A/N- Okay, fell way behind there, and I am SO sorry. I had so much going on. I've been to Canada and Florida for school trips in the last few weeks, and I just have been totally disoriented. I had this chapter typed weeks ago, the computer died and all files were erased. But it's cool; I like the rewritten version better. Anyway, I feel awful since this chapter is short, but I only had an hour or two to get this done. I hope you all enjoy this, because I for one love this chapter. Oh, and Megu-sama. Thank you so much for being such a loyal reviewer. I am flattered that you enjoy this story, and this chapter is dedicated to you. You were my motivation to get this scene done, and I'll be sure to try and finish the next chapter this weekend.

Oh, and my story turned one year old! Yahooo!

The Colors of Emotions

Chapter 37

Forgiveness

"Now, if I can just roll over onto my side, I can look around and see if he's around." Kagome nodded to herself at this chosen plan of action. Of course, moving proved to be much more painful than she had originally taken into account, but nothing she couldn't handle.

With a grunt and a few 'owws' Kagome had successfully turned onto her right side…and was faced with a tree. She scowled, "Everyone just has to fall asleep on the left side of me don't they." She sarcastically thought. Well, no way was she going to risk the pain of rolling onto her arrow wounds just to try and talk with Inuyasha right? 'Sigh' and Kagome rolled with as much momentum as could be made and landed softly on her other side. The searing pain made her shriek, but she quickly dove her face into her sleeping bag to muffle the sound. She didn't want to wake anyone up.

Too late. "Kagome, I've been awake all night ya know…"

Kagome frowned as she recognized Miroku's voice. "Well you could have said something, you jerk."

"Sorry, it was too amusing to watch you squirm around." Miroku laughed lightly.

"Sadist." Kagome mumbled into the fabric of the pillow case with a roll of her eyes. "Is Inuyasha around?" She questioned.

She heard Miroku sigh. "That's why I'm up. He left hours ago and I don't know if he's close enough to camp to keep adequate watch."

Kagome grumbled. "I wanted to talk to him."

"I could have guessed as much. You wanna kick some hanyou ass?" Miroku offered.

Kagome shook her head from where she had rolled to lie on her back. "No, I need to tell him what happened with Kikyo. And also, I need to tell him how sorry I am." Kagome whispered.

"You're too nice to him Kag." Miroku scolded.

"I-I don't know what's going on anymore Miroku. I've never been so confused in my life." Kagome confessed.

Miroku raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Naraku's continuous words ran through her mind. 'He will leave you. You will kill them in the end. What do you call them? Friends?' "It's nothing Miroku."

Miroku could only nod his head. He wouldn't push her for questions. Not right now. "Do you want me to find Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

Suddenly a rustle was heard as someone stepped into the camp.

"No need. I'm right here." Inuyasha announced, whispering of course.

Kagome turned her head slightly in the direction of his voice. "Can- Can we talk?"

It had been difficult to pick Kagome up without hurting her. But she insisted on walking on her own, and Inuyasha acted as a crutch with one arm around her shoulders, and one of hers barely reaching around his. Kagome limped along applying most of the pressure to her right leg, as the two went to a private place to talk. Inuyasha assured that he had found the perfect spot for such a thing, and Kagome had only to follow along…well, more like limp along.

The pair finally broke out of the brush to come onto a gorgeous cliff top, overlooking a huge forest. Kagome gasped at the beauty as her eyes scanned the treetops.

            "Pretty cool huh?" Inuyasha asked, as he sat down a few meters from the cliff's edge. He carefully placed Kagome in his lap, but she scooted out of the intimate position.

            "We need to talk seriously Inuyasha. And I want to talk to you face to face." Kagome insisted when she saw the slightly hurt look on Inuyasha's face. Slowly, she sat herself down with only a slight twinge of pain, and sat upright with her legs stretched out in front of her. She realized then that she was wearing his haori.

            "Thank you, for the haori I mean." She began what was sure to be a difficult conversation.

            Inuyasha blinked at the awkward statement. "Uh, yeah sure, not a problem. I mean, you wear it all the time anyway." He smiled.

            Kagome turned from him then as she couldn't bear to see his face when she said this. "She isn't coming back Inuyasha."

            "Wait, who?"

            Kagome almost fell over at that. But she still couldn't turn to see his face. "Kikyo. She's dead."

            Inuyasha was so confused. "I am fully aware that she is dead Kagome."

            Kagome whipped her head to look straight at him, and the hanyou was shocked to see tears starting to form at the corners of her beautiful eyes.

            "Kikyo is DEAD. Permanently. No more of you two seeing each other. No chance for you two to be together. I just killed the woman you loved!" The tears were flowing freely now. Inuyasha made to embrace her but Kagome scooted further away. "You don't get it! Why aren't you angry at me? You should be yelling at me, screaming at me!"

            Her sobs quieted and she looked up once more to meet his heated gaze. "All I can tell you, is that I am so, so sorry." She sniffed. "I know you loved her, and I'll understand if you can't sob can't forgive me. I don't think I can even forgive myself."

            She turned away. "I'll understand, if you…if you want me to leave. I'll go home. There aren't any shards left to find, and I" But she was cut off.

            Inuyasha had grabbed her shoulders and somewhat roughly turned her to face him. "Kagome!" He yelled to force her to look at his eyes.

            When she did, he continued in a softer voice. "I would never want you to leave."

Inuyasha leaned forward, and when his lips were just a breath away from hers he whispered, "I don't think I ever truly loved Kikyo." Then he paused. Kagome's heart did a flip flop. He continued, "There is nothing to forgive."

            And his lips met hers in a gentle kiss.

            Kagome was stunned for only a moment before she leaned into the kiss. He had forgiven her, and the relief was so wonderful that the moment was made just about perfect. The kiss deepened, and everything felt so right. No nervousness, no being timid. Inuyasha's tongue ran across her bottom lip, and Kagome slightly opened her mouth…

            Then a horrible thought occurred to her.

            Kagome jumped away quickly leaving Inuyasha to look extremely hurt, and also slightly zoned out.

            "Kagome?" He questioned her, hoping her coldness had an explanation.

            She looked suspiciously at the hanyou. "How do I…Are you real? Is this real?" Kagome questioned.

            Inuyasha smiled. "Of course it's real. What, have you dreamed of this before, or…?" Then he caught on to what she really meant. "You-you think this…?"

            Kagome cut him off. "How do I know you're not Naraku? Or maybe this is all a vision, and something horrible is about to happen to make me attack." She looked so scared. "I…I don't know what is real anymore." She whispered.

            "You think I could be Naraku?"

            "He's done something like this before." Kagome admitted.

            The anger rose immediately in Inuyasha. "He impersonated me and kissed you! That son of…"

            Again, Kagome wouldn't let him finish, "Make me believe this is real!" She pleaded with tearful eyes.

            What could he say? There was nothing that could automatically assure her that he was indeed Inuyasha. He took a deep breath.

            "You came through the well from another time. I hated you. I was forced to travel with you. I have always been alone, but your kindness is like a magnet, and friends have stayed with us, because of you. I've hurt you, betrayed you, yet you never leave. You have tears for any occasion. You cry when you're sad, angry, or when you're happy. I've come close to losing you too many times." But Inuyasha was on a roll.

            "Kikyo was good to me. But she never accepted me. Kagome, you have an open-mind to everything. You trust me, a worthless hanyou, with your life. And that has made me more than a worthless hanyou. That has given me a reason to keep going, to protect you…"

            Kagome was speechless. Inuyasha was proud of himself for telling her all that. After all, those words came out pretty smooth considering he'd been pondering this whole topic of his feelings for the past few hours. That was as close to an 'I love you' as he could manage right now.

But it worked.

            Kagome had tears running from her eyes. "Happy tears?" Inuyasha questioned.

            Kagome flashed a beaming yet wobbly smile and nodded her head. She lunged at him and caught him in a huge embrace. Inuyasha slowly backed up, placed his arms around her and kissed her deeply. Kagome returned the kiss, molding her mouth with his. It was slow at first, but the pent-up passion became too powerful to keep things slow. Inuyasha's tongue slid into her mouth, and explored her. The sensations were incredible, and Kagome was having difficulty thinking straight. They broke apart to breath, and Inuyasha gave her a dazzling smile.

            "He doesn't love Kikyo."  Was her last thought, as the jewel shard glowed a brilliant color, and Kagome fell roughly against Inuyasha, unconscious.

            "If I am correct, your emotions seem to take on a color of the spectrum. Since protection is a more powerful emotion then anger, the color it had when released was higher up on the spectrum then that of anger. The colors of the rainbow correspond to the colors of your emotions. If blue had enough power to throw Inuyasha against a wall, I fear what emotion corresponds to red. If my theory is right, the most powerful emotion will take on a red color, and it will be extremely deadly if shot out randomly."

            The jewel still glowed a faint red as Inuyasha hurriedly carried Kagome's unmoving form back to camp. He was overcome by a sick sense of deja-vu, although Kagome had a steady heart beat and was breathing, and she would most likely be okay.

            Inuyasha was lucky that Kagome had the jewel shard on. For her emotion was indeed red. But the hanyou hadn't heard Kaede's words, and no one was aware of what the consequences of Kagome tapping into that particular emotion were.

After all…love makes one do crazy things.

Love you all!

Meg (vold)