a/n: Yay! I got 6 reviews for chappie 3! Yay!!! ...Newayz, I have had a few reviews tell me that Inuyasha and Sango seem OC (mainly Inuyasha) and I have to ask you people; wouldn't you be a little emotional if the second person you'd given your heart two had cheated on you and broken your heart for a second time? I sure as heck would! Maybe that's just me though... ?.? Oh well, ON TO THE CHAPPIE!!!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

DISCLAIMER: IZ NO OWN INU! I WISH I DIDZ BUT IZ DONTZ!!! T.T

Chapter 4- The Hanyou's Conviction

The demon slayer and the half demon traveled at a steady pace since they'd run into each other at dawn and by dusk Sango was beginning to slow. Being awake since dawn the day before was beginning to take its toll on Sango and she was doing everything she could to keep Inuyasha from noticing.

'He must already think I'm weak as it is,' Sango thought as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Inuyasha, however, had already caught on to Sango's exhausted state and had slowed his pace to match hers. He was debating whether or not to tell Sango they were stopping for the night when Sango's legs finally collapsed beneath her and he had to throw himself forward to catch her.

"Sango!" Inuyasha yelled as he held the half conscious slayer gently in his arms.

"I-I'm ok Inuyasha," Sango said as her eye lids fluttered again, "I'm just a little ti-tired."

With that the slayer promptly fell asleep in the arms of her half demon friend.

'What am I supposed to do now?!' Inuyasha thought as he frantically looked around: as if the trees of the forest would somehow answer his unspoken question.

Looking back down to the sleeping woman in his arms he noticed that Kirara was no longer curled around her shoulders but was now standing on the ground in front of him looking up to him expectantly.

"What am I supposed to do Kirara? She's exhausted," Inuyasha asked the tiny kitten who looked at him for a moment with a look that said 'are you really that stupid' before transforming into her larger form.

He watched as she turned her back to him and turn her head and looked at him a moment before looking at her own back. Taking the hint for what it was Inuyasha carefully picked the slumbering woman up in his arms, blushing madly, and got on Kirara's back. With Sango safely snuggled in Inuyasha's arms Kirara set off towards the slayer's village to complete the last half-day of their journey.

Trusting that Kirara could find her way back to the place that had been her home for countless years Inuyasha took his eyes off of the forest below him and looked down at the beautiful woman who was completely out of it in his arms. This woman was all he had left and he fully intended to protect her with his life as she'd promised she'd do for him.

'I WILL protect you Sango! You're the only person whose ever been willing to give their life for mine and I'm not going to let anything take this friendship away from me!' Inuyasha thought fiercely.

After what seemed like a matter of moments Inuyasha was startled from his half conscious stupor by Kirara's low grumble as the walls of the slayer's village came into view. It was about midnight when the fire cat's large paws gently touched down on the ground inside the village and allowed the half demon to dismount. Transforming back into her smaller form Kirara mewed at Inuyasha and ran into the one hut that was left standing in the village.

Following the tiny cat's lead Inuyasha carried Sango's still sleeping form into the hut and was annoyed to see that half of the roof was caved in and one of the walls was nearly burnt in two.

'That means that every time that Sango came to visit her village by herself she spent the night in this half fallen down piece of crap hut,' Inuyasha thought angrily as he lay the slayer in question down on the matt that was right beside the door and as far away from the collapsing ceiling and wall as possible in the confined space.

All this time he'd been so absorbed in his feelings for Kagome that he ignored the one person that had genuinely cared about him. Sango had watched as he battled his feelings for both of the priestess' in his life and had been there to support him in his decision to be with Kagome while putting her own emotional problems in the backseat. Not once had she asked anything of him in return, not even for help with her own shaky relationship with the monk.

'Damn I was such an idiot! I can't believe that I used Sango like that! What am I; a whiney mooch like Kagome?' Inuyasha thought as his anger reshaped itself and turned on its owner, 'How could I have been so blind? Well, from now, on I vow to help Sango in any way I can, and I won't leave until she tells me herself that she doesn't want me around anymore.'

With that thought Inuyasha fell asleep with his back leaned up against the wall next to Sango's head with Tetsaiga in between his bent knees. His dreams, however, followed the same path as his thoughts. Every time that he'd used Sango as an outlet for his frustrations or as emotional support while fighting with Kagome flashed through his mind in pain staking clarity.

He watched some of their more violent spars, undoubtedly following a fight with Kagome, and winced as his dream self viciously attacked Sango, raking his sharp claws through her arm when she hadn't moved fast enough and adding insult to injury by laughing and calling her pathetic.

'No! Stop it you bastard!' Inuyasha yelled at the dream image of himself who was taunting and laughing at the injured woman.

That was the last thing he saw before the visions faded and he was awoken by something heavy jumping onto his head. The object mewed and jumped to the ground in front of him to reveal itself as Kirara who had apparently noticed his nightmare and jumped onto his head to try to wake him.

'Was it really a nightmare thought?' Inuyasha thought as he looked to the sleeping woman beside him that was becoming more visible as the sun rose and rays of light came through the half burnt wall.

Carefully, Inuyasha grabbed the sleeve of Sango's kimono and slowly pulled it up to reveal four long scars perfectly spaced from each other that could not have been caused by anything other than claws. He ran his fingers over the four lines gently and winced at finding that they were fairly thick meaning that the wound itself had been deep.

'How could I have done that to her?' Inuyasha thought incredulously, 'Why hasn't she ever said anything to me about it? How could she possibly still want to be my friend after what I've done to her?'

"Inuyasha"

Startled out of his reverie by Sango's voice he looked up from the arm that he'd scarred to the face of the woman that he half expected to be angry; after all, look what he'd done to her. However, he was not expecting the soft look in her eyes accompanied by an equally soft expression that held no anger or resentment anywhere in its' depths.

"Sango I…" He was unable to finish that sentence as Sango promptly slapped him hard across the face.

Now that had been more like what he'd thought she'd do, but from her previous soft expression he really hadn't been prepared for a slap; especially one as powerful as the one she'd given him that had set him on his backside.

"What the hell Sango?" Inuyasha yelled as he clutched the large red handprint that the slayer had left on his face.

"Well that's more like the Inuyasha I know! With all these emotions flying around lately I was beginning to think you'd gone soft on me," Sango said with a smirk.

He was shocked by the slayer's words yet again. Had he really been acting all emotional lately?

'YES!' a voice in his mind told him.

"Feh! Whatever Sango. It's about time you got up. I had to carry your lazy ass into the hut since your human body was so exhausted that I couldn't have shaken you awake if I'd tried," Inuyasha said as he folded his arms across his chest and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his fire rat haori and turning his face away stubbornly.

Sango giggled at her half demon friend's antics and stood, dusting off the kimono that she'd changed into shortly after crashing into Inuyasha since the traveling was slower and the risk of demon attack had reduced greatly with the half demon's presence.

"Thank you for taking care of me Inuyasha, but if you'll excuse me I think I'll head down to the stream to freshen up before I take care of the graves. After that we can begin work on rebuilding the village if that's ok with you."

"Ya. Sure. Whatever Sango. It's your village, you just tell me what you need me to do," Inuyasha said as he stood as well.

"Alright. Well I'll be back shortly and we can begin."

Inuyasha watched as Sango exited the hut with Kirara hot on her heels. Turning back to look at the ruined hut that they were living in he decided that this would be his first project. Leaving the hut himself he looked around the village to see if there was any material that would still be salvageable for use on repairs and set out to work.

'If Sango doesn't want to talk about it then I won't force her,' Inuyasha thought in reference to the scars on her arm, 'Oh well, might as well get started while she's gone.'

a/n: There yall go people. Inuyasha has gotten over Kagome and is finally starting to get back to his old self. HAPPY?!?! .....kidding, kidding! Hope yall liked it!

PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!! I LUV MY REVIEWER PEEPS!!!