Chapter Four

Friends

Sesshomaru looked down at the bleeding miko, a look of absolute fear flickering across her face. She still hadn't forgotten the time he had tried to kill her… not exactly a dinner-worthy company, eh?

"Hey, Sesshomaru," InuYasha barked, laughing slightly. "What brings you here?"

Kagome whirled about, falling down onto her backside to help her stare incredulously at InuYasha. "WHAT!?" she asked, closing her eyes briefly as she half exploded, half shouted at InuYasha. "'Hey Sesshomaru, what brings you here?' Since when have you two been friends!?"

A small chuckle made Kagome whirl around again, her long ebony hair flying about like the limbs of a drowning person. "What's so funny!?" she demanded, suddenly angry that she was being made fun of by an annoying, arragant, loudmouth half demon, and a hanyou hating, dangerous and cold killer taiyokai! And Sesshomaru, no less. It would be so much easier to bear if she could only get used to the idea of eyeliner on men… when ever she was a rock star with eyeliner and mascara, she always thought of Naraku and the yokai standing before her. Not exactly the best thing to connect to make up.

"Because, foolish ningen, after you left, my mother was able to make InuYasha and I friends…" He bent and whispered in her ear, knowing full well that just lowering his voice wouldn't do a damn thing with InuYasha's hearing. "She said in private to me that you put aside your happiness for his happiness and that the least I could do was not kill him." Standing back up, he cleared his throat and continued. "After a couple of months of sulking and being stuck together, we warmed up to each other and when I left a few months later, we were friends."

InuYasha was narrowing his amber eyes at Sesshomaru. "What'd you tell her?" he asked, avoiding using Kagome's name. He still half expected to wake up and find this all a dream!

"Nothing," Sesshomaru muttered. "Come on, Kagome. Rin is just down the hill and-"

InuYasha jumped up and pointed an accusatory finger at Sesshomaru. "She didn't even tell you her name! How did you know!?"

Sesshomaru flinched. It struck Kagome how much the two were acting like each other.

"Well, I… ah… I hear Rin calling me!" He began to run off but InuYasha jumped in front of him. "Oh no you don't! I can't hear Rin."

Sesshomaru snorted and shook his head. "It's because your hearing isn't as good as mine! You ARE a hanyou, after all!"

Leaving a stunned InuYasha and a giggling Kagome ('Now THAT's the Sesshomaru I know and fear!' she thought, hanging on for dear life on something about Sesshomaru that hadn't changed one bit.), he raced down the hill.

Kagome grabbed InuYasha's arm and attempted to pull him up. "Come on! Let's see Rin-chan!"

InuYasha raised a black eyebrow at her and snorted, standing but grabbing onto her shoulder. "How do you know Rin?" he asked. Kagome blushed and averted her eyes. She'd need to get back home soon…. this was getting awkward.

"We've known each other for a while…" she mumbled before letting go and racing down the hill. InuYasha watched her but jumped to her aid as she tripped. No doubt she had forgotten her shredded knee…

Catching her bridle style, InuYasha shot down the hill. For some reason it just felt… right to have her there, like he had been doing this for years.

"InuYasha… I was happy, because I was with you…"

He stopped short. Where had THAT come from?

"Inu…. InuYasha?" Kagome asked. InuYasha had that far off look he usually had whenever he thought of Kikyo… 'Not now,' she thought, closing her eyes for a moment. 'I feel bad for her, yes, and if I could've saved her, I would've but… It doesn't matter… I shouldn't be here long… right?'

Kagome yawned and leaned against a tree. Her bow and arrows lay beside her and she gazed up at the stars. It was so… beautiful. Her heart beat a thousand times faster when she realized some of the stars were the same even in her own time! 'Even after 500 years, they will always be the same…' Only a couple hundred stars were new, and where there should've been a star was an empty blackness. It was strange… but comforting.

The sound of grass moving slightly alerted Kagome to a new person. Looking behind her slightly, she gasped and turned fully. Sesshomaru-sama's mother stood there, smiling down at the young miko.

(A/N: I think she need's a name… I'll name her) "Nyorai-sama," she said softly, dipping her head, her long raven hair falling past her neck and swinging softly.

Nyorai sat down next to Kagome, her bright blue eyes sparkling with an inner excitement she kept within herself.

Kagome shifted. It had been a couple of days of not going back home but… once she finally left… could she force herself to stay away from the Sengoku Jidai? Nyorai-sama finally looked up at the stars. "What you did, Kagome, was a very unselfish thing… then why do I smell uncertainty on you? Kagome shook her head franticly, tears slowly slipping out of the corners of her eyes. "NE!" she cried, finally burring her head in her hands. Her voice came, muffled by the flesh and cloth that covered it. "What… He said that… I…" She sniffled. "I thought I was doing the right thing but… what would I never thought about what HE wanted… the look on his face… the hurt…" Nyorai-sama patted Kagome on the back. Kagome's shoulders shuddered under small sobs. She felt like a wreck… Kagome would have to leave soon, she knew that, and that was why she felt like she was having mood swings. The dog yokai sighed and shook her head. "You did what you thought was right… but now that you have a second chance… can you take it?" Kagome looked up, her eyes slightly red. She had cried more than once, but only at night; she didn't want anybody to see her. "The question you have to ask yourself," Nyorai-sama said softly, moving some of Kagome's bangs from her forehead. "is if you love him enough to take that chance of the world changing… or if the world means more to you than the man you love."

(A/N: Short chapter, I know, but my mind is milked… I mean REALLY milked… -le sigh- Please, put up some suggestions in your story! I better save this and put it up RIGHT NOW! The worst storm in ten years is ragin' out side… Not pretty…Anywho, what will Kagome do? Can she leave InuYasha? How will InuYasha remember her, or will he? And to those who thought that Kagome was being a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE baka for 'sitting' InuYasha, she didn't really think about it; second nature. I mean… it would be second nature to me. So… please, review! The Kikyo Hater)