"Yeah, you're probably right. We should definitely mark the trees again. But let me call Jacob, we need to have someone carry you out so that your scent stays in the area, Kagome."
So Bella calls Jacob to tell him to bring someone else so that they can carry Kagome home. When they arrive at the field Kagome and Bella once again begin marking as many trees and bushes as they can with their blood. Once they are finished Kagome heals their wounds. Edward takes Bella by the hand and kisses it, he notices that she's not wearing her engagement ring.
"You're not wearing your ring."
"Ring what ring?" Kagome asks.
Bella blushes, "Edward asked me to marry him last night and I said yes."
Kagome squeals and hugs her cousin, "Congratulations!"
She let's go of Bella and hugs Edward as well, "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you, Kagome." Edward tells her.
"So then why aren't you wearing your ring?" Kagome asks.
Bella fidgets, "I didn't want to risk losing it."
Edward and Kagome look at each other.
"Or risk Jacob seeing it?" He asks.
"I think we should wait to tell him. I mean, at least till after the fight." Bella tells Edward."
"If you're having second thoughts..."
"I'm not. I just want him to have a clear head."
At this point Jacob and Paul walk into the clearing.
"Whose head is unclear?" Jacob asks.
"Nobody's I hope." Kagome says trying to distract Jacob.
"Alice says there's a storm coming" Edward explains.
"Yeah I can feel it, we should get going." Jacob says.
Edward explains that he'll take the longer route but that he'll get there first and set up camp. He kisses Bella, says goodbye to Kagome, wishing her luck and then leaves. Kagome looks at Paul.
"Okay, Paul, will you carry me back to the Cullens?"
"Sure no problem."
And as Paul carries Kagome, they have a nice conversation. He explains more about the wolves and about their wolf telpathy. He explains about imprinting and Kagome asks if Jacob imprinted on Bella.
"No, he didn't, he's just obsessed with her for some reason. Paul suddenly smirks, "But I have."
"Oh yeah on whom."
"Much to Jacob's dismay, I imprinted on his sister, Rachel Black." Paul tells her proudly.
"That's wonderful, Paul, I'm happy for you!"
"Thank you, Kagome, so how are things with you and the big guy?"
"Things couldn't be better, he spent the day together yesterday, it was so romantic, Emmett went all out." Kagome says with a giggle.
Paul looks at Kagome, "You're in love with him, aren't you?"
"Not yet, but I'm getting there."
"No I think you are, you just won't admit it to yourself."
"Why wouldn't I admit it to myself?" Kagome asks.
"I don't know, maybe your're afraid he doesn't feel the same way? But that isn't the case, Kagome, we could all tell that day in the clearing he loves you. You really should consider telling him, it's the greatest feeling in the world." Paul tells her.
Kagome doesn't say anything, Paul has given her a lot to think about. They get to the Cullen house and Paul set her down on the front steps. She thanks him and gives him a hug, Paul returns the hug and takes off. Kagome goes into the house and goes into the kitchen to get herself a snack. The house is still empty as they Cullens are still out hunting, so she decides to watch a little TV while she waits for them to come home.
She watches a few movies and makes herself something to eat she works on necklaces for the rest of the family so that they too can go out in the sunlight. But eventually she ends up falling asleep on the sofa. When she wakes up though, she's lying on a bed wrapped in a blanket with Emmett's arms wrapped around her. She looks around to see that they're in his room.
"When did you get a bed?"
"Yesterday, Alice had it installed in my room for me. I wanted you to be comfortable."
"What time is it?"
"It's about 2am, why don't you go back to sleep?"
"Not without a kiss first." Kagome tells him.
Emmett chuckles and leans in to give her a kiss. Kagome sighs, she snuggles closer to Emmett and falls asleep.
The next morning, Emmett brings Kagome breakfast in bed. Esme made her waffles, eggs and bacon and some coffee. Kagome eats her breakfast while Emmett goes and gets ready. Once she's finished Emmett takes the tray downstairs and Kagome goes to take a shower. Once she's out of the shower, she changes into some yoga pants a sports bra and sneakers. She puts her hair in a high pony tail and comes out of the bathroom. Grabbing her quiver of arrows she makes her way downstairs. Everyone has already gathered in the living room.
"Okay, I'm ready."
Emmett takes her in his arms, "Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?"
"Nope."
"I didn't think so, come on let's go."
They get outside and Emmett swings Kagome up onto his back, "Hold on, baby."
Kagome wraps her arms around Emmett's neck and he takes off through the woods. Kagome is exhilarated by the speed at which Emmett is going. He's running faster than Inuyasha could ever go. She laughs as she watches the woods whip by, Emmett hears her laughter and chuckles. They get to the clearing and Emmett sets Kagome down, he look at her and her eyes are shining with excitement.
"That was fun, I've never gone that fast before, Inuyasha wasn't that fast and Kouga didn't want to use full speed with me on his back."
"That's right, didn't know whether or not you could handle it."
They all whip around and see Kouga, Ginta, and Hakaku standing by a rock outcropping, Carlisle walks over to them and shakes their hands.
"Kouga, Ginta, Hakaku, we're glad you came."
"No problem, Carlisle."
"Their almost here." Alice warns.
"Kagome you stay behind us," Carlisle tells her.
Kagome nods, Kouga walks over to her, "Just like old time, huh?"
"Yeah but this will be a lot easier."
"They're here." Alice calls out.
Just then they see the first newborn emerge from the woods followed by the others, following Bella and Kagome's scent. They are confused when Bella's scent ends but are riled up even more when they Kagome's scent gets even stronger. The Cullens, Kouga, Ginta, and Hakaku rush forward. Kouga jumps high in the air landing a perfect kick to one of the newborns decapitating it. Using his using his claws he destroys newborn after newborn with a single swipe.
Ginta and Hakaku work as a team, pulling apart newborn and decapitating them. Jasper is all over the place trying to make sure that everyone is safe, he's about to get attacked from behind when a sacred arrow hits the newborn in the chest and turns it to ash. Jasper turns around wide eyed, he looks at Kagome and gives her a nod, which she returns.
At this point the wolves show up and begin decimating the newborns the newborns are confused at first at the sight of the wolves but soon go on the offensive several try to bring down Paul, but he fights them off. Emmett see him struggling and helps him take down the newborns. They give each other a nod out of respect and move on.
Slowly the number of newborns begin to dwindle thanks to Kagome's arrows, she stands at a distance firing arrow after arrow, turning newborns to ash. At one point one of the newborns has Rosalie from behind and is getting ready to rip her head off. When Kagome fires her arrow, the arrow disappears passing behind Rosalie and hitting the newborn turning it to ash.
Once the battle is over and the newborns have all been destroyed, they begin to gather the remains and set them ablaze. It was at this point that Alice gets a vision that the Volturi are going to show up and tells the pack Kagome, Kouga and his pack that they need to leave. But just as they are about to leave a newborn that they missed grabs Kagome from behind and bites her. There was so many demonic auras in the area that she simply failed to sense that one sneaking up on her.
Everyone turns at the sound of Kagome's scream. Emmett and Kouga rush the vampire ripping it away from Kagome and tear it apart. Kagome stumbles and falls to the ground clutching her neck, blood is running down her neck staining her porcelain skin. Emmett falls to his knees next to Kagome.
"No, no, no, no, this can't be happening, Carlisle you have got to do something."
"We can't do anything now, Son, the Volturi are coming, everyone needs to leave and Kagome needs to be taken back to back to the house and kept safe." Carlisle tells Emmett.
"Then I'll take her home." Emmett says as he picks up Kagome.
"No, let Kouga take Kagome back to the house, you need to stay here." Alice tells him.
"No, I need to be with Kagome!" Emmett yells.
"Emmett if you go, the Volturi will wonder where you are and will go looking for you and discover Kagome, just stay." Alice says.
"Don't worry Emmett, we'll watch over her." Kouga says as he takes Kagome from him.
And with that, Kouga takes off in a whirlwind, heading straight for the Cullen house with Ginta a Hakaku following behind. Sam, now in his human form, walks up to Emmett.
"We'll go too, we need to make sure our little sister is safe."
With that Sam, Paul, and Jared head to the Cullens while the others head back to the reservation.
Kouga reaches the Cullen house and follows Kagome's scent up to Emmett's room and lays her down. Kouga takes off her shoes and covers her with a sheet, Kagome is shivering but also has a fever. He goes to the bathroom, getting a damp cloth he begins to wipe Kagome's fevered brow.
Suddenly Kouga's instincts kick in and he lunges away from Kagome just in time as her body is surrounded by a pink dome of spiritual energy. Had he been any slower, he would have been purified. Kouga backs away, the spiritual energy is so intense that he has to leave the room. He goes downstairs where Ginta Hakaku Sam, Paul, and Jared are waiting.
"What happened, Boss?" Ginta asks.
"I think Kagome is going to be alright." Kouga informs them.
"Why do you say that?" Sam asks.
"Her spiritual energy just kicked in, I think it's fighting the venom. Can't you guys feel it from here, it's so strong I had to leave the room or risk getting purified."
They all pause for a moment and notice the strong aura coming from Kagome. The wolves are amazed, they had never felt anything so intense before in their lives.
"Wow, that's her?" Paul asks.
"Yeah it is."
So what do we do now?" Hakaku asks.
"We wait and keep Emmett from going up there just yet." Kouga tells them.
About that time, Emmett comes running into the house, he's gettin ready to charge upstairs but Kouga grabs him and restrains him.
"You can't go up there, Emmett."
"Are you insane, my mate needs me!" Emmett yells.
"Your mate?" Kouga, Ginta, Hakaku and the wolves ask at the same time.
"Yes, Kagome is my mate. I just haven't told her yet."
"Well either way you can't go up there, Kagome using her spiritual powers to purge herself of the venom. She unconscious though so her body is putting out a lot of power. If you go up there right now, she'll accidentally purify you." Kouga explains.
I can't just sit here and wait!" Emmett says in an exasperated tone.
"You're going to have to." Kouga tells him, "Look, can you imagine how devastated Kagome would be if she knew she accidentally killed you?" Think of her too."
Emmett let out a resigned sigh and slumps down on the sofa. Hours pass, and they can all still feel Kagome's spiritual energy, finally after twelve hours pass energy dissipates.
"Is it safe to go up now?" Rosalie asks.
"Yeah, her powers have subsided." Kouga tells them.
Before Kouga even finished his sentence, Emmett was already in his room. He pulls a chair close to the bed and sits down, he looks her over and sees that she's pale and sweaty. Taking the cloth Kouga had used ealier, he goes to the bathroom, dampens its and begins to wipe her brow. At this point Carlisle walks in and takes her vitals.
"How is she, Carlisle?"
"Her vitals are good, heart is strong, amazingly, she healed herself from the venom."
"Then why isn't she awake."
"My guess is that she's just exhausted, Emmett, give her sometime to rest."
"Okay then."
24 hours pass then 36 and still Kagome remains unconscious. Bella calls her dad and tells him that the Cullens extended their camping trip and that her and Kagome were going to stay longer with Alice. Which was fine with him. By this time the entire house is worried that maybe Kagome won't ever wake up, but Emmett refuses to believe that. He sits by her side holding her hand while Carlisle begins giving her IV fluids.
The whole time Emmett is holding Kagome's hand he keeps repeating the same word over and over again.
"Please, baby, come back to me. I need you, I love you. I can't go on without you. Please, baby come back."
If Emmett had the ability to cry he would have as it was he felt stinging in his eyes from unshed venom, his hair was a mess from him running his fingers through it all the time. He looked absolutely terrible, his eyes were beginning to turn black from thirst, but still he refused to leave Kagome's side. Eventually Ginta and Hakaku killed a deer and brought it to his balcony window so he could feed without having to be to far from Kagome. It was just enough to satisfy his thirst.
At the 48 hour mark, Emmett let out a dry sob, he was beginning to think like the others that maybe it was too much for her and that she would never wake up again. Emmett lays his head on her stomach and begins sobbing.
"Please, please, Kagome don't leave me, don't go where I can't follow. I love you so much."
Suddenly, Emmett feels fingers running through his hair. His head pops up and his looks at Kagome, she gives him a weak smile.
"I love you too, Emmett."