Another week goes by and the second month is basically over, Inuyasha has been going out with Miroku for their exorcism job lately so I barely get to spend time with him. But since I made him that bell necklace, I always know when he's back. I feel happy when I know he's back because I get to hear his voice, but when he's out I feel dull. During the week since I haven't seen him much, I feel my feelings for him are well under control. If it's like this for another month, I think I'll be able to move on. Inuyasha and I continue to banter, I feel cheerful when I argue with him because I get to hear his voice filled with energy. I treasure his voice because it is my happiness. The snow has started again but the amount is light, I can only feel a few feather light touches once in a while. The heavenly chimes of the bells from my bracelet and Inuyasha's necklace adds such a whimsical feeling to the atmosphere. I'm out with Shippo today because I assume Inuyasha is busy with Miroku, I woke up late because I haven't been sleeping well. I missed Miroku and Inuyasha because I came late for breakfast. Guess I won't be seeing Inuyasha till night time.

"Inuyasha sure is busy lately isn't he?" I say to Shippo.

"Ya, but it's good to see that Inuyasha is becoming more livelier." Shippo responds back.

"Really? You think so? If so then I suppose he is slowly turning back to his old self." I reply with a smile.

"I think so too, Inuyasha use to go out with Miroku on exorcisms, but since then, he has distanced himself from us all. So Miroku went on exorcism jobs by himself for a while. Now to see that Inuyasha is going out again is nice. Too bad he doesn't get to spend more time with you lately and instead you're stuck with me." Shippo says.

"Don't be ridiculous, I like spending time with you Shippo. I'm like a box, I help Inuyasha with his feelings, which are mostly on the negative side. I have to release it or else I would have a mental breakdown myself. So talking to you helps me become cheerful due to your own liveliness and cheerfulness. So Thanks Shippo." I say giving his hair a ruffle with a smile.

"If I can brighten up your mood than you can come find me anytime." Shippo responds.

I nod with a smile. I take a deep breath, the cold winter air makes me crinkle my nose.

"Is everything alright?" Shippo asks me suddenly.

"Uh? Ya I'm fine." I say quickly.

"Really? Because your facial expression tells me that you have something on your mind. Not to mention you have dark circles, they seem pretty dark lately." Shippo says pointing out.

I touch the area below my eyes on instinct, I let out a mental sigh. Guess it's pretty visible. But I don't think I need to tell Shippo about my feelings for Inuyasha, I'll just be dragging someone else into my emotional turmoil.

"It's really nothing, I've just been having a few days of insomnia, I should be alright soon." I assure him.

"Alright, I hope you'll be able to get a good night's rest tonight." Shippo says rubbing my arm to comfort me.

"Thanks Shippo, I hope so too." I nod.

The two of us walked around the village and to the outside plains near the village. The hours goes by, I assume the afternoon has became evening now. Shippo has gave up today to be with his fellow fox demons just to stick with me, which I found a bit funny. Shippo guides me back to the big hut at dinner, the bell on my wrist rings as I lift the curtains.

"Shippo, _____________." I hear Miroku's voice clear and rich.

'Welcome back Miroku." I greet him with a bow.

I don't hear the other chimes of the bell. Inuyasha's.

"Is Inuyasha not back?" I ask.

"Inuyasha is out by himself right now, he told us that he'll be skipping dinner tonight." Sango replies.

"Him? Skipping dinner? That's a first." I reply with a chuckle.

But I let it slide, he's probably pretty tired from going out lately, besides it's pretty late guess he ate something before coming back here and went to the cliffside or the field. So only the four of us have dinner together, as I'm eating I begin to wonder if I should go check on Inuyasha and see if he's ok.

"Does Inuyasha usually go to the cliffside in situations like this or does he go home?" I ask them after dinner.

I hear them clear their throats, and "hum" slightly. It feels like they're hiding something.

"We're not sure since he doesn't tell us, but I assume he would go to the cliffside. He rarely stays at his hut, only on special occasions." Miroku replies.

I can hear slight hesitation in his voice, I let it go though. After helping cleaning up, Shippo walks me back to my hut, but I feel like I should go see if Inuyasha's alright.

"Hey Shippo." I say to him.

"Yes?" His perky voice replies.

"Can you take me to Inuyasha's place, I want to check up on him." I say to him.

"I don't know if we should, Inuyasha might be very tired." Shippo says.

I then suddenly hear a smack, I start to become curious. I grab onto his small arm more tightly.

"Well if he's really tired then that's a problem, he's a demon, he's not suppose to be feeling overly tired should they? Take me to his place I want to see if he's there." I say to him.

I hear Shippo let out a sigh like he has been caught with something, but he complied. He guides me to Inuyasha's place, after a while we finally arrive.

"Get some rest___________, Inuyasha might not even be here." Shippo says trying to divert me.

But I smile.

"Don't worry, I'll know if he's here or not. You can go rest Shippo, thank you for taking me here. Goodnight." I say to Shippo.

I hear Shippo let out a quiet sigh, he then holds my hand.

"Alright, be careful on your way back." He says.

"I'll be fine, I know my way back to the hut the snow is slowly starting to melt . If I can find my way back to the hut I'll be able to go home." I assure him.

After bidding Shippo goodnight I turn towards the door, I'll know if he's here or not. I go up to the door, I take a deep breath and I knock. I'll take the chance. After my knuckles hit the door twice, I can hear chimes of a bell. I was right, he is here.

"Inuyasha are you alright?" I ask through the door.

"_____________?" His voice responds from the other side.

"I came to check on you, can I come in?" I ask again.

There's a moment of silence, but then I hear heavy footsteps and then the door opens. I can feel his presence in front of me.

"Miroku and the others told me that you are tired, maybe overly tired. I thought it was a bit weird for a demon so I came to check on you." I say to him.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." He says.

I use my walking stick and I tap the wooden floorboard and step inside, the room feels cold, does he not need fire? I hold tightly to the blanket covering my back. My wooden walking stick taps on the ground as I head to the middle of the room. I hear him close the door and walking to the middle of the room as well, the chimes of the bell fills the room from both of us.

"Shouldn't you be resting yourself?" Inuyasha asks me.

"I know, but I was worried so I came here to check on you. Shouldn't you at least be a bit thankful?" I ask him teasingly.

'"Well no one asked you too." Inuyasha replies with a grumble.

"I suppose that's true, but I suppose we are both responsible for each other a little at this point? Don't you think?" I ask him.

"I suppose, but since you know I'm alright you can go rest." Inuyasha says clearing his throat.

"Gee so eager to get me out of here, I haven't seen you all day and it felt dull." I say with a chuckle.

I reach out and go to ruffle his hair, since he isn't so far away from me. Something feels off. His hair feels thinner than usual, I move my hand to the side slightly, his dog ears are gone. I widen my eyes in surprise.

"Hey!" I hear Inuyasha say slightly caught of guard.

He grabs my wrist, but then I feel the coldness. His hands aren't warm like how they usually are. I let go of my walking stick and I take his hand in my free one. Indeed, they are cold. Why? I take my other hand off of his head and I slip my wrist out of his grasp and hold his hands in mine.

"Why are you hands cold? What happened to your dog ears?" I ask him concerned.

"It's nothing important." Inuyasha replies slightly baffled.

"How can you say it's nothing? Your hands are freezing cold, you could get hypothermia. Why didn't you light a fire or something?' I ask him.

I unconsciously rub his hands between mine in an effort to try and warm them up, I furrow my brows in worry. I take the blanket covering my body and I cover him with it, I tie a knot from the two edges of the blanket in front of him. I don't understand.

"What happened to you?" I ask him again.

"It's nothing, besides it's nothing that should concern you, it's my business." Inuyasha replies.

"Yes, but can't a friend worry about you? Can't you tell me? Perhaps I can find a way to help you." I say.

"You can't help me." He responds back with a low gruff.

"Then can you at least tell me why you are like this? At least allow me to understand or else I'll be concerned. You have told me many things already that you have kept hidden inside, you can tell me this too. I'll keep it a secret if you want it to be kept hidden. You can trust me." I say with a pleading tone.

I hear Inuyasha let out a sigh.

"Fine, I suppose I can tell you since I told you so much about myself already." Inuyasha responds.

"Thanks." I nod.

"Today just happened to be the New Moon of each month." He begins.

"New Moon? Does that have to do with all this?" I ask him.

'Ya, half demons have a day or a few days that they become humans, and mine is on the day of the New Moon of each month. Which happens to be today, I lost my dog ears and my hair is black, my amber eyes and long nails are gone as well. All of my demon attributes are gone." He explains.

So that's why. I nod my head in understanding. That's right, if I can recall, Inuyasha is half demon, not a full demon. So today is when he becomes a human, the day that he is weak.

"How long does it last for you?" I ask.

"Just for tonight, I'll be back to normal tomorrow." He responds back with a grumble.

"That's good, luckily it's only for today. Why are you here by yourself? Why didn't you join us for dinner tonight? And instead stayed here all by yourself in this cold room?" I ask him.

"Because tonight I'm the weakest, so I want to be isolated in a place where I'll feel safe. So that no one can hurt me. Also, I didn't feel like getting up and setting a fire." He responds with a sigh.

I feel my chest ache for him, he hid away from the world because he wants to feel safe. He is at his weakest tonight, but he's not with the others, he's not counting on Miroku and the others for support. This stubborn dog, correction, person. I now understood why Miroku and the others sound hesitant earlier, they wanted to protect Inuyasha from me finding out his secret and weakness. They didn't trust me enough to tell me his secret, but I don't mind because they are his friends and true friends will protect you no matter what. I give him a smile.

"Why didn't you ask the others to be with you on nights like these? They are your friends." I ask him.

"Because I don't want them to see me like this, especially after Kagome's passing. I shut myself away from the world because I realized that I had more weaknesses than I thought. By exposing them will eventually hurt me and the people around me." Inuyasha goes on to explain.

So in the end it goes back to Kagome, he became more weak after she left. I want to assure him that the world isn't all bad. I shake my head in disagreement.

"True friends are there to help you through your most toughest times, you have to reply on them, or you can possible one day lose them. Also, everyone has weaknesses, its what makes us living beings both humans and demons alike. Don't think that hiding your weaknesses will keep you from being hurt, it won't. When it comes to difficult times, it's rare for only one person to get out of such situations. Tell the people you trust and who really wants to help you and protect you, that way they can all come together to help you through those hard times. Miroku and Sango doesn't have much time left, treat them like how you treated them when they were in their youths, because they can still support you and protect you no matter how old they are. Life is full of ups and downs, but you shouldn't let the downs keep you chained to the ground, a rope is always there for you Inuyasha, all you need to do is outstretch your hand into the darkness and find it. The people dearest to you will be waiting to pull you up." I say to him with a slight serious tone.

He doesn't respond, but I can here him breathing. The bell ringing gently from his subtle movements. I show him a smile and my eyes starts travelling around, I wish I told him my feelings. But I decided against it.

"I better let you rest then, try to find a way to keep yourself warm Inuyasha. Also, I'm glad to hear from Shippo that you use to go out with Miroku on exorcism jobs in the past, so knowing that you are again makes me happy. I hope that you will continue to go out and see the world because there's a lot of beauty out in the open. I'll see you in the morning." I say to him softly.

I don't wait for his reply, I begin to find the door. My walking stick clacks on the wooden floorboard, the rings of my bracelet fills the room. I find the door and I open it up, I don't have the blanket anymore so I'll have to endure the cold snow on the way back, but I know that Inuyasha needs it more than I do. I hear the chimes of the other bell from behind me, I smile knowing that he kept it on. I close the door behind and I head back home. I sigh as the harden snow crunches below my feet, the snow has stopped coming down. After that day, Inuyasha is back to his demonic self. He got his ears back and his rough thick hair that feels like a dog's fur. The two of us would go around places nearby the village when he isn't out with Miroku, I want to treasure all the moment I have left with Inuyasha. Because, there is only about 2 more weeks left until Winter is over, I can feel the snow losing its height, it use to be up to my ankle, but now it just surpass my sandals. For some reason, I feel my chest ache every now and then, it's always when I'm thinking about Inuyasha, I'll be leaving here soon. I don't want to leave but I know I've stayed long enough for me to go out and explore all the places that I haven't seen. I don't want to leave Inuyasha, I feel that my feelings my overwhelm me if I don't tell him before I leave. I wonder when I can tell him. We are all eating dinner together, a few days after since that day, the snow is almost gone but the weather is still cold.

"Sango, Shippo,_________, I'm just letting you all know that Inuyasha and I are going to go on a two day travel to a village, they want us to do an exorcism there due to a demon attack." Miroku says.

"Ah I see, we understand. I suppose you'll be leaving early in the morning?" Sango says.

"Yea, it will be a long travel so we'll have to get up early." Inuyasha replies with a stretch.

"Then we better all get some rest." Sango says.

We finish dinner and we bid each other goodnight. Inuyasha guides me back to my place as usual, with my hand around his arm. I can feel the warmth of his body again. A walking stick in my other as the bells on our wrist and neck rings. Inuyasha will be gone for 2 days, I won't be seeing him for 4 days or even more. By the time he comes back, I'll be gone. I might be gone when he returns. At this moment I feel my feelings taking over me, I have held it in long enough, I feel that if I don't say it now, it will destroy me and I will leave with regrets. I bite my lower lip, I then feel Inuyasha stop at the same time.

"We're here. Now get some sleep, your dark circles are pretty evident." Inuyasha says.

This is it, it's now or never. I'll take the chance. I let his arm go and I turn to face him.

"Hey Inuyasha." I say his name.

My eyes wondering around aimlessly but how I wish they could stop and focus on one thing, Inuyasha.

"What?" He responds.

"Do you think you'll be able to learn to open up your heart if you found out that there's someone in this world that loves you?" I ask him.

Inuyasha doesn't say anything, so I wait. The heavenly chime of the bell around his neck rings at his sudden movement, I hold my breath as I wait. Unlike before, it feels like an eternity this time.