InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Scrapbook ❯ Surrender ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
I do not own Inuyasha and I make no money from these stories.

8 - Surrender - Orange

Another flip of the page brought him even more memories of jealousy and rage, and he wondered if she realized just how much he wished he could forget all the time she spent with other guys. And why would she want to remember them either? Again he was face to face with Kagome standing next to the next guy who would ruin his plans.


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He was sure she wasn’t ready yet, but apparently she disagreed. He’d just about figured out a way to slowly, gradually make his true feelings known to her when she called him, her voice giddy with true happiness, something he hadn’t heard from her since Inuyasha’s betrayal at least nine months earlier. It bothered him that someone else was the one to make her happy again, but he was bothered a great deal more when he found out why she was so happy to begin with.

If it wasn’t one, it was the other. Kouga had asked her on a date, and apparently that was just what she needed to pull her out of her funk. The wolf certainly knew how to shower her with compliments, something she really needed. Why, was what Miroku wanted to know. Why did she respond so much more positively to Kouga then himself when he’d told her exactly the same things?

Miroku had rather quickly found new reasons to dislike the wolf. Kouga was possessive, obsessively so. After just a few weeks of dating, he’d somehow managed to make her forget about or ignore everyone but himself. She’d even started speaking with Miroku less and less often until he finally called her on it. Even if he couldn’t have her heart, he refused to give up his place in her life as his best friend.

When she’d explained why she was pulling further and further away from everyone, Miroku saw red. The wolf hadn’t laid a hand on her in anger yet, but yet was the operative word. Apparently the demon had serious anger and jealousy problems. She was afraid of him, afraid of what he could do to her and those she cared about. Miroku decided after a confrontation with Kouga that he needed backup to ensure that when Kagome ended it, it would stay over. Taisho was more than happy to deal with the situation and Miroku had been pleasantly surprised at how easily Kouga had given up when faced with an angry inu taiyoukai.

The damage had already been done though. His energetic and personable Kagome had disappeared, a reclusive, mousy little thing taking her place. The wolf’s verbal abuse and threats had caused her to retreat into herself. It was weeks before he could put his arm around her, hug her, or even just touch her without her flinching away like she’d been slapped. Kouga was lucky he’d changed schools because if he hadn’t, Miroku would have taken his frustrations about how the wolf’s treatment affected her out on Kouga on almost a daily basis.

He knew again that it simply wasn’t the right time to tell her, but he was determined to actually do it this time. No one would get in his way. No one would beat him to it. He couldn’t keep it in anymore. He needed to tell her. The years of secretly loving her and seeing her hurt over and over again by other guys were beginning to make him crazy.


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The next page of the scrapbook had pictures from multiple years, all taken at the same location. Every year she would join his family on their stay at their summer cottage, and all the years' high points were shown. There was the year she finally learned to swim, the year they’d helped a bird with a broken wing, the year they’d been super-focused on the environment and spent the entire two weeks collecting trash wherever they could find it, and even the year that he’d finally figured it all out, the year he intended to finally tell her the truth. He hated the pictures from that year.


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Kagome finally regained her positive attitude and outlook, just in time for their annual trip during summer vacation to his family’s little cottage. It was right beside a lake and surrounded by the forest, and Kagome had always said how beautiful it was, how peaceful. It was just what he needed; time alone with her, no one around to steal her out from under him again. Of course he hadn’t counted on another family that rented the cottage next to theirs.

She was waiting for him, and he had to hurry. His mother had asked him at the last minute to help her hang the clean clothes out to dry and, while he knew it would make him late, he couldn’t say no. Hopefully it would be alright. He’d picked the perfect romantic place and the perfect romantic time, right when the sun was setting, the shades of orange reflecting off the still water. He had it all worked out. He knew exactly what to say, had rehearsed it even, but that one little delay, stopping to help his mother, made it all worthless. Those few minutes were all it took for someone to swoop in and take advantage of his meticulously planned perfect moment.

The sight of her had been too hard to resist. Kagome sat waiting at the end of the dock alone, watching the sunset. Her bare feet swung back and forth, her toes just grazing the surface of the lake, and she wondered what was keeping Miroku. When she heard footsteps on the old wood, she tilted her head back to look at her visitor upside down, discovering it wasn’t who she’d expected but someone else entirely.

As soon as he’d finished helping his mother, Miroku ran as fast as he could to their planned meeting place, but as soon as the end of the dock came into sight, he slowed. It was already too late. The love of his life was sitting next to Bankotsu, one of the many brothers that were staying next-door. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders and he could hear her laughter echo in the still air. Once again he’d lost. Once again he was too late, and as he turned around to return to the cottage, he decided that maybe he was always meant to be alone. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to be his.