Kagome slowly ate her oatmeal as she tried not to gag. She had always hated the stuff. While there was nothing wrong with the flavor she could not get over the texture. It felt like she was eating paste, chewy paste, chewy flakey paste. Carefully, so as not to defend the already strangely sensitive woman, she looked up at Sango, "You know, I'd be fine with cereal."

Sango scowled, "Bank wants you eating something more nutritional than that. I don't care how much you hate my cooking, you're eating it."

Kagome gave her own frown, "You still aren't over it? Really Sango? It's been three and a half months!"

Sango threw down her own bowl of oatmeal in utter frustration, "You didn't tell us what the hell was going on and then you nearly die! Your heart stopped twice on that damn operating table. If Widow was here she'd skin you!"

Kagome was about to argue, but instead just smiled shyly, "Thank you…for caring."

Sango's temper immediately subsided at the insight her friend had. She blushed slightly before turning back towards the outside window, trying to regain her composure. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of her leader, no matter how close they were, there were just some things Sango wouldn't do. After a few minutes of silence, and remembering why she was so mad, Sango growled just slightly, "Like I could help it, believe me, my life would be easier if I could stop myself from worrying."

Kagome giggled briefly before clutching her abdomen. Sango was immediately by her side with a worried look on her face. Without a word the two pulled up the base of Kagome's shirt to check the flesh wound. Kagome inhaled slightly as the tips of Sango's cold fingers brushed the side of her wound, "How is it?"

Sango pulled the bottom of her friend's shirt down just slightly, "It looks like all you have left to heal is the rest of that gash and your broken ribs. With the rate things are going you have maybe another month left on bed rest. Of course, it would be going a lot faster if you weren't practicing your freaking back flips in your room every night. Honestly Kag's, you have to know that continuously reopening your damn wound is not helping you heal."

Kagome huffed angrily, "Well that was so not what I wanted to hear."

Sango smiled, "You are lucky you are alive Kagome, can't you just be happy with that? The man you love is somehow still breathing, god knows how, and you are surrounded by friends and family…even if it's not quite the ones you want to be surrounded by."

Kagome shook her head and grabbed the collar of Sango's shirt in an attempt to convey her feelings, "I am happy that you are here Sango, I know I don't act like it-"

Sango cut her off, "But I'm not him. I get it. But you had to know it was never going to work out." Said woman sat back down in her chair determined to have this conversation with her leader. It was the very conversation Kagome had been avoiding. But she knew it was either now or they would continue bugging her about it, at least this way it was just with Sango.

"I-I wanted to pretend, just for a little bit. It was nice being cared about, for just being me. Sometimes I get so tired of black leather, late nights out and all the death threats, that I want to just give up, you know? It was nice to be, well, normal for once," she sighed mournfully while pushing around her oat meal with her spoon. "I won't lie, sometimes at night I wonder if Bank did the right thing in saving me. I would have died happy, knowing that it was all in protecting the life I could never have really had with Inuyasha."

Sango quickly placed her hand over Kagome's own shaky one, "I know, but he is not the only one that loves you. All of us would have been devastated."

Kagome smiled a weak smile, "And that is why I always change my mind. It's a selfish thought for me to have, besides, I would miss you guys too much."

Sango quickly grabbed the two bowls of oatmeal and headed over to the sink, glad that the morbid conversation had ended. While her personal caretaker did so, Kagome briefly looked around the living room and frowned in dismay. "This place doesn't even look lived in."

Sango finished with the dishes and turned back towards Kagome, "Well you really only come out for physical therapy and your daily exercise. Everything else is in your room."

Kagome frowned as she crossed her legs, "But everyone else is here. Bank and Jank, then of course Ayame."

Sango waived her hand absentmindedly, "Ayame has a new boyfriend and your brother's, well, when do they ever stay in one place for long? They come and go but it is mostly just us. I have to say, Widow would have liked it better this way. She never did like boys in her house."

Kagome giggled but this time there was little to no pain in her side due to her new position, "She didn't did she? Remember that one time when Ayame brought over the quarterback? Widow nearly threw him out the window."

The two started laughing before Sango made a funny face. Kagome immediately caught on and the two started their act. Both deepened their voices just slightly, close to that tone only a true parent could achieve, and spoke in unison, "Men are a distraction that will blind you. Don't ever let one of those things in my house again!"

The two immediately started laughing again, this time Kagome felt the pain in her side but ignored it, she hadn't had this much fun in weeks. When they were done Kagome looked out the window towards the beautiful sky. She dazed happily at the bright blue heavens before her, which was wonderful for such a crisp season. It was fall which meant days like this were getting rarer and rarer. Maybe she could take advantage of such a wonderful day. "Do you think we could go outside?"

Sango shook her head, "No adventures Kagome, Bank's orders."

Kagome rolled her eyes, "I am well enough to walk."

"But not to evade any oncoming attacks Kagome. Word is already out about your being injured, people are looking for you in order to finish the job. We cannot take the risk until you are better," she argued defensively. If Kagome wasn't going to think about her own well being then Sango was just going to have to take up the job.

Kagome huffed and pulled the remote from in between the two couch cushions. She smiled while thinking that Jank was a loon if he thought no one knew this was where he hid the blasted thing. Who did he think they were? Civilians? The first channel was the local news station. The reporter was in a grey blazer and an oversized microphone placed in front of her mouth. She was going on about a car accident on the highway that had happened just moments ago. It seemed a blue eclipse hit a semi dead on and exploded. According to the newscaster the breaks had been cut and the body was classified as a Jane Doe, to mangled to acquire any real data. The cops were apparently chalking it up to a gang war.

Boring.

Kagome changed the channel.

While Sango continued cleaning up the kitchen Kagome aimlessly flipped though the channels. After about two minutes of clicking Sango got tired of the noise and headed into her own room, probably to sharpen some weapons or something. It wasn't until Kagome reached a certain press conference that she paid attention to what she was doing. It was usually one of her favorite gossip shows, a guilty pleasure only a select few knew about. This was different though, she knew the person on the screen. Kagome was immediately turning up the volume and focusing all her attention to the conversation at hand.

Inuyasha was on the television.

He looked good, really good. He wore an Armani suit and his hair was pulled back into a low pony tail. He stood tall and proud, not an ounce of worry or doubt to be found in his authoritative form. It was like the whole world was at his feet, which honestly, it probably was. Though, as much as she just wanted to stare at him, because she did, Kagome longed to hear his voice even more than any jewel she had even stolen. So, she listened. From what she could tell he was being interviewed by a group of tabloid reporters.

"Inuyasha, please tell us more about this mystery woman, are we talking wedding bells here?"

Kagome immediately felt her heart constrict at those words. That's right, he was dating someone. They had been seen all around town, dancing, dinning, and the like. It had crushed her when she had first seen it, about a month ago. She had always known that she and Inuyasha were never meant for each other but…he had moved on so fast. It had effectively confirmed all her fears about how little she truly meant to him.

Inuyasha smirked in that oh so adorable way before answering, "Honestly? If she would have me? Yes, I would marry her tomorrow."

Kagome's heart broke in two at those words, she legitimately felt the blood in her run cold. He-he wanted to marry this girl?

"She is the most amazing woman I have ever met. She surpasses any other woman I have ever been with. She makes up for all the disappointments my past relationships have given me, and trust me, there are a lot of those. I've learned my lesson with liars and false women, but I know that with her, there won't be any more mistakes."

Again Kagome's heart crumbled. She was one of those disappointments; she was one of those mistakes.

"If you love her so much, you should tell us her name," yelled a reporter.

Inuyasha chuckled, "Sorry guys. I promised when we first started dating that I would never let her name be smeared in the tabloids like some trashy gold digger. But I'll tell you what, the moment she marries me is the moment I will announce it to the world. Hell, I'll fricking sing it."

Kagome wanted to skin this woman, and she knew that if her name had been released the girl would already be dead. Kagome had self control, but not that much. This two-faced, well, probably perfect specimen of a woman wouldn't have made it through day one if Kagome would have been able to prevent it. All it would take would be one phone call and her heartache would end. But, Kagome could never do that to him.

She could have thrown up, she honestly could have. God, he practically just proposed to this stupid woman on national television! Her eyes immediately began to water but she was determined to ignore it. She wasn't some woman that couldn't control her emotions. She wasn't like-well, whatever the stupid woman's name was, she wasn't her. She couldn't cry needlessly, she wasn't raised to. She couldn't be normal and give Inuyasha his happy little family, she had too many enemies. God, she couldn't even go outside cause everybody knew she was nearly dead with all her injures. No, this woman could give Inuyasha a normal life, she was happy for them. She was happy that the man of her dreams was about to marry someone else, no really, she was.

Tear by tear the water began to fall, and Kagome could do nothing but let them continue.

Kagome turned restlessly in her sleep as she tried to block out the day's events. Too much had happened, too much had gone wrong. Furious at herself for not being able to get over this Kagome threw the covers off of her body only to be met with a loud 'ow' sound. Immediately on guard she grabbed the kitchen knife she placed under her pillow and pulled it out for the world to see, or more specifically her potential attacker to have lodged in his throat.

Suddenly a small light, from a handheld flashlight pointed towards the ground. She could just barely make out the person's face but it was enough to stall her throwing arm. Realizing the situation she placed the blade down slowly and tried to calm her beating heart. "Jank, what are you doing?"

He smiled and turned the light back off. By this time all she could do was stare at him blankly, which of course he could no longer see.

He was quickly by her side and pulled her up to his chest, "It's time to go."

Kagome tried to respond but his hand covered her mouth, "For the last two weeks you have had three Russian spies scoping you out. They killed the owner of apartment number 76 on the twelfth floor in the building across from us in order to have a better view of you. Bank and I have staged them off as long as we can but…it's time to go."

Kagome paled, "Why-why didn't anyone tell me?"

He quickly pulled her over to the side of the room and pressed her up against the wall while making a shushing noise, "You had to be oblivious Kagome, it never would have worked otherwise."

She pulled herself from his grip and pushed him away as fiercely as she could, "What wouldn't have worked? What was so important that no one could tell me? Is that why Ayame has been gone? And Sango? Has she been lying to me too?"

Jank grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen. He quickly walked over to the broken furnace and started pushing. Kagome tried to walk over to him but was stopped when her knee hit something hard. It felt like a bag with a lot of stuff in it but she couldn't tell in the dark. She of course wasn't going to turn the light back on in case they were watching, but she still wanted to check. Before she could ask the furnace moved and a large hole in the floor marked where it stood. Gasping she breathed deeply, trying to figure out where it went. She could only guess it lead to the lower apartment but why in the world was it even there? How did it even get there? Widow would have told her about it, which meant it was fairly recent.

Before she could ask someone came crawling out of Sango's room, only, it wasn't just Sango. She seemed to be dragging something rather large and she was heading straight for Kagome's room. Jank grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the hole. "You need to jump down."

"What?"

He sighed before pushing her back over to the hole, "Kagome, you need to die."

Kagome's heart physically stopped in its rib cage at those words. She took a few steps back only to realize that she didn't have any more room to do so because of the hole. What was going on? What had she missed? Why was Jank telling her this? "What?"

Jank reached over and pulled her to his chest into a large hug, "Baby sister, you have to die. They will never stop looking for you if you don't. We are staging your death, all of yours. Ayame's was today in a car accident and you and Sango's will be tonight, here in the apartment. Both of them have spent the last two days digging up bodies in the graveyard over in the next town. When they torch this place the bodies will be unrecognizable, unidentifiable Jane Doe's. We are letting your enemies carry out their plans; we are just replacing the victims. Kagome, you can be a free woman."

Kagome pulled away, "But-but this is my life! I don't know anything else, this is what I was raised to be."

"It may be what you were raised as, but you deserve better. You deserve to be happy."

Kagome immediately felt the tears well up in her eyes, "No one will believe it. I have enemies, they will still come after me."

Jank shook his head, "Your big brother's have been busy. Almost all of them are dead or dying, the rest will be killed after the fire, in retribution for your murder. No one will suspect a thing."

"I-" she couldn't finish, she didn't know what to say. What could she say? Could she give up everything? Could she deny this life? Could she be normal? A normal family? With normal children? On a normal street corner house? But what about Inuyasha? Could she live that type of life without him? Could she be with anyone else? He had moved on, he was happy. She could never intrude on that no matter her feelings.

Sango quickly came up behind her and grabbed her arms. Kagome felt the ice touch of them and could only assume they were from the dead bodies currently face up in their beds. They had undoubtedly been kept cold in her room, which would certainly explain why Kagome was never allowed in there anymore. "We need to go Kag's, Bank is waiting in the car."

Kagome looked towards Jank. He immediately understood her unanswered question, "There are a series of tunnels that we created, they will take you to the basement where we found another tunnel. It was probably an old water line or something, so you will have to crawl. You will walk through it for about an hour or two until you reach a trap door that will be above your head. It is marked with a yellow X. Open it and it will take you to a grocery store. Bank will be there in a grey Toyota."

"Y-you won't be coming?" she asked pleadingly.

Jank smiled, "They saw me come in through the front, I have to check out the same way. Don't worry, I told the doorman that I forgot to drop of your meds and that I was busy all day tomorrow. Everyone will think it is just like every other night."

Kagome felt the tears come again and she tried to push them back. Before she could do anything else, like start legitimately crying, she hugged her older brother and turned towards the hole. She slowly climbed down it, Sango quickly behind her. They made it to the first opening just in time to hear the furnace slide back into place. Together they quietly tiptoed to the next opening behind a refrigerator. Floor by floor they made their way down, careful not to awake any of the tenants in the building. By the time they made it to the basement Kagome's ribs were starting to hurt, but she completely ignored the pain. This was much bigger than any back ache. Slowly Sango dropped what was now identified as the bag Kagome ran into earlier. The woman worked the unused door and pried it open. It squeaked slightly but not enough to alert anyone to their presence. In fact, it was so dark that even if someone had been down here to investigate the sound, no one would have seen them.

Sango picked the bag back up and the two began their long crawl through the tunnel. Kagome carefully watched for any trap door marked with a yellow X but came up empty handed. She had seen red, and blue and green, but no yellow.

Carefully she looked at Sango who was pushing the bag in front of her while holding the flashlight with her mouth.

"So, we're even?"

Sango stopped and dropped the flashlight in surprise. She turned just slightly and smiled, "Yeah, I guess we are."

Kagome smiled as they began their way again. It was only after a few minutes of crawling that Kagome brought up a topic she had been meaning to talk to Sango about. "You're going to be a mother."

This time Sango completely froze and whipped around to face her friend. The statement had rattled Sango to her core. Kagome hadn't said that Sango was going to be a mother one day, she said Sango was going to be a mother. There was a big difference. "How did you know?"

Kagome smiled, "Please, you're eating like a cow and have had the worst mood swings I have ever seen. Ayame isn't even that bad. Besides, when have you ever worn clothes that big?"

"I-I'm starting to show."

Kagome smiled, "Boy or girl?"

"I-I don't know yet. I'm about three and a half months along but that's all I know."

"Three and a half? Sango? Is it Miroku's?" asked Kagome in disbelief.

The woman quickly looked down at the wet cement in shame. "I-I wanted something to remember him by, before we left. I didn't mean to get pregnant, it just happened. I wanted to tell you, it was just with everything else that happened I couldn't-I couldn't figure out how!" yelled Sango in her desperation.

Kagome immediately crawled up to her long time friend and pulled her into a much deserved hug. Even though they were crowded, dirty and scared, it was one of the most comforting hugs either one of them had received in a long time. Kagome finally pulled away in order to look at her friend in the dim light. While there weren't many, tears were leaking from Sango's eyes. Kagome quickly hugged her friend again, "You must have been so scared."

"I don't know how to raise a child Kagome…I don't know the first thing."

Kagome pulled away and frowned, "You raised your brother, and he was wonderful from what you told me."

"Wonderful and dead," sniffled Sango.

"But wonderful," smiled Kagome while reaching up to wipe her sister's tears. "You did an amazing job in raising him, and you can do it again. I promise you, we will all be there to help you Sango, you are not going to be alone."

Sango nodded her head as a few new rounds of tears began. Together they turned around and headed back down the narrow tunnel, a weight lifted off the two of them that they hadn't even known was there. Eventually the pair made it to the designated spot. Slowly they reached up and cranked the metal wheel to the left in order to open the hatch. When they finally made their way out they stood up and surveyed the area. Three cars were there, two of which no one was in. In the third sat a man and a red haired woman that she knew instantly.

Before either of them walked to the car Kagome grabbed Sango's hand. She reached out with her other and placed her palm on Sango's stomach affectionately. Sango's now dried eyes began to water and the young woman mumbled something about mood swings but Kagome immediately dismissed it. After a few seconds the two headed over to the car and entered through the back.

As soon as they were buckled the car sped off and down the road, not a word spoken during that time. When they reached the interstate Kagome looked at her older brother, "Thank you, this must have taken a lot of work."

Bank smirked, "One day I am going to join you, but for now, I just want my baby sister happy."

Kagome smiled as she tried not to think about what would make her really happy.

"…She's a wonderful woman," spoke Bank suddenly.

Kagome snapped out of her daze and looked at her brother, "Excuse me?"

"Inuyasha's girl. I checked her out when he first started dating her. She's from San Diego and graduated from UCLA with a degree in history. She supported herself through all of school by working part time at Bloomingdales. That is actually where her and Inuyasha met."

"Bank," cut in Ayame. She turned to her friend right before glaring at Bankotsu, "she doesn't need to hear about some man-stealing-skank, especially from you."

Said man shook his head, "It wasn't like she was stopping me."

Sango growled, "Only because you're an ass that didn't realize she is currently dying inside."

Kagome shook her head and she pushed back the tears, "No, Bank is right. Inuyasha deserves to be with someone normal, someone who loves him. I am glad he found someone like that."

Sango scoffed, "Whatever, you can lie to yourself Kagome but not to me. You wish it was you and you know it."

Kagome turned towards the window and decided to shut the rest of the world out right now. It was the best option available to her at the moment. Denial was no use, Sango always knew when she was lying. Of course, just because she wanted to ignore everything that was going on around her did not mean she actually could,

Ayame huffed in her seat, "The bastard didn't even wait a full month! Who the hell does that? He is a slimy son of a woman-who-is-not-Widow. If I ever see him again I'm going to download so many virus's to his company hardware his fricking children are going to be having problems. I swear-"

Kagome perked up at the potential new topic, "Hey, speaking of children-" her mouth was immediately covered by Sango's hand.

Ayame turned immediately at the silence. The two of them watched as Ayame mentally calculated the situation. The mood swings, the suffocating of their leader, the baggy clothes, the mountains of food. Together they saw it processing and together they saw it fall. Ayame shook her head in disbelief and turned back toward the road. Sango slowly removed her hand and looked at Kagome pleadingly.

Kagome nodded her head in agreement. Maybe it was best Ayame didn't know quite yet.

So together they drove. Three hours later Bank put on the radio. Apparently there had been a fire in their neighborhood that had taken out two buildings. The fire was still going and teams were doing what they could to keep it from spreading. Luckily only seven out of hundreds had died, two of the seven who died were sitting in the car right now. Kagome briefly wondered about the people that had not made it out of her mess and hoped that their families would someday forgive her. She hoped one day that she could forgive herself.

She sighed slightly and felt her ribs ache in pain. Maybe it was time for her medication. She turned to Sango, "Did you grab any pain meds?"

Sango nodded and pointed towards the bag at their feet. Kagome leaned down and hoisted the bag up with only a slight wince. She unzipped the front only to stop mid reach. Inside the blue duffle was more than just her pain medication. She reached in, in disbelief, as she pulled an old picture of her and Widow at a local malt shop. There was another of the two right next to it. Kagome was wearing a dark grey prom dress and glittery strappy sandals. She remembered this night. Inuyasha had a threat placed on him and Kagome was to protect him during his prom night. She had gone to her first and only dance that year, all to protect Inuyasha.

Sango reached over and placed a friendly hand on top of her best friend's, "I thought that you might want these. There was no reason they needed to be destroyed in the fire."

Kagome looked to her friend and mouthed a silent 'thank you' before turning back to the bag. There were many of her best memories stashed away in this insignificant bag. She was immediately grateful for having such a wonderful friend.

As soon as she took her medication Kagome felt the familiar dizziness wash over her. They always made her tired, and above all drowsy. The best way to handle them was by a quick nap. It took care of most of the effects. She scanned the area to see only a few cars around them, none of which were the same ones as twenty minutes ago. Briefly she looked up at Bank who nodded knowingly.

He was watching.

She slowly closed her eyes and leaned against the car door, drifting off to sleep.

Three and a half hours later she was woken up by a gentle but firm hand. Bank was kneeling down beside her as he was shaking her awake. Kagome immediately looked around and saw that they were parked near an abandoned warehouse. Sango and Ayame were both out of the car but still standing rather closely to the Toyota. "What is going on?"

"I cannot take you any further. I've asked a few associate of mine to drive you the rest of the way. They will take you about two states over where you will have some airplane tickets waiting for you. It is up to you three where you want to go. You can stick together or split up. It would probably be easier if you left each other alone for a while, just in case," he said seriously.

Kagome looked over at Sango who was clutching her stomach. She turned back to her brother, "No, Sango needs me right now. I won't leave her."

Ayame looked between the two as she questioned the situation. She had her thoughts, but kept them to herself. There were better times for conversations about what the hell was going on. "I don't know what's happening, but we stick together. We are a family, screw what's smart."

Sango visibly relaxed at those words.

Bank nodded. Together the four of them walked through the warehouse complex and towards what appeared to them to be a random building. Obviously it wasn't to Bank because he pulled out a set of keys and opened the entrance. The four of them rushed inside and shut the heavy door. Bank quickly swung around and locked the exit in case any intruders tried to come in.

It was pitch black and Kagome immediately scrambled around for a light. Shadow might be her name by trade but she knew the advantage light would give her against an enemy. She finally found the switch and flipped it on. The familiar buzz of warehouse lights sounded and Kagome looked around to assess her surroundings.

What she saw made her immediately drop the blue duffle bag. The contents from the side pockets scattered around at her feet but it didn't matter. Behind her she heard Sango gasp and she felt Ayame reach for her knife.

"I-Inuyasha?"

Said silver haired man stepped forwards. His hair was down, unlike when he was in the interview, and he wore casual clothes. Dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans, some puma shoes and a sporty black shirt, he looked amazing. Kagome couldn't help but stare at him as he stood there in the light, just watching her. Slowly, she came out of her daze as she took a few steps back. She hit a hard chest and turned to see Bank standing beside her.

Said man grabbed her arms and looked down at his frightened little sister.

"How? How could you do this to me? Why would you do this to me?" she whispered in disbelief and anger.

"He wanted to talk to you," was all he said, like it would make things better.

Ayame stepped forwards angrily, "Give us the damn key Bank, before I gut you like the bastard you are! How dare you do this to her! She's broken up about him enough!"

Sango stepped forwards too, "I'll kill you this instant if you don't."

Bank stepped backwards, "I wouldn't do this if I thought it was going to make things worse."

"Kagome?" spoke Inuyasha.

She slowly turned in his direction, trying not to show him her heartbreak. Somehow, she didn't think it was working.

Almost carefully he took a few steps forward, closing the gap between them. Before she knew it the man was not a foot in front of her. He slowly reached out, hesitantly, and took a lock of her hair and ran his fingers through it. When he was done he brought the same strand up to his nose and inhaled deeply. "This scent, it's gone from my pillow."

She didn't move.

They continued to stand there as Kagome tried to regain her composure, "What are you doing here?"

He dropped her lock of hair and turned towards Bank, "I got in touch with him about three months ago. We've been planning this meeting for a while."

Kagome pulled away from him and glared at her brother before turning her attention back towards Inuyasha. "That did not answer my question."

He smiled, just a brief smile. It was one that almost made her heart break all over again, but he was not hers, he was some other woman's. "I heard you watched my interview yesterday."

Well that had certainly caught her off guard, not that anything about this day was giving her a chance at catching anything on guard. "Excuse me?"

"My interview. Bank said it was your favorite celebrity station so I made sure to get on it."

She cringed at his happy tone. "What do you want? A congratulations?"

"…I hope so, but she hasn't said yes yet."

Kagome took a few steps back and tried to turn around but Bank caught her mid turn, "You need to talk to him."

She wanted to spit in his face; she wanted to scream; she wanted to make sure he would never walk out of this building, but she couldn't. After a slow breath she turned back around and glared at Inuyasha angrily, "Congratulations."

"Does that mean you say yes?" he asked slowly.

Kagome's confusion showed clearly on her face.

Inuyasha took another step forward, this time he crouched down to her eye level. "It's you Kagome, it was always you."

"What?" was all she could get out. Her world had begun spinning a million miles faster than it was ever meant to and she was having a hard time keeping up.

"Bank helped me create a false identity for you. I've had about six different models pretending to be my girl friend for the past two months. Black hair, big sunglasses and never a direct picture. It created a story for the press while giving you an alibi. No one would ever think twice about you being Shadow. You've been bedridden for months, there was no way you were traveling the world with me at the same time," he explained.

"I-I-I'm the skank?" she turned to Ayame in disbelief, "I'm the man-stealing-skank?"

Ayame seemed as shell shocked as her but managed to get out a quick couple of words, "You're the dirty skank that stole your man."

She turned to Bankotsu, "Is this real?"

The man nodded, "He's been planning it for months Kagome."

She turned back towards Inuyasha in disbelief. To her, this still wasn't making any sense.

Inuyasha reached out and pulled her closer. He hugged her briefly before letting go. Almost immediately he was down on one knee and holding her hand, "Please Kagome, let this be a yes. Say you love me like I love you, say you will spend the rest of your life with me."

She was beyond speechless. The man she had dreamed about for years, the man she had loved since day one was asking her to marry him. He wanted to be her husband, her his wife. He wanted a family, he wanted her. Before her entire body gave out in excitement she nodded. She nodded furiously. Her mouth started to yell yes repeatedly as the tears poured down her face.

Inuyasha's whole face lit up and he grabbed her around the middle pulling her close. The moment she managed a breath of air his beautiful lips met with her own. They were soft, strong and powerful just like she always imagined. She regretfully felt him pull away and kiss the side of her cheek, the corner of her mouth and her nose.

At this she laughed and pulled him tighter, not caring at all about her ribs. They were a distant memory to her right now.

He carefully put her down and hugged her one more time before looking over at her friends, "Sango, Miroku has been miserable without you. Please say you will give him another chance."

"Sango," cut in Kagome, "he will make an amazing father. He would never let you feel like you're doing this on your own, he loves you too much for that."

Ayame's eyes bulged from her sockets as Sango blushed. "You're pregnant! Like really? And it's Miroku's!"

Kagome could feel Inuyasha's stager in disbelief. She turned her head to face him as he stared at Sango, "You're pregnant?"

Sango turned a deeper shade of red, "Yes, but I don't expect anything from him. I know this is a man's biggest fear and I would never-"

Inuyasha let her go and practically ran to Sango's side. Kagome immediately missed the warmth that could only be given by Inuyasha. Said man stopped at Sango's side and looked at her in disbelief, "You're sure? Did you sleep with anyone else?"

Sango turned away from him, "I am sure and no, I haven't slept with anyone else in over a year. It is his, but like I said, I don't-"

Inuyasha cut her off, "Miroku can't have kids. Well, that's what he was told when he turned fifteen. Some sort of sperm deficiency. He was told that there was only a three percent chance that he would ever have children. It killed him. He jokes about it but a family, a real one, is what he wants. He sleeps around because it's the only way he could control his disappointment. I promise you Sango, if you comeback, he will love you even more than you know…both you and the child."

Sango clutched her stomach in disbelief, "I-I…"

Kagome looked at her friend pleadingly, "Sango? I will always be there for you, but it's not the same. You need him, you love him, and he loves you. Please come back with us."

Sango slowly shook her head yes, her smile growing bigger by the second.

Together, Sango and Kagome turned to Ayame. Ayame just smirked, "Like I would ever miss out on this."

Kagome smiled and ran up to Bank. Her family was staying together, she was getting her happy ending, the part that she never thought she would get. "Are you going to tell me that you're coming too?"

Bank shook his head, "No, I have work to do. This is your life, maybe later I will join you but right now I know where I belong."

Kagome hugged him again and buried her face into his shirt, "Thank you big brother."

He slowly pulled away and headed back towards the door. After unlocking it he turned towards the three women he considered family and the man he was entrusting them with, "Remember Inuyasha-"

Inuyasha smirked, "Yeah, you'll kick my ass."

Bank shook his head in amusement and headed out the door, the morning rays lighting his way back to the car.

Kagome turned back towards Inuyasha and smiled, "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah, but be warned, the room is different. Shippo and Rin wanted you to feel relaxed when you got back from your vacation so they redesigned our whole room to look like a luau."

"Shippo? Rin? Vacation?"

Inuyasha nodded, "I didn't want them to think that you had left for good, so I told them that you had left for vacation. I was hoping I could bring you back before they started asking to many questions."

Kagome quickly stood up on her tip toes and kissed Inuyasha on the nose, "Thank you Inuyasha."

Together the group of four headed towards the black Hummer parked in the back of the warehouse. They only had one destination, and that was home.

Firevixen73-I hope everyone liked this story and thank you so much for all of your support. It means so much to me to know that everyone cares and supports my work. I hope everyone enjoyed the story and thank you for sticking with me to the end. I hope to hear from all of you again. As a side note, I am planning on posting an Inu/Kag one-shot sometime today. It is called Ramen and Pepper Spray. Please check it out and tell me what you think if you have time.

The End