Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.

Summary: "I can never be sure that you see me and not Kikyo when you look at me, InuYasha, so I can't come to your world anymore."

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Main Difference

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"Kagome, what are you doing? Saying goodbye to everyone like that…you act like you're never coming back!" InuYasha barked at the priestess sitting astride the well before him. His heart beat madly in his chest as fear took hold of him, though he covered it up with anger easily. Could she really mean to leave his world forever, to never come back? Her scent held no hesitation; she had made a decision and she would stand by it, he knew.

"I am, InuYasha. I can't stay here anymore; I have to get back to my time with my family and friends, where I belong." Smelling the tears that shimmered in her eyes, his chest ached. He wanted nothing more than to grab her away from the well and destroy the thing that took her out of his reach, his body shaking with the effort not to do so.

"What about your friends here, Kagome?" he demanded, gruffly, though his voice shook. Didn't she think of Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara as her friends, too? Didn't they mean anything to her?

Didn't he?

She sighed softly, still looking only into the well. "I'll miss them, of course. But I don't belong here, InuYasha. I belong in the world I was born in, not the one I fell into by mistake. It was just by some weird twist of fate that I was even able to pass through the well at all." She kicked her feet absently, clutching the wood of the well.

"What do you mean you don't belong here?! Don't you realize that you had to come here to destroy Naraku, to get rid of the Jewel? This is where you're supposed to be otherwise you wouldn't have fallen through the well at all!

"If you hadn't fallen through the well, you would have lived in a world ruled by Naraku! Miroku would have been sucked up by his Wind Tunnel because Naraku wouldn't be dead, Shippo would've probably been eaten or something by another demon, and Sango would have followed her family into death! And I would still be stuck to the Goshinboku under Kikyo's spell." He said the last softly, almost afraid to speak the words aloud. The thought was horrible. To have never met Kagome, to have never become friends with the others; it brought loneliness into the forefront of his heart. He couldn't picture his life without his annoying, mix-n-match group of friends, without Kagome.

"If it weren't for me, the Jewel would have never been shattered into all those shards! It's all my fault; everyone who died because of those stupid things, their blood is on my hands!" Finally, her eyes swung to meet his, full of angry tears. "And you can't tell me otherwise; I'm not an idiot! My stupid actions caused all of that! Me!"

"The hell I can't! It wasn't your fault! You couldn't have known what would happen; you were only trying to save that kid from getting eaten by the damned crow! And you didn't make all those demons go crazy trying to get those stupid things for themselves, so you can just shut the hell up! None of it was your fault! Kikyo couldn't have thought of the way to purify the Jewel like you did, either!" It hurt to mention his dead lover, but he had to get his point across. She had done better than Kikyo would have even under the pressure she was under. Kikyo had been a great priestess, but he could never be sure that she wouldn't have chosen to escape the darkness rather than wait for him to save her.

Perhaps it was because she had never had to rely on him to save her. Kagome trusted him with her life, but Kikyo had never had to put her life in his hands, so they'd never created that kind of trust between them.

Kagome stiffened as she took in his words. Eyes drifting back into the darkness that was the bottom of the well, she replied in a small voice, "Even when you don't mean to, you compare me to her. And I can't stay here…because I can never be sure that you see me and not Kikyo when you look at me, InuYasha. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did."

His mouth went dry at her words. Comparing her to Kikyo? Hell, he says something one time and then she suddenly decided that he was always comparing the two? "I don't compare you two, Kagome. You are two separate people, and I know it." Very well, he added to himself.

"Sometimes, I don't think you do," she murmured, as if she didn't intend for him to hear. Her head swung up, gaze flaming with her easy temper. "If you could tell me three things about me that you can tell apart from her, it would be a miracle!"

Why was she so angry with him now? He hadn't even done anything! And what did she mean by that statement, anyways?! As if he couldn't tell her apart from Kikyo! They weren't that alike! "I could give you a hundred differences, but that wouldn't make you stay, would it?"

"Then do it."

He blinked at her, surprised at her quick answer. He watched almost blindly as she swung her legs back to his side of the well, feet hitting the grass with a soft thud. She crossed her arms over her chest before she walked slowly towards him. "Huh?" He was a transfixed by the sway of her body for a moment; no matter what they were arguing about, something about her made his mind go blank and his libido jump.

"Give me as many differences as you can come up with and I'll think about staying."

Was she serious? Weren't they obvious? "Well, Kikyo was taller than you, for one." Her scent hit his nose, spiking with anger. Oh, gods, what had he said this time? He was only doing as she asked! "What's wrong; why're you angry?"

She rolled her eyes, arms raising wildly in the air. "Anyone can tell me that kind of thing! She's taller than you, her hair is longer than yours, you're tanner than she is! If that's all you can give me, then I think it's time I went home." She turned towards the well once more. "Forget it. Goodbye, InuYasha."

"Her eyes weren't as brown as yours!"

He didn't know where it came from, but when she froze, he guessed that he hadn't put his foot in it again. Maybe if—just this once, when no one else was around—he just let himself say whatever he wanted, she would stay. Maybe she would decide to stay with him if he just kept talking.

"And her hair wasn't as shiny as yours, or as thick. You're more outgoing than she was, and more trusting. Though that isn't necessarily a good thing," he added lowly, glaring at her as she turned around. "Honestly, not everyone is as good as you seem to think they are! You can't take everyone at face value!"

He would have continued his little tirade, but her eyes were twinkling as she looked up at him, a small smile coming to her lips. A little frightened by her sudden mood change, InuYasha became wary, slowly pushing on.

"And her eyes never did that, either," he said, regretting the words almost immediately. A small blush spread across his cheeks and his eyes drifted towards the ground. I sound like an idiot! Why the fuck do I ever even open my mouth?

"Did what?"

He spared her the tiniest glance before he folded his arms in his sleeves and straightened his back, turning his head to the side to scoff, "That weird twinkling thing in your eyes that happens when you're happy or excited or something."

Quite suddenly, he felt her weight hit him, knocking him off his feet only because he hadn't been ready for it. With a small yelp, he grabbed her upper arms, taking as much of the impact off her as possible. He opened his eyes, looking down at the top of her head with another blush at the position they were in.

Her cheek was pressed into his chest, her arms going around his waist. She snuggled closer to him, not seeming to care much if anyone saw them. "Thank you, InuYasha. Thank you."

Not completely sure what to do when placed in this situation, he let one arm rest across the small of her back, leaning back into the grass. What was he supposed to do? Push her off and tell her to get the hell away? That wouldn't be a good idea, if he was trying to convince her to stay. But he didn't want to hold her too tight just in case he got her angry again.

They lay there in silence for a little while, neither moving. The breeze brought Kagome's hair to tease InuYasha's nose, making him sneeze a time or two, but that didn't break the moment. In fact, they lay there quietly for so long that InuYasha worried that Kagome had fallen asleep. But, seeing as he could only see the top of her head, he couldn't tell whether she was or not.

Soon, it didn't matter, however; InuYasha himself fell asleep and everything around them was calm.