It had been a while since Kagome felt this light, like all her troubles no longer mattered. Yesterday proved to be more successful than she thought, and with that in mind, she decided to go for another run. Not only did it allow her to work out her problems, it kept her in shape. Something she felt was going to need later on. But she wasn't going to keep thinking about those less than positive thoughts.

It was still warm enough to be wearing the light sweater as she was running back home. Keeping her pace light, she was more than happy to be listening to her music, without getting the odd looks from Scott and Stiles. And all because they couldn't understand the lyrics.

The path that she had been using turned and connected with the street, that led back into town, somewhat grateful for a more solid surface to run on. She needed to get back into running over forest floors again, it had been a while. Pulling out her cell, she checked the time, she had been going at it for about an hour now, and still had plenty of time to shower and get ready for Scott's game.

Noticing a car coming down the street, she moved to the side and kept on running. She glanced to the side, noticing it was in fact Stiles' father along with a deputy and someone in the back seat. She pulled out her headphones when she noticed that the man had actually slowed down to keep with her pace of jogging.

"Can I help you Sheriff?" she leaned down to look in through the passenger window and get eye to eye with the man.

"You come all the way out here to jog?"

"Ah, yes sir. Just trying to stay fit." she smiled nervously, wondering if that was really all he wanted to know.

The Sheriff's own eyes narrowed and he leaned closer to her, well as far as his seat belt allowed him too.

"Wait a minute, your Scott's cousin aren't you?"

"Yes sir." now Kagome had to wonder what said cousin had done this time.

"Has Scott, or Stiles for that matter, been causing any trouble?" her eyes shifted to the man in the back, noticing it was Derek. The one that Stiles and Scott kept going on about. His own dark grey eyes on her.

"Other than being teens age boys, not that I'm aware of. Why? Did they do something stupid?" she was looking back towards the Sheriff.

"It's part of the reason I'm here now."

"Right~. I'll be sure Aunt Mel knows. In the mean time, I'll try and keep an eye on him. Then again, he is a 16 year old boy. Not something that you can easily... keep an eye on." her thoughts wondering to how her own little brother was right now. She was going to go on a live chat with him tonight after the game.

"True. Well, head home and be careful."

"Will do Sheriff!" standing up she watched as the cruiser was starting off down the road once again, plugging her headphones back into her ears. She picked back up on jogging, and playfully waved her hand when she noticed Derek turn around in the back seat to get a last look at her. Not knowing what possessed her to do such.

"Don't even think about it Hale. Until this is all cleared up, you won't be seeing much besides myself and the station." Derek turned to face forward once again, arms shifting against the cool feel of the cuffs. They really couldn't hold him, but he had to play the part of human, so that meant staying in the cuffs.

The girl confused him, most were wary of being near him, a certain deep instinct that even humans had, telling them that he was a natural predator. But she brushed him off the first time they met, walked past him as if she shouldn't even concern herself with his presence. But when she stormed past him after Scott shifted on the field, he felt power rolling off of her, and his instincts told him that she was as much a predator as he was, he just wasn't sure in what way. And as soon she had disappeared into the doors, a sudden wave of calm washed over him and he was sure she was the cause.

His mind began to work things over. He was sure she knew about Scott, therefore himself. The Sheriff named her as Scott's cousin, meaning she was family. If he could talk to her, perhaps he could get some sense talked into Scott himself. He ignored the voice deep within at the back of his head, insisting about the girl. Even he could admit that at times, it was like having a split personality, and right now was when his instincts went about said girl, were not welcome.

Kagome sighed happily as she made her way down to the kitchen, her still somewhat damp hair twisted up into a messy bun. She knew it would make her hair more wavy and curly after it dried and she let the locks free, but she was sort looking forward to the results. Anyways, she was getting ready to make supper, and opening the fridge, she winced slightly, she'd have to go shopping. But that could wait till Monday, the latest.

Taking a look at what they had, she knew what else was in the pantry's, she figured on a Nacho casserole. It was quick and simple and easy enough to make with little to no time needed. Pulling out all she needed, she went about cooking the ground beef, and while waiting for that to cook, chopped some peppers and tomatoes.

"So what's for supper tonight?"

Kagome looked up from mixing the chopped veggies with the now cooked meat.

"Nacho casserole. Since it's Scott's first big game, I figured this would be good. Not too heavy but still filling." Kagome playfully swatted her aunt's hand as said woman came in and took a chip to scoop some meat into her mouth.

"Mmm, tasty. Any sauces?" Melissa started on cleaning the dishes that were neatly put to the side.

"Not really, just mixed a bit barbeque sauce, curry ketchup and that packet." Kagome put the two filled casseroles into the oven and went over to dry and put the dishes away.

"You really are a god send, ya know that? Helping around the house, keeping an eye on Scott when I can't. I am really, really thankful to have you here. I finally get some time to relax." the last bit came out in a content sigh.

Kagome chuckled, she could see that what her aunt said was actually taking effect. The woman no longer had dark bruising around her eyes from lack of sleep, her skin now had a healthy flush to it, and her hair also had life back. With the extra time she had with Kagome helping around the house, Melissa had the extra time to herself.

"My mom would say she was thankful that you were putting up with me." Kagome jerked when she felt warm water land on her face. She blinked a few times before turning to her aunt, her mouth open and closing a few times before she could form words.

"Did you just flick water at me?"

"No~" the innocent tone her aunt used didn't fit with the slightly playful looking smirk she wore.

"I hope you are prepared to reap the winds of war!" Kagome threw the dish towel into her aunt's face, and while the woman was busy removing it, Kagome herself scooped up a large amount of warm suds and blew it in her face once it was uncovered.

Thus an all out war between the two females began, which soon involved using towels to quickly snap at one another. When they were finally done, sitting on the floor, their appearances slightly more sudsy than before, panting and laughing and playfully announcing themselves as the winner. It was to that scene that Scott walked in on.

"Did I miss something?"

Both looked up, his face confused in that adorable way of his, his eyes taking in the few areas that were covered in water, suds or the two drenched towels clutched in their hands. The hold he had on his gear bag slackened slightly as he cautiously made his way into the kitchen.

"Our version of a day at the spa?" Kagome spoke up as she moved to stand, helping her aunt to her feet as well.

"With dish water?" sounding none convinced.

"It's very therapeutic!" Kagome huffed, slightly offended. She went over to the oven and was glad to see that super was ready. Humming, she pulled out one casserole dish and left the other, and simply turned the oven off, figuring Scott most likely would work up an appetite from the game.

"Well, I hope you're hungry." they all centered on the table just outside of the kitchen itself, Melissa already placing plates, napkins and whatnot at three chairs.

"It looks great." the next half hour was spent eating their fill, talking about the big game and whatever else came to their minds. It was a simple normal family dinner, one that Scott was more than happy to enjoy.

He wasn't blind to the changes with his mom, and all thanks to Kagome. He was still reeling in shock when it came to Kagome. Since Stiles had decided to dig up as much information on what Kagome said she apparently was, she had told them the facts from fiction concerning what she could do. Sadly, being a cure for this werewolf thing he was now suffering wasn't one of them. In fact, she only tried once to do anything that could get rid of it, and damn, did it hurt. She refused to do anything like that again, stating it was now a part of him, whether he liked it or not.

"What do you mean you can't?" his hands tried to sooth where her hands had been, glowing of all things.

"I haven't really dealt with werewolves before alright!" Kagome snapped at him, pushed his hands away to examine the damage she had done. All anger morphed into regret as she saw the red hand prints on his chest after lifting his shirt out of the way.

Raising her hand again, this time it glowed a more bluish white instead of the pink, a sign that she called on her abilities for healing. She moved her hand over the affected areas, pleased to see the blistering was reduced to mere pink skin and then back to normal as his werewolf abilities took over the rest.

"This is the way I see it..." she moved back to sit on her cousin's bed, racking her brain on how to put what she thought into an explanation. "If it were an actual curse, my abilities wouldn't have attacked your own blood. Or it would have simply attacked and gotten rid of any affected blood."

"I still don't..." Stiles piped up, have stated that he wanted to be there to witness everything.

"It means, that it is no longer something foreign inside of Scott's blood. His blood has most likely somehow changed or mutated. I think if I had attempted this the night when he had been bitten, I might have been able to do something. But I think last weeks full moon and his first, change, made it permanent. Unless there is a cure I am unaware of." her hand combed through her hair.

"Ok... then how did the second run of your glowing hands not hurt him like the first time?"

"Like I said when we were looking for Scott. My abilities allow me to heal as well as harm. It's simply a matter of what needs to be done."

That had been followed by fifty questions from Stiles of what she could and couldn't do. Kagome had looked ready to smoother his friend when he questioned about her abilities concerning her virginity. He had been shocked Stiles had even asked that, and when Kagome stormed out of the room, locked herself in her own, he had refused to look at Stiles straight in the face. It became rather awkward after that last question.

The normal family banter continued on while his mom drove them all to school, where he parted ways from them so he could go change while they went to the bleachers.

Kagome wrapped her arms around herself as they made their way to the bleachers, seeing that it was going to be a tight squeeze for them, but at least this way they would be shielded from the elements. Though sadly, Kagome had suffered through worse. Damn Inuyasha when he had pushed them all through the worst in chasing Naraku or shards down. Freeing a hand, she waved when she spotted Allison and Lydia already and waiting at the bleachers, though Lydia looked slightly agitated and Kagome could only guess it had to do with Scott.

"You know those two?"

"Yeah, the blond is Lydia, she happens to be dating the lacrosse captain, and the brunette is none other than Allison." smiling, Kagome nodded her head to the unvoiced question her aunt was throwing her way when she finally saw who it was that had Scott's attention.

"She's very pretty, and looks like she has a head on her shoulders. I approve." Kagome could hear the pride in her aunt's voice, most likely happy that Scott was finally getting out and dating. Honestly, she couldn't think otherwise, though those thoughts came to a screeching halt at her aunts next words.

"Now we just have to find you someone."

Kagome felt her face drain of any and all blood, just before her cheeks began to warm at a steady pace. Peeking from the corner of her eyes, her aunt had that knowing look about her and that's when Kagome knew. Her aunt and mother had been conspiring about her finding someone. Narrowing her eyes on the woman she spoke up.

"You've been talking to mom, haven't you?" her tone was slightly accusing, but there could be no other explanation to her aunt's sudden words otherwise.

"A little. Despite you talking to them every weekend, your mom still worries, and as a mother myself, I can understand. She just wants to make sure everything is working out. You're 18, and with Scott, I know I'm not told everything."

"I always tell mom everything. Just recently things have become very stressful."

"And that worried her. Please don't take it the wrong way. Besides, I miss her, it's been forever since we last spoke, and asking me to take you in doesn't count."

Kagome threw her arms around her aunt, grateful to know that people loved and cared for her and were always looking out for her. True, she couldn't share everything with her aunt or mom, but to have them there despite everything was still something she thanked the high heavens for, everyday.

"I don't, I'm very thankful that you took me in. I missed you and Scott in the time we couldn't come over to visit. Just, don't set me up on any blind dates or something with a college's son or something along those lines."

Her aunt shook her head and the two of them made their way to the free spots in front of Allison, and a man Kagome assumed could only be her father. So turning, she spoke to the other girl.

"So you ready to cheer Scott on?" it was then she noticed that Lydia was missing.

"Huh? Oh yeah!"

"Are you a friend of Scott's" both looked towards the man standing next to Allison, said girl blushed lightly.

"Actually, I'm his cousin. My name is Kagome, and you are?" she held out a hand towards the man, which he took and gently shook it.

"Chris Argent, Allison's father. I've heard your name mentioned a few times, but not all that much."

"I'm in my last year of high school. So, I don't get to spend as much time with Allison as Lydia or Scott does." noticing that her aunt had also turned and was now paying attention to the current conversation.

"Ah, this is my aunt, Scott's mom, Melissa McCall. Aunt Mel, this is Allison and Chris Argent." always the polite person, she introduced them all to each other. Though it was weird, introducing her aunt to the man that attacked her son, she felt no malice or any ill will from said man. Perhaps, he was something along the lines of what Sango once was. Where as any person she came across in the past, save a few individuals, that had any form of holy abilities were on a self induced war against all that weren't human.

Sango herself had explained that they had only dealt with any form of demon or other, that took to mindlessly slaughtering humans, live stock or being true monsters. Though they did have a less then great understanding between themselves and demons, they weren't out hunting every single one, saying they had been taught from early on that most higher demons tended to not mix with human affairs, so to hunt one down was a fools errand.

But it wasn't like she could out right ask the man if it was as such. She wasn't even sure if Allison was even aware of what her father did. Did her mom also get involved with hunting? There were so many unknown factors that she would have to wait and see how things went along before voicing her questions. Unless things got too messy and she would have to jump in herself. Maybe she could get Stiles to look things up, once something caught his interest, he went all out on learning all he could about the subject matter.

He still found new information on mikos and werewolves, some of which were she learned something new to do or practice at and further her own abilities. So why not get him to look this up? The question was, would this catch his interest? Seeing as his best friend's life was on the line with dating a hunters daughter, it should.

Facing forward, her attention was drawn to the game, not having noticed that it had even started. A few years ago, she would have allowed herself to simply go with the flow of things, and while sometimes that was the best choice at times, it wasn't a permanent way to go about things. Planning ahead, and trying to get a hold on all angles of the problem at hand, only after that did one allow themselves to go with the flow. Her Jr. High years were a good example to that. The first year had been spent simply wondering around hoping to find either shards or Naraku, and her getting into a lot of trouble and needing to wait till the others could help her out. After eight months of nothing but, she decided to change things and took up training both in the past and what she could get in the present.

She mechanically applauded when Jackson scored on the apposing teams net after body chucking Scott away from the ball, she wasn't about to let the same thing happen again. Sitting back down, her eyes followed the game, narrowing when she noticed a few things. The team was purposefully excluding Scott from the game.

Scott himself turned to them, shock clear on his face before turning into something of a mix between betrayal and disbelief. Turning around herself, she mentally groaned at the sight that greeted her. Allison was holding a poster up, that had in big bold letters; We Luv U Jackson. Already, she could feel Scott's anger rising, and bringing with it his inner wolf. She watched as the game continued on as so, Scott standing on the sidelines really, and it brought his inner wolf to the surface.

"Which one is Scott again?" Kagome turned slightly, at the mention of her cousin's name, trying to catch what was being said.

"Number eleven. Otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball this entire game." why Lydia would be upset, Kagome had no idea, but it could be because the team was losing and she most likely blamed Scott for it.

"I hope Scott's ok."

"He's fine. The team is purposefully not passing him the ball." she decided to finish her thoughts on the matter to herself. "And a team always follows their captain." Jackson was taking whatever he had against Scott personally, and bringing it into the game. It was causing them to lose the ball.

She heard Lydia mutter something then heard both her and Allison stand back up, the sounds of the poster bending as it was moved about. With Scott's own aura spiking drastically, she didn't need to look behind her to know that Lydia had gotten Allison to help hold up a poster most likely stating some sort of praise for Jackson.

Surprisingly enough, that was what caused the game to shift in their favor, as Scott allowed his wolf to simmer just beneath the surface. Sort of allowing it there, but still have some form of control. He took the initiative and charged, stealing the ball out of the air and went full force and scored against the opposing team. She smiled towards her aunt when the both jumped in their excitement and applauded his achievement.

It was then Kagome heard shouts from the coach that the other players were to pass to Scott. And after the next... face off, the opposing team deliberately passed Scott the ball, which wasn't too surprising. Once again, he was an unstoppable force, and when he shot on the net, it went through the opposing teams basket. They could say it was due to old meshing.

The next goal, was a little more troubling. The more he played, the more Kagome could sense the wolf breaching the surface. When members of the other team started to surround him, did Kagome become really concerned. Experience from the past, and common knowledge, were telling her, that while it was her cousin, animalistic instincts were in overdrive with him. And a cornered animal always lashed out, in a rather vicious way.

Just when she was about to let her aura out to hopefully sooth him, Allison quietly spoke up. "You can do it Scott. You can do it." And like a soothing balm, the savage beast calmed and Scott managed to win the game. Her aunt practically jumped her, jumping up and down on the spot, not noticing that Scott was hastily making his way to the locker room.

She could hear Stiles also exclaiming his excitement. Trying to keep her aunt occupied so as not to worry about Scott not celebrating on the field with the others, she watched as Allison pause for a moment on the field after she had made her way after Scott, how Jackson watched after her cousin. She could feel the anger, but underneath was something along the lines of confusion and wonder.

Turning she saw Stiles sitting on the teams bench, his father the sheriff trying to talk to someone on his cell, and seeing how Stiles was reacting, she politely excused herself to go talk to the guy. With all the people rushing, jumping about, Kagome was having a hard time getting over to the relatively open space. And when she did, she only caught the tail end of the sheriff's explanation of whatever it was they were talking about.

"... ra Hale. So he was released." Stiles' face paled, and when he caught her gaze, he immediately stiffened.

Throwing on a bright smile, she made her way over to Stiles and congratulate his team on the win. When she pulled him off to the side a bit, both watched as the sheriff excused himself saying something from work came up.

"Talk." keeping her face blank of any emotion, she watched as the younger boy fidgeted before sighing and began to explain the new current situation.

"That was the M.E. that just called. Apparently, any foreign DNA they found on her was animal, they let Derek go."

"Okay~" by the looks of things, that wasn't all that there was to it. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. They matched the DNA of both halves. Best part, she was Derek's sister. Laura Hale."

"Oh... Scott's not going to like this." Kagome rubbed her hands over her face. Not now that he just won the game, that the girl he liked was actually chasing after him, and he had thought that Derek was in jail.

"I'm gonna let you be the one to explain things to him while I hold off my aunt. I don't need all this drama crap anymore in my life!" she threw her hands up in the air and made her way towards her aunt while Stiles made his way to where her cousin and Allison were.

Sometimes, it got to the point where she was either going to pull all her hair out, run away to a nice tropical island for a vacation, or check herself in to the nearest mental institution. Seeing as she didn't want to be bald, and those beautiful tropical islands would cost her an arm and a leg, a mental institution was looking pretty cozy right about now. And she thought all this sort of drama only happened on TV.

AN: This time, I really mean it. I need the short break to collect so I can figure out where I'm going with my stories. I've already written enough chapters for Moon Afterlight to take a break from writing. This will be the only update this week, until I figure out some things. Sorry guys, but I hope you enjoy this update nonetheless!