The Mysterious Springs - Chapter 4

Capítulo 4:

Back to the Present

(Opening: Grip)

The following day to the regaining of her memories, Kagome decided to go back to her time alongside Inuyasha, as she still hadn't thought out what she was going to tell her family when they saw her with her current little girl appearance.

Before departing, she decided to bid farewell and thank Kaede for everything she had done for her.

- "Well Kagome, are you ready to go?" – asked Kaede gently.

- "Yes, Kaede-obaasan, and I'm very grateful that you took care of my while I didn't have my memories" – replied Kagome as she bowed slightly in front of her.

- "Don't mention it. Actually, it was a nice experience to have been your teacher during this short time" – she said as she smiled at her.

At their side, Inuyasha was talking with Totosai, though their conversation wasn't being even half as pleasant in comparison to Kaede and Kagome's.

- "Hey, old man Totosai, why didn't you want to teach me the Bakuryuuha from the beginning?" – asked Inuyasha with a very irritated face.

- "Because you couldn't even transform Tessaiga in its true form," – replied Totosai as if it was the most obvious thing in the world – "how do you think I was going to teach you that technique?" -

And as usual, Inuyasha hit him in the head.

- "You should learn to respect your elders..." – said Totosai crying as he held his head in pain.

They then talked for a while with the children from Hourai Island...

- "We wanted to thank you for letting us be in the performance with you" – said Kagome.

- "It's nothing. Actually, that is one of the few things we could do to pay you back for the great help you gave us" – said Asagi gently.

- "Though they still are useless" – said Roku, making Kagome and Inuyasha look at him with rage.

- "That's right, bro" – said Dai, which finished what his brother began: that Inuyasha gave a good hit to each of them.

- "Don't forget who you're dealing with..." – said Inuyasha with his arms crossed and an enraged expression in his face.

- "So, what are you going to do now?" – asked Moegi very interested.

- "We'll first go to my home, and then we'll search for a way to get back to normal" – replied Kagome with a smile.

- "I wish you can find it soon!" – said Ai cheerfully.

- "Yeah! We wish you good luck in your search!" – said Shion.

- "Thanks!" – said Kagome.

They then went to the clearing of the well and began with the final preparations.

- "Inuyasha, are we ready to cross over then?" – asked Kagome.

- "Yeah, whenever you want" – replied he as he began carrying Kagome's backpack.

- "Are you sure that you don't need anything else from us before going?" – asked Sango.

- "Yeah, we only ask you that you find a way to return us to normal as soon as possible" – replied Kagome calmly.

- "Yeah, I wanna go back to normal quickly" – said Inuyasha as he showed displeasure about this situation on his face – "We look stupid like this" -

- "Oh, yeah? I think we look cute like this!" – said Kagome.

- "No, we don't!" – replied Inuyasha.

- "Yeah, we do!" – replied Kagome.

- "No!" -

- "SIT DOWN!" – said Kagome to put an end to the argument, as Inuyasha fell with forcé against the ground and stayed quiet.

- "They might have their memories now, but they're still acting like kids" – whispered Miroku to Sango.

Unfortunately, both Inuyasha and Kagome heard him.

- "Who are you calling kids!?" -

- "Let me remind you I'm fifteen years old already!" – said Kagome angry.

- "Yeah, we know!" – said Sango as she tried to calm them down. However, she was thinking to herself that despite that being her age, she looked and acted like a girl of eight.

- "Kagome, we forgot to ask you something..." – said Miroku remembering something – "Didn't you feel anything strange in the temple yesterday?" -

- "No, there weren't any monsters aside of the ones we exterminated or shards of the Pearl... however, I felt a weird presence when we were leaving…" – said Kagome confused.

- "Well, it was only to make sure that..." – began Sango, but Inuyasha interrupted her.

- "Let's get going already!" – said he impatiently.

- "Yeah, okay!" – said Kagome as they went over to the well and jumped in.

The familiar tunnel of lights appeared around them, and as soon as they felt they were standing again on solid ground and the lights had disappeared, Inuyasha jumped out from it holding Kagome with his right hand, and holding her backpack in his left.

- "Stop bringing so much stuff! I can barely carry it now!" – complained Inuyasha as soon as they were standing out of the well.

- "Stop complaining so much, I still don't know what I'm going to do" – said Kagome anxiously.

- "Just do as if you were coming back as always"- suggested Inuyasha.

- "And how is it that you can't carry my backpack anymore, but you can still hold your sword and fight monsters like always?" – asked Kagome with curiosity.

- "I dunno. Maybe Tessaiga is used to me already and my strength for fighting monsters is different from the one I have for carrying stuff around" – replied Inuyasha as he shrugged off.

They came out from the shack of the well and headed quickly to Kagome's house so no one else around could see them. They opened the door and went in.

- "Mom, grandpa, Souta! I'm here!" – announced Kagome. Souta was the first one to hear her, as he was in the living room.

- "Sis, is that you? Your voice sounds different" – said Souta as he went to greet her, but when he reached the entrance, he was paralyzed upon seeing them – "Sis…? Inu… yasha? What happened to you two!?" -

- "Souta... let me explain it..." – said Kagome trying to calm him down, but it was useless.

- "Aaah! Mom! Grandpa!" – he screamed as he ran back into the house.

- "Souta, wait!" – said Kagome as she tried to stop him in vain – "Great, just what we needed: an uproar" -

- "You shouldn't have called him" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms.

- "I didn't think this was going to happen!" – said Kagome, and when it seemed to were going to begin arguing, Souta reappeared alongside with his mother and grandfather.

- "Kagome, is that you, dear?" – asked her mother as she looked at her with eyes the size of saucers – "What happened to you?" -

- "Well…" – replied Kagome as she looked at the floor a bit embarrassed - "it's a long story" -

The next half –hour, they sat in the dining room as Kagome explained to her family everything that happened to her and Inuyasha, including what she did during the days she had her memory sealed. However, she refrained from telling them about the romantic moment between her and Inuyasha, as she thought it wasn't time yet for her family to know about it.

- "Now we're both about the same age! That's great!" – said Souta as he put a large smile on his face.

- "That isn't great at all!" – replied Kagome – "What I'm going to do with school and my friends now!?" -

- "Well, you're lucky that classes have ended already" – said her mother.

- "But I was about to meet with my friends in a few days and…" – said Kagome crestfallen, but her mother embraced her.

- "Dear, I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll find a way to solve this problem... But until you manage to do so, you should be enjoying what you're going through instead of suffering for it" – said her mother as she gently stroke Kagome's hair.

- "Thank you… mom…" – said Kagome as she separated from her mother.

- "I'll cure her with one of my scrolls!" – screamed the grandfather suddenly, making everyone stare at him.

- "Please, old man! If your pieces of paper were useless for sealing the well, they'll be even more useless for this!" – replied Inuyasha, which made Kagome's grandfather scream as he began crying.

- "Don't mind grandpa. He goes all crazy with his amulets and scrolls sometimes" – whispered Souta to Inuyasha.

Kagome's mother then stood up from the kotetsu…

- "I'll be going to do some shopping then" – she turned to face her daughter – "Kagome, could you stay home until I'm back?" -

- "Huh, why?" – asked Kagome a bit dumbfounded.

- "You yourself said that you didn't want anyone to see you like this, right? And you'd attract a lot of attention if you went out while still wearing clothes from 500 years ago" – said her mother.

- "Oh… right. Ok then" – replied Kagome.

- "Don't worry, I'll let you go for a walk once I'm back" – smiled her mother. She then left the dining room and the last sound that was heard was the one made by the main door when it closed.

- "Inuyasha, wanna do anything?" – asked Souta.

- "Hmm, what can we do?" – asked Inuyasha.

- "Well, we could watch TV or something…" – said Souta.

- "You mean the magic box that shows pictures?" – asked Inuyasha with a lot of interest in the idea.

- "Yeah. Wanna do that?" – asked Souta.

- "Yeah!" – replied Inuyasha.

- "You two do whatever you want. I'll be going to my room" – said Kagome as she stood up. She then left the dining room, went up the stairs and entered her room to then leave herself fall into the bed. She turned around and stared at the roof as she thought…

- 'Now I know how it feels to be a girl in the Warring-States Era. That makes my room feel comfier that I'd ever thought it was…' -

- 'But... why I did that when Shippou insulted Inuyasha? How is it that I and Inuyasha got along so well during that time in which we had our memories sealed? And what did Inuyasha mean with everything he said during it all?' -

She began remembering more clearly everything they had told each other that night, including the promise and the kiss.

- 'I finally could see his gentle side again: he bothered to take care of me while I was sick, and he behaved better than I ever had seen, but… Is he going to pick over Kikyou now? After having made that promise and having kissed like that? Or… is he going to continue playing dumb and being indecisive between her and me!? Or… is he going to leave me for her...?' -

She cut off the flow of her thoughts at that point, as just thinking about the eternal love triangle between her, Inuyasha and Kikyou caused her heart to throb painfully. She stood up from her bed, and began checking herself, noticing she was a bit dirty.

- "I think I'll go wash myself a little, and then I'll have a short nap" – she told herself as she went to her bathroom. She washed off her hands, feet and face, and then she went back to her room, tucked herself into her bed and shortly later, she fell asleep.

Meanwhile, over at the living room downstairs, Souta was trying to teach Inuyasha how to play a fighting videogame…

- "I don't get how you're supposed to play this!" – complained Inuyasha as he mashed the buttons in the control with no reason or rhyme to it.

- "Calm down a bit. You just need to learn what each button do" – said Souta trying to show him how it was done. Despite the distraction, he didn't have much problem winning the fight. On the other hand, when Inuyasha tried again, he only got defeated.

- "I'm not still doing it well!" – he said enraged.

- "You just need more practice. And talking about practice, how are these special skills you have with your sword?" – asked Souta with a lot of curiosity.

- "They're very impressive!" – said Inuyasha proudly, but he then stood up and took Tessaiga from the floor at his side – "Do you wanna see 'em?" –

- "Eh, I think you shouldn't do it…" – said Souta scared as he thought – 'Especially after that time in which he almost blew up a plane with that energy wave…' -

- "Ah well... as you want" – said Inuyasha disappointed as he left his sword once again in the floor and began getting into the game again.

A while later, Kagome woke up from her nap and began stirring to get up from bed.

- "Ah, that was a nice nap!" – she then looked at the door of her room, and remembered with some worry about Inuyasha still being in the house – "I wonder what is he doing now?" -

Thinking he could be doing some kind of disaster, she went down to look. She was greatly relieved to see how Inuyasha was calmly playing videogames with Souta when she entered the living room.

- "Huh? You've spent all this time playing videogames?" – she asked a bit surprised.

- "Yeah, Sis! Inuyasha is a quick learner!" – commented Souta.

- "Yeah! I've never had so much fun, excepting when I destroy a monster for real!" – said Inuyasha as he focused in beating another opponent.

- "And to think you were doing this while I was resting..." - said Kagome as she sighed. However, she began giggling a little upon noticing how much this seemed to fit Inuyasha.

- "What're you laughing at now, Kagome?" – asked Inuyasha as he put the game in pause and turned to look at her.

- "It's nothing. Don't mind me" – said Kagome with a mischievous smile. Before they could anything else, they heard the sound of the main door opening and closing.

- "Ah! It must be mom!" – said Kagome. And in fact…

- "Kagome! Can you come here for a bit, dear?" – called her mother.

- "Coming!" – said Kagome as she ran off to the entrance.

- "Did you spend a good time, sweetie?" – asked her mother when they were face to face again.

- "Come on, mom! Don't treat me like a kid!" – said Kagome pouting.

- "Sorry, couldn't help it" – said her mother laughing a little – "It's been quite a long time since I last saw you like this, after all" –

- "But it's so embarrassing…" – said Kagome as she blushed.

- "Come on; don't worry so much about it. And well, I've brought you some new clothes" – she said as she took out a bag from the several she was carrying and gave it to Kagome – "As I said before, you'd probably get some unwanted attention if you went around wearing that kosode, not to mention it seems like it needs some cleaning" -

Kagome took out the bag and opened it up to see her new clothes: it was a light blue blouse adorned with a small green jeweled brooch, which was sustaining a light yellow shawl, a white skirt, and two pairs of footwear: modern sandals and zori similar to the ones used 500 years ago, which were also coupled with tabi.

- "I hope you like them" – said Kagome's mother as she smiled to her daughter.

- "I really like them! Thanks, mom!" – said Kagome as she hugged her.

- "Glad to hear it, dear. By the way, shouldn't you go take a bath? I'll get your clothes ready in the meantime" – suggested her mother.

- "Yes!" – she then focused her attention on the footwear – "Oh, and what are the sandals and zori for?" -

- "The sandals are for you to use here and the zori for when you get back to the Warring States Era. You don't have any other footwear that fits you now, right?" – said her mother with a smile – "I guessed it by how you were when you and Inuyasha returned today" -

- "Err… yeah… but still thanks a lot! That'll make things much easier when I go back there! Oh by the way mom… could you wash my kosode, please?" – asked Kagome.

- "You're going to need it again for when you go back there, right?" – asked her mother.

- "Yes... and I want to take care of it as much as I can... as Kaede-obaasan gave it to me…" – said Kagome a bit embarrassed.

- "Okay, I'll wash it for you while you're on the bath" – nodded her mother.

- "Okay, thanks!" – she said as she took her new clothes and ran back to her room.

After she finished bathing, Kagome came out of her room wearing her new clothes. She also let her hair loose, like she used to.

- "These clothes look very nice on you, dear" – said her mother.

- "Thanks, mom!" – replied Kagome.

- "Don't mention it. You're going for a walk, right?" – asked her mother

- "Yeah, I need to take my mind off some things" – said Kagome as she looked at the roof.

- "And why don't you bring your friend with you?" – suggested her mother.

- "Do you mean Inuyasha?" – asked Kagome to then lower her gaze to the floor – "I'm not sure I should…" -

- "But I think he'd enjoy going out too, and more if it's with you" – said her mother.

- "Okay, I'll take him with me" – said Kagome with a sigh of resignation.

After a while, in which Kagome had to battle with Inuyasha in order to get him away from the TV, they were at the entrance ready to go out.

- "Souta... are you sure you don't wanna come with us?" – asked Kagome.

- "Sorry, I can't today. I've got a soccer practice at school this afternoon" – replied Souta with some bitterness on his voice.

- "Ah well… see you later!" – said Kagome as she went out of the house with Inuyasha behind her.

- "Take care!" – said Kagome's mother.

Before they began taking the steps down to the city, Kagome made Inuyasha put on a cap to cover his dog ears, like always.

- "Inuyasha, let's just make it clear that if we meet with anyone who knows us in the city, let's pretend we're other people, okay?" – said Kagome very anxiously as she helped him put on the cap.

- "Okay, but why?" – asked Inuyasha confused.

- "Because if anyone learns we're us, they're going to make an uproar!" – exclaimed kagome.

- "Yeah, fine. I don't get why you're being such a worrywart about it" – said Inuyasha annoyed.

They walked through the city for a good while, looking at the storefronts in the streets every now and then, though Kagome had to pull Inuyasha away from a few of them because he got entranced at the toy and electronics stores due to all the shiny things that were exhibited on them. The same was true for Kagome when they in front of clothing stores and bookstores.

However, during their little walk, they at one point saw Kagome's friends from far away.

- "Oh no!" – said Kagome when she saw them coming closer to them – "If they learn I'm me, I don't wanna even think about what'll happen!" -

- "Come up with something then!" – said Inuyasha.

- "And what you think I'm trying to do!?" – she replied divided between rage and panic.

- "Hi!" – said Ayumi's voice behind them.

Kagome turned around slowly and very scared.

- "He… hello…" -

The faces of the three girls looked at her a bit startled, and they then began examining her face very meticulously with their gazes. Kagome endured their scrutiny, filled with fear about what would happen if they learned who she was.

- "Huh? How weird… you're just like our friend Kagome, but smaller…" – said Yuka as she looked at her.

- "And this boy here is identical to her boyfriend, even down to the hair and clothing" – said Eri as she looked at Inuyasha, who had crossed his arms and was looking away.

- 'Goodness, what I'm supposed to do now?' – thought Kagome, but she then came up with an idea – "It's 'coz… well… I'm Kagome-nee's distant cousin…" -

- "Really?" – asked Yuka with a lot of curiosity.

- "Yeah... my name's..." – she said trying to remember the name everyone called her when she still had her memories sealed away – "Miko. And he's Shintaro; I think he's a relative of my cousin's boyfriend" -

- "What ya think you're..." – began Inuyasha, but he shut up when Kagome threw him an enraged glare that was telling him to keep quiet and play along her story.

- "Ah, I see. And are you going to stay here for long, Miko-chan?" – asked Eri.

- "Nah, I came to visit my cousin yesterday. I'll go back home tomorrow" – replied Kagome.

- "And where you're from?" – asked Ayumi.

- "Eh… we came from Kyoto…" – replied Kagome, already tired of the questioning.

- "Kyoto, huh? You had a really long trip coming here, right?" – asked Yuka.

- "Yup, it was very long" – said Kagome.

- "And where's your cousin? I don't remember seeing here since around five days ago" – said Yuka a bit intrigued.

- "I dunno. She told me she was going somewhere this morning, but that she'd be back in three days" – replied Kagome as she thought the whole situation could not be any weirder.

- "Ah well, I hope so. We were supposed to meet again in three days" – said Eri.

- "Okay then, we've got some errands to do, so we'll be going now. Be careful out there, and give my regards to Kagome!" – said Ayumi as she and the other two girls bid them farewell.

- "Okay, I'll do!" – said Kagome feigning cheerfulness. The girls then continued walking, and Kagome and Inuyasha continued looking at them until they disappeared from their sight. Kagome fell to her knees and sighed after this.

- "That was a close call..." – exclaimed Kagome in relief.

- "And why you gave me that ridiculous name?" – complained Inuyasha

- "Because I didn't have time to come up with any others!" – said Kagome. She then made the most threatening face she could – "Any other complaints, and you know what'll happen!" –

- "NO!" – screamed Inuyasha before the sole idea of getting sat down again. Luckily, Kagome calmed down after a few moments. She simply looked at him again with a smile and asked him:

- "Want to go eat something?" -

- "Yeah. I just don't want to eat that stuff that gets my tongue burning" – said Inuyasha as his mood improved a bit.

- "As you want," – said Kagome as she shrugged.

So they went to Wacdnalds and bought a hamburger for each. Unfortunately, Inuyasha's utter lack of table manners began resulting suspicious to everyone else…

- "This is tasty!" – said as he gobbled down the hamburger.

- "Hey, don't eat so messily!" – said Kagome to scold him – "Haven't you noticed everyone's staring at us?" -

Inuyasha took his eyes away from the hamburger, and it was at this point he noticed that everyone else in the place was looking at them in astonishment. Kagome blushed in embarrassment, and decided it was time for them to leave.

- "Come, Inuyasha. Let's go" – she said as she stood up from the table and began walking towards the door. However, she crashed into someone when she was reaching it because she turned around for a moment to see that Inuyasha was still taking his time finishing off the remains of the food.

- "Ah, sorry little one" – said the stranger.

- "Don't worry 'bout it" – said Kagome. However, when she raised her gaze, she noticed who it was: it was Hojo. The young man, who had short brown hair, black eyes and was wearing the black uniform typical of the male students at Kagome's school. Hojo then had the same reaction as her friends, and focused his eyes on her face.

- "Huh? Is that you, Higurashi?" – asked him.

Kagome was so frightened that her face paled instantly: her friends were one thing, but Hojo was another.

- "Who… are… you talking about… mister…?" – she asked as she wished that he didn't notice anything.

- "Ah sorry. I think I mistook you with a friend, as you look a lot like her. Her name's Kagome" – said Hojo as he put his hand behind his head as an awkward expression appeared on his face.

- "Err… well, I'm her cousin" – said Kagome, thinking there was no time she wanted to be back to normal more than right now.

- "Can you tell me your name?" – asked Hojo.

- "Ah… yeah. I'm Miko" – replied Kagome.

- "Okay, see you later then, Miko-chan. Tell Kagome I said hi!" – he said as he went away and approached the line to order.

- "Okay!" – she said as she saw Hojo going away. She sighed in relief.

- "Did anything happen, Kagome?" – asked Inuyasha when he finally came to her side.

- "No, it's nothing," – said Kagome.

They spent the rest of the afternoon walking around. They stopped briefly at the park, and though Inuyasha suggested playing in it for a while, Kagome thought it would feel awkward to her and decided against the idea, which made Inuyasha sigh in disappointment. When the sun began setting, they decided to go back home.

- "We're back!" – announced Kagome when they entered the house.

- "Hi, dear. Did you have a lot of fun?" – asked her mother.

- "Yep. There were some incidents out there, but nothing to worry about. So, what we're having for dinner?" – asked Kagome.

- "Wait and see" – she replied as she made them signs to go to the dining room.

When they entered the room, they were left gasping in astonishment, as the table was filled with all sorts of food.

- "Wow, it looks delicious!" – said Kagome with shining eyes. Inuyasha, for his part, was already drooling from just seeing the feast and smelling all the aromas that wafted from it.

- "Do you like it?" – asked Kagome's mother as she laughed a little upon seeing their faces.

- "Yeah, and I'm gonna start eating now!" – said Inuyasha as he sat down and began serving himself a bit of everything.

Dinner was very pleasant for them, particularly for Inuyasha, as he had seldom tasted food as tasty as that. After dinner, they all had eaten so much that they only wanted to go sleep.

- "I'll be going to bed…," – said Kagome after a large yawn.

- "Same here" – said Inuyasha with a sleepy face as he rubbed his eyes – "I'm beat" -

- "Okay. You both have everything ready to depart tomorrow?" – asked Kagome's mother.

- "Yeah. I'd like to stay for a while longer, but we've got to search for a way to get back to normal" – said Kagome.

- "Okay then, here you go," – said her mother as she gave to her the kosode. It was folded, looked like new, and it emitted a very nice aroma – "I washed and dried it the best I could, as I think you're going to continue wearing it until you're back to normal, right?" -

- "Yes, mom" – replied Kagome.

- "Have nice dreams, dear" – said her mother as she turned to go sleep, but she turned to look at Kagome – "Ah, almost forgot it. I've also left you a pajama over your bed" -

- "Thanks, mom. Good night" – said Kagome as she went to her room.

Once there, Kagome locked herself up in her room as she changed clothes, and once she was ready, she let Inuyasha in. The pajama her mother had left her was pink and was decorated with a few yellow stars.

- "And tomorrow we're going back there" – said Kagome after she turned lights off and was tucked in her bed.

- "Yeah. With some luck, the others will have found a way to null out the effects of that water" – said Inuyasha as he made himself comfortable beside Kagome's bed.

- "I hope so. I hope you sleep well" – wished Kagome.

- "Yeah, the same for you" – said Inuyasha, and then both stayed silent until they fell asleep.

The next morning, they had to prepare to go back, including eating breakfast, and thus they could not depart until the afternoon. After everything was ready, they finally went to the shack of the well to go back to the Warring-States Era.

- "And it's time to get going!" – said Kagome, who was wearing again the kosode and had once again styled her hair on the same way Sango did for her after she drank the water, the only difference being that she had it tied with a white bow now. She also was wearing the zori her mother bought her the previous day, which was a considerable improvement over how she was the previous days. However, she decided against wearing the tabi for now.

- "Let's not waste more time then! Let's go!" – said Inuyasha, impatient to know any information the others might have gathered.

- "Will you be okay?" – asked Souta.

- "Don't worry, Souta. The next time you see us, we'll be back to normal" – said Kagome as if it was to ensure it to him.

- 'That's what worries me. I was getting used to the idea of being the big brother here…' – he thought a bit depressed.

- "Be very careful out there, Kagome" – said her mother.

- "I'll be careful, mom. Don't worry" – said Kagome as she turned around and jumped into the well with Inuyasha at her side carrying her backpack.

- 'Maybe we won't find a way to get back to normal. However, we'll do everything we can to find it' – thought Kagome encouraged as they crossed the well's portal through a large flash of white light.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Every Heart)

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)