AUTHOR'S NOTES
Wow, almost thirty chapters already! And we have like forty-five reviews! La la la… I suppose I have run out of things to babble on about because I can't think of anything to say. Sorry the updates have been so slow. I bet I've lost all my fans now. :'( Hopefully you'll be so bored over summer break (if you still go to school and get summer vacation, that is) that you'll come back and read all that you've missed. And maybe Ravyn will write more of the fan fic. glares It's her freakin' turn yet she's so busy being caught up in a Harry Potter mood that she can't write more. Okay, so I've been in a Harry Potter mood lately too because of her but I still managed to write all my stuff! The third InuYasha movie, Swords of an Honorable Ruler, comes out in the US September 6th. I can't wait! And they're playing the fourth movie, Fire of the Mystic Island, in theaters in Japan right now. But I hear it's all about Kikyo/InuYasha. :P I say that Kikyo should actually die already and InuYasha get a life and move on. sighs The third one is about Sesshomaru and their daddy, which sounds so much more entertaining, don't you think:) Okay, you can read the fan fic now…

DISCLAIMER
All we own in this chapter is the plot, Sueko, Yoshiko, Hotaka, Katsumi, Tamika, and Keitaro. Oh, and Kane. Forgot about him. :P So no stealing any of those. However, everything else belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Sunrise, and Viz and all those other companies. There, are you happy now! Wait, now that Michelle Branch song is stuck in my head… But I don't know the actual title of the song and now it's bugging the hell outta me… and I'm too lazy to look on the CD… sigh Dammit! Maybe it is just "Are You Happy Now"… whatever, read fan fic! And reply! Sayonara!

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Our Darkest Secrets

She knew that this was all a dream; that she was really in some other dimension; that this was all some ploy by Hotaka. But like every other time before, Katsumi found herself thinking, "Screw it!" and going along with it. This time it started out after she and Kane had met. After she had already had Yoshiko. In fact, she was standing in her room rocking baby Yoshiko, humming quietly. Then she knew somebody was standing in the doorway behind her, but she couldn't tell whom it was. When she glanced over her shoulder, the first thing she saw was a dark figure. She gasped. But then it turned out to just be Kane.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," sighed Katsumi, turning toward her husband with a smile.

"Sorry," he said quite seriously. "Did I scare you?"

"Of course not!" laughed Katsumi sarcastically. "But seriously, my first instinct would have been to drop the child and protect myself!"

A small smile played across Kane's face as he wrapped his hands around her waist.

"Don't insult the woman I love," he said playingly. "You have a mother's instinct. You would have protected the baby if I had been anything dangerous."

"I hope you're right," muttered Katsumi, setting the baby down and following Kane out of the room.

As she did so it seemed as if the scene around her evaporated and slowly turned to another. It was the one thing that could convince her that it wasn't reality. Besides the fact that she knew Kane was dead. Speaking of which… It turned out the next scene was going to take place in a forest, probably about ten years after the first one. Then again, it wasn't like she kept track of time. She was a demon that was going to die eventually and there was no point in counting down until that time came. But she recognized which scene this was. It was, in fact, one of Hotaka's favorites. Usually it took a while to get to this time but it seemed today he was impatient. Or had other things to preoccupy him so didn't seem like he wanted to "play" with her that much.

She sighed and decided to go along with it. Taking a few tentative steps, the thoughts of what was going to happen next came flooding to her. Again. She was going to watch Kane die right in front of her very eyes again. It was more than she could bear thinking about. As she tried one more step she gave up, dissolving in tears, dropping to her knees and just crying. Hoping that by this Hotaka would figure he had finally broken her and finally be satisfied, she didn't try and stop herself. Still when there was no change of scenery she thought maybe Hotaka had forgotten about her.

That was until he showed up. Through her tears and swollen eyes she saw a pair of feet in front of her stop. Slowly she looked up, wondering whom it was that had wandered across her. When she finally could see his face she gasped and tried to get to her feet. That was when the pain in her ribs seemed to come back, stealing her breath away and causing her to stay on the ground, doubled over in pain. She heard the man smirk and knew it couldn't be who it looked like. Kane never would have laughed at her pain.

"You… bastard…" Katsumi gasped in her pain.

"How dare you insult the man you love!" cried Hotaka in mock horror. "You pathetic fool, thinking I would just simple forget about you. Because, you see, this time it's not just you but your daughter as well."

Katsumi's eyes went wide as she realized what he meant and she hoped that wherever Yoshiko was… she could take care of herself.

'She's Kane's daughter,' thought Katsumi. 'She'll be fine…'

It was quite infuriating to have a hold of somebody one second and to suddenly… not. Come on! She was holding onto Katsumi's arm. Tightly. How could she suddenly be in some dark cave without Katsumi? Yoshiko sighed, figuring this was Hotaka's idea of having fun. It was sick. Okay, maybe if she was evil she might find this fun. But from this side of things it was so not fun.

The cave was nothing special really. In fact, it didn't really look like much of a cave. The walls were dark and slimy looking but far too flat to be made out of rocks. Yoshiko looked around, trying to get her bearings, but even her extraordinary eyesight could barely see a thing. In fact, you could hardly tell there was even a ceiling. Again she sighed, searching for a way out of here. But when none opened up for her she decided to feel the walls for one. She had felt her way around three of the walls when she finally found something: something round and smooth coming out of the wall. As soon as she touched it she felt it turn and a door swung outwards. It wasn't anything Yoshiko had seen before. But she was sure Hotaka had been to more places and seen more things than she ever would.

Taking a deep breath Yoshiko stepped out through the door. In the center of the next room was a great pillar of purple light. She tried to see where it was going but it was so bright she had to turn her eyes away. Noticing other door handles like the one she had just found she rushed to the next door over and wrenched it open. Not that it was necessary. The door was already opening as soon as she touched the door handle. Cautiously she took a step inside but it was no good. The door slammed shut behind her. Another purple column of light was inside this room, but it wasn't as bright. This one was darker and if she listened closely, Yoshiko thought she heard voices. When she stepped closer she saw there was a person hanging in it.

"Katsumi?" cried Yoshiko, more in surprise than worry.

She reached out a hand to grab the tiger demon but the purple pillar deflected her hand. At the same time tendrils of black smoke reached out to grab her. Yoshiko quickly stepped away, taking a deep breath, and trying to figure out a different approach. There really seemed no reason but she wanted to save this woman. When she probably should be out there looking for her other friends, a way to get out or Hotaka she wanted to save a woman that had abandoned her as a child. Leaving her father moody, depressed and broken hearted.

'Then again, it's not like I haven't done the same before,' thought Yoshiko, as she searched the room for something to get her out. Though this room was more brightly lit than her own she still saw little.

Sighing yet again, Yoshiko pulled out her dagger, twirling it needlessly and stepped closer to the pillar. When the dark smoke didn't try to engulf her she went closer… and then closer again. Finally she was standing right in front of the woman. Yoshiko saw Katsumi's mouth moving as if she was muttering to somebody. When her mouth stopped moving Yoshiko heard another voice answer. But they were so muffled she couldn't hear what was being said. So ignoring the sounds she touched the end of her dagger against the purple light.

At first nothing happened. But slowly Yoshiko was able to sink the blade in. Then she was cutting an opening and pulling Katsumi out. She had hoped that when the tiger demon had been pulled out she would wake from whatever dream she was in. But it didn't happen. Instead the woman started muttering more and more, tears starting to trail down her cheeks. Her eyes opened yet she wasn't looking at Yoshiko, she was looking past her. She looked over her shoulder and saw nobody.

"Katsumi?" Yoshiko said, unsure of what else to do. No change. "Katsumi!" This time she started to shake the woman.

When still nothing happened besides yet even more muttering Yoshiko started to get desperate. She recalled a time when her stepmother had a very bad cold and spent half the time talking to people who weren't really there. Since her father was away Yoshiko had to take care of her. Actually, it was more of Godric that took of her but Yoshiko still attempted to help. But one night the woman woke up muttered nonstop though, it looked like she was still asleep. Yoshiko had wanted to go get the doctor but Godric said that if she did it would worry Father. So she watched as her little brother tried to calm his mother down. She wanted to do something but there really seemed like nothing to do.

An hour passed and no change came over her stepmother as she continued to babble at thin air. During that hour Yoshiko saw something she'd never really seen from her brother before: he was scared. She was about to rush in and attempt to save him from this newfound emotion when he started shaking his mother. At first what he muttered was incoherent. He was whispering sharply. Till finally it seemed he lost all thoughts and was yelling.

"Mommy? Stop it, Mommy! You're scaring me!"

Though most of the rest of the evening faded from her mind Yoshiko still recalled a little boy frightened because he thought he was going to lose his mother. For a few seconds she wondered if maybe Hotaka had some cause in her stepmother's death. But that thought was soon turned out as she tried to figure out what to do about Katsumi. Shaking her was doing very little. In fact, it seemed to make it worse. Not even yelling was doing much of any good. She wouldn't even respond to her own name. Finally Yoshiko tried something she had never done before.

"Mom… Mom?" she tried, quietly at first. But still Katsumi made no response, except more tears feel down her cheeks. "Damn it, Mom! Snap out of it!" Yoshiko snapped, slapping Katsumi on the cheek.

The woman looked to the side, blinking a couple of times. Her tears had stopped and her mouth closed slowly as she took a deep breath. One of her hands reached up to her red cheek as she slowly looked at Yoshiko. The half-demon was staring at Katsumi expectantly and her eyes went wide in surprise and relief. Their eyes finally locked and yet again tears feel down the tiger demon's face. But this time Yoshiko knew she was seeing her so she hugged her mother's head to her chest.

"I'm so sorry… I'm sorry…" muttered Katsumi through her tears. "I don't deserve a daughter like you."

Again Yoshiko found her own words reflected in her mother's. But before she could respond to anything she felt rather than saw the room go dark. All she could really see was her weeping mother and herself. Strangely enough their shadows were gray on the black ground. Slowly Yoshiko drew her mother and herself to their feet. A low laugh came from behind her. Katsumi quickly stood up straight, looking over Yoshiko's shoulder in fear.

"How touching," said an awfully familiar voice. Yoshiko's breath caught in her lungs as she felt herself go numb all over. "The family's all back together again!"

More laughing followed as she heard a sword being drawn from a sheath. But Yoshiko found she couldn't move. It was too much to take in. And it couldn't be real. This had to be another one of Hotaka's tricks. Before any of it could sink in she felt herself being shoved off to the side. A glint of a sword rushed past where she use to be and hit Katsumi in the chest. A sad smile was on her face as Yoshiko fell to the ground. She watched as Mother and Father stared at each other each smiling triumphantly but for different reasons. Yet Yoshiko still couldn't take in the fact that her father, of all people, had come back to life and was now standing with his sword through his wife's chest.

"You lose this round Hotaka," muttered Katsumi and realization finally hit Yoshiko over the head. She was acting like such a big child and all because she finally accepted her mother for what she was. "I still have somebody that loves me. You're little nightmare world no longer has a hold on me."

"So you believe you'll die in peace and go on to see Kane," laughed Hotaka and hearing her father's voice dripping with evil caused Yoshiko to shiver. "You're a bigger fool than I thought you were. I was aiming for you all along."

"You may be able to fool everybody else but I'm no longer falling for your tricks," said Katsumi, her voice starting to get weaker. "You were aiming for Yoshiko but killing me is no lost for you. There's no more fun in playing with me."

"Go to hell!" growled Hotaka, taking the sword out of the woman's chest. As soon as he did it disappeared.

"Not likely," came Katsumi's faint voice.

"Mom?" said Yoshiko, blinking, realizing she hadn't moved since she had fallen to the ground. Quickly she scrambled to her feet. "Mom!"

"Pathetic little girl," snapped Hotaka, turning on her. She shivered when she couldn't see his face but instead saw darkness. "Mommy isn't coming back."

"Damn you, Hotaka," hissed Yoshiko, shaking in her fury. "Damn you straight to hell."

"Been there, done that," sneered Hotaka, reaching up a hand to her forehead. Before Yoshiko could pull away he had pressed a black stone to her forehead. When that happened she felt herself stop moving almost completely. "And I'm afraid that's where you are!"

With that Yoshiko felt a strike of lightning pass through her body from where the black stone was touching her down to her feet. Before she could say a word she felt another dark portal open under her and she was falling again. This time there was nobody to catch her, nobody to hold on to. She was alone in this, a lot like she had been alone almost her entire life.

'Nobody's ever really been there for me…' thought Yoshiko as the outside world fade and she then seemed to fall inside herself.

Sesshomaru found it a little too familiar as he walked through the trees he had found himself in. Except last time he had been here he recalled InuYasha following him. If he stopped he heard nothing but the wind. He was definitely alone… But then why did he feel like he was being watched? As far as he could tell there was no other living being around. Yet twice now he had thought he'd saw something out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned to catch it in his full view it had disappeared. Finally he reached his destination. At least, he thought it was his destination. It appeared to be the exact location where Yoshiko had died. This time, however, he didn't see anybody when he stepped out into the clearing. He actually sighed in relief.

'This is stupid,' thought Sesshomaru. 'It can't be real so why am I acting like it is?'

For the fifth time he asked himself this and for the fifth time nobody answered. But suddenly he realized how very alone he was. There was no Rin, no Jaken… and definitely no Yoshiko. It really shouldn't have bothered him. Yet it was. Many times he had just wanted to leave them all somewhere and get away. Then without them he thought he actually… missed them. Strange, yet true. Then again so what if a simple imp, a mortal and a half-demon were gone. Why should he care?

"Looking for your friends," said a familiar voice. Sighing, Sesshomaru turned toward the source and put his hand on his sword's hilt. It was then that he noticed something else was missing as well: the Tokijin. "Because you really won't find them around here."

"Then maybe you won't mind telling me where they are," said Sesshomaru, surprised that he was going along with Hotaka's plan.

"I expected you to be the hardest to deal with," said the young boy, sitting in a tree. "Yet you haven't given me much trouble at all. Are you sick?"

"A demon can't get sick," growled Sesshomaru, trying to show he wasn't as weak as this kid was trying to make him out as.

"Oh, yes, I forgot," laughed Hotaka, jumping out of the tree. "But you see, spending forever in hell makes you forget a lot of things."

"If you have nothing better to say I'm leaving," said Sesshomaru, starting to turn away.

"Oh, but I do have something better to say," said Hotaka, coming closer to Sesshomaru. He didn't exactly like this kid closing the distance away so he turned to glare at Hotaka. He stopped. "You see, your little half-tiger friend is a big problem to me. She knows too much, you see, and Kamatari couldn't seem to kill her properly."

Sesshomaru's hand clenched on the hilt of the Tensaiga. The blade may not be able to cut but he could put on a show and make Hotaka think it was an actual sword. Then again, this boy seemed to know an awful lot about him as well. How did he know that Kamatari had killed Yoshiko? More importantly, why did it matter?

'Damn it, I don't like it,' thought Sesshomaru, glaring down at Hotaka. 'What is it that Yoshiko seems to know a whole lot about?'

"Now, I don't exactly blame Kamatari," Hotaka continued, a smirk starting to cross his face. "He just was a fool… a fool who miscalculated. One, he didn't really think a wench that looked like Yoshiko was going to stop you, did he?"

He paused as if he expected Sesshomaru to answer. But Sesshomaru didn't trust himself to answer so he didn't speak. Hotaka's smile widened and he went on.

"Two, who knew you would go to your little brother for advice," sighed Hotaka. "And to think he actually had good advice for you. A half-demon!"

Yet again he stopped, putting his hands on his hips and turning away from Sesshomaru slightly. Hotaka smiled and glanced at Sesshomaru out of the corner of his eye.

"But more importantly, that sword of yours… Well, I don't think I can allow you to keep it," stated Hotaka. "Can't have you bringing more people back from the dead. It just won't work."

What Sueko saw when she woke up was not what she had expected. She expected to go to some weird dimension that Hotaka had made up, or perhaps back where she had been with the others. But what she did see instead wasn't a bad thing…

"InuYasha?" muttered Sueko, blinking away the sleepiness that was somehow there. But when had she been asleep?

"Well, now you're up!" said InuYasha, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

Sueko looked around her. They were by a forest, but it seemed to be a different forest than before. The trees were different… and the way the slight breeze was hitting her face was odd somehow. She could see the others in the distance chatting and laughing. Except Shippo who had stolen her GameBoy…

Sueko noticed that she was lying on the ground and she sat up quickly, ignoring the lightheadedness she got afterwards.

"Was I really asleep?" asked Sueko, rubbing her head.

"Well, yeah," was InuYasha's answer. "You slept the whole freakin' day away!"

"I did? Oh…" said Sueko, putting her hand back down and blinking a few times. Was meeting Hotaka just something her wild imagination made up? She didn't think so, but didn't feel like arguing with InuYasha. Especially since they just got back together… sort of… um, they were back on speaking terms! Yeah! And she wouldn't want to mess that up…

Thinking of something to do because she found just sitting there staring at InuYasha rather lame, Sueko wandered over to where the others were. Apparently they were eating lunch. She sat next to Yoshiko, who made some remark about her sleeping in but none-of-the-less handed her some food: fish. Sueko could think of a million different foods better than fish but none of them were available here… Modern Day had way better food, and more of a selection!

But thinking of Modern Day made Sueko down on the dumps. How long had it been since she'd been there, going to school and goofing off with Tamika and Keitaro? It felt like months… perhaps it actually was months… Wait, she'd be bound to have to take some sort of exam by then. As much as she hated tests—or school overall, actually—Sueko knew that she probably should go back soon so she could actually catch up with her schoolwork. Either that or her dad would destroy the well in his attempts to drag her back to her time to go to school. Imagining her father doing just that made Sueko giggle slightly.

"What's so funny?" asked Yoshiko curiously before biting into her fish.

"Nothing…" mumbled Sueko, turning slightly pink. She opened her mouth to take a bite but stopped midway. "Um… Yoshiko?" she said timidly.

"What?" asked Yoshiko slowly, sounding a bit worried as to what Sueko wanted.

"Well… it's just that I haven't been home in a really-really-really long time and I was wondering if you could possibly let me go back for just a tiny whittle bit?" said Sueko really fast just to get it out of the way.

"What!" said Yoshiko, sounding overwhelmed.

"I need to go home. Will you let me go or not?"

Yoshiko sighed and closed her eyes, looking in serious thought. After a couple of minutes of this she sighed again and muttered, "I suppose…"

"Really!" cried Sueko, her face brightening and her eyes going wider than usual. She couldn't believe it was this easy…

When Yoshiko just nodded with her eyes closed yet again Sueko cried out and hugged Yoshiko while going, "Yes! Thank you! I promise I'll be back in a week! So don't be too sad! But thank you soooo much!"

"What are you babbling on about?" asked InuYasha boredly while nibbling on his fish. Which Sueko found a bit random because… well, when had he gone over here!

"Uh…" said Sueko, letting go of Yoshiko and trying to think of what to say.

"She wants to go home," said Yoshiko with another sigh.

"You said it was okay!" cried Sueko. "So be happy about it!"

"But I miss you already!" cried Yoshiko.

"It'll only be for a week!" cried Sueko.

"Why should you get to go along home, anyways?" snapped InuYasha.

Sueko sighed. "I have to… like, do homework and stuff. Catch up at school. I've been here for like two freakin' months! Maybe more, I don't feel like doing the math! Just let me go, please! I'll be really quick!"

InuYasha just glared at her. This made Sango sigh and say, "Just let Sueko go home, InuYasha. I think a week from Sueko will not kill you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" muttered InuYasha darkly.

"Nothing," said Sango sweetly. Then she turned to Sueko and asked, "When are you planning on going?"

"I should probably go like today or something… I have a lot of catching up to do, so the sooner the better," said Sueko.

"If you're not back in exactly seven days I'll push InuYasha down that well myself and make him get you back, you hear!" cried Yoshiko sternly.

"Okay, okay!" said Sueko, holding up her hands in the air sheepishly. "I got it!"

There was a five-minute period where no one else said anything and just ate. Then Sueko, being in an impatient mood, went, "So… am I going to leave or not?"

"You want to go home. So go home," said InuYasha simply. Perhaps he was trying to give her a bad time so she'd change her mind about leaving.

"But I don't know the way to the well!" cried Sueko. "If I went alone then I'd get lost and die or something! And I haven't seen my friends in a while and I miss them… Can somebody just take me home already?"

InuYasha was going to say something but was interrupted by Sango, who said, "Why don't you just take Kirara? She knows the way to the well."

"Is she going to, like, fly me there? Because I don't do well with flying…" said Sueko, turning a bit pink at the thought of her own fear.

"She doesn't have to fly you there," said Sango slowly, "but it would be a lot quicker if she did…"

It was then that Kirara, who had been sitting next to Shippo, quickly got up, yawned, and transformed into her bigger form, as though she could understand what Sango was saying. Sueko had always wondered if the cat was smarter than she thought it was…

"I guess I'm going then…" muttered Sueko.

"You'll be back in a week, you hear?" snapped Yoshiko sternly as Sueko was getting on Kirara.

"I know, I know!" cried Sueko boredly. "Don't kill me about it!"

The ride on Kirara was fairly uneventful. Actually, it was pretty boring… Sueko would have read a book or something to fix her boredom but she was afraid that if she started to read the book she'd fall of Kirara or something. This was way preferable to flying, but Sueko was still nervous about falling down. Having both feet on the ground is always the safe way to go. Less of a chance of getting hurt… unless you trip or something.

Once they got to the Bone Eater's well Sueko wasn't sure of what to do with the cat demon. Would she be able to find her way back to Sango and the others? But before she could think of it much she turned back to the large cat only to find that it was already well on its way back, so perhaps it would be alright on its own. Why should Sueko worry? There was nothing to worry about! Nothing at all! In a few moments she would be in her normal time frame and be back to everything she was used to. So why should she be filled with all these feelings of anxiety?

Sighing, Sueko climbed over the edge of the well and fell through, closing her eyes so the swirl of colors wouldn't give her a headache and trying to remember that the fall wouldn't hurt so the falling feeling shouldn't be so scary. But as she fell her feelings of anxiety and unsureness only grew. What in the hell was she so worried about!

Sueko closed the shrine door in Modern Day, wondering what she should do next; more like waiting for the worried feelings to go away. Then a sudden idea accord to her: if anyone could make her feel as though there wasn't anything to worry about at all, it was Tamika and Keitaro. And maybe she shouldn't go over to their apartment uninvited… but she had done it before and they hadn't minded! And that was in two in the morning… Two in the afternoon had to be alright for them! And they probably missed her just as much as she missed them—actually, they probably missed her more, seeing how Tamika reacts to her coming home…

She dug around in her over-filled book bag, hoping to find some money that just happened to be in there since the last time she was here—God knew she never cleaned her book bag! Or organized it, for that matter… Finding just the right change for the subway, she headed over towards the Hamasaki residents, planting a smile on her face and wishing those feelings of worriment to go way.

Sueko hesitated at the door… not that she knew why… she just felt nervous… What was up with these worried/anxious/nervous feelings? Was she PMSing or something! Because that'd sure explain a lot!

With a sigh and the shake of her head Sueko knocked on the door, ignoring any warnings coming from the back of her head and her gut.

It seemed to take forever for the door to finally be opened, but finally it was opened to reveal the familiar face of Tamika. Sueko almost sighed a sigh of relief until she noticed the frown on Tamika's face.

"Hi!" said Sueko. "Um… is something the matter?"

"It's just—" started Tamika, cutting herself off with a sigh.

Sueko tired to think of something to say but her thoughts were interrupted by a masculine voice going, "Who's at the door, Tamika?"

Keitaro? Surely he'd be able to explain what was wrong with Tamika!

The door was opened from the slight space Tamika was standing into being opened entirely as another person stood in the doorway. Surely enough it was Keitaro, looking grim and tired for some odd reason.

"Keitaro?" said Sueko questionly, but was interrupted by his sigh—apparently everyone was just sighing today!

"It's you," said Keitaro gruffly.

This didn't answer Sueko's question at all—in fact, all it did was confuse her even more—but she said anyways with a slight smile, "Well, of course it's me! Who else would I be?"

Keitaro sighed again, but at least Sueko got a bit out of it. It was clearly an irritated sigh as though something was annoying him… Was the thing that was irritating him… her?

"What?" said Sueko with a low voice and her eyes narrowing as if to say, "Tell me the truth!"

"Well… what?" was all Keitaro said, taking a step forward and saying it with a sly sort of attitude.

Now Sueko was just pissed. She tired to keep her voice down—she was in an apartment building, after all—but still managed to say in a shouting voice, "Keitaro, what the hell is going on!"

When Keitaro didn't say anything Tamika said in a timid voice, "Sueko, why are you here?" It was such a quiet voice and she sounded as though she was about to cry… It hurt Sueko's heart to hear it.

"Well… I came back…" said Sueko in almost the same timid voice as Tamika had, "from Feudal Japan… and, well, I wanted to say hi so… I came. Was I not supposed to?"

"It's just…" started Tamika, but Keitaro cut her off.

"You just leave unexpectantly and then randomly show up here!" snapped Keitaro. "You're gone for months on end without one word or one reason as to going back. Are we not good enough for you or something!"

"That's not it…" started Sueko. But she wasn't even able to explain the fact that she was a Shrine Protector and had a duty to uphold, for Keitaro interrupted her again.

"You've got to make a choice!" said Keitaro sternly with his arms crossed. "Us or Dog-Boy in Feudal Japan?"

"I—I—I don't know!" cried Sueko. "How am I supposed to make a decision like that? How am I supposed to choice between one group of friends and the other!"

"I don't know," said Keitaro with a shrug, "But I'm tired of waiting around for you, Sueko!"

She really didn't know what to say. What was there to say? What she did know was that she was tired of trying not to cry so, finally letting the tears fall down her face, she turned to Tamika and said roughly, "Well, what do you think of all this, Tamika?"

Tamika was looking down at the ground, one arm behind her back as she twirled a chunk of hair around with her finger. She bit her lip and with her eyes closed tightly said, "Just go away!"

But Sueko didn't want to leave. Not just yet, anyways… Couldn't she just close her eyes, open them and find out it was all a dream? Why couldn't Hotaka have been real and this have been only a dream? It wasn't fair! She just wanted to be back in Feudal Japan where Yoshiko could make her feel better but that'd mean loosing Tamika and Keitaro forever…

But if they were making her do something like this then were they worth losing Feudal Japan over?

Without another word Sueko turned around and ran. Just bolted out and left without another word… But even as the tears fell down her face something told her it was going to be alright. Like what she was feeling wasn't real…

What? Not… real?

Sueko was running but the apartment hallway seemed to disappear… the tears were still falling down her face but she couldn't recall why… And then suddenly she wasn't running anymore. Suddenly she was feeling her eyes flutter open—when had they been closed?—and seeing someone she least expected to see, and yet knew she'd meet…

"InuYasha?" said Sueko breathlessly—that's what she felt: breathless and lightheaded.

Despite InuYasha's relieved expression he said worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"I don't know…" said Sueko, sitting up. But nope, no weird injuries… not that she noticed while sitting up, that is. Then she asked because she was wondering, "Is this all Hotaka's doing?"

"I think so…" said InuYasha thoughtfully. Then he turned his head back around to Sueko and said, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Didn't I just say 'I don't know' the first time you asked this?" said Sueko with a laugh.

"But…" said InuYasha, hesitating before saying, "You're crying…"

Sueko put a hand to her cheek. So when she had been crying in the… "dream"… she'd been crying for real? How odd… She quickly wiped them away and said with slightly flushed cheeks, "Had been crying…"

When she opened her eyes Sueko saw that InuYasha had stood up. She stood up really quickly too, though so quickly she was slightly wobbly when she stood up.

InuYasha wore a slight smile as he said, "Want to try and find the others?"

"Is there anything else to do?" said Sueko with another laugh.

"I guess not… Well, come on then!" said InuYasha, grabbing Sueko's wrist and pulled her along. Sueko laughed again.

He had no clue where he was going or where he was at all. He had no clue where anyone was and his sense of smell didn't work one bit. This Hotaka sure knew what he was doing… But at least he had found Sueko.

It was strange… they hadn't been walking for ten minutes and then suddenly Sueko had wrapped her arms around InuYasha's neck.

"What the hell are you doing!" cried InuYasha, trying to turn his head to face her.

"I don't know…" said Sueko. "I feel weird… Can't a girl randomly hug someone!"

InuYasha just blinked at her, the heat rising on his face. Her face wasn't exactly pale either. And then, just to make the whole event even worse…

"Well, I didn't know you could be such a softy, InuYasha…"

Sueko let go of InuYasha just as he tired to push her off… With his face extremely red he cried out, "Just what do you think you're doing, monk!"

"Me?" said Miroku. "Trying to find my way out and find everyone else at the same time. But if you want some privacy I can look for Sango and Yoshiko on my own…"

"Sheesh, Miroku, get a life!" cried Shippo from Miroku's shoulder. "No one wants to know what goes on in that head of yours!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about…" muttered Miroku, crossing his arms.

"So… um…" started Sueko, fidgeting her hands, "Sango and Yoshiko are still missing?"

"Yep… and that Katsumi person too," said Miroku.

"Oh yeah… I forgot about her…" said Sueko thoughtfully.

"Well, we're not going to find anyone by just standing here," muttered InuYasha, feeling impatient.

"Let's be off, then," said Miroku, giving both Sueko and InuYasha a small push forward.

"Is that absolutely necessary, monk?" muttered InuYasha moodily.

"Don't complain, just move," was all Miroku said.

But the four had barely started walking—well, Shippo wasn't walking so that made three—before hearing the sound of running feet and someone panting. A few moments later the person came to view.

Miroku let go of InuYasha and Sueko. "Sango?" he cried, rushing to the woman's side. Sango looked both tired from the running and distraught.

Sango actually accepted Miroku's embrace as she cried, "I was so worried! I woke up from this… dream thing I thought was real… and no one was there… I thought you had all been killed, and… and…"

Miroku told her not to worry and hugged her tighter. As Sango continued to sob on his shoulder he let go to rub her arms gently, which InuYasha kind of found weird. He also found it weird that he wasn't expecting Miroku to grope Sango's butt like he usually did, yet when he did it InuYasha wasn't weirded out by it... All Sango did was hit him and turn her back to him with her arms crossed and a frown planted on her face. But then suddenly this secretive little smile appeared on her face as Miroku rubbed his sore cheek. Sango seemed to calm down a bit when she turned to InuYasha and Sueko and asked, "Where's Yoshiko?"

"We haven't found her yet," said InuYasha.

"How about we go looking for her, then!" said Sueko, stating the obvious. "And find the exit while we're at it… If there is one…"

The others went along with the idea, though InuYasha couldn't help wondering what thing Hotaka was planning next.