Author's Notes: This chapter was revised on January 24, 2006.

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-June 8th-

Entry at 8:21AM

Sitting once again in the waiting room, I could see that the whole ordeal was taking its toll on all of us. We needed to sleep, each of us struggling to keep our eyes open, but with Sesshoumaru still in surgery, we weren't going to be sleeping anytime soon.

Finally, Kaede returned.

"He's out of surgery now, and they're taking him to a room to rest. We'll just have to wait and see if he wakes up from the medication okay. That's all we can do now."

Inuyasha flinched and I had a feeling that those words might have been the same ones the doctors had told him about his mother.

Without a word between the three of us, we made our way to the room Sesshoumaru was placed in.

We were just about to enter, when Kagura froze in the doorway.

"Oh god, Sesshouaru…" She murmured before making her way over to his side.

I put a hand to my mouth. His left arm- had been cut off mid-way between his shoulder and his elbow. That's all that was left of it.

Looking over to Inuyasha, I noticed him balling his hand into a fist. As much as it would hurt him to admit it, I could tell how deeply this was affecting him.

Kagura's voice caused me to shift my focus back up, "Sesshoumaru, you're the strongest person I know. Please, make it through this," She said, gently lifting his right hand and holding it between her two hands.

"If you stay quiet, you can wait in here until he wakes up," Kaede said, gesturing to a few chairs over by the wall. Kagura had already taken the bedside chair, looking on with worry as she continued to hold onto his hand.

Inuyasha shoved his hands in his pockets and took one of the chairs by the wall without a word. I followed and sat beside him.

I'm not certain how long we'd been sitting there, watching him and every once in a while glancing to the blinking machines and devices that monitored his condition. Finally, I felt Inuyasha's weight against my shoulder. I looked over to see that he'd fallen asleep slouched against me. Brushing the bangs from his face, I moved just a little to make it more comfortable for him.

"Just rest Inuyasha, everything will be okay. I'm sure of it."

A little more time passed, and Kagura had fallen asleep leaning forward- her head resting on the bed against Sesshoumaru's side, and her hand still loosely holding his. I yawned; my eyes were getting harder and harder to keep open. And the last thing I clearly could remembered was leaning my head over on top of Inuyasha's shoulder and closing my eyes.

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The first thing my mind registered as I was waking up was someone lightly shaking me and whispering my name. Finally I opened one eye.

"Kagome? Kagome wake up."

It was Bankotsu. I closed my eyes again, nuzzling against Inuyasha a bit more. Then my brain processed who it was and my eyes shot open.

"Bankotsu? What's wrong?" I asked seeing Bankotsu looking somewhat happier than when I'd last seen him. Suikotsu was standing with his hand on Kikyou's shoulder in the doorway.

"Musou called," He managed to say, breathing heavily- I assume from running down here.

"Ah?" I sat up rubbing my eyes a bit. I could feel Inuyasha stirring beside me.

"Well," He took a deep breath, "He's been sneaking in while the cops aren't around, and well, he went to that back door- the one you saw the blood on the doorframe of."

"And?"

"He followed a slight trail of blood from there. He says, unless he's mistaken, Jakotsu's got to be somewhere in the eastern corridor of the warehouse. The cops came back or he would have continued looking," Pausing he placed his hands on my shoulders, "He's going to find Jakotsu, Kagome. We're going to find him."

Inuyasha, who was woken up by the commotion, glared and plucked Bankotsu's hands off me, "Then save your excitement for him."

"Has he found anything else?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure; he wasn't able to talk long. But, he said we should find Jakotsu sometime today. He wanted you guys to come down once we were finished here since the police will let you in."

I nodded, "Okay Bankotsu. Have you called your other friends?"

"Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu were out looking for Renkotsu, but I left word with Mukotsu," He said simply.

"Good. You should probably try to eat something while we're here. Once we get things worked out with Sesshoumaru, I'm sure they'll want to go deal with the Naraku issue."

"They say I'm well enough to go out, so I'll probably go somewhere with them and get something to eat," He said gesturing to Suikotsu and Kikyou. "You want anything?"

"Where are you going?" I asked with a yawn.

"WacDnlds, they're serving breakfast now."

"Hmmm," I thought, "The pancake meal and anything with caffeine in it to drink. Inuyasha, you want something?"

"Keh. I guess, just get me the same thing as her," He muttered.

"Do you think she'd want something?" Bankotsu asked, gesturing to Kagura.

"Well uh…"

"Number three, hold the butter- and change the side of hash browns to a biscuit," Inuyasha said simply.

"How did you…" I began to ask.

"That's what my idiot brother always gets; just get two of that for him and her, both with coffee- black, nothing in it."

I blinked, for someone who's constantly fighting with their brother; he sure picked up his eating patterns.

Seeing my perplexed expression, he retorted, "What?"

"I'm surprised you know all that."

He frowned, "When the idiot makes you pick it up for him because 'You're already going there so you might as well take care of my order' all the time, it begins to stick and stuff."

Bankotsu began to walk towards the door, "Okay, we'll be back soon. I'll call you if Musou calls me before we get back."

"All right. Thanks Bankotsu," I said watching him head out. "Well, I'm glad to see he's in better spirits today.

"Yeah…" Inuyasha muttered, looking back over to his brother.

I was just about to say something, when I swore I saw Sesshoumaru stir. Sure enough, his eyes slowly opened and his gaze drifted down to Kagura.

"Sleeping like that isn't good for one's spine," The typical calm, un-amused voice said.

Hearing the voice, Kagura bolted up, and stared at him for a few seconds before bending over and hugging him. "You're okay…"

He very lightly placed his hand on her back, "You should be resting properly. We have a busy day ahead of us, Kagura."

She pulled back and nodded, "We have to make sure Naraku is properly dealt with, find Jakotsu and close this case successfully, I know. Don't worry Sesshoumaru, I think I got enough sleep for now- a little caffeine and I'll be ready to kick anyone's ass who decides to mess with us," She said with a smirk.

He nodded in reply, and then looked to Inuyasha, "I see you stayed."

"Yeah, well, you got a problem with that!" He retorted.

"If you put anything strange in my IV- I will know it," He said, a slight smirk on his face.

"Why would I waste my time doing that when I can easily kick your ass without it? Huh?"

"You think just because I have only one arm that I'll lose to you?" He questioned, having Kagura help him sit up better.

"Oh yeah? Try me!" Inuyasha said, raising his fists.

Sesshoumaru looked to the bedside table, picked up a pen sitting on it, and with perfect aim, nailed his brother in the forehead with it.

Inuyasha glared, then crossed his arms, "Well, I let you have that one because I feel sort of sorry for you, so don't think that you can still beat me!"

It was then that I heard a familiar voice coming from the hallway.

"Mister Sesshoumaru!" The little brown-haired girl cried out rushing in and crawling up onto the bed beside him.

"Rin," He said simply, regarding her.

"I heard that you fought off all the bad guys and that Miss Kagura saved your life and then you got shot and Miss Kagura was hurt and Miss Kagome helped and then Inuyasha helped and then…" She paused to take a breath, "And then you caught Naraku," She said with a wide smile, hugging him.

"Yes, it's over now Rin. We got him."

"I'm sorry you got your arm hurt because of it," Rin mumbled, fidgeting with her dress.

He reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Did you behave yourself?"

"Yup. Rin was good and didn't keep Kohaku up all night this time," She replied cheerfully.

"Kohaku…" I said, turning to the doorway, and sure enough there stood Sango and Miroku. "Sango, Miroku, what are you doing here?"

Sango walked over, "The head nurse called us to bring Rin up. Sesshoumaru had dropped her over at my house last night when he was headed out to the warehouse."

"Oh, I see."

"Kinda of dirty there, Kagome. You and Inuyasha playing a little rough as a victory for taking down Naraku?" Miroku asked with a smirk.

Inuyasha, was not amused as usual, and smacked him on the back of the head. "She was caught in a fire, you pervert."

"Kagome, if you don't think you'll have time to run home, I can stop by and get you some fresh clothes," Sango offered, looking at the singed edges of my outfit.

"Well, I could just call Mama. I'm sure she'd be willing to drop some things by and it would save you the hassle," I replied, pulling out my cell phone and dialing.

"Hello?" I heard my mother's voice over the line.

"Mama, can I ask you a favor?"

"Oh thank goodness you're okay, Kagome. I heard that Naraku was captured and the four detectives involved were at the hospital with varying degrees of injuries."

"Well news sure travels fast…" I muttered.

"Okay dear, what is it you needed?" She questioned.

"Well, we are at the hospital now- I'm fine and so is Inuyasha. As for my clothes though…"

"Oh I understand. Does Inuyasha need something as well? I could pick up something from his house."

"Well, we haven't changed since…"

"Okay and what about the other detectives? Was that your friends Sango and Miroku?"

"Actually, it was Inuyasha's brother and his partner."

"I see. I'll pick up something for them as well. What size does his partner wear?"

I looked to Kagura.

"I should have a spare outfit over at Sesshoumaru's house," She said.

"She says there's a spare outfit at Sesshoumaru's house," I relayed the message.

"All right. I'll head over there then. Their servant knows me well enough, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll be up there as soon as I can. Bye Kagome."

"Bye Mama," I replied, ending the call.

I glanced back over to the others in the room, and had to stifle a laugh. Rin was currently trying to braid Inuyasha's hair, and as expected, he was protesting rather loudly against it.

"Kid, my hair is fine. Leave it alone!"

"Rin, perhaps we should let Kagome deal with him," Miroku suggested.

"What do you mean by that?" Inuyasha asked glaring at him.

"What?" He said innocently.

Underneath the chaos there, I noticed where Rin must have gotten her hair-styling idea. Taking care his somewhat disheveled hair, due to not only the shootout but also the surgery; Kagura was pulling Sesshoumaru's long white-hair back into a braid.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I looked over to Sango, "You okay Kagome? You're a bit quieter than usual."

I smiled, "It's just been a long night. But at least, everyone's okay. We just have Jakotsu left to find, and everything can go back to normal."

"If you can call this normal," She remarked, gesturing to the miniature-wrestling match that had broken out between Inuyasha and Miroku.

"Yeah," I replied with a smile, "I call this normal."

"Now you had to go and bring more people that we didn't get food for," I heard the voice from the doorway remark.

I looked up to see Suikotsu carrying several bags.

Kikyou glanced about the room and frowned, "They must have gotten some sleep, considering how enthusiastic they are this early."

Handing over some of the various bags to Sango and I, Suikotsu turned to her and placed his hands on her arms, rubbing them gently. "Aww, I'm sorry Kikyou. I didn't mean to keep you up. You know that right?" He leaned down, trying to peer under her black bangs, "You're not mad are you?"

"Tired, not mad," She muttered in reply.

"You're shift's over right?" He asked.

"It was over about thirty minutes after you got here with Bankotsu last night," Kikyou said, somewhat darkly.

"Oh, ooops," He scratched the back of his head, then without a word more, he picked her up in his arms.

"Suikotsu, what are you…"

"I'm gonna take you somewhere to sleep, we both need some sleep." He explained, and then turned to me, "Miss Kagome, Bankotsu should be in with the drinks soon. Just tell him Kikyou and I went to my place, and once he's done here he's free to come over."

I nodded, "Sure thing Suikotsu, thanks again for everything."

Things were looking up for once, and I could only hope that it stayed that way.

Bankotsu appeared in the doorway a few moments after Suikotsu had left, balancing the drinks in his arms.

"Bankotsu here- let me help," I said taking two drinks from him.

"Thanks. Oh, and Kagome- some reporter guy was asking for you. He should be up in a few minutes."

I blanched. "Oh no- not Kouga. I am not in the mood to deal with Kouga…"

Then again, if that was the worst of my troubles- then things really were looking up.

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Preview for Chapter 19-

With the news of Naraku's capture spreading like wildfire throughout the news network, it's no surprise that one of the city's reporters wants an interview with the detectives that managed to bring the infamous man in. But with friends, family, and slightly-sleep deprived people, it could cause more trouble than you first think.