Chapter 21

"I think we should be getting back." Kagome said after Harry had recovered from Ron's comment. "Inuyasha you can carry Ron, Sesshomaru you can carry Hermione, Jaken and Koga can you follow Inuyasha?" All of the demons nodded except for the two brothers who looked disdainfully over at Ron and Hermione.

When everyone was set, Inuyasha led them away from the bodies piled up on the road. Harry and Kagome were left behind; they started cleaning up the camp without a word spoken between them. She probably found out about us leaving and she's mad. Harry thought his stomach sinking as if it had a stone in it.

Harry slid the last thing into his pack, put it on his shoulder and turned to apologize but before he could, Kagome threw herself down and hugged him tightly around the waist. They stood there for an eternity, silently leaning on the other for support.

"Oh Harry, I thought you were dead." She said as she hugged him tightly, he could feel her tears as she cried onto his shoulder. "I couldn't feel your aura, and Inuyasha couldn't smell any of you. I felt so bad, I didn't want you to die without, without…" All Harry could do was stand and listen, his heart soaring in his chest. Did she really not want him to die?

Harry lifted Kagome's chin gently and looked in her eyes, her tear stained face shining in the semi darkness. He was just about to relax when a small noise came up from behind them.

"Ahem." Both Kagome and Harry spun out of each other's arms only to see a white haired demon starting back at them.

"My brother sent me to fetch you, he seemed to think that you would need to be ah brought back as soon as possible, and I can see now why he would believe it." Sesshomaru smirked at the embarrassed couple standing before him. Before either could react he grabbed each by the collar and was flying off.

Sesshomaru seemed to never touch a branch as he was running through the air, but if he did he was to fast for Harry to see. In an instant they were there. It was a small cave carved onto the side of a mountain. There was a series of boulders to in front of the opening that if Harry were walking by he wouldn't have noticed there was an entry at all.

When they went in they saw two different scenes, one was Ron and Koga fighting over setting up the tent, and the other was Hermione and Inuyasha kneeling over a small fluffy thing lying unmoving on the ground.

Kagome went immediately over to Hermione where they started speaking in hushed voices. Harry turned to find Sesshomaru was missing along with Jaken. He went over to Ron and Koga to inform them but Ron explained Sesshomaru was keeping watch outside and Jaken went wherever his master was.

The three boys started to set the tent up and with Harry's help they had it up in only three small outbursts from Koga and five swear words from Ron. Harry was starting to really like the wolf demon but he found him somewhat unnerving when it came to Kagome. Koga seemed to think Kagome was going to be his queen when this whole ordeal was over. Harry simply shook his head and laughed. He knew Kagome would never agree to that in a hundred years.

When Ron lifted the flap to go into the tent Harry heard a gasp come from him when he looked inside.

"It's different!" Ron said as he poked his head out, Harry went in and Koga followed reluctantly.

Harry saw this time there were more doors and the kitchen was larger. In the center of the tent there was a large round table with chairs surrounding it. Five bedrooms replaced the original two and the bathroom had doubled in size. Ron went to the kitchen and found it filled with food.

"This will be perfect!" A voice exclaimed behind them, Hermione had stepped through the flap but didn't go in any farther. She turned her back on them and left, a few seconds later she led Inuyasha and Kagome in. Inuyasha was holding a small bundle in his arms that he placed gently in a bed in the smallest room.

Harry had never seen the hanyou so thoughtful to something before. Inuyasha watched over the small being so attentively Harry wondered if the half-demon was the bundle's father.

Over the next few hours Harry learned that the small thing was Shippo, a Kitsune who was badly injured during the battle. Harry also learned exactly what happened during the time he, Ron, and Hermione were at the Order.

It seemed when they left Inuyasha and Kagome instantly knew they were gone. They started searching the woods but they found nothing but the half eyebrow Ron had left behind. Kagome insisted they had to find the three before anything happened, and Inuyasha agreed. Kagome set up a difficult incantation, one that required almost all of her power. When she had performed the ritual, she found Harry's intense aura but it was so far away they wouldn't be able to get there in one day. Just as they were setting out a demon came and started attacking them. More and more came, drawn to the concentrated burst of power Kagome had let off in order to find them.

Harry could feel the guilt burning down in his throat, so he was the one that caused this, he was the one who insisted on Hermione, Ron, and he go. He was the one who insisted not to tell Kagome and Inuyasha. Harry felt he was going to be sick because of the guilt he felt for his fallen comrades. After the demons stopped coming Inuyasha and Kagome started to pick through the bodies to see if they could find anyone they knew. It was then they found Shippo, he was able to lead them to a cave where he had been living in and they left for it. They stayed there until Kagome felt Ron, Hermione, and Harry's auras again and the rest Ron and Harry could fill in.

Hermione was dedicated to making potions and was pulling out books from her bag to help with any healing. After Inuyasha and Koga shared their stories she came to tell them Shippo would be fine. At this news Harry went out of the tent to the dying fire in the cave. He poked it with a stick a few times and it made a feeble attempt to start up again.

"Harry?" A gentle hand rested on his shoulder and Harry looked up to see Kagome staring down at him. Now that they were in better light Harry could see a bruise growing on her cheek and there were cuts all over her arms. This brought on another wave of guilt and stared back down, there was no way he could look at her now.

He could feel her sit down next to him but she didn't say a word. After a while she rested her head against his shoulder as if to give him strength.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He whispered into her head, hoping she hadn't fallen asleep.

"For what?" She moved only to grab his hand and will him on.

"For not telling you we were leaving, for not being able to trust you or Inuyasha when all you have done was to help us." Both of them could feel pain through these words. Kagome stayed silent for a while, but she dropped Harry's hand once he had started to speak.

"Why did you leave?" Kagome had a hard time speaking. Why did he not trust her? She understood why he wouldn't be able to trust Inuyasha, but wasn't he still her friend?

"We had to get to London, we—" Kagome stopped him.

"I don't think I really need to know, I'm going to check on Shippo. Goodnight Mr. Potter." She left without looking back. Kagome went as quietly as she could, so as not to disturb the beings sleeping on the couches, into Shippo's room and spent the rest of the night crying.

Harry stayed a while longer staring into the fire. He had been an idiot that morning, whatever small voice he had listened to was wrong and now he was paying the consequences. You were afraid, the tiny voice persisted, you didn't want her to see you as some crackpot who saw a dead man walking. Harry pushed with all his might to close the voice out, but it was right, he was a coward just as Inuyasha had said. Harry stood to make his way to Shippo's room to explain to Kagome when he turned one last time to look at he fire.

Its golden embers were pulsing in the depths of the wood, almost as if the center was a live beating heart protected by hot ash and timber. The color reminded Harry of something. Golden, why should that color be familiar?