Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Inuyasha. Nor do I own Kagome, Sesshoumaru, Rin, Kagome's family, or any of the other copyrighted characters that may or may not appear in this fic. So please don't sue me, and enjoy the story!

Notes: To the reviewer who wanted me to email when I updated - I've tried twice now and both times I get a response saying the address is incorrect - Sorry! It may be me - I've been having some email connection troubles lately since my school server seems to be dying a slow and painful death.

And as for Celelorien, who has promised me a picture, I am utterly and completely flattered that you would draw me one - I'm in awe of anyone who has artistic talent, as I can barely stay in the lines when I color with my 4 year old cousins. I've seen some unbelievable Inuyasha fan art, and can't wait to see what you've created! Thanks!

Anyway, I think this chapter is a welcome break from all the seriousness in the past few - not to mention the serious angst that's on the way T_T. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Learning to Let Go

Chapter 15: Breaking Through.

"Your brother?" Kagome gasped in amazement. "I didn't know you had a brother."

"I thought I didn't," Inuyasha said shortly. "I figured he died a long time ago. He probably thought the same of me."

"That's horrible!" She gazed at him sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."

He looked slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah well. Don't be sorry. He hates me anyway - and I hate him," he was quick to add.

"But why?" Kagome asked, trying to imagine what it would be like to be on bad terms with her own little brother.

Inuyasha shrugged, folding his arms across his chest and looking away from her. "How should I know? He hated my mother for being human, and my father for falling in love with her. Makes sense that he would hate me too."

"He hates you for being a hanyou?" Kagome gasped. "But wait - isn't he one too?"

"He had a different mother. He's a pureblooded demon - any pureblood would hate me for being a half-breed," he told her matter-of-factly.

Kagome looked down, not wanting him to see the pity in her eyes. He'd had such a horrible life - hadn't he had any lucky breaks at all?

"What about your parents?" Kagome asked him quietly. "Could they still be alive somewhere?"

"No. Sesshoumaru's mother died before I was born, forcing him to live with my father. When my parents had me, they broke the law - demons weren't allowed to mate with humans at that time. It's because of that that Sesshoumaru and I were sold into slavery - after our father and my mother were killed. I don't blame him for hating me."

"No!" Kagome didn't know what made her say it, but she couldn't help but try to reach out to him. "Inuyasha, that wasn't your fault!"

He slanted an irritated glance at her. "I never should have happened, Kagome. My parents should never have met each other, never mind - "

"They fell in love!" Kagome protested. "No one can blame them for that - and blaming *you* is insane!"

He shook his head slowly, grimly. "You're wrong. It would have been better if I'd never been born."

Frightened by his stark acceptance of that fact, Kagome didn't even think as she lunged forward, catching both of his hands in hers. "Inuyasha" He was staring into her eyes, startled by the sudden touch. She swallowed hard, trying to fight back the lump in her throat. "I'm glad because if you'd never been born then I never would have met you."

A myriad of emotions flickered through his eyes - confusion, suspicion, disbelief, and finally a kind of hesitant acceptance. "Kagome" he said softly, his fingers tightening on hers, his thumb stroking softly over the sensitive pad of her palm. Her eyes widened slightly - and then they both jumped as the phone rang.

Blushing crazily, Kagome hastily disentangled her hands from his and stood quickly, knocking her leg against the chair behind her as she rushed to pick up the phone. "Hello?" she said, glad that her voice didn't tremble.

"Kagome?" It was Rin.

"Oh, hi - I was going to call you," Kagome said, feeling herself start to relax. "How are you doing?"

"Oh Kagome!" Rin's voice was high with admiration and awe. "I saw on the news this morning! You were so brave!"

"What?" It took her a moment to catch up with what Rin was talking about. "Oh - that. No, I wasn't brave at all I was scared to death."

"You didn't even faint!" Rin praised her excitedly. "And that guy - Naraku! If I'd realized what a loser he was - "

"I don't really want to think about him," Kagome said quickly. "It's over and I'm okay, and Inuyasha's okay, so I just want to forget about it."

"Inuyasha was really heroic, huh?" Rin observed, her voice slightly envious, but still cheerful. "He took down all four of those guys! And they were armed, too!"

"Yeah," Kagome said softly, feeling warmer suddenly. "He was heroic." She shot a glance at the aforementioned demon and blinked to see that he had cleared off the table completely, and was now watching her with narrowed golden eyes.

Rin was still talking enthusiastically, having let her imagination run away with her as she was so prone to doing. Kagome bit her lip, wondering just *how* good Inuyasha's hearing was. "He's got those sexy golden eyes," Rin gushed happily, "And his ears! Don't you just want to pet them? Not to mention I bet he looks absolutely *delicious* when he's not wearing any clothes - do you think *all* of his hair is silver?"

"Rin!" Kagome cried, suddenly certain that Inuyasha could hear everything her overzealous friend was saying. "Shut up!" For the second time that morning Kagome's face was suffused with a blush, and she couldn't meet the silver-haired boy's eyes. She was too busy trying not to picture every part of Rin's little monologue.

Rin giggled. "Sorry Kagome. Got a little carried away there. So anyway - " she lowered her voice slightly. "Are we still on for tomorrow night?"

Kagome nodded, glad to be off the previous topic. "Yeah. I'll be there at eight."

"Is Inuyasha coming?"

"I'm not sure - I haven't gotten a chance to ask him yet." She glanced up to meet his eyes, which were distinctly unhappy at the prospect of returning to the house where he'd met Kikyo.

"Of course I'm coming," he snapped when he saw her looking at him. "You'd probably just get into even more trouble if you went by yourself - and besides, I don't trust Sesshoumaru."

"All right, Inuyasha's coming," Kagome told the younger girl. "And - oh! Remember how you said that they looked like they were related?" Rin voiced an affirmative. "Well they are related. They're brothers."

"Brothers?!" Rin cried, and Kagome couldn't stop the small, rueful smile as Inuyasha flinched at the volume of her shriek.

"Yeah. Isn't that strange?" At that moment Kagome glanced up at the clock on the wall and her eyes widened. "How did it get to be twelve already?" she gasped, looking down at her watch to confirm that it really was noon. "I just woke up! I just ate breakfast a few minutes ago! And all the work I have to do - I'll never finish it all before tomorrow night!"

"Calm down, Kagome!" Rin ordered, obviously suppressing her giggles. "I'm sure you'll be fine - you have almost two whole days to do it all!"

"That's not enough!" Kagome whined. "I haven't even *started* anything the past few days have been so crazy - and I have to catch up on the reading I didn't get a chance to do last week - "

"Sounds like you'd better go. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah," Kagome said distractedly, looking around for where she'd left her backpack. "See you then."

She hung up the phone and rushed past Inuyasha to check the hallway for her books. Not seeing them there, she whirled around to him. "Have you seen my backpack?" she asked desperately.

"Backpack? Yeah, you left it in your car when you went to get that stuff yesterday."

"Oh!" Kagome said, relieved. She took two steps toward the door, then froze. "My car"

Inuyasha smirked. "I was wondering when you'd remember that"

"Oh *no*!" Kagome gasped. Was the world dead set against her passing her first semester of college?

"You weren't really in a good state of mind to be driving," Inuyasha defended himself, seeing her distress and secretly terrified of seeing her start to cry again.

Kagome didn't cry, but she did whimper as she leaned her head against the door in despair. "Now what am I going to do?" she whined. "I need that bag and it'll take hours to walk all the way to school!"

Inuyasha sighed and moved forward. "I'll take you back."

She blinked up at him. "You'll take me? How?"

"How do you think?" he growled at her sarcastically. "The same way I brought you home last night."

She paused uncertainly, but realized that if she wanted her bag she really didn't have much of a choice. And she'd kind of enjoyed being carried home last night - not to mention being so close to him -

She felt her face getting hot, and was glad that he was facing away so that she could climb onto his back. Carefully, she brushed his hair out of the way so she wouldn't pull it, trying desperately not to think too hard about Rin's comment about his natural hair color. He gave her more time to get used to the position than he had last night, waiting until her arms were secure around his neck before standing up and reaching for the door.

"You're not scared, are you?"

"Of course not," she denied as he stepped outside and shut the door behind them.

"Your heart is pounding," he argued, winding his arms around her thighs and consequently bringing her body closer to his. Kagome didn't answer. There was no way he was ever finding out that her reaction was quite the opposite of fear.

Then the wind was whistling through her hair as Inuyasha took off with a bounding leap that carried them well above the treetops surrounding her home. Kagome gasped in delight and surprise, forgetting to be self-conscious as she tightened her grip on him and leaned forward slightly to keep from getting a face-full of his hair.

She was quiet, just watching and enjoying the roller-coaster exhilleration of traveling this way. Strangely, the feeling of trust in his strength and judgment had carried over to this morning - Kagome wasn't afraid of falling in the least.

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Awww. Now the relationship is getting somewhere - building trust on top of the powerful chemestry that's always between the two of them no matter how they try to deny it!