AN: Sorry that I haven't updated in over a week. I was on spring break just loafing around my house, babysitting, going out with friends, and spending time with my mom. Wow, wasn't I a real party animal? Well, I tried to make this chapter really good to try and make up for the last one and the delay. I hope you like it and I welcome any criticism you might have. HAPPY READING AND ENJOY!

coyotesabre: Thank you for your review. I remember senior year, it was hectic. Don't you wish you could just tell your teachers that you can't do your homework because there are people out there that depend on you for their story fixes? I wonder if they would give a detention for that.

The One above All: Thank you for the review. I hope this chapter doesn't rate on the filler level. God help me if it does.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, I don't even own enough money to go on a really good trip for my spring break. Woe is me, lol.

Love Isn't Just a Memory

Chapter Twenty-Two: Imprint

By: Nimerin

Kagome walked into the well house and waited a moment as her eyes adjusted to the dim surroundings. All of the others had gathered around the well while she remained in the doorway, light spilling in behind her and silhouetting her. Inuyasha thought she resembled an angel that had descended from the heavens, 'Wow, she really is beautiful. She looks like an angel standing there like that.'

The little voice within his head gave a mental nod of agreement, 'She sure does, but then, she is also angelic in personality.'

'Not when she remembers how to sit me.' Inuyasha commented dryly.

The voice laughed, 'Well, maybe not then, but that is usually your fault anyway. You have to admit though, she has saved you many times.'

Inuyasha snorted, 'I'm the one that always has to protect her from the demons.'

'That may be, but she has saved you from feeling the pain you have carried all these years; she has saved you from yourself.'

'Huh.' Inuyasha commented thoughtfully, 'You're right, I don't care what everyone else thinks of me being a hanyou as much as I used to. I care about what she thinks though.'

"Oi, Kagome are you going to stand there all day?" He said as he came out of his thoughts.

Kagome, for her part, had been standing in the doorway even after her eyes had adjusted because she was looking at the weaving of the spell. She blinked and then took in what Inuyasha said, "If you are going to talk to me like that, then hai, I will stand here all day."

"You are just trying to annoy me now aren't you wench?" Inuyasha lightly growled.

"Why, whatever gave you that idea Inuyasha?" She answered innocently.

Miroku decided to interrupt the impending argument, "It would be beneficial if you were quiet while I meditate."

Kagome stepped down into the house and stood next to Miroku, "Gomen, I did not mean to distract you."

"It is quite alright Kagome-sama. Now, excuse me." Miroku once again began his mediation and probed the spell. Everyone waited patiently for him to finish, each lost to their own thoughts.

Sango watched his face absentmindedly, 'He looks so handsome and innocent like this. One would never guess he was a pervert if they saw him now. I wish he wouldn't be such a lecher, then maybe our relationship would go better.' She blushed when she realized the path that her thoughts had taken her, 'Oh no, I'm not thinking of him like that. Nope, not at all; I just didn't get enough sleep last night. Yeah, that's it.'

Inuyasha was leaning up against a wall of the well house; his bangs covered his eyes, and he spent the entire time staring at Kagome. He thoughts had returned to the path they had taken when he had been watching her in the doorway earlier. It was nothing concrete really, rather just random memories of the kindness she had shown him.

Shippo and Kirara were sitting on the edge of the well, peering down into it. It was strange for them to be on this side for once and see and the old structure that the knew so well. Shippo was glad that he had finally gotten to see the world that Kagome called home so much. 'I still don't understand why she likes it so much here though. I wish she could just stay with me, or maybe after this I will be able to come and visit her.' He doubted that was true, but his childish hopes allowed him to hold onto it nonetheless. Kirara was happy to provide him the comfort he needed as he thought; she was content just being with everyone she cared about and was enjoying it while it lasted.

While everyone else was busy waiting to find out what Miroku would tell them about the spell, Kagome was inspecting it for herself. She could easily see the spell, and even Miroku's aura as it stretched out and tested the barriers of it. She wasn't sure where this new skill came from, but she wasn't going to complain about it either. One should never look a gift horse in the mouth, it might bite you. Or knock you over with its very bad breath. Or perhaps it would turn out like the Trojan horse.

At any rate, she watched curiously as the spell flared against his power and pushed it back; it was trying to reject his attempts to disable it, and was succeeding easily. Kagome wondered what would happen if she tried to touch it. Before she realized it, her aura had reached out and brushed up against the spell's barrier. Surprisingly, it was unable to throw aura back as it had done Miroku's; in fact, it weakened just a tiny bit. Kagome tried to push it with more force to see if it would give, but a headache was starting to build in her head, and the more she pushed the spell the more the pain pushed in her head. It finally became to much for her, and she gave up. In the end, she had done little damage to the immense spell, but at least it had been some damage.

Miroku's eyes snapped open after she had finished testing the barrier around the spell and now he was steadily gazing at Kagome. Finally, his jumbled thoughts collected themselves as he looked at them, "Kagome-sama, how did you do that?"

She looked up, and her eyes dull from the small interior struggle, "Which part?"

"How were you able to weaken the barrier? How did you even know it was there?" He persisted. By now everyone else was paying rapt attention and were trying to figure out what their two friends were talking about.

Kagome looked at her fingers, which she was nervously twirling together, "Um... well you see. For some reason, ever since last night, I have been able to see aura's you know. Well, I can just see the spell, I could also see your aura trying to push up against it. I got curious and decided to test and see what happened if I tried to push up against the barrier. And you saw what happened."

Miroku nodded, still a little amazed, "You have come further in your powers than I had thought you had. Why did you stop pushing against the barrier? You might have been able to break it if you kept it up."

Kagome shook her head, "I couldn't do it anymore, it was giving me a really bad headache. I just couldn't take the pain; the more I pushed the more it hurt."

When she had said that, everyone finally realized how drawn she looked. Her eyes had dulled, her face had become pale, and she had a light sheen of perspiration on her brow. Sango stepped forward and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Are you alright Kagome-chan?"

Kagome looked up at Sango and smiled, "I'm fine, just a little tired is all."

Sango searched her face for any signs that she might be lying, but could find none. She slowly nodded in acceptance, "Alright. So what are we going to do about this spell?" She asked as she turned to the houshi.

Miroku stood and dusted off his robes, "Well, thanks to Kagome-sama, the barrier around it has been weakened a bit. I can't tell if it was just her power doing it, or if it reacted to her because it knew she had gained back some of her memories. Either way, it seems it only changes if she is the one trying to disable it."

Inuyasha spoke, a scowl on his face, "No way is doing that again. It causes her pain, it can't be good for her."

Miroku nodded, "I agree she shouldn't do it too much."

"But it is the only thing that has worked against it!" Kagome protested.

"There has to be another way, it isn't worth you slipping into another coma over it." Inuyasha replied.

"I want to fix the well, I want to remember, I want to stop whatever the heck is happening to me!" She exclaimed indignantly.

Sango looked at the ranting girl, "We understand how you feel, but we can't just let you get yourself hurt."

Kagome sighed in frustration, but stayed silent. They were only trying to protect her after all.

"If we can't think of anything else, you may have to do it; but that is the last option." Miroku suggested as a way of truce.

Inuyasha had opened his mouth to protest even doing that, but Miroku sent him a silencing glare. Kagome nodded in acceptance of his statement and picked up Shippo. Miroku looked thoughtful for a moment before venturing another question, "You said you can aura's did you not?"

"Hai, I see them all the time now. I don't even think I could turn it off if I wanted."

"Do you see any aura connected to the spell, some sort of trail maybe?"

"Um..." Kagome looked back at the spell to see if she could see anything like he had mentioned. She saw no trail, but she saw the remnants of an aura that was not part of the spell itself. It looked more like a signature, like a piece of who ever cast the spell was left behind. "I don't see any trails, but I see what I think might be a bit of someone's aura."

Miroku looked surprised, "Really?" He turned and looked back at the well, as if trying to see it as she did, "I can't believe I missed that while I was meditating."

"Well," Kagome attempted to comfort him, "it is very small and hard to notice."

"Do you think that you could identify the person who cast the spell if you saw them?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. Everyone's auras are a little different, but I don't know how good I would be at finding the differences." Kagome sighed, "I wouldn't want to accuse the wrong person or anything."

Miroku nodded, "I understand. It is not as though we can searching the city looking for someone with this specific aura any ways, it would take forever. It will, however, serve as a warning for you if you come upon anyone with an aura that resembles this one."

"So, if she sees someone with an aura like the one on this spell, she can assume that they are the one that did it and stay out of their way?" Sango questioned.

"Hai, that is the idea. It will be a good way for her to try and avoid danger when we can not be with her."

"That ain't happening." Inuyasha stubbornly replied.

Kagome turned to him sharply, "What, are you saying that I can't avoid danger on my own?"

"Iie, that wasn't what I was saying. It's true, but it wasn't what I was trying to say."

Kagome started to go red and a tick developed over one of her eyes, "What do you mean 'it's true'?"

Inuyasha snorted, "Well, it is. You're always in trouble; but like I said before, that wasn't what I was trying to say."

"Why you," Kagome began to advance on him, "I can't believe you sometimes."

"I only meant that you aren't ever going to be by yourself. One of us is always going to be there to protect you." He was trying to dig himself out of the hole he was in, he really really did not feel like being sat again.

"So now you're saying that I can't protect myself? Is that it?"

"Iie, look, grrr..." Inuyasha was getting frustrated, "That dream person told you that we were here to help you, that you needed us; obviously then, one of us should be with you at all times."

Kagome deflated a little at the thought of the dream person. He was right about that, but he didn't need to be such a pompous jerk about it, "Fine," she mumbled, "whatever."

Inuyasha let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. The others smiled at them in amusement, it really was good to have things back to normal and everything.

The happy moment was interrupted when a loud thunder clap sounded outside. Kagome jumped a little and leaned closer to Inuyasha, "Why is there thunder, it was perfectly clear outside when we came in the well house?"

The others looked at each other, this had happened once before, but they couldn't be too certain if it meant the same thing. "Kagome," Inuyasha commanded, "we are going to go out there and see what is going on, but I want you to stay close to me in case anything bad happens."

Kagome nodded and worriedly stepped closer to him. She could feel an enormous amount of power outside, it was unlike anything she knew or could remember. One of her hands fisted around the material of Inuyasha's material as she grabbed his arm and stepped even closer. Together they all went outside ready to face the owner of the awesome power.

AN: Well, there is another chapter for you. It is a bit of a cliff hanger, but I think if you remember the rest of the story, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who will be outside. I hope you liked it, let me know. THANK YOU FOR READING AND PLEASE REVIEW!