A/N: Hey all. Back for more? Good. I've been meaning to get this out for awhile. It's kind of short, and there's not much Inu/Kag interaction, but plot must be developed, ne?

Disclaimer: They still ain't mine. No amount of wishing will make it so.

Aren't I Supposed to Kill You?: chapter 4

The days past quietly and without noticeable difference in the success of her mission, other than Kagome getting much friendlier with the other villagers. Inuyasha avoided her like she was a leper, except for in the mornings when she came and woke him as had become custom. But he would never say a word of acknowledgement, choosing instead to glare at her and nod silently as he waved her off. If any of the villagers found it odd that there was silence where there had previously been companionable conversation, none said anything. That is, until four days had passed and she found herself getting pressed for information as she was eating lunch with Sango in her and her husband Miroku's hut.

"It could not have been something small, that I know. Our Inuyasha has always been nice and considerate. And he and you got along so well until recently. What happened, Sanchi? You can tell me," Sango said as she bounced an infant with one arm and tried to take a bite of stew with the other. Kimiko was about six months old, she had learned, and was the couple's first child. Sango had confided in her the other day that another one was on the way, due in five months or so. She looked so happy, her face was almost glowing with her smile as she smoothed a hand over her slightly rounded belly. Part of Kagome wished desperately for a home, a family, and children of her own. But that was impossible.

"Why, Sango, I assure you that nothing happened between the two of us. I hadn't noticed that he'd been avoiding me until you mentioned it, as a matter of fact," Kagome said with a straight face. She had perfected lying and omitting facts many years ago as one of her first lessons. Sango peered at her curiously, looking for even a tiny crack in the girl's mask to catch her in a lie. Finding none, she sat back and gave a shrug before noisily finishing her lunch.

"I still don't believe you, Sanchi. But I'll let it go for now. I know you'll tell me when you're ready, yes?" she said as she switched the babe to her other shoulder to give her arm a break. Grateful for being let off the hook, Kagome stood and followed her host into the small corner that served as a cooking area.

On their way back to the table, she answered, "Of course, Sango. You've been so kind to me since I came here. I'm thinking of staying here for quite awhile. I think I'd miss you and this little one too much to leave any time soon." She reached over and stroked the fuzz of hair on the babe's head.

"I'm glad. I needed a friend around here. So many of the other women are much older than I am. Makes it hard to be friends. 'Sides, you might yet soften Inuyasha on women once and for all. Goddess knows he needs to find a mate and settle down. Every chit that passes through here, I keep thinking he'll find it in her, but it's never happened. 'Cept for that Kikyo wench that serves on his ship as the waitress. But she's no better than the floozies down in the brothel. Never understood why he is as sweet on her as he is." Disgust colored her tone as she talked of the woman.

'Hmm…a new angle on this stagnant case,' Kagome thought as she nodded thoughtfully and then looked curiously at Sango as something she said registered.

"'It'? What do you mean 'it'?"

"Hmm?" Sango murmured as she loosened her top to allow Kimiko to suckle. She hadn't really heard the girl's question over the rustling of cloth and the impatient whimpers of her daughter.

"You said that you're hoping he'll find 'it' in some girl who passes through. What do you mean by 'it'?" Kagome repeated patiently. As the infant settled down, Sango looked back up and paused thoughtfully, trying to remember her train of thought a moment ago.

"Oh. I see now. You've never been in love then, have you? You'd know what I mean by 'it' otherwise. When you're in love, you tend to forget everything around you. You lose focus on everything and it gets in the way of doing things the way you did beforehand. It'll hit you all of a sudden, and there's no way to help it." A glazed over, dreamy look had come into her eyes, as though she was not sitting in her kitchen, but rather walking through a favorite memory.

"You talk from experience?" Kagome watched as she shook her head and her eyes focused again before she answered.

"My marriage to Miroku wasn't prearranged. My father allowed me to find someone I wanted to marry. He was a traveling monk who visited the village one day, and though I was a shy girl, I liked him right away. His charm and good looks almost made up for the fact that he was a perverted letch. But he won me over after a few weeks."

"That's a sweet story, Sango. I wish I could fall in love like that." It was true. She wished she could, but it was inconceivable.

"No reason you can't. Maybe if Inuyasha pulls his head out of his ass…" she trailed off, hoping Kagome would catch her point.

Kagome jumped up quickly, shaking her head vehemently and making sharp gestures with her arms. "Stop right there. There's nothing between me and Inuyasha and there won't be more than friendship, ever. I don't like him romantically. I can't fall in love with that arrogant prick."

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Sango said quietly and full of conviction. But that didn't mean Kagome understood what she was trying to say any better.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, Sanchi. Now, run along and get back to your chores. I've kept you away long enough. Scoot!" The older woman was reluctant to reveal the meaning behind her statement. Kagome reluctantly agreed that it was well passed the time she had intended to stay, and turned to leave.

"Good evening, Sango. See you in the morn," she called over her shoulder before shutting the door. Kagome left the hut both puzzled and elated. What the woman had said about Inuyasha had to be considered more carefully. Could she indeed be in love with this slimy monster that killed her family? Fate surely was not that cruel and twisted. But with how her life had turned out, she could not be surprised if the god of love only came to her when he needed a laugh.

But that Kikyo woman that Sango had mentioned…she might have something there. A way to break back into Inuyasha's cold heart and show him that she meant business. The man would pay, and if that meant losing the few people he held close, then so be it. People other than Sango and Miroku, of course. She had already broken her first and most important rule, and had come to care for the couple as friends. To see their eyes as she bled their lives away would be too much, something that would tear her heart apart one more time and overwhelm her with grief. It had happened before, and she swore it would never happen again.

A/N END NOTE: I'm getting back to writing, all of my stories. So go read them and make me happy! Reviewing would make me even happier! And a happy me means faster chapter production, so get to it. Lots of non-icky love to all my readers. Especially to those of you who reviewed the last chapter oh so long ago:

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