The credit from InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

It was a crescent moon night, and InuYasha was leaning against the Sacred Tree. It held lots of his memories, both the painful and the beautiful. Kikyo had pinned him to the tree before she died the first time. Fifty years later, Kagome made a shocking decision to save the nearby village—she released the most dangerous half-demon around from the spell that had bound him there to begin with. At first, they were simply trying to gather the pieces of the Shikon no Tama, the shattering of which InuYasha had given Kagome sole blame for. Eventually, the reluctant proximity they shared had gained three more recruits: Shippo, the fox-demon; Miroku, the formerly lecherous monk (now happily married with kids); and Sango, the demon exterminator (now Miroku's wife).

A lot had happened over their years of travel together. Sesshomaru tried to get Tetsusaiga, Kikyo was resurrected, Naraku pitted friend against friend, and so much more. But there was one thing InuYasha had never expected to happen. He had fallen inexplicably in love, but not with Kikyo. She had died in his arms, knowing the grief she had caused, and who it was that had somehow rescued him from other people's expectations—and she no longer harbored jealousy towards this person. Finally at peace, her soul could rest once and for all. She never loved InuYasha for who he was until she died, but at last she accepted him, and one look in his eyes told her she was forgiven. No, it was no longer Kikyo who held his heart.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back as a small grin made its' way to his face. Kagome…

InuYasha had fallen, and fallen hard, for her somewhere along the way, but he had been cautious. Way too cautious. He had been focusing so much on battling his enemies who were also seeking the shards of the Shikon Jewel, helping Kikyo to avenge her death, and avoiding Kagome's "Sit, Boy!" commands. But he had begun to notice how he often started to do things that forced her to give the command—just to hear the sound of her voice. He felt her pain flowing through him as she decided to go against her jealousy and help his former love. He was even brought back from the edge of becoming full-blown demon multiple times by her strength, her loyalty…her love.

He sighed out of internal pain—he knew that she loved him the same way he loved her. He knew that from the deepest parts of his soul. But the same woman that he wanted to give his heart to was unknowingly running it through the rhetorical shredding machine, one of those weird contraptions he had seen during one of his visits to her former era. He still didn't get why people wanted to get rid of the spells, or whatever was on those small flat scrolls they kept sending through it. At any rate, he needed some breathing space for a few minutes before heading back to the village. He needed time to think of how to tell Kagome how he felt about what she was doing to him without getting into an argument.

Her scent arrived before she did. He looked in the direction she was coming to him from, and despite his somber thoughts, he couldn't help but smile as he watched her enter the clearing. Just one week ago, after three years that seemed like three hundred, she came back through the well—back to him—before the well closed connections between eras for good. He had longed to marry her right then and there, but being the village priestess, it would be a risky endeavor. Who knew what those in the village would think of her if she married a half-breed like him? Actually, forget the villagers—he would find a way for things to work out.

"Hey," Kagome said as she approached, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He gave her that goofy smirk and returned her hug. "I wondered when you were going to break away from the group."

She looked up at him, and giggled softly. "You know me—never learned to say no."

"True," InuYasha said, "but you learned how to say 'Sit' pretty fast." His voice was gentle and jovial, so Kagome knew he was kidding. But there was a small catch in his voice that caught Kagome's attention.

She knit her eyebrows together. "InuYasha? Are you all right?"

The half-demon looked down at her. He looked to her like he was wrestling with something. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just—I've been—"he started, then took a breath and plunged forward. "Kagome, we need to talk."

She nodded, signaling that he had her undivided attention. He picked her up and jumped into the Sacred Tree. Once he was sitting with his back against the trunk and holding her with her back to his torso as support, he spoke.

"Kagome, I know I haven't exactly been the best guy for you to be around, and all I can offer you is myself." He let a small smile come to his face. "I want you to know that I love you—more than I could ever have thought possible."

"But…"she encouraged him to continue.

He took a deep breath. "I'm torn between what I know is true and what I feel is true."

Kagome was silent for a couple of seconds. "What do you mean, Inuyasha?"

"Kagome, before I tell you, I need to know you'll listen and not try to correct me with this. It's kind of hard, considering I'm not really good at telling someone how I feel, let alone the woman I love." He felt her nod her understanding against his chest.

"I don't know how much pain I caused you when I was going to visit Kikyo all those times, but I know it must have been killing you inside. I felt like I had to go, but I never stayed long enough for her to get what she wanted. Every time I came back to camp, I was glad to get away from her. But that gladness was always ruined. On my way back, I'd overhear Shippo, Miroku, or Sango, if not all of them, go off on how much of a louse I was to go off to meet with her again," he said with such gentleness, Kagome knew he wasn't as angry as she had seen in the past when the dead priestess was mentioned.

"But what made it worse is that the one person I trusted most didn't seem to want anything to do with me the next day. Granted, I did deserve to hear 'Sit' coming from you for that—I'm not going to excuse my actions. But I'm not going to Kikyo anymore, and it kind of still feels like you're punishing me for choices I made in the past. And it hurts more than anything, because I don't feel loved by you when you do that."

He looked down at their arms, holding Kagome in his grasp. "I know you love me for who I am—that's evidence alone that you are not Kikyo's reincarnation. You see me as completely human, in spite of my bloodline. It's written on your face, embedded in your eyes. But when you talk negatively about me behind my back or in front of my friends, when you 'Sit' me because I walk away to vent my anger, you disrespect me like, and it doesn't feel like I'm loved. I don't know about full-human men, but while I know in my heart you love me, my head doubts the truth."

He felt her brush her thumbs against his arms as he continued. "It makes me feel like I'm being used, and I know that's not the case." He chuckled softly. "I mean, who would think that someone would try to kiss a guy on the verge of becoming a full-blooded demon? Or yell how she felt for him in front of her enemies while a hostage?" He noticed Kagome's breath catch when he said that and smiled. "Hey, I have dog ears, so I could hear you loud and clear as I was bounding up those steps to save you."

"I guess you couldn't tell me because of Naraku's group being right there, huh?" She laughed lightly.

"That, and my pride decided to rear its' ugly head."

Kagome snuggled closer to him. "I had no idea, InuYasha. I'm really sorry."

"Kagome…"

"I guess I thought you were just being stubborn."

He sighed. "It isn't that, Kagome—well, it isn't just that, I should say. But you're the only person I've been able to be real around. I wasn't even able to when Kikyo was alive. I was always looked down upon for my background growing up, and I still deal with that on a daily basis within myself. The feeling of being less human than everyone else hasn't disappeared—it's just gone from an outward source to an inward one." He loosened his hold around her long enough for her to turn around to face him. "I trust you with my life, Kagome, but I want to trust you with my heart, too. And it's hard to do when you do that."

Kagome looked at him with the most gentle expression he had ever seen since he started telling her these things. "I didn't mean to do that, InuYasha. And I can't promise you I won't mess up from time to time. But I'll try to do better."

InuYasha brushed some hair away from her eyes. "I know you will."

After a few more minutes of quiet whispers and laughter, they jumped out of the Sacred Tree and made their way to the village. Sure, they had a ways to go, and they still needed to find a way to make it possible for them to get married. But they were heading in the right direction. Together.