Me: Hi everyone! It has been awhile! :D

I've been really busy with work, so im sorry I haven't been able to update very much. :( But at least I finished this chapter! :D

Thank you to anyone that reviewed, favorited, or followed this story (or me). (*^-^*)

Answering Questions:

I've noticed quite a few questions on the details about her friends from the Feudal Era and I have to tell those people that I wrote this a long time ago when I was relatively young and horrible at writing, so I'm sorry if I miss details about everyone in the Feudal Era, such as Kirara, Sesshomaru, and Rin. I will try not to miss any (or as many) details from now on.

Here are the votes from the reviews so far. (The ones with only a few votes are suggestions from people that reviewed. I didn't want them to think that I'm neglecting their review/vote, so I added new names to the list.):

Itachi- llllllllllllll [14]

Sasuke- llllllllllllllllllllllll [24]

Garra- lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll [49]

Naruto- llllllllllllllllll [18]

Kiba- l [1]

Shikamaru- l [1]

Sakura- l [1]

Neji- ll [2]

Forever Alone- l [1]

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha. They belong to their original owners.

Inuyasha/Naruto crossover

"Talking"

"Spirit Talking"

'Thoughts'

Chapter Thirteen: Taking Time In Suna

It has been a couple of weeks since Kagome and Kakashi had arrived in Sunakagure. In that time, they had gotten all of their things organized and had gotten themselves situated. Kakashi would assist the Kazekage on any assignments that the Kazekage would assign him to do. During this time, Kagome would be at the greenhouse learning about herbs and different medical techniques with Honored Grandmother Chiyo, or who Kagome likes to call "Chiyo-baasama". While she was learning from Chiyo-baasama most of the time, a couple times she would share some of the information she had learned from Kaede with Chiyo. Each time that she would bring up some of her previous knowledge, Chiyo would listen with great interest and compare it to the techniques of medical ninja.

While Kagome and Kakashi were comfortable with the change in scenery and were happily making friends, Gaara sat alone on a swing as the children continue to play several feet away from him. Word had spread among the children and families about the sand attack that had occurred a few days ago. Due to this knowledge, the parents of the children told them to stay far away from him. It hurt knowing that he had pushed them further away.

He could only watch as they continued to have fun, while occasionally cautiously looking his way before continuing in their activities.

One boy stopped kicking the ball and turned to his friend. "Look. That demon kid is staring at us again."

"Do you think he will try to attack us like the others?" the boy's friend whispered to him.

"No. I think he's too far away to harm us. He can't possibly attack us from that distance," his friend pointed out. Before the other kid could reply, they were both called back by their other friends to continue their game of "kick the ball".

Gaara couldn't do anything about the rumors except just take them. He had no way of improving his relationship with the villagers, and at this point he didn't know if he even wanted to anymore. Friendship was a loss cause for him.

His body stiffened as a hand was placed on his shoulder. He cautiously looked at the intruder to his thoughts. Upon seeing the figure, he couldn't help but give the person a small smile. "Hello, Kagome," he greeted softly.

'Maybe friendship isn't completely lost after all,' he thought as he stared at the girl that opening stated that she was going to be his friend.

Kagome smiled brightly at him. "Hello, Gaara," she replied back. She walked to his side and went toward the swing next to him. "Is this taken?" she asked. He shook his head. "That's good," she replied and took a seat on the swing next to him. Due to her change in height from arriving in this world, her feet could barely touch the ground when she sat on the swing. It was just tall enough for her to rock herself back-and-forth. "So, how has your day been, Gaara?" she asked him, while giving him another smile.

After waiting for a few seconds, Gaara finally replied in a quiet voice, "It was the same." Gaara was not used to having small talk with someone, so he was unsure about how to reply back to a friendly question like that.

"Well, I guess that's better than having a lousy day," Kagome replied jokingly. 'At least no one has decided to attack him because of the event that took place a couple of weeks ago,' she thought as she turned her head to look at the sky. Even though it was late morning, the sky still had that reddish-orange color due to the constant blowing sand. She was still not used to this kind of sky during such a time, but that didn't mean it was a bad thing. Sometimes change was a good thing.

Gaara turned to look at her when she had grown silent, curiosity blatantly shown on his face. He still couldn't believe that this mysterious girl had decided to come and befriend him. "Well, I learned a lot today," she said as she turned to him, "Do you want to hear about it?" Gaara slowly nodded. Kagome smiled again and began telling him about the greenhouse and Chiyo-baasama. She would reveal a bit about Konoha, but not a lot. That was a story for another day.

One of the boys had stopped when he saw a girl walk up to the demon boy. His friend was about to run passed him if he hadn't grabbed his arm to stop him. "Hey, do you see what I see?" he whispered to his friend as he pointed to Gaara.

His friend looked at the scene with shock. "Why is that girl so close to that demon? Doesn't she know that her life could be in danger?"

The kids were shocked when they watched the girl sit down on the swing next to the demon and proceed to talk to him merrily. They all watched as she would smile at him and continue to talk to him.

After seeing her smile, no one could deny how cute she was, which made them fear for her life even more. No girl, especially a pretty one like her, should be hurt by that monster.

One question ran through all their minds as they continued to watch: 'How did Gaara make a friend with such a cute girl like her?'

They were all baffled by this display. The guys were jealous of Gaara, but their jealousy did not exceed their fear toward him. They wouldn't dare get close to the demon just to talk to the girl, so they all just continued to stare at the duo.

Kagome felt many eyes on her. She stopped talking and turned her head and looked at the kids further away. Once their eyes met, she could see the kids' bodies flinch. Were they scared of her?

To ease their tensions, she gave them a small smile. This caused all of the boys to blush and look away. The boys eased up a bit, which caused the tension of the situation to dissipated slightly.

After seeing their bodies ease and feeling their aura get slightly brighter, she turned back to Gaara and resumed to tell him about her day.

Gaara continued to listen to his new friend talk. He didn't really care about the topic being discussed, but he didn't mind hearing about it as long as she was happy. He liked to watch how her face expressions changed as she talked. He couldn't help but smile a bit as she continue to describe everything to him with a great amount of excitement and mirth. Upon feeling her excitement, he couldn't help but be happy for her.

Kagome stopped talking when she noticed that Gaara's aura had become brighter. She looked at him and noticed how he was watching her with a small smile and a faint noticeable gleam in his eyes.

Gaara was happy.

This feeling was so bizarre to Gaara since he has never felt this way before, but he couldn't say he hated it. He felt a warmth build inside of him as he continued to spend time with Kagome. 'It's like being embraced,' he thought, bringing his teddybear closer to his chest. 'It feels nice.'

As the sun moved across the sky, the two children continued to merrily talk to each other. The other children continued to play their games after they got over their initial shock of what had taken place.

Kagome looked towards the sky and noticed how far toward the west the sun was compared to when she had arrived. She turned back to Gaara, "I think I should go now, Gaara. I have a couple of things to look at back at the greenhouse."

Gaara look at her with wide eyes. 'But I don't want you to go,' he thought, unable to speak his words out loud. He looked down at the ground while clutching his bear tighter. Kagome recognized the look in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Gaara. I will come back to visit you tomorrow," she said with a smile.

Gaara looked up with childish excitement. "Really?" She nodded and smiled. After hearing her reply, he felt the same warm feeling overcome him again. His heart thumped a little faster while he looked at her.

He placed his hand on his heart. 'This is the first time my heart has done this. What does it mean?' He continued to look at Kagome. 'Is she the one making me feel this way? Is it bad to feel this way?'

"Kagome…" Kagome heard Gaara softly say. If she wasn't listening closely, she would've missed her name.

"Yes, Gaara?"

"What does it mean when your heart beats faster?" he asked softly.

Kagome was confused on how that question came up, but she decided to answer nonetheless. "Well, when someone's heart beats faster it may mean they have a heart problem, or a blood circulation problem," she said jokingly.

"What?" Gaara exclaimed with wide eyes. 'Am I dying?'

Realizing that he was taking her words seriously, she decided to correct herself. "I was joking with you, Gaara. Well, I mean, what I said was true, but I don't think that's what you wanted to know."

He shook his head. "I wanted to know what it meant when it beats when you're near someone."

"Oh! Then that's easy to explain!" Kagome exclaimed. "It means you like this person and that you always want to be with them."

'I-I like Kagome?' Gaara thought surprised. He looked at her and thought about how happy she makes him feel. 'Yeah...I guess I do like her. She is my first friend,' he thought with a smile. 'I would do anything for her.'

"Did I answer your question?" She asked him.

He nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Kagome."

She gave him a big smile. "No problem, Gaara! Well-" She jumped down from the swing, "I better head back. See you later, Gaara."

"Bye…Kagome…" Kagome patted his head and began walking away. Gaara watched as her figure walked in the direction of the greenhouse. He couldn't help but notice that he was happier today compared to any previous day.

Me: I know this story is going a bit slow and this chapter is not as long as I would've liked. I tried to make it longer, but there is only so much you can add to a chapter like this. The next chapter is when I will timeskip again so that the story can move a little quicker and we can get to the good stuff. ;)

Anyway, thank you to anyone that has been reading my story from the very beginning and to anyone that just found my story recently. Your support is greatly appreciated. :)

Don't forget to keep voting! (I'm probably going to take the poll down and end all voting next time I update.)

(And remember: You may vote for as many times as you like, but only one vote will count per review. All your votes and reviews are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support. :D)

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