takahashi.” She introduced taking his arm. “Inuyasha!” she commanded. The young boy walked over grumpily and I ducked behind my mother’s leg again. “And this is our son, Inuyasha.” She finished wrapping an arm around the small boy.

“Inuyasha.” His father commanded. “Say hello to our new neighbors. This is Mrs. Higurashi and her daughter Kagome.”

“I don’t see a daughter.” He replied smartly as I stayed hidden by my mother’s skirt.

“Behave, boy.” His father snipped in that stern voice again.

“Kagome,” My mother coached. “Come out and meet Inuyasha.” Hesitantly, I peeked around from behind my mother’s leg. I expected the young boy, Inuyasha, would be mean but he just smiled at me.

“So you’re my new neighbor?” He asked. I nodded and he smiled again. His shirt was dirty and be had scrapes on his knees. His hair was wild an unruly and tousled about his face. And even though I didn’t like boys yet I thought he was cute. I stuck my hand out and offered him a Popsicle which he gladly accepted. “Thanks.” He said. Our parents walked away leaving us alone in the yard as Mrs. Takahashi showed my mother inside the house and offered her a drink.

“Come on.” Inuyasha said tugging on my arm as we ate our Popsicles. I followed as he pulled me around the yard. At the back of his house was a swing set and slide. Finishing my Popsicle and throwing the wrapper and stick in the outdoor trashcan I sat myself on a swing and watched as Inuyasha took the one beside me. He began pumping his legs and swung high above me. I was amazed, I hadn’t learned to swing myself yet.

“What’s a matter?” He asked as I stayed seated and didn’t move.

“I don’t know how.” I replied sadly. Without saying anything he hopped off the swing mid-air and came to stand behind my swing.

“Hold on.” He instructed, and I did as I was told. Suddenly, I felt my feet leave the ground as he pushed me from behind. A few minutes later he said:“Now swing your legs forward when the swing goes forward, then swing backward.” He said as I tried to follow his directions. “Good you almost got it. I’m letting go now.” He said as I continued to move my legs forward, then backward. He moved to stand in front of me watching as I swung by myself.

“You did it.” He congratulated, hopping back onto his swing. “But I bet I can go higher.” He teased as we swung by ourselves.

From that day on we became best friends. In school he would protect me from other boys and chase me around the playground. Sometimes he would playfully pull my hair from behind and I would give chase.

He almost got caught passing me a note in class once. I still remember what it said:

Do you like me and do you wanna be my best friend? If you do, don’t be afraid to hold my hand. If so check yes or no.

I checked yes.

A few years later my mom had my younger brother, Souta. I remember when my father died just two years later, and Inuyasha held me while I cried. My mother told me everything would be okay, and Inuyasha said that I didn’t have to be sad because my Daddy went to heaven, and we would always be best friends. He told me he would always protect me. In middle school he moved to a bigger house three blocks away. We stayed best friends, and I was glad that he only moved three blocks. We stayed that way until high school, until the day the kiss changed everything in our young lives.

I smiled at the memories of my childhood, even though my family had some rough times I remember being genuinely happy. I remember as the years changed so did me and Inuyasha, I grew up and filled out, he grew tall and handsome and his features matured as he gained muscles. I think I loved him the moment I met him, but I was too young to really know for sure.

I guess I couldn’t regret meeting Inuyasha, in fact I didn’t regret it at all. We had some wonderful memories and I got the best part of him. A little boy just like him with violet eyes and a temper to match. No, I could never regret that.

Finishing work I decided to leave a little early. To my surprise I saw Inuyasha standing outside when I exited the building. He was dressed casually wearing black jeans, a black muscle tee and boots. He smiled me when I walked out and lifted his sunglasses to look at me.

“Hi.” He said casually.

“Hi.” I replied hesitantly. What was he doing there? “What are you doing here, Inuyasha?” He shrugged and looked at me shyly.

“I realized this morning that I need to get Taro a birthday present, but I don’t know what he would like. Sooo….” He drawled. “I was wondering if you would help me. Would you go shopping with me and help pick something out?” I smiled then, my defenses dropping.

“Sure.” I answered pleasantly. “You want to go now?” I asked. “Yeah.” He said gesturing to his car. Side by side we walked together and he opened the door for me. We sat in a comfortable silence as we drove to a nearby toy store.

As we entered we looked around and he jumped on one of those huge bouncy balls that had a handle for riding.
“Inuyasha, stop!” I said embarrassed as he hopped around me like a little kid.

“Come on.” He said a bit teasingly. “It’s fun. You think he would like this.”

“Maybe, but his mother wouldn’t.” I said pointedly.

“Okay.” He relented, moping. “What would he and his mother both like?” He asked sarcastically.

“Something fun that wouldn’t destroy my house or alert the neighbors to thinking an earthquake is happening in my apartment.”

“Point taken.” He said apologetically. “What about these?” He asked looking at some remote control cars and trucks.

“He would like those.” I answered. “He loves cars.”

“Good.” He said stuffing three different ones into the shopping cart. “Okay, what else?” He asked inquisitively.

“Your doing good so far, you choose.” I said smiling. He smiled back and led me down a few more isles. One had a basketball hoop set up on display. Grabbing a bouncy ball from one of the bins he began dribbling around me, announcing his own pretend game.

“Takashi has the ball,” he continued racing towards the net. “Looks like he’s going for a jump shot. What do you think Andrew? Well, that kid has skills, lets see if he can make the shot.”

“Your so retarded.” I commented from the “pretend” sideline. He completely ignored me and continued to play. Jumping up to the net he threw the ball in yelling:

“Slam dunk! And the crowd goes wild!”

“Okay, Michael Jordan. Lets go.” I said laughing at him.

“What was that?” He asked pretending not to hear me, holding a hand to his ear. “Was that a challenge for a one on one game?”

“No it wasn’t, I don’t play anymore. Come on.”

“Challenge accepted.” He said ignoring me again. Putting the bouncy ball away, he grabbed a real basketball and tossed it to me.

“No.” I said a bit more forcefully this time.

“Scared your gonna lose, chicken?” He goaded grinning at me. Without warning I started dribbling, racing past him towards the net. I heard his footsteps behind me as he gave chase. Faking to the right I avoided his attempt to knock the ball away. Shooting from a few feet away, the ball sailed into the net with ease. With a triumphant grin I turned to face him.

“Chicken huh? I still got it.”

“Lucky shot.” He said shaking it off. “You still cant beat me.” He said cockily. Grabbing the ball we started a game of one on one. After a few minutes we attracted a bit of a crowd. Ignoring the on-lookers I concentrated on the game at hand. It was match point and one more shot could win it for either of us. He was dribbling in front of me, keeping the ball just out of reach as I tried snatching it. He was grinning at me, flaunting his skill, showing off foolishly.

“Come on little girl. I thought you were good at this game.” He taunted. My temper rising I stomped on his foot intentionally. Hard. He lost his concentration when he started yelling.

“OW! HEY!” I took the ball and made my way toward the net. Making a shot as he tried knocking it out of my hand the ball skimmed the net and went in.

“Whoo!” I yelled doing a silly victory dance.

“Cheater.” He grumped. “That was a personal foul.”

“Oh well what are you gonna do?” I taunted back. “Tell on me?”

“Maybe.” He threatened lamely. “Or maybe I’ll do this.” He said yanking my hair and running down the isle. Giving chase I rounded a corner only to meet the end of a water gun. There were many of them set up along with a water fountain on the far wall. He had taken the initiative to fill one of the miniature pieces of plastic with water.

“You wouldn’t dare.” I said clenching my teeth.

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” He threatened. “Well, at least not when your unarmed.” He said tossing me my own small gun that he filled up as well. Catching it I had no time to react as I found my shirt wet and him laughing. Looking down at the damp spot I aimed my gun at him and glared. “Okay, now its on.” I said running after him down the isles, laughing with him and squirting him from behind as he would occasionally turn and squirt me. Going down an isle he lost track of me as I hid, waiting for him to round the corner. As soon as his face was in sight I shot, splashing his face and the front of his shirt with water. It felt good to be goofy and silly. I felt young and free again. When did I lose sight something so simple as playing around and laughing?

“That’s it.” He said chasing me as I took off. Running past a rack of bikes I stopped running when I noticed him looking at them intensely. Walking to stand beside him I waited for him to say something. He didn’t. He looked like he was spacing out.

“Inuyasha?” I asked quietly.

“Hey, does Taro have a bike?” He asked thoughtfully.

“No. Why?” I asked curious.

“I’m getting him one.” He stated simply.

“No, Inuyasha. They’re too expensive.”

“No they aren’t. Come on, Kagome, every kid needs a bike at some point.” He said turning to look at me with imploring, puppy eyes.

“Fine.” I relented, smiling at him. “It’s your money.”

“Yes it is.” He said smartly as me began rolling one of the already assembled Spiderman bikes toward the registers. Taking his water gun and calling a truce I put them back on display and grabbed our cart that held the other toys he had picked out and headed to meet him at the register.

At the check out counter I helped him load the things onto the counter as the cashier ran them through the scanner.

“Thanks for coming with me Kags.” I looked at him sharply. “I mean Kagome. Sorry, I just thought that since we’re trying to be friends….” He rambled helplessly.
“It’s okay.” I cut in. I didn’t want to admit it but I had fun shopping with him. It felt like old times, when we were best friends or when we were dating and would kid around with each other. I used to be silly and have fun. What happened to me?

“Let me treat you to dinner.” Inuyasha cut into my thoughts with his abrupt question.

“What?” I asked incredulously.

“I just appreciate you helping me out and all. Let me take you to dinner as a thank you.” I thought about it. I didn’t want to admit to myself that deep down I wanted to go with him. So I made up an excuse.

“I cant. I have to pick up Taro from Sango’s in about a half an hour.”

“That’s covered.”
“What?” I asked again, stuck on stupid.

“Well I figured you would help me go shopping so I pre-arranged with Sango to watch him for a few hours so we could do some shopping. I told her we would pick him up around 7:00 so that gives us three hours.” He said smiling, and obviously proud of himself.

Looking at him intensely, trying to decide how I felt about this and which direction my emotions were trying to take I nodded in the affirmative. He nodded back as if to confirm, paid the cashier and then handed me some of the bags to carry as he rolled the bike out of the store. Placing the bags in the trunk and the sitting the bike up in the back seat we drove off to go eat dinner.

I watched the places fly by as I looked out the window. Suddenly, I realized that I recognized this area. Finally we stopped at an old diner we used to eat at when we were still in high school. So many memories of us together were waiting to pop into my head the closer we walked to the entrance. I suddenly stopped mid-stride and stared at the outside. Inuyasha noticed I was no longer beside him and looked back at me.

“Kagome?” He said looking at me. “You coming?” At his words I blinked out of my haze of memories.

“Yeah.” I said walking to catch up with him. Walking in we heard the bell chime, announcing our arrival. A young hostess with bright eyes and a friendly smile greeted us and seated us in a booth near the back. A older waitress walked up to our table in a vintage malt shop looking uniform.

“What can I get for ya?” she asked politely finally looking up from her pad, her pen ready to write down our orders. Her eyes suddenly flashed with recognition as she looked at us. I remembered her too. We both did. We would always eat here and she knew us from our high school days. We were a couple back then.

“Oh my.” She exclaimed open-mouthed. “I haven’t seen you two in here for years. Grown up haven’t ya?” She asked giggling at her own joke. “But I always thought you two would make it as a couple. You were always my favorite customers.” She continued smiling widely. “Nice to know there’s some good left in this world if two young kids like you could make it through together all these years.”

She was so far from the truth, but I didn’t have the heart to correct her. I just kept quiet and smiled back at her. Inuyasha stayed quiet as well, only he looked a bit troubled.

“Forget about ordering, I’ll just bring ya the usual.” She concluded disappearing and reappearing in a few minutes with two chocolate malt shakes. I had always loved these, and I hadn’t had one in years. You couldn’t get them in any other diner around here. That’s why me and Inuyasha always ate here. We both loved them, even though the whole décor of this place reminded us of the show Happy Days. It was a bit corny, but also cute at the same time.

I looked around and saw some young couples sitting in booths like us. They were cuddling and snuggling like we used to at that age. So many memories here. Ones I keep trying to forget, but they kept worming their way into my tormented mind.

“Kaggie?” I heard him call my name.

“Yeah?” I answered stupidly.

“You okay, your quiet.” He said putting his arm around my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I said laying my head on his shoulder. “Just worried about that test.”

“Oh come on, your one of the smartest kids in school. We both know you aced it so stop worrying.” He announced tickling my sides. I laughed and tried to squirm away. Giving up he kissed me on the cheek. The waitress brought out two burgers and a plate of fries. Dipping one in ketchup I began munching.

“So how do you think you did Yash?”

“Not too bad considering my girl helped me study.” He replied waggling his brows.

“I would hardly call that studying.” I replied dryly.

“Why not? I studied your neck..” he said kissing me there. “Your eyes…” he continued looking at me. “Your mouth..” he finished kissing me full on in our booth at the diner. Kissing him back briefly I pulled away embarrassed at the public display of affection.

“Inuyasha your incorrigible.” I said playfully swatting his arm.

“Yeah, but you love me anyway.”

“Yes I do, though I don’t know why.” I said teasingly, kissing him on the cheek before picking up my burger and starting to eat. I felt so special in his arms, so wanted.

But nothing lasts forever, and we didn’t even make it half way.

“Kagome?” His strong voice pulled me out of my reverie. I looked at Inuyasha with a questioning look.
“What?”

“Food’s here.” He said. I looked down to see two bacon cheeseburgers and a plate of fries. Too many memories, I thought as I grabbed the ketchup bottle and poured some onto the plate, then applied more to my burger.

“Want a burger with your ketchup?” He asked sarcastically. I aimed the bottle at him threateningly and he held his hands up in surrender, laughing.

“So?” He started.

“So?” I asked back.
“I just thought while we’re here, alone, maybe you could tell me a little about Taro.”

I looked at him for a moment, sensing the sincerity in his voice and the pleading tone he couldn’t hide.

“Well,” I began. “You know his birthday.” He nodded. “When he was born he weighed 5 lbs. 8oz. He was incredibly stubborn as a toddler, he reminded me of you actually. He wouldn’t listen and got into everything. I couldn’t keep any plants in the house because he would dig the dirt out and throw it on the floor. No matter how many times I told him not to he would do it anyway.” Inuyasha smiled at the detailed information, especially the mention of Taro acting like him.

“What else?” He asked excitedly taking a huge bite of his burger.

“He’s very smart, he learns quick, he loves building blocks. He’s good in math and he has a lot of friends. He has such a good heart for a child. His grandmother spoils him and he hates brushing his teeth. He likes to paint and draw, but hates homework. He’s incredibly stubborn at times, and he has a quick temper, but he’s a great kid. The best I could have asked for.” I said finishing smiling sadly. Avoiding the look he gave me I took a bite of my burger and dipped a few fries in ketchup.

Taking a sip of my milkshake I asked Inuyasha a few questions.

“My turn now.” I declared. “Did you go to college?”

“Yes. I had to.”

“Had to?”

“Yeah my father’s business. I had to learn how to take my place in it so I had to go to college.” I nodded understandingly. Inuyasha and his mother took it very hard when his Father died our senior year. It was shortly after graduation and no one saw it coming. His father was always good to me and I felt the pain like Inuyasha did. After all his pain was my pain. He never wanted to be in his father’s business, but he ended up there. I briefly wondered why he did it. I guess there is a lot I don’t know about him. Funny, I always thought I knew everything about him.

“Do you like working there now?”

“No.” he answered immediately and sounding irritated with the topic. I let the subject drop for the time being and we finished our dinner in a comfortable silence. After paying the tab and leaving a large tip for our memorable waitress, Inuyasha and I headed back to my work to pick up my car. Just as I was getting out of the car Inuyasha asked me something I never saw coming.

“Kagome, do you mind if I take Taro tomorrow for the day? I mean after school for a few hours? I just want to spend some alone time with him before his birthday. I wont say anything to him about me being…” And his sentence faded. He didn’t have to finish it. I knew what he meant. I thought about saying ‘No’ before I looked into his eyes. They were stormy, troubled and imploring, practically begging me to say yes. I thought about what could happen in just a few hours and figured there it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to let him take Taro for a few hours, and I was sure Taro would love the idea.

“Okay, Inuyasha.” I assured him, smiling slightly. “Will you pick him up from school?”

“Yeah, and I’ll drop him off around 6:30. Is that okay?” He asked hesitantly.

“Sure. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Good night, and thank you for dinner. I had fun.” I confessed, although I hadn’t meant to say it. I couldn’t deny it either, not even to myself.

“Thank you, Kagome. For everything.” I nodded and walked to my own car, watching as he pulled off with a smile on his face. I couldn’t understand what I was feeling earlier, but as the day passed and I realized that I didn’t hate Inuyasha as much as I wanted to the feeling became recognizable. I knew then what I was feeling as I remembered how we used to be. Today made me realize how things used to be between us, something I missed.

It was familiar now, so familiar I could have cried. The same feeling I had six years ago as I sat across from him, dieing from the inside out. A feeling I thought I had gotten over, but painfully realized I wasn’t over it yet.

It was the familiar feeling of a broken heart.