Disclaimer: You know the drill.
"What do you mean you have no idea?!?!" Inu-yasha roared, grabbing Miroku's collar and hauling him up almost off his feet. He growled in Miroku's face, baring his sharp, white teeth.
"Hey wo' there, Boy!" Miroku said hastily, putting up his hands as if to ward off Inu-yasha's aura. "I said I don't know, but that doesn't mean much. It's not exactly like my quest is trying to find out how to bring people back from the dead, I'm trying to kill Nuraku.
"And besides," he added as Inu-yasha slowly started setting him back on the ground. "Kagome's a pretty unusual case. It's not exactly like she's already in heaven, or her next life, or anything. Her soul's right here."
"It'd be pretty easy to send her to her next life, though. It's actually what should be done, and it is ethically correct, but of course, we wouldn't want that."
"Hold on one darn minute," Kagome put it, sticking out her chin and crossing her arms. "Who said I wanted to be put back into my body anyhow? I might be perfectly happy going onto my next stage in life."
They all starred at her. "Is that what you want to do?" asked Miroku, a bit shocked.
"Well, no," she admitted. "I'm just telling you not to make assumptions." They all gave her odd looks.
"Hey Miroku-kun," Shippo whispered in the monk's ear. "Are you sure something didn't get messed up when Kagome became a ghost?" No one but Miroku heard him though.
"I think," Sango began, "that we should go talk to Lady Kaede. She'll probably have a couple good ideas."
"A fantastic idea," Miroku agreed, nodded his head.
"Erm….," Inu-yasha began. They all looked over at him. "What should we do with Kagome's body?"
"We'll have to bring it with us, of course!" Kagome told him. "Where do you expect me to go when we finally do figure out how to put my soul back? Put me into a mud body like Kikyo?" Inu-yasha blushed furiously at that comment.
Inu-yasha scooped up Kagome's dirty, mud covered body. Her head fell over the edge of his shoulder, her long hair falling just past his knees and swaying a little in the wind. "Poor me," Kagome said, looking at her body. "I look so helpless, lying like that."
Inu-yasha privately agreed, but he was so agitated by the confusing circumstance, this seemed like an incredibly rude comment. He WAS trying his best after all. "Why don't you help then?" he snapped. "Oh yeah, you CAN'T; you're a ghost."
Kagome winced, thinking her feelings remarkably resembling a punching bag. Inu-yasha immediately felt bad. "Sorry," he murmured as he walked by her towards the camp. This made her feel a little better, so she trotted along with the others where they went to pick up their stuff.
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"This really is a remarkable situation," Kaede said, examining the body and then looking over at Kagome's ghost. "And I think, Miroku and Sango, that you two were slightly wrong." They both looked over, interested.
Inu-yasha, on the other hand, paced the floor nervously. At this pause, he lost his patience. "Well?" he snapped. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"It seems," Kaede began. "That Kagome is not dead at all."
"What?!?!" shouted the gang, all of them leaning forward with their faces in a state of astonishment.
"Yes. It seems that she hasn't died, but gone into a state of sleep, similar to that a bear goes into every winter."
"Oh," Kagome said, realization on her face. She sat back and pounded her fist into the flat of her other palm. "You mean hibernation."
"Is that what it's called? Well yes, she has gone into a long sleep from which she cannot be awakened."
"How romantic," sighed Kagome, lying back and looking at the ceiling boards. "It's like some sort of fairytale, like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White."
"I have no idea what you speak of," Kaede told the day-dreamy girl. "But your soul apparently refused to rest with the rest of your body. Maybe you were to restless or something of the sort."
"Will my true loves kiss awaken me?" she asked sitting up. For some reason, Inu-yasha blushed furiously at that comment.
"What are you talking about, Child? Kisses don't return wondering souls!"
"Oh," Kagome said pouting. "Darn. That's how it always is in the books."
"This isn't a story, dear. This is real life, and we have to find a way to put you back in your body."
"Or what?" asked Miroku. "Not that I'm happy having Kagome a wondering soul or anything, but what would happen if we don't put her back?"
Kaede shook her head. "That is a fate worse then death. In the least, when you die, your soul is reincarnated or sent to the next life. But when you become a wondering soul, you' disappear. You can not ever go into the next life, not like a ghost could when it's exorcized, and you can't go back into your body. You simply disappear into nothing."
"Quick!" Inu-yasha shouted, jumping up from the place he had sat down. "How much time do we have?!?! Hours? Days? Weeks? What? Tell, me quick!"
"Calm down, Inu-yasha," Kaede told him, making sitting gestures towards the floor with her hands. "You have three months in the least. Maybe more. You can't tell until just a few hours before it begins to happen."
"Well, what does happen?" Sango asked. "We should keep our eyes open for the signs in the least."
"One sign is she shall become drowsy, as though she were getting very tired. Kagome, you're going to have to pay attention for that one. The most obvious to the rest of you, is she shall begin to fade," Kaede told them. "Slowly at first, then going quicker as it continues, until she has become nothing at all."
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Hey again.
God, I write these fast. I doubt I'll go this fast after a couple weeks, but now, I'm coming out with about one a day.
There were a few things I wanted to let you guys know before I continued, but at the moment I can't really remember all them.
Firstly, I wanted to let you all know that Inu-yasha probably won't be as emotional as he was in the first few chapters from here on out. Nothing to mushy, because I think that strays to far from the story line. I'm trying to, at least to a moderate degree, keep the characters similar to their original personality. Maybe a few lovey dovey things at the very end, but not much.
Also, if you think anything sounds odd in here, maybe old fashion, that's because that's how I talk. I talk pretty old fashion like (or so everyone tells me. I probably picked that up from all the Shakespeare!). Also, most of the character's reactions are how I would react, so it might be little strange.
Thanx for all the reviews! I love reading them!!! I check every few hours to see if I got any new ones, and I really look forward to getting them!
Love and Kisses loyal fans
Dream Fox
Also, if you want me to write back to any of your reviews or anything, by email or through my bottom notes, just let me know through reviews!