A/N: Originally a oneshot. But my muse insisted that I continue. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Almost forgot! Rumiko Takehashi owns everything! Except my idea. At least I've got her there. (snickers)

Chapter 2: The Morning After

Kagome felt a sharp tug at her naval and she was suddenly thrown back into darkness. It was very much like the initial feeling she had when she was first entering Inuyasha's dream. Kagome's eyes flew open to reveal clear blue skies shining merrily upon her. Sitting up wildly, she looked around. Sango, Miroku, and Shippou were already up and it appeared that the first two had started cooking breakfast. It smelled good, but even that couldn't take her eyes away from the sight of a certain hanyou slowly waking up from what appeared to be a very pleasant dream.

Inuyasha grinned lazily as he slowly sat up from his perch. Stretching, he yawned widely.

"Pleasant dreams? Eh, Inuyasha?" Miroku chuckled noticing that he was finally awake. Kagome scowled and tried to slump deeper into her sleeping bag. Unfortunately for her, Sango had noticed that she too was awake.

"Morning, Kagome!" she called out cheerily.

Kagome merely grunted before throwing back her covers. She was definitely not in the mood for Sango's chipperness today. Rather, all she wanted to do was to go back home, throw on some sweats, and waste away her day by sitting on the couch, watching TV, and eating Pocky all day. But since they had traveled so far from the well, Kagome would have to content herself with a long—extremely long—bath at a hotspring they had passed yesterday.

Without even bothering to look at her companions she muttered a disgruntled, "Feh," before storming off in the direction of the hotspring.

"What's her problem?" Shippou mused aloud as he watched Kagome's retreating form. "She acts more and more like Inuyasha every day."

Inuyasha shot the little kitsune a threatening glare. "You say that like it's a bad thing, runt!"

"Well of course it—mphm mphm mphm!" Sango had quickly covered the kit's mouth. With Kagome gone, who else would protect the kid?

"He didn't mean anything by it." Sango sweatdropped as Shippou squirmed furiously beneath her hand. It was far too early in the morning for an argument to begin. And from the disgruntled way Kagome left she could sense there was already one brewing.

"Whatever," Inuyasha said. "I'm gonna go figure out why Kagome's being so damn moody today!"

"Inuyasha, wait!" Miroku tried to be the voice of reason but the hanyou had already sprinted off in Kagome's direction. Miroku sighed. "Typical."

In the meantime, Kagome had completely given up at making it to the hotspring. Millions of thoughts were milling around inside her head. She had felt so overwhelmed and gotten dizzy. She decided to forget about the hotspring for fear she would pass out before she made it there. Now she was sitting with her back to a giant oak tree.

Kagome hung her head, hair shadowing her face. She stared at the ground replaying the details of last night's dream over and over again in her mind.

She hurt.

In her mind she envisioned the look in Inuyasha's eyes just before he leaned down to kiss her. No. Not her. Kikyo. The name alone made Kagome's heart ache.

How could he choose her over me?

Wait. That was a stupid question. There were millions of reasons why Inuyasha would choose Kikyo. Kikyo was his first love, Kikyo was prettier than Kagome, Kikyo's miko abilities were beyond compare… the list could go on and on. Every reason Kagome thought of felt like a tiny jab to her heart.

She let out an anguished cry. Kikyo was better than Kagome and she always would be. Hadn't Inuyasha told her that repeatedly? Kikyo wouldn't have broken the jewel. Kikyo was a master archer. Kikyo was cuter. Kikyo wouldn't have made that mistake. He was always comparing her flaws to Kikyo's strengths. It was obvious that Inuyasha would choose Kikyo.

Kagome was prepared for that. She just didn't realize that the truth would make her hurt so badly.

The scenes kept replaying in her head: Inuyasha sweeping her—Kikyo—up into his arms, Inuyasha whispering in her ear, Inuyasha kissing her, Inuyasha declaring his love for only Kikyo.

Kikyo, Kikyo, Kikyo!

Kagome bit her lip, desperately trying to keep her tears from spilling onto the ground. She blinked her eyes furiously and clutched the grass. Her insides felt jumbled and her heart was on the point of breaking. She shook silently as the pain began to well up inside. She fought back a short sob, her face twisting in anguish. Her silent battle only succeeded in making her feel overwhelming tired. Fatigued and unable to hold the tears back any longer, she curled up into herself and let the tears fall.

That was how she looked when Inuyasha finally found her. When he had caught the salty smell of her tears he had immediately picked up his pace. He was worried. What on earth had caused her to cry? He wanted to know and he hoped that she wasn't hurt. His eyes filled with pain when he found her sitting curled up behind a tree. She looked so fragile and delicate. She looked so…vulnerable.

"Kagome?"

She knew Inuyasha was there. She heard the sound of his footsteps treading lightly on the grass. But there was no way she could face him or even look at him. She knew if she saw him, it would only cause her to grieve more. She curled up tighter, hoping beyond hope that he would get the hint and leave her alone.

She was being too optimistic.

Inuyasha grew increasingly worried and frustrated when Kagome didn't respond. "Kagome, what's wrong?" he asked, stepping closer to her. Once again she said nothing. He dropped down beside her and cocked his head, still trying to figure out what had happened to her that was so devastating and had left her so broken.

Kagome felt Inuyasha drop down beside her. She began crying harder as she imagined the worried look that must be on his face. Somehow, knowing that he cared about her and was worried about her well-being made everything seem even worse. She attempted to curl up even tighter and hiccupped slightly. She sobbed miserably. What was she going to do? She had to get away from him!

Inuyasha was confused as to why Kagome wasn't responding and why she just kept crying harder. When she hiccupped he couldn't help but reach out. He was going to pull her into an embrace (he remembered Miroku saying something about how women in distress like to be held; he almost couldn't believe that he was actually taking the monk's advice), but when his hand touched her shoulder she tensed up and ceased moving altogether. She didn't even breathe.

Kagome didn't know what to think. She felt Inuyasha put his hand on her shoulder and everything stopped. Love, hurt, pain, and betrayal all flashed through her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Half of her was screaming to fling herself into Inuyasha's embrace and cry her little eyes out, and the other half was screaming for her to pull away. After all, it was because of him that she was crying. Torn and not knowing what to do, Kagome stayed completely still but let his hand remain there.

"You shouldn't have followed me."

Inuyasha finally heard her croaked out whisper.

"You should've just left me alone."

Inuyasha didn't know what to do. "Kagome, I—" She finally lifted her head to look at him. The sorrow in her eyes caused him to falter. Why was she so sad? What had happened? He hurt just seeing her look like this. He pulled her into his chest and whispered quietly, "Gods, Kagome. What on earth happened to you?"

Kagome sniffled lightly into his red haori. Despite herself, all she wanted to do was snuggle deeper into Inuyasha's chest. He was so warm and it felt so good. She closed her eyes tightly and breathed in the musky, earthy scent that she knew was uniquely his. Her mind flashed back to him holding her like this before. Expect it was a dream and she was Kikyo. Hurt began to engulf her entire being once again. Going home was beginning to sound real good right now. Forcing herself, she pried her body away from Inuyasha's. She shivered at the absence of the warmth of his body. For the first time in her life since she had met him, she felt completely and utterly alone.

"Inuyasha," she looked into his eyes. They were filled with confusion and what seemed like a mix of fear and concern. "I want to go home."

"I—"

"It'll only be for a little bit." Will it? "And I'll try to be quick." Do I even really want to come back? "I just need some time to sort some things out. Please, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything. He merely stood up, turned around, and half-crouched over. "N-Nani?" Kagome squeaked.

Inuyasha turned his head to look at her. "You wanted to go home, right?" Kagome, wide-eyed, nodded her head. "Then get on my back. I'll take you to the well."

Kagome wasn't sure if getting a ride from Inuyasha would be the best thing for her at the moment. Unfortunately, she was unable to make that decision as Inuyasha suddenly hoisted her up and began to carry her away. As they got nearer and nearer to the well, Inuyasha was pleased to note that the smell of Kagome's tears was slowly growing fainter. She had stopped crying though she still sniffled every once in a while.

"Kagome, I get this feeling you don't want to tell me what's going on, do you?" She didn't respond. "I understand that. But, dammit, Kagome! Eventually you're gonna have to tell me cause I can't stand to see you suffering like this!"

At this, Inuyasha put Kagome down. They were at the Bone-Eaters Well. "Inuyasha, do you care about me?" Kagome suddenly asked, surprising even herself. Her tone held indifference and was strangely icy to her own ears. She bit her lip nervously at the range of emotions being displayed over Inuyasha's face.

"Well—I—uh…"

Kagome looked away, tears already beginning to form in her eyes again. "Never mind. I got what I needed to know." She turned to drop into the Bone-Eaters Well.

"Kagome, wait!" Inuyasha grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. "I-I do care about you." Kagome's heart began to swell with joy. "I mean…you, me, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo are all a team right? We're friends. Aren't we?" He looked pleadingly into her eyes, hoping that he had given her the right answer.

She forced a smile as her hopes fell out of oblivion. She continued to smile even as tears welled up in her eyes. "That's right, Inuyasha. We're friends."

Without another word, she swung her legs over the edge of the well and tumbled 500 years into the future. Moments later, Inuyasha peered into the empty well. He wished he knew what was going on. Kagome seemed so sad. He wanted to know what was causing her to so much grief. It…hurt him. He didn't know what to do to make her feel better.

Reflecting back on her question, he began to wonder if he had given her the right answer. He didn't understand what else she could've wanted! He did care about her! Wasn't it obvious? Inuyasha half wanted to follow her into the future to sort things out. For once, amazing, he decided to listen to his inner voice of reason that told him that Kagome wanted to be left alone for a while.

Inuyasha frowned and sat down with his back to the Bone-Eaters Well. Kagome, what on earth is wrong with you? he thought. Why wasn't my answer good enough? He sat there wondering that very thing until early dusk came. With a jolt, he realized that he had been gone almost the entire day and that Sango, Miroku, and Shippo must be worried sick about them. Inuyasha let out a heavy sigh. He really didn't want to go back just now. He was still thinking things through in his own head. Not only that, but he couldn't even imagine the flak he would receive when telling the group that Kagome had gone home once again.

A/N: Please review!

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My gosh!
This poem is really sad.

I'm sorry! I tried! I was pressed for time. But nonetheless...reviews are nice. :)