Kagome tried to get Hiei to let her go, pushing out her purification powers. Shizuru grabbed her arm after Hiei released her.
"Knock her out," Hiei schooled.
That was the last Kagome knew of the park. When she woke up again, she was sitting on a bed in a dusty room with a blanket on.
"Kagome?" Kurama's soft voice called gently.
Kagome groaned and rolled over, her head pounding. "What happened?"
"I think the jewel got to Hiei when I gave it to him to hand back." Kagome felt his gentle hands pull her up. She groaned and sat up with Kurama's help, looking around the room.
"I don't think I've ever known Shizuru or Hiei to act like that," he attempted to dismiss, but Kagome could hear the insecurity in his voice. "Well, maybe Hiei, but not Shizuru."
The light burned into her retina. "Where are we?" she asked quietly.
"You're at the Kuwabara's place. They brought you back here and left you on my bed. It's late, you should call your place to tell her you're alright."
"And you should call your mom!" Kagome sat forward and grabbed his hands, "Kurama, she still loves you. She is happy with what she figured out and she did figure it out, this isn't completely my fault. She didn't want to think you were-."
"No Kagome," He took her hands and stared intently at her. "you don't understand how this world works. My mother needs to be in the dark. She needs to know that she's safe when she goes to work, and telling her about this takes that away."
"No it doesn't!" Kagome grabbed his hand again. "Kurama, she is safe, there's no reason for her to think she's not, but she won't feel safe without knowing her son will protect her. You need to-."
"Kagome shut up!" Kurama got off the bed and yanked his hands free stepping away from her. "I am not going to endanger my mother because you're foolish enough to think this world is safe!" Kagome sat up and stared at him with wide eyes, tears pooling. "I know this world better than you. I know this place. You know the past. You still live in a fantasy of this reality being safe."
Kagome shut her eyes and nodded. "Yes, yes I do. I know this place is safe because it's true, it is safe. I know you're scared for her Kurama. I understand that people are probably after her because she's connected with you, god do I know it," she opened her eyes as she bit back the rest of her tears. "but you can't keep lying to her. She's in danger whether you're there or not." Kagome pushed herself to the edge of the bed, grabbing his hand. "Kurama, you have to give her a chance. She's not going to be in more danger from knowing, She's not going to suddenly be a target for everything now that-"
"Go," he snapped. Kurama's shoulders shook as he clutched his fisted hands, pulling away. "I can't do this right now Kagome. Shut up, and get out."
"But-"
"Get out!" He railed pulling open the door to the room and pointing out, his head turned down so she could barely see his face. His jaw was clenched tight, his nose screwed up and his face knit like a pleated skirt.
The closer Kagome came, the easier it was to see the tears that spilled down his cheeks. He shook with effort to keep himself quiet. Kagome wrapped her arms around his chest and lay her head against his shoulder. He broke like the memory of a dream and sobbed, shaking and grabbing at her shoulders to push her back. She wouldn't let go, she held tighter.
He tried to step back from her, but he ended up against the wall, so he stepped forward, but she just followed his movements until she sat on the bed and he tried to pry her off and wiggle away.
"Stop it Kurama, stop it!" Kagome demanded holding onto him as he leaned over her, his arms supporting him on the bed. "Just stop fighting it. I know you're hurt so let it go."
Kurama dropped to his knees and gave into his tears. When he stopped crying, and pushed her away again, she let him go. He pushed himself up heavily and sat down next to her on the bed, leaning against her shoulder. She reciprocated the touch. "I'm sorry about what happened, Kurama. My mom just said she was going to try to find her and talk to her about me."
"You betrayed me," he whispered. Kagome sat up and stared at him. "You didn't tell me she did it."
"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered again. "I'm sorry."
"I can't go home, and all you have to say is that you're sorry," He pushed himself up and headed for the door. Kagome bolted after him grabbing his arm. "No! I don't want to hear it. You don't understand this situation and you never can."
"Just give Shiori a chance Kurama, that's all I am asking. Give her a chance to make this right with you." Kurama jerked his arm away from her and walked out of the room. "Neither of you can keep going on like this forever!"
Kagome tried to follow him, but once he was out of sight, he was gone.
Kagome went home. When she saw the tree, she went to the well. She crawled up the makeshift vine ladder on the other side, and walked to the village, her bow over her back for protection.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha hopped out of a tree and landed by her before she could make it across to the village. "Kagome, what's going on? Is Kurama alright?"
She shook her head. "Inuyasha, can you come help me find him? He ran off. I tried to get to him, I tried to fix things." She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her own eyes. She felt Inuyasha's arms close around her, and she put her head against his chest, shutting her eyes. "It's just so useless. He keeps saying that she's not safe, that we shouldn't have told her about him because somehow that puts her in danger, but that I can't understand."
"It makes sense, but why couldn't you understand it?" Inuyasha asked cautiously.
"I don't know. He won't try to explain it, he just runs off."
"Alright. Let's go back and I'll see if I can find him for you," Inuyasha offered.
"Kagome?" Sango called, not far off. Kagome looked over at her friend and smiled. "Kagome! You're back."
"Not really, I just need some help from Inuyasha." She wiped her tears away.
"Kagome, we have some news too."
"Can we talk on the way?" Kagome asked.
Sango nodded solemnly. "When you left, Kaede's Village was nearly attacked." They began back towards the well. "Miroku, Inuyasha, and I spend all day here fighting them off. The group fought like a hoard of banshees, but they were humanoid. They were able to withstand Mukuro's wind tunnel and almost outlast the wind scar." They stopped at the well and Kagome pulled Sango into a tight hug.
"We'll just have to rally some troops or something. I'll figure it out Sango, thank you. I'm going to try to get Kurama back today."
"Good luck. Inuyasha told us what happened. We need another strong fighter now more than ever." Sango stood at the edge of the well.
Inuyasha took a deep breath, and sniffed around, before leaning down and smelling the ground. He frowned, "I think he's this way."
"I'm glad you can find him now. I was worried you wouldn't be able to." Kagome sighed as she followed after the dog. He shoved his hands in his sleeves and kept walking. "It's real bad Inuyasha. He was really upset with my mom for telling his mom about him. I don't think I've ever seen Kurama that upset about anything."
"Have you ever seen him upset?" Inuyasha asked slowing down in the crowd so he could sift through the scents.
"Yeah. When I met he was really mad."
"It just seems unlike him to be unreasonable."
Inuyasha stopped. "Mmm, that smells good." he shut his eyes and took a deep breath, his mouth watering. "What is that?" he looked around and spied a vendor booth that read Spirits and Soups.
"Hey, I feel someone around here," Kagome whispered. "Do you feel him too?"
"Yeah, I think it's the chef." Inuyasha pointed towards the food cart.
"Let's go check it out, I think you're right." Kagome nodded. "If they're this strong and in Human World, maybe they can help us find Kurama." Kagome led Inuyasha across the road, having to stop him from walking into traffic.
"Welcome, is this visit for the spirit or the soup?" A young black haired man asked with a smile at the two of them. He frowned when he saw them and set down his spatulas. "What the hell man, you're dressed like a comic-con escapee."
"What's it to you!" Inuyasha barked back, his energy involuntarily raising.
"Keep it down, keep it down," The black haired kid wiped off his hands. "You stuck in Human World or something?" he asked. "I don't get too many demon customers."
"We're looking for a friend of ours actually." Kagome piped up, "But your food smelled so good we thought we'd stop to eat before we kept searching."
"A friend? I practically know every demon in town. Who is it?" he asked picking up his spatulas.
"Kurama."
He laughed and smiled. "Fox boy? What will you be having?"
"Whatever you cook the best," Kagome offered. "What's your name?"
"Mine? I'm Yusuke Urameshi. So what's got you looking for Kurama?" He asked as he began to cook their food.
"He's been avoiding me. You are one of his friends, aren't you? He said something about you before."
"He must trust you if he's been talking about us. How do you know him?"
Kagome sighed and pulled out the little pouch she had of the sacred jewel. She pulled one out and showed it to Yusuke, "He stole this from me, and I had to get it back. When I got it back, I asked him if he'd like to help me collect them all since he wanted to be close to it, and he agreed. Now he's run off and we need his help."
"He's not one for serious dramatics." Yusuke glanced between the two of them. "I mean, how I heard it, you let his mom in on the secret, and he's real upset with you for that." Kagome winced and dropped her head hiding the shards again. "He's gone through his whole life keeping that from her to keep her safe, but you went and ruined that."
Kagome frowned and dropped her head.
"Was he just here?" Inuyasha asked cautiously. He took a few sniffs and looked around.
"Uh," Yusuke's eyes widened and he stiffened up a bit, "Yeah, he was here a little while ago. He left right before you guys got here."
"It took me a while to smell it, but this place smells a lot like him."
"What can I say? I make his favorite food." Yusuke chopped up their food and added seasoning. Inuyasha took his seat again to watch.
Kagome tried to re-affirm herself. "We can't go back and change what happened. It is what it is. The only way we can go is forward from where we are, so I can't fix the problem I caused." Kagome pleaded with Yusuke.
"Ah, come on, no crying." Yusuke scolded her. "I only really am assuming here, but try to think about it from his point of view. You just kicked him out and now you're trying to tell him he didn't have to go. That's not even touching her reaction."
"She reacted well. She still loves him, and she wants to see him more than anything."
"But she's still got things to learn. It's not like your mom knew everything to tell him." Yusuke dished up their food and pulled up his stool, sitting down in front of them. "I mean, what did you really know about him before you left that she would be able to tell him?" He got back up again when more customers came in, and went to serve them.
The two of them ate in near silence. When they were almost done, Inuyasha stood up, "Hey Kagome. I've done what I came for. I'm going to head back." He pointed at the corner of the cart on the far side.
"Why don't you stay, see if you can help me."
"If you've messed up your relationship with him, then we're all screwed. Sorry Kagome, this is one you've got to do on your own."
Yusuke glanced between Kagome and Inuyasha before whispering to Kurama hidden behind the counter. Kurama came out of his hiding spot begrudgingly.
"Kurama," Kagome whispered with a nod.
The fox sighed and came around the side to sit.
"This is awkward, but could you perhaps look past my discretion of your confidence to stay near Midoriko?"
"You still don't understand," Kurama whispered. "You've changed my way of life here, it's not some simple thing."
"But it's not like that. Your life doesn't have to be changed." Kagome whispered.
"It's like if a rumor got out that you were screwing the most popular guy in school who is a real prude and refuses to even change in front of people. If everyone else in the school wants him, they're going to target you. If it is false, you can just deny it convincingly. They just point and laugh at you from afar. If it is, then they will bully you to your face."
Kagome sat in silence, thinking about what he said. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"But there's something I can do about it," Kurama whispered. "If the boy never talks to you again, you're safe, aren't you?" he asked gently.
"Maybe," Kagome replied. "If they are jealous because he's still ignoring everyone else, then no. I'm still going to get picked on."
Kurama nodded.
"So Shiori's going to die if someone finds out she know about you now."
"Someone already has," Kurama replied. "They just don't have enough of a reason to want me dead."
"See? I get it. It's not like I'm new to all of this."
"Not speaking hypothetically, but metaphorically, you only know the root." Kurama replied. "There are forests of branches which can grow from that one little root within the blink of an eye, and no one would know what hit them."
"So tell me the rest."
Kurama sighed, "It's too much. Shiori being attacked would cause Hiei and Yusuke to react, especially if I'm not around. The politics of Demon World would just send it crumbling down like the supports were always broken instead of knowing how to react to a situation of that massive an attack. They might not get to her in time, and I fear what I would do, if I would bring down Demon World and Human World alike to kill whomever did it to her, or to find them. I don't want to think about it, so I can't make a plan, and that means I'm liable to do anything my heart wants me to do, which could include destroying cities, or villages, killing whomever stands in my way, and that cold would come back." Kurama grabbed his chest, balling his fist in his shirt as he stared at the counter. "It would crawl in like it was coming home again to a well warn nest instead of some bright sunny room shaken out to dry. I can't do it again, seeing Midoriko- feeling her was-"
"Slow down," Kagome patted Kurama's back. "None of that's going to happen, and you know why?"
Kurama shook his head.
"Because if you're next to Shiori, people will be too scared to come after her. When you're gone, with me, or at work, she can stay somewhere safe, like with my mom."
"Your mom isn't safe," Kurama replied quietly.
"What do you mean? We've always been safe and we always will be. The shrine protects us."
"If the shrine protected you, then you wouldn't have had an interesting life," Kurama reasoned. "I'm sorry Kagome, but you're not safe because of me. I put you in danger. I have no way to get you out of danger."
"I can deal with danger. What I can't deal with is you leaving us alone in the past from now on. We need you Kurama, and I don't want to take you from here until I know that you can come on your own." Kagome reached out and took his hand.
Kurama sighed, "This is too much for such a long conversation," Kurama grumbled, pulling away his hand.
Kagome reached out and pulled it back. "Alright, that's alright." Kagome nodded. She reached down and tipped out her bottle pulling out a shard before grabbing his hand again. Kurama stared at her, his eyes wide, body stiff.
"What are you doing?" Kurama asked as it fell into his hand.
Kagome folded his hand around it and held his fist. "I want you to keep at least this one until the rest is complete." She smiled at him. "I know how much Midoriko means to you, and I don't want you to feel pressured about coming back or going just to be with her. Just keep it safe. We'll talk later, okay?" Kagome pushed herself up.
"You leaving?" Yusuke asked as he came over.
Kagome nodded. "Thanks for the great food." Kagome put down the cost plus tip.
"No problem. Come on back next time you're in town." Yusuke waved.
Kagome nodded and waved back before leaving.