A sensitive pair of ears picked up those quiet words. Hearing was Inuyasha's second greatest sense, next to smell, and taste. Those two were about the same. They were a comfort, and yet... an extreme rush of pain in his chest all the same. A Pain easily hidden to the naked eye. He'd spent not years, but over a century learning to mask what he felt. It wasn't just the emotions, but physical pain hardly fazed him.
Not because it didn't hurt. Inuyasha felt every searing moment of it in full experience. It was because if you showed you were in pain, you'd give someone the satisfaction of knowing they hurt you.
This was different. There were a million things he could have said.
I don't want you to go. I want you to talk about me the same way you praise Okarun. I want to be worth your time, too.
Instead, he settled for the reality of the situation. The guy was still alive, and Momo's happiness meant so much more than his own selfish feelings. Maybe if this were years ago, there would be more than his heart hammering in his chest. A demand, 'what does he have that I don't?'.
But time had a way of making you grow up. Inuyasha had already made those mistakes before, and it pushed away the person he'd loved once.
"Keh. Since when do I say somethin' I don't mean?" There was something sharp to his tone. Maybe if he was a jerk, it would be easier. If he could get her to yell, get angry at him, it would hurt less than if he expressed any deeper feeling.
That's what he told himself.
"We start by lookin' around. A human all alone can't go far, and I know how to smell people from your time. It's different than anything here. I never mentioned this, but I've been there more than once, long time ago." With those words, Inuyasha stood straight, arms slipping into the sleeves of his suikan. "Before ya get any ideas, no, I don't have a way t'bring either of you back. If I did I woulda said so when we met. But if we're all together, I can protect you both, and we can figure out what the hell brought you two here."
Silent steps, towards the edge of the firelight. Golden eyes glanced, picking up what he could.
"I can see better at night than humans. Ain't nothin' special, dog yōkai aren't much better than humans in the dark. But a little can make a big difference." Momo had probably already figured that out by now, but he'd stated it anyway. A year was a long time to travel with someone. Then, Inuyasha crouched.
There was the advantage he had that even full dog yōkai didn't have. The extensive knowledge of having no choice but to travel at night, even when he couldn't see. He had his ears, his nose, and knew how to understand terrain just by feeling it between his toes.
"Get on my back. If somethin' happens, you run. The yōkai that roam at night aren't just more dangerous. They have the advantage, they can see clearly on top of it all. If both of us get killed, there won't be any hope for Okarun."
If he gets killed, you'll never smile again. I can't let that happen.