Tied
By ShadowYoukai87
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, never will, never have. I mean, Rumiko Takahashi is still alive. I couldn't have been her in a past life. Oh, cruel fate!
"Perhaps you could enlighten me. Why do you stay with this demon?"
When the monk had asked Kagome that question, she turned to him, hesitated, but he withdrew before she could reply. She didn't make any move to reply, didn't pipe up like she normally did, bright and cheery. She had seemed oddly sullen, and quiet. She didn't speak much for the rest of the day, didn't join in when Shippo asked her why the monk would want to know. That worried him. Since the monk had asked, she had been thinking about why she stayed with him, and she couldn't come up with a thing. She didn't know why she stayed with him, she was going to realize it and tell him that. He knew, even as he watched her across the fire that evening, after the monk and demon slayer went to sleep, the kit curled with them.
"'Why do you stay with this demon?'" she whispered quietly, to the air, and he turned to her. "That monk couldn't understand how humans and demons could co-exist, why a human would want to be with a demon," she paused again, face turned to the fire, watching passively as the flames licked at the logs in front of her. "I don't think any answer I could give would have satisfied him, he was just so set in his mind, you know?"
"Keh," he snorted, not sure what else to say.
She looked at him, as if for the first time, really drank him in, memorizing his features in the firelight. "He made me think, why do I want to be with you? Why do I need to be by your side? Why do I put up with failing grades at school, your attitude, you being a jerk? Do you know what I realized?"
He braced himself for the coming rejection, for her to say for the world to hear that there was no reason and she wanted to stop wasting her time.
"I realized there are many reasons, first of all because I broke the jewel so, I need to put it back together," she replied softly. He frowned. Was that all? Her duty to the jewel? Somehow, that hurt more than having no reason at all. "But, that was only in the very, very beginning. I mean, after meeting Yura, I joined you because I owed you my life, and for Tessaiga to work after we met Sesshoumaru, you needed to be protecting a human. I think," she paused, turning away. "I think that was when I first started to really care about you, when I realized beneath that hard shell, you really weren't a bad person. I joined you to see just how good you were, to bring it out."
He blinked, not sure if this new silence was one he could break. She looked happier now, a small smile on her face.
"Somewhere along the time we traveled together, you became my friend, my trusted ally, someone I could depend on to save me. I'd be lying if I said I never tried to see how far you'd go for me, but I stopped when I realized how much real danger that could get me in. I realized I was a bit of a burden."
He responded then, louder and rough. "You were never a burden!"
She smiled. "Maybe you didn't think so, maybe you still don't, but we all know Shippo and I are the weakest in the group, the ones that need you to protect us. We will always be burdens, even if we are burdens you all enjoy, but, I'm rambling." She paused, taking a breath before continuing. "So, why do I follow you? Because we're tied."
He blinked, waiting for her to continue. "Tied?"
She nodded. "Tied, linked, connected, we cannot be separated easily. If I say a word, you kiss the ground, if I scream, you come running, if you hurt, I do everything I can to make it better, if you are mad, I calm you, if you don't have words, I can talk for you, if I can't fight, you do it for me, we are tied, we can't be separated, we're two halves of a whole. That's why I am with you, because if I were ever to leave you, I'd be alone, incomplete, lost."
She trailed off, staring at the fire as he tried to digest what she had said. Tied. He liked how she had said it. It sounded…right.
"What about you?" she asked after a moment, "Why do you stay with me? We know where all the shards are, you don't need me."
He smiled, happy to have words. "I will always need you," he replied, turning to her, "because we are tied."
On three, Aw! I just saw that episode 'Forever with Lord Sesshoumaru' and it made me think what Kagome's answer would be to the monk's question and what InuYasha would think when it was asked (we all know he has like no self-confidence, no matter how full of himself he is), so, here's what I came up with. Cute and pointless, just like me! Yea! Anyways, hope you enjoyed and R&R if you can. Thanks!