BTW I really, really, really like reviews, it made me feel all happy when I saw people were reading my fic, YAY. So, please review and tell me what ya think!

::SilverWaters walks in and plops on the couch:: I am so tired. I didn't get any sleep last night ::Inuyasha trudges in and passes out on the floor:: yeah, umm, he didn't get any sleep last night either.

::Golden Skies:: Damn fiends.

::Sesshomaru's snores can be heard from down the hall::

::SilverWaters:: Well, , apparently Sess-chan didn't get much sleep either. Hmm, I wonder why?

::Golden Skies blushes:: I have no idea what your taking about.

::SilverWaters gives Golden Skies a sly look:: Mmm Hmm. Right.

::Golden Skies:: Hey, he just can't handle this

::Kouga jumps in and grabs SilverWaters and throws her over his shoulder:: I have come to claim a mate. This is my woman now!

::Inuyasha wakes up and goes into a fighting stance::

::Golden Skies:: Why the hell did you chose her? We all know I'm better!

::Inuyasha:: Grrrr.... Kouga, put her down. That is my mate.

::SilverWaters blushes and turns to Sky:: Well, Sky-chan, I guess Kouga just knows quality when he sees it.

::Golden skies coughs:: desperate ::she coughs again::

::Kouga drops SilverWaters and turns to Sky::

::SilverWaters:: Oomff! Hey! ::Inuyasha runs to Silver's side::

::Kouga grabs Golden Skies:: Fine, then I will just take her instead.

::SilverWaters:: ;

::Golden Skies:: Yeah right man, you wish you could have a piece of this.

::Sesshoumaru groggily makes his way to the door:: What the hell are you doing wolf-boy?

::Kouga turns to him:: I'm taking my mate home.

::Golden Skies:: Like hell you are! ::Golden Skies punches Kouga, he falls to the ground and Sesshoumaru grabs Sky's waist before she lands on to p of Kouga::

::Sesshoumaru looks at the unconscious wolf youkai on the floor and smirks at Golden Skies:: That's my blood in you.

::Golden Skies blushes::

::A thought suddenly strike SilverWaters:: Hey, Inuyasha? Did you mean it when you called me your mate?

::Inuyasha blushes:: Keh... your mine now.

::SilverWaters:: Aww. I love you. ::Glomp::

::Inuyasha:: ; heh...

::Golden Skies:: Okay, enough with the melodramatics. ::Pushes Inu and Silver into Inu's room::

::Golden Skies:: Sess, ya wanna get some food?

::Sess winks:: How about some Chinese food...order-in?

::Golden Skies:: alright!

And now for the story...

Trials and Tribulations of Love

Chapter 2

A Long Night

By: Golden Skies

Kagome, though everything in her screamed to run home and never come back, didn't run away. Instead, she stayed to face her fears. Well not exactly. Instead, she avoided Inuyasha. As far as she knew, he only felt her presence after Kikyo left. He probably thought she had just happened to stumble across the end of their conversation, and she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to tell him otherwise.

For Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, the last week had been very unusual. Not once had Inuyasha told them they had to go hunt for shards, not once had Kagome threatened to go home, not once had Kagome "sat" Inuyasha, and not once had they even spoke to each other.

Miroku and Sango noticed the way Inuyasha would toss Kagome unsure looks. It was hard to tell what his facial expressions were saying, and when they tried to decipher the hieroglyphics that made up Inuyasha's golden orbs, they were left wanting. It almost looked as though he wanted to say something, to ask a question, but he couldn't figure out if he really wanted to, let alone how to do it.

They all saw how Kagome would be fine until she saw him, and then she would flare with anger and hurt before she turned her gaze to the ground and went off to do something else. But, she wouldn't let anyone into the steel fortress that held her emotions.

After the first few days of this, they began to miss the arguing. They all knew how much Kagome cared for Inuyasha, and they also knew that, in his own way, Inuyasha cared for her too. Nobody knew what had happened that night, nearly a week ago.

:: Flashback ::

"When's Kagome coming back? She's been gone for hours," whined the kitsune cub. Miroku and Sango exchanged worried glances. Kagome had left nearly three hours ago, and Inuyasha had left to find her about an hour ago, after he smelt Kikyo.

"I hope everything is okay," commented Sango, hoping Miroku would get what she was aiming at.

"I'm sure it's nothing Inuyasha can't handle," said Miroku, rather unconvincingly. The truth was, he knew how much Inuyasha still loved Kikyo, and him running right into an argument between her and Kagome, was the one situation that Inuyasha never failed to handle the wrong way.

Outside of the hut, the sky began to get dark, not from the night, but from the gloomy clouds that had slowly began to creep their way over the village. Over the next five minutes the wind picked up and with a loud crash of thunder, the rain began to fall.

Everybody in the hut was scared, Kagome and Inuyasha weren't back yet, and from the looks of it, this was going to be a bad storm. Kadae wasn't even there to comfort them; she was on the other side of the small village tending to a sick mother, who had just given birth.

For the last half an hour, the hut had been silent; the only noise to be heard was the shaking of the hut's boards under the long spells of thunder. Occasionally Shippo and Sango "eeped" when lightning flashed a little too close for comfort.

The door swung open, just as Miroku's hand was about to touch Sango's thigh, and there stood Kagome. Miroku's hand dropped back to where it belonged after he saw the look on her face. Her head was held high, and the expression she wore was as if she hadn't noticed she'd been walking in the worst storm of the year for the past forty-five minutes.

Sango immediately ran to her friend. "Kagome!" she screamed, happy that on the surface she appeared to be fine, other than the fact she was shivering uncontrollably. Sango was about to ask her if she was okay, then she looked into her eyes. Sango would never forget that look, that detached look; it seemed as though Kagome had become so lost in her feelings of confused anger and betrayal that she wasn't completely in the real world.

Sango wanted to ask her what happened, but was cut off when Shippo bounded past her and into Kagome's arms, seemingly snapping her out of a trance-like state. The rest of the night was spent warming Kagome up and waiting for Inuyasha to come back, all in an awkward silence.

Inuyasha didn't come back until noon the next day.

"Is Kagome okay?" he asked the monk worriedly in a hushed voice.

"Kagome –sama will be fine, I think," said Miroku, not sure whether Inuyasha was talking about her being out in the rain last night, or the events that happened prior to that; he was assuming the later. Miroku hoped she would be fine, but he still had no clue what had happened, so he could only pray that Kagome would be able to recover from whatever blow she had been dealt.

"Inuyasha, what happened last night?" Miroku questioned anxiously, letting his curiosity and worry get the best of him.

"Oh, umm, I found shelter in a cave," he replied hurriedly before walking away. They both knew that's not what Miroku meant, but he wasn't about to push it.

:: End Flashback ::

The sky had been gloomy since that day, the sun refusing to show. It was almost foreboding as if it was trying it say that this as not over. Unfortunately, bad weather meant everybody stayed in the hut all day, allowing them all to dwell on how much they wanted things to be the way they were.

So I'm thinking that this might be too short, what do you guys think? Please review....