Humans are interesting in that they can be affected by the slightest trifles. An elephant terrified by a mouse or a man undone with grief when he sees the face of an old lover. Moth took her step forward, and then she took three more. She concentrated carefully upon placing one foot in front of the other, trying not to lose her balance as the earth swayed with unfulfilled possibility. She concentrated so carefully that she did not notice her old bike until she fell into it and tumbled to the ground, tangled up in broken spokes and dried leaves.

Once she had caught her breath, Moth looked over at Her bicycle. Wondering, reverent fingertips caressed the wheels and she remembered how excited had been whenever she packed for the feudal area. Scrolls for Miroku, trinkets for Sango, pocky for Shippo and ramen for Kagome's True Love. She remembered riding her bike and knowing that Inuyasha had slowed his stride to make sure that she didn't fall out of his sight, Kagome laughing to herself as he grumbled over how slow and stupid ningen girls shouldn't be responsible for important missions. He had been cruel at times, breaking her heart on a weekly basis, but she had loved him. She had loved all of them, and she didn't regret that love. Could she honestly give that up, even to escape the demon who now haunted her day and night?

Spider. She hated him. She loved him too. She would always love him, in spite of herself and everything she believed in. They were well-matched: both lost in the shadow of a previous name, both twisted, both broken, both lost in the depths of pride and pain while all they really needed was love. Not the bad sort, but not really the good sort either—the real sort, you might call it. Love, with all the strings, false-meanings and double entendres the word implied.

Love, Power, Protection and Spider. Was that it, then? Was that what she wanted?

Moth rose to her feet and watched as Kagome was dragged down into the well. A terrified Souta ran inside to his Mother, who offered him a cup of tea and told him to stop fussing, because his sister could take care of herself.

Brushing little twigs from her hair, Moth made her way towards the well. "Things will be hard, Kagome," she murmured, voice choked with emotion, "And you'll want to give up sometimes, but you won't because your Mom is right. You can take care of yourself, though perhaps not well… And if you can do it, maybe I can too. You've haunted me, overshadowed me and now you may have given me the answer to a question I never thought to solve. I've never been one to stay indebted to another, so now I offer you a gift. This name was given to me by a very bad man and then used by many others, male and female, good and bad, shades of grey. I hope it serves you better than it has served me."

Moth, she whispered into the well, and the word echoed down into the shadowy depths. It was swallowed by the magic and taken through to the other side, where it whispered out and settled itself into Kagome's eyes. One day, an arachnid would see it and call it forth, creating a person who should never have been. For now it hid within the twinkle in a young girl's gaze as she said the word that would cement her relationship to a whiny half-breed for the first time.

If Kaede had seen it, she never said so.

The Nameless One wrapped her arms around itself. Without a title to call herself by she felt naked, but it was good that way. Her nakedness was a freedom in and of itself, and all things considered she was glad to let go and leave that name behind. All but one issue had been concluded, and that issue would have resolve itself. All she had to do was sit beside Buyo and scratch his ears while she waited for her Spider to appear. The Nameless One felt something sputter back into life within her, shining brightly. She doubted that would take very long.

Soon enough, she could smell his decay rising and filling the air. Buyo hissed and ran to the house, hiding in the bushes and offering a baleful glare. Seated, serene, she breathed a few times and realized that the smell was nowhere near as bad as she had thought it. His eyes were not as terrifying as she had thought him, and a pleasant sort of familiarity struck her when a tentacle crept forward to wrap itself around her wrist. Smiling fondly, she placed her other hand atop the noxious thing and watched as Spider stepped out of the well. He settled himself against it and offered her a feral grin.

"I finally found you, pet."

She stared up at him, eyes twinkling curiously. "Yes, Spider."

He was unnerved by her tranquility, but shook off the feeling like an errant fly. "It's time to come home now, love, so that things may return to the way they were before."

She rose and jerked her wrist, sending his tentacle flying. "No."

He watched her cautiously, confused by the serenity in her eyes. The young woman was poised and unafraid, a foreign variable in a previously perfect plan. "No?"

"Things can never be the same," she told him, closing the distance which separated them. "Not between us."

"Because I've killed your lovers, you mean?" he laughed, incredulous and mildly amused. "Because I've slaughtered your whingy little pets, pursued you even into your strange future realm, claimed the throne which is rightfully mine?"

"No," she told him, placing a hand on his chest. Tendrils of miasma surrounded her face, but the Nameless one did not flinch as the poison seeped into her lungs. "Though that is all a part of it."

He examined her carefully. Moth was his creature, through and through. Spider was certain she belonged to him, in all the ways a woman could belong to a man and more besides. "Why, then, precious," he asked finally, "Do you dare tell your Lord that things must change?"

The air blew cool around them, and Moth felt within her a stirring. The remnants of Kagome's soul surged upwards. Yes, they urged, yes, now, in this place. Do as you must. In this, as in all else, I am with you.

No longer Kagome, Moth, or any other being she had been before, the little Japanese girl felt a great weight lift from her shoulders at the words. She reached under Spider's hakama, pressing her palm to his chest. "I say that things must change," she told him, smiling faintly, "Because, my Lord, I am about to change them."

She grasped the shikon jewel he wore around his neck and wished.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

((The story, if you so choose, ends here. I did, however, have two ideas for endings. They have been posted below.))

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ending One:

In another time and another place, two small figures lay sprawled in the dirt. One was a young woman, with ebony hair and skin as white as snow. Her male counterpart, gender aside, was very much the same, though both were so covered in soot and grime that their white skin was much disguised.

He awoke before her and rose to his knees. The miasma was gone. The voices- gone. Only he was in his own head now, and the boy was unsure he liked the change.

She had... freed him? Why? His newfound mortality made him weak, yes, but it would have been so much easier to simply wish him into nonexistence.

He stared at the beautiful face before him, marvelling as she slept. Whomever this girl was, she who had met him beside the well, Moth was no longer her name. This woman was someone entirely foreign to him.

He lifted her into his arms and rose to his feet. The sun beat down upon his head and he perspired heavily, enjoying the new sensation. He tested his lips by curving them into a smile, setting foot after foot down on a path of his own making.

Whomever this curious woman was... He looked forward to making her acquaintance.

Ending Two:

The being who remained stared down at its hands in wonder. Female, yes, but such had not always been the case for one of the consciousnesses who lived inside.

'What sorcery is this?' hissed the remnants of Spider, curled in the corner of a stranger's mind, 'Witch, what have you done to me?'

The Priestess smiled and gathered the little Spider into her arms, pulling him close. 'I have made you complete, beloved,' she said, ignoring his protests, 'By making you one with me.'

Then she opened her mouth and swallowed him whole.

Demon, mortal, shikon miko. Whatever the new creature was, It rose to its feet and surveyed Its surroundings. Mother would think It an aberration if It found her now- the prior Kagome had not yet been lost to time. When she was, perhaps they would play cuckoo and enjoy the privileges of Kagome's emptied nest. Until then...

Well, It would find some way to pass the time.