Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha.

Author's Note: In addition to the fan subs I have on disk from Kazaa, I tape the episodes in English off Adult Swim every night. Since work and school do everything but kill me, I'm beat when I get home and cannot trade sleep in the evening for anything except my supper and a hot shower. When I did go back over last night's episode ("Kikyou Captured by Naraku"), in the end they started the beginning of Fukai Mori while Kikyou was talking with guitar.

Who else finds that effect completely dramatic and really well done? They do it in other shows, but it's kind of rare to begin the end theme with the show still running with Inu-Yasha. So it's special. And the effect is five fold what it would have been.

On with the story!

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"Look, Inu-Yasha! Look at me!" Inu-Yasha grumbled, but turned away from his breakfast nonetheless. Standing proudly in front of him was a beaming Kagome.

What did she want from him? He was about to turn back around until he realized. Kagome. Was standing. On her own. She had been able to do it once or twice before in the past couple of days, but she had still been so weak she would fall back onto her futon.

"Feh! What the hell is so special about that?" He turned back to his food.

Kagome scowled. However, not for long...

"HENTAI!" Inu-Yasha was again interrupted by the fresh sound of an open palm on someone's face. He wasn't surprised at all to see a burning palm mark on his cheek. His eyebrows twitched and a lopsided, boyish grin was plastered on.

"Heh, just seeing how much better you were doing is all..."

"You bastard, DON'T you even CONSIDER touching her again!" Inu-Yasha's eyes were in slits, his nose about an inch from Miroku's own. That same smile was still on his face. "What, may I ask, is so funny?" He hissed dangerously low. He was about to give Miroku a good pounding when Sango came in.

It was as though the room was set aflame. Her eyes flashed with anger and her body was tense. Her practiced hand was already in position around her boomerang, ready to pull it out and hit him with it.

"Lady Sango!" He exclaimed happily! "What a pleasure to see such a lovely face! Forgive me, my dear lady, for I did not mean it." He bowed with pseudo remorse. They all knew well he didn't. Sango was further aggravated, enough to hit him over the head with the boomerang.

"But I only did it once!" he cried. "And I was hit twice! That's hardly fair, is it?"

"You get it double for getting her as soon as she climbed out of bed," Inu- Yasha growled. "And if you're not careful, your payment will be three fold instead--"

There was a sudden whirlpool of wind, bringing everyone out of their argument to stare at the doorway of the hut. By now they knew what this meant: another visit from Kouga. A shame it wouldn't merely redirect their arguing, instead of end it altogether.

He was not his normal self until he saw Kagome up. His eyes brightened. "You're doing better! Oh, Kagome, I'm so glad!" He took her soft hands in his rough ones, forgetting for the moment everyone and everything else existed.

"Let Kikyou go, you jackass, or would you prefer me to seperate your arm from her with my claws." He flexed his claws, emphasizing his point.

For a moment it seemed as though time stopped. Miroku immediatley forget his injuries, his heart going out to Kagome. Sango's blood ran cold, while Kouga's boiled. Inu-Yasha was oblivious to his mistake.

"Excuse me!?" Sango broke the silence with her angry demand.

"What? You WANT that stupid wolf to hit on her?"

"'Let KIKYOU go," Sango repeated, snarling at Kikyou's name. Inu-Yasha's face drained of colour. Had he said Kikyou instead of Kagome..? Couldn't be..

"So you cannot bring yourself to let her go, then, Inu-Yasha?" Inu-Yasha turned to Kagome. Her face was frighteningly devoid of expression, her voice monotone.

Inu-Yasha was too deep in thought to answer. 'I thought I had...I thought I had let her go. I've made my choice, but... I thought I made my choice, I THOUGHT I chose you. But if Kikyou's name was in the back of my mine...what does it mean?"

Kagome's patience for him had been shot straight to hell, and she was not about to wait around in a long silence merely to hear his excuses. "Well, I hope letting me go will be a much easier task. I'm going home. Kirara?" Kirara reluctantly complied, transforming and crouching down allowing Kagome to get on her back. "Goodbye," she said bitterly. Before Inu-Yasha could appreciate the meaning of the situation, Kirara and Kagome were gone.

Damn.

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Author's Note: Angst. Fun stuff, eh? Sorry. I didn't even intend it to turn out this way. To be quite honest, I hate angst. I'm a sucker for Disney like stuff where I cry at the end because everything's so perfect. Like Finding Nemo! Hmm...again, sorry. I'll try to update soon. *thinks of work tomorrow and twitches* Help...?