Some time after Kagome had started rubbing his ears, Inuyasha had fallen asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, Kagome had stayed with him until dark. Then Miroku and Sango had come to check on them, only to see that the schoolgirl was also asleep. The demon exterminator had covered her upper body and shoulders with a blanket and she and the monk had left them alone.

"Where are they?" Shippo asked rather loudly when his friends returned to the camp.

"Shh, Shippo-chan," Sango said and placed one finger on her lips. "They are sleeping…"

"Together." Miroku added with a strange smirk.

"You serious?" the small kitsune's eyes widened. "I wanna see this!" he almost yelled and ran toward the bushes.

"No, you're staying here." the demon exterminator caught him by the tail and walked toward Miroku, who had sat by the fire. She handed the kid to him and eyed him angrily. "You both stay quiet and don't you dare go spy on Kagome-chan and Inuyasha."

"As you wish, Sango, my dear!" the monk grinned and patted Shippo on the head. "We'll be good, we promise."

"Idiot." the small kitsune grunted and crossed his arms over his chest.

Sango smiled and sat on the grass at the other side of the camp fire. Kirara mewed sweetly and jumped in her lap. The young woman giggled and ruffled the small cat demon's tail. The four friends stayed quiet, just watching the fire. Shippo was still angry for not being able to see Inuyasha and Kagome but was slowly falling asleep, Kirara was busy trying to make herself more comfortable, and Sango and Miroku were lost in their own thoughts.

'Inuyasha is hiding something, I'm sure of it.' the monk thought and frowned. 'There is this strange aura around him… His own youki is loosing itself in it…' as he was thinking, he missed to notice the slightly concerned look that Sango was giving him.

'Houshi-sama is feeling it too.' she thought, as if reading his mind, and bit her bottom lip. 'It definitely has something to do with Naraku and that shouki crystal…' suddenly an idea crossed her mind and she gasped.

Miroku heard her and lifted his head to look at her in question. She swallowed hard and after she was sure that Shippo was asleep in the monk's lap, she leaned slightly forward. Kirara mewed and tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Houshi-sama," the demon exterminator whispered. "What if the shouki crystal wasn't destroyed?"

Miroku remained silent and seemed unshaken from such an option. "I thought about that too." he said calmly. "This would explain his outburst earlier."

"You think it's safe to leave Kagome-chan alone with him?" Sango asked worriedly and looked toward the bushes.

"I'm not quite sure, but if she's not with him it'll get worse." the monk said again as calmly as before.

"Yea, I guess you're right." the demon exterminator sighed and relaxed a bit. "After all she calmed him down." she pointed out, only trying to convince herself that there was nothing too bad to worry about.

"We'll talk with Kagome-sama tomorrow." Miroku smiled. "Let's go to sleep now." he suggested and careful not to wake Shippo up, made himself comfortable on the ground.

"Ok, good night, Houshi-sama." Sango said and followed his example.

Although they were very tired, not physically but rather emotionally, the two couldn't fall asleep. They were still too worried for Inuyasha. Ever since they started this trip to Naraku's castle, there's been this strange feeling of dread. It told them that something bad was going to happen and the constantly staying alert was tiring them.

Finally the tiredness overwhelmed them and about midnight the two humans were sleeping. The kitsune was loudly snoring next to Miroku but that didn't seem to bother them. Only Kirara was awake. She had decided to stay on guard just in case – the small cat demon knew what was happening with her hanyou friend and keeping them all safe was the least she could do.

Some time during the night Inuyasha woke up, having difficulties breathing. He snapped his eyes open and all he saw was darkness. In the panic he sat up and barely managed to stop himself from yelling Kagome's name, when he saw that the thing that was on his head was just a blanket. It was the same blanket that Sango had covered Kagome with.

"This is so embarrassing…" Inuyasha mumbled under his breath, while removing the blanket. He turned to Kagome and sighed in relief when he saw that she was asleep. "Getting scared by a blanket… Feh, stupid idiot…" the hanyou continued mumbling while carefully shifting Kagome so that she was lying and covering her.

When he was ready, he just sat next to her and watched her face. She looked so peaceful… maybe because she thought that she was protected. 'For now…' Inuyasha found himself thinking and shook his head to chase that thought away and so may others along with it.

He shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. All bad things that had happened until now kept running through his mind and he just couldn't seem to get rid of them. Somehow he knew that this was going to happen – the closer he got to Naraku, the stronger he felt and the darker his thoughts became. 'I tried to attack my friends, damn it!' he thought and held his hands on his head. 'If Kagome wasn't there…'

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and saw her smiling face. She was obviously having a good dream and the thought of her being happy seemed to calm his nerves. His eyes softened and he allowed himself a small smile that widened when she giggled in her sleep. Then he caught himself leaning closer toward her.

Kagome woke up feeling a dark shadow above her. She opened her eyes and almost couldn't stop herself from screaming when she saw that Inuyasha was the shadow. His hands were placed on the ground at both her sides and he was worriedly looking around. She shut her eyes tightly and fisted her hands under the blanket.

'Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me!' she thought and felt his breath on her lips. 'Yes!' she screamed in her mind and more then gladly wrapped her arms around his neck when she felt him kiss her.

Inuyasha startled when she hugged him and imagine the shock when she responded to his kiss. Although his first thought and reaction was to pull away and run as fast as he could, he fell on top of her. His arms just refused to hold his weight any longer – the feel of Kagome was too overwhelming. His heavy body crashed over hers, knocking their breaths out and she gasped in his mouth. Inuyasha was too stunned because of being caught and just forgot breathing.

The moment he was back to reality, the hanyou moved away from Kagome, stumbling and falling on his behind on the ground. The girl sat up, holding one hand on her chest and supporting herself with the other, trying to catch her breath. Inuyasha didn't dare to move. He felt so guilty that he even couldn't look at her.

The time was perfect for him to run away, before she was calm enough to sit him, but he didn't move from his place. 'This time I really deserve it.' he thought miserably and sat cross-legged, his hands gripping his legs.

Kagome gradually calmed down and coughed a few times, before finally looking at Inuyasha. Seeing the way he sat and the fact that he was finding the grass a lot more interesting than her, told her how exactly he felt. She could even swear that she knew what he was thinking. She crawled toward him and kneeled in front of him, waiting for him to say something.

'She wants a closer look when I'm slamming in the ground.' he thought even more miserably than before. It could be really frustrating when he gets things wrong, don't you think?

"Inuyasha," Kagome said and placing her right hand under his chin, she lifted his head. The look he gave her was enough for her to forgive him even if he had kissed Kikyou instead of her. Everything she wanted to tell him suddenly vanished from her head and she did the only thing she thought of – she kissed him.

The hanyou's eyes widened in shock and right now he just couldn't find the courage to kiss her back, even if he wanted to. That was the first time she was kissing him by her own will, well if we don't count the kiss in Kaguya's castle of course. That made his heart beat faster, the blood in his veins run hotter, and every dark thought he had before disappeared like it had never been there.

Kagome pulled away and smiled at him. "Don't say anything now. I've waited until now, I guess I can wait a while longer." she said softly and leaned toward him again.

This time he didn't hesitate. Standing on his knees and wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her as close as possible. He kissed her with such passion that she thought that her head was going to blow up. When the kiss ended he held her in his arms and nuzzled her neck, inhaling deeply her scent. 'I love you.' he thought but somehow didn't feel ready to say it out loud.

"That was… unexpected…" Kagome panted against his shoulder and relaxing in his arms, she let him shift her so that she was sitting in his lap.

"You ok like that?" Inuyasha asked a little hesitantly and received only a muffled 'yes' from the already falling asleep girl. He sighed and closed his eyes, happy to hold her in his arms if only for a night.

TBC