Chapter 13 – Something Old, Something New

The three girls sat tiredly on a low garden wall. Whose garden, they didn't know. They didn't really care, either.

"So...what now?"

"I don't know. Why are we out here again?"

"Because Ranma is a noisy, rude, pig-headed -"

"It wasn't just Ranma-honey you know!"

"Give it a rest you two! I'm too tired to handle any of this." Akane and Ukyo looked guiltily at Kagome. Well, she thought that they looked guilty – the faint neon glow from the street lamps wasn't much to see by. "What time is it any way?"

"Eleven? I don't know. No watch."

"Do you think things will have cooled down yet? I want to get some sleep."

All three sighed, knowing the arguments at the dojo would still be in full swing.

"Hang on! We can crash at my place tonight!"

Kagome almost growled in frustration. "Why didn't you think of that earlier?" She was far too tired to be relieved. Maybe in the morning she would be more grateful.

Ukyo's place wasn't even that far away, but every step felt never ending to Kagome. All she'd been surrounded with lately, was noise and violence. She thought wistfully of warm, lazy summer days, spent stretched out in the grass with nothing but the grumblings of a restless hanyou to keep her awake. She missed that.

Tears stung her eyes.

"Kagome? Are you okay?"

Kagome waved off Akane's worry with a laugh. "Fine. Just tired – I always get emotional when I'm tired."

"Tired? I sense more than physical exhaustion." She was tempted to start rolling her eyes at Akane; of course it was more than a simple need to sleep – but she realised, belatedly, that it hadn't been Akane who'd spoken, or even Ukyo.

A young man stood in front of them, smiling with secret knowing and carrying a large backpack over one shoulder. His smile faltered slightly, after getting no response but a dead silence. "Sorry. Didn't mean to intrude on personal matters - Mother always told me I never knew when to keep out."

"Huh? Oh, it's okay." Kagome blinked dumbly at the boy. There was something about him that bugged her.

"Well, no harm meant, anyway." He stuck out a hand. "Names Miroku, what's yours, gorgeous?"

Kagome gasped, but trying to hide her shock, quickly turned it into a cough. "Uh, sorry. I'm Kagome." She shook his hand, trembling. She realised what her problem with him had been – the boy shared a lot of his looks with her old friend. Was this really as it seemed?

Had she found Miroku's reincarnation?

"Well now that we know each other so well, can I ask you something?" Not letting go of her hand, this new Miroku pulled her in close, and looked deeply into her eyes. The sense of deja vu was nearly overwhelming – and she was pretty darn sure of what was about to happen. "Will you bear my children, Kagome?"

She cringed. Behind her Akane and Ukyo made sounds of fury.

"Well, you don't have to look so disgusted about it – it kinda hurts my feelings, ya know."

Kagome took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "Sorry," she said forcing herself to look at him. Yep, there was definitely resemblance, even in the bad lighting. "I can't have your children, but I can be your friend." The offer, she could tell, had shocked the two girls behind her. She didn't expect them to understand, but there was no way she was going to lose her new-old friend.

Miroku was definitely surprised. "Never had a girl say that before. My Sango likes to beat me around, and so does every other girl too...now that I come to think of it..."

"You're such a pervert! Kagome get away from him!"

But Kagome wasn't paying attention. She realised that she was nearly dead-from exhaustion; she realised she was still standing within the warm circle of her old (and soon to be new) best friend's boyfriend's arms; she realised that her cousin must be dying from the 'over-protective' instinct that was sure to be screaming right now...but this was an opportunity she couldn't afford to miss.

"Sango, huh? Is she your girlfriend?" Her tone was light and teasing – just like the good old days.

"I wish!" Kagome recognised the glazed look that appeared in Miroku's eyes and smiled. "But she doesn't even have the time of day for me!"

"She's secretly burning for you," Kagome assured him. "But she probably can't get past that perverted streak of yours."

"Really? How do you figure that?"

"Women's intuition."

Miroku looked thoughtfully at her. "You know...I've never had a girl who was just-a-friend before...this could come in quite handy." He cleared his throat. "Well Kagome, you have yourself a new best buddy. You call me," he produced for her, a crumpled business card, "and we'll set up a lunch date; have one of those girl talks. Okay?"

"Sure thing," she said, taking the card with a raised eyebrow. "Miroku's Mystical Market? We should probably include this as something to talk about. Girls love a guy with a strong career."

Miroku sighed. "Because you're my new best bud, I'm going to ignore that insult to my business."

"Kagome..." Akane tugged at her sleeve, extremely confused and upset by now.

"I'll see you later then..." Kagome was instantly snatched away and dragged down the street.

Once in the warmth and safety of Ukyo's apartment, Kagome was made to sit while Akane ranted.

"Kagome, I can not believe you! Fifty million demon attacks a day, and yet you just happily start making friends with random perverts on the street? I mean, it's the middle of the night! What kind of respectable person is even out that late? So what if he isn't a demon – he could still be after the jewel! I mean 'Mystical Market'? He has to know about the Jewel! He's probably just out to steal it from you so he can sell it to the highest bidder!"

Akane paused when Ukyo prodded her in the back.

"Akane, she's asleep."

"Oh."

#

Chouko was singing her silly rhymes again. It pissed him off to no end – but then, that's exactly why she did it.

"Shut up! And stop following me around!" He growled.

"But you look so lonely running around the place by yourself!"

"Doesn't mean I want your company!"

Chouko looked genuinely hurt by that. But InuYasha didn't care...that much. He liked her well enough, and he could tolerate her, but that was the extent of their friendship – on his end anyway.

"You're no fun InuYasha."

"He never was," a smooth, masculine voice interrupted cheerfully. Frozen, Chouko inspected the newcomer.

He was human and rather good-looking, with short black hair pulled back and -

"Dammit Miroku! What are you even doing here?" InuYasha yelled, interrupting Chouko's assessment. "How many times do I have to say it? Leave me alone!" InuYasha took to the trees. Again.

#

Kagome looked around the Cat Café. Finally she choose a table, that was as far away from the kitchen as she could possibly get, while still maintaining a healthy distance away from windows and doors – just to avoid the likely chance of eavesdroppers.

Akane (everyone, in fact) had not been happy about her 'new' friend. Being the smart, level-headed girl she was, Kagome had quickly made the compromise of meeting Miroku at the Cat Café. There, Shampoo and Mousse could keep an eye on her, and she could still have a degree of privacy. More than she'd have at Ukyo's okonomiyaki bar, anyway.

As she waited, Mousse brought out some tea. She held her cup, tapping her nails against the porcelain. Suddenly she was feeling very anxious. Her late night meeting with Miroku now seemed very surreal – what would happen in the bright afternoon sunshine?

"Hey, bestie. Hope I didn't keep you waiting." Miroku sat down across from her, looking, if possible like Miroku-the-Monk even more.

Kagome cleared her throat and shook her head. "Not at all."

"That's good. I've never been here before – what's good to eat?"

"Uh, actually I don't know."

"Never been her either? Why'd you choose it?"

"Overprotective friends," she answered, jabbing her thumb towards the kitchen. Shampoo, Mousse and even Cologne, could be seen watching curiously through the kitchen window. Kagome glared hard at them, and sheepishly they turned away. "They aren't as trusting as I am"

"Ah, I see." Miroku sighed dramatically. "Well, I shall just have to win them over."

"Here is menu! Would you like drink while decide?" Shampoo smiled brightly at them, as if she hadn't just been staring shamelessly.

Miroku took the menu and flicked through it. "What I would really like miss, if you would do me the honour of bearing my child?"

Kagome rolled her eyes from behind the menu she was reading. She heard a 'whap', and lowered her menu to inspect the damage. "I give you time to think, okay?" Shampoo left, still smiling sweetly. Miroku just looked unhappily as the the menu he was holding, the entire left side of his face glowing red.

"Women these days. Always hitting us men."

"You poor thing," Kagome said dryly, before returning to her menu. "The shrimp noodles are sounding good today...but I also feel like dumplings...what are you getting?"

Miroku sighed. "I think you and Sango will get on famously."

"I'm sure we will." Kagome grinned.

Sorry for the wait.....again. I think I did a better job of editing this time......but there's probably still mistakes in there somewhere.

And I think it won't be too long before the story starts ending. It just feels like its getting to that...point...? To me anyway.