1Kagome looked down at the ground as she trolled along with the others, she was a little under the weather recently, or she felt like it. She hadn't been able to indulge in the comforts of home recently, it had been about 2 months since she had been there. 'Ah...shampoo...sheets...squeels and SCHOOL' she thought to herself.

She knew it was bad if she was missing school, tests and all. Besides she still didn't know if Inuyasha only wanted her in the feudal era because she was a shard detector or if he actually enjoyed her company. 'Oh well' she sighed, she didn't care.

Everyone in the group was having their own issues. It was getting down to crunch time, there were three shards left and everyone was vying for them. Inuyasha was ready and eager to get it over with, he had been frustrated from the very start.

'It hasn't all been bad' he thought... 'If it wasn't for Kagome I'd still be pinned to that tree.' Inuyasha felt a moment of sadness pass over him. The second he realized it he jerked his head up and tried to look even more fierce than ever, hoping that none of the others realized what had just come over him. 'What are you some kind of wimp?' he bickered with himself about it for a while.

Sango was tired, she was ready to just split. The demon slayer's attitude changed ever since Naraku killed her brother Kohaku. She damned herself for it ever since.

'I won't ever love another person, I vow.' She hid feelings from herself, she dreamed of holding Miroku every single day and submitting herself to his every wish. She hit him every day, for absolutely nothing just to try to force him away. She hurt him pretty badly a couple of times even 'I don't love Miroku...he's just a lecher.' She lied to herself to keep her going, to keep her searching for the demon that killed her brother.

Shippo just bounced around just as child-like as ever, naive to what was going on around him. He was worried about all of them but most of all he was worried about Miroku. Miroku had managed to fool the rest of the group but not Shippo. He sensed a difference in the monk...he didn't know what it was but he knew that he hadn't grabbed Sango's butt lately and that he hadn't scolded Inuyasha lately either. Shippo found it odd and intriguing.

Miroku felt like he couldn't be a part of the group anymore. He knew that they'd find out sooner or later what was going on. He disappeared at night and went to go find sake. He just couldn't take the beatings from Sango, the words she said 'I hate you Miroku, and I can't wait to kill Naraku, then I won't have to see you ever again. YOU'RE NOBODY TO ME!' He almost sobbed at the thought of it all. He didn't think he could love her anymore after she said that...and so he tried to forget and drowned his soul with demon alcohol. He couldn't wait til the sun went down so he could leave once again. 'What's wrong with me?' He asked himself... 'I used to be so strong.'

The group dragged on for about another hour before they stopped and set up camp for the night. All of them spread out their bamboo rolls and blankets an got ready to eat dinner. Miroku took this as his cue to depart.

"I'll be back later, I'm going to go explore." He said simply and then took off.