Authors note: Hey guys! I'm glad I got so many nice reviews about chapter 15! I've had to type this at school while my teachers weren't looking, so it's been hard to do. This chapter has a lot of blood sweat and tears put into it! (No blood or tears actually…) So I hope you guys all appreciate it!

Well, here's 16!

(Begin)

It was night-time when Inuyasha stepped out in the cold night air, looking outside while kagome was pulling on her shoes.

He didn't like it… The night was too quiet, and the air smelled like it was going to rain. He had sensed this earlier, and voiced his concerns to kagome, but she had responded with a worried look toward the door.

Worrying her was the last thing that the hanyou wanted to do, he was only worried about her… Although, when kagome had told him about shippo, kilala, souta and kagome's mom being missing, he was almost as upset as she was.

Although he didn't show it…

"Inuyasha! I'll be out in a few minutes, the phone rang!" He grunted loudly to show that he had heard, even though he still had no idea what a 'phone' was.

His glance stole over to the place beyond the sacred tree, where he had been sealed and kept in torment for 500 years.

Walking rather stiffly in the 'jeans' kagome had given him, he carefully made his way down the grassy slope, careful not to misplace anything in this sacred place, where kagome had found him again.

He tugged roughly at his shirt, not liking the uncomfortable feeling of closeness that constantly annoyed him. The jeans and shoes weren't much better….

The only shoes she had been able to find that fit his rather large feet, were work boots, which were heavy, and didn't allow him to move as quickly as he usually did.

There was a patch of dirt that inuyasha knew was familiar, it had been where he was frozen. His golden orbs traced over the patch of grass that still had a little of kagome's blood on it.

He wished that it wasn't hers, but actually his. He wished that she wouldn't have had to bleed to save him from the hell he had lived.

Inuyasha remembered the look of shock, as she clutched her side in pain, when he had first been able to look at her. He remembered it, and he hated seeing it in his dreams.

It reminded him of a look that only one other woman had given him, a look that had haunted him for over 51 years, and beyond. Kikyo was sure to be dead; her body would have deteriorated from times grasp on it.

But he still felt sorry that she had to die because of him…

Kagome was a second chance to make things right, and to do things right… He was sure that he would do anything to keep himself from screwing up. After all, she was the second person to ever give him a chance…

Being half-demon and all…

"Inuyasha?" Her voice jerked him out of his stupor, as he looked up toward her house.

He moved quickly up the hill, as not to scare her by being missing too.

"You ready to go?" He grunted and looked at her through silver bangs.

"Mm hmm" She looked down and searched through her bag, making sure she had the keys to the house.

She walked forward and smiled, taking his arm and leading him toward the stairs from the shrine.

Kagome shivered, Inuyasha had been right… This night was way too creepy to be remotely safe… But she didn't care; her family, demons included, were somewhere out there, and she would find them if it killed her. Though she was sure that Inuyasha would have a thing or two to say about that…

The both of them descended down the many steps leading down to the street below the higurashi shrine.

"So kagome, if we don't find your family tonight, can we make a quick stop at a ramen stand or something?" Inuyasha asked carefully, watching her eyes to judge her reaction.

"I though you just ate… I made up some ramen, and I turned away for a minute, and then when I turned back, it was gone." She looked suspiciously at Inuyasha, as he gave her an innocent look that she somehow didn't buy.

"Well see…" She looked ahead and ignored his pleading look, like a parent would their young child.

The hanyou gave up on begging, looking ahead to scan the streets for any sign of anything out of the ordinary.

"So where do we start?"

"Well, I was thinking that we would look where ever you and I have been in the past" Kagome shrugged against him and shivered from the cold, turning her eyes on him in humility.

He tugged her against him and dropped her hand, only to wrap his arm around her waist to give her some of his warmth.

"I guess… but we can't stay out too long, I don't want you getting sick." He looked away cautiously to avoid her gaze, but tightened his hold on her. She looked away into the black oblivion that was the night.

"Why… So I can cook ramen for you when you want me to?" She voiced her dejected thought, and then cringed because of how bitter it sounded.

Inuyasha looked at her, and then grinned to himself, looking away again.

"Well… that's not the biggest reason, but I guess you could say that." He playfully smirked in an effort to get her mind off of the thoughts that kept kagome sad; he wasn't that good at it, so he didn't expect her to react.

Kagome bit her lip, and smiled a little at the hanyou, aware of his efforts to cheer her up. Actually, she was touched that he was even trying to better her feelings.

She shook her head; she couldn't spend her time like this…. She had to concentrate on her family.

Inuyasha sniffed the air cautiously, searching for some sort of clue as to where the stupid witch was.

Suddenly, he did smell something; something that he knew couldn't be good…

"Kagome…" His voice suddenly low, and laced with danger, he looked at her and then looked at a building that was off to the side.

"Get somewhere safe, this isn't going to be a picnic."

Kagome smiled a little, despite her situation, it felt just like old times. She was half expecting markup to step in front of her and sago, and reinforce inuyasha's orders.

She quickly retreated to the side, and clasped her hands anxiously.

But there was a question that still lingered in her mind, where were they? Sango and miroku had to be somewhere around. If they had found shippo and kilala, then anything was possible.

Maybe they had reincarnations; it was always possible to think. After all, kagome had to guess that they hadn't ended life in a way that was too happy or cheerful. If she knew her life by now, they were killed by the witch in cold blood. Leaving shippo and kilala to raise their many children. And so… possibly, their line could still survive…

Although she didn't know how the groping thing would work out, if sango and miroku were somehow related. If they even existed anymore…

Inuyasha stood in the middle of the deserted street, waiting for whatever was coming. Heavy footsteps gradually got loud enough for both inuyasha and kagome to hear.

"Inuyasha! Be careful!" The priestess called to him, as he gave her a glance and a wary smile.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared behind some a construction site, a growling sound could be heard with the footsteps. It stepped into the light of the streetlights, and growled again.

'What!' Kagome thought, 'Is that a bear demon, or are my eyes weirding out?'

It was a bear demon, and it was currently barreling toward inuyasha, who stared and readied his claws. Suddenly… Kagome wished that the tetsusaiga was still strapped on his waist.

"Demon! I shall slay you with my sutras!"

"Roku! Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

Kagome gasped, not believing her ears… what… How could… It wasn't…

"Sanga, stay out of this!"

"No way, I'm not letting you risk your life for no good reason!"

Kagome turned, her eyes spying two figures; one in a simple priests robe, and the other in jeans and a t-shirt. But their faces were completely… Kagome couldn't find the word… Familiar?

The monk eyed her, a confused look on his face.

"My dear, you must clear out of here, a demon is on the loose! Go somewhere and await me to find you and get your number." Yep it was miroku alright.

"Roku!" All of the sudden, the young man who resembled miroku was smacked hard on the head, and promptly fell on the ground with a thud.

"I'm really sorry about him!" The girl allegedly named sanga bowed slightly and gave kagome an apologetic smile.

"He's my boyfriend, and I guess he just can't seem to stop hitting on girls." She sighed tiredly, as kagome looked back to see inuyasha injure the bear demon across the shoulder blade.

She turned back to the girl who was staring intently at her with a curious expression gracing her face.

"Do I… Do I know you, from somewhere or something? I feel like I've met you before." The girl furrowed her eyebrows.

"You and your companion, are you in league with demons? Any normal human would have run away from a bear demon long ago."

Kagome smiled at her friends reincarnation, "No… me and inuyasha are fighting demons to find some people that were kidnapped."

"Oh…" She nodded and then looked toward the ensuing battle.

The bear demon fell with a heavy thud, it eyes finally closing as the throes of death finally took it. Inuyasha simply wiped hid bloody hands on the jeans that kagome had bought him. She glared at him with an angry look, as he simply innocently looked away.

"Who are they…?" He eyed sanga and the unconscious roku, his eyes widening in recognition and looking into mine for just a few seconds to see kagomes reaction.

Sanga bent down and smacked the monk lightly on the cheek to wake him up, as he came to, he looked up at sanga and smiled lightly.

"Ah… the beautiful face of my sexy sanga."

The girl looked up at kagome and shrugged.

"My name is sanga, and he's roku. He's a priest, and I'm a slayer of sorts." She stood up and closed her eyes, folding her arms across her chest as roku stood up.

"We're hunting a demon witch, who killed many people back 400 years ago, she has recently resurfaced."

Kagome nodded, "She kidnapped my family just a few days ago."

"Well… we are currently traveling to find her, we have no place to stay, so that's why we saw the demon and came running behind you guys."

Kagome looked at inuyasha, thinking of an idea that she knew he would hate. He looked at her and furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head and mouthing 'no'.

"Listen…" Kagome started to say, as both sanga and roku looked at her intently.

"No way kagome!"

"Why are you being so difficult? There's no problem with it!"

"There is! Because I have a problem with it!"

Kagome growled, surprising both the hanyou and the other two reincarnations.

"You guys are following us home, okay!" She said huffily to sanga and roku.

Without a word, kagome walked stuffily back the way her and inuyasha had come. All of the others followed, Inuyasha catching up with her with an angry look on his face.

"Kagome." He hissed.

"What?" She hissed back, although any real venom was lost in the tired look in her eyes. Seeing that look, inuyasha decided to calm his approach down. He felt like complete trash because HE had made her feel that way, he was guessing.

"Listen… I'm sorry about frustrating you… But I have a good reason for disagreeing with you about them…" She looked at him again, an eyebrow raised and a slight smile on her face. It sort of erased the tired look, and inuyasha liked the feeling that the smile gave.

"You really are changed inuyasha, you know that? You're more sensitive now… To a point."

Inuyasha made a face, why was she suddenly happy though… He had once heard something about it from miroku, something called a "mood swing". Seemed a little strange though, that only girls got them…

"Yeah… well… If we let them come stay with us… They'll always be bugging us and stuff. We'll never get time to be by ourselves."

"Implying something, Inuyasha?"

"No, I just… I want to spend time with you, more often… than I have been… anyway." He nervously pulled on his collar and looked away from her.

But she smiled at him again, taking his arm and leaning against it, with a contented sigh.

"If that was all… than you should have said so..."

"Next time I will… hopefully."

(End)

Authors note: I know, I know it's been a while! But, at least I got a chapter done. And guess what!

I have another song recommendation for you guys!

I recommend the song "missing" by evanescence, and another song called "breathe no more" by the same band. If you don't have the cd, you can go ahead and go to their website to listen to it. And, yes! I brought back sango and miroku! I'll delve into their story more next chapter, so look for it, kay?

Please, tell me what you think, and what you would like to see in terms of kagome and inuyasha and their relationship. I also would like a few idea's for stories that you guys want written out. If you give me the idea, you will be mentioned in the story as the original creator. So, please let me know!

Read and review!