Chapter 44

It had been but a few hours and, already, the evidence of daylight was starting to shed and give way to the first signs of nightfall that nipped at the tops of the two youth's heads. It had taken more than a moment for them to gather all they could find and tunnel back through that time traveling well. Now, with Kagome perched on Inuyasha's back, her face lowered to his silvery locks, they embarked on the short journey home.

The dark outlines of towering trees passed at a slow pace. There wasn't a need to pick up speed and move along. They seemed to have all the time in the world to wait for Sanraku's return. It didn't even creep up on them, weighing them down with fear no matter how strong the detachment had proved himself to be. Everything was at ease as Kagome dared to lift her face to the clear and starry sky above.

"Inuyasha?...What would you compare me to?" She asked, her brown eyes pasted above her at the star splashed heavens. Each little blinking light sparkled as a reflection in her glassy eyes. She searched for one, one in particular as she awaited the hanyou's retortion.

"What are you talking about?" He spat, his voice low and irritated as he moved between a pair of close growing trees. Their branches stretched downwards to snatch at those pretty little dog ears and charcoal strands of hair.

"Anything. Like...the grass or something. Anything at all."

"I don't get it."

"Geez...It's just a game, Inuyasha."

"Fine, fine." He gave, shifting his golden eyes about the dark forest for anything to name after her. But how? Everything looked like her. The shadows held the silky softness and color of her hair. The stars held her eyes. The gentle hum of the night birds and bugs held the essence her soft voice. But to pick just one thing was so hard.

"The clouds." He said, waiting for a moment to let the reasons float to him. "Because...the both of you are light as a feather." He reasoned, shifting her comfortably on his back with such ease. But that one reason didn't satisfy either of them. All he had to do was sit back and wait for more to pop into his head.

Meanwhile, that gleeful smile never left the miko's lips. She just couldn't hold back the sweet giggles that forced their way out. It was so cute, seeing him struggle to say something nice when, really, it came with ease.

"You've always got your head up in the sky, in the clouds. And...you hold back tears as long as you can until you get so full of rain...that you just burst. And when that happens, when you get so full of it, damn do you rain...cry..." He said, each word so well thought out. "and...heh. Because clouds don't have brains." He added, immaturely.

In reply, Kagome sighed heavily, her smile fading and quick as it had come. Was it really that hard to say one nice thing to her without something horrible following. Couldn't he just hold her, hug her, tell her that he wanted her to be happy right to her face? It was sad how she doubted it so much now.

"Well...I think you're like the sun." She said, her eyes lighting up as they raised to the sky again. The sun wasn't out at night. She knew that, but it didn't alter her decision of what he was to her. He was her sun and she was his cloud. It hurt, when she thought about it. There were so many other clouds, so many others to pick from when he was her one and only. There was only one sun on Earth.

"Warm...for one." She whispered into his ear, her arms making their way tighter around his shoulders and neck. "And golden, like your eyes. It holds it's very soul, it's everything and reason for being right on the surface. Fire. To warm us. And...no one has ever set foot there. No one has ever been able to walk all over you. They were always burned up by the heat before they could even get near." She added, but she wasn't done. So many more reasons for her choice bloomed in her mind.

"If you look at it for too long...your eyes start to sting and water. And, most of all...beacuse the clouds are always close to it." She drooped only slighty at her own words. 'Almost always close to it.' She added in her mind as she buried her face in his silken silver tresses.

No more words were uttered as they slowly came upon that familiar hut silhouetted in the distance. Only a simple stroke of Inuyasha's thumbs across the smooth skin of Kagome's calf and the guilty frown that played over his full lips. How horrible he felt for saying something that was hardly true to him at all while the miko freely told him sweet everythings without a tinge of sarcasim or unkindness. Did he truly have no heart? He had to question himself at times.

The hut lingered in the distance, though they never seemed to get any closer. Inuyasha almost let the crazy thought that they would never get there unless he had confessed how guilty and sorry he was to Kagome. Crazy. He knew, so he just continued on, holding the silent miko over his back without a simple word or touch left that he could express to show how he really, really wished he could turn back time.

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"Kagome!" Shippo's high pitched voice spurted into the air along with his little body as he leapt up to tackle Inuyasha's shoulder. He scampered around the hanyou's neck as he struggled to fight the urge to swat the fox youkai off of him. The kitsune clasped his arms around Kagome's neck and hugged her dearly like a little boy would to his mother who had come back from a grocery store with a delicious lolly pop.

"It's good to see you too, Shippo." The miko said, a short giggle loosening up the hanyou's knitted in brows as he lowered her to the unfurnished hut floor. Keeping his forever constant vow of silence, he swept over to plop down on the floor next to their three other companions, giving off smiles towards their newly returned friends.

"Good to have you back, Kagome!" Miroku exclaimed, a soft hand swiping over the slayer's hand. She gently shot him a warning look. If it was even possible anymore, the monk and slayer would try to preserve the secret of their love just as long as they could. That meant no kissing, no loving words, no touching. An impossible attempt.

"You too, Inuyasha." Sango dared to add with a smile towards the dangerously down hanyou, grumbling against the wall with his head dipped low and his arms crossed over his chest, using that ever attractive boyish charm of his.

"It's great to be back!" Kagome cried with a wide smile to hide the disappointment that still lay just under the surface. They didn't know, though. How could they have known all that Inuyasha had attempted, that they had done while on their mini vacation away from the dangers of the feudal realm? That's right. They couldn't, shouldn't, and probably would never know how Inuyasha had tried to kiss her time and time again with nothing but failure. How an unseen romance had acted up when least expected.

"But I'm pooped! It's late. I'm just gonna go to bed." She added, raising a delicate hand to ruffle the rust colored locks of Shippo's hair before he hopped off to huddle close at her heels.

"That makes the two of us." The slayer piped up, a gleeful smile on her lips as she jumped up to move to her personal crimson sleeping bag. She dropped down on it, waiting as Kirara mewed softly and clicked after her to revert to her youkai form in a burst of flame. She settled herself to let her longtime friend's head rest against her side as she nuzzled her face into her black striped paws.

Kagome followed, slipping deep into the silken folds of her comfortable sleeping bag without even having to think about it. A few simple goodnights were uttered as Miroku snuggled against the other side of Kirara and Inuyasha remained leaning against the wall, his eyes clamped closed without a word. How mysteriously, he had swiveled back to his old, distant, grumpy ways from the playful hanyou he had been just moments ago. Kagome chose not to dig deeper right now. It was sleep time, and there was plenty of time tomorrow, right?

She had to admitt, it was relaxing to be back in this era, as dangerous as it was. No more school or love rivals. Just her, her best friends, pet, foster son, and...Inuyasha.

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Hey, Hey, Hey there!

I know, this one was a bit plain...just billowing down to get you all randomly shocked for the next chapter! WOOT! And this is where you'll all kill me...

C'mon! You people are lacking on me! Don't tell me I'm really going down the drains? Am I just too fast or something? Someone actually took me off their favorites list! Oo! Gah!

Okay. I'll be sure to get another good one up to lure you back in. And remember to reccemend this story to friends! I've been seeing alot of 'post some good fanfics you've found' boards! I've put up a few of the goods ones...can never find those dang boards again, but I did!

So...Aloha!