Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga. "Let's go, Kagome! Sango, you stay here with the princess and keep an eye on Miroku. Miroku, you're on guard duty!"

"Hey, what about me?"

"Hello, you can't fight with that leg injury. What's to say this fight won't open up that wound again? C'mon Kagome, let's go!"

"Keilala, go with them!" Sango called out to her cat demon friend, who transformed and let Kagome on her back.

I sighed, sitting back down. I rubbed my leg, "Are you sure he made me stay behind because of my leg?"

"Don't know. Share your theory with us." Miroku said.

"Well, you saw what happened when Koga was here. I had my hand around his throat… Inuyasha knows that my temper runs high when it comes to his opposition."

He nodded, "I do admit you have been a little high-strung…"

"I haven't gotten that bad, have I?" I wondered out loud.

"Well, you have been taking on some of Inuyasha's attributes, the big one being not backing down from a fight, even starting fights with accusations. In fact, you've been getting into fights that are much bigger than you." I shrugged, "So…"

"You don't care that you could get yourself killed?" Sango asked, sitting down next to me. I thought on, "I never thought about that… Ultimately, I do want to be strong enough to defend my tribe against outsiders. I never thought I'd find myself defending Inuyasha with every inch of my being, considering the kind of jerk he is at times. Somehow, I think I've been getting more into his inner core lately…" I sighed, "When I was growing up, I visited Inuyasha at the Sacred Tree. I'd wish on throughout every night that he'd come alive once more. Now that my wish came true, I want it to stay that way."

"At one point, Inuyasha considering dying with Kikyo. He wants to avenge her death by killing Naraku… even though Kikyo is gone, he still fights Naraku to make sure he doesn't possess all of the jewels." Miroku told me.

"When I think about the thought of losing him, like him dying, my heart burns with desire. A desire to keep that from happening no matter what. I'd do anything to protect him just like he helped shield me from my fears during my younger days. My tribe still needs me to carry them into the future… but I'm used to putting everyone else's safety before my own. Whatever way I am to die, I want it to be defending someone else that I really care about."

"So, you've grown to feel that way about Inuyasha?" Miroku asked. I folded my arms, "Yeah, but I forbid myself to show him that I do. He's already got enough to deal with." I looked up at the sky, "I'd just slow him down and there's that complicated relationship between him, Kikyo and Kagome. Adding me into the mix would just be asking too much of him. The only way I can possibly show him how I feel is just by protecting him and prolonging his life—even if it means cutting mine short."

I stretched my arms, "Maybe I'll take a little nap before Inuyasha and Kagome get back. Feel free to tell Kagome what I just revealed, but not to Inuyasha. That's the last thing he needs." I curled into a ball, holding my bandaged leg close to me and slowly drifted off to sleep. Inuyasha's face littered my dreams and I kept shaking my head, trying to erase it. "No, I can't feel this way about him. It just isn't right…"

As I slowly came to, my nose caught the scent of… blood. My eyes shot open. "Humph, it's nothing. I'm half-demon, remember? It's just a little scratch, nothing that can't heal." He groaned. Kagome said, "Don't move Inuyasha, those spider heads were nasty."

"Yeah, but nothing could compare to facing them when I became mortal. The poison nearly did me in; if Myoga hadn't sucked some of the poison out of me, I would have been a goner. But this time around, I'm half-demon, so I should come through all right."

"Still, you shouldn't move around and have your poisoned blood circulate throughout your veins," Kagome said. He brushed it off, barking, "Will you quit it! I'm going to be fine! The last thing I need is princess getting her soul in knots over an injury that I'll recover from in no time at all."

I sighed, "Too late, I already heard you, but I won't get on your case, Inuyasha."

"Oh, so are you going to give me the silent treatment for not letting you come along?"

"No. Inuyasha, did you know that they were going to be spider heads?"

"Well," he paused, "there was a considerable amount of silk in the forest and I did catch a familiar whiff of them. Still, I told you to stay behind for your own good… and your own protection."

I turned over on my other side to look at him, "Thanks…" I smiled as I shut my eyes again. "Inuyasha… if you don't mind me asking, are you going to lose your powers pretty soon?"

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"You know… the night when you temporarily lose your powers, is it close?"

"Huh?" He looked up as night had fallen. "It's not for a while yet. Why?"

"Just curious… I'd feel better to know that my leg will be back to normal by then. That way, if you run into any trouble, I can do the protecting."

"Humph… never stopped me before." He turned his head away. Kagome groaned, "Inuyasha, you still run into plenty of trouble even when you're mortal, so much that my head still spins. Even when he does lose his powers, Inuyasha is still the same, hard-headed and acting before he thinks things through."

"Well, I kinda have to! All of my enemies keep finding me when I'm most vulnerable, so of course I have to be strong and fight back. Besides, I gotta make the best of what I've got. When I'm human, I lose the ability to use Tetsusaiga as well as my fangs and claws. I also get distracted by… humph, human emotions."

"One night of human emotions isn't all that bad, Inuyasha… still, if you wanna live your life to its fullest, you need to watch yourself a lot more when that time comes." I thought for a moment and opened my eyes again. "If trouble is to find us on that particular night, that can be my final test. Then I'll be able to return back home, or I'll just die trying."

"Oh, and what happens if for some unusual reason, I'm the one who ends up getting slaughtered, then what!"

"Inuyasha…" Kagome and I whined at once.

"You're not seriously asking me that, are you?" I asked. "I mean, why would you even consider a situation like that? You always go into a fight thinking you'll come out alive…"

His yellow eyes glowed with anger. "I'm just saying… what would you do!" I groaned and turned my back on him. "Humph… if I failed you, I'd never forgive myself! I'd be too ashamed to go back home knowing that I failed you."

"So, you'd just abandon your whole tribe just because of one death!"

"I always put myself before others."

"If that's the way you see it, then it's better to go back and take charge! You can't save them all, so it's better not to dwell on the past!"

My heart was burning in rage. I took the jewel shard out of my heart. "Kagome, hold this shard for me." She came over to take it from me. I sat up and limped over to where Inuyasha was sitting. I stared into his yellow eyes. "What?"

I stared at him angrily, "I doubt you'd see devotion if it stared you in the face! That's the path I choose because it was my wish for you to live. That's my first priority and I'm sticking to it whether you care or not." Keeping my claws out of the way, I brought a hand across and slapped him across the face, furiously.

"Sometimes I think Kagome deserves better than a selfish punk like you!" I spat on his face in rage, "I hope that poison eats away at you a little more than planned." He grabbed my wrist. "You don't really mean that, do you?" He asked with his hair covering his eyes.

"What do you think!"

"I think you're just mad… so you're not thinking clearly…" He sighed, "Look, I'm sorry… but that's what a good leader would do."

"I'm not your average demon, Inuyasha." I stared him in the eye, "Although I can be tough like you, I think with my heart… and if anything would happen to you, my heart would bleed for you every day. It would hurt so much that I'd want to die to make it stop… When I put others before myself, that includes you! And… my tribe would be in trouble with me distracted anyway." I reached my claws towards his neck, but his grip on my wrist was tight. I cried, "You're such an idiot sometimes…"

I got up. Kagome offered me my jewel shard back and I took it. I groaned, "I'm sleeping up in that tree tonight, alone." I jumped up the tree and made myself comfortable.

Kagome shouted, "Inuyasha, sit!" His head crashed into the dirt. She turned her back, "Humph, you don't have to, but I suggest that you apologize again. Not everyone is willing to put their lives on the line for yours, you ungrateful pig!"

He crossed his arms, saying in a slightly depressed tone. "Kagome, would you do that?"

"Well, I wouldn't do it on an impulse, but if worse comes to worse, I'd do everything to protect you, just like you would do the same for me… or Kikyo." She sighed, "you were willing to give your life for her. Now that I've thought about it, if the time calls for such a thing, I would do the same for you." He looked up at the newly risen half-moon. "Kagome, want to sleep by me again tonight?"

She turned back and smiled, "Sure Inuyasha…" She sat down, "But what changed your mind?"

"I guess I should really start catering to other people's feelings other than my own… I could get worse than just a slap across the face." He sighed. "I'll apologize to her in the morning. Maybe having you rest by me will help clear my head so I can summon the words I want to say."

"Good for you, Inuyasha." She smiled and leaned on his shoulder, slowly falling asleep. Inuyasha sighed, looking up, "Well, I've still got a couple of weeks left until I become mortal. I think I should be okay then." He shut his eyes and fell fast asleep with his right arm around Kagome. He thought, "Well, if anything, Chihiro has helped me get more in touch with my feelings for Kagome… I feel like having her so close is opening my heart wider than before."