Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Author's Note: It has been awhile ne? I wasn't sure if I would continue this or not but seeing as I somehow got inspiration to type this chapter I'll try to stick with it a little longer. I can't gurantee that there will be regular updates now that I'm back on board (not that I updated regularly anyways) but I will try my best.

Several more weeks passed and the group found themselves always one step behind the cloaked stranger that had saved them so many weeks ago. They would hear a whisper of this stranger's whereabouts and when they would arrive all they would find was the smoldering carcass of a demon that had no doubt crossed its path and no trace of where the stranger had gone.

"Damnit!" Inuyasha yelled as he looked down at what remained of the demon that had the unfortunate luck to run across the stranger. "Why we are always one step behind whoever or whatever is under that cloak!" Neither Miroku nor Sango had an answer for him, they just watched him mutter curses under his breath and stomp around the dead demon. Suddenly Kilala took a sudden interest in the remains of the demon. Mewing softly she quickly made her way to the carcass.

"Kilala?" Sango questioned as she watched her demon cat curiously. She had never shown any interest in the remains of demons they had come across before, why should this one solicit any other reaction other than indifference from her?

Kilala mewed once again and pawed gently at the carcass which immediately crumbled into ash. Miroku, Sango and Shippo watched her curiously, each trying to figure out what she was doing. Inuyasha however was still stomping around muttering profanities at the stranger, he had no idea what was happening behind him. Kilala started pawing at the ashes mewing insistently.

"Kilala stop that!" Sango cried as she rushed over to her cats side. "You're getting the ashes all over you, now I'm going to have to-"she suddenly halted mid sentence, staring down at what the ashes revealed.

"Sango what is it?" Miroku asked cautiously making his way towards her, taking in her stiffened shoulders he did not know if it was simply because what she saw shocked her, or if what Kilala found was something sinister that held some sort of importance to them.

"You better look at this Miroku." Said Sango evenly. Stepping up next to her Miroku glanced down at his feet only to feel his eyes widen slightly.

"That's-"he began.

"Yes." Sango said quickly cutting him off, as if she were afraid that if he said what it was out loud that it would suddenly disappear.

"But how?" he questioned, crouching down next to Kilala in order to get a better look at it.

"I'm not sure." Sango replied. "I'm not convinced that it's real, it could be some sort of illusion put on by Naraku." She concluded as she swiveled her head around, as if Naraku was hidden in the trees nearby and was going to pop out at them suddenly. Her grip on her boomerang tightened.

"No need to think that my dear, it's real." Miroku said as he poked it gently, letting the purple glow wash over his fingers. "Something tells me that Naraku had nothing to do with this." He muttered as he stared at it. Kilala mewed and pushed her head against his knee, causing him to pat her head absentmindedly.

"How else would it get here? It just happened to be buried in the ashes of a demon that we just happened to come across? It had to have been planted here for us, to make sure we found it. This isn't something you just leave laying around." Sango said, crouching down to Miroku's level.

"Indeed. You're right, this can't just be coincidence. Someone planted this here for us to find…and they were sure we would find it…otherwise it wouldn't have been left here. But I doubt its Naraku, besides why would he give us this?" He countered.

"Well if it's not him, then who?" she questioned frowning, eyebrows knit in confusion. She glanced towards the side of Miroku's face, as if the answer to their questions were written there.

"There is one other that could have left it here…how it got a hold of this I do not know…but it seems to be the better option compared to Naraku."

"You don't mean?"

"Yes I do…I believe that the cloaked stranger that saved us all those weeks ago, put this here for us to find. He, She, It, whatever it is has to know that we're following it, why it gave this to us I don't know, but it's the best option we have right now. Unless you want to believe that Naraku put it here?" he questioned with eyebrows raised glancing out of the corner of his eye. Sango blushed and shook her head no. A sudden sadness swept through her eyes, looking at Miroku she saw the same emotion mirrored back at her.

"Do you think? Since this is here…" she couldn't finish the question, she simply bowed her head and clenched her hands into fists. At this moment in time Inuyasha decided to take over being the leader again and his brash voice washed over his companions.

"Alright let's go. There's nothing here left for us to do. Let's find the next demon and see if he has any shards." He began to move back on the path they were treading on earlier only to discover that no one was following him. He turned and saw Miroku and Sango with bowed heads next to a pile of ash.

"Oy! If you want to pray for its soul do it while we're walking! We don't have any more time to waste!" His eyes turned into slits as he stomped angrily over to his immobile companions. "Why are you still sitting there!? The thing's dead and gone! Let's get a move on, we need to find more je-"

"Inuyasha, do you really think we would remain sitting here for no reason?" Miroku's voice cut him off quickly, causing the half demon to stop in his tirade and blink stupidly at his friend.

"Well yeah! I can see no reason for you guys to stay sitting here when we got demons to kill!" he raged, glaring at the side of the monk. At Miroku's sigh Inuyasha tensed a little bit, he could sense that whatever the monk said next would not be good.

"Inuyasha…you better come see this." The monk stood and backed away from the ashes a few steps, Sango however, could not seem to find enough strength in her legs to move away. Her head was bowed with her shoulders slumped and her hand fisted on the strap of her boomerang. At seeing the demon slayer in this state Inuyasha's wariness grew even more.

"Keh. See what? All I see is a stupid pile of…" As Inuyasha looked down he suddenly lost his train of thought. No…no…this can't be here! He thought desperately as he sunk to his knees alongside Sango. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he decidedly snapped it shut. Looking like a fish out of water would do no good in this situation. "Are…are you sure that it's real?" He asked hesitantly after the shock wore off.

"Positive. It is no illusion…I'm sorry Inuyasha." Miroku said as he gazed at Inuyasha with stony eyes. Inuyasha's eyes closed, willing what he saw away, but when he opened his eyes it was still there. With a sad sigh he let his head drop in his hands, not knowing what else to do. For resting there at the bottom of the ashes of the demon was a small glass bottle…a small glass bottle with jewel shards…a small glass bottle that was last seen worn around the neck of their missing companion…Kagome.

"Do you think…that there's any chance…could she still be alive?" Sango choked out, not wanting to think about the possibility that Kagome, her best friend and the person she had come to see as a sister, was lost to them.

"I highly doubt it." Miroku replied. "Kagome has put so much of her time and energy into the recovery of the shards. Knowing her there is no way she would willingly give the ones we had collected so far up…which means they had to either be taken from her forcefully…or that they were taken off her dead body."

"But isn't there a chance that…if they were taken from her forcefully…that whoever took them left her alive?" Sango asked desperately, looking up at the monk. Pleading with him desperately to say that there was still a chance, however, she saw no such hope that there was such a thing in his eyes.

"I do not see how there could be. If they were taken forcefully no doubt whoever took them would not leave her alive only to hunt them down in later days and kill them. No one would be as stupid as to leave someone who had acquired jewel shards alive."

A heavy silence hung over them as they took in Miroku's words. Inuyasha's hands clenched and he stood up slowly.

"Miroku's right…Kagome isn't…wasn't…the type to give up shards so easily…there's no chance that she's alive now." His hands started to shake with rage, sadness, and bottled grief. They shook so much that his nails pierced his palms, letting blood trickle down onto the ground. "Come on…let's go." With that Inuyasha turned away from them and began to walk away, so caught up in his pain he didn't bother to turn and see if they were following.

"Come Sango…there's nothing we can do here." Miroku said as he reached a hand out to help pull the demon slayer to her feet. "We might as well take the shards…no use leaving them here for another demon to find…" Sango nodded and grabbed the small bottle before accepting Miroku's offered hand.

"Let's go." She said and walked away stiffly, following in the footsteps of their red robed friend, the bottle with the shards clenched tightly in her hand. Miroku followed slightly behind her with Kilala and a crying Shippo bringing up the rear.

Author's Note: There you have it. I apologize for any spelling, grammar or usage errors.