Yay! Thanks for the reviews. Hopefully I can lengthen this chapter a bit!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters and I never will!

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Grey eyes darted up to his face, but they looked worried instead of trusting "Inuyasha, it isn't your fault, or theirs. It's his fault. A modern day Naraku. The only thing I've been able to save of myself was my heart, my soul, and partially my body. Many else have lost these. Through all of this your memory has gotten me through."

Inuyasha looked into Kagome's eyes and for a moment before he finally resumed to believing it was true. He bit back a growl and looked away, cursing himself mentally that he hadn't been there to protect her. He had promised Kagome that he would always protect her, just as she had promised him to be by his side no matter what. Things hadn't turned out the way they should have. He bit his lip, and before he noticed it he could taste of his own blood dripping into his mouth.

Kagome looked to him and twisted his face back towards her own to see his lip bleeding. She wiped away the blood and frowned a bit trying to imagine why he was so upset over her. He didn't care… But he had said he did. Lately she had learned to not trust so easily, but it seemed whenever she was around Inuyasha trusting came just as natural as breathing did. She was so befuddled about everything and couldn't seem to get her thoughts to smooth down enough to make any sense. She finally looked back towards Inuyasha "I'm… I'm sorry Inuyasha I didn't mean to make you mad."

Inuyasha looked her directly in the eyes and growled a bit "Feh… Wench, you know it wasn't you that made me mad." He paused a minute and spit out "But that bastard is going to pay for what he did to you!" Without thinking about what he was doing, he was trying to scent another mans smell on his Kagome. He was thankful that all he got was the scent of other men on her but not inside of her. She was still as pure as ever, he just knew it. He wouldn't believe for one minute that the scents on her were made by her own decision to go to other men.

Those words were exactly what she had needed to hear and she let a small smile reach her chapped lips "So… how is everybody? And the shards hunt? Naraku?" She finally let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. It seemed like forever since she'd been able to relax. But now she could rest easy for at least one night, knowing that her friends and Inuyasha were there to look after her.

"Feh, they're doin' fine, but the little brat won't stop whining. If you hadn't come back, he'd never shut up and we wouldn't be able to find any more shards." He pulled her onto his back without warning her and took off towards the village where Kaede's hut would be. He wouldn't admit it, but he had moped about more than Shippou had. But now he didn't have to worry and he could sleep easily knowing that Kagome was within his reach again. That he could now resume protecting the girl.

"No luck with the shards? Or Naraku?" Her inquiry came out a little distracted sounding since she couldn't keep her mind from being so ecstatic to be back on Inuyasha's back again. The pleasure of feeling his muscles ripple beneath her as they soared through the skies. The feeling of togetherness was overwhelming, so overwhelming that she couldn't keep another small smile from slipping its way onto her lips. She felt as if everything would turn out alright and she'd be able to live happily ever after.

Inuyasha snorted a bit and shook his head "You should know that we can't find any shards without you. You're the only one that has even the slightest idea where they are. And Naraku… We ran into him once, not one of his puppets. I think we might've weakened him." He grunted as he pushed off of the ground again and up into the air. Kaede's hut was visible from up in the air now, which meant Shippou was probably starting to smell Kagome. Which meant, in turn, the little kitsune would come sprinting up towards Kagome and knock her off her feet. Inuyasha shook his head at that, realizing that he would have to return everything back to normal or he'd never be able to be happy. His thoughts turned to the idea of the jewel being finished and Naraku dying. After that was done, what would he do? He already knew his answer for that. He'd figure out some way to get rid of Kikyo without breaking his promise. Then he'd make Kagome officially his.

A small smothered reply from the passenger on his back brought him back out of his thoughts "What is it?" He turned his head slightly, still managing to maneuver through the trees in the forest without hitting anything or tripping.

She saw his fierce golden eyes turned towards her, now softening a bit. She mumbled what she had said before "That's not true… You CAN find the jewel shards without me. Kikyo can detect them, probably even better than I can. Like everything else, she's better than me! I'm just a… Just a cheap copy of her!" Tears were leaking down her face. Inuyasha could barely stand it. Her words, the smell of her salty tears, and those sad grey eyes almost did him in. He hated to see her so sad, so miserable.

"Don't even begin to think that Kagome. I'd never ask Kikyo to find shards for us. And if you're such a cheap copy of her, why didn't I stay with her? Kagome, you've never been equal to her. You've always been that much better." He said it so matter-of-factly that Kagome couldn't help but let his words comfort her. Inuyasha heard her breathing even out and the smell of tears started to fade. Now that was better.

Reaching the hut finally, Inuyasha reluctantly let Kagome down off of his back. Within seconds there was a squeal "KAGOME!" and a small kitsune speeding straight towards Kagome. Kagome giggled as she felt Shippou crash into her, even if it did cause her to lose her balance and fall onto the ground. Shippou was worked into a frenzy as he hugged her and bounced around on her stomach. Smiling and laughing he started blurting out words so fast they were barely understandable "Kagome I missed you so much! Why did you go? What did Inuyasha do to you to make you leave? Just tell me and I'll beat him up for it, ok? Ok? I was worried you'd never come back! Are you ok? Did you know you smell kinda different? Is that your blood I smell? Are you ok? Have you been hurt?"

Sango was the next to approach Kagome and she smiled brightly as she plucked the kitsune off of her friend and helped Kagome up. The two girls hugged tightly before striking up a conversation. Sango started talking "Kagome, how have you been? Mind telling me why you left so suddenly? And you want to know why I want to know? Because we've all missed you so much!" she smirked and whispered lowly into her friends ear "Especially Inuyasha. He's been one big, moping, grump bucket since you left. It was hardly bearable at times… Too bad I couldn't tell him to sit and it have the same effects it does when you say it…" Kagome laughed at the last part and stole a peak at the disgruntled hanyou, who seemed to be ignoring the conversation between them.

And then it came. The annoyingly familiar groping hand on her butt. She wheeled around to face an "innocent" looking monk. Kagome smacked Miroku right before Sango hit him with her weapon (A/N: geez… I feel sort of stupid, I don't know what the name of the giant boomerang thing is... help anyone?). The result was a collapsed Miroku, two fuming girls, and a very pissed hanyou. Miroku waved a little white flag in the air "Just saying hello. Nice to have you back Kagome." He then promptly passed out for however long the hard hit would last.

An old priestess stood in the doorway of her hut, watching all this in bemusement "So I see ye have returned lady Kagome. This is very fortunate for us, for we were all about to perish due to ones persistent nagging." She eyed Inuyasha momentarily and turned to grab something. She brought out a familiar yellow backpack and found it soon brought a slight spark in the girls' eyes.

"Yes, I'm back Kaede. Thank you for keeping my backpack safe! I totally forgot I left it here!" this wasn't true, because Kagome had known she had left it behind. The only reason she hadn't retrieved it herself was because she was worried she would run into Inuyasha. She stepped forward and collected her backpack from Kaede, bowing her head slightly in respect for the old woman.

"Well before the perverted monk wakes up, why don't you and I go for a bathe?" Sango wanted to talk to Kagome. She could tell something was utterly wrong with her younger friend, and it worried her. Kagome smiled and began to sort of daydream about taking a bath. Even if it was in a cold stream, she would be grateful for one, because she hadn't had a true bath for a few days. She nodded and the girls began to walk off towards the creek, Kagome hauling her backpack onto her shoulders again. The weight was much lighter than it was before, because much of the supplies had already been used or eaten by her companions.

It took a while for both of the talking girls to notice Inuyasha was following them. Kagome turned around and glared "What do you think you're doing! Were you going to watch us bathe!" She stormed up to him and stood with her face inches away from his, giving him a death glare.

He didn't seem phased at all. He looked straight at her and said nonchalantly "I told you I wasn't going to let you out of my sight. And if I was going to watch you, I would have been a little less obvious." He immediately regretted saying the last part and flinched as he watched her lips slowly begin to form the word he most dreaded.

Kagome glared and balled her hands into fists and screeched "SIT BOY!"

And that concludes Chapter 2! Wahoo! It's longer than the first chapter, but probably not by much…. Sorry I just seem to have the inability to make long chapters! I guess I'll just have to make lots of short chapters frequently! Yay! Yah and I'm sorry if some parts in this chapter were kind of weird or mixed or anything. I was distracted by a movie I was watching. "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" hehe.

Thanks for reading!