Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any other Things!

Thing one and Thing Two

The first night was dark and still. Inuyasha was spending it in a

tree, as usual and Kagome couldn't sleep. She was excited about

starting out on a new adventure and just couldn't will her mind to

stop buzzing with excitement. She was also a little anxious about

Hojo and the Jewel. Kagome looked up above her head and saw amber

eyes shining in the night on a branch above her. 'Yup' she thought

'idiot's awake.' She smiled. Teasing him was quite fun, and she

couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow still connected to

Kikyou. She didn't particularly want to steal her grandmother's

man and she sure didn't want to just be around to fill anyone

else's shoes, either. 'What am I thinking?' Kagome scolded

herself. 'He wouldn't think of me like that! Not in a million

years! Not even in forty… Oh, HELL what am I even thinking! I'll

bet my brain's sleep deprived, yeah, that's it…' Kagome took one

last look at the amber eyes staring alertly into the darkness from

the tree above her before drifting off into a dreamless sleep…

"GoooooDD MORNING Kagome!" Sango stared at the Priestesses

eyes an inch away until they snapped open and Kagome shrieked in

fright. Sango and Miroku were rolling and holding their stomachs

when Kagome backed up so hard into the tree behind her that;

Inuyasha, who was still asleep, fell out and landed on top of

Kagome. Kagome was so shocked that she didn't know what to say.

Inuyasha was lying on top of her and looked very pissed off. He

quickly jumped off of her and brushed the dirt off of his kimono.

"What was that for?" He growled at Kagome.

"Hey, don't blame me this time. It was Sango and Miroku's bright

idea to scare me awake this morning." Kagome gave the giggling duo

a glowering stare for a moment or two before hobbling off to use

the restroom in a more private place.

"Where are you going, little missy?" Inuyasha asked, a little

disgruntled.

"To use the little Priestess's room, nosey." Kagome sniffed,

before hobbling out of sight. Inuyasha sighed.

"Damn, why does that chick hate me so much?" he asked Sango and

Miroku. They assumed that he meant Kagome.

"Maybe it's because she has lived with the incorrect knowledge,

but more importantly, acceptance of your identity being that of

the murderer of the majority of her family." Miroku suggested.

Sango hit him.

"Talk normally, Monk." She snipped. Inuyasha looked at them both

and shook his head.

"And why again, am I asking you two?" They blinked and stared at

him. He sighed. Luckily, Kagome had just returned and seemed in a

little better mood. Hmmm, wonder why…

"Hey, Sango! Maybe we could get something to eat when we get to

the next town in an hour or so, huh? Doesn't that sound good? I'm

hungry! Hey, is everybody up? Shippou!" she tapped the sleeping

ball of fur that was nestled in a bundle of leaves. It stirred and

sprang to life.

"Whaaaa?" Shippou yelped. He stood there for a second, then rubbed

the sleep out of his eyes and jumped into Kagome's arms.

"Ne-chan!" he yelled affectionately as he rubbed against Kagome.

She giggled.

"Okay, okay, we'd better get going. I'll hold you if you'd like,

Shippou." Kagome asked the creature in her arms who nodded

vigorously.

'Spoiled brat' Inuyasha observed, however impolitely. They walked

for quite some time, only stopping for a quick brunch at a village

along the way. Kouga dropped by once, but left quickly. Inuyasha

was in a huff about being called "dog-turd."

"If that bastard has the nerve to say that to me one more time, I

swear I'll-!" Inuyasha seethed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Kagome interrupted him. "Don't threaten

Kouga when he's not here, it won't do any good." Kagome advised.

Inuyasha looked at her like she was stupid. Kagome looked

defensively up at him "Hey, you don't have to look at me like I'm

a duck or something, I was just saying that maybe we should talk

about something else. Like, maybe my grandmother, if it's not too

painful for you." She suggested smiling. She knew that that was a

good choice of words. 'Nothing is ever too painful for a demon

like Inuyasha.' She thought wryly. Miroku, Sango, and Shippou were

all talking up about ten paces ahead of them. They were left to

their own devices for awhile because the trail had gotten

narrower. Inuyasha sighed. In truth, it was pretty painful to talk

about it. He had fallen asleep at dawn on the first day because he

couldn't stop thinking about Kikyou. He had stared at Kagome all

night long, thinking about how much of Kikyou he sees in her, and

how much he doesn't see. He couldn't decide whether he hated this

loud-mouthed little girl or not.

"Why would it be too painful, woman?" He asked, sticking his nose

up slightly in the air. Kagome saw the gesture and smiled.

"For the same reason I shot you with the arrow" she smirked.

'Okay, fair enough." He thought.

"Do you hate me?" She asked him plainly. Kagome kept her gaze

fixated on her sandals as they continued to walk, ever west.

"Why would I hate you?" He evaded.

"Why don't we see how this trip goes and we'll see how you and I

turn out thinking about each other." Kagome suggested before she

could stop herself. Inuyasha half-smiled down at her and then

winced. Kagome frowned and almost ran up to a tree to beat her

head in with it. 'Dumb Kagome, dumb Kagome, dumb, dumb, dumb!

Change the subject, quick!'

"Look at those weirdoes" she half laughed as she gestured towards

Sango and Miroku, who were scuffling about something and had

managed to squash Shippou between them; which was probably their

plan in the first place. Inuyasha laughed and Kagome winced. Damn

did he have a good laugh.

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;^_^

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A couple of days had passed and the group still continued farther

and farther west.

"Where's Kouga?" Sango asked Kagome who stiffened up at the

mention of her boyfriends name.

"I don't know, and I don't know how much I really care as of the

late." Kagome said breezily, trying to act collected about the

decision she had come to the night before.

"Oh, and why not, may I ask?" Kagome's best girlfriend asked.

"Because…" Kagome answered Sango "I've decided that I don't love

him. I know he'll ask me to be his wife sometime soon and I just

could never picture myself doing that with him."

"Doing what?" Sango asked with a raised eyebrow. Kagome punched

her shoulder playfully.

"Living out the rest of my life with him. I've been with him for a

year now and I just can't do it anymore." Kagome sighed. "I love

him more as a friend now, and I'm not really anxious to break the

news to him; he won't be happy."

"You got that right girl. Hey, cheer up," Sango tapped her chin

with her thumb "at least you're doing the right thing for you and

not staying with someone you don't care about like that; and

you're not leading someone you care about on. That's a very mature

decision, Kagome, you should be proud. You're growing up more

everyday."

"Thanks, Sango." Kagome felt better about the whole thing with

Sango's moral support. She always did.

"We must at least be getting closer to the territory." Miroku

commented.

"Surely" Shippou concurred.

"It sure doesn't feel like it." Kagome said gloomily.

"I'm sure I've seen that same damn tree three times today!"

Inuyasha whined.

"I think you might actually be right." Sango suddenly said.

Everyone stopped walking and looked at her. "Well, I got that

feeling like maybe we were going in circles yesterday, so I marked

a big oak tree with three branches coming from the stump with my

initials and watched the sun. Since we always headed directly

west, I didn't even think to look for my tree, but here it is."

Sango pointed, her brows furrowed in deep thought.

"What the hell makes it your tree?" Inuyasha asked needlessly.

Everyone just kinda looked at him for a second and decided to

ignore him.

"What do you think could do this?" Kagome asked Miroku and Sango.

They thought hard for a minute before deciding upon two things.

Thing one would be a sun god, which would be very un-likely. And

Thing two would be a demon, but no one knew exactly what kind.

"Would you like to play with Thing one and Thing two?" Inuyasha

mumbled "The Cat in the Hat" to himself and laughed silently at

the befuddled group.

"Yeah," Kagome's eyes suddenly lit up "I haven't seen Kouga since

the second day we were walking, we must not be on the right track

then." Kagome said triumphantly.

"A little late there, Priestess." Inuyasha teased.

"Well so-rry. I didn't mean to interfere with any intra-personal

conversation you were having with yourself of late, since your

social abilities suck." Shot Kagome

"Aww, that one hurt Kagome, give me another one and maybe you'll

freeze my ass off before you die of lack of oxygen." Inuyasha

snipped.

"Okay, children, that's quite enough." Shippou preached from his

soapbox on Kagome's shoulder before she knocked him off and

continued squabbling with the hanyou.

"That IS enough you two." Sango chided, "we need to figure this

out here before Hojo winds up as your brothers after-dinner cake

and ends up eating the Jewel." She was right, they needed to

think.

"Okay you guys, do you see anything that definitely does not look

forest-y to you, or looks like it's effecting our view of the

sun?" Miroku asked. Everyone looked around for a minute. Inuyasha

looked up and smirked.

"There's our demon" he jumped up to into Sango's tree and slashed

at the sky with his claws. It ripped open and brilliant shades of

purple and red poured out from the open wound that made the sky

all around them ripple and become distorted…



(A/n: I'm making my chapters a little longer for two reasons.

Thing one is because I think I'm actually starting to get a feel

for this story line. And Thing two is because ff.net is now being

nice and letting me upload my story! Now, since you like playing

with Thing one and Thing two, you're now going to Review! Right?

Please! It's the Cat and the Hat! How can you get any better

mental image than Inuyasha in one of those sexy things? Okay,

Sesshoumaru is better in anything, so sue me…)

*Mwah *

Love,

mumu