Overflowing

Chapter Three – A Memory and a Victory

Disclaimer: I would never ever think of taking InuYasha away from Takahashi-sama! I just want a Sesshomaru plushie!

Author's Note: Hi, mina-san! Sorry for taking forever to write... but I was too busy reading other fanfics – and working on my plans for another one (Sonni-chan, you know what I mean! ).
Please review, but if you can't be bothered, don't stress. I don't review too much either.

Now for the story!

oOooooOooooOo

Ugh...

Kagome woke up groggily to a harsh rapping coming from her bedroom window.

Inuyasha... she groaned inwardly, as she got up and walked to the window. The sun had not yet risen above the already busy streets of Tokyo.

"Oi! Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled.

She opened the window, and Inuyasha tumbled in. He bounded onto her bed and sat there, cross-legged.

"Why are you here, Inuyasha! I went home just yesterday!" Kagome said crossly, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the hanyou.

"Why did you go?" Inuyasha asked, completely ignoring Kagome's last words.

Kagome sighed, remembering the day before.

"What do you think, baka? I needed a break!" she replied, after a slight pause.

"A break from what?" Inuyasha asked, unfazed.

By this point, Kagome was getting quite annoyed, what with her lack of sleep and the sudden intrusion.

"A break from YOU, baka! There's more to my life than the Shikon no Tama, you know!"

Inuyasha was stunned, and hurt. A break... from me?

A memory floated up from the dark recesses of his mind.

Flashback

He was standing near a village, waiting.

He held a red ball in his small hands, careful not to prick it with his claws.

A girl walked out of one of the houses, paused as if reluctant, then nodded to someone inside. With her head down, she walked slowly towards Inuyasha.

When she got to him, she said quietly, "My haha-ue says... I can't play with you anymore. She...she says you'll... influence me."

Inuyasha's seven-year-old form was confused.

"In...flu...ence you? What does that mean?" he asked.

"I don't know. But I have to go away for a while." she replied.

"But... why?"

She shook her head. "It'll just be a little break, Inuyasha."

"Will you come back?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe."

With that , she walked back towards her house. After she went inside, her mother poked her head around the doorway, glared at Inuyasha, and shut the sliding doors of the house.

Inuyasha released the ball, his hands dropping to his sides. The ball bounced, once, twice, then rolled to a stop in a patch of grass. A slight breeze blew at Inuyasha's silvery-white hair, playing idly with the strands. His chest hurt.

That day, Inuyasha decided that he could live without friends. But - somewhere inside his small, skinny frame, he still hoped forlornly that the girl would come back to play with him, just to prove that there still were people who would accept him for who he was.

The girl never came back to look for Inuyasha.

End of flashback

Kagome was confused. Why wasn't Inuyasha yelling back at her? He had suddenly gone quiet. His head was lowered, and his hair hung in front of his eyes like a shroud.

"Um... Inuyasha?" she asked tentatively.

"If... if that's how you feel... I'll come back later." Inuyasha said roughly. With that, he leapt back out through the window, and out into the night.

"I-Inuyasha! Wait!" Kagome called after him.

The sun chose that moment to break its light over the horizon. Kagome shielded her eyes from the sudden glare, sighed heavily, then shut the window. I didn't think it would affect him that much... but then again, I didn't think at all! I'll go and apologise later... I guess that remark was a bit harsh...

oOooooOooooOo

Two months later...

Kagome opened her eyes slowly, cautiously. Had they finally done it?

The dust settled, and she saw Inuyasha standing a few metres away from her, panting heavily, Tetsusaiga in hand. He was staring at a charred circle in the ground. Something shiny hung in the air above it. With a small flash of light, it dropped, and rolled out of the burnt mark.

It was the Shikon no Tama.

Kagome, realising it for what it was, groped for the glass jar that hung around her neck, then stared at it. The tama shards that were inside had vanished.

"It's... over?" Inuyasha breathed, wary.

There was a pause, in which Sango, on Kirara, flew back down to the ground, Shippo crawled out from behind a stump, and Miroku, leaning on his staff, limped towards the two.

Inuyasha walked over and picked up the restored jewel.

They had done it. Naraku was gone. The Shikon no Tama was finally back in one piece.

Kagome smiled, then, exhausted, fell into a dead faint.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried, and rushed to catch her.

oOooooOooooOo

"So it's true? Naraku is gone?" Kaede asked.

"It certainly seems like it, Kaede-sama." Miroku replied.

After the final duel with Naraku, the injured fighters had limped back to Kaede's hut, and recounted the events. Kagome was carried back by Inuyasha, and now lied, still unconscious, on a futon in Kaede's hut. Inuyasha sat beside her. He had put the Shikon inside his haori.

"Inuyasha..." Sango said suddenly, "Maybe you should take Kagome-chan back to her own time. She may be sick, and her home will be able to take care of her better."

Inuyasha thought quickly about what Sango had said, then decided that yes, he should take her back. He stood up silently, picked up Kagome from the futon, and slung her stuffed yellow bag onto his shoulder. He walked out of the hut without a word.

Sango watched Inuyasha go, biting her lower lip in worry. She truly hoped that her friend wasn't sick. While she was pondering this, she felt an all-too familiar caress on her backside. A vein popped out visibly from her temple. She reached for her Hiraikotsu, which was leaning on the wall.

Inuyasha heard a loud whack from the hut as he walked away, and a shout of "HENTAI! Houshi-sama, you pervert! Will you ever learn!"

The hanyou half-smiled, then continued walking. He came to the Bone-eater's Well, and jumped in.

oOooooOooooOo

Author's Note: I know, I know, still slow! Gomen, mina-san!

The chapters are pretty uneventful. I'll try to fix it later in the story, ok? And I'll update faster next time, promise! I've just got eight assignments due before the end of term ., and I'm leaving a week before the end of term (to Germany! ), so I need to hurry up and finish them. Sorry!

Well, people, I have nothing more to say.

Ja mata ne!

Hey, wait, I do. I was serious about losing my sense of humor. Please, please, please help me find it! Onegai? I can't survive without it!

Arigatou all of you who read this, and expect more soon! (but not too soon!)