Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Chapter 4

After Kagome had fully recovered, the group continued on. The group was sitting together speaking. Inuyasha noticed that Miroku and Sango were sitting quite close to each other. To further Inuyasha's astonishment, Inuyasha realized that Miroku and Sango were holding hands. Inuyasha looked up at Kagome with longing. "Why do I wish I was in Miroku's position and Kagome in Sango's? Why do I want her to move closer to me?"
Kagome, who was now observing the interlocked hands of Miroku and Sango. looked up at Inuyasha, and found that he was looking at her. Their eyes met, and both began to blush. Inuyasha looked away then stood up and said, "I'm going for a walk."
Inuyasha quickly got up and left. Not too long after, Kagome said that she was tired and got up as well. Instead of going to bed, Kagome went in search of Inuyasha. When he had left, he seemed to be upset, and she wanted to know why. After looking for a while, she realized that if Inuyasha didn't want to be found, she would never find him. Kagome decided that she should give up, and sat down against a tree. She sat there for a while thinking of Inuyasha, when she thought she heard something up above. Looking up, she saw Inuyasha sitting in the tree above her.
"Inuyasha," she called, surprised that she had actually found him. He looked down and then looked away again, as if looking towards the stars. "Inuyasha," she called again, "what's wrong."
"Nothing!" retorted Inuyasha.
"Something's bothering you, please tell me."
"Why should I tell you?" he asked.
"I'm your friend, I can help," she said a bit hurt.
"You can't help me," he said softly.
"Maybe I can, try me," Kagome said.
"How can she help me when the problem is her," he thought. "I can't tell her my problem… I used to want Kikyo, but now all I can think about is Kagome." Inuyasha looked down at Kagome and was about to tell her to go away, but the look on her face made him reconsider. "Can we just talk?"
"Sure," Kagome said, happy to know that she would be close to Inuyasha. And with that, Inuyasha reached a hand to Kagome. Kagome took his hand and Inuyasha effortlessly lifted her up onto the limb that he was on. Placing Kagome against the trunk of the tree, Inuyasha turned to face her.
"So," he said.
"So," she said.
After a minute of silence, Inuyasha decided to try and make some sort of conversation. "Did you see Miroku and Sango?"
"Yeah, I did," she responded with a chuckle. "What do you think about Sango and Miroku together?"
"I think the monk will be after another girl the first chance he gets."
"Inuyasha?"
"Yeah, Kagome?"
"Were you thinking about Kikyo earlier?"
"No," responded Inuyasha surprised. "Why do you think that?"
"I don't know, you just seemed to get that look in your eye. When you looked at Sango and Miroku, your eyes seemed to have this look of longing."
"I wasn't thinking about Kikyo, Kagome," replied Inuyasha as he started to blush. "I can't tell her that I was thinking about her, can I?" he thought to himself.
"Oh, well, what were you thinking about then?" she asked.
But before Inuyasha had a chance to answer, a bird in a nearby tree startled her. Kagome lost her balance and started to fall, but Inuyasha grabbed her and pulled her close to him and whispered in her ear, "I was thinking about you, Kagome."
Kagome turned to face Inuyasha, and was surprised to find him blushing. "What were you thinking about me, Inuyasha?"
"I-I was… I was," he stammered.
"You were…?" Kagome asked.
"Nothing, I wasn't thinking anything," Inuyasha said quickly.
"Fine, don't tell me!" Kagome said hurt. "He was probably thinking about how I was nothing like Kikyo." Then to Inuyasha she added, "Now Inuyasha, please let me go, I want to get out of this tree!" said Kagome.
"No, Kagome!" he said while grabbing her arm.
"Let me go!" Kagome yelled. Stunned, Inuyasha let go, and when he did, Kagome came close to falling off the tree for the second time. Luckily, Inuyasha caught her around the waist before she had fallen. "Inuyasha, can you please explain why you've been acting the way you do? You've been acting differently. If you don't tell me, I will go to the well, and I won't come back!" Then Kagome thought, "I couldn't leave him, I would come back."
"I… Well, it's just…"
"What is it!"
'I think I love you, Kagome. But with Kikyo alive again, I'm not sure how I feel!' Inuyasha thought. "No, I don't love Kagome. She's just a friend." Then aloud he said, "It's Kikyo." "Well, that's not a complete lie," he added to himself.
"So it is about, Kikyo," Kagome said softly. Her heart started to break, "Inuyasha would never even spend that much time thinking about me," she thought.
"Why do I feel this way?" Inuyasha asked himself. "She's just a friend."
"Why am I upset? Inuyasha's just a friend, I should try and comfort him," thought Kagome. "Inuyasha?" she said.
"What?" he asked.
"I'm sorry about you and Kikyo."
"I'm sorry too."
"Huh? Why are you sorry?" asked Kagome confused.
Instead of responding, Inuyasha turned and hugged Kagome. Then, taking her in his arms, he took her to the ground, and before releasing her, he whispered in her ear, "thank you, Kagome." And with that final word, Inuyasha turned and walked back to camp. Kagome stood there for a minute or two, stunned. A yawn broke her out of her trance, and she realized just how tired she really was. She then headed back to camp and went to sleep.
From his spot in the corner, Inuyasha watched Kagome. He felt his stomach melt, "I really do love her," he thought, "but she would never love me back. Not with the way I treat her."
While Kagome was lying down to sleep, she was thinking. She glanced at Inuyasha, and longed to go over to him and run her hands through his silver hair. "I love him," she finally admitted to herself, "but he still loves Kikyo."

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