Hey guys, I'm sorry for how late all of my updates have been, but I haven't gotten much writing done on this fic lately, and with what I have, I wanted to make updates few and far between, but I promise I'll finish it! Thank you for your continuing interest in this story! Enjoy!

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InuYasha had been sitting by the well all night, and it was nearly morning, but the sun had not yet risen. He had managed to get very little sleep but was remaining vigilant of his surroundings. Just as he was about to fall back to a light sleep, he caught the scent of someone familiar.

Looking up and around him he saw the figure of a priestess coming towards him.

"Kikyo?" InuYasha stood up and watched as the woman approached within a few feet from him.

"You have spent much time at this well... What are you waiting on?" The priestess asked.

"I-uh... I'm just waiting for someone to return..." InuYasha said realizing that he had a thousand things to tell her and didn't know where to start.

"Something ails you, am I correct?" The woman noticed the look on InuYasha's face.

"Yeah... um... I guess I need to talk to you about... some things..." the dog demon could face demons that could wipe out entire villages with no problem, but facing Kikyo was a task that he would rather have not done.

"I met someone the other day… She seemed to remind me a lot of you..." Kikyo decided to say what he needed her to hear.

"What? You mean you... you know?" InuYasha was shocked to say the least.

"We met a few days ago... She didn't tell me exactly who she was, but she told me her name, and of what origin she was... Somehow, I knew that she was a part of you," she confirmed InuYasha's thoughts.

InuYasha wasn't sure how to respond to this. He looked to the ground.

"Is that who you're waiting for?" Kikyo then asked.

"Well... yes... She went back to her own time to do some things, and we're worried about her...I'm waiting for her to return," he said in a small voice.

Kikyo gave a half smile and turned. She looked back at the boy and said, "She will return, I have no doubt about that..." and then she was gone.

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"He could probably pick up on mom and dad's scent too. Poor guy, my parents were his family too..." Kaede thought.

She sat up slowly, her ribs feeling ten times better than they had before. She reached forward and gently shook Shippo's shoulder in an attempt to wake him.

"Shippo... Hey, Shippo," she said quietly.

The boy mumbled in his sleep and his eyes cracked open just a hair.

"Come on, wake up! We've got to get going," Kaede continued to try and rouse the boy from sleep.

Shippo's eyes shot open and he quickly jumped up to his feet.

"Where is he?! Where's Naraku?!" he shouted frantically.

Kaede giggled at the boy and he turned to her and said, "What are you laughing at?!"

"You're more paranoid than me!" she laughed again.

Shippo didn't have much else to do but laugh a little along with the girl.

After they had a good laugh, Kaede stood up and said, "Well, how are you feeling?"

Shippo stretched and twisted and smiled saying, "Wow! Your medicines really did the trick!"

Kaede smiled and said, "Great! Let's get going!"

Kaede left the room and Shippo then realized what he had gotten himself into. He had already promised Kaede that she could go as long as he had gone with her. So, now, he knew that there was no way of talking her out of going.

"I may have taken one hit for her... But if she continues to stay here she may have the run in with death that was supposed to happen anyway..." Shippo thought in a deep worry.

"Are you coming?! Or am I going without you?!" Kaede yelled from the bottom of the stairs as she gathered her things.

Shippo was shaken out of his thoughts and yelled, "Don't even think of stepping foot outside of this house without me!"

He ran down the stairs and into the sitting room where his own kimono top was lying next to the, now, dead fire. He quickly threw it on and tied it and then sprinted to the back door where the girl had just finished gathering her items.

"Let's go!" Kaede said confidently with a smile as she turned and walked out of the back door.

Shippo smiled along with the girl and strolled outside as well, both of them looking up at the bright, blue sky.

"Wow, it's looks really nice here! It's been a while since I've seen this place in the light of day instead of under a cloud of darkness..." Kaede said with a half smile looking back to Shippo, who was also amazed at the surroundings.

Kaede looked to Shippo and said, "Well, we're never going to find Sota by staring at the scenery!"

As Kaede walked away Shippo walked to her quickly and blocked her for a moment.

"What is it?" she asked as she stopped and looked up at his serious face.

"I just want to make sure that you want to do this. That you know how dangerous it will be and that you know how against this I am..." Shippo said firmly.

Kaede sighed and looked up at the boy saying, "I'm sure I want to do this. Yes, I know how dangerous it could get, and I'm more than fully aware about how against this you are, okay?! Can we go now?"

Shippo put his hands down from blocking Kaede's way and stepped aside as she strolled by him quickly. He watched her walk away and wondered what was going to happen next.

"Come on! Stop wasting time!" Kaede yelled as she started to sprint away.


"InuYasha really did a good job at passing down his impatient gene..."
Shippo thought as he sprinted off after the girl.

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Speaking of impatient demons, a certain dog demon on the other side of the well was still at his post, unmoving. Kagome had gotten worried about him as well and decided to go wait with him. She walked through the forest alone and finally saw the wooden well, as well as InuYasha. The boy looked up and saw the sight of the girl walking towards him and stood up.

"What are you doing out here?" InuYasha asked, concerned.

"I wanted to see if there was any sign of Kaede yet, and I was wondering when you would be coming back to the village," Kagome replied as she approached with a worried look on her face.

"Well, she hasn't come back yet. I don't even smell a faint scent of her through the well, so I know she's not nearby..." he said looking back at the well.

"And?" Kagome asked with a raised eyebrow.

The demon looked back at her and said, "Yeah, I guess I could go back to the village to wait..."

"Good!" Kagome said with a slightly raised spirit.

She grabbed the boy by the hand and started walking towards the village once again. As she pulled on InuYasha, he noticed something. Her face was pale, and he could smell a sort of sickness from her. As she walked, she started to slow down and her grip on his hand started to loosen.

"Kagome?" he asked worried.

Just as he thought that she was going to answer him, she fainted and started to fall to the ground, only causing him to rush to her and catch her.

"Kagome!" he yelled, holding her close.

After having rushed her back to the village, the others gathered around the girl, who was sleeping soundly by a fire.

"We should have seen this coming..." Miroku said quietly.

"What do ye mean?" old Kaede said as she sat down.

"Kagome has been worried, almost non-stop about young Kaede, and now that she's decided to go back to her own time for a while, it has Kagome even more worried. Just like the rest of us, she has no idea what kind of dangers are lurking in the future and she has felt helpless. InuYasha waiting by the well hasn't helped much either," he explained.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" InuYasha asked furious that Miroku would suggest that he was the cause of the girl's illness.

"Calm down, all I mean to say is that Kagome sees you as the strong one. And because you've been sitting by the well, worried about your daughter, it made Kagome a little less strong, and the stresses of worrying didn't help her sickness," Miroku tried to keep the peace with InuYasha.

"So what's going to happen to Kagome?" Shippo asked sadly.

"Well I would imagine seeing Kaede come back without harm would help her greatly, but for now, all we can do is try and help her get better," Miroku said crossing his arms and looking into the fire.

InuYasha sat down next to his Kagome and thought

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"What is it?" he asked.

"Well I... I thought I could smell Naraku..." she said confused.

"Naraku? But I thought your friend told you that he wasn't in this era anymore?" Shippo asked sarcastically.

Kaede scoffed and turned away, "I didn't' say that I trusted her completely, I was just following a lead, that's all... Besides, the smell was just there and now it's gone, so I'm not sure what to think now..."

"You shouldn't have listened to Kagura in the first place! That's what you should be thinking!" Shippo said confidently crossing his arms.

Kaede glared at the fox demon and then turned away and sprinted off in a new direction. Shippo watched her for a second and thought that maybe he had crossed the line a little but he continued to follow her.

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Chapter Teaser for next time!

Sota growled angrily at Jake and said, "Now do you see what you've done?! It's taken her so long to even show a smile and now this!"

Just then, the ground began to rumble and Sota's mind started to race.

"What is this?!" Jaken yelled, holding onto his staff for balance.

Rin ran from the cottage looking around for Sota and Jaken.

"Sota! What is this?!" Rin yelled as she approached the two.

"I'm not sure! Rin, take Jaken and hide in the caves!" Sota ordered.

"No one's going anywhere!" an evil and familiar voice cast upon the three as the demon showed itself.

"Naraku!" Jaken shouted.

"So this is where you have been hiding for so long!" he said as he rose above them.

"You have been wise to elude me for these years! But now that I have found you, I have a use for you!" the demon said with an evil grin.

Sota stepped forward, motioning for Rin and Jaken to leave quickly and said, "And what is it that you'll be using us for?!"

"I need to draw InuYasha's daughter out of hiding, and you'll be the perfect bait!"

Rin and Jaken took heade to Sota's motionings and they turned and ran from the clearing.