Author's Note: Hi! I just want to thank everyone who gave my story a chance, and who have gone out of their way to leave me some nice comments! This story has begun writing itself, so I'm not sure how much longer it'll be. Anyway, thanks again for putting up with my weird writing style and weirder story. Everything I write is usually very tongue-in-cheek because I don't take a lot of things seriously, but I'm really trying with this story!
I also wanted to note that my readers will never find random Japanese words throughout any of my stories. If people are wondering why simple words aren't written in Romanji like in most other stories, it's because I find that silly. It's an English story, so there's no use in pretending it's anything else. The only Japanese words or terms I will ever use are the suffixes like "-chan" because that adds to their relationships with each other, and of course "Houshi-sama" because, well, that's what Sango calls Miroku. I'm certainly not going to translate that to "Monk", nor would I change it to simply "Miroku" because I feel it loses something. That's why the dub of Inuyasha drives me nuts. Well, among other things.
If you read this, thanks for your patience! On to chapter four!
"So you're saying I look like this friend of yours?"
His name was Toshihiko Motosuwa and he was born in Kyoto 18 years prior. Kagome had a hard time accepting that, though.
"You don't just look a bit like him," she was trying to explain. "You look EXACTLY like him. I would think you're related to him, except I know he never had an heir! He had no other family that I'm aware of."
Toshihiko thought on that for a moment. "Well, I don't know what to say. It must be a strange coincidence."
Kagome frowned. She no longer believed in coincidence.
"Anyway, I'm sorry for running into you before. You have a good day." The young man stood up from the table at the little outdoor café where he had been speaking with Kagome. Kagome would have just let him leave, but when he lifted his backpack something caught her eye.
Beads. Blue prayer beads.
"Wait!" She said, catching his arm, "Where did you get those?" She indicated the beads.
"Oh, these old things? They've been passed down in my family for generations. I just keep them around for good luck. It's superstitious nonsense but…never mind." Toshihiko blushed a bit and turned away, "I should be going now."
"Tell me," Kagome heard the hint of desperation in her own voice. "Please, tell me the story that goes with those beads."
Toshihiko sat back down and closed his eyes. "All right, as you wish."
"The story begins 500 years ago. It's said that there was a monk who fought with honor and died in battle, and left these beads with his true love. She was pregnant when he died, so he never knew his son, but the beads were passed down to him and to every generation since. They're not just ordinary beads, however. They say that before he died, the monk used his spiritual power to place his soul within them, so that he may lay dormant for as long as it takes before he is returned to the woman he loves."
When he saw the expression on Kagome's face, he stopped. "Um…that's the whole story, pretty much. I guess it's sad, but don't worry. I think it's silly that he would have put his soul in the beads to be reunited with his love, when a normal person would just die and know that he'd see her again when she died, too. Right?"
Kagome had gone completely still and quiet. Suddenly, she jumped up, nearly knocking Toshihiko out of his chair.
"I have to go!" She screamed back at him, already sprinting home as fast as her legs could carry her.
Toshihiko yelled after her, but she just kept on running.
Kagome didn't find his story silly at all.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE FEUDAL ERA…
"Don't get me sick!" Inuyasha yelled at Sango, showing his usual amount of compassion. Sango barely heard him, because she was too busy throwing up behind some bushes.
When she was done, she came back to Inuyasha and Shippo looking pretty green around the gills.
"Did you eat something bad?" Shippo asked, innocently.
"I don't think so," Sango said. But that was all she said, because he'd rarely spoken more than two words to her traveling companions since Miroku died.
Kagome had been gone for a while, and the more time passed the sicker and more lethargic Sango felt.
'Maybe I'll join you soon, Houshi-sama,' she thought to herself everyday. What was really depressing is that she was looking forward to it.
"Inuyasha! Sango-chan! Shippo-chan!" The three travelers (and Kirara) turned to see Kagome on her bike coming down the path behind them.
"You're finally back! About damn time!" Inuyasha exclaimed, trying to hide his delight.
"We have to go back to Miroku's grave!" Kagome said, before she even stopped her bike.
"What! Why!" Sango yelled, upset that her friend would want to hurt her like that.
"It's just this theory I have. I think Miroku did something before he died. I think he knew he was going to, and used the last of his energy to cast a spell…"
"You've gone crazy," Inuyasha proclaimed, ever the expert on such things, "All of this is too much for your feminine mind, and you've gone crazy. It's OK, Kagome, I'll,.,"
"SIT!"
Inuyasha's face hit the dirt.
Kagome grabbed Sango by the shoulders and barely refrained from shaking her. "Sango-chan, listen to me. There was this boy in my time that looked exactly like Miroku. He had some very old blue prayer beads and he told me a story about a monk and the love he left behind. The…pregnant love."
Sango threw up.
"I knew it, " said Shippo with an evil grin.
Sango glared at the little fox demon. "How could you know anything?"
Shippo puffed up with an air of importance and said, "Because you've been acting just like my oldest sister did when she was pregnant. She was cranky, tired, and throwing up all the time."
Sango lowered her head and said, (with little conviction) "I am not cranky."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
