A/N: Hi, I'm back…quite unfortunately. I've just got my lazy brother's butt off the couch and sent him out to go swimming, cause he was hogging the comp. And Asami's out with Mitchan and Orihime-kun, so…yeah. And I'm still getting over Mitchan's reaction of not reading my story because Kikyo was wearing blue and not white and red. Errg.

So, it's time for THE REVIEWS

Kate-Kotobuki: Thanks!

chickgurla: Hey, Asami told me you got an account...Chicks Gurla? Methinks? Anyways, thanks for reviewing…the five of you…

Snail-sama: thanks for reviewing! LOL

Sakura Arielle: Well, meh! I haven't met her yet! So there!

Fran KC: Pray tell if there's an underscore there…I can't see it, sorry if there is. And thank you. No, Ayame isn't, but she'll be trying to be less…stick-to-the-Koga, if I can put it that way. Thanks again.

ILuVxSeSsHyx4eVa: Wow. It took me a while to type that in. Heh. Thank you. I'm sorry for the late update. And self-bashing is a hobby of mine…if Orihime-kun doesn't convince Kohaku-onii-chan to do it first.

Now, on with the story!

Koga: No, wait a minute…you forgot something…

Hmm? I did?

Koga: Well, it starts with a D, ends with an R, and has 'ISCLAIME' in the middle. Take a well educated guess, puffball.

proceeds throttling Koga I know it's not mine, dofus! If it was, I'd've made sure Kikyo did NOT die, the freakin' arrow MISSED for some weird reason, they lived happily ever after and that crybaby Kagome never existed. And don't bash me about it! I stick to my opinions, and I'm improving Kagome in my opinion in this story! P.S., I'm mentioning a few-well, four characters from Sakuya (Chicks Gurla on FF, Fake Wings on FW)'s new story, and they're KIYOUMI (KIKI), JINEH, KENJI and MOMITCHI.

Note: the uniforms are exactly as they are from the series, so use your imagination. And the girls' skirts can be either the length of Kagome's, ¾ thigh length or a bit over knee-length. And also, I hope you can see that it is narrating based on one character at a time. It was Ayame last time, and now it's Kikyo. I think it'll be in order like this: Kagome, Sango, Sesshoumaru, InuYasha, Miroku, Koga, and then repeat. I'll alert you all of any changes in this pattern.


Kikyo paused, peeking inside the small well house. She was, evidently, on shrine duty, and Grandpa had needed that powdered mummified goose tongue he had stored in the shelves by the well. She looked around a second more, before stepping in.

"AAAH!" the shriek came as she was grabbed by her ankle and dragged down the small flight to stairs, picked up upside-down and slammed onto the well cover.

A large, dainty blue eye peered at her closely. "Not you. It's definitely not you. Pretty lass, this girl, though. Would you like to keep her, master?"

"NOOO…" came an angry hiss. The blue eye narrowed. "Hmm. If I had more time, I'd take her. Oh, well." Then she was picked up again and slammed up the stairs and thrown out the door, into the rain.

Strange…Kikyo thought, ignoring the pain at the ankle, back and shoulder, It was perfectly sunny a few moments ago…

She fainted to the fading sound of her mother, sister and brother calling her, and the last thing she saw was Kagome's worried face.


What It Takes

Chapter Two

Omen


Ayame paused briefly before opening the mahogany door, painted a luscious, pearly pale blue. Peeking in, she winced and closed it. "Well?" She turned sadly to the small group gathered behind her.

It was a month since the mall incident. Sango and Miroku had come back from Honolulu, and everything was fine…until Kikyo became the victim of some strange thing lurking inside the wellhouse.

She had been going in to retrieve a small jar of medicinal herbs. Something had grabbed her leg, dragged her down and thrown her onto the cover that went over the opening of the well. After examining her briefly, the something dumped her down the steps leading to the wellhouse and left her there, unconscious.

Sango's face was anxious. Kagome's was pale, and Ayame's own was nearly hysterical. InuYasha, Kouga and Miroku stood silently behind the girls. Sesshoumaru had yet to be informed of the accident, since he had left for a business trip just a week ago. Clearly everyone was hoping Kikyo would heal before he came back…tommorow.

The door creaked open behind Ayame.

"KIKYO!" Everyone rushed in to support the girl on her crutches, pale and thin. Kikyo's hair was braided into a stiff, thick braid and looped up, tied with a white ribbon. She was wearing a comfortable cotton Miko outfit, and her left ankle was bandaged softly but firmly. She smiled slightly.

"Kikyo, you were just asleep when I peeked in! Did I wake you? I'm sorry!" Kikyo laughed. "No…truthfully, I was kind of hungry-"

"I'll get you something, Kikyo!"

"I'll tell mom, nee-chan-"

"You can't cook, Koga, shut up!"

"Sango's a wonder, you know, she'll fix something up…"

"-SLAP- And I thought you were just complimenting me!"

"What would you like to eat?"

"What happened here?"

Everyone froze, turning slowly. "Um…heh…nii-san…weren't you supposed to be back tomorrow?" "Is it wrong of me to come early?" Sesshoumaru asked, eyeing Kikyo's cast in an I'm-going-to-hurt-whoever-did-that way. "And what happened to her while I was gone?"

"Um…Sesshoumaru, have I ever complimented your style? Because that shirt is just amazing…" Sesshoumaru shot a glare at Miroku, who was laughing nervously. "Houshi, I have seen your wardrode and I daresay your collection of silk dress shirts is much greater than mine." Miroku's eye twitched. "Heh…"

Ayame fidgeted. "In truth, Sesshoumaru, there's something in the well house. When Kikyo went in to find something her Grand - er…a customer asked for it dragged her around and slammed her against things nad she broke her ankle."

She looked up through her bangs to see a sullen-looking Sesshoumaru. "I'm okay, though," Kikyo, added, with a smiled. Everyone else looked at her, and all but Sesshoumaru yelped. She looked good as new, and had deposited the crutches, hiding them behind the doorframe. She had a sweet smiled on her face that quickly turned into surprise when Sesshoumaru hugged her, tight, his fingers digging into her back. "I'm glad…" he whispered, as the others began to edge away into Kikyo's room. "I'm glad you're okay. You could've died…"

He straightened up; a small smiled gracing his lips. "Do you need anything?" She paused, considering. "Well, no, actually. I believe I'm fine, but thank you." He nodded. "I need to be by the office in half an hour, and I'll be back for dinner (A/N: Every Friday the group of InuYasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Sesshoumaru, Kikyo, Koga and Ayame have dinner together at a restaurant, and they take turns paying. It's Sesshy's turn.). I came by to tell you I got a certificate of sponsorship for you, for two children…a young girl eight-year-old named Isuzu, nicknamed Rin, whose parents had died when she was very young, and a five year old named Shippo, whose widower father died when hit by lighting. I had them mailed to you by next week."

He paused. "I'll be going now." Kikyo smiled. "Thank you. Good bye." Sesshoumaru shot her one last smiled and left.


Kikyo looked at the people in her room. InuYasha was lounging in the cushioned rocking chair, Miroku was reading a magazine in a loveseat, Sango was sitting on the carpet playing cat's cradle with Ayame who insisted on triple-string, and Kagome was making the bed. Koga and InuYasha were engaged in a glaring-no-blink-or-laugh-contest, with Koga sitting on the velvet chair, pulled to face the rocking chair.

"Hello? People?" Everyone looked at her. "Kikyo! You shouldn't be off your crutches!" Kikyo laughed. "Oh, the doctor came in half an hour before you guys came back from the All American Outlet (A.N: Ever heard of it? No? It's in Tokyo, Japan, and there's one in Osaka and Kyoto too. There are all these really famous or popular North American stores, and there's all fifty to seventy five of them in an outlet ring, like Dixie Outlet Mall, but MUCH better. Look for one when you're visiting. They might not be there anymore, seeing as I came to Canada when I was five from Tokyo and they had torn the Honshu Island AAO down) and told me I could take off the cast. I kept it on as a joke."

Everyone stared.

"But I still have a scab, so shut up all of you."


Kikyo pulled up her white socks over the scab. She winced as her nail touched the sensitive, pink skin around it that was still scraped. But she was okay.

"Kikyo!" She turned and exited the room. She wore a lavender silk skirt that was half-calf length. With it she had a sleeveless white silk pearl button-up shirt.

"KI-KI-YO!" "Okay, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming…"

Kagome smiled as Kikyo came down the stairs. She wore a pale green skirt, knee-length, with a loping belt that hung low on one side; three glittering lengths of silvery gold pinned together with a forest green star-shaped pin where it hung low and flowed for a few inches. She also wore a white spaghetti-strap top with a glittery satin covering that was transparent and had ¾ sleeves.

"So, how's your ankle?"

"Oh, the ankle's fine. It's the scrape I'm worried about."

"Hmm."

"Yes."

"Ayame…she's in my class. And Sango's in yours…"

"…yes, that's right…"

"And InuYasha and Koga are in your class too, right?"

"Yes."

"Summer vacation leaves me so confused."

"Haha…me too, nee-chan. Me too."

"Oh, by the way, Kiki called…"

"Kiyoumi?"

"Yes, she said…"

And the two proceeded to wait for the car that would take them to dinner.


The round table was huge; it was a perfect first class restaurant. A round swerving-turning, more like it-glass circle sat in the middle, and plates, forks, knives and chopsticks were set in place for eight.

Kikyo sat herself between her sister and Ayame. Beside Kagome was Sango, beside her was Miroku, and then InuYasha. Across from Kikyo was Sesshoumaru, beside him was Koga, who also happened to be beside Ayame. Ayame wore a white a dress sprigged with little purple flowers, with no sleeves and a button-up top. Sango wore a black halter top and a pale pink skirt. Koga wore a white shirt and brown silk pants. InuYasha wore a red dress shirt and black jeans. Sesshoumaru was in a half-buttoned white silk dress shirt and black dress pants.

"So," Sesshoumaru started, after every placed their orders, "What other interesting things happened while I was gone?"

Everyone laughed nervously. The way he said 'other interesting things' stated the fact that he was clearly not happy about what had happened to Kikyo. Everyone beside Sesshoumaru, Kikyo and Kagome laughed nervously.

"I finally got to study for my entrance exams since InuYasha had stopped bothering me about what I should get him for his birthday-and YES, I did take the hint about the NARAKU CHEW TOY for your 'dog' so DON'T YOU SAY A THING MISTER-so I got an A+ on it…"

"Miroku left Jineh and Kiki alone! ALONE! I think he's getting over this womanizing thing…"

"Did I mention Sango and I were getting engaged? And Sango, dear, I only stopped because Kenji and Momitchi blackmailed me…besides, Kiyoumi's sister is still an option…I wonder if Ayame Himemiya is free tomorrow…"

"WHAT!"

"Well, um, Grandpa said that my singing was horrible and when I'm married Koga would want entertainment, so he's scheduled me for vocal and harp lessons…"

"WHAT! I'm going to go THROTTLE that grandfather of yours-"

"To get the money quicker?"

"…"

"I HATE YOU!"

"Kagome stopped whimpering about the fact that I refused to let her use my money to donate to an orphan when Kikyo offered her the certificate for Shippo…"

"I found out what the thing in the well was…"

Everyone stared at Koga.

"Well?" Kikyo inquired, "What is it?"

"Um…dangerous…"

Everyone stared at him.

"What? It's true! Or are you all just stupid?"

"Koga," Kikyo began calmly, taking a sip of her strawberry-banana-kiwi smoothie. "You should work in information technology." "Oh?" he perked up, immediately interested, "Why so?"

"It's because what you've told me is technically correct, but of no use to anyone."

Everyone sniggered.

"Kikyo," Koga shot back, "You should be a businessman."

"Why so?"

"You don't know what your attacker is or what it wants, but you expect me to be able to help. You've not progressed on the answer a single bit, but somehow now it's my fault."

Everybody waited for Kikyo's response.

"That, my friend, is not possible," she told him, "I'm female, and you said businessman. Besides, when you find yourself talking to Sesshoumaru you always get somewhere, and, though nothing's ever his fault, it's helping. I don't believe all businesspeople follow your code of conduct, Koga…"

Dinner continued.


Kikyo watched as her twin sister paused briefly before sliding over the door of the well house. "Kagome, be careful." "I'll be fine, Kikyo! Kaede's climbing the tree. She's slipping."

Kikyo sighed, and walked over to lift Kaede from the tree when-

"Kikyo! KIKYO, GET OVER HERE, QUICK!"

She did so, after sending Kaede back to the house, and grabbed Kagome from the stairs quickly. A white hand withdrew from beneath the landing quickly.

"Neesan, what is that?" Kikyo's brow furrowed.

There was a pause. Then, finally,

"Dangerous."


"Grandfather, we have to shut down the wellhouse."

"We can't do that! The wellhouse is a sacred attraction for many of those who visit our shrine!"

"Would you like to pay the hospital bills of those people who get injured, as well as hiring a lawyer to hold your own when one of them sues you?"

"It's a dangerous place! I agree entirely, my dear granddaughter. It'll be done IMMEDIATELY."

"…thought so…"


A/N: The little Kikyo/Koga retorting session isn't mine. It's from February 2002's Reader's Digest's Laughter, the Best Medicine. Please review! I know this chapter was completely pointless, but bear with the amateur!