Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Insult to Injury ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: Ugh… Another long one. LOL, I know I probably won't really get complaints out of that, but still, once it gets past a certain number of pages I can't help but feel that people will be tuning out by the ending. ^__~ Easily distracted by sparkly things, you know. Wasn't even intending to post this early either, but well, it got done ahead of time, so why not? -giggles-

As always, to my darling reviewers and my rabid junkies, you're wonderful and fabulous. It's so much fun to read your ideas and thoughts on my little gift-fic, and it makes me look forward to posting. I adore you all more than you know. -bows and blows kisses-

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By Any Other Name

~Insult to Injury~

Sesshoumaru hadn't said a single word to her since joining her in the backseat of his car, sitting with an elbow braced on the door to put his hand at the right level for supporting his chin to make it that much easier to stare at her in subtle reprimand. She fidgeted under the piercing attention, forgoing the seatbelt despite the addition disapproval it brought down on her head in favor of holding her knees tucked into her chest. She tilted her head to one side, resting her cheek on her knee as she went back over everything that had happened since entering the Urameshi house.

Her brows drew together, wrapping her arms around her knees and staring out at the path towards the main house, It can't be a coincidence that I heard someone speaking to me… calling me that name the same day I meet two youkai and, well, whatever that Yuusuke boy rates as. And then they end up asking me about Onigumo…

Kagome blew out a sigh as the ache started at the base of her skull, stretching her legs out and folding her arms behind her head as they turned the tree-lined drive to the gate, "I didn't mean to run into him, Sesshoumaru, but it's better that I did."

"Is that so?"

She shifted her weight enough to switch her headrest to the window, taking comfort in the cool glass against her overheated skin, "We may have a problem."

Sesshoumaru waited until Jaken had maneuvered them past the enchanted boundary, glancing back to habitually search for any imperfections or weaknesses to his defenses before he broke his current silence to demand, "What disrupted your senses before I reached you?"

She couldn't help but smile at his actions, comforted by his unaltered fixation with protecting his lands, "They asked me a question I wasn't expecting to hear." She glanced back out the window, not wanting to see his expression when she expounded on that in a carefully even tone, "They asked me if I had ever heard of Onigumo."

"The revolting human that created Naraku?" Jaken squwaked out in disbelief, craning his head back to peer at her, eyes narrowed in obvious displeasure at the imparted information. "What would those low born creatures have to do with such an old, vile thing in this time?"

"Jaken."

He blanched and turned his eyes forward again, "Forgive your humble servant, Sesshoumaru-sama. I was merely-"

"Silence," he growled in an off-handed manner, focusing on Kagome's rigid spine in his peripheral vision as he turned over the possibilities in his own mind. The sound of earth and stone crunched softly under the slow turn of tires as Jaken coaxed the vehicle forward again, using the sound almost meditatively to buffer the images and memories forcefully recalled to sift through with painstaking care.

"To give them credit, they looked surprised that I knew it," her fingers clenched into a tighter fist, setting her jaw against a wave of self-disgust. "I… was caught off guard."

Sesshoumaru made a low, indecipherable sound in the back of his throat, "There is no need for you to be so consumed with making excuses for their actions. This Sesshoumaru will not place unnecessary blame on the kitsune and his companions simply because they irritate me with their existence."

"You still want to kill them," Kagome couldn't help but sound put out at that little piece of truth, in spite of his emotionless expression and carefully bland eyes, she knew it was eating away at his instincts, could feel it coloring the very air around his disguised body.

"You are reverting to your old habit of voicing perfectly obvious things to cover your anxiety over your impending punishment," he pointed out without the slightest inflection.

There is something so completely screwed up in my head if I relax when I hear him speaking to me like this, she rolled her eyes at her own twisted instincts, but gave up on trying to convince herself to get pissed off when she had more important things to worry about than a taiyoukai's arrogance. "We don't have a reason to kill them, you know," she said instead, leaning her head back on the upholstery to watch his lip curl so subtly it was gone before she knew it.

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow kicked up in silent challenge.

"Trespassing isn't enough anymore, and aren't you even a little curious about who they are if you've never seen-?" Kagome trailed off and pushed herself up to twist towards him with an accusing growl. "That reminds me… Why didn't you tell me you knew about them? You wave to their kids for crying out loud!"

"This Sesshoumaru has no excuse for neglecting to get clarification," he said quietly after a moment, catching the way Jaken frowned in the reflection of the rearview mirror. "Given my experience with your ability to find yourself in the worst possible scenario, it is an oversight that I will make allowances for when deciding how you will be disciplined."

Lord of the most elaborate "my fault" known to man and youkai, Kagome had to bite her lip to keep that thought to herself, but it was enough that he would make the effort instead of just ignoring her. "Their kids need to be seen by your specialists before they find a human doctor who starts asking too many questions," she folded her arms over her chest. "They have enough of the blood."

"Suggesting we announce ourselves to the Urameshi family."

"How bad could it be?" she shrugged and insisted. "It's not like they wouldn't understand, Sesshoumaru, they know what they are and what they can do. Ryou and Toushi even asked me what my special attack was."

She actually got an eye-roll out of him with that remark and let out an errant giggle when he turned a flat glare down at her, "Was that supposed to be amusing, miko?"

"I bet you hate video games too, don't you?"

"Useless noise and cheap hypnotism for the weak minds of humans," he scoffed at the suggestion.

"Shippou plays them, doesn't he?"

"You will speak with him to correct this."

Kagome couldn't resist flashing an absolutely dazzling smile at the hidden edge of disgruntlement and reaching out to curl her hand over his knee affectionately, "It's not so bad, is it? They don't have the chance to fight like that for real the way you or I did, and it helps keep them entertained for a while."

"They are pedantic and unimaginative-" Sesshoumaru's brows lowered and he turned a deeper scowl on her. "Do not trick this Sesshoumaru into arguing about such childish things as human games."

"You must have bitten through your tongue a hundred times a day without someone you trusted to vent to with as much as you like doing it," she gave him a squeeze, completely unrepentant at giving him an outlet for the humming tension she could still feel in his aura. "But I'll stop avoiding the subject if you promise not to kill them on sight."

"I have already promised this," he reached out and hooked a finger under her chin to force her eyes to meet his. "Onigumo is dead, miko. Naraku is destroyed. There is no reason for these fears to continue to plague you."

"Why are they asking about him now though?" she reached up and grasped his wrist, unaware of just how much comfort she took through physical contact. "Where did they hear his name?"

"They will have time to answer before I decide if I am going to kill them or not," Sesshoumaru assured her loftily, releasing her chin but still allowing her to hang onto him as her eyes darkened with racing thoughts. "Takashima has sided with me on the need to remove them from this existence."

Kagome blinked in confusion, tilting her head and repeating, "Shippou-? But why would he-?"

"Something about pants and roses," he brushed it aside carelessly. "He was nearly incoherent during the call he made to me, however, it may have been mistranslated. His most pressing concern was that his sister would be in the company of several creatures that did not meet with my approval."

Pants and roses? Kagome's eyebrow kicked up at the bizarre remark, running her hand absently down her own leg as she wondered if he meant something about her stealing his clothes. But what was the rose thing about, and-? "Hey, didn't you tell me you were going to be in council?"

"That annoying kitsune demanded Sesshoumaru-sama cut his pleasure short to return and see to you before these vagrant youkai had the chance to kidnap you for unhealthy purposes," Jaken piped up from his seat, courage restored enough to bring about his participation. "It would be a great inconvenience were we to lose you during council, Kagome-sama. Unforgivable even!"

"That's something else, actually," Kagome broke in before Sesshoumaru could scold the little toad youkai for rambling so dramatically. "The kitsune… Kurama… he didn't know me. I could feel his youki, and he was trying to get under my skin, definitely, but… not that way."

"Yet they are asking of Onigumo and things which pertain to that damnable rock," Sesshoumaru frowned as he started to muse over the inconsistencies of these youkai. "Perhaps then, it truly has been fortuitous that you were unable to restrain your need to be rebellious. It remains to be seen."

"You have to admit it's fishy," Kagome shook her head. "Not to mention just plain odd. Most youkai that old know the rumors, and Naraku, and all… that."

"Knowing a miko was involved and putting any credence into the words of humans are two entirely separate instances to a youkai," he informed her as the walls of the inner compound came into view, shifting his weight in preparation to exit the car. "And we did not exactly discourage the misinformation regarding your identity after the jewel showed it's avaricious nature and removed you from us."

"It wants to touch him," Kagome admitted softly, her eyes wary for any sort of reactions from the taiyoukai at her side.

"It or you?"

Kagome's face flamed, hunching her shoulders and turning away from the knowing look in those amused amber eyes, "I'm only human."

"Lying to yourself will not change the truth, miko," Sesshoumaru lifted a hand, brushing his fingertips across the pale pink markings burned into his otherwise flawless skin. "Besides, the smell of him lingers on you in very… specific places. You did not think this Sesshoumaru would be unable to detect it, did you?"

"I hoped you wouldn't say anything," she gritted her teeth against the rise of embarrassment.

"He is not for you," Sesshoumaru's hand came down on her shoulder and squeezed, determined to convey the severity behind his words.

"You don't think anyone is for me," Kagome shook her head, glancing back at him and letting him see the amusement in her eyes. "You want me to live out the rest of my life doing nothing but answering to you and listening to your griping because I'm the only person you can act like this to who won't ruin your image."

"An enviable position for a creature such as yourself."

"You're going to suffocate on your own arrogance someday, and Tenseiga will let you stay dead," she predicted, turning her nose up at a haughty angle.

"Then you would have to become accustomed to life in the Makai, miko," Sesshoumaru informed her with perfect confidence.

"And why is that?" Kagome automatically put her hand in his when the car rolled to a stop and he pushed open the door to guide them out into the open air.

"Were something to occur on this level of existence that banished me to the other realm, I have no doubts that you would soon be joining me," he shot Jaken a look that had the other youkai bow and retreat in a rush to give them a few moments of privacy. "Just as I had no such doubts when you vanished from Sengoku Jidai. It was merely a matter of waiting until when you would return home."

Kagome's head tilted to one side in automatic reflex to her confusion before she vocalized it, "I don't understand how you can be so sure of things like that-" when I wasn't sure… When I was in the void, I didn't know where it was going to spit me back out, and then there was wondering if anyone had lived…

"Your name seals your fate to me."

Kagome knew she had to have the blankest look on her face, especially if the faint smirk that twisted his own was any indication as she demanded, "What are you talking about?" My name?

Sesshoumaru held out his hand to her again, waiting until she had taken it with a skeptical glare until he guided her around the perimeter of the gate to the western side, and turning look out across the horizon as the miko shifted impatiently beside him. He drew in a deep breath to take in all the scents around him, assuring himself that nothing out of the ordinary was skulking around to eavesdrop on what was a highly private conversation, "The books you had given me contained writing belonging to you… writing that contained your name more often than not."

"It's customary to write your name on school work, and I'm sure you know that by now," Kagome was giving him looks that indicated she was starting to worry for his mental state. Maybe there really was some sort of kitsune overload, and the taiyoukai had only needed that brief contact with another after extended time with Shippou to push him over the edge?

"The strokes for your last name indicated a different meaning than I had anticipated," he continued calmly, waiting for the parallel to draw itself in her mind and nodded a single time when he saw her eyes widen. "A meaning that was given to your shrine."

"Higure- Sunset," Kagome started to recite the answer, the meaning of the beginning character she had seen forming her name all her life in a whisper, unaware that she'd spoken until Sesshoumaru gave her a single nod of acknowledgement.

"No matter where the sun goes in its travels, miko, the home of the Sunset has always been and will always remain the Western Lands."

Sunset… and Sesshoumaru has always been the taiyoukai of the Western Lands, Kagome's lips parted on a sound of understanding.

"Hence, this Sesshoumaru has always known that when night comes, you will return," amber eyes speared into her, ancient knowledge and unbreakable control pouring into the center of her being to smooth out the remaining agitation. "And you will always acknowledge that you belong to the west and its master."

Kagome stared up at him silently for a long time, her eyes dark with the rapidly passing thoughts of what could have happened if this stoic youkai hadn't seen fit to involve himself in their battles. At the least she would have lost her sanity… and most, her soul, I'm probably lucky that inus get possessive… I wouldn't have lasted if he didn't feel responsible.

"You know, Sesshoumaru… that's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me," Kagome broke the silence with a soft smile, turning to look out across the horizon where the sun would indeed make its descent as the day wore on until it came to rest in the protective embrace of its keeper. How long did it take him to think of that? …Why didn't I? I could have seen it so long ago-

"This Sesshoumaru will deny it in its entirety."

Kagome burst out laughing and looked up at him, "Except the master part?"

"That is a previous, understood statement that will still stand despite my denial of our current discussion," he nodded crisply, turning on his heel to make his way back the way they had come, anticipating that she would follow along.

"Jackass."

"Disrespect will increase the degree of your impending punishment, miko, do not think I find you completely blameless in this morning's fiasco," he warned her with no more emotion than if he were discussing an insignificant memo. "It is partially your fault that kitsune thought to demand audience."

"Now how are you going to pin that on me?" Kagome protested as he reached out and effortlessly pulled the massive gate open, ducking under his arm to enter the courtyard before he pulled it closed again. "I don't even know how to demand an audience."

"Stop making yourself appealing to strange males," he snorted at her as the spell around him shimmered and melted away. "I have had centuries to learn how damnably persistent kitsunes can be in pursuit of things they desire, and if you cannot convince him to turn his… affections elsewhere, we'll be dealing with him until he either `wins' in his own mind, or he gets bored and moves on."

"Don't hold your breath," Shippou's muttering growl drew their gazes up to where their own kitsune was sitting on the porch of the main house, a dark scowl on his face and sitting in a classic "Inuyasha" pose with arms and legs folded as a… a… thorned vine wriggled and twined itself through his shredded clothes in a serpentine fashion. "I'd say he's in it for the long haul."

"Good gods, Shippou!" Kagome's eyes widened, trying to process the sight of the disgruntled boy without a single illusion spell, tails and hair fanned out around him while his eyes seemed to snap with agitation. "What happened to you?!"

"Your lover," he drawled out flatly, reaching into his shirt to pull out a folded paper and wiggle it in her direction, "as he insists on calling himself, just so happens to have a specialty that involves not only regular things that grow, Nee-san, but he also has a sizeable collection of nasty things that are only found in the layers of Makai."

"Damn kitsunes," Sesshoumaru growled and shook his head, turning to pin Kagome with his disapproving glare. "Handle this. I have lords to see to for the duration of the council, and in light of recent occurrences, you are not to leave this complex. Am I understood?"

She nodded distractedly, brows furrowed as she started forward only to have Sesshoumaru squeeze her shoulder again to encourage a more direct response, "Yes, I heard you, Sesshoumaru-sama. I won't leave the compound until the council's over, and I'll take care of the pissy kitsune camped out on the porch as soon as you let go of my shoulder."

Sesshoumaru leaned down and murmured in her ear, "You are above taking your frustration with admiring creatures out on this Sesshoumaru."

Kagome's cheeks turned pink and she subsided with a grumble.

"If this other kitsune has command of plants to the extent your brother is suggesting, do not let your guard down in extricating him from that creature," he warned her as he straightened, giving her a nudge away from him as the curls of winds and clouds began to form around his feet. "Plant life from the Makai is sentient and rarely friendly to things that could be a potential food source."

She nodded in understanding, heaving a sigh as she reached out to touch the back of his hand briefly, "Thank you for coming to get me."

Sesshoumaru nodded and turned his face up to the sky, "I will return at the end of the week to tend to you, miko, and to inform you of the punishment I select. If you look to be in ill-health by that time, I will be even more displeased."

"Try not to kill anyone you don't want to bring back," Kagome smiled affectionately, squeezing him once before she obediently stepped away and folded her arms over her chest. "And if you need me-"

"You will know it if this Sesshoumaru requires use of you," there was a gleam in his eyes to show that he knew his wording would irritate her, a low chuckle rumbling out of his throat as he pushed up with his intrinsic grace to rise into the air and vanish across the sky back towards the heart of the city.

Kagome continued to glare after him, swearing under her breath until she heard a distinctive clearing of a throat and turned to see Shippou pointing at the vine that had yet to release him, "Now just how the hell did you get yourself wrapped up in plants, Shippou? You should know how to spot a trap by another kitsune."

"I couldn't! They were waiting for me!" he whined out over-exaggeratingly now that Sesshoumaru was far enough away to not overhear his complaints and bids for open affection from Kagome. "I was fighting that short bastard and we were having a good time, but he's a sore loser. As soon as I started to win he got nasty and told me that his friend was going after you. So I went back to the house and as soon as I stepped out of my ring, they just snapped out and tried to eat me!"

Kagome's lips pursed, blowing out a deeper sigh and shaking her head as she warily circled the pouting kitsune, nudging his tails with a foot to get him to swish the appendages aside for her to seat herself and reach out for the closest little vine, "What are they?"

"It split off from the others when I got out and refused to let go. But it won't bloom for me, so I can't tell you the exact line. It was inside a pretty tricky net he made out of some sort of roses, I think," Shippou grumbled as the tail end of the vines turned up towards her open palm curiously. "It's smart and it makes noise whenever I try to pull it off… Little shit, look what it did to my clothes!" he finished plaintively and pointed to himself.

"So it's sharp?" she held her hand perfectly still as the ends unwound and stretched up to start curling around her skin, tasting her aura when she let it open enough to let it.

"Can be," he waited tensely as the vines started to loosen, brows drawn down low as he readied himself to stop them in case the thing attacked her. "Right now it's waiting for something, but it won't tell me-"

Shippou choked off when the plant abruptly let out a high-pitched squeal the moment it pressed across her entire palm and flung him off the end of the porch, wrapping more firmly across Kagome's wrist to keep that end close to her.

Kagome watched in awe as the separate vines retracted from Shippou with dizzying speed down into a single piece with numerous little tendrils all reaching out to her as that first piece had done. As soon as it seemed to fully reform, the extensions reversed themselves and suddenly wound up her arm, twining around and around her skin until they were satisfied and settled down with a strange noise that sounded like, "Gods, is it purring?"

"Fucking hell, you little bastard, just wait until I get my claws on you!" Shippou was fuming as he pushed himself up, gingerly touching the oozing gashes across his chest that had ripped the last fully intact section of fabric. "This was one of my favorite shirts!"

"Shippou!" Kagome raised her voice to cut through his ranting, holding her arm up away from her body as she tilted her head to better hear the grumbling sound the spiraling vines were emitting. "Slightly more important than a shirt here," she arched an eyebrow and gestured to the trade-off.

Shippou blinked and looked up, eyes going wide and the color leeching from his cheeks when he saw the way it was trying to braid their ends together to lock itself in place, bounding up and grabbing her wrist, "No, no, no! Let go! Dammit, drop her! She's not a kitsune! Drop her, right now!"

Kagome opened her mouth to demand why he was scolding the plant like a recalcitrant puppy when it shifted and reared up, a single blood-red blossom curling open to reveal a line of little razor teeth before they sunk into Shippou's forearm, "Hey!"

Shippou let out a hiss, gripping the stem with his other hand and continuing his efforts to jerk it off Kagome as he muttered more to himself, "Oh, so now you'll talk to me. Little brat, I don't care what he said, she's not a toy-"

"Enough!" Kagome slammed her free hand down hard against the wood at her side, startling both kitsune and flower into pausing their tug-of-war to look at her curiously. "I can't believe I'm about to have this conversation," she reached up and rubbed at her temples with a deep sigh before pointing at Shippou. "Stop yanking on it before either you get hurt, or it gets hurt, and don't argue with me. I don't feel any threat from the thing just yet, and if I did it would be purified before it had a chance to do anything."

Shippou set his jaw mutinously, "But-"

"Let go of Shippou," Kagome ignored him, frowning hard at the plant and calling herself seven different types of a fool for thinking just telling them like that would work until she felt its youki reluctantly start to withdraw.

The deep hued petals closed to a little bud and twined back around her before extending up to rub apologetically under her chin with what was definitely a whine. Kagome was left staring at Shippou in a rather dazed way, trying hard to compose herself and keep her voice calm and even as her eyebrow started to twitch and she murmured, "Shippou, honey, you have two minutes to explain what in the hell just happened, or I'm going to kick your ass."

He winced slightly at that tone of voice, considering his clearest memories of it were right before the miko had either performed some sort of maiming attack or busted Inuyasha into the ground hard enough to stop even the vilest of curses from coming out of his mouth, "Ah… I…"

"There is a thing that looks like some twisted mix of a rose and a shark purring and rubbing up on me like Buyo, Shippou," she cut him off, taking a deep breath and reorienting herself against the urge to just zap them both and be done with it. "That not only just did what I said, but you claim is speaking to you and used to be wrapped around you from a trap set by Kurama at the Urameshi house- where you knew they had been seen, I should add… So, I repeat. What in the hell is going on here?"

"This isn't just about the rose, is it?" Shippou fidgeted slightly under her increasingly irritated scowl and tried tentatively.

"I should have stayed with Sesshoumaru," Kagome groaned and dropped her head into her hands, almost wanting to cry when she felt the vines pat her on the back in what they thought was a comforting manner. "At least when I'm with him I know exactly why I'm going to feel like banging my head against the wall."

"But he's stuffy," Shippou pointed out, glaring at the rose for hissing at him when he reached out to touch her knee.

"Why is it doing that?" Kagome's shoulders slumped, exhaustion setting in rapidly as her body and mind got tired of trying to process every surprise of the morning, from the malevolent voice all the way down to this living flower that gave every indication it was dead set on guarding her from Shippou, of all people. It was just too much, too fast, and she was ready to put it aside for the rest of the day, Or week… or even the rest of the month. That would be nice. Damn, my head hurts.

"I'm the `wrong' kitsune," Shippou answered her in an offended tone. "It's an old trick, Nee-san, using what you know to put up safeguards and that kind of thing around someone you want to be with, but can't protect personally. This is a bit extreme though. And no, humans like their pets and flowers separate, so you aren't a perfect gift," he stuck his tongue out at the flower when it shuffled and growled at him. "Oh my gods, you're more arrogant than Big Dog, and you don't even have the hands to back that threat up, you-!"

"Shippou, please?" Kagome lifted her head and gave him an exasperated look. "As amusing as it is to hear you threaten a…" she trailed off and looked down at the bud that turned to "look" back up at her, "whatever you are, but- forget it, that's not the point. I don't understand what's going back and forth between you two, and I'm getting a headache trying to figure out how exactly this day went off the deepest end of fucked up in less than six hours."

"Sorry, Kagome," he flopped down on the step below her, resting his chin on her knee the way he used to do when he was a child and puffing up when it brought a smile to her face. "I didn't think he had anything like this, and I shouldn't have left you alone in the first place, but Sesshoumaru doesn't know these guys as much as you probably think he does. We didn't want to risk them making a grab at you before we knew why they were lurking around."

"That's for the youkai-bred flowers to handle?" she drawled out with dry sarcasm that had him rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"It's different. It doesn't want to hurt you," Shippou promised her with a weary sigh, sitting up and drumming his fingertips on his blood-smeared thigh. "It keeps saying it's a gift... well, when it's not being rude, but it likes how you feel and says you're pretty."

"Of course it does, it's a youkai," Kagome shrugged that off, reaching up to stroke her hand over the surprisingly soft petals opening under her touch, trying not to think about the fact that it was more or less trying to lock itself onto her. Or that the color matched a certain kitsune she was trying hard not to be thinking about, "Why is it holding onto me?"

"So you don't get into trouble," Shippou snorted as he relayed the message and shook his head. "Maybe you should explain that Sesshoumaru will melt it if it can't make itself scarce or tries to snap at him."

"Gods, that's all I need," Kagome rolled her eyes and stood, raking her hand through her hair and biting back a string of curses when the rose let go in favor of winding itself carefully through the thick mass.

"It says it knows how to stay out of the way, but Kurama was very specific about making sure you were kept safe at all times," Shippou repeated, trotting after her as she stalked off towards the kitchen. "It says he likes you a lot."

No kidding, she made a sound of irritation, recalling just how much they had been "liking" each other when he caught her off-guard with that unbelievable kiss.

"And he's never given anyone he liked anything like one of his special roses before," he continued, frowning at the smug air the plant gave off as Kagome's steps grew softer and more thoughtful. "It's- damn you! I'm not translating to make it easier for your kitsune to seduce my sister!"

The rose made a wheezing sound that she attributed to laughter, especially when Shippou fairly snarled in answer and dragged a weary sigh out of her, "I'm ignoring you both."

"Don't do that, it started it!" Shippou hurried to match pace with her through the hallway, hopping around in front of her and walking backwards to catch her eyes. "C'mon, Kagome, I'm too cute to be ignored, you know I am."

"That worked when you were a kit, Shippou, I don't fall for your squishy eyes anymore," she gave him an arch look that was much too reminiscent of Sesshoumaru for his peace of mind.

"I can make you dinner," he tried to bribe, watching for some sign he was getting through her stress to help her unwind.

"I can make my own ramen," Kagome frowned when she felt her hair being lightly tugged, picking out the rhythm and shaking her head when she realized it was entertaining itself by braiding.

"I'll let you keep my pants."

She snorted, but the way her eyes had started to gleam told him he was getting closer to taking her mind off the crash of events she'd endured in such a short span of time, "You aren't getting them back anyway."

"That's not fair," he whined out miserably. "I like those pants."

"I do too."

Shippou pouted, folding his arms and wracking his brain for that last nudge he needed to get her really smiling again, coming to a complete stop when the thought finally struck him, "Oi."

Kagome's brows lifted, pausing in her search for food at the wicked light that had entered those bright blue eyes, "What now? I'm tired, I'm hungry, and now I have a rose thing playing with my hair while it's telling you how much Kurama `likes' me… Don't you think I have enough to stress me out at the-"

"Wanna fight?"

~*~*~*~

"Yuusuke, I'm sorry, but you really can't go in there right now!" Botan held her hands up in a placating gesture, shrinking back against the door to Koenma's office under the three dark scowls being sent her way from the most dangerous members of their little team. "Koenma-sama is with the director of records, a guardian deity… it would be a terrible insult for you to disrupt them!"

"That's too damn bad," Yuusuke reached past her for the handle again, frowning sharply when she grabbed his wrist. "Let go, Botan, I ain't in the mood to play around anymore, not for a guy even Youko's afraid of."

`For the last time, I was surprised, not scared,' Youko growled out irritably at the obtuse man. `Sesshoumaru is the taiyoukai of the Western Lands, carried the title through the barriers forming and everything. He deserves more respect than just some random bastard wandering by, but I don't get how someone of his age and power managed to make it through without setting off any bells and whistles. And why does he want my lover?'

For all you know, you want his lover, Hiei reminded him, slowly recovering from his own shock under the disgruntlement the kitsune was being forced to suffer for his knee-jerk reaction to hearing the name the youkai called himself. And for all we know, that's not the real Sesshoumaru. By every report, he's seen regularly patrolling his lands in Makai, and if he's Takeharuka that wouldn't work. He can't be in two places at once even if he is that taiyoukai.

`I don't know, any time anyone has tried to get one over on him, he turns around and does something that no one thinks any youkai should be capable of,' Youko made a face, his thoughts turning inward as he went over everything he knew of Sesshoumaru or remembered being said in the more trustworthy circles.

You tried to steal from him before, didn't you? Kurama rubbed his head to dispel the growing ache when Yuusuke simply grasped Botan by the upper arms and bodily lifted her out of the way to open Koenma's door for their entrance.

`Tried nothing,' Youko snorted. `I did steal from him, but it was just for show. Nothing valuable.'

How do you know? Hiei demanded.

`It was just a tiny little thing… actually, now that I think of it… it looked kinda like a keychain, but that can't be right. Wrong time period for those,' Youko frowned slightly as he sifted back through memories for the article he'd stolen from the legendary Sesshoumaru. `Oh well, it looked like one of those charms you get at a shrine or something… can't remember what it said.'

That's helpful, Hiei rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath about thieves and shiny objects as they brushed past the stammering Botan in time to see Koenma grabbed by the front of his shirt and lifted off his feet by a woman wearing a simple black and violet kimono, glossy hair tied off with a dark ribbon near the small of her back.

"Those were loaned to you with the solemn promise nothing would happen to them, Koenma!" she hissed out furiously, shaking him once before dumping him unceremoniously to his desk and lifting her fist threateningly. "I knew I shouldn't have listened to my idiot husband when you asked for-!"

"Are we interrupting?" Kurama called out when he got a sense that this human-spirit woman was just getting started in her verbal and -more amusingly- less verbal assaults.

`We could have watched longer and it would have been just as fun,' Youko pointed out with a faint moping tone. `Look how scared he is of her!'

We have more important things to worry about, Youko, Kurama reminded him.

"Not at all," the woman answered calmly as she glanced back, eyes almost as red as Hiei's taking them in and dismissing them as not enough of a threat to bother with in her current temper. She set her hand on her hip and turned a sharp glare on the cornered looking man, "You're just in time to watch your boss get his new body ripped apart for losing my files!"

"Sango-sama, please!" Koenma rolled away from her in a rush when she reached for him again, coming to his feet beside his desk and trying to ward her off with frantic hand motions. "I'll find them, I swear I will! It never left this room, it has to be here somewhere! Give me more time-"

"Lose something important again?" Yuusuke snorted in amusement and cut into the increasingly incoherent rambles, folding his arms and reveling in the sight of the fuming woman cracking half-gloved knuckles and following their oftentimes-obnoxious employer with murder in her eyes.

"My husband's history records," Sango answered, flicking her hand and reaching out to grab Koenma by the back of the neck and flatten him to the floor with that subduing hold when he tried to dart past her again. "Oh no you don't, you overgrown weasel! I've spent lifetimes catching youkai and little hanyou pups, you aren't going to sneak out from under me until you give me what I came for! You're way past due for the returns we agreed on."

Yuusuke was snickering openly, rubbing his chin as he regarded the pleading look on Koenma's face as it turned on them, eying the faint smiles on his friend's faces as they held to an unspoken agreement to let him muck through his mistake on his own, "I like this lady."

History records… you think it's the pages we took? Kurama glanced at Hiei out of the corner of his eye curiously when Yuusuke stopped looking at them, equally loathe to turn away from the sight of the demi-god's torment and possibly miss some of the fun.

`Good idea, make Hiei give them back so she doesn't try to beat us up,' Youko grinned widely, lounging in the back of Kurama's mind as he continued to roll around in his morning successes. `Better to have a woman like that fighting with you instead of against you.'

Hiei snorted his disgust at the kitsune's behavior, I am not afraid of a human woman who died long enough ago to hold a position of enough power that Koenma is afraid of earning her displeasure.

`Still, I'd rather watch her play out that "displeasure" on someone else,' Youko observed cheerfully. `It's a lot more fun that way.'

We do have to put a stop to this eventually if we want to get the answers we want about Sesshoumaru and that Onigumo person, Kurama's eyes followed the way that spirit finally seemed to tire of exerting more effort than she needed and stepped on their boss's back.

`Fine, fine… distract her. Ruin our fun.'

Hiei scoffed at the grumble, but tilted his head and raised his voice in a bid for clarification back along the original topic, "Involving what?"

"Hm?" Sango glanced up curiously at the question, one foot still pressed against Koenma's back to hold him down as she looked at each of them until determining which one of them had spoken. "What involving what?"

"The history that was lost," his brows lowered in annoyance at having to add more to his demand than he wanted to say. "What did it involve?"

"Oh, the legends of the taijiya village I came from when I was alive," she shrugged and folded her arms over her chest, scowling down at the crying man she'd pinned to the floor. "For centuries you've barely spoken to our department, and the first time you do, you ask us for a loan and you lose it!"

"The Shikon-no-Tama?" Hiei waited until this Sango woman had knelt again, not above letting her throttle and abuse Koenma a little more before he asked the question he was almost positive would bring an end to the scuffle between them.

Koenma's startled gaze snapped up to them while she went still and seemed to ripple for a moment, her hair twisting up in invisible fingers into a topknot that made Youko frown slightly at the familiarity of that action. She released the gaping deity, straightening her spine with slow precision and closing one hand into a fist as the sleeves of her kimono seemed to melt back off black, form-fitted sleeves.

"H-how did you-?" Koenma sputtered, pushing himself up and looking up at Sango fearfully. "Sango-sama, please be calm! They aren't dangerous youkai, they work for me!"

Interesting… Botan said that she was a guardian deity herself, I wonder what kind of distinction she was given if she can alter herself to such a dangerous state, Hiei tilted his head slightly as her feet slid into a wider, fighting stance.

More importantly, what can she tell us about it? Kurama held up his hand in a soothing gesture. And where does she fit into all this?

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to remove those papers from Rekai?" Sango flicked her hand dismissively at Koenma's words, pinning them with a hard glare as she turned it palm up in their direction. "I want my files and I want them now, or I'll start breaking spines."

Too bad she mentioned a husband, Hiei, she's definitely your type of girl, Kurama covered a smile with his hand, giving Yuusuke a nudge to knock him out of his stupor and motion for him to return the pages to the fuming woman.

She's already dead, you idiot, she can only have that type of relationship with another spirit, Hiei shot him a dry look, but inwardly chuckled when she snatched the pages away from Yuusuke and started to storm out of the office.

"Just a moment, please?" Kurama hurried to stop her, trying his hardest to keep the desperate edge out of his voice as he instinctively reached out and winced when his hand went through her.

Sango paused, arching an eyebrow at him for the pointless attempt at restraining her, "I am technically a ghost, you know. Now, do you have any idea how busy I am with my files making themselves vanish around the Rekai? I'm a week behind with processing because of this crap, and he-" she pointed angrily at Koenma to emphasize her complaint, "isn't helping with all these questions and demands for files we haven't looked at since we were appointed to our positions. Especially not to pass out for casual perusal."

"Did he tell you why?" Yuusuke asked, crossing his fingers that she would be angry enough to answer before Koenma could stop her, or at least that he would still be scared enough to stay out of the conversation completely.

Sango let out a disgusted snort, her kimono fading back into place as her hair fell loose again to its original style with her decreasing agitation, "He was stupid enough to approve reincarnation for a `rehabilitated' soul before he double checked all of the sources for red flags."

"The soul is human and deserves to have-"

"That human decided to recreate history and turned itself into the most dangerous hanyou that ever existed," she growled back in a tone that suggested this wasn't a new argument. "You knew he did the same thing with Midoriko and again with Kikyou. We stopped him the last time, and now you're leaving the door wide open for him to find-"

"Sango-sama, I can assure you that my detectives will not allow such a thing to happen again!" Koenma rushed to cut her off and brought scowls to all three of his detectives' faces, clasping his hands behind his back nervously as he squared his shoulders and ignored them.

That sonofabitch, Hiei's eyes narrowed. She was going to tell us.

Don't worry, Hiei, we'll get our answers one way or another, Kurama's lip curled slightly, making sure Koenma could see he was just as displeased with the interference as the hybrid and more willing to show it.

"They're very good at what they do-" Koenma assured her.

"They'd better be," Sango shook her head, cutting him off as she grabbed the door and yanked it wide open. "This thing almost destroyed my entire family, succeeded in decimating my entire town and nearly wiping out the taijiya bloodlines completely. It cursed my husband, tortured my friends, and murdered legions of innocent souls for his own pleasure and ambition. And you recreated it in a new body in an era that is not prepared to deal with such things."

Koenma swallowed hard under the piercing stares that instantly turned on him, "It won't happen again."

"Arrogance…" she laughed bitterly and stepped through the door, gripping the wood and giving him a cold smile. "You can't predict the actions of a brilliant lunatic, Koenma, and no matter how deeply my hatred runs for him, I have to admit that he is brilliant. But when he snaps and reverts to his old ways, don't expect any help from me or my husband in cleaning up the mess for you after we warned you more than once to leave him in limbo. This is entirely on your head," she slammed the door hard enough to rattle the walls, making Koenma wince and hunch in on himself self-consciously in the following silence.

`We need to find where that woman goes and speak with her,' Youko insisted in a thoughtful tone, practically burning to get the rest of the story she was guarding in that pretty little head after those appetite-whetting snippets. `That's going to be damn good, I can taste it. That's a woman who can give us answers.'

Later, Kurama's eyes narrowed on Koenma, clearing his throat to get the brooding deity's attention on him before he set his hand on his hip and challenged him in a low growl, "I'd say it goes without saying that it's time for a long talk…"