Inuyasha never gets a break when he's a human. Something always happens. Gets bit by spider heads, swallowed by a large ogre, attacked by a guy possessed by the fang of the deamon that bit his sword in half...

But what if nothing did happen for once?

Human Interlude.

By Icka! M. Chif

"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Inuyasha growled, jumping onto the lip of the well, stopping Kagome in her tracks. Damn girl. On top of him healing from several poison cuts from his brother, and the new moon being tonight, she was running off back to her time!

She looked at him with an exasperated look. "Home, Inuyasha. I'm going home to study for a test."

Those damn exams! "No, you're not! You're not running away from me this time!"

"Okay." She reached over and tapped him on the shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt or anything, but just enough to make him lose his balance and fall backwards into the Bone Gobbler's Well.

"Bitch!" He shouted, twisting to land on his feet. Kagome didn't respond, just quietly followed him down the well. Predictably, she fell on her butt instead of landing on her feet. "What'd you do that for?!" He cursed.

She didn't say anything, or even look at him as she got up, brushed her skirt off and began to climb the ladder back up to the top of the well, her huge pack temporarily blocking the way up. He repeated his question, a bit more forcibly this time. She continued to ignore him.

Finally, she reached the top and got the damn pack out of the way so he could jump out. Kagome was already walking out of the mini-shrine door.

"What the fuck did you do that for?!" He roared, following her. She paused in her walking. Not much, just enough to glance back at him.

"Keep it down, my family doesn't know you're here." She said calmly. "You know what window my room is. I'll meet you there."

He paused in his tracks as she continued walking, her usual small smile on her face. What the hell was going on?

The sudden feeling of weakness alerted him to the change. Crap. She was on the second floor. He'd better get there before he lost the ability to get in there without detection. Trees tended not to be very friendly to humans.

He snuck over to the house, then jumped, catching her window. Fortunately, it was unlocked and opened slightly or he would've had a harder time getting in without the ability to fly. His nails faded as he rested a moment on the window ledge. Damn. He really, really hated being human.

He heard voices down stairs and froze. It was just Kagome's family greeting her. Good. Sota wasn't all that bad, but he didn't care to run into her Mother or Grandfather again. At least Kagome didn't try to rub his ears.

The lessening in the ability to hear the conversation downstairs alerted him to the fact that having his ears rubbed was something he wasn't going to have to worry about this trip. Curse it.

He stepped in and was suddenly greeted with a flash of pain from where the cuts were. Just a few more days and they would have been healed. Instead here he was, injured, deaf, blind and without claws and fangs to protect himself. Being human sucked.

He took a deep breath and was greeted by Kagome's scent. It was all over the room. Kinda nice. He shook his head. He was getting soft. The scent faded as the last of his youkai blood disappeared, leaving him senseless. Except for the pain from his injuries. That was a sense he could have lived without.

Footsteps thudded in the hall. Someone was coming. On edge, he drew the

Tetsusaiga. He may not be able to transform it, but he could still do some damage with it.

The door opened and he tensed. "Oh!" Kagome blinked at him, a plate of food in one hand, her pack over her shoulder.

Whew. He relaxed. Kagome let out a relived breath and shut the door behind her. "Don't do that!" She scolded, keeping her voice down. "I could have spilled the oden!"

He sheathed the fang. "What are we doing here?" He demanded, just barely remembering to keep his voice down as well.

She set the pack down next to her small table and put the food on the table. "I'm here to study. You're here to get some rest." She said calmly, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"What?!"

"There aren't any youkai here for you to worry about, and no one knows you're here but me." she added the last part pointedly, like it would be in his best interest to keep it that way.

He snorted softly. Parents were parents, no matter what time they were in. He didn't want to think about what Kagome's family would do if they found out that she had smuggled a half youkai into her room. Especially one that looked human at the moment.

"Anyway, I've got tons of studying to do before tomorrow." She commented, walking past him to her bed. She folded the blankets back. "Lie down." She instructed.

"Wh-what?" He felt a sweat drop slide down his neck. What the bloody hell was she doing?!

She gave him a stubborn look. "You're going to bed. Like I said, I've got studying to do."

"Where will you sleep?!" He asked warily.

"I won't." Kagome rolled her eyes. "I've gotta cram from all the studying I missed looking for the shards. I'll be up all night."

Inuyasha hesitated. Something just felt a bit awkward here. And he never slept while he was human. Much less in a *bed*. She knew that.

Kagome sighed, exasperated. "Baka. Fine. Here." She walked over and pushed him to the bed. "Rest there. It'll be a lot nicer on your injuries than the floor. I've got work to do."

With that, she walked over to the desk and starting pulling books out of her pack, completely ignoring him.

He snorted softly and moved his legs so he was sitting cross-legged on the bed. It was the highest point in the room aside from the desk, and easier to keep an eye on her from there.

Time passed. Kagome did exactly what she said she was going to do, study those spell books of hers. He got bored and looked around the room. It hadn't changed since he'd last been here. Of course, she hadn't been here much since he'd last been here either.

Without realising it, he stretched out on the bed like it was a tree branch and stared at the ceiling. What exactly was he doing here anyway? Did she really think he was so weak that he needed to be hidden away?

On the other side of the room, Kagome stretched and took a couple pieces of oden. "You want some?" She asked, breaking the silence and startling him.

"Eh? No. I'm fine." He muttered.

She shrugged and went back to work, humming a small tune under her breath.

The sounds here were slight different, he realised. If he concentrated, he could hear what was going on outside of the room. The flush of water through a pipe. Her mother walking around downstairs. Sota getting ready for bed and probably her Grandfather snoring a few doors down. All normal, routine household sounds.

Outside the house was fairly quiet, there wasn't much going on out there. And they were on top of a hill, away from most of the strangeness that made up most of her era. In the distance, he could make out the sounds of the iron carts driving by, a few honking sounds. The wind blew by, the same familiar sound it always was. A bird chirped.

He felt some thing move around him and opened his eyes. When had he closed them?

It was Kagome, pulling the blankets over him. "Huh?" He inquired intelligently.

She smiled sweetly at him, tucking the blanket down. "Good night, Inuyasha." She whispered, brushing the palm of her hand over his bangs. He'd seen her do that before, when Shippou fell asleep in her arms. Almost an unconscious gesture on her part. Before he could think about it further, she retreated back to the desk.

He could smell her scent in the sheets, he realised. Even with his numbed nose, he could catch her faint scent. It was a relief somehow. Did she know that? Is that why she insisted he rest here?

He'd been tricked, he suddenly realised. She'd set him up. The wench *knew* he never slept while he was human and yet-

He was going to strangle her.

Just as soon as he could climb out of this nice... warm... comfortable... bed...

Zzzz.....

Fin.