DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
WORDCOUNT: 1306
SUMMARY: Let's see... Unsaid words. Unsaid words. And one hanyou unable to say them.
PAIRINGS: Kagome/Inuyasha, Kikyou/Inuyasha(implied)
FEEDBACK: Send it. I'll take good care of it.
THANK YOU: to bashipforever and amaraanon. hugs

WITH YOU
by Leni

Inuyasha glared moodily at the sky, then back at Kagome, who was too busy yawning as she smoothed her sleeping bag on the ground to notice his annoyance. He huffed loudly, not to attract her attention but because he felt like it.

Kagome stopped and craned her neck backwards, looking at him interrogatively.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against a trunk. "Tomorrow it's
new moon night," he bit out.

Kagome blinked, then reached into her bag for a pillow. "I know," she told him nonchalantly as she returned to prepare her makeshift bedding for the night. But before she stopped to rub her bare arms. In their haste to leave for Torisai, she'd forgotten to pack a decent sweater.

Inuyasha frowned, and he absently broke a nearby branch to feed it to their fire. "We are still two journeys away from the village," he tried again.

Unseen to him, Kagome's lips pursed. If he went on about how her human weakness didn't help and only slowed them even further, she'd sit him. She really would.

But he went on a tangent instead. "We should have brought the monk along, and why would Sango want to leave right now?"

Kagome smiled to herself. She had a couple of ideas about Sango's sudden decision to visit her old home and the suspicious synchrony of Miroku heading off to see Mushin at the same time. "They have their own concerns," she told Inuyasha, keeping her impressions to herself. "And it's not as if they could have guessed Torisai would be attacked."

Inuyasha snorted. Then, in a lower voice. "Even Shippou would have been of help," he muttered stubbornly.

She flushed. Shippou's absence might have something to do with the giant box of sweets she'd brought from her last trip for the kitsune. Who knew that he'd eat it all in one morning? They'd left him complaining and whining about tummy aches, and the last thing Kagome had done before parting with Inuyasha had been to pick a variety of herbs Kaede had asked for. Between that medicine and Shippou's natural youkai healing, the kitsune should be alright by now.

Kagome had to admit that she missed the little boy. As much as she loved traveling with Inuyasha, sometimes it could get frustratingly stressful with all the unsaid words between them. But tonight she quashed down those thoughts as she focused on this blessedly smooth conversation. "We've solved cases like this on our own before, Inuyasha," she told him reasonably even as she got between the folds of her sleeping bag.

He mumbled something unintelligible, still clearly upset.

She sighed. He wouldn't stop until he got out whatever this was about. Kagome rolled her eyes inwardly even as she rose on one elbow. "What is it?"

He didn't face her, staring at the remaining sliver of moon above them. "It's nothing. We should be at Kaede's already, nothing more."

Another sigh. If it were really nothing, he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Something was bothering him, which made him bother her, and now that she was paying attention he suddenly didn't feel like telling her. Really! Any other time, she'd have bugged him until he gave it up. But she was tired after a day pedaling on roads that were not made for easy traveling, and her bike's suspension wasn't all that good! Besides, her shoulder still smarted from the savage hit that youkai had struck on her, while her other wrist stung from Inuyasha's blind grip as he'd tugged her into safety. Her pride stung, too. Months of fighting Naraku and escaping almost unscathed and now a run-of-the-mill youkai came so close to killing her? She swallowed that, though. Because she knew that under Inuyasha's admonishing yelling hid the blame for not protecting her better.

Something niggled at her then, something about that overly protective behavior of his. But she was too exhausted to really weigh it in. Eight days of being alone with Inuyasha at almost all hours and nobody to dissipate the tense moments. She'd never thought that they needed chaperones, and in the strict sense of the word they didn't. They'd kept an almost tangible distance throughout the trip, none knowing what to expect if they got too close. Too many things unsaid, Kagome thought sourly. That was their problem. Now they didn't even do the friends thing right without others helping along. The villagers had left them practically on their own, either due to their respect to her miko status or out of fear of Inuyasha's youkai heritage. Dodging the forbidden subjects of Kikyou, her feelings, his feelings and what they'd do when they quest for the Jewel was over had forced them into silence, keeping their talks to their observations of Torisai and of the elusive youkai in its forest.

It'd taken them four nights to catch and slay the serpent-youkai. In that Inuyasha was right. They'd planned to stay at most two nights away, plus the six days of going back and forth. That would have given them enough time to spend the new moon at Kaede's, and if Inuyasha was in a good mood, in her time.

Kagome's eyes flew open. How silly of her. This must be what had been niggling him all this while. "Are you afraid about tomorrow?"

He snorted. "Don't be stupid. Why would I be afraid?"

Well, that was it. She worried about him and he called her names. The only thing that saved him from the sitting of his life was the unexpectedly unguarded expression on his face.

His eyes went to the hilt of Tessaiga, the same sword that would be of little use the next night, and then to the ground. "Aren't you?" he asked softly.

Kagome glanced at him incredously. All this time, everything they've gone through together, and he still needed to ask? She stopped herself from walking to him and looking at him face-to-face as she answered. That'd only make everything too awkward, and they certainly didn't need more of that. Nobody was around to drive the conversation back to normality. Instead she burrowed deeper into her sleeping bag. "Why should I be afraid?" She stared into the flames, knowing that her eyes reflected all those feelings he didn't know how to handle. "I'm with you, Inuyasha."

He breathed out her name in response, half in question and half surprise. She closed her eyes and never saw as his fist hit hard against the trunk in frustration.

Inuyasha looked at her, and even though he knew that she wasn't sleeping as she faced away from him, he didn't call her on it. He only wished to protect her, to make sure that she was alright. He wanted to keep her, and the closer they got to the Shikon Jewel, the less he believed he'd get that. Then there was Kikyou and their brief meetings, and Kagome's sad eyes when he came back. He didn't want to lose Kikyou either, but the older miko didn't want to stay.

"I'm with you," Kagome had just said.

Why, Inuyasha had no idea. In his haste to protect her, he always hurt her a little more. He'd learned that in the worst way during this last trip. She'd barely approached him, when in the beginning he'd barely been able to breathe without her at his side. All those months ago, he hadn't believed that one day he'd miss that behavior, but now...

Now, as Kagome covered herself, as if he couldn't hear her hitched breath or smell her tears anyway, Inuyasha knew he was losing her. If only he could... His claws buried themselves into the wood. If only...

"I'm with you," she'd said.

Inuyasha just wished for her to understand that he was with her, too.

The End
31/01/06

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