Inuyasha did not think about what he was doing. As far as he was concerned, his life was over.

Kikyo was dead. Kagome was with another man. And he could think of no one else who would dare to love a half-breed. His friends would never take him back. He was a monster, and he knew it.

But at least Miroku and Sango had Kikyo's jewel shards. Kikyo was too smart to keep them on her dead body, giving them to the monk and youkai slayer before passing. The whole scene had only been a few minutes long, but it had been achingly drawn out to him.

And then I ran away, like a coward, instead of giving her a proper burial. Maybe they'll do that for her, he hoped. He couldn't go back and look at her. It would be too much.

As he ran, he tried to convince himself that it was for the best. His youkai half had taken over. He could have hurt his friends. It was only right that he got away from them. But his youkai half had faded, and still he ran.

It was a long time before Inuyasha decided to stop. By now, the sounds of the beach, though ringing in his memory, were no longer around him. He was deep in the mountains, and he suddenly recognized the area. It was close to where Koga's pack lived. But he did not smell the wolves.

"Feh, like I wanna deal with them anyway," he said, turning to go away from the caves that might hold more than wolf youkai.

Kikyo's scream rang in his ears. He flattened them against his skull, but that did not stop it. She had sounded so . . . terrified. She had never sounded terrified. She was always strong and brave. And the look on her face as bits of her soul spilled from the clay container . . .

Inuyasha stopped, making sure no one was around. And before he could stop himself, tears began running down his face.

He had lost the first woman he truly loved. It had been hard enough when she trapped him against the God Tree, seeing the look of hatred in her eyes. And how she reacted to him when she was first revived, blaming him for killing her when it was Naraku's fault. She hadn't known that he had loved her, even while she struck him with her arrow. And after thinking he could move past what had happened and be with Kikyo, maybe even bring her body back using the jewel, he couldn't stop thinking about Kagome.

He felt like he was betraying Kikyo every day, seeing Kagome and feeling what he did. It was difficult to choose between them, and he had never truly felt that he only loved one. They were both too good for him, either way.

Absorbed in his grief, Inuyasha did not notice the girl at first. She slowly stepped out of the woods, ears twitching with curiosity. She had heard the sobbing from quite far away, and her heart cringed at seeing the sad hanyou. Brushing her flame red hair back, she crept closer.

"Hello?"

Inuyasha stopped at the sound of the voice.

"Is something the matter?"

He looked up, and saw the young woman before him. Her brow was wrinkled with concern. "I heard you crying. Are you all right?"

He had not noticed her over his own self pity. Quickly drying his eyes and standing, Inuyasha glared at her and prepared to leave.

"You're a hanyou, aren't you?" The woman stepped closer. Inuyasha hesitated, quietly sniffing.

"So are you," he said. The hanyou woman smiled, unashamed of this fact. Dark stripes decorated her cheeks, two on each side, and one on her forehead. Tiger ears poked out of her head, twitching slightly. Inuyasha rarely met other hanyous, and his curiosity won out over his need to be alone.

"I couldn't help noticing you. I apologize for the disturbance, but I was running from some wolves. They caught me in their cave . . ." She looked behind her, suddenly nervous. "I was just so hungry." Her stomach growled, as if to emphasize the point. She yelped, and blushed as she covered her belly.

Inuyasha couldn't help it, chuckling a little. The girl was obviously young and innocent, the way she behaved, but she was also having trouble finding food. It was not in his nature to help any random person coming along, that was Kagome's job, but he needed to get away from the nasty thoughts that didn't want to leave him alone. He needed a distraction.

"Come on. I bet ya I can steal that stupid wolf's food before he can blink."

()

"Ring around the rosy!"

"Pocket full of posy!"

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall-"

"Down!"

The two children giggled endlessly, enjoying their new found game. Kagome had taught it to Shippo shortly before finding the Hana, and Shippo, in turn, had taught it to Rin. But their own twist had been put on it.

Jaken grumbled, unhappy but accustomed to his job as baby sitter. Tied to a tree with the two annoyances singing around him was not his ideal situation, but Lord Sesshomaru and the miko had left long ago to find a jewel shard. Jaken failed to see the importance of obtaining such a thing, but the miko had insisted that every shard she had was one less that Naraku had. And Lord Sesshomaru was willing to do what it took to weaken Naraku.

But seeing as Rin was eleven, and Shippo was close to that age physically, if not in actually, as Jaken did not know how fox youkai aged, he made the poor assumption of thinking the children were above such games. He was very wrong.

Bored with running in circles, Rin and Shippo left Jaken tied to the pine tree, sitting around the fire and beginning their endless chatter. Shippo had hung around human girls before, but Rin was especially nice, after spending so much time with youkai. Most human girls would be afraid when he showed them his fox fire tricks, but Rin clapped and urged him to do more.

"Rin! Let me down!" Jaken struggled with the restraints. His Staff of Two Heads was out of reach. Rin smiled back at him.

"But Jaken, you need to be closer with nature!"

The imp growled, still struggling. The kids laughed, and continued playing with the fox fire.

"I told you I'm good with arrows! I got the shard, didn't I?"

"Regardless, woman, you would have been injured had I not intervened."

Shippo and Rin stopped, looking to see Sesshomaru and Kagome coming back to camp. Kagome held a newly purified shard, putting into the small glass jar that held the others and tucking it into her hakama. Sesshomaru followed shortly, wearing his usual stoic expression.

"I thank you for the intervention," Kagome said, trying to be polite, "but I had my arrow drawn. I was going to destroy him in about two seconds."

"One more moment was too long to ensure your safety." Sesshomaru did not wish to argue with the woman, and wondered for a moment if he should have allowed the mutated turtle to eat her.

"Well, thanks again, I guess." Kagome had been worried about being left alone with Sesshomaru to deal with the youkai, a large tortoise like creature with a jaw twice as tall as she was, but he had remained silent the entire way to the shard. Kagome had exercised her new youkai speed, and found she liked it a lot, even using it in battle. But her confidence in the new powers was a bit high, and she had gotten very close to the dangerous youkai before preparing to fire her arrow.

Apparently, Sesshomaru felt it was too close. He had sliced the leg off the youkai before it had the chance the swing it's leg around and knock her over.

While Kagome was grateful, she still felt that she would have had enough time to shoot the youkai. But instead of complaining, she found the shard and purified it. Sesshomaru had not said a word about it until they had almost reached camp, when he felt it necessary to mention that a thank you was in order because he went out of his way to help her.

"I didn't ask you to come anyway," Kagome huffed, stuffing the shard jar into her backpack. "I am a highly skilled warrior priestess now, not to mention my youkai abilities. I can handle myself."

"Hn." Sesshomaru refused to say any more on the subject. Arguing with the miko was not something that pleased him, and bickering with her was something his brother would do. "We must leave." He swiped his claws against the tree to free Jaken, and turned away.

"Actually, I was hoping to go home." Kagome knew better than to anger Sesshomaru with fighting. But now she felt awkward asking for the favor. Sesshomaru did not yet know of her time traveling skills, and she thought it better to explain sooner rather than later. "We've been so busy hunting Naraku, that I haven't had a chance to see my mother in months."

"I have not seen my mother in centuries, and I do not desire to. Why should it be different for you?"

"Because I happen to like my mother," she retorted. "Please, Sesshomaru? I can deal with leaving my friends and having to get used to new powers, but I'm not sure I can handle all that if I can't visit with my mother and explain it to her." A sudden realization hit her. "She doesn't even know I'm a youkai! Sesshomaru, can I please go to visit her?"

"Miko, I will not take time out of my schedule to allow for frivolous visits."

"But-!" she protested.

"I am not allowing a visit, woman."

"My name is Kagome!" she screamed, unable to take this. It was enough that she had abandoned her friends and taken on a new life so that he could keep his precious pride after being saddled with her, but not being allowed a visit with her mother was unacceptable. She wanted to be mature and polite, but this was the one thing not up for discussion. "I would hope that you could bother to learn it, since we're supposed to be mates. And I never caved when your brother asked me to stop visiting my family, so I won't cave to you."

Sesshomaru paused. "We are going. I do not want to hear about this again."

"Ugh!" Kagome threw her hands in the air. "Please, Sesshomaru, this is the only thing I've asked for from you."

She felt a hand around her throat, and was slammed against a tree.

"Woman," Sesshomaru hissed, "I have given up my peace of mind, my position as a proper Lord of the West, and the convenience of traveling without someone such as yourself, all because I was told to by a plant. I am now trapped with a former human miko as a mate, and it is likely that the other lords of this land will question this, and you have no idea the kind of strings I will have to pull in order to not be dethroned by them, all for you, a person I do not care for. Excuse me if I am impatient with requests that will further slow my progress with Naraku."

Kagome gripped his hand tightly, frightened by the look in those golden eyes. Sesshomaru held her for a moment longer, before releasing her and turning to leave. Kagome rubbed her neck, making a note to avoid angering him again.

But she still wished to see her mother. It had been too long, and she felt the desire to tell her about everything that was going on.

"Sesshomaru," she said, much quieter, "I feel like I really need to see my mother. Please?"

He stopped, glaring at her. "No."

She frowned. He had a point, he had given up some things to allow her to travel with them, but this was ridiculous. She had a right to see her mother.

"Fine, then. You go on your hunt for Naraku. I'll catch up with you in a couple days."

He turned to question her words, but she was gone, the sounds of leaves ruffling as she ran away. Her backpack was missing as well. He growled, turning to chase her down.

"Oh, Mama," Shippo sighed, shaking his head. "She had too much pride to let him boss her around. Just like with Inuyasha."

"And Lord Sesshomaru was too prideful to let her go in peace." Rin sighed along with him.

Sesshomaru tracked her scent as it moved to the south, toward Edo. He would not allow the miko to get away with this.

()

Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but state testing and crap has taken up my time, again. And I'm still using my parent's work laptop, which isn't available most of the time. I hope to write more when I get my own laptop fixed.

Anywho, did you guys like this chapter? Kagome has been fairly patient thus far, and that patience can only last so long. I felt she deserved an outburst. As for Sesshomaru, I'm trying to keep him in character, which is why he's basically being a jerk. That will improve later, trust me.

Thanks so much for reading, guys! I really appreciate having an audience, and the writing practice is always helpful for this aspiring author. I'll see you next time, and don't forget to please review! Ja ne!