Disclaimer: I wish I owned IY and SA

tenshineko ~ thanks for the tips. I am following the story line, like the events and such, but I've got a few changes in mind, the more major ones are coming in later chapters. the only real major change I've made so far is the Inuyasha and Kikyou thing, at least I hope it's a change. *ponders haku and yuubaba together* /shudder. Yeah I'm working on the personalities, the changes there will show up later too.

TsukinoDeynatsu ~ yeah I love that movie too =P I've got the original one. Yeah actually I know that its really spelled Kikyou. I'm actually learning Japanese and such so I know better lol. See, what happened was I was at a party where we watched SA and the first season of IY. which is when inspiration struck, so I went home and started writing. but the subtitles said Kikkyo, so after a few hours of seeing that it stuck in my head and that's how I typed it. When I was doing the second chapter I noticed and thought about fixing it, but then thought that if I did that then ppl would start asking why it changed. But I'll have it right now, and if anyone writes me asking why its changed then I'll! I'll! I'll just sigh sadly.

And yeah, as I mentioned about the changes one of them is Inuyasha and Kikyou together. Since you've seen SA, if you recall the thing about the shoe and the river, well, expect a bit more detail in my version of that, which may help explain her feelings. yay its lifelike heheh.

I was in a bit of a hurry during the last chapter, I was going on a trip (also why its been a few days since I've updated) and wanted to get out another chapter before I left, so I'll explain. Kagome just went through a lot, she was upset about leaving for the summer, then she got thrown into a strange world and her mom and brother turned into wolves and just all this stress has been building up for a while. And since she's starting to get feelings for Yasha, realizing he's with Kikyou was upsetting for her too, so all of these things just piled up and she had to let it out, albeit suddenly. yay cookies for me ^_^

Bunny ~ glad you're still reading and enjoying. oh yeah thanks for the publicity /grins. I ordered SA online, send me an email or something and I'll tell you the website.

If anyone knows how to get a dotdotdot into this tell me, cause mine don't show up and its really annoying because I use them a lot lol.

Waiiiii! so many reviews, and now onto the story!

Kagome watched the dog-like thing until it flew out of sight. Then she turned and ran back into the bathhouse. She made it back to the room without getting caught. She hid the clothes Yasha had given her under her mat and slipped into her bed, quickly falling asleep.

"Thanks for saving my life, Kagome." a little boy was saying. Kagome was grinning. "My mommy says that my daddy saved her life, that's how they met! An' then they fell in love and got married!" she said. The little boy jumped down off the edge of a well that they were sitting on. "What's married?" he asked. Kagome jumped off too. "When two people love each other a lot, the lady wears a white dress, and the man wears a black suit and they have a wedding. A lot of people cry and watch them say lots of boring things. Then they say they're married and they live together forever an' ever!" she said, recalling her aunts recent wedding. The little boy took her hand, "Do you love me?" he asked seriously. Kagome giggled and.

"Mei! Mei wake up!" a voice called, interrupting her dream. Kagome opened her eyes and saw Sango standing over her. "It's time to get ready for the guests. Get dressed and meet me upstairs." Sango hurried out of the room and Kagome sat up. *I was dreaming about home, about the well house. When I was a little kid I played there all the time, and that was, him, I'd almost forgotten* Kagome would have thought about it more, but she noticed that she was the only one left in the room. She jumped up and pulled on her new clothes, dream forgotten. Grabbing a white ribbon she pulled the sleeves of her shirt back and out of the way. She folded up her bed and shoved it against the wall like the other girls had done, and then ran out of the room.

Kagome got off the elevator and saw Sango coming out of a room down the hall. She had two mops and was pushing a bucket of water along. Kagome hurried over to help. "You need to pull your hair back, Mei, it'll get in the way." Sango said. "Here, I'll show you how." Sango rummaged around in her pockets for a moment and then pulled out a red ribbon. "See how I have mine? Can you figure out how to do it?" she asked. Kagome nodded and took the ribbon. She twisted her hair around and tied it into a bun on top of her head, getting all of her hair out of the way.

Sango nodded in approval and handed Kagome a mop. They headed into the bath hall. Kagome looked around as they walked down it. It was a long hall that went down the middle of the bathhouse; there were low walls on either side of it, and doors that led to tubs of all different shapes and sizes. Suddenly the guy with a huge fluffy tail that Kagome had seen the day before stepped out in front of them. "Ah Sango" he said. "You're doing the big tub today."

Sango glared at him. "Why is that? I'm never assigned to the big tub." The guy pushed his long white hair back over a pointed ear and smoothed out his tail. "You have this girl to help you. Go to it, the guests will be here soon." He strode away before Sango could stop him. "That jerk" she snorted. "He just doesn't want to get dirty."

She stomped into the area with the large tub and Kagome followed. The large tub was well named, it was huge. It was also very dirty. Complaining the whole time, Sango showed Kagome what to do and they started cleaning. "We'll never get this cleaned in time." Sango said finally. "Go find one of the foremen and get an herbal soak tag, it'll hide the dirt. And be fast, we open soon." Kagome scrambled out and looked for the foreman.

She spotted one, walking around distributing tags. "Excuse me sir, may I have a herbal soak tag?" she asked. He laughed at her. "Those are too good to waste on you." he said, then he walked away. Kagome went over to another one, and met the same result. Out of desperation, she came up with a reckless idea.

She looked around until she found a third foreman. Then, ducking around a corner, she undid the ribbon around her sleeves, let her hair down, and prayed that her resemblance to Kikyou was as close as she thought it was. Putting her shoulders back she strode out to the foreman. "Give me an herbal soak tag." she said boldly. He blinked at her for a moment. "Kikyou? You look, different." he finally said. Kagome looked offended. "I didn't ask your opinion! I asked for a tag." she said rudely. The foreman spluttered an apology and handed her one.

Grinning Kagome ran back to Sango, almost forgetting to tie her sleeves and hair back up. "That's a good one." Sango said, impressed, when Kagome gave her the tag. She showed Kagome what to do with it, and how to fill the tub. "Ok, the guests are arriving. I'll run and get us some food, just stay out of the way. Sango ran off, leaving Kagome alone by the big tub.

A few minutes later Kagome heard lots of shouting and ran out into the hall. Workers were running all over and hurrying the spirits and gods out of the tubs. She spotted the pretty guy she had seen in the lounge the night before and ran up to him. "Jakotsu! What's going on?" she asked. "It's a water demon." he explained. "We try to keep demons out of the bathhouse, but sometimes they come, it's quite a problem. Everyone's afraid to serve them." Kagome tried to look over the crowd to see this 'water demon.' "Is it a kappa?" she asked. Jakotsu shook his head. "No, something else, I heard someone say he might eat us."

Suddenly Kagome felt someone grab her arm. She looked to her side and saw Kikyou. "He's a suijin, one with a nasty temper. Come on, you're going to serve him." Kikyou said, pulled Kagome along. They went down the hall and stopped by the main door. Kagome gasped in shock.

Standing, well sort of, in the doorway was a giant snake. Where it's head should have been was the torso of a man. He wore robes and a strange hat. He held a pronged staff in one hand, and an opaque glass ball in the other. "I've come for a bath." He said, and waved his staff. A pile of coins appeared in Kikyou's hand. "Take him to the large tub Mei." she said. "Follow me sir." Kagome said, and turned and headed back to the large tub. As she walked she tried to forget the fact that a giant snake-like suijin was following her.

He slithered into the large tub and curled up, watching Kagome. She stood nervously off to the side, waiting for him to give her an order, as she had been told to do. "Come here and hold these." he ordered. Kagome hurried over and took the staff and ball from him. She held them carefully; she could feel a strange aura coming from both of them. Suddenly she heard a sound coming from inside the ball. "Kikyou?" she called, seeing Kikyou on a balcony above her, watching. "There's something in this thing!"

"Something in it?" Kikyou called back. "What?" Before Kagome could answer the water demon's tail came flying out of the tub and knocked her back against the wall. The ball flew out of her hand and smashed into the wall, breaking open. A tiny girl fell out and lay on the floor. "A suijin? Then he is a fake! " Kikyou gasped. She leapt down off the balcony and aimed an arrow at the fake suijin. "Don't move!" she turned her head to Kagome, "Mei! Get the staff to the real suijin!" she looked up to the balcony. "Sango!" she called.

Kagome stood up, clutching the staff. The fake suijin reared up. "Stay away from her!" it snarled. His human part transformed into a snakehead and he lunged at Kagome. Kikyou fired an arrow at him, but his tail knocked it out of the air. Kagome leapt to the side as the head smashed into the wall where she had been. Unfortunately, she had gone to the wrong side, and the fake suijin was between her and the real one.

Kikyou cocked another arrow. "I won't tolerate this in my bathhouse! Stop this at once or I will eliminate you!" The snake turned his head to snarl at Kikyou, while he was distracted Kagome made a dash for the small suijin. Seeing her out of the corner of his eye, he whipped his tail around and smashed Kagome back against the wall. His head swung away from Kikyou and headed towards Kagome. He opened his mouth to bite her, but she held the staff out and caught him in the mouth. He lunged back snarling. Kikyou fired her arrow and it grazed along his head.

"Hiraikotsu!" came a yell. A giant boomerang flew towards the fake suijin. He yanked back and it grazed him too, leaving a shallow gash. The boomerang circled back to the doorway and was caught by someone in close fitting black clothes. The person had a mask so Kagome couldn't see the person's face. The person rushed to Kikyou's side.

The fake suijin turned and looked at them. "This is one of my taiji-ya." Kikyou said proudly. "You will be exterminated this night." she promised. The fake suijin laughed. "I posses the powers of a suijin! No taiji-ya shall defeat me!" he proclaimed.

The taiji-ya threw the boomerang again and the fake suijin dodged. Knowing she couldn't get past him, Kagome threw the staff as hard as she could. It landed near the real suijin who picked it up. She sprouted up the moment she touched it, and stood an easy seven feet tall. "It is over." she said calmly, pointing the staff at the fake suijin. He screamed and fell dead to the ground, shrinking into a small water snake as he hit it.

Time seemed to stand still as the beautiful suijin walked over to Kagome. "Thank you. Take these, they will help you." She said. She handed Kagome 2 sets of beads, one was a long purple strand and the other was short with claws every few beads. The short one looked strangely familiar. Kagome stuck them in her pocket. "And now! I leave!" the suijin proclaimed. A wave rose up from nowhere and crashed over Kagome, Kikyou and the taiji-ya. It splashed onto the ground and dissipated, leaving behind hundreds of coins. The suijin was nowhere to be seen.

"Wonderful job Mei! That suijin paid us well!" Kikyou crowed, gathering the coins, and rushing out of the room. "You were great Mei." the taiji-ya said, turning to follow Kikyou. Something told Kagome to follow them.

She went after them down the hall. They went into a small room by the main door and slid a door closed behind them. Kagome crept up and peered through a crack in the door. Kikyou sat at a desk and began putting the money in what looked like a cash register. She closed it and stood up, facing the taiji-ya.

"What happened back there, Sango? If Mei hadn't given the suijin her staff we'd be ruined." Kikyou said angrily. Kagome's eyes widened *Sango?* The taiji-ya set her boomerang against the wall and took off her mask, it WAS Sango.

"The fake suijin was good, but if you hadn't killed HIM, we would have defeated the fake suijin easily." Sango retorted furiously. Kikyou laughed. "Your partner? Not this again. I never killed him, I told you that. He left. He left you." Sango's face turned an angry red. "He would NEVER have left me!" she shouted back. Kikyou laughed again. "Then why is he gone, Sango? It seems to me that he left." Sango looked like she was about to cry. "You caught us together one night. You got mad, and took him to your office. I never saw him again. What am I supposed to think?"

"I told him he could stay with you. I said I wouldn't interfere in your lives, as long as you worked for me. I gave him that option, but he chose to leave." Kikyou said calmly. "You're lying! It isn't true! He loved me!" Sango cried. She threw open the door and ran out, almost knocking Kagome over. Kagome scrambled into the room across the hall, hoping she hadn't been seen. When the coast was clear, she went out and headed back to her room, thinking about comforting Sango.

She thought the room was empty at first, but then she saw that the balcony door was open. She headed over. Sango was standing on the balcony leaning on the rail, looking out at the mouth of the river, where it opened into the sea. "Sango?" Kagome said softly. Sango turned and Kagome saw tears slowly falling down her cheeks. "I heard you and Kikyou, do you want to talk?" she asked.

Sango sighed sadly. "Have you ever been in love Mei?" she asked. Kagome moved to the railing next to her. "Sort of. When I was little I promised to only love this one guy that I knew. And I did. But my mom always says he was just an imaginary friend. It's funny, even though I know now that he wasn't real, I still love him. And I've never loved another guy." Kagome said. *why did I tell her that? I've never told anyone.* she wondered.

Sango sighed again. "I was in love once too. And I've never loved anyone else. But Kikyou killed him. I know she did, even if she says that she didn't." Kagome didn't know how to answer. She gave Sango a gentle pat on the arm and received a small, sad smile. The two stood looking out at the stars reflected in the sea in silence until the other girls started coming in for bed.

Had they been able to see the bridge from their room they would have seen two other figures standing quietly in the night. They stood at the edge of the bridge, looking at the bathhouse. As Sango and Kagome left the balcony to get ready for bed, the two figures left the bridge, and entered the bathhouse through a side door.

Jaken got off the elevator and headed towards the baths, hoping for find some stray gold. Suddenly he noticed two figures standing in the hall. "Who are you? What do you want?" he cried. One of the figures turned to him and raised a hand. The next thing he knew, he was in the air, and then, Jaken knew nothing at all.