Kagome stopped the defensive reaction in her chest when she caught a glimpse of him. Inuyasha's eyes were downcast but he rushed to walk closely next to her. His hands were gone inside his billowing sleeves and his silver hair kept hiding away the better half of his face.

Kagome opened her mouth to answer but hesitated. She twisted around to watch the others disperse a few feet behind her. With a small squeak, she turned back around.

"What's wrong…Inuyasha?"

Her heart started to threaten to rush loudly enough he'd hear it. She bit her lip until it turned a firm red and waited for the hanyou to respond.

His white ears had flattened to his head and his chin tilted down toward the grass.

It took a full minute for him to speak.

"Listen, I know we aren't at the best of terms but I don't want you fighting with me if we're really going to do this. Let me protect you and our son…"

She had to strain her ears to hear him, and without noticing, had come to a complete halt.

"Inuyasha."

"You know you fight me. You always run off and almost get yourself killed." He said persistently but his voice was still weak.

Kagome's heart panged.

Her mind instantly flashed to the last time she was here. The memory of jolts of pain struck her hard and she jerked her head to stare at the browning grass. Of course he would bring up that.

She internally chided herself for the bitter thoughts for him. It would make sense that he would eventually want to talk about that. Naraku did almost end everything for her and the only reason he got the chance was because she didn't trust Inuyasha in the first place. The more she fought with him, the more of an opening Naraku had to influence her. To twist her thoughts and make him seem like the hero.

Kagome frowned with the sudden darkening of her thoughts. And no matter how bitter she felt for the old bickering, a fog that had once been there was cleared in retrospect.

She drew herself back to reality.

"I know." She admitted. Inuyasha didn't react.

"I'll be careful, I promise. I don't want to hurt you anymore." She couldn't help but let her voice break a little.

Looking down toward the dirt, she caught a glimpse of his curled fist that had dropped to his side.

Kagome let out a breath. Her heart thudded so loudly in her ears, she couldn't hear her own thoughts. Being around him was starting to hurt her more than she thought it would.

Rationality begged her to continue walking toward the hut, to repress the dangerous sentimental feelings that kept stirring up.

But emotions started to win the battle. She almost pictured herself reaching out and grasping his hand. She swallowed loudly.

'Geez, Kagome, you're acting like a little school girl' She told herself.

But her cheeks lit up.

She just wanted to touch him.

Maybe then she'd be convinced he was really there.

"Kagome." His voice popped her back into reality. She lost her breath. There was something strange about it.

His eyes were closed. She was almost disconcerted when she couldn't see the amber irises.

"What?"

He took a few agonizing moments to answer. Kagome's heart kept pounding and she futilely tried to quash it. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling.

"Kagome," He tried again, "do you still love me?"

Kagome's breath fell away from her. She stared at his closed eyes and the face he fought to keep perfectly stoic. But his ears twitched, still almost flat, and he clenched his fists.

She opened her mouth and tried to form a word. But frozen, she almost faltered.

"Inuyasha," she finally whispered.

She let her mind run over it once. Did she still love him? Of course she still loved him. Her heart would never let her doubt it. But the sudden question took her out of left field. She struggled to grasp it.

"Inuyasha, of course I still love you." She forced herself to talk but it still felt like the words were almost silent.

Trying to steel her nerves, she reached out and snatched up his hand. Claws brushed over her knuckles but she ignored it, suddenly desperate for him to look at her.

Inuyasha didn't really open his eyes but he squeezed her hand gently.

And then something cold ran down her spine.

Inuyasha tore away from her, hand instantly grabbing his sword's hilt. He jerked his head around, desperately looking for something in the sky.

A growl reverberated through his chest.

"That bastard." He hissed and started to run past Kagome.

She gasped, twisting around to watch him go.

"Inuyasha!" She screamed but he ignored her.

She felt a jolt that usually meant a demon was near but his reaction disconcerted her. She snapped out of her momentary trance and started to run after him.

Inuyasha ripped the sword free of its hilt while he ran. Springing off the ground, he kept leaping toward where the scent had come from.

A growl kept up from deep in his chest where all the anger and anxiety had knotted. Rage made its way with the adrenaline through his limbs.

He landed on the dirt and looked toward the tree line. The Tetsusaiga gleamed as it dropped to rest on the ground.

Inuyasha tore his eyes up, searching.

In seconds, it landed upon the source of the scent he picked up.

Inuyasha snarled.

"What do you want, Sesshoumaru?"

~*~

A/N: Short? Yes, but this was a good place to break. Anyways, the future chapters will be longer. I'm just trying to get these chapters out at a quicker pace.