Kim: Not much to say.

Amber: PLEASE review!!

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Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha

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Last time…

Kagome lifted her sword and aimed it at Kikyou, tears streaming down her face. "Go to hell, Kikyou. And this time, don't come back." With that, Kagome used her sword to open a portal to hell beneath Kikyou's feet, and she watched as Kikyou dropped down as if she had fallen off a cliff. "InuYasha…InuYasha!" She raced over to the tree, immediately gripping the arrow. But as soon as she pulled it out, InuYasha's body disappeared.

"What the hell…?" Realization flashed over her face and she quickly spun around. "Sango, Shippo, Kirara, stand back." She picked up her sword and cut through Miroku's body.

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Chapter 24: Star Light, Star Bright

"KAG— WHA—?" Sango was confused.

"Watched," Kagome muttered, pointing to Miroku, who then turned into a puppet. Just like InuYasha.

"How did you know?" Shippo asked, picking up the blood-covered puppet.

"Something didn't seem right about him. Sango, didn't you notice anything?"

"Now that you mention it," she thought hard. "He never once touched my butt…"

"Are you guys absolutely sure you killed Naraku?"

"Positive." Shippo opened his mouth to say something else, but a scream cut him off.

Kagome took off toward Kaede's hut, Sango and Shippo right behind her, and found that Hikari was screaming.

"Hikari! Hikari! Stop screaming!" She yelled. Kagome picked her up and she started cry breath heavily.

"How can daddy move away far fast?" she shuddered. "Scary…"

"What do you mean?" Shippo asked, petting her on the head comfortingly.

Kagome placed Hikari on the ground and then bent down to eye level. "Show mommy what you mean." Immediately, Kagome was thrown into a vision. She was looking from the sky, down to the earth. She watched, again, as InuYasha was pinned to the tree, and then change into a puppet. A red aura, one she hadn't seen the first time she lived this moment, was released from the figurine and it flew high into the air and raced among the clouds to the mountain area.

Kagome gasped as she saw another vision. "Oh no…"

"What?" they all asked in unison.

"InuYasha was here, sort of. His mind was put in the puppet with a spell of sorts. So everything that happened to him really happened to his real body.

"Where is he?" Shippo asked.

"I didn't see. It went towards the mountains, though."

"I'll bet they went there," Sango muttered.

"Probably right." Shippo agreed quietly.

"Went where?" Kagome asked.

"You'll see."

"If Naraku is dead, where's the jewel?"

"InuYasha has it," Sango and Shippo said flatly.

"But, when I asked him about it, he wouldn't say anything, but he was thinking 'It's lost'."

"Is it possible that whoever has InuYasha captive can control his thoughts?" Kaede asked.

Kagome sniffed the air when a familiar scent washed over her.

"That's…exactly right." Miroku stumbled in the door.

(A/N: -throws streamers- THAT IS THE LAST LINE I HAVE WRITTEN DOWN!!! WHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!)

"Miroku!" Sango ran over to him and helped him get all the way inside and sitting.

"What happened to you?" Shippo asked. Kagome stayed in a corner and just thought. Planned.

"I escaped, that's what."

"From what?" Sango asked as she tied a bandage around his arm.

"I don't know exactly."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Kaede inquired.

Miroku's brow furrowed in concentration. "The middle of the fight with Naraku." He said finally.

"Where's daddy?" Hikari asked Shippo quietly.

Miroku noticed the small child for the first time. "Who is that?"

"Her name is Hikari." Kagome muttered, still deep in thought. Miroku looked at her. He hadn't noticed her sitting there either.

"Is she…"

"Yup." Sango and Shippo answered his half-asked question.

"Well, I only came back without InuYasha, because I couldn't find him."

"So you came back for help."

"Exactly."

"So you know where they are?" Kagome asked, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Yes. I can show you."

"We'll leave tomorrow morning. You need rest and I need…to think. Come on peanut," She picked up her daughter from Shippo's lap and headed for the sacred tree.

"She's had a long day," Shippo informed him.

"Did she come back on her own? I was sure InuYasha told her to wait."

"He went to get her as soon as he got back," Kaede said.

"Someone sent puppets in your places, but InuYasha's was more real since he had to go through the well."

"I see."

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"Mommy?" Hikari asked from the branch above her.

"Hm?"

"What are those?" She pointed up into the sky.

"Those are stars. Aren't they pretty? You can't see them back home because of the city lights."

"Oh. Pretty…" she marveled.

FLASHBACK-----

"InuYasha?" Kagome asked, staring at the dots of light shooting across the sky.

"Hm?"

"Make a wish…" she whispered absently.

"Hn." He turned away.

"What?!"

"You actually believe in that stuff? Why do you like the stars so much, anyways? They're just stupid dots of light."

"You can't see them in my era. The city lights blind them out."

"Ridiculous."

"InuYasha, SIT!" She didn't watch as he hit the ground.

"What was that for!?"

END FLASHBACK-----

Kagome laughed at the ridiculous fight they had had, but she regretted it now. She didn't know when she'd see him again. If she'd get to talk to him again. He could be gone forever.

"Mommy can't cry!" Hikari said from in front of her. Kagome hadn't noticed the tears that had moistened her cheeks. She leaned forward and pulled Hikari into her embrace. She looked so much like him.

"I love you," she whispered.

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Kim: School time

Amber: Please review!