AN: I just want to say THANKS to everyone who reviewed chapter 12 (even though some responses were like "Kikyo? Ewww!") for some reason I was nervous about you guys' reactions ^_^;; And thanks to everyone who reviewed this fic more than once, like (I'm just naming off the top of my head here) Lita Avalon, Final Spirit, Mystical Dreamer, Reina1, squeakyinuears, SakuraSpring and Silver Dragon 2488. I know there are more, and I'm sorry for not remembering, but all your reviews helped. Thanks! ^^ (Okay must stop before I get all delusional and start practicing my Academy Award speech…again. .) This chapter was really hard to write in the beginning (because of the Inu-Yasha/Kikyo thing…first time writing her not as an evil conniving bitch) but it got easier in the end because…yes, Final Spirit, Miroku's journey to greatness has started! *Trumpets* Well, not really, but you get the drift. ^^ I'm really going to stop babbling now, so just enjoy the fic.

Aftermath

            The room, which had been filled with vampires the night before, was now silent and empty, save for two people.

            When Inu-Yasha woke up the first thing he thought of was vampires, so it was no surprise when he jerked up and his heart began to beat faster than a maniac on a drum. After all, when he'd gone to sleep holding Kikyo against his chest, he'd been surrounded by them.

            Before he even finished that thought he'd begun to think of Kikyo. Now he was aware of the light, breathing bundle in his arms. That was slightly disturbing. Kikyo died five years ago—she wasn't supposed to be breathing. And she looked too good to be a resurrected corpse. So how was she alive? Why was she alive?

            As if she'd known he was thinking about her (or maybe she'd heard the loud pounding in his chest) Kikyo stirred against his chest. Inu-Yasha's heart gave another painful thump. She leaned back, eyes still closed, and yawned. Inu-Yasha's eyes dropped down to her chest, where the Shikon no Tama rested, glowing softly.

            She opened her eyes. The first thing she said was, "My hands hurt."

            Inu-Yasha took her hands from his shoulders. The wounds had clotted, but her hands were still covered in dried gnashes, and her fingertips were still bruised and her nails split. He didn't know what to do. Before, what would he have done? Did he even do anything for her back then?

            Kikyo stared at him, and he stared back. Her eyes were still the same. Deep, and cool, piercing yet shadowed, no blackened—I'm-a-possessed-zombie going on anywhere. How tugged the back of his mind, but he didn't want to think about it too much. If he did, she might just disappear.

            Kikyo dropped one of her wounded hands into the folds of her white and red attire. When they slid out, they held a thin silver dagger. Then she brought it down, towards Inu-Yasha's legs.

            He shut his eyes. I knew it…she'd been brought back to life just to kill me for leaving her to die…well he deserved it. It was his price to pay for running away. He braced himself for the pain, the blood gushing out of his legs…death…

            It didn't come. Inu-Yasha opened one eye cautiously. Kikyo was trying to cut strips of cloth from the billowing cloth of her pants. Relief and embarrassment hit Inu-Yasha like a sledgehammer. It was just like something Kagome would pull.

            He stopped. Oh, that's right, Kagome…

            But he couldn't pursue it further, because Kikyo was now looking at him, amusement in her eyes. "I won't hurt you, Inu-Yasha." Her fingers fumbled to keep a grip on the blade. Inu-Yasha automatically reached for her and took the knife, and winced. In the wooden handle a thin strip of the blade still continued down one side. As long as he was in the Inu-kai castle, he would remain a vampire. But Inu-Yasha ignored the pain and as quick as he could cut away some of the cloth into strips.

            When he finished he silently handed the strips to Kikyo. She took them, set them all aside except for one, and wound it around Inu-Yasha's burned and blistered hand. "You're still the same," she said in a tone he couldn't read. Then she picked up the rest of the cloth and proceeded to bandage her hands.

            As she did for him, Inu-Yasha did it for her. When he was done they both had makeshift red bandages. We're the same, he thought. We always have been.

            "And yet you're different," she added, after he'd been quite convinced of their sameness. Now he had to think all over again.

            "Different? What do you mean?"

            Kikyo lifted a hand and touched his cheek lightly with her fingertips. Inu-Yasha stared at the ground. He wanted to clasp her hand and pull her close, but somehow he couldn't do that with her. He'd never done that sort of thing until he switched masters…and met Kagome. "Where is the Inu-Yasha who was angry at the world, more vicious than any of his kin, even though he had human blood?"

            Don't you remember? Inu-Yasha was certain she knew. When she'd first encountered him, he was subdued by force, and later by will. She couldn't have forgotten that she was the one who changed him.

            She seemed to know what she was thinking, for she continued, "There's something else here. Something that wasn't there when I saw you last." Her voice remained the same tone, even though 'saw you last' meant 'fifty years ago when I died.'

            "Who was that girl beside you?" 

            He met her level gaze. The image of Kagome flickered in his mind, paired with the sight of Kikyo, and he was beginning to feel more confused with each passing second. He almost said "She's you," but stopped himself in time. Kagome was not Kikyo, no matter what Sesshoumaru thought or how much Myouga wished to believe it. So he just told her the simple facts.

            "She's Kagome. She's the strongest vampire hunter…well, after you." He shifted uneasily. Was she still the strongest, if Kikyo was alive? So many facts and thoughts crashing into each other, and his head was beginning to hurt.

            Kikyo's fingers trailed down his face and onto the curve of his neck. "She looks like me. I thought I was looking into myself, until I saw the differences." Inu-Yasha knew just what kind of differences she was talking about. "The fire within her, the anger on her face…she knows nothing, does she, Inu-Yasha?"

            Inu-Yasha reacted defensively to Kikyo's remark. Kagome knew things. She knew what her priorities were. She knew what being separated from a loved one felt like. Inu-Yasha knew that too. They were both the same, too. It was all too confusing. He wished he had some aspirin around. "She has your power to purify silver."

            A shadow crossed Kikyo's face. "I suppose she must be strong. It takes strength and power to change you the way you have been changed." Inu-Yasha wanted to say that Kikyo had done most of the work, but she asked, "Why was she here? To complete the job I couldn't finish?"

            "Yes," he replied truthfully. "And to get your revenge. And…to get the jewel from Sesshoumaru."

            Kikyo's other hand, the one not clasping onto his shoulder, reached up and curled around the bright jewel around her neck. "The Shikon no Tama is indeed a strong jewel. Strong enough to let me live when I had already died."

            Inu-Yasha's amber eyes widened. "You mean—"

            Her fingers played with the white sphere. "Do you remember why you wanted the jewel, Inu-Yasha?"

            "Yes. To become human."

            "Do you want to become human now?"

            Of course he wanted to become human. As Alucard of Castlevania so bluntly put it, he wanted to be "rid of this cursed blood." (Yes, he played video games, but only when Miroku wasn't around so he wouldn't get his ass kicked) But he knew what she was saying. The Shikon no Tama had the power to turn him fully human, but it was the thing that was keeping Kikyo alive. If he said yes, he was sealing her (second) death sentence. It was a cruel question. But one he didn't blame her for asking.

            "Not if it means killing you," he said. He purposely didn't say "losing you." Fifty years had passed, he'd already felt as if he'd lost her. But some parts didn't feel the same now.

            Kikyo wrapped her arms around his neck, suddenly looking frail and delicate. "I don't want to die," she said simply.

            Never in all the time he'd known her had he heard her say something that sounded so…human. It was one of their ironies. She was the full-blooded human and yet she was as emotionless as Sesshoumaru. This one, human sentence, made Inu-Yasha hug her back, abandoning all questions.    

*          *          *

            Kagome didn't want to wake up. The bed was so soft, and snuggled under the blankets she was so warm. She felt as if she'd been sleeping for a hundred years, and she wanted to drowse off again.

            But no, she had to wake up…she didn't know where she was but she knew it was important…Kagome moaned against the pillows. Finally she pulled herself out of sleep and forced herself to sit up, releasing her disappointment with a loud yawn and a huge stretch that nearly popped her arms from her shoulders.

            When she opened her eyes a pair of bright green ones stared back, a finger-width across from her.

            Kagome yelped and tried to move back. Her head crashed painfully into the headboard of the bed, and for a moment she saw stars. She blinked furiously as she pressed a hand to the back of her head, trying to clear her vision.

The eyes were still there, curious as ever. They belonged to a small creature with a fuzzy tail, with orange hair tied in a little ponytail. Under normal circumstances she would have picked him up and squealed over how cute it was, but she felt things weren't going to be normal for a long time.

            "What are you and how did you get in here?" she sputtered at him, rubbing the back of her head.

            He—she—it—looked indignant all of a sudden. "What am I? I'm a vampire, of course!" He—most definitely it was a he—puffed out his little chest as far as it would go. "And you didn't lock your door, so I just opened it and walked in."       

            Despite herself, Kagome giggled. He really was cute, a fuzzy little thing trying to act all macho. He turned even madder. "What, do you think I'm joking? I'm dangerous, you know! I have big fangs, and even bigger claws!" To prove his point, he bared his teeth and curled his hands toward her and made a tiny growl.

            She covered her mouth and fought down her laughter. "Well, if you say so. So what's your name?"

            This took the little vampire by surprise. Normally when he gave his look-how-dangerous-I-am speech the vampires either laughed at him and told him to go away, or beat him up. But the girl was smiling at him, and she didn't look like she would pummel him at any second. "S-Shippou," he replied, his voice decibels lower.

            "Hello, Shippou, my name's Kagome." And she held out her hand. Shippou stared at it, wondering what he was supposed to do. Maybe this was a human thing, and she was offering him a taste of her blood. Slowly he took her hand, and nearly had a heart attack when she grasped his hand in hers. But she only shook his hand, then released it. Shippou stared at his hand, and thought strange, very strange. It was most definitely a human thing. He wondered how she would've reacted if he'd tried to drink her blood.

            "Ka-go-me," he repeated her name dutifully. She smiled at him. "Funny, I thought your name was Kikyo too. Hey, Kikyo too! Kikyo 2, get it?" Her smile fell faster than a blink of the eye. Strange, was it something I said? Shippou rarely made funny jokes, and he thought that was pretty funny.

            "Yes, well, a lot of people think that," she said, her tone a lot less friendly. Shippou made a mental note not to compare Kagome to Kikyo, since that seemed to be the thing that irked her. He didn't want her to be mad, not when she was smiling like that.He moved closer to her and tried to look as cute as he could (forgetting how he was trying to be macho just minutes before). It worked somewhat, because a tiny hint of her smile came back.

            He wanted to know more about her. She didn't seem like a sadistic human who wanted to kill all his family—even though he'd seen her do so last night. It was weird. Who was she? "Are you Inu-Yasha's girlfriend?" he asked innocently.

            Kagome's eyes widened. "N-no, I'm not!" Maybe I could have been before, until last night. Then she made a face. As if.

            Shippou didn't seem to notice her expression. "That's good. Inu-Yasha's a jerk, you know," he said smartly, looking to Kagome to see her reaction.

            She snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes—yes, he is a jerk!" she agreed. He was, too! He said he'd told her everything she needed to know! He'd lied to her again. Clearly, 'I was dating your lookalike' was something she needed to know. So much for trust. Kagome crossed her arms and glared stonily past Shippou.

            "But it would make sense if you were," Shippou continued. "Considering, you know, the whole Kikyo thing…"

            Kagome turned and fixed Shippou with the biggest, most innocently scary smile she could muster on Shippou. The little kitsune gulped. "Why don't you tell me more about Inu-Yaha and Kikyo, since you seem to know more than me?"

            Shippou, glad to dish out some dirt on Inu-Yasha, plopped down on the bed, his tail wagging. "Gladly. Okay, Inu-Yasha was such a badass jerk when he was growing up, I mean I only came when he was already looking like he is now but he was pretty mean—and he still is. But before he was this snarling, wild, really bloodthirsty vampire. Coz he's only half, you know, so he probably thought being double a jerk would make up for it."

            Kagome nodded, knowing how much of a jerk Inu-Yasha could be. But Shippou had described it as if he was twice the jerk Kagome had ever known. Then, though she already knew the answer but felt like she just had to hurt herself more, she asked, "Before what?"

            "Well, before Kikyo. All of sudden, like five months before the hunters stormed the place, Inu-Yasha started changing. He was still a jerk to me, but he wasn't like a mindless, foaming jerk. You get what I'm saying?"

            "Ah—sort of."

            "Then when Kikyo and the others came and attacked us, Inu-Yasha didn't do anything. He just stood there, watching. None of the vampire hunters touched him…and they didn't touch me either. It's probably cause I look so scary."

            "Indeed. You look very scary. So, uhm," she wanted to get back to the story. "What happened when Kikyo was—ahem—killed?"

            "He ran!" Shippou yelled the words so loudly Kagome jumped slightly. "He ran and betrayed us all, he ran after the vampire hunters saw what happened to Kikyo. He never stuck around to see Kikyo resurrect herself with the Shikon no Tama. And then now he has the galls to come back…" he was so worked up, his chest was heaving.

            Kagome blinked. "But you know, he was treated really badly here," she said defensively. "You can hardly blame him."

            Shippou looked confused. "I thought you didn't like him. You said he was a jerk."

            "He is," Kagome said, and didn't explain further, leaving Shippou to scratch his head. But I never said I didn't like him. Do I still? Kagome knew she had a reason to hate him—well, perhaps not hate him, but she had a reason to not like him. He was obviously still with Kikyo. But she couldn't just stop liking him, it was a lot harder than that. Once she did, if she ever did, it would be a lot easier.

            "So…" Shippou decided to change the subject before he lost her to her own thoughts. "If you're a hunter and I'm a vampire, does that mean you'll try and kill me when the truce is over?"

            He was slightly worried when Kagome stopped and actually seriously thought about it. Myouga had told her, over and over, that vampires were murderers who deserved to be killed. And she'd during the six years of her training all the vampires she'd encountered were ugly and did little to preserve the world's natural beauty. But this was before she met Inu-Yasha, before she made a truce with the most powerful vampire clan, and apparently befriended a cute cuddly, kidlike vampire named Shippou.

            She sighed. She didn't want to kill him, of course, but would it even matter when the time came? The world was turning upside down. "I don't know," she said truthfully.

*          *          *

            Miroku wondered why this dumb castle was so big. He'd run through at least a hundred hallways, and it felt like Kagome had just dragged him off to one of her impossible training programs. And he wasn't even trying to get fit (I mean, I am the epitome of buff after all), he was just trying to find Kagome's room.

            A couple of silver-haired vampires were milling around the open hallways and courtyards, but he didn't dare ask them for directions. They were all glaring at him, anyway, and he wasn't sure how many of them knew about the truce, so he decided running around the castle and not slowing down was a pretty good idea.

            He wanted to be with Kagome for a number of reasons. First of all, she was his best friend, and the last he saw of her was trudging behind a vampire maid, her shoulders slumped as if she were holding up the world. He wanted to be with her and make sure she was okay (but in his opinion, that should have been Inu-Yasha's job but he wasn't doing it very well at the moment). Third of all, she had a sword, and although the truce was in motion he wouldn't feel comfortable until he had a bit of silver with him.

            But most of all he wanted to apologize. He'd seen the fear in her eyes when she nearly skewered him (although that was practically fearlessness in comparison to how he'd felt). He'd seen the fighting from his hiding place by the door, and realized that Kagome really hadn't needed him there after all. And now she was stuck having to deal with him as well as the Inu-kai (although this made up for all the times she needed him for a shoulder to lean on when she was vulnerable.)

            He jogged down a random hallway. Actually, it may turn out that Kagome may need him after all. He was just as shocked as everyone else to see Kikyo walk out of the room, since you know, she'd been presumed dead for fifty years and all he'd seen were old black-and-white pictures of her. But Kagome had to watch Inu-Yasha go back to the girl she was so often compared to. That gotta hurt.

            Miroku tried to imagine the situation if he was in her shoes and drifted off into la-la land. If he were Kagome, and he was in love with the girl of his dreams (aww, admit it, Kagome) and suddenly her dead lover (who looked just like him) pops into the picture and—she turns her back on him and runs to the real Miroku's arms.

            He shook his head and grinned. It had to be that way with him. Heck, no girl could resist him, right? He was just too gorgeous. He was too charming. He was the real thing. He was—

            Flat on the floor, his head throbbing and the rest of his body aching painfully.

            His first thought was that the truce was broken and the vampires were going to make him dinner. He tried scrambling to his feet, wincing at the pain. What the hell hit me? A behemoth? Did someone throw a table at me?

            Ah, no, whilst it had hurt, it hadn't felt all that hard…

            "Watch where you're going!" a female voice snapped.

            Miroku looked up, and his jaw crashed down to the floor. An angel from the heavens glared down at him, extremely pissed-off. Okay, maybe she wasn't an angel, her clothes looked rough and tattered, and old, as if for a servant. And she had a big scowl on her face, too. But she was beautiful.

            He blinked. Was she scowling at him? Whatever for?

            Angrily she tossed her long black hair behind her shoulders and pointed at the mess in front of her. "You made me drop all this! Now I have to go back to the kitchen and get some more!"

            Miroku managed to tear his eyes off her and look at where her finger was pointing. A bowl of spilled rice was on his right, a plate of sliced beef, what used to be a glass of water was now a very dangerous puddle…human food. Obviously not for vampires.

            That's when he moved his gaze back to her and realized she wasn't a vampire. "You're human!" he breathed, eyes wide. That was strange, he thought the only humans here were the vampire hunters…and him.

            The girl put her hands on her hips. "Of course I'm human! You don't see any fangs, do you?" She provided Miroku with a closer look by baring her straight, human teeth at him.

            He couldn't help thinking that if she lifted the corners a bit, it could pass for a smile…she was smiling at him! That was just too sweet. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was offending you…I just thought your beauty was so…so…inhumane!"

            Her eyes narrowed. "Inhumane?"

            Damn…he knew he should have paid attention in English class when they were doing the sonnets. He should have paid attention in English class, period. "You know what I mean." He smiled charmingly. "No human could possibly radiate such beauty…"

            She glared at him skeptically. "Look, just help me pick these up, will you?" And she bent down and began picking up the fallen breakfast.

            "I'd be glad to help a damsel in distress," Miroku said smoothly, sinking back down to his knees. She snorted, but didn't stop scooping rice into the bowl.

            Miroku carefully picked up as many glass shards as he could see ("I would not want the lady to tread such dainty feet upon perilous grou—" "Yeah, yeah, just shut it and help me, okay?") and held them in his palms. "Could I put these in the bowl?" he asked.

            The girl shrugged and held it to him with one hand. Miroku was about to dump them in the bowl when he saw something on her hands that made him drop the shards back onto the floor.

            She glowered at him and was about to snap something, but he took the bowl from her arms and took her hand in both of hers. She was silenced immediately.

            Miroku couldn't believe what he was seeing. All over her hands, her palms, her wrists, there were vampire bites. Some were white gashes, already healed from years before, but several were still clotted with dried blood, and others looking as if they'd just been inflicted last night. "Who did this to you?" he asked, all charming words aside.

            "Who else?" she tried to tug her hand away, but he wouldn't let go.

            "You let them do this?"

            "It's what I'm here for. With the castle closed off from the human world how do you think the vampires survive?"

            This wasn't right…they shouldn't use her like this…suddenly Miroku felt like he wanted to stop people from doing this from her, an almost foolish feeling of wanting to protect her. She could very well be the girl of his dreams (well…girl of his dreams #43, maybe…but she was closer to The One than all the others were) and here she was, being sucked dry by vampires. "This is terrible," he said, examining her other hand. "So you're just food to them?"

            She yanked her hands away. "I'm surprised you're shocked. You're a vampire hunter, you should know this already."

            Wait…there was something wrong with her sentence. Ah, she thought he was a vampire hunter. Miroku felt crummy and flattered at the same time. Should he correct her? But what kind of conversation would follow that? "What? You're not a vampire hunter?" "No, actually, I was the coward hiding by the door that Sesshoumaru sniffed out and nearly made Kagome kill. But close enough."

            Yeah, right.

            "Well, I'm new. I'm not very good, see," he said, which was partially true. He sucked completely.

            The girl, who had returned to picking up the fallen food, raised her eyebrow. "Oh. So they took you to fight the Inu-kai clan when you're not very good?"

            "No. I was training with them when the dimension gate opened. They thought they could use as much as they could get so they dragged me along." Okay, so that part was a lie. But anything for her.

            "Uh huh. It's a wonder you're still alive." She didn't sound all that impressed. Was that disappointment in her voice? No, he was just imagining things. Besides, he had plenty of time to win her heart, if they couldn't get a gate open to the other side.

            "I'm just lucky," he flashed her a big grin. He helped pile the rest of the utensils on her food tray and stood up. "I'm Miroku, by the way."

            She gave him half-smile, but it didn't look all that genuine. "I'm Sango."

            "Sango, that's a beautiful name. Well, you know what they say, the name suits the person."

            She didn't giggle, like many of the girls back home did whenever he used that line. Instead Sango rolled her eyes and turned around to the direction she just came from. Miroku fell in step beside her. "So who's getting all that yummy food?"

            "Kagome Higurashi," she replied without slowing her fast pace.

            This is so fate. "What a coincidence!" Miroku beamed happily. "I've been looking for her room for ages! Could I just go with you to her room?"

            "You're doing that already," she muttered.

            Miroku grinned. Maybe this stay wouldn't be so rotten after all.