A/N:Hello all! Told you I'd be updating again! I'm feeling more inspired to write this! Also, because I'm writing this I have found a way to play my game again! My grandmother has a PS2 and I have the game, and though I can't find my memory card, I'll borrow the one I gave my friend, during the weekends, since I go to my grandmother's house every weekend! That means I'll be able to get inspiration AND references for things. So… YAY FOR ME!!

Enjoy 33

Journeying Back

"Mom, Dad, I have something I want to ask you."

"What is it Kaname?" Her mother looked at her from across the table.

"Well, I was wondering if it was okay for me to go camping with my friend Kagome's family during the next vacation," Kaname informed them of the already decided on alibi.

"Who's going to be there?" Her father asked her directly. If his daughter was going to be gone for a couple of weeks, he wanted to know who she would be with.

"It's going to be Kagome, her mom, her grandpa and her little brother. If you want to confirm anything, Kagome gave me her house number so you could call her mom and talk to her." Kaname hoped her parents wouldn't be suspicious of anything and would allow her this leave.

"Well, I don't see why not. Is there a number we could call to get in contact with you if we need to?" Her mother asked, wanting to ensure some sort of connection.

"Uhm, I don't think there's any service where we're going. But if there's a pay phone anywhere, I'll try to call, okay?" That would end up being the biggest problem. There really was no way to get in contact with anyone from this world once she got over there. But maybe Kagome's mom could find some way to cover for her like Kagome said she would.

"Hmm… I'm not so sure then…" Her father mused. He wanted to make sure his daughter would be safe wherever she was going.

"Oh, come on Dad! Please!" she practically begged. He couldn't say no now!

"Let her go, honey. I'm sure she'll be fine. There will be adults there and I'm sure that if anything happens, then they'll know what to do and how to contact us. Right, Kaname?" Her mother smiled at her. She was happy to see her daughter so enthusiastic about something. She figured it probably had something to do with why she was so upset the other night.

"… When can we talk to your friend's mother so we can discuss the arrangements?" Her father caved in. He could see how much she wanted to go, so he wasn't going to be the bad guy and stop her.

"Oh! Thanks Dad! Thanks Mom!" Kaname cried, hugging each of them. "Well, I have the number right here, so you can call her now. Kagome said that her mom would be willing to meet with you as well, if you want." She was grinning widely at that point. Things really were working out well.

"I don't see why not. I'd be happy to talk to your friend's parents," Kagome's mom conceded with a smile. "I think its great that you have a friend from this time that you can share this with!"

"Thanks Mama!" Kagome hugged her mother, so happy that things were working out. She had already gone back and told everyone the plan to get Kaname to come back. They had all been happy and enthusiastic about it. Kagome was wondering though, whether she should test out whether Kaname could really go through or not. It would be better to know now if she couldn't, but once she gets there it would be hard for Kaname to just immediately leave with seeing everyone, and she knew that. She could always just call her the next day and ask what she wanted to do.

"You're going to take your friend to the Feudal Era?" Her grandpa asked her. Kagome turned to him with a smile.

"Yeah! I know it must seem strange, but I met her in the Feudal Era!"

"Really? Wow! I didn't know other people could get there! I wasn't able to!" her little brother Souta commented.

"Well, she didn't go through the well. In fact, InuYasha found her in the forest, all alone. She was brought back to that time by a magical power that her ancestor used. She traveled with us to try and find a way home, and in the end, she helped us defeat Naraku!" Kagome explained their relationship to her family.

"I see, so she's become an important part of your group," her grandfather commented.

"Wow! That's so cool! I want to go back in time and learn magic and fight demons like you guys!" Souta said, getting more excited at her story.

"You defeated Naraku? Does that mean you'll be at home more often?" her mother asked. "I miss you when you're away from so long and I'm sure your school friends miss you a lot too."

"I wish that's what it meant, but no. Just because our biggest enemy's gone doesn't mean my job will be easier. We still have to find the rest of the jewel shards. And there's a lot, even though we've been trying to collect them all for a long time now. I didn't realize a single jewel could shatter so much. Not to mention, we're not sure how to put it all together." Kagome shook her head with a sigh as she thought about how much work still lay ahead of them. It's not as though she would abandon that world after they can finished collecting the jewel shards, but she would be happy to be able to stay in the present for longer than a few days at a time.

"Oh, alright," her mother sounded a little sad. "Well, as long as you keep safe while you're there, I have no problems. And since the biggest threat is gone, you'll be safer now than ever before."

Kagome could tell that her mother was trying to cover her worry for her daughter. She hugged her mother again, but this time it was more than a quick thank-you hug, but a longer I-love-you hug. "Thanks for worrying about me, Mama. But I promise I'll be okay! There are so many of us, we'll never get badly hurt!"

"I know, Kagome. I trust you."

"Hey, Kaname! Where did you go yesterday? We wanted to ask you more questions!" Sana asked when Kaname sat down in her seat next to her.

"Yeah! You were being so vague and dodgy about it all, we wanted to find out the truth!" Tomo-chan said, leaning over her desk from behind Kaname.

"Yesterday I went to see my friend from the other day, Kagome. We had some things to talk about, that's why I disappeared yesterday."

"Really? We were sure you were trying to get out of answering our questions!" Sana commented with a sly smile.

"So if that's not the reason, then you shouldn't mind answering our questions now, right?" Tomo-chan asked, resting her head on her arms, staring directly at Kaname.

"U-uh… I guess not? But class is going to start soon, so please don't ask too many questions…" Kaname said, her face flushing slightly. She already knew who would pop into her mind as the answer to any of the questions.

"So, let's get this straight, right now. You've met a guy you like, right?"

"Well… It's not exactly like that…"

"Then, what is it like?"

"Well, he's…" Kaname had no idea what she was saying or what she would say next. "He's just someone who helped me when I needed help. And I helped him too."

"How'd he help you?"

"How'd you help him?" The two questions were nearly simultaneous.

"Uh… well… he helped me out when I was in trouble. He saved me a few times… And I helped him out by protecting and taking care of his… little sister." It wasn't exactly a lie, even though it was far from telling the whole truth. And though she could see Sesshomaru and Rin's relationship more like that between a father and daughter, it would be too awkward to say she protected and took care of his daughter.

"Well, that's sweet! What else…"

"What's he like?"

"Oh, right! Is he nice?"

"He's… Well I don't know really if he's nice or not. He kind of hides his emotions from everyone. So he might be doing something to be nice, but he does it in such a way that he seems mean. And as for what he's like…. He's strong and he really cares about his little sister. I can tell he'd do anything to protect her." Kaname didn't even realize she really thought all of those things until she said them.

"Aw, that seems like a really great relationship they have!" Tomo-chan said with a smile.

"Yeah! Now just imagine if you can get him to care as much about you as his little sister! He'd do anything to protect you then!" Sana laughed, teasing Kaname.

"No, I doubt I could ever do that…" She shook her head at Sana's words. No matter how she might have felt about Sesshomaru, there was no way he could ever care about her as much as he did about Rin. At that moment, the teacher came in and quieted the class, preventing any more questions, which made Kaname feel relieved. She let out a sigh and sat forward, waiting for class to start.

The final bell rang and before Kaname could go anywhere, her friends cornered her.

"We're going to finish asking our questions, okay?" Sana told her, rather than asked.

"There's a lot more we want to know!" Tomo-chan agreed.

"Alright, fine. Let's go somewhere to talk, then…" Kaname sighed, giving into defeat.

"There's a park nearby, we can go there to talk," Sana suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Tomo-chan agreed with a nod. Kaname was grabbed by the arms by her friends and half-dragged out of the classroom and the school.

"You guys can let go now! I promise to not run away, okay?" Kaname told them, pulling her arms free after being dragged for a few minutes.

"Okay, the park's right over there." Sana pointed across the street to an empty park with a few swings and an bench.

"I wonder why its so empty at this time of day. Don't little kids usually swarm these kinds of places?" Tomo-chan asked, looking critically at the empty park as they crossed the street.

"Well that's because there's a rumor that this park is haunted. One of the seniors last year made it up to scare away the little kids. Even though its not true, the little kids are too afraid to even come near it," Sana told them as they entered the park. It was a pleasant enough park and Kaname couldn't figure out how the little kids believed the stories when the park felt so happy. She shrugged off the thought and took a seat on one of the swings and her friends sat on either side of her.

"Okay, so ask your questions," Kaname gave them permission as she slowly swung back and forth a few inches.

"Hmm, let's see… How did you two meet?"

"How-? Uh…. He was looking for someone who had done something to him. I had lost my way and I went with him, since some of my other friends were looking for the same person, so I would be able to find them in the end. He kind of protected me when we were on our way over to where that person was. But when I found my friends, he sort of just left me with them without saying much. But he still looked after me until I found my friends and he left once he knew I was with people I knew. So I guess you could say he was being nice to me then…" Kaname mused as she remembered the first time she had met him.

"That's… actually pretty nice of him. Most guys wouldn't even bother!" Sana told her, stretching her legs.

"Well, he kind of needed to find the way, so he needed me…" Kaname gave in more detail.

"But still, he didn't need to just leave you with your friends! It sounds like he left you with them before he got to where he was going, so he still needed you as a guide, but he let you be with your friends," Tomo-chan said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, that's true! He's pretty considerate!" Sana agreed.

"I guess…"

"By the way, when did you meet him?" Tomo-chan asked her.

"When…?" Well, technically, seeing as how she spent quite a while in the Feudal Era, about a month or so, it would be about two and a half weeks. But since all that had happened in a matter of seconds during the present it would be two days ago? However, if her friends started asking more details and she said it had only happened a few days ago, they'd wonder about how so much was able to happen in that time. "About two and a half weeks ago."*

"Really? It was that short ago?!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner then? I mean, if it was over two weeks ago and I was teasing you a few days ago about not having a guy, you should have spoken up instead of just blushing!"

"Th-that's because I was too embarrassed to say anything…" Kaname looked down at her lap as she said that.

" Not to mention, you said that they were "only in junior high" and dating, meaning you think that's too early, but you have your own guy!"

"I- I still believe that junior high is early for dating! And I'm not being a hypocrite since I don't think I'll be dating this guy! There are too many problems with that. For instance, I don't think he even likes me…"

"How do you know? Did you ask him?"

"Of course not! I wasn't even sure about my own feelings until yesterday! All because you guys were asking me so many questions!" Kaname shook her head furiously.

"You were unsure for so long?" Tomo-chan asked. "But you're sure now, right?"

"Well, yes. I know I do like him now. But I could never ask him. I'd be too afraid to ask him something like that! Even though I like him, he still scares me a little. And I don't even know when will be the next time I'll see him."

"Why? Does he not live around here?" Sana asked her, watching her expression, which seemed to be more sad.

"…No. He doesn't really live near here. The only chance I have to see him is during our vacations, but I don't even know if I'll be able to see him then…"

"Oh…. So he'll be in the area during vacations?"

"No, but I'm going to be with my other friends who know him, so there's a higher chance I'll run into him…" Kaname knew her face was flushed at the thought of seeing Sesshomaru again.

"Well, at least there's a vacation coming up! I hope you get to see him again!" Tomo-chan said with a smile.

"Yeah! I hope the best for you, Kaname!" Sana encouraged her.

"Thanks guys."

A/N: Sorry it took longer than I thought to post this! As you can see, this chapter is way more about Kaname's feelings as well as some more stuff with Kagome's relationship with her family. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going right now, so feel free to give suggestions. Now, about my plans to play the game again: Well, first off, everything was going according to plan, but my grandmother's PS2 was as busted as my own. BUT! And this is the most awesome but ever, SHE BOUGHT ME A NEW ONE!!!! So now I have a PS2 so I can play my game a lot more often, like whenever I have time!! That was one reason it took so long for me to post! Another reason was… I GOT A TABLET!!! So now I'm all into drawing and working with it! So I got a little ADD XD But! I've prioritized muuuuch better! I really want to keep up-to-date with this story…. Even though I'm not sure what's going to happen, I still want to keep working on it. So yeah… Please review with any suggestions about what I should do!!! But mind you, I will post next weekend with or without suggestions, though I really hope I get some, otherwise I'm going have to come up with a bunch of stuff that may not even make any sense.

* Since it's been so long since I've played the game, I'm not really sure what the time frame would be, or how soon you meet up with Sesshomaru, so I hope this works well enough.