Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Red Sky at Morning ( Chapter 29 )

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

A/N: -snicker- Goodness! So impatient! -makes tsking noises before humming and packing up to hide from Kazusa- Don't be afraid that suggestions of plot points are getting buried amidst other things… this thing is plotted out, but admittedly twisted around like a jolly pretzel, so while it might take longer than some of you hope to get to certain points, they will eventually come around. (So long as they're IN the story -wicked grin-) Still not giving any hints though… unhinted is much more fun! XD

LOL, don't think it means I don't love you anymore, I'm just not planning to rush any scenes just for the sake of getting there faster. It has started the loop into a more, ah- intense portion of the story, so you'll see. It probably won't take as long as you think to get around to more answers. ^__^ Hee hee.

As ever, to my darling reviewers and readers, my junkies and my helpful little chat-buddies, you're amazing and wonderful and I absolutely adore you all. It's a lot more fun writing when you get to hear feedback and know that you're entertaining someone. You say the sweetest things, and I LOVE getting those long reviews full of speculation and specifics. -super ultra mega glomps and kisses all around- You guys are truly fabulous.

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By Any Other Name

~Red Sky at Morning~

Kagome felt a pulse run through her body when the sound of a throat clearing interrupted her attempts to stop the argument about random displays of kitsune affection, pressing one hand against her stomach on instinct as the cool feeling of unwanted anticipation poured into her veins. Her lips were already tugging down in a frown as she began to turn towards the person waiting for acknowledgement, brows furrowed in concentration to decipher what could be setting her body so on edge without having already announced itself to her "other" senses when her gaze lifted up along a perfectly tailored business suit to a fine boned, aristocratic face.

The world fell away, pupils constricting the exact moment her gaze connected with warm, red-brown eyes watching her intently from that familiar face set into an unfamiliar expression. She sat in frozen silence as something flashed deep in that soulful gaze, and he reached out an elegant hand to cover hers on the table while he bowed respectfully.

"Please forgive my lapse of proper manners in getting your attention... Nasamura Reiko," the deep voice filled Kagome's ears, pitched low to convey a sense of privacy, or even intimacy, but sending a freezing chill straight down her spine that bit sharper than any sliver of ice or knife's edge could hope to accomplish.

Reiko? the name he'd offered clicked in her head abruptly and she bit down the sudden urge to let out a hysterical laugh at the sheer irony of it while darkly cursing whatever gods had arranged this event. It was pure reflex to lean back when she felt the pair behind her fall silent, Shippou's ki sparking to violent life while Shinju's was tempered more with wariness and disbelief.

She could feel the growing tension radiating off of them, the kitsune's own emotions understandably running steadily darker with her own given the personal association they carried as he reached forward and closed his hand over her shoulder in a gesture that was both support for her and warning to the man watching them so closely and touching her without permission.

"I'm terribly sorry to have interrupted your meal, but I have been… unable to take my eyes off you," his head dipped again, lips parting in a smile that was more than disturbing to her for its disarming candor. "I couldn't bring myself to resist the compulsion to speak with you."

"They call that stalking," Shippou growled out, suggesting he leave with his darkening scowl.

Reiko glanced at him, arching an eyebrow in an arrogant motion that definitely brought Sesshoumaru to mind before ignoring the fuming kitsune, "I was very glad to see your other companions leave. I believe it would have been more awkward under the circumstances."

"In other words, you knew you'd get your ass kicked," lip curling up off his teeth to instinctively deepen the threat when he ignored the more subtle signs of dismissal. "It's not any safer to interrupt without them here. Go away."

"Why me?" Kagome's voice was whisper soft, stopping whatever Reiko had been about to say as he refocused on her with a smile of pleasure to finally hear her speaking. If he saw the haunted, cornered look turning her eyes almost three full shades lighter than normal, he gave no sign.

"My eyes were drawn to you," he spoke without hesitation to repeat that fact, eyes momentarily turning inward before he seemed to shake off his inner thoughts and attempt to clarify. "I cannot explain it to you, but I have learned to follow my instincts in all things. Although I am more inclined when they lead me to a woman of your caliber."

"Are you planning to stand there and spout off cheap lines all day, Nasamura-san?" Shippou emphasized carefully, grinding his teeth together and shifting closer to Kagome when he felt the ripple chase down her spine. "Or did your instincts have something else to offer?"

"Actually, I believe I have something that belongs to you," he directed that answer to Kagome, his free hand slipping into his suit jacket and making both boys tense rapidly in defensive preparation, turning to bemusement when it came back into view with a light blue envelope.

It was pure reflex that had her hand lifting to accept the offering when her senses failed to bring her any hint of a threat from it, numb fingers brushing his and nearly making her up and flee at the unexpected contact, "W-what is this?"

"A smile. For you," that charming smile of his own was back, eyes meeting hers to convey a spark of humor that had her eyes widening.

"What the fuck kind of answer is that?" Shippou's eyes narrowed sharply, fingers clenching against the urge to erase his illusion and bury his claws in that face. "Nee-san-!"

"Take your… charming brothers with you," he continued to look only at her as he gave her fingers a squeeze before reluctantly releasing them, but there was a current in him that suggested he was pleased to hear of her relation to her companions. "I'm told there is a certain peace to be gained from viewing the exhibit."

Even more confused, and unable to process her thoughts around her knee-jerk reaction to shut down into herself rather than accept what was happening, Kagome hesitantly broke the glue seal of the heavy paper and looked at the contents, What-? Tickets… to a garden display? At a temple?

"Let's say I hate to see a beautiful young lady in distress," his voice dipped to an almost hypnotic cadence as he offered her another bow when he saw the question in her eyes, removing his other hand in a way that had his fingertips sliding caressingly across the skin.

Kagome sucked in a breath, waiting for the crackle of youki, the burn of ki sliding over her senses and forcing its taint into her blood. She was ready, waiting for it, and had opened her mouth, sitting up to offer a more direct confrontation when she went perfectly still, eyes paling under a wave of confusion.

Nothing.

Nothing but the vibration of a perfectly normal human, an old soul definitely, but besides that… Kagome's shoulders dropped with the release of her taut muscles, staring up at the amused face above her with a sort of disoriented alarm, It can't be… nothing? What-? Why is there-? But this is… Oh my gods…

"I-I can't possibly accept-"

"Use them, shoujo," he abruptly brushed the back of his hand over her cheek in the barest touch, pulling back before she could cringe away from the contact. Smiling warmly at the skittish girl and her remaining lunch partners, he stepped back and pressed his hand over his heart in an old-fashioned gesture, "I will consider it a fair trade to know you are smiling as you should be. Perhaps it will help to relax you the next time we meet."

"You must not be that good a stalker to have missed the part where she was kissing her boyfriend at the table, Nasamura-san," Shippou pulled her back by the shoulder when he saw him reaching out to Kagome again, bringing his other hand to rest on her shoulder as well and giving that man a challenging scowl. "I don't think he'd be too happy to see that she was receiving gifts from strange men."

If the situation were any less serious, Kagome would have rolled her eyes and called him on the fact that so far, he was her loudest voice of disapproval on getting to know the reborn kitsune better. For him to be openly calling Kurama something so intimate…

"There is not seeing and there is not caring," his lips quirked slightly in a confident half-smile when he turned away from them to leave. "If he wished to be seen and contended with, he should have remained instead of leaving such a lovely girl to fend for herself," he cast back over his shoulder, eyes unwavering in their perusal of her still form perched on the edge of her chair. "I will see you again."

Kagome felt a pulse deep inside her body out of synch with her heart beat when his eyes gleamed more brightly for a brief moment until he turned away and walked out of the restaurant just as calmly as he'd approached the table in the first place, Hold it together, Kagome, do not get sick…. Do not get sick.

"If you get sick I'll make you eat all over again," Shippou finally murmured in the tense silence, trying to cut through the painful tension hovering around the table in the wake of Nasamura's passing. When she turned woodenly to look at him, he reached out and cupped her cheeks in his hands with exaggerated care, "Nee-san… are you-?"

"I think… I'm going to embarrass myself," Kagome whispered when he trailed off helplessly.

Shippou gave her a single nod, sharing a speaking glance with Shinju before rising and sweeping her up onto her shoulder in a single, fluid motion even as he flicked two leaves in place to leave an illusion covering their aided departure to a more secluded spot, This just isn't fucking fair! Kagome's already dealt with so much and it just keeps coming!

Wincing, he let his eyes return to their natural state in an effort to soothe her, setting her on her feet against the wall in one of the small alcoves dotting the waiting area while another quick whisper had another illusion snapping into place to hide them, "Nee-san…"

"The shogun," Kagome spoke as if she hadn't heard him, her hands sliding deep into her hair to grip the sides of her head as though she feared it would split apart at any moment. "He… he looks just like him, Shippou!" the laugh held a note of panic as she shook her head from side to side. "But there's no youki, nothing in him that calls to me. Not like that-"

"Shh, it's all right," Shippou swallowed hard, wrapping his arms around her and dragging her up against his chest when he saw the way her shoulders were starting to tremble. "Calm down, Kagome. You don't want to lose it in the restaurant, do you?"

"If I could be positive it would kill that snobby bastard maître d' for it, I might consider it a reasonable mistake," she muttered, burying her face against his chest and winding her arms around his back to practically crush herself into him.

His ribs expanded with his soft chuckles, beyond relieved that she was still holding herself relatively calm and composed enough to make that kind of joking statement, "Wrong era, Nee-san… we'd have to take him back about a century."

Kagome let out a wavering laugh, reaching up and brushing her hand over her cheeks to wipe away the tears that had begun to seep silently from her eyes, "I wish sometimes-"

Shippou sighed when she cut herself off, sliding his hand up and down her back as he tried to soothe the agitation flickering almost visibly over her skin, "I know, Nee-san, I know. We all do, but we get through it." He chewed on his lip nervously for a moment, glancing around to be sure they were still alone before he urged her, "It… might help to talk."

"About what?" she reached up a tentative hand to touch her forehead, only then noticing she was still clutching the sealed envelope. "I was just hit on by a human without an ounce of active magic with the face of the shogun Naraku consumed and the soul of-" she cut herself off when she felt Shippou's body go completely rigid.

"Soul of-?" Shippou tried hard not to growl as he prodded for her to finish that.

Kagome dropped her forehead onto his shoulder wearily, all the energy seeming to drain out of her as he watched, "You know what I was going to say."

"Onigumo," his jaw clenched, feeling his eyebrow twitch with the emotions roiling just below the surface at speaking that name out loud. "Goddammit… what genius thought giving that bastard another chance in that body would be a good idea?"

"Someone who wasn't there," she blew out a sigh that seemed to come all the way from her toes, closing her eyes to block the memory of that face. "Or someone who doesn't understand that some souls and bodies shouldn't be restored."

"If I find whoever is responsible, I won't forgive them," Shippou rested his hand on the back of her head, resting his chin against her hair and taking in a deep breath as he expanded his youki in an effort to calm her when he felt her soul expand and pulse throughout her body. He remained quiet for a few heartbeats longer before his fingers tightened and he whispered, "Gods… I wanted to kill him."

Kagome felt herself smile faintly to answer the intensity of that growl, relaxing even more with the kitsune saying the words he knew she couldn't bring herself to say, "Shippou-chan."

"It's true," he let out a snort of self-deprecating amusement. "Five centuries of Sesshoumaru's lessons and training on control and the first thought that crossed my mind was how badly I wanted to jump over that chair and rip out his throat to watch him die in front of us again. I wanted to feel his blood cooling on my claws and listen to his heart stop while his eyes go dim."

Kagome sighed and started to respond when her back suddenly arched, eyes clenching shut and biting off a choked gasp when a stronger pulse flared out from her body. Her hands left Shippou's shirt in an instant, coming back up to grip her head at the flood of images racing just behind her eyes and the overlapping sound of screams and whispers grating across her senses like a dull knife against stone.

She could still see it, still feel the ki in the slick, viscous fluid coating her hands like ink, staining the skin an ashen gray wherever it touched until the flow of pink followed behind to clear it away, Blood… there is nothing more seductive, is there, my precious Tama? The blood of an enemy coating your flesh, painting their suffering all the way to your hungry soul. You can hear it singing, can't you?

Angrily she banished the memory, jerking her head sharply to shake them loose, I do not kill for such reasons. No matter how tainted you tried to make the jewel before I purified it, Naraku, I sealed it back where it belonged. I am not a mindless thing to fall to such dark instincts now that it's over.

"-ome!" Shippou's claws dug into her shoulders, giving her a quick shake in his panic and blowing out the breath he'd been holding when he saw her eyes clear. "Kagome, are you all right?"

"I'm okay," she hurried to assure him, wrapping her hands around his wrists and encouraging him to retract his claws before he forgot himself and made a mess they'd have a bit of a time trying to explain. "It was just… just a moment."

"You went back," he frowned in concern, pressing one hand flat over her heart to check the beat against the pulse of her soul. "What were you playing for yourself, Nee-san?"

Kagome let out a soft laugh, gently pulling his hand away and giving him a little smile of reassurance, "Easy, puppy. It was just a memory I wasn't expecting to come out, and especially not so fast."

"I'm not a puppy," Shippou's brows drew together and he let out a huff of disapproval for the title.

Her smile grew easier, forcing herself back under control as she retracted the spilling waves of pink and violet energy to settle below the surface of her skin, "All right, all right. Kit."

"That's not much better," he grouched out, but she could see his lips twitch. "But I think I know the best way to cheer you up."

"What's that?" Kagome's brows lifted, more than ready to let herself be distracted away from the encounter with the face she saw only too often in her nightmares.

Shippou puffed up his chest giving her a wink as he lifted a finger to his lips as though imparting a great secret, "Sesshoumaru kept the tapes."

She was speechless, the bottom seemed to fall out of her stomach even as the last hellish whisper when sailing out of her mind to return to her subconscious before she breathed out, "You're kidding."

"Nope!" his eyes brightened, chasing away the shadows and preening at having been able to make her own gaze clear so quickly. "Perfectly preserved and fully functional. All of them."

"Oh my gods!" Kagome whispered, gripping his shirt with both hands and yanking on it distractedly as she demanded. "You're really serious! He kept them? He saved them?"

Shippou nodded, fanning her enthusiasm shamelessly, "We can have Koji-chan bring them down to the temple and save Souta from the chores he got from Shinju. I'll even cook!"

"You can cook?" Kagome gave him a tauntingly disbelieving look, but underneath it was clearly deep gratitude.

"Absolutely! I've gotten bored and gone through a few culinary schools," he informed her loftily, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and flicking his hand to banish the guarding illusion as he led her back towards the table where Shinju waited in impatient concern. "It'll be just what you need! I'll make a fabulous dinner while you're showing off the beginnings of the family to your brother and your evil, cheating son."

"You're still bitter about this morning, I see," Shinju remarked dryly when he caught the end of that remark, rising to his feet as the tension flowed out of him at seeing the haunted look had left Kagome's eyes.

"You get that lying thing from your father's side," Shippou returned without missing a beat. "And don't feed me that `I'm a monk' bullshit, either, you're evil and you enjoy it."

"I take offense to such disparaging remarks," Shinju turned up his nose, twisting lithely to snatch Kagome out from under the kitsune's arm and clasp both her hands as he made his voice as humble and pleading as he could manage. "Dearest Kaa-san… surely you would never believe such lies to be spouted off against your beloved child?"

Kagome just barely managed to hold an unaffected expression, detangling her hands from his to give him a patronizing tap on the head, "Your `dearest Kaa-san' is already fully aware of just what kind of monk you are, Shinju, although I have to say I'm grateful you resist the urge to grope family."

He blanched and looked offended, "I'm not that perverted!"

"Suggesting that you are perverted after all," Shippou drawled out smugly at the word trap the boy had just walked into and snickering when he earned a scowl for his amusement. "Don't fry me with that face, brat, you're the one that fell for it. And after you should know better, too! Nee-san learned from the source."

Kagome and Shippou nodded sagely in unison before equally dissolving into giggles they tried unsuccessfully to hide at his evident irritation.

"I am obviously not going to receive help from either of you," he gave into the urge to stick out his tongue, making them laugh even harder as he turned and collected his jacket in an elegant motion before giving Shippou a pointed look. "Are we done or are you two going to stand there all day?"

"Aw, you're so cute when your feelings are hurt," Shippou crooned and looped his arm around the young man's neck to haul him off towards the entrance, glancing back to smile at Kagome and make sure she was all right to follow without assistance.

She made a motion with her hand, smiling back and shaking her head at the cursing that drifted up from her son as he struggled uselessly against the kitsune's strength, but allowing herself a more sedate pace to keep to herself, He is trying to distract me… Ah, Shippou-chan, you've always been the one who takes it on yourself to bring my thoughts to happier places.

Kagome let out a sigh, unconsciously loosening the tautness of her shoulders as her energy reached down into the ground and brought her a soothing wave of ki, lifting a fingertip to stroke over the slender vine of the rose she'd more or less forced into dormancy for their surroundings, But why do I find myself wishing I was looking at another face? Wishing he was here and wrapping his arms around me… Why do I want to hear him tell me that he'll protect me?

She didn't even know this "Youko Kurama" beyond their sporadic and short meetings, or that damned dream she'd conjured up with the rose's help to bring him to her so intimately. Even more damning, each meeting seemed to involve getting into a compromising position with the beautiful man, but…

Mou, it really has been too long if I'm looking forward to the moments I know he's going to just grab me and kiss me, Kagome wrinkled her nose in a pout of disgust. Am I really turning that shallow? But… if I'm not… why do I want to touch him? It takes longer than that to develop deeper feelings, doesn't it?

Kagome jumped slightly when she felt a tiny thread wind sinuously around her fingertip, blinking and separating the feeling to find that the rose had roused enough to curl the end of a vine gently around that digit in a gesture meant to comfort her. Chuckling softly, she brought up her other hand to pet the vine, I should blame you for having such trouble banishing him from my mind. I can hear you when you whisper his words to me. But-

"Oi! Nee-san!" Shippou snapped her out of her reverie, lifting her eyes to where the two of them were waiting and then lowering to the phone he was tucking back inside one of his many enchanted pockets. "Are you going to stand back there and sigh like a high-school girl, or are we actually going to do something fun with the rest of today?"

"I can take an hour and see if you've recovered from your morning training, Shippou, don't think I won't!" she called out to him, but was already quickening her steps to reach them on the sidewalk.

"Have a heart, Nee-san, I'm delicate!" he whined out, trying to give her his pathetic face and throwing in a limp as he pressed a hand over his side.

Shinju snorted.

"And he'll cheat," Shippou jerked a thumb at the monk with his own look of superiority that he had learned to perfect from Sesshoumaru. "You know he will, he can't resist! It's in his blood."

"Are you calling my mother a cheater? How terribly rude," Shinju mock sighed, pressing his palm to his own cheek and constructing a putout expression. "To think that a boy would say such things in front of the same lady who-"

"You can't possibly run fast enough, you little brat," Shippou growled, taking a half-hearted swing that was predictably dodged and then darting after him when the boy took off down the sidewalk with the kitsune giving chase, slow enough that they wouldn't lose sight of Kagome, but quickly enough to make the run seem real.

Kagome took in a deep breath as she followed their trail back towards the station that would take them home, filtering out the human pollution to find the clean breath of nature stubbornly clinging to air so deep within the city as she picked up her disrupted musings, Perhaps I'm only homesick. Being near him… touching him… I feel so alive again. Is that why he is so attractive to me? Or is it something else?

::This one will not be easily dissuaded to give up knowledge of that damned jewel for gaining my permission to approach you. As agreed, I neither approve, nor disapprove of his suit, miko. I leave it to you, but do not allow yourself to be taken in by pretty trickery, no matter how appealing it may seem. We do not know if he has learned more than he should… But never forget that you have only to say the words to this Sesshoumaru that this avatar has crossed the line and he will be removed. Here you are safe, and shall remain so regardless of the means necessary to do so.::

Kagome wrapped her arms around herself as the taiyoukai's parting warning repeated in her mind, frowning in mild concern as her own suspicions trailed through her mind, Could he have figured it out?

Unbeknownst to the troubled miko, a pair of red-brown eyes watched her walk away intently, memorizing the lines of her body and the almost inhuman grace of her movements. Warmth filled them as they traced the way the sunlight glinted off the heavy curtain of midnight black hair swaying across her backside, the hand in his pocket closing into a fist against the urge to slide his fingers through it and ingrain the texture into the deepest part of his soul.

Whatever has drawn my eyes to you and calls to my soul, Takeharuka Kagome, I will not allow you to escape from me… I will find you no matter where you go or who thinks to take the light of your eyes for their own.

Reiko lifted his hand to his mouth, darting his tongue out to taste his skin where it had touched her face and savoring the oddly sweet tang that seemed to cling to his fingers, I will make you smile for me.

<::………::>

"Botan!" Kurama's voice lifted furiously, mingling thickly with Youko's in a violent snarl when she continued to stand with a stunned look of confusion on her perpetually child-like face. "What are you doing?! Open it! Now!"

`Why are they standing there and staring without fucking doing anything!?' Youko's own voice had nearly become unintelligible through his growling, but Kurama never had trouble with the words. `The longer they wait-!'

"There will be no more portals opened within the Hall of Records, youkai."

Kurama's head snapped around, eyes flashing red in spiking fury at that flat denial to his demand, "What the-?!"

"You heard me fine, don't pretend your ears give you troubles… but even if you were to be granted access back to where you left Kagome-sama, what would you do?" the woman's voice scolded from off to their left and drew their deadly gaze, the gravelly quality of her voice matching easily with stooped and aged form kneeling comfortably at a low table practically covered with scrolls. Certain she had their attention, she lifted her face to reveal one eye covered with a thick, leather patch while her good eye watched with piercing intensity. Her hand tirelessly painted words down the open scroll before her while she added to her question, "Attacking a human in the midst of such a place out of jealousy has been forbidden for quite some time after all."

"Jealousy?" Kurama's brows lowered into an impossibly deeper scowl at the perceived source of Botan's hesitation, twisting around and standing before her with both palms slapped down forcefully against the table before the others had even registered his movement across the grayscale room. "It's not jealousy if Kagome is terrified out of her mind! I have to protect-!"

"Kagome-sama is fine," she huffed at his show of impatience, holding her other hand calmly over the blurred spatter of ink that had spilled from his action and waiting for it to vanish before her writing continued as though the interruption had never happened. "It would take more than such a simple thing to cause her harm. She has been given a shock, but she is made of stronger stuff than you seem to give her credit for."

"I know what I saw-" he started again and fought back and explosive snarl when she lifted her free hand imperiously and cut him off again.

"I did not say that she was not terrified at the moment you looked at her face," she scolded him with that same quiet authority that had Youko grinding his teeth in annoyance. "She was taken by surprise, and yes, she has had a scare, but she will recover from it soon enough."

"How can you claim that knowledge?" Kurama's voice dropped, barely noting Hiei as the hybrid came up at his side, slightly behind him to conversely offer support and restraint if necessary. "How can you know what is happening while you hesitate?!"

"I became a scribe of history at my death, Youko Kurama… or do you prefer Minamino Shuuichi?" he could have sworn her lips just twitched at him in amusement over his obvious anxiety. "One would think you were embarrassed at your chosen humanity with your reluctance to share that name with the young miko."

Distracted now, he blinked and leaned back, trying to figure out if he could trust this old woman about Kagome's condition or if this was some sort of trick, distracting him with what he viewed as pointless an inconsequential, "Embarrassed-? Who are you?"

"That is simple enough, I suppose… Once upon a time I was called Kaede-sama, a miko in the Sengoku Jidai era," she offered casually, dropping her gaze back to the scroll as she made a final brushstroke and watched the surface glow brightly for a moment before leaving her a new blank page. "However, there are very few in this place who know me as anything besides the Sage of Time."

"Then why tell us that name?" Hiei asked suspiciously, reaching out to set a quelling hand on Kurama's arm and frowning at the tension vibrating in the life ki racing along the kitsune's skin under his palm. This is a little too convenient, Kurama-

`Fuck convenient! What's happening to Kagome?!' Youko seethed out, shoving violently against their boundaries in his efforts to get his answers immediately. `She's afraid and I'm not there! Get us back, Kurama, get us back now! I will not tolerate someone causing such feelings in my lover!'

"That's the way it's supposed to be," Kaede shrugged it aside in a particularly blasé fashion, ignoring the dark emotions radiating from the youkai in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Yuusuke cleared his throat, giving Kurama wide berth as he inched closer to the old woman writing at the table and twisting his head to try and read over what she was scribing.

"You may need to be familiar with it in the future, you may not be, it will depend upon the courses your lives take," she looked up at Yuusuke, arching an eyebrow in a way that made him feel like a little kid being caught reading his mother's diary without permission. "I am a Sage, an advisor, not a Fate to steer your direction at my whims. However, I can tell you that you are not needed at the side of this miko for her present confrontation. That is the work of Fate, and it will not be denied."

`Fate?' Youko spat the word like a curse, lip curling up in disgust at the suggestion.

Like hell, Kurama closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to control the raging desire to snap that table in half with his bare hands.

"What confrontation?" Yuusuke asked in the tense silence, looking from Kurama's tight expression to the woman staring at them as calmly as though there were discussing the weather.

"Kagome-sama is now meeting a man named Nasamura Reiko," she answered as her gaze returned to the scroll. "Had the choices of their lives been different, so would the meeting, and so would the outcome. But their current Fate was changed by other choices in the past."

"What changed?" Kurama could feel his eyebrow twitch, concentrating on taking deep breaths to calm himself and reanalyze what had become a completely intolerable scenario.

A low chuckle answered him, and for one agonizing moment, he thought she would merely ignore his "request" for that information before she pinned him with a disturbingly intelligent glare and murmured, "Are you sure you wish to know the answer to your question, Youko Kurama?"

`If she were alive-` Youko started to growl all over again.

"Yes," Kurama absently soothed his other half enough to focus on the answer, returning that piercing gaze unflinchingly. If she truly is the Sage of Time, Youko, we can trust her words. Kagome could be safe.

"Nasamura Reiko was to meet Higurashi Kagome on this date and begin a cycle that was once interrupted," she sat back, amazingly writing on without pause while all her attention remained on them. "They were to have met and fallen in love."

`We are going back right now,' Youko's voice dropped down to a lethal hiss. `Fuck Koenma, fuck Reikai, and fuck whatever mission he wants to send us on.'

"You said that was changed?" Hiei urged when he caught the disturbing images vibrating out of the kitsune's mind, well aware from the way Yuusuke and Botan winced and backed away that they had felt the way his ki had turned.

Kaede nodded a single time, making a motion with one hand that had a creature appearing before them, a small child entirely white from her hair and skin to her simple kimono, except for dark, blank eyes set into her expressionless face, "Write for me, Kanna. While I see to our guests."

"Hai."

Yuusuke stared at her in a mixture of awe and horror, backing away another step when the old woman rose and stepped aside to let the child take her place, reaching out to take the brush and kneel before her own writing left that elegant script making a fluid path down the scroll, "That… is that a ghost?"

"Kanna was a youkai during her life, but was offered a place here amongst us due to other circumstances," Kaede answered simply, folding her hands behind her back and walking calmly to the wall as a curl of mist reached up the plain surface to form a small, circular mirror. "Come, Youko Kurama, I will show you that your fears are groundless."

He paid the pale girl not another thought as he turned and followed to stare at the reflective surface, barely aware of the others following more slowly and Yuusuke's gaze continuously straying to where Kanna knelt with open unease, "What is this?"

"Kanna's mirror," she reached out and pressed two fingers to the surface, making it ripple and bow inwards for a moment until it shivered and revealed an image of Kagome walking down a sidewalk with her hands stuffed in her pockets and a thoughtful look on her face.

Kurama felt the tension flow out of him in a wave that nearly left him shaking, blowing out a startled breath in unison with Youko as their eyes widened and they very nearly shoved the old woman aside before they caught themselves and stopped directly behind her, "Is this-?"

"The present," Kaede closed her eyes and nodded, her expression never changing. "Do you see? I told you Kagome-sama would be fine."

Youko was about to voice his suspicions about the authenticity of the image when he saw Shinju dart across the "screen," running in a circle around the unfazed miko for what seemed to be no apparent reason until Shippou came into view as well. The pair of them continued to chase around her, using her as a living barrier while she remained unaffected by their bizarre antics and shouted insults, `The present… She is unharmed.'

"Satisfied?" Kaede inquired with a quirk of her lips, flicking her hand to banish the image just as Kurama had been reaching out mindlessly to touch the image. "Even without your presence, Kagome-sama is well-guarded. Those two would never allow her to be injured while they live."

"Why did you show us this?" Kurama bit back the desire to growl and demand she return that comforting image to the oddly vibrating mirror. "How do you know her? Us?"

`She calls her "Kagome-sama," Kurama, why is she doing that?' Youko pointed out, his thoughts clearing enough to focus on the discrepancies of the conversation now that his panic had been assuaged. `Someone of her position shouldn't know of a human sort-of miko so specifically to offer that kind of respect.'

"I do not permit destructive emotions to fill my Hall," Kaede responded with another shrug, moving away from the wall and letting the mists reclaim the mirror. "Your paths are crossing with mine and bringing the history being written to my personal attention. It is always wise to know whom you are dealing with."

"Why are we here?" Hiei looked around and then at Botan who clasped her hands together in front of herself nervously under his scrutiny.

"You have stirred legends of the past," she informed them with a faintly disapproving frown. "Legends formed within my lifetime. I am not the only one who was curious to see who would be foolish enough to resurrect interest in the Shikon-no-Tama."

That jewel again, Hiei's eyes narrowed and returned Kaede searchingly. Dammit, why do I feel like everyone knows this story except us?

It's starting to feel that way, Kurama gritted his teeth.

"You know about that thing?" Yuusuke blurted out in amazement before a look of speculation entered his eyes.

Kaede chuckled when she saw that look and shook her head, "I am not going to aid your search."

"Then why-?" he started to demand.

"As I said, I was curious," the smile she gave made the lines on her face deepen for a moment. "The jewel is a dangerous thing, and it brings pain and torment to all those who choose to involve themselves in its path. That was the hard-learned lesson of the past, and it has served to keep the stories buried where they belong until now."

"Do you know a Sango, then?" Kurama repeated the question Youko prodded him with, determined to fill in a few more pieces from this source of information that could help them towards their other goal.

"She was the last survivor of her village, the village that Midoriko came from," Kaede tilted her head to regard them, as though deciding what they were worthy of hearing before she spoke. "She ascended to her status as a god of vengeance for her place in freeing the world of the evils of the jewel."

"Vengeance," Yuusuke repeated with a shiver.

That explains that, Hiei remarked dryly, but still gave an internal smile at having the minor mystery solved.

`That explains why Koenma's terrified of her, anyway,' Youko chuckled at the memory as well. `Good, good… ask more. Does she know the husband?'

"That would mean you know her husband as well," Kurama was nodding to Youko even as he voiced that statement.

"Houshi-sama," Kaede's lips were curving again when she saw the frustrated disappointment fill the faces of the three men around her and the sudden realization that chased across Botan's.

`Goddammit, what is it about no one saying his fucking name?' Youko was right back to scowling in annoyance at that.

They're all protecting the legend, and he obviously plays a big part in it, Kurama sighed and resisted the urge to rub at the ache growing behind his temples.

"Houshi-sama?" she squeaked out in disbelief, shrinking back at the sudden, intense attention that drew her way from her companions. "What? I'm a girl, of course I know him!"

"What the hell does that mean?" Yuusuke looked absolutely flabbergasted as he tried to wrap his mind around that logic.

"It means that even in death, certain aspects of Houshi-sama's character remain unchanged," Kaede answered for her, waving aside the grateful look the ferrier sent her. "He has always had a habit of approaching beautiful women with less than innocent intentions."

"You wound me to the soul, Kaede-sama," a low, cultured voice purred out from behind them, all eyes immediately moving to seek out the sound only to find it hidden deeply in a collection of shadows that seemed to have gathered at the opposite end of the chamber. "To say such disparaging things when I am not here to defend my humble person."

It's him! Kurama tensed, feeling a sudden rush of eager adrenaline at the realization that the one person who they knew held all the answers they wanted had just mysteriously and inexplicably appeared.

There is no way in all the hells that he didn't plan this, Hiei's knees bent, eyes flashing as he instinctively readied himself for any potential threats coming from the hiding god.

`Of course he did,' Youko was back to sounding particularly pleased, settling down and folding his arms as he waited for the chance to size up the new opponent. `Everything they've said… everything he's done. This is a smart little bastard, and this has to be something that he's planned. He doesn't seem the type to leave loose ends.'

In other words, a group of youkai poking their noses around in a legend he's deliberately hidden for more than five centuries? Kurama snorted as he retranslated that, glancing at the way Botan had slipped around behind Yuusuke and seemed to be peeking over his shoulder while Kaede let out a sigh.

"I suspected you would be arriving soon enough, Houshi-sama," she again clasped her hands in a meditative pose, but her gaze had filled with deep, almost maternal affection as she unerringly stared at one spot in the center of that unnatural darkness.

"My heart warms to feel so welcomed," he chuckled richly and the shadows seemed to bow towards the old woman. "These are the ones?"

Kaede nodded, but her attention lingered longest on Kurama, "These are the ones who stole your scrolls from Koenma's office and managed to meet with Sesshoumaru."

"And retain your heads? My, my… I am impressed," now the voice held a not of taunting as the shadows pulled away enough to leave them with the vague outline of a man dressed in priests robes from the Sengoku Jidai era. "The Western Lord does so have a fondness for separating them from their rightful place after all."

"Why are you here?" Kurama grew impatient with the way that voice had filled with suppressed laughter. "You brought us through this portal, didn't you?"

"Of course!" he chirped out in a decidedly cheerful voice. "Kaede-sama was correct when she informed you that she was not the only one curious to see you. Besides that, I hear you have been anxious to meet with me as well. And who am I to deny an audience to such important persons with the Reikai?"

`That monk is sweet talking us,' Youko let out a bark of laughter. `Oh gods, I love it. Get him out in the open, Kurama, I'm going to like this one, I can feel it.'

If you hit on a god who's married to a god of vengeance, Youko, I swear I really will find some way to kill you, Kurama bit the inside of his cheek when he felt the kitsune's excitement. I will not be embarrassed that way in front of such a creature.

`I don't know,' Youko drawled out, obviously putting on airs to make Kurama more uncomfortable. `I've never had a chance to have sex with a god before… if he's attractive, it could be fun.'

Hiei nearly choked, turning his face aside to get himself under control when he caught the way Kurama's cheeks had turned pink with the words of his less-restrained half, Did you just-?

Say it and die a grisly, violent, humiliating death right here on the floor in Reikai, Kurama bit out fiercely.

`Hell, I'm teasing! He's dead, baka, even if he is a god, he'd have to find a body to possess for us to be able to do that,' Youko suddenly turned a speculative eye on Hiei. `Maybe-`

Not on your life, you sick freak, Hiei blanched at the thought and sent him a dark glare. Besides, don't you already have a lover you're chasing down like a rabid dog?

`I will ignore that insulting comparison once, hybrid, do not make it again,' Youko's voice turned serious, flexing his ki down Kurama's arms to reinforce that command.

"Maa maa," the monk lifted his hands and made a placating gesture, perfect teeth flashing in a smile in the darkness. "There is no need for anything of that nature. The Hall of Records is a peaceful place that was not meant to be disrupted with such energies."

Kurama felt the energy drain out of him, staggering back in alarm under that bizarre drawing sensation and flashing a startled look to the unmoved figure, "What are you doing to me?"

"Removing your anger," that smile flashed again.

`My ass, he's sucking out our ki!' Youko quickly flicked his hands, wrapping his own energy around their souls in a protective gesture before regarding the monk with more caution than he'd held a moment ago. `That sneaky little fucker!'

Rethinking your idea to like him? Hiei snorted in amusement, but he too had taken up a more obvious defensive position.

`Hell no, I'm just having to rethink his abilities,' Youko returned absently, much more focused on setting up a fine network of safeguards to at least slow the monk's efforts. `We need to find out what kind of god he is.'

"I believe in using the most effective ways to get the attention of others without resorting to violence," that voice was laced with something that had the two youkai snapping to attention in recognition.

He's toying with us, Kurama murmured with a bit of awe.

He's also enjoying this as much as you would in his place, Hiei accused in mild disgust, darting a look at the kitsune and further to Yuusuke's uncertain expression.

"Houshi-sama," Kaede had closed her eyes again, nearly looking like she had fallen asleep standing up before she finished in the same tone, "you are behaving like a child."

The shadows seemed to droop slightly at the censure and those lips twisted down in an unhappy frown, "Kaede-sama, are you accusing me of inappropriate behavior?"

She arched an eyebrow at him, "You have not changed."

"Sango would not love me so much if I allowed such a thing to occur," he let out a mock sigh as his head dropped to the side to rest on his shoulder. "But we digress," his tone turned serious so abruptly that it had them blinking in minor disorientation, "we are here to discuss your intentions."

"Our intentions?" Yuusuke's brows drew together, looking from the tense expressions on his friend's faces to the slow smirk spreading across the face of the hidden monk.

He nodded, bringing one hand up in a praying pose, "In your research of my writings. Did you like them?"

"Bunch of confusing bullshit," Yuusuke's lip curled in remembered frustration.

"Yes, I'm quite proud of my work," he preened under the complaint as though he'd just been offered the highest words of praise. "Although, I am impressed… most often those seeking the truth behind the legends of the Shikon-no-Tama lose their interest after reading my scrolls."

"Amateurs," Youko snuck out that disparaging remark before Kurama could sensor it, smirking when the monk turned again to face him alone.

The silence was broken by another deep chuckle, this one full of speculation at the single word challenge, "Ah, then you are my opponent. I suppose to a spirit kitsune of your considerable age such a thing would be a fair enough description of those who came before you."

Youko, you're digging our grave, Kurama hissed at him.

`Oh I am not,' Youko waved that off carelessly. `We're only playing.'

You're insane, he insisted.

And it only took thirty years for you to admit to this? Hiei slanted him an arch look before returning to keep his focus on the shadowed monk.

I'll leave you naked in a human mall if you keep that up, Kurama promised irritably, setting his jaw against the feeling of being tormented from all angles. Don't think I won't.

"Houshi-sama, you are being difficult," Kaede rolled her eye, and focused a look on him that had those hands back up to ward off the disapproval. "And you are wasting time skulking in your shadows."

He let out a reluctant sigh, dipping his head in an acknowledging nod, "Yes, yes… but you cannot blame me for enjoying myself. We so rarely get visitors of this nature anymore. Especially not ones being guided by such a beautiful lady."

Botan gripped her oar tightly, gesticulating with it as she addressed him, "Houshi-sama, didn't Sango-sama hit you hard enough the last time?"

"Houshi-sama has always been miraculously thick-headed," Kaede intoned in a perfectly serious voice, but Kurama caught the glint of positively wicked amusement in her eye as she looked at the monk again. "And I'm afraid he may have built up a tolerance to Sango-sama's brand of punishment."

Botan instantly looked ill at ease and shoved Yuusuke a few steps in front of her protectively, dragging a few more curses from the man as he caught his balance and snapped back at her, "Will you stop pushing me? Gods, woman-!"

A snicker in the darkness turned into a full blown laughter that disturbingly was echoed by the old woman standing behind them, neither caring about the stunned looks they were receiving until the mirth died down to a workable level and Kaede made a dismissive gesture, "It seems that there is always one, does it not, Houshi-sama?"

"Indeed," he let out a delighted sigh and shook his head.

"I'm getting damn tired of this," Yuusuke growled out irritably, pointing into the shadows as he challenged. "You! I don't care if you are a god, if you don't get your ass out here and face us like a man, I ain't gonna hold back!"

"Striking parallels," the monk clucked his tongue, but made no sign to move as his voice lost that playful edge and turned somber. "Impatience is the practice of youth and fools, Urameshi Yuusuke. Do you really want to prove yourself either one?"

Kurama held up his hand to stop him before his temper got the better of him and he ended up actually pissing off this god who held their answers, "What did you mean when you said you wanted to test our intentions?"

"Hm," the soft sound would have been lost on any other creature, those lips curving up in the barest smirk as a gleam chased across the hidden eyes and winked off something that had Kurama's eyes narrowed trying to decipher. "I have been watching you."

"That's obvious," Yuusuke snorted.

"Sesshoumaru is not a youkai you wish to make an enemy of," he continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "After all… he has not changed so very much since I last crossed paths with him."

They're all from the same era, Hiei's jaw tightened. This has to be the most organized fucking secret I've ever seen if they have synchronized it through two worlds.

`Maybe three,' Youko murmured thoughtfully. `We haven't done any real digging in the Makai, but Musou's presence and that Midoriko seem to suggest there could be a branch of these people there.'

"And why would a god be curious over such a small meeting?" Kurama prodded when the monk's words faded away. A shrewd gleam entered his own eyes as he tilted his head and accused, "Then again… how would you have known of it in the first place?"

"And why the hell won't you come out where we can see you?" Yuusuke cut in, glaring right back at Kurama when the kitsune turned a disapproving look on him for the outburst. "What?! All this cloak and dagger shit is getting old, Kurama, and how do we even know he's telling the truth? He's probably not even who he says he is! Just some little youkai underling freak who decided to have some fun by screwing with our heads and got his friends in on it!"

"Please!" that shadowed figure lifted his right hand to press over his heart in a gesture of affront as the light slowly expanded to reveal the handsome, youthful face set into an expression of what could only be called devious amusement, taunting their frustration with his narrowed gaze.

That's… impossible! Kurama's lips parted, eyes flashing with recognition as they locked with deep, violet eyes for a moment before the man watching them finished his protest.

"I am a god."