Kagome glared at Inuyasha as she dragged along behind him. Every since she told them that she was going to have permanent bodyguards in her time Inuyasha went ballistic. And now he was acting like he was a smaller child then Shippo by not talking to her over it. He even told her that since he could pass back and forth through the well with her that he would just follow her to the future and protect her that way.

When she told him that it would not work because of the way he looked. Even with the ball cap to cover up his ears, he would draw un-wanted attention to them. To her he was acting like a big baby and it irritated her to no end. She has been going back and forth for a full year now and only when he thought someone else was going to protect her did he show an interest in going with her.

She looked down at the half jewel that hung from her neck. Naraku's part of the jewel was just a little smaller than hers. Koga said he would give her the two that he has when they were the last two they needed to make it whole again. Then she would purify it out of existence for good this time.

It was the source for a lot of pain that she has been through in the last year. A year ago she only had to worry about what the latest gossip was around school and passing the next test. Now she had to fight to live, passed through time a few times a month. Fell in love with an baka hanyou that could care a less about her feelings. Made two of the most wonderful friends that she could ask for. Practically adopted a youkai child as her own. 'When I think about it I have grown so much in the last year. And it is only Inuyasha that still treats me like I am a kid.'

Sango was walking next to Kagome. She felt so sorry for her best friend. When they first met, her sapphire blue eyes held such an innocence she almost did not belong in the group. The past year of fighting Naraku, his incarnations, and other youkai to get the jewel shards, coupled with the love triangle she was in with Inuyasha and Kikyo, all of that together has aged her.

Not physical, but in her eyes. She wasn't the same Kagome full of innocence anymore that still marveled over all the youkai that they would come across. And yet even with all that her eyes still held hope, warmth and love. But had knowledge that she should never have had to know about. She acted like she was a grown adult with a family to look after than the sixteen year old she should be.

She sighed as she looked over at her friend. "Kagome, you have been gone for two weeks from your home. Would you like me to take you back? We don't have to tell Inuyasha." Sango made sure to whisper so that Inuyasha could not hear what she was saying. She knew Kagome needed a break.

Kagome smiled at Sango and her eyes lit up for the first time in what seemed like forever. "Hai! That would be wonderful. And I want to know what the arrangements of the bodyguards are anyway. We are still three days away from the well though."

"Not with Kirara flying we are not. Only the end of today."

"You will be able to handle Inuyasha?"

"Hai. Just be prepared to have him show up in a day or so after you do."

"I can take care of him when I get back in my time don't forget."

Sango smiled and nodded. She winked at Kagome and said, "Kagome, do you want to ride on Kirara? You are still limping from the last fight we had with Kagura."

Kagome caught on and nodded with a bright smile. "Yes please. My leg is killing me." When Kirara transformed she let Sango help her up on the two tailed cat youkai.

Miroku saw that Sango was also sitting on Kirara. When Sango winked at him and nodded toward Inuyasha he knew what they were doing. Kagome was mad, and hurt. Both by Inuyasha and Kagura. He was not going to let Inuyasha know what they were planning. He would find out when they were gone.

Inuyasha turned and glared at the two females on the back of the big neko. He was still fuming at Kagome. He could be more than enough protection for her in her time. She did not need bodyguards. 'It is like she does not trust me to take care of her anymore. Bitch.'

Sango nodded to Miroku then smiled at Kagome and nudged Kirara to make her fly high and toward the well. Once in the sky they giggled at Inuyasha's screams for them to get back there.

Kagome smiled as she leaned against her soul sister. "Thank you so much Sango."

Sango smiled. "Don't mention it Kagome. I don't like seeing the hurt in your eyes when you are with Inuyasha like I do lately. He doesn't deserve your love you know that right?"

Kagome sighed as she looked away from Sango. "I know. But I don't know how not to love him. It would help if I could meet someone and spend time with them, but my escapades back and forth through time make that really hard you know."

"I know. So stay home for more than two or three days this time. Stay for a week or so."

Kagome jerked her head up and looked at the back of Sango's. "What?"

Sango sighed as she smiled at Kagome. "You spend so much time acting like you are older than what you are. Naraku can't go to your time. Doesn't even know that you are from a different time. You are a friend to me and Miroku. You are a babysitter to Inuyasha. A mother to Shippo. You act like you are the head of a large family and take no time to do what you want. Go back to your time, stay for a few weeks even. Miroku and I will make sure that he doesn't come and bother you too much."

Kagome felt the tears streaming down her face. To spend more than just three or four days in her time, with her family and friends would be great! "Thanks Sango!"

The rest of the trip was spent with Kagome telling Sango about all the things that she was wanting to do when she got home. Sango told her that she had better spend at least two weeks at home this time, or when she reached the top of the well she was going to keep sending her back each time.

Kagome had no problem agreeing to those terms. She missed her family. And it would give her a chance to get to know those who would be protecting her and fill them in on the events of the last year.

Landing at the well Kagome gave Sango a big hug and then hugged the neck to the cat youkai that always was there for everyone, herself and Sango more often than not. "Be sure to tell Shippo what is going on so he doesn't worry. Tell him to make up for taking off while he was sleeping on Miroku's shoulder I will bring him a surprise when I come back."

Sango smiled. "I will Kagome. Have fun, and tell your family that I said hello and I send my best."

"I will. Sayonara." Then with a mighty leap she was in the well, being engulfed in that warmth she loved so much. Soon she would be home. Home.

x

Hiei sat in his spot in the tree. Kurama sitting just bellow him on the ground. Keiko and Yusuke were shopping for Sora who was cleaning her house and putting Kuwabara to work doing the same. He smiled an evil smile when he saw Kuwabara come out of the house taking the garbage out. "It suits him to be ordered around by a female don't you think so Kurama?"

Kurama looked up at Kuwabara. He no sooner put the garbage out when Sora was at the door with a warm smile asking him to take something to Sota at school. "I don't see where he minds doing things like that. After all Hiei, sooner or later it will be Yukina in Sora's place."

"My sister will be the one who rules the house, not that oaf." A warmth that not everyone has seen drifted across his eyes as he thought about the day that he told Yukina that he was the brother she had spent her life searching for.

She asked him what took him so long to tell her, and his answer was simple enough and seemed to be enough for her. He did not want her to know that her brother was a felon and evil to the core. He figured she would be better off not knowing. But when he saw some strange baka human male flirting with her it set his skin crawling. He stayed out of it though. But when he grabbed her arm and spun her around and tried to make her kiss him, he could not stay out. Landing a punch to his face that sent him flying through a stone wall. Then with the same evil eyes that everyone knew he made his way toward him and without thinking about what he was saying told him that he would kill him if he touched his sister again.

His memory was interrupted when he felt a surge of power and blue light coming from the well house. 'She is back.'

Kurama was on his feet and heading toward the well house. He knew that Hiei was not thrilled with the assignment at all anyway. So he would be the one to greet her after she comes back. When he opened the door he stopped and stared.

Kagome was climbing out of the well and was simply mesmerizing! She had long wavy thick black hair that hung to her waist. She had all the curves that would entice any male into wanting her, yet was thin and fit. When she looked up at him his heart went out to her. Fear was first, seeing someone she did not know. But there was also a hurt that was of the soul, and worry.

"My name is Kurama. I am one of the five Spirit Detectives that are here to be your bodyguards."

Kagome sighed with relief when he said who he was. She then started to limp up the steps. "Thank goodness. I did not know they would send five of you tough."

Kurama saw her limp and rushed to her side. Whether or not she was the most ugly or most beautiful onna in the world, she was hurt. "What happened?"

Kagome sighed as she let him slip an arm around her waist to help her. "It is a long story. But you and the others need filled in on the new twist that I just found out in the past anyway. I will tell everyone tonight. Not in front of my mom though. She only knows very little about what is going on."

The tone of her voice when she talked about her mother surprised Kurama. It sounded more like a mother protecting her child from the hell of the world, instead of a sixteen year old girl trying to keep something from her mother. "Hai. What is said between you and us will stay that way."

When they were out of the well house Kurama pointed up the tree and said, "That is Hiei. He is a fire youkai. The rest are off doing other things."

"What kinds of things?"

Kurama laughed. "Yusuke and his wife Keiko are shopping for your mother with Botan. Kuwabara was just sent out to take something to your little brother at school."

Kagome smiled. Her mother was putting them to work. 'But the help is good for mama. She worries about me enough, and this will make it easier for her to manage when I am in the past.'

Hiei looked down into Kagome's blue eyes and was instantly in a trance. She was enticing to say the least. Every step she took her hair bounced with a life of it's own. For some reason he was troubled when he saw the hurt in her eyes. It was the same look when he would see Keiko right after another fight with Yusuke.

'That pain in her eyes was fresh and caused by a male.' The anger that surged through him was new to him. She was just another female after all. And most likely just as weak as the other ningen women around here. But something was drawing him to her. Something he could not quite put a finger on.

x

Inuyasha was furious when he saw that Kagome and Sango had flew off without telling him. 'I know she is going back to her time, well I am bringing her back! She was not hurt that bad. She could have stayed and then we could have left again in a few days.'

The instant that he saw Kirara fly off he took off from Miroku and Shippo. He was not about to let her get away with this! He ran as hard and fast as he could and finally reached the well just after dark. Jumping through the well he growled. He did not like it knowing that she would be meeting those detectives soon and it angered him that she did not want him to protect her anymore!

x

Kurama and Hiei sat on either side of Kagome. Yusuke was with Keiko, and Yukina had come to see Kuwabara. All four of the males jerked their heads up at the same time. Someone was coming.

Kagome looked over at Kurama and asked, "What is it?"

"There is someone coming, and he is very irritated. He came through the well like you."

Kagome crossed her arms and glared at the door she knew he would use. "Inuyasha." His named rolled off her tongue in more of a angry growl than one that showed friend.

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at her odd. She was glaring, and mad, but not worried. When the door behind them slammed open they jumped and spun around to see a guy in a red kimono with white hair and dog ears on his head. "Who the hell are you?" They chimed in unison.

Inuyasha glared at them. They were ningen. Looking around the room he counted three youkai, another ningen, and one who was not ningen or youkai. He found Kagome sitting between two of the youkai. "Who the hell said you could just leave like that? And don't think Sango won't hear about it when WE get back!"

Kagome was on her feet now tapping a foot and glaring at him. "Don't worry I can handle him. He is one of the ones that I travel with in the past. This is Inuyasha."

Hiei was not impressed. He bore a youkai sword and was hanyou, but was too over confident. 'I think that even Keiko could defeat him with little effort.' No sooner had he finished the thought when he jumped away from the miko. Kurama and Yukina doing the same thing. She was glowing!

Kurama made his way to Hiei and Yukina. "She is a purifying miko, and that is what her powers can do to a youkai."

Yukina turned worried eyes back to the girl she had an instant connection with. "But why isn't it bothering him?"

"I don't know."

Kagome turned and put her back to the hanyou and let her powers die. She forgot that three of the ones in her home that were welcome there were also youkai and that could not be comfortable for them. "Go back Inuyasha. I am tired, I am hurt, I miss my family, my friends, even going to school! I am taking a vacation! Naraku can't get any stronger than what he is. Koga won't let him have the shards he has, and I have the rest of them. I am staying here for a while."

Inuyasha took a step toward her. "You are going with me!"

"I'll say it Inuyasha."

"You are coming back Kagome if I have to drag you back."

"Inuyasha."

"Now! This is your last chance to come on your own!"

"Inuyasha."

"Fine I will take you back." He started to walk toward her but found her walking calmly toward him. He smiled at the others in the room like he had won something and left the house. He was at the door to the well house when he turned around and found Kagome standing beside the two male youkai. 'I bet they don't trust me. Good, I don't want them too.' "Kagome."

"I told you I was not going Inuyasha."

Inuyasha jumped in the air, and was forced to reach for his sword when the little guy pulled his and the guy with red hair pulled out some sort of whip, but the look in Kagome's eyes made him stop and land. "Kagome."

"I warned you."

"Don't! No you can't!"

"Inuyasha, SIT! SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT!" She then turned her back on the hanyou that lay in a crater in the cement. "I warned you Inuyasha. Now go back and see what you can do back there without getting yourself killed."

Inuyasha pulled himself out of the hole to find the black spiky-haired youkai looking at Kagome like she was a queen or something and the rest laughing and pointing at him. 'I'll show her.' "Fine then take your vacation, but I am taking the jewel with me."

"Sit."

Inuyasha hit the ground again! "What was that for?"

Kagome turned her glare to him and growled out, "I will keep the jewel here with me. To make sure you be good back there. Sango can handle Miroku, and with the threat of never having the jewel should keep you in line baka."

Inuyasha glared at her. Then turned toward the well. "Fine be that way, I will go and get Kikyo to help us find the shards while you take your 'vacation'." Almost as soon as he said the words he regretted it. He turned to see Kagome glaring at him, tears already in her eyes. Before he had the chance to tell her to he was sorry, she gave him another sit command.

"Sit! Bastard!" Then she ran back into her house and past her mother up to her room locking the door and closing the curtains. 'Stupid Inuyasha! Stupid Kagome, you know he can't let go of Kikyo.'

Sora stared after her daughter. She walked do the door and called the detectives in. "Come on inside for a few moments. There is something there that needs to be explained."

She smiled as all of them filed in the house and stood in the living room. "Have a seat please, I will explain the history between Kagome and Inuyasha and who Kikyo is."