Disclaimer: All characters from Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Solitaire

Ten of Clubs on Jack of Hearts. Jack of Hearts on Queen of Clubs. Inuyasha snickered. It never ceased to amuse him when Kagome played those cards. It felt like he was sharing a private joke with the miko, even though she didn't know it. He wondered if he was hanging around Miroku too much.

Watching her was soothing.

There were no demons around and the weak humans were too tired to continue on after their last couple of battles. Times like these were too few and far between. These quiet moments let him indulge in the hope that one day they could be like this, without the battles or the jewel forcing them together. Hope that even after this was all over she would still be there with him, playing games and smiling at him. Hope that she would keep her promise to stay by his side.

He would never keep her to that promise though. It was made so long ago, and she didn't really understand what it would mean. Allowing his gaze to flick to the other members of the group for a moment he thought about his other friends. They were an anomaly. This isn't how other people and demons treated a half breed. They would ostracize Kagome and their pups. They would be alone.

But they would be together.

Disgusted with himself he pushed the thought away. It wasn't fair of him to try and keep her. She would be happier if she left him when the jewel was completed. She would have a family she wouldn't have to be ashamed of. People wouldn't hate her or her children if she went back to her own time. Without him.

But Sango and Miroku don't hate her. Or Shippo.

Three of Diamonds on Four of Clubs.

Could she be happy here? Inuyasha let the possibility sink in. Life without her was… unimaginable. When did she become so important? When did she become my home? Could he let her go? From the moment she freed him he hadn't felt the heavy weight of loneliness. Now that he has known… known what it was like to have someone… could he possibly stand being alone again?

He watched as she straightened out the stacks and studied the cards that were face up. She said she was with me because she wanted to be. Life on the other side of the well was easier. There were stores that had food already prepared, televisions and radios to entertain her, microwaves and toasters, and so many other amazing things. Not to mention fast food restaurants and movies. What does she have here?

Sure she says she loves the smell of the air and walking through the woods. Sure she seems to enjoy helping people and healing. But it wasn't safe. There were demon attacks. Even without the jewel to search for they would still have to defend themselves against the demons. And she would get hurt.

Frowning, Inuyasha jumped down from his post in the tree and grabbed Kagome's ankle, startling the miko.

"Hey!"

"Feh, just checking your wound, idiot."

He was a bit surprised that she didn't complain as he unwrapped the bandage and inspected the wounds thoroughly. It felt… uncomfortable… touching her like this, especially since everyone was trying to look like they weren't watching. Once he was assured that the swelling was going down and the cut was healing without infection he let go of her ankle.

"It's no big deal," she tells him softly. "It barely hurts at all."

His ears flattened. She shouldn't be hurting at all. The thought of her falling off that cliff… it sent chills down his spine. Of course he saved her, but not before some damage was done to her shoulder and her leg when it hit the rocks and that stupid branch on her way down. It wasn't the first cliff she had fallen off of. Would he be able to save her every time? If they have pups would he be able to keep them all safe?

As he sat beside her, Inuyasha recalled the time when she had fallen down into the river and had been swept away from him with that fool, he couldn't be bothered to try and remember his name. His uncanny resemblance to that other fool in her era made it really hard to think favorably of him. He had searched for her frantically. He hadn't even allowed himself to think of the possibility that she may… he couldn't even think of it now. But it could happen.

It just wasn't safe for her to be fighting, no matter how much they needed her. But it wasn't safe in her own time either. He'd seen how dangerous it could be first hand, not to mention the terrors he learned about when her mother had left the television on and he had seen the news. He couldn't send her back THERE without protection.

So what should I do? Where will she be safe? He watched her movements carefully as she returned her attention back to the game. With me. A wave of protectiveness threatened to engulf him. He had to fight back his desire to keep her locked away somewhere where nothing could ever touch her or hurt her. She already thought he was too over-protective. What would she think if she knew just how much he was fighting his natural instincts?

"Four of Diamonds to Five of Clubs," Inuyasha murmured as he saw her studying the cards. Against his will he blushed at her smile.

He focused on the game before instincts took over and he decided to abduct the miko. Shippo was off coloring while Kirara sat still for him to draw, posing for the artist. Miroku and Sango were sitting on a log, both were pretending to clean their weapons. They didn't fool anyone. They just wanted an excuse to sit together. To be close. To maybe accidentally, sometimes not so accidentally, touch.

So Kagome played alone.

"It's a lonely game."

Surprised, Kagome turned to him. "Lonely?"

"You play it by yourself, alone. You said it's called 'solitaire', right? Even the name is lonely." He nudged the eight of spades so she would pick it up and glanced at the nine of hearts meaningfully. "Why do you play it?"

She shrugged. "Everyone else was busy. I'm actually caught up on homework, so I thought I'd relax and play a game."

"No," he shook his head, "Why do you know that game at all? You're never alone. At home you have you family and at school you have your friends. You always have someone to play with. You shouldn't know a game like this."

Feeling like he was starting to babble he snapped his mouth shut. Kagome was looking at him with that strange look again, the one that said she was trying to read his mind.

"I was very lucky," she admitted, "I have my family and I have my friends. But there were times when I've had to be alone." She bit her lip, looking away from him for a moment. When she looked back she had a lopsided, sad little smile on her face. Inuyasha wished he hadn't said anything at all.

"When my dad… died… Mama was so sad. She loved him very very much. For the longest time she didn't really feel like playing. And of course since Souta was a baby he was too young to play with me. Grandpa taught me to play this game. It helped take my mind off of what was going on. It didn't make me less sad or make me miss my dad less, but it did make me a little less lonely. I focused on the cards, only concentrating on what the next move was going to be. In a way it was almost mind numbing." She gave him a warmer smile. "But I started playing it sometimes when I was bored or if I was trying to keep myself from being worried about a test or something. It's pretty good about taking my mind off of my worries."

Shrinking down a little Inuyasha frowned. It was bad enough that he felt so guilty for bringing back sad memories, but now he knew that she was trying to numb her brain against worries. Probably worries he caused. Or was too slow to prevent. Visions of Kagome disappearing over the edge of the cliff haunted him.

"Are you worried?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"I won't let you die."

Turning to him she gave him another smile. It was warm, but a little confused. "I know you won't. I trust you."

"Ten of Clubs on Nine of Hearts."

To his horror, Kagome began scooping up the cards and stacking them all back up into a pile, ending her game early even though she still had cards she could play. His ears flattened and he looked away, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I was just tryin' to help," he growled.

Leaning back, Kagome reached into her pack and drew out another deck of cards. Before he could blink she chucked them at him. Not even bothering to dodge them he let the deck hit him in the chest and fall into his lap. He watched as she merrily shuffled her cards and began dealing out the game again. When she was finished she looked at him expectantly.

"What?"

"You're playing with me."

"But… its Solitaire… you can't play it with someone…stupid…"

She grinned. "Ah, but you can play Double Solitaire. Start shuffling and dealing out those cards, Dog Boy."

Still a bit confused at the turn of events, Inuyasha shuffled the cards and started laying out the cards. One card face up and six cards face down. He looked at her again to make sure she was serious about this. When he saw her waiting he shrugged and finished laying out the hand. Sometimes it was useless trying to figure the girl out.

"Now what?"

"In regular Solitaire you put your Aces at the top, the foundation piles. You build it up from Aces to Kings. When all your cards on in the foundation pile you win."

"Feh, I know that. I'm not stupid."

"Hmm." She gave him a skeptical look. He snarled. She giggled. Then she pat him on the head and told him he was a good boy, a phrase which never ceased to annoy him. It played on one of his other fears, the one where she thought of him as a dog and not as a man. It didn't matter that he knew she was being playful and teasing. If those ear rubs didn't feel so darn good he would put a stop to it immediately. Eventually she returned to her instruction of the game.

"In Double Solitaire it doesn't matter who put down what card in the foundation pile. If you put down an Ace of Clubs I can play my Two of Clubs on it. If we both have the Two of Clubs, whoever puts it down first gets to leave it there. The other person has to keep it in play until the next Ace of Clubs is set down. Does that make sense?"

"It's like the game War?"

"Yeah, you can think of it as War Solitaire."

The first hand was slow. The concept of War Solitaire made more sense than Double Solitaire. In the beginning Inuyasha slapped down the cards into the foundation piles like they did in War. Eventually he began noticing that Kagome would study his layout then her own. Then she did the most amazing thing… she fed cards into the foundation that she knew would help him out.

At first Inuyasha was angry. He didn't like to be coddled or pitied. The second time he caught her doing it he almost threw down his cards and leapt back into the tree. But her eyes kept him still. She was concentrating on the game, and there wasn't a trace of pity or condescension.

"The game isn't about winning against each other… is it?"

She shrugged. "You can play it like that."

"But you're not." His eyes glowed golden as he studying her as she focused on her cards. She was still playing to win, he could tell. No one concentrates THAT hard and isn't trying to win.

Placing another card into the foundation she glanced at him. "If we both get all of our cards out there, then WE win."

Not War Solitaire… it was Double Solitaire. They weren't playing against each other. They were playing WITH each other, against the world. Or at least this game.

He smiled. A real smile.

He really liked that thought.

ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo

Author's Notes:

Unlike my other stories, this one is only updated sporadically. That's because it is almost a set of one shots (I know that's not a good term since if there is more than one it can't be one) that are all based on games. It's not necessarily plot based. So new chapters are created when inspiration hits… or I can think of a good game that they would likely play.

Rules for Solitaire:

There are many versions of Solitaire. The traditional game of Solitaire that I grew up playing is actually called Klondike

This solitaire uses one deck (52 cards). Twenty-eight cards are dealt from the deck into the 7 tableau piles with the number of cards per pile increasing from one to seven from left to right. The top card is face up, the rest face down.

The object of the game is to move four aces to the foundations as they become, and to build the foundations up in suit from Ace to King.

Top cards of tableau piles and waste pile are available to play.

You can build tableau piles down by alternate color. One card or group of cards in the proper sequence can be moved from pile to pile. If during the play any of closed cards become the top card of a stack it turns over. Empty tableaus may be filled with a King or group of cards headed with a King.

When you have made all the available plays on the board, begin turning over cards from stock. 3 cards at a time are turned over from the Stock. You can move cards from stock pile to the tableau piles and to the foundations according to the rules mentioned above.

You have two redeals. Though some people play with only having one redeal while others play with unlimited redeals.

I don't know if Double Solitaire is an official game, but it is one I played with my grandmother when I was a kid. There were even a couple of times when we played Triple Solitaire, which is more like War Solitaire in my opinion.

FreeCell is another favorite of mine… but since they don't play it in the story…