Enjoy this last chapter of Wrong Number Text.

The sequel, Life Goes On, has already begun. Please continue the story there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Wrong Number Text

Part 20

An Epilogue

Inuyasha barely dodged the french fry thrown at him from across the booth. In retaliation, he hurled a crumpled-up wrapper at Miroku's head, which bounced off harmlessly.

"Hey!" Miroku protested with a big show of rubbing his temple as if he'd been hit with something heavy and solid. When no one bought it, he leaned back into the padded seat and slurped noisily from his straw. "I can't believe you decided to go to a fast food restaurant rather than some fancy place, Kagome," he told the blue-eyed girl, who was delicately eating her own burger.

"I'm not a fancy restaurant kind of girl," Kagome responded honestly. "I can rough it!"

"Then we're going camping," Inuyasha said immediately.

"Are you really into nature?"

Inuyasha considered Sango's question for a moment, thoughtfully sipping his own drink. "Yeah, I guess. I love climbing trees and sleeping under the stars and stuff."

"Not to be a spoil sport or anything, but you realize I only just turned eighteen and still live at home with my mother, right?" Kagome, for once in her life, tried to be practical. A little shiver raced up her spine at the idea of being free for an entire night, out in the dark woods with her boyfriend.

Sango laughed openly at her best friend's question. "Kagome, we'll be done with school in a couple of weeks, and even so, I can totally see your mom encouraging you to go into the woods and have an adventure. She'd probably do your laundry and pack your bag for you!"

Kagome thought about it before grudgingly bobbing her head in affirmation, sticking a french fry into a small heap of ketchup. "Okay, that's true. I can see it, too."

"Let's make a weekend of it!" Miroku exclaimed, continuing to talk even as his hand sneakily went for Sango's thigh under the tabletop. "You two girls can bring your brothers and that little neighbor boy, Shippou, and we can go camping for the weekend to celebrate finishing up school!" Barely had he finished when Sango's fist collided not-so-playfully with his jaw.

"Just because we're dating doesn't mean you can feel me up inappropriately in public," she warned, her eyes flashing.

"So I can feel you up inappropriately in private?" Miroku translated hopefully.

Sango dug her elbow harshly into his ribs. "That joke is so played out. …But maybe."

"Kagome," Inuyasha said around his straw. "You have ketchup on your lip."

"See? Now that joke is played out." Kagome jabbed a finger in Inuyasha's direction. "Next, he'll pretend to kiss away the so-called ketchup, which isn't really there, just so that he has an excuse to kiss me!"

"No, actually, you really have ketchup on your face," he grumbled lowly, reaching out to swipe his thumb across the corner of her mouth. He then held his hand up to show her the smear of red. Before anyone could say anything, especially Kagome (whose cheeks were burning), he popped his thumb into his mouth to suck the ketchup off. Immediately, his eyes widened at how that probably looked to everyone, and the tips of his ears turned pink where they poked out through his long, dark hair.

Miroku chortled, and even Sango had to stifle a laugh at Kagome and Inuyasha's blushing faces as they both turned their eyes anywhere but on each other. It wasn't fair that the two of them were so shy around each other, terrible with public displays of affection more than handholding, yet she had to constantly fend off Miroku's wandering hands! Gently, trying to save them from the awkwardness of the situation (and Miroku's howling laughter wasn't helping), Sango said, "Why don't we head back to your place and do presents, eh Kagome?" She started collecting all of their trash to toss.

"Sure, that sounds nice," Kagome agreed immediately, finally meeting someone's eyes— Sango's, of course, she was still too embarrassed from what she'd said to Inuyasha to look at him directly yet.

"Yeah." Miroku wiped a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye with the back of his finger, still chuckling every few seconds. "And Inuyasha can finally meet your mom officially!"

"Wait! What? No!" Inuyasha interjected, panicking.

"Oh, calm down, my mom's going to love you." Kagome patted his hand, still avoiding eye contact. "You already met Souta, and he practically worships the ground you walk on. The hardest one to win over will be Grandfather. He thinks all boys are demons."

The group scooted out of booth and took their trays to the trash receptacle to dump their wrappers. On the way out the door, Inuyasha quietly grabbed Kagome around the wrist and tugged on her, effectively allowing Miroku and Sango to get ahead of them.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, turning to face him and looking up, her eyes focused on his nose, making her go just slightly crossed eyed in her attempt to keep from looking higher. After a few seconds, she noticed how fidgety he was, so she glanced up and saw that he was staring fixedly at a point over her shoulder, not meeting her eyes either. She tapped a finger on his chin until he finally looked at her.

"You didn't… that thing with the ketchup, you don't think that I didn't… that I don't want to kiss you, right?" he asked. His voice was very gruff, which Kagome was starting to notice it was whenever he was trying to cover an emotion he didn't agree with, like fear or nervousness.

Inuyasha may have been able to face down any big, hulking bully in school or a criminal on the streets (Wasn't it mentioned before? He once chased down a purse snatcher and pummeled the guy into the concrete!), but this tiny girl made him more anxious than he'd ever been before.

Thankfully, Kagome smiled up at him and to put his fears truly to rest, she swiftly stood up on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to his, silencing all the rest of his doubts.

"Now," she said, as she pulled away, "there will be plenty of time for kissing later. I want my presents!"

Later that night, as the group lounged in her family's living room, Kagome sighed happily. She was on the floor, her back pressed against Inuyasha's legs while he sat on the couch next to Souta, who had nodded off after a sugar crash. (The boy had eaten half the cake, easily, because of some dare from Kohaku and Shippou, who had gone home an hour before.) There was a small mountain of loot on the carpet— of clothes and jewelry and books and manga. Leaning against the wall was a new bow and arrow set for her to use in archery club; these were from Inuyasha, who insisted that weapons were a romantic gift, because they meant Kagome could protect herself, etc. (He'd been bewildered when Miroku and Sango had given him weird looks, but Kagome had squealed excitedly, which was all that truly mattered.)

Before anyone could say anything to disrupt the nice lull after the festivities, Kagome's phone let out a cheerful, trilling note from where it sat innocently on the table. "Probably yet another birthday well-wisher," Sango mumbled, her hand settled on her stomach as if fondly remembering the cake.

"Yeah, you'll have to explain to me who Kouga and Hojo are, again," Inuyasha muttered darkly, bending forward, so that his face was hanging upside down in front of Kagome's.

She pushed him away and reached for her phone. After opening the message and reading it silently, she adopted a confused expression.

"Who is it?" Miroku asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know, it's a wrong number text," Kagome mumbled thoughtfully, her eyes still glued to the screen. "Think I should respond?"

"NO!" everyone shouted simultaneously, lunging for the phone.

THE END
However, their story will continue in the soon-to-be-released Life Goes On sequel drabble collection. Soon, on an internet near you. ;] (Now posted!)