In his newly regained life, there were moments when InuYasha missed the numbness of the seal that Kikyou had placed upon him. At least the sleep the arrow had put him under was peaceful, free of the intense betrayal and hurt that had befallen InuYasha when the arrow had pierced his chest; feelings that had been released when Kagome had pulled out the arrow.

Now those feelings swirled anew within InuYasha's scarred heart, tearing open the wounds that the miko standing before him had healed, if only partially. But this hurt so much more, because it was Kagome who had hurt him so badly. Adding insult to injury was the fact that she didn't even know she was hurting him; to her, he was a monster, equal to a slavering youkai she might have met in the forest.

The white ears atop his head flattened to his scalp so totally it actually hurt, not that pain mattered to the hanyou at the moment. His eyes squeezed shut in an effort to conceal a sudden burning behind his dulling golden irises. His left hand clenched into a fist so tight that his claws pierced his palm, sending small streams of blood dripping from in between his fingers.

Kagome stared at him, confused as all hell. Of all the reactions she'd been expecting from him when she had shrieked that final sentence, this was not anything she'd been waiting for. Anger was the first reaction she'd expected. Indifference as the hanyou abandoned her in the forest, that was a theory, too.

But as soon as the words had left her lips, the hanyou had looked like he'd been slapped in the face. Then, like like smoke in the wind, the color had been leeched out of his golden eyes, reducing them to a dull parody of their former selves shortly before he'd closed his eyes, his black lashes dusting his cheeks in a gesture of...defeat? Stunned, she watched as his lips started to tremble, his hand clenching into a bloody fist, the ears atop his head flattening until they were no longer visible. What was this emotion on his face?

Kagome's mouth opened, shut, opened again, then closed again with a small snap. What could she say, when she didn't even know what had hurt him?

Slowly, she backed away, wondering if she should stay here with an upset hanyou or run away into the night and never have to deal with any youkai or hanyou again. Before Kagome could make the decision, however, the hanyou's right arm flashed out, catching her wrist with his clawed hand. His eyes opened in a glare that was probably meant to be menacing, but had lost its effect since his eyes were dull and emotionless.

"You're. Not. Going. Anywhere," he managed to grit out. His voice was thick with suppressed emotion-'Rage? Hatred?' Kagome wondered wildly, trying to tug her hand out of his grip.

"Let me go," she hissed frantically, heart pounding in her throat.

InuYasha exposed his fangs, letting out a sound that was halfway between a growl and a high pitched whine. "Baka onna," he said again, though the anger in his face was absent from his voice. "I am not letting go. Not now, not ever."

Kagome squirmed again, wincing slightly when his claws dug into her flesh. "But...but you can't hold me prisoner! I know what you want! He told me you want to kill me!"

As abruptly as the color had vanished from them, the gold rushed back into InuYasha's irises, sending them from dull topaz to bright amber in a split second. Kagome blinked at the change, then shrank away when she realized that the hanyou's eyes were enraged.

"Who, Kagome?" he growled; a true growl this time, vibrating in his throat and sending tingles down her arm. Kagome swallowed as she realized her mistake. In trying to 'negotiate' her escape, Kagome had accidentally revealed that which she had tried to keep hidden; her unintentional savior-the mysterious Naraku.

"Nobody," she lied feebly.

InuYasha didn't buy it; then again, Kagome told herself wryly, it hadn't worked last time she'd tried to lie, either. His teeth flashed in a snarl, eyes flashing as he pulled on her wrist, resulting in her chest smashing into his, his angry golden eyes boring into her bewildered brown eyes.

"Who. Told. You?" he snarled.

Kagome dithered, considered, then finally surrendered. "He t-t-told me his n-n-name was Naraku," she stuttered, trying to shrink into as much of a ball as possible while InuYasha still held her wrist.

If InuYasha had looked angry before, he looked absolutely livid now. The whites of his eyes flashed red for a split second as his pupils contracted to tiny slits. A ruthless growl erupted in his chest as the bloody fist at his side clenched impossibly tighter. "And you believed that worthless piece of shit?" he howled, his eyes burning with anger and that other unidentifiable emotion. "You BELIEVED him? How COULD you? How could you believe him and not us?"

Before Kagome could react, InuYasha's bloody left hand unclenched and flashed to her waist, tugging her against his chest as his other hand tightened about her wrist.

The shock was mind-numbing.

The hanyou, who was supposed to hate her guts and want her dead, was hugging her. Hugging her like she was the only woman on the face of the planet, burying his face in her shoulder, clutching at her wrist and waist.

"You trusted him, but you don't trust me," he mumbled, and Kagome finally understood the emotion in his voice. The word was simple enough, and yet it carried enough weight to cave in a mountain.

Betrayal.

"Um..." Kagome didn't know what to say. Everything about this hanyou was a confused jumble in her mind, the things Naraku had told and shown her and the things she was seeing with her own eyes battling for dominance.

InuYasha pulled away from her, letting her wrist go as he turned away from her, veiling his eyes with his lashes again. "Come on. We're going back to the others," he told her, his voice completely free of emotion.

Yes, this was definitely a time when InuYasha missed the numb of his fifty-year seal.