AN: Remember how I said I would only be updating on Thursdays? I lied. Here is the next chappie!

Good-Night

Inuyasha rubbed his forehead, fighting off the beginnings of a headache. "Why didn't she come to me?" he muttered. "If it was getting too much, she could have come to me." Sesshoumaru shot him a filthy look, holding Kagome in the crook of his single arm. They had taken up space in Kikyou's hut, sitting around the small fire in the center. Sesshoumaru had already explained the recent events, or at least as much as he intended to. No need to let the half-breed know everything just yet. Kagome would tell him everything else when she woke up.

"Have you not been listening, hanyou?" he snapped. "I told you why. You had abandoned her. She felt she had to be strong for you."

"That still doesn't explain anything." Inuyasha muttered. He shot the taiyoukai an equally filthy look. "It doesn't explain why she called you onisan. Not even I do that."

Before Sesshoumaru could think of a suitably scathing remark, Kagome shifted in his arms. Automatically, he looked down at her, feeling her tense when she realized she was being held. "Calm, imoto." he said softly. "You're safe."

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. "Onisan?" Her voice was thick with exhaustion, but she quickly blinked it away and attempted to sit up. Sessshoumaru adjusted his grip on her so she could move, and gently propped her up when she swayed. "Arigato. Inuyasha, Kikyou, are you two all right?"

Kikyou nodded, but Inuyasha started to growl at the younger miko. "Care to explain something to me, Kagome?" he hissed.

She was confused. "Explain what?"

"Why are you calling him onisan?!"

She hesitated then. "Because he is. Or he might as well be, considering everything he's done for me. He helped me heal, Inuyasha. Naraku was preventing you from helping me, but he kinda stepped up to the plate, whether he knew it or not." She flashed the taiyoukai a smile, and he smiled softly in return. Only Kagome would have seen it. "It's all right now, Inuyasha. You can heal now, too."

The hanyou looked her over, his ears flattening against his head. "You're gonna leave with him, aren't you?" he whispered.

"If he lets me." she admitted.

"Kagome is more than welcome to travel with this Sesshoumaru." Sesshoumaru put in, regaining a bit of his arrogance. Now that his imoto was safe, he could control himself once again. "I believe my pack would be disappointed to see her go."

Only Kagome knew what he meant by that last bit. I would miss you.

She nodded. "Arigato, onisan."

If anything, Inuyasha looked even more dejected. "Ah, well. If that's what you want to do." He shook his head and looked back up at the two, his face once again full of its usual arrogance. "You'd better keep her here for the night, Sesshoumaru." he warned. "She's in no condition to go traipsing off after your group."

"This Sesshoumaru is not unaware of that fact." came the dry response. "We shall inform you when we are ready to leave."

/---/

It was late, but Kagome easily found Inuyasha sitting outside Kikyou's hut, staring up at the stars. Quietly, she came and sat down next to him, turning her face skywards. "What's so interesting up there?" she murmured.

Inuyasha hid a chuckle. "No problems up there." he muttered back. She heard him sigh and shuffle around a bit before continuing. "It doesn't seem right, you leaving. I know you've got every right to, but still. Nothing's really the same anymore."

Kagome shook her head. "Things haven't been the same for a long time now, Inuyasha." she said calmly. "At least you have a chance now."

"You didn't have to come back."

"I did. You are my friend, after all. My first friend here. I can't just abandon you." Kagome pointed out.

"What do you think you're doing now?" Inuyasha's voice was bitter, his ears flat against his head, and Kagome sighed in defeat. Slowly, she put her arms around him, cradling him against her chest as one might hold a child. Soflty, she began to sing. It was for his ears alone, but another heard it as well.

"Good-night, sleep tight,

no more tears.

In the morning,

I'll be here.

And when we say good-night

dry your eyes.

Because we said good-night

and not good-bye."

She repeated the song over and over again, soothing the troubled hanyou into a peaceful slumber. She sighed, letting the peaceful night wash over her for a moment, before turning her attention to her watcher.

"Do you think we could come back again, onisan?" she whispered.

There was a pause. "Hai, imoto." he whispered back. "If that is what you wish."

/---/

AN: Oh, and I don't own the song there. It is (ironically enough) Good-Night by Evanescence.