So I'd like to start with an apology to all my faithful/new readers on not updating this story. I'm so swamped with school work this semester as it is the last one and when I did get on to update I saw that some were not so encouraging about this story and I didn't write new chapters out of spite. BUT I can't deprive those who do enjoy my story just because one idiot doesn't want to give it a chance. So please accept my apologies from the bottom of my heart! I actually found the notebook I started this story in, when I just couldn't handle listening to the professor anymore, and it reminded me of why I started it in the first place, because it made me happy, and that's enough. So, onward!

"Blah" English

"Blah" thoughts

"Blah" Japanese

A Bit of Self-Discovery

Kagome drove home with Sota that day with the other three following her in their cars. She was extremely nervous about what was just about to be discussed. She was sure they would call the loony bin on her to lock her up. But Midoriko said they would feel a connection with her, so hopefully that would be enough for them to hear her out.

"So these guys are really Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku?" Sota asked her.

"No they're Ian, Sarah, and Milo. They just have Inuyasha's, Sango's, and Miroku's souls inside them." She corrected.

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Am I Kikyo because I have her soul inside me?" Kagome with extreme irritation.

"OK ok I get it. Jeez…" Sota grumbled. But Kagome knew he was just excited at the prospect of meeting those that Kagome told him glorious tales of. She was going to apologize when a thought struck her.

"Oh Kami, I better call Mama and tell her we're having guests!" Kagome exclaimed, smacking her head.

They arrived at the Higurashi residence and Kagome was happy to see her mother already at the door, ready to welcome them. She told her mother and Sota to entertain the newcomers for a moment while she ran upstairs to clean her room quickly, remembering she left it a mess this morning.

"Oh!" Kagome said in shock when she opened her door.

"What? Not happy to see me?" Edward joked as he straightened a pile of books. It looked as if he had straightened her whole room. Kagome thought it was booth sweet and strange.

"Of course I am! I'm just surprised is all." She smiled and walked up to him.

"Well…I have to confess my reasons for being here aren't completely as innocent as cleaning your room."

"Oh?" Kagome asked in confusion and Edward sighed. "Come on, out with it." She demanded.

"Alright alright…it's just that, when we kissed earlier today in school, one of those new kids saw…Ivan.."

"Ian." Kagome corrected, even though she knew perfectly well that he knew that.

"Whatever…Ian saw and he was annoyed with it. But he didn't know why he was annoyed with it and that confused him. It just made me realize how strong of a connection there must be between yours and Inuyasha's souls." He explained and Kagome cocked her head to the side in contemplation.

"Well…there is a strong connection I guess. Technically our souls are directly connected, like soul mates." She said and watched as Edward bristled at the word soul mates and it clicked. "Oh my goodness, you're jealous!" She laughed.

"Well…yeah a little! You're about to spend some quality time with your soul mate and I'll just be at home, ya know, pulling my hair out."

"Oh Kami, Edward." Kagome said between fits of hysterics. "You don't have to be jealous! Inuyasha and I are connected like that because his real soul mate was the Priestess Kikyo. I'm her reincarnation, therefore, I have her soul. Thus, the connection."

"But still…you had a relationship with him, yes?" He asked grudgingly. Kagome had to admit, seeing him jealous was a slight turn on. Sure, Inuyasha got jealous of Koga all the time but that was based on her value as a shard detector more than anything. Edward was jealous because he actually had true feelings for her.

"If you could call it that. Yes, he was my first love but he's my past. You're my present." She said, snuggling into his arms. He pulled her tight against him and nuzzled into her hair.

"And future." He growled lightly and Kagome giggled despite the delicious chills that just ran all over her body.

"Yes, and my future." She sighed happily and this seemed to placate the irritable vampire.

"Alright, I guess I should let you get to it then. Come over later when you're done." He said, giving her a kiss on the nose, and was out the window in the blink of an eye. Kagome rolled her eyes with a smile and went to fetch the others.

The three humans and one vampire were seated on the floor of Kagome room. She had just finished thanking them for their compliment on her room, her mom, her brother, and the house in general. She could only imagine how much Sota's ego was inflating right now as he listened from wherever he was in the house. But now that the pleasantries were over she really had to get down to business.

"Ok I have a confession to make…I haven't been entirely truthful to you all." She said nervously.

"What do you mean?" Sara asked with a sideways tip of her head.

"Remember how I said you looked like a bunch of friends of mine from Japan?" Kagome asked and they all nodded. "Wellll…that's because you are them, reincarnated." She said, bluntly, and waited for the bomb to drop.

"…..I'm sorry, what?" Ian asked with a blank face.

"Here, maybe this will help as I explain things." Kagome handed them her photo album and watched their eyes widen in shock as they took in pictures of people who looked astoundingly like themselves in ancient style clothing.

"Ok…we're listening." Sara said so Kagome started from the beginning and told their story up until the point where she was sent home. The three humans listened with awe while looking through the rest of the pictures as she spoke and felt it deep within themselves that what she was saying was true. Sara even teared up at the parts about Kohaku and when Kagome had to say goodbye to everyone. It was as if she had experienced that pain herself, and she guessed that actually, she did.

"This is all very fascinating, but what does this have to do with us now?" Miles asked and Kagome had to smile. Leave it to Miroku to get right to the heart of the matter.

"I'm glad you asked. You see…there's another evil out there like Naraku, possibly worse, and the Kamis thought that the old team needed to get back together to defeat it."

"How? We're not warriors or holy priests or half-demons, we're ordinary, human teenagers!" Sara panicked.

"Human, yes…for the most part…" She said eyeing Ian, who looked even more confused. "Teenagers, yes. Ordinary? Definitely not." Kagome chuckled.

"Yeah? How so?" Sarah challenged.

"The Kamis made a special arrangement when they reincarnated my friend's souls. They foresaw this evil and knew you would need all the help you could get. So within their souls lie all the abilities and skills they once possessed. Once I break the seals on their souls, those things will be passed on to you. I'll train you to hone and perfect them and you'll be as powerful as they were." She explained with a little, sad smile. "Now, I have presents for you." She said getting up and going into her closet and came out with an armful of weapons. "Come on, follow me." And she led the trio out to the backyard and set down the weapons (note: totally forgot about Miroku's staff two chapters ago, like an idiot! So it's there now. Don't hate.).

"Alright, Sara first!"

"What? Why me?" Sara exclaimed "There is no way I'll be able to throw, let alone lift that thing!" pointing at the giant boomerang.

"We'll see about that." Kagome laughed, placed her hand on Sara's shoulder, and let a small amount of miko energy flow through into Sara. At her touch, the seal on Sango's soul lifted. "Alright, go ahead. Pick it up and throw it."

"Alight….here goes nothing I guess." Sara sighed and picked up the boomerang. She was surprised at how light it felt and how well it seemed to fit her. She gave it a few test wind up swings before releasing it. The three humans stared in shock as it whizzed through the air and Kagome stood with a smug smile on her face and crossed her arms. The boomerang hit a tree and instead of bouncing off and toppling to the ground, it stuck halfway through the thick trunk.

"Well done!" Kagome applauded. "With a little more practice and strength training, you'll slice right through a tree like that. Ok Miles, you're up next."

Before Kagome lifted the seal on Miroku's soul she showed him how to wrap his hand and place the beads over it so he would be able to quickly release and close his wind tunnel. She could see the fear in his eyes and she could understand that, especially after the stories he's heard about it, but she promised him it wouldn't endanger his life and it did his incarnate. Miles tentatively picked up the staff, wondering how it could do any damage to a demon, and then he saw how razor sharp the head was and expertly twirled it around in his hand, giving a few swift swipes of it through the air. Kagome's heart swelled in pride, but then again, Miroku was always a quick learner. Next, he took a deep breath, placed his hand palm outward with the other hand anchored on his wrist, just like Kagome taught him, and released the wrap around his hand, remembering to point away from everyone. He was shocked when he felt not a gust of air blowing, but being sucked into his hand, like there was some never ending void inside him. After a moment he quickly closed his hand and wrapped in back up like he was shown.

"Wow you two were great! Really good jobs. We can work more tomorrow. But um…Sara, would you mind taking Miles home so Ian can drive home in a bit? The seal on his soul is a little tricky because Inuyasha's a half-demon so it's going to take longer and we'll need to meditate." Kagome explained in the best way she could.

"Yeah sure!" Miles accepted for Sara, who gave him an odd look. "See ya at home, Ian!" He said and dragged Sara off to the front, leaving their weapons behind as they would not easily be able to hide a giant boomerang or a staff in either of their bedrooms.

"Ok Ian, let's have a seat."

"I've never meditated before…sure this will work?" He asked nervously. Kagome gave him an encouraging smile and nodded.

"I'm sure. You just relax and let me do the heavy lifting. I should warn you about Inuyasha though. He can be…unpleasant at times." Kagome said sheepishly but Ian just snorted.

"I live with Miles…how much more unpleasant can you get?"

"Ohh just wait" Kagome thought but just took Ian's hands in hers and began. The process was long. She didn't know how long she had been searching for the seal on Inuyasha's soul before she found it. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. It was hard to tell with spiritual work. But when she did find it she merely had to brush it with a feathers touch of her energy before it lifted with a happy almost sigh. She opened her eyes and watched as Ian was engulfed with a blinding silver light and not a moment later was Inuyasha sitting in front of her. Both jumped up instantly and stared at each other for a moment.

"Y-Yash..." Kagome whispered and was suddenly in his arms. The two embraced each other for what seemed like ages. If Kagome had the ability to cry still she would have been crying rivers of happy tears. As it was, she got a strange and tight feeling in her throat that extended down to her heart. This must be what it feels like for a vampire to cry happy tears.

"I never thought I would see you again…" She mumbled into his familiar fire rat haori.

"Keh. You should know you couldn't get rid of me that easily. Not even hell could keep me from protecting you. It was my word." He said in his arrogant and slightly rude voice as he hugged her fiercely. Her heart swelled with the sound of it. She pulled back and looked at his face.

"Speaking of hell, how did you get Kikyo to let you come help me?" She asked and Inuyasha waved his hand.

"She didn't even give it a second thought. Once Kikyo was able to die she became her old self again. She didn't have the bitterness that living a half-life gave her. So when Midoriko came and asked, she encouraged me to go to you. And Midoriko took her with her back to heaven, thankfully. The real Kikyo is too kind to stay in hell for the rest of eternity." He explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh Inuyasha I'm so glad. It wouldn't have felt right without you." She said with a sincere smile and looked up into his beautiful amber eyes.

"Keh, alright don't get all mushy on me. I'm just ready to kick some ass again." He said, turning away to hide a blush and Kagome just "mmmhmed" and rolled her eyes.

"Kagome, there's something different about you. You smell weird, and look different, and your skin is super cold!" He said, rubbing his thumb over her hand.

"Yeahh…some things have changed since the last time I saw you. I'm um…a vampire now...and so is my family…" She said, rubbing the back of her head.

"A what?" He asked with a blank look and Kagome had to laugh out loud. It had been a while since someone didn't understand what a word meant so first she described what a vampire was, both mythical and actual, and proceeded to tell him how they were changed. She then spent a good amount of time trying to calm him down after he went off on how he should have been there to protect her and would have been if he hadn't gone to hell with Kikyo.

"Inuyasha, enough!" She shouted and pulled on his ear. "I'm happy now! I enjoy being like this! I'm stronger and faster and can actually be of significant help this time around! No more being on the sidelines!"

Inuyasha sighed and looked down at her. "If you say so Kag's."

"I do say so. Now you should get going, Ian has school tomorrow. And be nice to him! He's not used to having a baka live in his head." She laughed at the indignant look on his face. "You guys will be coming back here tomorrow don't worry."

"Keh whatever." Those were his last words before a silver light enveloped him again and then Ian was standing before her once more.

"Wow…that was crazy! I could like see and hear you but it was like I was looking through someone else's eyes! And I could talk but I don't know if he could hear me! Whoa! He just told me to tell you he's not an idiot, so I guess that answers my previous question. Oh, why can I understand him? Isn't he from ancient Japan? I doubt he knows English and I definitely don't know Japanese!" Ian said all this in a rush and Kagome was doing her best not to laugh.

"It's because you share a soul, so you can communicate with each other. And you can just ignore him most of the time, that's what I do." She laughed and watched Ian's face change as he listened to what she was sure were some very choice words from the half-demon inside him.

"Yeah…I'm not repeating what he just said. That would definitely be a bar of soap in the mouth for me." He said and they both cracked up at Inuyasha's expense.

"Before you go you need to try out Tetsusaiga. Now, I'm going to let you take it home with you because I don't even want to imagine the fit Inuyasha would throw if I told him he had to leave it here, but don't unleash it anywhere but here, I doubt your aunt and uncle will understand why your room in is shreds."

"Um, alright." Ian agreed, not knowing what could be so great about a rusty old katana. But then he pulled it out of its sheath and gasped as it transformed into the magnificent fang that it was. "Whoa…" he said quietly and Kagome could practically feel the smugness Inuyasha was displaying inside Ian's head. After he sheathed the blade they said their goodbyes until the next day and Ian got in his car and drove away. At that moment Kagome realized that must have been Inuyasha's first time inside a car. Sure he had seen them in Japan but he never dared to even touch one. She could only imagine what he was going through at this very moment and the thought sent her into a fit of laughter. As she was laughing she took off towards Edward's house. She couldn't wait to tell him about her evening, but she had a feeling talking wouldn't be the first thing on the agenda...not like she was complaining about that though.

Well there you go! I hope you all like this chapter! I wonder what will happen next time, when Inuyasha meets Kagome's new man!?

~Anelle