Kagome was about to exit the hut when she asked Sango if it were alright if she could borrow Kirara. It would be a good thing to have the protection of the neko-mata, as well as her help in locating the inu-hanyou. After acquiring the aid of Kirara, she set off towards the forest in search of Inuyasha.

Her first bet was to head for the Sacred Tree, but as she and Kirara neared it, the neko-mata seemed to become hesitant and cautious, her pace slowing and her back arching slightly as her fur began to stand on end.

Kirara's actions did not go unnoticed by the young miko, and she began to proceed with caution as well. "What is it, Kirara? What's up ahead that's got you so edgy?" The unmistakable sound of footsteps echoed out from behind the thick forage, and whoever was approaching wasn't too careful in concealing their presence; twigs and fallen leaves crunched and snapped, doing their job to make the advancing being known.

As the individual drew closer, Kagome decided they weren't too much of a threat; she could feel no evil or demonic aura, and Kirara had yet to transform. Yet she still stayed cautious and on her toes, readying herself for whomever or whatever might emerge from the trees and shrubbery.

The branches parted, and a visage similar to Kagome's came into view. The person standing opposite the young miko caused surprise, and she took a few steps back; the undead priestess had caught her off-guard. "Kikyo…? Why have you sought me out?" the older woman smiled. "I've heard of your recent misfortunes and curiosity got the better of me." Kagome frowned a bit, wondering what she had heard of. A comfortable silence filled the clearing.

"I was wrong, you know." The sudden statement caught Kagome by surprise. "Pardon me?" Kikyo smiled, a rare act for the dead priestess. "I was wrong when I said that you were just my reincarnation and would follow the same path that I did. I've come to the realization that just because you possess the same soul as I did doesn't mean that you are the same as me."

Kagome blinked, not really expecting the cool and proud miko to show any compassion towards her. But the young girl, with her sweet and heart-warming disposition, smiled happily. "Thank you for admitting your mistake. But what finally caused you to change your mind?"

Kikyo frowned a bit, and the far-away look in her soulless eyes hinted that she was thinking deeply. "At first it seemed impossible that you would be nothing but the reincarnation that followed in the same path that I did… We were both mikos, smitten by the same half-demon. We were both troubled with the Shikon-no-tama, and a certain hanyou by the name of Naraku had plagued both of our lives.

"But after hearing of your recent adventures, it was decided that you couldn't be similar to me at all, because I would never fall for a lecher and a con like the monk."

A smirk snaked its way across the aloof priestess's face, and Kagome giggled. "Yeah, I don't think you'd be able to handle him."

The older miko clenched her hands into fists at her sides and her eyes narrowed, but the playful gleam in her eyes gave her mock-anger away.. "Do you not think a powerful priestess such as I is capable of doing such a thing?"

Kagome laughed again and shook her head. "Actually, it wasn't until the whole body-switch ordeal until I could handle and understand him, myself. You know what they say, 'You never know until you put yourself in their shoes.' Of course, that's supposed to be taken in the figurative sense, but I got to experience it in the literal sense."

Kikyo chuckled lightly in her throat and nodded. "But enough of the small talk, we can get around to that later. You came out here in search of Inuyasha, yes?" Kagome frowned and nodded. "I need to sit down and have a nice long chat with him. Make sure he completely understands and is okay with everything."

Kikyo nodded. "He thinks you are cross with him because of your injury. Not to mention utterly confused about your complete change-of-heart. But his pride won't let him just stop and ask someone for guidance.

"Showing the emotions of confusion and sadness would make him seem weak, at least in his eyes if no one else's. He's in this forest somewhere, and has probably picked up our scents already. Chances are, he's either moving away from our position or he's moving towards us."

Kagome nodded. "I don't know how I'm going to tell him about the body-switch. He'll probably get mad at me and Miroku all over again… Half of me just doesn't want to tell him at all, but then he'd still be confused about my sudden 'change-of-heart', as you put it."

Kikyo nodded. "You should tell him. He's coming closer, I can feel his demonic aura. It's only very faint, of course, but he'll be here but shortly." And as soon as she finished speaking, she turned around to the opening of shrubbery that served as the entrance to the clearing, and her sharp brown eyes turned to the hanyou as he entered the clearing.

His golden eyes immediately locked eyes with Kikyou's, and then after a second or two, they slowly passed over to Kagome. He then turned back to the older miko. "Kikyou, what are you doing here with Kagome?" the priestess remained indifferent "We were talking; resolving our differences." Inuyasha looked back and forth again at the two women in front of him.

"Why so suddenly, and after everything you've... well, done?" To this, Kikyou smiled confidently. "She is no longer a rival. Gives me no reason to be hostile towards her, correct?" Inuyasha frowned a small bit. Kikyou turned to the younger woman. "I will take my leave, for now. Talk with him. I'll see you in the near future, though exactly when I will see you is unclear for now." And with that, she left the two of them in the clearing. Kirara at Kagome's feet.

As Kikyou left, the hanyou leaned himself against the tree and looked down at his bare, calloused feet and remained silent. "Inuyasha?" there was a grunt in response, but his head wasn't lifted, nor did he make any other movement to signify an answer. "You know we need to talk." His ears immediately flattened against his head.

"I know you're having a hard time swallowing it all. I want to clear everything up; make sure everything is okay between us." Inuyasha gazed at her from the corner of his eye. "You're not angry at me." It was more of a statement then a question, and Kagome shook her head. "No, I'm not mad at you." Inuyasha sighed and slowly approached her, sitting down on a boulder next to her.

"At first I didn't know what to think of the situation. I thought you had completely lost your mind, falling for Miroku even though we're all completely aware of his tendencies. Don't get me wrong, he's a friend. But I still couldn't help but think that he'd go off chasing kimonos time and time again, and you would always wind up hurt.

"I was also insanely jealous. I couldn't understand why you had fallen so hard. What did he have that I didn't, right? I thought he was just trying to get between you and me, nothing more, nothing less. When we started to fight, he was barely holding his own. I knew he could've landed a few hits, we've all seen him fight. But… it was like he was holding back for your sake.

"He kept holding back, taking the hits for you… and that maddened me even more… and… when you moved in the way… I couldn't stop myself in time…"

He stared at her arm, securely tied in her sling, bandaged and healing and repaired. "I injured you… and you immediately blacked out from the pain.

"He had just gone along with the hits, but after you had been injured, it seemed like the will to fight back was immediately sparked again. Because it was you he was protecting. I was temporarily sealed to a tree by a dozen or so ofuda, and all the while he had been silently crying, for you. It was all for you. And it was then that I realized that he was all too serious about you."

Kagome smiled slightly yet warmly, her heart swelling with happiness that her monk had cared so much. "I'm not angry at you, Inuyasha. I could tell you were having trouble controlling yourself. I knew something was bound to happen like this. So don't think I'm angry."

Inuyasha frowned. "But I… I cut you, Kagome. And not just a cut, a deep cut… maybe to the bone. And then I couldn't do anything else to make sure I hadn't seriously hurt you. Your blood was spilled by my claws. How could I not feel guilty about that?"

Kagome nodded, understanding. "It's okay that you feel guilty. Because that way, I know you're more than sorry for what had happened, and I know you didn't mean to do it on purpose, and your guilty conscience just further proves that you feel terrible about it."

Inuyasha nodded. "I do… I feel horribly terrible, because even if you hadn't moved in front of him, then I probably would've cut Miroku. And since he was facing me, I could've destroyed something vital, like an artery or even his heart…"

Kagome hushed him. "Don't talk like that. Nothing bad happened, I'm on the steady road to recovery, and everything will turn out just fine."

Inuyasha nodded, and they sat in comfortable silence for a short while. But then the hanyou suddenly broke the silence with a question. "Why did you fall for him in the first place, huh? Something must have happened."

Kagome laughed nervously and scratched the back of her neck. "Um… actually, that's a funny story…" Inuyasha suddenly didn't really like where this was going. "So you know the whole ordeal with the conjoinment? Um… and then we went to Mushin's to get it fixed, right?" Inuyasha nodded slowly. "Well… um… Mushin's drunk a lot of the time, you know? And uh… so…well…"

Inuyasha jumped up. "Well, spit it out and stop beating around the bush!" her jitteriness was putting him on the edge of his nerves and he didn't like at all where this was going. "Um…Well, he put us in opposite bodies!" The miko quickly yelled the last part out, and if it weren't for Inuyasha's acute hearing, he probably wouldn't have caught what she had said.

The hanyou stared in disbelief. He didn't know what she would say, but this was certainly not at ALL what he was expecting to hear. It took him a bit to get out of his shock, and so he stood there with a surprised look on his face, his large golden eyes widened to almost comical proportions.

And then he erupted.

"That fucking monk put your souls in the wrong bodies? I knew it! I knew he would fuck it up. So… so all this time…? How long has this lasted?"

The miko frowned, keeping her calm while Inuyasha rode out the rest of his shock by yelling random obscenities and fuming quietly to himself. "Um… well… from when we went to Mushin's temple to… um…" She blushed, remembering what she and Miroku had been doing exactly when they had switched back.

The blush certainly didn't go unnoticed by Inuyasha, but he followed his better instincts and held his tongue.

"…To when you came to my time and started chasing us… right before I got injured."

Inuyasha exploded again.

"That whole fucking time? How in seven hells did you two pull that off? It… it was you that I was fighting at for a while, wasn't it?" she nodded. "And… and you asked that lady to bear your fucking child! You're out of your mind! And… the exorcism…! What the fuck, Kagome?"

Kagome frowned. "We knew you guys wouldn't have liked it, so we decided to keep it a secret. Unfortunately, things didn't go the way we had planned."

Inuyasha shook his head, his brow furrowed and his eyes wide. "No fucking way… and that pervert was in YOUR body? He could have fucking VIOLATED you! And you didn't care?"

Kagome laughed wryly. "Oh, I cared at first. Believe me. But we could feel each other's emotions, as well as pain and stuff. So… if he felt… um… pleasured… I would feel it too. So I know he didn't violate me."

Inuyasha's ears perked. "Yeah? So it wasn't just a 'switched bodies' ordeal?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, there were odd connections between us. Like, we could read each other's minds. So… we often communicated to each other through thought… that was fun.

"And we could also see into each other's minds, like… I could see his past, and he could see mine. And plus, it's interesting. Because both of our bodies had instincts; like, what we would do if put in a certain situation, so that came in handy when we were trying to be each other.

It was all a very interesting experience."

Inuyasha just shook his head. "Fucking insane… both of you."

Kagome frowned. "But you understand, right? Why we couldn't tell you guys? You'd be freaking out because Miroku was in my body, and Sango would be freaking out because Miroku was in my body, and the whole body switch in general… So you get it, right?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, I get it. And this whole ordeal brought you two together?" Kagome shrugged. "You know what they say about hardship bringing you closer together." Inuyasha shook his head. "Keh… I know all about that. I mean… that's what brought us together, among other things, wasn't it? All the hardships that our search put us through… that's what brought us closer, right?"

Kagome nodded. "Probably…"

They sat in comfortable silence again, but it was cut short when Kagome asked the hanyou a question. "So… we're good? And you won't chase after Miroku again? You'll stay our friend and accept us as… well, as a couple?"

Inuyasha winced when she said 'couple'. "Well… I can't say it doesn't still sting, but… Yeah, we're good. I know… you can't help who you fall in love with. Remember, when we first started our journey?" Kagome looked back to those days and laughed.

"Jeez, I was so ditzy back then! And… and we hated each other, didn't we?" Inuyasha just nodded.

"Kagome stood up from where she sat, brushed herself off, and then turned back to Inuyasha. "Well, shall we head back to camp? It's gonna be dark soon…" Inuyasha nodded and joined her. Kirara jumped onto Kagome's shoulder from her resting place behind a boulder, and the three of them walked back to camp.