Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe, but I sure do love playing with them. The rest is mine

Chapter 4

Kagome heard the door to Inuyasha's quarters open and close, signaling the departure of the second man. She ran back to bed, covering herself with blankets and pretended to sleep. She could feel her heart pounding in her throat and her fingers shook, making the task more difficult than it should have been. There was no way he had meant for her to overhear that conversation. She couldn't give him any reason to think that she may have.

Fortunately, she he made it back under not a moment too soon, and the small sliver of light from the ajar door widened before disappearing again as Inuyasha opened the door and entered the room.

"Kagome?" he called out in a light whisper. When she didn't respond, he moved closer to the bed, and she felt the mattress dip under his weight as he sat down. She mentally willed her racing heart to slow down.

"Kagome?" he whispered again, waiting for a response. When she once again remained silent, she felt him gently turn her so that the back of her head where she had been hit was facing him. He carefully parted her hair so that the swelling and bruise was visible, and she felt the mattress shift as he leaned down to give her scalp a soft lick.

It was highly unexpected, and she audibly gasped from the pain before sighing - his tongue seemed to soothe her swollen skin. He parted her hair again and repeated the process over and over until her pain disappeared. She felt like absolute putty in his hands.

"Why does that feel so good?" she whispered softly as he smoothed her hair back into place. He gently stroked her scalp, lightly raking his claws against her skin in a surprisingly delightful way.

"Enzymes in my saliva," he explained, continuing to stroke her hair. "I know you were still in pain, and since you won't take any medicine...I just wanted to help you feel better."

She sighed in exasperation at that, but said nothing more as he continued to gently play with her hair and scalp. It was comforting. Her mother used to do the same thing to her when she was upset.

"She doesn't know anything...She doesn't remember anything...I can't bring her home to be butchered!"

Yeah. She had every right to be upset.

"Are you hungry? You haven't eaten in a long time," he gently asked, and she rolled over to regard him with a keen eye.

"Inuyasha...what were you looking for in the woods?"

"So is that a 'no' to eating?"

"It's a 'please answer the question'."

"That doesn't seem fair - you didn't answer mine."

"Fair? Do you really want to engage me in a pissing match over fair?" she bit out in disbelief.

"If it will get you to eat," he sighed.

"I don't want food. I want answers," she snapped stubbornly.

She watched as his eyes searched her face before he tenderly asked, "Why is knowing important to you?"

"Are you serious?" she hissed, pushing herself to look him in the eye. "You kidnapped me over whatever the hell you were doing! I feel like I have a right to know since you just upended my life to keep me from telling people about it!"

She watched his golden eyes move back and forth across her face as he seemed to mull something over.

Maybe this was the wrong way to go about this.

What was the saying? You attract more flies with honey than vinegar?

She seemed to be important to him...and he seemed to be attracted to her...she should use that to her advantage to get some goddamn answers!

"Please, Inuyasha?" she tried again, softening her tone and gently cupping his cheek in her hand. She heard his breath hitch, and he closed his eyes as he leaned his head into her palm and gently nuzzled it. His lips gently skimmed her skin...and he roughly pulled away at the contact, his eyes suddenly pained as he looked away from her. It was like he had forgotten his place, and he knew he couldn't touch her like that...even though he longed to.

"Come and eat something with me, and I'll tell you what you want to know," he whispered, his eyes and tone defeated - almost broken.

"Ok," she agreed, and he stood from the bed before offering her a hand to help her stand. She bit her tongue and accepted it - small displays of affection seemed to work wonders on him.

Continuing could only benefit her...and if what she overheard was right, she might be able to get him to help he. He could save her from dying when they got to Inusekai.

The road to that started with small gestures.

He gently helped her to her feet and led her out of the room and back into the main area of his quarters.

"I don't remember the bed being walled off before," she commented as he pulled her towards the square hole in the wall above the low, long cabinet that was like an entertainment unit. It was the same square hole he had pulled the beads from earlier.

"It wasn't - I added it while you were sleeping. I thought you would like some privacy. You can have the bed to yourself, and I'll sleep on the couch while you're here."

"For the next two months?" she asked in surprise. When he nodded, she was a little shocked at his response...but also very appreciative.

Two months was a long time for someone to sleep on a couch, especially since it didn't look that large. She knew first-hand that it wasn't that comfortable to lay on, too. It was a very generous gesture. She briefly entertained the thought of offering to rotate with him, but she wasn't feeling that charitable at the moment - not after what he had done to her.

"This is the sozo box," he explained, drawing her attention back to him. "It can create anything you want or need."

"Is this where you get everything from?" she asked, leaning down to look inside. The sides were silver and completely smooth.

"Clothes, food, most of our material objects - it just needs to have knowledge of it in it's system."

"So, it won't have anything from Earth in it," she replied, crestfallen.

"Ask it for something," he grinned widely, pressing a button with his thumb.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but asked for some chicken noodle soup. A bright light flashed in the box as the soup and a spoon appeared.

He reached in and handed the bowl to her, and she looked down at it in shock. The spiral noodles...the chunky pieces of chicken...it was just how her mom made it.

"How? Your translator didn't even have English in it…"

He reached into his pocket and sheepishly took out her phone, and she snatched it from him quickly.

"You went through my phone?" she hissed, and he blinked blankly. He clearly didn't understand how this was a bad thing. "Our phones are very personal - only people we trust can look through them."

"I...I didn't know. We found it with you. It looked like a communicator and we examined it—"

"—You examined it?"

"Our scientists were curious. It still works, though! Look!" he encouraged her and sure enough, it did. She couldn't place any calls on it (shocker), but at least she could still see her photos...for whatever that was worth. It didn't do her a whole load of good.

"We found the in-ter-net," he continued, and he explained how they used the data they could extract from that to do something and something else and this and that. Honestly, she stopped caring halfway through his explanation...because, frankly? She couldn't follow it.

God, she needed an Advil.

She placed the bowl of soup down and asked him to show her how the sozo box worked again.

He told her to press a button on the side and then speak to it. She followed his instructions and requested her pain killers and a glass of water, and they showed up just as the soup had.

"This is amazing," she breathed, and she took them out of the box.

"Is that medicine?" he asked, using the English word instead of his own as she popped the top off of the bottle and poured out two pills.

"Yup," she nodded, throwing the pills back and washing them down with the water. Fuck it...if she was gonna die, she might as well take a few risks. "It helps with headaches."

"I'm glad you're taking some medicine," he nodded, and he pressed the button next to the box and asked it for some food for himself as well. She wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like some version of a seafood stew.

He sat down at the table across from where she had placed her bowl, and she hesitantly joined him as he started eating. He tried to not make it too obvious that he was watching her eat, but he seemed relieved that she was finally consuming something.

"So…" she finally began after she'd eaten a few spoonfuls of soup. "What were you doing in the woods?"

He sighed and placed his spoon on the edge of his bowl.

"You didn't waste any time."

"That was the deal, right? I eat, you talk."

"It was," he nodded. "Alright...we were looking for something. A precious stone or a jewel," he breathed out, and she tilted her head to the side.

"Like a diamond?"

"More rare," he shook his head, "There are only a few in existence, and we tracked one to your planet...to your woods. Our mission was to bring it back."

Can the jewel be removed without killing her?

Her heart leapt into her throat as she remembered the whispered words from before when the man was here talking with him.

"Did you find it?"

He looked down into his lap before looking back up into her eyes.

"Yes."

A/Rs:

I'll try and be as organized about this as I can…Starting with Chapter 2 in order of received.

Ch 2:

Lola1991: UGH….Can we all take medicine like that? Because that's the dream right there. Headache? Here. Have a macaroon. Need more Vitamin C? Here's an orange flavored one. #missedopportunities. Thanks for the WONDERFUL review, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Guest: YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I love it! I guess it's a good thing I posted that teaser in DT Ch 12 all those weeks ago? And it was just a baby fic back then too, LOL! I love that you're loving it, and thank you for the AMAZING review!

Ch 3:

Kristin: THANK YOU! And….I feel like I have mislead you (hides in shame). I get a good buffer going before I start posting. I like having the ability to go back in and check my work and make sure that as the story evolves, everything remains consistent. It also makes for regular and consistent posting, which I LOVE. I LOVE knowing what needs to happen when, because then I can make it happen and I feel like I won't let you guys down! Especially when I switch back to Friday postings after the tumblr voting ends…thank you SO MUCH for sending a little love this story's way, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy this story!

Guest: I literally LOLed when I read this! THANK YOU! I hope I don't disappoint, and I hope you enjoy this newest chapter!

Guest (from DT?): Thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy this story, and I'm so excited for you to read the next chapter! Thanks for sending a little love this story's way! I seriously appreciate the love you have sent for both this and DT!