Kagome stared into her open palm at the almost complete half Shikon no Tama. She sighed and tilted her hand a little to let it roll to the left.

She closed her eyes and dropped her head. She'd been worrying more frequently about what the end result of the hunt was going to be. She wasn't certain about what wish to make upon the jewel, but she was pretty sure that it had a lot to do with the barriers currently up in her time. She growled and scrunched her nose and opened her eyes back up to study the jewel again.

Kagome started as a hand closed around hers, hiding the jewel from sight. She followed the arm and found Miroku kneeling in front of her, concern shining in his eyes.

"Hey, Miroku." Kagome greeted softly.

"Hey yourself." Miroku let go of her hand and sat beside her, reclining against the wall of the cave next to her. He bumped her gently with his shoulder, "Tell me your troubles."

Kagome smiled gratefully at him, "What am I going to do? How will I know if I've done the right thing?"

***ALOB***

Yusuke bent to pick up a pebble and flicked it at Hiei. The fire apparition dodge it with a sneer. Inuyasha snorted at both of the guys.

"Stop antagonizing him, Yusuke." Kurama chided, gathering another fallen branch to his collection for fire wood.

"I'm not." Yusuke retorted, "I am testing to make sure his reflexes haven't gone to crap since he's been lazing about so much."

"Hn." Hiei's hand inched towards his sword, but at Kurama's warning glare, turned his face away with a grunt.

"Anyway," Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Why you always got to be touching my sister?"

"Pardon?"

"I asked-"

"Yes, I heard you, Yusuke." Kurama paused in his gathering. They were really all supposed to be gathering the wood while he gathered some things for dinner, but so far, the other three only seemed to be interested in snarling at one another. "I don't believe that your question is really accurate, however. I am hardly touching her all the time."

"Bull!" Yusuke snapped, "You've always got your hands on her!"

"They aren't currently."

"You know what I mean!"

"Keh." Inuyasha spoke up, "It's 'cause the bastard is a kitsune. Well, sort of."

Kurama inclined his head, allowing Inuyasha's comment and inviting him to elaborate.

"Haven't you seen how Shippo is always holding onto her when he's around?" Inuyasha waited for Yusuke's slow nod of acknowledgement. "Kitsune require touch. It's the biggest show of affection they can give. They need it to survive or some crap. Stupid, if you ask me."

Kurama glared at Inuyasha's finishing shot and opened his mouth to respond when Hiei spoke up.

"Be grateful it's Kurama, detective-"

"Don't call me that; I'm retired." Yusuke growled.

"It could be worse, that stupid wolf could be the one she lets near her."

All four males shuddered at the thought.

"Alright." Yusuke stretched his arms over his head and swung them back down, "Don't you dare hurt her, Kurama. I'll kick your ass so bad that even Koenma couldn't bring you back."

Inuyasha raised a lip to show one of his fangs at Kurama in agreement to Yusuke's threat.

Kurama nodded gravely before dumping the wood he'd gathered into Yusuke's arms.

***ALOB***

Shippo and Rin raced into the gaping maw of the cave Sesshomaru had pointed out that the group had retired to.

The pair tumbled over one another in their hurry and saw Sango and Miroku seated beside Kagome against the wall of the cave; Kirara was in Kagome's lap enjoying an enthusiastic petting by Kagome.

"Kagome!" Shippo crowed.

"Kagome-sama!" Rin shrieked.

Both scrambled back up and smothered her with tight hugs. Kagome returned their hugs as Kirara made a hasty escape.

The kids were chirping at Kagome with updates on their most recent adventures when Sesshomaru strode into the cave entrance. Kagome beamed up at him and rose to her feet. She bowed solemnly to him.

"Miko." Sesshomaru acknowledged, and nodded to her. She rose and Sesshomaru reached into his sleeve and withdrew something wrapped in cloth. He held out it out to Kagome.

She reached out for it, curious. Once Sesshomaru laid it in Kagome's hand, she gasped. She unwrapped it, hurriedly.

"How did I not sense these, Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome asked as she gazed at the contents.

"The cloth is special." Sesshomaru turned to exit the cave, "Keep it."

He glided out of the cave, his hair billowing gently in the wind, and sat against the wall.

He watched as his half brother soared into site and slammed onto the ground next to him.

"Feh." Inuyasha glanced at Sesshomaru as he rose from his crouch. Sesshomaru nodded, and continued reclining against the wall.

"Hn." Hiei answered, having just beat Inuyasha to the cave entrance. Yusuke and Kurama followed sedately behind, both had their hands in their pockets as they joined the trio at the cave entrance.

"Hello." Kurama nodded to Sesshomaru and glanced at Jaken, Ah, and Un to include them in his greeting. The dragon and kappa lazed about on the other side of the cave entrance.

Yusuke turned as Kuwabara entered the clearing in front of the cave, a string of fish in his hand. Kuwabara nodded at Sesshomaru and glared at the rest of the group. He'd been annoyed that he'd had to do the fishing.

He marched into the cave and brought the fish to Kagome.

"Here you go." He thrust them out to her.

"Thank you, Kazuma!" Kagome beamed, she pecked him on the cheek and turned to prepare the fish for dinner.

Kurama, having followed Kuwabara in, narrowed his eyes slightly and cleared his throat.

Kagome turned to her… she wasn't sure exactly what to call him.. she turned to Kurama.

He raised his eyebrow at her and pulled out a bundle full of herbs, berries, and other edible plants. Kagome took the bundled, smirked at Kurama, and kissed him on the cheek.

He raised his other eyebrow, "I believe you're short on my payment."

Kagome giggled, stretched onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. Kurama wrapped his fist in her hair and deepened the kiss.

Sango coughed delicately after a few minutes and the pair finally broke apart. Kurama looked down at Kagome as she dropped down from her toes. He traced a finger down her face and neck before brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear. He stepped back and winked at her.

Kagome looked down and blushed, but darted back to the redhead and pecked him on the lips.

"That's my change." She turned, her face on fire, to finish preparing the meal.

***ALOB***

The group sat in a loose circle around the fire, finishing the meal that had been gathered and prepared. Once all the dishes had been gathered and piled at Miroku's feet (it was his turn for dishes) Kagome pulled the bundled had gifted her out and unfolded it for the group.

"Sesshomaru-sama brought me this." She stated as she pulled out the large chunk of shikon fragments. There was a small flash as she combined it with her piece and the group looked on at the almost complete jewel.

"Eight pieces left then, including the ones you guys have." She looked up from the jewel to Sesshomaru, "Where did you get them all?"

"We got them on adventures!" Rin piped up.

"Yeah! They all came from the west, on our patrols!" Shippo babbled excitedly.

Kagome's eyes met Miroku's. He smiled at her in reassurance and pulled Sango closer.

Author's Note: Hey all! Thanks so much for the reviews! They really make me enjoy sharing this story with you!

I forgot to put in the author's note last chapter that there likely wouldn't be a chapter this week, I had planned on a one shot (same universe)… but, since I didn't warn you, I wrote this up instead. It's shorter than normal, but since I am trying to do two updates this week… you'll just have to deal with it.

On a side note - I am incredibly annoyed at how none of my 'scene separators' work... so, now I've tried a new kind.

Thanks for reading! Please review!

Zeika