Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters involved in the anime.

A/N: My computer had crashed, but now I have a new and even better one! Yay! Power to me:3

GLADIATOR

Chapter 7

The sun's rays had come to announce the arrival of dawn as they began to pour through the windows of the room, causing Inuyasha to stir a little.

He slowly opened his eyes and noticed something warm and soft huddled up against him.

Still a bit hazed over from sleeping so contently, he attempted to identify what this thing was that was curled up against his torso.

He cautiously took a whiff of the air above it and the smell of roses immediately washed over his senses.

At that instant his eyes shot open as he realized that the "thing" was really Kagome's sleeping form. How did she get so close to him?! Or…how did he get so close to her?!

If she found out that he was sleeping with her she would probably throw a tantrum, it would be best to try and escape now while he still can….

Carefully, he tried to slide his arm out from under her, as well as disentangle his leg from hers….once that was accomplished he slowly began to scoot away from her tranquil form, but to no avail.

Once he thought that he was a safe enough distance away from her, she began to let out a few mews of protest and leaned right back into his chest.

His heart was practically in his throat. What was he going to do?!

"Mmm.." she began to stir as she clutched the front of his crumpled haori.

His mind was screaming and his heart had already abandoned him at this point, she was going to wake up, and kill him for sleeping with her! He decided then and there to pretend to be sleeping.

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, and she let out a cute little yawn. She then looked up into his face.

He could feel her staring at him…how nerve racking. Just keep pretending to be asleep…everything will be ok if she thinks you didn't know how you got there….which, he really didn't.

What surprised him was when he felt her fingers brushing a few of his stray strands of hair from his face.

So…maybe she really didn't mind him sleeping with her, he mentally smirked to himself in satisfaction. He made a big show of pretending to wake up just then, yawning and stretching his limbs.

"K-Kagome? You're awake…" he whispered.

"Mmhmm, I'll send for some breakfast…" she got up rather quickly and began to straighten out her clothes as she made her way out of the room to call a servant.

He refused to leave the bed until the food had arrived, this time he ate at a more decent pace, trying to match Kagome's manners.

She took notice of this, eyeing him every now and then. "Inuyasha, you don't have to be so proper when you eat with me, it doesn't bother me at all you know." He looked up from his soup at this, and carefully set it down on the tray so as not to spill it on his lap.

"Well…if I'm going to live with your family…then I assumed that I would need table manners so I don't disgrace them…" he answered quietly. A little too quietly…as if he were afraid of getting scolded for his lack of manners.

"Oh Inuyasha, they wouldn't care regardless, my family isn't like that…so I take it that you have decided to stay with us?" the eagerness of her tone when she asked didn't go unnoticed, and it made him rather happy as he nodded in response.

"I figured it probably wouldn't be so bad, I don't really have anywhere else to go anyhow…"

Her eyes softened a bit at his remark as she nodded in acknowledgment and decided not to go too far into that subject, it was rather sensitive. So they finished their breakfast in mostly silence, save for the occasional small talk here and there.

Once finished they decided to prepare to leave in order to search for her friend Sango. Oh how she missed the girl, she was her best friend, practically her sister!

She had never treated her like a measly servant, and never would. She wondered what had happened to her after the whole wedding catastrophe….was she even alive? No, it didn't do any good to think like that…of course Sango was alive, she just knew it! She had that gut feeling….

Later on that day…

They had been walking towards the castle for what seemed to be hours, carefully hidden by the trees of the forest, should any of the king's soldiers happen to be wandering around.

It really was a beautiful day…it seemed mother nature was mocking her due to her current situation. The anxiety was beginning to pool into her gut as she continued to think about Sango and her family. She hoped with all her might that they were all alive and well…

"Stop worrying about them, they'll be fine."

Kagome's head snapped to look at Inuyasha, how had he known that was what she was thinking about?

"Can you….can you read minds?..." she asked rather weakly.

He rolled his eyes, "Keh, I wish. No, I can't read minds, its just so obvious that your thinking about your friends and family, you can tell by the look on your face…"

She blushed a little at having been read so easily. She opened her mouth to reply but suddenly stopped when she heard a loud slapping sound in the distance.

They looked at each other before Inuyasha threw a protective arm around her, placing her on his back. They bounded off towards the source of the noise, sounds of shouting becoming more clear as they got closer.

"You, YOU LECHER! Why did I EVER agree to let you travel with me?!!!" a woman yelled, clearly ticked off at her companion.

"My dear! You needed protection, a man's protection, and who better to come to your aid in a time such as this other than me?!! I would die before I let you wander the forests alone!" came a man's reply.

"If you don't stop groping me you WILL die and I would happily wander the forests alone! I would rather find my mistress on my own than be constantly pawed at by a hentai like you! A man's protection my ass…now cut it out Miroku!!!"

Kagome's eyes widened at this, how fortunate! Sango was nearby! Albeit, she was being harassed by that young man, but no matter, she was alive!!! That's all that mattered!

Inuyasha had also recognized the voices and began to make his way to their location at a faster rate.

Once they were in sight, Kagome's heart fluttered happily upon seeing her best friend.

"Sango! Sango! You're alive!!!" she yelled, scrambling off his back and running towards the other young woman, leaving a disgruntled hanyou in her wake.

Just as she was about to whack the young man upside the head again, her head shot up, immediately recognizing her long lost friend. "Kagome!!!" she squealed.

They had instantly embraced each other, tears of happiness streaming from each of their eyes. Then came the chattering about the how did you get out here's and the what the heck happened back there's.

Upon noticing Inuyasha standing there with a rather bored expression, Sango ceased all conversation as she ran over to assault him.

All he could do was shield his head from her imminent attack. How belittling, to allow a mere human woman to assault him so. It was a rather funny looking scene if you sat back to think about it…

"You! What have you done with my friend?!! How dare you kidnap her you insolent-"

"Sango! No! Sango! He saved me from that horrid wedding, and has taken care of me since that day! Don't hurt him, I owe him my life!! He's a good guy!" Kagome yelled out to her.

Sango nodded, but still gave Inuyasha a wary glance as she backed away from him, while of course, he gladly returned the favor.

"You could have told me that your friend was crazy ya know…" he muttered. At that Sango shot him a rather murderous stare, efficiently shutting him up.

The man that had been ignored up until this point stood up, cleared his throat and began to speak, dusting his robes off as he went.

"Ahem…it is good to know that you are well lady Kagome, we have been searching for you since the day you went missing."

Kagome bowed her head in greeting, "I am also glad to know that you both are alive and well this day, it pleases me greatly and calms my anxious heart. As much as I would like to speak with the two of you about other things, I would like to know what has happened with the king."

Her friends' countenances had taken on a rather dark look at the mention of the king.

Sango spoke first, "Kagome, the king has sent out troops to try and look for you, he believes that you have been kidnapped and plans to take you back and execute the kidnapper." She nodded her head in Inuyasha's direction.

"Yes Lady Kagome…Sango is right, he intends that you still be his bride, it would seem he is rather obsessed with you and will stop at nothing to take you as his. So, I must say right now, that you will not be able to run away and hide forever…" Miroku put in rather sadly.

"Keh! That's why I'm going to kill him before he lays a hand on her!" Inuyasha bellowed in response, as if it were obvious that was going to be the case.

Miroku looked at him thoughtfully, "It won't be that easy, he still possesses a large part of the shikon no tama, speaking of which, we have the shards that you have removed from the slaves Lady Kagome." He gestured towards Sango, who nodded and reached into her clothing to pull out a pouch that had a faint glow around it.

"I grabbed it from your room before me and Miroku made our getaway." She handed the pouch to Kagome, who looked at it in awe. "Naraku thought that we had something to do with your kidnapping and was already looking for us by the time we decided to leave. So we fled rather hastily in hopes of finding you in a nearby village or something."

"Wh-what am I supposed to do with these?" Kagome wondered, examining the glowing shards that lay within. They began to glow even brighter when she touched them.

"Well, you see," Miroku started to answer, "as long as Naraku doesn't have the completed jewel, we may have some sort of a chance at defeating him as Inuyasha here has so blatantly put it."

"Ah, I see…as long as I can keep these shards pure, then he doesn't have any control over them, and the more the jewel is missing, the weaker its power becomes." She concluded.

Happy that she understood, Miroku bowed his head in respect, "That is correct…"

Smiling at him in return, she turned back to her friend and began chattering away, the two women started to walk away, much to the mens' protests, but seemed to throw deaf ears towards them.

Inuyasha and Miroku were left alone in the small clearing of the woods to stare at the fading backs of the two women.

Miroku looked over at Inuyasha, a bit nervously, "So uhh….I guess it's just me and you buddy….heh…"

"Keh, whatever…" he rolled his eyes and began to follow Kagome's scent to wherever it was she was going.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" Miroku trailed after him anxiously, eventually fading into the forest backdrop as well.

A/N: Wow, I was surprised, I got exactly 55 reviews, lol. How funny. This time I suppose I should be looking for a bigger review turnout, haha, thank you guys for reviewing! I wanted to cut this chapter in order to prepare the next one more readily, so, I'm sorry if it doesn't satisfy you as much as it should have.

Until next time!

-Jinju-