Hi everyone! This is my first Inu Yasha Fanfic, so please go easy on me! I accept all reviews, and am all for constructive criticism and suggestions. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha. Nope.

Mind Games

"I'm hungry!" Shippou complained. The group had been wandering through the forest all day, and finally came up on an abandoned village on its outskirts. It was about dinnertime, and all of them were hungry.

"As soon as we set up camp, Shippou, I'll make us some ramen, okay?" Kagome tried to pacify the kitsune child. He nodded, trying to be as patient as he could be. Kagome smiled at him with pity, and fished out a small lollipop from her bag. "Here, this ought to hold you over until dinner," she told him. They reached the village gates, and entered.

"Hello?! Anybody home?!" Kagome called. Inu Yasha sniffed the air.

"There ain't no one nearby," he said matter-of-factly. They looked closer at the village. It was completely deserted, and appeared that it had been deserted for a good couple of months now.

"I wonder why they deserted this town," Sango said quietly to Miroku, who was standing by her side. She looked around. It was a beautiful spring afternoon: not too hot, not too cool, and the sun was beginning to set over the tops of the hills to the west. A faint breeze wisped through town and encircled the visitors. Miroku drew a breath.

"Most likely, they ran out of resources. Maybe they hunted all the nearby game or the nearest river dried up," Miroku suggested. Kagome nodded in agreement at his answer. She remembered reading about settlements having to desert their homes in lieu of major resource depletion. She looked around at the forest, and wondered if that was what actually happened.

"This looks like a decent spot," Inu Yasha said as they came up to a decent sized house. They entered, and set up camp in the main room.

"Now there's just the matter of firewood," Miroku said, his stomach growling.

"Hey Sango, let's go get some wood. The forest is pretty close- branches should be easy pickings," Kagome told her best friend.

"Let's go!" Sango replied. The two girls exited the house, and headed toward the forest. Miroku and Inu Yasha watched them as they left. Shippou ran outside and began to chase butterflies excitedly, hyper from the sugar candy Kagome had given him.

"Do you think we should let them go by themselves, Inu Yasha?"

"Relax, Miroku. It ain't like they're going to the hot springs." Miroku let out something like a 'Feh.' Inu Yasha snorted. "Besides, I haven't smelled any demons around, and Kagome hasn't been sensing any shards. They'll be fine." Miroku seemed to accept his reasoning.

"Speaking of jewel shards, maybe we should think about where we are going to go next." Inu Yasha nodded, and the two boys turned back inside the hut to talk.

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As Sango and Kagome entered the forest, they began to talk.

"Tell me, Kagome. Why do you suppose men can never openly show their true feelings, and always try to make excuses for themselves when they do?" Kagome immediately thought about Inu Yasha, and how he always blamed his emotional softness on his human side. But she knew what Sango was asking.

"You mean, why is Miroku a hentai sometimes?"

"Yeah," Sango laughed. "I mean, sometimes it seems like he really wants to talk to me, but in the end, it seems like he just uses intimate conversation as a means to…"

"To try to feel you up?"

"Uh huh," Sango nodded. Kagome laughed, and bent over to pick up a branch from the forest floor. Neither of the girls noticed a faint glow from the treetops above them.

"I don't know, Sango. But while we're on the topic of things we wish we knew, here's my question." Sango nodded at her to continue as she began to pick up some more firewood. Kagome stiffened a little bit, as if she just remembered she forgot to do something. She looked around cautiously. "OSUWARI!" Nothing. "Okay, good." Sango chuckled at Kagome's methods of making sure Inu Yasha was nowhere around. "Well, remember when Kikyou stole my jewel shards?"

"Yes," Sango said painfully, remembering the vision of Miroku and Inu Yasha dead at Kohaku's hands. They had all had visions of their greatest fears, and that was something that she dreaded above all else.

"Well, when Inu Yasha saw her, he seemed for awhile like he was going to protect me against her. But any other time she comes around, Inu Yasha acts like he has to be with her first and foremost. Like he…" Kagome gulped. "Like he still loves her." She let out a sigh. The glow above the girls grew brighter. "I just wish I could know how he really feels- one way, or the other." The girls fell silent, filled with their own thoughts as they continued to pick up fallen branches.

What they didn't notice was a miniscule sprite demon hovering above them, listening to their wishes. She overheard them as they entered the forest, and followed them as they picked up branches from the forest floor. Her golden hair swirled around her face and shoulders as she thought of a way to help these girls obtain their wishes. She sat down on a leaf to think, her sparkling wings gently opening and closing. Finally, an idea struck her fancy. She snapped her fingers and flew off, ready to set her plan in motion. She fluttered above the girls and released near-imperceptible dust from her wings. Giggling happily, the sprite proceeded to fly off into the forest.

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Kagome and Sango returned to the village with armfuls of firewood. Shippou was still playing outside, and upon seeing Kagome and Sango coming up the hill, he ran toward them. He was still a little hyper from the lollipop Kagome gave him earlier, but the effects were beginning to wear off. Kagome smiled at Shippou. She heard his little voice complain of hunger pains. Shifting her firewood bundle to one arm, she knelt down and patted his head.

"Don't worry, Shippou, we'll eat soon." She heard him plead for another lollipop while he waited. "No, you can't have another lollipop. It'll spoil your dinner." She rolled her eyes at herself. 'I'm beginning to sound like my mother,' she thought. Looking down, she noticed Shippou's confused expression.

"How did you know I wanted another lollipop?" he asked.

"You said you wanted one while you waited for dinner, didn't you?"

"I…" he stammered, "I didn't think I said that out loud…"

'It must be nice to have a mother,' Sango thought to herself, after hearing Kagome's remark about sounding like her mother. Kagome stood up and looked at Sango.

"You don't have a mother?" Kagome asked.

"Huh?" Sango was taken aback. It was almost as if Kagome heard her thoughts. She looked down at Shippou, who looked even more confused than before. He looked up at Sango for answers, but found none. They stared at each other for about five seconds in mutual confusion. Finally Shippou chalked it up to sugar high, shrugged, and ran off. "Ka- Kagome…"

"What's going on here?"

"Did you just hear my thoughts?"

"Did you say 'it must be nice to have a mother'? "

"I thought it, but I didn't say it."

"Well, why did you think it?" Kagome was desperately trying to get to the bottom of this confusion, and Sango could practically see her brain working.

"Because… because I heard you say you are beginning to sound like your mother."

"I.. Sango, I didn't say that out loud."

"But, I heard you."

"Well, lets try this: why don't you think something, and I'll see if I can hear you."

"Okay. Here goes," Sango began to think in sentences. 'Hi Kagome! Can you hear me?'

"YES!" she cried. "Now let me try!" 'Sango, can you hear me?'

"Oh wow, Kagome, this is so… cool!" Kagome nodded excitedly, mouth open in awe.

"And Sango, I think it works on other people. I heard Shippou complain that he was hungry, but he says he didn't say a word."

"I thought I heard that too," Sango commented. "Something must have happened to us in that forest."

"Well, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. You know what this means, right?" Sango looked at her companion and then toward the hut. She nodded slowly, and looked back at Kagome.

"It means the wishes we made in the forest will be granted. We will be able to tell what Miroku and Inu Yasha are thinking."

"Eep!" Kagome squealed with delight, but her delight quickly dissipated into fear. What if Inu Yasha really didn't care for her at all, but only kept her around because she could sense jewel shards and only tolerated her because she looked like Kikyou?

'Don't worry, Kagome,' Sango thought to her friend. 'He likes you for who you are. You'll see.' Kagome smiled.

'Thanks, Sango.' Kagome remembered that Sango could hear her thoughts as plain as day, and although embarrassed that her thought was read, she was thankful for the encouragement.

They reached the house and entered it, ready to put their newfound powers to use.