AN: Well, I'm back! With another chapter too. Wow. Thank you for all those lovely reviews! I'm glad that a lot of people like the fact that Kagome isn't immediately forgiving Inuyasha. It gives the fic a more realistic sense, doesn't it?

Kagomesjewel: Waiiiiii! You don't know how happy your review makes me! No one has ever told me my fic was like a diamond among coal before. Hugs and chocolate kisses to you!

CheesieCake: Some quotes are like those really common ones you know all your life. But most of them are from a few quote sites I dug up on the internet. If you want to know the sites I use, please e-mail me at chocolateirises@hotmail.com!

**This chapter is dedicated to Julia: It's all a dream because I loved your long review! Plus I really like the Kikyo fic you wrote. That was very well-written. Everyone go read it!**

One Last Chance

by

Iris

            Distantly, she heard and registered that a car had just come to a stop beside her numb body. But she didn't react.

            "Oh my god, Kagome!"

            Once again, somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, the voice registered. It was someone she knew that was calling her name. But she still didn't move an inch. Not even as the rain around her became a steady downpour.

            'I'm so dirty. It's no wonder he left me.'

            "Kagome, snap out of it!"

            The girl blinked slowly and her eyes focused on the woman standing in front of her.

            "San...go..." she mumbled, "Why are you here?"

            "Kagome, you called me, remember?"

            No, Kagome didn't remember. But she nodded anyway. She blinked again as she found herself pulled into the other woman's embrace.

            "You're freezing! Have you been standing out here this whole time?" Sango exclaimed, not even waiting for a response before turning her head, "Miroku, open the car door!"

            Once again Kagome blinked fuzzily, Miroku was here? She pulled back slightly from Sango to view the older man. Ah. There he was, he had been holding an umbrella over them the whole time. How sweet.

            She watched as he handed the umbrella over to his girlfriend who continued to berate Kagome. Eventually, Sango gave up and Miroku managed to open the car door. Gently, handling Kagome as if she were fragile glass, she helped her friend into the car's backseat and entered the car herself.

            "Sango?"

            Sango glanced at her boyfriend, "You'll drive, Miroku. Take us to her house."

            The black-haired man nodded, accepting the keys from Sango before running around to the other side of the car and sliding in, closing up his umbrella at the same time. Kagome felt disconnected from her surroundings as the car started up and Miroku pulled a definitely illegal U-turn. As the car sped down the road, she ignored the worried looks Sango cast in her direction. Choosing, instead, to look out the window.

            Minutes passed by in silence, and as they neared her house, Kagome frowned. Was that-

            "Stop the car!"

            Her screech was accompanied by the screech of Miroku slamming down on the brakes. Sango turned to look at her friend in bewilderment as Miroku did the same.

            "Kagome, what on earth?"

            "He's looking for me." The words passed her lips and a look of wonderment crossed Kagome's face.

            "Who?" Sango questioned, still at a complete loss.

            "Inuyasha." Kagome answered distractedly as she unlocked the door and stepped out, "I'll see you tomorrow, Sango."

            "Kagome, wait!" Sango hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and scrambled over to the open car door, "Is it that Inuyash-"

            "We'll have lunch tomorrow, Sango." Kagome smiled at her obviously worried friend, "Until then."

            Sango blinked as the car door slammed in her face. She made as to open the door but Miroku shook his head.

            "She'll talk to you tomorrow, Sango-chan." Miroku said gently.

"I-but-" Sango sighed in defeat, "Fine. You win."

            She watched silently as her friend ran through the rain to a figure that had long since stopped to face their way.

            "I'm worried, Miroku."

            Her boyfriend had also turned to watch Kagome run to meet Inuyasha, his violet eyes hardened, "You're not the only one."

~*~

            Inuyasha watched quietly as Kagome approached him, amber eyes clouded with unreadable thoughts and emotions. His former childhood friend smiled uneasily at him when she came to a stop before his unmoving body.

            "Inuyasha..."

            "Kagome."

            With those one-word sentences, a whole conversation had passed and a mutual understanding had been reached. Frowning in concern, Inuyasha shrugged off his jacket and draped it over Kagome's shoulders. When the girl protested saying that she already had a jacket, he silenced her with a look.

            "Don't fuck with me, Kagome." he growled harshly, "You've been out here for over a freaking hour. You need that jacket more than I do."

            Kagome dropped the argument faster than a fire extinguisher puts out a fire. A moment of silence reigned in which Kagome shifted from foot to foot awkwardly and Inuyasha looked off into the distance, seemingly ignoring her presence. The moment was interrupted when Kagome sneezed.

            "See, what did I tell you?" Inuyasha muttered as he turned to glance at her.

            He looked at their surroundings and noticed the metallic blue car still parked a couple hundred feet away. Sighing, he crouched onto the ground in front of Kagome, wishing privately that they didn't have her two friends watching. He growled impatiently when Kagome didn't make a single move.

            "We haven't got all day, wench." Inuyasha snapped.

            "I-ah..." Kagome looked uncertainly at him, "Are you sure?"

            "No, I just crouch on the ground for the heck of it." Inuyasha grouched, sarcasm heavily lacing his words, "Just hurry up and get on. It's not going to kill you. It's not going to kill me. It'll just get us to your house a heck of a lot faster."

            Hesitation still evident in her movements, Kagome gingerly placed her hands around Inuyasha's neck and clasped her knees around his torso. With a few mutters, Inuyasha gracefully took off, heading towards Kagome's house at a run while the girl clung to him as she had done so many years ago when they were kids.

--flashback--

"Inuyasha!"

The hanyou frowned in annoyance as the plaintive whine reached his ears. He looked down to glare at the 6-year-old girl at the tree's base.

"What?" Inuyasha yelled, irritation flashing through golden eyes as he regarded his friend.

"I can't climb up there!" Kagome yelled back; when Inuyasha made no sign of helping her, she let tears seep into her dark brown eyes, "Inuyasha, you're mean!"

The hanyou groaned but as he regarded the younger girl guilt began to cross his features. She wasn't crying down there, was she? The salty smell that the wind brought to him indicated that she was.

'Crap! I didn't mean to make her cry!'

With that thought in mind, he leaped from the tree's top to land with a small thump next to the crying girl. Glancing uneasily at her, Inuyasha awkwardly patted the girl's shoulder in an attempt to stop her crying.

"Aww...c'mon, Kag. Don't cry..."

The younger girl sniffled a few more times before turning to him, watery eyes and all, "Well you won't help me!"

Inuyasha looked at her, then at the tall tree. There was no way he could teach her to climb that. Not at her age and height. Sighing, he crouched onto the ground and turned his head to look at her expectantly.

"Get on my back, Kagome." Inuyasha muttered, red seeping across his cheeks as he imagined what would happen if one of his guy friends came along.

"What?" Kagome has long since stopped crying as she regarded the boy on the ground in front of her.

"Get. on. my. back." Inuyasha growled, "It's the only way I can get you up there, alright?"

"Oh."

The girl clambered onto his back.

"Alright, hold on tight." The hanyou backed away from the tree before running at it, with one powerful leap, he managed to make it to the tree's top.

Grunting, he set Kagome gently down on one of the thicker branches before sitting himself down. Kagome's eyes filled with awe as she took in her surroundings.

"Wow, you can see everything up here..." she breathed, eyes glowing; she then turned to Inuyasha and flung herself at him, "Inuyasha, you're the best!"

--end flashback--

            "Kagome," Inuyasha murmured softly, "we're here. Do you have the keys?"

            "'S in my purse." Kagome yawned as she blinked sleepily, since when had she gotten so tired?

            "I'll get it." Inuyasha sighed, gently setting her down onto the ground and snagging her purse with one hand.

            A few moments later, he scooped a sleeping Kagome into his arms and entered the house, closing the door softly behind him. He glanced uncertainly down at the girl in his arms before finally going up the stairs and entering her bedroom. Almost tenderly, Inuyasha tucked Kagome into her bed and then spent a moment longer just staring at her slumbering form.

            'She looks so alone.'

            With that thought, he turned to leave, eyes darkened with emotion. The door closed behind him with a click like it had all those years ago. A silent reminder of what he had done to their relationship, to her. He had been so stupid back then. Blinded by Kikyo and her charms, he had destroyed the only true friend he had ever had.

            As if they had a mind of their own, Inuyasha's feet took him to the living room. The living room that Kagome had never cleaned up yesterday. The smoky smell of ash was still in the air as Inuyasha moved slowly to the innocent coffee table by the sofa. Hands shaking, he picked up the pile of cards lying on the polished wood surface.

            The card on top was blackened by its short trip in the fire. The front of the card was nearly all seared away and the hand-written ink words on the inside were blurred beyond reading. But Inuyasha didn't need to read the words, he knew what they said since he had written them.

            A heavy sigh escaped him as he set the cards back down and sat down on the sofa.

            "God, what am I doing?"

AN: Ah...so short. I know. Forgive me. T.T Anyway, to KharmaSmack, I'm working on Faerie's Play! I really am! It'll be the next thing I update. Definitely. ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha.

When you betray someone else, you also betray yourself.

- Isaac Bashevis Singer