don't own Inu Yasha, all right belong to...Viz? I dunno.--;;

Chapter 3

The sky turned dark as both Inu Yasha and Kagome walked down an empty road.

Kagome held within her hand a small doll from her childhood

Inu Yasha held the Shikon No Tama.

Inu Yasha looked to his side, as a habit of talking to Kagome beside him, and saw no one. He sighed and continued to walk.

Kagome stopped slightly and crouched down in the ground. She curled up into a small ball again, in the middle of the road and stayed there, holding tightly onto her legs. She scrunched the doll in her hands and tried to hold back the tears. She felt a small drop of water fall onto her back, Kagome looked up as the rain started to pour down, soaking her from head to toe. Not wanting to go to school, Kagome turned from her regular route and headed back home; towards the tree.

Inu Yasha held the jewel in his hands as he walked on. His feet just gently brushing against the ground as walked through the tall grass. He took a sniff at the air with his keen little nose. 'It's gonna rain.' He thought to himself. Small droplets began to fall and soon after, it began to come down in buckets.

Not knowing which way her was actually heading, Inu Yasha decided to walk to where he felt most peaceful, the tree. Amongst it's tall branches, he found peace at the most stressful of times. Making his way past the large bushes he slowly walked up to the giant tree. He placed a hand upon it's old timber and closed his eyes. 'So many memories.' He thought to himself.

Kagome stopped in front of the large tree and sat down in the wet grass. She looked up at the old tree and smiled. Thinking back to when she first released Inu Yasha from the tree by touching the arrow. Little did she know, tears began to pour out from her eyes. A small tear fell from her face and to the floor.

Drip.

Drop.

Splash. (this is water falling...don't know what it sounds like.)

Inu Yasha's ears suddenly perked up. Had he heard what he thought her heard. A small water droplet, close by. He quickly turned and took a good long look with his eyes. When he saw nothing he took a long sniff. Suddenly his heard began to beat like a drum, so strong her thought it would jump out of his chest.

"Kagome?" He said, feeling stupid, talking to nothing.

Kagome.

Kagome suddenly jumped up from her seat in the grass. Someone or something had just said her name, she was sure of it.

Kagome.?

There it was again. Kagome felt her heart begin to beat like crazy, something just said her name. She held the doll close to her chest as she backed up and leaned against the tree. Suddenly, she felt something shoot through her, like being shocked. She quickly turned and looked up at the tree. From atop the tree a small silver thread began to drift down towards her. It landed gently on her nose and before it flew away she grabbed it and held it up to her face.

Inu Yasha? She thought. Is this his hair? Kagome took a longer more precise look of the strand of hair and slowly a smile crept across her face, a smile that seemed to have died over these few days.

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome called out, looking around her for signs of the white hair hanyou.

Inu Yasha!

He had heard it, it was her voice. It was her scent that he smelled, it was her that he felt.

"Kagome!" He called turning to the tree again.

"Inu Yasha?" He heard her respond. Slowly he felt his spirits brighten as the rain poured down.

"Kagome." He said gently, leaning his head against the tree.

Kagome felt herself smile. She was talking to Inu Yasha, she didn't care how, she didn't care why but she was talking to him.

"Inu Yasha!" She called out placing a hand on the tree. "How is this possible?"

"Mo-o-oron, how do I know?" He said, regretting his words. Kagome felt a the weight return to her heart.

"Is this...how you'll talk to me?" She kneeled down in the grass, keeping her hand on the tree. "Maybe you don't want to see me Inu Yasha. I mean, Kikyou." Kagome felt small streaks of water on her face, not sure whether they were tears or rain.

"Kagome!" Inu Yasha called again, afraid she had left. "I...I..."

"Inu Yasha!" A voice called out from behind him. He turned to see a soaked miko standing in the clearing of the woods. She ran towards his and wrapped her arms around the soaked hanyou. "I'm glad I found you. Kaede has thing to say to you." She said grabbing him by the hands and leading him away.

Kagome stood at the base of the tree, for a moment she thought she saw Inu Yasha...holding Kikyou. She felt her heart fall all the way to her feet. She looked down at the ground as tears rolled down her cheeks. He chose her, he chose...her. She thought feeling horrible from head to toe. Taking the doll from her pocket, she took a good look at it.

Strangely it looked a lot like Inu Yasha. It had the same hair, eyes, and clothes, yet it was a gift from her father, before he died. She took one last look at it, reaching into the ground she pulled out clump after clump of dirt and threw it to her side. She laid the childhood memory, Inu Yasha look alike in the hole she dug. Touching it with the tips of her fingers, she placed the silver stand of his hair across it's chest and buried it deep within the ground.

Her insides screamed with hate - for Kikyou, with anger - towards Inu Yasha, pain - for herself for being so foolish, for falling for him. Crying as she buried the doll, she stopped suddenly and looked at her hands. Taking off the bandages wrapped around her hand she placed it on the top and covered it with more dirt. Kagome stood and looked at her work. She tried to smile as she cried for her broken heart.

Never had she known such pain, never had she felt so alone.

"Higurashi?" A gentle voiced asked from behind her. She turned to see Hojo standing under a large umbrella. He looked the red-eyed maiden in the eyes and gave her a calming smile.

"Hojo?" Kagome asked as she ran towards him and buried her face in his chest. Hojo let the umbrella drop to the floor as he wrapped his arms around her.

Inu Yasha stopped suddenly, he was only a few feet away from the tree. He had heard it, that name - Hojo. He was the boy he saw Kagome with, the scrawny boy. As he stared at the tree he felt that somehow Kagome had parted from him, looking down at the bottom of the tree a small white bandage stuck out from the ground, as if it had grown out of the dirt.