Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha

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"Stupid hanyou. I swear to kami I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do.." Kouga grumbled under his breath, dwelling over the situation again and again in his head, flinching every time her face lost that happy, innocent expression and went cold. No one should be able to do that to his Kagome..

His own face changed completely the moment he heard the voice.

"I want your shards, Kouga."

"Who the hell are you," he growled, placing himself in front of the others in the den. "and what are you doing here?"

"I told you what I was here for, Kouga. Your shards."

His nose picked up a sickeningly familiar scent, one he despised. "Naraku."

"You're getting soft, Kouga. Kagura, not Naraku." She stepped out of the shadows, her fan in front of her face.

"Touch another one of my pack and I swear I'll kill you!"

She place down her fan, revealing a sinister smile. "I won't touch another one of them as long as you comply." Hakkaku and Ginta weren't far behind, ready to attack if Kouga needed any help. "I am not here to attack."

Kouga was confused. "Not here to attack? That does not sound like Naraku."

"It wasn't Naraku's orders," Kagura replied simply.

"Then whose? For you?" Kouga threw back his head and laughed. "If you had the jewel shards Naraku would know. So why should I?"

She lowered her head. "The sooner Naraku has what he wants, the sooner I am free," she whispered softly. Kouga did a double take, surprised that such a woman would so freely reveal her weakness.

He was still rough and unforgiving nonetheless. "I am sorry, Kagura. I will not do it if it is to help Naraku." He stood firm and tall, sure of his decision and anything that would come because of it.

"Then I am, too. Fuujin no Mai*." She poised her fan for the attack.

--

Kagome swore she could hear a sneeze from somewhere above her head. Sure that she merely thought she heard something, she continued on, only to be puzzled by the sound again. She stopped, fully expecting by now to have gone crazy. She gave a wry smile; she could almost hear Inu-Yasha mocking her.

She was about to head off to school when she heard another sound. A deep, gruff, angry voice from the direction the sneezes came. Turning her head, she saw a flash of red.

Inu-Yasha.

He was mumbling under his breath, face to the sky. She strained to listen, only feeling slightly guilty for eavesdropping on something that was apparently not for her to hear. If he had wanted her to, he would have forced her to sit and forced her to listen.

"Gods, Kagome, I'm sorry. What can I do to make you see that? Hobo, that guy's a wimp. He can't protect you like I can. But...he can give you a normal life. Nothing will be normal over there in my era if you decide to spend the rest of your life with a pathetic hanyou like me. At least he's all human.

"But I can't ignore this either. When you ran off, when you didn't even cry, it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach over and over. I never want to hurt you. I made a mistake.I've made so many, but I wasn't even aware of this. Is that why you ran off, because I didn't realize it?

"Keh. Not that you'd want to hear this. You have that Hobo guy.." The name was spit out, as though poison. Kagome felt her tears welling up in her eyes, slowly falling down her cheeks. Cold against the March air.

Speaking of which, how long had he been out in it?

"Inu-Yasha!" she called, trying to keep her voice as low as she could but loud enough he could hear. He jumped in his spot, catching his balance. Kagome?

"Come down, Inu-Yasha."

'What had she heard? None, please let her just have seen me..' He was acting like a child, but he didn't care. "KEH! What do you want, wench!?" he called down to her, not shifting his position.

"Come inside. I'll fix you some nice, hot ramen," she cooed, hoping her bribery would work. It did, of course. Within moments, he was in front of her, stooped so he was at eye level. Taking her wrist, he hurried her inside to make him his promised food.

He had been outside all not long. When he woke, he was covered in a thin layer of ice and snow. He was half demon, and because of it, had a stronger immune system than humans did. But sleeping under snow for several hours had the power to make him sick as well. He wasn't about to let Kagome see it, especially if she'd heard him. She'd think he was weak, and she would leave him.

He sneezed again. Kagome whirled around, her skirt flying around her thighs. She raised a small hand to his forehead, frowning.

"You've got a fever Inu-Yasha." Damn. "How long were you out there? Of course you're going to get sick," she scolded.

"I'm not sick, just..."

"Just nothing, wench!"

"You're sick Inu-Yasha, admit it!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO! Nonononononononononono--"

"Sit boy!" He was promptly met by more freezing snow, shoved into his mouth and up his nose. He sneezed again. "Oh, poor Inu-Yasha.." she began. He brought himself up roughly, wiping any snow off of him. He glared at her and marched into the house.

"Inu-Yasha?"

"What is it now?"

"I forgive you." He turned back to face her, drinking in her image. Her head was cocked slightly in her worry about his reaction. Her cheeks were flushed from being outside in the cold weather, her eyes were duller than usual.

"Whatever. It's all right," he mumbled. Her eyes instantly brightened and she was bubbly again. His heart soared.

"C'mon, we need to get you inside so you can get better." She took his hand, leading him the rest of the way. He wrapped his hand around hers. It was like holding a child's hand..he was sure he didn't need any of their remedies to feel better. Everything was right in the world again at that moment, and that was all he needed.

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Author's Note: Funny, I'm sick, too. And this is why my chapter sucks today. I'll have another one coming soon anyway, especially if I stay home. Hope you liked. See ya around!

*Fuujin no Mai is the Japanese name for Kagura's attack Dance of Wind Blades.