Kagome walked slower than she would have walked to her death. They decided to convene outside instead of finding another hut. Kaede stayed behind with the children, but Kagome knew she would never be as curious as the others.

Inuyasha rushed out ahead of her and hopped in the tree silently. Kagome took the cue and trotted to where the roots of the tree crawled out of the ground and dropped to a seat. Miroku and Sango followed in suit.

Shippou raced to jump in her lap and Kagome immediately dug her fingers into his warm fur. It gave her a light bit of support but the dark feeling in her stomach never quite went away. Drawing in a breath, she looked up and firmly met the eyes of her companions.

"So what do you need to know exactly?"

Miroku almost looked taken off guard. Bringing a hand to his chin, he rubbed a day's worth of stubble and hummed for a second.

"Well, first I suppose it'd be most drastic to know who might have taken your son."

Sango's brown eyes darted between them and she nodded.

Kagome took a breath of the crisp air and tried to word herself.

"Naraku."

"Are you sure?"

"I have no doubt." Kagome looked back towards the ground, her eyes drifting over the gently moving green grass. "But I don't think he'd hurt my son until he got to me."

"Why does Naraku want you?"

She sneered a bit. "I imagine because he thinks he can still harvest the Shikon no Tama from my body."

Sango gasped. "So it is true. You absorbed the Shikon jewel?"

It triggered Kagome's memory. She was holding the Shikon jewel when it started to burn and spin. Brightness erupted from it until it blinded from her. It sent shocks of pain up her bones. Kagome had screamed and tried to push it away. But the jewel didn't seem tangible anymore. Only that blinding light. And then it jumped a bit and vanished.

Kagome wouldn't have known where it went until it left the burning in her fingers.

Her breath had rushed from her and she twitched her fingers, almost swearing she could see a faint glow dim and disappear.

Kagome drew herself back to reality and willed herself to look back up at the companions.

"Yea."

Miroku pinched the brim of his nose for a second.

"Kagome-sama… you know we had heard rumors that the jewel had disappeared. Rumors that you had absorbed it. But forgive me if it seems fairly unbelievable. I'm not even sure how we would confront this event alone. Like if Naraku wishes to get the jewel back he might have a plan to. And we can't give it to him."

"We have to be very careful with you then, Kagome." Sango added to the end of Miroku's thought process.

Her hand snaked out to grab his, and he tucked it into his lap.

Kagome's heart skipped a beat when a blur of red dropped from a tree. He landed with a quiet thud, and stood up wielding a closed fist.

"We don't need to worry about that. We need to just draw Naraku out and then I'll take his head long before Kagome even gets involved!" He growled darkly.

Kagome let out a short breath but a new hope rushed up in her chest. An emotion she couldn't exactly pin lifted her chest and Kagome put a hand over her bosom silently.

"We could, I suppose, draw him out and get Kawayou back. I can't imagine whatever he plans to do to get the jewel back could get quick or easy." Sango kept nodding as she ticked off her thoughts.

"We'd have to be careful. We'd have to make sure not to be separated. And we would have to get the boy out as quickly as possible. I don't put it past Naraku not to use his life to the farthest extent he could." Miroku squeezed Sango's hand and let it go. They both stood in unison.

Kagome released Shippou's soft fur and put her hands on the grass to help herself up. Every muscle in her body protested but she forced herself to ignore it. Shippou stood by her ankle.

"So where do you think you could find him, Kagome?" Miroku turned back to her and asked.

Kagome pictured the grassy covered mountain in her head. Part of her knew he might not have been there still. But if there was anywhere he'd expect to meet her, that'd be it.

And then Miroku asked something that made her heart pang.

"And you know Sesshoumaru has nothing to do with this?"

Inuyasha jerked straighter next to them, and Kagome turned her head away not to look at him.

"No." She found herself muttering, "he shouldn't."

Before they could react again, she spun on her heel, nearly knocking Shippou off his feet. She walked quickly back to village and Kaede's hut.

Her eyes burned and she cursed herself mentally. Trying to refocus her efforts, she tried to word what she would tell her children. She had to tell them something.

Right when she reached the village perimeter, certain she'd left the others in her tracks, someone caught up to her.

Her nerves left her again when she saw the silver and red from her peripheral.

"Oi, bitch." Inuyasha said, "we need to talk."

~*~

A/N: I'm not dead! I swear. I'm just busy but lucky things are clearing up soon. Anyways, I know this chapter is bite sized but it's just to throw it out there and set it up for a nice Inu/Kag moment next chapter.

And more so, in the next chapters I won't cheat you out of details anymore.