It wasn't long before Koga found her, stumbling her way over a series of roots with some difficulty. He took a wide angle around the girl with the bow attempting to clear a thick root that had risen from the murky ground, and screeched to a halt right as she caught her foot on a jutting maze of boughs, launching forward with arms waving. The bow in her right hand clattered and she held her hands out to catch herself, but only found Koga's embrace as she ambled into him and he delightedly caught her, bracing her body against his.
"Oh, Koga. Heh, there you are." Out of breath from her excursion, she could hardly put on a good face to lie with. Koga raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't step away.
Instead, he pushed her against the offending tree that had nearly dragged her to the ground. He could hear Inuyasha advancing, but finally alone, he had to test what the mutt had doubted; if Kagome felt for him, he was going to find out now. Lowering his head so that his fanged lips journeyed toward hers, he closed his eyes, missing the way hers widened in shock as he moved. He planted his hands firmly on either side of her, fixed to the bark of the tree she was now pushed against. As he clenched the trunk at her back, she felt a wave of anxiety rising sickly in her throat. The memory of Hojo slamming her backwards, his fingers gripping her arms painfully, his delirious stare as he shoved his face into hers. She turned her cheek, just in time for Koga's low and sultry voice to rumble hotly against her ear,
"You don't have to run from the half-demon, Kagome." He licked his lips and turned her face toward him. "You should know, and I apologize for not having a moment to tell you before, he and I both scented Kikyo out just this morning. She has returned, it seems. You will soon be free."
"Kikyo?" Kagome exclaimed, suddenly ignorant to the way Koga's body flattened against hers, pinning her between the tree and his warmth so close it set the hair of her arms to raise. "She's here?"
"Yes." Koga nodded, gazing lovingly down at her perplexed face. "Soon enough, the priestess will be able to fulfill the duty you unfortunately fell into." Koga smiled, watching Kagome's reaction for any sign of disappointment, and when he saw none, only an expression frozen, he ventured forth boldly. Placing one hand on her waist, he ran his fingers down the curve of her body and pulled her even closer to him, resting his legs solidly against hers. Her head shot up at the contact as she remembered where she was, and she coughed slightly, raising a hand to his chest to lightly push him back. However, Koga caught it in his and mumbled against her fingers, "We won't have to covet alone time in such a way, although, if you wanted to be alone with me, all you had to do was a-"
Suddenly, he was gone from her sight, a flash of red and silver disrupting the moment, cutting Koga's sentence short. She heard the hefty whap of skin on skin and a series of grunts conflicting with one another as a struggle began, even as her hand still hovered in the air. Turning, no longer pinned by Koga and free to observe the two rolling around on the ground, Kagome watched the snapping twigs, rocks and dirt flying as Inuyasha, having wrestled Koga down, beat him wildly and repeatedly with one shaking fist. His other hand wrapped around the wolf demon's neck, squeezing with primal rage. Koga, caught off guard but quick to retaliate, pushed with his legs until he was able to roll from underneath him, jumping back and send a low kick flying outward to catch the dog demon in the face. But Inuyasha was quicker, leaping to his feet and hurtling toward Koga, fist flying into his stomach. Koga crumpled beneath the punch, groaning and wavering until he faltered forward to the ground.
"Stay. The fuck. Away from her." Inuyasha hissed through his teeth, for the first time since she'd known him displaying signs of exertion as his chest heaved. He slammed a final fist into the dirt next to Koga's head, dropping his face so his bangs covered his eyes. The warning left a crater in the earth where Inuyasha pulled back his clenched hand. Standing straight again and catching his breath audibly, he turned to Kagome, who watched with her mouth wide open as he stalked toward her. Eyes alight with enraged fire as he came closer, he flatly asked, "Did I interrupt something?"
The sarcastic voice implored her to respond, but the surprise of the situation and rapidity at which it had occurred held her tongue down as though weighted. She was glad to be out of Koga's grasp, but now she felt the guilt return, and remembered her bow on the ground. Stooping to collect it, she saw his eyes following her movements, immediately connecting her need to be armed with the distance they were from the camp.
"You ran again." Inuyasha's eyes surprisingly darkened with what she understood to be hurt, his lips turning down into a snarl. Kagome turned around and shook her head, sliding the bow over her shoulder.
"I wanted to check the perimeter for Naraku's aura." She explained, feeling no reason to lie. Even if the stupidity of having done so fully dawned on her when Inuyasha's brows shot up, and mouth fell open in response.
"You fucking idiot!" He cried, rushing forth to swiftly grab her elbow and begin staring her down with incredulity. She watched his eyes malfunction between fury and deep concern, the two emotions fighting for dominance of the situation so he could begin yelling at her one way or another. When the words evaded him, he furiously jolted back toward Sango and Miroku, pulling Kagome brusquely along behind him.
Jogging slightly to keep up, Kagome felt her hair pulled back by branches and leaves as they pushed through in a temper, led by a moody Inuyasha who continued a guttural rampage,
"To run out here on your own and try to seek out a demon that almost killed you, that's just ignorant! And what would you have done? You can barely shoot that damn thing, you're already wounded, and then what? I can't believe you would do this. You're such a-"
"Inuyasha, stop." Kagome demanded, only slightly louder than his ongoing tirade. He obliged, turning on her so rapidly she bumped into his chest and would have tumbled if it weren't for his hand roughly grabbing her by the small of her back, pulling her securely upright against him. She glanced from the ground to his eyes, now hanging directly in front of hers, and his breath panted against her skin, which gradually began to turn red even as Inuyasha hissed,
"How could you do something so reckless?" Her heart thumped as his hand, still nestled above her hip, flexed, fortifying her in its strength.
"I felt guilty about the jewel." Her voice shook, useless she thought and found the word escaping her mouth, "I just felt so useless."
"Look…" Inuyasha sighed, his eyebrows knitting together impatiently. He let her go to grab her shoulders, shaking her lightly in his frustration, "When I make a promise, I make a promise. And I promised nothing would hurt you, so you can't go running off alone, or you're going to make a liar out of me. I'm not kidding. Don't do this again."
"Inuyasha…" Kagome started, looking away. She stepped back from him, and he released her shoulders; she rubbed the spot where his hands had been wrapped around her arms short moments before. "Koga told me… he told me that Kikyo has returned. You knew this, didn't you?"
The air rapidly left his lungs and Inuyasha froze to hear the accusation; so, she knew. I'm going to kill that fucking wolf.
"I can see that Koga wasn't lying." Kagome softly understood, a ripple of sadness cracking her voice as the admittance hung in the air between them. She shook her head, "Then, I don't understand." As she continued, she watched the forest floor, unable to meet his gaze even as he stared, stupefied by the change their conversation had taken. "Don't you want a powerful priestess with you, Inuyasha? To help you fix what I broke? If it had been Kikyo all along, like it was supposed to be, this might not even have happened."
"You don't know th-"
"But it's true. Kikyo belongs here, and I don't." Kagome finally challenged his eyes and found that his were wide with what seemed like fear. It wasn't a look she had seen on him yet, and it held her off before persisting. He seemed to be at a loss, but she wasn't, though she could hardly raise her voice above a murmur, "I messed everything up just by showing up here. I'm not a priestess. I don't even understand why you don't just take the jewel from me. It's not like you couldn't take it from around my neck right now. You don't need me. So… why are you still keeping me here?"
"Kagome." Inuyasha rolled his eyes upward, realizing he would have to explain at least this to her, "Do you not understand why Kikyo had the jewel in the first place?"
She blinked at him, shrugging to express that she had no idea what he was talking about.
"Kikyo is a priestess. And whoever holds onto the jewel, can use its power." He folded his arms across his chest, recalling what he knew, "If it falls into the hands of those with an impure heart or intention, the jewel becomes impure and its power, dark. A priestess holds the jewel to keep it purified. And so long as it's been with you, it's remained purified, hasn't it?"
She thought about this quietly, unsure of how to respond. While she pondered, Inuyasha went on,
"Don't you remember what made Naraku run? It was you, and your spiritual power." He watched her look down at her own hands, remembering the energy that had blasted the demon away from her. "You are a priestess, Kagome. You just haven't trained your power yet. I agreed to let you train, didn't I? But you have to be smart about it and you have to be open with me."
"So then… you can't hold onto the jewel, without tainting it?" Kagome pieced this together slowly, her curious expression answered by Inuyasha's hardened one.
"Yeah, and I haven't been able to get my hands on it until now." He kicked at the ground in annoyance. "Now that it's in two halves, it will have to be purified and reunified to be of any use to me."
"So then, why not get Kikyo, if she is back?" Kagome stammered. "Why not just send me-"
"I'm not saying you can't go home." Inuyasha quickly cut her off, hoping to ensure to her that to keep her captive was no longer his intention.
"Then what are you saying?" Kagome asked softly.
He gulped as she lifted her head to face him, hands shaking. It had become dark, and the coolness of the forest lowered the days temperature to a chilly, damp gloaming. With her face shrouded in blue light, he revelled in how she looked, inquisitive, pressing him to explain himself, but flinching in the rapidly freezing air. Stepping closer to her, he remembered how she had appeared when cornered by Koga, cringing back in terror, and stopped before approaching her completely, only gazing at her with eyes that burned in the hope she would listen.
"I guess I'm saying, I'd like you to come back." He remembered how she had grabbed his hand that time at the campsite and decided it would be okay to reach out and slowly take her hand in his, squeezing her fingers softly. To his surprise, she didn't back away or pull her hand from his, only let him use the grasp to gradually close the gap between them. "But I also want you stay out of danger, for now. I-If Kikyo returns, then we'll settle the confusion. For now, the most important thing to me is hunting down the rest of that jewel and restoring it to its full state. Then I can bring it to you to be purified."
"But if Kikyo returns?" Kagome frowned.
"She is the one who ran away." Inuyasha grumbled. He wished he didn't have to explain why he wasn't scrambling through the forest right now to go find her and enforce her position, but there was no way to avoid it now. Especially knowing any minute that idiot wolf yokai could wake and interrupt what had been started. "Look, Kagome, it's no big deal, but I just… I got used to it being you. Okay?"
"Inuyasha…" Kagome beamed at him, squeezing his hand back cautiously, then abandoning his hand to reach her arms up in a quick motion and wrap them around his neck, giving him a friendly hug that caused his skin to boil to a burn. When she pulled away, however, her face was serious. Inuyasha's as well fell into a stern frown, especially as her hands returned to her sides, only to tense and shiver in the cold. "But there's one other thing. See, you were right. I broke the jewel. That's on me. I can't send you and Kikyo into a battle without at least trying to help. It wouldn't be right to cause such a mess and not offer my assistance in cleaning it up."
Inuyasha watched her for a while, then slowly reached out one arm, wrapping it around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest. She looked up with surprise as the cold air around her disappeared in lieu of two strong arms securing her carefully. With his face so close, he looked back down at her, unhurriedly removing his arms but keeping her inches from himself as he began rubbing his palms up and down her shoulders to her elbows. Warmth began to spread between them, and again he was amazed when she allowed him to do so.
"You really intend to stay and fight?"
She set her mouth in a line, determined. Nodding once sharply, she met his eyes with a spark of unmistakeable intent. But Inuyasha shook his head, his ears drooping noticeably.
"Kagome… why won't you just let me protect you?" He felt his lids dropping, hypnotized by the closeness of her and the fact she had openly stated she wanted to stay, with him, of her own volition. Unable to stop himself, he wrapped his other arm around her, enclosing her completely in his grip, reaching up with one hand to cup the back of her head and winding the other to rest along her waist. The motion left Kagome almost completely obscured by the red of his robes as they stood perfectly still.
Her body went motionless, taking in his words. Protect me? She thought, chewing her lip as Inuyasha's gentle embrace enveloped her. Doesn't he mean the jewel? Before she could question the comfort she felt being held in his arms, he drew back slowly, and their eyes locked together in a magnetic grip; neither could stop the rapturous connection. Incapable of drawing themselves free from the tension that held them rigidly in place, even as Inuyasha began to slowly incline his face downward, Kagome felt her own lids dropping as his had, relaxing into the meld of his arms– until she looked up and over his shoulder, and her eyes widened. Perceiving the change in her body, Inuyasha wasted no time in proving his statement and swiftly reached out to grab the hilt of Tessaiga, ripping it from its scabbard. Kagome gasped as the aging, rustic blade burst into a suddenly impressive scimitar, the size of which very clearly outweighed the arm that held it aloft with ease. Inuyasha stood in front of Kagome, blade raised, protectively nudging her behind his back with a hostile glance forward to assess the threat.
It was only a moment later that he lowered his sword, gaping in surprise.
At the edge of the clearing, Kikyo stood, watching them through narrowed eyes.