Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Return of Two Old Friends

(Opening: Change the World)

When Inuyasha and Kagome reached the other side of the gateway, it closed behind them, but they both were met with the pleasant surprise that they had appeared at the same place where everyone was eating. Miroku, Sango and Shippou went to welcome them back at once, but Gerardo and Gabriela kept themselves a little away from them, even though they tried to get a look of them. Naturally, their eyes were the size of saucers from the clothes Inuyasha and Kagome were wearing, as well as Kagome's childish appearance.

- "Inuyasha! Kagome!" – screamed Shippou running to them alongside Miroku and Sango, but they stopped in their tracks, astonished from their weird clothes and Kagome being a little girl again.

- "Kagome, what happened to you?" – asked Sango – "And why are you wearing these weird clothes?" -

- "It's a long story…" – said Kagome, but Inuyasha cut her off.

- "And who are these two?" – said him as he walked in Gerardo and Gabriela's direction, but he got enraged immediately due to Gerardo wearing his outfit and having his precious sword – "What ya think yer doin' with my clothes and sword, kid!?" -

- "Hey, I was wearing this when we appeared in this world!" – said Gerardo – "And anyway, I was thinking about giving it back to you, but… Why are you wearing my school uniform?" -

- "'Coz I had to go that school of yers, and yer friends tried to do something really unpleasant to me in there!" – shouted Inuyasha.

Gerardo just sighed in irritation and disappointment:

- "Great… I wanted to meet you and the others so much, and it turns out to be that you're far more unpleasant in person. And before you say anything, no, it isn't about you being a hanyou" – he added upon seeing the face Inuyasha was making and how he was opening his mouth to reply back - "I'm talking about your bad temper" -

- "Inuyasha… SIT DOWN!" – screamed Kagome enraged at his rudeness, but that ended getting the wrong target because Gerardo was the one that crashed into the ground, shocking her – "W-what happened here?" -

- "It's because I'm the one wearing the rosary now, and my sister has been abusing of that phrase…" – said Gerardo annoyed as he stood up again and dusted himself off.

- "Sorry… I forgot Inuyasha wasn't wearing it anymore" – said Kagome a bit saddened.

- "No, don't worry about it" – said Gerardo smiling at her, and then he turned to face Inuyasha – "Inuyasha, shall we go for a second somewhere else to exchange our clothes? I'll also use the chance to give Tessaiga back to you" –

- "Keh! As ya want!" – said him as they both walked over to some nearby bushes.

After a few minutes, they both came back, now with Inuyasha wearing again his red kimono and with Tessaiga tied to his hip, while Gerardo wore his school uniform. However, Gerardo still had the rosary on, and no matter how much he pulled, his attempts to take it off from himself were in vain.

- "This is just wonderful: I'm stuck with this thing now and I'll suffer the consequences if either Kagome or Gaby say 'Sit down'" – he said with irritation when they went back to the others.

- "Hmm, I can try to get it off from you then" – said Kagome.

- "Please do! I really don't want to keep wearing it!" – said Gerardo, which made Inuyasha laugh.

- "And don't think you're going to be running around without it for much longer, Inuyasha" – said Kagome with an unimpressed face, which instantly put an end to his laughter and made him terrified. She then went to Gerardo, who leaned forward to let Kagome reach his neck, but as soon as Kagome's hands touched the rosary, it began shining and released several lights, which moved to around Inuyasha's neck and transformed into a second rosary.

- "No, damn!" – said Gerardo trying to get it off himself, but the rosary still had its power, and from how things looked, Inuyasha was in the same predicament: the other rosary also had the same powers and it didn't come off from his neck no matter what he did – "Hell… and to make matters worse, I'm sure it still works…" -

- "Sit down!" – shouted Gabriela, which made Inuyasha and Gerardo crash into the ground.

- "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" – screamed both in fury at the same time.

- "It's just that I wanted to see if Gerar was right…" – said Gabriela with a face it showed she was about to begin crying.

- "Come now, don't yell at her" – said Kagome severely – "But this is weird… I'm not the only one that can make the rosary work now… but does it still work with me?" -

- "Please, don't try it!" – said Gerardo in a tragic tone, but it was to no avail.

- "Sit down!" – said Kagome, which made both fall to the ground again – "Uh… sorry, looks like they still respond to me…" -

- "Well, at least there's someone else here that knows what I suffer" – said Inuyasha looking at Gerardo with a rather unpleasant smile as they both stood up again.

- "Yeah… and someone who also managed to defeat Sesshomaru without any help…" – muttered Gerardo in a very low voice as he gave him an icy glare, but Inuyasha's hypersensitive ears still caught what he said.

- "Ya couldn't have defeated Sesshomaru! Ya liar!" – said Inuyasha as he walked to him and grabbed him by the shirt.

- "Inuyasha, it's true…" – said Sango as she went and tried to calm him down.

- "What!?" – said Inuyasha shocked as he released his grip on Gerardo and looked at Sango.

- "Sango is right" – said Miroku – "Gerardo fought against Sesshomaru to protect his sister: he used some strange powers we had never seen before, and aside of defeating Sesshomaru, he was pretty close to killing him" –

- "Sesshomaru's dead…?" – asked Kagome worried.

- "No," – said Shippou – "After he defeated him, Gerardo pitied him, and his sister used a weird but very pretty song to fully heal him" –

- "What didja say!?" – screamed Inuyasha as he turned to Gerardo – "Ya idiot! Why didn't ya let him die!? Why didn't ya stop her from healing him!? Did ya forget he tried to kill you both!?" -

- "I know it… very well…" – said Gerardo looking straight at Inuyasha's eyes, showing a great determination – "But I didn't kill him because I don't like unnecessary deaths, because you still had that score to settle with him… and because I felt sorry for Rin, as I don't want to think what would happen to her if Sesshomaru died" –

All of this made Inuyasha shut up, and he turned around as he scoffed like a spoiled child.

- "Err…" – said Kagome – "I think we haven't been introduced, right?" –

- "Uh, right… sorry for my lack of manners…" – said Gerardo embarrassed as he walked to Gabriela's side – "I'm Gerardo, and she's my sister, Gabriela" -

They then bowed towards her.

- "Hehe, you're pretty cute!" – said Kagome as she looked at Gabriela, which made her blush and smile – "I think I'd have liked to have a little sister like you" –

- "Hihi, thanks, but it feels pretty weird to have someone that looks my same age acting like a big sis!" – said Gabriela giggling – "And shouldn't we go change clothes too? I'm kinda getting tired of going 'round without shoes…" –

- "Ah okay, I know how you feel. Let's go to the bushes then" – replied Kagome, but before continuing, she turned toward the others – "And don't try peeking in!" -

- "I have no problems with that, but make sure to take good care of her" – said Gerardo to Kagome as she took out one of her uniforms and a bottle filled with a blue liquid. She then went alongside Gabriela into the bushes where Gerardo and Inuyasha had gone into a few minutes ago.

All the others sat down looking at the place they went to, and nothing worthy of mention happened aside of a little thing: Miroku tried going to the bushes under the excuse of "checking if everything was okay", but some killer glares from Gerardo, Sango and Inuyasha made him give up on the idea. Finally, they saw a flash of white light, and a few minutes later, Gabriela and Kagome returned to their side, both wearing their respective uniforms and with Kagome back to her true age.

- "So you're Mrs. Gallucci's children?" – asked Kagome when she and Gabriela had gone back to the others and sat down.

- "Do you know our mother?" – asked Gerardo as he and Gabriela put on surprised faces.

- "Yeah, she was who offered to lodge us in your house" – replied Kagome with a smile – "She's a great person" –

- "And my father didn't say anything about it?" – asked Gerardo surprised, given how strict his father was about receiving strangers in the house.

- "Well… we had quite a hard time about it…" – said Kagome as she tried to explain herself, but Inuyasha decided to interrupt her and continue the explanation himself.

- "Some weird letters appeared out of nowhere that made us "exchange students" in yer world, and while yer dad had quite a good while screaming because ya were gone without telling him anything, he accepted it in the end" – said Inuyasha.

- "Wait a moment… exchange students? So you were at my school!?" – asked Gerardo spooked – "Were there any exams that day? How did you deal with my classmates? And my friends?" -

- "Whoa, simmer down there!" – said Inuyasha dumbfounded at the flood of questions – "There were none of these tests, I had to bear with yer classmates, and while your friends learned about who I was, nothing terrible happened" –

- "*sigh*… That's a relief" – said Gerardo as he closed his eyes with a smile.

- "You worry a lot about your grades?" – asked Kagome with interest.

- "Yeah, but not so much as in previous years: I'm in my final high school year, and in my country, grades at that point have no impact on the chances of going to college" – said Gerardo.

- "Keh! I don't get why ya worry so much about it" – said Inuyasha, which got him irritated gazes from both.

- "Rather, my main problem is that I have a lot of difficulty socializing because, ever since I moved from my hometown to the place where I live now, I've always gotten bullied in the schools where I was…" – said Gerardo with sadness.

- "B-but… for what reason?" – asked Kagome.

- "For my tastes and the fact I came from another city" – said Gerardo looking at the ground.

- "Discriminated for being different, huh?" – said Kagome thoughtfully – "I've also seen some of that in my own school… as well as also being the same thing that happened to Inuyasha…"

- "Bah! I don't think he actually understands that kinda sufferin'!" – said Inuyasha acidly.

- "While I don't understand it on the same level as you for not having experienced your life, I've went through something similar, so I do feel that pain. That's why I identified with your struggles when I learned of your past" – said Gerardo – "However, as I said, my suffering is nothing in comparison to yours" –

- "And that reminds me… It was quite a surprise to find out that we're characters from an anime series over at your world" – said Kagome smiling to change the conversation topic to something less depressing.

- "Err… yeah…" – said Gerardo blushing – "I guess you saw all of the things I have related to it, right?" –

- "Yeah. Our adventures are very interesting to you, I see" – said Kagome as she closed her eyes.

- "And it's not only me: a lot of people also love your series as well" – replied Gerardo.

- "Yup, with the romances, and fights, and comedy parts" – said Gabriela, making both couples-in-progress blush as the mention of the first bit – "I really like it too!" -

- "And by the way… what country are you both from?" – asked Kagome – "Our worlds seem to be almost the same, so…" –

- "We come from a country in South America called Venezuela" – said Gerardo.

- "Ah, right, like it was written in the letters! Now I get why your customs are so different from ours" – replied Kagome excitedly as she clapped her hands – "Actually, I've always wanted to try traveling overseas…" –

- "And I've always dreamed with traveling to Japan" – said Gerardo with a smile – "Looks like we both got what we wanted, though in a very unusual way…" –

- "By the way, Kagome, how was my school for you?" - asked Gabriela with a smile - "Since you're so much bigger than me and so many years ahead, I'm thinking it could've been boring" -

- "You're not wrong in that, Gabriela" - said Kagome with a smile.

- "Hehe, call me Gaby or Gabu, or how you prefer" - said Gabriela giggling - "It's just I don't like others calling me by my full name... It makes me think I'm gonna get scolded..." -

- "Yeah, it's because that's what my parents and I do when we need her to behave..." - said Gerardo looking downward.

- "Okay, Gaby-chan" - said Kagome, to which Gabriela smiled - "Yeah, it was pretty boring, as getting thrown seven years backward in school isn't anything fun when you know all they're teaching" -

- "My teacher didn't say anything 'bout it?" - asked Gabriela raising an eyebrow.

- "Nope. I had to feign not knowing the stuff the teacher was teaching to not draw more attention to myself though" - said Kagome - "But I did have some surprises and fun in recess with your friends, playing make-believe of our adventures" -

- "Eheh, I guess Maria was the one who called you to play with them!" - said Gabriela giggling.

- "It must have been an experience to play at being yourself" - said Gerardo laughing about how weird it sounded.

- "You said it, Gerardo-kun" - nodded Kagome before talking to Gabriela again - "That said, does... Kikyou happen to be your favorite character?" -

- "Yeah, she is!" - said Gabriela smiling while Inuyasha blinked at her answer and the other three were livid at this - "I really admire her being a miko, how calm and collected she is, and... and..." -

- "I see. I guess that's why Maria-chan asked me if I wanted her role" - said Kagome with a saddened smile.

- "I'm sorry Gaby prefers her, Kagome" - said Gerardo sighing a bit saddened.

- "Don't mind it. Everybody has their own preferences, don't they?" - said Kagome perking up a bit.

- "Still, you're a pretty cool protagonist too! But..." - started Gabriela.

However, their conversation was interrupted at that point due to something: a strong light flashed in front of them, blinding them for a few seconds; and when they could see again, they noticed that a large building was appearing right before them. It had a hexagonal shape, was built completely in white marble, with a colored stone in each of the points of the hexagon, and it had two large dragon statues flanking both sides of the entrance, which was a large square opening with double doors. Above the entrance and on the doors, there was a symbol engraved: a hexagon surrounded by two circles, which had all of its six points colored and interconnected, had a triangle formed by three points placed between the two outer circles and had three more colored points forming a triangle near its center.

The group was marveled and continued looking at the magnificent structure.

- "Incredible! I have never seen such a building!" – said Miroku.

- "It's true, it's very beautiful!" – said Sango.

- "Amazing! We don't have buildings like this one in my era either!" – said Kagome.

- "I wonder what it's for…" – said Shippou.

- "Hmm, what a weird building…" – said Inuyasha.

- "It's so pretty!" – said Gabriela.

- "It's truly a beautiful structure… however, I have a feeling I know what it is…" – said Gerardo with a strange smile.

- "Are ya serious?" – asked Inuyasha surprised, while all the others turned to look at him.

- "Yes, but I'm not completely sure about it…" – said him crossing his arms.

A blue sphere of light came out from the building and headed in their direction. When it was close enough to them, it took the form of a bright blue dragon, which had a calm and wise appearance to it.

- "Welcome" – said the dragon – "Now please, go inside the temple" -

- "Are you inviting us?" – asked Kagome.

- "Yes. Please, go in, all of you" – said the dragon before disappearing into the air.

- "We should do what it says" – said Gabriela.

- "Do you think we can trust that thing?" – said Inuyasha in a cautious tone, and he even had his hand over Tessaiga's hilt.

- "Yeah, I've got a good feeling about this place" – said Gerardo smiling – "And besides, I'm pretty sure that the voice that told me what I had to do to use these powers belonged to that dragon…" –

- "Is that true!?" – asked Miroku. Gerardo only nodded to them all.

They then entered the temple.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Fukai Mori)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

A Hard Battle

(Opening: Owaranai Yume)

The stranger was no other than Sesshomaru.

- "Ugh, great! Just what we needed!" – shouted Gerardo irritated – "Having Lord Fluffy come right to our current location!" -

Everyone was confused about who he was talking about, but Gabriela did understand it right away and fell to the ground as she grabbed her belly, laughing loudly.

- "Who's Fluffy?" – asked Shippou.

- "That's the nickname a lot of people gave to Sesshomaru in my world. Let's just say he has quite a following, particularly among girls" – said Gerardo as the shade of a laughter began appearing on his face. With this, the others began laughing as well, knowing now why he said that. However, their fun came to an end when Sesshomaru went up to them, which got them all tense, while Gabriela and Shippou ran behind the others to hide.

- 'Damn it' – thought Sesshomaru as he looked at the fluffy part he had over his shoulder, and then he spoke to Gerardo – "How did you just call me, human? And why are you carrying Tessaiga and wearing the clothes of that useless fool Inuyasha?" -

- "That's none of your business!" – said Gerardo with more courage than he actually felt: he began trembling because he knew perfectly that Sesshomaru could kill them all easily if he wanted – "And anyway, why do you still want Tessaiga if you can't even hold it? Don't you have enough with Tokijin!?" -

- "These are matters that don't concern you, human… now hand over that sword!" – said Sesshomaru.

- "You'll have to take it away by force!" – said Gerardo, which was a grave mistake.

- "I shall comply with your wishes. You are every bit as idiotic as Inuyasha…" – said as he ran to him, enshrouded by a black aura, which made everyone around gasp in shock.

Gerardo unsheathed Tessaiga and drove it into the ground as he gripped it as hard as he could.

- "Come, please! If you won't transform, at least pull out a barrier or something!" – he thought scared.

A few seconds later, Sesshomaru was repelled by a transparent barrier that had been formed just an instant ago.

- "Hmph, so you're using the sword's barrier to protect yourself… very astute, yet that won't be enough to save you!" – said Sesshomaru as he began attacking the barrier with his sword.

- 'Shit! The barrier isn't going to last long like this… What I'm supposed to do now!?' – he thought desperate, and with the next strike of Sesshomaru's sword, the barrier was shattered.

- "This is your end" – said Sesshomaru as he used his claws to send a stream of green poison at Gerardo while he put his arms in front of himself. However, while this killed and dried away all the plants around him to the point of reducing them to ashes, it didn't have any effect on Gerardo.

- "I'm pretty lucky…" – said he breathing fast, looking at how the clothes he was wearing merely wafted a bit of poison but without any visible damage to them – "If it wasn't for the fabric of these clothes, I'd be dead by now" -

- "If my claws and poison won't be able to finish you off" – said Sesshomaru as he unsheathed Tokijin – "Then my sword shall be that which eliminates you!" -

He then began attacking him. Gerardo took Tessaiga again and began using it to parry the attacks, though he could barely block Sesshomaru's attacks, as between Tessaiga being stuck on its rusty form and the speed at which the attacks were coming, he couldn't do anything else. Finally, Sesshomaru struck Gerardo on the hand he was holding Tessaiga in, disarming him as Tessaiga flew off from his hands and drove itself into the ground behind him. He then punched Gerardo in the face, making him fall on his back at the side of where the sword was now stuck in the ground.

- "If you don't hand that sword over now" – said Sesshomaru as he came closer to the rest of the group –"I'll kill everyone here" -

- "You wouldn't dare!" – shouted Gerardo as he began sweating.

- "See it by yourself" – said Sesshomaru as he pointed to Gabriela, who had gotten paralyzed by fear.

- 'I don't care if that brat is like Rin. I just have the feeling that if I don't kill her now, I'll greatly regret it later. Besides, Rin won't have any reason to fear me since she isn't here right now' – thought Sesshomaru to then look at Gerardo with an evil smile – "I believe that girl means a lot to you..."

- "Don't even dare to touch her!" – said Sango as her Miroku, and Shippou put themselves between him and Gabriela.

- "You're insane! How can you think of killing her!?" – screamed Shippou.

- "Have you lost your mind, Sesshomaru!?" – said Miroku gripping his shakujou with both hands.

- "Don't interfere…" – said Sesshomaru. He then moved so fast that it seemed as if he had teleported around, and punched them in a way that caused them to lose consciousness. He then began walking steadily to Gabriela, as if he wanted to savor every single second of the atrocity he was about to commit.

- "No! Sango! Shippou! Miroku!" – screamed Gerardo shocked – "Sesshomaru, leave my little sister out of this!" -

- "Oh, so she is your sister?" – said Sesshomaru as he turned his head to look at Gerardo with repulsion – "This makes it even better. It'll be even more satisfactory for me to kill her then…" -

- "Damn it!" – said Gerardo lowering as he grabbed his head with his hands, desperate – "I can't do anything… I can't make Tessaiga transform… and I don't have any powers I can use to save her…" -

He punched the ground. He tried placing one of his hands over to sword to see if anything happened, but it had absolutely no effect. However, after he did so, Gerardo heard a strange voice resounding in his head…

- "I have finally found you…" -

- "What…?" – he replied to the voice – "Who are you…?" –

- "You are one of the Chosen… use it…" –

- "Chosen? What am I supposed to use?" –

- "Do it now… or she will die, as will you…" – said the voice. At that point, Gerardo felt as if something was entering his mind and as if he was in a trance, he stood up again, placed his hands over chest, closed his eyes, and began pronouncing words in a language he never had spoken or even heard before.

-"Khalt Zattyac Ochsmere Iadlast Kiabze Pawatz Zosph, Phaph Myya Zosph Phiaphz Ical!"-

(Music: The Power of the Dragon – Popolocrois Anime)

His body then began shining in a bright blue, and when the shine disappeared, he found himself wearing bright blue metallic knight armor with gray borders, whose helmet was shaped after a dragon's head and had a pair of wings sprouting from the back. The breastplate had a circular plate on its center that had a blue water droplet on it. Additionally, an iron sword and an iron shield also appeared on his hands.

- "I… I can't… believe this…" – said Gerardo as he looked down at himself.

- "Hmph, apparently you possess some abilities that I was unaware of, yet that won't change the final outcome of this" – said Sesshomaru as he turned away from Gabriela and ran up to Gerardo a full speed to slash him with Tokijin. Gerardo blocked it with his shield to then respond in kind, which made Sesshomaru evade him. They continued like this for a good while: both slashing at the opponent and avoiding the attacks of the other while they waited for a chance to attack themselves. Finally, Gerardo used the shield to block two of Sesshomaru's slashes, but it was a feint…

- "You have given a worthy fight for a simple human, but it's time to put an end to this…" – said Sesshomaru appearing behind him as he launched him an energy beam with Tokijin, striking him on the back. Gerardo screamed from the pain and placed his hand over the place where he had gotten hit.

- "Hmph, it seems that your strange armor doesn't offer much protection" – said Sesshomaru in a mocking tone as he raised his sword for the final blow, but then…

-"Nyarr Nyulase IphalRe Zosph Uira Ical Pawatz Zhoi, Oli Kialrazz Zosph Eoulss Ical! Water Cannon!"- shouted Gerardo spreading the wings of his armor to take flight, distracting Sesshomaru briefly with the wind blast he made by doing so. He then stuck his sword in the middle of the back of his shield. Both began absorbing energy, and a few seconds later, he was launching at Sesshomaru a blue energy beam shaped after a dragon's head.

Sesshomaru received some damage from that attack, but the worst part for him was that Gerardo came up to him following the energy beam's trajectory, and taking advantage he was distracted from its luminosity, he disarmed Sesshomaru by striking his hand and stabbed him with his own sword on the abdomen: apparently the sword was still charged with energy and thanks to that it could pierce his armor rather easily. Sesshomaru fell to the ground on his back, now without the black aura, and then Gerardo drew the sword back, flew a bit away from him, stepped on the ground again and fell to his knees.

- "Looks like… I won..." – he said as he gasped from exhaustion and looked at what he had done. Gabriela came walking to him looking a bit scared.

- "Gaby, are you okay?" – asked Gerardo to his sister.

- "Yeah, Gerar, but… you were amazing!" – said Gabriela smiling excitedly.

At that point, the others began waking up, and when they saw the current situation: Gabriela safe and sound, Sesshomaru unconscious with a large bleeding wound, and Gerardo wearing the dragon armor, they all could only hang their mouths open in amazement.

- "Are you all okay?" – asked Gerardo.

- "Yeah, but… how did you do this?" – asked Miroku, who still couldn't believe what he saw.

- "I really don't know" – said Gerardo. The next instant, the sword and shield began cracking, much to everyone's surprise, and shattered as if they were made from glass. The next instant, the entire armor he was wearing also cracked and shattered, and all of their shards disappeared as if they never had existed in the first place. However, this also made the wound and bruises Sesshomaru inflicted him disappear: apparently this whole event had healed them.

- "Whatever you did, it didn't last long" – said Shippo as he looked at Gerardo with curiosity.

- "Looks like you have some kind of power hidden within yourself" – said Sango as she looked at him – "Though it's very strange…" -

- "I know, and looks like I did it speaking in a language I don't even know, as I don't remember what I said when I summoned that armor and used an energy attack against him" – said Gerardo as he sat on the ground to rest a bit – "I just know I heard a voice in my head telling me to say these words…" -

- "Anyway, it doesn't look like we're going to learn more about it for now. And what should we do about him?" – interrupted Miroku as he examined Sesshomaru.

- "I think we should help him" – said Gerardo with a pitying look – "If we don't do something, he'll die…" -

- "But he's a youkai, and he also tried to kill us!" – protested Sango.

- "And many times, if I remember correctly… anyway, I've never liked seeing anyone die, no matter their species. Besides, I'm sure this would be terrible for Rin…" – said Gerardo with a sad face as he got up and walked to Sesshomaru – "Hmm… but I wonder what we can do… I'm not Tenseiga's owner, and we don't have a way of healing someone on the verge of death…" -

- "Gerar…" – said Gabriela getting closer to them – "I wanna… I ought to sing…" –

- "How can you think of doing something like that at a moment like this?" – said Gerardo in a tone that remarked this wasn't time for singing.

However, Gabriela clasped her hands in front of her heart, closed her eyes, and opened her mouth…

-"Ist Atok ShuxuaraRa Illyusea Phaph Zyoskz Atok, ShuxuaraRa Phaph Kluceia Biousakatse... Healing Light…" – as she sang, Gabriela's clothes were replaced by a very beautiful white and silver outfit similar to a kimono, filled with silver embroidery in the collar and sleeves, and white slipper-style shoes appeared in her feet, as well as white tights on her legs. A soft white light began radiating from her and spread throughout Sesshomaru's body, healing his wounds. When Gabriela finished singing, the light and the clothes vanished, leaving her dressed again in the kosode Kaede had given her, as well as her returning to being barefoot due to the tights and shoes disappearing.

When they saw that Sesshomaru was waking up, they turned their backs and began going away.

- "Wait a moment, human…" – said Sesshomaru after he stood up again and had picked up and sheathed Tokijin.

- "What do you want now?" – asked Gerardo, copying Sesshomaru's manner of speech and gaze.

- "What reason did you have to spare me?" – asked Sesshomaru unflinchingly.

- "My only reason is that I don't like unnecessary deaths" – said Gerardo.

- "I see… I can only say that I am indebted to you now" – said Sesshomaru turning around – "Maybe we shall meet again another day… but before we part ways, tell me your name…" -

- "I am Gerardo" – said him.

- "Very well… I shall remember it" – said Sesshomaru as he began walking away from them.

A while later, the group was sitting down on the grass and preparing to have lunch.

- "Well, I can't say that I'm unimpressed" – said Sango after Gerardo and Gabriela told them about his battle against Sesshomaru, as they wanted to know everything that had taken place there – "You never had any kind of training, but you still managed to defeat Sesshomaru!" –

- "Actually, I did take some karate classes long ago" – said Gerardo blushing – "And besides, it was mere luck… If it weren't for those strange powers…" –

- "Maybe, but you still showed enough cunning to take him by surprise" – said Miroku smiling – "Inuyasha could learn one or two things about battle strategies from you" –

- "Come on, it isn't such a big deal" – said Gerardo with a face as red as a ripe tomato – "So, what're we going to eat?" -

- "Well, I have some food around here…" – said Miroku as he got some food out from a bag – "I hope you like it" –

- 'And I've already got a guess where you got it from…" – thought Gerardo rolling his eyes.

Miroku got out five bowls filled with rice and a pair of hashi for each of them.

- "I don't really dislike rice, but…" – said Gerardo as he tried using the ohashi for eating, but he couldn't even grab a single grain. He sighed in exasperation – "As you can see, I'm so-so at handling a sword, but I'm a failure when it comes to using ohashi to eat" -

- "Ah, I guess you don't use them much on the west, right? Okay, let me give you a hand" – said Sango as she went to his side and began teaching him how to use them. She also did the same thing for Gabriela, who managed to learn much faster than her brother, so while it took quite a while before there were able to eat, they finally could.

- "By the way, what was all that with Sesshomaru?" – asked Miroku a bit dumbfounded.

- "Hmm, what exactly?" – asked Gerardo as he put a bit of rice in his mouth.

- "That he didn't want to continue fighting after Gabriela saved him" – said Miroku.

- "I think that he didn't want to dishonor himself by trying to kill the ones who saved his life" – said Gerardo calmly, as if he didn't mind it in the slightest.

- "But talking about a complex personality" – said Sango – "At times you were acting like Inuyasha in battle, but when you were talking to Sesshomaru, you were acting just like him" -

- "Hehe, well, I've been told that my personality has traits from both of them" – said Gerardo laughing a bit as he took another bit of rice to his mouth.

- "Oh, I see. Yet you have several other traits neither of them have" – said Miroku.

- "Well, isn't that supposed to be expected from each person?" – said Gerardo with a mysterious smile.

- "Well, you're pretty gentle and kind too" – said Sango – "Are you always like this?"

- "Honestly speaking, yeah. I'm always giving everyone a second chance…" – said Gerardo as he looked at them with a smile, but then his gaze soured up – "The only ones that won't get anything like that are traitors… to give you an example, if we were fighting youkai and I had the chance to strike the finishing blow, I could just spare its life and walk away. But if they try to attack me while I have my back turned, I'll just finish them off without any mercy" -

- "In other words, you can spare anyone or anything, but if they betray your trust, you'll annihilate them. Is that right?" – said Miroku as he continued eating.

- "Yup" – said Gabriela with a saddened face – "My bro doesn't stand that kind of things, as a few people that acted like they were his friends ended up betraying him" -

- "I see that hurt you quite a bit" – said Sango, to which Gerardo nodded in response – "No wonder you have such an attitude" -

- "But it's quite weird to find someone like you in such a violent era…" – said Shippou looking at him with his eyes of the size of platters.

- "By the way, Gaby's also quite kind and compassionate, like Kagome, but don't flatter her too much: you've already seen how spoiled she can get, and I don't want her to become more presumptuous and arrogant than she is. And as ironic as it might sound, she admires Kikyou more than Kagome" – said Gerardo as he looked at his sister in a bitter way. He ended paying a high price for saying that…

- "Sit down!" – shouted Gabriela, making his brother crash to the ground.

- "I know I deserve it, but it was still the truth!" – said Gerardo from the ground, rising a hand with the index finger extended. This made everyone laugh, excepting for Gabriela who was still pouting and enraged.

- "I just hope Kagome never learns of that if she ever gets to meet you!" – said Sango laughing.

- "By the way, going back to the topic of the powers…" – began Miroku once they stopped laughing – "Don't you find surprising that little Gabriela here could heal someone that was on the border of death the way she did?" -

- "Now you mention it, Houshi-sama," – said Sango – "That kind of healing can't be compared to anything I've seen before, not even to the youkai types that have a great regeneration ability" -

- "Well, it really left me impressed" – said Gerardo sitting up again and looking at his sister, who had finally calmed down and was now blushing – "Though it was pretty strange too… the way she used it was similar to the way I summoned that armor…" –

They then continued eating without saying anything else about these mysterious events.

Meanwhile, in the other world, Kagome and Inuyasha had spent the rest of the afternoon watching the taped episodes, which brought to them both tears from the more emotional scenes, as well as laughter and some embarrassment from the more comical ones. Mrs. Gallucci was out of the house at the moment at her job, as also was Mr. Gallucci.

- "It really wasn't bad at all. I see now why we're so popular in this world" – said Kagome smiling as she used the remote to put the VHS player in stop and shut down the TV.

- "It's true, but I'd really like trying to go back to our world" – said Inuyasha snorting – "Any ideas?" -

- "Well, let's see what we can do with the Shikon shard we have…" – said Kagome as she got it out from the flask.

They began trying all sorts of things with the fragments, such as holding it aloft, praying to it, and even using some of Kagome's own spiritual powers on it, but nothing happened.

- "Damn it, we can't go back!" – said Inuyasha desperate after seeing how all their attempts had failed.

- "But… mom, Souta, grandpa… and all our friends…" – said Kagome as she began shedding tears. She covered her eyes with her hands and began crying.

- "Kagome…" – said Inuyasha as he embraced her – "Don't worry… I'm sure we'll manage to get back somehow…" -

At that moment, the fragment began shining, and it created a sort of tunnel made of purple light in the room's window.

- "It's a gateway like that of the well!" – said Inuyasha excited – "Great! Let's get outta here!" –

- "Yeah! We can finally go back home!" – said Kagome joyfully as she wiped the tears from her eyes – "But… I think we should leave a letter to Mrs. Gallucci to explain everything to her. We can't just disappear after she took care of us" –

- "Whatever you say…" – said Inuyasha annoyed.

After Kagome wrote the letter and left it over the dining room's table, both took their belongings… or better said only belonging: Kagome's backpack, and jumped into the gateway to return to their world.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: My Will)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

A Very Peculiar Day

(Opening: I Am)

Gerardo was standing over the grassy field at which he and his sister had arrived a few minutes ago, with Sango, Shippou and Miroku behind. He had unsheathed Tessaiga and was trying to wield it, but…

- "What is it with this sword?" – he said as he swung it annoyed, but the sword didn't change at all and remained in its rusty and battered state – "Come on! Don't tell me you don't want to transform because I'm not your true owner" -

- "Most likely that is the cause. I also have to add that you don't have any youkai blood running through your veins, right?" – said Miroku as came up closer to him.

- 'That's why I said "Don't tell me"…" – said Gerardo crestfallen.

- "But that means you know about the powers that sword has, right?" – asked Sango with interest.

- "Yeah. They are the Kaze no Kizu, the Bakuryuuha, the Konsouha, and the Red Tessaiga" – said him counting them with the fingers and reminiscing how Inuyasha used those powers. He noticed that the others looked at him strangely because of how he was counting, as the people in Japan an inverse way of counting with fingers from that of the West: for them, closed fingers meant plus one, while open ones meant minus one.

- "I guess then that it's true that both you and your sister came from another world…" – said Miroku as he put his hand on his chin.

- "Gerar, I'd like to go get other clothes…" – said Gabriela pulling the sleeves of the haori Gerardo was wearing now with one hand while with the other she made efforts to keep the oversized clothes she was wearing on place while she had a very embarrassed face. This got her pitying looks from everyone.

- "I wish we could help you with that, but we can't because Kagome's backpack disappeared with them" – said Sango as she knelt in front of Gabriela to smile at her, to then look over her shoulder to the point where both siblings had appeared - "Still, I think I can do something to remedy this for now" –

Sango got out a couple of pieces of fabric she had prepared to use as bandages in case they were hurt in battle, and tied them as firmly as she could around the uniform's blouse and skirt, keeping them in place.

- "It might not be very comfy, but at least that will keep the clothes from doing something they shouldn't" – said Sango with a smile.

- "Okay, thanks a lot, Sango!" – said Gabriela smiling.

- "However, if we want a more permanent solution to this, we should go and pay Kaede a visit" – suggested Gerardo – "And maybe she'll know something that will help us go back to our world" -

- "Hmm, nice idea. I'd say you're an improvement over Inuyasha in that respect" – said Miroku as he patted his shoulder a bit strongly.

- "Hehe, come on. Don't exaggerate so much" – replied Gerardo embarrassed.

They began walking back to Kaede's village, which luckily wasn't very far away from the clearing with the well. However, after they had walked for a few minutes…

- "Ow, it hurts!" – said Gabriela as she tumbled to the ground.

- "Are you okay, Gaby!?" – said Gerardo as he rushed to his sister's side. The others also did the same thing.

- "Yeah, I just got hurt a little. It's 'coz I can't walk well with these big shoes and socks…" – said her as she pointed to her feet.

- "If they are so annoying, why don't you take them off?" – asked Shippou.

- "Uh? But mom and dad always say I should never go out of home without wearing shoes or sandals" – said Gabriela scared, fearing her parents could scold her for that.

- "Well, they aren't anywhere near us, so you shouldn't worry so much about it" – said Gerardo to calm her down.

- "And besides, it's pretty normal for kids your age to be walking around barefoot in this era. Don't mind it so much" – said Sango.

- "Umm… okay, if you say so…" – she took off the shoes and socks and gave them to Sango to then stand up again. She began feeling ticklish on her soles due to the grass she was stepping on – "Hehe, it feels ticklish and kinda itchy…" –

- "But it feels better now, right?" – asked Sango.

- "Yup! I think I can go on like this" – said Gabriela cheerfully.

- "In any case, we'll try to get you a pair of fitting zori as soon as we can" – said Gerardo. They then continued walking until they reached Kaede's village. They got some curious stares from the villagers due to Gerardo and Gabriela, but nothing really important serious happened until they entered Kaede's hut.

- "Hello, everyone. What I owe your visit this time to?" – asked Kaede.

- "Well, Kaede-sama, it's that…" – began Sango, but Kaede interrupted her by raising her hand.

- "Oh, who are these two? And why are they wearing Kagome's outfit and Inuyasha's clothes?" – said her focusing her gaze on Gerardo and Gabriela.

- "That's the reason for our visit… they two came from another world through some weird kind of bubble, and looks like Kagome and Inuyasha got sent to their world in exchange…" – said Sango.

- "Kaede-sama… If I may introduce myself, my name is Gerardo, and she is my little sister Gabriela" – said Gerardo bowing before her while Gabriela did the same.

- "Hmm, at the least I can see you're both very well-mannered" – said Kaede with a smile – "It's a nice change of pace from Inuyasha's rudeness and his constant quarrelling with Kagome" –

- "As for the exact reason for us being here, Kaede-sama, it's because we wanted to ask if you knew some way to send them to their world of origin, so we could find a way to bring Inuyasha and Kagome back here" – explained Miroku.

- "I see. Unfortunately, this is the first time I've ever heard of such an occurrence, so I'm afraid I don't know how we could do that" – said Kaede as she looked solemnly at the ground with her eye closed. This made everyone sad.

- "I see. We'll have to find out in some other way then" – said Sango as she looked at both siblings with sadness, as Gerardo was grabbing Gabriela by the shoulders from behind – "Aside of that, there's something else we needed to ask you" –

- "Hmm, and that would be?" – asked Kaede as she opened he only eye again.

- "Well, Gaby, ask it yourself…" – said Gerardo as he patted her on the back.

- "Okay… Kaede-sama… I was wondering… do you have any clothes I could wear?" – asked Gabriela fidgeting while she blushed – "As you can see, these clothes aren't exactly fitting me…" -

- "Oh, I understand. Wait here, little one. I'll go and see if I have anything that fits you…" – she stood up and went to the back of the hut to check. After a few minutes, she came back with another kosode she had found: it was pink decorated with red flowers, and it had a red obi. Gabriela received it from Kaede's hands as she bowed in signal of gratitude.

- "Thank you very much, Kaede-sama!" – said Gabriela cheerfully.

- "And it might be somewhat rude to ask this, but do you have any footwear for her?" – asked Gerardo with a supplicant face.

- "Unfortunately, I don't. Zori for children have become rather rare and hard to find in this time and age due to the constant wars, so I haven't gotten any in quite some time" – said Kaede saddened at the fact she couldn't be of more help.

- "It's okay, we'll manage somehow" – said Gerardo – "Anyway, thank you very much for having given her that kosode" –

- "Yup! Though I don't really know how to put it on…" – said Gabriela as she looked at the clothes on her arms – "Err… Sango, could you help me with it?" -

- "Sure" – replied her with a smile to then turn to Miroku and Shippou – "And well, Houshi-sama, Shippou, please go outside while I change her clothes" -

- "And why he can stay there?" – asked Shippou with an irritated expression that wouldn't have looked out of place on Inuyasha.

- "He's her older brother, right? That's enough reason for it" – said Sango stating the obvious.

So Miroku and Shippou got out of the hut to give Gabriela some privacy as Sango helped her dress, though Shippou needed some… convincing from Miroku in other to agree to go out. Kaede just went back to getting ready to prepare dinner for that night, while Gerardo stayed there, sitting over the wooden floor and looking at a wall.

- "By the way, I've just remembered something… Gaby, didn't you happen to have the Shikon shard Kagome was carrying around?" – asked Gerardo.

- "No, Gerar. Looks like it disappeared" – said Gabriela's voice behind him.

- "Oh no! If the shard is on our world, the youkai could go there in search of it… and I don't even want to imagine Naraku going there!" – said Gerardo shocked as he stood up, but without daring to turn around.

- "Then, we should hurry with bringing Inuyasha and Kagome back here!" – exclaimed Kaede alarmed.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kagome had arrived at Gerardo and Gabriela's house in the world, and were entering to the room both siblings shared. The room was painted in sky blue, and there were three posters fixed on the part of the wall next to which the head of the bed was located: one was of Inuyasha's group posing in front of a forest with a blue sky above, other was of a boy with long blonde hair dressed in green with a brown cape, a girl dressed in red with a curious two-pointed hat of the same color, and a girl dressed in turquoise tunic with a yellow and dark-yellow emblem near the neck, all standing in a plain looking at the sky melancholically; and the last one showed two large winged robots wielding purple energy swords and a rifle in their hands in space, which seemed to be locked in mortal combat. In front of the bed, there was desk with desktop computer, next to which there was wooden stand that has a large TV and multiple videogame consoles, a DVD and a VHS player, and at the sides of the bed there were two bookshelves filled to the brim. The wall at the left of the entrance had a wardrobe.

- "You should go to sleep, as you've got to attend school tomorrow early" – said Mrs. Gallucci.

- "We'll do so. Good night" –said Kagome very tired after all the while Inuyasha, Mrs. Gallucci and her had to explain to Mr. Gallucci about their supposed status as exchange students, as he was quite angry about the fact that both Gerardo and Gabriela had vanished like this, but something in the letters seemed to have calmed him down. Mrs. Gallucci then smiled at them and closed the door.

- "This is unbelievable… Tomorrow I gotta go to that place, and besides, this house's so much smaller than yours!" – said Inuyasha irritated.

- "Don't complain so much, as this is better than having to sleep in the street. But there's still the problem of what'll happen when they see you with your true appearance…" – said Kagome worried.

- "I don't wanna think about that…" – said Inuyasha scoffing at the idea.

- "Anyway, we better continue playing the exchange students role… there's nothing else we can do, anyway" – said Kagome to try and calm down him.

- "Still, I'd like to know where did her kids go. And what's happening back at our world right now?" – said Inuyasha as he looked at the wooden roof.

- "Hehe, it's weird to see worrying about others…" – said Kagome giggling.

- "I just wanna pay her back for being so nice! You know I hate owing something to others!" – exclaimed Inuyasha.

- "Okay, okay, simmer down! We should get ready to call it a day…" – said Kagome to then release a large yawn.

It was then that she noticed something… she felt a small glass flask move inside the blouse she was wearing.

- "Hey, look! We have the Shikon shard here with us!" – she said excitedly as she got it out from the blouse and showed the small pink crystal shard at Inuyasha.

- "It's that true?" – said Inuyasha as he looked at the flask – "We could use it to go back to our world!" -

- "Yeah, but we should leave that for tomorrow… Err… could you turn around a second?" – asked Kagome.

- "Huh? Ah, gotcha" – said Inuyasha understanding what Kagome was going to do to then turn and face a wall.

- "Okay, I'm ready!" – said Kagome. When Inuyasha turned around, he saw Kagome was now wearing a white sleeping gown that was decorated with blue birds.

- "What's it with that outfit?" – said Inuyasha confused.

- "It's a sleeping gown of the one used by young girls in my era. Given Mrs. Gallucci's daughter is supposed to be a girl of the same age I have right now, it's not weird at all" – said Kagome putting her hands in her hips as she made a sour expression

- "Okay, okay" – said Inuyasha turning his eyes. Kagome just climbed into the bed and tucked herself into it.

- "Good night, Inuyasha…" – said her as she closed her eyes.

- "Good night, Kagome…" – said Inuyasha as he turned off the lights and leaned against a wall to sleep.

Meanwhile in Kaede's hut, they all had finished dining and were now in the process of getting ready to sleep.

- "By the way, why your names sound so odd?" – asked Miroku.

- "Oh, it must be because we come from a western country" – replied Gerardo as he helped setting down the futons.

- "Ah, I see" – said Kaede – "And while you both have a paler skin that usual, I don't see much difference from us when it comes to your faces" -

- "Yeah, we get the same thing said to us in our world often" – said Gerardo a bit embarrassed, as while the eyes of both siblings were narrower than that of most people, they didn't quite reach the same level of the Japanese.

- "Anyway, it's gotten pretty late already. We better go to sleep and begin searching for a way to bring Inuyasha and Kagome back tomorrow" – said Sango as she stretched and yawned. They had already finished setting the futons down and were ready to go sleep.

- "Right, and we better do this as soon as we can" – said Gerardo as he tucked Gabriela into a futon to then lie down on it at her side – "Good night" -

- "Good night" – said everyone at the same time as Kaede extinguished the fire in the hearth.

The next morning in Gerardo and Gabriela's world…

- "Aaahhh!" – it was the first thing that was heard that day.

- "What is it? There's a youkai or something here!?" – said Inuyasha, who got on his feet as soon as he heard the scream.

- "Wha-what happened to you!?" – asked Mrs. Gallucci upon seeing Inuyasha's silver hair and dog ears, as well as his golden eyes, claws and fangs.

- "We thought your children had told you about it…" – said Kagome half-asleep.

- "W-what…?" – asked Mrs. Gallucci still scared.

- "That Inuyasha is half-youkai… err, half-demon, and he only had that appearance because on new moon nights he loses his powers and his demon aspect" – explained Kagome to then stretch and yawn. Mrs. Gallucci then remembered the poster above the bed, and it was then that she noticed that now Inuyasha was exactly identical to how he looked in that image.

- "Ah, I see… sorry for making such a ruckus" – said her calming down and blushing about the whole situation – "But how are we going to send you to Gerardo's school like this?" -

- "Keh, it doesn't matter! I don't think they'll really care about that!" – said Inuyasha with his typical bad attitude.

- "Actually, you're going to be quite an eye-catcher…" – said Kagome thoughtfully – "I should remind you that having that appearance isn't common at all, especially your demonic features" -

- "And you should take in account that neither monsters nor magic exist here" – added Mrs. Gallucci.

- "And can't we make some kind of excuse?" – asked Inuyasha annoyed about this.

- "Well, we could say you're some sort of cosplayer and that the glue you use for your costume was so strong that you couldn't take some parts of it off in time for school"- said Kagome as she laughed.

- "It isn't really the best excuse, but I don't think we have much room to work with here. And besides, I think that even if they end up believing it, my son's friends will suspect you…" – said Mrs. Gallucci.

- "Why?" – asked Inuyasha.

- "According they Gerardo, they're great fans of the series where you both show up" – explained Mrs. Gallucci.

- "Ah well, it doesn't matter" – said Inuyasha sighing.

They then changed clothes to put on the uniforms of the schools to which they were going: Inuyasha's was a beige short-sleeved shirt, a navy-blue pair of pants and black shoes, while Kagome's was a short-sleeved white shirt, a navy-blue skirt that went down to her knees, and black shoes. Naturally, Inuyasha left the room while Kagome changed.

Later on, it was recess time at Gerardo's school, and Inuyasha was quite in the bad mood due to the difficulty of the classes and the fact he had never gone to school in his life. This was only exacerbated by the fact that he was sick of the girls wanting to touch his ears and that or that everyone kept on staring at him.

- 'This whole thing is a pain in the butt… as also is being in this place, being the target of everyone's stares' – thought Inuyasha.

- "Hey!" – he heard a voice. He then was petrified like a statue when he saw two boys and a girl get close to him: one of them was about two years younger that Gerardo, had black short hair and black eyes, and the other was about three years younger, had slightly dark skin, black short hair and black eyes and wore glasses; and both of them wore uniforms similar to Inuyasha's, with the shirts being blue instead of beige. As for the girl, she had brown curly hair tied into a ponytail, black eyes, slightly dark skin, and wore a uniform similar to that of the boys.

- 'These must be the friends Mrs. Gallucci told us about… I better be careful' – he thought with apprehension.

- "What's up, you're the exchange student everyone's talking about at school?" – asked the first boy – "Pleased to meet you, I'm Henry. And from your looks, I guess you like anime too, right?" -

- "Yeah, kinda…" – muttered Inuyasha.

- "Hiya, Roger here!" – said the second boy – "And it's kinda weird to have someone in place of our best friend, but I hope we can be friends too!" –

- "Hi, I'm Gisely!" – said the girl greeting him cheerfully – "It's really weird to have someone with pieces of cosplay in this school, but it's cool too!" –

- "And it might be a stupid question, but… why do you look so much like Inuyasha? These pieces of cosplay look too darn realistic to be it" – said Roger as he looked more closely at him.

- "Or are you actually Inuyasha?" – asked Gisely with suspicion.

- "No, I'm not!" – exclaimed Inuyasha irritated, thinking how annoying it was to feign to not be himself – "I just put on the clothes of him and the… paste was so hard that I couldn't take these pieces of the clothes off!" –

- "That phrasing sounds so badly made and weird…" – said Henry with suspicion.

- "Are you sure?" – asked Gisely as she touched his hair, which made Inuyasha turn his head to the side to keep it out of her hands – "Then why does your hair feel so real? This can't be a wig" -

- "Well, there's only a way to know for sure" – said Roger with a mischievous smile – "Who wants to do the honors?" -

- "What are you plotting?" – said Inuyasha a bit spooked.

Gisely then coughed to clear her throat and:

- "Sit down!" -

Inuyasha got so spooked at this that he made a backflip and fell on his back, unwillingly revealing himself. Of course nothing would have happened because he didn't have the rosary on, and even if he had, the spell only worked when Kagome said it, but as he was so traumatized by it, he couldn't help it.

- "Aha, you ARE Inuyasha!" – said Roger as he laughed at the failed acrobatics while Inuyasha was grinding his teeth and blushing in embarrassment.

- "Yeah, we guessed you'd react like that when anyone said that!" – said Henry as he was laughing like crazy.

- "Damn it, that isn't funny at all!" – said Inuyasha in a bad mood as he stood up again.

- "You're lucky that no one else happened to see what you did, or you'd be getting in trouble" – said Roger with a smile.

- "And here's something I've always wanted to do" – said Gisely as she began touching his ears – "Oh, how cute and soft!" -

- "Stop that already!" – replied Inuyasha furious, as he hated anyone that wasn't Kagome touching his ears.

- "And how is it that you're here instead of our friend?" – asked Henry guessing he could know the reason – "It's too much of a coincidence that you came here as an exchange student precisely in his place" -

- "Though he could be sick or something" – suggested Roger.

- "No way. He'd have texted us about it" – said Henry giving him a serious look.

- "Well, I came here through some weird magic or something. I don't know where your friend is, but I think he's on my world…" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms.

- "And what happened to your sword, rosary and clothes" – asked Roger confused.

- "They're in my world. They didn't cross over to this place with me…" – said Inuyasha making a horrible face: he didn't like getting reminded of the rosary, and his sword and clothes were his most prized possessions.

- "Wow. And you've got any ideas on how to go back?" – asked Gisely.

- "Maybe we could go back if we use the shard of the Pearl we have…" – replied Inuyasha.

- "Did anyone else come with you?" – asked Henry with a lot of interest upon noticing that Inuyasha was talking in plural.

- "Yeah, Kagome came with me, but she's at another school right now…" – said Inuyasha.

- "I see…" – said Gisely.

- "Now, leave me alone! I've got lots of things to think about!" – said Inuyasha irritated as he stomped away from them.

- "Whoa, Inuyasha in person…" – said the three of them as they looked at each other.

Meanwhile, on the Inuyasha world, the group had gone on a journey again in search of a method to send the newcomers back home, and bring Inuyasha and Kagome back to their side. Shortly after they left the village, they began walking through a forest…

- "*sigh*… If we encounter Naraku or any other youkai, we'll be useless" – said Gerardo depressed.

- "But I can fight using my bow…" – said Gabriela pointing to the bow and quiver she was carrying since that morning: Kaede had given it to her after she threw such a big tantrum after breakfast that not even Gerardo could calm her down out of it. Gerardo was still embarrassed about this, even though he had apologized countless times to everyone for his sister's behavior.

- "Don't be foolish!" – said Sango to scold her – "You don't have miko powers, so forget it!" -

Gabriela then began crying to this.

- "Oh no! Stop being so spoiled, Gaby!" – reproached Gerardo as he went and began patting her back – "Can't you understand you'd be only a burden in battle?" -

The others were staring at them.

- "And why are you staring at us like that?" – asked Gerardo creeped out while Gabriela stopped crying.

- "It's just that we noticed how much you looked like our friends a moment ago" – said Sango.

- "Yeah, we know they're always in that eternal plan of quarreling and loving each other" – said Gerardo turning his eyes.

At that instant, a youkai that looked like a horned oni appeared from the forest.

- "A group of humans! Breakfast is served!" – said as it tacked them.

- "Hold it there! Hiraikotsu!" – said Sango as she threw it her boomerang, but the monster jumped out of harm's way – "No!" -

- "Sango, let me take care of it!" – screamed Miroku to then remove the rosary around his right hand and open up the hole in it – "Kazaana!" -

He began absorbing everything in front of him as he pointed his hand in direction of the youkai. The youkai was instantly caught in the fierce winds of the hole, and it screamed as it disappeared inside. Miroku closed it up again as soon as he had done dealing with the youkai.

- "Well, other battle that comes to an end…" – said Sango as placed her Hiraikotsu on her back again.

Back in the other world, Kagome was now sitting on a bench of the courtyard in the school where she was. It was recess, and all children were either eating or playing.

- 'This is something I didn't miss when I turned into a child last time… once again reliving my elementary school days' – she thought irritated – 'At the least no one's asking me anything weird. I can only imagine how much Inuyasha's suffering right now'-

- "Kagome!" – said one of Gabriela's friends.

- "Y-yeah?" – said Kagome timidly.

- "Do you wanna go play?" – asked the girl.

- "Yeah… I wanna" – said her with a slightly depressed voice – "What're we playing?" -

- "Inuyasha!" – said the girl, which almost made Kagome's heart stop beating from the impression – "Who're you gonna play as?" -

- "Who else? The one with my same name…" – said Kagome – 'Can this get any weirder?' -

- "Huh? But you look so much like you'd like being Kikyou better… and that's who Gaby always played as" – said the girl confused.

- "No, I like more being that Kagome…" – said Kagome with a very irritated face.

Later that day, when Inuyasha and Kagome had finally left school and were back in Gerardo and Gabriela's house.

- "And how did your school day go?" – asked Kagome.

- "It was horrible! I couldn't get anything they were teaching, and I had people staring at me every damn second! And the friends of that guy tried to use on me that horrible phrase you're always saying" – said Inuyasha irritated, but after a brief sigh, he seemed to have cooled down a little – "And… how did it go for you?" -

- "It was so boring… I knew everything they were doing in class before they said it, but there was something interesting in there…" – she said a bit saddened, but she then cheered up – "the kids in this world play make-believe of us, as if we were characters from a famous TV show!" –

- "Well, that's how it is here" – said Mrs. Gallucci as she served them lunch: minced meat with rice – "My son has taped some of the episodes from your series, so if you want to take a look at them…"

- "You don't have to say it!" – said Inuyasha excitedly – "What we gotta do to watch them?" -

- "Let me handle that" – said Kagome to calm him down.

A while later, they were sitting on the bed of Gerardo's room and looking at the TV as Kagome was pushing the "Play" button on the VHS remote…

- "Whoa! I never imagined our adventures set to music!" – said Kagome with her mouth left open in awe upon seeing the first opening sequence of the series – "This song isn't bad at all!" -

- "I'm itching to see how we look in a real adventure!" – said Inuyasha, having gotten impressed over how he looked in TV.

A half hour later, after they had finished watching the episode and the ending credits sequence…

- "It's incredible… everything was just as we lived it, except for also having background music!" – said Kagome made a nervous mess, as the episode they had just seen was the one where Inuyasha fought Sesshomaru for the second time and forced her back to her era.

- "I hope you aren't mad at me…" – said Inuyasha, as the show also had their thoughts projected to the audience.

- "No… I'm not… it's just that… I'm glad that you did that to protect me…" – said Kagome blushing – "Even after I thought you did that just to steal the shards of the Pearl I had at that moment…" -

- "Didn't I promise I'd protect you no matter what?" – said Inuyasha as he embraced her, and they stayed like this for a few minutes.

- "Shall we watch another episode?" – asked Kagome after they separated.

- "Yeah, let's do it" – replied Inuyasha.

However, Gerardo had taped them out of order, so they had a rather unpleasant awakening for their romantic atmosphere due to the next episode being the one where Inuyasha turned Kagome's bicycle into scrap metal, as well as being when he first met Kagome's friends for the first time. Both were shocked into speechlessness when they finished watching it between Inuyasha being embarrassed at what happened there and Kagome being unable to sort out her feelings about these events.

Back on the Inuyasha world, the group had left the forest and was taking a brief rest over a hill that allowed them to see a large and wide plain in front of them.

- "Gerar, we've gotta settle something…" – said Gabriela as she looked at him enraged.

- "Err… what is it, Gaby?" – asked Gerardo as he gulped down and took off his glasses to give them to Sango.

- "Sit down!" – said Gabriela.

Gerardo crashed into the ground with force.

- "Why did you do that!?" – said Gerardo enraged.

- "Because you said I'm spoiled!" – replied Gabriela.

- "Excellent, now I have no authority whatsoever over her…" – muttered Gerardo bitterly from the ground. He then thought annoyed – 'I'd have loved to tell her "Because that's what you are!", but I'd have gotten buried into a crater if I had done that'

Gabriela then turned around and went a bit farther from the group to begin playing tag with Shippou.

- "By the way, Gerardo… are you a member of nobility in your world?" – asked Sango after Gerardo stood up again and was dusting himself.

- "No, I'm not! You think just because I wear glasses?" – asked Gerardo embarrassed as Sango gave his glasses back so he could put them on again.

- "Yes. So far, I have only seen nobles wearing these things" – said Miroku watching him closely.

- "But in my world and in Kagome's time they are worn by people of all classes, and everyone thinks that they are sign of intelligence and wisdom" – explained Gerardo – "Anyway, I just wear them because I need them to see, as my eyesight is terrible" -

- "Well, it's a bit hard to believe that you aren't a noble, but I can't deny you're smart" – said Sango thoughtlfully.

Gerardo then turned to see Shippou and Gabriela, who were still playing in the plain a few meters away from them.

- "You can't catch me!" – said Gabriela laughing.

- "Come on, you're bigger than me! No fair!" – said Shippou a bit mad.

- "Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen her dressed like this. She looks just like a girl from this time" – said Gerardo smiling at the sight.

- "That was the same thing we thought when we saw Kagome turned into a child like her" – said Miroku.

- "Huh? When did that happen? I know all about your adventures, and I never saw anything like that happening" – said Gerardo as his eyes became the size of saucers.

Sango and Miroku began telling him about everything that happened at that time: about Goukira, the springs, the medallions, and how their personalities changed when they turned into children.

- "Hmm, so that was what happened" – said Gerardo thoughtfully after they finished telling him about these events – "And no wonder that Inuyasha has such a personality and that he became much more shy. I understand very well how he feels" -

- "Why is that?" – asked Sango – "You aren't going to tell us that hanyou also exist in your world, right?" -

- "No, it's not that" – said Gerardo as his face filled with sadness, though his eyes also had a tinge of rage and hatred in them – "It's just that in my world, it's very common to bully and ridicule those that have unusual tastes, hobbies or that are particularly gifted at some things… and that was the sort of things that happened to me… so I know how it feels to be something of an outcast…" -

- "So it is also something that takes place frequently in your world among the humans, correct?" – asked Miroku.

- "Yes, unfortunately…" – said Gerardo bitterly.

At that moment, they saw that someone was getting close to them, so Gerardo called Gabriela and Shippou to return to the forest's border. After they had gone back to their side….

- "Who could that be?" – said Gerardo. They couldn't distinguish the figure because it was moving through the parts where the clouds in the sky were blocking out the sunlight.

- "Any ideas, Houshi-sama? – asked Sango.

- "None. I just hope it isn't who I'm thinking it could be…" – said Miroku with apprehension.

The next instant, the clouds moved away and the sunlight illuminated the stranger, scaring everyone.

- "This can't be possible! Not right now!" – screamed Miroku.

(End of Chapter)

(Ending: Shinjitsu no Uta)

Entwining of Destinies ~ Dragonia - Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

A Surprise Journey

(Opening: Butterfly - Kouji Wada)

It wasn't the first time that an argument broke out in the Gallucci household, and it always was because of the same reason: disagreements between father and son.

- "Why do we have to go there?" – asked Gerardo very annoyed – "You know very well that I don't like to going to parties like these!" -

The one speaking was an 18 year-old boy that had the hair with a bowl-shaped cut and of a brown so dark that it seemed black; and he had bright hazel eyes. He was also tall, slender and wore square glasses. He was wearing a blue shirt and blue-jean pants.

- "Because we were invited to it by our friends, and it's also a great chance for me and your mother to do business" – said his father, who pretty much was an ogre whenever he was mad – "We're supposed to be all there, as otherwise, we're going to give a bad impression" -

His father was a bit shorter than him, had black and short hair, black eyes, and they both had very similar traits in appearance, and was wearing blue-jean pants and a checkered orange and white shirt.

- "I'm sorry, dear" – said his mother, who was shorter than them both, had the hair of a dirty blond and bright blue eyes, and was wearing a long aquamarine one-piece dress – "But this time, your father is right" -

- "Yeah, Gerar" – said his younger sister, Gabriela. She was an eight year-old girl that reached about the shoulder height of her brother and had eyes of her same color, but her hair was of a lighter tone of brown and she had it down to her waist. She wore a white blouse and a pink skirt that went down to her knees – "And who knows: maybe we'll have some fun in there or eat something tasty!" -

- "*sigh*… Okay, okay…" – he said as she sighed bitterly – "Looks like I've got no other choice…" -

Gerardo then went back to his room, changed his shirt for one similar to the one his father was wearing, just that it was green instead of orange, and went back to the side of his family in order to depart for the party.

Meanwhile, in another world…

- "Why do you always have to be like this whenever I have to go home!?" – screamed Kagome. She and all the others were standing in the clearing next to the Bone Eater's Well and she was preparing to go back home.

- "Because I need you to search for the Shikon shards that Naraku has on his hands, stupid!" – screamed Inuyasha back at her.

- "You should know already I've got a life at the other side of the Well, Inuyasha!" –said Kagome as she stomped on the grass.

- "I don't care! And we lost a lot of time with what happened to us after we drank that weird water!" – said Inuyasha as if he didn't want to remember it.

- "But you said you enjoyed it, and that you'd like to do it again sometime! And don't change the subject like that!" – said Kagome glaring at him.

- "It seems that they will never stop quarreling" – said Miroku in a resigned tone.

- "You're right, Houshi-sama. But it's good to know that they still love each other" – said Sango sighing, but she then smiled and gave a cheerier tone to the phrases as she said them.

- "Yeah, but Inuyasha's still a dork" – said Shippou.

- "What didja call me, midget!?" – screamed Inuyasha as he ran after him.

- "Waaah! Kagome, save me! Inuyasha's gonna kill me!" – screamed Shippou as he began shedding crocodile tears.

- "Inuyasha… SIT DOWN!" – said Kagome, and instantly the rosary sent Inuyasha crashing to the ground.

- "Why you did that, wench!? I didn't even get to touch him!" – said Inuyasha angry as he raised his face from the grass, now bruised and covered in dirt.

- "Because you were going to hit Shippou!" – said Kagome as angry as him.

- "Well done, Shippou. You only made the situation worse" – said Miroku seriously as his right hand stealthily got closer to Sango's back…

SLAP!

- "And the same goes for you, Houshi-sama!" – said Sango angrily as she blushed.

Back to the other world…

- "Honestly, this party is the worst…" – said Gerardo after a long and boring hour at the party, as he sat at a table in a large hall filled with rather annoying music. Gabriela was sitting at his side while their parents were conversing with other people – "Why they had to force me to come here!?" -

- "Gerar, I'm bored too" – said Gabriela with a bored voice – "Can we listen to some music?" -

- "Hmm, I don't see why not. Luckily I brought my MP3 player with me, but we should head outside. There's so much noise here that we won't be able to listen to anything" – as they both stood up and went outside. The hall was located on a grassy hill, so they sat down on the grass and looked to the skies above.

- "At least we have a starry night today" – said Gerardo a little more cheerily as he and his sister listened to the music while they looked at the stars at that night dimly lit by the starlight, as it was a new moon night. According to the MP3 player's screen, the song they were listening was called "Stolen Power".

- "Yup, it's a pretty night" – said Gabriela – "But I'd like to be playing or watching TV instead of being here…"

- "Yeah. I'd prefer to be doing things at my PC, playing videogames… or even being able to travel to that world I've been seeing in my dreams… or to any others that have more exciting things than our boring world…" – said Gerardo with the eyes shining from excitement – "Too bad that's impossible…" -

- "Hehe, what worlds you've got on mind, Gerar?" – asked Gabriela giggling.

- "Hmm… there are few… one'd be the one I'm always seeing in my dreams, like I said…" – said Gerardo thoughtfully.

- "Dragonia, right? That's how you said it was called" – said Gabriela with curiosity.

- "Yeah, that's right. And other one would be…" – said Gerardo as he turned his head to the stars in the sky.

- "The Inuyasha world?" – asked Gabriela giggling again.

- "Yeah. Sometimes I envy Kagome for the luck she has, being able to live adventures in another era. The bad thing would be that it'd be hell to keep myself up to date with school" – replied him as he laughed.

- "I'm thinking the same thing, onii-chan" – said Gabriela. Both of them knew some Japanese, as Gerardo had quite a liking for Japanese culture, and thus had been learning the language for the past year. As for Gabriela, she was a bit curious about it, so she also picked up some words and phrases, but unlike her brother, she didn't know anything about the writing aside of how it looked and how it was different from similar writing systems such as Chinese and Korean – "It'd be really fun to be traveling from a place to other, fighting monsters and doing other things!" -

- "Too bad it's an impossible dream, Gaby-chan" – said Gerardo with a sad voice.

At that moment, the sky blackened out as if all the stars had gone out at once, and everything around them dissolved away into a whirlwind of purple light.

- "What's this!?" – said Gerardo as he looked around.

- "Gerar, I'm scared…" – said Gabriela as she clung to her brother.

- "Don't worry, Gaby. I'll protect you no matter what" – said he as he embraced Gabriela to calm her down. Both then felt that something was dragging them down, and they fell unconscious.

In the other world…

- "Stop arguing already!" – said Sango, finally fed up of the endless quarreling the two had.

- "Don't butt in!" – said both Kagome and Inuyasha at the same time.

- "Sango, trying to stop them while they are arguing is like wanting to stop the tides" – said Miroku thoughtfully.

- "I know, but it's annoying that they are still at it…" – said Sango exasperated.

At that point, a black and purple bubble surrounded Kagome and Inuyasha, which shocked everyone.

- "What's happening now!?" – screamed Inuyasha.

- "Inuyasha, be careful! I feel a great power coming from this thing!" – said Kagome. They both then felt as if they were being dragged down.

In the middle of the nothingness…

- 'How weird… it feels as if I were flying through a tunnel or something' – thought Gerardo.

He then opened his eyes, and aside of Gabriela, who was unconscious surrounded by his arms, he also saw torrent of purple light around them. Then, he saw a large nebulous silver figure accompanied of a black one passing in front of them at a high speed – "What was that? I couldn't distinguish what or who they were, but they feel… familiar…" -

And the next instant, everything went black…

- 'Where… am I?' – thought Gerardo. He was beginning to regain consciousness, and could feel grass below himself and an air cleaner than what he was used to, but he felt his body too heavy to even open his eyes.

- 'Where's Gaby? How's her?' – thought he worried.

- "Wake up" – he heard the voice of a man – "Please, awaken" -

- 'Who is it…? Who's calling me?' – thought he confused.

- "Please, wake up!" – he heard this time the voice of a woman.

- 'Please, let me rest… My body feels too heavy…' – thought Gerardo

- "Rise and shine!" – he heard the voice of a kid, and this time around, he felt something heavy and furry fall on his face.

- "KNOCK IT OFF!" – screamed Gerardo as he opened his eyes and stood up instantly. He then began looking at his surroundings confused.

- "Where am I? What happened?" – said he, and then he turned around to see the people that had been calling at him to wake up: they were Sango, Miroku and Shippou. His heart began racing upon noticing this, to the point he almost fainted again.

- "Mi… Miroku? San…go? Shippou?" – said he slowly – "How can this be happening?" -

The others were shocked when they heard him pronouncing his names.

- "How do you know us?" – asked Miroku weirded out.

- "Well.. it's a bit hard to explain…" – he said a bit confused, trying to think up what kind of answer Kagome would give them if she was asked the same thing.

- "And more importantly" – interrupted Sango – "What happened to Inuyasha and Kagome? And why are you and that girl wearing their clothes?" -

- "What are you talking about?" – said Gerardo confused. However, when he raised his hands to his face, he noticed two long red sleeves at his sides instead of the green and white short ones from his shirt. He then looked down at himself and he finally noticed he was wearing Inuyasha's clothes, the rosary around his neck, and even had Tessaiga in its scabbard tied to his hip. His sister was deep asleep at his side; enshrouded in a lump of fabric that would be a school uniform if Kagome was wearing it.

- "What happened here? How is it that I'm wearing Inuyasha's clothes, and I'm also carrying his belongings now?" – said he as he touched his forehead, and felt a couple of lenses in front of his – "Good, at least I'm still wearing my glasses" -

- "Looks like you're as confused as any of us" – said Miroku understanding the expression on his face – "Could you introduce yourself and tell us where you came from?" –

- "Okay. My name is Gerardo, and she's my little sister Gabriela… and yes, this is as strange to you all as it is to me… I don't know where they could have ended up" – said he to introduce himself and Gabriela, as well as reply to Sango's question.

- "This is so weird… and we've got no way of knowing where Inuyasha and Kagome went, as they disappeared on the same place where you appeared. Though your sister is pretty cute…" – said Shippou as he giggled, but Gerardo only gave him a scary gaze, making him shut up instantly. He then picked her up carefully on his arms.

- "At the least… I can still continue taking care of her" – said he as his expression turned into a gentle smile.

- "I see you really care about your sister…" – said Sango pleased as she went closer to them.

- "Yeah, the same way you care for Kohaku" – said Gerardo smiling at her.

- "I see you know quite a bit about us" – said Miroku with his typical know-it-all posture – "Let's see then, what do you know about me?" -

- "Okay. Naraku put a curse on your grandfather that consists of a hole appearing on the right hand that can grow until it swallows its holder, said curse has been transmitted from his generation to yours, and of course, that you're a first-class womanizer and pervert" – said Gerardo initially smiling, but making a bitter face near the end.

- 'He really knows a lot…' – thought Miroku with the face that anyone would make if they were going through a very bad time.

- "And you can be sure that I won't let you walk away unharmed if you try to play smart with my sister" – said Gerardo as he gave him a threatening glare, sharp as a dagger, to which Sango and Shippou joined. Miroku just laughed nervously.

- "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't try anything weird" – said Sango

At that moment, Gabriela began stirring up…

- "Gaby! Are you okay?" – asked her older brother.

- "Uh!? Gerar?" – she looked at his face, and then she hugged him – "Gerar, you're okay!" -

- "Yup, Gaby. Don't worry, you're safe with me" – he said as he stroked her head to calm her down.

- "But… why are you dressed like Inuyasha?" – asked Gabriela weirded out.

- "Rather, I should be asking why you're dressed like Kagome…" – said Gerardo to point out at something the girl hadn't noticed yet about herself.

- "Huh?" – she then looked at herself and got a good scare, as Kagome's uniform didn't fit her at all – "What happened to my clothes!?" -

- "Don't worry about it, but be careful so it won't end up falling off until we can get you something that fits you well" – said he as he lowered her to the ground so she could stand on her own feet. He then turned to face the others – "I know it's pretty rude to be asking this when we barely know each other, but… could you help us find a way to get back to our world, please?" –

- "I don't have a problem with helping you. Maybe we'll even be able to find Inuyasha and Kagome if we do it" – said Sango with a smile.

- "And besides, we would lose a great part of our strength without them here" – said Miroku nodding.

- "But have you thought they could have ended up in the place Gerardo and Gabriela came from?" – suggested Shippou. This made Gerardo and Gabriela look at each other with spooked faces.

- "Oh, no!" – said Gerardo horrified – "If they ended up in our world, that could end up being a disaster!" –

- "Gerar…" – said Gabriela as she fidgeted a little.

- "What's it?" – asked Gerardo intrigued.

- "Err, well… Sit down!" – she said as she giggled mischievously.

Then the rosary shone and made Gerardo crash into the ground.

- "Damn! It was funny to see it happen, but it isn't funny at all to experience it! Why did you do that!?" – said he after spitting a bit of dirt, and luckily for him, his glasses didn't shatter from the fall.

- "I wanted to see if it worked" – said her laughing.

- "This is the worst… Wait a second…" – he began thinking, and then an idea came to his mind that brightened his mood – "If the rosary still works… then maybe Tessaiga could work with me too!" -

On the other hand, back to the other world…

- "Ughh… where am I?" – said Inuyasha when he finally began waking up – "Kagome?" -

He fixed his gaze on the unconscious figure he had at his side: she had black hair, and was wearing a white blouse and a pink skirt.

- "Kagome, is that you?" – he asked – "Come on, wake up already!" -

- "Uh… Inuyasha?" – asked Kagome groggily as she woke up, to then look around herself spooked – "Where are we? And why are you dressed like that!?" -

- "What in hell are you talking about? You're the one dressed weird…" – said he, but he noticed then that he wasn't wearing his kimono anymore, and instead was wearing clothes that would be more proper of Kagome's own time: a long-sleeved checkered green and white shirt with blue-jean pants – "What happened to my clothes, and where's my sword!?" -

- "And now I look at you better… you don't have the rosary anymore!" – said Kagome scared.

- "Keh! Perfect! That means you won't be able to continue sitting me down!" – said he with an evil smile.

- "But anyway, where are we? And why did our clothes change like this?" - she then noticed that her monstrously-sized backpack was at her side – "I still have my stuff here, but I don't think it's going to be very useful in this place…" -

- "Gerar! Gaby! Time to go home!" – they heard a voice coming from far away.

- "I wonder who they're calling…" – said Kagome to then turn in Inuyasha's direction – "Do you think we should go and hide somewhere?" -

- "Yeah. The last thing I wanna happen now is to have someone staring at me" – he said in a very bad mood. However, Inuyasha screamed, as he noticed that his fangs, ears and claws were disappearing, while his eyes and hair took on darker color - "Damn it! Why we had to come to this weird place during a new moon!?" –

- "Be quiet!" – said Kagome as she went to hide behind a tree, as someone had seen and heard Inuyasha already.

- "Gerar?" – they heard the voice of a woman, and a few instants later, Mrs. Gallucci, Gerardo and Gabriela's mother, went closer to him – "Wait, you're not my son… but you're wearing the same clothes he was… so…"

- "Listen, lady. I don't know what yer talking about or who ya are, but I don't know that person…" – said Inuyasha in a bad mood.

- "Yes, I guessed as much. I was saying I thought you were him from afar from your clothes… anyway, could you tell me your name, please?" – asked Mrs. Gallucci.

- "I'm Inuyasha" – said he in a calmer voice.

Mrs. Gallucci almost fainted from the impression, and when she regained her composure, she said very agitated: - "Inuyasha!? Like the main character from the TV show my children like so much!?"

- "No way! You're saying I'm one of these moving drawings from the magic box in this place?" – asked Inuyasha astonished.

- "If you want to put it that way, yes…Oh, sorry for my lack of manners. I'm Janet Gallucci, pleased to make your acquaintance" – said her as she looked around - "But back to the topic, from what you said, you didn't see any of my children around here, right?"-

- "No, I'm sorry. The only people I know here are Kagome and myself" – said Inuyasha a bit confused.

- "Hmm, is she your girlfriend? I've heard as much from them…" – asked Mrs. Gallucci in a very perceptive and teasing tone.

- "N-NO! We're friends! Just friends!" – said he very flustered as his face turned red. He thought irritated: - 'Damn, the last thing I need is having everyone know about our relationship in this weird place too!' -

- 'Why Inuyasha has to be such a big dope!?' – thought Kagome enraged, up to the point where she could no longer control herself – "SIT DOWN!" -

Inuyasha jumped from the spook he got when he heard the phrase, but as he didn't have the rosary on anymore, it didn't have any effect.

- "Who is there?" –asked Mrs. Gallucci a bit spooked at how suddenly that scream came.

- "It's just me. Sorry for startling you…" – said Kagome as she came out from her hiding place.

- "Oh, you are Kagome?" – asked Mrs. Gallucci, to which Kagome nodded in response – "Hmm, you really look like a very nice young lady. I'm somewhat hoping my daughter grows up to be a good woman someday too…" -

- "That's not important now! What we're supposed to do now?" – said Inuyasha in a very bad mood.

- "You should mind your manners, Inuyasha" – said Kagome irritated – "But you're right… we have no place to stay here, we don't know anyone, and we don't know how to go back to our world…" –

At that moment, Kagome noticed there was something shining in one of the pockets from the skirt she was wearing at the moment. When she got it out, she noticed it was a couple of envelopes.

- "What could these be?" – asked her surprised. Upon opening them, she had the surprise that they were letters for granting a student exchange request between two schools in Japan she had never heard about, and two schools in Venezuela. The names of the students were Inuyasha, Kagome Higurashi, Gerardo Gallucci and Gabriela Gallucci, and the letters had the signs and signatures from the staff of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from both countries.

- "Hmm, now I'm reading them, I think we have now a perfect excuse: you were brought today as exchange students here while my children were taken to the airport to go to Japan and start studying there" – said Mrs. Gallucci after they read the letters – "My husband will be angry at this for sure, but since he knows how much they both wanted to go to Japan and study there, he'll understand" –

- "Yeah, but there's a problem" – said Inuyasha as he and Kagome were reading one of the letters again – "How old is your daughter?" –

- "Inuyasha, you shouldn't ask that kind of things about a girl!" – said Kagome embarrassed and enraged.

- "Don't mind it, Kagome. My daughter is still a child anyway: she turned eight years old just a couple months ago" – said Mrs. Gallucci – "However, it's really a problem… there's no way that an elementary school is going to accept a teenager like you…"

- "Wait… I think I have an idea" – said Kagome as she went back to her backpack and began digging through it.

- "Does she always carry such a large backpack?" – asked Mrs. Gallucci surprised.

- "Yeah, but I usually always help her with it" – said Inuyasha with a smile.

- "Ah, okay. It's very nice on your part to help you girlfriend with such a heavy burden" – smiled Mrs. Gallucci.

Inuyasha blushed at this, but before he had time to reply back...

- "Okay, I've found them!" – said Kagome as she took out a bottle filled with pink water and a silver medallion with a sapphire on its center.

- "What is that?" – asked Mrs. Gallucci as she eyed the bottle with interest.

- "Kagome, you aren't thinking of doing…" – said Inuyasha cautiously.

- "Inuyasha, you know as well as I do that I don't have other choice, and we need a place where we can stay until we can go back home" – said Kagome a bit sad. She then put on the medallion, removed the cork from the bottle and drank a bit from its contents.

- "Kagome, no!" – screamed Inuyasha.

At that instant, Kagome began shining with a white light that blinded both Inuyasha and Mrs. Gallucci, and when it dimmed down to the point in which they could open their eyes again, they saw that an eight year-old girl was standing right were Kagome was instants ago. Surprisingly, the clothes she was wearing had readjusted themselves to fit her.

- "You still can remember everything, right?" – asked Inuyasha cautiously.

- "Yeah. As long as I'm wearing the medallion, I won't get my memories wiped away" – said Kagome with a smile – "But I'm a bit surprised… how is it that these clothes could change sizes with me?" -

- "It's a good question… but I don't think we'll be able of finding any answers to it for now" – say Mrs. Gallucci, but she then began looking at Kagome with some interest.

- "Hehe… I know… it's a bit weird to see a teen turning into a little girl, right?" –said Kagome a bit embarrassed of getting stared so much.

- "Yes, as it's the first time I see it happen before my eyes" – said Mrs. Gallucci as she smiled a bit embarrassed from bothering Kagome – "But a rejuvenating medicine? That's something a lot of people would want in their hands" –

- "Hehe, I guess" – said her giggling, but then she put on a very serious expression on her face – "But it's not all good: drinking that water without wearing the medallion I have around my neck causes a full memory wipe to the one who does it" -

- "In any case, I guess this solves the problem we had with your student exchange letters, correct?" – said Mrs. Gallucci with a smile. Then, they heard the sound of a car's horn - "It must be my husband, so we should get going before he gets mad from waiting" -

- "Anyway, we should do our best to keep up appearances with the whole student exchange spiel, right?" – said Kagome as she turned to look at Inuyasha for a moment.

- "Yeah, okay" – said Inuyasha snorting in resignation, as he thought – 'Nothing good's gonna come out from this' -

{End of Chapter}

(Ending: Honey - chihiro)