Prompts given:
"I never meant to hurt you."
"This is why I fell in love with you."

It had been a week. The silence was agonizing. Torturous. Kagome had given him the sign he asked for; she'd done her best to let him know that her decision was out of her control. Now she needed a sign that he actually understood. The grey area she was absorbed in was like a hand constantly wrapped around her throat but never squeezing; taunting her.

She was tired of hearing that it would get easier as time passed, tired of hearing that everything would be okay. Each day that came and went made everything all the more difficult. Kagome was growing restless. She tried keeping herself as busy as possible, attempting to focus on whatever schoolwork she could, cooking, cleaning, pacing, but it never prevented her mind from wandering to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha.

The look on his face was burned into her eyelids, reminding her each time she blinked how destroyed he was. She hated sleeping, only managing to stay down for forty-five minutes at a time, pace the room a little to shake the feeling away, then lay back down again. Wash, rinse, repeat. There was no way she could jump through the well and make sure everything was fine with the very large possibility Naraku's newest incarnation would immediately know, and she wouldn't take any chances of jeopardizing her friends' lives.

Kagome had to trust Inuyasha. Whether he knew what she meant or not, the incarnation was bound to expose himself eventually. Naraku was arrogant, therefore every single duplicate he made of himself had a trace of that quality. The demon would reveal his plan and Inuyasha would destroy the thing right then and there.

She would just have to trust him.

Kagome sat on the edge of her bed, her alarm clock showing 12:08am, bringing her into the eighth day on her side of the well. Her leg bobbed up and down, slower than the antsy habit normally bounced, weighed down by exhaustion. The logical side of her knew she did what she had to do. This new incarnation of Naraku's was dangerous and terrifying, and he'd made his threat loud and clear. Even if Inuyasha never came for her, even if her returning to her world was indefinite, it was for the greater good. Naraku would lose, which meant every side of him would lose. Miroku would have his life back, Sango would save her brother and have a happy future, Shippo would grow up to become a strong fox demon, and Inuyasha would be alive.

She didn't care about how heavy her heart was behind her ribcage, or that she felt sick to her stomach from the amount of anxiety coursing through her system. She didn't care an ounce about her own feelings right now. Kagome couldn't rid herself of the destroyed expression Inuyasha gave her at the tail end of their conversation. She couldn't forget the noise he made in protest, or how sad his eyes looked, or the way his lips opened to say something more as she jumped through the pit of the well.

He was hurt, and she caused that. It was her fault.

Kagome pushed herself to her feet, pulling a light sweater over her shoulders and quietly slipped from her bedroom, heading down the stairs. Her house was quiet; everyone was asleep. She knew she should have been following their example, but she couldn't stop thinking. Her mind was beginning to jump from thought-to-thought at an uncomfortable speed, consequently spiking her adrenaline, needing to move before she crumpled and cried until riddled with a migraine. Fresh air would do her better than sleep would right now.

The front door creaked as she opened and slid it shut, hoping the sound wouldn't wake her mother. The last thing she wanted was to be hounded with questions about her well-being. Stepping further into the crisp, night air, Kagome looked up to the sky, the moon disappearing behind fast-moving, broken clouds. It was cooler than normal, the season beginning it's change from summer to autumn, and she brought her cardigan to wrap tighter around her waist as she began her routine walk around the house, crossing her arms around her trunk in the process.

She only usually went for three turns around the two-story home, settling for the calmness it had brought her mind and headed in, but tonight she kept going, enjoying the haze her thoughts became muddled in. Kagome knew she wouldn't be able to sleep if she went back to her room now, so there was no harm in continuing on. A slow sliding sound caught her attention, and she turned around, expecting to see one of her family members that had caught onto her absence turn the corner and call her back inside. When she saw no one, she continued walking, figuring it was just a heavy breeze that tricked her ears.

Inuyasha stood outside the well house, Kagome's beautiful scent instantly reaching his sensitive nose. It brought him an immediate feeling of relief. He was so fucking close to her, his fingers trembled with unabashed anticipation. Their separation had lasted longer than he had intended it too, overestimating his abilities to track the fucker down and kill him, and he was more than eager to rectify the situation.

He sniffed the air, bathing in the homey scent of the woman he cared for more than anything, allowing it to calm every overstimulated sense of his. He ran over to the spot below her window, preparing to launch himself up to the small platform he could balance on when his instincts froze him where he stood. It was like a hundred-pound weight had suddenly dropped in the pit of his stomach, catching him off guard and sinking him into the ground. He turned around, the patting of soft footsteps approaching around the dark corner of the house. Kagome turned the corner, her eyes aimed at the ground in front of her as she walked, arms clutching the other across her torso. His abdomen muscles tensed in response to seeing her after what felt like too long, his body opening up to the reception on its own accord as she glanced up at him and stopped in her tracks.

Kagome's jaw hung slightly agape, her chest tightening to hardly allow any breath to seep in or out of her mouth. He was here. Inuyasha was here. He was standing in front of her, prepared to spring into her room and wake her up had she been asleep. He was here. Here. He'd come for her. She couldn't stop her bottom lip from trembling at the sight of him, or the loud and deep sob that left her throat, or her feet from racing over as she closed the awful distance that continued to separate them. Kagome crashed into his chest, his strong body embracing the impact and hardly faltering, clinging to his familiar, thick, red robe and gasping in the woodsy scent of him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She cried, her voice coming out as a feeble whisper. Her fingers gripped the front of his robes as tight as they could, not wanted to let him go.

"Kagome..." Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her, feeling her body quake against him. He didn't expect her to unravel like this, and it quickly tore him to shreds.

"Please tell me you got my hint."

"Of course I-" Inuyasha stopped, realizing how difficult this must have been on Kagome's end. She gave him what he'd asked for, but she had no idea if it was properly received. She'd been sitting on her side of the time gap without a clue, blind to his perception, hoping for the best but contemplating the possibility that he wouldn't come. A rush of guilt washed over him, forming a thick and painful lump in the center of his throat. He cupped the curve of her jaw and tilted her head back to look at him, tears pooling in her sunken eyes and staining her cheeks. "Kagome, I got it. I heard you, okay? I'm sorry it took so long to come get you, but Naraku's newest incarnation was a bitch to find."

"But you found him?"

"Yeah, we found him. Why didn't you just tell me, Kagome? I would have protected you! Why didn't you trust me?" He kept his hold on her jaw, his thumb stroking away the tears that continued to fall.

"It wasn't me I was worried about!"

"I'm strongest when we're together, Kagome! When will you get that? He separated us for a reason! He knew everyone's weaknesses and he may have held that over your head in some way or another, but he also knew you were mine!"

"He knew your human nights!"

"That doesn't mean shit to me in comparison! I never want you to do that again, got it? If somebody threatens you, I need to know immediately! Nobody should have the power to take you away from me! Nobody!"

"I never meant to hurt you!" Kagome cried, pulling out of his grip and hiding her face in his haori, her arms firmly wrapped around his waist. "I couldn't take the chance! I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm so sorry!"

Inuyasha ran his fingers through her long, dark hair, resting his chin on top of her head, willing her cries to steady and her trembling muscles to relax. The salt from her tears burned his nose, but he welcomed it. He welcomed everything he could get from Kagome right now. A week without her beyond his will was too fucking long, and the harsh scent only reminded him that she was there with him again. She could cry as long as she needed to. She could continue to run her hands along his back, and grip at his fire rat, and sigh, and hiccup as long as she needed to and he would bask in the fact that it meant they were back together again.

"I didn't mean anything I said." Kagome mentioned as her body began to calm, backing out of the hanyou's arms, but not far enough that they were unable to touch each other in someway or another. "You know that right?"

"Yeah, I know." He assured, pushing a strand of unruly hair behind her ear. "As much as I hated the way things played out, you were brave to do it. I don't think I would have been able to if the roles were reversed. God, Kagome, this is why I fell in love with you. I never want to be faced with the chance that I may actually lose you again. Even when I knew it wasn't real, it still hurt so goddamn much."

"I didn't mean-"

"No, I know! I know! That's just it, though. You're strong in the ways I'm not. You get things done in ways I never could."

"That doesn't matter." She said, shaking her head.

"Yes, it does. It means everything. You mean everything."

"Inuyasha... it's over now, right?"

"Yeah. It's over" He pressed his forehead to hers, inhaling her calming scent and threading his fingers through her thick waves. "We don't have to be apart anymore."