A/N: I'm grateful one of the books I had to read wasn't too long…But I don't recommend anyone who has a dog to read 'My Dog Skip.' Made me cry in the end and I had to go hug my dog. Why do they always give us really sad books, or ones so boring that I can't even read them? Jeez…it's the damn school board. If they let us pick our own books, or from a list, then maybe less kids would drop out of school…

Chapter 13: Please, Talk to Me

Kagome ran through the woods, wearing her miko outfit. "I have to get there…" she said. She stopped at Goshinboku. She looked up at the tree. It was decaying. The branches were old and rotten, the leaves all fallen. It looked sick, and dead. She slowly reached a hand out to it. "Goshinboku…what happened? Why are you dead?" The sky was black, it was night, yet there were no stars in the sky.

She heard a movement behind her. She turned sharply, revealing Inuyasha. He was not the loving hanyou she knew. His eyes were cold, dark, angry. He looked as if he trusted no one. "Inuyasha…" Kagome said, reaching out a hand. "What's wrong?"

He glared at her, and struck her outstretched hand. "Why the hell are you talking to me, bitch?"

She stepped back. This was not the Inuyasha she knew. "I-Inuyasha? What did you call me?"

He came closer, flexing his claws. "You heard me, bitch!" His golden eyes held malice in them, his mouth twisted into a smirk.

Kagome backed up against Goshinboku, looking at him with frightened eyes. "Inuyasha, what happened to you? Why are you like this?"

He kept getting closer, the look of hatred only increasing. "Keh! Stupid wench. Nothing happened to me. I am as I have ever been."

"B-but…" she said, tears threatening to fall down her face. "Y-you weren't like this before! You were loving! You said you loved me!"

He grabbed her by the throat, slamming her up against the tree. His claws dug into her flesh. She gasped, grabbing his hands and trying to wrench them off her throat. "I-Inuyasha!"

He gave a mocking laugh. "Heh. I don't know what you're talking about. I never loved anything. And I certainly NEVER loved a miko bitch such as YOU. Humans and youkai don't belong together. YOUKAI KILL HUMANS!" He raised his claws.

She screamed, "INUYASHA!"

Kagome was jerked awake when Kuro started crying. She was breathing heavily from the dream, but hearing Kuro scream had also startled her.

Inuyasha also jumped, and he seemed to be more tired then her, since he immediately grabbed for Tessaiga and unsheathed it.

"Sit." Kagome said, hearing a loud crash after she uttered that word. "Baka. It's just the baby." She walked over to the two month old Kuro and picked him up.

Inuyasha wrenched his head up from the ground, having fallen face first into his haori since he usually slept without it. "The way that kid was screaming, I thought it was a youkai."

"R-right…" She said, turning away while trying to comfort Kuro. She didn't like that word being brought up after that dream. Humans and Youkai don't belong together...

"What is it?" The hanyou asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You tired?"

He noticed how she ever so slightly flinched under her touch. He remembered the last time she did this, however distant the memory was. A dream…she had one again…

"Yeah." She said, pulling a fake yawn. "I'm just tired of being woken up at night all the time."

She doesn't want to tell me… "Kagome," he said, more forcefully. "You had a nightmare again, didn't you?"

She gave a small, almost inaudible gasp. He knows… "No." she lied. "No, nothing like that."

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. "You're lying to me."

Kagome said, nothing, she just looked down at the thankfully, not screaming, Kuro.

"Kagome, I don't know what's causing these, but you have to understand, I can help." Almost pleadingly, he said, "Kagome, please, talk to me."

Her eyes filled with tears. She shut them tightly. "I…can't…" she said, tears falling onto her cheeks. "I'm sorry Inuyasha but…" She sniffed, "I can't tell you."

Inuyasha took Kuro from her hands, and set him down in his basket. He then grabbed her and pulled her into a fierce hug. "Kagome, you can tell me anything. You know that, don't you?"

As she wept against his white undershirt, she thought, But Inuyasha, I can't tell you about this…It would break your heart…

He continued, "I'm not going to ask you now. It's late, and I know Kuro has worn us both out. But…Kagome, one day, please tell me."

One day…but when…but…if I refuse, it will make it look like more than it is…Nodded, leaning against his chest. "O-okay." She said, blinking away tears.

"Good." He said. "Try and go back to sleep. I'll stay awake and make sure nothing harms you."

She looked at him. "You'll stay awake? A-all night?"

He released her. "Yeah. I'm hanyou, remember? We don't need as much sleep as you humans do."

She felt a pang in her chest. Hanyous and humans don't belong together…

"Kagome?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'm fine." She crawled back into bed. "Goodnight."

Even though she felt somewhat safer when he said he would watch over her, she still couldn't help but feel wary. What if I have another dream again? But tiredness overtook her, and she fell asleep.

"You guys look tired." Miroku said, the next day when Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippou, and Kuro were over at Sango and Miroku's hut.

Kagome yawned. "We didn't get much sleep last night."

A lecherous grin spread across his face. "Ah. I see. But you don't look as if you enjoyed yourselves."

"MONK!" Inuyasha growled, thumping him over the head. "It's nothing like that! Kuro kept us up!"

"He's still keeping you awake?" The very pregnant (she was well into her seventh month) Sango asked.

Kagome looked down at Kuro who was silently watching everyone's antics in her lap. "I think the question is, when will he stop keeping us awake."

"You guys definitely look like you need sleep." Shippou said. "Although, Kagome looks like she needs more."

Inuyasha cast a glance over at Kagome. She was still tired from the day she opened the well. After that adventure, she had been asleep for two full days and she was unable to get out of bed for an entire week. It had scared him so badly, seeing her so exhausted. He made her promise she would never do anything again. And she had agreed, because she knew that if she had kept up the well for much longer, it might have killed her.

"If you need sleep, then we can help you there." Miroku said.

"What do you mean, Miroku-sama?" Kagome asked.

"We can babysit for you, Kagome-chan." Sango said. "I mean, you guys are exhausted. You deserve a night off."

"Really? You'd do that?" Kagome asked.

"Of course." Miroku said. "You deserve a night of sleep…or a night to do anything but sleep…"

Sango managed to smack him, even though it was getting harder for her to move around with the baby on the way. "We'd be happy to." She said.

Inuyasha and Kagome didn't say another word. "That'd be great, thanks!" Inuyasha said, dropping Kuro in the monk's arms and then taking Kagome and speeding back to their hut.

And they were quite enjoying their night alone. Kagome was sitting in his lap; her arms wrapped around his neck, while his arms came around her back and pushed her closer to him. Their lips pressed against each others, passionately, hungrily, tacking back the time they had missed. Inuyasha's haori and undershirt had already been removed because "The night air was surprisingly warm, that night." Oh, how Kagome loved seeing that gorgeous, extremely well defined chest.

They broke away, only to look back in each others eyes and pull back into an electrifying kiss. For Kagome, this was heaven. We haven't really been alone since Kuro came…But it's not that I blame him…It's just…sometimes, we need to be alone…

When they broke away again, Kagome said, while rubbing his ears, "You know, Inuyasha, I thought we were supposed to be using this night to 'take back our sleep'."

He grinned in a way that made her shiver with anticipation. "We will, but I don't think it's the sleep you're thinking."

"Pervert." She muttered, while he lovingly kissed her neck. "It's because of this we got a baby. If you keep this up, we'll have another."

He grinned back at her. "Then I'll be sure to be very careful, now won't I?" He said, diving back in for another kiss.

But she put her hand in front of her, pretending to be offended. "Inuyasha, I can only imagine what the villagers would say if you got me pregnant again."

He leaned closer, that sensual glint in his eye. "Keh. Why should we care? It's just us, hanyou and human, forever Kagome. I don't give a damn what anyone else says."

That made Kagome's thinking suddenly stop. She remembered…in a dream she had when she was still pregnant…he said something almost exactly like that before he…" She felt sick, and lost all interest in the activities Inuyasha had been suggesting.

"Kagome...?" He noticed her discomfort.

She turned away, her mind still on the nightmares. "Inuyasha…I think…I think I'm too tired to do whatever you wanted to do…" She crawled towards the bed, but he grabbed her arm.

"It's about that dream, isn't it?" he asked. "Why don't you just tell me?"

She didn't answer; she just flopped on the bed, tears in her eyes. She lay on her side, her head in her hands. "Inuyasha…I…I just can't. I know you want me too, but…I can't…It hurts me to even think about it! I'm so scared Inuyasha! I don't know what's causing them! I just want them to stop! I…I can't bear to see…I can't bear to see them…"

As Inuyasha watched her cry, it also burned his heart. His mate was scared, and he couldn't stop it. Youkai were one thing, nightmares were another. He knew there was only one thing he could do. He could try to calm her down.

He knelt next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He let out a small whine, letting her know he felt for her. He closed his eyes and nuzzled her neck, wrapping his arm around her waist from behind. Kagome turned around, tears in her eyes, and he wasted no time in pulling her closer and kissing her lovingly.

She didn't care, for now, she just wanted to forget all about the nightmares. She wanted to free the visions from her mind. When they parted, he looked deep into her eyes, wanting to know if she was okay. Without saying a word, she nodded, closing her eyes once more.

That gave him all the permission he needed. He crawled on top of her, and leaned close to her ear. "Kagome…you know I love you, right?"

She smiled. "I know. And I love you too, Inuyasha." Just…don't ever leave me…

A/N: YAY FOR FLUFFYNESS! And I re-read a bit of this and has anyone else noticed how many times I use the phase, "muscled chest," "bare chest," or "gorgeous chest" whenever I'm talking about Inu? I think I have an unhealthy obsessionfor shirtless Inu…but hey, those are FINE six pack abs… :P