Inuyasha Torn Apart Chapter 3

Kagome's watched beeped, breaking the silence of the night. 3 a.m. She mechanically rubbed her eyes and turned onto her side to face the burning embers of the fire pit that was in the middle of the small hut. She slowly sat up and looked to the corner on the opposite side of the room and saw that Inuyasha was sound asleep, his ears twitching every so often. A faint, sad smile crossed her lips as she stretched and stifled a yawn. Making sure the coast was clear, she quietly stepped out of her sleeping bag and crept out of the hut and into the sleeping village. She paused at the doorstep and looked up at the night sky. It's been over three years since she's been traveling back and forth between her world and Feudal Japan, yet it didn't seem like it. She was now 18. It's been five days now since the jewel was finished. Miroku and Sango went off on their own not more than two days ago, while Shippo stayed behind with Inuyasha and Kagome. Time flew by so fast. She made one more glance towards Inuyasha before stepping out into the hot summer air to walk up the stairs behind the hut to the shrine. She enjoyed nights like this, where she could make her way over to a lonely tree that looked over the village, sit on one of the lower branches and look out onto the village. Alone, with only the company of her thoughts.

The young miko grunted as she pulled herself up onto the first thick branch. She was grateful that her shoulder healed quickly to only a dull ache with the help of Kaede's herbs. She settled her back against the trunk and let her left leg dangle in the air. Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander. She enjoyed the stillness of the air. How peaceful it was. She smiled gently to herself, 'Now I can see why Inuyasha enjoys sitting up in trees.I guess he's starting to rub off on me..' She tilted her head backwards to look up into the branches overhead. Sighing, she looked back down towards the hut. Sadness gripped her heart as she remembered the events that took place not more than five days ago. She knew he blamed her, and she knew that he was hiding that blame from her. He kept telling her that it was out of self defense, and nothing could have been done or else she herself would be dead, but deep down, she knew something could have been done. Running a hand through her hair she slowly let her eyes close when she felt the scab from her cut. She sighed and crossed her arms against her chest and let herself slip into a slumber. She didn't notice when the branch shuddered when another being jumped onto it.

"Feh.."

Kagome's eyes snapped open in surprise as her body flinched, sending a chill up her spine as she almost fell off the branch. A pair of strong arms reached out to grab her shoulders, steadying her. She blinked her eyes rapidly, forcing them to become adjusted with the dark. "Inuyasha.."

"Why'd you leave the hut? You're still recovering." Inuyasha removed his hands from her shoulders and crossed his arms under his sleeves.

Kagome shrugged and returned her gaze to the stars. "I needed to think." her eyelids dropped slightly as she looked to the branch in front of her. "I know you blame me, Inuyasha.." her voice faltered as the words slipped past her lips. She nervously picked at a few loose strands that came from her pajama's tank top. Inuyasha quickly looked at her and noticed the patch of gauze still covering her wound on her shoulder. He looked away. He couldn't bear to let her see the pain that was in his eyes, and he didn't want to see the pain in hers.

"I thought we went through this already Kagome." Inuyasha sighed gently. He closed his eyes as Kagome continued.

"If only I just ran away or something, was more cautious of surroundings, wasn't so freaking slow.." at this point her voice started to crack with emotion, she leaned forward, her eyes lined with tears, though her mind forced her not to cry as she closed the distance between the two. Their faces inches apart as she yelled, "Hell! I should of just left her injured instead of making the kill! I could of gotten away after stabbing her arms!" Kagome sighed and sat back. Inuyasha kept his eyes to the ground, his head pointed in the direction of the hut. "Look at me Inuyasha!" She could see him flinch at the harshness that came from her voice. She closed her eyes, regretting how it came out, but she quickly pushed it aside. This was important. No time to play around. She needed him to be honest with her.

The hanyou shook his head and turned his head further away from her. Kagome growled at his stubbornness and reached over grabbing his chin. He resisted at first but she forced his head to turn, till their noses were mere inches away.

"You still blame me don't you? You know I could of handled things differently." She said in a very frighteningly calm voice as she lowered her hand. He stared into her eyes. His heart wrenching, his stomach churning. The pain was intolerable. He averted his gaze to his left. Kagome tried to follow his line of site and gave up and let her hand drop from his chin, and crossed her arms against her chest. "Stop hiding it from me Inuyasha, tell me the truth!"

Inuyasha blinked at the sudden outburst and slowly turned his eyes back towards hers. It was true. He did sort of blame her for Kikyo's death. She stabbed her to death. If she only stopped after freeing herself... Inuyasha shook his head violently to tear away from the thought. "Idiot! How many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault! It was out of self defense! What the he.." he stopped himself quickly as he sniffed the air. 'baka..' he thought to himself as he reached over and gathered her into his arms.

Kagome struggled violently in his embrace. "Inuyasha let me go!" Inuyasha growled as he tightened his hold around her waist.

"Not until we talk this out Kagome." He spun her around so he could look her in the eyes. He saw her narrow her own and dreaded the words that came from her lips the second afterwards.

"SIT!!"

With in a second Inuyasha fell from the branch and crashed into the ground. Kagome muttered as she climbed down from the tree. "I'm going home!" she yelled. Inuyasha tried sitting up, but Kagome was quick to yell out a couple more sits and was already out of site, making her way to the well.

A/N: Reviews would be nice ( Good, Bad, Ugly. Feh.. hehe Next chapter due out by middle of Feb, hopefully sooner