Author's Note: Whoa, so it's been like 5 months since my last update, right? I'm sure a lot of you thought I had just totally forgotten about this fic.

Well, I came back from my excursion to a foreign country and it took a bit longer than I had planned, and then I needed to get settled back into my home, and then there was school, and I hope you guys can all understand how I wasn't able to get a lot of writing done.

But now I'm back, and you've got another chapter.

This story is actually almost over! Ending in sight! Whoa!

Chapter 19: Hope...?

"And how much longer are we going to have to walk until we get there?" Sango asked, frustration obvious in her voice.

"Maybe...forty-five minutes," Miroku replied. "And five minutes ago, when you asked that, it was fifty minutes. Five minutes from now, when you ask again..."

"I get the idea," Sango muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets and walking even faster than she had been before. Miroku struggled to keep up.

"You know, we should probably-"

"Find them?" Sango interrupted. "Yes, that's a good idea."

Miroku cast her a forlorn glance, then looked down at the little travel map he was carrying in his hands. He was worried, too, although he did a rather better job of hiding it. He wanted to get to Jicharo as much as Sango did, but he was a little more wary about the town itself. It was about as nasty a place as you could find in the whole region, and it wasn't too small, either. He wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of him and Sango running around the place looking for Inuyasha and Kagome. How long would it take to find them? What if they were hurt? What if they had already left, and this whole thing was just a wild goose chase?

He sighed, looking over at Sango. If he voiced all of his doubts, she would probably just get mad at him - or worse, believe him and lose hope. He wouldn't let that happen.

Determined to keep his mouth shut, he continued trudging forwards, struggling to keep up with Sango as she marched confidently onwards.

Half an hour had passed and neither Inuyasha nor Kagome had moved from where they were sitting, resting their backs against the brick wall behind them. Kagome had been silent the entire time, a million questions whirling through her brain, with no hope of finding answers anytime soon. Her sight had managed to progress quite a bit in the short time she had been sitting there; already, things were getting sharper edges, it was easier to focus on distant objects. When she looked at Inuyasha, sitting so close to her, she could almost see the individual strands of bizarrely-coloured hair that grew from his scalp.

One would think that such progress would make her feel better, but really, it didn't. It just brought more and more questions into her mind. She had memorized everything she could about the environment she was in now; the grungy brick walls, the shadowy figures moving about the shadows, everything covered in thick layers of grime. Nothing she saw was reassuring her.

And what would happen when she got back to Cameron Drake High School? Would she still be able to find her way among the hallways? It might be easier to navigate if she just shut her eyes and continued as if nothing had happened, but she knew that was a stupid idea. She would need to relearn how to move, how to live.

She sighed. It was daunting. Sometimes she wished her sight had never started coming back at all.

The moment after that thought had crossed her mind, she brought a hand up to her forehead and hit herself. Hard. Inuyasha stared at her, concern crossing his face, but she didn't even notice.

What was she doing, wishing her sight had never come back? Sure, it would take some getting used to, but life like this would eventually be a million times easier than life blind. Imagine, meeting people for the first time and not having to explain that you couldn't see them. Imagine, being able to see her home, her family. Being able to see Inuyasha...

And for the first time in a long time, she felt happy. She looked over at Inuyasha, who was still watching her with that look of concern. She looked at his golden eyes, at his perfect hair, each strand blowing in the wind - she could see them now, with eyes that were surprisingly clear. Almost without thinking, she reached forwards and ran a hand through his hair. He raised an eyebrow.

"Feeling better, then?" he asked. Kagome felt like laughing.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I do."

Inuyasha nodded, looking off into the distance. "Good," he said, "because we've got visitors."

"Now how much longer?" Sango demanded."

"Seven minutes," Miroku replied, not even bothering to check his watch. She had asked just one minute ago.

"That's what you said last time."

"No, last time I said eight minutes."

"Can't we walk any faster?"

"...you can try."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he watched the two figures pause in the shadows, looking towards him and Kagome. He couldn't see them very well, but from what he could tell, they were two young men in baggy hoodies, conversing in low, whispered voices and occasionally motioning towards him and Kagome. Inuyasha tensed; he didn't want to know what they were thinking, looking at Kagome like that. If anybody tried to hurt her...

He clenched his fists. "Well, what do you want?" he shouted at them. The two figures froze, looking at him with shock, then put their heads together and whispered a little bit more. A few seconds later they stepped out of the shadows, approaching Inuyasha and Kagome with menacing grins on their faces.

"Yeah, it's you two," one of them said. "Should we just get him and bring him back for the boss?"

"No, I think he said something about the girl, too," the second replied. "We should just take them both."

Inuyasha clenched his hands into fists and glared at the two of them. "For your own safety, I would suggest leaving," he said, putting ice thick into his voice. "Now."

The two men just laughed, approaching him, cracking their knuckles. "The girl looks hurt," the second one commented. "Hows about we just take him out and lift her away?"

"She probably couldn't fight anyways," the first replied. "Sounds like a plan."

Kagome bristled, watching the two of them approach, but didn't say anything. She wanted to; she wanted to throw everything back in their faces, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Better to just let Inuyasha take care of them and stay still, so her ankle didn't get any more hurt than it already was.

The two men launched themselves on Inuyasha, who immediately occupied himself with kicking their sorry behinds. The fight was no challenge at all; the pair of 'fighters' moved slowly, clumsily, leaving many holes open so Inuyasha could take them out easy. A punch here, a kick there, and Inuyasha could tell they were already preparing themselves to run off. He grinned.

A shrill scream from behind him wiped the grin off his face. While he had been busy a third man had managed to sneak up on Kagome. He had lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder, not paying any attention to her injured ankle. Pain had immediately seared up her leg.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed. The boy immediately whirled around, his eyes wide - and the two men took that moment to hit him hard from behind. He fell to the ground, then picked himself back up again, turning to the two men with his teeth bared.

"Damn tricksters!" he shouted, immediately unleashing all his wrath on them, fists flying in all directions, coming into perfect contact every time. Fifteen seconds later they were on the ground.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted. The man holding her over his shoulder had started to run away, and Inuyasha immediately took off behind him. "Kagome!"

"Kagome!"

"Did you hear that?" Sango asked, freezing. Miroku looked off to the left. They had entered Jicharo a minute ago, the general atmosphere unnerving them. Everywhere they looked, they saw grime, shadows, just general nastiness.

"That sounded an awful lot like Inuyasha," he said, immediately running off in the direction of the sound. "Inuyasha!" he shouted. "Inuyasha!"

"...Miroku?" Inuyasha asked the air, pausing. A fraction of a second later, the shock had lifted, and he was taking off again to rescue Kagome. "Miroku, over here!" he shouted while running. The man in front of him was impossibly fast, he didn't know whether he'd be able to...

Miroku suddenly appeared in front of him, ramming right into the side of the man carrying Kagome. The man, caught off his guard, fell down to the ground, taking Kagome with him. She took the opportunity to scramble quickly away, trying as hard as she could to keep her injured ankle off the ground. Inuyasha caught up to her quickly and lifted her off the ground. She leaned gratefully against him, smiling as she saw another figure running up to them.

"...Sango?" she asked quietly. Inuyasha nodded his confirmation as the furious-looking girl appeared, immediately running up to the man on the ground and kicking him as hard as she could.

"Jerk!" she shouted. "Little worthless piece of-"

"Come on, Sango, stop that," Miroku said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Bad names never hurt anyone. You've got to do the sticks and stones thing." He, too, kicked the man, then turned to Inuyasha. He was grinning.

"Finally," Miroku said. "I'm so glad I found you. If only to make Sango shut up."

The girl cast a glare in his direction and made as of to slap him, but Miroku managed to duck, laughing the entire time.

"Can we just...find a hospital or something?" Inuyasha said. "Kagome needs someone to look at her ankle."

Kagome nodded her agreement, a sudden wave of fatigue washing over her. She could see Sango smiling down at her, Miroku laughing in the background. They were both exactly as she had pictured them.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Author's Note: I'm sorry it's short, but I'm being kicked off the computer in five minutes, so I figure I'd just leave it off here and give you all the update you've been so kindly and patiently waiting for.

Only a few more chapters left!