The White Dog
by Becky Tailweaver
Chapter 13: Cold Silence
Shippo had made an attempt to save the slightly burned breakfast by the time Kagome had pulled herself together and could finally emerge from the sleeping bag and get dressed. The resourceful kitsune had managed to lever the spit of roasted pheasant off the fire, bracing it against one of the seat stones so that the meat would not touch the ground. He was proud of his handiwork, but he sat still and quiet until Kagome finished wiping her eyes and at last addressed him directly.
"Shippo-chan...I'm sorry you had to hear all of that..."
"Mm." The young kitsune opted for a neutral reply, not wanting to upset her further.
Kagome glanced over the spit of pheasant. "He was...making breakfast, wasn't he?"
"Uh-huh. I think he went out just after dawn--I wasn't really awake." Shippo shrugged hesitantly and sniffed the slightly singed meat. "Pheasant, I guess. It looks like he was all set to give you breakfast in bed, Kagome."
Kagome didn't say anything. She regretted her flash of temper at Inuyasha, for it had been only that--a brief explosion. She felt like a fool; here he had tried to cook her a hot breakfast of something other than his favorite instant noodles, and she had gone and messed it up by...
What did I do? she wondered confusion clouding her remorse while she served Shippo some of the meat and took a small piece for herself. I didn't do anything wrong! He was the one who got all hot about that book--I didn't mean anything by it. He's the one who got all mad about it. He's the one who started yelling because he assumed I think he's nothing but an animal! It's not my fault he's such a jerk! It's his bad temper that started this! He's the one who's violent, rude, selfish...
Her ire grew as the memory of the argument rooted up her anger again. He's such a jerk! He's never nice to me! No matter what I do or how I try to understand him, he hates me! He'll always hate me!
Deep in her funk, Kagome sat and glared at the fire as she finished her brief breakfast. All the while, her anger was directed at Inuyasha--mostly to hide and ignore the anger her own heart directed at herself. She did not acknowledge any of her own actions in fanning the flames. In her upset perceptions, it was all his fault, and she could easily blame it on him.
In truth, she was not right...but she wasn't all wrong, either.
Kagome was on the trail as soon as she could get her things stuffed into her backpack--and halfway tempted to just burn the stupid little book, but it belonged to Sota and she'd promised to return it.
The leftover pheasant she'd packed into a crumpled wrap of waxed paper left over from some rice balls and packed into a side pouch on her bag. With Shippo trotting obediently at heel, the schoolgirl set off down the ridge and back into the valley, where a continued northward journey would be easier than clambering over rugged ridges and lots of rocky ground. Flat land in the river valley was easier to travel than rough mountains.
She felt the warm tingle of Inuyasha's presence as soon as she struck out on the trail, so she knew he was nearby--a fact that reassured her despite her continued resentment of him. However, she did not see him once that morning, not even a flicker of white hair or a flash of red kimono.
Shippo had the distinct impression that he was being stalked; having Inuyasha following them in secret was making his youkai hunt-instincts go haywire--and these instincts absolutely refused to be reasoned with, leaving him jumpy and jittery all morning. Even if Shippo knew it was their old familiar hanyou, the sense of having a large, dangerous predator trailing them unseen was very unnerving, to say the least.
Kagome still didn't understand why her perception of the inu-hanyou's presence had changed. Only a few weeks ago, she would shiver and get chills when he approached--just like any other youkai, Shippo included. But his signature youki had undergone a gradual change in her senses that she was only recently beginning to notice; his presence seemed...brighter, somehow--a warmer, ticklier tingle, almost like the shivery feeling she got when she was anticipating something wonderful.
Was it him that had changed, or her perception of him? She didn't know. Despite their fight and the fact that she was still very angry at him, she felt safe knowing that he was not far away; probably within the distance necessary for him to hear her and Shippo's whispered conversation.
She knew he was there, and he knew she knew he was there--so why wasn't he coming out?
Kagome briefly had a flash of petulant satisfaction; perhaps things were as they should be--he would keep his distance like he had in the beginning, afraid of her retribution and remaining grudgingly obedient.
Then she berated herself for stupidity; Inuyasha did not fear--it was the Sit he hated.
Osuwari. Her only weapon and shield against his deadly claws and fiery temper. Without it, she could most certainly be dead. Despite her usefulness as a Shikon shard detector, if Inuyasha suddenly decided--truly decided, not just an empty threat--that she was of no use to him, only the Sit might save her from a quick disposal.
And yet...she hated to do it to him--especially after this morning.
At first it had been fun--back when, to her, he was a big, terrifying monster-dog-man and it was neat to watch him flop to the ground whenever she said the word. Then, after a while, it had become merely a method of keeping him "on a leash," so to speak, and force him to obey and behave whether he wanted to or not.
However, as she had gotten to know him better, she had begun to see the person behind the glowering golden eyes and warning snarls and impervious Fire Rat kimono. He wore his gruffness like armor to keep anyone from getting close enough to reach him--and after his tirade this morning she had to admit it seemed he had just cause for it.
But despite his guard, she had come very close many times--especially recently--and discovered the one who hid beneath the surly, scary inu-hanyou.
Underneath the snarling, dangerous hanyou, she had uncovered a hurt, scared, lonely boy. Just from what little she could piece together, from her experiences with him and bits of information from Shirokiba, Inuyasha had had a very painful childhood. His mother had died--somehow--when he was only five. Then his half-brother Sesshomaru had tortured him--to a detail she didn't know--and he'd been forced to grow up in exile, alone, with a young wolf-dog youkai as his only guardian.
Striking out on his own at nine, he'd probably had to face terrible battles with all manner of hideous youkai to make the kind of name for himself that Shirokiba had described to her: Lesser youkai feared him; greater ones watched him with concern. Humans were terrified of him, of the stories of his exploits despite his youth and inexperience. He could find no home with any of them.
Like he'd said, he was utterly alone.
Until he met Kikyo--and when she'd died and left him alone again, Kagome had found him. Gradually, despite his snarling, surly exterior, she'd come to know him, like him, and maybe even...
But he absolutely refused to see how much she cared about him--which infuriated her to no end. He still hated her--resented her and despised her for Osuwari, for her hand in the Shikon no Tama predicament, for the way he thought she perceived him...and it hurt.
It hurt a lot more than she believed it should have, if she really thought of him as "just a dog." Completely without her knowlege, her heart had tied itself to him; she'd only just begun to realize how much he meant to her, but he was still gruff and mean, and it made for a very frustrating, painful relationship.
And thinking of how much he'd really come to mean to her was melting her own resentment and annoyance like spring sun on snow.
She wanted so badly to be kind to him, but when she was he flung it back at her, or accused her of thinking him weak or stupid. She wanted so badly for him to at least talk with her, but all he ever did was growl and insult her. A compliment was too much to hope for, so she'd thought at least some civility would work--but it never did; even as she tried to learn about him, to understand him better, he snapped at her and pushed her away.
Just as he had done once again this morning--far worse and far more painfully than ever before.
She couldn't understand why she cared so much, when he trod on her heart with each surly snarl, and broke it time and again when he chased after Kikyo. Even with the miko's uncertain loyalties--even with the times she'd tried to outright kill him, the hanyou still followed faithfully after her...
Even if Kagome did care about him that much, he had no use for her other than a shard detector. Sure, he'd struck Kikyo to save her, but he had been protecting his interests where the Shikon shards were concerned--and Kikyo's new, oni-made clay body was apparently nearly indestructible. She wouldn't be permanently damaged.
When Kagome outlived her usefulness, he could go back to Kikyo, apologize, and live happily ever after.
But...those few, rare times when he had been nice, he'd been quiet and vulnerable and gruffly sweet. Those were the moments she remembered most strongly how much she cared for him--those spare instants when his human nature got the better of his youkai one for a few minutes and let her inside his armor.
Invariably, however, something would go wrong, just like today. Someone would interrupt or some emergency would happen, and he would be hurt or startled and close himself up again. It was so hard to coax him out of his shell, and to keep him there when she did. Yet her own sporadic name-calling and selfish use of the Sit did not help his apparently fragile self-image one little bit--and she knew it.
I...I won't do it any more, she vowed to herself, her anger gone like clouds before the sun, replaced by regret and sadness. I promise I won't sit him without just cause. I swear on my family's name and honor that I will not sit Inuyasha without good and ample reason.
Once her promise had been made, she felt a little bit uplifted--yet fearful at the same time. He was so angry...
And she couldn't stay mad at him. He was right...at least partly. It was wrong of her to assume he would behave in any way like the other youkai creatures they'd met--or even to think he was anything like a real dog. He was half human, after all; he had a human mind and a human heart--and no matter what anyone else might say...she knew he did.
He's like...like a withdrawn teenage boy with a good heart trapped in the body of a dangerous youkai, she thought, ashamed of how she'd been so caught up in appearances at the beginning of their companionship. He's lonely and sad...and he's been hurt so much-- he's only trying to protect himself. He looks fierce on the outside...but...inside he's a person with feelings, just like me or anybody else...
She fought the tears that tried to well up at the memory of his furious voice. I didn't mean to make him so angry...it was just a stupid book. I wasn't even really taking it seriously--I was just curious. He never tells me anything about himself...and I want to know him...
Her thoughts and attention turned inward, she didn't notice the white-haired shape that dropped out of the trees in front of her until she'd almost run into his red-clothed chest. Stopping in her tracks, startled, she stared up into his face with wide, half-frightened eyes.
Inuyasha's expression was neutral, closed; he gazed at her without emotion, his mouth set in a hard line. "You're going the wrong way," he stated flatly, gruffly. "Turn more to the east as you follow this valley. When you come to the river, follow it upstream."
Stung by his armored, uncaring expression, her own face fell closed as well. She aknowleged his information with a faint nod and hurried past him, anxious to hide her face before she began to cry again.
Shippo tried greeting the inu-hanyou with a smile, but Inuyasha didn't even notice him; instead, he fell into step behind the kitsune, using the smaller youkai as a sort of buffer between himself and Kagome.
Shippo shook his head with a sigh as he hiked along. This little lover's spat was likely to take a while.
Ginnezu was humming a tune as she sunned herself on Kaede's roof.
Shirokiba, sitting in a tree near the hut, did not like it. The Silver inu-youkai was entirely too happy for his liking--and she was only this happy when she'd gotten away with something. He had yet to figure out what it was, but he had a bad feeling about it.
It had to do with Inuyasha, and he was sure she'd done some kind of stunt to make Kagome's life miserable. She hadn't harmed or killed the little miko; if she had, Inuyasha would be tearing around like a mad dog, shredding everything in sight in search of whatever had hurt his human girl.
But death and dismemberment wasn't the only thing Ginnezu could do.
It was his inability to figure out what trick she'd pulled that frustrated him the most. He simply could not, for the life of him, think of a single thing that Ginnezu might have done--if she'd even found Inuyasha in the first place. He thought she probably had, and lied about it.
He briefly contemplated going up north again and finding the little "shard-hunting" troop--to see for himself what she might have done and if they were alright. However, that would leave this village unprotected--and despite Miroku and Sango's obvious willingness to go head-to-head with Ginnezu, facing her was rather likeley to get them killed, whatever powers they might have.
And he really didn't want to leave Ginnezu unsupervised, especially when she might slink off and pull another fast one on them.
And so, an impasse, he thought crossly. Blue-gold eyes hard, he glared at the dozing, humming Silver woman on the roof across from him.
With a small start, he recognized the rough, haunting tune she was humming; it was an old inu-youkai song about a jealous female who broke up a loving couple so she could steal the man for herself, breaking many laws and framing the youkai male's mate in the process. In the course of the song, the male's mate died, and he killed the jealous woman, and lived the rest of his days insane and alone.
It was something of a drinking song among inu-youkai, something funny and sad at the same time--often sung at inu-youkai "bachelor parties" as a reminder to watch out, because Hell hath no fury like a she-Dog scorned.
However, the irony struck Shirokiba, who felt a catch in his breath when he realized how prophetic the song seemed--and how dedicated Ginnezu was to posessing Inuyasha. He knew what she was after...he just didn't know how she was going to try to do it.
Damn you, Ginnezu, he thought, his face darkened with a snarling scowl. Just what the hell are you up to?
Kagome dutifully turned uptream when she reached the small river that flowed along the valley they'd been traveling. Here, where the valley narrowed, the river was still smooth and flat, but would probably become rough down the line when they began to ascend the hills at the end of the valley.
What a scorcher of a day! she thought with a weary sigh, wiping sweat from her brow and shading her eyes to look up at the cloudless sky.
She didn't realize how much she appreciated Inuyasha carrying her pack for her until she had to lug it all the way by herself. She needed a break, and soon, or she would probably pass out from exhaustion alone--to say nothing of the heat and the sun.
This river looks nice and cool, she decided, pleased to spot a nice little location near the bank that was shaded by leafy trees. I think it's time for a late lunch break--and a short little dip.
"We're going to stop for a while," she announced, mostly for Shippo's benefit.
The little kitsune trotted over and plopped down on the grass on the bank, panting gratefully and glad to be able to lay in the shade. He too was rather overheated--thanks in part to the fur vest he wore.
Inuyasha said nothing--merely wandered over to the water, took a drink, and crouched beside one of the shade trees, his expression unreadable and surly.
Kagome set down her her pack near Shippo's spot and pulled out the remains of the pheasant breakfast, which she shared with the kitsune. It was cold, but good enough for lunch and still quite tasty. Though she glanced in Inuyasha's direction once or twice, she couldn't gather the nerve to speak to him, to invite him to eat.
Shippo, spotting her indecision in the course of eating his meal, glanced at the last full piece of pheasant. His gaze went from the chunk to the hanyou and back again; once his ruminations were complete, he picked up the quarter of pheasant, trotted over to Inuyasha, and dropped it in front of him like a cat presenting its master with a mouse.
Inuyasha's eyes flashed a faint bit of surprise, but he said nothing.
Without a word either way, the little kitsune headed back to Kagome and sat down as if nothing had happened. Kagome didn't look at Inuyasha, nor comment on Shippo's generosity, so no one said anything. Eventually, the hanyou picked up his portion and ate it quickly, in large, unchewed bites.
After the pheasant and two cans of iced tea were consumed, Kagome sat against a tree and rested long enough to digest; it was with great anticipation that she waited to go swimming in the river. It wasn't a river, really--more like an oversized creek--but it was deep enough to dip in and cool enough to refresh.
The food had given her confidence, and the relative peace and quiet had calmed her; Inuyasha no longer glowered so much, and was looking a bit more normal. Maybe now would be a good time to try and communicate with the silent hanyou sitting by the tree.
"Inuyasha?" she tried hesitantly, trying to keep her voice neutral. "Do you want to go swimming?"
Inuyasha looked at her--for a moment, genuinely surprised--but then glanced away, scowling. "No."
"It's...pretty warm," she offered, fighting back nervousness. "Are you sure you don't want to? I brought--"
"No." Without another word, the hanyou rose and climbed the tree above him, avoiding a confrontation.
Kagome frowned, rebuffed, her feelings hurt all over again. Well, fine! If that's the way he's going to be, I'll just go by myself!
It didn't occur to her that Inuyasha had never gone swimming with her before, whether she was bathing or cooling herself or doing anything in the water.
"Come on, Shippo-chan," she said, turning away from the hanyou's tree. "Do you want to swim? I brought you something new from home."
Immediately, the kitsune's face lit up. "Sure! Whadja bring me?"
Kagome quickly rooted through her pack and pulled out a little bundle, which contained a miniature beach towel and a tiny pair of blue swim trunks. "Mama helped me make you a bathing suit," she explained with a smile. "I made these when it started getting warmer, so we can all swim together."
Shippo's huge grin just about cracked his face open. "Gee, thanks, Kagome! This is so cool! Is it just like kids in your time have?"
"Yes. It's a scale model," she said proudly, borrowing Sota's description of the tiny shorts she'd sewn--with her mother's help. The "miniature beach towel" was actually a gaudy, neon-colored terrycloth hand-towel she'd picked up at a flea market--but it had a cute pattern of fish and flamingos on it, and it looked enough like a real beach towel to pass the kitsune's inspection.
"This is neat!" Quite eager, the kitsune was getting into his new swimwear as fast as he could, shedding clothing left and right.
Giggling, Kagome took her own bathing suit and towel and headed for a stand of bushes a few yards away, where she could have a modicum of privacy to undress. All she heard from the general direction of Inuyasha's tree was a snort of derision. Spoilsport! she thought at him, scowling. Even if you don't like it, you can at least let the rest of us enjoy it.
Once changed, she wrapped her towel around her waist and tiptoed to the water's edge, testing the temperature with her toes. It felt wonderful--just a bit too cold thanks to it being a mountain creek, but tolerable and definitely welcome. Leaving her towel hung on a branch, she stepped in, sighing at the wonderful coolness of the water. It felt so good after the sweltering heat of the afternoon.
Slipping in deeper, she waded out to waist deep and dunked herself, staying under just long enough for the delicious cold of the water to soak into her skin. Bobbing up, she kicked up her feet and floated gently in the cool, slowly moving water, enjoying the brief reprieve from the summer heat.
Shippo dog-paddled around her, his tiny fangs set in a grin of pleasure and his once-puffy tail trailing behind him in the water like a damp wig. He was proudly going swimming just like the kids in Kagome's era.
With light fans of her arms and movements of her feet, she drifted on her back, enjoying the water. The current barely moved here; it was relatively easy to avoid floating too far from shore. As she drifted through the dappled shade of the trees that overhung the creek, she found herself looking up at the shadowed form that watched over them.
Inuyasha was still in the tree, ignoring his two companions in the stream. But he sat lower in the tree than he normally did--only about four feet above the smooth water on the overhanging limb--and instead of resting with his back against the trunk in a coiled crouch, he was sprawled on his stomach, supporting his weight on one elbow while the rest of his limbs dangled.
His face was set stubbornly, and Kagome would not have noticed a difference if she hadn't been looking closely--but as he sat sulking on his branch, his usual surly expression was tempered with a touch of forlorn misery. His ghostly pale hair was damp and bedraggled and hung limp around his face, and his white-furred ears--usually perked alertly and listening for danger--drooped to the side and didn't appear active at all. His jaws were parted, revealing glistening fangs, but the pink tongue that lolled out of his mouth canceled any fearsome appearance he might have had. His golden eyes were dull, staring blankly into space.
"Inuyasha," Kagome called quietly up to him.
"Eh?" One ear twitched in her direction, and his eyes blinked, then focused on her. "What? You ready to quit fooling around?"
"No," she replied. "Inuyasha...why don't you come swim with us? You...really do seem like you could use it."
"I don't have time for silly water games."
"But you're wearing that heavy kimono, and it's so hot today--"
"Don't be ridiculous--I am not hot," he snapped irritably, looking away from her to return to staring off into space. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Quit asking stupid questions!" he growled. "What the hell makes you think I'm so hot I need your damn swimming games?"
Stung once more, Kagome's face turned dark with anger again. She stood up out of the water, putting herself about six inches below his eye level. "Well, the fact that you're sweating like a pig in that fire mouse coat was the first clue," she retorted testily. "And that tongue hanging out of your mouth--and I thought you said you weren't a dog."
Inuyasha realized he was panting and sucked in his tongue, glaring at her despite two points of red high on his cheeks. "It's Fire Rat, wench. Rat." Shit--why does Oyaji's blood pick the most embarrassing moments to surface?
Kagome shook her head, masking her hurt with scorn. "Face it, Inuyasha, you are one hot puppy."
He growled at her, but couldn't summon the will to do anything else--it wasn't like he could bop her for mouthing off like he did Shippo.
The argument they'd had still lingered heavily between them, harsh and heavy.
Giggling, Shippo ceased paddling and appeared thoughtful. "Hot...dog? Kagome, isn't that the meat sausage thing you brought us to taste? The one Inuyasha choked on when you told him what it was?" The little boy grinned impishly at the hanyou above him and began to taunt. "Hot dog, hot dog! He's barbecued! Inuyasha's a hot dog! Ha ha ha!"
Inuyasha snarled at the kitsune--but couldn't reach him to bop him unless he actually got in the water. "Knock it off, fox."
"So why don't you come on in?" Kagome asked, waving Shippo to silence.
"I don't want to," the hanyou sniffed, affecting an air of bored impatience once again.
Fully determined to cover her own hurt feelings, Kagome cocked an eyebrow. "Inuyasha, are you...afraid of the water?"
That brought his head around again. "What? Do I look like a freaking cat to you? I am not afraid of water!"
"Then what's your problem?"
"I'm sick of you wasting my time, that's my problem!"
Kagome put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I am not wasting time--I'm cooling off. I'm sure you've noticed it's hot today. And you know, I could easily say the word and have you into this creek and be done with it, but I'm trying to be considerate and not ruin your dry clothes."
Inuyasha blinked at her as if just realizing that patent fact.
"Furthermore," she continued, "this stop was meant to help everyone get comfortable. You're not leaving until I'm ready, and I'm not ready until everyone is comfortable--and that includes you." Who knows why I even bother at this point! "So the sooner you want to leave, the sooner you better get cooled off."
Inuyasha pinned his ears back, bared his fangs, and glared his most fearsome stare, but she only gazed back at him primly, unmoved. "Well?" she asked, fed up and flinging up her arms. "What? Do I have to toss in a stick and tell you to fetch?"
"Go climb a tree," he growled, stung.
She smiled as if she didn't care at all, sitting back down in the cool water. "I could use a longer soak. Oh, well..."
"Bitch."
"Dog breath," she retorted quickly, not to be outdone.
"Weakling."
"Jerk!" Kagome's face lit with anger, rife with hurt.
Inuyasha sat back up and snarled defensively. "Slut!"
"Why you--! Drooler!"
"Get the hell out of my face!"
"You go bark up a tree!"
"Stupid ugly wench!"
"Cat-chaser! Poodle!" Kagome was standing now, outraged and almost shrieking in his face, unable to hold back tears any more.
"Hey--!"
"Go fetch! Shred some slippers! Chase your tail!"
"I don't have a--!"
"You say I think you're a dog? That I treat you like an animal?" Kagome's voice was shrill with rage, and her face was a painful mixture of vicious retaliation and bitter hurt. "I'll show you how much dog I could throw at you if I really wanted to! Go eat a frisbee, you toilet-drinker! Mangy mutt! Dumb, arrogant, overbearing hanyou! You insensitve, stupid, self-centered, totally inconsiderate mongrel!"
Despite his temper, Inuyasha was actually cringing away from her a bit, clinging to his branch. Her shouted words of anger bit deeply, striking him in a weak spot both of them knew he had. "Ka...Kagome, that's--not fair!"
"What's not fair?" the girl demanded, tears streaming, ignored, down her face. "I'm sick and tired of this! I'm sick of you! Every time I try to be nice to you, you spit in my face! Every time I try to understand you, you call me stupid! Every time I think we might be friends you throw everything back at me! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of it, do you hear me?"
Inuyasha's mouth worked for a minute. He could think of nothing to say that would stop her temper. Hell--he'd never gotten her this serious before, and it was scary. No barbs anyone had flung at him had stung like this before--and hearing them from her hurt far more than from anyone else...far worse than their altercation that morning about the "dog" thing.
He clicked his fangs shut, stared at her a moment, then croaked the one thing he could in response to her tirade. "I-I'm not a mongrel...Kagome...!"
"Yes you are." Kagome sniffed, her brimming eyes full of fury and distress. Her voice shook. "You don't care about anything but yourself. You're hateful, ungrateful, and mean...!"
Her eyes were too full of tears to see his pained flinch at her words, nor could she hear his catching breath at her accusation. His ears were pinned down--not with anger but with hurt, and he couldn't do anything, could not even reply. All he could do was stare at her, his own eyes acting as windows to a world of sudden pain, anger, and loss.
And Kagome could bear the ache and the fury no more. Unable to face him any longer, she let slip a broken sob, whirling to dash out of the water, snatching her towel as she went.
Inuyasha stared after her, dumbstruck, his temper, his outrage--everything, forgotten.
Shippo stood on a rock, jaws agape, having gotten far away from the combatants at the first signs of unrest. "That was...intense," the kitsune commented, when he was finally able to work his tongue. "Wow, Inuyasha, that...got a little personal, huh...?"
He faded out when he saw the confusion and misery in the hanyou's face. "Uh, I think I'll shut up now..."
"She...didn't sit me," Inuyasha realized suddenly, mumbling it aloud as he slumped against his branch. "Why? Why didn't she sit me? She was angry enough...but she didn't sit me."
Is it because...of this morning...? He sat and stared after her for another few minutes, his mind awhirl with both resentment and regret. She...she really doesn't think...?
He might have been wrong, he considered--just maybe. Perhaps she really hadn't meant to imply anything with that little book...maybe he had overreacted...
"I think you better go get her, Inuyasha," Shippo spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. "She shouldn't go off alone."
"She'll come back," he assured the kitsune, quickly masking his expression--changing it to one of confidence that he didn't really feel. "You'll see--she'll be back."
But we've never had an argument last so long... She's so upset about what I said this morning...I just didn't want her to think of me as an animal! What did I do wrong?
"Uh-huh. Yeah--sure she'll be back." Shippo all but glared at him, unconvinced. "You'll be lucky if she ever talks to you again."
"Shut up!" Inuyasha snarled.