Chapter 4

Morning came quickly, too quickly. And with the sunrise came her sitting at their dining table, breakfast sitting in front of them, and although the food had been served, everyone looked to her. The tension almost causing her to stop in her mission to fill the intense hunger caused from two days without food.

"You sure can eat," Kuwabara laughed.

Angry eyes found his face in a deep glare. Kagome was still tired, she wasn't much of a morning person, to begin with, but her sleep and food deprived state made her ten times more hostile. "No shit," she growled, much like a demon, startling the two boys but making the woman smirk. "I haven't slept or eatin' in days,"

There was a soft 'twoorp' to his head by Shizuru hitting him. "Leave her alone; she's got enough to deal with,"

An embarrassed blush rose to the male's cheeks, his eyes sliding to the side catching a glimpse of the bandage on her arm that has nearly bled through.

"What happened?" Yusuke started his eyes switching from his food to her.

She sighed heavily; it was such a long story. "It's a long story,"

"I'm listening," he had turned to her, his hand supporting his head as he leaned on the table.

Kagome sighed again. "To get to my story, you need to know how this jewel came to be, and how it came to be mine to protect," she took a deep breath before starting.

"Almost two thousand years ago lived a strong miko named Midoriko. She was feared by demons throughout the land as her ability to purify demons to their entirety hadn't been seen before. With a sweep of her sword, she could purify over a hundred demons. There were those that feared and hated her so indefinitely that they conspired to kill her.

"A man, who had lusted after Midoriko for years and whose advances she turned down numerous times, turned to sacrifice his soul in the hope of obtaining her favor and love.

"But those that answered his desperate plea, although promising to give him Midoriko's heart, only wanted her dead. His body was overcome by hundreds of demons who hated and feared Midoriko, eating at his soul and using his body to become that of a stronger demon; a dragon demon that's sole desire was to destroy Midoriko and feast upon her heart.

"He attacked her. Their battle rocked the landscape and set fire to the village Midoriko had protected. After seven days and nights of fierce battle, Midoriko took in the demon's soul and forced out her own soul in a last attempt to purify the demon. Their souls combined within and what was forced from her body was The Shikon No Taka. Naohi or the purity of the jewel is Midoriko's soul. Magatsuhi is the evil in the jewel created from the demons' souls. These two are to forever be at war unless the jewel is destroyed,"

They were quiet as she took a drink of her tea, taking a moment to compose herself before continuing with Inuyasha and Kikyo's story, before telling hers.

The story fell from her lips in a matter-of-fact way lacking the compassion she had shared when talking about Midoriko. "Five-hundred-fifty years ago the Shikon had been entrusted to a miko, Kikyo, who had an outstanding ability to purify, just as Midoriko had, and was able to suppress the evil in the jewel. Kikyo protected the jewel from all demons, killing them before they even had the opportunity to look at it. She killed all but one, a half inu-demon by the name Inuyasha.

"He tried many times to get the jewel and every time she stopped him without killing him. Time passed, and he stopped going after the jewel. Instead, he now assisted Kikyo in disposing of the demons that attacked her. He gave up his desire to become a full demon and fell in love with Kikyo, and she him,"

"Their time together would be short," Kagome's head fell forward as she took to looking at her food in a daze. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest, the image of her beloved puppy eared inu overlapping her mind's eye. She loved him, through everything: the hurtful words and betrayal of his actions, but he couldn't see her as Kagome only Kikyo. Any compassion came to her out of guilt and devotion to Kikyo.

"Kikyo had taken to caring for a bandit named Onigumo, a man whose entire body had been burned leaving him in agonizing pain and unable to move. Under her care, the man came to love her in his own way, and Onigumo offered his soul to demons. His desire to be with her was turned into a desire to possess and destroy her. His new form was that of Naraku a half spider-demon with a human heart.

"Learning of Kikyo's love for Inuyasha, Naraku became jealous and sawt to destroy them both and take the Shikon instead.

"Kikyo had tired of being a miko and desired the life of an ordinary woman. Wanting to be rid of the cursed jewel, and her duty to it, she convinced Inuyasha that the only way they could be together was for him to wish to become human, that the wish would be selfless and the jewel would be gone forever.

"Naraku learned of their plan and quickly formed a plan in turn, which would corrupt the jewel, making it "beautifully malicious in color." Unknown to the two he first disguised himself as Kikyo, fooling Inuyasha, and then Inuyasha, fooling Kikyo who he attacked. Now suspicious and having thought they were betrayed by the other, Inuyasha went after the jewel for his original wish to become a full demon and Kikyo, wounded by a disguise Naraku as Inuyasha, went after Inuyasha.

"Kikyo was able to pin him to a tree with her sacred arrow, too weak to kill him. He was left pinned to a sacred tree in what everyone thought as a curse of eternal sleep. Kikyo on the other hand died of her wounds and had the Shikon burned with her body in hope to prevent it from getting into the hands of evil,"

She sighed heavily; their story was always so complicated.

A snort made her look up at Yusuke. "I guess they didn't really love each other," Kazuma and Shizuru nodded in agreement.

"She was willing to change him for her own selfish reasons. If anything that Kik-yo sounds like she was playing the guy and if Inu-whatever was really a half-demon couldn't he have smelled it wasn't her? Demons, even half ones, normally have a good sense of smell,"

Kagome stared at him for a moment before a bitter laugh erupted in her throat. How many times had she not thought the same thing? Before they knew of Naraku, she had felt bad for Inuyasha, that he was the one who had been betrayed. After finding out about Naraku, she had only been left with questions and doubt.

"You'd think so wouldn't you?" She huffed dryly.

"How does any of this have to do with you?"

She felt ten years older with the simple question. Running her hands through her hair before sighing, "I'm getting to that, my stories just as complicated as theirs,"

"More complicated than the bad love triangle?" Shizuru asked making Kagome smile, even if it was slightly bitter looking.

She shook her head "Sadly,"

Her attention was drawn to her half-eaten breakfast and then the owner of the hand pushing it closer to her. "Finish your breakfast first; we'll talk after," Yusuke encouraged before digging into his.

All too happy to oblige Kagome went back to eating.

After eating Kagome was left once more to finish her outrageous tale of time-travel, magic, and war.

"Almost a year ago, on my 15th birthday, I was pulled down a well on my families shrine by the demon Mistress Centipede-" the story carried on for what felt like hours, and maybe it did. Some moments, like a misplaced kiss or two, as well as times she wished to forget. She told of her companions, her love for them, and their strength that she so admired. Everything that she could or thought to mention she did, her training and abandonment of her birth time, all the way up to the final battle.

"We had just decided to set up camp when Naraku appeared.

"There were hundreds of lesser demons to his back and all his incarnation to either side of us. Whatever sprung his urgency to attack us head-on, wore down on us throughout the night. The lesser demons were overwhelming, and whenever any were struck down, they were resurrected as zombies by Kagura's magic.

"It was only within the early morning that Kouga and his warrior wolf demons jumped into battle alongside us. And it was only when the sun rose that Inuyasha's brother; Sesshomaru, joined the battle.

"A day later, the battle for the jewel ended. In the final minutes, Midoriko's spirit spoke to me, pleading and explaining how to call forth the other half of the Shikon. When I got the jewel back into my possession, purifying what malicious I could; I was forced back into my time. I tried going back, but the well won't work for me," she summarized unwilling to go into great detail about the battle, her own head still reeling with the gruesome details. "I was then attacked, but Yusuke saved me, and now I'm here,"

"So who killed Naraku?" Yusuke asked.

A bittersweet smile pulled on her lips. "I witnessed my group join attacks and kill him," Now that was something she was happy to see, everyone had been able to avenge their loved ones, and in turn had achieved their deserved happy endings. Everyone but her that is, but did she even deserve one?

She was pulled from her thought by a hand squeezing hers. Looking, she saw his tanned hand gripping hers his thumb rubbing the back of her hand, the small show of comfort nearly had her in tears. She felt so alone without the others; they had become her family and world over a year spent battling Naraku. Miroku and Sango were her brother and sister, Shippo, her son and she'd loved Inuyasha. It wasn't fair.

A tear ran down her cheek before she could stop it, several more following to roll down her cheeks. Strong arms enveloped her, pulling her to a warm chest where she continued to cry, a hand caressing her hair while the other held her around the waist.

"I feel so weak," Kagome whispered brokenly. Her hands gripping his shirt at her admission. Her powers were an extension of herself, like her leg, without them nothing felt right, she felt frail and useless.

Yusuke kept petting her hair. "We'll figure it out," he wasn't going to abandon her again, he'd be by her side no matter what.

Kazuma stared in wonder. It all sounded absurd, but not, after all, they fought demons on a daily basis and did things thought to be impossible: hell he could conjure a sword made out of spiritual energy. So as bizarre as her tale was, he couldn't say it was impossible, her wounds along with the physical Shikon being evidence of Kagome's past.

But the weirdest part was how much care Yusuke took in handling the girl. He'd only ever witnessed the gruff, and vulgarness that Yusuke exuded, even with Keiko the other teen had been rough, but here he was cuddling Kagome, whispering gently into her hair much like a lover. His deep-set frown and sad eyes told of a level of care Kazuma had only seen when the boy thought Genkai dead, yet even then it hadn't told of such care only empty loose.

Yusuke had said the two were childhood friends, yet he'd never seen the girl or heard the boy speak of her. If Keiko had known or saw this, she would have flown into a jealous rage for they looked like more than friends.

wolfYLady: I know it was a pretty uneventful chapter but don't worry the two are only going to be getting closer.

And a SPECIAL THANK YOU to those who reviewed the last chapter:

UnicornEva, Mandelorian, S-chan08, o0-SilverMoon-0o, slvrphoenx: Thank you I am so excited that you all are enjoying the story so far.

WithLoveSammiV: To me, although its a slower build up to any romantic between the two, it seems more meaningful for Kagome and Yusuke to become closer and grow together.

MidnightReader1: I got inspired to use the tama from having watched the final act. The jewel wouldn't want to be wished away as it had already "suffered" with Kikyo burning it with her body.

tailandbeauty: Your reviews are absolutely delightful to read. And I understand about college, its hard to find anytime in which you aren't studying. I do hope to have more flashbacks between them soon; this chapter was already longer than I wanted it.

fredisagirl: I do have plans for the adorable kitsune so don't worry.

fallingyuki: Thank you, I love writing the flashbacks between the two and building what their brief childhood together was like. Sorry, this one didn't have one, but the chapter was too long.

daisynaruto909: I feel honored that you enjoyed it that much. :') I've cried writing some parts, and I really try to bring that level of emotion to my stories.

CallaRose4ever: I also hope to be able to finish this story and am glad that you are still reading it and hope you enjoy Yu Yu Hakusho if you get into it.

Stargazer013: I how that this chapter was able to answer all of your questions and yes you guessed right, but it may not be for another chapter or two as I am trying to limit the length of the chapters to make it easier on myself to update as consistently as possible.