Disclaimers: I think you all know what goes here.

Author's Notes: Final part!! Let me know what you all thought!

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Part Three: "But I know that I can't live without her...."

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They made camp by a conveniently abandoned hut shortly after darkness. Inu Yasha grumbled and sat sulkily by the fire Miroku had built, the firelight reflecting off his dark tresses. Around him his friends completed the chores he usually did, ignoring the human boy pouting by the fire. Inu Yasha knew he should probably get up to help them, but he despised it when his body didn't move or respond the way he wanted it to. Not that he was a weakling in his human form, but it just didn't feel right gathering and breaking firewood with his pathetic, nerve dead human hands. Not to mention that he could hardly *see* in the darkness. So he just left the chores to his companions, knowing the chores would be completed faster and quieter if he didn't bother. Inu Yasha sighed, and rested his chin on one of his hands, his other tapping impatiently on his knee. How could his friends stand to be so... dead in their senses? He wondered with a scowl.

Inu Yasha sighed again, and switched hands to rest his chin on. He *really* hated it when he turned full human. Not only for losing his youkai eye sight and hearing, but also because of the inevitable pain that went along with the losses. By the time he turned back into his normal form, his eyes and ears would be sore from unconsciously straining to see and hear as well as he was used to. He was NOT looking forward to that throbbing tomorrow. That would make him grumpy, which would make him snap at Kagome most likely, which in turn would get his sat multiple times. Not really the highlight of the month.

Inu Yasha suddenly felt the brush of cloth against his arm, and his swung startled eyes over to Kagome. He hadn't even heard her sit down next to him for kami's sake! He growled silently and turned sulky violet eyes away from her searching brown ones.

"It's only for one night, Inu Yasha," Kagome said, understanding tinged with exasperation in her voice. Inu Yasha just snorted, and continued to look moodily at what he assumed was a tree. But with his pathetic human sight, it could be a demon sneaking up on them for all he knew.

Kagome shook her head next to him, drawing Inu Yasha's gloomy attention away from the tree/demon. In the dancing firelight, her face looked softer than normal, and surprisingly he had to contain the urge to run a thumb along her jaw line. Her eyes looked wider than normal too, and almost nearly black in the fleeting light. Inu Yasha felt some of his hostility subside, and leaned back against the log they were sitting on, his hands in his sleeves.

"Are you okay?" Her voice asked softly next to his ear. He shrugged, but didn't feel the anger that was usually associated with the question. On a night like this, a question of that caliber was warranted.

"How can you stand it?" He suddenly asked, pulling his eyes away from her face and staring back out into the night. He felt her shift beside him until she was pressed up against his side. He stilled but didn't make any effort to move away from the warmth sending tendrils of fire racing up his arm.

"I've never known anything else," she said, staring out into the night with him. He felt her breath on his cheek when she turned to looking at him. "When you think about it, though, it really isn't that bad. Compared to something like a bug, or a fish, humans actually have it pretty good."

"Feh, maybe."

Kagome smiled and turned her attention back away from his face. He missed it almost immediately, but didn't call her attention back to him. Instead the just sat in silence, neither really feeling the urge to say anything. After awhile, though, she began to shiver beside him as the night turned colder. Sango, Miroku and Shippou had already retired for the night, though they kept their hands on their weapons, and Inu Yasha saw Kagome looking longingly at her sleeping bag from the corner of her eye. He felt some of grumpiness returning, but nudged her to get her attention.

"You don't have to stay up with me, wench. Go to sleep."

She turned wide eyes on him. "You aren't going to sleep?"

He snorted. "I never sleep when I'm human."

"Oh," she whispered. But she got up and padded silently over to her sleeping bag. Inu Yasha felt a pang in his heart that she actually left him. Sure he had told her that she could go, but he didn't really mean it. He wanted her to sit next to him. He felt calmer when she was close to him. And though he would never admit it, there was always a tinge of fear in him that he wouldn't be able to fight back if something attacked that weighed down heavily on his heart. When she was near to him, the fear dispersed somewhat. Inu Yasha felt an almost dog-like whine grow in his throat, but he steadfastly resisted it. He would NOT look like he was weak.

Warmth settling down on him suddenly pulled him back from his gloomy musings, and he turned his head to the side to see Kagome sit back down beside him, her sleeping bag settled over both their shoulders. She leaned back into him again, and this time leaned her head down until it rested on his shoulder.

"Is this okay?"

Inu Yasha swallowed hard, but inclined his head slightly. "Aren't you going to be uncomfortable like that?"

She shook her head, and turned a sleepy smile on him. "Not unless you move your shoulder."

"O-oh," he stuttered somewhat. She smiled again, and closed her eyes.

"Yasumi."

Inu Yasha stared in wonder at the girl slipping off to sleep on his shoulder without any fear or nervousness. A spurt of warmth ignited in his heart, and he settled back down carefully, mindful of Kagome. How was it that she always managed to make everything better, no matter how bad the situation would become? He shook his head, and settled his eyes on the horizon, waiting for the blessed sun to rise over it and transform him back. However he tilted his head back down to nuzzle the top of Kagome's head with his chin, indulging for once in the feelings blooming in his heart.

"Yasumi, Kagome."

//She comes to me when I'm feelin' down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get turned around//

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The sun rose over the horizon like it did every morning, fingers of golden light inching their way up through the velvety blackness and spilling its life-giving light over the land. Slowly the clouds in the sky turned shades of red, orange, purple and blue in a complex design. Birds fluttered their wings as they awoke, filling the morning air with their sweet songs.

As the sun's warm light hit the campsite, a dark haired boy disentangled himself from a sleeping bag and stood looking at the sunrise. His hair suddenly began to lighten until it was white, and his ears moved up his head to become two triangles on top of his head. Sharp claws replaced feeble ones, and a nose twitched as millions of smells brushed his nose.

Inu Yasha shifted his weight back onto the balls of his feet, satisfied in the strength returning to him, and turned to look at his friends. All but one pair of eyes were closed lightly in sleep. The one pair open besides his own glowed softly in the morning light, and the owner of the eyes sat up from her sleeping bag.

"Happy?"

Inu Yasha grinned, and flexed his claws. "Aa."

Kagome smiled, and brushed her hair back from her face. Inu Yasha watched the motion, and suddenly got an idea. He landed next to her after a leap, and grabbed her hand.

"C'mon. I want you to see something."

Kagome blinked but obligingly stood up. Inu Yasha turned around and crouched down in front of her, leaving his back open. She climbed on, and gripped his shoulders as he put on arm behind him to brace her weight before standing up.

"Where are we going?" She asked when he started running towards a hill not too far in the distant. Inu Yasha made a noncommittal sound, too intent on getting to the summit before the sun had finished rising. However he wasn't too busy to ignore the tingly feeling that shot up his spine whenever the girl on his back adjusted her grip. He felt a smile twitch the corner of his lips, but he pushed it down in favor of running faster. Almost there....

He reached the summit just as the sun turned the sky a purplish pink with ribbons of blue sky peeking through the clouds. He set her down gently, and grinned at her intake of breath at the spectacle. Rays of sunlight rained down from between the clouds, illuminating them in a shaft of sunlight and highlighting the distant landscape in sparkling colors of green, blue, and red. A pair of birds flew across the sky, and Kagome smiled in reaction to their aerobatic dances.

As with all sunrises, however, it soon ended. But Kagome and Inu Yasha continued to stand in companionable silence as the sun rose higher into the sky. Kagome finally turned shining brown eyes on Inu Yasha, her smile wide. His heart skipped a beat at how beautiful it was, and felt his lips twitch in reaction.

//She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me//

"Arigatou, Inu Yasha. I think that was the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen!" Kagome breathed, and turned back to look over the view. Inu Yasha outwardly shrugged carelessly, but inside swelled with an unfamiliar pride.

"I see a lot of them after my human nights."

"Well, thank you for sharing one with me," she said, a soft glitter in her eyes. Inu Yasha felt a blush creep up his neck, and turned his head sideways so that she wouldn't see.

"Keh."

Kagome still smiled and Inu Yasha eventually smiled with her, too lost in the moment to be self conscious.

"We should probably get back soon," Kagome whispered after a few minutes. She sighed then. "But I don't want to leave this moment."

Inu Yasha silently agreed, but turned around and offered her his back. She climbed on without hesitation, and they both took off towards their camp. With Inu Yasha's speed, it was only the matter of a few minutes before they saw the last wisps of smoke from their fire. Inu Yasha landed in the center of camp, and let Kagome off his back. He then turned glowering eyes on the two grinning idiots in front of him.

"Off for a morning stroll were we, Inu Yasha?" Miroku beamed, an 'I-told-you-so' expression on his face. Inu Yasha scowled.

"Shut up, monk."

"But Inu Yasha, you shouldn't always hide your true feelings about Kagome-sama. It isn't health--- Aieee!!" He started running away from an irate Inu Yasha while the girls looked on. Inu Yasha eventually gave up when Miroku scrambled up a tree. He could have jumped the height easily enough, and normally would have, but he was still in a good mood from that morning. So he just stood at the base of the tree, looking up at the taunting Miroku, before grinning and giving the tree one good solid kick. The tree shuddered and unloaded its burden from its branches, eliciting a string of curses about hanyous and their inability to take a joke. Inu Yasha just grinned and turned to help the girls pack up the camp.

On the way over to help them, however, Kagome caught his eye and smiled, stopping him in his tracks. The feeling of being home surrounded him again as he watched her move around the camp with a familiar ease. Inu Yasha barely acknowledged Miroku as he stopped by him.

"We are lucky to have such a family are we not, Inu Yasha?" Miroku suddenly asked in all seriousness. Again Inu Yasha found Miroku staring at Sango, and silently conceded to Kagome's claim that Miroku did love Sango. But Inu Yasha sobered and nodded.

"Aa."

"Perhaps one of these days we can add more members to our family," Miroku said, his voice progressively becoming perky as visions of tiny feet running around echoed in his ears. Inu Yasha sighed as the serious mood fled and bopped the monk on the head.

"Baka."

But as he caught Kagome's eye again, Inu Yasha felt the stirrings of hope for such a future and silently agreed with the monk. Shaking his head at his musings, he stepped forward to lend a hand to cleaning up camp.

They finished up in a record time, and Kagome turned to look at Inu Yasha who was standing in the middle of camp looking somewhat lost.

"Ready, Inu Yasha?" She asked. Inu Yasha looked around, nodded and moved to stand next to her.

"Let's go."

She nodded, a faint smile on her lips. "Hai."

//She's got a way about her
I don't know what it is//

Actually Miroku forgot to mention something, Inu Yasha thought as he tilted his head slightly to watch Kagome from the corner of his eye as they left the campsite. This was his family, but she....

She was his everything.

She caught his stare, and cocked her eye brows inquisitively. "Something wrong?"

The breeze changed and blew her special scent directly into his nose. Inu Yasha closed his eyes in reaction and inhaled deeply, immersing himself in it and feeling his heart settle into a gentle pattern.

"No," he said softly, opening his golden orbs to stare into soft brown orbs. "Nothing's wrong."

She blinked, but smiled after a minute as she figured out what he meant. "Okay."

He turned his eyes back to the trail they were traveling without acknowledging her response, but inside he was smiling.

//But I know that I can't live without her... Anyway//

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OWARI!!! Well, let me know what you think!! And hope you enjoyed it all, minna! ^.~