Summary: The now demon Inuyasha's eyes stared down at the shredded body of Kagome, his conscious screaming at him, and his claws flexed as the blood ran off the tips of his fingers. No,' he said in his mind 'no, I…I didn't…I couldn't kill Kagome….Kagome…my Kagome.'

Chapter 1:

Temporary Relief

Kagome sighed as she sat down to her desk, backpack at her side, and prepared to start her math homework. She had been missing so much of school lately. Inuyasha seemed to be on a war path at the moment with his constant need to find the jewel shards. His searching had started to really eat into her life back in the present and she was falling farther and farther behind in her school work.

'Whyyyyyyyy me?' Kagome thought to herself tiredly as she slouched down into the desk chair. Kagome pulled her math book out of her backpack and onto the desk, reluctantly turning the pages to her assignment.

As Kagome scanned over the problems she felt her mood begin to darken more and more as the problems made less and less sense. Her pencil fell out of her hand and her eyes close as something hot began to sting at the corners of her eyes.

Thud!

Her head had fallen hard onto the desk in defeat. Kagome scrunched her eyes together to hold back the tears that so desperately had been fighting to spill out for the past month! Things were crashing over her mind like rogue waves and as her tears began to fall down her face, her throat got tighter as sobs built up inside her.

'Why am I crying? I have no good reason to be crying.' Kagome thought numbly as she found the strength to open her eyes and stare at the desk. 'It's not like my entire school life has fallen apart, I never get to see my family anymore, I've been traveling around putting my life at risk just to find some stupid jewel, and put up with some big fat fucking jerk!'

"AHHHH!!! I hate my life!!" She moaned out loudly as she her head back to stare up at the ceiling.

"Jeez, what's got you so mad?" a familiar voice asked as Kagome 'eeped' lightly and sat up straight in her chair, her head snapping in the direction of the voice. Sure enough, the owner of the voice, a hanyou clad in a red haori, sat on sill of her window. His golden orbs bore through her as he hopped off of the sill and came to stand in front of her, and bent down to her level. "What? Are ya gonna say something or just keep staring at me like that?" Inuyasha snapped.

Kagome's mouth gaze had been frozen onto Inuyasha this entire time and quickly snapped out of her stupor at his snappy comment. Her surprise quickly flashed into embarrassment as she realized that he had just caught her in a mid meltdown; there were probably tear tracks still on her cheeks. She quickly turned her head away from Inuyasha to stare at her door as her hands flew to her cheeks quickly wiping away any evidence of her cry fest.

"Inu..Inuyasha, what are you do..doing here?" She stuttered as she warily looked at him over her shoulder. "You're not supposed to come get me for another two days?!"

The hanyou shifted around Kagomes shoulder and leaned over to get a better look at her face. His nose twitched as he took in her scent, it seemed to be the same, but he could smell the faint hint of salt mixed in.

"Have you been crying?" Inuyasha asked bluntly as he kept prying around her shoulder, Kagome cringing forward to further hide her face.

"No! I am not crying!" Kagome spoke up stubbornly as she swiftly turned in the chair to stare Inuyasha face to face. His face was closer to hers than she had expected and could feel his hot breathe slowly splash across her face. "Now w..why are you he...hear?" she stammered out harshly, her gazing meeting his.

Inuyasha wasn't fazed in the least by the small amount of distance between their faces, and even moved in closer a little before swiftly snapping up into a full standing position. He crossed his arms across his chest and turned his nose up towards the ceiling as he spoke, "You've been gone for a whole day now and apparently there's a hoard of demons somewhere up in the mountains near the village. Sango spotted them as she was scouting yesterday," he spoke evenly as he then slowly turned to face Kagome, "and we believe there might be a jewel shard among them."

Kagome listened carefully to all of this as she felt the veil of sleep starting to fall over her mind. She stifled a yawn with her hand as Inuyasha finished his story and stared up at him lazily. "So you want me to come back to the feudal era to find a jewel shard that may NOT even be there?" she questioned harshly as she stood up from her chair. "You know Inuyasha, I have a lot of work I have to do hear to ya know," Kagome said pointing out the fact that this crazy goose chase for the Shikon no Tama had seriously been eating into her personal and school life, "and I think it would be best if I stayed here for another two, maybe even four days, to catch up on my OWN stuff."

With an "hmph" Kagome turned her back on Inuyasha sauntered over to her bed where she began to pull back her sheets and plop down on the comfy mattress. Inuyashsa's expression was one of true surprise and anger. His mouth, that had been hanging open, shut with and audible snap and his eyes narrowed to stare down at Kagome.

"What did you say, wench? Do you think your little problems are more important or something? We have a lead on a jewel shard and you decide that you would rather just stay do your OWN thing?" Inuyasha's voice was incredulous as he continued to stare down at her from where he stood, his mouth clenched shut. Kagome's expression was one of boredom as she let out a sigh and stared back at Inuyasha trying to stay calm. She didn't feel like fighting with him right now.

"Look, Inuyasha, I just have a lot on my plate. I'm swamped with stuff!" her voice was becoming pleading as she dropped her gaze from his eyes to her comforter, "we can go back to the feudal era tomorrow evening, after I go to school. I just…need to catch up…and…and to breathe." Her resolve had broken as she gave into inuyasha's request, or more like command, to leave. Kagome felt the hot prickling against her eyes once again as she continued staring down at her bed. 'Why can't he just understand that sometimes I need a little time to myself, to catch up with all of my stuff? He's so selfish. I know this is important and we need to get the jewel shards before Naraku, but…but how much more can I take?'

Kagome let out a pitiful sigh as she closed her eyes to hide the tears. Falling back against the comforter she mumbled out a goodnight to Inuyasha and reached over to turn out her lamp next to the bed, darkness enveloped the room instantly.

As a deep silence, save for Kagome's steady breathing, fell over the room Inuyasha let his arms fall to his sides and eyes soften. 'Were those tears again?' he thought to himself as he stared down at the young woman. He suddenly felt a tinge of guilt start to pull at his heart, but pushed it aside, he was too prideful to feel sorry for pushing to find the sacred jewel shards.

Inuyasha stepped forward carefully through the room over to Kagome's side of the bed and looked down at her. Her face was somewhat scrunched together in an expression of what looked like sadness, and it made the feeling of guilt smack Inuyasha in the back of the head. He couldn't help it. He did feel bad for making Kagome sad, but the urgency to get the jewel shards was his primary concern…right? Inuyasha knelt down calmly to be level with the bed and gently laid a hand on the side of Kagome's cheek. This gesture surprised him as he seemed to do it instinctively, but made no move to move his hand. He just kept it where it was, happy to feel the warmth of her skin.

Kagome's expression seemed to soften under his touch and a small smile played across the hanyou's lips. "Damnit! Why do I feel so bad now?" Inuyasha asked himself quietly as he slowly picked his hand up off of Kagome's cheek and walked over to the walk next to the bed. He leaned his back against it and slid down it to the floor, his eyes shutting together tightly. "She's mad at me…and I'm gonna have to make it up to her…but…I don't wanna have to wait another fucking three or four days?!" he hissed out as he took a few deep breaths trying to steady himself.

After a few moments of silence Inuyasha's gaze got heavier and heavier as his lids started to fall over his vision. His breathing slowed down and before he knew it, sleep took hold of him. In his dream world, he saw himself with the full Shikon jewel in his grasp and his eyes glowing red, his claws growing. Kagome was in the background looking at his transformation in horror, and his eyes swiveled to the direction of the girl. An animal-like snarl ripped through his chest as he launched himself towards her. Red slashes flashed out towards her, and he could hear her echoing through the forest. The now demon Inuyasha's eyes stared down at the shredded body of Kagome, his conscious screaming at him, and his claws flexed as the blood ran off the tips of his fingers. 'No…' he said in his mind 'no, I…I didn't…I couldn't kill Kagome….Kagome…my Kagome.'

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open to stare out into absolute blackness. The sound of breathing flooded his ears, as the ones on the top of his head swiveled in the direction of it. "Kagome?" he asked softly.

Looking over to the bed, his eyes adjusting quickly, he saw the even fall and rise of Kagome's chest as she lay peacefully in bed, asleep. Inuyasha let out a sigh of relief as his gaze dropped to the ground, a hand coming up to cover his eyes. It pressed roughly against his face, as he tried to force the memory out of his mind…and tried to comprehend what he had said. 'Did I really call Kagome…mine?'

Welllll, there you have it. My first installment of A Ripple in Time, I hope you enjoyed it! Does Inuyasha tell Kagome of his dream and accept the fact he called her his? How does he make it up to Kagome and does she actually go back with him to the feudal era? All very good questions, with soon to come answers. I should have the chapter up soon enough, maybe even in like two days before school starts so everyone will have something to tide them over while I'm busy. I would really love your reviews and tips on this story! Even if you have ideas or some drama you think might be fun to throw in I would love to hear about it!!! IMPORTANT: Just so you all know, the main plot to the story is Kagome and Inuyasha are verrrry close to having the whole Shikon Jewel completed and Inuyasha is 'planning', meaning he's becoming ify, on using it to become a full fledge demon and is starting to really push Kagome away. On the way there are fights, confessions, mistakes, decisions, and perhaps death. I can't reveal a lot, but you'll all see soon enough! One thing I will say is that there's a reason for this being InuXKag, if you haven't already caught on. ;) Anywho, thank you for reading, now go review!!

Sincerely,

CinnamonPita