AN: it's been a while since I last updated! Sorry about that…anyway…enjoy the chapter and please review! And btw, sorry, but it won't be sess/kag ^_^;;

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So what if stupid Kagome didn't like him? And so what if she decided that he was an outright prick? And what would it matter if she hated him after all? It wasn't like it was going to ruin his life, was it? Because Inu-yasha always got along perfectly well without women, a small toss here and there was OK, but he didn't need anyone to sustain him, or anything, right? Inu-yasha flopped down on his bed as he sighed dramatically, casting his eyes on an interesting spot in the ceiling. He absorbed himself in municipal thoughts and cursed as all of them were visions of the one, the only, Kagome Higurashi. It was mortifying, to say the least, that he, of all people, would be dreaming about a girl in the middle of the day. And somehow it struck a chord in his nerves, that deep inside, he really did need her to sustain him, to like him, to be his friend even though he wanted more.

"I don't' know what to do anymore," Inu-yasha whispered, clutching his chest with his hand. The bones inside his arm crackled ferociously as he winced in pain. "Why does it always have to happen to me?" Inu-yasha asked blatantly, "First Kikyou, now her!"

He slammed his fist against the bed, the patient identity that embraced his wrist shattered in two as he proceeded to leave the room.

"I'm taking a walk!" Inu-yasha huffed while slamming the door hurriedly.

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"Hey, Inuyasha!" Kagome called out, opening the door gently. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier! Can we call it a truce?" she poked her head inside the room, surprised to find that Inu-yasha wasn't anywhere there. "He's probably in the bathroom, oh well, I'll just wait for him," Kagome walked over to the small couch and started to open the newspaper she held in her hand. "Now let's see, where are the comics?" she mused, scratching her chin with her index finger.

Kagome turned the pages rapidly, but during her wide search for almighty comics, one article caught her attention.

"Woman Dies Mysteriously?" she said, pronouncing the titles as if she were a child learning to read. "Now this is interesting! Let's see what it's about," she murmured.

"The body of a missing woman has been found in the city-hospital morgue," she mumbled, reading the article out loud, "officials declare that the exact demise of her death is unknown. Kikyou, who had been a prominent--…" Kagome's eyes widened in shock. She knew this woman! But she couldn't quite place her just yet. She remembered her from somewhere; and it suddenly hit her like a brick. Inu-yasha's ex – the one that he always confused her with!

"Where are you Inu-yasha?" she asked worriedly, springing up to his bed. She heard something clatter to the floor and picked it up instantaneously, wondering whatever the hell Inu-yasha so carelessly threw away. "Oh my God, his patient ID! He's escaped!" she screamed, running out of the room to find him.

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"Oh well, that was an interesting walk!" Inu-yasha declared, stretching his arms above his head while managing to crack his knuckles. He sniffled slightly as a sneeze came to fill his senses. "Damnit," he swore, "if I didn't walk through that weird bush with all that bird stuff in it, I wouldn't be feeling so weird right now," Inu-yasha grumbled. He touched the tips of his hair and tried unsuccessfully to clean them free of twigs, branches and leaves. "Stupid thing! Now I have to take another shower."

He walked inside his room slowly enjoying the last breath of fresh air he would get in a while. Actually, he would probably be breathing real fresh air in about three or four more days; the other nurses had said that his checkout time was soon, which was blatantly good. He needed to forget all the things that happened in here, after all, even if he did enjoy Kagome's presence, it wasn't like she enjoyed his, or that he was going to hang around the hospital all day to look at her work. Nope, that wasn't how Inu-yasha worked at all.

"I seriously cannot wait!" He cried out ecstatically. He jumped onto his bed and winced in pain as he felt something protruding into his back. Mumbling slightly, he pulled the alienic thing free of his behind and grudgingly looked at it. "What the hell is this?" He asked in surprise, opening up the large piece of paper. "Oh right, a newspaper," Inu-yasha stated. "Some idiot must have left it on my bed," Inu-yasha tossed the newspaper away from his grip, causing the papers to scatter on the floor. "Aw, crap! She's going to kill me!"

He pranced quickly to the small stacks of paper and proceeded to gather them when the door suddenly burst in on him.

"Inu-yasha!" Kagome screamed, breathless.

"Kagome?" He asked, slightly confused.

"Oh my God, I thought you were gone," she muddled, "I mean, your patient ID was on the floor and you weren't in your room and I just thought you left and everything!" she ran towards Inu-yasha, kneeling down on the floor with him. She took his large frame into her arms as she hooked her head into the crook of his shoulder. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I'm so sorry about everything."

Inu-yasha, on the meanwhile, was in a state of delirium where he didn't even hear her talking. He melted inside her embrace and breathed in the scent of her hair, masquerading around the thought that she actually did enjoy being with him. But then came those stupid words "I'm sorry" and it shattered all of his prolonged visions.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked, bunching his eyebrows into a confused stance.

"Because I was so hard on you," she admitted, "and because of Kikyou."

"Kikyou? What's wrong with Kikyou?"

"Don't you know Inu-yasha?" she asked in surprise, yelping slightly at his lack of knowledge, "She's dead, Inu-yasha! She'd dead…"

"What, Kikyou, dead?"

"Yeh…"

"But that's wholly impossible! That idiot could live through anything, be it poisonous wasps gathering at her forehead or a multitude of murderers trying to kill her with a knife!"

"Inu-yasha!" Kagome screamed, breaking the embrace. "This is no time for jokes!" she cried. Kagome stood up quickly and paced around the room, looking directly into Inu-yasha's eyes everywhere she went.

"How do you know?" Inu-yasha pondered, taunting Kagome with his tone.

"Look in the paper, it's page 13 I think, the article talks about a woman's mysterious death."

Inu-yasha hurriedly opened to paper to avoid Kagome's death-glare and found himself sitting astute on the floor when the words she had uttered were anything but fake. Kagome was telling the truth! Kikyou was dead!

"B-but…" he stuttered, unable to know how to respond. He could be the devoted ex-lover and cry his tears out, or the unrepeated passer-by who would mumble words of wisdom; or he could be the cruel man and laugh her death to the grave. But out of these three possibilities, who could not pick any single one to proceed with.

"Inu-yasha, it's OK, it'll pass by with time," Kagome whispered, rubbing his back with her hand.

"And why do you care so much?" Inu-yasha asked, his tone monotonous.

"I don't know…you seemed to love her so much, you know?" she continued talking, "When I first came here all you had on your mind was her! I could see it in your eyes that you wished I was her, and that you wanted her to be close to you," she took a deep breath. "And I guess that if you knew she was dead, you'd have gone loony for a moment and tried to escape to pay back anyone who'd done wrong to her. I was scared there for a moment, I though that I'd lost you…but here you are right now in front of me…and I guess that's enough to say that you're going to be all right," Kagome sat down beside him, drawing her legs closer to her chest.

"I don't love her," he mumbled.

"What? Speak louder, I can't here," she said, resting her head against his stooped back.

"I don't love her!" he shouted, jolting Kagome awake, 'at least not anymore."

"Oh…"

"I love somebody else," he said apprehensively.

"Oh! Who is it?" her eyes twinkled with amusement.

"I'm not telling you!"

"Oh, come on! I'm not going to tell her!"

"But you are, it's complicated."

"Now come on, I want_to_know!" she screamed, twisting the skin of his arm with a blasted pinch.

"I told you," Inu-yahsa huffed in pain, "I'm not telling."

"Fine then, maybe I just won't talk to you for an eternity."

"Hey! That's not fair, oh fine, I'll tell you," he remarked grudgingly, pulling her in closer to him. He cupped a hand over her ear as she blushed cladly. "It's you," he whispered.

"Oh, that's funny!" Kagome giddily remarked, slapping him on the shoulder. "No, seriously, who is it?"

"Yeah, seriously," he mocked her, "I've told you who it is."

"B-but…" she stuttered, unable to think of a witty response.

"Yeh, I think I'm going to take another walk now," he said, standing up in the process while scratching his head. He held out his hand to her, "want to come with me?" He looked at her small frame on the ground, still unable to move from the immediate shock of what he said. "Yep, I didn't think so. Oh well, good day," Inu-yasha remarked, waving his hand up and down in front of her face. He grumbled slightly and pushed himself out of the room, ready to seek another adventure with some multitude of trees, bushes and snakes.

Kagome, on the other hand, was still sitting on the floor, stuttering like a chicken, lolling her head from side to side.

"You love me?" she mumbled, still surprised at the impact o his words.

"Yeh, maybe I do too."

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AN: Whew…I'm not good with fluff scenes…or any other scene for that matter…but really! Please review and tell me what ya think…and btw…Sango, Miroku, Kouga, Shippou and Sesshoumaru (the almighty hated one in this fic) will appear next chapter!