A/N: Here's chapter five! Thanks for the reviews! Please let me know what you think of this one!

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Don't Cry for Me
Chapter Five

"Kagome...it'll be all right." Inuyasha whispered to the silent girl in his arms. "Miroku went to get help. It's going to be fine. Just don't let them take your soul..."

Kagome's mother gasped. "What did you mean by that?"

"If they take show up and take her soul, Sesshoumaru won't be able to help her."

"Take her soul?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yes. We can't see them, though. Only Sesshoumaru can when he wields the tenseiga..."

Kagome's mother nodded, although she did not fully understand what Inuyasha was talking about. After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence, Miroku rushed into the room. Sesshoumaru followed calmly behind Miroku, his healing sword tenseiga drawn.

He looked down at Kagome with the same gaze he used for everyone and everything else. Raising his sword above his head, he took a step forward.

Kagome's mother gasped. "What is he doing?" she demanded.

Inuyasha shook his head. "He isn't going to use it on her...not really, anyway." Inuyasha assured her. "If everything goes as it should go...hopefully it will bring her back..."

"Bring her back?" her mother repeated.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yes...with a clean bill of health."

Sesshoumaru nodded slowly, as if to confirm this fact, and took another step forward. He looked down once more, and his eyebrow rose as he swished his sword at the various unseen soul-stealing demons that had started to gather around Kagome's body. If these things got what they were coming for, there would be no coming back for Kagome...but this time was peculiar. Kagome did not even have her entire soul to give...yet Sesshoumaru had never seen so many little pests before. He swished his sword several times before finally placing it back in its sheath and taking a step back.

He looked to Inuyasha and nodded. Inuyasha swallowed hard and took a deep breath. For a long while there was still nothing more than the silence that the room had been filled with before.

Finally, Kagome gasped, taking a deep breath, and coughed hard into Inuyasha's haori. She was still pale, but she was alive, and the color was slowly returning to her skin. Her mother screamed, jumped up, and embraced Sesshoumaru.

"Thank you!" She cried. "Thank you so much for helping her!"

Sesshoumaru looked surprised and slightly taken aback by the suddenness of the woman's actions, and remained stiff. When she finally released him, he nodded once more to Inuyasha and turned to leave the hut.

"Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha called.

The demon lord stopped just as he had exited the hut. "What?" he asked.

"Really...thank you. You may not think it means much, but it really does." he explained in a whisper.

"You're...welcome, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru replied, and then continued to walk away.

Kagome's mother enveloped both Inuyasha and Kagome in a hug next, crying into Inuyasha's shoulder as she did so.

"Mom..." Kagome whispered. "It's all right...I'm fine..." She smiled. "Thanks to Sesshoumaru. I can't believe he did that for me..." she sighed. "I didn't thank him before he left."

"It's all right," Inuyasha smiled. "You can trust that I thanked him enough for the both of us." he promised her. "I think I struck a nerve with him the last time we had a talk. He seems to be a little different now..."

"How so?" asked Kagome's mother curiously as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

Inuyasha thought about this a moment. "Well, for example, the Sesshoumaru I know would have probably sliced you into two pieces if you had tried to hug him before. But he didn't..." Inuyasha explained. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Inuyasha..." Kagome blushed. "You're still holding on to me. Do you plan on letting me stand up on my own, or are we going to stay here like this?"

"I'm comfortable," Inuyasha admitted with a grin. "It could work..."

"Inuyasha!" yelled both Kagome and her mother.

Inuyasha sighed and let Kagome up. When she was finally standing, he was able to get a much better look at her. Her skin had returned to its normal color. It was no longer pale and clammy. She appeared to have her normal weight back as well. There was nothing to indicate that only twenty minutes ago, she had been dead in his very arms.

He blinked. "Kagome?" he questioned.

"Hmm Inuyasha?" she replied, turning to face him again.

"The bruise..." he whispered. "Is it...it's gone, isn't it?"

Kagome thought about this for a moment, and very slowly, she brought her hand to her side and pressed inward. She seemed to be holding her breath for a moment. Finally, she smiled. "It's gone, Inuyasha. It's nothing to worry about anymore."

"Really?" he asked.

She nodded again. "Yes, really..." she grinned at him.

Kagome's mother clapped her hands together softly and smiled. Kagome yelped in surprise as Inuyasha jumped up, picking her up and spinning her around. When he finally put her back down, she laughed.

"I'm glad that puts you in a good mood..." she grinned.

"Hey, it's not funny! I watched you die! Can't you give me a little bit of a break?" Inuyasha whined.

Having heard the noises, Sango rushed inside with Miroku and the demon cat Kirara following shortly after. Sango had tears in her eyes as she stared at Kagome, alive and healthy as she had been before she got sick. She smiled at her and wrapped her tightly in a hug.

"I'm glad you decided to come back to us, Kagome. I don't know what I would have done had you left me by myself with Inuyasha and the monk over there..." she whispered.

"You probably would have killed Miroku." Kagome joked, but beside Sango, Miroku gulped.

Sango began to laugh.

"Shh.." Kagome warned them. "I don't want to scare people. I'll talk to Shippo and Souta as soon as they get back with Lady Kaede..." she decided.

Inuyasha smiled and took her hand. "You aren't talking to them until after you've had a chat with me first, Kagome," he said decisively.

Kagome blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?" she wondered out loud.

"We need to finish a conversation that you would barely let me start back before...back when you were sick. Now that you aren't anymore, I think it's only fair that I get the time to say what I was going to say, because now you have no excuse not to let me..."

Kagome looked around in confusion, but as she glanced at her mother, finally realized what her favorite hanyou must have been talking about. She blushed, gulped, and nodded. "All right, Inuyasha...Where shall we go?"

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"Master, what are you doing? Did you just go help your filthy half-breed brother? Did you just save that human girl's life? Why would you do that, Lord Sesshoumaru?" Jacken asked in a whiny sort of voice.

Sesshoumaru turned to glare at the demon toad. He did not even have to say anything to get Jacken to stop talking...he never had to. But he talked anyway. "It's really nothing of your concern, Jacken. The girl went with me in the fight with Naraku...I felt I owed her something for that...as for Inuyasha...he made a good point..."

"What do you mean, Lord Sess...?" Jacken began, but was quickly cut off.

"No questions, Jacken. I trust Rin was well behaved while I was away?"

The toad demon seemed to think about this a moment. "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru. She is in her room. I protected her while you were away helping the dirty hu...I mean...the miko and your brother..."

Sesshoumaru nodded, and waved his hand.

"Shall I go get...?" Jacken began again.

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Yes, Jacken. You are supposed to be protecting her whilst I am gone, anyway. Letting her out of your sight is not a good way to accomplish this..."

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru..."

"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...?"

Sesshoumaru blinked as the little girl came running into the room. She was smiling as always, and her eyes widened in happy surprise when she saw that he had returned.

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"How did I know we would end up at the sacred tree?" Kagome smiled. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be anywhere. I know what I said...but the truth is, I was really scared about everything."

Inuyasha nodded slowly. "Anyone would have been scared, Kagome. I was scared for you. I didn't want to lose you. When I finally realized that Sesshoumaru still had our father's sword, it was like a huge weight off of my shoulders. He even told me he wasn't sure it would work...but it was something I had hope for. Something that would save everyone...that would save me, from the pain of losing you. I don't know what I would have done if it hadn't worked, Kagome. I would have really lost it. I would have. There were a few moments after Sesshoumaru used the sword that I was worried that I would never hear your voice again. When you finally...came back to us, I was so relieved..."

"I know, Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered. "I'm glad you cared enough to ask Sesshoumaru about it. I...wasn't ready to leave you guys. Not really. My mom, my brother, gramps...and Shippo isn't old enough to fend for himself...and then there's you..." Kagome rambled, her cheeks reddening slightly.

Inuyasha blinked. "What about me?"

"Well...isn't that why you wanted to talk to me? What are we really here for, Inuyasha?" Kagome wondered out loud.

Inuyasha took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you because you never let me finish my sentence, Kagome. You told me not to say it..."

"But Inuyasha, I..."

"No, Kagome. I don't say anything I don't mean, and I thought that you would know that about me by now...especially as long as we've known each other..." Inuyasha sighed.

Kagome nodded. "Well, I know what you mean, but I just...I wasn't sure...and I didn't think you were. I was dying, Inuyasha. I figured that you were just upset about everything that was happening..."

"I was, Kagome...we all were...but that's not why I said it...or tried to say it, anyway..." Inuyasha argued.

"Then why would you say it, Inuyasha? Why would you even try to start that conversation? You knew I was dying...neither of us thought I would be around much longer. I thought for certain that you and Kikyou would..."

"Kikyou? Kagome...this isn't about her. It's about you, and how I feel about you. Not her." he assured her.

Kagome shook her head. "Inuyasha...I'm nothing but her reincarnation. I've sat and watched you run after her countless times...I don't even have my own soul...she has half of it..."

"But you are different, Kagome." Inuyasha sighed. "Trust me. There was a time I thought that I was in love with Kikyou...but she isn't you. I care about Kikyou. I want her to be able to rest in peace...I care about her...but I love you..."

Kagome blinked. "What did you just...?"

"You heard me, Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered.

"And do you really...do you really mean it, Inuyasha?" she choked.

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"They have been gone quite a while..." Miroku mused.

"Shut up, Miroku..." Sango warned.

Miroku blinked several times. "Hmm? I didn't even say anything yet! How can you say such a hurtful thing to me prematurely?" he whined.

"Because unfortunately for both of us, I know exactly how your mind works, so I figure I will shut you up ahead of time..." Sango smirked.

"Ah...I see." Miroku nodded in understanding. After a short pause, he sighed. "But really...they have been gone a while..."

"Miroku..." Sango growled.

"I know..."

"Miroku!" It was Shippo. He jumped into the monk's arms. "Where are mommy and Inuyasha? Granny Kaede says that she thinks that something happened while we were gone, but I don't know what, and she won't tell me. I was going to ask mommy, but I can't find her, and I think she went with Inuyasha..."

"No, everything is fine, Shippo." Sango smiled. "But you're right, Inuyasha and Kagome have gone out. They'll be back in a little bit, all right?"

Shippo nodded and ran off to play with Kirara and Kagome's younger brother.

"You're still not going to tell him what happened?" Miroku whispered.

She shook her head. "No. Kagome is alive. He doesn't need to know what happened while he was gone. Kagome was right about that. We don't want to upset him for no reason. She's fine now..."

"So the rumors were true, then?" said a voice from the edge of the forest.

Sango jumped in surprise. "Kouga," she gasped, "you scared me!"

He frowned. "Sorry...I came to find out if the rumors were true...and I guess they were..."

Sango nodded. "Yeah...but don't say anything about it. We don't want to cause anyone any unneeded worry...especially since Kagome is fine now."

Kouga nodded. "Well, the rumor wasn't the only reason I came, actually. You may not have to worry about Kagome anymore, but trust me, there is definitely someone else you need to be worrying about right now..."

Miroku blinked. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?" he wondered out loud.

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A/N: Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!