Miroku sat rubbing his chin as he watched his companion furiously tapping her fingers on the strange device. The hundreds of questions had started when she had pulled the flat box out of her wonderful bag of goodies and unfolded it to reveal colorful pictures and tinkling sounds that were unlike anything he had ever seen in all his years of travel. Then she had started punching the small characters on the other half of the thing with a practiced flare, and with each soft tap that character would be transferred to the plate in front of her. As many times as she had denied it, Miroku was convinced there had to be some sort of strange futuristic sorcery involved. Either way, he was fascinated.

"Kagome, what did you say this thing was called again?"

"It's a laptop. My mom gave it to me for my birthday to help me with my homework."

"And tell me again what you're doing with it right now?"

"I have a report due in my Western Civilization class, and since we seem to have a little downtime lately, I thought I might try to get some of it done."

"I see. And this…laptop…" He pondered this word and its ties with the future. "This laptop is to help you write without ink and paper?" Miroku strained his neck to get a closer look at the lines of words on the screen.

"Well, yes, for the most part, but there's a bunch more you can do with it too. Like, see, you can play games!" With a quick wave of her fingers on a small square pad the image suddenly changed from words to a top view of a pile of mahjong tiles. With furious finger waving and tapping, the tiles began changing color and disappearing as Miroku's eyes grew larger. As Kagome grew more intent on depleting the stack in front of her, he grew more and more mesmerized, leaning closer and closer over her back shoulder until-

"EEK! Miroku!"

Slap!

Furious, Kagome turned from her game to fume at the monk sprawled out on the ground with a distinct red mark on his left cheek. "I shouldn't be so surprised that you really have other things on your perverted mind."

"Really Kagome, it was an honest mistake! I was trying to get a closer look and my hand just slipped…"

From across the field, Sango looked up from where she was cleaning her weapon and sighed. "Kagome," she called out sweetly, "are you having problems concentrating with certain lecherous monks constantly hovering around? I'd be more than happy to come help you eliminate the problem."

A low moan arose from the ground. "No no, that won't be necessary, really…"

Sango sighed again and returned her focus to the large boomerang weapon that she was cleaning. These periods of downtime while Inuyasha was off on his current obsessive task were starting to grate a bit on her nerves. Even Naraku was particularly quiet these days since Inuyasha had learned Tetsusaiga's latest attack. After the group had easily upset his plans these past five times, likely he was hidden away somewhere regaining his strength and plotting some insidious plan to get his revenge on the hanyou. Unfortunately they had no way of knowing where he was. Their tool had been stolen. There was nothing they could do but wait for a sign.

She balled her fists. Part of her wished that this could all be over, that they could all just go on with their lives and not have to fight anymore. But her mind instantly clenched hold of the face of her brother, and she knew that she had to keep going. Unconsciously her mind pulled forward the images of the atrocities that her brother had been forced by Naraku to do, bringing the bile up from her stomach to her throat. She would never forgive Naraku for what he had done to her family, especially Kohaku.

A rustle in the grass from behind her brought her attention back to the present, and with a seamless movement her dagger moved from its sheath to the heart of the attacking demon. With a breath of relief she returned her weapon and finished off the squirming rodent demon permanently. These attacks were becoming more frequent these past few weeks. Demons of all shapes and sizes were rising up and attacking for no apparent reason. Never in all her years in the demon slayer village had she seen such a wave of attacks. Something was wrong, like the world was out of balance, and she could see its effects on all of them.

Especially Kagome and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha had been extremely secluded lately, often heading off on his own for long spans of the day without telling anyone when he came or went. Although this was somewhat within his personality, what was different these days was his behavior when he was spending time with the group. His normally haughty and violent attitude had been majorly subdued, and he seemed extremely distracted when he wasn't focused on a direct task. That, and he'd been sleeping a great deal more than he normally did. Almost every night either she or Miroku had noticed him falling asleep for a short period of time where nothing could seem to rouse him. At one instance there had been a small demon attack that he had slept right through, something she had never seen him do before. When he did wake from these bouts of sleep, he was usually visibly upset and physically exhausted, yet he never said a word about what was wrong, even to Kagome.

Kagome at first had been extremely concerned about this change in Inuyasha's character, as was typical of her nurturing personality. For days when he was with them she would try to get him to tell her what was upsetting him. Usually her constant pestering would get him irritated and flustered, but for some reason this time he had responded with a cold silence or by simply disappearing for the remainder of the day. Every time he was gone, Kagome fell into a retrospective depression, often spending hours by herself away from the rest of them. This, of course, would get Shippou upset because Inuyasha was upsetting Kagome, and he would usually pester Miroku or her to do something about it. But despite all their best efforts, she would usually just smile sadly and thank them politely, but return to her silence. Sango frowned. Why couldn't Inuyasha see how his behavior was upsetting her? Even Miroku had somewhat figured out his transgressions after all this time, and Inuyasha usually was fairly sensitive to Kagome's moods.

Finally satisfied with her work, Sango stood up and crossed the meadow to where Kagome was frantically eyeing the screen for another match of tiles. "Ah, here we go!" she proclaimed with a tap of fingers, only to be rewarded with a message that there were no other possible matches. Sighing heavily she folded down the screen and put it to the side. "Oh well, I should have been studying anyways."

"Kagome, you've really been focused on your books lately. Usually they just remain in your backpack while you're here," Sango teased with a smile, trying to keep Kagome's mind off of Inuyasha's current absence.

"Hey, I do study!" she protested with a stomp. "I can't help it if demon attacks seem to constantly get in the way."

"She does have a point," Miroku chimed in, picking himself up off the ground in time to swat away a small cockroach demon with his staff. "But you have been particularly intent on your school work this past week. I might even go so far as to say that you've fallen asleep with a book across your face for the past three nights."

Kagome's cheeks blazed a bright pink. "I have not…have I?" she stammered meekly.

Two heads bobbed up and down in unison.

"How embarrassing."

"And you never have time to play with me anymore," piped in a drowsy Shippou as he stretched and rubbed his eyes where he sat in the tall grass, obviously waking up to join in the conversation.

"I'm sorry Shippou, it's just…well…" Kagome paused to the sight of three sets of eyes staring intently, waiting for her explanation for her current behavior. She sighed. This particular topic had been weighing heavy on her mind for a while now.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" Shippou cried, crawling into her lap.

"Well, you see…there's a very important test coming up…"

"But you always have tests," Shippou replied as if that cleared up the entire situation.

"Yeah, but not like this test. Our high school entrance exams are coming up,

and-"

"But Kagome," whined the fox demon, "you don't need school, you've got us!"

"Shippou, be quiet!" Miroku warned with a glare. "But he does raise a point. Your previous tests have not seemed to raise so much concern."

"I know, but this is different. This one determines my eligibility for the high schools I'll be able to apply for, and then which college, and then…" she trailed off.

"So the better you do now, the more opportunity you get later," Miroku finished.

"Exactly." Kagome's smile quickly faded. "I've missed a lot of school this year…"

Miroku set his staff firmly on the ground in front of him. "So that's that. What do we need to do to help you prepare?"

"Of course," Shippou snapped his fingers and scampered to where one of Kagome's books lay in the grass. "We can help you study!" he proclaimed as he opened the cover and began to stare blankly at the pages inside.

"That's my English book Shippou. I'm not sure if that language even exists yet." She smiled at the little fox demon and his willingness to do anything for her. All her new friends from the Feudal Era would do the same, and she for them. It made it difficult to remember that her time really was in Present Day Tokyo, and at some point her time here would be over. "Actually guys, I think maybe this isn't the best place for me to be trying to study."

"Are you thinking you might need to go home for a while?" Sango asked.

Well…" Here was where the choice became difficult. "The last time I was home, my mother and I were talking about school and my future and my…ahem…current grades…" The pink in her cheeks quickly resurfaced. "Well, anyways, she thought it might be a good idea if I enrolled in a cram school to get ready for the test."

"What's a cram school?" Shippou asked with growing concern.

"It's like extra school," Kagome replied with a grimace. "But they give a high intensity review of all the stuff we've learned up to this point."

"It sounds like a good idea," Miroku observed with a calm nod. "So what's the problem?"

"Well, they're pretty strict on attendance, so I couldn't constantly be making up illness so I could skip class."

"Okay, so you go home for a few days to finish this class. I don't think that's ever been a problem," the monk smiled reassuringly.

"Well, it'd be more like every day after school…"

The other three glanced at each other worriedly.

"For three months," Kagome finished, head hung low.

"Three months!" Shippou screeched. You can't be gone every day for three months! Whatdya need stupid high school for anyways!"

Kagome was currently inclined to agree, but she hugged Shippou to her chest as he sniffled. "I wish I knew what was going to happen when the sacred jewel is back together, but it's more than likely that I'll have to go back to my time permanently since it was the jewel that brought me here in the first place."

"So you want to make sure that you don't end up behind," Miroku agreed. Behind him, Sango nodded thoughtfully.

Shippou was not so easily convinced and sat sniffling loudly in Kagome's lap. "But Kagome, three whole months…"

"Don't worry," she reassured him, hugging him close to provide just as much comfort to herself as to him. "I'll be able to arrange some visits on weekends maybe, and I'll be back when I'm done."

"But it won't be the same without you!" Shippou straightened up, trying to put on a brave front. "Inuyasha will probably be in a terrible mood without you here."

"Not that he's in any kind of great mood with me here either," Kagome thought darkly. Still, she hadn't confessed her plans to him either yet, mostly due to his current cross attitude. Some of their more mundane arguments had been turned into some fairly sizable battles. The subject of her spending long periods in her own time were usually the cause of some major arguments on the best of days. Approaching the subject now with Inuyasha was like signing her own death papers. She prayed her execution would be swift and painless- a swift jab with his claws or a swipe with the Tetsusaiga.

It would be better than having to endure cram school.

"I'll let Inuyasha know when he comes back," she informed them, hoping that they'd pick up on the hint to steer clear of him for a while afterwards. "Then I'll probably leave for home pretty soon after that. I think it'll be best that way." After all, what had to be done had to be done.

As much as she wished it could be, she couldn't honestly believe that her future rested solely in the past.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Inuyasha's return was not a loud interruption of the group's current proceedings, but rather a quiet slip back into its folds. He perched himself on a low branch of a tree on the edge of town and watched as life scurried by, trying to complete the final chores of the evening before the last of the light disappeared and they settled in for the night. These days it was too dangerous to be out past dark with all the demon activity, even in a village protected by a priestess- if Kaete was still calling herself one these days. Even Shippou and Miroku had wandered by on some errand without so much as a glance toward him. Only Kagome had acknowledged his return, almost immediately, as if she had sensed him somehow. She had glanced up at him and caught his eye, smiling briefly to welcome him back. It had looked as if something troubling was on her mind. She wasn't alone.

The dreams were becoming more frequent, disturbingly so. Not only were they becoming a nightly occurrence, but now even at random times during the day he was being struck with narcoleptic fits that involved lectures about his destiny. At times it was just the voices urging him to seek out the jewel and its priestess. Other times he would be forced to witness the familiar red and white robes and black hair be consumed along with the jewel in some horrific way. No matter how he called, she never turned, never seemed to hear his cries. On those times he would return to reality sweating and shaking, sometimes crying out in frustration with his inability to intervene. If nothing else, he at least accepted the fact that he was supposed to take these dreams as a warning.

The jewel was going to be completed soon, and Naraku had far too many shards for him to be happy about that.

But the dreams were always clear about one detail- the process couldn't be completed without the priestess. He wondered if Naraku was aware of that part of the puzzle. If not, for the moment they had a slight advantage, but they had to move quickly. Once they found Kikiyo and had her in a safe place he would worry about getting the rest of the jewel back and putting the last of the pieces back together.

He wondered what the others would say about this sudden shift of strategy, going off a dream, depending on a woman who had not only betrayed them in the past but also shifted sides to suit her fancy it seemed. Her entire existence relied on being a parasite of souls, the majority being stolen from Kagome both at her initial revival and recently at the sacred waterfall. Since then it seemed that the reincarnated priestess held a seething hatred specifically towards her, despite Kagome's efforts to remain gracious towards her adversary. Still, despite being completely aware of this conflict of interest, there was something within him that just couldn't let Kikiyo go. It was as if she held his heart in complete submission, even after all they had been through. Even though his mind was starting to question…

As the sun slowly sank below the treeline, Inuyasha pondered the best strategy for convincing the others of this new plan of attack. Sango was too straightforward. It would be difficult to convince her to go chasing after a vision, even if it was her that was haunted by them. Miroku definitely shifted more toward the spiritual side and would probably consider his case, but he also was too practical. He would probably want to try to exercise something and then charge him for the effort. Shippou…honestly he could care less what Shippou thought. The little pest would be tagging along with them no matter what they ended up doing. No, he was best off going with Kagome. The history between her and Kikiyo might be treacherous, but Kagome seemed to be much more passive when it came to him and Kikiyo these days. Plus, she carried a lot of influence over the group as a whole. A twang of guilt hit him deep for planning to use her to his advantage after all she had been through with him during their time together, but he brushed it aside as best he could. After all, this plan could potentially be the completion of the jewel, and he was absolutely convinced at this point that this plan hinged on finding Kikiyo before Naraku. Otherwise he was completely insane. Maybe he was a little of both.

His mind made up and focused on the task, Inuyasha leapt down from the branch to a small shriek and thump that brought his focus back to the present immediately. The very person he had meant to seek out now sat wincing on the ground, her backpack flung open with half its contents spilled out around her. Surprised, he jumped back, at first poised to attack until the comprehension of who she was hit him fully. Instantly his body relaxed, but his mind was immediately on high alert. How had he not sensed her coming? He had no recollection of catching her scent or hearing her footsteps on the hard path. Had she truly become so familiar to him that his own senses no longer reacted to her presence?

Kagome was sitting up and brushing off her uniform with a slight look of annoyance that quickly dissipated upon looking at Inuyasha's concerned expression. With a little cough, she started to gather her spilled supplies. "I was wondering if you were ever going to come inside," she said softly.

"Yeah, eventually," he replied, the branded hardened demeanor returning to the surface. "What were you doing sneaking up on me anyways?"

"I wasn't sneaking!" she snapped back in defense. "I walked right up to you…" Her tone softened as her eyes shifted back to her belongings. "You've been very distracted lately."

He shouldn't have been surprised that she was so in tune with his moods. There had been more frequent instances lately that he had become aware of her distress and sadness, even when he was out away from the group for long periods. At times her emotions were a stark shock in his mind, something foreign that set his body on edge. Other times they blended seamlessly with his own, whether the emotions matched or not, adding to the intensity of his mood. The feeling of intimacy was strangely foreign and familiar all at the same time.

"Inuyasha, I need to talk to you about something," she started again, the hesitation clear in her voice.

He raised an eyebrow but didn't speak, curious about her change in behavior. It had been a long time since Kagome had been nervous about anything around him, and her discomfort set him on edge, like something bad was going to happen. Arms crossed, he sat back on his heels and waited.

Finding some strength, Kagome cleared her throat and began. "I've been thinking a lot lately, about our mission…about us." She paused to judge his reaction, but his face was locked in a curious mask. She sighed. "We've been together looking for the jewel shards for a long time, and we've made a ton of progress. I don't want you to think that I'm backing out and I'm not here until the end of it, but…"

Her nervousness and fidgeting were starting to seriously put him on edge, spreading through his body as if it were a contagious disease. The feeling of it was disturbing, and a shiver went through him as if his body was trying to rid himself of it. "What is it Kagome?" he asked with as much control as he could muster without lashing out at her.

"I need to go home," she blurted out finally, then held her breath in anticipation.

"So what's the big deal about that? You're always going home."

"No," she shook her head. "I need to stay there for a while. I'm really behind in school. I have entrance exams before too much longer. If I don't go back and focus for a while, just in case…just in case…"

"What? In case what?" Her grief was stifling.

"In case there's no place for me here once the jewel is back together."

His first thought was to tell her that she was stupid for even thinking that. Of course she'd always have a place with them. But one glance at Kagome's heartbroken face and Inuyasha kept his mouth shut. Had this been the cause of all the emotional turmoil he had been receiving from her lately?

"What do you want to do?" he asked instead.

"I'm supposed to attend cram school after my regular school to help me catch up, but if I go, it's going to mean that I can't come back very often."

"How long?" He could sense her body tense up even more, throwing his entire body into its own slight state of panic, and immediately he knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"Three months, maybe longer depending on if I get caught up or not."

Her level of panic was starting to almost choke him with its weight, and he knew he had to calm her down to experience any relief from it. "Well, you don't need my permission to go," he replied as if it made no difference to him. The emotional grip lessened slightly to his relief.

"Are you sure?" she murmured softly. "What about looking for Naraku and the other jewel shards? And what about the one we have? Will it be okay if I'm gone for so long with it?"

"It'd probably be safer with you anyways, since Naraku can't get through to you. And it's not as if we're totally incapable without you. Geez, you'd think that there were no other ways to track Naraku down." He kept spitting out responses, trying to say anything that would put her at ease so he could breathe again. Desperate, he tried a different approach. "Half the time you're just in the way anyways."

Kagome's eyes narrowed, and Inuyasha felt her subconscious clasp on him release as her annoyance set in. Back into more familiar emotional territory, he relaxed and folded his arms back across his chest. "Although I don't know why you need this school thing. You just always carry those books around and fall asleep when you open them anyways."

The flush in her cheeks was definitely starting to grow. "Inuyasha…" Her tone made it clear just what word was coming next, and he backed down. "Anyways, I'll try to come back on weekends when I can. Shippou made me promise and all, and as long as I'm caught up and back before Monday morning-"

"Ah, Kagome…" Suddenly he understood her fidgety behavior from before. "If you leave, that may be hard."

"What do you mean?"

"Coming back, it might be hard." He noticed the sharp edge of her nervousness start to poke its way back towards him.

"I don't understand. What's going on?"

After suppressing them for so long, the words just started to come out. The dreams, the voices, their constant message of finding the priestess. The bouts of insomnia without warning. His need to get away and process. The whole time Kagome listened intently, eyes widening as she processed the explanation to all her questions these past few weeks. And then he got to the critical point. The fire. The red and white robes. The flash of black hair. He couldn't look at her.

"What does it mean?" she asked, almost too softly to hear.

"That the jewel can't be completed without its priestess. We need to find Kikiyo."

"Kikiyo's alive?" came her small voice after what seemed like an eternity.

All at once Inuyasha felt Kagome's emotions go completely blank, and strangely a part of him felt hollow as well. It was as if a part of him was snatched, a piece that he had grown unconsciously attached to. He looked at Kagome with her eyes downcast, seemingly fighting down some relentless enemy deep in her heart. He prayed she wouldn't cry. He didn't think he could handle it. As awful as this conversation had been so far, clearly there was still more to follow. But then, without moving, Kagome quietly replied, "Do you really believe that's what we need to do?"

He nodded. "Absolutely."

She let out a small laugh. "I guess you're right then. I probably would just get in the way. Maybe my timing is good for once."

"Kagome, I didn't mean-"

"Hey," she smiled, "our job is to find the jewel shards so we can put them back together, right? Well, if we need Kikiyo to do that, then what other choice is there? We have to find her before Naraku does."

As relieved as he was by Kagome's response, something nagged him, and the more uneasy he felt, the more she seemed to smile in an effort to ease the tension. His stomach started to gnaw on itself, and his body seemed restless. Somehow he knew Kagome felt the same way.

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Kagome broke the silence. "I mean, Kikiyo just has a habit of showing up on her own accord. Do you have a ways of locating her?"

Inuyasha hesitated, fully knowing the answer right away. "I don't know," he sighed. "All I know is that she's the key to the Shikon, which explains why Naraku has always been so interested in her."

"Do you think Naraku knows about this?"

"Whether he does or not, we can't take that chance. We have to find her first."

Kagome nodded firmly, her features set in agreement. "I don't know what I can do to help, but if there's anything…"

For the first time since their conversation began, Inuyasha felt his body relax like a huge weight had finally been lifted. Impulsively he reached out and squeezed her hand. "Thanks Kagome," he whispered, a small smile creeping on his face. It appeared to make her feel better. "How soon do you have to leave?"

"By nightfall," she murmured, glancing sadly at the twilight in the sky.

He gave a small nod. "Do the others know?"

She nodded as well. "They already think I left, but I stuck around to see if you'd come back so I could tell you myself."

He glanced toward her bag. "Is that all your stuff?"

She nodded again and gave a small hiccup.

"It's dangerous to walk out there in the dark these days. I'd better walk you to the well to make sure you don't get in any trouble."

Side by side, the pair made their way back towards the Bone Eaters Well. Almost as if the demons could sense their need to remain uninterrupted, they left the hanyou and the human alone to say their goodbyes. There were no tears. There was no promise of when they would meet up. Together the pair approached the door between worlds, and as they did, Kagome took his hand. They stood there for a moment, then, with a sad smile, Kagome let go and was gone.

It wasn't as if she wasn't coming back. It wasn't as if he couldn't go over there and see her if he wanted. It wasn't like this arrangement was perminant. Yet somehow as he stood and stared at the empty well, Inuyasha inexplicably felt as if a piece of him had been severed, and in the hollow space left behind, somehow he could feel Kagome's tears.