Author's note: I'd like to thank all my patient readers and loyal fans. As you know by reading my stories, I left an author's note about being in the hospital, a nasty affair to which I am still recovering from in terms of work. I was writing in my spare time but now I've started to write as an escape like I used to. This chapter is fresh and unedited, but I know you've all waited ever so long. I have great ideas ahead I just need time to write them down.

Catch you in the reviews…

Ch32Just a Thief

"You're just a thief!"

"Like you'd know?"

The voices echoed load enough to wake the dead and for once Kagome was glad. She opened her eyes to a fuzzy white ceiling. The old woman that she'd come to trust knelt over her temporarily preoccupied with the arguing guys.

"You were trying to steal that."

"It's my hair!" Inu-Yasha protested.

"Liar!" The man called out.

Inu-Yasha growled at him. He had changed over the last five hundred years and his excitement about seeing her again had hindered his demon senses until now.

"INU-YASHA!" Kagome ejaculated. (Ejaculated: v. to exclaim loudly)

All heads turned to the young woman that fell helplessly into the white hair flowing hair that couldn't manage to escape fast enough. Inu-Yasha held his arms out as she collapsed into them. Her arms immediately locked around his waist and she buried her head in his chest.

"You jerk!" She yelled between the tears. "I hate you!"

"I know." Inu-Yasha whispered back comforting her.

"I thought…" She whispered lightly. "I thought you were dead. Where have you been all this time?"

Inu-Yasha slightly pulled back from her enough to lock lips with her then whispered in her ear. "I was dead. Something happened. I'm not sure what. All I remember are stray images. I'm not even sure how I found you."

Tears filled Kagome's eyes. "You can't remember?"

Inu-Yasha shook his head.

More tears fell from Kagome's eyes.

"Why are crying? There's no need for tears. Stop crying at once."

Kagome fell back into her old rhythm at the sound of his voice and stopped crying.

The old man moved over to his wife and took her hand at the sight of the two embracing.

"Twenty years…" Kagome whispered.

"Huh?"

"That's how long I've been waiting for you."

"How do you think I feel? I've waited five hundred and twenty years to see your face again."

"I always told myself you would come for me."

"Kagome, I can't jump time like you. Once you sealed the well, you banished the futile age to its own problems."

"How…?"

"What?"

"The others?"

"Oh. I was united with Naraku for a while, but his deception angered me and I broke free. I kept running into a young monk and a slayer. A little fox demon chased me for years, but…"

"Our friends… Did you stay with them? At least for a little while?"

Inu-Yasha shook his head. "I was searching for someone …I was searching for you."

Kagome gripped his shirt tightly.

It wasn't long before Kagome's condition worsened. She started coughing lightly and soon she could hardly stand. Inu-Yasha held her tight and prayed to himself that she wasn't as bad as his senses told himself she was. She may have only been in her thirties but her body was shutting down. It was clear to him that she not only had a hard life, but she had only made it worse by not caring for herself. 'Course if she was going through anything like he did, then she would have thought long ago that she had nothing left to live for so there would have been no need to care for herself.

Inu-Yasha curled up asleep with Kagome leaning against his chest. Her smile was weak but not tarnished. Youth enriched her face and she innocently cuddled next to him. In his dreams he resurveyed his struggle.

When he had awoken, it took him only moments to be utterly confused. Any peace or semblance of tranquility was gone. A man in a white outfit and impressively useless armor stood nearby. A small girl with long dark hair smiled and treated him as if he were important. The sight of the girl tore at his heart but he was unsure why. She smiled pleased with herself when he awoke and yelled "Lord Sesshoumaru, Come see. He's awake, Lord Sesshoumaru!"

It had taken him a long time to figure out just whom Sesshoumaru was. He'd only found out because Sesshoumaru had come for him. Sesshoumaru had started a war and needed his help to finish it. He pled ignorance and at that first night's rest the little toad, Jaken, filled him in on all the details of his relationship with his half brother as best he knew them. Sesshoumaru even spoke up occasionally at his disgust with his little brother falling for a mortal like their father had.

When Sesshoumaru questioned him about the young miko that had his fiery personality, tears fell from his precious golden eyes. His own tears startled him and the others saw his shock.

Sesshoumaru just huffed and told him to "prepare to fight or prepare to die." Inu-Yasha's eyes hardened back to their usual amber and Inu-Yasha stood square to Sesshoumaru almost challenging his statue and commented: "I'm ready." Sesshoumaru nodded and the three started off through the woods again.

The little girl confused him. She ran circles around him and fell into step behind Sesshoumaru. Constantly talking to him, Inu-Yasha had light flashbacks of a group talking and laughing and enjoying the fearful night as if it were the Eden told in ancient tales with nothing to be feared.

After the two ended the war, he wandered for years only to continuously end up at the same village with a well nearby. Under the slayer and monk's watch he dared not enter. He had become just a thief to survive, but a few surrounding villages welcomed him with open arms and at that welcome he fled time and time again.

The end of his theft years met up with his wandering years. He had finally worked up the courage to sneak into the old village guarded by the slayers.

He was sneaky about it though; he had waited till his human night and snuck in long after dark. The villagers there seemed to look right through him. At first he was worried that the same thing would happen that happened in the other villages, but his own hunger quickly overcame that. He sniffed the air, fresh with the scent of leftovers; Inu-Yasha began to drool. He followed his nose to the strongest scent. He figured that as a plain and weary traveler the villagers would give him food without question. At least that's what he was counting on. He approached the village's miko's hut. Something inside him was comforted by the sight of the hut and that scared him. He thought he should run, but the aroma of food was too enticing.

Slowly working up his courage, he approached closer. In taking a small bit of food, he accidentally knocked over a pot. He cursed his human form for its clumsiness when the pot hit the floor with a loud bang. Turning for the door, he realized he was surrounded. He figured the sun would be up soon; all he had to do was buy time.

A monk in his mid twenties blocked the exit. The last demon slayer, a middle-aged woman of about her mid twenties as well, held her old cracked weapon ready for an attack. While a young fox demon in mid childhood stood about waist high on him. Uncomposed with a bit of bread stuffed in his mouth so it wouldn't close, Inu-Yasha backed himself against the wall bearing his forgotten faded claws ready for a fight. An old miko barely able to stand any longer from her old age, walked out of the back of the hut. The monk moved closer. Older than himself, but somehow he knew the mortal monk was younger as well. When the monk reached out his right hand, Inu-Yasha slashed out with his fingernails to slap the hand away, then tumbled out of the way. He had a flashback of a hole in the monk's hand engulfing everything. The slayer took over guard of the door pushing behind her a small child of about five or so. Somehow he was afraid of her power but gained a sense of hesitation from her when he avoided the monk so easily. They stood in a standoff with shock plastered across all their faces. "Inu-Yasha?"

The question rose. He turned only his eyes to stare at the old decrepit woman. Light flooded in through the guarded door and Inu-Yasha closed his eyes.

His hair lifted and shown as bright as the full moon while changing to its illuminated white. He kept his mouth closed almost afraid to loose his grip on his rightfully stolen meal. Opening his golden eyes, the monk backed off and the slayer dropped her guard.

His transformation back to his demon form did two things one for and one against him: it confirmed his identity, and provided a means for his escape. The group tried to keep him in but he leapt over the slayer's head, rolling out of a tumble to his feet before sprinting off.

He found out years later that the little fox tailed him ever since, but never approached him. The fox child had become an expert tracker in their time apart where he had become just a thief. That's all he thought he was or had ever been. Then he stumbled into the site with the well. The green grass left the field open framing a small wooden well. He approached the well and placed his hand on the edge. The other hand immediately rose to head as flashbacks flooded his mind. He collapsed to his knees at the sudden overwhelming images. Faces he knew, but had forgotten soared past. His mind ran wild with images of happier times and strong emotions of protection, care, and trust. But no matter the setting there was always the single face of a girl his age. Fairly young she had proven wisdom far beyond her years. When he almost blacked out the memories faded, but a single image remained, the image of the girl. The girl was special that much he knew and he knew he had to find her again. That was his turning point. Nothing else at that point mattered except the chocolate hopeful eyes and seductively passionate lips that did not hold back her strong sense of self, framed by wild raven hair and accented by a bright innocent smile. Haunting his dreams and distracting his days, he began to wander in search of one thing…HER!