Kagome walked quickly to the well, the strain between slowing and speeding into a jog bothering her legs. But her thoughts ran far from her chosen speed. She knew Miroku and Sango were right, Kawayou was wearing the robe of the fire rat when he was captured. The demon may have barely scratched him. And as the sun rose, her son only grew more capable of defending herself.

But her cheeks still colored as the stressing thoughts rained down on her. The guilt hadn't subsided over her failure but she could only think ahead now. Think of the girls. She'd leave them in the village with Kaede. She'd be sure to it they were well defended.

And if she knew anything, it was that Kawayou was only being used as bait. They may not have had any intention to hurt the boy until their end goal was completed. And Kagome already knew what that was.

She took a deep breath and pushed back the dread that followed her. Looking up she saw the outline of the well.

And then he appeared.

Inuyasha fell from the sky to drop onto the grass just behind the well. Only ten feet separated them, and he looked at her with a new determination.

"Oi bitch. I hope you didn't think you would leave that easily."

Kagome breathed, watching him carefully. "Inuyasha." She said his name and the dog demon's ears twitched. "Sit."

The hanyou crashed into the ground with a ferocity he'd forgotten and he let out a yell before his face hit the dirt.

"I'm not here to fight with you today Inuyasha."

"Oi, how dare you!" He tried to stand against the subduing spell but the magical beads won and kept him pinned. He let out a growl that reverberated deep in his chest. "What do you think you're doing?"

Kagome moved to sit on the edge of the well, facing him.

"Having a civilized conversation with you when you learn to keep your emotions in check."

Inuyasha pulled again, this time wining and standing. He clenched a fist but didn't move much closer.

"When I learn? Kagome what the hell?" He could barely find a better way to say it. "You come back after six years and this is what you have to say?"

"I have a lot to say." Her tone went gentle and she found herself unable to look directly at him.

"And I'm sure you do as well. I just don't find this as the best time for it." Kagome was absolutely amazed at the stamina she managed to keep. Maybe four fighting babies was the way to grow that patience. It didn't however stop her heart from pounding at the closeness between them. Inuyasha never really left her life. There wasn't a day she didn't dream about him, didn't think about him. And that almost made her sad and still somewhat aware she wasn't ever alone.

Inuyasha growled. "I'll tell you the best time for it Kagome. I'm not going to act like nothing happened!"

She couldn't look at him. "Between us."

She found herself engrossed in the spreading light of day, the old wooden well, the bones at the bottom of the dark well. She couldn't look at him.

"I know you're mad that I never came back." She said.

A heavy silence fell between them. The hanyou's ears fell back, his eyes watching the girl sitting on the well. The sun rose behind her, the light making her outline utterly luminescent. He looked at her face, her eyes, her downturned mouth.

"Kagome." He whispered suddenly leaning closer. "I love you and you left me. Without an explanation, without anything. You were—" He hesitated at his next phase and decided against it instantly. Instead he added, more quietly than before, "You never let me help you. You wouldn't trust me to protect you."

A bit of the weight lifted off his heart when he finally said the words, his own sadness in the air growing.

"I know, I realize that now Inuyasha. But there were so many other things. So many other things to justify my decision. I didn't do it to hurt you. I wanted to stay with you forever."

The weakness in her voice almost broke his heart all over again.

He leaned forward, closing the distance between them but never reaching out to touch her. He didn't know what to do.

"But Inuyasha, I can tell you the same thing I told Shippou. If you really want to make it work, I won't stay away anymore. At least not until we figure things out."

Kagome's heart was burning as she forced out every last word. Finally, she looked up at him.

"But before then, we do really need to find your son."

Inuyasha's mind wheeled again, the smell of Kawayou reaching him as soon as his mental image did. Inuyasha suddenly cursed, moving back from her. "Damnit." He hissed.

He knew it but she finally said it. She admitted it to his face. His son, his only son. Stopping a growl before it rose in his throat, he spoke. And with the first word, a furious tumbling ran off his tongue, thoughts he hadn't even realized he completely had. But everything that could have ever packed into his mind raced out.

"Kawayou, my son." He almost growled, the frustration leaking out, not necessarily at her but in general." You can't just come back now and tell me I have a pup Kagome!"

"You don't just have a child," Kagome started to say over him but the hanyou continued to rage louder.

His voice carried over his and he kept at it. "This isn't even a human baby woman, this is a dog demon. Since when did you know anything about how to raise demons? Kagome, I don't care what happened. Kagome" His voice kept getting louder, "you should have told me! Woman, I would have done anything to be with my pup."

His nails started to dig into the wood of the well until it cried out. His heart just pounded louder as he let the pent up anxiety out.

"You have any idea how it feels one day to find out you have a six year old son that you didn't know about?"

"Inuyasha, I did what I had to to keep my children safe." She put emphasize on the 'my' and let her legs fall over the edge of the well. Her peripheral vision gave plenty sight of his ranting. She couldn't necessarily blame him thought. The idea tugged at her. She couldn't imagine what it would be like in his place.

"Arg, I would have protected them." He clenched his fists harder. "I would have protected them so don't give me that 'they would have been in danger' shit. I wasn't the one hearing voices."

Inuyasha listened to his own words before he could stop himself and went dead silent when the woman in front of him flinched. He scented the air, his muscles tensing as he realized the shift in the mood. Kagome looked up at him, her eyes unreadable.

"Uh, Kagome." The anxiety drained from him with the color in his face. He searched her face, a nagging feeling weighing down on him that he'd gone too far. "I didn't mean it like that—"

"Inuyasha," She cut him off. Reaching out, she put a hand over his lips, the touch sending a jolt through them both.

Kagome tried to steel herself, the burning of coming tears searing her eyes. She watched him for a second, desperately trying to built the nerve she so needed.

"I'm sorry about it. About not telling you. You did have every right to know but I didn't because I couldn't figure out what else to do. We all know I couldn't think straight." She breathed, the words coming out easier than she'd expected. "But regardless of what happened in the past, we do need to save…our son now. And we need to work together to do that."

Whatever the hanyou thought she was going to say, that was clearly not it. His face cleared as if he'd been suddenly slapped and he fell back enough to let her touch fall away.

"Why are you going down the well then? We can leave—"

He cringed internally at the words. His mind was spinning too much for him to voice a single thought. Instead he just opened his mouth and hesitated. The emotions and thoughts toppling each other into something he couldn't separate anymore.

"Forgive me Inuyasha," She said again, moving to look directly in his eye, "but I must return because you don't just have one…pup. You have four. And I need to get the others before I can leave."

Tensing her muscles, she pushed off instantly and let her weight fall into the well. The second to the bottom seemed endless and she hit the time abyss before he had the chance to answer.

~*~

A/N: Happy weekend people. Truth be told, I've struggled to decide how much to draw out this chapter but it seems like Inuyasha shock period keeps going on for two more chaps so I won't put you through the drawn out detail. Probably not that you'd care to know any of that but…

If you're wondering why this chapter was so late, the site was giving me trouble up until today. Which btw if you're wondering why there is no update or when the next one is, check out my profile. I'll post the details there.