NL: Hey, everyone! What's up? I'm back and ready to type up the next chapter of Finally!!!

Inuyasha: (dryly) Woo-hoo... yeah, go NL...

NL: What's your problem?!

Inuyasha: (turns away from NL) ...Nothing...

NL: (sweetly) Inu-chan?

Inuyasha: Yeah?

NL: (walks over to Inuyasha and turns him around) What's wrong?

Inuyasha: Feh...

NL: (kisses his cheek) Cheer up. I know it's tough losing Kagome to your brother, who happens to be MIA right now... (glares around the stage) But it's okay. You get Kagome in a lot of other fics, so don't worry about it! (kisses cheek again)

Inuyasha: Well, yeah, alright.

NL: Anywayz, sorry for the EXTREMELY long wait. Been extremely busy with Show Choir and all that. So sorry again. Well, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for! Oh, and I didn't go with that loser. He's a pothead. (bastard!)

*Last Time*

"Sesshoumaru! You'll pay for this!!" And with that, he drew his Tetsusaiga as Sesshoumaru drew the Toukijin. As they charged one another, Kagoriko stepped in. "No! Wait! You can't do thi-!" She was suddenly cut off by a blade slicing her in half.

Chapter Six

The Defusing

Kagoriko's face went blank for a moment as the Toukijin was retracted. 'What... what happened?'
Sesshoumaru's normally pale face went ghostly white. 'Wh-... what have I done?!' His eyes grew wide as a bright, blinding faded pink light flashed in front of the group. 'What's going on?!' When the illumination grew in intensity, Sesshoumaru shielded his eyes until the light dissipated. When he lowered his arm, no longer stood just one woman. Both were recognized by Inuyasha and the others, but Sesshoumaru only cared about one. 'Ka...Kagome!'
"Kagome!" Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru whispered at the same time. They looked at each other, and together went towards the young woman. Of course, Sesshoumaru got there first, and with a graceful sweep, gathered Kagome bridal-style and took to the sky, his younger half-demon brother attempting to reach them. 'Maybe next time, Inuya-...!!!' Sesshoumaru could feel Kagome slipping from his grip. He hadn't noticed that Kagome was trying to get away from him, and he hadn't heard her screaming at him.
"Let me go, you fucking jerk! What the hell are you doing?! PUT ME DOWN!!" With this, Kagome gave a huge kick and freed herself from the taiyoukai's hold. That's when she realized gravity wasn't exactly on her side. As she fell, she looked down to see Inuyasha jumping up to meet her. They came together gracefully with Kagome wrapping her arms around Inuyasha's neck and Inuyasha grabbing her by the waist. "Thanks, Inuyasha."
"No problem, Kagome." They floated down like a couple of doves to the ground. The pair looked up to see a red-eyed Sesshoumaru turn and fly to the west, to his castle. Inuyasha's brow furrowed as he caught the slight scent of salt water. Was Sesshoumaru... No, he couldn't have been... Was he crying?
"What is it, Inuyasha?" Kagome had noticed Inuyasha went into deep thought and figured it was about Sesshoumaru.
"Nothing, let's just go to sleep."

*~*

The next morning, everyone had woken up feeling slightly anxious yet refreshed. As Kagome looked around, she noticed that Midoriko and Inuyasha were gone. 'Now, where could they have gone?' She heard a giggle come from the forest and followed the sound. She came upon a stream and saw Midoriko bathing in it with...
"INUYASHA?!?!"
Inuyasha and Midoriko turned to see Kagome standing about twenty feet away from them with fists clenched and tears brimming in her eyes. They looked at each other and realized they'd been caught.
"Kagome, I-" Inuyasha started.
"SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! HOW COULD YOU?!" As Kagome whipped around to walk back to camp, a single tear fell from her eye and landed in the spot she's just previously occupied.
When Kagome had gotten back to the group, they noticed she was unusually quiet for what they'd just heard. Shippou bounded over and jumped into Kagome's arms. "Onii-san? What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Kagome set Shippou on the ground, picked up her pack, and walked away.
"Kagome-chan, where are you going?" Sango asked.
"I dunno... Somewhere..."
"But, Kagome, wait!" Miroku tried to run after her, but his shoulder was grabbed by Sango. "Sango, what are you doing?"
"Let her go. She needs to be alone."

*~*

Sesshoumaru had found a clearing not too far away from his brother and the rest of the hanyou's friends. He tried to sleep, tried to dream about a certain woman that was only yards away. It was no use. When he fell asleep, he'd only had a blank scene playing in front of his eyelids.
Now, Sesshoumaru just sat in a tree, his left leg bent, his right hanging down from the branch. What was it about that human that fascinated him so?! This was one question that he would have to investigate further to find the answer.
His ear perked up as he heard an awful sound resounding through the forest. He listened to the words as he tried to ignore the headache building.

"Sometimes, I need to remember just to breathe. Sometimes, I need you to stay away from me! Sometimes, I'm in disbelief, I didn't know Somehow, I need you to go!

Don't stay! Forget our memories, forget our possibilities. What you were changing me into, just give me myself back and Don't stay! Forget our memories, forget our possibilities. Take all your faithlessness with you, just give me myself back and Don't stay!

Sometimes, I feel like I trusted you too well. Sometimes, I just feel like screaming at myself! Sometimes, I'm in disbelief, I didn't know Somehow, I need to be alone!"
'Who would listen to such music?!' He sniffed the air and found that oh-so-familiar scent. 'Why would she listen to that? What's plaguing her? I smell sadness and anger...' With this, Sesshoumaru leapt from his perch to find the woman that was haunting his consciousness.

"I don't need you anymore! I don't want to be ignored! I don't need one more day Of you wasting me away! With no apology!"

Sesshoumaru found his quarry underneath a blossoming sakura tree with her eyes closed and some strange contraption over her ears and in her hands. He crept up slowly and inspected the weird device. The music obviously came from whatever was on her ears and the cord must have been a connector between the small round thing and the thing on her head. He was about to touch the headpiece when Kagome's eyes suddenly opened.
She turned as Sesshoumaru jumped back. As she took off her headphones, she said, "What are you doing?!" She attempted to scoot back away from the taiyoukai but ended up cornered against the tree. "What do you want?!"
Sesshoumaru knelt down and stared into Kagome's chocolate brown eyes. There was an awkward silence that surrounded them. Kagome almost jumped when Sesshoumaru's deep, silky voice was heard. "I am not here to harm you, Kagome. I just want to ask you a question. ...What did he do this time?"
Kagome froze as this question left his mouth. 'How does he know that it was Inuyasha?!' She blushed and said, "He has done nothing..." As she lowered her head, she uttered under her breath, "Nothing but cheat on me again..."
"So, he has, has he?" Sesshoumaru reached out and gently lifted Kagome's face by her chin. "Is that all?" Kagome's lower lip started to tremble, and Sesshoumaru knew it was time for tears. Instinctively, he opened his arms just as Kagome threw herself into his body.
"He doesn't realize how much it hurts! He's done it so many times! I've even seen he and Kikyou together professing their love for each other in ways that I couldn't casually speak of! Why can't he just stop? Why does he have to hurt me?" Kagome broke down into soft sobs until she cried herself to sleep in Sesshoumaru's arms.
Sesshoumaru shook his head with sympathy. 'If only you knew, young miko, that you're not the only one who's experienced pain of the heart.' With this, he scooped Kagome up and carried her off to his castle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

NL: Well, what did you think?

Inuyasha: It sucked. *ZZZAAAPPP* WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!

NL: *blows smoke from end of finger* For your oh-so-welcomed critique.

Inuyasha: Whatever... (walks offstage)

NL: Well, that's it for this chapter of Finally. Once again, sorry for the wait. Busy, busy, BUSY! Until next time, my faithful fans! Ja ne!