A/N: Here is chapter five. I hope you guys like it, and please keep your reviews coming! Your awesome feedback is the fuel that makes me want to keep writing! I hope you enjoy this next installment!

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What the Future Holds
Chapter Five

Kagome groaned groggily as she awoke, and glanced around the room in curiosity. It had to have been a dream. Kagome could have sworn that Sango and Miroku, two of her closest friends from the feudal era, had come to her aid with Inuyasha...but it was impossible. They had been dead for five hundred years.

Frowning deeply, she allowed her head to fall ungracefully back down to her pillow, but yelped at the pain the simple gesture caused. Her head shot back up quickly.

"Inuyasha...?" she whispered. She was still inside her old house, which must mean that she and her family were unfortunately still trapped inside its walls. "Inuyasha?" she called again, this time louder than before.

She could faintly hear talking coming from an adjacent room, and soon, Inuyasha entered, as well as the rest of her family, and...

"Sango? Miroku! It really was you two! How did you...? I mean, what did you...?" Kagome stammered, ignoring the pounding sensation in her head.

Sango laughed. "I told you it was a long one, remember? But we've come up with a shorter version, if you'd like to hear it?"

Kagome nodded with enthusiasm. "Tell me! I'm just so glad you're back!" she beamed.

"Well," began Miroku in his most professional voice possible, "to the best of our knowledge, something happened when Naraku came back. I don't know how to explain it, but the resurfacing of the Shikon jewel has somehow thrown us all back into the picture...even dear Sango and myself..." he pointed.

Something suddenly occurred to Kagome. "Miroku, if the jewel is back, does that mean..."

But Miroku had already begun to nod sadly, and he brought his cursed hand into her view. "Yes. History is once again repeating itself..."

Kagome nodded, partly in shock. Naraku was back. The jewel was back. Sango and Miroku were alive again, standing in front of her as if they had never been gone. It was a lot to handle all at once like this.

Sango smiled at her. Kagome remembered the demon slayer how she used to be...always either in an informal kimono, or her demon fighting suit. The Sango that stood before her now was slightly different. She had her hair pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck, and was wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans and a blue baby doll t-shirt. The same case applied to Miroku, who was wearing a pair of loose fitting jeans and a red hooded sweatshirt. Kagome blinked. It was odd seeing her friends decked out in modern clothing...but at least they were there with her once again.

"We have so many problems I'm surprised we're not drowning in them yet." Sesshoumaru was saying. Kagome blushed. She had no clue how long she had been spacing out. "We have to figure out some sort of game plan...and as I've said countless times now, our first order of business needs to be getting out of this house..."

"Yes," agreed Inuyasha. "We have to find a way out of here so that we can go looking for the jewel shards. How did you two get in?" Inuyasha was staring at Miroku and Sango with questions in his eyes.

Miroku shrugged. "We didn't know we'd be trapped in here once we got in, if that's what you're asking." he answered.

"We have to get to the jewel shards before Naraku does!" Shippo worried.

Kagome shook her head vigorously. "No, we don't."

"What do you mean by that?" Inuyasha frowned at his mate and studied her as if she was suddenly a completely foreign entity to him. "Have you forgotten what would happen if he was to get his hand on the shards?"

"There aren't any shards..." chorused Taka and Toku.

Shippo blinked. "How so? There were shards last time. We spent over three years collecting them...I think I would remember something that important. It's when I met mom and dad after all..."

"There weren't shards of the Shikon jewel until I messed up and broke it apart, remember?" Kagome whispered to the group. "The jewel was whole in the beginning. It was my fault before that it was broken as it was..."

"So that means..." gasped Jin.

Kagome could only gulp in response, and Inuyasha nodded slowly. He had realized that the jewel must have reformed itself inside Kagome's body when they had first met the reincarnation of Naraku. It was not a good situation at all. Of course, Naraku had yet to realize what was really going on. That was good. However, the jewel having returned to its original resting place, Kagome was now ten times more vulnerable than before.

"We have to get it out...smash it again..." Kagome was saying.

Inutaisho was shaking his head vigorously. "No way. That is even more risky than..."

"If Naraku was to figure out what was really going on and get his hands on Kagome, then we wouldn't even have a leg to stand on..." Jin interjected.

"True." Sesshoumaru nodded.

Miroku shook his head in disappointment. "Sadly, I do not think it will prove to be that simple. The jewel does not shatter easily. What happened to it the last time was nothing but a stroke of sickeningly bad luck. I'm telling you, we're going to have a harder time than any of us thinks right now..."

Sango sighed. "I'm not too sure about that, Miroku. From what I was told, the jewel shattered pretty easily..."

"Well, it wasn't supposed to!"

Kagome cleared her throat loudly. "I know a way to solve the problem really quickly..." she announced to everyone.

Inuyasha glanced at her with a confused look on his face, and cocked his head sideways as if he was waiting for her to explain herself. "What is it?" he finally asked. "What are you planning to do?"

Kagome, a pained look on her face, smiled at her mate, and in a second flat, plunged her clawed hand into her side where the jewel was hidden. She screamed in agony at this self-inflicted injury, but merely seconds later was holding the jewel between her thumb and index finger.

Inuyasha stood, staring at her with his mouth agape. "What the hell did you do that for?" he demanded. "What am I supposed to do if you bleed to death? Are you all right?" After a moment of silence, Inuyasha looked annoyed. "Kagome!" he yelled.

Kagome blinked. "Inuyasha...there is something that I have to do." she whispered.

Sango glanced at her friend with uncertainty in her eyes. "Kagome...are you all right? What are you going to do with it? We need to make it disappear..." Sango reminded her in the calmest voice possible.

After a moment, Kagome nodded, although she appeared to have something terribly wrong with her. Despite her nodding, Kagome made no efforts to move. Her eyes, usually very bright, seemed to have glassed over the moment her hand came in contact with the jewel...and if that wasn't bad enough, she was horribly pale and bleeding a great deal from the injury in her side.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shook her gently.

"Inuyasha!" Akira chided him. "I don't know what's wrong with her, but you might end up hurting her if you keep shaking her like that!"

"She's already hurt!" Inuyasha snapped. "Something is really wrong with her!"

Sango and Miroku nodded. They had to side with Inuyasha this time. Something was indeed wrong with Kagome...from the moment she had retrieved the jewel from within her body, something had been wrong...

"Lady Kagome?" Miroku whispered, waving his hand in front of Kagome's eyes.

Inuyasha frowned, and his left ear twitched. Suddenly, he jumped up, sniffing the air as if he had lost something. "What the hell?" he growled. "What happened to my mating mark? My scent is gone."

Kagome still did not move. Inuyasha sniffed her inquisitively.

Jin gasped in sudden shock and realization. "Wait a minute! What in the world is going on around here? What happened to Kagome?"

"This isn't Kagome!" Inuyasha announced, although the hanyous and demons in the room had no doubt already noticed this fact.

"Well, it's obvious something has happened..." smirked Miroku, but he was promptly silenced by a slap to the back of the head from Sango.

"The fight within the jewel must gain a decided victor," whispered Kagome, although not in her own voice. "In order for that which is loathed to be destroyed, the battle within must be decided. Only then can the enemy truly be defeated..."

"Who are you and what have you done to Kagome?" Inuyasha demanded quickly.

Kagome was silent a moment, and then the voice from inside her answered once again. "I am the miko from whose soul the Shikon jewel was formed. The battle between good and evil is still being waged inside the Shikon jewel. In order for you to be victorious...in order for you to finally dispose of the Shikon jewel, I must first win my battle..."

Realization hit the group like a ton of bricks, but Miroku was the first to speak. He cleared his throat rather loudly, and croaked, "Lady...Midoriko?" he whispered. "Is it you that has possessed Lady Kagome's body?"

After a moment, Kagome nodded, and Midoriko's voice came out of her mouth once again.

"Kagome is going to help me. Using our combined miko powers, we should be able to neutralize the demons that have plagued me. If we purify everything, then the jewel will be nothing more than a useless, shiny, pink stone..."

"Neutralize?" Sumire stammered. "Purify everything? Wouldn't that mean..." her voice trailed off in fearful uncertainty.

"Yes. In order to successfully defeat the evil within the jewel, Kagome and I must purify everything...including ourselves..."

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A/N: Oh, I think this one was slightly evil of me. If you review, I just might be persuaded to update a little faster. :D Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you think!