A/N: I'm so sorry it has taken me forever to update this chapter. I just couldn't figure out how to get Kagome and Inuyasha to meet again. I hope it turns out alright. It's not romantic or anything. Sorry again. But meeting someone again, usually isn't romantic. It's kind of just fate.

Thank you everyone for reviewing and reading. I need ideas and comments. I had my story planned out pretty well… up until this point, that is. I hope you like it. Next chapter is going to be interesting. I can feel it… that's because Kagome and Inuyasha are back together, but other than that I really don't know what is going to happen. Okay, I'm rambling. I hope you enjoy it! Read!

Chapter Nineteen

It Couldn't Have Been a Better Restaurant

Kagome left Sango and Miroku to return home. She walked tiredly to her room, but then noticed that Kaede's room shone light beneath the door.

She knocked before entering. "It's Kagome," she whispered, so none of the lodgers that night would be woken.

"Come in," Kaede said simply. Her aunt was sitting on one of the chairs of the small table that lay in the middle of her room. She was holding onto a red blanket… there were tears in her eyes.

"Sit down, Kagome. There are some things that I think you are old enough to know now." She obeyed and sat down beside her. Kagome looked at the cloth carefully. She didn't remember ever seeing it before. It looked old, but it was still very beautiful in its design.

Kaede examined Kagome over carefully before beginning. "This cloth was all you had on you when I go you on my doorstep nineteen years ago."

Kagome at first couldn't comprehend what Kaede had said. "Your doorstep? But you said that…"

"I know what I told you before. I had lied all those times. I didn't want you to question me on who your parents were and leave me to find them. I had treated and cared for you as if you were my own daughter. I didn't want to let you go. There was no note on you -nothing that could trace you back to who your parents could be."

Kagome hugged Kaede. "I will always love you, Aunt Kaede. I saw you as my mother. I would never leave you in order to find my parents. Never. My parents must not have loved me if they left me on your doorstep. You're the one that has loved me for all those years. And I… will always love you."

Kaede's tears that she was holding in fell from her eyes when she heard this. "My dear Kagome… you're not mad at me from lying to you for all these years?"

Kagome wasn't mad at Kaede. All her questions that she wanted to know for so long were now answered. It was more of a sense of relief. She would never have to wonder again why Kaede would not want to talk about her parents. "No, of course not."

Kaede smiled slightly. "I would like to give you this," she handed Kagome the red silky cloth. "This is your last connection to your parents aside from the two set of teeth marks they left you. If you ever want to find your parents… I would understand."

For as long as Kagome could remember she had wanted a mom and a dad like all the other kids in the city. She wanted to be like them. Now she was given a chance to find them. She wouldn't leave Kaede. She just wanted to see who they were… and especially why they had abandoned her.

She took the cloth in her hand. It was small, made to wrap a baby with. The design was elaborate, all done with gold thread.

"I… I would like to find them. Ask them some questions… But I don't want to be their daughter. I want to live with you and no one else. You're the only one that I will ever consider family."

Kaede nodded her head understandingly. "You were so young when I found you, probably only a couple days old. Both your arms were bleeding from the bites and you were just crying." The memories seemed to rushing back to Kaede as if these incidents had only happened yesterday.

Kagome hardly could take in all this information.

"You better go to bed now," she continued, "It's very late. I was up waiting for you to return."

Kagome stood up, about to leave, until she remembered. "Aunt Kaede, I was going to tell you that I'm going to go with Sango and Miroku to the Forbidden Palace."

"What for?" Kaede's eyes widen, her mood had changed completely. The Forbidden Palace was definitely not a place where anyone could come and go as they wished.

"Mr. Matsuo was taken there tonight."

"How do you know this?" Kaede voice sounded tense.

"Sango and Miroku had broken into the jail tonight. They were going to break him out, but he wasn't there. Also, Kouga was out tonight taking a carriage headed for the palace."

"Mr. Matsuo is innocent. I know that for a fact," Kaede thought for a moment to either let Kagome go or not, and after some hesitation, she said, "You may go to the palace to help Sango, but I warn you to be very careful. Don't trust anyone, but Sango and Miroku. I trust that you will be old enough to decide where to go with your life now."

Kagome nodded her head. "I will."

"And about Inuyasha… when will you two be married."

"I don't know. He has some things to do up north."

"Will you be leaving in the morning?" Kaede didn't want Kagome to leave her, but she knew that Kagome needed to help Sango.

Kagome nodded again. "I will back as soon as I can. I promise," she said reassuringly.

"Go to bed. Get the rest you need for the journey tomorrow. I will be okay here. Don't worry about me." Kaede put on a smile for Kagome.

&

The queen lay in her chamber, tossing and turning in her sleep.

She was walking through a forest. "Kikyo," she called. There was fog all around her and she couldn't find her lost child.

Suddenly, Suga's wife, Michiko, appeared in front of her. "Give me my child back!" she screamed at the queen.

"No… I can't." The queen was shaking. "I want to see my daughter… Where is she?"

Michiko let out a wicked laugh. "What have you done? I have treated your child with nothing but kindness. Where is my Kikyo?"

Kikyo then appeared behind Michiko. "Kikyo, there you are. I was so worried about you."

"Mother…" Kikyo said looking confused at Michiko.

Michiko pulled out a dagger and lifted it to the air aiming straight for Kikyo's heart.

Before the end of the dream, the queen sat up in her bed and screamed. Sweat drops fell from her forehead. "Kikyo…" she breathed heavily, "What did I do nineteen years ago?" And her held her face in her hands and cried.

&

At sun rise, Kaede stood outside to see Kagome, Sango, and Miroku go.

"Bye Aunt Kaede. Take care!" Kagome hollered one last time.

Kaede waved back and said something inaudibly. Kagome turned facing away from her aunt. "I'll be back, don't worry," she wanted to tell Kaede.

She repositioned herself on the back of Sango's horse. Miroku was riding just to their right. "What is your plan once we get there?" she asked Sango.

"My father used to be close friends with an official named Suga. I have heard from my father that he has moved his way up the ladder in the palace and now stands as one of the most trusted officials in the palace. I was thinking of… of asking him for help, but the thing is… I've never met him before in my life. My father and Suga were friends throughout college and had gone through studying for the examinations together. After my dad had settled now, Suga had left for the palace. My dad hasn't seen him since."

Sango's plan seemed far and out of reach. Without knowing how Suga even looks like, how were they supposed to convince him to help them?

"Sango, I hate to break this to you," Miroku spoke, "but how are we even supposed to find Suga once we arrive there? Officials don't usually live within the palace -" He was about to continue, but Sango interrupted him.

"We will find Suga or else I'm not coming back."

Miroku and Kagome both nodded their heads slightly. They didn't want to make the situation any worse by talking about it.

"Come on, we have to pick the pace if we want to get there before dark." Sango hit her horse harder than she intended to and they launched forward. Kagome, taken by surprise, grabbed quickly onto Sango's waist and let go for her wrapped belongs.

The contents fell and spilt to the ground. "Stop, Sango!" Kagome cried.

Miroku dismounted first and picked up her clothes that had fallen out. Kagome hastily grabbed her red blanket and brushed the dirt from it. She held it closely to her chest. It was her very last connection to her parents.

"What's that?" Sango asked, indicating the blanket.

Kagome didn't know where to start. "This… this was the blanket that was wrapped around me when I was found on my aunt's front step."

She paused a moment, letting the information sink in. Everything that Kaede had told her the previous night seemed to be resounding in her ears right now. Kaede was not her real aunt and her parents might still be alive and well today, but they had left her. They had not wanted her. This hurt Kagome the most deeply. She was just a newborn, what had she done that had ever made her parents want to leave her?

Ever since she was a young child, she had wanted to be like the other kids- to have a mother and a father, but she didn't have that and believed for so long that her parents had loved her and had died and under the circumstances given her to Kaede to care for. But this was all a fake image that Kaede had drawn for her.

Sango was the first to speak again, "Kagome… did you just find out?"

"Kaede told me last night. She doesn't know who my parents are." Kagome eyes were sad. They looked distant and they didn't have the beautiful gleam in it that it typically did.

"Are you going to try to find them?" Miroku asked taking a closer look at cloth.

"How am I supposed to? I just have this," Kagome said in frustration. "I want to… but it's just an impossible task."

Sango bit her lip, thinking. "Maybe some of the tailor shops might know about this piece of cloth. It looks unique. It doesn't seem that ordinary and untraceable. You can find them… if you really put your heart into it."

"But do I really want to find them and meet them?" Kagome couldn't figure out if she would truly want to find them. "They left me just as a baby. What kind of parents would ever do that to their child?" Kagome looked from Miroku to Sango. "Let's go, we better hurry." She picked up the last of her things and tied up her bundle.

Sango and Miroku returned to their horses, not knowing what else to say of Kagome's situation.

&

Inuyasha rose to another day as emperor. He was still not very used to the idea. Everywhere he went people would bow down to him; it made him uncomfortable, but he couldn't stop them from doing so. Today, Inuyasha promised himself, would have to go better than it had yesterday. He had arranged a meeting with Suga and some other officials.

He would have to be able to get these men on his side. The night before, he had stayed up late and written out all his plans. They would be his goals for China and they would be the guiding force behind his rule.

Stretching before he got out bed, he called for Myoga. "Get me my robe. I want to start the meeting in about an hour." Myoga nodded and quickly ran to get the emperor his robe.

Soon, Inuyasha was sitting behind his study desk, facing five officials. "Good morning," Inuyasha started, his voice quavering a little. These men were about as old as his father and for them to listen to a nineteen year old… well, it would be a little awkward. "Yesterday, I did not get to finish my statement on my plans."

The officials nodded in agreement. It was odd for Sesshomaru to cut in that way. He didn't even give Inuyasha a chance.

Inuyasha took his plans that he had written and started to talk. This time no one was going to stop him. His point that he stressed the most was that the common people of China shall never have to pay taxes higher than the money that they earn from their jobs. He wanted everyone to bow down to him, but through respect not hate. Inuyasha wanted to make sure that everyone on his lands would be safe and properly feed. The wealth of the country is only determined by the wealth of your people, he believed. His next point was trade and relationship with out side countries. For many years, China had been very closed off. They had no records of any of the other countries. He wanted to change that. He was going to start building ships and starting a navy.

After he had finally finished, he looked up and stared straight into the eyes of his officials. He would have to learn to trust these men and these men would have to learn to be loyal and respect him. "Do you have anything to ask me?" he asked.

From the group, Suga was the first to speak. "Your highness," he began, his voice was deep and wise, "I am very happy to hear that you understand your position as emperor and take into the account of the welfare of the people of China. It is very rare to see that in a young man, but however, I do want to address the issue of forming a navy and relationships with other foreign nations. China has always thought of itself as very self-sufficient. We see ourselves as a strong power that does not need to have any help from the other powers. It would be a sign of weakness for us to go out and trade with others. We have learned to provide everything we need by ourselves; do you really see the need of building a navy?"

Inuyasha thought about the question carefully before answering. The people of China believed that they did not need any outside communication, but Inuyasha, on the other hand, viewed that any new knowledge worth learning could never be a negative aspect. "I believe that with our knowledge of the waters and new ideas from other countries would be of positive contributions to our society. The money needed to fund the research and equipment will not be small, but the outcomes will be far greater than the expenses."

Suga nodded, weighing the negative and positive aspects. The other officials turned to discuss the issue of a moment. The talked in soft whispers, not loud enough for Inuyasha to overhear.

After long consideration, the men turned back and agreed deeply to Inuyasha's plans. "We fully back these plans that you have discussed today." Suga spoke for the group.

Inuyasha grinned. He took his stamp and imprinted his signature on the plans. The signature was red and it looked magnificent beside his writing. "These plans will go into work starting today," Inuyasha said as his closing statement.

Myoga beamed at Inuyasha. The emperor had actually taken his ideas. After the men left, Inuyasha stretched out his hand behind his back and let out of long breath of relief. "I'm sure glad that was over."

"You did very well, your highness," Myoga complimented.

"Thanks to you," Inuyasha smiled. How could he ever thank Myoga enough? Without him, he didn't know what he would have done.

"It's my duty to serve you."

"Is there anything else I have to do today?"

Myoga scratched his head, trying to remember. "Oh yes. The queen has requested for you to have another dinner Kikyo, just the two of you. She said that you and Kikyo were having a really great connection last night and she didn't want you two to lose it because you hardly get to see her."

"What!" Inuyasha sat up straight in his chair totally outraged. "I will not have dinner with Kikyo. I don't want to marry her. She's just… just not the right one."

"Your highness…" Myoga sighed, "Is it Kagome-"

Inuyasha didn't even let Myoga finish. He didn't want anyone to think he might have any feelings for Kagome… if he even did have feelings at all for her. "No, I wasn't thinking of Kagome. Kagome and I never get along when I'm with her. I just haven't met the right girl for me." Inuyasha shook his head in frustration. "Let's stop talking about this. It gives me the goose bumps."

Myoga chuckled. "Okay, your highness…"

How was he supposed to get out of this dinner? "Myoga… what do you think-"

"Oh no…" Myoga could sense that this was going to be a bad idea. There was a gleam in his eye that always appeared when he was thinking of one of his great ideas, which usually ended in a big mess.

"I didn't finish yet," Inuyasha smiled. He had a great plan up his sleeve. "I just want to get out of this dinner. So…" he dragged out his words, "we should just sneak out and have dinner in the city."

"I knew it wasn't going to be good." Myoga shook his head.

"Tell the queen that after the meeting I didn't feel well and will have to be in bed for the rest of the day. We can sneak on a carriage. I have the golden seal. None of the guards will stop you if you show them that. I'll hide in the back and you can drive." Inuyasha crossed his arms, amazed at himself of coming up with such a plan.

"Your highness, what if the queen finds out? What if someone catches you? What if-"

"Stop with the what-ifs already. This is going to work unless you don't want it do work. Your coming with me whether you like it of not. Understood?"

Myoga sighed and looked to the ground. He had no choice but to obey. The emperor could dismiss him from his duties if he wished and Myoga was not going to take that chance.

"Great. We'll leave at around six. I'll meet you at my chambers." Inuyasha left his study feeling splendid. His meeting had gone well and now he wouldn't have to endure another dinner with Kikyo. Everything was going perfectly.

&

Kagome, Sango, and Miroku had ridden through the forests and finally had gotten close to the city just before the sun had fully set and yet they still did not know what they would do once they got there.

The city that they had come upon was the one right outside the palace. Many of the officials that did not reside in the palace lived there. It was a bustling city, full of people roaming the streets. Sango and Miroku took their horses to some of the stables and joined up with Kagome at a restaurant.

The restaurant was clean and medium size. It had reminded Kagome of her own restaurant. A nice young waitress asked for their orders and delicious hot food was laid out before them in no time at all.

"Gosh, that was good." Miroku yawned. "So what do we plan on doing tomorrow?"

"I don't know…" Sango rested her chin on her fist.

They were interrupted by screaming on the other side of the screened off area.

"I told you I wanted fired rice. And this cup is filthy," came a loud masculine voice.

"I'm sorry sir," said a soft female's voice.

"Hurry up and get it now!" The same waitress that had served them came out from behind the screen. She looked shaken up a bit. Kagome sat up in her chair. "I can't believe any person can treat another person that way, especially a waitress that is always at your beck and call. I'm going to go over and talk to the person," Kagome said standing up fuming.

Sango grabbed her arm. "Just leave it alone. I don't you to get into an argument with a stranger."

"No," Kagome pulled her arm away, "I'm going to shed some justice into this world."

Kagome strolled over to the table next to hers. Her head was high and her shoulders were relaxed. Her voice was strong; she didn't even look at the man before she began yelling at him. "Did you know what you just did? You just yelled at a very nice waitress who is here to serve you, but she is not here to be yelled at. Everyone can make a mistake once and a while and that does not ever give you the permission to yell at her." Kagome looked straight into the man's eyes and her voice was stuck in her throat.

The man sitting across from the table was none another than Inuyasha himself. He stared back at her in disbelief.

"Kagome…" he said softly. He had wanted to see her again ever since he had left that morning to return to the palace and now she was right in front of him...

A/N: Finally, they see each other again. Man, did that take forever. I kind of skipped over the part where Inuyasha snuck out, but it would have been boring. Myoga meets him, they sneak out without any problems, and they decided to have dinner at the same restaurant. What a coincidence?