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"Does it hurt?" She asked.

"Huh? Does what hurt Kagome?"

"Your chest...does it hurt." She crooked her head up slightly to catch any expression; his face however was blank. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"No... I mean, it did but, it doesn't now." He kissed the top of her head. Kagome shivered a little bit as the air inside the musty and poorly lit cave made her skin prickle. Inuyasha noticed immediately and reached for a blanket that Kagome had neatly lying beside the sleeping bag. Unfolding it, he placed it over the both of them feeling a bit chilly himself. His strength was returning, he could feel it. Or perhaps... that was a tiny remnant from what had taken place between the two of them, he was unsure. Whatever it was, he never wanted it to leave his memory. He closed his eyes and listened to her breathing slow as she started to drift to sleep.

"I love you Kagome." He whispered to her as he stroked her hair.

Kagome smiled. Falling asleep to the steady beating of his heart resounding through her mind. He looked down at her as she slept in his arms, so sweetly and rested his head atop hers. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts float away, freeing every worry from his understanding.



A tiny bit of light from the morning sun seeped from the distant aperture of the cave. Kagome awoke first, lying on her side. Inuyasha was snoring quietly in her ear, his arms cradling her snugly, embracing her intimately against his body. Kagome grinned, remembering how tender he was... remembering his words. Strands of his silver hair washed over her shoulder and tickled her back as she shifted, interlacing her fingers with his now clawed ones. At the gentleness of her touch, he awoke with a leer and hugged her warmly, kissing her shoulder.

"Good morning you..." Kagome whispered to him craning her neck back to see his golden amber eyes staring at her. Smiling.

"Hi." He cheerfully answered. He felt magnificent... better than he had in a long time, his tension had disappeared; all worries seemed to have vanished from his mind. The gash that had been inflicted to his chest was now merely a scratch on his skin. He drew in a slow breath and sighed.

"I suppose we should get dressed... Miroku will be breaking that barrier pretty soon I think... if they see us this way, there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that we..." he hushed as he neared the end of his words. Kagome stared off briefly considering the idea of getting caught in Inuyasha's arms, mutually indisposed.

"Ugh, you're right Inuyasha..." she stayed stilled for a moment before sitting up. Inuyasha watched her stand and walk over to her knapsack. Her creamy white skin intrigued him as she pulled a change of cloths from the bag. Studying her naked figure as she laid them aside and walked around the area collecting her scattered clothing.

"Shit..." she muttered. Inuyasha laughed. He had never heard her voice a cuss word before.

"What's the matter?" She lifted her uniform shirt to his line of view.

"This... it's kinda... ripped Inuyasha..."

"Eheh... sssorry about that... but, those 'buttons' are a bitch Kagome! And besides, you have another change of garments." He pointed to her Knapsack. Kagome laughed and picked up the rest of the clothing, shoving it into the bag before again lifting the cleanly folded change of outfit. As she finished putting on her undergarments and picked up the fresh dress so that she could cover herself, Inuyasha stood. She glanced over her shoulder at his exposed form and couldn't help the grin that escaped her, plastering itself on her lips. He walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, moving them down her arms and kissing her neck. She dropped the dress from her grasp as she had an overflow of flashbacks to the night previous. One thing was for certain she thought... s/he loved his touch, no matter what his appearance./

"Inuyasha...stop that!" She laughed, turning to face him. "I need to get dressed and... so do you!" She looked down at his bare body. He released her shoulders with a sigh of defeat and went to gather his clothing as well. Kagome collected the dress from the spot at her feet where it had come to rest. Lifting her arms she slipped it over her head, letting the dress fall over her body until it was perfectly hanging from each of her curves. She tidied up and then turned her attention back towards Inuyasha. He was now dressed and trying to roll the nylon sleeping bag up. She was generally amused by his efforts and she walked over to help him.

"Sorry, I can't really seem to get it how you had it before." He moved back as she took over his task, rolling the sleeping bag up and putting it into her knapsack. She looked around the area, scanning the ground to be sure she had gotten everything.

"Well... It looks like everything is cleaned up now Kagome..." He reached out to her again and pulled her to him. He brought a hand to her face and outlined her jaw with his finger, looking directly into her eyes.

"And, we are still.../alone/" She added.

"That we are." He paused... sweeping her hair from her eyes. "Kagome I... I meant it." He brushed his other hand across her petite waist. Kagome looked fixedly into his amber eyes with questions in her own.

"Meant what?" She asked with a hopeful tone.

"This." With that, he drew her chin closer to his mouth kissing her deeply, with more passion than she had ever known true. Her legs started to give out like they had the first time he kissed her, and like before he just wrapped his arms around her tighter. Embracing her as if he never wanted to let her go. When the kiss was broken, Kagome found herself speechless for words.

"Wow..." She finally managed. "I... I mean...wow." Her stammers made Inuyasha laugh quietly to himself.

"I Love you Kagome-Chan. With all of myself I do." She eased her tension at his words, realizing that she was smiling yet again.

"Inuyasha I ...I love you too... last night was... was unlike anything I could have even imagined that to be." She held his back as he reached his hands to her face once more, feeling her cheek under his nail...gently.

"Kagome, when this is over... with Naraku, and the jewel is whole again... I... I know you have to choose. I also know that there are commitments to the future as well as here, but... when it's done... I also realize that... you no longer have anything here..." He looked away, choking back emotion. Kagome felt the tears imbue her eyes as she cocked her head, trying to call his attention back to what he was trying to say.

"That's not true Inuyasha. I have Sango, Miroku, Shippou... my friends.... And /you/." He turned his face back to her at the mention of him. She could see tears in his beautiful amber eyes as he swallowed hard, trying to prevent them from spilling. She hadn't seen him cry since... /since he thought she had died from the poison/. He finally found his voice, and continued his speech.

"I know you have to make a choice, as well as I do. I just want you to know that... that no matter what you choose, I will always love you... I would give my life for you..." tears were streaming down his cheeks. He was so vulnerable, so sweet that she couldn't help but join in his tears.

"I know. And yes... I do have a decision to make, but I really cannot think about that right now Inuyasha, I can't focus my worries on that... I can't let that cloud me from the task. I will make a decision when it is time... then and only then... any sooner could prove a mistake, or too painful." She wiped his tearstained face with her hand and reached up to kiss his cheek. He sighed, trying to find his composure. She embraced him for a moment before abruptly jumping back at the sound of Miroku's staff echoing through the cave.

"Lady Kagome, Inuyasha I believe we should...be ...on our... um... what is going on?" Kagome was blushing as she picked up her knapsack, preparing to leave, but Miroku seemed to be solely referring to the look on Inuyasha's reddened face and puffy eyes.

"Nothing you nosy bastard! What's it to ya?" Inuyasha became defensive.

"Inuyasha have you been ... crying?"

"No Monk... why the fuck would I be crying? That's dumb." He grabbed Kagome's arm heading to the opening of the cave. Miroku was a bit perturbed at Inuyasha's defenses but he chose to write it off. Better not to push this... he thought.

"You coming monk?" He barked staring at him, obviously annoyed by something. Miroku simply nodded and walked from the entrance calmly.

"Cute outfit Kagome!" Sango said upon greeting the blushing girl. "Where are your other cloths?" The innocent and easily explainable question caused Kagome to stutter as she answered.

"In my um... Knap...Knapsack Sango... they, they were... dirty...and...torn from the um...battle eheh..." She had a silly grin on her face at the justification she had given her inquisitive friend. Sango looked at her with her eyebrows up, knowing that something was off. She wondered why Inuyasha seemed calmer than he should be, and what was with Kagome. What the hell happened in that cave last night? She pondered. Miroku broke her thought when he grabbed her elbow.

"Let us just.... go everyone... okay? We have quite a long voyage back to Kaede ahead of us." With that Sango scooped the untransformed Kirara into her arms and turned her attention to the path ahead of them. Miroku had his arm around her waist... surprisingly not touching her backside, and Shippou leaped into Kagome's arms. Inuyasha crossed his and glared at the young kitsune a bit angry that Shippou couldn't just trail off with the monk and leave him and Kagome to walk on their own.

"Runt." He muttered under his breath. Shippou heard his whispered complaint and tugged at Kagome. She shot a look of plea to Inuyasha, making him feel slightly bad for being so cruel to the little demon that was in her arms. They continued to walk saying not a word, but... it was anything but awkward, in fact, it was peaceful. Shippou seemed to lull of in her arms with the rhythm of her walking. When he was finally certain the kitsune was out, and Miroku and Sango were a bit ahead he decided to speak.

"Kagome... um, I'm sorry." She looked up at him with a bit of confusion on her face.

"For what Inuyasha?"

"Well, I don't think I am real sure for what... but maybe, the way I acted earlier... crying n' all... and being so rude when Miroku came to get us... and for being mean to Shipp-"

"Inuyasha, calm down... it's quite alright. Promise. Everyone has their defenses, at least you aren't blushing as badly as I have been... heh, it's just ... so strange... knowing what we did, knowing that..." She looked down at Shippou uneasy about her choice in words.

"I know, but... I mean... it didn't feel wrong... it felt as if it were completely natural for us to be... you know..." He stopped letting a smirk escape at the memory of how sweet she had smelled, how she welcomed him inside of her... how if felt to be inside of her, just the way it felt to hold her in his arms, and to touch her soft porcelain skin.

"Yea, it wasn't as... dreadful as I thought my first time would be. It really did feel natural, like we were supposed to be doing that." She sighed, straightening herself as she continued to walk at the slowed speed. "Inuyasha I ... I'm glad." He looked to her, cocking his head and raising an eyebrow.

"Whadaya mean Kagome? Glad about what?"

"That it was you... Inuyasha I really do love you, my feelings are very... true, and I am also glad that you feel the same... that you love/ me/. I know that if I ... if we didn't feel that way then, I ... oh... I don't know! I feel like I am just rambling now!" Shippou stirred at Kagome's tension. "Maybe... maybe we should stop talking about this... I don't think it would be a good idea if Shippou knew..." That was one thing that they both agreed on. "We can talk about it tonight?" Inuyasha perked up.

"You mean... when everyone is... /asleep/?"

"Yea. I suppose, if you need to talk about it... though I think that we have said everything that we need to say... we both know how we feel about each other and... about what happened..." She smiled intently at him.

"Yeah you're right I guess." Inuyasha snapped back to reality paying more attention to where they were going than trying to think about anything. His thoughts and feelings seemed to be getting him in too deep with everything lately. It was silent between the two of them for the rest of the way back to the village; there was a tranquil air amongst them, calming, reassuring. Their emotions were so strong that there was no need for words.

When they arrived at the village, it had gotten dark and the only thing on anyone's mindset was to wash up, eat, and sleep. Sango and Kagome headed to the nearby spring to clean up and talk. Kagome was in desperate need of a bath, she yearned to get the dirt from the fight off of her body; she needed to clean thoroughly in other places as well.

As they undressed they talked about the guys and how terrifying Naraku's threat had been, they also talked about the demon that had attacked near the cave.

"So it wasn't in possession of a shard Kagome?" Sango questioned.

"No, actually... that was very confusing because... it apparently hadn't been sent at Naraku's hand then, right?" Sango nodded as she felt the water temperature with her toe. Kagome slipped out of her undergarments suddenly noticing that something was unusual about them. There was blood in them. Sango noticed Kagome's fear inflicted face and looked down at the cloth that had put her into her shocked state. She gasped.

"Is that... blood/? Kagome, I thought that you already /had your moon cycle..."

"I... I did Sango... I...I shouldn't be getting it for another few days... I... it must be because of last nighee..." she trailed off realizing what she was saying. Sango looked at her with her mouth hanging as Kagome just looked down.

"What about last night? What exactly ... happened in that cave Kagome?" Kagome gave her a knowing look and let out a sigh. Might as well tell her, after all... she is kinda my best friend... Kagome made her way into the spring. The water felt so refreshing against her skin. Sango followed her actions, slipping into the warm water. Here goes Kagome thought.

"Well, last night...I um... Inuyasha um... Sango he told me that he loved me, and that he wanted to protect me. I told him I would be lost without him... that I wouldn't know what to do if I had lost him because of his unnecessary bravery." Sango's eyes were wide as Kagome spoke.

"You guys confessed your feelings for each other? Oh my... Kagome... he told you how he felt?"

"He practically spilled his heart out and um... but that's not all that happened..."

"Did you guys kiss?" Kagome looked as if she was getting nervous again but Sango's attention was nowhere else. She had to know now.

"Yes, actually... we kissed..." she suddenly felt herself turn very red and unable to find the strength or courage to continue causing an awkward silence. "We kinda did more than kissing Sango." She started at Kagome mouth dropped, eyes large.

"You don't mean you-" Kagome cut her off frantically speaking.

"Well, one thing just kind of led to another...we were talking and then he kissed me and kept kissing me, so deeply and... well one thing led to another and before I knew what had really happened, he had lifted me off of the ground... and we were... undressing each other... and then... he...I... we... we um-"

"You slept with Inuyasha Kagome? You were a virgin right?"

"Yes... I was completely... that was the first time I had even been KISSED that way..." She paused. "...It hurt at first Sango..." she looked away consciously, Sango put her hand on Kagome's shoulder perceptively.

"I know it does." She stated. Kagome sat silent for a moment. Wait...Sango? How does she know? Kagome whipped her head up with her eyes wide. Sango looked embarrassed.

"You mean you know /know? But how...? Who? Was it...?" /Miroku./ Sango was intimate with Miroku? Who else could it have been.../

"Yes. Kagome, and yes again, it was Houshii... actually, it wasn't that long ago. Do you remember the day that those women in that village forced a salamander demon down my throat? And Miroku had to fight me?"

"Yeah... I do... what about it?"

"I know that you and everyone else was watching when he asked me to live with him... when he asked me to ... bear his children." She turned red.

"Yes... and you agreed. He admitted his feelings."

"Yeah... well um... that night... we well.../you know.../you had gone to sleep, Inuyasha was actually asleep as well... Miroku and I had a few more words to exchange with each other regarding his flirting/... he agreed finally to TRY and stop flirting. I figure that's good enough. We were just sitting there, near the water... he put his arm around me, and then... we just kissed. When we were on Mt. Hakuray, we both thought that we would die... I discovered just how much I /do care for him. So when he asked me... with all his sincerity, I was overwhelmed. But that's not what I am trying to say..." she seemed to be holding back tears.

"You okay Sango?" Sango looked at Kagome with glazed over eyes.

"I love him so much Kagome... but I... I am so scared..."

"Scared? Of what? He loves you too..."

"I am terrified that ... that being intimate with him so soon may endanger us. Endanger the chances of our children..." she looked away nervously.

"Sango are you saying that you regret it?" Sango spun her head back quickly.

"NO! Never... I... I mean I never knew that Houshii could be so... so perfect... so respectful of me... of my body. Ugh... he was soooo in tune with my needs... it was very... emotional. He kept asking me if it was okay, like he didn't want to hurt me or somethin. I got emotional... I could see the tears as he looked at me. I could feel his emotion with every move... but that's... that's not why I am so scared." Kagome didn't understand what Sango was trying to say but it obviously affected her thoughts.

"Sango, um... you can tell me."

"I am so glad that you know... it has been driving me insane for the past month that I couldn't tell anyone... but I have a problem... and I mean a big problem." She paused for a moment choosing her next words carefully. "Kagome I think... I think that...that I may be expectant..." Kagome's heart stopped at Sango's words.

"Sango, you think you might be pregnant? Well, um... how do you know?"

"I missed my moon cycle... it's been an entire week since I was supposed to get it... I... I want to have his babies, but right now it's ... well, it's too dangerous." Kagome's thoughts started to race. /Poor Sango.../It then entered her mind that she could go back and get a pregnancy test for Sango... It was in fact the best way of knowing for sure.

"I know how to find out... but I need to go back home to get it... do you think that you can stall off for a week until I can return?" Sango shook her head.

"Yeah... but what could you possibly have that would be able to tell that sort of thing?"

"Just trust me okay Sango? Everything is going to be alright...I promise." They finished bathing and headed back to the village where the others were sitting around a fire eating ramen.

"Inuyasha...I have to go home tomorrow, not for long just a few days. I remembered a test that I have to makeup at school. I do tend to fall behind quite often these days. Its not something I can just put aside again."

"You have to?" He seemed agitated but with a grunt he agreed that she go. "But only a few days Kagome, I don't know if I can sit quiet for long while you waste time there." Kagome nodded and headed from the campfire to get some rest. Her thoughts were exhausting...If Sango was actually pregnant then, what would that mean? She really felt for her friend and she knew that her thoughts would prevent any peace. Falling asleep would be impossible.