InuYasha Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Embracing the Kitsune ❯ Happily Ever After Delayed ( Chapter 32 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

IVX: The Naruto Characters and world were created by Masashi Kishimoto and the Inuyasha characters and world were created by Rumiko Takahashi, but the new original characters are mine. ;;;sticks out tongue;;; IVX... ^_~
~ Ch. 32 - Happily Ever After Delayed ~
Inuyasha gazed deeply into the pools of aqua marine just inches from his own amused amber eyes. There was a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as her face inched even closer.

"Please?" She asked very sweetly.

"Um... no." His small smile widened to a smirk when her eyebrow twitched.

"Inuyasha, I need to get my clothes and leave."

"Nope, I can't let you do that." Inuyasha caught her hand before she could deliver the blow to his gut. In one swift move he turned her around and held the arm to her back. "Now play nice or you'll have to be punished."

"You are taking entirely to much pleasure in this." She grumbled as he pushed her forward and away from the hospital room door. As she brushed imaginary dirt off of her hospital gowned, she turned back to him and gave him another sweet smile. "You know Inuyasha, you are working way to hard. Why don't you take a load off and sit down."

As the half demon's body crashed to the floor, Naruto made his appearance in the doorway chuckling. "You know Kagome, if you keep it up he's gonna be the one in the hospital."

"Watch it or I'll be finding myself another set of beads to add to my collection." She said in a huff as she sat down in a chair by her bed.

Naruto laughed nervously and as he stepped over Inuyasha, who was softly cursing, and made his way over to her. "Now, is that anyway to be talking to your mate." The glare she sent him said yes, yes that is exactly how she thought she would be talking to him right then. He just shook his head and chuckled again as he waved a paper bag in the air before her. "Well if thats how it's gonna be then I guess I'll just take these new clothes back to the store."

"No!" she shouted and reached out to him as he began to turn away. At his foxlike grin she straightened herself up again. "I mean, no. I will behave myself since you decided to finally listen to reason."

"Hey now, it's not my fault you were stuck here for so long. Take out your frustration on Grandma Tsunade if you want someone to vent on." He said as he handed her the bag and kissed her on the forehead.

"Yeah." Grumbled Inuyasha as he finally sat up. "It's not my fault either wench." He gulped as a kunai embedded it's self in the doorframe next to his head. "Heh! What the Hell!" He yelled with a glare at the smiling Naruto.

"What did we discuss about females and words that are appropriate for them?" He grinned as Inuyasha stood and clenched his fists.

Inuyasha was calmed instantly as slender arms wrapped there way around his waist. "I'm sorry Inuyasha, I shouldn't have been so mean to you. I know you were just making sure I got better." She pulled back and went to examine the contents of the paper bag.

"uh..." Inuyasha scratched his head. "Yeah, it's fine."

There was an awkward silence as Kagome began placing the peaces of the white outfit on the bed. Naruto sat in the chair Kagome was previously in and cocked his head at Inuyasha. "Heh, aren't you supposed to meet Hinata at Ichiraku's right about..." he looked at his wrist as if there were a watch there, "now?" He finished.

Inuyasha's ears twitched under the red bandana covering his head. "Oh crap! I almost forgot..." He was gone in the blink of an eye.

Kagome was appraising the simple, yet soft, white kimono Naruto had bought her. She gazed at the obi and shook her head at the bright orange color. As Naruto shut the door to give her some privacy, her mind went over what she had just heard. "So... Hinata huh?" She asked as she slid the hospital gowned off her shoulders and let it pool at her feet.

Naruto walked up behind her and embraced her, kissing her shoulder before resting his chin there. "Does it bother you?" He asked softly with a blank expression.

"No." Kagome said honestly. "I really hope they hit it off. I want him to be happy.... like me." At that she turned slightly and captured his lips in a soft kiss.

"Mmmm." Naruto smiled as he leaned out of the lip lock. "I don't think anyone could be as happy as me." He gave her belly a little squeeze to emphasize his point before pulling away and allowing her to dress.

"That's sweet, but I'm serious. If anyone deserves to be happy it's him. I was just surprised that she was the one he was going to meet for dinner. She just so... soft spoken. I thought someone like Inuyasha would have scared her off." She reasoned as she pulled the kimono into place and started fastening it.

"She's stronger than she looks. Heh, and believe it or not, Hinata used to have a really bad crush on me, but I never let her know I knew." He said with a smirk.

"Guess she just has a thing for loud, obnoxious," the smirk fell from Naruto's face, "Kind, loving, big hearted dolts." She finished with a smirk of her own. "Now, come help me with this very loud obi so I can get out of this place. Three weeks is more than enough time in a hospital for me thank you very much." As Naruto helped her wrap the long sash of a belt around her waist she continued with her objection to the confinement of the past couple weeks. "I am sooo ready to go home and sleep in my nice soft bed. These hospital beds suck!"

"Well, I don't think your going to be able to sleep in your old bed Kagome." Naruto started in an apologetic tone.

"What?" Kagome deadpanned. As she looked over her shoulder at him, he began to laugh nervously at the flames in her eyes.

"Well, it's just that with us thinking that you... well you know."

"You threw my stuff out!" She cried in a defeated whine. "I can't believe it. And no one decided to tell me this until now why?"

"Now now Kagome, it's not as bad as you think. Everyone helped me out and I got you a new place to stay. I'll take you there as soon as your ready to go." Naruto used a soft and understanding voice in an attempt to placate her temper. He really wanted to surprise her, but maybe he had gone a bit far with the 'we got rid of your old stuff' bit. 'Oh well.' the thought with an internal shrug. The deep chuckle in the back of his head alerted him to Kyuubi's humor in the situation. "You had better watch out. If you thought vixens were bad in heat, then your really gonna have fun while she's pregnant."

Kagome gathered a couple of the nonperishable gifts her friends had bought her and turned to him with a sigh. "I'm ready I guess."

Naruto placed his winter cloak over her shoulders and, with a soft smile, held out his arm for her to take. The gesture got a small smile from her and she wrapped her hand around the proffered arm. When they walked out of the hospital after checking her out, the sun was setting and the sky was aglow with soft pink and orange tones. Naruto looked over to his mate and his heart melted at the sight of her. She was just so beautiful it hurt. It hurt because it made him so happy. He was happy that she was alive, happy that she was here, and overjoyed that she was his. The fact that this beautiful creature was also carrying his children didn't hurt his affection for her either. "You know, I'll be the envy of the town with you on my arm."

Kagome managed a small blush and smacked him on the arm playfully. "Just lead me to my new place you smooth talker."

Naruto complied and they began walking in a direction other than towards the low income apartments she had been living in. "I do believe I am wearing off on you." Kyuubi commented to the smooth move Naruto had actually pulled off. 'It's a little easier to be calm and cool with the mother of your children.' Naruto commented back to him as he continued to gaze at the vision of beauty on his arm. "Kits." Corrected the Kyuubi off handedly. "But, yes, I suppose that is true."

Kagome was seriously beginning to wonder if there was something on her face and if it was distracting Naruto from finding his way home. They were way off track from getting to their apartments, but she supposed she could have been arranged to stay somewhere else. Her shoulders sunk slightly at the thought. They were mated anyhow so why did he think he needed to find her a new place. If they had given her room away already, why wouldn't she just move in with him? At the thought her eyebrows furrowed and they came to a halt.

"Is everything ok Kagome?" Asked Naruto.

"Yes, no, I don't know." She looked up at him. "I don't understand why you just don't have me move in with you. I mean, we are mated after all. I know we need a formal wedding for it to be official in the village, but..."

"Kagome," He started, but she had begun a mini rant. " Kagome!" He interrupted louder this time. "Shut up already." It worked, but now Kyuubi laughed at him."If looks could kill." Naruto ignored him and turned her towards a small house with a rather modest yard. "We're here." He watched her face closely to catch her emotions. He didn't want to miss a single moment. "I know it's not much, but it's a start." Kagome looked up at him with wide disbelieving eyes and he became slightly self conscious. Rubbing the back of his neck nervously he started to explain himself. "I just figured that since my place would have been a squeeze for two then there was no way four..." Now it was his turn to be rudely cut off.

"Shut up." She said as she placed a finger on his lips. "I love you, do you know that?" She threw herself into his arms and he used the momentum to swing her around and catch her in a bridal style carry. A large and confident smile graced his features now as he looked down at her. She giggled and hugged him around the neck once more for good measure.

"You think it's nice out here. Just wait till you see the inside." He said as he carried her down the short path to the door.

*one month later

Kagome was happy to be out on her own. Of course she was only making a trip to the market, but still. Between her medic-nin friend, overprotective dog-boys, and an obsessive mate, she was gonna lose it. And she thought her lack of alone time on the sand village mission was a pain. 'I'm pregnant not dying.' She looked down at her belly. No trace of a bump could be seen through the white material of her newest ensemble. 'Psh, I'm not even showing yet. What are they going to do when I look like I'm smuggling a watermelon?' She giggled at her own joke as she fiddled with the scarf around his neck. The action caused her smile to falter. 'Then again, I don't think it's just the kit's they're worried about.'

Every attempt to decipher the new cursed marks on her body had failed. Even Jiraiya, the Orochimaru expert, was baffled. Kagome was disappointed that out of all the things she had acquired from the snakes mind, the mystery behind the strange tattoos hadn't been included. It figured. That was just her kind of luck. The good news was that the memories of the bastards past were fading like normal memories should. Though they still haunted her dreams. In fact, last night the dream had been rather vivid. She thought that maybe the approaching new moon, and thus approaching weakness, had set off a subconscious fear that was playing out in her dreamscape or some other such psycho babble nonsense. It was the night of the new moon two months ago that had been the worst torture at the hands of Orochimaru. It had nearly been the death of her and her kits.

As that thought entered her mind she quickly pushed it away. No sense in worrying over the could have beens, good or bad. She instead focused on happier thoughts. Thoughts of her loving duel mates. Somehow, their little love triangle seemed to work it's self out just fine. Though Kagome guessed that had they not shared a body, it wouldn't have gone as smoothly. She was also glad that Inuyasha was actually understanding in her need to be with the one she mated. He had of course been stand offish at first, but it didn't take long for him to come around. Now she had her best friend, her mate/s and a warm new home.

In the short time they had lived their, it already felt like an inviting and loving home instead of a barren new house. Their friends had given house warming presents and, to Kagome's astonishment and gratitude, Gaara had footed the bill to furnish the place. After him helping her with her emotional problems, adding this kind of gift seemed to much. But Naruto said Gaara had given it to them as a 'wedding present'. Seeing as how the man was already back in Suna by the time she found out, there was no way to argue with him on the fact. So Kagome had to settle with a very strongly worded thank you note.

Since Kagome was pregnant, and thus off the active duty list, she had spent her time making their home cozy when she wasn't training to get back into shape. The decor hadn't taken that long to finish though, and now Kagome felt herself becoming bored. As much as she loved the prospect of having kits of her own she also realized the stay at home mom thing would not be for her. She had lead too adventurous a life to be the demure little house wife. When all the danger in the world surrounds you, all you want is peace and quiet. When you finally get it, all you can dream of is a little action. Funny how that works out.

Finally she was brought from her musings as the shopping district came into view. Kagome just needed get some fresh meat for the home cooked Ramen she was making and maybe some fresh fruit for dessert. When she was just about to enter the butcher shop, she saw Hinata. Turning away from her errand, she decided to check up on the girl and see if she could get any good information out of her. She tried asking Inuyasha, but he is always so forthcoming. (coughsarcasmcough) What would help the cooped up demon-miko would be a juicy little bit of love gossip... straight from the source no less.

"Hi Hinata!" She gave a friendly wave to the pale eyed girl and jogged over to her.

"Oh, hello Kagome. How are you?" She asked softly.

"I'm doing fine. How about yourself. And for that matter, how about my cousin?" She asked with a sly look. Yes, after 'the talk' they had decided to keep up that little guise. The question got the Hyuuga turning bright red and Kagome knew there was something good to be had.

"I-I'm f-fine. And Inuyasha has b-been very ...sweet."

Kagome made an unladylike snort. "Sweet? Yeah right. Come on you." She said as she drug Hinata to a nearby tea shop. "Sweet and Inuyasha don't belong in the same sentence together. At least not often." She said as she sat across form the Hyuuga at a small, two person, table. After giving their orders to the waitress she continued with her Q&A. "Now tell me what's really been going on between you two." She urged. "You and him have been meeting up a lot lately."

"I-I well, we..." She trailed off.

Kagome nodded in encouragement. "Yes...?"

"Well, I-I kind of, found out about your... family a-attributes?" She said in a questioning manner, not quite sure how to talk about it around potential prying ears.

Kagome's smile faded as she unconsciously touched the, now white, material of her hitai-ate and swallowed hard. "And.... are you ok with our lineage?" She asked carefully.

"Of course!" Hinata said a little to loudly and waited for the few patrons to look away before continuing, more softly this time. "Of course I am." She stated firmly. "You are not only a fellow kunoichi and friend, but you are Naruto's fiance. I would never forsake any of you for what you cannot help." Then her voice became a little more quivery again. "A-and Inuyasha has been so... so." She was having trouble finding words to express exactly how he was acting towards her.

Kagome laid a hand on hers and patted it reassuringly. "It's ok, I understand." She said with a smirk which caused Hinata to blush again. That got Kagome thinking. "How did you find out about it and how much did my cousin tell you." She asked suspiciously.

"Well, he d-dose hang out with kiba and the Inuzuka's alot, s-so I saw alot of him." Here she paused and looked contemplative. "Though I don't know why they hang out so much. All they do is fight."

Kagome giggled. "Then their best of friends already huh? I'm sure his certain qualities helped that along."

"Y-yes, well, Inuyasha made a comment about me being a weak... female," Hinata said politely as Kagome mentally filled in 'wench' with a sigh. " and Kiba threw me into a fight with him. He said I-Inuyasha needed to learn his lesson." She poked her fingers together as she continued in a softer tone. "I had to prove my strength and defend my honor, so I activated my Byakugan and... th-the family resemblance" She said looking towards Kagome's head cover, " was obvious." She finished and found the table most interesting.

Kagome's eyes softened at the sight of her. "Hinata, you don't have to feel guilty. I'm surprised no one else from your clan has realized my unique attribute until now. I'm actually relieved one more person knows and accepts this." "You should be more concerned half demon." The jewel whispered in an aggregated tone, but she was becoming good at ignoring it's peanut gallery comments. Though the comment did seem more muffled than usual. She shrugged it off and looked up at the waitress that had just arrived with their tea. "Thank you."

"Thank you very much." Added Hinata, to which the waitress bowed her head slightly and left them to their beverages.

Kagome rubbed at the white scarf around her neck as her neck gave off a burning, itching sensation. She ignored it after a moment and sipped her tea. "So is that why you two have been meeting so often? To talk about, you know..." Again the girl blushed and Kagome had to wonder if it was good for her health to turn red so often.

"N-not entirely." She squeaked.

Kagome could have face palmed herself at how fast the 'juicy' details would come out in a conversation with this woman. 'How could I have forgotten how shy she was with this stuff. I'll need to do a little re-con mission if I want to learn anything. Between the two of them, if their is anything going on, I'm sure they keep it on the Very down low.' Kagome suddenly had to shake her head as she was hit with a wave of dizziness from no where. 'What is wrong with me today?' She wondered.

*a few hours later

Naruto was happily returning home from a short and easy mission. The promised Ramen al la Kagome was a welcoming thought and put an extra little pep in his step. "You are very easily excited." Kyuubi said with the mental image of him rolling his eyes. 'Oh come on fox, don't tell me you don't like coming home to a beautiful woman and a hot meal everyday.' Naruto got the impression of a sly smirk that almost worked it's way onto his own face because of their close bond. "I prefer the nights with said beautiful woman myself." 'Perv.' He retorted playfully as he turned the corner and neared his small house.

As he approached the door, he knew something was off. There was a paper bag tipped over on the ground, a few groceries spilling out. 'She wouldn't just leave that there.' He inhaled deeply and when his eyes opened again they had a slightly purple tint to they're normal crystal blue. Her sent was a couple hours old and as he listened carefully to the house, he didn't hear any movement. He had to check regardless and burst through the door. He ran first through the living room and then to the small kitchen. Nothing. Next he ran to their bedroom, perhaps she was sleeping. Nothing. The small nursery room... again nothing.

He had known in the back of his mind the house was empty, but he had hoped he was wrong. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as a feeling of dread overcame him. Maybe it was because of nearly losing her twice or maybe it was instinct compliments of Kyuubi, but either way, something was definitely wrong.

He ran back outside to the carelessly discarded grocery bag and picked up on her sent trail. Following it, he quickly came across her scarf, clinging to a random fence poll. He grimaced slightly as he paused to grab it. He knew that she did not take the scarf off in public because of the tattoo on her neck. His sense of dread increasing even more, he took off at top speed. He found himself in a crowded street, full civilians and shinobi alike. It was the evening rush for the village shops.

The thing that caught his attention immediately was the island of white dead center in the stream of moving, colorful people. He carefully approached her, sensing something was still off about the situation. As he circled around to her front and came nearer, he noticed her eyes were... wrong. They were glassed over and dulled, as if she could not see the things rights before her. they were doll like. Naruto paused a few paces away and she didn't even acknowledge him.

Kagome's hand began to rise and Naruto's eyes followed the movement closely. Her fingers reached beneath the silvery locks and tugged on the ties of her hitai-ate. Naruto's eyes widened and he lunged forward. The weight of the metal insignia plate caused the white material to fall away from its resting place... and the two secrets beneath.

IVX: So did I get you with the beginning. Come on, be honest, how many of you thought she chose Inuyasha? hehe. Sorry for the long weight. My college classes were more demanding than I had anticipated.
Status report: Alright people, this is it. I believe 2 more chapters and an epilog is about all we have left to go, so hang in there and the long awaited conclusion will be yours!... ^_~