XVI.

She And Her Darkness

The morning after Inuyasha's burial, Kagome had woken in bright light and then rolled over into a shadow. It had resolved itself into a shape - Sesshomaru, kneeling over her, his face strained but his fingers gentle on her lips.

"I cannot stay here, among them – I will see what is moving in the forest, and I will hunt, and then I will return."

He had given her nothing more than that, not reasons or promises, and Kagome had been surprised to find herself suddenly lonely without him, more empty of feeling than she had been before. Having fallen into deep water, she found herself with nowhere to go but up, and in the morning sunlight, watching him speed away from her, she had thought that without Sesshomaru to watch over them, lingering behind her footsteps, the people she had known might come back and reach out to her.

By the next day, she had almost given up hope. Sesshomaru was a danger for which they were prepared, if not accustomed. He was youkai, a lord, someone to be feared. But she herself had changed beyond all recognition, and they could not accept the difference.

It had been enough to pull her away from them when she had been only miko. To be miko, and youkai – to return with a name, only, and nothing else the same?

In Sango's eyes there was wariness, in Miroku a ticking anger that she did not understand but which peered out of the corners of his eyes at her when he thought she was not looking. Only Shippou had not changed toward her, acted no differently. Even from Kaede, there was now a strange reverence, a subservience in her attitude, in the way she refused to look up, refused to meet Kagome's eyes.

So, alone, she waited for the night to come again, hoping Sesshomaru would return, sitting in the place where she once had sat with Inuyasha. The angry hurt she had expected was a soft burn, more like the memory of pain than pain itself.

I started grieving the moment I turned away from him, the moment I left. Now that he is dead, maybe...maybe it will be better.

She had spent the day with Shippou; she had told him how much his words had meant to her; how much they helped. When she had first fallen through the well she would have been horrified by the thought of someone asking her for death; now, it was a comfort. She did not find it strange, that he had said such a thing; she had seen his eyes, the terror in them, the horror - she had tried to comfort him, and had known herself to be only partially successful.

The danger had been real, all too real...they had all known it.

There were other difficulties, though, other worries running through her thoughts.

If only Miroku and Sango were not so…so…

She saw ahead of her a life of silences, of avoided eyes and soft apologies, and was angry with a passion that shocked her, made her shake. The new intensity of her own emotions she had yet to come to terms with; the night air was damp and clung to her lungs as she breathed deeply and tried to rationalize the pain.

Time, time, with time they will see that I am not someone to fear, that I am not dangerous, that I…

Footsteps silenced her thoughts, caught her attention. There was sharpness in them, care being taken with the placement of each foot, avoiding the dry ground, stepping on grasses that folded and sprang back with a soft wshhh under the voice of the wind.

"I thought you would be out here. You always used to come sit with Inuyasha out here, in the summer. Will you...will you tell me, Kagome, how you have changed?"

The words floated out of the darkness and fell onto her. Miroku stepped out of the shadows that had cloaked everything but his footsteps and his scent, and she turned aside, hiding her face. The intensity of his gaze disturbed her, the caution he took with her now in every word.

"Is there something about my change you cannot see, Miroku? I am youkai now, my life is not what it was."

He ran a hand back through his hair, let his head fall back onto his shoulders. Some of the reserve seemed to leave him, replaced by resentment. He came and sat beside her, leaned back onto his elbows.

"Not what it was? Your skin is different, your eyes, even the color of your hair. More and more I keep thinking, is that all that is changed? The outside things, the way you move?"

Self-conscious now, Kagome drew her hair through her fingers and still did not meet his eyes. His questions touched on unease that had kept her on edge since the moment she had come back to this place, with its human memories. In Sesshomaru's fortress, it was easier to forget, to try and pretend that she had always been this way, that nothing was different.

"If that was all it was, it would be easy, wouldn't it, Miroku?"

Her fingers had twisted her hair into a rope, a lifeline, but her voice took on a sharper edge, puncturing his offered excuses.

"You don't really want to know about me, changing. You heard what I told Kaede...I don't really know why, how..."

She shook her head.

"You want...you want to know about me and...and...Sesshomaru – you want to know about Sesshomaru."

As if stung, Miroku scrambled off the ground. He bit off his words in her direction, but his eyes glared blankly into the dark.

"I heard you – I heard him. Mate, he said. I know what that means, what that makes you. It is not Sesshomaru that interests me, it's you! You are more than just youkai now, Kagome-dono."

She heard raw mocking in his voice and it scalded her.

"Miroku – don't – "

"Don't? I wondered, worried, not knowing where you were after you left us, not knowing if you lived or had died, if you had gone under the mountains or over them, or through them like smoke. You left us nothing, nothing to say why, or where – there was only the silence and the wind, and dust. We thought you might have left us - that you might have gone home. We thought - we thought you might have died, but we didn't know! We didn't know, Kagome!"

She swallowed, and he saw tears beginning to line her eyes again, felt horrible about them but couldn't stop himself.

"And when I could think about it, when I realized that Sango had been the only one with her eyes open, the only one watching, I asked her – and she would say nothing, not to me or to Shippou, and she wouldn't even look at Inuyasha…and then he, too, left us. It was cold, very cold, walking through the end of the winter. If we had not had Shippou with us to scent the track, and Kirara to follow it, we would not have survived – and even with them, it was not easy. But now you are here, so well, so changed – clinging tightly to your mate. Why, why? Did you think it would matter at all – at all? You are still our Kagome - we still love you, Kagome, so why -"

Her eyes widened, hearing pain in his voice, many worries, many sleepless nights. Suddenly she was grateful for his anger, for the love that it showed.

He is still -

"You were my friend, my friend, Kagome! The Kazaana was like a dark hole I was being lowered into, bottomless, endless, hopeless. I don't want to think what it would have been like if I had found you that day, so open, so cheerful, like a bright light in front of my eyes."

Falling silent, he paced back and forth over the grass in front of her. His hair was on end where he had ruffled it, his eyes more than a little wild. Kagome could not even answer him, compelled to silence by the cold, clutching fist in her chest. It made her pant, darkened the corners of her eyes. When she could speak, she could not look at him; she knew what he would see – the demon, the Inu – and did not want him to see it.

"You don't understand, Miroku. I have been – this change – it has not been many days. Not many days at all. I was sleeping, sleeping...it was the end of summer, and Sesshomaru found me; I was alone before that. We traveled together; I promised...I promised I would bring him back here, to Inuyasha. I meant to come back, Miroku! But I was wounded, and he healed me...and after…after, he took me – and that…I – this is what I am, Miroku. No – it is what I was, what I was always was. He said that, to me. Before, and after, I am his, you see? It cannot be changed, it cannot be undone. I did not – I did not not come back. Not because I didn't want to, at least. It was only…"

She sighed a quivering sigh, but her eyes stayed dry.

"Inuyasha. I saw...I saw him with Kikyou, when Naraku was dead. I think - I think she did something to him, Miroku, but it's still all my fault. He tried to take the jewel from me, he tried...he tried to kill me - I should not have left you but I could not stay. Not with him…that way. How could I fight him? I gave all that I had to purify Naraku, to make the shikon no tama whole. There was nothing left..."

She took a deep breath, dashed tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You shouldn't blame Sango, though, Miroku. She was barely even conscious, I...I gave Shippou to her, told her to take care of him and then I ran. As fast, as far as I could, I ran; I had just barely enough power left to stun Inuyasha - I did not stop running until I thought I would die if I took another step. I wandered for a while, lost, and then...I started walking, one day - must have been the middle of spring - and I didn't look back. I was...I was afraid."

He was watching her in silence now, still, his arms crossed. The rough ends of his hair crossed over his eyes, hid them with shadow so she could not see his expression.

"I'm sorry, Miroku. I'm sorry."

Her voice came out thick; she hadn't expected this anger in him, and couldn't understand why she hadn't. Of course he would be angry; he had more right, in a way, than any of the others.

Except Shippou...

But Shippou was too happy with her return to be angry. Miroku had come with them before Sango; Miroku she had been close to, because he had a tendency to speak wisely and because at first, he had wanted her - until Inuyasha made it clear that she was not to be wanted.

What did I do? I should never - I should never have -

The agony came out into her expression, and Miroku saw it. Suddenly he regretted his words - not all of them, but many.

She is grieving, still grieving, and I am being horrible.

"No, Kagome, no, don't pay attention to me. It is my turn to be sorry – I was angry, but you shouldn't regret anything. Do you understand, Kagome? Anything. I came for my own quest, don't forget that – and I wouldn't change a moment of that journey, nor erase a minute of our time together. You killed Naraku - you saved my life."

His voice hardened suddenly.

"But if Sesshomaru took you, if you think it can't be changed – well, you must be wrong. There is a way out of anything; even youkai lords will die if a miko-"

"Miroku! You are wrong, so wrong. He took me because that is the way, his way - our way. The youkai way. "

Her cheeks flushed, but she pushed the words out anyway, turning away her face, hiding in her hair.

This is Miroku, no need to be embarrassed -

"I ran for him, so he would Chase me. That was the day...that was the thing that brought the awakening over me. He was the one…he was the one who changed me."

A soft, soft smile hovered on her mouth. Miroku saw it, and was shocked pale. It was bad enough to be disturbed by her effortless grace, the way she spoke softly now, the flicker of her tongue against her lips, her fangs – the fangs! He was uneasy with the sensuality of her presence when she spoke of Sesshomaru; he had seen it in her before, very rarely, when Inuyasha was acting a certain way - but this! It was...constant. Frightening.

"You…you are changed, Kagome."

The smile was fading from her lips, turning to wistful sadness.

"I cannot regret it, Miroku. Is that bad? You say I shouldn't, but...I cannot return to my own life, my friends. Sesshomaru said – when he told me what was in me - that I could never go back. But I wanted this, I wanted to know my own secrets - I wanted...to have some of the strength, the power, that always made me breathless. I wanted it...I wanted - him. Sesshomaru - "

And wide-eyed, open-mouthed at her own thoughts, her own feelings, she stood, and backed away from him. Inuyasha was dead, but her heart had been broken long before he breathed his last; it was already testing, adjusting, feeling out the spaces of her new pain, the open places where old things had faded, and changed.

"Kagome…"

"I - I'm really sorry, Miroku - "

She took two more steps, and then she was gone. Breathless, Miroku could only stare at nothing, trying to understand. Someone looked out at him from her eyes that he did not know, behind the woman who was his friend.

For a moment, he tried to imagine what it would be like, and could not. Speed, and power, a hurtling Beast in his own flesh – 'I wanted it', she said. 'I wanted him', she said – and fled.

He could not know that it was not muscles that moved her, but memory – that it was the acceptance she had lost that she regretted, and not the humanity – that she had scattered her own heartbeat with the words that had so scattered him.

"Miroku?"

He was standing still, staring out at the grass where Kagome had run, at the edge of the trees beyond which she had disappeared.

"Miroku? Are you...okay?"

"Sango! I'm fine, I was just thinking...sorry, you haven't been standing there long, have you?"

She shook her head.

"No. Not long - you looked...distracted. What were you thinking about?"

He shrugged faintly.

"Nothing much..."

About how much of an ass I was, that's what...

The thought gave his features a rueful cast.

"How are you feeling, Sango? Those wounds - they won't give you any trouble?"

"I was lucky, Kaede said. The wounds were superficial, just enough to make me bleed, not to damage any muscles, or...or..."

Her face - her face! So empty...

"Sango!"

He had seen this expression on her many times since their last battle - since Naraku's death, and Kohaku's...since Kagome and Inuyasha had left, one after the other.

It took her so long to look up, and this...somehow, this has made it worse. I don't understand...

When she had seen Shippou, and realized that he had lived, that she need not feel responsible for his death, she had been better...for a few hours. Now that the burying was over, now that a few days had passed and she was beginning to heal, he did not understand what was wrong with her.

"I'm sorry, Miroku. I just feel...alone now, I guess. I had accepted that Kohaku was gone, that he would probably die. It was still hard when it happened, so hard...but I had accepted it. And now Inuyasha is dead, dead by Kagome's own hands."

She took in a deep, shuddering breath.

"Sango..."

He looked at her from beneath his eyebrows.

"Do you want to tell me what happened, Sango? You've seemed...distant, so I -"

"What happened?"

She shuddered, wrapped her arms around herself tightly and then gasped from the pain.

"What happened...was not much. I did not come in time to see how he found Shippou; I saw him hit him, claw him, once, and then I threw Hiraikotsu to protect him."

She swallowed, took a slow breath.

"As soon as I saw Kikyou...I knew I had no chance of bringing him back to himself. I think...I think -"

He nodded.

"I know. Kagome thinks the same thing; I cannot argue, but the truth is we will never prove it one way or the other. Even Tetsusaiga rejected him at the end; he may have given in too fully to the inner demon."

Sango looked stricken.

"Tetsusaiga rejected him?"

He nodded; she passed a hand across her forehead.

"No hope...no hope..."

She seemed to shake herself, and then continued where she had left off.

"But - she talked at me, Kikyou. Tried to convince me how right she was! How much good she could accomplish...and Inuyasha - Inuyasha - "

She could not say what he had done, what she had been afraid he would do; the feeling of his tongue on her rushing blood -

She was overcome by a sudden wave of nausea, dizziness -

"Sango - he didn't - "

"No! No...I think he cut me so he could taste my blood; Kikyou told him to bring me, she wanted to use me as bait, I think, to catch Kagome - and then...I remember looking up, and back, and realizing that my head was bleeding, and then - nothing."

She shook her head.

"I woke up once, and I was in that cave; but they were there, the two of them; he was kneeling at her feet, like a dog; like she was a temple image, and he was worshiping the idol of her image -"

Sango shuddered, and Miroku stroked her back gently.

"Then she did something to me, some smoke, some herb, and I slept again. There was nothing, until I woke, and heard voices, and I knew it was you - "

She took a deep breath and suddenly there was something near hysteria in her eyes, tightening her features.

"And our Kagome, Miroku - our Kagome...!"

"She isn't ours any more, Sango -"

"Exactly!"

The word was half wail.

"She belongs to Sesshomaru; she says it herself. I - I'm afraid of her, Miroku! Me, afraid of Kagome! It's...it's so ridiculous!"

She leaned forward a little, pressed her hands over her eyes. Miroku reached out and shook her; he was deeply disturbed. As she said it, he couldn't help but recognize that he had had that same feeling; that same fear! Looking at her, in the night - being aware of her presence; seeing the red shimmer of those youkai eyes! But he had been more angry than afraid, and she had borne out his belief in her...

In her what? Her...humanity? Yes. Because...

"She cried, Sango, she cried so much...that Inuyasha was dead. She is still Kagome! She is different, but she is still Kagome. Do you know how I know, Sango?"

She let out a deep sigh, shook her head.

"No, Miroku. I don't."

"Because if she were to hear you now, know that you were afraid of her, she would feel no delight, no pleasure. She would be hurt, because I can tell that she doesn't yet understand what the change in her means. However hard it is for us, it must be a thousand times worse for her! I was talking to her; I was angry, I yelled at her - "

"Miroku! That's dangerous!"

"No! She ran away, Sango! She apologized, so fervently...and then she ran away!"

Sango sat up suddenly straight, and he could tell that she was replaying in her mind the snippets of this new Kagome that she had seen.

"Oh - oh..."

"You see? Sango..."

He shook his head.

"You aren't alone, you won't ever be alone again. I'm with you - I'm going to marry you, Sango."

He smiled; she blushed.

"And we don't have to worry about Kagome anymore; she isn't going back to the future and she is more than capable of protecting herself; or Sesshomaru is. You have seen him now - he's not quite the same when Inuyasha isn't around, and..."

"What? What is it, Miroku?"

There was a very strange expression on his face; she couldn't quite interpret it.

"I think - I think he might actually care for her. If you watch him very carefully - if you look at him when he is near her."

"Well, I haven't really had a chance. But really - do you think that's even possible?"

He shrugged.

"Who knows? After all...this is Kagome we're talking about."

Sango smiled, a full, clear smile, and Miroku let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Yes. Kagome."

As she ran, Kagome felt the wind burn her cheeks over the vivid blush she knew she must be wearing. What was she thinking?

Even if it was Miroku!

She had never intended to deny her desire, but there was more to her feelings than that; she did not know what to do with them, did not know whether to think about them or try to cut them out of her heart. What would be the point, after all - caring for Sesshomaru?

He had taken her because instinct worked on him - on both of them. He was keeping her because of that same desire, because of its power over him...and maybe because she, herself, was power. The memory of the accusation she had made in anger came back to her, and she cringed internally; what had she been thinking?

What hold do I have over him? Is there anything besides my blood he wants, anything besides my blood that I can offer?

She tried not to think of it, or what the thoughts themselves implied. It couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't matter. She was still Kagome, even if he had made her youkai; still Kagome, so why would he want her?

Why? Why would he want me?

She could not help remembering, though, the burning force of his voice around those words, the words he liked so much, it seemed.

"You are mine."

Would he say such things if it was not what he wanted?

He was...Sesshomaru.

She did not think so.

Like thunder at ground level, a crackling sound sped across Sesshomaru's lands with the fall of evening. The radiance was almost visible, a blue shimmer, liquid like moonlight. A dome of lightless glow had risen over his fortress, and it stuck in the eyes for a long minute before it collapsed. Nothing remained behind but the presence of energy, but that was enough; in front of the Gate, packed for travel and watching in all directions with wide eyes, Rin was waiting.

Her face was turned towards the southwest, the direction her instinct told her Sesshomaru had gone, but she was not happy, not happy at all. As she watched, she turned from south to north, from west to east – as the sunset overtook the sky with a particular autumn radiance, she saw a figure outlined darkly on the plain, against the red edge of light.

That is not Sesshomaru-sama. Who else would be coming here now? We are not expecting visitors, or I am not told…if Sesshomaru-sama has a secret, maybe?

With careful wariness that had been thoroughly trained into her, she slipped to one side and felt herself surrounded by coolness, protected by the nothingness of those who served. Alone and gradually growing in distinctive features, the runner came swiftly closer, troubled by his own thoughts and almost as unhappy as the girl.

The runner was Kinawai, and in the snowy darkness of his own home, far enough north that winter was already howling, he had gathered rumor and gossip and whispers until his ears were full – more than full, overflowing. Those he trusted to bring back unfettered reports were grown fewer; three had not returned this season, though he could not be certain of where they had disappeared. His mother's kin spoke of 'a summons for wings willing to move in darkness'.

No one gave him a reason, or a destination, but such cryptic warnings alarmed his sense of caution. He felt strange awakenings in his land, and many questions brought back the same answer, an empty answer.

"No one knows!"

It was the cry off many tongues, and he was restrained in his actions by the need to make no overt signs of his intention – by Sesshomaru's request for silence on certain matters and his own feeling that too much revelation would, at this point, be worse than unwise.

For someone, it would be deadly.

He was beginning to suspect vengeance on a massive scale, and silently, through a day of seclusion, he had made his plans and kept them to himself. He wanted no repetition of his earlier visit, did not intend to arouse the Inu from its sleep in Sesshomaru with Kasuka's presence – and only when he was far from home, nearly at his destination, had he realized she had not been there at all, that he had not seen or spoken with her in days... not since he had first brought her to Sesshomaru in the first place. It did not worry him – it was best, all things considered, that she spend her time far away from him, especially now.

The further south he had traveled, the more the land seemed to be melting, and he ran at his ease, observing the tension, remembering the feeling that was attached to it, and where it came from. So he was not surprised when he came to the Gate and found silence. It was only for a moment; then there was a not-quite-rustling from behind him and somewhat to the left – the girl appeared, as if from thin air, and hurried forward, bowed quickly.

"Rin was hiding, because Sesshomaru-sama is not home and you are not Sesshomaru-sama! Rin did not know you were coming."

She smiled uncertainly, waiting, but he said nothing, only continued to watch her and then stepped towards the gate, laid his hand on it. Blue fire reached out, embraced his flesh, tugging, pulling – he stepped away sharply and watched with interest as bloody welts stopped their red weeping and their edges reached for each other.

"Please, Kinawai-sama – Sesshomaru-sama is not here now. It is not safe. Sesshomaru-sama and Kagome-sama… they were gone very suddenly and did not tell Rin why, but that was evening three days ago. It is not yet that time – but soon it will be night."

Kinawai heard more than a ripple of unease in her tone, more like a current, the first he had ever heard there – and it disturbed him, though he would not admit it. Where was there for Sesshomaru to go, and with the woman? No – the thought came to him at once, and he smiled grimly despite the girl. The female – not the woman. Where would he go with the female?

"Tell me, girl – what is so important about three days? What is it that happens when he is not here?"

He had had conversations on the subject before with Sesshomaru, and it was not an imperative question, but he could not ask the main questions in his thoughts – not of this girl, who obviously did not know the answers. But even now, the girl was shaking her head, and her eyes moved continuously, from corner to crevice, crevice to wall-shadow, everywhere near them.

"Sesshomaru-sama only told Rin once, that there was death in the stones, death in the ground. He said "If anyone enters once the limit of days is challenged – " if that happened, he said, it was death. I did not understand, either, until the first time Rin saw it awake. That was just like now, but Rin's blood is Rin's, and I will not give it up!"

Kinawai shook his head.

"Girl, your manner of speech is confusing."

She had been speaking, though, not only to him - that last shout had been for the walls behind them, the tingle in the grass, the blue fire in the gate.

"If he does not come back, where are you going, girl? You are ready for travel, but you are too small and human to go far alone."

For the second time in his life, but not the last, Kinawai saw a demon expression on a human face, and was struck dumb by it. That she was immune to the fear of Sesshomaru which came to everyone else naturally, he had accepted – that she should be eager for the approach of other dangers, that she should have a flashing smile for them, he would not have believed possible.

Is that why he keeps her?

The definition was there for him, waiting – to be human was to be afraid. What did that mean for the girl? She was watching him thoughtfully; she answered him fully but only when she had formed her answer completely in her thoughts.

"I will stay here outside the gate, until the morning. If Sesshomaru-sama does not come, I will travel with them, and in one more day, I will be in the Den, and I will be waiting there. But it has not happened before- Sesshomaru-sama does not forget about Rin!"

"No, girl, I don't think he does – but things are changing, moving – dangerous things. I will not wait here; I have a hunting urge, and I will pass this way again before many hours have passed. If he comes here before me, tell him I came – that I will come back, and hopefully he will find it convenient."

He smiled thinly, and shook his head, but the girl only blinked at him and turned her head first one way, and then the other.

"Rin will give Sesshomaru-sama your message, when he comes back, but Rin does not think he will be long."

She looked up at the sky, at the velvet purple creeping towards the fading fire on the horizon.

"The moon will be up soon – I do not think he will be long."

For her sake Kinawai hoped that she was right, but he was somewhat annoyed that Sesshomaru had picked such a time to disappear - and the girl...the girl was very odd.

Rin was thinking the same thing about him, but in less specific terms. Despite the guardian that had taken her in, she still did not have much experience with youkai; even so, she thought Kinawai's behavior different, difficult.

He turned away, and ran off in the direction he had come. With blithe assurance she had told him 'Sesshomaru-sama does not forget!' but already she was shut out of home. It had been many seasons since she had been left alone in the Den, to wait and practice breathing quietly and running on tiptoe.

Never alone, really, but Rin cannot play, or talk to them!

She had felt the tingle of awakening warning in the air many times, like an unspoken promise – there was nothing quiet like that now, only the sharp focusing of the force that waited, even as she did, for Sesshomaru's will.

Do not forget me, Sesshomaru-sama. Please?

A/N: And back to more regular length chapters! If it weren't such a pain, I would probably edit out part of the last chapter and make it the beginning of this one, but...I'll just leave one really long chapter for now. Anyway, ta-da! Chapter 16...a little time for everyone, and everyone in their own time! Coming Soon: More Fun With Sesshomaru, and A Bad Guy and Kouga Make Their Appearance! And now...reviews!

Lunarcat12: Ahh I know, sorry, sorry - I was really afraid these last two chapters were too long, but...eh...back to normal now, though! And Sango is no longer stuck in a cave! Poor Sango...and more thanks for second review! Don't worry, the angst is going to start to clear itself up now!

Caitibug323: Everyone was missing Sango! She's back now, though! And extra thanks for second review; I know it's been angsty for a few chapters but I get really annoyed when someone dies, and then the next chapter its like...okay, back to comic relief! But Kagome is slowly beginning to recognize that there's only one person who can help her now, and we all know who that is!

AngelaPage: Much thanks! Behold, continuing chapter!

Kouga's Older Woman: Exactly! They're not all dead, and they'll get used to the fact that she's youkai eventually...I mean, for Shippou, it's probably like a dream come true!

Raksha65: Updates on demand! Faster than a speeding bullet, and all that stuff! Ta-da!

ChaoticReverie: You know, the thought had occurred to me - pitchforks and farm tools and angry mobs, oh my! Ha! Much thanks for your compliments; I really wanted to give these characters some believable reactions, even if they're fantasy...so it's good to know I succeeded!

Ichisakuraki: I couldn't help it! It's one thing for Rin and Kagome to refer to him more familiarly, but for Miroku and Sango he's sort of...up there...heh. And See! At least ONE person understands; Kagome had to do it, had to...as much as she wouldn't want to. I'll tell you a secret, though - I was totally tempted to have the ghost of Inuyasha come back and become comic relief. Ahhh it was so funny in my head, but of course I won't really do that!

Final Revisions...Complete! :D