Title: Junshou 純情

Summary: Kagome returns from her mission, Lavi makes

Pairings: Kanda X Kagome, maybe others..

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and -man belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Katsura Hoshino respectively.

Junshou

Mistaken and Mistakes

Kagome looked up at the tall, intimidating tower. Bat-like shapes fluttered in hordes around it, and the cold wind blew strongly. Dry and dead trees lined the pathway leading up to the lone building, and it was perched precariously on a cliff.

'I never thought that such a creepy place could seem like home...'

She had never expected to feel such relief upon spotting Headquarters, as if she were coming home. Allen seemed to feel the same way, if the way his face lit up were any indication. They strode quickly past the gates, heading to their first destination. Toma had already passed the Innocence to them, and it was being kept safely in Timcanpy. Even the golem seemed happier when they reached the doors to Hevlaska's chamber.

Allen placed his ungloved red hand over the line between the double doors, it flashed once, then opened. They used the elevator to get all the way to the bottom level, where Hevlaska raised her head to look at them.

"Welcome back, Allen, Kagome."

The siblings smiled at her together. Hevlaska was struck by the similarity between the two, and smiled back at them. 'My assumption was not wrong then, they are brother and sister.'

Timcanpy fluttered up to Allen and opened its large jaws, revealing the glowing Innocence orb. Allen picked up the orb and passed it to Hevlaska. She held the Innocence with her tentacles, then it seemingly dissolved into her body, only to appear again on one of the spaces on the large circle that held all the other Innocence cubes.

"Thank you for your hard work, we are a step closer to our goal now."

She inclined her head towards the exorcists, who nodded and turned back to the elevator. As she watched them disappear into the heights of the tower, she felt as if another weight had been placed on her shoulders. Her chest hurt in trepidation, while her mind rejoiced in the return of the Innocence.

Another piece returns... and the final battle draws nearer...

"What should we do now?" Allen pondered, tapping a gloved finger against his chin.

They had already returned to their respective rooms and cleaned themselves up first, dusty as they were from the trip. They were standing outside Kagome's room, all ready but with nowhere to go.

"Um, why don't we go to the Dining Hall? It's almost time for lunch, so we'll most probably meet the others there." Kagome suggested.

Thus decided, they marched down the stairs together, laughing and joking on the way. Luckily, they managed to reach the Dining Hall without getting lost. They pushed open the doors simultaneously, and were immediately overwhelmed by the sounds of people chatting, eating, and generally making noise.

Lavi found them first, and draped himself over Allen companionably.

"Welcome back, Allen, Kagome-chan."

Kagome smiled at him, "It's nice to be back, Lavi-kun."

Lenalee popped up out of nowhere, scaring Allen and Kagome. "Welcome back!"

They looked at each other and sweat-dropped in unison.

Lavi and Lenalee caught their looks, and misinterpreted them as something else. "So..." Lavi began slyly. "You're together now?"

Both of them started, and looked at Lavi incredulously. Lavi started cackling madly. "I'm right! You two are dating!!" As Kagome and Allen tried to deny the accusation, to explain the truth, Lavi and even Lenalee kept saying that their guess had been right, and the redhead began shouting the news to the whole Dining Hall.

It just so happened that a certain swordsman had been entering the Hall just as Lavi started proclaiming his discovery loudly. No one noticed his quiet entrance, but everyone heard the slam of the doors and they fell into silence.

"Was someone there...?" A small voice asked the obvious.

"WAIT! Everyone! Before you start jumping to conclusions like Lavi, let us explain the truth!" Kagome shouted, even though it was not entirely necessary when the whole place had gone quiet.

All eyes swiveled to the newest Exorcist, and she began to explain. "Firstly, Allen and I are not in a relationship together." A glare was leveled at Lavi, who shrugged sheepishly. "We're actually siblings, we only found this out recently. Somehow, we were separated when we were really small, and sent to different parts of the world. I only realized this because I was given a photo of my real family, and I recognized Allen in the picture."

After her speech, there was a stunned silence, in which Kagome placed an arm around Allen's shoulders protectively. Now that they were standing close together, most people could see the resemblance between them, especially in their expressive eyes. Someone started clapping, then another started cheering, and soon the whole place was filled with cheers and congratulations for the reunited siblings.

They smiled and enjoyed the impromptu celebration for their reunion, which lasted all the way into the evening.

After the celebrations had ended, Kagome and Allen walked back to their rooms together.

"That was fun," Allen smiled at his sister, who was staring blankly into space as they were walking.

Kagome had not heard anything Allen said, she was engrossed with her own thoughts. She gave a little sigh, making Allen worry a little. He had not seen his sister with such a pensive look before.

"Onee? Is there something wrong?"

She was startled out of her thoughts, and she turned to Allen.

"Um, no-"

Gray eyes stared at her intensely, serious and yet pleading.

"Tell me what's wrong, I'm your brother, aren't I?"

Kagome bit her lip and stopped walking. Allen stood next to her, waiting to hear her words.

"Otouto... I've been having so much fun here, that I completely forgot about my friends back-" -home, she had been about to say, but she realized that she did not consider that world as her home anymore. "-in Sengoku Jidai."

"I'm worried for them, I don't know what's going to happen if they can't find the jewel shards without me."

Kikyou, she realized with a start. She had forgotten about the undead priestess. Inuyasha had most probably gotten her to join the group to find the jewel shards. After all, she was only a shard detector to them, they would not miss her.

Sango, Miroku, Shippou... She missed them terribly. She was sure they missed her too, she should not have thought so badly of them. However, she did not care about Inuyasha or Kikyou. For some reason, that did not bother her as much as it should have.

She was brought out of her thoughts by arms wrapping around her. Allen was hugging her. She smiled softly, and hugged back, thankful that she had her brother with her.

"I'm sure they're fine, didn't you say that they were powerful?" Allen let go of his sister, and looked at her.

"Yes... They should be alright. Besides, I've decided to stay here with you now." Kagome giggled when Allen looked stunned.

"Really?" His voice was full of hope, and disbelief.

"Yes, really. I'm staying with you." Allen hugged Kagome again, overjoyed. Now he finally had a family that he could call his own, connected to him by both blood and bonds.

In the next few days, Allen was sent out with Lenalee on a mission, Lavi was locked up in the library with Bookman for training, Miranda and Krory had been sent out as backup for some exorcists, and Kagome was bored. She had no one to talk to, since everyone was out, the Science Department was busy researching and building new equipment, while the Finders were kept busy helping the Science Department collect materials and such.

She wandered around the tower aimlessly during the breaks in between training. She found abandoned and dusty rooms, dark unused corridors, and even a creepy-looking storeroom. Luckily, she had not gone in, as one of the scientists later told her that it was where they kept failed experiments. She shuddered to think of any of Komui's failed experiments inside. If the Komurin was a success, then the failures would be even scarier.

One day, as she was exploring a dark corner of the tower, she suddenly felt a small pulse of power. She followed the sense, and found an open door. She walked inside the room, drawn by the mystical power she felt. It was a glowing lotus flower, covered by a glass jar. She was about to touch it when there was a flash of movement, and suddenly, there was cold steel at her neck.

"Don't touch it."

The voice was frosty, and hard. She slowly moved away from the jar, and the holder of the sword came into view. It was Kanda. His hair was untied, and he only wore long pants and bandages around his chest. He looked a little disheveled, and she realized why when she turned to her right.

There was a bed there, and the covers were on the floor. He had just gotten out of bed, and for that matter, she was in his room.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I didn't realize this was your room, I thought it was empty."

She tended to blabber on when she was nervous. She also lapsed back into her native language, Japanese. Luckily for her, Kanda could understand her words.

He glared at her, obviously angry at being woken up, and sheathed his sword.

"Get out."

She moved to comply, his killing aura was scary. She was already in the wrong for intruding into his room, and she did not want to antagonise him further. However, her curiosity won over her as she paused at the door.

"What's that flower? I know it's not normal, I could feel its power from the outside. It's connected to you as well."

She could see it, a thin line of power from the core of the lotus, leading to a tattoo on Kanda that was burning in her sight.

Kanda visibly stiffened at her words, and his hand inched towards Mugen. Kagome, sensing that it was the limit for him, fled after apologising once more.

After she left, the swordsman ran a hand through his hair, muttering under his breath.

"What is she? To see my ties to this damned lotus..."

A/N: Not the Kanda x Kagome interaction that the readers were hoping for, I think. Don't worry, they'll get there eventually. Sorry for the very late update. I might only update once a month from now on, or even longer.

Suggest other pairings for this story! Boy x Boy, Girl x Girl, Boy x Girl, anything works. When there are enough suggestions, we'll have a poll to decide.

-luzopi