A/N: Darlings, darlings, darlings. You all are so faithful to me, waiting months and months for updates as I ruin my life with six AP tests and finals and graduating high school and the like. But I love you all. Thank you for your messages and reviews. They keep me going.

I will finish this story. I promise you all that. But reminders and bothering me to update don't go amiss. Sometimes I just need to remember to write.

Many thanks to Dave for betaing again!

Elements

Chapter 14

An odd, ragtag group of people walked (or stalked, for some of them) through the trees. The group was silent, save for the crunching of leaves and twigs underfoot and the small sighs of the youngest. A man and a woman exchanged a glance, before the man spoke up.

"It's getting late," he said conversationally, perfectly polite. "And it seems that Shippo is getting rather tired. Kagome-sama, do you think we could stop soon for the night?"

The girl made a non-committal noise, stalking on, eyes never deviating from the path in front of her, clearly indicating that no, she didn't care what they did for the night and she didn't care to deign to bother with such trivial things right now, as she was much too busy ignoring the hanyou who stalked on at her side.

The monk tried again. "InuYasha, can we stop soon for the night? It's going to get dark soon."

The half-demon only answered with a snarl.

Miroku sighed. It'd been like this since the night before, since InuYasha had lost the fight. InuYasha had refused to speak to Kagome, who'd been too exhausted and annoyed to do anything about it. Miroku had hoped the two would come to some sort of an agreement in the morning, only to watch, aghast, as the two cleaned up, packed everything away, and set off again without exchanging a word, never so much as looking at each other.

Miroku bit his lip. They'd been carrying on like this all day, silently simmering. It was unlike Kagome to not try and make up with her friends. But it was even more unlike InuYasha to have not snapped and started yelling yet.

"I'm tired!" a little voice piped up.

Sango sighed from beside Miroku. "We're all tired, Shippo," she said quietly. "Whining about it won't help anything."

Shippo scowled but fell silent. There was a silence.

"Of course," Kagome said from in front of them, "if someone hadn't insisted we get on the road before dawn, we wouldn't all be so tired."

InuYasha prickled visibly, his ears reddening in anger. Sango and Miroku exchanged a worried look, but the party lapsed into silence once again.

Walk. Walk. Stomp. Tread. Walk. Walk. Walkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalk-

"I'm hungry!" Shippo complained.

"We're all hungry, Shippo," Miroku said, reminded once again that they were, in fact, traveling with a child, despite the bushy tail. "We'll get you something to eat when we stop for the night."

"But I'm hungry now," the kitsune said petulantly. Sango sent him a warning look, and the party fell quiet once more, save the rustling of the leaves.

"Though..."

Sango and Miroku looked up quickly, but InuYasha kept walking, eyes straight ahead, as if he hadn't said anything at all.

"-If someone hadn't idiotically insisted we eat soggy leftover vegetables for lunch and made ramen instead, we wouldn't be this hungry."

Kagome's hand tightened on her bow, her knuckles white. Sango bit her lip, and Miroku silently prayed that the tenuous peace would last.

They could do this. Why, there was bound to be a clearing soon. Kagome and InuYasha could duke it out there, after everyone had eaten. Or before they had eaten, even. He wouldn't be opposed to a little extra dinner as a silent apology for the overly stressful day...

"My feet hurt!" Shippo complained. "I can still feel the rocks stabbing them!"

Miroku and Sango both whirled around to glare at Shippo, only Kagome was already speaking.

"Well, if some moron hadn't made us all walk through the quarry instead of taking the path around it like civilized people, no one's feet would be hurt."

A vein pulsed in InuYasha's temple. "If someone wasn't such a weakling," he snapped, "we'd have been able to go over the quarry just fine and we wouldn't have had to change plans and climb down the jagged cliff instead."

"Funny," Kagome said, cocking her head, still not looking at the hanyou. "I thought this weakling just creamed you in a fight."

InuYasha jerked violently, his face contorting with loathing. "You little-" he snarled, finally looking at Kagome, venom in his eyes. "If you hadn't-"

"Oh, look!" Miroku interrupted loudly, pointing. "A clearing, just up ahead! It's a great place to set up camp for the night, don't you think, Sango?"

"Oh, yes!" Sango said, seizing the opportunity to help diffuse the situation. "There's even a patch of bare ground to make a fire on! How fortunate! Shippo, help me clean out the rest of the grass?"

InuYasha shifted, grumbling to himself, but otherwise fell silent, and Kagome carried on, leading them to the clearing with as much grace and dignity and poise as ever.

"We're here."

Miroku sighed, rubbing his temples. Hopefully, now that the trial of the journey was over for the day, they could all relax a little and forget their gripes.

Kagome and InuYasha, however, seemed to have other ideas.

When Kagome gathered up the firewood for the evening, she "accidentally" dropped it into InuYasha's lap.

InuYasha retaliated by hiding her backpack in a tree.

Kagome sweetly responded that since she seemed to have misplaced her backpack, they'd all have to eat more leftover vegetables and the stale fish that Kirara was carrying.

InuYasha quickly refound the backpack.

Really, Miroku thought as he watched InuYasha struggle with matches, only to scramble backwards, glaring, as Kagome conjoured a bright fire with a snap of her fingers. He'd never seen the miko be so passive-aggressive. Usually, the priestess just yelled and stomped and stormed about when she fought, but at least she got the issues out in the open then.

Miroku wasn't sure if this method of handling things was more juvenile or more mature.

"Shippo," Kagome said. "Ask InuYasha to pass me my backpack, will you?"

Shippo blinked, confused.

"But InuYasha's right there," he pointed out. "Why don't you just ask-"

"Please, Shippo?"

Obedient, Shippo trotted over to InuYasha, oblivious to his red-tipped ears.

"Kagome wants you to pass her her backpack," he said.

"Is that so?" InuYasha said nastily, shooting a dark look at Kagome's back. "Well, Shippo, tell Kagome that if she wants her backpack so damned badly, she can come over and get it herself."

Trotting back over, Shippo tugged lightly on the bottom of Kagome's skirt.

"Kagome," he said. "InuYasha said to tell you that you can get your bag yourself."

"Did he now?" Kagome said, not deviating from her task. "Tell InuYasha he's an immature bastard who can't get over the fact that he lost to a girl, will you?"

"InuYasha," Shippo said, weary. "Kagome said-"

"I KNOW what she said-!!"

By the time they were all seated in a circle eating their ramen, things had grown more tense than before. Sango kept looking around, ever wary, ready to bail should they start fighting, while Miroku seemed resigned to the inevitable, placing his staff defensively in front of him as he ate. Shippo knew something was obviously wrong, and as such had opted to go over and eat by Kirara, while Kagome and InuYasha ate silently, Kagome maintaining her cold dignity, InuYasha silently fuming.

The unstable silence lasted until everyone had finished their dinner, when the girls were packing the things away.

"It's lovely weather out, isn't it, Sango?"

"It certainly is, Kagome-chan."

"It's just the type of weather that makes one forget about all their worries and cares and irate hanyous who are being immature and not talking about their issues with their friends and instead storming about pretending to be all tough and manly by being psychologically inept to express themselves-"

"ALL RIGHT, KAGOME!" InuYasha yelled, leaping up, eyes flashing. "Do you have an issue with me?"

Kagome feigned surprise.

"Why, InuYasha," she said, shocked. "I thought it was you who had the issue with me?"

"Cut your bull!" he snapped, glaring. "You've been pulling this shit all day-"

"Maybe I wouldn't have had to 'pull this shit' if you hadn't been such a baby yesterday and just told me what was bothering you-"

"You fought me!" he yelled, incensed. "We had a fight-"

"-that was a legitimate duel to help me improve," Kagome finished, standing up. "Don't tell me you're still upset about that?"

"Damn right I'm upset about it!" InuYasha snarled. "You brought fucking Sesshomaru into that place and fought me just because he told you to-"

"Oh, so this is about Sesshomaru, again, is it?" Kagome said snidely. "I'm not quite sure why you have such an ego-issue with your brother, InuYasha, but if you haven't noticed-"

"He's a ruthless killer!" InuYasha screamed, and Shippo ran for cover under Kirara. "He's an evil murderer! He kills humans for fun! And maybe you haven't noticed, but he's tried to kill us!"

"He hasn't tried to kill anyone for a while, and you've tried to kill him, too," Kagome said calmly. "If anything, he's more than atoned for that by helping us in our quest against Naraku-"

"Don't you dare bring Naraku into this!" InuYasha dismissed with a snort. "You don't care that he's after Naraku too! All you care about is you two and your stupid buddy-buddy lesson-thing you have going on!"

"And what if I do? I'm becoming less of a burden to you, aren't I?" Kagome said coldly, her eyes suddenly made of ice. "I thought that was what you wanted, and if I need to get help from Sesshomaru to accomplish it-"

"Goddamnit, Kagome, you were never a burden!" InuYasha's eyes flared, incensed with anger, but now also with pain, his voice betraying him. "It's just- why do you have to keep going to him, why can't you ask Kaede for help-"

"You know Kaede can't help me with this, InuYasha! She flat-out told us she has no idea what's going on!"

"Then you can figure it out on your own, or ask Miroku-"

"I've been trying, InuYasha! Last time I tried to handle it on my own, I nearly purified you!"

"So we'll try harder! We're all in this together, and-"

"That's why I can't keep endangering you! I have to master this, and if it takes going to Sesshomaru for help-"

"Goddamnit, Kagome!!" InuYasha yelled, seizing her by the upper arm, his eyes blazing. "Can't you see it's me you're supposed to depend on?!"

InuYasha yanked her towards him, crashing his lips onto hers in a heated kiss, Kagome's eyes widening. Sango gasped as Shippo oohed, only to watch as she slammed her heel into InuYasha's foot, making him yelp and his grip loosen, allowing Kagome to forcibly wrench herself out of InuYasha's embrace.

"Ow! What the hell, Kagome-??"

InuYasha hopped around, clutching his foot, before realizing that she hadn't responded, turning to look at the girl. He froze.

"...K-Kagome, ah, look, I didn't-"

"Don't you dare," Kagome said dangerously, her eyes glinting. "Don't you even fucking dare."

InuYasha swallowed. "Don't I dare what?" he sneered, but it lacked the usual malice.

"You made your choice," Kagome said curtly, her words coated with venom. "You dragged me along on an emotional roller coaster for years, you decided you'd rather have your old flame, you decided to end the chance of anything else we might have had-"

"Kagome," InuYasha said, pleading. "Don't tell me you're still on about that-"

"You can't just undo the past!" she screeched, making InuYasha wince. "You go off with Kikyo at every new moon, kissing and rolling around and whatnot, and then you come back and expect me to take you back with open arms? You've made your choice, and I've made mine to move on! I'm not some whore for you to mess around with when you want to, I'm a person too!"

"Kagome," InuYasha said, his tone desperate. "Kagome, I know you're not- I never meant to treat you like- I didn't- I wouldn't-"

"Fuck you," Kagome spat.

She whirled around, storming off into the forest without another word.

There was a silence.

"That could have gone better," Miroku said conversationally.

InuYasha just groaned.

"What was I supposed to say?" InuYasha said, slumping down onto the ground. "What's she want me to say? She can't honestly think I'd be okay with her cavorting around with my brother-"

"I don't think she thinks you have any right to say anything about the fact," Sango said, quietly cleaning up. "You surrendered that right when you chose Kikyo over her."

"But she's still mine," InuYasha argued. "It's not like I-"

"No, InuYasha," Sango said quietly. "She's still your friend, but she's not yours."

There was a silence.

"Soul skimmers," Shippo said suddenly, pointing up, and they all looked up at the eerie incandescent eels weaving through the trees. Miroku and Sango turned to look at InuYasha, who squirmed.

"W-Well, it's not like Kagome's coming back tonight, so-"

"You could go after her," Miroku said neutrally.

"Y-Yeah, but she's always going on about how she's strong enough to take care of herself now anyways, so-"

"You didn't seem to agree with that fact at all before," Sango observed.

"Yeah, but-" InuYasha fished for words. "Look- I'll be back in a couple days, alright? Just- don't tell Kagome-"

Sango raised an eyebrow as InuYasha raced off through the trees in another direction, following the soul stealers, his legs betraying his anticipation. They watched until he disappeared into the underbrush, and the clearing fell silent once more.

"You'd think he'd have realized Kagome's made peace with him and Kikyo," Sango said, rolling out the sleeping bags. "He's the only thing holding her back, now. She's let go."

"But it's hard for a man to admit that," Miroku pointed out. "Every guy wants to think that a woman will always be there for him and only want him. It's a blow to the ego to realize that a woman might want someone else, too."

Sango raised an eyebrow at him. "Someone's wise tonight," she remarked, skeptical.

Miroku grinned, opening his arms welcomingly. "I can be much more tonight, too, if you let me," he promised, eyes dancing.

"Don't push your luck, monk," Sango snorted, dismissive, but Miroku couldn't hep but smirk as he caught the tell-tale blush on the side of her face.

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The nerve of him! Kagome thought as she stormed through the forest. I'm allowed to be my own person! He's just got an ego complex with his brother and the fact he lost that stupid fight...

Despite her anger, Kagome felt a tendril of pride. She'd kept control of her emotions, despite her rage.

Maybe that fight did more than make everyone upset, after all...

Kagome sighed, pausing to listen as snippets of InuYasha and Sango's conversation floated to her on the breeze. She raised an eyebrow as InuYasha ran after Kikyo, and couldn't help but snort to herself as she stalked on.

"Going after her right after he- just who does he think he is-"

"Let me guess: the hanyou has done something again."

Kagome jerked, startled, looking up into a nearby tree to see Sesshomaru, peering down at her, one eyebrow delicately arched.

"You should be more aware of your surroundings, Kagome," he commented.

"And you should know better than to sneak up on people," she huffed. Sesshomaru smirked.

"If you're unaware of what's going on around you, you must be upset," he remarked, smoothly descending from the tree. "If you'd like, I can offer companionship and an ear for your anger."

"You're offering to hear a girl complain?" Kagome said, skeptical, but she felt her ire rapidly dissipating with the appearance of the taiyoukai. "You're either immensely masochistic, or you've got something up your sleeve."

"I assure you, it is only the utmost desire to make you feel better that motivates me in this," Sesshomaru said, maintaining a straight face.

Kagome raised an eyebrow, not buying it.

"-that, and I want to hear what the idiot hanyou did this time."

Kagome laughed slightly, more of her anger receding. "That's better."

"Whatever," Sesshomaru said, waving a hand airily. "Shall we go for a walk? My camp is this way."

"If you insist," she said amicably, falling into step beside him.

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It'd been sheer luck that he'd found Kagome. Any idiot with halfway decent hearing could figure out she and the hanyou were fighting, but he hadn't been close enough to hear the content of the argument or to figure out where she'd stormed off to.

Sesshomaru has opted to try and intercept her to figure out what was wrong. He'd expected some sort of backlash from the night before, especially when InuYasha had refused to speak and had glared at him until he'd excused himself from the house, but he'd quietly hoped that it would just intensify InuYasha's hatred of him and that he wouldn't take it out on Kagome.

It bothered him, to realize he didn't want InuYasha to upset Kagome again, but it was reasonable enough, given the pain he'd experienced trying to help her last time the hanyou had upset her.

Kagome seemed alright, now, though, Sesshomaru thought, examining her thoughtfully in the dark as the two walked on. She'd calmed down when she'd seen him, almost as if she couldn't stay angry at the hanyou around him. Sesshomaru wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but it seemed to mean that he cheered her up enough she forgot all negative emotions for a time.

She was happy now, though. She was smiling slightly as they walked through the darkened trees, making their way through the pitch black-

It was pitch black. There was no light. Sesshomaru abruptly realized the light from Kagome's campfire had long since receded, and instinctively seizing her hand, Sesshomaru tried to apologize.

"I forgot humans can't- powerful youkai can see in the dark, so I forgot that-"

Kagome laughed, and Sesshomaru paused.

"If you'd paused to think, you'd have noticed I was carrying on fine," Kagome said, amused, and Sesshomaru blinked.

Wait... she had been, hadn't she?

"I can see in the dark," she commented, answering his unspoken question. "It probably has something to do with the whole light-dark thing. It'd explain why you can see fine, too. But thanks for worrying."

"This Sesshomaru was not worrying," he said stiffly. "If you got hurt and bled, this Sesshomaru would have a mess on his hands when InuYasha found out, and Rin would-"

Kagome laughed again, quietly.

"It's okay, you know," she said, squeezing his hand lightly. "You're allowed to worry for me."

To his horror and embarrassment, Sesshomaru felt his face heat up, and he cursed himself, looking away, hoping that Kagome couldn't see that well in the dark.

"It's right over here," he said quickly, and, stepping over a log, led her into a spacious clearing he had found.

A fire was dying in the center, embers smoldering half-heartedly, just enough to keep them warm. Nearby, Rin was curled up under a quilt, and Jaken was sprawled a short ways away, snoring lightly, mumbling in his sleep every so often. The clearing was flat, connecting the forest to the plains, and Sesshomaru was pleased to see Kagome's quiet smile of approval.

"Nice," she said quietly. "I always hate sleeping under the trees. The dew from the leaves always falls all over the place in the morning."

Sesshomaru led her over to the other side of the fire, guiding her to sit down as he sat down himself. He fanned the fire slightly, frowning as he tried to get the embers to ignite a new log. Kagome smiled and leaned over, and the log suddenly caught as she touched it, before she moved back again.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, and she grinned at him, sticking out her tongue. Suddenly possessed with the odd urge to bite it, he gestured to his ward.

"Rin and Jaken are heavy sleepers," he told her. "We needn't worry about waking them with our chatter."

"They're sweet," Kagome said, smiling over at them. "Look at Jaken; he's positioned like he fell asleep watching over her – he's even still holding that staff-"

"Yes, yes, very sweet, how adorable, and all that rot," Sesshomaru said, rolling his eyes. Kagome laughed, and he refocused his eyes on her once more. "We are not here to talk about my ward and my retainer, though. You were going to tell me about what InuYasha did tonight."

Immediately, Kagome's light-hearted mood changed and she stiffened, cold anger seeping into her limbs.

"The nerve of him," she hissed, and promptly launched into her tale.

Sesshomaru was somewhat surprised as he listened. He'd never thought the hanyou could go a whole day without talking or yelling or making a nuisance of himself, and it was fairly difficult to believe he hadn't just whipped out his sword and started threatening people with it. It was amusing, though, to hear about Kagome's snide comments and mean tricks she used to bait him, goading him into talking to her once more, so they could finally have the proper fight they'd been building to all day.

"-And, of course, it was all about you, and InuYasha blew a gasket, of course, and started doing stupid things-"

"It was about me?" Sesshomaru interrupted, truly curious. Kagome nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Of course. You're all we've been fighting about recently. It's getting quite boring, actually. Kagome, he's evil, he'll hurt you, he makes me feel small and insignificant, he made fun of me as a baby, wahh wahh wahh blah blah blah-"

Sesshomaru snickered at her whiny imitation of his half-brother. "I see what you mean."

"No kidding." Kagome nodded, sighing, hugging her legs to her chest. Sesshomaru looked at her, before tilting his head.

"Kagome," he said, pausing, and she looked up at him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but- if you've been arguing about this frequently, why was this argument any different?"

"Ah." Kagome's face took on a more dismal note. "Tonight, we got to the bottom of why he has such an issue in the first place."

Sesshomaru was careful with his reply. "Oh?"

"Yeah. He was all 'I'm supposed to protect you!' and 'You're only supposed to depend on me!' and-"

"-that's different than what you thought before?"

Kagome sighed.

"Not really, but- well, I thought it was a rational sort of fear for his friend before," Kagome said, looking at her feet. "It wasn't, though. Idiot yelled that at me and grabbed me and-"

She stopped, looking at the fire, letting it reflect in her eyes.

"And?" Sesshomaru prompted.

"And- you know," Kagome said, squirming slightly. "Showed me. That it wasn't just a 'friend' thing to him at all."

Sesshomaru could practically feel his thoughts grow darker, watching her unease. The hanyou had done something, done something to his Kagome, and Sesshomaru shoved his thoughts to the back of his mind, straining to keep his rationality.

"Tell me," he said, his voice low. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing, really," Kagome said, uneasy. "It was nothing he hasn't done before, but it still makes me mad-"

Sesshomaru noticed as Kagome's fingers trailed over her lips as she lapsed into silence, and realization flared in his mind.

"He kissed you, didn't he?" he said, wrenching the term from his memory, hatred and loathing and jealousy flaring up suddenly inside. "He kissed you."

Kagome turned to look at him in surprise. "You remembered," she said, surprised. "I taught it to you ages ago."

"Did he kiss you?" Sesshomaru asked, anger creasing his face. Kagome's eyes widened, but she didn't move away.

"Did he kiss you??" he demanded, his voice betraying his emotions. "Did he kiss you? Did that obsolete, little filthy piece of vermin dare to kiss you? Did he?"

Kagome stared at him, her shock at his display of emotion all over her face. She swallowed once, hard.

"...yes."

Sesshomaru let out an unearthly noise, thoughts ripping through his mind. InuYasha had no right, no place being so close to this precious girl and touching her like that and claiming such a thing from her ever, let alone when she didn't want it and was clearly upset with him for doing so. No one should ever touch her like that, no one save for him, he was the only one who was truly her equal, he was the only one who was allowed to have her close and see her eyes and have her react over-

He had no idea why he was like this. It didn't make any sense, it was just a girl, just a stupid girl who was teaching him, but it did, she meant everything, it all made sense and she wasn't just a stupid girl she was so much more-

Sesshomaru pulled her to him, taking her face in his hand, his amber eyes smoldering, her wide blue meeting his.

"Kagome."

He could hear her swallow, he was so close. He could feel the small trill that went through her at his touch, see her eyes widen slightly, her pupils dilating, irises darkening...

"Yes?"

Sesshomaru looked at her for a long moment after her reply, his amber eyes like liquid, thoughts and emotions battling fiercely in his mind.

"He never will again," he informed her, and with that, he promptly sealed his lips over hers.

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Read it? Please, review! Let me know what you think! I know what I think of the chapter, but I'm the writer. The reader is bound to think something different. It's always greatly appreciated! Please, review!