Chapter 1
Midoriko and Kirara: Past memories
Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Myouga gathered around the pink ball of glass in Kagome's hand. They looked on it with a sort of relief that the Shikon was complete and in their hands. Naraku had been defeated in a way also, and that had allowed them to retrieve the Shikon, however, there was no guarantee he would be gone forever.
The mist around the group lifted and they were able to see their surroundings again. They were standing right outside the Taijya village, just outside the cave where Midoriko had sealed the numerous youkai which threatened to kill her. The sky was no longer a dark purple but was blue and clear of any sign of clouds. The sun filtered through the trees.
Suddenly, the barrier on the entrance of the cave fizzled and died out, the frozen youkai inside suddenly evaporated into a cloud of dust. The group stared at the cave in bewilderment. What was going on?
They heard a soft growl behind them. Kirara suddenly disappeared in a burst of flame. However, instead of Kirara reappearing in her usual kawaii neko form, there stood a woman, with dark blue hair and clad in ancient Japanese armour.
"….Midoriko…" Inuyasha addressed the woman suddenly, startling the group. Midoriko smiled wryly.
"Hai, Inuyasha, my name is Midoriko."
"Midoriko? What happened to Kirara?!" Sango said angrily forgetting to be politea dn respectful to the supposed savior miko. "Where did she go? What have you done? Kirara was real wasn't she?" Midoriko nodded affirmative.
"Kirara certainly was real, however…" She turned to the cave. "In order to save my life, Kirara offered to change places with me. Kirara took and my form and I took on hers, however, I wasn't able to change back from the Kirara form which I was stuck in." She smiled sadly and turned to the group. "Don't you think it's odd that although so many youkai can take on ningen forms, Kirara never does?"
Kagome, Miroku and Sango blinked and Shippo and Myouga made no comment, but, to the group's amazement (he's not clueless for once!), Inuyasha nodded. Midoriko turned to Inuyasha.
The reason which she never did was because while I was stuck in Kirara's form, I had very limited abilities. While able to change like Kirara does, I wasn't able to use some of her abilities or take on one of her forms." Midoriko turned and smiled as a pretty young woman in a kimono walked out of the cave.