Here is the long awaited chapter! Sorry it took so long, school and everything…you know how it goes! Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha….but I wish I did!

Chapter 7 Emotions I

Inuyasha was pissed, no I mean not like a little prissy fit, he was royally pissed. He had followed Kagome all around the village tracking her scent. He knew, that she knew, what she was doing. She was a smart little thing she was. But he knew this old trick. She would always do this when she decided she wanted to be alone. She would walk around in circles, hoping to confuse him, however consequently confusing a few villagers as well for they had no idea why she would just start walking/running around in circles. They found this little routine quite odd, but just shook it off. They never would fully understand the girl who wore strange clothes. She wasn't confusing him though, because he never got confused about her scent. He remembered this one time where she had wanted to go for a walk but he had plainly told her 'no'. She was always getting in trouble, let alone she had wanted to go by herself, which was just not an option. Not to mention it had been night time and that was even worse than if it had been at day time. So he clearly told her she couldn't go. Why had she wanted to go anyways…it hadn't mattered at the time. When he had went to get some water she had snuck out without his knowledge and when he came back she was no where to be found. He became enraged and immediately went looking for her. He had scanned the entire village and still there was no sign of her. He had started to freak out realizing that something could have happened to her. This had been before they had gotten really close and he hadn't known her scent too well so he was basically out of luck. He had even jumped in the well to only worry her mother by telling her that he couldn't find her. He came back later, after the third degree from her family, and found her sitting safe and sound in Kaede's hut. When asked, or yelled I should say, about where she had gone, she simply stated that she went for a walk and it was his fault if he couldn't find her. From then on out he had never forgotten her scent, for all other reasons aside, just to spite her and make sure she never did that again. Point proven, Inuyasha smirked to himself when he caught scent of her heading away from the village and towards the river. When he got there he had a little trouble seeing her. He confused himself. Her scent said she came out here and yet…she wasn't?

A few moments later he was about to head back to the village, maybe she had gotten better at this little game. But then he saw her. He noticed why he hadn't been able to see her before. She had been behind a bush that was covering the edge of the water. There, however, he had to stop and blink a few times. 'Whoa...' He saw the most awe-inspiring scene he had ever laid eyes on. It had gotten darker, and now the moon was shining upon her hair, while she looked at her reflection, the water reflected more light that was shone up into her face, not bright but not dim either. In other words, it looked like the very light of the night was surrounding her. He had to clear his throat before he could properly yell at her. In fact, he had to do it quite a few times, it being even harder to get his mouth to move. Why was he mad at her again? Oh…yeah…

"Oi! Wench, when I'm talking to you, you don't just get up and leave hear me?!" He had now remembered why he had been mad. He Noticed she wasn't saying anything since nothing came except for silence. Inuyasha was shaking with rage now. She had pushed him away when he tried to hug her, refused him when he had wanted to apologize, walked away from him when he was talking, which in the first place she hadn't been talking to him anyway, which is another reason why he was ticked off, and she was now just completely ignoring him. The nerve! He was tired of all the crap she has been pulling lately. Tired of having to try and be the good guy for once, which was something he did not like to do. And now she was just pretending that he wasn't there?! Inuyasha was not one to be ignored.

"Oi!!!" he bellowed, "I am sick and tired of your little attitude problem Bitch, so either get over or I'll…" He never got to finish. With amazing speed that he never knew Kagome possessed she had gotten up, stepped over to him and slapped him straight across the face. It had stung just a tiny bit, it really did not hurt, considering she was a pathetic human, but the basic principle of the thing was that she had slapped him. That hurt him, probably more than she had ever hurt him before. It had been one of the deadliest blows he had ever received, but not because of physical injury, but because of something else. She had never struck him before, never. Kagome was not one to get violent, that is except when she sat him, or yelled at him, or…well she really wasn't, not in that way anyway. All of the other times he just ignored her temper, but this had gotten his attention. He was deeply hurt by her actions; it was a blow to his pride as well. He was still blinking after a few minutes, completely and utterly shocked, not really sure what to say now that thing had gotten so awkward. The whole argument seemingly leaving his mind.

"You want to know about tired?! Fine! I'll tell you about tired. I am so sick and tired of you treating me like dirt all-the-time. Kagome this, Kagome that. I'm so sick of it!" but she wasn't finished yet, oh by far, she had a lot of things to get off of her chest and she wasn't wasting her chance. She had been patient, had tried to get him to not hate her even more, she took all of his crap all of the time, and he just had to go and keep yelling at her like she was a something instead of someone.

"Do you know all that I do for you huh? Do you? I have given up my entire life back home just so I would help you find the jewel shards, I don't even know my own family anymore and I don't even have my friends there either. They barely know me! I have tried and tried to be good enough for you, you know? But it's never enough is it? it's never going to be enough is it? No, because I'm not Kikyo, ok I AM NOT KIKYO!!! I am saying it loud and clear so everyone can hear it. We may have the same soul but we are two different people! And do you want to know something else?" Inuyasha knew he had no choice, he was still stunned from her words and the slap he couldn't say anything. He figured that this had needed to happen for a while now. Something had been troubling her from day one and he knew that the time was now when it would all come out. But just how much was going to come out? Had he gone too far this time? Once she was done yelling and shooting off steam everything would go back to normal right?

"I am so tired of not being Kagome! I go to any village and I am immediately the reincarnation of Kikyo, the copy of Kikyo, the miko who has Kikyo's soul. I am NEVER Kagome, NEVER! And I'm tired of it, at least people in my era know me as Kagome! I am Kagome Higurashi and I am 18 years old, my soul belongs to me!" At this point in time Kagome couldn't hold in the tears any longer. The frustration was gnawing at her, trying to get everything out but not nearly as quick enough as she wanted to. She remembered all of the times she was mistaken as the priestess Kikyo; how many times she would have to correct spontaneous villagers and prove that she wasn't her. Which that wasn't really an easy thing to do considering most thought she looked exactly like her plus she was a miko. Many still did not believe her, thinking that she was just being modest or some how her brain got addled during a battle and she simply couldn't remember. Little did they know she had remembered every time they had been mistaken; every time a demon came after her looking for revenge against the dead miko that haunted her dreams. All the nights she had nightmares of one day waking up to find out that she was Kikyo and that she had only thought she was Kagome; waking up in a cold sweat being in fear that she wasn't her own person anymore. It was like having a twin and people mistook you all the time. So you did things that made you two completely different so people could tell you apart. She had tried to be different from Kikyo, but with the priestess placed so high upon the pedestal there was no where she could go except down. It was infuriating. Not to mention the fact that she loved the same man…err…hanyou that the dead priestess had "loved" as well. Sometimes she just wondered if it was because of Kikyo that she had any feelings at all toward him. But whenever those thoughts came up she immediately squelched them, knowing that Kikyo had NEVER loved the hanyou as much as she did. She loved him with all of her being and it hurt to be compared to the person that he himself loved. Someone had told her once that the hardest thing in life is when someone you love, loves someone else. And now being in this situation she had a new found respect for that person, because they hit the arrow right on the head with that one. Not to mention always being compared with that person who the person you love loves kind of ticks you off every so often. Always being compared and knowing that you come up short is not the biggest self-esteem booster out there. And the way she had just yelled at him, was not helping her chances. But, she knew that she could hold these thoughts in no longer. They were festering inside of her and she knew that if she kept them hidden for any longer, that she wouldn't be able to take it.

She knew He would be beyond pissed right now, but she was beyond caring. Tears were falling from her face blinding her vision to where Inuyasha only looked like a red blur. But she didn't care; the only thing on her mind right now was trying to make him understand. And if this was the way she was going to have to do it, then so be it. Before this night was over, someone was going to understand something if it killed her.

Inuyasha was watching while hanging onto every word. He was torn. Wanting to comfort her; cradle her; whisper soft nothings into her ear just to get her to stop. He could handle anything except the scent and sound of her tears. That was one demon he could not fight; he had never felt as helpless as he did when Kagome was crying. But he knew that what needed to be said should be said, it was now or never, no matter how much he wanted her to stop because he knew it was hurting her, not to mention it was probably going to hurt him as well. The time was rare in effect actually, for the first time in years, Inuyasha was scared, and he had no idea what to do about it.

"But you know what; there is a difference between us that many people soon find out. The difference being that I am not, and never will be, as good as her, will I?"

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHAT?' Inuyasha felt like he had been hit with a ton of bricks; the type of feeling you get when you expect one thing but the thing that you get is not what you were expecting at all. 'Why in the world would she think that' he felt his anger start to rise. After all he had shown her, after all they had been through together, the little idiot still believed that she was never going to be as good as Kikyo, how stupid could she possibly get?! Now he was frustrated.

"I will never be as good as her Inuyasha I know that now okay! You don't have to rub it in every time you go and see her! You don't have to come back acting like nothing happened when I know something did. I am not going to be her Inuyasha, I can't! I am so frustrated right now it's unbelievable. Every time we see her she calls me the stupid copy, childish reincarnation, soul stealer, you name it! And you let her do it! When she tells me these things and you don't even stop her, what do you expect me to do? Do you expect me to not believe it! Because I'm sorry but I do! Because I am just a stupid copy, a childish reincarnation and a soul stealer, she was her first and I can't believe that I was too stupid to notice. It hurts Inuyasha! It hurts to know that you will always, no matter how hard you try, that you will always be second best, always for all time!" She choked out a sob; it felt like she could barely breathe. But by this time Inuyasha was boiling, his vision was starting to have 'how in the name of kami could she think that?', between the tears she has shed for him, the times he has just stayed up and watched her sleep, protecting her like a male would his mate, and even her stupid sit commands. Telling her things that he would have never told anybody, and yet she still thought this? She still thought that she would never measure up Kikyo. 'She's right. She will never be in comparison to Kikyo,' He scowled. If anything she's BETTER than Kikyo ever was. Why couldn't she see that? Why couldn't she see what he saw?

As if in answer to his silently asked question, "Actions speak louder than words Inuyasha! I see the way you look at me, wishing that I was her. The way you get so pissed at me so easily, yell at me every chance you get, it's because I'm not her Inuyasha, I'm not her! I know you would rather have her by your side than some stupid copy but I don't know what to tell you! If you want her so bad, please go take her! Just do it, bring her back and I can go home and she will search for the shards with you! I see the way you look at her, wishing she had my soul and could be alive. And that hurts! But what I think hurts the most is that now every time I look into my reflection, all I see is her staring back at me. I don't even think I am Kagome anymore! I don't even see myself as her anymore. I mean I find my self wishing to be her, envying her because of all she can do and I can't! But at the same time I am hating her, I want to be Kagome. The Kagome who has a soul of her own! The Kagome who doesn't care about what other people think, but I can't do that anymore, I can't! Everyone wants me to be her, so why not? I have nothing to lose, I'm just your stupid shard detector and a weak fighter, so what have I got to lose? Nothing, absolutely nothing ok! There now you know! So you can quite buggin' me now alright! I'll stay out of your way and you stay out of mine! I even tried to just get along with you, no more yelling, no more getting into fights, no more 'iting you. But it just didn't work out that way ok, I give up, you've won! I have completely and totally made myself look worse than I already am, just because I want to be myself, you think your tired FINE! But you will never, EVER be as tired as me…never" The last part she whispered but Inuyasha still heard her loud and clear. He couldn't believe it, he really couldn't. After all of this time of them being together how could she possibly think that? His anger was beyond his control now, his demon side taking over 'Your mate is never allowed to raise her voice at you, she must be submissive'

"You stand there acting so stunned Inuyasha, like everything is so new to you. Well it shouldn't be! I'm sorry I'm not her alright Inuyasha, I'm sorry! I know you want her and that I will never compare but you don't have to be so mean and rude all the time you know! You don't have to call me wench or girl! You could call me by my name, you know, KAGOME! Or if you prefer you can call me by Kikyo, I am simply a copy of her anyway…" Kagome said that last line very coldly and Inuyasha had heard enough…he was not going to sit around and let Kagome feel all sorry for herself, let alone raise her voice at him, that was just a dreadful blow to his already bruised pride, and honestly he thought he had been through a lot in just a few days. How could she be so inconsiderate?! She was getting aggravated, and honestly she had a right to be, but right now that was not what he was thinking about. He was thinking about all of the horrible things she had just basically yelled at him. His mind was one sided and he couldn't think about her feelings right now if he wanted to. Even with his sword at his hip his demon blood was churning. In his eyes, his mate was trying to be dominant and that was just NOT and option. She wanted to fight for dominance than so be it. He would fight and he would win; he would show her once and for all that he was the one in control. No more yelling, no more leaving for home when he told her not to, no more damn sitting him, she would understand before this night was over.

He lunged at her...

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