Chapter 10 - The Healing

Kagome walked down the hall, gazing at the various paintings along the walls. Some were family, others were landscapes, and quite a few were friends and acquaintances.

She stopped in front of one, a slight frown on her face. The young woman in the painting was wearing a similar frown, in a very similar face. The young woman remarkably resembled Kagome, but her hair was harshly straight, framing a beautiful but cold face. So much the same, and yet, at the same time very different in looks and even moods. Kagome shivered, rubbing her arms.

"Who is she?" She asked softly to the air.

"Was."

Kagome shrieked, turning quickly around. What she found, surprisingly, was Inuyasha.

His eyes glowed slightly in the dark, and a continuous rumbling growl filling the hall, the sound unnerving to Kagome's ears.

Kagome swallowed nervously. "Was?" she repeated, with a slight tremble in her voice.

"She's dead," he replied, with an odd tone of voice. It was cold and uncaring, but there was something...

"Friend of yours?" she asked softly, though she couldn't think why; he sure didn't look at all friendly.

To her surprise, the demon actually thought about her question. "Once, maybe," he finally uttered, and that was all he said as he stared at the painting with hate-filled red eyes.

"Once?" Kagome turned to look at the painting again. This girl looked like a miko, come to think of it. She was, after all, wearing the traditional miko garb.

"What was...?" When Kagome turned back around, the demon was walking away, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

"She's dead," he repeated - loudly - then disappeared around a corner. Kagome glanced up at the painting again, then ran to follow Inuyasha. She caught up with him rather quickly, since he wasn't walking too fast.

"How did she die?" she asked, feeling nosy. He ignored her, staring intently ahead. Kagome fell back into silence as she walked beside him. Eventually they reached their rooms, and as Kagome opened her door he spoke.

"She destroyed me, but she's dead, and that's it," he growled, then slammed his own door shut behind him. Kagome stared at his door for a moment, then sadly walked into her own room, closing her door softly.

She trudged over to her bed, pulling on her night-dress to the sounds of Inuyasha's fits. She sighed, crawling into bed with her thoughts.

Was this girl the real source of his unhappiness? Kagome frowned, listening closely. That wasn't just kicking and smashing and stomping. If anything, there was less, and what violence there was seemed to be slowly diminishing in force.

Curious, Kagome walked out onto her little terrace. The sounds definitely weren't as loud as they'd been the night before. She leaned over the railing, surprised to see the glass doors shut.

But she could still see.

He had his back turned, scratching the walls violently with his razor-sharp claws. With shock, she saw that the other walls had undergone similar treatment. Looking around, she wondered briefly when anyone had last stepped foot inside.

Suddenly Inuyasha sagged against the wall, his claws still jammed inside the wall. He slid down, shaking.

He was crying.

Biting her lip, Kagome made a quick decision. She climbed up onto her railing, then reached out and climbed up onto his. She slid down, hiding, crawling along the floor.

Seeing his back still turned, she took her chances and opened the door. His ears flicked back, and a growl emanated from his chest. She froze, but he continued shaking on the floor, too overcome to do much of anything.

She stepped closer.

"Please."

Her eyes widened at the sound of the strangled voice that seemed torn from his throat, choked by tears and anger. Frowning, she walked over to him and he tensed the closer she got. He lifted his head up, seeming to smell her for the first time since she came into the room. He whirled around, his claws ripping out of the wall with tremendous force.

He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. His eyes, red and swollen, pierced hers with conflicting emotions hidden in their depths. Haltingly, she came even closer.

His eyes narrowed on her, but she paid no heed and kept walking, praying that this would work. Finally she reached him, and his nostrils flared, his claws digging into his palms, drawing blood.

She reached her hand out, placing it gently on his shoulder. He jerked, then slowly his body released most of its tension. With a look of awe, he lifted his face. A single tear ran down his cheek, and then he lunged forward, burying his face in her belly.

Stunned, she fell to the floor, and winced as her knees came into contact with the floor with a resounding smack. But she held on to the man falling to pieces in her arms.

Not really knowing what else to do, she gently rubbed his back and crooned softly in one of his great big dog ears. It twitched every time she uttered a word and her breath fell on it, and he himself shuddered every time her hand made its way down his back.

Eventually his tears subsided, and he lifted his tear-stained face. She was surprised; while his eyes were as red as ever, they seemed gentle, and a flush had blossomed across his cheeks. Smiling slightly, she wiped the tears from his eyes and cheeks. He swallowed hard and blinked his large, red eyes.

"I feel..." he began, very quietly, and gulped again. She squeezed his shoulder lightly. "I almost feel normal," he whispered, his voice lacking the harsh qualities it once had. Kagome grinned.

"Sometimes it's good to cry, it makes us all normal," she said, and Inuyasha paused, then nodded mutely. Kagome glanced at his bed. "Come on, let's get you to sleep," she said, and he nodded again, seeming a bit dazed as he rose from the floor. Kagome followed.

Once he'd sat on the bed. Kagome patted his shoulder in what she hoped was an encouraging manner, and then, not knowing what else to do, awkwardly bent forward and kissed his forehead.

The blush Inuyasha sported earlier returned in abundance, and Kagome, ignorant of this, walked happily out the door.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha," she called, and he vaguely raised his hand in response.

Kagome smiled as she got into her bed.

"Well, he opened up a little, that's good," she said before she fell asleep, with no idea as to what she'd just begun.

The knock on her door startled Kaede out of a sound sleep, and she snorted discontentedly. Groaning and muttering, she crawled out of bed and hobbled to the door. What she saw surprised her.

"Inuyasha?" She backed up a little, wary. "What is the matter, child?" His mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

"I... I feel normal," he stuttered. Kaede blinked dubiously.

"How do you mean?" she asked, dumbfounded. Inuyasha stretched his hands out in front of his face and flexed them.

"I feel like a hanyou again," he whispered. "Just a little. It's... it's like I have my mind back." Kaede's jaw dropped.

"How did this happen, child? What did ye do?"

Inuyasha blushed.

"That, that girl," he said softly. "I don't know..." he blushed a little more and folded his arms across his chest with a pout. "I... I was crying and she found me. I figured she'd just leave but she... held me."

"Held ye?" Kaede tried desperately not to smile; he didn't notice.

"Yeah. She just... held me, and let me cry. She didn't even ask why... not that I tell her," he added with a huff, and Kaede's heart thrilled to see her master acting as he used to, with his uncrushable pride.

"Did she do anything else Maybe we could ask her to do it again, if it was a spell or-"

"No! No..." Kaede looked up, surprised at this outburst.

"What's the matter, boy?" His face by now almost matched his eyes.

"Nothing," he said, a little too quickly for it to have been the truth. Kaede laughed.

"No lies, child. If we're to have you back to normal, you must tell me these things." Inuyasha shuffled his feet for a long time.

"She... she kissed me," he finally muttered. Kaede's eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth lifted in a bout of hope.

"Kissed you?"

"On the forehead!" he snapped, and then went back into an embarrassed silence. Suddenly he growled, grabbing his head between his hands and shaking his head, as though in pain.

"It's... it's..." he mumbled incoherently, and then ran out of the room. Kaede walked slowly to the door, watching Inuyasha run away with happy tears in her eyes.

"So far, so good,"she said with a grin, and shut the door.

Phew. Seriously, I wrote this entire chapter one day in my English class. Well, ok, so it was 3 days total, but I actually wrote 9 pages, and this is just 5.

And I've only just realized how confusing some of this is. It makes total sense in my head, but none of you get to see inside there, so...

Ok. Kagome knows that Inuyasha is a hanyou. However, she does not know that what she sees isn't what he normally looks like. She thinks he's just sick, not under some weird spell that changes his form. So she's trying to make him feel better, not make him "normal". Ok? Please, ask if you're still confused, and I'll do my best to explain.

Thanks so much for your reviews everyone! They keep me going! I know I'm slow, but I try! School is just really really lame! Sorry! Much love! -Ariana