The Mysterious Springs - Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The Medallions of Memory

(Opening: Owaranai Yume)

The group set off early at morning, and it was nearing noon when they began walking through a rocky plain while they had a very lively conversation about the events that took place the previous day.

- "That was a great performance" – said Miroku with an ample smile.

- "Yeah, we never heard you singing, and you actually do it very well" – sincerely said Sango, making both Miko and Inuyasha blush.

- "Ehh... thank you. I never thought I'd do it well" – said Miko smiling.

- "And you can't guess how scared I was about it!" – said Inuyasha as he began laughing.

- "So you were scared…" – said Shippo in a mocking tone, but he immediately shut up when he saw the furious glare Miko was giving him. Obviously, she was still angry about what he did to Inuyasha.

- "Shippou… I think you owe Inuyasha an apology" – she reproached him. Shippou initially wanted to refuse doing it, but upon seeing how Miko was glaring at him, he ended up swallowing his pride and decided to apologize.

- "Fine" – he said in an irritated tone and turned to face Inuyasha – "I'msorryaboutwhatIsaidyesterday" –

Inuyasha didn't understand anything he said.

- "What was all that?" – he asked confused.

- "Urgh... I said sorry about what I said yesterday!" – screamed Shippou.

At first it seemed that Inuyasha was going to hit him due to the face of surprise and rage he put on, but he simply went up to Shippou, put one hand on his head softly and he said as he smiled with closed eyes:

- "Okay, I forgive you" –

- '*sigh* That was close...' – thought Shippou relieved as he fell bottom first to the ground.

- "Well, stop playing now. We have to focus on finding these medallions" – Sango scolded them upon seeing how they were falling behind.

After other while walking, during which the children had begun talking among themselves very cheerfully...

- "Look, there's a village over there!" – said Shippou suddenly cutting the conversation about the games they had played up to that moment.

- "It's true!" – said Miko excitedly, as she didn't remember ever having seen other village aside of Kaede's.

- "Do you think we should stop and rest for a while?" – asked Miroku as he sized up their current conditions. Miko, Shippou, and Inuyasha seemed a bit tired, but they also seemed very excited to continue traveling. However, at that instant, the sound of several stomachs growling began being heard.

- "Yeah. I don't think we should go on without replenishing our energies for a bit" – replied Sango as she laughed upon hearing this.

And thus they continued their walking.

However, when they finally reached the village, the welcome they were given was anything but warm...

- "Hey, look at these travelers there. They're so weird" –

- "Yeah... A monk, a woman, a kid, some kind of fox and a monster kid" –

Even though they continued walking without paying any mind to what the people said, this last comment in particular enraged Inuyasha:

- "Who're you calling a monster!?" – he screamed very angry. As he had gotten used to his friends and the inhabitants of Kaede's village treating him as part of them, this ended up becoming a very bad reminder of his life prior to waking up in the hut, or rather, of the horrors he went through during his true childhood.

- "Now, calm down Inuyasha. You don't want us to get drive away from the village when we've just arrived, do you?" – said Miroku in a stern tone.

- "Yes, I'm sorry, Houshi-sama" – answered Inuyasha as he looked at the ground with regret.

- 'I'm going to miss this kind of behavior from him when he finally returns to normality' – thought Miroku with grief. He then stopped for a moment and pointed to them a hut that had a window that looked more like a foldable table, over which a young woman was serving several kinds of food: onigiri, manju, fish and other – "Well, there is a place where we can stop and eat" -

As they were obviously hungry, they decided to stop and have a meal. Miroku used the money he had gained from his fake exorcisms to pay for the food he bought for everyone, and thus everyone began eating at their own pace, which made the children very happy, which in turn made Sango smile. However, as they were eating, a group of children came up to see them, all of which were dressed in kosode and a few in hakama, all of which were of dim colors and even some had stitches and patches…

- "Hi, I didn't think that girls as pretty as you came to dangerous places like this" – said one of the children in a mocking tone to Miko.

- 'How nasty...' – thought Miko irritated. He gave him a glare of repugnance and then turned to the other side to continue eating her onigiri in calm. However, Inuyasha felt that something wasn't right and decided to do something about it:

- "Hey! Leave Miko alone!" – he said enraged. The boy only began laughing in his face.

- "Oh, scary! A monster! What'cha gonna do? Scare us dead?" – said other boy trying to provoke Inuyasha.

- "You bas…" – began Inuyasha, but Sango interrupted them before things got uglier.

- "Don't pay any mind to them, they are just fools" – she whispered to him as she grabbed one of his shoulders with a very serious look on her face.

- "Okay, Sango-nee" – said Inuyasha a bit embarrased.

- "She's right, Inuyasha" – said Miko calmly as she continued eating: she had finished her onigiri and was now grabbing a bit of fish with the ohashi she had in front of her, - "We don't have to listen to a group of idiots like them" –

- "You're calling us idiots!?" – said the two kids enraged upon hearing what Miko thought of them – "We'll show you!"

But before they could do anything, Sango stood up and put herself between Inuyasha, Miko and the two kids:

- "Hold it! If you want to fight with them, you'll have to get over me first!" -

- "A woman?" – said the first in an incredulous tone, making Sango extremely angry: no one came out unharmed if they ever dared to suggest that Sango was weak or incapable for being a woman.

- "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that..." – she said as she cracked her knuckles. She then hit them in the head in the same way Inuyasha used to hit Shippou when he was in his normal form.

- "Want more?" – she asked as she prepared to repeat what she had just done, but the two kids simply got scared and ran away.

- "Thank you, Sango-nee" – said Inuyasha with a smile, but his face then showed a surprised expression because Sango's behavior seemed a bit weird to him – "But… why did you protect us like that?" -

- "It's because I have a little brother called Kohaku" – she explained as she went to sit beside them again and smiled in a melancholic way. Miroku was seated a bit farther and was talking with the owner of the hut about something, while Shippou had gotten up to look around the village – "He's a bit older than you both, and I always had to watch over him so nothing bad happened to him" -

- "And where's he?" – asked Miko in a curiosity-filled tone – "If you care so much about him, why isn't he with you?" -

- "I'll tell you when it's time to do it, okay?" – said Sango in a sharp tone, which made her smile change to a serious glare for a moment. Therefore, Miko understood it was a delicate topic and decided to not insist on it.

- "Alright" – she nodded. She then turned around: there she saw what Shippou was doing, which made her laugh – "Wow, looks like Shippou's having a lot of fun!" -

She said that because Shippou was surrounded by a group of girls, all dressed in kosode of light colors and decorated with all kinds of patterns, which said he was the cutest thing in the world and wanted to cuddle and touch him as if he was some sort of stuffed toy. Obviously, he was enjoying it a lot.

- "Ah... I don't wanna go away..." – he muttered as he sighed of happiness.

Miroku suddenly rose up from his seat, which surprised all of the others.

- "Very well, thank you" – he bowed before the owner of the hut and then turned towards the rest of the group – "Well, time to get going" -

- "Can't we stay here a little longer?" – said Shippou in a very disappointed voice.

- "No" – said Miroku in a sharp tone. He then proceeded to explain to the other about the things he heard from the owner – "Well, according to the information I could gather, the cave is located in a nearby mountain, but it's guarded by a monster" -

- "No problem! I'll rip it to shreds with my sword!" – exclaimed a very excited Inuyasha, which made everyone look at him.

- 'He's beginning to seem more and more like himself' – thought Miroku with an ironic smile.

They left the hut and continued their journey. They first stopped briefly so Sango could change her clothes and put on her battle suit, and once they were ready, they began walking the trail that took them to the mountain outside the village. However, as soon as they arrived, Inuyasha stood immobile and began sniffing the surrounding areas.

- "Huh? What's it, Inuyasha?" – asked Miko a bit weirded out about what he was doing.

- "I smell a monster, and it's very close to us!" – exclaimed Inuyasha, which put everyone on alert.

- "It's true! I can perceive its demonic aura too!" – exclaimed Miroku, who was already looking around for signs of the creature.

- "We better get ready to fight then!" – said Sango as he placed one hand over her Hiraikotsu.

Shortly later, an enormous monster shaped like a gigantic mantis with a mask on its forehead, similarly to the Ryuukossei, came out from the mountain.

- "Looks like I'm gonna have a lovely dinner!" – exclaimed the horrendous creature when it saw the group.

- "In your dreams, ugly! Kaze no Kizu!" – screamed Inuyasha as he threw it an energy wave, but even though it caused it great damage, the monster regenerated itself almost instantly.

- "I can't believe that an idiotic kid like you thinks he can beat me!" – exclaimed the monster to mock him.

As for Miko, she was very scared when she saw the monster. However, she was determined to help the others during the battle, and thus she wasn't going to start off by yielding herself to fear.

- "If he doesn't, I'll do it!" – she screamed at the monster determinedly as she fired a Purifying Arrow to it, but the monster regenerated itself again.

- "Fools, don't you see I'm immortal? There's no youkai or miko that can even scratch even, and even less if they're kids like you two!" – screamed the monster, mocking the attempts Miko and Inuyasha were making to damage it.

- "We'll see about that! Hiraikotsu!" – screamed Sango as she threw her boomerang to it, cutting off one of its pincers. However, the monster regenerated it shortly later. It then slammed its body over them, so Sango had to step in front of Miko and Inuyasha to protect them and repel the attack using her Hiraikotsu. Miko and Inuyasha tried to attack it using arrows and Tessaiga, but it didn't mean much because the monster regenerated any damage they caused to it.

- "Enough playing around, I'll end this now!" – said Miroku, who had already gotten fed up with all this. He waited until all the others had put some distance between themselves and the monster, and as soon as they did, he removed the rosary he had around his right hand and fully opened his palm – "Kazaana!" -

- "What is this monk trying to do!? Aaaagh!" – screamed the monster as it was absorbed into the hole. Miroku absorbed it immediately afterwards.

- "I guess it wasn't too hard" – said Miroku as he made a stupid-looking smile.

- "It wasn't too hard!?" – screamed all the others in rage. They didn't get injured at all thanks to Sango's blocking, but they still had gotten very exhausted because of the many attacks they had to avoid.

- "Sorry guys, but if you had allowed me to use the Kazaana from the beginning, you wouldn't have needed to go through all these problems" – he said waving his hand as if he were to scare away flies, which made the others sigh in exasperation.

They continued their walking through the mountain, and during their trek up nothing worthy of mention took place, until...

- "You are travelers, are you?" – asked an old man that wore a gray hakama and kosode. The kosode was decorated with green squares, and the old man himself had a scarce gray hair tied up in a topknot. He got close to them as soon as he spotted them.

- "Yes, that is correct, sir" – replied Miroku – "Our business is the hunting of youkai and the purification of evil presences" -

- "What is Houshi-sama talking about?" – asked a confused Miko to Sango.

- "Yeah, we don't really do that kind of stuff" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms as a neutral expression appeared in his face – "We're supposed to be searching for a way to restore Miko's memories, right?" -

- "Don't mind it" – whispered Sango – "Just play along with him" -

- "In that case, I need to ask you a favor. Do you know about the cave located near this place?" – asked the old man in a pleading tone.

- "Yes. In fact, we're headed for it right now" – replied Sango while having a hunch about what would be the favor.

- "Well, beside that cave there is a temple, but some monsters have defiled it" – said the old man with a very distressed voice. This confirmed Sango's suspicions.

- "And you need that we exterminate them, correct?" – asked Miroku gently.

- "Yes, as there is a very important relic for our village enshrined there: a crystal that attracts fortune, and we leave it purifying in the temple every year" – explained the old man.

Sango, Miroku, and Shippou huddled together and began whispering about how suspicious this entire situation was sounding. Miko and Inuyasha also heard what they were saying, but couldn't really understand it.

- "I don't know about you, but that sounds to me like a shard of the Shikon Pearl" – whispered Sango to the other.

- "Yes, but that's impossible. Kouga has two shards, Kohaku has one, we have another and Naraku has the rest of the Pearl" – said Miroku to remind her of the current situation.

- "Could you help me with this?" – asked the old man, which put a stop their chit-chat.

- "Ehh… yes sir, of course" – said Miroku with a nervous laughter.

- "I'm really grateful to you" – said the old man. He bowed before them, and he continued his way back to the village.

- 'These names sound familiar to me... Have I ever heard them?' – thought Miko confused as they continued walking.

A little later, they reached the entrance of a cave, and right to the side, there was a temple built out of gray rocks, excepting for the roof, which was made of green tiles according to the style employed back in that era. Despite being so deteriorated, it still retained vestiges of having gone through better times. However, a terrible presence could be felt from the inside…

- "Hmm, it does have a very strong evil presence" – said Miroku as he wielded his shakujou with both hands – "There must be a large number of monsters inside" -

- "Yeah, but we'll take an eternity to clean it out if get to exterminate all of them one by one" – said Sango thoughtfully upon making herself an idea of what awaited them inside.

- "Okay, then leave them to me! With the Kaze no Kizu, I can destroy them all in a second!" – said Inuyasha excitedly as he unsheathed his sword.

- "Or me! We can defeat them easily with my arrows" – said Miko as excited as him.

- "I can too! My techniques can finish these weak monsters off!" – said Shippou making a determined expression very similar to Inuyasha's.

Sango stood still for a couple of minutes to think, and she came up with an idea:

- "Hmmm… I know" – she said as she clapped her hands and turned to the children with a smile – "What about doing this all together! That way we'll finish this faster!"

- "Though if I use my Kazaana…" – began Miroku, but Miko interrupted him…

- "No fair, Houshi-sama! You already eliminated a big monster doing that!" – said Miko annoyed.

- "She's partly right. And besides, it's possible that there are poisonous monsters inside that place" – said Sango in a calm tone. She then had another idea and told it to Miroku – "You'd do better to go into the cave and search for the medallions there" -

- "Very well" – said a resigned Miroku.

So they ended splitting up: Sango, Miko, Inuyasha, and Shippou went into the temple while Miroku entered the cave.

- "Okay, listen up: this is no game or training anymore" – said Sango severely after they entered the temple – "You'll have to fight with all your strength if you want to continue living" –

- "Understood" – said Inuyasha to then turn and face the countless monsters inside the temple. He unsheathed his sword and transformed it as the others began getting ready to fight – "Okay monsters, time to disappear! Kaze no Kizu!" -

As soon as he screamed the name of the attack, he launched the energy waves and disintegrated several monsters in a single blow, while Miko fired an arrow against several monsters that were gathered in a single point.

- "There it goes!" – as soon as she let it fly, the arrow covered itself in a blue aura and annihilated several of the monsters she was aiming at.

- "Hiraikotsu!" – screamed Sango as she threw her boomeran, which diced all of the monsters that got on its way.

- "Kitsune-bi!" – said Shippou as he jumped and fired blue flames around himself, burning the monsters that they came in contact with.

- "Here goes another!" – said Miko, but this time, the arrow covered itself in a purple aura and was shot off with more force, eliminated more monsters than in the previous occasion.

- "Wow, what was that?" – asked her impressed.

- "Looks like you pulled off a Sacred Arrow! It's a stronger form of the ones you shot before!" – said Sango proudly while she fought against a monster using her boomerang.

- "Amazing!" – exclaimed Miko overjoyed.

- "This isn't time to get impressed!" – said Inuyasha in a bad mood, and he was right, as the more monsters they killed, the more seemed to come out.

- "Yeah, okay!" – said Miko as she fired another arrow.

After a while, they began getting exhausted. Inuyasha still had lots of energy to spend, but upon seeing the state of his friends…

- 'Shit, isn't there a better attack I can use?' – he thought furious at himself, but then, as if it was responding to his thoughts, Tessaiga coated itself on crystal. He looked at it fearfully – "Wh… what's happening to my sword…?" -

Sango's eyes became the size of saucers when she saw what was happening to Tessaiga...

- "It's the Kongousouha technique!" – she explained to Inuyasha – "Swing your sword to use it!" -

- "Great! Kongousouha!" – screamed Inuyasha as he swung his sword, making a barrage of diamonds fly off from it and pierce through the monsters. He was overjoyed upon seeing his "new" attack, and faced again the monsters he had before him.

- "This is great! Kongousouha!" – screamed Inuyasha again, launching another stream of diamonds and mincing the monsters that were in the way of the spears.

This encouraged the others, making them regain the vitality in their task of exterminating the monsters, and Shippou decided to not fall behind Inuyasha when it came to attacks:

- "Giant Top!" – he said as he rolled up and threw a small top, which suddenly enlarged and began trampling the monsters in front of him.

They continued like this for a while, with Inuyasha alternating between the Kongousouha, the Kaze no Kizu, Shippou alternating betwen his Kitsune-bi and Giant Top, Miko shooting off both kinds of arrows, and Sango fighting with Hiraikotsu and her wakizashi, until…

- "Looks like we're about to finish!" – said Inuyasha after another Kaze no Kizu. There weren't many monsters left at this point.

- "Don't get too confident! It looks like there's a larger monster here!" – said Sango because she had bad feeling about this situation, which ended coming true: a monster with human-like appearance, but with green and scaly skin and with the hair of a green darker than its skin, appeared out from nowhere.

- "Humans, a kitsune and a hanyou kid! You really think you can defeat me, the great Rizaryu-sama, in my territory!?" – roared the monster when he saw them.

- "What a weird name..." – said Shippou as he eyed it.

- "This place isn't yours" – screamed Sango – "Leave this temple at once!" -

- "I don't think so, and you won't be able to defeat me" – said Rizaryu in a mocking tone – "I'll have some fun with you, and you'll be a tasty dinner too!"

- "We'll see about that! Kaze no Kizu!" – screamed Inuyasha as he shot off a wave of energy, but the attack was repelled by a black transparent barrier that surrounded the monster.

- "What the heck!?" – said Inuyasha upon seeing this unpleasant surprise.

- "It has a barrier!" – exclaimed Sango upon seeing this – "We won't be able to defeat it like this!" -

- "What can we do, then?" – asked Miko shocked.

- "Give up and I'll finish you up swiftly..." – hissed the monster as if it wanted to eat them up already.

- "Never!" – screamed Sango at the monster, and then she turned to Inuyasha – "Inuyasha, you can defeat it, but you need to use another technique with your sword" -

- "But how?" – asked Inuyasha anxiously – "Totosai-sensei didn't teach me more attacks!" -

- "Have more confidence in yourself! Tessaiga has other powers; you just need to wake them up!" – said Sango to cheer him up.

Inuyasha decided to trust Sango and focused his thoughts in Tessaiga:

- "Okay... Tessaiga, please... show me what other abilities I can use with your help..." – thanks to Inuyasha's focus, Tessaiga changed to its red form, leaving him dumbfounded – "Whoa! And what's this for?" -

- "That lets you shoot a beam that destroys barriers!" – said Sango hurriedly – "now use it!" -

- "Ok... here it goes!" – said Inuyasha as he swung his sword.

- "What are you doing!?" – said Rizaryu when it saw what Inuyasha was doing.

The next instant, Tessaiga shot off a blue and yellow beam, which upon making contact with the barrier made it break like a piece of glass struck by a stone.

- "This can't be! My energy barrier was destroyed! You'll pay for this!" – screamed an enraged Rizaryu.

- "And what are you going to do, ugly spawn of hell?" – asked Inuyasha to mock it.

- "This!" – said as it shot a purple energy beam from its mouth. As the attack was so sudden, they didn't have time to avoid it, causing them to get caught by the beam and getting injured to the point of losing consciousness. The only one that could escape this was Inuyasha, as upon seeing what it was doing, he jumped over it and ended up behind it.

- "Sango-nee! Shippou! MIKO!" – screamed Inuyasha as he ran to his friends and tried to wake them up. Upon seeing how they weren't responding, tears began slipping out from his eyes, and he turned toward the monster – "Damn you.. YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" -

- "Oh, now the baby has begun crying?"- said Rizaryu in a mocking tone, and he then looked at Inuyasha with an evil smile – "Don't worry, as you'll be joining them now!" -

And having said this, it began charging energy and shot off a beam even stronger than the previous one.

- "Damn, what I'm gonna do now?" – asked Inuyasha with fury – 'Wait a sec…' -

That instant, the memories of his training sessions with Totosai from two days prior began coming back to him...

- "Remember this: the Kaze no Kizu isn't useful for attacking only. You can also use it for a more powerful technique called the Bakuryuuha. For that, you have to wait until the enemy uses an energy attack and strike the spot that seems the weirdest to you in that energy with the Kaze no Kizu, which'll let you defeat them with their own power" – explained Totosai with a severe gaze.

- "Okay, that's what I'll do" – nodded Inuyasha as he smiled.

- "I hope so. That attack can even end up saving your life" – said Totosai.

He suddenly came back to the present, and upon fixing his gaze on the beam, he noticed something strange, just like Totosai told him:

- 'That's it! I see a part of the beam darker than the rest! I know what I've gotta do!' – thought Inuyasha as he put himself in attack stance.

- "This is your end, trash! Kaze no Kizu!" – screamed Inuyasha as he launched an energy wave. This made the Kaze no Kizu fuse with the energy from Rizaryu's beam, forming a large whirlwind.

- "What've you done to my demonic energy!?" – the monster asked in horror.

- "Now it's one of my attacks, and it's called the Bakuryuuha!" – screamed Inuyasha in rage.

- "Nooo!" – screamed the monster as it was torn apart by the whirlwind. Its remains were scattered throughout the room and turned into dust after a few seconds.

- "I did it! But... the others..." – muttered Inuyasha as he fell to his knees again and the tears began appearing in his eyes – "It was like with mom… I couldn't do anything to protect or save them…" -

However, he heard they were still breathing, and hoping that they were still alive, he went to their side. When he got close to them, they began stirring and regaining consciousness.

- "Are you… okay…?" – asked Inuyasha scared.

- "Yeah. We have some bruises, but it's nothing serious" – smiled Miko. She had some scratches and bruises in her face, arms and feet, but she didn't have even light wounds, and while her kosode had gotten a bit dirty, it didn't have any torn or broken parts anywhere. The same thing could be said about Sango and Shippou: they had several scratches and bruises, and their clothes suffered a bit of damage, but as for the rest, they were fine.

- "You don't know how worried I was… I thought you'd died… because of me…" – he told Miko as he embraced her and began crying on her shoulder.

- "Don't worry. Everything'll be okay now" – said Miko gently as she stroked his back. When Inuyasha finally calmed down, they separated from each other and he stood up as he looked at her with a smile of relief and joy.

- "And what about the monster?" – asked Sango as she looked around.

- "I defeated it using the Bakuryuuha" – said Inuyasha as he puffed his chest with pride.

- "You used the Bakuryuuha!?" – Sango was so surprised she couldn't believe what she had just heard – "It's amazing that you could use that attack!" –

- "Thanks!" – said Inuyasha to Sango. However, at that moment, he saw an insect… A Saimyoushou to be more precise… - "Sango-nee, what's that bug?" -

- "What bug!?" – asked Sango alarmed as she turned around to see, hoping it wasn't what she thought. However, when she noticed her suspicious proved true, her face went pale – "No!" -

She tried to kill it throwing her Hiraikotsu to it, but the insect escaped before the boomerang could have reached it.

- "Damn, it ran away!" – she said enraged as she fell to her knees and punched the floor of the temple.

- "What was that, Sango-nee?" – asked Miko very alarmed upon seeing Sango's reaction.

- "Don't mind it for now" – said Sango in a sharp tone. However, she was beyond terrified – 'Shit; now Naraku knows about this. We'll have to be more careful from now on' -

At that moment, Miroku ran inside the temple carrying something shining in his right hand.

- "I got them! I got the medallions!" – said he joyfully as he showed them a silver and a golden medallion, both adorned with several glyphs and each sustained by a piece of string of the same color as their respective medallion. The center of the golden medallion had a ruby embedded on it, while the silver medallion had a sapphire in that place.

- "Thanks, Houshi-sama" – said Sango with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm, and before Miroku had the chance to ask why, she explained it to him in whispers – "Naraku is aware about what happened to Inuyasha and Kagome. We'll have to protect them even more now" -

- "What!?" – asked Miroku very flustered – "But how…!?" -

- "One of his Saimyoushou appeared here a moment ago and it escaped before I could kill it..." – admitted Sango very mad at herself.

- "I see… but don't beat yourself up over it… this was bound to happen at some point" – said Miroku to cheer her up. Sango didn't seem to be very convinced by this, but still smiled at him in gratitude.

- "Ah!" – exclaimed Inuyasha and Miko upon seeing what Miroku had on his hands.

- "Are these the medallions we were looking for?" – asked Miko excitedly.

- "Yes, that's right" – said Miroku as he smiled gently, but he then turned to look at Sango with a mysterious expression – "However, there's something odd about this: there wasn't anything guarding the cave."

- "Maybe the monster we just defeated was the guardian of that cave?" – asked Sango.

- "It's possible. And that isn't all: I noticed there were some glyphs engraved near the place where I found the medallions, and they were very similar to the ones that were carved in the rocks in the cave of the springs. Perhaps they are related in some way, or…" – Miroku said something, but no one could hear him because Shippou began screaming at that moment: a strange piece of glass that seemed to have come from a mirror had fallen from the roof in front of Miko and Inuyasha, and it was reflecting their true forms.

- "Who is... that girl?" – asked Miko weirded out as she looked at her reflection: an older girl with her same face, hair and eye color; but she had her hair loose and wore a strange outfit she didn't remember ever seeing before.

- "Is that... me?" – asked Inuyasha with the same voice tone as Miko upon seeing his reflection: it was himself but older-looking. The next instant, the mirror shard shattered by itself, and Miko and Inuyasha began trembling uncontrollably.

- "What... what's happening to me?" – asked Miko as she fell to her knees and began grabbing her head, as if she was suffering from a strong headache.

Sango and Miroku were at the border of a nervous breakdown upon seeing the state in which their friends were, unable to understand what was happening to them, until Miroku finally noticed what it was…

- "Now! As they have seen their true forms, they have started to fall into insanity!" – screamed her alarmed as he turned to look at Sango. Sango immediately took the silver medallion from Miroku's hands and ran to Miko, while Shippou had gotten paralyzed with fear.

- "Quick! Put that medallion around Inuyasha's neck, as I'll take care of Kagome!" – she said in an authoritative tone as she did all she could to put the medallion around her friend's neck.

With some difficulty, they managed to put the medallions around the necks of both children, and once they already had them on, they stopped holding their heads, letting their arms to the mercy of gravity, their eyes appeared blurred out, and they began gazing at the distance for some instants, until…

- "Sa... san... Sango..." – muttered Miko with an empty and distant voice.

- "Miko, are you okay?" – asked Sango anxiously.

The shine returned to the eyes of Miko and Inuyasha, both stopped trembling, and a few seconds later, they stood up again to then look at their surroundings in confusion.

- "Sango-chan, why are you calling me that?" – she asked confused – "You know my name's Kagome" -

- "You've recovered your memory!" – said Sango overjoyed as she embraced her.

- "Wait a sec..." – said Kagome when she noticed there was something weird here – "Why happened to my voice? Why I'm feeling different? Why are you taller now? And where are we?"

- "How weird, I feel like I've been sleeping for a long while..." – said Inuyasha looking around himself weirded out – "Wait… what's up with my voice, and why I'm feeling so different?" -

He then looked at Kagome from top to down, and blushed violently...

- "Kagome with clothes from this era? She looks pretty like this, but she looks like a kid now… I better try to pretend I don't care about it…." – he thought in a rush, but due to the nerves, he screwed up the whole thing very badly – "Kagome, what's up with you? Why do you look so silly?" -

Kagome turned toward Inuyasha with an enraged face as soon as she heard these words...

- "You're the one to talk, as you look like you shrunk or something! And why are you saying I look silly?" – she asked very angrily. To check what Inuyasha was talking about, she went up to Sango, took out a small mirror from the backpack she was carrying at look at herself on it. Sango couldn't do much to stop her due to how angry Kagome was.

- "Aaah! What happened to me? …And why I'm dressed like this!?" – asked Kagome as soon as she could speak again after the impression she received from her "little" change in appearance. Inuyasha then looked at his reflection too.

- "Wha!? No way, I look exactly as when I was a kid!" – screamed Inuyasha, leaving Miroku and Sango dumbfounded: by the look of it, they didn't remember anything that happened after the drank the water from the spring.

- "Don't you remember anything of the things you've done the last five days?" – asked Miroku to sort this situation out.

- "What do you mean, Miroku-sama? The last thing I remember before this was that we entered that cave, and I saw a weird pink glow!" – replied Kagome angrily, but she then fell silent because the memories of these five days began coming back to her: she and Inuyasha playing together happily, her training with Kaede, the time she was sick, the singing practice, the festival, and the little romantic scene between both – "Wait… I think I remember something, but it feels more like it was a dream than anything… I see myself training at many things with Kaede-obaasan, being sick, and singing in a festival and… I can't say it!" -

She said this because she was about to say that she and Inuyasha had kissed, and she couldn't bear with embarrassment of saying this aloud.

- "I'm the same, but I see myself doing other things like training with old man Totosai, searching for ingredients for a medicine, and..." – he shut up for the same reason as Kagome – "Other things…" -

Then, Sango went up to Inuyasha: it was time to know if he had managed to come to a decision regarding "that" after the recent happenings.

- "Inuyasha, I need to ask you something" – she told him gently. Given the time she had treating them like children, she couldn't just put aside this behavior.

- "What's it?" – asked Inuyasha as he eyed her.

- "Who is the most important person to you now?" – asked Sango with the same voice tone.

- "Why you ask that, Sango?" – he asked as his face turned red slowly.

- "It's just that I'm curious about it..." – replied Sango as she laughed about how embarrassed he was getting.

Inuyasha just fixed his gaze on the floor...

- "I don't know... I can't say..." – it was all that came out from his lips, but that only managed to enrage Kagome.

- "Are you saying that because you care more about Kikyou than me!? Despite the promise we made to each other under the stars!?" – she screamed, as she was losing her hold over herself due to anger.

- "It isn't like that! I mean, it's... Why you always have to misunderstand things!?" – said Inuyasha, who was getting himself angry too due to Kagome's unexpected reaction.

- "I'm not misunderstanding anything!" – replied Kagome, and before Inuyasha had a chance to talk back – "And shut up! Sit down! Sit down! Sit down! Sit down! Sit down! SIT DOWN!"

Inuyasha ended buried in a large hole after the series of "Sit Down"s that Kagome gave him.

- "I think it wasn't a good idea to ask him that" – whispered Miroku to Sango after a brief sigh.

- "I couldn't help it. I wanted to ask him that when he regained his memory" – replied her in whispers with an embarrassed voice.

After a while panting in anger, Kagome had cooled down a bit, but that sensation was replaced quickly by a worse one: panic. She had the meeting with her friends in a few days, and if they saw her like she was at the moment, she only imagined a catastrophe as the final outcome.

- "And what I'm supposed to do now!?" – she asked scared as she looked at Sango – "I can't go back to my time like this!" -

- "But should go see your family" – said Sango gently in an attempt to calm her down – "They must be very worried about you…" -

- "Maybe, but my mom will faint if she looks at how I'm right now, especially if she sees my feet!" – said Kagome scared as she pointed to them: she had them smeared of dirt and mud.

- "Even with that so-innocent appearance you're still as cruel as ever, Kagome" – said Inuyasha from the hole. He jumped out from it and landed right in front of Kagome, looking at her with irritation – "I was thinking about going along with you to your time to not make you go through this alone, but I'm thinking I better forget about it! I don't wanna help you after what you just did!" -

This really affected Kagome: she needed more than ever to have Inuyasha at her side. She bowed down in front of him and began hurriedly apologizing…

- "I'm sorry! I was stupid for doing that, even more after I defended you from Shippou when we lost our memories… Please, forgive me!" – this made everyone stare at her, as she was behaving exactly how she was when she still didn't have her memories: when she still was "Miko". Still, this seemed to have calmed Inuyasha down, as he smiled:

- "Okay, it's settled then. I'll go with you!" -

- "Inuyasha… thanks!" – she said as she stood up and ran to embrace him. However, they separated almost immediately as they blushed.

- "Okay then, let's go back to the village so you can go to the well" – said Miroku as they began walking to the temple's exit.

- "And you two don't even think about taking the medallions off!" – said Sango severely to Kagome and Inuyasha – "If you take them off or if you lose them, you'll lose your memories again!" -

- "Okay okay, we know" – said Kagome annoyed. She didn't like at all the idea of being treated like a child just because of her current appearance. As for Inuyasha, he only made a face of extreme annoyance after Sango said that.

They took the rest of the afternoon going down the mountain trail and going through the village, and by the time they were approaching Kaede's village, it was dusk already.

- "Kagome, this might soon stupid, but... I've got the feeling that we met before we met each other at the Goshinboku…" – said Inuyasha thoughtfully.

- "Inuyasha, I'm feeling the same. But maybe that's just an effect of what just happened to us" – said Kagome, thinking it was just another effect of the water they drank.

- "Well then, next stop, the village" – announced Miroku cheerfully, which took both away from their thoughts.

- "I just hope you won't go back to your old habits, Houshi-sama" – said Sango as she glared at Miroku angrily.

- "Ehhh... yes, Sango..." – said Miroku as he made a shameless face.

- "We'll see about that soon" – muttered Shippou as she looked at him with annoyance, while Inuyasha and Kagome just sighed in response.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Dearest)

The Mysterious Springs - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Rebirth of a Love

(Opening: I Am)

The following day, both Miko and Inuyasha had quite a hectic day. Miko spent it learning to recognize and mix medicinal herbs, meditating (and falling asleep during it) and practicing archery, while Inuyasha had several kinds of exercises and fencing lessons, although he couldn't transform Tessaiga into its true shape yet. Once night came, they could only go to sleep until the next day, in which they would resume their respective trainings. The next morning, both were having training with their weapons again…

- "Go!" – Miko screamed as she shot an arrow, but the arrow ended falling down in front of the target she was using to practice. They were in a small plain outside the village and near a forest.

- "Not again!" – she said very disappointed.

- "You have to learn how to grasp and aim your arrows better" – Kaede sighed upon seeing how hard it was for the girl to understand the basics of archery – "Honestly speaking, I wouldn't mind it so much if at least you could make a Purifying Arrow…" -

- "Ok, I'll try it again" – Miko said as she readied other arrow. When she released the string, the arrow covered itself in a shining blue aura, making Miko fall to the ground from the impression and miss the target again.

- "Kaede-obaasan, did you see what I did?" – Miko asked excitedly.

- "Yes, I see you're improving very quickly" – Kaede congratulated her as she helped Miko to stand up again – "Continue like this, and I guarantee you will have it mastered very soon" -

- "Yes, thanks!" – she said as she made a short bow before Kaede. Then, she turned to face the target and readied other arrow – "I'll try one last time" –

She shot other arrow, and to her surprise, it didn't only cover itself on a blue aura, but it also struck the exact center of the target.

- "Yeah! At last I did it!" – Miko screamed as she jumped up and down in happiness.

- "Splendid, child! Splendid!" – Kaede told her smiling as she put her right hand on the child's shoulder – "We've finished for today, so you can go play now" –

- "Yes! Thank you!" – Miko bowed before her and ran off back to the village.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was training with Totosai inside the forest. Totosai was an old man dressed in a ragged green kosode and hakama with black markings, was almost entirely bald save for a tied up bun of white hair, had pointed ears, white beard and whiskers and large black eyes.

- "Remember, Tessaiga will only transform if it feels that you want to use it to protect someone else" – Totosai told Inuyasha while the small hanyou swung the sword fiercely, but without getting any results.

- "I'm trying to concentrate in that idea, but I can't do it!" – he replied in frustration.

- "Foolish boy. Just try swinging the sword once more, and let's see what you do" – Totosai said in a tired voice.

- "Ok, here it goes" – and he then swung the sword, which changed into its true shape.

- "At last I did it!" – Inuyasha said filled with happiness, but the sword returned to its battered stated an instant later.

- "Argh!" – he roared as he swung the sword enraged. This time, it did transform and stuck on its true shape.

- "I did it!" – Inuyasha said to then begin jumping joyfully. He then began looking at the magnificent sword he had in his hand.

- "Whoa! I didn't expect it to be so large and so light too!" – he said while he held the sword aloft to examine it carefully.

- 'What strength! Even as a kid, he can hold the sword in its true form without any problem!' – Totosai thought scared. He then went to Inuyasha with a smile on his face:

- "Heh, well done, but don't think we're finished yet. Now, it's time to practice the Kaze no Kizu" -

- "And how I do it?" – Inuyasha asked in amazement.

- "Do you see the blue waves around the sword's blade?" – Totosai asked for the boy to take notice of them - "Just put your energy into the sword while concentrating on them and swing it" -

- "Okay..." – Inuyasha said as he closed his eyes and concentrated into his sword.

- "Kaze no Kizu!" – he screamed as he swung the sword hard downwards. From the point where the blade made contact with the ground, it generated three golden waves of energy which then scattered and destroyed the trees they were using for practice.

- "I can't believe it! I did it!" – Inuyasha exclaimed in surprise.

- "Excellent! I see you've got a natural talent for this! Now go to rest. We'll continue with this tomorrow" – Totosai told him.

- Yeah!" – Inuyasha said as he bowed before Totosai to then run off to the village.

He and Miko had agreed to meet up in front of the river that crossed the entire village and under a tree beside it once their respective trainings had finished for the day. By now, they had already turned into great friends again, and it could be even said that they were getting along better than how they used to be.

- "How did the sword training go?" – Miko asked him after they met up and sat down under the tree.

- "Great! At last I could do the Kaze no Kizu and transform Tessaiga into its true form!" – Inuyasha excitedly told her.

- "Wow! Congratulations! You've made a lot of progress in the two days we've been training!" – Miko told him.

- "Thanks!" – Inuyasha said irradiating a lot of happiness – "And how did the classes with Kaede-sama go?" -

- "We had archery practice, and I didn't just manage to hit a target with an arrow… I even managed to make a Purifying Arrow!"- Miko told him very happy, but she then began coughing.

- "Cool!" – Inuyasha said smiling, but then his smile turned into a concerned face when he saw Miko coughing – "By the way, are you all right? You look a little pale"

- "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just a little tired" – Miko told him smiling, but she began coughing again.

- "You should go and rest for a bit then" – Inuyasha suggested a little worried – "And besides, that coughing doesn't look like something good" –

- "Yeah, thanks. Don't worry" – Miko told him as she stood up and began walking to Kaede's hut. Inuyasha followed her with his eyes.

Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango were watching the scene from behind a nearby bush.

- "Hmm, they lost their memories, but they still haven't forgotten their feelings for each other" – Miroku said amazed.

- "It's incredible the way the heart can store the most precious feelings of a person in that way" – Sango said impressed.

- "Yes, Sango..." – Miroku said in a deep tone, but he just did this in a failed attempt to hide the fact that he was purposely putting his hand where he shouldn't.

- "Kyaah! How do you dare…!?" – Sango screamed as she gave the perverted monk a good slap on the face.

- "I'm sorry, Sango" – he said in all seriousness. However, he added thoughtfully - "Miko didn't seem a little strange?" -

That seemed to calm down Sango, as she began worrying about if Miko was okay.

- "Now you say it, you're right. Inuyasha noticed something weird about her too" – she said as she looked at the ground for a moment. She then faced Miroku again – "Shall we go and check on her?" -

- "Yes, we should" – he answered as they began making their way to the hut.

But when they went to see Miko, they found her lying in her futon, breathing with great difficulty, and additionally…

- "What a high fever!" – Sango said after she put a hand on Miko's forehead. She then took a cloth soaked in cold water and put it on the younger girl's forehead - "Why didn't you tell anyone?" -

- "I'm sorry… I didn't want to worry you, Houshi-sama, Sango-nee…" – Miko apologized with a very sad voice as her eyes began filling with tears. Both she and Inuyasha had gotten used to calling Sango that way because of the way in which she always looked out for them, even if they weren't related by blood.

- "Don't mind it… but make sure to tell us whenever you don't feel well, okay?" – Sango said so Miko wouldn't worry about it, and softly caressed the girl's face, which made her smile again with relief despite feeling so badly. Sango wiped off the tears from her eyes, and then went to where Kaede stored her herbs and began rummaging through them, trying to find a way to help her. However, this only finished with her sighing in disappointment – "Looks like we don't have any medicinal herbs that can help us much now…" -

- "Too bad we can't… you know, Sango" – Miroku said in a mysterious way.

- "What are you talking about?" – Miko asked, but she then began coughing.

Sango understood that Miroku meant sending Miko back to her era.

- "About nothing in particular..." – an annoyed Sango said as she threw an angry glance at Miroku. She then turned back to see Miko, sighed and began checking the medicines that were inside the backpack, but this only had the same results as when she checked the herbs – "I don't think any of these medicines will be of help right now. There's none for curing a cold" -

And as she said this, Inuyasha ran into the hut visibly alarmed.

- "Inuyasha!" - Miroku and Sango said surprised.

- "Where's... where's Miko?" – he asked gasping for breath.

- "She's here. Looks like she caught a cold" – Miroku told him in a grave manner.

- "Fool! Why didn't you tell me anything?" – Inuyasha said enraged when he saw the bad shape in which Miko was.

- "I'm sorry… you looked so happy… that I didn't want to spoil it…" - she said saddened to then begin coughing again.

Inuyasha just sighed. He tried to calm down a little to not upset Miko any further, and saddened, he said:

- "Don't mind it. I know how to make a medicine for this thanks to my mother, but I don't think I can get the ingredients. I wouldn't be a match for the youkai that live where they can be found all by myself" -

- "Sango should go with you. As she is a slayer, she could be of help" – Miroku said as he put a know-it-all face.

- "Maybe, Houshi-sama; but it'd be better if you went with Inuyasha instead" – Sango growled as she gave him a horrible face.

- "Hurry up! I need to get them fast, or Miko could get worse!" – Inuyasha said in desperation as he looked how Miko was lying in the futon.

- "Okay, I'll go with you!" – Miroku said with disappointment - "Sango, please take care of Miko and Shippou!" -

- "Understood!" – Sango said as she watched them running out of the hut.

- "Inuyasha…" – Miko said amazed, but she then put on a small smile when she saw how much they cared for her. She coughed a little again and turned to the side to try and sleep for a while. Sango stood at her side watching over her, and ready to change the cloth when the water on it had gotten warmer.

On the other hand, Shippou was hidden behind a window and from there; he had been watching everything that had happened inside the hut.

- 'Perfect! Now these two are gone, it's my chance to win Kagome's heart!' – he thought as he jumped down to the ground.

Meanwhile…

Inuyasha and Miroku were fighting against all sorts of different youkai, in several places, as they sought the ingredients they needed to make the medicine for Miko. They had to through a beach, a lake deep in the mountains, among other places, and they rode Kirara to do this so it would take them the less time possible. Inuyasha was very impressed by the way Miroku fought, but he also tried to make himself useful with his Sankontessou claw attack and the Tessaiga, even if he couldn't remember well how to fight. He decided to not use the Kaze no Kizu because that would have obliterated the youkai viscera he needed.

On the other hand, in the village…

Shippou had spent the afternoon picking up flowers from the plains and forests nearby and using them to make a flower crown for Miko, and he was now in route to giving it to her…

- "I hope she likes this gift" – Shippou told himself with a smile as he took out a crown made of white and pink flowers from the inner pockets of his kosode and went inside Kaede's hut.

- "How's Miko?" – he asked cheerfully while also trying to keep up appearances on being worried about her.

- "She's resting right now. The fever has gone down a little, but don't wake her up until Inuyasha and Houshi-sama have returned, okay?" – Sango told him gently while she showed him how Miko was sleeping despite the difficulties she was having breathing. However, her worried face turned into one of suspicion when she saw the flower crown Shippou had in his hands - "And what do you have there?"

- "What?" – he noticed what Sango was looking at and put the crown behind himself - "Uh! Nothing, nothing!" -

- "Hmmm... Well, then go play. Miko needs rest now to get better" – a suddenly severe Sango told him.

- "Y-y-yes, S-Sango" – he said scared. He turned around as if he were to go outside, but he couldn't do more than clenching his teeth and rolling his small hands into fists to then think in irritation - 'Shucks, I couldn't do anything!' -

That precise instant, Inuyasha and Miroku ran into the hut and trampled him. Shippou ended up dizzy near one of the walls.

- "We're back! We've gotta boil these things!" – Inuyasha said as he showed Sango the ingredients for the medicine: he had returned carrying back all sorts of youkai viscera in bags, as well as some crabs and fishes.

- "Okay, okay! Calm down!" – Sango said surprised.

They dedicated themselves to the task of cutting down the ingredients for the medicine in pieces and putting them to boil during a while. Finally, they put the resulting brew in a deep bowl. So when it was ready, Sango looked at Inuyasha with a smile and gave to him the bowl with the medicine:

- "Now go and wake her up to make her drink it" –

- "O-okay… I'll go…" – Inuyasha said as he blushed. Miko seemed to have felt this, as she began moving and slightly opened her eyes when he got closer.

- "Miko, are you awake?" – Inuyasha asked her gently when he saw this.

- "Yeah..." – she replied with a voice that revealed how badly she was feeling.

- "That's good. Well then, drink this" – Inuyasha told her as he handed to her the bowl with the brew. Miko accepted it and sat up in the futon to be able to drink it.

- "What's it?" – she asked Inuyasha with a disconcerted face, and she smelled it - "Ugh, it smells awful!" -

- "The worse it smells and tastes, the more effective it is! Just gulp it all down and by tomorrow you'll be like new!" – Inuyasha guaranteed her with a smile.

- "Okay. If it's as good as you say, then I'll try to stand the bad taste" – she said as she smiled back at Inuyasha, and after plugging her nostrils, she drank the entirety of the bowl. As soon as she finished, she put on a face of repugnance.

- "Yuck! It tastes horrible!" –

Inuyasha just smiled when he saw her face, and put one of his hands on one of Miko's shoulders while with the other he took the bowl from her hands and put it on the wooden floor.

- "Well, you better go back to sleep, as that should be enough for you to be cured" – Inuyasha said to her in a supporting way, and he then turned around to Sango - "Sango-nee, are you going to take care of Miko tonight?" -

Sango had an idea that instant and gently smiled at Inuyasha:

- "Why don't you try taking care of her this time, Inuyasha?" -

Inuyasha blushed and began thinking about it. Then, he told Sango as he looked at the floor with some embarrassment…

- "Well... I don't think it'd be a bad idea" -

- "Okay, then you'll be in charge of taking care of Miko, understood?" – Sango told him.

- "Yeah" – Inuyasha answered.

After they ate dinner and went to sleep, Inuyasha awakened every now and then to check up that Miko was fine. In one of these times…

- "Inuyasha, are you awake?" – Miko asked him cautiously as she sat up on the futon.

- "Yeah, I couldn't sleep," – Inuyasha replied to her, trying to reassure her that nothing was happening - "why the question?" -

- "It's just that..." – Miko blushed and joined her hands at about the height of her knees - "I wanted to thank you for wanting to take care of me" -

- "Don't worry about that! Just be at ease so you can get better!" – Inuyasha told her as he blushed too.

- "Yes. I wish that we can go outside and play together again tomorrow" – Miko said, and then they both went back to sleep.

The next morning, Inuyasha was the first one in waking up. He noticed the others had already gone out and thus, he sat down beside Miko's futon to watch over her. He was still worried, although she was now breathing normally and had a smile in her face: she seemed to be having a very pleasant dream. After a while, she awakened…

- "Ah, I feel so good!" – she said as she stood up and stretched – "Thanks, Inuyasha! Your medicine is really effective!"

- "Yep, my mother taught me how to make it" – Inuyasha replied as he smiled.

- "She must be a great person" – Miko commented as she sat down beside him. However, this only made Inuyasha's face to get gloomy…

- "She was..." -

- "What… do you mean?" – Miko asked very disconcerted, but having a hunch about what had happened.

- "She died several years ago..." – Inuyasha replied, his face showing he wanted to cry, but he was trying to bear it.

- "Huh?" – Miko got all scared, her eyes began filling with tears, and then she prostrated herself before him to apologize. That was the very last thing she wanted to happen – "Please, forgive me! I didn't mean to make you feel like this!" -

- "Don't worry... It was long ago, after all..." – Inuyasha said with a very faint voice as he looked at the floor.

Miko fell silent beside him for a while, trying to think up of something to do, and finally she asked:

- "Eh... ummm... don't you want to go out and play?" -

- "Yeah!" – Inuyasha replied all cheered up again, and they both ran outside.

Once outside, they met up with Shippou under the same tree below which they both had sat down the previous day.

- "Hi, Shippou!" – Miko cheerfully greeted him.

- "Miko... I'd like to give you this..." – Shippou shyly told her as he gave to Miko the flower crown.

Miko's face lit up when she saw the crown, and she took it from Shippou's hands with trembling fingers.

- "How pretty! Thanks, Shippou!" – she said as she put the crown on her head.

- "It looks great on you!" – Shippou told her.

- "Thanks!" – Miko told him with a big smile. However, this also made Inuyasha's jealousy explode…

- "Hey fox; don't dare to try anything funny with Miko! – he screamed at Shippou in rage.

And to make things worse, this in exchange caused the hatred that Shippou had for Inuyasha due to the latter always hitting him to flood out…

- "You're no one to say that to a true youkai, stupid and insignifcant hanyou!" – Shippou screamed at him.

This left Miko and Inuyasha shocked. However, it undoubtedly was a low blow to Inuyasha, who put a weird face, as in the middle of both sadness and rage, and he then ran off. Shippou smiled satisfied at his handiwork, but he would end up paying a high price for it…

- "Inuyasha!" – Miko screamed while trying to stop him in vain, and then she turned enraged towards Shippou - "How could you say these things to him!?" -

- "I... umm... I..." – Shippou muttered, as he couldn't even speak due to how scared he was.

Miko was so furious that if the cause was Inuyasha and they were their normal selves, most likely she would have said "Sit down" at him until she was out of breath.

- "Shut up! I won't listen to your excuses, and I never want to see you ever again!" – she screamed at Shippou as she took off the flower crown and threw it at him. She then ran off after Inuyasha - "Inuyasha, wait!" -

She left a saddened and impressed Shippou behind.

- "Wha... wha... Waaah!" – he began crying - "I ruined yet other love! First it was Mizuki; and now it was Kagome!" -

He then began hitting himself on the head with both hands as he screamed - "I'm a fool!"-

Then, Miroku's and Sango's hands shot out from a nearby bush and pulled Shippou inside. When Shippou became aware of what was happening, he noticed that Miroku and Sango were looking at him in a very scary way.

- "¿W-w-what are you doing?" – Shippou asked, scared out of his wits.

- "Sorry, Shippou, but we can't have you interfering in our plans" – Sango told him.

- "That's correct, so you better keep away from Kagome and Inuyasha... or else" – Miroku said as he put on a mysterious face.

- "And what are you planning?" – he asked scared.

- "You'll know tonight" – Sango replied in the same mysterious tone as Miroku.

Meanwhile, Miko continued running after Inuyasha, trying to calm him down.

- "Inuyasha, wait for me!" – Miko screamed in desperation.

- "Please... Leave me alone..." – Inuyasha said with a tearful voice.

- "I can't!" – Miko replied, who herself was on the verge of crying too - "Shippo might be an idiot, but we don't think that way of you!" -

Then, Inuyasha crashed into someone, making him fall backwards to the ground due to how fast he was running. The first thing he did was asking:

- "Who hit me?" -

- "Are you okay?" – Miko asked worriedly as she stopped at his side.

- "So you're the new kids, right?" – the person into who Inuyasha had crashed asked: it was a girl a little taller than they both}.

- "Hmm... you are?" – Miko doubtfully asked her.

- "My name is Asagi, and I'm one of the kids from Hourai Island" – the girl introduced herself as she put her hand over her chest.

- "Ah, yeah! Kaede-sama told us about you!" – Miko exclaimed upon remembering how Kaede had commented about this in the training she had two days prior: they were a group of hanyou children that had come from a faraway land to live there, and that they most likely would meet soon.

As for Inuyasha, he had his eyes fixed in Asagi due to her ears:

- "You're also a… a…" – he tried asking, as he seemed to have lost control of his voice.

- "Yeah, I'm a hanyou. All the kids from that place are hanyou, and I didn't think any people would accept us outside of the island" – Asagi replied cheerfully.

- "I heard about that place once… wasn't that where youkai, humans and hanyou could live together in peace?" – Inuyasha pensively asked.

- "That's how it used to be, at least until a group of youkai that called themselves the Shitoushin appeared and killed everyone living there, leaving only the hanyou to use them as sacrifices and extract their energies. My turn was about to come up, but in the last moment, some travelers came, defeated the Shitoushin and saved us. We've been living here since that time" – Asagi narrated with pride.

- "That story sounds very familiar, but I don't know why… I've never heard it before…" – Miko said deep in thought, as if she had forgotten something important.

- "Could you tell me your names, please?" – Asagi gently asked them.

- "Eh, yes, sorry... My name is Miko" – Miko replied a little embarrassed as she bowed before her.

- "I'm Inuyasha" – he said as he bowed too.

When she heard their names, Asagi corroborated that what Kaede had told her about what had happened to Kagome and Inuyasha was true. She already had begun having suspicions on this when she first saw Inuyasha in his current state.

- 'Kaede-sama was right about this... I'll have to be very careful with whatever I say now' – Asagi thought, but she decided to still go ahead with what she had planned to tell them. It was the reason for which she was seeking them in the first place - "Well, the village will be holding a festival tonight, and we're going to sing a traditional song from our island and well… I was wondering if you'd like to sing it with us" -

Both Miko and Inuyasha were so impressed by having something like this offered to them, that they couldn't believe it:

- "What?" -

- "Are you serious?" -

- "Yes! Then, what do you say? Will you do it?" – Asagi asked them again.

- "Of course!" – they both replied with a large smile.

- "By the way, where are the other children?" – Miko asked upon noticing that Asagi was all by herself.

- "They're on their way here right now" – she said cheerfully, and when she saw them coming - "Ah, here they are!" -

The other five children from the island arrived shortly later. They were Ai, Moegi, Roku, Dai, and Shion.

- "Onee-chan!" – Ai screamed when she was close enough to Asagi.

- "Hi, guys," – Asagi greeted them - "is all ready for tonight?" -

- "Yeah, nee-chan" – Roku replied to then take notice of Inuyasha and Miko's presence - "They two are..." -

- "Yeah, they're the new ones: Inuyasha and Miko. They're gonna join us in our song" – Asagi replied while the two aforementioned bowed as they smiled in order to introduce themselves.

- "Pleased to meet you" – both said in unison.

- "Tee hee, it's the same for us… Inuyasha-onii'chan and Ka…" – Ai began with a little laughter, but when she saw how Asagi got all scared behind Miko when Ai began saying the name, she corrected herself at the last second with a bit of nervousness – "…Err, Miko-onee'chan" –

- "Hmm, are you okay, Ai-chan?" – Miko asked a bit worried when she saw Ai's behavior. Asagi just sighed in relief behind her.

- "It's nothing. It's that you remind me of other person" – Ai said blushing as she smiled.

- "She's the youngest of us, so there are times where she gets a little confused" – Moegi explained as she smiled shyly.

- "Well, that's no problem" – Inuyasha said as he patted Ai's head. She simply smiled in satisfaction from this.

- 'Well, at least dog boy won't be able to continue hitting us'- Dai thought when he saw how they were behaving, and then said aloud – "Shouldn't we go and rehearse?"

- "Yeah. They both have to learn the lyrics to the song" – Moegi said in reference to both Miko and Inuyasha.

- "Do you think it'll go well?" – Shion asked a bit scared.

- "Come on, Shion. Don't be such a pessimist" – Asagi put a hand on his shoulder to cheer him up.

- "It's gonna turn fine!" – Ai said cheerfully.

- "Ok, let's go then!" – Miko enthusiastically said. They all began going to the place where they would rehearse, excepting for Inuyasha, so Miko decided to go and see what was happening to him.

- "Are you okay?" – she asked, a bit concerned about him.

- "I've never sung in front of anyone, so..." – Inuyasha replied as he looked at the ground, trembling - "I'm a little scared…" -

- "Don't worry. If you can slay large youkai, you should be able to sing a song too" – Miko said as she held one of Inuyasha's hands.

They got going, and after a little while walking in silence, they arrived at the place where the main attraction of the festival would be held. It was a large stone stage in front of a lake located behind the village.

Miko was very impressed, as she had never seen such a large lake in her life.

- "Wow! What a great lake! It'd be a pleasant place to sit down by!" -

And thanks to that, Inuyasha's rosary shone and made him crash face-first into the ground.

- "Ugh, what was that!?" – he said with fury when he managed to stand up again.

- "Are you okay?" – a concerned Miko asked. She had covered her mouth with her hands due to how much this had scared her.

- "Yeah, but I felt that something in this rosary pulled me to the ground when you said these words" - he replied in a puzzled tone while he pulled a bit of the rosary so Miko could see it.

Miko simply gave him back a puzzled expression.

- "Words? Do you mean…Sit down?" – she said, and this made Inuyasha crash into the ground again as he groaned from the pain.

Miko panicked from this.

- "Aah! I'm sorry! I didn't know that saying that would harm you!" – as she ran to help him stand up again and give him a hug, as she felt very guilty for this.

- "It's okay, don't worry. Just don't say it while I'm around" – Inuyasha said as he hugged her back.

- "Are you two finished playing?" – Asagi asked a bit angry. They both just apologized with a bit of embarrassment.

They then began rehearsing: Asagi, Inuyasha, Miko and Ai were the singers, while the others played instruments. Dai played the flute, Moegi the lyre and both Roku and Shion played a koto and a biwa. Once this attempt ended…

- "We're doing pretty well so far, but... Miko, you have to fully memorize the lyrics; and Inuyasha, you're singing too low. Try to make your voice a little louder so we can hear it better" – Asagi told them in a severe manner.

- "Yeah, okay" – Inuyasha replied, who was still having a little case of stage fright.

- "I'll do everything I can" – Miko said as she struggled to memorize the rest of the lyrics.

They began rehearsing again, and this time, they fared much better. This left Asagi very satisfied with the results.

- "This time we did it pretty well! If we do it like this during the real thing tonight, it'll be perfect!" – she said cheerfully.

- "Sounds wonderful!" – Miko said as she clapped her hands in happiness.

- "That's great!" - Inuyasha said rolling one of his hands into a fist.

- "Onee-chan, we're finished?" - Ai asked Asagi with a smile on her face.

- "Yeah. We can rest until it's time for us to sing" – she replied to her sister as she went to her and caressed her head.

- "I'm so glad!" – Miko said. However, she was assaulted by a sudden thought, and thus she went to Asagi's side - "Umm, Asagi-chan... I want to ask you something…" -

- "What is it, Miko-chan?" – Asagi gently asked.

- "What does this song mean to you? It's very beautiful, but it also sounds very sad… especially because of what the lyrics say…" – Miko asked very worried.

Asagi simply gazed at the sky with a sad smile on her face before answering - "This song is a prayer, and its lyrics are a very ancient poem from our island. It means that our parents sacrificed themselves to become a protective light for us" -

- "I see. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad by asking about it" – Miko said as her face saddened.

- "It's okay" – Asagi gently smiled at her, to show her it was nothing to be worried about – "Anyway, our island doesn't exist anymore, and our parents will continue watching over us wherever we are" -

Inuyasha had been listening on the entire conversation, and decided to do something to cheer them up:

- "Wanna go play? We've got a ball in Kaede-sama's hut" – he said as he smiled

All the others answered - "Yeah!" – so they went to grab the ball and spent the rest of the afternoon playing. However, Miko noticed that Inuyasha seemed a bit uneasy for some reason, but she didn't learn what the reason was until night came…

- "No! I don't wanna go out like this!" – Inuyasha said after it had gotten dark: it was a new moon night, so he had lost his hanyou powers and appearance, and now looked like a typical human boy.

- "What happened to your hair and ears?" – Miko asked amazed. This was the first time she saw Inuyasha in his human form, and like this, he looked like a completely different person. Most likely she wouldn't have recognized him if she hadn't seen the transformation with her own eyes.

- "It's due to being a hanyou. Every now and then, we hanyou lose our powers and turn into normal humans for a while" – Asagi explained in a very serious tone.

- "And what does this to you, Inuyasha?" – Miko asked very interested.

Inuyasha didn't want to reveal it because he believed it was a terrible idea that anyone else knew about his secret, but in the end, he decided to spit it up to show Miko that he trusted her.

- "The... new moon nights…" -

- "And why didn't you tell us!? We could have found a way to leave the festival for tomorrow!" – Miko said enraged because this could end up throwing dirt upon everything they had done in the afternoon.

- "I didn't want to ruin everything you all had done" - Inuyasha said in an apologetic tone.

- "That doesn't matter now! We'll lose our chance to sing if we don't go out now!" – Asagi exclaimed in fear.

- "There's no helping it… I'll have to go out like this..." – Inuyasha said as he stood up both embarrassed and annoyed.

Meanwhile, Miroku and Sango were conversing amidst the festival the village was celebrating in order to pray for good crops.

- "Do you think they'll do well?" – a doubtful Sango asked.

- "Well, I heard them rehearsing, and they sounded pretty well" – Miroku said with a smile.

- "Then, our plan may be successful?" – Sango asked in excitement.

- "I think so. But first, let's go to listen to them, and then we'll see what happens" – Miroku said; and they both began walking to the place where the stage was located. The entire village was gathered in that place already, and there, they met up with Shippou.

- "Ah, I was getting sick of waiting! We can't all enjoy this if we aren't together!" – the kitsune said cheerfully.

- "Did you think that we would miss out on Kagome and Inuyasha's stellar presentation?" – Miroku asked as he laughed.

- "That means this was your great plan?" – a suspicion-filled Shippou asked.

- "Of course not, it was just a part of that plan" – Sango said mysteriously.

- "What!? You mean there's more!?" - Shippou said scared.

- "Yes, just wait and see" – Miroku said with a voice that implied he would learn about it soon enough.

- "Be quiet! They're about to begin!" – Sango said, but her eyes became wider when she saw Inuyasha – "And look! Inuyasha is on his human form!" -

- "It's true!" – Shippou exclaimed with the eyes and mouth left gaping wide.

- "It's because tonight it's new moon" – Miroku said as he gazed up at the dark sky: there was no moon on sight, although it was covered in shining stars - "I'm surprised that he wanted to go out in public like this" -

- "Be quiet!" - Shippou and Sango said, as now the children had begun playing the instruments. Then, Inuyasha, Miko, Asagi and Ai began singing.

(Song: Tamaokuri no Uta – Fumiko Orikasa)

My father said that the hand of a demon existed to protect me;

My mother said that the hand of a human existed to raise me;

Join the hands to open the door, so we entrust ourselves to the flames;

And thus we'll become a light that will bestow protection over our children…

When they finished singing and the instruments stopped playing, the crowd gave them a large applause.

- "Thanks!" – Asagi said to the crowd as she and the others bowed before them. Then, she turned to Miko and Inuyasha - "We'll be giving an encore now, but… do you mind going to that shore of the lake and just stay listening over there?" –

She said this as she pointed to a shore located at the left of the stage.

- "No, we don't mind, but... Why?" – a puzzled Miko asked.

- "You've done enough already. I'd rather have you two listening now, okay?" – Asagi told them with a smile.

- "Okay" – Inuyasha replied as he shrugged, while Miko just nodded.

Both walked down the steps of the stage to the ground and went to sit down in the place that Asagi had pointed them to.

- "Now, Sango!" – Miroku said when he saw both children going to the lake shore.

- "Yes!" – Sango said while she brought out the binoculars and listening device that Miko had brought with her, and then they hid themselves where no one could find them to watch and hear Miko and Inuyasha. Shippou jumped into Sango's shoulder to know what was happening.

- "What do you think? Isn't that song beautiful?" – Miko gently asked.

- "Yeah... and it reminds me a lot of my mother" – a melancholic Inuyasha replied to her.

- "It's because of these children being like you, and what the lyric say?" – Miko asked with a lot of interest.

- "Yeah... Where it said "And thus we'll become a light that will bestow protection over our children…"" – Inuyasha said as he gazed up at the sky.

- "I see..." – Miko said as she looked at the ground with a bit of sadness. That same moment, the others finished singing and playing, making it obvious that their part of the festival had ended - "It's a shame that it didn't last longer" -

- "Yeah..." – Inuyasha said. Miko then looked upwards, and greatly cheered due to what she saw…

- "Look! Tonight's sky it's very beautiful!" – she said as she stood up and pointed to the sky – "It's all filled with stars! Do you want to see them with me?" –

Inuyasha had no problems with this, so they both lied down on the grass beside each other, and began gazing at the stars. The sky was practically covered with stars, and the shadow of the Milky Way could be seen perfectly behind them.

- "How pretty... I didn't feel so good since long ago" – Inuyasha said in a very pleased tone.

- "Do you mean that doing this while I'm around makes you feel good? It makes me very happy... to know that" – Miko said as she blushed.

- "It makes me happy to know it too" – Inuyasha said as he looked away from Miko. She then leaned on his shoulder, making him blush.

- "Do you want us to make a promise?" – Miko softly asked him.

- "What kind… of promise?" – Inuyasha asked back, very embarrassed and amazed.

- "That no matter what happens from now on… even if I get my memories back… I want us to never part ways with each other for as long as we live..." – Miko explained as she looked at the ground with a shy smile - "Then… do you promise?" -

Inuyasha's face had already gotten so red that he looked like an insulated tomato, and when he saw Miko's face, he noticed that he wouldn't be able to say no to her. And anyway, he had already planned to tell her something along these lines: that he would protect her from now on, no matter what the future might have in store for them.

- "Well... Yeah, I do... I promise. And I also promise to… protect you forever…" – he said as he looked straight on Miko's eyes.

- "Thank you" – Miko said with a large smile as she blushed and closed her eyes. They then separated a bit and continued watching the stars, lying at the side of the other, although they joined their hands after they made the promise.

Meanwhile, Sango and Miroku were celebrating in the place in which they were hidden.

- "We did it! They made a promise!" – Sango said as she jumped in ecstasy.

- "Our plan was a success! Now we're even with them!" – Miroku said as he raised a fist in the air as if he had won a fight or something.

- "So this was your so-brilliant plan? Getting them together again?" - Shippou said with arms crossed. He had an annoyed attitude that would have reminded anyone of Inuyasha's behavior at his normal age.

- "Yes, that's it, Shippou" – Miroku said in a tranquil tone.

- 'They're fools' – Shippou thought, but then he noticed something that had escaped from Sango and Miroku's attention - "Huh!? Look! You're gonna miss out something!" -

At that instant, they noticed that Miko and Inuyasha stood up and they were getting closer and closer to each other. As there was just a pair of binoculars, Sango and Miroku began fighting over who would be the one that would see the resulting scene, so Shippou used his trick of transforming into objects to turn into a second pair of binoculars which Sango took and used. Then, they all held their breath in when they saw what happened next: from the image reflected on the clear surface of the lake, they saw that Inuyasha and Miko kissed each other, their faces covered by the sleeves of Inuyasha's haori, in a very similar fashion to what Kikyou and Inuyasha had done many years prior…

It's not exactly identical to how it appears on the story, but it's close enough. Credits to Edy Scotti for this beautiful pciture.

The next morning, they had quite a hectic awakening, but it came accompanied by a very nice surprise…

- "Come! It's time to wake up!" – Miroku energetically told them.

- "Uh... What happened?" – Miko drowsily asked.

- "We've found a way to restore your memories!" – Sango cheerfully announced.

Upon hearing that, Miko fully awakened and was greatly cheered:

- "Really!?" – she said as she rose from her futon.

- "Yes! A traveler told us a rumor about a cave in the mountains east of the village, in which two medallions that have the power of restoring lost memories could be found! Want to come with us to search for them?" – Sango enthusiastically asked them.

- "Yeah! Let's go!" – both replied.

They then began with the preparations. Inuyasha had Tessaiga sheathed and tied to his hip, while Miko carried a small bow and quiver filled with arrows on her back. Noticing how her small body wouldn't be able to carry such a large weight, Sango decided to carry Miko's backpack in her stead. Before departing, they went to say good-bye to both Totosai and Kaede.

- "Sorry I can't train you further, Miko, but with the skills you've developed so far, it should be enough for you to defend yourself" – Kaede said as she smiled in order to cheer her up.

- "As for you, Inuyasha, no monster should be able to match you as long as you handle the power of the Kaze no Kizu" – Totosai said in all seriousness.

- "Now, go on, and I wish you good luck. I hope that you'll have regained your memories by when we meet again" - Kaede told Miko.

- "Yes! Thank you, Kaede-sama!" – Miko cheerfully said as she bowed before her.

- "Thanks, Totosai-sensei!" – Inuyasha thanked him as he bowed.

- "Yeah, yeah, now take care" – Totosai said, but then he sorrowfully thought - 'How sad this treatment he's giving me will go away when his memories come back" -

- "Come back soon!" – Ai joyfully told them.

- "Take care!" – Asagi said to give them support.

- "I hope no youkai eats you up!" – Dai said in a mocking way.

- "Yeah! – Roku sent them off in the same way as his twin.

- "I hope you accomplish your goal!" – Moegi wished them with a smile.

- "Do your best!" – Shion said cheerfully.

- "Thank you! See you later!" – Miko said good-bye to them smiling, very grateful for all the support they were giving them.

- "Well then, no matter the dangers or obstacles we might find on our way, it's time to set out in search of these medallions!" – Miroku said cheerfully when they set out.

- 'But I don't like the idea in the slightest. Kagome won't want to play with me anymore, and Inuyasha's going to hit me again' – a displeased Shippou thought.

And thus, they departed on a new journey, seeking a way to restore Miko's and Inuyasha's memories.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Fukai Mori)

The Mysterious Springs - Chapter 1

The Mysterious Springs

Credits to Saine/Queen Cactus for this cover art.

Chapter 1:

The Legendary Youkai

(Opening: Change the World)

Shortly after the events in Hourai Island, Inuyasha, Kagome and the rest of the group continued with their journey in search of a way to defeat Naraku while they protected the last shard of the Shikon Pearl. This was a legendary jewel that had the special trait of increasing the strength of youkai: the demonic creatures of Japanese folklore.
But before that…

They decided to stop at Kaede's Village, as Kagome needed to return to her era to gather provisions for their next travels, and she also needed to take a couple of exams. This caused a large discussion between her and Inuyasha…

- "For the last time, Inuyasha, I've got to go back to my era to take these exams or I'm going to fail the year!" – Kagome said, and she was already from a very bad mood from this. She and Inuyasha were standing near their friends in the large plain next to the Bone Eater's Well - "And surely, you'd like to have more of that food I always bring with me, right?" -

- "Keh, I don't care, and I'm already sick of you always having to return to your time for stupid things like these, especially because Naraku could go after you to take the shard away!" – the half-demon answered with a terrible face filled with anger.

- 'Can someone be so stubborn!?' – an irritated Kagome thought, and then she uttered - "Inuyasha..." -

Inuyasha felt some shivers going down his spine, as these words signaled what was coming to him…

- "SIT DOWN!" – Kagome finished.

The necklace Inuyasha had around his neck suddenly shone, and it made Inuyasha fall face-first and strongly against the ground at once.

- "Well, Kagome, come back soon! Good luck!" - Sango cheerfully said to her friend.

- "Yes, we'll be awaiting your return" - added Miroku as he made a gesture to bid her farewell.

- "And don't forget about these sweets I like so much!" – Shippou told her enthusiastically.

- "Don't worry, I won't forget! See you later!" - Kagome said joyfully to then jump into the well.

- "Damn that Kagome," – Inuyasha uttered angrily while he stood up again - "I'll make her pay someday!" -

---

After saying goodbye to Kagome, the group arrived at Kaede's village to rest for a while. It was no more than a small agricultural village as any other in Japan's Warring States era, where the villagers lived in very small huts and could only worry about having enough food to feed themselves, and about the constant wars and bandit attacks.
Shortly after their arrival, the village elder and miko, Kaede went to greet them...

- "Ah, hello, everyone. It has been a long time since I last saw any of you" – she told them as soon as she was near them.

- "Good afternoon, Kaede-sama" – Sango greeted her - "How have you been?" -

- "Very well, thank you" – Kaede replied - "And I came because I need to talk about something important with you all"

- "What is it, Kaede-sama?" - Miroku asked in a serious tone.

- "Well, Houshi-sama, I've heard that there is a youkai inhabiting the valley at the west of the village, and it devours anyone that tries getting close to that place" – Kaede explained, showing how worried she was about a youkai being so close to the village.

- "I know, I know. So you want us to go and kill that thing, baabaa?" - Inuyasha asked in a very rude manner - "That'd only be a waste of time" -

- "Well, I actually intended to ask you this" - Kaede answered without allowing herself to get flustered by Inuyasha - "but I've also heard that this youkai has such a great resistance that I don't think that even the arrows my sister used could harm it, and your sword even less" -

- "Damn it! You're saying my powers are useless against that freak!?" - Inuyasha replied extremely angry.

Kaede's words also worried the others quite a bit: her sister was Kikyou, one of the most powerful miko ever known, so if the youkai was powerful enough to be immune to both her arrows and the great powers of Inuyasha's sword, Tessaiga, they wouldn't stand a chance against it.

- "No if you join your powers with Kagome" – Kaede replied, completely indifferent to Inuyasha's utter lack of manners, but she then noticed that Kagome was nowhere to be found - "And now I think about it, where she has gone now?" -

- "Kagome went back to her time. She said that there were some pending things she had to do, but that she'd come back in a few days" – Sango replied.

- "Very well. Then, you should get ready for when she comes back, if you decide to accept this task" – Kaede told them as she began going away.

- "Of course we're accepting it, baabaa!" – Inuyasha screamed.

---

Three days later...
Kagome had yet to return from her time, so Inuyasha had already grown impatient from waiting for her. The group was gathered in the plain near the well, with Inuyasha sitting cross-legged and tapping his arms with his fingers in impatience.

- "Arghh... Kagome is taking too long!" – he said while he stood up - "I'll go after her!" -

- "Wait, Inuyasha," – Sango told him in a warning tone - "if you go now, you might make her mad at you!" -

- "If you want to make Kagome-sama angry, feel free to go ahead" – Miroku added with a great calm.

- "Dammit..." – he said with a rage-filled face. He then walked up to the well and jumped inside.

- "He's a fool" - Shippou sighed after Inuyasha left.

---

Meanwhile, in Kagome's time…
She was having a nice chat with her friends at school after their classes had ended, although the topic they were touching was a rather depressing one to her. Her friends were three girls about her same age, called Yuka, Eri and Ayumi.

- "Well, how do you think you did at the exams?" – Kagome asked.

- "I think I did pretty well, as I studied a lot before them!" – Yuka answered clapping with enthusiasm.

- "And you, Ayumi?" -

- "I'm sure I got some nice marks, too!" – her friend answered with a smile.

- "The same goes for me," – Eri said nodding happy - "And you, Kagome?" -

- "I'd say that at least I passed the year…" – she said as she put a somewhat embarrassed face.

- "Well, at least that's something" – Eri told her as she patted her shoulder.

- "Yeah. It's not weird, as you spent most of this year sick at home" – Yuka added.

- "Well, yeah..." – Kagome replied, but she felt quite embarrassed. The truth was that she was forced to skip school during entire weeks due to her trips with Inuyasha and the others in search of the Shikon Pearl, so her grandfather continuously made up weird sicknesses to cover her absences, much to her chagrin. She couldn't even bring herself to tell her friends anything about her journeys for fear of causing a great uproar.

- "You're gonna celebrate the end of term over at home, right?" - Yuka asked, trying to cheer her up.

- "That's right" – she replied slightly happier - "and what about you?" -

- "We're doing the same," – Eri replied - "Hey, what do you all say about meeting up next week, before the end of term party at school?" -

- "That sounds great!" – the others replied in unison.

- "Well, I'll see you later... It's because Inuyasha wants to see me" – Kagome uttered as she blushed.

- "Are you talking about your boyfriend?" – Ayumi asked, and after Kagome nodded, she said with an understanding:

- "Well, I hope you have good luck handling him" -

- "Thanks" - replied Kagome with a sad smile.

And after Kagome went away, Ayumi looked sternly at the other two girls, and told them:

- "And this time, don't dare to spy on them, okay?" -

- "All right" – Yuka replied in disappointment.

- "No problem" – Eri replied with the same expression as Yuka. Ayumi had to do this because these two girls were very interested in seeing how Inuyasha and Kagome behaved when they were alone, while Ayumi just wanted to support her friend and didn't want to intrude on their relationship.

---

As for Kagome, she went to the house in the middle of the Higurashi Shrine, where her, her little brother Souta, her mother and her grandfather lived ever since her father had died in a traffic accident. Upon opening the traditional-styled sliding door, she noticed that something weird was happening because all lights were off.

- "I'm home!" – she announced, while thinking to herself how strange it was that everything was so dark.

- "Onee-san..." – Souta suddenly appeared and talked fearfully, as if something wrong had happened.

- "Souta, what's happening…?" – Kagome asked a bit scared, but then...

- "Surprise!" – Souta said as he jumped and the lights came on. Then the entirety of the Higurashi family went out of the living room and into the entrance...

- "Happy end of term!" – they wished Kagome as they led her to the dining room. It was a relatively small room with yellow walls that had in its center a large Japanese-styled table where everyone sat down to eat.

- "How were the exams?" – her mother, Mrs. Higurashi asked once they sat at the table.

- "Fine! I think I did pretty well!" – Kagome replied with a large smile. She felt much more confident about it in company of her family.

- "Whoa! Well done, sis!" – Souta told her cheerfully.

- "Congratulations, dear! I see you've done your best to continue your studies, even in the middle of your travels" – Mrs. Higurashi told her as she rose from the table - "I've prepared this as a reward for your great efforts!" –

She went to the kitchen, and when she returned, Mrs. Higurashi had a large cake in her arms. It was a two-story strawberry cake with some cream on its borders.

- "Whoa, thanks!" - Kagome said, impressed at the size of the cake - "I'm sure my friends will love it!" -

- "It looks pretty good" – Kagome's grandfather said as he examined the cake.

Then they cut a piece of it for each and began eating it. When they were about to finish their pieces, Inuyasha entered the dining room.

- "Hiya" - he greeted nonchalantly.

- "Inuyasha!?" – Kagome said, about to fall to the floor surprised from his sudden appearance - "What are you doing here?" -

- "I came to see what you were doing," - he replied to then fix his eyes on the cake and how everyone were eating it – What's that weird looking thing? It's edible?" -

- "It's a cake, and it's a very delicious kind of sweet" – Kagome answered. She then cut and gave him a piece - "Don't you want to try it?"

- "Lessee then…" - Inuyasha said accepting it in a distrustful manner. He then sniffed the piece and took a very small bite from it. He began trembling - "It's... It's... tasty!" -

He then gulped down the rest of the piece in a single bite.

- "Gimme another piece!" – Inuyasha said excitedly - "Just one more piece!" -

- "Wait!" – Kagome said alarmed, trying to calm him down - "We have to save some for the others!" -

Inuyasha then began trying to jump to what remained of the cake to gulp it down too, when…

- "Sit down!" – Kagome said, making Inuyasha crash into the floor as he began his jump.

- "Ugh!" – Inuyasha growled as he stood up - "Why didja do that!?" -

- "Sorry!" – Kagome apologized - "But if I didn't calm down you down, you wouldn't have left anything for the others. Besides, you'd have smeared the entire room with the cake" -

- "Damn!" - Inuyasha grunted making a face of displeasure, but he then remembered why he had come, and greatly opening his eyes… - "Ah! I almost forgot about this: Kaede wants us to go and slay a youkai". -

- "Uh, well..." – Kagome began – "Now you mention it, I had to go back around this time… Sorry! I forgot about it!" –

She said it while waving her hand in a carefree way, which was something that Inuyasha greatly despised.

- "You don't know how much I hate that way of apologizing you have" – Inuyasha scoffed crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes in anger - "Well, are ya coming or what?" -

- "But, I..." – Kagome began, to then turn towards her mother - "Mom..." -

- "Don't worry about us, and just go" – her mother said in a tranquilizing tone – "I think you have everything ready to get going, right?" -

- "Yeah, and I'll come back as soon as I can" - she said while she took her big yellow backpack, which was beside the dining room's door, and put it over her shoulders. She then left the room with Inuyasha at her side - "Thanks for the cake!" -

---

They went to the well, returned to the Warring States era, and met back with the others in Kaede's village. A little later, they decided to sit down for lunch in a nearby prairie between two forests, and Kagome served them the remaining pieces of the cake as a dessert.
After they finished eating, Kagome asked:

- "And how did you like the cake?" -

- "It's the tastiest thing I've ever eaten!" – Shippou said as he jumped in joy– "Thanks!" -

- "Yeah, it tastes pretty good" – Sango added.

- "It's the sweetest delicacy I've ever had the privilege of tasting" – Miroku said as he put an ecstatic face.

- "And on the other hand, I've also brought a couple of things that I thought could be useful to us" - Kagome said as she went to her backpack and pulled from it a couple of binoculars and an antenna connected to earphones.

- "What are these things?" – Sango asked as she and the others looked at the items with great interest.

- "These are binoculars, which are used to see faraway things, and this other item is an artifact that allows you to listen from great distances" – Kagome explained to then teach them how to use them. Once they ended their lessons, Kaede came out to greet them.

- "And well, are you all ready? – she asked everyone.

- "Yes, where's that valley located?" – Kagome asked.

- "In that place at the west of the village" – she said as she pointed in the direction of a small valley that was quite a distance away from the village - "I wish you the best of luck, and hope to see you all here again soon" -

---

They then began their trip to the valley, though nothing worthy of mention happened in the road to it. After a few hours, they reached the valley, which was filled with water puddles and had a large cave at the end…

- "So this is the place that this infamous youkai inhabits" - Miroku said as he surveyed the place with great interest.

- " Hah, looks like that so-called powerful youkai is no more than a piece of trash" – Inuyasha growled with his arms crossed.

- "Wait, I think I know what kind of youkai this is" – Sango suddenly said, who had already changed into her battle clothes. These were a black jumpsuit with a few pink straps, pink shoulder pads and had a small wakizashi tied to her hip. She also changed her hairstyle from the typical way of the woman of the era to a ponytail, which served her to be able to do more agile movements during combat.

- "Are you serious?" – an impressed Kagome asked.

- "Yes, my father once told me that this legendary youkai, Goukira protected the entrance to a cave where a great secret was hidden" – Sango explained in a mysterious voice.

- "What kind of secret could that be?" – Miroku asked himself as he put his hand to his chin.

- "I don't know. What I know it's that Goukira can't be defeated by a human, hanyou, youkai or Miko by themselves" – Sango answered with a voice filled with tension.

- "Then, what we're supposed to do!? – Inuyasha said as he took out Tessaiga from its scabbard: it was a large silver, fang-shaped sword with some fur covering the hilt. He did so because a gigantic tortoise covered in a dark aura, with a shell made from crystal, skin covered in dark dragon scales and red eyes had come out from the cave and was approaching them. This was Goukira.

- "Impudents!" – the gigantic monster screamed - "Did you come to try to steal my secret!?" -

- "We're here to finish you off!" – Inuyasha screamed while the others prepared for the coming battle.

- "This will be fun. Just try to harm me, if you can!" – Goukira taunted them.

Right away, Inuyasha began testing his attacks: he launched a large golden energy wave at it with Tessaiga: his trademark Kaze no Kizu technique, which was capable of eliminating a hundred youkai in a single swipe. However, this didn't even manage to scratch Goukira's thick skin.

- "Hehehe, that's everything you can do? Good-for-nothing hanyou? – the youkai laughed at him - "Take this!" -

It threw from its mouth a ball of black energy to Inuyasha. Inuyasha just smirked as the attack got closer and closer to him.

- "You're an idiot!" – he screamed as he raised his sword - "Bakuryuuha!" -

Inuyasha swung his sword against the attack, launching a Kaze no Kizu wave that mixed up with the energy ball to create a light-blue whirlwind that trampled Goukira. However, this didn't do any damage to it either.

- "Dammit, the Bakuryuuha didn't even scratch it. I only have one more technique left..." – Inuyasha muttered under his breath while he made his sword cover in crystal - "Kongousouha!" -

He then swung his sword strongly, launching a swarm of diamonds that were sent flying towards Goukira, but this didn't manage to harm it at all either.

- "He..he...he...," – the youkai began laughing loudly - "that's everything you've got?" -

- "Take this!" - Kagome screamed as she raised her bow.

She then shot an arrow covered with a purple aura, followed by another one covered in a blue aura, but neither managed to harm Goukira.

- "A miko!" – Goukira screamed - "You'll be a nice snack once I've finished with everyone here!" -

Meanwhile, Miroku looked powerlessly at the battle in which his friends were taking part: Sango launching her boomerang and trying to slash it with her wakizashi to then ride off into the air on the back of her pet cat youkai, Kirara; while Inuyasha repeated his techniques and Kagome fired her arrows, none of which were doing anything to their opponent.

- "I can't do anything," – he lamented as he looked at his cursed hand, which contained a black hole called the Kazaana that allowed him to suck enemies into other dimension, although in time this would end up absorbing him himself- "it's too large for me to absorb it with my Kazaana…" -

- "Hiraikotsu!" - Sango screamed as she threw her boomerang to Goukira from the air, but this didn't manage to do any damage to the monster. And to make matters worse, Shippou began screaming as if he had lost his mind.

- "Aaah! We're gonna die!" -

- "Stop saying stupid things!" – Inuyasha growled at him before turning to face the youkai again - "Don't give up! We'll defeat it, no matter what!" -

Then the youkai faced them as he put a very unpleasant expression on its reptilian visage.

- "I've gotten bored from this child's game!" – he said as he began charging energy into his mouth - "Die!" -

The energy took the shape of a large sphere and Goukira launched it. Inuyasha was very worried; as he didn't know what he could do to counter such a powerful attack, but then an idea came to his mind.

- "That's it!" – he said as he turned to Kagome, - "Kagome, remember how we defeated the Shitoushin?" -

He was talking about the powerful enemies they had to face in Hourai Island. Kagome initially didn't catch what he meant, but she then realized what Inuyasha's point was.

- "Ah, you want us to use that technique combination?" – an understanding expression appeared on her face.

- "Yeah, that!" – Inuyasha replied to then get ready - "Let's do it!" -

- "All right," – she said as she readied an arrow - "here it goes!" -

She shot the arrow, which covered itself in a purple aura.

- "Now!" – Inuyasha roared as he crystallized his sword and swung it.

Upon doing so, a Bakuryuuha made of crystal was created by using the large energy ball as its source, and in the air, both the crystal whirlwind and the arrow mixed with each other, forming a powerful wave of light that trampled the youkai. This was what finally did the trick.

- "Nooo!" - Goukira screamed in horrible pain as the powerful attack began destroying it piece by piece - "How could I be defeated by a useless hanyou and some humans?" -

- "Because you're the useless here!" – Inuyasha scorned him.

- "Aaaaggghhhh!" – the youkai screamed as it disintegrated within the whirlwind. A few instants later, nothing remained of it.

- "Heh, we did it!" – Inuyasha said as he and the others began celebrating their victory in their own way: he put his sword over his shoulder, Shippou began jumping up and down, Kagome put her hands together and smiled in relief and Sango looked cheerfully at Kirara and her Hiraikotsu… However, Miroku wasn't celebrating, and instead looked at the cave with a worried expression.

- "Is anything wrong, Houshi-sama?" – Sango asked upon noticing his attitude.

- "I feel something suspicious coming from that cave" – he replied in a mysterious voice.

- "Something suspicious?" – Kagome asked.

- "Like what, exactly?" – Shippou asked Miroku, but he just limited himself to closing his eyes before sighing and saying in defeat:

- "I'm not sure" -

- "It can't be another youkai," – Inuyasha said as he sniffed the air - "I don't perceive any odors aside of moist and water coming from that place" -

- "Should we go and investigate, then?" – Sango asked, and after everyone nodded in agreement with her suggestion, they entered the cave...

The cave was pretty weird, as the rock in which it was carved was of a crystalline blue, and inside there were two springs, each of which had what seemed to be a stone bowl to catch the water that came from them. Above each spring there was an engraving in a language that none of the group members could read, as it wasn't in Japanese or other languages they had ever seen: it looked like a group of weird symbols. The water from the left spring gave off a light pink shine, while the right spring shone in dark blue.

- "There's something I don't like at all about this place…" – Sango said as she looked around in all directions.

- "I agree, my dear Sango" – Miroku said behind her – "Although I must say that this is a very appropriate situation for me to give you a massage, so you can relax…" -

He then began groping her butt, as he always did whenever he had the chance, and immediately later, a loud slap echoed throughout the cave.

- "How do you dare to do that in a moment like this!?" – Sango screamed in rage - "And who told you that massages were done in that area!?" –

- "I apologize, I couldn't control myself" – Miroku said as he laughed nervously, now with a red shining print left by Sango's hand on his right cheek. But then, he noticed that Kagome looked a little weird.

- "Hm, Kagome-sama, what are you doing?" – he asked doubtfully.

Sango and Shippou turned to look at both her and Inuyasha, and noticed something weird… that their eyes had lost their shine, as if they were under hypnosis or something. They then began walking to the pink water spring.

- "Kagome, Inuyasha, what are you two doing!?" – Sango asked worriedly - "We mustn't get close to these springs without knowing what they are!" -

- "I'm... thirsty..." – Kagome replied with a distant and faint voice.

- "I want... water..." – Inuyasha said with a similar voice tone.

- "Hey, stop!" – Shippou screamed.

However, both Kagome and Inuyasha acted as if they didn't hear anything of what their friends said and began getting closer to the left spring, as if they were in a trance. The others struggled against them in an attempt to stop them, but it was in vain, as Kagome and Inuyasha repelled them as if they had a barrier surrounding them… and once they got close enough to the spring, they took a little water from the bowl between their hands and drank it up.

- "What you think you're doing!?" – Shippou asked in anguish.

- "They look like someone or something was controlling them!" – Sango said worried.

The next instant, both Kagome and Inuyasha closed their eyes and fell unconscious to the rocky ground of the cave.

- "We should carry them back to the village. They don't seem to be in good condition" – Miroku suggested after they had examined their unconscious bodies. They seemed to have fallen in a deep sleep, but their breathing was agitated and loud.

- "Agreed. They'll be able to recover better over there" – Sango added.

- "Well then, I'll take care of carrying Kagome-sama" – Miroku said with an enthusiastic face.

- "No, I'll better take care of Kagome" – Sango snorted as she gave him a killer glare - "You take care of Inuyasha, Houshi-sama"

Miroku couldn't do anything beyond accepting while he laughed nervously. However, while they made their way back to the village, something unexpected happened: something no one among them could even have imagined happening and that would change the course of their adventures...

---

During their walk back to the village, Sango felt something odd about Kagome...

- "Houshi-sama... Don't you feel anything strange?" - she asked Miroku.

- "What do you mean, Sango?" – the monk asked dumbfounded.

- "I'm not sure why, but I'm feeling Kagome getting lighter and lighter..." – Sango answered.

- "Well, something similar is happening to me with Inuyasha, he feels less heavy now..." - Miroku said, but then Shippou interrupted him with a scream while he stood still, looking in horror at the backs of Miroku and Sango.

- "Shippou, what happened!? Are any youkai around?" – Sango said as she looked alarmed in all directions.

- "No, it's that... It's..." - Shippou tried saying something, but it seemed that his voice didn't want to cooperate with him.

- "Speak up already, Shippou!" – Miroku told him impatiently.

- "It's that... they're shrinking!" – he finally screamed as he pointed to Inuyasha and Kagome.

- "What!? But this is impossible!" – Sango said while she lowered Kagome from her back to check on her, and she got a great and unpleasant surprise...

- "This can't be! I don't know how, but Kagome did shrink down... She looks like a kid now!" – Sango said while she tried to understand what had happened.

- "What!?" – Miroku said while he put Inuyasha down too, and he noticed that the same thing had happened to him, with a small difference...

- "Looks like they both returned to being children, but why did something like this happen?" - said Miroku, as he then noticed something - "And that isn't all: Kagome-sama's clothes now are too large for her, but Inuyasha's still fit him perfectly!" -

He said this because Kagome's face, which was now rounder and with a more childlike appearance barely could be seen in the middle of the lump of fabrics that used to be her clothes. Her hands and arms were now covered by the sleeves of her uniform's shirt, and her legs and feet were covered by her skirt. At that moment, they noticed that her shoes and socks were in the ground behind them, and the same was true for her backpack, bow and quiver.

- "It must be because they drank the water from that strange spring," – Sango said, beginning to understand what had just happened - "as for the clothes, Inuyasha's still fit him because his outfit magically adjusts to the body of its owner. After all, his clothes are made from Fire-Rat wool and have gotten stained with his blood several times "-

- "Do you think we should wake them up?" – Miroku asked as he looked at them.

- "No, let's take them to the village first, and we'll see how they are once they have regained consciousness" – Sango decided. They then picked up Kagome's things and continued their road to the village.

---

Once they arrived at the village, they attracted some curious glances from the villagers, but they ignored them and went directly to the hut where Kaede lived, which was a single room place as all the peasant homes at the time, where there was only enough space for cooking and sleeping in the wooden floor that surrounded a small hearth. As Kaede was home, they explained what had happened after they put Kagome and Inuyasha into two separate futon and allowed them to sleep. When they finished explaining…

- "But, how did this happen to them?" – Kaede asked them, amazed at these happenings.

- "We think that this happened because of the water in that strange spring" – Sango answered.

- "What spring are you talking about?" – Kaede asked her again. She seemed fearful of something.

- "Of the spring in the cave that was guarded by that youkai" – Miroku answered.

- "Hmmm... It's very possible that it's the cause, as there were many rumors about springs that have the power of controlling the age of the people, one being able to rejuvenate and the other one having effects that I'm not aware of. However, no one had ever sought these waters between the youkai that guarded them and the fact that they supposedly have very unpleasant side-effects" – Kaede explained thoughtfully. Apparently, Miroku's reply had confirmed her suspicions.

- "And what effects are we talking about?" – Shippou asked worriedly.

- "I'm not sure," – she replied in defeat, and sighed before continuing - "I believe we'll know once they awaken" -

- "And they seemed to be under someone's control when they drank that water..." – Miroku began, but Kaede raised a hand to make him stop.

- "Yes, it seems like the rejuvenating water exerts some kind of mind control over those that have a great level of spiritual power, or have the mixed blood of humans and youkai in their veins" – Kaede said.

- "And shouldn't we change Kagome's clothes?" – Sango suggested while she looked at her friend, who now had a neutral expression and breathed slowly - "If she awakens while wearing clothes that are so large for her, she's sure to have a heart attack" -

- "Hmm, well... I think I have something here that will fit her well enough" – Kaede said as she went to the rear of the hut to search. After a while, she returned with a couple of items folded in her arms: a red and orange checkered kosode in her arms, which was adorned with white circles, and a dark blue obi; and she gave them to Sango.

- "The guys should wait outside while we change her, especially you, Houshi-sama" – Sango said while she threw an enraged glare at Miroku.

Shippou and Miroku went outside of the house and began waiting until both women had finished. Inuyasha, of course, didn't factor in this because he was unconscious.

- "Now this is a strange and annoying situation, as we don't only have to continue searching for Naraku, but we also have to act as babysitters..." – Miroku complained as he leaned on one of the hut's walls.

- "Cough, cough" - Shippou coughed angry.

- "Ah, no offense intended, Shippou." – Miroku said as he showed him a nervous smile.

- 'This is great! Now that we're all kids, Inuyasha won't be able to continue hitting me and Kagome will be able to play with me anytime! This is gonna be interesting!' – Shippou thought as he looked at the sky with a joy-filled face. He then began fantasizing about himself playing with Kagome calmly on a grass field, and about him bullying Inuyasha while the other cried.

Upon having that mental image, Shippou began dancing as he shouted: "Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!", which made Miroku look at him in the same way he would look at a madman.

- "Houshi-sama, Shippou!" – Sango's voice called them after a while - "We've finished! Come in!" -

- "Finally!" – Miroku said as he entered the hut.

- "Let's see how Kagome looks now…" – Shippou said as he giggled.

When they entered, they noticed that Inuyasha was still the same as when they had gone out. On the other hand, Kagome still was unconscious but was now wearing the kosode that Kaede had shown them, whose sleeves extended to her wrists and the hem extended to her ankles.
Her uniform was folded over her backpack, excepting for the red kerchief of her shirt. The only odd thing was that now Kagome had her hair styled in a way similar to Kikyou and Kaede, excepting for the fact she had it tied up with a red bow.

- "We came up with the idea of changing up her hairstyle, and decided to use the kerchief from her clothes to tie it up" – Sango said when she noticed the surprised expression that Miroku and Shippou put upon seeing Kagome's change in appearance.

- "What do you think?" – Kaede asked gently.

- "She looks pretty" - Shippou said as he looked at Kagome, who was now beginning to move.

- "Looks like she's awakening!" – Sango said, and the others came closer to see her. However, they continued gazing at her a little too much, as they noticed that now Kagome looked almost identical to another child they knew called Rin, excepting for her hairdo and the shape of her eyes.

After a few instants, Kagome opened her eyes and sat up on the futon. However, she didn't look relieved or gave any signs of recognizing where she was, and instead kept on looking at everyone with an expression of utter confusion.

- "Are you all right?" – Kaede asked worriedly when she noticed the way in which Kagome was looking at them.

- "Excuse me, lady... who are you and where I am?" – a confused Kagome asked.

- "What?" – Sango said, as she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

- "I asked who she was. I don't know who you are, and I don't know who I'm either" – Kagome said while looking at Sango, very weirded out.

- "You mean that you don't remember anything?" – Miroku asked in shock.

- "No, I don't remember anything at all" – Kagome answered with a confused expression.

- "Wait, your name is..." – Sango began telling her, but Kaede seemed to have understood something: she interrupted her, and made gestures to Sango, Shippou and Miroku to come closer to her, so she could whisper something to them.

- "Wait! I think this is one of the water's effects: the one who drank it will lose his or her memory, and if you try to make that person remember these memories, you'll only drive them to madness! You can't make them remember their true name either if they have forgotten it!" – Kaede hastily explained.

- "Eh, well..." – Sango had to think fast so this didn't seem suspicious - "Your name is… Miko; and this is Kaede-sama. You live in this village and Kaede-sama is your guardian. We're right now in her house" -

- "Well..." – Kaede took a deep breath before continuing – "Miko, are you okay?" -

- "Yeah, I think I'm fine" - Miko (Kagome) answered with a smile after having heard that explanation. However, she then pointed to her things and her old clothes - "What are these things?" -

- "They were at your side when we found you" – Miroku gently told her.

- "And where did this shard of the Shikon Pearl come from?" – Miko asked while she took in her hands and flashed the small pink crystal shard she had in a flask tied to her neck. It was the very same final shard they were so focused in protecting from Naraku.

- "You know about the Pearl and about the fact that it was shattered?" – Kaede asked her in amazement.

- "Yeah, I know about that jewel that can grant wishes to the humans and give power to the youkai" – she answered slightly confused, thinking how strange it was that they asked her about it. And then...

- "By the way, who's that boy over there? He looks very strange" – Miko asked; and when the others looked at the place where she was pointing to, they noticed she was talking about Inuyasha.

- "Eh, well… He's..." – Sango said while trying to come up with something, and luckily for her, Inuyasha woke up that precise instant with the same reaction Miko had.

- "Where I'm, and who are you guys? The last thing I remember doing was running away from some youkai… "– he said in a scared voice shortly after he awakened.

- "Do you know who you are?" – Kaede asked him.

- "Yeah, I'm Inuyasha..." – he replied in a very faint voice to then ask anguished - "You aren't gonna harm me or drive me away from your village?" -

- "So you know who you are, but you don't know us" – Sango said thoughtfully, but upon realizing how scared the boy looked, she gave a gentle glance to him – "Don't worry, we won't harm you" -

- "That's correct. We found you and that girl over there unconscious in the road to this village, and we decided to bring you both here" – Miroku said as gestured towards Miko.

- "Then, you don't mind that I'm a hanyou?" – Inuyasha asked, still anguished.

- "No, of course not" – Sango replied as she smiled – "What's important to us is that you're fine and safe" -

- "Okay... sorry for asking… it's just that no human had ever treated me like this..." – Inuyasha said a little more calmed, but then he noticed the rosary he had around his neck.

- "By the way... what's this thing?" – he asked as he looked with suspicion at the rosary while he pulled it a little to show it to the others.

- "Don't worry about it, it's just an ornament" – Kaede said trying to make him forget about it. She didn't have the heart to tell him it was a tool to control his behavior.

- "And what's this sword I have here?" – he asked as he looked at the Tessaiga's scabbard, which he had in the futon right beside him.

- "It's a gift left to you by your father. It's called Tessaiga, and eventually you'll know how to use it correctly" – Kaede replied as she smiled.

These words seemed to have quite an effect on Inuyasha, as he suddenly got very enthusiastic.

- "My father!?" – he screamed while he took the sword out of its scabbard, but upon seeing how the sword was while not in use, he felt greatly disappointed: it was an old and worn piece of rusted iron with a weathered hilt - "Oh, come on! This is just a rusty old sword!" -

- "But use it when you need to protect someone and you will get a very pleasant surprise" – Kaede told him in a manner that suggested him to be patient.

- "Ah, ok then!" – Inuyasha replied while he stood up and left the sheathed sword beside Miko's backpack. However, when he went back to his futon to sit down again, his gaze crossed with Miko's, making them both blush.

- 'That girl feels familiar, but… what's this sensation?' – Inuyasha thought nervously.

- 'I feel I know that boy, but he doesn't seem to know me… why I'm feeling like this?' – Miko thought, confused and at the same time thrilled.

They stayed like this for a couple of seconds, until they both broke visual contact and were left looking at the wooden floor. After a few seconds, Miko raised her face with an embarrassed smile.

- "Ehm… Could you tell us your names, please?" – she asked the others in an attempt to get out a topic.

- "Well, I'm called Miroku, but you can call me Houshi-sama" – Miroku said while putting on an air of importance.

- "What do you think you're doing, Houshi-sama!?" – an enraged Sango whispered to him.

- "I just want to receive a little more respect around here, Sango" – Miroku answered in whispers.

- "And I'm Shippou, the great kitsune" – Shippou said while puffing his chest out, displaying his eternal lack of modesty.

- "Aw, you're so cute!" – Miko said as she ran over to hug him.

- 'Aaahh... I don't want this to end...' – Shippou thought joyfully while Miko held him.

- 'I'm gonna kill that fox! Wait a sec, why I'm feeling jealous now?'- Inuyasha thought enraged, but at the same time, weirded out by these feelings.

- "Cough, cough!" – Sango loudly coughed, making everyone turn to see her - "And I'm Sango, last surviving member of the youkai slayer clan" -

That last part of her statement scared the wits out of Inuyasha, as he didn't like in the slightest the idea of having a youkai slayer around him. He ran and got himself hidden behind Miko's things in the rear of the hut.

- "A youkai slayer!?" -

- "Calm down, I've already said we wouldn't harm you" – Sango gently told him trying to tranquilize him.

- "Hmmm... And what do you do?" – Miko asked, very interested in learning how such a colorful and eclectic group got and traveled together.

- "Well, we go around the land gathering the shards of the Shikon Pearl, and during our journeys, we found you two" – Miroku replied.

- "Ah, okay... And there's nothing between you two?" – Miko asked giggling as she gestured to Sango and Miroku, making them blush violently.

- "No, of course not!" – an embarrassed Miroku said.

- "No, we're just friends!" – Sango said every bit as embarrassed as the monk.

- "Cough! Cough!" - interrupted Kaede: she had just gotten an idea that moment - "I think that's enough talking for now" –

She then looked at Miko and Inuyasha, and told them:

- "If you want, you can go out and play, as later you both will begin taking some lessons, understood?" -

- "Yeah!" – both children replied in unison.

- "What kind of training'll it be?" – Inuyasha asked while he looked at Miko with a smile.

- "You'll know soon" – a smiling Kaede replied.

- "What do you want to play?" – Miko asked Inuyasha.

- "Let's play hide-and-seek!" – Inuyasha replied.

- "Yeah! Let's go!" – Miko said; and both ran off out of the hut. Unfortunately, Kaede didn't have any footwear that would fit Miko's new size, so she would have to go barefoot for the time being.

- "We'll have to leave them like this for now. Anyway, Kagome now looks like a normal girl of this time" – Sango said after a short while of silence.

- "Yes, I agree, but we can't expect to leave them this way forever. We'll have to find first a way to restore their memories… and about that" – Miroku said – "Why Kagome's memories were completely wiped away while Inuyasha still retained part of them?" -

- "It must be because hanyou don't suffer as badly as humans when it comes to the memory erasing effects of the water" - Kaede shrugged as she replied.

- "Still, I'm very surprised at how much Inuyasha's personality changed… I couldn't have imagined that he was like this as a child…" – Sango said thoughtfully.

- "Yes, it's true..." – Kaede added, but she couldn't add anything because Shippou cut her off.

- "Cough, cough!" -

- "Is anything the matter, Shippou?" – Miroku gently asked him.

- "No, it's just that I wanted to tell you that I'll go and play with them!" – Shippou replied as he stood up smiiling.

- "Okay. And remember that you have to call Kagome 'Miko' now!" – Sango told him as he got out of the hut.

- "I know, I know!" – and he ran off filled with joy.

- "As for me, I'll have to teach Miko again how to use her powers, to wield the bow and arrow, and how to recognize and use the medicinal herbs. However, we'll still need someone that can train Inuyasha" – Kaede pointed out when she noticed that there was no one around that could take care of that task.

- "Leave that to me!" – said a voice that apparently came from nowhere, which spooked everyone.

The voice's owner was known right away, as a small flea jumped out from Kirara's fur and landed in Miroku's face to begin sucking his blood. Miroku then splatted him with his hand. The flea then comically turned into a flat and wavering creature to regain his natural form after a few seconds.

- "Myouga-jii, what are you doing here?" – Sango asked.

- "Well, I learned that you would continue your travels, and decided to hide in Kirara to watch how things were going" – Myouga calmly replied from Miroku's hand - "As I was saying, I could bring here Totosai so he takes care of training Inuyasha-sama, as I'm already aware of what happened to him and Kagome" -

- "Are you sure you'll be able to do this?" – Miroku asked him with the distrust overflowing from his voice and face: Myouga was pretty known for not being trustworthy during dangerous situations, and these feelings of suspicion everyone had for the flea had only intensified given Inuyasha's new condition as a defenseless child.

- "Of course I can, by tomorrow he'll be here training the Inuyasha-sama!" – Myouga replied in fury upon seeing how no one trusted him.

He then jumped into Kirara.

- "I'll be back tomorrow!" - Myouga said after Kirara transformed. They then left the hut and a few seconds later, they heard the sounds indicating that Kirara began flying off: a soft roar followed by the sounds of her paws stopping completely.

- "Very well, tomorrow I'll begin teaching Miko then. However, we must be careful about which places they wander off to, especially the Bone Eater's Well and the Goshinboku" – said Kaede in a tone of warning – "If they got close to either place, it would be terrible, as the Well would send them to Miko's time, making us lose them forever, and the Goshinboku most likely would drive them to madness due to the many important memories it holds for them. In fact, it would be safer if we don't allow them to even leave the village without our supervision" -

- "Anyway, Miko only seems to be able to remember things from this era" – Miroku shrugged.

- "Yes, as otherwise she wouldn't be aware of the Pearl's existence or of the powers it holds" – Kaede sternly said.

- "And we should also watch Shippou, as with that bad habit he has of falling in love with the girls of every village we've visited, he could end up causing a disaster" – an annoyed Sango said. She then gave a killer glare to Miroku, as he was undoubtedly the cause of Shippou acquiring that habit. Everyone in the group thought the same because Miroku was always flirting with the girls and women in every village they came across while trying to grope them, much to Sango's chagrin, and this only had made her angrier after they had agreed to marry a few weeks prior.

Miroku just closed his eyes, set his hand on his chin, and as if the matter didn't actually concern him, he said:

- "Ah, so that's why he was so happy when we went out while you changed Miko's clothes. Okay then, I'll take care of Shippou" – he then turned to look at Sango - "Sango, could you go and watch Miko and Inuyasha?" -

- "Of course, Houshi-sama. I think it'd be a good idea that we used for this the contraptions for viewing and listening from afar that Kago... I mean, Miko, brought us" – Sango said. Miroku nodded, so they took the binoculars and the antenna, and left the hut.

After they left, Kaede just sighed and said:

- "This is going to be both tiring and strange..." -

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: My Will)