Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

The next morning arrived and the Inu gang decided to stop hunting for the shards as most of it was with Naraku. They only way to get back the almost complete Shikon no Tama was to kill Naraku. It was not easy task and the gang was demoralized after Kagome decided to leave. Everyone was minding his or her own business in Kaede's hut. Sango was fingering the Shikon shards, Miroku was learning from Kaede on different kinds of herbs, Shippo was reading a book, which was something he got from Kagome's backpack and Inuyasha, was looking out in a daze. It was a peaceful afternoon. Sango soon got tired of fingering the bottle and decided to see what Shippo was reading.

"Shippo, what are you reading?" Sango asked as she sat down next to Shippo. The little kitsune looked up to Sango and showed her the book.

"The story seems weird. This girl was upset most of the time. She was in love with this boy but the boy loves another girl. And this girl doesn't like the boy to be with another girl. I got this from Kagome nee-san's backpack before she left." Shippo explained.

Sango turned to the cover of the book and it wrote Diary. Diary Sango thought. Isn't diary is something you write inside when you are sad? She then remembered what Kagome told her last time.

Flashback

Kagome showed Sango a small book.

"My mother told me to write unhappy things inside so I won't feel so bad." Kagome said

Sango eyed the book and was fascinated by the healing power it has to turn one's emotion from sad to happy. She even traced the word Diary on the book.

End of flashback

Sango then realized what she was holding right now and said to Shippo, "Shippo, why don't you run along and play. I need this book for a moment." Shippo nodded and ran out to play, without having a clue what was going on. Sango then opened the book and read the first entry.

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Kagome had a difficult day in school as she found out that she was seriously lagging behind in terms of studies. Now, she was dragging her feet to her room. Kagome flung herself onto her bed and closed her eyes for a moment. What is Inuyasha doing now? She opened her eyes and decided it was time to start revision before dinner. However, she decided to record down her day in school into the diary her mother bought for her. Kagome walked to her yellow backpack and opened it to see where was her book.

"Oh crap! Where's that book?" She spoke to herself. She emptied out the whole backpack, contents spilling everywhere. She ran to her desk and ransacked it. She opened her drawers and began to throw everything out. "No. It's not here." She said anxiously. She then turned her attention next to her closet. "It must be in there." She threw her clothes out into a messy pile. Feeling frustrated, Kagome sat down in the middle of the mess and started worrying.

"Kagome. Dinner is ready." Mrs Higurashi opened the door and was greeted by a messy sight. "Oh my God! Has a tornado occurred here?" Kagome looked up at her mother and started speaking real fast, "I have lost my diary and I cannot find it anywhere." Mrs Higurashi looked at her daughter with awe. She never knew that her daughter could speak that fast.

"Maybe it is with Souta." Mrs Higurashi said. Kagome mentally slapped herself as her mother called for her brother. How can I forget about that little brat? Souta quickly came into the room and Kagome immediately interrogated him. "Where on earth is my diary?"

"What diary?" He answered.

"You know the pink colour one."

"I didn't know that you have a pink diary."

Kagome then stopped asking. Maybe he was right, he did not take it. Then a thought came into her mind. Something she hoped that it was wrong.

"I left it in the feudal era!"

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Sango read the content in it attentively. She had even shoved Miroku away to prevent him from reading the contents. She read an entry, which startled her, the most. She did not know how Kagome had suffered all this while as she was always trying to put on a smile.

Dear Diary,

Kikyo is back again. I really do not know what to do now. I know that Inuyasha loves her dearly but does he know that I love him dearly too? They used to be loving in the past and it was because of a terrible misunderstanding which drove them apart. Inuyasha told me that he got it all figured out but somehow; I can still detect a hint of doubt in his tone. I hate it when he was all confuse and frustrated. It is too much to him. Now, I think that he is all stress out now. Maybe I should give him up to Kikyo. It is only this way he can be freed from this agony. I just wanted him to know that I love him always and will always wait for him.

Sango looked up from what she was reading and tried to register Kagome's words into her brain. There was only one way for her to help her best friend now. Sango tore the page out, stood up and ran out fast.

"Inuyasha! Where are you baka?" She shouted out loud. Sango observed her surrounding and found no sight of the hanyou. He must be hiding on top of the trees she thought. Without further thought, she swung her boomerang. "Hiraikotsu!" Most trees were chopped by the boomerang and surprisingly enough, Inuyasha dropped from one of the trees. He then got up and yelled at Sango, "What are you trying to do!" Rubbing his elbow, which was swollen, he looked in the direction of the Bone Eater's well.

"I am trying to look for you." Sango yelled back.

Inuyasha lowered his head and said, "What you want?" Sango shoved the piece of paper into Inuyasha's hand. "Read it." She ordered. Inuyasha looked at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand and opened it up to read it. Inuyasha's eyes widened as he read more and more of the content. He looked up from the piece of paper and Sango took it as a cue that he has finished reading.

"As you can see, Kagome really scarified a lot for you. Inuyasha. She loves you but decided to give you up in order to make you happy. And that is how you treat her?" Sango reprimanded him.

"What can I do now, she's gone." Inuyasha said sadly.

"She's not gone yet. If you go and look for her now, she will still be able to forgive you. Trust me." Sango pleaded.

Inuyasha looked up and then said, "I will look for her." With that, he started from in the direction of the Bone-Eater's well.

"Go for it, Inuyasha!" Sango shouted.

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"Ah choo!" Kagome sneezed. Suddenly, she felt that something bad was going to happen soon. Then she had an image in her mind that Inuyasha was coming. Kagome then got to action. She locked her windows and yelled to the rest of her family.

"Momma, Grandpa, Souta please lock all the doors and windows."

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Inuyasha ran towards the well when suddenly, he caught a whiff of a familiar scent. It turned out to be Naraku's. Oh no! Not now. Inuyasha placed his hand on the Tetsusaiga and waited for his nemesis to appear. A soft rustle was heard form the bushes and Inuyasha got into the battle stance. A figure appeared from the bushes and it was not Naraku.

"Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked. Kikyo looked up at him and smiled, "Where are you going?" Inuyasha then did not know how to respond. "Kikyo? Is that really you?" Inuyasha asked again. "I am Kikyo." Kikyo said. "You smell like Naraku." Inuyasha said. Kikyo started panicking and sniffing herself, "Really? Do I?" There could only be one reason why Kikyo smelt like Naraku. "You met Naraku, didn't you?" Inuyasha questioned. Kikyo shook her head fast. "You mated with him, didn't you?" Inuyasha accused. "No!" Kikyo screamed. "You betrayed me." Inuyasha said. "Inuyasha No!" Kikyo begged Inuyasha, tugging on the sleeves of his haori. "Leave." Inuyasha said calmly. "Inuyasha please!" Kikyo begged more, tears swelling up in her eyes. "I do not want to see you again." Inuyasha made his stand. "Fine! You will regret this moment for I will not forget this in my entire life!" Kikyo screamed before she turned and leave. Inuyasha sighed to himself before running towards the well again.

He soon reached the well and with no hesitation, he jumped into it.

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"Ah! Choo!" Kagome sneezed louder this time.

"Oh my Kagome! I think you have got a flu." Mrs Higurashi asked with concern.

"No. I am fine." Kagome assured her mother before heading to her own room.

She lay down on her bed, closed her eyes and thought. Don't come here, Inuyasha.

After a while, she heard tapping sound on her windowpane. Groaning, Kagome opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the noise. She screamed when she saw someone outside her window.

"Inuyasha, Osuwari!" She shouted and heard a loud thud outside. She quickly drew the curtains and sat on her bed, recovering from the shock.

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Inuyasha recovered from the fall and groaned, "What's the matter with that woman?" Then, he remembered what he was here for. He ran to the door and rang the doorbell.

"Welcome!" Mrs Higurashi said with a smile and got a shocked when she realized it was Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha! You have come." She greeted him by letting him in.

"Momma. Don't let Inuyasha in!" Kagome screamed as she ran down the stairs. She saw Inuyasha and screamed again before running up again.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted as he ran up the stairs to Kagome's room. Just as he was about to go into Kagome's room, Kagome slammed the door into his face.

"Itai!" He screamed as he rubbed his nose. "Kagome!" He called as he knocked the door continuously. "Kagome! Open please!"

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Kagome leaned against the door as she heard Inuyasha knocking the door outside. She hoped she have not injured him by slamming the door into his face though.

"Kagome! Open please!"

"Get out of here!" She yelled.

"Kagome, we need to talk."

"We have got nothing to talk." Kagome shouted again. She wanted to forget about Inuyasha and she was going to do that no matter what.

XXXX

Inuyasha kept knocking and attempting to open the door but it was no use. Then, a bunch of keys appeared in front of him. He looked and saw Mrs Higurashi holding the keys.

"I will allow you to see Kagome but you must promise me not to hurt her ever again." Inuyasha nodded immediately as Mrs Higurashi opened the door for him.

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Kagome heard a click sound and groaned.

"Kagome listen." Inuyasha began.

"Get out of here!" She said throwing her pillow. Inuyasha caught it and Mrs Higurashi sneaked away as she did not want to get hit by the things Kagome threw.

"Look. I am sorry ok." Inuyasha continued.

"Sorry for what?" Kagome threw her teddy bear.

"I am sorry for hurting your feelings." Inuyasha caught the teddy bear and put it down. Kagome stood froze with her hand up stretched holding a waste paper basket which she was considering to throw. She put down the basket and waited for Inuyasha to continue.

"I am sorry for hurting your feelings. I didn't mean what I did last time." Inuyasha lowered his head, blushing furiously. Kagome's eyes grew lenient and then said, "Why must you appear now? Why must you appear when I am trying to forget all about you? I just want to free myself from this thing. Why don't you just let me off?" Kagome stopped talking when Inuyasha placed his lips upon hers. Tears streamed down her face and Inuyasha backed away.

"Because I love you." Inuyasha said to soothe Kagome. Kagome looked at him with her tear stained cheeks. They both embrace themselves in each other warmth.

"Really? You do?" Kagome squeaked.

"Yes." They held each other tighter, not wanting to let each other go.

"Aw. What a sweet thing." Souta said to his grandfather as they peeked into Kagome's room to catch all the action.

"Yes, it is." Kagome grandfather replied.

Kagome looked up and saw two intruders peeking form her door.

"Baka! Get out!"

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Kagome stepped out of the house and headed towards the well to meet her family and Inuyasha.

"So you have packed all your things?" Mrs Higurashi asked.

Kagome nodded. "Take good care of yourself, eh?" Kagome's grandfather said.

Kagome nodded and hugged everyone except Inuyasha.

"Take good care of Kagome for me, Inuyasha." Mrs Higurashi said. Inuyasha nodded and turned to Kagome, "Can we leave now?" Kagome turned and waved to her family but jumping into the well, hand in hand with Inuyasha.

"I will not regret this, Inuyasha."

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"Sango will you stop fidgeting?" Miroku said.

Sango shot Miroku a look but then sat down beside him.

"Do you think Kagome will return with Inuyasha?" She asked.

"I am sure she will." Miroku said, comforting her.

"I have a feeling this is going to end soon. The search I mean." Sango sighed.

"Don't worry Sango. We still have each other and I promise I will never leave you." Miroku said as he placed his arm around her. Sango snuggled against the warmth feeling very peaceful.

"I hope we are not interrupting anything." A voice boomed from nowhere.

Miroku and Sango shot their head up and saw Inuyasha with Kagome.

"Kagome! You have returned." Sango exclaimed happily.

"Kagome nee-san." Shippo ran and hugged Kagome's legs almost knocking her off. Kagome smiled and picked him up.

"Yes. I have returned!" Kagome announced.

Everyone was feeling happy and Sango removed the chain from her neck.

"This should be returned to you now." Sango said as she passed the bottle with the Shikon shards to Kagome.

Kagome smiled as she eyed the shards. "Thanks Sango for keeping it safe."

Sango smiled. Inuyasha then said, "Tomorrow, we will track down the bastard Naraku."

"Yeah!"

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Yay! Kagome's finally back. However, what about Kikyo? Will she stop her scheming now? Find out in the next chapter.