Sorry for taking a month to update! Thanks for all the lovely reviews! H-hopefully this chapter makes up for my absence...now who thought those startling three words, hmm?

~LonelyButLovely


"Kagome, why do stars shine?" Inuyasha lay his head on her lap as they both sat out in the firefly field.

"Well," Kagome pondered for a moment. "It's because the people who have departed from this world travel to the great sky above as spirits who watch over their loved ones to protect them."

"Is my dad up there then?" Inuyasha asked searching the dark sky.

"Um..." Kagome thought for a second longer. "Yes, I'm sure he's looking down right now and protecting you and your mom."

"Are you being protected too?" He asked.

Kagome looked at a particularly bright star and smiled faintly. "Yeah, my dad watches over my family too."

"Do you think our dads are friends now?"

Kagome thought a little more then shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, I hope that they help our friendship so that we can always be together," Inuyasha declared boldly. "You are my only friend and I don't want to lose you, so stay with me okay? Promise you'll never leave me forever."

"That's a really big promise," Kagome commented with surprise.

"So...you won't stay with me forever?"

"I can't really promise you that - "

"I know I'm staying with you forever!" Inuyasha flipped around and looked her dead in the eyes as they met face-to-face. "I'll go wherever you go and protect you until the day I die! And then I'll go into the sky to watch over you until you come and be a star too! And then we'll be together forever!"

Kagome stared at him with awe as well as surprise, maybe even blushing a little. Inuyasha wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed, meaning everything thing he said. The golden-eyed hanyou waited for her reply.

"I...I..." Kagome tried to speak but she could hardly for a sentence. She was really at a loss for words. But something in her mind - more likely her heart - said the words for her. "Inuyasha...thank you."

It was then when the bold hanyou became flustered. "I just...Kagome it's...I don't want to - I..."

He seemed to be having trouble, stuttering and stammering heatedly before taking her by the shoulders and - by some human instinct - hugged her to his chest. He just wanted to hold her tight and never let her go; the world could be ending and the sky could disappear but he just wanted to hold her in his arms the way he was now. She was warm and soft, like he imagined, and smelled of sweet cherry blossoms. Kagome, surprised, was still for a moment then relaxed and hugged him back, resting her chin on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

'I love you.'