AN: Continuing with the previous round since no one guessed correctly. Round 19: "I am Arthur and this is my sword in the stone." Good luck everyone :). By the way, this will be the last one :).

I apologize for my long absence and for the shortish chapter. Trying to do too much as once lol.

Chapter 24

"Kagome-chan," Sango whispered softly at first, almost as if she believed the woman she saw cresting over the hill to be a mirage, before realizing she was indeed seeing her best friend coming home. "Kagome-chan!" she shouted, drawing everyone's attention as she rushed toward the incoming girl, as though it had been years, not days, since she had last seen her. "I see Kouga was able to bring you back quickly," she continued, gesturing to the wolf demon that stood next to them as she hugged the priestess as best she could with the slight bump in her stomach getting in her way.

"I didn't do nothing. She was already on her way out when I got there," Kouga explained with a shrug of his shoulders before heading off in search of his pack mates. Confused, since if she didn't need his help to get out, logic was that she could have returned sooner, Sango turned her attention back to the girl in her arms in question as Kikyou arrived next to them. Not quite into public displays as Sango was, instead of greeting the younger priestess with a hug, Kikyou bowed her head in respect.

"If it was not the wolf prince that aided in your return, how did you get released? I went to speak about you to the lord, but they refused to allow me to see you, let alone set you free. I was sure it would take a demon lord to scare them into letting you go," Kikyou insisted as Sango finally released her tight embrace and stepped back, wanting to hear the answer as well. Gesturing for them to follow her, not wanting to have the conversation in the open, Kagome led the way into the forest.

Once she was sure they were out of earshot from any of the villagers, she stopped and turned back toward the girls, who followed her unquestioningly. "Basically what happened was I was put into a cell and left there alone, other than when they came to feed me, and the lord refused to see me. I informed a guard that they had until today to see me or I was leaving. When they still refused me, I tapped into Sesshoumaru's aura and melted my cell bars.

"I was just informing the lord that they were to stay away from the village and myself, when Kouga showed up. By the way, the villager that caused this, I've already informed him that he is banned from here. I will tell the others myself, so you guys don't get put in the middle, but wanted to let you know since there might be a backlash. I don't think there will be, I can't image the others siding with him after this, but I won't take any chances. Speaking of though," Kagome paused to glance back in the direction of the village.

"I should probably get that done soon. Why don't you two start dinner back home and I will round up the villagers and update them before we head back," Kagome decided, giving them a reassuring smile when they looked worried for her, before turning and heading back toward the village. Not having gone far, it didn't take her long to return and call out, "Can everyone gather around for a moment? There is something I need to inform you about."

As she stood off to the edge of the village, just before the tree line, Kagome watched as they began to gather around her as instructed, each sharing confused glances. "The man who caused the disturbance the other day has been banned from returning to the village. And please do not give me those looks," she paused as they began to develop expressions of hate and anger. "I did not do it because he royally pissed me off or because I didn't like him.

"By doing what he did, he endangered this entire village. I can forgive just about everything, but not needlessly endangering the lives of innocent people. I will not forgive someone trying to bring the wrath of a very temperamental demon lord, when it comes to his pack at least, down on this village because he could not handle his own grieve and stupidity." Kagome paused for a moment to let her words sink in and a villager took the opportunity to question whether or not she was doing the same by having demons nearby.

"No, the demons nearby do not endanger the village, they protect it. Can any of you even remember the last time there was a demon attack? Their presence here deters many of the lesser demons, those that it doesn't are detected long before they can reach your homes. All of you are safe as long as you don't intentionally endanger our safety. Which is something I highly doubt any of you would do. But we do not bring harm to this village, we prevent. Demons and all.

"I know you are all upset over what's been happening, and what still is, but there is something you need to remember above all else. Even if you want to forget about every time a member of my group has saved you, protected each of you from demons, saved the lives of all of you...At the very least, you should remember what has just happened. It was not demons that brought the plague down on your village, it was rats. Plan ole simple rats.

"But I am the only reason why all of you are still alive, because I was here to see it in time to save you. If those demons were not here, neither would I be. The black plague is very contagious and it would have spread to every villager and anyone who passed through here would have been infected. Then they would have passed it to every village they came to. As I am sure you can imagine, it would not take long to have spread across Japan.

"It is incurable and a painful, horrifying way to die. Probably the worse way to die I have ever seen and I have seen people die from things you couldn't even imagine. My point?" she paused for a moment to regain control of herself, noticing the conversation had verged off where she originally wanted to take it. "Instead of complaining about the demons hanging around, the very same ones helping to rebuild your village, for now, at the very least, just consider yourselves lucky. Think of every passing day as a blessing because it could of just as easily have been your last."

Kagome knew she might have been a bit too harsh on them and, as uncharacteristic of her as it might have been, she couldn't find the will to care. She had suffered through a lot over the years from them and many others like them. The distrustful looks they gave her because of the way she dressed or who she kept company. The whispering each time she passed, them thinking she couldn't pick up on the spat words of 'impure' and 'demon lover'.

The attitude they gave her best friend for the same differences she loved about him. The way they counted an innocent child in their hatred simply because of his blood. So yeah, maybe she was being rude, but she was just so tired of it all. Being treated like she was less of a person because she saw nothing wrong with being friends, taking care of or even falling in love with demons. She was done being seen as the abnormal one, especially since they were the ones that were wrong.

Being called a murderer had been the last straw, the one that broke the camel's back. She would no longer walk on eggshells to not offend others because they were already on edge around her. And she sure as hell wasn't going to be miss sweet and proper to the villagers who still had yet to thank her for saving their lives. For being there to help ease their families' passing when they couldn't be there. For burning and burying their bodies.

They were ungrateful and, finally, after all the years she had been in the past, Kagome understood they would never change, no matter how much she tried or what she did. So she wasn't going to try anymore, not on these villagers anyways. She couldn't very well place all villages into the same category simply because of one bad apple. If she did, she would be no better than those that were foolish enough to believe all demons were evil simply because a few attack.

She would be no better than the villagers standing before her, grumbling under their breaths about her rudeness. Holding her head up high, Kagome ignored their whispering and called out that it was time to head back for dinner. Turning away, without waiting to see if they would follow, she began heading home, anxious to have her first real meal in days. As she walked, Kagome sighed softly to herself, knowing without a doubt, that they would not be able to live near the well for much longer. One day, it would put either the villagers or her family in danger.