AN: That's right - it's a chapter! -dies- It was a painful, painful business, and I did it when I was supposed to be working on homework. All the same, go ahead and read. I'll put my uber important note at the bottom.

Kagome breathed in deeply and held that breathe for a count of five before releasing it. She repeated it several times before she finally allowed herself to float down to the top of the Tower. She'd considered simply leaving Robin there – he was far too exhausted, both mentally and physically, to stop her. Unfortunately, she couldn't allow herself to do so. It simply went against her character. She was concerned, after all. What if it rained? The fact that there wasn't a cloud in a sky did nothing to alleviate this worry. What if another enemy flew to the top of the Tower and saw him there? Of course, she wasn't taking into consideration the fact that it had never happened quite that way before. Most invasions had, surprisingly, come through the front door.

It took several long moments of arguing with herself, but at last, Kagome touched down onto the paved ground of the Tower rooftop. She wouldn't be able to keep herself from worry if she left him there. In a sense, she needed to be sure he was alright where he was before she left again.

She couldn't let herself pretend that he hadn't just had a nervous breakdown. Nor could she pretend that she hadn't been the cause of it. Kagome hated herself for it. She'd been foolish. It was unnecessary for him to know, and she certainly hadn't helped by scaring him. She'd been very, very foolish. And she hated herself for it. Nothing she had told him had been false, but she had omitted that any such acts on Naraku's part would take lots of time and planning. One didn't arrange for the destruction of an entire world with a great deal of planning. Fortunately, with Inuyasha's presence on Earth and the fact that, because Rin was there, Sesshoumaru would eventually be arriving, there was a deterrent. It was unlikely that Naraku would act brashly while one of the most powerful men of their planet was there.

Kagome swallowed as she approached the door to the rooftop entrance. She was even more surprised, however, when it opened of its own accord just as she stopped before it. She froze, Robin still in her arms, as she realized who had been behind the door, and just how awkward and strange she looked.

"Kagome…?" Starfire had obviously been just as surprised to see Kagome as Kagome was surprised to see her. With her was Sango. Kagome forced herself not to turn and run, but it was difficult when Sango looked at her with such disappointment in her eyes.

"S-Sango… Starfire…" she managed to get out as she recovered. "Um, how nice to see you…?"

Kagome drooped, glum. Now that she'd been caught, they'd be sure to interrogate her. This… would be difficult. And worse, she knew that they'd expect her to stay. And beyond that, she wasn't stupid enough to believe that she'd want to leave after speaking with them, and simply staying with them for a little bit. She'd been lonely when she'd worked alone. It wasn't so bad once she forced herself to deal with it, but nor was it easy to forget that there had always been someone to talk to if she ever felt like chatting, and there was always someone to play against when she wanted to play a game. Life alone was very different, and she'd missed her friends dearly. But she couldn't allow herself to stay with them and place them in even more danger.

"What are you doing here, Kagome?" Sango asked, frowning a bit. Then, realizing that Robin wasn't wounded, but rather, unconscious – asleep, to be precise, she sighed. "You know this is going to be difficult."

Kagome nodded, swallowing. "I know." Her words came out in a whisper. "But I have to make sure he understands. I don't want to see him look that way ever again."

Neither Sango nor Starfire had any idea of what Kagome was talking about, but Sango could make a guess as to what Kagome was speaking of. After all, there was only one reason for her to be speaking that way. After all, even if she'd seen Robin break down – something that had obviously happened given his exhausted state – she would have considered all of the Titans, and the little ones that didn't understand why she'd seemingly betrayed them and run away.

But Kagome had referenced Robin alone, and to Sango, that spoke in volumes that threatened to destroy things. Lots of things. Kagome was playing with fire, and they both knew it.

"Starfire, why don't you take Robin to his room? Try to make sure no one sees you. If they do, explain and send them up here." Sango's dismissal was a polite and discreet one, but it was a dismissal all the same.

"Of course," the original Titan nodded. She was confused – that much was obvious – but she was willing to do anything to help, and at the moment, all she could do was take Robin off of Kagome's hands. She carefully accepted the girl's burden and quickly disappeared behind the secondary door of the roof.

Sango didn't miss the fact that Kagome's eyes followed Starfire until the door closed on the alien.

"Kagome, you can't be doing this. Not right now."

Kagome bit her lip, looking down. "I know – I'm not going to do anything."

Sango shook her head. "You don't understand – they'll know if you're trying to make sure he's safe when you're not as worried about the others as you are about him, and they'll take advantage of that."

Who 'they' were was obvious to both of them, even without their names being said. After all, both of them were, in essence, a jinx. Who know what devilry could come about when their names left their lips.

Kagome looked her older sister figure in the eye. "I know. I'm not going to put anyone in danger."

Sango shook her head at the younger girl's words. "That wasn't what I meant." She paused for a moment. "We're your friends – we're more than willing to enter dangerous situations with you, beside you, even. But you need to make sure that you don't show extra attention to any one person, or it's pretty much guaranteed that they'll target that person."

Kagome didn't understand what Sango was trying to say, and her expression said as much. "That's why I need to leave again as quickly as possible."

Her long time friend sighed. "Okay, let me try this again. You're close with most of us, but you're especially close to Miroku and me." She continued when she saw Kagome's nod. "Both of us can protect ourselves, so we're alright, but the problem is that you're also getting close to Robin, and he doesn't know what he's getting himself into."

Kagome nodded once more, opening her mouth to speak up. Sango held up a hand, immediately silencing any words the girl might have put forth.

"I'm not telling you to ignore them, Kagome-chan. I'm telling you that you should trust all of them to walk with you." Sango said.

Kagome understood several things, then. The first – the one that came with the most impact – was the fact that Sango was calling her Kagome-chan again. She'd dropped the suffix and it had surfaced until just now. She was relieved, because it meant that Sango wasn't really angry with her. The thought that Sango might have been upset with her had settled deep in her stomach, but at the suffix, that weight had dissolved.

The second thing she understood was that Sango wasn't telling Kagome to run, or even to leave them behind to fight by herself. To clarify this, though, she spoke her thoughts aloud.

"You, as my friend, want to walk beside me," she said slowly. Sango nodded at her. "But I, because I don't want anyone getting hurt, keep walking in front."

"Exactly." Neither of them was expecting to hear another voice speak up.

Both girls turned abruptly, having been surprised by the newcomer. It was Raven, and the girl looked as though she were caught somewhere between amused, disappointed, and angry.

"R-Raven!"

"Hello, Kagome," the girl spoke in a cool tone. Kagome might have thought she was upset with her but for the smile that played across her lips. "That's what Robin and I were trying to explain to you the first time you went off on your own."

Kagome remained silent, thinking about what the girl meant. "But I wanted to walk in front. I wanted to keep you all safe. It's worked, hasn't it?"

Raven shook her head. "Physically, yes. You're keeping us safe – for the most part," the psychic said. "But at the same time, watching your back is painful and difficult for the ones that you're walking in front of."

Understanding dawned on the girl's face, and both Raven and Sango were pleased to see that she was finally seeing why they'd been upset with her in the first place.

"So walking in front isn't really keeping you safe." Kagome said, a bit disheartened. "It's hurting you, but in a different way."

Raven nodded at this. "We all realize that you don't intend to hurt us, so no one's going to speak up about it or even dislike you for it, but we would probably all feel a bit more at peace if you let us walk beside you instead."

At last, Kagome nodded. "You're right." She'd conceded. The other girls both sighed in relief. The other, private, worry with any one of them walking in front was that it meant that person was in the front lines. All the weapons were trained on the person in front as opposed to the people in the back. As a result, this also meant that Kagome would no longer be the main target. This bit of news would be welcome to the other Titans.

But still yet another problem had yet to be addressed.

"But I can't stay."

"What?" Sango looked sharply at the girl. While she'd known that Kagome had no intention to stay in the beginning, she'd hoped that the girl would change her mind when she'd realized that she couldn't fight alone.

That's why both girls were surprised to see a blush suddenly settle on Kagome's face.

"Um…" she fidgeted for a moment before finally speaking up. "What do you know about Shadow?"

Raven responded to this immediately, rattling off the details that they'd all memorized in case they happened to run across any of the blacklisted criminals. When she'd finished, she only raised an eyebrow at Kagome, understanding where this was headed.

"You're Shadow?" Sango said in disbelief. "But why? Shadow's a criminal – on wanted lists and posters and all kinds of things!"

Kagome rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I didn't actually commit any major crimes. Just petty theft and stuff. On the other hand, I was really obvious and loud about. And really devious, too. I planned it out in advance and left my mark wherever I stole something. The name got famous pretty quickly."

"And then?" Raven was still watching her with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Then the crime syndicates and groups started to come to recruit me."

"You were responsible for the downfall of the Hive, weren't you?" Raven asked, amused. "You joined the organizations and turned them inside out, making them fail."

Kagome's blush deepened and she looked down, embarrassed.

She was surprised when Sango clapped her on the shoulder with a peal of laughter. "That's great! You pulled one on all of us! Just wait 'til I tell the troublemakers!"

Kagome's face began to resemble the color of a tomato. "Yeah… But I'm with a big group right now. I'm really close to toppling them."

"Alright," Raven nodded, her lips twitching upwards into a smile. "Then you'll need to go after talking to Robin. We'll talk to Starfire and make sure that no one sees you. It'd be bad if they knew, right?"

Kagome smiled at the other girl, summing up all her feelings into a single word: "Thanks."

AN2: Thanks to the following for reviewing!

MoonsDaughterLuv
Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami
Silver Fox Kagome
devious-wolf
Shalimar23
lacy
gen
silverroseredbullet
xKagex
kagome-crossover

Ultimately, it's the sudden push of reviews in the last week or so that got me to put off the insane workload I was doled to sit down at the computer and type the whole thing up. My fingers are in a bit of pain, but I feel that it was worth it. Thanks so much! And... Vote in my poll!