DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha, I don't own anything.. I am so pooooooor.

Twenty-six Days

Chapter 9

Inuyasha approached Kagome, who was still reading under the shade of the luscious tree they had left her by earlier. Her eyes were now glazed over and glowing a deep red color. She was over half way through the book she had started only that morning.

She looked up at the intruder and glared at him, he had only seen that look once before, when they face off against Naraku. He boldly spoke to break the silence, "Kagome."

"What."

"Are you okay? Sango told us what happened earlier." He took a step closer, thinking that she had relaxed.

"Do I look bad or something?!?! I will be in the forest. DON'T come after me, not that you care about me anyway. I will always be number two!" She yelled. Her voice shrank as she spoke the last. She stood; her jaw clenched and shouldered him out of the way. Her slight form disappeared into the deep shadows of the forest.

Inuyasha stood speechless. He searched the shadows for any sign of Kagome, but she had vanished. The sun peaked on the eastern horizon. Dawn already?

Shippou yawned and stretched in the morning's light. His stomach growled at him to find food. He looked around for Kagome among the others, but she was absent. Shippou nudged Sango awake, not fearing her wrath as much as Ringhali's who was on his other side. "Sango" he whispered.

"Miroku?" she asked still in the trance of sleep. Shippou shook her a little to wake her up. "Huh. Shippou what is it?"

"I'm hungry." He said bluntly.

"Well, ask Kagome. She has the food."

"Where is she? I can't find her." He looks around again.

Sango sat bolt upright. She quickly woke the others, noting that Inuyasha wasn't with them either. Where are they? Did Inuyasha find her, or..

"What's the hurry Sango?" Miroku rubbed his eyes. He looked weaker than normal. The kazaana was really taking a toll on him, if they didn't find and defeat Naraku soon he would, well Sango didn't want to think about it.

"Kagome never came back, and now Inuyasha is missing." Inuyasha conveniently entered the doorway as she finished her sentence. His eyes were downcast and his shoulders were slightly slumped.

"She is in the forest. She doesn't want us to follow her." His defiant look returned to his face, "So, I ain't going to, if she is stupid enough to wander off on her own, that's her problem!"

Sango didn't think he meant that, he had probably just taken a hit on his pride or something. "We have to find her." Shippou piped up from where he had sat a moment ago. Without Kagome, who would protect him from Inuyasha?

"This is true. She is the only one who can see the shards, and we need her Inuyasha." Miroku added.

Inuyasha tried to glare, but was glad for an excuse to find her, "Fine, she is in the forest."

"We will make better time if we split up." Ringhali said strapping her sword to her side, and heading for the door. "Are we going or not? I have a score to settle with my darling fiancé, and if we could quickly resolve this I'd be happy."

The others followed her to the edge of the forest and split up. Sango and Miroku; Inuyasha, Shippou (much to Shippou's discomfort), and Ringhali.

"Well?" Naraku asked his appearance fresh from his recent transformation.

The dark figure approached him, "She has it, sir."

"What exactly does she have? I though I told you to kill them!" His voice flooded the room, his anger quickly rising.

"Trust me they will all be dead in the next day." Kalypso laughed evilly, joined by Naraku.

Even in the early light the canopy of the forest was impregnable, the light from above was scarce. Luckily, he could rely on his dog senses. Inuyasha sniffed the ground for any trace of Kagome. Her strange scent of 'shampoo' was unmistakable. Yeah, she had been past here within the last 10 minutes. "Shippou, come on." Stupid kitsune, sometimes Inuyasha thought he had this 'ADD' Kagome talked about in reference to her brother. "Well, I'm going this way, you can stay here alone if you want." That got Shippou's attention.

The pair walked deeper into the thick underbrush, Kagome was near. In a matter of a few minutes Shippou, who constantly wandered off, found her. He leapt to her shoulders.

Kagome's small hand grabbed the ruff of his neck and slammed him into a tree a few feet away. Inuyasha ran to the sound of the noise, and found Shippou's unconscious body.

A.N. WHEN I GET 5 REVIEWS I WILL UPDATE!! What happened to Shippou? What is WITH Kagome? Find out soon. real soon. muah ha ha ha ha ha cough cough Uh- well yeah!