AN: …1 month+ for an update. OO! I'm so sorry. T.T Guilty. Wasn't home, because I was going out with my mom… A LOT. Hadn't seen her for 17 days… I counted. ;-; Catching up with summer, yaknowww:)

Thanks for the reviews… this story now has 400:D I feel so happy and accomplished… and this story still has more chapters :) You guys gave 10 more reviews than last chapter. Thanks, so much! I love you all :)

And I remember someone saying they died from no updates. O.O; Sorry? XD And then the next day, you attack me with a toaster. Yaaay.

And I feel happy, so you guys get a hint. I hope you read this, and the AN's I write.

Inuyasha and Kagome will get together somewhere in the next 5 chapters.

Brief: Sort of a 'prologue' of the drama. :O MirokuKagome (STRICTLY BROTHER-SISTER O.O) time. And, dundundun. Read along, no spoiling. :)

Disclaimer: No own.

- - - -

A small smile played on her lips as her head lowered ever so slightly, as the steam surrounded and swirled around her, creating an almost ethereal scene. She hugged her own small form as the thought that had automatically came in her mind, causing her smile, came to mind once more.

'Smells like Inuyasha…'

- - - -

Chapter 20: Suspicion

Kagome fell backwards onto her bed and bounced up once, sighing. "I'm bored!" she yelled in a whiny voice to the non existing people in her room. Her mother was out of town, visiting an ill uncle, and her brother was out at the park with his friends. She was home, alone, with absolutely nothing to do. The ringing silence bothered to her to no end. She sighed in frustration. "I hate when it's all quiet sometimes…" she mumbled.

She looked to the right where her cell phone lay, ignored, on her bedside table. 'I'll go call Inuyasha and see if we can do anything together…' she thought, reaching out for her phone and pressing the speed dial for his number.

Ringing sounded through the speakers and Kagome felt as if it was ringing eternally, never being picked up.

"What do you want," a bored, deep voice sounded from the other line.

"Well hello to you too, Inuyasha!" Kagome chirped, thought there was a tint of sarcasm dropped into her greeting as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, hey Kagome! I didn't look at the caller ID, sorry…" His voice brightened and you could hear the smile in it, as if he had just been taken out of something boring.

"S'okay… You want to go do something today? I'm bored," Kagome said, voicing her thoughts. She twirled her hair around her finger, before stopping. 'That's becoming a bad habit lately…'

"Sorry, dad dragged me to some stupid meeting. Something about training for the future, blah, blah… Can't get out of it."

"Aw, okay… Have fun!" Kagome grinned, knowing his eyes were rolling, just about now.

"Yeah, yeah, bye now."

"Love you!" she yelled. Inuyasha heard it right as he clicked the 'end' button, and immediately turned a shade of red. 'She's my best friend, best friends love each other, it means nothing…' he said meaningless things in his head, trying to bring down the red on his face.

"Are you running a fever, son?" Touga stopped the meeting and placed a hand on his teenager's forehead. "You're turning a bit warm…"

Inuyasha slapped his father's hand away. "Whatever, just go on with this meeting…"

- - - -

"Nya!" Kagome cried out in a whiny tone. "Inuyasha's in a meeting… then how about Sango?" she asked herself as she dialed Sango's cell phone number.

"Hello?" Sango's voice sounded from Kagome's receiving end.

"Hi Sango!" Kagome chirped.

"Oh, hey Kagome… 'Sup wit' 'chu, cutie?" Sango joked, a smile evidently on her face.

Kagome laughed. "I'm bored… do you think maybe you could come out and hang around the mall with me?" Kagome asked hopefully.

"Oh…" Sango started with a certain tone of voice, making Kagome's hopes lessen slightly. "I'm really sorry, Kagome, but I've got to take my little brother to the amusement park, and…"

Kagome interrupted, waving her hands in the air, although she remembered Sango couldn't see her. "No, no, it's alright Sango, I understand!"

"Okay… I'm sorry, Kagome… Maybe next weekend, 'kay?" Sango said with a smile in her voice.

"'Kay, bye Sango!" Kagome clicked the end button as soon after Sango's goodbye, and sighed. "I swear, if Miroku is busy too, I'm going to die of boredom today…" She lazily pressed the seven numbers of his cell phone, waiting for him to pick up.

"Hello…?" A lazy voice came from the other side, sounding as if they had just woken up from their slumber.

"Miroku, are you stillsleeping? It's twelve, noon!" Kagome called into the phone, disbelievingly.

"Oh, Kagome! No, no, I'm awake!"

"Sure…" A tint of sarcasm dripped in her voice.

"So, how's life?" Miroku said, as Kagome heard the shuffling of what sounded like bed sheets in the background. She rolled her eyes.

"Boring."

"Would you like to do… something?" She could almost see that perverted grin flashing on his face, and maybe a little rubbing of the hands together as a mad scientist would.

"Yeah, I would," She started, seeing his face light up in her mind. "I would like to go to the mall!" she smiled.

"Oh…" Miroku's perverted grin fell. "But, alright! I'll get ready and I'll pick you up, in about, say… thirty minutes? If that's okay with you, that is…"

"Yeah, sure! Now I won't die of boredom!" Kagome cheered.

Miroku laughed heartily. "Yeah, see you later, Kagome!" He flipped his phone shut and shook his head. "Such a sweet, happy girl… wonder how Inuyasha ever got her in his life," Miroku joked quietly to himself, shaking his head back and forth.

- - - -

Kagome sat on her porch, waiting for Miroku's car to come in sight. She was clad in a tan shirt covered with small black skulls, 'til the end where three inches of thin fabric with a pocket, as a hoodie would, was sewed on. On her legs were tight faded blue jeans, and she wore plain black Vans slip-on's. The slightly thin black jacket kept her warm from the autumn breeze, as she watched the colorful leaves fall from trees, crunching when people walked over them.

A black 2005 Mustang came into sight, making Kagome almost jump for joy as she saw Miroku emerge from the driver's side door. He jogged up to the now standing Kagome as best as he could in the loose, baggy black jeans as the breeze was blocked out from his navy blue hoodie.

"Yo," he waved once, stopping in front of Kagome.

"Yogurt!" she yelled as she hugged Miroku tightly, squealing like a little sister on her older brother. Kagome sighed in happiness as stars came to her eyes. "Ah, now I won't die of boredom… Thank you Miroku!" She grinned and hugged him while twirling around, making him laugh.

"'Kay shorty," Miroku smashed his palm on her head easily, seeing as she was almost a head shorter. "Let's go."

"Don't call me short… you're just too tall," Kagome pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, Miroku's hand still on top of her head.

"Mhm, whatever you say…" Miroku answered as he removed his hand from her head, opening the passenger seat door for her like a 'true gentleman'.

- - - -

"One original white chocolate frap with whip cream for 'Miroku', and one original caramel frap with whip cream, extra caramel, for 'Kagome'!" Kagome said quickly to the cashier at the counter of the small Starbucks café. The clerk quickly pressed the numbers on the machine, following Kagome's orders. "That'll be seven dollars and sixty five cents," the young clerk said. Kagome handed the money, ignoring Miroku's protests of being a gentleman and paying for both. "Thank you!" she smiled, receiving a responding smile from Kagome.

Kagome walked over to the counter at the far right, waiting for the workers to call out their names to pick up their orders of Starbucks coffee… yum.

"Hey, I ordered one too; I could have at least paid for my own!" Miroku whined. "You make me feel like a girl, letting another girl pay for me…"

Kagome shrugged. "Well, too bad."

"I'll pay you back."

"Nah, that's okay," Kagome waved at him, still waiting. A man yelled out "Miroku, white chocolate frap, and Kagome, caramel frap with extra caramel!" as he slid the said orders onto the counter.

"Thank you!" Kagome smiled, happy that she now had her Starbucks. She walked over to the side where she got a cardboard cup holder, and gave one to Miroku as she slurped her caramel frap and sighed in delight.

"Heaven."

- - - -

Kagome laughed hysterically in a somewhat quiet way, trying not to draw attention to her self in Spencer's. Miroku looked at her weirdly as she pointed at a package of plastic breasts hung on the shelf.

"Oh… my gosh… plastic boobs!" she sounded as if she would probably die of laughter any minute now. A young looking couple with a baby in a stroller passed by and stared, wondering what was so funny, but walked away quickly anyway, the child in the stroller giggling at the humor of the situation, though he didn't understand it…

Miroku shook his head and looked up into the bright lighting of the store, before chuckling a bit. 'Her laugh has to be contagious or something…'

- - - -

"Let's go, Sweet Treats™!" Kagome yelled, pointing to the small little shop inside the mall with countless boxes of candy inside for purchase. She ran ahead of Miroku who just walked slowly towards the store, where eventually his eyes caught sight of a girl in an unbelievably short skirt, showing her long, bronze colored legs. He ogled her swinging hips for a while, momentarily forgetting about Kagome.

Kagome jogged on to Sweet Treats™, eyeing the sugar substances in the clear boxes, ready to just pick them all into the bag for procure.

Much too into the candy, she never noticed the man with the malicious red eyes and extremely suspicious black trench coat and sunglasses approach slowly behind her, looking ready to pounce. The passer by-ers took no mind at the man, thinking they were only a playful teenage couple, with the boy sneaking up to surprise the girl.

She swung her arms back and forth, until eventually she felt sweaty hands invading the skin of her wrists. "Huh?" she looked back and saw a flash of red, before the same sweaty hands covered her eyes and she felt herself being carried away.

Kagome let out a scream, though it was barely audible through the bandana she found she was suddenly gagged with. She could feel the autumn wind rushing through her body, and figured her captor was running. She yelled as loud as she could and swing her fists and legs around, trying to get free.

The man hissed, "Quiet, you little brat!"

Kagome screamed again through the cloth, as she felt herself being thrown onto the hard pavement. Her sight was free, though not her mouth. She looked towards her captor and recognized him as Naraku, the insane man they had seen at the haunted house on that Halloween night.

He untied the bandana from Kagome's mouth, as she immediately spoke. "It's you… Naraku! What do you want with me!"

Naraku's hands took it's place around Kagome's throat, successfully choking her. She coughed and struggled as he replied. "Well darling," he said, accentuating the 'darling' and coating it with all the venom he had in his vile body. "Because of you," he held onto her throat tighter, "the stupid cops are after me, and I can't get anywhere because now, I can't risk being spotted!" he yelled with a ferociousness that frightened Kagome to the bone.

"And now, I'll have to take out my anger… on you."

- - - -

The attractive girl turned the corner of the mall as Miroku sighed depressingly. 'Oh well.'

He walked into the Sweet Treats™ shop, expecting to see Kagome running around the room and picking up every piece of candy in sight. What, of course, he didn't expect was an empty room, with only the employee. Miroku scrunched up his eyebrows, willing himself not to worry.

"Excuse me," he raised up a hand as the middle aged woman turned towards him. "Did a girl come in here? With a tan shirt with black skulls and a black jacket?" he asked, hoping she would yes.

"No… I'm sorry," she responded as she shook her head.

"Ah… thank you!" Miroku yelled back as he ran out the store, his body reaching panic mode. 'Where could she be!' he looked around the area of the mall he was standing at, looking at every single smiling face… not Kagome.

"Kagome!"

- - - -

She breathed in and out the best as she could, feeling a craving for the air to fill her lungs as her heart pounded in her chest ferociously. 'Is this how it feels to die?' she thought desperately as no air could go down to her lungs any more.

"Die," he hissed, tightening his hold on her throat for the second time as she whimpered. Tears leaked through her shut eyes.

'I don't want to die!' she thought, finally noticing that she was lying on the floor, with Naraku on top of her. She briefly looked down at her knees, cheering as she found it was right under where the sun don't shine.

Kagome smashed her knee upwards enthusiastically as Naraku cried out in pain, and rolled to the side where she made her escape. She ran out of the alley way she found she was in, seeing the mall right across the street.

"Yes!" she whispered to herself, making sure to look both ways before crossing the busy street, and into the mall entrance.

- - - -

Miroku panicked even more when nobody around the area he asked caught sight of Kagome. He sat on a bench and dug his head in his hands, almost on the verge of tears. 'Oh Kami, where could she possibly be! She couldn't have been kidnapped… could she?' A million thoughts and possibilities ran through his head, bringing him away from the world where two small feet covered in black Vans slip-on's stood in front of him.

"Mi-!" the person started, but was interrupted when Miroku suddenly stood up and bumped into her.

"Miroku?" Said person was startled at the sudden voice and looked up to see Kagome, looking as if she was going to cry. She was nibbling on her finger, a habit she had found when she was scared or nervous.

"Oh my god, Kagome!" Miroku immediately crushed her smaller body into a hug, sighing in relief when she hugged back. "You're not hurt, are you? Where have you been, did someone kid-!" He was interrupted by Kagome.

"Do you remember… Naraku?" she said in a small voice, still burying her head into his chest in the after shocks.

"What! You mean the police haven't captured him yet!" Miroku yelled, attracting the attention of the people around them. "Shh," Kagome said, shooing the people away, still in his embrace.

"He grabbed me and took me outside to an alley way across the street and… choked me."

The anger invaded his usually calm and easy going demeanor. Miroku brushed her hair from her neck, where bruises the shape of hands could be seen beginning to form, turning into an ugly purple color. "Kami, Kagome…" he rested his head on the crook of her neck, being careful not to hurt her.

"Don't leave my sight ever again, please…" Miroku said.

"Mhm."

- - - -

A figure in skimpy clothing hiding behind a plastic plant held a digital camera in her hand, staring at Miroku and Kagome.

'Hah… wait 'til Inuyasha sees this... this little love fest' Kikyou cackled insanely, making others stare weirdly at her. 'It seems awfully suspicious…' she skipped across the mall in her short skirt and tube top, making her chest bounce and skirt ride up.

'He will be mine.'

- - - -

…This chapter is awful. XD And it took so long… I know, it's my fault. I have no excuses. ;-; Average-ish length, if not longer. 2,511 words.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, and it (HOPEFULLY) won't take as long. T.T

&!Pailynne.