See? I updated fast!

Smiley-chan: Thanks for telling me about the whole l/r thing, but it still doesn't change what I said. Since the original name isn't in Japanese at all, the translators shouldn't go by the limitations of the Japanese language! Since the Americans can write 'Malik' they should call him that, since that's the name. I dunno, it just bugs me. Glad you liked the chapter, by the way.

Shining Charizard: It's weird O_O? Well, I guess I agree. I think I have weird ideas too. And I think Ryou is one of the best characters in the show, aside from Malik and Bakura. Trust me, I'd be ecstatic if they just ignored the pharaoh and stuck to the other more interesting characters.

Dark-Sephy: You know, I hadn't thought about the genre so much. I originally thought that it would be funnier, but I guess the plot got the best of me…

Kikoru: I'm trying, really.

Shadow Dragonia: I'm glad you like it! Makes me really happy to hear that (especially when I spend time writing that I should be studying physics or something).

Moose lord: okay…^_^.

SchizoAnimeDelinquentFoxDemon: That's one heck of a name you've got! @_@.

Currently reading: The Elfstones of Shannara (Terry Brooks), The Wars of the Jews and the Romans (Josephus Flavius), Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody (don't remember).

Reconciliation

Susan sat in her normal, boring kitchen, reading the newspaper. It wasn't the greatest newspaper around, their international reporting wasn't up to par, but it was nice for the local news. Susan's long hair, which she had never cut because of her family's tradition, was coming out of its schoolteacher-ish bun to hang partially around her face. She lived in a rather prosperous neighborhood, in a smallish average house in Highland Park, New Jersey, near the school where she taught history to bored students. She was a bright woman, looking to be in her late twenties, who had already published several papers about the history of the United States, and was on her way to earning her Doctorate while teaching in the local high school. She only saw her family rarely, preferring not to have them running around where her students or her law-abiding, normal neighbors could see them. Susan finished her coffee, put the mug neatly in the dishwasher, and folded up the paper. Sundays were definitely a wonderful invention, she mused as she sat down on the living room floor and meticulously began polishing an old sword, which was an ancient family heirloom. She watched the play of light on the old blade, which had lost none of its edge and aura of power, remembering the feelings that had been bothering her lately. She stopped polishing for a minute, to finger the small pink stone set in her necklace. Actually, it looked more like a shard of something than a stone. What could be causing all the disturbances in Japan?

Just then, the phone rang. Picking up the cordless, which had been lying on the sofa, she answered and found a familiar voice at the other end.

"Lewis? What's up?" There was a moment of silence.

"No, as far as I know, none are in the Japan area, and they're all accounted for, except for the Lost ones, as usual." More silence, while the voice on the other end chattered excitedly.

"You think they've actually been found?" she exclaimed, "That's….After all these years!" She listened again. "Active? You mean, youkai are waking up again?! I think we need to contact the others. This could be serious!" She cut off the connection.

If the Lost Shards of the Shikon no Tama had indeed been found and were becoming active, it could mean the end of reality as humans had come to recognize it. She only hoped they weren't too late.

The sun beat down on the youkai-ridden Domino city. Ryou winced, blood running down his arms. He called for his yami to take over, before remembering that the Millennium Ring was currently lying on the pavement, preventing his yami from helping him. Great. He tensed his muscles, then quickly pulled in his arms and legs violently, trying to wrench them free. The move surprised the youkai, managing to loosen the bonds. But before he could get free, it snarled and sent more vine tendrils to capture his limbs once again. This time he could hardly move.

The youkai glared at him. It was impossible to tell whether it was male or female. The skin was rough and greenish, tapering off into vines below the waist and at the fingertips. Its hair was also made of vines, though these were finer. The eyes were a blank red, set deeply in a face that was reminiscent of humanity, but with wider cheekbones, and the face coming forward it what looked more like a snout than a nose. Joey pushed himself off the ground, wondering what to do. To his left, Mai gave a faint groan, the bleeding gash in her leg impeding her movement. I have to distract it, enough for Ryou to get free so he can attack properly, he thought. It was probably the only useful thing he could do. He picked up a metal beam, and ran at the monster, ignoring Ryou's cry not to. The metal cut through some of the vines, and the monster snarled again, this time in pain. It had not thought the human capable of hurting it. It lashed out with more vines, knocking Joey down, where he lay, stunned. The youkai laughed at Ryou's shocked look, and Mai's pained one. "Oh, did I hurt your friend?" it sneered, "Don't worry, soon you won't worry any more!" another thorny vine shot towards Ryou, wrapping around his neck. The youkai laughed.

Ryou struggled in despair. He wasn't trained enough to fight the youkai off now, and he couldn't move anymore, anyway! The thorns tightened, and he wondered vaguely whether he would suffocate, or have his throat cut by the thorns first. He was going to die.

Kagome packed what she needed into the bag. She put in enough food for a few days, some extra clothes, and grabbed her bow and arrows. Sango watched her in silence.

"Kagome, are you sure you want to do this?"

Kagome sighed, and sat down on the cold ground. "Sango, I have to. I completely bungled the whole thing. It's all my fault that Inuyasha left!"

"It's very dangerous, you know." Sango said quietly.

"I know." Kagome saw the pleading look in Sango's eyes. "No, you shouldn't come. I bungled it, and I'm going to fix it."

Sango sighed in defeat. Nothing had convinced Kagome to stay. They had reasoned, threatened, pleaded, but to no avail. "At least take Kirara with you. You need some kind of transportation."

"And protection?" Kagome asked dryly.

"And protection." Sango agreed firmly. She quickly clasped Kagome's hand. "You'll come back, right?"

"I will." Kagome promised. She ran outside, and climbed onto Kirara's back, waving to the other Shikon hunters as Kirara ran up into the sky.

As one, the three turned away from Kagome, who was vanishing into the morning sky, and went back into the hut they had stayed in. They had many preparations to make. Hakudoushi wasn't going to wait upon their pleasure, and they would have to keep up a normal façade, or else he would be attacking them. It was no secret that the main powers in the group were the miko and the hanyou.

"I say we follow the same path we've been taking," Miroku suggested. "Kagome will definitely be able to follow us, and if we've advanced in our search by then, that's all to the good."

Kagome flew through the sky, the wind blowing through her hair, the sun warm on her back. She followed her feelings. She could still sense Inuyasha's youki, somewhere ahead, and was intent upon following it to its source. Hakudoushi could go hang. She had more important things to do right now than follow him around aimlessly.

She was not aware of exactly how long she spent searching. Youkai stayed away from her mostly, as if they sensed she was in no mood now for any of their nonsense. Finally, she could sense Inuyasha nearby. She left Kirara in a nearby clearing, patting the small cat-youkai on the head, and telling her to wait for her there. Kagome walked into the clearing, and saw the familiar form of Inuyasha, his hair blowing slightly in the wind. He looked at her coldly.

"Hello, Kagome."

Now that she was here, a million things that she needed to say came to mind, but she stayed silent.

"Did you want something?" his voice was still expressionless, as if he couldn't care less about her.

"Not really," she whispered. She held out both hands, and concentrated on the rosary around his neck. Slowly, feeling the power in it, she advanced towards him. Inuyasha just watched her, wondering what she was doing. Kagome finally reached him, and she caught hold of the necklace with both hands. She gave a quick jerk outwards, and the necklace shattered. The beads flew every which way, then disappeared into small glowing balls of light that dissipated quickly.

"Here, Inuyasha," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking, "You're free."

Inuyasha raised one hand to his neck, the familiar weight of the hated rosary now gone. He still didn't speak. Kagome backed away several steps, then stopped again, wondering what to say now.

"I just wanted to let you know," she said timidly, "that- I mean, if you want, um, would you please come back and help us?" she rushed on, "It just won't be the same without you!" God, that sounded lame, even in her own mind.

Inuyasha was currently waging a serious war with himself. Should he go back? The truth was, he missed their group, the way they laughed and fought together, the way they supported each other. It amazed him that Kagome had come so far, just to free him of the rosary. But he still didn't move.

Kagome saw he wasn't moving, and turned away sadly. She hadn't thought that he would want to come, but she still had had to hope! She started walking back to Kirara, but Inuyasha's voice stopped her.

"You're not going to wait for me?"

She stopped in surprise and looked back. Inuyasha gave her a halfhearted grin. "How do you expect to fight Naraku without me, huh? I suppose I'll have to come back to protect you from making total fools of yourselves."
Kagome's eyes filled with tears. She turned and ran back to him, straight into his open arms. She was crying now, the tears spilling freely from her closed eyelids. She felt a hand on her chin, lifting it up, wiping the tears gently away. "I was so afraid you wouldn't want to come back," she whispered.

The hand on her cheek stilled. Kagome opened her eyes, afraid she'd said too much. Instead, she found Inuyasha looking down on her, his expression one of intense feeling. "I will never, ever leave you, Kagome. Don't make that mistake again." In his voice she heard the love, protection, possession, all directed at her. She stared into his eyes, and he slowly closed the distance between them and kissed her.

Kagome wished the moment would never end. But, as all good moments do, so did this one. An urgent meowing from the trees ahead brought them out of their stupor, and Kagome grinned. "Let's go back home," she said.

Hand in hand, they ran toward the calling Kirara.

Kagome sat in her old room, having finished her homework long ago. She hadn't considered how boring learning all this material again would be, but it was nice having friends again. She looked out the window sadly. She had gotten used to having a view of buildings and streets once again, though it still seemed strange after spending so many years in feudal Japan. The question rose once again in her mind. What did one do with near-immortality if one had no one to share it with? She sighed.

Her brother knocked lightly on the door, and came in.

"Brooding again, Kagome?"

Kagome gave him a tired smile. "You know I am, Souta. And yes, it's still the same thing. It hurts so much to have left Inuyasha and Ryu. I will never see them again!" tears filled her eyes. That hurt the most, knowing that she would never see her husband and son again; never know if they were alive or dead. No, that wasn't true. She knew they were dead. No youkai lived for three thousand years. But she still wanted to know what became of them.

Souta saw the familiar pain clouding his sister's face. He couldn't know exactly what she was going through, but he could guess the pain. He would be devastated if he were to lose his wife and children the way Kagome had. He changed the subject.

"Have you heard about what's going on in Domino city?"

Kagome looked startled. "No, I haven't. What's happening?" The truth was, she had been rather out-of-it in general since she had returned.

"There have been lots of murders and attacks there lately. The locals claim that they were caused by youkai."

"Youkai?!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Many people are skeptical, but the phenomena does seem to be spreading. And from what's been seen on the media, it's either a very elaborate hoax, or youkai really are returning."

Kagome digested this, then sent out her senses, searching. Immediately she felt familiar auras- many youkai, and Shikon shards. How could she have been so blind, not to notice, and all this practically on her doorstep?

"I was thinking," Souta said, watching her face, "that maybe it might be a good idea for you to transfer schools?"

Kagome smiled. It seemed that the talents of a trained miko were once again needed. That might help her forget. "That would be an excellent idea." She gave him a grateful smile, got up and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Souta!"

A/N: I've already done a few fanarts for this fic. You have no idea how much fun it is drawing Ryou in a haori ^_^. I also drew Ryou and Bakura in the Inuyasha style, and they look almost exactly like Inuyasha, but without the ears. That's where I got the idea for the fic, actually. I also tried drawing Ryou in the Fushigi Yuugi style. He came out adorable, and looking nothing at all like Ryou. Freaky.