Chapter 3 – Things From the Past

"Mommy!" Kameko cried, clinging to her mother's leg.

"Shh. Don't worry. You the rest are ok," her mother reassured her, stroking the top of her daughter's head.

"It's getting hot in here Mommy," Kameko said, trying not to cry. She was eight. Clay said she was to big to cry now.

They were in their house. A problem with the electricity had cause the fire. Her dad had gotten her brother and sister out already. Her mother had gone back for her. Ariadne had picked up her daughter. The flames didn't seem to affect her. Or was that wishful thinking?

"Over here Kameko," her mother said, leading her where the heat wasn't as intense.

"How are we going to get out?" the little girl asked, looking up at her mother. In the fire's light, the orange streak in her mother's hair seemed to stand out more. Distantly she wondered how her own red one looked.

Her mother paused for a moment before answering her child. "I'm not sure. You'll make it out of here though. I promise." Again she led Kameko to an area that wasn't too hot. The smoke was getting thicker now. Ariadne and her daughter started to crawl on the floor. Just as she saw an opening something fell in front of them. Kameko wasn't sure what it was. At this point she didn't really care.

"That was our only way out," she heard her mother gasp.

"What does that mean Mommy?" she asked.

Her mother looked at her. "Did you know that the phoenix consumed itself in a fire just before it died?"

What was this? Her mommy was giving her a mythology lesson as they were surrounded by fire?

"And from the ashes a new phoenix would be brought forth? That's how the myths go anyway."

Tears came to Kameko's eyes, despite what her brother had told her. "You're scaring my Mommy! Don't talk like that."

Her mother kissed her. "Cover you eyes, thugatrion."

"Why-"

"Just do it Kameko. Please, it's the last thing I'll ever ask of you."

Tears freely flowed down her cheeks as she put her little hands over her eyes. She was eight though, and still very curious. She waited until she was sure her mother wasn't looking. She spread her little finds apart.

"Aion Purinos!" her mother yelled standing up, smoke surrounding her.

Kameko saw the fire get brighter and covered her eyes completely again.

The next thing she knew she was in the arms of somebody. "You're going to be alright," a soothing voice said to her. Kameko didn't realize until then that her eyes were still closed. She cracked one open to find familiar eyes looking down at her. Then she passed out.

Kameko sat up. It took her a moment to remember where she was. 'Kagome's home,' she thought. 'Not a burning house, and I'm fifteen. Not eight.' She laid back down. They had decided that Kameko would sleep on Kagome's floor in a sleeping bag, while Clay shared Souta's room. Her dad would go to Jii-chan's room, and Raven would have the couch.

The sleeping bag was Kagome's and well used, she could tell. It definitely had the sent of the outdoor embedded in it. There were to many smells to make them out.

She was about to close her eyes when she noticed something glowing. 'Weird,' she thought as sat back up. It was a pink glow coming from the necklace around Kagome's neck. She hadn't noticed it before and she didn't think it was a glow in a dark thing either. It looked like a jewel of some kind.

"Nooo mm'hmmm," came from Kagome's mouth. "Inuyasha, sssssssiiiidt."

Kameko could hardly keep her laughter back. Her friend was talking in her sleep. "This is priceless," she whispered to herself.

Kagome's eyes snapped open. She stared at Kameko for a moment then sat up in bed. "I did something, right?"

Kameko nodded. "Yes. I was tempted to go find a tape recorder so in the morning you could listen to yourself talk about this Inuyasha."

Kagome's face went bright red. "Inuyasha? I was talking about him?"

A sly smile came over Kameko's face. "Oh, yes. Naturally I want to know about Inuyasha. Strange name to give a kid though. I'm assuming that this is a human, and not a pet, right? Because 'dog demon' I could understand if it's a pet."

Kagome gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, he's, uh, a person."

"So it's a guy? Someone you have a crush on?"

If possible, Kagome's face became even redder. "I never said that. Inuyasha is a friend of mine."

"Right. So. Is he older, younger, or the same age?"

"Uh, older," she said. 'By about fifty plus years.'

Kameko smiled. "Oh, come on. Describe him!"

Kagome sighed. "He's an idiot. Violent, selfish, always pissed off, and most importantly, he's extremelyyyy jealous." She had told her friends the same thing. "He also has a fowl mouth and hung up on his ex-girlfriend, whom I look like."

Kameko raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a keeper," she said sarcastically.

"But he can also be kind and when I'm trouble he's usually there to help me."

"Ah I see. He's like one of those chocolate candies. Hard shell on the outside, soft on the inside."

Kagome laughed. "I guess. Just don't let him hear you say that."

"What does he look like? Is he cute?"

Kagome shrugged. "Yeah. He's you're normal Japanese boy."

"You sure know how to pick the interesting ones, Kagome."

She crossed her arms. "Well, what about you? Any interesting guys in your life?"

Kameko laughed. "Oh, sure. You know I just have them throwing themselves at me – not!" She put her arms behind her and leaned back. "I don't know. Every time I think a guy is interested in me it either turns out they've found out my dad is their history teacher, and they want a good grade. Or its like I scare them away."

"I don't see why. You look perfectly fine to me."

"Ha, ha. You're only saying that because I look like you." The girls laughed together.

"We better get some sleep," Kagome said. "I actually have to go to school tomorrow."

"I know. That sucks. I don't see why you don't have summer vacation," Kameko said and snuggled into the sleeping bag. "By the way, you might want to clean this."

"Does it smell bad? I'm sorry."

"No, it doesn't really smell bad. I can just smell the campfire and stuff on it. So it's either clean it or sleep in a tent after I use it."

Kagome laughed thinking about sleeping in a tent with Shippou. Miroku wouldn't be able to do anything and Sango could join her. She wondered how Inuyasha would react about it if she brought one.

A/N: Did anyone catch it? If you didn't, don't worry it'll come back! Just a friendly reminder: I don't own or create Inuyasha (and Co.). Kameko, Raven, Clay, Nana, Rafe, and Ariadne Redstone are my own characters. For those that don't speak Greek (ancient at that) "thugatrion" means "little daughter". I'll tell you later what "Aion Purinos" means. If I told you now it'd spoil the whole thing! Read and Review! Thanx!