Chapter 11: Revelations and Realizations

Kagome's heart pounded loudly in her ears as her breath tightened in her chest. Then as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.

Kagome tried to stand up. She lost her balance and fell quickly onto the floor. It took her three tries to stand properly to examine herself.

First thing she noticed was her tail had diappeared, hence affecting her balance. The second thing was that she had grown taller by nearly three inches. her hair had changed from its pinkish-purple to purplish-black. Lastly her ears had turned back into simple human ears.

She looked around the room, expecting her senses to be as dull as they were when she had been human. Fortunately, they were not, they were as sharp as ever.

As she picked up the fallen part of her kimono, a small piece of paper fell out. it was a note from Naraku about meeting up in a village on the west side of the island. The village where you killed Inuyasha.

^_^

It had been nearly three weeks since Miroku had been rescued by Sango, and he had yet to say one word to her.

Sure he talked, but only to ask for something or to respond to a question. He said those things in a hard, cold voice or a falsly cheerful one.

Sango knew he had been mentally torured by kagome. He had mentioned it briefly to Shippou when he thought Sango wasn't listening.

"Im going down to the springs to take a bath." Sango brought it up casually as she gathered her supplies and exited the hut quickly. If Miroku had been himiself, she would have worried about him following her and peeking. Since she had rescued him, he had tried to stay as far away from her as possible -- both physically and emotionally -- so she didn't have to worry about his usual lecherous antics.

Miroku shrugged indifferently and turned back towards his meditation. Lately, he had been thinking about something that had happened a little before Kagome had switched sides. He didn't have enough though. He would have to renounce the world and become a hermit to the get the amount of power he needed to break Kagome's magic. He couldn't do that to Sango -- the real Sango.

It had been quiet for nearly an hour before Shippou wandered in. Without opening his eyes, Miroku knew it was him. "Is there something you want?"

"Have you seen Sango?" Shippou asked crawling up on Miroku's head. "Is she around?"

"She's in the springs taking a bath."

"Can you go get her? I'm still doing some things for Kaede. Besides..." Shippou trailed off momentarily as he landed back on the floor. "you want to watch her take a bath."

Miroku opened his eyes. He did want to see her take a bath, even if it was only Kagome tricking him. He sighed, "Fine, I'll go get her."

Shippou jumped happily onto the floor. "Let her know Kaede needs the supplies that she retrieved this morning."

"All right." He pulled himself from the floor and set off to find Sango.

There were five springs near the village used for bathing. Two were for the women, two for men and one for couples. He knew which one Sango would be in anyways. At the junction to the springs, Miroku followed the path leading to the right, then the path leading left.

He exited the brush at the sound of a small waterfall. he poked his head past the rocky entrance and saw Sango laying against the rocks. He towel was laid out underneath her.

Miroku stood there staring at her naked body as she lay there drying off and tanning at the same time.

It was then something clicked in Miroku's head. Sango was singing. This in itself was not completely unusual, but how she was singing a song Kagome had taught her soon after she had joined them in collecting the sacred jewel shards. There was no way Kagome could know that now. This must be reality...

Sango quietly pulled herself from the rocks and wrapped the towel around her. It was then she noticed Miroku standing there.

He coughed loudly at being caught. "I was sent to find you. Kaede is looking for the supplies you had this morning."

Sango's eyes softened greatly at the words and she launched herself into his arms. "You've finally come back," she whispered into his throat as he hugged her tightly.

"I have, Sango. I have." He hugged her tighter, happy once more.

^_^

Kagome's heart was pounding as she entered the gates of Kaede's village. She would finally see Naraku again after almost a month of being without him.

"Welcome," said one of the guards. She nodded back and moved along.

Thousands of smells assaulted her nose as she wandered through the town marketplace, but one in particular caught her attention. Inuyasha's.

Holding her rage successfully at the thought of Inuyasha free from his imprisonment, she spotted him talking to an old woman at the far end of the marketplace.

As she passed them, she heard Inuyasha tell the woman, "Everything is covered. Just make sure he is ready for it."

She wandered past, almost out of the village's east side gates when she heard Inuyasha yell and appear in front of her. Startled at the thought of being caught, she stuttered out, "Y-yes?"

"Are you a cat demon?"

Kagome laughed, "Do I look like one?"

"No, but you smell like one. What is your name?"

Kagome paused momentarily. Somehow she knew this question had been coming and quietly spoke, "Korikaki."

"What are you doing in this village?"

"I'm waiting for a friend. He said to meet him here. For now, I'm just exploring my surroundings." She glared at him. "Do you question everyone who comes to this village?"

"Only if they are demons. Or smell like them," he retorted back, looking at her suspiciously.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to be late." She scrambled past, heading back for the center of town.

^_^

Inuyasha was suspicious of the girl who called herself Korikaki. As she rushed back to the center of town, he followed carefully staying out of her sight. Soon after she reached the marketplace, Inuyasha planted himself on top of Kaede's hut, never taking his eyes off her.

Fifteen minutes later, he smelled someone he hoped never to run into again. Naraku.

He watched "Korikaki" rush up and hug Naraku warmly, planting a kiss on his lips.

Inuyasha's stomch turned as he realized who Korikaki really was.

She was Kagome.

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN...