Disclaimer: I cannot make a witty disclaimer because I have no wits. Therefore, if I have no wits, don't expect me to own any of the characters because I don't.

A/N: I am really glad to hear you like my story Tohru-Honda14! I don't usually write stories with Kouga and Kagome as the main pairing, but I like try new things. Sorry, I couldn't update my story sooner. There might be a surprise in the upcoming chapter(s) so please keep reading and pleaser review too! I love hearing everyone's opinions (even flames). Okay, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter Three

Those haunting eyes still burned like acid in my heart. The still moment where my life could have ended right there and then played over and over again in my mind like a broken record. If I was not alone all that day, I swear I would have ripped both my heart and my brain out, as they were driving me slowly insane. All they allowed me to think of was that murderous beast.

I dared countless times to scream. I wanted desperately to scream, to let out the ominous emotions that sickly caressed my bleeding heart. But I couldn't scream, my wounds along my throat were too deep. Although my outer wounds were slowly but surely healing, the slashes he cut into my heart, into my soul, would never be restored. There was no bandage, no cure, no medicine to help me.

I never wanted my life to be as pathetic as it was turning out to be, but it was not my fault. I did not wish for this fate. If I had a choice then to die or live, I would have chosen death. To walk again amongst the broken hearted, trapped in a cruel fate of emotions was a worse fate than to be thrown into the depths of the under world. I had no ounce of comfort, thanks to him. I wanted to hate him, loathe him, scorn him, curse him…And yet, I still wanted to love him. I wanted to kill myself for admitting it, but I still had affection left for him, even after he used it and tried to dispose of it.

It seemed like I was in that cave for an eternity, although it was barely the afternoon when Kouga came to check up one me.

That afternoon, alone in the cave, I contemplated my next move in life. The state I was left in gave me three options: to seek revenge on my near-murderer with the wolf demon, to run away from my problems and forever living in the modern world, or…death.

If I were to seek revenge on Inuyasha, what would I do after he is dead? Koga would probably not let me leave his sight. Also, the guilt of murdering would haunt my memories until my last breath. My heart wanted to see him wriggle on the earth in front of me, as I had done in front of him; but I could not deal with the thought of killing someone I loved.

The next choice: to go back to my real time and never return to the feudal era ever again. It sounded like a good idea, but even if I did run away from my problems, they would follow me to the ends of the earth. It would be good to be surrounded by my mother, friends and family, but even their warm thoughts and sympathies could never unstitch my inner bindings to the feudal era; it is where my heart has found real home.

I did not want to think of the next idea at first, but the more I thought, the better it sounded to me. What good will come of my life when all that I love turns away from me? How could I move on, when the pain he gave me will only grow worse over time? To be dead would be a better fate than anything else I could think of then.

The sickening thought twisted and bent through my mind. I thought of it over and over. I finally came to a conclusion that to be sent to the depths of death is better than to suffer, loveless, pathetic, and alone in the living world. To hell would I be sent? To heaven? It wouldn't matter to me. My soul was thriving to die at that moment. Had I thought of this later, I would not be so inclined to such a reckless conclusion.

I had made up my mind. I was not going to live the rest of my life as a pathetic cripple. It would all end today. After all, he wanted me to die, right? I usually did what he told me anyways. I couldn't help but look back on the irony of it all.

Sitting up from the blanket of furs, I checked my surroundings. Not a soul but I was in the cave. It looked to be about noon time outside.

For the first time since the accident, I stood up. I was a little shaky at first, but my legs did not give way, allowing me to walk around. I was getting a little light-headed, but that wouldn't matter in a few moments anyways. Nothing would matter. Not even Inuyasha.

To my luck, I found a small hand knife in the corner of the cave. Getting even more light-headed, and sat down beside it. I was beginning to feel a slight dizziness, but I knew that would not affect my aiming skills.

I picked up the tarnished silver blade and admired it. This will be my savior who will redeem my pain, and send me to peace. I thought. I had no more time to waste. I wanted to get it over with before I changed my mind.

I closed my eyelids tightly, as I held the blade high in the air. The dizziness was starting to overwhelm me, but I ignored it, even though it made the blade waver in the air slightly.

This was it. I plunged the knife down quickly in my chest area. I waited for the sting of the sharp blade, and the rush of death. But it did not come. I felt my hand being pushed away forcefully but gently. I opened one eye.

I couldn't focus, I was becoming faint; but I saw a blurred image of a hand holding the hand that held the knife, and a body to which the protecting hand belonged to.

I heard a voice. I knew it was familiar. I braced myself for the voice's anger at me, but that also did not come.

"There is more to live for Kagome, you shouldn't waste your life on someone as stupid as him," The voice calmly spoke.

The haziness blacked out, and I fell once more into the world of dreams. The night before, I was dreamless, but this time, my dreams were livid and frightening.

"Inuyasha, why? Why are you betraying me like this? What have I done!" Tears were flowing down my face as an endless river. I was succumbed by a deep, swallowing hole of sudden depression.

I saw his face. It was cold. I had never seen it like this before. There was no life, no soul in his beautiful eyes. Not even a flicker of emotion flamed from his face. If he were not standing, I could have mistaken him for dead.

His lips never spoke, but his sword spoke for him. It was so threateningly close to my neck. If I took a breath any harder, my skin would graze the sharp blade.

"Please Inuyasha! Stop this!" My pleas were not breaking his silence. He simply stood there and watched my tears drain one by one. It was silent in the still air, as a dark aura began to surround Inuyasha.

"What about your promise?" I whispered between tears. "I thought you said you would never let anyone harm me. I thought you told me you would protect me…"

For less than an instant, I could have sworn seeing a hint of hesitation and sympathy in his eyes; but that soon changed.

"You should have died that night," a cold, female voice came from behind me. I swung around quickly to be met by a pair of deadly black eyes, staring into mine with the utmost disgust.

"Kikyo!" I gave a startled shriek. She did not blink either, but I could see emotions within her. Revenge and loathing. There was no playing hide-and-seek with her emotions. She wanted me to know how much she wanted me dead. She wanted to see me being tortured mercilessly in the bowels of hell.

"I will make sure I see you dead before my time is up," she told me icily. The evil emanating from her aura was powerful enough to make fall to my knees.

Before realizing it was foolish to turn your back on a pointed blade, I felt a hard, stinging sharpness jut through my flesh. It was utterly painful, I couldn't bear it; not even in a dream.

"Kagome…Kagome?….Say something Kagome!" His voice was calling to me.

I awoke back on the bed of furs I had laid on before. Koga, sitting at my side, hovered over me was calling to me, making sure that I was okay.

"I am fine," I muttered, looking away from his caring eyes. I already felt guilt that I should be so selfish to try and kill myself, when he was trying to save me. I almost wasted one of the few heroic deeds made on this earth. Why had I been so selfish?

I sat up slowly, expecting to hear a long speech about how I was so careless. But instead, I was greeted with a swift and unexpected embrace. It took me a moment to realize that Koga was crying! A single tear ran down his face, as he squeezed me with all his strength. I hesitantly returned the embrace.

"Please don't do that again, Kagome," he told me quietly. "I don't want to lose you. He's not worth wasting your life over…Y-you scared me." I could tell he was trying to sound brave, but his voice was breaking. I couldn't help but feel the weight of more guilt crush my heart. If it weren't for Koga, my foolishness would have sent me to the place that Kikyo wished for me to go.

I broke apart. My tears let loose once more, yet no noise came. I buried my face into his shoulder, not wanting him to see me. I was ashamed of myself. But his embrace was soothing. I felt at peace for the first time in a while. I wished that time could slip past us, and we would be like this forever, but time was and is never on my side.

For the rest of the day, Kouga never left my side; not even for an instant. His caring for me never ceased to amaze me. I had never seen such a compassionate soul as he was. He gave the sympathy my soul needed to strengthen, when it was weak and vulnerable. And although my internal wounds could never be healed, with him, I could forget them temporarily. He saved my life twice now. I had yet to repay him.

In the evening, when the sun's rays began to lower in the sky, flashing fiery colours throughout the horizon. My growing anxiousness over my friends had proved too strong to keep me from remaining in the cave. I had to find out what happened to them.

Kouga insisted I was too weak to leave yet, but my stubbornness swayed his decision. I desperately needed to know where my friends were. Were they alive? Had something close to my fate occurred? I just had to know. The friendship bonds I had made with them were too closely knitted to be cut off.

After persisting to Kouga that I needed to find them, he let me ride on his back, as we left the cave. The pain exerting from my wounds dulled into a slight throbbing pain. It was a pain small enough for me to bear. And since the slight mishap with the knife and Kouga earlier, the pain in my heart was dulled also. My heart was numb except for the anxiousness of worrying for my friends' safety.

Unlike Inuyasha, Kouga had the advantage of two things: one, he was a full demon, making him more agile. And two, he had jewel shards imbedded in his legs, increasing his acceleration and agility even more so. In a matter of seconds I had found myself far away from the tall cliff that the cave was situated on, to being quickly swept through the vast woods below. He was taking me so swiftly; I had to close my eyes in order not to become overwhelmed by motion sickness.

"Where are you taking me?" I whispered to him, sparing my vocal chords more strain.

"To that village where you always go," Kouga told me. "That's the best place where we can start."

"But can't you smell any trace of my friends around?" I asked him, subconsciously questioning his demonic abilities.

He was silent. Although his eyes did not wander to mine, I could tell there was worry in his compassionate heart. "Not a trace," he muttered.

I was slightly surprised to actually see him worried about my friends! Of course he was naturally amiable, a gracious soul as his would no doubt be appraised. But never had I actually seen him even give a second thought to the people that had always surrounded me. He had noticed them, but only as mere dead-weight that took up space. Sometimes it angered me the way he passed off my friends as air, but today he actually cared. He cared because I cared.

After what seemed like an eternity of being sped through the forest, almost faster than the wind itself, I felt a quick jolt. I pried my eyes open to find that Kouga had stopped abruptly. I could feel his muscular body tense up, and I could've sworn hearing a low growl escaping from his lips. He began to frighten me. What was making him so tense?

"What's wrong?" I whispered, slowly looking up from his shoulder.

The world began to turn in slow motion. My stomach lurched. The shatters of my heart fell to dust. My worst nightmare had been realized.

Kouga had stopped at what was the entrance to Kaede's village, but all that was left of it was burned rubble. The homes and buildings that had lain beyond the entrance before were nothing but rubble as well. Everything had been destroyed! The sickening smell of smoke and death filled my nose, making me light-headed. To Kouga's demonic nose, the scent was probably overwhelming.

I stood in horror as I watched the smoke rise from the damaged buildings into the setting sky. My eyes searched the rubble, looking for any signs of movement or life. I could find none. It was acid to my eyes. The only safe place for me in Feudal Japan had been burned to the ground, along with its inhabitants. My personal safety had been removed as I felt the tears rise up to flow their rivers of sorrow.

"There was a battle here," Kouga growled through gritted teeth, "And guess whose scent is all over it…"

A/N: There is the third chapter everyone! So far, one reviewer, but that's GREAT! Thank youagain Tohru-Honda14 for your lovely reviews! I'll be updating soon, cuz I got some great ideas (grins evilly). Any questions, comments, flames, editing, grammatical lecturing etc…please let me know!