Disclaimer: If I were rich enough to own Inuyasha, do you think I'd be so poor as to go six months without internet? I don't think so...

Authors Note: She's baaaaaaack! And about time too. Sorry about the long wait and I hope the chapter's good enough to make up for it .. Or maybe just half the time...

Sango lowered her eyes to the ground in an attempt to avoid any and all contact with her bodyguard. She had given him everything up to now. This was simply too much to ask for. But Miroku! He was so affectionate and adamant about having his way that it was sickening!

Or rather, it would be if it didn't turn her on so much.

Feeling his gaze hot on her, Sango reluctantly handed him the cup of tea.

"Oh Sango," he breathed, moving his free arm to settle it around her waist, "You do care!"

"I do not," she denied, feeling his hand slip downwards. Rolling her eyes to the sky she moved a hand to wave to her attendant who was sitting in the shadows a ways off, speaking with someone. Feeling liquid on her fingers she turned to see hot tea dripping down the front of Miroku's chest.

"Oh damn it all. Sorry about that, Miroku," She lied, sarcasm simply dripping from her lips.

"Not to worry, love," he purred, pulling her closer and kissing the curve of her clavicle.

A pointed clearing of the throat broke the two apart and Sango's attendant was before of her, raising an eyebrow at the guard's antics and Sango's allowance of it. Her companion stood behind her, arms crossed. Sensing their unasked questions, Sango shifted uncomfortably. Miroku simply looked annoyed at the interruption.

"Oh. It's you."

Inuyasha smirked and tried to keep himself from laughing at him.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but Pharaoh requests your presence."

Sango jumped as she felt Miroku's hair tickle her neck, his head resting possessively on her shoulder.

"Oh come on!" She yelled ripping the tea from his hands and pouring it on him. Annoyed, she marched off, Kikyo following suit. Miroku halted his attempt at cooling himself down to glare up at his laughing friend.

"It served you right," Inuyasha told him, looking at him with a mix of disgust and amusement.

Frowning and looking after Sango as she walked, Miroku sighed.

"Shut up, Inuyasha."

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Miroku bit his tongue to keep from crying out. This was bloody murder she was committing—cruel and unusual punishment! There were laws against it! But still, her expression was void of all emotion, as she worked with the blade, cleaning the dirt from her nails. Miroku swallowed his spit and willed himself to speak.

"Got any nines?"

Sango looked down at the cards in her lap and shook her head. "Go Fish."

"You're cheating," Miroku accused blandly, picking up a card from the deck. It was, unfortunately, not a nine.

"I am not; you just have bad luck." Sango turned to the girl next to her. "Any threes, Kagome?" Miroku watched in horror as the younger girl handed one over. For lack of a better plan, Sango and Miroku had taken it upon themselves to provide entertainment and fine dining for those who couldn't sleep. This included a small group of four beings: Miroku and Sango themselves (Sango refused to sleep with Miroku nearby tonight), and two others: Kagome and Shippo, the registrar who had come by to record the jewel Sango and Rin had found earlier. Aware that they were in the middle of nowhere, entertainment consisted of playing with cards Kagome had happened to have with her. As for fine dining: The infamous peanut butter and jelly.

"I don't understand you," Miroku wondered aloud, watching her take more cards from Shippo and add the doubles to her ever growing pile. Sango shrugged and smiled over at him.

"It must be all the good karma I've racked up."

"Are you insinuating I've done something bad in my past life?"

"I said no such thing."

The group's small square fell apart once as the flaps of their tent were violently pushed aside and Kikyo charged into the circle. Sango dropped her cards in surprise and Miroku casually looked over and frowned, spotting a pretty nine of hearts.

"You were cheating!"

"Where's your gun?" Kikyo demanded, kicking the cards aside as she ripped through Miroku's luggage.

"What gun?" Sango asked. Her jaw fell open as Kikyo produced one out of a bag, slamming the bullets into the barrel and clicking off the safety lock. "Miroku! How did you get that past customs?"

"Move," Kikyo commanded, stepping just outside the tent. The air was filled with the explosion of a shot, followed closely by another, and a third. One final shot rang out before all was silent and a manly grunt was heard. Kikyo was thrown back into the tent, the back of her head slamming against a desk, causing her eyes to roll and her head to slump forward slightly. Kagome clutched her camera, Shippo brandished his pens and Sango and Miroku unconsciously squeezed each other's hands, all preparing for whatever trouble lay outside their tent. One foot stepped in, followed by the other, red eyes glared, and a white flash and a shriek filled the tent.

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It was the end of the day and Kagura risked a glance at the man beside her, her lips turning downwards in a frown. Sesshomaru wasn't looking at her. Chances were he hadn't been listening to her since she began talking two and a half hours ago. How annoying. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves, which were coincidentally, at their end.

"Why are you such an asshole?"

Sesshomaru continued walking in silence before halting his steps. Nearly bumping into him from behind, Kagura cursed. He at least could have had the decency to tell her he was stopping! What was with this guy? Without turning his head, Sesshomaru addressed her coldly.

"You are following me."

Wow. Who would have guessed. "No shit, Sherlock. You're the only man within six year's age of me who's both attractive and unattached. Besides," she added blandly, "we work together."

"You've applied for jobs parallel to mine for the last six years. You're stalking me."

"Stalking?" Kagura scoffed. "As if I would waste my precious time stalking a bastard like you!" Kagura began forward once more, granting herself a satisfied smirk when Sesshomaru appeared at her side a moment later.

Without sparing her a glance, Sesshomaru spoke. "You aren't living with me." Shrugging as though she didn't care, Kagura maneuvered her left hand into his right.

"Not yet anyway."

"Do not touch me."

Kagura gave an exasperated sigh but drew her hand away, pausing and letting him walk ahead so she could glare holes in the back of his head.

"Damn," letting her eyes slip considerably lower then his head, Kagura muttered, "I can't wait...!"

"What?"

"What? Keep walking." She commanded, flipping her head, "I've got better things to do then grace you with my divine presence."

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"The white light slowly faded as the flash from Kagome's 16mm camera faded and she lowered it from her face.

"Is it dead?" she asked tentatively.

Her reply was almost inhuman as the creature leapt from his place on the desert floor. Bits of sand and dust covered his features, falling as he shook and growled in rage; all of his rage intended on Kagome.

As a malicious grin spread across his face, the lanterns flickered out and Miroku began hastily searching his pockets for a lighter of some sort. He missed it various times.

Sango dug in the sand, searching for the knife she had been using to clean her nails (and threaten her companion). A lot of good it did her as it sliced open her thumb, blood dripping into the sand before she lifted it to her mouth.

Shippo was off hiding in some desolate corner of the tent. How that kid was about to scramble away so fast remained unknown.

Kikyo, having reawaken after the camera's flash, instinctively held the gun up and out in front of her chest, breathing hard as she tried to concentrate on her target. Yet, she couldn't attack if she didn't know what she was attacking in the first place.

And Kagome...

Well...

Kagome was screwed.

'What a crappy way to die,' she thought, rather bitterly, as she felt five forceful fingers tighten around her throat. 'Take this, you jerk.' And with that final thought, she lifted the flash of her camera to her attacker's eyes again and pushed the button that was to be her savior.

In that single, blinding bright moment, Miroku successfully located his lighter only seconds after Sango succeeded in stabbing herself once more, this time in the palm. Kikyo, unfortunately unsuccessfully, fired another useless round of bullets into the intruder and Shippo, who had crept back into view only moments before, resentfully noticed that he had been only an ace away from winning their previously interrupted card game.

Funny, how such trivial thoughts ran through the mind moments before potential demise.

And Kagome?

Well...

Kagome would (miraculously) be all right.

She hit the sand with a 'thump' and the creature—man, she noticed, flabbergasted—was suddenly crouching before her, a hand over each of his two eyes.

Most unexpectedly, the man opened his mouth to reveal a set of razor sharp fangs as he snarled and let out an extremely long stream of—pardon me—gibberish, all of which was pointedly directed at the girl with the soul stealer.

"What did you do, Kagome?" Kikyo asked, catching bits and pieces of the nonsense that was being spouted out.

"I am not!" Kagome suddenly yelled, glaring at the strange person and holding the camera up threateningly. "Say that again, would you!"

But the prospect of having his soul ripped out through his belly button seemed to have shut him up.

Kikyo looked between the two slowly.

"How did you..."

"Well he was speaking loud and clear wasn't he?"

"No!" The older woman said, "No, he wasn't... He wasn't speaking anything you'd understand at all."

"Miroku!"

Both women turned at Sango's yell a little too late as Miroku took one of the burned out lanterns, knocking the man on the back of his head. He fell to the floor with little to no resistance. Miroku gave them all a sheepish look and dropped the lantern in the sand.

"What?"

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"Now," Miroku sat at his makeshift desk, rubbing his eyes for what seemed the billionth time since the sun rose that morning. "Are you sure that's the guy from the crystal?"

"Yes."

"But he doesn't look like the guy from the crystal!"

And it was true. Rather than the silver hair and amber eyes, this man had hair as black as night. Miroku looked over to where he sat opposite Kagome (whom was ignoring him quite pointedly, except for to hold the camera up as warning) and next to Shippo, who was staring quite openly at the stranger.

Sango had disappeared about an hour prior.

"It's him Miroku," Kikyo sighed, sounding rather tired and rightfully so. It had been a long night for all of them, Kikyo longest of all. She had been up for hours, vigorously translating the rest of the manuscript.

She sighed.

"According to the scroll, his name is Inuyasha."

"According to the scroll..." Miroku repeated slowly.

"Yes, and according to the scroll he's around seventeen - was around seventeen... When he was entombed."

"But why?"

"I do not know, Miroku." Kikyo said through clenched teeth. She had done everything she was instructed to do and beyond. The scroll was written hastily, it seemed, and was nearly impossible to read (much like Miroku's own handwriting, she had noticed bitterly). She was bound to have gotten some translations wrong in her haste, but the basic message was clear.

Inuyasha was not to be released.

Kikyo glanced at him from over her shoulder and found it difficult to quell her immediate like of the man. He was anything but pleasant, that much was sure from the way he manhandled Kagome earlier that morning and cursed at her afterwards; she had recognized that much by his attitude. He carried with him an air of youthful arrogance, and surprisingly enough, Kikyo found that appealing.

Plus, she noted with a sort of smug satisfaction, he seemed to dislike Kagome as much as she did.

"Kagome!" Shippo cried out in terror as Inuyasha raised a threatening hand against the boy. A flash filled the tent and Inuyasha was immediately on the sand, covering any and every reachable part of his being that he could.

"Let me see the manuscript," Miroku said.

"What?" Kikyo asked, snapping out of her daze.

"Maybe I can find something you missed."

"You can't read ancient Egyptian," she blandly pointed out.

"So what? Maybe I just want to look at the pictures."

He looked as though he was about to continue when a gentle hand fell on his shoulder and the blissful aroma of caffeine flitted into the air around him.

"This is coffee, Miroku," Sango told him firmly, as though he had never seen a cup of coffee in his life. "Make friends with it."

"Oh Sango," he breathed, moving his arm to settle it around her waist. "You do care!" And with that, he gratefully took the mug off of her hands.

"I do not," she ground out, feeling his hands slip lower to feel the curve of her bottom. Moving her hip in a swift motion, she bumped Miroku in his shoulder, causing him to spill half the cup of 'elixir' onto his shirt.

"Oh damn it all. Sorry about that, Miroku," she lied, sarcasm simply dripping from her lips.

"Not to worry, My dear," Miroku purred, snuggling his head into her ribs. "It was only as hot as my burning passion for you."

Kikyo cleared her throat pointedly. Sango looked about ready to take the entire makeshift desk—all three wooden crates—and drop them over the archeologist's head. "Excuse me, but do either of you by chance remember the situation at hand?"

"Of course," Miroku smiled, exceedingly more cheerful as he pulled Sango onto his lap. She struggled for a bit, before realizing the attempt was useless. He'd let her go in due time... If not... Well... She'd just chop off his hand while he was sleeping. Easy enough. Her patience ran out, however, when Miroku got a little too comfortable and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Oh come on!" she yelled, blushing madly as she dumped the rest of the coffee on him. She sent him a murderous glare before storming off and out of the tent.

Kikyo threw up her hands up in defeat and followed suit (obviously, now one was listening to her anyway), leaving Miroku to dab at the stains with undoubtedly important and rare documents. He turned to the sound of laughter and found Inuyasha looking at him with a look mixed with disgust and amusement. Miroku didn't need a translator (or Kagome, for that matter) to tell him he was being told that it served him right.

Frowning and looking out of the tent after Sango, Miroku sighed.

"Shut up, Inuyasha."

Started: um... Lets say early February -can't remember-
Finished: 7/29/05 (In the wee hours of the morn..)
Posted: 7/29/05 (at more sane hours)

-in a state of complete shock- I actually came out of my shell! And yes :3 I have the Internet back, so hopefully that'll mean more updates. Sorry about the long wait!

Review Responses! (I didn't do all of them It's late.. And I'm lazy and tired... But mostly just lazy XD Thank you everyone, though)

DarkHeartKeyblade: See! I used it! points up Didja catch that? And I absolutly LOVE Kerri's Big Invention. I love all the Legendary Frog Flash movies :) With my next paycheck I'm gonna see if I can convince my mom to let me buy a shirt...

Kasai to Kasumi: I like how the scenes are simular too XD However, I don't know if it'll stay like that... As you can see from this one, there were noticably more differences between the past and present.. Eventually I think the scenes are going to be completely different oo Atleast, that's what I think.

Ai8: I take it this wasn't exactly 'soon'...

Spiffy McFloogan: Damn it all! TT-TT You guessed it... No, I don't think there will be Inu/Kag... If anything it'll end up being Inu/Kik, and only hints of that.

Medlii: -hangs gold star on her fridge- Yes! Mission accomplished!

Cori-chan: -flails back- XD

Lily Thorne: Bwuah! Fooled you... I feel accomplished now. It wasn't the pharoah. :) Not yet, anyway... He'll come later, but yes, Somehow I doubt he'll be pleased by what he sees.

D.E.Barbie: -much too lazy to type out the full name- XD I'm glad you liked it. I liked the ring part too. The part about burning coffee was probably my favorite in this chapter though :)

Koishii: I love The Mummy. So F-in' much. I'm just too poor to actually buy it so I have to wait until it's on TNT... T-T

Glorfindel: XD He only gets to use those pickup lines because he invented them... In a way, anyway

dEeYaN: .. Thank you...

Tobais: I don't know, why didn't you? -accussing stare- Just joshin ya XD

Erised: A tad late but it doesn't matter because I don't think I even had the internet at that point o-O And the peas was funny! You'd think he'd get an icepack but no - he gets peeeeeeas!

And chocolate money would help oo I love chocolate. And I love Money. Why not mix the two together!

Suicide and Murder: XD -nibbles-