Kagome finally caught on as to what Inu-yasha was saying. She began wiggling her arm out of its grasp, deciding to do it quick and deal with the pain of her skin scrapping on the demons hard skin. Finally out of its grasp, Kagome cringed and held in a scream of pain at her arms condition. It was twisted the wrong way, but she couldn't stop. She had to release Inu-yasha, no matter how painful. She reached for the arrow.

"You MUSN'T child!" It was Kaede who Kagome saw yelling. "That arrow contains the spell! You musn't release him!"

"You got no choice, hag!" Inu-yasha replied, "You already messed up the first time by shooting that stupid arrow! Now you got this demon to deal with! I'm the only one who can kill it!"

He turned to Kagome, almost bumping heads with her, "And you, do YOU want to die here?"

She was actually shocked at the look on his face. Inu-yasha was worried, probably worried about her arm. Kagome had to do it quick. She lifted her arm quickly , cringing on the pain, and snagged the arrow. A pink light lit the arrow as she pulled hard with all her strength. She pulled and pulled, then . . . it dissipated.

"T-The arrow . . ." a villager whispered, "its gone!"

An unbelievable force exploded from the once bound hanyou, sending everything away, including Kagome, which she wasn't really prepared for. When she expected a hard and a bit of a painful landing, she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and then suddenly felt the ground below her. The next thing she knew, she saw Inu-yasha slay Mistress Centipede in an instant, her pieces falling everywhere. Inu-yasha skidded to the ground, then stood tall before the destruction. He turned to Kagome and gave her a look, something Kagome couldn't tell. A movement beside her caused her to jump and turned to face the twitching departed leg of the Centipede.

Even in pieces its still moving. , she thought disappointingly.

"Are you alright, Kagome!" Kaede cried as she ran to her.

"Y-Yeah . . . I'm fine."

Kaede had a look of disapproval (which was understandable since Kagome was covered in her own blood and her arm was twisted wrong.) but said nothing as she nodded, then continued, "Do you see the flesh that glows?"

"Glows?"

"There lies the jewel. Find it and remove it quickly before the demon resurrects itself!"

"R-R-Right," Kagome searched the area around her until she finally found the glowing flesh. She crawled to the piece stuck her hand in and removed the jewel, ceasing all movement from the dead centipede. Whew.

"Best keep that with you, child."

"Yeah . . ." before she could say anything else, Kagoem was suddenly swiped off her feet and started flying through the forest. Recognizing the grip around her waist, she looked up at Inu-yasha's determined face, and also devastated.

"Kagome!" Kaede cried, bringing Kagome back to reality, and realizing that this was the past, she had to start acting again.

"EEEEEEEK! What the hell are you doing! Put me down right n--" Kagome suddenly stopped wiggling in Inu-yasha's grasp as his arm was over her belly wounds was starting to scrape on his clothes, making her wince, also causing her captor to speed up and finally land on a high branch, safely hidden behind the bushes. Inu-yasha quickly placed Kagome on his lap and covered her mouth with his palm as he viewed the scenery below. Kagome listened as the villagers passed by the tree they were in, making Inu-yasha slowly let Kagome's mouth go. He sighed in relief, then turned Kagome around to face him.

"Are you all right, Kagome?" he whispered loudly, clearly showing her how worried he was.

"U-Um . . ." Kagome glanced at her twisted arm she clutched, wincing at the condition. Inu-yasha looked at her arm in shock, then made a decision.

"Kagome . . ."

"Hm?"

"Y . . .you trust me, right?"

"Of course!"

Inu-yasha smiled slightly, then sighed, "Ok." Kagome watched him reach up for an already detached small branch from the tree, wrap it up in his long sleeves, and snap it without a sound. He then took one part of the branch and placed it on another, probably to keep it away, then gave the other small branch to Kagome.

"Here. Bite on this."

"What for?"

"I'm gonna fix your arm, its gonna grow wrong if its left like that."

She blinked at him. "So, what's with the stick?"

He looked away and clenched his fist, " . . .It . . .It'll be a bit painful, and I can't have you screaming and giving us away." He tried to act as if he were sulking about it, but he was failing miserably, and Kagome could see that clearly. She grabbed the stick and bit on it, indicating to Inu-yasha that she was ready. Inu-Yasha gently took her arm, stole a quick glance at Kagome, then re-twisted it.

The pain Kagome thought would come was nothing compared to what did. She held in a scream and bit hard. Tears of pain streamed down her cheeks from her tightly closed eyes, only to be whipped away by clawed thumbs. She looked up to him to see a pained look, a look of deep guilt.

"I'm so sorry. . ." was all he said, looking down at her belly wound, the one he inflicted.

Kagome removed the stick in her mouth, and reached up and cupped his cheek. "You never knew this would happen. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is! I should have known something like that would happen. I . . . I was just . . ."

" . . . Trying to protect me?" He looked at her in surprise. "I knew that. And its ok. You were just doing what you thought was right. Because of you I'm still alive and well."

"But because of me . . ."

"You never knew that would happen, right?"

"R-Right . . ."

"What happened back there, did you do it on purpose?"

"No!"

"Then?"

He stayed quiet.

"I'm alright, ok?"

He nodded slightly, but Kagome didn't buy it. With her hand on his cheek, she pulled his face closer to hers until she was close enough to lightly kiss his forehead. Inu-yasha went suddenly ridged and looked at her in utter shock. Then, realizing that he was staring, went bright red, and turned away, obviously completely shy. Kagome laughed lightly.

A whizzing noise suddenly caught their attention. The next thing they knew it, Inu-yasha was wearing the rosary around his neck. "Aw, dammit all . . ."

Kaede's voice rang from a distance, "Kagome! If you can hear me child, utter a subduing spell!"

Kagome looked nervously at where the voice came from. They were very close and approaching fast. Suddenly Kagome had an idea. She turned to Inu-yasha, "Ok Inu-yasha, I want you to take me down, we'll start fighting, and I'll say it."

"Way ahead of ya." He grabbed Kagome, jumped off the branch and landed on the ground below. He place Kagome gently, but quickly, on the ground and started yelling.

"For the last time, give me the jewel before I get mad!"

"I said NO! FORGET IT!"

"GIVE IT!"

Kagome pushed away from him far enough to give him space. She gave him and apologetic look. Sorry Inu-yasha.

"SIT!"

And down Inu-yasha went as Kaede and the villagers finally arrived. Kaede rushed to Kagome side, "Are you alright, Kagome?"

"Y-Yes, I'm ok." Kagome said. She watched Inu-yasha sit himself up as he inspected the prayer beads with fake shock.

"What the hell are these!" he complained as he grabbed the beads and tried to yank them off.

"Do as you may, Inu-yasha, but you will not be able to remove those beads with strength alone, especially yours."

"WHAT!" Inu-yasha charged at her, "You withered CRONE!"

"Kagome?"

"Sit."

SLAM

"Now that this is settled, let us return to the hut then, shall we?"

I finally finish! And I'm surprised that its long! Wow! Well hope this was worth the wait. sorry about the question marks and the exclamation marks not wanting to stay together. is being real picky.Hopefully I'll update earlier next time. Plz review! I beg of you!

Akida411searcher