Sorry for the long wait I was without Internet for a while and then I had to write this up on my iPad soo yeah, but atleast it's here now!

chapter 37:The Players... part I

Sango didn't know what to expect that day, but it surely wasn't her kid brother dressed and ready for the nights activities. It had brightened her day just a bit more seeing him all dressed up like in the days of old. She had been thinking of the lake all day at work and had lost focus enough for her boss to notice and tell her to "Stop daydreaming" and get her "butt back in gear.". However, she did meet a very nice gentleman that morning. He walked in with a friend of his talking about something or another. She had been wiping up a spill because they had been short handed that day when she noticed him calling her over, so she quickly finished, and had her co-worker Ami put the cleaning supplies away. She quickly pulled out a pad and pen and looked up to see the most vivid and unusual eye colour she had ever seen.. they were a dark and rich purple, that she could have gazed into for hours. When he called her name reading it off of her name tag she quickly smiled brightly at the guest and asked what she could do for them. She tried to be as professional as one could be wearing a deep red and white v-neck that clung to her every curve and a matching deep red mini skirt and white sneakers. She quickly showed them to a nearby seat and put in their orders, making sure the were taken very good care of. They quickly finished paid and left the tip on the table and when she walked by her jaw almost dropped. Their was a napkin on top of the tip that simply said keep the change with a winky face. No the note wasn't worth getting all flustered about, but what was under it was, he had left her 300 dollars in tips! She was flabbergasted and when he turned around to see if he could thank the stranger, they were gone. On the bottom of the note was what she assumed was his name, Miroku Hatsuharu.

...

Miroku had awoken early that morning dressed in black slacks with a blue button up dress shirt, and combed his hair back into his signature tail, which had grown a bit longer over the years, that was at his shoulders now. He decided that he liked it that length, and kept it cut at such. He quickly laced his shoes and decided it was also time to wake Yasha since he wasn't one to be bothered with early mornings or hygienic routines. However, today was different for Yasha wasn't in his room, but was actually down stairs eating a banana.

"hey monk, you ready to get going yet. Jeez, yuh take longer than a woman to get ready!"

"Ah Yasha, what a surprise I thought I would never see the day you were up early enough to see the sun rise except on Saturdays to watch your cartoons."

"Keh, whatever." grumbled Yasha a he walked out the door, keys in his hand. He tossed them to Miroku before quickly ducking into the passenger seat. Miroku smiled as he thought about the morning, and was happy that even Inuyasha was excited to find their long lost friend.

"Did you see the news last night?"

"WHA?!"

"Why do I bother asking..." sighed Miroku "well If you would have bothered to watch or listen to the news you would have known that there was a large surge of power at the Tokyo power plant and that now the whole city is running on generator power."

"she was searching for something!" blurted out Yasha.

"Mhm, but searching for what is the question."

"what ever it was it was within the radius when she found it because we only got the tail ends of her power."

"yes but she is still in danger for there are still those that would wish to use her for her powers."

"What ever, I kill who ever tries."

"Dont forget Yasha, this is another time period, you cant just running around slicing and dicing people free nilly. We will stop and eat breakfast here at this little diner I found, then we will meet up with Shippo."

"Keh, that runt wont make much a difference, he's still no match for me." grumbled Yasha feeling inadequate in his tracking skills to that if the kit he had helped teach about tracking and stalking prey. "I'm still part inu, im just as good as that runt when it comes to tracking."

"Yes, of course Yasha, but Shippo also has the use of magics that could help our cause and keep it on the down low..."

"fine."

they soon reached their stop and walked into a lovely little restaurant. As soon as Miroku opened the door he was greeted with the sight of a goddess dressed in red and white; almost forgetting what it was exactly that they had even came there for. He quickly spied her name on the name tag, ignoring Inuyasha's grumbles about barely dressed women and him being a pervert, and called her name, watching as she stood and looked over to him. Her eyes were beautiful, deep and bright like chocolate, simply breathtaking. She smiled shyly and showed them to their seats. Once she turned around his eyes quickly gave her backside a once over, twice. His hand twitched as he felt an ache to touch her nice round posterior. He frowned slightly when Inuyasha, not very discreetly, elbowed him in the ribs for ignoring him, but he couldn't careless with this beauty in front of him. Even if the hime named Sango didn't notice, all that existed in his mind at that moment were him and her.

They sat at a booth and he pretended to pay attention to Yasha, answering questions and giving short replies when needed, but really he was watching that beautiful waitress walk around filling out theirs and others orders, but he did notice when Inuyasha said something offensive.

"I mean the prick needs to get off his lazy ass and come find her himself or atleast stop taking his frustrations out on me when we spar., and when I told that ass that, do you know what he did to me!? He beat me up! and then had the nerve to tell me some bull about watching what I call his mate!"

"Inuyasha." the owner of said name's hidden ears flattened against his head upon hearing the tone of the monks voice. "I have nothing to do with how you two spar, if you were stronger maybe you wouldn't get destroyed as much, no? And secondly, do not call lady Kagome a wench or any other disrespectful names considering she is the one that saved your ass from Naraku in the first place." stated Miroku calmly.

"keh, I was just making sure you were listening is all."

"Let us just eat our food and go, shall we?" asked Miroku as once he spotted "her" coming his way with the food they had ordered.

They quickly ate and Miroku left a tip and a note.

Once they were outside and in the car Inuyasha asked "what were you playing at back there monk?"

"what ever do you mean Yasha?" asked Miroku.

"Dont use that tone with me you lecher, you trying to tap that?".

Miroku smiled so serenely that even Yasha second guessed his original thought on the matter.

"Not at all, my good friend, not at all."

they were soon in Shippo's apartment sitting around his table. The kit was no longer a kit, he had waist long thick and curly orange hair pulled back into a low sung braided tail, held by his signature green bow at the end, even though it was much smaller now. He wore a simple green shirt and black jeans and when standing he was taller then Miroku and even in height with Inuyasha.

"So that energy... it was her?"

"We have reason to believe so, and consequently that would mean the black out was her as well."

"I knew mother was strong, but... that strong?"

"Yeah, kid we know, now just tell us you know how to trace it." spoke Yasha.

Shippo's face straightened and then dawned a mischievous smile as he came out of his reverie of the few times he was able to spend with Kagome and back to the reason they were all there in his home.

"the power outage happened in a ring of circles that moved outward from the source of the power and knowing my okaa-san, she's near a large body of water and the only one in that area is the one near the sunset shrine, the park, and where all the tajiya of old have been living together till now.

"So you think she is over there? Thats a big area to search."

"No yasha" cut in Miroku "I think our friend means that she is in the lake."

"exactly." spoke the kitsune.

"We could go tonight and see if she really is there." said Miroku calmly

"Yea and if we find her, we high tail her ass back to the ice prince because his damn mood swings are annoying the shit out of me."

...

Sango had a great day and she planned on ending it that way as well. When she reached her home she found her brother amongst the group of guys that consisted of his friends gathered around outside loading what she assumed was their supplies into a large green van.

"Hey you guys what are you doing?" Called Sango as she walked towards them.

"Oh just packing supplies for the trip!" Replied her brother excitedly.

"Ok as soon as I change and it gets dark we can go then." Called Sango as she quickly adjusted her direction to make a bee line straight for the staircase and then up to her floor. Upon reaching her floor she quickly walked into her door and straight into her bathroom for a quick shower. Once done she changed into her slayers outfit, and peered at her self in the mirror. Her father would be proud that she was wearing it.

She then made her way downstairs and met with the boys, and as she approached them she heard her name called. Turning her head in the direction she heard the voice she acted with lightning fast reflexes as she quickly caught the keys that were thrown at her face. She then with out breaking her stride opened up the front driver seat of the large van, jumped in and started the engine.

Night had fallen pretty quickly that night and she left her lights off as she quickly maneuvered the car onto the grass and pulled it up to the lake. The park wasn't very far from their apartments so she could get away with driving without her lights considering there was practically no one there as well.

...

It was almost time to begin, the clock was ticking down. There was a strong possibility of finding the very woman they were looking for in this very lake.

The trio sat in a black Honda with dark tents, an average car for an average neighbourhood, they didn't want to attract any stray attention. They were situated in the parks parking lot, while Shippo grabbed a duffel bag with all the materials they would need for their activities that night.

The three quickly left the car and began walking.

"So how is this going to go down" asked yasha as he attached his head piece to his head and checked his concealment.

"I am going to head towards the lake and see if I can get her attention as well as check for danger. You two are going to hang back and keep the perimeter and back me up if I need the help. Understood?"spoke Miroku.

"Gotcha." Called Yasha and Shippo at the same time. "In the mean time we will just act as late night joggers." Spoke Shippo to Inuyasha. They each had their ear pieces on as they began, Shippo and Inuyasha began jogging in opposite directions while Miroku began his beeline towards the lake. Inuyasha was jogging calmly as he looked around when suddenly Shippo was next to him.

"Hey yasha, we should stretch." Breathed a slightly flustered Shippo as he gave Inuyasha a persistent look.

"Yeah, sure runt." Breathed Yasha as he slowed and stopped running and began stretching with Shippo right beside him.

"Hey do you see that off to the side over there?" Whispered Shippo.

"Yeah, group off people, humans, ones a girl and she shares a similar scent with one of the other guys she is with. "

"Yeah, big group too, heading towards the lake in that van, what do you think they're are doing?"

"Not a clue, probably should give Miroku a heads up to stay out of sight though." Spoke Inuyasha as he adjusted his microphone so that Miroku would hear.

"Reading you loud and clear gentlemen, I will keep a heads up."

"Wait, Miroku, the girl, her scent is familiar, vaguely, she might be the same girl from the restaurant, you know the one you were undressing with your eyes every time she turned around." Spoke Inuyasha as he sniffed the air.

"Ohhhh, interesting... I will see what I can do then. Over."

"Do I even want to know?"asked Shippo warily.

Inuyasha simply gave him a look that said, it's Miroku.

"Good answer." Nodded Shippo.

,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Miroku had made it to the edge of the break in the tree covering when he saw the van drive up to the lake bed. He walked the clearing all the way to the opposite side of the lake so he wouldn't be seen, and while doing so, he came across what seemed to be a rather large drain away. He quickly darted across to it and ducked low as to not be seen from across the lake, as he began to roll up his pants to knee length and walk his way towards the water discarding socks and shoes.

"Kagome-San? Are you there?" He called and watched the motionless waters for any sign of movement.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,..,

Kagome heard aloud noise move closer to the water and decided she would check it out once she realised that it had stopped moving and hadn't passed her hiding location. She quickly and as discretely as she possibly could swam up to the surface and towards a grassy area and poked her head out amongst the tall grasses and peered at what seemed like a pretty big metal box that could fit a number of people in, and it moved on very weird looking wheels. That's when she heard her name. She quickly turned around and ducked back under the water. She moved slowly through the grassy shallows taking care not to move anything to abruptly and give away her location as well as trying to place the voice that called her name. It took all of two minutes to realise that it was Miroku's voice and when she swam over and saw his face looking down at the water she was surprised, and quickly she surfaced to greet him.

"Miroku, you found me! How?!"

"Kagome-San, it is you, thank kami we have found you and it's a long story but your powers have grown immensely since we last saw each other. However, that's for another time, we must leave, guys-"

"You will be going no where." Spoke a light and dainty voice. Kagome ducked back under the water as Miroku motioned for her to leave and swam a little distance away.

"I'm goin to need some back up boys."

"Hear yuh loud and clear Miroku." Replied Inuyasha quickly before a grunt was heard and Shippo's growling over the connection.

"Guys?" Questioned Miroku worriedly as he quickly fixed his clothes and watched the little girl in front of him. She seemed bored with her red eyes glancing this way and that lazily. He quickly finished putting back on his shoes and pulled a pen from his pocket.

"Are you quite done yet?" She asked bored.

"Not quite, I have a few questions for you. Who are you, who sent you, and why are you here?"

Se smiled evilly "that's a lot of questions. The only one I feel even remotely inclined to answer is that I am here for the girl." She smiled devilishly.

"Oh really, and I don't seem inclined to let you take her then." Spoke Miroku in a mocking tone. She frowned.

"Fine then, I guess my friend Sherissa here will have to make you think otherwise."

At the sound of her name a large Nekoyoukai sprang from the trees and landed next to her mistress. Miroku moved to ask for some help when the girl spoke again.

"I wouldn't bother with them, Sherissa's brothers are playing with them, and you know how big a litter can get... Any ways I shall let you two fight it out."

"Is that so?" Miroku then began to chant softly and a large barrier appeared around the trio. "You will be going no where." Miroku mocked again. He glanced around to see what wa going on around him, somewhere in the park his friends were fighting off a pack of neko's and kagome hopefully hidden somewhere with in the ponds water. The battle began quickly as the neko charged him and he clicked the eraser on his pencil twice, making his staff appear in his hands and swung at the demon making her move out of the way.

Kagome quickly swam away towards the middle of the pond when suddenly she heard splashes and saw lights in the water. Those dry foot people with the big moving thing had grown flippers? How she didn't know, but now they where swimming around looking for something with these lights in their hands. That's when one of the lights shown on her and moved backwards but it was already to late, she had been spotted. They gave chase and moved quickly but with her superior speed and water abilities she was easily able to out manoeuvre them. She kept this up for awhile as she tried to find a place to hide, when she realised that she was herded in a direction, she freaked. What was she to do. She was going to try and charge one of them when another, the girl charged her with a blade and as she dodged she moved into some rope. Just as she touched the rope it was all around her and she knew then that she was trapped. Se struggled with her bindings, trying to move them this way or that, push or pull them, anything to part them, but they wouldn't separate, adding to her dismay. She was pulled from the water onto something wet that was quickly wrapped around her body and head. The only thing that stuck out was her tail which she tried to use to shake her way free. When she heard talking she stopped struggling to listen to what they were saying.

"I can't believe we caught a mermaid!" Spoke a boy.

"Yeah, I was surprised too, Hikaru."

"Yes, we'll what do you think Sango?"

"I don't know what to think, let's just go get her into some water."

And just like that Kagome was lifted and moving. When she finally stopped moving she heard a female voice, who she assumed was Sango tell someone to hold her tail. She flicked her tail angrily and hit someone who yelped in pain and then she felt a prick and her whole world went dark. Before she completely succumbed to sleep she felt her tail being lifted and a door closing behind it. Then the box with wheels was moving. Fear gripped her heart and she began to thrash more. How would they find her now, how would she ever be able to see her beloved inu? She cried fearlessly as song after song bubbled up between her lips.

The van was silent as all within listened to the heart broken sounds of the mermaid they had caught, regret, disappointment, and sorrow were a few of the emotions they felt listening to her, knowing that what they were doing was a major part of why she sang. It was obvious then that she spoke the language and would be able to understand them when they spoke, but they could see why she was sad. If anything her song told them she was a long way from home and looking for a loved one. Se didn't know that they were only trying to help as well as find out about what had happened and the myth of the lake. They quickly drove the van to the nearby housing area and they opened the back door so they could carry their new charge up to Sango's tub. Sango quickly ran a warm bath and once the water was full they laid the carpet on the floor and unrolled it to reveal their hidden mermaid. Once open they were able to look upon a beauty that was left up to myth. She was beautiful, blue eyed with long blue tinted black hair and her tail was simply breath-taking with its long length shimmering down from a blue as black as the darkest night, and as it moved down lightening into a crystal sapphire till it seemed white and blue tinted. It probably was translucent in the water. Se stared up at them her Sapphire eyes burning with the intensity of her stare, frozen they stood transfixed by her gaze, but what sent shivers down their spines was her voice. The melodious sound was cold, angered, and agonised.

"What do you want with me."

The two siblings shared a glance before Sango decided to speak up.

"Answers and to help."