Chapter 2 – The New Kirara
"Sango! Oi! Sango!" Miroku slapped her continuously across the face. She was still out cold – he hoped she hadn't gotten a concussion. Hiraikotsu hit her pretty hard.
"Kagome-sama!" He called. "Can you bring some water?"
Kagome was still in shock as she walked up with a bamboo canteen of water. "Did you…I mean, Kirara…I can't believe it…"
"What, about Kirara bucking her? Yes, it was out of the ordinary to say the least. Where's Inuyasha?"
"Um, cussing and waving around Tetsusaiga." She managed to say. "I don't think he wants to go look for Kirara before Sango gets up, or she might smack him too."
Miroku splashed the entire contents of the canteen on Sango's face. "Well, be ready for some fireworks when she wakes up. It's hard to say whether she'll be angry or sad at Kirara."
Sango's eyelids twitched, and slowly she opened her eyes, crystal dark brown orbs staring up at Kagome and Miroku, who leaned over her. She blinked once or twice, and then suddenly sat up.
"WHERE IS KIRARA!" She screeched, her voice ricocheting across the clearing.
"Um, well, Sango-chan, um, she's kind of off fighting a youkai, we think, after she, well…" Kagome stuttered.
"After she bucked me off." Sango grumbled, getting to her feet unsteadily and grabbing Hiraikotsu. "If I ever find that baka neko I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind. She's never bucked me before…" Suddenly she froze. "Do you think she was possessed or something? I mean, she's never had to do that before, I don't know what came over her…"
"Yo, Sango!" Inuyasha walked up, Shippou on his shoulder. "Hey, I found her scent. It's different, but it's there. And don't worry, 'cuz she's not bleeding. Let's go."
They walked, Inuyasha following the scent, while Sango silently brooded to herself what was going on. Okay, so Kirara bucking her was more than weird. And she'd never gotten so angry at Sango as to actually throw her off. That was just crazy. She must've been possessed – that was it. The demon possessed her and made her buck Sango. But then why would she attack the demon? It just didn't make sense.
Then suddenly Shippou, who had been running ahead, suddenly cried out, "Oh, wow, you guys have to get over here quick!"
But then came a voice that sounded to them distinctly like the mewing of a cat – "Shippou, is that you?"
Sango was running now, Hiraikotsu smacking against her legs in her rush. She knew that voice anywhere. She could have recognized it in her sleep. That was Kirara's mew, and that was what Kirara's voice would have sounded like if she were a human, she was sure of it.
But nobody expected what was coming.
When the gang entered the clearing, Kagome grabbed Shippou and covered his eyes. There was a naked girl, her back propped up against a tree and her knees drawn up to her chest. Not everything was showing, but certainly enough. She had cream-colored hair, thick and curly and streaked with black that tumbled over her body. Black demon marking laced up her arms and legs. She had crimson eyes and claws instead of fingers. The girl smiled vaguely and said in the mewing voice again,
"Well, I was just about to go looking for you guys, but I thought –"
She was cut short as Sango unsheathed her katana – something she hadn't done in a long time – and placed it directly under the girl's chin. Her hand was trembling, because those crimson eyes looked so familiar, but she was a youkai Taijiya. She was trained for this sort of thing.
"Okay, who the hell are you and how do you know us?"
And the girl looked pleadingly up at her and said, "Sango, it's me. Kirara."
Kirara. It was absolutely the last name in the world Sango expected to hear, but as soon as she looked into her eyes, she knew it was true. And she slid the katana back into her sheath, at a loss for words.
It was Miroku who next spoke, minutes later. "And how do we know you're not Naraku?"
"Cause she smells like Kirara." Inuyasha grunted. He was staring openly at her. "Nobody else has this scent. And she may be a human, but look at those markings. And the hair, and the claws. Look, Naraku can impersonate people, but he doesn't smell like them. There's no other explanation." He grabbed Shippou from Kagome and said gruffly, "Come on, Miroku, you lech. Let's go get an extra yukata."
"Get my blue one, it's in my apron!" Sango called as the boys filed out. For a while, the three girls left in the clearing made no sound at all, until Sango asked,
"How, Kirara?"
"That demon." She said. "He said he would give me a human body if I let him go. And I did. It's because I wanted to talk to you guys, and – "
"Then why did you buck me!" It was coming to Sango that she could actually talk to Kirara now. She was a human being – they could talk, and she could really express her anger. "That was so unnecessary, Kirara! I got knocked unconscious, and so did Houshi-sama! What was that for?"
"I don't see why you're so upset!" Kirara snapped. "You don't seem to find anything wrong with smacking the crap out of him with Hiraikotsu every day just for caressing your butt! But when I decide I want some justice and I want to kill a demon myself, suddenly I'm completely at fault!"
"Hey, Kirara," Kagome wisely butted in, "was there a catch? Demons don't just do favors without a price."
"Well, I let him go, and also I can't fight anymore, all my powers are gone…" Sango gasped and Kagome's eyes widened, "and also, I have a month to decide if I want to stay this way or I permanently become a neko-youkai…cat demon."
The silence was untested. At first Sango was a little pissed. She was still smarting from being bucked and then finding out her best friend had signed a devil's bargain. But then it occurred to her how much Kirara must have wanted to become a human to give up her powers. How long had she wanted this? Kirara had always seemed perfectly content with her life. Was that just an act to make Sango feel better?
But before she could brood on it, a blue yukata with cherry blossoms on it was chucked into the clearing, as well as an inner kimono and one of Kagome's (very lacy and WAY too feminine) bras. Inuyasha's voice grumbled, "You pervert. Come on, let's go get dinner." They heard him dragging Miroku away from the clearing. Kagome stood, clutching the clothes, and suddenly a mental image filled the minds of the three girls.
Mental image: Inuyasha shifting through Sango's clothes to find her extra yukata and inner kimono…while Shippou bounced around, laughing…and Miroku suddenly plunged his hand into Kagome's backpack and pulled out…'Hey, Inuyasha…I think the girls might want one of these.' …'What the hell is it?' 'No clue, but Kagome-sama calls it a…bra…'
The boys didn't see it coming. All of a sudden, Hiraikotsu flew into the clearing and with perfect aim smacked Miroku on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious, and then returned back the way it had come. At the same time, a voice shot through the forest – "INUYASHA, SIT!" This left Inuyasha face-planted in the dirt, Miroku unconscious, and Shippou wondering what was wrong with the girls today.
Meanwhile in the clearing, Sango and Kagome were helping Kirara into the bra and inner kimono, all the while laughing maniacally. As they tied the sash of the yukata tight around her tiny waist, she turned to them, crimson eyes alight, and said with a grin,
"I don't know what I've been missing all these years."
