Chapter 11

Cast in stone

By Zeldagurl

Authors note: Hey you guys! Instead of giving you that one shot that I was talking about, I've decided to update a bit early for you!

Enjoy!

Morning light filtered in serenely through the shades in her living room, and kagome slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep away. She was sure that something was wrong; she had always woken up being sad about something, but now, she wasn't.

She remembered now, the hanyou who slept only a short distance away, in another room. He was within her reach, and she was comfortable with it like that.

But she wasn't going to pressure him into talking, like she would have before... No, she would wait for him to come to her, it would be much more genuine that way.

And she had fulfilled her promise hadn't she...? She had found her way to him, and now that she had him back, now that he was safe, she could be happy.

Now all she had to do was make sure that he was happy, and that he was never hurt like that again.

Kagome turned her head to the side when she heard heavy footsteps coming from the hallway that led to her room. She leapt to her feet, ignoring the pain from her wounds to rush to Inuyasha's side.

"Inuyasha! What are you doing?!" She rounded the corner of the hallway, just to see him stagger out of her room.

He was so unsteady, as if he had forgotten how to walk, but was trying hard to remember. She took a steady hold of his arm and smiled as he looked up gratefully, into her eyes.

"You shouldn't be out of bed..." She gently chided him as she looked down at the blanket wrapped around his waist.

"Neither should you..." He looked down again and tried to take a step, growling in frustration when he tripped again. Kagome sighed and attempted to support him enough so that he could at least keep his dignity, and slightly walk.

They made it to the couch as she gently sat him down, backing unsteadily away.

"Hang on, I'll get you some clothes." She noted as she walked to the old closet that was located in the hallway they were just in, that he was watching her now.

She kept it to herself, but she saw the mournful look in his eyes. Not quite sad, but not quite happy either...

She shook her head and headed back to the living room with some old clothes of her father's.

He was still watching her as she entered the room he now occupied, his golden eyes were centered on her, and it made her blush mildly.

"Here... you can change into these when you're ready." She laid them down next to him on the couch cushion.

"Listen... Kagome." He looked up at her with that look in his eyes that she remembered from only four weeks ago.

"Yes...?" She sat down next to him, not looking at him in order to ignore the uncomfortable feeling that was welling up inside of her stomach.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look away as well.

"I'm sorry that you got hurt..." In amazement, kagome looked at him wide-eyed,

"Why are you concerned about me...? You're the one who went through the most."

He glanced at her and sighed.

"It's a habit."

There it was again... that prickly feeling that crept up her spine. The blush flooding into her cheeks, the rushing of the heartbeat. She hadn't felt such things since before Inuyasha had dropped her into the well.

And it didn't help, that Inuyasha seemed to be completely oblivious to her blushing, and quietly took her hand in his.

"I didn't growl at YOU, it was myself that I was mad at." Inuyasha had changed...

Kagome concluded that, while she felt the heat from his hand on hers. For all of his subtleties, he was quieter, and well spoken, obviously thinking before he acted. Although kagome couldn't really say anything, she had hardly spent a day with the guy.

But he still had that stubborn look in his eyes, among many other emotions that she recognized, some new, some old. He was still protective of her... That was a good thing.

"Inuyasha... You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to... But..."

He looked at her, almost smiling in contempt.

"That place, that I've been in for the past five hundred years, that's what you want to know about..."

Turning to him, she put her other hand on top of his, looking at him with the pitying, sad look that she had always had. He looked away from her, closing his eyes, and sat back on the couch.

"That place was a prison... I could only sleep, and think. All of the time, I heard..." He looked back at her, wincing when he thought about what he had actually heard.

"...Voices that wouldn't stop talking. It was like that for all of time I was there."

Kagome's heart almost broke when she felt her hand being squeezed tighter and tighter, as the hanyou tried to say what pained him the most.

"Inuyasha." He heard her voice before he felt her touch; he realized that she had leaned against him, sighing at the close contact.

"I'm just glad that you're back, with me." She smiled slightly and closed her eyes.

He was glad that she wasn't forcing him to go into detail. Inuyasha knew that he wasn't ready to tell her of such things, even though she meant the world to him.

He smiled and relaxed against her still form, closing his eyes as well. He would think of those things later...

Maybe when a certain beautiful girl, and her rich calming scent weren't distracting him...

Which he seriously hoped, would never happen again...

Authors note: There's some fluff for ya! This was a very difficult chapter to write, seeing as I had to make Inuyasha a bit out of character in my opinion. But then again, they guy has just been freed from bondage.

In reply to some of your reviews that say that it's just like the anime, or should be animation; It really makes me feel happy when I see compliments like that. Because it tells me, that I understand the Anime (as well as the manga) pretty well. And as far as I know, I understand kagome pretty well.

My friends are very fond of calling me Kagome because of certain little things that I do, that they swear she would do. Although I don't think that I'm her, I do admit that I understand a lot of her feelings.

But I might get Inuyasha wrong once in a while, because I could never understand the guy if I knew him personally, which I don't. (Unluckily)

Okay then... So leave me some input, and I'll keep writing for you guys.