Chapter Nineteen: Did It Work?

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own InuYasha-tachi, etc. They all belong to Rumiku Takahashi. Although I have fantasies of owning them!

Kagome handed me a cup from her time, and I dunk it in the boiling water, and gulped it down.

"Yecch! WHAT IS THIS?" I spit it out.

"Oh, Kami-sama. . .I'm growing. . .a cat's tail. . .Nezumi, what did you read wrong?"

"Uh, oops. . .It was supposed to be an eyelash from each of you instead of the wolf hairs. . .Gomen. . ."

I growled and plucked out an eyelash and dunked it in the boiling water. Kagome did so also. Nezumi continued to stir the water with her wand. Satisfied, she filled two cups, and handed them to both Kagome and I.

"Drink up, you two!"

Sighing, I held the cup to my lips, and gulped down.

"D-did it work. . . ?" Kagome and I asked hopefully.

"Well, did it?" I urged.

"Ano. . ." Nezumi scratched her head, acting nervous.

"Whaddya mean, ''ano. . .'' ??!!"

"Uhh. . .well, I don't really know. . .you guys have ta see for yourselves. . ."

". . .C'mon, Kagome."

"Ano. . .Sango? We—" Kagome started.

"Shush! We need to go to the river and see if we're back!"

"But that's what I'm trying—"

"—to what?"

"We're back. Look at me."

I sighed, and turned my head around. My eyes widened.

"Ka—Ka—Kagome! You—I—we—we're back! We're back!"

"I know! Isn't it great?"

"Great? It's not great!"

"Nani? It's. . .not?"

"No. It's wonderful, stupendous, miraculous—"

"—Oh, hai! Of course!"

Kagome grabbed my wrist and dragged me back up to the others, and away from the river. It was shining brightly, and blinding me, thanks to the reflection of the sun dancing off the surface of the cool, slow-moving water.

"InuYasha! We're back!" Kagome cried, leaping into the hanyou's open arms. "We're back! Isn't it great—"

"—Wonderful." I interrupted, coughing.

"Right. But isn't it, Inu-chan? Err, koi."

"Hai, I guess," the hanyou murmured.

"But. . .but. . .but, aren't. . .you happy?" The young miko queried expectantly.

"Duh. I was joking. 'Course I'm glad you're back," InuYasha fell to the ground as Kagome leapt atop him more, as she embraced him tighter.

"Kagome—can't—breathe. . ."

"Gomen!"

I laughed from the corner, my leg crossed in front of the other, as I watched InuYasha's hand grabbing the air as Kagome smothered him with hugs, and perhaps, kisses? I wouldn't know, I wasn't close enough.

"Well, konbanwa, Sango. Nice to see you're back in your wonderful body, ne?"

I turned around to see that familiar handsome face, regarding a certain Houshi-sama.

"Konbanwa, Houshi-sama. Hai, it is much better being in my body,"

I noticed his eyes ogling at every curving inch of my body. I furrowed my brow and I smacked him, not as hard as I normally do, since I was back in my own body.

"Ow."

"Don't ogle me, and I won't do that."

"But how can I resist, with such a lovely figure as such? Ah, please don't hit me,"

My eyes lightened as he braced himself for a slap, waiting, and waiting, so expectantly. I instead raised a trembling hand to stroke his silky, neat hair, which was mostly always kept in its dragon tail. His brace loosened, and he opened a lazy eye to peer up at me, wondering what I was doing in this strange act. I only smiled, patted his head, and walked off. I knew he was staring at me, or at least, I gathered the thought, but let it go this time. I sat down next to Kagome, who let InuYasha go, who was gladly taking in air like it was a precious gift, and there would be no more of it.

"Well, what do you want to do today," she grinned as she questioned me.

"Dunno, whatever you want to,"

"Let's go to the hot spring!"

"Sssh! Miroku's looking over at us,"

"Hey, ano, InuYasha? We're goin' out, to, ano, get somethin' ta eat, 'kay?"

"Mm-hmm, sure, whatever."

"Arigatou. Let's go, Sango,"

"Right in front of you!" I waved as Kagome looked behind her, then at me in the doorway.

We ran from the hut, turning our heads occasionally to look over our shoulders, just in case for sight of a certain lecherous bouzo. Kagome's eyes wondered around, spotting for any signs of the hot springs. Suddenly, I heard her gasp.

". . .Kagome. . . ?" I gasped, looking around for the now-missing miko.

I then felt something slip over my mouth and inside it, and I was lifted up into the air, placed on something hard, yet hairy. I tried to cry out, but my despairing cries were muffled by a thick thong strip. My mind raced to a memory of Miroku and me sitting together on a large stone, overlooking a pond. A spider crawled up my arm, and I smacked it, but missed. Miroku then reached for the hairy, eight-legged creature, and placed it on the grass below us, and then rested his head dotingly on my shoulder. That had been a great day, noticeably since Miroku hadn't tried once to grope me then. I was jerked from my thoughts as I felt movement. I looked around as best as I could, and I saw a horrified Kagome, who was gagged and dangling over the back of a spider-youkai.

I remembered that Kagome hated bugs, especially spiders. I could only imagine the fear she was experiencing right now. If she hates those tiny, itty-bitty spiders, well, say hello to the giant buggers. Kagome was wrestling and kicking and screaming as best as she could as the spider- youkais moved along with us, their prey. Worst thing is, humans are the main course of a spider-youkai. . .

The last thing I remembered was seeing Miroku walking along our path, unaware of the youkais. He was resting his hand along a rough tree trunk, and overhead him on a thick branch, was an obese spider-youkai. It spun a rope of its silk, and scurried down on top of the startled monk. Speedily, the spider wrapped Miroku in a silky cocoon, and lifted him on its back, and hurried off to, I guess, the head of the spider-youkai herd. Or is it a herd? I guess you could call it that. . .At that moment, before everything blacked out, I just wanted to break loose of my capturer and run and embrace Miroku, tearing him from his bindage. Unfortunately for him, and me as well, the spider jabbed its fangs into his arm, injecting poison. (A/N: Miroku gets poisoned a lot, doesn't he?) I screamed as well as I could, before I felt the fangs injected into the back of my neck. After that, everything was a blur. . .

::At the hut::

"Jeez, what's takin' Kagome and Sango so long?" InuYasha whined, pacing the floor back and forth.

"A little nervous about their koi, eh, Inu-chan?"

"NANI?? And only Kagome can call me Inu-chan,"

Nezumi smiled to herself as InuYasha crossed his arms, pityingly, and said nothing more.

"Nezumi-kun, will ya brush my tail? I can't reach it today, my arm hurts. . ." The little kitsune whimpered, a solemn look on his face.

"YAY!" Nezumi exclaimed, grabbing Shippou by the tail, and placing him in her lap, proceeding to brush the appendage on his lower back. Shippou sighed with contentment, a purr equivalent to a neko's, although it was more like a kitsune's, knowing as he is one.

::At the spider-youkais' cave::

I groaned, regaining consciousness, as I sat upright. Head lolling back, I mumbled to myself, "Where the hell am I?"

So...how do you like it? Please review so I'll know if you liked it or not! Thanks! And special thanks to all my reviewers, making this happen! And let's keep KawaiiNezumi7's computer in our thoughts, because it is not working, and I have to upload everything for her with her floppy disk. ---

InuYashaBishi334

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