Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or the Twilight Saga. They belong to the lovely Rumiko Takahashi and Stephenie Meyer.

Read this first, give your honest opinion, and THEN I'll accept flames :)

Be warned, there's a pretty major spoiler from the end of the manga in this first chapter, if you haven't already read it.

1.Three Days

Three days.

The half demon ran urgently through the dense forest, white dog ears alert and twitching, keen amber eyes wide and darting left to right.

Three days. Three WHOLE days.

Nothing he could do would calm his mind. Nothing could stop the restlessness he felt every second of every minute. He could barely stay still for even that long. His body, though part demon, couldn't keep going like this. But his heart would. His heart would keep him going.

Three days. Three WHOLE FUCKING DAYS!

That was how long this had been going. Three days without food, drink, or sleep. The half demon was slowly starting to kill himself, even one as strong as him wouldn't last long without either of the three. Longer than a human could, but not by much. Not as much as he would say. Five days at the most. A week if he were lucky.

InuYasha's companions had been nagging at him to stop, to rest and take a break.

"Killing yourself isn't going to help the matter at hand at all InuYasha! Killing yourself won't bring her back!"

Feh. What did they know? He knew his body's limits, but in a situation as horrifying as this, those limitations could be stretched far further. They would be stretched far further. They had to be. At least they did if there was any hope of him finding what was missing. What he knew had been taken from him...

"InuYaaaasha! Raaaamen's ready!"

Honestly, how could his friends even think about rest at a time like this?

Three days... Three whole years...

Three years since Naraku had finally been defeated. Three years since Kikyou had been avenged. Three years since Kohaku had been set free from Naraku's hold over his soul, free to live with his sister Sango.

But three days since Kagome had disappeared.

Three was actually quite a significant number. Three years ago, when Naraku had been defeated, he sent Kagome into a meidou, a gateway to hell, where she very nearly succumbed to her own darkness and almost became one with the Shikon jewel in Midoriko's place. Had InuYasha not been there, not given Kagome hope... well, there would have been a whole new battle raging inside the Shikon no tama. One between Naraku and Kagome. A fate InuYasha would not have been able to save her from. He'd shudder at the very thought.

But nonetheless, InuYasha had created his own meidou, jumped in, eventually found Kagome, and had been by her side as she made the final wish on the jewel - a wish for the jewel's destruction. They had actually been in the meidou together for three whole days.

Afterwards, him and Kagome returned to her own time where Kagome was reunited with her family. But, in a cruel twist of fate, InuYasha was sent back to the fuedal era, and the well sealed.

For three whole years, InuYasha and Kagome had no way to see eachother. They could travel through the two times no longer.

For three whole years, InuYasha and his friends lived on. Sango, Miroku, Shippou, Kaede, Kirara... they all missed Kagome dearly. And though they'd never forgotten her, they started they're lives together. Sango and Miroku married, had two twin girls and baby boy of their own. Rin, Sesshoumaru's ward, now lived with Kaede, keeping the old woman happy and content with a child to care for. Shippou trained and took the Kitsune's exam, increasing his own demonic strength. Kohaku was off training to become a great demon slayer with Kirara.

But InuYasha...

He went on. He stayed with his friends after the well had been sealed, the friends and family Kagome had given him. It was a precious gift he wasn't about to leave behind. When the well had first been sealed, he'd told everyone that it was for the best, that Kagome was safe and with her own family. He'd told them all that there were other who loved and cared for Kagome, and that he didn't care as long as she was safe, that that was all that mattered.

He had been glad she was safe. He had been glad she wasn't alone and was with people who loved and cared for her. But that didn't stop him from being lonely. From missing her scent, her presense. From checking the well every three days.

All around him, things were changing. Sango and Miroku had started a family of their own. Once, long ago, he'd promised to stay and live with Kikyo, his first love. He wondered, had Naraku not interfered, whether he would have started a family with her or not. Whether he would have been happy and content with that life. Then, Kagome came into his life, and she'd shown him so much more than Kikyo had. Shown him how to laugh, how to trust and be trusted. What it was like to have people care for you, and have people you cared for. He'd never had any of that before. He'd never been truly accepted for what he was, a lowly half demon.

Now and then, he knew that it was Kagome he wanted to have that life with. It was that life that he would be content and happy with. He was just a bit stubborn when it came to admiting it.

However, after three years of loneliness and wondering, a familiar scent had caught his nose. One he'd recognise anywhere. He'd gone back to the well, reached his hand in, pulled it back out and there she was. Kagome, smiling down at him with tears in her eyes. Happy tears. She'd come back to him. Somehow, some way, she'd come back.

For a full month, InuYasha and his friends had reminissed at Kagome's return to them. Sango had her best friend and sister back, Shippou had his mother figure. Kaede had taken to teaching Kagome about methods of purification and healing, skills that would make her a great and powerful priestess. They were all so happy, their lives finally completely content. They were all together. InuYasha and Kagome hadn't quite openly admited their true feelings, but it was more than obvious in their actions. The way they looked at one another, the way they touched, the way they spoke with eachother. The others hadn't seen InuYasha so happy and care free in a long time.

A month later, and they were here at this point. Kagome had gone with Kaede to answer a call for their assistance in a purication. InuYasha had protested in his own, stubbornly hot headed way that he go with Kagome, but she'd hear none of it.

"I'll be fine InuYasha! I know I'm still learning, and I have got a way to go yet but I'm not that same fithteen year old girl anymore. I always appreciate your protection, and you know I enjoy being with you but I can take care of myself better than I could then! It's just a small purifcation, and Kaede's even with me! The village is hardly miles away anyhow! Pleeease InuYasha, just trust me?"

Oh, she did have a way with words. And not just words, but with protests and pleading too. Fluttering her eyelashes up at him, pratically begging him with her warm, brown eyes...

"...just trust me?"

How could he have said no to that?

She had kissed him chastely on the cheek when he finally agreed. She'd never done that before.

He'd wanted to show her he trusted her. That he believed in her ability to take care of herself. She had been right, the village was only a little way away, and it was just a purification. Kaede was with her too, and the old hag was high in past experience. What could go wrong?

But something had gone wrong. Something had gone very wrong.

When Kaede had returned with several villagers, without Kagome...

InuYasha had nearly had a heart attack. He'd never been more worried, and considering all the mishaps Kagome had gotten herself into in the past, that was saying something.

Upon hearing the first words from Kaede of "Kagome" and "disappeared" InuYasha had set straight off, ignoring Sango and Miroku's calls. He searched the other village top to bottom, barely keeping himself from upturning the huts and, well, the people too. If she was there, if she were hiding or anyone hiding her there, he would find her. No such luck though. Sango and Miroku had left their children back at the village with Kaede, Rin and Shippou, then come to help InuYasha find their lost friend. They wanted her found safe and well too. They also, had only just gotten her back.

It was the forest next, the last place Kaede had seen her. This was also where InuYasha had caught the faint trail of her scent, so he knew she must be in there somewhere. He only had to find out where.

With Miroku and Sango somewhere behind him, this was where InuYasha now found himself. For three whole days they'd all been searching, and there was still no sign of Kagome's whereabouts. This had set the half demon on high edge.

He refused to rest, refused to stop. He ignored his friends' pleads and compromises. He refused to listen at all. They just didn't understand. They had eachother, they had their kids waiting for them at home. InuYasha had no one. He didn't have Kagome waiting for him, ready to scold him for making her worry after spending a whole day out teaching Shippou to hunt. He didn't have her scent waiting for him, her calm and peaceful aura ready to soothe him. He knew what it was like to live without her presense, and he sure as hell didn't want to live without it again.

"You'd better be alright Kagome... I'll find ya... "

And so he kept searching, knowing in his heart that he could never be calm again until he found her.

Three days was too long for InuYasha. He planned on finding her, taking her back home and never letting her go out without him again. He'd let her go alone once, and look what had happened! The stupid wench...

Once she was back though, he figured there'd be some yelling, possibly some sits, and then some sulking. But then, after that all passed, they would talk and make up, just like they normally did. Everything would go back to normal then. They'd go back to their content and happy life.

That's what InuYasha wanted so desperately to happen. Be back in his happy life, with his friends, his family, hi... and Kagome.

And he would get that. He would. They all would.

...right?

--

Little bit different from the original 1st chapter, no? I wasn't very happy with the old one, so I'm really sorry if you prefered it, but I think the story will work better this way. If not, well I'll soon find out won't I? The changes won't have any major effects on the original story line either, it would have gone a similar way anyway.

So yeah, from this, you can see I AM going to continue this fic! Just remember that for a little while updates might be a bit slow, but I won't abandon this. Now that I've started it, I'm going to finish it, no matter how long it takes. Hope that's okay XD

Anyone want to take a guess at what Kagome's three day absense means? This is where Twilight comes in handy...

Chapter two re-posted will be up very soon!