Oh, my sweet, wee readers... this chapter is long overdue. It took a lot of tweaking, as my original version made Inuyasha waaay too OOC. I think this version fits him well, and I hope you agree. So, here tis... written with a broken middle finger and a temperamental internet connection. Enjoy, my loves.

Kagome knelt down and began to rub her legs with the craggy sand. Divine mitigance, the pain of the sharp rock against her wounded flesh took away the pain of Inuyasha's affections and the events of the past few days. She smiled and began to bleed. If ever a grimace and relief gave birth to expression, in this moment, her face would be the bastard child. Wisps of cloudy blood flipped and dove from the slits into the water and tumbled away to find refuge on the shore. Inuyasha, who had assumed his original position, spun around again at the smell of salt and iron. He watched horrified… saddened, maybe… as Kagome tore her skin apart with earth. He lunged forward and grabbed her hand.

"Stop this! Why are you doing this to yourself? Dammit, you're bleeding everywhere!" he gasped, watching the veil of blood encircle her sinisterly. "How do expect to heal?"

"I don't," Kagome whispered grimly, tearing her wrist away. Her chin bunched together, pinched by her lips, and her eyes quivered. Inuyasha understood that his answer to her question had built a barrier between them. Just as quickly as he had responded negatively, Kagome had emotionally distanced herself with as much rapidity and fortitude as humanly possible.

So, in alignment with his tendency to take on the improbable, Inuyasha rushed to cross the eternity of space between them.

Desperately, he scooped her into his arms and found the small of her back. He pressed the bridge of his nose against the top of her head so that the curves of their faces slid together. He snarled his fingers between the inky tresses.

"I don't know what to do for you. I've saved you before… but I don't know how to save you from yourself," he murmured against her forehead. Kagome surrendered the sand from her palms and pressed her hands into the warm flesh of Inuyasha's back. That touch, that desperation, tore down a door in Inuyasha's mind, and he suddenly became anxious to tell her everything, to simply let the floodgates open and let her share space within his mind.

"You want to know the truth? I'll tell you everything. Please, don't hurt yourself anymore," Inuyasha moaned against her dewy skin. Kagome nodded, and tears shook off her cheeks and onto Inuyasha's lips. She broke away from him momentarily and raised a hand to the side of his face. Her fingers cupped his jawline, and, with her thumb, she traced his bottom lip, wiping away her own tears. Inuyasha closed his eyes and agonized over kissing her thumb or not, but before a conclusion was made, her thumb was gone and she was wading back to the shore. Inuyasha raced to meet her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Stay here. I'll get your clothes."

Kagome became obediently stiff and watched Inuyasha pull himself out of the water and onto shore. He quickly collected her pants and bandages and then paused, frowning.

"That's all I came with," Kagome said, answering a nonexistent question. Inuyasha ignored her and dropped the articles again. He pivoted and got down on his hands and knees.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing?" Kagome shivered. Inuyasha struck the sand with his claws and began to dig ferociously.

"Those clothes aren't going to keep you warm," he replied, throwing sand and dirt over his shoulder and across his back. Kagome waded more closely to the shore.

"Why are you digging a hole?" she asked, stiffly dodging the airborne soil.

"You'll stay warm if you sit down here. The wind won't touch you," he replied. Seemingly satisfied with his hole, Inuyasha stood back and rinsed his hands in the water. He brushed them off on his pants and picked up her clothing.

"Here, you can come get them. I won't look," he said quietly. Kagome willed her frozen legs to move through the water that ripped at her wounds and climbed onto the shore. Inuyasha stood with his back to her and held her clothes out at his side. She gently took them from his hands and thanked him. She stepped into her pants and wrapped the soiled bandages around her torso as best she could.

"Inuyasha, can you tie this knot?" she whispered. Inuyasha glanced at her over his shoulder and nodded. His hands grasped the tails of the bandages at her spine and fumbled nervously to make a knot. She piled her hair at the crown of her head with her fist so that it did not interfere with his hands and exposed her neck. Inuyasha barely paid attention to what he was doing with the bandages, but rather gaped openly at the young woman's silhouette. Inuyasha was conditioned to seeing more flesh on Kagome than any other woman in his time. Her tantalizingly short skirt left little to the imagination in the realm of calves and thighs. But, it was the little pieces of Kagome… her hip bone poking out from beneath her shirt when she stretched her arms over her head, her exposed collarbone when she tugged at the opening of her shirt in uncomfortable heat or the gentle curve of her ears when she tucked her unruly locks behind them… these pieces of her were most precious because their exhibition was so rare. Here, swathed in damp, cool breezes, Inuyasha discovered another favorite to add to his list: her neck.

Kagome never wore her hair back like Sango occasionally did. For the first time, Inuyasha was able to savor the nape of his partner's neck. His eyes grazed the lines it made against the dark night, the long spill that crashed into the elegant arch of her shoulders. He felt like cupping those soft corners and pressing his lips against her neck. His warm breath would pound against her jaw hungrily, and she would begin to shake. Should she collapse completely, he would support her weight by leaning her against his chest and allowing his heart to drum against her back so that she could experience, physically, the impact of her presence on his senses. He would whisper something profound against her flesh, something that all the lovelorn scholars and tragic poets could never precisely convey, and she would let his name slip through her shivering teeth and tickle her lips on its ascent toward heaven.

But such things would not take place tonight, and he knew this. There is a time for exploration and a time for talking. This night was a time for talking.

The knot completed, Inuyasha helped Kagome down into her shallow hole and then collapsed on the more elevated ground beside her. He brought his knees to his chest and began to wring the water from his pants.

"It really is warmer down here," Kagome mused, sinking her fingers into the sand. Inuyasha exhaled deeply and looked out across the lake.

"What do you want to know?" he asked quietly. Kagome looked up at him and then at her knees, contemplatively.

"What was it about Kikyo that kept you from fighting?"

Inuyasha crossed his legs beneath him and adopted a stoic posture.

"Kikyo and I didn't fight because… well, I guess because we never really spoke," Inuyasha said. Kagome shifted her gaze from her battered legs to Inuyasha's face. She frowned.

"You didn't speak to each other? But, you were so close. Your bond was so…"

Kagome trailed off and leaned back against the wall of her small hole.

"I've told you before that I never really trusted anyone before I met you. That includes Kikyo," Inuyasha said. Kagome restrained a feeble smile, unsure of whether it was appropriate, and waited for Inuyasha to continue.

"She told me that once I became human, I would feel emotionsmore easily. She told me that I shouldn't worry if my feelings for her were conflicted… because they wouldn't be once I became human."

"Your feelings were… conflicted?" Kagome questioned. Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, I traveled with her and everything, but I didn't trust her. I never laughed or smiled around her. I just waited. We were constantly waiting for a time when things would be better. When I became human."

"And then…"

"And then Naraku stepped into the picture. You know the rest of the story, I guess," Inuyasha finished. Kagome looked down into her lap at her folded hands and shivered. The water was still clinging to her skin, and never rubbed off but smeared more destructively. Inuyasha noticed her manic quivering and stood up.

"I have to get you back to the hut. You're going to get sick out here. Come on," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of the hole. He stooped next to her and swung his left arm beneath her knees, picking her off the ground with great deft. This position was Kagome's favorite, asit most resembled his rare embrace. She could feel his heart beat against her thigh, and she rested her head against his shoulder. Inuyasha glanced down at her and blushed for coddling her against his bare flesh.

"Inuyasha… I'm sorry," she said as Inuyasha carefully wove through the wiry trees and vines in the surrounding forest.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I'm sorry that it ended like this. That you didn't get what you were waiting for," Kagome said sleepily, placing a hand on his chest to convey her sincerity. Inuyasha turned a deeper shade of red. Heavy exhaustion pinned Kagome's eyelids after having been thrust from a chilly hole into Inuyasha's warm arms.

"It's not your fault. And besides, if none of that ever happened we wouldn't be here right now, right?" Inuyasha replied. Kagome smiled and nuzzled her head deeper into Inuyasha's flesh. Soon, her breathing became rhythmic and slow. Inuyasha looked down.

"Kagome?" he whispered. She did not stir. Inuyasha exited the woods and entered their hut quietly. Only starlight peeked in through the slits in the walls, as the moon had already dipped beneath the fan of treetops. Inuyasha placed Kagome gently on the blanket Kaede had supplied her and used his own to cover her. He knelt beside her and tucked the covers underneath her arms and legs and stretched it up over her shoulders. Inuyasha tucked a piece of wet hair behind her ear and bent closer.

"I did get what I was waiting for."

With that, the dark, nighttime clouds shifted lazily before the stars, and the hut was dark again.

Review, darlinks.