PILLOW TALK

Chapter 1

It was a typical sunny day in the feudal times. Bees were buzzing busily, birds chirped and played overhead. Shippo chased a butterfly as Sango polished Hirakotsu to a shine. Kagome sat near the fire humming cheerfully as she prepared lunch. Miroku, however, noticed something that the others had not. It won't take them long, though, he mused to himself as he watched the spectacle before him...

Inuyasha was talking to himself.

Well, more like arguing, really. Inuyasha was sitting in a tree with his legs crossed and his arms folded in typical inuyasha style yelling and cursing at... himself? The distance was too great for Miroku to hear what was being said, but from the look of things it was pretty intense. Miroku glanced back at the occupied trio to see that at least someone else had seen it as well. He smiled as Kagome stood to gawk in bewilderment. What's going on? she thought. This is really weird.

Forgetting the meal for the time being, Kagome walked over to Miroku all the while never taking her eyes from the conflicted half-demon.

"What's his problem?" Kagome said as she stood beside the smiling priest.

Miroku shrugged. At that moment, Inuyasha stood with his fists clenched, muttered to himself, shook his fists angrily, and then sat back down to continue the argument.

"I haven't a clue," he replied. "but you should probably go and ask him. He seems pretty upset if I'm seeing it right. And let me know who's winning. You know how Inuyasha hates to lose. " With that and a quick grin he walked away, all the while smiling at the knowledge that in the end the answer to that question would more than likely be terribly funny.

Kagome walked to the bottom of the tree in which Inuyasha sat. She looked up at him, took a deep breath, and said,

"Inuyasha! Come down here a minute! I want to talk to you!"

"What is it, wench?" he replied. He glared down at her obviously annoyed.

"I can't have a moment's peace with you around, can I? You are always wanting to "talk". Leave me alone for once!" With that he stood and jumped to a neighboring tree and out of Kagome's sight.

Puzzled, Kagome stared at the spot in which Inuyasha had just a moment ago occupied. What's up with that? she thought, now more confused as ever. He has been rude and even down right ugly with me in the past, but why now with no reason? I thought that we understood one another better...

It had seemed to be true. For the past month Kagome and Inuyasha had become, well, good friends. More than once Kagome went to inuyasha while the others slept at night to just "talk". She would look for him through the darkness that the forest seemed to intensify. She could never see him, really, but simply followed her sense in what direction he was in. She always found him that way. Sitting next to him under whatever tree he had been in at the time she would tell him of her problems at school, a movie she had seen, or something Souta had told her. Inuyasha never really said much, but mostly just listened instead. He smiled when she would say something funny, and occasionally he would laugh when something took him by surprise. She would talk to him until she felt sleepy, and then she would talk to him some more. She usually fell asleep in the middle of a story, and inuyasha would always carry her back to her sleeping roll and tuck her in, after he made sure that no one was looking, of course. The next time they would meet in that fashion he would remind her of what she had been saying before she fell asleep the last time so that she could finish her story. She really liked how he always remembered. It proved that he really was listening.

Why, now, the big change? What did I do wrong?Kagome thought to herself as she walked back to the fire and the burning meal. I never thought that he had minded my talking to him before. Why is he acting this way now?

Inuyasha was indeed upset. He hopped from tree to tree trying to put some distance between him and the girl from the future. That wasn't what he needed right now. Right now he needed to sort a few things out. What was going on with him? He finally reached a tree far enough away from her and her scent so that he could once again think clearly. Clearly? Ha! He hadn't really been thinking clearly all day. Not after last night. Last night had seemed to put a stop completely to all rational thought…

The question was why did it bother him? It never really did before. Well, yeah, that was a lie. It always had to an extent; it was just that last night was different. Really different. He drummed his fingers on the bark of the tree and for the millionth time replayed the events in his mind.

It was dark. Clouds hung overhead, but they weren't ominous or threatening. Just clouds. Inuyasha liked nights like this. It cooled down the night and made it easier to sleep. He leaned against a tree and breathed in deeply. Yes, he loved this. He knew that his companions would have rather stayed at the hut with Kaede or in some other village, but to him the best times was sleeping in the trees as he watched over them. He sat and mused over the events of the day. Nothing extraordinary happened, but it was still fun. They had left Kaede's village 4 days ago to pursue a shard rumor, only to find out that it was exactly that. A rumor. It would normally have pissed him off that he went out of his way only to find that it was just some stupid human gossiping, but lately he hadn't minded. 'This just gives me some more chances to talk to Kagome.' He thought as he reclined. He really enjoyed Kagome's chats with him. He liked hearing about her and the things that she enjoyed in her own time. It seemed to make her happy that he listened. That fact made him happy, although he had no intention of dwelling on why it did anytime soon. It was well enough to leave the whys alone and just concentrate on being content with life for once.

Inuyasha heard something approaching. He scanned the surrounding area to see nothing. He inhaled deeply. Kagome. She had come to talk to him again! He smiled to himself. He had hoped that she would. He waited for the phrase that always nearly made him giddy with joy. Putting off wondering why he felt that way, of course.

"Inuyasha, can you come down? I would like to talk to you! "

There it was! He smiled wider in the darkness and waited a few seconds. He then said "Feh" indifferently and hopped down beside her.

"What is it, wench? " he said. They went through the same conversation in the beginning every time, and they both knew it. She would ask to talk to him, he would act like he didn't want to be bothered with it, and she would begin to talk anyway, never taking any notice to the fact that he didn't mind it at all.

Why the hell did it bother him so much? He raked his claws slowly down the bark of the tree and watched as chips of wood fell to the ground. It seemed he had skinned many trees today. It usually helped him think, but today it did him no good. He stopped and looked down suddenly. 'Damnit', Inuyasha thought to himself. He could smell her. The wench that troubled him was coming again to "talk". She's probably pissed, too. he thought with a grimace. He looked down to see the familiar green and white uniform in the forest below. Her powers have been improving by leaps and bounds lately, and she always could seem to find him, so hiding never worked for long. He quickly and quietly hopped across a few more branches in order to put some distance between Kagome and himself. He needed a minute to regroup. She would probably not be in the mood for a blow off this time. He estimated that she had walked about twenty minutes to get this far. I gotta play this out like it's nothing, he though as she came closer. What can I claim my problem was? He was cutting it close. She was right below him now. Drawing a blank, Inuyasha leaned back against the trunk of the tree and waited for her to sense him.

"Inuyasha! Lunch is ready. Are you going to come and eat? "

He glanced down to see that Kagome was looking up at him with concern. He felt a tug of something that resembled guilt and jumped out of the tree to land in front of her.

"Sorry, Kagome. Already ate. I went fishing earlier this morning. "

A lie, of course, but hopefully she would believe it. He had no intention of eating today. Not with all he had to think about.

She looked at him doubtfully. "Well, it's finished if you changed your mind. " With that, she turned and started walking slowly back toward camp.

Shit, Inuyasha thought to himself and he watched her walk away. Had he hurt her feelings? Sometimes he couldn't tell. Damn, he thought again, and jogged to catch up with her. Bam! An idea! He was a genius!

"Hey, um, Kagome? You haven't been back to your time in a few weeks now, isn't about time you went back for a little bit? I'm sure the others are tired and I have a few things that I need to look after before our next shard hunt. " He said it in a rush because of his hope that it would work, and that is what made Kagome look back at him suspiciously.

"What?" She stopped, turned, and arched her eyebrow. "You WANT me to go home? That's definitely a first. I mean, other than the time you tried to trap me there. What's up with you, Inuyasha? You've been acting really weird lately, and I'm worried about you, kinda." With that she looked down at her feet. "You not going to try to seal up the well while I'm gone, are you? We still have a lot to do here, and we have to defeat Naraku… " She trailed off and looked up at him slowly. Her eyes were glistening.

Damnit! inuyasha thought to himself. I'm making her cry again. Great. How can I fix this?

"Kagome, I'm not going to seal up the well. I just need, um, a break, I guess. I have a few things to do before we venture out again. Just for a few days, kay?" Wait, he thought too late. I'm being too understanding and comforting, ugh. There really is something wrong with me. Better start being an ass quick before she notices. "Anyway, wench, I was just offering! If it was up to me, you would never go home. We have too much to do here without you going back all the time for that stupid school thing! Go or don't go. I don't care. Just don't expect me to just let you up and go later, because we have shit to do! Damn! " There, he thought. Good old me. With that he walked past her, knowledge of what was coming slowly creeping into his brain.

"Inuyasha? "

"Yeah? " He turned, realizing too late what was coming.

"Sit! "

Bam!

Damn, he thought as she purposely stepped on him instead of over him as he lay embedding in the ground. Maybe I was too much of an ass…