--------------------------------------
The Little Things

Chapter 2 Dedicated: My oneesama, who keeps making me push off writting this so I can write script for her work in progress. That bitch. :P

Oh my gosh, I wasn't expecting so many positive comments to part 1. I was barely expecting to get any, actually. Well. . . here's part two. . . I bet this is good practice for me. ::sniffels:: It's been so long since I've written! As always, go easy on this worthless one? Oh yeah, my spell checker doesn't work (heh, I deleated the system dictonary, rendering the feature useless. . . yeah, I'm foolish) and I spell quite horribly, just to warn you.

~Ki'dra~
kidra@attbi.com

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. But I do have a rather cute Inuyasha plush who's a foot tall. Heh. You can't have him either. This odd little story is mine though.

--------------------------------------

Kagome was currently in the process of finding the towels she had packed. Shippo watched her in silence as she tossed the contents of her bag in random directions. 'Likley a result of her fight with Inuyasha,' he figured. She wasn't feeling her cleanest as it was, but she needed something to take the edge off of her nerves after the morning's interactions with Inuyasha. She sighed happily as she found the thick towels in the bottom of her bag, and also grabbed a change of clothes, a simple black blouse and a knee lengthed skirt in navy-blue. Not forgetting her soap and shampoo, she headed off to the river, hoping it was getting dark enough for some privacy.

As she made her way down, she wondered where Inuyasha was. He seemed to have been avoiding her slightly since their mini-arguement. She had seen him once or twice, usually leaving as she came closer. A small sigh escaped her as she wondered if he was still angry at her. 'Like it's my fault he doesn't understand. . . baka Inuyasha,' she thought solemly to herself.

"Oh well, time to get clean!" She chirped to herself as she droped her towels in a safe spot, the proceded to enter the cool water. After the usual cleaning rituals, and many reflective thoughts that wandered through her head for a half an hour later or so, she was feeling quite a bit better, and got out of the water. She absent-mindedly looked over the wrinkled skin of her fingers as she dried herself enough to get dressed and return to the village.

She wasn't too sure when it ocured that she was no longer alone, but at one point she realized she was sitting with Miroku and Sango, when they fianally snapped her out of her daydream.

"Kagome-chan?"

Came a soft voice with a matching smile, followed shortly by Miroku's.

"Kagome-sama, If you are so worried," he began while gesturing over his sholder, "Inuyasha has been brooding at the Go-Shin-Boku most of the day."

"Ano. . . Who said I was worried?" Kagome asked quietly.

"Aaah-" and "Kagome-chan. . ." were Miroku and Sango's rerspective replies. Kagome hoped up anyway.

"Can't let him sulk all day, now can I?" She stated brightly before making a quick walk to the sacred tree. As soon as she was out of ear-shot, she added to herself "I'm getting good at being a peace maker, aren't I?" and sighed comicaly.

In a few short minutes, she stood at the base of the Holy tree, and looked up to see Inuyasha purched on a limb several yards abover her. She doubted she had actually snuck up on the hanyo's sence of smell, so didn't bother with a warning voice. "Inu~yasha!"

Kagome waited a second before she saw him turn his head slighty to reguard her. When he did she worked her way from there. "Why don't you come down?" No responce. Kagome sighed, and gave a mildly annoyed look to her companion who was sulking in the tree. As much as it would annoy him to mention it, Kagome desided on a sure-fire tactic. "You wouldn't want to end up stuck up there as a human tonight, would you?"

"Keh!" was the only answer she recieved.

'It's a start. . .' Kagome thought to herself just as he landed in front of her.

"You're awfully noisy tonight," He stated simply. Kagome smiled, but his expression darkened slightly at the sight of it, "What's that look for?"

"Nothing at all. . ."

"Eeeh?" Kagome merely grabed his arm and pulled him in the direction of the village.

"Really Inuyasha, you're reading way too much into a simple smile."

"Nothing from you is as simple as it seems," he said simply.

"Honto?" She asked before giggeling. She really wasn't sure how he ment it, but something about the statement made her happy. . . Though a voice in her head kept telling her he didn't mean to flatter her. She tugged on his arm once more before they fianally headed back to Kaede's hut.

Several hours later Inuyasha sat cross legged on the floor of Kaede's hut staring blankly into the fire that warmed his sleeping comrads. The fire reflected off of his black hair and dark eyes with a reddish glow that made him look much older than normal. Though that was most likley because the dark expression that always seemed to occupy his features when he was human. But tonight the look was much darker, and more broody than usual. Shippo was cuddled up next to Kagome, and sound asleep. Inuyasha doubted anything less obvious than a maontain falling out of the sky would awaken the child. As that thought crossed his mind, he made a face that can only be described as a snarl. Inuyasha's mood was quite miserable tonight.

He looked over the group, pausing on Kagome for a second. Though his last nerve refused to relax for him even now as he innocently observed Kagome, for a second he forgot about the growing uncomfortable feeling in his chest. She always seemed so fragile when she was asleep, even when she was muttering or being restless. Inuyasha let out a huff when he realized what he was contemplating. He had grown accustomed to the idea that kept poping up in his mind that she ment more to him than he was willing to admit to anyone else. But even after all this time, part of him was still unsure how to handle the changes that have occured over time between them. The uncertainty was mostly the part of him who still felt responsible for Kikyo's fate. Though he no longer mocked himself for the fact he easily fell victim to everything that kept happening around him, he still denied many things that were true when confronted by his traveling companions. Inuyasha was broken from his thoughts when he herd Kirara growling as she stared at the hut's entrance for the third time tonight.

"Damn, again?" he asked in a quiet, semi smooth voice that he usually had in this form. He looked at the demon cat, who had not taken up her larger fourm, as he grabbed his sword on instinct. He walked to the door and looked outside again. He looked back to Kirara who only blinked at him in responce. On his good days, he trusted the youkai's instincts as much as his own, and even more so tonight. But now he was really starting to wonder. But he knew something wasn't right tonight, even his dulled human sences could feel it, hence the bad mood. Kirara looked at him quizzically. . . it seemed she was just as confused as he was. He considered waking the others up, but eventually decided against it. Several hours and two more Kirara false alarms later everyone was awake and restless without his help anyway.

"I don't like this," he said quietly while looking over his shoulder. Miroku remained silent as well as Sango. They didn't seem to notice anything. kagome wasn't noticing the aura of Shikon fragments either. Sango patted Kirara while making a quizzical face.

Miroku, Sango and Kirara had ventured outside keeping their eyes open for whatever it was that seemed to be lurking in the shadows. Inuyasha and Kagome had also wandered into the night, though Kagome had chosen to sit with her back against the hut, and she watched Inuyasha walk around in circles. She knew he was just nervous, though he'de never admit it. However, in her sleep deprived state he was making her more than a little dizzy. When she voiced this, Inuyasha only made a mocking tone, then flopped onto the ground. Inuyasha didn't feel any more relaxed.

Kagome simply offered him a warm smile as she listened to him ponder what was going on.

"Kanna?" She asked simply, not coheriant enough to form a more detailed inquiry. He looked thoughtfull for a moment as he remembered a few previous encounters with the white haired girl.

"Hope not. . . Just because Kagura hasn't said anything to Naraku about my human night, that doen't mean Kanna would do the same," he said looking anbnoyed. Kagome nodded as she stood up. Inuyasha almost frowned, wondering if he was really such bad company. But he shruged it off easilly enough.

"Oi! Where are you off to Kagome?"

Kagome smiled over her shoulder at him, but started walking, "I'm just going to ask if they've seen anything, Inuyasha. . ." She said in a tired, but friendly tone.

"Oooh." he said and tensed up some more.

"I'll just be a minute," she said with a giggle as a bizzare thought came into her mind. Is Inuyasha scared of the dark on his human days? 'Be serious Kagome, even if Inuyasha admitted to expierancing fear, he'de never be scared of the dark.' She could see Sango up ahead with Kirara inspecting a random tree. It seemed that Sango attempting to see if she could pick up any kind of non-human energies. Kagome guessed from the look of concentration still present on her companion's features that, like before, she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. When she felt a hand on her lower back, Kagome turned to slap Miroku but was surprised to see that no one was there at all. "Miroku?" She asked quietly into the night, while backing away without thinking about it.

"I'm over here Kagome-sama. . ." Miroku said appearing near Sango.

"Th. . . Then who is ove here?!" She said as she took a step to her friends.

The last thing she herd was Sango's scream of "Kagome-chan!!" before her world went black.

Sango and Miroku stood speechless after watching her friend seemed to vanish into thin air. No magical flash of light, or anything to describe to the others. She hopped on to Kirara's back who has transformed into her larger self not long before Kagome vanished.

"Come on Hoshi-sama. . . We've got to get back to Inuyasha!" he nodded dumbly as he hoped on.

"Ha- have YOU ever seen anything like that?" Songo only shook her head.


----------End Part 2------------------

Sorry about the slightly shorter chapter.