A/N: the shout-outs will be at the end of this chapter. Oh yeah, Gomen minna-san! I had so many mistakes in the last chapter. I typed this yeasterday, but couldn't get into to post it! Please review! -big, shiny, anime eyes-

Disclaimer: Almost forgot the disclaimer! I don't own Inu Yasha, but I do own a spork. -laughs manically- Ah, sporks, the perfect instruments of torture. I'm gonna write now before I scare you all away. Oo

1/29/05: Usual revisions of the crap I wrote years ago. -.-;

They were back through the well. Inu Yasha jumped up with Kagome still in his arms and landed beside the old, wooden structure, now in the crisp, fresh air of Sengoku Jidai.. Five-hundred years before the time he was in only moments before. Soon, Shippou would come to greet them; they both knew it. Kagome smiled as he reluctantly put her down.

"So, what was that all about anyway?" He asked, thinking of her falling in his arms and going acting strangely. 'There has to be something wrong. I mean it's not like her to just fall in my arms again. And she was crying so something must've hurt her. And then she started singing! It was my first time to hear her sing, and she was good at it. But why? Why did she sound so sad?'

"What was what about, Inu Yasha?" Kagome looked him straight in the eye. She was trying to forget zoning out on him like that.. And she knew she had been crying. She just didn't want Inu Yasha to worry about her.

"What do you mean 'what was what about'!? I'm talking about you falling over like you were in a trance and then crying. And what was up with singing out of the blue like that!? Are you okay, Kagome?" He could feel a growl wanting to come up, as he tired of asking her over and over. Daijoubou?!

"I'm just fine! I was just remembering some moments with my Dad."

'Her dad? What happened to him?' He was about to voice his question, when Kagome's eyes turned to the ground. 'It must be painful for her to remember. Like me and my mother..' He was jarred from his thoughts, as he smelled Shippou's scent coming close. 'I'll ask her later.' He decided, as he glanced at Kagome, until Shippou's voice was heard.

"Kagome!" Shippou cried out, as he launched himself towards her arms, knowing surrogate mother would catch him with ease.

"Shippou-chan!"

Inu Yasha, still with Kagome's pack on, watched the happy scene. "Feh, come on so we can get back to Kaede's hut." They nodded, and Kagome began walking by Inu Yasha, Shippou still in her arms. Shippou's gaze turned from her to the locket hitting him as her legs moved. His tiny hands closed around it, and his greenish, youkai eyes started to examine the golden heart.

"What's this, Kagome?" He asked, as he tugged on the gold chain to get her attention. She looked down at him and smiled slightly. Inu Yasha looked out of the corner of his eye, to watch.

"It's a locket. My dad left it for me."

"Like when Inu Yasha's dad left him the Tetsusaiga?"

"Yeah, kinda like that. I guess." She shrugged as she looked ahead thinking of when she pulled the Tetsusaiga out for Inu Yasha. That was the first time he had saw her cry. Her lips twitched as she remembered him demanding that she not cry, like he has so many times in her memory, and telling her he'd protect her. 'He has protected me. Without him, I'd be long dead.'

"What's it for? Is it a weapon or something?' Shippou innocently asked, as he turned it around in his tiny hand. Kagome just laughed and Inu Yasha now turned his head to look at her. He loved it when she laughed; her smile could melt him.. But that now brings up the Kikyou or Kagome situation. 'Kikyou never laughed or smiled..' His thoughts wandered. 'Kagome is so full of life. I'll protect her now and forever.' He nodded to himself mentally.

"No, it's not a weapon Shippou. You put pictures, which are like paintings, into it."

"How do you get stuff in it?" He asked

"It opens up. Here I'll show you. Get on my shoulder." He did and she tried to open it, but she had squeezed it too hard and snapped it shut really tight. She struggled for a while before she felt a clawed hand over hers. Kagome turned her gaze on Inu Yasha's golden eyes, which now reminded her of the locket's golden surface. He took the locket from her, but stood inches from her so he wouldn't choke her with the chain. He slipped a claw in it and it clicked open with ease.

"Arigatou, Inu Yasha." She said, as Shippou snatched it from Inu Yasha, and looked at the picture. "That's a picture, Shippou-chan." Shippou looked at Kagome and the man.

"That's you?"

"Hai."

"Who's the man with you?" He said as he watched her eyes slowly drop to the ground. Inu Yasha watched this too, hoping that she would answer it and tell Shippou what happened to her dad.

"..My dad." She said softly.

"I haven't really heard you talk that much about your dad, Kagome." Shippou stated, as if he was reading Inu Yasha's thoughts.

"He died when I was nine."

"I'm sorry." Both youkai and hanyou said at the same time, though Inu Yasha's could've easily been mistaken for a grunt.

She looked up. They both looked worried, and Inu Yasha didn't want her zoning out again, so he was in front of her ready to catch her if she fell. She only smiled. "Thanks, but it's okay." They continued the rest of the walk in silence, both youkai companions wondering about Kagome's past. It seemed all threee had lost at least one parent. Kagome, however, was just trying not to think about it, but her father's words about putting pictures of the ones you love in the locket still rang in her mind. She began to wonder what if Inu Yasha would pose with her for a picture..

In Kaede's hut, Sango and Miroku were resting, as Inu Yasha, Kagome, and Shippou entered. Kagome looked at her companions with a calculating gaze. Miroku had a red hand mark on his cheek and Sango had a hand on Hirakotsu, her free hand petting Kirara, her neko-youkai, gently. "Kagome-chan!" Sango welcomed.

"Kagome-sama, welcome back!" Miroku welcomed, too.

"Hey, Sango-chan, Miroku-sama!" Kagome returned. Sango noticed her locket, which began the usual explanation of pictures being like paintings and the device that makes it, and what a locket was. Inu Yasha opened it once again, as she unclasped it and showed everyone her and her dad.

"Kagome-sama? What happened to the man in the picture? I never hear you talk about your dad."

"..H-he died when I was nine years old. From a heart-attack."

"Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up." Miroku bowed his head in apology. Kagome faintly thought of how all of the group had lost their parents; she was the only one with a parent still living.

"I'm sorry, Kagome-chan." Said Sango, "I think we all know what it's like to lose a loved one." Kagome smiled at her friends being so nice. 'Even Inu Yasha said he was sorry. I wonder if he was thinking of the pain that he had to lose his mother.'

"Hai, I know. Thanks, you guys." She nodded to them, then smiled slightly at Inu Yasha, causing his heart to speed up. When Sango handed her the locket back, Kagome felt dizzy again. 'Not again,' was her last thought before the memories claimed her once again.

Eight-year-old Kagome and her father were on a bank fishing. He cast the line out and they relaxed as they waiting for the fish to bite. One was hooked and he began reeling it in.

"Kag, get the net!"

"I've got it daddy!" She called back as she held it out for him. He pulled it in and dropped it in the net she held out for him.

"We caught one, Kag!"

"Do you think Momma will be proud?"

"Hai, I do Kag. I know she will." Kagome smiled, but all of a sudden darkness came. All she could see was the water that was radiating blue light. Her dad was no where to be seen. She was now fifteen again and she looked into the darkness.

"Dad?" She said as she looked out. The water magically disappeared, only to be replaced by a cemetery. "No," she whispered as she ran in and began glancing at the graves. She tripped and fell over a root of a dead tree, then crawled to a big tombstone covered with vines. Her breathing became raspy, labored, and short. Her heart thundered in her chest, as she began ripping the vines off to see the tombstone's writing. "No!" She cried out at the sight of her father's name on a tombstone. She clung to it and cried out, "You can't leave, no Dad! ...Don't leave me.." She curled up in a ball by the grave and cried.

She opened her eyes as she heard her name being called out in one of those freaky-echo-voices, like in cartoons. "Are you okay Kagome?" Sango was waving a hand in her face.

"Huh?" Said Kagome at just now being dragged from her nightmare.

"You closed your eyes and just sat there for a while.. Are you that tired?" Shippou asked.

"Nah, I'm fine."

"You've been acting weird all day." Stated Inu Yasha as he put a hand on her forehead. "Are you getting sick or something?"

She shook her head. "I'm okay. I just told you that I've been having weird memories since this morning."

"Memories of your dad." Miroku implied

"Yeah.But, I'm fine. Really."

"Okay." Said Miroku

"Hey! We should be looking for Shikon shard rumors." Said Shippou.

"Oh yeah." Said Sango, as she Shippou and Miroku began walking outside. We'll be around the village."

"Okay." Said Kagome as they exited. Inu Yasha was giving her weird looks. She looked at him and remembered that horrible nightmare ending to her otherwise perfect memory. Her eyes watered up and she began to cry. Inu Yasha freaked out.

"What's wrong, Kagome? He asked, his voice full of concern. She grabbed a hold of his arm and latched to it crying on his shoulder as she reciting her recent memory to him.

TBC