Disclaimer: I didn't get Inuyasha, but I got a NEW CAR!!!! That's almost as good. Oh, by the way, I don't own any of Takahashi-san's gang. Sorry for the misleading information indicating such…

To demonrader33-san: Yup! All the chapters start with the letter "f"; just something that hit me as I was starting to write this, and it stuck. Sorry, it has absolutely no significance to the story whatsoever. )

Hanyou Don't Get Sick

Chapter Six:

Friends

Inuyasha's eyes opened slowly, and he groaned as bright light danced in through the thick curtains Kagome had closed over the window. He draped one arm across his face, blocking the thin streams of sun that tried to stab pain through his eyes and throbbing head. "Kagome?" There was no response to his dry-throated whisper, and he carefully squinted around the murky room for any signs of her presence, but her bedroom was as quiet and still as his stomach.

Finally.

Now it was empty. Not so quiet and still anymore, it grumbled as soon as his mind turned its thoughts in its direction. About time you think about me, it was probably snarling. Inuyasha snorted, wincing as the derogatory sound and motion shot pain through his tender head. He was hallucinating about what his stomach, if it could speak, would say to him in his current position.

"You know," he growled, tossing aside the blankets and slowly sitting up, steadying the dangerously tipping world with careful claws, "it's your fault I'm in this position to begin with!" It didn't occur to him that he really was hallucinating, and was now speaking to his stomach as if it could respond. Inuyasha glanced around the room, squinting until his gaze fell upon his outer haori and Tetsusaiga, placed carefully against Kagome's desk chair.

Carefully picking his way down the stairs, one hand on the wall for support, Inuyasha took a tentative sniff of the air, making sure not to overload his tired brain with new scents. Kagome's mother had been here—he identified her soft, gentle scent—as had her little brother, Souta, who smelled of energy and grass, sort of like Shippo. Her grandfather had a smell of dusky incense and cotton, the unprocessed kind of the gi and hakama he habitually wore.

Kagome's own scent was faint, lingering on the still, quiet air of the hallway, leading out the front door. Inuyasha hesitated in the foyer, swaying on unsteady feet, debating whether to go out and find her or sit and wait for her to return. The insatiable need to be with her, to know she was beside him, won out, and he mentally kicked aside the niggling protests that she would be furious to see him up and walking about as he slid open the front door and headed towards the Goshinboku.

Instinct told him to seek out the sacred tree that had so long protected him from harm even before his eyes and his nose registered the fact that Kagome was kneeling in front of the great trunk, head bowed. Fear shot straight through Inuyasha's body, and he froze as a million thoughts tumbled through his head.

She's not moving. She's hurt. What's wrong?

And, first, last, foremost: Kagome.

He didn't realize he'd been running towards her until her head jerked up at the sound of his rapid footsteps; didn't know his heart had stopped beating until it resumed its jerky pounding in his chest at the sight of her tear-shimmering eyes meeting his; didn't know he needed her that much until he stumbled, tripping over his leaden feet, and sprawled straight into her open arms.

"Ka…gome," he choked, relief flooding him in an irresistible wave of emotion. He hadn't really thought she'd abandon him, not after all they'd been through…had he?

His head and his heart, apparently, couldn't agree.

Her hands were stroking over his hair, over his back, soothing and comforting as she murmured into his ears, "Shh, Inuyasha, shh. It's all right now. I'm here. It's okay." He let out one long, shuddering sob, burying his face against her shoulder, as she gathered his limp form into her arms, her own heart wobbling at the panic that had shot through her body at the sight of him racing towards her. Who would have thought she needed him so much?

"You shouldn't be up," she said, but her voice was infinitely gentler than Inuyasha would have imagined as she scolded him lightly. He pulled himself into a sitting position, hastily wiping at the tears that had somehow trickled onto his face. Smiling, Kagome brushed her fingers over his cheeks, drying his tears; then repeated the process on her own face, the salty drops of water mingling on her fingertips. "I suppose you're feeling better?"

Inuyasha ignored her question, instead glancing towards the Goshinboku. "Why are you praying to the Goshinboku?" he asked, his tone reverent as he addressed the sacred tree.

To his surprise, she flushed, dropping her gaze guiltily. "Um…" She fidgeted, but finally relented under his silent query. "Well, when I first came back home, when I was still mad at you…I cursed the Goshinboku." She bowed her head in shame at Inuyasha's openly incredulous stare. "And Jiichan told me that I should apologize, or the Goshinboku might take its revenge on someone…on someone close to me, as punishment for my sacrilegious behavior. I didn't take him seriously, and then…" Her voice choked as tears filled her eyes again. "…Then you got sick, and…"

"Baka," Inuyasha scolded, but his voice was soft as he gathered Kagome's trembling body into his arms. She turned easily against his chest, resting comfortably in his embrace, and he sighed, his aching heart easing a little at the familiarity of the gesture. "I'm not cursed by the Goshinboku, Kagome. I don't…" He frowned at the tree, trying to sort through his thoughts to form something coherent. "I don't think it would ever take its revenge on me, if the Goshinboku even believes in taking revenge. We did spend fifty years of our lives together, you know."

Kagome let out a watery giggle, rubbing her nose against the rough-soft material of his haori. "I suppose," she agreed reluctantly, raising her face to look up at him. "But if that wasn't what made you sick, what did?"

He shrugged. "Good question," he said, offering her a weak half-grin. "One day, I hope we'll know, right?" She nodded, convincing herself it was as acceptable an answer as any for the time being. They couldn't solve all the mysteries of the universe…Inuyasha cleared his throat and asked, slightly sheepish, "But, um, you know, I'm sort of hungry right now…"

Kagome smacked at his arm with her open palm, but the gesture was more symbolic than anything. "Mou, Inuyasha," she sighed as she disentangled herself from his arms and helped him to his feet, "You're one bottomless pit, you know that?"

He scrunched up his face comically at the statement, and Kagome laughed, relieved that he was feeling better now, much like his normal self. 'Normal' self, she corrected with a smile as she took his head. Sneaking a glance at him, she caught the sudden reddening of his cheeks at her overt gesture, and she suppressed another giggle. Things seemed to be getting better between them, she thought with a contented sigh as she led him back towards the house.

Not perfect, but better.

Inuyasha waited impatiently at the kitchen table while the water boiled and Kagome poured him a glass of juice. "Drink it," she ordered as he sniffed it suspiciously. "You need your fluids." He snorted and muttered something uncomplimentary about that, but took a reluctant sip at her stern glare. "Good. Now, after you eat, I think we'd better head back through the well to let Miroku and Sango and everyone know that you're okay. You didn't let them know where you went, did you?"

He shrugged, but worry and—maybe, must maybe—guilt passed briefly over his face. "No. But they're smart. They'll know where I went."

She arched an eyebrow. "Would they now? It hasn't been three days," she teased.

"Keh," they snorted together, and Inuyasha lifted surprised eyes to Kagome's face. She broke out into giggles, and he let a rare smirk turn up the corner of his lips. "You're silly," he said, but there was infinite affection in his voice. "Is the food ready yet?"

Kagome laughed at the wistful uplift of his question and handed him the steaming bowl of instant ramen. Sitting across the table from him, her chin propped in her hands, she watched him dive hungrily into the bowl, slurping happily at the noodles. Since she'd already eaten her own breakfast, she reached into the cabinet and pulled out her favorite snack. Pulling open the top of the plastic bag, she munched happily at the Pocky, pretending to ignore Inuyasha's quizzical glance.

"Ash's at?"

"Hm?" she feigned ignorance to his garbled question. "I'm sorry, were you saying something?"

Inuyasha swallowed and gestured at the chocolate-covered cracker sticks with his chopsticks. "That. What's that?"

She grinned and held it out to him. "Would you like one? It's called Pocky; they're really yummy." Inuyasha scrunched up his face in concentration, reached into the bag with his chopsticks, and managed to snag one of the long, narrow, cylindrical shaped crackers.

"Hah!" he grinned and managed to eat it in two bites. "Hm. Not bad." As Kagome started to protest, he smirked and stole another two. "Not bad at all." She huffed out a breath but settled down, content to share her food and her time with him.

"So." He looked at her seriously. "I thought I heard your mom scream last night when I passed out?" The memory was fuzzy, but he was certain he heard something loud and piercing just as Kagome had caught him before he fell face-flat on the tile floor.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah. She was rather…displeased…with the fact that I'd burst in on you when you were, um…" Her face flushed a deep red. "…you know, naked." That wasn't exactly the truth; Sayoko had been slightly more than displeased, and she had been more upset with Kagome having seen Inuyasha naked that the fact that she'd walked in on him.

"Um." Inuyasha busied himself with his food. He didn't want to think about…well, you know. Naked. "Yeah. Well. You didn't get in trouble?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. Mama helped me get you dressed again—" offering a constant stream of criticisms about my behavior "—and lectured me throughout." He didn't need to know the details, and Kagome smiled lopsidedly. "She'll get over it, don't worry."

Inuyasha had slightly more important things to worry about than Sayoko's ability to 'get over' her displeasure with Kagome. Kagome's mom saw me naked. The thought was distinctly uncomfortable, and Inuyasha nibbled on another Pocky and tried to block the idea from his mind. "Um."

Kagome blushed and shrugged, guessing at Inuyasha's discomfort. Since there wasn't anything she could say to relieve his unease, she changed the subject. "So. When you're done, we can head on back, all right?" He nodded and shifted his attention back to his food. "I'll go up and grab my bag; I'll be right back."

Inuyasha slurped at his noodles, contemplating the sudden change in their relationship. True, he'd long suspected that they'd someday progress beyond their friendship, their uneasy truce of suspended reality…but not that it'd come about so soon, or in such a manner. He sighed, wishing that his trembling heart would hurry up and tip. It was the waiting that was the most painful, the most dangerous…the scariest. Kagome loved him; of that he was certain, as he'd rarely been certain of anything before.

Whether or not he loved her back…

He sighed, and shrugged, and stood up to drain the last of the noodle soup into the sink, then toss out the trash in the plastic-bag-lined bin beneath the sink. They'd find out together, he promised. Whatever else was between them, whatever else would come to pass, they'd find out what they had together. Inuyasha growled in irritation as the world spun dangerously; resting on hand on the top of the table for balance, he waited for the tilting to stop.

And his stomach lurched in an all-too-familiar sickening drop.

"Shit." Inuyasha dropped the bowl, barely feeling the splashing of hot water on his hand as the floor rose rapidly to meet him.

9.18.04

NOTES: I'm so, so, so incredibly sorry for the long break since my last update…It's been almost a month, hasn't it? I tried to tie up the last dangling end about the Goshinboku curse (which, again, I made up entirely), and I promise, this story is coming to a close. It's not going to drag on any longer. Inuyasha's thoughts about his relationship may have seemed to come out of nowhere, but I believe that he's not really certain about whether or not he "loves" Kagome. He likes her, yeah, but love? And how does Kikyo fit in here? So I tried to portray some of that uncertainty here.

The next chapter might be the last; it might have two more. Thanks for the awesome reviews!