Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

The Cursed Rain

(Opening: Tomodachi no Uta - CORE OF SOUL)

- "Um… who're you and how do you know me?" – asked Kagome when they were halfway through the road to the well. She was in Inuyasha's back, while Gerardo and Gabriela were flying a few meters away from them.

- "We're your friends. As for our names, I'm Gerardo, the girl at my side is my little sister Gabriela, and the boy carrying you is Inuyasha" – said Gerardo as he flew a little closer to talk to her.

- "And what about the others?" – asked Kagome a bit confused.

- "We'll introduce 'em to ya when ya see 'em again" - said Inuyasha with a smile.

- "And what're you doing so far away from home?" – asked Kagome.

- "We're looking for the shards of two powerful jewels and trying to beat a couple of bad guys" – replied Gabriela.

- "Oh, you're heroes!" – said Kagome smiling – "But I wanna know how you know me, and how I got so far from home…" –

- "It's a bit hard to explain," – said Gabriela – "But we could say there's lots of magic involved…" –

- "Magic?" – said Kagome as her eyes started sparling.

- "Yeah. That let us travel through time between your home and where we're now using a special place, but there's also been some spells that have been messing around with your memories" – explained Gerardo as his lips curved slightly upward.

- "My memories?" – said Kagome tilting her head and blinking – "But I don't think I've forgotten anything…" –

- "Don't mind it much for now" – said Inuyasha smiling at her – "Just trust us and everything will be okay in some way or another" –

-"Okie-dokie" – said Kagome with a smile.

Luckily they didn't get more questions for the rest of the way and could reach the well with no more complications.

- "This is the special place? Then, can we go home if we jump here?" – asked Kagome as she looked at the dark inside of the well with apprehension.

- "Yeah. That well leads to the one in your home" – replied Gerardo nodding.

- "Uh, but there's no well in my home… it's in my grandpa's house… but he told me it's forbidden to go there!" – said Kagome putting both her hands in front of her mouth.

- "Oh, we'll go to your grandpa's home then. Your mom's waiting for us there, and don't worry: your grandpa won't say anything about it" – said Inuyasha as he jumped inside with Kagome on his back.

- "Hey, wait for us!" – shouted Gabriela as she and Gerardo jumped in when the portal's light began shining.

- "It's too narrow and dark here!" – shouted Kagome when they reappeared in the present.

- "What did you expect? A wide flower garden filled with sunlight?" – asked Inuyasha in a sarcastic tone.

- "You… you're so mean…!" – shouted Kagome as she began crying and throwing a tantrum on his back.

- "K-k-kagome… please calm down… don't cry…" – said Inuyasha as he tried to calm her down to no avail. She continued striking him with her feet and hands.

- "Well done, stupid! You made her cry!" – said Gabriela angry.

- "Enough already! We'll continue this once we're out!" – shouted Gerardo to make himself heard above the ruckus. He then flew out of the well and cancelled out his transformation once he was outside, which Gabriela also did. Inuyasha jumped out of the well with Kagome once he managed to calm her down a little, and once they were ready, they left the shed and ran into Kagome's house.

- "Higurashi-san! We're here!" – shouted Inuyasha from the outside. Kagome was at that moment giggling as she played with his hair.

- "I'm going!" – said Kagome's mother from the inside.

- "So, any ideas about what we're going to tell her?" – asked Gerardo to Inuyasha.

- "Isn't it obvious? We're gonna tell the truth!" – replied Inuyasha irritated at the question before he turned to look at Kagome – "And stop pulling my hair, Kagome!" –

- "I'm sorry…" – said Kagome as she stopped pulling his silver hairs with a saddened face.

- "Okay, but let's see how easy it is for you to tell her about this" – said Gerardo narrowing his eyes.

- "Tell me about what?" – asked Kagome's mother gently. All the others stood upright with widened eyes and gaping mouths when they saw her on the door of the house, as they still didn't know how they would explain this whole situation.

- "Ah, Inuyasha! I see you've turned into a child again! Is that what you wanted to tell me?" – asked Kagome's mother with a gentle smile.

- "Err… no… Mrs… Higurashi… it's…" – said Gerardo as he looked at the ground while he played around with his fingers, but he didn't manage to say the entire sentence because Kagome jumped off Inuyasha's back, ran from behind him, jumped to her mother and hugged her.

- "Mommy!" –

- "Kagome? Is that you, dear?" – asked Mrs. Higurashi astonished as she looked at her daughter.

- "I've missed you so much, mommy!" – said Kagome as she held tightly to her mother.

- "We should go in. I'd like you to explain me what happened…" – said Mrs. Higurashi as she picked up Kagome and turned around to go back into the house.

- "Now what?" – asked Gabriela as she looked in alternation at her brother and Inuyasha while she tilted her head.

- "We better get done with this as soon as we can…" – replied her brother after a big sigh, so they went into the house. Inuyasha walked while looking downward, and he didn't complain because he also had to explain this: he was blaming himself for Kagome's current condition.

They went into the dining room, sat at the table, and began telling Mrs. Higurashi about everything that happened. After the explanations, Inuyasha, Gabriela and Gerardo were looking at the ground, feeling guilty for what happened to Kagome. However, Mrs. Higurashi just smiled at them.

- "Don't worry, you didn't know that would happen. Kagome might be a young child again, but at least she's safe" – said her while she patted her daughter's head.

- "But we should have gone with her at that moment…" – said Gabriela placing her hands over legs.

- "At least you and Sango, as we'd have gotten a nice slap to the face if we tried…" – said Gerardo with an ashamed face as he cut her. Gabriela just laughed upon imagining that.

- "Well, but… do you have any idea of how to get back to her normal age and with all her memories?" – asked Mrs. Higurashi while her smile vanished from her face and looked at them quizzically.

- "Not yet. That's why we're planning on going to see Kaede as soon as we can to see if she can help us with this problem" – said Gerardo placing his hands over the table.

- "Mommy, what problem's that?" – asked Kagome yawning. She wasn't paying any attention to the conversation because it sounded very boring to her.

- "It's nothing, dear…" – said her mother with a small smile.

- "I'm back!" – they heard Souta's voice from the outside.

- "What're we gonna do now!?" – said Inuyasha spooked.

- "Don't ask me!" – said Gerardo as he instantly turned at him.

- "Who's that, mommy?" – asked Kagome tilting her head.

- "It's your brother" – replied her mother with a smile.

The faces of everyone present turned blue and a shocked expression appeared on them upon hearing that, as that was exactly what they didn't want to tell her.

- "Brother?" – asked Kagome placing a finger in front of her mouth.

- "You'll see soon" – replied her mother in a sweet tone.

- "Hi, everyone!" – said Souta from the dining room door – "It's great to see you all again: Inuyasha-nii, Gerar-nii and Gabu-chan! But where's nee-chan? Didn't she get back with you all?" –

- "Look by yourself…" – said Inuyasha as he pointed to the little Kagome.

- "How weird… Wasn't she able to go back to normal when she wanted? And why's she smaller than the last time she did this?" – asked Souta as he eyed Kagome from every possible angle.

- "Who's that boy? He's my brother, mommy?" – asked Kagome as she looked at Souta.

- "She doesn't remember me? And why is she acting like a little girl?" – asked Souta turning at Gerardo and Inuyasha.

In a couple of minutes, they explained him everything that had happened to Kagome. Souta simply was overjoyed about it.

- "That's great! Now I'm the big brother!" – said he jumping around before going to hug Kagome. The girl just giggled in response to it.

- "If you ever celebrate like that if something like what happened to Kagome happens to me, you can be sure you won't be left alive to tell it…" – whispered Gerardo to his younger sister.

- "Why? Because you'll sit down above me?" – asked her in an enraged voice, which made Gerardo and Inuyasha end up with their faces on the wooden floor of the house.

- "Are you planning on replacing Kagome?" – asked Inuyasha annoyed. His voice came out partially muffled due to coming out from the ground.

- "You could say that" – said Gabriela closing her eyes, smiling and placing her hands on her hips.

- 'Just when I thought she couldn't be any more presumptuous…' – thought Gerardo gritting his teeth.

- "Kagome, it's time for you to change your clothes: that kimono you're wearing isn't really appropriate right now" – said Mrs. Higurashi while a small frown appeared on her forehead.

- "Yeah! I don't like it… it's so ugly and dark… and I wanna wear the yukata you made me for the festival!" – said Kagome skipping around her.

Meanwhile, Miroku, Sango and Shippou were going back to Kaede's village in the Warring States Era to find a lead that would help them to restore Kagome's memories. Rin and Jaken were with them, while Sesshomaru was out somewhere taking care of other matters.

- "Houshi-sama, these clouds look very strange…" – said Sango pointing to the sky: the clouds were of a very unusual reddish color, even though it was still the middle of the afternoon.

- "They're giving me a foreboding feeling. I think Naraku and Tenebross are planning something…" – said Miroku frowning as he looked at the clouds.

- "You're worrying too much" – said Shippou as he shrugged and just shook his head no with an ironic smile.

- "Shippou, are you stupid or feigning to be one?" – asked Miroku closing his eyes annoyed.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Higurashi had finally found the yukata she had been looking for in the present time after a long while searching, and Kagome was now wearing it in that moment. It was pink, adorned with birds and with a green obi. As for Kagome, she was playing with a doll her mother found in her room.

At that moment, they called at the door.

- "Mail!" – said a man's voice.

- "Oh, how unusual. We haven't bought anything, no one writes us, and it's still too early for this month's bills to be showing up…" – said Mrs. Higurrashi as she went to pick up the mail.

- "I wonder what they got…" – said Gerardo intrigued.

- "What's that mail thing?" – asked Inuyasha tilting his head.

- "These are like the messengers for the daimyos of your time, except for the fact that they serve everyone on this time" – explained Gerardo as he yawned and moved his hand away as if he were shooing bugs away.

- "Well, looks like it's only one letter…" – said Mrs. Higurashi as she returned from the entrance with the letter in her hands. She had already opened it and was in the middle of reading it – "Apparently, it's from Kagome's high school…" –

- "High school?" – said Kagome as she stopped playing and looked at her mother – "But I'm still a kindergartener, mommy…" –

- "Hehe, don't mind it, Kagome" – said Gabriela laughing nervously – "Wanna play with me?" –

- "Yay! Yeah!" – said her as she showed Gabriela a wide smile and jumped around her. Gabriela took out a dollhouse out from her Dragtemn and asked Kagome to help her set it up.

- "Talking about useless baggage… I told her that just a doll and a stuffed toy were pushing it…" – said Gerardo sweatdropping.

- "It's not like you could really stop her, huh?" – said Inuyasha sweatdropping too.

- "Anyway, shall we give the letter a read?" – asked Mrs. Higurashi with a smile as both girls continued playing. Both boys nodded in response, so she opened up the letter and read it:

"Esteemed Higurashi-san:

We have received news about a foreign student by the name Gerardo Gallucci that wishes to begin studies at our institution starting September of the current year. We have received excellent references about him from your daughter, Higurashi Kagome, as she has told us he is quite a diligent and intelligent young man. Therefore, we have decided to summon said young man to our institution for an interview that will be held in five days. Both you and your daughter must be present at the time of the interview, while Gallucci-kun may bring along his parents or any close family member he wishes.

With nothing else to make a mention of…"

After that, there were the signature and stamp of the headmaster, the school's stamp, and the signatures of the school faculty.

- "Oh, man… this isn't good…" – said Gerardo as his face paled.

- "Why? Having gotten this letter means you have good possibilities of coming here to study, and I think that's what you wish, right?" – said Mrs. Higurashi with a smile.

- "I really want that… but we can't take Kagome there like this! That'd stain her academic history, not to mention that'd blow open her cover about her trips to the Warring States Era!" – said Gerardo as he grabbed his head with his hands.

- "Yeah… I really want to support Gerar with this, but… not if it ends causing harm to Kagome…" – said Gabriela as she looked at Kagome with a sad face while she played in the dollhouse with her doll.

- "Then you better find out how to get her back to normal as soon as you can!" – said Souta gulping.

- "Mommy! And where's daddy?" – asked Kagome at that moment with a smile as she took her eyes off from her doll. Both Mrs. Higurashi and Souta put on a sad face, but tried to dissimulate it as much as they could.

- "Er… Kagome… daddy's working pretty far away and won't come for many days, okay?" – said her mother with a smile, though her lips were trembling.

- "Oh, okay" – said Kagome to then let out a large yawn – "I'm gonna take my nap… I'm sleepy…" -

She then climbed the stairs to go to her room without paying any attention about how different the decoration was to what she knew: she merely climbed into her bed and fell asleep. When they heard the sound of the door closing, Souta and his mother let out a sigh of relief.

- "I know very well what happened…" – said Gerardo with a sad face.

- "How…?" – began Souta with widened eyes, but Gerardo raised a hand to ask him to let him go on.

- "Before answering that, it'd be good for Inuyasha to know it too…" – said Gerardo.

- "About what?" – asked Inuyasha, but he then realized the room's atmosphere had gotten quite tense despite not knowing exactly what was happening. Gerardo took a deep breath and let out a long sigh: he didn't want to say it aloud because he knew how painful it'd be for Souta and Mrs. Higurashi to think about it, but he didn't have any other choice.

- "About… Kagome and Souta not having a father anymore… That's why they now live in this shrine… because their father died on an accident…" – he then covered his face with his hands: thinking about matters related to death was really painful for him.

- "I… didn't know that…" – said Inuyasha as he looked at the floor.

- "No wonder, as Kagome never wanted to bring that topic up with anyone. That loss was so painful to her… as her father loved her so much…" – said Mrs. Higurashi closing her eyes.

- "I can't even remember him…" – said Souta with his eyes filled with tears.

- "I'm very sorry for bringing up this topic… but I thought it was important for Inuyasha to know it…" – said Gerardo as he looked at the floor with great sadness, as Gabriela hugged him.

- "It's okay, he needed to know it…" – said Mrs. Higurashi as she patted him on the shoulder – "Don't feel so bad about it… that wasn't your fault…" –

No one said anything else, so they ended the conversation right there. When dusk started setting in, they decided to go back to the Warring States Era.

- "Kagome will stay here…" – said Inuyasha in a hard tone when they were about to enter the well's shed.

- "Have you lost it? Kaede hasn't seen her yet, and we won't know how to get her back to normal like this!" – said Gerardo angry.

- "But she's gonna miss her mother and get all homesick, and we'd get her in danger if we carry her around with us! She'll also be a burden in battle!" – said Inuyasha even angrier than Gerardo as he stood on the tip of his toes to try to reach Gerardo's height, which he failed spectacularly at.

- "Both of you are making very good points. However, I'm sure Kagome will be better with you: despite this happening, I've seen you can protect her, and besides, it is necessary for her to go back to normal" – said Mrs. Higurashi carrying Kagome on her arms: aside of the yukata, the little girl was now wearing zori and tabi on her feet.

- "Go back to normal? Mommy… I'll see you again?" – asked Kagome as her eyes started getting teary.

- "Yes, sweetie. We'll see each other again" – said her mother as she put her on the ground and allowed her to stand on her own. They hugged each other, and then Inuyasha allowed her to climb on his back - "Oh by the way... Gerardo-kun?" -

- "Yes, Higurashi-san?" - asked Gerardo gulping down.

- "Later on, I'd like to ask you how you knew about what happened to my husband" - said Mrs. Higurashi with a serious face.

- "I'll do so, Higurashi-san. At a later chance, I'll explain you everything" - nodded Gerardo with a neutral expression.

- "Very well. I'll be looking forward to hearing it" - said Mrs. Higurashi with a smile - "Now, be careful. All of you" -

- "Okay. Now, let's get going!" – said Gerardo smiling as he jumped into the well ahead of everyone else.

- "That's my line!" – shouted Inuyasha as he jumped inside with Kagome on his back, while Gabriela followed them shortly later giggling.

When they reached the Warring States Era, they noticed that Miroku and Sango had camped next to the well and had left Rin, Shippou and Jaken waiting for them.

- "Hey, guys! Welcome back!" – said Shippou smiling as he walked to them

- "Hi again! How have things been here?" – asked Gerardo waving at them.

- "Well, we've got a weird weather, but nothing else aside of that" – said Shippou as his smile faded away and he pointed to the red clouds in the sky.

- "Yeah, they're so odd… it's almost night and they're still red!" – said Gabriela as she raised an eyebrow.

- "Maybe Naraku did this…" – said Inuyasha growling at the clouds, but he then heard some snores: Kagome had fallen sleep on his back.

- "Hmm, looks like she got tired from playing around so much" – said Gerardo as he smiled while looking at the girl.

- "Hehe, looks like she needed a second nap after all that!" - giggled Gabriela covering her mouth with a hand.

- "Everyone, over here!" – shouted Miroku and Sango as they ran to them.

- "Miroku, Sango! We're back!" – shouted Gabriela as she waved to them.

When they reached the others, they greeted each other, and after having tucked Kagome into a sleeping bag, they began making dinner.

- "And what were ya two doing?" – asked Inuyasha with suspicion.

- "We went to the village to check if there was anything wrong, but fortunately everything was as always" – said Sango instantly.

- "You had a bad feeling about these clouds too?" – replied Gerardo interested.

- "They did, as did I…" – replied Sesshomaru behind them.

- "Oh, I see ya decided to come back too, Sesshomaru" – said Inuyasha in a mocking tone.

- "Do you think of me as a coward, hanyou brat?" – said Sesshomaru with a mocking smile.

- "Don't-dare-to-call-me-that-Sesshomaru!"- shouted Inuyasha in a single breath from the rage.

- "Sit down!" – shouted Gabriela, which made Gerardo and him fall to the ground.

- "What was that for…?" – asked annoyed both from the ground.

- "I'm sorry Gerar, but I had to stop Inu" – said Gabriela giggling.

- "Don't call me dog!" – said Inuyasha irate as he stood up again instantly.

- "That's how she tends to call you when she finds it a bother to say your name in full…" – said Gerardo as he rolled his eyes in annoyance after he stood up – "Well, whatever. Tomorrow's plan is visiting Kaede to check how to get Kagome back to normal, right?" –

- "Yeah. We already went to talk with her, and she told us we could find out how to get her back to normal if we take Kagome to see her…" – replied Sango.

- "We'll go tomorrow first thing to see the old hag then, as these clouds aren't giving me a good feeling" – said Inuyasha as he looked at the sky.

- "Agreed. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea that we move after it has gotten dark, or that we move Kagome while she's asleep" – said Miroku in a serious tone.

A bit later, everyone was sleeping except Inuyasha, who was looking at the sky with melancholy from the tree branch where he was resting. Kagome and Shippou were tucked in the same sleeping bag, which was placed at the base of that same tree.

(BGM: Bojou – Kaoru Wada)

- 'Kagome… will you come back to us soon?' – thought Inuyasha as he looked at the stars.

- "Inuyasha, are you okay?" – asked Gerardo: he had gotten up and went to see him.

- "Yeah, but why do ya care about it?" – replied Inuyasha with suspicion.

- "You can't sleep, right? Because of how worried you're about Kagome…" – said Gerardo as he looked at him before gazing at the starlit sky.

- "That's none of yer business!" – said Inuyasha unpleasantly as he blushed, having the feeling he was having his thoughts read.

- "Well, I just wanted to talk a bit, as I couldn't really sleep either… as I really care about her too… Kagome's very special to me too…" – said Gerardo blushing and looking downward.

- "What do you mean!?" – said Inuyasha getting angry, beginning to guess what he was trying to say.

- "I've dropped enough clues, so I'll let you find out by yourself. Now, we better try going to sleep again, as we can't be all sleepy if the monsters attack us, huh?" – said Gerardo as he turned around and went back to his sleeping back.

- "Keh… what a weird guy, but why he said all that? What is he planning?" – said Inuyasha to himself, and then he kept on staring at the sky until he fell asleep.

Next morning, they went to the village immediately after they finished eating breakfast.

- "What a waste of time… making that human brat regain her memories…" – said Jaken as they crossed the Inuyasha Forest to reach the village.

- "Jaken-sama, don't be so mean to poor Kagome-chan…" – said Rin with a look of sadness. However, Inuyasha couldn't contain himself and punched him on the head.

- "And I'll make ya see hell if ya insult Kagome again!" - shouted Inuyasha.

- "You don't mind him punching your friend?" – asked Kagome to Sesshomaru innocently, but he didn't reply at all – "I guess no…" –

When they were about to reach the village, Gerardo stood still and looked at the sky with a hand open aloft.

- "Everyone, rain's coming…" – said him. He already had the ability to feel when it was about to rain before all this began, and now he had received powers over water, this amplified that ability to the point that if he said it was going to rain, that was what would happen shortly later.

- "We know, but if it rains, we can be sure it won't be normal rain…" – said Miroku as he looked at the sky too.

- "Keh, like we thought. Naraku must be behind this" – said Inuyasha arrogantly.

- "But… what reason does he have for this?" – asked Sango as she stopped in her tracks and placed a hand over her mouth.

- "Sango, you can't even imagine what is about to happen there… Mwahaha!" – said Naraku as he watched them from his hideout – "Kagura… make the cursed rain fall…" –

- "Very well…" – said Kagura irritated as she swung her fan in circles. This made the rain to start falling upon the village.

- "What's happening!? It's raining, and the rain is dark pink-colored!" – said Shippou scared from Sango's shoulder, while the girls shrieked and covered their heads with their hands and the boys prepared to fight.

Instantly, Gerardo's and Gabriela's Seirei Crystals began shining and formed a barrier around them, covering Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Shippou, Sango, Kirara, Rin, Jaken and Sesshomaru. However, this didn't allow them to hear or see what was happening outside.

- "What's happening outside? And why did our crystals do this?" – asked Gabriela looking around scared.

- "I don't know, but there must be a very good reason for this…" – replied Gerardo with a serious face while he had a hand over Ryuuga's hilt, which made everyone look at him worried.

Meanwhile, outside the barrier…

- "Kaede-sama, we're in trouble!" – said a villager.

- "What is it?" – said Kaede at once.

- "There's a weird rain falling outside!" – said the villager.

However, Kaede didn't even have the time to rise from the wooden floor, as the rain had the property of phasing through solid matter and began drenching them.

- "Looks like the rain is ending…" – said Sango when she noticed how the water droplets were sounding less and less frequent on the barrier.

- "Great! I was getting bored with being here!" – said Kagome as she yawned.

- "And I was getting sick of having humans around…" – said Jaken, which only got him beat up by everyone around him, except for Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou, Rin and Sesshomaru.

Shortly later, the barrier dissipated by itself, and when they could see what was taking place at the village, they couldn't believe it: there were children crying everywhere and calling their parents, most of which were wearing clothes several sizes larger than their own. The few that were actually wearing clothes that fit them were trying to calm down the crying ones.

- "What in hell happened here!?" – said Inuyasha looking from a side to another, while the others stood frozen in place with their mouths open. Sesshomaru didn't even react to this.

- "Look! Strangers, and they came with three youkai and a hanyou!" – said one of the children, and instantly they all ran into the huts to hide. The only ones that didn't do this were the ones that had been trying to calm the others, which stood and looked in a plying way to the group.

- "Looks like they have something of an aversion to hanyou and youkai now…" – said Miroku rubbing his forehead.

- "Excepting for them…" – said Gabriela as she pointed at them with a closed hand.

- "Erm… can you tell us what happened here?" – asked Gerardo as they went to the children.

- "Um, a strange dark pink rain began falling over the village…." – said a girl that wore a dark blue kosode.

- "Yeah, and that rain went through the roofs of our huts, and while it didn't do anything to us, it did that to our parents, grandparents and all the adults in the village…" – continued a boy wearing a green kosode.

- "They all turned into kids like us and didn't remember anything about us… they thought we were from another village or something…" – said another girl that seemed to be at the border of tears who wore a red kosode.

- "Hmm, okay… thanks…" – said Gabriela bowing before them.

- "But, what we're gonna do now?" – said a boy wearing a brown kosode.

- "We understand more or less the situation now, but we need a moment to come up with some ideas" – said Sango to calm them down for a moment as she went back to others and they began thinking.

- "Well, looks like the rejuvenating water doesn't affect children at all" – said Miroku to Sango with his eyes closed.

- "Yes, and it doesn't even erase their memories of anything… how strange…" – said Sango placing a hand on her chin.

- "Huh? What're you talking about?" – asked Kagome while she tilted her head.

- "About nothing!" – replied both nervously.

- "However, this is quite a predicament… we can't leave the village with how things are now…" – said Miroku as he looked around. But then, they began hearing some shouts from in front of them.

- "Kikyou-onee-sama! Kikyou-onee-sama!" – shouted a girl who was wearing a miko outfit several times her size. She had black hair, brown eyes, and had quite a resemblance to Kagome and Rin. She had a black patch hanging from the right side of her head, even though her eyes seemed fine.

- "Huh? Who is that girl, and why is she calling Kikyou?" – asked Sango puzzled.

- "Hey, never call my sister in such an impolite manner!" – said the girl in an irate voice as she ran to them, but she tripped with the hem of her oversized hakama and tumbled into the ground. The patch she had on her head fell to the ground - "Ah!" -

- "Hey kid, are you okay?" – asked Inuyasha as he walked to her and knelt next to her.

- "Yeah, I think so…" – said the girl with her eyes closed, but she when she opened them again, they grew wider as she focused them on Inuyasha – "Is that you, Inuyasha?" –

- "How do you know my name!?" – said Inuyasha shocked.

- "But how can you be him, if he's so tall? And how did you get the rosary my sister made?" – asked the girl sitting up next to him when she saw him and noticed the rosary.

- "How do you know Kikyou?" – asked Inuyasha, but upon checking the girl's face more closely, he hit himself on the forehead – 'Can I be any more stupid? I've already seen this girl, even though that was 50 years ago!' –

- "You're Kaede, right?" – said Gerardo as he stared at her with eyes the size of saucers..

- "Huh? How do you know me? Who're you?" – asked Kaede tilting her head.

- "We're Inuyasha's friends!" – said Gabriela smiling.

- "So you're actually Inuyasha, and you even got friends… but… how did you get so little?" – said Kaede puzzled.

- "That's a long story…" – said Inuyasha sighing.

- "And haven't you seen my sister?" – asked Kaede looking around for signs of her.

- "Yeah, we met with her a few days ago…" – said Inuyasha blushing. Kagome felt a tinge of irritation upon seeing this for some reason, but didn't know exactly why.

- "I hope you didn't try to snatch away the Pearl from her hands…" – said Kaede with an accusing voice.

- "You mean this thingy?" – said Shippou as he jumped to take away the flask with the Shikon shard from Kagome's neck and flashed it to Kaede.

- "That's a shard of the Pearl? The Pearl's then…" – said Kaede as her eyes widened even more, but then she lowered her gaze to the ground – "But how…? My sister was protecting it… how could it have been shattered?" –

- "That's an even longer story…" – said Inuyasha exasperated – 'And one I'm not really in the mood to tell now… Plus, I don't wanna think how she'd react if she knew everything that happened to Kikyou…' –

Inuyasha didn't have many hopes for this working due to Kaede getting her memories wiped, but he still decided to try his luck:

- "By the way… do you know any methods for restoring memories to someone?" – said him crossing his arms.

- "Why do you ask?" – asked Kaede raising an eyebrow.

- "Because this girl, Kagome, lost her memories and we're trying to make her regain them. That's why we came here, to see if you… err… if Kikyou knew something about it…" – said Inuyasha a bit nervous as he brought Kagome in front of Kaede, and he shook his head as he corrected himself. Fortunately, Kaede didn't seem to notice the little change he made mid-phrase, and instead she just looked at Kagome to then examine the medallion she had around her neck. Apparently, she understood everything once she did.

- 'This girl doesn't look much bigger than me… but she feels kinda wise, like grandpa… Why's that?' – thought Kagome with her mouth gaping as Kaede examined her. Kaede just nodded and turned to Inuyasha.

- "Hmm, looks like someone put some kind of curse on her to erase her memories and null out the restoring effects of the medallion. This is also what caused the memory jewel the medallion had to be destroyed…" – she explained with a frown on her brow.

- "How do you know all that?" – said Miroku blinking several times.

- "My sister explained several things to me, Houshi-sama…" – said Kaede in a mysterious tone as she smiled with her eyes closed.

- "And do you know if it's possible to find another jewel for the medallion?" – asked Sango.

- "It is, but you'd have to go to Ryuusei Village, which is pretty far away from here…" – said Kaede sighing in a lonesome way.

- "Well, that's no problem! We can go there right now!" – said Gerardo rolling one hand in a fist and smiling.

- "Then, I wanna go with you! I wanna go and learn about that village!" – said Kaede as her face lit up with a smile and her eyes started sparkling.

- "But haven't you gone there before?" – asked Sango recoiling from her reaction.

- "No, I've only heard rumors about it… but I've also heard that's the best village among them all, and I wanna see it!" – said Kaede closing both her hands into fists and placing them before herself. However, she then focused on Sango – "Uh, onee-san? Are you part of the youkai slayers?" –

- "Uh… y-yes, I am… you guessed it from my Hiraikotsu?" – asked Sango as she turned around a bit so her boomerang was more visible to Kaede.

- "Yup, but it's so weird… I saw all the members of the youkai slayer clan when they gave the Shikon Pearl to my sister, but I never saw you…" – said Kaede as she looked at Sango puzzled.

- "Err… I'm sure it was because I was carrying out a job request at that time in another place…" – said Sango smiling nervously, remembering her father told her once that her grandfather was the chief of the clan 50 years ago, and it was him who gave Kikyou the Pearl. Kirara then meowed on her shoulder.

- "Ah, okay… Well, shall we get going?" – asked Kaede with a smile.

- "Um… I hate to ask this but… are you going dressed like that?" – asked Gerardo, pointing out the obvious. Kaede looked down at herself, and when she noticed how the clothes she was wearing were so large for her size, she screamed in embarrassment and ran off back to her hut, pulling up the hem of her hakama to not trip again and leaving the tabi and zori she had been wearing up to that point on the ground.

- "Well, I think it's pretty obvious what happened here" – said Gerardo looking around.

- "Yeah. Looks like the rain was made from rejuvenating water, and someone tried to keep us from meeting with Kaede…" – said Miroku looking up at the sky with a frown on his brow.

- "Keh, but it failed: we still got info on how to get Kagome back to normal, so we just gotta go to that Ryuusai Village…" – said Inuyasha smiling.

- "It's Ryuusei…" – said Gabriela sighing.

- "Keh, whatever!" – said Inuyasha turning around and crossing his arms. The next instant, Kaede got out from her hut wearing an orange kosode with black markings and a green obi: she looked exactly like she did 50 years ago, when Kikyou was still alive. She also was carrying a small bow and a quiver filled with arrows and had zori on her feet.

- "Can we get going then?" – asked Kaede with a smile.

- "Eh… but what about Kikyou?" – asked Gerardo crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

- "I wrote her a letter explaining I'll be going away for some days" – replied Kaede smiling, without giving much importance to it.

- "Umm, and where did you get these zori?" - asked Gabriela crossing her arms and tilting her head.

- "Um, there was a new pair next to the place where I got this kosode" - said Kaede looking downward at her feet - "It's so weird too, since it's been months since onee-sama bought a pair for me..." -

- "Maybe she had bought them for you in case you needed them?" - whispered Gerardo at his sister.

- "Yeah... But it's kinda late for that now, don't you think?" - said Gabriela while smiling sadly at him.

- "However, we still have a problem… who's going to take care of the children here? There are no adults around…" – said Sango as she looked at the group of children that were looking at them all.

- "That's true… and so weird…" – said Kaede noticing the situation in the village was anything but normal.

- "Kaede-sama!" – they heard some voices behind them: it was a group of six children that went up to them.

- "Huh? Who're you?" – asked Kaede upon seeing them, and recoiling a bit from the fact they were all hanyou.

- "Kaede-sama, we came from Hourai Island and settled on this village a very short time ago. We hope we can be useful to you!" – said the oldest of the girls, Asagi with a smile.

- "And you're all hanyou?" – said Kaede a bit surprised, but after seeing how the smile Asagi had on her face had become slightly bitter as she nodded in response, she smiled – "Oh, but Inuyasha's one too, and he isn't so bad!" –

She then began petting Inuyasha on the head as she giggled, which irritated Inuyasha.

- "Why in hell are you treating me like a pet!?" – asked Inuyasha as he went a bit away from her.

- "Hehe, sorry about that… I couldn't help myself" – said Kaede with a smile, she then turned to Asagi with a puzzled expression – "But why do you call me "sama"? We're about the same age…" –

- "Err… it's because we hold a lot of respect for you, as you're Kikyou-sama's younger sister…" – replied Moegi closing her eyes and smiling, as Asagi couldn't come up with an answer fast enough.

- "By the way, allow us to introduce ourselves…" – said Gerardo as he and Gabriela introduced themselves. Rin also did the same thing, as also did Kagome, even though everyone already knew her.

- "Great, Dai… Inuyasha has two more weaklings on his group…" – said Roku sneering at them.

- "Yeah, they even look weaker than him…" – said Dai, but both received a blow to the head from Gerardo and Gabriela for their lack of respect.

- "You better mind your manners…!" – said Gerardo gasping in exhaustion as Gabriela stuck out her tongue at them.

- "Well, can I trust in you for this? To take care of everyone here while we're out?" – asked Kaede to turn back the conversation to its original topic.

- "Yeah! We'll gladly help you!" – said Ai smiling.

- "Umm… can I stay? I'd like to play with them…" – said Kagome pouting.

- "Sorry Kagome, but it's important you come with us" – said Sango looking at her in an apologetic way.

- "Yeah. You can play with them as much as you wish once we get back" – said Miroku patting her shoulder.

- "And I'll play with you as much as you want too, Kagome-chan!" – said Rin smiling.

So with everything settled and ready, they departed for Ryuusei Village.

- "Inuyasha-onii-chan, come visit us soon!" – shouted Ai when they were leaving the village.

- "I'll do it!" – said Inuyasha waving at her.

- "Take care!" – shouted Shion and Asagi, while Moegi just waved at them while she put on a couple of bandages on the heads of the twins, who were still crying from the pain.

- "Don't worry about us! Take good care of them!" – shouted Gerardo.

- "See ya!" – said Gabriela smiling.

- "Bye-bye!" – said Kagome and Rin.

And thus, they began their journey to find the village and return Kagome to normal.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Every Heart)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Naraku's New Trap

(Opening: Owaranai Yume)

Naraku had caught Kagome between his tentacles in such a way that she was unable to move or escape from him.

- "Naraku! What do you plan to do to me!?" – asked Kagome furious.

- "I've had enough of your meddling. Your purification powers have been a thorn on my side for long enough, so it's time to get rid of you…" – said Naraku in a low but delighted voice, which he accompanied with a psychopathic smile.

- "And you think I'm going to let you kill me so easily!? You're insane!" – shouted Kagome as she concentrated her energy, and released a flash of blue light from her body. However, this didn't seem to affect Naraku at all.

- "Your spiritual powers are useless against me… now, die…" – said Naraku as he turned two of his tentacles into needles and jammed them into Kagome's back and right arm. Kagome began feeling that something was entering her body, and she noticed it was a dark pink liquid when she saw it dripping through her arm. However, her view then got clouded and everything around her faded away in a whirl of dim colors.

- 'This… can't be… Inuyasha… everyone… please… someone… help me…' – such were the last thoughts Kagome had before her consciousness faded away. However, she also had some dim whims of wanting to have pretty flowers in her hands.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha's and Sesshomaru's groups were searching throughout the forest for any traces of Naraku and Kagome, but so far, they were unable to sense his demonic energy and Inuyasha couldn't find the smell of either of them. The only trace of her they found was her memory medallion dropped in the grass near the place where Naraku abducted her.

- "Damned fuyouheki!" – shouted Inuyasha after searching in vain for two hours.

- "Now we can't feel his demonic energies, it'll be harder to find him…" – said Miroku, knowing that the fuyouheki: the magical stone that had the power to mask the demonic energies of the youkai, was the cause of their current predicament.

- "And we can't locate her with the Dragtemns because something is also jamming the signals from Kagome's one!" – said Gerardo irritated upon seeing how only Kagome's Dragtemn was missing from the radar in his Dragtemn's holographic map.

- "Ehh… shouldn't we rest a bit?" – asked Shippou as he gasped in exhaustion.

- "Are ya crazy!? Kagome could end up dead if we take any longer!" – screamed Inuyasha as he continued searching around, until he crashed face first into a barrier.

- "Looks like we got a stroke of luck here" – said Gerardo as he adjusted his glasses while he looked at the barrier, which was of the classical dark purple color used by Naraku.

- "Keh, I'm gonna get rid of it now!" – scoffed Inuyasha as he drew Tessaiga and transformed it into its Red Tessaiga form – "Shatter, damn barrier!" –

Instantly, he swung the sword and launched a beam at the barrier, which shattered it like a window hit by a stone as soon as it struck it. However, they all felt dismayed when they noticed there was another barrier of the same color right behind.

- "This is pathetic! Naraku doesn't know how to do anything else? I'm sick of him always repeating the same old dirty tricks!" – said Gabriela enraged, and from their irritated faces, it was obvious Gerardo and Inuyasha were feeling the same.

Inuyasha just snorted and transformed Tessaiga into its crystalline form.

- "Kongosouha!" -

He swung the sword and launched at the second barrier a volley of diamonds that pierced and destroyed it. However, there was another barrier behind it, but this one was of a very dark gray: dark enough to look black…

- "Where in Earth did Naraku get that color? – asked Sango worried.

- "I don't know, but this time I'll be who destroys it" – said Gerardo as he unsheathed Ryuuga and he placed a hand over it.

- "Alt tok nulast tast maha ika" – he chanted, and as soon as he did, the sword's blade began softly shining in blue.

- "Your sword can also destroy barriers?" – asked Miroku intrigued as all the others looked at him in surprise.

- "Yeah, but it'd be better to say that it serves to dispel any sort of reinforcement spells than to merely break barriers. I'd say Inuyasha's Tessaiga does a better work when it comes to that" – said Gerardo as he looked at Miroku, but then he turned to face the barrier – "Dragon Dispel!" -

He swung Ryuuga with force, making it shoot a blue beam that struck the barrier and destroyed it. However, another barrier was revealed to be behind, which left everyone shocked: it was pink and blue.

- "What the!? Naraku's now manipulating Kagome or something for his barriers!?" – said Inuyasha as he did everything he could to not explode in anger.

- "Looks like it…" – said Miroku as he looked at it worried – "Otherwise, what reason would there be for that barrier to have the same colors as Kagome-sama's auras?" –

- "We'll just have to break through it then!" – said Gerardo as he executed again his Dragon Dispel magic, but it didn't have any effect on the barrier. The same thing happened when Inuyasha tried both the Kongousouha and the Red Tessaiga: the barrier seemed to be indestructible.

Meanwhile, behind the barrier and inside Naraku's hideout…

- "Child… child… wake up… we have many tasks to take care of…" – said Naraku's voice.

The girl opened her eyes, very scared due to being in a weird place and with people who were very strange to her eyes. They were Naraku, Kagura, Hakudoushi and Kanna.

- "Would you please tell us your name?" – asked Naraku gently, who had hidden his tentacles and closed the eye he had on his bone armor – "Or where did you come from?" –

- "My name is… Kagome" – replied the girl as she stood up and looked down at herself: she was wearing a plain black kimono, without any kind of decorations, wore a wristwatch-like artifact on one of her wrists and was barefoot – "But I can't remember anything else…" -

- 'Perfect… my plan is coming out just as I expected… this is going to be so easy…' – thought Naraku evilly.

- "How… how I got here?" – asked Kagome as she put her hands before herself scared.

- "My children and I found you collapsed on the road and picked you up" – replied Naraku again with his falsely sweet voice – "Don't be afraid. We won't harm you…" –

- "Ah okay! Thanks everyone!" – said Kagome cheerfully, but still that people continued being very strange to her, particularly because of Naraku's bone armor and Kanna's empty gaze.

- "Oh, excuse my lack of manners! I am Naraku, and these are my children Kagura, Hakudoushi and Kanna…" – said him as he showed them all.

- 'Damn Naraku! He's not only making me part of another of his dirty schemes, but he's also having the gall to say I'm his daughter!' – thought Kagura enraged.

- "Pleased to meet'cha!" – said Kagome as she tried to bow in front of them, but she tripped and tumbled into the wooden floor – "Ugh, this floor's so hard!" –

- "Don't worry…" – said Naraku as he wove his hand towards her, changing the wooden floor of the room into a flower patch – "The floor won't be hard anymore…" –

- "Thank you! Oh, Kagura-nee, can I borrow your fan? It's so pretty!" – said Kagome giggling.

- "What the...!?" – said Kagura shocked and feeling slighted, but she fell silent when he saw Naraku's gaze. He was telling her with it: – "Do what the brat tells you, or you're dead…" –

- "As you want…" – said Kagura sighing in irritation as she gave Kagome her fan. Kagome played a bit with it, trying to imitate a maiko, but in the end she got bored of it and gave it back to Kagura.

- "Kanna, Hakudoushi… wanna play?" – asked Kagome.

- "Yes, of course. We're going to play Preparations for the Shadow Ritual" – said Hakudoushi with a wicked smile.

- "And how do we play that? I've never heard of a game like that…" – said Kagome worried, but she also felt something telling her it wasn't a good idea to go along with it.

- "You'll see very soon. However, we'll be only you and I, as Kanna has to help father…" – said Hakudoushi as he dragged Kagome to another room.

- "Kanna… show me what Inuyasha and his group of fools is doing…" – said Naraku as soon as Kagome left the room. Kanna obediently went close to him and projected in her mirror the image of what was happening outside: they were doing what they could to destroy the barrier, but with no success – "Mwahahaha… these idiots will never be able to break through that barrier: I made it with my powers, Tenebross' shadow powers and the powers I extracted from Kagome…" –

Meanwhile, outside…

- "Hey, how about combining our techniques again?" – suggested Inuyasha excitedly – "That way, we'll be able to destroy it for sure!" -

- "Let's go ahead with it!" – said Gerardo. Both executed their techniques at the same time…

- "Dispelling Blast!" – they both shouted as a purple whirlwind emerged from their swords and crashed into the barrier. However, instead of destroying it, it merely caused it to fade away, opening up the road to a dilapidated old shrine.

- "Okay! Now let's go rescue Kagome!" – said Inuyasha. They ran into the zone that was protected by the barrier and went into the shrine.

- 'Damn it, these idiots broke into the barrier… and we still need more time to carry out the ritual…' – thought Naraku gripping his teeth when he saw what happened through the mirror.

- "Hakudoushi, what's happening outside?" – asked Kagome scared when she heard the rumble of the Dispelling Blast crashing into the barrier.

- "It must be a mere storm…" – said Hakudoushi calmly, as if he was trying to keep Kagome's thoughts away from what happened outside.

- "NARAKU!" – shouted Inuyasha as soon as they entered the shrine – "I've come for Kagome… AND FOR YOUR HEAD!" –

- "I'm sorry Inuyasha, but I'm afraid I've got no time for you and your foolish friends right now… Especially for your insignificant brat form" – said Naraku in a calm and mocking way.

- 'What do these people want with me? Do they wanna harm me?' – thought Kagome scared as she looked at the people who just entered into the room after she heard Inuyasha saying her name.

- "Speak up at once! What are you intending to do to Kagome!?" – said Gerardo angry as he pointed to Naraku with his sword.

- "Huhuhu… so you're the chosen one of the dragons?" – said Naraku in a mocking tone.

- "Yeah, I am! And you should practice that evil laughter some time, monkey man! It's the most pathetic one I've ever heard!" – said Gerardo mocking him as he put on a smug smile.

- "Oh? Care to show me how it is done, then?" – said Naraku annoyed.

- "Gladly! Gaby, give me the lantern" – said Gerardo, but Gabriela handed her a wooden stick as she giggled – "I said lantern, not stick!" –

He turned on the lantern and illuminated his own face with it, to then begin laughing like a madman. When he finished, everyone was looking at him as if they were looking at a psychopath.

- "Okay, okay. Leaving games aside, what are you going to do to Kagome!? Are you planning to…!?" – said Gerardo, but he cut himself at the middle of the phrase.

- "Oh, you realized it? You're right: I'm going to corrupt her powers to stain the Shikon Pearl and the Crystal of Shadows with the purest evil you can ever imagine…" – said Naraku between bouts of sickening laughter.

- "Don't even think we're letting you do that!" – said Gabriela preparing an arrow in her bow – "Ikuyu poak lay lusya wiras sos couyuu,yst sos royawfle hakaisa tast ika. Light Arrow!" –

She shot an arrow enshrouded in white light, but Naraku dodged it in the last second.

- "So that is the power of Light… huhuhu, it looks more like a bad copy of Kikyou's power…" – he said mocking her.

- "How dare you!?" – said Gerardo irate.

- "I'm not a bad copy of anyone! Ikuyu poak lay lusya iarae sos, yst pitzneal kyus ika! Brilliant Ray!" – said Gabriela enraged as she shot at him a ray of white light from her hands. This one did land a hit on Naraku, which destroyed his left arm.

- "Hmm, very powerful despite being so young..." – said Naraku thoughtfully.

- "So that didn't harm you at all!? Hiraikotsu!" – screamed Sango as she threw her boomerang, though this time the attack didn't work because Naraku enclosed himself in his barrier.

- "Hell! Why did that bastard have to remember about his stupid barrier now!?" – shouted Inuyasha furious as he crystallized Tessaiga.

- 'Naraku-sama wants to do something bad to me? And these people came to save me?' – thought Kagome scared and confused from the place where she was watching the battle.

- "It's time to carry out the ritual…" – said Hakudoushi as he took Kagome by the arm and began dragging her over to a magic circle that was drawn on the floor.

- "I don't wanna! No! Lemme go!" – shouted Kagome as she tried to struggle against him.

- "Kagome! I'm going for you!" – shouted Inuyasha when he heard Kagome's voice, so he forgot about Naraku for now and ran off to the place where her voice was coming from.

- "Come back here, damn hanyou!" – screamed Naraku with fury upon noticing his plans were in danger. He tried to stop Inuyasha, but Miroku, Sango, Gabriela and Gerardo cut off or disabled his tentacles before he could do anything.

- "Look at who's speaking! We won't let you stop him!" – said Miroku as he cut off another of Naraku's tentacles with his shakujou.

- "That's true, and now we'll teach why you can't underestimate any of us. And also, we'll show you we Seirei magic users aren't copies of anything!" – said Gerardo as he did the preparations for his transformation - "Ist Wasriats Oschmere Iadlast Kiabze Pawatz Zosph, Phaph Myya Zosph Phiaphz Ical! Iadlast Pawatz! Dragoon!" -

There was a flash of white light, and when it dimmed down, Gerardo was wearing his blue dragon armor.

- "That is the Power of the Dragon?" – muttered Naraku shocked, but he received a good slash from the back due to him dropping his guard.

- "That is correct, Naraku. That is the power that not even I, Sesshomaru, can allow myself to underestimate…" – said Sesshomaru as he came out from the shadows behind Naraku with Tokijin unsheathed. He then stepped in front of Naraku and turned around to face him again.

- "Nice surprise attack. However, what happened to Rin and Jaken?" – asked Gerardo worried.

- "I ordered them to wait for us outside…" – said Sesshomaru with his eyes fixed on Naraku.

- "You're screwed, Naraku! We've got bigger numbers, and we've also got better abilities than yours!" – said Shippou in a very confident tone: this seemed to be the end to their eternal battle.

- "I wouldn't say that yet…" – said a sinister voice behind Naraku. This voice was so cold and eerie that everyone felt shivers down their spine when they heard it.

- "Who's there!?" – said Miroku scared.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was fighting against Hakudoushi to rescue Kagome.

- "Leave her alone, you bastard!" – said Inuyasha after he slashed at him twice.

- "Sorry, I can't. We need her powers to get rid of you…" – said Hakudoushi as he laughed evilly.

- "And you think I'm gonna let trash like you do that!? Only over my dead body! Kongousouha!" – said Inuyasha as he released volleys of diamond that pierced Hakudoushi's body and gravely injured him.

- "I can't continue fighting… I'll make you pay for this next time…" – said him as he enclosed himself into a barrier and teleported to somewhere else.

- "Okay, we're done here… Kagome, are you…" – Inuyasha couldn't finish the phrase, as when he turned around to meet Kagome, what he saw was a little girl even younger than Kagome in her child form wearing a black kimono. As she was behind him all this time and he was so concentrated in the battle, he didn't notice her at all.

- "What… what… do you want from me…?" – she asked scared as her eyes began filling with tears.

- "What's up with you? I came to save you from Naraku's clutches!" – said Inuyasha shocked upon seeing her reaction.

- "And how can I know you won't harm me? You aren't even human: you're a monster, a monster boy!" – said Kagome as she shrank back in fear into the corner of the room where she was. Inuyasha was shocked and hurt from hearing these words from who he thought never would say that to him. But he then noticed something weird…

- "Wait a second… the Kagome I know would never tell these things to me because of how much she knows I hate hearing that… Are you missing your memories or something?" – asked Inuyasha as he cautiously walked to her.

- "No… I can only remember my name…" – said Kagome as she looked at the ground.

- "You better come with me then. You'll be able to remember everything for sure when we get back to our friends" – said Inuyasha thinking that the memory medallion she left in her backpack would solve this.

- "Our… friends?" – said Kagome confused. However, Inuyasha took her from the hand, and after making her stand again, he began leading her outside.

- 'For some reason… I feel safer when he's around… maybe I can trust him…' – thought Kagome after Inuyasha took her hand. She wasn't afraid of him anymore.

On the other hand, Miroku, Sango and the others were still trembling in fear, as the voice they had heard came out from a mirror with black borders that was hanging from a wall. This mirror had a Fragment of Shadows on its highest part and it was only reflecting darkness at the beginning, but then a black dragon silhouette appeared on it, which also had two blood-red eyes shining evilly on its face.

- "N-no way! T-that's T-t-t-tenebross!" – shouted Gerardo as he trembled with Gabriela holding on him. They had never been so scared in their lives.

- "Ah, so the new chosen does know me well…" – said Tenebross savoring how Gerardo was so terrorized.

- "T-the D-dragon of Shadows…" – said Gabriela as scared as her brother.

- "How pathetic! If you are so scared before my mere presence, you will never stand a chance against me when I fully regain my power!" – said Tenebross laughing like a lunatic.

- "But you won't be able to recover your strength just with that Shadow Fragment you've got there!" – said Sango bravely, which also gave courage again to both siblings and the others. Gabriela transformed as well in Dragoon, and they all got ready to fight.

- "We won't let you get away with your plans! We'll rescue Kagome and kick both of your butts to kingdom come!" – said Gerardo as he pointed to them with his sword.

- "We shall see about that. I see you are all bark and no bite, though…" – said Tenebross as he laughed.

- "Oh, yeah?" – said Gabriela as she placed a hand over her bow – "Olpla siat lay lusya, iarae sos... cezet ulkiarea ika,yst gaivz saraigal sos! Light Saber!" -

Upon doing this, her bow began shining in white and took the shape of a white light sword.

- "Gaby, wait! Don't be so rash!" – screamed Gerardo, but it was too late: Gabriela flew off at full speed to slash Naraku with the sword, but when she was about to do it, a strong wind came out from behind him and made her crash into the wall. She screamed from pain as she fell to the floor knocked out, nullifying out her transformation. Likewise, the light sword she carried on her hands stopped shining and turned back into a bow.

- "Gaby!" – shouted Gerardo as he ran to her side and examined her – "Thank goodness... She got knocked out but didn't receive any serious wounds…" –

However, this only enraged everyone.

- "You scum!" – said Miroku gripping his shakujou with force.

- "How could you hurt a little girl like that!?" – said Sango extremely enraged as she tried to attack Naraku in close quarters with her boomerang, but he dodged her.

- "Trying to attack me again, huh? Though it wasn't even me who launched that wind draft…" – said Naraku as he stepped aside, revealing Kagura was behind her. It was obvious she was who launched the wind draft, but her face showed a great bitterness and she was biting her lips, as if she didn't want to do that.

- "By the way, my dearest Sango… don't you miss your beloved brother?" – asked Naraku in a mocking tone.

- "Damn you!" – said Sango irate.

- "Don't ever dare to get Kohaku involved, you scourge!" – said Gerardo enraged as he stood up from where Gabriela was and turned to face the villains.

- "Gerardo-kun..." – said Sango surprised.

- "I'm sick of this! I've seen enough of the suffering you've caused everyone! To Inuyasha, Kikyou, Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Kagome, and to so many innocent people… I've felt their suffering as if it happened to me… and I'm never going to forgive you for having killed and tortured so many! And you also did the worst thing you could do in my presence: harming my sister!" – everyone was shocked after Gerardo finished saying these words, but Naraku and Tenebross only laughed at him, which enraged him even further – "It's time to wipe you off from the face of this world!" –

- "And what do you plan to do, presumptuous fool?" – said Tenebross as he laughed.

- "THIS! Ist Ikuak, ah... Leiya Iadlast, Clyezet Pawatz ical, Oli HalkeiZa Myallade Ical!" – he clapped his hands and he made again the movements he did when he was training with Inuyasha to create a large water wall he then threw to Naraku and Tenebross – "TSUNAMI!" –

They couldn't escape due to the sheer size of the wave, so they received a large amount of damage.

- "Damn it… he's strong… we better run away for now…" – said Naraku as he enclosed himself, Tenebross' mirror, Kanna and Kagura in a new barrier and blew up the roof of the shrine to escape flying.

- "What's happening here?" – asked Inuyasha when he noticed Naraku was escaping. This made him let go Kagome, who simply stood there looking at what was happening.

- "Naraku is escaping…" – said Miroku bitterly.

- "I know that! And what do you think you're doing!? Stop him!" – shouted Inuyasha as he tried using the Kongousouha, but the spears missed their mark due to the distance.

- "I think it's my turn now…" – said Gerardo after he healed his sister and left her leaned against a wall – "I'll make him suffer horribly to see how he likes it…" –

He then took off and flew at full speed to chase after Naraku.

- "What the…!?" – said Naraku exasperated.

- "You won't escape, bastard… Tsunami! TSUNAMI!" – said Gerardo as he threw two large waves at him, but he missed and Naraku managed to escape – "Damn…!" –

- "We'll meet again very soon, fool!" – shouted Naraku as he laughed – "Kagome, I'll make sure to corrupt and steal your powers, so you better be ready for it! Mwahahaha!" –

Gerardo went back to the floor of the shrine near the others, but as soon as he touched ground again, he fell unconscious and the transformation nullified itself. Miroku caught him to keep him from crashing into the floor.

- "Dammit, he got away again!" – said Inuyasha irate as he sheathed Tessaiga – "And I wanted so much to make him pay for what he did to Kagome!" –

- "How's Gerardo-kun, Houshi-sama?" – asked Sango after he finished examining him.

- "He is fine. He just lost consciousness" – he replied relieved.

- "By the way Inuyasha, what happened to Kagome?" – asked Sango.

- "She's over there, but…" – replied Inuyasha as he pointed to the corner where Kagome went to hide.

- "Kagome, are you okay?" – said Sango as she ran to see her along Miroku and Shippou, but they were pretty shocked when they saw how she was now, not to mention she also was curled up in the ground and trembling in fear.

- "Kagome, you didn't drink the water to get older?" – asked Shippou confused.

- "I dunno what you're talking about… are you friends with the dog-eared boy?" – she asked nervously.

- "You don't remember us?" – asked Miroku worried.

Kagome just shook her head 'no'.

- "Don't bother doing that. Kagome can't remember anything aside of her name…" – said Inuyasha as he went closer to them with a sad face.

- "So that woman fears you now… interesting…" – said Sesshomaru with a sadistic smile: he seemed to be enjoying that his little brother was suffering because of this.

- "Well, we're Inuyasha's friends and…" – began Shippou.

- "And you won't hurt me? Because that man said the same thing and I heard he wanted to do bad things to me…" – interrupted Kagome with her eyes filled with tears.

- "Of course not! We're your friends, and we'd never hurt you!" – exclaimed Shippou.

- "Well, we better go outside so you can regain your memories…" – said Miroku as he walked ahead of the others to the exit – "I'll carry little Gabriela and…" –

- "Houshi-sama, you'll take care of Gerardo-kun. I'll take care of Gaby-chan" – said Sango as she glared at him.

- "Uh… great idea, Sango!" – said Miroku laughing nervously as he picked up Gerardo and carried him on his shoulders outside. Next was Sango carrying Gabriela piggyback-style, then was Shippou, and finally were Inuyasha and Kagome taken by the hands.

- "Um… where are we going?" – asked Kagome after a while.

- "You'll know once we're there…" – said Inuyasha in a mysterious tone.

A few instants later, both Gerardo and Gabriela began stirring, and they finally woke up.

- "Could you set us down, if you please?" – asked Gerardo a bit annoyed.

After the others set them down, they stood with their own strength and began contemplating the situation. They had reached the forest's border.

- "And Kagome?" – asked Gerardo.

- "She's there, next to Inuyasha..." - said Shippou signaling at her with the head.

- "How weird… she looks even littler than before… didn't she drink the aging water?" – asked Gabriela confused after they both blinked a couple times in reaction to seeing the small girl she was now.

- "Doesn't seem like it, but we'll know what actually happened if we restore her memories" – said Miroku – "Gerardo-kun, could you…?" –

- "You don't need to ask" – said Gerardo with a smile as he took out Kagome's backpack out from his Dragtemn. Sango then looked inside until she found the silver medallion and she gave it to Inuyasha.

- "Kagome, put this on" – said Inuyasha as he tried to put it on her, but Kagome avoided him.

- "What's that for?" – asked Kagome with suspicion.

- "It's for you to regain your memories, or don't you wanna know who you actually are?" – said Inuyasha a bit sad. Kagome then went up to him and let Inuyasha put it on her. Instantly, her eyes began blinking, but unlike earlier times, the medallion began releasing electric discharges and sparks, while Kagome began holding her head with her hands as if she was suffering from a migraine.

- "Should this happen!?" – asked Gerardo to Miroku with a look of great worry on his face, which all the others shared.

- "No, nothing like this ever happened in the other times we put the medallion on her!" – said Miroku. A little explosion was then heard, and after looking around to find where it was, they noticed that the sapphire that Kagome's medallion had embedded had disappeared, while at her feet there were some shards that seemed to have come from a blue jewel.

- "I wonder… is it that important that the sapphire ended exploding…?" – asked Gerardo a bit worried, but the answer to his question came by itself: Kagome was looking around like a lost child in search of her parents.

- "Where I am? Where are daddy and mommy?" – she asked after a few instants as her eyes began filling with tears.

- "Uh oh… looks like she didn't get all her memories back…" – said Gabriela biting her lip.

- "Kagome…" – said Inuyasha as he sat in front of her – "Are you okay?" –

- "H-how do you know my name?" – asked Kagome scared.

- "Don't tell me you don't remember us again!" – said Inuyasha annoyed as he punched the ground. This made Kagome shrink back in fear.

- "I dunno know… who you are… I just remember being home, that I went to take a nap, and I woke up here…" – said Kagome scared.

- "Looks like we've got ourselves another problem in our hands…" – said Miroku crossing his arms.

- "Kagome, how old are you?" – asked Shippou, which made the others realize they should have asked this from the beginning. Kagome just raised a closed hand.

- "She's five years old now!? But how!? Wasn't she supposed to be eight when Naraku kidnapped her!?" – said Inuyasha irritated.

- "Looks like Naraku did something that made her even younger, and maybe that was the reason the sapphire of her medallion shattered…" – said Sango thoughtfully.

- "And that sapphire is what makes possible the restoration of her memories…" – said Gerardo connecting ideas – "Well, do you think we should use the aging water and get her back to her normal age?" –

- "No… I think that'd only make everything worse…" – said Inuyasha a bit more calmed as he began thinking about the situation more slowly – "What do ya think would happen if she goes back to her normal age but having the mind of a five-year old?" -

That made everyone discard that option at once, and they began trying to come up with another plan. However...

-"*sob*… *hic*… I wanna go home!" – screamed Kagome as she began crying.

- "Hell, as if it wasn't enough that I had to deal with Gaby when she got like this!" – said Gerardo exasperated while Gabriela and Sango ran to her.

- "There, there, Kagome. Calm down. You'll see your family again soon!" – said Sango as she picked her up and trying to calm her down.

- "Re… really?" – asked Kagome as she sobbed.

- "Yeah, we'd never lie to you!" – said Gabriela with a smile.

- "Really! Gerardo-kun, any ideas of what we could do for her?" – said Sango as she began patting Kagome's head.

- "Hmmm, I'm thinking the best we could do for her is taking her back home" – he said thoughtfully.

- "Agreed. This isn't the best place for a girl as little as her" – said Inuyasha as he crossed his arms and prepared to get going.

- "Oh, Inuyasha? Planning to run away like a coward?" – asked Sesshomaru, who had just arrived followed by Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un.

- "I'm not doing that! I'm just taking Kagome home!" – said Inuyasha as he let Kagome ride on his back.

- "Hehe, this looks so fun!" – said Kagome laughing.

- "Is Kagome-sama okay?" – asked Rin as she dismounted Ah-Un.

- "Yeah, but I don't think you can call her 'sama' any more…" – said Gabriela as she walked along her to look at Kagome. Rin was a little surprised upon seeing Kagome even younger than she ever had seen her.

- "Ah, she's now Kagome-chan then!" – said Rin cheerfully.

- "Yeah, I'm Kagome!" – replied Kagome cheerfully – "And you're…?" –

- "I'm Rin!" – said Rin with a smile – "Pleased to meet you!" –

- "I'm really wanting to play with you, Rin-nee!" – said Kagome excitedly.

- "But that will have to wait for later" – said Gerardo with a bit of a severe tone.

- "Boo…" – said Kagome a bit sad.

- "Hehe, it's okay. I'll wait for you here!" – said Rin with a smile.

- "Okay Gaby, are we ready to go with Inuyasha?" – said Gerardo as he began getting ready to go.

- "And why are you going to follow me?" – asked Inuyasha with suspicion.

- "Well, just in case you need help with Kagome: little kids can be a handful, and remember we can cross the well's portal too" – said Gerardo.

- "And I wanna play with her! I just hope you don't end being sat down too much!" – said Gabriela giggling, which made both him and Gerardo end up eating dust again. This was particularly painful for Inuyasha due to still having Kagome on his back. After they recovered, they bid their farewells to the others, Gerardo and Gabriela put on their armors, and they began their trip to the well.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Dearest)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

A Fun Day

(Opening: I Am)

After having breakfast next morning, the group went shopping to the beach article stores to get some things they would need in their little relax day. Naturally, neither Gerardo nor Gabriela continued wearing their kimonos: instead Gerardo was wearing a blue shirt and blue jean pants he had brought in his baggage, while Gabriela was wearing the white blouse with the pink skirt she wore the night they first came to this world. As for Inuyasha, he had to wear a cap once again.

However, before leaving the house, both siblings went a moment to the Goshinboku to see it.

- "Whoa… so this is the Goshinboku…" – said Gerardo amazed as he looked at the tree and he touched its trunk.

- "It's much prettier in real life…" – said Gabriela as she did the same thing as her brother.

- "The place where everything began… and that it's so filled with memories…" – said Gerardo as he remembered all the events that had taken place at its side: the beginning of the adventures, Naraku's deceptions, the way in which the tree helped Kagome and Inuyasha during the battle with Menomaru, and the important role it played when Inuyasha told Kagome he was going with Kikyou…

- "What're you doing?" – said Inuyasha as he looked at them.

- "Just admiring the tree that served as the beginning of everything…" – said Gerardo without taking off his eyes from the tree.

- "You better get going, as we're about to set off!" – said Kagome as she walked at their side.

- "Hey, wait for us!" – they both shouted.

They walked through the city for a while until they reached the shopping center, and next to instantly, they were already buying things.

- "This day is going to be really memorable!" – said Gerardo as he grabbed a bag and began putting in several sunscreen bottles.

- "Yeah, but… why are you buying so much sunscreen?" – asked Kagome.

- "Because I hate getting sunburned whenever I go to the beach, so I'm always using a lot of it" – said Gerardo as his face turned bitter for a second, but he then changed it to a smile – "I'm also buying for the others" –

- "Ah okay. I'll be going to try out the swimsuits" – said Kagome cheerfully.

- "Don't you have one already?" – asked Gerardo confused.

- "Yeah, but well… you'll find out when we've returned to the Warring States Era" – said Kagome as she smiled in an enigmatic way.

- 'I'm pretty sure that all the girls' swimsuits are going to be one-pieces because of a certain monk…' – thought Gerardo as he shook his head.

- "Keh! I don't get why you've gotta bring so many things just to bathe in that puddle of salted water" – said Inuyasha scoffing.

- "Hehe, it's because going to the beach needs some preparation. Slow down and enjoy a little!" – said Gabriela laughing. Inuyasha only sighed to this.

After a while, they came out from the store carrying several things: a few umbrellas and chairs, and some bags containing towels and swimsuits, which they put away in their Dragtemns to not continue carrying them, though they tried to be as discreet while doing so as possible. However, Gerardo and Gabriela found odd that Kagome had bought three child size swimsuits for girls and two for boys, as there was one left over in both cases.

- "By the way, is it okay that we're having a surplus of two swimsuits here?" – asked Gerardo while they were leaving the store.

- "Yeah, don't worry about it. It's for something Inuyasha and I planned from yesterday" – said Kagome with a smile.

- "Keh…" – said Inuyasha without much energy. Both siblings looked at each other confused, but decided to not ask more about it. They then left the shopping center, though Gerardo had to drag away Gabriela more than once, as she got the whim to begin buying other things and they didn't have much money to be spending on them.

- "Can we get going now?" – asked Inuyasha impatiently when they came back to Kagome's house.

- "Yeah, just let me go for my baggage!" – said Kagome a bit absentminded.

- "Didn't you have it in your Dragtemn?" – asked Gabriela flabbergasted

- "Oops, yeah! But I still need to sort it out a little!" – said Kagome flustered as she ran through the living and up the stairs to her room.

- "Well, at least that gives us a chance to change our clothes" – said Gerardo with a sigh.

After Kagome finished sorting her baggage, and Gerardo and Gabriela were wearing their respective kimonos again, they said goodbye to Kagome's family.

- "Try to not get into much danger out there, okay?" – said her mother.

- "Okay mom, I won't!" – said Kagome smiling.

- "Are you going to come back?" – asked Souta to Inuyasha and the two siblings.

- "Of course. Whenever Kagome comes here, we'll be coming too" – said Gerardo with a smile.

- "Yeah. We need to be keeping an eye on her all the time" – said Inuyasha with a smile.

- "Or is that because you don't want to leave her alone?" – asked Gabriela mischievously.

- "What?" – said Inuyasha shocked, which made everyone laugh.

They then went to the well's shed and jumped in.

- "Looks like I'm gonna have to carry you on my back again, Kagome" – said Inuyasha once they left the well.

- "We'll be going through the air again then" – said Gerardo as he and Gabriela put on their dragon armors again. Once Kagome was on Inuyasha's back and both siblings were ready, they went on their way. After a few minutes, they had reached the place where they established the campsite the previous day.

- "Ah, great! They're back! Kagome!" – said Shippou overjoyed as he went closer to greet them and climbing to Kagome's shoulder after she was on the ground again and the siblings had cancelled their transformations.

- "Kagome-sama! Gaby-chan! Inuyasha! Gerar-nii!" – said Rin cheerfully to greet them.

- "Hi, Shippou!" – said Kagome to then turn to look at the others, who were also exchanging greetings among themselves – "Hi, guys! Hasn't anything happened since we left yesterday?" –

- "Nothing at all, Kagome. We haven't seen any youkai or anything like them since yesterday" – said Sango a bit surprised about it.

- "Keh, these monsters are a bunch of cowards!" – snorted Inuyasha.

- "Or it could be that something else is scaring them…" – said Sesshomaru with his inexpressive voice.

- "Ah, of course! The presence of our high and mighty youkai lord!" – said Inuyasha in a sarcastic voice.

- "Or possibly it was the repugnant stench of your human blood…" – said Sesshomaru as he unsheathed Tokijin while Inuyasha drew Tessaiga. But when they seemed to be about to begin fighting…

- "Stop right there, you two!" – said Gerardo as he stepped in between both – "Inuyasha, you shouldn't let him get to yourself to easily! And you Sesshomaru, have you forgotten the conditions I gave you to travel with us?" –

Said this, both half-brothers calmed down and sheathed their swords, though they still kept glaring at each other. Kagome was surprised that Gerardo had enough courage to stand between them.

- "So, are we ready to continue our journey?" – asked Miroku, who surprisingly kept himself silent during most of the conversation.

- "I think so" – said Kagome as she looked at Inuyasha and sighed – "There's only one more thing we've got to do first, as the beach's so close by…" –

Kagome then took out her backpack from her Dragtemn and drew out a bottle filled with a pink bright liquid from it.

- "It's about time for our new friends to meet Miko and Inuyasha" – said Kagome as she gripped the bottle tightly with her hand and turned to see Gerardo and Gabriela.

- "Who're they?" – asked Gabriela, as the phrase sounded so weird to her and Gerardo.

- "And didn't we meet Inuyasha already? I mean, he's right here with us" – said Gerardo confused.

- "You'll see very soon… Inuyasha, coming?" – asked Kagome, to which Inuyasha only nodded in response – "Okay… Miroku-sama, Sango-chan… can you come with us?" –

Sango and Miroku knew already what Kagome was going to do when they saw the bottle, so they simply followed her and Inuyasha deeper into the forest.

- "I wonder what they're going to do in there…" – said Gabriela confused.

- "You'll know very soon…" – said Shippou in a mysterious tone, and they saw a flash of white light after a while.

- "What was that!?" – said Gerardo alarmed as he put his hand over Ryuuga's hilt.

However, nothing really important happened, and after a while, Sango returned carrying in her arms a little girl very similar to Rin, who was dressed in a red and orange checkered kosode that had white spheres as decoration and had her hair styled like Kikyou, held in place with a white ribbon. Miroku followed her soon enough carrying a silver-haired boy with dog ears and dressed in a red kimono, which had Tessaiga sheathed and tied to his hip. Both seemed to be unconscious. Gerardo and Gabriela were left gaping when they saw them.

- "These kids are Kagome and Inuyasha!?" – said Gerardo surprised when Sango and Miroku sat down and explained everything, as they left Kagome and Inuyasha sleeping on the grass near them.

- "Yeah, but in Kagome's case, she's Miko now, and you've got to call her by that name until she's wearing her memory medallion or she goes back to normal…" – said Sango with a serious look on her eyes.

- "What'll happen if we don't'?" – asked Gabriela stubbornly.

- "If you call her by her true name, or tell or show either of them anything that stirs their memories, they will be driven insane. That's the memory-sealing effect that the water brings with it" – explained Miroku, who happened to have a red hand plant on his face. Both siblings sighed knowing what he tried to do, but decided to ignore it and listen to the explanation.

- "And they drank it again? They're really stubborn…" – said Gerardo as he looked to both children as they slept.

- "Well, they had a little argument over it right before you came here for the first time, about that they'd like to repeat the days they spent like this, and looks like this seemed like the best time to do it to them…" – said Sango with a smile as she looked at Inuyasha and Kagome: both were breathing softly and had a smile in their lips, as if they had been wishing for this for some time.

- "Well, I'll take Inuyasha to a separate place, as we need to explain some important things to him" – said Miroku when they began giving signs that they were about to awaken.

- "Right, but… what are we going to do about Kagome and her baggage?" – asked Gerardo.

- "You can keep her busy making her play with your sister or Rin. As for her backpack, you could store it in your artifact" – suggested Sango.

- "Okay" – said Gerardo while Miroku and Sango were carrying Inuyasha back into the forest. Gabriela went and called Rin so she would keep them company while Gerardo stored Kagome's backpack into his Dragtemn.

- "So Kagome-sama turned into Miko-chan again?" – asked Rin cheerfully when she saw her sleeping on the grass.

- "Yes, that's right" – replied Gerardo.

- "And now Inuyasha isn't around, no one can spoil our fun!" – said Shippou as jumped around in joy.

- "Well, don't forget he has a replacement" – said Gabriela laughing as she pointed to her brother, who had already made an unpleasant face worthy of Inuyasha.

- "Agh, yeah… got it…" – said Shippou scared.

Kagome, or rather, Miko awakened at that time and began looking around. She was a bit startled, and looked at the only people she knew.

- "Rin! Shippou! Where are we? Who are these people?" – said her flustered upon seeing Gerardo and Gabriela.

- "Miko, calm down! We're on the middle of a new journey, and these people are our new friends!" – explained Shippou with a smile.

Gerardo stepped in.

- "You're Miko?" – asked him with a hard tone that sounded more like Inuyasha's, making her nod a bit scared in response. However, Gerardo just smiled at her in a tranquilizing way – "Pleased to meet you. My name's Gerardo, and she's my sister, Gaby" –

- "Hi!" – greeted Gabriela with a smile.

- "Hi, pleased to meet you!" – she said with a smile – "But why are your names so weird?" –

- "It's because they're foreigners" – explained Shippou as if he knew everything about them.

- "Oh? And what's this shiny thing on my wrist?" – said Miko as she looked at her Dragtemn and saw her reflection on its white crystal screen.

- "It's a gift from us. It's a magical device that lets you talk to people far away and store things on it!" – said Gabriela joyfully as she raised her wrist – "And look, we have them too!" –

- "It's pretty handy, and it's beautiful too!" – said Miko smiling as she noticed them on their wrists, as well as one on Shippou's – "And... whoa, now I'm wearing tabi too? Where did I get them from?" -

- "Hehe, it's a gift from us all!" - said Shippou smiling - "Since you've been such a good kid and have gotten so good at being a miko, we've decided to buy them for you! You'll need them when you start wearing the miko garb, right?" -

- "Hehe, that's true! Thanks!" - said Miko giggling a little before closing her eyes and putting her hands behind herself. Gerardo and Gabriela took the chance to look at each other with raised eyebrows before Miko opened her eyes again and tilted her head to a side - "And talking about everyone, where're Inuyasha, Houshi-sama and Sango-nee?" –

- "They're further in the forest. They said they needed to talk about something important…" – said Shippou seriously.

Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango were explaining Inuyasha about Rin, Sesshomaru and about their new friends. When they finished explaining, Inuyasha was pretty confused, but he felt somehow that he also knew about them already. They then returned to the others.

- "We're back!" – announced Sango when she, Miroku and Inuyasha returned. Gerardo was sitting on the grass looking at how Rin, Miko, Shippou and Gabriela were playing as he kept a hand over his sword's handle in case anything happened.

- "They're our new friends?" – asked Inuyasha timidly.

- "Yeah: the one wearing the blue kimono is Gerardo, the girl wearing the white kimono is Gabriela, Gerardo's sister, and the one that looks like Miko is Rin" – explained Sango cheerfully. Inuyasha then went to Gerardo to look at him better. He didn't know why, but he gave him a weird feeling, as if he reminded him of someone he knew but he had forgotten.

- "Uhm… excuse me…" – began Inuyasha.

- "Yes? You must be Inuyasha… and as far as I see, you're a hanyou…" – said Gerardo in a tone that sounded similar to Sesshomaru's. Inuyasha showed a face of fear and sadness when he heard 'hanyou' coming out from Gerardo's lips because he thought he'd get rejected. However, Gerardo simply smiled at him and put a hand over his shoulder: he felt sorry about seeing the little hanyou so sad and looking like he had been alone for a long time – "Don't worry: I don't really care if you are a human, hanyou or youkai, as they are all the same to me! At least while they don't try to kill me" -

This made Inuyasha really glad, as it meant he had made another friend.

- "Ah, Inuyasha! Over here!" – said Miko calling at him as she and the others ran to them.

- "Miko! Let's play together!" – said Inuyasha cheerfully upon seeing her.

- "Okay, but…" – Miko turned to Gabriela and then looked at Gerardo.

- "Hmm, what is it, Miko?" – asked Gabriela a bit worried.

- "It's just that I feel a strange presence coming from you…" – said Miko upon noticing the blue aura that Gerardo emitted, as well as the white and silver one that came out from Gabriela.

- "And you both… smell as if you were humans, and weren't at the same time…" – said Inuyasha as he sniffed in their direction.

- "We'll explain it later. And why don't you go to play?" – said Gerardo with a smile.

- "Okay! I wanna show you something I saw deeper in the forest! Follow me!" – said Inuyasha as he and the others ran into the forest.

- "Hey, wait!" – shouted Gerardo when they were going away – "Oh well, I'll go after them to make sure nothing happens" –

- "But Inuyasha can defend himself, so why don't you leave them alone?" – asked Miroku carelessly.

- "Houshi-sama, we can't leave them alone! What if Naraku attacks them?" – said Sango angry.

- "The slayer is right…" – said Sesshomaru coming closer to them, as he had limited himself to just watching from a distance – "If that pseudo-hanyou trash comes here, none of them will be able to match him…" –

- "Huh, first time I see Sesshomaru worried about someone…" – said Gerardo surprised.

- "I only care for Rin's well-being…" – said Sesshomaru.

- "Okay, I'll go keep an eye on them" – said Gerardo as he ran into the forest. After a while, he heard them laughing, and when he entered the place where the laughter came from, he found himself in a wide and beautiful glade. The place was still covered with a few tree branches through which the sunlight was filtering, there were several butterflies flying about, they could hear the birds singing all around, and the grassy ground was covered in flowers of all colors.

(BGM: Shikon no Tama wo Motomete (second half))

Gerardo simply sat down at the border of the clearing to watch over them as they played. It was a cute sight: seeing the children playing together, either tag, hide-and-seek or joining their hands and forming a circle, chasing the butterflies and laughing.

A while later, the others arrived, Sesshomaru included, and sat down to watch over them for a little. After a while…

- "We should call them for lunch" – suggested Sango to Gerardo.

- "Agreed. Everyone, it's time to eat, as we'll be going to the beach afterwards!" – said Gerardo.

The children just turned in their direction and ran to them. At that moment…

- "Oof… Sesshomaru… sama… I've brought… the food you requested…" – said Jaken as he appeared from the side of the glade dragging a large boar. Everyone looked at him impressed that he managed to carry such a burden by himself.

- "Wow, Jaken-sama! You could really carry that large boar all by yourself?" – asked Rin surprised, but she didn't receive any reply: Jaken had fainted from exhaustion.

- "Let's just let the frog rest while we eat" – said Inuyasha as he poked him with his finger.

After they roasted the boar and got out some onigiri, they began eating it. Once they were done, they continued their way to the beach, making all the children excited because they, excepting Gabriela, had never gone to the beach before. But when they were about to depart, Gerardo stood still as he pressed the buttons of his Dragtemn and touched parts of its screen, which made everyone look at him.

- "What are you doing, Gerar-nii?" – asked Inuyasha, which made Gerardo trip and fall on his back from the shock.

- "W-w-w-what!? Did you call me what I think you did!?" – asked Gerardo.

- "Yeah, because you're as nice as Sango-nee is with me!" – said Inuyasha smiling, which left everyone astonished. Even Sesshomaru had a face of surprise that under normal circumstances he would have only if he reencountered with his father. However, Miko wasn't among them: instead, she had a wide smile on her face too.

- "You're like that with me too, so I'll call you that way too, Gerar-nii!" – said her cheerfully, which made Gabriela angry.

- "But I'm his only sister, okay!?" – said her irritated and embarrassed.

- "Hehe, okay. We know you really love him, and we don't want to take him away" – said Miko with a smile, which made Gabriela sigh and blush.

- "Anyway… I was just setting a pointer in this place, so we can use it to come here whenever we want" – he said when he recovered from the impression. His Dragtemn then shone in blue as a 'Pointer Registered!' notification appeared on the screen – "All set. Whenever you want to come back here, just tell me" –

- "That device can also take you from a place to another?" – asked Sango as she looked at her own Dragtemn.

- "Yes, it can transport you instantly to any place you've gone before, as long as you've set up a pointer for it first" – said Gerardo proudly.

- "Hmm, I'd like to hear the explanation for how you do that" – said Miroku as he looked at his own Dragtemn with interest. However, he began laughing nervously when he saw the murderous glare Sango was giving him.

So they continued walking until they left the forest behind and reached the beach. The children immediately were overjoyed when they saw the sand and the sea shining under the sunlight. They wanted to jump into the water right away, but Gerardo stopped them.

- "Wait a sec! You can't just go bathe into the sea with your clothes on, and you shouldn't do it either without anything on!" – said him shocked.

- "So what we do then?" – asked Miko confused.

- "We have to put on our swimsuits!" – said Gabriela excitedly – "We have some here, right? Gerar?" –

- "Yeah, just gimme a second…" – said Gerardo as he took out Miko's backpack from his Dragtemn.

- "Ah, these are my things!" – said Miko a bit upset.

- "Yeah, but Sango asked me to store them away for you" – said Gerardo as he checked its outer pockets and took out the sunscreen filters and the swimsuits – "Hmm, three for the girls, two for the boys and three for us the older ones…" –

They then began giving out the swimsuits, of which the ones for the girls were all one one-pieces just as Gerardo predicted, which had the following appearance: Miko was given one that had the same colors as her kosode but as blots instead of in a checkered pattern; Gabriela was given one green decorated with pink fishes; Rin was given one green and red; and Sango was given a white and pink one that had the same pattern as her kosode.

On the other hand, the swimsuits for the boys were trunk-types and had the following appearance: Inuyasha's was completely red, Miroku's was green and white, Shippou's was yellow and orange, and Gerardo's was completely blue.

They then took turns to go back into the forest to get changed, and even though Miroku tried to go peek on the girls, the only thing he got was getting hit on the head with the hilt of Gerardo's sword for being a pervert and a bad role model to Inuyasha and Shippou.

After they were ready, they were a bit skeptical about the sunscreen and how it worked, but in the end Gerardo and Gabriela convinced them to put it on. They also took out the chairs, umbrella and towels out from the Dragtemns of Miko, Gabriela and Gerardo to complete the set, which also left Miko amazed; while Gerardo stored his glasses on the inner pockets of his kimono.

They then began enjoying the sun and the sea while Sesshomaru and Jaken just leaned against the shadow of the trees near the forest's border.

- "Humans and hanyous like so much wasting their time…" – said Sesshomaru annoyed.

Meanwhile, the others were already splashing about in the shallow part of the water.

- "Gerar-nii, have this!" – said Inuyasha as he splashed Gerardo.

- "Ah, so that's how you want it~" – said Gerardo laughing as he clapped his hands and all the others were playing around with water. As Inuyasha was laughing, he received a nice water stream on the face for lowering his guard. After he wiped off the water from his face, he began spitting on the sea the little water that got into his mouth.

- "Bleagh… it's salty! And I swallowed up a good part" – he said as he made a displeased face.

- "Hehe, don't worry! A little salty water doesn't kill anyone!" – said Gerardo laughing with the others.

- "Gerar, I think you went a little far with that!" – said Gabriela cheerfully as she threw him water.

- "Oh, yeah? Have this!" – said Gerardo as he raised a small mass of water from the sea and dropped it over his sister's head while she laughed.

They continued throwing water to each other for a good while, until they got hungry and decided to rest a bit under the umbrellas. They got out the food they had prepared from Miko's backpack and began eating.

- "By the way, how you can do these things with water, Gerar-nii?" – asked Inuyasha, which made Gerardo embarrassed and Gabriela jealous once again.

- "Well… it's because I have the power to manipulate all kinds of water I come across, as well as the one I can make out from the moisture in the air" – explained Gerardo with a smile.

- "And I can control the light!" – said Gabriela releasing of flash of light that blinded everyone.

- "Did you really have to show it off like that!?" – said Gerardo furious after as they rubbed their eyes to try to regain their vision. He still saw everything blurry.

- ""Sorry! And by the way… SIT DOWN!" – shouted Gabriela enraged, which made Gerardo and Inuyasha instantly end up eating sand.

- "But why does that happen to them when either I or Gaby-nee say that phrase…?" – said Miko a bit scared when she saw the effect of the rosaries. Gabriela blushed upon getting called older sister by Miko.

- "It's because these rosaries have a spell on them that reacts whenever either you or Gaby say the words 'sit down'… and it makes us do this…" – said Gerardo annoyed after they both got back on their feet and he sat down with his arms and legs crossed, pretty much like Inuyasha in his normal form.

- "Ah, so that's why he fell down that time…" – said Miko recalling the time they were preparing for singing in the festival.

- "But… why did you call me Gaby-nee, Miko? We're both the same age…" – said Gabriela a bit embarrassed.

- "Hehe, it's just that you seemed like a gentle older sister to me" – said Miko smiling – "And since you're Gerar-nii's sister, I just felt like I should" –

- "I see…" – said Gabriela embarrassed, but very pleased about the fact of getting a little sister of her own… sort of.

- "Okay, let's go swimming again then!" – said Inuyasha cutting off the conversation, but Gerardo stopped him.

- "Hey, hold it there! You've gotta wait at least half an hour after eating before going back to the water, or you may get cramps!" – he said as he held a hand in front of him.

- "Okay, okay! Geez!" – said Inuyasha as he sat down again. He then focused his gaze on Gerardo's sword, which he left next to the chairs – "And does that sword have anything special, Gerar-nii? I can feel a lot of power from it…" –

- "Ah, you mean my Ryuuga? It's my sword, forged out from a personal treasure of mine combined with the scales, claws and a fang from the Dragon God of Water, as well as dust from the elemental crystals!" – said Gerardo proudly as he took and unsheathed it.

- "Wow, it's cool! But it's not better than my Tessaiga!" – said Inuyasha equally proud of his own sword.

- "Yeah, I've heard it was made from a fang of your father, that it can absorb the abilities of the foes you defeat with it, and that it holds great powers!" – said Gerardo excitedly.

- "And I have always wanted to have it in my hands…" – said Sesshomaru, which made everyone look at him.

- "He may be my brother, but he's so mean… I can never give him my sword, it's the only memento my father left me…" – said Inuyasha saddened while Sesshomaru glared at him.

- "As well as the Fire-Rat wool clothes…" – said Gerardo patting his shoulder.

- "Wasn't it a gift from my mother?" – asked Inuyasha.

- "Yeah, but she got it from your father… err, that's what I heard at least" – said Gerardo nervously.

- 'I can't tell these two about how I learned about that. Don't want to risk them going crazy…' – thought him a bit scared, and he then perked up. - "Hey, how about playing with the ball or with the sand while we wait until we can go into the water again?" –

- "Yeah!" – said everyone.

- "Argh, Houshi-sama!" – screamed Sango, which made everyone excepting for Miko, Inuyasha, Rin and Sesshomaru sigh exasperated. She then began slapping Miroku with all her strength until she left him out cold on the sand.

- "You deserved that, lecherous monk!" – said Gerardo as he, Shippou and Gabriela burst into laughter.

- "What happened now?" – asked Inuyasha confused.

- "Looks like he groped Sango and also pulled the bottom of her swimsuit" – said Shippou as he looked at them.

- "And is that bad?" – asked Inuyasha, while Miko and Rin also looked at him confused. Gabriela just sighed in exasperation while Gerardo went up to him.

- "Inuyasha… that's something you never should do to a lady" – said Gerardo in a very serious tone – "Of course, unless you want to make girls angry and end up like Miroku did, or even worse" –

- "Ah, gotcha. I'll never do that" – said Inuyasha with a smile.

- "As for us, we mustn't never allow a guy do these things to us" – said Gabriela to the other two girls – "We've gotta protect our dignity, right?" –

Both Miko and Rin smiled and nodded.

- "Well said!" – shouted Sango irate as she walked as far from Miroku as she could. She stomped on the sand with every step she made, leaving pretty deep footsteps on it.

- "Leaving that unfortunate series of events aside, can we go back to what we were going to do?" – asked Gerardo with a smile. The children just agreed to the idea, so he went back to Miko's backpack and took out the beach toys they brought with them. They spent the next half-hour making sandcastles and looking at how the waves washed them away.

- "These castles are pretty weird-shaped…" – said Inuyasha upon seeing how Gerardo and Gabriela made a pretty simple European-style castle.

- "Yeah, but they also have something of a pretty look to it" – said Miko with a smile.

- "Well, remember that princesses and such used to live in castles like these in the side of the world we're from a long time ago" – said Gerardo, pretty much equating America and Europe in that phrase despite that not being true.

- "I'm sure you'll get used to them the more you see 'em" – laughed Gabriela.

- "I'd like to learn to make them too, Gaby-nee!" – said Rin.

They then continued making them for a little longer, and then they changed to playing beach volleyball after Gerardo, Gabriela and Shippou explained to them how it was played.

- "Hehe, what do you think? I know how to play it too!" – said Shippou proudly.

- "You're so smart, Shippou!" – said Rin.

- "But he's pretty rude too, you know?" – said Miko. She still hadn't forgotten about what he did to Inuyasha.

- "Come on, Miko! I already apologized for it!" – said Shippou scared.

- "That's true. I even accepted it and all" – said Inuyasha shrugging.

- "I know… it's just there was something fishy about that apology…" – said Miko thoughtfully.

- 'And too bad I can't comment on the fact that he's taking away the credit for learning about the game from Kagome' – thought Gerardo a bit irritated.

To end the discussion before it got worse, Gabriela and him divided everyone into two teams: one of boys and other of girls. The game ended in the girls defeating the boys three to two, though this was because in the end Gabriela did some cheating by releasing a flash of light that blinded the boys, leaving them unable to shoot back the ball to them.

- "Hey, no fair! You can't use your powers for this!" – said Inuyasha angry.

- "Right! I didn't use my powers over water either, so that's a foul!" – said Gerardo irritated.

- "Whatever, the fact is that we won and you lost!" – said Gabriela laughing.

- "Gaby-nee, that was very mean…" – said Miko a bit saddened.

- "Cheater!" – said Shippou.

- "When we get back home, I'm gonna…" – said Gerardo, but he was interrupted before he could finish his threat.

- "SIT DOWN!" – said Gabriela, and thus Inuyasha and Gerardo ended up eating sand yet again.

- "You didn't have to do that…!" – said Miko angry at her.

- "Yeah, and it wasn't fair that you did that light thing either… I'm feeling so disappointed…" – said Rin.

- "You're right… okay…" – said Gabriela sighing as she began looking sad at the ground: she was hit by how Shippou, Miko and Rin were looking at her, and decided she was acting wrong. She then looked at them in the eye – "I won't do it again… I'm sorry…" –

- "At least try not sitting us down again…" – said Inuyasha from the place where he was lying on the sand.

- "Agreed…" – said Gerardo.

After this, they decided to apply themselves another dose of sunscreen before going back to the water. They continued swimming and splashing around until night began setting in, so they went to a hot spring they had nearby in the forest in order to get the sand and salt out of their body.

- "Well, I don't know what else to call this but a fun day!" – said Gerardo cheerfully when he entered the hot springs alongside Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippou. The girls were bathing in another spring that was hidden behind some bushes and trees – "And we even get to finish it with a visit to the onsen!" –

- "I'm in total agreement with you, Gerardo-kun" – said Miroku with a smile as he tried to climb out of the onsen with just a towel covering him, and into the bushes leading to the springs where the girls were bathing.

- "Miroku, I wouldn't do that if I were you…" – said Shippou with an unimpressed face.

- "Why do you say that, Shippou?" – asked Inuyasha, but his question was answered right away: Sango heard Miroku and Shippou, and as soon as he got into the bushes, he was hit right between his eyebrows by a rather large log she threw him, making him fall backwards into the water before he got to see anything.

- "Pervert! Pedophile! Try that again and I'll make you see hell!" – shouted Sango's angry voice from the other side.

- "Warned ya, Miroku!"- said Shippou as he, Gerardo and Inuyasha broke into laughter, while they could hear the voices of the girls laughing at the other side, excepting for Sango.

- "You got your just deserts! You should change that behavior of yours!" – said Gerardo laughing.

- "That's right, Gerar-nii!" – said Inuyasha.

- "You three, be quiet!" – said Miroku angry and embarrassed as he climbed out of the spring to go dry off and get himself dressed. He still had a circular red mark over the upper part of his forehead.

- "And how weird that he didn't come out with the bad excuse of it being the fault of his cursed hand!" – said Shippou.

- "Yeah, but it's because he has another kind of curse: his attitude!" – said Gerardo, which made everyone laugh even louder.

After a while, they decided to leave the springs too. Once they dried off and got themselves dressed, they began making dinner, which was stew made by Sango.

- "You gave him a good punishment, Sango!" – said Gerardo with a smile.

- "I don't want to talk about that!" – said Sango very angry.

- "Okay, as you wish" – said Gerardo a bit startled. It was obvious that touching the topic any further would be a bad idea, so they decided to leave it aside and wait until dinner was ready. They all served some of it, and after everyone left their bowls empty due to how tasty she made it, they decided to go sleep.

However, they didn't suspect Naraku was watching them through Kanna's mirror and his Saimyoushou from his hideout, located in an unknown place.

- "Tomorrow will be the perfect time to carry out my plans…" – said him as laughed in a sickening manner.

- "I expect your plan to bear fruits, Naraku…" – said a sinister voice behind Naraku.

- "Tenebross…. You should know that it is very easy for me to attract flies to my web" – replied Naraku in a hypocritical tone.

- "Perhaps, but that girl is of great importance to us… if we can corrupt her powers, we could use her to our benefit, beginning with further staining the Shikon Pearl and bringing further darkening to the crystal where my essence is sealed away. We cannot allow ourselves to fail" – said Tenebross with an evil voice.

- "Be patient, soon enough she'll be in our hands…" – said Naraku as they both began laughing evilly.

- 'Something about that Tenebross is creeping me out… and I can't go and give Inuyasha's group or Sesshomaru information about it without being found out…' – thought Kagura as he spied on them from behind a wall.

- "What are you scheming, Kagura?" – asked Hakudoushi with an evil smile.

- "N-nothing…" – said Kagura as she made an effort to keep her mind blank, so Hakudoushi wouldn't try to find out about what she was thinking.

- "Remember that if you betray Naraku… you'll lose your life…" – said Hakudoushi mocking her.

- "I know that… very well…" – said Kagura bitterly.

The next morning dawned in great calm, so the only sounds that could be heard when everyone awakened were those of the birds singing. The children decided to go playing hide-and-seek while the others made breakfast.

- "Looks like they're having a lot of fun" – said Sango with a smile.

- "Yeah, at least that lets us make breakfast in peace" – said Gerardo as he got out what they were going to eat out from Miko's backpack. He then added with an ironic smile – "Though this can hardly be called making breakfast" -

- "Are you finished with your little day of fun?" – said Sesshomaru as he walked to them, who had a very bitter look on his eyes.

- "We are. We will get back on our way after we eat our breakfast" – said Miroku.

The breakfast was just some sandwiches they made the previous day before coming back to the Warring-States Era. Then, Sango took out the memory medallions of Inuyasha and Miko and handed them to both children.

- "Put them on. You've got to be wearing them for what we're going to do now…" – she said in an authoritative manner. Both took their respective medallions and put them on. Their eyes blinked for an instant, and then…

- "You all know what they say… all good things come to an end…" – said Miko with a sad face, but in a more mature-sounding tone.

- "Is that you, Kagome?" – asked Gerardo surprised. While her appearance hadn't changed much, something about her gaze and expressions seemed more mature than the childish ones she had while she was Miko.

- "Yeah, I'm back to being myself while I wear the medallion" – replied Kagome with a little smile.

- "The same goes for me" – said Inuyasha, whose expression had become stiffer, losing the relaxed appearance he had until a moment ago.

- "Anyway, I've gotta go back to my normal form…" – said Kagome as she went and took out a uniform and the bottle of blue water from her backpack – "Don't worry, I won't take long doing it" –

- "But shouldn't someone go with you? I mean… like Sango, just in case that psychopath Naraku is scheming something…" – said Gerardo anguished, while making that addition so they didn't think he had any ulterior motives.

- "Don't worry, I'll be okay" – said Kagome smiling, and taking both her uniform and her bottle, she went a bit further into the forest.

- "I'm really hoping nothing happens while she's in there…" – said Inuyasha worried. He still was in his child form, and he didn't want to go back to normal until Kagome did. However, it would be a lie to say the others weren't worried, as they had their faces filled with apprehension, but decided to comply with Kagome's wishes and wait for her.

After a few minutes, Kagome had already returned to her normal form and was wearing her uniform again. As she finished getting ready to go back to the others, something grabbed her from behind and took her away.

- "Aaaaagghhhh!" – shouted her terrified.

- "Kagome!" – screamed Inuyasha as he stood up instantly.

- "What happened!?" – said Gerardo worried upon seeing Inuyasha's sudden reaction while the others prepared for anything that could be happening.

- "I just heard Kagome screaming… and I can feel Naraku's nasty odor very close to us!" – said Inuyasha as he ran off.

- "Wait for us!" – said Sango as they ran after him.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Fukai Mori)