A/N: Oh, btw, Sango brought the Hiraikotsu with her. Just wanted to let you know, in case you wondered. I mean, she just isn't distinctly Sango without it!
Chapter 6
Sango and Miroku felt themselves being pulled to an unknown destination. They found themselves at the bottom of a well, staring up into darkness. Silently, they remained there for a few minutes, wary of what might be waiting for them on the surface.
"Do you think we're in Kagome's time?" Sango asked, her eyes squinting up in the darkness of the well and clutched her Hiraikotsu and Miroku's staff to her body.
Miroku shook his head even though he knew Sango most likely couldn't see it. "I'm not sure, but there's only one way to find out."
They climbed out and looked around. It appeared that they were in some kind of hut. Its doors were closed, but from the light coming in through between the boards, they could tell it was still daylight. Faint yet strange sounds came from with out.
"Sango," Miroku began, his voice starting to shake. "Look."
Sango turned to see what he was talking about. Miroku had removed his rosary beads. "Your hand! The Kazaana is...gone!" Miroku nodded and smiled. "Kagome removed the curse."
Gently, Miroku lay Kagome's body on the ground...and jumped back. Sango covered her mouth and gasped. Kagome's body looked as it had before she was kidnapped by the taiyoukai. Her pointed ears and silver strands had vanished, as had her inu youkai markings.
"What do we do now?" Sango asked, breathlessly. For the first time in her life, she was frightened. She was now in a world that neither of them knew anything about. It terrified her. "Is she...will she come back?"
Miroku began to speak but was interrupted by a soft sighing sound. They looked down at the body at their feet. He smiled with relief. "She lives, Sango."
Kagome's eyes flew open, revealing her large, chocolate brown eyes. She gasped for breath and sat straight up, a scream leaving her lips. The houshi knelt beside her and touched her trembling shoulder. "Kagome, it's alright. You're safe now."
Kagome turned her huge eyes on him and for a second seemed completely lost. She looked down at her arms and hands. No markings...no claws. Just normal looking ningen features met her eyes. She grabbed a fistful of her hair and stared at it. The silver was gone.
"I'm...alive. I'm...human," she whispered shakily. With a cry, she threw herself into Miroku's arms and began to weep.
Miroku picked her up in his arms and they all left the shed. The moment they did so, the ground began to tremble. All three looked back into the shed and watched with amazement as the well shook and collapsed violently in on itself, a bright blue light shooting upwards. It tore the roof off the small building and the shed collapsed.
Kagome stared. "Whoa," she muttered. 'Damn, jii-chan is gonna have kittens when he sees this,' she thought.
At her insistence, Kagome asked to be lowered to her feet, saying that she already felt much better. She took a shaky step forward, only to stumble a bit. Miroku reached out to grab her... Kagome let out a shriek and whirled around, her hand making violent contact with the hentai's cheek.
"You just couldn't WAIT until I rose from the dead to cop a feel, could you, Miroku!" She glared up at him, arms crossed sternly across her bosom.
He only grinned stupidly, and rubbed his poor, abused face tenderly. "I was merely checking to see if you had been altered in anyway, Kagome-sama. After all, you have JUST returned from the dead."
Kagome and Sango scowled at him before walking off towards Kagome's house.
After embracing Kagome and being introduced to two oddly-clothed strangers, Kagome's mom listened patiently to Kagome's story of just WHY her daughter had been gone for nearly four months. Kagome told her mom MOST of went on, leaving out the parts where she was kidnapped, marked, mated, and pregnant...and also where she died a vicious death.
While Kagome explained, Mrs. Higurashi stared at Sango and Miroku. Their quiet, respectful manner and strange dress, was wonderful to behold. She just couldn't believe that living, breathing pieces of Japanese history stood respectfully in her living room. 'Oto-san is going to have kittens when he sees them,' she thought excitedly. Mrs. Higurashi, Suki as she begged to be called, was delighted to have them. She bade them sit and rest while she started on dinner.
Soon afterwards, Souta arrived from his friend's house. He went into the living room and stopped, staring hard at Miroku and Sango. He took a second look and immediately knew who the two strangers were. "Wow! You must be Sango and Miroku the filthy pervert!" he cried.
Sango and Kagome laughed while Miroku only bowed his head in a humble gesture. "Why yes, I am Miroku. But I am one who serves Buddha. I am a houshi."
Souta eyed him doubtfully. "Look, Kagome described you to a tee. You're the hentai who keeps grabbing her backside." He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Besides, Inuyasha's told me all about you too. You can't fool me."
Before Miroku could respond, Souta excused himself and bounded up the stairs.
A few minutes later, Suki Higurashi asked Kagome to get the spare bedrooms ready. Sango nudged Kagome, asking that if it was alright, could she sleep wherever Kagome was sleeping at least for now?
Kagome nodded and looked at Miroku. She asked if he minded being alone in a strange bedroom by himself. He admitted that it would feel very odd if he were to be separated from Sango, since they had been sleeping near one another for the longest time.
Sango and Kagome looked at each other. It WAS a legitimate concern. Would it be fair to let him sleep alone while Sango slept in Kagome's room? They had a murmured conference before turning to give the houshi their decision. It was unanimous. They would allow him to sleep in Kagome's room with them for a few days, just until he got used to sleeping in the house. After that, he'd have to sleep in his own room.
At dinner, Kagome's grandfather finally returned to the house. He was very upset. Apparently, something had destroyed the well shed, not to mention the well itself. "Punk kids," he muttered with disgust.
When he sat down to eat, he saw two strangely dressed people sitting at the table.
Kagome introduced the newcomers as her friends from the Feudal era.
"Hmm. I see. Very interesting," he mumbled through his food before stopping. Nearly choking on his food, his eyes shot up and looked at the visitors again. He managed to swallow. "What did you say Kagome? From the Sengoku Jidai? These two are from the Sengoku Jidai?" He nearly fainted from joy.
Quickly, Kagome told him of what had transpired. Nodding enthusiastically, he practically ran her over to ask Sango and Miroku hundreds of questions.
Kagome sighed and shut up, letting her grandpa have his fun.
Later, after Kagome had shown Miroku and Sango how to use the bathroom gadgets, she took her own shower. She lay in the scented water, thinking.
What a day she had had! She'd been a demon when she woke this morning, died a horrible, screaming death, traveled 500 years into the future and had made it home in time for dinner.
Absently, she began rubbing her belly, then stopped immediately. Oh yeah, she'd also lost her baby. Couldn't forget THAT one.
Poor little one! It never had a chance. Kagome felt a few hot tears fall and heard them splash into her bath water. She sighed again. Oh well, it was probably better this way. When or if HE ever found out, it would just be something else that Sesshoumaru would hate her for anyway.
Kagome got out of the tub and dried off. It wouldn't do to think of him anymore. She'd never see him again...and that was just fine with her.
The next day, Kagome took Sango and Miroku for a trip around Tokyo in her mom's car. She was glad that high school was over already and that she had her driver's license. It made her last stay in the Feudal era a little easier to deal with, knowing that she didn't have to be back to take those bloody tests.
Miroku and Sango were completely blown away by Tokyo. They had never thought that ningens would ever have built a city to such a massive size or that so many ningens existed in all of Japan. For a few moments, Kagome thought they each of them may have blown a fuse, trying to take in every thing that they saw.
Kagome dragged them both to the mall, where she shopped for clothing for them. A few years earlier, her mom would have had a fit knowing she spent so much. But thanks to a death of a rich old aunt, who by all accounts was a total dragon whom no one would miss anyway, they were left quite well off.
It was only after Sango was nearly reduced to tears from all the clothing heaped upon her, that Kagome finally stopped. In all her excitement to help her friends blend in, she had forgotten that they were totally new to her time. Their world, which had been quiet, simple, and peaceful, was now loud, complex and decidedly UN-peaceful. Clothes were cool, but they needed time to adjust.
Kagome hugged her friend. "I'm so sorry, Sango-chan. I'd forgotten..." She turned red from embarassment.
Sango sniffed and hugged Kagome back. "It's okay, Kagome-chan. It's just...this is all so foreign to us. Do you think we could go back to your home now? This has all been wonderful, but it's just too much to handle."
Kagome smiled gently. "Of course. But are you guys hungry? We could stop somewhere and grab a bite to eat."
Miroku nodded. "That is an excellent suggestion, Kagome-sama. I am decidedly famished." His hand snaked out, but before it could reach its target, Sango slapped him. His hand withdrew from her backside.
"That's quite enough from you today," she said grumpily.
When they finally returned to the shrine, a gleaming black car was in the driveway. All three got out of the car and went over to it. Sango and Miroku ooh and aahed. Never had they seen such a big, pretty, SHINY thing.
"Whoa, it's a Mercedes," Kagome murmured, eyeing the automobile appreciatively.
Miroku reached out to touch this thing called a mer-say-deez. Kagome just happened to glance at the dashboard, where a tiny red light blinked at her.
"Hey, Miroku, I wouldn't," she began.
He touched it anyway and a shrill siren blared.
"do that," Kagome finished, covering her ears.
All three of them stepped backwards, Sango and Miroku moving the furthest away. They had never heard anything so loud before in their life.
"Kami! Turn it off!" Sango cried, clapping her hands over her ears.
Kagome heard the front door of her house open and someone running towards them. Two loud bleeps could be heard and the alarm cut off abruptly.
The sudden silence confused Miroku. Shakily he went to Sango, who had removed her hands from her ears. Everyone turned to see who had shut off the ear-splitting noise.
A tall, black-haired man with clear blue eyes approached them, a huge grin on his handsome face. Kagome smiled, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
He was dressed in a dark blue Armani suit.
