Nothing to say, except...thanks reviewers! Oh, and, GodOfFlame101, I didn't feel obligated to read your stories, I just figured since you write such awesome reviews you are probably a good author also (I turned out to be right)!

I don't own Inuyasha. Or Kagome, or Miroku, or Sango, or Sesshomaru...the list goes on and on, doesn't it? Anyway...

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Chapter 5: Awakening

"Damn it," said Inuyasha for about the hundredth time as he sat on top of Kaede's roof, his foot tapping impatiently on the black shingles. "When the hell will she wake up?" It had been four days since Kagome had been hit by Naraku's miasma, and the girl still hadn't woken up. The hanyou had become more and more frustrated--as well as worried, though he would never admit it--with each passing minute.

What if she never wakes up? he thought to himself, fear filling his mind. No, Kagome's strong, he decided, and went back to tapping his foot.

"Will you stop that?" yelled an annoyed demon slayer's voice from inside. A few moments later, Sango and Miroku stepped out of the hut and glared at the hanyou.

"Lay off," replied Inuyasha, tucking his hands into his sleeves and making a point to not look at the pair staring up at him. Instead, he focused on the gray and cloudy sky surrounding him that mirrored his emotions. The weather had been ugly the past few days, but it hadn't rained yet.

Everyone had been extremely worried when they had first brought Kagome to Kaede's hut, and had relaxed when they'd said she would be allright...but she was still unconscious. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede were all waiting patiently, but Inuyasha was another story.

"Look, we all know you're worried about Kagome..." started Miroku.

"Keh, as if," muttered Inuyasha.

"...but couldn't you do something else besides sulking and tapping your foot over and over again?" the monk finished.

"Yeah, and what the hell am I supposed to do?" Inuyasha shouted, glaring at Miroku. "It's not as if I can help her wake up." He shook his head and said, "She's taking her damn time getting better, that's all I can say."

Miroku sighed and walked back inside, knowing that trying to consult the hanyou was pointless. He was simple-minded. Sango was about to follow the monk into the hut, but stopped before entering and looked back up at the figure on the roof.

"Inuyasha, is that all that this is really about?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't just yell at her.

"What do you mean?" snarled the hanyou.

"I mean," and she softened her voice a bit, "aren't you still sad that Kikyo died?"

Inuyasha's angry expression faltered for a moment, but he quickly recovered and opened his mouth as if to yell. But then he decided against it and, instead, said, "A little."

Sango was completely taken aback. She had figured Inuyasha would just yell at her, but apparently he was more hurt than she had originally thought. What do I say to him? If only Kagome was awake right now...The demon slayer considered for a moment, and then turned to the hanyou.

"Inuyasha, I think that you should go try to find Kikyo's body," she suggested. "If she was already dead, then it can't have...umm...rotted...too much in the past few weeks." She smiled a little at that awkward sentence, half expecting, again, for the demon to yell at her.

Inuyasha sat there for a moment before hopping off of the roof. Without saying a word, he nodded at Sango and walked into Kaede's hut.

"Can I have a moment with Kagome?" he asked, walking over to the unconscious girl and ignoring the blatant disbelieving stares of the rest of the people in the hut, who had obviously all been eavesdropping on his conversation with Sango. "Alone?" he growled when no one moved, and they all scurried outside.

The hanyou sat down next to his beloved miko and had to fight back tears as he looked at her face. Her frozen expression was a sorrowful and pained one plastered on the pasty white that was her normally beautiful face. He sighed and grabbed one of her hands, feeling how icy cold it was and wishing he was somehow able to warm her body and bring the life back into her.

"Kagome..." he whispered, a single tear escaping and running down his cheek. "Please...wake up..." He gave her lifeless hand one last squeeze and then let it drop, limp as a ragdoll, by her side. "I'll be back soon."

And then the half-demon walked out of the hut and into the depressingly cloudy day to recover his once-lover's body. Kagome, I don't love Kikyo anymore...I stopped loving her the day I met you...

Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede all watched the hanyou leave with trepidation, knowing he probably wouldn't find the late miko's body...

Knowing they were all thinking the same thing, none of them said a word. A few minutes passed in silence as the group all stared in the direction Inuyasha had left, each one lost in thought, until a yell came from inside the hut.

They all rushed back inside and saw Kagome sitting up.

"INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed, waking with a start. She was breathing hard and her hands were sweaty as she tentatively sat up, rubbing her aching head.

A...nightmare? she thought as she struggled to remember the dream she had been previously having. All she could remember was Inuyasha's demonic red eyes glaring at her while Naraku laughed...and then she had woken up.

After sitting for a few seconds, Kagome took a look at her surroundings. I'm at Kaede's, she realized, looking at the empty hut, until suddenly the hut wasn't so empty anymore.

Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kaede had just entered the room and were all staring at the girl, the worry on all their faces turning to joy as they headed closer to her.

"Kagome!" Shippo shouted as he jumped onto said girl's lap. "You're finally awake!" He hugged her tightly and she returned the hug, wondering why everyone was so relieved to see her.

"What do you mean, finally?" Kagome asked, puzzled.

Sango and Miroku exchanged a glance as Kaede answered. "Child, ye have been sleeping for four days now," she said slowly, never taking her eyes of the miko.

"What?" asked Kagome, looking at her other friends. "What...what happened?" It took her a minute before she realized that Inuyasha wasn't present. "And where's Inuyasha?"

"You mean...you don't remember anything?" Sango asked, her happy face switching back to a worried one when Kagome shook her head.

"The last thing I remember was Naraku coming and telling us..." But she stopped as she remembered what the evil half-demon had come to inform the group of. Kikyo...she died...and Inuyasha was...She felt tears coming to her eyes as she remembered everything that happened. Inuyasha misses Kikyo, so it's probably best that I was unconscious for the past several days. He probably won't want to look at me for the next few weeks...

"Inuyasha went to get Kikyo's body," said Miroku softly, knowing it would cause Kagome pain but still believing she deserved to know where the hanyou went.

"Never mind," said Kagome, her voice cracking because of the tears. "I remember everything now...and...I should probably leave." She stood up, ignoring her still pounding headache, and staggered a little bit, falling into Sango's arms.

"Kagome, you still need to rest," said her demon slayer friend, who held onto the miko's shoulders as she helped her stand. "You were hit hard by Naraku's miasma."

"No...I don't think that...that Inuyasha would want me to be here when he returns," said Kagome as she shrugged off Sango's grasp and headed over to her yellow backpack. They must have carried me all the way here...how weak of me...it was just a little miasma...

The miko grabbed her backpack. "But Kagome, surely Inuyasha wouldn't..." started Miroku, but Kagome's sad gaze cut him off. Instead, he said, "Come back soon. I know he'll want to see that you're okay."

Kagome didn't respond, and turned to wave tenderly to Shippo and Kaede, who were speechless. "I'll be back in a few days," she said, but it was a complete lie, and everyone in the hut knew it. And then the young miko left, leaving her dispirited friends behind.

On the way to the ancient well, Kagome was in a dream-like state. The sky was a murky gray color in the late afternoon, and it perfectly paralleled her emotions. I'll give Inuyasha some time, she decided as she watched her feet moving forward along the grassy path through the trees. He can't stay upset forever...

She paused at the well and listened to the wind moving through the trees for a moment before jumping in and returning to her own world. The world where I belong...

Sitting on her bed after a big dinner of her mother's homemade cooking, Kagome was in a much better mood. She decided to study a little, even though deep inside it she knew it was totally pointless. She had already passed the high school entrance exams, and she doubted it was too important whether or not she did well on the next few tests.

Regardless of that, the miko opened her yellow backpack and found her math textbook, pulling hard on it. The big book wouldn't come out though, so she pulled even harder, until the whole backpack toppled off the bed and onto the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.

Sighing, Kagome bent over to retrieve all of the stuff. The first thing her hands grabbed was a small silver box, and she gasped. She hadn't even thought about her camera for a few days.

Feeling a pang in her chest, she quickly pressed the on button, but the camera didn't turn on. Oh, no...it can't be broken! But then she remembered that she had never replaced the batteries, and looked around her floor at the spilled contents of her bag until she found a small plastic bag filled with cylinders.

After replacing the batteries, Kagome hurriedly turned the camera on. As she looked through the pictures one by one, each different snapshot brought a different emotion to her heart. She slowly looked through the pictures until, at last, she reached the last picture. Holding her breath, Kagome pressed the button to reveal the picture she knew was coming, and she gasped.

The last picture was the one that Miroku had taken of her and Inuyasha hugging after Koga had left. Why does Miroku have to be such a talented photographer? thought Kagome as she stared at the small screen on her camera. She had been hugging Inuyasha tightly around the waist, her face buried in his chest, and he had his hands smoothed across her shoulders, his cheek pressed into her long black hair.

Looking at the picture caused a few tears to roll down Kagome's cheeks, as it had reminded her of the reason she had come back to her era in the first place.

I should just delete this...she thought as her finger hovered over the delete button.

But she couldn't bring herself to do it, and instead turned the camera off, making a mental note to get those pictures printed as soon as possible so she could take more pictures.

So as Kagome opened her textbooks to study, she couldn't help but smile at the memories that came with her camera. Though she had only had it for a few days in the Feudal Era, it had already served its purpose well.

That camera really did come in handy, she thought as she recalled the last picture again.

Phew. That one took a while because I kept changing stuff and then changing it back and...blah blah...but it was an endless cycle (or so it seemed) until now! I'm done, yay! But now I have to write another chapter...hehehe...

Well, anyway, that was some pointless babbling for you.

I'll update again soon!