Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Notes to my reviewers: I came home, checked my mail, and said "Wow, that's a hell of a lot of reviews!" Thanks. You all deserve a really long chapter.

Inufreak831 : Yeah, I took a health class when I was Souta's age. In respond to your human curiosity, they will run across a jewel shard (ironically).

Weilder of the flaming blade : Well the night is still young, Kouga could still make of big deal about Inuyasha's scent.

Spike of Doom : Believe it or not I was actually thinking about that too, I'll have to make him do something really perverted to make up for it.

Chapter Nineteen: The Cow Demon and Shippo

After saying good-bye to Lady Kaede, everyone started on their journey. Kouga always stayed a little bit ahead of everyone else. He would pause every once and a while and wait for anyone who was behind to catch up, but mainly he kept to himself.

The others couldn't tell, but he was actually going through a dilemma. He still wanted Kagome to be his, but he didn't know how honorable it would be to take her away not, especially seine she already mated with Inuyasha. No he shook his head. His Kagome was just as pure and innocent as ever There isn't anything wrong with me taking her he decided.

Miroku and Inuyasha were walking next to each other a short distance away from Kouga. "So, where'd you get Kagome's kimono?" Miroku asked.

"A lady in a village gave it to me."

"Gave it to you!" he was a little surprised "She gave you something that fancy!"

"It was one of the villages we've helped in the past. I guess it was her way of saying, thanks. Why do you care?"

"No reason."

Shippo was walking next to Inuyasha, but he wasn't showing any interest in their conversation. He was trying really hard to keep the same pace as Inuyasha. He figured that if he walked more like him, then he would be more like him.

Sango and Kagome were walking together behind everyone else. Kagome had tried to walk with Inuyasha, but Sango wouldn't let her. She wanted to have a girl to girl' conversation. "So," she said after a few moments of silence. "Did you and Inuyasha do what I think you did?"

Kagome blushed, "Y-Yes."

"Really. How was it?"

"Sango, that's kind of private. I don't really want to talk about it."

"I was only wondering. I mean, the first time is supposed to be special."

"Sango."

"Sorry it's just I always thought Inuyasha would be the type who -"

"Sango! For the love of god, shut up!" she didn't want to sound mean, but it really was a private matter.

Sango paused for a few seconds. "Well, when Miroku and I -"

Kagome slammed her hands over her ears and ran towards Inuyasha. When she reached him, she jumped on his back. Inuyasha was taken off guard and fell face first into the dirt.

"Sorry Inu." Kagome laughed "Could I have a ride?"

"Sure." He stood up, brushed some dirt off, and continued walking with Kagome on his back.

She pulled a little on his silver hair so that it was covering her head. One of the reasons she did that was to shield herself from the sun, but mainly so she could give Inuyasha's neck kisses without Miroku giving her a perverted look.

Inuyasha smiled when he felt Kagome's lips on his neck. He laughed a little bit when a small nibble tickled him. "What's so funny?" Miroku asked.

"Nothing." Inuyasha nudged Kagome. He liked her kisses, but needed her to stop so he could concentrate on walking straight.

Kagome giggled and settled for resting her head on his shoulder and letting the smell of the lawn just after it rains calm her into a sleeping state.

Inuyasha sighed when Kagome fell asleep. He could tell by the way she relaxed in his grip.

"Is she asleep?" Miroku asked, moving Inuyasha's hair to one side.

"I think so."

"She's probably tired from walking all day."

"Yeah, I guess."

They continued following Kouga till Sango finally complained. "Kouga, not all of us have the strength of a demon. I need a rest." Kouga let out a frustrated groan.

"It's time for lunch anyway." Miroku said. He and Sango cooked some food while Inuyasha gently laid Kagome on the ground.

"Should we wake her up?" Sango asked as she handed Inuyasha his share of food.

"No. We'll save her some." He replied. He knew that if Kagome woke up she would feel refreshed and wouldn't want him to carry her.

"Kouga, do you want some?" Sango held a plate in his direction (whom was currently sitting in a tree).

"I hunt for my own food at night." He said while staying alert for anything that could be a danger.

"Don't you sleep?" Inuyasha asked.

"Worry about your own health, mutt boy." Kouga snapped.

Inuyasha growled and stood up so he could fight with him, but Kagome's eyes shot open. "SIT!" she yelled. Kouga laughed as Inuyasha's face slammed into the ground.

"I didn't do anything!" Inuyasha yelled once he was able to life his head up again.

"What?" Kagome seemed confused for a second, but then realized what happened. "Oh Inuyasha, I'm sorry." She moved from her spot and hugged him "I just had a bad dream."

"Whatever." Inuyasha rubbed his forehead.

"What did you dream about?" Sango asked.

Kagome loosened her grip on Inuyasha. "N-Nothing."

"Don't you want to tell us."

"No."

Shippo jumped onto Kagome's lap. "Whenever I have a bad dream I just tell people about it. It always seems silly and less scary when I say it out loud."

Kagome glanced at Inuyasha then back to Shippo. "I'm not sure everyone would want to hear about my dream." She mumbled.

Sango handed her some food, but she only nibbled on it. "Aren't you hungry?" Sango asked her when she saw how little Kagome was eating.

"No. Not really."

Kouga jumped down from the tree. "If she's not eating, then we should keep moving. I want to cover as much ground as we can before night."

"Do you want a ride?" Inuyasha asked, helping Kagome up.

"No. I'm fine."

He was a little disappointed but tried not to show it. He noticed that Kagome kept a little bit of distance between the two of them while they were traveling. She probably thinks I'm mad about that sit' thing he told himself.

Kouga, once again, took his spot in the lead. Everyone followed him in silence for a little while.

"Am I the only one who feels like I've been here before?" Sango asked suddenly.

They all paused for a second and looked around. The path they were walking on did look familiar, but they couldn't place it. "Maybe we've traveled along this path before." Miroku suggested.

"I guess." Sango said "I wish Kouga would just tell us where the demon was then leave us to do the work."

"How long do you think he plans to stay with us?" Miroku asked.

"Didn't he say he'd leave as soon as we got to the demon" Sango said.

"I can't remember." Shippo scratched his head.

"As soon as we find that demon, I'm kicking him out of our group." Inuyasha said. "I shouldn't have let him join in the first place."

"He hasn't done anything wrong." Sango watched Kouga walk "Maybe were being to hard on him."

Kagome laughed a little bit "Nothing wrong." She mumbled to herself. Inuyasha gave her a confused look, but she just ignored it. She zoned in and out of the conversation the others were having, only catching certain words or phrases here and there.

The sun was actually going down when she heard the familiar, but still unwanted voice in her head. KagomeKagome. It seemed a little louder then before. She bit her lip and waited for it to go away.

"Kagome. Where are you going?"

Kagome heard Inuyasha calling her. She turned her head and saw him with the others standing a ways behind her. They had all stopped and started to set up camp, but were now wondering why Kagome had kept walking.

Kagome thought it was odd. She didn't even remember the others stopping, much less her continued walking. "Umm — nowhere." She said, making her way to the camp.

"Are you hungry now?" Sango asked.

"Yeah."

They ate the meal silence until Shippo noticed something really shiny in Kagome's opened backpack. "What's that?" he asked, reaching inside for it. He pulled out a silver chain with a whistle on it.

Kagome looked over at what Shippo was holding. "That's a dog whistle. My brother gave it to me."

Shippo examined the dog' whistle carefully. "It doesn't look like a dog"

"It's not supposed to."

Inuyasha suddenly remembered the day at her house when her brother showed him the whistle. "Souta is confusing Kagome. He told me that the dog whistle would be an alternative to sit'."

Kagome slightly laughed, "Yeah. I guess it would be."

"How can it be an alternative to sit?" Miroku asked. "Is there any magic in it?"

"No."

Inuyasha grabbed it from Shippo's hands; "It doesn't look bad." He actually liked it. He like how smooth and shiny it was.

"What does the whistle do?" Sango asked.

Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, "I don't know if I should"

"Please," Shippo took the whistle back and handed it to Kagome. "please please show us how it works."

Kagome was astounded at how interested everyone was in the whistle, even Kouga was watching. "I don't know only if Inuyasha's ok with it."

Inuyasha nodded. He was really curious about the dog whistle'.

Kagome gave him a doubtful look, but brought the whistle to her lips. When she blew on it, everyone was a little confused. They didn't hear anything. They all thought that the whistle was broken until Inuyasha started screaming.

He covered his ears with his hands, "STOP!" he pleaded with Kagome. She did right away.

"What just happened?" Sango looked between Inuyasha and Kagome.

"A dog whistle gives out a sound that's so high pitched, only dogs can hear it." Kagome said. She reached over and rubbed one of Inuyasha's ears for him, in a way of saying sorry. He smiled and leaned into her touch a little bit.

"Kagome." Sango stood up. "I'm gonna take a bath, do you want to come with me."

"Sure." She put the whistle (much to Inuyasha's disgust) around her neck. She walked with Sango to a place they could take a bath and made sure that none of the men were around to watch them, before undressing.

Sango let out a sigh when she walked into the water. If felt, good. "So." She said to Kagome as soon as they were both in the water, "What was your nightmare about."

"Why do you want to know?"

"It seemed to bother you a lot earlier."

Kagome looked at the stars that were slowly lighting up the sky, "Well it did at the time, but I guess it doesn't anymore."

"If it doesn't bother you anymore, than you shouldn't have any trouble telling me about it."

Kagome sighed. "Your right, but it seems stupid now." She watched the water move around her a little bit before decided that she could tell Sango about her dream. "I'll tell you, but your just going to think it's stupid."

"I won't."

"Ok umm" she had never really talked about any of her dreams before, good or bad, so she didn't know how to tell Sango about this one. "It started with Kikyou and I standing next to each other."

"Like in that drawing of yours."

Ignoring the fact that Sango had looked in her forbidden' notebook, she nodded. "Yeah, a little like that. Anyway, Inuyasha walked up to us and just stared. Almost like he was trying to decide which girl to go with."

"Did he choose you?" Sango asked.

"If he chose me it wouldn't have been considered a nightmare. He ended up pushing me aside and grabbing Kikyou's hand."

"That bastard." Sango mumbled.

Kagome laughed. "It was only a dream Sango. Plus, Inuyasha loves me, so I have nothing to worry about."

Sango smiled "Your right."

Both the girls turned when they heard a twig snap in the distance. They lowered into the water so only their heads were sticking out and watched carefully for any movement. Kagome picked up a rock from under the water and held it tightly in her hand, ready to hit whoever was out there on the head.

They stayed perfectly still until they saw someone moving behind one of the bushes. Kagome took her chance and threw the rock as hard as she could. They heard a muffled scream and Miroku stood up.

"MIROKU YOU ASS!" Sango yelled.

He rubbed his head and stepped away from the bush. "Oh — umm — Hi Sango. Didn't notice you two there, I was — umm — picking some berries."

Sango raised herself out of the water a little bit. "Berries? What kind of berries?"

"Umm — raspberries."

"At this time of night?"

"Yeah."

Sango might have been fine with Miroku getting a clear view of her breast, but Kagome didn't. She lowered herself even more so that her nose was just a little bit above the water (so she could breath) and started to slowly back up so that she was in the deeper water.

"Sorry Kagome." Sango suddenly turned and faced her. "Miroku go away."

Miroku smiled and walked back to the camp. "What are you smiling about?" Inuyasha asked, not really caring.

"Nothing."

Inuyasha looked carefully at Miroku, he recognized that look on his face. "You went to spy on the girls didn't you?"

Miroku nodded. He didn't seem to be ashamed.

"Just when I thought you started acting like a gentleman." Inuyasha mumbled. He rested against the base of the tree and waited for everyone to get back, until a thought struck him. "Hey! You didn't try to sneak a peak at Kagome did you!"

"No. She hid in the water."

Kouga looked down from his spot in the tree, "I didn't know we were allowed to watch the girls take a bath."

"We're not!" Inuyasha snapped at him.

Kagome walked into the camp. She punched Miroku on the shoulder then sat down next to Inuyasha. She looked over at Shippo, who was sleeping in one of the beds he made. "Where's Sango?" Inuyasha asked.

"She's coming. I got dressed quicker then her, so I could hit Miroku."

Inuyasha laughed a little bit, he kind of like the way Kagome looked when she was mad. She got a certain fire in her eyes.

Sango walked into camp, "Did you hit him?" she asked Kagome.

"Yeah."

Sango turned towards Miroku and put on a fake pity look. "Poor thing, where did she hit you?"

"My shoulder." Miroku said. Sango kissed his shoulder then moved into the bed that Shippo had made for her. When Kagome laid down in her bed Inuyasha debated with himself. He did enjoy sleeping in the tree, but he wanted to sleep next to Kagome.

Eventually he made the choice to go with Kagome and wrapped his arms around her while he slept.

Kouga was the last one to fall asleep. He watched Kagome for a little while and tried his best to ignore Inuyasha. He was starting to feel more and more guilty as time went on. Kagome seemed happy with Inuyasha.

No! he mentally yelled at himself Kagome's only happy because she hasn't had anyone better. He tried to keep think along those lines as he fell asleep.

xxx Morning (On The Road Again) xxx

Shippo complained loudly about not getting to rest at all during their trip, "Does Kouga ever rest!" he yelled out "Or does he just have some kind of unlimited energy source!"

"Do you want a ride?" Kagome asked. Shippo nodded and jumped onto her back without hesitation. "Any reason why you're so cranky?"

"I'm tired of walking all the time."

"We've traveled around on foot before." Inuyasha said.

"Yeah, but we always rested to eat every once and a while."

"We can stop if you want." Sango suggested.

Kagome suddenly stiffened and stopped walking. Shippo was the only one who noticed at first, everyone else kept walking. "Kagome what's wrong?" he asked.

When he said that, everyone (even Kouga) stopped walking and turned towards her. "Kagome?" Inuyasha called out.

She turned towards her left and stared ahead. "There's a jewel shard near by. I can feel it." She pulled Shippo of her back and set him on the ground. "This way." She started running in the direction she was facing.

Everyone followed her except for Kouga. He was confused. There really is a demon with a jewel shard. He was a little amazed that the story he made up was actually true. It wasn't till everyone was almost out of sight that he realized Kagome was going to try and fight a demon, he should be there to protect her.

Kagome could hear Inuyasha running behind her. She could sense a demon with a jewel shard not that far away from where they were. "It's a cow demon." Inuyasha yelled in Kagome direction. "I can smell it."

They all reached a clearing in the woods and saw the demon in the middle of it. It looked like a normal cow, only it's eyes were a solid red color and it was 10 times the size it was supposed to be.

"It's not a very strong one." Inuyasha mumbled to Kagome "Even with the jewel shard." He turned away from Kagome and sat in his dog position near Shippo.

"Hey Shippo." He decided that it would be good training. "I think you should handle this."

"Me? Really?"

Inuyasha nodded, "We need to get the jewel out of it before Miroku can suck it up."

Shippo nodded and walked towards the cow. He was a little bit nervous, but he knew that Inuyasha wasn't very far away. When he got to the animal it snapped its teeth at him. The teeth were large and looked very sharp, but Shippo held his ground.

He waited till the animal started running towards him to jump in the air. The cow demon missed him and looked around confused for a few seconds. Shippo landed on his neck, and pulled on his ears (he was copying what Kagome did a while ago). It was a simple move, but it was affective. The demon ran around and tried to kick Shippo off.

"The jewel is in his stomach, he must have eaten it!" Kagome yelled out.

Shippo jumped off the cow and decided to hit it on the stomach, he was hoping that if he hit it hard enough, the jewel would come flying out of his mouth. He positioned himself to get a running start and waited for the cow demon to pick a spot to stand.

Everyone was watching with interest. They had no doubt that the demon couldn't be destroyed in a second if it needed to be, but they enjoyed watching Shippo try to use all the things that Inuyasha taught him.

Shippo saw his chance and ran towards the demon. He remembered not to close his eyes and concentrate on the spot he wanted to hit, just like the tree. When his fist met the demon's stomach his plan worked. The cow demon let out a loud yell, and the jewel shard shot out of its mouth.

Even without the jewel the cow demon was able to swing its head and hit Shippo. He went flying and hit the ground hard, but he stood up and faced Miroku.

"Are you going to use your wind tunnel now?" he asked, holding onto his stomach.

Miroku nodded and unwrapped the beads from his hand. He turned his head back and waited for the sucking sensation he always felt, but it didn't come. "What the hell." He (along with everyone else) looked at his hand. The hole was gone.

"What's going on?" Inuyasha asked. He was to far away to see what was really going on.

Everyone was concentrating on Miroku, so they didn't notice that the cow demon was running towards them. It was making it's own decision about who to attack first. It picked Sango.

While Miroku was touching the palm of his hand in disbelief, the demon hit Sango with its head. She went flying backwards and hit the tree behind her. It didn't hurt her that much, but it did nock the wind out of her.

Before anyone else could draw a weapon Shippo jumped towards the demon with his foot in front of him. He hit with as much pressure as he could on the neck. It worked. The neck broke and the demon died instantly.

"Good job Shippo." Kagome said. Miroku and Inuyasha helped Sango to her feet while Kagome walked over to the spot where the jewel shard was. She found it easily because she could sense where it was.

"Are you alright Sango?" She asked, running towards her after she had the jewel shard in her hand.

"Yeah." She said in a faint voice while trying to catch her breath.

Once everyone was sure that Sango was really ok they turned their attention back towards Miroku's hand. "What the hell happened to your wind tunnel?" Inuyasha asked.

"It's gone." Miroku was still a little stunned. "Naraku must be dead." He smiled a little bit, but then it quickly faded. "Damn it!" he yelled.

"What's wrong, I thought your main goal was to get rid of that hole." Kagome said.

"Yeah. But I didn't. Someone else killed Naraku."

"So. As long as he's dead."

Inuyasha looked curiously at Miroku, he didn't see what the big deal was. Until it finally hit him. Neither of them would get to take their revenge on Naraku. "Fuck." He mumbled. He was a little upset, but to his surprise not as mad as he expected.

He had always wanted to kill Naraku so that he could revenge Kikyou's death, but now, it didn't seem as important as it used too. Still, he felt like there was some kind of need to kill Naraku with his own hands, and now that was taken away from him. "I don't get to have my revenge now." He said.

Kagome tilted her head towards the sky and tried to look on the bright side of things. "Well," she didn't want Miroku and Inuyasha to be upset, "look at the positive. Miroku won't get sucked into some other bizarre world and and" she snapped her fingers, "Sango, does this mean your brother will be back to normal?"

Sango's face brightened a little, "Yeah, we need to find him."

"We could start looking around for him tomorrow."

"No." Kouga said suddenly, grabbing everyone's attention, "We can't."

"Why not?" Kagome rested her hands on her hips. She was still mad at him for the kiss.

"B-because of the demon." He didn't really know what else to say. He still needed them to follow him to the castle.

"Are you blind!" Miroku said, "Shippo already defeated the demon that had the jewel shard."

"That's right." Inuyasha said, "You can leave the group now. We don't need you around anymore." Inuyasha was satisfied thinking that Kouga's big part in helping the jewel was now over.

"I — I -" he didn't really know what to say.

Kagome, for some reason, started feeling bad for him. She assumed that it hurt his feelings to be thrown out like that. "He could stay with us for the night." She said "And leave in the morning."

Inuyasha looked at her. He was a little annoyed that he would be around Kouga a day longer then he had to be, but he hated telling Kagome no'. So he reluctantly nodded and mentally kicked himself for the power that Kagome had over him.

Once Kagome was sure that Inuyasha wouldn't change his mind she turned towards Shippo. "Good job Shippo. I'm proud of the way you fought that demon."

Shippo blushed and tried not to show how proud he was of himself, "Shhh Kagome, don't let it get to my head."

Everyone laughed.

xxx That Night xxx

Kouga took the only spot in the tree that Inuyasha wanted to sleep on, so he settled for the ground again. He leaned against the trunk of the tree and pulled Kagome into his lap. He wrapped his arms loosely around her and nuzzled her neck.

Kagome giggled. She loved that feeling. "Good night Inuyasha." She kissed his cheek then rested her head on his chest.

"Kagome, could I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Why are you always so nice to Kouga?"

Kagome thought about it for a few seconds, she needed to say this in just the right way, "Because, he reminds me of you."

Inuyasha was surprised, "How could he remind you of me. We're completely diffrent."

"No you're not. Kouga acts strong and powerful, but on the inside he's sweet. You're like that to, you've always been like that." Kagome finished talking then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Sango slept next to Miroku. He fell asleep before her, so she just watched him. His eyes moved a little under his lids and she wondered what he was dreaming about. His steady breath was calming her and she slowly felt sleep creep upon her.

Everyone enjoyed the quiet and warm night. It was easy to fall asleep and they couldn't sense any danger around them. Kagome would have almost had an uninterrupted night of sleep until she hear the voice in her head. Kagome, Kagome.

Her head shot up. This time when she heard the voice, it wasn't just in her head. The sound of the voice seemed to vibrate through her bones. She needed to follow it. Something in her body just needed to follow it.

She moved slowly, not wanting to wake up Inuyasha, and quietly left the campsite, not having any idea where her feet were taking her.

[I was going to end it there, but I did promise all of you a long chapter]

Nobody noticed Kagome had gone until Inuyasha woke up. He opened his eyes when he noticed that Kagome's warm body wasn't near him anymore. Normally he wouldn't have made such a big deal, but her scent was almost gone.

His first thought was instantly Kouga.

Kouga had already woken up and was walking around camp. Inuyasha grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him into the tree. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo didn't really know what to do.

"What the fuck did you do with Kagome!" He yelled. That was when everyone noticed that she was gone.

Kouga looked around the camp and tried to act surprised, but Inuyasha wasn't fooled. "Where is she!" he yelled even louder.

"Calm down mutt boy, I don't know!"

"You're a liar, I can see it in your eyes." Inuyasha yelled. He released Kouga from his grip, but before the wolf demon had a chance to run away, Inuyasha punched him as hard as he could across the jaw.

"You bastard!" Kouga screamed. All the anger the two of them had been keeping inside the past few days was coming out now. Miroku and Sango didn't know what to do, so they grabbed Shippo and made sure that they were at least 20 feet away from them at all times.

"You took her somewhere in the middle of the night didn't you." Inuyasha snarled, his fangs showing.

"No."

Inuyasha growled, he knew that Kouga had something to do with Kagome's disappearance, but he didn't know what. "What happened to her then?"

"I don't know, maybe she realized how much of a loser you are and went back home."

Inuyasha ran towards Kouga and punched him in the stomach when he said that. Kouga was able to get a swing in and hit Inuyasha's head, but it didn't seem to effect him that much. He was too angry with Kouga to feel pain.

"Tell me where the fuck she is!" Inuyasha screamed.

Kouga didn't want to tell him about Kikyou and her castle, it wouldn't ruin the entire plan, so he just ran into the woods. He would hide in the woods until Kagome came back.

"Come back her you little bastard!" Inuyasha yelled. He started to follow Kouga, but Sango called him back.

"Don't you think we should try and find Kagome first." She said.

Inuyasha wanted to chase after Kouga, but knew that he needed to find Kagome. He sniffed the air. Her scent was faint, because she left in the middle of the night it was barely there, but he could still pick up her trail. "This way." He said, running in the direction Kagome went.

xxx Kikyou's Castle xxx

Kikyou smiled. She could feel Kagome coming closer and closer to her castle. It had finally worked. All the waiting and waiting, wondering the whole time if Kouga would be true to his word. And now she was coming.

She quickly made sure that she had all the herbs in order then started brewing the potion that she would make Kagome drink. Soon she thought happily Soon, the spell that I've been planing for so long will be set. Kagome's spell, the spell for Kagome will work.

xxx End of Chapter Nineteen xxx

Thanks for waiting so long for this chapter. I had so much fun on my vacation, I also go a bunch a new ideas. I think my trip cured my writers block (knocks on wood.)

I would like to have umm 9 reviews.

P.S. I completely forgot the name of Sango's brother, could one of you guys let me know. Thanks.

Lots of love Daydreamer62386 : )