Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Eighteen: Saying Good-bye

Day Thirty

This is my last day for this assignment. I can't believe it, but I'm actually going to miss the baby.

Saying good-bye to Mikomi was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I know she's just an electronic doll, but it was still hard. How messed up is it that I'm going through separation anxiety for a doll? Just a silly little piece of plastic and electronic components.

But she was my silly little piece of plastic and electronic components.

Kagome let the tear trail down her cheek unchecked. It would only be one of a million she shed that day, what was one more? She looked up from her paper and looked at her friends. Shippo looked as miserable as she felt. Inuyasha was sulking in the tree above them. Miroku and Sango were watching the flames, their fingers intertwined. Kagome allowed herself a smile.

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"You are a heartless monster!"

Inuyasha didn't flinch. All morning he had been barraged with such insults as he began stuffing all of Mikomi's belongings into Kagome's bag. He ignored the angry words and continued to pack.

"I HATE YOU!"

"Shippo!" A red eyed wet cheeked Kagome appeared in the doorway. "You take that back right now!"

"Don't bother, Kagome," said Inuyasha with an indifferent shrug.

The miko didn't acknowledge the dog demon's response. Her narrowed gaze was focused on the fox kit. "Take it back!"

"But Kagome…" Shippo's lip quivered before the tears began to flow. "He's taking her away from us!"

Kagome closed her eyes and sighed before dropping down to her knees so she could scoop up the crying kit. Making soft comforting noises she held him close and smoothed his hair. She carried him farther into the hut before sitting down with her back against the wall.

"I have to give Mikomi back, I was only allowed to keep her for one month. She is a doll and she doesn't belong to me... to us. It was a project for one of my classes in school. You knew that."

"But… but he…"

"I am the one taking Mikomi back, not Inuyasha. In fact, he is the one packing because he knows how hard it is for us to say good-bye to her. He knows that we are attached to her and is doing us a tremendous favor. He is being strong for us." She looked up at the hanyou who was trying to look like he wasn't listening to the conversation. The flicking ears were a dead give away that he was though. "We should be thanking him."

"I don't want to say good-bye," the kit whispered as he tried to snuggle closer.

Kagome hugged him tightly. "Neither do I." She gave him a small smile before bumping his nose with hers. "But we have to be strong too."

"I just wanted a sister."

The only thing Kagome could do was hug him as a sob threatened to choke her. She rocked the fox demon back and forth in her arms and they cried together. It wasn't just a sister he wanted, Shippo wanted a family. His own family. And so did Kagome. After awhile she wasn't sure who was comforting who. Eventually she opened her eyes. Inuyasha was sitting on the far side of the room with the bag, watching them with sorrow in his eyes. He looked away quickly when he noticed her eyes on him.

"Do you really hate Inuyasha?"

Shippo sniffled. "No."

"Don't you think you should apologize to him then?" She didn't mention the fact that the dog demon's feelings had been hurt, he'd deny it in a heartbeat.

By the time the apology was out of Shippo's mouth, Inuyasha was halfway out the door carrying the bag with Mikomi tucked in one arm. He turned his head and nodded to the kit with a look that said that everything was forgiven. Shippo gave him a grateful smile in return.

"Don't forget to tell Sango and Miroku when you see them that I went back to school for the day and that we will be back later tonight." Kagome gave him a hug and a kiss before heading after Inuyasha.

Once they began their walk towards the well Inuyasha shoved Mikomi into Kagome's arms. She held her and looked sadly down at the doll. It was their last walk to the well as the family that she had somehow talked herself into dreaming that they were. It was a dream she rarely let herself think about, but all month it had been in the back of her mind. She told herself that she had to make sure to watch herself so that she didn't make it too obvious. It would embarrass Inuyasha if he knew what she would daydream about.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Hmm?"

Inuyasha looked straight ahead. "You didn't have to make him apologize. He didn't really mean it."

Kagome smiled in relief. For a moment there she thought that maybe he had been reading her thoughts. It was bad enough his other senses could tell so much information unfairly. His ears and nose were practically lie detectors! "Yeah, but he still shouldn't have said it."

"He was just sad and was lashing out."

"Are… you… defending Shippo's behavior?" She tried not to laugh, she really did. But it was such a bizarre concept that she couldn't help it.

"Keh."

Kagome laughed harder when her hanyou couldn't come up with a better response than that for defending the kit. The disgusted look he gave her didn't help matters, it only tickled her more. She knew that she loved being with him. Sure they fought like… well… cats and dogs at times, but she still wouldn't trade him for the world.

All too soon they were at the well. Inuyasha reached for her hand to help her up the side. He was a bit surprised when she didn't take his hand. In fact, she took two steps backwards, clutching Mikomi to her chest.

"She's not a real baby, Kagome."

"I know that!" She turned her face towards the woods to keep Inuyasha from seeing her eyes tearing up again. "I just… liked… having her…"

In the blink of an eye, Inuyasha's face was in front of hers.

"You don't have to take her back."

"Inuyasha…"

"Keep her. Shippo would like that. Then he won't be cryin' all over the place."

Kagome shook her head. "I can't keep her. She doesn't belong to me." She sighed. "Plus I'd fail the class if I never took her back. Not to mention that they would charge my mom a bunch of money that she doesn't have to replace the doll." She sighed again. "I have to do this. Let's take her back, Inuyasha."

He nodded and let Kagome hop into the well first.

Kagome's mother was waiting at the door of the well house with a box of the things they had for Mikomi that they kept in this time. The weepiness was contagious, because the older woman was tearing up over the loss of the doll as well. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and gave a long suffering sigh.

"Are you really taking all this junk?"

Kagome paused as she was leaning over to inspect the contents of the box. She stood up quickly, blushing a bit.

"No, I guess not. It's just the doll we are turning in." She looked down at the box, then at the backpack that had been stuffed with Mikomi's things. "She won't need them now." At that thought the tears came again. Inuyasha was beginning to regret that he even asked the question.

The walk to school was solemn. Inuyasha was a bit worried that Kagome didn't even TRY to make him stay at the house. In her despondent mood she had even forgotten to remind him to wear his hat to cover his ears. She was just lucky that HE remembered. Together they walked side by side down the road towards her school. Even though they didn't talk much, there was a lot of heavy sighing coming from the young miko.

"I'll see you when I get home," Kagome said when they reached the school.

"I'll stay."

Kagome froze in midstep. "What do you mean you'll stay? You can't stay!" Worriedly she looked up to where his ears were, and sighed in relief when she saw them covered.

Inuyasha crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'm stayin'."

In one bound he was up in branches of the tree near her first period class. Kagome grinned. It didn't look like it was his first time up in that tree. She wondered if it was coincidence that he just happened to be right by her classroom window. But she doubted it. Not much with the hanyou was coincidence, no matter what he says.

Suddenly feeling a little happier, Kagome skipped up the stairs towards the entrance with her note from her mother in hand. The good thing about being tardy was that she didn't have to worry about being surrounded by her friends. She liked them, she really did, but sometimes they drove her crazy. Besides, Inuyasha was with her today, and he was always difficult to explain.

After a quick stop to the office for her late pass and then to her locker, Kagome opened her first period door. The teacher looked disapprovingly at her for the disruption. When the teacher read the note she scolded the girl. This turned out to be a bigger disruption when some of the students began yelling about a wild animal growling outside the window. The teacher became alarmed when the sound increased as she leaned too close to Kagome, who was trying her best not to hear the noise.

"Heh… probably just a cat or something…" she said as she hurried to her seat with Mikomi in tow.

"If by cat you mean panther or cougar," whispered Eri.

"Sounded more like a wolf."

Kagome cringed at Hojo's poor choice of animal comparison. Also the colorful swearing and the tearing of tree branches did little to conceal Inuyasha's hiding spot. It was going to be a very long day.

"Hey Kagome," said Yuka as the teacher decided to go to the office to report wild animals outside of her second story classroom window. "We're going to WacDonald's for lunch. Come with us."

"I thought we weren't allowed to go off campus for lunch."

Eri grinned. "They changed that rule for seniors."

"Really?"

"Sure."

Kagome was skeptical, considering none of her friends would quite meet her eye. "Well, I guess so." She cleared throat and said a bit louder, "I WOULD LOVE TO GO TO WACDONALDS WITH YOU FOR LUNCH. I HOPE I BROUGHT ENOUGH MONEY TO EAT THERE THOUGH."

Her friends looked at her funny. She smiled happily to herself, however, when the branches stilled and the swearing went silent.

"I bet it because of her Acute Otitis Media problem last week," said Hojo.

"My baby cousin has that. I thought that was something only little kids got."

Hojo shrugged at Ayumi's response. "Higurashi's poor immune system seems to leave her susceptible to ailments of all types. Remember the rheumatism she was plagued with for so long in middle school?"

Of course, when the maintenance man and the principal went outside to check for wild animals outside of the classroom windows there wasn't one to be found. The teacher swore that there was growling and snarling out there. When asked to recount their tale of the sounds out the window, the class was unusually silent.

"They heard it too," she insisted to the principal.

"Miss Higurashi, did you hear animal sounds outside the window?" he asked.

"Um… animal sounds?"

One by one the students were quizzed, but oddly enough, not one of them seemed to recall any animal sounds. They were the picture of innocence during the inquisition, though when the principal finally left they were all smiles. The teacher mumbled something about devil children before she wrote the assignment on the board.

"That was mean," chuckled Eri. "But totally worth it."

Kagome looked down at the doubled assignment that the teacher gave. "I don't know about that. There's no way I can get all this done and turned in on time. And she doesn't believe in extra credit."

It was almost as if the teacher's retribution had spread throughout campus considering that all of Kagome's teachers seemed to be giving out twice as much homework as usual.

Eventually, however, lunchtime came. Relieved that the day was half over, Kagome took Mikomi and went off to join her friends. Luckily their favorite restaurant was close to campus. It was no surprise to see a silver haired half demon leaning against the side of the building near the entrance.

"Took you long enough," he grumbled.

"How did he know we were going to be here?" asked Eri.

"Cell phone?"

"Kagome doesn't have a cell, Ayumi."

"What's HE doing here?" Inuyasha growled at the boy who was walking entirely too close to Kagome.

"Eating lunch, Inuyasha. Be good." Kagome gave him a stern warning look as she walked through the door way and led the way to the line to order their food. It was a look that promised using his least favorite word. Multiple times.

Ignoring the warning, Inuyasha quickly took his place beside her and handed her the money clutched tightly in his fist. "You're mom said this would be enough."

Once again they were all sitting together eating an artery clogging amount of hamburgers and fries. Inuyasha wondered how often he would be forced to eat with them. The girls were bad enough with all of their personal questions, but the boy was almost too much to bear. Kagome wouldn't let her kill him, or even threaten him! Not even a little! It made being at the same table excruciatingly painful. Especially when he kept throwing Kagome those love sick eyes.

"I'm so glad to have this assignment finished!" chirped Yuka between gulps of her chocolate shake. "I can't wait to turn in this stupid doll and get life back to normal." Kagome was strangely silent when the others voiced their agreement.

In fact, she stayed mostly silent through the rest of her meal, occasionally glancing down at the doll she still had in Inuyasha's makeshift baby holder. Luckily her friends were more than willing to fill the gap of silence. Under the table Inuyasha would nudge Kagome's knee with his own to get her attention. He would ask her if she was okay with his eyes, and she would give a little smile to tell him she was okay. No one seemed to notice the silent conversation. Well, maybe Hojo did. He would attempt to bring her into whatever they were talking about. But after a brief comment, Kagome would go back to silence.

"Yikes!" cried Eri. "We only have five minutes until the bell. We better get going."

Quickly the group cleared their table and hurried out the door. The girls began to run, but Hojo took hold of Kagome's elbow. Which was promptly removed by a very angry young man with molten eyes of gold.

"Keep your hands off her."

"Inuyasha!"

"I wanted to talk to Higurashi away from the others for a moment." Hojo waited patiently before adding the word "alone".

Big mistake on his part really. But how was he to know that the strange friend of Kagome's had such a jealous streak? Eventually he had to settle for inquiring after Kagome's health around the tall red clad body. He had been concerned that she had been unusually quiet during lunch. Kagome may have missed the accusation in his eyes when he looked at Inuyasha, but the dog demon sure didn't.

"She's fine."

"Perhaps Higurashi should answer."

Kagome's mouth dropped open. Surely Hojo wasn't challenging Inuyasha. That would just be... well... suicidal. But there it was, in his voice. A challenge. Only one way to save her schoolmate's life...

"Eek! We're late! We have to run!" She tried to sound panicked. Luckily it got the desired effect and the boy took off at a run.

The chuckle died on her lips when Inuyasha glared down at her.

"What?"

Inuyasha didn't answer, he just glared at the running boy.

"WHAT?" she demanded.

"You never choose my side."

"What?"

"You never choose my side," he looked down at her with a hurt expression. "You always choose their side."

Kagome laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Inuyasha. I am always on your side." She began walking to class, aware that she was going to have to make another trip to the office for a late pass. After a couple of steps she turned back to Inuyasha and gave him a brilliant heart stopping smile.

"Always."

Once Inuyasha's center of balance was restored he sped towards the school to find a tree near her next class.

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DAY CARE KEY? You mean I could have been getting up to eight hours of peace and quiet a day with one twist of a stupid key and YOU DIDN'T TELL US? I could have slept! I could have done my homework! I could have had a nice long bath! I could have SLEPT THROUGH FREAKING THE NIGHT!

I didn't realize anyone could be that evil.

Right now I'm not sure what I think about the assignment. All I know is that it actually made my heart ache when I turned Mikomi in. Seeing her tossed into a box didn't do my heart any good either. Kinda harsh wasn't it? After all, most of us have grown attached to the dolls. I'm not saying that she HAD to be placed in gossamer blankets in a gilded crib or anything, but just tossing her into a big cardboard box was kind of heartless wasn't it?

I'm sorry about what happened to your desk. And the tree. And your car. But really, none of us heard any noises that could have possibly been from any sort of wild animal. My first period teacher thought she heard one too. Maybe you guys are just under too much stress lately.

When grading our assignment, please keep in mind that journals entries are made by sleep deprived teenagers. I'm sure I would have been more polite if I had been able to get more than four hours of sleep all month.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Note:

Let me start off by saying that I apologize for my poor grammar. It's not my strong suit. I've been trying to get better though. One of these days I'll go through the entire story again and try to fix everything. But I've been taking your suggestions and comments very seriously and have been trying to fix things as I go along.

WARNING:

Next episode contains a bit of fluff.