I think I finally got a good story that got people's interest, unlike that piece of crap Night Of The Red Moon.

First to those on Thanks to the first two reviewers that I got for this story who is all I got reviews from at this point. Thanks you to Moon Alchemist for putting I Need To Know on your story alert and on your favorites. Thanks to animeluvr8 for putting this story on your story alert.

All I can say to the other site is thanks to those twenty-four people who bothered to read the story but not review it.

I Need To Know

I saw Inuyasha go ahead of me. I don't know what he was so angry about. Inuyasha was just chewing me out and I told him I didn't want to hear it. He did look hurt before he started off but why would he. I mean, he was just yelling at me.

Wasn't he? Just another thing to worry about. I don't know why, but for some reason I just became really, really sad.

Great, now I feel depressed.

I thought it was odd that Shippo hadn't come to meet me yet. The fox demon usually always detects my scent and finds me. Something weird is going on: Inuyasha was acting strange, Shippo hasn't come to meet me, I'm feeling depressed, and damn it my neck itches! It was just turning out to be a cruddy day.

When I finally got back everyone seemed all ready to go.

"Let's go." Inuyasha snarled and started on his own way. He still looked upset and angry at me.

I looked at Sango and Miroku but they looked just as angry as Inuyasha. They moved away from me and followed him. Why was everyone acting this way? What did I do?

I caught up to them and they gave me a mean glare. What the hell was going on here!

"Sango, Miroku, what's going on? Why are all of you being like this?" I asked, confused.

Sango ignored me completely, not even bothering to turn me way. Shippo and Kirara just turned their heads away from me giving the cold shoulder. Fortunately, Miroku had the decency to look at me and he let out a big breath.

"Kagome, we…" Miroku was cut short when Sango elbowed him in the abdomen and raised her eyebrows at him. "Let me tell her."

Sango shook her head in a disapproving way and walked ahead with Shippo and Kirara. I looked to Miroku very puzzled.

"Now what's the deal Miroku?" I inquired very desperately. He was silent for a moment trying to put together the words.

"Right before you came back to camp, Kagome, Inuyasha arrived with a devastated look on his face. We asked him about, he became very aggravated, and he said to ask you." Miroku took a breath signaling he was almost done. "Now, what goes on between you two is none of my business, but I'll be damned if he wasn't crying."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Inuyasha was crying?

"If you don't mind me asking… what went on between you two?" Miroku asked not lecherously, but as a friend.

I wasn't about to tell him everything. "I don't know what I could have done. I didn't really talk to him today before I went back to my time today. When I crawled out of the well he immediately started to yell at me so I blocked him out, and then I told him I didn't want to hear it. Come to think of it, he did look very hurt before he went ahead of me."

"I think you need to talk to Inuyasha. It would do us all some good." Miroku advised me.

I nodded back at him. I knew had to do that but it's hard looking forward to having to do that. I took a deep breath a moved forward towards Inuyasha. When I passed Sango, Shippo, and Kirara I felt their eyes glaring daggers into my back.

Inuyasha sped up in his pace when he heard me coming towards him. I must have really hurt him, but I have to talk to him. It took me a minute but I was able to catch up with him.

"Inuyasha," I started. "What's the matter?"

The half-demon just 'humpf'ed and turned his eyes away from me. I saw his eyes before he turned away and they were red a puffy. He really had been crying.

"Please, Inuyasha, tell me what I did."

Inuyasha stopped where he was started laughing an unnerving laugh.

"What you did? WHAT YOU DID?" Inuyasha hollered at me.

That really scared me. For some reason, I started feeling real upset.

"Inu…Inuyasha." I choked out as I felt the familiar burn of tears in my ears. The tears started streaming down my cheeks so I lowered my head, not wanting Inuyasha to see me like this.

"Let's make camp. It's starting to get dark." I heard Inuyasha say. The sound of footsteps reached my ears as Sango and Miroku started to follow Inuyasha.

I tried to stop crying but I just felt so miserable.

"I don't know what to do." I said to myself.

I made my way towards the campsite. I took a seat across from everyone else. They looked away, and I was glad they did. I don't want them to see my cry like this.

"Kagome."

I wiped my eyes on my sleeve to get the tears off my face and looked up to see who had called me out. It was Inuyasha.

"Come over here." Inuyasha continued and walked farther from the camp.

I got up and followed him. Inuyasha was standing in the middle of some trees looking up at the sky. When I finally got to him he turned his stare to me.

"Kagome, I…" Inuyasha stuttered. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry, Kagome." Inuyasha repeated.

I didn't believe what I was hearing. Did he really just say what I think he said? It was just so out of his character.

"I didn't mean to yell at you like that. Just what after earlier today…" Inuyasha trailed off the sentence. "Do you forgive me?"

"Of course, Inuyasha!" I responded right away. He became more relaxed a small smile came across his have for a second. That made me happy, too. It was like someone took a load of weight off my shoulders.

"Thanks, Kagome." Inuyasha replied.

Inuyasha walked past me back to the camp but no without kissing me on the cheek on his way. I just stood there with a hand on my cheek watching Inuyasha head back to the camp.

I felt a lot happier now.

"Maybe this isn't such a crappy day after all."

We all woke early the next morning and needless to say the mood in the group was much better than yesterday. Everything was back to normal: Inuyasha was messing with Shippo, Miroku was up to his perverted ways, and Sango was finally talking to me.

"So why was Inuyasha mad at you yesterday?" Sango asked me, making sure she was talking quiet enough so Inuyasha couldn't hear her.

"I'm not really sure but it doesn't matter now." Was all the answer I could give her. It was all that I knew as well.

"I guess not, but I sure hope it doesn't happen again. It's kind of eerie seeing Inuyasha crying. It goes against everything that we know about him." Sango shuddered for a second and we both got a laugh out of that.

I saw Inuyasha's ear twitch and I motioned to Sango to be quiet but it just made us laugh more.

"Hey, shut up back there." Inuyasha warned us. We quieted down.

After a while we started to talk again but our conversation ended when we heard a blood-curdling scream.

"It's coming from that way. Let's go" Inuyasha announced and started running.

Way to forget me, Inuyasha. I thought as I got onto Kirara's back with Sango.

We started following Inuyasha and Miroku and caught up to them pretty soon.

When the screams started becoming more abundant we picked up the pace and we came to a small village. In the middle of the village stood a large pink balloon thing like what Shippo turned in to.

"I am the Great Usotsuki" The balloon thing roared.

"Hey! I know him!" Shippo suddenly chirped. The fox child shot off of Kirara and ran to the demon. "Hey, Usotsuki, it's me, Shippo!"

"Shippo?" Usotsuki repeated before disappearing into a cloud. "It is you."

When the cloud disappeared a small fox demon sat there. He almost just like Shippo except his nose was more pointed and his hair was an odd green color.

"Great Usotsuki, huh?" Inuyasha gritted through his claws as he stepped on Usotsuki's head. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Forgive me if a fellow wants to have a little fun." Usotsuki answered with a mischievous grin on his face. "But I guess I could do this instead."

The fox demon moved out from under his foot causing his foot to land on the ground. Usotsuki then took a small statue and set it on Inuyasha foot where it grew fifteen times it size.

"Damn it! It's happening again!" Inuyasha protested loudly trying to pick the figure from off his foot. "Not again."

"Serves you right!" Shippo laughed and pointed at Inuyasha.

"You wouldn't be so brave if I wasn't stuck like this!" Inuyasha growled.

I stepped forward and kneeled down in front of Usotsuki.

"Would you mind moving the statue from Inuyasha foot?" I asked politely. He blushed a little before looking away.

"Well, I…" Usotsuki stopped talking when his face lit up in realization. "He's Inuyasha?"

"Yes, he is." I smiled at him.

"Glad we got that cleared up. Now, if someone could get off their lazy fox ass and help me!" Inuyasha screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Of course." Usotsuki replied before picking up the figurine like it was the lightest thing in the world and then it shrunk to a small, hand-held size where he then stuck it into a pocket.

"Now, you little…" Inuyasha started but I wouldn't want him to screw around and get another stature on his foot so I decided to do something about it.

"Sit." I mumbled causing Inuyasha to crash into the ground with intensity.

Inuyasha began to moan very quietly in the hole. He obviously was getting sick of the rosary.

"Yes, your definitely who the priestess was talking about!" Usotsuki clapped his hands back and forth happily.

"Oh, is that so." Inuyasha said as he got up. His wanting to kill Usotsuki seemed to have passed on so I decided not to 'sit' him again. "I'm so happy that my popularity had spread to these regions but I'm really not dedicated to my fans. Sorry to bust your bubble, kid."

"No, please, the priestess told me to look out for you so that you would visit her." The fox demon groaned. "Please, I don't want to get out on bad terms with the priestess. She has this weird scent like she's dead and it scares me."

Inuyasha's ears perked up. "What did you say?"

"Inuyasha, do you think it's Kikyo?" I asked him.

"Lead the way." Inuyasha demanded of Usotsuki, his tone changing. "Come on, Kagome."

"But what about…?" I begin to say as I turn towards Sango and Miroku. I didn't believe my eyes. They were actually sitting there drinking tea with Kirara curled up in Sango's lap sleeping. "I'm coming." It's their own fault if they get left behind, they should have been paying attention.

I followed Inuyasha and Usotsuki through the village until we came in eyeshot of a shrine.

"Inuyasha, do you smell anything? Is it Kikyo?"

"Yeah, it is." Inuyasha replied not looking at me.

This is going to be very awkward.

"Do you think we should have followed them, Miroku?"

"No, I don't Sango. I think this will work out better if we weren't there."

"I don't know why you didn't let me go. I wanted to see Usotsuki."

"Shippo, we need to give Inuyasha and Kagome time to themselves."

"What do you mean, Miroku? Last time, Kagome went home for almost a whole week!"

"Just trust us, Shippo, and if Kikyo is there…it would just be better for us to stay here."

"I guess it's about time to find the lingering evil presence over the largest home in the village."

"Probably. Let's go."

I looked up at the shrine as I stood on the steps. Usotsuki had led us and seemed scared to go farther.

"Don't worry, Usotsuki. We'll tell her it was you that brought us here." I assured the child. He smiled back at me, let out a 'thank you', and then left us humming a happy tone.

I waited for Inuyasha to move up the stairs before I did. Inuyasha had this weird look on his face and I wondered why he was acting strange. We opened the doors to reveal a small shrine of a religious figure I didn't recognize with a monk kneeling before it.

"I bet you're looking for Lady Kikyo." The monk said to us without looking at us. "I'm sorry to break it to you but she's not here right now. You're welcomed to stay here if you wish."

Inuyasha right away sat down next to the wall. "I guess we will be staying."

"Stay as long as you like. When it gets dark you're welcomed to sleep in the back on a futon. We always have room for travelers."

"Thank you, sir." I bowed in praying and then left without saying a word. I was stuck there in the uneasy silence that made me feel uncomfortable.

We must have sat there for hours because the sun had set it had gotten dark already. I yawned, stretching out my arms and scratching my neck. Inuyasha had opened his eyes when he heard me moving around.

"You're tired, Kagome, get some rest." Inuyasha recommended to me. I was going to argue that I wasn't tired but when I yawned again I figured I would have looked stupid.

"Okay, Inuyasha." With saying that I moved toward the back room that the monk had talked about earlier. Inuyasha followed me into the back room.

"I didn't think you'd want to be alone." Inuyasha answered me before I could ask.

I lied down on the futon which seemed much more comfortable than the ground that I usually slept on in this era. The fact that I knew Inuyasha was watching me made me feel safe so I quickly gave into sleep.

I could hear a woodpecker pecking at a tree. The loud drone of the noise left me no other choice than to get up.

Something's not right here. I noticed the odd feeling I was getting so I looked for Inuyasha. He's not here.

I took a minute to try to think of a reasonable explanation to why Inuyasha would leave me here alone. I couldn't think of anything until I remembered why we here in the first place.

Kikyo.

I sat up right away and ran for the door.

Inuyasha, how could you.

Once I was out of the shrine I tried to figure out which way to go. I had this feeling coming from somewhere in the forest so I followed my feeling.

I navigated through the trees until I reached a spiritual barrier. She didn't think this was going to stop me, did she?

I just went right through the barrier and continued toward the feeling I was getting. I began seeing Kikyo's soul stealers which only confirmed I was going the right way.

When the feeling went away, I looked around and saw Inuyasha and Kikyo in a clearing not far from me. I used a tree to hind behind knowing Inuyasha could smell me if he tried, but I figured he was too distracted.

"Inuyasha, it is your destiny." Kikyo's voice rang through the air. "Come with me to hell."

"Kikyo…" Inuyasha said with a tone I couldn't tell the emotion behind it. "I had promised you I would go with you…"

I peeked around the tree and saw Inuyasha with a teary-eyed expression.

Oh my God…he's going to go with her? After everything we've been through, after all the battles, and after last night he's just going to go with her! That two-timing bastard! What am I to him? Am I just some shard detector?

I can't handle anymore of this. I started running back to the shrine. I knew I had already started crying but that didn't stop me from running.

"Kagome!" I heard Inuyasha's voice call out from behind me. He heard me running. It didn't surprise me.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice came out from in the trees, but this time it was closer. Oh God, he's following me.

I tried to run faster but stopped right in my tracks when I saw Inuyasha land in front of me. His amber eyes looked at me with that expression he was looking at Kikyo with a moment ago.

"Kagome…" Inuyasha breathed out. He took a step towards me. And another. He was coming closer. He came until he was right in front of me. "Kagome, I…"

"Shut up, Inuyasha! I don't want to hear it!" I shouted at him. I couldn't believe him. He had just said he was going to go to hell with Kikyo and now he was standing before me with that look. "Go back to Kikyo and go to hell with her!"

Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.

"Kagome, listen to me…" Inuyasha began but I started to shout at him again.

"No, you listen to me. I have had enough of this! Every time you go back to that dead bitch and just leave me! How can you do that you…you…" I couldn't finish my sentence had put a finger against my lips to silence me but I moved his finger aside.

"Kagome, you didn't hear everything."

"Maybe not, but I heard enough."

Inuyasha eyes began to tear as well. Oh great, now Inuyasha was crying.

"Please, Inuyasha, tell me it wasn't just some one night stand! Please, Inuyasha…I need to know…"

Inuyasha caught me in an embrace.

"Kagome, please let me explain. I never planned to go to hell with Kikyo. I wanted to talk to her tonight to tell her that." Inuyasha said into my ear. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Kagome, no, it wasn't just some one night stand. I'm not just some pervert who does that and ditches the girl. I did that because…I love you, Kagome."

I broke the embrace had me in.

"What?" Did Inuyasha really say he loved me.

"I love you, Kagome." Inuyasha declared. "And that bite on your neck. That is what is called a demon claim. Demons do that when they want someone to be their mate. Remember yesterday I asked you if it itched or hurt. If it hurt that mean you had declined the claim but since it itched I knew you had accepted my claim. Then yesterday when you told me you weren't in the mood, I was asking you if you wanted to be my mate and what you said really hurt me, but after I had yelled at you yesterday I realized you weren't listening to me and that's why I apologized."

I had so much information coming into my head at once.

"The bottom line is…" Inuyasha began his sentence and then went to a knee in front of me where he grabbed my hand.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing?"

"Kagome, will you be my mate?"

"Yes!"

"Kagome…" Inuyasha breathed out, getting back up to his vertical basis.

Before I knew it, I was stuck in a passionate kiss with Inuyasha.

After everything that had happened tonight…there was a happy ending.

The next few days had been the happiest of my life. That particular night that he proposed was especially memorable.

The next day, Inuyasha and I, announced to the rest of the group that we were mates. Sango squealed that she couldn't believe it, but Miroku and Shippo both had said 'About damn time.'

Of course, breaking the news to my mom had me more nervous than I had ever been but once I told her she became ecstatic. I had her tell grandpa and Souta who both replied with an 'About damn time.'

But the biggest news came a week later when Inuyasha told me I was pregnant. It was like a repeat last week where we told Sango and Miroku then my mom. Again, she was elated with the fact she was going to have a little, puppy-eared grandchild. I had never been redder when I had to break that news to everybody. Of course, just like I had thought, Miroku has never let us hear the end of that.

Since that fateful week, I gave birth to out little girl named Shinri. Also, the bite mark on my neck had turned into a blue tattoo of a waning crescent moon. Inuyasha explained that it changes into the demon's family crest when the female accepts the proposal of the male.

"Kagome…hello?" Inuyasha's voice snapped my out of my daydreaming.

"What do you need, Inuyasha?" I asked him.

"Me, nothing, but I think that Shinri is currently enjoying her self." Inuyasha smiled at me.

I turned my attention to the baby in his arms. I saw Shinri: black hair, matching dog ears, and all sleeping in his arms. I smiled, too. It was hard not to. Naraku has been destroyed, the Shikon jewel completed, and everything else was perfect as well.

I looked at Shinri sleeping and Inuyasha and I smiled again.

My family.

The End. I hate to say it but this is the end of this tale. Perhaps if this passes all my other stories in reviews then maybe there's hope, but I doubt that's going to happen. Anyway, I always sign my name at the end of a good story so...

Love and Peace,

Inu the Stampede