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

Chapter Sixteen: Shard Detector on Strike

"We should go find Koga."

"No, Sango, for the last time we should just let him rot! He turned on us and tried to kidnap Kagome!"

"He's under the shard's influence, INUYASHA! We should get it out of him and THEN go find Naraku!"

"No!"

"YES!"

Miroku finally stepped between the two quarreling friends, though a bit wary of the snarling demon. "Sango is correct. If we can get Koga back on our side, then we have a better chance against Naraku, finishing this stupid game, and going home."

"No, I agree with Inuyasha. We already have enough strong fighters, we don't need Koga too."

Miroku glared at Shippo. "Koga is our friend. It would be cruel to abandon him."

"This game will drive us ALL insane if we don't defeat Naraku and get out of here. Koga is an unfortunate loss," said Shippo calmly.

"We can save him if we get the shards out of him!"

"Quit being so emotional, Sango! He'll be okay after we defeat the game. We don't NEED him to win!"

"You don't know what it's like to be controlled by the shard, INUYASHA." Sango growled as ferociously as the silver haired young man. "We HAVE to save him."

"We don't even know where to start looking," reasoned Shippo.

"He's wants Kagome, so soon enough he will come looking for us. As long as she's out in front I'm sure he will find us."

"SANGO!" gasped Miroku dramatically as he put his hand over his heart. "Are you suggesting that we use lady Kagome as bait?"

Shippo and Inuyasha both swore colorfully and violently at that suggestion. Defending herself against the accusation, Sango exclaims that using Kagome as bait wasn't what she was suggesting at all. Miroku was leaning on his staff looking highly amused at the whole thing. The yelling continued, escalating in volume.

"ENOUGH!" yells the young miko.

From her place on the grass where she had been sitting, resting her head on bent knees, Kagome glared at her friends. Kirara, the fire cat demon that Sango had with her when they found her, was sitting next to her, batting at a lock of Kagome's hair. The miko picked up the small demon and pet her head, trying to calm herself.

Kagome was tired. She was tired of the bickering. She was tired of the fighting, both with the enemies and between friends. She was tired of walking. And she was tired of this whole stupid game that they were trapped in for well over a month now.

"I quit," she informs them. "I'm not going anywhere."

Her friends looked at her then each other.

"Um… Kagome… you can't quit. We've already tried, remember? Besides, we can't look for shards of the jewel without you. You're the only one who can detect them."

Her narrowed gaze turned towards her dog demon friend who just said the wrong thing to a very tired and cranky miko. Kirara jumped from her arms and ran to Sango to be picked up.

"Yeah, well, this shard detector is on strike! I'm not looking for anything except for a hot spring so I can have a nice long hot soak." She fell back onto the ground and closed her eyes, covering them with one of her arms. "No one says a word unless they are telling me where to find that hot spring."

"Kagome…"

"Did you find a hot spring, Inuyasha?"

"Uh… No…"

"Then I'm not listening."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and stood over his friend with his arms crossed in front of him, doing his best to look intimidating. "Look, Kagome, we have to keep moving. We need to find the rest of those shards, defeat Naraku, and get out of this game. There is no time for baths."

Keeping her eyes closed, Kagome hummed quietly to herself, folding her arms behind her head.

"You can't ignore me!"

She hummed a little louder and tapped her foot to the tune. She stopped for a moment when she felt a pebble hit her arm. Is he pelting me with pebbles? What is he, five years old? It was difficult keeping from smiling. One by one more pebbles fell on her, each one was ignored. Just when she thought the dog demon had finally given up she felt something brush against her nose. It tickled. Cracking one eye open, she saw a blade of grass hovering over her face.

"You can't ignore me forever," he growled softly.

"I can try," she whispered, trying desperately not to giggle.

"Maybe she's right," Miroku said as he sat down on the other side of Kagome. "We are all tired and could use a break."

Inuyasha groaned and let the blade of grass fall. "Not you too!"

"I vote for the hot springs too," said Sango as she reached down to help Kagome stand back up. They ignored Inuyasha's complaints.

The monk leaned back and glanced back and forth between Sango and Kagome. "Don't be so grumpy, Inuyasha. The girls are right. A bath could be… most enjoyable."

When Miroku regained consciousness he followed his somewhat violent friends as they went in search of a hot spring. Luckily for the group of travelers, Inuyasha's sensitive nose and ears soon picked up signs of a hot spring. After close inspection of the spring, the girls decided that they could share, as long as the boys stayed on the other side of the rocks that doubled as a wall.

"Anyone caught peeking gets to try and see if the phoenix feather really does work," warned Sango. "Kirara, toast them if they try to peek." The fire cat mewed affermitavely in response and sat on the rock that shielded their view.

Kagome giggled at the threat, then sank down into the water. It felt really good on her sore muscles. Her mood was already lightening. It was the first time in many days that she actually felt like smiling.

"I miss soap," she told her bathing companion.

"Me too."

"After we get out of this game I think I'm going to soak in a bubble bath for two days."

"Ew, gross, Kagome. Think how cold and funky the water would be after two days." The miko laughed at the face Sango was making.

"I'm going to eat nothing but cheeseburgers and ice cream for a month!" Shippo's voice was heard from around the rocks. Kagome and Sango blushed, they had almost forgotten about the males they were sharing the water with.

"I'm going to sleep."

Kagome laughed and paddled closer to the rocks. "Is that all, Inuyasha? Sleep is your main goal after we get out of here?"

There was a moment of silence. "The ice cream sounds good too," he added.

"I'm going to find a…"

"We KNOW what YOU'RE going to do, monk!" Sango and Kagome laughed as they heard Inuyasha dunk Miroku under the water, not letting him finish his sentence.

When he broke the surface of the water, Miroku was sputtering. He did his best to sound angry and affronted, but his light hearted nature wouldn't let him even pretend to be mad for very long. He proclaimed his innocence with such sincerity that the group almost believed him. ALMOST. They did know him after all.

"What about you, Sango?" Kagome asked, swimming next to her friend. "What are you going to do when you get out of here?"

Sango didn't say anything right away as she used her hands to swirl the water in front of her. "I'm going to hug my family and tell them that I love them." She kept her gaze on the water. "Then I'm going to hang out with my little brother and take him to the arcade like he's always bugging me to. He loves Dance Dance Revolution…" She sniffled and turned her head.

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered.

The demon exterminator tried to smile. "I know, thank you, Kagome. You saw your family killed too. I'm just being selfish."

"There's nothing selfish about how you feel."

"It seemed so real, Kagome. I could hear their voices as they screamed. I could feel their blood, warm and sticky. There was so much pain while I fought, I felt every cut and bite of the demons. It wasn't like the demons we battle that just disappear into dust. Their deaths were so brutal. Not all of the people in the village died right away. I sat by my father and heard him take his last breath. I saw…" her voice lowered, "I saw Inuyasha kill them all. I saw him murder my father and my baby brother. I saw him laugh as he slashed through their bodies. His claws were stained red with their blood…"

Kagome held her friend and let her cry. "It was Naraku, Sango. It wasn't Inuyasha." She rocked her back and forth, muttering nonsense words that were meant to soothe. When the cries began to subside she began talking about the things they would do together when they got out of the game. She made Sango promise to come visit her at the shrine and to go on a shopping spree for new shoes.

"Maybe we'll even invite along the guys," she snickered.

"I hate shopping." Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome smiled. She knew that the boys had been listening to the conversation. She was glad that they stayed quiet. It might have embarrassed Sango if the had known that they were all listening to her tale. Anger threatened to bubble over as she thought about how Naraku was torturing her friends. She tried to push those emotions away, to deal with them later. She could only imagine how Inuyasha was feeling after listening to Sango's tale of how she saw him murder her family. She knew that she would find him and talk to him after the others went to bed.

"But we'll need someone to carry all the bags!" Kagome joked, smiling when she heard Sango laugh softly and the boys on the other side of the rocks making smart aleck complaining comments.

"I'm getting all wrinkly, let's get out of here."

"Spoil sport!" Kagome called after Inuyasha good naturedly. She knew that he was giving the girls a little bit of privacy though, in his own unique manner.

"No peeking!" called out Miroku as he splashed loudly out of the water.

"I want to hear you guys talking loudly as you leave!" yelled Sango as she sunk down into the water up to her chin, just in case.

"Why?"

"So we'll know where you guys are, you pervert."

Miroku sighed heavily and agreed to keep talking, though complained how he was so misunderstood. The boys quickly got dressed and started heading back towards camp. The girls didn't talk, they just finished cleaning up. When the voices were far enough away they got out of the water and got dressed. By the time they reached camp there was a nice fire burning.

As they dried their hair near the fire, Kagome wished loudly for marshmallows. Sango disagreed and said they needed s'mores instead of just marshmallows. Miroku scolded the girls for their sweet tooth's and said that hotdogs would be much better for roasting. Shippo suggested shish kabobs. By the time everyone was finished arguing what was the best treat to roast over a campfire they were all starving.

Quickly Kagome went into her bottomless backpack and brought out dinner and fixed everyone their cup of noodles. They tasted a lot less appealing than usual after their discussion on marshmallows and other sweet treats. Kagome couldn't stop thinking about the chocolate and marshmallows.

"We'll hunt for Koga in the morning," Inuyasha said with a mouth full of noodles. Four surprised faces looked at him. He cleared his throat and looked away from the group. "We need those jewel shards he has."

Kagome took hold of the necklace she wore as her friends teased Inuaysa and pulled it out so that she could look at the jewel. It was almost half formed.

"So much more to collect," she whispered to herself as she looked at the jewel. She looked up to find a serious pair of golden eyes watching her. After giving Inuyasha a small smile she tucked the jewel back out of sight and turned her attention back to her the discussion the rest of the group was having.

"We don't even have a deck of cards to play strip poker with, you moron." Sango whacked Miroku over the head, jostling the fire cat out of her lap.

"So, if we had cards you'd play?"

"Don't you start too, Shippo!" warned Sango.

Kagome snickered at her companions. Trust them to yank me out of a funk. She glanced at Inuyasha and smiled, thinking of the 'getting to know you' game that they had played before they found Shippo and the rest of the group. He smiled back. Briefly Kagome thought of suggesting the game, then discarded the idea. It's our game. Inuyasha's and mine. She was reluctant to share.

"We could play Truth or Dare," suggested the fox kit.

"Not with this pervert! I can only imagine the things he would dare!"

"I agree with Sango," nodded Inuyasha. "Truth or Dare with Miroku is too dangerous."

The monk's eyes opened wide and he put on his best hurt expression. "It pains me that you do not trust me."

Eyes rolled.

"Spin the bottle?"

"Oh for the love of… get your mind out of the gutter, Shippo. You're getting as bad as this pervert here." Inuyasha admonished their youngest companion while whacking Miroku over the head.

"What was that for?" complained the monk as he rubbed the newly formed lump on his head. "I didn't say anything!"

"For being a bad influence," laughed Sango as she gave him an extra whack for good measure.

Kagome smiled as her friends continued to try and find a safe game to play that didn't require cards or dice. As she stroked the soft fur of the fire cat who had found her way to Kagome's lap, she noticed that the darkness in Sango's eyes had begun to fade. Everyone seemed a little happier. A little lighter. Tonight they weren't a group of fearless warriors in search of jewel fragments. Tonight they were friends laughing and having a good time together.

Tomorrow will come soon enough. We'll be back to fighting and trying to survive. But for now we have tonight. She cuddled the fire cat demon and grinned at the group.