InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Easy as 1, 2, 3... ❯ No More Secrets ( Chapter 24 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or a T-shirt with his picture on it! (When I wrote that I didn't, but now I do! ^_^)

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Easy as 1, 2, 3…

Chapter Twenty-Four

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The sun was just beginning to set at the Higurashi shrine behind dark, foreboding storm clouds, and at that moment the fuzzy white ears on top of Inuyasha's head twitched, which was a sure sign that he was beginning to wake up. The hanyou hadn't had such a peaceful sleep in his life and that made him very reluctant to move. He knew it had to be Kagome's acceptance of the situation, as well as him finally feeling like he wasn't alone anymore.

When a deep roll of thunder sounded in the distance, Inuyasha finally stirred a little more and yawned widely. Lazily he opened his eyes and just watched the sleeping form in his arms with one of his rare, gentle smiles.

'I wonder how long it will be before she finally wakes up? I personally think it's about time for that little talk she keeps putting off. I know she loves me, I can just feel it! As much as I'd hate to admit it though, Sesshoumaru was probably right about the miko thing.'

Inuyasha frowned when a loud peal of thunder disturbed the sleeping girl in his arms, so he slowly ran his fingers through her hair in an attempt to soothe her. The motion obviously worked, and she settled back down.

When he was satisfied, the white-haired boy settled back in and turned his mind to past events, wondering how he could even begin to explain himself.

"I'm so sorry I put you through that." Inuyasha whispered, careful to keep his voice low since the words were meant for her ears alone. He could hear her family close by in the house, and he didn't want them to overhear. "I never meant to hurt you like that. I only wanted to express exactly how I felt about you. Unfortunately I'm not really great at that sort of thing." He smiled ruefully.

With a sudden startling burst, rain began to pour with a vengeance on the small shrine house, and Inuyasha wondered in passing if Kagome had left all the paint supplies outside.

"Keh, I hope she did! That would mean she was too concerned over me to think about stupid paint supplies." He smirked and felt a deep satisfaction brought on by the memory of her earlier concern.

For the first time since waking up, Inuyasha noticed it was unusually dark outside for just an afternoon storm. 'I wonder how late it is? Don't tell me the sun has already set!'

Carefully shifting positions slightly so he wouldn't wake up Kagome, Inuyasha managed to get a good look at the clock on the wall behind him so he could check out the time. His stomach growled at the same moment, reminding him that they had both missed lunch.

"We slept that long?" He cried out loud, forgetting to be quiet in his surprise at the time. In about 15 minutes the Higurashi family would be sitting down to dinner.

Since he had forgotten to be quiet, his loud exclamation caused Kagome to stir, and she blinked sleepily and tried to pull away.

"Inuyasha?" A light blush stained her cheeks when he wouldn't let go of her, and she began to stutter helplessly. The position they were in did not look good, and she was more than a little aware of that! "W-what are we, I mean, what w-were we doing?!?!"

Inuyasha laughed and pressed his forehead to hers, causing her to abruptly stop trying to get out of his arms. "What does it look like we were doing?"

"INUYASHA!"

"Owww!"Inuyasha rubbed his abused ears. "Don't screech like that, okay? It hurts my ears wench!"

Kagome's face darkened at his favorite little nickname for her. "Would you please stop calling me wench? I hate that about as much as you'd probably hate being called……dog turd or something!" She had hastily picked out the first stupid nickname that had come to mind.

Inuyasha was instantly contrite and it showed on his face. The last thing he wanted at the moment was for Kagome to be angry with him.

"I'm sorry Kagome." He whispered quietly, taking both her hands in his own. "I tend to get rude when I get nervous, or when I'm trying to say something important. Please don't hold it against me right now, just when we really need to talk."

Kagome stared at him with wide eyes, and Inuyasha stared back with a serious expression. His faced showed that at the moment nothing mattered more to him than the person right in front of him. He was aware of nothing but the feel of her hands in his and her beautiful blue eyes.

Everything was coming down to this one moment, and in his mind it was now or never. "Kagome, I really need to-"

"Kagome! Inuyasha! It's time to eat dinner so hurry and get up!" Her mother's voice called from the kitchen, causing them both to jump.

'Damn!' He cursed mentally. 'Just when I think I've got her right where I want her, something else comes up! Figures her mother would be finished early today!' A stubborn feeling began to set in his chest. 'Screw food, we are gonna talk right now!'

"Inuyasha, come on! We need to get up so let me go!" Kagome insistently tugged at his hands that were still tightly holding hers, but he refused to yield.

"No." He stated firmly. "We need to talk."

Kagome shot him a dark look and pulled harder. "It can wait!" She hissed. "We can't talk with my family around! They are waiting for us to go eat!"

"I know that, but I don't care! I have been waiting so long for this Kagome that I just can't handle the wait any longer! Do you realize how hard this has been for me? Every time I think the wait is finally going to end, you drag it out!" The hanyou was unintentionally taking out his frustration on her and raising his voice.

"Just leave it alone for now!" Kagome muttered. "If I want it to wait, then it will! It's not like you can tell me what to do, cause you aren't really my husband!"

Just then a startled gasp came from the direction of the door and the couple turned to see that Sota had slid the door open slightly to call the two to dinner. The small boy had heard Kagome's last statement very clearly, and he was obviously shocked.

'I can't believe I didn't hear him open the door!' Inuyasha thought to himself. 'This isn't good at all, because what if he tells? If her family finds out, then it will really hurt Kagome, and that's the last thing I wanted to happen. This is all my fault, I shouldn't be such a stubborn jerk!'

"You…were lying to everyone?" Sota whispered, staring at the pair.

"Sota, it's not what you think!" Kagome frantically tried to explain. "Just listen to us a minute and don't tell mama! It's all a misundersta-"

"MAMA!" The little boy yelled, slamming the sliding door shut behind him. He had looked so upset, and it broke Kagome's heart to see him like that. And now her mother would know, and Kagome couldn't even begin to imagine how she would react.

"Oh my God…Sota must hate me now." She whispered, and Inuyasha tightened his grip on her hands. She was so pale that he worried she might pass out.

"It's okay Kagome. I'm sure they'll understand." He rubbed his thumb over her painfully tight fists. "And I'm sure Sota doesn't hate you."

"Just go away."

"Kagome-"

"I SAID JUST GO AWAY!" She cried loudly, pulling herself from his grip with the sudden force of her anger. "This is all your fault, and I hate you!"

A rumble of thunder punctuated her cruel words as they stared at each other.

Inuyasha reached out with one clawed hand. When he spoke, his voice sounded broken and rough. "Kagome, please tell me you don't mean that."

At that her tense shoulders drooped, and a slow tear made a wet track down Kagome's face as she shook her head. "No, I don't. It's all my fault and I know it. If I hadn't been so stupid and played along, this wouldn't have happened. Then maybe I wouldn't have-" She suddenly broke off and stifled a sob, then turned and ran from the room.

She ran past her mother who was standing in the hall with a shocked look on her face and out the front door into the pouring rain.

"Kagome!" Her mother called out worriedly. She ran to the open front door and saw where her daughter headed, and sighed with relief. At least she didn't go far.

Inuyasha wasn't far behind, and he tried to get past Mrs. Higurashi's small form where she was still standing in the doorway. Kagome's mother grabbed his shirtsleeve with one hand and refused to let go when he tried to shrug her off.

"Leave her alone for a little while Inuyasha. I think you and I need to talk."

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"YOU MEAN YOU KNEW ALL ALONG?" Inuyasha roared at Mrs. Higurashi, who just sipped some of her tea and nodded calmly in the face of his rage. "You knew we weren't married and that I had kidnapped her? Why didn't you say something?"

Mrs. Higurashi sighed in regret and set her cup down on the table. "Yes, I did know, but I didn't want to interfere any more than I had to. I trust Kagome enough that I was sure she wouldn't do anything inappropriate with you unless you really were married."

Inuyasha growled as he remembered all the humiliation he'd suffered at her mother's hands. "What was with all the chores?"

"Testing you."

Inuyasha stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

"The best way to know if you were serious or not was to see how much you were willing to suffer for her." She suddenly smiled. "It's safe to say you passed the test with flying colors. Most men would have run off long before now."

The hanyou glared at her. "So who told you everything, and why did you go along with it in the first place? A hanyou shouldn't be your ideal son-in-law."

For the first time, Mrs. Higurashi looked unsure. "I admit when I was first told everything, I was very upset. My own daughter had been kidnapped and I didn't even realize it! But talking to your family and hearing your story, I began to understand things a little better, and I even started to feel sorry for you." A small smile appeared once again on her face. "And when I saw those ears, I was a lost cause! I wanted grandchildren so much, and the thought of them having those adorable ears was too much for me!"

Inuyasha sweat dropped before deciding to ignore that in favor of bringing up the previously ignored question. "Who did you talk to?"

"Well…" Mrs. Higurashi hedged. "They aren't going to be very happy if I tell, because I promised them I wouldn't."

Inuyasha groaned. "Tell me it wasn't Sesshoumaru!"

"Sorry." Kagome's mother stated simply. She couldn't deny the truth!

"What reason would he have had to interfere?"

This got a wide grin from Mrs. Higurashi. "The same reason I had for interfering. We had a common goal."

"Huh?" Inuyasha couldn't even begin to guess, but he was pretty sure it wasn't his happiness. His brother had never concerned with that, and never would be.

"What else? Grandchildren!"

Inuyasha almost fell out of his chair.

Seeing his reaction, Mrs. Higurashi almost laughed out loud, but instead got up and pointed in a certain direction out the window. A flash of lightning lit up a small building, and Inuyasha recognized it as the old well house.

"Now that we understand each other, I think you need to go talk to her now. She's had some time to herself and now you have exactly the information she needs to make her feel better. Tell her I'm sorry, and I will talk to Sota so she doesn't need to worry about him."

Inuyasha's ears drooped. "But what if she won't talk to me?"

"She'll talk to you." Kagome's mother patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "Don't give up on her no matter what else you may do, Inuyasha. My daughter loves you and I'll never forgive you if you break her heart."

"Do you really think so?" The dog demon questioned hopefully.

"I'm sure of it."

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HAHAHAHA! Horrible cliffhanger isn't it? You can call me evil if it will make you feel better! ^_^