A Story of Hope

It was the middle of the night. There was someone shaking her awake. It wasn't like Kagome could tell the time by the light, but she could tell because of the insistent silence that could only be heard while people were sleeping.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"I had a bad dream." Asai's little voice said softly. "I was scared."

Kagome's heart went out to the little girl. She fumbled around in the dark a little bit until she found the zipper for her sleeping bag. Unzipping it, she patted the spot next to her.

"You can sleep with me." Shippo had found somewhere else to sleep tonight so it was fine.

A moment later, Kagome felt Asai lie down next to her. "So what was your dream about?" she asked, zipping the bag up again.

"All my family died in front of me." The girl replied sadly.

Kagome hugged Asai tightly. "It was just a dream." She told her reassuringly.

"Uh huh. I guess."

The two drifted off to sleep.

"Aww! Look how cute!"

"Kagome and I sleep like that all the time though, Sango!"

"Feh. They're going to get too attached to each other."

"Really Inuyasha, Asai's just a young child. At such a young age she needs the comfort Kagome's giving her."

"Shut up." The hanyou grumbled, "You too Shippo."

"What'd I do!"

"How about we just let them sleep?" Miroku walked back towards the main area of the camp.

"Good idea." Sango agreed, following him, trailed after by Shippo. Inuyasha gave took one last look at the sleeping pair and joined the other three.

"So what exactly happened yesterday evening again?" Sango asked Inuyasha.

"What do you mean what happened?"

"With Kagome being able to use your eyes." Miroku clarified.

"Oh." Inuyasha thought about it for a second. "Well Kagome went to cover my eyes to show me what it was like for her. And then she could see. So she tried again and we found out that if she put her hand here-" He put his fingers next to one of his eyes. "That she could see, but using my eyes."

"Is that really what happened?" the monk asked.

"Of course it is!"

"Calm down Inuyasha, I was just asking." Miroku replied. It's a very unusual case."

"But it's happened before?" Sango asked.

"Yes." He said nodding. "It is so rare because it will only work when the conditions are right.

"Does that mean that Kagome won't be able to use my eyes all the time?" Inuyasha demanded.

"No. If you and Kagome have done it before, you can do it again. The conditions are this. One of the two people must be blind and the other must be able to see. The second condition is that the two people must have a deep connection."

"Like love?" Shippo guessed

"Exactly." Miroku agreed nodding. He turned to Inuyasha. "We knew you loved Kagome but to love her this much… I had no idea Inuyasha.

The hanyou jumped up. "I do not love Kagome!" he said angrily. "I need her to find the jewel shards that's all. So I need her to be alright."

"Are you sure you want to say that Inuyasha?" Shippo asked nervously.

"Of course I do!"

"But Kagome is…" the kitsune trailed off.

Inuyasha turned around to look at Kagome, dreading what he might see. There was Kagome, wide awake and glaring at him, or at least in his general direction.

"I uh…" he said awkwardly.

"You're in trouble." Miroku said unnecessarily.

A tear dripped down Kagome's cheek. "Sango." She said weakly, trying her best not to cry.

The demon slayer jumped up from her seat and hurried to her friend's side, helping her up and away from the rest of the group. She looked over her shoulder, giving Inuyasha final glare before turning back to Kagome. "Come on Kagome, let's go sit somewhere quite were we can be away from everyone else."