Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters affiliated with it.

Uragawa - The Other Side of Me
"Whatcha doing?" Inuyasha's voice rang out.

She had gotten accustomed to hearing his boyish voice, which was in complete dissonance with his actual body, so it hardly phased her.

"Homework."

"Boring." In the past week he had begun opening up more; he smiled more, and she could have sworn she had heard him laugh at one point. He seemed to be happy, and that made her happy.

"I have to do this."

"I don't get it. You say you don't like homework, and it's hard...but you still do it."

"I have to do it to get into a good university."

"That's the really big school with lots of people, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Can I go to university?"

She chuckled.

"Somehow, I can't see you spending your entire day sitting down in class."

"You're right that's no fun!" He pouted.

"You should be outside playing ball. Why don't you ask Souta?"

Her answer was an uncomfortable silence.

"Inuyasha...?"

He was fidgeting – his eyes continuing to avert to random spots on the floor. The little boy in him cried out to her despite his body remaining rigid, and she closed the distance between them. Carefully she began brushing his hair.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

He nodded shyly before leaping and burying his face in her shoulder; her arms secured tightly around him.

"I don't play kodama..."

"That's okay. Souta can teach you."

"He won't."

"What? Don't be silly, he will if you ask him."

"No, he won't." He forced his nose deeper into her shirt. "He won't...and then it'll make you unhappy, and you'll cry...like my momma."

"Your mother?"

"The kids wouldn't play with me..." He mumbled. "...said I was a half-breed. Too dumb to play." She felt him shake. "And...my momma cried for me...And...and I don't want Kagome to do that..."

"Oh...Inuyasha."

"Don't...don't..." His little voice was desperate.

She nuzzled his hair.

"I won't cry. Thank you for telling me this."

He stayed silent.

"Come...we'll ask Souta if he'll play ball with you."

"But..."

"Trust me."

He followed her reluctantly.

"Souta."

"In here. Doing homework."

The disappointment on Inuyasha's face did not escape her.

"Souta, take a break, you're playing ball with Inuyasha."

She saw the ears flatten in expectation of rejection.

"'Kay. Are you gonna join us?"

Disbelief and happiness shone in Inuyasha's eyes.

"Alright. For a bit, though – I have homework to get through."

The excited whoops of the boys made her want to cover her ears, and she grinned.

They made do with inventing goal posts by using a few big stones, alloting the role of mid-field mark to the Goshinboku. Kagome couldn't stifle a smile as she saw the two boys attacking the task with such gusto. She decided she would help and picked up a rather large stick, that could have been dangerous if tripped over, throwing it away over her shoulder without a second thought.

A breeze stirred her hair, a flash of read tinged her vision for a split-second; next thing she knew Inuyasha was sitting in his usual crouched stance with the stick she had just thrown in his mouth and with such a guilty on his face that it broke her heart.

"Inu..yasha...why did you just...?" She slapped herself mentally for asking an obvious question and again when he bent his head to put the stick down, all the while hiding his ears.

"Inuyasha..."

"I'm sorry."

She gaped.

"For what?"

"Nii-sama said it was disgraceful that I found such en-en-enjoy-...fun in such tasks..." He hid a small sniffle with his sleeve. "I'n't mean to do it. Honest, Kagome. I just...er...it just flew...and I..." He hung his head again. "I'm sorry."

"Do you..." She didn't want to insult him but she couldn't help remembering another,rather similar incident, on a beach. "Do you enjoy doing that?"

"Huh? You mean like...chasin' stuff? You betcha! I get to jump real high. I c'd jump higherer than all the kids in the village..." He stopped abruptly.

"What's the matter?"

He shook his head in that sad way of his – the one that made him seem even more like a little lost boy and tugged at her heart strings. She patted his head and hugged him briefly.

"It's ok if you don't want to tell me." Her smiles always managed to make him dizzy. How could anyone be so...so...shiny? He didn't know how else to put it. Kagome shone, especially when she smiled. He nodded and mumbled his thanks but flinched when she reached for the stick.

"I'm not going to hit you." She spoke softly. "I was just wondering...if you'd like to play a bit more with this..."

There was so much hope being held back in his eyes it made her tremble. He didn't dare ask if she was serious in case she wasn't and so he just stared at her shyly.

"It's okay." She offered him the stick but he pushed it back. "You don't like it?"

He mumbled something she didn't catch before turning his customary red and hiding his face in his sleeve.

"I am really sorry, Inuyasha, but I don't have your good hearing. Could you say that again, please?"

"...throw...please?"

"I...still didn't get it, sorry." She mumbled sheepishly.

"Would you throw it, please...Kagome?" The innocently widened eyes would have made a rock cry; so how was she, a mere human, meant to resist them?

"You ...want to play? Me throw and you catch?" He nodded barely perceptibly.

"Alright, only a few turns." She said amiably. "Then I'll let Souta take my place and I'll get back to my study, ok?"

"You will?! You really will play with me?" Such simple words, so full of pain from a life she couldn't begin to imagine; the hug came almost automatically to her.

He wiggled a bit in her embrace, trying to find his spot on her shoulder. His hands latched on to her suggesting a bit of the fear he'd only just felt at the thought of her rejection. She brushed his locks gently to calm him and was surprised when something wet tickled her cheek for a second. He suddenly disentangled himself from her embrace and stared at the ground.

"Did you just...?"

Well, that had never happened before, but upon slight consideration she realized it must have been purely instinctual.

"Were you saying thank you?" She almost didn't catch his nod. He wanted to disappear. How could he show that side of himself to Kagome?!! She would probably think it was disgusting, and unnatural. Now she would hate him too, and he'd be alone forever. He hardly even felt Kagome's arms grasping his shoulders but saw her face nearing and then...she had kissed him,just like he had done – a slight lick of the cheek – but...but...

"Ka-Kagome?"

She gave him another of her dazzling smiles.

"You deserve a puppy-kiss too."

And that's when he knew for sure in his eight-year old state, or rather two-hundred-year-old-reverted-to-eight-year-old state, that he was definitely going to marry the girl in front of him.

She gave him another smile and threw the stick.

Definitely was going to marry her!

A/N: Thank you ever so much for all the reviews I got for last chapter. It has been a true pleasure hearing from all of you and I apologise for making you wait so long for this chapter. I have taken into consideration the points some of you raised. Ivellios, you mentioned you would like to see a little more of Inuyasha's dog instincts, so I hope you like this chapter. I do recall Inuyasha actually doing that (the fetching of the stick) in the anime series (perhaps episode 18?) as a prelude to meeting Shiori (the half-bat demon girl). This story is very much my own vision of Inuyasha as a child so I shan't apologise for making him one way or another, but I will say that I have tried my hardest not to undermine his strength of character or his sweet nature. This is Inuyasha as he was before humanity (irony) turned him into the brash and uncouth boy we all know. I just wanted to clarify that.

Now then, a great thank you to Mazakai, Ivellios, InuKagLuver91, wbaker5286, fl29dwnlover, evrlastinglight101, inuyashasone, bettychan, Jiribel, Kitsune Hanyou, Iota Vixen, mysterychild, Hanyou Yogonem, badbunny1818 and Princess-Serenity-Serena (in no particular order) for kindly taking the time to drop me a few (and some, more than a few :D ) lines. I cannot express how much I enjoy hearing from you. As a sign of thanks, tonight I shall be putting up an extra chapter aside from this one as a thank you and part-apology for having not updated sooner. Kind regards!

Azaleea