Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Chibi Vampire (Karin).
AN: This is for DarkAngel048. Also still new to Karin so characters might be a bit ooc.
Last time: As they neared the village, Kagome realized that it wasn't nothing.
"Oh no!" Kagome whispered.
"What is it?" Karin asked her.
"I was right! Something was off. The village has grown almost over night! Something must have happened when we crossed over time!" Kagome said.
"Ok, so, what do we do?" she asked and looked at the village.
"We don't panic. Let's go into the village and see if I recognize anyone." Kagome suggested.
Karin nodded and they both went into the village. Kagome saw so many new faces and homes as she manuvered to where she remembered Kaede's hut being. The hut still looked the same but older and she wasn't sure if Kaede was still alive or not. Hesitantly she knocked on the side of the door frame and waited for admittance.
"Come in." a young woman's voice answered.
Kagome felt her heart slip into her stomach. She believed that Kaede was dead and this would be yet another new face she didn't know. But she went in anyways and Karin followed behind her. When she entered, the hut was very different than she remembered it being. There was still the priestess items around the hut but there was also slayer items. What was all of this doing here?
"May I help you?" the woman asked.
Kagome turned to the corner where Kaede had always sat and she saw a woman that looked almost identical to her! Only her hair was brown instead of black and she looked only a couple years older than she did.
"She looks like you." Karin whispered to Kagome.
"Who are you?" they asked each other at the same time.
The young woman gave her a suspicious look and stood, slowly moving to the slayers items. Kagome didn't wasted a second then in introducing herself.
"I am Kagome. Who are you?" Kagome said.
"I am the miko of this village. I am Rin." she answered.
Kagome had stunned surprise all over her face. This woman was little Rin!? How many years has passed since she had been here last? Where was all of her friends? What happened to the rest of the jewel shards? What happened to Naraku? This was bad. Very very bad.
"How old are you?" Kagome asked her, urgency in her voice.
"I am 19 springs." Rin answered, "How are you Kagome? She disappeared over a decade ago. You can't be her."
"I am her. Eleven years. The well took us eleven years forward in time from my original jump." Kagome sighed and looked about ready to scream in horror.
"If you are Kagome, prove it." Rin commanded and had sutras in her hands ready to throw.
"What do you want to know?" Karin asked her, beginning to freak out a little.
"What are the names of all of Kagome's suitors?" Rin asked them.
"Oh that is easy!" Kagome said, "Koga, Akitoki Hojo, another Hojo, and Inuyasha."
Rin narrowed her dark brown eyes, "How old was I when I was first killed?"
Kagome thought for just a second. Rin had told her about her death and how it was by wolves. It wasn't hard for her to put two and two together to make four. It had been Koga and on his orders, his wolves and slaughtered the village she had stayed in as a child.
"You were eight." Kagome answered.
Rin relaxed immediately. Only the real Kagome would have known that. She placed the sutras back on the shelf and motioned for them to take a seat. As soon as they were arranged around the fire did Kagome ask her anything.
"Rin, what happened to Kaede?" she asked.
Rin sighed, "Lady Kaede died three summers ago, peacefully in her sleep. She had hoped that she would see you again before she passed."
"Oh. What about everyone else?" she asked, holding back her grief.
"Miroku and Sango have been married for eight autumns. They have many children, three girls and three boys and Sango is expecting another very soon." Rin answered and smiled at the look on their faces.
"They got busy!" Karin said.
"Now, Shippo, he is in Kitsune school and has advanced quite well. He visits often and believed that you would return. I think he wants to be here when you do. He is due in in the next couple of days." Rin explained.
Kagome looked sad then, "I missed him growing up. I missed everything."
"What happened to Inuyasha?" Karin asked.
"Inuyasha is heartbroken. When you didn't return after three years he started taking trips away from the village and each one became longer and longer. Then when Lady Kaede passed he never came back. He is out there somewhere and I don't know if he is alive or dead. Kagome, during the last two years Naraku was defeated and I believe that it was Inuyasha." Rin explained.
"What? How?" Kagome tried not to splutter.
"The wind tunnel in Miroku's hand, as well as the one's in his sons hands disappeared all at the same time. They have never returned either. They still keep the wrappings and beads just on case, you know? Also there has been no sign of him anywhere. Lord Sesshomaru still keeps and ear and an eye out just in case." Rin said.
Karin had perked up at hearing his name. That was the demon that she wanted to meet. Was he near here? Would she get a chance to atleast see him in the flesh instead of a picture?
"Is he still as stuffy and high handed?" Kagome asked her.
"No. Lord Sesshomaru has actually relaxed a bit. He is still just as feirce and ferocious as ever but he is not as human-hating anymore. I believe that may have something to do with me and you. He adopted me and well he respects you. Don't ask, I don't know." Rin stated and waved her hand around.
Kagome pouted for a minute and then stood up. Karin stood then and was going to follow Kagome if she decided to leave the hut. But she didn't leave, she just stood and looked around the hut again. She seemed to be absorbing everything that Rin had told her. It had been eleven years for them since they had seen her but for her it had been just a few days. How was she going to find them?
"Kagome?" Karin said.
"I have to find them. I need to let them know I am fine and that I didn't abandon them." she said, her voice was so very sad.
"You can start here. Sango and Miroku live up on the hill, past the small shrine." Rin said.
Kagome turned to leave and Karin was right on her heels. Quickly she ran across the village and right up the stairs. There were only two buildings up on the hill and Karin didn't know which was which but she didn't have but a second to ponder before Kagome was barging right into one of them.
"Sango! Miroku!" she called out as she entered.
Karin entered behind her and kept her head down. It was so rude to just barge in on someone's home. She was a little embarassed that they had just done that. She was so glad that Anju was not present to see this happen. A bowl crashed to the floor and Kagome launched herself across the room and wrapped her arms around a very pregnant stunned woman and an equally stunned man. It was sickenly silent in the hut, even the children on the floor was silent and staring at the strange people that were in their home.
"K.. Kagome!" the woman, Sango, finally stuttered out.
Kagome pulled herself away from them and smiled. She was so glad that they were really here and she hoped that they were both happy to see her. Sango had tears swimming in her eyes and just looked Kagome over, like she was making sure that she was really there and not just some horrible taunting dream.
"Oh, Kagome, where have you been? Why did you stay away so long?" the man, Miroku, asked her.
They all sat down then and Kagome explained what she could. She told them that she didn't mean to be gone eleven years just the few days that she had said that she would be gone. She explained that on the day she was supposed to come back she was and that Karin, she introduced her to them then; was with her in the well house. Souta's ball came flying in and hit her in the face and she had fallen back on Karin, knocking them both in the well. But she still didn't understand why it allowed Karin through or why it took them eleven years into the future.
Miroku had been silent through the whole thing but he kept looking at Karin. When Kagome had made her speculations about it possibly being about the jewel shard that she had given Karin, Miroku finally spoke.
"Lady Karin, what are you? You are not human, hanyou, or demon. What are you?" he asked Karin.
"Ummm." Kagome said and looked to her.
Karin hesitated and chewed on her bottom lip. She had never had someone realize that she was not of the same species as them just by looking at her and it made her really nervous. What else would they realize? What if it was things that she didn't even know about herself?
"Do you want to tell them or should I?" Kagome asked her and gave her hand a pat.
"I'll do it. Umm, I'm not human or anything like that. I am a different breed. I am a vampire." she told them.
Her eyes pled with them to not recoil or freak out. She was and yet wasn't surprised when they didn't. Kagome had explained to her once that they had met and fought so many different monsters and entities that a vampire wouldn't faze them.
"Alright." he said in response and relaxed.
"So, Miroku, have either of you seen or heard from Inuyasha?" Kagome asked them.
"No. He has been gone for about three years. The last we had heard was that he and Sesshomaru had made up and he was with him." Miroku told her.
Kagome gave him a queer look. Why hadn't Rin mentioned anything about that? Did she not know or did she deliberately keep it from her? Better yet what happened that Sesshomaru would allow Inuyasha to be in his presence and yet alone his home without killing him? What the hell had happened in these last few years?
"Oh wow. I guess Rin was right. But why didn't she say anything about that to you?" Karin asked her.
"She didn't?" Sango asked them.
"No. I guess she didn't know." Kagome said.
"Oh she knew. I believe it may be that she is afraid that you will disappear on him again. Inuyasha was a mess after you never came back and he couldn't get through the well. We all were, even Naraku wasn't causing any trouble." Miroku said to her.
"Tell me what happened. Rin was vague about many things and I want to hear it from you." Kagome said to them.
Miroku and Sango took turns telling her all that had happened. They had travelled around with Inuyasha for two whole years looking for Naraku and the shards the best they could. When they never found him and he never came to them, they returned to the village. A year later they had married, Shippo had went to Kitsune school, and Inuyasha had taken off on his own. He had grieved heavily over her and each time they returned to the village he would sit in the well and never come out until he decided that they needed to leave.
Kagome looked about ready to cry again. They continued on with everything that they could tell her. Some she knew, like Kaede's death and Inuyasha having defeated Naraku and now having the jewel, and others that she didn't, like Kohaku had married Rin. She had so much to catch up on and so much more to make up for. She needed to see Shippo and she needed to find Inuyasha and be with him again. She would pack a few weapons that Sango could spare and she would be on her way.
"Thank you for telling me all of this. I need to leave now. I need to find him." Kagome said and stood up.
"You can't go by yourself." Sango protested.
"I can and I will. As long as I have a weapon to protect myself, I will be perfectly fine. Can I borrow a few?" she asked them.
Sango nodded her consent. They both knew there was no way they could talk her out of it. This was Kagome after all and when she made her mind up she did what she wanted to do. Reluctantly, Miroku gave her back the quiver and bow as well as a few sutras.
"Please be careful." Miroku said and gave her a hug.
"I will. Now, don't either of you worry about me. I will be fine." Kagome tried to assure them.
"Yeah! And she has me. Don't you say a word Kagome Higurashi, I am going and that is that! You may not want me to go but I have my own agenda, so I am going!" Karin said, using a fierceness that Kagome didn't know she possessed.
"Ok. You can come. We will discuss this later though." Kagome backed down.
"Good! Well, let's go!" Karin said and jumped up, heading for the door.
"I believe you are in good hands. But take Kirara with you." Sango laughed lightly.
Kagome nodded and left the hut, catching up to Karin. Placing a hand on her shoulder to make her stop, Kagome called out for Kirara and it was seconds before the neko was running up to her. Karin made happy girly sounds and Kirara jumped up into Kagome's arms. Licking her face and meowing happily, Kirara let her excitement be known. Before too much time was consumed, Kagome, pulled the neko away and scratched behind her ears, telling her how much she missed her.
She also explained how they were going on a mission together with her new friend, Karin, to find Inuyasha. Kirara transformed and waited for both girls to climb on her back but before Kagome climbed on she had fished out of her pack one of the packs of tuna flavored cat treats. The neko was so glad to see the once upon a time treat. She licked them carefully out of Kagome's outstretched palm and savored them. But as soon as Kagome was on her back she took to the skies.
Kagome and Karin petted the neko and Kagome talked to them both. It was going to be a while before they found Inuyasha and she might as well talk to help pass the time.
AN: Tell me what ya think.