Inuyasha ran to the village, bounding from tree to tree, with Kagome on his back; when he arrived he found the villagers preparing for the night, packing there this, moving indoors. Soon, the hanyou found the familiar hut of the old priestess, Kaede, and went in; inside he found the old woman sitting alone beside the fire, preparing a meal for herself.
"Oh, Inuyasha, ye have come back. I thought ye might be staying in Kagome's time until ye found her attacker," the woman said. "Where is Kagome? Did ye leave her in her time?" the woman asked, as Kagome stepped into the hut.
Kagome, feeling tired from the long day and secure in the familiar hut, went to a corner of the hut, where her futon was and lay down. Almost immediately she was sleeping soundly.
Inuyasha, on the other hand, was feeling hungry, as always, and sat down beside the old woman as she dished out the remaining food that had been cooked.
After the meal, Inuyasha sat beside the sleeping girl and watched her sleep, peaceful and without disruption.
"I love you Kagome," he whispered as he kissed her lightly on the forehead, before he leaned against the wall, so he would be awakened at the slightest movement or sound. He drifted off to sleep while watching the one he loved dream.
Sometime in the middle of the night Kagome woke up and noticed the hanyou asleep beside her, feeling safer closer to him, she silently stood up and placed herself beside him. She gently snuggled against him, linking her fingers with his, and placing her head on his shoulder; soon she was, once again, fast asleep.
Inuyasha was awakened when Kagome stood, his sensitive ears picked up even the slightest of her movements. He felt her sit beside him, but decided to pretend he was still asleep, he didn't want to scare her away or make her feel embarrassed. His ears listened for her breathing to become rhythmic and her heartbeat to slow; this showed she was asleep.
Once he was sure she was fast asleep, he carefully, as not to wake her, unlinked his hand with hers and wrapped his arm around her small body, gently pulling her closer to him, and linked his fingers with hers. Her calming, rhythmic breathing and heartbeat, and her soothing scent lulled him to sleep.
In the morning, Kagome awoke with the morning light shining on her face, as it streamed through the windows. At this unpleasant awakening and still wanting to get more sleep she buried her face into the comfortable, warm object she was leaning against; unaware it was Inuyasha, she snuggled deeper into his chest.
The half demon smiled when he felt Kagome bury her face in his chest, but waited for her to actually wake up before saying anything.
After about ten minutes of procrastinating the young girl decided to open her eyes and get up, after all, she was hungry, since she went to bed without eating anything. She finally began to stir, facing toward the brightness instead of hiding her face from it, once she finally opened her eyes, determined to allow them to adjust to the brightness, her eyes met Inuyasha's gorgeous golden ones.
"Good morning, did you have a good sleep?" the half demon gently asked, looking into Kagome's dark brown eyes.
"Yes, thank you," Kagome stated, almost mesmerized by Inuyasha's golden eyes.
"Good morning," Kaede said as she walked into the hut. "Did the two of you have a good sleep?" she asked smiling, she had noticed they spent the night wrapped in each other's arms.
"Yes, thank you Kaede," Kagome answered, before Inuyasha could say anything about the smile the old woman wore across her face. Kagome stood, stretched, and then asked politely, "Can I help with anything?"
"Nope. Your breakfast is ready," the old woman said, pulling out bowls and spoons, and handing them to the young girl and the hanyou.
"Thank you," Kagome said, nudging Inuyasha in the ribs to do the same.
"Thank you," Inuyasha mumbled, inhaling his breakfast.
After breakfast, Kagome and Inuyasha decided to go for a walk; the warm atmosphere had the villagers doing their chores outside, socializing with others. The two wandered in a comfortable silence, not really knowing or caring where they were going. Soon, they realized where they had wandered to, the sacred tree.
Kagome felt a warm, welcoming presence about the old tree and felt as if she belonged near it, even though she didn't understand the feeling at the moment, she liked it. She walked up to the old tree and ran her fingers across the worn bark; suddenly she had a flashback, seeing into her memories, which had been stored, inaccessibly, in her brain.
She was standing beside the old tree, looking at the hanyou; he seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but what worried her was that he had an arrow through his chest, which pinned him to the tree. She had no idea what was going on, why Inuyasha was pinned to the tree and who had shot the arrow? She was trying to figure out all this when a huge centipede demon came crashing through the forest towards her. Kagome was thrown to the foot of the sacred tree, then she heard a voice from above her, Inuyasha's.
"Hey Kikyo."
"I'm not her," she told him, looking up into his golden eyes.
"Yes, you are."
"Kikyo, Kikyo, Kikyo, who ever she is, she's not me!"
"And I'm telling you that you are! Cause there's no way you could smell so…" the half demon paused sniffing in her direction. "You're not her."
"I know. My name is Kagome! Ka-Go-Me!"
"You're right Kikyo was much cuter," he stated.
Suddenly, the centipede grabbed Kagome from behind and pulled her away from the half demon, Kagome reached for whatever she could get a hold of, which happened to be Inuyasha's hair, and held on.
The centipede bit into Kagome's side with its gigantic teeth, ripping the Shikon No Tama from the young girl's body. When both the girl and the jewel fell to the ground the giant centipede wrapped itself around the sacred tree, Kagome, and Inuyasha, squeezing them together.
"Can you pull out the arrow?" the young half demon asked.
Kagome reached up to grab the arrow to free Inuyasha, when she heard the voice of an old woman, as the centipede swallowed the Shikon No Tama growing bigger and stronger.
"Kagome! Do not release Inuyasha!" the old woman yelled.
"Do you want to die here also?" he said to the confused girl.
Deciding that she wanted to live to see another day she reached up and pulled the sacred arrow from the hanyou's chest, breaking the seal and releasing him from the tree. With one easy swipe of his claws he sliced the centipede into many pieces, killing it.
Kaede, the old woman, yelled from the sidelines, "Kagome, can ye see the Shikon No Tama?"
Kagome looked at the bloody scene, the body and guts were sliced into several pieces in front of her. Thinking she'd never be able to see it, she was about to give up, when she noticed a chunk of demon glowing; she walked up to it and reached into the guts and pulled out the glowing round jewel.
Inuyasha walked up to her growling; "Give me the jewel if you want to live!"
Kagome, shocked that he wanted to kill her, ran blindly toward a bridge, thinking she might be able to out run him. Concentrating only on escaping with her life, Kagome didn't notice the roots that were protruding through the ground and tripped, narrowly missing the half demon's claws as he took a swipe at her. Once on the unsteady bridge the young girl tripped, dropping the jewel; there was no time to grab it, as the hanyou was about to attack.
She thought it was all over when the old woman yelled, "Say a command!"
Kagome had no idea what this old hag was rambling about, but decided to try it anyway, since she didn't really have any other option.
"Sit!" she yelled.
As the word left the girl's lips the prayer beads around Inuyasha's neck, which Kaede used her miko powers to put on the half demon, began to glow and pulled him to the ground, creating a large crater. With the hanyou's face buried in the dirt Kagome was able to stand, grab the sacred jewel and run back to Kaede.