InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Settle the Score ❯ Come as you are ( Chapter 7 )

Author rantings :
This chapter contains some interaction between Kagome and Inuyasha. It's more on the relationship front, not much action... I admit that I have been instrumentalizing the quarrel between Inuyasha and Kagome a bit to make both of them think about their relationship. But I won't make them break up because of a simple misunderstanding, I mean hey, I wanted to write a realistic story (as far that's possible with demons, time travel, etc.).

A huge thanks to the ones advising me what to write (Inuyasha and Kagome making up was asked most often), and especially to AngelsExist and Chris-san for giving me very specific advice. It reassured me in the plot I had in mind ;)

Disclaimer :
If you own Inuyasha and like this fic, you could hand the rights over to me. Until that happens, he stays yours.

Special thanks to :
Kat Morning, my comma specialist ;) Thanks for the tip with the salt!

Come, as you are,
as you were,
as I want you to be,
as a friend.Come as you are

They were sitting around a campfire they had just started. Kagome looked around, everyone seemed glad to be able to rest their legs. Just Inuyasha didn't look to be affected, although he had carried the meat and the bike all the way and possibly just wanted to look tough.

They had kept walking until a bit more than an hour before sunset. Inuyasha had kept ahead, setting an acceptable pace. Kagome had fallen back to Miroku and Sango. The youkai hunter had immediately joined her to discuss how things were going with Inuyasha. Although Sango had wanted to know details, Kagome had only told her what her friend had to know, that Shippou would try to talk to the stubborn hanyou during his training. Sango had agreed that it would be better to let the child try first. She had told Kagome that Inuyasha didn't look like he would have fun from hitting the child today, so he should be sincere in his offer.

Aside from that there hadn't been much talk, everyone being absorbed in thought. The way was also going slightly upwards, forcing them to breathe heavier, not helping a conversation either. Kirara had shown up after some time, but went back to hunt some more when there didn't seem to be any trouble. Inuyasha had finally found a fine place to rest, just a bit off from the road.

Kagome watched Inuyasha as he sharpened a wooden rod with his claws. When the hanyou was satisfied with his effort, he unfolded his haori with the meat in it and put a piece on his makeshift spear, finally placing the meat over the fire.

Inuyasha looked at his companions, everyone was just sitting around. "You not hungry?" Well, the less they wanted, the more for him.

Miroku was the first who spoke up. "Hungry I am, but I will not eat some animal." He was as adamant as always in his conviction.

"Don't worry, I still have some food from my time left," Kagome told the monk. "Just let me rest a minute until I regain my breath." She looked around, even Sango looked a bit tired. The way had been rising steep for half an hour, and Inuyasha had gone on until it got even again, because a place to rest was easier to find on even terrain. Beside Inuyasha only Shippou seemed to be in a good condition, maybe because he had sat on the monk's shoulder half the way.

"You are stupid, Miroku. The deer is dead anyhow, if you eat it or not," Inuyasha mocked him. "And what I never understood, why do you eat fish if animals are sacred?"

"Things from the sea are no animals," Miroku lectured.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Feh!" No use discussing this subject with the monk, it always ended with some, in his ears lame, excuse. Well, it was no problem, there were still some rations from Kagome's time left, though not enough for all of them. Perhaps he should have persuaded the merchant to sell them something, but he had had other things on his mind then. "I hope for you that we can buy something in the next village. I won't carry you around if you drop dead from hunger."

Kagome had rested enough and searched her rucksack for something for Miroku and Sango. There wasn't much left, so she gave them everything that was left, some ramen and a piece of bread. "That's all what is left. You will have to hold out until tomorrow. The ramen is with shrimp, so you don't have to worry about breaking your vow." She too didn't understand why fish and shrimp were not animals, but as long as the monk ate them, it was ok with her.

"My dear Sango, my greatest concern is your welfare. Please accept my part of the meal." At least Miroku didn't seem too hungry, Kagome thought, if he was still able to get off with Sango.

"Thank you for the offer, but I can't accept it." Sango told him. "You haven't had anything since breakfast either."

"If you insist, I will share my part off the meal, so my hunger is appeased, too." Miroku told her with a grin.

"That's not what I said!" Sango giggled. If he wanted to, the monk could be really sweet.

Inuyasha rolled with the eyes as he watched the two lovebirds bicker who would get how much food. He noticed that his meat seemed to be ready. He had no problem with eating the flesh raw, but he had grown accustomed to cooking the flesh when in company of others.

Inuyasha saw that Kagome was about to get up to find a spear for herself. He had kept thinking about her, and after she had said that he had misunderstood her, part of his mind still clung the hope that she could have meant something different, while another part told him that it was dangerous to think so. "Here, you can have mine," he said, throwing his rod over to the miko.

Kagome looked at the branch. Inuyasha kept doing controversial things, he just confused her more and more. He hadn't spoken a word to her since she had tried to explain the misunderstanding, and now he did something nice again.

"Thank you." She impaled a piece of flesh on the makeshift spear and held it over the fire. Shippou summoned a branch, but it looked crippled. "Hehe, what's that?" Inuyasha couldn't stop a snicker while he was eating.

"It's a spear!" Shippou insisted. He too used it to hold meat into the fire. At least it was long enough to let him hold the flesh in the fire without burning himself.

When Inuyasha finished his meal, he waited until Kagome took his spear out of the fire. "I need it back, Kagome," he demanded, stretching his hand in her direction. She threw the rod back to Inuyasha, who caught it and placed another piece of flesh into the fire.

Shippou had finished his meal and impatiently looked at Inuyasha. "When are we going to train? The sun is setting soon!"

"Just let me finish roasting the meat," Inuyasha answered him.

Miroku looked surprised, because he hadn't heard of Shippou's training session like the others. "You intend to continue the ... training? Are you sure you are the right person to do that?"

"Keh." Inuyasha snorted. "Shippou knows who to ask for training." He gave the fox a reassuring pat on the back, almost sending the youkai child into the fire. "Smart fox realized who is the strongest in the group," he said with a nasty grin towards Miroku.

"We should be on our way now," Inuyasha then said to Shippou, to avoid getting some comment in return from the monk. Getting his meat out of the fire, he explained, "I will enjoy my meal on the way." He stood up and shouldered his haori with what was left of the meat. "Rations for later... Come on, Shippou, let's go." With that, he vanished into the wood, the fox kid trailing behind him.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Miroku asked after a while. "I will not be responsible for any injuries of Shippou."

Sango shrugged. "I think this is Shippou's decision," she answered. "And I'm sure that Inuyasha knows that Kagome won't let him fool the kid."

"Kagome-sama, are you sure that you don't want to tell us what has happened between you and Inuyasha?" the monk queried. He and Sango still only knew that there had been a quarrel and that Inuyasha had stormed off into the woods.

"Yes, I'm sure. This is something we have to sort out ourselves," Kagome answered.

´I'm not even sure if it was a good idea to tell Shippou,´ she added only in her thoughts, not wanting the two to gang up on Shippou. She wondered if the kid's plan to get through to Inuyasha would work.

Inuyasha was going ahead of him, taking bites from the meat. Shippou remembered that he had promised Kagome to talk with the stubborn hanyou. He planned to make some small talk, bringing the topic up when it seemed fitting. If he acted too rash, Inuyasha would get angry and might even stop the training.

"Where are we headed?" Shippou asked. They had left the camp twenty minutes ago, and the child was beginning to wonder why they had to train that far away from the others.

Inuyasha ate the last remains of the cooked flesh which he had been chewing on halfhearted, and swallowed afterwards. "I just kept walking until I finished my meal," he told the child, finally coming to a stop. Surveying his surroundings, he decided that this place was as good as any other. The forest was not too dense, but there were enough trees to play around a bit. He placed his haori next to a tree, and then walked back to Shippou. Taking Tetsusaiga out of the sash he sat down, motioning his companion to do the same.

"I think we will begin with flexing the claws," Inuyasha began once they were seated comfortable, the kid sitting a meter in front of him. He demonstrated what he meant, gesturing Shippou to try himself. The child imitated the movement, but Inuyasha was not satisfied. "You are flexing them too much. Open up your fingers more, until they form a smooth arc." He watched the kid slowly stretching his fingers until the position was right. "Stop," he told Shippou, who examined his hand to remember the posture.

Inuyasha continued to explain, "This way, your claws will do the most damage. If you flex them too much, you will cause only small gashes, and if you open your hand too much you can break off your nails."

Shippou watched at his hand even more carefully, the thought of breaking off his claws didn't sound exhilarating. Concentrating on the posture of his fingers, he did an unsure swipe.

"Good, I think it will be best if you try that on a tree now," Inuyasha encouraged his student, pointing at a tree with a rather thick trunk.

"No way!" Shippou whined. "I can't cut through that!"

"Idiot! Of course you can't cut that tree, you just have to swipe at it." He demonstrated again, with a very slow swipe, leaving claw marks in the trunk.

"Don't you do it faster usually?" Shippou asked. Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Of course, stupid. But usually I try to kill someone, not to let someone observe my movement." He made a short pause, finishing his explanations. "As long as you are unsure, it is better if you flex your fingers too much than too little. Then you slowly unflex your claws just a bit with each swipe, until you find a comfortable position."

Shippou began to swipe at the tree, experimenting with the position of his claws. He soon found the position where it almost didn't hurt, and as the hanyou had said the notches he left were the deepest now. "How did you learn this, Inuyasha?" Shippou asked, trying to make conversation.

Inuyasha thought back. "I learned myself. Chichi-ue had left, and if we wanted a good meal, I had to catch it."

"Do you miss your father?" the fox wanted to know.

"Keh. All I remember are some really misty memories. I didn't know him, so why should I miss him?"

"Well, you know, I miss my father. I guess I'm really lucky I met you and Kagome," Shippou told the hanyou. "I wonder what he would think of it, he never liked dog youkai." The fox had to giggle at the irony.

"Well, I guess he likes it better than having your fur used as a cap," Inuyasha told the child. Hiten and Manten would have gotten Shippou sooner or later if he had kept hunting after his father's murderers alone. The stupid fox had even wanted to bait them with the Shikon shards. "Well, at least your Chihi-ue did something useful saving Kagome's and your worthless hide."

Shippou made a face. "You don't have to talk about it so casually! He must have hated knowing that a dog demon saved his son," he complained.

"And I avenged his death, too!" Inuyasha added with a smirk. Shippou seriously feared for the peace of his father's rest, but came to the conclusion that he could do nothing about it, except making his father proud, by getting stronger, for example. "I think I got that now," he said, indicating at the claw marks.

Inuyasha agreed, the sun was already setting and he still had one thing on his mind. "Would be really bad if you hadn't. Good, let's try something more difficult now. Before striking, pull back your shoulder. Then you swipe and when you are about to hit, you strengthen the strike with your whole body." He demonstrated again what he meant. "When you get the timing right, the attack is stronger, but it comes at the cost of speed, and you can lose your balance if you aren't paying attention. But you should always move your body with the strike at least a bit."

Shippou tried the advanced move on the tree again. The second try he missed the tree and, like Inuyasha had said, almost lost his balance. He noticed that he tore through the bark easier. "After you get the feel for it, you do it almost automatically," the hanyou commented.

While the kid continued to do variations of the strike, Inuyasha continued to eat what was left of the meal. The child was actually making good progress, he thought, while he watched the fox youkai slashing at the tree. The trunk looked really poor, sporting claw marks all over. A human seeing the tree would probably think that there were evil forces at work, not knowing that it was just a youkai child.

The sun had already vanished and Shippou realized that he didn't have more time left. "Inuyasha, why were you that angry this morning?" he asked, trying to sound casual and finding the tree really interesting all of a sudden.

"Keh. I wasn't!" Inuyasha denied the obvious.

"You know, Kagome was really nervous afterwards," Shippou continued, ignoring the hanyou's denial. "I asked her what happened, and she told me you misunderstood her."

Inuyasha felt his heart beat quicker. What Shippou told him was basically the same what Kagome had told him herself when he had ignored her. Or better said, tried to ignore her. He felt the damn hope again, but quickly forced it down, thinking it was too early. "She talked to you?"

Shippou stopped attacking the tree, and looked at Inuyasha instead. "Yes, on the way up to the cliff, while Miroku and Sango were out of hearing range. She told me that she only thought out loud. That she only wanted to say you should be more ... polite like the ... guys in her time." the fox child finished a bit uneasy.

´Dammit!´ Inuyasha thought. If what Shippou told him was true, he had acted like a complete idiot. She had unintentional offended a weakness of his, and he hadn't even let her clean up the misunderstanding. Still, what she had said had been a punch way below the belt, especially with that far away look that had been on her face. And the distrustful side of him, which was a good part of his personality, told him that this didn't automatically mean that Kagome didn't have a problem with him.

Shippou sat down again and watched a myriad of emotions flickering over the hanyou's face. When Inuyasha finally settled for a thoughtful expression, the youkai child tried to reason with the stubborn half demon. "Come on, Inuyasha. How often have you offended her, even on purpose? You don't have to sulk all day when she shoots back once!"

"Keh! I have enough of people telling me who to be," Inuyasha burst out.

Shippou cheered inwardly. The hanyou looked like he had understood what Kagome had really wanted to say.

Inuyasha himself was getting more embarrassed when he realized that he had showed everyone a weakness of his. Until now only Kagome and Shippou knew, but what if they told somebody else? He was sure that he could coax or blackmail the fox, but the girl was a completely different matter.

"Oi Shippou, what we talked today stays between you and me!" he commanded, offering the resting fox a piece of flesh. "Or you can say goodbye to your training sessions."

Shippou nodded eagerly, not wanting to anger the dog demon, especially here in the middle of nowhere. "Promise!"

"Good. I think that was enough training for a day. Let's finish the meal and head back." The two quickly did away with what was left of the meat, both having no problem with raw flesh. Afterwards, the hanyou swung his now empty haori over the shoulder, not wanting to wear it because it still wasn't cleaned. Finally, he put Tetsusaiga through his sash again, placing it so he could easily reach the hilt.

They went back into the direction of the camp. Both had no trouble seeing in the dark, their demonic vision allowing them to make out the path without problem.

Inuyasha remembered that Miroku had made fun of the training. Fearing that Shippou would be offended if he found out that the 'dodging' training hadn't been for real, and tell the group his secret as revenge, the hanyou decided to tell the kid himself.

"Shippou," Inuyasha broke the silence after they had walked for a while, "I have to tell you something, too. I think it is better you hear it from me than from someone else."

"What is it?" the child asked somewhat curious.

"You know, when I was training yesterday with you, it was more fun than training." the hanyou told his trainee.

"It was only fun ..." Shippou trailed off, realizing. "Fun ... for you."

"Hey, try to follow your own advice and don't start to sulk. I did seriously train with you today, didn't I?" Inuyasha tried to justify himself. "And if I hadn't bonked you on the head yesterday, we would never have gotten the idea to start your training anyway."

Shippou still was offended. "I want to get stronger, and you exploited that!"

"Hey, if you want to be angry at someone, be at Kagome. She didn't do anything to help you, remember?" Inuyasha grinned when he pushed the guilt on the miko, hoping that the brat would bug her instead. ´Revenge for today, Kagome!´ he laughed silently.

"You are right!" Shippou felt really exploited now. The hanyou had played around with him, but at least he tried to make up for it. But all Kagome did was sending him around to clear up her mess.

"Don't you think that Kagome deserves revenge?" Inuyasha's grin widened when he suddenly had an idea. "You should let her sleep alone, so she knows that you don't like being used by her." If she played around with his feelings, he might as well play around with hers...

Kagome was listening to the regular breathing of Miroku and Sango. She wondered how long she was already lying there, unable to find sleep like her two friends. The fire had reduced to a glowing fervency, so she had curled up in her sleeping bag to keep warm. Although the days already had pleasant temperatures, the nights were still quite cold.

´How are Inuyasha and Shippou?´ Her thoughts kept spinning around the two demons. Had Shippou been able to talk Inuyasha out of his conclusion? Why hadn't they returned already? The sun had vanished behind the horizon an hour ago, and still there was no sign of the two.

She understood that Inuyasha was angry after her awkward comment, he had always been quick to anger, but he had never acted like he was this time. Could it be that he cared more about what she thought of him than he let on? Or was he envious at the people in her age? She hated always being left in the dark about the hanyou's thoughts.

It was the greatest problem in their relationship, the fact that Inuyasha always kept his thoughts and feelings to himself with almost fanatical effort. She thought back to what he had told her two days ago, about the gap in his memory. If he had told her sooner, they could have used spare time to search for a cure, she could have asked doctors in her time what they thought about it. Even Kaede could know something about spells to effect one's memory.

But no, mighty Inuyasha did not need anyone's help. He stoically kept the stupid facade of the tough demon. Well, he was one basically, but he didn't need to act like one all the time. Other youkai also knew when to ask for help. Toutousai had asked for protection from Sesshoumaru, Shippou had asked for help with Hiten and Manten. Why was Inuyasha always too proud to tell them, or at least her, what troubled him?

She bet there was more to Inuyasha's story than him being just sold. There had to be a reason. She just couldn't believe that the people from the town he lived in had just sold him. Or had they? She remembered Jinenji and how quickly the people from his village had decided to kill him, although the hanyou had been living at the outskirts of the village his whole life as a peaceful farmer.

Her musings were cut short when Inuyasha and Shippou emerged from the woods. She looked at the hanyou and wondered what that sadistic grin meant, when he jumped up the nearest tree and settled himself for sleep. She hadn't spared Shippou a look until she noticed him sitting against the tree Inuyasha was lying on, obviously pouting.

"Shippou, what's wrong?" she asked, though she knew quite well why the child was angry. Inuyasha had messed with the fox youkai again. What did the hanyou think, taking his anger out on the poor kid?

Shippou didn't answer her but turned his head away instead. That just increased Kagome's anger. "Don't worry Shippou, I won't let Inuyasha hurt you anymore!" She was tempted to sit the hanyou now and then.

Shippou glared at her. "It's too late to say that." the fox child answered.

´Eh?´ Kagome thought, dumbfounded. What was going on with Shippou? She thought to hear a snicker from above the tree, but it could be her imagination. "What do you mean?" she asked him, not able to find out the meaning behind the kid's statement.

"What do I mean?" Shippou repeated the question, offended. How could she forget that she hadn't protected him when it had really been necessary? "Maybe I mean that you didn't help me when Inuyasha was training 'dodging' with me?"

"Oh, you mean that," Kagome said, being sure this time that she had heard a snicker from Inuyasha.

Shippou was baffled by the miko's relief. Didn't it mean anything to her? "Yes, that's what I mean. You could have spared me a serious headache!"

Kagome pointed at the two sleeping figures. "It was their fault. Miroku and Sango were interrogating me, remember? I even tried to break free, but they held me back because they wanted to know what Inuyasha and I talked about."

Shippou felt a bit pushed around. Inuyasha placed the guilt on Kagome. Kagome pointed at Miroku and Sango. If Miroku and Sango followed his prediction, they would either blame Inuyasha, completing the circle, or tell him that it was his own fault.

"I hope you didn't tell them anything," the hanyou interrupted from his branch. "I would not forgive you that."

Kagome looked up to him. Did that mean he had forgiven her? With time she had adjusted to Inuyasha and learned to read between the lines, but sometimes what he told her was just too vague. "I will keep my promise," she assured him. "Don't be afraid, I will tell no one."

"Keh! Would be my own fault for trusting a traitorous human," Inuyasha sneered down from his heightened position.

"Excuse me?" Kagome said angrily, not shouting because she didn't want to wake Miroku and Sango. "I happen to be a human and I'm not traitorous!"

"Whatever."

Shippou coughed, trying to get attention. "I think both of you have to be blamed, because Inuyasha hit me on the head and you didn't stop him."

"See?" Inuyasha told Kagome. "Even Shippou thinks you are devious."

"Who hit him on the head?" she shot back.

"You are changing the topic," Inuyasha said, grinning down at her, partially glad that Kagome couldn't see it in the dark. If she saw even one tooth reflecting the moonlight, he could find himself on the ground really fast.

"You are doing it again! Why can't we have a normal conversation without you making fun of me? And then you wonder why I compare you to other guys?"

"Keh! At least I don't tell you to be more like Kikyou!"

Shippou watched the two, completely forgetting to be angry with them. At this rate they would be in the next quarrel before the last one was solved. Kagome had gone silent after that, just like Inuyasha, who possibly regretted what he had said but was too proud to take it back. Shippou sighed and wondered if there would ever be a reward for his hard work. "Come on, Inuyasha, you don't really mean that!"

"Keh! I mean it as much as she does!" Inuyasha snorted.

"I already told you that I didn't mean it!" Kagome remembered him.

"Fine! Then I ... Ah, just shut up!" He closed his eyes, signaling that he wanted to sleep, knowing that Kagome would notice when the slight glow of his eyes vanished. "Good night!"

Shippou sighed mentally. Couldn't they be easier to coach? They both did their best to sabotage his effort to pair them off. He could almost imagine how easy things could be if both would be a bit more cooperative...

Inuyasha emerged from the wood, Shippou trailing behind him. Kagome immediately stood up when she spotted her friends.

"Are you okay, Inuyasha?" she asked concerned.

Inuyasha looked into her eyes, seeing the worry in them. "Yes, thank goodness Shippou explained everything. What would I have done without him?"

Kagome nodded, completely agreeing with the hanyou. Then she ran towards her love and threw her hands around his neck. "I'm so sorry, Inuyasha. It just slipped out!" she cried against his chest.

"I am sorry, too," Inuyasha said. He took her chin in his hand, lifting her face up until he looked into her beautiful, watery eyes. "If I hadn't been such a stubborn jerk, you wouldn't have had to worry so much." The anxious look she gave him almost broke his heart. "I love you, Kagome."

"I lo..." the rest was cut off when Inuyasha captured his love in a fierce kiss. Shippou stood at their side, congratulating himself for his good work.

"Shippou, are you still angry?" Shippou heard Kagome ask, the question startling him out of his daydream. The fox shook his head, mentally laughing at the surrealism of his thoughts. The chances of Inuyasha making up with Naraku couldn't be much worse. Actually, he could think of some worse scenarios, so maybe he should be glad that everything went well. They had at least both apologized ... sort of. The comment with Kikyou still hung between them, but Inuyasha had technically said that he didn't compare Kagome with Kikyou, with much interpreting.

Kagome watched Shippou. Although he shook his head at her question, he still looked depressed. Thinking of something to cheer him up, she opened her sleeping bag a bit. "Come on Shippou, I'll let you sleep here to make up for it."

Shippou looked at her, his resolve to letting her suffer melting away. He went over to Kagome and curled up in her sleeping bag, just his head looking out. "Traitor," he heard Inuyasha mutter from above. He stuck his tongue out and grinned at the hanyou.

Kagome looked from Shippou to Inuyasha. It looked like the hanyou had tried to pit them against each other, it would also explain the grin on Inuyasha's face when he returned from Shippou's training. And it was just so like Inuyasha! "Is something the matter?" she asked in him in her sweetest voice.

Inuyasha shifted on his branch until his back was turned towards them. "Good night!" he barked.

Kagome wanted to question Shippou, but knew that the hanyou would hear every single word of it. She gave Shippou a questioning look, trying to communicate nonverbally, but the kid couldn't do much more than smiling back encouragingly. Accepting that she would have to wait until tomorrow, she laid her head back.

She kept thinking about what Inuyasha had said. ´At least I don't tell you to be more like Kikyou.´ She hoped that he didn't mean it, he had looked like he was sorry for what he had said and also spluttered something that could be understood - or misunderstood - as an apology. He could have meant he didn't want her to be like Kikyou, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.

She wondered about Kikyou and her place in Inuyasha's heart. Kagome had interrupted some very private moments between the two. What was more confusing was the fact that he couldn't seem to decide. He had told her, after they had found out about Kikyou's soul snatching, that he liked them both. He hadn't told her if that had changed in recent times, and Kikyou had made herself scarce.

Kagome looked down at Shippou, who was already sound asleep. She guessed it had been a hard day for him, especially with the training he had gotten himself into. She would have to talk to him tomorrow, to make sure that Shippou was really being trained and not just taken advantage of. The child had been angry, and with right, just at the wrong person. Had Inuyasha really thought that he could incite the child that easily?

She really owed Shippou for today. He had not only talked to Inuyasha for her, but had also broken the uneasy silence after the hanyou had said that he didn't tell her to be like Kikyou.

Did he want her to be more like Kikyou? She couldn't help sometimes comparing herself to her previous incarnation. After all, the priestess had been refined and composed. They were similar in many ways, but differed in many others. Sometimes she wanted to know who Inuyasha preferred, but she could hardly ask him. ´Hey Inuyasha, who do you like more, me or Kikyou?´ Well, she had some crucial advantages, she wasn't dead, she didn't want Inuyasha dead, and she spent most of her time with him. It was high time that the stubborn hanyou started to appreciate that!

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was lying up the tree. He hadn't moved since he had shifted away from them, but his ears were turned in the direction of Kagome and Shippou all the time. The fox fell asleep after two minutes, but the girl took her time. Faking sleep, he hoped that Kagome would join the youkai child soon. If he moved now while she was awake, she would maybe start a conversation again.

His plan to let Shippou keep his secret had completely backfired. Although Miroku and Sango hadn't moved, he could tell that they had been awake during the latter half of the conversation. Although they had tried to breathe evenly, he wasn't fooled by them. Especially when they held their breath to understand quiet spoken words better. The two had already drifted off into sleep again, maybe after sharing their thoughts through grimaces.

So the two had also caught why he had been angry, big deal. In retrospect, it wasn't that bad. Anyone would get fed up after being told to be like some other guy, right? He bet that even Miroku, who usually was tranquility incarnate, would also be offended if Sango told him ... why he had to have a hole through his hand. Or something like that.

So, Inuyasha thought that his masculine pride should be intact. What worried him much more that he would have to talk to Kagome tomorrow. He hoped that he wouldn't make a complete fool out of himself. Now that he thought about how he acted around her, he realized that he might have been a bit rough towards her.

He hadn't really thought about it until now, because it was how he always acted around Kagome - hell, around everyone. There were some exceptions, when he had been really afraid for her, or when they had had one of their more tender moments, when he had been nice to her. He could be nice if he wanted to! It just was, well, the exception. Today's events made him realize that he should watch his demeanor around Kagome a bit.

The problem was that he wasn't really good at interacting with other people. Fact was that he often didn't know what was wanted or expected of him, and all he could do was putting distance between himself and the threat, not wanting to embarrass himself. He did it out of instinct, and it was very hard acting against it. Sometimes, when he thought he had figured something out, Kagome would sit him, and he didn't even know what for.

He noticed that Kagome had finally fallen asleep like the rest of his group. Her breathing wasn't as even as usual, possibly she was already dreaming about something. He shifted into a more comfortable position on his branch, without making noise to avoid waking anyone. Not that it was likely, he sometimes wondered how they could be that much at ease while they slept...

Kagome especially seemed completely oblivious of her surroundings while asleep. Her time had to be really safe, or she wouldn't have developed such a deep state of sleep. For being such a spoilt brat, she had actually become a force to be reckoned with. She had helped them out numerous times, with Kagura, with Kanna, with Naraku. Her purifying arrows had been a great help in some perilous situations.

She also was easily angered, partially from her strong sense of justice, partially from her short temper. She definitely was the incarnation of a miko, with enough power to destroy evil and the will to do so. Unlike Kikyou, Kagome's feelings sometimes got the better of her, she acted like she had a death wish sometimes.

Kagome also was more sensitive, it seemed that she differed from her previous incarnation in that aspect. Kikyou had never been affected by his bad manners, or at least she hadn't showed it. Now he wondered if he had sometimes hurt her back then, and she had been too proud to show it. Anyway, Kagome was definitely not too proud to show it, and he would have to work on himself if he didn't want to upset her three times a day. ´I've made too much progress to quit now.´

He was actually quite proud of himself. In just a few months he had been able to relax around her. He was even able to sleep in the same room as his friends, even if he woke up often. In that light Miroku's habit of finding 'evil spirits' in the house of the richest citizens was really a blessing. Rich people had big houses with big rooms, in which he had at least some space for himself. Still, there was nothing better than to sleep up a tree.

That's it, folks! For those of you who are asking who will make an appearance, I can tell you that Sesshoumaru will appear for sure, and Kouga most likely (but both only later in the fic...). I really want to bring Kikyou into the whole mess, though until now I haven't really figured out where she would fit into the fic, and I don't want a forced appearance. But the Kikyou/Inuyasha/Kagome triangle Rumiko Takahashi has made up is just too weird to be left alone, so I hope I will get an idea where to bring her in. At least she has a passive role until now.

I hope you like the making up. Sorry, I can't imagine Inuyasha becoming social all of a sudden, so this takes some time. I couldn't resist writing the daydream of Shippou, I hope it doesn't destroy the flow of the story :)

I now have a small line of each song at the top of each chapter, I think it looks good. A small fact about this chapter I found out only two minutes ago : The chapter alone without the rantings has exactly 6000 words. Cosmic coincidence ... :)

I think Nirvana - Come as you are should be known to most people. I guess we will never find out if he was murdered or not. And I never understood why people even committed suicide after "Take That" disbanded, but nobody when Kurt Cobain died... Strange, isn't it?

Anyway, I thought I had to name a chapter after one of his songs, as a tribute to a genius musician.

February 2nd, 2003 : Chapter 7 finished.

June 18th, 2003 : Big thanks to Kat. Your corrections were a great help (as always).