Okay, sorry for the epic lateness of this update, but I've been pretty busy recently. I know that's no real excuse, but...

So sorry.

Please enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. I'm willing to bet you already knew that though, right?

Chapter 11

Questioning

The day went by quickly, and I rarely had a moment for my own thoughts.

Sango had decided that I needed to go shopping with her.

I had never really been much of one for shopping anyway, but during this busy time of year, stores were always far too crowded for my liking. Nonetheless, I decided that it might not be as bad if I was shopping with Sango, because of her cheerful attitude and tendency to be incredibly optimistic.

We passed by what seemed like the hundredth window display, as we walked down the street.

Sango stopped in front of one of the glass panes to admire a frilly red dress. She smiled to herself, then sighed.

"I could never afford something like that," she said wistfully, "But it sure is nice..."

As I soon discovered, shopping with Sango didn't exactly involve purchasing anything, but rather fawning over something or trying it on, only to put it solemnly back on the shelf after looking at the unreasonably high price tag.

Window shopping was a concept relatively new to me, as any "shopping" that I had done in the past had mostly consisted of making a list of necessary groceries, rushing into the store, buying said necessary items as fast as possible, and getting out.

Sango's way was much more time consuming.

Even though the minutes had gone by in a flash, it must have been four hours, at the very least.

As we walked, silence began to stretch out, which was unusual.

I took a deep breath,and decided that I would ask the question that had been chewing at the back of my mind for some time. I wondered if this was really the appropriate place, but I decided to go for it.

"Sango, I need to ask you... A question."

She looked up and gave me one of her kind smiles.

"Sure. About what?"

"About... Kagome. Who is she? What happened to her?"

Sango and I returned to the building that evening to find InuYahsa and Miroku in InuYasha's apartment, playing cards.

Miroku was joking around, as per usual, and InuYasha was, well... Acting like InuYasha. Making sarcastic remarks, and such.

Bits of the conversation from earlier swam through my head, but I was too confused and tired to sort them all out.

I could barely look at InuYasha. I felt like I had gone behind his back, and if I said a word to him, it would seem too much like I felt sorry for him.

Something told me that he wouldn't take too kindly to that.

Instead I sat with Sango, as she occasionally commented on Miroku's lack of skill at whatever card game he and InuYasha were playing, and made small contributions to the conversation, nodding when it was appropriate.

I was absently glancing out the window, when I noticed something.

InuYasha seemed to be staring at me.

I quickly chalked this up to personal paranoia on my part, but even though I was looking back at him, he was still looking at me. The room was quiet.

"Um.. Kikyo?" asked Sango, a slight look of concern on her face.

I snapped out of my daze. "Yes?"

"I think InuYasha asked you a question..."

A rush of heat spread up my neck and over my cheeks, my face flushing as red as a tomato. So that was why he had been looking at me. He was waiting for the response to a question that I had been too spaced-out to hear.

"I'm sorry... Um, what was that...?" I stammered.

"I was just asking if you wanted to close the window." I looked up and saw that my perch was, indeed, right next to the only window in the room, which was open. It's cold air surrounded me.

"Oh, um, sorry..." I muttered, closing the window.

"What a space-case." he muttered. My head reflexively snapped up at his comment, but when I looked at his face, I realized...

He was smiling.

It was a joke.

I laughed uncertainly, unused to seeing this side of InuYasha.

I wasn't really sure what I should say next. I wasn't used to joking around. I'd never had a very good sense of humor, and whatever bit if such that I managed to build up in high school soon disappeared after moving in with Naraku.

I realized that I was still laughing, but it no longer sounded happy. It was more nervous or pre-homicidal. When people laughed like I was just laughing in public, mothers told their children not to get too close to the crazy person walking down the street.

Everyone seemed to be giving me strange looks, except for InuYasha, who seemed to almost understand my awkwardness. Gone was his joking demeanor, quickly replaced by his usual sarcastic scowl.

But just for a fraction of a second, I had seen him smile...

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Miroku and Sango shoot each other meaningful looks.

That night, when InuYasha was asleep, I opened the drawer on the end-table in the apartment's living room.

I gently and quietly extracted the framed photo of Kagome, and looked at it for several moments.

"I can't believe that happened to you..." I whispered. I could hear the sadness in my own voice.

I slid the photo back in the drawer and eased it shut.

For a moment, I thought I detected some movement in the doorway, of InuYasha's room, but I couldn't be sure, because when I glanced in that direction, there was nobody there.

CH.11/END

Okay, again, I'm sorry that this was so late. I hope that you were able to forgive me and enjoy this chapter anyways.

I hope to update this much more frequently from now on! Thanks so much for all the support of my readers and reviewers, you guys are great!

So, did you like this chapter? Hate it? Please let me know!

Hope to be here again soon!

-Massie