Untouchable

Wow! This took me forever to type up! I think it took me two weeks or so? Hey! Give me a break! School's almost out and teachers are still dishing out projects and assignments…

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Natalie's My Skin

Kagome~~

Tired, I let out a sleepy sigh, but get to work anyways. On my knees, I pour the water into the instant noodle cup only to wait for another three minutes before I can "deliver." I whip my black hair back to get it out of the way, but it falls lazily back in place.

I'm so exhausted… I just want to rest, just for an hour at least!

My auto-pilot turns on and I numbly insert the chopsticks into the Styrofoam cup. I let my eyes half-lid themselves, to conserve what little energy I have.

Everyday… Everyday we've been battling some youki or another… There's no end to them! And when the vermin are taken care of, Inuyasha makes me go through all these exercises afterwards! Then I get to do some chores and make the dinner if Miroku didn't swindle us a manor to sleep in. Ugh!

I stand, only semi-aware of my surroundings, and walk over to the group huddled around the campfire. I hear Shippou's cheerful greeting, but I can only supply a half-hearted smile in return. I don't stop walking until I'm on the far side where a certain half-demon sits, looking this way and that disapprovingly.

I crouch next to him and hold the Ramen cup out to him.

First, he just always has to be first… Jerk…

"Here you go, Inuyasha." I say softly, followed by a yawn.

He glances at the cup, but retorts, "Oi, Wench! There's all that stuff in it! All clumped up like you didn't even warm the water…"

I force my eyes to open a tad bit and sure enough, some of the vegetables still had small clumps of the seasoning hooked onto them.

"Okay, I'll fix it…"

I grip the chopsticks sticking out of the cup, intent on stirring the noodles some more, but Inuyasha stops me.

"No, Wench! If you can't do it right the first time, you sure as hell can't do it a second. Hell, even Kikyo was a better cook than you, and she never cooked!"

I take the criticism, too tired to retaliate with a sharp, witty remark. Or even to breathe the word sit.

"Why are you here anyway?" I hear Inuyasha say through my sleepy haze, my head bobbing as I fight sleep. "I thought you had tests to study for or crap."

"I told you," I pause to yawn. "Those tests were today, but we never made it, so I'm gonna be given a double exam the next time I show, regardless if I know the stuff or not."

"Kagome?" Shippou asks, tugging at my sleeve of the arm still holding the ramen! "You seem really… 'out of it?'" I nod, approving his choice of my time's phrases. "Should you rest?"

I was just about confess just how tired I was, but Inuyasha's big mouth beat me too it.

"Yes Shippou, she's tired. She's always tired, but she always rests when she gets the damn chance. Shit! Kagome, build some stamina!" As he yells at me, Inuyasha swings his arm out and knocks the boiling hot cup of untouched ramen. "You don't get it, do you? You need to get stronger, third-wheel, otherwise you're gonna get yourself killed!"

All of the hot contents spill right into my lap, burning my legs. But I barely register the burning sensation as I concentrate on Inuyasha's words.

Third-wheel… How did he even learn that term? Am I really just a bothersome load to him?

My heart feels heavy in my chest at the thought, gaining pain as weight.

Third-wheel, that's usually what you call someone who keeps intervening with a couple. Does he dislike me so much that he loves Kikyo more?

Inuyasha notices my pink legs and something I can't identify flickers across his face, but it's quickly replaced by annoyance.

"Clutz…" he mutters under breath, reaching towards me with his clawed hand. I stand and step back, just out of his reach. He looks up at me with confused eyes, but I stare him down with a cool gaze, my eyes giving nothing away.

Without so much as a goodbye, I turn my back on him and walk deeper into the forest in a dream-like state. I stroll beneath the towering trees; crouch when the trees gradually turn into claustrophobically close bushes; climb over the rocks speckling the hill; walk right through small streams – not caring weather I get wet or dirty anymore. I desperately want to find solace; to find a dark, comforting place where no one can interrupt me and my thoughts. I only stop when I come across a rare clearing in the dense forest and only a thin ribbon of light pokes through the thick canopy to pool in a small spot in the green grass in the center.

I walk towards it until I'm basking in the wonderful light.

Just because I want to be surrounded and smothered by the darkness doesn't mean I want to actually be in the suffocating dimness.

For the first time that day, I hold my head high. Shifting my body until I stand in a posture that would put royalty to shame, I part my lips, take a breath, and sing….

"Take a look at my body

Look at my hands

There's so much here

That I don't understand"

~~Inuyasha~~

I throw my arm out, to emphasis my point of her needing to build stamina; to get stronger. I want to be assured that she can defend herself if I can't be there. Kagome's eyes widen slightly for half a second and I notice the white cup fall from her slim fingers.

Poor Ramen, gone to waste…

Kagome barely reacts when the hot liquid spills onto her white legs, burning them. I can smell the burning flesh, and yet… Kagome barely reacts to it, why?

Then I look directly into her eyes and dread fills my heart. Her eyes, her beautiful, lively eyes, bore through me with such emptiness I want to shake her and shout at her, just to get some normal Kagome response.

Her cold, dead eyes…

Just like Kikyo…

I shake my head

No! I can't compare the two, they're so different!

I remember the senior miko when Kikyo had first started training.

It had taken her four months to actually hitthe target, let alone make the arrow within the bull's eye rings… Kagome had manage to hit her target after the third arrow, actually nailing it.

Even if she hit the bird-youki a little too well, shattering the Shikon no Tama into soooo many little pieces… gah!

No, Kagome is not like Kikyo at all, and yet she looks at me with such emptiness… why?

"Clutz," I mutter, labeling Kikyo correctly so. I stretch my hands towards Kagome, to better assess her wound before it got worse, but she steps away from me – rejecting me and my help.

Why, Kagome?

As soon as she is out of our eye sight, the group turns on me.

"Inuayasha, you bastard!" Sango yells at me. "What did you do?"

"I-I… I don't know…"

"Inuyasha-sama," Miroku inquires in his all-knowing voice. "You can't just let her leave in that ominous state – we don't know what she might do. Plus, in her distracted state of mind, a youki can easily overpower and possibly kill our young miko."

I grind my teeth in frustration, knowing the truth in his words. I glance between Sango's furious glare and Miroku's concerned facial expression.

Damn! They're right, and I have to go now before anything happens to her.

I bolt from my kneeling position and fly across the rest of the grassy meadow. I dart in between trees, Kagome's scent acts as my guide.

After I had covered a long distance over hills and through streams, my ears twitch anxiously trying to pick up something, anything!

Deep in the dark depths of the forest, a soft voice floats and intertwines with the trees, blending into the darkness. I instantly recognize it as Kagome's pitch, but I never knew she could sing. I let her voice guide me too her.

"Your face saving promises

Whispered like prayers

I don't need them"

I come across a clearing cloaked in the shadows with the exception of one spotlight. I watch Kagome, tears rimming her sad eyes, clothes covered in mod and scratches scaring her otherwise perfect skin. Eyes closed, she tilts her head up and sings,

"I've been treated so wrong

I've been treated so long

As if I'm becoming untouchable"

"Treated so wrong?" Kagome, do you really think so? Have I pushed you too far?

And yet, looking at her as she cautiously brushes the darkness with her slim fingertips before withdrawing, as if the shadows had burned her, I can't help but feel sad as I gaze upon her and feel as if just because I might be the reason she ran, then that's the only reason she needs

I snap back to reality at my own words.

... Burned…!

I scan her legs, and they're white, abnormally white – even after she practically swam in the cold waters. She has her knees bent as if standing normally is too much of a hassle.

Damn Kagome, why'd you run away?

~~Kagome~~

"Contempt loves the silence

It thrives in the dark

With fine winding tendrils

That strangle the heart"

Yes, if I want to feel decent and okay right now, going into the darkness was the right decision. Here, I'm alone and no one will hear my words, my thoughts, the pains that plague my heart…

And yet, I feel that the darkness is my poison, altering my malleable mind – forcing me to pervert off the path of life given to me here in the Feudal Era.

"They say that promises

Sweeten the blow

But I don't need them

No, I don't need them

I've been treated so wrong

I've been treated so long

As if I'm becoming untouchable"

Yes Inuyasha, you promised to protect me, but how can anyone expect you to protect me from yourself?

Constantly complaining to me, about me…. It feels like you don't care about me at all, like you wouldn't care if I stayed in here or not.

I lower my head, with the next though sobering my mind. A tear runs down the side of my cheek, rebelling against my will to not cry.

He can just travel with Kikyo and find the jewel shards then, he doesn't really need me…

I jerk my head up and weave my arms up into the light, like a child reaching up to its parent, silently asking to be carried.

"I'm a slow dying flower

Frost killing hour

The sweet turning sour

And untouchable"

I hear a shift in the bushes on the far side of the clearing and stumble, falling on my knees. I sit for a moment, listening for any battle cries to foreshadow a one-sided attack.

And I forgot my bow and arrows too… How could I be so careless?

Not sensing anything ominous and the noise subsided, I reach into the darkness, as if to grasp something, and bring my closed fist into my chest.

"Oh, I need

The darkness

The sweetness

The sadness

The weakness

Oh, I need this"

Yes, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. I purify things to such an extent, nothing vile comes in contact with me. I'm so innocent, so pure:

So inexperienced!

I stand to my full height.

I need something. I need… I need-

"I need

A lullaby

A kiss goodnight

Angel sweet

Love of my life

Oh, I need this"

~~Inuyasha~~

Oh Gods, Kagome… I have been too harsh… "A lullaby?" "A kiss goodnight?" "Love of your life?" Those are all mushy, love stuff. Something you'd give a child, but…

Even I want to be treated with the sweetness only my mother gave to me…

I watch in horror as more tears spill out of Kagome's eyes.

"I'm a slow dying flower

Frost killing hour

The sweet turning sour

And untouchable"

"No…" I whisper to myself. "You're not like that Kagome, please see that. Please don't say you're dying." I feel something moist run down the side of my face. "Anything but that…"

Shit! What the hell am I doing just sitting here? I need to go apologize – I shiver at the word – to her before she becomes even more broken inside…

I get up on one knee, but Kagome spins around quickly to face me, scaring the shit out of me.

Oh Hell! I'm caught!

But to my surprise, her hollow eyes continue to bore through me, not truly seeing me. Raises her arms in front of her and she examines her hands, bringing her right to the side of her face, caressing it.

"Do you remember the way

That you touched me before

All the trembling sweetness

I loved and adored?

Your face saving promises

Whispered like prayers

I don't need them

No, I don't need them"

I shake my head, not believing what I'm hearing.

"No," I breathe. "No….."

In the beginning? Well, I didn't care for you much back in my youth, but now… Now I don't know what to call these things I'm feeling but…

A while ago, I did treat you so tenderly, but then I had turned human and you ended up getting hurt – because I couldn't protect you.

"That's why I want you to be stronger…" I choke.

"I need

The darkness

The sweetness

The sadness

The weakness

I need this

I need

A lullaby

A kiss goodnight

The angel sweet

Love of my life

Oh, I need this"

I swallow the lump in my throat, but it doesn't go all the way down. I fall forward, catching myself on my forearms. I bow my head to the ground, unable to watch Kagome and her tears.

Shit, Kagome… I'm so sorry… I'm soooo sorry!

My stomach lurches painfully, and I'm forced to hug my middle.

"I'm sorry…" my voice cracks at the end, unable to hold back my emotions. "I just- I just wanted to make sure you could protect yourself, so I could come home to my mate and know… and know…"

That she was alright, that she'll always be alright – because her power makes her incredibly strong…

Dammit!

I punch the cold ground with a fist clenched in anger.

Why the hell didn't I see this earlier? Well, I can just kiss my hopes of asking Kagome to be my mate goodbye, cause it sure as hell doesn't look like she's gonna stay with me for long.

Then force her, my demon voices.

I shake my head.

"No," I whisper, not trusting my voice to go any louder without breaking again. "I could never do that to her…"

Something wet again falls down the side of my face, but I don't bother to wipe it away.

"Well, is it dark enough?

Can you see me?

Do you want me?

Can you reach me?

Or I'm leaving

My ears perk up.

Wait? I still have a chance?

I waste no time scrambling up from my fetal position and fly silently across the clearing lost in the abyss of darkness. I slow as I approach the circle of light. My nose is assaulted by the salty scent of tears; my heart feels crushed in my chest. Just as I reach out with a clawed hand to lightly tap Kagome on the shoulder, she sings once more-

You better shut your mouth

Hold your breath

Kiss me now you'll catch your death

Oh, I mean it

Oh, I need this."

~~Kagome~~

I'm spun around swiftly, sending me off balance before I can catch my footing. I scream out, surprised that someone else is here in my little world.

What if they heard me? What if this is a foe and my voice led them to me? Oh stupid-stupid-stupid-

I shoot my arms in front of me and close my eyes, bracing for the impact, but –as I feared- two arms grab my shoulders and stand me straight up again. I stand tense and rigid, silently wishing for the thing to get it over with and deal the final blow-

Wait a sec, they wouldn't have caught me if they wanted to kill me…

Cautiously, I open my eyes.

I gasp.

"Inuyasha?"

Here, before me, the half-demon stands in a dirty haori, his hair's in a mess, and he looks at me with a worried expression laminating his face. Inuyasha's golden eyes gaze down on me with tears trailing the sides of his face.

He's been crying? He doesn't cry-never!

Instantly concerned, I reach up to cup the side of his face, wiping some of the tears with my thumb.

"Inuyasha, what's wron-"

"'Catch my death,' eh? I highly doubt that."

I feel his hand cradle the back of my head, keeping me in place, as he leans down to capture my lips with his own.

For a moment, I just stand there, perfectly stunned.

Is this the same Inuyasha that yelled at me earlier? That called me a 'third-wheel'?

As Inuyasha desperately tries to get some sort of response from me, I allow myself to relax and wrap my arms around his neck, pressing myself into his form while bringing me even closer to his eager lips. He snakes his arms around my waist to create a secure-hold on me, emanating a growl of approval to ripple throughout his chest, reverberating into mine. I moan into his lips at the sensation.

Remembering that air is kind of important, I lean back. I open my eyes to see Inuyasha looking at me worriedly. I give him a questioning look.

"Kagome?" He asks. "I'm so sorry for making you feel this way-"

My cheeks burn from the blush his words cause.

SO HE DID HEAR! HOW MUCH DID HE HEAR?

"I just wanted you to be strong for those times I'm not there-"

"Why won't you be here?" I ask frantically.

Where would he need to go that I can't?

"I don't know," he says, looking away whilst rubbing the back of his head with one hand, keeping one arm still hooked around me. "Doing some work from another village or another-"

"And I wouldn't be there… because?"

He looks at me with a pained expression. A sigh passes through his lips and he says, "Because you'd be home looking after the pups…"

Pups?...

"Kagome," he starts again. He gets down on one knee. Thinking this was something really important, I start to crouch down with him, but he waves for me to stand back up. Gazing up at me, he takes hold of both of my hands. I think for a moment how I love the feel of his warmth. "Kagome, I know I've been pushing you so hard these past couple of weeks, but I wanted to be reassured that when I left for work to provide food for the family, my mate would be safe and could protect the family I left behind…"

He looks up at me hopefully, waiting for some sort of reply.

Okay… so he wants me to be stronger so that he can leave for work while I take care of the pups….. he just wanted to be reassured that-

My eyes widen with surprise. My heartbeat quickens. I feel shaky inside, as if a shear breeze could blow me over.

But Inuyasha would catch me, I just know it.

I look at him expectantly.

"Really?" My voice squeaks, tears choking me.

Inuyasha nods and gives my hands a squeeze.

"Yes, Kagome, I want you to be my mate. I want you to bear my pups. Kagome," he stands to wipe some of the happy tears falling from my eyes. "I want you."

I yank my hands from his and jump into his empty arms, hugging the life out of him.

"Yes!" I cry. "Yes, yes, yes! All of it!"

A rare smile spreads across Inuyasha's lips, which I quickly kiss.

Here… Right here…. With the light on us and no where else- to me this symbolizes that even when we're surrounded by doubt, uncertainty, or even strangers- we'll always have each other.

Just when I was ready to get up and leave, Inuyasha helped me change my mind.

I needed this, I sooo needed this…

A/n: Sooo….. What do you guys think? This is the longest songfic I've ever done…. Of course, it's only my second, but still! Even my chapters for my stories are not even near this long!

I need your guys' opinion: Am I making the songfics too long? Do they have quality?

Hope to hear from y'all soon!

;3

Till Next Time!