Inuyasha sat in a nearby tree from his acquaintances. Every now and then he would glance at them, just as a reassurance that they were still there. He didn't intend on loosing yet another one of his friends; however, the loss wouldn't hurt as much after loosing Kagome. He remembered vividly the day she left; calling after her and running after her. When he had finally reached him, she had looked deep into his eyes and whispered "I can't do this, Inuyasha", before she sat him. When Inuyasha had woken up, the Beads of Subjugation were gone, as was she. He had tried jumping into the well, only to realize that it wouldn't work. Inuyasha had desperately started clawing at the dirt in the well, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

"Kagome! Please, Kagome!", he had cried out, wanting his beautiful Kagome back. 'How could I have done this? Why did I mess this up?'

The hanyou snapped back to reality, crossing his arms and letting his legs hang loosely. He hadn't changed much, but he was now clearly older; being taller and sturdier. His fire rat haori danced with the wind, as he looked down at the tree branch.

He started carving her name into the bark of the large tree with one of his long claws. Inuyasha got to 'Kag' before closing his hand into a fist and hitting it against her name.

"Dammit. How could you do this to me, Kagome? I never meant anything like that to happen, why don't you believe me?", he said, looking at the sun setting.

Flattening his ears to his head, he thought of the beautiful woman who used to be his lover, his mate. It had been a year and a half, but he still thought about her every night. Inuyasha thought about her eyes, her touch, her laugh. He loved everything about her, and now she was gone. Inuyasha closed his hand, his claws prickling his hand, causing small drops of blood to fall.

Shippoo stood by the tree, looking up at Inuyasha. He jumped up, trying to reach his surrogate father. Still a small kit, he couldn't reach that high. He sighed, and turned around, starting to walk back to the camp. In a flare of red, Inuyasha had jumped down, grabbed the kit and jumped back up. Holding Shippoo with his back to Inuyasha's stomach, just as his mother had done, the two sat in silence.

"Inuyasha?", the kit asked, looking behind, at Inuyasha.

"Yeah?"

"Were you thinking of Kagome? You looked so sad.", he said, turning around and hugging the hanyou.

Inuyasha didn't say anything, just put his head on the small fox's head. He looked down at him, a few tears falling his eyes. Shippoo let out a small sob too, as he thought about his surrogate mother. How they both missed her.

"Yeah, I was, Shippoo".

Ever since Kagome had left, Inuyasha had to take over the task of taking care of the kit. Before he was assumed the role of the annoying older brother, yet now he had changed into a replacement father. The two rarely fought anymore, and were almost always together. Even during battle, Shippoo would stay with Inuyasha. The young boy had already lost so much, and he wanted to hold on to the only parent he still had.

Sango and Miroku sat with Kilala at the camp, near the fire. They had been exchanging happy chatter until they heard the mention of the departed miko, Kagome. The three now sat silently, staring at the crackling fire. Sango, Miroku and Kilala had all taken the departure of Kagome very strongly. None of them knew the actual reason she had left; the last time they had seen her was three days before Inuyasha had done…something. What it was, they didn't know.

"Sango?", Miroku said, keeping his eyes on the fire.

"What, Miroku?", she answered, looking at the monk who had stolen her heart.

They had displayed their love to each other, but promised to keep is somewhat secret until Naraku had been killed and Sango had had time to cope with the death of her brother. The group had decided that after the Shikon jewel had been restored, it would be given to Inuyasha. The individuals would probably go their own ways after their task was finished.

"Do you still think of Kagome?", Miroku asked, now turning his head towards the woman next to him.

Sango sighed, resting her head on the monk's shoulder. "Yes, yes I do. She was my best friend", she said, letting a few tears fall.

It was strange how the friends of the miko so often shed tears for her. It had been quite a long time, and they probably never realized how much of an impact Kagome had had on all of them.

"I understand, Sango", he replied, putting his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He let a single tear fall.

Sango blushed slightly, but returned the loving embrace. Miroku had become more caring, and didn't try to touch her there anymore. She appreciated that, as it let their relationship reach a new level. Their embrace lasted a few minutes, as Sango fell, tear-eyed, to sleep. Miroku chuckled slightly as he lay her down next to Kilala, who now transformed to her second form. Miroku lay down next to her.

Inuyasha lay the tired kit on the tree branch, as Shippoo slowly fell asleep. The hanyou put his hand to his chest, and grabbed his two pieces of the Shikon. This was all they had gotten in a year and a half. Just two shards. Since Kagome wasn't with them, they had to trust the talk the heard around the villages. Once they had gotten a new direction to go on, they had to find the right demon. Since the location of the shard was in the unknown, the Wind Tunnel couldn't be used. Finding the shard in the dead flesh was, so far, the worst part; they had to scrounge through the dead demon for weeks, even months.

The rest of the group had asked Inuyasha to get Kikyou to help them, although they disliked her. However, Inuyasha couldn't bring himself to do it; using Kikyou as a replacement Kagome seemed wrong to him. Besides, everytime he looked at Kikyou, he would only see Kagome, yet he knew that this imitation wasn't his beloved.

Besides, now it was too late to use the dead miko.