A Secret Love

Author's Note: I'm still trying to figure out a good way to do the second half to Summer Days. It won't be too long and things may happen quickly, but from the first chapters you won't believe the ending. Anyway, I did this to have some fun. I was thinking, what if Kikyo didn't exists in their lives (don't we all wish that?) and Kagome lived in Inuyasha's time? Well this is what this fic is about.

So basically, Kaede will be old and Kikyo was an old priestess who died, but it's before Kagome and Inuyasha are born so they don't really know her! Basically that makes Kaede the new priestess. Well, you'll have to read it to understand, but all the others are in it in their original forms (meaning Kouga's still a wolf demon and Shippo is still a fox demon and all that) and so are Kagome's family members and friends. I guess this would be considered an A/U fic? Oh well please read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or the characters, but I do own this fic. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Chapter 1

A small girl around the age of five stood silently at her mother's side as women of all ages admired the sleeping baby boy in her mother's arm. His name was Souta and he had just been born a few months ago. Women throughout the village wanted to see the baby and it seemed to become a ritual for them to admire the baby for hours on end whenever one was born. 'Kagome aren't you happy, you're a big sister now!" said a woman happily. She faked a smile and when the women went back to admiring her brother, she rolled her eyes.

Kagome Higurashi had dark long hair and deep brown eyes that were beautiful. She was a smart girl and had many friends, including an annoying boy named Houjo who would follow her around at times and never knew when to give up. People said that she looked a bit like the old priestess, Kikyo, who had died trying to protect the sacred Shikon jewel that Kaede was now holding. Kaede was their new priestess and a very kind old woman. Kagome liked her just fine and didn't like it too much when Kaede said she resembled Kikyo as well. She heard Kikyo was a beauty, but she had some kind of feeling in her that made her not like Kikyo very much.

Kagome was going to be next in place to take the position of priestess once she was older. Her father had been killed by a demon so she only felt it would be right. Kaede was to train her to fit the role once she reached 15 and she would be next to care for the Shikon jewel. She let out a sigh, becoming a bit annoyed. Deciding they would never notice, she managed to sneak away and went walking into the forest.

"He's only two months old and he's already stolen my life." She thought with a scowl, not noticing how far she was going. She looked up and noticed she had gone farther into the forest than she had wanted. She stopped and dropped to the ground. "I'm lost!" she yelled angrily and began to cry in frustration.

"You're stupid if you managed to get lost that easily." She blinked and turned her head to see a strange boy sitting in a tree branch above her head. She wiped her eyes and looked up at the boy.

"Who are you?" she asked. He jumped out of the tree and looked at her with narrowed eyes. He had beautiful golden eye, silver hair and a pair of dog like ears at the top of his head. They made him look very cute if she could say so herself. She had never really seen a boy like him in all her life and he was obviously older than her by a year at the most.

"I should be asking you that. Stupid girls like you running through the forest without any protections. There are probably plenty of demons that would love to eat you up." He said. She frowned up at him and stood up. He was still about an inch taller than she was.

"My name is Kagome and I'm not stupid. Besides, you're out here without protection too." She pointed out.

"Feh. I don't need it. I'm demon too." He said. Kagome blinked and stepped away from him. "What, scared now?" he asked. She stopped backing away and stared up at him defiantly.

"NO! Why would I be afraid of you?" she asked. He lifted his hand and began flexing his claws.

'Dunno. probably cuz I could slice you into five pieces right now?" he asked. She stared at him and bit her lower lip.

"Would you really?" she asked and looked at him with tears in her eyes. The boy blinked and stepped closer to her cautiously.

"Hey. don't cry! I didn't mean it." he said. She wiped her eyes and sniffled a bit. He shook his head and looked away. "You need to get out of here. Those humans are probably looking for you." He said.

"But I don't know your name." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow before looking away.

"It's Inuyasha." He finally answered. Kagome smiled.

"Inuyasha." she said quietly and grinned. "Cute name." She said. He snorted and shook his head.

"Get out of here before you get hurt, girl." He said and began walking off.

"You can just call me Kagome." She said. He looked over his shoulder at her and then turned away.

"Feh."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kagome sat silently thinking about Inuyasha as she absently stroked her cat Buyo's back. He was stubborn and refused to call her by her name. He was cute and he was demon. He didn't seem like most demons she had heard about though. He was a bit nicer and looked a bit gentler. he didn't seem like one that would hurt someone else if they didn't hurt him first. "He doesn't like to see people cry. so he can't be demon." She said quietly and looked over at her mother.

"It's time for bed Kagome dear." she said. She nodded and went into her room. Souta was already sleep and her grandfather could be heard talking about putting prayer scrolls around the room to protect Souta at night. Kagome rolled restlessly around in her bed

"I gotta go see him again!" she groaned and got up, climbing out her room window silently and running into the forest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha sat outside a small hut with a ball in his hands. He wore a read kimono and no shoes, his golden eyes focused on the children that were playing in the distance as he rolled a ball around in his lap, wishing personally that he could go play with them. A young woman came outside and smiled at the boy. She kneeled on the ground and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. He wiped it off. "That's nasty mom. I'm nearly a grown man, you can't go off kissing me in public." He muttered. She laughed.

"Since when is being six years old being nearly a grown man?" she asked in a gentle and sweet voice. The boy looked up at her and smiled, his golden eyes shinning.

"I'm half demon mom. And since dad's other son was such a disappointment, I'll have to grow up fast and take his place."

"Killing humans?" asked his mother seriously, but gently. The boy looked at the ball in his lap.

"No ma'am." He answered. The young woman sighed and looked at the children playing.

"One day you'll be with them." She promised. "Or I'll have another child for you to play with." The boy scowled.

"Nope. I think I like being your one and only much better." He said and stood up. "I'm gonna go play." He said and walked off in a different direction of the children. He walked into the forest and began bouncing his ball up and down until he lost control of it and it rolled off. He ran after and stopped when he saw the girl from before standing there. She picked up the ball and smiled at him with shinning brown eyes and her dark hair blowing in the gentle breeze.

"Here. I think you dropped this." She said. He went up and took the ball, studying her carefully.

"Hey, you're that girl. What are you doing here?" She shrugged and smiled. "Why are you playing alone out here?" she asked.

"Cuz I'm half demon." He answered. She looked at him sadly.

"That's what I thought." She said and went up to him, holding her hand out. Inuyasha looked at her a bit unsure, but he took her hand let and her pull him off into the forest. "Do you know anything we can do?" she asked. Inuyasha nodded and gripped her hand a little tighter and ran a little ahead of her.

"You know how to climb trees?" he asked and she shook her head. He continued to run until a large fruit tree came into view. "Don't worry. It doesn't matter." He said and managed to get her onto his back as he ran and then he jumped high into the air and then into the tree, bouncing from branch to branch.

"WOW!" said Kagome in awe, her arms tight around his neck. She giggled and looked at Inuyasha curiously, her eyes shinning. "You're the coolest boy I ever met." She informed, causing him to blush. He stopped in a branch and let her off his back and they sat down. He grabbed two apples and handed one to her.

"This tree has the best and sweetest apples." He informed as Kagome examined the apple. He took a bite out of his to prove that they were ok and she followed his lead. He leaned toward her a bit. "So, how old are you?" he asked.

"Five." She answered brightly. Inuyasha looked at her curiously.

"You're a pretty brave girl for five." he informed and she grinned innocently.

"Thank you. " she said and looked at him. "How old are you?" she asked.

"Six." He answered casually. "Once I turn seven I'll be a grown man and I'll be taking my dad's spot since my half brother is no good at it." He informed.

"Was your dad a demon?" asked Kagome and Inuyasha nodded. "And is your brother like you? A half demon?" she asked.

"No, he has a demon mom, but my mom is human." Answered Inuyasha. Kagome looked down at the apple in her hand.

"That's sad that you don't have the same moms." she said. Inuyasha looked at her curiously. No one had ever cared about him aside from his mother. Now this girl he had just met was showing affections for him.

"Feh. It really doesn't matter to me." he informed. "Sesshomaru is a moron anyway. He couldn't follow in our father's footsteps properly, so that's what I'm gonna do. Then me and my mom can live in peace."

"What did your dad do? He didn't kill humans did he?" asked Kagome. Inuyasha sat and thought about that. His father did have two swords, one that could kill demons and one that was used to save humans, though the one to kill demons couldn't be found.

"He couldn't have if he and my mom got together. My mom IS human." He answered. Kagome nodded and smiled at Inuyasha with shinning eyes.

"You're very sweet. I don't know how no one could like you." she said and looked at something at the top of his head. "And your ears are cute too." She piped. Inuyasha reached up and touched them, blushing.

"Thank you." he said quietly. Kagome grinned at him innocently. "So. what about your family?" he asked. She sighed a bit.

"I live with my mom, grandpa and little brother Souta. Nothing really interesting." She answered. Inuyasha smirked. The children had probably sat up in the tree all night before falling asleep in each others arms. or more so Kagome sitting at Inuyasha's side with her head on his shoulder and his head lying on hers.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kagome was sitting on a stump and let out a giggle as Inuyasha demonstrated the proper way to hunt. He was in a crouched position and looked like he was about to pounce on something. It was the following day and they were near the fruit tree from the day before. The night before, Inuyasha must have carried Kagome home, because when she woke up, she was sitting at the base of a tree right outside the village, which was where her grandfather found her. Inuyasha looked at her and frowned.

"What's so funny?" he asked. Kagome blinked and gave an innocent grin.

"Its nothing really, you just really funny doing that." Inuyasha stood up straight and scowled at the girl. He turned away with a stubborn expression.

"Leave it to a human not to understand the whole purpose." He muttered. Kagome giggled and got up, standing on her toes and rub his ears. He began to relax and quickly pulled away from her, throwing his hands over his ears and scowling.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" Kagome asked, giving him an apologetic look. He let out a sigh and shook his head.

"No, they're just sensitive. I don't like for people to ever touch them." He muttered. Kagome shrugged and turned away, looking in the direction of home. "What's wrong?"

"I have to go home. There's a festival tonight and we're suppose to be going. you know- my family." Answered Kagome and turned to Inuyasha. "Why don't you come to the festival?" she piped. Inuyasha scowled and shook his head.

"I don't want to. Besides, those humans in the village will treat me strange." He answered and looked at Kagome. "Will you come back?"

"Yeah! We can have a festival of our own." She agreed and ran toward the village, half-skipping.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Do you like it?" asked Kagome, spinning around to show Inuyasha the kimono her mother had made for her. Inuyasha was sitting down in front of his house, nodding his head absently. He couldn't help but think Kagome looked pretty in her new kimono. Kagome grinned and pulled him off the ground. "C'mon Inuyasha, this is a festival! We're suppose to dance and stuff. The music from the village could be heard all the way out where Inuyasha lived with his mother, and Kagome had brought along as many things as she could when she managed to sneak away from her grandfather.

"I don't dance." Muttered Inuyasha. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"You're only six. How do you know what you do and don't do?" she asked and forced him into dancing. Inuyasha then pulled away from Kagome, stumbling backwards from spinning around. Kagome laughed when he fell to the ground and a gentle chuckle could be heard. Both of them jumped and turned to see Inuyasha's mother watching them with some things in her arms.

"That was fantastic Inuyasha. Especially for your first dance lesson." She said. Inuyasha blushed.

"Do you think so?" he asked and his mother nodded. She was a beautiful young woman, looking not a day older than 23. Kagome liked her just fine, seeing how easily the woman had taken her in. Inuyasha's mother laid out toys, activities and foods she had brought back from the festival.

"Wow! You got all the good stuff!" announced Kagome as she and Inuyasha looked around the items. Inuyasha grabbed some sweets and shoved them into his mouth as his mother worked on a fire.

"Well I do the best I can to keep my little boy happy." She said. Once she got the fire started, she took some sweet potatoes and attached them to sticks before handing them to the children whom held them over an open fire and talked excitedly. She smiled gently as Inuyasha used his claws to help Kagome peel her sweet potato because it was hot. Inuyasha's mother couldn't help but be happy about the arrival of Kagome in her son's life. The girl was sweet and didn't judge him by his looks. She was even teaching him a few things about love and trust that the small half demon had never expressed with any other human except his mother.

Later that evening, the children were sitting under a tree not too far from the small cottage looking at the moon glittering across the lake, Kagome's head was resting on Inuyasha's shoulder, and her eyes were half shut. "Hey Kagome, we'll be friends forever right? Like you'll never leave me?"

"As long as you never leave me." Answered Kagome and Inuyasha nodded, lying the top of his head on hers and falling asleep.