She growled in disgust as she rode through the red-light district of the town. She was being sent to her only living relative. He didn't even know what she looked like anymore. Her once blue black hair was now a honey gold. Eyes that were once an emerald green were now eerie silver. The bus stopped at the depot and she disembarked. She sat on one of the benches to wait as her mind wandered.

Koga had been there when she got in that car accident. It was him that they got the blood from; when the paramedics found that they needed an extra quart. She had lost 1½ quarts of blood from the wound that went from her left shoulder down her back and around to her right hip. His youkai blood had taken over within 12 hours, transforming her from a normal 17 year old girl, to a 17 year old ookama hanyou. Koga was killed a month after the accident and she had been left alone in Seattle. That was 3 weeks ago. The authorities had sent word to her older brother at his work in Tokyo; he had asked them to send her home to him. After keeping her up until 23 hours ago when they had put her on the plane this was the first time she had been on her own, when she got off the plane 2 hours earlier she got onto a bus and ridden all the way to this gods-forsaken place, the place she had grown up.

She was startled when a drop of hot liquid hit her check. She brushed the tears away with impatient hands. She looked around for the first time since she sat down, surprised by the number of whores, human and youkai. Then she spotted her brother, he had stopped and was looking for her. For the first time in 7 weeks a tiny smile visited her lips. Then she realized again, that he might not recognize her and cursed the car accident, she stood and picked up her small bag of belongings.

His eyes searched the females; he could not find his sister any where! He noticed the pretty youkai approaching him, but ignored her presence. But soon his eyes went back to her, noticing the small smile and then her soft ears on top of her head. He stared at her in disbelief as she stopped in front of him and smiled; uncertainty in her silver eyes. Her lips were a soft shade of pink, they were smiling but the smile did not reach her eyes.

"Miroku?" her voice was soft and tentative, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in total disbelief.

"You don't recognize me do you, Mir?" she whispered, as tears began to fill her eyes.

The tears along with the nickname caused him to jerk. He starred at her for a moment longer before pulling her into a rough hug.

"Oh Kel! Wha- Oh god Kel, don't cry! Please don't cry!" he whispered into her hair as she sobbed into his chest. They stood like that for 5 minutes, as she fought to get her tears under control. With one last sniffle she pulled away from him, he took her bag and led her to his car.

The minute she got into his car she could smell the lingering scents of sex, sweat, food and an inu youkai. She glanced at her brother, certain that he couldn't smell all this. She covered her nose and sneezed several times to rid herself of the scents.

"Mir... I would wash the inside of this car if I were you, don't even ask me why just trust me," she looked at him, then added as an afterthought, "it reeks of rotten fish and wet dog." Giggling at his startled look, he started to laugh along with her and the tension that filled her, left.

"It's not that far to my house, I've got a roommate. I don't think he'll bother you... You'll have my room for a few days until we get the spare room cleared out and a bed in there." He told her as she gazed out the passenger window into the dark night sky. They arrived 15 minutes later at his house, and as she got out of the car the smell of fresh pizza assaulted her sensitive nose. She swallowed several times as her mouth instantly began to drool. Finally she just spat it out as she picked up the inu youkai scent again only this time it was by far stronger. He unlocked the front door and she passed through it before him and took her shoes off as he shut and locked the door behind him. After he took his shoes off, he led her to his room and put her bag on his bed. He rummaged in his dresser drawer and pulled out an over large t-shirt and tossed it at her. She looked at him quizzically and he smiled.

"Use it for a night-shirt tonight, and while you change into that, I'll get you a couple slices of pizza and a glass of?"

"Water, Mir."

"Okay, then I expect you to go to bed. You had a long flight and bus ride here from Tokyo." He said comfortingly. She smiled and gave him a hug; he left the room and walked down the hall to the kitchen. As he got everything his roommate entered and grabbed another slice of pizza and looked at him expectantly.

"Look Inu... I'm sooo not going into any details tonight. I'm tired and not really hungry but then again I do have that date tomorrow and being nervous always makes me lose my appetite for a while..." he trailed off, then grabbing the plat and glass of water left the kitchen and his confused roommate.

As Miroku closed the door behind him, she hurriedly stripped her clothes off and pulled his t-shirt on. It barely came down to the middle of her thighs. She normally took pride in her long legs, but right now she was very annoyed by their length. She looked at the door and moved towards it and opened it and smiled at Miroku as he handed her the food and water.

"Good night, Mir. It's nice seeing you again." She whispered to which he responded with the same and kissed her on the check. She closed the door and sat on his bed and ate her dinner, when she ate and drank the last bits she set the plate with the glass in the middle of it, on the nightstand. She turned out the light, put her bag on the floor and got into bed. And for the first time since Koga died, she didn't cry herself to sleep.