As arrow after arrow flew at the target, Kagome sighed in a happy way, stress relieved in such a way as to cause her to forget her wounds, as to forget her scars. To forget the one who betrayed her…

She could only thank Sango, Miroku, and even little Kirara for training her. Inuyasha had growled angrily and demanded that she stop what she was doing, of course. But she had been tired… tired of being only dead weight, tired of trying to help and only getting hurt or getting in the way. She wanted to save her self. She wanted them to be proud of her, to not have to worry that she would get herself killed. That was what she wanted. She no longer had even a whisper of hope to have it happen though. They were gone. But she would continue on, hoping that they would look after her from the heavens.

Emptying her last quiver of arrows, Kagome smiled, sighed happily, and went to change back to her school uniform. She pulled off the archery uniform slowly, taking the time to reflect on how she had been feeling. She slowly exited the school, strolling home.

"Hey, Kagome!" Keiko called, her short brown hair swishing behind her happily.

"Yo, Keiko. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing really… But, uh, do you want to grab a bite with me and my friends at WackDonalds? You seem kind of lonely."

"Um… well, yeah, I guess, but you kind of have to wait for a little while, I have to go and get my son. He'll want to go too" Kagome said, rubbing the back of her head, laughing softly.

The look of shock on Keiko's face startled Kagome, and she realized that Keiko didn't know about her son.

"He's adopted, before you get any misconceptions going on. He was orphaned when he was young so, when I met him and took him in as my own. He's got really cute red hair, and is the smartest child I have ever met. I love him more than anything." Kagome said softly, blushing madly at herself. She couldn't blame Keiko for her error. She was gone for quite a long time.

With that, Kagome parted from Keiko, running home despite the slight sting of her wounds. She had finally regained enough energy to slowly heal the wounds, yet she would save most of what little bit she had regained to heal Shippo. But that could wait until he regained a bit of energy himself. She quickly dressed Shippo in some of her brothers' old clothes, after giving him a charm that Kaede had made her so that she could hide Shippo's demon features. She gave her mother a kiss good bye, and headed for the WacDonalds up the street. But she was unprepared for the sight that met her, and she smiled softly at the familiarity of the entire thing.

The boy with orange hair, Kuwabara, was currently was fussing with Yusuke and Kurama was trying to end the bickering. Hiding the giggle behind her hand, Kagome sat next to Keiko, with Shippo on her lap. Everyone's eyes were suddenly on her, piercing her very soul.

"Uh… Hello." Kagome said, trying not to squirm. She noticed that a small guy was leaning casually leaning against the booth. Instantly, Kagome noted the demonic aura surrounding the table she sat in. Her powers sparked around her hand, zapping her. She stood quickly, setting Shippo down hurriedly, then ran to the bathroom. She held her hand, trying to both get it to behave and pinpoint what the problem was. She was around demons all the time. What was wrong with her?

After cursing her powers and a few calming breaths, she returned. Shippo looked at her worriedly, before he stood and hugged her tightly.

"Kagome… What's the matter? I haven't seen you look so scared since Inuyasha-"

"I'm fine, Shippo. Really. My side just really hurts. That's all."

"But mom, I've seen you with worse wounds and you never acted like that. Did your powers zap you?"

Kagome stiffened, looking around the booth. All eyes were on her. She licked her lips, resisting the urge to walk away, chalk up this one as a loss and go back to her every day regular life.

"Kagome? What powers?" Keiko asked, ignorant of Yusuke's harsh stare. Kagome looked down at her lap, worrying her lip.

"It's a long story. Trust me, you won't believe me anyway."

"Oh, I beg to differ. We'll listen to you, Kagome," came Kurama's voice, followed by a nod from everyone, save the ever stoic one leaning against the booth. With a sigh, Kagome consented, looking towards the front desk.

"Fine, I suppose. But I have to show you for you to understand. It seems that to most my word isn't very believable." Kagome stood, turning towards the door, heading to her home. Kuwabara grabbed the food, eating a fist full of fries before following the rest of the group. She led them up the shrine steps, noticing the slightly wary looks of the short one and Kurama.

She walked inside, grabbing the set of miko garbs she kept around just in case she had to pull a shift with her grandfather, so that they could make some rainy day money.

Walking back outside with her bow and arrow in hand, Kagome set up the practice dummy, and took a few steps back. She waved everyone back a few steps, pushing Shippo even further away, making sure he didn't get hurt.

Standing before the dummy, Kagome strung her bow, taking a few deep breaths.

You'll never be anything compared to Kikyo. You're just a copy.

Her fingers sparked with energy.

Feh. I don't want you training, wench. You're just wasting everyone's time.

Her eyes changed color.

I don't want you around anymore. You were just a shard detector. All I ever wanted was to become a demon. You don't matter. None of you did. Now that your use has run out, it's time for you to die.

She let the arrow go. It crackled with the blue energy surrounding it. It struck the dummy in slow motion, the energy causing blue flames to permeate the cloth and fabric before it fell to the ground, nothing more than ashes.

"I am a miko"

And the stunned silence went on and on. Shippo throwing off the charm proudly and climbing onto Kagome's shoulder, instantly regained his fox characteristics.

"And I am a fox demon!" He squealed, grinning ear to ear.

Yusuke looked closely at her, rubbing the back of his head.

"Keiko, I'll be back. Koenma will wanna hear this." He said, stepping away from them, flipping open his communicator.

Kagome noted that the short one was gone.