A/N: Here's chapter ten! This will be the final chapter for this one. I am going to start the sequel to Don't Cry for Me that several people have been asking about. If it's not already up by the time this chapter is up, it will be very soon. Hope you guys like this one! Please review and let me know what you think. Sorry for the shortness on this one, but there is a method to my madness, as those of you who are familiar with me know. :D

>>>>>>

Where You Are
Chapter Ten: I Love Her That Much

The demon looked up curiously. He suddenly sensed several other presences. Someone has broken down his barrier! That meant that the woman's intended mate must surely have been there. He tensed slightly, and smiled over at the pale and unconscious girl who was lying on the floor across from him.

"They may be too late for you, woman. Too bad you were too stubborn to just tell me where that jewel was..." He laughed. "It was the most stupid and probably the last mistake you will make..."

Pulling his sword from its sheath, he stood at the door, ready, or so he thought, to face the coming intruders. As six of them, the kit included, burst through the door, his eyebrow rose slightly. "Well, aren't you about the oddest pack I have ever seen..." he commented smartly.

Inuyasha had his eyes trained on Kagome, who was still lying unconscious on the floor. He could tell from the smell, which was so strong that even Miroku and Sango must have recognized it, that his Kagome was in bad shape.

"What did you do?" he screamed.

He shrugged. "She refused to tell me where the jewel of four souls was hidden." He said simply. "I was going to kill the kit and just make her talk that way, but she offered a trade..."

"A trade?" Inuyasha repeated, his tesseiga pulsing with his growing anger.

The demon nodded. "Why yes, a trade. Her own life in exchange for the kit's. Although, now that I think about it, it wasn't much of a trade. She didn't even have the energy to fight back after I sliced her side open...and that weak little protection barrier she placed around herself faded after she lost too much blood..."

Inuyasha's eye twitched, and he growled low in his throat. "Shut up! I don't want to hear this! You are going to die for what you did to her, whether she lives or not!" He promised. "And I will see that it hurts ten times worse than whatever you did to Kagome!"

"Inuyasha..." Sesshoumaru's voice chimed in. "Stand aside. We don't have that much time," he reminded his half-brother.

Inuyasha glanced at him, and did as he was told, never letting his sword fall from the attack position.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "I would let my brother have his fun ripping you to shreds for what you have done, but in the interests of the girl's health, I have decided that I will dispatch you myself. Prepare to die!" Sesshoumaru growled.

Inuyasha jumped behind him to remove Kagome from the line of fire, and Sesshoumaru gave a quick swipe of his tokijin sword. The power coming from it was unbelievable, and the demon who had taken Kagome and Shippo had not a leg to stand on. In seconds, he was reduced to nothing, and Sesshoumaru was replacing his tokijin in its sheath with a satisfied smirk.

Miroku blinked. "Don't think I'm not glad about this or anything, but didn't that seem like it was just a little bit too easy?" he asked of the group.

Inuyasha seemed to think about this.

"There is always someone out there that is stronger than your last opponent, and occasionally, there is someone out there who is stronger than you..." Sesshoumaru answered for him. "We got lucky this time that this demon was a pushover. Your woman needs medical attention, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru reminded them. "Let's leave this place..."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I am not taking Kagome to the old woman for treatment. Her wounds are too severe." He frowned, and looked down at Shippo. "We're going to the future. They can help Kagome there much easier than they can help her here, and besides...when this is all over and she is all better again, Kagome, Shippo, and I have some business we need to take care of." he nodded.

Sango smiled in understanding, but all Miroku could do was look confused.

Sesshoumaru sighed. "You have done far more with your life than even our father could have hoped, Inuyasha. I hate to admit it, but I think that the human woman...I think she will make you a fine mate." he said after a moment's pause, and everyone stopped to look at him.

Inuyasha smiled and nodded to his odd, older, half-brother before once again looking down at Shippo. "Come on, runt. You're coming along too." He told him.

Shippo's eyes widened. "Really? Can I?" He jumped onto Inuyasha's shoulder.

Inuyasha ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the bone eater's well, and jumped inside. Shippo held on to Inuyasha's robes for dear life, and was amazed when the three of them were swallowed up in a bright purple light.

Almost as soon as they landed on the other side, Inuyasha jumped out, grabbed a hat Kagome's family had left there for him, and ran full speed into the Higurashi home.

"Ms. Higurashi! Souta! Someone! Help! Kagome has been hurt badly! She's lost a lot of blood, and I don't know..."

He was staring face to face with Kagome's mother, who had gone stark white when she saw how her daughter hung limply in Inuyasha's hands. She nodded and ran out to the car.

With a pop, Shippo disguised himself to look as normal as he could possibly manage, and nodded to Inuyasha, who was cradling Kagome's head in his lap.

"You're going to be fine," he whispered to her. "Everything will be all right. I brought you back here...they're going to help you..."

"What happened?" Kagome's mother demanded as she rounded a corner at a speed nearly three times the actual speed limit. "How did she get like this?"

Shippo's bottom lip began to quiver, and he he hid his face behind his hands. In his own little mind, Kagome's injuries were partly his fault...although, he knew Inuyasha would never agree to his thinking like that...

"Her and Shippo were kidnapped..." Inuyasha told her in a monotone voice. "The demon would have killed Shippo, but Kagome protected him..." He stroked her hair as he said this.

Kagome's mother coughed, noticing the hanyou's displays of affection. "I take it you're Shippo?" she asked the kit.

Shippo nodded, his eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry. I should have..."

"No, you don't need to apologize. I'm glad you're safe. Kagome speaks so highly of you..." Ms. Higurashi replied, although her expression was still a sad one.

She came to a hard stop in front of the hospital and urged Inuyasha and Shippo to jump out with Kagome.

>>>>>>

When Kagome awoke, she was in a hospital bed with several tubes attached to her from various points on her body. She groaned. "Where...?" she tried to ask, but Shippo, her mother, and Inuyasha were at her side in a second.

"It's all right, Kagome. The doctors say that you are going to be fine." her mother told her. "Inuyasha and Shippo brought you here."

"Shippo...? Is that...he's safe..." Kagome sighed with relief. She took a deep breath, feeling some of her strength returning to her. "What...what did you tell...the doctors?" she stammered.

Her mother shrugged. "Inuyasha told them the truth, actually..."

Kagome's eyes widened.

"Not the whole truth," he promised her. "I'm not that thick-headed, you know..."

"He saved us," Shippo smiled proudly. "I don't care if he really told them the truth or not..." He wiggled his nose. "Although I do hope you get better soon, momma. This place smells kind of funny."

Kagome laughed slightly, jumping in pain as she did so. "Inuyasha has told me that a time or two..." she smiled at him, and closed her eyes.

"All right, guys...let's let her sleep for a while..." Kagome mother said quietly, but Kagome opened her eyes again and shook her head.

"No, momma. I want them both to stay here. They're my family."

"Your...family?" Kagome's mother repeated.

Shippo smiled proudly. "Well, we will be...as soon as Inuyasha marks..."

Kagome blushed as Inuyasha glared at the kit to stop talking. He laughed nervously. "I'll explain that one to you later...much later...when Kagome is feeling better..." Inuyasha promised as a blush crept onto his cheeks.

Ms. Higurashi cleared her throat. "I think I know what you mean..." she said, glancing knowingly from Kagome to Inuyasha and back again. "And if it's all the same to you, I would be much happier not knowing any details..." she laughed to herself.

Inuyasha nodded.

"Just...one question," Kagome's mother added, turning to face the small group.

Inuyasha gulped. "Sure. What is it?" he asked nervously.

"Do you love my daughter, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha smiled, looking down at Kagome for a moment, and clearing his throat. "Yes, I do, Ms. Higurashi. You have no idea how much..."

Kagome blushed for a second time when Inuyasha said this.

Kagome's mother nodded with apparent satisfaction. "That, Inuyasha, is all that I needed to know." she smiled at him. "Welcome to our family..."

Inuyasha blinked. "Did you just say...?"

Kagome's mother winked. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to Kagome, Inuyasha. She loves you, and she loves that little boy," Her mother pointed to Shippo, who was beaming with a new-found pride. "And if you love her even half as much as I think you do, then that makes you wonderful in my book."

Inuyasha nodded. "I do, Ms. Higurashi. You can trust me on that."

"I trust you on a lot more than that, Inuyasha." She said, wrapping him in a hug. "You just make sure to take excellent care of my only daughter."

"I will."

>>>>>>

A/N: Kind of short and open-ended, wasn't it? Well, I tend to do that sometimes, too. I hope you liked this one. I am unsure as of right now if this one will have a sequel to it or not, but then again, that is why I left the ending where I left it. Please review and let me know what you think, and thanks to everyone who has been following this story.