Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I ever owned the Inuyasha series; both the Manga and the Anime.

"Kagome."

Kagome's eyebrows furrowed, and she rolled over with a groan.

"Kagome! Wake up!"

Kagome's eyelids fluttered, and she sat up, stretching. Light shone in from a crack in her door where a black haired, brown-eyed thirteen year old boy peered tentatively in at her. Souta, her brother. Ignoring his gaze, her eyes shifted to take in her surroundings. She had awoken from a sleeping position on the floor near where her moving boxes were, or had been. It was certainly true, as far as she could see, that they were now missing from their previous position beside her.

"What were you doin' on the floor, Sis?" Souta asked curiously, coming into the room to stand beside her as she rose stiffly to her feet.

"I...must've fallen asleep," Kagome murmured in answer before once again taking in the missing boxes. "Where're my boxes?"

"Oh," Souta smiled, taking her hand and leading her out of the room. "Mom took them down. It's five minutes 'til noon. Mom's already out in the car. She didn't want to wake you earlier."

Kagome frowned, pondering that. "And the calendar I had out?"

"Back in its box," Souta replied.

Kagome nodded in approval and closed her eyes as Souta lead her downstairs. She didn't want to see the emptiness, or remember the past memories of the house. As the familiar step down into the dining room commenced, however, Souta spoke up.

"I'm sure gonna miss this place," He sighed sadly, sliding his feet into his shoes, the only homely thing left in the whole entire kitchen besides Kagome's. "Hey Sis, look!" He exclaimed, tugging her hand and forcing her to open her eyes toward the all-too-clean kitchen counter where the sink was. "Remember the time Inuyasha came over and he tried to get the sink to work again? He ended up getting so mad that he punched the spout and ended up causing even more damage then before. Mom only laughed, but I wonder how she really felt. You guys used to be the best of friends since he started tutoring you when you were in sixth grade, but last year he stopped coming over."

Kagome shrugged, her expression had become more and more unreadable as this story, which now she remembered all too clear- the way she had yelled at him for cussing and breaking it, the way he had gotten even angrier and stormed out- flashed before her mind's eye.

"Sis, maybe he'll help us un-" Souta began.

"No." Kagome snapped, eyeing Souta angrily before thrusting her feet into her shoes and running outside, only to slam the door behind her.

Kagome caught and held a sharp intake of breath. It was even more unbearable to be outside. The Sacred tree, its branches swaying in the breeze peacefully as if calling out to her in greeting, stood to the side near the ancient well where she and Inuyasha had held study sessions ever since her last year of Elementary school. On any normal day, she would have sat under the tree, enjoying its shade, but today was different. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes once more before heading straight for the moving truck, leaving the tree, no longer her family's, behind. Heavily, she opened the door of the truck and sat down in the last remaining seat: the one by the window. Souta sat in between her and her grandfather, who was driving. Souta looked at her once before facing forward, probably because of her outburst in the kitchen a few minutes previously. He must have gotten here before me, Kagome thought, and Mom must be driving the family car.

Once they were sure that they had all their belongings, Kagome's grandfather slowly pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive away, sighing heavily as they all looked upon the Shrine one last time as their own. A tear slid down Kagome's cheek, and she quickly used her index finger to wipe it away.

"Where're we movin' to, Gramps?" Souta asked. Kagome turned her head to regard her Grandfather.

"Into a house by the forest a little west of here. I don't remember quite what its name is. Our landlord, Inutaisho, will be living next door to us. Your mother knows him from High School, and he's a very successful businessman. He has two sons, one from a former marriage and the other from his current wife, and they will be helping us with the move. His wife will also be hosting a dinner party for us tonight so make sure to be on your best behavior, hmm?" Her grandfather answered as he made a right unto a two-lane road.

"Inutaisho," Kagome repeated to herself quietly, mulling the name over in her mind, "Why does that sound so familiar?"

"Sis," Souta said suddenly, "I just remembered! Sango-chan and Rin-san called earlier. They wanted to know if you wanted help with the move."

"That's-" Kagome started.

Souta cut her off. "Mom said no, but Rin-san insisted. She said that her older bro, Kojiro-sensei -I think you know him, he's your archery trainer- is a friend of the oldest of that business guy's sons, so they'll be there to help."

"Oh, you mean Kojiro-sensei," Kagome replied in recognition, "okay."

Souta laughed. "Rin-san said he's very protective of her. I wonder if it's because their parents were killed when Rin-san was younger."

"That might be," Kagome confided, biting her lip thoughtfully at the mystery.

If she was completely honest, she had never really understood why Kojiro was that way, and Rin had never told her. She knew that Rin's parents had been killed in a brutal stick-up, along with Rin's second oldest brother, near their home. In fact, according to Rin, it had been Kojiro who had apprehended the men involved. Still, that didn't seem like it could have been the main reason.

"Here's the forest now," Kagome's Grandfather stated, breaking Kagome's train of thought.

Kagome looked up to see trees beginning to line each side of the road, and a sign hung above the road with red lettering neatly spaced on it. She squinted to make out what it said and froze.

"It can't be," Kagome whispered in horror, several things finally falling into place.

-Flash Back-

"So, Inuyasha, I heard that your Dad's finally marrying your Mom," Kagome laughed, leaning back to take a break from the Science homework in front of her.

She sighed contentedly, resting against the well's side. The older boy with amber eyes and waist-length silver hair that sat across from her blinked, stunned that Kagome would know that piece of information. His snow white dog ears twitched in embarrassment as he opened his backpack to stuff his tutoring folder back into it.

"Yea well, since Dad was having trouble with Sesshomaru's Mom, even though they've been divorced since a couple of months after Sess was born, it made it kinda complicated," Inuyasha replied. It was easy to tell that he didn't talk about his father much from the uncomfortable look on his face. "I know that Sess doesn't like mom, though. He doesn't even call her 'Mom," just "Izayoi." Dad, as the business owner of a Ramen Company, or Inutaisho, says that it's 'cause he feels like mom's replacing his mom. Not that he says so, or anything. He's always so quiet and cold. I think his only friend is Kojiro-sensei, who's a pretty cool guy, and Rin-san's brother. But then again, he's the only one who ever really seems to be over. Anyways, how'd you figure that out, Kagome?" Inuyasha looked up at Kagome intently, his amber eyes meeting her brown ones.

"Rin's other good friend Adokenai-san, you know, that soft-spoken blonde-haired girl who works as a miko at that one Shrine in town, is a friend of Sesshomaru's, too. She was telling Rin about it the other day. I figured it would have been more practical of Kojiro-sensei to spill the beans about it, though. He's so fond of Rin he'd tell her anything she asked about. But then again, he's been busy with the Dojo, him being the master and all. I'm surprised that he seems to be at your house all the time," Kagome replied before changing the topic. "Anyways, thanks again for tutoring me, Inuyasha; though I still don't know how you could ever manage to tutor anyone if you failed once." She smiled in admiration and Inuyasha blushed, quickly averting his eyes to his backpack again.

"Yea, well, I did go through seventh grade twice, and the work is still pretty much the same," He murmured gruffly.

Kagome laughed good-naturedly, causing Inuyasha to huff and look away, the embarrassment even more evident from the slight flush on his cheeks. Abruptly, Kagome stopped, remembering something else she had her Adokenai say. "Oh! Adokenai-san also said that your father named the forest near his house after you. Inuyasha Forest, right?"

"Yea, we're moving in with him this weekend."

-End Flashback-

"No! It can't be..." Kagome groaned again, flinching as the sign passed overhead. But there it was in the rearview mirror:

The sign read Inuyasha Forest.