Legend:

Italics speaking English

-Scene Change-

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This is my first fanfic so I hope you all enjoy! And if there is anything anyone can tell me that could help me to make it better, please don't hesitate to write!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything relating to it, but I do own this plot and the OC!

Can I Ever Love Again?

Chapter 1: Ishiko

"Help, Kagome hurt!" came a faint cry from the mountain behind the shrine.

This was the first sound Inuyasha had heard as soon as he came out of the shed where the well was. Kagome had been gone for five days already and Inuyasha was anxious to get going again. Sighing he ran towards the voice wondering what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into this time. When he got to the person that had been calling for help he couldn't decide if it was a boy or a girl. The person seemed to be around twelve years old and wore a plain green shirt three times too big, blue jeans, white shoes, and a black hat that covered half their face all he could see was a pair of pink lips and porcelain skin. Though he couldn't see who it was, he had a feeling that they could see him despite the hat, and that they were watching him, judging him with nervous eyes. Feeling his temper rising he lashed out at the person, "Hey! Quit looking at me like that! I'm not going to hurt you, you idiot! Just take me to Kagome already!"

Hearing a squeak coming from the person he guessed that it was a girl. When she finally made up her mind she spoke in a soft voice only loud enough for Inuyasha to just barely hear, "Come, hurry, Kagome hurt," and ran off up the mountain along an animal trail.

At the pace that the girl was going, though clearly it was as fast as she could go since she was sprinting up the trail, Inuyasha felt that it would take forever to get to Kagome when suddenly she stopped. "Hey what's the big idea stopping like that? The least you could have done was warn me," he scowled.

The girl pointed down and there was Kagome sitting at the bottom of the cliff with two packs and two bows and twoquivers of arrows. Looking up Kagome smiled and waved, "Hey Inuyasha hope my cousin didn't freak out too much when she saw you! Thanks for getting him Ishiko I know it wasn't easy for you, but Inuyasha is okay he's a friend," Kagome assured the still nervous girl.

Even though he didn't understand why Kagome said what she said or understand any of the second part of what she said the girl beside him, Ishiko, seemed to know what Kagome was saying by the smile on her lips so he just let it drop deciding to ask Kagome about it later. "Alright I'm coming down," he warned her and jumped off the cliff and landed right in front of Kagome.

First he grabbed the two packs and threw them up to Ishiko who caught them, then, he picked up Kagome gently bridal style, who had the bow and quiver of arrows in hand and jumped back to the top of the cliff. "Kagome you okay? Me uhh… me worry," Ishiko asked in broken Japanese.

"Yes I'm fine I think I just sprained my ankle and it wasn't your fault it was just an accident," Kagome answered making her cousin smile with gratitude.

Upon hearing this bit of news Inuyasha looked at Kagome and asked, "What the hell happened? And why the heck are you even up here? And how are you supposed to find the sacred jewels like this?"

Kagome sighed and told him that she and her cousin were suppose to be camping for the summer since it was the only thing they could do, because Ishiko has been terrified of boys because of something that happened to her a few years back. She also told him that they had been messing around when the cliff suddenly broke and she fell spraining her ankle when she tried to land on her feet. When she was done explaining they had arrived back at the house. Ishiko opened the door to the house and Inuyasha placed Kagome on the couch while she went to the kitchen to get some ice. Before she turned around to go back to the living room she sensed a presence behind her. Quickly she spun around and hit the pressure points near the collar bone so that whoever it was would fall unconscious. As soon as she saw who it was she covered her mouth in horror, because unfortunately it was none other than Inuyasha the one who had just helped her to get her cousin home. Ishiko then ran back to Kagome, ice pack in hand, and cried asking for her to forgive her for hurting her friend as she held the ice in place on Kagome's ankle. Kagome just smiled and took off her hat making her hair fall and she knew that she was forgiven. Her shiny black hair fell 6 inches past her slender shoulders and it was straight despite it having been under a hat all day and her eyes, which were the same color as Kagome's, gleamed with gratitude.

Five hours latter Inuyasha woke up to the sound and smell of food cooking. At first he had no idea where he was then he remembered what had happened and guessed that Ishiko had put him here and she was the one who was now cooking. Slowly he made his way downstairs, because his muscles hurt to move and made his way to the kitchen where he heard laughter. This time he made his presence known, "Ah ahem," he coughed, getting both of the girls' attention, "What the hell was that all about?"

"Oh, sorry Inuyasha I forgot to warn you not to sneak up on her, she gets a little jumpy around guys and she can't speak Japanese very well so she might not know what you are saying or you might have a hard time understanding her, she's here from the States they speak English there that's another language," Kagome explained.

Having some-what understood what Kagome was saying he sat down beside her and didn't speak anymore. Kagome nodded her head at Ishiko, who had immediately stopped what she was doing to find out what Inuyasha would do, to indicate that it was okay and she went right back to work. At this time Inuyasha noticed that Ishiko's hat was off and that you could now see her face though that wasn't what caught him off guard. What surprised him was how long and straight her hair was and how unreadable her expression was. When she was done and had served everyone he looked skeptically at the food. He looked over at Kagome and saw that she was eating it with her hands, so he followed her lead and after he took his first bite he began to eat it more ravenously. Later he asked Ishiko what it was and she said that it was hamburgers and french fries. That night Inuyasha slept in Sota's room while Ishiko slept in Kagome's room with Kagome.