InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Through the Rose Colored Lenses ❯ Moving Into My Home, Moving Into My Heart... ( Chapter 14 )

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Through the Rose Colored Lenses

Ch.14

By Sailor Scribe

"Since Inu Yasha and his kid are moving in, does that mean that you two are official?" Sota asked a little too hopeful.

"Sota, we've been over this a thousand times; Inu Yasha and I are not a couple!" Kagome protested as she picked up another suitcase. "Damn, how much clothes can one man own!"

"I don't like that you two are going to be living together without a formalized relationship. It shows his inability to commit and respect you. It probably stems from a deep rooted insecurity cause by lack of love from his father." Sota stated picking up another box half his size labeled 'bandanas.'

"Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?" Kagome looked worriedly at her brother.

"It is the only thing on Saturday morning at six."

"And, what are you doing up so early on a Saturday?"

"Getting ready for my weekly overdose of anime, of course." Sota smiled.

"Remind me to hide your alarm clock until school starts again in the fall." They laughed as they reached the guestroom, where Inu Yasha and Shippo were having a lively argument about who was smarter. "Now, which one of you is supposed to be the child again?"

"He started it!" They yelled in unison. They growled at each other before Shippo smiled and jumped into Kagome's arms and proposed,

"I'll be the child, if you promise to be the mommy!" He opened his big eyes wider and smiled like a newborn angel. Kagome almost melted on the spot.

"See, first, you let him move in without a formalized relationship, and now you are taking care of his kid. What Dr. Phil would say about you! You must have a fear of being alone stemmed from a deep childhood tragedy that has left you running into the arms of any man that will take you. You also feel guilty for this, so you believe you need to be punished; therefore, you look for unhealthy relationships because you believe that you don't deserve any better. Such a shame!" Sota sighed.

"That's it! You are forbidden to watch Dr. Phil anymore!" Kagome declared.

"Under what charge?"

"It is causing you to break the law: Practicing bad psychology without a license! Now, go help Shippo settle into your room."

"You're no fun, nee-chan." Shippo willingly jumped into Sota's arms and the elder boy led him away. Kagome turned to Inu Yasha, who was staring at her.

"Is there a problem?" Kagome suddenly felt every exposed under the gaze of those amber eyes that seem to seek to find her soul in order to read her destiny.

"You know, he really wanted you to be his mommy."

"Kagura warned me before we left."

"You are really good with him."

"It's hard not to be; he is a little angel."

"To you, maybe, but to me, the kid is a little devil." Inu Yasha laughed as he sat down. "I wasn't ready to be a dad. I guess it's a good thing I live at home, or Shippo would have no father figure at all."

"I think you are a great father to him."

"No, I messed up big time with him. I let him get away with murder in the beginning; I have no patience for him, and Kami knows that I can't be the adult all the time."

"Well, we all learn from our mistakes, and I don't think you did such a lousy job. Shippo isn't spoiled; he just likes to test his limits with you, probably because you are so easy to get a reaction from. You do seem to have more patience for him than you give yourself credit for. Remember, you aren't the houshi here. Besides, if you were the adult all the time, how could you play with him? He needs someone that can be a kid and a grown up. Besides, you love him dearly. I can tell by the way you checked-in on him last night and the way you worry about him modeling. Your heart is in the right place, so all you need is a little practice. I never figured you for the type to give up." Kagome folded her arms in confidence as he lifted his eyes towards her; his classic smirk was painted on his lips, and her smile turned seductive.

"I don't give up. But, how did you get so good at making me feel better about myself when all this time you have been insulting me?"

Kagome took a step forward, subconsciously swinging her hips in a more feminine manner. She kneeled before him so she could look him in the eye; her scent reached his nose like a pray reaches Kami. Staring into her deep topaz eyes, he was in a lustful heaven. "To insult you, I needed to examine you fully, in all dimensions, whether good or bad, in order to know your every weakness." Her voice was a tempting whisper to his ears.

"And with all that looking," he whispered back, "did you see anything you liked?" His smirk widen as she moistened her lips with her tongue.

"I might have." Suddenly his eyes locked with hers like an anchor on the shore, and he began to swim towards her enchanted smell. His slow movements drew her into a trance that needed to end the distance between their lips. She closed her eyes and he leaned in for the kill, when Shippo burst into the room holding up a DVD. Kagome stood up strait as if someone had burned her, and Inu Yasha turned to the kitsune with angry eyes.

"They have 'Nemo!' Can we watch it?" Shippo was too excited about his find to stop bouncing up and down and notice his stepfather's glare.

"Sure, after dinner, we can all sit down and watch it." Kagome offered as she tried desperately to fight the blush on her cheeks. Her brother eyed her suspiciously from the doorway with a wry smile on his face.

"What are we having for dinner?" The only thing more interesting than a movie to the kit was food.

"How about…carrots, lettuce, onions, green peas and liver steaks?" Kagome replied. Shippo turned into an interesting shade of green.

"I think we should let Inu Yasha could instead." Sota laughed.

"Yeah, that way we can eat ice cream sundaes!" Shippo bounced into Kagome's arms. "That is the only thing he can cook, and even still, he can mess it up sometimes."

"Why you little brat! Take that back before I knock you into your twenties!" Inu Yasha growled.

"I double dare you to!"

"Teme!" Inu Yasha lounged forward, with the previous interruption fueling his anger. Kagome leaned out of range before she put her foot down…on the hanyou's big toe. "What did you do that for?"

"I lost my balance. But, enough is enough. You two kiss and make up! NOW!" Kagome added when she noticed the failure from both of them to make a move.

"How about if I give it to you, and then you give it to him?" Shippo asked shyly.

"Why have a middleman…I mean middle-woman?" Kagome asked.

"Because, Tony from preschool says that guys can't kiss guys."

"Don't you kiss your grandfather?"

"Yeah, but he isn't a guy…he is grandpa!" Shippo rolled his eyes.

"I don't have time for this. Just this once, but afterwards, Inu Yasha, you need to have a talk about kissing with your son."

"Fine." He grumbled as he saw Shippo smile and plant a long kiss on Kagome's cheek. She, in turn, leaned forward and exchanged a peck on the cheek with Inu Yasha, which according to him, paled in comparison to the kiss he had been about to claim.

"Hey!" Shippo protested, "That wasn't the kiss I gave you to give Yasha! I gave you a much longer one! If you are going to be the middle-woman, then you better get it right!" Shippo protested from Kagome's shoulder. Inu Yasha smiled, and pulled Kagome down for a second kiss, but instead of kissing the miko, he planted a nice long kiss on his stepson's cheek. "Yuck, now I have dog germs all over me!" The poor kit raced out the room with Sota hot on his heels. When he had made sure that the adults were busy talking about dinner to follow them, he turned to the older boy and began to dance singing, "I'm a smooth operator!"

Sota laughed and leaned in to whisper, "not as smooth as you think."

"Huh, I got them to kiss. That was smooth."

"But the kind of kissing we are talking about is on the lips, not the cheek, but it was a nice plan."

"Damn, details."

"Shippo, what have I told you about cursing?" Inu Yasha growled as he exited the room.

"Sorry." He hid his hands behind his back and lowered his head awaiting his punishment. Inu Yasha had been cracking down on his swearing since Inu Shantino had threatened to ground Inu Yasha if he didn't.

"I'm not in the mood for Chinese! I rather have Italian."

"To you, that means pizza, and we are not having pizza for dinner!" Kagome complained as they passed the two. Shippo looked up hopeful at Inu Yasha.

"Fine, but you owe me your fortune cookie!"

"No way! What is the point of getting Chinese food if I don't get the fortune cookie?"

"Then maybe we should get Italian."

"Fine, but no pizza!"

"But I want pizza, nee-chan." Sota whined.

"What do you want, Shippo?" Inu Yasha asked.

"I don't care?" he whispered.

"Fine, then we will go to the Italian restaurant down the street. It'll be our treat; right, Shippo?" Inu Yasha smiled at him and the kit bounced into his arms nodding. Inu Yasha whispered into his ear, "Just be careful not to let them slip."

"Ok."

They burst into the house laughing at one of Shippo's jokes. Dinner had been entertaining in the little family restaurant. Shippo had made quick friends with the owner, an Italian immigrant with a gentle temper. He had made Shippo his special helper that evening and had him go around singing happy birthday to the costumers. To add to the show, Shippo decided to stand on the tables and dance as the waiters sang in Italian. One gentleman had asked the kit for a favor, which he gladly did, in order to be the center of attention. Shippo went to the gentleman's lady friend and said,

"Your friend gave me a dollar to give you a message. I don't know how much a dollar is, but Inu Yasha says that it's good money, so I accepted, but only 'cuz I'm a gentleman. He wanted me to give this and asked you if you would marry him. He would have asked you himself, but he was too scared you would say no!" Shippo held out the ring, and the brunette gasped. There was a brief kissing scene, which Shippo missed since Inu Yasha seemed ardent in putting his hands over the kit's eyes. The owner sang an old Italian love song, and everyone was happy. Everyone, but Kagome, whose smiled did not seem genuine, at least to the trained eye.

Inu Yasha took her scent in worriedly. Her heat and that other smell were there, but he didn't seem to notice. He was now sure there was something wrong. Her scent was edged with deep sadness. The type usually found in the hearts of those who outlived their loved ones. He didn't understand, and for the first time in his life, he was willing to sacrifice his car to know what was going on in someone's head. She covered up her emotions quite well: her scent was the only indication she was upset. How was he supposed to get her to talk? More importantly, how was he going to get her to kiss him?

"What am I thinking?" He stopped himself. "Why do I want to kiss her? Ok, so maybe it's because of delicate, soft lips that taste so good, but that was the chap-stick…No, that's too lame to be it. Maybe it's just because we've been spending so much time together, and I haven't really dated anyone in about…a month and a half? How did that happen? Doesn't matter," he looked at Kagome as she whipped Shippo's face clean of tomato sauce, "there hasn't been a model worth dating anyway." He smiled as Shippo thanked Kagome, and she gave him a kiss on the nose. "Kami, she can so lovely sometimes…until she opens her mouth."

Now, they were safe at home with a little left over high from dinner. Shippo still wanted to watch a movie, but he was beginning to yawn. It was late, and Inu Yasha decided to send Shippo to bed. She watched them argue until Inu Yasha tricked Shippo into declaring,

"I don't care what you say, Inu Yasha! I'm tired and I'm going to bed! You can wait until tomorrow to see the movie." The little kitsune made it halfway up the stairs before he realized the trick, but by that time, bed sounded too good to pass up.

"Then he says he isn't a good father." Kagome thought as she watched him give Shippo and her bathroom floor a bath. He was soaked when he tucked Shippo into bed, and paused to talk a few minutes with Sota about some game. She watched from her doorway as he came out of the room and closed the door behind. He looked up at her and smiled. "He's a good kid."

"So is Sota."

"You are doing a great job with him."

"So are you." She blushed at his words and smiled.

"Good night."

"Night."

"Oh, Inu Yasha…"

"Yes?"

"How long is your father going to have his men tail us?"

"You noticed them?"

"Hard to miss the flood of youkai aura in the area."

"He is just going to have a couple of cars follow you and Sota around…in the odd case I need back up." He quickly added.

"How about the half dozen that are watching the house?"

"Neither you nor I can sense Shadow demons, but they can see them."

"And the two mikos and three houshis?"

"Kagome!"

"What? I just think you guys went a little over board. I don't know if it is good for Sota!"

"He won't notice!"

"Why so much damn security?"

"One, because you need it; two, because we can; three, because there is no way in hell I'm going to let anything ever happen to you or Sota."

"You sound a little possessive there."

"I have my reasons. Now, get some sleep. Don't forget we have that pool party tomorrow."

"Yeah, at Sango's."

"Actually, for safety reasons, we moved it to my house."

"Inu Yasha! When I accepted your moving in with me, it was so there would be a minimum disturbance to my life!" Kagome protested.

"Look, until Naraku is stopped, we need to take all precautions possible."

"And when will he be stopped?"

"I don't know." Inu Yasha sighed in defeat. "Until then, will you get some rest?"

"Fine."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&

The little blonde boy tugged on Kagome's sleeve. She smiled and turned to him. "Hello again." The little boy smiled shyly and gave her the piece of paper he was holding in his hands. On the top, with crayon and an untrained hand, 'Thank you,' was written in capital letters. Underneath was a picture of a boat with a triangle sail under a smiling sun on blue water. "For me?"

"Mama, sez dat when someone does sumtin' nice, dat you should 'ay tank you, and gi'e a card. Tank you." The boy smiled and raced back to the safety of his mother's arms.

"He is so cute." Kagome turned to the mother and smiled. "Thank you, handsome. I really like the boat." He blushed and smiled again. Kagome sat back comfortably on her seat looking at the picture. She had always loved the water. Her best memories were by it. Her grandfather slipping on the wet floor, hurting his butt, while five-year-old Kagome was taking a bath; her parents taking her to the beach for her sixth birthday; looking at the river from her mother's hospital room as she waited to meet her baby brother for the first time; the day of the pool party.

"Kami, that was one of the happiest days of my life!" She smiled softly. "Now I see that it was the beginning of my destiny. All my family, blood and other, were there, and they all shared my happiness…before Naraku brought his darkness into our world. But that day shall always remain free of his sinister aura!"

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Another day, another chapter, another cliffhanger…I bet you guys are ready to kill me. Again, Meche is still in Mexico, so it is not as free of error as it normally is. Thank you so much for the nice reviews and all your support. LB, welcome back; I'm glad to see you are still following this story since you were one of my first reviewers and one of the first people to get me to continue to write this story. As most of you guessed, the next couple of chapters are going to be juicy. I wanted to continue writing, but it's 3:22 a.m. and I need to get up early tomorrow to find a New Year's dress. I still have to edit this chapter and post it, so those of you, who are like me, and only get a chance to read fan fiction late at night, can get first dibs on this chapter. Enjoy. Oh, and since I probably won't get to post until after the holidays, HAPPY NEW YEAR!