Note: In the end, the real fools are the ones that arrogate that the universe is conventional, that time makes sense, that there is an answer to everything, and most of all, the one's that claim that they'll never be dizzy.

"Why are you so reluctant to tell me that question...?" And just when he thought he had successfully averted the subject. He looked down at the floor briefly before turning back towards the desk to finish the back of the leaf, almost inaudibly mumbling the reply under his breath.

"S'already too late." It wasn't fair, that she was asking him this question now.

She hesitated before speaking again. "Okay."

Was that it? Really? Okay, then.

When Inuyasha finished, he handed Kagome the paintbrush, who went to the bathroom sink to clean her brush and then put away the Mod Podge after screwing the cap back on. She sat herself down on the floor this time, leaning her back against the side of her bed, only to look to her left and find Inuyasha sitting right next to her.

"Ah. When- I mean, what are you doing here?"

"If you haven't noticed, I often sit on the floor. You?"

"The floor felt welcoming."

"The floor usually feels like a cruel bastard."

At the risk of sounding sadistic, she burst into a fit of giggles at this, and it was a while before she caught her breath again.

"Sorry, I think I found that more funny than it actually was."

He snorted. "Happy to make you laugh, I guess. What are you doing with that leaf?"

"The Mod Podge was to preserve it and still leave it relatively flexible. Then I can put it in that small frame and keep it."

He looked at her with a confused expression. "What the hell do you want to keep a leaf for?"

She propped her elbow up on her right leg and leaned her chin into her hand, looking forward. "Not what, why."

Unfortunately, Inuyasha couldn't care less for contextual grammar. "Whatever."

"It's your lucky day, there are two reasons. It's a very pretty leaf," she leaned on her cheek to face him with another sheepish grin, "...and it reminds me of you."

Taken aback, he looked the opposite way so she wouldn't see his cheeks tint red. "Th-That's a stupid reason to keep something so insignificant."

"Oh, but I don't think so, and that's the difference between you and me in this case." He didn't say anything for a minute and tried to ignore the urge to ask his next question, because he didn't give a damn about what she thought of him, but that was a genuine lie, so he did ask.

"...Why does it remind you of me?"

"Well, I dunno," yawning, she sat up straight again, grabbing her knees with both hands, "besides the Doppler Effect reason? It's hard to explain."

"N-no, I mean," there was an intermittence in his speech while he thought of the best words to use, "why do you want something that reminds you of me?"

Her mouth turned up into a bubbly grin. "Well, it's a shame I don't dislike you enough to not want something that does."

"...That's a terrible answer." He didn't look pleased, though Kagome's face didn't change.

"I guess that makes two, then," she glanced over at her desk, "I'll be right back." She pulled herself up and walked up to her desk, then gently placed the paper on the back part of the photo frame with the leaf on top. However, her mind still was buzzing with frustration at her inability to figure out what Inuyasha had been trying to ask her before. "Too late," he had said- too late for what? It was already midnight; you can't get much later than midnight, so had something been different before? The only thing that came to mind was that she pushed him onto the floor, than "sat" him, but it probably hadn't been a physical change he was referring to. All she had really done was catch him off guard and- oh, shoot. He had let his guard down, and the instant she had distracted him, it had immediately built itself back up. It was too late to ask him again, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying to figure it out either.

"Inuyasha, what do you think?"

He halfway opened one eye. "About what?"

"About all of this? I was brought here partially by the will of the jewel, after all. Do you think this is all a big coincidence or a predetermined curse of the Shikon jewel?"

Both of his eyes snapped open upon hearing this question, and he looked at Kagome with a mildly incredulous expression even though she wouldn't be able to see it from behind her. Was she on to him or something? Nevertheless, she was asking him extremely sophisticated and complex philosophical questions at freaking 12:07 in the morning, not that he was tired, but it wasn't the time to be asking these things, that stopped being a thing to ask half an hour ago. Also, it's not like he'd been expecting her to ask him almost the same exact question he had been intending to. Still, he managed to piece together an answer anyway.

"First of all, we aren't going to be manipulated by the jewel. Future or present tense."

"Oh, this isn't about me. It's what you think is what I'm asking."

He raised an eyebrow, though she still couldn't see it, and continued, "Well, as I said, I don't like the concept that I nor anyone else is being played puppet by a small spherical necklace with magic powers. Also, while our current situation of knowing each other feels more than coincidental, I wouldn't… call it a curse, either."

She turned around for a moment to face him with a smug smile. "Aw, that's because you like us, don't you?"

He tried his best to add a blatant stab of anger in his next retort. "It's not like any of you you gave me a choice. You guys are so slow and weak to travel with. And extremely irritating. All I'm saying is it's not exhausting enough to be curse-worthy." This only made her grin in amusement; it wasn't hard for her to see right through that statement.

"Liar, liar, fire-rat pants on fire!" While Inuyasha wasn't acquainted well with the idiom, he understood that she was taunting him, and didn't miss the chance to glower at her as if he were really angry, which she just giggled at. At least she seemed to be in a good mood, unless it was just the sleep fatigue getting to her.

He cleared his throat and continued, "It's more of what happened to us that feels like a curse, and in Miroku's case, literally." At this moment he heard Kagome snap the back of the frame closed, concealing the leaf inside, and when she made eye contact with him, her expression seemed marginally melancholy, which offset him.

"I know that. Something terrible has happened to everyone but me, and it's not that I want the same for myself, but I was born here. I'm sort of dead weight."

Her face didn't change, and she wasn't crying, but something about the raw brokenness that laced the edges of her words made his heart feel like it was about to split in half.

"What a stupid thing to say," he suddenly scoffed.

"Huh?"

"Just because you haven't ever inherited or had something more than remotely tragic happen to you, doesn't make your reason for traveling with us shallow. And not just because you brought back the Shikon jewel or you're the reincarnation of a powerful priestess who did." He paused his speech to contemplate how to phrase what he would say next; it wasn't easy for him to put his thoughts into words like this. However, he paused too long and Kagome accidentally interjected just before he continued.

"What else is there? Every time I jump through that well I displace myself in time to somewhere I don't belo-"

"Would you be quiet and let me finish?" He shot a quick glare at her to make sure she was listening, and when he saw that she was looking at him in silence, a timid sort of shock chalked in her eyes, he cleared his throat before proceeding.

"Actually, it is partially because you're a reincarnation that gives you a "good reason," but before I tell you that here's something: for someone who up until a while ago had lived a sheltered life, you are significantly strong. If it weren't for you, we'd have been dead by now, and though I don't like admitting this, I would be too, so don't give me that crap." When he saw her head nod faintly, he turned his head away from her and looked forward.

"You're right, other than being reincarnated with the jewel inside you to bring it back, you generally seem out of place over there. But the reason is more intricate than that- you remember back when… we first met Sango and she told us the history of the jewel? Do you remember why it brought you back here?"

She nodded. "Yes, because it wants to repeat the cycle again, right?"

"Right. And what's going to happen to you if it succeeds in doing that?

She really didn't like to think about the outcome or possibility of them failing specifically for this reason. "I will… become part of the Shikon jewel like Midoriko, and battle demons for eternity."

"And that is exactly your reason. Something tragic will happen to you if we don't do anything. If we fail, you will suffer a fate worse than death," his voice became hushed, a drowning sort of restlessness reflecting in his voice like a scarlet mirror, "and I can't- I won't let that happen to you."

Upon hearing him she was unconsciously captivated by a breathless kind of stillness, eyes wide with an imminent realization as she began to understand what he had been trying to tell her, both now and before. Without hesitating, she quickly pivoted on her heel to face her desk again, not even bothering to sit on her chair as she tore a post-it-note from its overdue tyranny of being on the top and grabbed her favorite fountain pen, letting the words spill over incessantly.

"Besides, if you were really such a pathetic weakling, I would have gotten rid of you ages ago...hm?" When he noticed the lack of an all-too-irritated retort from her, Inuyasha glanced up at her again only to be more puzzled: she was bent over her desk and apparently too busy writing to have a substantive reaction to just about everything he just said. Does she really not care about anything I have to say? Before he could get any deeper into his sulking, his ear twitched at a sound that deeply disturbed him- a sniffle.

Did I...Did I really make her cry? What did I say this time!? Attempting to swallow down his frantic confusion, he pulled himself up and walked up behind her to see what she was writing that was ostensibly so important. Just as he leaned to peer over shoulder, Kagome had finished writing, whipped around, and walked into him, planting face-first into his chest. Having bumped into him rather hard, his balance was thrown off a little, and he grabbed her with both hands just below her shoulders, pushing her back so she was standing up straight again, though that distance was still rather close. To be honest with herself, the first thing Kagome thought was ow, my nose, until she felt herself being pushed back. Her arms were over her chest, hugging the leaf she had framed, then looked up at him. She knew she had bumped into him, she just hadn't actually perceived it until just now. Her cheeks tinted red and she remained earsplittingly quiet as she duly noted that his hands were still on her arms and looked up at him only to see him raise an eyebrow at her due to her lack of response, which didn't make her any less flustered.

"Um...I-"

"Why were you crying?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Huh? No I wasn't!" When his interrogating stare didn't recede, she sighed and, quite reluctantly, continued speaking.

"Alright, maybe I was, a little bit. But only because what you said made me very happy. Since we started traveling, I've been trying my hardest not to become a burden for any of you, since I knew you all already had your own. Then you made me realize something, something I told you once that I, in my own way, had forgotten to follow myself."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"You reminded me that I wasn't alone anymore. I forgot that I have my own burden to carry, and that even though I often forget about myself, there's going to be someone there that remembers me. So...thank you." She briefly smiled at him, then promptly looked down, embarrassed. It was then she saw that she was still holding the frame.

Inuyasha, needless to say, was stunned and speechless. But before he could manage to even mutter something, a picture frame was shoved in his face, obscuring the view of everything but the red leaf encased behind the thin glass slate, the light blue sticky note attached to it. He let go of Kagome's arms and grabbed the frame to read it.

I couldn't answer your question before, but I will answer it now. Yes, I do believe that we met for a reason- it was no coincidence I was pulled down that well to find you; a fate that was not avoidable. But that doesn't mean we are bound to fate. There are certain givens we are dealt with in life, and the choices or outcomes of those givens are what allows us to have free will. In this way, we can also choose our own fate sometimes, and when we are given that opportunity, we can't waste it- and that is exactly what we are doing. We are fighting for our own fate by using the givens we were dealt. We're all young, and it's confusing, weird, and definitely not easy, but I know we'll all figure it out in the end. But I do know one thing for sure, Inuyasha: you are the one unavoidable fate I would never change, and among all the givens I have been dealt, between the ones I do like and the ones I don't, you are one of my favorites. -Kagome

"Kagome…" It was beyond him how she figured out his question exactly, but he did know...that he had absolutely no idea where she was. It seemed she had turned off the lamp again so that the room was yet again rather dim, so it took a few glances around the room to find her standing near the window, probably too embarrassed to just stand there while he read it. When she made eye contact with him, she gave a genuine, Kagome-certified happy smile, and, though he'd never admit it, it made him extremely relieved and happy that he had caused it. Kagome looked down at the floor and shuffled her feet .

"You know what? I just remembered the leaves of the Goshinboku turn red in the Autumn."

"Oh, they do?" He had forgotten about that, and frankly, he was yet again at loss for words to say anything else, using the silence as an excuse to gently stand up the frame back on her desk, and walk towards her a bit so he was only about six feet away from her, right where the leaf itself had landed.

She tried to be a bit more direct this time. "Um, sorry if what I wrote sounded a bit silly, I wasn't sure how to explain it."

He turned his head away from her. "Huh. It wasn't bad writing for someone who's flighty and reckless like you." She wrote something from practically the bottom of her heart and you liked it significantly so say something of substance you fool. And yet his lack of response remained.

Kagome cocked her head to the side, thoroughly frustrated with his aforementioned lack of an actual response to what she wrote to him. She sighed heavily and gave him the most irritated glare she could manage.

"My god, you really are insufferable." She marched straight up in front of him, grabbed both of his front locks of hair and tugged on them hard enough to make him face her and pull his head forward. Before Inuyasha could ask her what the hell are you doing, she grasped his face on either side with both hands, slightly raised herself off the floor by shifting some of her weight on her toes, and kissed him, a fervent fluttering of butterflies in pandemonium overwhelming her.

A breathless storm of shock flooded him, and for an instant he was completely stiff. Saying he was stunned before would have been a joke compared to right now. However, he caught on rather quickly and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her to almost his height, then closed his eyes and kissed her back. This time he noticed how potently her scent overwhelmed him, how he could feel her nervousness through her cold fingers and she could probably tell he was also by his partially unsteady, slightly-too-tight grip, how stupidly fast he could feel his heart pounding as he did hers, and how uncertain and just barely off-sync their movements mirrored. Despite their marginal, inexperienced awkwardness, neither of them seemed to mind or notice at the moment, as they were thoroughly captivated by each other.

When she pulled away from him, she saw that unreadable expression on his face again; a sort of distant, hazy look, and upon seeing it again, she noticed that it wasn't as much of a look of confusion as it was...something else. Kagome found herself almost hoping that it really wasn't what she thought it was, because if that is the way his face looks when he's lovestruck, her heart ran the risk of bursting, or less dramatically, just stopping. Instead of her hand, she could now feel his breath on her face, and she wasn't sure if it was his closeness that was making her face feel warm or if it was the realization that she most likely has a similar expression on her face.

Even though she looked just as dizzy as he did, she still had a retort ready to fire just seconds after.

"And that's what you get," she breathed and took her right hand off his left cheek to poke him in the chest, "for almost an hour ago! The next time," she breathed again," you do that, I'll-"

"What? You'll "sit" me?"

Kagome closed her mouth, taken aback. Is he saying it would be worth it…? At that realization she blushed and opened her mouth to yell something else at him, only for him to interrupt her again.

"Let me guess: you'll be out of breath?" Kagome just flat out turned red at this.

"I-It's not like you aren't either!"

Inuyasha leaned his forehead against hers, their noses almost touching, and she was now sure that it was both things that were making her face feel warm. "No, you're just exhausting. Also, you shouldn't hold your breath so much."

"Wh-...you were the one holding me too tight," She tried resisting the urge to breathe again, but she failed and nearly gasped, resulting in a snicker from him, which she glared at him for before continuing.

"Your grip was too stiff. I couldn't 've breathed even if I remembered to."

"Whatever. You're the one that's short of breath; I'm just young and confused."

Normally, she would have just yelled something witty at him again for taunting both her height, which stopped at his shoulders and in retrospect really wasn't that short, and her current breathlessness at the same time. But at the reference of the note she wrote him, Kagome became very flustered and pulled her face away from his, covering it with both hands. It's like he never runs out of things to say. "Just stop it. Stop talking."

After a moment passed, he ignored her last comment and spoke again.

"Hey."

"Hm?" When she uncovered her face, he was on eye level with her again, and what she thought on his face would be a smug, arrogant crooked smile was actually a more serious, thoughtful gaze, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Did you mean it?" Her eyebrows also furrowed, again.

"The note? Yes." He blinked, and his voice became a bit more tentative in his next sentence.

"And the ending?" Kagome stretched out her right hand to brush his cheek with her thumb, seemed to contemplate for a brief moment and then mildly cleared her throat, smiling up at him with fake arrogance.

"Feh, I wouldn't write anything to you that I didn't mean, you fool."

She watched his pensive expression turn into a genuine, Inuyasha-certified crooked smile with-a-fang-poking-out, slightly tightening his arms around her. Seeing him smile like this made her extremely happy, and if anything, Kagome now knew why they always got so shy around each other; if their relationship was going to be this vertiginous she wasn't sure how long either of them would last. However, what he said next made her forget about even caring about it.

"Then me, too."

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

The author's note was giving me the "at the bottom of the last chapter" vibe.

I only have a few points to make:

1. All the quotes at the top of each chapter in this story are made up by myself. No, no one asked that yet, but just in case.

2. Towards the end especially (and I suppose you could say throughout the whole story) I wanted to emphasize the awkwardness and uncertainty between the two, because they are teenagers. A lot of media, books, T.V., etc. save some exceptions tend to misrepresent adolescent romance as flawless and experienced, but that's not realistic. Teenagers are inexperienced and awkward when it comes to anything intimate because they are young and inexperienced, no matter how mature they are for their age, and people tend to forget that. Or from my own perspective being currently a teenager, at least the media tends to. Sorry for the length of that, it was the 2nd most important motif/theme besides the time/fate/free will one, and I'm pretty sure Kagome explained that one well enough.
TL;DR for #2: Teenagers don't know how to romance and look cool about it

3. Thank you again so much for any favorites and reviews!
For the guest reviews: I was pleasantly surprised by your kindness. :)
User reviews: I will make an effort to reply to all your wonderful words of encouragement soon. :'D

Again, thank you so much for reading the whole thing, and I already have a few new story ideas, so hopefully I'll get some more time to write soon!