Chapter Two

Familiar Faces

Kagome's eyes fluttered open. She looked immediately at her clock. 10:42 AM.

She sighed and slipped out of bed. Rubbing her eyes, she made her way down the stairs and began to make lunch.

Stepping back, Kagome looked at the masterpiece that was to be her lunch: a ham and cheese sandwich! Hey, when you're hungry, you feel like a simple sandwich is as good as a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci!

Smiling, she grabbed a piece of ham and looked around. "InuYasha," she called softly, wishing that the REAL InuYasha would step out and smile at her, though, of course, she ripped her mind away from such a sad subject. "I think I should just call him Inu or just Yasha or something," she growled. Nodding, she called out again. A name popped into her head. As her dog appeared in front of her, she bent and scratched him rigorously on the head before giving him the ham. InuYasha quickly inhaled it within three seconds. "You know what," she said, bending down to stare her dog in the eyes. "How 'bout, instead of InuYasha, I call you Inugin (silver dog). I…" she swallowed and almost felt like she had to explain why. I mean, with that look he was giving her… "I'd feel like I was replacing InuYasha, the original InuYasha… and that's the last thing I want to do…"

She buried her face in Inugin's shoulder. The dog tilted its head and licked her cheek as if to say, 'It's ok. I like the name… not as good as InuYasha but…'

Her smile had fallen, but she fixed it right back up, standing kissing Inugin on the head. "Thanks for understanding…" She gave him another piece of ham and laughed as he inhaled that one too!

Sitting up in bed, she looked around the room. Her teddy bear eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room slowly, and she slipped out of bed, sprawling on the floor and groaning loudly. "Stupid… legs," she growled, rubbing said legs. They were weak from a good amount of sleep. And for obvious reasons.

She looked up at her alarm clock, squinting through the moonlight at the time. 11:53. Kagome swore softly. "I can't believe Mama didn't wake me up!" she muttered, finally standing, though swaying dangerously.

Opening her door, Kagome walked down stairs, thinking that she'd watch a little bit of T.V., think about what tomorrow was, and about Inugin.

Soon, she stood at the bottom of the stairs, yawning like crazy and stretching one arm into the air, the other covering her mouth. Inugin appeared around a corner and grinned at her. Smirking, she laughed and jerked her head towards the T.V. and said in a happy voice, "Hey, wanna watch some T.V. with me? I can't get back to bed… Been sleeping for to long…"

The dog jumped up and leapt ahead of her, but turned the corner and away into the kitchen. "Hey, Inugin!!!" she cried out after him, running. "The TV's THAT way!"

She skidded to a stop in front of the doorway of the kitchen, fully expecting to see Inugin sitting in front of his new food bowl, whapping his tail against the floor and grinning up at her. What she DIDN'T expect was empty air where Inugin was supposed to be.

"Inu… Inugin?" she asked, looking around the room as she entered. "Oh come on! This isn't funny!"

Sighing, she turned away and looked at the clock. 12:05 AM. Kagome blinked. That late… or early now it was her birthday…?

She gave a little "Oh" of surprise and took a step back. Today she would be turning 18…

Turning around, she called out for Inugin again. Nothing.

Grumbling and cursing the dog slightly, she sat down on the couch, looking around for the remote but not finding it. Shaking her head, her long ebony hair falling over her shoulder, she leaned against the cushions of the couch, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, slowly slipping into her thoughts.

A sound ripped Kagome from her blissful memories and she stood up, her eyes trying desperately to penetrate the darkness. "Oh-ohayoo, go-gozai-zaimasu…" she said in a shaky voice. It was too big to be Sota or Jii-chan, but it certainly didn't look like her mother.

Taking a step back, Kagome longed to have her bow and arrows back. She swallowed and took in the outline of the person; large sleeves, large pants, slacked shoulders, long hair… and dog ears…?

"Inu…" she whispered, her eyes widening and taking a step forward. "InuYasha?"

The person took a step back and Kagome hesitated. But she had to know… she just HAD to know…

Finally, she asked the question that was tearing her insides out and wrenching her heart, her voice firm and full of pain. "InuYasha desu ka, (are you InuYasha?)"

(A/N: -hits head on keyboard- Sucky sucky sucky chapter, not to mention a REALLY short one, but it gets a lot done, ne? And as to WHY I changed InuYasha's name to Inugin was because it got confusing after a while… something I did NOT foresee!!! )