Sorry for taking so long ppl! My computer's gone absolutely nuts and my Mom won't let me stay on it long enough to get anywhere here! We just got some new equipment for our computer so maybe the third chapter will be up a little sooner now! Alright, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha……. Yet……… I'M WORKING ON IT!

Italic paragraphs Flash back

Waiting for You

Chapter two: The Two Sides of One Soul and another Priestess

"Mom?! Souta?! Grandpa?! I'm home!" a voice rang out in a house just outside of downtown Tokyo.

"Kagome! You're back! Welcome home dear."

"Hey Mom! Thanks!"

"Hey Sis! Bout time you came back!"

"Souta, did you really think she wouldn't be home for her own birthday?" Kagome laughed as her Grandfather answered Souta sarcastically and she ruffled her brother's hair.

"Or at least half of it Gramps." she said after a second. Kagome and her mother had already talked and agreed that Kagome would spend half of her birthday at home and the other half with Inuyasha back in the Feudal Era.

"Kagome, why are you wearing those weird clothes? Don't you have your own?" "Hmhm, I grew squirt. My clothes don't fit," she chuckled.

"Kagome Dear why don't you go take a bath and we'll go shopping tomorrow for some new clothes."

"Thanks Mom!" Kagome yawned as she sprang up the stairs. God it was good to be home.

Nearly sprinting into her room that she hadn't seen in ages, she realized how much she didn't really recognize the room. Was her bed always that big? Did she even have that color wall paint before? She could have sworn it was a few shades different. "I've been in the feudal era too long," she thought and shook it off. Kagome gathered the items she needed, surprised she could remember where half the stuff was and headed to where she thought the bathroom was. She opened the door into a blue room complete with a bed and countless video games. Confused Kagome looked around then shook her head. "Get a hold of yourself Kag, this is Souta's room not, the bathroom. Geez at this rate, I'm gonna need a map of my own house!"

After two more unsuccessful tries Kagome finally made it to the bathroom. Filling the tub Kagome told herself the first thing to do tonight was to get reacquainted with her house. This was pathetic, she was acting like Inuyasha the first time he came here. He had told her after the battle with Yura that it took him forever to find her in the house since her scent was all over this place.

She stepped into the tub as she thought about back in the feudal era when Sango and she would go to the hot springs. Inuyasha and Miroku would always try over and over to get a peek. Of course Inuyasha denied any statement that he had ever purposely tried to see Kagome (yeah right he knows that's not true).

Inuyasha.

Hmph, she hoped she hadn't hurt him too badly, no matter how much he deserved it sometimes. She jut couldn't stay mad at him could she? Anyways, she could tell from a pretty sickening crack she had dislocated or broken something. It should be fine by the time she got back but she would never hear the end of it she was sure. Maybe he did deserve that….

"Knowing Inuyasha, he's probably just waiting for whatever I hurt to heal so he can jump through the well and give me a hard time about it or drag me back," she put her hands on her hips and imitated Inuyasha's voice, "'We have to find the Shikon Shards. You can come back here anytime you want when we've got em.' Yeah right does really expect me to still believe that? We know where the other shards are. Two with Kouga, one with Kohaku, and one with me. He just can't admit he can't do anything without me," she smiled. "That's why I love him," she sighed, "Oh well. I guess I could get him something as a sort of anniversary type gift." She'd seen that new flavor of Ramen out, the new meat lover's flavor with all sorts of Inuyasha's favorites combined. Yeah that would work.

Kikyo sat with her back up against a maple tree. She was thinking of her plan to kill Naraku. Since Naraku had almost killed her, she knew wouldn't be able to do this without some help and the only one who could help her, as much as she didn't like the idea, was Kagome. She didn't really have anything against the girl except with the whole Inuyasha problem. It annoyed her to see the girl, who had more power than she herself knew of, skipping around like a helpless doll too. If she knew her own power at all Tsubaki's spell would have had no effect on Kagome, even with three shards embedded in the girl's neck. The jewel would have purified so much more easily then.

Now, Kagome had broken off another shard and from the looks of it, Naraku didn't know about it yet. She had sat thinking for hours how this might be able to help them. Kikyo knew that Kagome had left for her time and the best time to talk to Kagome was while she was still alone and none of her friends knew about the meeting. If she managed to talk Kagome into helping her, she would have to teach her everything a miko was trained to know. Kikyo half smiled. If Kagome had been born in this era she would have made a fine priestess indeed.

Kikyo's head suddenly began to nod. Wait! Her eyes flew open. Since when did she need to sleep? She was one of the dead! Her need of sleep had ended that day fifty years ago when time had stopped for her. Why was she feeling like drifting off to sleep now? Kikyo tried to fight the blackness overtaking her but nothing worked. Giving up, Kikyo sank into unconsciousness and began to dream.

She dreamt of the horrible day when Naraku had tried to kill her at Mt. Hakurei. Kikyo's shoulder felt like it was on fire as she relived the nightmare. She could feel the miasma coursing through her body as she fell into the river.

"Hello Kikyo…"

Kagome sat looking at the stars daydreaming while waiting for sleep to come. She was home, and fortunately knew where everything was again. After Kagome had gotten cleaned up her mother cooked dinner for them all while still going on about that shopping spree she was planning on taking Kagome on tomorrow. It sounded like her mother was trying to empty their bank account with the way she was going on.

Flashback:

"Mom, how in the world do you expect to pay for all of this?" Kagome asked amused at her mother going on about their "big shopping trip" tomorrow .

"We'll dear, you remember Aunt Saki?" Ha! How could Kagome forget? Her mother's rich aunt who had made a fortune in various countries around the world had absolutely adored Kagome and her mother. She remembered her early childhood when and Saki would come over and praise Kagome and her mother for hours. She had always loved her Aunt even if she hadn't been so rich.

"Yeah what about her? Did something happen?"

"Well Kagome I'm afraid she died last month." Her mother sad sadly. That gave Kagome a shock. Sure Aunt Saki's health had never been the greatest but she was stubborn enough to make up for it. "She told me to take you on a big shopping spree once you got back from the feudal era. Her treat,"

Kagome sighed, Aunt Saki had been a historian, and her specialty had been, of course, the feudal era. She was visiting and Inuyasha had come to get Kagome after a similar fight to their most recent one, not realizing Aunt Saki was sitting right next to Kagome. She recognized his clothes and how they seemed too new to be antique. That had got her questioning and the whole story had come out. Instead of send Saki into shock though as it would and sane person, the historian buried inside burst out. Poor Inuyasha had to put up with hours of Aunt Saki's ruthless interrogation about him, and his time. All the while Aunt Saki was scribbling down every word that he said on a pad of paper that seemed to come out of thin air. She could hear Aunt Saki now, "Oh yes, yes I see. Now tell me about your brother. What's he like? Does her have the same ears as you?..."

Kagome laughed at the memory.The confused hanyou had been very good for Kagome's aunt and Kagome realized she should get him a treat for that too tomorrow. Wait a minute! What if one of her friends saw her? What was her story?

Oh well, she'd have to ask Gramps in the morning. Kagome yawned as she finally felt tired enough to get to sleep. She crawled into bed and turned off her bedside light giving into sleep.

Her body seemed to float for a moment then her eyes focused onto a still slightly fuzzy scene before her. She recognized this place, it was Mt. Hakurei when it was till standing. A dark figure loomed before her, Naraku! "Naraku! What is your true objective?" Kagome heard herself asking. No that was Kikyo's voice! Wait a minute! She was Kikyo!

An arrow she realized she had shot zoomed past Naraku. "Hehehe… Did you really come here just to ask me that Kikyo? It was no coincidence you met that old bandit," Kagome's eyes widened. "I had it all planned out from the start. You never chose to come here I called you! 'Fate' is only a delusion of the weak. For those with true power there is no such thing. We control fate!"

Kagome was desperately trying to wake up now but couldn't move at all. "You wanted to know my true objective Kikyo," Naraku said in a softer, colder voice. He lifted his arm which turned into a giant spike. "There is one thing I absolutely must accomplish," the spike shot out burying itself in her shoulder. "That crevice is filled with miasma. Kikyo, the whole is your grave!"

Kagome found herself falling, her shoulder felt like it was on fire as she was enveloped in the thick river. Her whole body was churning with pain but she saw miasma purify around her. "Inu…yasha…" Kagome barely squeaked out as blackness overtook her…

Kagome sat up screaming to find her self safe in her own room. She sat there shivering while wiping some of the sweat off her forehead. She risked a glance at her clock, 3:26 am. "Oh joy I'll never get back to sleep now. I wonder though it that what really happened to Kikyo at Mt. Hakurei?" She shivered again. "If it isn't, I don't want to know what really happened,"

Kagome noticed her necklace still hanging around her neck. "Oops, forgot to take it off before I fell asleep. Oh well," she pulled it off her neck but in the dark she couldn't see the shard she had was gone.

"Hello Kikyo," a female voice said behind her. Kikyo turned; she was now surrounded in blackness except for the glowing figure standing before her.

Kikyo squinted, barely recognizing the miko, "M-Midoriko?" Kikyo asked, squinting again as the light surrounding the other priestess brightened. The tow had never met but being the guardian of the Shikon no Tama Kikyo knew of the jewels origins. "Aye, my daughter,"

"How are you here? What's going on?"

Midoriko stood silent for a minute then began, "As you know already Kagome, your reincarnation, has broken off another piece of the Shikon jewel. This shard contains more of my soul than the demons I battle. I have used the shard to pass through the bottle it was in to go into her heart. As of now, the shard is as pure as it can get without disappearing completely. Kagome could be here too since you two share a soul but I had her wake up after your rather… frightening memory,"

"Memory? You mean Kagome saw what happened at Mt. Hakurei?"

"She saw it in your perspective Kikyo," Kikyo barely suppressed a shiver, she had actually gone through it but it still haunted her. Kagome had seen it in her perspective which she wouldn't be surprised if the girl went into shock.

"So, the whole reason I'm 'sleeping' is because you're using Kagome's soul to control mine?"

"Forgive me, yes," Midoriko's lip pulled up into a half smile.

"What do you want from me then?"

"I can help you defeat Naraku. My soul has grown weary of the endless war in the jewel. If you and Kagome can manage to work together, with some instruction from me, both of you can kill Naraku and free my soul. However it would require the greatest of sacrifices. The chance that you and Kagome would make it out of this alive is very small, but even that is not the entire price you must pay. You both would have to be isolated from the world for weeks with no contact at all. Kagome will have to wean herself from the others and give up her family. Not even your soul snatchers will be allowed to see you,"

Kikyo's eyes widened for only the briefest of moments still Midoriko saw her look of concern.

"And you both would have to give yourselves up to training constantly for this. Don't worry my daughter I will seal your souls to you so that you no longer will need to rely on soul snatchers to provide them for you. Kagome and you are both skilled priestesses it will be easier to do this than you think,"

"And you need me to explain this all to Kagome once she returns from her time." A nod was the only answer she received. "Why did you have Kagome wake up? Since you speak to me through her, shouldn't she be here as well?" Midoriko's brow furrowed a little. "I originally planned for Kagome to be here as well but I over estimated my own strength. Even though the shard in Kagome's heart contains mostly my soul, the shard is smaller than it seems. Just keeping you here now is practically draining me of all energy. I want be able to stay with you for much longer. I figured it would be better to tell you, who like me is dead and easier for me to connect with.

Kagome's heart is well guarded and even with the smallest bit of demonic energy, for even a shard that small does not completely harbor only my soul. Her heart automatically puts up a barrier thanks to that baby who tried to control her. She doesn't even know she does it and the smallest bit of demonic energy is repelled as though a thousand demons were trying to take control over her," Midoriko sighed.

Mikos like Kikyo and Midoriko were trained to hide weakness but Kikyo could still see the utter exhaustion under Midoriko's mask of no emotion. "You're bad enough to try and connect with alone. Seeing as we are both of the dead it is a tad bit easier to talk with you my daughter."

"So then, what's your plan on how to do this?"

"Basically the same as yours was originally. Except Kagome will be joining you, once she leaves her friends and family behind," Kikyo felt a small tug at her mind to return to her body as the light around the miko flickered.

"You must go now Kikyo, my strength is leaving me. It will take a couple weeks for Kagome to be able to leave her friends. She should be upset enough when she realizes she is seeing her family for the last time. I must regain my strength so that you and Kagome can summon me when she has left the others. Take care Kikyo, be nice with your reincarnation, after all she's always been willing to help you out before," Midoriko sighed as she bent down and kissed Kikyo on the forehead.

Kikyo recognized the spell that would totally purify her and seal the souls of the girls to her body, all she would need to do now is touch her soul snatchers and the souls of the dead women would be fused with her own for months. "Goodbye my daughter, seal those souls to you quickly for the sealing spell won't last forever. I shall see you in a few weeks," and with that Midoriko disappeared.

Kikyo opened her eyes to the oncoming dawn in the east. "So Midoriko and I have been talking for a few hours huh, that's fine," She got up and went out looking for her soul snatchers. She found them a few yards away trying to get through a barrier to their mistress. "So Midoriko put up a barrier that even they could not get through, I see how her strength was drained so easily," She stepped out of the barrier's boundaries and it dissolved behind her. They sensed the spell and wrapped themselves around Kikyo, letting the souls they carried be fused to her. "I won't need to rely on them for souls months, still I can use them to gather information. They will be very useful in the next few weeks…

"Is something wrong Kagome?" her mother asked in a concerned voice.

Kagome looked up from her plate of nearly untouched food. "No, I'm fine Mom. I just had a little trouble sleeping last night," she answered drowsily.

"What, did you miss your boyfriend it kept you up all night? Aww true love," Souta teased.

Kagome's half closed eyes flew open and she nearly spit out the omelet she was eating. Once she stopped choking to death she sent a death glare to her little brother that had the cat, Buyo sitting next to him flying into the next room. "What was that Souta?" she growled at the terrified 8 year old. Little sleep did nothing to help her already short fuse.

"N-nothing Kagome…"he stuttered.

"For your information brother-dear," she glared, her eyes burning holes through Souta's body. Grandpa, she noticed seemed to be expecting Souta to burst into flames. "I had a bad dream thanks to a headache and it kept me up half the night ,"

Kagome's mother sighed. Souta should have just kept his mouth shut after he found out Kagome was tired he had experience of her wrath before and it wasn't pretty. After almost 9 years of living with Kagome as a sister, you would think the boy would learn. "Mom c-can you p-pass the soy sauce?" Souta's stuttering voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Here you go dear," she leaned over towards her son. "Try not to make her angry Souta, her birthday's coming up in two days, and you never know what will happen there in the feudal era. One day she might not be able to come back,"

Souta shivered at the possibility of what could happen there in the feudal era. He rarely thought about it but when he did, he realized how much danger Kagome could be in. Then again she had Inuyasha, whom he still regarded as his hero. "Kay Mom," he whispered back.

"Hey Gramps, what's my story for school anyways?" Kagome asked while wondering if she even wanted to know what was up. Knowing Gramps, it would be some weird disease that everybody knows about but her.

"Oh, that? I said your lung cancer came out of remission again and the hospital had you transferred to some hospital in America. I had to withdraw you from the school for the time being though,"

Kagome's eyes widened in disbelief, so it was back to the lung cancer situation huh? Had Gramps finally run out of ideas? "And if someone I know sees me today?"

"You tell them your visiting for the weekend, you didn't want to have us miss your birthday,"

Kagome had to admit it might work, she just hoped her friends didn't get the wrong idea and think she was wearing a wig or something weird like that. She finished her breakfast and headed up the stairs.

A hot shower managed to wake her up enough not to be extremely moody and now that she wasn't as worried she was in a slightly better mood from the one she was in at breakfast. She ran back down the stairs in some jeans of her mothers that were a little too long for her and a t shirt. Sure it wasn't her favorite outfit but it would work until she got some better clothes. She heard Grandpa talking on the phone as she headed for the kitchen

"Yes Kagome's home for the weekend… she's going shopping with her mother in a few minutes, but I'm sure she'd love to meet you somewhere….. The movie theatre? Sounds fine. What movie will you two be watching? ……That new action one?... Alright thank you, umm Hojo was it? …….Alright bye."

Kagome froze, Hojo? Hoo boy he was the last person she needed to get set up on a date with and even better, Gramps was setting her up. As if her friends weren't already bad enough.

So it was going to be one of those days huh?

Joy, Kagome gets to go shopping in the next chapter…. (Yes I totally hate shopping) we'll see if she actually finishes a date w/ Hojo for once…. And I promise a Inuyasha and the gang will be in the next chapter, I felt like doing just a kag or kik pov chapter for this one

Once again I'm really sorry this took so long! I will try to get the next chapter up sooner! But I'm afraid I'm going to have to be evil and set one of those review limits…. I need a minimum of 5 reviews for my next chapter to go up please!

Love You Guys! Jaa ne!