Kagome groaned sleepily when she felt someone tugging at her arm. "Uhnn… It’s too early… we’ll look for shards later."

"Kana-chan?"

Kagome slowly opened her heavy lids and saw Rin staring at her, their faces only inches apart. She would have been surprised, if it had not have been that Shippo would do the exact same thing every morning. She was barely able to react the first time he had done it—she had been so scared by him that she screamed, causing Inu Yasha to come running to her, Tetsusaiga drawn. She laughed as she thought of it, leaving the young child before her confused.

"What’s Kana-chan laughing about? Did Rin do something funny?"

Kagome shook her head slowly, a smile on her face as she sat upright. "You just reminded me of someone I know."

Rin nodded slowly as she looked up at the older girl she knew as Kana. "Kana-chan, where is this person you know?"

"With my other friends."

"Why aren’t you with your friends, then, Kana-chan?"

Kagome hesitated as she shifted her gaze to the window, seeing the sun as it rose. She felt a heavy sort of feeling tugging at her heart and urging her eyes to pour out the tears that she held back. [I can’t keep feeling like this… I can’t cry every time I think about home… Shippo… Mama… Sango-chan… Inu Yasha… … But… I miss them all so very much… I… I have to stop feeling sorry for myself. I have to be strong and face what life gives me. I cannot allow myself to become overcome with grief. I should be grateful that Sesshoumaru revived me. I should be grateful that I’ve been given another chance… after all, beggars cannot be choosers.]

"Kana-chan?"

Kagome shook her thoughts from her sleep-fogged head and turned to the little girl with the toothy grin. "Don’t worry about it, Rin. Come on, let’s go down for breakfast."

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Miroku watched from a distance as he saw Inu Yasha speaking with Kaede, explaining that she was to care for Shippo and that they would not return from their search for the shards for a long time, seeing as they did not have to return for Kagome any longer.

Miroku had noticed that Sango did not seem to be as depressed as she had been the day before. [But then again, Sango has been able to deal with losing all of her family, her village, everything she ever held dear—possibly with the exception of Kirara… Either she’s cursed or she just has met some ill fate that has caused all of that to happen. Whatever the cause… I swear, I’ll never let anything happen to her—ever again.]

Sango blushed as she felt Miroku’s gaze upon herself. She knew now what had become of Kagome, and now she did not feel nearly as bad about everything. She could tell, though, that Miroku still seemed bothered by the recent turn of events. She approached him slowly and took his right hand in hers. She looked to the ground anxiously at first, but then she looked up into Miroku’s violet eyes. "Houshi-sama… you’ve got to cheer up… Naraku is probably depending on us to be sad. Come on, let me see a smile…"

Miroku sighed as he pulled Sango closer to himself. He forced a thin smile, letting Sango see before he drew her into a warm embrace. He narrowed his eyes in determination as he felt Sango wrap her arms around him. "Sango-chan… I want you to know… I will protect you from anything that means you harm… It’s hard enough losing Kagome-chan, but I don’t think I’d be able to continue if anything happened to you, too, Sango-chan."

"Miroku…"

Miroku slowly shifted position of his hands and…

~ SMACK!!! ~

"Can’t you ever be serious? To think, I actually believed you—you… you stupid pervert!" Sango took in a deep breath, trying as she could to regain her composure. She could not help but crack a smile as she saw Kirara lightly pawing at Miroku’s red cheek as he lay twitching on the ground. [He always does that… but… did he really mean what he said? I mean, why wouldn’t he mean it?]

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Sesshoumaru stood on the balcony of his personal quarters, staring down into the gardens below. He heard the light sound of laughter coming from the rooms that Rin and Kagome were staying in. He recalled the sharp pain that had been in his stub of a left arm the night prior, and that, even though she was a hanyou now, Kagome’s arrows still burned with purity—not enough to be deadly to a yokai such as himself, but still enough that he still felt pain when he touched the spot. He also noticed that instead of his yokai blood quickly healing the wound and leaving no sign of injury, there was a dark scab left over the injury site. [Damn that girl… How is it that she, a mere human, can possess such enormous power that even a change in her blood cannot stop it? By all logic, she should not have blood that is ‘pure’ enough to allow that type of power. What is it that makes her like that?]

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. Just a reminder, folks, R&R! ^_^ I appreciate you all…. :-P