Starflower-Gem:

Oh, my heart is bursting. This is so sad! I can't believe he'd ever say that to Kagome. But it is understandable, under the cercomstances, (sp) I think this is a great story. keep it up!

Inuyasha: Feh...

Haunt: Well, he's feeling pretty bad about it now...

inuyashasgirl12:

Ya know, maybe if Inuyasha wasn't such an IDIOT maybe he'd know Kagome was telling the truth. But no one could help him there.

Inuyasha: Whaddya mean, the truth?

Kagome: Maybe you should've listened to me.

PisxiePam:

I cried when Inuyasha was runing away becasue it was so sad that he thought that he didn't desetve Kagome. KagInu FOREVER! YA! Sorry he he over excited. That was sad and heart wrenching.Can't wait till the next chapter bouncing up and down my little angel and devil agree
devil: UPDATE NOW!
angel: now don't be rude Satan! Please update soon.
I agree with the little devil dude. UPDATE NOW! I can't wait till next chapter. Oh update update update update! Oh ya and it was suppose to be PixiePam but there was a typo. he he

Inuyasha: Well, I don't deserve her...

Haunt, Kagome, Koga, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kaede, the unborn Yuuki, and even Sesshomaru(who isn't in this story anyway): Inuyasha no Baka!!

Zarbok:

Very Good!
A very good discription of our Hanyou's emotions and thoughts after seeing Kagome kiss the ookami. Good discription of Kagome's thoughts and feelings as well.

To Inuyasha: I may have mistaken your running as jealousy but you really are crushed aren't you. I still think your a baka but now I know that you aren't as big of one as I thought.

To surmize this was the most well written chapter so far in my opinion and if anyone else says otherwise.. well I do not really give a damn.

Signed
Zarbok

P.S.
I actually feal sorry for the baka.

Inuyasha: Why am I still a baka if you understand my feelings and feel sorry for me?

Haunt, Koga, Sango, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, Kaede, unborn-Yuuki, and non-character Sesshy: Because you won't listen to her!

brigurl:

Inuyasha, listen to her u dumbhead!! She didnt mean it THAT way! Anyways, awesome chaps, and keep up the awesome work! (I was on vacay to New Mexico, so thats y i didnt reveiw chap. 5)

Haunt: Hey, welcome back! :D

Inuyasha: ::sigh:: I'm being yelled at again...

Koga: He's...so...dense...

Thank you for the reviews, everyone else! I appreciate it a lot. I'm at 45 reviews! Yay! Eight more than With You got! XD Oh, and will everyone pleeeeaaase review that one? ::puppy-dog eyes:: It's really angsty, but there's a happy ending. Just so y'all know...

Anyway! Just so you all know, I describe Inuyasha's hair color as 'hoary' in this chapter. This is a synonym for the word/color 'silver.' So don't think I'm calling his hair 'whorey' or anything. o.0 Also, I use 'lexis' in here too. Oh, the wonder of huge vocabulary and a thesaurus on my computer..! 'Lexis' means 'words.'

Also.

Due to the fact that I am paranoid about FFnet's rules, I am moving the lemon at the end of the story to my LJ. The link to it will be in my User Profile, under the 'webpage.'

-.-.-

Kagome was talking to Kirara, who sat patiently watching the miko as the crimson of the setting sun stretched over the lands.

"I mean, it was only supposed to thank Koga. I didn't kiss him to show love or anything..."

The kasai-koneko's stern, accusing mew made Kagome sigh and stop talking, sinking into deep thought.

Then again...I guess that Inuyasha has every right to be so angry...how could he know I was only thanking Koga?

And besides which...I've only thanked Inuyasha for his protection once or twice, and certainly never in a kiss.

Not to mention the fact that I've always taken Koga's side on everything...Inuyasha would always get so jealous; it's no surprise that he got so angry this time.

A rush of emotion spread from the tips of the girl's toes straight up to settle in the core of her chest. Wait...why did he get so angry?

Does he love me, too?

Startled by this thought, Kagome slowly set down the flask of water. It had been filled with fresh, cool liquid from a nearby stream as she and Kirara rested, and the shrill cold of it had soothed the miko's emotions and made her sobs die away and her tears melt.

Kagome shook her head harshly.

No. He can't. He still loves Kikyo...

But that wasn't right, either. He hadn't followed her to Hell, as he'd promised the undead miko he would. He'd chosen to stay with her, with Kagome...

Maybe...

The neko looked up as the girl stood suddenly. "Let's go, Kirara."

At her transport's questioning mew, Kagome smiled. "We're going to find Inuyasha."

-.-.-

Is this what she felt like when I went to see Kikyo?

The hanyou finally allowed himself some time to rest, settling down near a fallen tree. Rot had eaten away at the dead log, leaving it barren and dark; several typed of fungi grew on the dead wood and bugs of all kinds scuttled in and out of the cracks and bends in the soft timber. It was pointless, how life ate away at itself; and yet it was curiously like how he felt right then.

Darkness, like the countless insects, scuttled within the gashes and holes in the hanyou's heart, and the hatred shot at him for so long ate away at his very being until nothing was left but the false hope that the miko would return the love he felt for her, just as nothing was left of the wood except for a soft pulp.

He snorted. This must be what it felt like. Now I know why she went home so much.

The emptiness in his chest and stomach were feelings he had grown accustomed to over the years of his life. Quite a few years they had been, too.

He was 122 years old, with the fifty years of spellbound sleep included. For a demon, that would have been hardly out of his preteen years. For him and his type, one-hundred and twenty-two was the equivalent to 18 in human years.

It hurts.

The inu-hanyou shook his head, sighing. It hurts more than anything I've ever felt...why do I love her so much? Why do I have to care as much as I do? Why do I feel like I'm suffocating every time I think about her?

Why do I want to kiss her this much?

The familiar tingle across his lips made Inuyasha smile despite himself. He could recall that day--night? morning? evening? those were parts of it that escaped his memory--in Kaguya's castle, the familiar darkness of his demon edge taking over.

He could remember...he could remember the girl kissing him, turning him back, pulling his soul back from the mirror.

Didn't that mean anything to her?!

Fangs ground together hard enough to cause a shocking pain in the hanyou's mouth. It was nothing compared to the hurt, the anger, the torment that erupted again in Inuyasha's very being; it was tearing him apart.

Damn. Bitterly wet, salty tears were rolling down his cheeks again, scouring poignant lines down the hanyou's closed countenance. I'm crying again...

A gentle fragrance, the familiar sweetness of summer rain mixed with lilac and cinnamon reached him suddenly and he started as a hand touched his shoulder.

Head whipping around, tawny orbs settled upon the miko, who was kneeling beside him and wiping away his tears with her other hand. Kirara, transformed into the gigantic war cat, stood nearby.

I didn't even notice that she was there...

"Keh." Inuyasha pulled away from her, turning his scowling face the other way. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about." The hanyou started to rise, intent on leaving again, but her hand closing around his wrist made him pause.

Looking down at the girl, he could see the blaze of determination in her cerulean optics and, without any other question, seated himself on the loam again.

"I want you to listen to me," Kagome said sternly. Inuyasha blinked at her, then snorted and pulled his wrist from her grasp, crossing his arms.

"Fine. What do you want to say?"

"I do not love Koga," the miko said dourly.

The hanyou's head whipped around again, hoary tresses settling halfway over his shoulder. He studied her, searched her expression; focused every fiber of his being upon her, reading her soul. Was she lying?

No. She wasn't.

-.-.-

Kagome didn't miss the fleeting look of relief and joy in the hanyou's eyes before he let out a derisive grunt and turned away again. "Why should I care?"

"I just thought you'd want to know," the girl said. She knew that Inuyasha was happy about the factor of non-love between her and the ookami; she could see it in the way he held his shoulders, in the way his beloved ears perked.

Silence stretched between them. The miko didn't dare to speak, in case she broke the quiet of his thoughts. She knew that was what he was doing; her hanyou was thinking over what she'd said.

And trying to decide if she was to be forgiven or not.

So she waited.

After five minutes the inu-hanyou heaved a sigh and turned back toward the girl, leaning forward on his knuckles in the dog-like stance she knew so well.

"So...why did you kiss him?" he asked her quietly.

I'm forgiven, the miko thought with a smile before she answered, "I was just thanking him for everything he's done."

Immediately, she knew she'd said the wrong thing when Inuyasha snorted and whipped around, his back to her again. She marveled at him for not the first time as each shining strand of silver hair settled across his back again, at the way his furry koinu ears flicked, but she knew he was angry with her again.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned, voice tentative; cautious.

It was a long time before Inuyasha answered her, and when he did, his voice was soft, cold, carefully set blank and emotionless, but the miko detected the twinge of hurt hidden in the resonance of his words, and felt a pang. "So...you care about him enough to...to kiss him as a thank you...but I don't even get a thank you in words?"

Taking a deep breath, Kagome reached out and touched his shoulder. "Inuyasha...it's not..."

Voice the same quiet, calculated tone, the hanyou turned his head to look at her. "It's not what?"

The girl closed her eyes a moment, searching for the right lexis to express what she wanted to tell him. "I do appreciate what you do for me...but--"

He didn't let her finish. Kagome jumped as Inuyasha sprang to his feet, glaring down at her with a ferocity that made her tremble. "Don't you fucking get it?! You say that you don't love him, but--you've always taken his side! Always! And you know what?! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of feeling like I'm second to him or something--and I'm sorry if you kept on taking his side because I kept on going to see Kikyo, but I...I can't..."

The hanyou turned away, shaking his head, and she felt the traditional rush of emotion at the broken look on his face. "Inuyasha..."

"I'm not finished! Look, I'm sorry about everything with Kikyo. Okay? I'm sorry. But you--you kissed Koga--how am I supposed to--" Inuyasha's voice broke and he turned back to her, ocher optics colder than she had ever seen them. "How can you say that you don't love him when you kissed him? And just for a thank you? Hell, if he means that much to you, then go be his mate!"

Kagome stood slowly, waiting until the hanyou's sides had stopped heaving with furious gasps of air. "Inuyasha, listen. I don't love him. I don't know why I kissed him; I guess it felt like that was the only right way to thank him for all he's done."

The inu-hanyou's scowl told her that her excuse didn't make the cut.

Gathering up the fragmented bits of her courage, the miko sighed before stepping closer to the half-dog. "Inuyasha, listen to me, okay?" she said gently, imploring him with her gaze.

"Er...okay." The girl noticed that the 'teenage' boy looked a bit confused and maybe hopeful.

Another deep breath to steady her resolve, then Kagome, leaned forward, against the hanyou's chest. He stiffened against her as she rested her head against him, but she felt his gasp as she murmured, "I love you."

-.-.-

She's gotta be kidding...

"Y-you...what?" the inu-hanyou stammered, gazing downward at the girl.

Kagome looked up at him, and in the half-light he could see the shine of tears on her expression. "Ai'shiteru, Inuyasha."

The moon had risen, a supple crescent that gave little light to the forest, but being the half-inuyoukai that he was he could see dimly.

But it didn't matter what he could see now. She loves me...

Inuyasha felt a thrill of emotion, of happiness, of bliss, of unmistakable love. Adoration for this girl, for this fragile miko, for this...for his Kagome was a beautiful feeling that settled in his heart and spread slowly through his being, through his soul, through his physical body as well as his ragged spirit. "Kagome..."

Her name was a whisper, was a revolution, was an explosion of emotion across his senses; the last word he uttered before he caught her mouth with his. He held her, supported her, desired her. There were no words to describe how much he wanted to be with her, how much he loved her, how much he adored the human girl, and so he expressed himself with this one kiss. He heard her gasp, felt the subtle shift of her temperature as she pressed against him, as she held his wrists, as this miko kissed him back with all the subtle care and promise of eternity that his lips held.

Kagome whined and he responded with a soft growl, a low rumble that emanated throughout the silence of the woods.