Disclaimer: ::sigh:: What do you think? Neko is mine as is Lotus, Shinta, Yoshi, and Noelani. (A/N: Guess who is in this chapter.)

"Spoken"

Thoughts

Chapter 31: Partings

Several days had passed and Sesshomaru had come to a few decisions. First and foremost he did not wish to be in the area when Inuyasha and his girl returned to Nekoyasha's. Kiara had already left to be at the well for the couple that morning.

His other decision was that he was going to take Rin with him. While he knew that the girl would be well cared for here, he knew that she would rather be with him. In a way he wanted her to be with him as well. She was far more pleasant company than Jaken. Perhaps it was because Jaken had been in his company for too many years.

He had not left in the middle of the night due to the fact that as Lady of the Southern Lands, Nekoyasha deserved his respect and notification that he was leaving. Plus one always informed family that they were going.

It was the middle of the morning. Once again everyone had convened outside. The demon lord went up to the woman of the house.

"Rin and I will be taking our leave now."

Nekoyasha looked up at him. "You don't want to stay?"

"There is no reason for us to stay. Rin is better and I am fully healed." He leaned in closer to the woman. "Besides I do not wish to be here when Inuyasha returns."

Nekoyasha nodded. Sesshomaru looked over to the playing children.

"Rin, we are leaving now."

The little girl nodded. She went over to the demon lord. She looked back longingly at the boys. She had never had friends before now.

Nekoyasha piped up. "Wait a moment!" She leaned over to Lotus and whispered something. Both women got up and went into the house. Nekoyasha came back with the Staff of Souls, which she held out to Sesshomaru.

"I'm sure that little toad of yours will want this back." Sesshomaru gave her a trace of a smile. Lotus came out of the house with a box. Nekoyasha took it and gave it to the little girl.

"So you won't be as lonely on your travels."

Rin took the top off the wooden box. Inside were two well-made dolls. Both were of little boys. One had black hair and was dressed in a light blue kimono. The other had red hair, a tail, and had blue pants with a yellow shirt and a furred vest.

Shinta and Shippo the little girl thought. "Thank you." Nekoyasha smiled at her. Rin showed the dolls to Sesshomaru. He merely nodded at her. She hugged the dolls to her.

"Come, Rin. We must be on our way." With that the demon lord turned and walked away. Rin gave a smile and a wave to everyone and ran to catch up to him. And with that they were gone.

Sango and Miroku looked at each other.

"It is a shame that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha did not get along better. He could be a valuable ally," Sango commented.

Miroku nodded and gave a pause. "Who knows, my dear Sango; he still may very well be."

*****

Finally, Friday at last! Inuyasha thought. As much as the boy enjoyed being in Kagome's time, he was anxious to return to the Warring States era. The jewel needed to be completed and Naraku had to be dealt with. Plus he wanted to figure what was going on with Sesshomaru.

And he was tired of doing housework. It amazed him that Grandpa found so much work for him to do. But it was Friday afternoon and Kagome had promised him that they would leave as soon as she got home from school. Neko had said that they were good to go back.

Neko-chan. She had stayed to send them off. It feels odd to have someone here that is going to say bye to me. But also I'll see her on the other side. Not that she will know that she saw us. This confuses me too much. I wonder who else is here. Shippo? Sesshomaru? Inuyasha made a face. I still want to know where I am. Nekoyasha seemed a little sad when I asked about the future me.

"Inuyasha, I'm home!" Kagome's voice pulled Inuyasha from his thoughts. "I just need to change and pack a few more things and then we will be ready to go."

Inuyasha nodded. He was already dressed in his fire rat kimono. "Do you need any help?"

Kagome was touch by his caring to help. She smiled and shook her head. "Thanks, Inuyasha. But I can do it myself." With that she ran upstairs.

She returned a few minutes later in a clean school uniform and her bright yellow backpack as full as always. "Ready to go?" she asked. Inuyasha nodded.

"Mama, we're leaving!"

Mrs. H. came into the living room. She gave her daughter a big hug. "Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt like that again. It really scared me."

Kagome looked at her feet. "I'll try, mama. But things are getting tougher as we complete the jewel." She looked up at her mother. "But we do have Nekoyasha in the past to take care of us."

The cat gave a small smile. Mrs. H. looked over at her. Then she turned her attention to Inuyasha. "You take care of my daughter, do you hear me?" Inuyasha nodded. Then Mrs. H. gave the boy a hug as well. He was a little embarrassed.

Next Grandpa and Souta said their good-byes. Inuyasha was sorry that he was leaving the boy. He enjoyed playing with Souta.

Neko was last to say good-bye. She embraced the boy first.

"Remember not to mention that I am here as well, okay?" Inuyasha nodded. She dropped her voice to a very soft whisper. "Stop running. Fight for what you believe in. And remember to follow your heart." Her hand went to cover his heart as she drew away. Inuyasha could only nod.

Neko turned her attention to Kagome. She gave the girl a hug as well. Into her ear the cat whispered, "Take care of him. I know that he takes care of you. But he needs someone care about him as well." Kagome nodded.

With the good-byes said the couple went to the well and jumped in.

Neko turned to the Higurashis. "Well, I must be taking my leave as well. Thank you for all of your hospitality."

"You do not wish to stay for dinner?" Mrs. H. asked.

Neko shook her head. "I need to be getting home." She yawned. "Besides my sleep schedule is slightly off with dealing with those two. Thank you again." She gave the family a low bow.

Oh a cup of coffee would be wonderful right now. Neko thought as she made her way down the shrine steps. She was very near the bottom when she saw it. A white limousine. No, he didn't! Neko sighed. She did not want to deal with the man in that limo. Maybe her eyes had deceived her and it was an ordinary limo that just happened to have stopped near the shrine.

She looked at the limo again. It was white with a very familiar emblem on it. There was what looked like was a 'T' with three of the four cardinal directions on it. The 'W' was in silver, 'S' was in black, and it finished off with a red 'E.' It didn't help that the chauffeur was standing there waiting to open the door for her.

"Good afternoon, Lady Nekoyasha," he said as he opened the door.

"Good afternoon," she replied as she slid in the car next to a silver-haired gentleman that appeared to be in his late thirties, who was reading a newspaper. His hair was very short. Across from her were two young people that looked to be in their early twenties. The girl had long silver hair much like the older gentleman. The boy however had short black hair. Both of them had pointed dog ears on top of their heads.

"How long have you been waiting here?" Neko demanded.

"Not long. Did they get through the well with out any problems?" the silver-haired man asked.

"Well, you would know the answer to that question, if you had bothered to stay," she spat back at him. "You couldn't have come all the way out here to ask me that. What else is going on?"

"We're going out to dinner and thought you would like to join us, Aunt Neko. Besides, Noelani's boyfriend is paying," the boy supplied.

"You are just excited to see him, so you can tell him all about seeing Inuyasha, Yoshi" Noelani said.

"Uh huh. Aren't you jealous?" Noelani stuck her tongue at her brother in response. Yoshi started to tickle her, at which point she tickled him back. They started getting a little rowdy.

"Calm down, you two," the gentleman said.

"She started it, dad," Yoshi said as he pointed his finger at the silver-haired girl.

"I did not!"

"Children, that's enough!" the gentleman said quietly but he left no room for argument.

Noelani turned back to Neko, "My boyfriend just got in from his business trip, so he is taking us out to dinner tonight."

"Well, it was a good thing that he wasn't here. It was bad enough that they saw me in this time." Neko yawned.

The man raised his eyebrows. "Tired, Neko?" he asked.

She turned to the man. "Cats sleep anywhere from 14 to 18 hours a day. Do you know how much I've slept in the past five days? About 20 hours! Those two are a handful."

"Sounds like you might want to find another job."

"And what exactly do you suggest I do, Sesshomaru?"

*****

A/N: So yeah, I did some foreshadowing. I can say that many questions will not be answered in the next (and final) chapter of this story. I am evil and have done some foreshadowing for future stories. J I can promise fluff though.

So here is the question… would you like for me to go ahead and post the final chapter and then wait for the first chapter of the new story? Or wait for me to post the last chapter until I write the first chapter of story number two?

Next question: What would you like for me to include in the next story? Of course I have my own ideas of where it is going to go, but if there is anything you would like to see, just let me know. I can't make any promises, but if it fits with the ideas, I'll try to include them.

I will answer this question for the many of you that were upset by Neko's thoughts of Inuyasha not being in that time. Naraku does not kill him. I love Inu-chan too much for that. So we are good on that, hopefully.