Kagome climbed out of the well, panting. Her backpack was full of things, including three or four Ramon noodle packets for Inu-Yasha. She glanced around as she struggled down the path, looking for the aforementioned half-demon. Whenever she told him she was coming, he normally waited for her. But oh well, she thought, I know my way to the village from here anyway.

She stopped not too far away from the well to take off her pack for a moment and adjust the straps. She had bent over when something sharp bit into her neck, and then she was falling…falling…falling…

"I'm going to go meet Kagome," Inu-Yasha called as he walked to the forest surrounding the village. "She's supposed to come today." And if she isn't there waiting, his mind added. I'll drag her here out of her world.

"Be careful," Sango warned. Kilala growled in agreement.

"Hurry back," Miroku replied, waving. As he was waving with the hand that contained the wind tunnel, Inu-Yasha took no comfort.

"Bye!" Shippo yelled, his tail waving.

Inu-Yasha bounded through the trees, his golden eyes taking everything in, white hair flying behind him like a banner. His small white dog-ears twitched, listening carefully for any sign of anything unfriendly. A breeze came his way, and he breathed in. A scent was mingled in with the others, and he grinned. Now there was a scent he loved. Kagome was here.

When he was close to the well, he saw something on the ground and stopped. A human, he guessed by the shape, a young girl maybe. Wait a second. His heart pounded, and he inched closer.

He finally was close enough to touch her, and he gently turned the girl over, as to see her face. It felt like his stomach had disappeared. "Kagome," he whispered, his brain refusing to believe that she was dead. She can be saved! It protested. He picked her up, placed her on his shoulder, and started running for the village.

When Sango, Miroku, and Shippo saw Inu-Yasha carrying a lifeless Kagome, they all reacted in very different ways. Shippo started crying and calling, "Kagome! Kagome!" over and over. Miroku went pale at the sight of his friend, but proceeded to try to calm the hysterical Shippo. (To no avail.) Sango became to sensible one, yelling for Lady Kaede.

In no time at all, Lady Kaede appeared. Inu-Yasha had set Kagome down on the ground, and he was staring at the girl with something Kaede had never seen Inu-Yasha express before, fear. She knelt down beside him and put her hand over Kagome's mouth. She left it there for a moment, and then she moved it to her chest. After a minute or two, she looked up at him. Everyone was looking at her with hope, that she would say what they wanted to hear. Except Shippo, whose face was now buried in Miroku's shoulder.

"She is not dead," Kaede said. Relief flooded into Inu-Yasha's face and he smiled slightly. Shippo stopped sobbing and looked at her, Miroku and Sango smiled.

"Can you heal her?" Inu-Yasha asked. Kaede looked around at all of Kagome's friends, all hoping she'd say yes. Kaede dearly wanted to do just that, be she never made promises she couldn't keep.

"I do not know." Kaede replied. Shippo buried his head in Miroku's shoulder again, but he didn't have any tears left. Sango and Miroku looked crestfallen. Inu-Yasha's grief surpassed them all. His eyes filled with pain, pain so intense that it hurt to look at. Kaede imagined that he might have looked much like this when his mother had died. Maybe he would have looked like this if he had lived and Kikyo had died. Kaede felt terrible about hurting them, so she added a promise. "But I will try everything within my power to help her. Someone must take her to my hut."

Inu-Yasha quickly volunteered to do that, and then Kaede forced everyone outside, saying she needed peace and quiet. So Inu-Yasha sat outside and gave death-glares to anyone who passed by and breathed loudly. For over three hours they sat outside the hut, waiting. Inu-Yasha stared at the forest surrounding the village, not really focusing on anything. Suddenly a flash of silver showed through the trees. Inu-Yasha sat up, eyes searching the treetops…hoping…there; another flash of silver. Inu-Yasha jumped up and watched the trees, hoping that his plan would work.

"I'll be back," he said, and then ran off.

He followed the Soul Skimmers, hoping that Kikyo followed her usual code of conduct. In this case, never being too far away from her Skimmers. He got lucky, and she was sitting in a clearing, gathering something from the ground. As he rushed into the space, she looked up, almost smiling. When she saw his face, she stopped.

"Inu-Yasha," she said, sounding concerned. "What's wrong?" she laughed lightly. "You look as if someone died!"

Inu-Yasha looked at her sadly.

"Oh," she glanced at him curiously. "Who was it?"

"She hasn't died yet!" Inu-Yasha blurted out. "But she will soon, if she doesn't get help. Kikyo, you are the best healer I have ever met. You've saved countless people from death! Please help Kagome!"

However, he knew what her response would be, even before she answered.

She was silent for a moment, looking into the distance. Then she looked back at him and spoke. "Inu-Yasha, I do not like Kagome."

"I know, but-"

She put a finger to his lips, effectively shutting him up. "But you care for this Kagome, don't you?"

He said nothing.

"Very well. I will help her because you want me to. But that is the only reason."

Kikyo went right into the hut and stayed there. Inu-Yasha told Sango and Miroku where he had gone and why he had chosen Kikyo to help them. Both humans agreed that his plan had been a good one. A silence fell as everyone thought about what was happening. Inu-Yasha broke the quiet first.

"Hey," he said. "Where's Shippo?" the little fox-demon was nowhere to be seen. Sango nodded to Kilala, who was full size and asleep. Curled up in her tails was little Shippo, also asleep. The group suddenly noticed that it was getting dark. Everyone tried to stay awake, but eventually Sango and Miroku drifted off. Inu-Yasha did not, and he let the humans sleep. After all, they had gone through a very stressful day. The sun was setting, and Inu-Yasha saw Kagome's bag. Sango must have brought it back, he thought. One or two colorful packages had fallen out of it. Curious in spite of the circumstances, he stood up, walked over and picked one up. It felt like his throat was closing up as he realized what it was.

Kagome had brought him Ramon noodles.

He did not eat them; he just put them back in the bag. Inu-Yasha kept watch; waiting for the two women inside the hut to do their magic and make Kagome better.

As dawn occurred, the reed door fell back with a snap and both of the priestesses walked out. Or, staggered out, Inu-Yasha thought. They both came and sat in front of the group, and Inu-Yasha woke the others. Shippo woke up too; he was a light sleeper sometimes. Inu-Yasha sat back down and now had time to examine the two sisters. Kaede looked exhausted, and her white hair was falling down a little. She leaned up against the hut wall for support, eyes closed. Her elder sister Kikyo looked pale and drained, even though her black hair stayed up.

"We have done all we can," Kikyo said faintly.

"But what if that isn't enough?" Shippo asked anxiously. Kaede opened her one eye.

"Then she is in trouble."

Sango and Shippo forced the two women to sleep in another hut not too far away from the original one. Inu-Yasha stayed outside Kagome's hut, standing guard. He did not say why, and no one questioned him. He stayed there for quite a while. Shippo came to talk to him from time to time, and once Miroku stopped by and talked.

Inu-Yasha was curious to see if Kagome had improved. So when no one was looking, he went inside and looked at her. You could tell she was breathing now, and Inu-Yasha relaxed. He went back outside and sat there, feeling a small breeze, just enjoying life. He heard a sound and froze, straining his ears to hear well. He was sure he heard rustling inside the hut. Kagome's in there! He thought with alarm. Inu-Yasha pulled out the Tetsusaiga and ran inside, ready for anything. Anything that is, except what was there.

Kagome was sitting up a little, looking at him with a confused expression. He lowered the Tetsusaiga and watched her.

"Kagome, you're okay!" he said in surprise. She gave him another strange look.

"Who are you?" she asked. Then, tired by even that tiny exertion, she fell back onto the mat. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the makeshift pillow. What did she mean by that? He wondered as he sheathed his blade and ran outside, calling for Lady Kaede and everyone else.

In the next few weeks, Kagome continued to improve, in body. But her mind was still gone, locked away somewhere. She never recognized anyone, not even Inu-Yasha. Kikyo even appeared once or twice, and Kagome didn't notice a thing. Everyone stood before her, hoping that they would jog her memory a bit. She didn't seem to remember at all. She didn't even remember her mom or grandpa or little Sota. She didn't think about it.

Inu-Yasha never went far from her side, doing things he used to, bringing out the Tetsusaiga out once or twice, hoping that would help. Every once in a while, she'd put her hand to her head, and if someone asked her what was wrong, she'd give them a strange answer. "I don't know. Images, strange images." She'd say, and that was it.

Inu-Yasha was tired. He'd spent the whole day trying to get Kagome to remember things. It seemed that she remembered things better around Inu-Yasha, though no one knew why. Inu-Yasha had no idea either, but he didn't care.

Kagome had once told Grandpa Myoga all about her friend that had forgotten everything. She'd called it 'amnesia'. Anyway, this friend couldn't remember anything. Kagome apparently was really good friends with this girl. So she tried everything to restore this girl's memory. Nothing worked. Eventually the girl had seen someone or something like that and she'd had something called 'total recall'. Kagome said that was when someone remembered everything after having amnesia.

Inu-Yasha was hoping that something like that would happen to Kagome. She seemed to be remembering things, but the memories were coming very slowly. From what the girl said, the memories were truly no more than images, and every once in a while a series of images in sequence. She said that this kind was much like watching a 'movie', whatever that was.

But as long as she remembered something, it didn't matter.

He was exhausted, and his body screamed for rest. Although he'd trained himself to ignore the signals his body gave him, he relented this once. Climbing up in a tree, he leaned up against the cool bark, feeling the wood beneath his back. I'll only sleep an hour, he thought. An hour; no more. He drifted off to sleep quickly.

Five hours later, Sango was sitting on Kilala, searching the woods surrounding the village. She had a very concerned look on her face. It was getting dark. That was bad. Kagome sat behind her, her arms around Sango's waist in a death-grip. But Sango did comment. After all, she mused, still searching for the half-demon. To Kagome, this is the first time she's ever ridden on Kilala.

A wave of sadness rolled over Sango. Kagome and her used to be almost best friends. Now Kagome could barely remember who Sango was. And Shippo was taking the memory loss hard too, spending almost all his time with Kagome, playing and just chatting in general.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, glancing at the demon exterminator. "What are we looking for?"

"It's the new moon tonight," Sango said. She saw something flicker in Kagome's face and she waited, hoping something would happen.

Kagome could see a blurry Inu-Yasha saying something about the new moon. He looked worried. Then everything slid back into focus, and Kagome was staring at Sango's back.

"Something really bad happens during the new moon, right?" she asked. "Something we don't want to happen?"

"Well," Sango replied. "Inu-Yasha doesn't want it to happen. It'll happen no matter what we do, but we need to find him. If he's left outside during the new moon…or even inside…" Kagome saw Sango shudder. "It'll be bad for everyone."

"What will happen?" Kagome asked, wondering. After all, Inu-Yasha was a demon right? No, a tiny voice said from the back of her mind. He's a half-demon.

Sango looked around at her. "He'll turn into a human," she said simply.

"Inu-Yasha!"

The voice filtered through the said half-demons dreams. He slowly woke up, annoyed. I'm going to kill her, her thought as he slipped down thorough the trees. As he hit the ground, he realized that it was just getting to be dark. And he realized with a shock what cycle the moon would be on. He mentally cursed himself for forgetting. And then the change started. His hair turned black, ears shrunk, fangs and claws receded, eyes dulled from brilliant gold to a gray. He pounded the ground in frustration. It was then that his normal, human ears heard the sound of something coming through the trees, yelling his name. Inu-Yasha thought it was Sango, but he wasn't sure. So he hid behind a tree and waited.

Sure enough, Sango came rushing in on Kilala, and Kagome was there too. He walked out and stood sulkily staring at them. Sango eventually convinced him to ride on Kilala. She made him get between her and Kagome. Mostly because her ribs felt broken, but also because she wanted Kagome to see the difference.

Mercifully for Inu-Yasha, Kagome didn't mention his change, only mused about it in her head.

While everyone else was sleeping, Inu-Yasha stayed awake. He hardly ever slept as a human, it didn't feel right. Someone stirred, and Kagome sat up, then turned around and looked right at Inu-Yasha. He motioned for her to sit next to him, something that she did. She was obviously still half-asleep, and she leaned against Inu-Yasha. He moved his arm so she could be more comfortable, and it somehow ended up on her shoulder.

"Inu-Yasha…" Kagome murmured. "I'm sorry I don't remember anything…"

"It's all right." he said, feeling bad that she felt she should apologize. "It's not really your fault, anyway."

Kagome laid her head on his shoulder. "I know…but Shippo said that we used to really like each other."

Inu-Yasha's heartbeat sped up. "Yeah, we were good friends," he broke off.

"Mm-hmm. I still like you, though. It's weird, but your name is the easiest to remember. And your sword…the Tetsusaiga…you had to fight your brother for it, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"His name was…" Kagome struggled to remember. "Shesshaumaru."

"Yes. See, Kagome, you remember some things."

"Yes…" she said, barely awake. Within seconds, she was completely asleep. Inu-Yasha blinked but didn't move. He didn't move even when the sun rose and he became, once again, a half-demon. Miroku awoke first and smiled at Kagome and Inu-Yasha. Inu-Yasha normally would have to him to shut up, but he had fallen asleep shortly after regaining his demon-hood. Miroku stayed near them and told Sango and Shippo to stay quiet, that the two were sleeping. All three inched out of the hut, trying not to wake the other two.