Here it is. I can't believe it's been so long. But here you go. This chappie is my apology for not writing. I went back and reread it over and over again to try and get back into the same style of writing, but I still can't get over how mature it sounds compared to all my other stories from that far back. It feels like years since I've been writing fanfics. Well, anyway, I'm glad to be back. I'm going to make this chapter so long, you'll all fall over dead from sheer delight. And also, just to clear up some stuff, here are a few points I want to make:

1) The "lab" is not a boarding house. I would delve deeper into what Dr. Janzu is making Inu do there, but I don't exactly know myself. Janzu is not a good guy, but he is loads less evil than Dr. Onigumo. You can tell by the name.

2) I have finally figured out how Inu survived the 5 bullets and then was completely healed and didn't die of infection. If he is tough enough to survive even 1 bullet, he can survive having 5 just rolling around in his stomach without having to worry about infections. Capiche?

3) The reason Inu is being a butthead in chapter 9 is because that's just who he is, and that's what he does. He could tell Kagome and Riku why he has to leave, but they would make it more difficult. That's just who they are.

4) And in Ch. 7, the reason Kagome gets distracted easily was she kinda wanted to be distracted so she wouldn't have to think about Inu anymore.

5) Also, I don't know if Riku should just go back to be pulled back in the story later, or if I should keep him in for the time being. I think I'll go with the first one, unless you all like his quirky, idiotic mannerisms.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, for over 3 months!

Naraku's POV > (A.N. This guy is annoying to write for.)

'where did he go?'

that was the question that filled every fiber of my being. He wasn't with Janzu, Father hadn't killed him, and no one had any clue as to where he'd gone. There had been a few traces in certain towns, but they had all led to dead ends. The closest I had come to getting a solid clue was in Kyoto, where a young couple had taken a picture that just happened to have him in the corner. But once I scanned the area, it was clear he wasn't here anymore.

"It's time to call in the big guns." I said as I sat up in my bed. It was 3:45 AM, Father wouldn't be up for hours, and any servants had gone home. All I had to do was sneak past the guards, that would be easy enough.

I pulled on some casual "dirt poor" clothes so I would blend in and reached into my desk drawer, pulling out a sinister jet-black hook about the size of my hand. Careful not to touch the razor sharp tip, I crept to Father's study. I rifled through his papers until I found the one I wanted, and then took the stairs down to the first floor. I walked carefully to the main entrance and located the two guards.

Hiding behind a pillar, I waited for the first one to walk past, upon which I dug the hook deep into his neck. The poison quickly took effect and he fell to the floor, twitching uncontrollably. The other guard heard the noise and rushed over, I stabbed him too.

"heh, you better watch out, Inuyasha, I'm going to kill you just as easily."

Inu's POV> (yay! Back to normalness! )

I was really starting to regret escaping from the lab, and not staying with Kagome.

It had snowed for the last two days non-stop. This meant hungry. Not a lot of people go eat outside, so there isn't anything to steal there, and there aren't any anemic girls with spaghetti strap purses to snatch.

It probably didn't help that the already tattered upper part of the shoes I was wearing had parted from the bottom of the shoe. I was currently searching for duct tape in bare feet, knee deep in snow.

I found some scotch tape, but I didn't expect that to stick very well considering all this snow made everything very wet. I lifted up a box to find an old rusty hammer, not that I could use it thought.

I was searching an old mechanic shop, I was in the alley right now. I didn't want to go inside just yet, I was hoping I'd find what I wanted in one of the dumpsters, or in one of the scrap boxes that lined the back wall of the building. I wasn't having any luck, and I was just getting desperate enough to bust inside. Sighing, I picked up the old hammer and tested out it's weight in my hand.

"Maybe I should just steal some new shoes while I'm at it." I whispered to myself. I hated stealing, but sometimes, it's just all you can do.

I found a small window near the roof that looked like a good entrance. I piled some boxes up so I could reach it. I did one last quick search to see if new shoes, a warm coat, hot food and a wallet full of cash hadn't suddenly appeared while my back was turned. It hadn't, so I broke the window. I scraped as much of the glass shards off the sill as I could before I crawled in, still I cut my hands on the way in.

I managed to get out of the shop with duct tape, two thick pieces of leather, and 5 dollars. I used the duct tape to attach the leather to the bottom and sided of my shoes to hopefully make them a little warmer, and I used the 5 dollars to get as much food as I could. It was a pretty good day, considering all the other crap I've been going through. It could have been worse.

I stashed the loot in my alley, but I had a little trouble finding it due to all the snow. I crawled in and tried to make it as warm as possible, but the thermometer I had found a few weeks ago told me it was just above 40 degrees.

"I going to freeze to death, surrounded by trash, and no one will ever find me." I said aloud. I wasn't going to die, I'd survived worse winters, but the idea of me stinking up the whole alley and no one being able to find out where the smell was coming from was just enough to let me end the day with a laugh. Morbid, but still funny.

I woke up when the garbage truck thundered on by unexpectedly. I'd never remembered them going by here, but they could have changed the routes. I stretched and rolled over to go back to sleep, but some truck passed by again. I was getting kinda suspicious, but I tried to go back to sleep again. When it's cold, I normally try to sleep as much as I can if it's above freezing and I'm not too hungry. I was almost asleep when the truck rolled by for the third time. Angry as hell and ready to kill, I got up and stuck my head out into the cold, trying to see what the commotion was about.

"And this has to be the number one reason why I hate humans."

Cliffie! Dun dun duuuuuun! Sorry, it's only 3 pages long, but at least I'm writing something! I won't leave you with this cliffhanger for too long.