You have all been so patient and good these past few weeks…here is a little more. It feels good to be writing again.

Chapter 29

Inwardly he was growling, Kagome could tell. He reached for her hand to help her to her feet, a scowl pasted on his face. As soon as she was on her feet, he grabbed her backpack and stormed off ahead of everyone grumbling something incoherent beneath his breath. Apparently, a couple of their companions had the ability to make out the words, because both Yuka and Shippo snickered as he walked away.

Kagome just shook her head when about 30 feet away he turned around and yelled, "I thought we were leaving. We're never gonna get there if you are all standing around. Put one foot in front of the other and move your feet!"

"Where are we heading?" Kagome turned to Shippo, since he seemed to be the only one who had been given any information on where they were headed and what they needed to do.

The young looking kitsune turned and eyed the hanyou, before answering. "Getting out of Tokyo, for one. We are going to catch the subway out of town, we can proceed by foot from there, just like we used to."

Kagome picked her bow and quiver off the ground as she looked at Inuyasha with doubt, "Can he handle the subway? Won't it be a little too loud and crowded for him?"

Shippo smirked at the thought, "He's gonna hate it, but he'll do it."

Kagome rolled her eyes as she watched the black haired hanyou turn around and glare at them all again. "Inuyasha, heel." She said before he could open his mouth and yell at them all again. The spell dragged him back to her feet, "We're headed the other direction. Let's go." She reached down, pulled him to his feet, and motioned for everyone to follow them.

He growled in annoyance at her, "You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I didn't want to argue with you about getting back here."

"Where the hell are we going anyway?"

"Getting out of Tokyo, I am not sure where we are supposed to be going from there." She sighed, looking around the crowded street. The subway station was just ahead a block. "You aren't going to like this thing, Inuyasha. There is going to be a bunch of people together in a small place and it will be difficult to move around. It is pretty noisy too. I promise we won't be on there longer than we need to be, okay?"

"Feh, whatever wench. Don't worry about me." His pace picked up, leaving her behind him again.

Kagome sighed, watching him take off on his own again. Shippo and Makoto stepped up on either side of her. "This is going to be hard for him." She said to the kitsune.

Shippo smiled, his green eyes twinkling with mischief. "He'll learn, or die trying. It's Inuyasha, he never gives up."

"He just needs time to adjust to everything." Makoto said, slinging an arm over her shoulders and giving her a slight hug.

"Yeah; give him time, Kagome. He will adjust soon enough." Shippo wrapped an arm around her waist, and grinned.

Kagome looked at both of them darkly, pushing them away. "You two are incorrigible!" She glanced at the possessive hanyou, who had missed the entire encounter. "Inuyasha, that is it right there. Wait right there for us, we need to get tickets." Amazingly, the hanyou obeyed the command, leaning his frame against the railing leading beneath the ground. Kagome couldn't help but notice how her heart practically skipped a beat as she watched him. The usual scowl pasted on his face with his arms crossed defensively, a sight she had admired from him for a long time.

She hadn't even realized she had stopped walking until she felt two pairs of hands on her back, pushing her from behind. Girlish giggling followed the pushing; snapping Kagome out of whatever daydream she would have began about Inuyasha. "Snap out of it Kagome! You can admire your eye candy whenever you want." Yuka teased from her place behind her.

"Yeah, you'll have plenty of time to eye him once we get settled onto the train out of here." Shinju laughed, as they walked down the stairs after the boys.

"I can't help it. I have never seen him do that in human form. It was just too cute. I have seen him do that a million times looking hanyou."

"Don't let him hear you call him, cute." Shinju laughed as they reached the bottom of the stairs. All three girls looked around for the location of the boys, finding them purchasing tickets at the counter already.

Shippo handed each one of them a ticket before walking back over to where the girls stood waiting. "What took you so long?" He demanded.

Shinju and Yuka laughed, making Kagome turn crimson from embarrassment. "Kagome-chan was busy for a moment." Yuka managed to bite out between laughs.

Kagome nudged her friend in the stomach, making her laugh even harder. "Forget it, Shippo. When does the train arrive?"

"We got lucky; one is here in five minutes that will take us right where we need to go. No switching trains or anything."

Kagome nodded, thankful for that. It would be hard enough with Inuyasha without having to switch trains to get where they were headed. She headed over to where Inuyasha was standing with Makoto. "How are you doing?" She asked, looking him over carefully.

He smirked, "Feh, you were right. This place is loud and it stinks really badly."

"The people aren't bothering you?"

"No, why would they?"

She shrugged, "We are going to be stuck with a bunch of these people in a small space, is all. It may not be the most comfortable thing for you."

He nodded, "I'll be fine. It's just the noise that bothers me."

"Here." Yuka interrupted. "These may help." she held up a pair of disposable earplugs to the hanyou. "They should block out some of the background noise and make you more comfortable. I carry a bunch of these wherever I go. You just never know when the youkai hearing will cause you problems." She dropped the package into his awaiting hands.

Inuyasha nodded, slowly opening the package. "Thanks, Yuka." Kagome said as she turned to instruct the hanyou on how to insert them. He visibly relaxed when the effect of the items took over him.

About 15 minutes later, they were all settled onto the subway train, and on their way out of town. Inuyasha sat in a dazed silence next to Kagome, staring out the window in front of him. "Earth to Inuyasha." she said quietly, waving a hand in front of his face.

He shook his head before focusing on her. "This place is weird, Kagome."

"Why?"

"Those lights on the walls, I can't stop looking at them. Not to mention we are underground and riding this thing." He shrugged, glancing outside again. "I just think it is weird is all."

She smiled and leaned on his shoulder, cuddling up to him. "You amaze me at how well you are adapting to all this new stuff. I wasn't sure how you would handle all of it."

He shrugged, "Once is fine, but this place stinks of too many people. I can't stand it."

"We're almost there, Inuyasha. Shippo said we would walk from there. No more strange contraptions to get used to for a while." She smiled at him when his violet eyes caught her chocolate gaze. "We just have to get used to the strange companions."

He grinned in response, as Shippo turned around in the seat in front of them. "Strange companions? You have known me forever."

"Feh," Inuyasha snorted, "You were seven back then. Who knows if you can even help us fight?"

"Hey! Kagome! Inuyasha is picking on me again." Shippo whined.

She leaned forward and pushed his head back down into the seat, "You aren't seven anymore, Shippo. If you can't take Inuyasha, don't come running to me." Inuyasha smirked next to her, until her elbow hit him in his ribs. "Don't tease him." She growled as he grunted in shock from the jab.

They all sat in companionable silence for the remainder of the trip. Upon arriving, Kagome realized they had ended up far on the outskirts of Tokyo, far away from any civilized town. Breathing a sigh of relief, they headed off the train and out into the open air. Having left after dinnertime, the trip took several hours making it late. They went about finding a place to camp out for the night. Everyone followed Shippo, as he was the only one who knew exactly where they were going, and why.

About a mile down the road, they found a private clearing that would work well for their needs for the evening. Kagome sighed, rolling out her bedroll between Yuka and Shinju and directly below the tree Inuyasha had claimed. "I am exhausted tonight. I feel like I haven't done this in forever, but for me it has only been about a week." She reached her arms in the air, stretching her back before dropping into her bedding like a rock. "Ah…I never thought I would be doing this again. Camping out in the middle of nowhere."

Hearing her words, Inuyasha got to wondering about the plans for this trip. He didn't like the feeling that he was being left in the dark about a few things in the plan. He had no idea where they were going, or exactly why. "Oi, Shippo. Where are we headed in the morning?"

The kitsune turned green, Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at him, wondering why he knew he wouldn't like what the kit had to say. "Well…the thing is…"

"You don't know, do you?" Shinju interrupted a disbelieving look on her face as a brow lifted in shock.

"Shippo, you don't mean to tell us you don't even have a plan prepared to get us there?" Makoto buried his face in his hands, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"That's not true!" Shippo cried, in attempt to defend himself. "I do so have a plan."

"Really?" Inuyasha growled, leaping out of the tree as he advanced toward the kitsune. "Enlighten us then, what exactly is this plan?"

Shippo looked ready to take off running in the opposite direction of the advancing hanyou. His feet took a step away from Inuyasha with every step the hanyou took towards him. "Well, it's a little complicated."

"You don't need to sleep, we have all night." Inuyasha growled, his violet eyes flashing. "Start explaining, runt."

Shippo's green eyes shot to the ground, unable to look the hanyou in the eyes. He already knew what his reaction would be. "I figured we would just walk around."

"That is your big plan? For us to walk around aimlessly, you fucking moron!" Inuyasha yelled at the kitsune. "You had better plans when you were a kid. I can't fucking believe this shit."

"Come on it isn't that bad. Sooner or later they will come after the Shikon-" Shippo halted mid-sentence, knowing he had opened his big mouth again. He wasn't supposed to tell Inuyasha the plans; that had been his agreement with Sesshoumaru.

"What?" the hanyou whispered in dead silence. Anger seethed through him, visible to the naked eye. Kagome approached him, placing a hand softly on his arm, in attempt to calm him down. "You fucking plan on using Kagome as bait, that's it isn't it? You lied straight to our faces and said that there were no more miko's left. You needed a miko, and Kagome was the only one left. You didn't need a miko, you fucking needed Kagome."

"I didn't lie, it's the truth. It's the easiest thing to do; besides we do need Kagome, and you." Shippo defended himself, watching the hanyou's eyes switching between violet and gold. He realized that Inuyasha was pissed beyond belief; since he still wore the concealment necklace he had been given. "We don't know where to find this guy yet, that is the problem. He's going to come after the jewel no matter where Kagome is. It is just easier to have her here where we can all watch her."

"I am not risking losing her again, I told you that before."

"She will be safe; they are after the jewel, not Kagome."

"We aren't doing this Shippo. Come morning, Kagome and I are going home. I can protect her at the shrine just fine." Inuyasha stormed off, dragging Kagome with him into the tree.

The remaining companions stood in shock from the confrontation they had witnessed in front of them. They each agreed with Shippo that this was the best plan they had, getting them to come after Kagome. They understood why Inuyasha was upset about it; it placed her in great danger.

"Kagome will talk him out of it." Yuka said softly, staring at her friend's empty bedroll on the ground. She knew the schoolgirl would most likely not be using it that evening. "She knows we need him with us too."

"I hope so, Yuka. I really hope so. We are counting on her tonight." Makoto sighed, placing a hand on the curve of her behind.

"Makoto!" She growled, making him jump away from her. "You forget I am a youkai and could tear you apart, limb by limb."

"I'm sorry. I think this hand just has a mind of it's own." He turned to walk over to his bedroll, only to notice that it was no longer there. "Hey, where did my bedroll go?"

"I moved it a SAFE distance away." Shinju said with a laugh, pointing over by Shippo. Makoto slowly walked over to his place on the ground, wishing he wasn't sleeping so far away from the sleeping girls.

Inuyasha had his arms wrapped around Kagome, growling softly but possessively. She was sitting on his lap, her cheek pressed to his chest. It was a position that felt a little too intimate for her to get too comfortable in right now, her legs wrapped around his hips. "It's alright. I want to stay here, Inuyasha."

"No."

"Inuyasha, I really want to help them. I will be safe, I promise."

"Kagome, I'm not letting you endanger yourself like that. I am not going to lose you again."

She pulled back to look him in the face, "You aren't going to lose me, Inuyasha. You will be there to protect me. You won't let me come to harm." She leaned up and gently kissed his lips. "This is what we are supposed to do. I trust you to keep me safe, you always do. This isn't too different than when we used to wonder around searching for rumors of the shikon shards. We will be fine."

He growled, yanking her back into his chest. "Fine, wench. I just don't trust any of these people yet is all."

"You don't trust anyone," she laughed.

"Feh, that's not true." He bit out, annoyance in his voice.

"I know…"She said, with a yawn as she snuggled in closer to his chest. "I trust you too."