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Chapter 12- Simply complicated (Things unsaid)

Kagome sank to the floor and bowed "Midoriko"

The mermaid queen reached down and pulled her off the ground and out of the bow gently. "No need for formalities, Kagome. We are all happy that you have returned safely"

Kagome smiled slightly "With help from my friends" she said looking at the humans who were suddenly the centre of attention.

Midoriko swam forwards gracefully and put her hands together as if in prayer and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, humans. From the bottom of our hearts for returning our sister and future queen to us"

Sango and Miroku gasped while Inuyasha could only stare at Kagome who just pulled at her hair slightly and smiled shyly. "Didn't I tell you?" she asked them coyly.

Sango shook her head mutely. "Does that make you a princess?"

Kagome and all her sisters laughed, well except one, who was gripping a hidden dagger tightly. "No, I'm not a princess. If I live long enough I'll become queen if there isn't another mermaid that is more powerful than me or the currant Queen"

Miroku got up and said "So which one's Kikyo?"

Kagome flinched slightly and then looked at the red mermaid who was the only one not smiling or making any signs of welcome to her sibling. Kagome looked at her older sister an almost pleading look in her eyes.

"Kikyo?" she asked softly. Inuyasha got up and swam over to Kagome and saw the immediate resemblance between the two mermaids. They had the same colouring and similar body shapes but their scales and the eyes as well as Kagome was smaller that her by about two inches, it was only those changes that stopped them being twins.

Kagome had more childish and cute features while Kikyo had more sophisticated and elegant features that were hard and the stony gaze she gave her sister made Inuyasha wonder why Kagome kept going back to her.

Kagome couldn't hold herself back anymore and sped forwards and hugged her sister as tightly as she could "Kikyo!" she sobbed "Kikyo! Please don't be mad at me anymore!"

The elder mermaid looked torn then held her back. "Kagome…" she sighed then pushed her to arms length. "Have you come to your senses at last?"

Kagome looked a little hurt and said "It's my life, Kikyo, I'll decide what to do with it, I'm sorry" she added and glanced back at her human friends.

Kikyo growled a little and her eyes slitted for a second before she calmed herself down. Kikyo was stony again and she earned a disapproving glare from Midoriko before the queen faced the youngest mermaid there. "Well, daughter, what should we do with you now?"

Kagome bowed her head as Midoriko continued "You've revealed yourself to humans, told at least one our secrets, saved them using magic, invoked your siren nature" Kagome winced as everyone else gasped around her. "and given a human True Loves kiss" she looked at Inuyasha who remembered that only a True Loves kiss from a mermaid could make a human breathe underwater without the silly air bubble heads that Sango and Miroku had on.

Midoriko laughed once "So why do I feel so proud of you?"

Kagome looked up in shock. Midoriko smiled and continued "You followed your instincts to trust the humans here and now we have found friends on the mysterious surface world, and you have successfully avenged the deaths of lots of mermaids by slaying Naraku"

Kagome flinched at that and Kikyo raised her eyebrows at the thought of her own sister killing a human.

"Naraku hurt many of our kind and he would have hurt more of us if you hadn't of intervened, even though it is a sadness that a life was lost there really wasn't another choice for it. Your magic's have grown stronger through helping friends and family and as for your boyfriend…"

Midoriko eyed him with a gaze that made him feel like he was being examined. As if she was searching his soul with her deep eyes. He couldn't look away from her intense gaze and years might have passed and he wouldn't have noticed.

Midoriko blinked and that strange contact was broken. She took Kagome's hand in hers and then the two swam over to him. "Inuyasha, isn't it?" she asked fondly, almost motherly.

Inuyasha shook his head slightly to get his senses back "Yes, mam" he said at last.

She smiled at his response and then said almost sternly "Kagome gave you True Loves kiss but I don't think she or you realised what it truly means" Kagome looked up at her almost fearfully and in the background Kikyo looked down guiltily and bit her lips in worry.

Sango and Miroku gripped each other as they sensed something bad coming.

Midoriko sighed and said "I thought not, Kikyo?"

The red mermaid swam forwards "Yes?"

"If this does not end well, you have to take moat of the blame for not informing her. I'm a little disappointed in you, trying to twist your sister to your hating views"

Kikyo bowed her head in shame and then whispered "Kagome?" the younger sibling looked at her in surprise and put a hand on her shoulder. To show that she was listening "I'm sorry for what I did and I take back everything I ever said about your friends" she burst into tears and held her close tightly. "Forgive me, Kagome! Forgive me!"

Kagome held her back and said "For what?"

Kikyo sniffed and said "I should have told you, True Loves kiss will grant a human the powers of breathing under water but for the mermaid if those affections are not returned or aren't strong enough then the mermaid will die and turn into sea foam"

Kagome froze and Inuyasha gasped in horror. Then thought to himself about how much he loved her and although he was still in shock, for that reason felt that he was going to burst from those feelings.

Midoriko nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so. A mermaid's soul is delicate even if our flesh and lifespan isn't. Well" she swam forwards and touched Kagome's forehead, Kikyo clinging to her arm the whole time. "Let's see how deep your feelings go"

Midoriko looked into Kagome's heart and soul and saw how strong and pure her feelings for the human boy were and Midoriko reached for Inuyasha's forehead while still holding onto Kagome as if she were weighing scales.

Inuyasha's heart and soul was very different from a mermaid's, so strong and hard to see into but what she found pleased her greatly. He was willing to die for her and that was proof enough that he would always love her.

Midoriko released them and smiled "We will not be losing a sister today"

All the mer-folk cheered and swam around the embracing couple. Kagome felt an acceptance in her soul and heart then giggled and added in Inuyasha's ear "Um… you remember how long a mermaid lives right?"

He did, close to two thousand years at best. He nodded and the girls around him giggled "What?" he asked warily.

Kagome laughed "Well you'll now be living that long with me" Inuyasha would have collapsed if he was on dry land and the cove was filled with mermaid laughter once again.

"What!" he asked again and Kagome laughed with her sisters

"I said that now I have given you True Loves kiss you now live as long as I do. I love you" she said and kissed his shocked mouth before he responded. All the girls sighed or laughed or wolf whistled at them and Kagome broke the kiss just long enoiugh to glare at them all and say "Shut up" before kissing him again.

Kikyo watched from the sidelines with Midoriko, Kikyo smirked a little and glanced up at the queen. "Well now those two are bound for all eternity" when Inuyasha and Kagome's love passed the test they now sheared everything form life, love, health, soul and powers, but he didn't need to know that for another two hundred years at least. "I'll have to get to know my bother in law" she sighed.

Midoriko smiled down at the red mermaid in an amused fashion. "I warned you of her fate when I met her as a merling"

Kikyo nodded "I know, queen of all mermaids, bridge between the humans and us, justice of the sea and the most powerful mermaid for the next five millenniums? I don't think I could forget…" Kikyo looked at her little sister and smiled "I know I told you that I didn't want to know my future but… could you give me a clue on where I go from here? Looking after Kagome is that boy's job now…"

Midoriko smiled and said "I don't see things in detail but I'm sure a little following your sisters example would do you all some good… as well as a change of scene"

Kikyo smiled a little and said "I had a feeling that you were going to say that"

Midoriko smiled as well "The future isn't set in stone, it all depends on the choices you make. Now I think we have wedding to celebrate"

Kikyo smiled widely and swam off into the crowd while Midoriko swam off into the blue haze that was the ocean. She did not belong in such a place at a time like this, as being a good thousand years older than the eldest mermaid there made her a little out of her time. And she couldn't stay there anyway, there was more work to do, mermaids to awaken, destinies to foretell and maybe this time she could spend a little more time wither love before returning here.

A happy smile graced the queens lips before she disappeared from view completely.

This was a little rushed but to be honest, it couldn't have gotten much better than this. R&R!