Stay With Me

Authors Notes: Okay, so, this is my new account on FF.net ... I'm in the process of writing a long InuYasha fan fic to post, but I'm kind of at a writers' block with that, and I am not going to post till it is done because I know, personally, it drives me crazy when people take forever to update. Granted, they've got a lot going on, etc etc etc, but still. So, this is the story that only took me a few minutes to write, while listening to the song 'Stay with Me' by Finch that was on my burned CD, that my friend made me. ^.^ ON WITH THE FIC! TALLY HO!

"Stupid bitch!"

I said no, InuYasha!"

"Feh! WOMAN, you better listen to me!" InuYasha growled angrily. It was the same old yelling match between them. InuYasha trying to get her to go home during a dangerous period of time. Why did that stupid girl always have to argue? It was one of her less appealing traits, though at the same time, he had to admit that arguing with Kagome set his blood afire. It was almost like he felt when he was fighting -- a rush of adrenaline throughout his system -- only he did not feel the urge to kill or harm her in any way. No, it was a feeling he couldn't quite distinguish.

That's a lie. You know what it is. He growled. Fine, it was a feeling that he didn't like to admittedly distinguish. He'd never met a woman who had heated his blood like this -- so easily -- especially when arguing. It was a rare feeling anyway. The only other woman who had ever made him feel anything close to this was Kikyou -- only now, he knew there was a difference. Something was stronger here. And Kagome was a far ways off from Kikyou.

True, they both had the same pale beauty. But Kikyou was a willowy beauty, so sure of herself and her appearance. She was a 50-year-old personality within a young woman's body. Kagome, on the other hand, was just as beautiful and must have known that she wasn't ugly -- but she was so modest, you would've thought that that was how she thought.

And so what if she didn't have the grace and elegance that Kikyou did? She made up for that with her courage and her inner strength. InuYasha didn't like to admit it, but he knew that the hotheaded Kagome was probably stronger emotionally than he was. She put up with a lot from him and everybody else. She didn't have to make this journey, and she knew it. Even if it was her fault that the Shikon no Tama had broken into all those pieces, she could've simply returned to her luxurious future world and forgotten all about him and the feudal era. Granted, she had almost done that at first, but he marveled at her ease when travelling back in time with him, a hanyou.

Her voice had startled him out of his train of thought. "What did you say?!" he demanded, a bit embarrassed at the way he had just gone off into dreamland.

She looked at him with a raised brow for a moment before crossing her small arms beneath her chest, and firmly shaking her head, while frowning. "I said that I'm not leaving, InuYasha! I can handle myself well enough! You sending me back to my own time won't protect me any!"

*Once again your eyes make it hard to say goodbye, So I'll just keep driving*

He paused for a moment. Staring at her with a peculiar smile on his face. Same old Kagome, he thought. She wants to stick it through, even if it puts her in danger. What the hell was the matter with her?

"And what are you smiling about?!" She demanded of him, though the frown had left her delicate features and she was marveling at his strange look.

*Where do you wanna go*

Kagome was beginning to feel a bit ill at ease. Why did InuYasha have this strange look upon his face? Was he smiling so ironically because he was angry? She winced at the thought of him yelling at her for something else again.

She really should just go home, she knew, if that was what he wanted. Besides, she wasn't exactly happy that she was always arguing with him. Still, she worried about them all while she was away. It was always a frightening possibility that she would return to the feudal era and find out she was alone, and they were all dead, and that Naraku had somehow gained the upper hand. She never would be able to forgive herself if something happened to any of them. Even InuYasha. Especially InuYasha. And there was also a morbid feeling of dread that she felt whenever she was in her own time -- knowing that, technically, since she was 500 years in the future, all her friends were currently deceased.

"InuYasha? Are you okay?" she asked, concerned when he didn't answer right away.

*It doesn't really matter, As long as you are here with me*

"Kagome, are you a moron?" he asked, though it was said almost kindly, and with an ironic humor to it. "You could get yourself killed. You're gonna end up getting killed for me. You stupid, stupid girl. Don't you realize that you have to return to your own time?"

"InuYasha! You can't make me leave!"

"Wanna bet?!"

"Don't you dare, you jerk!"

"KAGOME... Don't you realize that if something bad happened to you, I would never be able to live with myself?!"

*There's something in the air tonight, Something that makes me feel alive*

Kagome gasped. InuYasha blinked, as if he didn't realize what he had just said. Kagome's lower lip began to tremble a little bit, and she just stared at him. Inu Yasha expected her to criticize him or to snap on him, but instead, she didn't. "That's exactly why I can't leave, InuYasha. Because I know that if something were to happen to you while I was gone, if you were to die, then *I* would die."

Only somebody with sensitive hearing such as Inu Yasha could hear her faint, sincere words. And Kagome's eyes began watering almost immediately after she said them. Stupid human emotions, Inu Yasha thought to himself. But they were human emotions that, on Kagome, always found a way to affect him.

*What were those words you said, That made me feel so special?*

"Kagome." He always knew she harbored affection for him. It was obvious. But he also knew that he had nothing to offer for her -- at least not now. Who knew if he ever would?

"InuYasha, I ..."

Don't." His words weren't harsh, but he had to spit them out quickly so that he thought she must've interpreted them that way. Usually,

they had never gotten into such an .. emotional discussion about this kind of thing. But whenever they had started to, and InuYasha had given her that look that said "no, Kagome", or he had told her something along the lines of "no, Kagome", then she had stopped. True, it broke his heart to see her in such a melancholy state, but it was better than seeing her really hurt by something that couldn't be. Now -- now, Kagome didn't look like that. She looked ... well, angry.

*Once again your eyes, make it hard to ask you why, So I sit here knuckles tight *

"Why not, huh?! Why do you always do this? Are my emotions that easy to put off? Well, InuYasha, I'm just not going to sit here and let you try to dictate my feelings for me. I'm not going to try to hide something you know I feel when it's so difficult and so obvious anyway."

"Kagome --"

"Just shut up a second, okay? Just listen to me. Would you just do me that favor? Please?" she pleaded. "I'm not asking you anything else, no returned feelings, no anything -- I just want you to sit here, and hear me out. So I can feel a little better. Okay?"

That pleading look in her velvety brown hues, big, loveable, bear-trap eyes, caused him to simply nod, weakly.

"I .. Inu Yasha. I love you. And I just…wanted you to know ...

*Hands against the wheel, your head against the glass, And you mean so much to

" ... even though I know that you don't feel the same way for me. Even though I know that you love Kikyou. And I don't want to mess with that. I'm not going to try and interfere with the connection you two have." Though quite honestly, Kagome didn't understand it. Whether their love was one-sided, or Kikyou loved him in return -- and to be perfectly honest, she didn't want to have to understand it. It hurt way, way too much.

*There's something in the air tonight, Something that makes me feel alive*

He simply stared at her for a few moments. Inu Yasha didn't even realize he had reached out for her and grabbed her till he felt her small body encased in his arms, wrapped up in his embrace. And it felt so good.

*What were the words that you said to me, That made me feel so special?*

"Inu Yasha?" Kagome questioned, eyes wide, her voice muffled against the broad expanse of his robe-clad chest. Still, he didn't release his hold. After a few tense moments, Kagome relaxed in his embrace. Still, she pushed herself back just a little so she could look up in his eyes. "Inu Yasha?"

"Don't you realize, you dumb human, that I want to be with you, and not that hollow Kikyou?" He smiled, and brushed away a few locks of her wild, untamed raven hair. "But I have nothing to give you. Nothing I can promise you except a near-future full of hardship, and death, and it would not be good for you. You don't deserve that. You need better. You need somebody like that Houjo fellow." He shook his head some. "I have no right to love you the way I do, but I do anyway. So the only thing I can do to justify myself in any way is to protect you, and I do, with my life, if necessary. That's why I need you to go back. Because there's evil here that needs to be fixed, and I can't have you get in the way of that."

Kagome was more than just slightly startled by his revelation. She felt as if it were all a dream. She'd had dreams of something like his happening, that had left her feeling hollow and melancholy when she would awaken. But this wasn't a dream - -it was real. And InuYasha was openly confessing he loved her, wanted to be with her, but was too afraid of the future they'd have together, and the fact that he could not give her material possessions such as Houjo could. Houjo ... who meant absolutely nothing to her. Nobody did, and nobody could ever compare to this feeling she felt for Inu Yasha -- she just knew it. And just like that, she reached up, tilting her head to press her lips to his. Though he was startled at first, he replied to her soft, sweet kiss -- and then she pulled away, leaving him with question marks in his eyes.

*Stay with me, Cigarettes and open air, hand in hand*

"You don't have to promise me anything but that you love me. You don't have to *give* me anything but that love. InuYasha, I feel alone. You feel alone. Why can't we just be together, there for each other, protecting each other? It could work, InuYasha, and it wouldn't hurt like this…current situation does. It would be better, and it wouldn't leave me feeling quite so empty anymore, or you, either..."

Inu Yasha almost began to protest, but she gave him another quick kiss. Then he just stared at her for a few moments -- before giving her a smile. And it was a smile Kagome had never seen before, because it was so honest and so loving -- but she liked it on him, and it suited his features well. She returned the small smile, though she wondered what it meant. But just when she was about to ask him, he embraced her again, and kissed her.

And within his arms lay her answer. For once, Kagome and InuYasha had agreed on something. Silently, they had just made a promise to stay with one another…

Stay with me … Every star that I see is brighter than the last