Disclaimer: Do I even need to repeat myself? I do not own Inuyasha and the gang!!!
Note: I'd like to thanks metrion for reviewing :))))) Sorry about the chapter length, I know they're small, but well it's my first work and I wanted to keep everything simple. It's also true that Inuyasha is a little OOC, but I'm afraid you're going to have to bear with me on this, changing his personnality would require too much work so sorry. Well that's it, on with the story...
Chapter 3 : A friend's advice
To say Miroku was astonished was probably the understatement of the century. He couldn't possibly believe that Inuyasha had put away everything that he was and asked for help. It took him a moment to snap back to reality and make his way to the hanyou. He then settled down on a root of the tree and motioned for Inuyasha to do the same. The hanyou nodded and complied.
"Now then Inuyasha, please explain."
Inuyasha stared at the monk intentely trying to detect any sign of mockery, but he only saw seriousness in Miroku's eyes mixed with a bit of surprise and curiosity. "It's definitively not like me to do that, so I suppose it's natural for him to be surprised." thought Inuyasha feeling a bit relieved and surprised himself that someone would actually answer his call for help. He then took a deep breath and started to explain everything to the monk.
"I don't want to lose her Miroku. I can't bear the thought of never seeing her again. But… I… every time I try to get close to her, to talk to her…" his voice cracked at that point and he couldn't continue.
"I see, so basically you lose your nerve when you're near her." concluded the monk, seeing that Inuyasha was unable to continue. The hanyou nodded and Miroku continued. "Inuyasha the simple fact that we are having this conversation proves the extent of your feelings for Kagome. So I ask you, if you're willing to talk to me, why is it that you cannot talk to her?"
"Because… whenever I get within ten feet of her, I have this overwhelming urge to… to…hold her so tight that neither of us can breath. It's overpowering me…and I…I…I'm afraid that in the midst of all this… I end up hurting her…" he whispered. "If I were to harm her in anyway… I would never forgive myself."
Miroku frowned a bit at this declaration. "That is just a weak excuse to hide from the truth. I must get him to lower his defenses or we'll never unveil the core of his problem." thought the monk. "There's more to this is there Inuyasha?"
At this question, the hanyou's eyes snapped back from the ground they had been so interested in to focus instead on the monk sitting in front of him. It took him a long time to find the courage to speak again. "How… how can I ask her…to…give up… her time…her family…her future…for…me?" he finally managed to murmur, lowering his gaze once again to the ground.
"No good, he's still running away." thought Miroku feeling his patience beginning to wane. "Inuyasha, have you even considered that she might actually want to give up life in her time to stay here? And also, even if she stayed here, what's preventing her from using the jewel to cross the well and see her family like she is doing now?"
"But… I don't wanna force her hand. I want her to make her own decision."
The monk sighted and rubbed his forehead in annoyance at the hanyou's stubbornness. He remained silent for a while, raking his brain for a way to alleviate his fears. "Inuyasha, for the sake of argument, let us put you in Kagome's place. You experience time travel and happen to fall in love with a girl in the future. You discover that the girl loves you back, but do not want to live in your era. Now if you decided to go live with her in the future, would you consider that your "hand had been forced" like you so crudely put it earlier?"
The hanyou didn't even bother to answer, he knew Miroku was right. The worst part of it all was that the monk had simply voiced what his heart had known all along. "Damn it Miroku!" he snapped "What is it then? What am I so afraid of? Why do I flee whenever she comes near me?" he asked his voice full of despair and confusion.
"Finally, now we can get somewhere." thought the monk with relief. "Well Inuyasha, I'm afraid I can't find the answer for you. The only thing I can do is analyse what you have said to me and try to draw a conclusion."
"Well then, for starters, I think you realised that most of what you told me were just silly excuses." He looked over to Inuyasha who simply nodded. Satisfied that the hanyou was in agreement he continued. "There are however some truths that can be extracted from all of this. First, you are afraid of something, but of what exactly, that remain to be determined. Secondly, you do not want to hurt her, I doubt any comments are needed on this. Thirdly, you have very powerful feelings for her, our little conversation is proof enough of that."
The monk marked a pause to allow what he had said to sink in and finally concluded. "That is about as far as I can go in analysing the problem. I do not know if this alone will help… " he didn't get to finish his sentence though as Inuyasha suddenly jerked as if struck by lightning. "Inuyasha?" he asked tentatively, but there was no reaction on the hanyou's part.
Inuyasha's mind was working overtime so it was not really a surprise that he hadn't heard the monk's question. Bits and pieces of information had suddenly started to assemble themselves around a word Miroku had said. "Alone… could this be it? Could it be that I'm afraid to be alone?" The more he thought about it the more sense it made.
It was like a curtain had suddenly been lifted from his eyes. Everything started to make sense. He was afraid that if he touched her, she would disappear forever. And if she could go away, what would keep the rest of them from disappearing to. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kaede, all the people who had accepted him, people who he had learned to respect and depend on. No, he couldn't possibly bear to be alone, not now when he had just started to trust again after so long. "I won't let her disappear!" He thought fiercely for the second time that day. And with that in mind, he focused sharply on the monk in front of him
Miroku who had been watching Inuyasha intently was startled when the hanyou's gaze suddenly focused on him. He was surprised at the intensity of the look he saw in Inuyasha's eyes and even more surprised at the request he formulated.
"Miroku, in 5 days, when Kagome returns, I will be in this very spot waiting to talk to her. Can you send her to me?" he practically demanded.
"Why not simply go to her now and be done with it?" inquired the monk.
At this the hanyou's ears dropped a little "I don't have the nerve to go to her, but if she comes to me… I believe I can pull it off." he answered quietly.
The monk smiled at Inuyasha and stood up. "I swear to you that it will be the very first thing I will say to her when she exits the well. And I also promise that I will not talk about this conversation to anyone, so do not worry about it." He said before starting to walk away. He had barely taken two steps before he turned around once again. "One more thing Inuyasha, sometimes actions speak louder than words, try to remember it." And with those final words he was gone.
Author's note: This note is essentially to explain Miroku's personnality. While he IS and will always be a hopeless womanizer, I also found that he could be surprisingly wise when it came to important matters. Considering that Inuyasha's problem IS serious, I wanted him to actually help the poor guy with his wisdom. He even showed honor by promising not to tell anyone about what they actually talked about so as not to embarass our poor hanyou even more than he actually is. Well that's it, for now, as always, read and review people !!!