AN: Hello all! I really don't have much to say except thanks for all of the reviews last time. Oh, and HAPPY READING, ENJOY!

Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha my name would be Rumiko, and since I don't think it is (it wasn't the last twenty times I checked) then I don't own it.

Sesshomaruinluv: Thank you for the compliment, and I tried to make this chapter a little longer.

ejqHorseLady: It was no problem, any time you need me to explain something just ask; I am more than happy to help my reviewers. I hope you like this chapter.

LYW: Thank you for your review.

coyotesabre: Um.. the person in the last chapter was Kikyo, but not. lol. Oh how clear I know. Basically, it isn't the Kikyo that Kagome knows, she is more like the living Kikyo. And to make things even more confusing : she isn't even just Kikyo the person but more the part of Kikyo that knew about her powers. Yeah, it made sense when I wrote it but explaining it is just so hard. I'm glad you take enough interest in my story to analyze it though. Yay! On a side note, I know how it is to get busy and not update, but I really like your story and am anxious for the next chapter; I hope you get a chance to soon.

Sk8ter-kitty888: I know that Kagome has brown eyes in the anime, but what a lot of people don't know is that she has blue-gray eyes in the manga. I have more access to the manga than to the anime so I tend to write based off of that. If it bothers you I am sorry, but it really is just a matter of what form of media you use more.

VioletRose4: Lol, blue eyes seems to keep coming up. As I said before, I read the manga more than I see the anime so I write based off of the manga characters. Kagome has blue eyes in the manga, hence my use of it. It is a habit of most to assume Kikyo when it comes to stealing souls; all I can say without revealing the ending of my story is that she is a possibility.

The One above All: Glad my last chapter didn't confuse you, I hope this one doesn't either. I made this chapter longer than the last, your prompting for a longer chapter than the last usually gets answered or I feel guilty.

Love Isn't Just a Memory

By: Nimerin

Chapter Twenty: Family

Kagome blinked as her eyes slid open and were greeted by the brilliant morning light. She lazily dragged an arm up from under the blanket and rubbed her sleep laden eyes. She sat up allowing the blanket to slip off of her shoulders and down her to her lap. She stretched languidly, feeling far better than she had in a long time. Kagome's sleepy mind suddenly remembered her dream. She stopped mid-stretch with eyes wide and mouth dropped in shock. 'Was that real, or was it just a dream. It felt so real, and I can remember all of it.'

Kagome shifted so that she was able to look out of her window at the courtyard below. No one was out there, save Jii-chan who was sweeping the shrine steps. She moved a raven tendril of her mussed up hair out of her face as she stared at the Goshinboku. All the memories she had gained the night before surfaced in her mind as if they had never been gone. 'I suppose they were there the whole time, I just couldn't get to them. I'm going to have to go and tell the others about what I learned.' Kagome smiled softly as she thought about her friends; she remember them, maybe not a whole lot about them, but it was a start. 'They should be happy to know that I am getting my memories of them back.'

Kagome flipped on her back and kicked the blankets to the end of the bed as she stared at the ceiling, 'They aren't going to like the rest of the news though. Especially, the whole stealing of my soul thing.' She rolled onto her stomach and rested her head on her folded arms. 'The woman said that Inuyasha's game helped me to get there and gain some of my memories. I am going to have to try and play that game again.'

Kagome finally rolled out of bed and went to get her clothes out of the closet. She glanced inside trying to find something to wear and her eyes fell upon the green sailor uniform that she normally wore to school. She fingered the pleated skirt thoughtfully, 'From the memories I saw I wore this thing a lot in the past; I don't know how Mama managed to repair it all those times. Then again, she may have just kept buying new ones. I don't think I am ever going to be able to look at this thing the same again; it is almost like my battle armor.' Kagome giggled as she took out a dark blue sweater and light blue skirt to wear.

Kagome got dressed and started to brush out the tangles in her hair, 'It's awfully quite this morning; especially considering the ruckus that they were making yesterday morning. Maybe the are eating, I'm certainly hungry.' Kagome put down her brush and descended the stairs before heading towards the kitchen. There were voices talking pleasantly low, as if not to disturb anyone. Kagome entered the kitchen and found her friends and family gathered around the table eating. They all turned to look at her save Inuyasha and Shippo. They had heard her coming and had been waiting for her approach; Shippo was already in midair while Inuyasha looked away with a blush on his face.

"Morning everyone." Kagome greeted as she took her seat and served herself some of the food that was on the table. Everyone murmured a similar greeting and continued on with their meal in peaceful silence. Shippo had settled onto Kagome's lap and she was feeding them both as Sango fended off Miroku's lecherous attempts with her fork. Her family just sat silently enjoying the odd spectacle that Kagome's friends made; it was an form of dinner theater for them.

Inuyasha kept sneaking Kagome glances under the cover of his bangs, a constant blush adorning his cheeks. 'Kami, I can't believe I told her all that stuff last night; stupid human self, just had to go and get all touchy-feely and crap on me.'

Just as always, the little voice of his head decided to pay him a little visit, 'It wasn't just your human side that felt like that.'

Inuyasha mentally grumbled, 'Oh it's you. Of course, it's all my baka ningen side's fault.'

'You feel that way regardless. Your blood has nothing to do with the way your heart feels.'

'I'm not denying that I feel like that; I realized it before I turned human.'

'Then what the hell are you grumping about now?'

'The baka human shouldn't have gone and told Kagome; she doesn't need to know how I feel!'

'Oh, I see; you're embarrassed.'

'So what if I am; I have a damn good reason to be.'

'She was sleeping, though; so what's the big deal?'

'It's the principle!'

'Yeah sure, okay.' The voice answered exasperatedly, 'I'm going to leave you alone now, enjoy your breakfast.'

"Inuyasha?" Inuyasha snapped out of his interior monologue to find that everyone was staring at him and Kagome had gently placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. "Inuyasha are you alright?"

Inuyasha jerked his hand away and tried his best to appear gruff despite the fact he saw a flash of hurt flit across Kagome's face, "Of course I'm fine, what are you going on about."

Kagome huffed, annoyance quickly replacing any feelings of offense that had surfaced, "Well, if you are feeling so great why didn't you hear me when I asked you a question?"

"I heard you, I just was ignoring you stupid wench."

"Oh you stupid jerk!" Kagome fumed, "Osuwari!"

Everyone except Kagome was shocked as Inuyasha plummeted face-first into the ground; fortunately his chair had been pushed back from the table. Inuyasha was busy mumbling expletives so Miroku took it upon himself to do the questioning. "Kagome-sama, how did you remember the subduing spell? We thought that you couldn't remember anything."

Kagome sighed and looked at the others, "I didn't remember it before. As for why I do now that is what I wanted to talk to everyone about."

Inuyasha jumped up since the spell had worn off, "When were planning on telling us this!"

Kagome was once again irritated, "I was trying to get your attention before so that I could tell everyone; but no, you were too busy ignoring me to notice!"

"Well, why didn't you say that it was important?" Inuyasha yelled.

"I did!" Kagome shot back.

"No you didn't! I would have heard you!"

"Inuyasha," Sango interjected eager to stop the impending argument, "she did say that there was something important that she had to tell us. You were distracted when she said it."

Kagome grinned smugly as Inuyasha deflated, "Yeah well, she should have done a better job of getting my attention."

Kagome threw her hands up in the exasperatedly, "That's why I poked you and then touched your arm you baka!"

"Yeah, whatever." Inuyasha waved her off in dismissal.

Kagome was about to launch at the hanyou and throttle him, but Miroku put a restraining hand on her shoulder, "Kagome-sama, isn't there some explaining that you have to do?"

Kagome cooled off immediately and looked up at her friend, "Hai, I do Miroku-sama."

"Perhaps you should do so now."

Kagome nodded and settled herself back down at the table. Everyone else did so as well, anxious to hear whatever their friend had to say; if the subduing spell was anything to go by, it was going to be big news. Kagome glanced out the window and watched the trees sway in the breeze as she tried to gather her thoughts; it wasn't going to be easy explaining this to them seeing as how it was still confusing to her. 'I suppose I should just start at the beginning of my dream; it would make the most sense.' Kagome turned her attention back to her audience and was surprised to see so much hope on their faces, 'They really want me to remember, they care a lot about me apparently.' Kagome took a steadying breath and begun her tale, "When I went to sleep last night I had a very weird and informative dream; only I'm not so sure that it was just a dream."

Everyone edged a little closer to her, "Will you tell us about the dream Kagome-chan?" Sango requested.

Kagome nodded, "I am. Well, when the dream started I was in a foggy place where I couldn't see anything. Then I started to glow pink and the fog went away revealing a door with carvings on it. The door had the Goshinboku, a bow and arrow, the Tetsusaiga , all of us, and the Shikon no Tama carved on it. When I touched each carving I received back some of my memories. Not very many of them really, they were just short flashes and I couldn't hear anything; but enough to remind me of some things."

Everyone smiled happily at hearing that she had gained back some of her memories, no matter how few they were; something was better than nothing. "That's great Kagome!" Shippo cheered from her lap, he was beaming now that his surrogate mother was starting to remember him again.

"Hai, it is Shippo." Kagome smiled warmly at the little kitsune hopping up and down in her lap before resuming her story. "Anyway, when I said the name of the Shikon out loud, the gray stuff started to rush at me like it was going to attack me. Luckily, I was pulled into the door by a girl that looked a lot like me. She was dressed like a miko and had a bow on her back."

Everyone paled slightly at this point in her story. No one had mentioned Kikyo to Kagome yet, and they were afraid how she would feel if she was reminded.

"At first I couldn't see her because she was just a big shadow, but then she showed herself to me. She said that she was the representation of my miko powers; that she was me. She was really nice and explained some things to me."

"What did she explain?" Sango asked warily, she wanted her friend to remember, but thought that perhaps remembering Kikyo so early was a very bad thing.

Kagome sighed, "Well, apparently someone has cast a spell on me, and my powers have been trying to fight it. Whatever the spell is, it blocks my memories. The woman said that they are the key to them taking my soul."

"What!" Inuyasha yelped, no one was allowed to harm his Kagome, and now someone was trying to steal her soul? "Who is doing this?" He demanded.

Kagome looked at her lap as she bit her lip, "I don't know," she answered meekly, "neither did the woman. She just said that it was some one very strong and that I had to figure it out for myself."

"Iie," Inuyasha responded gruffly.

Kagome's head shot up, "What?"

"Iie, you don't have to figure it out by yourself; we are here to help you." He responded. A blush was adorning his cheeks as he looked away out the window.

Kagome stared at him quietly, too stunned at the moment to say much of anything as the others also eagerly offered their unfailing support. "Arigato." She responded quietly and sincerely.

Sango smiled brightly at Kagome, "No need to thank us Kagome-chan; we are family, we will always be there for each other."

Kagome blinked back tears of happiness as everyone nodded and agreed with Sango. Inuyasha had nodded somewhat absently, slightly stunned himself at being called a part of a family.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled, "Of course you all are a family after everything you have been through together. I can't thank you enough for what you do for my daughter, and I want all of you to know that I consider each one of you a part of this family as well."

Kagome's friends smiled back at the woman, overwhelmed and overjoyed at finding such acceptance. Only Kagome noticed the shift in the room. Before the conversation, she had felt all the auras of her friends; it was a somewhat subconscious skill she had gained since waking up. Before, they had all felt connected, like a tight wire was attached between each of them. Each wire had hummed faintly with power, and she could almost feel the faint flow in-between them. Now, however, the wire had vanished; in a burst of power each aura had stretched and expanded until there was now a sort of bubble around them. The bubble was the result of their intermingled auras strengthening their bonds. Kagome smiled, now they truly were family.