Author's Note: So, I've been watching the first half of the Kanketsu-hen/Final Act dub, and it's made me nostalgic. I was flipping through my past oneshots looking for a fix, and I realized I didn't have anything that was quite what I was looking for…so I figured I'd better just write it. ;)

Before the Dawn

Inuyasha lay in the darkness of Kagome's bedroom, staring at the soft blue numbers of her digital clock as they slowly counted the minutes away. The digital clock radio had replaced the old analog that he had destroyed one night several months ago after sneaking into her room to watch her sleep, because she'd been mad at him and he'd been afraid she wouldn't come back if he didn't go after her. He hadn't even managed to speak to her once he was there—all he'd succeeded in doing was breaking her clock and making her mad all over again. But she still came back. She always came back.

He glanced down at the crown of her head, cradled in the crook of his shoulder. She was curled against his bare chest, one arm wrapped around his waist while the other hand gently toyed with the beads of the rosary around his neck. They had never been together like this before—hell, he'd never been with anyone like this before—but there was something natural about holding her. Like she belonged there with him, and he with her, even though they came from the opposite sides of time. She was so warm.

So why did he keep feeling like his world was ending?

"Kagome?" he said quietly.

She stirred a little against him, murmuring back a sleepy sound of attention.

"There's something I need to tell you."

"What's that, Inuyasha?" she mumbled against his chest.

He hesitated, wondering for a moment if this was really the best time after all. Maybe he should just hold her while he could, leave the words aside until another time. But then he caught another glimpse of the numbers on the bedside table and knew there wouldn't be a better chance. Five-hundred years between them, and time was still running out.

"It…might make you mad, so just wait until I finish, okay?" he faltered, swallowing the knot in his throat. "I think you already know, but I just…need to tell you. Because it's different when I tell you."

Her brow wrinkled into a frown, and she glanced up at him, finally fully awake. He looked back into her concerned eyes, just visible in the darkness.

"I…was in love with Kikyo," he said haltingly. It was harder to get out than he'd expected, and he noticed a slight wince in Kagome's expression as he said it. She looked away but didn't interrupt him, settling her cheek against his arm again and staring at the rosary. "I know you know that. You knew it before I did. I didn't understand love until…I mean—the thing is, no one was ever kind to me until I met her. I was alone—completely alone. Sometimes I'd go weeks without actually speaking to anyone, and when I did they were usually trying to kill me. Or running scared. No one looked at me like a person until Kikyo. I never knew what it felt like to love someone until I met her."

He took a breath, trying to calm the nerves bunching in his stomach. It was hard to say words. He had never been good with words. "But even though I loved her," he continued, a little more steadily, "I never trusted her. I couldn't. I didn't even know what it meant. Not until…until I met you."

Her fingers curled a little tighter around the beads at his chest, and he was grateful for the warmth.

"Kikyo was kind to me when everything else in my life was hard and lonely. But you…you trusted me. Even when I didn't deserve it, you still trusted me. When I threatened you and hurt you and tried to push you away, you still trusted me with your life. Because you saw me better than I could see myself. Do you…have any idea what that means to me?

"When you saved me from that tree, you didn't just save my life—you saved my soul. And you saved Kikyo's soul too. You gave us a second chance to get things right. Not the way you think—" he added quickly, feeling her tense a little in his arms. "It…it wasn't like that. I just mean…when we parted the first time, we hated each other. In the end, even though she died and there was nothing I could do to stop it, at least I got the chance to tell her what she's meant to me. I got the chance to thank her. That's more than I could have hoped for."

Inuyasha took a deep breath and held Kagome a little closer. "That's why…I have to tell you. Because I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, and I don't know if there will be another opportunity. And no matter what, I don't want to die again knowing that I've missed my chance."

"Missed your chance to what?" she said quietly, and he smiled a little.

"To tell the truth."

When he didn't say anything more, she lifted her eyes to his again. She looked a little anxious, the coming dawn reflected from the window.

He lifted a hand and brushed a stray lock of hair back from her face with the tips of his claws, then cradled his palm against her cheek. "I want to be with you, forever," he said quietly. "No matter what happens, I will always trust you. I will always…love you, Kagome."

And it didn't hurt a bit. He had loved Kikyo. But the words hadn't meant anything to him until he'd met Kagome.

Her lips curved in a grateful smile, and her hand covered his, fingertips slipping into the gaps between his knuckles. "I love you, Inuyasha," she whispered.

The words meant everything to him.

He leaned down and kissed her softly, their joined fingers curling together between them. She was so warm. As dawn broke over the shrine grounds, he knew that soon they would have to return and face what was waiting for them on the other side of the well. Soon everything would change, forever.

But before the dawn, he would hold her as long as he could.

A/N: A little self-indulgent, perhaps, but that's what catharsis is for, right? It's been ages since I've written anything that dealt with the Kikyo/Kagome dilemma…

It's been awhile since I've read the manga, and I'm not sure this exactly slots neatly into the canon (in fact I'm pretty sure it steps on a few things…)—but the idea that I hope comes across is that this is supposed to be the night before the final battle with Naraku, when Kagome and Inuyasha are in Kagome's time for…graduation, I think? Like I say, not sure if it exactly fits…but just go with it… ;)