“Oh my god, can you believe it?” Sakura cried.

“I know, isn’t it wonderful?”  Yakumi could barely contain her excitement.

“What?” Kagome asked, sipping her soda.

Sakura stared at her in shock.  “That’s right, you haven’t heard… Chien is transferring to our school!”

“Chien?” Kagome responded with a raised eyebrow.

“The newest singing sensation… It’s been the talk of the school.”

“Sakura,” Yakumi warned.  “She just got back from her illness.”

Kagome sighed and sipped her soda.  She had completed her task as shard gatherer and had been whisked back to the present without being able to say goodbye.  One moment she had been staring at the brilliance of the completed jewel and the next she was standing by the well in her family shrine.  The well no longer worked.  She had been devastated and there was only one thing left to do… pick up her life where she had left off and try not to think about what she had left behind.

“I love his lyrics,” Yakumi continued.  “Listen to this… In the darkest part of my soul, you brought me love’s pure light.  You gave me strength and made me whole.  Why can’t you be with me tonight…”

“That’s nothing,” Sakura interrupted.  “My soul was torn when you went away… faint echoes of love from yesterday.  To you I belong, my angel, my dear.  I’d gladly die to dry your tear…”

“Who are you talking about?” Kagome asked, amused at her friends’ enthusiasm. 

Yakumi rolled her eyes and dug a magazine out of her bag.  “Him!” she said, pointing to the cover.

He was leaning against a sunlit wall.  He wore a black business suit and his feet were bare.  They were casually crossed at the ankle and his arms were folded.  He wore a loosened, red tie and his shirt was unbuttoned.  He stared at the camera over dark sunglasses and his eyes were bright.  His bangs were a shock white.  Atop his head were dog ears.  Kagome touched the man in the picture.  He had aged a bit, but it was no doubt Inuyasha.  She noticed the beaded necklace under his shirt.  She opened the magazine and flipped to the promised interview.  She read.

“You’ve taken Japan by storm.  Is there anyone who helped you?”

“Just my muse (laughs).  She knows who she is.”

“Why the dog image?”

“I don’t know.  It seemed original.”

“You have a wide following of fans.  Is there any hope that one will win you?”

“Just one (laughs).”

“Your fans want to know about your beads.  What is their significance?”

“They’re very special to me.  I never take them off.”

“Why not?”

“It keeps me connected to my muse.”

Kagome blinked at the small interview.  “He’s alive…” she whispered.

“Kagome, are you OK?  You don’t look well,” Sakura stated, worriedly.

Kagome nodded.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?  I can’t wait to meet him,” Yakumi sighed.

Kagome nodded.  “When does he transfer?”

“Sometime within this next week.”

*       *      *

“Class, we have a new student,” the sensei intoned from the front of the room.

Kagome kept her eyes on her notes.

“His name is Yasha Inuko… ano… ‘Chien.’  Let’s all make him feel welcome.  Mr. Yasha, there is a seat next to Miss Higurashi.  Miss Higurashi, can you raise your hand?”

Kagome obeyed but didn’t look up.  She could hear her classmates’ whispers of  “Lucky.”  He sat beside her and she concentrated on the notes.

The sensei returned to his lecture.

“Hey,” a voice whispered next to her.

She knew the rest of the class was staring at her.  She glanced around, self-consciously, avoiding his general direction.

“Kagome?” he whispered, sadly.

She stood abruptly.

“Yes, Miss Higurashi?”  The sensei looked at her.

“May I be excused?  I don’t feel well.”

“Of course.”

She left her desk, stepping over his foot that had been placed in her way.  She glanced in his direction before stepping through the door.  The pain in his eyes tore at her soul.

She barely reached the restroom before the tears began.  She leaned against the door and cried.

The lunch bell rang and she ran to a stall to hide from the other girls.

“Can you believe it?  She’s so lucky!” the girls giggled.  “He’s so cute… Those ears!”  They left and she slipped out behind them before anyone else could trap her in there.

She went outside and found a nice tree to hide under.  A bowl of instant ramen hit her on the head.  She grabbed it and looked up.  He stared at her with a calm expression.  “You forgot your lunch, Kagome.”  He jumped out of the tree with a steaming bowl of ramen and a thermos.

She looked away, holding the bowl of ramen to her chest.

“What’s wrong?  Don’t you want the ramen?” he asked as he bumped her arm with the thermos and an extra pair of chopsticks.

She dropped the bowl and covered her face to hide the imminent tears. 

“Kagome?”

She sniffed back the tears and turned on him.  “I thought I lost you… and here you are in my time being some famous pop idol.  And you act like nothing happened.”  She wiped her tears away with shaking hands.  “Why couldn’t you have come sooner… You could have warned me so I could say goodbye before I was pulled away.  I didn’t want to leave you…”

“You think it was easy for me?” he whispered.  “To watch you disappear before my eyes… and to know you wouldn’t be born for another 400 years?”  He stared at her intently.  “I had hoped my music would have found you… and you would have known my pain…”

“I was too busy in the past with you.”

He snorted and smiled.  “I see that now.  Demanding little bastard, wasn’t I?”  He put down his lunch.

She gave him a small smile.  All at once he embraced her and rested his cheek on the top of her head.  “I missed you.  I don’t think I ever truly realized how much you meant to me until you were gone.  I begged Kaede to give me enchanted sleep for 400 years so I could return to you.  Such dreams I had those 400 years…”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and began to cry again.

“We’re together now… Sh!  Don’t cry.”  He rocked them gently from side to side.  “Sweet angel of my heart and soul, without you I can never be whole.  Sweet mistress of this tortured life, say you’ll always be my wife…”

Giggles echoed around them.

Kagome blushed and stepped away from him as her friends surrounded them.

“Kagome…” Yakumi began breathlessly.  “Don’t tell me Chien was your mysterious boyfriend.”

“No!” Kagome cried.  She looked at Inuyasha.  “I mean, yes.  He was… is.”

Sakura’s eyes filled with romantic stars.  “Oh, wow!  That means you were his muse… Lucky.”

Kagome blushed.  Inuyasha put a hand on her shoulder, protectively.  “Yes, she is.  Now you know.  I transferred to be close to her.” 

“How romantic…” Yakumi beamed.  “A guy to come here, just to be with you.”

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.  “You have no idea.”

Kagome blushed and leaned back against him.

“Does this mean you’ll change your tragic dog style because you get to be with her now?” Sakura asked.

Inuyasha cocked his head to one side and stared at Kagome.  She looked back over her shoulder at him.  “I’m willing to change my image… if she wants me to.  Every pop idol must retire, ne?”

“Don’t give up singing!” Yakumi begged.

Inuyasha stared at his two fans with amusement.  “Alright… But I will change my image.  Is that all right with you, Kagome?” he stared at her.

She blushed.  “What do you want your image to be?”

He shrugged and smiled.  “Lose the dog ears and the claws.”

Kagome smiled.  “Need some help?”

“I hope you...”

“Of course I do.”

“Wow…” Sakura breathed.  “They communicate like my parents.”

Kagome blushed.  “Can Inu… ano… ‘Chien’ and I have a private moment?”

Her friends nodded and retreated.

Kagome turned to Inuyasha.  “Do you really want to become human?”

He nodded.

She reached into her pocket and pressed something hard and round into his hand.  “Use this when you’re ready.”

He smiled gratefully.

She fingered his beads and carefully removed them.  “I should have done this a long time ago.”

He stared at them in her hand.  “I was a hotheaded bastard,” he mused.  “But after you left, I felt like they kept me connected to you… and they gave me strength to wait for you.”

Kagome stared at them, rolling them in her fingers.  “I release you of the submission spell,” she said thoughtfully.  She put the beads back over his head and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.  “You’re free.”

He smiled and fingered the beads absently.  “A reminder…” he mused.

A few months later the pop magazines featured an article about Chien’s changed image.  Soon after it announced his wedding to his muse.  The music world hasn’t been the same.

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