Disclaimer: Still don't own Inuyasha.

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That night, a hooded figure stood in the forest, close to the Imperial Army's camp. She threw off her cape and placed a long sword on the ground. Kagome knelt in front of it and pulled it out of its sheath, staring at her reflection in the shining silver of the blade. She almost put the sword down when she looked over at the draft notice that was meant for Sota. Her eyes welled up with tears as she placed the blade against her hair. She sliced it, so the length of it was now above her shoulders. Then, she took the green ribbon that Sota had bought for her and wrapped it around her hair, making a tight ponytail. Then, she slowly took off her kimono and pulled on a pair of cloth pants. Taking a piece of cloth, she wrapped it around her breasts until they were flat against her chest. She slipped on a cotton shirt and went to a nearby pool of water. She splashed her hands in it and wiped the junk out of her eyes.

"Well," she said, grabbing the draft notice, "Here goes nothing."

o0o

Inuyasha sat outside his tent and stared at the moonlit sky. He kept thinking about the family who had lent them their land for their training. He hadn't even thanked them. He just went and left. And now they were all dead…

"A man is approaching the camp, sir" said an officer who had just walked up to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha stood up and walked towards the camp entrance. The man was talking with the guards and pulled out a draft notice. The guards looked at each other and nodded, allowing him to pass through. He did, and when he got to Inuyasha, he stopped and saluted him.

"Sir, I just arrived a few moments ago. I'm a relative of the family who's house burned today." He said, with a voice that sounded like the boy had just entered adolescence.

"Ah, yes. I'm truly sorry for what happened to them today." He said "You look almost like the young girl who lived there. Your hair and eyes are the same color."

The young man looked nervous about that. "Well, we…we were…cousins. But Kagome was more like a sister to me than a cousin. The rest of the family said we looked almost identical. My name is…Sota."

"It's nice to meet you, Sota."

The young man nodded and walked away. Inuyasha watched him and saw that he had walked to an area of the camp that didn't have any tents. Inuyasha walked into his tent, still curious about the young man.

o0o

Kagome struggled with the tent. She would get one side of it up, but when she tried to put up the other side, the whole thing would just fall down in a big heap.

"C'mon…" she whispered. To other teenage boys walked up to her.

"Need some help?" the first one asked. He had dark hair and brown eyes. "I'm Miroku."

"And I'm…Kohaku." The other boy said. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Thanks. I'm Sota." Kagome said, and it felt weird to call herself by her brother's name. It took them a while, but they got the tent up. After they were finished, they all sat against a magnolia tree, drinking some sake that Miroku had snuck out of the kitchen tent.

"So Sota, where are you from?" Kohaku asked.

"I'm from a village in the mountains. It's a long way from here." Kagome said, sipping her sake.

"I come from the river village."

"That's cool Kohaku!"

"Yeah, what's it like there?" asked Miroku.

"Well, it's busy. Very busy. It's a port town after all."

"Wow…" was all Kagome could say. "That must have been amazing! In my village, we're lucky if a traveler passes through every…" she counted the number on her fingers. "Six months!" Miroku and Kohaku laughed.

"Wow…sounds quiet." Miroku said. "I came from a monastery in the

mountains. I was training to be a monk."

"So, why are you here?" Kohaku asked.

"Well, I had no choice when I got my draft notice."

Just then, a soldier walked up to them. "Hey you three, it's time for bed." He said roughly. Then, he turned and walked away without another word.

"Before bed, I'm going to go take a bath," Kagome said, standing and stretching.

"Can I join you?" Kohaku asked. Kagome was shocked, but nodded.

They both walked to the pond and stripped off in the grass. Then, Kagome peeked out and saw Kohaku…and was shocked!

"Kohaku! You're…you're a girl!" she shouted from the bushes. Kohaku jumped into the pond and Kagome swan after her.

"It's okay, I'm a girl too!" she said, and Kohaku looked relieved.

"My real name's Sango. What's yours?" she said, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I'm Kagome. Was…was Kohaku your brother's name?"

"Yeah. He passed away last week. How did you know?"

"Because Sota was my brother's name. He…he died this morning when our house caught on fire."

"Oh Kagome…I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

Just then, they heard rustling in the bushes. Miroku's head popped out from them. "Well, well. You two are women!" he said.

"Miroku!" they shouted at the same time. Then, they swan up to the shore.

"You had better keep our secret, or we'll make your life a living hell!" Kagome hissed. Miroku had his eyes covered.

"Don't worry. I'll keep you're secret! Now, get out before the general sees you!" he whispered, his eyes still covered.

Kagome and Sango swan to the shore, away from Miroku, and put their disguises back on.

"Well, we should head back to camp, don't you think?" Sango said. Kagome nodded, and they all walked off back to camp, excitedly awaiting the first day of training.

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A/N: How was that one? I posted two chaps in the same day! Weird, huh? Please RR!

-AnimaeGurl-