Summary: "Is it not enough?" Kagome could tell that all the talk of her declining health by her friends had a negative impact on Koko. He was always a bit more careful. Always a bit closer, almost as if he was afraid she'd vanish. She felt bad that she couldn't tell him the truth, especially when the only support he thought he could offer was financial- even as she kept turning it down.

Pairing: Kagome Higurashi/Hajime Kokonoi

Disclaimer: I do not own either series. Each belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter One

"Well, would ya' look at that?" A familiar voice reached her ears, but she didn't react despite hearing him perfectly well. Whether he noticed or not, he didn't seem to show if it bothered him. "Just the girl I've been hopin' to catch around lately."

The chair beside her own was pulled out, the legs scraping briefly against the tile flooring. A second later, the chair creaked as the figure sat down, the faint scent of his cologne wafting over to her. It was quiet for a moment longer before she put a marker in the book she'd been focused on. She lifted her gaze the following second, blue eyes landing on a face much closer than she expected.

"You're never easy to find anymore," he remarked, resting an elbow on the table as he seemed to just watch her, sharp eyes focused on her face for a long while. There was an undercurrent to those words that wasn't spoken, but she could pick up on in his aura. Kagome glanced away, knowing if she looked at him any longer then she'd be the one to bring it up, and she knew she wouldn't get an answer even if she did.

"Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi told me you pestered them again Friday," she remarked. That word, while mean, aptly fit the situation. Especially when the three girls were so intimidated by him. She heard him huff in response, his earring jingling some as he tilted his head to the side, hand buried in his dark hair.

"It's not like that," he countered, but, once again, she could tell by his aura that she was right, and that he'd been called out on his attitude toward the three. She glanced at him, arching a brow as she waited for his defense. "Just… they constantly beat around the bush whenever I ask about you," he stated. "Ticks me off."

Kagome sighed and shook her head. "Koko," she began, her tone soft in comparison to his own, a reminder that they were in a public library. She could feel a few annoyed glares directed at them. "They're just worried."

"About me coming around?" he griped, hand falling to land on the table. Sure, he didn't care about the three of them, but he wasn't aggressive to them. It's their own fault for being so nervous. "Yet they're always so gung-ho about setting you up with that annoying bas-"

"Koko." Her voice was more of a warning, and it silenced him. She met his gaze, blue eyes catching his dark, much shaper ones. After a moment, he scoffed and looked away, once more leaning to place his cheek on his palm.

"I'll apologize if you want," he muttered, tapping his heel against the ground, and he heard her sigh.

"Just…" she was about to say something more, but she caught herself before the words could slip. She knew how her friends could be, and she also knew how he could be. They were like oil and water, mixing just wouldn't happen. She didn't have to overthink anything to know that her friends didn't like him, and the feeling was very openly mutual, yet she was the common denominator between them. "Stop putting yourself in those situations," she sighed. "It's not going to do you any favors in the long run."

"As if I care," he responded. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. It was quiet, and she was about to turn back to the book she'd been focused on moments before he'd shown up. Before she could, he sat up again. He reached his hand into the pocket of his white jacket, pulling out a white envelope.

There were no words at first as he reached for her hand, pushing the envelope directly into her grasp. Kagome looked at him, confusion seeping into her eyes before she glanced down at the envelope. She peered inside, noting the hefty stack of bills inside.

"Here," he stated. "I came to give you something."

Her eyes widened at the envelope of money pressed into her hands. For a moment, she sat in stunned silence, neither accepting nor rejecting the offered money, but after a moment, a faint smile appeared on her face. She pushed it back into his hand, giving a faint shake of her head.

"No," she said. It was the only word that left her lips. He looked back at her, his eyes widening when she so blatantly rejected the offer. His grip tightened as he tried yet again to pass it off into her hands, and he tried to ignore the softness of her hands against his own.

"Just…-" Koko tried to find something to say, something to entice her to just accept the offer with no fighting. "Take it," he stated. Yet again, she shook her head, and he swallowed the lump in his throat.

Please.

"Don't need it," she responded. "It'd be wasted," she added as an afterthought. "You know that."

His grip on the white envelope tightened, his expression contorting some as his gaze lowered to the money she'd rejected. No matter how much he tried to give her, it was always the same. She never took it, and each time, that pit in his stomach seemed to grow bigger.

Why wouldn't she just accept his help already?

How prideful could she get?

Kagome glanced at him, resting her cheek on her hand as she leaned against the table. His posture was tense as he sat there, gaze no longer directed at her. She could feel the different emotions burning through his aura, each one coming in strong waves. His expression shifted. If she didn't know better, she thought she saw the presence of tears forming in his eyes, but when she looked a second time, she assumed she was just imagining it.

She crossed her legs, faintly swinging one leg as she watched him, waiting for him to be the one to break the silence. It didn't feel right for it to be her, especially after she'd rejected his fifth attempt at offering some sort of financial support. Each time she turned it down, she noticed, that the envelope seemed to be a bit heavier the next time he tried.

The silence dragged on for a long while, and, just as she was starting to think that he'd never say something, he broke the silence.

"... Is it not enough?" he asked. The question, while quiet, took her by surprise.

"Huh?" Confusion plagued that one word. When he lifted his gaze to match her own, that innocent confusion lingered in her eyes, making his heart constrict. He gritted his teeth to keep his composure intact.

"How much will it take before it's no longer wasted?" he asked. He tossed the envelope on the table, swiftly grasping onto her hand as if to command her attention. "Give me a number, and I'll get it for you, I promise-" he stated. "I don't care how much."

Her face scrunched up in blatant confusion. It only served to rub salt into the wounds her rejection caused. "There isn't a number I can give you," she responded. She didn't miss the dread that plagued his aura in the aftermath of her saying those words as his hand gripped hers just a bit tighter- desperation coming to mingle with his other emotions. "I…-" She paused, furrowing her brows as she tried to find a way to explain without outing the whole truth.

The truth she couldn't say.

She couldn't just tell him that she was out of class all the time because she was running around nearly dying five hundred years in the past. The medical excuse her grandfather had thought up was crass, but it was the only viable one. She didn't understand why it seemed to fuel such desperation from him. She doubted that, even if she could tell him the truth, it'd appease him any. If anything, it might make things worse…

"I…-" She tried again, only for the words to all get tangled on her tongue. Her shoulders fell as she sighed and shook her head. "Koko, just don't worry so much about me, okay?" she asked after a moment. "You're not doing yourself any favors, y'know."

"You really think it's that easy?" he scoffed, his grip tightening a bit more. "I can't just not worry!"

"Shh!"

The sharp sound made her flinch, it coming from some unknown direction in the library. At the same time, Koko glanced around with an intense glare on his face. Whoever made the sound seemed to lose all bravado at the expression he'd sent them.

Kagome brought her other hand up, gripping his own as she stood up. She tugged him up, grabbed the envelope, and shoved it back into his white jacket before she turned. Hand still gripping his own, she dragged him out of the library. She didn't miss some poor soul trembling as they walked by them, and even with her back turned, she could still see the malicious glare Koko sent their way.

As they stepped out of the library, walking out onto the sidewalk out front, Kagome turned to look at him. "What I need you to do is listen to me once in a while," she remarked in a flat tone. "I'm telling you not to worry, so you know you don't have to worry."

There was a look on his face that made it clear he still wanted to argue, but something in her eyes held him back from doing so. She could tell that he didn't quite believe her, and she sighed.

"Why won't you let me support you?" he asked. Kagome sighed again, shaking her head.

"I don't need that kind of support," she responded in a blunt tone. She didn't mean for it to come out that way, but it did either way. He gritted his teeth in response, gaze lowering to the ground.

"... that's all I can give," he stated in a low tone. What could he give her that she couldn't get from someone else?

"Just because you seem to think that doesn't mean I do," she responded, walking around him. Before she could get too far, he shot a hand out to take her by her wrist, preventing her from walking off.

"Don't…-" he said. "Not yet, don't go."

"If you want to offer me support, then walk me home," she stated flatly. Her words took him by surprise. "Just because I'm not going to take money from you doesn't mean there's not other things you can do."

There was a silent pause between them. It took him a moment to realize that she'd really requested that of him, and he stood there dumbfounded for a moment. After a moment, his grip moved from her wrist to grip her hand as he took a step closer.

It didn't feel right to him to concede so easily, even as he nodded.

"Fine, if that's what you want, I'll keep you company."

He didn't know the next time she'd be out for weeks for medical treatment at a hospital her family wouldn't tell him the name of. He didn't want to think of the next time it would inevitably happen, but it was a constant thought that lingered in the back of his mind.

His grip on her hand turned a bit tighter as he tugged her closer to him. Despite the closeness, he still hung back a bit, walking a pace or two behind her.

Auroua-chan: I've been wanting to post this for a while now.

Anyway, that's it for now! Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoyed. Hopefully I caught all the errors before posting, but if not sorry.

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Bye for now~