When she woke, it was to the sound of footsteps padding rapidly through grass as it whisked back by force of Inuyasha's advance. She felt his arms cradled beneath her, one of hers absently wrapped around his neck and the other dangling freely, having fallen at some point during her slumber. She twitched as she came to, rousing her eyes to open; Inuyasha looked down, noting that she had stirred, but didn't stop running. Over his shoulder, Kagome could make out Kirara's belly as she soared above them; behind, a tornado of dust kicking up under Koga's feet revealed his presence.

"How long have we been moving?" Kagome's raspy voice struggled through layers of sleep, "Did I really sleep so late, and so soundly? That seems impossible."

But Inuyasha shook his head, speeding up a little to try and lose the wolf yokai. Koga stayed fast on his back, much to the hanyou's vexation.

"It hasn't been so long." He admitted, "We had to leave quickly, so we didn't wait for the others to collect the camp."

"So, it's just us?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha confirmed gruffly, digging his heel into the ground to give a leap. For a second, they almost came close to Kirara's height, but not for long before falling back down to the path. "You and I, the demon slayer, and the monk. And you know. The wolf."

"I don't understand." Kagome shifted in his arms, wishing he would set her down for a quick stretch, but their urgent departure had to have some sort of reasoning, and this took precedence. "Did something else happen?"

Showing no change to his expression, Inuyasha secretly bit the inside of his lip in frustration. The anxiety that had been bubbling since dawn began to spill over as he recalled the previous night's events.

Once he was sure everyone had fallen asleep, Inuyasha, still seated against a tree with his head hanging only slightly, gently inclined his face to glance around the now burnt-out fire pit. He gave a few strong sniffs to be sure of what he had begun to smell, a distinct and familiar scent moving at a reasonable pace toward the group. As he tested the air, he hoped he was incorrect.

In front of him, Kagome slept deeply, for which he was thankful. It meant there was no chance of her getting up and going off somewhere on her own with the jewel; it seemed even with an entire convoy of protection, this world was one of dangers she obviously wasn't accustomed to. Now this Naraku demon posed an even more treacherous threat. Perhaps Kikyo could have faced off with this enemy, but what chance did Kagome have? Inuyasha watched her chest rise and fall, even as she rolled away from him. He lowered his gaze again.

All he had wanted was to possess the shikon jewel and become a full demon. Now he had entrapped a weak mortal in a hazardous position, had sent a priestess into hiding, and the jewel lay in halves. Although he wanted to keep his promise not to hurt Kagome, even if it was only emotionally, holding in his rage at the circumstances had been trying.

Letting out a slow and deep breath, he cracked his neck and lifted his knee to rest one elbow atop, still watching Kagome in her sleep. He could see now that even with the small resemblance, she had her own look about her that varied from Kikyo. There was something softer, something sweeter. Kikyo was a beacon of graceful strength and power, but even when they had been closer, she had never tenderly grabbed his hand, had never sympathized with his experience as a hanyou, even seemed pleased at the thought of him choosing to become fully human. In such a short time, Kagome's compassionate nature and acceptance had surprised and comforted him. He found himself at peace in her presence, looking forward to her words. Perhaps her power was different, but it was no less a strength he had come to admire.

"She aint your wife yet." The stern interruption made Inuyasha raise his head again and look to the wolf, who he could now see, despite his unmoving position, had his eyes open, rage swirling behind them. "You heard me, half demon. You shouldn't stare at her in such a way. I understand you wanting to protect the jewel, but I won't let you be a lecher."

"I don't think it's any of your fucking business what I do." Inuyasha snarled.

"I know you smell the same thing I do." Koga's lips turned upward in a taunting smirk, "It's the priestess, isn't it?"

Inuyasha clamped his mouth shut, peering at the wolf, the space between them growing thick with the meaning of each unsaid word. When Koga earned no response, his smile increased and he continued,

"Kikyo will be here soon, and the truth will be out." In her sleep, Kagome let out a soft sound that made both men turn their head to assess her before carrying on with their conversation. Koga lowered his voice but maintained his argument. "You'll be given the true priestess and forfeit Kagome. It's as it should be."

"Why do you care, Koga?" Inuyasha's ears flattened to his head. He couldn't understand the pounding of his heart at the thought of letting Kagome go back to wherever she had come, of never seeing her again. He couldn't place why he cared either, although, it wasn't as if he made friends every day, and she had been kind to him. He wondered when she left, who would be kind to him then?

In his daze, he almost missed the next words out of Koga's provoking lips, now turned serious, his smile dropping completely.

"Kagome is going to be my woman." His voice took on a dark quality as he focused on Inuyasha, eyes daring him to defy the statement. "A woman like that deserves more than you."

"Y-you can't be serious." Inuyasha, at first too astounded to form a proper response, let the words sink in until he had unknowingly leapt to his feet, his voice raising with decibels of wrath toward the wolf yokai who continued to sit, stoic and unmoving. "What the hell would you want with her? You're a demon."

"A demon who can see what an idiot like you never could." Koga spat, crossing his arms to tap his claws on his biceps. "You saw her display of power, and even before that. Kagome displayed a strength being thrown into this situation that most mortals would never possess. I don't have anything else to say to you, mutt, aside keep your eyes and hands to yourself. Your thoughts even. I don't want to have to kill you, it would be a complete waste of my efforts."

"How about this." Inuyasha leaned forward with his claws poised to attack, "You get the fuck out of here before you don't have a chance, and never come back."

"You wish." Koga jeered, smiling as he leaned his head back. "I was hired by the villagers to watch over her and protect her from you, and that's what I'm gonna do. You know, until Kikyo gets back here. Then we won't have to hang around you anymore and I'm sure Kagome will be more than glad to get out of here."

Although he wanted desperately to believe the contrary, Inuyasha knew Kagome had wanted to leave since she'd come. It wasn't her who was supposed to be here, fulfilling the odd requests of a village he used to terrorize. He grimaced at the thought, and turned his back to the wolf demon, growling under his breath, "Good luck, fucking mongrel. As if Kagome would willingly choose to spend her life with a creep like you."

Leaping into the tallest branches of the tree he'd been situated in front of for most of the night, he hoped his outburst was correct. Koga didn't follow, which was lucky for him; Inuyasha was ready to wake the entire camp with a brawl if he had to look at his smug face one moment longer. Besides, he had more important matters to deal with before beating the life out of the delusional yokai.

In the tall heights of the forest, he let his nose do the work and lifted it to the winds. Sure enough, carried out on the midnight breeze, Kikyo's scent danced its way into his senses, warning him that the priestess had indeed made her way back and was on her way to the fountain, just as he was. Unsure what she meant to accomplish, he racked his mind for a solution. At first he considered running ahead to meet her and talking to her himself, but that would mean leaving Kagome in the hands of that bastard wolf, and he wasn't about to let that happen willingly. Besides that, Naraku could show up again any moment, and he wouldn't leave her undefended.

He sat for a long while contemplating his options, keeping his nose on Kagome's form laying below and Kikyo's as it approached. He couldn't understand why it should matter to him if Kagome had to leave, even if it was with Koga; Kikyo, Kagome, what did it matter? At this point, surely Kikyo would be the better option; she was trained to protect the jewel and could easily help him secure the second half. But even as he thought this, Kagome's hand touching his flashed through his mind, her words created a still pond in his chest: 'I know this world must be hard for you.' For some reason this subdued him, until the sun began to break over the horizon and he sailed back down to the ground, absolutely sure of what he had to do.

Scooping up Kagome as softly as possible, he carried her against him as he moved to the perimeter of the firepit where Miroku lay. Kicking him solidly in the shin, Inuyasha looked down at the now rousing monk, who groaned and reached down to rub his leg where he'd been so rudely woken.

"Wake the demon slayer." Inuyasha demanded, turning swiftly on his heel to next wake some organizers and inform them of his plans. "We're leaving."

Snapping out of his memory, Inuyasha realized his nose was heating up recalling the words of the wolf demon who now trailed behind them, surely listening to every shared sentence between them. Unconsciously holding her tighter, he knew Kagome was waiting for an answer, and had been for some time. Panicking, he snapped,

"You should know, you broke the jewel." Watching her wince in response, he instantly regretted the jab, but he had to sell it, or she may grow suspicious. "If I don't get the jewel, the contract is void. Besides that, you're injured. We're heading back to the village and I'm dropping you off."

"W-what?" Kagome's eyebrows furrowed and she frowned up at him in confusion.

"You would be useless and distracting in a fight against Naraku." Inuyasha bit each word, guilt bulging in his heart as he watched her face break. "At the village, you'll be safe. You can… you can go home even. I'll go fix the jewel, and then I'll come get you. We'll head back to the fountain from there."

He had to admit it wasn't a perfect cover-up, but it did work. At the village, Kagome would be safe as long as the villagers still thought she was Kikyo. Miroku and Sango had agreed to watch over her while he went after the rest of the jewel. Kikyo would head to the fountain, and he could intercept her on his way back and figure out the rest from there; he had no idea how to proceed afterward, but this afforded him the time to figure it out, defeat this pest of a demon and reunite the pieces of the jewel, all while keeping Kagome out of harm's way.

He pushed on, ignoring the girl in his arms as he ran. It wasn't until the smell of salt intercepted his thoughts that he looked to see that tears were rolling, one after the other, down Kagome's face.