Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Chapter Twelve: Wind Tunnel

"I saw my father swallowed up by a hole in his hand. As soon as he disappeared, that same hole appeared in mine. It was sucking everything in; trees, rocks, even some unfortunate small animals. I was lucky that there was a priest nearby who had this glove and rosary to keep the wind tunnel closed."

"It's not luck, Miroku. It's part of the stupid game."

"Be nice, Inuyasha." Kagome scowled at Inuyasha before smiling towards Miroku. "At least we found each other. I'm glad we happened to be traveling along the same path."

"As am I." Miroku turned his most charming smile on Kagome while scooting a little closer. "It is good to see a friendly face."

Inuyasha growled. "If that hand goes even one inch closer to her butt then I'm going to rip your arm off at the shoulder and beat you to death with it."

Looking down, Kagome sees the monk's hand a little too close to her rump for comfort.

"You wound me, Inuyasha. I am but a humble servant of Buddha, I would never think to defile…"

"Save it, lecher. You're a pervert and we all know it." Kagome and Shippo nodded in agreement.

Miroku sighed. "I am so misunderstood."

Kagome rolled her eyes and went to her backpack. That morning she had made the buy of her life. A sleeping bag. A nice fluffy warm sleeping bag. She smiled dreamily. No more sleeping on leaves and sticks. And though it was sweet of Inuyasha to let her cover herself in his haori during the middle of the night, it really didn't keep her warm enough. Especially the toes.

As she spread out her sleeping bag she thought of the changes of the past several days. The group had finally figured out that they were slowly leveling up. There would be a strange feeling that started with the toes and worked its way up. At first they had dismissed it as an adrenaline rush. Inuyasha had been the first to learn a new command, Blades of Blood. Shippo learned his first transformation spell, which is what the leaves were for. He could turn his spinning top into a giant spinning top. And Kagome finally got to use one of her cool new arrows, the poison arrow. Okay, so it missed… but she was still able to use it.

She smiled. And that morning they found Miroku wandering down the path they were on. It had been a happy reunion. After hugs and tears (all by Kagome), the group started traveling towards the village Inuyasha smelled.

Best of all, the town had a shop that had sleeping bags for sale.

Miroku had been curious as to why she wanted a sleeping bag when inns were readily available. She gave him a pleasant smile and tossed him a sleeping bag of his own. In addition she picked up two more bags, one for Sango and one for Koga when they found them. Inuyasha refused a bag of his own, and Shippo said it would be too wasteful since he was so small. Besides, they were demons and didn't get cold.

"Kagome, you can't keep letting the brat sleep with you." Inuyasha dropped down from his usual spot in the treetop and landed in front of her, startling her slightly. He wore one of his most menacing frowns. Unfortunately for him, none of his frowns or scowls ever seemed to work on Kagome.

"Don't be stupid, Inuyasha. It's completely harmless. And it makes him feel better to sleep with me."

"He's not a baby, Kagome! He's fourteen years old! He only LOOKS like a baby!"

Kagome harrumphed and crawled into the sleeping bag, turning her back to him. Shippo turned and made a face at Inuyasha, and hummed the tune to 'We are the Champions' soft enough so only the doggie ears could pick it up, which only irritated Inuyasha more.

"Miroku isn't the only pervert here," he growled quietly, knowing the fox kit could hear him just fine.

Shippo turned and gave him a slightly evil smile.

The exchange between demons was confusing but entertaining for Miroku. He was thankful that he wasn't alone anymore. The traveling and fighting had been wearing him out. Unfortunately, he didn't have a nifty backpack like Kagome that could hold healing potions, food and four sleeping bags all without getting larger or heavier. He had to rely on making it from one inn to the next for healing and nourishment. Frankly, he was a little surprised he made it this far.

He frowned, if only Sango and Koga were here, then the team would be complete.

Sango. I hope you're okay. Miroku thought about the difficulties that he had on his journey alone. It had been difficult, and lonely. After the first couple of days, he had even forgotten that this was a game. Seeing his friends again had lightened his heart considerably. It was what he needed to remind himself of who and where he was.

They had talked a lot during dinner, catching each other up on all the adventures that they had gone through since the game began. Both Kagome and Shippo had terrible experiences in the game, losing family in a horrible. As did Miroku. But the thought of Sango having to endure that pain made the monk sick to his stomach. Please be okay.

"Go to sleep, monk!" Inuyasha demanded grumpily from the tree.

Miroku smiled. Yes, it was nice to be with friends again.

The next morning the group of four finally got a chance to fight together. Well, they sort of fought together. Miroku opened up his wind tunnel and sucked in all the enemies. He was quite proud of himself as he wrapped the beads firmly around his hand. After the fight, Kagome and Shippo picked up all the dropped items while Miroku bragged a bit to an irritated dog demon.

The following fight had a very similar ending. As did the third. Miroku leveled up on that one. Shippo wondered if it was going to be Kagome or Inuyasha who snapped first.

"MIROKU!"

It was Kagome.

"YOU CAN'T HOG THE WHOLE BATTLE, YOU JERK!"

Inuyasha snickered. Two seconds ago he was ready to slice and dice the monk for stealing all the fun, but it was equally entertaining to watch him quiver in fear in front of a very ticked off young woman in a schoolgirl outfit. He wondered if it was bad that he was hoping it might come to blows. He also wondered what his chances were of getting some popcorn to watch the show.

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE REST OF US TO LEVEL UP IF YOU DON'T LET US FIGHT!" Her hands were clinched into fists at her sides. But the most interesting thing was the pink flames that started flaring up around her feet.

Inuyasha and Shippo stopped their laughter and watched in awe as the pink flame grew larger and larger.

"Cool."

Inuyasha nodded. Yeah, kinda cool, but also kinda scary. We're not supposed to be able to use our powers outside of battle.

Of course Miroku apologized profusely, and promised to save using the wind tunnel only in case of emergency or after everyone had a chance to fight. When the pink flames finally died down and Kagome was back to smiles, he breathed a sigh of relief. Briefly he wondered if she had some sort of hormonal imbalance. But being the smart guy that he was, he decided to keep that question to himself.

Shippo hopped up onto Kagome's shoulder as she picked up her backpack and started in the last direction she felt a jewel shard.

"That was pretty cool, Kagome."

"Hmm? What was?"

Shippo looked at Inuyasha, who just shrugged.

"I've been wondering…" Miroku said as they walked. "Is that outfit you're wearing magical as well, Kagome?"

The girl turned and looked at him blankly. "I don't think so, why?"

"Because the skirt is so short, and not once have I seen your underwear."

Okay, so he wasn't THAT smart. He was lucky that his skull was fairly resilient and he healed quickly. He couldn't decide if Kagome or Inuyasha hit harder.