A week later...

Inuyasha was busy working on a paper when his phone rang. He answered without checking to see who was calling.

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's Kagome."

Inuyasha's face fell flat. He knew this girl was going to get into more trouble; it was only a matter of time.

"Oh, great. What did you do now?"

"C-can you come pick me up?"

"What happened to the person whose number you thought this was? Can't you get in touch with them?"

"I already tried!"

"Well how were you getting home before you started calling me?"

"My ex boyfriend used to drive me home."

"Well where the hell is he?"

"His mom sent him to boot camp. Pleeeease, Inuyasha? I don't know who else to ask."

'This girl has got to be kidding.' Inuyasha thought. He didn't want to pick her up. He wanted her to stop bothering him at the worst possible times, but he couldn't say no.

"Where are you?"

"Same spot as last time."

"Stay there I'm coming."

Kagome stood on the corner studying her surroundings. It was only 10:30. She could've easily walked home but she took acid with her friends and was tripping. She just didn't want to be alone in that state.

'Are those buildings…melting?'

She gazed at the liquefying building and swirling sky when Inuyasha pulled up at the corner.

Kagome hadn't even noticed Inuyasha pulled up because she was so distracted by the strange scenery. She knew it wasn't real but it surely was fascinating.

Inuyasha looked up trying to figure out what she was so fascinated with. Then he remembered she was a drug user so she was more than likely hallucinating. He let out an exasperated sigh and got out of the car to get Kagome.

"Hey. Let's go."

She diverted her attention to him and stared, wide eyed. Inuyasha didn't know exactly what she was seeing but he walked her to the car and began to drive off.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble?" Inuyasha admonished.

Kagome looked down sadly, saying nothing in return.

"Why do you do this? Didn't I just fucking scrape you off your stairs last week because you were suffering from side effects? You need to stop doing drugs before you get too caught up and end up killing yourself. You're way too young for this."

Tears trickled down Kagome's eyes as she quickly wiped them away.

Inuyasha looked over at her and started to feel bad for making her cry but all he did was tell the truth.

"Don't cry! Just…just stop getting into these situations. What if I wasn't able to pick you up? You're putting yourself in serious danger."

Kagome had nothing to say in return. She couldn't argue, tell him he was wrong or even demand he mind his business. So the ride was silent, aside from Kagome's small sniffles and sighs all the way to her house.

Just as she turned to open the door, she stopped and faced Inuyasha. "Hey…can I have some money?"

Inuyasha gave her a blank stare. 'This girl is really fucking nervy.' He thought, shaking his head. "I'm not giving you drug money."

"It's not for drugs!" She denied angrily. "I spent all my money to get to school on drugs."

"Fine!" Inuyasha reached into his wallet and gave her the few dollars he had in it. "Now can you please stop doing this?"

Kagome accepted the money with gratitude and opened the car door. "I can't make you any promises, but I'll leave you alone. I know that's what you want."

"Don't go putting words in my mouth! I never said—"

Kagome reached her hand up to his cheek and smiled through her sad tears. "Thank you. Honestly."

Inuyasha began to feel devastated, like he could sense her sadness…or an old friend was walking out of his life. He didn't understand what he was feeling but he knew he was hurting. He rested his hand on top of hers and looked in her eyes. "Kagome…"

"You won't be hearing from me again. So don't worry." She smiled as she let go of his cheek and got out the car, closing the door behind her.

Inuyasha looked on as Kagome walked up the steps to her shrine, stopped, stared at something on the step and kept going. Once she was no longer in his view he pulled off.

'What the hell was that? Talk about awkward.'

When Inuyasha got home, he couldn't concentrate one bit on that paper he had to do. He tried to call Kikyo like last time, but she didn't answer, which happened often. What else would he expect from such a busy woman? He was at the bottom of her list of important things.

Inuyasha decided to change and get in bed. It didn't make sense to stay up too late since he had school and work the next day but he couldn't stop thinking about Kagome. Even though he had never seen her sober, she seemed like a sweet, harmless girl. Nothing about her portrayed the habits or attitude of a serious druggie or anything of that nature. He assumed she just had problems.

He lied in bed thinking about her for a long time. He couldn't help but feel guilty for the way he reprimanded her and talked to her like she was a child. He wanted to apologize but, what for? Of course, she was pretty irritating because of the times she called and she was mixed up in a very dangerous life. What did he do wrong?

'It's not like there's anything more I can do for her.' He thought. 'The life she chooses to live is her business. I did what I could.' There was nothing more to think about. He took himself to sleep.

Two months later

Inuyasha didn't expect Kagome to be on his mind so often. Even her face was burned on the inside of his eyelids. From time to time, that devastated feeling and the pain in his chest would come back when he thought of her. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, he could feel her soft hand touch his face and he would wake up holding his cheek, disappointed. He didn't know what made him so obsessed with her.

Was it guilt?

He didn't know.

He tried to call her phone but it was disconnected, he drove by her house twice but couldn't catch a glimpse of her either time. He even knocked on the door once but no one answered.

Inuyasha started to fantasize about meeting her again. He tried to imagine her sober. He wondered what she was like when she didn't have any drugs in her system. He wondered how her eyes would look when her pupils weren't dilated.

He would wonder if she was dead, then convince himself she wasn't. He wanted to believe she would be fine like she told him she would be.

All he ever did was wonder.

'Maybe I'm just not supposed to see her again. But…I want to.'