Oohhh... a little angst, a little compassion, and a little breakfast. What else could you want at 6:12 at night?^_^; lol Well, I guess it could be morning other places in the world... anyway, yeah, this chapter went by soooo quickly! Heh, this is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters in it. If I did I'd be rich, but I'm not...and if I had lots of money I'd probably spend it on anime anyway so pleeaasseee, don't sue me.^_^ lol

Oh, and as always,

_= thoughts *_* = sound/ italicized "_" = speech //_// = narration

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Memories of the Present

Chapter 5: Dreams of the Past

Damnit! Is that all I could say?

Inu Yasha slowly made his way towards the kitchen. He wasn't really hungry, especially not now. His mind was plagued with thoughts of his father, the pain of not knowing him, and even more with the horrible truth that Kagome was plagued with them too. How had not noticed?! There was always her mother, brother, grandfather, but never her father. That's just the way it was.

No, that's not true. Inu Yasha mused sadly, I noticed, I just didn't want to bring it up. He absently opens the refrigerator, looking around at nothing in particular, Why couldn't I say anything else? Why couldn't I just stay there and comfort her, hold her? What's so hard, so wrong about that?!

'Nothing,' his mind said, 'There's nothing wrong with that, but you're afraid. You're afraid of what might happen if you let her get too close.'

Shut up.

'Heh, you think I'll go away that easily? I'm a part of you; I can't leave. Look at her. She had stopped crying, stopped because you were there. Then you left her without a word, and now...'

Inu Yasha looks back to where Kagome had been standing, Shut up, I didn't leave her. Besides, she's not even there. He went back to rummaging through the refrigerator.

'Why does that phrase hurt you so much? I thought you were trying to convince yourself that you don't love her.'

...

'Where do you think she went? How would you feel if the one you love walked off without so much as a...'

SHUT UP!!! You don't know what you're talking about! ...she... doesn't love me...

'If you truly believe that, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought you were, and that's saying a lot considering I'm a part of you.'

And with that, the voice was gone.

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The rest of the night was pretty uneventful in both worlds. Kagome spent the rest of her time doing homework while Inu Yasha played with Souta. Everyone could feel the sadness and tension that seemed to follow the two that day, but no one thought to mention anything. Kagome slept in her bed that night, Inu Yasha keeping guard at the foot. He stayed awake for most of the night, as usual, but tonight was not spent with daydreams of Kagome; no, it was spent looking, looking through an old photo album under her bed, and watching her toss in her sleep. She seemed to be having a nightmare and, at one point, he even lay down beside her to try and lull her back into peaceful dreams. But even he couldn't enjoy that night. Even on her bed, arms wrapped around her, something was wrong.

Her scent wafted over him, calming his senses, but still, he could not sleep. Even with all of the 'sit's he would undoubtedly receive in the morning, he wanted to lay with her, if only for that night. It felt as if it was the last night he'd ever spend with her.

Morning came and Inu Yasha rolled over. Kagome had gotten up already, but... he was still on the bed? He looked around slowly; the alarm clock hadn't gone off. If it had he surely would've woken up. He got up, stretched, and wondered just when he had fallen asleep. Opening the door, he walked out into the hall and checked all of the other rooms. Kagome's was empty of course. Souta and Mrs. Higurashi were in their rooms sleeping peacefully; so where was Kagome?

Inu Yasha walked down stairs and, smelling something in the kitchen, went to look. Kagome was there, cooking something that smelled almost as good as she did. He smiled, relieved hat she was safe, but suddenly wondered why it had taken him so long to smell anything. He was practically in front of the door before he... oh no.

I'm human!!!

There it was, reflected in the darkened window. His hair was now black, almost as dark as Kagome's. His eyes were a deep shade of violet and his ears were, well, not on top of his head.

Well, at least the night is almost over. I slept it away.

Then she turned and looked at him; "Good morning Inu Yasha," she smiled at him brightly, "I didn't wake you up did I?"

He was surprised. No 'sit'? No 'why the hell were you on my bed you pervert'? Nothing but that smile, not that he was complaining; he always melted at that smile. Kagome, I'm sorry, I should've said more. I wanted to hold you, comfort you...

"What'cha making?" Well, at least it was something, and not an insulting something to boot.

"Breakfast." She said, turning back to the stove, "I... I couldn't sleep, had a bad dream. I... I thought it would be nice to have breakfast on the table by the time everyone got up."

He just nodded, not wanting to press it. " What kind of dream?"

She stiffened, noticeably. " I... it... it's nothing, really."

"Was it about your father?"

Another stop, another stiffening. "Kagome?"

She sighed, turned off the burner and scooped some yellow stuff onto a plate. "Come on, help me set the table, and then we can go back to bed and talk."

His face flushed crimson, Did she say *WE* can go back to bed?! Heart racing in his chest, he tried not to show that anything was different. He let out a small "Feh" and helped her set the table. They put weird shiny silver stuff over all of the food and put it in the oven. Kagome said that it was to keep everything hot until it was time for breakfast. Apparently, it wouldn't be long.

The walls were spinning, that sinking feeling he had had was lessening, but not by much. He obediently followed Kagome to her room. Closing the door behind them, she got in bed and rolled to face Inu Yasha. He blushed, looked at her, and sat down next to her.

"So... are you going to tell me what the dream was about?"

She winced. Burying her face in her pillow, she sighed. Knowing he could still understand her, she said, "I guess I sort of promised didn't I?"

He nodded and she began.