Chapter 51: The Return

Dedicated to my friend Kelsey House. =]

Kagome took a train back to Tokyo, her ankles hurt, she was hungry, and the baby was kicking all through the train ride. She looked out the window and all she could think about was how horrible she had been to leave. 'They died and it's all my fault. I was stupid; I didn't know what I wanted. Oh Kami, please let me not be too late.'

A woman with a food cart passed by Kagome's isle plenty of times to see if she was hungry. Although she was hungry, he had no money to pay for it.

It took a whole day to reach the station to Tokyo. It was about three miles away from the shrine. She didn't want to walk, she just wanted to eat something but she had to hurry. Her friend's lives depend on her.

She walked as fast as she could, holding her stomach as she walked, trying not to disturb her child. As she past the people on the road they stared at her like she was growing another leg. Was it that strange for a pregnant girl to be running down the street crying?

After a while she reached to bottom of the stairs to the shrine. She looked up to the top and took a deep breath in and began to climb them. Her heart was pounding, her breathing was unsteady, and her legs were about to give out. All she could hear is her breathing and her heart pounding, everything thing around her had no movement, no sound to distract her.

By the time she got to the top she looked at the house, all the lights were off. She then looked to the shrine and walked over there. She opened the doors and there it was. The well.

The well was boarded up and sealed with sutras. She noticed a hammer on the floor by the well and picked it up and started ripping out the nails that were holding the wood planks tightly together. Her hands were red with splinters as she tried to open the well.

The baby was kicking harder and harder with massive strength that made her bend over in pain. "Please, please not now, be good and wait. I'm sorry I can't do anything right now, just please…" She cried as she rubbed her stomach.

The boards finally came open and she climbed down the ladder that was in there. She jumped to the floor, expecting to travel through time. She fell. There was no purple light. There was no floating in space. It was a hard ground with cement walls. "What? What happened?" She cried. "Oh... The jewels…"

She sat there, not knowing what to do next. She started crying even more and dug. "Sango! Miroku! Shippo! Anyone!" She dug even deeper then realized there was no way to get through. She was never going back. Her friends would die, and she'll never see Inuyasha again.

She cried even louder and dug her fingers in the dirt. Just then she was floating in the purple sky. She reached the other side of the well.

She looked up at the starry sky above the well. She pulled herself up from the well trying not the hurt her child. She reached the ground, the green, wet ground. She looked over in the direction where the village was. 'Naraku hasn't arrived, I still have time to warn everyone.'

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"It's been two weeks and she's still not back. Maybe she was being serious…" Shippo looked at the fire sulking.

"Inuyasha said he'd be back," Miroku replied. "Maybe something happened to him as well."

Kaede was in the corner of the hut, separating herbs and medicines into separate piles listening into their conversation. She missed Kagome. She was like her sister, not like Kikyo, but like a sister she never had.

Sango didn't say anything; she didn't want to talk about Kagome. That's all they've been talking about for two weeks, and every time they talked about her, the room was filled with sadness.

Kirara was lying in Sango's lap. All the sudden she sat up and stared at the door, "What is it Kirara?" Sango asked looking at her feline friend.

The bamboo mat that hung on the door whipped open and Kagome flung herself in and stood in front of the door out of breath. The room was silent except for Kagome's breathing. Everyone was shocked like they've seen a ghost. Was it really her? Or were they just imagining it?

"Ka-Kaogme?" Sango asked.

Kagome looked at Sango and dropped to her knees, hugging her. "I'm so sorry! I had to come back to help you! It was all my fault, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you guys! Please, please don't go!" Kagome sobbed into Sango's shoulder.

Sango looked at Miroku and smiled with tears streaming down her voice, she put a hand on her head, "It's alright Kagome, we're right here."

Kagome pulled away and looked at everyone in the room, "Naraku is coming soon, he's going to get the remaining jewel fragments," She stood up to look out the door then turned back to everyone in the room. "We need to… get…" Kagome gripped the door for support.

"Are you alright Kagome? What's wrong?" Miroku stood up to hold her arm.

"I'm fine… I'm so tired… Hungry," She closed her eyes and leaned on Miroku then went unconscious.

"Come, lay her right here. She'll be fine," Kaede turned to Shippp, "Can ye go fetch some water?"

"Yeah sure!" Shippo frantically ran to pick up the bucket and ran out the door with no time to lose.

"What's wrong with her Kaede?" Sango sat right next to Kagome's limp body.

"She looks to be exhausted. Her ankles are badly swollen also. And by the look of the paleness of her face, she hasn't eaten in a while," Kaede said as she massaged Kagome's ankles to lessen the swelling.

Shippo walked into the room with a bucket of water and placed it by Kaede's side. Kaede put a cloth in the water and squeezed the water out then put it on her forehead. Kagome mumbled the word "I'm sorry" a lot in her sleep.

"What was she saying about all the Naraku stuff? What did she mean?" Miroku asked.

Sango looked away from Kagome and looked at Miroku, "I have no clue…"

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Naraku sat in the darkness of his hidden castle up in the mountains. "That damn Yoru. He ruined my whole plan…" Naraku grunted. "Well I guess it's time to finish that retched girl off and her friends to retrieve the rest of the shards to make the Skikon No Tama whole again."

Naraku laughed evilly and stood up. "Kagura, come here," He commanded.

Kagura entered the room and knelt down before him, "Yes Naraku?"

Naraku smiled. "We're going to get the rest of the jewel shards. Prepare yourself."

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Yay! Two chapters in one day! Aren't you lucky. Anyways, I probably won't update in a while. =/ I wish I could but I don't know yet. I'll try. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Next chapter will be… Actually I'm not gonna tell you. You'll have to just find out when I update, sorry. ;P

-Katai