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

Chapter Thirteen: Decisions Decisions

"Can't we just shake it out of her?"

"No, Inuyasha." Kagome sighed heavily. "And don't ask again. No shaking, no head bopping, no slashing, no clawing, no gutting, no biting, no threatening. Just be patient. Hand me that bowl please."

"Keh. Shippo is the one who suggested biting, not me."

"Bowl, please."

The dog demon handed her the bowl for her to rinse out in the stream. "She's been here all day and ain't said nuthin' about why she thought you were Ki… uh… someone else."

"She said she was hungry and just needed a short rest."

"But she's eating all my ramen!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "It's not like we don't have enough to share." She stopped washing for a moment. "I'm not sure why there was so much in my pack this time, anyhow. Maybe Mom thought I was going to be gone longer this time or something when she packed it."

Inuyasha suddenly found the clouds very interesting.

After setting the bowls upside down to dry, Kagome stood up and stretched. "Well, she should be nice and full now. We'll go ask again."

"She's sleeping."

Kagome blinked in surprise. "How can you tell?"

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I can hear her snoring from here."

Laughing softly, Kagome sat back down. She pulled off her shoes and socks and dipped her feet in the cool water. Sure she was curious about what the dream weaver was going to say, but she was also not looking forward to listening to any story that involved Kikyo. Things would likely end up weird between her and Inuyasha for the next few days. She leaned her head back to stare at the sky, but found herself looking into golden eyes instead of a golden sun.

"She was granting your wish, huh?"

Kagome lifted one leg quickly and flung cold water at the hanyou with her foot. "I already told you that it wasn't MY wish, dummy."

"What would you wish?"

Kagome and the dog demon turned to see a very serious looking human Inuyasha leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Talking to me, now are you?"

Inuyasha pushed away from the tree, glaring at the dog demon, and walked to Kagome. She sat up and turned towards him, but left her feet in the water. He took off his shoes and socks and sat beside her, ignoring the hanyou's growls of warning. After rolling up his pants legs, he put his feet in the water as well.

"I was having a bit of a nervous break down there, Kags. I thought I killed you."

"You didn't."

"He almost did." Pause. "Kags?"

Kagome sighed and gave the hanyou a warning look. "You're not helping, Inuyasha."

"I thought I killed you. I was so shocked that you were alive that I couldn't think. Couldn't speak. I'm sorry, Kagome."

"It's okay, Inuyasha."

"Okay? He tried to KILL me!"

"Well, it wasn't okay to try and kill Inuyasha." She scolded her friend as she splashed him. "You're going to have to apologize for that."

"I'm sorry," Inuyasha said without a trace of sincerity.

"Feh. Sorry you didn't kill me," grumbled the hanyou loudly. He didn't miss the human's smirk.

"I can see why you liked this place," said the Inuyasha sitting next to her, not the one standing behind her cracking his knuckles. "It smells nice with all this fresh air. And it's relatively quiet, regardless of the snarling animal sounds. It feels strange not hearing traffic. I can see how you would like the adventure of traveling, and even battling demons." He raised an eyebrow after glancing at the hanyou. "Though I do have to question your taste in companions."

Kagome pulled her feet out of the water. Really, what were the chances that two Inuyashas were going to get along anyhow? She stood up and gave her hand to the human Inuyasha to help him up, ignoring the snarling behind her. But when Inuyasha was on his feet he didn't let go of her hand.

"What would your wish be?" he asked again.

Kagome looked into the eyes of the childhood friend that she remembered, even though it looked like those memories were false. Then she looked at her other friend, whose eyes were hard and cold as topaz as he looked at their still joined hands. He grabbed her other hand and tugged her towards him and away from the human. For a moment she thought that he was going to hug her, but he yanked her behind him to hide her from view.

"The hag is awake." He kept a hold of Kagome's hand, turned abruptly, and pulled her along behind him.

The dark haired Inuyasha glared at the hanyou who was practically abducting the love of his life. Quickly he scooped up Kagome's forgotten shoes and socks and carried them back to camp. He dropped them a couple times along the way when he wasn't concentrating on holding them. He could see how being intangible could be a problem. Here, in this world, he had to concentrate on something for it to be solid. It would seem that if he wanted something to become intangible as well, such as the sword that was stuck in the tree, then he would have to concentrate on that, too.

Kuusouka was smiling kindly at the young miko who was climbing off of the hanyou's back. It hadn't taken long on their short walk for him to realize she was barefoot, so he had tossed her onto his back, holding onto her legs a little tighter than usual.

"Kagome?"

"Yes."

The woman tsk tsked. "So very strange. Are you sure that you are not the priestess Kikyo? You look just like her."

"Blind old bat," grumbled the hanyou as set Kagome onto a fallen log as far away from the others as possible and sat beside her on her right.

"But there is something else. Something else that reminds me so strongly of Kikyo."

"I'm her reincarnation." Kagome said through gritted teeth. She sighed and tried not to slump in her seat as she grumbled in a very Inuyasha (the hanyou) like way. She was proud of herself that she didn't add the extra expletives that she was thinking. Inuyasha was definitely rubbing off on her.

Kuusouka clapped her hands and laughed cheerfully. "THAT is why! Oh, I knew it had to be something like that. It is not often that I make a mistake like that. Oh dear, that does put my mind to rest." The smile slowly turned into a confused frown. "Though I do not understand how it is possible. Kikyo is not yet dead."

Shippo snickered. Miroku and Sango gave Inuyasha and Kagome a cautious glance. Kirara mewed and hid under Sango's arm. Kagome pressed her lips together tightly. The hanyou beside her looked uncomfortable.

"Actually," said a smug human Inuyasha as he walked into the clearing with Kagome's shoes and socks. "She IS dead."

"I saw her only two days past…"

Inuyasha smirked at the hanyou as handed Kagome her things. "She's been dead a whole lot longer than that. Hasn't she?"

"Inuyasha!" hissed Kagome quietly.

Then hanyou glared at the human, claws flexing. "Over fifty years," he finally said. "Kikyo has been dead for over fifty years."

"How is that possible? I have seen her with my own eyes."

Inuyasha plopped next to Kagome, leaning his dark head close to her shoulder. He looked behind her back at the hanyou and gave him a wide grin. "You want to answer that one too?"

"Just shut up!" snarled the dog demon. The human's smile only enraged him further.

"Kikyo lives on the souls of dead girls," Inuyasha said when he realized that the hanyou was too busy fuming to answer. "The first soul she stole was Kagome's. Well, part of it anyhow." He smiled gently at his friend. "Right?"

"Yeah," said Kagome as she squirmed, just as uncomfortable with the topic as the dog demon. "That's about right."

Kuusouka clapped again. "Another very good reason for the slight confusion. Oh my! I am quite relieved that there is a logical explanation to all of this." She sniffed dramatically. "What is that delicious smell?"

Shippo gulped and hid the chocolate pocky he had just opened behind his back.

"So now we know why you were… confused," said Miroku as he tried to steer to conversation back on course. "How is it that you are able to grant wishes? How did you make a human Inuyasha?"

The dream weaver smiled sweetly as she tried to peer behind the small fox demon. She licked her lips made a sound that was awfully close to a whine. "Oh, it would be so much easier to explain if the divine smell was not distracting me so. Perhaps if I had a bite or two I would be able to recall the story."

Shippo turned and used his body to shield the sweet treat. Inuyasha growled and snatched the box of pocky from the complaining fox kit and threw it at Kuusouka's head, who caught it deftly with surprising speed. Ripping open the box a little wider, she stuffed three sticks of pocky in her mouth and began munching loudly, making 'mmmmm' sounds of approval.

"Very delicious."

"Get on with the story, old hag."

"You chose this one?" The dream weaver asked Kagome again as she wiped the crumbs off her mouth. "On purpose?"

"He grows on you," the miko replied with a shrug.

"Like fungus," Shippo laughed. "OW! Kagome! Inuyasha hit me!"

Wondering if they would ever get to hear the answers to any questions, Kagome rolled her eyes and motioned for the older woman to continue with her story.

"Two days past I was traveling to a nearby village when I was attacked by a demon. Three demons! Yes. Three." She cleared her throat and continued on with her story, pointedly ignoring the squabbling of the fox kit and dog demon. "The first two demons were easily vanquished. However, I am getting on in years, and I was barely able to overcome the third demon. When the fourth demon attacked I was no longer able to defend myself adequately."

"I thought there were only three," whispered Shippo to the dog demon as he dislodged his teeth from Inuyasha's skull.

"Keh, there was probably only one," he replied irritably. "She probably coulda just bored it to death…"

Kuusouka glared at the interruption. "As I was saying, when the last demon attacked, I was no longer able to defend myself. Just as I had given up all hope, an arrow shot through the trees and hit the demon, killing him instantly. It was the priestess Kikyo. I offered to repay her kindness by granting her wish. She politely declined, but I could not let a good deed go unrewarded."

"You mean unpunished," whispered the dog demon to Kagome, who tried to smother her giggle. She meant to give him a reprimanding glare, but her eyes were twinkling in merriment, ruining the entire effect.

"But I know the wishes and dreams that lie in a person's, and even a demon's, heart." She sat a bit straighter with pride. "I knew what one of the wishes the priestess had made. She wished for the dog demon to be human, that he had never been a demon to begin with. She wished that she could have a normal life. She wished to be loved."

"You can grant that wish?" Sango asked curiously.

Kuusouka laughed. "Of course I could." She paused for a moment, nibbling on her lower lip. "In a fashion."

Miroku shifted position, a little closer to the slayer. "How did you grant such a wish?"

"I am the weaver of dreams."

"She's the weaver of something," whispered Inuyasha into Kagome's ear, making the hanyou Inuyasha even more irritable when she giggled for HIM.

Insulted by the remark, Kuusouka glared at the human male sitting next to the miko. "Have some respect for your creator." Her gaze moved from the human to the hanyou then back to the human. "And I did a magnificent job, did I not?"

Inuyasha's reply was not fit for young ears, and Kagome scolded the dog demon while she attempted to shield the kit's ears.

"Are you saying that I'm not real?"

Kagome covered Inuyasha's hand with her own to lend him her strength. It was promptly removed by a clawed hand and a gruff grunt. She wanted to smack him. Inuyasha, the human, was learning whether or not he was really real. His entire existence was being brought into question. Now was NOT the time for jealousy. So she took her friend's hand once more, glaring at the hanyou to promise him boatloads of pain if he tried to pry it off again. However, she moved slightly so that her knee was touching his. The connection seemed to calm him down. A little.

"Of course you are real!" Kuusouka cocked her head to one side and tapped her finger against her chin. "In a fashion."

"Can't you just spit it out?" snapped Inuyasha. "We've got jewel shards to find. We can't spend all day listening to you, you know."

"You can not rush the telling of a tale." After she spoke, Kuusouka grinned. "Did that not sound nice? Oh, what a lovely piece of advice. Someone should be writing this down. You there." She pointed to Miroku. "Write that down."

"I have nothing to write with, my lady. However, I will etch your words of wisdom in my soul so that they can never be forgotten."

"Bah, you'll forget. Never you mind, I will write it down myself."

The group watched at Kuusouka used her forefinger to carefully write the words into the air. The others looked at the dream weaver as if she were crazy, but Kagome could swear that she saw them shimmer for a moment before disappearing.

"I am a creature of magic. And I specialize in weaving dreams. If the dream is weaved with a strong enough thread, then it can, in fact, become the reality. At least in the mind of the dreamer."

"But I can think. And I can feel. If I was just a dream then I wouldn't be able to feel."

"You are a special dream," she winked at him. "I used some of my best work on you."

"How could you have weaved the dream though?" asked Kagome. "It was set in my... in my home town. There is no way you could no what it looks like. And there was school. And the movies. How could have have put THAT dream together?"

Kuusouka laughed. "I did not weave the whole dream. You would have known it was a dream had I done that. I simply weave the dream around what is floating around in your own memories. In a way, you and I created Inuyasha together. I made him the way you wanted him, and you fit him into your world. I did, however, have to take some people from your dreams. It would not do for something to trigger your memories and make you doubt the reality of your dream."

"My mother..." Kagome's eyes were wide with pain. "You made me forget my family!"

"They would have been a reminder of the other life." Kuusouka walked over and patted Kagome's hand. "I would have eventually weaved them back into the dream, once it was strong enough to support them. Once you were free of doubt."

The dream weaver walked back to her seat, content with her answer. Shippo hopped up onto Inuyasha's shoulder.

"How come you didn't just ask Kagome's mom if anything weird was going on?"

Inuyasha's mouth dropped open for a brief moment. He had been in such a panic to get Kagome that he never thought to talk to anyone in her family. The dog demon was spared having to answer the question when the human dream version of himself spoke.

"Do the others in... in Kagome's dream... Are they like me?"

"No. They are not like you. You are what was wished for, not the others. They are there because they are in Kagome's mind. They helped make the dream more real."

"How was he able to be here?" asked Kagome. "If he's in my head, a dream, then how can he be here in reality?"

"That, my child, is a very good question. When I wove this dream for you, I had no idea that you already possessed a magic of your own. Perhaps that is what enhanced the dream. I suspect that is why our Inuyasha is able to be with you for short periods of time, but only if you will it."

"You mean Kagome could have gotten rid of him any time?"

"Quit growling, Inuyasha," scolded the miko.

"I'm not growling."

"Yes you are."

"You could have gotten rid of him by just not THINKING ABOUT HIM!"

"Oh give me a break."

"If he ain't your dream then why are you thinking about him so much?"

"Why did the well close?" asked Miroku, once again trying to keep the conversation on track. "Inuyasha was unable to reach Kagome."

"What well?"

"Er..." Kagome wondered how to explain the well without explaining the well. It was best if as few of people as possible knew of her porthole to the future. To the past, she corrected. "What he meant, is that Inuyasha and I have a... well... a connection of sorts. It allows us to find each other no matter what. And while I was in the dream, he wasn't able to get through to me."

"Ah, I understand now. I suspect that the dream was becoming so real to you, that your connections to this world were close to being lost."

"WHAT!" Inuyasha sprang to his feet and reached for his sword, but only feeling that the scabbard was empty. "What do you mean her connection was close to being lost? What was happening to Kagome?" He stormed over to the woman and dragged her to her feet by the front of her clothing. "What did you do to Kagome?"

"Well now," the woman huffed, "This is the thanks I get for granting a young girl's wish?"

"It wasn't her wish," the hanyou growled.

"What did you do to Kagome?" asked Sango as she stood and reached for her own sword. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you mean 'lost'?"

"Put her down, Inuyasha," commanded the miko. "Si... Take a seat, Sango. Let her explain." She smiled warmly to the dream weaver as she was placed back on her own feet. "Please continue."

"What a rude demon. Are you certain that this is..."

"YES. He IS the one I chose. Keep talking."

"Harumph." Kuusouka dusted off her clothing and slowly took her seat once more. "Where were we?"

"You were telling us how you lost Kagome," explained Shippo.

Kuusouka laughed. "Oh dear child. Er... demon... er... demon child... Oh dear one, I did not lose Kagome. She was losing herself! The dream was becoming so real in her mind that it was becoming Kagome's reality. She would have no longer been a part of this world. In fact, this world would have been her dream."

"I'll kill you."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome put a restraining hand on her companion before turning her own irritated gaze back to the dream weaver. "How would I have no longer been a part of this world? Would I have been dead?"

With a grin, Kuusouka scratched her head. "No. Not dead. Just... asleep. An eternal slumber, so to speak."

Inuyasha pictures Kagome pinned to a tree with an arrow like he was and felt nauseas. Dreaming, but not really living.

"Kagome would have the perfect life that she has always dreamed of. And she will live as long as the world stands." Kuusouka told the group proudly.

"Stuck in high school… forever?" Kagome asked, horrified.

The woman laughs, "I am unsure what 'high school' is, but tells life would progress however you wish it. You can be any age you want. You can start her life all over again if you would like. No pain, no sorrow, no worries, no doubts. Perfect happiness forever. Does that not sound wonderful!"

"So Kagome has a choice, right?" asked the human Inuyasha hopefully. "She could choose to say in the dream world with me."

"Of course she could!" chirped Kuusouka. "Though it may take a bit of time for her mind to accept that the dream is the reality again. Perhaps I have something here for taking away memories... hmmm... that would certainly solve a lot of problems wouldn't it?" She dug through her bag. A sharp edge of a bloodied sword stopped her progress.

"You aren't taking away Kagome's memories," Inuyasha roared angrily.

Instinct caused him to reach for his sword. His hand trembled slightly as he caught the scent of Kagome's blood on his blade. His stomach turned. The sight and smell of it was making him sick. But he kept his grip, regardless of how badly he wished he could throw the blade away.

"I believe," said the dream weaver sternly, "That the decision is Kagome's alone to make. Though Kagome was not the person the gift was intended for, once given, it can not be taken away. Only accepted or rejected." She turned serious eyes, dark as night, to Kagome. "But you must decide on one or the other. A person will go mad if they do not choose and choose quickly. You can not live in both worlds."

"So the question is," pondered Miroku aloud, "What will Kagome do?"

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Author's Note: Thanks for your reviews! I enjoy reading them very much. They really make my day. Some of you guys are such a hoot! Kinda sad thinking that there are only a couple of chapters left to go, though.