Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

A/N: I am sooooooo sorry. I am so sorry cannot imagine. I always always keep my promises and I know I promised that this would be out in the first week of September but it wasn't. Oh man, I am so so sorry. Things didn't work out the way I expected them to and uni just started off as soon as I moved in and now the courseload is just ... well.... Hard.

I will try to be faster and now that my lifestyle is getting a little more routine, the chapters will come faster. Anyhoo, I hope you forgive me. Here's the story...

Chapter 22: Gaining alliances

"I don't think it's a good idea to go hunting for Naraku when the new moon is just two days away. We might end up in battle during your human night." Sango said softly. Inuyasha and Kagome had returned from the modern era early that morning, with Inuyasha wearing very interesting clothes, and the tensions had been running high. It was to be expected though...the news about Miroku had shocked her to say the least.

"We cannot waste any more time. If we had known about Miroku's condition then we could have acted earlier..." He stopped talking when he saw guilt flash across his best friend's features. Inuyasha shifted his weight a little so that Kagome was securely fastened on his back. She was sleepy and tired after the confrontation with her mother and had almost bitten his head off when he had proposed that they leave for battle immediately. Needless to say, he ended up carrying an asleep Kagome on his back. Not that he minded or anything.

Sango looked at the monk. She still couldn't believe he had hidden that little detail for four months. It made her feel sad and betrayed. She knew she had feelings for him even though she denied it every time someone mentioned it, namely Kagome.

Miroku was trailing behind all of them, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Rei was leading the group, looking oddly out of it. She was usually very cheery and she kept darting looks between the monk and Inuyasha. Sango slowed her pace so that Miroku could catch up to her.

Miroku noticed her slowing down and he slowed down as well. Sango growled in a very Inuyasha-like way and slowed down even further. Miroku followed suit until it turned out that they were barely moving.

"Could you be any slower? We'll take years to get to Naraku's castle at this speed." Inuyasha yelled at the couple who jumped and then started walking briskly. Kagome shifted in her sleep when Inuyasha yelled and then slit open one eye. She leaned forward slightly and whispered, "Sit boy."

Inuyasha fell face first into the ground and she sat there straddling his hips.

"Oi Wench, what was that for?" He mumbled from the dirt. Kagome yawned loudly and then stretched her arms. She started tugging at his hair while the spell wore off.

"You yelled in my ear." She said slyly. The spell wore off and before Inuyasha could grab her she jumped and got out of his way.

Sango watched the couple fight it out and she turned her attention back to the stoic monk beside her. She wasn't used to his silent attitude. He hadn't even groped her in a long time. And that was saying something considering it was Miroku one was talking about.

As if reading her mind, a hand lid up her butt and then massaged it softly. She turned around and screamed, "Pervert!" before slapping him silly. She did it half-heartedly though. Even though no girl likes to be touched that way by a man... Sango had gotten used to his lecherous ways and anything but made her feel like something was wrong.

"But Sango dear, there was a fly on your ...um.... back side and I was just brushing it away." Miroku said in his usual smooth voice. Sango raised a brow; it was amazing how Miroku shifted moods faster than a pregnant lady on a sugar high. As she watched, he turned around and yelled, "If you don't mind can we get moving?"

Inuyasha and Kagome looked up from their place on the ground and then shuffled to their feet. Miroku was still getting used to seeing Inuyasha in anything other than his fire rat robes. He shook his head, Inuyasha shouldn't have left his robes behind...they offered much needed protection and now he was wearing some very soft pants that couldn't protect him from a thorn and a white cotton shirt that looked like it'll tear just sitting in one place.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku called. The silver haired half demon turned around to acknowledge his call.

"Why don't you recover your robes before we reach Naraku's castle?" He asked him. What he didn't expect was for him to start fidgeting.

"My haori is lost and I don't know where to start looking." Then after a pause he added, "My pants are in Kagome's house and I'll be damned if I let her go back to that fucking time of hers."

The monk moved his staff from one hand to the other. Sango moved her boomerang to her front and leaned on it. It didn't look like they'll be moving anytime soon. Even Rei had come back and was sitting on the ground close by watching the proceedings with interest.

"It would be best if you somehow retrieved your fire rat robes, Inuyasha." Sango said.

"I know that! But I don't know where to start looking..."

"Let's start at the river. That's where you threw it... it must have floated downstream." Rei added helpfully. Kagome flashed everyone a large grin at the mention of going to the stream and made her way to the ice demon, taking a seat next to her.

"That'll take too long." Inuyasha looked towards Kagome hoping that she would help him out and agree with him.

"We could find your robes and then wait out the new moon. In the meantime we could also find Sesshomarou and Kouga to help us out..." Sango said hoping that Inuyasha would see her logic and wait out the new moon. The present plan was disastrous.

"What would dog turd need my help with? Maybe he needs a good lesson in obedience?" A whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and a shadow emerged from the winds.

Inuyasha growled and unsheathed his sword. He took a protective step towards Kagome who had gotten up and was moving behind him, using him as a shield.

Rei on the other hand was moving towards him. Inuyasha understood what she was trying to do but it was very dangerous. All she had to do was touch him and she could mess with his head.

Unfortunately Kouga was too fast for her and in a second he was next to Inuyasha holding Kagome's hands in his own.

"Kagome, I wanted to..." He stopped when he noticed the blue black bruise on her neck. He let her hands go immediately and then with lightening speed grabbed Inuyasha's neck and threw him backwards.

Inuyasha slammed into a tree behind him and the lose bark on the tree chipped off and rained down on him. The half demon regained his balance just in time to dodge a punch that was aiming for his head.

"Kouga stop!" Kagome tried to stop the wolf demon from attacking her mate but he didn't heed her. He continued attacking Inuyasha and he kept dodging the attacks.

"Stop evading my attacks and fight like a man, dog-breath!" Kouga yelled at him when Inuyasha did a back flip to dodge a flying kick.

"It'll be my pleasure." Inuyasha said coolly and swung his sword at the wolf. Kagome yelled at them to stop again but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Kouga dodged by shifting to the side and instead placed a strong kick to the half demon's side. Inuyasha reeled from the force of the attack and started panting trying to get his normal breathing pattern back. The kick had knocked out his breath and he needed some time to get his lungs functioning properly. Unfortunately, that was time he didn't have.

"Sit boy!" Inuyasha's face slammed into the dirt below him and he swore blackly. However, he changed his mind about the face slamming when he saw that Kagome's shout had allowed him to dodge a potentially fatal punch to the head. The tree behind him had a gaping hole in its trunk and if his mate had been just a second late, that tree could have been his head.

Kagome raced to her fallen half demon and stood in front of him stubbornly, refusing the wolf clear access to her mate.

"If you want to hurt him, then you'll have to hurt me first." She said defiantly, knowing that the wolf would never hurt her.

"He forced you into mating with him...I'll have his hide for that." He said baring his teeth and clenching his fists.

"He didn't force me to do anything. I love him and I mated with him by my own will." She said soothingly. She never liked hurting the people she cared about but Kouga had to know.

"But you promised to be mated with me... I thought...." Kouga looked at her and then at Inuyasha. His eyes warmed when he saw Kagome but turned cold when he took in her blue-black bruise and the scent of the dog demon lingering on her skin.

"Kouga... I love Inuyasha... I can't live without him." She said ever soothingly but the wolf demon took no notice of her words. He was staring at Inuyasha who had gotten up and was standing next to his love protectively.

He was hurt beyond hurt, his heart was clenching painfully in his chest. He had loved Kagome more than he had ever loved anyone. And his only love had chosen another over him.

"So that's it then? He dies and you want me... then he comes back and you want him. Am I not good enough? Tell me what was lacking? I loved you more and more everyday; I protected you and promised you everything that your heart would desire. But I wasn't good enough was I?" His eyes narrowed in barely suppressed rage and hurt.

Kagome fought a losing battle with her tears and a few managed to escape, trailing down her cheeks. Inuyasha stepped up and shielded her from the wolf's view.

Kouga's eyes narrowed even further when he realized that Inuyasha thought he was going to hurt Kagome.

"I have no intention of hurting Kagome. Move aside. I need to talk to her." Inuyasha sheathed his sword but didn't move. Somehow he understood what Kouga must be going through. He had often sat in the dark thinking that he wasn't good enough for someone like Kagome and to have her mate with another after promising him would certainly kill him.

"I understand what you are going through, Kouga. But it's too late to do anything anymore. She's my mate and will remain so for the rest of our lives." Inuyasha tried to be reasonable. The rest of his gang gaped at him. They never thought they'd live to see the day that Inuyasha will be reasonable.

"Not if you're dead." Kouga said with a snarl and punched Inuyasha who couldn't duck since he was not expecting it. The half demon fell to the ground with a small thud and tried to get up only to be kicked to the side by the very angry wolf demon.

Kagome jumped in front of her mate and spread out her arms challenging Kouga to try and hurt him. The wolf demon swallowed his pride and turned around to leave.

"We need your help with the fight against Naraku." Sango said before Kouga had a chance to escape.

"What makes you think I will help dog-breath?" He said softly. His anger had turned into something more akin of sadness and he suddenly felt as though he didn't have enough energy to fight.

"Because he's your love's mate. She loves him and she would be hurt if he dies. You wouldn't want her to be hurt would you?" Rei said soothingly. Kouga barely glanced at her and then started stalking away.

"I will come when my help is required." He said before he disappeared into the dense forests.

"I think we should stop today." Kagome said to her comrades while looking over the damage inflicted on her mate. There was some slight bruising on his jaw and his lip was cut which was bleeding.

"Let's stop by the stream. When Inuyasha is feeling better we can follow it to see where his haori could be. It's the same stream that flows from the waterfall." Rei said helpfully. She held out her hand a piece of ice grew in it until it was about the size of a golf ball. She gave it to Kagome who put it on the half demon's jaw to reduce the swelling.

"Miroku?" Sango turned to the monk. He looked towards her when he heard her say his name and then noticed that she was beckoning him towards the forest. He followed knowing what she wanted to talk about.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked softly. Miroku didn't answer; instead he took a seat on a nearby rock and continued to look at the object of his affection for two years.

"Answer me, monk." Sango said a little more forcefully. She went towards the sitting monk and leaned on a tree opposite the rock.

"Why should I have told you?" Miroku twisted her words around and asked a question instead.

"Because..." Sango didn't know what to say. Then she added, "...Because we're your friends. We need to know what's bothering you."

"Just friends?" Miroku asked softly. "I didn't tell you because, they are not my friends dear Sango. You are not just my friend. They are my family."

"And families need to trust each other and confide in each other."

"But our family is different. Our family consists of a young maiden from 500 years into the future and her half demon mate whose only relative wants to kill him. Our family consists of a demon exterminator whose only brother is in the hands of the enemy and a fox cub who lost his parents at an early age. They have enough problems to worry about. I will not add my own."

"That is the dumbest thing you have said so far, monk. Your life is much more important than any other problems. Inuyasha has survived all those attacks from his brother, Shippo has already found parents in Inuyasha and Kagome and we are heading towards Naraku's castle to free my brother. We are solving our problems and we can solve yours too. Together."

"I'm afraid that 'together' won't exist for too long. The chances of me surviving till we defeat Naraku are slim to none."

"We will make sure you survive. Let the new moon pass and Inuyasha will hunt him down like a dog, no pun intended, and make him pay for all the troubles he's put us through. You need to trust us a little bit more."

"I trust you, a lot. I just don't want to be a burden on anyone."

Sango sighed. She reluctantly moved closer to the monk and kneeled in front of him so that they were eye to eye.

"Would Inuyasha refuse to wait till the new moon because he thought you were a burden? Would Kagome leave her time and her mother behind to go fight Naraku because you were a burden? They do it because they care about you. They love you."

Miroku looked at Sango and locked gazes with her. Sango swallowed loudly when he looked straight into her eyes. She had never had a chance to talk to him so normally before, every time he had groped her and ruined the moment but this time all she saw was pure compassion.

"And what about you? Do you love me too?" Miroku asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper. Sango tried to look away from the haunting pools of violet but found herself locked in their mysterious depths.

She suddenly became aware of how close Miroku's face was to hers. She shuddered when she felt his hot breath on her cheek and then a jolt of electricity shot through her body when she felt his soft lips brush against her flushed skin.

She held her breath when she felt him plant several small kisses on her cheek and jaw line before his lips brushed against hers. He stopped for a second giving her enough time to pull away if she wanted. Sango leaned forwards trying to recapture his lips again and this time Miroku gave her everything he had.

They were lost in the moment. Nothing existed besides them at that point. They had each other that was all they had ever wanted. Sango could not believe she was finally kissing the man who had stolen her heart. It was unreal and she was afraid that it was only a dream.

She snaked her arms around his neck deepening the kiss. Miroku wrapped his hands around her delicate frame and held her body against his, relishing every moment that their bodies touched.

"Ahem..." Kagome coughed loudly. Sango and Miroku broke apart as if they had been burned and then flushed identical shades of red. Inuyasha was standing behind Kagome with his wet, dripping haori slung over one shoulder and his smirk looked like it'll split his face if he kept it up any longer.

Rei was standing a few steps behind the couple and the knowing look on her face told the flushed couple that this was a set up. She knew what they were up to that very moment and hence had proceeded to destroy it.

"You knew..." It was more of a statement than a question and his calm voice belied his flushed appearance. Inuyasha couldn't hold it in anymore; he burst out in fits of laughter that left him rolling on the floor holding his stomach.

"Inuyasha... behave." Kagome said scolding. Inuyasha gave her a mock salute from his position on the ground and watched his mate try to console the demon exterminator... who had yet to recover from her embarrassment.

"So you finally managed to touch her without getting slapped, hit or castrated in the process?! Good job!" Inuyasha turned his attention to the now calm monk.

"Yes... and she is every bit as delectable as I had imagined her to be." Miroku added with a satisfied smile. Sango grew redder when she heard his remark and a minute later the monk was sporting a rather nasty bump to his head.

"MEN!!!!" Both Kagome and Sango exclaimed before leaving the vicinity of the trees to go rest in the clearing. The sun was starting to set and they had yet to put up camp.

Inuyasha's howling laughter was the last thing they heard as they reached the clearing. But they knew that the monk's quiet laughter must have drowned in Inuyasha wild one.

Inuyasha stared at his reflection in the clear water of the stream. It so seemed that every time they stop they have a stream nearby. Maybe they had unknowingly been using the stream as a form of a landmark. He shrugged. He wasn't the thinking type. He fought, and he was damn good at it.

He sighed as he bent down and crouched in the soft soil of the bank. He had changed so much. His eyes held a sort of warmth he had never expected to possess. His rough hands, which he had used for killing and torturing, now caressed and provided comfort.

The haori that had saved him countless times from pain and injury and often death, now provided warmth and protection to another.

Yes, he had changed.

He dipped his warm hands into the cool water, cupping the transparent liquid and then splashing his face. It felt good. Kagome and the rest of his comrades had stayed back at camp. He had thrown his haori onto his shoulders and had proceeded to wash up. That was just an excuse. He needed to think. A lot had happened in the past few days and a lot was going to happen in the next few days.

"You shouldn't stay alone you know." A familiar voice drifted from behind him. He didn't look up from his position.

"Loneliness sometimes gives you comfort that companionship never could." He replied passively and then dipped his feet into the water, leaning back on his elbows. If he hadn't spoken, it would have seemed that he didn't know there was someone behind him.

His ears twitched when he heard the person make their way from behind him to beside him. He glanced from the corner of his eye and saw blue. Lots of it.

"But you are over that phase. You have friends that would die to save you. You have a mate who is the sweetest most caring girl one can imagine. And she loves you more than life itself."

"But you love me too. Don't you Rei?" Inuyasha said softly. He felt Rei stiffen.

"I don't know what love is. I haven't lived long enough." She tried to finish the subject but Inuyasha was not having any of it.

"But you know that Kagome loves me. You know that I love Kagome. But you don't know if you love me?" He asked again.

"How do you know its not lust?" She asked him, batting her eyelashes to prove her point. If only she hadn't been a temptress, the act could have gone undetected, but it had strange effects on the half demon and he jumped out of the ice demon's reach with such ferocity that Rei yelped.

"DO NOT DO THAT. Do you hear me? I am taken. I am mated. I belong to another. DONOT do that." He ground out each word and then turned to leave.

"If you love her so much, why are you afraid you may betray her?" She countered. Her question made the half demon stop in his tracks and then glare at her full throttle.

"What do you want from me?" He asked bitterly. He knew he could never betray Kagome. But he had nearly lost it when he had looked her into her eyes. He had never felt such attraction. It had made him stop thinking for a second and all he wanted to do was take her right there and then. It would have been a great sin, punishable by gods and demons alike.

Not to mention the personal hell he would go through for betraying Kagome.

"What do you want?" He asked again when he saw her gaze turn distant. He saw her shrink and suddenly look much more childlike and much more vulnerable. She looked at him with something akin of fear and then said in a small voice.

"I have never been loved before." He saw her fidget her hands in her lap. She was really nervous. At least her hands had healed from the incident with Tetsusaiga.

"I cannot love you. I love another." He said in a monotone voice. He didn't like seeing her like this but he had to remove any kind of expectation in her. He would not, could not betray Kagome.

"No, no. I don't ask you to love me. I just want to know what it feels like." She said softer than before.

"Love just feels like a warm feeling inside you. It just seems to swell when you are near that person. It's just... just... like what home should feel like." He tried to explain.

He stopped trying to explain when Rei shook her head vigorously.

"No, not that. I want to know what feeling loved feels like. I want to know what... what being kissed feels like." She said shyly. "Will you kiss me? Just once?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened at the odd request. He couldn't just kiss her because she asked him to. It had taken him years to kiss Kagome and he had loved her. He didn't love Rei.

"I can't...how can I just kiss you?" He asked her. He was getting more and more uncomfortable with the way she was looking at him. He just hoped that she wouldn't use her powers on him and force him to do her bidding. If she did that, he will kill her.

"Just once. I want to know what she feels like. I want to be her. Just once." Rei asked him again hoping he would give her one short kiss. One very short kiss would be good enough for her. She had spent too long wondering what his lips would feel like.

"I'm sorry. I can't." He said with finality and turned to leave. He wanted to go back to camp... to his beloved mate.

A/N: I know its not great, but it is a sort of an interlude. Things will get really messed up in about 2 chapters time and the final battle is about 3 chapters away. I think. Wait for it!!! ;)

I'm sorry i can't give review responses anymore. Uni's more work than i thought and my chem hw still needs to be done.