I again do not own Inuyasha and its characters. Although I wish I did, as most of us Inuyasha lovers do. Thanks for the reviews they are all appreciated and were welcomed with a smile…I promise! On with the chapter…

Fair Trade

Chapter 23.

At seven in the morning the household staff was already awake and bustling about the mansion sweeping, dusting, polishing, washing and well you get the idea. The kitchen was emitting mouthwatering smells as usual while the maids in the laundry were pressing linen while humming a happy tune. Animals outside were awakening getting ready for their busy day, the sun peeping over the horizon caressing the earth with warmth while the sky burned a red orange that would lighten as the sun rose higher throughout the day.

Inuyasha walked into the front doors of the mansion with a grim face despite the beginnings of a beautiful day outside. A sigh escaped his throat as he put on a casual face and walked more into the foyer. Miroku was the first one to spot him and he came over with a smile. "Hey Yash. How was the trip, meet any interesting ladies?"

"I was avoiding them actually, they all were vying for my attention and it was annoying. Kyoko asked me to tell you hello though." Inuyasha replied boredly.

Miroko's smile brightened. "Ah, my friend Kyoko. I must call her sometime and chat."

Inuyasha made his way to the stairs. "She also wanted me to tell you that she is married."

Miroku sighed dejectedly for a second before he shrugged. "Oh well." He replied.

"Would you call my pain of a brother and tell him to send Shippou home? He's been there too long already, I bet he misses Kagome. And if he starts making noise about me picking him up myself tell him to send Rin too. The longest I'll keep her is a week." Inuyasha called as he disappeared up the stairs.

"Great." Miroku shuddered, "I get ten minutes of torture because Inuyasha's too lazy to go get his kid."

"I heard that you lecher!" Inuyasha yelled from upstairs.

Miroku walked away to go make the call grumbling along the way.

Tossing his briefcase into his study Inuyasha walked into his bedroom and glanced at the bed only to find Kagome not in it, as he expected. He could smell her though so she was in the house somewhere. Good. He had a little more time before he had to go and face her. Shouldering off his shirt he walked into the bathroom to take a refreshing shower. He came out fifteen minutes later with his necklace in hand and damp silver hair flowing down his back meeting the towel that was wrapped around his waist. A flick of the wrist sent the necklace onto the red satin sheets of the bed. He was going to face Kagome in his true form, maybe it would help. Taking a minute to put on boxer briefs, a white t-shirt and khakis he walked out of his room.

"Angel!" Inuyasha bellowed as he descended the stairs.

"Angel!" he said again two seconds later.

"Yes sir?" she appeared at the foot of the stairs with a towel in hand.

"Where's Kagome?" he asked walking pass her leaving her to catch up with him.

"Uh, I haven't seen her since last night before I went to bed. She was getting some chips from the kitchen then." She answered shakily as she tried to catch up.

"Thanks." He said quickly and turned in the direction of the kitchen leaving her behind.

"Where is she?" he asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Haven't a clue." The cook called over her shoulder.

He walked back out and into the hall and spotted Miroku.

"Roku! Where's Gome?" he asked impatiently.

Miroku gestured for Inuyasha to follow him while he spoke. "Shippou isn't awake yet but Sesshomaru said that Shippou and Rin will be here by ten. Rin is staying for three days and then she goes home on Thursday. Miss Kagome is in here but be quiet she's still asleep." He finished as he led Inuyasha into the game room.

She was there in his red t-shirt and a pair of his black boxer briefs sleeping on one of the four couches in front of the flat screen TV with a game controller in her hand and her head on someone's lap. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he looked over the boy. He had dark brown hair and a boyish face that was maturing but he couldn't see the eye color because they were closed. The dark haired boy was sprawled in the same couch as Kagome with his head tossed back snoring, and a game controller lying limp in one hand while the other rested on Kagome's head. They looked comfortable. A bit too comfortable for his liking. Who the hell was this kid and what was he doing in here with his Kagome all night, playing his games in his game room in his house? He turned to Miroku.

"Who the hell is he? And what is he doing here?" Inuyasha barked.

"Ssh! Don't get upset it's jus-"

"Don't get upset?! Whoever he is-" Inuyasha pointed to the boy in the couch, "-just spent the whole night in my house with Kagome! And one of you had to let him in!" Inuyasha fumed. "So who is he?"

Miroku, unmoved by his friend's outburst, finished his sentence. " her brother. They were playing games all night and dosed off."

Inuyasha's hand dropped limply to his side and he blinked. "Her brother?"

Miroku nodded. "her brother. And before you ask yes I'm sure."

There was a groan and then a yawn from the couch. Inuyasha and Miroku turned their attention simultaneously to the dark haired boy that got up and stretched. He turned and brown eyes met gold and violet ones.

"Mornin." He smiled sheepishly and glanced at his watch. "Hey Miroku would you tell sis that I left for class when she wakes? I don't want to be the one to wake her, she's like a dragon when woken too early." He finished with a grimace.

"Good Morning Souta, and sure I'll let her know." Miroku replied.

Souta walked over to them and stopped to look at Inuyasha. "Hey." He blinked. " Are you Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha paused a minute and then nodded. "Yeah, what's it to you runt?"

Souta folded his arms and stood straighter. "I may be younger than you" he started and noticed he had to look up slightly to meet Inuyasha's narrowed eyes, "and shorter" he added. "But I will hurt you if you break my sister's heart." He glared.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. The kid had guts he'd give him that. "feh whatever. I wasn't planning on hurtin her." after today. He thought to himself.

Souta narrowed his eyes watching him intently for a few seconds then he relaxed and nodded. "good. Cool place by the way and the games are awesome too. Make sure you take care of sis." He paused a second, then "Nice claws, are they sharp?" he asked curiously.

"Let me see your hand." He told Souta, and when the boy lifted his right hand Inuyasha made a quick flick of the wrist slicing the leather wristwatch band and letting the watch fall to the floor.

"Nice." Souta smiled. "But now you owe me a watch."

Inuyasha shrugged and removed his Rolex from his wrist. "Here, now go to class."

Souta took the watch and put it on. "Cool thanks! Later!" Souta smiled and then left.

Inuyasha turned away from a curious looking Miroku. "Go away and keep everyone away from here for an hour. I need to talk to Kagome about something." With that said Inuyasha pushed Miroku out and closed the door.

Someone was shaking her. She was tired and didn't want to wake up yet. But they would not stop shaking her. Why? Why wouldn't they just let her sleep?

"leave…me..aloone." she groaned groggily and tried to go back to sleep.

"Kagome."

She had heard her name; the person was calling her trying to wake her from her dream. No. she was dreaming of chocolate. The yummy, gooey, melt-in-your-mouth-smooth chocolate. Mmmm.

"Kagome, wake up." The voice called.

Inuyasha her mind sang. She smiled. Now it was Inuyasha she was dreaming about. The delicious chocolate drizzled on his flat muscular stomach, her tongue licking sucking…

"Kagome!"

Her eyes shot open and she stiffened. Gold eyes met her brown ones with a small smile. She smiled back. "Inu." she croaked out her voice husky from sleep. His golden orbs darkened and he raised a clawed thumb to caress her bottom lip. "Good morning beautiful. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine I guess. I missed you though. Hey where's Souta?" she asked looking around the game room couches.

"He left word for you that he went to get ready for class." Inuyasha smiled as she yawned. Placing a kiss on her nose he whispered. "I missed you too."

She chuckled and kissed him on the mouth. "Good Morning. How was your trip?"

"It was alright, but we'll talk about that later. I have something I want to tell you." He replied, a sad look crossing his face before he could hide it.

She motioned to sit up and Inuyasha understood and helped her then sat beside her. Kagome looked at him, waiting.

"I'm dropping the agreement." He blurted a second later. Kagome went to reply but he spoke before she could. "I'm ridding you of your title as mistress; I never really treated you like one anyway. You've become so much more than a mistress. I don't want you to stay here because you have to. I want you to stay because you want to. So as of today you're free to pack and leave if that's what you want." Inuyasha said softly looking everywhere else but her.

"Do you want me to stay?" she asked quietly a moment later.

"Yes I want you to stay, but there is something else you need to know before you decide." Running his clawed fingers through his hair Inuyasha got up off of the couch and knelt before Kagome and placed his head into her lap. Kagome wasted no time putting her fingers into her hanyou's soft silver tresses.

"I have no idea how she did it, but the day you were in the crash with that bastard Naraku, Kikyo had somehow gotten into my office unnoticed and slipped something into my coffee. Everything was okay for a while but then I started feeling dizzy and everything was fuzzy." He paused to place a kiss on Kagome's exposed thigh before continuing. "I don't know how but I managed to get home and into my bed, everything was a jumble after that. I don't remember anything up until the point where I woke up that evening with someone in the bed with me." Inuyasha looked up into Kagome's face and into her eyes, confusion in their depths. "I honestly thought that it was you in bed with me Kagome." He looked away and stood up. "It was that conniving little bitch instead!" he seethed. "I wanted to kill her when I realized it wasn't you. It makes me so angry that I had sex with her." He barked and kicked one of the other couches.

Kagome sat there a hand covering her mouth. Inuyasha slept with Kikyo. The words rang through her head clearly twisting her heart. Inuyasha how could you… No! her mind screamed. He didn't want to, he was tricked! He thought that it was me he was with. He was…drugged. He never would have slept with Kikyo otherwise! This time her heart spoke to her. 'Poor Inuyasha' she thought to herself, looking at her hanyou and he raged. They tricked both of us.

Taking a much needed deep breath Inuyasha turned and sat down next to Kagome on the couch again. He took her hands in his own and placed a kiss on each palm. "I blame myself for not being ahead of Naraku and Kikyo's scheme's."

"How could you know Inuyasha, you're not like them, you didn't know what they were thinking. They're to blame for their actions not you." Kagome spoke softly for the first time since his outburst.

"Are you upset? Do you want to leave?" Inuyasha asked quietly.

With a smile and love in her heart she kissed his forehead. "Of course I'm upset, but with her not you. I'm not sure if I want to stay yet though."

Inuyasha stood and turned his back toward her. "Last night was miserable without you. Kagome, I really want you to stay with me. I can't imagine life without you. I know I'll make you upset and angry but I will try my hardest to make you happy. And one day maybe you'll learn to love me as I've come to love you." He finished.

Kagome gasped. "Dear god tell me I just heard right." She pleaded aloud. "Inuyasha did you just say you love me?" she asked walking over to his back which was facing her.

He turned and faced her. "I know it's hard to believe but yes I do love you. And I know you don't feel the same but-"

"Ssh." Kagome interrupted him with a finger to his lips. "I love you, Inuyasha."

His eyes widened and a fraction of a second later Kagome was in him arms, her lips captured in a heart melting kiss.

They parted for air and with a confident smile on his face he looked her in the eye. "Will you put me out of my misery and become my wife?"

A smile widened Kagome's face and her heart overflowed with love. "Yes."

Inuyasha 'whooped' happily and planted a hungry kiss on her lips.

They were still together in lip-lock when the door was flung open. "Daddy! I'm home – eww gross!" Shippou squealed.

Inuyasha and Kagome pulled apart their attention on him. "Shippou." Inuyasha smiled. "Welcome home buddy." He smiled and picked said boy up into his arms.

"Why were you kissing Gome? You're gonna give her cooties!" Shippou whined.

Kagome chuckled. "That's not true Shippou, girls are the ones that give the cooties." She teased placing four smacking kisses on his face as she tickled his ribs.

"No! Cooties!" he howled laughing and squirming.

"Where's Rin?" Inuyasha asked him when he calmed down.

"Playing piggy back with Miroku, they were coming this way." He answered looking at the door.

"Here we are!" Rin called a second later from Miroku's back as he entered the game room.

"Hey guys. Morning lady Kagome." Miroku smiled.

Kagome smiled back. "Morning Miroku, Rin."

"Yeah, yeah enough with that stuff, I have some important news." Inuyasha butted in.

Everyone except Kagome asked "What?"

Placing an arm around Kagome's shoulders he smiled. "Kagome and I are getting married."

"Wow, it's about time you came to your senses. Congrats!" Miroku patted Inuyasha on the back.

"What does that mean?" Rin asked.

"That means that Kagome's gonna be my new mommy, right dad?" Shippou asked looking at Inuyasha for confirmation.

"That's right runt. Do you want Kagome for a mommy?" Inuyasha asked him.

For an answer Shippou just smiled and called out, "Hey Rin, guess what! I'm getting a new mommy!"

"You're so lucky. Wanna go play?" Rin smiled.

"You bet!" he smiled as Inuyasha set him down.

Miroku set Rin down as well and the two ran off. "Bye daddy! Bye Mommy!" Shippou smiled back happily before taking off after Rin.

"I'll go talk to Sango and the staff." Miroku said before walking out to give the lovebirds privacy.

A month packed with announcements and wedding planning, rush delivery of the flowers and invitations, measurements and material clippings and samples, cake decorating and all of the other details that go into planning a wedding later, Inuyasha and Kagome were married in front of their friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances, repeating their vows to each other with smiles on their face and love in their hearts. The beautiful ending to that beautiful day was the reception full of laughter and smiles, singing, dancing and happiness.

Sesshomaru looked around the Reception tent with a small grimace. He didn't understand what all the fuss was about really and wouldn't have come had it not been for Rin who was currently with Shippou under the tables raiding the candy bowls. Sango and Miroku were sitting at the wedding party table trying to argue quietly about something. While Mr. Higurashi was in a conversation with one of the guests and Mrs. Higurashi was busy cooing over Rin and Shippou, the couple of the hour was hand in hand on the dance floor sharing their first dance. Sesshomaru sighed inwardly, Humans.

Inuyasha clad in a white tuxedo and black hair pulled into a low ponytail smiled lovingly at his bride, oblivious of the few ladies that turned their eyes away as jealously gripped them. "I love you." He whispered in her ear.

Kagome, clad in a stunning, white sweet heart neckline mermaid style dress with beading all through the structured bodice and black curls tumbling from her romantic up do, turned shining brown eyes to his face. "I love you too Inuyasha." She smiled and kissed him.

He stood there behind the bushes near the mansion, binoculars hanging from his neck, a brokenhearted look on his face.

"Why Kagome? Why didn't you be a good girl and die like you were supposed to?" He asked himself. He swore harshly. She was his dammit!

A sad empty feeling gripped him suddenly and he shivered. "We were supposed to be together, it was me you should be marrying. What does he have that I don't?" A lone tear escaped from his pale face as he spoke.

Turning away from the scene he punched the ground. Brushing the stupid tear away he fixed the binoculars back to his eyes and screwed his face into a smile.

"I'm still watching you Kagome."

The End

Hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you think. Remember to review, thanks!