A/N: I've been waiting to get down to writing this for ages but I'm writing this in the middle of an email. So thanky, Brakken, for taking away the time I really should be using to do my homework (a 2-hour-long test. A few days later and… I basically flunked that assignment).

Apologies for the randomness. It is 5 to midnight while I'm starting this thing… granted the idea's been in my head for ages, though my writing still sounds as if I'm trying to write an essay.

Apologies for the essay-style writing and yet more apologies for the shifts in real time in the Author's Note.

Summary: There's something a little OOC about Kikyou. Let's find out what. The theme is at the end as I do not wish to give it away.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha in any sense of the word

What If?

Theme One- Something about her

Once upon a beautiful day in Sengoku Jidai, the birds were singing as merrily as those proverbial larks do (though these larks are in another country and, thus may be ignored) and our pure-hearted and well-wishing heroine Higurashi Kagome was in the midst of preparing an afternoon meal for a certain group of mismatched misfits. She made sure that there was a drop of love in every centimetre cubed as she cooked, using the innocent scene before her eyes to fuel to the love. Infront of her? Two small, fluffy creatures (a small kitsune cub and a nekomata) were running about in the grass, chasing each other's tails merrily, without a care for adult questions of rhyme and reason.

A sense of peace had settled over the group, confident that they could defeat any threat that came their way with their combined skills as they had many times before. Inuyasha and Sango were always prepared, and they trusted their honed warrior skills to alert them to any sign of danger. They had been through too much, and their compounded experiences had wisened them easily beyond their years, and they had picked this spot in accordance with that experience. The grassy area had a beautifully clear view in all directions, and they would easily be alerted to anything that may threaten them, youkai or otherwise.

Inuyasha suddenly turned sharply in a North-Easterly direction, their chosen location already working in favour, and started concentrating on what information his undoubtedly-enhanced hanyou senses were feeding to him. Sango wasn't the first to notice Inuyasha's worrying action, as there was another member of the group who was always aware of what he was doing, but she was the first to act upon it, giving a wary,

"What is it, Inuyasha?"

Those in the group gifted with sensory prowess were well aware of the incoming anomaly, but the other, more human half of the group weren't blessed with the ability to see, hear and smell better and, thus, were not as confident in their image of the approaching… thing. Our near-scandalously short-skirted heroine was, even if olfactorily challenged, very aware what that look on the hanyou's face meant- the slight softening of the gaze, coupled with an increased tenseness about his entire person. The atmosphere radiating from him could only mean one thing. Fortunately, it is unnecessary to put energy into wheedling the information out of Kagome as Inuyasha was familiar enough with the routine to tell inform the taijiya and bouzo of what was coming towards them. After all, it was only fair that they knew.

"It's Kikyou."

'Tis a sad day for all in the group (Except Miroku, the man insists) when those two words appear in succession. They all radiate depression around, you see (except Miroku, who practises holding in depression in his spare time).

When Inuyasha sees this dead Kikyou girl, he becomes full of guilt on a conscious level.

Kagome, meanwhile, gets hit by the possibility that her version of the "knight in shining armour" may just end up riding off into the sunset with another.

Of course, when Kagome gets depressed, even if irrationally, Shippou cannot be truly happy and then Sango, empath that she is, sympathises with her fellow female.

Kirara notices that her human is not happy and so follows Shippou in sulking (after all, depressed people aren't very good playmates).

Though it is logical that Miroku would feel the plight of his beloved taijiya, he is a source of joy and so cannot let his practice of bringing people to inner peace -which is his primary purpose- go to pot.

Yeah, right. Pull the other one, unholy monk.

Hanyou eyebrows quirked, slightly, pulling Sango out of an internal ramble. As Kagome is obviously the anthropologi- is there a different term for hanyou kind? In any case, as Kagome is the expert on facial movements, we will go to her for an explanation, if Inuyasha doesn't say something before she can give her commentary.

"But… there's something weird about her." Oh, too late Kagome. But don't berate him for interrupting you yet; he's got more to say; "I mean, it smells like dead girl, sounds like dead girl and it's obviously her, but she… feels different."

By this time, Miroku and his amazing priesty-powers had sensed what Inuyasha was trying to convey. The sixth sense that had been cultivated through a stolen childhood of training sensed the massive power of the dead miko from a considerable distance off.

"He's right. She's approaching fast," Miroku added, not too helpfully.

"How can how fast she's going have to do with her feeling weird?" asked Shippou, thoroughly bemused, his nose wrinkling and his tail swishing from side to side as he contemplated the issue. However, even before Miroku could start his explanation, a cricket hopped across his path, and Shippou's attention was diverted, the dead girl being of no personal interest to him.

"Ah. Well, perhaps I should have said that she's travelling too fast. Let me reiterate. She usually travels at a speed that is slower than this one, and the way she moves would be described as reminiscent of the weight of thousands of lives pulling down on a person," came a dispiriting reply from the houshi, who was well aware that the one who had asked the question was solely focused on a rather green arthropod. The houshi was intelligent enough to know that children ask the questions adults don't have the courage to ask.

"You are right. I am different, today. As you had judged, so I have changed." There was the awaited presence. The awaited had finally arrived, and in full glory, her stance was shining proof of her usual grace and aplomb, contrary to the previous suggestions about the difference in character. However, in support of the suggestions, there was definitely something different about that very shine that held her usual personality. There was definitely some shine coming from that dead girl.

"Erm… excuse me, Kikyou-san, but can I ask why?" asked Kagome. She was polite, but the dead girl took note of the difference in the style of speech (read: modern) the oddly dressed girl used, and held some measure of reprehension towards it. Granted, if Kagome knew of these musings, the heroine would probably retort, in defence, with a question about the line of why a pile of dead-girl bones and clay needed clothes, polite as she was. However, the issue at hand concerned none of this, but rather it was of how a dead girl could suddenly have a little change in attitude.

"Well, the other day, I spent some time conversing with a particularly opaque soul before consumption. After hearing the gist of the problems that have plagued this miko as long as these shinidamachu have scoured this land for souls under the command of the same, the opaque soul spoke of the possibility that the reason this miko had problems was-" Inuyasha tenses to an extent where he is on the brink of paralysis here, "-precisely because of the kind of soul that this clay body uses to sustain itself." The group nodded along appropriately as Kikyou gave her pre-ramble, waiting patiently (Inuyasha obviously held an amount of respect for her… or he was subdued by the guilt he felt for causing her problems) for her to state her point.

Waiting patiently, that is, until she smiled.

Hours later, when Kikyou was -most importantly- far away, the group had set up camp and everyone was making preparations for bed-time. They were going through the motions of their night-time rituals robotically, and their dilated pupils were not only because of the lack of light. Kirara was lucky enough not to have escaped unscathed, having not seen what Kikyou had done to her travelling companions. As such, Kirara was being a very helpful nekomata, making sure that her companions didn't trip and end up with a concussion, as oblivious and useless as they were, at that point. Even so, though they were all extensively disturbed by Kikyou's insensitive action, Kagome was, by far, the one with the most haunted look about her. As she lay on her side, holding her legs close to her chest in the foetal position, she mumbled to herself, still unbelieving,
"Kikyou's eating happy souls."

Theme: What if Kikyou decided upon a different form of nourishment?

A/N: The whole "dead girl" thing is not Kikyou-bashing (though I may have over-used it '), just as using the term "bouzo" for Miroku isn't Miroku-bashing. The terms are not used with malicious intent but with the intent to put a smile on your face. It's a running joke. Come on, smile?

Well, I can't say I didn't try/ warn you/ apologise more than once already.

Everything here was done with near-obsessive analysis. If you, the reader, happen to see any errors (please keep in mind that I use British English), feel free to drop me a note. I will break down infront of the computer while editing this piece of fanfiction, making sure that things are made right. Even though I've got exams this week.

-RnR