Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters involved in the anime.

A/N: Yay, its fall break! Enjoy! Thanks for the reviews.

GLADIATOR

Chapter 5

She had fallen asleep long ago, watching the world go by in a huge blur was rather nauseating after a while….

When she finally decided to wake up, she found herself peering into darkness.

Had she gone blind?

She kept trying to calm herself as she frantically tried to grope for some kind of solid structure other than the ground. She eventually ended up bumping her head as a result of her efforts, and fell on her behind with a small whimper of dismay.

"Oi, don't be moving around so much like that, you look like a chicken with its head cut off…"

Her head snapped to the direction in which she had heard the voice.

Inuyasha…

"Inu…Inuyasha? Where are we?..." she managed to stammer.

Her eyes were finally beginning to adjust to the darkness, it was still fairly dark, but she managed to make out the glow of the hanyou's amber orbs coming towards her. She felt his breath on her cheeks as he made to sit in front of her.

"Keh! Are you blind or something? We're in a cave genius." She watched his eyes roll upwards in annoyance.

"Well, I'm sorry, but have you forgotten…I'm a meager human and cannot see in the dark as well as you can?..." she bit back at his retort.

She heard him scuffle away from her to another part of the cave they were situated in.

"Well, I didn't want to light a fire in case any soldiers would be out here looking for us…unless you want to be discovered and taken back there??"

Was it just her or did he sound a little uncertain when he asked that last part?...

"No, I don't exactly want to go back there…I would rather die here in this shabby cave than go back to that foul man. He lusts for me, I could see it in his eyes at the altar…"

She was slightly taken aback when she heard a low growl, but then realized it was coming from Inuyasha…

What's his problem…?

He was staring at her through the blanket of darkness, she could feel it…

Suddenly she was overcome with a wave of shivers. "Inuyasha…do you think we could make a fire just for a little bit? I'm getting really chilly, and I don't want to catch cold…"

"Keh….stupid humans and their stupid weaknesses…I don't know how your race managed to survive this long…" he muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for her to hear, "Fine, I'll make a damn fire, ya happy?"

She sounded her contentment at his agreement and smiled even though she figured he couldn't see her.

There was that damn noise again…that noise she makes in the back of her throat, it drove him crazy… "What're you smiling like that for?"

Surprised he could see her grinning, she wiped the smile off her face just as quickly as it had come. "I was just grateful that you even care…"

"I'm just returning the favor girl, don't look too much into it…" he muttered.

Oh, so now they were back to first base again eh? He doesn't want to use her name anymore it seems…oh well, she could stand it for now.

Silence washed over her as soon as Inuyasha had left the cave in search of wood, but it didn't last too long as he was back in mere minutes.

After several moments of shuffling and scraping noises the cave was bathed in a warm glow.

Inuyasha stood there bent over the fire, wiping his brow. She couldn't help but admire his rough physique as she watched him poke at the ever growing embers of the fire.

She looked down and realized she was still in her wedding gown, only now there were a few choice rips and tears, one of the bigger ones being right through her neckline, letting more than half of her left breast show.

She quickly moved to cover herself up, in an attempt to preserve some of her dignity, as her body grew hot with embarrassment.

"Keh, it's not like I was looking anyways…" she turned away from him, still swimming in shame when he threw the top of his haori at her.

She pulled it to her chest as she stared at him questioningly, "Whats this-"

"You must be uncomfortable in that dress, you can change into that if you want…" he cut her off, staring at her.

"Oh…thank you…" she was about to start removing her dress, but stopped when she realized he was still openly staring at her.

Several coughs later he was still staring at her.

"Ahem…could you please turn around?!" she nearly yelled at him.

He muttered a string of colorful curses under his breath as he made to turn around.

Starting with her tiara, she disentangled it along with her veil from her windblown hair. She had slipped out of her underskirts but was stopped when she tried to remove the actual gown itself. She couldn't reach the fastenings in the back…

"Umm…Inuyasha…?"

"Are you done yet?" He turned around to see her still in her gown, "What are you doing? I thought you were changing?"

"I am changing, but I can't reach the back of the dress where it fastens together!" she snapped back in annoyance. "I was going to ask you if you could undo the back for me.." she trailed off as her cheeks began to grow hot, and not because of the fire that now warmed the cave.

"Keh…whatever."

She turned her back to him as he began fiddling with the back of her gown. She could tell he was getting frustrated.

Damn thing! Why did women's clothing have to be so. Damn. complicated! His claws were getting in the way when he tried to unfasten some of the latches.

He started growling in frustration until finally he came to a resolution.

Her eyes widened when all she heard was a growl and then suddenly a loud tearing of fabric.

Her dress peeled away from her skin on her back as he slid his claws through the silk.

He couldn't' help but to stare a bit as her creamy, porcelain skin revealed itself to him. He also couldn't keep himself from brushing his fingers against it, feeling how soft and smooth it was to the touch, thinking it would go unnoticed as he started to lightly tug the sleeves of the dress off of her.

It didn't.

Her eyes widened even more when she felt his calloused fingers innocently stroke her back… her body grew warm all over again as she kept telling herself he didn't do it on purpose.

"Ummm…thank you…I can finish changing now." She stammered.

As if he was burned with fire, he quickly retracted his hands from the sleeves of her dress, and hid his blush before she turned around to make sure he wasn't looking as she completed her change in outfit.

Once she was all settled in she made to sit across from Inuyasha in front of the fire. As if to break the silence, her stomach growled.

"Hungry?.."

She blushed and nodded as she looked down to avoid his gaze. How embarrassing!

"The good animals are probably sleeping in their dens now, so it would take a while for me to actually find a good one, but I think I saw a few fruit bearing trees on the way here."

Looking up at him, she saw him raise his eyebrow in question at her. "Umm, I suppose that would be fine, if you don't mind…its really not a big deal…I mean…I could always wait until tom-"

"Oh shut up, I'll be right back." He stood and made to leave until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head to see Kagome gazing at his countenance with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Be careful would you? Soldiers could be lurking about anywhere."

He stared at her for a moment in silence. "Keh, I'll be fine wench, no need to worry. I'll be back before you know it!"

With that said he bounded off into the night

Kagome sat back down in front of the fire, thinking to herself.

What was she to do now? What about Sango? She had left her best friend at the castle! Maybe she is out there looking for her, worried sick!

Oh, what was she supposed to do? How could she contact her, or even her family, her mother especially?? What if Naraku decides to kill her family because of her impudence?!

She shook those kinds of thoughts from her head as she tried to focus on more positive things.

Well, at least now she wouldn't have to worry about being trapped in that god awful marriage…

She would have to find some way to contact her family and tell them to get to safety…and also find Sango…

How she already missed her companionship! Inuyasha strikes her as….well…very antisocial…

She wondered about his family and whether he will go to see them when this is all said and done, assuming they made it out alive.

As if on cue, said person deposited a load of fruit before her.

"Wow…thank you so much! This is so much….you're going to help me eat it right?"

"Keh…sure…I don't see why not." He grabbed himself a few pieces and practically inhaled the food.

Before taking a bite, Kagome watched him eat rather thoughtfully.

This must be one of the first times in a long time that Inuyasha could eat like this…they practically starved him back in the castle…

He could feel her staring at him and began to grow annoyed. "What are you staring at?! You were hungry, so eat!"

Snapping her gaze back to the fire as she began to nibble on the fruit, she began to wonder about his family again.

"Say, Inuyasha?"

His grunt was the only acknowledgement that he was listening to her.

"Umm…I was wondering…now that you're free, are you going to be able to see your family again?"

He momentarily froze on the spot, telling Kagome she must have hit a nerve.

He didn't look at her, but instead looked in the flames of the fire. "I don't have any family…"

Her heart swelled with pity. What would she do if she had no kin? How horrible it would be to live that way….

"I don't want your damn pity woman…it pisses me off." He growled.

"I'm sorry…I just….well…" she struggled to find something to say until it hit her, " hey, how about after everything settles down, you can come and live with me and my family? I'm sure they would love to have you…"

He snorted rather indignantly, "Keh. The day a human household would take me in will be the day blue roses sprout from under my nose."

She cocked her head in confusion. "Ehh…?"

"That means its never going to happen idiot!"

"Well…why not?"

"Because, I'm half demon, and humans don't like me because of that…" he said, as if it was rather obvious.

She stared at him, completely taken aback that he thought such a thing. "Well, I like you."

His gaze snapped back up to her, a blush rising on his cheeks once again. "K-Keh….whatever wench…you should get some sleep, I don't want to hear any complaining about being tired tomorrow when we hit the road."

"Where are we going?"

"We can't stay in one spot, they'll find us if we do, so until I can figure out a plan to get rid of that bastard, Naraku, for good, we have to keep moving…"

"Ah, I see…ok then, well…thank you for the food…it was wonderful." She yawned and bid him goodnight.

She crawled away from the fire and scooped up her wedding gown. Rolling it up, she used it as a sort of pillow to soften the hard rocky surface that was her bed for the night.

"Aren't you going to go to sleep Inuyasha?"

"I don't need to sleep as much as you pathetic humans do…just shut up and go to bed."

Trying not to take his harsh talk seriously, she nodded her head and laid down, and watched Inuyasha put out the fire before finally closing her eyes to retire for the night.

It had been a long day after all…

And tomorrow was almost promised to be as well.

She had finally fallen asleep, he could tell by the way her breathing became even and shallow.

He silently crept over to her, and brushed some loose tendrils of her silky hair behind her ear, and slid his claws down to lightly stroke her cheek.

He would never tell her this, but she looked pretty damn good wearing his clothes…

Just as quietly as he had crept over to her, he moved away and found himself a spot to prop his back against, holding his sword to him as if it were his lifeline.

Even though he had told her that he didn't need to sleep, he was feeling pretty wore out himself, and eventually gave in to the sleep that had been calling out to him for a while now.

A/N: thank you for the reviews, its good to know that people really do like this story…once again, sorry for the short chapter, I thought this one could be a little longer, but it just wasn't coming to me… I'll try to have the next one up as soon as possible.

Until next time!

-Jinju-