Kagome sighed, recalling her own difficulties with Inu Yasha. [He is right in a way… but that’s no reason not to love…] Kagome leaned back, but was still close to Sesshoumaru as she looked up at the starry night sky. "Yes, but it’s those very hardships that make love worthwhile."

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "I can’t see how it’s worth the pain. That’s why I’ve chosen to be indifferent. It doesn’t hurt as much this way."

"Yes, but if you only experience the good in life, you won’t appreciate it. If it wasn’t for the pain, the arguments, the hardship… if it wasn’t for all of that, the warmth and happiness and contentment you get from love wouldn’t feel so good."

"Feh," Sesshoumaru scoffed, rolling his eyes as he shifted his gaze to Kagome, a warm smile upon her face. "I suppose you’re speaking of that hanyou bastard, Inu Yasha."

Kagome sighed as she looked down from the stars, a serious expression donning her features as she returned Sesshoumaru’s gaze. "I know that no matter what happens, I’ll always love him. Even if only as a friend… even if he chose someone else, I want him to be happy, no matter how much it hurts me. That’s what I believe love is. I know how much it hurts to see him go with Kikyo… but if that’s the way he feels, I cannot change that. I can tell him if I think he’s going to get hurt, I can plead to him if I think he’s drifting away from me, but I cannot tell him who to love. Heh… but I do know that if he chooses me, that I can be fully able to return his feelings—I’ll know that it will be real."

Sesshoumaru did not need his sense of smell to tell that Kagome was holding back tears. "What is it about him that you love so much?"

Kagome smiled, pushing her sad thoughts even farther away from her outer surface. "He can be a really sweet person… I’ll admit, he’s not always the most intelligent of men, but he always protects me. Even if we aren’t in any type of danger, he takes really good care of me… Heh, I remember one time when I was sick… he acted all mad and annoyed about it, but he was really worried. He went out and made some medicine for me. He also gets really agitated when I’m not with him, and I think sometimes he gets jealous of my school friends."

"You know all of this about him? What makes you so sure?"

Kagome smiled, pulling her knees closer to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Everyone tells me when he does these things and there is a lot that I can see on my own…"

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Two Days Later

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Kagome panted as she set her bow down and wiped the sweat from her brow. [Sesshoumaru’s been really persistent about making sure that I discipline myself about my aim… I haven’t gotten much of a chance to rest at all…]

Kagome smiled, though, as she saw the first light of the day peeking over the horizon. She watched above as she saw a pair of doves flying over the barely lit plain. At first they flew together, then they parted for quite a distance, and then they eventually joined one another as they disappeared into the forest. Kagome chuckled to herself as she caught her thoughts wandering over what had happened after the doves re-entered the forest.

Kagome’s peaceful thoughts were disrupted, however, when she caught scent of something that seemed eerily familiar, but she could not place what the scent belonged to. As her curiosity peaked, she began to run towards it.

Little time had passed before she realized that Sesshoumaru was shortly behind her. "What are you looking for, Kana?"

Kagome shrugged as she continued. "I don’t know what it is… it just smells… pure."

A flicker of confusion found its way into Sesshoumaru’s eyes. "Do you think that perhaps you are sensing a Shikon shard?"

"Perhaps… this scent seems to be overwhelming my senses, like I’m supposed to find it. If I concentrate enough… it’s close… and… mixed blood." Kagome stopped as she listened around her, hearing someone running towards her, someone aside from Sesshoumaru.

She turned sharply to her left, only to see an all-to-familiar face emerge from the forest’s dark depths. It took all of the force of will not to allow herself to call out to him. [Inu Yasha…]

Inu Yasha stood staring at the hanyou woman before him. She did not seem to be who he had been sure he had caught scent of—she was not Kagome. What had once been a hopeful smile spread over his face was now a thin line of disappointment. His voice of quiet and shaky as he spoke to Sesshoumaru. "Sesshoumaru… have you seen Kagome? She… she was injured a few days ago and I caught your scent in the area."

Sesshoumaru glanced briefly at Kagome, now in a hanyou form that even Inu Yasha could not recognize. "She’s your woman—I haven’t seen her."

Inu Yasha nodded solemnly as he turned his somber gaze to the hanyou woman before himself. "Who are you?"

Kagome’s heart skipped a beat as she found herself staring into the pained gaze in Inu Yasha’s eyes. Red blush rushed to her cheeks as she searched her fragmented thoughts for pieces of an answer. "K-Kag-K-Kana."

Inu Yasha’s ears perked when he heard her voice—he was sure she had started to say ‘Kagome’, but when she did not, he had not much cared to listen. "What did you say?"

"Kana," Kagome answered with confidence.

Inu Yasha flattened his ears against his skull in annoyance as he narrowed his eyes and took a long look at the hanyou woman in front of himself. Something about her seemed terribly familiar, but he had never before seen anyone with her exact features—silver-blue hair, fiery amber eyes that seemed to burn with defiance, a pair of magenta stripes, one per cheek—perhaps that was it… "Sesshoumaru, why is it that you are traveling with this woman? I thought you despised all hanyou."

Sesshoumaru felt anger rise within himself from his brother’s insolent words, though he did not show it. He began to speak, but when he heard Kagome’s voice, he stopped and allowed her to answer.

"Sesshoumaru-dono saved my life. As a way to show my gratitude, I have pledged service to him until either I pass on, or until he grants me freedom."

Inu Yasha stared blankly at the hanyou woman, as though he was sure that she had been stricken dumb. He hesitated, then turned away, readying himself to leave. "Whatever… I need to go then."

Kagome motioned for Sesshoumaru to leave as she reached out and placed her hand on Inu Yasha’s shoulder. "Good luck on finding the jewel shards, Inu Yasha. I’ll see you again when we go to destroy Naraku. Goodbye, Inu Yasha."

Inu Yasha spun around, now realizing the hanyou’s identity. She was, however, leaving as quickly as she could. "Kagome! Please… heh… please be careful."

The woman stopped, somewhere in the shadows of the forest, caught by his words. "I’m not Kagome. For now, call me Kana."

Inu Yasha smiled, now understanding. "Well then, see you later, Kana. Tell Higurashi that whenever she comes back that I’ll still be waiting for her!"

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. Well, prom’s over now. *Thank God for that* Now the only thing I have left to worry about is that my favorite band –V Shape Mind – is breaking up. Yep, half of my screen-names as ‘V Shape Otaku’ are now pretty well in vain. T_T I suppose that I have some sort of curse or something… (No, I’m not kidding, I’m fairly sure I’m cursed.)

Anyhow, it could be a while between updates from here on out—once school is out, I’m gonna have to drive over to the library to update. (Sometimes I think the librarians want to beat me up or something... they’re cheerfully scary…)

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ Moments Later ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Sunnysweetie: Look, Jess, a new chapter on my fic!

V Shape Otaku: KYAA! Grammar errors, spelling errors, and slowly dying plots! *_*

Well, folks, I’ve got a friend now in the Harry Potter fan fic area and I need to go beta for her before she gives readers a bad grammar scare. Give me a few days and I’ll tell you if it’s going well.