Now

Kagome moved her arm behind her back, grasping for a familiar brown quiver filled with arrows tipped in purification magic. She tsked. Out of all the times to be without her weapon of choice, it had to be when a freaky beast threatened her friend's life. A week ago, her bow had snapped clear in two after she purified a particularly nasty ghost haunting a cellar. It didn't take kindly to the idea of fading into that good night. Kagome had hoped to pick up the newly repaired weapon after breakfast. That thing gloating in the corner briefly made her forget why she set out to find Miroku's old prayer beads to begin with. Wait, Miroku's prayer beads—Miroku!

"Miroku, are you still with me?" Kagome chanced flicking worried brown eyes over to Miroku.

The ghost, still stuck pointing at the building mass in the corner, shook his head back and forth. His head twisted around and around until Kagome thought it would just pop off. He had never gone full Excorcist on her before. There was a first for everything, she supposed. His head crunched back into its natural formation, and then the ghost of Miroku was usual her friend again, clear of rot and the ooze of decomposition.

"Dear Buddha, what came over me?" He rubbed his temple as if someone poked him between the eyebrows with a knife.

"That happened," Kagome hissed. She inclined her head at the swirling hair slowly inching down to the unsuspecting Sango. Kohaku hissed and spat like an enraged feline as Sango hid under the table to save herself from falling debris due to the 'earthquake.' If she stayed there any longer…

"Miroku. Do a ghost thing."

"Perchance, what ghost thing are you thinking of?"

"Do the thing ghosts do that separates realities. You know, like what that grudge spirit did a few months ago. Make a bubble or something." Kagome reached for her messenger bag and rummaged inside all while keeping an eye on the smiling creature poised for Sango. Journal, her father's note pad, pens, some work material, there! She located five slips of rectangular paper.

"But," Miroku gulped.

"I don't care. You're a ghost, so you can do it. Sango's life is on the line." As if Kohaku heard, he yowled with fury at the thought of his sister's demise. Miroku's brow furrowed. He bit his lip and clenched his hand into a white fist. He was never really any good at being a ghost. He didn't haunt anyone nor did he seem particularly stuck in this world. Miroku was just—here. As such, he usually avoided the stereotypical usage of ghostly powers. No skulking in the hallways of high schools or crawling out of television sets for him. Now, everything relied on his ability to be what he was. Dead.

"Kohaku, if you can understand me, please. Please get your sister out of there as safely as possibly. I don't care how." Sango glanced up from her perch under the bakery's table, her skin as white as milk. She definitely heard Kagome calling out to Kohaku.

And then everything happened all at once.

Miroku yelled, and as he did so, a warped feeling emanating from his core wrapped Kagome, Sango, Kohaku, and the monster as if they all had been dumped into a vat of animal fat. There was a bubbly sheen around the five entities that blocked their activities from the rest of the frightened bakery patrons, who thought that an earthquake was their only threat.

Kohaku detached from Sango's shoulders, yelping as he lost contact of his sister, and then plunged inside of her. The boy's wretched form bucked and thrashed as his ghostly presence was absorbed by his sister's essence. Kohaku's honey eyes briefly flashed from under Sango's deeper brown until she fully regained sovereign over her body. The woman blinked, saw Miroku with his hand out like some two bit magician attempting a poor magic trick, and then turned to see the creature stalking her from above. She shouted an expletive, grabbed a knife from the table above her, and then threw the utensil like a deadly projectile straight into the beast's three pupiled eye. The creature yelped in an almost human screech, sounding much like both a man's deep baritone and a woman's softer intonation.

Kagome, ahead of all of them, imbued her spiritual power with the rectangular paper she retrieved from her messenger bag, creating a minor paralyzation spell. It was the best she could do under short notice when she would have preferred to fling her heaviest purification arrow straight into the monster's gut…if it had a gut. Was its gut the hair or the eyeball? Instead, she threw the paper and directed to land onto the monster's mass of silky black hairs. She was just in time, for the thing had detached from the wall after a knife had lodged itself deep into its cornea. It would have landed on Sango if not for the spell.

"Sango!" Kagome shouted. She waved the businesswoman over. Sango didn't hesitate. She scrambled to her feet and bolted over to where Kagome and Miroku convened.

"What the Hell is going on, Kagome?" Sango gasped. "Why can I see this stuff? Were you speaking with Kohaku? Why do I feel like he's right here with me?"

"Not now. That spell won't last l—"

The monster shattered her spell with a flurry of sharpened hairs. How long did it take for the creature to break Kagome's spell? Under thirty seconds? Kagome haphazardly zapped another piece of paper and chucked it at the creature to buy another few precious seconds. Now there were only three spells left. This thing was something she never dealt with before. No ghost had broken her spell, albeit a weak one, in under a minute. Either she was getting rusty, or that hairball beast was strong. Well, let's see what it could do against her bow and arrows.

"Come on. I need my bow." Kagome tugged on Sango's sleeve. Sango in turn shook off her high heels, ready to run. "Miroku, you can stop being ghostly now. Follow us!"

"Yes ma'am!" Miroku let his arm drop to his side and caught up with the girls. "Are you feeling alright, dear Sango?"

"Do I know you?" Sango narrowed her eyes at the friendly ghost as the group ran out of the bakery's entrance and onto the street ahead.

"No, but you should." Miroku managed to look suave running for his life, but then again, he was dead. He could spare a second to flirt. The group cut a path down the paved sidewalk passing people recovering their bikes and those who were brushing away dirt from their trousers. The bystanders watched with passing interest, more concerned with recovering from the previous earthquake. Kagome led the way, knowing that after one more block, they'd make it to the repair shop. Pass the police station, through the little garden…just a little closer, and that creep wouldn't ever think about ambushing her and her friends ever again with an arrow in its heart.

"Are we almost to wherever you are taking us, dear Kagome?" Miroku chimed from her left. His voice was strained not from the run, but from fear. Kagome didn't have time for impatience.

"Yes, yes!"

"Oh. Good."

"I don't like the sound of that, oh good."

"Er, well, it's kind of because that thing is most certainly one, two, yup, ten feet away."

"WHAT?!"

Kagome risked peering over her shoulder and felt her stomach drop to her feet and left to drag along the pavement as she dashed off. The monster was closer than what Miroku had originally estimated, but it was no longer made of inky black hair with one bulbous eye. It was now comprised of a singular spinal column the length of a school bus and about the thickness of a full grown man's waist. Heading the beast was a skull alit from within by one, red spark in the right eye socket. The teeth of the skull were all sharpened to points and growths akin to horns curved upwards from its brow as if to cut the very air. With its head abreast of the pavement, the creature undulated towards the rag tag group like that of a snake skimming the top of a lake at an alarming pace. That wasn't the creepiest thing she ever saw. Nope.

Okay, yeah. It was.

Kagome would not be able to make it in time to the repair shop, but she'd be damned if she couldn't save her friends, even if one was dead and the other was possessed by the specter of her brother. She grasped a rectangle of paper and chanted, siphoning as much of her power as she felt comfortable losing. Her energy began to drain critically fast.

"Miroku, if something happens to me, take Sango to my mother's shrine. She knows what to do for the most part."

"But," Miroku started.

"I'm not letting that thing hurt you, Kagome," Sango growled. She brandished a fork she must have swiped from the bakery as if it were a broadsword.

"Good to know, but I have a bad feeling about that thing. You don't want to be its next meal. Plus, Kohaku didn't trespass into your body just to get the both of you err, I guess killed." Kagome nodded at them both and then turned to face the creature. The sound of Miroku herding Sango over to a safer area was at all at once pleasant and sad.

Kagome took a deep, steadying breath, and then sent her newborn spell careening towards the hungry beast. The paper stuck directly to its forehead, releasing a torrent of ruby light. The thing screeched, rolling from one side to the other, and moaned in an all too human voice the same as before. Kagome felt goosebumps prick her skin, but she didn't wait to find out how damaged the beast was. In the time it had taken to halt the beast, she had created one more spell and calmly pasted the spell onto the beast's front teeth. The skeleton creature shuddered and changed from the ivory of bone to a charred black. It moved about like a caught alligator, rolling and rolling in fierce agony until it ceased all locomotion. Thick, black steam leaked from creaked that had formed in the beast's webwork of bone and marrow.

"T-there, I did it," Kagome gasped. She wiped her cheek. That took more out of her than she would like to admit. She felt as though she never ate her earlier breakfast, or any food from the past week. Kagome would have to eat enough food to regain her strength, and soon. First, she had to get her weapon and never ever be without one again. "Let's get my bow and get finish the job."

"Kagome!" Miroku and Sango bellowed as one. The whole talking as one thing hadn't been working out for her lately, and she resisted rolling her eyes.

The skeletal monstrosity reared up, now with multiple bones appendages pouring from each side of its spine like a ghoulish millipede, and screamed. It's jaw unhinged like a snake's, and was the perfect size to swallow Kagome whole. The beast's new arms and legs flailed in fury. This was it. She'd end up just like…just like who? She thought of feet adorned in black socks dangling from a gaping maw. Great. Her last thought would be of feet. Would this be her legacy?

A flash of white and gold obscured Kagome's view of the beast that was still poised to lunge at her, although she could tell that the beast was momentarily stunned by this new appearance. The white from long hair braided down to align with a tall man's back. The gold from sharp eyes dulled by death. The stranger was at almost a head taller than her. He wore a cleanly pressed suit, ironed dress pants, and shiny black shoes. It was obvious from his hair and eyes that even when he wasn't a ghost, he was something more than a human when the stranger had been alive. The stranger…was he one? Had she not seen him before?

"Stand back," the man said. He held out an arm between her and the beast. Well, no matter what, she would not be bullied to do whatever this sort of stranger told her to do.

"Umm, no. I've got this," Kagome retorted even though she did not have this.

"As you wish," he responded. That was easier than she thought it would be. The newcomer held out the fingers of his left hand like he had wanted something to happen. What was he going to do, make a whip of concentrated light and smack the beast? If only! The man huffed softly and then, after an expression of mild concentration, held his hand palm out. Surprisingly, the sort of stranger blasted the monster with a beam of concentrated gold light directly from his palm. The beast screeched and inched backwards.

"Lemme at 'em!" Yelled another newcomer from behind Kagome. The man padded over to stand by the sort of stranger's side. He had white hair and gold eyes like the tall man, but something told Kagome that those were the only attributes these two shared just by the way they carried themselves. The newcomer shrieked, "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" He raked nails across a segment of the skeletal monster to no affect. "What the?"

"It would seem that our earthly powers are no more in death," the first man said in contemplation.

"Is that where that gold stuff came from? You know, the crap you shot outta your hand?" The newcomer asked. He jumped back when skeletal fingers reached out to grab him.

"Hmn."

"Taking that as a yes. Well, if you can do it, I can, too." The newcomer held up both hands. He growled, closing his eyes and grinding his teeth. A fine beam of red, pure spiritual energy exploded from the man's two hands, colliding with the side of the beast. It yelped from the bombardment of both attacks.

"Might as well join in," Kagome mumbled. She shakily made one last spell, and while the two strange ghosts blasted the beast with raw spiritual energy, she threw in her lot and flung the spell into the fray. Her spell turned into green daggers, slicing deep into the soft joints of the beast. The combined energies flung the monster back.

"Hate. Hate. Haaaaaate!" The thing roared. It turned and dove into the pavement, disappearing from the fighting grounds. Silence wrapped around the arena like a glove. A few citizens watched as a woman staggered over to a bench and sat while her friend walked over and sat with her. The bystanders wondered if they should report the womens' odd behavior to the police station just a few steps away and decided against it. Maybe they had been practicing for a show? Who knows.

"Bastard ran away," Said the shorter of the two new ghosts. He scrubbed a hand across his short white hair with the remanants of a growl plain on his face. "Guess we were too much for the cretin."

"He will be back after he's feasted upon the citizens of Tokyo," said the taller of the two. He glided over to the bench bolted to the sidewalk where Kagome and Sango rested, both drained.

"Feast?" Sango asked.

"I can't let that happen," Kagome mumbled. Sweat gleamed on her brow, but she was so weak that she couldn't bring herself to wipe the moisture off. That didn't mean that she didn't want to. Oh no. Kagome desperately wished that she could have fought the beast off in her best black dress and heels with spot on make up if it meant that the ghost in the business suit would stop looking at her like she was some heathen. Then again, Sango's own makeup had essentially melted off during their run and her heels were lost when they ran from the bakery. Screw looking good.

"Do you not remember me?" The handsome ghost asked, almost as if he wasn't really invested in her answer. Kagome analyzed the open hole in place of the man's stomach. Did she see him that morning? Maybe earlier than that? A creepy shudder boiled down her back. She had a feeling that she did know him, and had seen him many, many times. For the life of her, she just couldn't remember how or when.

"I'm…not sure," was the best she could say.

"You know her. That's why you came here," the shorter man pointed out. He put his arms over his shoulders and stretched. Must have been a force of habit. Ghosts did not need to stretch.

"I am merely against Naraku achieving his goals. I wish to destroy him once and for all so that I may rest," the sort of stranger said. He still was staring at Kagome like she was the ghost and not him. His narrow, golden eyes were searching for something she couldn't understand. He made her nervous.

"Naraku? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Sango thought out loud. She then held up a finger. "Oh! The man who owned Akatsuki Mansion!"

"I've heard of this mansion from Kagome," Miroku mused from behind the bench.

"You have to tell me. What happened? Why is he like this?" Kagome asked the two new ghosts. They knew the beast's name. Maybe they knew more.

"Wish it were that easy, lady," said the shorter man.

"What do you mean?" Miroku asked.

"We have no recollection of why Naraku murdered us and through what means he became what you just saw," the sort of stranger relayed. "I can only deduce that he has been so long a monster that whatever he true intentions were are now clouded with bloodlust and," the ghost pointed to Kagome, "He wants you most of all."

"We won't let him have her," Miroku growled.

"I can't just turn my back on someone who just saved my life," Sango hissed. "And I have too many questions after Kohaku…" Tears lined her eyes, but she battled the moisture away, blinking hard multiple times.

"Right, well. We all can't keep standing here in the open. Those people over there are looking at us like we're loons." Kagome waved her hand in front of her face. "Let me get my bow and we can set up shop at my place. I'll order pizza." Glorious, cheesy pizza with so many carbs and calories that she was guaranteed some sort of spiritual recharge. She felt the gaze of the sort of stranger, and realized, she'd been calling him sort of stranger for no reason. Kagome evened her stare at the ghost in the business suit. "I'm sorry. I never asked. What are your names?"

"Name's Inuyasha, and it pains me to say that this statue here is my half brother," the ghost in baggy jeans huffed while jabbing his thumb in the direction of...

"My name is Sesshoumaru," the half brother said. Staring. He was still staring. Did Kagome have something on her face? Blood? Dirt? And why would he care about something like that with half of his own insides dripping out from him?

"Thank you both for saving my friends," Kagome said. Inuyasha began speaking with Miroku and Sango, but Kagome couldn't hear a word. She stared back at Sesshoumaru, playing at his own game. Her heart gave a painful squeeze, but she brushed that feeling away. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

Scream Team

Special thanks to the readers of this short story.

cloudlessmidnight— Thank you for loving this so far.

One2Handcuff— I enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you liked where it went.

d1mplz3— Thank you for reading and commenting.

lady sesshomaru Samoa 949– Thank you for commenting on each chapter so far. I'm glad you've enjoyed the story.