A/N-Wee! New chappie! I have nothing else to say except avoid public displays of idiocy. Don't ask, long story…Oh wow! I just realized that I have over 100 reviews for this story now! Wee! Yay! Celebrate! *Does happy dance* The one who gives me my 150th review gets a cookie!

Disclaimer-Today, I tried to buy some Poptarts from my school's vending machine but it ate my dollar and me, being my not-quite-there and not-thinking-properly self, I tried it again and it ate my dollar again. So now I have no dollars so you can't sue me because you won't get any dollars. You can have this pencil that the school sharpener ate though. It's a very nice pencil except it's really small…

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When Did Things Get Complicated?

Chapter VIII

Kagome was lost in her thoughts and grief all day. Her mother was gone. First her father, now her mother. Who would be next? Would she be next? It seemed like the war had brought a plague upon them all, causing them to slowly but surely drop like flies. And now what about the negotiations? Would her brother honor their mother's wishes and work out a peace with the demons? Surely not…And who? Who would kill her mother? They still couldn't find out who had killed her but someone had. There had been a deep gash in her back, clearly made from a knife or some other blade. Kagome saw this herself.

And she recognized the name from somewhere, long ago: Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls. But from where? And about what?

As she was thinking these things, a memory flashed before Kagome's eyes and she suddenly saw herself, as a little child, looking to be no more than six or seven. Kagome saw herself as if she were just an onlooker to the event. The little girl Kagome was pressing her ear to a door, much as she had been doing only moments before. Kagome recognized the door to be the one to her father's office. Well, now it was Shidosha's office, but Kagome liked to still call it her father's.

Kagome heard voices coming from the room. She slowly walked forward, drawing closer to her child self. To her surprise, she walked right through the door, into her father's study. Her mother and her father, much younger, were inside, talking.

"It's very dangerous," her father commented. "Does anyone else know it's here?"

"No," her mother answered after thinking for a moment. "No one else knows but my remaining family."

"Good, the Shikon no Tama, in the wrong hands, will have disastrous effects. It's best if no one ever finds out we have it here. If you have to keep it, we'll have to make sure it's kept a secret," her father said. "It's not only necessary to keep it away from demons. It would be just as bad if it were in the hands of humans who wish to do wrong."

Kagome gasped when she heard Shikon no Tama, but they couldn't hear her of course. So this was how she had heard of the Shikon no Tama. Kagome blinked and found herself back in the hall, her father and her mother and her child self gone.

The Shikon no Tama? Disastrous effects? Her mother and father had been keeping it, but why? And how did they get it in the first place? Did anyone else know they had had it?

Well she'd just have to ask her mother about it la…Kagome stopped short in the hallway, remembering that she couldn't ask her mother about it later. She would never get the chance to ask her mother about it. Her head was beginning to ache and she could feel tears coming to her eyes, so she walked down the main hall and out the front doors, wishing to leave the oppressing atmosphere of the castle for a while.

She could ask her brother about it, but she wasn't stupid enough to do that. He'd never tell her. He'd just say that it was man's business and not for young ladies. Either that or he'd get angry. Kagome wouldn't be surprised if he tossed her into the dungeons for listening in on the conversation. If that was what power did to people, Kagome never wanted any.

But now what? What would happen with the war now? Kagome couldn't talk to her brother; he'd never listen. And Sesshoumaru seemed to be-judging from Inu-Yasha's descriptions of him-just as obstinate as her brother. Kagome hated to admit it but things were looking badly for both kingdoms now.

She looked up and noticed that she was in the forest, right before three men dropped down from the trees above her, surrounding her.

"Well well well…" one of the men said. "Lookee what we got 'ere boys. Looks like a rich 'un from the way she's a dressed."

"What a pretty 'un. Can I have 'er when we're done?" one of them asked, sneering.

Kagome reached for her sword, only to find it wasn't there. She hadn't grabbed it before wandering out of the castle. "Damn…"

"Ooh, what colorful language fer a lady," one of the men said, making tsk-ing motions with his hands.

Kagome looked more closely at them to find they were all armed with knives. She cursed again. Things weren't looking good for her thus far. She stepped back cautiously, the only way she could go without running into one of the men. Then she turned and dashed through the trees.

She could hear the men muttering for a moment before chasing after her. She could hear their feet crushing twigs and branches as they pursued her. She couldn't really guess which one knew the forest better: them or her. She had been in here almost every day since she was seven, minus the few months after she had told Inu-Yasha she never wanted to see him again. But they had probably wandered the forests for years, stealing and killing. Kagome figured they were probably pretty evenly matched in terms of knowledge of the forest, and she was probably quicker; but they were armed and she wasn't.

Kagome screamed as she tripped on a root. She tried to scramble to her feet, only to find that her foot was caught in the root. "Damn it…Get out!" she said, talking to her foot, not the smartest thing to do, as she tried to pull her foot free.

"Looks like we got 'er boys," one of the men said, walking towards her.

"Stay back or I'll…" Kagome said, trying to find the best bluff to use right now. She couldn't exactly tell them she'd fight them because…Well, her foot was caught in a root. And she couldn't brandish her sword to intimidate them, the main reason for that being that she didn't have her sword.

"Ye'll what? Scream us to death? Go ahead, we'll give ye a head start. Yer at a disadvantage after all," one of the men said, stepping back and waiting for her to scream.

Kagome stayed silent where she was. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her scream or being fearful so she glared at them.

"Well, ain't ye gonna scream? If ye do that, maybe yer knight in shinin' armor will come and rescue ye," the man said, sneering. (A/N-Oops…Now that I think about it, they didn't have knights in feudal Japan did they? I'm not sure, but oh well. This is an A/U fic anyway, not necessarily feudal Japan…)

"Go to Hell," Kagome shot back.

"Ooh! Well, in that case, we'll just be taking what we need now then," the man commented, motioning for them all to move in.

"Kagome!" someone shouted.

Kagome turned, realizing she recognized the voice. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him rushing through the trees. "Inu-Yasha!"

"'Tis a demon!" one of the men said, drawing back fearfully. "She's protected by demons!"

"You fool! Who cares?" the man, who seemed to be the leader of the group. "Get her you moron!"

"I don't wanna be messin' with demons!" the man said, running off, leaving only two behind.

"Run now unless you want to taste my claws you bastards," Inu-Yasha said, stepping in front of Kagome as she tried to unhook her foot.

"A little whelp is gonna take us on?" the leader of the bunch asked, jeering. "Why, yer no more older 'n she is."

Inu-Yasha cracked his knuckles. "Old enough to slice you in half, grandpa!"

The other man shifted nervously and turned towards his leader. He gulped. "Uh…sir, I dun think he's a lyin'. I think he could rip us in half. Shouldn't we just leave the wench and move on?"

"Hah! Don't tell me yer 'fraid of the kid too!" the leader said contemptuously. "Heh, some group 'o thieves I got. A bunch 'o cowards if ye ask me."

"Heh, funny. If you were to ask me, I'd say they were the smart ones," Inu-Yasha commented. "But suit yourself!" he shouted, lunging forward, his hand drawn back to strike.

Inu-Yasha swiped at his shoulder, not inflicting a deadly wound. The other man ran away, leaving his leader wounded upon the ground. Inu-Yasha stepped towards the man, ready to finish the job, but Kagome ran forward and stopped him, having just been able to get her foot free.

"Don't kill him. This is a bloody time. I don't want to see more," Kagome told him.

Inu-Yasha nodded and pulled the man up. "Now go before I change my mind," he said, shoving him in the direction his companions ran off to.

After making sure the man ran away and wouldn't return, he turned towards Kagome who was sitting at the base of a tree nearby, hugging her knees to her chest.

He shifted uncomfortably, not really sure what to say. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. He hadn't killed the man after all. If he'd wanted to kill the man to begin with, he would have done so with the first attack. "So…Why haven't emissaries come to our kingdom asking for a meeting?"

Kagome bit her lip and then burst into tears, making him jump back a little bit, surprised.

"I'm sorry Kagome. I di-" Inu-Yasha began, not really sure what he was apologizing for.

Kagome shook her head slowly. "There'll be no meetings. My mother…she…"

Inu-Yasha leaned forward, waiting for Kagome to finish her sentence but she didn't. Inu-Yasha kneeled down and looked at her face. "She's gone?"

Kagome nodded. (A/N-Wow, my fic has lotsa dying in it…I just noticed that. I'm killing everyone off! There's a point, I promise ^_^)

Inu-Yasha pulled her to him and she cried into his shoulder. "How?" he asked.

"Someone…killed her…We don't know who. I saw the wound! It was on her back. I just woke up to someone screaming and a servant was outside the door, screaming. I looked in and she was…on the floor…" Kagome sobbed. She pulled back remembering something, her face still tear-streaked. "Have you ever heard of something called the Shikon non Tama?"

Inu-Yasha looked down at her, surprised. "How do you know about it?"

Kagome shrugged.

"I think my brother has it. I heard him talking and h-" Inu-Yasha began, but stopped when Kagome gasped.

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A/N-Wahaha! *Laughs as she looks at the evil cliff she has created* Everyone fall off the cliff! Waha! Anyway, oh, my other fic about Kagome getting amnesia is up! Go read it! It gets pretty funny! But first review this story of course ^_^ I forget what else I was going to say…

Review Responses:

jill: I'm glad you still love it!

DragonGlare: Thanks! I'm sorry the suspense is killing you. This story wasn't intended to be a danger to anyone's health ^_^

darksidemoonshine: He is a bad brother, isn't he?

silverstarlight: *Insert evil laugh here* 

eee: Wow, thanks ^_^ Sorry if it gets jumbled up. I don't really know how to fix the jumbled-ness of it though…

Hanamaru285: I continued! Aren't you proud ^_^

hyperchica11: Hey! My fic is sweeter than your pixie stix! Hah! I just dissed your pixie stixs! What are you going to do about it? Inuyasha I OOC but that's because it's an A/U fic. If it wasn't an A/U fic, I really would not write Inuyasha like that. That would just be too weird.

Ame Tenshi: I got your fic up! Woo hoo! I just used the summary you wrote. I hope that's okay. My goal for the weekend is completed! My next goal is to finish watching all the Evangelion DVD's my friend let me borrow. Seriously, she let me borrow a bunch of DVD's. She dragged them all to school in a bag and then I had to drag them around for the rest of the day ^_^;;;