Big thanks to DarkSacredJewelXoX, for being my beta reader for this story. For anyone looking for a beta, I totally recommend her!

"Oh Nakiko, what about the poor girl? He probably has her brainwashed to stay with him!"

"She's past our help. Look at the way she hangs on him. We can't save her."

"She must be ignorant. Or evil. Maybe she's as bad as him. Maybe she's some sorceress! We can't let them stay here!"

"I can't understand why a girl like her would be with a guy like him, though."

Kagome noticed a change in Inuyasha's demeanor. He seemed a little angry, but melancholy at the same time. She noticed that the villagers were whispering and giving them strange looks as the passed by.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Kagome asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe we shouldn't stay here. Let's keep walking," he answered as he picked up his pace.

"But it's almost sundown and I'm tired!" Kagome complained.

"Shut up! We're not staying here and that's final. If we want to get back to Sango, Miroku, and Shippo by tomorrow then we have to keep moving," Inuyasha snapped.

"But it's only like, fifteen more miles. We can easily do it tomorrow," Kagome persisted.

Inuyasha paused for a while. "I don't want to stay here."

Kagome saw the look on his face and nodded gently.

"Do you want to stay outside the village somewhere?" she asked.

"I'm going to. You can stay here if you want," Inuyasha said, looking towards the purple and red sunset.

"No, I'm staying with you," Kagome said stubbornly.

"I don't mind being alone," he responded quietly.

"I don't want you to be," she said locking her eyes with his.

"Even if I will be surrounded by people, without you I'll be alone," she thought as she watched her silver-haired hanyou.

"Okay, whatever you say."

Kagome followed Inuyasha out of the small town. She knew it had something to do with the hushed words of the villagers.

They had found a good place to stop which was next to a spring underneath a large tree. Inuyasha began looking for firewood while Kagome made preparations for dinner. It was, of course ramen, Inuyasha's favorite. Kagome walked to the stream to get water and when she returned Inuyasha had made a fire.

"Thanks," she murmured as she started cooking.

Inuyasha grunted in reply and stared up into the night sky. Kagome noticed and looked up also seeing which phase the moon was in.

"Tomorrow night," she commented breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed. "Or the day after."

Kagome grinned. "Oh you wish!"

Inuyasha smiled back just a little bit before he returned to the same look he'd been wearing since they left at the village. Kagome pondered what was upsetting him as her eyes fell upon his ears. Then it hit her.

She softly put her hand on his arm and asked, "What did they say this time?"

"What are you talking about, wrench?" Inuyasha asked irritably.

"The people in the village. What did you hear?" Kagome repeated.

"Nothing," he snapped and turned his face away from her, jerking his arm out of her touch.

"Look at that girl! She's hanging around with a hanyou. Maybe she's a demon, too."

"Oh Akita she doesn't look like she has a speck of demonic blood in her."

"But Nakiko, she's with that half breed! Either she disguises herself well, or she actually likes them and both are equally bad. We don't need any demon sympathizers here."

"Good point. They must both be evil. Should be tell the head of the village?"

"No! The demon might hurt us if we try to stop him! We must be careful."

"But we need him out! He's a disgrace to both humans and demons alike. Half breeds like him shouldn't even exist."

"I can't understand why a girl like her would be with a guy like him, though."

Kagome looked at him as Inuyasha remembered the words the two girls had muttered to each other.

"I can't understand why a girl like her would be with a guy like him, though."

"...why a girl like her would be with a guy like him..."

"...a girl like her... a guy like him..."

"A girl like her... a guy like… me…" Inuyasha mumbled brokenly under his breath.

"What?" Kagome questioned not understanding what he said.

"Nothing! They just said what everybody else says. Oh, look at that half breed. He shouldn't exist. He shouldn't be here. He deserves to die. He's a disgrace. He needs to be destroyed."

"They said that? Inuyasha I'm so sorry." Kagome whispered, her heart going out to him.

"That's not it. Don't you know what they say about you? 'Oh she must be brainwashed. She must be evil. Maybe she's a demon in disguise. Maybe she's a sorceress. She needs to leave. She can't be here if she hangs around demons'," he continued.

To Inuyasha's surprise, Kagome laughed.

"What?" he asked clearly confused by her response.

"Sorry, I had a Harry Potter flashback." Kagome answered and willed herself to stop grinning.

Inuyasha furrowed his brow in thought. "What's Hairy Potter?"

"Harry Potter is a book series about a group of wizards and witches; sorcerers that save the world or something. When you said sorcerer I thought of that," Kagome explained.

"Don't you care that they talk about you?" he asked ignoring her speech about things he had no clue existed.

"Do you?" she responded looking over at him.

"No."

"Then why are you flipping out about it?" she demanded.

"Because they're talking about you! Don't you care that hanging around me and Shippo and Kirara is just making people hate you?" he exclaimed, balling his fists at his side.

"They're just jealous," Kagome stated plainly.

"They—what?" Inuyasha questioned.

"They're jealous." she repeated. "They see that we're such good friends, that we can trust each other with our lives, and they wish they had someone like that. They just don't understand. They can't trust what they can't explain, and they can't explain how some chick who's dressed weird can be such good friends with a 'half breed', as they put it."

"They said 'What is a girl like her doing with a guy like him' direct quote," Inuyasha said stepping closer to her.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "We're just different than them. They just don't get it."

"That doesn't bother you?"

"No, should it? I'll admit that if I had to go through it for as long as you've had to deal with it, I'd be sick of it too, but it doesn't offend me. They don't get how we, different as we are, can look through that and see how we're alike and bonded together. They're stupid."

Inuyasha smiled.

"Thanks," he said awkwardly.

"Anytime. I'm always here if you need me," she grinned back.

"Yeah. Now is the ramen done? I'm hungry!" he exclaimed.

Kagome laughed and checked their food. "Yes Inuyasha, its done."

The two ate and Kagome promptly fell asleep on Inuyasha's shoulder while they were talking.

"How can you be so defiant of what they think?" he whispered to her. "How can you be so strong? How can not care?"

He glanced at a light that flashed in her bag. It was the white box thing… Pea Pod? No, that wasn't right… I… I something… I pod? That sounded close enough. The song that was playing was called You'll Be In my Heart, and as Inuyasha listened to it, he too fell asleep.

'Cause you'll be in my heart

Yes, you'll be in my heart

From this day on

Now and forever more