I'd like to thank all who reviewed the last chapter! Your reviews are what're keeping me going on this story!

Gutok: No own InuYasha!

Reassurance

"You shouldn't have done that, Miroku," Sango admonished quietly, sitting down next to the monk. He was lying on his back in the grass, trying not to move lest his bruised ribs cause him even more pain.

"What did I do now?" he asked with a grin, glancing at her from the corners of his eyes.

"You took the blow from my hiraikotsu," she replied, hugging her knees. "It wasn't the first time it had been turned back on me; I was braced for it. But…you weren't, and you got hurt."

With a grimace, he sat up, ignoring Sango's protests. Looking her in the eyes, he said, "You would've been hurt, too. I couldn't just stand aside and let that happen."

"I know, but still…" She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, overcome with guilt. She had known what would happen when she attacked Kagura, and she had done it anyway. And because of that, Miroku had gotten hurt.

"It's okay, Sango," he said quietly, putting an arm around her shoulders and ignoring the pain in his side.

"Miroku, Sango! Are InuYasha and Kagome up yet?" Shippo asked, bounding over to them with Kirara.

Miroku looked up into a nearby tree. InuYasha was seated on one of the lower branches, back to the trunk, Kagome held protectively in his arms. Both were sleeping soundly, and showed no signs of waking. "They'll probably sleep for a while longer, Shippo. They need to rest after that battle yesterday."

Sango nodded in agreement. "They both went through a lot; I wouldn't be surprised if they stayed up there until supper."

InuYasha slowly blinked open his eyes, noting the stiffness of his muscles. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so soundly, he mused, as he looked down at the girl in his arms. "Kagome," he murmured, absently stroking her hair as he recalled the aftermath of the battle against Akemiro. Kagome had been distraught, clinging to him in utter fear until she had cried herself into exhaustion. It pained him to see her like that, and he wanted nothing more than to see her laughing.

She stirred, bringing him back to the present. "Inu…Yasha…"

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

She lifted her head and turned her gaze on him. "Yeah," she replied slowly. "I'm okay. Just…stay with me?"

He nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to go home?"

"Uh-huh. I'm not going to run away and hide. That's just what Naraku wants." They were silent for a moment before she spoke again, her tone more serious. "InuYasha, when you killed Akemiro, did you notice that Tetsusaiga glowed?"

And cut. I finally figured out why I was stuck. I had no choice but to end this chapter here, because I couldn't think of a decent way to merge from this point into a time skip without it sounding stupid. So…I'll get to work on that next chapter now, and I apologize for the wait…