Disclaimer: I do not own Beauty and the Beast or Inuyasha.
The days kept going and Kagome found that she sort of liked being around Inuyasha. Inuyasha also found that he didn't mind being around Kagome as much either. Before long Kagome had been there a month and she found she almost liked being there. One day after lunch everyone gathered in one of the rooms of the castle that had a fire place. It was already getting cold so they all were in the same room to make it warmer. Sango and Miroku sat on one couch that was up against one of the walls. Kohaku was in a corner reading a book about swords. Myoga sat at a desk in the opposite corner studying something or another. Ayumi was off cleaning random things for she is not one to just sit doing nothing. Kaede was off making tea, Inuyasha was curled up in a big arm chair that sat right in front of the fire, and Kagome and Shippo were sprawled out on a big rug that was right in between the fire place and Inuyasha's chair. Shippo had asked Kagome to read him a story, so she picked Cinderella seeing as it was a classic fairy tale all children should know.
"…and they lived happily ever after," when Kagome finished she saw that Shippo had fallen asleep. She smiled down at the sleeping boy thinking how much he reminded her of Sota. That was one of the biggest downsides to her being there. She missed Sota terribly. If only they had been imprisoned together then maybe… Her train of thought was interrupted when she heard a voice from behind her say
"That's stupid!" she turned to see Inuyasha, whom she thought was napping, talking to her.
"What's stupid?" She asked softly.
"The story," he replied.
"You were listening?" Kagome asked with a smile on her face. Inuyasha rolled over to face the back of the chair, embarrassed.
"It's kinda hard not to! You're so loud!" Kagome just rolled her eyes.
"Why do you think it's stupid?" she asked curious.
"Because, it's nothing like the real world!" he said turning to face her again.
"Oh, and being cursed in a castle is?" Kagome asked.
"That's not what I meant…I mean the end, the happy forever part."
"You mean happily ever after?"
"Yeah, whatever. That's not how the real world is! People don't live happily ever after." It was just then that Kagome noticed that room had emptied and only her Inuyasha and Shippo remained.
"How do you know?" Kagome asked.
"Because… they just don't!" he said rolling back over. Kagome sat there, facing his back now, knowing he wasn't talking about the world, he was talking about himself. Kagome was silent for a while then she said
"It'll get better, you're life I mean, it'll get better." Then silence again. They were quiet for a while now. The silence was almost unbearable. Then suddenly it was broken,
"No it won't." she heard Inuyasha say in a voice that made her have to make sure it was him that said it. She had never heard that voice before. It almost hurt her to hear it; it was so full of pain and hopelessness. "It won't get better, it won't get worse, it will just stay the same… that's all it ever does. I don't move forward, I just stay. Eight hundred years ago, when that witch cast a spell on me, time, for me, stopped. My life was frozen just the way it was. But the world kept moving, it kept spinning, time kept going for everyone, but me. My servants and I, the world left us behind. We were all secluded from the world, and it was all my fault. At first we all just waited, thinking it would get better and besides we had a kingdom to run. Then the Kingdom found out. They were scared, some were afraid they would be cursed as well. Others just didn't like the thought of being ruled by a cursed king, and finally there were those who just thought we were freaks. They said we were mistakes. We should never have existed in the first place. We became outcasts. And eventually everyone who wasn't cursed left. And we were alone. Some servants banded together and tried to run us out of the castle, those would be the one's who constantly attack us. Then most just didn't want to live with the man who caused them all this pain. You don't know how many times I heard people wishing I were dead. Do you know what that's like? Hearing someone say that about you?" he paused, "I had roughly two hundred servants, look how many stayed. I'm surprised anyone stayed. Then every one keeps saying it will get better, there's still hope, but they're just fooling themselves. It won't get better, and the whole hope concept, I gave up on that a long time ago. So how can you say that people really do live happily ever after?"
"Inuyasha…" Kagome whispered as she reached up and touched his shoulder. She had no idea that is what he went through. She didn't know if she could stand it. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Just then Inuyasha turned to look at her. He said nothing, he just stared at her.
'Is she crying?' he thought, 'I didn't tell her that to make her cry. Actually I don't know why I told her that at all. It just all kinda spilled out, without my even noticing it. It just felt so right, like I could tell her anything. And I wanted to let her in. I've never wanted to let anyone in…ever.' Then Inuyasha saw a single tear fall down her cheek. He didn't know what made him do it, but he reached out and wiped it away. Then he suddenly snapped back to reality,
"I didn't tell you that to make you cry stupid!" He said not looking at her.
"I know," she replied, "and, thank you,"
"For what?" he asked uncomfortably.
"For telling me, I'm glad you can talk to me,"
"Oh," they were once again silent only this time it was a very awkward silence. "Whatever," Inuyasha mumbled then turned to face the chair once again. Kagome was in a daze. She could hardly believe what just happened. He had opened up to her. Did that mean that he trusted her? Or did he just need someone to talk to really bad and didn't care who it was? Whatever the reason, it made her feel good, knowing that she was needed. And she realized that maybe that's why Inuyasha was always so mean, maybe he just really needed someone, but no one was ever there. Kagome didn't know why but she wanted to be that person, she wanted to be there for Inuyasha, she wanted to show him that there is such a thing as happily ever after.