Kagome snickered when she heard Souta grumble under his breath when yet another person bumped into him, without apologizing he commented under his breath.

"Hey come on, there's way more people back home in Tokyo! You're just grumpy because you're jet lagged."

Souta threw a tired glare her way, causing her to let out another set of snickers at his expression. Composing herself, though still grinning at her brother's expense, Kagome reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Aww come on! Don't mess with the hair!" Souta pouted as he tried to rearrange his hair to the way he had it, before she ruffled his feathers so to speak.

"'Don't mess with the hair'... you sound like a girl."

"Do not!"

Raising a brow in his direction, Kagome merely rolled her eyes before facing forward once again and took in the line of people ahead of them. All to get into the Museum of Natural History in New York city. Ever since she was done with the Shikon, since she started the quest really, she had been engrossed with history and everything that had to do with myths and legends.

"How much longer~?"

Turning back to Souta, Kagome could only shake her head. "You're the one that begged to come along, and I told you it could be a few minutes before we actually get in. Something about the latest for displays or whatnot."

Kagome looked down at the brochure that she had managed to pick up at the airport. It had been on a whim, sort of, as they waited for a few things to clear up there. They had a whole month in the city, but Souta wanted to see everything at once. The museum was the first on their list, otherwise it would get boring. Real fast.

"But did we have to come at this time? Since when are they opened at night anyways?"

"It's a part of their new... program. Says here it's the best way and highly interactive. You're lucky the night tours was part of the packaged deal. The tickets are way more expensive than I thought they would be." she perked up when she saw there was an Asian exhibit there as well. It made her wonder if they would have anything on the Feudal Era.

She had taken up hunting anything that had survived from the era she used to visit. There had yet to be anything that tied to her adventures, as of yet, which way kinda disappointing.

"Come on Kagome, the line's moving. We're finally in!"

Lips quirking into a half smile, Kagome shook her head and moved forward. Not without apologising to the people behind her first that is. Mama had -beaten- manners into her and Souta. Not only that, the woman could be fierce. Shaking her head once again, Kagome froze as she took in the museum around her.

She took in the various... interactive exhibit pieces. Wide eyes followed the horse that just walked past her, only to dart up to a miniature plane that flew over head, to the 'animated dinosaur bones' before her. Latest technology her ass.

These things were alive!

Letting out a whimper, Kagome curled in on herself when a zebra approached her. Clenching her eyes shut, her head reared back when she felt warm air puff against her face. Her fingers curled around the brochure when the warm air moved to the side of her head followed by something fuzzy nuzzling the side of her face.

Hearing the coo's, oh's and some disappointed children nearby, Kagome snapped her eyes open. Souta didn't say anything, which was weird because he always had something to say. Looking around her, she refrained from huffing when she noticed he was no longer beside her. Typical.

She managed a few steps forward, in hopes of hunting down her brother, when she came to a stop due to a grip on the back of her shirt. Turning around to ask the person that had grabbed onto her for whatever reason, she came up short when she saw that it was still the zebra.

Looking the animal in the eye, she carefully extracted her shirt from it's mouth and took a few steps backwards. She let out a whimper when it followed her actions to keep close to her, it seemed. Taking a few more backward steps, at a quicker speed, she let out a startled gasp when she bumped into someone behind her.

Spinning about, she quickly walked forward, hoping to ignore the zebra that was stalking her, and began to look for her brother. Souta was so going to get an ear full for running off like this. She could hear the people around her laughing, or talking as the zebra continued to follow her.

Looking behind her, it turned into a little... gathering of animals that caused her to widen her eyes. There was now an osterreich, antelope and even a lion. All of which were very much alive. Inuyasha had always said she drew everything in. It seemed animals that were magically brought to life were now on that list.

Pursing her lips, Kagome turned about and once again began her pursuit of finding Souta. She perked up when she saw what appeared to be an employee of the museum standing next to someone that was wearing ancient egyptian outfit, so she made her way towards them

"Hi, excuse me." she smiled politely when she got their attention. "I was wondering if you happen to have seen my brother. He kinda took off on me a few minutes ago."

Fishing out her wallet, she pulled out the most up to date photo of him and handed it to the man.

As he took the photo in, Kagome tried her hardest to ignore the powerful golden tablet that the young man next to her was holding. If she had to bet her life on it, she said the tablet was what made everything alive when it shouldn't have been possible.

"Actually, I did see him rush off towards the reptile house. Did you want me to get him called to the front desk?"

Kagome grimaced at the thought of reptiles, they had usually been one of the many that had been used or tried to kill her. Such as Tsubaki using her snake to put a death curse on her.

"That's alright, I'll just head over there myself thanks."

"Alright, glad to help out."

Kagome put the photo back into her wallet, and when she was about to move where her brother was, mentally wondering why she hadn't used her own abilities to follow his aura, she felt one of the animal's nudge her against her back.

"Ummm... before I go... could you do something about them?" she vaguely indicated the animals that were now standing a little too closely for her comfort.

She watched as a shocked expression took over the man's face, a slightly subtle surprise on the egyptian man's face as they took in the animals behind her. Turning around when neither one of them said anything, her own eyes widened at seeing that the small group had grown.

"My life is no longer normal..." muttering under her breath, she ran a hand through her hair as the man shooed them all away, as much as they seemed to not want too.

"Thanks again."

Larry nodded his head and watched as the young woman made her way towards the reptile house. Sure things had gotten more lively now that they did night tours of the museum, but none had really taken a liking to any specific person.

"That was weird. That ever happen before?"

"Why are you asking me? This is the first time outsiders have been in the museum during the night. Though I have to admit, there was something about the girl..."

Placing his hand on his hips, Larry took in the egyptian Pharaoh, his lips quirked up into a half smile as he continued to watch in the direction the young woman had gone off in.

"Is our Pharaoh interested in a girl?"

Ahkmenrah whipped his head about to face him head on. His eyes were wide and he had a god smacked look on his face.

"Whatever gave you that idea?!"

"Well, she's a pretty girl, and you didn't take your eyes off her the entire time she stood here, and you said it yourself, there was something about her."

Kagome stared wide eyed at the living wax figures that stood before her with large grins. She could hear her brother prattling on with his questions with far too much enthusiasm that she thought possible.

Blinking wide eyes, a hand absently reached and pinched herself, causing her to let out a startled and pained yelp. Whimpering as she soothed the pain away, she looked up just in time to prepare herself for a tackling hug from 'Sango'.

"Kagome-chan!"

"Sango... ? Miroku... ? Is this... real?"

"I believe so, Lady Kagome. Imagine our surprise when we woke up a few nights ago. As strange as it is. We know we are not those you befriended during... your quest, but we do have all their memories, feelings and skills intact."

As if to prove his point, Miroku joined the hug, which almost caused tears to form in Kagome's eyes. Almost. But like Miroku had said, despite not being the true Sango and Miroku, they were still them in essence, cause Kagome stiffened when she felt an all too familiar sensation.

One of Miroku's hands groping her backside.

"PERVERT!"

Souta winced when the resounding slap echoed through the room around them, but was quick to question the man's mental stability when the monk let out a pleased sigh and whispered 'how it was worth it'.

"I see that swinging hand of yours has not slackened since our last parting, Lady Kagome." Miroku chuckled as he soothed his stinging cheek.

Sango shook her head, releasing Kagome from her near strangling hug and stepped to the side. Her eyes however, stopped when she noticed Souta who seemed to stiffen when he realized that he was spotted under her stare.

"This must be your younger brother, Souta yes?"

"Mmm, it's been months since... well you know. We both are on break from school and I decided it was high time to get some quality time with him. Away from distractions and whatnot, so we came here to New York." Kagome smiled fondly, her expression not faltering when she removed Miroku's hand when he tried to go for another grab.

"Don't even think about it monk."

"Forgive me Lady Kagome, I just can't help myself in the presence of two beautiful women such as yourself and my lovely Sango."

"Then why aren't you trying that with Sango?"

"Oh trust me, he's been doing that every night since we first arrived here." Sango grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Shall we take a walk? This way we can get acquainted and give you a most wonderful tour of the museum!"

The Higurashi siblings nodded their heads and started to leave the room, the four of them chatting excitedly and retelling old tales for Souta and themselves. Their laughter easily drawing the attention of others, especially when Sango and Miroku shared the story of their life after Kagome left with the two visitors.

"You should have seen him when the twins became of age and started to draw the attention of the village boys." Sango shook her head with a fond smile on her face as all three watched Miroku chuckle under his breath and scratch at the back of neck.

"Oh I'm getting a feeling he 'laid down the law' and said no boys until they were... what 40?"

"Close. And this coming from the man that offered 'fortune telling' to all the village girls. It only got worse when they actually started to show interest in the village boys. I'm surprised he didn't get any early greys because of those two."

By then, they had made it back to the main foyer once again, pausing before continuing on with the tour of the museum. But when they started to make a move, they were paused by a jade statue of Buddha approaching them and bowed towards Kagome.

Startled blue eyes blinked widely before Kagome realized herself and returned the bow. As the two began to talk, about Kagome's past and what she did for the world, Souta leaned in towards Miroku.

"Did -the- Buddha just bow to my sister?"

"Apparently he did. Though it's not surprising, Lady Kagome does have a way with such things in life. Your sister is a very special person."

Souta blinked as he watched his sister talking with Buddha like it was an everyday thing for her. Everything came to life in the museum at night, not really shocking to her. A statue of Buddha that may actually contain a part of -the- Buddha's essence, to have said statue thank her for what she did in the past, pretty awesome. Then again, he was pretty sure after the well where she learned magic was real and all that, she pretty much learned to accept things as they were.

Off to the side, Larry stood next to Ahkmenrah as they once again watched the strange Japanese young woman. True those of the museum were interacting with the visitors, it was purely for historical reasons. But the two recent members from the Japanese historical and mythical exhibition had stuck pretty close to the two siblings. And then Buddha -approached- the young woman, obviously seeking her out and not the other way around.

Then there was the way the two from the Japanese historical and mythical exhibit interacted with the two siblings. Like they were the oldest of friends. But that couldn't be possible. For some very good reasons. One, the two recent members of their museum family were very much new, with this being their first museum show. And two, there were based on supposed figures from around 500 years ago, and the young woman looked about 20.

Chancing a glance at Ahkmenrah, the young pharaoh looked about the same age, but was in fact thousands of years old. So maybe the girl was like him? He just couldn't figure out the how.

"Something's not adding up about her."

Ahkmenrah didn't need to long to realize which 'her' Larry was talking about. Their first clue had been the small gathering of animals that had followed after when she first entered the museum. Then she quickly located her brother, only after asking once of his whereabouts. Then she stuck with the two latest members to join them, and lastly, Buddha showed her a sign of respect by bowing to her first, and not the other way around.

And now that he thought about it, he could sense magic about her. Different than that of the tablet's, but it was magic all the same.

He carefully watched as she laughed at something Buddha said before waving him goodbye only to rejoin her younger brother and two others, he wasn't sure what they were to her.

Standing his full height, he turned to Larry. "Watch the tablet, please." with that, he made his way towards the small group.

"What's that all about?"

Turning towards his son, Larry could only raise a brow when he watched how Pharaoh Ahkmenrah regally, and looking very much like the pharaoh that he was, make his way to the curious young woman.

"I think our pharaoh took an interest in a certain girl."

"Well, this is going to be interesting then."

Larry nodded his head. He felt, in a place like this, that was only putting it mildly.

AN: A long while back, Whispering Kage and I had this wonderful chat. This is the result of said chat. SHAMELESS ADD: fallthrufiction. webs . com Other than that; read, enjoy, and review!