Sango was beginning to wonder if this would happen every time she stayed with Kaede: the fear that this time Kagome had left for good, and that the group that had become so precious to her would fall apart before her very eyes. She didn't just rely on Inuyasha and the others to help in battle, she needed their help in order to avenge the people of her village. She could not succeed without them. Worse, without them she would be left to face the yawning gulf of her loneliness and sorrow all on her own.
And besides, it just seemed wrong to see Kagome and Inuyasha so frequently part ways on bad terms. It was obvious the two did care for each other. At least, it was obvious to Sango. It was apparently anything but obvious to them.
She was still sitting in Kaede's hut long after Inuyasha and Miroku had departed, having been examined to Kaede's satisfaction, when Shippou came wandering over. He'd been gone since shortly after Kagome departed; Sango assumed he had escorted Kagome to the well and was only returning now that Kagome was gone. Kirara looked up as he approached, but curled back into a ball when she saw it was only Shippou.
He sat down not far from Sango and said, "Are you okay? You look sad today." Leave it to a child to be so direct.
She tried to smile reassuringly. "Just hoping Kagome comes back quickly, that's all."
Shippou looked concerned. "Do you want to go running off again right away like Inuyasha?"
This time she did manage to smile. "Not quite like Inuyasha. I'm more worried that one day he'll act like such a jerk that she won't ever be able to forgive him, and we'll never see her again."
"She's so patient and all he ever does is take advantage of it." He was really taking this separation hard. Sango felt a little sorry for him. She might be worried, but she wasn't that worried… yet.
"I think she'll come back this time," she told him, taking care to sound more certain than she felt. "It's just a matter of when."
"I bet she'll be back before we know it!" Shippou chirped, suddenly more cheerful than gloomy. He sounded so certain about it that she wondered if he knew something she didn't.
"I hope so, since we have to deal with Inuyasha in the meantime."
"Yeah, who'd want to spend a lot of time with Inuyasha without her?"
She nodded in agreement, but her heart wasn't in it. It wasn't Inuyasha's gruff demeanor that was the problem, though she could admit that Kagome was a helpful buffer for the worst of his temper. It was the deliberate lack of empathy he sometimes displayed that concerned her. There was no real reason for it, as far as she could tell, yet he persisted. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to drive them away.
As a hanyou, his life must have been difficult in the past. He did not speak of it, but he was unlikely to have found acceptance from human or youkai communities as he grew up. Outside his family, he would never have quite belonged anywhere. And considering his brother, perhaps he had never fit in even with his family. She supposed those difficulties had shaped the way he responded to people—including his annoyed disbelief when Kagome had pointed out that his circle of friends was growing. Maybe he felt like he had to push everyone away before he got hurt again.
She hoped that one day he would learn they were stronger as a group. They all needed each other, and he especially needed Kagome. The sooner he figured that out, the better.