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Chapter 7 - Crushed

Kagome returned to the hut, sitting down across from Kaede and crossing her arms. She was mad. She had every reason to be. Not only does Inuyasha not want me, he doesn't want me to be with anyone else either. She had had enough of his stubbornness.

Inuyasha returned to the hut shortly after Kagome. Both remained silent. Kaede sighed. Those two are at it again…

Miroku decided it would be best to stay out of it and turned his attention to his meal. The only thing heard throughout the hut was the nervous tap of Inuyasha's bare foot against the hut floor. Shippou watched the two curiously. Even he could sense there was something wrong between them. Tired of the recent beating inflicted on him by the dog demon (who was now human), he decided to play it safe tonight and keep his mouth shut. Kagome stared at the wall as if it were the most interesting thing on earth.

Miroku looked up from his place from time to time to glance toward the two. I wish Sango were here right now…

"I-" The group eyed Kagome, who had broken and silence and was now frowning. "I sense a shard," she looked toward Miroku. "It's very close."

Inuyasha abruptly stood up. "Which direction?" he asked eagerly.

"West. It must be right outside the village."

"Well let's go!" Inuyasha made his way towards the door, but was stopped by Miroku's staff, which was now blocking his way.

"Did you forget something, Inuyasha?" He eyed the boy. "Your current state?"

Inuyasha frowned at him. "Get out of my way, monk. I may be human right now, but I'm not a weakling."

"True as that may be, Inuyasha, do you really want people to find out about your little secret?"

Inuyasha scowled. He has a point.

"Kagome and I will go and find the shard. You stay put!"

"What! You two go alone? No way," said Inuyasha blocking the doorway with his body.

"Inuyasha, we can't leave the shard. And we certainly can't take you with us! Please, just let us go retrieve the shard. I'm sure we can handle it." Miroku gazed at the boy. "Kagome and I will be fine. I'll watch out for her."

"I bet," Inuyasha replied fiercely.

"Look, Inuyasha, we're going whether you like it or not!" Kagome spoke forcefully to the boy as she grabbed her bow. "So just move aside and let us get the shard." She forced her way past Inuyasha and out of the hut with Miroku following her.

"Listen, monk. Try anything with her and die." Inuyasha gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine. He is acting very strange lately.

*-*-*

Miroku and Kagome made their way toward the direction of the shard.

"We're very close, Miroku." A strange noise made its way from behind a nearby row of bushes. "Miroku," she said in a low voice, "It's over there!" They heard the noise again. This time it sounded like a deep growl.

Miroku nodded. "Let me take care of this, Kagome. You stay here."

"Please be careful, Miroku."

The monk made his way towards the noise and pushed back the branches of the bush with the end of his staff. He found himself face to face with a tiger demon. Its fur was very thick. Its eyes bright and glassy. A thick drool dripped from its mouth. The creature snarled at him, then bounded out of the bush towards the monk and attempted to pounce him. This demon is very fast, Miroku thought to himself, jumping out of the creature's way. It must be the shard he possesses. The demon hung its head while its eyes glowed red.

"Miroku, watch out!" Kagome yelled from behind him.

The demon attempted a ferocious attack on the monk, but managed to only graze his shoulder with its claws. "Miroku!" Kagome watched helplessly. Miroku, please be careful. Miroku held up his shaft to protect himself from the demon's fangs. The demon committed attack upon attack towards Miroku, each time coming closer to mauling the monk. He's moving too quickly for me to shoot him with my bow.  If I shoot now, I might hit Miroku, but I have to do something! Kagome thought to herself, I have to help him, otherwise he'll be killed.

Kagome began to shout towards the large cat-like demon to gain its attention.  If Miroku can somehow stall the demon, I will be able to shoot him.

"Kagome! What are you doing?" Miroku asked with a shocked look on his face. The tiger demon turned his attention to the girl.

"Miroku, now's your chance—Quick!" Kagome turned to dodge the demon's attack. Miroku followed closely behind the tiger demon. As the demon lashed out at Kagome, he threw his shaft towards the creature, knocking it unconscious. This gave Kagome enough time to draw her bow. The tiger demon let out a loud roar as the sacred arrow penetrated its thick flesh. Miroku breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now I just need to extract the shard." Kagome said as she kneeled down next to the now dead creature and removed the jewel shard from the corpse's chest. "Got it."

Kagome then turned her attention towards the injured monk who was holding his shoulder. "Miroku, you're hurt!" Kagome exclaimed, moving the monk's hand aside and looking at the blood-soaked cloth which covered the gash the tiger demon had inflicted upon his shoulder.

"Not badly, Kagome. He only grazed me." She sat down to study his injury more closely. The injury, indeed, was not a deep one.

Kagome ripped a piece of cloth from the collar of her school uniform. "I'll dress it properly once we return to Kaede's, but until then this will have to make do." He held the cloth tightly against Miroku's skin as he flinched a little in pain. "Thanks." He smiled at the girl. "I'm glad I was the one who got hurt and not you." Inuyasha would have killed me. Kagome looked up at the monk who was studying his injury and smiled sweetly at him. "Miroku…"

"Ye-" he turned towards Kagome to answer her, but before he could, Kagome's lips met his, much to Miroku's surprise. Kagome wrapped her arms wrapped around his neck as Miroku found himself kissing her back. He lowered his hands to her hips. He had not felt the warm touch of a woman for so long. The warmth of her body and the sensation of her soft lips pressed firmly against his were almost too much for him to bear. Her touch warmed his blood from cold. His body ached for her more than anything. But his heart did not. That alone was enough for him to pull out of her embrace and separate his lips from hers. He took a deep breath. "I can't."

"Miroku?" Kagome looked at him nervously.

"We can't, Kagome." He knew that Kagome wanted nothing more than a kiss from him, but what he just about had the urge to do with her was much more than a simple kiss on the lips. I have to control myself—it's lust, not love.

"Why not?" she asked as her eyes began to tear up. "Don't you care for me?"

"Yes, Kagome, of course I do. You are one of my closest and dearest friends—but you see, my heart belongs to another." He looked into her glossy eyes.

Kagome looked away from his stare and towards the ground. "Sango."

"Yes." When she finally looked up at him, he was relieved to see a look of understanding in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Miroku. I just…" Kagome broke down. She couldn't hold it in anymore. Days of built up emotions that she tried her hardest to hide from her friends spilt out. Tears poured from her eyes as Miroku wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face into the palms of her hands, a little embarrassed by the situation. "I can't make anyone happy," she sobbed.

Miroku gazed unhappily at the girl. "I know something happened between you and Inuyasha. Whatever it was, Kagome, I know that he cares for you. A lot."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. "No. You don't understand, Miroku. I told him that I loved him. Do you know how hard that was for me to do?"

Miroku paused sadly. "You told him?"

"He doesn't love me back, Miroku."

"And he told you this?"

Kagome shook her head. "He didn't have to. I can tell."

"Well," the monk said, looking at the tearful girl as his thumb reached up to wipe away the tears on her cheek, "what exactly did he say?"

"Nothing. I told him 'I love you' and he said nothing."

Now Miroku understood. That certainly explained all of the recent tension between the two. And Kagome's new found "love" for himself? He had been unintentionally leading her on all along when he had just been trying to be friendly. Then he remembered Inuyasha's threatening stares… Miroku shivered at the thought of Inuyasha finding out about the two's kiss. He'll gut me alive…

"Kagome, I'm sure there's an explanation for Inuyasha's reaction. You know how hard it is for him to express his true feelings. I can tell that in your heart he is the one you want to be with, and I think that he feels the same way about you—whether he's willing to admit it or not. The way you feel about him—that is the way I feel for Sango. Something I haven't been able to express. Appropriately anyways." He added with a smile.

Kagome faintly smiled back and nodded. "Thanks, Miroku." Her cheeks reddened a little. "I'm sorry about the…" The monk nodded, blushing a little himself. "So am I." A guilty look came over Miroku's face.

"Miroku…"

"Yes?"

"Tell Sango how you feel."

Miroku grinned and nodded. "Yes…I will."

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Okay, don't totally hate me for this chapter! I know people probably won't like the fact that Miroku gave into Kagome's kiss a little, but he is a guy (and a lecherous one at that). Hey, at least you know this won't be a Miroku/Kagome fic now! (People seem to hate those for some reason). I'm also sorry if I wrote the fight scene to be a little corny—I'm not too good at those! I have at least one more chapter to go…