Hello again! It's been over a month and I'm sure those of you who have been waiting for me to update OTMI are about ready to hunt me down and shoot me. I'm sorry it's taken this long for me to update, but I got distracted. Finals suck! School is now over and I'm free to write. If you enjoy this story please review. I'm ecstatic to have received all the reviews that I have, but more positive comments might inspire me to update faster. ; ) Here's the latest addition to my story. Hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha I would make them join a circus and entertain people with their latest attacks, Naraku would be kept in a cage and poked at with sharp pointy objects, and Kikyou would stop pestering Inuyasha and go to hell alone. Obviously I don't own Inuyasha because then life would be perfect.

Chapter 3- Scheming and Reminiscing

Kikyou had been walking for three days and was getting pretty tired. She strolled into a clearing and sat down in the grass. Her soul stealers brought their latest catch for Kikyou as she lounged in the serenity. Every once in a while Kikyou liked to enjoy peace and quiet. She was not a social person.

When Kikyou had been alive she was filled with a yearning to do the right thing. Fighting off the impure creatures that tried to claim the Shikon no Tama had been part of her daily routine. Protecting the villagers and being admired by them was simply a bonus. Her younger sister Kaede had always looked up to Kikyou.

Unlike Kikyou, Kaede was not skilled in fighting off demons. Her expertise was in her knowledge of plants, demons, and animals. Kaede was able to make a healing potion out of almost any ingredient. She knew plenty of cures, remedies, and poisons. When it came to knowledge Kaede beat Kikyou in almost every subject.

Kikyou laid down in the grass and stared at the sky as her energy slowly returned. Everything happened for a reason. She had been told that since birth. Kikyou didn't begrudge many people, but when she set her heart against someone or something it stayed that way. She had set her heart against Inuyasha.

He had come into her life and unlocked feelings she hadn't known existed. She wouldn't deny she felt a bond to the half-demon. He was, after all, her first and last love. Her trust, along with her heart, had been smashed to crystalline pieces when Inuyasha had betrayed her. 'How could he?' Kikyou used to ask herself. Oh, she knew now that it hadn't been Inuyasha at all, but that hardly mattered. She had been stupid to fall in love and was now paying for her folly.
The other thing she had decided to despise was her reincarnation. Kagome was an evil, conniving little bitch and deserved to be crushed in her hand. If Naraku wanted to kill her because she was able to find jewel shards, it was all for the better. Kikyou would help Naraku wipe Kagome off the face of the earth then Inuyasha would be hers again. 'How dare he assume that he can just drop me and pick her up?' Kikyou scowled up at the clouds.

Now that she thought about it, Inuyasha had been getting more and more distant since that little insignificant person had appeared. If Kagome hadn't shown up Inuyasha would be in hell with her now. Of course, if Kagome hadn't shown up Inuyasha would not only still be pinned to the tree, but he wouldn't have made the promise to her either. But why bother with little details? As far as she was concerned Kagome was the cause of Inuyasha's tentativeness. With her gone Inuyasha would belong to Kikyou again.

Kagome had already stolen so much from Kikyou already. First Kagome had stolen her life. Just because she didn't have any say in being born didn't make it any less her fault! Then she had stolen her soul. Her soul!!!!! All Kikyou's powers were reborn in that hussy too. Now she wants Inuyasha? 'What a greedy little self-absorbed witch,' Kikyou muttered angrily. ' The only thing she'll get is pain and suffering. Why should I be the only one to suffer? It's all her fault!'

Kikyou sat up abruptly. The tall grass swayed gently around her as she seethed. She looked to her right and caught sight of a deer that had wandered into the field. Just because she was dead didn't mean she couldn't appreciate a cute baby deer. She gracefully stood up and wandered to where the deer was munching happily on grass. Kikyou extended her hand to the hapless creature. It turned big chocolaty eyes to hers and... bit her!? The typically docile animal galloped away as fast as it could.

"Damn!" Kikyou shrieked in outrage, "That's it! The next thing to piss me off dies!" Kikyou looked thoughtfully into the distance. "I wonder where Kagome is." She snickered and picked up her bow and quiver. She slowly headed back into the woods. The dark shadows consumed her form until all that could be seen was the malicious silver glint of her soul stealers.

Meanwhile, back in Kagome's world, the sun was just coming up. The red alarm clock shrilled a relentless wake-up call to the exhausted teen. Kagome shot up in bed. She stared groggily around her bedroom. The window was slightly open allowing a gentle breeze to enter and ruffle her curtains. The sun was dancing merrily across her carped and Buyo was toying with a loose thread on her comforter.

"Another normal day in the life of Kagome Higurashi," she sighed. "I actually miss the excitement." Kagome slipped out of bed. The sheets had crept around her ankles while she was dozing and become sufficiently tangled. Kagome realized this one movement too late. With a loud cry Kagome was sent crashing to the floor. "Owwwww!" At that moment Souta decided to enter her room.

"Having problems sis?" He snickered. Just because he was becoming older and more mature didn't mean he couldn't poke fun at his older sister.

"I'll give you three seconds before I knock that smirk off your face," Kagome growled dangerously and stumbled to her feet.

"Aw, I was just teasing you Kag. Lighten up some will ya?" Souta was carefully backing up and making placating gestures with his hands. "That's what little brothers are supposed to do."

Kagome smiled innocently, "You know what? You're right. Do you know what older sisters are supposed to do?" Kagome began stalking toward her brother at a deceptively slow pace.

"Forgive their little brothers and let them live long and happy live with no permanent damage to their beings?"

"No. They're supposed to pound on their little brothers and teach them valuable lessons about teasing people at FIVE IN THE MORNING!!!" Kagome leaped at her brother just as he turned and ran frantically down the hall.

"Mom! Kagome's gone crazy! HEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!!" Souta raced down the hall and practically fell down the stairs. Kagome was hot on his trail. Souta whipped around the corner and into the living room. He reached out and grabbed a pillow off the couch just as his sister came careening through the doorway. In his last effort to escape, Souta slammed the pillow into his sisters' face.

"Oops." Souta slowly backed away from his now seething sister. "Kagome... I wasn't thinking. It was just an accident really!"

"You better start running if you want to live to see your next birthday vermin!" Kagome surged forward and tackled her brother to the ground. She pinned him and uttered one small phrase, "Pray for mercy from... Kagome... in pajamas." With that she started to tickle him mercilessly.

"Kagome... please! I...can't breathe!" Souta pleaded from his pathetic position on the floor of their living room. "STOP!"

"If you couldn't breathe then you couldn't talk. Say that I am the best sister in the world and you will obey my every command!"

"Never! This isn't fair. Cheater!" Souta screamed between breaths.

"Fine then. I'll just tickle you until you either relent or pass out! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You will submit you pathetic peon!" Kagome was thoroughly enjoying herself. She hadn't had this much fun in... well forever.

"Alright, alright, just get off!" Souta pouted and pleaded with his maniacal sister as she continued to tickle him senseless. If she didn't stop soon he might pass out after all.

"Say it you worthless worm." Kagome cackled wickedly.

"Okay! You are the best sister in the world and I will obey your every command." Souta muttered while trying to regain his breath.

"I didn't hear you." Kagome held her hand poised over his stomach, ready to tickle at the slightest provocation.

"This is so humiliating." Souta whined

"Say it or else!" Souta looked up at his sister. She had a malicious glint in her eyes and was smiling smugly down at her weary prey.

"Alright. You are..." Just as Souta started to repeat himself his mom walked in the room.

"What in Kami's name happened in here?" Mrs. Higurashi stared at the wrecked room. The kids certainly had wreaked havoc on the innocent pillows. Feathers were strewn about the hardwood floor. The once nicely spread throw rug was now a crumpled mass at the foot of the couch. Speaking of which, the couch 's cushions had been pulled off the couch and strewn about the room in the skirmish. In the middle of the disaster were her two children with sorrowful looks on their faces. She didn't know what to do. She walked up to her children and plucked a feather out of Kagome's hair. Just when the kids thought she was going to explode, it happened. She burst out laughing?

"What am I going to do with you kids?" Mrs. Higurashi chuckled as she headed back into the clean kitchen. "Come eat breakfast or you'll be late for school. You can clean up that disaster after school."

Kagome and Souta clambered into the dining room and consumed their breakfast like ravenous wolves. "Thanks mom. We got to go or we'll be late." Her children kissed her and dashed out the front door with their backpacks in tow. Souta took off toward his school while Kagome dragged her enormous backpack toward hers.

'Here we go again.' Kagome thought to herself as she climbed the stairs to the Halls of Hell, or as we are told, High School. Kagome headed straight to her locker. Some people took notice of the well-developed young woman as she put away her books.

While she was in Feudal Japan she had built muscles. Running around all the time had given her great stamina and endurance. Learning to use weapons from Sango and hand to hand combat from Miroku had strengthened her arms and shoulders. Dealing with Inuyasha had built up her resolve and obstinacy quite a bit, and being captured, not to mention tortured, by numerous demons had given her great lung capacity. (AN. Lung capacity comes in handy in gym class. DUCK!)

She was definitely well built now. She had matured over the years. As a young lady she now had curves in all the right places. She still hated her thighs though. (AN. Who doesn't!?)

Kagome hoisted her backpack onto her shoulder and took off to her first class. She entered the room and handed her absence excuse to the teacher. Ms. Arunjo, who had received an email from the principle, like all Kagome's teachers, explaining why she was missing, gave her a sympathetic look and ushered her to her seat.

"If you need anything, water or a priest, don't hesitate to ask." The teacher blinked back tears for the poor unfortunate child with pancreatic cancer. 'Only one year left to live, how sad.' The teacher sighed and went back to her desk to collect the mid terms. "Now all of you know how important these are. If you fail you will need a one hundred on your finals to graduate this class. Do you all understand?"

Kagome glanced around the room. The girls in the back were whispering frantically about the latest heart throb, the jocks in the front were smiling into mirrors and posing like new aged Adonis's, the Goths were on the other side of the room mumbling spells and curses under their breath, and the girl to Kagome's right was filing her nails and whimpering, "I broke it." Kagome sighed. Was she the only one who cared about graduating in the spring? She glanced around the room again. 'Well obviously.'

The tests were placed in front of the students and the grueling hour began. The clock slowly ticked away the endless minutes as Kagome used every brain cell she had to make equations and theorems come back to her. (AN. I've done this and it sucks!) Kagome worked her way through the test. When the hour ended Kagome still had ten problems left on the fifth page and hadn't even started the sixth. 'Oh crap.' She thought as she handed in her test, ' I'm screwed.'

Kagome went through the rest of her morning classes with pretty mush the same effects. In history she did really well. She wrote an essay about life in Feudal Japan. Who would know better than her right? She, after all, did spend the majority of her time there now.

Kagome headed for the bathrooms. She walked into one of the stalls then heard some girls talking. "Did you hear about Kagome?" One asked the other.

"Yeah. It's too bad that she has pancreatic cancer, and a tumor, and is schizophrenic," The second one replied. "She seemed so normal in class today." The first girl agreed.

"I have what!?" Kagome yelled as she burst out of the stall, "I am not schizophrenic! Well, maybe I am. I have been arguing with myself lately. But, that shouldn't count." Kagome turned to find the girls had fled the bathroom in fear of the loon. "Schizophrenia isn't contagious you know!" Kagome sighed and headed back out of the bathroom.

At her usual lunch table her friends were all waiting with worried faces. They broke down into tears when Kagome assured them she was fine. They assumed she was just putting on a brave front for their sakes. Kagome sighed again and ate her lunch while listening to her friends wail about how they'd miss her when she was "gone."

In seventh period things took a turn for the worst. Hojo wasn't a bad guy. He just acted like a doormat. He was way too passive. Kagome wanted a guy who would argue some. Someone who would fight to protect her. Someone who had good fighting skills, with big golden eyes, and long silver hair. Oh! She couldn't forget cute, fluffy, white puppy ears that would swivel at the slightest noise. Wait.... Did she just describe Inuyasha? 'Damn it!' Kagome screamed to herself, 'He doesn't want you so get over it. He has a thing for walking corpses remember?'

Just when self-pity started to leak into her mind Hojo strolled up. "Hey Kag. How are you?" His voice was unusually loud.

"Hi Hojo. Um... why are you yelling?" Kagome was looking up at him with inquisitive eyes.

"Your grandfather said the tumor was getting so big it was starting to affect your hearing." Kagome's eye started to twitch. "Is it affecting your eyes too?" Hojo asked in concern.

"No. Thank you for your concern. I think I'll head straight home after class." Kagome said through clenched teeth and a forced smile.

"Yeah. You should really rest. You look terrible."

"Okay then. I'll do that." As Hojo walked off Kagome was devising plans to get back at her grandfather. 'The lousy old fart! I'll get him for this one.'

The bell rang and Kagome prepared for her final exam of the day. After English finally got out Kagome headed straight for the shrine. The sun was slowly sinking beneath the horizon and sending pastels shooting across the sky. Color bled into color as Kagome climbed the endless sets of stairs to the shrine.

When Kagome reached the top her eyes drifted to the well house. 'No no. Don't go there, Kagome. You don't need him. You have a normal teenage life.' Kagome shook her head and deliberately headed for her house. The sun glinted off the Goshinboku tree. Kagome sighed. 'Why do I have to love him? Why does it have to hurt so much?' A tear slid down her cheek and fell to the pavement as Kagome walked through her front door.

As if in answer to her pain, in Feudal Japan raindrops fell heavily to the ground. 'What the hell?' Inuyasha looked up. The sky was clear, not a cloud in the sky. 'What's going on? I hope Kagome's alright' Inuyasha turned to look back at his friends.

Sango was carrying her Hiraikotsu while Kirara walked faithfully at her side. Miroku was walking behind her a little ways and enjoying the view thoroughly. His staff jangled merrily as he trudged on. Shippou was beside him humming softly. Inuyasha put on his infamous scowl and yelled back to them, "Hurry up. The sooner we get to the village the sooner we get Kagome back." Hearing this the group picked up their pace. Silent prayers went up for Kagome's safe return to their time. 'Please be alright koibito.' Inuyasha thought as he continued toward the village.

Thanks sooooo much for being patient with me. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. My comp has been offline for a month now. I finally got it back up. I'll start working on the next chapter right away. PLEASE review. My muses need encouragement. Also, I'm thinking of putting in a lemon. If you want me to add one then review and tell me so. Later!