Well, Happy Easter everyone! My family is having an egg decorating contest, and I am probably the worst artist in the world, so I will now go humiliate myself...

Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha. Not me. At all.

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Chapter 10: Goodbye

Where am I?

"Kagome!"

That voice...is it...Inuyasha?

"Wake up, Kagome!"

The miko slowly opened her eyelids, blinking a few times for her eyes to adjust. As soon as they did, she saw bright golden ones staring right back at her.

The eyes disappeared within seconds as the hanyou hugged Kagome. "Inuyasha..." she muttered, surprised.

Inuyasha released Kagome but kept his arm across her back, to help her sit up. Looking around the room, the miko saw Koga, Miroku, and Sango sitting opposite her with the demon slayer stroking the feline in her lap.

"Thank goodness you're all right, Kagome," said the woman, beaming at her friend. The smile was full of sorrow, though, and Kagome could tell that the entire hut was engulfed in sadness. She tried to smile back, but her smile quickly faded as she looked at Miroku.

The monk was coughing into his sleeve. When he stopped, Kagome saw that his face was extremely pale and his eyes were sort of unfocused. "Miroku...are you okay?" she asked.

Miroku looked up at the miko and smiled. "Of course, Kagome," he replied. "I just...inhaled a little too much of the miasma...but I'm perfectly fine now." His smile went away as he coughed into his sleeve again.

The miko looked away, upset about seeing her friend in pain. Her eyes immediately fell on two figures that lay, unconscious, side-by-side on the floor of the hut to her left. That's right, she thought, recalling what had happened, I came into the hut and...Kaede and Shippo were hurt, and then Naraku was there and he choked me...

Kagome's hands subconsciously flew to her neck as she remember what happened to her, and she winced as she felt bruises there.

"Wh-what happened after I blacked out?" she asked Inuyasha, looking up into his eyes to see them full of sadness, like Sango's smile.

The hanyou sighed as he gazed into the girl's chocolate brown eyes. Instead of answering, he just shook his head, clearly upset.

After a moment, Koga decided to speak instead. "That bastard Naraku tried to choke you to death," he said through clenched teeth as he closed his eyes, obviously trying to contain his anger. "But then the mutt came in and stopped him before you died." He opened his eyes and looked straight into Kagome's with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Kagome. I would've saved you myself if I had gotten there sooner, but unfortunately the flea-bag over there beat me to it."

"Um, that's okay...Koga..." Kagome replied awkwardly, tearing her gaze away from the wolf's. Her eyes strayed, again, to the two unconscious forms near her, and, shuddering, she looked back up at Inuyasha.

"Will they be okay?" she whispered, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

Inuyasha nodded. "They're fine," he answered sternly. "That idiot Shippo was just knocked unconscious...though he probably fainted...and old Kaede has a wound in the back of her head, but you stopped the bleeding, so she'll be okay."

Kagome smiled at the hanyou, relieved. I'm so glad...I was worried about them...she thought. She continued to stare into Inuyasha's soft, golden eyes until Koga cleared his throat and stood up.

"Well, I guess we should be going, mutt," he stated. Kagome looked over at the wolf demon, confused.

Koga looked expectantly at Inuyasha, who sighed again. He removed his arm from Kagome's back and stood up, refusing to look at the miko.

The hanyou turned and walked towards the door of the hut. "Koga and I are going to go after Naraku while we're still able to follow his scent," he said over his shoulder, ignoring the many pairs of eyes that were all on him.

Koga followed Inuyasha and, without waiting for a goodbye from anyone, they both walked out the door of the hut.

Kagome just stared at the spot where Inuyasha had once stood until she finally broke from the state of shock she was in shook her head. Pushing her pain aside, she stood up and ran to the door.

"Inuyasha!" she shouted to the demon who was walking away from the hut. He stopped walking but didn't turn around. "Wait!" she yelled pitifully, for her voice cracked and she could feel tears streaming down her cheeks.

Kagome started walking towards the two demons. Koga, who had kept walking, turned to Inuyasha and muttered something before sprinting off in a huge whirlwind of dust and air.

When the miko reached the hanyou, he turned around and looked into her eyes. Kagome had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out at the sorrowful expression in her love's eyes. "Take me with you," she said softly but firmly, never breaking contact with his eyes.

Inuyasha sighed and shook his head. "This is why I should've left before you woke up..." he muttered to himself before raising his voice to answer the girl. "Kagome, you're hurt. You were almost killed just now. There's no way in hell that I'm going to let you come with us. We can handle Naraku on our own now; we managed to injure him before he ran off a while ago."

Kagome wiped the tears from her eyes, looking down and noticing that Inuyasha's hands were clenched tightly into fists. He must be really determined...or scared...I can't tell which, she thought as she looked back up at the hanyou.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Inuyasha spoke before she could. "Kagome, I'm not taking you with me," he said with finality. His golden eyes melted Kagome's brown ones as he glared at her. "I don't want you to get hurt, and...I don't...trust myself to protect you...much less that wolf." The last word came out as a growl, but Kagome ignored it.

Inuyasha dropped his voice to a whisper as he grabbed one of Kagome's hands, causing her to gasp. "You're strong, I know that. And I know you could help us, but I'm not taking that risk. So just stay here and protect everyone else for me, okay?" he asked, his eyes softening as he saw the defeat in Kagome's.

She sighed and nodded, but what Inuyasha did next surprised them both.

The hanyou cupped Kagome's chin with one of his hands, the other one still trapping her own, and lifted her face up. He then leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, taking the girl completely by surprise. It took Kagome a moment before she began to kiss him back, but as soon as she did, he pulled away.

"I love you, Kagome," Inuyasha whispered.

The miko stared at the hanyou for a moment in complete amazement before she shook it off and replied. "I love you, too," she muttered, feeling tears coming again.

Inuyasha stared into Kagome's eyes for one more long moment before he released her face and hands and turned and ran away, following Koga.

Kagome just stood there, staring after him, for a few minutes as the sky began to get dark around her.

"Please, be safe..." she whispered so quietly that she couldn't here herself over the soft breeze blowing through the village that was now completely free of purple.

Inuyasha, you idiot, you'd better come back to me. I don't know what I'd do without you...

And then the miko turned and walked back into the hut where her dejected friends waited, completely unaware of the huge turn Kagome's life had just taken. Great, she thought, I finally tell Inuyasha that i love him and then he runs off to fight...

Well, that one was a bit shorter than I had expected...but oh, well. This was definitely my fastest update yet. Yay!

My Easter egg turned out better than I thought, so I was pretty excited, but I didn't win...hey, at least I got another chapter up!

Please review!!