Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, only this story and the characters I made up. Don't sue me!!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mates

Last time:

Any hope that he may have held onto was probably destroyed, and it was all her fault…

Now:

Kagome stood there looking at Koga with a dumbfound expression on her face. How the hell could he do this to her? What did he do to her? If he touched her in anyway, there was gonna be one insane miko running about in the next few minutes. Kagome tried to calm down a bit and then cleared her throat,

"Koga, what exactly happened here?"

"I took you in after Inuyasha let you get hurt."

"Inuyasha never did anything!"

"Which is exactly my point; he never did anything to help you."

"Inuyasha never did anything wrong! What the hell did you do to me? What is all this talk about me being your mate?"

"You are my mate, Kagome."

"SINCE WHEN!!!!!"

"Since you agreed to it last night…"

"I never agreed to anything!"

Kagome ran out of the cave and headed into the woods. She was running as fast as she could, never looking back, moving forward. She wanted to forget everything, wipe it from her memory. Did she sleep with him? Had he already mated her? Inuyasha would be furious… then she remembered that God awful look of pain on his face when he saw her. She was just about to get him back in her life, finally be able to see him again, and be with him. Then Koga had to come in and ruin everything. If that never happened, she wouldn't be in this mess anyway. She should have let Inuyasha kill him one of those many times he came along and provoked one of their usual futile disputes. She always hated when the two fought like that; and she never paid any attention to Inuyasha's warnings about Koga wanting to get too close. She was to blind-sighted to realize that Koga actually wanted her for his own. Now that she knew that, she wished she had let Inuyasha kill him.

Kagome raced through the thick woodlands, ducking under branches and jumping over roots. She needed to get to Kaede's as fast as possible. If Inuyasha was really here, and saw her, he would probably go there. She was almost there, only a few more minutes and she would be able to explain everything; she hoped. Without looking up Kagome charged forward running right into something really, really hard…

Last time with Sango:

She was going to figure out what went wrong.

Now:

Sango was walking through Inuyasha forest and thinking about her friend. She was thinking of all the possibilities that may have caused Kagome's rash actions. She had usually been the most conscientious out of all of them; there was no way she did this under her own consent. Just when an idea popped into her head, she ran straight into what seemed like a brick wall…

"Owww…" Sango fell to the ground with her arms wrapped around her head.

"Uhhhggg," Kagome slipped backwards after the collision and grabbed her skull with her hands.

The two girls were a bit dazed, but when they both came back to earth, they noticed each other and instantly encompassed one another in an embrace. Sango looked up and saw that Kagome had a few tears running down the side of her face,

"Koga… what did he do to you Kagome?"

"I…I don't know… He said something about us being mates, and then I took off."

"You never went with him willingly, did you?"

"No, of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Shippo and Kirara came back this morning after seeing you sleeping with Koga… They could only assume what you did."

Kagome burst into another rain of tears as Sango held her closer whispering in her ear that everything was going to be alright. Sango had helped her up off of the ground and now they were sitting on a log. Kagome cried into her friend's shirt and cursed under her breath.

"Sango, everything is ruined now… Inuyasha saw me with Koga and thought that we are together now."

"Well… wait… WHAT!!! You SAW Inuyasha!!!"

"Yes… didn't you do the ritual?"

"No… we needed you to do that. Are you sure you aren't just imagining things?"

"Yes, I'm certain it was him. I could sense his aura and everything."

"How could he have gotten back?"

"I don't know, but we need to find him."

With Miroku:

'God damn stupid old hag; she can't ever do anything on her own. She always makes me do all the work!'

Flashback:

"Miroku can you clean up the ritual stuff?"

"Yes Lady Kaede."

"Can you also get me a pail of water when you are done?"

"I'll get on it as soon as I can."

"Oh! And after that could you get some fire wood for tonight? Okay, thank you."

End flashback:

'She never does anything on her own! God I wish someone else got stuck with all these chores.'

Miroku was lost in his malevolent thoughts about how to get Kaede back for all the work he always had to do while he was walking along the river side looking for some clean spring water. The water up the river was murky and dull, it was not suitable for anything that she may need it for… then again; maybe he should make it nasty. No, what if this water was for dinner later on? He couldn't take that risk. When he bent over to fill the bucket he saw something red fly across the sky not only fifty feet ahead of him.

'No… could it??'

With Inuyasha and Aiko:

Inuyasha was still fuming about what had happened earlier. He had talked about it, amazingly enough, to Aiko and she told him to simply follow his heart…

'What the fuck is that supposed to do? My heart says to shred Koga and take Kagome, but at the same time it tells me to give up and move on. I never stood a chance with her, and I don't have any reason to believe I do now. Right? She's happy with him now anyways…'

He was definitely quite befuddled and wasn't too sure on what actions to take. Figuring it would be best to seek out Miroku for some advice, he headed toward the village. Miroku was stupid and way to flirtatious, but he did know when to be serious about women… though that didn't happen too often for him.

Aiko walked in silence next to her "father," and thought about the new world she was brought into. Everything was so beautiful in her eyes. Each and every living creature and moving form of life was a gift, and she wasn't going to forget that. The sun shown bright in the sky and sheltered the earth with its unconditional warmth. Each cloud in the sky had its own unique shape to tell a story and create a little bit of magic for her. The trees swayed in the wind and whispered things to each other. The animals running around them, although not seen, were each a true gift of God, put on this planet for a reason. Those reasons were unknown to her, but she treasured each and every aspect of this new world. It was a world of love and life, happiness and sadness, good and bad. It was a world of hardships and troubles, and a world for all people. Demons, humans, half-demons, and every other form of life; they were all equal in her eyes. That's what made her so special. That was what made Inuyasha like her so much. She was like a symbol of what the world should be, and what he hoped it would grow to be.

Inuyasha was still walking while Aiko was following close behind. He could tell she was getting a little weary because her pace began to slow down. After a few more minutes he scooped her up and leapt into the air. He was flying over trees and homes, soaring through the sky with the gentle breeze pressing against them. His hair was flowing rapidly behind his and brushed against Aiko's face. It tickled her nose and she let out a small laugh. When she turned her head to the side to avoid the soft strands, she noticed a man standing at the riverbank to their left. She tapped Inuyasha on the shoulder after they made their decent and motioned with her hand for him to proceed in that direction.

Back with Miroku:

Was it really possible? They never completed the ritual; hell, they never started it! How could it be? This didn't make the least bit of sense… Miroku steadily grabbed his staff, dropped the bucket and strolled in the direction of the red blur that he'd noticed. He came into a clearing just beyond some large evergreens and stepped out into the open. He shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight and squinted to see what lay ahead of him. Walking towards him was… Inuyasha?

"How's it going monk?"

"…"

"What? Are you surprised to see me?"

"…"

"Feh' I'll take that as a yes. Listen I need your help with something."

"Uhhh… ummm… Inuyasha? Is that really you?"

Inuyasha knocked the monk on the head,

"Yes it's me you moron, now pull yourself together!"

"How…how… uhhh… how did you return?"

"Ummm well, actually we don't really know ourselves how that worked out…"

"We?" Miroku had a quizzical expression across his face.

Aiko stepped out from behind Inuyasha so she was now visible to the monk. She was a beautiful young girl and had an amazingly pure aura emitting around her body. Miroku thought this was very extraordinary seeing as how a child her age shouldn't even have developed an aura this soon in her life. He could tell right off the bat that something about her was very special.

"Well hi there. What's your name? I'm Miroku." He talked slowly and clearly for her to understand. Then he was hit on the head again by Inuyasha's fist.

"She not that young dumbass, she's smart, so you don't need to talk like a moron… she's probably more intelligent than you anyway."

Miroku grinned as he stood back up to Inuyasha's level. He walked a bit closer and when he did Aiko took a few steps back, and hid behind Inuyasha. He quirked an eyebrow showing his confusion; Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and the dumb monk,

"She's just a little shy… plus I highly doubt any children would be very safe around you."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Never mind… so can you help me or not?"

"What do you need help with?"

"Removing a mate's mark…" Inuyasha's ears drooped down and he looked at the ground.

After hearing those words Miroku's mouth dropped to the floor with a thud. He stood there for a little bit as one thought came to him,

'Kagome…'

Back with Koga:

'Damn that crazy bitch! Doesn't she know what's best for her? I am what is best for her, not that filthy half-breed. Looks like I'll just have to take him out of the picture. Yeah that's it; I'll kill him once and for all.'

Sorry it's so damn short, but I couldn't think of anything else to fit into this chapter… please review now!!