Another's Name, But My Heart
By Lady of the Ink
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but you knew that. I hope. But I do own this plot and all the twists that it takes.

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General Reminder: All references to Kikyo mean Kagome unless that section is in Kaede, Kagome, or the real Kikyo's POV.

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Chapter Sixteen

Break Me

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Inuyasha wasn't sure what first alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone. It could have been the hint of a foreign scent on the air, or a whisper of sound so faint that he felt more than heard it. Whatever it was, his instinctual reaction to duck and dodge quite possibly saved his life. There was a whooshing sound followed by the crashing of trees being battered by something.

He leapt to the side, barely noticing the branches that snapped under his weight. Rolling to his feet, he immediately sank into a battle pose several feet away from his starting point. His sharp eyes scanned the forest as he strove to locate the threat. It didn't take long for him to see the girl. She was making no effort to hide, standing in plain sight with a look of focused anger burning in her eyes.

As he watched, she braced her legs slightly apart as what looked like a giant boomerang found its way back into her hands. Without wasting a single movement, the massive weapon was caught and swung back into throwing position. The sheer speed with which her next assault was accomplished left Inuyasha with barely enough time to get out of its way.

Jumping straight up, he used the branches like launching pads to quickly circle the area. He had no idea who this strange girl was or why she was attacking him. What he did know was that she was a legitimate threat, her speed and skill evident in every move she made. He was going to have to take the fight seriously unless he wanted a piece or two knocked out of him.

That thought was reinforced as the boomerang whistled past him once more. It slammed forcefully into the tree he was standing on. A good two-foot section was reduced to splinters, chunks of wood shooting outward to graze across every inch of exposed skin. The top half of the tree began to fall, knocking Inuyasha off balance. He leapt, but the shifting of the trunk skewed his aim enough that his jump fell short. Leaves slapped his face as the ground rushed up to meet him.

Slamming into the dirt knocked the air out of his lungs, the impact stunning him for a moment. It wasn't long, but it was enough for the girl to make her way to his side. She stared down at him, her features showing a mix of disgust and hatred.

"Inuyasha, now you die." The cold words were accompanied with the raising of her boomerang, proving that it wasn't an idle threat.

Inuyasha knew it might be his last chance to act and so he did. Waiting until the final instant before the boomerang came slashing downward, he lashed out with his foot. It connected solidly with her stomach, causing a gratifying rush of air to explode from her mouth. Her weapon continued its downward arc. No longer under her control, it veered slightly to the side, grazing him on the shoulder instead of crashing into his head as she had planned. The force of the swing left it standing upright, the end planted several inches deep in the earth.

A wave of agony erupted from Inuyasha's shoulder, shooting outward like sparks from a fire. He knew his arm was broken, could feel the bones grinding together beneath the bruised flesh. Ignoring the pain, he rolled to his side and struggled to get to his feet. If he could reach his sword, even with one arm out of action, he knew he could win.

Unfortunately for Inuyasha, his luck didn't hold out that long. He was turned on his side, bracing himself with his good arm when the girl got her breath back. Reaching out, she grabbed the boomerang with both hands and pulled it from the ground. Not taking the time to raise it over her head, she swung it sideways instead, sending the thin edge hurtling towards him at a tremendous speed.

Inuyasha threw himself to the side again, eliciting a grunt of pain and effort. He felt the breeze the weapon created and heard the air whistle as it just barely missed him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to focus. In that instant, Inuyasha saw an opening. The girl had used such force on her swing that she was left momentarily off balance. Now he was faced with a choice: He could use the opportunity to either attack immediately or to put some space between them.

Since any strike he might make would be weaker than usual due to his condition and position, Inuyasha opted for the latter choice. He made his way onto his knees and then to his feet, bracing his weight against a nearby tree. With his injured arm cradled against his body, he was just reaching for the hilt of his sword when the girl's voice caught his attention once more.

"If you wanted a fight, Inuyasha, you should have come to me. You're going to regret ever bringing my brother into this. Did it make you feel powerful to attack someone who was practically helpless? Was it fun for you?" Her face twisted in a combination of absolute hatred and grief. "I dismissed you as a threat once, and it cost me something very dear to me. I won't make the same mistake twice."

Her baffling statements delivered, she drew back her boomerang once more.

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Kagome ran as quickly as her tangling skirt and unwieldy burden would allow her. A sharp pain soon appeared in her side but she forced herself to ignore it. The relatively minor discomfort caused by the cramp paled in comparison to what she might find. Even though she had no real reason to believe that the woman who might be the injured boy's sister could be a threat to a powerful hanyou, the fear gripping her stomach refused to vanish. Every one of her instincts was screaming that Inuyasha was in danger and that she had to get to his side.

In the back of her mind was a questioning voice that wondered why she was so worried. If Inuyasha were to be killed, it would solve many of the problems that kept her up at night. Kikyo would be able to return and reclaim her lands. She would be finally be able to stop pretending and go home to her family and normal life. Then she could at least attempt to forget the troubling events of the last several weeks.

But somehow she couldn't bring herself to wish any harm on him. As difficult and rude as he seemed, Kagome had discovered a genuinely kind person beneath his rough exterior. He cared about the people he was responsible for and had yet to shirk any of the duties that came with being the ruler of such a substantial amount of lands. Under his watchful eye, she had seen nothing but improvements to the people's health, holdings, and attitudes. Besides being a better ruler than Kikyo had ever aspired to be, he was a living, breathing person who deserved a good life as much as anyone else did. It would just be wrong to wish him ill simply to make her own life easier.

In fact, in a few moments of brutal late night honesty, she had even found herself admitting that she would miss him when she had to go. The conversations they had every night had showed her they shared a lot of opinions, although usually for much different reasons. Although few and far between their arguments, the times when they actually got along had come to mean a lot to her.

It was all the pleasant memories that filled her mind as she raced forward, the emotions they inspired urging her to go faster. Kagome barely noticed the leaves that tangled in her hair or the branches that scratched at her face and arms. All of her focus was directed on finding her way back to that clearing, and back to Inuyasha's side.

The trees blocking her path grew more numerous as she made her way deeper into the forest. Thick undergrowth tangled around her ankles and hid obstacles, forcing her slow her steps or risk an injury that might stop her progress altogether. It was only because she was going so slowly, and thus making less noise than before, that she heard the voice.

"I dismissed you as a threat once, and it cost me something very dear to me. I won't make the same mistake twice."

Kagome was moving forward even before the words fully registered in her mind. She arrived in the clearing just as an armor-clad girl was preparing to launch some large type of weapon. Following her line of vision, Kagome gasped at the sight of an obviously injured Inuyasha leaning against a tree.

As she watched, he reached to unsheathe the sword at his side with only one arm as the other swung uselessly from his shoulder. Just as his fingers curled around the hilt, however, he paused, his head turning in her direction. It couldn't have been more than a second before he continued his motion to draw his weapon, but it had been enough. It was painfully clear that he wouldn't succeed in time to block the girl's assault. Kagome knew that he had caught her scent, and that it had distracted him from his task. Her heart leapt into her throat as she realized that her prediction was about to unfold right in front of her eyes.

Kagome saw that she would only have one shot at successfully intervening. If she had done that much damage to Inuyasha, the girl was clearly strong enough that Kagome wouldn't be much of a threat. But if she could catch her off guard while all her attention was focused on Inuyasha, she might have a chance to be of some help.

Swinging the bow into the position she had seen others use a million times, she struggled to get the arrow into place. Her hands were trembling so badly that her aim wavered all over the place. Finally lining up the shot as best she could, Kagome gathered every bit of her courage and acted on her hastily constructed plan.

"Leave him alone or I'll shoot!" she cried, hoping the other girl wouldn't see through her empty threat. She had never even held a bow before and she knew there was no chance of her hitting any specific target. Even if she could hit the woman, she didn't really want to hurt anyone.

Dark eyes swept in her direction, assessing Kagome in an instant. She apparently didn't find a trembling girl with bad aim much of a threat since she turned back to Inuyasha a moment later. However, that one-second of evaluation had been enough for the hanyou to draw his sword and manage to move into an offensive stance. The girl paused, apparently waiting for him to make the first move. Inuyasha seemed more than happy to comply.

As he took a couple of steps forward in preparation to attack, Kagome turned towards him. "Don't!" she yelled, hoping he would hear her in time. If what the maid said was true, this girl was simply trying to find out what had happened to her brother. She was thinking that Inuyasha was to blame, and so her actions were understandable. It wouldn't be right to hurt her under such circumstances. Of course, Inuyasha knew nothing of those circumstances, having left before the maid delivered them. All he knew was that some woman was attacking him with the end goal of killing him. It was more than enough of a reason for him to retaliate in kind.

Fortunately for the other girl, Inuyasha had excellent hearing. At the sound of Kagome's voice, he halted, his sword still raised but now motionless. "Why?" he growled, never taking his eyes off the woman in front of him.

"The boy from this morning . . .he's her brother!" Kagome knew the exact moment that Inuyasha figured out what that meant. His golden eyes closed briefly as his body relaxed out of his battle posture. While he didn't re-sheathe his sword, he did allow the tip to sink towards the ground. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief that turned into a gasp as the girl across the clearing broke into a blur of movement.

With a cry of apparent rage, she launched herself forward, dropping the boomerang in favor of the small sword strapped to her side. Her movements were sloppier now, her emotion getting the better of her. Inuyasha, a little startled at the sudden attack, quickly swung himself out of her range. Skidding to a halt, she immediately turned to come at him again. As soon as she was close enough on her second pass, he turned his sword and rapped her across the back of the head with the flat side. She took two stumbling steps before her eyes rolled up and she collapsed to the ground.

The clearing fell as close to silent as a forest ever got. Kagome's eyes moved from the unconscious girl to the hanyou who stood over her. He was panting slightly from either exertion or pain. After taking a moment to collect himself, he turned towards Kagome. Whatever he saw on her face seemed to agitate him.

"I didn't hurt her too bad," he said gruffly. "If I hadn't done that, she would have just kept coming. This way was just easier . . .and faster, too."

Kagome couldn't manage a reply through her tightening throat. The adrenaline that had carried her through the entire ordeal was fading, leaving her feeling shaken and more than a little frightened. Inuyasha had come very close to serious injury or even death, and there he was, trying to reassure her about the person who had tried to kill him. If all the people who thought demons were heartless and cruel could have seen him in that moment, they would have had to change their opinions . . .just like she had.

Without warning, Kagome felt hot tears well in her eyes. Seconds later she was racing across the space separating them, unable to stop herself. Mindful of his injuries, she flung herself against Inuyasha's chest, locking her arms around his waist. As she stood sobbing into his shirt, all she could feel was an enormous sense of relief that he was okay.

And in that moment, there was no Kikyo. All the lies between them ceased to matter or even exist. There was only the warmth of him in her arms and the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek.

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