Ok sorry this took so long. I am very busy, and this should be my longest chapter so far... still not long compared to some, but anyway, thank you so much for reading my story! Thank you too all my... 4 ... reviewers...BrokenChaos, MikoinTraining, Phlawere and Water-Goddess333!! abc order... :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything related… but I would love a Kirara plushy!!

Chapter 4

The Lie

SLAP!!

"Keep your hands to yourself, Miroku!" Sango warned, her cheeks bright read.

"I didn't want to slip off Kirara's back," the monk crooned, "but the slap was well worth it," he thought to himself slyly.

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo had been flying up the mountain on Kirara's back for a little less than an hour, but had lost sight of Inuyasha and Kagome long before that.

"Kirara, can you take us over there?" Sango asked her neko companion. Sango had pointed to a deep cliff on the side of the mountain; it appeared to be where the path up the mountain ended. There were steep steps cut into the mountain, they looked old and unused. As soon as Kirara landed, Shippo quickly hopped off her back and scampered to the side of the mountain where the steps were cut.

"Shippo! Please be careful!" Sango called out to him. "Where do you think Kagome and Inuyasha got off to? They have been gone for quite a while. I thought they would have caught up to us by now," Miroku wondered aloud.

Sango watched Kirara play tag with Shippo; the neko didn't look nearly as fierce in her smaller form. As she watched the two little demons play, she wondered about her friends. "Kagome and Inuyasha have been gone a while, I hope they're okay."

"Sango?" Miroku asked, waking the girl from her thoughts. "What were you thinking about Sango? I called your name twice," he informed her, a curious look crossing his face.

"Oh nothing, let's check out these steps, they must lead to somewhere," Sango suggested, walking over to the cut steps.

The steps were cut into granite, and at one time, had been something to behold. There were intricate carvings along the steps and up the walls, but they had been filled with dirt and debris, making them hard to see. In some places, you could still see where the stone had been buffed to an illustrious shine.

Now they were slightly crumbled, it looked as if no one had been up to maintain the stairs in years. They went up through the rock about ten feet, if you took a few steps back, you could see where it leveled out.

"Well they seem stable enough," Miroku told Sango, tapping the steps with his staff.

Just then, a blur of beige and orange dashed past the two humans and up the steps.

"Shippo, Kirara!" Sango scolded, sounding more like her father than she had intended.

"Whoa, you guys gotta see this. . ." Shippo said, his voice fading as he moved farther away. Miroku and Sango exchanged glances before nodding and carefully making their way up the steps.

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Kagome tried to panic. She tried to kick, scream, and bite; but she couldn't. All she could do was helplessly float along the path, wrapped in soul collectors.

"I'm not really afraid of Kikyo; but then again, she's never gone out of her way to see me either." Kagome thought.

It had never occurred to her where she was going, but she was sure she would see Kikyo. Kagome tried to distract her worried mind with images of her and her friends.

She thought back to the time she gave Shippo crayons, and he spent the whole day drawing pictures for her.

She remembered the first time she met Sango, and almost giggled when she remembered how the slayer had tried to kill Inuyasha, even she wasn't far from death herself.

She remembered her first kiss.

Her first kiss had been with a haynou, a half-demon, who would believe that? Kagome let her mind wander back to that starry night. .

Kagome sat in the grass and inhaled the cool night air. She loved how the air in Feudal Japan smelled sweet; if you tried to breathe too hard in her time, you usually ended up smelling exhaust and cologne. Here, you could smell grass and flowers.

As she sat in the grass, gazing at the stars, she heard the grass rustle slightly, and the muffled sound of cloth folding in on itself.

"Hi, Inuyasha," Kagome said without looking away from the stars.

"Whatcha doing all the way over here by yourself, Kagome?" the hanyou asked, in a voice so curious, it was almost sensitive.

"Just looking at the stars, they are so much brighter and clearer in your time," she told him.

"Yeah and the air smells better too," the boy said, thinking back to the smell he grudgingly became accustomed to.

Inuyasha suppressed a gasp as Kagome let her head lay lightly on his shoulder. He glanced at Kagome and saw that she was still looking at the stars, so he looked up at them too.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked quietly.

"Hmm?" came back his lazy response.

"Do you think the stars are beautiful?" the raven-haired girl asked, quieter still.

He looked down and saw that Kagome was now looking at him. The stars reflected off Kagome's clear brown eyes, making them sparkle.

Kagome blushed a little when she felt Inuyasha staring at her, but she didn't look away.

"I want to kiss her," Inuyasha thought.

At the same time, Kagome thought, "Is he going to kiss me?"

"Yeah," he whispered, bending down so that his lips brushed against hers. "They are beautiful," he told her, whispering again, sending shivers up and down Kagome's spine.

They let their mouths touch, and then pressed them together. Kagome made a surprised sound, but kissed back, her fingers trembling.

Kagome was trembling all over now, scared and full of joy at the same time.

Inuyasha could feel her trembling, and he loved it.

He could smell her slight fear, but more than that, there was happiness, and just a little.. lust? Inuyasha let a small growl work its way up his throat.

"Can't breathe," Kagome thought.

They pulled away from each other, blushing madly, and gasping for air. They hugged each other fiercely.

"Your hair smells nice"

"Thank you, Inuyasha."

Kagome remembered that night vividly; it had only been about two weeks ago. She also remembered how awkward it had been, walking back into camp with everyone staring at them, smirking.

"What were you two doing?" Shippo asked with his mouth full of rice and fish.

At that, Inuyasha chased the child around until he dove under a tree root, yelling at Inuyasha.

Kagome smiled at this thought, well, at least she tried to smile; whatever spell she was under kept her from doing just about everything, except breath and blink.

Kagome had been so concentrated on her reminiscing, that she had not noticed the faint orange glow growing larger, until she was only twenty feet from it.

"What's that?" she thought, her heart fluttered a little.

Kagome kept calm as the soul collectors slowly carried her closer to the rounded out doorway. It looked natural and it was about seven feet wide and tall. As she neared the entrance, Kagome saw candles flickering all around the small room, along with several mortars and a wide variety of herbs, of which Kagome could only name a few.

The soul collectors put Kagome down, but much to her surprise and dismay, she still could not move.

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Sango and Miroku gazed at the shrine in front of them. It stood ten feet tall and was carved from the same stone as the steps. It had a small walkway, but time and neglect had made the rocks shift and move so that it did not really look like one.

Inside the shrine was an offering plate with old burnt incense still propped up next to it.

A stone tablet behind the plate had the words "To the Great Bear mountain spirit, who has always protected this poor village and kept our land fertile."

"So that means. . ." Sango started but was quickly cut off by Shippo, "That the monster is actually just a spirit." "Maybe," Miroku agreed, "that does seem the most likely culprit. It looks like no one has been up here in a long time. Maybe the spirit is angry with the villagers," the monk told his companions as he bent down to investigate the offering plate and inscribed tablet.

Miroku started reciting prayers to soothe the angry spirit, his low voice not much louder than a hum.

"Come with me Shippo, we can find something to put on the offering plate, you too Kirara," Sango called to the two little demons.

The kit and the tiny nekomata climbed up Sango's legs and sat on each of her shoulders lightly.

"Sango," Shippo asked, "you do like Miroku, right?" the little boy asked bluntly.

Sango nearly tripped when she heard the question.

Cheeks burning she told him," Of course I like him, I like everyone in our group; like you, Kagome, even Inuyasha."

With one eyebrow raised Shippo caught the slayers nervous gaze.

"You know what I meant San--", he started, but this time Sango cut him off.

"Oh look, berries!" she said, quickly turning off the path, sending both demons tumbling off her shoulders.

Kirara and Shippo walked over to their own berry bush. "She so likes him," Shippo said, Kirara mewed in agreement.

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Kagome sat in the circular room, waiting for something to happen. Right after the soul collectors let Kagome go, the left; but only a few minutes had gone by since then and she could already see their glow returning, but this time she could hear soft footsteps approaching.

"Kikyo," Kagome thought

"Hello, Kagome"

The End..

Just kidding…down there.. \/

"What do you want with me?" Kagome thought angrily.

"I assume that dirty look was aimed at me, maybe for the spell?"

"If this spell ever gets lifted, I'm gonna kick your creepy--" but Kagome didn't finish her thought. Kikyo was rustling around in her herbs, and sorting sutras.

"You know, I saw Inuyasha a few minutes ago. He isn't looking for you," Kikyo told Kagome, turning around to watch the despair cross over her re-incarnations familiar features; but Kagome only looked at Kikyo as though she would very much like to cause her physical harm. Irritated, Kikyo returned to her pointless sorting.

"I'm not lying you know, when he saw me he couldn't embrace me any quicker. He held me tightly and told me he was sorry; he said he would rather be with me," Kikyo told the girl, turning from her work yet again, but this time she moved her face just inches away from Kagome's.

"Ugg, she's so close that even I can smell the soil she's made of," Kagome thought, but kept staring defiantly at the woman in front of her.

"He told me that all he wants is for you to return to your time, so I can seal the well, and we can live together." Kikyo said the last word with a sad smirk. She stared at the mute girl in front of her.

"He wouldn't say that, would he? Does Inuyasha really not want me around?" Kagome questioned silently.

Kikyo watched triumphantly as a single glistening tear slipped down the girl's dirty cheek. With one last cold smirk, Kikyo stood up.

"Inuyasha couldn't find you unless I wanted him to," Kikyo thought. "The hole you fell though was put under a similar spell, not even a trace of your scent can be found, even by his nose," She thought, a small smile curling her lips.

"I'm off to find Inuyasha. I'll let him know that you decided your time was better, because he wasn't there, then I can seal the well. Unfortunately for you, there is very little chance you will ever leave this hole," the older miko told the younger one.

She gazed at Kagome one last time and almost flinched away from the hatred that shone in the girls clear brown eyes.

"Goodbye, Kagome," Kikyo said, turning gracefully, soul collectors close behind.

"I'll show you," Kagome thought venomously, as the glow from the last serpent disappeared.

Yay!! I hope you guys liked that.. sorry it took so long! But im already working on chapter five.. last chapter I think.. sad.. please don't forget to leave some reviews!!

Nekolove