The night of the film festival

Kagome, Sango and Inuyasha stopped at a drive-thru after the film festival and sat in the car talking about it.

"That summer romance movie looked terrible!" Kagome stated, laughing.

"Yeah, the addition of robots really destroyed it." Sango agreed.

"I'll only go see it if the robot kills everyone." Inuyasha added, a silly smile on his face.

Sango rolled her eyes. "You and Miroku are so obsessed with robots!"

"Who's Miroku?" Kagome asked, as she felt lost in the discussion.

"My boyfriend. He's coming home from college in a few days!" Sango smiled happily, clapping her hands.

Inuyasha was glad Miroku was coming home. The only downside was watching him and Sango throw themselves at each other. He wished his relationship with Kikyo were like theirs. Those two seemed so certain about one another; they even loved each other from a distance. They never had to question the other's love…and he envied that.

"Inuyasha, can you drive me to my dad's? I left my books there for my finals."

Inuyasha put the key in the ignition. "No problem."

Once Inuyasha reached Sango's father's house, Sango quickly jumped out. "Thanks! See you two later."

Once Sango was Inside, Inuyasha turned to Kagome and smiled. "I guess you want to go home too?"

Kagome looked at the time. It was only 8:30. "I don't have to be home until 11. U-unless you have other plans."

"Oh! Big bad Kagome has a curfew now, huh?" He said with a laugh.

Kagome laughed and gave him a friendly push. "Shut up! I told you things were getting back in order for me."

Inuyasha agreed it was particularly early. He could have drove to Kikyo's house and picked her up for a late dinner. 'Then again, she probably doesn't want to see me anyway.' "Well I ain't got anything else to do. Let's go to the park."

"Which park?"

"The one directly between your house and my apartment?"

Kagome was confused as she thought about everything in retrospect. "So we live a few blocks apart? This keeps getting weirder and weirder."

"I told you your house was on the way to my apartment."

"I didn't know what you meant exactly!"

"Now you know." He laughed as he drove in the direction of the park.

Once they reached the park, they got out the car and began walking around.

Kagome looked around nervously and quickly grabbed Inuyasha's arm.

He looked over at her, wondering why she grabbed him so suddenly. "Uh…"

"Oh...I'm just not a big fan of parks at night. They make me kind of edgy." She said with an awkward giggle as she held onto his arm.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." He assured her confidently.

"I know." She said as she squeezed his arm tighter.

The two continued to walk arm in arm through the partially lit park, passing by couples young and old, teenagers passing around a joint and a few homeless people.

"It's so quiet here, even with people in the park." She said as they continued their stroll. "I don't come here often. Only a few times to watch my brother if he wants to play with his friends."

"Oh yeah? Well I come here all the time. I always sit over…here." He led her to a tree on the other side of the park overlooking the highway.

Kagome sat next to him in the grass facing the highway watching the cars pass behind the gate. She looked over at Inuyasha who was staring off past the gate. She didn't feel the need to wonder what he was thinking about or why he was so quiet. He just was the way he was and everything he did made sense.

Inuyasha caught Kagome's eyes on him as she pointedly looked away with an embarrassed blush covering her face. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"O-oh nothing! I wasn't staring at you or anything."

"Were too!"

Kagome giggled as her blush deepened. "I was just thinking about how much everything makes sense…and how it doesn't make sense."

"I don't get it."

"Well. Think about our friendship. How it came to be. Obviously we're in each other's lives for a reason."

"I know that."

"Whatever it is, I'm glad." She told him as she lied on his shoulder. "I appreciate you always looking after me."

Inuyasha ended up with the same blush on his face as she rested on his shoulder and some of her soft black hair brushed against his face. 'The way I feel about her is so wrong…but it feels so right.' He thought as he rested his head on hers.

Kagome and Inuyasha sat in silence, listening to the sounds of cars and people walking through the park as their hands rested on the grass touching, pinky beside pinky…but neither of them bothered to move.

For those wordless hours they sat there, everything was so serene. The breeze, the rustling sounds, the cars, the atmosphere. It was an incomparable feeling of ease and peace they had never experienced before.

Until they met each other.

Once it was time for Kagome to go home, He extended his arm for her as she held on with both hands and walked closely to him.

As the two walked through a park, they passed by a crazed homeless woman.

"What a lovely couple you two make!" She shouted out with a toothless smile.

The two blushed and Kagome slowly let go of his arm.

"W-We're not a—"

"Love is hard to find these days." The woman continued as she waddled closer to them. "You take good care of her, young man!"

They quickly walked out of the park and towards the shrine steps.

"Sorry. I guess it was my fault that was so awkward." Kagome said sheepishly as she rocked back and forth.

Inuyasha smirked and shook his head. "Nah. I'm not fazed by the things crazy old people say."

Kagome laughed and agreed to ignore the woman in the park. "Well…I a great time tonight."

"We should hang out more often."

Kagome gave him a nod of approval. "Let me know whenever you want to."

Inuyasha felt butterflies flocking in his heart and his stomach. "O-okay. Goodnight then."

She opened her door, stepped in and peeked out to shoot him a sweet smile. "Goodnight."

Kagome walked to her bedroom holding her face and grinning. She felt like she just came home from an incredible date. But it wasn't a date. It was just herself and a good friend who always looks out for her having a great time. That's what she told herself.

As Inuyasha walked home, he told himself he would stop thinking of Kagome the way he did and try to fix his relationship with Kikyo. He wasn't cheating on her but he thought having feelings for another girl was a terrible thing to do. He started to blame himself for everything that was wrong and labeled himself a bad person.

'Maybe it's my fault she's been so distant.'

Once he got home, he lied in his bed, still thinking about the evening. He decided to try and call Kikyo before it got too late but as usual…no answer.

"Is she asleep?"

Now Inuyasha was finally able to admit to himself how lonely he was. For months, he felt lost and confused about life. He got desperate for company and decided to call his brother, Sesshomaru. Not that the two had anything to talk about.

"Hello, little brother."

"Hey. What's…goin' on?"

"I just finished putting Rei to sleep. What about you?"

"Nothing, actually. I was just uh…bored, I guess."

"Well I'm glad to know you only call me when you're bored."

"Yeah, yeah…sorry about that."

"Are you sure nothing else is wrong? Is that apartment getting lonely, perhaps?"

"Hell no!" He claimed, but in all actuality, it was.

"You know you're welcome to come back home. Father left us both this house."

"I'll pass. Between you and your wife and all those kids runnin' around, I'd rather be here."

Sesshomaru chuckled on the other end of the phone. "I understand that building is close to your school and friends and it's walking distance from your mother's grave site, but you should come home, even for a short stay. Especially if you're lonely."

This was the only reason Inuyasha liked to avoid contact with his older brother. He hated when he tried to convince him to go back home. He liked being on his own. He just didn't like the loneliness that ensued.

"Nah. I'll manage on my own. I just…want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Uh, lately I've gotten strange fevers and my demon tried to come out a couple of times and I—"

"Did you sense any danger?"

"No. Not at all."

"Were you furious?"

"No."

"Then there's a girl involved. That's the only explanation."

'What the fuck is he talking about?' "Hold on! What does a girl have to do with anything?"

"There's a girl your fate has been tied to."

"Tied? Like a string?"

"More like a thread. A thread of fate."

"But I'm with Kikyo!"

"You can't fight fate, Inuyasha."

"I-I dunno. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, then."

Inuyasha attempted to ignore what his brother said. He thought Sesshomaru was making it up to mess with his head because he wasn't fond of Kikyo. It wasn't anything personal, but his brother always told him Kikyo was wrong for him.

He tried to call Kikyo again but this time her phone went straight to voicemail. 'I'm starting to get tired of this.'

Inuyasha fell asleep wondering if he'd feel lonely forever.

Thank you for the reviews! xo

-VQ