I do not own Inuyasha, and this story was completely self indulgent. I needed this yesterday, but I wasn't capable of writing it then. Maybe next year it will help me again.

Inuyasha was walking through the field heading for his next class. It could have sucked that it was all the way across campus, but it was May so the weather was decent. Plus, this was the best trip of the day because he would get to see and smell her. Kagome Higurashi. They had only spoken a few times, but her best friend and his were both in love with each other and couldn't figure it out so they were both invited to the same parties. He looked forward to this trek three times a week. This was his only chance to see her regularly.

As he was approaching her, something felt off. Her usual bright smile seemed weaker and almost forced. Then he caught her scent. It was normally light, airy, and fresh. Today it seemed marred by sadness, and he could smell tears on her. Not fresh as if she had just been crying, but she had definitely been crying today. Everything in him ground to a halt. Why had she been crying?

She looked up to see him and flashed her now extremely fake smile and he felt a growl bubble up in his throat. Who the FUCK had hurt her? He would rip them to SHREDS!

He came to a stop when she had almost reached him and she took a few more steps than stopped staring at him quizzically. So close, but perfectly out of reach, and it killed him that he couldn't touch her.

"Inuyasha, are you ok? You're kinda growling…" She glanced around and he wasn't sure what she was looking for.

Once her words registered, and he saw the uneasiness on her face, he stopped his growling and stepped towards her. She didn't back away, and that gave him more hope than he realized he needed. At his approach, her scent changed just a tad. Some of the sadness was replaced by confusion, and he could smell a slight spice of arousal. He felt his cock throb in response and it was killing him. But first he needed to make sure she was all right. That sadness was still overpowering her normal scent.

"I'm fine." He heard the words and was irritated at himself for sounding so gruff and angry, but she didn't seem perturbed by his typical aggression. Then he took a deep breath and barely loud enough for her to hear, "Are you okay? You're not as happy as you usually are."

Her eyes went wide, and she took in a quick gasp. He could see tears pooling at her lower lids, and now he knew he had fucked up. She was still too vulnerable from whatever had hurt her. If it was someone at this school, they wouldn't live through the night, that he was sure of. Her head dropped a bit, and he instinctively used his knuckles to pull it back up so she was staring at him again. He could stare into those chocolate eyes forever. Now her nose was a cute little pink, and it was killing him that she was hurting so much.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice sounded watery and weak. He could hear the sobs she was trying so hard to hold back. This small slip of a woman was going to break him, right here, right now.

"Kagome, can you skip your next class?" Her eyes somehow went even wider, but she thought for a second, then nodded in lieu of answering. He wrapped his arm around her and started pulling her with him. He knew a nice quiet place where they could talk, and she'd be safe.

She wasn't sobbing yet, but he could tell it was taking all of her energy not to. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to one of his classmates and friends asking them to take good notes so he could borrow them. Something important came up, and got a yes, then suggested she do the same. She pulled her phone out and got an 'of course' which didn't surprise him because who wouldn't be kind to this amazing woman.

They arrived at a little fountain in a nearby park, and it was mostly empty. It had a cute little bench tucked away near the shrubs, and it was rather private. He sat her down and waited patiently for her to start.

"How did you know I was sad?" Her voice was a whisper, but his ears caught it all the same.

"Keh, I just could, okay? Now did someone hurt you?"

She chuckled, but it wasn't a cheerful sound. "I guess you could say that someone hurt me, but it wasn't intentional. I'm fine. Really. This is just a bad day. Everyone has them y'know."

Someone had hurt her, and she was going to give them a pass. Because she was too fucking nice for her own damn good!

"Kagome, who hurt you?!" His voice was back to being gruff and angry but she still didn't seem bothered by it.

"No one you can punish, Inuyasha. Trust me, they were punished enough." He could smell the tears before he could see them, and he wrapped her in his arms with her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, I've got you. It's okay. Go ahead, I've got you."

She sobbed violently in his arms, her whole body shaking with the exertion. She had really been fighting today. It seemed like it was going to go on forever, but he would sit here as long as she needed him. Even with her crying, he never felt so complete as he did with her in his arms.

He gently rubbed her back in soothing circles as she sobbed into his shirt, and he had no idea how much time had passed before her sobs slowly quieted. She pulled away from him, and he instantly missed the contact, but she was looking more ashamed of herself than he wanted her to. He reached into his backpack and grabbed a bottle of water and handed it over. She gave him a small grateful smile and took a sip. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of clean tissues. She used one to wipe her face and then her nose, then another to try to dry his shoulder, which he knew there were tears and snot, but that wasn't important. She was important.

"Keh, it's washable. Don't worry about it. Now, do you wanna talk about it?"

Her eyes went down, and she stared at her hands in her lap for a minute, then gave the smallest nod. "But it's not what you think…" She took a deep breath and another small swig of the water. This must be hard. The pain must have been deep for her to take this long to gather her thoughts. He waited patiently, trying to figure out how to help her first and punish the bastard second.

"I hate this day. It hurts. I don't want this day to exist, but it still does. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it still hurts as if it were yesterday." Her eyes lifted and met his, "I miss my dad. It's been sixteen years. I know it seems foolish that after sixteen years I can still let it hurt me, but I miss him. There was so much he was supposed to see. I wanted him to see me become the person I am today." At the word today her voice faded, and tears were springing anew. She grabbed another tissue from the pile and cried into it.

He scooped her up from the other side of the bench and set her on his lap where he could wrap his arms around her. She gasped at the movement but made no attempt to pull away. Her face was on his other shoulder from this angle, and he held her tight to him. She always seemed so happy. How did she go through this without ever showing how much she was hurting? He would make sure she wouldn't have to go through it alone again. It was the least he could do. He never wanted this deep sadness to mar her light and happy scent from him again.