To borrow a quote from my friend: w00t! Writer's block seems to have gone dead for a while, and I'm just so happy about that…all who reviewed (thanks ^_^) are happy, too, which means I'll be updating at least once a day!

            I don't own Inuyasha, but then again you probably don't own Inuyasha either.

Chapter 6

            The forest was a black monstrosity reaching out to snatch Kagome and bury her into her shadows as she hurried through the forest; silver light painted each gnarled tree trunk black as she began following her gut instinct (helped along a little bit by the rosary/necklace that tied he and her together) and picked a careful path through the dense forest.

            'What happened to Inuyasha? He stared at me, yelled…well, that's normal for him…then just said "I'm leaving" in such a sad voice…what'd I do? He's never been like this before; heck, he's never even shown any emotion at all—well, aside from anger, of course…and compassion when we're together…and that time he held me before he tried to keep me safe by trapping me in my own time…and whenever he protects me…gods, what happened to him?' She demanded in her own head, knowing full well that no answer could possibly come.

            Dried eyes welled up as fresh tears were born from the old, and she began to push deeper and deeper into the forest, cold moonlight blazing overhead.

--Inuyasha's POV—

            The forest was unusually quiet tonight, even to hanyou ears; the habitual denizens of the night seeming to have vanished from their usual haunts: the flap of owl's wings, the chatter of squirrels, and even the gentle rustling of snakes winding their way through the dark underbrush, all of them were silent tonight.

            All the better for Inuyasha to think his morose thoughts; brood upon past and present faults; his experiences with the world; dwell upon his first love; and last, but not least, think about…

            "Kagome…," Inuyasha whispered as he turned his eyes skyward; all thoughts turned towards the same girl that haunted his dreams with her scent, her touch, her love…'All things that you'll never have!' the nasty voice in his head spoke, drowning out the muffled arguments from his heart until all was dark in his heart, and despair began to reign once more: until a light began to shine out, holding his inner demons at bay, as his heart made itself known once more to him.

            He remembered Kagome throwing herself out of the well, throwing herself into him as she cried, worried that he had died because he hadn't come back for her…he remembered her caring for him when he was poisoned by the spider-demon, on the night of the new moon…and even further back, when she had saved him from that same demon, refusing to save herself as she risked her life to save him, he who had always spurned her; called her wench and bitch; argued with her…yet she still saved him.

            'All is not as bad as we make it…' his heart spoke to him. 'There is plenty of good in the world, if we are not blind to it; there may yet be acceptance, if we are not foolish enough to turn it away when it so blatantly presents it to us.'

            Inuyasha leaned down, chin against chest as silver locks hid his amber eyes, and smiled as he let the warm memories play over and over again in his memory, keeping himself in the temporary bliss that he had found, and allowing them to soothe his aching heart.

            He didn't know how long he stayed like this, bathed in a warm glow, until his submerged mind caught the scent of Kagome coming nearer to his tree. Reluctantly taking himself out of his warm dreams, he leapt from the tree, red robe billowing around him as he soared above the treetops, only to be brought back to earth by the call of gravity as he landed in a moonlit clearing, landing mere feet from Kagome.

            Kagome gasped, almost screamed, at the hanyou's sudden arrival (once more, the effect living in an era where almost all non-human entities want to kill you), but choked her scream and settled for heartache as he landed gently in front of her.

            "Kagome, what are you doing so far away from…," he started, but he never finished: as he spoke, he suddenly found Kagome in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably, while she tried to choke out something that Inuyasha couldn't make out through her tears.

            'Great, just great; what the hell did I do to make her cry!?' He cried to herself, reflexively wrapping his arms around her as he attempted to overcome his shock so that he could comfort her and find out what he did so he could mentally beat himself for doing it later.

            "Kagome, calm down…whatever I did, I'm sorry! You don't have to cry!" He cried, trying to calm the girl he now held in his arms.

            "I-I-it wasn't y-your fault," She sobbed, her crying muffled by his kimono as she continued to go into near-hysterics. "Whatever I did to make you run away f-from me, I'm sorry, Inuya-yasha…"

            "What…what you did?" Inuyasha asked, startled and surprised, but Kagome didn't seem to hear him as she just kept sobbing into the chest of his shirt.

            'Good going, BAKA!' He roared to himself as he began stroking her hair with his claws in a desperate attempt to calm her down.

            "Shhh…shhh, Kagome…it's alright. You didn't do anything…," he whispered as he began to rock her back and forth, almost as if she was a child again. "Stop crying, Kagome…it wasn't your fault…it really wasn't…"

            Kagome's eyes, red and puffy from the tears that still fell down her face, met with Inuyasha's as she managed to ask,

            "Nani???"
            Inuyasha laid his head on Kagome's, holding her to his chest all the tighter now; wishing that he would never cause her pain, never hurt her, never wound her like this again.

            "It wasn't your fault, Kagome," he whispered, still rocking her back and forth. "You didn't do anything…just…please, stop crying."

            "But…you were so sad back at the campsite; and you ran away from me when I tried to talk to you, what did…"

            Inuyasha put one clawed fingertip to her mouth as he lowered himself to the ground, gently pulling Kagome down as well, her head resting on his lap…'Just as she held me when I was wounded by the spider,' Inuyasha realized.

            "Why would I ever run from you, Kagome?" He questioned, gently stroking her hair as he stared down into her beautiful eyes once again. He smiled—not a smirk, not a sneer, but a true smile—and said, "Don't worry about that, Kagome; it wasn't your fault—I'd never run from you."

            Kagome stared up into his eyes, seeing something she'd never seen—a lack of arrogance? Love? Happiness?—even as Inuyasha saw something just as pure in her eyes; something he'd have seen before if he had only bothered to look.

            "Nete, Kagome…," he whispered, as he stared up to look at the blazing heavens. "Nete…"

            And Kagome slept.

            Phew, another one of my 500-word-or-less chapters that have inexplicably transformed into 1000+-word-long chapters…weehee for me! ^_^

            Well, I hope you liked the newest chapter; thus continues my 3 or 4 day (I forget how long…) updating streak; and thanks to all who reviewed (especially those who reviewed more than once ^_^ thank you very much!).

            By the way (this is for Kagomai and everybody else who didn't understand those Japanese words I used), here are some of them translated:

            Nani: What?

            Itte: Polite command for "to go" (I believe I already translated this one)

            Teme: More vulgar word for "you"; can also be loosely translated as, "bastard"

            Omae: Not sure if I've used this; informal word for "you"

            Bukkoroshite yaru: Haven't used this one yet, but since it's my favorite phrase in Japanese, Inuyasha uses it all the time, and I'm gonna think of how to work it in, I'll translate it here. Literally translated, it means "I'm going to beat you to death"; with colloquialism and all the other doodads of the Japanese language, it can also be translated as, "I'm gonna kick your ass!". (PS: If you ever want to understand what Inuyasha says when he's on a cursing rant, buy a book called 'Making out in Japanese'; it's got some excellent curse words in it, hahaha)

            Well, that's it for today, folks; I have nothing to do this weekend (aside from work), and I'm getting a new computer tomorrow so I'll be glued to that all day, which basically means I'll enjoy using the internet and typing up the next chapter for it.

Finally, as always, please read and review! ^_^