Updated March 2017 - second half of the original chapter. I actually thought it split pretty well, even if this one is a little shorter.

Many acknowledgments to Rumiko Takahashi for creating awesome!

Tenshi

Smoke was billowing out of the half-mile wide hole as thick as tar. Once Inuyasha had Kagome on his back, they rushed down to try and find his missing brother through the haze. Judging by the last place they saw him, they headed right for the edge of the crater. After taking off from his last jump, Inuyasha spotted the white-clad daiyoukai hunched down through the smoke. His stomach rushed up to his throat when his sensitive ears caught the hoarse sounds of labored breathing, is this what he was talking about when he said he had limits, he thought.

It wasn't long before Kagome spotted Inunomaru as well. "Is he okay?" Her hands gripped tighter onto his kimono and Inuyasha could feel the tremble of fear flow through her frame.

He glanced back and tried to calm her down, "Don't worry, Kagome, we'll find out when we get there." His words were aimed at reassuring her but they also seemed to serve a dual purpose with his nerves as well.

They landed with enough distance behind Inunomaru's still kneeling form to not encroach on him, but close enough to make him out clearly through the smoke. Before he made a movement to stand up, Inuyasha noticed him make a discrete motion with the back of his hand, like he was wiping something off of his face. His eyes quickly focused and his ears pricked fully, suddenly aware of every little gesture and detail on his brother's body.

Once Inunomaru straitened up, Kagome jumped off of Inuyasha's back and rushed over to him. "Are…are you alright?" she said through gasps of breath.

He gave a weary grin, "I am perfectly fine, Kagome-san. You have been injured though."

She looked down, clearly embarrassed, "It's just a little scratch, nothing new."

Inunomaru regarded Inuyasha, "Are you alright, Inuyasha?"

The second Inunomaru turned around, Inuyasha's heightened senses caught the specific smell of youkai blood. He looked over his brother quickly and picked out a small stain that darkened the red hem of his kimono.

That's what he was wiping off, he thought. The stress on his body from that attack made his nose to bleed! And now the guy's trying to hide any signs of it by acting perfectly fine?! What an idiot!

He threw Inunomaru a quick, disapproving glare and would have busted out in accusations had his brother not made a slight inclination with his eyes to the girl between them. It only took a millisecond for Inuyasha to realize what he was insinuating. Not in front of the girl. Unfortunately, Inuyasha had to agree. The miko was stressed out enough as it was. Besides, for lack of better judgement, he concluded that whatever this was would never be allowed to leave the crater. It was a sign of weakness, and signs of weakness were the Achilles heel of all youkai. Any mention of them was like an arrow strait to it. Inunomaru might be different from other youkai in some ways, but he was still youkai, so the same rules applied. It would be pointless to delve into it any further, though Inuyasha would be a downright idiot if he just forgot about it.

He forced his glare to morph into a cocky smirk, "Keh, I'm fine. Not a cut on me!"

Inunomaru seemed to approve and took a shallow breath, "Indeed."

Luckily, they had managed to keep their exchange between themselves, for Kagome's returning tone was much lighter, "Well, shall we go find the jewel shard?"

"We better hurry. I'm starving," Inuyasha smirked.

"Heh, typical," she said, adjusting her bow around her shoulder.

With one last glance at his brother, he helped Kagome on his back and they leaped to the center of the crater.

Apart from the change in scenery to the edge of the forest and rice fields, everything went as much back to normal as possible. Once the shard was found, everyone returned to Lady Kaede's house for a simple dinner. As usual, Inunomaru remained outside, but, instead of staying a large distance away from them, he sat quietly beneath the old tree down the hill from the house. Their cheery conversation was easily heard through the thin walls.

Shippo was finishing the rice and pork Lady Kaede had prepared with childish ferocity. Once he had inhaled his meal, he sat the bowl down and looked over at the door, "So was Inunomaru-sama not hungry?"

Inuyasha was leaning next to a wall, arms crossed and head down. "Nobody asked him," he shrugged indifferently.

Shippo gave the hanyou a frown, "Well that's just not nice."

Inuyasha shrugged again and ignored him. He had too much on his mind to care if his brother ate or not. He was more worried if he'd pass out or something. The noise in the house wasn't quiet in the least but he didn't need quiet to make out the difference in how Inunomaru's youki fluctuated. It didn't sit well with him at all.

The others didn't seem to catch Inuyasha's signs of worry, but Kagome knew him well enough to know when he was troubled about something. And, knowing that he was almost certainly focused on the daiyoukai outside, she decided to try and fix it, or at least figure it out. So, just as Shippo was about to start a fight, she stood up, grabbed a full bowl of rice and left the house without a word.

"Where's she goin'?" Inuyasha asked.

Miroku sipped his tea blankly, "Seems to me like you might have some competition, Inuyasha."

He snarled, "What does that mean? What kind of competition?"

Shippo crossed his arms, "Inuyasha, you're such an idiot."

"What are you guys talking about?"

They all giggled.

Kagome walked slowly down the hill, making sure she didn't spill the hot food all over her hands. She paused a few feet off to Inunomaru's right and sat down, placing the bowl between them.

He remained still and never opened his eyes, almost like he hadn't even noticed she was there. He did seem to have a habit of that, she noticed.

She pulled her legs up in front of her and wrapped her arms around them, fiddling with her fingers as she tried to keep her eyes on the ground in front of her. But every few seconds she found herself glancing up at him. The ability he had to stay stone still was fascinating. It had to be a youkai thing, she assumed.

After the first couple of glances, she began to notice other things besides his stillness. He looked tired for one, pale and heavy, like all the strength had been sucked out of him. He was on his knees when she and Inuyasha found him, but he seemed to be perfectly fine afterwards. Anyone would be worn out from an attack like that, she thought, even Inunomaru, right? Is this why Inuyasha was so worried? What did he catch that she had looked over? He did have better senses than she had, but was she really that unobservant?

"Thank you," a deep, smooth voice broke through the silence.

She jumped at the sudden response and blushed against her will, "Y…you're welcome." She forced herself to look back at the ground to try and keep from staring at him. It sure didn't take much for him to make her feel completely uncomfortable. Another youkai thing she guessed.

"Does your injury cause you pain?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she looked back up and met his sideward gaze. Her flushed color deepened and she quickly turned to try and hide her embarrassment, "It…it's a little deeper than I thought. It'll leave a scar but…it…it doesn't really hurt anymore."

He uncrossed his arms slowly and raised his hand, holding his palm inches from her face.

The change in air temperature on her skin made her turn. Once she noticed how near his hand was to her, she couldn't stop the surprised yelp as she jumped back, her blush flaring bright red, "Wh…wha…what are you d…doing?"

"Do not worry, Kagome-san, I am not going to harm you in any way," his molten eyes remained calm and locked with hers.

"O…kay…" she relaxed slightly but her face stayed a vivid red. Awkward awkward awkward…

A soft white glow started to pulse from his hand and with every beat of it her heart started racing even faster. Soon the skin from her cheek began to heat up and tingle and in a matter of seconds, her cut began to disappear, the skin stretching and melding together.

The sheer focus in his golden stare made her mind race wildly out of control. Why does he have to stare at me like that?…it should be illegal for someone to look at someone else like that!...it should be illegal for someone to look like that!…damn youkai genetics…wonder if I can study that in college?...doubtful…his lips are nice…holy cow did I just imagine kissing him! No, that was just an observation…crap now you did imagine kissing him...what is wrong with you…get your mind out of the gutter…bad Kagome BAD…

She was just about to smack herself in the head for inappropriate thoughts when she saw a fresh cut slowly slice through the skin of his cheek, right where hers had been only moments before.

"Inu…nomaru, your face," she motioned toward the cut, the blood now running down his smooth skin.

The glow from his hand dimmed and he lowered it back to his lap. He remained silent but his eyes stayed locked with hers, a flurry of unknown emotions racing through them. They seemed so much younger all of a sudden, like the centuries of wisdom had fallen behind an almost human air of innocence, for once matching his youthful face. Seeing such a drastic change in his face was uncomfortable, yet she couldn't help but be enthralled by it. It was like he was an entirely different person.

Her curiosity studied him for what seemed like hours until she noticed his eyes fall down to her lips for just a split second before he quickly turned his head away from her.

"I am sorry…" his face returned to normal but his body remained stiff and his voice was almost breathy, as if he was beating himself up inside for what he had just done.

She too was stiff. Did he just… "For…bleeding?" the clench in her chest held back any real words.

He closed his eyes tight, "No, it…it is another side effect of the health transfer. Regrettably, there is also a level of emotional…and…thought transfer as well."

Her eyes grew huge, "You mean you…heard…all of th…that?" Kagome, you done screwed up girl!

His head dropped. "Again, I am sorry. I do not feel emotions like humans do and…I honestly do not know how to react to them." He didn't let his embarrassment show but she read through his words.

She nervously tried to wave it off, "Don't beat yourself up about that, Inunomaru-sama. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was the one with the dirty mind, hehehe…he…" she instantly shut up and bit her lip, a blush coming back with a vengeance. This wasn't what she had planned when she decided to come out there at all. Damn her female reactions to cute guys! So childish!

"If I did something to warrant these thoughts, I must apologize," his eyes were concerned, "Is there anything I can do to help ease them?"

Kagome's throat all but disappeared. Yeah, you can look like Jaken and have the personality of a rock! By Kami you're just making this worse! She hiccupped, "No. Nope. Just fine. You're good. No problem. Everything's great. I'm rambling now aren't I?"

There was a sound through his nose that she could have sworn was a laugh, "Indeed."

She groaned and hid her face in her hands, unable to look at anything. Why me? He was quiet for a while and she deeply hoped he wasn't staring at her.

"Tenshi."

"Wh…what?" her words were muffled as she turned her eyes in her hands.

"My birth name."

Curiosity beat out embarrassment and she lowered her hands, "Birth name?" What had warranted this? Was he…was he changing the subject? She admitted that she welcomed the divergence away from other things, but this? Why?

He nodded, "The name my mother gave to me upon my birth. I changed my name to Inunomaru in honor of my father."

"Wow," her thoughts went back, "Um…sorry, but…why are you telling me this?"

He grinned warmly, "I felt you needed something substantial to get your mind off of previous subjects. The scent of your embarrassment was quite strong."

"You could smell me?" she tried to keep another flare of embarrassment from coming back up.

He nodded, "Scent and emotion are highly linked. Human emotions, in particular, are quite strong."

"Is…is that why you said you didn't feel emotions like humans do?"

He almost shrugged, "It is normal. There are many youkai who do not feel emotion like humans, and there are others who do, like Shippo-kun. Hanyou, like Inuyasha, are also quite susceptible to their emotions, as you have most likely seen on many occasions."

"Huh, I guess that's…understandable." Surely youkai like you still feel all the same emotions though, right? The question was answered without much thought. She knew what she had seen in his eyes, even before that whole 'mind-meld' thing, and it sure wasn't nothing. There was emotion there, it was just trapped behind a self-inflicted wall. Maybe she could find a way to knock it down somehow. Surely holding back emotions for that long was bad on the psyche, even for youkai. She scratched her head, "So…you said your name was Tenshi…"

"Indeed"

"So can I…?"

He gave her a small grin, "I would rather keep this between you and I. However, you may call me this if you decide to bring me food again." His statement wasn't meant to be sarcastic but it made her blush return anyway.

She took this as the best opportunity to end their conversation before it turned awkward again, so she bit her lip then stood up, grabbing the now cold bowl of rice. "Well…if you ever need food you won't eat, then just ask," she said with a big smile, "I'm always up for a good quiet conversation once in a while. I don't get that much with all the craziness around."

He bowed his head, "I will."

"Goodnight, Tenshi-san"

"Goodnight, Kagome"

She blushed again deeply before she turned around and returned to the house.

It's fun when you can laugh at your own writing. That inner monologue from Kagome just got me XD

Till next time ;)