Quick Review: Kagura is aware of Naraku's secret and Inuyasha isn't really Inuyasha. Bueno!

A/N: I do not own Inuyasha, but in my dreams I dominate him.

Bolded text represents events from the past. Italicized text signifies the thoughts of the characters.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" He said, laughing. "I thought you wanted this. I felt your body react to mine."

Kagome whimpered and quickly grabbed a towel to cover herself, making Him laugh even harder. She pressed herself against the counter, completely trapped, and opened her mouth to scream for her mother. Just as soon as her lips parted, a thorny, black tentacle emerged from his back and wrapped itself around her mouth, thinly slicing every piece of flesh around which it coiled. Her eyes watered and thin streams of blood dripped down from the tentacles.

Who are you? Where's Inuyasha?

Inuyasha made it to the well and looked around. He was soaked to the bone, shivering and damning the night. The horizon was blurred, and the storm raged on.

"KAGOME! KAGOMEEEE!" he screamed. His voice was drowned in the sound of oppressive rains. He peered into the well.

I have to go get her. I'll take her back myself.

Inuyasha hopped over the side and, through the mist, transcended time.

A gust that Kagome couldn't feel was whipping His hair. Silver strands became wavy and black. The man closed his eyes and smiled. His body was changing. He was no longer flushed pink with health. He became wiry and thin before her, pale and sick. Upon opening his wretched eyes, Kagome recognized the intruder.

NARAKU!

"You're going to come with me…" Naraku said, drawing near to her. His sick, cold flesh pressed up against hers, and she squirmed in disgust. Those hands… those hands that had controlled the lives of so many like those of a puppeteer… those hands that had willed damned souls to live and innocent souls to die… those hands were now coiled around her arms. She despised him more with every moment he was in contact with her. Her body was reeling with hatred, a hatred that seared her flesh. Suddenly, Naraku yelled out in pain and examined his palms. They were blistered and red. Kagome's flesh was burning his human hands. He searched Kagome's smiling eyes that mocked his inability to touch her. Naraku narrowed his eyes and spat in her face as Kagome fought harder against the demon limbs that were holding her. They had now covered every inch of her body, rendering her completely immobile.

"Where's your hero, now?" Naraku hissed at her, his mouth just centimeters from her ear. Kagome shuddered and thought of Inuyasha.

Inuyasha… where are you?

Inuyasha hopped over the side of the well, drenched in rain and nightfall. He was still mortal. He flung open the temple doors and all his muscles tensed, willing himself to run through the downpour again. But in modern Japan, it was not raining. The night was quiet, and stars were scattered in the sky like diamonds. Gentle zephyrs carried the smell of cherry blossom trees to his nose, tickling his human senses. The scent of blooming flowers triggered images of Kagome in his mind. Inuyasha blushed without being entirely certain why. Whenever he was human, his thoughts of Kagome multiplied tenfold, and when she touched him it caused ripples through his skin. She would pass him, and he would catch a whiff of her perfume. It made his heart race. It smelled like cherry blossoms.

"Inuyasha! What are you doing back so soon?" Mrs. Higurashi called. Inuyasha's eyes snapped up to meet hers. She was smiling warmly at him. "Can I make you some ramen?"

"Is Kagome here? Did she travel back already?" Inuyasha interrupted. Mrs. Higurashi smiled.

"She's still here. She's in the shower."

Inuyasha flung himself down on the ground, relieved.

She's safe.

"Inuyasha, you can go wait for her in her room, if you would like. Souta is sleeping, though, so do try to be quiet. The sun should come up any minute now," she reassured. Inuyasha stood up, quietly thanked her and climbed the stairs to her room. When he opened the door, her scent overwhelmed him, and he went to sit down on her bed. Everything in her room was so sacred—it was so tainted with everything that was Kagome. He didn't want to disturb the position of her blankets. They formed a tiny cavernous space where her body had lain the night before. He bent forward and scooped up a bundle of the blankets in his hands and closed his eyes.

"I'm going to go bathe! I'll be back in a little bit, so don't come looking for me!"

"Keh! Like I would come looking for you! I have better things to do, you know!"

Kagome had wandered off before Inuyasha could finish his sentence. He grunted irritatedly and stalked off into the forest in the other direction. Inuyasha immersed himself in thought, finally able to attain silence. Soon, the sound of a muse reverberated off the trees, very faint, like a bird whispering to the leaves. It was haunting and beautiful, looping through Inuyasha's ears like silken ribbon. His ears pricked, and he tried to follow the song. The maiden's voice was becoming clearer, and oddly it seemed familiar to him. She trilled her voice, and his heart lurched forward in his chest, like a chord had strung itself around him and was pulling him to her. He gently pushed shrubbery to the side so he could step into a small clearing where he saw a glistening lake, steam rising from the surface. It was the strangest and yet most entrancing thing he had ever seen. In the center of the lake stood the maiden, completely enshrouded in mist and still singing. Inuyasha deftly leapt into the foliage of a tree in order to conceal himself, feeling somewhat guilty for gazing upon this beauty, completely unclothed and peacefully bathing.

Peacefully bathing—

Kagome!

The woman stepped forth from the mist. It was indeed Kagome, and she was singing with her eyes closed and gesturing emphatically with her slender hands. Inuyasha gaped at her naked form. The lake water was rolling off of her body in such a gentle way. In Inuyasha's mind, he had always seen Kagome as somewhat of a child, temperamental and demanding. Nothing was childish about the way she looked in the lake. Her hair was long and healthy, swaying heavily with every graceful turn of her torso. Water streamed from her hair down her long, elegant neck and then sloped over her breasts. Her waist tapered in, smooth and glistening from the lake. He shifted his feet to look at her more intently and accidentally snapped a branch off the tree he was clinging to. Kagome gasped and ducked into the water so that only her head broke the surface. Her eyes snapped up to meet his and lingered there. Inuyasha ducked behind the tree, blushing furiously.

There was a long silence in the wooded gap. Suddenly, Kagome began to sing again, but more softly. Inuyasha was puzzled and relieved. He was not going to be violently demanded off of his branch with a "sit." Her voice reached him in the crook of the tree.

"I was sitting, waiting, wishing you believed in superstition. Then maybe you'd see all the signs," she began. Inuyasha listened carefully to her words. He felt as if she was trying to tell him something. "The Lord knows that this world is cruel, but I'm not the Lord; no I'm just a fool who's learning that loving somebody doesn't make them love you."

Inuyasha's heart clenched in his chest. His hand reached up to where the harsh beating was trying to part from his chest and ascend to his throat. In a scattered thought, he hoped that covering it with his hand would silence the noise: a noise that drummed so loudly, he feared Kagome would hear it.

"Must I always be waiting, waiting on you? Must I always be playing, playing your fool? Maybe you've been through this before, but it's my first time so please ignore the next few lines because they're directed at you. I can't always be waiting, waiting on you. I can't always be playing, playing your fool. Well, if I was in your position, I'd put down my ammunition and I'd wonder why'd it take me so long. But the Lord knows that I'm not you, and if I was, I wouldn't be so cruel because waiting on love isn't so easy to do. I can't always be waiting, waiting on you. I can't always be playing, playing your fool."

Inuyasha slumped against the gnarly trunk of the tree. Of course, she was referencing his relationship with Kikyo. He could only imagine what it felt like for her. H experienced it every time Koga took her hands in his own. He would stare at her hands at night when she was sleeping and convince himself that they fit more comfortably in his own. He convinced himself that Koga was not as strong, and he convinced himself—somewhat—that Kagome loved him more. He could not convince himself, however, that Koga had less to offer her. Inuyasha could sense it in him. He could feel the heat radiate off of Koga more profoundly when he neared Kagome. It was his heart pumping blood faster to his every limb. It was Koga screaming out to Kagome in the quietest way possible that he was offering her his whole heart.

Inuyasha's heart was no bigger than his. Any division made him less adequate, and it tore him apart. Kagome did not deserve part of a man's heart. But all he could offer was half and pray that half was all she needed.

Kagome spoke again. Inuyasha cocked his head so that he could see her peripherally.

"But, I will always wait for you, Inuyasha," Kagome said plainly, no longer singing. "I can't help it. Even if every ounce of sense in me screams that you will never love me more than her…"

She paused.

"Even if you never truly loved me at all…"

Inuyasha snapped his eyes shut and turned sharply. Her words were daggers not intended to hurt him, but painful and sharp nonetheless.

"… That can't change my feelings about you."

She silently rose from the water and padded to the other side of the lake where she retrieved her clothes. Inuyasha didn't know what to say to her. He pictured her waiting there, hand over her chest, praying for some sort of reciprocation. He could not think of words to say that would adequately portray the way he felt about her. Maybe the vision of her would inspire words.

He jumped down from the tree to find that she had already gone, leaving only the words in his head and ripples in the water in her wake.