I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters. So please don't sue me.

"You have very interesting friends." Inuyasha mused as he collapsed on the sofa in Kagome's living room. "Very... talkative."

"Yes. They are." She handed him his bag of clothes. "But it was you that accepted their invitation to go eat, not me."

"I was hungry." He muttered. "You hadn't fed me all day."

"Yes, I should've known better, huh?" Kagome laughed. He loved when she laughed. Her head always tilted slightly to the right, and her whole face would light up.

"Wait..." She had turned away from him, now, heading towards the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going upstairs to read. Why?"

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, you can watch tv, or go outside. I don't know. Do whatever you want."

"No, I mean, how do I get back home? Should we keep looking from the Shikon jewel? Should we go do research? There must be a reason the well stopped working."

"You're right." Kagome sighed, and sat down in a chair opposite him. "I mean, you can't just stay here, can you?"

He had to fight not to flinch when she said it. True, he knew his place wasn't here. He would never fit in. But... he still hadn't been expecting her to agree with him so quickly. She rubbed at her eyes and he bit the inside of his lip.

"But... it can wait until tomorrow, I think." His heart lifted.

"Yes, I think it could."

"Tomorrow's the new moon." Kagome's eyes were searching his face. "I thought I should warn you."

He nodded, and watched as Kagome slowly rose from her chair and headed upstairs. Stretching out on the sofa, he crossed his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

Hours passed by, but he remained there, watching as the shadows crossed the ceiling from the setting sun, stretching and absorbing the room's light. Kagome still hadn't come down.

"Inuyasha?" A hesitant voice come from the doorway.

"Hmm?" Craning his neck slightly, he saw a boy standing in the doorway. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha sat up, taking a better look at the boy.

"Souta?" The boy nodded.

"You remembered."

"Of course I remember." He said, shaking his head slightly as a small smile crossed his lips. The boy had grown.

"We stopped seeing you around here." Souta crossed his arms across the chest, much in the way Inuyasha himself would, and leaned against the doorframe. "We weren't sure whatever happened to you."

"Kagome didn't say?"

"Kagome didn't know." Inuyasha digested that.

"I needed to leave for a while," He said simply. "I thought it was for the best."

"Kagome didn't think so. Mom and I used to hear her crying at night, after we'd all gone to bed. She never said, but we both knew why."

"She's going to be a doctor. She has a real life. She wouldn't have had this had she stayed." Inuyasha shook his head. "You're a goddamned kid. What do you know about all this?"

"I know that if you break her heart again, I'll kill you." This made Inuyasha laugh.

"I like you, boy. You're turning out okay."

"Thank you. And I will kill you."

> > > > > > >

Kagome could hear Inuyasha and Souta talking downstairs, but she couldn't quite made out what they were saying. Closing her book, she rested her head back against her headboard and closed her eyes.

Over the years, she had found a few books that had referenced the jewel and its properties, all under the heading of 'legend' and 'folklore', of course. She had never learned much from the books that she hadn't already known, but tonight she checked them again anyway.

Inuyasha had been mentioned in one of the books, as was Sango and Miroku. They had each earned their own page in the book. Sango was the brave female warrior, Miroku the wise and steady monk. Inuyasha was the fearless man with a deadly aim and quick temper. And she had two sentences at the bottom of Inuyasha's page, where she was described as being his 'dark-haired wife', who 'disappeared soon after the jewel was made whole and presumed to have died soon after'.

It had never bothered her before, but tonight it annoyed her greatly. So that's all she was? A lousy two-sentences?

Turning over onto her stomach, she buried her face into her pillow.

She was in love with him. She knew it now, knew for sure. She probably had always been in love with him, but passed it off as mere infatuation. But tonight as she read those two sentences, read how she was his 'dark-haired wife', it had made her smile. And she had wished it had been true.

But he had never been hers. She had always belonged to him, but he had never been hers.

She cried herself to sleep.

> > > > > > >

It was dark when Inuyasha crept up the stairs to Kagome's room. Souta and his mother had long ago gone to bed, and he had sat in the darkness of the living room, staring out the window towards the old shrine.

Kagome's room was dark when he pushed open the door, but he could easily make out her form on the bed. The scent of salt hung heavy in the air; she had been crying.

He knelt down next to her bed. She was lying on her side, facing him, her breathing slow and deep. Hesitantly, he reached out and brushed her hair away from her face. Tear tracks clung to the pale skin of her checks, and the circles under her eyes seemed darker, harsher than before. Gently, he rubbed a finger over one of her cheeks, trying to brush the tears away. But they had already dried; they stayed where they were.

Leaning forward, he closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. She was so beautiful. He wanted to have her scent buzzing around his head when he went to sleep. Maybe it would keep the nightmares away.

Settling himself against the wall, next to her bed, he fell asleep watching her. And for the first night in years, he slept soundly.

That's all for tonight! I'll try to have some more up in a day or so!