Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

A/N: For fun, I'm going to point something out. I'm sure you guys noticed the whole "Sesshoumaru gets pinned to the wall by a spear vs. Inuyasha pinned to a tree by an arrow" thing. I apologize for making you guys wait. Enjoy the story.

~~The Sleeping Prince~~

Chapter 8

Kagome woke up alone and confused. It took her a couple minutes to remember that she was in the world beyond the well. She had dreamed of home, of her mother. Like so many other nights, she dreamed of her father- of the stories he had told her when she was a child. She wanted to remember more about the story of the sleeping prince. There was a chance that something in the story could help her out here. The only thing she knew for certain was that a kiss could really break a curse. It had worked on Inuyasha, so surely it would work on the other brother as well.

Kagome had always dreamed that she would be the one to awaken the prince, and having done so they would live happily ever after. How foolish she felt now. A kiss wasn't something romantic in this situation. For whatever reason, it was only a way to break curses. Not only that, but there was no way that she could abandon her mother to stay in this place. Once the prince was freed, and the world was returned to it's peaceful self she would return home. Alone. The prince would stay here to rule the land as his father had before him of course. As for Kouga and Inuyasha, surely they would be rewarded for helping to save this world and it's ruler. Kouga could return to his family- victorious- and they would be proud of him. He would find a nice female wolf demon and have a family. She thought of his grin and shook herself from her thoughts.

"Kouga? Inuyasha?" Kagome called.

"Oh, you're awake." Inuyasha answered, entering the hut.

"Yea, I thought you guys had left me." Kagome confessed, getting up to straighten her clothing.

"Well I haven't left you." Inuyasha frowned.

"What do you mean? Kouga… left?" She asked. Inuyasha nodded, watching the emotions play across her face.

"He went back to his pack, or whatever." He assured her. Kagome frowned, confused.

"He said he'd meet us there, at the lake. The priest apparently lives close to where Kouga grew up." Inuyasha explained.

"Oh… Well we should get going then." Kagome shrugged.

Kagome reached for the travel bag but Inuyasha grabbed it first. Tossing the bag over his shoulder, the demon strolled out of the hut. Kagome raised an eyebrow at him, but let him carry the bag. Holding her staff lightly at her side, Kagome followed the dog demon into the sunlight. Kagome couldn't help worrying about Kouga, but she tried to push it to the back of her mind. He was a strong demon and didn't need her worrying about him. Inuyasha was frowning at her again. With a small laugh Kagome grinned at him and gestured for him to lead the way. The dog demon sniffed the air and followed the faint scent the wolf demon had left behind. Kagome tried to avoid all the questions she wanted to ask, but it seemed as though her silent staring was annoying the demon more than anything.

"What?" He growled.

"Nothing… Well, do all dog demons have ears like that?" Kagome asked, staring at his dog ears atop his head. Inuyasha looked away.

"My mother wasn't a demon. For whatever reason, I look like this because I'm a half-breed." Inuyasha spat out.

"Oh… She was a human, then? Half-breed sounds like a bad word. You know… like racist or something." Kagome said innocently.

"Feh. What would you call it?" Inuyasha asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Hmm, ah. The best of both worlds. You are a… hybrid!" She exclaimed.

Inuyasha stopped walking and simply stared at her. He would have accused her of being stupid and trying to hard to be nice but he could see that she meant it. He frowned at her as she continued walking. When Kagome noticed that Inuyasha had stopped walking she stopped and turned back to face him with a smile. Her smile faltered and she bit her lip in worry. Had she said the wrong thing and upset him? He cleared his throat and looked away from her before continuing to walk past her.

"Stupid human." He grumbled insincerely. Kagome smiled and walked alongside him.

"Mmm, human. So tasty. Me tasssste." Came a voice from the trees.

"Get yer own human!" Inuyasha yelled to the demon. Kagome slapped him.

"Inuyasha!" She gasped.

"What?" He frowned. With a sigh, he took the travel bag from his shoulder and tossed it to the ground. He drew a sword from his side and Kagome's eyes widened. She hadn't even noticed that the demon was carrying a weapon. Very observant, Kagome.

"Alright, come it get it ugly." Inuyasha sounded bored.

"I will have the human." The demon hissed, jumping to land in front of Kagome. Inuyasha stepped in front of the priestess, blocking her from view.

"Look, ugly, you're messing with the wrong damn human." With that Inuyasha swung his sword, sending the demon flying. The lizard demon clutched it's wounded abdomen and stared in shock as he coughed up blood. Kagome's eyes widened as the demon fell over, dead.

"Oh wow. Not much of a demon, was he?" She asked. Inuyasha shrugged.

"I shouldn't have used my sword. Could've used a bit of a fight." He said as he sheathed his weapon.

"Speaking of fights, how was Kouga when he left? He was pretty hurt." She said.

"Keh. Stupid wolf demon isn't as weak as you think. He'll be fine." Inuyasha told her.

"He's not stupid or weak." Kagome defended. "I'm just glad you didn't use your sword on him."

She looked back at the dead lizard demon one last time before continuing on. Inuyasha threw the travel bag back over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. His ears perked up when he heard Kagome whispering something. She appeared to be whispering a prayer for the other demon's safety. When Kagome noticed she was being watched by Inuyasha- who was wearing a strange expression- she smiled.

"I think I'll keep my prayer for you to myself." She joked. Inuyasha frowned, embarrassed at being caught eavesdropping on her prayers.

"I don't need any prayers." He said.

Kagome's only response was a smile, which Inuyasha chose to ignore.

A/N: : Hope you liked it! I wasn't sure if I was going to have Inuyasha be a half-demon in my story, but I had to. The next chapter is probably gonna be long. ^_^