A/N: Here's chapter four! Couldn't have you guys wondering about what Sesshoumaru says for too long, now could I? Please keep the reviews coming!

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Don't Cry for Me
Chapter Four

"You haven't answered me yet, Sesshoumaru. What would you do? You can't just walk away this time." Inuyasha growled. "If it was Rin..."

"But it isn't..." Sesshoumaru said quickly.

Inuyasha nodded. "That's true. But she is human. So if it was her..."

"Damn it, Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru growled.

"Have I hit a soft spot? Then you actually know how I feel then, don't you? If it was Rin, you wouldn't be able to just stand by and watch her die, would you? You would want to do something to help her...to save her...wouldn't you...?"

"Inuyasha..." Sesshoumaru frowned in a voice barely above a whisper. "It's different."

"No it isn't, you damn hypocrite!" Inuyasha yelled. "You can't stand there all high and mighty and tell me to let Kagome die when you yourself wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to swish that sword of yours around and save that little girl's life! You've already done it once! You can not stand there and tell me that it's any different, because it..." Inuyasha stopped, his mouth hung slightly open, as if he had suddenly come to a realization of some type.

Sesshoumaru took a step back and blinked several times. "Inuyasha? What are you...?"

"The sword. Our father's sword...the tenseiga. It has the power to bring humans back to life. Dad brought my mom back to life after Takemaru killed her when I was born...and you used the sword to bring back Rin..." Inuyasha gasped.

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Inuyasha...don't think ahead of yourself. The tenseiga will not always work..."

"Are you telling me that you are not willing to try?" Inuyasha sighed in defeat.

Sesshoumaru paused. He seemed to be thinking about this for a long time. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Yes. We can try...but I will not guarantee anything..."

Inuyasha's eyes widened. He swallowed and nodded. "Good, because if you had said no, I was going to take the sword from you anyway..."

"Inuyasha...we will still have to wait until she dies..." Sesshoumaru reminded him. "That will be painful..."

"I know..." Inuyasha nodded. "But if you have tenseiga, there is always that chance..."

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat. "Do not base your happiness on that, Inuyasha. We do not even know that it will work."

"Yes, but I can hope." Inuyasha nodded. "Right now that's all I need..."

Sesshoumaru opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but then closed it quickly. He sighed and turned around. "Inuyasha, I will not be far from here. Rin and Jacken are waiting for me at father's old castle beyond those trees." Sesshoumaru pointed in a westward direction. He paused for a moment. "Should anything happen, rush to get me as soon as you can..." he instructed.

Inuyasha swallowed hard and nodded slowly. "Sesshoumaru?"

"Hmm?" the demon lord turned around.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Thank you...for your help. Really." he said quietly, and nodded to his older brother.

Sesshoumaru said nothing, but only walked away silently.

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"Kagome, it's time to get up, sweetie..." Kagome's mother whispered into her ear as she slowly pulled her daughter's sleeping bag off of her. "You can't sleep in all day. You'll have even less energy and you'll only feel worse..." her mother told her. "Please get up..."

Kagome groaned and raised her head slightly. She sat up slowly and pulled the sleeping bag up around her shoulders with a small shiver.

Her mother smiled. "I'm glad you've at least decided to sit up. After you've eaten a bit, you can go back to bed if you want. I was just worried you would make yourself feel worse, is all..." she explained. "I'm sorry."

Kagome shook her head. "Don't be." she smiled. "Did Inuyasha ever decide to come back last night? There are times I swear he could sleep in the sacred tree if we let him..."

Her mother nodded. "He came back last night after you went to sleep, Kagome. He said he talked to his brother...even seemed to be in a slightly better mood. Although he wouldn't really tell me what it was about." She paused in thought. "He sat right there and watched you sleep up until about an hour ago..." She pointed to the corner of the hut and grinned. "He really does care about you a lot, Kagome..."

"Yes, he does, mom." Kagome agreed. "That's what worries me. I don't want this whole situation to upset him any further than I already know it does." She looked around the hut for a minute to see if Shippo was nearby. "This is hard enough to deal with..."

Kagome's mother blinked as though realization had suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. "Kagome..." she gasped. "Don't get upset about how much Inuyasha cares. He can't help it. He loves you and he knows he's losing you..."

It was Kagome's turn to blink. "You just said..."

"I had a feeling that was what upset him so much yesterday, Kagome...especially when you pretended not to know why he was so distraught..."

Kagome frowned and directed her eyes downward. "He tried to say it..." she admitted under her breath, and her mother looked up in interest. "He tried to tell me, but I didn't want him to say it. I don't want to hear him say it, and know that there is nothing that I can do about it. None of it really matters anymore, because I won't be around long enough to do anything about it...so I'd rather just not have to deal with it at all..."

"Oh, Kagome...is that what's been wrong?" her mother wrapped her in a hug, and Kagome nodded.

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"Sango...Miroku...where have Shippo and Souta gone?" asked Inuyasha, coming quietly out of the forest.

Sango thought a moment. "I think they went with Lady Kaede and Kagome's little brother to go help in the neighboring village for the day." she answered. "Why? What's wrong? Nothing has happened, right?" For a moment, the look in her eyes showed grave worry.

Inuyasha shook his head quickly. "No...not that," he insisted. "I talked to Sesshoumaru last night, and I thought of something."

"What is it, Inuyasha?" asked Miroku, taking a step forward. "I'm guessing it has something to do with Lady Kagome, seeing as how you didn't want Shippo or Souta around?"

Inuyasha nodded. "You're right about that." He smiled. "This whole time, I have been wondering if there was any way to save Kagome, and last night when I was talking to Sesshoumaru, I realized that he has had the answer the whole time..."

"What is that supposed to mean?" frowned Sango in confusion.

Inuyasha sighed. "It means that my father gave Sesshoumaru the healing sword tenseiga. Sesshoumaru believed it to be practically useless...but it could work! Sesshoumaru has used it before, to bring the little girl Rin back to life...and I know for a fact that my father used the sword to bring my mother back to life before he was killed. Sesshoumaru has agreed to try...but he is not sure whether or not the sword will work..."

"But it's worth a try!" Miroku jumped happily.

"Sh!" Sango warned.

"Keep your voice down, monk! I do not want Kagome's family to hear a word about this! I don't want to give them any false hope. Sesshoumaru isn't sure that the sword will work, so I would rather they not know he was going to try it...just in case it doesn't..." he whispered.

Sango and Miroku nodded in understanding.

Sango sighed. "I'm glad that the two of you thought of that, Inuyasha..." she frowned. "I was starting to worry. Kagome gets more and more sick with each passing day..."

"I know, Sango. All we can do is hope for the best at this point..." Inuyasha nodded.

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"Mom...no. I don't want any more. Please..." Kagome whined. "My stomach hurts. It burns..." she cried.

Her mother gasped. "Burns? Your stomach burns?" she repeated.

Kagome groaned and nodded.

"It'll be all right, sweetie...lay down..." her mother whispered. Kagome fell back onto her pillow. Kagome's mother placed a hand on Kagome's cheek only to find that it was very hot to the touch. She pulled her hand away in slight alarm, nodded to her daughter, and ran quickly from the hut.

Once outside, she took a deep breath. "Inuyasha! Sango! Miroku! Hurry back! I need your help! Kagome is sick!" she yelled. She looked back inside the hut. Kagome was lying with her head on her pillow and her eyes closed, clutching at her stomach.

Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head when he heard the yells of Kagome's mother. He looked to Sango and Miroku, and ran in the direction that her voice was coming from. With the help of Kirara, Sango and Miroku were able to keep up with his fast pace.

"Ms. Higurashi!" Inuyasha yelped as he arrived at the hut. "What's wrong?"

"I've gotten her to calm down, but I need you to stay with her. I have to go get lots of cold water. I didn't want to leave her alone...she's burning up, Inuyasha..." she whispered fearfully as she grabbed as many buckets as she could hold and ran quickly from the hut. Sango and Miroku followed her.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha dropped to his knees beside her and carefully laid her head in his lap. "You're going to be all right, Kagome. It's just a fever..." He touched her cheek with the back of his hand, and pulled it back in alarm. "It's just a fever," he repeated. "Sango, Miroku, and your mom have gone to get you some cold water, all right?"

A single tear slid down Kagome's cheek. "It burns..." she whispered. "But I felt fine..."

"It's okay, Kagome..." Inuyasha smiled down at her. "I'm right here. Keep talking to me. Don't go back to sleep. Sleeping is bad right now..."

Kagome's eyes began to close again for a moment, but snapped open suddenly. "I want to go to sleep, Inuyasha..." she cried. "I don't feel good..."

"You can't, Kagome. You have to stay awake and talk to me. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about, but you have to stay awake and you have to keep talking..."

"No, Inuyasha...it hurts..."

"Your mom has gone to get you some water, Kagome. Let's talk about when you first met me. Do you remember? I was such a jerk back then, wasn't I?" he smiled at her.

Kagome grinned slightly. "You have your moments..." she whispered.

I'm going to walk with my gandaddy
and he'll match me step for step
and I'll tell him how I missed him
every minute since he left
then I'll hug his neck

"Come on, Kagome...and then we met Shippo...remember?" He shook her slightly to keep her from nodding off. He could hear her mother, Sango, and Miroku coming down the path with buckets full of cold water.

"Sleepy..." Kagome sighed.

"No, Kagome...wake up. Your mom is here. She has water..." Inuyasha propped Kagome up slightly and took a small cup of cold water from her mother. He touched the cup to Kagome's lips, but they remained closed.

"Come on, Kagome..." frowned her mother. "Please drink some of the water..."

Kagome's lips parted slightly, and Inuyasha brought the cup up to her lips a second time. This time, he allowed a small bit to trickle down her throat. She swallowed hard, and Inuyasha brought the cup up again, this time trying to get her to take a bigger drink.

"Come on, Kags..." he whispered. "Drink. It'll help you..."

Kagome closed her lips once more and allowed her head to fall back against Inuyasha's chest.

"Kagome!" Sango gasped.

"Wake up, Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled.

Miroku picked up the demon cat Kirara and ran from the hut.

"Where is he going?" yelped Sango.

Inuyasha's breath stopped in his throat. Kagome's breathing was getting more and more shallow. Her heartbeat, which had once been a steady drum of beats, was slowing and getting harder and harder for even his ears to hear.

He paled. "Sango! Tell Miroku to go get Sesshoumaru if that isn't where he's already heading! And hurry!" he commanded her, and she too, ran from the hut.

"Kagome..." her mother choked. "Inuyasha?"

"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered in her ear. "Don't leave us. Don't leave me..."

He stopped. His mouth hung open in shock. Kagome gasped...and then he could no longer hear her heart beat. She fell back against him, and he leaned back to support her weight. Her mother screamed and jumped forward, knocking over one of the buckets of water that had been meant to help her daughter.

Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles

I have carried all these years
and I'll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah when I get where I'm going
Don't cry for me down here.

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"Sesshoumaru!" Miroku screamed. "Sesshoumaru! Are you here? Answer me, damn it! This is important!"

Miroku heard something and spun around on his heel to find the little girl Rin and the lizard Jacken staring at him.

"What do you want with my master, you lowly human?" demanded Jacken.

"Shut up you little toad and tell me where he has gone! Lady Kagome is in trouble and I do not have the time to waste on you!" Miroku growled. "He promised Inuyasha he would try and help her!"

"Rin thinks Lord Sesshoumaru is in the back..." the young human girl pointed.

However, directions were not needed. Almost the moment she said this, as if he was waiting for some type of cue, the missing Sesshoumaru appeared in front of the flustered monk.

"What is it?" he asked, his usual stoic expression on his face.

"It's Kagome, Sesshoumaru..." Miroku breathed. "Please...I think she needs your help now..." he said urgently.

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A/N: Bwa ha ha! No, just kidding. Please review and I'll update ASAP.