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Unfortunate Life Decisions

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That evening was a miserable, terribly awkward and tense affair. Kagome didn't eat or say anything. She didn't smile or have any type of emotion on her face at all. Everyone else, however, seemed to have a lot to say on the matter much to the hanyou's growing discomfort and ire.

"This is your fault," Shippo hissed too quietly for the others to hear. Despite the beating he'd received earlier, the tiny kit couldn't stand to watch his surrogate mother suffer that way. Surely, Inuyasha could be made to see reason. He had seemed so sad after that fight earlier. Maybe…just maybe he would change, "You need to let her go home. She'd come back."

"Shut up," Inuyasha muttered back harshly - still in that inaudible, almost silent tone, "I know I fucked up but what am I supposed to do?! If I let her go now, she might never come back."

"She's not happy here," Shippo pressed quietly, "She'll come back if you stop being such a fucking moron."

"Watch your mouth," the hanyou snarled – drawing the attention of the other two mikos before he lowered his octave once more as the two woman watched them wearily, "I don't ever want to hear you say that again or I'll rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody end of it! Got that?!"

The threat was empty. Inuyasha knew that and Shippo knew that. However, that was before. Before the beads had snapped and before he threatened to kill them like the fucking idiot he was - running blind on pent up frustration - only a few hours previously.

"I'll watch my language when you get a clue! You threatened to kill her and destroy the well," Shippo pressed on – still in an octave the other two humans could not hear, "You need to make this right before she fucking leaves us both."

"I warned ya about that mouth of yours! How 'bout I rip it off ya, huh?" Inuyasha clipped back much louder than he intended as he swiped lazily at the kitsune who jumped away with a surprised yip. It should've been obvious that he hadn't intended to make contact. Again, Shippo knew that and Inuyasha knew that. Kagome, however, did not.

"INUYASHA!"

Both the hanyou and the kit froze dead where they were in obvious disbelief that Kagome could ever have produced such a tone. The kit was afraid that Kagome had misunderstood what was happening. Inuyasha froze because the last time he heard someone use that tone he'd been sealed to a tree shortly thereafter.

Kagome stood slowly – unnaturally so – as she glared at Inuyasha with a look of such hatred that it froze all the blood in his body. Gulping silently -realizing that he had somehow just brought hell fire raining down on him- he watched completely paralyzed at the priestess slowly making her way over to him. When she was mere inches away, she raised her slightly glowing hand and delivered a resounding, painful sounding slap onto his stunned looking face. Instantly, his hand flew to his now slightly burnt cheek as he watched her in disbelief as her hand remained at the ready – the soft pink glow already beginning to re-materialize on her palm.

"You can threaten me all you want," Kagome hissed quietly, "Maybe I do deserve it. You've made that quite clear…" Inuyasha flinched, "You can beat me…" Inuyasha flinched again, "You can keep me from me home," Inuyasha grimaced guiltily, "But if you ever, ever threaten Shippo or try to attack him again, I will spend every last minute of my life trying to seal you to that tree again. This morning was strike one, consider this strike two. There won't be a strike three."

"Kagome, its not what.." Shippo pleaded quietly but quickly shut his mouth when Kagome suddenly knelt down next to him, "I can't protect you like I used to. You just need to stay the hell out of his way, alright?"

It was all Shippo could do to nod numbly as he sent Inuyasha an apologetic grimace and protested weakly that it wasn't what she thought it was. The stunned hanyou watched on in a state of utter shock as she shushed the young kit who was still weakly trying to explain without getting into too much trouble and sent Inuyasha a withering glare. Without so much as another word, Kagome marched out of the hut with her head held high leaving a heartsick hanyou and guilty looking kit behind her.

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Inuyasha huffed as he remained perched in his favorite tree branch glowering down at the two mikos whispering amongst themselves. It was obvious they didn't want him to hear them but he could anyway. He wasn't sure why they even bothered. Kagome was still fuming about his behavior and Kaede was trying to calm her down. She called him all sorts of names. Jerk. Inconsiderate. Asshole. Bastard. All manner of things but there was one word that never crossed her lips.

Half-breed.

Despite how he had acted, Kagome never once blamed his behavior on his blood status. As if he had enough things to feel guilty about, now he had to live with the knowledge that he had managed to alienate the one being on the planet who saw him as a person and could look past what he was. He wasn't the kind of guy who usually made a habit of wallowing in regret and self-pity but…well damn, if there was some type of way to travel back to the moment where those beads snapped, he'd go and beat the living shit out of himself. Unfortunately, though, he couldn't think of a way to accomplish that.

He needed to fix this. Maybe he had been too severe initially. Perhaps he could allow her to go home every two or three jewel shards. He'd have to accompany her of course to make sure she didn't seal the well behind her – a fear that was slowing growing in his gut with each passing second – but surely, she'd forgive him if he allowed her to go home every once in a while. Right?

So it was that Inuyasha jumped down from his branch and approached the two mikos – cutting off whatever they were discussing by scooping up Kagome and heading towards a more secluded area of the village.

"Listen," he began gruffly as he set her down and folded his arms across his chest, "How about this? I'll allow you to go home every two jewel shards we find and..."

"That's not good enough," Kagome snapped as she put her hands on her hips and defiantly stood her ground, "That could still be weeks or months. I've gotta go back for tests."

"Listen, I'm trying to be flexible here! You should be grateful!" Inuyasha spat out angrily as he clenched his fists within the folds of his hakama – his claws digging into his arms and drawing ten tiny pinpricks of blood. This wasn't how he wanted this conversation to go! He wanted them to get back to being…being whatever they were before this. Instead she was just getting angry…or something.

"Grateful?" Kagome hissed in disbelief, "You think I should be grateful!"

"Yeah! I could've just said you couldn't go home at all!" Inuyasha snapped back before groaning and huffing," But if you're going to be like this then..."

'Then we'll find a different solution,' he finished in his mind as Kagome cut him off.

"Then what?!" Kagome bellowed back, "You're gunna kill me or worse? Is that what you're gunna do?!"

"No dammit! I just…why do you have to be so difficult?! I just..." Inuyasha growled out exasperatedly, "Your priority should be the jewel shards but I mean, I am trying to..."

'Understand why these things are so important to you. I want to fix this,' he once again finished in his mind as Kagome interrupted once again.

"My priorities are my family and school," Kagome all but screamed at him before she paled considerably when she saw him set his jaw and breathe through his nose in an obvious attempt to reign in his temper. Seeing him do so was quite possibly even more disturbing than having him yell at her. Perhaps she had pushed him too far. Gulping silently, she slowly backed away until her back hit the hut wall.

"Dammit Kagome!" Inuyasha hissed angrily – as he desperately tried to get ahold of his anger before he dug himself into an even deeper hole, "Why do you gotta be so difficult?! You never let me finish! You gotta work with me here!"

Releasing a shaky breath, Kagome managed to make eye contact for a moment before clenching her eyes shut and cringing away from him when he aggravatedly raised his hand...to run his fingers through his hair. In that moment, Inuyasha froze as he looked down at the terrified looking girl cowering before him and quickly realized what she must have thought he planned to do. This wasn't what he wanted. He never wanted her to fear him…at least, not really. He just wanted her to accept his offer! He wanted everything to be okay and it was becoming very clear that it wasn't. He wanted to fix it but instead it appeared he was just making it all much, much worse. Stumbling back, Inuyasha cast a mournful glance at the miko who had begun to cry.

"Ka-Kagome? Please don't cry. I wasn't...I didn't mean..." Inuyasha pleaded softly as he reached out for her, withdrawing his hand like it burned when she flinched away from him. Cradling the hand softly, he swallowed thickly as he watched her slide down to the ground - sobbing almost hysterically.

"I really didn't...I was just...I..." Inuyasha mumbled miserably as he watched her bawl, "I just...I'm..."

"Kagome?!" Kaede suddenly called out, "Are ye alright child?"

Fighting back tears of his own, Inuyasha backed away quickly like a frightened animal before he launched into the forest without looking back. Everything was getting so out of hand. In those first few hours, sure he gloated and...and said some things he didn't actually mean because his mouth had a mind of its own. How many times had he said similar stupid shit before? It hurt - more than he'd like to admit - that she had taken him at his word. She should've known better. She should've...but she didn't. And yeah, sure, the beads had been humiliating, degrading, a sign to the world that he was dangerous, a way to control or punish him.,.but...but instead of proving to the world...to his...his friends - for he admitted to himself that was indeed what they were - that he was deserving of their trust...he instead proved that he was worthy of every 'sit' command that had ever left her mouth and more besides. In less than 24 hours, he'd managed to shatter their friendship into millions of shards. His own personal angst about the situation aside, three things became glaringly obvious as he ran through the trees.

He needed to fix this.

He needed to actually apologize.

He needed to let her go home...

And pray that she'd still come back.