Kagome's POV

I sighed; this was everything I had wanted.

I'm glad that I'm with Inuyasha. I'm glad that everything had turned out the way they did. Even with Kikyo. Though, there were some times I could have gone without.

"Kagome, Is everything alright?" Inuyasha asked me suddenly.

"uh, Yes," I replied, a little startled at his sudden appearance, "Everything's fine, I'm just thinking."

Inuyasha hopped down from the tree he was resting atop. It was about midnight by now, and the fire that we had worked hard to keep stoking was going out. I had crawled out of my sleeping bag a few minutes after I had said that I needed to get some sleep. I was now leaning against the base of the tree that Inuyasha had jumped down from.

"Thinking about what?" He asked curiously.

I shook my head slightly, "Nothing… it's not anything important."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Whenever I ask that, that's always the answer you give me," then, hesitantly he added, "Why won't you let me know what's on your mind?"

My eyes widened, I'd never thought that he would ask something like that, especially knowing his personality. Was it because we were alone? It seemed we were always around Sango, Miroku and their kids almost all the time. This was our first real break from everyone in the longest time, after all; our first real adventure outside the village.

"I…" I stuttered, "I guess I'm just not used to telling people what I'm thinking…" I concluded; he cocked his head to the side, "But I'm not 'people' am I? I mean, I'm half-demon. I don't think I could ever be considered in that way." He stated simply.

I nodded slowly, it did make sense, but I also felt a stab of guilt. Inuyasha never really was considered in that way throughout his life, he was always known as a 'pitiful excuse for a half-demon' or a 'half-breed'. I didn't think it was very fair for him to be excluded all his life; he only had his mother. Even his mother didn't last though, she was only human, and he knew that he would out live her to begin with. So… he really did gain his independence at a young age, but still… Inuyasha is much more to me than I had first thought. So, why was it that I couldn't just tell him? I had so much to think about, but why was I so reluctant to tell him?

Ah, it was probably due to embarrassment. I'm afraid of what he would say when I told him that I was thinking about us; what our lives would be like, what we would become… Oh, how I really did wish that things would progress… but I would never tell him that.

A snap in my face was what brought me to the present. Inuyasha was leaning towards my face, looking at me with concern showing in his eyes.

"Kagome? Kagome, you're zoning out on me… don't do that, it freaks me out like something bad's happening to you."

I looked up at him with soft eyes, "I'm sorry," I whispered.

His eyes grew a bit wider, he must not have expected that answer, "uh…it…it's ok… just don't do it again if you can help it." He stated.

I nodded, "I'll try not to, but I have a lot of things to think about, so I can't help it…" I said, looking at my legs that I hadn't realized I'd been hugging to my body.

His eyes softened a little, "Can you tell me? Maybe I can take some things off your mind for a while so you can rest…" he suggested.

I didn't think he meant it to come out that way, but regardless, I blushed and looked away.

"Err… I mean… um… You can talk to me about stuff, you know, if you want to…"

I looked back at his face; he was still really close to me. It seemed he hadn't moved away from me when he told me that I was zoning on him. He too had a small blush creeping across his face. When I saw his blush, I could feel my cheeks getting a little warmer, a sign that an even greater blush was making itself known.

Before I could react to his statement, his voice drew my attention away from my thoughts once more.

"Kagome, have you ever… well… wondered about, uh…" Inuyasha began; if he was stuttering this much, I knew that it must be something pretty hard to talk about for him. I moved to sit on my knees, careful to pay close attention to what he had to say. I wanted to give him my undivided attention so that he knew that I was focused solely on him. He'd always seem to like it when I gave him my attention. In this situation, however, it only seemed to make him blush even further and make him shift nervously from leg to leg.

Eventually I had to make him stop moving; it was getting rather uncomfortable to watch him squirm around like that.

"Inuyasha…" I encouraged him; I rested my hand on his shoulder, and made him look me in the eyes. "Just tell me what you want to say,"

He gulped at this, and continued. "Have you ever, uh, thought about… us?" he asked, and then he quickly spun around and sat down. Probably to hide how nervous he felt.

Personally, this question surprised me. I didn't think I'd ever hear him say that. But then again, there were a lot of things I had thought he would never say or do, but yet he did or said them anyway. I shifted nervously onto my side, how would I even reply to that? Was there a way? If there was a way to put it, It escaped my mind at the last question, because I was literally freaking out on the inside. I didn't know what to say, and I had to say something or else-

"Never mind, I'll be back," Inuyasha said.

I could hear the sadness pricking in his voice, and I felt a rush of… what? All I know is that I want to make that sadness into happiness… but, what would I call that?

As I was debating in my mind what to do, Inuyasha stood and leaped away. Little did I realize I had called his name and had an outstretched hand in the direction he disappeared. In all honesty, the answer that had escaped me when he had asked had just come rushing back to me. The answer was: Yes, I had thought about it. I had thought about it for the longest time, and I wanted us to be so much more than what we were now.

I got to my feet, I had to find Inuyasha. At this point I had no doubt in my mind that he felt the same way I did. He wanted to go much further with me, and he was making sure that I wanted the same thing… but… I didn't answer him when he asked. Sure I did feel the same way, and I was totally 100% for it, but he doesn't know that. He doesn't know because I faltered. I had choked up because I was thinking too hard about how to answer. In truth, I knew there was only one way now to convince him that what I felt for him was exactly how he felt. It was an option when he asked me, but now it was something I had to do, otherwise he wouldn't believe me.

Just thinking about Inuyasha going away because he didn't believe in me, made my feet move. I wasn't sure how fast I was going, but I was pretty sure I was going faster than what I would have liked. Since it was night-time, and I was running through a dense forest, leaving all our supplies behind, it was dangerous. Even with the Shikon Jewel gone, that didn't mean that there weren't still demons out there who wouldn't mind a late night bite.

I knew I had to reach Inuyasha, but I wasn't very fast, and I wasn't thinking straight either. I had tripped a couple of times already over tree roots that were sticking up above the ground, and I honestly had no idea where Inuyasha went. I couldn't smell like he did; I didn't have his nose. I couldn't run fast; I didn't have his demon speed. I couldn't protect myself; I had left my bow and arrows back at the camp.

Almost instantaneously, I felt a presence behind me. I slowed to a stop, knowing that I was in trouble. It didn't feel like Inuyasha or anyone that I knew, and it felt evil.

I heard a slithering sound, but I didn't look back. I didn't want to; that would mean accepting that it was there, and that I would have to get rid of it. If I just ignored it, however, something even worse could happen. The slithering sound happened again, I could hear it moving among the twigs and leaves on the ground. I still couldn't think straight; I had mixed thoughts about Inuyasha, and on top of that I was

exhausted from the days travel… and I couldn't even protect myself. At this point, I ran out of options. I ran out of strategies. I couldn't think, therefore I couldn't think of a single good idea that may get me out of this mess. I don't know why screaming for Inuyasha's help didn't pop up in my mind; I knew he had sensitive ears, but my foggy mind somehow knocked some type of weird sense that said 'Why would he come to help you when you just denied him?'

It wasn't even really logical. In his mind, I just denied him, but I didn't deny his friendship… right? He'd still look after me… right?

I shook my head, and I bolted. This was not the best thing to do, considering a demon can easily out run a human. The demon didn't speak, but I could hear it slithering faster and faster. I began crying for some reason, but after a few seconds when I saw the shadow in the moonlight, I realized why. I was scared. I was scared of dying, and I was scared that I wouldn't get the chance to see Inuyasha again after this moment. I had this feeling in my gut telling me that I was going to get caught. This demon would catch me, and I would never get to tell Inuyasha everything I had wanted to.

I stopped crying and I boldly stopped running. This wasn't a smart move either. I could automatically hear the slithering come to a stop, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see a big green snake-like demon. It spoke to me in a deep voice.

"You stop? Have you given up?"

I felt my eyes start to tear up again, "No, No I haven't."

Confusion shone clearly in his expression. "Then why have you stopped?"

"I can't die yet. I have something I have to do."

"That's what they all say," the demon chuckled.

"I'm serious." I said, and it was true. I had to see Inuyasha again, and if I didn't live through this, I never would. I had so many emotions going through my head at this moment, that I didn't even hear the demon's response. My eyes widened when I felt something slippery coil around my leg. Only when the demon pulled on my leg, and slither on top of me, did I scream. I didn't get even three seconds into the scream though, because he slapped his tail over my mouth. It seemed the demon knew that this would happen; his response confirmed my thoughts.

"No screaming, I don't want a whole herd of demons coming after me because I found rare prey," he said whilst smirking.

I shook my head from side to side, trying to loosen his grip on my face, but it didn't work. I felt him coil around my waist. Where's Inuyasha? I need him! I thought desperately. Then, cold hard determination surged through me. I couldn't always depend on Inuyasha when I got into trouble. I had to get out of this mess myself, and I would live.

While the demon wrapped the yards of his body around my waist and below, I felt his grip on my face loosen; then, I bit his tail as hard as I possibly could. I didn't hear any popping sounds or crunches, but he squealed in pain and retracted his tail.

"Little wretch!" he screeched, and at that moment, he finished wrapping his body around me. He smirked, and started tightening his grip. He was trying to kill me the way snakes kill their prey. It hurt, and I wriggled, trying to free myself from his grasp.

"Get away from me" was all I could manage to say, but then, he reminded me of my mistake. I bit him, so he was going to get payback. "This," he growled to me, "Is what you get for biting me," He squeezed even harder, and then, everything went a little red. I screamed louder than I had ever screamed before. Each and every scale on this demon's body formed into a long spike, and while he was squeezing me, his scales transformed into the spikes, and it burst through parts of my body.

I felt like I couldn't stop screaming; and I didn't. I screamed for what felt like forever, I didn't have any more breath after that, and the demon was squeezing me so hard I couldn't breathe in again. I was stuck. I choked a little, and I gathered the small amount of breath left in my lungs and pushed out one last word in a small scream- or rather, one last name.

"Inu…Yasha…"

And then, I felt like I couldn't hold on any longer. I could no longer breathe. I finally went limp, but I could still sort of hear the world around me. The last thing I could remember was someone calling out my name.

I was surprised when I came to. I thought that being held in the clutches of that demon would be the last time I would ever have on this earth.

"Kagome!"

I tried to focus my eyes as much as I could, and after a while I succeeded in seeing clearly, well, sort of. I was really shocked that Inuyasha was holding me, but I also had a mixture of a lot of other emotions. I was surprised he was there, I was happy and excited in seeing him again, and I also felt butterflies in my stomach.

"Inuyasha," I mumbled, but with saying his name, I winced a little when I felt the strain of my lungs trying to help form the words.

"Kagome, are you alright?" he said, worry evident in is voice. I was also surprised that there was a hint of grief in the tone of his voice.

"Inuyasha… what-"

"Kagome, you're safe that's all that matters." He then pulled me close to his chest in a soft hug; I could tell he was trying to be as careful as he could. I let my eyes flutter shut and I relaxed against him. I almost fell asleep again, but then he pulled away.

"Come on, Kagome. We should get back to our campsite. Knowing you, you left everything you had with you, there."

I looked up at him; everything he said was spot on. I had left all my things at the campsite… but, if I'm not mistaken, it was night time right? How long had passed since that time? It was still night time, but I had no clue what time it was, or what day it was.

"Uh, um Inuyasha?" I asked sleepily as he stood up; holding me in his arms, and he began a slow walking pace back towards our campsite. He then looked down at me. "Yeah? What is it?"

"What time- err, what day is it?" I managed to ask.

He stared at me confusedly. "Starting from when?"

I thought a moment, "From when-"I cut myself off, if I brought up the fact that he asked about what we were, he might leave again.

I sighed, I still wanted him to know how I felt, but was now really the right time?

"If you mean from the time I left, then that was about an hour ago from when I found you." He said in a sad voice, then added in almost a whisper, "I should never have gone away; if I had just stayed put you would have never gotten hurt."

I smiled weakly up at him, "It's not your fault… if I had told you what I was thinking right when you asked then you probably would never have run off," I said. It took me a few seconds to realize what had just come out of my mouth.

He looked down at me, curiosity sparking in his eyes, "Uh… And…?" I could tell he was really uncomfortable with asking, and he looked like he was just begging to know.

"Well…" I tried to gather my words, but once again, my words failed me. He was looking at me expectantly, and it was then that I realized that we had come to a stop, and he was just holding me. I couldn't think of anything to say, and I once again felt that heat spread across my cheeks.

I saw a flicker of doubt cross his face again when I didn't say anything; I didn't want him to leave again, so I quickly reached up and grasped the top of his robe, closest to his neck, and pulled myself up as far as I could reach to connect my lips to his.

I felt him slowly relax into the kiss and felt him add his own pressure. Both of our eyes slid closed, and I felt better than I had in my whole life.

Just being there with him was more than enough for me. I wanted us to be together forever, and I wanted him to know that.

As we broke apart I leaned towards his ear and whispered, "Don't ever leave me, I love you."

He smiled a little and buried his face into my neck, "I love you too, and I promise I'll never leave you."

With this thought, I smiled and sighed as I rested my head against his shoulder. He then began walking again, and I knew that even after we reached the campsite, we'd be together forever, and maybe, if it's what Inuyasha wants, we could start a family.

Yes. That's what I want. I want us to be together and have a family to share it with.