Lauren: Hello everybody! Long time no see, eh? Sorry about that! I've been slightly busy with my new schedule and well…I'm been slacking also. T_T Instead of writing I've been watching Houshin Engi and .hack//SIGN. Not to mention my friend lent me the Inuyasha box set #4…I sacrificed watching it to write this! But heck, there's always tomorrow. I'd rather wait to get a really good chapter out than a crappy one. Time has really been flying by. I mean, last weekend I spent Friday night writing a myth for my English class instead of writing the new chapter and then Saturday night I started writing it but had to stop because I was so tired. Seriously, I started writing 'she' instead of 'he' for Miroku and Inuyasha! I decided I'd try to finish it on Monday and then suddenly, it was Wednesday. ^_^;; Sorry! I don't know why but whenever I get to the climax or near the end of a story, the chapters tend to come out slower. I don't know if it's because I want to make sure they're really good or if I'm just dreading finishing a story I love writing. Either way, I'll try to push myself along so you don't have to wait too much. Sorry but the review replies might be a bit short today, hope you don't mind! I wanted to title this chapter 'I Beg Your Pudding?' but I don't think that it fit very well…just thought I'd tell you that. Thank you so much for the reviews and everything!

Kagomechan89- Good luck with your friend! I know…it seems everybody leaves right when they only hear the worst of a conversation or else they misunderstand it. –shrugs-

WarriorGL- It's okay, take as long as you want, but it would totally rock to see the picture! I'll happily host it on my site. Did you ever finish the one I requested when I won some thing in one of your fics? ^_^

Tinuviel- DUDE! You got it right on…that was the feeling I was looking for when I wrote that little extra thing (With Every Light).

Nytshad- Not a thesaurus but a book of SAT words! Very fun to go through and use! And yes…I'm leading to the final showdown! *dun dun dun!!* And by the way, you're very smart! ^^

Aelinwen Elentari- Haha, yes, Kagome seems to do that often and then bad things happen. –nod nod- But…she has an excuse for running off so hastily except I can't tell you it right now! I'll find out probably in the next chapter! Woo!

Chavi West-Wind- Sorry I made you say his name! I didn't know that Icky Bumpy thingy is….HIM. I get it now! Yay!

Asilin- Was I successful? –holds up a wriggle brown bag- OF COURSE! We can share him! –opens it up and Bernard's head pops out of the bag-

MaboroshiTsuki- I hope you haven't received any hate mail yet for the Kagome statement, haha! You named your car 'Mullet-Mobile'? –bursts out into laughter- That's such a funny name! I don't have a car yet to name but hopefully I will soon! ^_^ Then I'll name it. I just call my computer 'you-stupid-pierce-of-crap!'.

~*~ Where Did You Go? ~*~

~By: Lauren~

-Chapter 25-

"Here I Am, Send Me An Angel"

"Where could she have gone?" Inuyasha growled, clenching and unclenching his fists in anxiety. He fought back the urge to smash something as he ran to the open window, leaning over the edge to examine and hopefully find some clue as to Kagome's whereabouts. Wearily, he glanced at the clouds to notice their blackened color as a low rumbling droned out his own angered snarl. He was ready to punch the glass out of the window to release his frustrations when he suddenly caught a whiff of a familiar scent. Inuyasha paused, leaning over more as he sniffed the air once again.

There it was!

There was no mistaking the scent. It was Kagome's blood.

"What is it?" Miroku blinked, approaching the hanyou carefully.

With a swift jump, Inuyasha leapt out of the window and landed crouched down on all fours. He leaned forward, sniffing the grass anxiously as he tried to figure out which direction Kagome had run in and why she was bleeding.

"Clue me in!!" Miroku yelled down to Inuyasha from the window. Inuyasha turned to glare at him before he began sniffing around again. Miroku was wary of Inuyasha and his situation, quite well aware that he was never one to let on to as much as he knew or in this case- felt. Much over that, Miroku was well prepped for any argument that Inuyasha may try to put up; He knew Inuyasha was blind to his own miseries and it was his rightful duty to make sure he didn't go about and overexert himself, as he usually did, while Miroku acted as Inuyasha's missing 'common sense'. However, as Miroku finally turned to catch his companion in sight, he realized that what he had been meaning to prevent had already come to pass so quickly he hadn't even sensed it.

Daemon had them trapped. Even with all the ofuda's he had set up, the shadow creature had still managed to lure them out. Worse of all, not only had he lured them out of their safe haven, he had split them apart and made them vulnerable. Even more vulnerable than the situation they were in before. Behind Miroku he heard a quiet sigh and he knew that Sango was standing in the doorway and had probably been there the whole time.

"What should we do?" She muttered, walking up behind Miroku. Unconsciously, he took her warm hand in his and squeezed it lightly to reassure her.

"Any ideas Inuyasha?" The former monk called down to his friend.

Inuyasha sniffed the air, getting a general idea of the direction Kagome had ran in before a few raindrops began to fall down to the earth. He cursed under his breath as her smell began to fade already as the rain started to pick up speed. "My car should be around here somewhere…if we get it maybe we can scour the city quicker and find Kagome." He yelled up to the window while Miroku and Sango both ducked back inside. Miroku quickly slammed the window shut to prevent rain from getting into his house before he ran down the hallway, grabbing his jacket. He tossed Sango her own jacket before he grabbed an umbrella, shoved a pocketknife into his jacket and grabbed a few other random things that could possibly become useful in the future. Before Inuyasha had a second to think, both of them were outside by his side, holding up an umbrella while the water rolled off of it in gigantic droplets.

"Well, let's get going then." Miroku smiled warmly, attempting to make the hanyou feel even a bit better. Inuyasha nodded, for once agreeing with Miroku before he bounded off quickly in a blur. Within a few minutes, he returned, rolling up to them in a cherry red car.

Grinning, he jumped out of the driver's seat. "Get in. Sango, I want you to drive so Miroku and I can keep an eye out for anything peculiar."

"O…okay…" The dark haired girl nodded nervously, scrambling into the driver's seat where she gripped the steering wheel mostly to stop her hands from trembling.

"You'll be fine- you just concentrate on driving." Miroku rubbing Sango's shoulder from the back seat, for Inuyasha insisted in sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Go left, down there." A clawed hand pointed down a street, the cement a hazy gray from the rain. Inuyasha rolled his window down slightly, sniffing the air. "She went down there." He confirmed, trying to desperately find Kagome's scent again in all the rain.

Muttering an 'okay', the car slowly lurched forward before Sango began to feel a bit more at ease. However, the situation they had currently put themselves in was one left only for either the daring to do and those who needed to be there out of necessity. Sango knew she fell in the latter of those categories after the shadow creatures claws had emerged by her out of the wall. They were boldly challenging one of the most powerful, evil beings on earth, with what she knew was a pathetic excuse of modern warriors and they had no other means to gather help from the world if assistance be needed. She had merely gone on such a dangerous excursion on the reassurance of having a friend alongside her, each and every time being the one person she'd want to be with for so long, her dearest Miroku and her best friend Kagome. Yet what discomforted the young woman so deeply and what plagued her and frightened her most at this time were not the worries on driving in search of Daemon, what bothered and disturbed her was the knowledge that on her way home, there might not be 'others' on whom she relied. The three companions on whose impeccable vision, quick wit and good judgment she could stake her life upon might leave her in less than a few hours. This was the final battle. If they didn't beat Daemon….this was a thought that she left ignored for most of the drive, feeling if she thought of it, it would leave her in canceling the trip altogether, stopping in mid-road if she had to, knowing she would be unable to do such a thing, to see those seats become empty and to feel so very alone. It wasn't about safety. It wasn't about reassurance. It was about the people that filled those seats and the girl who was missing; they were of much more importance and value to her.

"Dammit!!" Inuyasha yelled, slamming his fists into the dashboard, causing Sango to jump as she was pulled out of her thoughts.


"What?!" Sango angrily snapped at Inuyasha, trying to calm her wildly beating heart.

"I lost her scent…" The silver-haired hanyou muttered, unwilling to accept the truth. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"Just keep driving around. Keep looking." Miroku hissed quietly as he visibly tensed, his eyes scanning the streets.

~*~

"So what are we going to do after we're married?" Kagome smiled jubilantly while a tint of red filled her cheeks at the word 'married'. Bashfully, she snuggled against Inuyasha's warm body while the cold night air nipped at her skin.

 Sensing her tiny figure trembling slightly, Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her close against him. "I don't know." He shrugged, "Let's start by having one hundred kids!"

"NO WAY!!!!" Kagome jumped out of his grasp, gaping at him in shock while her face turned tomato-red. "Heck, why don't you give birth if you want that many." She crossed her arms and stuck her nose up in the air. "Do YOU want 100 Shippo's running around calling you 'Daddy'?!"

Chuckling, Inuyasha caught her wrist and quickly pulled her down onto his lap. "It was a joke." He muttered into her ear as he buried his face in her hair. Still, just the image of what Kagome had described, made him swallow his words. Kagome's heart was pounding so fast she thought it would burst out of her chest. "What do you want to do afterwards?" He questioned again.

Forgetting her past embarrassment, Kagome furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "I think I want to settle down and take a long rest…maybe go to college or get a house of my own somewhere. Have one or two kids in a few years. Either way…I want a break. I just want to take things slowly in my life…with no more mad evil people trying to kill me or get the Shikon no Tama!" She giggled although Inuyasha frowned at her words.

"I would never let anyone hurt you…you know that Kagome…" Inuyasha nuzzled her gently, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I know…" She whispered, tilting her head down a bit. "It's just…sometimes…I worry that I'll lose my way in life…"

Inuyasha snorted, "Keh, I've traveled around the world a lot and you want to know one thing that I've found? You're going to find that you lose your way quite often. Be ready for that to happen."

"But what should I do when it does…?" She tried to turn to face him but he held her steadily, turning his head slightly as he closed his eyes, inhaling her scent.

"Don't worry about it." He shrugged. "Soon, the path will let you know which way you should be going…"

Thousands of other memories flashed in her mind- including the most recent ones- the ones that hurt the most. Desperately, Kagome wished that her thoughts were not such a jumble and her heart not so broken. She ran blindly, not really knowing where she was going but letting her feet take her there. There was an ache in her heart; it was strange because it was sending her throbbing pains while at the same time it felt numb. It was as if all of her emotions had exploded inside of her and all that was left now was an empty shell. Tripping with exhaustion, Kagome collapsed onto the hard pavement, her chin smashing into it painfully while she jerked her head up. A trickle of blood began to run down her neck but she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand before she began to run again, an ominous feeling looming in the back of her mind.

Have you ever had that feeling? You know…the feeling that comes before an extremely important event in your life occurs? That event may be good or bad; it doesn't really matter in the end- but the nagging 'pay attention to me!' feeling still comes. Nothing ever makes that feeling go away. Nothing can ever make that feeling go away. And so that feeling remains, urging you to pay attention to it because…well, because your life is about to change forever.

And yet…for the most part, people ignore that feeling. It's not always a very smart thing to do but people still continue to ignore the feeling. But what happens when the feeling comes…and your life changes forever?

Ah.

Complete chaos, of course…

Kagome turned on her heel before she reached a large iron fence. She peered through it, her ebony hair plastered to her face. Somehow…she felt like something was pushing her onward…something she couldn't control. Something that wasn't just right…

But before she could fight off the feeling, she found herself clambering over the fence, dropping down the side to land on the ground with a painful thud. Taking in shallow, rapid breathes, Kagome forced herself onto her feet with a grunt. Closing her eyes to stop the world from swimming before her, she tried to calm herself down but failed miserably. When she opened her eyes and her vision cleared, Kagome gasped.

All around her were flowers. Some of their heads were drooping from the powerful rain while the stronger flowers had their heads raised to the heavens, drinking the honey-water sent to lengthen their lives. To her right there was a looming weeping willow tree and beyond that, Kagome spotted an old water fountain. The familiar place swirled around her as she realized where she was.

The clinic's garden.

Swallowing the lump in her throat along with her fear, Kagome took a steady step forward. "I know you're here…show yourself!!" She demanded, her words being carried away with the cold wind that wiped around her.

A bone-chilling chuckle filled the garden before a mocking voice spoke. "I always knew you were a fool…"

~*~

After riding around for another hour, Sango let out a hopeless sigh before, once again, she thought she was going to have a heart attack. Inuyasha reached over Sango, grabbing the steering wheel, making them take a sharp turn left. After regaining her senses, Sango grabbed the wheel back from him while glaring at him madly.

"I picked up her scent again." Inuyasha gave her a fanged grin, pointing forward. "Keep driving straight unless I say something else…"

Sango bobbed her head yes, for she could only be thankful as she hoped they neared their destination, for now that she had begun thinking of such things as losing her friends; she desired only to turn right around and keep those seats filled for as long as she could possibly do so. Kagome was strong…and I mean…it wasn't like she would go running to Daemon…right? She would return to Miroku's house soon, right? Sango, like Miroku and Inuyasha, would have to struggle against her thoughts, those secret thoughts they all had hidden. Forcing a smile on her face, Sango tried to make herself to at least appear happy but failed, letting out a quiet sigh. A silent tension filled the car, hanging in the air. The only sounds heard were the constant thumping of the cold wind through the cracked-open window, the pitter-patter of the rain and the turning of the wheels on the road.

Miroku grimaced- he was thinking again, and a little too deeply at that. He didn't want to mind about the point of this journey, he didn't want to reason about the glumness of it all, he just didn't want to be bothered by the trials he so ardently ignored; all of that had been his mental vow after all. Yet try as he might, he knew well he was a bound slave to his active mind, gouging desperately for his attention and concern with the following thoughts in constant circulation: perhaps reality hadn't hit them yet – it didn't seem like it any ways. Perhaps, in a sense, personally, they had all come to grips with the truthful and prevailing factor of the moment, but not enough to make it known to any other, not enough to prevent them from moving on, not enough to keep them all from taking that last step towards the final battle. The battle between darkness and light.

And as in those moments, Inuyasha, with a smile nearly a foot long, rolled his window down the rest of the way and leaned out of it as the first to break the dreary and muted silence once again, the first to fake that happiness they all resented, and Miroku realized that they had all done the exact same thing: each of them was forcefully numbed and distanced. Each of them had chosen to ignore the evident, and each was aware that even if they wanted to, there was not one of them who planned on taking that last fleeting second to look back at the past and find another way out of their situation.

Before he could comment though, Sango's shrill scream broke the silence and the car suddenly slammed to an abrupt halt. Miroku really wished that he had buckled up as he, along with Inuyasha, went flying forward.

~*~

Misspelling #1- And the car suddenly slammed to an abrupt thought.

Wow, I didn't know that cars could think…

We have not had one of those in a while! If you all wouldn't mind reviewing, do you think in there you could also tell me like your favorite part or just your thoughts or whatever? Thanks and I hoped you liked the new chapter! We're nearing the final stretch here!