Prompt: "C'mon—I don't bite. Not unless you want me to, that is."

After that fiasco on the first day, which had turned out alright in the end, sure, but maybe he was just a little paranoiac, Inuyasha carefully decided to wait for Kagome to invite him back. And waited. And waited. And waited. He told himself it just had to do with the mid-terms. They were all really busy those days, after all, and either she didn't think about it, or she didn't want to bother him.

He had run into her on campus shortly before he would have unavoidably fallen back into his usual 'yeah she probably hates me and wants nothing to do with me'. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was messy, and she looked like she wanted to die, and suddenly, he had no doubt that yup, the midterms were the problem.

They had barely exchanged three words, mainly because she couldn't seem to align more than that, and even then they were hardly coherent, but they had managed to agree that she would wait for him to come out of basketball practice, and he'd walk to her apartment with her. The thought of it was a bit— weird. Kikyo used to do that a lot. He liked it, to be honest. Other players always had girls waiting for them, and him, the half-demon… He didn't. So to have his girl waiting for him every once in a while, yeah, he appreciated it.

She didn't do it all the time, but, if he insisted enough, she sometimes managed to clear her schedule for him.

Now that he thought about it, he knew it didn't sound great. It wasn't great, either. She sighed a lot, she complained about the other things she had to do, and he knew she didn't really like being seen in public with him. But back then, it was all he had. As he got prepared to leave, he wondered if Kagome had felt forced, and the nagging, shitty feeling didn't leave him until he walked out.

He discovered her, asleep on a bench facing the door when he walked out, and he grimaced. Had he kept her out there? He should have told her he'd meet her at her apartment.

He walked to her, unable to shake the unpleasant thoughts, and gave her a flick on the forehead. She jumped awake immediately, and he couldn't help but think that, yeah, she was cute.

"No, I don't know how to do trigono— Oh."

That made him snort.

"Trigonometry?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you a psychology major?"

"Yeah, um, maths might have been traumatizing," Kagome yawned while stretching, taking in her surroundings. "You haven't— been around for too long, have you?"

"Just got here," he replied with a shrug, feeling guilty, yet again, that she would worry about him when he was the one keeping her out. "C'mon, let's get you home. You need some sleep."

"I sure do," she sighed, getting up. "I thought those exams were never going to end."

She started to walk by his side, and he considered slowing his pace down for her, until he realized that she was stumbling. They'd be lucky if she just didn't fall asleep while standing.

"Want me to carry ya?"

She blinked.

"Come again?"

He sighed.

"I made ya stay out late when you're clearly way too fucking tired for that. Want me to carry you so you don't fall and hurt yourself or something?"

She looked at him, hesitant, for a couple of minutes.

"I don't— I didn't mind waiting for you, Inuyasha. I mean, I could have told you I'd see you at my place, I just—"

I wanted to walk home with you.

"Yeah, whatever." He shrugged. He knew Kagome was nice. He knew she wouldn't want to hurt him, and maybe she was telling the truth right now, but he just couldn't get rid of the feeling.

He knelt in front of her, presenting her his back.

"Get on." When she hesitated, he rolled his eyes. "C'mon— I don't bite. Unless you want me to, 'f course."

She laughed, and he instantly felt his lips forming into a smile.

"God you're dumb," she said, walking towards him. "Don't drop me, though, okay?"

He would never.

"Depends. If you get too annoying, I just might."

He wrapped his hands around her legs and easily got up. It was like she weighed nothing, and yet he was all too aware of her body against his, of her arms around him, of her hair falling on his shoulders.

"You can fall asleep if you wanna," he said as he started walking.

"Hmm, no, I don't want to," she mumbled, but she was already resting her head on his shoulder and he was so comfortable and she was so so tired.

"Kagome, you need sleep."

That was undeniable. "But that's not fair," she complained. "I wanted to spend time with you."

Inuyasha felt his breath catching in his throat.

"'s okay. I'm here."

"Hmm."

"I'll take care of ya."

"Hmm."

"And we can spend time together later."

"Hmm… Promise?"

"Yeah. Yeah, if you want it to be, 's a promise."

"Good. Thanks, Inuyasha."

Then she yawned again, and he felt her arms relax a little around him. Her breathing became more even, and Kagome was finally able to get some much deserved rest.

Inuyasha sighed. He had it bad for that girl. He hoped this wouldn't be the last time she'd wait for him outside of practice, so this could be the memory that would stay with him. He hoped he'd spend more time with her, as he'd just promised, hoped that she really wanted him to keep that promise.

Because that was the thing, when he was with Kagome.

He could hope.

Part three's here! So far so good, and by that I mean I'm sticking to the schedule x) I hope you're still liking this! A dash of angst in this one perhaps? But it's still Inuyasha and Kagome pining for each others like two dummies who should kiss already dammit! Thank you for your kind reviews so far, and I hope to see more of you if you're liking this AU!

Dya.