Disclaimer: Well. Duh. I don't own Inu-Yasha. I don't see why anyone would want to. Owning a regular god is hard enough. Thank you very much. Rumiko Takahashi has the rights, yada yada yadaaaah.

Kagome opens her eyes, the roof of Kaede's house swimming and spinning in front of her eyes before settling to where it belongs, motionless and a good distance away from where she had thought it to be. Her eyes flutter as an ancient face hovers over her vision, and she gives Kaede a feeble smile. "Good morning Lady Kaede." She murmurs, her head beginning to clear, the battle against an army of gremlins returning. She sits up slowly, and blinks again.

Kaede shakes her head, "Nay child, 'tis nearly evening now. And ye ought to be resting. That was quite the display of power, according to the flares remaining there."

Kagome shakes her head, ignoring the wave of dizziness and stands up. "I'm fine Lady Kaede, really." She takes a step forward, still insisting to the priestess that she really felt fine, as Inu-Yasha enters the hut, the grass tapestry that covers the door swinging slightly behind him.

"Kaede, I-" he breaks off mid sentence as he gets a glimpse of Kagome out of the corner of his eye, and turns to her. "Thank the gods, Kagome…" Again, he breaks off mid sentence and sniffs, an oddly familiar scent of bitter magic stinging his sensitive nose. He turns his head slightly and glances at her rout of the corner of his eye, studying her aura. Instead of the pearly gold glow that he had come to expect, the gold was more metallic, and stained with an acid green. Well shit. He knew that color from his run ins with the post mortem Kikyo. He grabs Kagome's wrist, ignoring the fact that his claws draw blood, and the whimper she releases at the pain. He drags her out of the hut, leaving a rather disgruntled Kaede behind.

Picking her up, he flies to the Bone Eater's well, his ears flat against his head to ignore her screams. He alights on the turf and drops Kagome on her behind before letting her have it. "How long have you been hiding this, wench?" He growls, his eyes flashing red. On an intellectual level, he knows that this is strictly unnecessary. But he was never an intellectual, now was he? "Did you know you harbored such great evil when you brought it here! Stupid bitch!" He takes a deep breath and screams, "I hate you!" What am I saying? He wonders, feeling detached from himself. Do I really hate her? Of course he hates her. He hates how she is always so close, so intoxicating. He hates that she is someone that he could only look at and dream about, but never truly have. It was torture, being so close to someone who could make him just want to act like a big puppy and follow her around, begging for attention. So hate, while technically inaccurate suits his emotions just fine.

Kagome looks at Inu-Yasha, making a valiant attempt to hold back her tears. She looks at him sadly, not even remotely considering sitting him. She just couldn't do that, not now. "B-but, I saved you." She protests, albeit somewhat feeble.

Inu-Yasha's vision swims with red for what seems like an eternity. "You, WHAT!" He shrieks, startling a flock of crows into flight, cawing their annoyance at having been disturbed. "You saved me! You stupid bitch, I WAS DEAD! We were all dead. You saved nothing. No one. Except yourself." He growls, snarling with cruelty and spits, "I hate you more than any mortal possibly could fathom." And he means it, with every bone in his body, and every fiber of his being. In his mind, hating Kagome would free him from everything, carrying away the weight of responsibility. His feelings, the Jewel, even his life of indecision washes away as he announces those words.

"Sit." Kagome interrupts his tirade softly, her nearly whispered word sending him face first into the soft earth of the clearing. She lifts his head from the dirt, her cool hands and cradles it, forcing him to look at her. Her face reflects the weariness of all she had seen. So much won, and so much lost in the blink of an eye. Her expression reminded so much like Kikyo's face before she had died. She strokes his cheek with one soft finger. "If you hate me, I'll leave." She whispers and her voice and face are emotionless, in a stark contrast to the tears that fall from her eyes onto the half demon's cheeks.

Inu-Yasha brushes the water on his cheeks away, his eyes suddenly shining with fevered eagerness. "So you will remove the rosary?"

Kagome's heart convulses beneath her breastbone. Inu-Yasha had only ever wanted material things from her. First it was the Jewel, now this. He never truly wanted anything to do with her. His own petty desires had protected her, nothing more. "No, Inu-Yasha." She replies, her whispered words curt. "Because of my love for you, the beads are going to remain on. Don't ever forget me." Something stirs inside her, and winds rush around her, whipping sailor suit into a frenzy as she lifts off into the sky.

As she disappears from sight, Inu-Yasha jumps to his feet, and screams after her, "I hate you, Kagome!" The small black dot vanishes into the sky, and he allows himself to collapse in front of the well, his shoulders shaking as he sobs. Sunlight causes the trails of tears to glitter as they fall to the earth. What's happening? What can I do to bring her back?

So this is how it's going to work. I get at least five reviews or a brilliant idea: I update. I love you guys, but I'm a lot busier now than when I first started this – not to mention I had about three chapters written in advanced and my computer ATE THEM. So, it's really up to you.