A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to thank all of you that have stuck with my story-- it's really been a confidence booster lately; I can't believe I left for so long! I also would like to welcome anyone new to the story and would love it-- if you like this story, that is-- to pass this along to your friends :) Feel free to review with your opinions, good or bad. Constructive criticism is always welcome! Here's your next chapter-- enjoy! (I also apologize for the inconsistent lengths of my chapters -_-')

Chapter twenty-one: Goodnight Kisses

Inuyasha laid awake for hours thinking of what Miroku had told him. They had managed to recover the tape that might have showed them what happened when Sango was on duty. However, the tape was half melted and covered in miasma when they obtained it. The tape was too deformed to play, but they were analyzing the miasma as to find the owner, but it would take a while.

Inuyasha couldn't think straight; his mind was too focused on Kagome to do much of anything, more or less figure out whom a glob of toxic goop belonged to. He had to see her, he just had to. Kikyo had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and was latched on tight, if her moved her off of him, she would awaken almost instantly. Inuyasha sighed, and took his chances. Using inhuman speed, he jerked his arm away from Kikyo and instantly replaced it with a cylindrical pillow. He figured it would do. He crept over to the window as silently as he could, but to his dismay, he tripped on a brush Kikyo had brought in, and fell flat on his face. 'Shit, shit, shit!!' He screamed in his mind.

"Mmm, Inuyasha?" Kikyo mumbled into the pillow. She turned, and then went back to sleep.

Inuyasha sighed in relief. The last thing he needed was Kikyo interrogating him. He snuck out the window, ran off the balcony, and jumped. He had to remember where the hospital was, and then what room Kagome was in. He recalled her window facing to the west, so he'd just have to deal with trial and error.

When he made it to the west wing of the hospital, Inuyasha was fairly out of breath. With a great deal of dumb luck, the first window he checked was Kagome's. He took a giant leap and made it to the third floor of the building and stealthily opened the window, letting himself in.

The room was pretty dark, and bland— you could even tell through the thick blackness engulfing the room. The only two things that gave off any light were the moon, and the lime green line of the heart monitor. Fortunately, Inuyasha's demonic senses allowed him to see in the dark, quite frankly, he wished that he hadn't seen her. Kagome looked terrible, covered in sweat, and blood had leaked onto much of the bed and had caked onto parts of her skin, it would come out eventually thought. He cringed, she looked so pale and lifeless, this beating had definitely taken a toll on her, well maybe not the beating so much as the falling ten stories to your doom part.

Kagome turned over, and mumbled into the pillow right into the pillow as Kikyo had done. What he could make out completely broke his heart.

"No, please! Mom, Dad! Don't go! Don't let them get me!" Apparently, she was having a nightmare about her childhood. He guessed her life wasn't any better here either. The heartbeat on the monitor increased slightly. Kagome turned again.

"No!" She choked a sob in her pillow.

"Mom! Please, stop bleeding! Please." There was silence for a while, with the exception of the furious, yet quiet beeping of the monitor. Inuyasha feared the doctors would come soon, so he was getting ready to jump back out the window.

"Where are you going?" Inuyasha was startled, had she known he was here the whole time?

"Inuyasha!" Inuyasha sighed; she was still asleep, and apparently, dreaming about him. He would rather that she be awake than continue to suffer in the nightmare any longer.

Inuyasha paced over to Kagome, and nudged her shoulder lightly.

"Kagome, Kagome wake up, it's just a dream."

Kagome's eyelids cracked slightly, and then fell back down. Realizing someone was standing over her in the dark, Kagome's eyes snapped open immediately. She let out a muffled scream, courtesy of Inuyasha clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Shh, Kagome, it's me, Inuyasha." He said quietly.

Kagome stopped struggling, and silenced herself, as if searching for the name. Apparently, it came to her when she bit his hand as hard as she could.

"Owe! Kagome! What the hell was that for?" Inuyasha screamed. Kagome was silent, and then laid back down and pulled the covers over her face.

"Kagome, talk to me." He urged. She just turned her back to him. Inuyasha could feel the faint scent of tears coming from the slave girl. He walked cautiously over to her bed, and sat next to her. Inuyasha pulled the girl out from her cage of covers, and held her in his lap, being careful of the numerous IV's. Kagome just lay limp, trying to make it harder for him.

"Listen, Kagome…." He paused. "I know this is all because of me. If you never want to see me again, I understand. I can have you assigned elsewhere, and you'll be fine. I promise."

Tears streamed from Kagome's eyes, and streaked across her face. Inuyasha pulled her tighter to him.

"Hush, it'll be alright, don't cry, please Kagome. We can talk about this later." He said gently. However, she just continued to cry softly. They sat there for a while, in complete silence, there was a high tension in the air, and neither of them particularly enjoyed it. After what seemed like decades, Kagome shattered the silence.

"You like her better than me, don't you?" She asked softly, her voice hoarse from crying and lack of use. The question startled the hanyou.

"What? What are you talking about Kagome? You know I care about you." He said, pulling tighter on her yet again.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?" She forced a small laugh.

"Give me one reason not to." He said.

"You let the guards take me away." She said.

"I had no choice."

"You always have a choice, Inuyasha."

"Give me another reason." He said, upset she had been able to prove him wrong.

"You didn't bother to even try to get me out of jail."

"I didn't know!"

"Okay, let me rephrase that. You didn't bother to find out what happened to me after the guards took me away."

"Kikyo was all over me, I had no time."

"When I was being beaten, you didn't even bother to call it off."

"How did you even know I was there?" He mused.

"For one, I saw you there with Kikyo, and Sango told me the whole thing."

"And, you didn't even move to try and catch me when I fell."

Inuyasha bit his lip; he knew he had lost the argument.

"Is that enough reasons?"

Inuyasha stayed silent, thinking deeply.

"It's okay, don't worry about it, I think its just better if we don't see each other anymore, you obviously like Kikyo better, I think you two make a cute couple. Besides, why would you want to be with a slave anyways?" She less-than whispered. Inuyasha opened his mouth to protest, but Kagome continued.

"At one point I really thought I loved you…I— Its not meant to be," She choked.

Inuyasha remained silent now, the only movement that would signal him to be living, was the slight rise and fall of his chest when he breathed. Kagome repositioned herself in his hold, and lightly kissed him on the cheeks.

"Good bye." She said, and rolled away from him under the sheets, and went back to sleep.

Inuyasha stood up from the edge of the bed, and looked at Kagome wearily. His heart had just been shattered into a million pieces, and then crushed into dust. He would get Kagome to forgive him one way or another.

Inuyasha jumped out the window so quietly, Kagome didn't even know he had left until she looked and found him gone. A single tear found it's way down her cheek, yet again, and disappeared into the sheets of the bed. 'This is for the best, isn't it?' She questioned herself. "Oh Gods, what have I done?" She thought aloud.

----

Kagome awoke to the familiar bustling about of Rin in the morning. Rin looked up from what she was doing, and flashed a sad smile towards Kagome.

"Hey there, you awake already?"

Kagome nodded.

"That's good news, are you feeling okay?"

Kagome nodded again.

"Okay, something's up, what's wrong?"

Kagome just shook her head, fighting back tears.

"Alright, suit yourself, I just thought I should let you know, we're letting you out of the hospital tomorrow morning, you seemed to have recovered rather quickly. I've only heard of someone with spiritual, or demonic powers heal that quickly. We know you're not a demon, because the tests came back negative, but there's no way to test for miko powers."

Kagome just looked at Rin with a look questioning the nurse's sanity, but soon regained her normality.

Rin left the room, and Kagome went to think about last night. Had she dreamed the whole thing? She had been dreaming a lot lately anyhow. No, no, it seemed too real to be a dream. She would find out sooner or later when she had to go back and clean Inuyasha's room. But that would be too far off; either of them was likely to forget after five weeks time! As if the world were reading Kagome's thoughts, a different nurse popped in the room.

"Hi! Is this Miss Higurashi's room?" The nurse asked.

"Um, yes, yes it is, why?" Kagome answered

"I just wanted to let you know, when you're released from the hospital, you only have to serve a week tops, isn't that great? Oh, and you're friend Sango is completely bailed out" She squealed. This nurse was peppy. Too peppy.

"Oh, that is really, great, uh, thanks." Kagome said nervously.

When the nurse left, Kagome let out a relieved sigh, and plopped backwards onto her pillow. 'Boy, that was interesting, I wonder if Inuyasha had anything to do with that?' Kagome thought to herself. The nurse didn't really specify who, what, when or why, but getting out of jail weeks in advance was great! The slave girl closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the last day of no work, and peace she would have for a while, unless her beatings were this bad again. Kagome chuckled sadly, and then let the feelings of sleep overcome her.