In Alignment With Angels

A/N: Here’s the third chapter of IAWA! Please enjoy and review!

IMPORTANT: ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE LOOK AT THE DATES AT THE HEAD OF EACH SECTION! THEY’RE IMPORTANT!

Replies to reviews!

Jebus: Thanks very much for being my first reviewer! Well, yes, it is very angsty and will stay that way, but what I meant was that there is a plot behind it; it’s not just one page after another of pointless drama. There are six chapters to the story, so yes, the resolution is in the near future. I’m glad you like it, and thanks again for the review!

Galadrihm_Star: Haha, yeah, I didn’t even think of “Memento” but now that you mention it, it kind of has a similar feel to it, along with the time-differences. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

Scerpixy5: Well, the chapters do get a little bit longer from here on, but none of the chapters are extremely long. Sorry about that. Usually, I do put a lot of detail into every scene (or I try to, anyway) but for this story, I wanted things to seem a little hazy, like a bad memory. I’m so glad that you asked about how they met, as it’s a large part of the chapter. Thanks for the great review!

Frostyshake: Thanks a lot! Yeah, this story just kind of spilled out without thought, so it’s not exactly in line with my usual track of writing. I would say that my other story exhibits my writing fairly well, but that would be shameless plugging, so I’ll resist! Haha. Thanks for the review!

Fallenangel7583: Wow, this is amazing! I didn’t think that this story was good enough to really get people going, but you’ve really boosted my confidence! I’m so glad that you’re already delving in and trying to figure out what happens! Your review really inspired me to post a new chapter, so thank you so much!!


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~June 1, 2004. 5:10 AM. Inuyasha~

His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

In fact, his entire body was trembling finely, but his hands were quaking so badly that his coffee was splashing in waves against the sides of his cup. His body would hardly move anymore. He knew it would completely stop functioning soon. Occasionally, blood would spatter onto the floor. He didn’t give a damn.

Inuyasha realized that he was finally alone. He’d woken up hours before to find a team of nurses lifting him to get him onto a gurney, and he’d chased them all off, snarling and threatening them. He was going to stay right there and wait for Kagome. Ever since then, there had been people buzzing around the hall, rushing or bustling or worrying like him. It was agony; waiting to find out what would become of the rest of his life. He needed to know that they were alright. He needed to know that there was still a life for him. And now, finally, impossibly, the hall was deserted.

In the instant that he realized that, everything broke down.

The cup of coffee freed itself from his hands and fell to the floor, exploding in splashes of mud-like liquid. His knees were the next things to hit the ground, then his hands, and then his blood, seeping out of his wounds and tragically splattering against the tile.

“Oh, god!” he choked out.

Then came the tears. They came fast and harsh, suffocating and loud. His sobs were screams and now his arms were shaking so badly that they barely supported him. He couldn’t see a thing past his own tears.

“Kagome!” he howled, his heart tearing into itself in anger and hatred and pure, raw anxiety.

“Oh, god, my son! My son, my son…Kagome…”

His weeping took over, and he stayed there, kneeling and bleeding and sobbing like only an utterly broken person could.

~~~

~August 5, 2003. 1:41 PM. Kagome.~

Kagome giggled uproariously.

“Yeah right, like they’d ever pay any attention to us!” she exclaimed to her best friend Sango.

“Well we’ll have to make them pay attention, won’t we?”

Kagome laughed out loud. “Alright here’s the plan.” She pried her eyes off the gorgeous men far in front of her for just a second to make sure that Sango was paying attention to her. “You go wade out in the water, and strip off your top.”

Sango began laughing as well. “Alright, then what?” she asked, playing along.

“Isn’t it obvious? You run on shore and ask to join their game. After they’ve helped you recover your bikini top, you introduce me!”

Sango chuckled and swatted at Kagome. “Yeah right, Kag. Alright, how about we just ask to play. That’s not so suspicious, right? They don’t have to know that we hate volleyball.”

Kagome sighed. “Whatever. You and I both know that we’ll never get up the courage to confront guys like that.”

The one Kagome had her eye on was tan and muscled and looked like a perfectly drool-worthy god in dark red swim-trunks. His hair was long silver, and though she couldn’t really make out the details of his face from so far away, she could see that he had a ridiculously amazing body. Strangely, she could picture herself wrapping her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She blushed at the thought. He probably already had a girlfriend; guys that hot were never single.

Sango frowned, and pulled her sunglasses off and perched them on top of her head. “You know what? I’m sick and tired of passing up good opportunities because of being shy.”

Kagome scoffed, not taking Sango seriously at all. Kagome was sick of it too, but that’s the way she was. She couldn’t really change that. “Good opportunities for what? A summer fling in which the only thing accomplished is one of them getting in your pants, and your heart getting broken? Yeah, that’s something I’d like to work for.”

“Kag, if you keep up that attitude, you’ll never find out if any other possible outcome can exist. I’m going over there.” Sango swept her hair up and secured it with a clip, then stood. “How do I look?”

Kagome eyed her best friend. Of course, Sango looked incredible in her pink and green bikini, her dark brown eyes and hair gleaming in the midday beach sun. “Well, your strap is twisted, but other than that, you look stunning, as always.”

Sango grinned and brushed off the compliment, fixing the strap of her little bathing suit. “Yeah right, but thanks anyway. So are you coming or not?”

Kagome looked down at herself, studying her green and white suit. It was her favorite bikini. “Oh hell, why not?” Kagome stood and shook off as much sand as she could, and raised her own sunglasses. “Carpe diem, right?”

“Right. But the dark-haired one with the black suit is mine.”

“Fine with me. The hanyou’s way cuter.”

“What, the guy with the silver hair?”

She nodded.

Sango made a face. “Whatever. You’ve always had horrible taste in men.”

Kagome laughed, as they’d fought over the same guy more than once, and the two girls ventured over to introduce themselves to the group of guys and play a little beach volleyball.

~~~

~February 15, 2004. Kagome~

Kagome squealed and skittered across the room. “Inuyasha! You just splattered me from head to toe with paint!” She looked down at herself. The dark blue pajamas she was wearing for the job were now decorated with linear splotches of light green.

“Oh, did I?” Inuyasha looked over at her, roller hanging from his hand and dripping all over the plastic covering the floor of the modestly small room.

That tone was way too innocent to be true. Kagome’s eyes narrowed. “You big bully! Picking on me when I’m not looking.”

“Picking on you? Picking on you?! Kagome, I couldn’t pick on you if I tried. You’d surely beat me up,” he teased.

Kagome laughed and swung her brush in an arc, splattering mint-colored paint at him, getting him right across his black t-shirt.

Inuyasha jumped back and shielded his eyes. “Augh! I just painted that spot!” He pointed to an area on the wall she’d splattered. “Now I have to roll over it all over again.”

“Oh big deal, you baby.”

Inuyasha turned to her crossly. “Excuse me.”

“You heard me.” Kagome sauntered sexily over to him.

A grin pealing across his face, Inuyasha opened his arms for her, and she slid happily in.

“I don’t think I did quite hear you, actually?” he replied belatedly, while slowly lowering his head to meet her in a kiss.

“Oh, really?” she whispered, her lips half an inch away from his. “What happened to being an all-powerful hanyou?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” He dropped his roller-brush and his hands slid around her waist. “I take breaks from that when it’s convenient for me.”

Kagome grinned and leaned in a little further. “Well, for clarificiation, I said that you’re a big, huge baby!” She accented her point by slopping him across the face with her wet paintbrush, and proceeding to laugh uproariously.

She hurried away from him before he had the chance to grab her.

He stood there looking shocked for a moment, while Kagome was doubled over with choking laughter, then jumped into action, lunging towards her and grabbing the other sopping wet brush from the paint can.

With a shriek, Kagome scurried out of the way and ran across the room to safety.

Inuyasha changed course and leaped at her, looking to grab her right across the shoulders, but she ducked around him and spurred them into a short game of chase around the perimeter of the room. Finally, Kagome had him in the perfect position. She had plenty of room on either side of her and behind her, and she was facing Inuyasha as he was running towards her, laughter in his expression. She had the perfect placement to smear mint-colored paint all the way through his hair. Or so she thought.

In the blink of an eye, Inuyasha was tackling her, then pulling her close and flipping them midair to protect her while he took the impact.

Kagome yelped, and struggled to gain an advantage, but, all-out laughing now, Inuyasha rolled them and pinned her swiftly, kneeling over her and pinning her legs with his own and both her wrists with one large hand.

They were both still laughing loudly when he ducked down to give her one swift, deep kiss before pulling back and spreading paint all over her forehead. Kagome gasped for breath, caught between breathlessness from the kiss, laughing and panting from their game, and shrieking, as Inuyasha was currently using her face for a canvas.

“Inuyasha!” she managed to gasp out between choking laughs.

Grinning down at her, eyes twinkling, he painted the tip of her nose, then smeared it over both cheeks.

Somehow, miraculously, she managed to get out from beneath his hold, and, even more miraculously, get Inuyasha underneath her. He let her hold both his arms to the ground.

They both stayed that way for a moment, Kagome sitting on Inuyasha’s hips and pinning him to the ground.

“So,” Inuyasha said finally, after getting his fill of just staring at her. Kagome couldn’t imagine that she looked at all decent, what with the paint covering her face and her grubby clothes on. “What else do you want to do to the room?”

“Well…” Kagome thought about it, and looked around. “We’ll need a crib and changing table and other baby-furniture, obviously, but that’ll come later.”

“Yeah hon,” he patronized, “how about after the walls are dry.”

“Hey, did I give you permission to talk?” She pinched his arm lightly.

He just smirked up at her. “Hmm, Dominatrix Kagome. That’s a side of you I haven’t seen before.”

Kagome averted her eyes playfully. “That’s because it doesn’t actually exist,” she admitted.

“I know, babe.” He was still smirking.

Kagome shook her head. “Anyway, I bet we could do some cool stuff on the walls with stencils. It’s too boring with just the light green walls. Maybe a nice border?” she suggested. “Oh, and pretty curtains. Lace ones! And we can trim the crib in the same lace! And-and-oh! And a little rocking-horse! I had one of those as a kid; I loved it! Yasha, can we get a rocking-horse? Huh? Can we can we can we?” She was bouncing up and down like a little kid. She’d never thought decorating her unborn child’s room could be so much fun.

Inuyasha grinned and finally freed his arms, and took hold of her hips. “Yes, Kagome, we can get a rocking-horse. Happy?”

She beamed down at him. “Very.” She leaned down to kiss him. He deserved it by now.

“Ew,” he teased, “you’re gonna get paint all over my face.” His hands eagerly flexed against her hips.

“And whose fault is that?” she answered, and planted her lips softly on his.

One of his arms immediately slid around her waist and the other traveled up so he could cup the back of her neck in his palm.

He flipped them smoothly over and cradled her in his arms, kissing her more deeply.

After a few moments, Inuyasha pulled back slightly and slipped one hand to rest on her stomach. “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I think I feel a difference.” He smoothed his hand over the plains of her abdomen.

“You do not!” she giggled.

“No, no, I do. It’s little, but I would bet anything that that little lump is my son.”

“Excuse me? There is no lump in my stomach. And who says that it’s going to be a boy?”

“I do.” He grinned and leaned down and kissed her again.

~~~

~August 5, 2003. 1:43 PM. Inuyasha~

She had to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and even from so far away, he could smell that her scent was like heaven.

Inuyasha rated her age a couple years below his own, at a fresh twenty, and she was staring directly at him.

Their volleyball game was brought to a crashing halt as the two girls approached, but Inuyasha held eyes only for the slightly shorter one in the wondrously tiny green and white bikini.

Her figure was mouth-watering. She was perfectly petite and just curvy enough. Her hips were rather slim and her unabashedly visible abdomen was just sculpted enough. Something told him that if he were to take her in his arms and press her against himself, she would fit perfectly.

The girl realized that she’d been caught staring at him just as avidly, and she turned away with a blush, and whispered something to her friend that he didn’t catch, as the wind blew her words away from him.

“Holy shit,” he heard Kouga mutter.

Inuyasha spared him a glance to see that the wolf youkai was practically salivating, staring straight at the same one Inuyasha had already mentally claimed.

“Mine,” Kouga declared simplistically.

Inuyasha growled challengingly. “Yeah right. Back off, Kouga.”

Kouga smirked. “Not this time, dog-boy. This time, the girl is mine.”

Inuyasha could feel his youkai side reacting violently to the statement. He had this incredible feeling about the girl. There was no way he could let her slip away to someone like Kouga. “She’s not,” he snarled back.

Soon the girls were within speaking distance.

They had a tiny five-second quarrel over who should speak first, and finally the girl in the pink and green bikini spoke.

“Hi.”

It was a good start.

Miroku spent about thirty seconds spitting out something that, after a lot of jumbled words, amounted to a “Hi” in return.

The girls giggled predictably.

“We were wondering if we could join your game,” the girl Inuyasha didn’t really care about stated shyly. The girl he’d already claimed as his bit her lip and kept her eyes on the sand.

“I’m Kouga,” the youkai introduced himself. “These are Miroku and Houjo.” He purposely left out Inuyasha.

The hanyou rolled his eyes and bared his fangs at Kouga. The man was nothing but an annoyance.

“What’s your name?” Inuyasha’s girl asked him quietly, not looking him in the eye.

Inuyasha smiled at her charmingly and told her.

“I’m Kagome, and this is Sango,” she introduced, still not really looking any of them in the eye.

Now that acquaintances were made, the six of them began playing. The girls didn’t play too well, as they hadn’t played since P.E. class in their first year of high school, but no one minded, especially as their bathing suits shifted all over the place every time they went for the ball.

The guys found themselves dropping the balls and hitting at nothing more than air on multiple occasions because of those distractions.

The longer he watched her, the more surely he knew that this girl had the potential to change his life. Inuyasha would take absolutely any change he could get.

So, before Kouga could get to her, Inuyasha asked, “Hey, Kagome, do you want to take a walk with me?”

She blushingly agreed, after gaining reassurance from her friend, and they walked down the beach together.

He could feel Kouga glaring at his back.

They made small talk and he came to love the sound of her voice. She was such a gentle person.

After not long at all, he reached down and took her hand. She gripped his own in return, and it was then that he realized the magnitude of this new development. His life would never be the same.

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~May 31, 2004. 5:08 AM. Kagome.~

“So, you are Inuyasha’s bitch, are you not?”

Kagome frowned and told herself to have courage. “I’m Inuyasha’s mate, yes.” She stared darkly into the eyes of a man she’d never met before. He reeked of evilness, and his blood red eyes shone with it.

“So what is a pregnant bitch like you doing out of the den so early in the morning?” The man sneered at her contemptuously from where he sat like a dark king on a soiled throne.

The room in which she stood consisted largely of black marble, and there was a gothic, unnerving feeling about the place. Maybe it was just the man at the head of the room who made it unnerving. He sat in pristine dark clothes, a look of malicious malcontent seemingly plastered onto his face as he stared at her almost greedily. His dark hair slithered out in tendrils, hanging limply down the front of his suit, as if waiting for their chance to spring to life. This was Naraku; the man who had practically enslaved her mate.

“I’m here to talk to you about Inuyasha,” she said bravely.

“I assumed that. Tell me, bitch, does your mate know that you’re here?” He raised a magnanimous brow.

Kagome fidgeted. “No. And I’d appreciate if we could keep this quiet.”

“Interesting. I’m intrigued. You may proceed.”

She did just that. “Inuyasha is a genuinely good person. He doesn’t deserve to live the life he does, and he doesn’t want it anymore. We’d like to start over together, but we can’t do that when you refuse to let him go. That’s why I’m here. To ask…” Kagome paused, swallowed her pride, and kneeled to her knees, “No, to beg that you release him from your services. Please, please do this. He deserves his own life.”

The room was quiet for a few seconds. Kagome saw from the corner of her eye that the guards were shifting anxiously, but she refused to break eye contact with the evil man in front of her.

“Let me make sure that I understand,” Naraku began. “You want me to release one of my best assassins for no reason other than your asking prettily?” Naraku sneered. “Stand up girl, because begging won’t help. The fact that you have come here and gotten down on your knees for a man you’ve never met, just to beg for your mate’s freedom is deplorable and pitiful. Get out of my sight.”

Kagome stood, outraged. “You can’t just do that! You have no right to make his life hell like you do, you bastard! Inuyasha is such a good person, but you won’t let him live his own life! Why?! I know that you must have others to take his place! He can’t be that important to you; please, just let him go!”

“Inuyasha belongs to me. His life belongs to me, and I will do with it what I see fit. It is not a belonging which I am willing to give up just to satisfy the crazed morals of one little girl.”

“How dare you! You talk about people’s lives like they’re toys, you goddamn monster!”

“They are toys to me, little bitch, and watch your tongue.” He rose from his chair.

“No, you should watch your tongue! How could you be so heartless?! You’ve taken away everything that we had hoped to have! Time and again, you’ve proved to be the dirtiest, most pathetic being on the face of the Earth by-”

Kagome was interrupted when Naraku’s hand flew out and struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Instantly, a demon guard was gripping her by the back of her shirt. Kagome put her hand to her cheek in shock and pain.

“You want me to throw her out, sir?” the guard asked eagerly.

Naraku shook his head almost imperceptibly, and the guard slunk back into the small crowd. “Get out.”

Those two small words were all it took. The throbbing already beginning in Kagome’s cheek pushed her courage into remission, and it failed her; she turned and ran.

~~~

~February 9, 2004. 6:25 PM. Kagome.~

“You know,” Kagome said, reluctantly taking a break from her delicious cheesecake. “I can’t think of a single time in my life when I’ve been happier than I am right now.”

Leaning over the small table, Inuyasha gave her a soft kiss to the cheek. “I know I’ve never been happier.” He took her hand under the table. “Things can only get better from here.”

She grinned at him happily. “And they weren’t exactly bad to start with.”

He squeezed her hand and found that her smile was contagious. “So do you have a name in mind?”

Kagome’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t even thought about it.” She couldn’t believe that that hadn’t been the first thing to cross her mind. Everything was happening so fast. She put her free hand softly on her stomach. There was no noticeable difference in shape or size. “Did you have any ideas?”

Inuyasha shook his head. “We’ll think of something. After all, we’ve got over six months to figure it out. That’s plenty.”

A warmness was filling Kagome’s heart, the likes of which she’d never experienced. It was a completeness, and a happiness she’d never imagined possible. “Inuyasha…I love you so much.”

He gave her a dazzling smile. Everything about him radiated joy; the way he held her hand, softly yet securely; the way his eyes glittered in the dim light from the small lamps on the walls; the way his face looked more angelic and carefree than she’d ever seen it; it all came together as an immensely beautiful embodiment of happiness. “I love you too.”

She bit her lip softly. “You’re going to make a great father.”

His eyes widened suddenly, and they glazed over a bit. “Father,” he repeated, and chuckled a bit. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. But I think I like the sound of it.” The grin returned to his face full blown.

“Me too.”

“This means that you have to move in with me now,” he teased. Kagome had been too lazy to finally finish bringing all her things into his apartment. Most of them had migrated there of their own accord, but not everything she needed was there.

She laughed. “I suppose it does.” Kagome gasped, an idea filling her mind. “Can we turn the guest bedroom into the baby’s room?”

He looked amused. “Of course.”

Kagome was getting excited. “Inuyasha, we’re going to have a family. A real family.”

“And we won’t fuck it up like our parents did,” he added jokingly.

She smiled and nodded, but took the sentiment to heart. Even though she’d only learned about the child a few hours before, she was already starting to love it. Even though there was no evidence of its existence, other than a doctor’s word that it was there, Kagome knew that her child was growing inside her; she simply knew, and it was the most incredible thing she’d ever felt in her life.

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A/N: Still waiting for someone to tell me how to use those bolds and italics! Pleeeeease! Anybody!

Next chapter: Lemony fun, and a rather large chunk of explanation!

I really hope that you enjoyed this, and thanks for reading! I would LOVE to hear your feedback, so please review!

~Schrodinger’s Cat.