For Always and Forever After

Chapter 7: Budding Affections

Inuyasha's attention returned once again to Kagome as she lunged at him with inhuman speed, her hand poised before her like a dagger. Dodging would have been simple enough in his hanyou form, but as a mere human it was all he could do to stay one step ahead of her assault. Keeping on constant defense left him little time to analyze the situation for a way to free Kagome, but what else could he do? Harming her simply wasn't an option. All through the relentless attack, her lifeless eyes remained fixed, unseeing – a doll's eyes. Even her movements were like those of a puppet on a string.

As if fending off Kagome wasn't difficult enough, Yura continued to taunt him from her perch in midair, urging him to dispose of the girl and snickering at him whenever Kagome managed to draw blood.

'Laugh all you want, bitch. When this is all over we'll see who's laughing,' Inuyasha thought smugly. Yura had no way of knowing that the dawn would undo his transformation. Then he could easily out-maneuver Kagome, get to Yura, and shut her damned mouth once and for all. With Yura dead, whatever spell was controlling Kagome should be broken as well. And dawn was drawing closer with every minute that passed… Already the darkness was clearing and his human eyes could just make out Yura's silhouette against the moonless sky.

Inuyasha jumped back and feigned left to avoid a strike from Kagome, when suddenly she rose up several feet into the air and came down on him rapidly, catching him off guard. Her faintly glowing right hand buried itself deep into his left shoulder, causing him to cringe in pain and stumble back. Inuyasha's mind was racing. Kagome had just flown! Mind control may be able to heighten strength and speed, but that kind of trick wasn't capable of making humans fly. What had Yura done to her?

In the pre-dawn light Inuyasha watched Kagome's movements carefully and discovered something he had overlooked before. She wasn't walking; in fact, her legs rarely moved at all. Each time she came at him, Kagome was gliding through the air, her feet mere centimeters above the earth. Mind control wasn't this sloppy. Clearly, her body was being controlled by something other than her mind, which was evidently on holiday. The blank look on her face and hollowness of her eyes attested to that. She was apparently in some sort of trance which left her completely immobile. Inuyasha cursed inwardly. This new revelation complicated things a bit. If he killed Yura, the physical control she held over her victim would end, but it didn't necessarily follow that Kagome would wake up. Yura could have poisoned her or given her some sort of drug. It may be the effects would wear off with time, but it was also possible that killing Yura without finding out what she had done would leave Kagome comatose, never to awake.

Inuyasha's focus returned fully to the battle when he felt his back brush up against a large tree. 'Shit' he groaned, his hand gripping his injured shoulder, 'cornered.'

Kagome approached him slowly this time, as if relishing the moment. Her arm pulled back as if ready to land a punch, yet her hand was still poised as a dagger, her fingers covered up to the knuckles in Inuyasha's fresh blood. As the blow came toward him, Inuyasha's hand shot out and caught her wrist. "Kagome!" He called out to her, hoping the effort wasn't futile. "Kagome, listen to me!"

Yura's shrill laughter pierced the night. "Ready to beg for your life now, dog?" She was closer, but still out of his reach so long as he remained in human form. "You're asking the wrong person. Beg for me now and maybe I'll let you be my lap doggy."

"Go to Hell, bitch," he spat out while still holding off Kagome's attack. Yura merely scoffed, and Inuyasha found that Kagome's other hand was hurtling toward him now. He caught her left wrist with his free hand and pushed off the tree with all his might. Kagome offered no resistance, and in a moment Inuyasha had Kagome pinned beneath him against the ground, his hands holding her wrists firmly against the earth.

"Have you decided the girl is expendable after all?" Yura practically cooed, giddy to see Inuyasha beginning to fight back.

"Shut up!" he roared before turning his attention towards Kagome. He bent his head low so that his dark bangs caressed her forehead and cheek and whispered desperately into her ear. "Kagome, if you can hear me then don't be afraid. I promise I'll get you out of this. Kagome, I need you to be strong. I need you to fight Yura. Your eyes are open, Kagome. Your body and mind are your own. Wake up, Kagome!" But when he looked back at her face, the same glazed blue eyes stared off into the distance. More than anything that had come before in the battle with Yura, Kagome's glassy eyes after his emotional plea felt like defeat.

A sharp pain shot through him and Inuyasha screamed as Yura's katana buried itself in his back. He stumbled quickly to his feet and ripped out the offending weapon. Turning toward Yura with hatred burning in his eyes, he hurled the dagger toward her with all the strength he could muster.

Yura merely flitted to the side and laughed playfully as the katana returned to her grip. "Never bark at your master, little inu, or I'll have to see that you're punished."

Suddenly Kagome was off the ground and charging him again. Inuyasha tried to grab for her wrist but missed, swiping instead through the air just above it. At that moment Kagome's forearm fell limp and the momentum of her body shoved them both up against the tree. Inuyasha felt bonds snaking around him and holding him fast against the trunk, unable to move, yet he could see nothing. Now he understood how Yura was controlling Kagome. When he missed her wrist he had cut through some infinitely fine string that Yura was manipulating. That's why Kagome's arm had fallen slack. It was the same for the katana. Yura didn't have telekinesis; she probably couldn't even really fly. She was using wires or string of some sort to control the things around her. Inuyasha thrashed against his invisible bonds with what little strength he had left but to no avail; he had figured out her secret too late to avoid falling victim to it.

Satisfied that Inuyasha was safely neutralized, Yura descended to stand before him. "Found yourself in quite a tangle now, have we, my pet?" She ruffled her hair a bit and Inuyasha understood what she was playing at.

"This is your hair? That's sick!" Even pinned down, Inuyasha wasn't above trying to injure the woman's self-esteem, but Yura only laughed.

"It's mine now, but well… let's just say that wasn't always the case," she smirked wickedly as she approached him and ran her fingers intimately through his long tresses. "You do have such beautiful hair even as a mortal. Still, what I want is your luxurious, silver locks. When will you be returning to your true form?" Inuyasha could tell Yura believed that she had won. If he could only hold out another few minutes…

"Keh, I wouldn't be so anxious for that if I were you. I may be a hanyou, but you wouldn't last five minutes, you pathetic excuse for a youkai!"

"Ah-ah," Yura teased, clearly not feeling threatened. "Kill me and your little bitch here is lost forever I'm afraid. After that touching display I know you wouldn't risk her life by taking mine." Yura stepped back as Kagome once again began to approach Inuyasha.

"Just what did you do to her, you bitch? Release Kagome now!" Inuyasha tried pulling against the threads of hair binding him, but they continued to hold.

"There's no need for you to worry about that. You'll be just like her in a moment. Killing you now would keep me from seeing your lovely silver hair, so I think I'll keep you alive as my puppet and harvest all the hair from you I want." Yura held up a small seed and spun it in her fingers. "This is a seed of the Kansei plant. When manipulated with youkai energy it becomes a parasite that steals the life energy from its host, leaving their body and mind empty. The only way to break free of it is to destroy the plant, however…" Yura dropped the seed into Kagome's open palm and the unconscious girl turned toward him. "…that won't be possible. Just as I've done with this girl here, if I deposit the plant close to your heart there is no way to remove it once it has sprouted without killing the host."

Inuyasha felt all the color drain from his face. 'No…' He refused to believe it. He would find a way to bring Kagome back! "You… you bitch! Did I say five minutes? I'm going to make you beg for death for hours before sending you to Hell for what you've done to her!" Yura's only response was to erupt in laughter as Kagome began closing in on him, ready to dig her hand in close to his heart so she could plant the seed that would make him a mindless, still living corpse… "Kagome! Kagome, fight it!" Yura was too lost in her gloating laughter to notice Kagome's steps faltering, slowing down… "Kagome, I'm here!" Inuyasha saw her head lift toward him and knew that Yura wasn't the one behind that movement. Daybreak was fast approaching and he was reaching her… "Kagome! Kagomeee!"

A piercing light burst forth from Kagome's body as Yura screamed, retreating quickly to her perch in the sky. When the light cleared, Kagome was on her knees before the tree trying desperately to catch her breath. She looked up hurriedly, worried, "Inuyasha!" Tears were just beginning to pierce her eyes.

"It's fine, Kagome. I'm here," Inuyasha reassured her as he knelt to make sure she was alright. He then turned an icy glare on Yura, floating overhead and for once not in the mood for laughs. Half her body, the side that had been turned toward Kagome, was scorched as if badly burned. Inuyasha had taken advantage of Yura's distraction at that moment to break free from the hair that bound him. Now he was free and Kagome was back to normal, no power on heaven or earth could save Yura from his wrath. "You wanted silver hair? Come and get it, bitch!" As he stood to face her, the first rays of dawn broke over the mountains, fell upon Inuyasha's statuesque form and transformed the dark-haired human male into the arrogant young half-breed.

Yura's lip turned down in a sneer before she launched a web of hair in his direction and turned to flee. Inuyasha's hand went instantly to the sword at his hip, and Kagome marveled as he drew the blade in her presence for the first time to discover that it was enormous, much too big for its sheath, and looked more like a fang than a sword. With one swing he sliced through the web of hair and leapt into the air after Yura, jumping at least 20 feet, an impossible jump… Kagome had thought Yura incredibly fast, yet Inuyasha reached her before the woman had time to go even a few yards. It was over in an instant. Nothing was said, Yura'd barely had time to see the blade swinging toward her before it had run her through and the demoness dissolved from the world, leaving not a trace.

Inuyasha landed deftly and turned toward her, the rising sun at his back sending streams of golden light all along his battle-worn form as he rested the dull blade of his sword along his shoulders. Kagome felt as though she were seeing him, the real him, for the first time. He seemed to her like a conquering hero. His bloodstained appearance and the fact that he looked for all the world like a true youkai would have terrified most people, but the way that he gazed back at her made Kagome see him for what he really was: someone who had been faced with death and still refused to raise a hand against her.

"Are you hurt at all?" he asked as he approached her. His voice was quite calm for someone who moments earlier had been locked in a fight to the death, and it was a comical question anyway coming from someone who looked as though he had lost too much blood to still be conscious, let alone standing.

"Me? Inuyasha, you're covered in blood!" Kagome answered after a moment's hesitation. She looked genuinely worried that he might pass out on her any second.

"This is nothing. Mostly just scratches, and now that I'm a hanyou again they're already closing." He was surveying the area, perhaps trying to decide which way they should head now. "Anyway," he added after a moment, "I'm not so fragile as you."

Kagome was in the process of standing when she suddenly doubled over in pain. Inuyasha was kneeling beside her instantly, clearly worried. "What's wrong?" he demanded, obviously not so calm as he was putting on a moment ago.

Kagome pressed her hand to her lower left side and brought it back to find her hand covered in blood. The deep orangish-red hue of her kimono made the stain difficult to spot against the fabric. "Oh God…" she mumbled. Blood had never bothered her in the past, but then again she had never had this much of it pouring out of her. She began to feel dizzy.

"Kagome, let me see," Inuyasha instructed as he moved closer and peeled back the outer layer of her kimono from her left shoulder. The white kimono beneath was stained a sickening shade of red all along her left side. "Dammit, my powers are still returning or I'd have known about this earlier."

"Yura.. her katana sliced me," Kagome spoke calmly enough, the memory coming back to her. "When she was about to stab you and I jumped on her, the blade grazed me. I thought it was just a scratch…" Her voice was steady enough, but Inuyasha could tell she was worried. And why shouldn't she be? Honestly, fragile humans!

"Shit," Inuyasha cursed as he scooped her up into his arms. "You're telling me you were bleeding out the entire time you were flying around?" He seemed annoyed, but Kagome got the feeling it wasn't directed at her. 'And not to mention she probably widened the wound in the process,' Inuyasha added silently to himself.

"Sorry to be so much trouble," she offered meekly. As if she hadn't caused him enough trouble for one day.

"Don't apologize, stupid girl. You got that wound saving my ass, remember?" He was running very fast now with her in his arms, and Kagome watched as the world sped by around them. She wondered vaguely where he was taking her, but her eyes were starting to feel heavy.

"Oh, that's right," a light smile played at her lips. "You're incredible, do you know that?" Inuyasha saw her eyes beginning to droop and grew more worried.

"Don't be stupid, of course I know that!" He bragged as he came to a halt by a swiftly running stream. "Stay with me now, Kagome. You need to clean that blood off." He set her down gently against a boulder and put a hand to her shoulder, trying to coax her back into focus.

"Feh," she answered stubbornly, and Inuyasha couldn't help but snicker to hear her adopt his catchphrase.

She had lost too much blood to take care of this herself, so he eased her out of her outer kimono and half-carried her into the center of the running stream. The water turned crimson around them as fresh blood seeped from both garments and Kagome winced, still clinging to consciousness. "Stings, does it? You aren't a dainty little castle brat anymore, Kagome. You're a fighter like me, and you'll have a scar to prove it." She heard Inuyasha speaking to her again from what sounded like someplace far off, and though she couldn't make out the words his tone was playful and comforting. With that, she slipped into unconsciousness.

When Kagome awoke she felt cold and weak, even though a tall fire was blazing mere feet from her. The sky was black once again with the slightest sliver of a moon shining above. She turned and saw Inuyasha in his usual position against a tree, fully alert and keeping watch over her. She smiled when he looked toward her and began lifting her body on to her elbows.

Inuyasha was at her side instantly. "Don't get up. You need to rest."

"Aren't you cold over there?" Kagome asked in response, settling back down beneath the cover she just now realized was his haori.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Inuyasha had never been particularly bothered by the cold. He only built the fire for her benefit. After living in the wilderness as long as he had cold was something he was used to.

"I don't want you to be cold," Kagome answered sleepily.

Inuyasha chuckled a bit. "And why should you care?" he bantered playfully.

"Inuyasha…" she breathed out slowly, her eyes drooping with fatigue and already half-gripped by dreams. But in spite of all that she was still looking at him, looking right into him with those cerulean eyes that seemed bottomless as the sea. A crimson blush crept onto his face as he tried to decipher the emotion in her eyes. It was something close to pity, which he knew well. When he was a child, pity in a woman's eyes as she looked down at him was something he had seen often enough, and he knew this wasn't it. This was something he didn't have a name for.

"Get some sleep," he instructed softly as he scooped down to place a gentle kiss upon her forehead. She was already lost in slumber by the time he sat back up. "Kagome…" Inuyasha whispered to the sleeping form, brushing his hand lightly across her cheek.

By the time Kagome awoke the next morning the sun was well overhead and the fire had burned down to embers. She sat up slowly, mindful of the pain in her side, and looked about. Inuyasha was nowhere in sight. "Inuyasha!" she called loudly, already worried.

"Oi, woman, keep it down!" Inuyasha barked as he strolled casually into the clearing holding a stick skewered with still wiggling fish. "Breakfast in a minute. You need to eat after losing so much blood yesterday," he said as he jammed one end of the stick into the blackened earth and began rekindling the fire. When the fire blazed and the fish were cooking properly, he turned toward Kagome and took back his haori from over her.

Kagome was about to thank him for letting her use it when she noticed how bare her legs were. The fabric of her autumn kimono had been torn away to inches above her knees. "What happened?!" she screeched.

"What are you on about now?" Came the casual reply from the hanyou as he sniffed absently at the grilling fish.

"My clothes! I'm dressed like a common harlot!" Inuyasha cast a glance at her as if to see what she was talking about. True, the skirt of the kimono was quite a bit shorter, but youkai women wore things that were much more revealing. Inuyasha really didn't see what the big deal was.

"Unless you wanted to bleed to death, I needed the fabric for bandages and to wash away the blood." He tried to sound nonchalant, but there was the hint of a blush in his cheeks that gave him away. Kagome found herself blushing as well as she realized what he meant. Quite obvious really, but she hadn't thought of it 'til now. Inuyasha was the one who had bandaged her wounds, which meant he had undressed her… Her face was red as a tomato and she wasn't really sure what to say. No man had even seen her bare legs since she was a small girl. Inuyasha shot a glance at her when she didn't reply and instantly went on the defensive when he saw how flushed her face was. "I didn't see anything, I swear!" He was clearly quite flustered.

"Liar!" Kagome accused, pretending for a moment that she was really very mad and almost believing it herself. Inuyasha believed it too.

"What did you want me to do, let you bleed to death? It's not like I wanted to see your body!" He realized too late that that might not have been the best choice of words and cast a frightened glance at Kagome, expecting unparalleled rage. He was surprised to instead find her smiling.

"Oh, shut up. I'm just teasing. But you're not allowed to ever do it again." She got to her feet carefully and came toward him to inspect their breakfast. The fish were nearly done and smelled wonderful. "How are your wounds, then?" she asked, looking him over for signs of blood or bandages.

"Feh, didn't I tell you?" Inuyasha removed one side of his haori to reveal the place Kagome's hand had pierced his shoulder. The wound was nearly gone, and the multiple lesions she was sure had been on his chest had healed completely, leaving not a trace. She also noted that he had a very well-sculpted chest but pushed the thought aside.

Kagome was on her second fish before he spoke again. "That light… what was that?" Inuyasha had been wondering how Kagome managed to break free from Yura's spell and destroy the Kansei plant after the woman told him that doing so would kill her. He had an idea, but…

Kagome thought for a moment before replying. "I don't know," she began, "I've never done anything like that. I could hear you calling me, then I saw you there against the tree. It didn't look like you but I knew it was you, and you were in trouble and you were calling for me. I felt like I had to answer. I started calling back to you but my voice wouldn't come. My body wouldn't listen to me and I panicked, then I felt this heat well up inside of me and burst out."

"That was miko energy, Kagome," Inuyasha watched her for a reaction as he spoke. "Yura put a seed inside you to help her control you and said that trying to remove it would kill you. You destroyed it with pure energy without harming your own body at all."

Kagome took a moment to let that sink in. "They say my grandmother was a powerful psychic," she replied finally. "Still, I never dreamed that I might inherit some of that power. I've always just been an ordinary human."

Inuyasha snorted. "You, ordinary? Not anymore." The hanyou was currently working on devouring his third fish, but continued to ponder the matter aloud. "The only thing I don't understand is why your powers weren't discovered sooner. Normally girls like you are sensed by older miko and taken for training as children. Living in a big castle town it seems like someone should've noticed and given you proper lessons. How did you end up in palace service anyway?"

Kagome stopped nibbling on her fish and stared blankly at Inuyasha for a long moment. "I'm not in palace service." She said finally, as if it were something he should already know.

"Yes, you are. You told me you worked at the Higurashi Clan Castle." Now it was Inuyasha who eyed Kagome suspiciously, wondering what she was playing at.

"No, I said I live there." Inuyasha didn't seem to see the difference, so she went on. "I live there because I'm Higurashi Kagome."

"Are you telling me you're related or something?" Inuyasha seemed to have trouble believing that she was who she said she was, that or he was just plain dense.

"I'm telling you that I'm Lord Higurashi Hideyoshi's daughter." She answered flatly.

Inuyasha chuckled and Kagome felt her former anger toward him rekindling. "Oh, come off it! You, a princess?" He was genuinely amused at the idea of Kagome as a member of the nobility. The glare she shot him in response not only shut Inuyasha up quickly enough, it nearly turned him to stone.

"Well excuse me for not being dainty enough!" Kagome spat out as she leapt to her feet, prepared to storm off in a proper rage. She never got that far, however, as she'd forgotten the katana wound in her side. Getting up so quickly had pulled at it, causing her to wince and fall back to her seat.

"Hey, easy now! If you're not careful you'll open your wound again." Inuyasha was at her side now, making sure the injured girl hadn't done just that. She was still silently fuming, her pride injured now along with her body. "So, you really mean it then? That is, about being a princess or whatever?" He looked up at her as he asked the question, still half expecting her to take it back. The way she continued to glare daggers at him convinced him that she really was being dead serious. "I believe you," he assured her, "Just didn't expect it. See, I grew up around nobles and the women were all, well, not quite like you." With that statement Kagome opened her mouth to let him really have it, but Inuyasha cut her off. "Which is a good thing! Spoiled brats, the lot of them, only…" For the briefest of moments Inuyasha looked more hurt than Kagome had ever seen him, and that was saying a lot. She felt her anger melt away instantly at seeing that much pain in his eyes. "Never mind." He said as he stood.

"Inuyasha?" she called after him, catching at the sleeve of his haori. He turned to look at her and saw her gazing up at him with concerned, questioning eyes.

Inuyasha released a sigh and collapsed into a sitting position beside Kagome. He looked away from her as he said, "It's just, my mother was a princess." Kagome could tell from the way he used the past tense that his mother was no longer living. She could understand how that felt…

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. My mother died last year too. I still miss her so much." She tried to turn the conversation away from such a depressing subject. After all, she wasn't used to seeing Inuyasha this way. "I suppose I should apologize to you for getting so mad though. I would never have guessed that you were a prince either!"

Inuyasha smirked, his spirits already returning. "Keh, my father would have to be a lord for me to be a prince. Well, a human lord anyway…"

"You mean he was a lord?" Kagome asked, genuinely curious.

"A youkai lord, but that's not the same. He wasn't a lord because his father was one. He was a lord because of his own strength. The Lord of the Western Lands, they called him."

"He was the lord of the entire west?" Kagome was impressed. She never even knew that youkai lords existed but supposed there would have to be some sort of social hierarchy even in the demon world. "A lost princess and a half-blood prince; it's like a fairy tale!" she giggled.

At that Inuyasha stood abruptly and began putting out the fire. "We'd better get you back to your castle, princess." Inuyasha replied, half-mockingly. "Your father must have half his samurai out searching for you. I'll bet the whole place is in an uproar!"

Kagome's previously flawless smile faltered, but she tried to brush it off as she jumped (carefully this time) to her feet and chirped out, "Kay!" Inuyasha must have seen through it though, because he was eyeing her strangely.

"What's wrong?" he asked bluntly as he turned to face her.

Kagome wasn't normally the kind of girl to discuss her problems so openly, but after he had opened up to her, how could she not do the same for him? "It's my father," she admitted cautiously. "We got into a big fight just before I was kidnapped. He probably even thinks that I ran away on my own."

Inuyasha didn't really know what to say. Comforting women wasn't something he'd had much experience with and that was obviously exactly what Kagome needed right now. He decided to take a stab at it anyway. "You're his daughter and you've been missing for nearly a week now. I bet whatever you fought about won't make a difference once you're home."

His words evidently didn't help much, because Kagome only smiled sadly in response. "You don't know my father," was all she said before walking off toward the dirt trail that snaked past their clearing.

The midday sun beat down upon the monk and his samurai companions as they made their way through the mountain paths. For three days now Miroku had been searching for some sign of the Higurashi princess or of the demon who took her but to no avail. Truth be told, he was starting to suspect the worst. In his experience, princesses who were found a number of days after a youkai abduction usually weren't found alive. The guards also expected as much. Nobody talked about finding Princess Kagome anymore unless they were referring to her body.

Miroku sighed heavily. It was a shame really. If he didn't make some headway into the case in the next couple of days he would have no choice but to give the guards the slip. He certainly didn't want to return to a man like Lord Higurashi as a failure, but if that happened he would never get the chance to see the princess's handmaiden again. If only Kagome could still be alive somewhere!

"Lord Monk!" One of the guards hailed Miroku as the band crested the top of a hill.

"Something to report?" Miroku asked hopefully. The guards hadn't been much use thus far, but at the same time there had been very little in the way of clues.

"There's someone in the valley ahead, hoshi-sama." The guard led Miroku to the top of the hill and pointed out the figure below. It was difficult to make them out clearly, but there was definitely someone down there.

'Probably nothing,' Miroku thought to himself, but he kept his attention carefully focused on the figure as they moved down the side of the hill. Before long Miroku was certain it was a woman, though her kimono was scandalously short. "What color kimono was the princess last seen wearing?" Miroku asked of the guards standing nearest him.

"An orange and red layered kimono with a maple leaf pattern," one of them answered.

'Interesting,' Miroku mused. Those were exactly the colors he could distinguish on this girl's robes. Suddenly a second figure emerged on the path walking several paces behind the girl. From this distance Miroku couldn't be certain whether the person was male or female, but the silvery-white shade of the red-clad figure's hair made him suspect it was a youkai. Miroku halted the guards. "Stay back, all of you. I'll go ahead alone and confront the demon. Listen for my signal. I'll let you know when it is safe to approach."

Kagome paced leisurely along the mountain path, not in any particular hurry to get anywhere. Now that she was no longer afraid of being stranded in the wilderness, she was almost sad to be going home. She heard Inuyasha's faint footfalls trailing behind her, sometimes walking along the path and at other times taking to the trees. It had been a rather somber walk, what with Kagome lost in her thoughts and Inuyasha being unusually quiet.

Inuyasha's thoughts were of a similar vein. At first he couldn't wait to get rid of her, but now that he had gotten to know Kagome he would be disappointed to see her go. After all, she probably knew him better than anyone in his life ever had besides his mother. No human or youkai had ever been willing to stay so long at his side. Kagome wasn't like him though; she had a place that she belonged, and he knew that even though he would miss having her around to talk to and argue with it was the right thing to take her back.

Just then Inuyasha's nose picked up a new human scent. Someone was coming down the path ahead of them, and judging from the stench of sake, ink and incense Inuyasha determined that it must be a monk. Inuyasha's instincts told him this wasn't a chance encounter. The monk must surely have been hired to find the missing princess. He suddenly longed to call after Kagome and lead her off the path, to keep the monk from finding her. He wasn't ready to let her go; he'd thought they would have another couple days together at least. Even if the monk didn't find her, he could always take her home himself… Inuyasha knew he was being ridiculous. Kagome wanted to go home. Hell, any girl would. Just before the monk came into view before them Inuyasha leapt into the branches above him and out of sight.

Kagome turned when the sound of Inuyasha's footsteps behind her suddenly ceased. "Inuyasha?" she called softly into the stillness around her, but no answer came. As she turned back around a monk rounded the bend in front of her. She watched him curiously but didn't step forward.

"Excuse me, miss?" The monk began politely. "I'm searching this forest for the missing princess of the Higurashi Clan. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

Kagome grimaced, but there was no backing out now. "Yeah, that's me," she answered simply.

"Wonderful!" the monk was quite pleased. He rushed to her and bowed deeply. "Are you well, my lady? We have been searching high and low for you for days!"

Kagome smiled in spite of herself. She had never seen this monk before; he obviously wasn't one of her father's usual lackeys. "Yes, I'm fine," she responded warmly.

"What happened to you? I was told you were stolen by a youkai! And wasn't there another person here just a moment ago?"

Kagome had yet to come up with a plausible cover story, so she kept her reply as short as possible. "Oh, I managed to escape.. and no? I've been lost in these woods for days all alone." She tried her best to sound appropriately pathetic and frightened.

"Well you are safe now, my lady. I have an escort of guards who will return us safely to your father with all haste." 'Yeah, I was afraid of that…' Kagome groaned inwardly. Assured of her health and safety, Miroku moved on to other matters. "Ahem," he cleared his throat and tried to sound as dashing as possible, "If you don't mind my saying, my lady, you truly are an exquisite beauty. Such heavenly form!" Miroku was eyeing her legs in a way Kagome felt to be inappropriate for a man of the cloth.

"Yes, actually, I do mind!" she hissed icily. "Now where are these guards you spoke of?" Kagome demanded, feeling suddenly that she may need protection after all. As Miroku went ahead of her jabbering on about her good-fortune in escaping from a demon, Kagome cast one final glance into the forest behind her, her eyes searching desperately for some sign of Inuyasha. Was it really all over? Was he gone? 'But I didn't even get to say goodbye,' she thought sadly as she allowed herself to be taken into the custody of her father's guard. 'Inuyasha, will I ever see you again?'