~~OO~~II~~OO~~

((Monster))

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

The moment the word ripped from her throat, Inuyasha felt his jaw drop in shock, his golden eyes filling with a hurt that almost broke even Miroku's heart. His ears went from happily pricked to sweeping back and flattening into his silver mass of hair, recoiling away from her and looking much like a kicked puppy. "K-Kagome," he stammered in confusion.

But the young miko had hid her face in her hands, desperately trying to hide, quivering violently. "Monster," she repeated in a whisper, her blue eyes clouded over with terror as they flicked this way and that.

Miroku gently rested his hand on Kagome's shoulder, crouching beside her and saying in a gently reassuring voice, his own violet eyes shocked, "Kagome, he's Inuyasha. I-nu-ya-sha." When the girl didn't repeat the name as she'd been doing, he glanced hopelessly at Kaede.

Turning to the hurt half-demon that continued to stare at Kagome in horror, she rasped, "Inuyasha." He glanced at her. "Why don't ye accompany me outside? I would like to speak with ye."

Inuyasha shot Kagome a final look of despair before standing up, following the elderly priestess outside. "What do ya want, you old hag?" he growled, his ears still flattened. But now he was with anger, with a hurt great enough to make her old heart ache for him.

"Ye say that Kagome wished upon the Shikon no Tama?"

"Miroku thinks that," Inuyasha admitted. "He said that it disappeared after… that. He thinks that her stupid wish was pure enough to destroy it."

"And with it, part of her mind," Kaede input gently. "In the short time Kagome has been awake, she has been mostly unresponsive to anything we've said. Ye heard how she was repeating Miroku and Sango's name, no?" He nodded. "She doesn't recognize anyone. She doesn't understand anything we say, and her movements are clumsy." Kaede inhaled before breathing out in a soft sigh, "I believe we may be teaching her as if she were a child."

Inuyasha's ears swiveled forward, a slightly hopeful look in his eyes. "So there's a chance I can get her to not be scared of me again, right?"

"I believe it is possible," Kaede said slowly. Then she said just as quietly, "Inuyasha, ye must try to keep the temper ye possess under control when around her. It will only convince her further that for whatever reason, ye are not to be trusted."

Inuyasha's ears disappeared back into his hair, his golden eyes flashing. Then to the priestess' surprise, he grinned. He simply smiled. His fangs revealed themselves, his eyes lighting up. So much unlike the Inuyasha that once loved my sister, Kaede thought. Then the half-demon was gone, disappearing back into the hut.

Inside, he silently watched the scene that he had walked in on.

Kagome had relaxed, her blue eyes once again calm as she gazed eagerly at Miroku, who was patiently attempting to teach her something else. "Mi-ro-ku," he said patiently, waving at himself. Inuyasha realized in an instant that he was trying to teach her his full name.

But Kagome was struggling now, her lips pursed in annoyance. She huffed, repeating as best as she could. "Roku."

"No," Miroku said, shaking his head. "Mi-ro-ku. Come on, Kagome, it's not that hard."

Kagome huffed, attempting with a glare. "M'roku."

Miroku threw his head back and laughed, smiling at the young miko with an amused look. "Close enough," he decided.

"Hey, Kagome!" Shippo piped up from where he was sitting in Kagome's lap. Kagome automatically looked down, recognizing the syllables of her name. Shippo giggled when she smiled and patted his head. Then his gaze became innocent, his words hesitant, "Don't you like the baka, too?" He pointed at Inuyasha, who glared at the kit for pointing him out. But then the kitsune tilted his head, sensing the picking up of her heartbeat, fear beginning to radiate from her.

Noticing her fear, Sango said, gently touching Kagome's arm, "He won't hurt you. I promise. He's an idiot that can be kind of annoying sometimes, but he would never hurt you. Never."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, forcing his ears forward and twitched them in a hope to make himself look more likeable towards her. Her gaze flickered with curiosity and longing at the sight of them before shifting nervously back to his face, her grip around Shippo tight. Inuyasha gently rumbled, flopping down by the door and shifting Tetsusaiga to lean against his shoulder. "See?" Shippo said with a smile.

Kagome bit her lip, anxious. She glanced at the half-demon again, who was quietly watching her with his golden eyes, meeting her gaze without hesitation. Her eyes widened slightly at the look he gave her, and then lowered to Shippo's head, shaking her head distrustfully. Inuyasha's ears flattened again.

Miroku sighed, and then blinked in surprise when the miko suddenly reached over and tugged on his sleeves, waving curiously at his staff. Miroku felt a smile flicker across his face, and he carefully handed it over to Kagome. She rested it over her and Shippo's lap, running her fingers across the wood with childish curiosity before moving on, examining the rings at the top of it. After she was done, the miko handed it back to Miroku.

Sango giggled as Kagome then reached for Hiraikotsu. Helping her lift it into her lap, she smiled as Kagome gasped at the sheer heavy weight of it, her sky blue eyes gazing at Sango in astonishment, wondering how the woman, who appeared to be the same age as she, could hold such a heavy weapon. But then she began to finger the leather straps, play with the demonic bone. Then Sango carefully took her boomerang back, instead handing her the katana at her waist, keeping a sharp eye on her to make sure she didn't accidentally cut herself and earn Sango a yelling from a certain half-demon.

Kagome took it, and Sango blinked in surprise when she immediately and professionally pulled the katana free from its sheathe, examining the sharp blade with curious yet narrowed eyes of worry. She allowed her fingers to dance over the sharp edge, just barely cutting into her skin with enough pressure to feel the sharpness but not to make her bleed, as her new friends seemed to be against it. After a while of messing with the katana, she handed it back after placing it back in its sheathe, patting the hilt with a smile.

Shippo eagerly scrambled out of her lap, glancing at Kaede anxiously when the elder ducked in. "Can I show her my fox fire?"

Kaede sighed. "Please don't light my home on fire," she pleaded.

After the fox fire came Shippo's illusionary tricks. Kagome giggled, smiling eagerly as she inspected his top, the wooden snake he pulled out to show her. Even showed her his favorite, allowing her to play with it, something that he'd never allowed her to do before. And after a while, she relaxed, even appearing to forget about the half-demon that was in the room.

Inuyasha watched on in silence, his claws digging into his knee with irritation. He wanted to be able to pull the miko into his lap, the others be damned. He wanted to bury his nose in her hair; he wanted to be able to feel the warmth of her against him as he practically flew through the trees with her on his back, her laughing ringing out. The half-demon closed his eyes, sighing softly.

After Shippo's weapons came the bow. Kagome's eyes widened at the sight of the bow that Kaede brought over for her to check out, her hand grasping the wood eagerly and pulling it to her to finger it. Her brow furrowed and she made a small sound of confusion as she touched the bow that had once belonged to her.

"Yours," Miroku said gently to her, smiling warmly as he waved at her. "This was and still is your bow, Kagome. It belongs to you. You use it to help us fight evil demons and monsters that threaten everyone else."

Kagome's eyes snapped to his at "monsters" and she stiffened, glancing at Inuyasha anxiously, but Miroku shook his head. "No, Kagome, Inuyasha's not a monster. He's a half-demon; he's a good friend of both you and us. He would never hurt you, just like Sango said earlier."

Kagome gave a shaky sigh, handing the bow back.

Finally, she turned her attention on the last weapon in the room. She hesitated, as if anxious that she'd get scolded or snapped at for asking to look at it. She was obviously scared as she glanced questioningly at Miroku, pointing at it. She paused, struggling to form the words that she knew she needed to help them understand what she wanted. "Roku?" she questioned. He glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow expectantly. When he followed where she was pointing, he blinked in surprise.

She was pointing at none other than the Tetsusaiga, her gaze hopeful.

Inuyasha blinked in surprise, gaze snapping up to Kagome when Miroku asked, "Inuyasha, can she look at your Tetsusaiga? She wants to see it."

"Feh," he grumbled, immediately climbing to his feet, hand grasping said sword. "Sure. But I wanna give it to her." Kagome made a nervous sound as he walked over, crouching before her much like he'd done a while ago. Slowly, making sure the miko saw every movement he made, he picked Shippo up and moved the fox demon aside, explaining to the complaining demon, "You wanna get shocked?"

Shippo shook his head.

Kagome nervously held her hand out, shaking at the proximity of the half-demon.

And he pressed the sword into her hand.

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

A/N: As you can see, this will be switching between everyone else's POV and Kagome's POV. What do you think so far?