InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Easy as 1, 2, 3... ❯ A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words ( Chapter 21 )

*random thought* You know, I have always wanted to see a humor story where Inuyasha just can't help himself and he chases the cat like he thought about in the last chapter! ^_^

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha but maybe if I find the right man and give him a makeover…

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Easy as 1, 2, 3…

Chapter Twenty-One

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Kagome sighed in relief as she washed the last dirty dish and placed it where it could dry before being put away. Dinner had actually gone fairly well that evening, partly because of her effort to get along with Inuyasha, and partly because her mother took the demon wards away from her grandfather. Things suddenly seemed to be going so well! If only she could figure out what to do with him and this whole marriage thing now.

After drying her hands, Kagome walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the sound of the television in the family room, figuring everyone must be in there. Well, almost everyone. Sota was most likely asleep by now since he had an early bedtime.

Slipping quietly into the room, she first noticed her Grandfather snoozing in his favorite chair, dead to the world. A little past him her mother was sitting with her eyes on the television, laughing quietly at the humorous parts.

Looking around more carefully, Kagome was more than a little surprised to see no sign of Inuyasha whatsoever. 'Where could he have gone? I guess he could be in the bathroom or something.'

As if she had spoken aloud, Mrs. Higurashi turned to her and smiled. "If you're wondering where Inuyasha is, I sent him on to bed. The poor dear was so tired after helping me out today that I just couldn't help but take pity on him."

Kagome had to open and close her mouth a few times before she could find her voice, which sounded a bit raspy. "You sent him to bed?"

"That's right." Her mother hummed, nodding her head. She was no longer looking at her daughter, and was instead watching the TV intently. It struck Kagome as a little strange for her mother to be so interested in a commercial.

She brushed off her mother's weird behavior and instead focused on the problem at hand. Inuyasha was probably sleeping in her bed! HER BED! How was she supposed to fix this problem? She couldn't throw him out or everyone would get suspicious, and she certainly didn't plan on sleeping with him again!

Turning abruptly, Kagome stalked out of the room and up the stairs to her bedroom, leaving her smiling mother and snoring grandfather behind without a single word of goodnight to them, not that either noticed.

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Kagome entered her bedroom quietly and was relieved to find the light was still on, even if Inuyasha was sleeping on her bed. Closing the door behind her carefully so she wouldn't wake him up, she then moved a few steps closer to him. He sighed and rolled over on his side, but didn't wake up.

'I can't believe him! He's made himself so at home that he didn't even hear me when I came in! I thought his demon senses were better than that.' She smirked a bit at the next thought. 'He's probably not used to working so hard since he's spoiled and his family is rich.'

Watching him sleep a little longer, Kagome finally huffed lightly and crossed her arms in annoyance. She really wanted to sleep in her own bed tonight, but she didn't want to share it. That would just give him ideas that she did NOT want him to have.

Kneeling down beside the bed, she folded her arms and rested her chin upon them. This put her close to his face and she smiled at the innocent look he had.

'He looks like a little kid when he's sleeping, and it's so cute! I wonder what he dreams about?' She blushed, hoping that maybe she might be the one he had dreams about. 'I should get a picture of him like this, then when he acts like a jerk during the day I can just pull it out to remind myself he's not always like that.'

Kagome sat there for several more minutes, the idea of taking a picture still nagging at her brain. The thought just wouldn't leave her alone. When a certain idea slowly started to form in her mind, she couldn't stop herself from releasing a small giggle.

'I can't laugh and wake him up, but I want to SO bad! This will be the perfect way to find out if he's really as serious as he seems to be about me! Anyone can stand a few chores, but if I know Inuyasha at all, then I know the hardest thing for him to handle would be a blow to his pride. This could work!'

Moving carefully so that she wouldn't wake him up, Kagome stood up and walked over to her desk. She pulled open the top drawer and removed a small camera, then grabbed a small object off the top of the desk.

Sporting a smile that could only be described as evil, Kagome turned back to Inuyasha. 'This is going to be so much fun!'

With that last thought, she set to work.

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The sun dawned brightly the next morning, streaming in through Kagome's bedroom window and hitting the hanyou straight in the face. He cringed and blocked the bright light with one arm, then cracked open both of his golden eyes to take a look at his surroundings.

'Where the heck am I?'

Glancing around, he took in the girlish décor of the room, and the strong scent of Kagome in the air. He relaxed when he remembered being sent to bed by Mrs. Higurashi, explaining how he ended up there.

'I must have fallen asleep cause I was so tired.' He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 'But I thought Kagome would have woken me up though and kicked me out. So where did she sleep last night?'

Turning his head a bit, his sleep-fogged brain suddenly realized exactly why Kagome's scent was so strong to him. She was sleeping next to him! The sight made him roll back a little in surprise, and he quickly regretted the action when he found out exactly how close to the edge of the small bed he really was!

*THUMP!*

A muffled curse could be heard from the lump on the floor as he tried to untangle all of his limbs and pull himself up into a sitting position. A moment later Kagome peered over the edge of the bed and giggled at the sight of him.

"Good morning sunshine!" Kagome mimicked him from his greeting to her yesterday. "Did someone not only wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but fall off it too?"

"Leave me alone." He grumbled, picking himself up off the floor.

Kagome smiled brightly and stretched like a lazy cat. "I need to wake up to a sight like that more often! It does a lot towards putting me in a good mood!" She suddenly laughed again. "And just think, I didn't even have to push you this time!"

He rolled his eyes at that little reminder of the time she pushed him out of his own bed after a pretty steamy kiss. Inuyasha didn't mind getting reminded of their kiss, but the memory of getting pushed out of bed he could live without.

When he didn't respond to her and instead headed for the door, Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "Where are you going to in such a hurry?"

"I smell food."

Kagome started to laugh because it was such an Inuyasha thing to say! After being in the same bed with her, he could walk off in favor of food! She had to admit, though, that the smells coming from the kitchen were making her stomach growl.

Still smiling, Kagome finally got out of bed and dressed, eager to eat breakfast and take care of a certain errand. Before she left the room, she remembered to grab a small roll of film sitting on her desk. Nothing could ruin her mood today!

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Inuyasha pulled another weed in the small garden, the first task Mrs. Higurashi had given him to start off his day with. Kagome's mother liked to grow many different kinds of plants, so she had a large plot for him to weed and the task was taking him most of the morning.

"That darn Kagome, where did she go?" He muttered as he yanked up a small plant he seriously hoped was a weed. "First she kisses me yesterday, then she's nice to me the rest of the day. I wake up with her sleeping with me, and she actually sat in my lap this morning at breakfast! Something's wrong with this picture."

Obviously he knew by now not to trust Kagome when things were going well. That always meant she had something up her sleeve.

'She seemed so sincere yesterday! I think she meant it when she promised she would talk soon, didn't she? I wonder what changed between yesterday and today?'

Inuyasha stopped to wipe a bead of sweat off his forehead, and ended up smudging dirt on his face. Not that he noticed though, because he felt like he had dirt everywhere else anyway! It had collected under his claws, and all over his jeans. He even had some in his hair, and a few small particles clung to the fur of his left ear.

"What I wouldn't give for a bath right about now."

Sighing, he went back to the task at hand, wondering when Kagome would get home. He missed her, and he admitted to himself that he always felt more dedicated to working hard when she was around. He wanted to see her smile at him whenever he managed to do something right.

"Inuyasha!" A voice suddenly called out to him from across the shrine grounds. His ears recognized the voice immediately, and he smiled in relief. She was back, and she actually sounded happy to see him!

He looked over his shoulder to see her jogging towards him with something in one of her hands and a big smile on her face. Dusting off his dirt-covered hands quickly, he stood up.

Kagome wanted to laugh at the sight of Inuyasha! She almost wished she still had her camera, because it looked just like he'd been rolling around in the dirt! She had to remind herself that the picture she had taken the night before was just as good though, if not better.

Striking his classic pose with arms folded, Inuyasha tried to make his voice as gruff as possible when he addressed her. "Oi, where have you been? You keep running off without telling me and I don't like it!"

Kagome just rolled her eyes at his not so polite 'greeting'. "I had to take care of an errand. If you want, I'll show you what I got."

Inuyasha couldn't help but be curious, and took the object she held out to him, finally noticing that it was a photo of some kind. He stared at it for several moments, unable to comment.

Kagome grinned as she watched his face go pale, causing the dirt smudges to stand out even more than they had before. "Like the picture?"

Inuyasha's hands made quick work of ripping up the photo, the small bits falling to the ground like snow. When there was nothing left of it, he glared at her as he took ragged breaths of air. He was mad and it showed! Any minute Kagome expected him to start breathing fire.

"What the HELL was that picture!?!?!"

Kagome smiled, not at all scared of him. "One of many copies, I assure you."

This caused Inuyasha to stop breathing for a long moment as he considered the implications of her statement. "Please tell me you're joking!"

"Nope!" Kagome sung out. "In fact, several pictures are in the mail right now to certain people! I suggest that if it means that much to you, then you should head home and intercept the pictures."

Inuyasha's jaw dropped. "Are you actually trying to get rid of me?"

Kagome could see the hurt in his eyes, but didn't back down. She needed to know what he would do. Would he leave her in favor of saving his pride, or would he stay? The choice was completely in his hands.

"I really did send the pictures Inuyasha. It's up to you whether or not you leave because I'm not forcing you. You can stay here if you'd like, or you can go and stop these pictures of you sleeping with a teddy bear from falling into the hands of your family." She couldn't help a little smile now. "That includes Sesshoumaru."

Inuyasha's mind frantically raced as he tried to decide what to do. He would never live it down if his family got their hands on those pictures, but he knew if he left now, Kagome would probably have nothing to do with him ever again!

'Which is more important to me?' He questioned himself, knowing he had to be completely honest. 'My pride, or Kagome?'

He couldn't help a small, rueful smile from crossing his face as the answer came to him. It just wasn't a question that needed a lot of thought, since the answer was plain. "That's not as hard a question as you believe it is, Kagome."

The dark-haired girl held her breath, suddenly afraid of the answer. 'What if he really does leave?' A cold feeling suddenly flooded her chest at the thought.

Inuyasha moved forward a step until there wasn't much in the way of space between the two of them. Disregarding the dirt on his hand, he lifted it and caressed her face lightly.

"It's not a hard question." He repeated quietly. "Because the answer's right in front of my face. I'm not going to leave you Kagome. Ever."

The girl in front of him smiled in relief and reached up to gently wipe some of the dirt off his face. "How about I help you finish up and you take a bath?"

Inuyasha grinned playfully and smudged some dirt on her face with his hand. "No, how about you finish and I take a bath? Even if I don't leave, you're still going to pay for sending that picture!"

"No way! You deserved it after sleeping in my bed last night!"

Kagome shrieked when he grabbed her around the waist to pull her down to the ground with him and held her still while he dropped a handful of soil down the back of her shirt.

From inside the house, a lone spectator smiled at the scene before going back to cooking lunch, and made a mental note to hose the two down before she let either of them set foot again in her clean house.

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No, this is NOT the end, LOL, although we are getting close. After all, they still need to have their little talk, and I must throw in a little more pointless fluff just because I want to. ^_^