A/N: Yippee!!! No more ISU, no more presentations, no more exams! I am finally FREE~~~ (dancing) Guess it's time for me to pick up the pen again (more like getting in front of the keyboard) and continue on with my story. ^__^" By the way, sorry for taking so long to update.......+

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but I'll start my own anime series someday. Just you wait.

Chapter 5

The shrine stood in the afternoon sunshine, calm and unmoving, amidst the ancient forest. It stood there on the very top of the hill overlooking the entire city as if guarding it like a soldier on a watchtower. Unlike some other lavishly furnished shrines that only radiated of rich material grandeur and nothing more, the Higurashi shrine was solemn, humble, and adorned a seasoned look that only a shrine with true history could have. The quiet and reserved atmosphere within the building was really where true faith and spiritual relief could be found.

A little distance away to the back of the shrine, located near the lush forest, was a small storage house built of wood. It was normally locked up to protect its contents from wandering wild animals looking for a shelter and unwanted visitors of the night, but was opened and cleaned every three months by the family.

Kagome took out an old metal key and inserted it into the heavy iron lock. The device gave a low grunt before it clicked open, granting the girl passage into the storage room. Inuyasha followed inside.

After telling Inuyasha to close the door, Kagome touched and fumbled for the switch.

Warm yellow light soon illuminated the room from the centre.

Inuyasha gasped in awe. He was totally astounded by what he was seeing in the room. All the items on display and on the shelves could certainly be identified as valuable antiques that all museums and famous collectors would die to get their hands on. The ambience of the room was that of the old and the sacred.

He held his breath. It felt as if he had just intruded a blessed space where one must not disrespect the ancient, the sacred, and the unseen… Each item seemed to be emitting a certain power, silently humming in the ears of only those who were meant to possess it.

"What…what is this place?" Inuyasha wondered.

"This place, used to be the old Higurashi altar." Kagome quietly stated. "Ever since the ancient times, people have been bringing in family items to the shrine, asking the priest or the priestess to keep it here and bless it, for certain objects, especially ones that are passed down through generation, tend to absorb more emotions. Some negative energy has been channelled into the artifacts through the person who previously possessed them or through tragedies that revolved around them. They are placed in the shrine to be cleansed by the sacred spiritual energy in the place. These artifacts that you see here, are the ones that have been brought in long long time ago and have been purified of evil and hatred. Since those who brought them in are dead and their heirs fail to come claim them, they remain here to be guarded and protected."

"Cool!" Inuyasha looked around, still in absolute amazement. Then he turned to Kagome abruptly, seeming a bit confused. "But why did you bring me here?"

"I brought you here because this is the least likely place to be intruded by outside interference." She held his eyes.

"Ok…if you say so…" Not quite sure of what exactly she meant by that, Inuyasha decided to pass it off. She couldn't possibly consider murdering him here, could she? He shivered thinking of what happened not long before. Damn, how did it get so cold all of a sudden?

A moment of silence followed. Kagome contemplated on how she would start with her story, or 'situation,' more likely. She sighed inwardly. She had never thought that she would give in to Inuyasha's persistence, but when she saw him in her kitchen, something inside her head simply snapped. She vaguely recalled throwing whatever she could find at him, which included her bag, chairs, dishes, bottles, cans, forks, and even her cat Buyo (A/N: oh~the poor thing ~_~). She was going to reach for the knives too, but her mom managed to stop and calm her down in time before she pierced the cowering Inuyasha into a thousand pieces.

She vowed that she'd never ever want to cross path with him again. Never! She had enough of his provocation, his pestering, his…stalking! If this could make him leave her alone, then she would tell him. It didn't matter whether he believes her or not, or if he would laugh right in her face calling her a lunatic, just as long as she could get him out of her life. She wanted to have her normal, okay, maybe not so normal, but old life back, before Inuyasha started trying to play a part in it. The thing was, how and where should she start?

"I…" Kagome suddenly found her throat dry.

"Yes?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.

"This piece of jewelry here dates back to the Feudal era of Japan, which is more than 500 years ago. It has gone through the hands of many priests and priestesses who tried to guard it before ending up here on this shrine." Kagome pointed to a necklace and started lecturing about its history.

Inuyasha gave her an odd look before diverting his attention to the necklace. "Nice."

"Ok, that was….not what I was trying to say." Kagome gulped.

"Um hum…" Inuyasha looked at her expectantly.

"What I was going to say was--" Kagome couldn't continue. "Oh, that Japanese sword beside you is said to belong to a very powerful lord in the old time, although its true history is lost today. It appears to be a fine sword, doesn't it?"

Inuyasha briefly glimpsed at the sword without much interest. "I guess it does."

"Err…." Kagome began to find the floor very interesting.

Inuyasha scowled.

Having fought another round of internal battle, Kagome finally looked up decisively, her mind made up that she would tell whatever it was without any more delay.

Before she had a chance to open her mouth, Inuyasha commented dryly, "I suppose you would like to talk about that beautiful delicate vase over there as well?"

Kagome flushed red as a beet from head to toe. How she wished for a hole in the ground at this instant for her to hide in! "No, I don't wish to talk about the vase." She mumbled.

Inuyasha snorted.

"The thing that I want to tell you about is," Breathing deeply, Kagome looked him in the eye. "I can see ghosts."