Shiori came to a stop after a bit, breath hitching in her chest as she fought with what she had just woken up to, how had she gotten like that? She growled as she thought angrily within her head.

'Why the hell did you do that? You didn't ask to take me over, you weren't even supposed to do that!'

Another voice answered from within..

I know, I wanted to tell him goodbye, tell him that for me…

The voice said sobbingly in her head..

'That wasn't a part of our deal, you weren't supposed to take me over at all….I'm just holding you in here as per our agreement…'

The voice took awhile to respond again…

Just tell him, that's all I ask, I won't do it again…

'You're damn right you won't or you'll be out of here and wandering again…remember your place in the world, you don't exist anymore….'

Shiori hissed back but the voice spoke no more to her so she headed off to a nearby stream to cool off.

Little did she know, Inu was following her, mind surging with questions as his heart ached, why was life teasing him with his lost love still? His thoughts were cut short as he found her and fell to the ground as he got quite the eyeful of the neko. She squealed before dropping back into the water, soon assailing Inu's head with anything she could find on the river bottom, rocks, logs and the like.

He jumped away, out of her reach in the trees before yelling down to her.

"Get dressed, we need to talk!"

"Pervert!" Shiori yelled back still keeping hidden in the water and covering herself with her arms.

"I didn't mean to see you like that, I was just trying to find you!"

"Yeah, sure, I believe that…" She said back before reaching for her clothes at the edge of the riverbank, watching Inu all the while to make sure he wasn't sneaking a peek. "You can look now.." She called after awhile.

Inu leaped a bit too eagerly back down, not bothering to keep up his usual I don't care about anything attitude and dropping down right in front of her.

"Why?" Was all he could manage to get out, still reeling a little from the kiss and his accidental look earlier.

"She says goodbye…" Was Shiori's answer as she looked to the ground to avoid his eyes, she just couldn't look at him right now.

"Who?" He asked though his heart knew the answer even though it made no sense how that could happen.

"Kagome….she's in me.."

The dog demon did a face plant in front of her and Shiori had to really try not to giggle, she had to get this out all at once or she would lose her nerve.

"It all happened about a week before you found me….I had been nursing my wounded pride up in a tree while I tended to the gashes I had suffered from a snake demon's surprise attack when the wind was away from me. After I killed him, I took the trees to hide from anything else that might be lurking when I sensed a faint aura behind me. I snapped around to look and a see a hazy form of girl in front of me, sunlight shining clear through her. "I don't want to die," She tells me, ghostly tears flowing down her face, "I can't leave, I'm not done, I can't leave him." I watched her for quite some time before I ended up agreeing to help her on some of the counts since I didn't need anymore jewel pumped up demons attacking me. I took her into me to give her a vessel while she in return allowed me to see the shards she needed to find and giving me a name, your name before she went quiet for a time…..At any rate, she did that this morning, not me, took me over and did as she wished…."

Inu rolled over onto his back, ears flipping back and forth throughout the tale before he spoke.

"Makes sense I guess…" He asked, his eyes hidden under his bangs and his face unreadable, "Goodbye?"

"Yes, she told me before that she was worried she wouldn't be able to come back again since her soul died in this time….so I guess that's her way of saying, don't worry about me…" Shiori said, looking up at him for a moment before her gaze dropped to the ground again, the words had just sunk in as to what the miko had really meant in a way she hadn't thought of beforehand. The miko was giving her permission in a way, Shiori hadn't thought of which caused a blush to appear on her face.

Inu smiled a tiny bit at the blush, he knew what it meant too, Kagome had answered his thoughts and fears. Part of him still felt somber to it all but a little portion drifted to thinking what that meant for his future, or his and someone else's now too.