Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe, but I sure do love playing with them. The rest is mine.

Chapter 13

"Oh...my head…" Kagome moaned as she woke up, her head throbbing. She tasted something metallic in her mouth that reminded her of pennies.

"You're awake," Inuyasha breathed, instantly coming to sit down on the bed beside her. She noticed that he had changed back into his military clothes, and she absently wondered why.

"Or I'm dead," she laughed hoarsely, but he didn't seem to find the humor in her joke. "Why does my head hurt so much?"

"You're fighting the toxin that Haruto used to lace your drink," he whispered, taking one of her hands between his two. "I'm proud of you - you held your own until we got there."

She furrowed her brow in confusion for a moment as she tried to understand what he was talking about. She didn't remember holding her own. She did get a flash of Haruto holding a knife against her skin between her breasts...and of Inuyasha intervening and punching the crap out of him...that's right! Haruto wanted the jewel. She remembered now...

"You don't remember what you did?" he asked softly. She replied that she didn't, and she could only remember glimpses of what had happened. "You-you really don't remember hurling him across the room? You don't remember your hands glowing bright pink?"

"I...Inuyasha, what are you talking about?" Her hands couldn't possibly do that...yet, he looked baffled that she seemed so confused. She watched his eyes rapidly scan her face as he seemed to internally debate something.

"Kagome," he finally began, the word coming out on a drag of air. "When Haruto attacked you, I saw you defend yourself against his advances. Your hands glowed bright pink, and you were able to push him across the room like he was nothing. Has this never happened before?"

The look that she shot him silently told him that she thought he was crazy. That was all he needed to confirm that this was new to her as well. His brows knitted together in thought, and she wished she knew what was going on in that head of his. It was clear that he was perturbed by recent events as well, and she wished he would just...just tell her.

But he wouldn't.

That's not how he was - he liked to keep things from her. She felt anger and frustration bubble up from the pit of her stomach and she turned her head away from him, the bitterness inside her suddenly making it hard to even look at him.

She tried to search her memory for something...anything that would piece together the events missing from her memory...but she couldn't seem to dig up anything different from what she had already revisited since she had woken up. Haruto wanted her for the jewel. He tried to rip it out of her. Inuyasha came for her. Why was this so hard? Why was nothing ever easy for her?

"Why can't I remember what happened, Inuyasha?" she demanded, turning to look at him again. She felt him shift uncomfortably on his bed under the pressure of her gaze, and he slumped inward at her question with a sigh.

The medic had apparently warned him that this could happen.

"He said that your memory will come back completely...it just might take some time. It's a side-effect of the drug they gave you to help flush what Haruto slipped in your drink out of your system."

"Ok," she whispered, finally turning to look at him. She was appreciative that he at least had some good news. Eventually was better than not at all, right? She didn't like it, but she could live with it.

She still didn't like a great number of things. The lying. Her lack of freedom. The fact that she was being treated like a fragile doll that would break at any fucking second.

Yet...despite it all...she did appreciate him.

He had come for her, right when she had needed him the most.

"I do remember something," she breathed, taking his hand and choosing to ignore the way his whole body stiffened. She didn't want to know if it was from the contact or from her words...even though the little voice in her head couldn't help but question it, almost as if to spite her. "I remember you coming for me and saving me...and I remember feeling like I could finally just...stop. I remember feeling oddly safe."

He exhalled at that, and a warm smile spread over his face as he gently cupped hers.

"No. You saved yourself...but I swear that I'll always protect you as best as I can," he promised, and she placed her hand over his. His words were so pretty and decadently sweet...yet she could taste the lies dripping off of them, even though her heart was screaming at her to believe him.

Lies of omission were still lies, after all...and he had done plenty of that so far. She needed to remember that.

He hadn't been lying to her about the jewel, though. She did believe that now. Haruto had literally tried to kill her on their date to get it. There was no way Inuyasha was twisted enough to set him up to do that, nor would he have been able to. Meeting Haruto had happened all by chance.

...but her brain was telling her another truth that she simply couldn't ignore. He had only saved her so that he could take her to be butchered himself. He wanted the jewel as much as Haruto did.

Still, her heart was telling her to trust him. To put her complete and utter faith in him. To let him hold her and whisper those sweet, delicious reassurances into her ear.

Perhaps...perhaps, for a moment, she would allow it. She would give in to the howling she felt in her heart and accept all the comfort that he was so freely offering her.

She watched as he leaned closer and smoothed her hair away from her face, his eyes filling with concern as he searched her face for something.

Perhaps pain?

"Inuyasha, I'm fine," she sighed, reaching out and cupping his face.

"I...Ok," he blushed, covering her hand with his and gently nuzzling it.

This felt right. Why did this feel so right? She didn't want to, but she couldn't deny this - the pull towards him was undeniable.

She mentally shook her head and banished the thought from her mind. She was too tired for this...but she wanted to give in more. Her heart was begging her to allow him to be closer to her, even though her mind was screaming at her to be cautious.

"Would you join me?" she finally asked shyly, giving in and patting the empty spot on the bed. She heard his breath catch in his throat, and hope spread across his face.

"Are you sure?"

"I...I am," she confirmed nervously. He nodded gently, pulling away from her to crawl into the bed next to her.

He slowly laid down well over a foot away from her, placing one arm under his head and the other awkwardly across his abdomen. It was almost like he was waiting for her to tell him to get out any second now, but she rolled over to silently regard him instead.

Feeling the bed move and shift, he turned his head to look at her. His eyes widened in surprise...perhaps from how close she now was? The move had significantly closed the distance between them.

"Thank you for coming for me," she whispered, and his face softened immediately.

"It wasn't even a question," he replied without hesitation.

She smiled. "Still...thank you. If you hadn't…"

"That won't happen," he told her firmly.

"I know. But...thank you anyway."

"You're welcome," he smiled gently, turning to look at her. "You...you really don't know anything about that pink light?" he asked one more time, and she told him that she didn't.

"What do you think it was?"

"I…" he began, trailing off as his brows came together and the words seemed to catch in his throat. She silently begged him to just tell her and be honest with her for once...and, to her surprise, he was. "I think the jewel may have done it," he finally admitted. "I think you accessed it's power somehow."

"Then why have I never done anything like that before?" she pressed. "Why didn't it hurt you when we first met?"

"Perhaps because I've never tried to harm you...or because…" he trailed off, rolling onto his side. She could feel the length of his body just barely brush against hers. He raised his hand, his clawed fingertips gently skimming the skin of her arm as he trailed them up to her shoulder and then back down to her elbow again. She felt her skin tingle with electricity from the sensation. Her heart caught in her throat, as he whispered, "...maybe you feel this, too."

Their heads were almost touching, and she found herself staring deep into the golden pools of his eyes.

They really were so expressive. His eyes...they were gateways to his soul, pure and simple. She felt like she could tell exactly what he was feeling by looking into them. She could see his concern for her. His relief that she seemed to be healing. His desire for her…

She found herself tilting her head up toward his before she could stop herself. She heard his breath catch in response before he leaned his head down farther. His hand came up to gently cup her cheek, and she watched his lips slowly move closer and closer until they were a breath away from touching hers.

She felt her heart begin to race and her palms become sweaty as she closed her eyes, waiting to feel his lips brush against hers in what she was sure was going to be a shy, tender first kiss.

She realized two things in that brief millisecond before their skin touched - the first was that she had never wanted to kiss someone as badly as she wanted to kiss him in that moment, and the second was that whoever was knocking on his door and ruining this was going to die a slow and painful death.

He sighed in frustration as he paused, and she felt his warm breath fan across her face. He didn't need to stop. He could keep going. She wanted him to keep going before the moment was completely ruined. How hard was it to just kiss her before dealing with whoever was there?

The knock came again, and he rolled away from her and rose to go to the door.

"I'll be back in a minute," he reassured her from his bedroom door, and she nodded before moving to lie on her back and closing her eyes and trying to find her common sense again.

Why was she so desperate to kiss him just then? What was wrong with her?

"What are you doing here, Koga?" she heard the translator say, pulling her attention to the conversation between Inuyasha and his unexpected (and unwanted) visitor.

"I just wanted to make sure she's ok," she heard him reply. "Why...was now a bad time?"

"Very," Inuyasha growled, and Koga chortled at his reply.

"I take it I interrupted something good?"

"She's fine," Inuyasha snapped, and Koga laughed harder at that.

"Good - I'm glad. I don't want you to lose her again, either. Has she asked you about—"

"—She doesn't seem to remember everything. That being one of them. Bits and pieces...but not that. The medic said that's a side-effect of the medicine."

"Ah…" Koga replied in a sigh. "You need to tell her, you know. Or at least you should tell her."

"So you've said before."

"I mean it. She has a right to know who she was."

"Her world doesn't have anything like this. She already doesn't believe in it...she won't understand...and I don't want to make her feel trapped or like someone else made this decision for her and now she's stuck with it. I want her to choose this on her own."

"Was that how Kikyo felt?"

Inuyasha sighed, and Koga apologized.

"No...it's fine. Kikyo...at the beginning, yes it as. She quickly changed, though. She said that she couldn't fight destiny, and we were so happy once she gave in…" Inuyasha paused, and Kagome picked up the translator and pulled it closer as she silently begged him to continue. "I want to give Kagome the choice Kikyo never had, since she doesn't know."

"After all this...after everything you've been through, you'd really let her go?"

"If that's what she wants...yes. I would. I...I never thought I'd be in this position. We normally aren't, and you know that. I thought I had my time..." he paused again. "Our time was beautiful, and I've had my happiness. If Kagome feels she will find hers without me, then so be it."

"That's great and all...but what happens when she remembers what Haruto said and wants an explanation?"

"Then I'll give her one, but the decision will be hers to make in the end."

She heard Koga sigh and bid Inuyasha farewell, and she placed the translator back on the table next to her.

What didn't she remember from her date with Haruto? And why did she feel like it was a really important piece to this massive puzzle? Why did he keep lying to her and insist on keeping the truth from her?

She groaned in frustration, placing an arm above her head. One thing had become abundantly clear after her run in with Haruto...

She really needed to find a way off of this ship.

A/N:

I'm late…I know. I'm sorry! Saucy had a hell of a week though and I didn't want to push her to get this done on Friday. She told me she's already working on the next chapter though, so hopefully we won't have more delays!

Voting has come to an end and…we didn't win. We do appreciate everyone who took a second to vote for this story though! It means a lot to us that you shared your appreciation for it…SO THANK YOU!

Which brings me to our FF recommendation of the week… "Silver Boy with Golden Eyes" by KittyKatz, aka, this quarter's winner! Congrats and YOU DESERVE IT!

As always, thank you to everyone who left a review, and thank you for helping us reach over 100 reviews on this story on FFN! (Can we say shook?) That's a HUGE milestone, and we're beyond thrilled!

Next chapter is going up Friday the 28th, so see you all then!

A/Rs:

To Lola1991: What can I say…You know me so well! I didn't think this one was as big of a cliffie as the others, but I love to be surprised! Thanks as always for the review :D

To Cheetahara: I'M SORRY! Hopefully the wait will make the newest chapters that much sweeter though? I've had a LOT of fun playing with the characters, and it's been fun messing with their normal personalities (because the situations is just so different), and I appreciate you taking a chance on this fic! I know sci-fi/space/alien isn't everyone's jam, so THANK YOU…And THANK YOU for leaving this story a little love!

To Pandaik: AND THANK YOU FOR IT! I really didn't think we were gonna hit 100 this chapter…but I love being surprised! I'm trying to really keep pushing the plot forward with each new chapter this time and not have a lot of fillers…but I'm sure it will happen eventually. I'm so glad you're enjoying this, and THANK YOU for the amazing review, and a happy belated Valentines day to you as well!