Inuyasha was perched on the roof of one of the burnt down houses with his arms wrapped protectively around Kagome. He had a scowl on his face and appeared to be angry with her but she was clueless to what he was mad about! He didn't have to save her anyway…'I would have been fine if he hadn't done anything' but she knew that was a big fat lie.

"Are all humans this suicidal?"

The red in Kagome's cheeks suddenly disappeared and she found herself becoming angry at the arrogant, childish, insensitive hanyou looking down on her. She narrowed her blue-gray eyes at him and then took a deep breath.

"If you don't let go of me…I'm going to scream" she told him calmly and she meant it.

Inuyasha fixed his annoyed glare on the girl then carelessly let Kagome fall to the ground. She landed on her behind with a painful thud and she let out a cry, which drew Kouga's attention towards them. Kagome rubbed her sore rear and winced. Being down below with Kouga didn't seem so bad right about now.

"Woman, I---"

"My name is not 'woman' it's Ka-go-me!"

Inuyasha snorted a reply and Kagome shot him a dirty look.

"So there you are, sweetheart. Who's the mutt?" Kouga asked and crossed his arms over his chest. Inuyasha glared down at the wolf and a growl escaped his throat. "Who you calling a 'mutt'?" he demanded in a firm tone and reached to his side, drawing his sword the Tetsusaiga. Which to Kagome's amazement turned from a worn out piece of metal to a large sword, the blade appeared to be bigger then it's wielder. Kouga stared blankly at the blade and pointed "you're going to fight me with that?" he snorted with a hint of amusement. The blade was unbelievably wide and from the way the hanyou was holding it, it looked very heavy.

'This is going to be a breeze'

Apparently the hanyou hadn't mastered the sword yet and he would easily be able to predict the blades path.

"You bet! Bastard!" was Inuyasha's angry reply.

Kouga shook his head and smiled up at Kagome. "Don't you dare run away until I get rid of this hanyou trash". Kagome crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled sweetly at the wolf "why would I want to run away?" she asked innocently. Kouga snorted, she sure had a lot of nerve…

Inuyasha stepped in front of Kagome and bared his fangs. "Are you going to stand there all day?! Or are we going to fight?!" he snarled.

Kouga sighed and cracked his knuckles "let's get this over with" he said lazily.

Inuyasha leapt down off of the roof and swung the oversized blade at Kouga's waist area. The wolf jumped back and out of the way with a smirk "not fast enough, mutt!" he mocked. Inuyasha growled and swung the blade again and again but he couldn't even seem to faze the damn wolf. He was too fast!

"Inuyasha!"

He looked up at Kagome and frowned. What did the woman want now? He had only just met her a moment ago but she was already starting to get on his nerves. He suddenly found him questioning whether or not it was a good idea to save her. "What is it?" he demanded. She ignored the sharp tone in his voice and shouted: "Kouga has a weak spot! His legs! Try swinging at his legs!"

Inuyasha stared at her a moment but decided to do as he was told. Everything he was trying wasn't working so why not? Kouga too busy avoiding Inuyasha's swings hadn't bothered to listen to what Kagome had said. "Keep your eyes on your opponent, mutt" He spat and lunged at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha took his opportunity and swung the Tetsusaiga at his legs as he approached. Kouga eyes widened in surprise and he tried to leap out of the way but had no such luck. The blade sliced through the flesh on his legs before he could react.

He doubled over in pain; his legs were a bloody mess, the pain was almost unbearable. He clamped his eyes shut and covered his wounds with his clawed hands to try and stop the bleeding. Inuyasha was also quite surprised but regained himself and grinned victoriously. "Who's the 'mutt' now?" he shrugged.

Kouga managed to stand up once again but had to grab a hold onto something for support. "If you think these pathetic wounds are going to stop me you're wrong! I'll rip you apart without any legs if I have to!" he snarled viciously and swung his talons at Inuyasha's face suddenly, inflicting a nasty wound on his left cheek.

Four long claw marks. 

"Heh, not bad" Inuyasha shrugged and spit blood out of his mouth.

Kouga smirked and held up his blood stained talons then wiped them clean on the ground.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped. She was incredibly worried about him, no matter how childish he had acted before she still cared. After all he did save her life and she didn't want to see him get hurt.

Both Kouga and Inuyasha looked up at the raven-haired girl, who was still standing on the roof. Inuyasha stared, puzzled. Why hadn't she hidden while she had the chance? Any other human, he was sure, would run for cover screaming like the cowards they were but she didn't. Wasn't she worried about herself at all? The woman was a very weird; there was no question about that. 

Inuyasha turned, facing Kagome and his back to Kouga. He shot her an angry glare. "Woman, get out---" but before he could finish, Kouga had managed to leap over him, even with his badly injured legs and onto the roof beside Kagome.

Kagome yelped in surprise and backed away. He was giving her a look that made her feel very uneasy not to mention the fact that he was a cold-blooded killer.

"You…I smell something…"

Kouga approached her and took a handful of her dark hair in his hand. He savagely pulled her closer to him and inhaled her curious scent. It was very intoxicating…and he loved to breath it in but there was something else mixed in with her scent. Kagome cried out in pain and tried to pull away but Kouga refused to release her.

"Inuyasha! Help!" Kagome pleaded.

"Bastard! Get away from her!" Inuyasha demanded. He was about to jump onto the roof until Kouga held a single talon to Kagome's throat. "Move and she dies". Inuyasha, afraid that Kagome would be hurt, obeyed and stayed where he was. Kouga smiled and then looked down at Kagome. Something dimly started glowing underneath her shirt, curious, reached for it. Kagome blushed furiously and shouted angry protests. Kouga ignored her and pulled a rather large jewel out from under her shirt.

"What's this?"

"T-that's the Shikon no Tama…a family heirloom"

"It smells of a youkai I know…" he almost spat. With a quick snap of his wrist, Kouga pulled the chain off of Kagome's neck and put it around his neck. "Give that back!" Kagome demanded but he ignored her once again. "Thanks for the gift. Sorry to say, sweetheart, but I gotta get rid of you now". With blindly speed, Kouga swiped his claws at the girl, she screamed and ducked out of the way. Kagome escaped injury, except for a single deep cut on her arm. Kagome lay still on the ground, expecting to be ripped apart by Kouga's talons. When nothing happened she slowly lifted her head.

"Huh…?" she adjusted herself into a sitting position and saw Inuyasha standing above her. His large sword was already in its sheath and he was glaring down at her with a frown. Kagome scanned the grounds for Kouga but saw no sign of him, she opened her mouth to ask where he had gone when Inuyasha replied huskily "He's gone". He crouched down in front of Kagome and tossed her the Shikon no Tama.

"How did you…?"

"I grabbed it off of his neck while he was escaping" he replied flatly and by the tone in his voice he expected not to be questioned any further about the wolf.

Kagome beamed with happiness despite Inuyasha's foul mood and thanked him. He snorted and tried to pretend he did not care. "Let's go, we have to get out of this village". Kagome opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out. Instead of arguing with the golden-eyed hanyou she decided to remain quiet until later.  

By nightfall they had made camp out in the forest. Kagome and Inuyasha sat side by side in front of a roaring fire. It was very chilly out but Kagome felt content with the warm fire and the dark red garment wrapped around her shoulders. Inuyasha had given it to her and told her that it was a made out of fire rats and it was strong as a suit of armor.

"Why would I need this now?"

"To keep you warm, idiot and you'll need it more then I will later on"

Kagome stared at Inuyasha and asked what he meant when he said "later on" but he didn't answer her. She sighed and put it on glad to have something to protect her body from the cold.

Things were quiet between the two, neither bothered to speak, which made them feel all the more uncomfortable. Inuyasha glanced once or twice at the girl beside him. She was unlike any girl he had met before. She had more fire in her then he had expected considering she was just a mere human. The foul stench of blood in the air made him turn to Kagome, his eyes fixed themselves on her arm. The red garment she had around herself concealed it but he knew it was there.

"Oi, does it hurt?"

Kagome turned her eyes away from the fire and towards Inuyasha. "No…" she replied softly. "Sorry I didn't make it in time" Inuyasha apologized. Kagome stared in surprise. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Did he actually apologize? Silently she hoped that he was going to drop the arrogant tough guy act for now.

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "That's all right, it doesn't hurt, really" she told him.

"I hope it doesn't…I hope you never have to feel any pain…"

Kagome's eyes widened. "What did you say?"

Inuyasha blinked and wondered if he had said something wrong. "N-nothing!" he said abruptly and turned away. Kagome nodded with a smile and stood up, wrapping the red garment tighter around her body.

"Where are you going?"

Kagome started to walk into the darkness and back towards her village "home…" was her quiet reply. Inuyasha got to his feet and followed after her. He refused to let her go anywhere alone. He knew what kind of youkai lived in this forest and what they would do to any living thing that crossed their path. 'Stupid girl…where is she wandering off to?' he thought grumpily. Why did he suddenly care? He had never cared about anyone before, why should he now?

Inuyasha found Kagome standing in the middle of the village with her head down. He quietly approached her and stared at their surroundings. The fire had destroyed everything and it wasn't likely that any villagers were still alive. Inuyasha eyes wandered back to Kagome, who stood there and said nothing but he could smell the sorrow and despair she was feeling. His eyes widened as tears began to slide to Kagome's cheeks but he couldn't blame her for crying, she had lost everything dear to her in a matter of days. "What am I going to do…?" he heard her mumble in between sniffles. Inuyasha said nothing for a few minutes and then suddenly cleared his throat. Kagome jumped and whirled around. He could see that she was shocked to see him standing behind her.

"Inu…yasha?"

"How do you know my name?" Inuyasha asked her but he had a pretty good idea who told her. The lecherous monk Miroku popped into his mind. He could just picture the monk grinning stupidly and following the local women around.

"Miroku told me your name…"

"Did he tell you anything else?"

"No"

"Good, none of my affairs are any of your business"

Kagome frowned and wiped her eyes. "He did tell me however that you were looking for my family. What did you want with the Higurashi family?" she demanded. Inuyasha stared, dumbfounded "your family? You mean your…"

"That's right! My name is Kagome Higurashi. I know you killed my father and you were probably coming back today to murder the rest of my family and I! I guess your got lucky when that wolf youkai came along…he did the dirty work for you"

"Hey, just hang on. I didn't kill your old man and I wasn't going to kill you or your family. Why would I have saved you if I wanted you dead?"

"…"

"On the day of your father's murder I went to your home to warn him and that's all"

"Warn him? About what?"

"I've received word that a youkai named Naraku is after something that your family possesses. I'm not sure what it is he wants but after this…" Inuyasha paused momentarily and glanced at the village around him "I can't afford to take him lightly". "What are you talking about? And what does all this have to do with you?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha shrugged "Naraku is my sworn enemy and whatever precious thing he tries to take for himself I plan to steal away from him, just like he stole something precious from me".

"All right then I have something both you and this youkai want right? Well, if you help me get my revenge on Naraku then I'll give you what you want. Become my bodyguard" Kagome said. Inuyasha raised his eyebrow at this proposal and snorted. "Become your bodyguard?" he echoed in an amused tone. Kagome nodded and smiled "that's right, I'll pay you once a week to be my bodyguard and after we find Naraku I'll give you what you want".

Inuyasha sighed, "all right, it's a deal". It seemed like a good idea, all he had to do was keep the girl alive. He would get paid every week, he would be able to settle the score between Naraku and himself and he would be able to keep whatever Naraku was after and keep it all to himself. He grinned to himself; he would win no matter what.

"Lets go, I want to get back to Ame ki before sunrise" Inuyasha said quickly and grabbed Kagome by the wrist and yanked her forward as he walked into the trees.