These characters do not belong to me.

Author's Note: I do not have control over fanfiction.net. I have posted this particular chapter three times in the past four hours. I can't fix it, I can't do one darn thing about it. Complain to the help desk. It's not my fault that the chapter isn't there when you click on it.

Choosing a Partner

Chapter 20

By Kenzie Kennedy

Inuyasha woke up three and a half hours later at somewhere in the neighborhood of four thirty. Being a half human, half youkai meant he didn’t need as much sleep as the rest of the household. He had been getting up and going into the library to read manga. He looked over at the girl lying in bed. Couldn’t do that right now.

He sighed and resigned himself to at least two hours of boredom. Something caught his eye on her desk and he grinned. All right! He was saved! He walked over and grabbed the manga. Inuyasha took it back to his blankets and began reading.

Inuyasha was just in the middle of a page when he heard a soft noise. He glanced over at Kagome. She didn’t make the noise again so he went back to reading.

His ears twitched. There it was again. He kept looking at her with his ears perked up until he heard it again.

"Hey," he said gruffly.

Kagome rolled over and looked at him with wide tearstained eyes. "You’re awake?" she said startled.

"Have been for the last hour. What’re you crying about?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her.

Kagome’s eyes teared up again and she stumbled out of bed to throw her arms around him. Inuyasha stared down at her with panic running through him. "Uh…" he said.

Kagome got her tears under control relatively quickly and looked up at him. "Sorry," she apologized.

Inuyasha shrugged. "What’s the matter?"

"I don’t usually wake up with severed heads staring at me," Kagome said sarcastically. She removed her arms and knelt on the floor.

Inuyasha frowned. "That’s what you’re crying over?"

"No. I was crying because I can’t go outside, things are trying to kill me, if you hadn’t been here I would have died, I had a nightmare, would you like anything else?" Kagome asked angrily.

Inuyasha stared at her. "You can go outside with me. Nothing’s going to kill you as long as I’m around, so why aren’t you sleeping?" he asked puzzled.

Kagome swallowed. "I’m scared to go to sleep," she confessed. "I had a nightmare, remember?" She tilted her head. "Hey, why are you up?"

"I don’t sleep as much," Inuyasha told her. "I’m up before everyone else anyway."

Kagome nodded. "I’ll stay up, too. I don’t want to go back to sleep."

"You need your sleep," Inuyasha said. "Humans need to sleep a lot."

Kagome looked back at her bed and then up at Inuyasha. "Are you going to be awake?"

Inuyasha nodded. "I’m not sleeping with you though."

"I didn’t ask you to," Kagome said confused.

"I meant, I’m not having sex with you," Inuyasha stressed.

Kagome stared at him. "What?" she said softly.

"No," Inuyasha said firmly.

Kagome blinked a few times. "Why would you tell me that?"

"Because I ain’t."

Kagome really felt confused. Something had tried to kill her and now Inuyasha was saying that he wasn’t going to have sex with her. What was wrong with this picture? "I didn’t ask you to," she said slowly. Inuyasha watched her. "Is that why you didn’t want to come up here?" Inuyasha nodded.

Realization dawned. "You’ve been rude to me because you’ve got a hang-up about sex." She said.

Inuyasha turned away and looked pointedly elsewhere.

Kagome sighed. "Do you think I’m going to ask you to have sex with me?"

"Yes."

Kagome’s eyes almost fell out of her head and her frustration cut loose. "What kind of girl do you think I am? For your information, I want my first time to be with someone I love and who loves me, not some ex-slave husband who’s rude and inconsiderate to me all the time!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth. That was a little loud, Kagome, she told herself. She calmed down a bit and said, "Inuyasha. Could you look at me?"

Inuyasha turned. "Yeah?"

"Do you trust me?"

He shook his head slowly. "No."

"Have I lied to you or done anything bad?"

"No. Not yet."

Kagome heaved a sigh. "Let me tell you how this usually goes. The boy and girl decide they like each other or at least want to get to know each other. They go on dates or at least spend some time together. When they love each other, they decide to get married. Then on the first night they’re wed they have sex." Kagome paused. "Except for the getting married part, we’re supposed to be on the deciding to get to know each other part."

She smiled at him. "I’d like to get to know you." Inuyasha stared at her. Kagome’s smile didn’t waver. "I’ve been trying. It usually starts with talking and finding out stuff about the other person. I can’t figure out why you won’t."

Inuyasha took a deep breath. Maybe he could tell her a little bit… After all then she might go to sleep. "Everyone I’ve gotten to like was either sold or they died. That’s why."

Kagome frowned. "I’m not going to be sold and I don’t think I’m going to die any time soon. Though many more nights like tonight could make that statement a lie."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I don’t want to."

"But if you don’t get to like anyone you won’t be very happy," Kagome pointed out.

"It’s better than feeling really sad."

"Your mom died and the other slaves got sold." Kagome said slowly. "But I’m your wife. I’m not going anywhere."

"You’ll leave," Inuyasha said firmly.

"The only reason I’d leave is if you wanted to divorce me or if we really couldn’t get along." Kagome explained. "Do you want a divorce?"

Inuyasha’s ears twitched forward and then back. "No," he said softly.

Kagome smiled brightly. "Then why don’t we talk?"

Inuyasha watched her warily for a moment. "Talk?" he said.

"Yeah, talk. You say something and then I say something. Like we’ve been doing." Inuyasha looked at her. Kagome sighed. "Okay, I’ll start talking." She thought for a moment or two. "Okay, this is harder than I thought," she admitted. Kagome started talking about how she and Sango had been friends forever.

Inuyasha got used to the chatter and the pleasant ups and downs of Kagome’s voice. She stopped and he looked at her. "Your turn," she said.

He shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Kagome asked.

He nodded. "One half brother Sesshoumaru. He got taken to a different center after Mom died."

Kagome looked concerned. "Should I try to find him?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "You can if you want."

Kagome snapped her fingers. "You know it’s common for ex-slaves to try to find relations. You’d have a better chance at finding him than I would."

"Maybe. What else?"

Kagome thought for a few seconds. I can’t ask him what it was like in the center. That’s rude and I probably wouldn’t want to know. "Did you know Miroku in the center?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No."

"Have you talked with him lately?"

"Yes."

"What about?"

"Sango and sex."

Kagome’s eyes widened. "What?"

"He wanted to know if I had any ideas about how to make Sango have sex with him."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him to read some of those mangas." Inuyasha pointed to the one he had been reading.

"Why?" Kagome asked.

"Girls are funny. They want to be in love first. You said so yourself. The mangas are full of stuff about getting a girl to fall in love with you."

Kagome ran a hand through her hair. "It takes both of them being in love. Sango wouldn’t have sex with Miroku just because she was in love with him. Miroku will have to fall in love with Sango, too."

Inuyasha shook his head. "Not if he lies."

"If he lies and he hurts her, I’ll kill him myself." Kagome swore. Inuyasha looked at her startled. "Oh, all right. I won’t kill him. I’ll turn him into a frog."

"I didn’t know mikos could do that."

"Well, not really," Kagome admitted. "But I could try!"

Inuyasha tried to picture Miroku as a frog and he laughed. When he calmed down he found Kagome grinning at him. "What?" he asked in a happy tone.

"You laughed…" she said wondrously.

Inuyasha couldn’t find anything to say. What was so great about him laughing? A noise in the hall made his ears prick up and he stood to investigate. Peering down the hall cautiously, he found it was just Rimiko.

She came to the door quietly and looked around the corner at two sets of eyes staring at her. "I guess I didn’t wake you up then," she said softly.

"What are you doing up, Mom?" Kagome asked.

"I just came to check on you."

"I said I’d protect her," Inuyasha said grumpily.

"Are you going to stay up, Kagome?" Rimiko asked. Kagome nodded. "Then you can come downstairs with me and let Inuyasha get some rest."

"I’m not tired."

Rimiko turned to look at Inuyasha. "Then you can come downstairs with us."

Inuyasha shook his head and walked quickly to the door muttering, "Train," as he went past Rimiko.

Kagome and her mother went downstairs and watched the early morning news together. Later, they made breakfast.

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I am so sorry that a few of these reviews sound a little bit like I'm PMS-ing, but… if you have any doubt, go find the reviews and read them yourself.

inuficcrzy: No, there aren't any dads in this story.

Ucchan: Montreal? Do you know that I’m about 5-6 driving distance from you right now?

Ame Tenshi: Naraku will have a cameo appearance.

kenya skadi: Well, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha…talk.

Sara Carter: Um, might want to read the chapter next time. Yes, the demon was sent by Kikyo.

hear-me-roar: No, I didn't say that there wasn't any romance until chapter 30. I said the story will end around chapter 30-something.

Lilstrangeperson: Well, me and my 'muse' aren't going to put any Sango and Miroku fluff in if 'you and your friends' make such a fuss.

Princess Sapphire: I think I would have fainted to find a head in my bed. An unattached head. But Kagome's going to be a miko. She's got to get used to it.

wuzuup guy: The story is boring. This is a boring story. It doesn't have a lot of fluff or action as you've already said. If it's that boring, don't read it.

Strawberry shortcake: Well, she's an annoying little person who is way too cheerful. He's a melancholy type person. I don't think they're going to instantly fall in love. Even if they did, it would be boring to write.