A/N: Remember when I said that I would be updating more during the summer? I LIED!

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I have you

In my heart

No distance could keep me apart, love

You are the

Only thingy

That's keeping my heart still beating

In My Heart- My Favorite Highway

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It was nearly impossible to believe that these halls were once full of life. Echoes of lone footsteps occasionally resounded off the great stone walls. The entire atmosphere was dull and mirky. What little light there was shone through stained windows, streaming down onto empty beds, desks, rooms.

With the 7th years and teachers gone to war, all classes were canceled. The majority of students had been called home due to the state of danger. The only students left were the ones with no where else to go, their parents and guardians away to battle. The school was left lifeless, a rather depressing atmosphere. And among all this was a young girl, sitting between the stone pillars of the courtyard, her legs curled up into her chest, her eyes turned to the sky, waiting for something.

Ginny Weasley watched her from the castle door, hiding herself from view. The red head sighed. This whole situation was bringing out thoughts she had pushed away for the majority of the year. She wasn't suppose to like her, or feel bad for her, she was her rival. Or maybe not- she never tried to get Harry to like her, it just happened. She wasn't interested anyway, it was obvious she liked that Inuyasha boy. But that broke Harry's heart, so she should hate her even more, right? Ginny groaned- damn you mother for bringing her up right.

"Umm... Kagome?" She called out, revealing herself. Said miko's head snapped toward the voice, clearly her mind had been somewhere else. "I was wondering...if you could teach me about archery."

Kagome smiled, but not nearly as bright as she usually would have. "Of course. I'd be happy to."

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"Back straight, chest out, and here," Kagome ordered, using her bow to adjust Ginny's arms. The red head glared at her from over her shoulder, but with a playful glint in her hazel eyes.

"You're enjoying this too much." She smirked.

Kagome couldn't help but giggle. "Well, this is how I was taught. Although I can see why Kaede had so much fun."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ginny replied before, as Kagome taught her, she took aim and fired. Unlike last time, her arrow hit the trunk, but missed the bulls-eye Kagome had put up.

She sighed. They had been at it for what seemed like hours, and she still hadn't hit the target. Though she had to admit, she was getting better. When she first tried that afternoon, she had nearly hit Kagome. But the miko didn't give up on her and completely brushed it off. At first, Ginny was only doing it because she felt bad about seeing Kagome so done, but now she was actually having fun.

Turned out that Kagome wasn't all that bad. Ginny's impression of her for the longest time was that she was a nosy little dits, who was trying to replace her. After all, how could anyone be so oblivious? It was obvious for the world to see that Harry, her crush, had a crush on her. She was an outsider, and Ginny tried hard to hate her. But when she found out about Inuyasha, it started to change. It wasn't that she was ignorant to Harry's crush, she just had her mind on someone else. It didn't really help her though, because then Ginny fueled her anger with Harry's heartbreak. Then Harry started to warm up to the hanyou, and Ginny didn't have any reason to hate Kagome, so she remained distant. It was like a slow fall to, who knows, maybe actually liking her.

Bringing her attention back to the present, Ginny glared at the misplaced arrow. For now, she'd be angry with her lack of archery skills. "I'm still no good." She groaned.

"But you're making terrific progress." Kagome smiled. "It took me weeks to even get the arrow close to the target. And that was only on a still one. Imagine trying to hit flying demons." She giggled. "You're where I was at 3 weeks in only 4 hours. That's pretty amazing. I'm sure Harry will be very impressed." She smirked with a wink.

The Weasley felt her face grow ten shades of red. "W-what makes you think I'd care about that?" She stuttered. "Anyway, I think we should head inside."

"Come on Ginny, I'm not an idiot. I know you have a crush on him." Kagome smiled with a nudge before starting to clean up their mess. "You know, you kind of remind me of my best friend back home, in Inuyasha's time. Her name's Sango, and she is one of the strongest women I know. She can take out 10 demons in 3 seconds. She can be a little rough at times," Kagome smirked at Ginny once again, "especialy when it comes to her own crush, Miroku. She'll blush, fake innocence, and change the subject." She said pointedly. By that time, they had packed everything up. Kagome smiled at the younger girl as they walked inside. "But she's also kind hearted, sweet, and she puts other's needs before her own. I know why you asked me to help you. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." She mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

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Inuyasha growled deep in his throat, unable to contain his annoyance. It had become clear to him that, at least in his eyes, the wizards were a bunch of wussies. He'd had to ride on Kirara to catch up to them on their flying broomsticks, since they had graciously left without him, and after only a few hours, they had to stop and rest. The next morning they boarded a 'moving cart' and they spent the entire day on it. But even though they hadn't moved or used up any of their energy, they still had to camp for the night! It was unbelievable. He knew that if he wasn't being slowed down by them, he would have made it to their 'head camp' in only a day- the only problem with that plan is that we had no idea where they were going, and even if he did, those other wizards would have killed him on the spot. All in all, on the last leg of the journey, he wasn't a happy camper...not that he ever really was.

"Come on 'Inuyersha', cheer up, we're almost there." Mr. Weasley, who had caught up with them a day ago, chuckled. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to pronounce Inuyasha's name.

"Keh." Was his only reply, stuffing his hands into his haori. Sitting on his knee, Kirara mewed at him, looking over his shoulder to give him a pointed look. Of course, only he knew that she had just said, "Inuyasha, it is not the Wizards' fault. Wizards do not have demonic stamina, or the practice of our friends."

Inuyasha struggled to contain his own remark, knowing that to everyone else, it would look like he was talking to a cat. He was already an outsider, a Hanyou one at that, the last thing he needed was people thinking he was crazy. And so, partly to store unused energy and partly to ignore the irritating wizards, he dozed off, dreaming of big brown eyes.

So naturally, feeling the world around him jerk to a stop was unexpected, and he was nearly sent flying across the other seats. He opened his eyes to faces struggling to hold in their laughter. In a silent gesture, Harry held out his hand for the befallen Hanyou. "Wake up dog boy, we're here."

The camp was huge, that was all he could think. Although, it was to be expected with all the wizards fighting. As far as the eye could see, tents were set up, some larger than others for meeting and planing purposes. He found himself being ushered through, a middle aged woman showing them to their tents. But, having such good hearing, he could help but over hear Dumbledore in one of the larger tents, going over plans with the Minister of Magic. With no grace what-so-ever, Inuyasha barged in.

"We'll make a defensive line here-... what on earth is that?" The minister asked, staring at the strange looking boy. "Haven't you got any manners boy?"

"None." Inuyasha smirked. "Now, I don't know what you're planing," he rested his hand on the hilt of the Tessusaiga, "but just put me in the front, sit back and watch."

"You expect us to change our entire war strategy just for an arrogant boy?" The minister snorted.

"Yeah."

"You're delusional, to your own tent solider!"

Inuyasha once again smirked, a mischievous glint in his eye. "You want a demonstration of exactly why you should listen?"

Tempted to say it would be a waste of time, the minister sighed, a gestured to the back door of the tent, where there was a small clear area. They followed Inuyasha outside with bored expressions, unaware of what was to happen next.

"Watch carefully." He smirked, sliding the sword out of it's sheath and transforming it into the Great Fang. He concentrated, focusing on the wind wrapping around the blade. Golden eyes snapped open. Inuyasha sliced through the air, shouting "Wind Scar!" and letting the bright yellow light shoot upwards, so it wouldn't destroy anything. He looked back at the shocked faces of the camp's leaders, except for Dumbledore, who had always known he was capable of such feats.

"So, what do you say?"

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Kagome sat under the protection of the Wheeping Willow, which now swayed back and forth peacefully in the twilight breeze. Not a cloud in the sky disrupted the view of the thousands of stars caught in the sky., tiny lights watching over her, accompanying her. And yet, she had never felt more lonely. It was like when Inuyasha was held in the tower all over again, only without the distraction of her wizard friends there. Ginny was inside eating dinner, but Kagome couldn't find her appetite at the moment.

She had been at Hogwarts, in this whole other world for officially nine months. Her family had told her friends and school that she had gone on an exchange program in England, which was half true. They sent letters to her every month, telling her how much they missed her, and what was going on there. A couple times, her mother had mysteriously found scrolls in the bottom of the Bone Eaters Well and sent them to her. Sango, Miroku and Shippou missed her terribly, and they had found quite a few jewel shards on their own. Kagome knew that such things should make her feel happy, but at the same time, she only felt even more miserable.

She wiped her teary eyes with her sleeve, willing these feelings to leave and be replaced with...anything else. So, she looked up at the sky, filled with twinkling guardians, hoping to find some comfort. One star stood out among the rest, shinning a bright orange hue- mars she assumed. She fixated her gaze onto it. Suddenly though, and at first she thought it was just her imagination, it started to shine brighter and brighter. It was almost as if it was coming closer.

She didn't realize it was until it landed in her lap.

"Kirara!" Kagome exclaimed, thrilled for a familiar face.

Kirara mewed in response, revealing the noted in the ribbon tied around her neck. Kagome took it with shaky hands, fearing for the worse. She smiled, finding messy kanji.

'Kagome,

It's only been a week, but I miss ya already. We're heading out soon, and I've convinced them to put me out in the front. You know what that means, a few swings with Tessusaiga, and they're through. I'm looking for an early finish to this mess, so don't worry your pretty little airhead.' Kagome scowled, but was unable to stop the quirk in her lips. 'I'd say we'll be done in one more week. I know my way back now, so when we are done, I'll be leaving ahead of them. I can't stand sitting around and waiting for those slow ass wizards. Go to the wooden bridge over the stream at the edge of the grounds in one week. I'll be there waiting. Well, you know I'm not that great with words but, keep yourself out of trouble and remember, I wished for you on that dumb locket. After all,

I love you, and your airhead.

Inuyasha.'

Kagome grinned, stuffing the note into her cloak pocket for safe keeping.

"Kirara is afraid she must return to the war camp." Kirara mewed.

"I understand. Oh, and before I forget..." Kagome drew her book bag to her, rummaging through the many loose papers and books until she found a red scroll. "Sango sent this for you. I didn't know you could read." She said, placing it at her paws. In one of the scrolls written to her that arrived just a few days ago, Sango had asked Kagome to give it to the neko, and that she not open it. She didn't know why the slayer didn't want her to read what was inside, but she figured it wasn't her business -no matter how badly she wanted to peek.

"Miko, Kirara is many centuries old. Reading was something picked up as a pass-time." The cat laughed lightly before transforming, and putting the scroll in her mouth. Kirara nudged her head against Kagome one more time before turning around and taking off into the sky, a bright orange light once again.

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A SCROLL FOR KIRARA? WHATEVER COULD IT POSSIBLE MEAN? Important plot and foreshadowing FTW.