Yay! I get to write more! Yay! Okay… so here's chapter 4…

            "KAGOME!!!" squealed a little ball of red fur as it flew into her arms.

            "Shippo! Oh, hi Sango!" Kagome said as she noticed Sango and Miroku rushing towards her.

            "Kagome! I'm so glad to see you after so long!" Sango said, giving her best friend a hug. "How are you?"

            "I'm good. How are you? I'm surprised you're still alive after having to live around these two," she said with a laugh and pointed to Miroku and Inuyasha.

            "Is that all the greeting that I get after not seeing you for a year?" Miroku asked with what he must have thought was a pathetic look on his face.

            "Oh sorry. Do you want a hug, too?" she teased.

            Miroku nodded as he pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.

            Kagome hugged him, but only to fell his hand rest on her rump

            "Hey!" she said and pushed him away. She would have slapped him, but she hadn't seen any of her friends for so long that she quickly forgave him.

            "Sorry," he said, obviously not sorry at all.

            "Hey what am I, yesterday's left-overs? I'm being ignored over here!" Inuyasha pointed out.

            "That's because Kagome is happier to see us," Sango said.

            "Yeah. We didn't dump her for a dead girl made of clay," Shippo stated flatly from Kagome's shoulder.

            "Oh would you just let it go?! I already got what I deserved when Kikyo wouldn't accept me! She kept telling me off and said that she didn't want to get involved with me in case another reincarnation came through the well! Then she even had the nerve to go off with Kouga for a while!"

            "…And you never came back to apologize?" Kagome glared at Inuyasha.

            "…"

            "After you betrayed me to go fall in love with Kikyo all over again, only to be denied by her before she ran off with Kouga, you didn't think to come and apologize to me?!"

            "…I didn't think that—"

            "OSUWARI!"

            Smack.

            "Uuh… maybe this should be continued inside?" Sango suggested.

            "Yeah, Inuyasha, you have a lot of explaining to do!" Kagome huffed.

            Inuyasha twitched from the newly-formed crater on the ground.

            Inside Kaede's hut, Kagome was calming down a bit as she sipped at her tea. Sango had taken Miroku and Shippo outside so that Kagome and Inuyasha could talk, thankfully.

            "Inuyasha, why did you still hate me even after Kikyo was out of the picture?"

            "I never hated you, I just wanted to be with Kikyo more…"

            "But why didn't you ever come to me about it? Don't you still think of me as a friend?" Kagome asked. It was starting to show that she was beginning to feel rather hurt.

            "Yeah, but I didn't think that you'd forgive me…" he grumbled quietly.  It was true, but he also was afraid that if he had ever seen Kagome again, he might beg her to stay in his time with him, which he couldn't let himself do. Kagome belonged in the future where it was safer. In fact, to be perfectly honest, he had only tried to fall in love with Kikyo again so that he wouldn't need Kagome… he hated putting her in danger by bringing her back here. She didn't belong here. It wasn't safe for her. End of discussion.

            "Inuyasha, I would forgive you; you should have known that," Kagome said comfortingly as she made to scratch his ears. She understood now… poor Inuyasha must have fallen to pieces when Kikyo left him alone and without anyone… "But I still want to know… why did you choose her over me? That horrible witch… I knew she wasn't going to have the same feelings for you…" Kagome scowled at the floor and gave an involuntary shiver at the thought of Kikyo and Inuyasha happy together.

            Inuyasha stopped purring when Kagome stopped scratching… she had started to look kind of angry… did he miss something? Oh that's right… she asked about Kikyo… "Do you really want to know why I chose her?"

            "Yes."

            Inuyasha sighed and looked at a spot on the wall, which had suddenly become very interesting. "I was trying to protect you."

            "What? By trying to have a dead miko love you?"

            "No, by distracting myself from you… I didn't want to need you in this time… it still isn't safe…"

            "Well why didn't you tell me that in the first place? It would have saved me a lot of sadness…"

            "I thought it would be easier if you were mad at me…"

            I know, Inuyasha was completely out of character… but I just couldn't stand having Kikyo be in the way! I HATE her! Grr… okay, so now that this chappie is up, it's Jenny's turn to write! Yay! I wonder what she'll think of next…