Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any other brands mentioned throughout this fic. If I did, I would buy all my faithful reviewers Ferraris cause I love you all, especially Iram cause she's crazy.

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. . . means emphasis

" . . . " means dialogue

' . . . ' means thoughts

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A/N: Last part of Thankful folks. ;; I'm sorry to see it end, I enjoyed writing it very much. Hope the story lives up to your expectations. It WAY passed how long I thought it would be--which was only three chapters. Oo

BTW: Thank you all who gave me constructive criticism, it was highly appreciated. And I'm sorry if Kagome seemed "weak" as you might say in the last few chapters but. . .it just came out that way. I don't really plan my stories. . .they just happen. So hopefully this chapter makes up for it! If you haven't reviewed for the last eleven chapters, please review for this one so that I know that writing all of this was worthwhile.

Happy Holidays lovelies!

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Part Twelve : Don't Say a Word

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Everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.

-Leo Tolstoy

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It'd been two weeks since she's last seen him. Not a call, not a letter in the post, nothing.

Kikyou, surprisingly, had started to act decent to her.

Ok. Truth be told, Kikyou was being wonderful. She had come over to visit Inuyasha, knowing that he was probably hanging around her house, pigging out on leftovers. Instead, she found a crying Kagome.

And Kagome got the shock of her life when her older cousin hugged her, patting her on the back and telling her to let it all out.

So Kagome did. Kikyou's blouse was now at the cleaners, having been soaked through with salty tears.

"It's alright Kaggy," she had said, smiling at her puffy eyed younger relation. "It's only a blouse. Just don't worry about it. Why don't we do something to take your mind off of things?"

And that's how Kagome found herself playing Monopoly with Inuyasha and Kikyou that Saturday, watching as her two friends tried to subtly cheer her up with their arguing.

Or at least she thought they were arguing purposely. . .

"Inuyasha, you're always the dog! Have you got a fetish or something? Let someone else be it for a change!" Kikyou was saying, trying to wrestle a Scottie dog from Inuyasha's grasp.

"No! You can be the boat! I'm the dog! It's a tradition!"

"What do you mean I can be the boat? Are you implying I'm fat?!"

They continued to squabble and Kagome couldn't help but smile, finally feeling a sliver of happiness after her short ordeal. She didn't know how she would have gotten over things if it weren't for her two friends.

And the Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream helped too, of course. . .

Ding. Dong.

"I'll get that. Can I be the top hat? Thanks," Kagome said, getting up and walking to the front door, her new doggy slippers curtsey of Inuyasha, who had given it to her one day, saying,

"Here, I saw these. Thought of your ugly face and that maybe you'd like them to replace that pair you lost."

It was the sweetest thing he had ever done for her.

"I'm the banker Kikyou! You deal out the properties."

"What? You were banker last time! It's my turn!"

"And let you steal money while no one's watching?! I don't think so. And don't give me that look, you know you take 100's!"

Kagome undid the lock, opening the door and stepping back with a gasp.

There was Sesshoumaru.

Holding a Muffin Time bag.

The sounds of arguing died in the background and there was a sudden uncomfortable silence, with Kagome just staring in shock at the person before her, her heart ascending out of the ashes and confirming that it was, in fact, Sesshoumaru.

"Sesshoumaru. . .what are you doing here?" Kagome asked, finding her voice.

Sesshoumaru looked past her to the living room where two sets of eyes glared back at him, promising pain if Kagome so much as shed a tear over him anymore.

A bit overwhelming, yes.

"Kagome, may I speak with you outside?" he asked, his attention back towards her.

Kagome nodded, stepping out and not noticing the rude gestures that Inuyasha was throwing towards Sesshoumaru.

If Sesshoumaru noticed, he didn't acknowledge it.

The door shut, leaving the two of them standing under the stoop, an almost physical barrier in between them.

Kagome broke the thick stillness.

"Why are you here?" she asked as her mind created phantasmal scenarios.

'He's uh. . .the father of an unknown child, the result of a sordid affair with a professor, but then he figured his love for you, so he's telling you before he's tied to the ball and chain. . .'

Insert mental snort.

Sesshoumaru said nothing, but instead reached into his black coat and pulled out some sort of document, handing it over wordlessly to Kagome.

Kagome looked down at it, realizing that it was the same contract that Grandpa had been brandishing at Sesshoumaru upon finding them sleeping together, the contract stating that Sesshoumaru loved her unconditionally.

And it was signed.

"Wh-what is this?" she asked, disbelieving at what she was holding.

"It states that I love you," he replied, taking her trembling hands in his and kissing her fingers, making Kagome shiver in response.

"It states that I won't leave you, hurt you anymore, and will do my best to make you happy for the rest of your life. It's a pledge of my affection towards you; a binding contract which I'd willingly signed."

Kagome stared at the document, then at him, asking her question even before she realized it had slipped out of her mouth.

"Is that--"

Sesshoumaru looked at her expectedly.

"Is that a muffin?" she finished lamely, indicating the Muffin Time bag.

Sesshoumaru smiled and presented it to her, opening it up and revealing, no, not a muffin, but a Tupperware container of oden.

'Aww. . .that's so sweeeeeeeet," her mind said, suddenly ecstatic.

Kagome resisted the urge to smile, still too surprised and perplexed to do much but look at him.

"Why?" she asked, taking the bag and contract and placing it down on the steps, leaving her hands free which were promptly taken hold of by Sesshoumaru's larger ones.

"I knew you liked oden," he replied, rubbing at her fingers. "In fact, I believe you chant the name whenever we're having it."

She did smile a little now. "No, I mean, why the sudden change of heart? Why now does the revelation come?"

Sesshoumaru pulled her closer to him, making her breath catch as he whispered softly in her ear,

"This wasn't a sudden revelation Ka-go-me. I'd known that I loved you for two years. At first, when I left, it was only a nagging feeling of having forgotten something important. And then it morphed itself into a feeling of missing my home, then my family, and then finally to you. It had always been you Ka-go-me. . .but I didn't know, being the fool that I was.

"So then, this year, I came back, hoping to see you and possibly realize that it was only a fancy; a made up dream and absurd notion that I was obsessed and in love with you. But then you had to go and be so sweet; be you. I'd finally realized what I had, what I'd been missing all these years, what perfection truly was. And do you know what perfection is, Ka-go- me?"

Kagome shook her head no; though her mind was smugly going 'I think I have a notion as to what it is.'

Insert yet another mental snort.

Sesshoumaru continued his whispered speech, nuzzling her in the neck.

"Perfection is a girl in mismatched pajamas, smiling at me sweetly like she saw something good and wonderful in me, like she knew me inside and out.

"Perfection is a pair of Teddy slippers, flopping their way towards me, seeming to bring along the sunshine after torrents of rain. Perfection is you Ka-go-me, with all your understanding, all your dreams and beautiful smiles.

"You are my ideal perfection Ka-go-me, and I want to spend the rest of my days telling you that."

Kagome's eyes were closed, her body shut down and hanging onto reality by the sound of Sesshoumaru's voice alone.

He loved her. He considered her perfection. . .

"I have one last question," she said, breaking away from their wonderful closeness.

Sesshoumaru waited for her to proceed, still holding her hands.

". . .why didn't you say anything when I told you I loved you?" she asked hesitantly, lowering her gaze.

He cupped her chin with his hand, making her look at him. "Because you're not part of my world, Ka-go-me," he said, tracing her face with the pads of his fingers.

"You're too good for me," he continued, tracing invisible marks on her cheeks. "When you told me just how long you'd loved me, I didn't know how to respond. I'd thought that you deserved better than me. . .but then I realized, while staring at that contract, which your grandfather had placed in my bag, that you could make your own choices. And if your choice involved me, that's for all the better and who was I to question it?"

Sesshoumaru once again captured both of her hands in his, looking at her with longing eyes as she peered back, saying nothing.

"You don't have to--" he started, but was cut off.

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked, her voice stern.

Sesshoumaru looked slightly worried.

Kagome leaned forward, her forehead touching his. "Don't say a word," she whispered against his lips before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply, all her sadness seeming to flow out of her and thrown to the wind.

Sesshoumaru ardently returned her kiss, his arms snaking their way around her, wrapping her in a warm embrace.

Kagome felt like she could burst with happiness with the kiss sweeping through her body and seeming to fill her full of. . .something. . .something that prevailed against all illnesses, negative feelings, and induced bliss.

It was better than drugs. . .even better than strawberry pocky.

It was a kiss for the record books. Not because it was superb (which it was, it so was), but because it was so long in forthcoming, so sought after but somehow always avoided.

It was a kiss like all the cheesy romance novels talked about, the kind that set off fireworks, made you feel like you were standing still as the days passed before your eyes, the kind that made you feel like the essence of spring was blooming inside of you.

The enthusiastic sounds of whooping and clapping could be heard and Kagome and Sesshoumaru separated long enough to see Kikyou and Inuyasha cheering them on enthusiastically from behind the front windows, the curtains pulled back.

Kikyou mouthed what could only be deduced as "Will you name your first daughter after me?!"

Kagome grinned, turning her attention back to Sesshoumaru and the more important matters at hand.

Such as making out with him until the cows came home.

Tugging him down by the shirt front, Kagome kissed him again, his warm lips still eliciting a feeling of empyrean in her.

'Hollywood and it's happily ever after ending will live to see another day. . .oh, oh, a little to the left. . .'

The sky fell, the ground collapsed, and Kagome didn't care because she was in love and content with the universe whilst standing in Sesshoumaru's embrace.

And for that she was thankful.

pops open bubbly End of story lovelies! WHEE! I hope you enjoyed reading it, for I surely enjoyed writing it! Now. . .

Let's PAR-TAY!

Sesshoumaru: Humph, drunken fool. What do you mean by "You're too good for me?" Nothing is too good for this Sesshoumaru.

Kagome: I take offense to that.

Sesshoumaru: Would it help if I kissed you passionately to make up for it?

Kagome: OK! Let's go!

Author: sees the two people face sucking Alright. . .need more booze now. . .'Ta Lovelies!

PS: I've got a new penname! It's 'sandalwoods' and no longer RiotGirl22. . .the change should be permanent by tomorrow. :-D!!

PPS: I drew a picture for Thankful. . .now all I have to do is work the damn scanner. . .so hopefully it'll be up on media miner sometime later. It'll say in my bio when. --

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Preview : Fidelity

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"Something funny about what I said Higurashi?"

Kagome smirked, walking into the office and leaning back to close the door with a dry 'click.'

"It's not what you said Kariudo, but how you said it. Like it was an obvious fact."

That got Sesshoumaru interested. "Isn't it?" he asked, fingers silently tapping opposite knuckles.

"No. Not to me," was the frank answer.

Sesshoumaru scrutinized his ever faithful secretary, someone whom had stayed with him and the company from day one, someone who would occasionally defy him.

Someone who looked damn good in a pair of purple Christian Dior pumps.

End Preview

This is my New Years fic because I've decided to skip Christmas, hee hee. Remember to check it out when it's posted! And oh please read Feels So Good and my latest fic Girl at the Corner! They're super groovy! ;;;