A/N: Oh, this chapter is one I have been waiting to write...it's just that cool!

Note: Also, to people wishing me to read their fics, I try, but I can't do everything. I have a life too, plus fics that I read, I beta someone, and then the requests to read other people's fics. If you really want me to read, please send me a PM instead of through a review. If you do that, I'll be happy to read and give you my opinion, but I only read stories K-T. (Unless of course, an M contains no explicit sexual scenes.)

Chapter 25: Surge of the Heart

Shippou the kitsune carried the bucket of water back to the village, Kirara following him. He sighed. "You know, Kirara, I wonder if anything's ever going to be the same again."

The nekomata gave a soft growl in agreement, as they walked through the leafy forest. "I miss Kagome," he continued, "And Kagome's so sad without Inuyasha…That baka!" he growled. "Why did he have to make Kagome sad and go away anyway?"

As he said this, they walked into a sunlit clearing. As they walked into it, Shippou turned and looked up at Goshinboku. "That's the tree that Kagome said Inuyasha was stuck to for fifty years." he said sadly, his thoughts resting on Kagome.

Suddenly, Kirara sniffed the air and growled, her hair standing on end. "Huh?" the kitsune asked. "What is it, Kirara?"

The nekomata walked closer to the tree, sniffing intently and still growling fiercely. Shippou put down the tall bucket and walked over to the tree. He instantly saw what Kirara was looking at. "There's blood flecks all over it!" he said, jumping up to the spot and sniffing.

"Kagome was here!" he said, gasping. He recognized another familiar scent. "And Inuyasha too!"

Kirara turned her head, sniffing in another direction. "They went that way?" Shippou asked, confirming it with his sharp youkai nose. He jumped back down, exchanging a frightened look between him and the nekomata. "Kirara…"

He suddenly let out a frightened yelp and scampered back to the village with Kirara following, yelling, "Miroku! Sango!"

Kagome's eyes slid over to Inuyasha, who was once again sitting in another part of the cave, trying not to notice that she was there. She hadn't spoken to him since the night before, when he had hit her. Even though it had hurt, she knew she had to forgive him for it.

I know he already feels guilty, she thought, gingerly touching the forming bruise on her cheek.

She was right in that assumption. As Inuyasha sat in silence, not looking at her, all he thought of was guilt for the way he had treated her the night before. He had threatened to rape her, threatened to kill her friends, had given her deep scratches on her stomach that made her wince with pain whenever she sat up, and had given her a red bruise on her cheek because she declared she could never hate him. That, plus everything else attacked his guilty conscience.

Why did I do that? He wondered, his red eyes looking over his hands that had hurt her so many times over the past few days. Why couldn't I control my temper?

His temper had been flaring lately, but he thought it was just because he was a youkai, that these things would happen. But he knew it wasn't so. She was doing something to him, making him incredibly calm one minute and then making his temper flare out at her the next.

Inuyasha's crimson eyes glared. He had known why this was so. It was all because the hanyou had loved her. Now the hanyou was begging to be set free, so he could love her once more. Inuyasha couldn't stand it, that constant nagging in the back of his brain telling him to let go, for Kagome's sake.

But he couldn't. Something held him on; something he didn't know kept him this way. It wasn't at all like it was before. Kagome couldn't turn him back; neither could the sword Tessaiga, or one of her sit commands. He was trapped in a perpetual state of being a youkai, and even he hated it.

If he had been trapped before he had mated with her, perhaps he would have enjoyed it and not had these feelings binding him from his freedom. He wouldn't feel this guilt, or have the hanyou constantly badgering him to be set free. He wouldn't feel protective towards Kagome at all.

But since the hanyou had decided to give in to his emotions, now he suffered every day for it. When his temper flared and he lashed out at her, he felt the same sense of guilt the hanyou felt, he felt the same pain at seeing her bleed. Feeling happiness at bloodlust was over, now he just felt sick of the sight of it.

Her face reflected in his mind constantly, her smiles calming him while also mocking him from the shadows. Inuyasha hated the feeling when his stomach flip-flopped when she proclaimed she still loved him, or when she stated that it was impossible to hate him. He loathed more than ever the desire that haunted him, the want and need for her he felt every moment he was around her, which slowly tore and ate at his soul.

Kagome was driving him into insanity.

And he couldn't help but forgive her.

He turned sharply around, and looked right at her, the piercing gaze of his crimson eyes making her jump slightly. As he glared at her, he saw the reddish-purple bruise he had inflicted on her cheek, he saw the hand she held over her stomach, the red stains on her shirt not faded away. Inuyasha could see clearly the small scabs on her neck from the pricks of his claws, knowing similar ones were on her arms.

Inuyasha turned back around, feeling the guilt flood him once again. If guilt was a corporal being, there was no doubt that he would have shredded it to bits in an instant for the suffering it was causing him. He felt his ears lower slightly on his head for the pain he felt.

Suddenly, they perked up as her beautiful voice asked, "Inuyasha?" His heart rose in his chest as that voice, lovely as a melody, sung in his ears. He internally cursed himself.

"You're not…in pain are you?" he asked, his voice soft. The instant those words left his lips, he felt the strong desire to kill himself for his stupidity and softness towards her. He could almost see the surprise on her face at being asked such a question.

Inuyasha heard her come closer, his heart panging with every step she took. "No, Inuyasha, I'm not in pain." He shifted a bit, so that she was in the corner of his eye. There was no way he was going to look straight at her, not when she was getting that close. He saw her bite her lip with inner struggle. She finally answered, "I know you couldn't help it."

That got his anger up. Growling in annoyance, he turned sharply. "Couldn't help what?" he demanded, red eyes flaring.

Kagome stood her ground. Though she sported injuries, proof of his temper, she wouldn't back down. "I know that you couldn't help it when you got angry." She replied softly, her brown eyes looking directly into his.

After a small growl, he looked away. The only sound that he made was a soft, "Keh." Though he pretended that the question didn't affect him, Kagome could tell it did. She knew the inner struggle he faced, struggling every minute between his hanyou and youkai sides when it concerned her.

Though she knew it was her fault for his inner torment, she knew she had to continue. She had seen the hanyou released; she knew it could happen once more. She had tried so many times, the injuries proof of her trying. But she wouldn't give up, no matter what happened. Kikyou had said it was possible, and Kagome knew that it was working. If she begged him enough…her lover would come back to her, once again.

Brown eyes full of empathy, Kagome reached out and touched Inuyasha on the shoulder, giving him support. "Inuyasha," she said, softly. "You don't have to hide."

A fierce growl was her only reply. But she didn't know that her words were affecting him in more ways than one. He was angry with her yes, but now, that anger was just a shallow emotion. A habit, more than what he was feeling. He wanted to respond to her words, to admit to her what he was feeling…To admit that no matter how much he fought it, the hanyou was winning.

Kagome shifted her position, and let her hand fall from his shoulder on to his purple striped cheek, making him get lost in the spell of her eyes. "Don't pretend, Inuyasha," she said, in a warm voice. "I know you know that you're still a hanyou. Don't try to deny it, it'll just cause us both more pain."

Her words echoed in his mind. Just cause us more pain… He found himself agreeing with her, wholeheartedly, all anger swept away.

"You're the same person that I love, Inuyasha. And you know it." She whispered, finding herself drawing close to his face. The closer she came, the more she saw him change. His eyes were slowly turning back to amber, the purple stripes fading away.

"Just let go, Inuyasha." She murmured, not knowing how much his heart leapt at her words. "Let go of everything." The youkai in his mind was receding, the hanyou coming to take his place, with her.

He nodded with her, lost in the trance of her words and eyes. "Ka…go…me…" he whispered, her name rolling off his tongue as if he hadn't said it in a thousand years.

Kagome was so close that she could feel the breath from his lips, the shaky breath from his change. "Set yourself free." She whispered, closing her eyes.

And then she kissed him, pouring out all of her love into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer, lost in the feeling that she had forgotten from so long ago. She felt his fangs shrink against her lips, a clawed hand around her back pulling her closer, the nails shrinking by the second.

The greatest surprise was feeling Inuyasha respond to the kiss. He kissed her back with such emotion, making her heart race and her head spin like it used to, before the world had turned upside down. He let out a sigh of contentment against her lips, before ravishing them once more, pushing the passion further on, making Kagome's heart melt in her chest. He pulled her into his lap, feeling the curve of her chest against his, her scent circling and intoxicating him as he fought control.

The hanyou had returned; the hanyou that had fully loved and desired her. It was the hanyou that continued to kiss her, the hanyou that continued to touch her, the hanyou that wanted nothing more but to mate with her right then and there. He fought himself to continue on, and to have her as his once more. Nothing mattered anymore, only that he was here, with Kagome, brought out from the darkness that had been his home for so long.

But feeling her press further and further, her want becoming the same as his, is what did it.

In an instant, he let out a deep growl and pushed her away, dashing into a corner of the cave. Kagome had fallen on to the floor, startled by his sudden retreat. But she saw, as he huddled in a corner like a frightened child, that his red eyes and purple stripes had returned.

But Inuyasha—my Inuyasha—won that time. she thought, touching her lips, still savoring the lingering taste of him on them. He won't be trapped much longer. She couldn't help but form a half hidden satisfied smile on her face. He's finally coming back!

Inuyasha, on the other hand, was in a state of distress. He had realized then, during the kiss, why he was in such pain and torment every hour of the day. The hanyou had gotten too far, and had been released, but only after the kiss was in full form. He realized it when it had been him that initiated that moment of passion.

It's me…he thought, his heart sinking. It's been me all along…He formed a fist with his long nails, the fist with the mating scar. There is no "youkai" and "hanyou"…We are one body, one soul. "He" wasn't thinking those thoughts, I was!

Timidly, taking a glance back at the wonderful, horrible girl staring right back at him, he thought, his heart beating faster at the thought, It's me that loves her. It's always been me.

His red eyes lit with pain, as he intently stared back out at the scenery, he thought, But she doesn't love me now. She only loves who I used to be…a hanyou…

A/N: So…yeah. There have been many questions as to the Inuyasha "hanyou" and "youkai" thing, so I hope that clears it up.

Anyway, next chapter will be longer, I promise.