Just a short little piece I wrote. Takes place early on in the series before they really get to know each other. Sorry if the characters seem a little out of character. It's probably the closest to philospohical Inuyasha is ever going to get.

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"Get this thing OFF OF ME!" Inuyasha yelled. A bright blue butterfly no bigger than an eye had decided that his nose was a safe place to land.

Kagome came up behind him, softly giggling. "I think it likes you."

"What does it think I am? A flower? Do I look like a goddamned flower?" Inuyasha growled, "Well, I'll teach it not to land on me." He raised his hand to swat it, but was stopped by a grip on his wrist pulling his arm down.

"Don't! Don't kill it. Here." She placed a finger on the bridge of his nose, coaxing the butterfly to climb up on it and out of danger. Once it was off Inuyasha's nose, she held it close to her own, staring intently at its beauty. It seemed like an eternity before either of them spoke, both lost in the gaze of this gentle creature.

"Kagome, it's just a butterfly." Inuyasha finally said. His voice was softer than usual. He was right behind her, looking over her shoulder at it. The closeness of their bodies was lost on them though because their full attention was on the butterfly.

She frowned, "A butterfly never lives very long. Why would you want to shorten its already short life span?" She turned to face him, raising the insect up to his eye level.

"But it's just a butterfly. It's a damn bug for all I care." Crossing his arms across his chest, he looked away from it. "Bugs deserve to be squished." He said, a little harsher than intended.

Kagome lowered her hand back down. "You can never see something for what it truly is, can you? To you, this 'bug' is nothing more than that. You can't see the beauty in its wings, or the easy way it floats on the breeze, or even the soft feeling of its legs tickling your skin." She lowered her head, a tear threatening to drop from her eye. "A butterfly is a magnificent creature that doesn't deserve to be grouped with anything else. It stands out on its own. Why can't you see that?"

Inuyasha looked down to Kagome's hand that now held the butterfly. Its small wings were as blue as the sky above and, upon closer inspection, held a greenish tinge around the edges. He could see the little antennae moving all around, trying to decipher its surroundings. But more importantly, he could see that Kagome was right, it really was everything she said it was. Subconsciously, he rubbed his nose where the butterfly had landed a few minutes ago. The tingling sensation still lingered even after all this time.

"You need to open your eyes, Inuyasha. Look at everything and everyone around you for what they truly are. Don't hate something for what you think it is or looks like, even yourself."

"Kagome?" He realized then that her words extended far beyond the thing she held in her palm. She was talking about him. She was telling him to see her for her, the person he had only recently come to know.

But Kagome . . . I don't hate you. True at first I did because you looked like Kikyo, the woman who betrayed me, but you're not like her. You're not like her at all. You're different. I realize that now. I can't hate you. I'll never hate you.

Inuyasha's eyes went wide with that last thought, but the look was missed by Kagome, who was still staring at the butterfly. The tear fell from her face, landing millimeters from the butterfly, forcing it to crawl up to the edge of her fingers.

Inuyasha placed his hand under Kagome's and, with a sudden movement, forced both her hand and the butterfly upwards. The butterfly instantly took flight, fluttering its bright blue wings till it was high above the tree line and out of sight.

Kagome watched it until it was gone then gave a quizzical look to her dog-eared friend standing before her, more so at the fact that his hand was still under hers. "Why did you do that?" She asked.

He met her eyes. "You wanted it to go free, didn't you? To live out the rest of its short life? It was wasting its time just laying there in your hand." Lowering his eyes, he noticed the warmth on his hand. With a "Humph," he walked away, head held high in the air.

Kagome merely smiled at his retreating back. She brought the hand that Inuyasha had held up to her chest, cradling it in front of her heart. Hopefully her words got through to him. If she could accept him as a half-demon, then he should be able to accept himself. There was no need for him to change in her eyes and there never would be. Maybe, in time, he would understand that.

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Please read and review. Let me know what you think. Criticism is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

- Silvarius