A/N: Hey! I finally got another review for my other story! YAY! I would appreciate it greatly if you would check it out, at least. As soon as I can, that special reviewer will have a new chapter to read! Okay, enough rambling. I suppose you all want to know what happens with Inuyasha and Tsuki, am I right? Or do you want to know what is going on with Kagome and the rest of the gang? Well, in this chapter you'll find out how everything is connected. There are no coincidences.

Chapter Five- Everything's Connected

As Tsuki ran to her tree, she noticed that her body was pulsating as it was hit by the morning sun. She closed her eyes as she stopped running to let her transformation fully take place. A few minutes later, her brown hair became streaked with bright turquoise highlights and her human ears disappeared into her head and reappeared as brown and blue cat ears. Her nails lengthened into claws, and she grew a brown fluffy tail.

When she opened her eyes, they weren't brown, but a bright turquoise blue. On her forehead there were two small blue diamonds on either side of a larger one. She smiled, revealing cat-like teeth. She sprinted off toward her tree so that she could clean up before visiting her friends in the nearby village.

"Ka...Kagome!"

Miroku and Sango couldn't believe their eyes. It was indeed Kagome standing in front of them, looking exactly as she did the last time they had seen her. Millions of questions were running through their minds, but what they really wanted to know is why it took her so long to come back and why hadn't she aged in the past seven years.

"It's really you!" Sango squealed and hugged Kagome. She had missed the girl that was like her sister. Kagome hugged her back. Miroku soon joined his wife in hugging their longtime friend. Kagome was slightly wary, even thought Shippo had told her that he had stopped being a pervert.

After the large group hug, they went inside to talk without the children interrupting them. The couple had a few questions for the teenage miko.

"So Kagome," Miroku started, "why did it take you so long to return? And why do you look exactly the same as you did seven years ago?"

Kagome sighed. She should have known this was coming.

"Well, remember when I was bitten by that lizard youkai? After Inuyasha took me home, my mother called an ambulance and I was taken to a hospital. When I was feeling better, I decided to come here and check on you guys, but when I jumped through the well, time seemed to speed up around me, more than it usually did. The well looked older when the lights stopped, and I guess I was under some sort of spell that made me think I was dead. But how can a dead person argue with herself? I climbed out of the well, and I saw Shippo, of course he was older and I didn't recognize him at first. Then Kikyo came out of the woods and was saying that Inuyasha had left about three years ago.

"After she left, me and Shippo tried to figure out what could have happened. Soon we started on our way here. Before visiting you guys, we made a stop at Kaede's. And that's what has happened up until now."

The couple was speechless. They hadn't even known that the youkai had been poisonous. Shows how much Inuyasha really told us, the couple both thought.

They decided to change the subject. "Hey, Kagome, you remember Sesshomaru never really liked humans, right?" Sango asked.

"Yeah. The only human he would put up with was Rin," Kagome answered, curious as to what the news was.

"Right, and remember how he would kill almost anyone who touched her?"

Kagome nodded.

Sango was getting excited. They hadn't even told Shippo this yet. "Shippo, I don't think we told you, did we?" Miroku asked the kitsune.

"No, you didn't. What about Sesshomaru?" he replied.

"Well, he finally swallowed his pride and asked her to be his mate!" Sango exclaimed. It was widely known that the stern taiyoukai wasn't fond of hanyous or humans, but this girl was the only human he could stand, and therefore if he mated with her his pups would be hanyous.

"What did she say!" Kagome asked eagerly.

"She said yes!" Sango told her happily.

"WAI! KAWAII! Maybe he'll be nicer now that he has a mate, and he couldn't have forgotten that if he mated a human that his pups would be hanyous, so now he can't hate them," Kagome concluded.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down a minute. When did this happen?" Shippo asked, totally confused.

"It happened about six months ago, am I right?" said a voice from the doorway. They all turned around, and the kids ran in screaming.

"Auntie Tsuki!" the children cried, running over to the neko hanyou. They grabbed hold of her hakamas.

"Hey, Roku, Sango, Shippo. How you guys been?"

Kagome just stared at the mysterious girl. Tsuki caught her gaze.

"You're Kagome. I have heard of you. These guys will never shut up about you. I'm Tsuki."

Kagome stood and shook the girl's hand. She reminded Kagome of Inuyasha because, like Inuyasha, this girl was a hanyou. But unlike Inuyasha, this girl exerted an air of confidence, and Kagome had the feeling that this girl didn't care what people thought of her being a half-demon.

Shippo cleared his throat. "Tsuki doesn't visit very often. Normally once a month for a few days."

That clicked in Kagome's mind. "After her human night."

Tsuki nodded. "Yes."

Inuyasha was walking around the forest after he had left Tsuki. He had long since changed back to his hanyou form. He noticed he was near a village, and he also noticed several familiar scents wafting from it.

"Miroku? Shippo? Sango? Kirara? Ka-Kagome!" he said to himself. "No, it can't be... can it?"

He ran off towards the village with the scents taunting him. Soon he caught wind of an unfamiliar scent going the same way he was. It was all over the forest, but this was the most recent trail. Some were stronger than others, but the weaker ones were newer than all but this trail. He decided to follow it since it wasn't really out of his way.

He dashed off following the mixed scents. He couldn't believe Kagome's strawberries and cream scent was still in this forest. But how could it be in this forest? I don't think she was ever here. And why would her scent be this strong after all these years unless it's not an old scent?

He didn't know why she never came back unless she had died in her world. He never went through the well because the last time he had gone to get Kagome she had sat him until he was six feet underground. He had decided from then on that Kagome would get here herself or not at all.

He reached the outskirts of the village and recognized it immediately. It was the village by the Goshinboku and the well. The scents were stronger, all of them, even the mysterious one. He followed his nose to a hut where several people were talking and some kids were running around.

He walked toward the hut and heard several familiar voices. No way... it can't be. He entered the hut and everything went silent.

"Ka...Kagome!" he muttered, so that only Kagome could hear him, but what he forgot was that there was a kitsune and another hanyou in the room with him.

Tsuki recognized his voice and panicked. Oh my KAMI! It's Inuyasha! He can't see me like this! He can't- wait, he's a hanyou too! Phew!

"Inu... Inuyasha!" Kagome whispered. Tsuki's eyes went wide. They know each other!

"I didn't know you two knew each other! Why is it that no one bothers to tell me these things!" Tsuki's hands went to her hair as she was going to pull it out.

Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears. The beautiful neko hanyou in front of him sounded like Tsuki! "Tsuki!"

"What is going on! How do you guys know each other!" Kagome screeched.

"DAMARE!" Sango yelled. The noise level in the room dropped dramatically. "Okay, first, Tsuki, this is Kagome. She used to travel with us, as did Inuyasha. They used to... well, they liked each other... a lot. Inuyasha, this is Tsuki, and ever since you left and we all moved here, Tsuki has been our friend and took care of Tsuyu and Nobunaga when no one else could. Obviously, Tsuki and Inuyasha have met, and neither of them has filled us in on the story behind that yet."

Tsuki and Inuyasha sat down, one on each side of the hut, both scowling. Tsuki sighed. Now was definitely not the time for this. The cuts on her arms were healing, much to her disappointment, and they hurt like hell. She was in the mood to punch something right now.

Inuyasha grunted and crossed his arms with a glare in Tsuki's direction. He wasn't in the mood to deal with this right now. He hated surprises, and he considered this a surprise.

Tsuki looked down at her clawed feet. "Why does everyone always tend to piss me off while I'm depressed?" she asks herself, so silently that Inuyasha and Shippo could barely hear her, even with their super-sensitive hearing. She sighed in frustration. "Whatever. If you guys need me, you know where to find me."

Okay. Done with Chapter Five. Hope you liked it. Review, please.

Ja ne.