Chapter 17

Not much after InuYasha followed Kikyo, did Kagome not even notice a grunt coming from beside her. Kouga cradled his head before rubbing his eyes in order to see. Once his vision was clear, the wolf-demon found the sweet scent of the girl he longed. She sat with her knees pulled towards her chest, her shoes hiding any indecent exposure. Slowly, Kouga reached up for her hand from her knees, turning Kagome in his direction. Kagome shot him a surprised expression before finally smiling and asked him how he was feeling. He grinned pulling himself up in order to cup both her hands with his before responding, "As long as I'm with you, I'll always be alright." Kagome put an uneasy forced smile on her face as she calmly tried to avoid Kouga's flirting. Pulling her hands from his reach, she sympathetically asked, "Can you smell like your old self? Oh and sorry for having Sango pelt you with those. It was the only way I could think of to get you back to safely without actually hurting you."

"It's alright, Kagome. I know you did it because you were worried about me and…" Kouga looked up to sense InuYasha coming back. As sly as he could, Kouga leaned in towards the young priestess replying, "I would like to return the favor." Without hesitation, the wolf-demon softly grabbed Kagome's chin and leaned forward until their lips collided together. The girl was in so much shock that she had no time to counter-act his movement and sat paralyzed as Kouga began to pull back, rubbing his lips over hers before smirking at something behind her. Kagome put her fingers to her lips in an attempt to remember exactly what happened. She uttered the word, "Kouga…?" until the silence was interrupted by growling erupting from behind her. The girl whipped around to see the silver haired half-demon beholding a malicious growl curled on his lips. His long slender fingers were balled into fists as he glared at the mangy-wolf touching Kagome but glimpsed at the girl. To his surprise, she held no sign of disgust for Kouga or his feeble ways of trying to take her but what really upset him was the look in her eyes. They were questioning, "Why?" Why had he come back after following Kikyo and why was he so upset? Before she could say anything, Kouga cut off her attempts, "So mutt, why are you growling? I'm just kissing my woman…?" Kagome sat in shock giving InuYasha the wrong impression. After Kouga finished his sentence, the girl sat stunned as the half-demon took that as a sign; she obviously would rather be with that idiot of a wolf then him. The very person who watched over her, protected her, and cared for her but it didn't matter. All his work was in vain and Kagome had chosen between the two. Continuing to puncture his palms with his sharp claws, InuYasha shouted, "Fine, if that's who you're going to chose after all this shit. Kagome, don't come crawling back to me. Why don't you go back to your time and take Kouga with you?" With that he went storming into the woods, crimson dripping from his slightly wounded hand. After realizing what just happened, the girl pushed forward off her feet and ran after the upset boy.

"Look what you've done now, Kouga!" Shippo frowned at the shady wolf who was wearing a confused expression.

"How in the hell is Kagome going? KAGOME! What are you doing? Leave the mutt, you're my woman!" Kouga was about to get up until he heard a, "I wouldn't if I were you!" The wolf turned around expecting to see the little demon but saw the monk with his hand on his right hand. Kouga's eyes widened as Miroku raised an eyebrow pronouncing, "Do you really wanna take the chance of being sucked inside my wind tunnel?" Miroku stepped forward showing his bravery of using hi hand so close to the hut. Kouga gasped, "Where the hell did you come from? And where…?" He stopped when he had a glimpsed of a bushy orange tail hiding behind his robes. Miroku smiled uneasily before attempting one more time to scare the wolf, "Just try me Kouga, I'll suck you up and you'll never come back!" Miroku's voice started to crack until Kouga smiled with balefulness as he leaped forward and bopped Miroku on his head. Smoke appeared until Miroku disappeared and the tail was in full view as Kouga snatched it from mid-air. The wolf-demon pulled Shippo up turning his face towards his, "You were saying, brat?" Shippo started trashing at him until he screamed, "Sango, Miroku!" Kouga sneered until h heard a shout of "HIRAKOTSU" which then was followed by the demon slayer's large weapon charging at him from an angle. The implement struck him in his head causing him to drop Shippo on the ground. The little fox demon tried to crawl away as Kouga looked ground for the hirakotsu had come from.

"Come out you coward or I'll destroy this little brat."

"I wouldn't do that or you could get sucked in my wind tunnel Kouga." The wolf-demon looked forward to see Miroku standing there with Sango behind him. He smirked until he saw Shippo crawling towards the two. Miroku smiled, "I am not an imposter but do you still want to come after Shippo?" Kouga crossed his arms in defeat as he sat down on the ground, a frown on his face.

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Kagome continued to run after InuYasha until she realized that she could no longer find him. Sighing, the girl continued to walk through the forest in search of him. The peaceful scene was destroyed as she saw claw marks on trees that we're in his way. She continued to follow the path of destruction until a large growl was heard from behind her. Kagome mumbled, "InuYasha?" but was starring at two malicious crimson red eyes. That was not InuYasha but she soon wished it was. The beast sprung forward at the priestess who attempted to load her bow and was greeted with a handful of air a she tried to grab inside the quiver.

"Oh, no! INUYASHA!" she screamed as he clawed full-demon shot out of the shadows ready to feed off her body. Kagome tried to dash away but tripped off a distance root embedded into the ground leaving her open to the demon's attack. Closing her eyes, the priestess hid her face into the ground letting a tear slip down as she cried out the half-demon's name. She was surprised to hear her name being shouted in return and "BLADES OF BLOOD!" ringing through the forest walls. The demon was ripped apart by InuYasha's freshly drawn blood and once it disintegrated, the half-demon looked down at the girl as she shook in fear. Trying to mask his true concern he growled, "You shouldn't have followed me you idiot. You could've been killed and I don't see Kouga out here saving your ass" He was cut off as Kagome rapidly jumped up and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was InuYasha turn to be stunned for the second time by the quick show of affection as she leaned her head against his chest saying, "Thank you, InuYasha! I really do appreciate it." The boy's rough façade was merely broken down by the simply touch of the priestess who upset him in the first place. Before he could wrap his arms around her, he hesitated the unhooked her arms from around his waist. Kagome looked up in confusion as he released her hands and tucked his own in his haori. Frowning he sighed, "I can't do this…you love Kouga and I'm not going to hurt you again. Come on, I'll take you back to the village." He turned around but didn't hear anything but Kagome taking in sharp breaths. He cried, "Don't cry, I don't like it when you cry. I'm gonna take you back to the village and then I'm going off again."

"So you can find that dead bitch, Kikyo?" she choked out, letting the harsh reality engulf her as tears built up in her tear doves.

"What the hell are you yelling at me for? Kikyo doesn't love me…"

"But you love her! I saw you kiss her, you bastard! I followed you before and reached you just in time to see you kissing her dead cold body. You know how many times it hurts me to see you follow her after all we went through together? Huh?"

"Hey, I didn't kiss her, she kissed me and why the hell were you spying?"

"Oh whatever! You're always around me when Kouga is here and I don't even like him."

"Well, you should be glad that I do always stick around or he would have kidnapped you again. Or maybe you do want him to, seeing as you enjoyed that disgusting kiss he gave you."

"Now, how in the hell do you know how I felt? I actually hated it; it was cold and meaningless where compared t yours…"she stopped and crossed her arms falling to her knees. Her voice was barely above a whisper, "…I like; yours are warm and caring unlike your attitude most of the time." She held herself as if the warm weather suddenly dimmed to a freezing atmosphere. InuYasha's self-esteem immediately dropped then rose again at Kagome's boldness of telling him how she really felt. He responded with a small hidden smile of, "It seems we both jumped to conclusion; both that either means we're terrible for each other or we were meant to be. I'm gonna let you decide but for now, I'm taking you to the village." Walking towards her, InuYasha attempted to pick her up but was shooed off by her hands. Kagome looked up with her tear-stained face and replied, "That's okay, InuYasha, I can walk." Backing up, the boy allowed her some room as she slowly got up and walked beside him.

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The walk back was awkward and silent except for the occasional sniffs from Kagome and the leaves brushing against each other. After they walked half-way of which they came, Kagome reached for his arm boldly and linked her fingers whit his as they continued to walk. InuYasha had a delayed reaction but eventually laced his fingers with hers as they walked.

"InuYasha…" she mumbled as the wind blew their hair.

"Yeah?" he asked as he starred down at her face.

"I don't want to fight anymore."

"Me, neither." He smiled as she leaned against his shoulder; the two walking back hand in hand.

A/N:THE END! It was sort of a crappy ending but I think it went pretty well. Sorry if it didn't go the way you thought it would but I hope you guys really enjoyed it and watch for the chapters of my second story, TWO CAN PLAY IT THAT WAY. After that story is done I will be making a third story and a couple of one shots so watch. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, PLEASE!