"Kagome."

The young girl turned her head at the sound of her voice and found herself staring at the entrance where Sango stood. Before opening her mouth again, Sango strode closer to kneel down next to her.

"Inuyasha is here. Perhaps you should talk to him. He is really worried you know." Sango tried to whisper but she was certain everyone already knew.

Kagome moved her head to glance across the hut to where Kouga sat. A scowl had clearly etched on the better part of his face and she almost sighed. So everyone did already know.

She drew her eyes back to the crumpled paper that sat in her hand. Kagome'd been trying to study when it would seem all roots of conversation had dried up. The subject kept lurching back to earlier events and specifically Naraku until her companions got even more tense. Kouga had still sat by her side when she could think of nothing else but to lapse into silence. And then when he reluctantly seemed to get up and move across the room, only then did Kagome consider looking over her term papers.

The words seemed blurred over like the black ink had melted, and yet Kagome wasn't sure if it was the paper or her. And the attempting to read was just giving her a central headache.

Kagome lowered the paper to the floor and ignored Sango's hand when she tried to help her up.

Kagome's knees burned and shook when she did. Jolts of pain would occasionally shock upward on her spine and her heart kept twisting. But she ignored the irritating sensations when she reached her full height and instead gave into a mental yelp of triumph.

"How long has he been here?" She turned her attention back to the subject at hand.

Sango shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know. Probably for awhile if I had to guess. He's posted himself up in a tree again."

Kagome connected the ideas. He'd probably arrived when the wolf prince decided to move. She clicked her tongue. While the two hated each other, Kouga certainly seemed on the more cooperating end.

"Thank you Sango. I'll try to see if I can bring him around." She nodded with new determination and made towards the straw mat door.

"Do you need help?" Sango tried to offer her a hand one last time but Kagome once more ignored it.

She didn't want to drag everyone else down—especially since they've all been trying to pitch her some aura. Even Miroku wrapped his arm around her shoulder in an effort to help—more notably was the fact he kept his hands to himself. Kagome didn't necessarily like the thought. Just how sick did they think she was?

When she reached the rock steps, she slowed, finding each step gave her back a jolt and made her muscles threaten to go wobbly.

The aura the others had given her had certainly given her more strength, the mere fact that she was able to walk again this soon was amazing, but she still felt the fatigue.

Looking up toward the sky, she squinted through the heavy sun beams that fell from directly above her. The tree looked like nothing but a blurry outline but Kagome spotted just enough red.

She kept walking, reaching out until she touched the rough bark of the tree base.

"Inuyasha." Her voice sounded weak enough to make her flinch.

Kagome didn't receive an answer at first and she popped her head up while trying to see better.

If she knew him well enough, which she did in theory, she could already picture what he'd look like.

He probably sat cross legged with his back against the tree, arms folded into his billowing red sleeves, and sword resting against his shoulder. His ears were probably flat and his eyes were closed, his nose wrinkled and his mouth shut.

The specific nature of her mental image would have usually made Kagome laugh. But Inuyasha had been acting fairly snippety to her lately. And while her heart did curl in some fear of getting attitude again, fatigue helped wash away a bit of her worry. She stood there for a minute more before turning her own back to the tree and sitting down against it.

Just as she closed her eyes she could hear a loud thud and grass shifting next to her. Opening her eyes, she gave a smile to the silver haired dog demon.

"Hey Inuyasha."

His ears twitched.

"How are you feeling?"

Kagome resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the repetitive question.

"Much better." She opted to say instead. "I take it Kaede filled you in."

Inuyasha nodded quickly and cast a quick glance toward the house.

"I'm not going to lecture your stupid ass on how idiotic you running off was." He turned away and gave his usual frown.

Kagome's heart lightened a bit at the lack of contempt. Instead, he'd replaced it with his usual irritating attitude that Kagome had come to believe was because he cared for her.

"And now we lost a chance to actually catch Naraku too." He added harshly

Kagome's thought immediately shattered. So maybe he hadn't gotten over the new attitude change.

"Gee, thanks Inuyasha. I'm so sorry my almost dying inconvenienced you." She snapped back sharply, ready for an argument.

Inuyasha faltered a bit, failing to give it to her.

"Feh." He started, "Just don't do it okay, bitch?"

Kagome let the sudden rush of anger wash away from her. She leaned back more on the tree and fatigue replaced it.

"Now what?" She forced herself to stay alert and focus on now. "We just return to hunting the shards until we get another clue?"

Inuyasha still didn't look at her.

"Kikyou says there may still be a chance to corner him at that mountain base. We threw off his plans a bit so he has to regroup before he can move again."

Kagome couldn't help when her breath left her at the name. She immediately tried to shift her attention to what else he'd said. But the rapid clenching of her heart and stomach that always happened around the subject of Kikyou caught her first.

Kagome sucked in a rough breath of crisp air.

"Why are you listening to Kikyou on this? Since when does she want to help us?"

"Kikyou hates Naraku too." He shot back sharply, "she'll do whatever it takes to bring him down."

Kagome's heart gave a slow lurch. Of course that's why he'd been giving her a nasty attitude lately. No one but Kikyou could bring this mood change about. She let her thoughts darken hopelessly.

"So how exactly are you planning to win? We've never had much luck before." She forced herself on in the conversation but it sounded in her voice. Gritting her teeth, she tried to fight it.

"The way I kill ever other demon. Except you aren't coming with me on this one. I can't be protecting you all the time and get distracted."

Kagome's eyes gave the sudden sting of tears.

"You know, Inuyasha, you are a jerk." Her voice flailed but she ignored it.

Snatching up the wooden bark behind her, she forced her way to a shaky stand. Inuyasha's amber eyes darted open when she moved.

"Go with Kikyou and you're going to get yourself killed." She went on.

Inuyasha snapped to a stance after her. His ears lowered but pure fury didn't ring in his eyes. Kagome instantly wondered if it was because of her ragged breathing. Fuck, did her muscles hurt.

Inuyasha caught her eyes and the intensity in them held hers for a minute. He waited for her heart to calm and spoke quietly but firmly.

"I just came here to tell you that I won't be back for awhile. And when I come back I'll have killed Naraku and gotten his shards. I will be back here alive."

Kagome blinked.

"How long?"

Inuyasha let out a heavy breath and continued in the somber tone.

"As long as it takes."

Kagome let her head snap to the side as the tears burned in her glassy eyes.

"So you're just going to abandon us—after all we've done together to gather the shards? And that's it?" Her voice was breaking.

Inuyasha suddenly reached his arms out. Before she could react, he drew her into a tight hug. Kagome gasped accordingly but he ignored it. Tilting his head forward, he whispered clearly into her ear.

"I'm not going to see you killed for this. And this is something Kikyou and I have to finish. It is what we started." Kagome listened silently. His grip tightened a bit and he spoke one last sentence.

"I do love you Kagome, but we can never be together."

Kagome's heart froze. Her thoughts froze. And before she could process the words, he released her. The absence of his warmth abruptly snapped her back to reality.

She blinked as he pulled away, trying to catch his eyes again. But Inuyasha never looked back. He kicked into motion and took off running into the forest.

Kagome watched him go until he disappeared in the trees and she couldn't see him anymore.

~*~*~

A/N: Sorry about the slow updates. I was very cautious with this one. I hope it seems realistic to the show and the story. Drop me a line if you think it did/n't.