Nightfall was becoming in feudal Japan. The starts were clear, each one shining as brightly as it could in the cloudless sky. There was no poison in the atmosphere to choke out their light; no toxic modern day pollution. Only the canopies of trees obscured their beauty.
"InuYasha, I'm tired" Kagome said. She was only a teenager after all. How far would she be walking if she were in her time? They had been traveling for two hours northeast tracking a bogus jewel shard after their last encounter with ugly demon number 5 zillion. Now they were on their way for Kaede's village.
"Too bad, suck it up. We're not stopping until nightfall."
Kagome looked up at the stars. She sighed inwardly; she just didn't get this guy sometimes.
It was beautiful out. It was always beautiful here.
Miroku spoke up, stating one last time his intentions before he left the group. It was only a twenty minute walk from here to Sango's village. "Kagome, I really do think I should be on my way to retrieve Sango."
Kagome hid a secret smile. "Okay Miroku, we'll meet you at Kaede's village."
"Oi, monk, why don't we just go with you? It won't be nothing." The trip would take less than a minute for a demon of his caliber.
"No, no InuYasha, go on ahead to the honorable village, surely they need your assistance as soon as possible." Miroku gave him one last smile before disappearing, walking down a dirt path known to lead to Sango's village.
"Gee, what's his hurry?" InuYasha huffed, still refusing to slow down his pace, even with Miroku gone.
"You wouldn't get it InuYasha." As a guy, some things are beyond his comprehension Kagome thought to herself.
"Hmm? Why not?"
"Nevermind."
"Feh."
"InuYasha." Kagome said suddenly as she stoped in her tracks. She looked at her surroundings to make sure everything was alright.
"What now." InuYasha said getting agitated, turning around to face Kagome.
"I sense a jewel shard close by." Kagome said as she walked closer to InuYasha. Of course she still needed his protection.
InuYasha sighed very loudly taking out the Tetsusaiga as it transformed. He looked around very carefully so that he wouldn't be surprised with an attack.
"Alright, where do you sense it coming from?" He asked pushing her behind him. He didn't anything happening to the most important person in his life. He knew he would do anything for her without hesitation, no matter what.
"I can't directly pin point it out." Kagome said with a slight tremor in her voice.
"Come on Kagome, don't be getting scared of a demon now. You never were before." InuYasha said trying to keep her calmed down.
"I guess your right." Kagome said agreeing with him. She had fought countless numbers of demon and wasn't scared but now she was? That made no sense.
"It not coming any closer." Kagome said as she started to calm down a little.
InuYasha put away his Tetsusaiga and squatted down.
"Get on." He said forcefully.
"Why?" Kagome asked him with a very confused look on her face. Before he could answer her she had hopped onto his back.
"Because we need to find a safe place to rest. If there a demon out there, it won't be safe to sleep out in the forest." InuYasha said as he jumped through the trees in the opposite direction that they were heading to.
"I wonder if Sango and Miroku will get together. If so obvious that their in love with each other." Kagome said out of nowhere, making InuYasha look back of her with a weird look on his face.
"Well that was very random." He said looking straight once again so that he wouldn't run into a tree or anything.
"Well it's true." Kagome said letting her head rest on his shoulder.
"No it's not. You can tell that Sango clearly hates Miroku since he is so flirtatious with the women around him." InuYasha said shaking his head of the memory of Miroku asking beautiful young women to bare his children.
"So, she still loves him. And he loves her." Kagome said knowing that she was right and he was wrong.
"Feh."
"You don't know anything do you InuYasha?" Kagome whispered in his fuzzy dog ear.
The sound of Kagome's voice made Inuyasha's ears twitch. It was like velvet, smooth and soft, and of so addictive. A small blush crept onto his cheeks.
Kagome gently laid her head back down, enjoying the warmth of his body. She slowly closed her eyes as she breathed in his scent. It was comforting and surprisingly basic, something primal. It was a quality that reminded her of her father.
Dead at four, at least to Kagome he was. Her dad had left her and her mother, saying he didn't need the life of a shrine keeper's husband, even though Kagome's grandpa did all the keeping. Irresponsible, that's what he was; ugly, with no heart, and no welcome would ever be given to him… at least not by Kagome.
Who knew what her mother thought.
Her mother, Kagome wouldn't blame her if she still wished for a man. She had been alone for a long time, and Kagome was no fool. The love of a daughter couldn't replace the love of a husband; or at least this is how a typical house wife thought.
As his Inuyasha's feet touched the ground he felt Kagome tense. The muscles of her back became tight, and he could sense the discomfort radiating from her like they were physical blows.
"Kagome, what's wrong?"
Kagome's head snapped up, her dark thoughts abruptly halted. She observed her surroundings as if for the first time. Blurring trees that were strangely too close to her, an indescribable high altitude, and snaking arms, her own around Inuyasha like a vice. She let go and flung herself backwards out of reflex.
"Kagome!" With the nimbleness of a cat, Inuyasha twisted around and caught his passenger. He held her in her arms tightly, his feet planted firmly on the ground. He changed a glance at the girl in his arms.
Kagome felt the heat of his gaze and the intensity behind it.
"Why'd you let go?" Kagome snapped back to reality and her cheeks began to burn.
"Huh? Oh umm….well you did startle me so what was I supposed to do?" Kagome said as she moved away from InuYasha and turned her back to him, hoping he didn't notice her blush.
"Uh you were supposed to hang on to me." InuYasha said gruffly. He thought she was acting very strange at the moment. As soon as he stepped closer she turned herself around, their faces were only inches apart.
