Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of his adorable companions.

Alrighty…you all are in luck. My husband has been preventing me from using the computer (we fight over it too often) and it is so old that it literally will shut itself off at the MOST inopportune times. Now why do I say you are in luck? Because my three year old is sick today and I had to stay home from work. There is no husband to fight against for computer rights.

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their reviews, you have no idea how much they mean to me!

The gymrat: Honestly, thank you for pointing out Inu's grammar…I typically write Regency romance novels….which requires almost NO contractions….I finally get to the point that it is second nature to write it out entirely, and what do I do? Try to write Inuyasha! I will make a more conscious effort in the future to keep an eye on that. Thank you!

HMPrune: LMAO …hmm…I thought I mentioned that the teacher had Miroku as an ancestor. I have plans for him though…if I decide to drag this out a little.

BloodyKitsune: LMAO at you too. Thank you for reviewing me all the time. Yes…the pathetic dog boy is whipped. Don't you wish he would just growl at her, and then maul her (in a good way). That should be the last scene in the series, IMO.

Babygurl1: I am the exact same way about reviewing. I never want to tell anyone that their story is crap…so I just don't review. When I do review others…it is all…your story is great…keep up the nice work….I am SO original .

For all of you that asked if they will end up together…this is a drama and romance….If they didn't get together it would be ANGST/ TRAGEDY. I could NEVER write one of those (did I mention I am a romance novelist) I LIVE for happily ever after. Hold your pants on….it is coming to a crossroads quickly. Oh yeah and for whomever asked to insert my favorite dessert….believe it or not I would do about ANYTHING for gummy bears. Truthfully…ask my hubby and his old roommate. I would drive their drunken behinds home from the bars and EVEN pick up a pizza for them….all for reimbursement in gummies.

If you weren't mentioned above…very sorry. I have had several people who continually review (Moonmage, Bailey89, FieryDemonFox and InuKag=Love, to name a few) Please keep reviewing and I will try to answer everyone's questions.

Inuyasha: Aren't you done babbling yet?

Kagome: Yeah, you're cutting out of our action.

Um…sorry. I am done now. I promise.

Inuyasha: Good, get to typing bitch.

Chapter 8

My ingenious plan might have backfired, but it had succeeded in doing two things. First, Inuyasha had Tetsusaiga on himself again. There would be no transformation of the hanyou from his grief, which I had greatly worried about happening. Second, the mournful wailing had ceased from inside the well. Inuyasha may have been mourning, but he still had more pride than anyone else I had known.

I never said the well remained quiet. It would not be Inuyasha if he remained there quietly.

"Didn't I tell you idiot's to leave me alone? Get lost!" An irritated voice came from the well.

"Inuyasha, we are not going to leave you alone." Miroku pleaded with the hanyou, massaging the stress from his temples. Kaede had not arrived yet, they were desperate for her assistance. The past fifteen minutes they had spent listening to Inuyasha spew colorful names at them.

"Listen, you pathetic excuse for a monk. Take your damn taijiya girlfriend and get away from my well. I never asked you to stay here and harass me. I am not leaving here anytime soon so get used to it."

Miroku could only shake his head at his friend; they only wanted to help him. Sango had let Miroku handle the hanyou from the beginning, and she felt she needed to step in and try to reason with him. "Inuyasha, I know you miss her rig-"

"Sango, shut the fuck up! I don't give a crap about that whiny girl! She has my goddamn jewel with her!"

Watching the taijiya turn a mysterious shade of burgundy that he had never witnessed before, Miroku scooted away before she could take her wrath out on him, instead of where it belonged. He had seen Sango mad before, hell he had done some of it himself. She looked beyond mad, beyond pissed. To be exact, Sango saw red, and only red and she right then would have killed Inuyasha if he hadn't been in the well and felt the slightest amount of pity for him. Not much, only a little, and not enough to save him from her anger at the moment. "Damn you, Inuyasha!" She stood up and looked into the well where the hanyou had cornered himself inside, preventing him any escape. "She loves you, kami knows why, but she does. You have put her through hell and back because of Kikyo. Broken her heart numerous times. Who do you think helped pick her up whenever you ran off after Kikyo? That is right, I did! You finally say what everyone has seen forever; you love her. Now you have the gall to say 'she has your jewel' that you don't miss her. Fuck you! Don't you dare disrespect my friend that way! She gave up too much for you to be happy. Don't take your anger out on us! It is your own fault you never told her how you felt before she left. She is probably at home thinking you happily went to hell with Kikyo after she left. Who's fault is it she thinks that? Yours! Screw off, Inuyasha!"

With that finally out, Sango finally stormed away from the well. No longer in the mood to help the hanyou for the moment, she needed to cool off. Yanking Hiraikotsu off the perch on her back, she stormed away. Grateful for the stress relief as she released the giant boomerang, she just needed to get away. Inuyasha was not the only one who lost someone they cared about today. Kagome had been like a sister to the taijiya, her best friend. The thought of never seeing her again brought tears to her eyes as she caught her weapon.

Kagome had been the first real friend she had, girls in this time thought Sango to be strange. What female wanted to slay demons for a living? Kagome hadn't thought Sango to be different at all. She had been her friend, no questions asked. How would they survive without the girl? She had been the glue to keep their small group together. She had opened her hearts to each of them, showing them what it was like to really love and care for others. They all were better because of her. She leaned on Hiraikotsu for support. She hadn't even realized that the tears had turned to heartbreaking wrenches until she could stand no longer.

Dammit, She's right. I fucked up everything myself, again. It is my own fault. I knew something like this might happen when the jewel finally came back together, but not so soon. I thought I would at least tell her I loved her before she left.

He stared at the items from her backpack that he cradled in his hands, a sweatshirt she had used if it got chilly, and a photograph of the two of them. He inhaled her scent that covered the sweatshirt, kami he would miss that smell. No matter how much he said her scent bothered him; she knew as well as he did, he loved it. He made the mistake of telling her that one stupid new moon. How he had ever mistaken her scent for Kikyo's in the beginning? Her scent filled his senses with the scent of her shampoo; thankfully, she had left some of it behind. He would never be without it, if he didn't use it.

Sango's words still rang in his ears, "You have put her through hell and back because of Kikyo. Broken her heart numerous times. Who do you think helped pick her up whenever you ran after Kikyo? That's right, I did!" Each word the taijiya had thrown at him had been the truth, and sliced into him deeply.

He had been a fool, a complete ass to Kagome, to protect her from caring if he went to hell with Kikyo. He knew long ago that she cared for him, and had to convince himself that she did not love him. He had done a great job convincing himself. He hadn't had a clue until Sango had unleashed her painful words moments earlier. I'm such a fool. How could I have convinced myself that she wouldn't care if I went to hell with Kikyo? That she didn't love me. Why would she have loved me? I am nothing but a half-breed inu-youkai; no one could love me.

Except Kagome.

He grabbed his head, what a moron I am. How did I completely miss it? "Oi, Miroku. You still there?"

"Yes, Inuyasha?" The monk questioned, peering into the well to look at the hanyou. Glad he finally had stopped screaming at everyone. Sango's rage at him had seemed to deflate his anger at them momentarily. He looked as if he had been thinking since the taijiya stormed off. He had his head buried in a sweatshirt of Kagome's and a photograph clenched in his hand so tightly his knuckles had turned white.

Miroku watched him pick his head off the sweatshirt and look up at him to ask, "How blind was I? How did I not even notice how she felt?"

Stunned, that had not been what he expected in the least. Miroku shook his head in disbelief. "Y..you didn't know? Inuyasha, How could you NOT know? Everything she ever did was for you! You honestly didn't know?" The monk was dumbfounded and caught off guard by the hanyou's questions.

"Dammit! It is painfully obvious NOW. Why the fuck didn't you tell me? If I had known, I might have told her earlier, before it was too late. What human falls in love with a hanyou?" Inuyasha buried his head in the sweatshirt, letting the scent pull him back into his own little world of how to open the well again. He hadn't come up with anything yet.

"I thought you knew, Inuyasha. Even Shippo knew how she felt about you. I tried to get you to tell her how you felt, you know that."

So that is why he harassed me about my feelings for her all the time. How stupid was I if the kit knew? "Why the hell doesn't she just use the jewel to open the well?" He suddenly screamed in frustration. That is what he would have done if it had been him with the jewel and she disappeared. Why wouldn't she wish for that? Didn't she want to come back?

Miroku actually answered his unspoken question. "Perhaps she doesn't think she has anything to come back to. Sango might be right, she may think you went to hell with Kikyo. Even if she did wish for the well to open, it might not work. The wish made in her time, it is in the future. The time difference might not work."

Inuyasha growled, not liking that idea at all. "Dammit, there has to be something we can do." He didn't like feeling so hopeless. He buried his head in the sweatshirt, hoping the scent never faded. It looked as if he would need to keep it for 500 years until he finally could see her again. That thought frustrated him; he couldn't wait 500 years to see her again. He needed her now. He couldn't wait. Her scent slowly wrapped around his senses, calming him down.

Sango's words might have triggered his unconscious about Kagome's feelings, but the photo had been his proof. In his hand, he clenched a photo he had never seen before. She had shown most of her photos to him, but not this one. He had never seen them from an outsider's point of view, and that is how he knew her feelings.

He remembered this day; he had felt so guilty about her injuries from the acid. She had risked life and limb to purify the jewel he had used on Tetsusaiga, including crossing his transformed self. He had been grateful for her help, even in his demon state. Her injuries had come from her assistance to him. Her bravery had left him in awe; she risked everything for him, yet again. Her injuries he had felt such guilt over, though. They would scar and it would be his fault for putting them all in danger again. Once again, he had almost lost her, and she had saved them all, especially him.

He didn't remember the picture being taken, probably didn't know it had been. He had taken her to a tree to get her off her feet; they were bandaged up from the acid. He had just wanted to get her alone for a while. There always seemed to be someone else around when he wanted to spend time with her alone. The picture screamed of both their feelings, their bodies facing each other. She didn't look him in the eyes, but her facial expression filled with compassion and caring. From that, anyone could tell she cared. Her eyes spoke volumes alone. Longing and sadness in her eyes, she really had wanted to be with him. That picture was his proof.

She had no regrets, no qualms about endangering herself time after time. She would do anything for him, even; as Sango said, endure endless heartache from him whenever he ran to Kikyo. Dammit, how could I be such an idiot. All along, she had given him everything unconditionally and he had painfully shoved it back in her face to protect her. He had been afraid to get too close; he would be going to hell with Kikyo. He shut himself off to her feelings, denying them time after time. Even then, she had wanted him to be happy, so she stayed.

Anything, I will do anything to be with her now.

Yeah….you all might be lucky and get chapter 9 today too.

Kagome; Jeez….Sango. You really let him have it didn't you?

Sango: You have no idea how long I have waited to do that. It all just bottled up and then POW right in Inuyasha's face.

Shippo: He deserved it. He treats Kagome like crap.

Kagome: Shippo? When did you get here? I haven't seen you forever.

Shippo: KAGOME!!! The author thinks I am too whiney and doesn't want to write me into the story yet.

Why you little….I should make you put a quarter in the tattle jar!

Shippo: What is a quarter?

Um…never mind…I don't want to explain "tattle" either. Please everyone; don't forget to review. (You know you want to make Sarah happy!!)