XXXXXXXX

Fade to Black

XXXXXXXX

While he didn't mind her doing what she did last night, it was just one more thing giving him emotional whiplash. Whiplash which was the last thing he needed right now. First she basically accuses him of not loving him, admits that she never thought they were married, very emphatically wants to take things slow, then they become what she calls girlfriend/boyfriend and now she was giving him sexual favors. Right after they fight. The cherry on top, of course, was that husband loving their wives comment. Bouncing his knee a little faster, Inuyasha tired to wrap his mind around all of it. Make sense out of all of it and in the process merely succeeded in giving himself a headache.

Really they should talk about what happened, right? That had been the main problem way back then. Lack of communication. On the other hand, though, he really didn't want to hear her explanation. She probably touched him out of pity and he didn't want yet another pleasant memory tarnished by her mouth. In all honesty, he wanted her to do what she'd done again and then some. Was that something he could ask her to do now? Something he could initiate? Or was thatsomething women did for their boyfriends in her era? Something that came with the territory and he just straight up didn't know? But then she made that comment. Had she accepted that she was his wife? Was she mocking him? Was that why she had done what she'd done? And why had she fought so hard against him adding someone when she added pretty much every one of their friends unilaterally? She hadn't consulted him when she let Shippo or Miroku or Sango come along. Not that he had minded the additions per se and it'd worked out in the long run but why was it whenever he did something or thought something it was wrong? And with everything up in the air like it was, what the hell was he supposed to tell Kikyo? What was he supposed to tell his friends? What was he supposed to do with his friends? Would removing their shards kill them or would it just be painful like it had been for him? Did he only survive because he was a half-demon? If so, did that mean Shippo would survive or would the kit end up disintegrating like so many demons before him? Did Kilala even have a shard or was she, in fact, just a cat who didn't give a shit what was going on? If they removed Kikyo's shard would she kill them all? If he broke things off with her would she kill them all? And to top this all off Kagome needed practical shoes and so he needed to figure that out at some point too. Letting out a shuddering breath, he continued trying to make sense of it all completely unaware that Kagome was now watching the emotions his thoughts were causing play out on his face.

It was obvious he was trying to think something through and most of what he was thinking was bad or confusing. There was the occasional look of pure longing. The occasional soft smile but mainly there were scowls, scrunching of brows, setting of jaws, chewing of cheeks, and eye rolls.

"What's wrong?" Kagome finally asked as his ears began drooping and his anger appeared to fade into depression. Shaking his head subtly, amber eyes flicked up to hers as a soft but strained smile appeared on his lips.

"Nothing. Just thinking," Inuyasha sighed heavily as he got to his feet, "You ready to go?"

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," she countered softly as she gave him a slightly worried look, "Is it because of last night?"

Inuyasha set his jaw as he glanced at her face before averting his eyes and shrugging.

"I just thought…" Kagome began awkwardly as she played with her hands, "I thought it'd be a nice thing to do for you."

"I don't need your pity," Inuyasha snapped harshly as his sensitive nose picked up the undertones that confirmed what he already suspected, "I don't want you to do things like that if it doesn't mean anything."

Sighing shakily, Kagome bit her lip to keep it from trembling and continued playing with her hands. Rubbing one hand over his face, Inuyasha scowled and shook his head.

"Look I appreciate what you did. I do," he tried to salvage the situation, "But you can't…you can't do things like that, saythings like that just to try and make me feel better. All it does is confuse me and I just…I…I love you, ya know? So doingthings like that, saying things like that when you don't mean it…when you're just doing it because you feel bad for…"

"That wasn't why I did it. I don't pity you," Kagome finally groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Or…or I guess I do. You just...it's like everything I've ever done has just...I just hurt you. I…I pity you because you love me and I'm just…I'm me."

Anger dissipating, Inuyasha gaped slightly as his face fell into utter confusion.

"Come aga..."

"I mean, you loved me that whole time and I was just too stupid to realize it. I was too stupid to realize that the jewel lies. That it manipulates. I just trusted it because I was desperate and now…now I've managed to mess everythingup. Just…just everything!"

Inuyasha's eyes widened in alarm as Kagome devolved into full blown hysterics. This…this was unfortunate. And making him extremely confused truth be told. Her meltdown was sudden and shocking and overall weird. Whatever reaction he'd expected wasn't for her to say…what was she saying exactly? Did Kagome think she wasn't good enough for him? That had to be what she was trying to say, right?. Which was, of course, an absolutely stupid thing to think but then again she could that stupid sometimes so…

How was it that every damn time he was upset she managed to one up him? To make it about her somehow? Whatever that was an argument for another day.

"That's not...okay it's a little true but...Kagome just…"

Completely missing Inuyasha's lame attempts to get her to shut up a minute, Kagome took a shuddering breath to break her incoherent ramblings as tears began welling in her eyes, "Used to be when we fought it was over simple things. Stupid things but this time...this time you were asking for something of because you...you..."

"Dammit just...," Inuyasha sighed heavily as he fought the urge to roll his eyes, "Kagome all I meant was..."

"And I was telling you what you wanted was stupid but then you said that," Kagome let out a choked sob, "And how many times have I told you something was stupid or called you a jerk when you were doing something you felt was important? That you needed? And I was just too stupid to realize and..."

"Woman, just shut up and let me…"

"So I tried to give you something nice for once. Something…something I assumed you wanted," she continued like she didn't hear him as tears continued falling down her face, "But I managed to fuck that up too."

Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise at the language as he set his jaw and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do here. What was he supposed to do here? She was too far gone to even realize he was talking. Too wrapped up in her own misery to even realize she was being ridiculous. Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha supposed this was a common thread in their relationship. Kagome making a bunch of stupid decisions or thinking she knew best when in reality she didn't know a damn thing and had it all wrong. Make things personal that weren't.

Letting out a shuddering sigh himself, Inuyasha did the only thing he could think to do and crossed the distance between them to give her the tightest embrace he could do without hurting her. The effect was the opposite of what he hoped as she immediately devolved into full blown sobs.

"Do you know how much I wanted to be yours back then?" Kagome continued to cry, "How much I loved you? And all that time you were mine and I just...I just wasted it. I wasted it and then you died and you were just gone and then I abandoned you and..."

"You didn't waste anything," Inuyasha comforted as he stroked her hair and rested his chin atop her head "And you didn't abandon me. You did what you did to save me. There's a difference."

When she merely whimpered in reply Inuyasha closed his eyes and sighed.

"How about this?" he began slowly, "Everything that happened between us before this moment doesn't matter."

Kagome tensed and Inuyasha smacked himself mentally. Of course she thought he meant...oh god dammit...

"You love me. I love you," he explained as he gently forced her cheek to remain against his chest, "That's all that matters going forward. No more of this bullshit. No more assuming what we want. It's getting us nowhere."

Kagome sniffled as her arms slowly unfurled to wrap around him in return. Pressing his lips against her temple, Inuyasha closed his eyes and held her tighter.

"I need you and all any of this is doing is driving you away," he whispered softly, "So just...just forget what happened. What I thought. What you thought. Just be with me. That's enough."

Nodding, Kagome squeezed him as tightly as she could earning a happy albeit exasperated hum. It struck him as strange in that moment as he realized that the two years had made more of a difference than he'd thought. He was the mature one now. Him. The guy who literally made every bad impulsive decision in the book. He had always been older but now he felt it. While Kagome hadn't changed all that much, he had grown emotionally. Had assimilated more and wasn't as wild as he had been. Less impulsive, and more aware of himself. More aware of what he wanted and had the maturity to see how to reach his goal. Kagome was still…more or less the same. Making stupid decisions and saying things she didn't mean because she thought that was what she was supposed to do. Not that the realization made him love her less mind you, it was just a strange one to have all things considered.

"I'm sorry," Kagome sniffled as she squeezed him tightly and Inuyasha sighed heavily.

"You don't need to apologize," he soothed as he stroked her hair, "Just be yourself. You don't need to push yourself. I know…I know I rushed you but…I'm not going to anymore. I just want you beside me."

"I do love you," Kagome whispered anxiously and Inuyasha sighed wearily before kissing her forehead.

"I know and that's enough."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Traveling with Shiori was…awkward for lack of a better term. While the little bat girl could keep up on her own – courtesy of her ability to fly without wings at alarmingly fast speeds – this raised so many questions Kagome didn't even know where to start. With everything that had happened that morning and the evening prior, the details of InuYasha's interrogation had completely slipped her mind. What did he mean by aging and manifesting and…and just what did he mean? Were there things Inuyasha could do that he just conveniently left out?

"I couldn't run like this or use blades of blood until I was around thirteen or fourteen in human years," Inuyasha called back just loud enough for Kagome to hear from her place on his back, "I stopped growing as fast around the time I turned ten."

It was in that moment the miko knew she would never truly come to terms with his ability to read minds via scent. Maybe it was only her that he could read that easily or maybe he could…

"Its just you," Inuyasha replied yet again to a question she was not going to ask loud, "Sango and Miroku...I think I've got their emotions down but half the time I got no clue what they're thinking."

'He didn't mention…'

"I swear to god do not say what you wanted to say," Inuyasha huffed, "I've never been able to read her so why would now be any different?"

"That…"

"Explains a lot. Yeah," Inuyasha snorted derisively before his amber eyes flicked up to a happy looking teenager floating along beside them, "Shouldn't she have wings or something? Am I the only one who thinks that's weird?"

"I do have wings," Shiori giggled as she shrugged her shoulders and dark violet wings suddenly bloomed out of thin air, "Just think they're ugly so I hide them with a barrier."

"Makes sense," Inuyasha replied uneasily as he quickly adjusted his run to a little further out of her wing span, "And that happened when you stopped aging?"

Shiori nodded as she closed her eyes and the wings began to fade out of view.

"So Inuyasha," Kagome hummed as she reached up and tweaked one ear making him miss a step, "Did these grow after you stopped aging?"

"No," Inuyasha groaned as he tried to tilt his head out of her grasp, "I was just more agile. Stronger. Got attacks."

"Better to be strong than have the ability to make barriers and gross unattractive wings," Shiori hummed, "Besides your sword is your most powerful weapon. Do you think I could try it sometime?"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the bat girl before looking ahead. That was an odd thing to ask. A very odd thing. Touching someone else's weapon was like asking to share a bed. Things you just don't do. Not once had he even dared asked Sango if he could try her boomerang nor asked Miroku for his staff. Borrowing weapons was just…

"No."

"Sorry, sorry," Shiori hummed quietly – unperturbed by his harsh, blunt shut down, "Just curious."

"Maybe we can find you a weapon that works for you," Kagome offered as a half-way point and Shiori grinned.

"I'd like that," Shiori sighed as she closed her eyes and let the wind hit her face, "This is nice. I've never really been anywhere other than the ocean."

"Yeah well…" Inuyasha huffed as he tried to cope with the ever dawning knowledge he'd just let in another naïve and talkative teenage girl into his everyday life before tensing when something much worse suddenly came into view.

"Who is that?" Shiori asked curiously as she slowly landed on the ground, "He's tall for a human."

"He's not human," Inuyasha growled as she stopped as tucked Kagome in behind him, "And he shouldn't be here."

"The hell I shouldn't," an all too familiar voice boomed across the small meadow as the figure rolled his blue eyes and folded his arms across his chest, "This is my territory and you're the one two days late."