Disclaimer: I own nothing.

sup?

yeahhh, it's been a while. *sheepish* uhmm, the excuse "i've been uber busy" is still being used here. but i guess it can't get me out of everything. anyways, i'll try to update again sooner than i did before. but that might actually happen, since there's only one chapter left, and then the epilogue.

sorry again for the long wait. and i realized that it was probably a little bit rambly, but i'm honestly like so tired, i can't tell if it's shit or not.

anyways. ahem. hope you like it!

All four of them were engulfed in a blinding light, and Ikuto couldn't see a way out of the bubble the light had created. Kagome was nowhere to be seen, and Ikuto turned frantically to Midoriko for an answer. She merely responded with a cryptic smile and gesture, asking him to look forward.

Before him were bubbles, filled with images, much like a television. The people inside them moved, and Ikuto recognized younger versions of the youkai and an older Kagome. And there was a woman in a pink and green kimono, alongside two other men, one in purple robes and another with silver hair and red clothing. What struck him as odd were the dog ears atop his head.

InuYasha.

And finally, Ikuto realized that what he was seeing were Kagome's memories.

In that one particular bubble, everyone looked happy, gathered closely around a fire. They were all smiling, laughing as happy as can be. He noticed the black-haired man and the woman were obviously in love, whereas InuYasha and Kagome seemed just as close, but in a platonic way. Ikuto felt himself sigh in relief. They weren't in love.

Another woman suddenly walked into the scene, and Ikuto was startled at how much she resembled Kagome. He heard InuYasha murmur, "Kikyo," and everyone grew quiet.

Kagome stood up and smiled. "Hello, Kikyo. Would you like some food?"

"No thank you," Kikyo declined, chuckling softly. "I can't really eat, Kagome. I'm completely hollow."

InuYasha seemed genuinely startled at how kind Kagome was being. Obviously, there used to be some animosity between Kikyo and Kagome. But what it was from, he wasn't sure. Amu seemed to be a little confused as well, not knowing Kagome's full story.

"Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyo," Midoriko explained, sensing their thoughts. "Both of them were in love with InuYasha before Kagome finally got over him.

Kagome let out the tinkling laugh he loved so much. "Well, I suppose so. Too bad InuYasha wouldn't cut back on the ramen either." She put a hand beside her mouth and said in a faux whisper, "Between you and me, I think he might be getting a little pooch."

Everyone burst out laughing as InuYasha pouted. Ikuto heard a faint whine of "Kagomeee…" before the bubble floated away and a new one was brought before him. In it was two men, one Ikuto saw was InuYasha. The other man looked familiar, with piercing blue eyes and his black hair gathered in a high ponytail. It was only after he spoke where Ikuto recognized as Kouga.

"Shut up, Mutt-Face! You'll never come between Kagome and me!"

"Well, Wolf Turd, hate to break it to ya but Kagome's never gonna go for you! You wanna know why? Because you're uuuugly," InuYasha countered. He stuck out his tongue at the wolf demon and laughed tauntingly. "I mean, look at that ratty old tail. I thought you were a deformed cat demon!"

"Says the guy with old man hair and cat ears," bit back Kouga. "Robbing the cradle, are we Dog Breath?"

"Such creative nicknames Kouga-san has," Amu giggled.

Despite the competition between the two demons, there was a hint of respect in their eyes. Ikuto supposed they didn't hate each other as much as they seemed to.

Kagome walked onto the scene, waving her arms and shouting at them to stop. She was a bit younger, maybe fifteen or so. There was an amused nature in her voice, but Ikuto still let out a quiet snarl. They were arguing over her, fighting over her love. Obviously, Kagome hadn't always had a platonic relationship with the two.

Midoriko placed a hand on his shoulder. "Calm yourself, child. They no longer wish to court Kagome."

He nodded and turned back to the bubble. InuYasha had obviously said something which upset Kagome and was in the process of being slammed into the ground multiple times by an invisible force. Kagome was standing beside him, incensed, screaming "OSUWARI!" over and over. And naturally, Kouga was off to the side, laughing at his friend's misfortune. The laugh trailed off as another bubble floated in front of them.

This time, it wasn't the happy scene he had seen before. Instead, the sky was a deep purple, thunder crashed, and lightning flashed. In the field below, there was a great battle taking place.

There, before him, was Kagome, bloodied and panting, frantically looking around to find her bow and arrow. In front of Kagome were InuYasha and many more people fighting against one man. Ikuto winced at the mere sight of him and wondered how one person could be so ugly. His face sported a deformed, maniacal smile and was framed by long, stringy hair. Tentacles were protruding from his back, and there were holes in his abdomen and chest. A thick fog was seeping out of his wounds.

"That man you see is Naraku. And yes, I know. He really is that ugly." Ikuto gave a light chuckle before Midoriko continued, "What is before us is the final battle of the Inu-tachi. It is Kagome's single worst memory."

Turning back to the memory, Ikuto watched in awe as InuYasha and a younger Sesshoumaru continued to fight off the tentacles. The brothers and Kouga cut and slashed at them endlessly, being showered in blood. Around them, the demon slayer and monk were fighting off other demons. They, too, were covered in blood. But in their case, it was their own. The woman had a scythe in her back and the man had a deep slash across his torso. They still fought tirelessly before the woman finally beheaded the demon with her boomerang. The lovers limped over to where Naraku was and prepared to join the battle. The boomerang was thrown, sutras were used, but it was no use. A small child came over and attacked them from behind, and they collapsed. They died in each others' arms.

By the time they died, Kagome had rushed closer to the battlefield and pulled her friends off of the scene, her expression numb and in shock. She said a quick prayer for them before turning to watch InuYasha.

Ikuto swallowed thickly, watching the memory with morbid fascination. He never imagined that Kagome experienced this much violence in her life.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ikuto saw Kikyo obliterated by blades of wind. InuYasha had gone blind with rage. By then, he was the only one fighting, as Kouga and Sesshoumaru had been knocked unconscious. The hanyou's claws elongated, his fangs lengthened, and blood seeped into his eyes.

InuYasha let out a snarl. "Fucking bastard," he rasped before lunging at Naraku. He clawed at the tentacles, cutting several off until there was just one; the tentacle that was plunged through InuYasha's abdomen.

"InuYasha!" Ikuto's heart clenched at the heartbroken cry.

With his last ounce of strength, InuYasha plunged his claws into Naraku's chest. At the exact same time, the foul demon had regenerated enough of a tentacle and thrust it through InuYasha's heart.

"NO!"

Weakly, InuYasha turned to stare at Kagome with the utmost love and affection. "Be happy, Kagome," he said, before his amber eyes closed for eternity.

By then, Kagome's sapphire eyes were flowing with tears, but they were a cold, icy blue. Ikuto shivered, feeling Kagome's pure hate and sadness.

She sent a death glare at Naraku, aiming a ball of energy towards him. Having lost her bow and arrow a while back, she sent several more, hoping to distract them. She spotted them lying a few feet away and made a grab for them. She continued to shoot arrows at Naraku. He was distracted, and the arrows were so pure, he took some time to recover.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kouga stir and groan. Kagome's attention lapsed for a second, and Naraku gave an evil smirk and plunged a tentacle through her stomach.

At this point, Ikuto wanted nothing more than to rip the bastard's head off.

Kagome didn't even cry out in pain. She simply closed her eyes and smiled, and grabbed onto the tentacle. Her hands glowed white, and Naraku was immobilized. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing white and the glow spread to cover her body as well as Naraku's. The bubble shook slightly as the light became too overpowering. The last thing Ikuto heard was a (suspiciously feminine-sounding) bloodcurdling shriek before the bubble popped and the light dome faded from around them.

"Now do you see what Kagome has experienced in the Feudal Era?" Midoriko asked, turning her omnipotent eyes at Ikuto.

"Yeah. She's been through…a lot, to say the least."

"Yeah, no shit, Ikuto," came a new voice.

Ikuto's gaze shot to the owner of the voice. Azure eyes widened as he saw a smiling, blue-eyed Kagome staring back at him. He ran over to her and pulled her into a tight hug, picking her up and spinning around. "You're back."

Kagome giggled. "Arghh, matey, I am," she joked, lifting up the Seven Seas Treasure's eyepatch.

He pulled her in tighter, nuzzling his nose into her hair. "I thought I'd never get you back."

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" Kagome moved back a little so she could stare him face-to-face. Putting a hand on his cheek, she whispered softly, "Thank you, Ikuto. For never giving up on me. And for saving me." She leaned up and gave him a quick, innocent kiss which ended much too soon.

Shaking his head to get out of his daze, Ikuto let go of Kagome and stepped back to look over her. The jewel had gone from a deep purple to a nice baby pink. "You know, Kagome, I'm a little disappointed to see you're not in that sexy, badass outfit of yours anymore. I feel a little cradle-robberish now."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome slapped his chest. "Shut up."

"Kagome-chan!" Amu ran over to the pair, her golden eyes overflowing with tears. "You're all right!"

Kagome let go of Ikuto and gave the younger girl a hug. "Yes, I am. And thank you, Amu, for all your help."

Amu sniffled, wiping away her tears. "Well, don't thank me yet. There are still all of the X-Eggs." She pointed to the stream of black in the night sky. The high-pitched humming still rang through the night air, but this time, Kagome only seemed to get angry. The Shikon jewel began glowing.

"Those little bitches," she snarled. "How dare they control me?"

"Ooh, angry priestess. Pretty sexy," Ikuto drawled.

Kagome sent a glare to Ikuto and the jewel's glow got brighter. "You. Shut up."

Shrug.

Sighing, she turned to face Midoriko. "Midoriko-sama, why is the jewel glowing so much?"

"Because, Kagome-chan. It has been unlocked."

"What—"

"Just transform, child, and that will be the answer to all your problems." Midoriko gave her an encouraging smile and stepped back, gesturing her to continue.

Kagome shrugged. "Well, let's give it a shot. Shikon, unlock!"

A blinding light engulfed them once more (Ikuto was getting real tired of this) and once it subsided, there was no evil Kagome in front of him. Instead, she was back in her sixteen-year-old body, dressed sexily in a pure white, scandalously short sailor outfit. She struck a Sailor Moon-esque pose, her white pumps clacking on the concrete and her angelic wings spreading out around her.

"Chara nari, Ikimitama."

Ikuto let out a low whistle. "Damn, Kagome."

"Why, thank you." She gave a small giggle before turning to Midoriko with a confused look. "Midoriko-sama, what is Ikimitama? I thought the Shikon only had five charas."

"Yes, and those can be brought out at any time. However, just like how you transformed into Ashimitama when the jewel was tainted, Ikimitama is the purest form of the jewel, only surfacing when there is no trace of evil in the jewel or its holder whatsoever," the entity explained. "The chara, Seiren, is the essence of the Shikon itself: miko ki."

The conversation was interrupted when the humming abruptly increased in volume, turning into something like a pained wail. All four heads whipped to the source of the noise, only to find the stream of X-Eggs slowly morph into one gigantic chara. It let out a roar and turned to the group.

"MURI," it cried in despair.

Two words: Oh, shit.

Turning to Midoriko, Kagome asked frantically, "So this transformation is basically the Shikon no Miko?"

"Yeah, I guess I could've explained it that way." Cascading hair shifted as Midoriko gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Well, alrighty then!" She turned to Ikuto and Amu with an intense expression on her pretty face. "You guys ready?"

"Hai!"

Ikuto's eyes narrowed. "More than fucking ever." Hoshina's going down.

The three all shared a look and a curt nod before flying off to the Mega X-Chara. They'd barely gotten within 100 yards of the thing before it started shooting rays of tainted energy towards them.

"Muri!"

Kagome's eyes narrowed and retaliated with a palm blast of her own. It went straight through the X-Chara, leaving a hole in its place. It quickly regenerated, barely phased, and resumed attacking the trio. Kagome summoned her bow, shot a sacred arrow, and the exact same thing happened. Suddenly, a stream of X-Eggs was shot towards them, and Kagome tossed aside her weapon and was quick to create a barrier. As each X-Egg touched the barrier, they were purified and floated off into the distance. But as each Heart Egg was purified, twice as many X-Eggs replaced them.

Their efforts were futile. Amu and Ikuto unleashed one attack after another, but no matter what they did, nothing worked, and Kagome's powers were tiring.

"KAGOME!"

Her head whipped to the source of the voice. Shippou was running towards them, carrying a case of what looked like an instrument.

She's saved, the kitsune thought, relieved. But there was no time to think such thoughts; Kagome was still in danger. "Ikuto!" he called.

The teenager faltered slightly in his attacks but still kept them up. "I'm a little busy here!" he shouted back, still struggling to fight off the Mega X-Chara.

"Well, too bad! Here!" Shippou opened the case and took out Ikuto's violin. Gently fingering it, he tossed it in the air to Ikuto, who did a backflip gracefully and caught the instrument with ease.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Play your instrument. Combine your powers with Amu and Kagome! You'll be able to purify everything," Shippou explained hurriedly, eager for this whole ordeal to be done and over with. Sesshoumaru, Kouga, and he had discussed it earlier, having seen the black stream of X-Eggs. Amu's purification powers would not be enough to defeat all of them, but if they all combined their powers, it should have been enough to purify them all.

Nodding, Ikuto turned back to the battlefield. "Kagome! Amu! We're doing one huge attack, okay?"

The girls nodded in understanding before they got into their battle stance. Amu put her hands over her heart in the gesture, prepared to strike. She was surrounded in a pink light, already charging the attack. Kagome summoned her bow and quiver once more. She notched the arrow and aimed it at the X-Chara, a white glow surrounding her. Ikuto positioned his violin appropriately and placed his bow over the strings. He could feel the power from the girls on either side of him as well as the energy seeping from his father's instrument.

They shared a look before unleashing their assault. Ikuto started with one long, loud and beautiful note. All of a sudden, a bright blue light came from the violin and shot towards the X-Chara.

"Negative heart: Lock on!"

"Hama no ya!"

All of their attacks combined into a bright purple light and surrounded Kagome's sacred arrow, the glow was even more powerful before. The arrow landed right in the middle of the bright red X on the chara's forehead.

For a few seconds, all was silent. They watched tensely at the scene, worried that it might not have been enough. All of a sudden, there was a loud crack, and the X was split down the middle. The arrow was still lodged in its forehead, but a faint light glimmered from underneath its skin. The light became stronger, and soon it filled up the entire X-Chara.

It was being purified from the inside out.

Light seeped through its pores, and it let out a pitiful wail. "Muri…!" There was a blinding flash, and they all shielded their eyes. When the light subsided, there was no X-Chara in front of them—not even an X-Egg in sight. All there was were hundreds of thousands of Heart Eggs, shining with radiance.

They all floated away into the sky, as though there were dozens of tiny stars just flying farther and farther away. And soon, there was only one left.

This egg was not like the other ones. It was glittery, bobbing up and down in the air right in front of Kagome. It was the Embryo.

It wanted something, and it took Kagome a minute that she was supposed to hold out her hands. The Embryo nestled itself into Kagome's small hands, and moved back and forth, as though it were nodding.

The miko seemed to understand what was going on, and asked: "Are you sure?"

Nod.

"And I can only have one wish?"

Another nod.

She sighed. I guess I'm stuck as a twelve-year-old. But I guess it's not so bad… "Embryo-chan, I wish the Shikon no Tama was gone forever."

The Embryo floated away from Kagome and beamed brightly. She felt movement on her neck and the jewel lifted itself off of her neck and by the Embryo. The Shikon no Tama glowed and glowed, shaking slightly. The intense light grew brighter until Kagome heard a sound like glass breaking.

And then all went white.

well, i hope you liked it. and for those of you who have been asking, yes, there are four charas from the shikon. but no, i don't think they'll make a huge appearance. maybe in an omake? or i might decide to show them in the next chapter or something. but i highly doubt kagome's character transformations are gonna be seen in this story. sorry, guys. and in all honesty, the only reason i brought ikimitama in was because 1) i was too lazy to write the other four charas. and 2) i couldn't have decided which chara to choose, even if i wanted to incorporate one of them.

oh, and iki means purity. so does seiren. just thought you should know.

and note, the final battle scene was already in the first chapter. but by the time i realized this, i was already halfway through writing the scene in this one, so i'm sorry if it's kind of repetitive. i didn't want any discrepancies.

and since i kept you guys waiting so long, i thought you guys deserved an omake(:

Omake Uno!

Kagome sunk into her chair. "Oh my goodness. That was so tiring. Even my mouth is exhausted from all of that."

Ikuto stood in front of her, propped against the counter. "I know what you mean. Even I'm tired, and I have the stamina of a beast."

"You didn't even do anything! God, I wasn't sure if it would even fit in my mouth; it was so huge!"

"But wasn't it good though?"

"It was amazing. Fucking orgasmic."

"Good. You know there's more where that came from."

"B-but I don't think I can take anymore!"

Ikuto sat down in the chair next Kagome and pulled her into his lap. Nuzzling his nose into her hair, he murmured, "Come on, Kagome. Just one more. We can split it this time, so it won't be all you."

Kagome sighed. "Fine, Ikuto. One more." She turned to face him, cracking her knuckles. And then, she reached over and grabbed...

A hugeass cookie.

"So many calories… but so good," she mumbled, biting into the cookie. She squeaked as Ikuto put a hand on her cheek and gently turned her head to face him. She looked at him curiously, the cookie still in her mouth. "What?"

Ikuto remained silent as he leaned in close to her and bit off a piece of her cookie. "Yummy."

"Mine," Kagome pouted, grasping the cookie in her small hands.

The blue-haired teen chuckled and hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Mine."

"Shut up."

tee hee. i love innuendos(:
and yeah... since i figured it's been like a year, and that it's almost Thanksgiving, i figured i'd write another one. hope you enjoy it!(:

Omake Dos!

Everyone was gathered around the table, ready for a feast. Although Thanksgiving was an American holiday, Kagome had a craving for turkey. And no one ever dared to deny Kagome of her cravings.

All of her friends and family were seated in the gargantuan dining room. (It was actually the meeting room Sesshoumaru used for all of his business conferences, but Kagome had demanded to use the room because there "was a nicer view." Crazy chick.) There were dozens of trays of food lined up and down the table.

It was a crazy ordeal, having everyone in the house for Thanksgiving. There was Mama, Jii-chan, and Souta, as well as the Guardians, Ikuto, Sesshoumaru, Rin, Kouga, Ayame, and their hugeass pack of kids. (Those horny wolves. Goodness.) Kagome, Rin, Ayame, and Mama prepared for two weeks beforehand, just to make sure there was enough food for everyone.

Next year, I'm not doing this again, Kagome thought tiredly as she waited for the chicken to finish cooking. Once she heard the oven ding, she put on her gloves and carefully pulled it out of the oven. She set it gingerly onto the countertop and transferred it onto a platter. "Ayame-chan, will you get the other ten turkeys out? They're almost done," she called over her shoulder.

The redhead nodded, her curls bouncing as she did so. "Will do, Cap'n!" she joked, saluting her before skipping off to get the rest of the food.

Kagome chuckled as she turned her attention back to the turkey. It looked delicious, but there was something missing. She looked around the kitchen, and saw it lying on the opposite counter. "Ah ha!" She grabbed the object and stuck it on top of the turkey.

A Hello Kitty umbrella.

"Perfect!" she murmured, a satisfied smile on her face. Kagome rolled up her sleeves and prepared to lift the huge twelve-pound turkey. Once she picked it up, she began the tumultuous journey to the meeting room.

She turned corner after corner before finally reaching the massive meeting room doors. Kagome kicked the door, shouting for someone to open them for her, as her hands were full. Kouga's twentieth son, Kaito, opened them and looked hungrily at the turkey.

"Ooh, Kago-oba-san, that looks yummy."

The miko smiled proudly. "Well, it should be. I made it!"

Kaito's smile faltered. "Oh. Well, um, of course!"

"What, you don't think my cooking's good?"

"No, no! It's great! It's fantastic! A culinary experience!"

"Good. Now move along." Kagome shoved past him and made her way to the front of the table, where Sesshoumaru was sitting. On her way, another one of Kouga's brats (Akano, maybe?) pushed back his chair, preparing to get up. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen Kagome and jammed his chair right into her.

"Oof!"

The turkey went flying through the air as Kagome fell to the ground. Everyone watched in horror as the turkey landed right on Sesshoumaru's head. If it had been anyone else, it would have been a comical sight, since the taiyoukai's head was basically stuck up the turkey's ass.

But, of course, this was Sesshoumaru.

"…Imouto," came the muffled voice of Sesshoumaru.

"…Yes, Sesshoumaru?" Kagome replied meekly.

"There is a turkey on my head." (Whoah, Kagome thought. The Hello Kitty umbrella moves when he talks!)

"Yes, there is."

"Will you get it off?" He was being surprisingly calm about this.

"Oh! Right! Of course!" Kagome rushed over to the taiyoukai and placed her hands onto the wings. She pulled and pulled, but nothing could get his head out of its ass.

Amidst the silence, there was a sudden bark of laughter and the sound of a camera clicking. Kagome turned wide-eyed to the source and only saw a glimpse of long black hair and a red pump.

Rin.

"Kagome…What was that?"

"Um…That was Rin… She just took a picture of us."

"That's just fucking great." The umbrella moved up slowly and then dropped. Sesshoumaru must have sighed. "Hey, Kagome."

"What?"

"You forgot the stuffing."

"Oh."

reviews are greatly appreciated! and i'll try to update sooner than last time!

happy almost turkey day, everyone!