Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me but the story does

The Heart of the Matter

"Come on Inuyasha, you must see the humor in her making you 'sit' for your behavior," said an amused monk.

A bold string of obscenities came from the ground. "I might see the humor in it if she put this subduing spell on you Miroku." The spell finally released Inuyasha so he could glare at the monk. Then he turned his attention on his beautiful companion who had made him 'sit'. She glared back at him but it was a half-hearted glare so he knew she wasn't really really mad at him.

"You are so stupid if you think that I'm at all going to be your punching bag just because things are not going your way today," Kagome said with enough vehemence that he knew that she had been hurt by his words. Inuyasha felt a little guilty but saw that she wasn't glowing so he wasn't in real danger so he kept going.

"I'm not wrong, you're just a weak human and if it weren't for Sango, Miroku and I you would have been killed a long time ago. Sometimes I wonder why you stay here."Inuyasha folded his arms and turned around to grimace thinking he would get 'sat' again He didn't really want her to leave but he was irritated from the way the day had gone.

Kagome let out a sigh that sounded, to Inuyasha's twitchy dog ears, like, "Me too."

That brought a wave of emotions that the hanyou did not want to analyze too deeply. But the instinct to not let her go hit him like a ton of bricks and it took all his strength not to take the miko in his arms.

Sango, in her loud soft voice knowing full well that they all could hear her, said to Miroku, "One day Kagome will get sick of him treating her like dirt and ask us to either kill him or leave him by the road like the dog that he is." The venom in her voice told everyone that she was on her adopted sister's side. Kagome gave Sango a slight, but sad smile. The monk and the hanyou knew that though the demon slayer liked Inuyasha she would, if Kagome asked her, kill Inuyasha to protect her.

That made the hanyou enraged. As if Kagome would need protection from him. She was always protected by him but in the back of his mind he knew that that wasn't quite true. Unbidden the flashes of him turning into a full demon in Kaguya's castle and his claws digging into Kagome as she tried to bring him back to normal went through his head.

"Well it has been a long day maybe we should just all go to sleep before anyone does or says anything that cannot be taken back." Miroku said trying to break up some of the negativity in the air.

The red-haired kit at Kagome's feet finally spoke up, "But Kagome I'm hungry."

The miko looked at her adopted son with soft eyes. "Of course Shippo. Why don't you get some firewood and I'll start dinner."

When the fire had been started and the ramen handed out for everyone to eat Miroku, to lighten the mood, said, "If you would like to be near a person who would certainly appreciate your humanness I would gladly let you lay by me if you want."

Everyone ignored the growling as Sango clubbed the monk with her weapon saying, "You lecher."

"My dear Sango," replied the monk with a bump already rising on his head, "if you had wanted to be by me instead all you had to do was say so. I would much rather have you lay by me than any other woman."

"You lecher," the demon slayer said again with not as much heat as a pink blush crept over her cheeks. Miroku liked very much how the woman of his dreams looked with her blush just like Sango liked it when he said things that implied that he wanted her. Even as they looked dreamily in each other's eyes they had to push back their fears about one another.

As Shippo and Kagome were snuggling up for bed he decided to ask her, "Kagome? You won't really go and leave us all alone will you?"

Inuyasha, perched in his tree above them, listened as Kagome hugged the kit closer to her and replied, "No Shippo I won't leave. We are a family and we will stick together no matter what. And because we are a family none of us are alone whether we like it or not." With her speech Inuyasha visibly relaxed as did the rest of the group.


What none of them saw or hear was a woman in the bushes next to the traveling companions. Family huh? They will stick together she says. We shall see. And with that an eerie mist surrounded each person in the group.