Bec: Ok, well I'm back again #Bec stretches and flexes her fingers# and just so you all know, I'm going to be away from tomorrow for a week (my host family are taking me to Hokkaido, exciting ne!) so I won't be doing any more updates until after I get back…but hopefully I'll get a chance to write some more as it's apparently going to take like 18 hours to get there:s Anyway, here's my thanks for praise:

Kagome Lover: Thanks for reviewing again! It's always good to see people enjoying it! ) Hope you like this chapter too!

Moonmagicks: Yay! I'm glad you enjoy my writing style…when I first started I didn't mean for it to turn out like that, but no matter what I do it just seems to end up that way, so I don't fight it anymore:p #Bec takes a bow# Thank you for your compliments! They make me smile…a lot! Hope you enjoy this chappie…and if I think of a good pun example I'll be sure to let you know! #Bec hangs her head in shame that she can't readily supply one#


Rach: Tee hee! I finally get my own name written in bold! #We see Bec in the background with her eyes screwed up in concentration, fingers in ears and mouthing what seems to be random gibberish# Hmmm…I wonder what's wrong with Bec…#Rach smiles evilly#…except that she doesn't own Inuyasha of course! Tee hee! #Rach then skips away, a few minutes later Bec cautiously cracks open an eyelid# Is she gone? Phew! Now…on with our tale…where was I?


From Chapter 5…

She waved back, and then the tranquillity was broken. A shadow grazed her leg, travelling up her body until it covered her face, she looked up and all she could see was a silhouette. When she realised who it was, she let out a small groan.

Chapter 6

'And all I wanted was a peaceful morning, no trouble…head back to the bus, chat to Rin…' Kagome mused, 'I wonder if I ignore him maybe he'll leave me alone.' She grimaced, the chances being unlikely. The figure which cast the shadow, watched her with a slightly bemused expression on his face.

'Her emotions are easier to read than most, probably due to our mutual… connections…although I'm surprised, she doesn't seem happy to see me.' His lips quirked up at the sarcasm that laced his thoughts, well she probably wasn't happy to see the most lecherous boy in their school, despite the fact that they'd known each other longer than most people realised. They'd gotten to know each other because their fathers were, no, Miroku corrected himself, had been, very close friends. However once Kagome's father had died, they'd stopped seeing each other, and so it was only natural that Kagome was wary of him. It was funny she never realised he didn't see her in the same way as others though. To him she was one of the strongest people he knew… 'Including Inuyasha and the other demons in the vicinity.' He concluded, looking down at her, he saw her as the sister he never had, and that was taken away too quickly for his liking. That did not, however, stop him from noticing her shapely form. He crouched down and looked her square in the eyes, he knew from experience that most girls swooned when he did this…but then Kagome wasn't most girls…she was probably about ready to hit him already.

As Kagome watched him crouch down her sense of foreboding decreased, but she remained wary. 'Oh dear, don't tell me he wants to get all serious and brotherly on me.' She tried to block out the thought that she actually considered him as much a brother as Souta. 'Ok, so when we were young we were inseparable, and until my father died' her mental voice quivered, 'I did consider him a brother…but we've both changed, it's not the same anymore…he's not the same.' She smiled ruefully remembering the last time she had seen him he was nursing his face having once more succumbed to his lecherous urges towards Sango. She noticed he was gazing intently into her eyes, and she wondered if this was the 'magic trick' he performed on most girls.

He took a deep breath, and realised he felt no lecherous urges towards Kagome, 'Which is a good thing seeing as she's your oldest friend, and you're trying to be the brother here' a voice reminded him, 'not the lecher'. He mentally kicked the voice, but was pleased that he could still play the part of brother…that's if she would let him. 'Kags,' Her breath caught at the use of the old nickname, the only person that had ever called her that had been him, and now Sango. 'Is everything ok? I mean, Rin looked pretty out of it last night, and I know what you've been through. If you ever need to talk I'll be here, ok?' She looked into his blue eyes suspiciously, but when she saw he was, 'for once' he voice in her head noted amusedly, being totally serious she felt a sudden rush of affection for her lost and found adopted brother. She glanced away and noticed that he was fiddling with his prayer beads 'where did that thought come from' she wondered idly, nervously. She reminded herself that they were simply a fashion accessory, no more. She muttered a 'thanks', before looking back at him with a tentative smile. Miroku offered her a hand and helped her up, pulling her into a hug. She hugged him back, 'Welcome back, big brother,' she whispered affectionately. She heard a cough behind them and turned to see Inuyasha standing next to her tent looking at the side of her tent as if it was terribly interesting.

'Did I interrupt something?' He asked innocently, however the hint of a smile in his voice was enough to rile Kagome, especially after what had happened the night before. She turned quickly eyes flashing, and Inuyasha looked on in shock. 'There she goes again, her aura, that blazing with power, flashing into view.' He shook his head and tried to assume a nonchalant pose. 'Yep, that's right, because you'll fool the miko with your amazing skills' the voice was back again, 'well last time you were the one asking if I was "just going to hand it over?" and now you've changed your mind?' He sneeringly asked the voice, when he only got a mutter in response he focused on the girl again. She was intriguing, her powers had disappeared again, and he found himself looking at her, rather than her powers, for the first time.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, feeling her blood pounding in her veins, 'how dare he insinuate that…Grr…I'll tear him limb from limb' she fought to keep from a smile, that was so unlike her, she was level headed and calm…and certainly didn't tear people limb from limb…she left that to Sango. 'Well, only the reunion of a long lost brother and sister, but hey.' She focused her vision on Inuyasha and noticed he was looking at her. 'What? Cat got your tongue?' She teased, thinking that she had rendered him silent with her words.

He noticed her resemblance to Kikyou and his blood started to pound. Then he saw the crinkles at the corner of her eyes from smiling, and noticed her eyes were crystal blue, unlike Kikyou's dark orbs. Now she seemed far from smiling though, but he wasn't worried, the strange aura had gone. 'Keh' he thought 'nothing to worry about now.' Her words washed over him, without him really absorbing them, she really did look like Kikyou, but she seemed so different. Then something pierced his consciousness, '…Cat got your tongue?' He growled, and then immediately stopped shocked that he had dropped his guard enough to growl.

Kagome looked on shocked as a growl emitted from Inuyasha's lips… 'Ok, now you just remind me of Kouga,' she jested, knowing that it would rile him, and because truthfully, the noise did remind her of the noise Kouga sometimes made. Inuyasha's face twisted and he ignored her turning to look at his friend, 'you coming?' He asked, looking at his friend, his face like thunder. He was stumped to find Miroku sitting smiling at the situation. 'What?' he questioned menacingly. 'Nothing,' Miroku replied, looking at Kagome and giving her a wink, 'you just remember my offer, Lady Kagome, for you, I'm free anytime.' With that he walked off with Inuyasha in tow, and Kagome suppressed a smirk. She mentally sighed, 'he really is incorrigible, but it's nice to have my brother back.' She smiled happily, remembering their childhood days.

-----The day they met-----

A two-year-old Kagome looked shyly around her papa's leg at the boy whom she was supposed to be becoming friends with. He had dark hair and blue eyes; his hair was pulled back into a ponytail, which she thought odd. 'Didn't boys have strange germs that you could catch?' she remembered hearing it somewhere, 'and this boy certainly has them anyway, he looks like a girl with that bracelet on.' However this piqued her curiosity, and she wandered out, her shyness forgotten. 'Why do you wear that bracelet?' she asked. 'Bracelets are for girls.'

The three-year-old Miroku was wondering why his father had brought him here, he didn't want to be friends with this girl, he wanted to sit in the shrine in the back garden, and look at all the pretty pictures on the walls. He looked at the girl, who suddenly stood in front of him, grave and serious, her crystal blue eyes solemnly emphasising her question. He stared at her and thought about it. 'I don't know, I just do.' He answered, 'don't you like it?'

She frowned, 'yes, but it's for a girl, not a boy, you're strange' she countered. Now it was his turn to stare. 'Well you're the one that lives at a shrine,' he replied. The girl's eyes widened 'yeah, but that's normal', 'no it's not', 'yes it is', they were soon into full argument, and all reservations forgotten. A while later Kagome suddenly asked 'Would you like to go and see my shrine?' Miroku's eyes gleamed, and grabbing his hand, Kagome dragged him off to see 'her shrine'. From that moment on they were inseparable, grew up together until the day.

-----Present-----

Kagome shivered, wondering at how her thoughts had turned melancholy. She noticed that people were packing up camp, and she hurried to do the same. Once her tent was packed up once more, and everything ready, she sat down again and looked over at Rin. She was done too, so Kagome got up and walked over to her. 'Hey, do you want to walk together?' She queried, raising her eyebrow at Rin. Rin laughed at the gesture and smiled happily, 'sure,' she replied, 'as long as we don't have Kouga trailing after us…' She jibed, having heard the story the night before. 'Or maybe Miroku?' she teased having witnessed the scene outside Kagome's tent, and wanting to see what reaction she would provoke. 'Oh please,' Kagome rolled her eyes, and sighing dramatically, 'Miroku and I are old friends, actually he was just checking if you were ok.' Kagome replied, buoyed by the fact that she had made another friend, 'and as for Kouga,' she pulled a face, 'don't get me started…again' she laughed. Rin smiled and joined in with the laughter, feeling truly happy for the first time in a long while, her school life hadn't really been very pleasant since her family died, and it was nice to be able to jest and joke again…with a friend. The two picked up their packs and wandered off together at the call of the teachers, chatting animatedly, both happy to have a new friend.

-----Meanwhile­­­­-----

He paced the room, his mind going over countless possibilities and discarding them. His cell phone rang and he growled, before answering it with a curt, 'What?' he listened for a few seconds, and then said 'Fine.' And hung up. He continued pacing trying to figure out what to do. Finally it dawned upon him bright and clear, and he rubbed his hands together with excitement. It would be such fun. He smiled, his face lighting up and making him look deranged, and he reached for his phone. 'Well it certainly pays to be rich,' he chortled to himself, and dialled.

-----Back at camp-----

The group let out a cheer as they rounded the last bend and saw the bus in sight. Some of the boys broke out into a run, wanting the back seats, while the rest shook their heads knowingly, and continued walking. When they arrived at the bus they found (as most of the group had assumed) the bus was locked and so the (now) sweaty boys had run the last 800m for nothing.

'Ok, I want everyone to line up, put your packs into the bus and then head on,' one of the teachers called, 'make sure you fill up the bus from the back, and no skipping seats.' The teacher smiled a twinkle in his eye. He then proceeded to help and hinder those boarding the bus.

-----With Sango-----

Sango lay on her bed and flicked through her homework that she'd just finished, and once again thanked her lucky stars that she'd gotten out of camp again. She checked her clock for the third time in five minutes and sighed. 'Darn it, Kags won't be home for another five hours at the earliest' She resisted the impulse to try calling her anyway, 'just in case'. Her younger brother, Kohaku, strolled into the room. Sango flicked her eyes at him and asked easily, 'Didn't you ever learn to knock?' Kohaku smiled, and shook his head, 'Nope, but I came in here wondering if I could persuade you to abandon your moping for a while and take me to the park?' Sango sighed and rolled her eyes, and faked thinking hard. 'Let's see…. sitting moping, versus taking extremely annoying younger brother to the park…sitting and moping it is.' She answered with a grin, and he punched the air and ran down stairs yelling to their mum 'She said she'd take me!'

Sango simply smiled and pulled on some socks. She loved her brother dearly, even though he was a pest at times. He always seemed to be able to cheer her up though and they spent a lot of fun ties at the park. She thought back, the reason they were so close was that they'd had to move house, well countries, in fact. As such they'd finished school part way through the year in Australia, and when they had arrived in Japan they'd found that school had finished for the year, so the pair had pretty much only had each other for company. Sure they had their share of fights, who doesn't? But, they loved each other a lot, and had great fun together. Sango laced up her shoes, and ran down stairs grabbing her keys, wallet, and phone. She gave her mum a kiss on the way out, 'I've got my phone if you need me, and we'll be careful', she said as she dashed out the door. Their mum just smiled, knowing they'd be fine together.

'So, which park today?' Sango inquired of her little brother, as they walked down the garden path towards the front gate. Kohaku shrugged, 'You decide.' He threw back to his sister, who laughed and ruffled his hair, 'Fine, Senbon Park it is. Race you?' She challenged and took off laughing, her hair blowing in the breeze. Her brother grinned, and high tailed it after her yelling, 'No fair, you got a head start.'

-----On the bus-----

Sesshoumaru was sitting staring out the window, unable to believe he'd been saddled with…his eyes flicked to the human girl again, remembering her name from the previous night, 'Rin'. This was entirely the teacher's fault, some kind of twisted game, to make his students suffer. Sesshoumaru still didn't quite understand how it had happened, one minute he'd been calmly headed towards the bus Jaken in tow, and next minute he'd found himself in the window seat with this girl Rin being herded in next to him. He'd immediately put up his most glacial face, however that hadn't seemed to have any effect. Not that Rin was talking to him; she wasn't, at the moment. He found himself feeling oddly wrong footed. So much so that he unconsciously broke the silence himself, and spoke. 'What happened yesterday?' It was very abrupt, and he was surprised at himself, where had that come from? Out of the corner of his eye he saw her lips tighten. 'Well done,' the voice sneered as usual, 'you've put your foot in it now' 'How many times do I have to tell you that I, this Sesshoumaru, am the one with intelligence here not you?' His other voice snarled back. 'Looks like I struck a nerve, actually I'm surprised you said anything considering she's a human and supposedly beneath you…' the voice sounded thoughtful now and Sesshoumaru decided he liked it better when it was sneering. He proceeded to ignore the voice and the nagging sensation that he was doing something incredibly out of character. 'Who can dictate but I what I shall or shall not do?' he thought to himself, trying to convince himself that he had chosen to speak, not that it had happened for any other reason.

Rin was feeling bereft, somehow she had gotten separated from Kagome, and gotten stuck next to a guy that she didn't know. So she sat quietly, judging by his looks that he was a bit of a loner, and probably didn't want a chatterbox yammering at him. He seemed very isolated as he stared out of the window, and she subconsciously wondered what it was that isolated him. She came to the conclusion that he must isolate himself, because judging by his looks most of the girls would have been swooning over him, were he not unattainable in some way. As she took in his silver hair, and dark golden eyes, she thought, 'Thank goodness I can study people with out them noticing' inwardly she smiled at her talent of observing without being noticed. Then her lips tightened as she heard a question float out of nowhere and smack her straight in the face. Her eyes narrowed, 'What is it to you?' she replied, more harshly than she intended, then before she knew it her voice softened and 'Sorry, it's just it's a difficult subject for me.' Escaped her lips. She looked at him fully, her chocolate eyes locking on his dark amber ones, 'To tell you the truth I don't know what actually happened.' She answered. She saw disquiet flicker way down in the depths of his orbs, and she wondered what it was that had him uncomfortable. She looked away, she knew tears had sprung into her eyes again, 'I was in a dream world.' She left it at that.

He noticed her eyes narrow before she spit out a harsh reply. He was stunned, but before he could respond, or even monitor that this human girl had been utterly disrespectful to him, he heard her go on, although it seemed, from the look on her face she surprised herself too, with the admission. He suddenly found himself face to face with the girl; she was staring right at him. He felt a sudden disquiet flare in him, although he didn't know why. 'What has gotten into you?' his rational cold, side asked, as he looked on surprised when tears came to her eyes, and found himself feeling, 'What?' the annoying voice taunted, 'don't tell me you're feeling now too?' He masked his frustration with himself, and heard her final sentence, 'I was in a dream world.' What on earth did that mean? He looked at her, but knew that she wasn't going to say anything else. He was frustrated at himself for even asking in the first place. He turned back to the window and glared at the passing scenery.

-----Further down the bus-----

Kagome was cradling her head in her hands, 'why?' she thought, 'what do I do to deserve these things?' She had somehow found herself in the awkward position of being on the back seat with none other than Kikyou, Ayame, Kanna and Kagura. And she was in the corner. As if to prove that someone, somewhere hated her, Kouga was in the seat in front. 'And I was doing so well' she lamented within the safe depths of her mind. 'Well let's try and see the positives here' she thought, her mind immediately focusing on the fact that so far the 'fabulous four' were ignoring her, and as such Kouga hadn't realised she was there. 'Ok, I'll just get out my music and listen to that.' She ducked down into her bag and as she sat back up hit her head on the drinks holder and let out an 'Ow!' Then she silently sighed as not only the 'fabulous four' but Kouga also turned to look at her, his face lighting up.

-----In another seat further up the bus-----

Miroku and Inuyasha had managed to get seats together, and so were both quite comfortable. Oblivious to the others, who were in less happy predicaments. Miroku was smiling at the thought that he'd regained the sister he thought he'd lost. Inuyasha, also thinking about that morning, realised what had been bothering him. He had finally managed to piece together what that wench had been saying earlier. 'Hey, 'Roku, who was that girl you were 'talking' to this morning?' he asked, 'and don't try feeding me that brother/sister line, because I don't believe it.' He finished. As Miroku was about to answer he heard an 'Ow!' come from somewhere down the back and turned in his seat to see poor Kagome's predicament…


Bec: #Bec cracks her back# Well, I'm once again done for the day, enjoy! If you like leave me a note, if not, I hope you enjoyed it anyway! ) Bye for now…don't forget I'm gone for a week! But I'll hopefully have another chapter when I get back! Ja ne!