Author's Note: One brief situation from the series.

Chapter 6: Dreams and a Demon's Past

"So what are all these?" Kagome asked, indicating the scrolls piled on Miruk's bed.

The two had just chased away Kagome's mother after she had come by to investigate the loud noises (they blamed it on a shelf falling down) and Kagome was interested on what else Miruk might have found.

"Accounts from a priestess living here five hundred years ago. They include quite a bit of interesting information about our friend here."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, who was still lying on the ground in a bit of pain. "You mean the 'traitorous creature?'"

Miruk nodded. He pulled out one of the scrolls and unrolled it. "It seems that Inuyasha was attached to another priestess who lived here..."

"A demon loving a human?" Kagome looks surprised.

"Well...he's not a demon," Miruk said. "He's a hanyou, a half-demon."

"Something I don't really want blabbed to the whole world," snapped Inuyasha. He had pulled himself into a sitting position that made him look even more doglike.

"Anyways," Miruk continued, "this priestess was the protector of the powerful object known as the Shikon no Tama."

Kagome felt a tingle go up her back and a faint ache in her side.

"According to these scrolls, which were written by the priestess's younger sister, who became a priestess after her, Inuyasha came looking for the Jewel in order to become a full demon. For some reason, the priestess did not kill him like she had done to other demons who had come seeking the Jewel. In time, the two began to trust each other."

Inuyasha's ears twitched and Kagome swore a look of sadness had flashed across his face before it returned to a blank expression.

"One day, the priestess went to meet Inuyasha, taking the Jewel with her. Unfortunately-"

"Inuyasha betrayed her, fatally wounding her. She went back to the village and shot him, pinning him to the Tree. She then took the Jewel with her to the other side," Kagome finished, tingling all over.

Miruk blinked, "Yes, but..."

"I never betrayed her! Kikyo betrayed ME!" Inuyasha yelled angrily.

"Kikyo's the priestess you betrayed?" Kagome asked.

"I just said I didn't be-"

Miruk held up a hand, "One moment and then we will hear your side of the story." He turned to Kagome, "how did you know how Kikyo died."

Kagome hesitated. "I dreamed it, several times actually, but I saw what happened through Kikyo's eyes."

Miruk nodded. "And Inuyasha, why did you call Kagome by the priestess's name?"

"She's got the same looks, and an almost identical smell," Inuyasha replied.

"That explains why Kagome could have broken the arrow's seal so easily..." Miruk muttered.

"Why?"

"Kagome, I think you might be Kikyo's reincarnation."

"Uhhh..."

"If her dream was a memory or something like that," Inuyasha started, "then why didn't she dream about what really happened? She attacked me first, not the other way around."

"Please elaborate," Miruk said.

"The scrolls are right about one thing, I used to love Kikyo, enough to change my original plans," he did not say what he changed his plans to, "we agreed to meet each other, her bringing the Jewel with her. But," his eyes narrowed, "while I was waiting, she attacked me from behind. Realizing how stupid it was to have trusted a human, I went back to the village for the Jewel. When I was making my escape, I suddenly found myself pinned to a tree and the Jewel flying out of my grasp. And there was Kikyo...I slipped into unconsciousness after that. The next thing I remember is waking up, bound in wood."

The vines on the Tree, Kagome realized.

"You didn't notice that Kikyo was wounded?" Miruk asked.

Inuyasha shrugged.

"Well, I see two possibilities," Miruk said, "either Inuyasha is lying to make Kagome and I take his side and trust him so he can escape easier, or something else happened that night to make him and Kikyo betray each other."

"And what does that have to do with me possibly being a reincarnation of a dead priestess?" Kagome asked.

Miruk shrugged, "Maybe something was supposed to happen five hundred years ago and destiny decided to wait 'till Kikyo came back. Or at least her spirit."

The rest of the day passed very slowly for Kagome. A lot had happened that morning, and it gave her a lot to think about.

I was never sure whether reincarnation was real or not...but what if I am the reincarnation of this Priestess? Ugh...I hope it doesn't mean I will fall in love with Inuyasha.

She was back in her room, attempting to tape her Geometry book back together.

Looking out the window, Kagome looked at the Tree. It's going to take a while to get used to seeing it without the vines...oh-no!

She and Miruk hadn't discussed how to explain the chunks of vines lying around the base of the Tree. She dropped her book on the desk and out of her room and down the hallway.

"Miruuuuuuuk!"

Miruk stuck his head out of his door. "What's wrong?"

"The Tree...the vines...jii-chan and mama!"

A look flashed across Miruk's face. "I hadn't thought of that," he looked back into the room, "Inuyasha, would you help clean up the mess of the vines that you made?"

"What if I don't wanna?" Kagome heard the demon's voice coming from inside.

"Osa-"

"All right! Fine! Just don't abuse that power of yours!"

Miruk came out of the room. "Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as he closed the door.

"He went via the window."

The two of them snuck past the kitchen (where Kagome's mother was cleaning) and the family room (where Kagome's grandfather was wringing up a new supply of talismans) to the front door.

Inuyasha was waiting for them by the Tree. "What took ya so long?" he asked.

"Unlike you, we can't survive a jump out of a second story window like you can," Miruk answered.

"So whadya want me to do?"

"Pick up the vine pieces and..." Miruk paused. Obviously he didn't know what to do with the remains once they had been picked up.

"Dump 'em in the well?" Kagome suggested.

"Only idea we have."

For the next hour or two, the three picked up vine chunks. Inuyasha getting the larger and heavier ones, Kagome and Miruk the lighter and smaller ones. Kagome thought Miruk would have asked her to take the seal her grandfather had on the well cover off, but he simply removed the cover and ignored the seal.

While he dumped his first armful of vines in, Kagome asked him about it. Miruk laughed. "Honestly, I think even a full-blooded demon could have removed the cover. Your grandfather has very little, if any, power."

That would explain some things.

Bit by bit, the courtyard was cleared of debris left by Inuyasha's awakening. The work wore out Kagome, and by the time they were done, she was tempted to fall asleep right then and there. But there was one more problem that needed to be dealt with.

"How will we prevent jii-chan and mama from noticing the missing vines?"

Miruk yawned. "We'll think of something. Right now I feel like an afternoon nap."

Silently, Kagome agreed and a few minutes later she had fallen asleep on her bed back in her room.

Am I dreaming again? She wondered. Or remembering past memories, or whatever these are?

She was in the same priestess outfit she had been wearing in the dreams she was having almost every night.

Although instead of standing in a clearing with the Shikon no Tama, she was standing at the edge of a forest, bow in hand. She was obviously waiting for something.

Almost instantly, a tell-tale flash of red zoomed across her vision. One after another, she fired four arrows towards the color. A cry of outrage was heard.

Kagome walked over to a tree a short distance away. Inuyasha was pinned against its trunk, one arrow in each of his sleeves and pant's legs. "Why don't you just kill me?" He growled at her.

"I have no need to," Kagome replied, looking at him. Without another word, she turned and walked away.

The dream then jumped to the now familiar dream of betrayal, although this time, Kagome knew who's leg she saw crushing her hand, what the face of the person pinned to the tree looked like, and what she was yelling as she let loose her arrow.

"Die Inuyasha!"

Down the hall in Miruk's room, he was having dreams, although quite different than Kagome's.

"You know, I could always take turns dating you all," he told the group of ladies surrounding him. They blushed and giggled.

Miruk's dreams were usually always along these lines. Groups of women fawning over him.

It was then he noticed something different about the dream. The women were wearing what looked like ancient noble lady's kimonos and they were standing at the front door of what looked like a palace. They giggled again. "But hoshi-sama, shouldn't you get rid of the demon before making promises like that?"

Hoshi? Miruk blinked. I just work at a shrine and know a few spells, when did I become a monk? He looked down at his clothes and discovered that, sure enough, he was wearing the black and purple outfit of a monk from long ago. Well, this is the first dream I've had about the past.

To the women, he replied "Do not worry, I will be able to expel this demon from your household with ease."

More giggling. "Do that and one of us will be glad to bare you a child."

Eh? Well, this is another dream first.

Miruk was about to head inside the palace when he felt a strange feeling in his right arm. Looking down again, he saw that the arm in question seemed to be wrapped in an arm guard and prayer beads.

The odd thing was that something seemed to be tugging the fabric inward near his palm.

"Ladies, pleas get yourself to safety inside!" Miruk heard himself yelling as he turned and ran towards the palace gates. Not now! a little corner of his mind cried, it can't end with me! For some reason, he made sure his hand pointed downward.

By the time he made it past the gates, it felt like a strong gale was pulling him down to the ground.

Suddenly he stopped as the cloth and prayer beads came off of his hand. Almost instantly, large chunks of the ground jumped up at him...

...and disappeared into his right hand!

What the hell?

Miruk tried to move his hand, but the force of the wind's pull kept it in place.

When the hole in the road was about knee-deep, even more was added to the nightmare.

The void, or whatever it was, started to expand. Miruk's eyes widened with horror as first his fingers, and then his entire hand disappeared.

Soon, almost his entire arm had been consumed.

Hearing laughter, Miruk noticed a shape in the nearby trees. "I was interested how many generations the curse would last."

"Damn you Naraku!" Miruk heard himself yelling.

Inuyasha was leaning up against a wall, watching Miruk sleep.

Must be having a nightmare, he thought as Miruk moaned and clutched his arm. He didn't bother to wake him though. Anytime in the past when he had tired to awaken someone from a nightmare, they panicked even more when they saw a demon bending over them.

Although that girl did say she had never seen a demon before...a sudden thought entered Inuyasha's mind, what if I'm the only being with demon blood left?

Downtown in Tokyo, a young man stood outside a restaurant, periodically checking his watch.

Eventually, he headed to the nearest train station. "She must've had something come up," Houjou said to himself.