Kagome tried to focus on breathing. When she felt too overwhelmed, she tended to retreat into her mind and stay silent and expressionless on the outside. This was the case now. Kouga walked her through the makeshift village, showing her caves and huts and food supplies and training facilities and she did her best to nod, but that was about all she could manage. She didn't even have enough mental capacity to react to Kouga's arm firmly secured around her hips, his frequent assertions that she belonged to him, or Inuyasha's new habit of growling all the time. So much had changed in her life so quickly, and it was times like this that she wished she could talk to her mother. Not the oblivious simpleminded woman that walked around looking like her mother these days, but the strong and sweet woman who had raised her. The one who would calmly sooth away all of Kagome's worries. She hadn't had to retreat into her head nearly as much when that woman was around. Back before Naraku. She had had a lot in her life before Naraku came along, actually. A mother, a safe home, friends... As

Kouga guided her past another hut she wistfully noticed a scarf wound through the wood making up the roof. It looked just like one owned by one of the friends she had once had. Kagome stopped dead in her tracks, causing Kouga to stumble backwards and Inuyasha to walk into her. But she didn't notice either because... It was exactly the same. There was the rip from when they fought over it, there was the discoloration from a certain mishap with some tea... Kagome shot between the bewildered demons and flung open the door of the hut. Then she screamed. Both Kouga and Inuyasha were instantly at her side in fighting stances, but she brushed past them again and threw herself at the startled woman before her.

"Sango!" she cried.

"Kagome!?"

Without meaning to, Kagome started to cry. But she didn't have time to feel silly about it before Sango broke down, too. They sank to the ground, clutching each other in relief and talking over each other, desperately trying to cover the last year in a matter of minutes.

"Didn't think I'd see you again since you left for training!"

"Came back to hear you were gone! And Naraku!?"

"So horrible. But now I'm here and you're here and...'

"Where are you staying?"

"With Kouga?"

"No, stay here!"

"Yes!"

Their reverie was interrupted by a slamming door. Kagome looked up, startled. Only Kouga was still in the hut. He shrugged. "So... I guess you know Sango. And that's good because I need to be briefed on how things have been going in my absence. I'll check in with you later, ok?"

She nodded, and he started to back out of the door. "Be good to my woman, Sango, alright?" he said, before finally disappearing.

Santos mouth fell open and Kagome immediately shook her head. "I haven't had time to break it to him, though." she said when she was sure he was out of hearing distance. It's been a long day."

"Clearly..."

What followed was like an oasis in the middle of a desert. Kagome caught Sango up on the last year of her life, Naraku's courtship of her mother, the hell it was living with him and how she ended up in Kouga's village. Sango caught her up on what her exterminator training had been like, how disgusted she was with the whole attitude there of slaves being vermin, and how one of the members of this coalition had approached her to join its ranks.

"Was it like being recruited as a secret agent?" Kagome asked. "All covert and compelling? I'll bet it was cool."

"Actually, at first he just asked me to bear his children."

"Say what now?"

"Honey, I'm home!" A handsome man in monk's clothing ducked in the doorway, and then it was Kagome's turn to be shocked. But just like Kagome had, Sango shook her head and whispered an explanation.

"Not my honey. And he doesn't actually live here."

"Oh? But he clearly likes you. Why'd you turn him down?"

"Give it a minute."

As if on cue, the monk strode over to the table and gasped. "Sango, look! Your tea leaves... they've arranged into an ominous pattern."

"Really?" Kagome asked, leaning forward to see them. Within seconds, she felt a hand on her butt and quickly pushed Miroku to the other end of the room in a blast of energy. "I see the problem," she said drily. But then she paused because Sango's laughter was warmer than she had expected. Less like mocking and more like teasing. She watched her friend as she went to help Miroku up and playfully slapped him for good measure. Her smile was much too broad for her to actually be indifferent. Similarly, Miroku was much too focused on Sango for him to actually be a womanizer. After enduring her attack and earning Sango's attention, his eyes didn't leave her face, and he still hadn't asked for Kagome's name.

When the two fell easily into conversation about the village and the people in it and other such things that she knew nothing about, she knew it was time to give them space. She lingered for a few more moments, watching Sango's face, but then finally said, "Hey, I'm going to go check in with Kouga and Inuyasha. I'll come back in a couple of hours, ok?"

Sango turned to her and nodded. "Can't wait for our sleepover!" she said.

"Can I come?" Miroku asked. She hit him upside the head, but then giggled.

Kagome shut the warmth and light of the hut away behind her. It was much darker and cooler outside. The sun had long since set. She almost turned around and reentered, but then remembered Sango's face again. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her friend, but it did still make her feel a little lonely. Fortunately, it looked like she had an alternate event to attend. A little down the way, a warm fire was crackling, and she heard Kouga regaling the crowd with a narration of his bondage and rescue. He was very animated, using his hands, expressions and tones to make the story more enthralling. The younger cubs were leaning forward eagerly, and the older demons were still and focused. She could tell that this storytelling was something they did often. She started to approach and join the crowd, but then, through the flickering shadows, she saw a figure sitting cross-legged at the edge of the cliff they were all standing on. She recognized his silver hair. Without hesitating, she turned away from the warmth of the fire and knelt next to him on the cold stone.

"Hey," she said.

He grunted.

"Is something wrong?"

He was silent for a few seconds then turned his face away from her. "Feh..."

"Come on," She urged. "Tell me."

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you go back to Sango." He said the last word bitterly.

Kagome was taken aback. "Is there some reason that you don't like her?" she asked.

"No. I don't know."

"Inuyasha, just talk to me."

"It's just...first you screamed, and then you cried, and then you smiled in ways I haven't seen before and you've never done any of that with me. And then you agree to room with her without even thinking about it."

"And...?"

"And I was going to ask you to room with me! Because having you around makes me feel safe and I need that. I need... You. And for a while I thought you also...wanted to be around me. But I guess you've got a better friendship now. So... room with her. I don't care."

Kagome leaned her head against his shoulder. She felt him tense and then relax and sensed his confusion.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"For wanting to be with me so much. Sango does, too, but she's got her own thing going as well. And Kouga's claimed me or whatever but he's off with his wolves and I can tell already that they'll always come first. So its nice to know that you and still have each others backs. Because you're right. I do want to be around you."

"Feh. Kouga. When are you going to turn him down already?"

"Who says I plan to do that?"

"Y...you are going to, aren't you?"

"Why? Are you jealous of Kouga too?"

"Kouga, Sango, whoever's scent is lingering around your... He looked pointedly at her butt and kagome blushed. "Care to shed some light on who I have to kill for that, by the way?"

"Oh, don't kill him!" she protested, thinking of Sango and lifting her head off of his shoulder and turning to look Inuyasha in the eyes. "He's really nice!"

"Nice?" Inuyasha growled menacingly.

But before she could respond, there was an uproar of crying and screaming coming from the firepit. Kagome and Inuyasha both leaped to their feet and started running towards it. Inuyasha obviously reached the panicking crowd first, but Kagome arrived just in time to see a wolf demon choke out his last breath, writhing in agony on the ground, hands clutching his throat and clawing at it desperately before his whole body suddenly went slack.

A/N: I hope you guys appreciate this super long chapter. Because it is long. You're welcome.