Hey there ladies and gents. Here's another Inu/Kag romance. This one doesn't have quite the same ending, however. You'll see what I mean.

I don't own Inuyasha; all rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

All in Shades of Red

Poppy

Years have come and gone since that day, but the memory is still vivid in my mind.

I remember the feeling of Mistress Centipede's many cold arms embracing me as she pulled me down into the well's mystic depths, taking me from my home and into a time not my own. Then came the odd sensation of floating. It wasn't completely unpleasant, simply uncomfortable; to feel almost weightless was rather disconcerting.

Most of all... I remember the way things seemed to slow the first time I saw you. You looked so surreal, and for an instant, I was convinced that all of it was nothing but a dream. You looked so beautiful, and so sad. The silver of your hair shimmered like ice under the sun. Your face was still, yet utterly tormented, as though you were having a nightmare. Thick roots and blossoming vines crept up your legs and wound around your hips, cradling you like a mother would a babe. You seemed to be one and the same... a tragic hero and an ancient tree.

I remember staring profusely at the shaft of the arrow that protruded from your breast, thinking to myself that you looked every bit like a heartbroken young prince, swathed in poppy red robes.

I remember meeting Kaede, and feeling a strange sense of recognition toward her, though I had never met the woman before. It was horrid, to be treated as though you were not normal... as though you were otherworldly. At first they thought me to be a monster... and then they looked upon me as though I were some sort of holy relic.

I remember the fear and the shock of learning where I was - of what had transpired. It was confusing, and at times it still is. How something like this could even be possible is beyond my grasp.

I remember the pain. I believe I may have forgotten it for an instant, however, when I noted that a small, glowing orb had just been extracted from my body. But then it came back to me. Hot, white, stabs of agony lancing through my body, snaking up from my side and burrowing into my brain. I was bleeding. In my mind, it wasn't real. Something like this was simply too bizarre to be real.

You spoke to me, and I remember your voice well. It was rough and boyish at the same time, and it made an odd sensation pass through my body. At the time, I had no idea how to explain it. Now, I would say that the best way to describe it would be... integral. As strange as it may be... the moment you came to life before me... I felt a void that I never knew I carried become full. I felt whole. It seemed as though Fate had arranged our meeting, and on that day my purpose was made clear.

"You alright?"

She started, shaken from her reverie. Her eyes turned from the fire, up into blazing, golden depths. Blinking away the haze of old memories, she stammered, "Uh...what?"

"You look worried," he explained, folding himself into a sitting position next to her. The rough material of his fire-rat haori brushed against her arm. She shivered.

Kagome shook her head reassuringly. "Not worried, just remembering."

His keen eyes picked up the prickling of the hair on her arms, and his sensitive hearing caught the almost inaudible sound of her teeth chattering behind closed lips. Slipping off his robe, he placed it carefully over her shoulders. She turned to look at him, her eyes kind. The grateful, gentle glow they held never failed to make his cheeks burn. Becoming flustered, he muttered, "Don't need you catching a cold again."

She watched as he rose hastily and went to the small pile of logs at the other side of the clearing. He tossed a small piece onto the fire, sending a cloud of smoke and a whirl of sparks into the calm night air. Kagome noted that the fire did not need any more wood. It was, in fact, still burning very brightly, and had more than enough logs to keep it blazing for some time. A smile slid across her lips. Her poor, easily flustered hanyou.; he was so very obvious.

Their eyes met again, but he quickly turned away, his cheeks still stained with a deep blush. The young woman continued to watch him as he went about the campsite, doing unnecessary things to make himself seem busy. A giggle passed her lips, and she heard him growl.

Sighing, she pulled the fabric of his haori to her chin, pinching it shut at the front. She felt his heat, bathed in it under the thick, coarse material of his robe. His smell was on it too, and she couldn't help but to bury her nose in the collar and inhale deeply, drowning herself in the scent of pine trees and rain.

His fragrance was so wild and natural. It was one of the things she had always really enjoyed about him. The overpowering stench of cologne was never present, nor the smell of hair or skin products. It was just... him: clean and unchanging. It made her feel alive, like everything in the world was as it should be. It made her feel safe and protected - free and exuberant.

Kagome decided that that was what had made her adore him so, the fact that the smallest things about him made her feel everything so strongly. He elicited a sort of awakening in her; made her want to live and appreciate being alive. What he stood for made her remember what living was truly about.

It wasn't about money or material possessions or how people saw you... it was about being grateful. It was the simpler things in life that really mattered. The people who lived here... they had nothing. They worked until they bled and they didn't make a cent. They only did it to support themselves and their families... and they were happy. When she was here, with him, she felt that sort of simple happiness, and it felt much better than material happiness.

She took one last sniff of his robe before shimmying over to her sleeping role and hunkering down for the night. Whispering a quick goodnight to Inuyasha, who she knew was still fully awake and alert, she drifted off into slumber.

He caught her quiet words, smiling as he listened to the sound of her heartbeat slowing, signaling that she had fallen asleep.

Inuyasha watched her for some time, studying the way she breathed and the small twitch of her nose as a strand of her hair fell in her face. The light of the fire bathed her in a brilliant gleam, illuminating her serene features. She looked so peaceful.

Finally, deciding it best that he got some shut eye as well, the hanyou settled at the bottom of a tree across from her. He whispered the same words she had to him a short time ago, and watched her grin in her sleep. Her tiny hands pulled his poppy red robes closer.

Okay, chapter one. So, a bit different, but I really like this story. It's simple and sweet, and I hope all of you feel the same way.

Next one will be up shortly… R&R please!