A/N (Again): This chapter is relatively short, so I'm putting this one up, and possibly another one soon. (Not a whole lot happens in this chapter..bah.)

Chapter eighteen: Old Friends

Kagome hurriedly scooped the cat into the cage, much to the creature's disliking; she could see Sango walking home from the bus stop. The cat mewed loudly, showing signs of pretest, but Kagome just gave it some catnip she had seen growing alongside of their hut. The cat fell into a daze of mixed emotions and pretty swirling colors, and was quiet. Kagome snickered a bit, and pushed the cage into a corner, and draped a light towel over it.

Sango opened the door, and trudged inside, and flopped down on her cot. Kagome studied her friend and decided now would be a good time for cheering her up.

"Hey Sango."

"What?" She asked irritably.

Kagome backed off a little bit, but just a little grouchiness wasn't going to stop her— not now.

"I've got a surprise for you!" Kagome added cheerily.

"Great." Sango said sarcastically, and rolling over so her back was facing Kagome.

Kagome shuffled over to the towel-covered-cage, and removed the high cat from its metal prison. She sighed, the cat was still too high to do much, maybe four sprigs of the stuff was a bit much.

"I think you'll like it, look." Kagome said, stretching her arms out, as to give Sango the cat. Sango just stayed facing the wall, paying no mind to Kagome whatsoever.

"Sango, would it kill you to at least try and look?" Kagome said, getting annoyed at Sango's lack of interest. The girl just lay on her bed, silent. Kagome groaned, and pondered how she could get Sango's attention for a while. She just came to the agreement that she should move Sango, yes, that should work quite nicely.

Kagome pulled on Sango's shoulder with her free hand, the other holding the still high kitty. Finally, Sango gave in.

"What Kagome? What?" Sango asked, a flare in her tone. All of that disappeared when she saw what Kagome was holding.

"Kirara?"

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Miroku sat with Shippo in the investigation office, watching the only piece of evidence that would show them who had taken the formula, be taken away. Shippo rewound the tape, and watched it again. He frowned; this wasn't getting them anywhere, yet Miroku insisted that they watch it until they found something.

"There!" Miroku shouted, startling the fox demon, he fumbled with the remote a second, and then paused the screen.

"What? I don't see anything." Shippo said, turning his head in all directions, trying to figure out what Miroku was talking about.

"Shippo, how could you not see it? You're the best investigator on this squad." Miroku said. When he saw that Shippo was still confused he explained.

"Look at the dirt, see the direction it's blowing in? And that's the same direction the bee demon was flying in. Those things have a hell of a hard time flying against the wind."

"So?"

"So, that means, that the demon was going in that direction. It narrows down the places we have to search." Miroku exclaimed excitedly.

Shippo shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes, and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Miroku, you've really been losing sleep on this, haven't you?"

"Well, what was stolen was only the most expensive research we have ever funded, but that's not too big a deal, is it?" Miroku mocked. He was clearly frustrated, and Shippo was a bit intimidated by the madman.

"Shippo, don't ask questions, just send out five more search teams to examine the west side of the castle, now." He said sharply. Shippo did as he was told, and rushed out of the dark room to fetch some more search parties.

Miroku put his head in his hands, and wiped of an invisible sheet of grime off his face. He was so desperately tired; he could just fall over right there. But his conscience wouldn't let him rest peacefully until he figured this out.

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Sango leapt up from her cot and quickly stole the cat demon from Kagome's grasp. Sango twirled around the room, wincing slightly whenever she used her bad foot, but was too happy to let that stop her.

"Kirara! I can't believe it's really you! Oh, I missed you so much!" Sango sung, cradling the cat demon she called Kirara. The small cat looked lazily to its owner, and purred a bit, the effects of the catnip beginning to wear off already.

"Kagome! Where did you find her?"

"She was in a pet shop, I thought you would like something to cheer you up, so here's your present." Kagome said, laughing at the awkward coincidence.

"This is so wonderful! I just can't believe it! Kirara was my cat back when, you know, I still had my family." Sango said, her bangs covering her sorrow-filled eyes.

"Awe, come on now, Sango, I'm sure your family wouldn't want you upset! You've had enough going on! Come on, let's go get some dinner early today, maybe we could get some cupcakes…" Kagome said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

The two girls linked arms, and began out the door, their new cat on its previous owner's shoulder, and walked off into the twilight.

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Inuyasha was in his darker chambers taking much of his frustration out on a punching bag. (You know, the chambers Kagome got lost in.) He continuously hit the sandbag, until the seams began to rip, then he stopped, and called for a servant to come and replace it with another one. Inuyasha's thoughts were so muddled with confusion, desire, anxiety, and more confusion. What was he going to do about Kikyo? His feelings were completely gone for her now, well sort of. Inuyasha began thinking of all of the good times they had together, and it only confused him further. Now that he thought about it, Kikyo did look a lot like Kagome, and vice versa, but they were two completely different people. Kikyo was the type who was always looking her best, and prim, and proper, basically a perfectionist. Kagome on the other hand, she didn't really care too much about what others thought of her, and was independent, and headstrong, she would lash out if necessary, and was shy if needed. Both would do the kingdom some good. But he couldn't marry them both. This was going to require some more thought. He would have to wait until Kikyo arrived.

The servant came in, lugging a huge sandbag, much heavier, and more durable than Inuyasha's previous one. However, the servant wasn't very muscled, and was having great difficulty even scooting across the floor. Inuyasha watched in amusement for a few seconds, the punching bag was easily the size of the man. Inuyasha took the sandbag from the man, and relieved him of his duty.

"That is all, you are dismissed." He said. The servant nodded, and quickly got out of the chambers.

Inuyasha continued his countless beatings on the bag, and continued to think about the many problems arising for him.