Disclaimer - I would only be able to own Inuyasha if I was a billionaire and bought Inuyasha with my money. Unfortunately, I'm an ordinary girl without billions of dollars laying around. *pouts*

AN: The third chapter is finally out. It's a lot shorter than I would've liked but...all well. I actually rewrote it about five times, trying to make it perfect. My updates will be slow since I write when I get inspiration and since I have about four other stories in progress. (I know, I'm awful!) EDIT: This chapter was revised on June 23, 2010.

'Blah' - Flashbacks

'Blah' - Thoughts

Chapter Three.

Kagome cried out as a large demon crashed through the trees sending bark and splinters flying in every direction. The demon was large, about nine feet tall. It was a sickly purplish green with bone colored horns sticking out from his body in several places. His huge yellow eyes were blank, the skin pulling around them to a pale, white shade. His teeth were sharp, sticking from his mouth like fangs. Foam bubbled from the corner of his mouth as he released a loud, rumbling roar. His saliva dripped onto the ground, leaving behind puddles of disgusting, most likely poisonous liquid. He roared out unintelligible words as he swung his arm around crazily, knocking over trees and cracking a thick trunk right down the middle with his spikes.

He swung his horned arm down at the two humans in front of him who were dwarfed by his side. They immediately jumped out of the way, narrowly missing being impaled by the spikes. "Miroku!" shrieked Kagome.

"I'm fine," answered the monk as he stumbled over a fallen log. "Can you fight?"

"I don't have my bow! It's still at the camp!"

Miroku dived behind an intact tree, catching his breath as Kagome joined him, throwing herself down beside him, chest heaving from lack of air. "I don't have my bow," she repeated between gasps.

"Just stay hidden then," said Miroku, reaching inside his robes. "There is no way Inuyasha and Sango could have missed this aura! They should be on their way! I'll stall this demon until they get here!"

"Be careful," called Kagome as the monk leaped away from the tree. The next instant she followed suit as the demon swiped at it, his claws ripping the wood into slivers.

"I know," Miroku said as the demon turned its blank eyes onto them.

Sango pushed past the last barrier of branches, bursting into camp with twigs stuck in her brown hair, chest heaving from lack of air. "Are you okay?" she panted to Shippo as she began stripping off . her traveling clothes to reveal the slayer outfit underneath.

Shippo nodded shakily. "Y-yes," he wavered when he realized Sango couldn't see him as she grabbed her weapon. He was quaking with anxiety as the distinct sound of trees falling to the ground was heard. "K-Kagome doesn't h-have her b-bow."

"Kirara!" called Sango as she adjusted her now high and tight ponytail. "Shippo, hand me Kagome's weapons!"

Shippo grabbed Kagome's bow and arrows and Kirara transformed. "I'm c-coming too!" he insisted as Sango leaped onto Kirara's back. He clambered on behind her, clutching the bow and arrows tightly in his fist.

"Hold on tightly," ordered Sango mindfully, not bothering to object as another tree fell and the demon's cry could be heard for miles, the voice filled with fury and blood lust. "Let's go, Kirara!"

The landscape blurred before Inuyasha's eyes as he traveled through the forest at full speed. And though he appeared focused and determined to any onlooker, his mind was in turmoil and his thoughts far away from the fight that he was heading towards. His brain kept on rewinding and hitting play, the memory on stuck repeat, playing the same awful images over and over again. Kagome's words echoed through his senses, nearly blinding him with the pain they caused. I guess I have a sorry pet too, it's not even a pure-breed. Inuyasha's head was lowered, his lips curled into a snarl.

It had happened before, so many times. He and Kagome often butted heads, disagreeing over the most trivial of matters, to bickering over life changing events. There were plenty of times Inuyasha had been furious at Kagome; hell, there had been plenty of times he was on the verge of storming away from the group. He actually had stormed away from the group a few times though it was never permanent. He always returned within a couple of days.

But this time...

This time Kagome had gone too far.

Inuyasha sucked his breath in, struggling against the urge he felt to simply stop and not move any closer to the girl who had said those words, despite the danger she was in. Kagome had gone overboard. And Inuyasha couldn't see himself forgiving her or really actually trusting her anywhere in the future. It's not even a pure-breed. The words taunted him over and over like a broken record.

Why? demanded Inuyasha angrily as he landed on a branch hard enough to send a splintering crack through the middle. Why would she say something like that? How could she even say something like that? After all she's seen and learned about the way half-demon like me are treated, how could she just say that? I'm ridiculed enough by the demons around me; I sure as hell don't need her to start it too.

Though Inuyasha had sat stubbornly in a tree, refusing to respond to the demon slayer's calls, he had been close enough and open-minded enough to listen to Sango's rousing speech and heart-felt words. And yet Inuyasha found himself unable to really care. It just didn't matter. An accident, he thought, snorting. You don't just think something by accident. Sure, you can say something by accident, but you have to think it first, really believe it, to actually be able to say it. And she was thinking about me as a...as a...

Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut, as tight as possible, refusing to allow even the termites hidden in the tree trunks to see the liquid threatening to spring from his pain-filled golden eyes.

Because Kagome - Kagome...Kagome who always thought the best of people, who always tried to do that right thing, who always forgave, and always accepted...thought of him as a...as a...

She thinks of me as a half-breed, a creature not fully human and not fully demon, impure and defiled.

A half-breed. She thought of him not as Inuyasha but as a half-breed.

And that hurt more than Inuyasha cared to admit.

A shudder ran through Kagome's body as she felt the earth tremble viciously beneath her as another tree came crashing down, torn away from its foundation by the demon's monstrous fist. Miroku was across the now much larger clearing, sweating and breathing hard, already exhausted. He had already thrown several sutras at the demon, with no effect.

Inuyasha! Where are you? wondered Kagome desperately. She stopped for a moment, regaining her breath as the silver-haired boy crossed her mind. Inuyasha, will you even come?

Would he come? Kagome couldn't be sure, and she felt her heart skip a beat as the thought crossed her mind that maybe...just maybe, for the first time, Inuyasha would not come when she needed him. For all of Miroku's kind and encouraging words, Kagome just knew that there was a chance that Inuyasha might not come after how much she had hurt him...hurt him so terribly.

There had been numerous - uncountable, really - times that she had been angry at Inuyasha before. It was like a daily routine for the two of them. He would do something highly irritating and she would get ticked off. He would come up with some insult and she would glare at him and proceed to the everyday (often several times a day) time when she sat him. They would then get into a huge argument which resulted in him getting sat several more times with Kagome standing over him furiously, eyes flashing. Their companions would be left to the side as spectators, often shaking their heads over the incident.

Kagome had called him annoying, she had called him an idiot. She would yell at him that he was a jerk, a moron, that he was stupid, that he had no sense of understanding, many many names that seemed never ending. But never, never, had she said anything that deliberately insulted something like his blood or background. Never had she said anything about him being a half-demon...a half-breed. The thought of him being one rarely crossed her mind, and when she was fighting with him, that insult had never risen to her tongue. It had never even occurred to her to say something like that, because it wasn't right, and she didn't believe it was right.

So why on earth had she done it this time? What had caused that name to rise up?

A loud shriek escaped Kagome's lips as the demon suddenly changed its course, heading directly towards her looking rightly enraged. The blankness in his eyes had changed with the color, the now black eyes glinting with an even more evil, murderous stare. The demon roared out, spit dripping down his chin as he swung his arm back, giving it more momentum as he suddenly switched directions, sending the deadly spiked arm directly towards her.

Kagome screamed.

Inuyasha couldn't help but feel a bitter anger directed towards himself as he jumped from branch to branch. Despite what Kagome had said to him, he was still racing through the forest at top speed, ready to save her from the danger threatening her.

He hated that. He wished that he could have enough anger at Kagome to let her and the others deal with the demon on their own for once.

But he just couldn't. No matter how much he wished for that cold demon heart that wouldn't have hesitated in abandoning the others, he had to admit that he didn't have it.

And that he really didn't wish for that as much as he liked to pretend he did.

It seemed that no matter how angry he was at Kagome, he would always make sure that he was there, ready to save her from any danger that jeopardized her safety. No matter what the cost or what his feelings were at the moment, he cared - perhaps even loved - Kagome enough to protect her by any means possible.

So when her scream rang through the surrounding forest. Inuyasha was suddenly spurred forward with an extra burst of energy as soon as he heard Kagome's cry. He flew over the last hurdles and sailed into the clearing, his golden eyes instantly locking onto the sharp, spiked arm heading right to Kagome. Instantly analyzing the situation, he could already tell he did not have time to draw his Tetsaiga, let alone use the Wind Scar.

The only possible escape that Kagome had flashed through his mind, and he didn't hesitate for a moment, dashing towards Kagome without a second thought. He sped past any obstacles faster than he ever had before, and planted himself directly in front of her, focused completely on her shivering frame.

Kagome's eyes widened as the arm came down towards her. She couldn't move, it was almost like her body was paralyzed. Time almost seemed to slow down as the arm swerved in a downwards arc, slicing through the air expertly. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was going to die. There was nothing around to save her. She distantly heard Miroku yelling her name, but she couldn't even focus on him, knowing he was too far away to help. She silently prepared herself for the pain of the final blow, and she closed her eyes.

Inuyasha, she thought. I'm sorry...about everything. Everything I've ever done to you that was wrong. If I could change it...I would. I don't think about you as a half-bre...a half-demon, because to me, you're not. You're just Inuyasha. You're brave, strong, annoying, awfully stupid at times, and you're just you. And that's all that really matters to me.

She opened her eyes, feeling strangely calm at the thought of the dog demon. She was steeling herself for the beginnings of the pain that would signal the end of her life when her vision was suddenly filled with red.

Kagome vaguely heard a pain-filled grunt, and she slowly laid a hand on her face, pulling it away after feeling sticky substance on her cheeks, much of which had transferred to her hands. Her blurry, red-splattered vision cleared.

Her eyes focused on the gruesome scene in front of her, and her parted her lips with a silent gasp of horror. Because right in front of her, with blood pouring out from his back and chest, blood dripping down from the corners of his mouth, barely visible because of his bowed head, was Inuyasha.

Inuyasha!

Th demon made a noise that almost sounded annoyed. He twisted his large arm in the half-demon in front of him. Inuyasha released a groan, his eyes squeezing shut from the pain. He started sinking to his feet, blood gushing from his obviously fatal wound.

The demon's black eyes were practically twinkling at the sight in front of him. He grinned and pushed his spiked arm in a bit deeper, listening for and being rewarded by the agonizing moan that escaped Inuyasha. He pulled his arm back out and watched as Inuyasha collapsed on the rocky ground, the blood staining the dirt beneath him as it seeped into the absorbing earth. The red liquid did not cease its flow but thickened instead as the demon lay a hand on his back.

The demon mumbled under its breath, doing something that appeared to be a type of ritual. He clenched his hand before standing up, black eyes fading back to yellow as he eyed the girl in front of him.

Kagome's eyes were opened wide, lips parted in a shocked gasp. "Inuyasha?" she whispered softly, edging forwards.

Suddenly, the demon turned his head, sensing the danger before actually seeing it. Sango's shout was loud and clear. "Hiraikotsu!" she cried, releasing her weapon, sending it whirling towards the demon who had no time to move before the weapon reached him. The weapon cut through his thick, solid neck and landed ten feet away with a sickening thud, a trail of blood connecting it to its body that wavered for a moment before careening to the ground, crushing the head beneath it and narrowly missing Miroku who was running towards Kagome with a stricken look on his face.

"Inuyasha? Inuyasha?" Kagome reached the half-demon, dropping onto her knees and ignoring the pain that racked her knees as they hit solid rock. A shudder racked her form at the sight of her closest friend. "Inuyasha? Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice rose with hysteria as she received no reply. She placed her arms on his back as began shaking him, desperate for a response. "Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

"K-Kagome." Inuyasha's voice was ragged, his face pinched in pain as he spoke her name. He twitched slightly before moving his arm to try and support the rest of his body, straining to reach an upright position. "K-K...K-Kago...me..." Inuyasha sent a wild look to her, his lips moving in a crazed speech.

"Get back down!" Kagome sobbed, trying to get him to return to his original position without touching him, not wanting to injure him farther. "What are you doing? Lie down! Lie down!"

Inuyasha's mouth was open, trying to communicate with the hysterical girl but no words came out. He stiffened slightly, before a shudder ran through his body, and his arm gave out beneath him, sending him crashing back onto the ground, eyes still open in an almost pleading look, face pale white, and skin already turning cold.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

Kagome had reached forwards as he fell down, attempting to catch him...but to no avail.

I'm not too sure how this chapter came out. I tried to keep everyone in character as much as possible and I can only hope I succeeded! Please tell me what you thought by clicking on that little thought bubble down there and telling me what you thought. Leave me a ten page review or just say hi, this story was good/bad. Please review!