Death Full Circle
Chapter 3
Meeting

It was his third day of school. He was talking to Sango and Miroku, sitting in the corner they had decided was theirs.

"So. Do either of you have any clue what's going on?" he asked quietly. He was border lining depression, worried sick over Kagome. He didn't know what had happened to her, even though he'd exchanged notes with Sango and Miroku. He now knew everything they knew, but he didn't know where she was, or how she was doing.

"No." Sango said. "All I know is we wear the same clothes Kagome always wore. Well, I do, anyways. So she must be around here somewhere."

"But we don't know where, yet." Miroku added.

Inuyasha was about to snap something at them, when he heard a clatter at the door. He turned around, and saw that someone had dropped their bag, and their supplies had blown everywhere. He glanced up to her face, and froze.

Standing before him, looking very surprised, was Kagome. No worse for the wear, whatever was going on, but she was staring at him. Her mouth moved very little, but he caught what she said.

"Inuyasha..?"

In an unprecedented display of emotion in that particular high school, he strode forward quickly and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her and pressing his face into her shoulder. Her arms went around his back, and he could feel her crying. "I thought you were dead!" she said, sobbing.

"I did, too. I was so worried, the whole time before I blacked out, the only thing I could think of was, what if Kagome shows up? What if he finds her, what if he hurts her?" He was murmuring into her hair, and he knew the people around him were staring and gasping and frowning and the like, but he didn't care. "Even after I woke up and found Sango and Miroku again...Oh, Kagome, I was so worried I could have died of it!"

He barely heard her, but she whispered, "...my heart was broken. It's mending again..." He hugged her tighter.

Just then the door opened, and he heard a disapproving 'ahem' behind them. Inuyasha pulled back a bit, and the two of them found themselves looking up at their teacher.

"Well!" he said, glaring at them. "What are you doing, and what have you to say for yourselves?"

"Sir, Kagome-san's under a lot of emotion stress, and she's not feeling well," Miroku said quickly, stepping up. "Do you think she could have a minute?"

The teacher looked back at the girl. She had tears in her eyes, and did look stressed and unwell. "All right. Head on out, and you can go to the nurse, okay, Higurashi?"

Kagome nodded, and before the teacher could say anything, Inuyasha led her out. He was about to say something as the two disappeared down the hall, when he looked down and saw the mess on the floor.

"What's this?" he demanded.

"Kagome-chan dropped her bag, sir." Sango replied, bending down to pick it up. "We'll get it."

She and Miroku worked at the mess silently, putting Kagome's things back in her pack as the teacher went about his teaching. When they were done, the slipped out the door, and the teacher was none the wiser until they were long gone, and he just decided to let it be...

"Kagome-chan?" Sango asked as they sat outside during lunch. It was a nice, peaceful day…just the perfect time to think about why on earth they were in a different time, and possibly a different dimension, since no one knew exactly how the well worked. "Do you know what's going on? Why are we all in your world?"

"I don't know." Kagome replied. She put a bit of rice in her mouth as she spoke. "But...I know you two died. I saw you. Naraku set Miroku's wind tunnel open, and it devoured you both. I heard it, and I spoke with Naraku after the fact, so I know it happened. I shot him."

Miroku waved away that thought, and leaned in close to Kagome. "What about the jewel?" he asked, he voice barely above a whisper. "Do you know what happened to it?"

"I know it wasn't destroyed." Kagome said suddenly, sure of it, though she didn't know how. "And I know it's here, with us, in my world." She closed her eyes. "It's as if I can feel it, as if it's connected to me somehow. I can't find it, but I know it's not...well, evil. Corrupt. In fact, it seems to be exceptionally pure all of a sudden."

Inuyasha leaned over and pressed his cheek to her hair again. "I'm just glad you're okay..." he whispered, making her blush.

"Ahem," a voice from above them said, causing them both to look up. Yuri was standing there, along with Kagome's two other friends, and she was blushing. "If you don't mind, we need to talk to our friend for a moment. We haven't seen her since the fiasco in Home Room."

"Well, I'm sorry," Inuyasha said, though he sounded like he wasn't, "but you can't have her right now. I've been worried, and I'm not letting her out of my sight for quite a while."

The three girls' eyes went wide, and they drew back in a small circle. Inuyasha though he heard something along the lines of, "He was worried! That's so sweet!" before they turned back.

"Well, we still need to talk to her. It's about you, though, so I suppose it doesn't matter if you're here."

Beside him, Kagome put her hand to her forehead and groaned. "Oh no...I knew this was coming."

"Yes, and very well you should have!" Eri complained. "You didn't tell us he was a hunk!"

"Please, Eri, don't. He'll get a swelled head..." Kagome attempted.

"Come to think of it, you never even told us his name." Yumi said.

"There was a reason! I never wanted you guys to meet him!" Kagome cried, kicking her feet in frustration and falling back in the grass. Inuyasha, still sitting beside her, turned and gave her a look that said, 'I don't know what's going on, but it's pretty damn amusing,' which included raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"Oh, Kagome, we don't want to take him away! We're your friends!" Yumi said consolingly.

"And unfortunately, you saw him first." Yuri added, pouting.

"But I still don't get it." Eri said, cocking her head to the side as she watched Inuyasha. "He doesn't look like a two-timer to me. Where did you get that idea?"

Kagome blushed and rolled over, burying her head in her arms. "I think I'll die now..." she muttered.

"What do you mean, two-timer?!" Inuyasha cried, turning to her. Sango winced, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Inuyasha..." she whispered, and he threw a glare at her. "Kikyo," she replied.

The response was immediate. He slumped to the side, looking away from everyone, and his face slackened. The fire in his eyes at the prospect of Kagome calling him a two-timer disappeared. 'She told them about Kikyo?' he thought. 'I wasn't expecting that...Hell, I wasn't expecting her to care enough to call it two timing!'

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she was saying. "I told them everything, I know…I told them about Kouga and Miroku, too."

Sango narrowed her eyes at Miroku. "Miroku! What did you do?" she demanded. Miroku's eyes went wide, and he gulped.

"I-I did nothing, Sango-san!" he cried, flinching back from her look.

"So was he the one that told you he loved you?" Eri asked, looking at Miroku.

"No, he's the pervert."

The three girls all made Aaahs of understanding. "So who is the—"

"Sango." Kagome cut Yumi off. "And don't say any more about it, please."

They spent the rest of the lunch period laughing and joking and a lot of explaining and catching up. It was insofar a fairly peaceful afternoon.

And then it happened.