Disclaimer: I swear, I own nothing.

AN: Am I tardy or what? I got this thing out a day late -_-; Sorry, but I've been a little out of it lately, since reports cards have come home. Grr, I can't believe my dad had the nerve to compare me to my older brother, and my cousins I could practically blow! Anyways, I know I screw up sometimes when I write, but please try to ignore that. I sometimes rush, and don't have the time to check things over. I rely mostly on the spellchecker, and if I had a beta, that would make things take a little bit longer. Secondly, you finally get to see what's happening between Inuyasha and Kagome!! Psycho King's probably about to strangle me ^^. Kidding, just kidding. Well, enjoy the chapter!

Icari
Chapter 17

 "Kagome, why is it that you took what he said so seriously, anyways?"  Shippo, who was in her lap, swiveled around to face her. She sighed slightly, fingering the tips of her school skirt while trying to keep it down. The wind on Kirara's back was a bit unsettling when it came to these skirts. Those, jeans or pants were sometimes uncomfortable.

 "I don't know… I guess, I was already pretty sensitive about the whole Kikyo thing. It's difficult to try and see what he's really thinking when he won't let me," her face broke into a small smile, "I guess it was pretty childish of me to do that."

 "I wonder what Inuyasha is doing right now…" She wanted to lie down, or something, to try and relieve some of her stress, but she couldn't as riding on Kirara was crowded enough.

 "Yeah… me too."

*~*~*~*~*

 "I'm beating you!" Icari, as excited as ever, jumped every few feet, making it hard enough to keep up with her, but there was also the fact that Inuyasha was following her half-heartedly. He felt lousy, and wanted to find Kagome as quickly as possible, but the truth was… they were searching blindly. Who knew where she was? Her scent was still there, or course, but the scent of her in his haori was even more powerful, sidetracking the two siblings every now and then.

 "Inuyasha, come on!" She stopped, and held her hand out to stop him as well. He ran right into it, letting her catch his face in her hand. Once Inuyasha knew what was happening, he growled up at his sister.

 "What the fuck was that for? We still have to find Kagome!" She looked at him blankly as he said that, and with a sighed she lowered her arm.

 "Inuyasha, I know who much you care about her, but I can't help but feel you're trying to convince yourself that more than me. Kagome doesn't hate you, I promise, she was just upset. You two are making the same mistake, you know that?" Growling, he sat himself next against a tree, looking anywhere but his sister.

 "The scent's faint enough as it is, we have to go." She looked indignant at his words.

 "I know that. What I want to know, is why you are giving up?" He looked at her, acting as innocent as he could.

 "I am not giving up! Look who's talking! You're the one standing there, and I'm the one who's urging you to go!" Still not convinced. As he studied her face, he began to wonder what had happened to that careful mask he had built up all those years ago, and why was it failing him now.

 "I'm standing here because I can sense it, Inuyasha. I can tell you are about to give up. If I weren't here, you would've turned your back on her already. I know that, you know that, but I don't know why." She squinted, as if she could burrow deeper into him that way.

 "You're moping, aren't you?" She said with a tone the sounded so accusing. "What the hell are you moping for? You know she loves you. If she didn't she wouldn't of had been so hurt by your comment. You know she doesn't hate you, because you both made the same mistake."

 "How would you know?" she glared, silently reminding him of the man she had once fallen for so long ago. "I know, you say that you've been in love too, but I have no proof, or anything of the kind. You haven't even told me anything about it yet." He face hardened, and she turned away, sniffing the air for the smell of Kagome, or the others.

 "Let's just go. You're old enough to handle your own problems."

 "It's about time you realized that." He gratefully turned, but as they started up again, both solemn, a thought hit him. "Hey Icari?"

 "Hm?"

  "You know everything about Sesshomaru and me, but you haven't said anything about yourself yet. Why not? I mean, we've been estranged for how many years, and you come out of nowhere, knowing everything about us, but you don't say anything about yourself. What's the deal?" He saw her strides falter, but only for a second.

 "There isn't much to talk about. I never had the big groups you traveled in. Never got to know that many people…"

 "Yeah, but Sesshomaru and me both have guardians. You know, Jaken and Myouga,  but who was yours?" he was about to stop, but a warning was appropriate. "And remember, I'll find out if you were lying."

 Silence. Icari didn't make any snappy comeback, or anything. She didn't reply. But she was still there, beside him, though not saying anything. With a brief glance, he could tell that his sister was deep in thought (she had nearly hit a tree just seconds ago), but he wanted to know what she was thinking about.

 "It's nothing, really. No one, never, just one, but he was gone soon enough."

 "Liar." She looked over at him, dodging the tress and branches by only a bit, but she still looked at him, confused.

 "How can you tell?" Now it was his turn to look indignant as he turned away.

 "I may be only a half demon, but my nose is still pretty good. I could smell the change in your scent when you lie, even though it's not as obvious. I can still smell it, and it just changed."

 "How do you know that my scent changed because I was lying?" She was testing him, still, even after all this. But he was uncomfortable talking about this, as it had really affected him over the years.

 "I've had enough people lie to me by now so that I can pick out what's going on, you know." She looked pitiful, for the first time for a while, and she looked away as if his words as burned her.

 "I'm sorry." There was another moment of silence, before Inuyasha realized something else.

 "Hey! There you go! You did it again! You dragged something else out of me, but you didn't tell me anything about you! I want to know something!" Now, she looked annoyed.

 "Just shut up and keep going."

 "Fine."

*~*~*~*~*

  "Kagome-chan?" Sango looked down at the weight on her back; she had turned around to converse with Miroku a bit easier. Kagome's raven head was all that she could see, and, very carefully, she turned around, making sure that the younger girl didn't fall off.

 "It looks like their exhausted." Miroku leaned over her, surprisingly not trying anything. He draped an arm around her neck, causing her to blush. "Shippo's asleep too."

 "Yes, the day's been something." With his thumb, Miroku turned Sango's head to face his.

 "A moment's peace, now is it?" Her blush reddened, and she was sure the monk was about to lean in and kiss her, but he pulled back quickly. Wondering about what had stopped him, Sango looked down, and saw a red dot jump out of the forest. It fell back down again, and a bit of silver hair was visible.

 "Inuyasha! Kirara, land." The big demon fell to the ground at an alarming speed, but it slowed down. Landing on all fours, softly, Kirara waited for them to get off, but it was difficult with the two sleeping on her.

 "Kagome!" Inuyasha's frantic figure could be seen as he ran about, followed by Icari. Her green cape seemed to flow around her, and Sango was never happier to see a demon. "Kagome! Is she okay?" He was up close now, staring at the miko as he caressed her face in his hand. For a moment, it looked as though he would begin to rub his face up against hers…

 She groaned, shocking Inuyasha for a moment. Then, a dark, cloudy look flooded his eyes, and he jumped back. Even after everything Icari had said, he was still nervous. He now knew how Kagome had felt, before, when she had loved him, and he had loved Kikyo.

 "Sango? Why did we stop?"

 "We're here Kagome." Kagome watched her friend's smile turn into a grin, and she slowly recollected what was going on. She sat up straight, then, nearly knocking Shippo off of Kirara.

 "Inuyasha?" She looked around, before spotting his red haori, and waited for Shippo to wake up. It wasn't long, because the weight on her hips soon were gone. Her eyes were fixed on the hanyou only, though.

 "Kagome…" Her name, he had whispered her name. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she flung herself off of Kirara, and watched as Inuyasha ran to catch her. His waiting arms wrapped themselves around her, so tightly that she was afraid he would squeeze the life out of her. But then again… he could never have the will to hurt her, physically…

 "I'm sorry, so sorry, please, forgive me…" He began to chant apologies, which was very unnatural to him. She gave him a reassuring squeeze, making the chant die on his lips.

 Icari's voice cam from behind him. "I told you, but you never do listen…" She gave a small laugh, and they ignored everything after that.

 In the foliage, Kikyo watched with a rising heart as the couple embraced in the trees. The souls were beginning to detach themselves, and her soul stealers were pulling the free ones away, to the afterlife. With her last ounce of strength, she launched the sword of spirits into the air, letting it glow a soft purple. Blue orbs began to rise out of her body, weakening her.

 "Inuyasha, I'll accept your decision, and wish you and Kagome the best of luck in your life…" she fell to her knees before her body melted into the soil below as the original herbs that created her body.

 A faint orb of blue, the part of Kagome's soul that hated Inuyasha, flew away and into her body, so small and faint it wasn't noticeable. No one noticed the soft thud of the sword as it hit the ground.

A figure dressed in blue picked it up, brushing his stray purple hair out of his face. His great, green eyes rested on Icari before he disappeared into the trees. He would meet with her later…

*~*~*~*~*

Hee hee, you can't hurt me for making Inuyasha and Kagome hate each other anymore!! And you get to hear a bit about Icari next chapter ^^.  Wait until then!!