InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Stronger Than Yesterday ❯ Chp 13 Spiral ( Chapter 13 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

She couldn't see.

Unsure of whether or not her eyes were closed or open, she tried to call out to somebody, anybody, but she found she couldn't speak. She couldn't yell. She couldn't move.

'What's going on?' she thought, beginning to panic.

It was dark, she couldn't move, and she was alone. The fear was beginning to creep up from her belly. She wanted to move. She wanted to run. She wanted to know what the hell was going on.

She wanted to be frustrated, 'Why does this keep happening to me?', but the urge to cry was stronger.

'Why?'

~___~

They had been unaware of the dragon due to its scales blending in with the foliage. When coming across it, it had been facing the other direction. Unfortunately they weren't a quiet bunch and they had stood too long upon discovering the dragon. This and the fact that Kagome and Hiei smelled of his golden treasure, had the monster truly aware of their presence.

"I'm never walking ahead of you guys, ever again." Kagome told them as they began to slowly, and cautiously, back up.

The dragon was slow and precise in its maneuvering as he turned around to face them. Its horrendous, yellowed eye was the first thing to catch Kagome's attention.

It growled deeply at the sight of them and made no move to come after as they retreated, but the growling became louder and its lip began to quiver.

Kagome wished that Lui would move. His close proximity to her had her stepping on his feet, and she knew if the need to run would present itself, which she knew it would, he would make it hard for her. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck, and his hands hovering around her shoulders. She felt claustrophobic and with the dragon staring them down she felt her breath coming out harshly.

"What the hell do we do?" she whispered aloud, but in her distraught, she only said it in her head. But thankfully, Yusuke took up reigns as commander.

"If it charges us, and we have to fight, split up."

"Split up?" Kuwabara sounded out in a loud, fevered whisper. "But what if it just comes after one person?"

"That's why we split up and surround it. Keep it off of one another."

"So we'll each serve as a distraction so the others can attack?" Kurama asked for clarification.

"We'll never kill it." Hiei told them matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, well! Just shit on my plan, why don't you?"

The dragon, tired of their slow retreat, shifted and they grew still in anticipation.

"So are we splitting up or what?" Kuwabara asked, speaking through clenched teeth.

The dragon gave no one time to respond before it charged them. And without confirmation, they each jumped off its path of attack and scattered. Kagome had no choice for the direction she chose. Being in the lead, she was first on the dragon's list, and having Lui so close, she hesitated and tried to gauge his decision. But at the feel of her hesitation, Lui took matters into his own hands, and grasping Kagome by the shoulders, he hoisted her into the air and into the nearby brush. As she flew she prayed that she wouldn't hit the ground in an awkward position, but thankfully the bush was there to catch and probe her with its blunt branches.

As she landed, she quickly straightened up enough to see Lui jump safely away. The others, she saw as she stood up, also made it out of the way. Where they went, she wasn't entirely sure, but she did see that the dragon wasn't necessarily sure either, because it stopped in its tracks and began to look and sniff around, and as it looked her way, she quickly ducked behind a tree.

Silence made things awkward. So who was going to run interference first? The question hung unspoken in the air and only silence answered back.

"Aw shit!" accompanying the cursing, Yusuke made his appearance as first distraction. Looking grumpier than usual, Yusuke stepped onto the path behind the dragon and raised his hand up in preparation. "Fine, I'll do it, but you assholes better back me up!"

Kagome smiled at his reluctant heroism. He knew he was going to do it first anyway. Silly boys and they're true nature. Smile still in place, Kagome reached into her sub pockets and produced her bow and arrows. She could have used the set that accumulated from her pure miko, but it was tiring and the glow would give away her position.

The dragon advanced upon Yusuke, who, though looking nervous, was successfully luring the dragon his way. Kagome glanced around but didn't see anyone preparing to move in. From her spot, the dragon's back was to her, she was in perfect position to serve as the next distraction.

She readied her bow and got into position. She needed to get out there and fast. The dragon had picked up his pace and was closing the distance on the spirit detective. But before she could move, Kuwabara was suddenly there and striking the beast across its back with his energy sword.

"Run, Urameshi." He yelled, as he too ran, the dragon now angry and chasing after him.

Kagome would have stepped in then, but he was running towards her, and effectively bringing the dragon in her direction. Luckily for her, Kuwabara kept going past, and she only had to draw back into her hiding place as the dragon kept after him. As it passed, she flinched and held in a scream as it's tail nearly decapitated her in its wake.

With her hiding spot destroyed, Kagome ran out to either save Kuwabara or find another location. As she came out into the open, bow and arrow readied to fire in her arms, she saw that both Hiei and Kurama had jumped to Kuwabara's rescue. Hiei was barely a blur as he savagely attacked the dragon, seemingly, from every angle at once. While Kurama was hindering the dragon's movements with vines that kept trying to tie the angered beast down. The others, she saw, were nowhere to be seen.

'Now is as good as ever.' She thought to herself as she aimed at the reptile. She felt the familiar power wash through her and she directed it into the arrow at the tip of her fingers. The power built up until she glowed as bright as headlights.

Confident in the strength of the accumulation and her aim, Kagome whistled loudly at the beast, effectively getting its attention, and alerting the boys to get the hell out of the way.

As the dragon looked her way, Hiei and Kurama wasted no time in escaping its notice. Once the dragon saw that its other opponents had escaped, it advanced angrily on Kagome, seemingly unperturbed about the glowing advancing projectile.

Why would it be? It wasn't like it was a demon or anything.

~___~

'My back itches.' Was the thought that went through her head as she came to.

Well she believed she came to. She didn't remember passing out, or going to sleep, but her sense of time passed was off.

Wondering what was going on, she tried to remember what she had been doing before…this.

The itching in her back spread and made it hard to concentrate. At least she could feel it. That meant she wasn't paralyzed. She hoped.

'This is probably Hiei's fault.' She thought with an affirmative, and wholly imaginative, nod of her head.

Hiei. She remembered him. He had been in the way…of something. She pictured Hiei in her head. Concentrated on him, and he smiled at her.

The smile was like a kick to the senses and dread spread though her. He had been in the way of a dragon.

She remembered now. They had been fighting a dragon. They had killed it. Right? She remembered it lying down and covered in blood. They had all pitched in, playing bait for each other and…

She had been useless. Dragons weren't demons. Miko didn't work on them. Dragons had scales. Arrows were shit. And then it had sensed easy prey.

'Oh.' She thought glumly. 'I remember now.' And then the itching in her back was relieved as it felt as if someone had just ripped the irritated skin away.

~___~

She awoke screaming bloody murder, her entire being focused on the pain in her back. The pain made her buck, and each involuntary movement had her back screaming at her in protest. It hurt to move, but she couldn't lie still because the pain was too great. Damn the conundrums!

She felt hands grab her to hold her down, but she could give a flying flip as to what they were saying. She missed the nothing from which she had come.

"Oh God!" she screamed as her twitching began to lessen. "What's happening?"

The boys let her go once she stopped thrashing and backed away from her. As her crying grew in volume, they looked at one another in discomfort.

"Uh…" Yusuke looked around unsure of what to do.

Kuwabara hit him in the arm. "Try calling again."

"Yeah…right." Turning away from the crying girl on the bed, he focused on possibly getting her help.

"Somebody!" Kagome screamed; her face smothered in the mattress of her bed. "Knock! Me! Out!" her scream was followed by more sobbing.

With her cries beating at his heart, Lui grimaced, but stepped forward to render the mercy blow. Taking a deep breath and readying his stance, Lui delivered a sharp and fierce strike to the top of her head.

"What?" Yusuke growled into the receiver. "How many people can die in an earthquake? I thought it was just a bunch of…oh. Wow, really? Damn. Well I'm sorry."

The sudden intake of breath that Kagome sucked in distracted him, and as he turned to look at her, he saw the red eyed leer of a demon as she glared Lui down.

The look she gave off and the silence that followed seemed to last forever. When in fact, it lasted less than a second.

She growled and yelled and screamed, the pain she felt intensified now by anger. Her screaming was now accompanied by an electric flair of miko, most of it directed at Lui. Everyone backed up in light of the flares. They would have stepped back anyway. Kagome was a sight to behold, and not a good one at that.

Lying on a bed with her open, naked back bleeding, Kagome looked like a raving monster. Her hair was a matted mess, her eyes were ablaze, and through her screaming, she dribbled and spewed spittle. Her back, though she couldn't see it, was a mutilated mess. It had been shredded down the middle, not only had the skin been flayed, but so had some of the muscle. In places, the bone could even be seen; standing out white and stark against the dark of the red and pink.

"Hey! I'm trying to get you a healer and you trying to hurt everybody is not going to help."

The look turned to him then and he made a show of not backing away. The words that came out of her mouth made him flinch though, and he turned away hurriedly to talk on the phone again.

"Okay, you heard that? Right! You need to get me in touch with Botan now! Right NOW!" he then looked back at Kagome, who was now calming down, or getting weak, from all the thrashing and screaming. She was losing a lot of blood.

"I didn't even know girls could say that…and mean it!"

"I think she's unconscious." Kurama announced.

"I think she tried to kill me." Lui muttered, looking put out. "…again."

"Don't worry about it." Kuwabara said, trying to placate him.

"You just fail as a demon." Hiei added unnecessarily. "Couldn't even render a human unconscious. Disgraceful."

"That's what my father says." Lui now looked ready to cry.

"Botan!" Yusuke yelled as he heard feedback on the communicator. "Quick! What the hell do we do?"

Though not sleep, Kagome definitely wasn't awake and now began to mumble into the air.

"We fought a dragon, that's what, and dragons don't play around!"

"Kagome! He turned her into fillet O girl!"

"Her back! We can see the damn bones in some places!"

Kagome moaned loudly and began to squirm on the bed. Clenching at the sheets on the bed, she whimpered loudly before quieting again.

"About three hours ago! I've been trying to get in touch with you!"

"We don't know! Shouldn't you know any?"

Yusuke's darted a look in Lui's direction. "You! You're from around here! Know of any healers…that can heal humans?"

Lui grimaced. "Not any real ones. No real good ones."

"Damn!" Yusuke went back to his communicator. "So what do…?"

"My dad has one on staff though, but you know how complicated that is."

The room grew silent, even a severely injured girl seemed to quiet at the young demon's statement.

"What?"

"Call your dad, you idiot!" Kuwabara yelled.

"But I can't! He's obsessed with her!"

"She's going to die, asshole!" Yusuke damn near growled. "If your dad can save her, do it!"

"But it's not a good obsession." He whined.

"When is obsession ever a good thing?" Kurama added in.

"But…"

"But my ass!" Yusuke interrupted. "Go! Call your dad over here now! Go!"

Looking distressed and on the verge of a breakdown, Lui groaned and stormed out of the room. "Fine! Don't blame me if he tries to kill everyone though!"

"Right!" Yusuke returned to the communicator, ignoring the whining boy with daddy issues. "So you heard that, we have a healer coming! But what do we do now?"

"Well duh, stop the bleeding! But how?"

Yusuke's face screwed up as he listened to whatever Botan told him. "Wolf? Hold on."

He turned to face the others. "You guys have any wolf saliva on you?"

They shook their heads in the negative.

"Oh wait, wolf demon saliva?"

Negative.

"They don't have it. Gross anyway! Why the hell would we need that?"

"Right," He turned to relay to the others. "Wolf's saliva has healing qualities and it's more potent in demons. Dog demon saliva would work too since they are both in the canine family. Do any of you have any dog demon saliva?"

Still no.

"What else do you have? Fox demon?" Yusuke cut his eyes at Kurama before lowering his voice. "Do you have anything else, because these two already have some weird stuff betw…?" His conversation was cut short as Kurama took the phone.

"Yes Botan?"

"Are foxes even in the canine family?" Yusuke asked the silent Hiei and Kuwabara.

Kuwabara shrugged, Hiei said nothing, only watched Kurama.

"This is about to get weird, isn't it?" Kuwabara asked no one in particular.

"This is all on you!" Lui had now reentered the room, looking disgusted with himself.

No one paid him any mind as Kurama finished speaking with Botan and barged past him out of the room.

"He's going to come," Lui continued. "Heal her, and then probably kill everybody. But not before locking me in a box to watch it all happen."

"Besides killing us, I'm pretty happy with that decision." Kuwabara told him.

"Yeah" Yusuke agreed. "How long will it take him to get here?"

"He'll try to kidnap her too for some nefarious deeds."

"Once she's healed, she'll take care of herself. How long away is he?"

"What part of nefarious don't you understand?"

"The whole of it. How long?"

"About half a day."

"Was that so hard?"

"You make life hard." Seeming to remember where he was, Lui looked around to see that Kurama had lugged in a few items and was returning for more. "What the hell is going on in here? What did that Botan say?"

"Right." Yusuke stretched out, putting an arm around Lui's shoulder and leading him out. "Kurama actually has something that could help her. So…let's go before the weirdness in the air chokes everyone."

Kurama then came in with his final items, a large bowl of water and snack foods.

"What the hell is going on?" Lui asked as he found that Kurama was the only one left in the room. He and the fox met eyes, his suspicious, Kurama's grave, and was answered with a door shutting in his face.

~___~

"Did the fox come out to play?"

Kurama only paused in the door way for a second before he shut the door. In the pitch black of his room, he turned golden eyes to the intruder sitting on his window seal.

Hiei's red eyes pierced him through the gloom. "I can smell it on you."

"I'm sure you do. I've spent the better part of the night tending to a horrendous wound."

"I smell your heat." Hiei continued as if Kurama had never spoken. "Your arousal. Did you take advantage of the girl's addled mind?"

Gold snapped up to meet crimson and the tension was cranked up a few decibels.

"I'm sorry, Hiei, but I'm not much of a sadist. Youko may have chased anything with a heartbeat, but half dead, mortally wounded women are not my thing."

"You sure about that, Fox? One of the few women to not throw themselves at you, yet you seem to involve yourself into these situations with her. Big hit to the ego, isn't it? Especially when she seems so disgusted with you soon after? Are you sure you haven't taken up seducing her as a personal challenge?"

There was a second of silence between the two. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

"What are you trying to do?" Kurama finally asked into the heated darkness.

"I'm trying to figure out what you're playing at? First you give me the girl, and now I see you trying to make her yours. Are you trying to up the challenge by adding me as competition? I've been thinking; recalling, all the times you've looked at her, spoken to her…thought about her. You have a taste for the girl. There is no denying that you do; but why bring me into it? And if you didn't involve me, then why are you encroaching?"

"Do you really know me, Hiei?" Kurama asked immediately, his voice sounding heated. "This talk of challenges, competition, and encroaching makes me believe that you do not. I did not give Kagome to you. I am not trying to seduce her, and if I were, I would not have planned to get her skinned alive just to treat her wounds."

"I see that you do not deny your desire for her."

"Well I see what you're playing at now."

"And what is that?"

"Cowardice. You have feelings for someone and you don't know what to do with it. You're afraid of yourself and of her rejection. So you've found something to target your aggression at; me. You think I intentionally place us into situations. Me? Yes, I have lain down with her, taken her, but who could have foresaw an aging spell that would render everyone but Youko and Kagome invalid? Other than that, there has been nothing but tension between us. And now this, which, if you consider all the factors, was your fault."

Hiei was silent but the temperature in the room began to rise.

"You were too caught up in the victory of slaying a dragon. I saw the gloating on your face; the bloodlust. Admiring the blood on your katana. Prolonging the beast's death, just to satisfy your craving for dominance and power. You took too long and it knew its fate. When it opened its eyes, you should have ended it there, but instead you let it seek her out. Let it commit its final act. It's true you weren't the closest to her, but you are the fastest among us. If anyone was going to stop it from trying to take her out with it, it was you. You seemed to have failed at protecting what you may think to call yours."

Golden eyes burned into crimson and a strain was put onto a friendship as neither backed down.

Kurama lowered his eyes first and when he spoke, he used a softer tone. "I apologize, I'm just very tired now and Youko…"

"Save it, Fox." Hiei interrupted as he turned his back on him and opened the window. "Now go scrub your face again. You didn't get all the blood off."

~___~

The first thing Kagome became aware of was the whispering. It was fevered whispering close to her, too close to her. She could feel the breath as they seemingly murmured into her face. Whoever they were, blowing hot breath on her face, they were moving; she could feel the slight vibrations in the bed. She would have been freaked out; unnerved, and slightly angry, if the fact that her back wasn't killing her wasn't so very obvious at the moment. It was still painful, as if someone had beat her senseless with a bat, but at least the bat wasn't on fire anymore and covered in spikes.

As she tried to open her eyes, she found them slightly stiff and crusted over from tears and deep sleep. Yet, once fully opened, she was startled into a stupor as she met the multiple pairs of eyes that belonged to the monster in bed with her.

The monster was far from startled, and once it realized she was awake, it opened its many mouths and grinned at her with hundreds of tiny pointed teeth.

She would have jumped, fought back, screamed, but the monster moved faster than her and with a shrill cry it leapt from the bed and ran off, and as it was leaving, she saw that the monster was in fact, just a herd of children.

"The Lord's young litter of pups."

With her heart still jumping in her chest, Kagome tried to turn around to face the new voice, but as she moved, she found it hard to move her body from the waist up. She was stiff and had to move slowly, her back and neck seemingly fused together now.

"Yes, yes. The new skin will take some time to loosen up. That will be easier with daily therapy administered to it."

"Who…are you?" as she finally managed to turn around, she was again met with a sight.

"I'm the Lord's head heal…I mean his Chief Doctor on staff." The Chief Doctor told her from his lipless mouth. Why lipless?

Because grasshoppers tended to not have them. A giant grasshopper/doctor was lounging in a chair beside her bed, drinking tea.

"You may call me Caeli."

"I'm Kagome." She told him, seeing no reason to be rude.

Caeli nodded at her in acknowledge as he stood up to reach her. "Here we go dear, I'm sure you're tired of lying on your belly, let's get you up."

As he helped her to sit up, she found out that the straightest she could sit up was with a slight hunch.

"Thank you for healing me."

"It's my Lord that you should be thanking. He took me away from my other patients just to get to you. It would seem you're very important to him."

"Oh, your Lord is Lui's father?"

"Yes, Lui is the Lord's oldest."

"What is…" a creaking at the door stopped her midsentence, and as she struggled to turn her head, she saw that the herd was back.

Now identifying them for what they were, she began to distinguish the grinning faces apart. There were eight of them, that she saw, all of differentiating height, hairstyles, eye color, and skin tone. The only standard between them all was the shape of their faces. Despite their differences; they all looked similar to one another. Looking closer at the one in front, she saw that he was the only one with a mass of red hair, pulled into puffball on top of his head and held together with a blue ribbon.

Her eyes opened wider as she continued to observe him. And as his details grew in familiarity, the wider her eyes grew.

"Shippo?"

The little boy's mouth opened wide as he flew towards her. "Kagome!" he yelled as he pummeled into her chest, crying out with unrestraint.

With the familiar ball of fluff in her arms, Kagome figured out that her eyes grew wide for a reason; there was a floodgate breaking behind them.

"Lady Kagome!" the herd yelled in unison as they too flew at her, tackling the duo onto the bed. Her back groaned in protest at this, but she could care less at the moment.

She cried, he cried, and the other kids cried along with them. Hugging him tightly, she kissed him anywhere she could reach and he lavished in her every touch. The herd was right along with the kissing and smothered her in butterfly kisses of their own. They made the reunion a bit surreal, but she imagined it was like reuniting with someone while having a litter of puppies attacking you. It was kind of cute in its own way.

"I missed you so much!" Shippo cried, a sobbing pause in between each word.

"I missed you too!" she cried back in a similar fashion.

"Don't ever leave me again!"

"I won't! I love you so much!"

"I love you too, Kagome!"

After their declaration, they're crying was renewed with vigor along with the herd.

"Cut that shit out!" A voice tried to cry out over the noise, but was ignored.

"You do know you're not wearing a shirt, right?" Another voice; still ignored. She had seen the bandages.

"Can I join in?"

Ignored.

"Miss, if you all continue in this fashion, you will tear the new skin."

Blissfully unaware and uninterested.

"Dad! That's enough, get off of her!"

That'll do it.

With seven children clinging to her and never relinquishing her hold on Shippo, Kagome sat up, rather slowly, and stared at the assembled boys around her. Stared at Lui.

"Dad?" she repeated with confusion as her eyes scanned her bed and the room.

"Yeah!" Lui grumbled with his arms crossed on his chair. "The pervert nuzzling your chest."

Without lessening her hold, Kagome looked down to catch the tail end of a glare Shippo was throwing Lui's way. But as she looked down at him, he met her gaze with the softened, puppy eyed, doe stare of innocence and love that she had known for years.

"Kagome." She looked back up just in time to have a shirt thrown at her.

"He's a grown man." Yusuke countered. "A full grown demon. That's Lui's dad."

After putting on her shirt, with Shippo and the herd sitting beside her on the bed, Kagome looked from the little fox to the patiently sitting, giant grasshopper.

"Who did you say your Lord was?"

The doctor nodded. "I serve under the Western Lord. Lord Shippo, sitting there beside you."

Looking back at Shippo, she was met with a sheepish grin this time.

"What can I say, Kagome?" he asked with a laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's been a long 500 years."

"Right!" Lui declared angrily, pointing an accusing finger at his father; at Shippo. "Now stop the act and turn back to your right body."

"No!" Kagome yelled out, as she grabbed at Shippo and hugged him to her again.

"Not yet." She added in a softer tone.

"You heard her." Shippo gloated, sticking his tongue out at his son. "Now take your brothers and sisters and get out!"

"She doesn't want to…"

"Get out." Kagome declared for him, a voice thick with renewed tears and she fell to her side, dragging Shippo along with her.

"That's right." Dr. Caeli stated as he stood and began ushering the reluctant boys away. "They have much catching up to do. You should know that Master Lui."

"Bye Papa!" The herd called out in unison, hanging from their big brother. "Bye Lady Kagome!"

"You sure you'll be alright?" Kuwabara asked from the doorway.

Unable to speak, Kagome merely nodded and after a few more urges from the doctor, and a desire to not see her cry anymore, her door was closed and they were alone.

Laying down in the silence, she looked at Shippo and he merely stared back, both happy to just be in each other's company once again.

"I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye." She finally whispered to him.

Smiling at her, he wiped her cheek with his little paw. "It's been 500 years Kagome, I forgive you. Besides, Miroku told us why."

"What happened after I left?"

He looked up at her through his eyelashes and she caught sight of the man that he was. An old man with too much history. Through that look, she felt the stare of an abandoned, bitter youth. She saw the harsh father that Lui spoke of constantly.

"We found out a few things about ourselves." He finally answered, playing with a lock of her hair. "Apparently we didn't like each other very much. And without you, there was no reason for us to stay together."

"It happened bit by bit over a few weeks." He continued. "First it was just us three as we left Inuyasha and Kikyo. We were mad; angry at him, furious. But we couldn't defeat him, we knew it, so we just left. It was good at first. We just continued on, but you were missed. I missed you. I missed you a lot. I hated Inuyasha for what happened. I started hating you. I did hate you. I felt you had abandoned me. You had."

Turning over onto his back, Shippo looked off into the past.

"I was very moody those days. Then moodiness turned into anger, and anger turned into rage. Miroku told me it would be okay. Told me that one day I would understand. He made me sick with his optimism. It aggravated Sango; his faith in you. She began to leave more. She went on many solo missions, and then one day, she stayed away."

"It hurt Miroku, I know now that it did. She abandoned him like you did me, but I could care less for how he felt then. I was a small bundle of bitterness. I was his burden now, and that I knew. I felt he resented me for it. He may have, I don't know. He found a small village and began to clergy there. It was meant to be only a few days. But days turned to weeks and the weeks never ended."

"I think he moved there to die. That's what he smelled like to me. Death. I didn't stick around. Things from then on are kind of a blur." He turned to her and smiled sheepishly as he scratched his head. "Basically I roamed around, terrorized a lot of humans, got in touch with my inner demon, and in a drunken, snarling rage, challenged Sesshomaru to a battle."

"You challenged Sesshomaru?"

He grinned at her stunned face.

"Well obviously he didn't kill you. How did you end up…here?"

"Well he pretty much swatted me like a fly. Beat me kind of badly really. I couldn't see out of my left eye for years, but he took me home with him. Cleaned me up, groomed me, and slapped me down when the need arose. He took me in as a pet project, molded me into his ideal image, and prepared me to be his predecessor."

"He chose you instead of having his own heir?"

"Yeah. He knew times were changing and he made extensive, highly detailed plans. It was like he could see the future, because after the separation of the realms and the industrial revolution; he plopped me into his seat as Western Lord and went to conquer the human business realm. He's very good at it; and once he has his fill, he will return to Makai and attempt to overthrow me; whom he has prepared as more than a worthy adversary, and reign over his conquest. He gets bored easily."

"I see that."

"It was him who finally helped me stop being angry. To stop hating you. What Miroku said was right, I would understand later. I do. I started remembering you, and how you were. The good times that we had and how happy you made me. It didn't go away all at once, I tell you, but the hate did turn back into love eventually. I began missing you again and I knew all I had to do was wait and I would see you again."

He put a hand to her cheek and smiled longingly at her.

"And here we are."

She grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on it as a fresh wave of tears ran across her nose. "I'm really sorry you went through all of that. I never knew that this would happen. But I had to get away from them. I wasn't strong enough to fight him and I didn't want any of you to get hurt. But I'm almost done here now, and I think I can handle myself and I'll come back and make everything right. I promise."

He frowned at her before sitting up straight.

"What is it?" she asked in confusion as she struggled to follow his lead.

"Didn't you hear me? I went over 500 years without seeing you. None of us ever saw you again. Kagome, you never came back."

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