Shippou made it all the way to late afternoon before he completely lost his patience with Inuyasha. Sango was impressed, really. That was a long time for him—or anyone, really—to put up with Inuyasha's foolishness.

She only wished he had waited to do it until she was finished changing the bandages on Miroku's arm. And until she had made her escape into the comparatively peaceful outdoors.

Alas, he reached his limit while she was still working. "Inuyasha, you're a real bastard, you know," he began, having cornered the hanyou while he was resting in one corner of Kaede's hut. "You get mad at Kagome just because she gets along with Kouga, but now you're getting back together with Kikyou?"

That explained the sudden lack of patience. The monk must have told him about Kikyou and Inuyasha. The moment Shippou felt Kagome was being slighted, he went on the attack on her behalf. It would have been cute if it wasn't so loud.

To Miroku, she said, "Is that really all there is to it? Inuyasha has made up his mind, and that's the end of it…"

Just when she had begun to feel like she could really become a part of this group, it started falling apart. It was the last thing she wanted to happen, but she had no idea how to stop it. She couldn't change the pair's feelings, or make them any less stubborn.

Feeling miserably uncertain, she finished wrapping the bandages around Miroku's arm and began to clean up her supplies.

The monk wasted no time in turning to Inuyasha. "Go see Kagome," he ordered.

Inuyasha groaned. "Not this crap again. I already decided I'm not going back to see Kagome again." He started off sounding almost like his normal, irritable self, but by the time he finished it was clear he was anything but his normal self. He sounded almost melancholy, like he might regret his decision.

Miroku, however, had no intention of letting this go so easily. He stormed over to where Inuyasha was resting and kicked the hanyou soundly on the head. Sango winced, but it didn't seem to bother Inuyasha much.

"You've got the wrong idea," Miroku told him. He took a less violent approach now, dropping into a crouch so he could address Inuyasha on the same level. "I'm telling you to go get the Shikon jewel shards Kagome took through the well with her. None of the rest of us can go through the well. Only you can."

The monk's vehement tone took Inuyasha aback, and he wasn't the only one. Sango had to ask, "Just the jewel shards?"

"Don't you even care what happens to Kagome?" Shippou demanded.

"It can't be helped," Miroku said, as if this were already determined and there was no sense being upset about it. "Inuyasha has chosen Kikyou. It would be cruel to ask Kagome to come back and face such a thing."

It was about then that Sango realized what he was doing: giving Inuyasha another reason to go through the well and face Kagome, one that didn't involve an apology or reconciliation, but didn't rule out that option, either. A clever approach like this one just might work, even with someone as stubborn as Inuyasha.

Miroku let it go at that, rejoining Sango and Shippou near the hearth. Shippou, however, was not pleased. "How can you say something like that, Miroku? Don't you want Kagome to come back?"

"We need to consider what is best for Kagome," the monk told him.

Behind him, Inuyasha got up and silently drifted out of the hut. With any luck, the monk's words would finally spur him to do what needed to be done.

All Sango could do at this point was hope.