A/N: Oi! This is going to be very angsty! For a while I thought of putting it on Hollow, but I decided against it because I really liked the summary! Read and review!

     “For the last time, Inuyasha, I’m going home.”

     The furious hanyou had been struggling to make Kagome stay in the Feudal Era for at least an hour. Kagome had point-blank refused and he had almost lost control. He had even said that Kikyou would never stop taking responsibility.

     “Bitch!”

     “Oh, sure, now I’m going to stay,” Kagome remarked sarcastically, hitching her overstuffed yellow bag over her shoulder and glaring at him. “Feh,” he said, arms folded, defiant look in his eyes, and before he could even react, even move – he knew she’s going to say it – but she paused and a wave of relief washed over him, ‘she didn’t say it!’ and then “SIT!” Once more he finds himself pulled down, the weight of the necklace increasing until his face is smothered in dirt.

     “Listen Inuyasha, I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and so if you could please, please give me a day, just one simple day off so I can rest, I’d really appre—”

     “No.”

     He was almost going to say yes, the word had been at the tip of his tongue, waiting to come out, but all of a sudden, the image of Sango and Miroku laughing at him for being a ‘softie’ flooded his mind and he said no.

     “-ciate it...No? Why? Inuyasha, you know as well as I do that we’re not going to get any further in getting the shards! None have been sighted at all for the past few days and...and...What are you doing?”

     Inuyasha growled and walked closer to her, so close that he could see the depth of her eyes. He bent down slightly and latched an arm around her waist. Inuyasha slung her over his shoulder and for a moment she seemed too shocked to speak, but then she immediately yelled out and started hitting his back, but he didn’t let go.

     “Let me down, Inuyasha! Be warned, I will say it!”

     “If you say it, that means that you and I both are going to be slammed into the ground, and at the force of the impact, you’re face will be shatter and you will die.”

     She shut up and he had almost carried her to Kaede’s when she said, “Oi! Put me down, you stupid hanyou!” which at once was the wrong thing to say because he almost instantly stopped where he was and dropped her. Not harshly, but enough to make her cry out when she hit the ground. The next thing she saw was a very pissed off hanyou take a running leap into the forest and above the trees.

***

     “So....he left?” Sango said, taking care not to spill her tea as she whirled around and hit Miroku. Despite her effort, the tea slid over the rim of the wooden cup and splattered onto her hand. She dropped the tea and it clattered onto the ground, all the while spilling hot liquid over the floor. An anguished cry of “if you grope me one more time, so help me, I swear I will-”

     “-hit me?”

     “YES!”

     Kagome ignored them and knelt with a cloth to wipe up the tea and avoid getting hit with one of the many random objects Sango was throwing at Miroku.

     ‘All in all,’ she thought, rinsing the cloth in ice-cold water outside the hut, ‘they’re really like two small children, arguing over who ate what color crayon, except it’s who groped who and where.’

     When she finished she hung the rag on a peg inside the hut and walked outside to the forest. She loved the forest, the smell of a fresh rain lingered everywhere and ‘Smells like Inuyasha,’ she thought and then almost instantly chastised herself for thinking about him...not to mention smelling him as well.

     ‘...I’m sorry Inuyasha, I didn’t mean to call you a hanyou...’ she thought, but then, ‘in a way he deserves it! He knows how much I need a break – we all do – but does he listen?’ Kagome angrily kicked out at a bush, and stared in confusion when an “OW!” rang out.

     Suddenly, a small fluffy object obscured her vision and she stood, too shocked to cry out, wondering what was on her face and then she heard a familiar voice say, “Kagome?”

     “Shippou?” she said, prying the hanyou from her face and holding him in her arms. “Why are you hiding in a bush?” He smiled and then looked embarrassed, “So Inuyasha wouldn’t find me.” Kagome made to laugh and then saw that the small kit wasn’t smiling and instead looked worried.

     “Kagome,” he said, looking serious, “Do you think Inuyasha likes me?”

     “Of-Of course he does Shippou,” and when he made a cry of disbelief she added, “at least a little.” Shippou’s face brightened and he hugged Kagome around the middle, “You really think so?” he said, in one of those cute little kid voices, like when you give them a cookie and they almost die from happiness-overload.

     “Shippou,” Kagome said, her voice was soothing, and “would I ever lie to you?” “No...Sorry...” he said, not looking at her. “For what? wondering whether Inuyasha likes you or not is nothing to feel sorry for.”

     “Thanks Kagome!” he said, and then scampered off towards Kaede’s, and with a wave back he called, “I have to tell Sango n’ Miroku n’ Kaede that Inuyasha likes me!”

     Waiting until he was out of earshot, Kagome burst out laughing. The kitsune was so full of life, how could anyone, how could Inuyasha, not like him? ‘The only question is,’ she thought, ‘whether or not he likes me.’

***

     Inuyasha ran. He ran until he could no longer breathe; no longer feel the coolness of the air, or the wind lash at his face. As soon as he could breathe he ran again, just ran. Leaping over trees, huts, rivers, and even villages he finally slowed to a stop near a tall tree.

     He stopped at the base and looked up at its leafy branches, his face full of hurt. ‘How long have I been a half-breed?’ he thought, curling up in a branch and staring longingly at the sky. The one person whom he thought would accept him for what he was...the one person whom he trusted...It had took so long for him to trust people again, to trust anyone. Now the trust had been ripped away from him.

     Torn away, broken, by the one person who he trusted. The pain of being a hanyou, the pain of betrayal, and the pain of love...he had been through so much pain and yet no one could see that. All they thought was that he was trying to hurt them. Sure, he’d been known to hit Shippou, but it never fully made him cry. He was a demon, he could take it.

     Never a human. Never would he hurt a human. He had made that promise to himself so long ago, but not long after he met Kikyou. Sesshoumaru hated humans because his father had fallen in love with one. Inuyasha had once hated humans because they made him what he was.

     Inuyasha loved Kikyou. Kikyou had loved him. Naraku – Onigumo – loved Kikyou. So many divisions of the same thing: love. Love could blind people together, making them refuse to believe what is right in front of them.

     Inuyasha had seen so many times love go wrong, he had once overheard a foolish village woman say to another, “Kenji only hits me because he loves me, he loves me, and he wants me to be a good wife.” The woman was found murdered days later.

     ‘Love,’ he thought, and then hated humans. Hated them for bringing him to harsh reality, for making him want them, want to be with them so he wouldn’t be alone.

     It made no sense to him, why love someone? Love hurts; it rips people apart rather than binding them together. So why love? Why protect? Why do anything that would endanger you, anything that wouldn’t have a fairy-tale ending?

***

     Kagome wandered around aimlessly; there was no chance of going home. ‘Inuyasha...’ What could she do to make him feel better? to make him less resentful?

     A thought hit her, one of those thoughts that are in the back of your mind but you don’t notice until they sink their teeth into you.

     “What if...What if...What if Inuyasha goes after the shards alone?” she whispered. He’d never find them, not without her.

     If only she knew how much Inuyasha needed her, he needed her to be there by his side. She wasn’t just a damn shard-detector; she was a friend, maybe even more than a friend. Sure, Sango and Miroku were friends, but they were too caught up with themselves to be with him, to help him, but Kagome was always there, she was always there, like Kikyou had once been.

     There was no time to think of Kikyou. Kikyou, all she wanted now was to see that Inuyasha never loved another. She lived with only the will to kill. The once pure soul of Kikyou was now Kagome’s and nothing she could do would bring it – or Inuyasha – back to her.

     “Gomen nasai, Inuyasha!” she yelled, and then grabbed her yellow bag. “I’m going home!” She said, and then ran to the hut to tell the others in person. They nodded and said goodbye.

     ‘I can’t take it! As soon as he comes back to find me, and I’m not here, he’s going to go to my house and yell at me! I’m sick of it! He can find the damn shard by himself!’

     Her hand clenched around the small pink jewel. Kagome thought for a moment before ripping it from its chain and throwing it to the ground. Tears of anger streamed from her eyes and she ran to the well.

     Bracing her foot against the side, she turned to look back at the jewel, its pink light flashing in the sun. She had almost made it to the bottom when a strong hold gripped her wrist.

     “Just where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Inuyasha snarled, and pulled her back up. Kagome gritted her teeth in anger and dropped the bag to the ground. A wave of blue light shone from the well.

     “I’m going home.”

     “Feh, you wish,” Inuyasha said, using his free hand to grab her waist and pull her from the well. But Kagome had had enough and she screamed, “SIT!”

     Inuyasha’s golden eyes widened and the force of the necklace drove him into Kagome. Together they tumbled into the well...but without the jewel shards, they would hit.

     Kagome squeezed her eyes shut a split second before they hit. There was nothing Inuyasha could do to save her. He slammed into her and she was knocked unconscious. Inuyasha could feel himself growing sleepy, but before he fell asleep he pulled himself off of her and stared at her limp form.

     His claws had dug into her back and arm. The pressure of his body weight forcing her down had crushed her lungs. She was breathing harshly and he felt sick.

     The last thing he remembers is Kagome’s body, eyes closed, laying in a forever growing pool of her own blood.

A/N: Well? I’m not guaranteeing a happy ending either, it depends on how I feel. Anyway, did you like it? If so please review, if not, review anyway! ^_^ Oh, and read my other story TVCITDF, only a few more reviews till I reach 100! YAY! ^_^