(Flashback)

Kagome flung an angry arm behind her, pointing towards the hazy darkness of the forest.

"That's all I get from you" she cried hysterically, "Emptiness!"

She fell to her knees, gasping.

"Empty glances, empty words, empty promises!" her fists struck the dirt in despair, her body sagged in defeat.

"You may be the one with the dog ears, but you are clearly master and I have been your pet. You beat me down…constantly"

InuYasha started at such an accusation.

"I-I would n-never hit you!" he stuttered.

Kagome's head was in her hands at this point. Her shoulders trembled violently as she futilely attempted to choke down her tears. Short of breath and unable to yell, Kagome could only speak in a soft whisper interlaced with sobs.

"You beat me down like the ocean wears on a stone. I was firm, I was steady…I stood for something. But y-you…." she paused as her voice wavered, "you come along and…. slowly but surely, all your false promises just grind me down into a useless piece of sand…. broken down to the smallest possible piece…until I become absolutely nothing" a maniacal chuckle gurgled past her lips before she could continue, swallowing it down she went on, "And I just let it happen"

Still on the ground, Kagome finally lifted her head and looked once again upon him.

"A secret visit here…a secret visit there…. she said, referring to the late night rendezvous that InuYasha had with the undead priestess—Kikyo—which InuYasha thought went by unnoticed. "It utterly destroyed me…every single time" an aching cry escaped Kagome.

"I knew what was happening and yet…" Kagome stared off into the distance as she gathered her thoughts. The seconds of silence reverberated loudly in the heartbeats of Kagome and InuYasha both.

"But…I'd wake up to you, by my side…or…you'd hold my hand when no one else was looking…sometimes I would find you just looking at me…almost lovingly...and that was enough to bring me back to you every time. You constantly broke me down, and did just enough to keep me by your side…so that you could drag me down even lower."

"I thought…" Kagome's eyes fluttered downward in embarrassment, "I was prepared to giving you everything…I thought we were bound to each other. But little did I know" her teeth gritted, "that I was just chained by you...chained down while you went and pursued Kikyo"

InuYasha sighed, "Kagome it's—" a frustrated hand combed through his white locks, "—it's not that easy to let go…we shared so much in our past and—"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE PAST YOU USED TO SHARE!" Kagome roared, her eyes widened in frenzy, "You lost the right to chase after your past when I promised you my future!"

InuYasha fell silent.

"I heard you!" she yelled, "I heard the promise you made to her! It sounded a hell of a lot like the one that you made to me!"

Kagome's arms thrashed around her as she spoke, impassioned.

"When we got the last shards of the jewel…my role in this era would be over and I would have to leave…the well would be sealed—or destroyed—either way…I could never return. So you…" Kagome's voice trembled as she pointed in equally shaky finger accusatorily towards InuYasha, "you held me. That night, when everyone was asleep…you pulled me into your arms and held me for what felt like forever"

InuYasha gave Kagome a pleading look, his golden eyes pained and begging her to stop the painful recollection. Kagome was unable to hold his gaze and hers fell once again. Her tears plopped heavily onto the soil below her.

"I felt so safe. I felt so loved"

Kagome's memory flashed the image before her: InuYasha had his head protectively rested on Kagome's while she stood nestled into his warm chest. She remembered watching the rise and fall of his breathing and how his haori rustled against her body. Her eyes were closed, her breathing had somehow become in sync with his, and the hum of his heartbeat had lulled her into a state of total tranquility—when suddenly the motion of his hand guiding her face upwards towards his, broke her reverie...

Kagome clamped her eyes shut in attempt to stop the images of InuYasha from flooding her mind.

"You said that whichever side of the well I was on…that's where you were supposed to be" Kagome inadvertently sent a pleading gaze toward InuYasha, her face earnest, wanting him to remember the way he felt about her—or at least how he felt when he made that vow to her.

"And I believed you" she said, accompanied by a bitter chuckle, "of course I did. And even after I caught you coming back from seeing Kikyo…the first time…the third time…the sixth time…I still believed you"

With arms outstretched in pleading, InuYasha stepped forward towards Kagome, a wordless apology trembling on his ashen lips.

"Oh no, but that's not the end of it" Kagome said with an almost crazed look in her eye, through a pained smile she spoke, "But it was that last time I caught you—that time…"

"Kagome please!" InuYasha's eyes begged her to stop

She wanted her words to hurt InuYasha. She wanted to force him to reminisce the moment when he became dead to her heart, With every intention to cause him pain with the memory…instead Kagome was rendered immobile and mute as the image of a de-robed InuYasha positioned intimately with Kikyo—in a similar manner of undress—flooded her mind.

Kagome recalled the way his bare back gleamed in the summer moonlight—and how his back muscles tensed at the sound of her crunching footsteps coming towards the pair. How prettily his hair fell over his shoulder…and pooled onto the glowing bosom of his old lover—and how it whipped around into a shimmer of blinding whiteness as InuYasha looked over his shoulder to see a speechless Kagome.

Shock, fear, embarrassment, anger…a flurry of emotions crossed his expression as he and Kagome stared wordlessly at each other. Kikyo rose to prop herself on her elbow, a dispassionate look of boredom on her countenance. InuYasha's mouth gaped as he looked away from Kagome towards Kikyo, but by the time his head had swiveled back to look upon her she had already fled.

X X X

Hey ya'll! Sorry it's been a minute—four years actually—but I just graduated from college so now I have tons of "free time" (unemployment) so I'm back! If there are any O.G readers from pre-2012, I re-did chapter seven so please take another read of that one. Also! I'm not sure how steamy I'm allowed to make this…there's no one under 12 years old reading this right? Can I put some adult situations in this or nahh?