Disclaimer: I, the writer, have no connection with the creator of the Inu- Yasha series anime and/or manga. Nor do I claim any of these characters or the plot line for my own.

Author's Note: This is going to be a (relatively) short chapter. Sorry! I have midterms to study for, and if the thirty-something's people have been making on the biology exam are any hint of the difficulty I'm about to face, I really oughta get to it.. *cries* Save me, please?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kagome!" The sweet, carefree voice of a familiar boy shattered her thoughts of the feudal era. Thoughts of her friends: Shippou, Miroku, Sango, Kaede, Myoga, Kirara. Thoughts of Inu-Yasha. Hojo. When will he ever give up? Kagome was not in the mood. She missed them all, and this world seemed like a joke compared to the one she'd just left.

In the feudal era, there was adventure! In the modern age held the wonder of technology, but it paled next to battles and demons and magic and how each day they lived was lived the best they could. With great adventure came great risk, and it was a wonder they were all still alive. You appreciated it more. It was hard to appreciate it, however, when your worst obstacles became making up the schoolwork you'd missed.

How was she ever going to get used to this life knowing the one she could no longer go back to?

"You're back! I didn't think you'd be back for at least another week. Pneumonia! At least that isn't the kind of sickness that would last."

"Yeah, I guess."

"How've you been?"

"I've been doing okay," Kagome replied, determined to keep her unhappiness to herself. Hojo, as oblivious as he could be sometimes, was rather perceptive of her emotions. The reasoning behind them, however, was another matter..

"Since I didn't know what to get you to make you feel better with pneumonia, Kagome, I thought I'd get you this. It's not much, but since your family's been in the priesthood for so long.." His words trailed off with nervousness. His hands trembled as he presented her a little black box.

"Hojo, you shouldn't have." Kagome, more startled than ever, took the box from ojo. Medicines for her fake illnesses was one thing, but actual jewelry? You'd have hought he'd catch the hint by now. But he hadn't, and there was no way she could in good conscience turn him down after giving her such a gift.

She thought she felt the pulse of a jewel shard, but it was weak. She ignored it. It easily could have been longing to continue her quest with Inu-Yasha and the others that made her believe that the fragment was there.

It wasn't her imagination, though. In the box, upon a tiny pillow of tissue, sat a jewel shard. It was connected to a thin, silver chain from which the shard dangled from. It was quite beautiful.

Kagome's heart stopped. A shard. --A shard!- She could go back.

--Inu-Yasha, I'll see you again. Thank goodness, I never thought I'd..-- Kagome blushed in spite of herself. Here she was getting a lovely, and probably very expensive, gift from Hojo and all she could think about was Inu-Yasha.

This posed a whole new problem. If she took the gift, it would probably give Hojo the wrong idea and she'd be stuck in a new situation. One she couldn't weasel out of by blowing him off as she'd done in the past. But if she didn't take it, where would she find another shard, if possible?

Inu-Yasha didn't want her in the feudal era. That was another thing to consider. And he was right, it was dangerous. But not being with him, it would tear her apart. But if this is what he really wanted..

"Hojo, I can't take this. I'm sorry." She said, trying not to let tears roll down her face. She would not let Hojo see her this way.

"Kagome--" His face was no longer eager, but a sad sort of hurting.

"Hojo, it's beautiful and I really do like it. But there's no way I can--" If only he understood what she was doing. "You're a great person, you really are. But it's--too much. Hojo, you shouldn't have done that for me."

Wonder of wonders, Hojo's face lit up again. "Aw, Kagome, that's okay. I understand. She felt a great wave of relief ran over her, until he pressed the box in her hands.

"Take it as a gift from a friend, then. Please. It would mean a lot."

She just looked up at him, unable to say a word. He had no idea what he'd just done for her..

"I'll see you Monday, okay?" he said, still smiling.

"Yeah, okay," she said and smiled. She waved and turned back around, heading home. She stopped by the sacred tree. The last time she'd really looked at it, she'd fallen to her knees crying. It was under this tree she'd realized that, without her nowing before, she'd fallen in love with Inu-Yasha. The tree she'd first met him. She'd only see this tree in her era now. It would be hard. That tree once belonged in a forest known as Inu- Yasha's forest. The place where this whole adventure began..

She felt the trail of tears down her face again. She climbed under the tree, feeling the slight coolness of its' shade. Pressing her face against the tree, she cried openly. It felt like her heart had broken, just as the shard had done all those months ago.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------

He was pouting by the well again.

"Inu-Yasha, I understand that you miss Kagome, but we really must move on."

"I don't care. I'm just .. resting. Resting. I was hurt pretty bad, you know." Miroku looked at him. He wasn't even good about lying this time. His aggressive and stubborn nature usually provided a good mask to hide any affection or emotion he held, but he was not keeping it to himself. Not this time. Miroku was not going to win right away. He sighed and left Inu- Yasha to his self-pity.

Miroku sighed. It would be hard, without Kagome. Every false alarm had sent everyone into a bitter sadness, missing the space Kagome usually filled.

This was to happen anyhow, wasn't it? What happened when they completed the jewel? Kagome's mission would be complete. She'd have to make a choice, at one point or another. It was not fair, and far too difficult, for Kagome to live a double life. Especially when she didn't have to anymore. She was a girl born to the modern age, where life was vastly different. Her family and all she'd known for the first fifteen years of her life was back where she was now. Here, the only thing Miroku believed the feudal era had going for her was the gang of them. They were brought together for one reason in the beginning - Naraku and the shards.

When Naraku was gone and the jewel complete - then what?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Another chapter done! Review, pretty pretty please with sugar and cherries and all that lovely stuff?