AN: Oh hey guys. How's it going? Good? Excellent.

NOTE: IT'S BEEN LIKE, 9 GAKRILLION YEARS SINCE MY LAST UPDATE. I WOULD RECOMMEND RE-READING A COUPLE CHAPTERS FOR ANY MEMORY REFRESHERS YOU MIGHT NEED. THANK YOU.

So. There we were. At Tattered Cover. Ready to work on homework and actual work, when it hit us like a ton of bricks…There was no internet connection! LE GASP! So, I thought I'd update. YAAAAAAY!

Stuff should actually happen in this chapter. There might even be some…romance. But only if you're really lucky.

Music was, yes, One Direction. Again. I've completely fallen under their spell, and have been diagnosed with One Direction Infection. And I honestly and sincerely recommend them. What's not to like about 5 hot and wonderful British/Irish guys singing? I'm in the midst of the video diaries right now. I want to find that book Louis was reading just so I can find that one page and suddenly proclaim "NO! JIMMY PROTESTED!"…anyway…

DISCLAIMER: Once upon a time, there was a young maiden who loved to write fan fiction. There was just one catch…SHE DID NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS THAT SHE WAS USING! OH MY GOODNESS! (I'm having way too much fun with these disclaimers now…)

CHAPTER 7:

Kagome sighed as she sauntered down the quiet sidewalk on her way to school. It had been such a long weekend, and she had seen neither tail nor hide of Sango and Ayame since the dream talk. Well, that was to be expected, she supposed. It was extremely odd, she had to admit, to suddenly have romantic dreams about a guy she hated. Okay, so maybe she didn't hate Inuyasha, but she definitely hated Hojo. She shuddered opon the thought of having romantic dreams about Hojo.

The breeze picked up again, and Kagome forced herself to smile as the light wind danced along her fingertips and whirled around her hair. To be completely honest, she'd be lying if she'd say she wasn't enjoying the dreams. During the dreams, she could experience all the heart-racing love she once had with Hojo. Although she couldn't really call her experience with Hojo love now, seeing as he obviously hadn't cared for her at all in the first place. She hadn't even thought he could be such a jerk. Inuyasha, on the other hand…

Kagome's thoughts were interrupted when the wind grew stronger, forcing her to stop and close her eyes to avoid having to squint through dust the rest of the day. Closing her eyes, however, did not save her from the crumpled piece of paper that thwacked her in the face. Kagome winced at the impact and, after the breeze died down, peeled the paper off her face and un-crumpled it.

It was a peach colored flyer, advertising some kind of circus. Instead of advertising the circus as a whole, though, it focused on one star performer. Kagome narrowed her eyes as she read the advertisement. COME SEE THE GREAT KIKYOU AND HER SOUL-GATHERERS PERFORMING NOW! The flyer announced in great bold letters. The date for the first performance was, in fact, still in the future.

Kagome shifted her focus to the picture that showed the "Great Kikyou". After studying it three times over to make absolutely sure, Kagome smiled.

She re-crumpled the flyer and stuffed it in her book bag.

Her smile stayed in-tact as she finished the race to school.

:o0o:

"YOU WANT TO DO WHAT?" Sango and Ayame screeched after Kagome had explained her plan to her friends. Kagome rolled her eyes as she clasped both hands around her latte, a gift courtesy of Sango. Obviously, neither friend had made a point of ignoring Kagome at school.

"You've gone completely insane. It's absolutely official now!" Ayame wailed at her friend, in danger of spilling her cappuccino.

"Please keep it down; I don't need the whole country knowing where I'm going tomorrow!" Kagome hissed.

"Well maybe the whole country should know, because then everyone could band together and make sure to stop you!" Sango retorted, pulling a stirring stick through her chai tea.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Please, guys. It's a circus. What's the worst that could happen?"

Sango and Ayame shared a worried glance before turning back to the raven-haired girl. "Kagome, the Cirque de Argente is not just a circus. I don't know if you can even call it a circus. They act like it's some great show, but at least one person dies every time the tent goes up." Sango began.

"Then how come they're still selling tickets to the show?" Kagome shot back. Sango fell silent.

"They also force the rest of the audience to participate in some hipponosis thing and nobody remembers anything the next day, so no one knows what the circus is actually like, though billions of people have gone to see it!" Ayame whispered excitedly, as if she were sharing a particularly good piece of gossip about some random girl.

"Then why do people know someone dies at every show?" Kagome pointed out. She and Sango then glanced at each other to make sure they had heard Ayame correctly a while ago. Sango sighed and took over. "Hypnosis, Ayame. Hypnosis."

Ayame tilted her head to one side. "Yeah, that's what I said."

Kagome smiled and maneuvered her fingers on her cup, making sure they continued to stay warm as Sango groaned. Ayame looked so genuinely convinced that neither girl argued.

"The point, Kagome," Sango started up again, "is that we cannot allow you to go to that circus, especially not alone."

"Did somebody call me?" Kouga's sudden appearance did little to Kagome and Sango, but Ayame nearly spewed the sip she had just gotten of her drink.

"Hello, Kouga." Kagome muttered politely, though she did not move in her seat, instead taking a successful sip of her own drink minus any emotion. Sango was busy trying to get Ayame to stop coughing.

"Right. So I just happened to overhear that you are heading to the Cirque de Argente. Alone." Kouga added some eyebrow-wiggle on the last word, but failed to get any reaction except silent disgust from Kagome.

"You overheard correctly," Kagome began, innocently enough, "but that doesn't mean you're invited." Kouga groaned, his head dropping in exasperation, and Kagome couldn't help but imagine what the boy would look like in full youkai form. Surely, his ears would be drooping. "Besides, I'm already going with Ayame and Sango." Ayame, who had just recovered, started coughing again at the surprise, and Sango groaned, shooting Kagome a pointed look that surely held a thousand insults. Kagome bit her lip and quickly took a sip of her latte to hide a giggle. "That is, if Ayame can recover in time."

"Kouga, I swear, if I catch you bothering Kagome one more time, I'll…" the hanyou's sudden approach, however, nearly made Kagome lose her composure. She felt her heartbeat speed up and she was sure she was blushing up a storm, but nevertheless, she turned to face Inuyasha and meet his eyes. As her mocha brown locked with his sunny gold, both instantly understood. They had both had another dream.

"You'll what? Chase me up a tree?" Kouga growled.

Inuyasha shook his head a little to snap out of his daze and fixed a golden glare on Kouga. "Shut the fuck up, wolf."

Kouga snarled, and just as he pounced to topple Inuyasha, he was suddenly pulled back to the floor by a crook around his neck. After the dust cleared, Miroku stood happily over the fallen wolf, a genuine smile on his face. "Now, now boys." He chided, "What have I told you about fighting in school?" Neither replied, though, and the silence was just enough of an entryway so an unwanted guest could shove in.

"A present? For me? You shouldn't have!" The annoyingly cheerful giggle came from the opposite corner of the room, but to Kagome's ears, it may as well have been right behind her.

"It's the least I could do, punkin." A man's voice this time, not so deep, but the wounds it inflicted on Kagome's heart were just that.

"Oh, Great Kami, here they go…" Sango groaned, plunking a now red-faced but silent Ayame into her seat.

"Who?" Miroku asked innocently, but all Sango replied with was a glare sharp as a thousand daggers. Miroku barely flinched though, instead deciding to search for the source of the giggling.

"Well, open it!" It was the man again, a voice Kagome knew as well as her own. She shifted carefully in her seat, ashy black bangs now hiding her eyes well.

"Well, if you insist, baby!" this was followed by the sound of ripping paper, possibly an envelope being opened, and after maybe a millisecond of blessed silence, an eruption of squealing and squeaking ensued.

"Kami help us, she's more annoying than those damn fire alarms…" All heads turned to Ayame in surprise, as Ayame rarely swore. Sango knew, though, that this was a touchy subject and well worth the curses it was bestowed. Carefully, Sango glanced at Kagome, and winced when she noticed that Kagome's grip on her cup was turning her knuckles white.

Inuyasha followed Sango's gaze.

"Oh. My. Gucci! You got us tickets to the Cirque de Argente?"

Kagome visibly stiffened.

"I know you've been dying to see the show! How could I resist granting a wish of my princess's?"

If Kagome's cup had been a small, furry mammal, it would have been no longer. As it was, it was slowly being crunched in her grasp.

"Awww, sweetie bear!"

"Snuggly wumpkins…"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at Kagome's reactions. Something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but something deep inside of him was begging him to make it right. He waited to see if Kagome would look at him, to at least gain a nod of approval, but when it became clear Kagome was trying to become as small as possible, he took matters into his own hands.

"Will you two surly unchin-snouted gudgeons shut the fuck up?"

The room fell completely silent.

Kagome looked up from her seat.

All eyes were on the silver-haired hanyou.

Most were probably trying to decipher what the hell he had just said.

Hojo stepped protectively in front of Ayumi and stepped towards Inuyasha. "Excuse me?"

"I was merely politely asking if you two would leave. Not all of us enjoy your little soap operas every morning, and I would even go as far to say that none of us enjoy them. At all. So if you're going to be all slimey and gushy and crap, then please, do us all a favor and leave." Inuyasha snorted.

Hojo merely blinked before attempting a comeback with, "Well, I never…I mean…but…that's…but…I just…"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and leaned down so he was face-to-face with the human. "In short: 'thine horried image doth unfix my hair.'"

Hojo huffed and after a while of more stuttering, grabbed Ayumi's wrist and gently pulled her away from the classroom.

The room was silent for only a few moments longer before Sango was clapping. It wasn't that much longer before the entire room went up in applause, whoops, and hollers. After Inuyasha took a few bows and the room erupted into conversation again, Inuyasha glanced back at Kagome and was surprised to find she was smiling.

Kagome was surprised herself at her reaction, but couldn't help herself. She carefully mouthed to the hanyou, "What was that?"

Inuyasha smirked before mouthing back, "Shakespeare."

Kagome laughed. She truly and genuinely laughed.

:o0o:

Meanwhile, at the same time, a girl very similar to Kagome was preparing for her show. She was already set in her costume, and her river of pure black hair was to remain down. She carefully outlined her naturally narrowed coffee brown eyes and gently applied the turquoise colored mascara, which only appeared to be that color in the circus lights.

She sighed as what could only be described as a glowing dragon-lizard floated gracefully over to her and chortled. The girl smiled, stroking the thing's head and gently taking the fluorescing silvery-blue orb from its claws. She held the orb in her hand and smiled.

"Soon, my pet. Soon."

All the other circus members, though curious, never questioned the strange glowing light that always emanated from Kikyou's tent. It was as though they saw it, but at the same time, never remembered it was even there.

:o0o:

Yaaaaaay, suspense and romance-y and everythang!

So there y'all go. And yes, the gudgeon's insult and the hair quote were actual Shakespearian insults. I'm so happy I got to use those, you have NO idea.

Parts of this chapter seemed really confusing and slow to me…that's probably just me, but yeah. There you go.

I hope you enjoy it. Next chapter…will come…eventually…maybe…probably…sometime…

PLEASE REVIEW!

(by the way, I can never remember what the soul-dragon-lizard-things are actually called…I was debating between soul-stealers, soul-catchers, and soul-gatherers. I eventually went with soul-gatherers, but now I'm not so sure…does anybody remember?)

~August