A/N: I should warn you, near the end of the chapter is a tear jerker. I cried while I was writing it, and that means it's gotta be one, cause I hardly ever cry at stories. Seriously. Oh, and let me know if I'm being too fast with Souta's waking up or not . . . I didn't wanna have him be in a coma for like a year or something. Too long.

My Heart Will Go On
Chapter 4
Where's mama?


Kagome had spent about two days in the Feudal Era, just trying to calm herself down and put her mind at ease. She had spent most of her time with InuYasha, and only a bit with Miroku and Sango and Shippo. She sighed, her back leaning against his back. It was a nice peaceful day out in the feudal era, and no signs of any demons or other threats, and that made the two of them feel more at ease then they had in quite a while.

"InuYasha?" she spoke softly, hating to break the silence in between them but she knew she had to. She needed to return home and check on Souta.

"Hm?"

"Can I go home for a bit?"

InuYasha frowned. Already? She had only been here two days...

Kagome noticed his frown, and sighed. "I know.. but I need to go check on Souta, to see how he is, remember?"

InuYasha blinked but nodded, remembering that he was in critical condition at that 'hospital' place, Kagome called it. "Feh, alright... but... come back soon?"

Kagome smiled at this and nodded. She leaned in, placing a soft kiss on his cheek, causing him to blush. "If I don't come back before sunset, come find me. I don't have a home there anymore, so I don't have a reason to return except for him."

With that, she left, leaving a stunned InuYasha in her wake.

No reason to stay there...?

Kagome arrived at the hospital, only to see a strange looking car there. Tilting her head, she wondered what it was and she walked in through the big front doors. She saw a woman talking to another woman at the nurses desk, and then they both looked to her when she entered.

She blinked. Are they talking about me?

The woman walked up to Kagome, a frown on her face. "Miss Higurashi, I presume?"

"Y-Yes... who are you?" Suddenly, Kagome had a bad feeling... like she was being torn. Something wasn't right here...

"I'm Mrs. Horoki, of the local Tokyo Orphanage," at this, Kagome's eyes widened.

No...!

They were here to take her away, that's what this meant.

No!

"What do you want?" She asked, keeping calm as her eyes narrowed.

"Your mother and grandfather are dead," She said bluntly. "You have no other living relatives, except for your brother, and you are not yet old enough to live on your own in this world. So there is only one option here. You will be coming to the orphange."

The woman was strict indeed, and no one wanted to mess with her it seemed.

"Listen here, lady! I will not go with you! As it turns out I have somewhere to stay!"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh? With whom?"

"My.....er....friend from out of town!" Kagome nodded. "He's coming at sunset to pick me up!"

"He is, is he?" the woman asked, as if she didn't believe her.

"Yes! And I will be going to live with him and so will my brother when he gets better!" she said, standing up to face her. "Don't you tell me what to do, you're not my mother!"

The woman's eye twitched, clearly annoyed with this girl. But instead of doing anything, she just turned and walked out the door. Kagome sighed, though she was silently cheering her victory.

She walked upstairs once the woman had left and walked into Souta's room. Sitting on a chair next to his bed, she smiled softly. The color had returned to his face a bit, and it looked like someone had cut his hair, making it look rather nice. The wounds on his head were getting better, so the bandages were on, making him look like just a sleeping boy in bed . . . minus the IV and other tubes stuck in his body to help him stay alive.

"Oh, Souta. . ." Kagome sniffled, watching him quietly. He was the only family she had left, she'd be damned if he let her leave him too!

When Kagome saw Souta's finger move slightly in his sleep, she gasped and immediately called for a nurse. A few of them came in and did checks on the boy, and saw his movement again.

"I think he's waking up soon!" one of the nurses exclaimed, making Kagome smile, a few tears pouring out of her eyes. Souta was a Higurashi. He was strong. He didn't back down from anything.

"Come on, Souta . . . you can do it . . . your big sister is right here with you," she whispered to him as she held onto his hand with both of her own. When she suddenly felt a hand hold onto hers weakly, she gasped.

Inuyasha frowned as he looked up at the sky .Sunset was long gone now. He was now panicking. Kagome said she would be back before now, she only wanted to see Souta for a bit. Something must have happened.

Without a word, he jumped into the well, hurrying for the hospital once he got out. The first thing he smelt was Kagome's tears, and it instantly angered him. Was someone hurting her? No. He smelt no fear on her. If so, why was she crying?

He ran up to Souta's room, only to see it closed. He blinked, hearing many noises as well as people talking coming from inside, one of those voices being Kagome's.

"Come on, Souta . . . you can do it . . . your big sister is right here with you," he heard her say, and sniffed the air. Souta no longer smelt of death, but smelt like he was waking up.

He didn't disturb them, not by knocking on the door, not doing anything. But when he heard Souta's weak and barely audible voice, he couldn't help but smile.

". . .Kagome. . .?"

"Oh, Souta!" Kagome cried, as she saw Souta's eyes slowly open and look up at her. He gave a weak smile. "Where's InuYasha. . . wasn't he . . . with you?"

Kagome blinked, and so did InuYasha. Did he really hear them?

InuYasha took this as his chance and opened the door, walking inside. Souta's eyes lit up at seeing his hero, though he still looked pretty weak. "InuYasha."

Kagome blinked. "Why are you here?" she asked, not realizing it was past sundown yet. InuYasha walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her in the chair, which made Souta's curiosity rise. Just how close had he and his sister gotten while he was asleep?

"It's past sundown now, and I . . . got worried," he face flushed, hating to admit it in front of people. But Kagome merely smiled, kissing his cheek. "There's no need to worry love. Both Souta and I are safe here." She didn't think she needed to tell him about the woman at the oprhanage, not just yet. . . she'd wait until Souta was feeling better so that she could tell the both of them at the same time.

"How long have I been out, sis . . .?" he asked her, and Kagome turned to him smiling. "A few days now, but don't worry, you should be back to your old self in no time."

He nodded weakly, glad to hear that. But . . . he felt scared for some reason. He felt as though a big piece of his life had been taken away. And then he became curious. Why weren't his mother and grandfather in the room? Normally, at least his mother would be the first one there when he woke up . . . not Kagome. This made him curious, and more scared. He was scared to ask Kagome what happened. The last thing he remembered was driving home from the store with his mother and grandfather, as Kagome had been in the feudal era with InuYasha at the time. He remembered the other car coming at them pretty fast, a scream from his mother as she tried to protect him from getting hurt . . . but then it was darkness.

"Sis?"

"Hm? What is it, Souta?" Kagome asked, looking at her younger brother, who looked to be deep in thought. She instantly frowned when he heard his next question, not sure how to tell him without breaking down into tears herself.

"Where's mom?"

Kagome's bottom lip trembled slightly, and Inuyasha smelt fresh tears. Knowing the pain of losing a mother, he understood how Kagome was feeling right now, and held onto her tighter. Souta was confused by their strange behavior, wondering why his big sister was crying. She was the strongest of the family, if not his mother. He had never really seen her cry before, unless when they were little, or some stupid fight she had with InuYasha. But from the looks of things, they hadn't had a fight in quite a while . . . in fact, they looked closer than they ever had before.

"Souta, sweetie . . ." Kagome said softly, her voice trembling as well. One hand gripped InuYasha's, while her other hand reached out and grabbed Souta's, who's began trembling.

As he watched the two, InuYasha couldn't help but feel sad, remembering the loss of his own mother. She had been a beautiful woman, with long, black hair, and brown eyes. She always seemed to have worn that pink kimono with the flowers on it, and some eyeshadow, making her look all the more beautiful, at least in her son's eyes.

The villagers where they lived, however, had frowned upon the fact that she had given birth to a half-demon and mated with a demon. One night, he had been out hunting for food, and had come back only to find his house on fire. He had been but a child then, about ten years old in human appearance.

When he ran into the house to see if his mother was okay, he found some of the villagers . . . beating his mother to death. She was bleeding from her face, chest and stomach. Her arm and one of her legs was twisted at an odd angle, so he assumed they were broken. Tears had sprung into the young hanyou's eyes at seeing his mother in such a state.

"Leave her alone!" he had cried out, causing everyone, even his mother (who was quite weak at the time), to look up at him. His mother had whispered something to him that he almost didn't hear, but he did, just barely.

" . . . Run, my son . . . always remember, that your mommy loves you."

As she finished whispering that, one of the villagers seemed to have seen her trying to talk and hit her over the head. InuYasha flinched and looked away from the horrible sight, being protected from the flames by his fire rat fur.

He smelt the scent of death all over his mother, and it brought tears into his eyes again. Mamma...

He ran before the villagers could get their hands on him as well, knowing full well they intended to do the same thing to him as they did to her.

"InuYasha?" a voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked up into the concerned gaze of Kagome's chocolate brown eyes. She had been about to tell Souta, when she noticed that the hanyou had become oddly silent, and that his arms had started to tremble while around her.

"What is it, K-Kagome?" he asked, and she blinked, now quite worried. His voice was breaking. . . like he was about to cry. . .

"Are you alright?" she was going to release his hand to reach it up and rub his cheek, when he caught it again with his, shaking his head. Souta was silent, just giving them privacy for the moment.

He leaned in closer and whispered in her hear so that only she could hear. "Just . . . t-thinking about the past . . . and . . . . my own . . . m-mother. . ."

Instantly understanding, she immediately stood up and wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug. He gripped her tightly, not letting go. Now that she was standing up, he sat in the chair, pulling her into his lap, holding her close as though she would disappear when he let go.

"You're not alone anymore, my InuYasha," Kagome whispered softly into his ear. "You never will be. I'll always be right here." She placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and he instantly calmed down, breathing in her scent deeply. It always soothed him, it seemed.

". . . thank you, K-Kagome . . ." he whispered softly to her, and she nodded with a small smile, reaching out a hand to take Souta's again. She was thankful that she was wrapped in InuYasha's warm and comforting embrace at the time, for she felt as if she weren't, she'd never be able to tell him the truth.

"Souta," Kagome said calmly, a sadness in her own eyes that made Souta instantly freeze and tense up, gripping her trembling hand. She gripped back just as tightly, and there was an understanding in their eyes as sibling looked to sibling, like he knew what she was going to tell her before she said it.

"Mom's gone . . ."

TBC...

A/N: -hides in a dark corner- I know, you're probably going to kill me for the long wait as well as the cliffie. But I kind of got busy with facebook roleplaying, as well as not having any motivation to finish this chapter. I was literally like typing two sentences each day, then just saving and closing the document, that's how bored I was. But then, I got an idea, and I went right to writing! :) So enjoy, and review! And thank you for all of the reviews so far! I will thank everyone who reviewed at the end of the fic. It should be at least 10 chapters.