In spite of all of her protestations that Shoga did not have to leave her comfortable home to follow her, Kita's Jiji was not to be denied.

Stepping out the front door Kita looked around for Sesshomaru's car. She was confused when she did not see it until she realized he had probably parked it next door at the Higurashi's.

When they reached their neighbors she was thoroughly confused to see no car there either. Did he call someone to pick him up? There was no way someone like him lived in this quiet little neighborhood. (and no way she would have missed him she couldn't help the stray thought from sneaking in past her defenses).

Just as Kita was about to ask how they were going to get to his (their?) home she noticed everyone else without comment, including Shoga, was filing in to the Higurashi backyard and making their way to the shrine.

Did they intend to say a prayer before they left? She was not delusional enough to believe that Sesshomaru was giving thanks for her safe(ish) return. But perhaps it was a formality? He did seem the very formal sort.

Inside the shrine Kita saw a covered well. This was not entirely unusual, but Kagome and Inuyasha getting in to the well before a blue light shone out of it was definitely not the norm.

"I will go next" announced Shoga.

Sesshomaru glared at her "Why would you go next, flea?"

"Do not call my grandmother names!" Kita did her own glaring. This man was not going to intimidate her.

Sesshomaru just looked at her oddly from the corner of his eye. He had not insulted the old flea, so what could his mate possibly be objecting to?

"I go first to stop you from closing the portal, dog lord!" Shoga had her hands on her hips defiantly.

"JIJI! You should not respond by calling Sesshomaru names! I apologize for my grandmother, this has been a trying day for all of us." Was this going to be her life now? Preventing her grandmother and husband from taunting each other?

"This is your doing flea." Sesshomaru growled, frustrated that his mate was so confused. "Go down the well first then if you are so untrusting."

Shoga glared at Sesshomaru before stepping in to the well herself was as out of the ordinary as the argument they'd had before hand about who should go through the well first. Shoga did look sympathetically at Kita before entering the well.

"Come." Was all Sesshomaru said before leading her forward.

What kind of weird ritual was taking place here? "I don't know what the four of you are up to, but I know one thing for certain, five people are not going to fit in that well Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru had enough of this non sense. Wrapping an arm around his mate he stepped in to the well.

Looking down Kita was horrified to not see her grandmother, Inuyasha or Kagome in the well. She also knew that there was something fundamentally wrong with seeing the night sky at the bottom of the well instead of a floor but was too confused momentarily to figure out what was wrong precisely.

She barely had time to register the sky before Sesshomaru leapt in to the well. They fell for a much further distance than should have been possible. And colors and odd smells flew past her too quickly to register.

The only thing she could believe happened is that at some point during the day she had been drugged with some sort of hallucinogen. It was the only thing that made rational sense!

Drugged or maybe she had become ill again and was in a coma. That also made sense. Horrifying sense considering she thought she was completely healed from the accident, but a lot more sense than what was happening.

As soon as the whirling and flashing colors had stopped she was mortified to find that she had both arms wrapped around Sesshomaru's middle and her tails were wrapped around her in comfort.

Tails? That seemed an out of place idea, surely she was feeling Sesshomaru's fur cloak.

Her ears twitched in annoyance as she thought about how bizarre this entire experience had been.

Ears twitched?! Her ears most certainly did not twitch. And even if they had every twitched they would not have done so from on top of her head.

"Well, that settles that question." Kagome said behind her. "You are absolutely a demon."

'I am absolutely a… what?!' she thought, still not lifting her head from Sesshomaru's chest. If she did she would then discover whether she actually had tails and ears on top of her head or if she was insane or comatose.

And since she could not have twitchy ears or several… 1,2,3,…. Nine?! Nine tails, that left only insanity or comatose. There were ways to tell. Through careful prayer and meditation Kita had trained herself to see a red ball when she was dreaming.(*)

"Inari" Inuyasha snapped "why did you run to Kagome's time? Did Sesshomaru do something to you?!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome said warningly. She had noticed that while Kita had not let go of Sesshomaru, he didn't seem eager to push her away either.

Before either Kita or Sesshomaru could respond they could hear the voice of a small girl calling "Lord Sesshomaru! You're back!"

An irritated voice called "Rin! You must not run off like that you silly child. You cause my lord no end of grief by refusing to stay where you are bid!"

Rin ignored Jaken running to Lord Sesshomaru. Ignoring the woman in her Lord's arms for a moment Rin smiled brightly up at Sesshomaru. "Welcome back my lord!"

"Rin" Sesshomaru looked down at the young girl "find us a house in the village."

"Yes my lord" Rin said happily running off to Kaede.

"My Lord" began Jaken "who is this woman?"

At the sound of Jaken's voice something stirred in Kita and she finally turned around.

"My… my Lady Inari?" Jaken asked stunned "Oh my Lady, it has been so long since you left. Are ou well my Lady?"

Finally feeling ready to let go of Sesshomaru, Kita turned around and looked down at the small toad-like man with the odd hat.

Kneeling down in front of him, Kita put both hands on Jaken's shoulders. "Hello there. I do not remember you, but I am certain we were good friends. Can I rely on you to help me remember who I am…."

Jaken blushed furiously at the attention he was being given "Jaken my Lady. And I will gladly help you to recall yourself, I shall not rest until…"

"Jaken" Sesshomaru interrupted "find appropriate clothing for Lady Inari."

"Yes my Lord, right away my Lord!" Jaken ran off leaving Kita laughing.

Looking down at herself she realized how little she was wearing. A red flimsy outfit that barely covered her rear end and left half of her breasts hanging out the top.

Gasping she covered her top with both hands "What am I wearing?!"

"Seems pretty normal to me." Inuyasha told her. "It is what I always remember you wearing."

"Was I some sort of… prostitute?!" She was horrified to think this was her normal wear. Instinctively her tails wrapped around her.

This reminded her she had no idea what she actually looked like at the moment. "Does anyone have a mirror?"

"I do" Kagome rummaged around in her bag.

Handing her the hand mirror she found Kagome said "I don't think your outfit is that bad, I have seen demonesses wear much less."

Looking in the mirror Kita took in her appearance. She did indeed have ears on top of her head covered in fur the same dark black as her waist length hair. Her face and general proportions were exactly the same, however she did indeed have nine tails. Her tails were stark white in contrast to the black of her hair.

"Lord Sesshomaru" Rin came rushing up. "Lady Kaede says there is an empty home you may use. She will have it cleaned immediately."

"Thank you Rin. Tell her we will need it by nightfall." Sesshomaru was amusedly watching his mate come to terms with her appearance.

Rin smiled "Yes my Lord!"

All of this talk of cleaning a house snapped Kita back to awareness. "Thank you young lady, but if you will show me this home and help me find supplies I will clean it myself."

"Daiyokai do not do the scrubbing of common servants." Sesshomaru interrupted.

Turning on him, finally angry, Kita shouted "You do not tell me what to do, Sesshomaru. My grandmother has needs that I will see to!" Kita stalked off angrily in the direction Rin had come from while Shoga grinned smugly at him.

(*)This is known as lucid dreaming