Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in any way, shape, or form.

The Unconscious Mind

With a jolt, Kagome was startled from her reverie. Looking around to discern what had startled her, she tensed. When had she arrived at school? The students around her packed their books into their backpacks as Kagome sat there in a daze, still trying to get past the haze in her mind. Two light taps were cast upon her shoulder as she turned with wary eyes to the person behind her.

"Enjoy your nap Kagome?" Eri teased as Kagome's face lit up in embarrassment, "Don't worry, Morioka-Sensei didn't even notice. He was too busy with Hiroshi. Too bad you missed it though. Hiroshi he—well you know how he is—he was flicking paper balls at Morioka-Sensei and at first Sensei couldn't figure out who was doing it. Why he didn't guess Hiroshi right away, I have no idea, but anyway, after about a minute or two, Sensei caught Hiroshi in the act. This is where it gets good. Hiroshi, being the smooth talker he is, stared Sensei right in the face looking as innocent as can be and denied that it was him. He was so convincing that even I started to believe him—and mind you, I had been watching him do it the whole time. Well Sensei looked like he was about to blow a gasket because he was so sure it had been Hiroshi, but his innocent act was working and Sensei was starting to doubt himself. By now, the whole class—"

Kagome tuned the rest of Eri's story out as she gathered her belongings and followed her to the cafeteria where they met up with Yuka and Ayumi. Once settled with their food, Eri began the whole tale once more for the two, her excitement showing on her face. Picking at her food, Kagome's mind wandered back to the classroom. The last thing she recalled before waking up in the classroom was being in a hut with Inuyasha, carefully tending to the scrapes he had received.

Golden eyes stared at her in defiance, "I don't think so Kagome."

"Inuyasha, stop being so childish! I'm not going to let you bleed when I can easily take care of your wounds!" she glared back at him, determination etched into her features.

"Wounds? WOUNDS? They're scrapes, wench, and like hell I'm going to let you waste your medicine and supplies on a few scrapes!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Like you have a choice!" Kagome screamed back, her anger getting the better of her, "SIT BOY!"

Uttering a string of curses, Inuyasha slammed face first into the dirt floor of the hut. Kagome grabbed the necessary supplies before coming over to sit next to him. Ignoring his glares, she waited until he finished removing his haori and undershirt before attending to the scrapes on his chest and arms. She wouldn't admit it to Inuyasha but the wounds, as she had called them, were not as bad as she thought. They didn't really need to be bandaged as his Yōkai blood had already stopped the bleeding. But since they had argued, she couldn't let him know he had been right. So, gently, Kagome spread the ointment along the cuts before taping patches of gauze over each scrape. After the final piece of gauze had been put in place, she heard Inuyasha sigh.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright?" he ran a hand through his hair as his eyes seemed to look everywhere but at her, "I didn't mean to upset you."

Kagome looked at him, shocked at his apology, especially when she knew she was the one in the wrong.

"It's alright," she muttered finally, mulling over whether she should just admit he was right or not.

"I shouldn't have gotten mad at you," Inuyasha continued, "I know that it's the idea behind it that's most important to you. It's who you are."

Kagome tilted her head at him curiously. What was he talking about?

Noticing her confused expression, Inuyasha elaborated, his cheeks reddening slightly, "Not like I watch you all the time or anything—I mean, it's not like I care but—look, what I'm trying to say is that you have a big heart and you like to take care of people, so when any of us get injured, you make sure to bandage our wounds. I can tell it makes you worry less knowing that our injuries are taken care of so I shouldn't have been so harsh."

They sat in silence for a bit as Kagome took in what he said, her cheeks dusted pink by his words.

"..m s…y," Kagome mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"What?" Inuyasha questioned, unconsciously leaning forward to catch the words that even his demonic hearing didn't hear.

"I'm sorry too, Inuyasha," Kagome gave him a tentative smile, "You were right; they really didn't need to be bandaged, but I didn't listen. The fight was my fault."

Inuyasha smirked in an attempt to lighten the mood, "Yeah, well, I usually call a hole in my gut a scratch too, so it's not all your fault."

Kagome laughed, "True."

Another silence fell over them, but this time it was a comfortable one. Inuyasha slipped his haori back on before moving to sit against the wall, Tetsusaiga propped up against his arm. After a few minutes of internal debate, Kagome seated herself next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Did you mean it Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, resting her head on her raised knees, sadness leaking into her voice, "Do you really think I have a big heart?"

"What?" Inuyasha spluttered, "Of course you do Kagome. You're always helping people out wherever we go and you don't even know them!" he hesitated, "Why are you so sad?"

"Because, I'm not as good as everyone thinks I am," Kagome began, curling herself even tighter as if to hide, "I'm selfish, so very selfish. This era is not my own; I have no right to be here. All I am is a burden, especially during fights. I can barely shoot my arrows straight half the time and I'm always getting targeted during fights because I'm so weak. The only reason you get half as many injuries as you do is because you're protecting me! And then, when I have a test for school to take, I just make you guys stop the search for Naraku and wait for me. What right do I have to do that?"

Her eyes burned as tears threatened to escape. She wouldn't cry. She couldn't cry. That would only upset Inuyasha and make him say whatever he could to get her to stop. She didn't want that. She didn't really know what she wanted anymore. She peeked at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye. He sat staring at the fire that blazed in the pit.

It was a minute before he spoke, "You're right. The demons do target you as the weakest member and I do get hurt protecting you," here, he paused, and Kagome felt her heart clench at his words as tears pricked at her vision, "But you're missing the whole point. I protect you because I want to. I make sure I'm the one with the injury because I don't want to see you get hurt." He turned to her then, his voice becoming mixed with emotion, "Don't you see? I'm the one being selfish here. You have a life that's not here. A life in a world that contains your family and friends. And here I am, ripping you away from all of it to go on a journey all over the fucking lands in search of one tiny jewel! Over a fucking fight that isn't even yours to fight! Who am I to do that?"

Kagome's mind reeled at his words as his fiery gaze rested on her, waiting for her to answer. He thought it was his fault? Kagome opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She opened and closed her mouth a few more times before she was finally able to choke out, "but I was the one to break the jewel! It's my fault we have to travel all over just to search for the tiny shards hiding all over the place!"

Inuyasha turned back to the fire, "Tch, that was my fault for running off and letting it get stolen in the first place. If I wouldn't have been so stupid, we would still have had the whole jewel and probably have killed Naraku by now."

"This whole fight is stupid," Kagome concluded, resting her head against the wooden wall behind her, "We're not even fighting about anything important."

Inuyasha gave a dry laugh, "When do we ever? We always seem to fight over stupid things that have no meaning."

Kagome smiled wryly, "Seems like that's always the case. But why is that, though?"

Inuyasha mulled over the answer for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know. It just happens."

Kagome scooted herself closer to Inuyasha, resting her head back against him, "I don't want to fight anymore."

She felt his arm wrap around her as he mumbled, his lips grazing against her ear, inadvertently sending shivers down her spine, "Me either."

Returning to the present, Kagome realized she must have fallen asleep because she couldn't remember anything past that. But then she woke up in school. She vaguely recalled waking up in school before where she found out that her journey in the feudal era was only a dream, but that turned out to be a curse induced dream. So was that memory the dream or was this now her dream?

So as not to draw the attention of her friends, Kagome reached down and pinched her leg, flinching imperceptibly only to realize nothing had changed from a moment before. But who was to say that the pinching trick actually worked? Sighing, she picked at her food, trying to discern which the true reality was.

The rest of the day passed by too slowly for Kagome's taste. When school finally let out, she anxiously returned as quickly to the shrine as she could, mumbling off some lame excuse to Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi as to why she wasn't walking home with them today. Running up the steep steps, she discarded her book bag by the door to her house before heading into the well house. Cautiously, she jumped into the well, almost afraid that the portal would not transport her to the feudal era and instead she'd land painfully on the dirt bottom. But the familiar weightlessness enveloped her and she landed gracefully at the bottom of the well. Climbing out of the well using the thick vines, Kagome made it into the clearing surrounding it, eyes glancing curiously around to see if anything was different. Everything was the same, so maybe this was reality? A soft sigh escaped her as a frown tugged at her lips. She was really hoping that whole scene with Inuyasha was real. They had gotten closer and she didn't want that to change. A slight rustling of leaves caught her attention before she could begin her trek to the village. Tilting her head in the direction of the noise, Kagome jumped as Inuyasha jumped into the clearing, landing gracefully a few feet in front of her.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha questioned, looking at her like she was the illusion she hoped this reality really was, "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be gone for another two days?"

"Eh-heh, well," Scratching the back of her neck, Kagome scrambled to think of a reason she came back early, since she didn't plan on going home anytime soon, "you see, that test I was really worried about actually isn't until next week, not this week."

"You sure?" Inuyasha questioned looking skeptic, "Usually you're on top of these kind of things."

Kagome mentally cursed Inuyasha's unusual perceptiveness as she quickly spouted out an answer, "Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Well, I better go tell everyone else that I'm back early. Come on Inuyasha!" She tugged on his hand as she started forward, hoping that he'd just follow her and not question her strange behavior.

Kagome blushed. Maybe he'd be too distracted by her holding his hand to say anything. She sure was getting distracted by it.

"Feh, they don't need to know right now," Inuyasha pulled her hand, changing their direction.

Face lighting up even more, Kagome followed him silently, wondering what he was doing. This didn't really seem like Inuyasha's normal gruff behavior so maybe this was the dream.

He stopped them in front of the Goshinboku, dropping her hand and turning around to face her.

"What's going on Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, concern showing on his features, "I can tell something's bothering you."

Shocked for the second time by his perceptiveness, Kagome watched him silently, wondering if she should tell him the truth. It was a bit weird after all and what if he didn't believe her?

"Something is bothering me and I don't know how much sense it's going to make when I say it out loud, so just let me say everything first. Okay?" Kagome asked watching Inuyasha's reaction.

Eyebrows knit in confusion, Inuyasha only nodded.

"Well, it started this morning in school, I think. I woke up at the end of one of my classes, but I couldn't remember what I was doing in class, what I was doing in school. Actually, the last thing I remembered was being in a hut with you, bandaging up your wounds," Kagome paused, trying to sort out her thoughts, "And then I woke up in school. I don't remember going to school, or even going back to my own era. I thought maybe being in the hut was a dream, but maybe this is a dream and I know maybe that doesn't make any sense, but this wasn't the first time that I woke up in school. I don't know if I ever told you this, but when Tsubaki cursed me, I fell unconscious and into a dream where I woke up in school. I didn't know it was a dream until so far into it and so now, I don't know if this is a dream or if the dream was the dream. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore!" Kagome brought her hands up to her head, shaking her head a bit as if to dispel the confusion.

"Kagome, come here," Inuyasha drew her closer, wrapping his arms around and rubbing her back soothingly, "You're thinking too hard. It was just a dream."

"Just a dream," she murmured, nodding her head as she rested it in the crook of his neck.

She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but it didn't matter. Inuyasha was holding her, comforting her, and it meant the world. She wished they could just stay like this forever.

"Kagome," Inuyasha called softly.

"Hmm?" Kagome mumbled, not wanting to leave his embrace just yet.

"Kagome," Inuyasha's voice was still soft, but it was more insistent.

She pulled away only a bit, just enough to see his face. He was so close. His lips an inch away and she could feel his breath, hot on her face. Her mind felt hazy. Was he going to kiss her? She closed her eyes, leaning closer, until their lips were only millimeters away. All he had to do was make the last move, to close the distance.

"Kagome," Inuyasha's call was louder now, more urgent.

"What?" she breathed, wondering what on earth he wanted, but not willing to pull away.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed making her eyes shoot open to see Inuyasha's worried face above her.

Above her? Disoriented, she realized that she was lying on the ground with Inuyasha leaning over her. Blinking, she glanced around and saw that she was back in the hut.

"Are you okay?" Inuyasha asked, helping her sit up.

"Yeah, I think," Kagome muttered, rubbing her forehead, "Just….just a really weird dream."

"Are you sure?" Inuyasha questioned and Kagome felt a bit of déjà vu, but the feeling was gone as soon as it came.

"Yeah," she replied, though the thoughts going round in her head left her confused and a bit dazed.

Inuyasha's expression remained skeptical, but he kept silent and for that, she was grateful.

Now that she had woken up, once again, she hoped that this was the true reality. The whole dream was disorienting enough and Kagome wondered what had brought it on. Trying to be subtle, Kagome brushed her hand against her forehead. Well, she didn't have a fever and she didn't feel sick, so maybe she had just been overly tired and her imagination had acted up as a result. Sighing, Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, only to be startled to see him watching her. As soon as they made eye contact, his head whipped to the side, a faint blush dusting his cheeks and Kagome was torn between laughing and fighting back the blood that was rushing to her own cheeks.

"We should get going," Inuyasha commented, still not facing her, "Sango and Miroku are probably wondering where we are."

"If they're even back yet," she recalled what she told Sango before they had set off to fight the demon plaguing a neighboring village, "I told Sango to spend as much time as she needed. She's been missing her family a lot recently and I didn't want her to have to rush when she visited their graves."

"Either way, it's still going to take a day to get back to Kaede's," Inuyasha pointed out, picking himself off the ground.

"We better get going then," Kagome followed his lead, picking up her backpack from the corner of the room and trailing after Inuyasha as he exited the hut.

Stepping outside, Kagome smiled into the bright sunlight, stretching her muscles before realizing how far ahead Inuyasha was getting.

"Inuyasha! Wait up!" she called, jogging to catch up with him and after a moment's pause, she slipped her hand in his.

Kagome watched Inuyasha from her peripheral vision, noticing his wide eyes at her action, before he relaxed, squeezing her hand in his. The feel of his hand over hers reminded her of her dream and Kagome blushed furiously as she realized that she had woken up right as she and Inuyasha were about to kiss.

"You alright? You look a little red?" Inuyasha questioned as he peeked over at her.

He felt her forehead with his free hand before feeling his own, comparing the temperatures. Unfortunately for Kagome, it only worsened her blush.

"No, I'm fine. Really I am," Kagome squeaked, brushing off his concern, "Never felt better."

"Uh-huh. Well, you don't have a fever," Inuyasha relented before mumbling, though not low enough that Kagome couldn't hear, "Maybe it's the sun making her face red."

His pace quickened as they neared the cover of the forest they would have to travel through to get to Kaede's village. Kagome sighed. She didn't exactly want him to realize she was blushing, but the fact that it didn't even register to him kind of hurt. It seemed she wouldn't be getting that kiss anytime soon.

Kagome gasped, blush returning full force. What was she thinking lately? Looking at Inuyasha now, his face content, his hand in hers, she realized that she could wait for him to figure it out. She would always wait for him. After all, she had made him a promise that she planned on keeping.

She would always stay by his side.

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