Sorry for the lack of updatedness. Time is no man's friend, and it certainly isn't mine. This is the "pretty chapters" as I call them. They are designed to make you feel all happy. Then you all get to hate me later when I turn dark! I am thinking about pumping some romance in later on, just to try my hand at it.

Here is a disclaimer for you, sort of refresh your memory:

I don't own Inuyasha. Wish I did.

On with the story...

Chapter 7

Kagome was nervous about her return. Inuyasha's strange behavior had put her on edge, and she thought she was ready for anything he threw at her. She didn't sense his familiar presence anywhere around the well as she climbed out. 'Strange, Inuyasha is almost always somewhere in his tree anytime I am gone.' She lugged her big yellow back out of the well, and shouldered it. 'I got to learn how to pack lighter. This thing weighs a ton.' Kagome started down the trail to the village.

Inuyasha had woken up that morning feeling quite happy, which was quite an unnatural feeling, but he soon got over it and got used to it. It almost felt like he had discovered freedom, but then there was this little black cloud in the back of his mind, boiling, just waiting to take over and destroy his happy mood, yet was kept back by something strong. It was easily dismissed. Kagome's scent floated over to him, as he relaxed in the field. The cloud in the back of his mind changed from a black to a red, but was silenced by the black again. Again it was dismissed. He remembered Kagome, but had forgotten a few things here and there, which alarmed him that he had actually forgotten, but seemed rather small. There many gaps in his memory, and they all seemed to belong to that black cloud, deep in the recesses of his mind. The little cloud had troubled him for part of that morning, but it was easily overcome by the great day that was before him. It was as if the clouds had parted to leave nothing but a clear warm day. Inuyasha couldn't resist lounging in the field, basking in the sun's warmth.

Kagome would have taken the unusually good-tempered day to heart, if worrying didn't plague her. She came upon the village and found Miroku next to Sango. 'What a golden opportunity.' She snuck up on them, and listened in on their conversation.

Miroku: "It really is quite disturbing. I have never seen him so... so..."

Sango: "Happy?"

Miroku: "No, more like content. It really is quite disturbing."

Sango: "I know. He usually is moping around about now, waiting impatiently for Kagome to come back."

Miroku: "It doesn't bode well, especially after that blast of energy we felt last night."

Sango: "Yes. I hope we haven't stumbled into another trap."

Miroku: "I hope Inuyasha hasn't earned the spite of some demoness, who decided to enchant him..."

Kagome felt her fear increasing with every second of the conversation. She had her back to the hut, and was sweating profusely. Thoughts were bombarding her mind, imminent deaths, possible dooms, and ideas of a painful torture flowed through her mind. What had happened while she was gone?

*SMACK*

The resonating smack brought her out of her thoughts. Miroku had just done something perverse. She risked a glance around the corner, and was greeted with the sight of an unconscious monk, with a lump the size of a golf ball on his head. Sango was in fumes. "To think you could even carry on a conversation while our friend could be in trouble..." Sango berated herself more than the monk. Kagome came out of hiding and crept up on the two. "What did he do this time?" Sango turned around, looked a bit sheepish, then proceeded to give the monk another kick in his side.

Sango: "When did you get back Kagome?"

Kagome: "Just a while ago"

Kagome motioned to Miroku. Sango took the hint and tried to explain, without revealing the contents of their conversation.

Sango: "He groped me again, while we were having an conversation."

Kagome: "About what?"

Sango saw that mischievous look as it flashed across Kagome's face. She knew her friend had listened in on their little talk about Inuyasha; the only question was how much she knew.

Sango: "How much did you hear?"

Kagome new she was caught, and gave herself up. She really wanted to know what was going on now, she couldn't contain herself.

Kagome: "From the part about Inuyasha being happy."

Sango got wide eyed for a second. 'She has been listening that long?!' She covered her surprise, and proceeded to explain.

Sango: "Well he was all moody for the first part of the week, and we couldn't get him to do much, or get much out of him. Eventually we pestered him enough to where he told us you would be back at the end of the week, but that was all we got out of him. Miroku tried to find out if he screwed up something, but he wouldn't say anything, only start staring of into space. Then near the middle of the week, we felt a small magic pulse. We searched for it's source, but never found it. Last night we felt a strong blast of energy, similar to that of Shikon jewel. But we didn't find its source either, and found a happy Inuyasha this morning."

Kagome sat there and processed this new information, while Miroku stayed slumped where he was, gurgling. It didn't seem like anything had gone wrong while she was gone, only Inuyasha was acting strange. But it didn't make any sense. Inuyasha never stayed happy for too long, and she knew he had reasons too, so this meant either something really good happened, or something was afoot, and it wasn't going to be good. Kagome decided the only way to find out, was to talk to Inuyasha himself. Kagome left her backpack with the two, and went to the field Inuyasha was last seen in.