Kagome’s mother stared at the ceiling, tears still streaming from her eyes. She still lay on the couch where Inu Yasha had set her after she fainted; she was too consumed by grief to have the energy to move. [My girl… Kagome, my daughter… gone… disappeared… instantly, just like her father… but… I shouldn’t have let her go back to the past… I shouldn’t have let her leave… it’s my fault… I’m a bad mother, I let my daughter leave home and… and get killed by some monster! She was too young to die, only sixteen! Sixteen year-olds are supposed to be at home, attending school, learning to drive, not fighting monsters in the past!]

Souta peeked into the living room and watched quietly as his mother seemed to waste away. [That means… Inu-no-onéchan meant that Kagome was hurt really bad, right? But… why is mom crying like that? Why is everyone crying? Kagome is strong, she’ll be just fine. I guess I can understand if Inu-no-onéchan thinks he failed her, but why is mom so worried?] Souta shook the doubt from his mind as he walked towards the window by their front door and watched as a car pulled into their driveway. Souta’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the driver of the car—her hair, her face—just like Kagome’s. He glanced at the car, wondering where she had gotten it. He rushed out the door and laughed as he saw the license plate on the front of the car ‘DEADGRL’. [Cool! Kagome got a car!!] He smiled as he saw the driver get out of the car, quickly followed by Inu Yasha from the passenger side. "Kagome-onésama! Where did you get a car?"

Kikyo glanced down at the boy and smiled weakly. [‘Onésama’? She has a brother? Inu Yasha certainly didn’t say anything about him…] Kikyo shook her head. "I’m not you sister."

Souta laughed. "Kagome, stop playing. How did you get the money to buy a car?"

Kikyo sighed as she knelt in front of the boy. "I’m not your sister—no matter how much I look like her, I’m not her. I’m here to explain some things to your mother and grandfather, where are they?"

"Kagome, stop playing already! Mom’s really worried about you, and you’re running around, getting you hair cut and buying a car?! You really should be ashamed!"

Kikyo groaned as she shook her head. "My name is Kikyo; I’ve been dead, yet walking the Earth for over five-hundred years. The reason your sister resembles me is because she is my reincarnation."

Souta’s jaw dropped as he stared at Kikyo. He shifted his gaze to Inu Yasha, still dumbfounded by the information that the woman had just provided. "Inu-no-onéchan… Is she really not Kagome? She’s Kikyo? The girl that Kagome told me about?"

Inu Yasha nodded as he leaned against the side of the car that was still parked behind him. "Yep, she sure is."

Kikyo smirked as she looked at the boy. "So, what has your sister said about me?"

Souta grinned at the chance to nark on his sister, as all little brothers would. "She says that you used to be Inu-no-onéchan’s girlfriend, but you guys got confused and you were the one that put Inu-no-onéchan under a spell that held him to the tree for fifty years. And then… She also says that Inu Yasha runs off to see you all the time when he should stay and consider her feelings. Sometimes I can’t tell whether she doesn’t mind you being there or if she hates you… She treats me the same way too, sometimes, heh, heh."

"Right… so, where are your mother and grandfather?"

"Well, Mom has been in the living room on the couch crying for a long time, and jii-chan is in town getting cleaning supplies for the shrine. Since Kagome and Inu-no-onéchan go through the well so much, it gets sorta muddy in there now."

"Okay, then, can I go inside and talk to your mother?"

"Uh-huh, here, I’ll get the door for you, Kikyo-sama." Souta smiled as he ran to open the door and held it for Kikyo and Inu Yasha to enter. "Okaa-san, Inu-no-onéchan has a friend for you to see!"

Inu Yasha cracked a faint smile as he led Kikyo into the living room where Mrs. Higurashi still lay on the couch, tears streaming from her eyes. "Higurashi-san, it’s okay… Kagome’s okay…"

Kikyo smiled at Mrs. Higurashi, despite the shocked expression on the woman’s face. "No, Higurashi-san, I am not your daughter… However, I do know of her whereabouts. If you can calm down, I’ll explain everything."

Mrs. Higurashi sat bolt-upright, tears still falling from her eyes. "Where’s my girl? Where’s my daughter?"

"She’s still in the feudal era. You probably won’t see her for several months, but she will return unharmed, I guarantee. Rather than have the school hound you about her whereabouts, your best solution is to say that she has a contagious infection—I’ll give you a doctor’s excuse for the school, free of charge."

"You’re a doctor? How do you know about the feudal era? How do you know about where Kagome is? Why can’t she come home? Why can’t I see my little girl?"

"Yes, I am a doctor—I renew my medical license every twenty years or so, dependent upon which country I happen to be living in."

"Every twenty years? You cannot be more than twenty…"

"I am well over five hundred years old, Higurashi-san. I am what is now called ‘undead’. Sort of like a zombie from the movies, except that my flesh is made of bones and dirt and I require souls of the dead in order to maintain my body. I was the woman who had originally pinned Inu Yasha to the Goshinboku tree. I am the miko from which Kagome is reincarnated from."

"You’re dead?"

Kikyo rolled her eyes as she leaned back in an easy chair. "I’ve been that way for the last five hundred years, by now I’m fairly sure of my status as ‘dead’."

Mrs. Higurashi nodded her head in understanding. "I see…"

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