InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Little Bits ❯ Kiss, Interrupted ( Chapter 14 )

Kiss, Interrupted

 

"And when the well re-opened, I came home."

 

Kagome examined the face of the man she had chosen over a future in the modern world. He stared down at her, widened eyes not quite shimmering with tears. Gods--he was so handsome. She loved him for so many things, from the strength of his hands to the strength of his heart, from his dare-anything protectiveness to the closely shielded gentleness she had glimpsed so rarely. Looking back from three years separation, she loved everything about him, not excluding all the temper tantrums and arguments they'd had. But her memory hadn't been equal to remembering just how handsome he was. Golden eyes, black brows, silver hair; the perfect planes of his face, the hint of fangs behind his partly open lips--

 

She felt her breathing quickening, and her heart. Her hand which had been stroking his face with a thumb, slid around his neck. She wanted to touch those lips, to taste them. She started to raise herself on her toes to move closer to his face. She had come back to merge her fate and his, to live their lives together. And she wanted him--

 

His eyes widened as he felt the pressure on the back of his neck. She saw him swallow, but only leaned into him. Wanting. Asking with her eyes. He started to respond, his head starting to lower, tilting slightly, eyes half closing--

 

And then he stiffened, snapping his head up and around. Startled and dismayed, Kagome dropped back to her heels. She knew his keener senses must have picked up something, but what? Nothing dangerous, surely--?

 

"Ka--!"

 

"Kagome-chan!"

 

The young woman drew a sharp breath and felt another leap of tear-spangled joy as she recognized voices she had not heard in three years. Dropping her embrace, she turned as old friends stumbled to a halt, their eyes wide with shock. "Miroku-sama, Sango-chan. Shippou-chan. I'm back ... "

 

She saw what Miroku carried in his arms.

 

With a squeal, she jumped forward. "Oh!"

 

Even a "grown-up", almost nineteen-year-old woman can forget previous intentions when confronted with a friend's pair of cute, wide-eyed, identical twin girls.

 

* * * * *

 

 

Inuyasha watched Sango and Kagome disappear down the path from well to village, ears drooping. The young women were chattering at a higher rate of speed than his ears wanted to follow, their arms filled with the toddlers they'd removed from Miroku's arms. He supposed he could have expected Kagome's instant enthusiasm for the twins. He could even admit they were cute--when they weren't trying to play with his ears, at least. But his friends couldn't have taken just a bit longer to follow him? His Kagome had come back to be with him, and she'd clearly wanted to kiss him, and did they have to get interrupted again, like that time in her room?

 

"Hey, Inuyasha, why're you looking so glum?" demanded Shippou. "Aren't you happy Kagome's back?"

 

"Of course I am, baka!" snapped Inuyasha, taking a swipe at the kitsune, who ducked. "It's just--" He felt his face start to heat and whirled away, crossing his arms. "Keh!"

 

"What?" demanded the kitsune, with a note of glee. "Didn't she want to kiss you? Hunh? Hunh?"

 

"Shut up!" This time, his swipe connected, pulling the kitsune off Miroku's shoulder into a perfect position for a drop kick. As the yelping kitsune sailed away, Inuyasha turned his irate gaze on the pervert -- err, reformed pervert. "And don't you start!"

 

Miroku considered him a moment, smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, his eyes glinting. "Sorry," he said finally. "It is you she came back for."

 

Inuyasha sighed, his shoulders relaxing. "Yeah..." he said wistfully, remembering the look in her eyes, remembering how she'd pressed against him, how she'd stretched up to be closer to him, how she'd made it clear without words that she wanted--wanted--him.

 

With a chuckle, Miroku clapped him on the back. "Don't worry, old friend. You'll get your chance. Just don't be afraid to take it, eh?"

 

Inuyasha thought of the expression on Kagome's face, and blushed. Joy rose like a tidal bore, and the daydreams he'd firmly suppressed for years began to break loose. Kagome in his arms. Kagome's lips on his. Kagome in his bed, at his side, laughing with him, crying with him, loving him, being with him...

 

The hand slapped his back again, and then pushed him forward. "Come on, lover-boy. Let's go tell Kaede and the elders. They'll probably want a feast to celebrate. And don't worry if you have to wait for it, even it's not 'til Kaede marries you two. It'll be worth it."

 

Marriage. The term made his thoughts swim: the concept so foreign to what he had ever felt able to hope for, that he pushed it away. For now, he'd settle for a kiss. Their first kiss. Kagome. And himself. The hanyo she'd sacrificed her entire world for.

 

For him.

 

Whatever it took, he'd make sure he was worthy of that sacrifice.

 

For Kagome.

 

Kagome...

 

... Beloved.