Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Once Upon A Time
"Blech!!!!" Inuyasha's discontent with the finale of the movie was rather pronounced. Kagome chuckled.

"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!"

Inuyasha pretended to gag again.

"He kissed the princess! Ew!" Another giggle shook Kagome.

"I quite liked it."

"You're weird." He retorted.

The way up to her room was littered with Inuyasha's exclamations of displeasure on the topic.

"Alright, next time you can choose the movie.

"Yeah!" He chanted boisterously.

"Now, I'm gonna do some work, so I'm gonna have to ask you to be quiet, 'kay?"

He nodded.

"I won't say one word."

She smiled.

"Not even one word!"

A small pause on her side.

"I'm gonna be silent coz Kagome asked me to!" He murmured to himself. "Must be quiet for Kagome."

Oh, how he made her heart ache with tenderness. He was truly such a sweet child.

"Kagome needs to study, so I'm gonna be very...very...quiet." He whispered to himself again. She smiled behind her book.

"Inuyasha?"

"...very...quiet..."

"Inuyasha...?"

His head snapped to her. He had such lively eyes as of late. It struck her that this would be how he would have looked if he had never been forced to live on his own. The thought had made her quiver with sadness.

"Could you help me with this?"

"M-me?"

"Yep. It's really important."

At the sound of that his ears perked up. He could do something important for Kagome!!! The chance should not be wasted. She handed him the piece of paper.

"What I need you to do is to look at this, then go through it with me."

He blinked, uncertain.

"It's a part of a play. I need to say my lines, but I also need to learn my cues."

"Play...? Like...like Noh?"

She resisted the urge to laugh at the thought of herself in a Noh mask, but he certainly had the concept right.

"Yes. I need to know when and how to say these lines."

"So...you want me to read the other lines?"

"Yep."

He would do this for Kagome! He had to! Never mind that he hadn't really read since his mother had read with him. Never mind that this made him miss her even more. No! He had to do this for Kagome! He shook his head trying to dispel the memories threatening to overwhelm him.

Kagome saw a range of feelings cross his face before he went pale, but he started reading before she could say anything. She continued watching him. Something was making him frown; something was upsetting him.

"Inuyasha...anything the matter?"

"No!" He went back to reading the lines doggedly.

She would not force him.

"I cry because my crystal ball rolled into the well and I cannot retrieve it." She had successfully remembered the first cue.

"Well then, p-p-princess, if I were to promise to get it for you what would you say?"

"I would be forever grateful, oh brave sir...er...Toad."

"(With a smirk) I'm a frog, by the way. Still, would you grant me a wish?"

She couldn't help smiling at the way he read, including stage instructions. He really was too adorable sometimes.

"Anything, anything." She made sure to use her best whiny princess voice.

"I hold you to your word princess. (The frog jumps into the well and comes up with her crystal ball. He per-per-p-perches himself on the lip of the well). Now, for my reward...(He hands her the ball) I ask for your hand."

"M-my hand?"

"In marriage."

"B-b-but you're a frog!!! And I'm a princess." Overdo the shock; pout; wave exaggeratedly.

"Yes, and you gave me your word!"

"I thought you'd ask for money or something." Act dumb, act dumb!

"What good would money do to a frog...?"

"I don't know." Pout. "But I can't marry you!" Push away.

"(The frog fell into the well. He didn't want to cry, but he couldn't help feeling very discouraged. He had thought the princess was special; that she would see he wasn't just a frog; that she would see through the evil spell. He raised his head.) You promised."

Inuyasha raised his eyes from the page.

"What spell?"

"The frog was a wonderful prince who had been cursed by an evil witch and turned into a frog."

"And the princess didn't know?"

"Nope."

"Of course...no princess would ever stoop to marry a frog." He had said that with much too much rawness in his voice for her not to realize he was no longer referring to the story.

"Inuyasha?"

"I hate this story! I hate it!"

He ran out of the room.

"Inuyasha..."

She could have hit herself for not seeing the parallels sooner.

"Inuyasha..."

She hoped he hadn't left the shrine.

Author's Note: Thank you ever so much for the reviews to the last chapter! I adore hearing from you and I'm so incredibly grateful for all your support. This chapter is not a filler, it's meant to be a cliffy. Sorries. :p

Just a few things, someone asked about Kagome's age and mentioned that I said at some point she was about 16-17. She is actually 20 in this story. What I said was that she "looked to be 16 or 17 summers" and that was from Inuyasha's perspective. Also take into count that Kagome is Japanese and Japanese women (Asian women in general) tend to look younger than their ages. I am really sorry but I can't remember who mentioned this to me, but thank you for doing so!

Then, the thing about Inuyasha not liking the kissing scene in a movie. Remember he is a young boy. Kissing Kagome and looking at two people on-screen kissing are two different things. Then there is the whole "acting tough" side. I'm just mentioning this in case this chapter raises issues of inconsistency with the last chapter.

I hope this helps. :)

I'm gonna try really hard and not leave you hanging for too long with this. :) Meh, who needs sleep anyway? XD I honestly hope you are enjoying this story. Oodles of love, lashings of gratitude and abundance of smiles upon all:3