The wind blowing in through the half-open window was brief relief for the rooms occupants. Even though Kagome and Sango had downgraded their pajamas to shorts and tank-tops, and the boys were sporting boxers, the temperature was still uncomfortably hot.

Kagome, who was laying down next to Sango, tried to adjust her body without moving enough to anger the springs in the mattress, couldn't find sleep. She was too busy contemplating what her family was thinking about her disappearance. And how the room smelled like cabbage, and how the sickly shade of green wallpaper was peeling, and how their was a small bullet-sized hole in the wall she was staring blankly at in the dim light of the moon filtering in through the window.

But especially how uncomfortably warm it was. It wasn't even really hot. It was just a still, unforgiving, annoying heat.

Kagome shifted once again, trying to find relief from the sticky heat of the bed sheets. Her dark hair was pulled into a messy, careless bun high up on her head, with a few stray strands brushing her face and shoulders.

Without warning the whole bed shifted and screamed, and a loud resounding sound of flesh hitting flesh caused Kagome to sit bolt upright, along with Inuyasha who had been sleeping on the cot on the other side of the bed.

"You pervert!" Sango yelled loudly, anger lacing her words as she unceremoniously shoved Miroku right off the bed where he landed on top of a highly confused, irritable Inuyasha.

"Sango!" Miroku tried to calm her. "That was an accident, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He said convincingly, his blue eyes wide with innocence.

"The hell you didn't!" Sango fumed. "Your sleeping on the freakin' cot. Inuyasha can sleep on the bed. At least then I won't have to worry about getting molested in my sleep." That said, she flopped back down on her stomach on one end of the bed.

Not wanting to provoke Sango, Kagome laid back down as someone in the next room demanded them to shut up.

Now on his feet after losing the cot he had fairly won, Inuyasha slammed a closed fist into the wall and told his neighbors to fuck off.

The next thing Kagome knew was that she was being forced into the middle of Sango and the new form.

She felt blood rise to her face as Inuyasha got in beside her, hogging most of the room. He was too close for her liking, and she could hardly see anything in the dim light.

But besides her discomfort she managed to make herself as comfortable as circumstances would allow and drift off to sleep.

Sometime during the night the temperature had changed from unbearably warm to cold. When Kagome half-woke in the early hours of the morning she felt soft hair on her neck and face that wasn't her own, and a slight weight around her waist that she half-realized in her sleepy state were strong arms wrapped around her.

Normally, she didn't like to be touched in her sleep but she was warm - and not the unbearable warm from earlier, this was a nice, comfortable, pleasing heat that warded off the cold. She pushed her back into the warm chest and drifted right back off.

She didn't reawaken until the sun was strong, and bold pouring into the room. It was pleasantly warm and she was comfortable. It took her a few moments to remember whose arms were wrapped around her.

All sleep shocked away, she rolled until she nearly hit Sango's sleeping form, effectively escaping Inuyashas embrace without waking anyone.

All Inuyasha did was turn to his other side, facing the door. Kagome pulled her knees up to her chest and calmly observed her companions.

Inuyasha was laying on his side, his hands sprawled haphazardly as were his legs. His chest was moving slightly with each breath her took, and his dark hair was tousled in a cute way, his bangs all in his face and a few strands sticking up. A small smile reached Kagomes lips, as she turned her attention to her new-found friend.

Sango was on the other side of Kagome, huddled underneath the comforter. The only sign of life was the barely noticeable rise and decline of the blanket as Sango breathed.

Surprisingly she noticed that the cot was abandoned, and Miroku was dead asleep on the very end of the bed, his legs hanging off the end and his arms strewn behind his head. His dark hair was still pulled into a tight ponytail, but in his slumber he had managed to loosen a few strands of bang and the hair near the elastic was messy.

Kagome smiled to herself, feeling a happy warmth spread through her, as she climbed over Inuyasha as quietly as she could and off the bed, making as little noise as she could manage.

She snapped a mental picture of her peacefully sleeping friends and went on to take a shower. She was used to taking a shower every day, so it felt good and familiar to take one. It had a calming effect on her.

She let her hair loose and washed it throughly with the little cheap shampoo bottles that motels sometimes supplied.

When she opened the bathroom door, letting out a small cloud of steam, now dressed in a clean pair of jeans, and a light-blue shirt underneath her olive zip-up jacket, her friends were awake and fussing at each other.

While Sango and Miroku were fussing Inuyasha was sitting on the bed, one leg swinging off of it as he watched the Tv intently.

"Morning." Kagome greeted over Sango and Mirokus bickering.

Inuyasha glanced at Kagome, taking in her hair that was in damp ringlets around her face, and her change of clothes.

He looked annoyed, and looked back over at his arguing friends, then back at Kagome. He got off the bed and grabbed a random shirt off the ground, sniffed it, then pulled it over his head. He grabbed his black beanie off the Tv and turned to Kagome who was towel drying her hair.

"Come on. Let's go get some breakfast," He said to her as he pulled on a pair of jeans, along with the studded white belt Miroku had been wearing yesterday.

Kagome pulled the towel off her head, but before she could say anything he had crossed the room to her, and grabbed her wrist in a loose grip.

"We really should go before they get violent."

"Oh. Okay." Kagome said intelligently as she followed Inuyasha out of the room.

They left the motel and made their way to a small, rundown McDonalds that was across the street, paying with what Kagome had brought, and whatever Inuyasha happened to have in his pockets.

Saved by the dollar menu.

On the walk back Kagome tried to strike up a conversation with her sullen friend.

"So, where are we going when we leave here?"

Inuyasha smiled briefly in her general direction. "That's the beauty of it, Kagome. Where ever we want to go." He rummaged in his paper bag to get to the hash-browns in the bottom before continuing. "We're gonna see it all, with no one to tell us how to do it."

He got that far off look in his midnight eyes again, and Kagome felt excited just by standing beside him, and feeling his energy.

He turned his head and looked over at her with a rare look of some kind of kindness. "Don't worry about it. We'll pick a direction and go with it."

Kagome smiled up at him, believing every word.

"Uh-oh." Inuyasha halted abruptly.

"What? What's uh-oh?...oh." Kagome followed his line of direction. They were back at the motel, and on the third floor window they could see the distant figures of Sango trying to push Miroku out the window. His upper torso was half out of the window already.

"Oh. Oh my God!" Kagome grabbed the black sleeve of Inuyashas T-shirt.

"Should we help?" She asked, her throat tight with worry. It looked like Sango was really going to push him out.

"Help Sango shove him out the window?"

"No!"

"Ah. Then no." He popped a bite sized hash-brown in his mouth and chewed as he calmly watched the scene before him.

Kagome switched her weight from foot to foot as she watched uneasily.

"Oh, crap." Inuyasha sounded surprised.

"What?" Kagome looked up just in time to see Miroku loose what little ground he had, and tumbled out of the window, holding on, only with his knees, as if he were simply on the monkey-bars at your average play ground.

Both she and Inuyasha took off at a fast jog for their room, busting in just in time for each of them to grab Miroku by the feet and pull him into the safety of the room.

"He's pushed me too far this time!" Sango growled, glaring at Miroku darkly.

"What did he do?" Kagome asked wanting to know what could have possibly provoked Sango to shove someone out of the window.

A smile tugged at the corner of Inuyashas mouth. "Did he do the bra thing again?" He asked wearily.

"Yes!"

"Wait. What bra thing?"

"It was harmless fun, Sango! It was really no reason to push me out of that window." Miroku said getting up off of the floor at closing the offending window and locking it.

"What bra thing?"

Ignoring Kagome, Inuyasha threw his two paper bags on the bed. "Breakfast." He said pointing to them.

"What bra thing?"

After eating they had to vacate their room. On A nearby building outside the motel the runaways had made themselves comfortable. Inuyasha had his back against the brick wall, his guitar out and he was obliviously strumming away.

Kagome was sitting next to him, her knees pulled up to her chest so she could rest her head against them as she watched Inuyashas fingers fly over the frets in a dazed state. The sun was high in the cloudless sky, shining down and warming Kagomes face and neck, causing her to grow sleepy. Sango and Miroku were sprawled out beside Kagome.

They were lying down on the side walk, as close to the building as possible and ignoring the few passerby's that hardly paid any attention to them, and sometimes would drop change and occasionally a bill or two into Inuyashas open guitar case.

After an eternity long of this Sango lifted her head. "So, where should we go next?" she asked, bored with their current location.

They all mulled over this until Miroku spoke up. "The weather is starting to get warm. Let's go to the nearest ocean."

"To the sea it is then." Inuyasha said. His strumming grew more insistent and intense.

"Where should we go?

Who knows, it doesn't really matter, no one really cares.

How about the sea?

Why not, we've no where else to go except home.

Which way should we go? Who knows, doesn't really matter.

If only we could float up into the air.

Why not the ocean ?

So we can smell the salt and taste what it isn't there.

Let's just go somewhere cuz' here feels like a tomb.

Maybe were attracted to the ocean cuz' it's just a big puddle of all our tears,

Accumulated over the yeas along with our sorry fears to foam.

Where should we go? Who cares, it doesn't really matter.

Let's just go somewhere 'cuz here feels like a tomb."

Inuyasha sang in a sad, mellow tone quickly before putting his guitar up, shoving the money in his pocket and standing.

The rest followed suit and started walking. In whichever direction. It didn't really matter, no one really cared. But they were going to see the ocean.

A quick pit stop was made at an uneventful ice-cream shop. The one and only person working had fallen asleep on the job between their first and third servings of ice-cream. And that only meant one thing.

Free chocolate ice-cream!

Later when the lazy employ woke up he would find every tub of chocolate ice-cream empty. Miroku had called it teaching the man a very important life lesson. He would probably never fall asleep on the job again.

After leaving the very rewarding frozen dairy shop, everyone was feeling spunkier then usual. Especially Sango and Kagome. They were walking down a nearly desert street when the sun started to lower in the sky, sending it's last golden rays out across everything it could touch it one final, desperate attempt before it would retire and let the moon take reign.

Kagome and Sango who were still very much energetic had discovered they had similar music interest and were singing some song, while Inuyasha and Miroku walked a few steps behind them, trying not to look like they were traveling with their hyper friends.

"Really not much to do around here, is there?" Inuyasha commented as he looked around, lacing his fingers behind his hat covered head.

Miroku agreed, somewhat distractedly.

They turned a corner that led down a dirty, dingy, unoccupied ally.

Sango noticed Miroku's sudden discomfort -- the way his sure stride broke and flecks of worry showed in his azure eyes.

She stopped singing and stopped to look at her friend "What's wrong?"

Miroku shook his head. "Nothing...I thought I heard something, kind of like a gunshot."

Inuyasha took a sudden interest in the conversation taking place and let his hands drop to his side. "Yeah? I thought I heard that too, but I just assumed it was a truck backfiring or something."

Miroku smiled off his uneasiness. "I'm sure that's all it was."

Realizing that she was singing solo and that her companions were a good five yards behind her, Kagome stopped and looked behind her.

"Hey! What are you guys - - Ah!" Kagomes sentence tapered off into a long, fearful shriek as the door beside her that she had thought nailed shut suddenly burst open with a deafening bang, and a shout, and a large body of a man fell down the crumbling steps, bleeding and stone still.

Kagome fell on the pavement, her voice caught in her throat as her wide eyes watched a small lavender jewel roll from the still mans hand and hit the toes of her left shoe.

Without putting any real thought into her movements she reached out and curled her hands around the pretty, luminescent jewel.

Suddenly a dark figure appeared at the doorway with a gun. Kagome watched in slow motion as the figure lifted the barrel of the gun and aimed it right at her, the skin between her eyes burned oddly as she watched, unable to move as she watched the grim metal flash in the shadows made by the fading sun.

A/N:

Uh-oh. Thats Karma for you. Get a butt load of free ice-cream and the next thing you know, some random dude is trying to shoot you. Joy.

Sorry for the cliff hanger - or whatever. I'm tired and I don't feel like continuing this chapter. Hmm...

I really want to thank you guys so much for the reviews! They're so great - amazing! I love receiving them! Thanks SO much for the encouragement. Okay...I'm about to fall asleep at the key-board...hope to hear from you soon...even if this chapter sucked...