"A Heart's Immaculence"

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Inuyasha or any characters related to it.

Author's Note: Thanks for those who gave reviews for my story. It is appreciated. Hopefully, this fan fic will be as good as I hope it can be. I'm trying my best. I wrote this part during a New Year's party because I was bored.

Chapter Two

Kagome, dampened by anger, frustration and sadness, walked through the darkness in a trance-like state. She could never tolerate putting up with Inuyasha's temper, yet she found that every time she was away from him she missed his fiery attitude. However, his temper along with his insensitivity combined into one made an intolerable combination. She never permitted him to make her feel unworthy or unimportant, but this argument truly disturbed her. What made Inuyasha react so disturbingly towards her? She knew it was something, for he was not one to hurt her unless it was for a reason, and usually he did so without realizing it. Her pain by his words pinched her heart and created a bruise she felt would take several days to heal. She then came to realize that her relationship with Inuyasha was like a pond, gentle one moment when all was calm and in harmony with the earth, but shaken and rippled when touched by a pebble, skidding across the water. Yet gradually the water returned to its former tranquil state once the pebble drowned underneath the surface. Such was their friendship, peaceful and soothing one minute but rocky and wavering the next, all caused by foolish and childish upsets.

Resting herself on top of a large rock, Kagome took off her yellow backpack, filled to the max with all the things she thought she would need while in the feudal era, most of which were items that were useful only to add more weight to her shoulders. She leaned her head on the backpack and closed her eyes, her mind racing with more thoughts about Inuyasha and herself. Perhaps Inuyasha was correct in what he said about her and had gotten fed up with her lack of strength and power. Was she really that weak?

No wonder he prefers Kikyo, Kagome thought. She is beautiful, strong and powerful. She is able to protect herself and her archery skills are perfect, unlike me. My abilities are disappointing. I'm probably not even at amateur level.

The thought of Kikyo brought about a tint of jealousy in Kagome's heart and, as a girl who is not one to give up on herself despite the hardships and predicaments she went through, Kagome pushed her backpack away from her and slid off the rock with a forceful push.

"What am I thinking? No way am I going to let myself be overshadowed by my weakness!" Kagome said to herself, her determination showing vibrantly on her face. "I will do whatever it takes to become strong, to be good, to be…!"

She took out her bow and arrows and began practicing her shooting. She made several parts of the forest her target areas, desiring to make a perfect shot with each one of her arrows. Unfortunately, she only made three direct hits out of the many arrows she used up. Suddenly, embarrassed by her lack of skill, Kagome fell to her knees, her optimism escaping her as swiftly as it had come.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" she sighed. "I'll never compare with Kikyo. Even Sango and Miroku are skillful fighters. I'll never be near as good as them."

A gush of wind entered the forest unexpectedly, frightening Kagome for an instant as she turned her head in all directions to see what it was that caused the trees to move menacingly. From her right came a stronger gust, and she could see a whirlwind dash around inside the trees until it came out of the distance and abruptly stopped in front of her and the wind ceased to blow.

"Hello, Kagome!"

"Koga! Hi!" Kagome said nervously, knowing well that every time Koga was around he would do his best to flatter her and lavish his love on her. Partly he also did it to annoy Inuyasha, but sadly the hanyou was not around this time to hear Koga's words of affection.

"I missed you, Kagome," Koga said as he grabbed her hands and held them close to his chest. "I thought I'd never be able to touch these soft hands. How lucky I am to feel them again."

Inuyasha would have cringed to hear Koga say this, Kagome thought. I wish he was here to hear it.

"How are you, Koga?" Kagome asked curiously. "Have you found any jewel shards lately? Have you seen Ayame?"

"What!" Koga said surprisingly. "Ayame? I told you, Kagome. You are my woman and there is no one else but you."

"Sure, I know that. Sorry I asked." Kagome, no matter how hard she tried, could not get Koga to understand that she did not love him romantically but cared for him deeply as a friend. She was honored by his faithfulness and devotion to her, but despised deceiving him about the truth of their relationship. Still Koga was able to make her feel good about herself, knowing she was the object of his affection.

"Hey, where is that mutt-face?" said Koga suspiciously. "Did he leave you alone, Kagome? I could smell the scent of sadness in the air. Did he do something to you? I'll get him for hurting you!"

"No, no! Don't worry about it, Koga. Inuyasha and I just had an itsy-bitsy fight. Nothing to get all worked up for. I'm fine, really."

"Stupid mutt! He's no good for you, Kagome. Why do you even put up with him? He's not worth it."

"Don't be mean. Koga. Inuyasha is my friend, you know that. He just—"

"Stop making excuses for him. If he hurt your feelings, he deserves to be taught a lesson."

Koga's protectiveness towards her impressed Kagome, and she needed to feel that good feeling now, yet it did not do anything to ease her emotions for Inuyasha.

"Listen, Koga. I just came out here to be alone for a while, to think about things. I don't feel bad at all. Inuyasha is not to blame for what I feel right now."

"Kagome," Koga looked into Kagome's eyes warmly, sending a comforting tingle down her spine. "You know I'll do anything for you. I know you have been hurt. You can't hide that from me. That sad excuse for a dog won't get away for the pain you feel."

Koga turned around and began to run from her towards the direction she had walked far away from.

"No, Koga!" Kagome yelled. "Come back! Inuyasha didn't do anything!"

As loud as she yelled, it was to no avail. Koga was gone and she was left alone to ponder what he intended to do to Inuyasha. She was worried and thought she should go back to where her friends were to straighten things out, but she could hardly see in the dark. What if she got lost on the way back? She decided to wait until morning to head back to the gang and apologize for leaving them, yet she was unprepared to face Inuyasha and was not ready to speak to him.

While thinking about how she would approach Inuyasha and what she would exactly say to him, she began to feel sleepy. She laid out her slim figure on the soft grass and tucked her arm under her head, shutting her eyes to the world and submitting herself to the realm of dreams.

Hours later, Kagome was suddenly awakened by a deafening cry. Sitting up and leaning her ear to the emptiness of space, she listened carefully to the terrible sound of a child's screams. She knew it was a small girl's voice and she knew of the horror the child was feeling, for she heard it ferociously hover in the air, trembles sliding all over her body.

Intermingled with the girl's screams, Kagome also heard the horrendous growl of a demon, and she realized that the creature was trying to attack the girl.

Kagome, although frightened for her own life, knew this was an opportunity for her to prove her own strength and rescue an innocent girl from being killed. Grabbing her bow and arrow, she ran into a clearing within the forest and pointed her weapon in the direction of the sounds she heard coming from it. It was difficult for her to see well since it was still dark even though it was morning, but she could tell the sun was ready to emerge from its sleep by the slight tinge of orange that peeked through the blackness in the sky.

The screaming and growling was very near, and soon Kagome saw the figure of the child emerge from the trees, the enormous demon who was after her following right behind. Kagome, gathering all the determination and courage she could muster, aimed her weapon straight at the demon's chest, for she saw that was where the jewel shard was located. She shot the arrow straight for the spot, and a bright ray of light illuminated the darkness briefly. The light held up long enough for Kagome to see her surroundings, and she turned just in time to see who the girl was. She glimpsed the girl's clothing and saw the fabric was of orange and white, but she was unable to see the child's face. Unfortunately, sensing the danger had not subsided, Kagome knew the arrow had missed the demon, and its attention was no longer on the little girl but on her. She tried repeatedly to kill the demon, but she then realized she ran out of arrows.

Oh, no! Kagome cried. What now?

This chapter was rather brief, but I don't want to linger on things that are minor in the development of the story. It might have seemed rather fast, yet my focus is on the Kagome/Sesshomaru parts. I hope this chapter was not too boring. And like I said, Sesshomaru will appear very soon. Please review again. Thanks a lot.