Inuyasha woke up in a dark room that he couldn't seem to recognize. He could sense that someone was near him but not being able to say who it was made him stiffen – he was human again. As he completely shook out of the unconsciousness he was aware of the bitter taste of blood in his mouth. He licked his dry lips and tried to move to sit up, but pain shot through his whole body and he groaned loudly.

Someone ran to him and two hands were placed on his chest to keep him from moving. As he started to calm down and get a hold on himself, he managed to make out Kagome's worried face leaning closer to him. She was saying something but he couldn't really understand it – the words sounded twisted and incoherent. Finally giving up torturing his already tired mind, he closed his eyes and tried to relax.

After about half an hour Inuyasha opened his eyes again. This time he could see well enough to tell that he was in Kagome's room and was lying on her bed. He turned his head toward the desk and saw her sitting on the chair. Her body was relaxed, her hands in her lap, her head tilted to the side and her eyes closed – she was definitely asleep. Clearing his throat, he tried to call her but his voice came out just barely louder than a whisper.

"Kagome…" he tried again a while later, not daring to move himself yet.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked around a little disoriented. When her eyes landed on Inuyasha she immediately ran to his side and kneeled on the floor, by the bed. She removed the already dry cloth from his forehead and replaced it with a wet one, then she removed the sheet that was covering him and frowned at the bloody bandages on his stomach and chest.

"Kagome…" he repeated and she startled, falling back on her behind. Obviously, she hadn't noticed that he was awake because of the dark.

"God, Inuyasha, don't scare me like that!" she said and again took her previous place. He tried to say something but started coughing and blood appeared on the corners of his mouth. "No, no, don't talk!" Kagome shushed him with a hand on his mouth and not being able to see the blood there, she felt it on her fingers. "Oh, God…" she started repeating as she tried to find something to clean him.

"I'm fine…" the hanyou tried to calm her down but with no success. "Kagome… I'm…" and another coughing fit fallowed, making the girl even more panicked.

The moon light that was coming through the window was the only thing that lightened up the room, and actually only a part of it – Kagome's desk and her chair. She finally found a clean cloth and returned to Inuyasha. After cleaning the blood from his mouth she noticed that he was again unconscious.

"What am I going to do now?" she asked herself aloud and bit her bottom lip. "There's no electricity, Mama and Jii-chan aren't here… Souta can't help me… Good that he's sleeping – he shouldn't be seeing such things…" as she was mumbling to herself Inuyasha woke up again.

"Stop talking to yourself…" he whispered and she snapped her head up, gasping in surprise to see him hanyou again. "I transformed back to normal, didn't I?" he asked and she nodded.

"Back in the hangar…" she started, her voice shaking, and the hanyou looked at her a little confused. "I didn't see that you were hurt…" her voice almost broke and she bit her lips to stop herself from crying, but the tears just ran down her cheeks.

"No, no, Kagome…" Inuyasha tried to sit up but only succeeded to turn himself toward her. He reached with his left hand toward her and placed it on the side of her face, wiping her tears with his thumb. "Don't do that, please… It doesn't matter that you didn't notice. I'm alright now and that's what is important, right?"

"R-Right…" the girl hiccupped and placed her hand over his, wiping her tears with the other. "You're not mad at me?"

"For that – no." he said, adding a small smile, but then frowned and she looked at him almost scared. "But I am mad about you kissing that stupid human brat."

"Hey!" the girl protested, her face turning bright red from embarrassment. "Shashir made me!"

"Wasn't his name Sasir?" Inuyasha furrowed his brows, trying to remember but with no success.

"No, I don't think so…" Kagome shook her head and thought for a while.

"Well, it definitely was a stupid name." the hanyou said and tried to sit up but she pushed him back down. "Kagome!" he threatened but that didn't seem to matter to her.

"Hanyou or not, you still need rest." she said firmly. "What if you turn back to human, huh?" at that he stayed quiet and let her fix his bandages.

While Kagome was changing his bandages he hadn't made even a sound but she expected that from him – after all it wasn't often to see Inuyasha admit that he was in pain. It took her a lot more time to finish re-bandaging him than usually, due to the dark, but when she was finally ready she saw that Inuyasha had closed his eyes and his breathing had evened. Thinking that he was asleep she quietly gathered her things and walked toward the door.

"Kagome," his voice startled her and she almost dropped everything on the floor.

"Inuyasha, I thought you were asleep!" she said a little breathlessly and he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Where are you going?" he asked worriedly.

"To get rid of this…" she showed him the bloody bandages. "Lay back down, I'll be back in a minute." he listened to her and she exited the room.

Inuyasha waited for her to return but she didn't. He looked at the alarm clock next to the bed and frowned, making a mental note to make Kagome teach him how to use it. His senses were slowly coming back and they were strong enough for him to tell that she was at least still in the house. He also noticed that Souta was at home, but her mother and grandfather weren't. Finally he heard footsteps and after a minute the door opened and Kagome entered the room, carrying something that he couldn't make out, but suddenly he smelled it and involuntary grinned.

"I brought you ramen." she said and sat on the bed next to him. "There's no power, so it's a little cold but…"

"I'll eat it." Inuyasha hurried to say and saw her smile.

Kagome made him sit up and after placing a few more pillows behind him, made him lay back down. He tried not to hiss in pain at the slightest movement but it was obvious to her and she smirked, an interesting idea popping up in her mind. 'I wish I had batteries for my flashlight to see his face.' she laughed to herself and the hanyou eyed her suspiciously, as if knowing what she had in mind.

"Now, Inuyasha, I'll have to feed you." she said and barely held back her laughter at the strangled sound that he made from surprise.

"What?!" he almost squeaked. "No way!"

"Come on, don't be stubborn." the girl said firmly and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I can do it myself, I'm not that hurt!" he protested again and tried to grab the cup of ramen from her hands but she was faster. "Kagome!"

"Stay still, your bandages are going to loosen and your wounds will open again." she said, despite the tone he used – he said her name as if she was his mortal enemy. "If you don't let me feed you, you won't eat at all. I prefer to keep you hungry for a day than see those wounds bleed again."

A heavy and uncomfortable silence followed and nobody wished to speak. They glared at each other for a while and Kagome 'humph'ed and turned her head aside. Seeing that she wasn't going to give up and that she was actually right, Inuyasha decided to make a compromise but just this one time.

"Alright." he said and she turned toward him smiling. He suddenly felt tricked, like always when she was involved, but sighed and didn't say anything. He wasn't really that mad when he had to do things her way, it was just something like an inner instinct to refuse everything and everybody.

"There's no more." Kagome said when they were ready and placed the empty cup on the floor, next to the bed. "Are you still hungry?" she asked and he shook his head.

"Why are you and Souta alone?" Inuyasha asked after a while.

"Uncle Toshi is sick, Mama and Jii-chan went to see him." she explained. Then she seemed to remember something. "Inuyasha, you remember when you wanted to talk about what you talked with Kikyou? Before you passed out…"

"No." he said quickly and saw Kagome frown.

"Yes, you do." she said calmly and leaned closer to him. "Why don't you tell me now?"

"I don't want to." he snapped, sounding more like a little child than an angry man.

"But why? We are alone, nobody will disturb us. Please?" she said sweetly and gave him a smile.

"I don't want to talk about it." Inuyasha insisted and looked away. "Every time I try to tell you, something happens that prevents me from doing it."

"It won't be like that this time." she also didn't give up. "You said that you talked about me. Don't I have the right to know?"

"Well, you do…" the hanyou started hesitantly. "…but you see… It's not about you only. It's about me too, about both of us."

"That's even a better reason for you to tell me!" Kagome suddenly felt very thrilled to learn what he had to tell her and sat closer to him.

"O-ok. But…what if your brother hears us?" the hanyou asked quietly.

"No, don't worry." Kagome assured him. "He was in his room when I went to take the ramen. Now he's probably…"

"Kagome-nee-chan…" the boy's voice was heard and the door slowly slid open.

"Souta, why aren't you in bed?" she asked angrily, as his head appeared, and tried to get up but suddenly Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her waist and held her down. She screamed from surprise and felt the hanyou's face pressed at the right side of her stomach.

"Nee-chan, what are you doing?" Souta asked highly confused.

"Nothing!" Kagome squeaked and then, after clearing her throat a few times, spoke again. "Inuyasha is hurt…and he's holding on me…'cause he's in pain."

"Really?!" the boy's eyes widened in concern and he ran to his sister and the hanyou. "Inu-nonii-chan, you're not gonna die, right?"

"No, he's not gonna die, Souta." Kagome rolled her eyes and placing her hands on his shoulders, pushed him slightly back. "He's going to be alright, so why don't you go to your room?"

"But I want to stay with him!" the boy pleaded but his sister wasn't one to be argued with.

"You heard me." she said firmly. "Go to sleep."

"Ok." Souta sighed and walked out.

After they were left alone again, Kagome tried to move away from Inuyasha but he was holding her too tight. She tried to make him let go of her but he just kept shaking his head and refused to listen to her. Then with worry she noticed that his hear was starting to turn back. Just then she remembered that his powers were still unstable and it seemed that the more emotional he got the more energy he was losing and bit her bottom lip. But that still didn't explain his reaction when she tried to stand up.

"Inuyasha, stop it, please." she said, trying to sound calm. "You're scaring me…" at that he suddenly released her and sat up. His eyes were wide with confusion and she looked at him even more concerned. "Inuyasha?"

"This is insane!" he said and placed his hands on both sides of his head. "I just wanted to tell you to stay and…and you saw what happened! My whole brain is fucked up!"

"No, it's not." Kagome reached with her hands toward him and removed his from his head. "You're just…sick and tired…and well, your brain may really be 'fucked up', but not permanently."

"You promise?" he surprised her with such a question and she nodded at him, smiling.

"Now, lay back down." she said and he listened to her.

"I warned you that when I try to tell you something happens and I can't." Inuyasha mumbled while shifting into a more comfortable position and she smiled weakly. "I've tried to talk with you at least ten times!"

"I know, I know…" Kagome sighed and placed one hand on his left cheek. "When you get better, we'll go somewhere where we can be left alone and then we'll talk. I just wish you could give me a hint…"

Inuyasha stayed silent for a while, thinking of a hint. She had meant it as a joke but obviously he hadn't understood it that way and she noticed that. Just when she was about to explain to him that he didn't actually need to ruin the surprise, he spoke. His logic was that as long as he didn't say something like 'Kagome, I love you,' nothing too bad could happen. So, he made his decision and prepared to act on it.

"Did you like it when you kissed me?" he asked his question so fast that she almost didn't hear him.

She tried to respond but just couldn't seem to find her voice to speak. Inuyasha propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her curiously. Kagome stared in his eyes, unbelieving and shocked. When did Inuyasha become so brave to ask questions like that? Well, he wasn't that brave actually, because as his face closed to her she saw that his cheeks were slightly red. That seemed to give her courage and she finally found strength to speak.

"I… Y-Yes…" she said quietly and looked down.

"Do you want to kiss me again?" he asked another unexpected question and she snapped her look up at him.

Without saying anything else he leaned closer to her. As his lips came in contact with hers, just slightly touching, his eyes slowly closed. She took a few heavy breaths and felt his lips on hers. Her eyes also slowly closed and she felt him press herder. Just when they were actually going to kiss the whole house started shaking. They both startled and pulled away from each other.

"Earthquake!" Souta's voice was heard from outside and the door opened.

The boy stood under the door-case and motioned to his sister to come to him. Kagome stood up and helped Inuyasha up too. Tetsusaiga was lying on the inner side of the bed and the hanyou took it with him. They went to Souta and stayed with him. Inuyasha was barely holding on his legs, leaning on Kagome and supporting himself with the sword.

The earthquake lasted for about three or four minutes and when it was over everything in the room was a complete mess. As if fate was making fun of the situation the lights turned on to show them how the house looked like.

"Souta, are you alright?" Kagome asked her brother and reached toward him with her free right hand, the left one around Inuyasha's waist to support him.

"Nee-chan, why is Inu-nonii-chan's hair black?" he asked, instead of answering her question and she looked at the hanyou.

"Inuyasha?" she said and shook him a little when he didn't answer her, causing his heavy breathing to become a bit shallow. "Inuyasha what's wrong?" Kagome asked and he slid on the ground on his knees, dropping Tetsusaiga and holding his stomach and chest and starting to cough.

"Nee-chan…" Souta looked scared at his sister as she kneeled in front of the hanyou and tried to see his face.

TBC