Hey Guys! Here's another chapter like I promised. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from any Intellectual Properties belonging to Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan especially InuYasha.


"My lord, we have found the girl." A soldier said kneeling down in respect.

"Good, then go get her." A voice spoke in front of him.

"However we have a problem on our hand sire." The soldier replied. "The girl has two companions and one of them is a half-demon."

"I see. Send the troops and keep an eye on them. Ready the armory. Don't attack unless you see advantage. Try to take the girl in silence. Use force only if necessary. I don't want to lose men." He ordered.

"As your command, sire." He said and went away.

"So I have finally found you." He said in silence.


BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

The alarm kept beeping as dawn broke out over the big city of Tokyo. Kagome not wanting to get up tried to bang the clock shut. She swung her hand up and down not even pulling her head up from her pillow. After several unsuccessful swings later she crawled a little closer in half-conciousness and she swung her fist in the air which caused her to lose balance fall off from her bed. She was now wide awake as she shut the digital clock which was graduation gift Kagome's mom had given her.

Ow, this was one of the most unpleasantly morning she had in her life, the morning which began with pain. The day had only begun and she was falling off from her bed. For what unknown reason did god had to wake her up this way?

Rubbing the arm which had felt the impact, Kagome looked up at the alarm clock which indicated the cursed being known as time. The clock indicated 5:00 AM. What? It's 5 in the morning? That's way too early. What was she going to do this early in the morning? She had no work. Her homework's were pretty much done last night. She had no tests until next week. What was she going to do this early in the morning? It was freaking 5 in the morning. Why would she set the alarm at such an early time? Wait, she wouldn't. There is only one person in the world that would pull off stunts like this. There is only one person who would bug her with pranks as simple and silly as this.

"I'm going to kill you Sota." Kagome said with a long sigh.

Yep, it was her little brother who did this. Only he could pull off stunts like this. After all only a little brother can have a gut so strong that would give him the ability to bug her sister till this extent.

He was going to get paid later. But what was she going to do now? Taking a long breath she moved towards the window and slid it open. Then she pulled her chair closer to her from the desk that was nearby. Resting her elbows on the sill of the window she looked out towards the sky as birds started flapping their way through the sky to find their early morning worm. She then looked down to her shrine as she saw squirrels coming out from their slumber. But more than any other object, the one that caught her attention was the ancient well house. This was the gateway to another world. It was the gateway to the world where she, her companions and her lover fought thousands of demons and emerged victorious in their battle with the Shikon jewel and its servant Naraku. This was the gateway that was locked away forever. Now she couldn't go back. Her role in that world was over. She could not meet her friends from that era again. She didn't even have a chance to say good bye to them. But more than anything, she could not be with InuYasha again.

Kagome then got up and slowly went downstairs. It was still morning and others were still asleep. A part of her just wanted to slip into Sota's room and throw him out of bed for making her wake up so early in the morning. She just so badly wanted to take revenge on him. But then again, she didn't want to wake anybody up. Sota really needed to have some more sleep. She wasn't going to wake him up just because he woke her up. Besides he was still a kid.

Kagome approached the door and slid it open. She then went outside as the sun was still below the horizon and the land was covered in faint light.

Taking in the fresh air Kagome started to move around in circles, not really having anything interesting to do. She just wandered around the grounds, gave prayers at the shrine and swept the shrine entrance with a broom.

But then again it was still early. What was she going to do now? At that moment Kagome's attention shifted somewhere. Her eyes landed on a tree. Not any tree, but the tree that linked two worlds.

This was the sacred tree from where Kagome freed InuYasha on the other side. Kagome froze there immediately as sunlight slowly shone over the leaves giving off a stunning view.

"Sis" a voice spoke up.

Kagome turned around to look at the boy who had been the cause of her unnatural wake up that morning.

"Sota, good morning. You're early today." Kagome said to Sota.

It was her brother who was now in fourth grade. Sota had moved to a new school since the previous school was shut down for a reconstruction after a massive earthquake damaged the property. Of course Kagome wasn't there during that time.

"You came here. You still miss him, don't you?" he asked.

Kagome gave no reply she just stood there and stared the tree.

"You know I miss him too. With him around I felt like I had a brother with me." Sota spoke up

"Yeah, all that happened, and it just felt like yesterday." Kagome said.

At that moment Kagome remembered the days when InuYasha used to bug her if he ever heard the name of the word home. Then the result would be a thousand sits or Kagome's fearful wrath that was her angry expression. If she did make it back, then he would just come and bug her constantly. Speaking of bug she was reminded of something.

Kagome moved towards her little brother. Then she swiftly grabbed him and started to scratch his head with her fist.

"You woke me up, didn't you?" Kagome said.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He apologized while struggling in her sisters grasp.

Kagome put him down.

"So why are you so early?" she asked.

"I really couldn't sleep last night. I decided to come out since I heard someone sweeping the floor and thought that gramps might have woken up." He replied.

Well, that was surprising. Kagome thought that Sota was having fun by waking her up early in the morning. But he was unable to sleep the whole night? Was something really bothering him?

Kagome kneeled down and looked into his face. She was right. Something was bothering him? She could easily see that he was hiding something.

"What's wrong Sota?" Kagome asked.

"Oh nothing's wrong." He replied.

He lied. He had a lot of things he was hiding that really bothered him. He really wanted to tell someone. But how could he tell them? What if they scold him if they ever found out?

"Are you sure?" Kagome asked.

"Really, sis there's nothing." Sota replied.

"Don't kid yourself." Kagome said.

Sota couldn't make any more excuses. He was caught. What was he going to do now?

"Trust me Sota. Tell me, what's wrong?" Kagome said again.

"Everything's wrong. I am always bullied by that cool kid in class, nobody wants to be friends with me in this school, I am always thrown out of class for no reason." Sota replied in a really low voice. "And..and…"

"You got low scores on your test." Kagome spoke up.

"I don't know why. I was sure I would pass but somehow I failed. I really don't know how." Sota said.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Kagome asked.

"I was scared. They told me that if I failed then I would become a burden for the family and everyone would hate me badly for failing the test." He replied. "As for the bully stuff, I didn't tell you because I would look like a chicken in their eyes and I always get thrown out of class for even making a small sound. Yet kids behind me throw paper balls. Yet they get away and I am always at fault."

"Sota, look we would not scold you for such issues. Don't hide your problems. It will really result into nothing. I too have failed my exams. But have you ever seen mom become angry against me?" Kagome replied.

"That's cause …. Well…. You were always being pulled in by InuYasha. So I believe that's why mom considered you." Sota said.

"No Sota, look mom would never be angry for telling the truth. But if you just hide the truth too much for too long then mom will surely yell at you. Just hiding the truth will not help. You have to tell us your problems or we might never be able to help you. And hate you? Why would we ever hate you? You are my brother, I would never hate you. No, matter how many times I say 'I hate you'." Kagome said.

That was all he needed to hear. Sota immediately hugged Kagome, his sister. How could he be such a fool? A sister would never hate her brother. No matter how much he may bully her, no matter how much she would yell at him, they would never fall apart. He would still be Kagome's brother and she would always be Sota's sister. He never had a brother, but who cares, if a sister really understands you, then who needs a brother.

Kagome on the other hand was ready to help her brother. She was ready to help anyone. Of course if they were really in trouble.

She knew Sota was a hardworking boy, yet he failed. He was thrown out of class for small stupid reason, but the bullies got away. What type of wild school has he found himself stuck upon? They would have to talk with their mom about this and really evaluate the situation. But that is for later.

"Thanks sis, I am very lucky to have you as my sister." Sota replied.

"Sota, I am you big sister. Do you think I would allow some idiot to bully my little brother? There's a reason why we are a family." Kagome said. "However, I will not always be able to help you. At those times it's up to you to face the situation and you must be able to stand on your own."

They pulled back and Sota gave a confident nod and Kagome gave a big smile and ruffled his hair, happy with her brother's determination.

"You're lucky you have holiday today. So take a day off, and help grandpa around the shrine." Kagome suggested. "Or you could hang around with your friends from old school."

"Ok sis and you have fun at your school." Sota said.

Kagome gave a nod. There was no way school was fun. She felt like a bird in a CAGE. There was nothing interesting to do in the school. Subjects were well, subjects. All words and boring, wait…

"GASP, I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL." Kagome yelled with realization.

She immediately shot inside the house, ran upstairs and immediately changed her clothes. She then came down and went to the dining room where her mother was already cooking breakfast.

"Good morning Kagome." Mrs. Higurashi greeted her daughter.

"Good morning mom." She greeted.

"You were up pretty early, surprised to see you late still." Mrs. Higurashi said.

"Yeah, Sota set the alarm way too early. But he looks to have problems of his own. Please don't ask him anything right now though. We will discuss it together later since he is not very comfortable talking about that right now."

"As you say Kagome" Mrs. Higurashi replied.

A few moments later Kagome's grandpa and Sota joined her on the table. Kagome immediately grabbed the chopsticks and started to devour the rice and fishes that lay in front of her. Sota gave a soft smile to himself looking at her sister eat voraciously. This was a lot like her sister. But somehow a part of that sister was also changed. She rarely argued with anyone and she was more lost in thoughts a lot of the times. She really did miss InuYasha.

Clearing her bowls Kagome joined her hands with a loud clap and thanked the gods.

"Thanks for the meal mom, I'm off now. Bye." Kagome said as she stood up, grabbed her bag and phone, wore her shoes and dashed outside.

She then ran down the shrine stairways and through the streets until she reached the train station. Grabbing her ticket she moved through the crowd. As she waited for her train to arrive, she realized. She was standing on the exact same spot where she had sat InuYasha when he was trying to pull her away from her final middle-school graduation exams that was held a couple of months ago. At that time she was really sensitive about not giving up her school work. She was so densely focused on her exams that she never realized that those would be one of the last days she would ever get to be with InuYasha. After all she had to pass her exams or else what would she do with her life and career if she failed?

As she entered the train, she was now left there standing among the crowd just wondering. What would she do with her life without InuYasha?


Over the other side of the well, InuYasha looked towards the horizon as dawn was nearing its end handing the shift of its job to the morning. His back was now in a much better shape than before. However he was still tired of all the fighting the day before and he couldn't sleep all night fearing the nightmare. Plus his wounds were still unhealed. At that moment InuYasha only wished for Kagome's touch, the touch that was used to heal him. If Kagome saw any wounds on InuYasha then she would just rush out with her bandages and start treating his wounds.

"Hey!" A voice behind him spoke up which belonged to Nobu.

"What do you want?" InuYasha asked.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Why do you ask? The only thing you want to do is get away from me" InuYasha said.

"You saved me yesterday. I still have a favor to return." He replied.

"What is up with you? You first call me a vile abomination, then you get me all broken up, then you say thank you for saving your butt and now you warm up to me." InuYasha asked in a frustrated manner.

"I'm sorry. I have a lot of trust issues and I panic too much too quickly." Nobu replied.

"So why do you want to warm up to me now?" InuYasha asked.

"Most of the nights I noticed you are lost and sad. So at that moment just like mine, you too may have a past as sad as mine." Nobu replied.

"You know nothing about my past" InuYasha said.

"That's right. I know nothing. I just saw sadness in your eyes. Why were you sad? I don't know. That's why I want to know." Nobu said.

"Let's say all my life all I did was only ran." InuYasha replied. "And what is your sad past?"

"Let's say I made a huge mistake in my life. I had to see all my loved ones die. That's why I am on this journey, to undo that mistake." Nobu replied.

"And I see you have a travelling partner." InuYasha said with a hidden grin hoping to make the idiot uncomfortable.

"Yeah, the moment I saw her, I saw the opportunity to undo my mistake. I knew I could make everything normal." Nobu replied.

They stood in silence until InuYasha spoke up.

"So you in love with her?" he asked.

"What? What are you talking about?" Nobu asked back confused.

"Aren't you and Suzume well…. together?" InuYasha asked surprised by the reply.

"Huh, who gave you such a thought?" Nobu asked.

"Well, you two were hugging yesterday." InuYasha said.

"Sh-Sh-She wa-wa-was just scared. I'm not in love with her. She is just my travel partner. She is only here to undo my mistake." He replied.

He was such a bad liar. He was certainly feeling uncomfortable with a lot of blush on his face. InuYasha could easily see that. He really was in love with her. How did he know? Because that's how he reacted before he fell in love with Kagome. But what was this undoing his mistake nonsense mean?

At that moment InuYasha noticed Suzume looking at them. She was holding a very sad look on her face. He realized this was not the right time to ask any more qustions. Was she sad at Nobu denying his love for her? If that was so then she really loves him till death. Nobu is only holding back, but why? Was it pride, or something else?

"We'd better get going." InuYasha said.

Nobu nodded and went inside while Suzume just moved away hanging her head down. These two were in love and they are not accepting it. He now had to join these two love birds. Why? That's because he had lost his love forever. He was not going to see other's lose theirs. That's why he left Miroku and Sango alone.

"Now I must do your job Kagome." InuYasha said as he looked at the rising sun.


So this chapter focuses more on Kagome since she really hadn't had a chapter that depicted her life without InuYasha. After all it is not always InuYasha missing Kagome, is it?

Well, that's it for this chapter guys. I hope you like it. Please do feel free to leave a review since it would be lovely to communicate with you guys. This week I have highlighted the word CAGE. Can you guess why?

Also I have already completed next chapter and boy it has one of my favorite portion of the story so far. But I really don't know when to upload it. I really am considering uploading later this week but some how I am also considering holding up for next week. What do you guys think? Should I upload it later this week or next week?

Anyways thank you for reading and do feel free to PM me if you have any questions or leave them in the review. I will try to answer them and I will see you guys around.