Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Naraku's New Trap

(Opening: Owaranai Yume)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inuyasha just snorted and transformed Tessaiga into its crystalline form.

- "Kongosouha!" -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, outside…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was fighting against Hakudoushi to rescue Kagome.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, this only enraged everyone.

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

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

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

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

- "Damn you!" – said Sango irate.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kagome just shook her head 'no'.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "And Kagome?" – asked Gerardo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "Boo…" – said Kagome a bit sad.

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

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

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

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

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

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Dearest)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

A Fun Day

(Opening: I Am)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gerardo stepped in.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "Uhm… excuse me…" – began Inuyasha.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "Yeah!" – said everyone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Both Miko and Rin smiled and nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "Cheater!" – said Shippou.

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "Agreed…" – said Gerardo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- "Aaaaagghhhh!" – shouted her terrified.

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

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

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

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

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Fukai Mori)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

An Unexpected Ally

(Opening: Yura Yura - Every Little Thing)

The next morning, the group was walking silently... the words Kikyou had said to them the previous night were still echoing in their heads, and they were obviously apprehensive about the whole situation.

- 'Things are getting rather dire… between Naraku learning about the Crystal and with him targeting Kagome to use her powers… what should we do now?' – thought Gerardo as he barely put any attention to where he went. However, this turned out to be a mistake when they were walking through a mountain road, as he continued walking right until he was standing at the very edge…

- "Gerar, where are you going!?" – said Gabriela when she noticed her brother was about to fall off. The others turned to see, and got greatly scared.

- "What are you doing!?" – shouted Inuyasha.

- "Gerardo-kun, stop!" – said Sango.

- "Don't take one more step!" – said Kagome.

Gerardo woke up from his trance-like state, with a foot already on the edge of the mountain, as the others ran and shouted at him. However, the border crumbled away below his feet at that moment and he began falling down. He managed to get hold of a ledge before he fell completely… but the place he was grabbing on was beginning to crumble too.

- "Gerardo!" – shouted the others. They stopped running from the shock when he fell, but they began doing it again when they noticed he was still holding on. However, it didn't seem they would be able to get to him in time.

- 'Damn, this happens because I'm so scatterbrained… even if I transformed in to dragoon form, it'd be too late to save myself…' – thought Gerardo as the border finally collapsed and he fell from the mountain… however, someone took him from the hand, pulled him up and threw him into the rocky ground as they jumped up and disappeared. He landed on his stomach, and while he got some bruises from this and his clothes all covered in dirt, he was at least safe.

- "Gerar!" – said Gabriela as she ran and knelt at his side with her eyes filled with tears.

- "Are you okay?" – asked Kagome worried as she gave him her hand in order to help him stand up again when they reached the place where the figure left him.

- "Idiot! How could you be so much of a klutz to even fall off from a mountain like that!?" – shouted Inuyasha as he gritted his fangs.

- "I'm very sorry… I was thinking a lot about some things and I wasn't paying attention…" said him as he looked at the ground and absentmindedly dusted himself off.

- "Calm down now" – said Miroku as he put himself between Gerardo and Inuyasha – "What's important here is that we're all safe and that nothing happened to Gerardo-kun" –

- "Gerar…! I thought you'd die!" – said Gabriela as she threw herself into her brother crying after he was back on his feet.

- "I'm sorry, Gaby. There, there… I'm okay…" – said Gerardo as he stroked her head in an attempt to calm her down.

They let Gabriela cry on his chest for a little longer. When she calmed down enough, they continued their way. After a while, they began descending from the mountain and finally reached a river that had several trees growing at both of its shores.

- "Hmmm, looks like a good place to test out my powers over water!" – said Gerardo excitedly as he ran to the river's shore.

- "What? Are you gonna splash about on the river or something?" – said Inuyasha mocking him.

- "Oh, you just wait and see. I'll make you swallow these words. Ochis meya, hydrast, iarae sos zyola..." – said Gerardo as he clapped his hands together and concentrated. He began moving his hands around; getting out a relatively large mass of water from the river that he gave the shape of a snake.

- "Whoa, impressive!" – said Kagome as she looked at what Gerardo was doing.

- "Keh, it isn't anything special" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms and turning his head in an arrogant way.

Gerardo then began moving it around himself with some efforts, as he still didn't have experience manipulating water in this way. However, he ended losing the control over it and caused the snake to collapse into a mass of water over Inuyasha. This made everyone begin laughing…

- "Damn you… how you dare to get me wet!?" – shouted Inuyasha furious as he dashed to Gerardo while still dripping water.

- "Ah! Shiazeae!" – screamed Gerardo as he raised a hand and looked at other side surprised and scared. For a second it seemed like Inuyasha was going to get to him and make him mincemeat, but in the end he was stopped by a small arc-shaped barrier that had a blue shining color.

- "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to invoke that Water Barrier! And sorry for throwing you all that water, it was an accident, I swear!" – said Gerardo as he put on a foolish smile while the barrier disappeared. He then clapped his hands again, moved them in Inuyasha's direction and snapped his fingers twice, making all the water that had Inuyasha drenched evaporate and leaving him dry in an instant. This calmed him down, as he merely crossed his arms again and stopped trying to attack Gerardo.

- "You look better as a wet dog, Inuyasha…" – said a familiar inexpressive voice.

- "Who said that!? Sesshomaru, are you there!?" – shouted Inuyasha upon recognizing the voice and odor as he looked around, unsheathing Tessaiga in case he had to fight. They then saw that Sesshomaru was going closer to them from behind.

- "Sesshomaru, what the hell are you doing here!?" – shouted Inuyasha as he pointed Tessaiga at him. The others had also drawn their weapons in preparation for anything that could happen.

- "Stop barking in vain, Inuyasha. I am not here to seek a fight with you…" – said Sesshomaru.

- "Sesshomaru-sama! Sesshomaru-sama!" – they head some voices behind him getting closer to them, and a few seconds later, Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un were at Sesshomaru's side.

- "Rin! And Jaken the toad-man too!" – said Gerardo surprised when he saw them, which made everyone burst in laughter when they heard how he called Jaken.

- "Agh! How dare this human to refer to me like that!" – shouted Jaken as he stomped the floor – "Sesshomaru-sama, allow me to teach him some manners!" –

- "Jaken, shut up…" – said Sesshomaru, which made everyone laugh even harder.

- "Urgh… very well, Sesshomaru-sama…" – said Jaken very distraught as he fell to his knees while Rin patted him on the head.

- "Oh, poor Jaken-sama…" –

- "So, to what do we owe the honor of your visit, Sesshomaru?" – inquired Gerardo employing an attitude similar to Sesshomaru's own, which paralyzed everyone else's laughter, and left Inuyasha and Kagome looking at him perplexed.

- "How do you dare call Sesshomaru-sama without honorifics and in such an informal tone!?" – screamed Jaken as he hit the ground.

- "Jaken! Are you meaning to disobey my orders?" – asked Sesshomaru as he made one of his scary smiles.

- "Aghh! Please forgive me, Sesshomaru-sama…" – said Jaken scared as he stepped back with Rin at his side.

- "So, why did you come here?" – asked Gerardo.

- "I have come to join you for the time being… I am very interested in finding about what makes you so strong… and what is that strange aura surrounding you…" – said Sesshomaru looking at him with suspicion, though his gaze then fell on the sword Gerardo had at his hip – "As I can see, you have found yourself a sword of your own…" –

- "Forged by the same blacksmith that made the Fang Swords. And we'll allow you to travel with us, under two conditions…" – said Gerardo.

- "What you think you're doing!?" – asked Inuyasha.

- "I think he could turn out to be a great help for us, and besides… a new friend wouldn't be a bad thing to Gaby…" – said Gerardo with a sarcastic smirk.

- "Tell me then, which are the conditions you want to place upon me in exchange for allowing us to travel with you?" – said Sesshomaru inexpressively.

- "First, I want you and Inuyasha to refrain from fighting each other all the time unless it is for training, which will be under the supervision of us all… And second, relinquish the thought of trying to take the Tessaiga by force…" – said Gerardo.

Everyone was left astounded when he finished saying that.

- 'No way… is he really talking to Sesshomaru like that?' – thought Kagome.

- 'Impossible… I thought no one would be able to say these things to him without getting their heads ripped off from their bodies…' – thought Miroku.

Inuyasha could only gape in shock from this.

- 'How insolent! That human has no right to talk to Sesshomaru-sama like this… but if I try saying anything… the master's going to…' – thought Jaken irritated, but he then gulped upon thinking about what Sesshomaru would do to him if he disobeyed his orders.

- "So these are your conditions… very well, I accept them…" – said Sesshomaru finally, which made the jaws of everyone present there fall to the ground: they thought they couldn't be any more surprised – "But first, show me the powers you possess now…" –

- "Understood… I'll comply with your wishes" – said Gerardo as they both drew their swords. Inuyasha was about to object to this, but Kagome interrupted them…

- "Wait! I can feel the presence of a Shikon shard, and it's getting close!" – said her as she looked in the direction behind them.

- "Are you sure?" – asked Inuyasha. This made the duel that Gerardo and Sesshomaru were about to have to disappear from their minds.

- "Yeah, I don't know how… but this shard feels different from the others…" – said Kagome worried, as she wasn't sure how to explain it.

- "Looks like we'll have to leave our duel for later…" – said Gerardo, and feeling something was coming behind him, he swiftly slashed with his sword behind himself, killing off a wolf youkai.

- "Keh! These youkai are no more than trash!" – said Inuyasha seeing the remains of the creature, but they didn't have any time to do anything else, as a swarm of these youkai instantly began coming after them.

- "Where are these things coming from!?" – said Shippou as he jumped on Kagome's shoulder to seek shelter as the others avoided or blocked their bites and lunges.

- "I don't know, but they're all carrying Shikon shards!" – said Kagome noticing the glimmer of the shards, but… - "It's impossible, as there aren't supposed to be more shards out there anymore… and they have a weird color" –

A wolf youkai tried to lunge at her, but Inuyasha instantly jumped in front of her and killed the youkai with a swipe of his Tessaiga – "Don't just stay there!" –

- "Thanks, Inuyasha!" – said Kagome with a smile as she also aimed at one of the wolves and shot a Sacred Arrow, eliminating it.

- "And what did you mean with these shards having a weird color?" – asked Miroku as he whacked two of the wolves with his shakujou.

- "They don't have any of the colors the Pearl is supposed to have in its different states of purity and pollution… it's black… and darker than even what Naraku has stained it…" – said kagome as she trembled a bit from it.

- "Rin, stay back…" – told Sesshomaru at the young girl. Rin nodded and stayed back with Jaken and Gabriela, so the others could protect them from the youkai.

- "Anyway, looks like we'll have to speed things up a little… everyone, stay away from me for a little!" – said Gerardo while he and the others keep themselves busy avoiding the attacks from the wolves to then counterattack.

- "Wait… aren't you trying to say that you have an attack similar to my Kazaana, right?" [- said Miroku as threw a trio of ofudas to the wolves, managing to paralyze one of them and allowing Sango to finish it off with her Hiraikotsu..

- "No, but it's a bit dangerous, so please stay back until I'm done… Olpla siat, hakisa milla siraekalt ika sos!" – replied him as he created a rope of water and rolled it between his heart and index fingers – "Water Whip!" –

As soon as everyone put some distance between him and themselves, excepting for Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, he began swinging the water rope around himself, which made small cuts on them as it made contact.

- "Come on! Don't you want some fresh meat?" – said Gerardo in a mocking tone to the wolves, which roared enraged and jumped at him. Upon seeing this, Gerardo began spinning like a top, and as the wolves turned themselves into easy prey for his attacks, they fell down dead in a few seconds. Inuyasha didn't receive damage thanks to his clothes, while Sesshomaru didn't even flinch when the whip touched him, so it was impossible to know if it was causing harm to him or not.

- "That attack was like…" – said Inuyasha as he looked at Sesshomaru through the corner of his eye. As for Jaken, he was left speechless upon seeing the water whip.

- "Yeah, it's similar to the whip Sesshomaru makes with his poison claws. The difference is that mine is made from water, but due to it lacking that powerful poison, it isn't as strong as his whip of light…" – said Gerardo as he allowed the whip to dissolve and fall to the ground as plain water – "Anyway, that isn't important right now" –

They then began looking at the shards the monsters had dropped upon their death, but they didn't seem to be Shikon shards…

- "Are these even Shikon shards?" – asked Sango as she looked at them with suspicion: they had their same shape, but were completely black – "They have such a strong evil presence flowing out from them…" –

- "No, they can't be shards from the Shikon Pearl…" – said Kagome as she tried to grab one of the shards. Gerardo made a gesture to stop her, but it was too late: Kagome took it between her fingertips, but it gave her a small discharge that made her scream in pain and forced her to drop it as soon as she touched it.

- "Kagome, are you okay?" – said Inuyasha as he and the others ran to check on her.

- "I'm fine but… these things contain so much demonic energy inside themselves that I can't touch them, much less purify them… And I even doubt that Kikyou or Midoriko could purify these evil shards…" – said Kagome a bit frightened as she caressed the hand she had used to try picking up the shard: it had left something similar to a small burn in her fingers.

- "I think these are… shards from the Crystal of Shadows…" – said Gerardo in a serious tone – "That's the objective of our mission" –

- "These are the shards you have to seek?" – asked Miroku as he put his hand in his chin and his eyes narrowed.

- "Yes, they are" – said Gerardo as he checked the inner pockets of his kimono. He took out something that seemed like a bag made from leather with silver parts that emitted a soft light, and covering his hands with it, he grabbed the shards and dropped them inside the bag – "This item I just used is a Satchel of Light, and we have to use them in order to put the shards away. As you have noticed, they are harmful to the tact, and they can corrupt the souls and minds of people if exposed to them for a long time" –

- "They sound kinda similar to the Souunga" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms, which made Sesshomaru throw him an unpleasant glare in response.

- "Make sure to not mention that accursed sword in my presence, Inuyasha" – said Sesshomaru in an irritated tone, though soft enough to pass off as his normal expressionless voice. Inuyasha just scoffed.

- "Anyway, I'd say that they are even worse: they can also affect hanyou and youkai. Additionally, they have the property of nullifying and stealing the powers of miko, monks and even Seirei Magic users through the discharges they release on contact" – said Gerardo with a worried expression.

- "I should be more careful…" – said Kagome looking a bit sad.

- "Rather, I'm sorry for not explaining it before" – said Gerardo with a sad smile.

- "HAND OVER THESE SHIKON SHARDS!" – shouted a voice out of nowhere, and upon looking in its direction, they saw that a large brown red-haired oni was running toward them.

- "Another piece of useless, low-level youkai trash… it isn't even worthy of my sword…" – said Sesshomaru as he merely launched a stream of poison at it with his poison claws, but it didn't affect it – "What…?" –

- "I'VE GOT A SHIKON SHARD! YOUR ATTACKS CAN'T EVEN SCRATCH ME!" – roared the oni as he tried to attack Sesshomaru, but he merely side-stepped to avoid the attack as if it was nothing.

- "Kagome, does that thing have a Shadow fragment?" – asked Gerardo as he readied his sword and shield.

- "Yes! It has it right on its forehead!" – said Kagome when she noticed the place in the oni's body where the black aura was seeping out from.

- "Hey, that's my line!" – shouted Inuyasha holding Tessaiga aloft as he looked at Gerardo enraged.

- "Hey, I didn't want to try stealing your line! And what else were you expecting me to say!?" – said Gerardo in the same enraged tone as Inuyasha.

- "You would do better to leave that childish fight for later, unless you plan on finishing it in the afterlife…" – said Sesshomaru as he unsheathed Tokijin and used it to slash at the oni. Sango and Miroku were also concentrated in trying to attack it while avoiding its tackles and swipes.

- "Neither my Hiraikotsu or Kirara's bites are doing anything to it!" – said Sango upon seeing that the small scratches their attacks caused disappeared instantly.

- "My ofudas can't do anything to it either!" – said Miroku as he tried doing it again: the ofudas fixed to the monster for a couple of seconds and released a small discharge of spiritual energy, but the burst in flames and burned away immediately after that.

- "Looks like the shard increased the powers of that thing too much…" – said Inuyasha as he clenched his fangs.

- "Sesshomaru, don't attack it with Tokijin! Anything that has these fragments absorbs and gets healed by attacks that have the Shadow element, and that sword happens precisely to use it for its energy blasts!" – said Gerardo upon seeing the auras emitted by Tokijin and how the oni was feeding on them.

- "Keh! First time I see Sesshomaru being useless during a battle!" – said Inuyasha with a mocking smile, which made Sesshomaru look at him in irritation. Inuyasha then jumped in front of the oni and swung his sword downwards in its direction – "Kaze no Kizu!" –

But the Kaze no Kizu didn't do anything to the oni aside of a couple of gashes, which healed immediately. Inuyasha then was swatted away by one of the oni's swipes and crashed into a nearby tree.

- "Inuyasha!" – screamed everyone except for Sesshomaru.

- "Damn you!" – said Gerardo as he covered his Ryuuga in energy and swung it upwards, in the inverse direction of how Inuyasha did it – "Watsa ya, hydrast xyaza cezet paewat ika, yst hakisa tastsaks ika... Water's Scar!" –

The wave from the Water's Scar had the same effect as the one from Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu: it merely scratched it. However, these attempts to attack the monster gave Gerardo an idea…

- "Inuyasha, how are you holding up over there?" – asked him to Inuyasha when he saw he was standing up again.

- "I'm fine! But shouldn't you focus on bringing that thing down!?" – said Inuyasha annoyed.

- "Listen, I've got an idea. Let's try combining your Kaze no Kizu with my Water's Scar, as I think we'll be able to hurt it if we do that!" – said Gerardo.

- "Let's do it then! Kaze no Kizu!" – said Inuyasha as he launched the attack once again.

- "Watsa ya, hydrast xyaza cezet paewat ika, yst hakisa tastsaks ika... Water's Scar!" – said Gerardo pronouncing the invocation spell as fast as he could and launching the wave. Both waves clashed and mixed with each other in their road to the oni, but as they were going in the same direction instead of going against each other, they formed a whirl of green energy that crashed into the oni, severely harming it and causing it to fall down to the ground as it roared in pain.

- "Great, we'll call this technique the Destruction Vortex!" – said Gerardo fist pumping

- "Hey, that's a nice name!" – said Inuyasha smiling.

- "Heh, thanks!" – said Gerardo blushing. However, they couldn't continue celebrating for much, as the oni stood up again with a roar while its wounds healed.

- "GRAAAGH! DID YOU THINK YOU'D BEAT ME LIKE THAT!?" – it shouted.

- "Damn, talking about a persistent annoyance… looks like it's time to raise the level…" – said Gerardo as he took out his Seirei Crystal out from the holder.

- "What are you going to do?" – asked Sango.

- "Are you going to…" – began Kagome, yet Gabriela ended finishing the phrase for her:

- "…use your powers?" -

- "That's correct… Ist Garsse OschmeRe Iadlast Kiabze Pawatz Zosph, Phaph Myya Zosph Phiaphz ical. Iadlast Pawatz! Dragoon!" – he repeated the whole transformation sequence he did for his parents, and a few instants later, he was enclosed in the blue bubble. It burst almost immediately after, and he emerged from it wearing his dragon armor.

- "That's…" – said Inuyasha surprised.

- "The Power…" – said Miroku.

- "…of the Dragon…?" – said Sango with a very soft voice – "That's the same armor he wore during his fight with Sesshomaru…" –

Everyone, including Sesshomaru, were surprised when they saw him wearing his dragon armor, as well as the face filled with decision he had. His Ryuuga also changed from a katana into a long sword that had a blade shining in a soft blue, while his shield seemed to have gotten reinforced.

- "Ist Garsse, Likarom Aozublai Iadleizalle Dea Halket, Zosph Leizalle Oli Haliadl Thafz Ical... Hydrometeor!" – he threw his sword up and shot a water sphere at it. He then flew up to it, grabbed it by the handle and swooped down as he covered himself in a watery aura. He ended crashing into the oni, ripping it in half.

- "UAGG! THIS WON'T KILL ME!" – roared the monster, though it was also audibly groaning from pain

- "We'll see about that…" – said Gerardo as he smiled. However, the next instant he heard a voice chanting a spell in Dragonian…

- "Ikuyu poak lay lusya wiras sos couyuu, yst sos royawfle hakaisa tast ika... Light Arrow!" – a arrow covered in a white aura whizzed right in front of them and struck the oni in the forehead, right in the point where Kagome said it had the fragment. It then exploded with a white light as the monster let out a terrible roar.

- "Whoa, what was that!?" – said Shippou behind them. When they turned around, they saw Gabriela with a concentrated face and holding her bow as if she had shot an arrow: it was obvious who had used the light arrow a moment ago.

- "It's remarkable that such a young child could use a powerful ability like that arrow," – said Sesshomaru – "Maybe that was why I felt I had to eliminate her…" –

- "Sesshomaru-sama… did you try to kill her…?" – asked Rin scared.

- "Forget about that at once, and keep yourself hidden…" – said Sesshomaru in a sharp tone. Rin just nodded.

- "Gaby's really powerful," – said Gerardo impressed upon seeing what she did – "But even so, it looks like we still have to strike the final blow on this thing…" –

He then surrounded himself in water as he began chanting. On the other hand, the monster had begun regenerating, though it seemed Gabriela's arrow had slowed it down.

- "Ist Garrse, ah... Leiya Iadlast, VulualwaeSa Zosph Wihatslag, Oli Quieralm Zosph Valzat... Water Charge!" – he the used the wings as propels in order to tackle the monster, and the residual energy he left behind himself alongside the little bits of aura he released by beating the wings once he finished did the rest: the monster stopped roaring and it exploded into bits of flesh.

- "Whoa, that was… amazing…" – said Kagome looking at what Gerardo and Gabriela had done.

- "These two are really strong…" – said Inuyasha.

- "Inuyasha, Kagome! Don't just stand there! You've gotta keep the oni from regenerating so we can pick up the fragment!" – shouted Gerardo as he stepped on the ground again and ran to the bits of flesh, which were beginning to move on their own and tried to gather themselves in a single point.

- "Ah… on it!" – said them both snapping out of the surprised state in which they were since Gerardo transformed. Kagome began shooting Sacred Arrows at the larger mounds of flesh that had begun forming around the fragment to disintegrate them, while Inuyasha wiped away swaths of the smaller ones with the Kaze no Kizu.

- "Ok, I think that's all…" – said Gerardo as he picked up the fragment and put it away into a Satchel of Light. Once he did this, the last remains of the monster turned into dust.

- "Wait a moment… how did you pick up the fragment directly without getting shocked?" – asked Miroku an instant later.

- "It's because the gauntlets of my armor are protecting me. However, I can't continue wearing it for long because it feeds on my mental energy…" – said Gerardo in a tired tone – "By the way, may I try to heal you all? I see you got some wounds during our battle…" –

He said so because they were all covered in scratches and bruises from the scuffle with the wolves and the oni.

- "It isn't necessary, we can heal up just fine with medicinal herbs…" – said Sango a bit embarrassed they were causing him problems.

- "Oh, I'm aware of that. But healing wounds through magic is more effective and faster. That aside, it's no problem for me to do it" – said Gerardo with a smile.

They looked at each other and thought they had no reason to disagree, so they just let Gerardo to heal them.

- "But I could heal them with my Healing Light song too," – said Gabriela pouting – "Plus, you're tired from the battle…" -

- "I know Gaby, but let me take care of this" – said Gerardo winking at her. He then began swinging his sword in circles above himself, as if he was amassing air, and formed a dark blue sphere – "Ist Garrse ah... Leiya Iadlast, VulualwaeSa Zosph Wihatslag Oli Zosph Ulyaar, Oi Quieralm Walzet Zosph Phiapz Ical..." –

Everyone began getting scared from this, to the point even Sesshomaru showed a look of worry…

- "No way… you're trying to use the Gokuryuuha!?" – said Inuyasha alarmed. However, Gerardo didn't have to reply.

- "Healing Rain!" – he shouted as he stopped swinging the sword and used it to cut the sphere in half, which released several water droplets that removed fatigue and healed wounds on contact. However, far from being thankful for this, everyone but Sesshomaru and Gabriela faceplanted when he finished using the skill. Gabriela just laughed at this, while Sesshomaru returned to his unexpressive face.

- "That was all!? You made so much show of it for a little rain!?" – shouted Inuyasha.

- "Hey sorry, but I can't amass the water and create the healing rain if I don't do that" – he said as he began gasping – "And I'm about to reach my limits, so better cancel the transformation now…" –

He placed his hand over the circular plate with the water symbol over his chest: - "Ist Garsse Pawatz Nyulasst" –

Gerardo then began shining in blue, and the next instant he was again wearing his blue kimono, while his sword and shield returned to their typical shape. However, before he could do anything else, he stumbled and fell to the ground unconscious.

- "Gerar…!" – shouted Gabriela as she ran to him.

- "GERARDO!" – shouted the others trying to get him to wake up.

Gerardo didn't regain consciousness until night came and everyone had set up the camp to rest for the day. When he awakened, he found himself in the middle of a glade with a bonfire burning near him and Kagome mixing the content in a pot that was placed over it.

- "Ah, great! You've come to!" – said Kagome cheerfully as she looked behind and noticed he was awake.

- "Where am I?" – asked him a bit disoriented – "Whoa, it's night already?" –

- "Yeah. As you were unconscious all the afternoon, we decided to camp here while you recovered" – explained Kagome.

- "I see… and what are you making for dinner?" – asked Gerardo as his stomach began grumbling, which made him blush - "Sorry about that…" -

- "Hahaha, don't worry!" – said Kagome laughing as she continued stirring the pot – "We'll have some stew, though I think Sesshomaru's not going to eat anything…" –

- "Okay, but… where did the others go?" – asked Gerardo noticing that Kagome and him were in the camp as he blushed a little.

- "Inuyasha and Sesshomaru went to hunt for some food; Rin, Shippou and Gaby-chan are playing around here while Jaken watches over them; and Miroku-sama and Sango-chan went to watch the stars together…" – said Kagome looking at the left, prompting Gerardo to do the same. The three kids were playing tag and ran around in a glade illuminated by the stars and the moon, while Jaken just looked at them with boredom and irritation.

- "Hey, you can't catch me!" – said Gabriela cheerfully.

- "No fair, you're taller than me!" – said Shippou angry.

- "Hehe, Shippou-chan can't catch any of us" – said Rin.

- "Looks like Gaby got along with Rin pretty well" – said Gerardo with a smile.

- "Well, they're both very good girls, and friendly too" – said Kagome smiling – "It's no wonder they turned into friends so fast" –

- 'Too bad I can't let Miko come out for now…' – thought Kagome a bit sad about the presence that was sleeping deep inside her.

- "Hmm, why that sad face?" – asked Gerardo a bit worried.

- "Huh? Ah, don't worry about it!" – said Kagome after she was taken out from her thoughts by Gerardo's words. Gerardo looking at her a bit confused, but decided to not touch the topic – "Oh, Miroku-sama and Sango-chan are over there" –

They turned to the opposite direction, and saw how Sango and Miroku were snuggled up to each other as they looked at the skies.

- "Hmph, Miroku's surely going to do what he always does to Sango. That wouldn't surprise me coming from him" – said Gerardo as he laughed.

- "I don't think so. They looked very serious, and Miroku-sama wouldn't be so stupid as to ruin the mood they've both gotten going" – said Kagome angry.

- "Okay, sorry about that" – said Gerardo sighing.

Sango and Miroku continued sitting and looking over at the stars above.

- "Houshi-sama, you haven't forgotten about the promise you made me… right?" – asked Sango as she looked at him in the eye.

- "Of course I haven't, my dearest Sango. I promised you that once we defeated Naraku, I would marry you and we would start a family together…" – said Miroku embracing her.

- "But… what are we going to do about Kohaku?" – asked Sango worried.

- "We'll think up a way to release him from Naraku's control and to reassemble the Pearl without having to kill him…" – said Miroku gently.

- "Houshi-sama… thank you…" – said Sango as she blushed.

Meanwhile, Gerardo and Kagome had fallen silent, but the stillness on the campsite was broken a little later when they heard some movement in the bushes behind them. It was Inuyasha and Sesshomaru.

- "So how did the hunt go?" – asked Kagome having an idea from Inuyasha's face and how Sesshomaru was carrying a dead boar on his arms.

- "Keh! We didn't manage to find much. Looks like the odor left by the blood of the youkai we killed scared all the animals that were around here. And when I finally managed to find a prey, Sesshomaru stole it from my hands!" – said Inuyasha in a very bad mood.

- "Well, we know Sesshomaru hates human food. Let's just leave it like this" – said Gerardo shrugging his shoulders, which made Inuyasha and Sesshomaru turn to look at him.

- "So you have finally awakened…" – said Sesshomaru with his inexpressive voice.

- "Keh, was you full afternoon nap good?" – said Inuyasha in a mocking tone.

- "We'll discuss that during dinner. I don't like getting told that I was lazing around while everyone else was busy" – said Gerardo annoyed.

- "Well, dinner's ready. Could you go call the others?" – asked Kagome.

- "On it!" – said both Gerardo and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha went to call Sango and Miroku while Gerardo went to call his sister, Shippou and Rin. After a few minutes, everyone excepting for Sesshomaru and Jaken were eating the stew Kagome had prepared.

- "Well, we had a great battle today… and besides, we got seven Shadow fragments in just one day!" – said Gerardo excitedly as he ate from his bowl.

- "Yes, it was a great victory for us. However, I'd like to know why you collapsed when you cancelled your transformation…" – said Miroku as he continued eating.

- "That was very strange, now I think about it" – said Kagome thoughtfully as she paused eating for a moment.

- "It must be because he is a weak human!" – said Jaken as he burst into laughter. However, he ended paying a high price for it: Gerardo handed his bowel to Gabriela for a moment and took Jaken by the collar – "Ahh, Sesshomaur-sama! Save me!" –

Sesshomaru acted as if he didn't heard anything while Gerardo dragged Jaken away to some nearby bushes.

– "Agh, no!" – they heard Jaken scream from that direction. Then, Gerardo brought him back with him as he went back to the place where he was sat and Gabriela gave him his bowl again. Jaken had now the head covered in bumps: looks like Gerardo retaliated by punching him on the head several times, which made everyone laugh.

- "Hehe, Jaken-sama needs to learn to treat others better" – said Rin smiling.

- "Now that issue has been settled, I'll answer your question, Miroku" – said Gerardo a bit embarrassed after he returned – "It's because it was the first time I used my powers to such an extent, and since I ended exceeding my limits a little, I spent so much energy that I ended up fainting" –

- "Using these powers must be tiring…" – said Sango.

- "Hihi, and just wait until you see the more advanced forms of the dragon powers" – said Gabriela laughing mischievously.

- "So well, anyone's in the mood for some music?" – said Gerardo as he opened up the music player of his Dragtemn.

- "Yeah, but what kind of song it's going to be this time?" – asked Shippou.

- "Oh, just a little piece that was made for our guests, excepting for frog man there" – said Gerardo, which made everyone look at him with curiosity, but also causing a little laughter and a couple of anguished sobs. He then made the song play.

- "I hope you liked it" – said Gerardo smiling. Sesshomaru didn't seem to mind it much, but Rin was really happy.

- "I really liked that song, Gerardo-sama" – said Rin as she smiled.

- "I'm glad. And please, don't add the honorifics. I rather dislike being treated in a formal way" – said Gerardo with a smile.

- "Hmm, it's okay if I call you Gerardo-nii then?" – asked Rin.

- "Well, I don't mind it" – said Gerardo a bit embarrassed.

- "Yeah, but always remember I'm his only little sister" – said Gabriela a bit annoyed.

- "Hehe, looks like we got some jealousy going on" – said Kagome laughing as Gabriela blushed a little – "By the way, what was the title of that song?" -

- "It's titled Sesshomaru to Rin" – said Gerardo, which cleared up the reason he chose it as the song to put to play that night – "And on another topic, why do you say about taking a break tomorrow? As we got so many fragments on our first travel day…" –

- "Hmm, it wouldn't be a bad idea" – said Kagome with a smile, which the others also shared excepting for Inuyasha.

- "Wasn't that mission of yours very urgent?" – asked Inuyasha as he looked at them irritated.

- "Yeah, but given we made so much progress today, we could rest a bit… especially given that our route for tomorrow goes pretty close to a beach…" – said Gerardo as he opened a map of the region on his Dragtemn and marked the route.

- "Oh, that changes things! I better go back home, as I need to get some supplies. Could you and Gaby-chan come with me?" – said Kagome cheerfully.

- "Well, we better get going then" – said Gerardo as he and Gabriela stood up – "Inuyasha, are you coming with us?" –

- "Yeah, I can't leave Kagome alone at any time. We don't know what that bastard Naraku might be plotting…" – said Inuyasha as he stood up.

- "Sango, can you lend Kirara to us for a while?" – said Kagome as she looked at the small two-tailed cat.

- "Of course. Just make sure to come back soon" – said Sango with a smile as Kirara skipped to Kagome's side.

- "We'll be waiting for you here" – said Miroku as he tried getting his hand close to Sango, but she put some distance between both as soon as she noticed.

- "And don't worry, I'll make sure Miroku doesn't try to play anything on Sango!" – said Shippou trying to look mature in front of them.

- "And I'll help Shippou-chan with that!" – said Rin cheerfully.

So Kirara transformed into her larger form to let Kagome ride her while Gerardo and Gabriela transformed into dragoon form. They noticed how Gabriela's transformation buble was white and her armor was white with silver borders, while the circular plate on her breastplate had the emblems of light and moon. They then set off to head to the Bone Eater's Well: Kagome was riding Kirara, Gabriela and Gerardo flew using the wings of their armors and Inuyasha ran at full speed below them. After a few minutes, they reached the well, so Kagome dismounted Kirara while the siblings cancelled their transformations, thought they both began gasping as soon as they did.

- "Why didn't you want to ride on my back?" – asked Inuyasha when they were about to enter the well.

- "So I didn't bother you, so stop complaining already!" – said Kagome

- "You'd do better to leave your eternal couple quarrels for later" – said Gerardo in bad mood.

- "Don't butt in! Sit down!" – said Kagome, which made Inuyasha and Gerardo crash into the ground.

- "I think you shouldn't have done that…" – said Gabriela in a teasing tone as she looked at Kagome.

- "Ah, sorry!" – said Kagome embarrassed.

- "Kagome…" – said Inuyasha from the ground – "Why did you do that?" –

- "Sorry, my tongue slipped!" – said Kagome as she played with her fingers.

- "You should mind your words a little more" – said Gerardo as he stood up and dusted his clothes off. He then adjusted his glasses a bit.

- "Well, forget about it and let's hurry going into the well!" – said Gabriela excitedly as she jumped up and down.

- "You're right" – said Kagome doubtful – "But, will the well let you go through to my era? As it only works with Inuyasha and me…" –

- "We won't know until we try" – said Gerardo, to which Inuyasha replied with only making a mocking gesture with his face: he thought it was a waste of time to even try it.

So they still jumped in, and still the portal appeared for all of them, though the light vortex from it seemed to be a bit dimmer than usual.

- "How's it? The well let us pass!" – said Gabriela cheerfully when they found themselves in the shed in the present.

- "But how!? The well didn't let anyone but Inuyasha and me to go through!" – said Kagome amazed.

- "Maybe it's because the combined power of the Shadow fragments and the Shikon shard…" – said Gerardo as he looked at the pocket where he had the Satchel of Light that kept the fragments in check.

- "Keh! Then that's even more a reason to keep them away from Naraku's clutches!" – said Inuyasha with an unpleasant air of superiority.

They ended the conversation there, so they exited the shed and went to Kagome's house. After leaving their shoes in the entrance, Kagome announced she had returned and went into the dining room to see her family, alongside Inuyasha. After they greeted Inuyasha, Kagome called Gerardo and Gabriela to introduce them.

- "They're our new friends, Gerardo and Gabriela!" – said Kagome cheerfully.

- "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Higurashi-san" – said Gerardo as he and Gabriela bowed before her.

- "The pleasure is mine" – said Kagome's mother with a smile – "Are you two from the Warring States Era too?" -

- "No, we're westerners from this era, but we thought we'd fit better with these clothes!" – said Gabriela cheerfully.

- "Hehe, and you're such a cute girl" – said Kagome's mother – "I hope you and Kagome are getting along well" –

- "Hehe, we are" – said Kagome with a smile as she and Gabriela winked at each other – "Well, let me explain about how we met…" –

Kagome, alongside her new friends, explained everything that had taken place thus far to her family. In the end, Kagome's mother was a bit enthralled with Gabriela because she reminded her of Kagome when she was little, while Kagome's grandfather wanted to explain to Gerardo a lot of Japan's customs and legends due to his interest on them, but he was so tired he wasn't in the mood for it at the moment. Souta was also looking at both siblings with interest, seeing how well they got along, and feeling like he wanted to exchange places with Kagome to see how it would feel.

- "Well, if you need to stay here tonight, Gerardo and Inuyasha can sleep in Souta's room, while Gaby-chan can stay in Kagome's" – said Kagome's mother with a smile – "I'll get a couple of futons ready so you can go and rest" –

- "Thank you very much!" – said Gerardo and Gabriela. Once the preparations were finished, everyone wished good night to each other and went to sleep.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Dearest)