Chapter 3

"INUYAHA! SIT BOY!"

After five minutes, Inuyasha is able to lift his head. "You're going to make a hole in the floor if you don't stop doing that for no reason."

"Oh, I had reason," I huff.

"Well, Kagome, I see you're doing much better," Kaede says, approaching my rest spot with a bowl of hot soup.

"I feel much better, Kaede. Thank you," I answer, reaching for the soup. Inuyasha snatches it from Kaede just when my fingertips had touched it and settles down next to. "What did you do that for, Inuyasha?"

"You've sat me twice today, Kagome. Do you honestly think I'm going to let you hold a bowl of soup with the risk that you might throw it at me?" He glanced down at the steaming yellow liquid. "Besides, this is a weapon. I don't like it when you have weapons. I don't even like it when you have that bow and those arrows. Who's to say that I won't tick you off during battle and you'll shoot me in the butt?"

"Lesson learned there." I answer him, longing for the soup, "don't tick me off during battle."

He grinned a little and dipped the spoon in the soup. "Open up, Kagome."

Well, that was humiliating, I think as I head out from the hut for the first time in what Kaede has told me three days. I feel grimy, so I ask Kaede if she may still have some robes that I can borrow.

After procuring a robe, I head down to the river at the base of the hill to bathe. Sango follows me on Inuyasha's orders. He doesn't want me to fall or pass out or drown. "He's such a worry-wart," I say out loud, not really meaning to.

"Worry-wart? What's that, Kagome?" Sango asks.

I contemplate an answer. "Oh, it's someone who worries all the time."

"You're talking about Inuyasha, aren't you?" the wise slayer asks.

"Yes, I am."

"He asked me to follow you because he cares about you."

I snort. I know that Inuyasha cares about me, but . . . Well, demons, and even half demons, aren't the most affectionate of characters.

We reach the river and I lose every bit of modesty I have. We both jump in.

"Why does she insist on having a bath today?" Inuyasha asks Miroku.

"Kagome likes to smell nice, and even I, the person who loves everything about women, thought she was getting a little rank." Miroku laughed a little. "At least when she comes back, she'll be in a better mood and smell excellent. I think I might just have to flirt."

Inuyasha growled at him, baring little fangs. "Okay, okay. Scratch that idea." Miroku studied Inuyasha's face, seeing how he grew a little sullen. He must be think about Kagome. "Why don't you stop being thick and just tell the girl you love her?"

That gets Miroku another growl. He laughs. "I'm not threatened by you, Inuyasha, because you know I am right."

Inuyasha ignores him. Of course Miroku's right, he thinks. I do love Kagome, but I feel as if I am betraying Kikyo. I'm not really betraying her, though, because Kikyo is dead. This is so confusing. I can't wait until I am full-demon and don't have to worry about emotions. But then, if I am a full-demon, I'll hurt Kagome. I won't care though, because as a demon I won't have any feelings. Yet I care now, and now is what counts.

As if the gods were being ironic today, he heard Kagome and Sango laughing as they ran back to Kaede's hut.

"Ah!" I scream as Sango takes a swat at me with her towel. The stinging slap of the damp cloth leaves a red welt on my leg, identical to the one Sango wears on her arm. I take another swing with the cloth as we break free from the forest and into the bright sunlight of the clearing on the hill.

"Slow down, Kagome," Sango says between huffs of laughter.

"Keep up, Sango," I call. I continue running toward Kaede's hut, laughing the entire time as Sango tries to keep up with my pace.

Suddenly my flight from Sango stops as I crash into something hard and unmoving. I look up at what I ran into and see Inuyasha's amber eyes looking down at me, one black eyebrow raised as if in question.

"She swatted me," I tell him, smiling. I show him the back of my leg where the welt is beginning to go down. He kneels down to examine it.

"Did you get her back?" he asks. His voice is amazingly gentle. He runs his claws around the red mark, soothing it. My eyebrows jump up to my hairline.

"Y-Yes," I answer. He stands back up.

"Well," he says nodding, "that's good. Let's get back to the hut." He wraps his arm around my shoulders and leads me back to their camp.

When we reach camp, Kaede questions me about the dreams.

"Are they violent?"

"Yes."

"Have you had one while you have been here?"

"No."

"Hmm." Kaede takes out a book of demons. She flips it to a page that I cannot read for the Japanese is one of ancient times. "Do they involve your memories?"

"Yes."

"Death?"

"Yes."

She turns and looks at Inuyasha. "There's a dream demon near the well."