Kagome sat panting on the ground. She was hiding from Inu Yasha behind the 500 year-old God-tree. She got back up and peered around the tree's trunk to see if Inu Yasha was following her. When she didn't see him she pouted and walked out of her hiding spot.

"Hmm. Inu?" She asked pleadingly.

Suddenly Inu Yasha jumped down out of the God-tree.

"Gotcha!" Inu Yasha yelled as he landed in front of her.

Kagome yelled and ran directly for him.

Inu Yasha put his hands out to grab her but missed.

She ran directly underneath his legs.

He watched as she ran from him and laughed. He ran after her and picked her up.

"You little runt. Chubby puppy, hmm? Chubby puppy this!" Inu Yasha started rubbing his fist into Kagome's hair.

Kagome squirmed and finally got him to stop giving her noogies. She yawned and drowsily looked up at Inu Yasha.

"C'mon runt. You need a nap don't you? After all, you're only... uh... two? Maybe three?" Inu Yasha brought Kagome back up to her house and gave her to her mom.

Once Kagome's mom had put her to sleep in her room, Inu Yasha sat on the roof of the well house.

"I should go back and talk too Sango and Miroku while I can. After all, the day isn't even half over." He said to himself.

Inu Yasha looked over at Kagome's room as he said, "Oh, Hell! I don't care. I'll stay here for a bit. I'm in no rush to see pervert and his demon-hunter girlfriend."

Inu Yasha's blood felt like it started to boil as he remembered what Sango had said.

How could she even suggest to leave Kagome here?! Unless... that was what Kagome had wanted... No! She wouldn't! ... She couldn't...

Inu Yasha walked over to Kagome's house again and gazed at the window.

It was near sunset when Inu Yasha had stopped pondering.

"Inu? Waaaaah! Inu!" Kagome yelled.

The panic in her voice scared Inu Yasha, so he flung open the window.

What if a demon where going after her?! It wouldn't be the first time a demon had hidden itself in her time.

"Kagome!" He yelled. He jumped into the room and saw Kagome huddled on her bed.

"What's wrong?! Are you alright, Kagome?"

Kagome blindly looked around for him.

"Inu? I can't see you Inu!" Kagome started to get panicked again.

'Oh, duh! It's dark...' Inu Yasha thought. He walked to the other side of the room and flipped the light switch.

Kagome rubbed her eyes and squinted to let them adjust.

Once she saw Inu Yasha, she scrambled to the end of her bed and held on to him.

"What happened? Was it a demon?" Inu Yasha asked.

Kagome shook her head.

"What then?!" He was starting to get agitated.

"It was dark..." She mumbled. Kagome looked at him with eyes like a puppy... sad and irresistible.

"Is that all..." He asked as he picked her up and put her farther up on her bed.

"...I had a scary dream... there was a scary man... he took my daddy away... then the scary man saw me... and....and..." She looked down and started to sniffle.

Inu Yasha had an odd look on his face as he looked at Kagome. He had never thought about what had happened to her father... he'd never noticed she never talked about him.

Inu Yasha sat by Kagome and said, "How 'bout this... I'll stay here and make sure those dreams don't come back."

Kagome wiped her nose and looked up at him again. "Al... Alright..." She huddled up next to Inu Yasha and started scratching behind his ear.

Inu Yasha was trying to figure out about Kagome's father... but he couldn't keep his thoughts straight... not with... that... scratching behind his ear.

Inu Yasha's foot started to twitch as Kagome scratched his ear.

"Hmmmm..." Inu Yasha felt like he was in heaven until the sensation stopped. He looked at Kagome and saw that she had fallen asleep while scratching his ear.

He tried to get up, but Kagome started to whimper in her sleep when she noticed he wasn't by her. So, he stayed next to her.

He would have to stay until she woke up...

"Oh, crap..." Inu Yasha mumbled as a drop of drool fell on his arm. "She drooled when she was a kid..."

He wiped the drool from his arm as more dripped on. Inu Yasha growled as he started to realize what he had gotten himself into... hopefully Kagome didn't take long naps...

Sango looked away from Miroku as she saw his glance wander onto her. Now that she thought about it, she had been thinking selfishly when she had said to leave Kagome in her time.

Even if that meant Narraku would be weaker, things wouldn't suddenly become as they had been. The damage had already been delt.

Miroku looked at Sango as he said, "What do you think we should do? I know you don't really want to abandon Kagome like that."

'Stop getting into my head.' Sango thought. "Yes. But what can we do? I've never heard of anything like this."

"Neither have I. But we must find a way to reverse this. If we can return Kagome to her former state, we would actually have an advantage over Narraku." Miroku looked away and closed his eyes.

"Well, we can't do much until Inu Yasha returns. So, what should we do for now?" She lay down for a moment as she waited for his reply.

"...we could keep ourselves occupied..." she heard him say.

There was something about the way he had said it that made her itch.

Her worry was confirmed as she felt a hand rest REALLY high on her leg.

Sango's eye twitched and she stayed still for a moment. Miroku had a very content look on his face. Too bad that looked was wiped away so fast.

Sango yelled as she threw him into the water of the nearby stream. "Hentei!"

Miroku crawled out of the water like some half-dead creature.

"What?! Why the!? ... Oh, well... I tried..." He mumbled to himself as he rung out his robes.

Sango just stormed off to Keade's village to await Inu Yasha's return.

Inu Yasha yawned as he woke up to something bouncing him up and down.

When he looked up, he saw Kagome jumping around on the end of her bed. He must have fallen asleep.

"Good morning, Inu! You slept in late!" She said as she pounced onto him.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" He asked as he lazily rubbed an eye.

"It's already morning silly!" She said as she tried to pull him off the bed.

"Morning?!" Inu Yasha looked outside and saw that it looked like it was around nine or so.

Kagome jumped up and ran to the door. "C'mon, Inu!" she said.

She was just about to turn around when Inu Yasha noticed something. Kagome seemed taller than he remembered. In fact the kimono she had been wearing now looked like a medium length dress.

Also, her speech wasn't nearly as slurred.

He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. He wanted to find out about what had happened to Kagome's father.

Ever since Kagome had been... changed... Inu Yasha realized how little he actually knew about her. It was no wonder she always got upset with him.

Inu Yasha followed Kagome into her kitchen and sat down at the table. He wasn't sure why, but it was automatic of him to sit at the table with her.

Kagome plopped down beside him and grinned up at him.

Ms. Higarashi walked into the room and smiled at them. "Well, good morning you two. Did you sleep well?"

Kagome nodded so fast that her hair flew around everywhere.

"Good. I think eggs would be a nice breakfast, or would you like me to make my specialty?"

"Specialty?" Inu Yasha asked. His eyebrows rose.

"Pancakes!" Kagome suddenly yelled. She clapped her hands in the air as Ms. Higarashi laughed.

"Alright." She said. "Pancakes it is. Chocolate chips in them?"

Kagome's eyes lit up and she smiled wider. "Yaaaa!"

Once Ms. Higarashi made the pancakes, Kagome dug in.

While she gorged on pancakes, Inu Yasha watched her mother.

"Um, Ms. Higarashi?" He said after a moment.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Can I talk to you?"

Ms. Higarashi smiled sweetly as she said, "Of course. Kagome, please stay here for a moment. We'll be right back."

Kagome looked quizzically up at her mother for a moment but returned her attention to her pancakes.

"Ms. Higarashi... um... what happened to Kagome's dad?" Inu Yasha asked when they were outside.

Ms. Higarashi's face seemed to go blank for a moment.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring up" Inu Yasha started to try to cover up his question, but he was cut off.

"No. It's all right... When Kagome was young, her father had a gambling problem. After a while he ran into debts he couldn't pay off. At first the men he owed would try to scare him into paying. Then they tried to threaten him... when it wouldn't work... they tried to take it out on Kagome." Ms. Higarashi's face was unreadable as she went on.

"When he found what they were trying to do, he told them he would have what they wanted the next day. The next day they came and decided to 'rough him up' a bit. As a reminder. But... when they did... it went to far... and they killed him..." Ms. Higarashi's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Kagome had walked out because she had heard something outside... when she did... that was when they killed him. For years Kagome relived seeing her father's death..."

Ms. Higarashi looked as if she were going to burst into tears.

Inu Yasha thought about what he had just heard. Her seeing her own father's murder would explain why she always worried so much when he battled. She just didn't want to relive that memory.

"Ms. Higarashi... don't worry. I won't let Kagome relive anything like that... I swear." Inu Yasha said.

Ms. Higarashi still looked a bit upset, but not as bad as before.

"Thank you, Inu Yasha. You'll make her life so much easier this way..." she said.

The silence was starting to make Inu Yasha become uneasy, so he went back inside.

Kagome still sat at the table, but the pancakes had disappeared from her plate. He noticed that his own had also.

He looked at Kagome just as she tried to hide a smile.

"Hey!" he yelled.

Kagome laughed and ran to the stairway.

"Kagome, go get your bath. When your done we'll play a game, alright?" Ms. Higarashi said.

"Owwww..." Kagome groaned at the thought of a bath. "Okay..."

She walked up the stairs and bounded into the bathroom.

"I'll be back in a little. I need to talk to the others. I'll see if they found anything out..." Inu Yasha said mostly to himself.

'They're probably pissed I'm so late... oh well... screw them...' Inu Yasha thought to himself.

WG- Sorry it's so late! I've been busy. I'm already working on the next chappie, so... don't bug me... too much... I could always not post it if you want... Sorry again... I'm pissed off at someone... well, until later meetings!

(Inu- Which hopefully never happens...)

WG- Shut up!

(Inu- You still don't own me or any of the gang... except Kouga... you can have him...)

(Kouga- Shut up mutt! You know we're supposed to be saying she doesn't own us... idiot...)

WG- Um... how about I just say the disclaimer guys? You suck...

(Inu/Kouga- ...fine... Stop mimicking me!... grrrr...)

WG- o... k... anyway, none of the characters in this story are my own. Inu Yasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and no other.

(Kouga- Wow... you do that pretty good... hm... what do you practice in front of a mirror or something?)

WG- Just shut up and leave me alone... I'm pissed off... remember...

(Kouga- oh... Ok! What do we do now?...)

WG-moan ...