A/N: Woah! Chapter Eight has finally made its appearance! But really, I'm so, so, so sorry for not updating! It's been what? Like two months! Well, here it is...and as a bonus, I'm going to start working on chapter nine too. I'm hoping it'll be out next week. Plus, working on When Winter Met Summer really did get me motivated to write for this fic again! So, yay! This is also more like a filler chapter, but it begins to get a little deeper into Kagome and Sesshoumaru's relationship.

Disclaimer: Well...must I say it again? You already know.

Used To Love You

Chapter Eight: Closer

Kagura gave a smirk at the group and their shocked expressions which quickly turned to ones of anger.

"Yes, it's me Kagura. I'm glad you remembered!" she spread open her fan, allowing only her crimson eyes to show. Kagome clenched onto the jewel shard around her neck, not wanting it to leave her grasp.

"What do you want?" Kagome hissed. Kagura shot her a bored glance and replied.

"There is nothing here that I want. Is it wrong for me to just check up on the crew every now and then?" she asked with mocked innocence. As she studied the group, her eyes lit up.

"So, a member down?" Kagome notched an arrow at Kagura, her eyes glowing with hate.

"I'm pretty pissed off Kagura! So as long as you want to live, get the hell out of here!" Just to emphasize her point, she drew her arrow back further. Kagura just laughed and pulled a feather out of her hair. The feather transformed into a huge, white one. Kagura stepped onto it and gave a grin.

"Just know that I will be back! And possibly one more member will be gone..." She flew off, leaving the group confused.

Kagome turned around to face everyone else, trying to muster a smile.

"Don't worry! Everyone will stay together! We're a team which means we can conquer whatever comes our way!" Rin cheered along with Shippou, while Miroku, Sango, and Sesshoumaru all gave small smiles.

'She's already trying to forget Inuyasha...Why do you pain yourself so, Kagome?' Sesshoumaru thought sadly.

It had been a week since the arrival of Kagura. Not many events had happened. Only one more jewel shard was obtained from a bear youkai. A calm rain poured down from the heavens, making the smell of wet earth and spring blow through the land. Everyone save Kagome sat around in Kaede's hut doing nothing. With Kagome back in her own time for now, shard hunting was out of the question. Shippou and Rin had been lulled to sleep with the pitter-patter of rain. Sango softly stroked the napping Kirara, her thoughts on Kohaku. Everything that happened confused her lately. '

Where are you right now Kohaku? What is that beast doing to you?'

Miroku sat by Sango's side, just wanting to be there for her. Just by looking into Sango's eyes he could see that she was in pain. She tried so hard to get Kohaku back, but everything backfired on her. In the end, it seemed like Kohaku would forever be a slave of Naraku. Yet, why he had stopped Sango from doing her deed was beyond him. Maybe he just didn't have the heart to see her feel guilty afterwords.

Sesshoumaru sat across from Sango and Miroku, watching them carefully. He could tell they had feelings for each other, but they never showed it in front of others. It reminded him of how he felt somehow. Like he wanted to be with Kagome, but something kept preventing him from doing so. Not just because of Inuyasha either. It was how Kagome felt. Would she really want to be with the cold, stoic youkai lord? It didn't seem like she hated him, but it sure didn't seem like she was absolutely in love with him either. He mentally kicked himself for even bothering over such trivial things.

'Why should it matter? If she loves me, she does. If she doesn't, then she doesn't. Simple as that.'

With that thought, he decided that he just wasn't going to care anymore. What happens, happens.

Kagome sat on her chair, gazing out the window. A heavy rain started, adding to the gloomy misery she felt. She came home to get a break from all the sadness, but found depression knocking on her door again. When she had come home, she didn't even tell her mom what had happened. It was like she herself didn't believe it. Like she was caught between a dreamworld and reality. Kagome picked up a stuffed puppy she had gotten as a gift from Inuyasha when he came to her time once. A smile tugged at her lips as she remembered that day.

-Flashback-

"Where are we going!" Inuyasha hollered as Kagome pulled his arm through a crowd of people.

"To the mall!" Kagome called over the crowd.

"What the heck is that? Some type of food?" He replied with a confused look.

Kagome laughed and opened the door to a store. He stared at everything inside, eyes wide with curiousity. Quickly, he began running to every shelf, picking up things and inspecting them. Kagome rolled her eyes slightly, but laughed. Inuyasha's ears twitched all of a sudden, showing something had caught his attention. Kagome followed his gaze and saw what shocked him. A huge tower of ramen. She shrugged off her purse and got out her wallet. Inuyasha blinked, noticing the green paper in her hands.

"What's that? A charm spell?"

"Nope. It's money. You use it to pay for things you want. Here," she handed him some money. "Go buy ramen or something! We are out to shop afterall."

Inuyasha looked at the money in his hands and stared. 'I can buy what I want with these slips of paper?' He made a mad dash for the ramen display, passing by a shelf filled with stuffed animals. His feet came to a halt as he neared the stuffed animals and inspected them. They felt so soft and real.

'I wonder if Kagome would like this...I mean, she does like fluffy things. I think.' Picking up the dog, he walked over to the cashier and handed her the dog.

"Wow, buying this for your girlfriend I'm guessing?" She flashed a bright smile. Inuyasha blushed, not knowing what to say. Technically, Kagome wasn't his girlfriend, but that was the closest thing. Kagome jogged up to him, smiling.

"Get any ramen?"

"Well...", he blushed, not knowing what to say. "I got you this instead." He held out the stuffed dog, and saw Kagome's eyes light up.

"It's so cute! That was so sweet of you Inuyasha!" She hugged him tightly and began admiring the stuffed dog.

-End Flashback-

She hugged the stuffed dog tightly, fearing that if let go of it, she'd forget Inuyasha. It was true that she loved Inuyasha dearly, but recently, she noticed she seemed to have an attachment to a certain inu-youkai. And once Kikyou took Inuyasha away, the feelings seemed to grow a little stronger. She felt cruel, falling in love with another person when Inuyasha was dead. Yes, she did have the right to be with someone else since he left with Kikyou, but she felt like she'd be betraying him.

"I can't help what I feel..." she softly murmered to the stuffed dog. "So I guess Inuyasha couldn't help what he felt for Kikyou...and I had no right to interfere."

Setting down the dog on her bed, she grabbed her jacket and stepped outside the house into the cold rain. She took a deep breath, the smell of fresh rainwater and the outdoors assaulted her nostrils. Leaning against the Goshinboku tree, she shut her eyes and remembered another moment, only this time with Sesshoumaru.

-Flashback-

Tears pushed their way out of Kagome's eyes and began strolling down her cheeks. She just couldn't help it. Her heart ached for the prescence of Inuyasha. A crunch of leaves were heard, making Kagome snap her head up and look around. She had left the hut, making sure no one followed her out to the meadow. Slowly, she rose to her feet, trying to find the cause of the noise. A figured clad in white stepped out. Sesshoumaru.

"What do you want?" Kagome lashed out, harsher than intended.

"The question would be what are you doing out here. And I followed you. You'll have to be quieter next time you decide to go off crying."

"What I do is none of your business! Just leave me alone!"

"I believe it becomes my business when you disturb my peace." he shot back curtly. Kagome's hands curled up into fists at her side. Right now she wasn't in the mood to be bothered, and he certainly wasn't helping.

"Leave me alone! Is it my fault if I cared for Inuyasha so much! Can you blame me!" she finally screamed, wanting to just let it all out. Her tears began streaming down her face now, sick of just pretending for everything to be okay. She sunk down to the ground, her body shaking from her violent sobs.

A pair of arms encircled her waist as she cried. Without caring, she latched onto his sleeve and wept some more. He didn't know why he did what he did, but he couldn't stand to see her cry. Besides, if this helped her feel better, then he'd let her do what she wanted. Already her sobs seemed to have calmed down.

'Thank you..." she whispered softly.

-End Flashback-

Her cheeks flushed slightly at that memory, but shook her head. He probably did that just to stop her from crying any louder. To think that he cared for her was like saying that pigs could fly. But Kagome was grateful that he tried to make her feel better. It touched her heart that maybe he really did care. There could be more to him than just the heart of ice he's led everyone to believe he had.

'Good Lord...what if I really am in love with him?'

Sesshoumaru sat by the well, waiting for Kagome to come back. He was eager to go shard hunting, for he needed an opponent. But he also felt like seeing Kagome. He couldn't deny that he enjoyed her comforting prescence and her heavenly scent. Sesshoumaru shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind. He was acting like some lovesick fool.

A flash of blue light erupted from the well, interrupting his thoughts. He looked down, his gold eyes resting upon the form of Kagome. She looked up and waved. He merely stepped back, allowing her to swing her leg over the well and get out. Kagome noticed him giving her a scrutinizing gaze.

"Something wrong...?"

Sesshoumaru just shook his head and turned around, walking towards the hut. He had noticed that her scent seemed a lot happier than before and spending some time in her home had done her good. And it made him glad to know she was feeling better. Kagome jogged after him, hollering for him to wait up. An ever-so-small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Some strong gusts of wind flew around him rapidly. Kagome stood back, watching with her mouth hanging open. There Sesshoumaru stood in his huge inu-youkai form. True, she had seen him in that form once before, but this time, he was so much closer and looked very noble.

"Wow..." she whispered quietly. She tentatively reached her hand out to stroke his leg. The pure white fur glistened in the sun's rays, making him look even majestic. His red eyes gazed down at her as she began to pet his leg. A soft purr erupted from his throat, as his tail swished around, liking the soft strokes she gave. Slowly, he sunk to the ground, laying down so she could pet him some more. Sure he was acting vain, but what did he care? He was getting attention that he wanted so why spoil it. Kagome laughed at the small doggy-grin on his face and his bright pink tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Another purr came out of his throat, this time louder. Kagome began to stroke his nose, making him purr even louder. At this rate, his purring would rumble the whole ground. Finally, when he felt he had had enough attention, he changed back into his human form. He let a tiny smile be seen by Kagome. She blushed slightly, but followed him as he began to walk towards the village.

For some reason, Kagome kept giggling behind him the whole way. It's not that he exactly cared, it's just that he wanted to know what she found so amusing. He turned around and faced her, his golden orbs holding just a bit of question.

"What do you find so amusing?"

"Oh, nothing." she waved him off and continued to the village. He gave a glare at her back, still wanting to know.

"Welcome back!" Sango called.

Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Rin all appeared in front of them, ready to take their leave.

"Sheesh! What took ya so long Kagome?" Shippou wined. Rin nodded her head in agreement.

"Rin missed Kagome!"

Kagome gave a smile to the two children and hugged them tightly.

"Well, ready to go? We still have plenty of jewel shards to collect." Miroku stated.

Everyone nodded their heads and began to walk away from the village.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru stayed behind a little, walking together in silence. Finally, Kagome broke it.

"Do you really want to know what I was laughing about?"

Sesshoumaru just turned his head away, pretending not to care. Kagome giggled slightly, but spoke.

"Fine, I'll tell you anyways. I was laughing because I didn't know dogs could purr so much. Especially one like you."

A/N: Well, there's a chapter. Sorry the plot isn't going as fast as you would probably like. But hang in there folks! Please read and review! Thank you! And as always, sorry if there are any errors!