I was a bit sad to see that I only got four reviews for the last chapter, but I guess I can't complain. I did wait forever to update, and didn't even have the decency to leave a nice note in the update. My apologies.

Yes this is a bit short, but I needed to add this to complete this section so we can move on. I hope you enjoy, but not too much. Don't worry, the angst will still be there, but not for TOO much longer.

Leaving Part 2: Independent

Kagome cried softly, letting the warm water of the shower wash the tears from her face. She wrapped her arms around her thin frame, clutching onto herself for support.

'Why does this have to be so hard? I shouldn't have even said anything, I should have just left.'

Kagome shook her head, clutching herself tighter.

'No, he would have caught me. I never would have made it to the door.'

Her crying increased, the pain of spilling out her heart to him increasing again.

"Why?"she whimpered, softly. "Why did you hurt me? Why did you even mate me?"

The shower continued to rain on her, drowning out the sound of her tears.

"Why do I still love you so much?"

She trembled under the warm water, trying to get a hold of her control again.

'I can't keep crying like this. I need to finish so I can leave. Hopefully he hasn't done anything to my bags since I came in here to shower.'

She sniffled a bit more but went back to bathing, letting the soapy sponge scrub her skin thoroughly. She wanted to wash away as much of Inuyasha's scent as possible.

'If I can just get out of here, I'll be okay. Leaving is going to be the hardest part.'

Kagome finished up in the shower and dried herself before stepping back into their bedroom. Her suitcase was still intact and full, looking as if no one tampered with it. Kagome sighed in relief and began to get dressed.

By the time she made it down the steps, it was almost midday. She took each step slowly, not knowing where Inuyasha had gone and not wanting to have an unnecessary confrontation. The suitcase was large also, and she would usually have his help with it when she carried things like that, so she didn't want to fall down the steps and gain anymore unwanted attention.

When she reached the bottom of the steps she looked around for Inuyasha. She spotted him in front of the computer, standing with his back to her.

Confused, Kagome wondered if she should say anything before she left. She didn't want him to say anything to her; she already felt her tenacity slowly breaking again.

But as she continued to stare at his tense body from by the steps, she decided she should say something. She couldn't just leave.

"Inu… I'm going now," she said almost inaudibly, knowing he could hear her. "I may have to come back for a few things, but that will probably be tomorrow so…"

He still hadn't turned around. He didn't move a muscle.

"So… I guess I'm going…"

Kagome became frustrated now, suddenly wanting him to say something instead of just letting her go.

"We can figure the other stuff out later… like who's going to pay the bills…"

'I'm rambling now… come on Inuyasha, say something!'

Kagome frowned when he still gave no physical or vocal response.

"Fine then," she said, sighing impatiently. "Goodbye, Inuyasha."

She gripped her suitcase and headed for the front door. She opened it with her free hand and turned to look at Inuyasha one more time. Her frown deepened and she went out of the door, unconsciously leaving it open.

She climbed inside her small, silver car after putting her suitcase in the trunk, fighting the tears that came with her anger and frustration. She shoved the key into the ignition and started the car.

"That bastard," she mumbled. "Didn't even have the decency to-"

She saw a blur on her left in the direction of the house and she turned to see Inuyasha standing in the middle of the yard.

She gasped as she looked up the see the monitor to the computer above his head.

He stood there, staring at her for a moment, his eyes slightly red from crying, and mouth set in a firm line, his body visibly trembling. Kagome could have gasped at the intense emotion she saw in his eyes. It was hard not to drown in the love and desperation that she saw there.

'Inuyasha… '

Then, without warning, he threw the computer into the street. The force of the impact caused the machine to shatter into several pieces, sending glass and wiring all over the paved road.

Kagome clutched her shirt against her chest, trying to calm her heart.

Inuyasha turned and looked at her again, his eyes still holding that same emotion. "I love you," he mouthed to her.

Kagome sat there, feeling a fresh wave of tears drown her vision. When she could no longer see his face clearly, she blinked and turned around, put the car in reverse, backed out of the driveway, and sped away.

Kagome collapsed in the couch, shaking with tears. "You should have seen his face, Toshi… he was so upset… he said… he said he loved me…"

Toshiko came and sat beside her friend, rubbing her arms and trying to comfort her. "But you know he was just trying to get you to stay, right? He's scared of losing his maid so he starts begging. It's what any desperate person would do."

Kagome shook her head slowly. "I don't know... I've never seen him like that before-"

"Because he's never thought he was going to lose everything good in his life!" Toshiko interrupted, giving her a stern look. "Until you came along he didn't have much to lose."

Kagome shook her head harder. "No… no he had Kikyo-"

"But, he didn't really love her!"

"Yes, he did, but he said he loved me more."

"Come on, Kagome. He was just-"

"Just stop! Stop it! I didn't come here to… to be…"her sobs began to overtake her speech, making her words incoherent. She felt Toshiko's arms tighten around her and she tried to move away. "Just leave me alone."

Those arms lingered for a short moment before she felt them reluctantly leave her. Then she felt a weight leave the couch and heard footsteps going in the opposite direction. She turned her body to curl up in the sofa, pulling her legs under her.

'It didn't have to be like this, Inuyasha! Why did you have to change? Why didn't you just tell me no so we could stay in the Feudal Era? We never should have come here.'

She continued to sob into the soft cushions of the chair, teetering on losing her self control.

'I feel so much weaker without him near…'

She suddenly sat up with a gasp. 'Wait… he's close…'

Suddenly, the door flew off the hinges and face down in the entry way. Kagome jumped off the couch just in time to be rushed by an equally emotional hanyou. He embraced her almost painfully tight. Kagome's arms stayed at her side; she was still in too much shock to react.

"What the hell?!"

She looked over Inuyasha's shoulder to see Toshiko and Hiroshi standing in the room staring at the door and back at Inuyasha. "You're paying for that, half demon!" Toshiko roared.

Kagome flinched at her choice of words. "Toshi-"

"Did you hear me, dogboy?!" Toshiko roared, stalking over to the embracing couple.

Oddly enough, Inuyasha said nothing. He just stood there with his arms wound around Kagome's stiff body, his face burried in his favorite spot in the crook of her neck.

"You had better say something, you bastard, or I'll-"

"Toshiko!" Hiroshi interrupted. "That's enough! We're going to give them to time to talk."

"In our house?" Toshiko raged, spinning to face her mate. "Are you kidding?! I'm not leaving that idiot alone with Kagome while he's breaking shit!"

Hiroshi grabbed her arm roughly and began pulling her toward their bedroom. "He's not going to hurt her and you know that, Toshiko. I can't say the same for the two of us right now though."

Toshiko seemed to disregard his last statement. "Nothing stopped him from hurting her before!"

Inuyasha did flinch at that comment, but stayed silent.

"I won't say it again, mate," Hiroshi said in a low voice, glaring at Toshiko. She seemed to get the message then and followed him into their room, glaring in their direction the whole way.

It was silent for a while after they left. Kagome began to feel uncomfortable and was about to pull away from him when he whispered, "You can't leave me, koi."

She sighed, feeling the tears build up again. She never thought it would be so hard. He hurt her so much, she thought it would be a clean get away.

'This would be so much easier if we were both human,' she thought drearily.

"Please don't leave me, Kagome." His body trembled a bit and she could feel the emotion coming from him. She felt wetness on her shoulder.

'He's… crying?'

"Inu…" she reached up and tried to push him away, but he wouldn't let go. "Look at me, mate."

He was still for a moment, but he gradually pulled back. He kept his eyes closed and his head down.

"Look at me."

He opened his blood-shot eyes and lifted his head.

"You need to understand something, Inuyasha. I am not a girl anymore. I may be yours, but I'm mine too. And I have to do this… for me. As a woman. If you let it, it can be for you too. I need to reevaluate why I mated you. Maybe you should do the same."

Inuyasha's face contorted in pain a bit. "I know why I mated you, Kagome. I know why I married you."

"Obviously not if we are like this, Inu. Didn't you say not too long ago that you regretted mating me? Do you even realize what you put me through, mentally? I was starting to believe that my only purpose in life really was your happiness, that if you didn't have what you wanted and needed every second of the day I was failing somehow as your mate. And the sad part was that you were okay with that. What kind of man is okay with that?"

"You have to give me another chance, Kagome," he whispered, shaking her a bit. "Don't leave!"

Kagome shook her head. "Don't you get it? That's what this is! Another chance. An opportunity we both need to find ourselves again. Figure out where to go from here. Figure out if we really want to be married."

Inuyasha was silent for a moment, looking into her eyes. "Do you want to be married?"

Kagome gazed right back at him, trying to search her heart for the right answer. "I… I can't say I know, Inuyasha. I'm feeling too betrayed right now."

Inuyasha's grip tightened around her for a moment and his chin fell to his chest. He seemed to be trying to gather his emotions. He cleared his throat before he spoke again. "So, uh… so when can I see you again?"

Kagome sighed. "I'll see you. Please don't try to visit." Kagome glanced at Toshiko's bedroom. "I don't think you're very welcome here right now."

He nodded slowly. "I, uh… I guess I'll see you later then?"

Kagome nodded, trying to make sure she didn't start to cry again.

"Okay…" he let go of her, never looking into her eyes, and started toward what was left of the door. He stopped by the doorway, his head still down. "Tell the fox that I'll write them a check for the damage."

"O-okay…" Kagome muttered, trying to recall if their budget could pay for it.

"Kagome?"

She was silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I do love you. I just… I've never been able to show you the right way."

He then strode out the door, taking part of her sorrow with him.

"You did… once…"

I don't know... I'm not really satisfied... are you? Tell me what you think.