(I've decided to put all of my AN's at the bottom unless it has something to do with the chapter. The disclaimer will be at the top, obviously.)

Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, Kikyo would have never been brought back to life, Kagome and Inuyasha would have admit their feelings toward each other ages ago, and I would have changed Naraku's name to Mr. Monkey-man Bastard. Also, I wouldn't be wasting my time writing fan fictions here in America, but instead be in Japan focusing on the real anime. So in other words, I DON'T OWN INUYASHA! People these days...Why must I have to break it down for them...

Speaking: "Inuyasha no baka"

Thoughts: Inuyasha no baka


Last time:

He had let Kikyo die. Again.

He had failed her. Again.

He had let her fall into the hands of Naraku. Again.

He wasn't going to let happen to another. He would protect Kagome...

As long as he lived.


Protecting You

Chapter 2: Tears


Kagome had finally reached the Honekui after 20 minutes of walking. She sighed, dropped her bag at the side of the well, and sat on its edge, feet dangling inside.

She felt guilty for leaving Inuyasha alone. He was obviously grief-stricken and she felt the need to comfort him. She wanted to climb up that tree, hold him, and tell him everything was okay. She wanted to mend his broken heart, making it whole again and maybe...be a part of it.

She shook her head. Iie, it was a stupid idea. She would only get in the way and complicate things more.

She always got in the way...

If she hadn't been there, Inuyasha could have been protecting Kikyo instead of her. And Kikyo would still be alive. But, no. She had always been around, causing more grief and problems for Inuyasha.

Kagome felt like dirt thinking about this.

Once she had told herself, "If you really love him, you would let him be free. You're just holding him down."

She was right thinking that. She was always in the way, holding him back with her petty feelings when he could have been Kikyo. She was too stubborn for own good. Her father had said her stubbornness would come back at her one day. Now she wished that she could've taken his warning to more extent. She should have just stayed home before, instead of causing more pain and coming back to say she wanted to be with him.

She was the cause of his pain.

She was the cause of Kikyo's death.

It was all her fault.

A single tear dropped down the young girl's face. Then another...and another...

She was crying.

Kagome was not the one to cry over anything. She was very strong. She hadn't cried since she first figured out she was in love with him.

Inuyasha...

It hurt. It hurt so much.

She didn't care who could see her right then. She just cried out her pain and frustration that had accumulated over the past few months. She felt a little better, but was still in grief. Loneliness flowed throughout her body.

She now knew how Inuyasha felt. What a horrible feeling...to feel so alone that you think nobody, not even your family, would or could help you. If she was him, she would probably cry every night or on the point on going insane.

Sobs threatened to take over her. She forced them back, crying softly in her hands which were wet from too much crying. Her face was puffy and her eyes were red as a rabbit's.

Suddenly, realization came to her. Inuyasha could smell her tears! The wind did blow in his direction after all. She needed to go home before he came running.

Grabbing her backpack by the shoulder strap, she hoisted herself up and put all of her weight on her hands, preparing to jump into the old well. She stayed in that position for several minutes, staring into the dreary well's depths until her hands hurt from the pressure. She sat back down on the edge.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't leave him.

She was afraid. She knew that if she left, she didn't know if she could bring herself to come back. She had come to conclusion earlier: Inuyasha would be a lot happier without her around. Knowing her, she would probably stick to it, no matter how much it hurt. She wanted him to be happy. Kagome wasn't selfish and didn't care that her heart was being torn to pieces as she thought about it. She wanted him to be happy...that's all that mattered.

But, she still couldn't do it.

She wanted to at least say goodbye. Hell, she wanted to do more than that. She wanted to tell him everything. All of her doubts and fears. All of her feelings.

Baka! she thought angrily. That'll only make things worse than they already are!

But even as she told herself this, she couldn't bring herself to jump in. She was a fool. A scared fool.

Growling in frustration, she spun herself around so her feet would touch the ground. Angry tears slid down her face.

She was upset with herself, for being an idiot and a wimp and not knowing how to control her feelings. She laid her head in her lap sorrowfully. Uncontrollable sobs overcame her.

Kagome tried to wipe her tears with the collar of her shirt. It was already wet so it didn't clear much. She didn't have a handkerchief either. She decided to ignore them and let them flow freely down her face.

Soft footsteps caused her to tense up immediately. They stopped in front of her but their owner said nothing. The upset girl brought her head up to glance at the feet.

They were bare and were connected to red pants.

Her stomach did flip flops. Maybe if she ignored him, he would disappear. 'Please go away,' she chanted to herself. 'Onegai, please go away.' Her gaze remained on the bare feet.

A square of red cloth in a clawed hand was put in front of her face. She stared at it for a second, before taking it silently. She then proceeded to wipe the salty tears off her face and to blow her nose. Any other time she would have laughed at the sound her nose made blowing into the scrap of the hinezumi no koromo.

Inuyasha moved to sit on the side of the well next to her. The pair elapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

Kagome continued to stare at the place where his feet were a minute before. The ground seemed pretty interesting at the time. Her crying had stopped, but she continued to sniff and her face was still flushed and puffy.

What would he say? Would he yell at her? Why hasn't he said anything yet? These questions swarmed through her head at a million miles an hour.

She winced when he sighed. "Did I upset you Kagome?" he whispered so low that she had to strain to hear. "Was I the one who made you cry?"

That caught her completely off guard. Not really the reaction she expected... But the thought that he was blaming himself caused her to whip around to face him.

After she did it...she wished she hadn't.

He was looking at her with the most heartbreaking expression she'd ever seen. His eyes were dark and she could tell that he felt that it was his fault that she was crying. His face made her want to burst out into tears all over again. She averted her gaze back to the grass.

She swallowed hard before whispering, "Iie, it's just me being stupid. It's not your fault."

It went silent again. The wind picked up a bit, making Kagome's face cold since it was still a bit damp from her tears.

Her chilled face was momentarily forgotten as she thought about a bigger problem. She had to put an end to her question's nagging at her brain. A question that she always wanted to ask Inuyasha, but had been too chicken to do it. But now, it was back at full blast, trying to get to her. It was like a dog chewing on a chew toy, gnawing at her and tearing piece by piece of her will until she'd eventually go crazy. She no longer wanted to know, but needed to know. It was now or never...

Gathering up the last bit of courage she thought she had, she hesitantly started, "Inuyasha, do I..." Taking a deep breath and squeezing out a bit more courage, she finished. "...do I get in your way?"

There. She said it. It was funny how one person could get so worked up over such a simple question. She was sure, looking back at this, that she would laugh at how silly she was. However, Inuyasha took it sort of the way she expected.

Inuyasha gaped at her, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Finally, he ground out a "What! What the hell, Kagome?! Where are you getting these stupid ideas from?"

Kagome rolled the material of her skirt between her fingers. Dammit, Kagome! This is what you get for not keeping your big mouth shut! She cursed to herself lightly.

"Well it's just..." she started. Inuyasha just stared at her with a frown, waiting for her to continue. She twiddled her thumbs, nervously. Should she tell him? Here she had the chance to tell him everything, but she was having second thoughts. Here's your chance, Kagome! Tell him! "I was thinking that maybe if—"

"KAGOME!!!!!!!" screamed a certain kit as he raced towards her. She stood, surprised to see that the young yokai was here. The yelling kit flung into her arms, looking at her, concerned. "Kagome, what's wrong? I smelled your tears all the way from the village!"

Kagome gave an exasperated sigh. She had forgotten about Shippo. Things just seemed to get worse for her since she now has to deal with a worry-wart kitsune and a stare-a-whole-in-your-back hanyo. She tried to put on a smile. It ended up more like a grimace.

"Shippo, um, I'm fine. Really." I think that's my biggest lie yet, she thought grimly.

Shippo shook his head, his mop of orange hair flying everywhere. "You were crying. You're not fine. It was him, wasn't it?!" he said, pointing a small finger at Inuyasha who returned with a defensive "What!".

Kagome held up a hand to stop the oncoming battle, effectively shutting up the bickering yokai and look at her. She sighed, closing her eyes and gathered up her nerves. Opening her eyes and smiling a genuine fake smile, she addressed Shippo first. "Shippo-chan, I'm fine. Don't worry about me...both of you. I just got a little upset about something, that's all."

The young yokai stared at her before giving a hesitant, "If you say so..."

Nodding, she grabbed her yellow backpack and placed Shippo on the well's edge. "I'll be back in a few days. Four, at the most. See—"

"Kagome..." She turned to Inuyasha, blinking at him a few times. He walked closer to her, so close that they were almost touching. She couldn't help but flinch slightly at his antics and be prepared for the yelling of the century. So was much to her surprise when he didn't even raise his voice. "Kagome...you better come back. If you don't, I want even hesitate to climb through that well and drag you back here. Four days is all you have, you go that?"

She blinked him some more, her eyes doing a great impression of a hummingbird's wings. Okaay...so it wasn't the reaction she was expecting. Once again she was misled. Her expression softened and gave off a not-so-forced smile. "Got it."

With that, she jumped in the well, leaving behind a confused Shippo and a troubled Inuyasha.


Sorry about the long delay. Things have been hectic these past couple of months from me getting a job to summer homework. (Yes I got summer homework. T.T) I'm actually going out of town again on Saturday and will be gone for a week. So the hiatus shall continue until I get back. But I did find time to write a chapter for this story. As for DM and SBAFAL: DM I haven't even started doing the second chapter yet but, I will when I get back and SBAFAL is halfway written. So just bear with me, okay? Don't kill me yet! However, to make up for everything, I gave you six pages of not-so-action-packed drama-filled goodness! Hope you enjoyed it!

I found this chapter specifically hard to write. I had to fit all of the emotions into the right place and all that stuff. I'm not really an emotional person so it was kind of difficult at first. I think I did pretty well if I might say so myself. sticks nose up in the air snobbishly

Japanese translations (Courtesy of "The Art of Inuyasha" and research):

Iie-No

Onegai-please

Hinezumi no koromo-robe of the fire rat

See you at the next chapter and don't forget to review!