OMG!!! I'm so incredibly sorry I missed my deadline! I broke my promise! I'm the worst author ever! Whaa!! sobs

But I have the best excuse in the history of excuses! My favorite cousin of all time just graduated from Parris Island Marine boot camp and I spent all of Thursday packing and stuff and I left Friday to see him graduate! I'm so proud!

But two days after I got back, SCHOOL STARTED!!! And I've been drowning in homework since. Homwework! The first day of school! Stupid honors classes. No one else had homework. Grumble grumble. Oops, got a little side-tracked....

For those who don't know, Marine training is the toughest military training, and Parris Island is the toughest Marine training! I can't believe he went through all that! Okay, sorry. Got a little side-tracked . . .. Again . . ..

Oh, and I'm not doing review responses in this chapter so I can post it faster! They'll all be in the epilogue!

Inuyasha fell asleep that night with Kagome in his arms, and his friends by his side, and for the first time since this ordeal began, he was able to fall asleep without fear in his heart. He slept peacefully, not stirring once.

Kagome was also able to sleep soundly. For the moment, she wasn't worried about Inuyasha, wasn't terrified about what had happened to her last night, wasn't frightened that Inuyasha might be taken away from her in one way or the other, wasn't even thinking about the last jewel shards. She was just sleeping, in Inuyasha's arms and nothing else in the world mattered to her.

The next morning, she awoke with the warmth of Inuyasha still wrapped around her, and again, drifted off with the comfort of him being there when she awoke again.

Kagome's eyes fluttered open, and she panicked. Inuyasha was not with her! She frantically scanned the hut with frightened eyes, but couldn't see him.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed, dashing outside. "Inuyasha!"

"What?" came the annoyed remark from the roof of the hut.

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome sighed in relief. "I thought it had happened again. I thought they had taken you away from me again."

"They won't take me away from you, Kagome," he whispered softly, reverting back to his bizarrely calm mood. "Not yet," he said even softer, so Kagome couldn't hear.

The group spent the next few hours inside the old priestess's hut, discussing the Jewel. Kagome had managed to bind the shards Kikyo had given to Inuyasha to the larger crystal, so that problem was out of the way. But that brought up a bigger problem. What to do with the jewel? There was no question that Kagome would be the protector, and the rest would no doubt aid her, but none really wanted to spend the rest of their lives fighting demons day in and day out. Miroku had also brought up that the jewel's life followed a pattern, and the only way to ensure it wouldn't continue this pattern in the future was to destroy it. . . but none knew how. Finally it was decided that Kagome would keep the jewel in her time, locked in a small safe beneath her bed.

There was an awkward silence following this discussion, mostly because of the recent ordeal two of their group had gone through, and partly because everyone was dead tired.

Night had fallen while they were talking, and Inuyasha stepped outside for a moment. 'A new moon,' he thought. 'I wonder if they'll still take me tonight.'

Next morning(no fluffy sleepy time scene. We've had enough of those and I'm all fluffyed out. I don't write romance, in case you haven't noticed)

Inuyasha awoke that morning with a full night of sleep. First he'd had in three days. He was a little shacked when he realized he had just slept through a human night, and anyone could've come and killed him and he wouldn't have known. But it didn't bother him as much as it should have, because something had dawned on him.

They hadn't taken him last night. A ray of hope shined through the clouds of depression around his heart. Maybe if they'd forgotten that night, they'd forget tomorrow, and the next night, and the next, and the next. But something inside told him this wasn't likely, and he sunk back into depression.

He spent that entire day with Kagome, taking strolls through the forest, sitting by the stream, just being with her. They didn't talk much, being side by side was enough, because both felt something in the pit of their gut. Something that told them that this would be their last day together.

That night(again, not much fluffy detail)

Kagome and Inuyasha sat side by side that night before bed, his arm wrapped around her, both staring at the fire in the center of the room. Miroku moved closer to Sango and whispered, "Now why won't you let me do that?"

She grinned and replied, "Because your hand would wander. Now back off, I'm tired." She yawned, and scooted over to her corner, asking Kirara to make sure Miroku stayed in his. Kagome grinned a little, and felt herself drifting off. She yawned, then dove into a deep slumber.

She awoke suddenly, feeling Inuyasha stir. She got up and stared sleepily at him. He looked back, then stood and walked to the door. He paused, noting the confusion in Kagome's eyes. "It's time." He stepped outside. She dashed out after him.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but something big is gonna happen."

"Why did they have to choose you?" Kagome whined to no one inparticular.

"They wanted me because they could do things to me and I would survive, whereas a human would die."

"Oh my gosh," Kagome whispered in sudden realization. "They're gonna take you away forever! Like in my dream! No!" She latched onto him, squeezing his middle so hard, he could barely breathe. She stared up at him, clearly expecting an answer. He nodded slowly, confirming her fears. She held him tighter, burying her face in his robes.

"Inuyasha! No!" she sobbed. "Why? Why does it have to be like this?"

"I don't know, Kagome," he whispered softly, taking her into his arms. "But I promise you this, I will return. I will find you again, even if it takes me an eternity, I'll find a way to be with you." He held her close, doing his best to sooth her. He placed a hand under her chin, gently titling her head so he could stare into her deep, brown eyes. "I love you," he whispered, kissing her passionately as the light engulfed him.

She felt him slowly drift away as the tears began to run from her eyes. She reached out for him, but something stopped her. She suddenly couldn't move. She watched the light slowly disappear and a sudden wave of grief washed over her. "I love you, too, Inuyasha! I love you!" she cried, collapsing to her knees as her three friends swarmed over her.

Shippou leapt into her lap, his own tears wetting her shirt, as Sango kneeled beside her and embraced the shaking girl. Miroku's comfort was even accepted . . . mostly because his hand was on her shoulder, not her butt. (AN: couldn't resist that!)

There they sat, for the longest time, the four friends crouched in the grass, until finally, the young girl stood stiffly and made her way to the Forest of Inuyasha.

The others remained, staring after her, knowing where she was going, and that they would suffer a loss of two of the group tonight, instead of only one. Suddenly, the small fox leapt up and dashed after his surrogate mother.

"Wait! Kagome! Here, take this!" he shouted as he shoved a small gem at her. "Like we agreed. It'll be safer in your time!" She reached down and gently took the Shikon Jewel from the boy.

"Thank you, Shippou," she smiled, turning back towards the forest.

Okay, there we go! The end of the story! But I WILL have an EPILOGUE!!! Which I WILL without a doubt post the 14th!!! TTFN! Ta ta for now!