Gone a little longer than expected but I see my future opening up on updating more regularly. Could not be happier to start bringing this story baby of mine to a close. But we still have a little more work to do before that dream becomes reality.

In the mean time. Enjoy the update!

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Chapter Fourteen

Separation


Midnight air swept through the lace curtains causing their ends to slide across the floor. As the ever so softly opening glass balcony door the transparent drapes partially shaded parted open.

The shift in the rooms atmosphere was minimal, unnoticeable to any ordinary person who might have slept inside the silent bed chamber. However the once sleeping priestess was far from ordinary.

Kagome's hazel eyes parted open softly as she sat up slowly in the sunken mattress of her bed. Her loose raven hair falling over her bare shoulder as she tugged at the thin strap of her night dress to secure it back into place.

Her now focused gaze peering to the blackness of her bedroom secretly masking the rampaging warning sensation that now made her spiritually charged hair stand on end.

"I don't suppose a phone call could have sufficed?" She asked lowly adjusting in her sitting position only slightly to peer to the moonlight outline of the hard figure now framed in her room.

The shadow was hard to make out, almost any sort of distinctive characteristic all but impossible to clearly see at this time of night. Almost.

Through the darkness a pair of unforgettable amber eyes gleaming through.

"What do you want Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked turning fully towards the silently standing dog demon.

"I would assume my intent obvious." Sesshomaru responded vaguely. A bit surprised his presence though soundless had still been detected so quickly.

It was clear the priestess hadn't lost her ability to sense demonic aura no matter how skillfully cloaked.

"To ensure you followed the physicians orders." He added directly not bothering to hide his hard stare at Kagome's abdomen no matter the amount of sheets and comforter she tried to conceal herself underneath.

"Which one?" Kagome asked sarcastically.

"You gave me over a dozen to check in with." She shot towards the casually dressed dog demon. Her agitation stemming from the long drawn out hours she had been forced to stay in the hospital so Sesshomaru's hand picked 'professionals' could examine her.

It was exactly the reason she hadn't wanted the silver haired demon to discover her little incident. Knowing full well he would blow the entire thing out of proportion, which he had.

"I wanted to be thorough." He replied levelly unaffected by Kagome clear annoyance.

"Well mission accomplished. Perfect bill of health." Kagome defended angrily regretting the fact she hadn't locked her balcony door. Though she doubted it would have done much good.

Sesshomaru was above all else resourceful. She doubted anything would have stopped him from barging into her house, no matter how late or unwelcome he might be.

"Your spirit certainly hasn't dampened. Though I am less than convinced about your physical status." Sesshomaru said calmly stepping forward casually his sharp inhuman eyes never leaving the priestesses obviously still not recovered form.

Though she sat perfectly still. He could easily tell by the tenseness of her posture and angle of her shoulders she was in slight discomfort.

"As I'm sure you're 'A team' told you. I'm fine. So no need to worry, thanks for stopping by." Kagome replied sharply her tone all but dripping aggravation at the silver haired demons mere presences.

"You misunderstand me priestess. Me concern doesn't lay remotely with you, but the child." He corrected coldly.

"From what I gathered you refused all amniotic test." He added lowly recalling the reports he had received personally from each physician he had sent to the priestess bed side.

"Yes. And for good reason. It was unnecessary!" Kagome stated firmly and harshly. Furious at the mere reminder of so many white coat dressed figures trying to bully her into a procedure that was not only dangerous but completely pointless. She had already been reassured time and time again she and her baby were fine.

"To whom?" Sesshomaru questioned bluntly.

Kagome felt her hazel eyes harden at the mere question.

"To his mother. Which magically you keep forgetting I am." She replied sharply.

"He isn't even born yet and already you think you can just muscle in on every aspect of our lives! You're an uncle Sesshomaru. Nothing else." She stated angrily. Making absolutely sure the thick headed dog demon felt every syllable of her words.

"And as such there are limits. Limits that obviously need to be enforced between us." She added gesturing towards the narrow space that gaped her bed and the still standing dog demon.

"Such as?" Sesshomaru said arching a silver brow.

"Showing up in my bedroom in the middle of the night for one." Kagome replied quickly a little surprised the dog demon even had to ask. She had thought it was apparent.

"Second, my house. You are not allowed to just walk in whenever you feel its convenient, or send complete strangers in your place!" Kagome continued frustration clear in her tone. Not yet ebbed away memories of her return home to find every single room of her home had been furnished as if she had lived in the freshly pained home all along.

Only one person coming to mind at who could be responsible for such intrusive behavior.

"Things weren't arranged to your approval?" Sesshomaru asked stone face. He would have to have a brief word or so with his team of decorators.

"My approval? Consent would have been better!" Kagome shot back while beginning to untangle herself from the messed pile of sheets and blankets that encased her.

Did every demon in her life think they could just come and go as they pleased? Send whoever they wanted in their place and she would just accept their irrational behavior.

If that was the case. It ended now.

The animosity radiating from the now standing priestess could be clearly felt, but perceptive as he naturally was Sesshomaru couldn't help but pry further.

"Somehow I feel as though hostility isn't solely directed towards me." He said matter of factly. His amber eyes scanning the slimly dressed priestess before him emotionlessly.

"Something else troubles you." He added as more of a statement than an actual question. And instantly Kagome's hazel orbs harden and narrowed.

This was the very last subject she would ever willingly discuss with Sesshomaru.

"Its late. I'd like to go back to sleep." Kagome stated coldly. It was vague but the clear translation of her words were 'this conversation was now over.'

Not wanting to risk over exerting the already strained priestess Sesshomaru weighed on the side of caution. They would have to discuss the conversation some other time, and in a more appropriate setting.

"Very well." He stated levelly.

Kagome closed the already minimal distance between the both of them by walking towards the open balcony door gesturing Sesshomaru to exit the very same way he had invaded her home.

The silver haired demon did as silently commanded pausing only momentarily with one step short of fully exiting the darken room to turn towards the silently eyeing priestess to his side.

"Though I leave you with this." He began quietly. In a tone that caught Kagome off guard by the almost passable sincerity in his usual icy tone.

"If you will not allow my aid in such meager things. Perhaps it would be wise to seek out more agreeable company." A coy gleam echoed in Kagome's darken eyes almost as if Sesshomaru had window into her deepest turmoil's.

But before she could muster a word be it in protest or agreeance he floated past her and just as silently as he had arrived leaving her with nothing.

Nothing but the blackness of the room and the lingering of unwelcome thoughts.


The beams of aged wood and row upon row of empty dented bleacher seats was all that greeted the lone figure that stood at the sunken rim.

Through clear and undeniably sharp azure eyes Kouga absorbed the dismal surroundings inclosing him in a way he had never allowed himself before. Out of all the times he had stood in this very spot, he couldn't ever remember this place like it currently stood. This pit, it was so still. So quiet.

Absent the roar of the blood thirsty crowd and the stampeding of eager demons ready to satiate their own lust for carnage it seemed like an entirely new arena all together.

The rustic support bars, the tin lining along the floor and inclining seats. It was filthy and broken, a characteristic he shared all to vividly.

A bond he had come to see severed once and for all.

"What the hell did you do!?" A roaring voice boomed furiously throughout the seemingly abandoned surroundings.

Kouga sharpen gaze turned towards the bursting entrance doors leading to the higher warehouse level. A lone figure framed in the dented metal outline.

"What I should have done years ago." Kouga stated firmly in response to the familiar charging demon aiming directly towards him.

"You're out of your mind! Do you know what this will do to us!?" Rekin spat venomously all but blinded by absolute rage!

The sun had barely broken this morning before the silver eyed demon had awoken to a flurry of calls/emails/txt of what had transpired in the late night hours.

Kouga had always been unpredictable at best, but never. Never, could he have foreseen this coming.

The mongrel hadn't simply pulled a scheme laced stunt or some brute show of force. No. He had done something he had never done before.

He had made an irrefutable executive decision.

Without a hint of warning or counsel he had closed the doors of the very pits he called home.

Permanently.

"The damage you've done! We'll never claw our way out the hole you've dug! No one will ever work with us! With me! My name is ruined!" Rekin swore hatefully. The usual calm and collected demeanor he prided himself on discarded by the sheer overwhelming amount of fury that pumped through his veins!

Every investor every ounce of liquidation or funding he had left to barging with had been shut down one after another by Kouga's demand and authority.

There was no coming back from this, word had already spread of how feverishly the wolf had acted. No self-respecting arena would have either one of them! Not with this sort of uncertainty now permanently hanging over both their heads!

The god damn wolf had ruined them!

Rekin fiercely intense eyes fixed on the motionless demon standing before him. Waiting his response, any explanation that might explain what the hell the idiot with thinking!

But instead of explain or every remotely reply with an ounce of concern or anything boarding on sympathetic or explanatory.

The wolf demon turned to suit dressed frantic silver eyed man with nothing but a hollow smile plain upon his parted lips.

"I don't care." Kouga laughed. His azure orbs glossed over with something foreboding, something dark and radical.

The grinning wolf demon turned fully towards Rekin with a gleam beaming from his visible pearl fangs.

"This place," Kouga whispered while eying the very pit had sacrificed piece after piece of himself within.

"It's nothing." He said coldly, Void of any emotion beside hard, dry, humor.

"Nothing, but a festering wound. A wound, that I couldn't see closed." He admitted darkly taking a step back towards the abandoned bleachers that encased them.

"Until now." He breathed reaching down towards the stained flooring where a large red plastic container sat perched.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Rekin demanded eyeing the apparent gas can the wolf demon uprooted. Watching in horror as he pulled the dry rag from its yellow extended nozzle.

"Making it right." Kouga said emotionlessly as he began rocking the plastic bin in hand back and forth causing the clear foul smelling liquid to spew outward onto the aged wood.

"Kouga!" Rekin roared! Charging forward gripping at the apparently crazed wolf demon furiously. It wasn't enough that he had destroyed this place he needed to torch it too!

He was insane!

Kouga threw the container to the floor letting the remaining liquid splash out around them before he gripped hold of Rekin's thrashing form.

Gripping his suit jacket firmly in hand he shoved the lesser man backwards against the pit railing watching as his back bent over the dome supported now by only Kouga's hold.

Wildly Rekin gripped at Kouga's wrist his only means of anchor from keeping him toppling over into the looming pit.

"You want this hell hole so bad?" Kouga snarled leaning in closely with such ferocity in his voice it shook the admittedly frightened demon in his hold to his very core.

The look in his eyes. The unforgettable molten azure steel that filled those twin pools. It terrified him.

"Then burn with it." Kouga vowed. Stepping back while releasing Rekin from his hold and watching frozenly as the flailing demon was sent weightlessly into the dirt floored pit.

Before Rekin ever made contact with the floor he watched horrified as Kouga reached into his leather jacket retracting a silver compact lighter.

With one swift clink the flame erupted and effortlessly the wolf demon tossed it to his back.
The moment the blue flame making contact with the gas stained floor a river of fire and smoke following in its wake.

Emotionlessly Kouga turned from the now engulfed room, letting the inferno blaze out of all control while he walked silently towards the only means of exit.

Each burning step taking him further and further from this place of carnage and misery, and closer and closer, to the wolf he use to be. And in some aspects desperately, craved to be once again.

He breathed the smoke riddled air deeply.

Let it all burn away, and with it. Every memory of his broken past.


You would think spending the last few days in the hospital of all places would have been the scariest highlight of this weeks festivities. But, no. What was about to happen here in this very room tripled that gut wrenching feeling a hundred times over.

Swallowing her rising panic and visible tenseness Kagome exited the empty and only now lowering elevator to face the cold stone dome like structure of Kouga's home.

Remembering all to vividly the last time she had been within these very walls she had been filled with fear of a different kind. A more naive panic of what her body had suddenly sprung on her.

Even if that memory was only a few weeks old, it still felt like a lifetime ago. Back when the azure eyed wolf had been welded at her side and not a chasm apart.

Her time spent in the confines of the infirmary she thought it would have given him time to reflect on their relationship, on what he wanted for their future if there was even one to be had at this point.

She had done nothing but that day after day with every passing moment the absent wolf demon refused to face her.

Until finally. Here she was.

Standing in his home once more against all her better instincts to finally confront what had been building between them.

Her motives fueled by Sesshomaru's plaguing words he had left her with the night prior. As annoying and unwelcome as his input had been. The haunting message had been absorbed all the same.

What was happening between her and Kouga. One thing was unavoidably clear. She couldn't hide from this anymore. Neither of them could.

Whatever was happening to them. For better or worse. She had to face it, they both had to. It was the only way they could move past whatever they were becoming.

Even if the very thought terrified her more than words could express.

"Kagome, what are you-" The obviously stunned voice of the very demon she sought breaking the vast silence of the empty stone like room.

Kagome eyed Kouga emerging from the direction of his room. His hair messed his eyes darken with lingering circles of exhaustion.

He looked as distraught as she felt.

Wearing nothing more than his pair of ratty sweats that she had gathered through countless encounters were his favorite while in the comforts of his home.

"Doing here?" She asked completing the clearly stunned wolfs unfinished question.

She crossed her arms defensively around herself as she took a small step forward her hazel orbs falling to the ground in distress at the entire situation she had found herself forced into.

"I've asked myself that exact same thing about a dozen times actually. Still don't really have an answer." She admitted lightly.

Kouga stood their frozen in place his azure orbs fixed on nothing else but the obviously hesitant priestess before him.

For a moment he thought he had been dreaming. After all he hadn't heard from the priestess in days. He had assumed the anger over the entire last few weeks had finally sunken in. And she had wanted nothing more to do with him.

That was until the doorman all the way on ground level had called to inform him the raven haired woman was coming up to his flat welcomed or not.

He would be lying if he dared to think he hadn't wanted this exact same thing time and time again. But each time the thought had crossed his frazzled mind he had subdued it.

The entire point of the track he was trying to force his life onto was to cause distance between himself and the currently tensely standing priestess.

But obviously his actions though sincerely motivated were failing in their objective.

"You should be resting." He said calmly. He might not have been there for her release from the hospital but that didn't mean he hadn't kept tabs on her all the same.

He wanted to make sure she would indeed be okay and he had been assured she would be. With proper at home recovery, that she was clearly disobeying for this little field trip.

"You know," Kagome whispered turning her attention to the rising sun just at Kouga's back through the brilliant glass lined wall of his living room.

"If I knew I could get a hold of you any other way I would be doing just that." She promised. Thinking back to the dozen or so hours she must have spent going over reasons why seeing the blue eyed demon had been a bad idea.

"But, seeing as you were a little to busy to come visit me-" She added. The hurt she still felt from Kouga's unwillingness to even remotely check on her still fresh and painful just under the surface.

"It wasn't like that-" Kouga began apologetically but one rise of Kagome's soften hand silenced him.

"I needed to see you." She stated determined and blunt. Her hazel orbs returning their full attention to the conflicted demon standing mere feet before her.

"There are some things we need to talk about." She addressed with a visible tightening over her already self protective stance.

Kouga stood silently. He had felt this coming for some time now, and maybe it was right for them to finally air things out between them. No matter how unpleasant it would undoubtedly be.

"First, things first." Kagome whispered brushing past Kouga to the comfortable atmosphere of his living room.

Sitting on one of the armrest of a sunken chair instead of the actually seat so her posture remained upright and visibly guarded.

Kouga eyed her silently. Waiting for what he knew was to come.

"Why did you run away from me?" She whispered.

Kouga breathed deeply. There were a million and one ways he could respond to such an open question but he had a feeling not matter what came from his lips, it wouldn't satisfy the priestess before him.

Not in the least.

"Its-" He began lowly.

"Don't say its complicated." Kagome interrupted sharply, angrily.

Kouga didn't have the heart to meet her gaze any longer, his azure eyes falling to her feet in surrender. He didn't know what else he could give her. She wanted answers, clear straight answers. But, that wasn't something he had ever been good at supplying.

No matter how dire the need.

Kagome breathed deeply. Letting her emotions get the better of her right now, wasn't going to help. She needed this, not matter the outcome. She couldn't keep putting herself through this never ending cycle of lies and hurt.

It was to much for one person to endure.

"Ginta and Hakkaku told me," She whispered clutching her hands around her arms a little bit tighter for security.

"That you being around me is difficult. Even if I really don't understand why…" She trailed off but recovered quickly trying to mentally force herself to stay on task and nothing more.

"Is it true? That me being pregnant makes you uncomfortable?" Kagome asked her soften eyes meeting Kouga's averted gaze as he stepped forward.

Silently the wolf demon took a seat on the opposite chair sinking into the cushion heavily with his head bowed and shoulders slumped.

Kagome watched him carefully, guarded for his response.

Nothing made sense to her anymore. Kouga had always known she was pregnant he had said so himself from the moment they had reconnected in this world he had smelled it upon her.

So why now? What had changed to drive this distance between them? Was it the advancement of her condition? Had he not expected things to happen this quickly?

If that were the case she shared his surprise, it after all was her body that had gone through these unfathomable changes in such a drastically short amount of time.

But it had driven her harder to develop into the adult she needed to become. She thought maybe that idea had rubbed off on Kouga as well. But, instead it had sent him running. Petrified at the mere feeling of her womb swimming with new life.

And she didn't understand. What could have changed?

"Yes." Kouga whispered not daring to meet Kagome's gaze in the process.

Kagome stood there letting Kouga's muffled words seep in. Her confusion spiking, but also something else. Something more painful and harder to ignore.

Her disbelief and hurt at his harsh admittance.

But she wouldn't let that get the better of her. Not now, there was still she needed to know, and she wasn't stopping until she got the answers she sought.

Regardless of how much it hurt her beneath the surface.

"Okay," She nodded tensely. Trying to hide the sting his one word had left in its wake.

"I don't suppose I can know why?" She questioned, the hot uncomfortable feeling of tears hazing her vision as she did so no matter how fast she tired to blink them away.

Kouga couldn't bring himself to respond, only shook his head in agreeance that once again she was asking to much of him.

"'Couse not." She whispered sinking her pearl teeth into her lower lip to stifle either a cry or an out lash of rising frustration.

"Kagome," Kouga whispered his head remaining bowed and posture equally as low.

"No. You know what?" Kagome interrupted humorlessly her lips parted in a forced disbelieving smile.

"Its alright. I mean I knew this-" She gestured between them with an all to brief flick of her wrist.

"Whatever we have wasn't permanent. No matter what I-" Kagome's voice broke off as she angrily averted her gaze from the motionless wolf demon before her.

Why did this hurt so bad? She was angry and disappointed all at the same time for something she knew she should have never put faith into to begin with. Kouga had proven time and time again that any trust in him would be mistreated. Yet she had done it time and time again.

Was this punishment? Finally having to face the fact that Kouga no matter how much she wished different would never be the wolf she had once known?

"Kagome listen to me. This isn't what you think. The fact that your-" Kouga defended climbing to his feet determinedly. His eyes temporarily focusing on Kagome's swollen navel unable to complete the use of such a delicate word between them.

"Its not what drove me away. I still want to be with you." He vowed whole heartedly. He had already given up so much for her. Couldn't she see how hard he was trying? How much the distance wedging itself between them was just as equally as painful for him.

"Really? Because right now. Even though I have another person growing inside me. I've never felt more alone." Kagome admitted angrily swiping away her already half fallen tears. Trying so hard to not let herself fall apart, not now.

Kouga stood there stone faced but with darken sympathetic eyes. He didn't want to see Kagome like this. It was clear she was in pain, pain he had all to vividly caused.

But no matter what he felt. The desperate need to comfort her aside, he feared the worst was yet to come. And by his own hands.

"What I cant understand is why?" Kagome sniffled turning towards Kouga accusingly. There. There it was. The question that had been burning on her tongue for all these lonely cold days.

Why? Why was he doing this to them? To her?

Kouga's jaw flexed and his inhuman eyes darkened an impossible shade colder. It was coming out, the truth, the unavoidable bitterly painful truth.

"Because I cant give you what you want." He whispered.

Kagome eyed the tense wolf demon before her in utter disbelief. Heatedly adjusting her half sitting position to stand equally as straight as the azure eyed demon before her.

"What I want? What I want is a friend Kouga! And up until a few days ago you were one! My only one. No matter how much chaos my life has been thrown into you have always been there! Until now." She accused hurtfully eyeing the guarded wolf before her bitterly.

"And I don't understand what's changed? Why we cant be like we were!?" Kagome demanded taking a forceful step forward. She wasn't letting this go. Not again. She wanted answers, she needed them.

She didn't care if it pushed him to the point of exploding as her directness often did. Anything was better than this. The unbearable silence!

"Because we cant." Kouga replied lowly coarsely as he turned form the unrelenting priestess. The way she looked at him. He couldn't bare it.

Everything. Everything he had been holding back in effort to spare her from the radiating damage his fury usually left in its path. It was coming and he feared he wouldn't be able to hold it back much longer.

"Why? Give me one good reason! I deserve that much!" Kagome demanded angrily.

The already narrow distance between them closing even more as she stepped closer. The air was electric with the tension she was causing but she didn't care.

Either Kouga told her something, anything or she would never let up. She didn't care about the anger she was bringing upon herself! She needed him. She needed him to let her in even just a little! She didn't care how!

The pressure was clearly to much and finally Kouga's resolve shattered.

"Because I'm broken damn it! Okay!?" Kouga snapped furiously spinning to face the now fearful priestess standing face to face with such raw emotion.

"I'm not good for you! It's not good for me to be around you! I'll only hurt you! Again! But next time it wont just be you!-" Kouga's frantic eyes glimpsing over Kagome's abdomen.

"I cant do that! I cant do this- whatever the hell this is!" He seethed throwing his hands up wrathfully to cup the back of his neck exhaustedly. Stepping away from Kagome all to quickly fearful he might explode again if he didn't reign himself in.

Kagome closed her eyes tightly allowing heated drops to stream down at the words she had just absorbed. So Kouga had been suffering all this time? But it wasn't from what she had knowingly caused.

It was something much more heartbreaking.

The wolf demon standing before her.

Hated himself.

So much he would rather have everyone else around him detest him as well rather than let them in.

Taking a deep breath Kagome tried to gather herself. No matter the sheer amount of empathy flooding its way through her system.

"What do you think I want from you Kouga?" Kagome whispered peering towards the tense and self guarded demon to her side.

Kouga took a hard breath not daring to tear his eyes away from the darken stone floor underneath his bare feet.

"Honestly-" He breathed.

"A replacement." Kouga's dark eyes turning towards Kagome as the hushed words left his lips.

Kagome stood paralyzed by his response almost lost to all reaction due to the sheer amount of sincerity radiating its way outwards from within the glaring wolf demon.

"You want me close. So all the pain the mutt left behind hurts just a little bit less." He said stone faced and cold as he stepped forward.

Kagome shook her head slightly tearing her eyes away from the unbelievable demon beside her curling her fingers so tightly into her palm her knuckles turned a hard white.

"But cant you see? I cant take away the pain. For gods sake I'll only make it worse! And if I keep trying. I'll just hurt you more. It's all I know how to do." Kouga stated with unshakable confidence. Why couldn't she see it? What he was? What he had always been?

Why did she want something as impure and filthy as him anywhere near her? Why did she have to care so damn much! It was crippling him!

"Listen to me." Kagome began lowly, unshakably.

"I'm not asking you to be a father Kouga. Or try and take Inuyasha's place. I would never do that." She stated with hard certainty.

"All I want." She whispered stepping forward making sure Kouga met her rounded hazel orbs and absorbed all the full weight of what she had to say.

"All I have ever wanted. Is for you to be to my son, exactly what you are to me." She said firmly, dependably.

Kouga met her gaze reluctantly and stone faced.

"A friend." She whispered with tear glossed eyes and broken hearted smile firmly in place on her shimmering pink lips.

"Someone he can play with without worrying about injuring. Someone who will understand him and his powers when I cant." She explained whole heartedly. She had thought about this time and time again what it would be like to have her child involved in Kouga's life.

It was shaky at first but the more she thought the more the reality seemed within reach. Kouga would be the perfect mentor. He would understand her son. Care in a way that wasn't expected from someone like Sesshomaru.

She wasn't looking for a replacement for anyone or anything. All she was looking for. Was she had already found, a dearest and loving friend.

Didn't he want that between them?

"I want someone he can talk to when everyone else wont listen." She whispered fueled on by the memories of her own experiences when Kouga had been her shoulder to cry on.

"That is what I want." She breathed ignoring the lingering tears that began to form beneath her hazel orbs.

Kouga turned towards Kagome fully his azure orbs alive with the buried emotion he tired to repress. He could see that very same future as well. He had thought about it all the same.

What it would be like to see Kagome bring her child into the world. To see her hold him in her arms, to watch the infant grow into a mirror like image of his father.

Someone the absent half demon would be proud of. Someone he knew undoubtedly over time he would grow to care for as well.

But such a dream was exactly that. A dream.

A fantasy he wanted nothing to do with in fear of corrupting such a vision into something dark and broken. It was the only thing a beast like himself was capable of doing.

And the mere idea of polluting Kagome in such a way. It almost destroyed him.

He couldn't do it. This.

He would rather let her go a thousand times over than ever hurt her in such an unfathomable way. No matter how much it killed him to do so.

"Kagome," He whispered stepping forward so he towered over the staring priestess his azure orbs searing down into her shaken form.

"There is nothing in this life I wouldn't do for you." He swore with every fiber of his entire being.

"I would fight, I would bleed. I would die for you." He whispered reaching out to brush his knuckles over Kagome's heated cheek.

Ignoring the more tears it created Kagome leaned into his touch like the lifeline it currently was.

"But I cant do this." He breathed.

Kagome stilled her darken orbs staring upwards in confusion and hurt at his admittance to something so unbelievably painful.

"I cant be the person you want me to be. And we both know why." Kouga stated retracing his heated palm from Kagome's smooth skin.

"Despite the sides of me that you see. In truth the rest of the world knows what I am. I am a murder. I am a savage. And I am a demon." Kouga swore hatefully making sure Kagome soaked in every heated word that spewed from his handsome lips.

"I'm not like Sesshomaru. I cant put on a front, blending into society. What I am is visible to everyone else but you." He added watching as Kagome's hazel orbs skimmed over the dark marks carved into the side of his jaw and neck.

Kagome's chest tightened at the mere admittance of this all. Is this why he had thrown himself into that place for so long? To make himself look like the monster he thought he deserved to be?

"Nothing will ever wash the blood off my hands. Or the horrors I have buried in my past. And I knew that from the moment I found out you were alive." He whispered his fragmented mind thinking back to that night he had found her scared and alone outside the club.

How he wished he could go back to that night. To undo the mistakes he had made.

"I should have never gotten involved in your life the way I have. But, I don't regret it." He admitted. He already knew full well his soul belonged in hell, he had just earned one more reason for it to do so.

"You needed someone to help you carry the weight Inuyasha left behind. To help you get back on your feet when the world brought you to your knees. Someone to help you set up for the responsibilities that you have to carry." He whispered countless images of the priestess he had grown to love all over again flashing before his gaze even though the object of his adoration stood right before him.

Broken hearted at the crippling weight of his callous words.

"I have done my best to be that person. And I've succeeded ." Kouga's handsome lips curled into a heartfelt smile though his eyes remained hollow and drowning in the vast pool of his misery.

"Kagome you have always been strong, but now. Look at you. You're invincible." He swore. Thinking to all she had accomplished absent his interference.

She had secured a home for her and her growing family. A future that no longer involved any intervention from his part. No matter how different he wished the outcome was.

He was so god damn proud of her.

"It might not feel like it. But, you don't need me anymore." He whispered.

"That's no true!" Kagome shouted angrily hating the feeling of hot tears streaming from her already bleary orbs.

"Kagome-" Kouga interrupted cupping her dampened cheeks in each hand stroking his thumb across her heated flesh tenderly. Lovingly.

"You wanted my friendship? Well hear me clearly when I say you will always have it." Kouga swore devotedly.

"I will never abandon you. Not ever. I will always be right here, whenever you need me." He whispered watching as Kagome raised her trembling hands to cup his wrist tightly to force him to clutch her tighter.

Almost as if she was afraid he would pull away at any moment now.

"But only you." He breathed.

Kagome eyes met his and all to clearly she absorbed his meaning. He would supply his friendship. But, only to her and her alone.

Whatever future she had hoped, dreamt. It wasn't a possibility, it really was nothing but a dream.

Kagome cried softly grasping Kouga's hand tightly, fearfully.

"You know this isn't a choice…" She whispered through a broken smile.

"You cant just have me." She breathed, trying so hard to ignore the unbelievable pressure building in her chest. Almost as if her heart was trying to escape the absolute torture she was forcing upon it inside her chest.

Kouga stroked a thumb over the corner of Kagome's pouted lip.

"I know." He whispered.

Kagome closed her eyes tightly peering downwards despite Kouga's hold on her, her tears streaming more feverish then ever before despite her best effort to withhold them.

"I guess that's it then. There's nothing left to say-" She whispered.

She had come here seeking an answer, an end to all the pain and misery that she had endured the last few months. And she had received just that.

Even though this agony was a thousand times worse than what she had ever previously experienced.

It was taking everything in her not to fall apart right here. She was suffocating, she was devastated, it felt almost as if she was drowning.

Not thinking or just not caring about how much more misery it might cause in its wake between the two of them. Kouga forced himself forward capturing Kagome's lips in his own that was almost bruising.

Despite the initial shock Kagome all to willingly surrendered to Kouga's now full embrace allowing her head to spin with the overwhelming sensation Kouga's touch provided.

It was desperate and blazing with consuming emotion that rampaged between the both of them. But it was fire that she allowed to consume her until there was absolutely nothing left.

Only when the aching in her chest became to painful to ignore Kagome pulled herself away Kouga doing the same as he rested his forehead against her own. Each one standing breathless and broken as their labored breathing slowed.

Kagome peered into the azure pools mere inches from her own. She didn't have the strength anymore. She couldn't face him a moment longer. It was to painful. To crippling!

Gripping tightly onto his bronze skin she resisted the urge to cradle herself into his arms even further.

Far to driven on by the dire need to survive this encounter any way she could.

"Goodbye Kouga." She whispered.

Before she could lose what little resolve she had left she pushed herself out of his hold and towards the only means of exit. The awaiting silver plated elevator that called to her.

The moment her barely standing frame making its way into the confined space the double doors beginning to slide tightly closed.

"Kagome!" Kouga shouted spinning to face the already partially dissipating priestess opposite of him.

Kagome stared at the helplessly staring wolf demon vanishing from sight.

"I love you." He breathed.

Kagome inhaled sharply trying to stay as strong as the circumstances would allow. Though she was falling far short in every way possible.

"I love you." She swore.

Then the doors sealed tightly shut, and she was left with nothing but the haunting sound of his voice, and the viscous onslaught of crippling pain.


Not gonna lie teared up a little writing this chapter. I'm emotional dang it! Well onto the next chapter. Can they recover from this!? What will happen!? Dun dun dun!

Thanks guys stay warm!