Here we go again! Here is the third addition to this story! Oh and I just wanted to let you all know the title is Love; In the Heartbeat of a Day. With the little semicolon thingy. It didn't show up on the display page and the title takes on a completely different meaning. Sorry that was just really bugging the hell out of me. I don't want anyone to think that love happens in a day in this story. The title is just saying that love is everywhere. Anyway. Thanks for letting me tell you all. Now enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own InuYasha

Love; In the Heartbeat of the Day

Chapter 2: Consequences

By Lady Persephone

You know love may sometimes make you cry
So let the tears go they will flow away
For you know love will always let you fly
How far a heart can fly away

"I can feel it. We're close now." Kagome observed pulling her navy sweatshirt tighter around her. It was definitely not summer anymore. She shook her tousled crow's wing hair free of a stray leaf and was thankful that her mother had convinced her to bring her sweats.

"Would you hurry it up already!" Complained InuYasha as they treaded through forest. At the rate she was moving, they wouldn't get there for another day and a half at least! She refused to ride on his back for fear of missing out on the scenery. This was so typical! Sango and Miroku had stopped almost a day ago to make camp and wait for Kagome and InuYasha to return.

"Oh be quiet. The shard is stationary and it hasn't moved anywhere for nearly four days." She scolded gently as she tossed his a friendly glare. "Besides it's so pretty out today!" She laughed and tossed her head back; marveling how beautiful the zealous orange and fiery red leaves were as they were swept from their branches by a playful wind to dance with the crisp autumn breeze. She spun around, enjoying the way the colors of the trees blended together as she twirled faster and faster. Finally, she couldn't keep her footing any longer she tumbled into huge pile of leaves beneath a giant oak. She let out a cry of delight as she was buried by the fallen leaves.

InuYasha couldn't help but smile at her childlike foolishness. She was so silly. He waited by the pile of leaves, but they did not stir. Had she hurt herself falling? Perhaps she fell into a demon burrow and was being cooked as he waited outside! He rummaged through the pile frantically for any trace of her.

"aHA!" She cried triumphantly as she grasped his clawed hand and dragged him into the leaves with her. With no time to react he toppled into the mass of fallen leaves along with her. She was rolling on the ground with laughter. Clutching her stomach as InuYasha stumbled into the leaves. He stared at her bewildered as she let out one of the most unlady-like guffaws he had ever heard in his life. It sounded somewhat like a snort. His face turned red with embarrassment but pretty soon, he was chuckling right along with her. "Oh that was priceless!" she giggled as she calmed down…slightly. She scooted over towards InuYasha so that they were both lying on their backs together staring at the multicolored leaves decorating the massive trees of the forest. "Told you it was pretty."

"Kikyo, what have you done with Kagome!"

He began to sprint towards her, Sango and Miroku forgotten. Her silhouette was clear in the moonlight, yet something wasn't right. Suddenly he stopped. The figure was not Kikyo. But it wasn't Kagome either. Her sleek black hair was long, to her lower back, yet it was wavy and curled slightly at the end. Her body looked so delicate and fragile, like a porcelain doll. Slowly he walked closer. The moon reflected off tears that slid over pale cheeks. Her eyes were downcast and her lip quivered. The oak bow and quiver slid from her fingers and clattered against the cold, hard earth. She was shaking. Slowly, she met his eyes. "Who am I?"

"Kagome," he murmured. He ran to her and surrounded her in a powerful and protective embrace. She did not return it. Instead, she only sobbed. After only a couple minutes. She collapsed into his arms. He cradled her small body in his arms. Her face was tearstained and strangely mature. He studied her features. She still retained her delicate nose and stubborn chin though her cheekbones were more defined and the warm summer glow she had so proudly achieved from spending countless days under the sun was lost to a pale and pearl-like white. Tears stung at his eyes. He prayed to all the gods he could remember that these were the only 'consequences' of her survival. Carefully, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the hut.

Everything was very strange. It was as if she was opening her eyes for the first time. The pale glow of a dimly lit candle was enough to make her clench her eyes shut and promise herself never to open them again. The light was so intense. And the smells! Oh the smells. Rich incense assaulted her nostrils as it burned modestly in the corner. Everything seemed so, so, foreign to her. Her hands grasped blindly around until they found what she would guess would be an empty basin, though she dared not open her eyes for fear that the light would burn them again. The texture felt new on her hands, though she knew it was supposed to feel like this. She knew that her fingers should slide easily over the sanded wood with ease and dip in where the water could be stored. She knew everything that was supposed to happen, but doing it felt so new.

She strained her ears. People were arguing heatedly in low whispers outside her hut. If they were trying to be discrete, why were their voices pounding into her eardrums? There was no way to close her ears to the sound. She frowned despite their voices echoing in her head, she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Suddenly she was startled by a choking sob. Someone burst into the hut and sat beside her. Daringly, she cracked open one eye. Big mistake. The light hurt so badly! Who lit that dumb candle anyway? She did catch a glimpse of the figure sobbing beside her. It was a young woman. With long raven hair and very pretty magenta eyes. She knew that this was Sango. Why was she crying? Did the light and smell hurt her eyes as well? Maybe it wasn't just her. Perhaps something happened to create such a terrible sensation when the light touches your eyes. Could it have been a demon? Maybe. She would ask Sango.

Kagome opened her mouth but found that her mouth had some trouble forming words. Like it was something she hadn't yet learned to do. Instead of asking the civilized question that she wanted to. She let out a slur of random sounds and some gurgling-like blabber. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to say, but it got Sango's attention. "Oh Kagome!" she cried. When Kagome didn't answer for fear making another embarrassing sound, she panicked. "Oh don't you recognize me? It's me Sango." What was she talking about? Of course she remembered her. She only saw her yesterday. Did she think she was some kind of retard? Sango then proceeded to sound out her name. As embarrassing as it sounds, it did help a little. Kagome mimicked the slow exaggerated movements Sango made with her mouth and soon she recalled how to speak and form her mouth around the shape of the words. It was so embarrassing to forget how to speak! This had never happened before.

"Sango?" Kagome asked tentatively for fear of the reaction (and the embarrassment of her wobbly speech). What on Earth was going on?

"Kagome!" Sango shrieked and threw herself at the young woman. Good thing she prepared herself for a dramatic reaction. Oh how her ears ached. Sango then continued to sob and tell Kagome how scared she had been. What the hell was happened! Had the village been attacked while Kagome was off somewhere? Kagome needed answers. She squinted her eyes and glanced around the room, still cautious of the light. Where was everyone?

"Sango what's wrong?" Sango stopped fussing for a minute. Kagome was beginning to regret that she had asked. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. Sango gazed at Kagome with such terrible sympathy. Oh no! What had happened? "Please Sango; I need you to talk to me. What happened? Is everyone alright? Is it Shippou oh kami tell me that he is alright." Sango continued to shake her head as Kagome rattled off the names of everyone they knew. Finally she mustered up the courage to ask the one question she had been dreading. "Sango did something happen to InuYasha?" oh no. no. no. no. This could not be happening! Something had happened to InuYasha.

"Oh Kagome! It's you!"

"What?" she was confused. She felt fine. Well other than the fact that she was having trouble adjusting to the light and that horrible incense was about to suffocate her. Oh yeah. There was that dull ache in her abdomen. She had figured that she was getting her period. Suddenly she spied something lingering outside her window. It was a soul stealer. That was why Sango was acting so sympathetic. InuYasha had gone to Kikyo again. But something wasn't quite right. Usually whenever InuYasha decided to chase after Kikyo Sango and Miroku would work really hard to conceal it from her for fear of hurting her feelings. And that also didn't explain why her eyes felt like she was going blind or the fact that she had practically forgotten how to talk. And then there was that ache in her stomach. What the hell was that? It didn't feel like cramps. Propping herself up onto her elbows, Kagome shoved the thick blankets around her off and slowly untied her robe. She felt a strange sense of foreboding…like she really didn't want to see whatever her robe was covering up. Slowly, she unwrapped the robe. Oh. That was it. Blood.

And she fainted.

It was really hard to understand InuYasha sometimes. Really really hard. Miroku continued to argue with him outside. The pale glow of morning was visible on the horizon but Miroku could care less. What the hell had be been thinking taking Kagome to Kikyo. "You could have talked to me and Sango or at least Kaede before you ran off and scared us out of our wits." Miroku whispered furiously.

"She was dying, Miroku." InuYasha argued back with equal ferocity.

Miroku struggled to keep his anger in check. "How do you know that?" He watched InuYasha open his mouth to retort. "Don't even try to tell me that Kikyo told you so." He threw his hands in the air. "For all you know, Kikyo could have been lying. Maybe she placed herself in Kagome's body to get another chance at living." InuYasha was livid. Miroku could tell. He didn't care. "Have you forgotten that she tried to kill Kagome more than once! Why the sudden change of heart?" InuYasha looked like he was about to explode and possible kill Miroku in the process. But that didn't faze Miroku in the least. How could he be so reckless and endanger Kagome's life so selfishly?

A loud sob broke up the argument quickly. Miroku rushed into the tent to comfort Sango without a glance back at InuYasha. InuYasha didn't bother to go in. He held Kikyo true to her word. Kagome would be fine as long as she rested. That didn't make him feel better though. On the contrary, it made him furious. How dare they accuse Kikyo of such trickery! He paced back and forth to vent his anger. Deep in the corner of his mind he was starting to worry. Kikyo would never do something like that….right?

"InuYasha. Stop wearing out the earth." InuYasha looked down startled at his feet. He had practically dug himself a ditch with his pacing.

He quickly walked over to her and began to speak in heated whispers once more. "Did you hear what they were saying about Kikyo!" he demanded. "Did you hear what they were accusing her of!" That is absolutely ridiculous.

"They have a right to be worried, InuYasha." She told him matter-of-factly. "She is their friend just as much as she is yours." He opened his mouth to tell her that she was more his than theirs. She was his. Then he closed his mouth. "Isn't she?" Kaede pretended that she did not notice his speechlessness. "Ah it is simply beautiful." Sighed Kaede as the first rays of sun shot through the trees. "Told you it was pretty."

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS

Hearii-Sama: I agree with you 100 that Miroku was a little bit OOC, I just wanted to establish kind of like brotherly protection between Kagome and Miroku. Thanks for the review!

Katy: Don't worry, I don't have any such plans…YET haha jk Thanks for the review!

Kirah Ocean: Haha your one of the two reviewers who picked up on that! Good job! To be completely honest, I'm not sure how I'm going to introduce Kouga to the story yet!

Kagomesdouble07: Well, not quite. They will be introduced subtly over time. This chapter is about more of the effects on everyone including Kagome! I hope you enjoyed this new chapter!

Ryo-truesdale: Congrats! You're the other reader who picked up on that! And thank you for appreciating that someone had to die. It is really sad, even if Kikyo wasn't the most popular person.

Aku-Neko: Thank you so much for the great review! I'm so glad you're happy with the way that I portrayed Kikyo. As for what's to come of this transformation, you're just going to have to keep reading! I hope you enjoyed.

Fire-Tiger-c: I'm so glad you agree with me, that Kikyo really isn't a bitchy manipulative whore! I mean she does screw things up once in a while, but that's no reason to completely destroy her character! Thank you for the review!

MangaDreams: Thank you for the review! And I hope you enjoyed this new addition!

Blueblood: I can't exactly reveal what's going to happen! You're just going to have to keep reading! Thanks for the review!

BlooRose: I hope this chapter explained a few things and answered your questions! Thank you!

Not really a real cliff hanger this time. I let you all off easy lol Well What did you think? I wrote that one a little differently. I hope I made it longer for you. There really wasn't much more room in that chapter for any more ideas. I tried writing it from peoples point of view without actually writing it is 1st person. Please tell me how it worked out. Thanks for reading. There will be some more consequences to come next chapter! Review!

Persephone