Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, just having fun.

AN: Please note, I've just recently become an Inuyasha addict. I've only watched roughly the fist season on YouTube (You have NO idea how many ages it takes to do that on dialup!)…so anyway, because I've only seen season one, there's obviously some things I don't know about it all yet, so anyone who knows the whole series may find gaps and incorrect bits.

Sometimes, when we stop moving around long enough for me to think of unimportant things, I wonder about my companions. I wonder what makes a lecher become a monk, how an orphaned fox can keep a smile on his little face, how a flea can vanish so fast on such tiny limbs when danger nears. Speaking of the flea, I haven't seen him in awhile…where'd he get to?

Lately, however, I find my mind settled on one thing. Why would a dog boy, with all the defensive instincts and cautious awareness of a dog, wear bright red? Why not green or brown or grey, something to help him blend with the forest? I know it partially has to do with the fact that it offers excellent protection against attacks; I've experienced it for myself. Still, couldn't it be bleached and dyed? He likes to be alone, increasingly so since his encounter with the reincarnated Kikyo and Miroku's revelation of her murderer. But if he craves privacy so much, why does he wear such a vivid color? We can all spot him, moping in whatever tree he chooses, from a great distance away.

Tonight, he disappeared right after supper, leaping up into the trees and moving some ten meters from camp; not far enough that anything could attack us without him noting it, but far enough so that he no doubt hoped to block Shippo's cheerful chatter from his sensitive ears. By the way they are twitching as I approach him, I doubt it's working.

I know that he knows I'm here; he just chooses to ignore me. It makes part of me mad, and I'm considering "sitting" him right out of that branch. At the same time, though, I feel sorry for him. I imagine it's bad enough to lose someone you care for, but to lose someone you care for and have them believe you caused their death? That must be awful. There is another feeling inside me, but I refuse to name it in conscious thought…still, the word keeps seeping into my mind. Jealously. I don't understand it. Inuyasha is my friend. Why should I feel…I shake my head to get rid of the thought before it can form completely.

Me shaking my head must remind him of my prescense, he can probably hear the sound of my hair moving or smell my shampoo; he glances over one scarlet-clad shoulder at me, black brows drawn together beneath white bangs in an all too familiar expression of annoyance.

"What do you want?" His slight empasis on the 'you' implies that I'm the last person he wants to see right now.

"Are you alright?"

"Humph. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno. You just seems quiet, is all."

"Keh."

He turns away from me again, and I roll my eyes behind his back. I wish I could jump up in the tree myself and get right in his face, force him to look at me. I hate it when he won't look me in the eyes.

Wrong thought to think. Memories rush back at me before I can still their flow.

"Mind explaining why you haven't been able to look me straight in the eye since yesterday?!"

"Mph. You're obviously imagining things."

"I get it! This is all about me looking like Kikyo! That's it, isn't it?! That's why you can't look at me!"

When his honey colored eyes met mine, it felt like the wind had been knocked out of me in a whoosh. He grabbed my hand in a slightly rough manner, yanking it away from where I had still been holding on to his silver tresses after tugging him to me by the hair moments before.

"Inuyasha?!"

"It's not…it's not like that."

He almost kissed me then.

My thoughts are jolted back to the present by the light thud of his feet landing on the ground just in front of me. He tilts his head to one side quizzically. I find myself studying his handsome face, especially those beautiful eyes, that had been so close to mine that day, when he leaned in towards me, such gentleness radiating from him…Stop it! I can't be thinking of him that way! He doesn't care about me! He was looking at Kikyo, seeing his first love in me."

Again, I pull myself from my inner turmoil to meet his eyes.

"C'mon, Kagome, we should get some sleep. We gotta move early in the morning."

Still, he doesn't move. He just looks at me. Then, stunning me slightly, he lifts one hand, brushing a stray lock of hair back from my face with one clawed finger, tucking it gently behind my ear. He does not speak, does not smile, does not even seem to acknowledge what he's doing. Suddenly, he seems to come back to himself. He does not move, and yet seems to shake his head, as if to clear it. An almost unoticible blush touches his high cheekbones. He hastily draws his hand away and stuffs the offending appendage and its twin into the loose sleeves of his outrageously red robe.

"Keh."

He turns from me and walks away, leaving me to sink to the ground, arms wrapped around myself, cheeks flushed and heart racing, telling myself over and over.

He was looking at Kikyo, not me. He was looking at Kikyo.