I would like to take a moment to thank those that wished me a happy birthday yesterday. Unless you follow me on other websites, I'm not exactly sure how some of you got the information. For some reason the site isn't letting me PM you guys (it keeps giving me some sort of error message) but will thank you all personally once it does. I just don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, Inuyasha or any of its characters.

New Beginnings
(6) Falling Down Again

Kagome blinked, several times and slowly pulled herself out of her daze. She looked at the ruined target watching it smoke. "Tsk," she muttered and then looked down at her hand. "I'm rusty." She knew that she was only target practicing so she had made sure that none of her priestess energy rose up. Daydreaming was not an excuse at her lack of control.

"Higurashi-san?"

Kagome's head snapped up and she looked around her, remembering for the first time since shooting her first arrow that she had an audience. Oh gods, she thought. I'm in deep shit, now.

"Um… that was… that… er, that's some… weak wood, eh?"

Silence.

Kagome winced.

"What was that?" Momoshiro asked, his voice high with disbelief.

The young priestess swallowed hard. She looked from expression to expression and knew that there was only one thing to do in this situation: "I don't know what the hell just happened, I swear!"

"And what happened afterwards?"

Kagome groaned, "What do you think? I hightailed the hell out of there."

Sango blinked. And blinked again. "Wait. Let me get this straight: You decided to practice your archery after our conversation yesterday."

"Hn."

"And Ryoma and his friends decided to watch."

"Hn."

"You imagined the piece of wood as Naraku…"

"Hn."

"…and purified the poor thing."

Kagome wrinkled her nose.

"In front of all of them?"

Kagome cleared her throat. "In my defense, I would have never been able to defeat Naraku if I hadn't loaded that last arrow of mine with as much purification power as I could."

"Are you insane?" Sango screeched, catching the attention of people nearby. She glared and everyone went back doing whatever they were supposed to be doing.

"There was barely any light!" defended Kagome. "It just… just made the wood explode."

Sango gave her a flat look.

Kagome sighed. "I know. I'm stupid." Thinking of her next words, she gave a small groan and buried her face into her hands. "You know what's worst?"

"There's worst?"

"I knew I was target practicing which was why I didn't purify the wood straight out. The whole daydream… the whole fantasizing of killing Naraku again… that isn't an excuse for my lack of control." She sighed.

"Well, it wasn't as if you needed any practice when the well closed up." Sango gave her friend another look. She wondered how Kagome had been fairing the past few years between the closing of the well and meeting her again. To have everything taken away from you, Sango knew that feeling. "I probably wouldn't be able to lift Hirokatsu now, much less use it. Did Ryoma ask about "that light" again?"

Kagome shrugged. "It wasn't a lot so I doubt they saw anything… besides, I've been avoiding him."

"Is that wise?"

"You're channeling your inner Miroku," Kagome said with a glare. "Please stop."

Sango bit back a grin. "I'm being serious here!"

Kagome groaned. Again. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Tell him the truth?" Sango suggested.

"Oh yes, of course," Kagome responded sweetly. "Why didn't I think of that? I mean when Naraku does appear, I'll just take Ryoma half-demon hunting with me. And you know what? While I fire my purification arrows, he can serve tennis balls at Naraku's face. Give him a concussion or something and we can live happily ever after."

Sango raised her eyebrows at her friend, wondering if Kagome's current sarcastic attitude was also Inuyasha's influence. It could also be the stress of the past few days getting to her since she did move in with her cousin to relax… Sango's appearance in her life did rather deny her the normality needed for relaxation.

"I'm sorry," Kagome said after a moment of silence. "I'm just really stressed out right now."

"I know," Sango said, petting Kagome on the back. "How 'bout we go and try to find Miroku again?"

"Please," Kagome said, climbing onto her feet. "I need a distraction."

The two of them walked towards the cafeteria again (which was apparently Miroku's usual hang-out spot). They peeked at the corner that Sango had led them towards before and Kagome felt her breath hitch in her throat seeing Miroku's familiar face. Like Sango, besides dressing more modernly, nothing was different about him.

She took a deep breath.

"Ready?"

Kagome hesitated. "Maybe I should wait here. If I am a trigger… won't it start having flashbacks and whatnot in front of so many people?"

"His girlfriend too…" Sango mumbled out. "And that jealous bitch."

Slanting her gaze down, Kagome glared at her friend. "Sango. On topic, please."

"Sorry."

Silence.

Sango pulled Kagome, striding towards Miroku without a single falter in her step. "When he begins to have those flashback, we'll just kidnap him." Truthfully, she didn't want to go alone. Sango, the demon slayer feared no one but Sango the schoolgirl knew how cutting a group of possessive girls could be. Not to mention, she didn't want to talk to Miroku alone with all her newfound memories. She blushed at the thought.

I need to get in touch with my inner demon slayer, Sango though disapprovingly. Her previous life would be so disappointed if she saw her right now.

Kagome tightened her hand around Sango's as they stopped in front of Miroku and his gaggle of girl friends.

"Miroku," Sango greeted.

Kagome took a breath.

"Ah, Sango, my dear! I heard you've been looking for me." He waggled his eyebrows.

Kagome took another breath.

Sango narrowed her eyes. "Yes. You remember Kagome, yes? She just moved here."

Miroku turned his violet eyes towards the younger girl, eyebrows shooting upwards as he took in Kagome's large blue eyes. "Ka… gome? Ah yes! We used to be friends as children, I remember! How have you been?" He smiled fondly, "As beautiful as I remember."

A soft strangling noise escaped Kagome's parted lips. "You… you don't—you don't remember me?"

The ex-monk frowned. "Of course I do. We used to hang out… along with Inuyasha and… well, his brother… sort of."

A girl stepped up. Kagome recognized her as the "jealous bitch" they had met before. "What do you guys want anyway?"

"Nemu," a quieter girl said softly. "Come on, they just got reunited."

"Probably wants to steal your boyfriend away," Nemu grumbled.

Kagome felt her jaw twitch in anger.

But Miroku laughed at the Nemu's words. The sound echoed in Kagome's head reminding her of moments around the campfire. "It's not like that," he said, comforting Nemu rather than his own girlfriend. "She was pretty close to Sesshomaru if I remember correctly."

Hearing the familiar teasing tone from the obviously older boy made something snap inside of Kagome. She blinked back tears and wondered if she was going to have a mini meltdown every time she sees someone from her past life. Miroku's laughter, his teasing tone, the way his eyes twinkled… Kagome took a step backwards.

Miroku was here.

But not.

Sango's grip tightened around Kagome's hands, attempting to comfort her… and herself.

"Are you guys together?" Nemu asked, eyeing the two girl's hands as she raised her eyebrows mockingly.

They ignored her.

Kagome took another deep breath and forced herself to remain calm. Perhaps his reaction was delayed. Perhaps it will take a while before he remembered, before the stranger in front of her became Miroku. Perhaps he needed a catalyst.

"I… I haven't seen you in a long time," Kagome said softly, squeezing Sango's hand so she knew that she wasn't going crazy and that there was someone else that remembered their previous life. That there was someone else in the world, someone else that mattered. "Do you… do you… can I get a hug?"

Miroku frowned at Kagome's words for a brief moment but quickly recovered. "Of course," he said, smiling warmly again.

Kagome heard Sango's soft sigh as she pulled her hands out of the older woman's grasp and stepped into Miroku's embrace. Kagome inhaled deeply, smelling cologne and not Miroku. She blinked back tears again as Miroku brought his arms up and around her. They squeezed once. Twice.

And that was it.

Kagome pulled away and looked up into violet eyes that didn't belong. "Thank you," she muttered. Sango's hand found hers again and Kagome squeezed it with all her might. It must have been painful but Sango made no move to pull her hand away. Instead she squeezed back, trying to give and take as much comfort as she possibly could.

"Is something wrong?" Miroku asked quietly. Despite not remembering, he knew when something was amiss.

Kagome shook her head and laugh, sounding breathless and bitter. "No. Nothing at all."

"He doesn't do that here," Sango mumbled softly.

"I should hope not," Kagome said, trying to sound positive. "He could get arrested if he did."

Kagome looked up again, hating the way that her heart squeezed painfully. She cleared her throat, hoping that she won't sound like she's about to cry. "I'll catch you later." She smiled. "It was nice seeing you, Miroku."

Sango sighed again, and pulled Kagome away from Miroku and his group. "It's okay," she said, not sounding the least bit convincing. "He's here. We'll figure out what went wrong."

"I'm scared," Kagome whispered back.

"Me too."

The two of them made their way towards the exit of the cafeteria. Kagome took another breath. They both resisted the urge to turn back and look at Miroku who was no longer Miroku but some stranger that had Miroku's look and none of anything else. The confusion was great but the disappointment was greater.

What went wrong? Why didn't he remember? Why didn't he remember?

And then:

"Lady Kagome!"

They both froze.

Sango was the first one to pull herself out of her shock. She turned around slowly, not able to believe but wishing so hard. She watched as Miroku abandoned his groupie and ran towards them, a familiar light shining deep in his eyes, masked by confusion.

Kagome turned around just as Miroku reached them.

"Kagome-sama," he breathed.

And it was all Kagome needed because she knew that he knew. She knew that he remembered and right now it was all that mattered. The tears escaped Kagome's eyes and she threw herself into Miroku's arms. "I'm so happy," she choked out. "You remember, you remember."

His cologne overflowed her sense of smell but that was alright because underneath it all Kagome could smell the scent of pine and Miroku.

"I'm so happy," she whispered again.

Then she felt the familiar sliding of his hands lower and lower on her back and Kagome almost wanted to let him because it meant that Miroku was back and it was all that really mattered. She gave herself two seconds to debate whether she should but luckily Sango made the decision for her.

"Not here, monk," she hissed out, grabbing onto Miroku's familiar wandering hands and bending it back. Miroku yelped and wretched out of Kagome's embrace and trying to pull his hand back from Sango. "You have a girlfriend," Sango hissed out angrily but looked relieved and teary.

"Yes, yes, apologies, apologies, apologies," Miroku stammered quickly. "My hand's cursed," he mumbled when Sango released it.

"BS," Sango muttered.

Miroku grinned at her and Sango fought with herself for two seconds before stepping into his open arms. She squeezed back tears. "Welcome back," she mumbled, her voice breaking.

"Yes," Miroku whispered. "Yes."

And then everything was serious again.

Miroku pulled away and looked around, noticing that they have the attention of just about everyone in the cafeteria. He smiled and announced, "The reunion between long-lost friends," before pushing Sango and Kagome out the cafeteria and into the halls. He then pulled them to a more secluded area and turned towards them. "What is going on?"

"Miroku!" Sango screeched. "What did I say about your girlfriend?"

"My lady," Miroku replied. "You were my wife!"

Kagome glared. As much as she loved the fact that her two friends were together again she didn't think the audience appreciated their presence. "Guys, shush!" She gave the forbidding tennis captain a quick, guilty glance. "Please!"

Miroku rubbed his bruising cheek. "So violent."

"Do that later," Kagome whispered. "I don't think buchou's happy with us right now."

Sango's eyebrows shot up. "Buchou?"

Kagome turned. "Yea, well he glares at me if I call him Kunimitsu. And Tezuka."

Sango blinked.

Kagome rubbed her hands together thoughtfully and explained, "I took him as the Sesshomaru type so I thought maybe he prefers having people address him by his title." Like how "My Lord" is to Sesshomaru as "Buchou" is to Tezuka.

"I… don't think that's how it works," Sango muttered hesitantly. She shook her head and turned back towards Miroku. "Do your thing."

He waggled his eyebrows. "Is that permission?"

"Miroku!"

Miroku sighed. Despite the fact that he wanted nothing more than to reunite—actually reunite—with Sango (and Kagome, of course) he knew that they had more important matters in hand. He leans in closer. "Which one is he?"

Kagome pointed a finger. "That one. Momoshiro."

Miroku follows her finger and squinted.

They waited.

And waited.

"I don't see anything."

Kagome shook her head. "It doesn't happen all the time," she clarified. "Just when he does this tennis move called Jack Knife."

They waited.

And waited.

"There might not being any demonic energy coming from him," Miroku said. "But him, on the other hand…" He pointed a finger at Tezuka who, surprisingly was not standing at the side watching his club members run laps but currently playing a light mock match with Fuji.

Kagome frowned but allowed her concentration to aim firmly at Tezuka. She watched as he hit the tennis ball back towards the net. There! Just as Tezuka struck the tennis ball, his entire left arm flared with demonic energy, charging the tennis ball with it too.

Although Sango could not sense the minuet demonic energy that flared up from time to time, she knew the meaning behind Kagome's almost pained-looking expression. "What do you think is going on?"

"Nothing good," Miroku muttered.

Sango tilted her head and wrinkled her nose. "Maybe we're thinking too much into this," she said. "Maybe they have demon in their ancestry."

Kagome shook her head. "No way."

Her friends blinked at her.

"If they had a demon ancestor, they would have a constant demonic feeling in them no matter how far back in the family tree their demon ancestor is," she explained. "And if, if their blood was so tainted with human blood that somehow hides their demonic side until needed, it doesn't explain why when Momoshiro struck me the other day, why the demonic energy inside his tennis ball was filled with untainted, complete full-demon demonic energy."

She pointed a finger towards Tezuka. "And him. Full demon."

Sango rubbed her temple. "This is too much for me to handle. Can we please wait until Sesshomaru gets back. We have what? Four days left? Please?"

Miroku laughed quietly. "How about we ask that Momo to hit that knife again? That why, we are prepared and can fully analyze the situation."

"Yea." Kagome scoffed. "And ask that captain of his for permission to enter court while practice is in session. You do that; I'm avoiding them."

Miroku gave her a curious glance which Kagome pretended she didn't notice. "I'll wait until Mr. Captain is finished with his current match."

Kagome felt her jaw drop. "Wait! You're really going to do it?" She panicked. "Please don't! Let's wait until Sesshomaru gets back. I mean, let's hang out! We never hang out. The most we hung out was around the campfire. Please?"

The young priestess must have really wanted to avoid her cousin and his friends after the incident. Sango couldn't blame her though. "Kagome, don't you want to figure this out?"

"Didn't you want to wait for Sesshomaru?" she shot back.

"Well," Sango said grinning. "Analyzing the situation is all on Miroku and you. I mean, I can't sense their demonic energy. Must be too small for me."

Kagome glowered.

For the next twenty minutes that the mock match between Tezuka and Fuji played out Kagome did her best trying to convince her friends to wait, damn it! But they stood firm in their decision, mostly from the glee of unsettling the young priestess but also to satisfy their curiosity on what the hell is going on in the world. When the match finally finished and the audience was clapping (the three of them had no clue who won or why the hell it took the two so long to come to a conclusion) Kagome accepted her defeat and inched backwards as Miroku stood up and made his way towards the captain.

"Good sir," Miroku called out and both Kagome and Sango had to hide their faces behind their hands in embarrassment.

"Why does he do that?" Kagome asked.

"At least he didn't say anything about ominous clouds."

They looked up again but Miroku was too far away and talking far too quietly for either girls to hear. Kagome watched as Tezuka narrowed his eyes—dear lord, does he have any other expressions?—before turning towards her. She resisted the urge to squeal.

Then Miroku smiled, petted the taller captain softly on the shoulder and turned towards Kagome. He winked.

Sango choked. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Why?" Kagome asked. "Why isn't he winking at you? Sango. Sango! Do something."

Sango rubbed Kagome's arms in comfort. "It's all up to you."

Kagome paled. "What's all up to me?"

"My Lady Kagome," Miroku called out, his voice loud enough to be heard by the two girls and everyone around them. Kagome felt her entire face twitch. "Please come this way, the good captain has agreed!"

To what? Kagome wanted to ask. Sango pulled her up and they held hands again, to give Kagome moral support. "We need to talk to him about calling me "Lady Kagome". You don't talk like you're back in the federal era! Why does he do that?"

"To piss you off, probably," Sango muttered.

Kagome took a deep breath. "What am I doing?" she asked, trying to ignore the fact that she was in the center of attention. Again.

Tezuka raised his eyebrows.

"You," Miroku answered, placing his hands on Kagome's shoulders making sure not to slide them any lower since Sango was giving him the glare. "You, my dear are going to stand on one side of the court and analyze as that Momo hits tennis balls at you."

Kagome blinked.

"The last person that got hit by the Jack Knife broke a few ribs."

She paled.

Kagome turned to look at Miroku. "Why me?"

Miroku smiled. "You're going into physics for college," he replied seriously. "My skills are nowhere near as good as yours." He was of course, implying their abilities to sense auras and demonic energy.

Kagome paled further. "I'm pretty sure I'm failing that class," she grumbled.

Momoshiro ran up to them with a wide grin. "Higurashi-san!" His voice was too loud and too joyful, Miroku raised his eyebrows and nudged Sango who nudged him back. They both grinned at the implication "Haven't seen you since you blew up that target!"

Miroku blinked.

"Anyway," Momoshiro continued good-heartily. "I'm excited, I am."

Kagome stared up at him in horror.

"But you don't have to worry," he assured quickly, taking in Kagome's expression. "I'll go easy on you."

"The last person that got hit by the Jack Knife broke a few ribs."

Kagome nodded and forced a smile. "Sure." And quietly, "I mean, who doesn't get excited about breaking people's ribs?"

In case you don't remember, "The last person that got hit by the Jack Knife broke a few ribs" was said by Ryoma back in Chapter 2.

And no, I'm not purposely delaying Sesshomaru's appearance just to torture you guys. Really, I'm not. More things—like Miroku—needs to happen before Sesshomaru can come in.