Don't Want to Miss a Thing

I don't wanna miss one smile
I don't wanna miss one kiss
Well, I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just wanna hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

Aerosmith

Inuyasha felt like he had been struck. He was so astounded that movement seemed impossible and time seemed to have stopped, taken a long, deep breath and was waiting to release it. The way she looked, her cheeks wet with tears from what he had done, was almost unbearable.

Sango was now standing beside Kagome, trying to console her, but the girl refused to be quieted.

Kagome stood up and looked at Sesshoumaru again. She wouldn't let herself look at Inuyasha, wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing her anger. She thought it was even more punishment for him to wait for her outburst, wait for the venting of anger that was seething beneath her surface.

Kagome went to turn around, to finally unleash the words she had been biting back, when a frail hand touched her wrist. She looked down at it, almost not believing it was real.

"Sesshoumaru…?" she said softly, daring herself to look into his face. His eyes were parted, the golden canvases dulled and almost lifeless. A small trickle of blood running from his nose had dried and crusted on his face. She looked into his eyes, trying to decide if it was real or a cruel illusion.

"Inuyasha!" she heard Sango yell. She had seen it too. 'He's alive…he's alive…' she thought, the words running around in her head like a broken record. It was all she could think and it filled her until she wasn't able to speak.

Her happiness was fuelled when a pair of pale hands clasped around the hilt of the Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha was looking at his brother dead in the eyes, trying to convey some message that Kagome couldn't read. Apparently Sesshoumaru, even in his weakened state, knew though.

"Do it." he muttered, his voice so low that Kagome could barely hear it. She opened her mouth to say something, but her words were quickly stifled by Inuyasha pulling the sword out of his brother's body. Sesshoumaru began to slide down the wall but Kagome caught him under the arms. They tumbled to the ground, both of them thrown off balance, and he landed on top of her. She once again felt the ooze of blood dripping onto her body and it brought back memories of the prison. She turned him over and laid him on his back, checking his face for signs of pain. Not to her surprise, no such signs were given.

"We've got to get him inside." she said.

For the second time in less than two weeks Kagome found herself fighting for Sesshoumaru's life.

XoXoXoX

'Once Inuyasha is by my side I will finish you once and for all!' Kagura thought. Her breathing was heavy and sweat covered her body. She reached up and touched her busted lip, disgusted by the blood that covered her fingers. She looked at Naraku, letting all the hate she was feeling into her eyes, wishing that she had the power to attack him, to overtake him, see him writhing in pain while she delivered blow after blow.

"So you teamed with Inuyasha? Did you think I would not know?" he asked her, his voice low and deadly. He was sick of her scheming and alarmed at how well she carried it out. She had learned things from him, it seemed. And even now he was proud of her, at the hate that shot from her eyes, the way she arrogantly stood with her shoulders high when he hit her. She was strong, any stronger and he'd have to kill her. And now she had proven her battle wit as well. Yes, she was certainly a problem.

"I knew you would find out eventually." she replied. 'But I thought you'd be dead by then…' she thought, smart enough to not mention it.

He struck her again, a box to the ears so powerful it almost knocked her down. She lost her hearing in the ear for a moment and her vision was a little cloudy. She blinked a few times and bit back the scathing comments she so dearly wanted to speak.

He reached out again and she braced herself for another blow, but this time she felt his hands cup her face. She stood frozen. He turned her head so that he could better see her ear, smiling at the blood that ran out of it. He spoke something but she still could not hear.

'He's going to kill me.' she thought, amazed at the calm that overcame her at that moment. A silence settled into her and her breath came out slowly and evenly. She turned her face to look at him, complacency in her eyes for once.

He said something again but she couldn't hear it, all she saw were his lips moving. And after that, though she didn't really know how, she was thrown into the wall. She felt bones within her body crack and jut forward, her ribs stretching her skin, trying to burst out. She slid down the wall, her vision white from pain. When she reached the ground she felt a rib finally break the surface and protrude out to greet the cold air. She felt warm blood rush out of her, a burning bright red that poured onto the floor in a grim entrance. She saw him smirk once more before he disappeared.

She opened her mouth, coughing out the blood that had occupied it. She was going fast. She pulled all the energy she could to say her final words.

"It's not over yet."

And then she saw nothing.

XoXoXoX

The wound was severe, blood oozing out whenever he was moved, even in the slightest. But even so they could already see the skin knitting back together, the sick cracking sound indicating that the bone was also repairing itself.

"It's good he's a demon." Miroku said, sitting on the bed beside Kagome. He left off the rest of his sentence. He figured the 'or else he would be dead' part would anger Kagome.

The girl had not left his side. She applied bandage after bandage to his wound, applying pressure to it whenever the blood began to flow again. She didn't care about the pus that seeped from the wound to her fingers, or the blood that now covered her forearms. She worked only to save his life, not even letting hunger persuade her to leave. Sango had to force her to leave his side just to eat, and had to sit with her to make sure she devoured each bite. After the meal was done she rushed back to his side.

It was around midnight when Inuyasha walked into the sickroom and found Kagome in a deep sleep, laying alongside Sesshoumaru in the bed. In between their bodies lay Rin, who clung to Kagome the way a scared child would cling to her mother. One of Kagome's hands rested on Sesshoumaru's arm, which made it seem that she was hugging Rin. Inuyasha sighed. It was like a happy little family.

"I know you love her. This must be hard." a soft voice said behind him. He turned and saw Sango walking towards him.

"It isn't. I know what I have to do." he said sullenly, like a death-row prisoner who had finally accepted his fate. The tone of his voice and the words he left out startled Sango. This wasn't the Inuyasha she knew. The Inuyasha she knew would be fighting for Kagome's love, not acting forlorn and melancholy.

"Well I wasn't expecting that…"

"Imagine," Inuyasha began, not really listening to the words she had spoken. "Imagine that Miroku fell in love with some other woman. Real love. What would you do?" he asked her, finally turning and looking her straight in the eye. She considered the question, wanting to choose her words carefully in this situation. She looked back over to Kagome and noticed the tender way she held on to Sesshoumaru, as if she were the only thing holding him to life, refusing to let him slip into the darkness of death. Seeing that, she finally was able to answer Inuyasha's question.

"I would let her have him. Fighting for him would only hurt him and make him doubt himself. But it's still possible to be friends with the one you loved and lost." she added. Her heart swam when she received a smile from Inuyasha, a true smile, something he hadn't given in days. A part of her knew that this was just a front he was putting up to appease her, but something also told her that, with time, he would get over this. He would want to see Kagome happy with someone else instead of miserable with him.

They turned and stalked out of the room, careful not to disturb the sleepers.

XoXoXoX

The early morning light filtered into the room. Kagome opened her eyes, smiling when she saw Rin's little foot twitching in sleep.

She froze when the arm under her hand moved. She raised her head from her pillow and found herself looking into the eyes that had haunted her dreams for so many nights. She sat up, almost believing that she was still asleep and this was all a dream.

"Its real." he said softly, as if reading her mind. She looked down and checked his wound, amazed at how swiftly it was healing. A large gash was still there, but the skin around it was no longer an angry red colour. It had faded back to his natural paleness. When she touched it blood and other things no longer spilled out. She could barely contain her joy.

"How are you?" she asked stupidly, still dazed by this reality that she felt almost drunk on delight.

"Fine." he said. Kagome smiled and then burst out laughing, which woke up the bundle by her side. She had to grab the little girl to keep her from jumping up and onto Sesshoumaru. Finally Rin relented and sat on Kagome's lap, bouncing from happiness.

"I'm hungry!" Rin howled after about half an hour full of discussion between Sesshoumaru and Kagome. Kagome chuckled, swearing she saw amusement dance into Sesshoumaru's eyes, which caused her to smile even more. She stood up, Rin in her arms.

"Well then let's go get you some food." she replied, telling Sesshoumaru that she would return later. She walked out of the room and then began to walk to the kitchen, Rin humming and talking the whole way.

She had never felt so happy in her life. It seemed that nothing in the world could ever go wrong again.

How very wrong she was.

XoXoXoX

A/N - Hope you enjoyed it! I updated as soon as I could. School is already exhausting and it's only the first week! And I just have to say that I NEVER expected to get 349 reviews for this story. You guys are so awesome and you all really deserve a lot for reviewing chapter after chapter even when writer's block ad other things prevent me from updating in weeks. Thank you! cue cheesy music You like me! You really like me! Lol, well that was all. Expect a new chapter soon. The next one's going to be a doozy.