I felt like we slept for forever; when I opened my eyes, the sun was shining in the sky. I looked at Inuyasha and he was still peacefully sleeping the day away. I giggled. I looked at the way he had his arms around me, not too tight, but just tight enough. How could I have gone off thinking that he was thinking about Kikyo when he held me? The way he acted last night was proof enough; he did care about me, quite a bit. I checked my stomach and the bleeding had stopped. I felt a lot better than I did before, and it was thanks to Inuyasha. I put a hand on his shoulder and shook him. He slowly opened his eyes, "Is it… is it morning?"

"Yeah, I think it's close to noon, actually." He opened his eyes more and blinked a couple of times. He then yawned, showing off his fangs. He then shut his eyes again. I laughed, "I guess you're still a little tired. All right, I'll let you sleep." I stroked his bangs as he drifted off to sleep again.

I tiptoed back outside to see everyone having lunch. I looked at the sun, "Wow… we slept late."

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" Shippo came over. I stretched my arms, "Really well… no more nightmares. Although," I looked back, "I think Inuyasha's still a bit drowsy. I'll let him sleep for an hour or so." I shrugged, "It's still weird… he fell asleep before I did…"

"Maybe he's a little weak from a couple of nights ago," Shippo suggested.

"Yeah, took me a while to calm him down enough to get him to sleep." I took off his coat. "I think I'll get this washed for him." I folded it in my arms and took it down to the river. I stoked a fire and dried it off by it. I thought back to the peaceful look on Inuyasha's face when he sleeps. I smiled, "Well… I guess I might have had something to do with it."

After folding up the dried up coat, I decided to might as well take a bath myself. I hung out in the water for what seemed like hours, molding everything over in the water. A few moments later, a couple of water imps came after me, most likely going for my jewel shard. I took my spear, whirled it around in circles and scared them off.

I got back to the surface and Kagome was already there waiting for me. I shook myself off and she handed me my clothes. I undressed with my back turned in case Miroku decided to sneak a peek. I turned around to pick up Inuyasha's coat. "So, has he woken up yet?"

"Yeah. He even lent me his undershirt to get washed too. Everything looks good through, all of the scratches have healed themselves. Still, he was still a little sleepy even after sleeping in so late."

"Yeah… I guess I made him so calm that I might have put him in a slightly tranquil state. He got a little tense the last night and somehow, he was so relaxed… compared to every other night I've spent with him, he slept a lot more peacefully." I laughed, "That's one of the reasons why I didn't want to stay for too long… that calmness could very well affect more about him than his sleeping habits."

Miroku came a moment later. "Hey princess, want to try some one-on-one combat? My staff against your spear?"

"Sure," I grabbed it and took off the point. We pretty much fought like a sword-fight, but less aggressive. He progressed a bit more as we went, but otherwise, it was definitely challenging in the slightest. A minute after finishing, I asked, "Did you come up with that on your own or was it Inuyasha's idea?"

"It was his idea…" He rolled his shoulder in a circle. "Ah… don't know what you did, but he's been kind of out of it."

"Maybe he just needs an extra day to recuperate." I shrugged, "I kept asking him the other day 'are you sure you're not dizzy from losing all that blood?' But no… he had to spend all of yesterday fighting with me and not showing the way he really feels."

I smiled sneakily at him and Kagome. "I think I might have broken him in a little; I finally got him to admit that he was worried about me. I pried him so much about not showing his emotions upfront, but I think I'll stop doing that. Who knows what it could to do him? I wouldn't want to… make him soft."

Kagome finished ringing out Inuyasha's undershirt and we headed back. "Hey Shippo, anything new on Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

"No, he's still in there." He shook his head, "I don't know what's going on with him."

Kagome and I headed in to find him sleeping, sitting up with his arms folded. His ears then twitched. His eyes opened. We knelt down next to him. "We washed out your clothes for you," we both said together and laughed.

"Thanks." He slipped on his undershirt, buttoned it up and put on his coat. "Gotta say it feels a lot better without those blood stains."

"Are you up for some lunch or breakfast or whatever you want to call?" I asked. He blinked, "Sure." He stretched his arms, got up and started rotating and cracking his right shoulder.

As he ate, I looked at the fire and kept wondering if I made him so tired. After finishing up, he laid back. I asked, "Hey Inuyasha… did you catch up on a lot of sleep?"

"Yeah… and it was unlike any sleep I've had in a while. I had no dreams or anything, just restoring energy."

"I figured that somewhere along the way you'd get tired after doing so much." Kagome pointed out. He shot a look at me, "I guess we'll have to continue the training tomorrow."

"Miroku was a pretty good sparring partner; who knew he'd be good at anything besides flirting? Not that he's really good at that." Inuyasha smiled for a second, "Can't argue with you through."

I shrugged, "So, what do you have in mind for my training?"

"Not exactly sure… I guess we could always find some demons to take care of…" I got up. "Hey, where're you going?"

"I'm going to get some water if anyone would want to come with me."

"I'll go," Shippo volunteered and Sango decided to join us with Keilala. Shippo jumped on my shoulder, "So, are you feeling better?"

"A lot better… don't think I'd still be here without Inuyasha's help."

"It's just weird how he'd go out of his way like this."

"Yeah… I still wonder about that myself, but maybe with him, it's better not to ask questions. That just makes things more complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain, Shippo." I looked back at Sango, "do you have any other weapons, Sango?"

"Well, when I can't use my Hiraikotsu, I always have a sword," she pressed a switch on her wrist, "and a dagger just in case."

"Mind if we work a bit more on my swordplay?"

"Sure, I'm all for that." By the river, we just went back and forth, showing off our fencing. It was definitely more challenging than facing Miroku and it was pretty cool seeing a girl being able to kick butt with a sword. While we took a break, I asked, "So, how'd you end up traveling with Inuyasha and the others?"

"Well, Naraku has my brother, KoHaku under his control. I need to get my brother back from him; only problem is that his memory had been wiped clean."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure with everyone pitching in, you'll get him back."

"Thank you. So, you don't have any brothers or sisters?"

"Nope, but a lot of the cubs in the tribe look up to me. Most especially are the ones I saved from that fire. They're the future of the tribe and I'd hate to see their lives cut short. I might not be the strongest demon or half-demon for that matter, but I always want to be at my best, in case something worse than a fire comes along."

"I gotta say that I admire so much about you." She laughed, "even how you freak Miroku out sometimes."

"Well, I figure that I gotta be tough, even against humans like him."

"Do you think you'll ever completely trust humans again?" I shook my head, "I want humans and demons to get along, but humans are so easily persuaded. I know from experience that they have the potential a lot more dangerous than demons, especially when they're in large groups."

"Kagome tells me that you'd rather settle down with a half-demon than a human. You certainly have your work cut out for you."

"Well… that's still a complicated matter. If I am to ever find the right one, I need to listen to my heart, as well as theirs. That's the one thing capable of telling me the truth from the lies." After getting another drink of water from the river, I decided it was time to head back. I rubbed my shoulders from the cold. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" I breathed out. "Maybe I should start loosening my bond with Inuyasha… it might get too hard for me to leave. I wanted to get to the emotional epicenter, but I'm afraid of what I could do to him. Inuyasha isn't someone that shows that epicenter very often and I should keep it that way. Not everyone can deal with emotions 24/7 like I do."

"All right, if you say so." Shippo shook his head. I laughed, "Well, it's the truth. Inuyasha runs on primarily on fighting… maybe that's why he was so drowsy. Fighting is all he really knows… I gotta snap him out of this rut and really give him a fight." I got an idea, "Sango, do you think I could borrow your sword for a while? Then maybe Inuyasha can teach me to swordfight with his Tetsusaiga… when it's not transformed of course." She nodded, having it over to me. I strapped it to my belt.

"Yeah, I think that'll work." I paused, looking up the hill to see Inuyasha waiting for us.