Disclaimer - It's not mine. It never was.

A/N - Hey everyone. I'm sorry for taking so long to update. School is starting to get rough, and I'm afraid I'm loosing time to work on my fanfics. Hope you guys enjoy. Later.

Final Confrontation

Kouga grinned as he landed right on the outside of the cave his pack called home. He and Kagome had went back to Kaede's village and procured her oversized back pack then headed straight for his den. As he gently deposited the girl on the ground, his handsome features turned into a scowl. There were trees bent in half, broken branches on the forest floor, and other signs of fight all around him. He sniffed the air a few times and let a low growl escape his throat when he picked up the familiar scent on the demon he had come to despise. Kagome noticed the abrupt change in his attitude and questioned the origins of his worry. She did not like it when he got upset.

"Kouga, what's wrong?" she asked, eyeing the tell tale signs of a fight. "What happened here?"

"The hanyou's been here." he growled out to her. "And I smell blood." He ran towards the entrance to the den, Kagome not too far behind him. When they entered, Kagome noticed a crowd of the wolf demons all kneeling down on the floor in the farthest part of the cave. Kouga pulled her with him over to the group, and she gasped when she saw who it was that had been injured.

Ginta was one of Kouga's right-hand men. He had always been faithful and loyal to his leader, and unerringly nice to her ever since the mess with the birds of paradise. Unfortunately, right now, he was lying on the floor of the cave, bleeding from several deep wounds that sliced from the top of his chest down to his abdomen. The injured wolf demon moaned in pain as Kouga pushed his way into the crowd.

"What happened?!" the prince growled. "Why do I smell the stench of that hanyou all around here?"

"Lord Kouga, he came here, looking for Sister Kagome." Ginta winced. "He said that if we didn't hand her over, he would kill all of us." Kouga's eyes narrowed down into twin, ice blue slits. The fallen wolf demon winced again as another wave of pain overtook him. The words floored Kagome, but she tamped down her rising anger and focused on the hurt demon in front of her. Acting on instinct, Kagome knelt down beside him and frowned. Inuyasha had come to the den looking for her, and now Ginta was hurt. 'It's all my fault.' she thought sadly. She grabbed a wet piece of cloth out of a nearby bowl and began to clean the gash in Ginta's chest.

"Is there anyone else hurt?" Kagome asked loudly. Everyone else had backed up away from the fallen warrior when Kouga came busting in with Kagome on his heels. Now, they were watching her with a livid interest. 'Great, they've picked up my scent.' she thought. 'What else could possibly go wrong today?' Ginta turned at the sound of her voice and looked at her, a small smile on his face.

"Sister Kagome….you are safe." he said plaintively.

"She's fine, Ginta." Kouga said suddenly. "Are there others hurt?"

"No, he's the only one." Kuarasama said, pushing her way towards her kneeling Lord. "The hanyou came here, demanding that we give him Lady Kagome. Ginta was the only male here, since the others took off to go hunting and patrolling. When Ginta told him that she wasn't here, he attacked. He knocked Ginta to the ground after ripping him up good, and I stepped in. But the hanyou backed down, mumbling something like 'not another one of Kouga's bitches pregnant…'"

The demoness' normally even toned voice took on a hard edge as she reported to Kouga. It was true that she was pregnant herself, but she still had not figured on why Inuyasha had backed down from her just because of that reason. Now that she realized that Kagome was also pregnant, things began to make more sense. 'He's screwed up enough traditions, why stop at that one?' she thought.

Kouga stood up and started issuing orders to everyone else around.

In no time, Ginta had been moved to a more secluded room in the back of the cave. The kids were also sent outside and told not to interfere with Kagome. Kagome and Keiko were working on trying to patch up the demons wounds, but it was not doing any good. He had been unconscious for over forty-five minutes now. After over an hour of solid working, Keiko shook her head in defeat.

"I'm sorry, Lord Kouga." she said. "He has lost too much blood. There is nothing left for me to do for him. I doubt it that he will make it through the rest of the evening." Kouga's eyes flared up again, and Kagome knew he was about to hunt Inuyasha down and kill him. She shook her head in determination. Ginta was hurt because Inuyasha had come looking for her at the den. It was her fault that he was here, lying on the brink between life and death.

"He won't die because of me." she whispered quietly, her voice devoid of any and all emotion. "I won't allow it." She pulled the cloths away from wounds, causing the clotted blood to start running again. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this." she muttered.

"Kagome, what are you talking about? What are you doing?" Kouga asked. He got no response from the girl. But he did watch as an eerie pink light began to emanate from Kagome's outstretched hands. Her eyes went unfocused, and she started breathing in shallow, raspy breaths. Kouga watched in a mixture of fascination and worry as she moved her hands over the wounds. He didn't know what was going on, and he thought that whatever it was would hurt Kagome. He reached out to her, trying to bring her back to the world of the living. He was about two inches from her when Keiko slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch her!!" the old demoness said fiercely. "If you don't want to be purified, leave her to her work! She's a miko; she knows what she's doing!" Kouga watched in amazement as Kagome's hands moved up and down Ginta's mangled chest. The gashes slowly began to close up until there was nothing left, not even a scar.

As the pink light began to dissipate, Kagome slowly came back to the land of the living, her eyes refocusing and her breathing returning to normal. She gave a sigh of relief when she looked down to find that the gashes were gone from Ginta's body.

Suddenly, her anger hit the roof. Inuyasha had almost killed one of her friends. He had tried to ransack Kouga's den because he could not get to her. A fierce light shown in her eyes and she stood up from her position over the now sleeping form of Ginta. Kouga stood behind her and pulled her into a gentle hug. He was glad that she had been able to save his friend, but now he was worried. Her anger scent had peaked, and he could tell something was bothering her immensely.

"Kagome?" he questioned, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Kouga." she answered shortly. "But I've had enough of this mess."

"What mess?" he asked stupidly, glad that she had been able to save Ginta.

"It's time I dealt with Inuyasha once and for all." she said. She walked out of the cave and Kouga followed, after giving the rest of the pack strict orders to let Ginta sleep for the rest of the day.

"What are you doing, love?" Kouga asked.

"I want you to take me to the village where Inuyasha and Kikyou are living." she said. "I'm putting a stop to this insanity today!"

"Kagome, calm down." he pleaded. "You're going to upset the pup if you keep on." Kagome seemed to come back to reality when he mentioned the child. Her hand quickly came to rest on her abdomen, and she let out a breath of air, but the fierceness never left her eyes.

"Take me to where he's at, Kouga." she said. "I'm ending this today."

"Kagome, don't you think you should wait until tomorrow so that…." he began.

"I'm not waiting." she said pointedly. "Either you can take me, or I'll walk." Just to prove her point, she began to walk away from the wolf prince and towards Kaede's village. Kouga frowned and watched her. 'She's not going to step down now.' he thought. He quickly caught up to her and picked her up, taking off into the air without a word.

"Do you know what you're doing, woman?" he asked gruffly. "I was in Kaede's village earlier today, and she was saying that the hanyou's bitch is slowly starting to regain her hold on the miko powers she once had."

"Is she now?" Kagome asked sarcastically. "Then maybe I'll just take her out while I'm doing this and do everyone a favor." Kouga shook his head. Kagome was honestly thinking about killing both Inuyasha and Kikyou for this. "How long before we get to the village?"

"Five minutes, max." he answered. "What are you going to do once you get there? You can't outright challenge the bastard."
"You let me worry about that." she answered icily. "It's about time someone taught that insolent puppy a lesson." Kouga flinched at the venom in her voice. He stopped in mid-air and looked down at Kagome.

"Kagome, you can't do anything that is going to hurt the child." he said.

"I'm not going to do anything to hurt the pup." she said. "Now let's go." Kouga shook his head and took off again, hoping that the girl knew what she was doing.

*******************************************************

Inuyasha had just made it back to the hut he shared with Kikyou when the once dead miko entered into the hut. He said nothing, only glared at the wall. Kikyou looked over at him and hid a sadistic smile.

"Something wrong, Inuyasha?" she asked sweetly.

"Feh." Was his only response. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Suit yourself, love." she said, walking over to him and placing a kiss on his forehead. "If you want to talk about it later, come and find me. There are some children at the edge of the village that need some herbs, and I'm going to give them. I'll be there if you need me." The hanyou only growled in response, but Kikyou ignored it and walked out of the hut, content to know that the hanyou was probably ready to commit murder.

Inuyasha tried to clear his mind of the images that brought up. Kagome was pregnant, and Kouga was carrying her off and hiding her. The only conclusion he could draw was that Kouga was responsible, and Kagome was hiding from him. 'That's ridiculous! She wouldn't sleep with that flea-bag!' he thought. Unfortunately, his thoughts were cut short when he heard a scream coming from right outside the hut. 'Kikyou!! That was Kikyou's voice!!' he though quickly, grabbing the sheathed Tetsusaiga and rushing out of the entrance. The sight that beheld him was not something that he ever wanted to see again.

Kikyou was down on the ground, her basket of herbs spilled out all around her. Standing above her was her reincarnate, and the object of Inuyasha's earlier search, Kagome. And next to her, was the smirking face of the one person who Inuyasha would love to kill at the moment, Kouga. He stepped out of the hut and growled, drawing the two intruder's attention away from the fallen form of Kikyou.

"What are you doing here?" he barked, eyeing the wolf prince. "You have no business to be in this village."

"He may have no business, Inuyasha," Kagome said flatly, causing the hanyous attention to shift to her. "However, I do. And I'm sorry to say that it concerns you." Inuyasha looked over at her and his anger slowly began to melt away. She was pissed, and he could tell it. Her cheeks were rosy and her hair was mussed up from the flying. There was a dangerous spark in her eyes, and he suddenly wondered what he was doing with Kikyou and not her.

"What is it, Kagome?" he asked. "What do you want?"

"Inuyasha!" Kikyou yelled. "You're not going to listen to her, are you? She attacked me!"

"Oh, shut your trap, bitch!" Kouga snarled. "Kagome didn't do anything to you." Inuyasha though, seemed to be transfixed to the sight of Kagome. His mind started wielding picture after picture in front of his eyes. For some odd reason all of them were of the two of them. Each one was different.

He and Kagome traveling down a dirt road, searching for shards.

He and Kagome sitting in Kaede's hut, eating ramen.

Kagome coming up out of the well that led to her home era.

"What do you want, Kagome?" the hanyou asked again, more softly this time, releasing his hold on the sword.

"You know what I came here for." she stated simply, placing her hand on her lower abdomen. "You knew the second I stepped out of the well and you picked up my scent." Inuyasha growled and shook his head, doubt quickly clouding his thoughts.

"I don't believe what your trying to tell me." he said. "There's no way."

"What?" Kagome asked, bewildered. "What do you mean there's no way?"

"Just what I said." he reiterated. "There's not way I'm responsible for that." Kagome looked sad for a moment, but then she shook her head. Kouga came up behind her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Inuyasha growled and glared at the full demon.

"Not responsible?" Kagome asked. "Not responsible? Then who the Hell is, might I ask?"

"Why don't you ask wolf-boy?" Inuyasha commented angrily. "He does seem to be rather overly protective of you right now, I wonder why?"

"YOU NO GOOD BASTARD!!!" Kouga yelled, letting go of Kagome and fisting his hands. "HOW COULD YOU ACCUSE HER OF THAT!!??"

"Because I can see what's right in front of my face!" the hanyou answered. He looked down at Kagome and saw that there were tears forming in her eyes. He immediately regretted loosing his temper with them.

"Fine then." Kagome said suddenly. "If you didn't believe that you're the father of this child, why did you go to Kouga's pack and mortally wound one of his pack members just to try to get to me?"

"I…." he couldn't come up with an answer to that one. He had went looking for her earlier, and wound up at Kouga's den. The rest had been a blur. He remembered fighting with one of the demons, but when a female stepped in, this one pregnant herself, he had backed down.

"Exactly." Kagome said. She stalked up to the hanyou and looked him right in the eye. He seemed different from the other times she had seen him. The hatred in his eyes was gone. He looked like the old Inuyasha she had traveled with. "Inuyasha, this child is yours, whether you want to admit it or not. I know who I was with, and you're the only one."

"What about wolf boy? You seem to be spending an awful lot of time with him, and running away from me I might add." he said venomously.

"I never slept with Kouga." she said simply. She reached out to put her hand on his shoulder, and he did not flinch away. He did not want to.

"How do I know that?" Inuyasha answered, a little less convincing than the last time. He wanted to believe what she was saying, but there was a voice in his head that kept telling him that she was lying to him. 'She's never lied to me before. Why would she start now?' he thought.

"You don't." she said simply. "But, unlike some people, I wouldn't lie to you about something this important." Kikyou had finally composed herself enough to get off of the ground and stand up. When she saw how close the hanyou and her reincarnate were standing, she got worried. She tightened her already weak hold on Inuyasha and willed him towards her. The change in him was immediate, and she hid a grin. His body tensed up and he pushed Kagome's hand off of his shoulder with a snarl. 'Perfect.' she thought.

"Inuyasha??" she said. "What's the meaning of this? What is she talking about?"

"Quit acting like an innocent, you wench!" Kouga said. "You know exactly what's going on. You can sense the child in Kagome, so don't play dumb!" Kikyou shook her head as if she didn't understand and Kagome turned around to look at her, fire in her chocolate eyes.

"Then let me spell it out for you, Kikyou." she ground out. "I'm pregnant, and Inuyasha is the father of the child." Kikyou, although she already knew that the girl carried a child, acted as though she was shocked.

She grinned inwardly at the face on Kagome. The younger girl was radiating energy like crazy, and all of her anger was reviving Kikyou's own miko powers. That was how she had been able to sense another presence within Kagome's body only minutes after they had arrived.

"The child is not mine." Inuyasha said suddenly. Kagome turned back around and looked at the hanyou. She gasp when she saw the hatred etched on his face. She shook her head in confusion.

"Inuyasha, the child is yours. And you know it." she said simply. "Or did you forget that evening in the springs when you marked me, or night before I left to go back home after we collected the shards when you put the fading mark back?" A soft look of comprehension began to creep its way onto the hanyou's face, softening the anger lines, and Kikyou tightened her hold on him again, willing him to disbelieve what Kagome told him. Kagome was almost ecstatic when Inuyasha slowly nodded in acquiescence.

"I remember, Kagome." he said quietly.

"Then why don't you believe me?" she asked. "It's obvious enough to both of us that I'm pregnant. I know you don't want the child…"

"Then get rid of it." Kikyou said firmly. "There's no way you can raise a child on you own. You're not strong enough." Inuyasha turned to the woman and suddenly felt like slapping her silly. He shook his head in confusion, wondering why he couldn't make up his mind about the two women.

'What's wrong we me?' he thought.

"She won't raise the child alone." Kouga said fiercely. Inuyasha turned and glared at the full demon, fully intending on pounding him into the ground. But he stopped when Kagome looked back at him and smiled weakly. "She has the support of my entire pack, as well as myself behind her. She won't be alone." Inuyasha was stunned at his offer. It was very rare for a male demon to take on another male's child, but Kouga was offering it. And Inuyasha did not like it one bit.

"I won't abort the child, and that's final." Kagome said, staring directly at the older miko. "I wouldn't do something like that, although I don't doubt you would." She turned back to Inuyasha, who had continued to stare at her and Kouga. "Inuyasha, I…"

"We need to talk." he said simply, grabbing her wrist. 'I can't think with both of them around here.' he thought. 'With all of the miko energy crackling around those two, I'm surprised Kouga and I haven't been purified yet. I need to talk to her, but away from Kouga and Kikyou.' he thought.

"You are talking, dog-face." Kouga said, rushing to Kagome's side. The hanyou dropped the girl's wrist and glared even harder at the full demon. "So get on with it."

"I need to speak with Kagome, alone." he said. "This matter concerns only her and myself, not either of you."

"Inuyasha!" Kikyou cried. "Don't turn your back on me again!!"

"You're not taking her anywhere, puppy!" Kouga said, coming up behind her and pulling her into his embrace. His hands rested on her lower abdomen, a silent reminder as to why they were here in the first place. It did not go unnoticed by Inuyasha. "Anything you've got to say, you can say it in front of me!"

"This doesn't concern either of you." the hanyou said, eyeing the miko and the wolf prince.

"She's not going with you, and that's final." Kouga said.

"Kouga?" Kagome said. "Let me go. I have to do this." The wolf demon looked down with shock on his face.

"Kagome, I can't let you do that. There's no telling what he'll do to you when you get by yourself."

"Kouga…please?" she begged. "We'll be right back, I promise."

"I'm not gonna do anything to her, wolfie." Inuyasha said. "Not even I'm stupid enough to hurt a pregnant female."

"Could've surprised me." the wolf sneered. "You've broken enough of our traditions, why stop at that one?" Inuyasha put his hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga and was about to draw it to cut the wolf's head off.

"Stop it, both of you!" Kagome said finally, pulling out of the wolf's embrace. "We're going to talk this out, whether you two like it or not." She began walking away, into the woods, and Inuyasha turned to follow silently. Before he got two steps in front of where he had been, Kouga slammed into him. Inuyasha went flying headfirst into the dirt. Before he could pick himself up, Kouga had him pinned to a nearby tree.

"You hurt her again, bastard, and I'll be sure to kill you this time." he growled out. "I still owe you for wounding Ginta."

"I'm not going to touch her, wolf-boy." the hanyou said.

"You better do just that. Had it been left up to me, I'd have killed you first, then asked questions later." With that final unspoken threat, Kouga let the hanyou fall down to his feet. Inuyasha picked himself up and was about to walk off when Kikyou came flying towards him.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" she sobbed. "Don't turn your back on me! Please….don't leave me again!" She clung to the hanyou's robes, sobbing her tears of betrayal.

"I'm not turning by back on you, Kikyou." he said soothingly, "I have to speak with Kagome about this. I'll be back soon."

"But…" she stammered. Out of the corner of her eye, Kikyou could see Kagome standing at the forest, waiting on the hanyou. She stood up and wiped her tears away, they stood on her tiptoes and gave Inuyasha a kiss. 'Let the little wench know she's not getting him back.' she thought. "Come back to me, Inuyasha." she whispered softly.

"I will, Kikyou." he said, smoothing her hair down. "I will. Go on down to the village and do what you need to. I'll come get you when this is over with. It won't take long." And with that, she let him go and he turned to follow Kagome into the woods. Kouga took off in the opposite direction, content to give Kagome the privacy she needed, and to keep an eye on the wench Kikyou. Something told him that she was trouble. He stole a glance at the once dead girl and growled. She had a look of triumphant on her face, along with a grin that would have made Naraku proud. 'That woman is trouble, and I know it.' he thought.

Kagome walked into the forest until she found a shaded spot that blocked out the evening's sunlight. She turned and faced the silent hanyou, a grimace on her face. She had been dreading this conversation the whole time, but it was here now.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha." she said simply. She had already made up her mind not to cry in front of him. She was too mad as it was to worry about crying, and he knew it. " I didn't want this to happen, but it did."

"You need to calm down, Kagome." the hanyou said quietly. Kagome's temper flared up at the dismissal of her apology.
"Calm down?!" she shrieked, "Calm down?! I tell you I'm pregnant with your child, and all you can say is 'calm down'?" Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders and tried to stop her from swinging at him. Unfortunately, when a soft pink light began to envelope her body, he backed up.

"The angrier you become, the more power Kikyou gets back." he said simply. "She doesn't need her miko powers back." Kagome was stunned at the fact that he had told her the same thing that Kouga had before they got to the village.

"How did you…."

"I just know." he said dismissively. Kagome took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "She's slowly been regaining the power she once had, so calm down before you transfer any more of your energy through the jewel and back to her."

"I'm not worried about Kikyou right now." Kagome said pointedly, changing the subject with the blink of an eye. "I want to know what you think about this child."

"Kagome," he said simply. "You have to understand that I have my doubts about the parentage of this child."

"What?!" she asked again. "How could you?"
"You ran to Kouga as soon as you found out about Kikyou. You didn't even give me a chance to explain what had happened between Kikyou and I. How am I supposed to know for a fact that it's not his child your carrying?"

"Seeing you two lying underneath a tree naked isn't proof enough of your infidelity to me?" she asked, remembering the night Kouga had brought her to see the two of them together. " As for Kouga, you don't see a bite mark on my neck, do you?" she asked suddenly, pulling her shirt away from her neck. "I was never with Kouga, at least not like that."

"I don't know that for a fact, Kagome." he said. "And I'm not sure I can trust you."
"YOU can't trust ME???" she asked suddenly. She walked up to him and stood face to face with the hanyou. Her anger was getting the better of her again, but she tried to tamp it down. "Who's talking here, you or Kikyou?"

"Kagome.." he started.
"Don't you 'Kagome', me." she said. "You know I wouldn't sleep with Kouga. If I wanted to do that, I'd done it a long time ago, I assure you."

"But.." he started. Kagome shook her head in defeat and looked back up to her white haired ex-lover.

"What has Kikyou done to you, Inuyasha?" she asked simply. The hanyou noticed her quick change in temperament and hid a grin. "You told me that night at the spring that you wanted a family with me. What made you change your mind so suddenly? What'd she do?" The hanyou only turned his back to the girl and frowned. He didn't know what was going on. He knew that he was supposed to love Kagome, -he knew that he had at one time- but something was telling him that his love for Kikyou was more important.

"I…don't know…what…changed." he admitted.

"Do you still love me?" Kagome asked simply. Inuyasha was a little taken off guard by the question. He hadn't expected that one.

"Yes." he said. "But not when Kikyou's around." Kagome shook her head at his answer. 'He doesn't even know what he wants.' she thought angrily.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "You love me, but not when she's around? That doesn't make any sense, Inuyasha."

"Something's different, Kagome." he admitted. "I know I love you, but Kikyou's….. something's telling me that I should be with her, not you. I don't know what it is, to be honest." Kagome looked over at the obviously confused half demon, and things started making sense to her. Her anger flared again, and she quickly stopped it. 'Damned Kikyou and her miko mind tricks!!!' she thought angrily. 'She's done this to him!' She took a shaky breath and shook her head. Now that she knew what the problem was, she knew how to conquer it. Make him choose right now. Kagome had been in control of her powers long enough to know that when faced with a person who was under even a small amount of mind control would go with their heart's truest desire when forced to choose.

"It's either her or me, Inuyasha." Kagome said finally. "I'm not going to play second fiddle to another girl." Inuyasha looked at her and shook his head. 'I know something is going on here with Kikyou, but I don't know what it is.' he said to himself. 'I don't want to get Kagome and the pup tied up in this right now. I have to wash my hands with Kikyou before I do anything else.'

"Then I'm afraid, until I figure out what's truly in my mind, my choice is Kikyou." he said quietly. "Something in the back of my mind is telling me this is the only way not to hurt you in the long run."

"Fine." she said, choking back her tears. "You do realize that you're forfeiting all rights to this child over to me." Inuyasha nodded, knowing that was the way the demon law read.

"Kagome, I know." he said. "I just need some time to figure out what's going on through my head. I'm confused."

"Fine." she said. "Now that that's settled, I think we should get back before Kouga tears the village apart." She went to walk away, but Inuyasha caught her gently on the shoulder.

"Promise me one thing, Kagome." he said, not looking in her eyes. He hoped she could read him as well now as she had in the past. She always seemed to know what he was thinking before; he just hoped she had not lost that capability yet.

"What?" she asked.

"When the child, our child, is born, you'll at least let me see it once."

"Why should I?" she asked. "You are sealed out of the well, and can't get to me."

"Please, Kagome." he begged. Kagome looked at him and a sadness filled her. Inuyasha was an open book if asked the right question, and she knew just what to ask him.

"You never did question the parentage of this child, did you?" she asked softly. "You know it's yours, don't you?" The hanyou only nodded, knowing that the girl spoke the truth. Deep in his heart, he knew Kagome would never betray him with Kouga, at least not without some sort of closure on their own relationship. He knew that the child was his, but he could not drag the both of them into the mess with Kikyou.

Kagome looked to the side and sighed. 'I can't cut him off from the child forever.' she thought sadly. 'But, I don't have to tell him that.'

"Inuyasha, I'm only going to say this once, so listen up." she said quickly. "I know this child is yours, and I don't want it to grow up without a father figure. But, I'm not going to let it be confused by you. If you run from me to Kikyou and back again, the child is going to be upset when you're with us one minute, and gone the next. What would I say when they ask where their father is?" She looked him in the eyes and frowned. "And I won't have that."

"Kagome, please..." he pleaded.
"Here's the deal, Inuyasha." she continued on. "You have one last chance to prove yourself to me, or to the child I should say. When you get yourself figured out or straightened out, or whatever, come talk to me then. We'll see what we can work out." Inuyasha nodded, glad that all hope was not lost to him. Kagome frowned and went on with her stipulations. "But as long as Kikyou's in the picture, I'm not. I'm not going to wait on you, Inuyasha. You made your choice, and now we both have to live with it. You have eight months to figure out what's going on with Kikyou. After that, you'll have one chance to prove yourself to our child. You screw it up even once, and you won't get another one. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly." he said.

"Good." she said. "Now if you'll excuse me.."

"One more question, Kagome." he said quickly.

"What?"

"Are you going to raise the child in your era, or here?" he asked.

"Well, I can't exactly have a child with dog-ears in my time, now can I?" she asked sarcastically. Inuyasha seemed to shrink back at the mention of the child being only part demon, but Kagome went on as though nothing had changed. "Up until the last few months of my pregnancy, I'll be in my time. But when I get too far along, I'm afraid I'll have to come back here. Kaede has already told me that I'm welcome to stay with her anytime I want to." The hanyou nodded, accepting the explanation without questions. Kagome turned once again was about to walk back to the village when she stopped short.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked.

"I'm not going back to the village." she said pointedly. "I'm liable to kill a certain someone if I do."

"How are you getting back? You can't walk through the forest yourself."

"I'm not walking." she said pointedly.

"Damn straight you're not!" he said vehemently. He scooped her up bridal style and was about to take off when she stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing?" she shrieked. "Put me down!"

"How else are you going to get back before nightfall?" he asked, sitting her down on her feet.

"Like this." she said, glaring at him. "KOUGA!!!!" Inuyasha almost dropped her to the ground, clutching his ears when she screamed for the wolf demon. Before the hanyou could recover, gale force winds were whipping through the trees. A little mini tornado came charging towards Kagome, and it stopped right in front of her. Kouga stepped out and stood in front of her, looking her up and down for any sign of injuries or scrapes.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" he asked, glaring at the hanyou. "What'd he do to you? Are you okay?" Kagome put her hand on the wolf's shoulder and shook her head.

"I'm fine, Kouga." she said softly. "But I'm ready to go back now."

"You're finished with dog-boy?" he asked. Inuyasha glared, not liking how he had phrased that question. He looked at Kagome and felt a wave of pain wash through him.

"Yes. I am. Let's go." Kagome said. Kouga nodded and looked back at the hanyou.

"You're stupid, dog." he said simply. "You don't know what you've missed in this woman."

"Believe it or not, yes I do." he answered. Kouga just shook his head and scooped Kagome up, bridal style, just like Inuyasha had been holding her moments before. It broke his heart to see that she did not struggle away from the wolf prince like she had with him. In fact, she turned herself into his chest and rested her head on him. When she was situated, Kouga took off into the air, leaving Inuyasha standing on the ground, wondering if he had done the right thing after all by letting her go again……

A/N - Okay peeps. How's it going? Hope you guys are enjoying this story thoroughly.


I just wanted to explain a little about this chapter before you guys left out. I know it seems a little odd that Inuyasha would let her go, but here's the explanation.

Inuyasha knows that there is something going on with him and Kikyou. He knows that there is something making him want to forget about Kagome and go to Kikyou. So, he wants to break that tie to Kikyou before he goes back to Kagome. As for Kagome giving him one last chance, she realized that Kikyou is using her restored miko powers to play with Inuyasha's mind. That is why she said they would talk about him having something to do with the child when he finally got rid of Kikyou once and for all.

But the big question looming above his head is, will he be able to figure out how to deal with Kikyou and still keep Kagome from getting tied anymore closely with Kouga and the wolf pack. Remember, he still does have some latent feelings for Kikyou. He did love her for a very long time after all. Will he have enough time to figure out what to do?

We'll see…..