InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sesshoumaru's Flame ❯ The Final Chapter... Finally ( Chapter 13 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Water Sprite 
The End
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.28.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.6K | Visits: 949 | Status: Completed
The End
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.28.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.6K | Visits: 949 | Status: Completed
A/N: Okay, so anyone that reviewed for chapter eleven will be thanked here! I forgot all about the reviews for that one... heh, yeah, it's been a while! I hope you like the last installment of Sesshoumaru's Flame, and the sequel is still on its merry little way!!!
~*~
"Kagome-chan!" came from the room even before she entered, and when she did, the commotion only increased.
"Hey guys!"
"STORY!!! NOW!!"
Kagome jumped back, and with a nervous smile on her face she went further into the room. 'Whoa, scary much! I better make this good or they're gonna eat me alive!' She sat on the floor next to the futon, "Now what story should I tell?" she wondered aloud.
"One about fighting!"
"No! Princes and princesses!"
Kagome stared at the two, 'Rin wants fighting and Shippo wants romance-- how major screwed up is that?' She thought a little longer, "By Jove, I think I've got it!"
The children looked at each other, "She's nuts." Rin agreed by nodding her little head.
"Kagome-chan, who's Jove?"
Kagome sweat dropped, "I really don't know, I don't even know if that's the right saying."
"Yup, Kagome-chan's nuts," Rin agreed.
Kagome crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Do you two want a story or not?" Both heads nodded vigorously and she smiled, "Okay then, here's one my mom taught me."
Rin leaned in to whisper to Shippo, "Kagome-chan's mommy teaches her good things like songs 'n' stuff."
Kagome giggled and began, "It's called 'Fairy Tales'.
"Once upon a time
In a faery realm
A knight was urging his steed
Over a steppe of burdocks."
"Kagome-chan?" Rin interrupted curiously. "What's a burdocks?"
"Well a burdock-- the 's' makes it plural-- is like a bunch of flowers and herbs and stuff like that. Anyway, on with the story.
"He was most eager
To take part in battle," Kagome was interrupted once again as Rin squealed at the mention of gore. "Yet he could see through the dust
A forest looming ahead.
"A nagging foreboding
Gnawed at his doughty heart--"
"Someone was trying to eat his doughy heart?!" Shippo gasped in horror.
"No, no," Kagome assured. "Doughty means valiant and able. Moving right along then.
"(Shun the water hole--
Tighten the saddle-girth!)
"But the knight, unheeding,
Put spurs to his steed
And at full tilt rode
Up the wooded knoll."
"He rode up a wooden gnome?" Rin's eyes widened and she leaned forward to listen even more intently.
"No, a knoll-- ahh forget it, yes, he rode up the wooden gnome.
"Then, from this burial mound--"
Shippo leaned over to Rin and whispered, "Who died?" Rin shook her head, signaling that she had no clue, "Well then why is there a burial mound?" Rin shrugged her little shoulders.
And still, Kagome pushed on, "He rode into a dry river bed.
Next, skirting a meadow,
He crossed over a mountain."
"Kagome-chan?" Rin quietly interjected.
"Wha~at?" Kagome sighed.
"Rin's gotta go!" with that the little girl shot up from the futon (apparently some things are universal-BF/beta / Excuse her, she means the fact that Rin had to "go." ... Yes, she thinks you can read her mind... can't read what's not there -_-V-Hyatt) and straight out the door, giving a quick, "Hi, Sesshoumaru-sama!" as she streaked passed him. He continued to stand in the door way since Kagome had not yet noticed he was there.
Kagome sighed once again and Shippo looked into her eyes, "This is good, maybe this'll give you a chance to rest. You look all wore out, Kagome." She nodded and they set about awaiting Rin's return.
~*~
"Aaaaalllll done!" Rin announced as she waltzed into the room-- twenty minutes later.
"Wah? Huh?" Kagome shot up from where she had dozed off and looked around, wondering where she was. "Oh, Rin," she realized, "you're back. Should we get back to what we were doing?" Shippo and Rin nodded, both of them half-way asleep. "Okay then, we'll give it one more shot.
"He veered into a hollow
And, by a forest trail,
Came upon a spoor,
Found a water hole.
"Deaf to any warning,
Unheeding his inner call,
He led his steed down from a rise
To drench him at the stream," an entire two stanzas and not one interruption, knock on wood.
"By the stream a cave yawned," in response she received two very loud yawns. Noticing these, she was hopeful that the story was doing its job and putting them to sleep.
"Before the cave was a ford;
Flaming brimstone seemed
To light the cavern's mouth," Kagome's actions illustrated the story, as the suspense built within the story her very active hands waved to and fro.
"From behind the crimson smoke
That screened everything from sight
A far-off cry came echoing
Through the towering pines.
"The knight, startled,
Dashed off straight ahead,
Racing through the ravine
In answer to this cry for help.
"And the knight beheld
A dread dragon's head,
And its scales and tail--
And gripped his lance hard.
"Flaming at its maw,
The dragon scattered light like seed.
Its spine was wound in a triple coil
Around a maid.
"The great serpent's neck
Flicked like the tip of a whip
Over the white shoulders
Of his fair captive."
Kagome looked curiously at the children before her, they were occupying themselves with other things. She paused in her story-telling, "Is there something wrong?"
They shook their heads in response, but Rin was the first to fess up, her head went straight from shaking to nodding. She looked to Kagome, "Kagome-chan? What's going on in the story? Rin doesn't understand, it doesn't even sound like there's people in it anymore!"
"Well, I suppose this does have a slightly more extensive vocabulary than I remember. Uhm, how 'bout somthin' else?" Shippo and Rin cheered and Sesshoumaru silently chuckled. "Then, this one is an old one, it originated in--" she stopped herself after seeing the same looks on their faces that they had given her during her last story. "Never mind that, we'll just start, mind you, of course, I learned it in school a good long time ago, so don't expect all of it to be correct," she warned.
"We never do!" Shippo assured her, and Sesshoumaru was forced to stifle a laugh.
"I'm going to ignore that, Shippo. Anyway, once upon a time, there lived a prince and a princess."
"What were their names?" Rin asked, always the first with a question.
"Uh, well-- I don't really remember. Why don't you pick them."
Rin glowed with pride at being given such an all important job, "Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-chan!!!!"
Kagome started a bit, "W-well, I guess that'd be okay. But I'm not gonna change any of the story, I'm just inserting names!"
Sesshoumaru's eyes danced with laughter, 'This should prove interesting, to be sure.'
"So there was Prince Sesshoumaru and Princess Kagome, and they were betrothed." Before anyone could ask she added, "That means they had to marry each other because that's what their parents wanted."
"We know that, Kagome!" Shippo waved the explanation away.
"Fine, fine. Moving on then, when they first met, Princess Kagome was not entirely fond of Prince Sesshoumaru. In fact, when they first met she--she-- uh, I think she called him funny nicknames, ya know, just to tick him off. In retaliation, Prince Sesshoumaru would stick an unidentifiable, yet strangely and inexplicably sticky substance into her hair, also known as gum! This is how they proceeded for quite sometime, yet as they grew in size and age so did their fights. Yeah, you should see what she did with the plunger that one time, whoa was that new, wild, and exciting," Kagome trailed off as she stared off into space. The children exchanged bemused looks but said nary a word 'cause, hey, this story was already better than the last! They snuggled down and awaited the rest of the story.
"Well anyway," Kagome shook herself from her intent study of the wall. "Princess Kagome was, of course the fairest maiden in all the kingdom. Men came from miles around just to marvel at her great beauty. They brought her great stuff too!"
The children giggled a little sleepily, "Kagome-chan's silly."
Kagome gave little Rin a wink and continued, "Her parents were very proud of their daughter, and all in all, everyone loved Princess Kagome. Well, almost everyone, that is."
Rin gave a small gasp at the thought that someone was able to /not/ like Princess Kagome. "Who was it?" she asked incredulously.
Kagome smiled, "It was an evil witch who was very jealous of Princess Kagome's beauty and kindness. The evil witch concocted an evil plan to evilly do away with such a fair maiden-- she was fairly evil, as you could have guessed." Sesshoumaru shook his head at the sentence, surely she couldn't be serious? He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms to get a little more comfortable while listening to the rest of the story.
Kagome took a breath and thought for a moment, "I really can't remember what happens next. Uhh, I think that the evil witch was planning on turning her into a beast type thing, giving her a special rose that did something to her when it completely wilted, putting her to sleep, turning herself into an old, ugly lady, and force-feeding Princess Kagome a poisonous apple to kill her. Although come to think of it, that sounds like a bit much." Kagome sat there for a while, poking herself in the temple, really trying to revive some of the junk that she had learned in her foreign language class. They had ended up studying English fairy tales, and even though she had aced the test then, she didn't seem to be doing so hot right when she actually needed what she had affectionately deemed the most useless information she had learned that month in school. Then again, every time that she dubbed something with said name, it turned out that she needed it sometime soon after that-- it was a fool proof kind of thing.
"Well, anyway, that isn't the point, the point is that Princess Kagome was in trouble and in no time flat, Prince Sesshoumaru had come to her rescue. He bravely fought the evil witch that had turned herself into a fearsome dragon and-- no wait, that isn't it. He was the one that confessed his undying love to her, and she was able to turn back into a hu-- no, that isn't it either. Ah! He was the one who woke her from her death-like sleep with true love's first ki-- I don't think it's that one either."
Kagome looked down to the two children with apology in her wide eyes, "I'm so sorry you gu--" They were both sleeping peacefully, they were so quiet, it always amazed her when Shippo drifted off and was silent and adorable-- not that he wasn't anyway, he just seemed more so when he was sleeping. Rin, though, she was simply precious. Kagome had really never gotten to see Rin so completely asleep before, even when she had bunked with Sesshoumaru and herself, Kagome had been too tired to do much but actually sleep.
The miko turned a gentle smile to the tiny resting balls of energy, "And they lived happily ever after," a small pause and a perplexed look, "I think."
She rose from her spot on the floor, mumbling a bit, trying to get her story straight. She was paying very little attention to where exactly she was going so, of course, what happens whenever Kagome stops looking ahead? She bumps into Sesshoumaru-sama, without fail! Her head shot up and she smiled when she saw what it was.
"Hey there! Whatchya doin' here?" Kagome was slightly confused, Sesshoumaru's reply was to chuckle to himself, wondering how someone who obviously had quite a bit of intelligence-- no matter how much she showed-- could be so utterly oblivious.
Seeing the laughter she shook her head, "I don't want to know, so don't tell me." A bit of held-back laughter bubbled from Kagome as she headed towards the room that they had left InuYasha and Kouga in. She got half way down the hall before she noticed that Sesshoumaru was not behind her. She spun on her heel and put her hands to her hips, "Aren't you coming with?"
Sesshoumaru stood, propped against the wall, a brow cocked as if to say, "What do you think?"
Kagome sighed, "Don't look at me like that, I never know what you're thinking, so just tell me straight out please."
He smiled, "Yes, I suppose that is the best way to get one's message across." Even though what was really going through his mind was something along the lines of 'If she can't tell what I'm thinking, how in the world did she know what I was asking?' but he brushed this off and answered her question. "I do not believe that going out there would be the best of ideas."
Kagome cocked her head in question, "What do you mean?"
A sigh and a gentle smile, "I mean, heads may roll." Her look of curiosity intensified, "There is a chance that someone would get hurt."
Kagome laughed and shook her head, "No way silly! Neither one of them could hurt you! Don't worry about it!"
Sesshoumaru shook his head and chuckled, "That's not exactly what I meant, but thank you for the concern anyway. What I was speaking of--" he paused. "Let us never mind that, I shall accompany you." He took two large strides and had closed the distance between them and had her arm tucked securely over his. It was in this position that they prepared to face those who fought for Kagome's heart.
~*~
The pair walked into the room, ready to fight, ready to yell, ready to do anything but what they had to actually do. Kagome was the first to respond with her, "What the h**l?" Sesshoumaru could only nod in agreement.
The entire room had been cleaned, the pieces to the vase were put back together, not very well, mind you, but it was back together all the same, and on top of all that the room was devoid of life. Sesshoumaru and Kagome looked on in amazement, both left speechless. After a moment of the stunned silence Kagome made the first move into the room looking around tentatively, unsure as to what to expect-- would there be a canine flinging himself at her from around a corner at any moment?
Kagome visibly relaxed when she came upon a piece of paper. Picking it up she found it was addressed to her-- in extremely sloppy handwriting. "Wow, this looks like what Sota used to do in third grade," she muttered.
"What is it?" Sesshoumaru came up behind her to peer at the paper.
"It's a note," she stated dumbly.
Sesshoumaru cocked a brow and a lopsided smile made its way onto his face, "Really? I never would have guessed."
The sarcasm that oozed from the statement snapped Kagome from her amazed stupor. "I-I didn't know InuYasha could write," she said quietly amazed.
She turned when she heard the disbelieving "Keh," come from the man behind her, he looked disgustedly at the note and finished, "If you can even call that writing."
Kagome smiled and shook her head turning back to the note:
"Kagome,
Listen woman! I got things to do and places to go! If I've told you once I told you a million times! If you're going to doddle all day I'm leaving you behind! I took the idiot wolf because I don't think the dumb s**t could find his way out of one of your paper bag things when it's wet. Good luck with my a-hole of a brother! You two deserve each other.
--InuYasha"
Kagome turned back to Sesshoumaru wide-eyed, "They left."
"Thank the gods for that," Sesshoumaru said-- mostly under his breath.
Without warning Kagome began to laugh uncontrollably, she began laughing so hard in fact, that she collapsed and started laughing on the floor. Sesshoumaru gave her a questioning look, she stopped for a moment... then began to laugh even harder.
Squatting down Sesshoumaru took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, when he could catch them open, of course. "What, may I ask, is so funny?" It took all she had to nod and hand him the piece of paper, pointing frantically to the bottom where there seemed to be an extra note scrawled.
"Hey, did you know that Kouga can't write?! Heh, I always knew he was an idiot, but this just goes to show. And to top it all off, he blames it on the fact that he was raised in a cave, feh, whatever. I think he's just making up excuses."
Sesshoumaru smirked at his brother's "special-ness." Turning the paper over he spotted, written in impossibly small script, "Best wishes." The little runt had always been a pain in the neck but he did have this annoying habit of meaning well and doing it in the most unsubtle way possible, especially when he wanted it to go unnoticed, which in turn endeared him to the receiver of his unsubtle ways-- however unwanted it may have been.
Kagome had finally calmed down and was looking at him curiously, "Whatchya lookin' at?"
"Nothing," he said, folding up the piece of paper and putting it back on the table to be stored away at a later date. Surely Kagome would not wish to let go of something she found so utterly amusing. He offered her a hand and hoisted her to her feet.
"What now?"
Sesshoumaru blinked a few times and questioned, "What do you mean 'What now?'"
"Well, I mean, we don't have anything else to face tonight, I figured-- well, heck I dunno, that's why I asked you."
Sesshoumaru smiled, truly an unique person, "Well I don't suppose you would be interested in a restful night's sleep?"
Kagome looked as though she would simply melt at the mere thought, but she quickly caught herself and regained a little of her former composure. "Only if you need to, I mean, you know, whatever."
A silent chuckle, "I might not have needed it if I hadn't been up for four days straight, three of which I spent taking care of some extremely important business." Kagome blushed a bit when she realized that she was the "important business." "I believe a bit of rest might do both of us a world of good though."
"Well-- if you insist! Race ya there!" she didn't even wait for a reply before she was off in the direction of their room.
Sesshoumaru sighed-- more of a contented sigh than anything else-- as he looked about the room, just to make sure nothing was amiss. As soon as he was sure everything was in its rightful place or could at least wait until morning to be put there, he was at the doorway waiting for Kagome to arrive.
When he could see her rounding the corner he leaned back against the door frame, "Took you long enough."
She looked at him incredulously for a moment and smiled, "Well I thought you might have a little mercy on me, I mean jeeze."
"I happen to be a bit on the competitive side it you must know."
"Oh really? I hadn't noticed at all, nuh-uh, it was totally un-obvious. Nope, not an inkling as to-- wahh!" Sesshoumaru had cut the sarcastic remarks short by grabbing her arm and pulling her into the room with him.
He kissed the crook of her neck and muttered, "Sleep now, sarcasm later," and began to pull her towards where the little futon was usually pulled out. She was about to say something about having to actually set it up, but stopped herself when she spied the entire thing all set up and ready to be slept in.
She pulled back and looked at Sesshoumaru with a scolding gaze, "You mean to tell me that this thing could have been laid out in less than a second fla--" She was cut off again when Sesshoumaru dumped sleepwear at her feet and looked at her expectantly. "What's that for?"
"Normally one sleeps in such a garment, but if you have another use I would be interested in seeing it." She stuck her tongue out at the sarcastic statement. In return Sesshoumaru replied, "I would not go flaunting that about, unless of course, you intend to use it properly." In seconds flat Kagome's tiny pink appendage was back inside of her mouth and her eyes grew to rival the size of serving platters.
Sesshoumaru chuckled as he shook his head and turned away, "You may proceed to dress."
"'You may proceed to dress?' That's what you follow that up with?" Kagome asked, playing as though she were insulted. Sesshoumaru would have commented back-- he was slightly unsure as to whether or not she was serious-- but something hit the back of his head followed by something else. They were not hard objects, not by any stretch of the imagination. He blinked incredulously a couple of times before deciding that no matter what was to be seen he had to know what the heck was thrown at his head.
He turned slowly, not really knowing how Kagome would react, when he didn't receive a scream or anything else along those lines he continued his circular journey. He first looked up to see Kagome standing there, hands on hips, smirk on lips, and in the laciest-- not to mention most revealing-- under garments Sesshoumaru had ever seen in his entire life. He tore his gaze from the very appealing sight before him to look to what was lying in a heap at his feet-- it was Kagome's school uniform. His eyes instantly shot back up to give Kagome a questioning gaze.
"I don't need permission to dress," Kagome pointed a finger at him and tapped a petite foot on the hard wood floor.
"I-I'll keep that in mind," Sesshoumaru's eyes were still taking Kagome's body in. Sure he had seen her shapely form before but now he was being given the chance to see it without being literally set ablaze-- hopefully. Not only that, but her curves were being hugged by those oddly lacy underwear, all he could do was blink.
Kagome giggled behind her hand, "It's good to know that you like what you see, but truth be told, I'm really tired. Like unbelievably so. That-- you have to understand-- is the only motivation I have for saying: you might want to roll your tongue back up and put it back in your mouth, unless of course, you intend to use it properly," she mimicked his deep voice by the end of her sentence and began to pull the article of clothing that Sesshoumaru had given her on.
Sesshoumaru was yanked from his trance when she started to move and he attempted to compose himself-- and was almost successful. As soon as Kagome was clothed she was in his arms, when his lips met hers he was lost to the desperate hunger he felt at that moment. He kissed her as thoroughly as she'd ever been kissed before, one of his hands caressing her back the other occupied with running his fingers through her long, silky tresses.
He pulled away slowly only to see that he had left his Kagome utterly breathless, he gave a small satisfied smile as she slowly opened her eyes. "Was that what you meant by properly?" he asked, and he found that he was a little breathless himself.
She laughed, even though it sounded a bit wobbly. With her hands on his chest she tucked her head between them and listened to the steady-- if not somewhat faster than she had expected-- beating of his heart. His hand stroked her hair as he held her tight, "I am willing to let you sleep tonight, although I am not so sure if I can say the same for tomorrow night or any time there after."
Kagome was able to laugh a little more steadily now as were her words, "Okay deal, as long as you're sure that you can't say the same for tomorrow."
Sesshoumaru pulled her back and looked into her dancing eyes and smiled, "If you insist, mi' lady."
Kagome giggled and pulled out of the warm embrace, "Whatever you say, just get into bed." She proceeded to climb under the covers, and Sesshoumaru followed suit. Kagome snuggled up to him so that they ended up in the same position that they had been that first morning Rin had decided to abandon them. Kagome smiled at the thought as she covered the hand that was around her waist with her own.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Sesshoumaru was jolted out of his dozing state by Kagome's questioning voice, "Sesshoumaru?"
"Mmm, what is it?"
"You never told me why you brought me here in the first place."
Well now he was definitely awake, he wasn't going to make it known that he was though, hey, it had worked before, hadn't it? Knowing full well that what he had to answer might very well get him into trouble, he thought it best to dodge the question, just for one more night. "Shhhh, sleep now, talk morning... or later, afternoon perhaps."
Kagome giggled at the sound of Sesshoumaru speaking like a cave man and snuggled in even closer falling asleep almost instantly. Sesshoumaru smiled when he felt her attempt to get closer and allowed her to get as close as she felt possible, he would have leaned over to kiss her behind the ear if he himself hadn't drifted off in the process. It didn't matter, there would be plenty of time for all of that later.
~*~
"Ha-ha, looooooser!!" InuYasha chanted, while keeping a safe distance between himself and the illiterate wolf.
"Shut it, ya ignoramus," Kouga spat back.
"Oh, whaddaya gonna do about it?" InuYasha teased.
Kouga closed the "safe distance" that InuYasha had been keeping between them and socked him in the arm. "I think that should suffice for now," he smirked going back to where he had been walking before.
InuYasha scowled at the wolf demon while rubbing his painfully throbbing arm. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Why are you asking me? I'm following you."
"Why are you following me? You're the one who led us here," InuYasha was a little shocked at the revelation.
"I'm following you because you should know the way from this place back to wherever the h**l we were. You did grow up here, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything! I only know the area around it. I was a kid for Heavens sake!"
They both paused in their steps, both turning their gazes from the ground to each other at the same instant, "I was following you" came from both of them.
InuYasha was the first to speak, "Where the h**l did you lead me to you loser wolf!?"
"How the h**l should I know?" Kouga shouted. "I thought you started heading the opposite way because you knew a short cut or somethin' like that! Not just because you're an idiot!!"
"YOU LET ME GO IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION?!" InuYasha shouted, utterly appalled at the new bit of information.
"You're the one who started down that way like you owned the place!" Kouga countered.
They merely stood, glaring at one another, hoping the other would turn tail and run from the pure evilness of their evil, evil gaze. Unfortunately for them, neither had the knack for it that Sesshoumaru had seemed to develop, so no one moved for nearly an entire thirty minutes, both being extremely stubborn beings. But, eventually someone had to give in to common sense, Kouga was the first to heave a deep sigh and plop himself down to the dusty ground.
"How do we get out of here?" he pondered aloud.
Seeing the gravity of the situation-- especially if Kouga had given into exasperation-- InuYasha decided to join the wolf demon in his musings. "I suppose that if we wander long enough, we've got to catch something, you know, a trail or even the edge of the forest. It ain't no big deal."
Kouga looked up from the ground, "Yeah, I suppose you're right-- for once."
InuYasha smirked at the challenge, "I'm always right and you know it."
"Sure, that's why you took the wrong turn as soon as you walked out the door."
That wiped the smirk right off of InuYasha's face and he jumped up, looking straight down at Kouga, "Hey, once in my entire life, get over it!"
Kouga slowly rose, "Yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna let you think that so we can get a move on."
They were silent as they began their trek through an unknown forest, well for a few minutes anyway, "Hey, Kouga?"
"What?"
"What's an ignoramus?"
There was more silence for a moment before, "And you called me illiterate?"
~*~
Miroku sat under the covers, a sedated smile gracing his usually smug lips. He looked over, the servant girl who had informed him that dinner had been served was sleeping peacefully right next to him. He sighed contentedly and reached to pet the dog that had taken it upon himself to curl up in Miroku's lap like a little cat.
Udon looked up as though to say, "Whaddaya want? I was just drifting off!"
Miroku looked at the pup curiously, "I wonder how everything turned out." It was not much more than a thought spoken aloud but Udon gave a small, quiet bark so as not to wake the woman next to them. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Everything should be fine, there really is no need to worry about it." He snuggled down into the covers and went to sleep, nothing weighing his mind down.
Udon however was still up looking at the monk as though he were nuts, 'That's not what I said! I said, "If it's bothering you go check!" Ugh, humans, they never listen! Whatever.' He sighed as he curled up between the two humans and slept peacefully.
~~FIN~~
A/N: The following A/N was the original... when I finished... the first time. I KNEW THERE WAS A CATCH!!!!!
A/N: ... ... ... ... ... I-I think I'm done. ::Looks around suspiciously:: Naw, it's gotta be just another one of those dreams where I think I'm done with something then I wake up in front of the unfinished product and groan... OUCH!! Holy suicidal bunny on a stick! It's for real!!!! OMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Whaddle I do now?? I know! Sequel time!! Yeah, I already thought this one out. There might be two, one for Kagome and Sesshoumaru-- she's gotta introduce him to her mother, right? Then one for InuYasha and Kouga, how the heck are they gonna get out of the forest? I don't know, maybe I'll only do one of those... and perhaps I won't do any of them... I dunno. I've already started on the Sesshoumaru Kagome one so, that has a moderate chance of actually being posted.
Okay, you guys didn't read this little rambling of mine to hear what I had to say, you did it 'cause I wanna thank all y'alls who reviewed... Here they are! And thanks again!!!
MEDIA MINER:
katiepatie: Awe, no bile green? No pink? Even that really blinding shade? But that's my favorite color scheme!! No fair! ... Okay, I've seen too many garments around that actually have that color scheme, that scares the heck outta me ::shudder::. Anywho, I hope you liked the last chapter and so on and so forth... I hate saying good-bye ;_;!
Mystic Hanyou: Yeah, I suppose you're right, InuYasha did seem a bit distant but I was torn between that and him trying to kill to get her back. I really wasn't sure what to do after I screwed everything up with Kikyou and then proceeded to screw everything up further by inadvertantly dropping her from the story. As you can plainly see, I don't do second drafts with things that I post... perhaps I should start doing that... hmmmmmmm. I really hope that you liked this chapter better than it sounded like you liked the last one... and if not, I shall try my hardest with something else!!!! ::Insert determined look here:: I hope to hear from you again. Oh, and I read a few of your stories, you're an amazing writer and I feel honored that you took interest in my little fic. Thanks a million for all your support!!!
silver_wolf: I DID!!! WHAT'D YOU THINK??? Heh, thanks for the review. And thanks sooooooooooooooo much for all the reviews past!!!!!!
Mirokus Wench: Haha! You didn't get to my plushie!! I put him in a special place!!! ... Speaking of which, do you happen to know where, precisely that special place is? Oh, and "out with many smiles?" What the heck were you smokin'???
Angel_4_life: Here's an extra long chapter for the extra long wait! I've decided that there won't be an epilogue. BUT!! As I said before, there might be two sequel type things instead! Thank you for your never ending support, I just loved hearing from you (and I hope that you will read the others that go along with this one when they are written). I think I remember checking your profile, do you have any fics posted? If I remember correctly, I couldn't find any, I would love to read something by you!!! It would be soooooooooooo awesome!!!!! Especially considering what I can get of your personality from your cool-io reviews you've given me!!!!! I wub you and I have to thank you for all your support!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, um you mentioned something about posting on other fanfic sites... do you have any others that you could recommened, you know, other than like ff.net and ff.org? I've kinda halfheartedly been looking but I can't find any... wow, this has turned out to be pretty long, I'm gonna cut myself off here so I don't continue to ramble. Thanks a bunch!!
parsnip: I'm glad someone saw the samething I did when I wrote the thing... that makes me feel better! As I said to Angel_4_life, I'm gonna not do an epilogue, instead I'm gonna do sequels. Mostly 'cause I don't wanna have anyone waiting too long for it like everyone did for this last chapter. It's really hard for me to update during the summer... I don't have internet and the library computers don't accept USB drives-- I don't own floppys anymore... and my laptop doesn't take 'em... HOORAY for being poor!! Trust me, the laptop ain't nothin' either, I got it for an entire $150!! Sorry, I'm proud of my penny-pinching skills, heh-heh, yeah. Anywhoseres, thank you sooooooooo much for all the reviews that you've given! You were one of my first reviewers and it means a lot to me that you're still reading and especially that you're still enjoying! Hope you liked this 'un and I hope that you'll check into the others if the mood so sways you!!! ^_~ Thanks again!!!
Yushi: Yeah, I love messing with their minds... It's just so much darned fun!!! I'm glad you liked the story and I hope that you liked the ending!!!
SINGLESPARK:
Kiba: Aka heather... I'm glad you were hoping I would continue!! I even finished this time!!! WOOHOO!!! Thanks for reveiwing!!!
Maru: Ha, awesome screen name!! What does it mean anyway?? I've been wondering for quite awhile. Happy you liked the story!!
feathergriffin: Ha hahahahaha!! That was great!!!!! I loved that, I so would have put somethin' like that in there if I had the presence of mind to think of it!!!! Oh, that was soooooo awesome!!!! I'm also gald that you liked my story! Thanks much for the review!! P.S. sorry 'bout Sango -_-VV, one does what one can to sustain one's own life though, heh.
courtney: Sorry it took me so very long with this last chapter, but I do hope that it was well wroth the wait, personally I don't really think so, but hey, who am I to say what you guys like, neh? Much love and thanks!
FANFICS:
Doggie brat 7-24: Umm, you're hearin' from me but I don't know why you wanted to, heh. Umm, thanks for the review-type thing? I think.
THANKS AGAIN ALL Y'ALLS!! MUCH LOVE GOES OUT TO YA!!!! AND DOUBLE THANKS TO THESOULCOLLECTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JA NE!
~*~
"Kagome-chan!" came from the room even before she entered, and when she did, the commotion only increased.
"Hey guys!"
"STORY!!! NOW!!"
Kagome jumped back, and with a nervous smile on her face she went further into the room. 'Whoa, scary much! I better make this good or they're gonna eat me alive!' She sat on the floor next to the futon, "Now what story should I tell?" she wondered aloud.
"One about fighting!"
"No! Princes and princesses!"
Kagome stared at the two, 'Rin wants fighting and Shippo wants romance-- how major screwed up is that?' She thought a little longer, "By Jove, I think I've got it!"
The children looked at each other, "She's nuts." Rin agreed by nodding her little head.
"Kagome-chan, who's Jove?"
Kagome sweat dropped, "I really don't know, I don't even know if that's the right saying."
"Yup, Kagome-chan's nuts," Rin agreed.
Kagome crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Do you two want a story or not?" Both heads nodded vigorously and she smiled, "Okay then, here's one my mom taught me."
Rin leaned in to whisper to Shippo, "Kagome-chan's mommy teaches her good things like songs 'n' stuff."
Kagome giggled and began, "It's called 'Fairy Tales'.
"Once upon a time
In a faery realm
A knight was urging his steed
Over a steppe of burdocks."
"Kagome-chan?" Rin interrupted curiously. "What's a burdocks?"
"Well a burdock-- the 's' makes it plural-- is like a bunch of flowers and herbs and stuff like that. Anyway, on with the story.
"He was most eager
To take part in battle," Kagome was interrupted once again as Rin squealed at the mention of gore. "Yet he could see through the dust
A forest looming ahead.
"A nagging foreboding
Gnawed at his doughty heart--"
"Someone was trying to eat his doughy heart?!" Shippo gasped in horror.
"No, no," Kagome assured. "Doughty means valiant and able. Moving right along then.
"(Shun the water hole--
Tighten the saddle-girth!)
"But the knight, unheeding,
Put spurs to his steed
And at full tilt rode
Up the wooded knoll."
"He rode up a wooden gnome?" Rin's eyes widened and she leaned forward to listen even more intently.
"No, a knoll-- ahh forget it, yes, he rode up the wooden gnome.
"Then, from this burial mound--"
Shippo leaned over to Rin and whispered, "Who died?" Rin shook her head, signaling that she had no clue, "Well then why is there a burial mound?" Rin shrugged her little shoulders.
And still, Kagome pushed on, "He rode into a dry river bed.
Next, skirting a meadow,
He crossed over a mountain."
"Kagome-chan?" Rin quietly interjected.
"Wha~at?" Kagome sighed.
"Rin's gotta go!" with that the little girl shot up from the futon (apparently some things are universal-BF/beta / Excuse her, she means the fact that Rin had to "go." ... Yes, she thinks you can read her mind... can't read what's not there -_-V-Hyatt) and straight out the door, giving a quick, "Hi, Sesshoumaru-sama!" as she streaked passed him. He continued to stand in the door way since Kagome had not yet noticed he was there.
Kagome sighed once again and Shippo looked into her eyes, "This is good, maybe this'll give you a chance to rest. You look all wore out, Kagome." She nodded and they set about awaiting Rin's return.
~*~
"Aaaaalllll done!" Rin announced as she waltzed into the room-- twenty minutes later.
"Wah? Huh?" Kagome shot up from where she had dozed off and looked around, wondering where she was. "Oh, Rin," she realized, "you're back. Should we get back to what we were doing?" Shippo and Rin nodded, both of them half-way asleep. "Okay then, we'll give it one more shot.
"He veered into a hollow
And, by a forest trail,
Came upon a spoor,
Found a water hole.
"Deaf to any warning,
Unheeding his inner call,
He led his steed down from a rise
To drench him at the stream," an entire two stanzas and not one interruption, knock on wood.
"By the stream a cave yawned," in response she received two very loud yawns. Noticing these, she was hopeful that the story was doing its job and putting them to sleep.
"Before the cave was a ford;
Flaming brimstone seemed
To light the cavern's mouth," Kagome's actions illustrated the story, as the suspense built within the story her very active hands waved to and fro.
"From behind the crimson smoke
That screened everything from sight
A far-off cry came echoing
Through the towering pines.
"The knight, startled,
Dashed off straight ahead,
Racing through the ravine
In answer to this cry for help.
"And the knight beheld
A dread dragon's head,
And its scales and tail--
And gripped his lance hard.
"Flaming at its maw,
The dragon scattered light like seed.
Its spine was wound in a triple coil
Around a maid.
"The great serpent's neck
Flicked like the tip of a whip
Over the white shoulders
Of his fair captive."
Kagome looked curiously at the children before her, they were occupying themselves with other things. She paused in her story-telling, "Is there something wrong?"
They shook their heads in response, but Rin was the first to fess up, her head went straight from shaking to nodding. She looked to Kagome, "Kagome-chan? What's going on in the story? Rin doesn't understand, it doesn't even sound like there's people in it anymore!"
"Well, I suppose this does have a slightly more extensive vocabulary than I remember. Uhm, how 'bout somthin' else?" Shippo and Rin cheered and Sesshoumaru silently chuckled. "Then, this one is an old one, it originated in--" she stopped herself after seeing the same looks on their faces that they had given her during her last story. "Never mind that, we'll just start, mind you, of course, I learned it in school a good long time ago, so don't expect all of it to be correct," she warned.
"We never do!" Shippo assured her, and Sesshoumaru was forced to stifle a laugh.
"I'm going to ignore that, Shippo. Anyway, once upon a time, there lived a prince and a princess."
"What were their names?" Rin asked, always the first with a question.
"Uh, well-- I don't really remember. Why don't you pick them."
Rin glowed with pride at being given such an all important job, "Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-chan!!!!"
Kagome started a bit, "W-well, I guess that'd be okay. But I'm not gonna change any of the story, I'm just inserting names!"
Sesshoumaru's eyes danced with laughter, 'This should prove interesting, to be sure.'
"So there was Prince Sesshoumaru and Princess Kagome, and they were betrothed." Before anyone could ask she added, "That means they had to marry each other because that's what their parents wanted."
"We know that, Kagome!" Shippo waved the explanation away.
"Fine, fine. Moving on then, when they first met, Princess Kagome was not entirely fond of Prince Sesshoumaru. In fact, when they first met she--she-- uh, I think she called him funny nicknames, ya know, just to tick him off. In retaliation, Prince Sesshoumaru would stick an unidentifiable, yet strangely and inexplicably sticky substance into her hair, also known as gum! This is how they proceeded for quite sometime, yet as they grew in size and age so did their fights. Yeah, you should see what she did with the plunger that one time, whoa was that new, wild, and exciting," Kagome trailed off as she stared off into space. The children exchanged bemused looks but said nary a word 'cause, hey, this story was already better than the last! They snuggled down and awaited the rest of the story.
"Well anyway," Kagome shook herself from her intent study of the wall. "Princess Kagome was, of course the fairest maiden in all the kingdom. Men came from miles around just to marvel at her great beauty. They brought her great stuff too!"
The children giggled a little sleepily, "Kagome-chan's silly."
Kagome gave little Rin a wink and continued, "Her parents were very proud of their daughter, and all in all, everyone loved Princess Kagome. Well, almost everyone, that is."
Rin gave a small gasp at the thought that someone was able to /not/ like Princess Kagome. "Who was it?" she asked incredulously.
Kagome smiled, "It was an evil witch who was very jealous of Princess Kagome's beauty and kindness. The evil witch concocted an evil plan to evilly do away with such a fair maiden-- she was fairly evil, as you could have guessed." Sesshoumaru shook his head at the sentence, surely she couldn't be serious? He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms to get a little more comfortable while listening to the rest of the story.
Kagome took a breath and thought for a moment, "I really can't remember what happens next. Uhh, I think that the evil witch was planning on turning her into a beast type thing, giving her a special rose that did something to her when it completely wilted, putting her to sleep, turning herself into an old, ugly lady, and force-feeding Princess Kagome a poisonous apple to kill her. Although come to think of it, that sounds like a bit much." Kagome sat there for a while, poking herself in the temple, really trying to revive some of the junk that she had learned in her foreign language class. They had ended up studying English fairy tales, and even though she had aced the test then, she didn't seem to be doing so hot right when she actually needed what she had affectionately deemed the most useless information she had learned that month in school. Then again, every time that she dubbed something with said name, it turned out that she needed it sometime soon after that-- it was a fool proof kind of thing.
"Well, anyway, that isn't the point, the point is that Princess Kagome was in trouble and in no time flat, Prince Sesshoumaru had come to her rescue. He bravely fought the evil witch that had turned herself into a fearsome dragon and-- no wait, that isn't it. He was the one that confessed his undying love to her, and she was able to turn back into a hu-- no, that isn't it either. Ah! He was the one who woke her from her death-like sleep with true love's first ki-- I don't think it's that one either."
Kagome looked down to the two children with apology in her wide eyes, "I'm so sorry you gu--" They were both sleeping peacefully, they were so quiet, it always amazed her when Shippo drifted off and was silent and adorable-- not that he wasn't anyway, he just seemed more so when he was sleeping. Rin, though, she was simply precious. Kagome had really never gotten to see Rin so completely asleep before, even when she had bunked with Sesshoumaru and herself, Kagome had been too tired to do much but actually sleep.
The miko turned a gentle smile to the tiny resting balls of energy, "And they lived happily ever after," a small pause and a perplexed look, "I think."
She rose from her spot on the floor, mumbling a bit, trying to get her story straight. She was paying very little attention to where exactly she was going so, of course, what happens whenever Kagome stops looking ahead? She bumps into Sesshoumaru-sama, without fail! Her head shot up and she smiled when she saw what it was.
"Hey there! Whatchya doin' here?" Kagome was slightly confused, Sesshoumaru's reply was to chuckle to himself, wondering how someone who obviously had quite a bit of intelligence-- no matter how much she showed-- could be so utterly oblivious.
Seeing the laughter she shook her head, "I don't want to know, so don't tell me." A bit of held-back laughter bubbled from Kagome as she headed towards the room that they had left InuYasha and Kouga in. She got half way down the hall before she noticed that Sesshoumaru was not behind her. She spun on her heel and put her hands to her hips, "Aren't you coming with?"
Sesshoumaru stood, propped against the wall, a brow cocked as if to say, "What do you think?"
Kagome sighed, "Don't look at me like that, I never know what you're thinking, so just tell me straight out please."
He smiled, "Yes, I suppose that is the best way to get one's message across." Even though what was really going through his mind was something along the lines of 'If she can't tell what I'm thinking, how in the world did she know what I was asking?' but he brushed this off and answered her question. "I do not believe that going out there would be the best of ideas."
Kagome cocked her head in question, "What do you mean?"
A sigh and a gentle smile, "I mean, heads may roll." Her look of curiosity intensified, "There is a chance that someone would get hurt."
Kagome laughed and shook her head, "No way silly! Neither one of them could hurt you! Don't worry about it!"
Sesshoumaru shook his head and chuckled, "That's not exactly what I meant, but thank you for the concern anyway. What I was speaking of--" he paused. "Let us never mind that, I shall accompany you." He took two large strides and had closed the distance between them and had her arm tucked securely over his. It was in this position that they prepared to face those who fought for Kagome's heart.
~*~
The pair walked into the room, ready to fight, ready to yell, ready to do anything but what they had to actually do. Kagome was the first to respond with her, "What the h**l?" Sesshoumaru could only nod in agreement.
The entire room had been cleaned, the pieces to the vase were put back together, not very well, mind you, but it was back together all the same, and on top of all that the room was devoid of life. Sesshoumaru and Kagome looked on in amazement, both left speechless. After a moment of the stunned silence Kagome made the first move into the room looking around tentatively, unsure as to what to expect-- would there be a canine flinging himself at her from around a corner at any moment?
Kagome visibly relaxed when she came upon a piece of paper. Picking it up she found it was addressed to her-- in extremely sloppy handwriting. "Wow, this looks like what Sota used to do in third grade," she muttered.
"What is it?" Sesshoumaru came up behind her to peer at the paper.
"It's a note," she stated dumbly.
Sesshoumaru cocked a brow and a lopsided smile made its way onto his face, "Really? I never would have guessed."
The sarcasm that oozed from the statement snapped Kagome from her amazed stupor. "I-I didn't know InuYasha could write," she said quietly amazed.
She turned when she heard the disbelieving "Keh," come from the man behind her, he looked disgustedly at the note and finished, "If you can even call that writing."
Kagome smiled and shook her head turning back to the note:
"Kagome,
Listen woman! I got things to do and places to go! If I've told you once I told you a million times! If you're going to doddle all day I'm leaving you behind! I took the idiot wolf because I don't think the dumb s**t could find his way out of one of your paper bag things when it's wet. Good luck with my a-hole of a brother! You two deserve each other.
--InuYasha"
Kagome turned back to Sesshoumaru wide-eyed, "They left."
"Thank the gods for that," Sesshoumaru said-- mostly under his breath.
Without warning Kagome began to laugh uncontrollably, she began laughing so hard in fact, that she collapsed and started laughing on the floor. Sesshoumaru gave her a questioning look, she stopped for a moment... then began to laugh even harder.
Squatting down Sesshoumaru took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, when he could catch them open, of course. "What, may I ask, is so funny?" It took all she had to nod and hand him the piece of paper, pointing frantically to the bottom where there seemed to be an extra note scrawled.
"Hey, did you know that Kouga can't write?! Heh, I always knew he was an idiot, but this just goes to show. And to top it all off, he blames it on the fact that he was raised in a cave, feh, whatever. I think he's just making up excuses."
Sesshoumaru smirked at his brother's "special-ness." Turning the paper over he spotted, written in impossibly small script, "Best wishes." The little runt had always been a pain in the neck but he did have this annoying habit of meaning well and doing it in the most unsubtle way possible, especially when he wanted it to go unnoticed, which in turn endeared him to the receiver of his unsubtle ways-- however unwanted it may have been.
Kagome had finally calmed down and was looking at him curiously, "Whatchya lookin' at?"
"Nothing," he said, folding up the piece of paper and putting it back on the table to be stored away at a later date. Surely Kagome would not wish to let go of something she found so utterly amusing. He offered her a hand and hoisted her to her feet.
"What now?"
Sesshoumaru blinked a few times and questioned, "What do you mean 'What now?'"
"Well, I mean, we don't have anything else to face tonight, I figured-- well, heck I dunno, that's why I asked you."
Sesshoumaru smiled, truly an unique person, "Well I don't suppose you would be interested in a restful night's sleep?"
Kagome looked as though she would simply melt at the mere thought, but she quickly caught herself and regained a little of her former composure. "Only if you need to, I mean, you know, whatever."
A silent chuckle, "I might not have needed it if I hadn't been up for four days straight, three of which I spent taking care of some extremely important business." Kagome blushed a bit when she realized that she was the "important business." "I believe a bit of rest might do both of us a world of good though."
"Well-- if you insist! Race ya there!" she didn't even wait for a reply before she was off in the direction of their room.
Sesshoumaru sighed-- more of a contented sigh than anything else-- as he looked about the room, just to make sure nothing was amiss. As soon as he was sure everything was in its rightful place or could at least wait until morning to be put there, he was at the doorway waiting for Kagome to arrive.
When he could see her rounding the corner he leaned back against the door frame, "Took you long enough."
She looked at him incredulously for a moment and smiled, "Well I thought you might have a little mercy on me, I mean jeeze."
"I happen to be a bit on the competitive side it you must know."
"Oh really? I hadn't noticed at all, nuh-uh, it was totally un-obvious. Nope, not an inkling as to-- wahh!" Sesshoumaru had cut the sarcastic remarks short by grabbing her arm and pulling her into the room with him.
He kissed the crook of her neck and muttered, "Sleep now, sarcasm later," and began to pull her towards where the little futon was usually pulled out. She was about to say something about having to actually set it up, but stopped herself when she spied the entire thing all set up and ready to be slept in.
She pulled back and looked at Sesshoumaru with a scolding gaze, "You mean to tell me that this thing could have been laid out in less than a second fla--" She was cut off again when Sesshoumaru dumped sleepwear at her feet and looked at her expectantly. "What's that for?"
"Normally one sleeps in such a garment, but if you have another use I would be interested in seeing it." She stuck her tongue out at the sarcastic statement. In return Sesshoumaru replied, "I would not go flaunting that about, unless of course, you intend to use it properly." In seconds flat Kagome's tiny pink appendage was back inside of her mouth and her eyes grew to rival the size of serving platters.
Sesshoumaru chuckled as he shook his head and turned away, "You may proceed to dress."
"'You may proceed to dress?' That's what you follow that up with?" Kagome asked, playing as though she were insulted. Sesshoumaru would have commented back-- he was slightly unsure as to whether or not she was serious-- but something hit the back of his head followed by something else. They were not hard objects, not by any stretch of the imagination. He blinked incredulously a couple of times before deciding that no matter what was to be seen he had to know what the heck was thrown at his head.
He turned slowly, not really knowing how Kagome would react, when he didn't receive a scream or anything else along those lines he continued his circular journey. He first looked up to see Kagome standing there, hands on hips, smirk on lips, and in the laciest-- not to mention most revealing-- under garments Sesshoumaru had ever seen in his entire life. He tore his gaze from the very appealing sight before him to look to what was lying in a heap at his feet-- it was Kagome's school uniform. His eyes instantly shot back up to give Kagome a questioning gaze.
"I don't need permission to dress," Kagome pointed a finger at him and tapped a petite foot on the hard wood floor.
"I-I'll keep that in mind," Sesshoumaru's eyes were still taking Kagome's body in. Sure he had seen her shapely form before but now he was being given the chance to see it without being literally set ablaze-- hopefully. Not only that, but her curves were being hugged by those oddly lacy underwear, all he could do was blink.
Kagome giggled behind her hand, "It's good to know that you like what you see, but truth be told, I'm really tired. Like unbelievably so. That-- you have to understand-- is the only motivation I have for saying: you might want to roll your tongue back up and put it back in your mouth, unless of course, you intend to use it properly," she mimicked his deep voice by the end of her sentence and began to pull the article of clothing that Sesshoumaru had given her on.
Sesshoumaru was yanked from his trance when she started to move and he attempted to compose himself-- and was almost successful. As soon as Kagome was clothed she was in his arms, when his lips met hers he was lost to the desperate hunger he felt at that moment. He kissed her as thoroughly as she'd ever been kissed before, one of his hands caressing her back the other occupied with running his fingers through her long, silky tresses.
He pulled away slowly only to see that he had left his Kagome utterly breathless, he gave a small satisfied smile as she slowly opened her eyes. "Was that what you meant by properly?" he asked, and he found that he was a little breathless himself.
She laughed, even though it sounded a bit wobbly. With her hands on his chest she tucked her head between them and listened to the steady-- if not somewhat faster than she had expected-- beating of his heart. His hand stroked her hair as he held her tight, "I am willing to let you sleep tonight, although I am not so sure if I can say the same for tomorrow night or any time there after."
Kagome was able to laugh a little more steadily now as were her words, "Okay deal, as long as you're sure that you can't say the same for tomorrow."
Sesshoumaru pulled her back and looked into her dancing eyes and smiled, "If you insist, mi' lady."
Kagome giggled and pulled out of the warm embrace, "Whatever you say, just get into bed." She proceeded to climb under the covers, and Sesshoumaru followed suit. Kagome snuggled up to him so that they ended up in the same position that they had been that first morning Rin had decided to abandon them. Kagome smiled at the thought as she covered the hand that was around her waist with her own.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Sesshoumaru was jolted out of his dozing state by Kagome's questioning voice, "Sesshoumaru?"
"Mmm, what is it?"
"You never told me why you brought me here in the first place."
Well now he was definitely awake, he wasn't going to make it known that he was though, hey, it had worked before, hadn't it? Knowing full well that what he had to answer might very well get him into trouble, he thought it best to dodge the question, just for one more night. "Shhhh, sleep now, talk morning... or later, afternoon perhaps."
Kagome giggled at the sound of Sesshoumaru speaking like a cave man and snuggled in even closer falling asleep almost instantly. Sesshoumaru smiled when he felt her attempt to get closer and allowed her to get as close as she felt possible, he would have leaned over to kiss her behind the ear if he himself hadn't drifted off in the process. It didn't matter, there would be plenty of time for all of that later.
~*~
"Ha-ha, looooooser!!" InuYasha chanted, while keeping a safe distance between himself and the illiterate wolf.
"Shut it, ya ignoramus," Kouga spat back.
"Oh, whaddaya gonna do about it?" InuYasha teased.
Kouga closed the "safe distance" that InuYasha had been keeping between them and socked him in the arm. "I think that should suffice for now," he smirked going back to where he had been walking before.
InuYasha scowled at the wolf demon while rubbing his painfully throbbing arm. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Why are you asking me? I'm following you."
"Why are you following me? You're the one who led us here," InuYasha was a little shocked at the revelation.
"I'm following you because you should know the way from this place back to wherever the h**l we were. You did grow up here, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything! I only know the area around it. I was a kid for Heavens sake!"
They both paused in their steps, both turning their gazes from the ground to each other at the same instant, "I was following you" came from both of them.
InuYasha was the first to speak, "Where the h**l did you lead me to you loser wolf!?"
"How the h**l should I know?" Kouga shouted. "I thought you started heading the opposite way because you knew a short cut or somethin' like that! Not just because you're an idiot!!"
"YOU LET ME GO IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION?!" InuYasha shouted, utterly appalled at the new bit of information.
"You're the one who started down that way like you owned the place!" Kouga countered.
They merely stood, glaring at one another, hoping the other would turn tail and run from the pure evilness of their evil, evil gaze. Unfortunately for them, neither had the knack for it that Sesshoumaru had seemed to develop, so no one moved for nearly an entire thirty minutes, both being extremely stubborn beings. But, eventually someone had to give in to common sense, Kouga was the first to heave a deep sigh and plop himself down to the dusty ground.
"How do we get out of here?" he pondered aloud.
Seeing the gravity of the situation-- especially if Kouga had given into exasperation-- InuYasha decided to join the wolf demon in his musings. "I suppose that if we wander long enough, we've got to catch something, you know, a trail or even the edge of the forest. It ain't no big deal."
Kouga looked up from the ground, "Yeah, I suppose you're right-- for once."
InuYasha smirked at the challenge, "I'm always right and you know it."
"Sure, that's why you took the wrong turn as soon as you walked out the door."
That wiped the smirk right off of InuYasha's face and he jumped up, looking straight down at Kouga, "Hey, once in my entire life, get over it!"
Kouga slowly rose, "Yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna let you think that so we can get a move on."
They were silent as they began their trek through an unknown forest, well for a few minutes anyway, "Hey, Kouga?"
"What?"
"What's an ignoramus?"
There was more silence for a moment before, "And you called me illiterate?"
~*~
Miroku sat under the covers, a sedated smile gracing his usually smug lips. He looked over, the servant girl who had informed him that dinner had been served was sleeping peacefully right next to him. He sighed contentedly and reached to pet the dog that had taken it upon himself to curl up in Miroku's lap like a little cat.
Udon looked up as though to say, "Whaddaya want? I was just drifting off!"
Miroku looked at the pup curiously, "I wonder how everything turned out." It was not much more than a thought spoken aloud but Udon gave a small, quiet bark so as not to wake the woman next to them. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Everything should be fine, there really is no need to worry about it." He snuggled down into the covers and went to sleep, nothing weighing his mind down.
Udon however was still up looking at the monk as though he were nuts, 'That's not what I said! I said, "If it's bothering you go check!" Ugh, humans, they never listen! Whatever.' He sighed as he curled up between the two humans and slept peacefully.
~~FIN~~
A/N: The following A/N was the original... when I finished... the first time. I KNEW THERE WAS A CATCH!!!!!
A/N: ... ... ... ... ... I-I think I'm done. ::Looks around suspiciously:: Naw, it's gotta be just another one of those dreams where I think I'm done with something then I wake up in front of the unfinished product and groan... OUCH!! Holy suicidal bunny on a stick! It's for real!!!! OMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Whaddle I do now?? I know! Sequel time!! Yeah, I already thought this one out. There might be two, one for Kagome and Sesshoumaru-- she's gotta introduce him to her mother, right? Then one for InuYasha and Kouga, how the heck are they gonna get out of the forest? I don't know, maybe I'll only do one of those... and perhaps I won't do any of them... I dunno. I've already started on the Sesshoumaru Kagome one so, that has a moderate chance of actually being posted.
Okay, you guys didn't read this little rambling of mine to hear what I had to say, you did it 'cause I wanna thank all y'alls who reviewed... Here they are! And thanks again!!!
MEDIA MINER:
katiepatie: Awe, no bile green? No pink? Even that really blinding shade? But that's my favorite color scheme!! No fair! ... Okay, I've seen too many garments around that actually have that color scheme, that scares the heck outta me ::shudder::. Anywho, I hope you liked the last chapter and so on and so forth... I hate saying good-bye ;_;!
Mystic Hanyou: Yeah, I suppose you're right, InuYasha did seem a bit distant but I was torn between that and him trying to kill to get her back. I really wasn't sure what to do after I screwed everything up with Kikyou and then proceeded to screw everything up further by inadvertantly dropping her from the story. As you can plainly see, I don't do second drafts with things that I post... perhaps I should start doing that... hmmmmmmm. I really hope that you liked this chapter better than it sounded like you liked the last one... and if not, I shall try my hardest with something else!!!! ::Insert determined look here:: I hope to hear from you again. Oh, and I read a few of your stories, you're an amazing writer and I feel honored that you took interest in my little fic. Thanks a million for all your support!!!
silver_wolf: I DID!!! WHAT'D YOU THINK??? Heh, thanks for the review. And thanks sooooooooooooooo much for all the reviews past!!!!!!
Mirokus Wench: Haha! You didn't get to my plushie!! I put him in a special place!!! ... Speaking of which, do you happen to know where, precisely that special place is? Oh, and "out with many smiles?" What the heck were you smokin'???
Angel_4_life: Here's an extra long chapter for the extra long wait! I've decided that there won't be an epilogue. BUT!! As I said before, there might be two sequel type things instead! Thank you for your never ending support, I just loved hearing from you (and I hope that you will read the others that go along with this one when they are written). I think I remember checking your profile, do you have any fics posted? If I remember correctly, I couldn't find any, I would love to read something by you!!! It would be soooooooooooo awesome!!!!! Especially considering what I can get of your personality from your cool-io reviews you've given me!!!!! I wub you and I have to thank you for all your support!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, um you mentioned something about posting on other fanfic sites... do you have any others that you could recommened, you know, other than like ff.net and ff.org? I've kinda halfheartedly been looking but I can't find any... wow, this has turned out to be pretty long, I'm gonna cut myself off here so I don't continue to ramble. Thanks a bunch!!
parsnip: I'm glad someone saw the samething I did when I wrote the thing... that makes me feel better! As I said to Angel_4_life, I'm gonna not do an epilogue, instead I'm gonna do sequels. Mostly 'cause I don't wanna have anyone waiting too long for it like everyone did for this last chapter. It's really hard for me to update during the summer... I don't have internet and the library computers don't accept USB drives-- I don't own floppys anymore... and my laptop doesn't take 'em... HOORAY for being poor!! Trust me, the laptop ain't nothin' either, I got it for an entire $150!! Sorry, I'm proud of my penny-pinching skills, heh-heh, yeah. Anywhoseres, thank you sooooooooo much for all the reviews that you've given! You were one of my first reviewers and it means a lot to me that you're still reading and especially that you're still enjoying! Hope you liked this 'un and I hope that you'll check into the others if the mood so sways you!!! ^_~ Thanks again!!!
Yushi: Yeah, I love messing with their minds... It's just so much darned fun!!! I'm glad you liked the story and I hope that you liked the ending!!!
SINGLESPARK:
Kiba: Aka heather... I'm glad you were hoping I would continue!! I even finished this time!!! WOOHOO!!! Thanks for reveiwing!!!
Maru: Ha, awesome screen name!! What does it mean anyway?? I've been wondering for quite awhile. Happy you liked the story!!
feathergriffin: Ha hahahahaha!! That was great!!!!! I loved that, I so would have put somethin' like that in there if I had the presence of mind to think of it!!!! Oh, that was soooooo awesome!!!! I'm also gald that you liked my story! Thanks much for the review!! P.S. sorry 'bout Sango -_-VV, one does what one can to sustain one's own life though, heh.
courtney: Sorry it took me so very long with this last chapter, but I do hope that it was well wroth the wait, personally I don't really think so, but hey, who am I to say what you guys like, neh? Much love and thanks!
FANFICS:
Doggie brat 7-24: Umm, you're hearin' from me but I don't know why you wanted to, heh. Umm, thanks for the review-type thing? I think.
THANKS AGAIN ALL Y'ALLS!! MUCH LOVE GOES OUT TO YA!!!! AND DOUBLE THANKS TO THESOULCOLLECTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JA NE!