Hm...It seems my habit of waiting until forever to update has not left me...Hehe..sorry guys.

Sooo, where did we leave off? Ah yes! Kagome died, almost went to hell, ended up in heaven, and then was sent back to earth, all cleaned up and stuff. A mystical dude in the form of Shippo gave her a jewel, a symbol of all her good and bad deeds. The only way to live free of her mistakes is to right all of her wrongs, and to put a stop to all her trouble-making.

Did I leave anything out? No? If you're confused, email me.

Hoo-ah! Let's do this thing.

If any one in particular happened to glance out the window at that moment, they would have noticed a beautiful, but shoeless girl walking purposefully down the sidewalk.

How strange!

But, as it happens these days, looking out the window might land someone in unwanted trouble, so people wisely decided to keep to themselves.

The only person who happened to see this silly barefooted girl was a man-boy with long brown hair and crafty blue eyes.

Kagome heaved a huge sigh. So not only was she wearing happy colors for the first time in years, she also had been given the huge burden of correcting all her earthly mistakes.

Considering all her wrongdoings, this was going to be one helluva task.

"So what, now I'm on this 'Holy Mission'? What a load of shit! Who do they think I am? Mother Theresa??"

She snorted. If she really wanted to remove this stupid jewel from around her neck, she might as well pack up and move to Calcutta, tending the sick and injured for the rest of her miserable life.

A voice that was not her own chuckled inside her head.

'That might not be such a bad idea, but it is not your destiny'

Arg! Kagome scrunched up her face in annoyance, and shouted at the sky.

"Well what the hell is? Why don't you just tell me, so I can get this gig over with? Huh?! Mr-divine-know-it-all-being!!"

There was no answer. Kagome rubbed her head angrily. Whatever she was supposed to do in this world, she wasn't going to get any help.

Boredly, she counted up all the good deeds that were in her power. As mentioned, tending the ill. Uck! Ew no. Sid did not have any patience what-so-ever for the weak.

What else could she do? Steal from the rich and give to the poor? Mm..no. If the dudes upstairs were serious, stealing is stealing, and stealing is bad.

Another sigh.

First above all others, Kagome wanted to put right the disaster between her and the Black Death.

She was itching to rip off her ugly clothing, rather than have her gang see her like this, but going au naturale didn't appeal very much to her as an alternative.

She squared her shoulders, and for what literally seemed like the twentieth time, approached her doom.

Shippo and Kouga both watched a girl with no shoes slowly walk towards their ramshackle apartment building.

"Who is she?" Shippo asked, overflowing with curiosity.

Kouga shook is head thoughtfully. "I don't know...she might be one of Naraku's spies. I know he's got plenty of pretty girls working for him."

Shippo grinned toothily. "So you think she's pretty eh?"

Without taking his eyes from one of the screens, Kouga slammed his elbow into the younger boy's cheek, knocking him right out of the chair he occupied. Shippo scowled at him and reclaimed his seat.

"What was THAT for?!" He huffed.

"She reminds me of someone, that's all."

A few more seconds went by, and then they were certain she was just going to come right up and knock on their front door.

Kouga grunted and started to exit the room.

"Lemme go see what she wants."

Shippo frowned curiously as the girl looked up and started to talk to herself, or someone else, who obviously wasn't there.

"Kouga wait!"

From his first step into the hallway, Kouga spun his head toward Shippo, wary of danger.

"Be careful, she might be nuts..."

The older man-boy rolled his eyes, and ran quickly down to the front entrance.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Kagome was extremely nervous about knocking on the ugly yet fortified front doors.

Granted, she already had knocked, and already talked to Kouga...or no. I suppose she hadn't. But if the "first" time had went well, who's to say history wouldn't repeat itself?

And there she stood, for what must've felt like hours, counting all the cracks and bullet holes riddling the door's surface. At last, she raised her arm, poised to lift the heavy brass knocker...

..And fwoosh! With the same speed of a door being slammed, the one before her opened. (Does it make a "fwoosh" sound? Maybe a creak is more accurate. I don't know, go try it yourself you silly person!)

Startled, Kagome withdrew her hand. In place of the door, a pair of blue eyes, wreathed in shadows, glared back at her.

She was a breath away from shouting that she almost had a heart attack, but luckily, she remembered herself and her situation.

It was Kouga she was now staring at. The boy she had most tragically fallen for. For so long, she was anticipating this conversation, and now that she was here, she was utterly speechless.

However, before she could say anything, the eyes narrowed.

"What?" He demanded, and rather rudely I might add.

Kagome's eyes widened and her jaw clenched. Was she really expecting to be welcomed back with open arms?

He spoke again. "Who are you? One of Naraku's spies maybe?"

'Are you fucking serious??!! He doesn't recognize me??'

"No, I.."

"You what?" He blurted out impatiently. We aren't looking to get screwed over again by that ugly son of a bitch. I've lost enough people to him already, so if that's why you're here, you can just turn your pretty little ass back on home!"

She was incredulous. He really didn't recognize her! Is it because she was wearing different clothing? Maybe the make-up? But honestly, if she was so important to him before, how could he not remember her??

Oh, but wait! The false Shippo said she went back in time. But that didn't make sense either. She didn't go back far enough to not have ever met him.

'This is crazy!'

She blushed, but not from embarrassment.

"Kouga!! Don't you remember me? It's Kagome! Ka-go-me!"

His face didn't show any hint of recognition.

"I don't know anyone named Kagome! Why don't you get out of here before I shoot you myself!"

Kagome could have dropped dead that very moment, but she found the strength to stay upright.

Through clenched teeth and blurry eyes, she murmured "I'm very sorry to have bothered you then."

And with that, she ran off.

"Why did you have yell at her like that? Not to mention threaten her!!! Maybe she was lost or something!! Jeez Kouga, she didn't look dangerous!"

Kouga sat slumped next to Shippo on a ratty couch.

"Those are the one's that'll do the most damage, you should know that."

Shippo's eyes bugged out of his head. "Oh come on!! You don't even know who she is!"

Kouga felt very miserable, though he didn't know why. He sighed.

"Shippo, you don't understand. Even since before I found you, enemies have been trying to sneak in and take over everything that we've accomplished."

Shippo's spluttering finally died down. He looked wistfully out through a slit in the boarded window. "But she was pretty..."

Kouga waved his hand. "And there's a million others just like her out there."

She finally snapped. After "bidding" Kouga goodbye, she started to cry, and as she cried, she ran. She ran blindly through the streets, tears blurring her vision.

Morbidly she thought, "Maybe I'll run off a bridge..."

As her energy waned, she slowed down and slid into a dark alley where she could cry properly.

All the thoughts of Kouga, Shippo, and everyone else she had ever cared for flitted through her mind. There was no one left!

'HOW could it have turned out this way??' Kouga really did hate her! He loathed her so furiously that he pretended she had never existed. Well there really was nothing worse now was there?

No friends, no family, no life.

With the last remnant of family she had cruelly ripped from her, she had no purpose.

Every good cry has phases. Kagome was finally moving away from the "get it all out as hard as you can" phase, and was finally starting to quiet down.

She wiped her puffy eyes repeatedly, and clapped her hands over them. Her head seemed to weigh a good hundred pounds, and lacking the energy to do anything else, she rested her head in hands, with the weight of a thousands sorrows settling on her shoulders.

A good deal later, she took a deep shuddering breath and opened her eyes.

And instantly, the fiercest scowl overpowered her features.

"How long have YOU been here??!!!"

The false Shippo was perched on a garbage can across the alley from her, not six feet away. Apparently, he had been patiently awaiting the end of her episode. He winced at her overzealously angry tone.

"As long as you."

Ohh!! That really got Kagome's goat! (baabaa! Kid or Granny, take your pick)

She directed all her anger and sorrow now at this one little being. "Can't a girl weep in private??!!"

He gave her a soft look. "There is no shame in letting your heart speak"

But she shook her head, and refused to hear condolences. "Well then, I'm surprised you're not deaf, for all the agony my heart has been screaming lately!!"

In an instant she was on her feet.

"This sucks ass!! I just can't be happy can I? How am I supposed to do good deeds if I can't even find solace for my own misery?"

The false Shippo took but a second to answer, and with a ghost of a smile on his face, he said softly, "Your misery will find solace when others find solace in your good deeds."

She absolutely wanted to scream at him.

"And what about Kouga and the others? Now they hate me, and want to kill me!!"

She felt a little guilty blaming the recipient of her shouting for her past misfortune, because after all, it really wasn't his fault. If anything, she should thank him for giving her another chance at life.

Well hold on a second! Why should she be thankful if this life is just as shitty as the one before it? And now that she was never to return to Kouga on pain of death, this life is even more shitty than the last one! Yeah! What a bastard!

At that thought, her neck was dragged down. She glanced at the jewel in frustration. 'And now, I've got a new pile of shit to clean up!'

The boy with green eyes fixed her with a knowing glance. "You know, how can they hate you when they don't know who you are?"

Kagome nearly exploded. "What do you mean they don't know who..."

But she trailed off as that statement sunk into her grumpy head.

She widened her eyes at him.

"But that means..."

He leaned forward, and waited.

"That means I'm going to have to..."

"Do it all over again." They said in unison.

She staggered as the weight of those words hit her like a bagful of Uzis. (she liked pistols or magnums better, but lets not be fussy)

His smile grew as he saw her brighten (or as close as her face would get to being bright).

"That means I really DO have a second chance! Fuckin' A!!"

He furrowed his brow at her word choice, but was at least relieved she had figured out.

Kagome stared at him thoughtfully, trying to pry into his brain for how she was supposed to complete this silly mission of hers. He seemed to sense this, and laughed lightly.

"I'm not allowed to tell you what to do, but I can give you a suggestion. Maybe you should go get a fresh start." He emphasized the last two words with eyebrow wriggles.

"A fresh start?"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully, but snapped out of her train of thought when she noticed the image of Shippo was fading.

"Wait wait! What do you really look like, and what's your real name?"

He came back into focus, laughing.

Waving his arms in a grandiose fashion, he disappeared behind a cloud of smoke.

Kagome rolled her eyes.

As the smoke cleared, a dark-haired, tall, young-looking man dressed in black (her favorite color!) and purple (ew!) robes smiled back at her.

"I was once known as Miroku, so if you wish to call me by that name, you may."

Right about now (the funk's yo brutha..hehe just kidding), Kagome was taken aback, and very confused.

"Miroku" cleared the distance between the two with a few steps, and took her hand in his.

"And with this, my dear Kagome, I bid you Adieu."

He brought her hand up to his face with a mischievous look in his eyes, and lightly brushed his lips across it. And before she could slap him across the face, which she surely would have done, he vanished.

Kagome stood by herself, in the middle of a dark alley, thoroughly bewildered.

She tilted her head and shook her fist at the heavens.

"You guys are crazy!!"

After that statement, she stepped out of the chill darkness, and onto the warm sidewalk.

Maybe she would take this whole thing seriously after all.

Muahahahaha! How about them apples?

So what do you think? Love it? Tell your friends! Hate it? Want to throw poop at me? (I certainly hope not). Tell me what you think, along with questions, suggestions, or anything else you want to add.

Oh, and I promise, promise, promise that I know where this story is going, and I'll get started writing it once I get some juicy reviews.

Hoo-ah!