I am so HAPPY! I have reached the 100 review mark! I love all of you, especially those of you who keep coming back. You have no idea how much that means to me.

Now, for all of you, Chapter Thirteen!

Disclaimer: I have tried all I can think of, including holding Shippo for ransom. I almost ended up in the Kazaana that time. The point of this story? I still don't own Inu Yasha.

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Kagome blinked. "Remember, he's hurt, Kagome," she muttered under her breath as she stood up. Kouga's head slid off her lap and hit the ground with a thud.

The wolf youkai yelped and sat up, rubbing the back of his skull. "Hey, Kagome, I'm still hurt here!" he growled.

She glanced down at him and sighed. It was really weird how he could sometimes sound just like Inuyasha. "You seem to be feeling better now," she pointed out. "Do you think you can move?"

Kouga tried to huff, but it only sent him into a fit of coughing. Kagome kneeled down beside him in alarm. "Maybe you should let Kirara carry you, Kouga-kun," she said nervously. "Those wounds are really bad. We need to get you back to Kaede's village; she'll be able to patch you up."

"No way," Inuyasha stated. His arms were crossed, and his fingertips were playing with the handle of the Tetsusaiga. "That wimpy wolf has been nothin' but trouble, Kagome. Let him go back to his pack; they'll know what to do with his scrawny carcass."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome stood up again angrily. "I am not letting Kouga go off in his condition. He'll die if we leave him here." She drew her arms around herself and looked at the ground.

"Feh!" The hanyou turned and stalked away.

"Well, that wasn't too hard," Kagome said with false enthusiasm as she started to tend to Kouga's wounds.

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"Kagome!"

The young miko froze, and a makeshift bandage rolled from her hands. She stood once again, and tears filled her eyes. *How could I have forgotten…*

"Sango!"

The taijiya practically ran at her, tears streaming down her face and arms outstretched. Kagome nearly toppled over from the fierce embrace. She looked over Sango's shoulder at Miroku, who was making his way toward them with glistening eyes.

When he was within a few feet, he hesitated. "Kagome-sama, I am glad to see you have returned to us," he said in his usual serious tone.

Then, without warning, the monk threw his arms around them both. Sango stiffened momentarily, but she relaxed when his hand stayed at her shoulders.

"I am so sorry, you guys," Kagome sobbed. "I was so selfish! All I could think about was Inuyasha, and I didn't even think about how it would hurt you! I'm so sorry."

"The important thing is that you're here now," Sango said reassuringly. "I wouldn't have been able to bear losing another sibling to Naraku."

"Sibling?"

"Yes, Kagome." The taijiya have her another quick hug, before drawing back. "You are like a young sister to me now."

Kagome stood silent for a moment, trying hard to see through her tears. "Thank you, nee-sama."

"Well, this is really nice and all, but I think we'd better get a move on," Inuyasha said gruffly. He was kneeling by Kikyo's body, and his eyes were hidden beneath his bangs.

"Hurry up and finish cleaning up wolf boy, Kagome," he muttered. "I gotta do something first, and then we can go." He stood up with the dead priestess in his arms and turned toward the woods.

"Inuyasha." Kagome took a step toward him. "I'd like to help you—"

"No," he interrupted. The miko gasped a little, and he softened his tone. "No, Kagome," he insisted. "This is something I'd like to do alone."

"Okay, Inuyasha," Kagome answered softly, watching him melt into the shadows of the woods. She looked up when she felt Miroku's hand resting on her shoulder.

"He needs to say goodbye to her by himself, Kagome," he said quietly. "Why don't we see what we can do about Kouga? He looks pretty hurt."

Kagome sighed. Somehow, as she stood there watching Inuyasha walk away with Kikyo in his arms, she felt something lift from her heart and follow them.

*It must be all that out-of-body experience I just had,* she thought as she shook her head and forced her attention back to the task at hand.

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"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Inuyasha was shaking his head fiercely, his ears flat against his head. "Why can't I talk to her for more than a minute without yelling at her?"

He kept walking for a long time, not really knowing what he was looking for. Kikyo's dead body hung limply in his arms, and tears kept falling on her face.

"Why can't I talk to her like I talked to you, Kikyo?" he wondered, looking down into her peaceful countenance. "And why does she keep putting that stupid wolf over me?"

He fell to his knees on the soft grass and gingerly wiped the moisture off the miko's face. "Do you think she really has feelings for him?"

The miko's lips remained unmoving, and her head drooped in the crook of his arm.

With a sigh, Inuyasha quickly surveyed his surroundings. The ground was relatively even for a good stretch yet, before it rose to a gentle hill. There was grass everywhere, and little white flowers poked their heads through the trunks of the trees and around the edges of boulders.

Just ahead of him, a tree stood a little apart from the others. Its branches seemed to have been sculpted with the utmost of care, framing the sky like fine tendrils of hair. At its foot, the roots wove in and out of the earth, forming a sort of cradle.

Inuyasha carried Kikyo to the tree. He stood up and rapped on the trunk twice with his knuckles, testing the wood. He nodded, satisfied, and set to work.

It was evening when he finally set the handful of white flowers on the fresh mound within the cradle of the tree. He stood before it for a moment, motionless except for the fluttering of his hair and yukata in the breeze.

Then, with a final sigh, he turned and walked away.

It was said forever after that the Maiden Tree held mysterious power. No youkai dared to come near it. When human children were lost in the woods, they would always be found safe and sound in its cradle, sleeping amidst dozens of small white blossoms.

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Bear with me. I know it's been a while, and it's a short one, but there will be more as soon as possible, I promise. And the next chapters will definitely focus on the love triangle, which I think I've neglected long enough. Oi, the pressures of disorganization can be brutal!