Chapter 50 something or another:: To Dream

~*~

Maybe it was the cool wind blowing in her hair, or perhaps the solitude. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the fact that she distinctly remembered falling asleep beside Inuyasha with an unconscious monk's foot almost touching her nose, in a crowded hut with all of her family. Whatever it was, something was telling her there was no logical reason for her to be completely alone at a replica of the bone eater's well, a bone eaters well from farther in the past than the 500 years she had traveled.

Maybe… she was dreaming? Yes, that would make sense, after all, the last thing she remembered was trying to fall asleep. Kagome nodded firmly, as if finalizing her theory.

Ah, it was a rather boring dream though. Just sitting there, on a well. Jeez, how long had the well been around? It appeared old still, but all the trees around it in her and Inuyasha's time were missing, the few actually there merely seedlings. But wait, this was a dream, so it was all just figments of her imagination. Yes, what was she thinking?

She began humming an offbeat melody she had heard from somewhere, more than likely her mother, trying to pass the time, because, frankly, there didn't look like there was anything better to do. Odd, she never had such boring dreams, usually they consisted of getting into fights with youkai and the like, none were ever this… peaceful. Hey! Maybe it was like a sign or something, that she was finally at peace with herself and life in general!

She smiled, shoujo-esque thoughts about peace and harmony floating through her mind.

You just don't get it do you? She'll be the end of us all.

Now wait a second, that wasn't anywhere near peaceful or harmonic. In fact, she really didn't remember thinking that. Had someone else said it? Was there someone else here?

Kagome slowly levered herself off the well, a bit dazed in her subconscious, dreaming, state of mind.

She did a sluggish three sixty, surveying the surrounding area. Nope, no one.

Released, and by you no less, but you still haven't figured it out.

Okay, she was sure that didn't come from her. Sure, she had been known to talk to herself on occasion, but she usually didn't talk to herself in the third person!

Forever, always. Me. but no, you changed it all.

The voice… she'd never heard it before… but somehow it managed to still feel familiar. There was some part of her, some part still aware enough to understand that whoever this voice belonged to's words were important. She was sleepy, groggy, and had left her right mind back with her physical body, it was hard to concentrate, to retain this information. It certainly wasn't helping that the voice wasn't making any sense in the first place.

Again and again. Repeating. Cycles.

Knowing the effort to remember the words was next to futile, Kagome focused her attention instead on trying to determine the source of the voice.

Silly naive little reincarnated miko. Reincarnations, that's what it's all about isn't it?

The well! The voice was coming from inside the well! Haphazardly she whirled back around to peer into the well, afraid that the voice might switch places if she gave it an extra second.

At first she saw nothing, just the familiar blackness of the wells depth. A vague wondering of where it would take her should she jump in crossed her mind, but she quickly shoved it away, trying to not let her thoughts wonder.

For reasons she couldn't fathom, nor care about, the dark shadows of the well disappeared, replaced by light, allowing her to clearly see the bottom of the well.

A black raven sat in the center of the dirt bottom, something that looked more than a little like a human baby's umbilical cord clasped in it's beak.

I really am sorry. But I'm afraid it can't be helped.

With only a moment of dumbfounded hesitation, Kagome let out a shrill horrified scream and promptly faded into the land of reality.

~*~

Kagome blinked. She looked around the hut, her hanyou eyes giving her no trouble with the task. Her ears twitched as they picked up the sound of light foot steps, some miles off, her nose told her it was merely Kaede returning from the sick villager. She'd be in for a surprise when she got home.

It was still dark out, there was still a foot in her face that belonged to a monk-who had now transitioned from smelling unconscious to smelling asleep- and she was still being held securely in the arms of one Inuyasha.

It was just a dream, of course. Granted, a disturbing dream but… well, what else could it be? It made no sense anyway.

It was strange though, she clearly remembered being afraid of not remembering anything from the dream, but even now, awake, she recollected every bit of it with ease… In the raven's mouth… had that been what she thought it was? And the apology… from the raven?

After a few more minutes of lecturing herself into believing that it actually was a dream that bore no relevance to her real life, Kagome closed her eyes, only to receive a vivid image of the raven with the umbilical cord in it's mouth.

Shuddering, she leaned into Inuyasha, hoping to find some comfort from the troubling dream in his warmth.

But just before sleep took her again, the daunting memory of thinking that perhaps the boring dream was a sign she was at peace with herself came back, taunting her. If the boring part of the dream was a sign that she had reached peace with her life… then what was the later part of the dream a sign of…?

She shivered again, despite how close she was to Inuyasha.

~*~

"Alrighty every lovely one of you! It's time to rise and shine and greet the beautiful new day!"

Kagome squinted in the harsh bright light of day at the insane woman she lovingly called 'mom'. Her mother had apparently thought that the hut needed more sunshine, as the flap had been pulled back, exposing the occupants of the hut to almost blinding brightness… the doorway had been a bit bigger since Inuyasha stuck the tree in it. Despite her eyes burning from the intense lightliness, she managed to recognize the form of Inuyasha, standing beside her mother. By the looks of him, he'd been awake a while, more than likely being forced to withstand her mother.

"Ergh… ummm…" Miroku stood to his feet drunkenly, clutching at his head. "Wha… what happened… Is this heaven?"

A boomerang came crashing down on his head, causing the fried monk to let out a yelp. Nope, this couldn't be heaven, heaven would not have giant boomerangs…. Or an insanely happy woman who had somehow managed to bring the sun inside the hut. At least, that's what it seemed like to Miroku. He was, after all, still very much in pain, and all his senses were feeling extra sensitive, after the whole 'How 'bout I electrocute myself to the point of near death!' incident.

Sango removed her boomerang from the monks head, feeling a slight of guilt. Never the less, she gave him a dry look. "How's Sandwichville getting along these days?"

Miroku looked at her as if she had gone insane.

Shippo hopped to his shoulder, somehow managing to be fully energetic and awake at once. " Ah, you don't remember do you?" Shippo realized he had a bit of a head ache. Then he realized that a large chunk of yesterday was missing from his mind. In fact… the last thing he remember was… "You tried to kill me!" He pointed an accusing finger at Sango.

The demon exterminator laughed nervously.

Awakened not only by his mother, but by the rest of the noisy group as well, Souta stealthily slipped behind Inuyasha, hoping to remain unnoticed by the kitsune who was interrogating Sango.

"Hey, kid, what are doing back there?" Inuyasha never did catch on to things to quickly though…

Noting the new criminal, Shippo jumped to stand defiantly on Inuyasha's head. "And you were in on it too!"

"Hey! Get off there you fucking runt!" Inuyasha swatted in the general direction of the top of his head and ended up just hitting himself.

Kagome looked around the small hut. To her right, stood Miroku and Sango, Miroku looking incredibly confused as a angry demon exterminator ranted on about some strange thing she called Sandwichville, peanut butter, and something about her and Kirara that he didn't quiet catch. To her right, resided Shippo a top Inuyasha's head, dodging all of Inuyasha's attempts to catch him while Inuyasha let out strings upon strings of curses whilst Souta tried to stifle a laugh. Behind her, a closed door with the sound of loud snoring leaking through it. And in the middle of it all, Mrs.Higurashi stood, smiling ever so brightly, with an obviously unhappy Kirara clutched to her chest tightly.

All thoughts of the strange dream the night before vanished from her head as she took on the problem at hand. She cleared her throat loudly. Of course, no one heard her. Sighing, she went over to Inuyasha and pushed the unsuspecting hanyou with all her strength until he was back to back with Miroku.

"Hey, wench what are you-"


"Sit."

Inuyasha collapsed into Miroku, resulting in both of them plastered to the ground, Inuyasha on top, in a rather compromising position. Shippo still perched on Inuyasha's head, feeling very much like the victor of the situation.

"What the fuck did you do that for!?"

Now Inuyasha was angry, but at least he was used to it. Miroku had never been sat before. It really didn't feel good, but he had always assumed as much and the demonstration really wasn't necessary. Not only did his whole body ache from his previous act of stupidity, not to mention his head being in double pain as the effect of being knocked out with a kitsune, but now there was a guy on top of him who had just slammed him to the ground violently. Hmm, that really didn't sound right. Then again, it really didn't look right either.

"Owww… Kagome… why?" Believe it or not, Miroku actually found him self straining not to use the word 'wench'.

"Ah, just had to get your attention some how!"

~*~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~*~

After a bit of calm, rational explaining, and forced apologies, the group, save Jii-chan who had insisted on staying with Kaede and a still asleep at the hut Kirara, had arrived at the cave.

"Oh.. Kagome! I just can't wait to see it!" Little sparkles and stars suddenly began to show up behind Sango.

"Just wait till you see the happy room!" Mrs.Higurashi beamed with pride.

Miroku began to sense a terrible horror…

"..ha…ppy… room..?" Sango echoed slowly.

"Why yes! Happy room! It's lovely, isn't it Kagome? Isn't it? I designed it, after all! Kagome, tell them how lovely it is!"

"Ah.. Yes.. Erm.. It's really… lovely."

Inuyasha held back a snicker.

Souta rolled his eyes, already having a pretty good idea of what it would look like.

"Kagome? Did I.. I got a room too, right?" Shippo asked his make shift mother tentatively.

"Of course Shippo-chan! Everyone got a room, you especially!"

Inuyasha mumbled something best left unrepeated.

~*~

"umm…" Never before had Miroku found himself torn between killing himself, going insane, or fleeing far, far away. He settled for just saying the ever useful 'umm'.

"Ah…" Sango tried her best to keep a smile on her face. "It's…."

"Words can not describe." Miroku supplied. Sango nodded.

Shippo poked one of the many bubbles floating around the room.

Souta slapped a hand to his forehead at his mother's predictable 'special-ness'.

"I call it the HAPPY ROOM! Don't you lo~ve it! Doesn't it make you ha~ppy?" Mrs.Higurashi laughed at her own joke, that really wasn't a joke at all.

Inuyasha pondered various ways one could kill themselves supplied with bubbles, flowers, and pinkness.

"Ah.. Em… erm.. Mom, let's go show Shippo his room now!" Kagome suggested, her voice lacquered in enthusiasm.

"Oh sweety! That's a Wonderful idea!"


~*~

Shippo gazed at the room Kagome said was his in pure bliss. Sure, he hadn't the slightest idea as to what most of the things in it were, but he did know what the many tall things, with a transparent sphere at the top, were full of. Candy… so much candy… and there were so many of the odd candy holders! They basically framed each wall!


Kagome smiled at the obvious euphoria captured on Shippo's face. "Do you know what those do Shippo?" She pointed at one of the gumball machines that Shippo no doubt had never saw before.

"Candy! CANDY!"

"Well… um.. Yes but.. What I meant was-"

"CANDY!!" Shippo lunged himself at one of the machines and was about to kitsune-bi it open when Souta cleared his throat loudly and poked his shoulder.

"Do you want me to show you how to get the candy out?"

Shippo stared pointedly at the fox fire already beginning to gather.

"Erm… without … killing it?" Souta added.

"Well.. I guess." Shippo sheepishly removed himself from the transparent sphere he had been glomping and joined Souta on the ground.

"OH KAGOME! I KNEW HE'D LOVE IT! Cutie Shippo does love candy doesn't he! Wasn't it a good idea? Didn't I come up with a good idea!?" Mrs.Higurashi giggled giddily.

"But Kagome it was your idea to-" Inuyasha's sentence stopped short at a harsh jab in his ribs. "Hey!"

"Yes mother, of course it was a good idea! You're so smart mom!" Kagome praised her mom much like a proud mother would do a preschooler who had just brought home a scribble drawing.

"Kagome.. What are those strange things full of candy?" Sango was eyeing the candy rather droolingly. "Suddenly… I feel a big craving for candy… candy.. Lots of candy…"

"They're bubble gum machines, well, they don't just dispense bubblegum, but originally, that's all they dispensed, so the name stuck…" Kagome explained, obviously ignoring Sango's bit about wanting candy.

Miroku looked confused. "But I don't get it, why would people trap their candy in these 'bubble gum machines'." From Miroku's Sengoku Jidai mind, there didn't appear any way short of destruction of getting the candy out.

"Just wait, watch Souta."

Souta finally finished digging around in his pocket and withdrew a coin. Feeling like quiet the miracle worker, what with the way all the people living in the past, sans his sister, were looking at him as if he withheld the reason for existence, he placed his quarter in the slot and turned the lever.

Shippo gasped in amazement as Souta opened up a flap and a piece of candy fell into his hand.

"You're magic!" Shippo greedily grabbed the candy from the hands of the magic boy and crammed it into his mouth.

"Candy!!" Sango ran over to Souta and talked him into doing the coin miracle again and make her candy. Afraid of the hormonal affects of pregnancy, Souta obliged rather willingly.

Miroku wasn't so convinced at the greatness of this 'bubble gum machine'. "Though, isn't it a bit unnecessary? You have to go through all that trouble just for one small piece of candy. It seems easier for Kagome to just grab a piece from a bowl or bag of some sort."

Kagome of course, had a reason for the inconveniency of the bubble gum machine. "Yes, but, that also means Shippo can pig out all he wants, this way-"

"This way the damn runt isn't stuffing his face every five seconds with all that shit." Inuyasha snickered. "And this way he has to ask one of us for one of those quarter things before he can get any candy."

Shippo would have been discouraged, but he was too busy being surrounded by entrapped candy.

"Cutie Cutie Kawaii Shiii~pooo~o!" Mrs.Higurashi called from beside a video game console and a large screen T.V. "Come look at this thingy Inuyasha picked out for you"

Okay, in all technicality, Inuyasha had merely suggested buying one, of course… why disagree with anyone! "Oh yeah whelp, I spent hours searching for the perfect one just for you." Wasn't he a wonderful father? So giving, so loving…

Shippo abandoned the candy for the thing he had began to lovingly call a 'video game' since his last stay at Souta's. "Souta , Souta, come play!"

Souta really didn't need to be asked, as he had already grabbed the other controller and was opening the case to some fighting game.

"Hey, pause for a second." Shippo went over to one of the many bubble gum machines, kitsune-bied it, and scooped up an armful of the candy. Dumping it between him and Souta, he started up the game again, a tootsie roll in his mouth.


Something told Kagome that the bubble gum machines had been a lost cause.

~*~

"Oh Sweet, antiquely Kaede! I've got a surprise for you!" Jii-chan rapped on the elderly woman's closed bedroom door.

"Erm.. I'm sleeping!" Kaede yelled out, then smacked herself for her retarded answer. Sure, the man was a bit off, but he wasn't that stupid.

"Oh, sweety-cakes! Don't joke around! I've made you breakfast!"

Breakfast? Oh dear kami… wh… what could it be? She was fresh out of anything that could be even roughly considered food.. And the nearest market place was many, many miles away. Afraid of what she might find, Kaede stumbled out of the room, where, contrary to what she had told Jii-chan, ("I'm going to take a nap, you know, we antiques need our rest!") she had actually been grinding herbs.

"Oh Kaede-san! You look ravishingly old this morning!" Jii-chan did a quick bow and lead the elderly miko over to where he had a table sat for two, complete with candles…

"W..what are we having?" Kaede was really afraid to ask. Why did she get left alone with Kagome's grandfather anyway? Oh wait, Kirara was still here, so technically they weren't alone alone, but that was little compensation.


Jii-chan swiped a cardboard box out from behind his back. "Bran flakes!"

~*~

Having left the two younger boys playing the video game, the tour went by much quicker, and the group found themselves at the last room, Miroku and Sango's.

Kagome stood in front of the doorway to the room, preventing any one from entering just yet. "Oh, I hope you guys like it, I had to pick out most of the stuff myself, because somebody got mad about a little incident."

"Little Incident my ass! You made me look like a fucking moron!"

"Well, it didn't take much effort." Kagome hmpfed.

"Bitch!"

"sit."

"Agh!" Now you'd really thing that after more than a year of calling Kagome names, and getting sat for it, Inuyasha would have learned the repercussions of pissing the girl off. Regardless, it seemed that Inuyasha hadn't yet mastered the whole 'learning from your mistakes' thing. He seemed to be suffering from a lack of reason, or, what Kagome liked to refer to as 'Ow, I touched the fire and it burnt! I'll touch it again and see what happens!". "Why'd you do that that for Bitch?!"

"Sit."

"Agh!" The cycle continued a few more times until Miroku and Sango both cleared their throats pointedly, having grown bored of Inuyasha being pounded into the floor and Mrs.Higurashi's rendition of 'row row row you're boat'.

"Oh right, the room!"

~*~

"Kagome… It's beautiful!" Sango's sentimentality had went up ten fold sense she got pregnant, and she found herself hugging Kagome, crying tears of joy.

"Feh." Inuyasha added in his say, still mad after the sitting from moments before.

"Oh, you really did do a wonderful job decorating the place Kagome, it's very nice." Miroku farther inspected the room. A large bed sat in one corner, (the result of three bed's just big enough to fit though a well shoved together) lavished in expensive emerald silk, embroidered in Japanese designs. A beautiful oak dresser, nightstand, and table also stood in the room. The walls had been painted an off-white, a crème rug lay on the floor. The hinges in the wall that were reminiscent of shelves had been filled with books, what Kagome had called a T.V and DvD player, along with hundreds of various 'dvds'.

"AhLALA! Don't cry Kawaii-sango! Cute things shouldn't cry!" Mrs.Higurashi shrieked out, without warning.

"Sango-chan, I've got another surprise too!" Kagome shared a look with Inuyasha, who didn't return her look, as he was still sulking like the dog that he was.

"Another?"

"Yes! Okay, are you ready?"

"Oh do tell us! Tell us Kagome! I must now!" Mrs.Higurashi was , for some reason, excited about the secret, despite it not involving her.

"Inuyasha says you're having two pups! And they're both girls!"

"Oh… Oh my god!" Sango's whole face lit up even more so than it had already been, she hugged her friend again. "Oh.. Girls! I was hoping they'd be girls! I.. I'm just so happy!"

Kagome's happiness was interrupted as the image of the raven with the umbilical cord in its mouth flashed in front of her eyes with utter clarity. Shaking her head, the image dissolved and she forced a smile back on her face.. Just a dream.

Though it went unnoticed by everyone else, Inuyasha noticed Kagome give a violent shudder. Concern replacing his grudge, he closed the space between them and casually draped his arm over her shoulder.

"Oh! That's so splendid sweety! Girls! Oh, you're so lucky Sango-chan! Blessed with two little babies! And girls are much easier to raise to! At least, that's the way it was with Kagome, but she's always been a good girl. Now Souta, it too forever to get him potty trained, he was still in…" Mrs.Higurashi rambled on, though no one listened to her at all.

Miroku pondered the irony of fate. So, had he had a child back when Naraku was alive, for the purpose of an heir, it would have been a girl? Sure, a girl was more than okay now, but back then he needed an heir, not a daughter! Fate was one sick bitch sometimes… But of course, that was the past, Naraku was long since dead and he no longer was in such dire need of an heir. He had a mate, a family, and now two baby girls… He was going to be a father… he was going to be a father!!

Miroku took Sango from Kagome and hugged her.

~*~

"Did you like your bran flakes, Kaede….chan?"

Did he just? No, no he didn't. Surely, no man, even close to being in their right mind would add a 'chan' to her name. She was sixty something odd years old, and a miko for kami's sakes! Pretending the 'chan' never happened, Kaede forced a smile. "Oh… yes, they were good. Thanks for sharing this dish from the future with me."

Jii-chan pushed her thank you away with a wave of his hand. "Oh, it was no problem at all! After all, if you were an antique vase, wouldn't I polish you? If you were an ancient piece of parchment, wouldn't I put you safe under air tight glass? It's only logical, that as you are an antique, I must take care of you!"

"…um…"

"Say Kaede, you know… the young-uns are gone and we're… all alone. Do you know of anything two people like ourselves could do… all alone?" Jii-chan leaned forward, trying his best to look seductive, of course, he ended up just looking like he was senile, which is a whole other topic all together.

"Nono-no! We aren't alone! Why look, look, it's Kirara! Kirara's here!" Kaede pointed at the sleeping cat demon, desperately. "See! Kirara! Alone, not us!"

"But Kaede…chan, she's sleeping."

Kaede flung her bowl at Kirara. "Oops, I'm so clumsy sometimes." Kirara opened her eyes and growled.

"Oh, look, Kirara woke up!"

~*~

"Sesshy-sama?" The adorable little girl called as she caught up with the effeminate lord of the western lands.

He made a small sound in the back of his throat that she took as a sign to continue with what she had to say.

Whatever she had to say was apparently something she wasn't so sure she should ask. Rin wasn't sure how her Sesshy-sama would react, and she didn't like saying things when she didn't know how he'd react.

"What?" Sesshoumaru finally asked, annoyed, after the girl made no move to continue and reeked pf nervousness.

"Do you.. Do you remember Jaken?"

Sesshoumaru stiffened. The frog-thing was a touchy subject. "What of him?"

"Well, remember the day I woke up and he was gone? And then I asked where he went, and you said you'd tell me when I was older?" (so apparently Rin's little outburst of "frog legs are yummy' back in chapter five was just a random outburst that held no significance to anything. Hell, the girl just likes frog legs.)

Sesshoumaru really wasn't liking where this was going. "..yes…"

"Well, I was thinking, it's been a lot of moon's since then, so I think I'm older so-"

"Oh look Rin," Sesshoumaru, god forbid, made his voice sound perky. "flowers!"

Rin looked to where her Sesshy-sama was pointing, her Sesshy-sama who had this really weird thing going on with his face. She took a mild glance of interest at the flowers, but then switched back to Sesshy-sama's weird face. "What's wrong with your face, Sesshy-sama?"

"I'm smiling." Alright, so I'd been a while, but that was no reason for the girl to be looking at him so strangely! Defeated, he let the forced smile fall, she didn't seem too interested in the flowers anyway, despite his sacrifice of pride at trying to make them seem as grand as possible. "Jaken had issues Rin. He had to leave."

"Issues? What kind of issues?" Rin looked up at him, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"Problematic issues."

"What kind of probl-em-ati-c issues?" Rin pursued, having a bit of trouble repeating the big word.

Admitting this could go on forever, Seshoumaru finally gave in.

"Rin, Jaken told me he loved me and wanted me to be his wife. My emotion for Jaken was about as much emotion I hold for that bug at your feet, and I, Seshoumaru, will never be anyone's wife."

"Oh." Rin thought about this for a second. "So where did Jaken go?"

"I don't know Rin, and I really don't care. He did mention something about going to be with his first love, some human wench named 'Cologne' I think…"

~*~~*~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~~*~

Wouldn't Jaken and Cologne (From Ranma ½) make a wonderful couple?

~

Eh, sorry this got out so late, I really have no excuse other than that I've been working on a lot of other crap. I brought a bit of plot back into the story, if you can call Kagome's dream plot. I mean, sure, she's saying 'it's just a dream', but I know, and you know, it's an obvious plot device. The next chapter will be skipping straight to the wedding party, which, really is only skipping about a week ahead. Ah, I can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but within two weeks. That said…

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