The sun rose hesitantly over the tiny village at the foot of Inuyasha's forest. Villagers all over stirred and began slowly leaking out of their modest little houses, and setting to another hard day's work. The farmers found their rakes and headed towards the rice fields; the harvest this year was assured to be marvelous—no one had ever seen so bountiful a yield. Fishermen walked down to the nearest rivers with nets and lines in tow, and a few hunters ventured into the forest to find some rabbit or something. Everything seemed so normal, but it wasn't. Evil was lurking nearby, behind the mask of sunny innocence.

"Kagome! Where do you think you're going?"

"What does it look like, baka? I'm going home!"

"WHAT?! Didn't you hear what Kaede said? You sh—"

"I shouldn't overtax myself. You've repeated that stupid warning fifty times! I'm fine, the well isn't even far! Just let me GO!"

"Stupid! How am I supposed to know that you're gonna come back?" He blurted his deepest worry without thinking, and immediately, his cheeks burned a fiery red. Both their eyes widened in surprise at the sudden confession and the half demon suddenly turned his back on her, hiding his disgraceful blush. "F-fine, if you wanna go," he snapped. "It's not like I care or anything."

"Inuyasha," Kagome said softly, and reached for his shoulder. He shrugged her hand off grumpily, but she knew he was actually hurt by the fact that she wanted to leave. He had taken such good care of her... "I have to go see my family. They think I'm dead, remember?" He didn't answer, but he heard her. Of course he did. She continued, "I promise I'll be back soon. Okay?"

"Keh. Whatever," he muttered sulkily, and stood with his back to her until he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore. Only then did he bound back off towards the village, cursing under his breath every step of the way.

'Stupid wench...why do I always say things like that? It's not like I actually CARE...'

But even as he said it to himself, he knew it was a lie. And that made him even madder. He quickly pounded the sense out of a defenseless rock as he passed. Oh, well. It was one less blow Shippo would have to endure later.

((A/N: What did the poor rock ever do to you, Inuyasha?!))

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Kagome had left her pack at home. She realized this as she was climbing out of the well and could actually climb out, without being smashed to the ground or pulled backwards by the evil enmity called gravity. Gravity was not her friend. Several times, while trying to heft the huge thing up the well shaft, she had fallen backwards to the dirt bottom only to have the thing land on top of her, wondering if that was what it was like to be 'sat'. (If so, she owed Inuyasha a huge apology.)

She paused at the top step and glanced around wistfully. The last time she had climbed down that well, she had been sure it was going to be the last time. She was back...she was really back, home...for the next few days (until her conscious got the best of her or Inuyasha lost his patience) she would be a normal school girl again...

With about a month's worth of makeup work.

Oh, yeah. Life sucked.

'Suck it up, girl.' In spite of the horrible idea of a back breaking load of homework, she smiled as her house came into view. It looked exactly the same as it had both the day she had gone into the future and the day she had left home 'for good.' The shingles shimmered slightly, and the windows shone with the morning light. The shrine was as clean as ever, gleaming as well, and Kagome felt as happy as if she'd found a new Shikon shard. It was nice to be home, after all.

'I wonder how everyone's gonna react? I mean...I'm supposed to be dead...' A rather comical image of Souta turning her room into a Nintendo shrine invaded her mind, and she twitched a moment, reminding herself firmly that she'd been to the future, and there hadn't been so much as a controller in there. Everything had been the way she'd left it. No worries. Everything was fine. A-OK. Marvelous. So why was she standing outside thinking of stupid things?

Kagome was not a liar, to herself or to other people. She knew how to admit to her faults and accept responsibility for her mistakes. In that moment she had to admit to herself that she was stalling.

'Okay...going in.' She walked hesitantly up to the stoop and absentmindedly tired to walk through the door as she had last time. For her effort she received a sore nose that thankfully wasn't bloody and a nice soon-to-be bruise on her forehead. 'You baka,' she scolded herself, holding her nose with one hand and opening the door with the other. She stepped into the foyer and closed the door back, calling thickly through her fingers, "I'm home."

No one answered. 'That's funny,' Kagome thought. It was a Saturday, if she'd been keeping count right. Everyone should've been home. She wandered into the kitchen just to be sure, but it was spotless as always. Her mother never was one to leave breakfast plates on the table for more than ten seconds. Not even Grandpa's newspaper was spared in the quick out-the-door cleaning. The table was bare.

Kagome looked down in surprise as her stomach grumbled at her. "Oh, right....I need to eat something," she said numbly, putting a hand up to quell the noise. "All right, hush would you? I'm working on it..." She walked over to the refrigerator and rummaged through the Tupperware containers. There was some rice, some kind of beef-type-thing, a tiny carry-out bag of what must've been Grandpa's sushi a few nights before... None of it was very appealing for breakfast. And then, the solution was clear. Oh, so clear.

Ramen! Of course! Why didn't she think of it sooner?

((A/N: Ahh, Ramen...the savior of the world...! ::Drools::))

It only took a quick glance through the pantry to find the cup of instant noodles. She took it out and placed it on the pantry. In record time she had located a pan, filled it with water, boiled the water and poured it into the Styrofoam cup. Traveling with Inuyasha had given her many talents, among which was the startling ability to fix Ramen a good minute and a half faster than most people ever could. Trying to feed a demanding, grumbling half-demon could do that to a person. More than once Kagome had wondered what she was most to Inuyasha: A friend, a babysitter, or just some random girl that got in his hair all the time.

'He's such a jerk,' she mused, sucking the noodles quietly. The memory of Inuyasha sitting there in complete shock that one morning, with Ramen streaming down his chin, suddenly invaded her brain, and she almost spit the noodles onto the floor. She swallowed her mouthful with a choking noise and then burst into ridiculous laughter. She couldn't stay mad at him. It was like trying to stay mad at a puppy.

A very loud, arrogant, bantering puppy.

'Jerk.'

"Meow?" Kagome almost jumped out of her skin. While she managed to keep (most of) her sanity, she did accidentally spill hot Ramen all over her shirt and skirt. With a startled "EEP!" she leapt to her feet and began making furious waving motions meant to cool the hot liquid. She sat down feeling wet and sticky, and looked down to see the swish of Buyo's tail as he ran to hide. Kagome smiled and put the Styrofoam cup on the table. "Come here, Buyo. Here, kitty kitty." The tip of his nose peeked around the cabinets. "Oh, come on, you coward." He tiptoed out, as if scared of being attacked, and slowly made his way to her ankles. He rubbed his face against her, purring.

"Hey, boy. Did you miss me?" He purred a little louder in answer glancing up at her.

"I missed you too. Where's mom and everyone?" she asked, and he gave her a look that said 'Why are you asking ME?' She laughed and stood, and went to change into some clean clothes, with Buyo following sluggishly.

Back in her room, Kagome quietly closed the door, just in case. Buyo jumped up into her bed and played with the sheets while she changed into a more comfortable outfit—a pair of blue sweatpants and a matching T-shirt. She turned to turned to the fat cat asleep on her bed while she was pulling her socks on. "Yannow, Buyo, you may have the right idea," she said, and climbed into bed with him. Walking around WAS tiring, even if she'd never admit it; truth be told, she wouldn't have minded a nap every day, but didn't dare least she worry everyone. Not to mention Inuyasha's teasing. And he'd keep her in the village for days afterward.

Thinking back, he had only been trying to help. She shouldn't have yelled at him, but he was so infuriating...! She pulled the covers up to her head and snuggled down, allowing sleep to come almost instantly.

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Kagome woke up warm and sleepy a few hours later. It seemed to be about evening; the failing light was shining through the window. She wasn't sure what had woken her—she wasn't sore, there wasn't any noise. She glanced up, and found someone staring at her, mere inches from her face.

"EEP!" She squeaked, but the person didn't move.

It was Souta!

"Souta?"

He still didn't move. His expression was one of watery disbelief, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. She blinked at him, and his eyes shimmered with tears. "Souta?" she asked carefully, and suddenly, he was in her lap, holding onto her for dear life and sobbing. Kagome gasped as sharply as she could (he was squeezing her rather tightly) and looked down at his head, which was trembling. "Souta, it's okay," she soothed, patting his head until he calmed down enough to talk.

"Nee-chan! I thought—I thought—" He squeezed her tighter (if that was possible) and cried, apparently not embarrassed for once. "I thought you were gone! I was so scared," he whimpered, and Kagome could do nothing but hold her pain of a brother in wonder. "I thought I'd never see you again...Oh, Nee-chan!"

"It's okay, shhh," she murmured, and he looked up at her with teary eyes. What had happened to the pain that used to sneak in while she was doing homework and steal her pencils? Where was the boy that called her dough-head and dummy and all those other names?

"Souta? Are you in here again, sweetie?" Her mother's voice inquired from the hallway.

"Mom?" Kagome asked, and there was a sharp silence. The door opened and her mother walked in with wide eyes, dropping her groceries onto the floor. Mrs. Higarashi stared at the bed where her two children were tangled together, and tears filled her eyes as well. She ran to the bedside in a manner a lot like Souta's and swept both of them into her arms. Kagome blinked, in the strangling tight embrace of both her mother and little brother, and swallowed, waiting until she could breathe again.

Eventually, her mother did back up a smidge, with Souta following suit, to gaze at her daughter in wonder. "Kagome....you're...How?"

"It's okay, mom. Everything's fine now." She smiled into the watery expressions. "It's a long story. I'll explain later. Right now..." She glanced down guiltily. "I'm kind of hungry...."

"Oh!" Mrs. Higarashi jumped up, and kicked into mom-mode. "Of course you are! It's late! I'll go fix dinner!" And she hurried out, leaving Kagome and Souta alone. Souta was smiling at her, happily, drying his tears on his sleeve.

"I'm glad you're okay, Nee-chan," Souta said with a smile. He sat on her bed and looked to have no intention of leaving as he poked the lumps in the sheets around. Kagome eventually remembered something.

"Hey, Souta," she said, and he looked up.

"Nani?"

"Where were you guys today?" Souta's expression immediately became serious.

"Oh," he said, and Kagome distinctly saw his shoulders droop. "We were at the hospital."

"Why?" Kagome asked, but she already knew the answer. Her heart was pounding.

"Gramps is sick, Kagome. Not...well...not sick sick, but....he had a heart attack, and—"

"When? Is he all right?" Souta frowned, and his brow furrowed.

"It doesn't look good, but the doctors are going to do everything they can." Everything they can. The same doctors who had abandoned her to die. Kagome bit her lip and clenched her fist. Her shoulders shook, and Souta leaned forward concernedly.

"Don't cry, Nee-chan. It'll be okay," he comforted, as if he were the older sibling instead of the younger. "Don't worry. Gramps'll be okay."

She wanted to believe him. So why did something inside her tell her that it wouldn't?

"Yeah, Souta....it'll be...okay..."

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Tailz: OH MY STARS!! You're back!! ::Grabs the reader in a hug:: You came baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!! I'm so glad! - Miss me? Well, this is the long awaited sequel to my phenomenon ficcy Not Too Late...I welcome all my favorite oldies, and hopefully some new readers too! If you haven't read Not Too Late, I'd strongly suggest you go read it before you read on, but...I guess it would be okay. This is going to be one roller coaster of a ficcy, I can tell you that much! Angst, drama and romance are straight ahead—but don't worry; I'll mix in some action/adventure to make things interesting and some odd-placed humor to lighten the mood every now and then. Thank you for coming! I'll update soon! -

Sanji: ::Forces Tailz to release the strangled reader:: Tailz! Let 'em breathe!

Tailz: Oops...sorry!