Chapter 6:

The Morning After

Inuyasha woke up when a ray of light from the sun hit his face. His arms were around Kagome, who was snuggled up against his body. He slowly moved his arms from around her and moved away from her. She was still asleep. He looked at his hands and saw that his claws had reformed. He crept out of the room and headed to the kitchen. He passed the sleeping Shippou, Myouga, and Kirara.

He peered into the kitchen and saw that a stew was cooked. Breakfast. He thought. He turned around and walked to the curtain that led to the outside world. He opened the curtain and looked out. Ashinito was gone. Her footprints led to the forest.

He followed them to the lake where he saw Ashinito looking down into the clear, blue water. She was saying something that he couldn't hear so he moved in closer, but KABOOM! He hit something and fell out from his cover.

"Who's there?" She asked as she stood up. She saw Inuyasha and glared at him. "What do you want, Puppy?"

"Thanks for cooking breakfast." He said.

"Yeah, whatever." She growled.

"What're you doing?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about."

"Fine then. For once, I wanted to talk to you, but if you don't want to, then whatever." He said with his usual growl.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said as she came through the forest. "Ashinito?"

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked. "How did you get here?"

"I followed your tracks." Kagome said. "Inuyasha, you need to talk to Ashinito. You need to fix your problems with her. You were childhood friends. Can't you go back to that?"

"I don't want to." Ashinito said.

"I know you may hate Inuyasha because he's a hanyou, but he wants to talk to you. Just hear him out." Kagome said. "I'm sorry that you were treated so badly by everyone, but that's in the past. Can't you get over that?"

"Do you know what it feels like to have your own mother dump you for a man? Do you know what it feels like to have your father run away from you because you were different? Do you have any concept about what it fells like to have no one who care about you? To have youkai call you weak? To have humans call you youkai? To have hanyou call you a menace?" Ashinito replied as she started to get angry.

"No, I don't." Kagome said. "But you're not the only one to feel alone. I do all the time, but I'm not alone. I have Inuyasha with me."

Inuyasha blushed. Kagome was making him sound sweet. He used to fell alone just like Ashinito, like no one cared, but then he met Kikyo. She made him fell loved and he decided not to become a full fledge youkai. He wanted to be human just to be with Kikyo, but then Naraku showed up and turned them against each other. Kikyo died after she shot him with the enchanted arrow that held him for fifty years. Then, he woke up when Kagome showed up and was chased by Mistress Centipede. She released him from the spell. He felt alone, then, but he had Kagome with him. He knew exactly what Kagome was talking about.

"I still have no one." Ashinito said.

"I'll be your friend." Kagome said, smiling.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY KAGOME? ARE YOU NUTS? SHE'S A MURDERER! WHAT'RE YOU-!" Inuyasha screamed.

"SIT!" Kagome yelled.

SPLAT!

Inuyasha's face squished into the ground with a loud splat and dust rose up from where he landed.

"What did you do?" Ashinito asked.

"Every time I say 'sit,' that's what happens." Kagome said. "Like I was saying, I'll be your friend if you promise to stop killing humans."

"Alright. You've got a deal, Kagome." Ashinito said with another true, sweet, loveable smile. "You and Puppy can go back to the house and eat the stew. I'll be there in a little bit."

"Okay." Kagome said as she helped Inuyasha up and they walked back to the hut, but stopped to listen to Ashinito.

She bent back down to the lake and looked into the water. "Is Kagome correct? Am I not really alone?"

Another human walked to the out of the forest and approached the water. He was a strapping young man, who approached Ashinito without any weapons. Obviously, he wasn't planning to attack Ashinito. In fact, he knelt down next to her. "You're Ashinito, aren't you?" He asked with curiosity in his voice.

"Yes, I am." She answered. "I'm a monstrous half-breed that no one loves."

"I've noticed you in the forest. You're very beautiful and strong. I was afraid to approach you because I, well, heard the rumors. I hoped that you wouldn't hurt me when I came over to talk to you. I saw that you were talking with that human girl, so I hoped you had changed." He said with a smile.

"Yeah, I have changed." Ashinito said. "And you can call me Ashi."

"Come with me, Ashi. My father and mother will want to meet you. I'm sure that they will love you."

"I hope so, too. I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, I'm Nanomaru. I live in the nearby village." He said as he helped her up and led her away.

"So she did find true love." Inuyasha said.

"Yeah, she did." Kagome said. "So did I." Kagome said as she hugged Inuyasha.

"Yeah," Inuyasha said as he held Kagome, "so did I." They walked back to Ashinito's house, hand-in-hand.

Meanwhile, Sango, Shippou, and Miroku were eating the stew that Ashinito made and were quite enjoying it.

"This is pretty good stew. Who made it? Kagome?" Shippou asked.

"If Ashinito made it, wouldn't it be poisonous?" Miroku said.

"Is this a peace offering?" Sango asked.

"Nope," Kagome said as she entered the room, "just breakfast. Made by Ashi."

"Really? Wow!" Shippou said, excitedly.

The group ate and got up. "Where is Ashinito?" Miroku said. "Is she not hungry?"

"No." Inuyasha said.

"She's having breakfast with a cute human boy and his family." Said Kagome.

"A human boy? Strange." Sango said.

"Maybe..." Kagome said. The group left the house and started towards the next village.