InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 9 )

AN: So yeah, I started some strange one-shots when I should've been writing this chapter… So here's this chapter now! Ta daaa!

 

Thanks for all the wonderfully kind things that have been said about my story thus far! I really, really enjoyed reading them! (Gave me a swollen head the rest of the day, went swaggering about everywhere like the queen of the world.) You're too kind! Thank you SO much!

 

Disclaimer: Must I do it? Must I tell you again and again that I don't own anything?! No, I don't really need to. You're all smart. You've figured it out by now, you knew even before you my first disclaimer. If I did happen to own Inuyasha, this wouldn't be fanfiction, because it would be like the original thing and yeah. (I'm wandering, here…) I don't get these things, really. Some stupid legal procedure that doesn't matter anyway because we all know that I don't own Inuyasha by now. Right?

 

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Haunted

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Chapter Nine: Homecoming

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"Relax, Shippo." Miroku said uncomfortably after the silence stretched between them. "I'm not going to burn you on a stake." Shippo relaxed slightly and a slim flame that was fluttering on his finger guttered and died in an instant.

 

"Well, what are you going to do with me?" The kitsune asked in a small voice. Miroku crouched down next to the small child. His parents had always told him that humans killed demons when they were found out. They'd proved themselves when they'd been killed in the same way.

 

"I'm going to stop following you around." Miroku told him wryly. "You put me through a lot of pain, you know that?" Miroku had unconsciously adopted the role of soothing caretaker. "I don't want to do that ever again."

 

"You've got a twig in your hair." Shippo told him solemnly, scrambling onto the man's shoulder and pulling it out.

 

"See what I mean?" Miroku mourned, walking up the stairs and out of the basement. "You have caused me much pain, Shippo." Miroku slipped back into his old self. Shippo looked at him with his trademark mischievous grin, this time accompanied by small fangs, Miroku noticed. He was going to have to get used to that.

 

"Hey, I'm not the once who led you on a false trail." He told Miroku. "That was Inuyasha, not me. Blame him." Anything to get the poltergeist in trouble…

 

"But you're the one who deceived Inuyasha." Miroku pointed out. "He was quite embarrassed, you know." He was more than embarrassed. He was upset, reminded that he was only a shadow of his former self, a pale reflection. But Shippo didn't need to know that part. He'd probably end up insulting the poor poltergeist about it.

 

"So what are we gonna do?" Shippo resumed thinking about the current state of affairs. "Should I put the spell back on?" Now that he had an adult to rely on, Shippo decided that he would let Miroku help him make decisions. A second opinion is always valuable in making decisions of considerable importance. In fact, he felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He no longer had to worry about keeping his secret from everyone. Miroku would help him do it. He was a valuable ally.

 

"No," Miroku said slowly, thinking. "Kagome won't mind, After all, she and Inuyasha are… friends." And a little bit more, if their actions were anything to go by… "And Sango is an open-minded person, who accepts Inuyasha as well." Shippo nodded as he sat on Miroku's shoulder. "You'll be fine."

 

"Yeah." Shippo nodded vigorously on his shoulder. He knew that Miroku was right. So why was his stomach flip-flopping it's way up his throat? Shippo recalled the amount of ice cream that he'd consumed. Oh yeah, that might be it.

 

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(O.o)

(><)

 

"So, you said you sensed an evil coming off of her?" Mr. Higurashi asked his granddaughter. When Kagome nodded, the old man placed his steaming cup of tea on the table and nodded sagely. "It is as I suspected."

 

"What?" Kagome asked, confused. Talking to her grandfather was a long and complicated process. He'd sit and listen, then say something followed by a long stream of explanation.

 

But this time, the senior surprised her. "You've inherited my spiritual powers." He said simply. Kagome blinked. Inuyasha snorted and Mr. Higurashi looked at him with narrowed eyes.

 

"You don't have any spiritual powers!" The poltergeist scoffed. "Kagome's got 'em, alright. But not from you." He knew whom she got them from. If her physical appearance was anything to go by, she was even that person's reincarnation.

 

The old man bristled in outrage. "Do you question my holy powers?' He asked intimidating. "I warn you, they are not to be trifled with!"

 

Inuyasha pretended to think for a moment before replying. "Yes. I question your 'holy powers'." He said flatly. "I question their existence."

 

"I have spiritual powers!" The old man protested. "I can prove it! I'm the keeper of an ancestral shine, whose powers have been passed down generation to generation!"

 

"And didn't the shrine that you're the 'keeper' of burn down?" Inuyasha smirked as the old mad stuttered in outrage. "And those scraps of paper that you tried to exorcise me with didn't do anything." He added in smugly. "Neither did the wards on the house."

 

The senior didn't respond to that. "Well, the point is, I have, umm, spiritual powers, right?" Kagome added in hastily before the confrontation got any worse. Yet another thing come true that she didn't believe in… "So… what's it do?" She asked sheepishly. Inuyasha and Mr. Higurashi stopped bickering to stare at her in surprise.

 

"You don't know?" Inuyasha asked incredulously. "How can you not know and come from a shrine family?" Kagome blushed.

 

"After all I taught you!" Mr. Higurashi wailed. "After all the legends and the stories and the lessons! You forgot!" He placed his head in his hands in despair. Kagome's blush deepened.

 

"Yes, I forgot!" She snapped. "So will you just tell me already?" Inuyasha snorted at her. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately…

 

"You can make spells word, set up wards against demons. Maybe even purify them." Inuyasha shrugged. If she was anything like Kikyo… which so far she wasn't, he realized. Except they looked kinda the same. He inspected Kagome brusquely. The black-haired girl turned pink in embarrassment at his scrutiny.

 

"You're just as bad as Miroku!" She cried, hurrying away from the table. "And a lot less subtle about it!" She hurried out of the room to escape his gaze. "If I could, I'd hit you with something heavy!"

 

Inuyasha's cheeks turned peach, then pink at Kagome's accusations. "Hey, it's not what you think!" He protested. "And I'm not like Miroku at all!" He huffed. Mr. Higurashi stared at the poltergeist's colored face and outstretched one finger to point.

 

Inuyasha looked at him irritably. "Something for you?" He asked sharply. The old man fumbled for the newspaper that was on the table, still staring and pointing. Suddenly he leaned over the table and swiped at Inuyasha's face with it. Naturally, it went through. Inuyasha didn't budge an inch. Sometimes it was nice to be spectral. The old man swung again with the same effect. As he readied for another swing, muttering something about demon magic and purity, Inuyasha disappeared with a small puff of thick grey smoke and a frown, setting off the fire alarm in the process.

 

"DEMONS BEGONE!" The old man spluttered, hastily removing a spell scroll from somewhere on his person and waving it around futilely. "I ORDER YOU BACK TO HELL!" He roared imperiously, the paper flapping as he waved it around in the smoke. "TO HELL!" He repeated.

 

Sango stood in the doorway and tied on a mask over her face before venturing into the smoke and grabbing Mr. Higurashi. She pulled him out of the room -with much paper-waving and shouting on the senior's part- and then went back in to turn of the fire alarm and open the windows. "I wish he wouldn't do that." She grumbled about Inuyasha. "Making such a fuss, and then we have to open the windows, clear out the smoke, and turn off that infernal beeping." Said beeping started up again. With a sigh, she headed back into the room and turned it off again. "Really, he could be more considerate of others."

 

_|__|_

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He frowned and tuned out the old man's ranting. There was a demon in the house. Probably not Shippo, because he'd masked himself and Inuyasha couldn't tell as a poltergeist. But he could sense the demon aura now. He disappeared with a puff of smoke and reappeared directly in front of Miroku and Shippo. "Hello there, Inuyasha." Miroku gave his usual polite greeting.

 

Inuyasha stared at Shippo, perplexed. "I thought you wanted to keep hidden." He said. Miroku listened with interest. So Inuyasha did know before…

 

"Miroku caught me." Shippo replied grumpily, his bushy tail flicking in irritation. Inuyasha shook his head. With Miroku stalking the Brat as he was, it had been bound to happen sooner or later. In this case, sooner. He wrinkled his nose.

 

"Hey! Miroku!" Said man looked at him. "Go take a shower! You stink." Miroku bowed elegantly. "My thoughts exactly." He headed off on his way, Shippo still sitting on his shoulder. "You going with him Shippo?" The poltergeist asked in surprise.

 

"No, I bathe with Kagome!" The ginger-haired kitsune called back. Inuyasha looked at him indignantly. "I'm gonna hide in Miroku's room for a bit before we explain everything to everyone."

 

Kagome… where was she? He wondered. After a few moments pondering, he disappeared in another puff of smoke, setting off another fire alarm. Sango hurried into the hallway, equipped with a filter mask and a fan.

 

"And just after I finished in the other room!" She grumbled to herself. "I'm going to have to talk to him about this." She dragged a chair out of the nearest room. "Why can't he just walk places like other people?"

 

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(• .•)

(><)

 

Well. Kagome sat under the big tree by the house as she thought. This was new. She smiled wryly. Not only did she happen to live in the same premises as a poltergeist- a half demon poltergeist at that, not only did she live with strange people, not only did demons randomly fly into her house but she was also some sort of priestess. Hm. She looked at her hands. She didn't feel any different. And then there was that lady. The demon lady. Kagome couldn't get her out of her head, her strange magenta eyes, the miasmic demon blood or whatever Miroku had called it, but most of all, she was disturbed by the strong feelings of evil, strong and alien, malignant that she'd felt coming off of her in waves. She shuddered.

 

"If you're cold, you could always go back inside," A voice advised by her ear. Kagome whirled in surprise and found herself nose to nose with Inuyasha. Literally. Though they wouldn't be able to touch each other if they'd wanted to, the implication made them both scoot away, identical blushes staining their faces. "S-sorry." The flustered poltergeist stuttered.

 

"That's okay," Kagome flapped a hand at him nervously. "You just scared me." Indeed, her heart was pounding, but not because of that. Clearing her throat nervously, Kagome shifted in her seat and Inuyasha floated into a cross-legged position. They sat in silence for a moment, the only noise being that of wind through the trees and the rustling grass.

 

"So," Inuyasha began. "You're a priestess." Kagome looked at him with surprise but his face was unreadable, grey eyes flickering as the blush faded from his face.

 

"I guess so." Kagome shrugged. "I don't feel any different knowing." She admitted. "I mean, I'm still me, nothing's changed about me." Inuyasha seemed to relax slightly. "But," she added sheepishly. "I don't know how to do anything either with my powers, either."

 

"You said you felt a presence of evil in the room when the woman came in?" Inuyasha asked, staring at the grass with grey eyes. "Well, then you already use them." Kagome looked at him in surprise, taken aback. He looked at her a moment, then shifted his gaze to a tree in the opposite direction. "You sense demonic energies. That's part of your powers." He still wasn't looking at her. Kagome frowned.

 

"Hey, what's wrong?" She coaxed. Still facing away and staring at the grave marker now, he paused before replying, and when he did reply it wasn't much of an answer.

 

"Nothing." He said nonchalantly. Kagome gave a characteristically Inuyasha-ish snort and walked around the tree until she was facing him. He turned his head away again, his eyes resting on the grass. The raven-haired girl gave an exasperated sigh.

 

"Look at me." She said sternly. Stubbornly, the poltergeist continued to watch the grass as it waved gently in the wind. She sighed again, this time in defeat. "Will you at least tell me what's wrong?" She tried.

 

Inuyasha thought for a moment before answering begrudgingly. "I… don't like priestesses. Nothing personal." Or rather, one priestess in particular whom she happened to resemble. Why did he even come and find Kagome?

 

The newly-appointed priestess backed away in shock. "What?" Inuyasha turned his head away. "But… why?" It was like a slap in the face. "Does everything change just because I can sense demons?" She asked incredulously, a few rebel tears stinging her eyes. Over some little thing… something that she could do all along? And when he found out, it was all over? Kagome sniffed fiercely, willing the tears to keep from coming because she knew that Inuyasha looked down at her when she cried. But what was over?

 

He smelled the salt, felt the guilt. Burning inside. He was confused. "No, of course not!" He snapped. What was he doing? What was he saying? What did it mean? Was it the tears, the reproach in her voice that made him feel like putty in her hands? "Don't be ridiculous." He added softly, almost as an afterthought.

 

Kagome sniffed and scrubbed a hand across her eyes. "I'm not being ridiculous." She informed him shortly. "I don't understand…" She murmured with a heavy sigh. Inuyasha glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

 

"It's nothing to do with you." He told her, not bothering to explain. But that was a bad idea. The small sentence was like a little hook, and she fell for the bait. Kagome's natural curiosity took over,

 

"Then who does it have to do with?" Curiosity killed the cat… and miffed the dog. Inuyasha finally looked at her and in the depths of his eyes there was copper smoldering resentfully. But there was something else, a pain, a betrayal. A flash of light, bright and tragic. And then it went out, and Inuyasha was gone.

 

And a very confused and bewildered Kagome was left all by herself to interpret the meaning of it. And that's exactly what she did.

 

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(O.o)

(><)

 

Sango put the fan back in the closet and closed the door. The mask was her own, one of the few things that she'd brought from home in her haste. She placed the mask in her bureau almost reverently and shut it with a sigh. And then another fire alarm went of. Eyebrows clicking together in frustration, Sango grabbed the mask out of the drawer again, put it on and stormed out of the room, muttering darkly under her breath about self-centered poltergeists and wasted time.

 

She sprinted through the hallway, leaped down a flight of stairs, and skidded to a halt in the living room where she found the poltergeist about to make a hasty exit. "You!" She exclaimed, brandishing an accusatory finger as she would a weapon. "Why can't you walk around like normal people and stop setting off the fire alarms?!" Her voice came out muffled through the mask.

 

Inuyasha looked at her somewhat coldly. "Because I'm not a normal person." He indicated his spectral flesh with an almost sigh of pent-up frustration and left with a loud bang and more smoke. Eyes watering, Sango muttered under her breath as she forced open the windows and sprinted upstairs for the fan that she'd used before.

 

The alarm whooped as she opened the door the door to the kitchen -she'd closed it after her to stop spreading the smoke- and started waving the fan about frantically, trying to send all the smoke out of the windows.

 

Five minutes and several muffled curses about poltergeists later, Sango had cleared out most of the smoke, leaving the room in a hazy fog, but pretty much smoke free. She stood on the table and smacked the smoke detector with one hand. Those things were starting to get really, really annoying.

 

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(• .•)

(><)

 

He was hiding something…

 

Kagome stared at the waving grass in contemplation. But what? There was something in his eyes… It was on the tip of her tongue, the verge of her understanding, just out of reach. As is someone had told her something and she just couldn't understand it. She thought back, examining each detail carefully. That look. There was something, something, something… Arg! Kagome grabbed a fistful of grass and pulled it out. She dropped it on the ground and grabbed another, dropping that in turn. What was with people's obsession with picking grass?

 

Her mind wandered to her old life, her old school and old friends. It all seemed so distant now, so foreign. So… trivial. Eri had called her yesterday, wondering about the date and talking about Hojo and how lucky she was to finally get him. But now she wasn't interested, though only three months ago she would've been very happy about it. It saddened her slightly. She was loosing touch with her dearest, oldest, friends. But what had changed? Kagome shook her head as a pair of familiar, haunting golden eyes smoldered, staring at her as if haunted by some terrible, nameless…something.

 

Why did she always think about him? His presence was always looming in the back of her mind, waiting for a chance to flood her thoughts with him. Kagome sighed. She was so hopeless. She couldn't shake the thought of him from her mind. But his eyes… copper floating to the surface to smother the emotionless grey. The copper held what the grey could not: a path to his innermost self, if Kagome could bring herself to look. But she hesitated because she feared there was something dark and terrible that lay waiting for her if she dared to stare him straight in the face. What was he hiding? Did he even remember?

 

For the first time after meeting him, Kagome found herself wondering why he'd been cursed.

 

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(•_•)

(><)

 

"Well…" Miroku looked at Shippo. The kit was sitting on his bed and fiddling with a leaf, tail twitching slightly in agitation. "Let's go, then." He said cheerfully. Shippo looked at him with a wavering smile, a small pearly fang peeking out from between his lips. Miroku extended one hand and Shippo climbed up his arm to rest on his shoulder. No words were said. None were needed.

 

With one brief glance exchanged between the two, Miroku walked out of his room and into the hallway. He coughed at the smoke and Sango stormed by, removing an antique mask of some sort and growling under her breath. Shippo dropped from Miroku's shoulder and clung to the back of his shirt, out of view from the upset woman.

 

Sango didn't notice, but she did incline her head curtly to Miroku as she passed. As soon as she was gone, Shippo popped back onto Miroku's shoulder. "Shippo?" The violet-eyed man asked in bemusement.

 

With wide solemn eyes, Shippo responded, "I wasn't ready yet. She surprised me." Miroku was still confused, but he went along with it. "Let's go to the living room," Shippo suggested, glancing over his shoulder in an almost spastic way.

 

"Very well," Miroku glanced at the kitsune again. "You have to tell them sometime, Shippo." He said, thought the ginger-haired demon had only been revealed for what he was thirty minutes ago.

 

Shippo gulped. No fear! "O-okay." He stuttered. No fear, no fear… a left turn, down a flight of stairs and through the doorway and they were there. Both of them paused, Shippo unsure of what to do next and Miroku waiting for the young demon's decision. Shippo gulped again. "Hey!" he squeaked. "HEY!" He thundered, and clapped hands over his mouth. Miroku winced at the volume. Shippo was right next to his ear. "HEY!" Shippo called again, at a more reasonable volume.

 

"What?" Sango called back grumpily. "This better be important," She grumbled from upstairs, arriving in the room a few moments later.

 

"Could you please go get Kagome?" Miroku asked politely. Clean thoughts, clean thoughts… Sango nodded curtly and walked through the living room to the door, not noticing Shippo's altered appearance. She put on a stray pair of sandals that probably belonged to Mr. Higurashi and walked over to Kagome under the tree; presenting Miroku with a nice view of her- clean thoughts, clean thoughts… "I hate Uno…" He grumbled. Shippo looked at him curiously and wisely decided not to ask.

 

A moment later, the two of them came back, Sango still appearing irritable and Kagome in a daze. "Maybe this isn't the best time…" Shippo chattered between clenched teeth to Miroku. "They don't seem too happy right now." Miroku shook his head.

 

"Yeah?" Kagome asked curiously, eyes still holding some wandering thoughtful quality from her previous solitude. "Is something…?" She trailed off, staring at Shippo, her expression unreadable. The poor kid, unsure of what to expect, gulped nervously again. A moment's silence stretched into eternity. Somewhere outside, a lawnmower droned. Birds chirped infrequently and the grass rustled as the wind blew gently in the hot afternoon. "Shippo?" Kagome finally asked. Sango was still thinking.

 

"Kagome?" The kitsune squirmed and his tail twitched nervously. Kagome was silent for a moment before trying to say anything. Finally, she managed to speak.

 

"You're a demon?" Shippo nodded. Kagome took a deep breath. "What kind?" She asked curiously, some of the shock wearing off. Sango was still silent.

 

"Fox." The ginger-haired boy answered. So far, so good. Kagome was smiling, unsure, but it was a friendly smile, welcoming.

 

"Well, that doesn't really change much does it?" She asked with a smile. Shippo's eyes widened, taken aback. "You've been a kitsune all this time, right? So then you're still you. You're just different looking." She explained more to herself that him. "I like your tail." She grinned. "It's very cute." The tension in the room eased somewhat. And Sango still wasn't saying anything. In fact, she looked pretty much calm and composed.

 

Noticing this, Kagome looked at the older girl and asked, "Sango?" She looked up at Kagome with a questioning look. "What do you think?" She gestured at the kit on Miroku's shoulder nervously, unsure of what Sango would do or say.

 

"I suspected." Sango said simply with a shrug. Surprised, everyone waited for her to continue. "I heard Shippo and our resident poltergeist talking in the hallway about something, and I had an idea that Shippo was some type of demon."

 

"Why didn't you say something?" Miroku asked. "You could've helped me! I was following Shippo around for days. I didn't even get all the twigs out of my hair because I was so busy." Miroku shook his head regretfully and felt, frankly, rather stupid.

 

"You never asked." Sango replied practically. Miroku sighed. With a relieved grin, Shippo hopped off of Miroku's shoulder and ran off somewhere, probably to give a certain poltergeist grief. Kagome wandered back outside to sit under the tree.

 

With no business left for him to attend to in the living room, Miroku walked out of the room and up the stairs, not noticing the thoughtful look that Sango shot at his back. "Miroku… where have I heard that name before?" She'd remember soon enough.

 

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(0_0)

(><)

 

"Kagura, Kagura, Kagura." The nasty voice sneered into her mind and tainted her thoughts with cunning malice. "You are getting sloppy indeed." There was dark humor in the consciousness; Naraku's was of laughing. "First you miss one of the family, then you get beaten by that wolf cub." The laughter stopped.

 

"I was occupied at the moment." Kagura defended weakly. She knew she'd been sloppy. It had been her fault that time. Naraku knew it, too. He knew all of her immediate thoughts and if he cared to, he could probably dredge up the ones she so carefully guarded against him. "I did the job." She added.

 

"But you did not find the missing one." Naraku's cold voice dropped by a few degrees. "You've been slacking, Kagura. It seems to me that you require some…motivation." Kagura gasped as her chest suddenly constricted painfully. He squeezed her heart -which he'd removed from her body to keep control of her- again with sadistic humor. "Do not forget, Kagura, that you are bound to me and can serve no other. Do not forget that I see into your mind, and know even your deepest thoughts and desires." The pressure released and Kagura stood up shakily from where she'd fallen over. Kanna looked on with dark emotionless eyes.

 

The wind sorceress stumbled out through the tunnel and onto the hill with gasping breaths. "Curse him…" She murmured helplessly. She sat down heavily on the grass and stared out upon the spectacular landscape that stretched before her with unseeing eyes.

 

"Oh, Kagura." The demoness jumped. "I'm giving you six days. Find the Miyagi girl and kill her. Do not be seen. Do not be caught. I will not forgive any more mistakes." Kagura stumbled upright and down the hill, tossing her feather onto the wind and crawling on. The wind carried her away from Naraku and the cave, leaving her to fly free. As free as she might ever get.

 

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(• .•)

(><)

 

Unlike her sister, Kanna was not reckless and proud. Kanna was quiet, subdued, thoughtful, yet she obeyed mindlessly. She didn't mind carrying out Naraku's orders. What was freedom, after all? Why was it so alluring? Kanna wanted nothing but to sit in peace and quiet and to gaze into her mirror.

 

And that's what she did, her mind directly linked to Naraku's so that he could see all inside the bewitched reflective surface, next to the dark urn. The chamber did not reject her or try to purify her as it would other demons. To the sutras scattered around the room, Kanna wasn't even there. She was the essence of nothing.

 

She knew that was why Naraku trusted her so, why he was so pleased with her. She wanted nothing, was nothing. The perfect underling. But she was content, and didn't mind. "Show me…" Naraku's consciousness flooded her thoughts with his desires and malice. "Show me everything." Kanna focused her mind and applied her will to the mirror.

 

_|__|_

(•_•)

--( • )--

(____)

 

Shippo had made up a new game. He called it, "Let's See How Many Different Places We Can Make Inuyasha Get Colorful", or "LSHMDPWCMIGC" for short. He was still working on the title. So far, he'd gotten him to blush- by talking about Kagome, to make his eyes gold -by making him really mad, but so far he couldn't do anything to his ears, his nose, or feet, which were his targets.

 

Maybe he was going about it the wrong way. "Brat," The harassed poltergeist's eyes were simmering with gold beneath the grey. "Go away and leave me alone. I'm trying to-"

 

A giant pink balloon popped into existence whizzed by in front of his face. Inuyasha backed away in surprise. Well, he'd gotten the ears to change color now… "BRAT!" Inuyasha growled. "Leave me alone!"

 

Shippo puffed back into himself and removed the leaf from his head. "You are dead on the next half moon…" The poltergeist warned. Oh, wait. The half moon after that, because he the curse was placed on him the half moon between the full moon and no moon. It was actually kinda confusing… and the damned fox-brat wasn't helping matters…

 

"Divide and conquer!" There were suddenly six Shippo's scrambling around him. With a loud curse, Inuyasha disappeared with a puff of smoke and a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot. He'd had enough of Shippo to last him a very, very long time.

 

Sango paused at the door of her room. There was a loud bang, followed by… the screeching of a smoke detector. "Inuyasha!" Sango half screamed with frustration. "This has got to stop!" She grabbed her mask and the fan -it was becoming routine now- and ran down the hallway to the source of the wailing smoke detector. "Next half moon…" She grumbled under her breath as she opened the windows in the dining room and fanned the smoke out. She crinkled her nose in distaste. And this time it stank of sulfur! Yuck. "When I catch up with him…" She promised darkly and went about her business.

 

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(• .•)

(><)

 

Miroku was in a fix. A small one, but a fix nonetheless. He'd proved to himself that he was right, that he'd always been right, but he desperately wanted to go back and laugh in the faces of all who had laughed and called him crazy or delusional. And he could, but what would happen? No, it wasn't possible, he brooded. After all he'd done and gone through. It was ironic that he had the proof, solid evidence, but had no way of presenting it. But that was how life operated, was it not? He smiled wryly.

 

A familiar masculine voice broke through his thoughts. "What are you hiding, monk?" It was Inuyasha, a suspicious frown on his face as he scrutinized the violet-eyed man. Miroku looked at him with surprise.

 

"Oh, hello Inuyasha." He smiled politely. "I didn't see you there." The poltergeist floated closer, sitting in a cross-legged position until he was a few feet away from Miroku. "I was just thinking." He responded to Inuyasha's continued scrutiny.

 

"I don't know what you're up to, monk." Inuyasha said flatly. "But whatever it is, it doesn't seem like anything good. You've got something up your sleeve." Suspicion was turning his eyes slightly gold.

 

"I mean no harm." Miroku put his hands up in a placating gesture. "I am merely reflecting upon my situation." He told the poltergeist honestly.

 

"What are you hiding?" Inuyasha questioned. Miroku sighed, seeing that he wasn't going to give up any time soon. "Why are you hiding it?" The half-demon reiterated, arms folded across his chest.

 

"It is my own, private affair that I wish to reflect upon. It does not affect you or anyone else here." That is, if he chose not to act. He wasn't going to anyway. Inuyasha, seeing that he wasn't going to get anything else out of the stubborn monk, disappeared with a small pop and a miniscule puff of smoke.

 

Sango stayed outside the door for a few minutes, wondering at the conversation that had just taken place. "Miroku, Miroku." She wracked her memory with no success. Where had she heard his name before? More likely than not, it had been off the lips of some poor girl he'd gotten to fall in love with him. But she had a feeling that it wasn't so. "Miroku…" She walked away, the name echoing in her mind.

 

He was hiding something, and she was sure that she had a piece to the puzzle. It was there, in her mind, just out of grasp. It would come.

 

(\ /)

(• .•)

(><)

 

His day wasn't going very well. Mr. Higurashi seemed unable to find the desired scroll that he wanted to read. The legends were fascinating and he'd been eating them up since he'd found them tucked away in the big room on the first floor. But the next installment was missing. It frustrated him to no end.

 

The old man stood up, a hand on his aching back. There was no denying it, the thing wasn't there. With a defeated sigh, Mr. Higurashi walked out of the room and paused at the strange burn in the floor. And where had that giant hole in the floor come from? Someone was going to have to do a little explaining…

 

Mr. Higurashi left the ballroom and closed the door after him with a creaking sigh. The old man rubbed his eyes, weary from all the reading he'd done, and headed for the kitchen with a yawn. It felt good to stretch his legs. He'd been sitting in his room for six hours, an activity that was certainly not healthy.

 

"DEMON BEGONE!" Mr. Higurashi whipped a defective sutra off his person and waved it in front of him. Shippo stopped short in his tracks. The senior took a step forward and slapped the spell scroll onto the ginger-haired boy's head. "RETURN TO HELL, DEMON!" He shouted. Shippo frowned and pulled the offending piece of paper off of his head. Not deterred in the slightest, Mr. Higurashi pulled out another scroll and stuck it on him again. There was a pause, then Shippo removed it and dropped it onto the ground next to the other one.

 

Yet again, the senior pulled out another scroll and stuck it to Shippo. With a sigh, he removed it again. It drifted to the floor to lie next to its counterparts. Wordlessly, the obstinate old man pulled three out of his robe and stuck them all to Shippo.

 

The kitsune was getting annoyed. With a puff of pink smoke and some foxfire, he floated away, above the old man's head as a pink balloon. Mr. Higurashi stared. A true demon. And the last time he'd seen the boy he'd been a normal child. It had to be the demon-ghost, or poltergeist. He was a bad influence, that one. Mr. Higurashi decided that he'd have to try the spell mentioned in the scrolls he was reading, the one with the holy urn. It looked as if it had already been used on the demon-ghost, but the boy could use it too in order to stop the spread of evil. Those scrolls certainly were interesting. Speaking of which… he headed back the way he came in search of the missing scroll.

 

_|__|_

(• .•)

--( • )--

(____)

 

"Home!" Souta dashed out of the car with a cry of relief. "I don't think I could've stayed in that car another minute!" Mrs. Higurashi exited the car at a more sedate pace and opened the trunk of the car.

 

"Souta! Don't forget to help me unpack!" She called to the young boy as he raced up the walk, gravel crunching under his feet as he went.

 

"HELLO!" He pounded on the door enthusiastically. "SOMEONE GET THE DOOR!" He yelled. There were some hurried footsteps and the door opened. Souta stared at the unfamiliar face.

 

"Uh…" Souta was confused. "Who are you?" The girl smiled sheepishly and let him inside the entryway with a smile.

 

"My name's Sango. I'm, umm,,," How did you tell someone that you were living in their house? "I'm living here." Just tell 'em straight out. Souta seemed to accept her answer as he stepped inside the house, removed his shoes, and dashed up the stairs like a bat out of hell.

 

"Souta!" Called his mother from the car as she lifted a heavy-looking suitcase out of the trunk of the car. "I'm not doing this alone!" She called again. Mrs. Higurashi looked up at the front of the house and stared in surprise at Sango for a moment. "Oh! You must be Sango, right?" She smiled warmly. "Welcome! I'm Mrs. Higurashi, Kagome's mom." She said as if it wasn't obvious.

 

Sango smiled back, equally friendly. "That's right. I hope you don't mind that I'm staying here…" There was a question of dismissal in her tone and Mrs. Higurashi quickly reassured her.

 

"Oh, of course not! Stay as long as you want." Seeing the grateful expression in the young woman's brown eyes, the hostess quickly set down her terms. "But you'll have to help around the house, like Miroku." Kagome greeted her mother at the front door with an Inuyasha-reminiscent snort.

 

"Sango's done way more than Miroku." She informed her mother. "Only today she's taken care of at least six smoke detectors that went off." Sango smiled quietly at the praise. She hadn't thought anyone noticed all the running around she was doing. At her mother's slight frown, Kagome hastily assured her that Miroku did help around the house. "He cooks very …creatively and he does the dishes." Very creatively, indeed. Who else would put lettuce into rice? The frightening thing was that it wasn't half bad.

 

"Here, dear. Help me with the unpacking." Mrs. Higurashi unloaded a heavy suitcase into her daughter's unready arms, nearly knocking her over. With a sigh, the black-haired girl lugged the weighty luggage up the stairwell and down the hallway.

 

"Can I help in some way?" Sango asked, watching Kagome's progress out of the corner of her eye. Souta came running down the stairs and hurried to the car for his luggage. Such enthusiasm! Sango noted with wry humor, wondering what Kagome had snarled at her younger sibling upon passing.

 

"Of course." The older woman certainly had a sunny personality. Sango followed her as she went back to the car. The gravel crunched underfoot as Mrs. Higurashi engaged Sango in some idle conversation. "So, where are you from?" It was intended to be a polite question out of friendly interest.

 

Sango tried to answer back lightly. "Well, my family died and I had no place to go." The truth was always best. Mrs. Higurashi stopped abruptly in shock and put her hands over her mouth in true horror. No false sympathy here.

 

"Oh, dear!" She patted Sango on the arm. "I'm so sorry!" And she really was, Sango noted. Mrs. Higurashi was one of those rare people who could truly empathize with others, someone who really cared passionately. Kagome was another of those rare people. "That's so awful." She shook her head remorsefully. "You can stay as long as you want." She told Sango firmly.

 

"Thanks," Sango looked at her gratefully and pulled another suitcase out of the car. The suitcase was quite heavy. Judging from the weight of it, Mrs. Higurashi also appeared to be one of those people who pack for any scenario.

 

"Of course, dear." Mrs. Higurashi was busy with another large suitcase. Sango hauled the suitcase up the walk and then the stairs, down the hallway to Mrs. Higurashi's bedroom. She placed the baggage down on the floor with a thump that rattled the windows and went down the stairs to grab more. She passed Miroku on the stairs hauling a formidably sized bag, which bulged at the seams.

 

"Could you-" Miroku dragged the bag up another step and huffed for breath, "Help me with this please?" He asked, straining with the bag. Sango smiled and grabbed the handles, pulling on it while Miroku pushed. Teamwork prevailed and soon the bag was in the hallway.

 

"How on earth did you get this up the walk by yourself?" Sango asked, huffing for breath. That thing was heavy and she found herself wondering what was in it.

 

"I don't know myself. This bag feels as if it's filled with bricks." Miroku admitted, equally winded. He frowned at looked at the bag at his feet. "How'd they get it in the car, of that matter?" He wondered. Sango shrugged and picked up the front of the bag, while Miroku picked up the back. They struggled with the heavy luggage until it was outside Mrs. Higurashi's room.

 

The hostess came up the stairs and down the hallway. Upon seeing what the two of them were dragging about, she told them sympathetically, "I'm really sorry, but that goes in the garden." Sango and Miroku looked at each other in despair. For once, Sango noticed, he wasn't looking at her in a perverted way. She smiled. Clean thoughts, indeed.

 

Miroku gritted his teeth. Clean thought, clean thoughts… Sango was bending over to pick up the bag with a weary sigh. Clean thoughts, cleat thoughts… He had had no idea that it was so hard to keep his eyes and thoughts away from their normal thoughts. "I hate Uno." He grumbled to himself. Sango smiled maliciously and tugged on the straps of the bag.

 

"Really? I'd have to say-" She gasped for breath. CLEAN THOUGHTS. "-that Uno's one of my favorite games." They dragged the bag back down the staircase, Miroku debating whether or not to just push it down.

 

Mrs. Higurashi came up the stairs with a smaller suitcase and a sympathetic smile on her face at their endeavors. "You can just leave that here. I'll take care of it later, okay? That's the heaviest bag." She admitted.

 

"Mrs. Higurashi-" Miroku set the bag down heavily. Sango leaned against the wall and wiped sweat off of her brow. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is in this bag?" He inquired.

 

The older woman smiled and said solemnly, "Bricks." Eyebrows were raised in surprise. "For the garden." She explained practically. "I wanted to make a path and lay down some borders."

 

They were hauling bricks around? Sango moved away from the wall and leaned over the bag. She stood up abruptly and asked. "Do you mind if we put them in smaller bags and take them down like that?" It would make things a lot easier.

 

"Oh, of course!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that sooner?" she reprimanded herself, hurrying down the stairs to get some plastic bags. Sango and Miroku opened the big bag and started to pull the bricks out and put them on the beige carpet.

 

(\ /)

(• .•)

(><)

 

"Shippo!" Souta called. "Shippo! We're back!" He yelled again, looking around the living room. "Shippo?" He asked uncertainly.

 

"Hi." Shippo's voice answered back uneasily. Souta whirled around in confusion. The ginger-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

 

"Hey, Shippo! Where are you?" He looked around the room in confusion. "Come out!" There was some rustling from behind the couch and Souta took a step forward.

 

"Wait!" Shippo's voice sounded slightly panicky. "I'm coming out, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Souta frowned in confusion.

 

"Warn me about what?" He asked and peered over the couch. "Whoa, cool!" He said immediately. "What's that big puffy anima-" He gulped. The puffy thing moved and Souta saw that it was attached to Shippo's butt, of all things. And then Shippo stood up on the paws of a fox, what was now clearly a tail brushing the floor. "Whoa…" Souta breathed.

 

"Uh…" Shippo stuttered, unsure of what to say. So he just said it. "I'm a kitsune." Souta looked at him blankly. "You know, a fox demon?"

 

Souta rolled his eyes. "Since when?" He demanded. "Ooh, did Grandpa put a spell on you?" He asked eagerly. Kagome walked into the room upon hearing the confrontation that was taking place.

 

"Hey, Shippo." She grinned supportively at the kitsune upon realizing what he was doing. The young ginger-haired demon grinned back, albeit slightly nervously.

 

"Hey, sis!" Souta demanded. "Did Gramps put a spell on him?" Kagome shook her head. "But he was human when we left…" He looked at Shippo in bemusement. "What's going on?"

 

Shippo rose to his full, impressive height of two feet and three inches. "I'm a kitsune!" He repeated, emphasizing his words with a twitch of his tail.

 

"No, you're not!" Souta leaned over the couch and retorted back at him. "They don't exist!" Kagome rolled her eyes. Those two would turn it into an argument.

 

"I do too exist!" Shippo shouted back, glaring up at the older boy. "That's like saying Inuyasha doesn't exist! He's half demon! I'm just a full one!"

 

"He's a half-demon poltergeist!" Souta retorted loudly. "It's different!" The couch started tipping over from Souta's weight on the backrest.

 

"He was cursed! Before he was a half-demon and alive!" Shippo shouted back. "And he was alive again a few days ago! And he hit me on the head a lot!"

Souta looked at him in surprise. "He did? Cool!" There was a moment's pause. "How?" Shippo shrugged. Getting back to their argument, Souta said, "Well, it's still different! I don't believe you!"

 

"Fine!" Shippo folded his arms over his chest huffily. "I'll prove it!" There was a small burst of flame and a puff of pink smoke, and Shippo was once again a large pink balloon. Souta blinked.

 

"Cool!" He scrambled off of the couch and onto the floor. "How'd you do that?" Shippo puffed back into existence with a smug smile. "What else can you do?" Souta asked eagerly. "Can you turn into anything else?"

 

Shippo nodded, then frowned. "But sometimes my tail stays the same." He shrugged. Souta looked at him in awe. "I don't know why, though…" The kitsune said contemplatively.

 

He was pulled out of thought when Souta -who wasn't weirded out in the least by the fact that his friend was actually a demon- grabbed his arm and rushed out of the room, shouting as he went. "This is so cool!" Kagome shook her head. That was just like Souta. He adapted easily, accepting the strangest of things without a pause for thought.

 

He turned back to Souta. "But you can't tell anybody, okay?" Kagome heard Shippo protest as they hurried down the hallway.

 

 

(\ /)

(• .•)

(><)

 

By now, Sango was regretting offering to help with the luggage. She grabbed yet another bag of bricks and hauled it downstairs, through the living room and out the back door to the garden. She walked through the tall grass and to the pile of bricks that she, Kagome, Miroku and Mrs. Higurashi had built over the last ten minutes. The friendly woman sure had brought a lot of bricks.

 

Sango dumped the bricks onto the pile and wiped sweat off her brow. She now understood perfectly why people related the weight of a purse or bag to bricks. They were very heavy for their size, surprisingly so. With a sigh, Sango squinted under the bright sun that glared overhead and walked back to the house, tediously shedding her shoes at the door. She stepped up into the house and went upstairs for more bricks, passing Kagome on the way. The other girl rolled her eyes at her. "Sorry about this," She apologized sheepishly. "Mom's a bit …eccentric sometimes."

 

Sango shrugged and walked up the stairs. "It's okay. Good exercise, you know?" She joked and grabbed another bag of bricks. There was only a couple more. Kagome grinned back and fumbled with her flip-flops at the door before continuing on her way to the brick pile.

 

With a sigh, she heaved the bag down the stairs. The bricks banged against her leg awkwardly as she made her way across the living room for the umpteenth time, yet again sliding on a random pair of flip flops and dumping her bricks at the pile. She felt rather like an ant. Miroku passed her with a dramatic sigh and something about slavery. She shook her head. Miroku… his name was still bugging her. She couldn't remember his full name, and she had a feeling that it was important. It frustrated her to no end. She had half a mind to ask him directly, but that wasn't very subtle or polite. She had a feeling that he'd refuse, as he hadn't told anybody.

 

She upended the bag of bricks on the pile and they toppled haphazardly to the ground. Oh well. She started to head back to the house to see if there were any more bags when she stopped suddenly, shading her eyes against the sun as she stared up at the sky in wonder. "Kirara?" She whispered, barely daring to believe it. The black shadow was suspiciously feline-shaped and the four points of flame matched the description. The figure wheeled and spiraled lower towards the ground. For the first time in quite a while, Sango felt sorrow's pang in her chest. "Kirara?" She called loudly. The figure gave a roar back. "Kirara!" Sango yelled happily, arms reaching.

 

The fire-cat spiraled lower and lower, then landed on the grass, the flames licking the large cat's ankles extinguished with a small hiss. Flames bloomed and Kirara was a small cat, roughly the size of a kitten. The tiny cream-colored kitten sprang up into Sango's arms as the young woman came running, a big grin on her face.

 

Kagome and Miroku peered around the door with interest. They both felt rather jaded to strange occurrences by now. "A demon cat." Miroku commented sedately. "I wonder if it's staying."

 

Kagome looked at him with a small smile. "I wonder if Mom'll let her stay." Sango looked back to the house, a true smile brightening her normally rather solemn face as she laughed.

 

"Hey, guys!" She waved at them excitedly. "Come meet Kirara! She is- was" Sango corrected, the smile dimming only minimally. "a member of my household." The affectionate cat purred, rubbing her face against Sango's shoulder affectionately.

 

Kagome and Miroku walked over to the happy reunion, Kagome grinning in delight and Miroku looking thoughtful. "Oh, she's so cute!" Kagome giggled and reached out a tentative hand. Like a normal cat, Kirara sniffed her head delicately before granting the raven-haired girl the privilege of petting her.

 

Miroku looked at Sango with a frown of confusion. "You knew that she was a demon?" He asked. Sango nodded, indicating the cat.

 

"What else could she be?" She grinned. "She's been around longer than anybody, too. No one has any idea of how old she is." The cat glanced at Miroku with intelligent red eyes and mewed quietly. "She says 'hello'." Sango translated with a grin.

 

"You can understand her?" Kagome asked, ever the gullible one. Sango smiled again and shook her head. Kirara mewed again, eyes now on Kagome.

 

"Wait." Miroku looked at Sango. "So you knew that demons existed since you were little?" He asked. Sango nodded. "Hm." He folded his arms across his chest and looked thoughtfully at Kirara, whom happened to be situated in such a way on Sango's shoulder that it looked as if he was staring at her chest.

 

"Hey!" Sango whacked him lightly on the head, in too good of a mood to be really upset with him. "Clean thoughts!" She reminded him.

 

"I hate Uno." Miroku stated with a melancholy sigh. "Or," He amended. "I hate betting on Uno when I'm playing with you." Sango looked at him oddly. The three of them moved back to the house at a sedate pace. Kirara mewed in Sango's ear again.

 

Suddenly, Sango stiffened and stopped. Kagome and Miroku turned around to look at her in confusion. "Miroku…" She asked uncertainly.

 

"Yes?" He asked with a frown. Kagome looked between the two of them with thoughtful eyes, wondering what was going on.

 

"Is your full name 'Taegada Miroku'?" Sango watched his reaction intently. Kirara mewed next to her ear. Silence permeated the air. The grass waved gently in a soft breeze and none of them moved. Miroku didn't respond, but she didn't need him to say anything.

 

His startled eyes were all she needed for an answer.

 

AN: I bet you are all thoroughly sick of my cliff hangers by now… Anyway, Happy Easter! Tell me whatcha think! I like to know!