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Chapter 7

Kagome awoke to the distinct sounds of the village hustle and bustle. Adults were working, children were playing, and the leaves were glistening in the morning sun.

Kagome sat up, pushing the blankets towards the end of her futon. She rubbed her head, trying to rid herself of the pounding headache. Her temples were throbbing, and she could feel the migraine building behind her eyes.

'Great…this is the last thing I need. Why does my head hurt so much?'

The memories of the night before came flooding back to her in a flash. A single tear slid down her cheek unnoticed as she hugged her knees awkwardly to her chest.

'I feel like such a coward. I can't even be Kouga without freaking out, and he's my friend. What's wrong with me? Why can't I just seem to get over it? I feel like such a…hindrance.'

A crash in the other room alerted Kagome to the presence of another. A few seconds later, Kaede bustled into the room, arms laden in medicinal herbs. She strode to the other side of the room, and was almost done putting away herbs before the older miko noticed that Kagome was awake.

"Good morning, child. How do you feel?"

"N-not so good." Kagome averted her gaze from the curious older miko.

"Anything you would like to talk about, my child?" Kaede lurched her way over to Kagome's futon and sat down. She put a reassuring arm around Kagome's shoulder, a gesture that the younger miko appreciated.

"I-I just can't seem to…to put it out of my mind." Kagome spoke softly, looking at her bare feet. Kaede waited a couple of seconds, and spoke up when it became apparent that Kagome didn't intend to elaborate.

"Child, do you expect to be able to get over it overnight? It is like any other wound, it will take time."

"B-but I can't just…just put my life on hold because of this…childish fear." Kagome shivered involuntarily.

"But you also can't just expect to get over it overnight, either. Your friends are here to help you. They deeply care for you; they would listen to you. Especially Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha?" Kagome looked surprised.

"He cares for you more than you know, Kagome. He worries about you."

"That's just it. If I weren't such a…coward, he wouldn't have to worry about me."

Kaede sighed. "Kagome, you're not a coward. You're one of the strongest I have ever known. You're not a coward. You can do this. You'll make it through this."

Kagome smiled, the first real one in days. "Thanks, Kaede-chan. I really needed that."

Kaede stood up, stretching the kinks from her back. "Anytime, young Kagome-chan."

Kaede exited the room a few minutes later, mumbling something about nuisance village boys and their loud habits.

'Kaede's right. I can do this.' Kagome felt much better. She felt better than she had in days.

Kagome got up and left the hut, intent on finding a particular hanyou.

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The particular hanyou in question was sitting up in the Goshinboku, deep in thought.

'I told that fucking wolf not to touch her. If he hadn't touched her, she wouldn't have reacted that way. Damn motherfucking wolf, if only the wench would have let me get rid of him the first chance I had, then this wouldn't have happened.'

'You know that's not true,' a small voice in his head popped up. 'If you had only smelled her the moment she came through that well, none of this would have happened. If only you had full demon senses, this never would have happened. Kouga never would have let this happen…'

Inuyasha's thoughts were immediately cut off when a familiar scent reached his nose.

'Kuso, what is she doing out here?'

"Inuyasha? I know you're up there. Come down, I want to talk to you." Kagome shifted her feet uncomfortably. She had to get this off of her chest.

Inuyasha grumbled, a noise that sounded eerily like "Feh."

"Inuyasha," Kagome said warningly.

The tone in Kagome's voice caused Inuyasha's head to snap up painfully.

'She hasn't used that tone of voice since…' He didn't finish that thought. He immediately jumped down, landing in front of Kagome gracefully.

Kagome flinched, but didn't back down.

"I-I wanted to thank you. For saving me. For saving me from—"

"Feh." Inuyasha interrupted.

Kagome began to get angry. "No, I want to thank you. I really—"

"You have nothing to thank me for." Inuyasha yelled angrily. "I didn't save you. If I had saved you, he never—" Inuyasha couldn't even finish the sentence.

He settled for an angry "Feh."

Kagome came closer, and reached her hand up. She touched the side of Inuyasha's face gingerly.

"You did, Inuyasha. Without you, I would be lost. You have no idea." Kagome removed her hand from the side of Inuyasha's face and wrapped her arms around Inuyasha in a deep embrace.

Inuyasha was speechless. This certainly was the last thing he expected her to do. He expected her to be afraid, to hit him, run from him, anything. It was all his fault, she wasn't supposed to be hugging him.

She pulled away after a few moments.

"Tonight's your night, isn't it?" Kagome tilted her head questioningly.

Inuyasha grumbled inwardly. He had forgotten all about it.

"Yeah."

"Could we go…" Her voice hitched at this point, and she appeared to gather her courage for her next question. "Could we go shard hunting tomorrow?"

"W-what? No! You-you're still injured! You're not going anywhere."

Kagome could feel a bubble of anger, put pushed it back down. She had to do this. She had to.

"I'm fine."

"You can't shoot a bow like that!" Inuyasha angrily gestured to her broken arm.

"I don't need to shoot a bow to sense the jewel shards." This time Kagome couldn't keep the anger out of her voice.

"You need to shoot a bow to defend yourself." Inuyasha's voice mirrored Kagome's anger.

"That's what this is about, isn't it? I can't defend myself, so I'm useless?" Kagome's anger was quickly replaced by something else, something that Inuyasha couldn't guess at.

"No—"

"That's what this is about, though, isn't it? You think I can't defend myself anymore…" Her voice trailed off, and the smell of salt hit Inuyasha's nose in an instant. His heart dropped, and he mentally cursed himself.

He reached out and pulled her into a deep embrace.

"That's not what I meant at all…I'd just feel better if you could shoot your bow. I'd know you wouldn't be defenseless." Inuyasha rested his chin on the top of her hairline.

Kagome smiled inwardly. 'He's so cute when he acts this way…he reminds me of Souta.'

Suddenly, the image of her mom, Souta, and Jii-chan lying unconscious on the floor of her kitchen flooded her mind. She wrenched away from Inuyasha, a look of fear on her face.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha demanded, searching her face.

"My family…Naraku…" That was all he could get out of her before she broke down into sobs.

"What?" Realization dawned on him and he growled dangerously. "Did he—kill them?"

Kagome looked up uncertainly. "I-I don't know. We have to go check on them!"

"You're not going anywhere without me, wench. I'll take you back."

Inuyasha bent down and picked the hysterical miko up bridal style, and strode carefully towards the well. He jumped in, feeling the familiar blue light engulf the both of them.

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Inuyasha leapt from the well. He kicked the wellhouse door down, causing it to fly off of his hinges.

"Do-do you smell them?" A little voice piped up from his arms.

Inuyasha inhaled deeply.

"I smell your mom and Jii-chan, but not Souta."

Kagome immediately began to squirm.

"We have to go check on them!" She demanded, still squirming from her position in Inuyasha's arms.

"Don't worry." Inuyasha set her down, but held her shoulders firmly. "I want you to stay here, and run at any sign of trouble, okay?"

Kagome nodded, tears spilling over the lids of her eyes. She watched as Inuyasha climbed the tree outside her window, leaping inside like a cat.

'How ironic,' Kagome thought in spite of herself. 'A dog demon with the grace of a cat.'

A minute turned into two, two into five. Just when Kagome was about to bolt back into the wellhouse, the front door wrenched open, startling Kagome.

She whirled around, relieved to find a very hysterical Mrs. Higurashi rushing towards her.

Mrs. Higurashi embraced her daughter, almost knocking her to the ground with the mere force of it. Tears were streaming down her face.

"We were so afraid…afraid that we had lost you." Mrs. Higurashi managed to say through the tears.

"I'm here, Mama. Don't worry. I'm here now." Kagome glanced behind her mother, noticing Inuyasha standing on the porch. He shrugged his shoulders, as if to say 'Women.'

Mrs. Higurashi pulled away after a few minutes, wiping her eyes.

"Please, come into the house."

Kagome followed the older woman into the house, thankful that she had such a wonderful, caring mother.

Inuyasha sat with Kagome at the table, while Mrs. Higurashi made some tea.

"Please," Mrs. Higurashi's voice hitched at this point. "Tell me what happened."

Kagome took a deep breath. She told her mom everything. About how she came home, found them in the kitchen. When she woke up in Naraku's grasp, but she decidedly left out most of the time in Naraku's castle. She told her about being rescued, then coming back to check up on her family.

Mrs. Higurashi listened. By the time Kagome was finished, she had made up her mind.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to go back there again, Kagome. Not after what's happened. I forbid it." Mrs. Higurashi said, a tear sliding down her face.

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