'I can't figure out why I do it. Why do I stay with Inuyasha? He insults me, constantly compares me to Kikyou, calls me his jewel detector, and says that I'm always in his way. He almost never lets me go home to my family, and even when he does, he quickly comes to bring me back to the Feudal Era. Things are so complicated.'
Sighing, I sat down by a tree stump, my eyes instantly drifting up towards a certain hanyou perched in a nearby tree. 'Inuyasha's not asleep, probably because he thinks that I'll sneak off to the present if he doesn't watch over me. He's so protective over me.'
'That must be one of the reasons I stay with him. Inuyasha always protects me from any demon no matter what. Heck, he even tries to "protect" me from Kouga... not that I need protection from the wolf demon.'
I shifted my gaze from Inuyasha to the almost new moon, my mind instantly recalling the first new moon I had shared with the hanyou. He had become poisoned, and while he had been recovering, I had rested his head in my lap. Right before he had fallen asleep, he had claimed that I smelled nice.
Such a fond memory, that compliment. It was one of a very small collection. Inuyasha wasn't big on compliments, and more often than not, we faught. We always had to fight about almost anything, and the fights usually ended up with me storming off or going home.
Shaking my head, I leaned my back against the tree stump. The scratchy bark rubbed my back, even through my shirt. I took a deep breath through my nose, breathing in the smells of the forest and the night.
'Maybe that's one of the other reasons I stay with Inuyasha. I like the Feudal Era. The smells in my time usually revolve around smog and pollution. It is also so much prettier in the past.'
About ten feet away, I heard Shippou mutter something in his sleep. He sounded so cute, and he was still a small child. He saw me as his mother, even though I really wasn't all that much older than him.
'Ah, reason number three. I stick around because of Shippou and the others. I can't just abandon them, especially Shippou. The poor fox demon has no blood family left. I'm all he's got.'
Once again, I sighed, my mind still working a thousand miles an hour. I was going to get a headache if I kept it up. I did, however, need to figure out why I stayed with Inuyasha.
'I could go with Kouga. He treats me pretty well, and I know that he'd help me search for the jewel shards if I asked him to. I could take Shippou with, and I'm sure that I could convince Sango and Miroku to come too. Kouga doesn't call me wench or anything, and I'm not too worried about him calling me his woman. He would never hurt me, and he would help get rid of Inuyasha if the dog demon ever tried to reclaim his "shard detector". But, I can't control Kouga with a necklace like I do Inuyasha. Then again, does Kouga even need one? Nope. His pack, or at least what's left of it, treats me well enough too. They call me sis, which is so much better than wench.'
For some reason, I dismissed that idea. I didn't really want to go with the wolf demon. Sure, the guy was nice and all, but I loved Inuyasha.
'Bing! There's another reason. I love the dog demon with all my heart, even though he loves Kikyou. My heart would hurt badly if I ever left Inuyasha. That's the biggest reason of all. There must be at least one more reason though. That can't be all of them...'
I looked back at Inuyasha as he stared at the moon like I had just been doing. It seemed that I wasn't the only one thinking. Though, while I was thinking about him, his mind was probably on Kikyou, the girl I could never measure up to.
Sighing for a third time, I stood up and prepared to go back to my sleeping bag. I needed to get some sleep before Inuyasha the Slave Driver forced everyone to begin searching for the shards once again.
I turned to get to bed, when I heard someone softly call my name. I looked back to see Inuyasha on the ground, watching me with his golden eyes.
"Kagome, why are you still up? You should be asleep already," Inuyasha told me, his gruff voice softer than usual.
Giving him a small smile, I took a few steps towards him. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to do some thinking."
"What were you thinking about?" he asked quietly.
"You, me, us... why I stay here," I answered, gesturing with an arm to encompass the entire traveling group and the Feudal Era.
"You... were thinking about leaving?" Inuyasha looked slightly heartbroken, his golden eyes wide. "But if you left, who would sense the jewel shards?"
"I'm not just a shard detector!" I hissed in annoyance, a pain springing up in my heart. It amazed me how he could be nice one moment and a complete jerk the next.
Inuyasha gave a soft sigh. "I know."
I blinked, surprised. "You do?"
He nodded. "Yeah, and if you did leave, I'd miss you." That had obviously been a big admittance on his part. Inuyasha wasn't the kind of guy who said stuff like that everyday.
"I'd miss you, too," I told him, smiling gently at him once more.
Inuyasha returned the smile. "Now get to bed. I know that humans need lots of sleep."
"Alright, I will," I replied. "Good night, Inuyasha."
"Good night." He leapt back into the tree.
As I curled up in my sleeping bag, I realized the final reason for my remaining with the dog demon.
'He cares about me too.'