A/N: This is the SECOND chapter posted today. And unfortunately it will be the last for a bit; I've run out of buffer and am really struggling with a lot right now, so idk when I'll be able to work on this more, however it is NOT ending here. I've partially written the next chapter and am going to be working on getting my buffer back up asap. :)

Really, this was absurd. Tsubaki was stupid and powerless, compared to all of the people in Kagome's pack.

"Seriously? You really thought that bargaining with a stupid, Shikon-powered hanyō was necessary to gain the life you wanted? Come on. Clearly he didn't even think to warn you that I am not Kikyō's reincarnation since you keep comparing me to her. Her soul just tagged along with the Shikon when it chose to house itself in my body. I'm far more powerful than Kikyō ever was and she knows it, which is why she warned you not to go up against me. I suppose she still holds some residual fondness for you despite you being a power-hungry, worthless, false miko. True miko care not for glory, we only care for the lives of those around us. We care not for power excepting that it can be used to aid others. We care not for a life of youth unless the Kami decide to grant us with one. Bargaining with yōkai for any of these things turns us into dark miko, false miko, and it is time to end you since you clearly can't even fucking wrap your head around the fact that your spells won't work on me, dumbass!"

Kagome didn't know what this stupid woman was trying to do to ensorcell her but it wasn't working and she kept gloating about Kagome being some like Diet Kikyō or some shit and seriously she'd been going to try to talk her down because Kagome would much rather save lives than take lives, but "Ugh fucking stop already, you annoying bitch!"

With that she used Kodokuso to purify her and poison her, easily breaking through the barrier that was holding her middle son captive, seeing as there was nothing physical to bounce off of it.

Kagome had been made aware that he was weaker now than he had been by this time in their travels last time around, but as far as they were all concerned that wasn't much of a problem – Toga admitted that her own swords had been given the ability to absorb abilities and gain new powers, but so far she hadn't even needed that because barriers were kind of useless when she wasn't using physical arrows to anchor her purification to. They'd already met and helped Shiori and allowed her to keep her barrier-orb to protect her village.

Naraku was clearly running scared because Kagome and her tachi had rescued Kagura and Kanna from his clutches and granted them not only freedom, but safety in Sesshōmaru-kun's shiro where Naraku couldn't get into or he wouldn't have approached this chick here – and hell, he might have been trying to get Kagome to kill Tsubaki for him, but she rather doubted that, he wasn't that subtle. Naraku was clever but lacking in common sense and street smarts. Half the people he'd tried to manipulate into doing his will had been either too in awe of or frightened of their tachi to do any such thing (and had instead come to Kagome for protection from the evil spider hanyō) or Kagome had been able to talk them down, which was much more suitable than her having to kill people.

Especially genuinely talented miko.

But this was Tsubaki's own damn fault for being stupid, kidnapping Yasha-kun, and pissing Kagome off – not to mention falling for whatever trick Naraku played to get her to act so foolish.

"What- how- Oh, Kami that bastard trick-ow!"

The barriers flickered on and off until they disappeared. "You are being poisoned right now, and will be dead in probably two minutes or so. I'm taking my son and leaving; nobody here deserves to watch you die because you were stupid. I try not to put my pack through such things. Let Naraku know that I still have my powers and that this little stunt will cost him. Before, I was letting him pursue me, but he caused my son to be kidnapped – the hunt is officially on and spider is the prey this time around; not the miko from the future."

With that Kagome ushered her pack out, knowing that Tsubaki was well and truly over – even if she in desperation turned into a yōkai she would still be being poisoned and die shortly. Kodokuso was far more powerful than even Magatsuhi himself was. Because Sesshōmaru had been ingesting poisons, venoms, and acids from around the world for five hundred years by the time he had her made for Kagome. There was simply no contest.

Yes, it was shitty that she'd had to die – but the miko was in her old age anyhow and would have died in another couple years regardless.

Meanwhile, Kagome had a spider to squash – assuming Toga didn't have other plans.

As it turned out, Toga did have other plans.

Inuyasha was currently feeding his father with all the information he could give him on Hōraijima, where he had gone with Kikyō just over fifty years ago, and, armed with a battle plan, the group (including Sesshōmaru, who apparently had a vendetta against one of the War Gods on the island named Kyōra) left off, knowing that several families were waiting for them on the shore, so that they could be relocated. Only the families with the most to lose, those in the most danger, would be given sanctuary here – the others, Toga had informed of his long-term plans and were willingly staying where they were so that they could be of help in making sure hanyō were accepted by yōkai and ningen alike.

As soon as they approached they were attacked, but Toga, wearing Raimei, easily diffused the missile by slicing it in half (unlike Naraku, this was his project, and so Kagome was allowing him to take control of things and having him stay solid), and as they landed at the island and other entities began attacking them, the group split up. Yasha had a special job to do, whilst Kagome and Toga took care of the War Gods, Miroku and Sango took care of the false Kikyō, and Sesshōmaru aided them.

Ryūra was downed first, having had the stupidity to actually attack them despite his tangible fear once he realised he was facing the actual, living, Inu no Taishō himself. These idiots were no match whatsoever for Toga and Kagome, and within moments he was poisoned and his head lopped off with Jinrai – Kagome was using Kodokuso right now, and even though she could probably purify even these unnaturally strengthened fuckers with her power, she was just to poison and sting them. Toga wanted the pleasure of cutting their heads off, and Kagome wasn't about to deny him any pleasure he wished, so he was using both of her swords right now.

Gōra was next to fall – they were doing this in a specific order and leading the War Gods away from the Cauldron of Resonance, so that it wouldn't be destroyed this time around, and so that the island would continue to exist into the future, because until Toga and the rest of them could finish his modification of the Cauldron of Resonance so that it was a more stable, solid barrier instead of a time barrier, the island would disappear were it to be destroyed, as he had informed them had happened the last time around. Gōra was also fairly easy to dispatch, and soon it was time for Jūra, at which point Sesshōmaru joined them, informing them that the false Kikyō was dead. Kikyō herself was projecting a barrier over the families on Nihon's shore, protecting them from attack whilst Kagome's tachi did their mission.

Sango and Miroku were now helping Yasha with his mission, protecting him whilst he took the orbs he carried and dropped them one by one into the cauldron, a five minute interval between each different orb. This would be the basis for the spell that Kagome, Miroku, Kikyō, Sesshōmaru, and Toga would weave around the Cauldron to change its nature and to hide it so that it could not be attacked again.

Yōki and spiritual powers were far stronger when working together than when working apart, after all. That was how they were supposed to be used.

Sesshōmaru-kun stood back and allowed them to take care of Jūra themselves – it was Kyōra he had an issue with, and they would allow him to kill Kyōra himself and then help them deal with the true form of the Four War Gods merged into one being now that they were suitably far away from the Cauldron.

It took but a few minutes for Kyōra to find them, and then the battle was on.

Sesshōmaru-kun was incredibly strong, but Kyōra seemed to have absorbed the strength from his downed comrades and was just as strong as Sesshōmaru-kun, so the battle lasted quite some time before Sesshōmaru-kun's acid whip finally cut his head off.

Then, as promised, a new entity appeared, and this time all three of them, Kagome, her mate, and her eldest son, were attacking, drawing out the battle long enough for Yasha to finish his mission. It took a good half an hour to defeat this new entity with all of them holding back, but once half an hour had passed they all used their full strength and soon it was dead.

Then Toga and Sesshōmaru-kun flew to where Kikyō was and began transporting the families to the island. Kikyō stayed until the last were gone, at which point Toga transported her to the island and they all headed towards the Cauldron. Once they arrived, they lined up and encircled the Cauldron of Resonance, Kagome, Kikyō, and Miroku-ni holding hands as Sesshōmaru-kun held Miroku-ni's hand and his father's hand, and Kagome held Toga's other hand. Then they began to chant.

The spell wove in and out musically throughout the room, and soon the Cauldron was glowing, shrinking, flattening out, until it was a part of the island itself. They continued the chant, yōki, hōriki, reiryoku, miko-ki, and reiki winding around and spilling from each person to pour into the island as the barrier went up – and changed. No longer was it a time-barrier; instead it was a self-sustaining barrier that would only allow in those who meant no harm to any non-malevolent entity living on this island. Finally they finished, and Kagome sagged against Toga as Miroku-ni and Kikyō leaned against each other. The spell had taken a lot out of them, although their yōkai companions were still perfectly fine, being older and having more yōki than the ningen had of their respective powers.

Toga picked her up and cradled her against his chest, whilst Sesshōmaru-kun transformed and allowed Kikyō and Miroku-ni to climb onto his back. When they walked out, they were thanked profusely by the new residents of the island – several of whom had adopted the orphans living here to begin with – and they graciously gave them their welcome, before walking to the dock where they had left their boat. Sesshōmaru-kun had Kikyō and Miroku-ni get into the boat first, followed by Sango and Yasha, then he himself climbed in, Kagome and Toga being the last persons to get into the sturdy craft.

Once they got back to the mainland of Nihon, they travelled to where Kirara and Ah-Un were keeping their camp for the night safe along with the children, and once there Kagome pulled the two cooking serow off of the fire and dished it out to everyone present – she might be shaky and exhausted but she always dished out the food and refused to allow being drained to prevent her from doing so; it would take much more than this to keep her from caring for her pack. Kagome was a responsible alpha.

Then they all ate, quietly answering the children's questions and telling them the trip was successful.

Now it was time to rest.

Kaguya had been a fucking breeze to defeat – only because Kagome decided to use her time-centric abilities against the false celestial maiden who wanted to absorb her in order to gain Kagome's immortality and those same abilities that had been used against her. Her time barriers could be manifested inside of any kind of barrier, after all, and she simply fast-forwarded Kaguya until she was dead, speaking calmly about how dangerous it was to underestimate one's opponents.

Of course, that had led to a conversation with Toga where Kagome had had to admit to knowing about and teaching herself how to use these abilities whenever she wasn't around him – and that a large amount of her songs were gained through using a time barrier on their home pc so she could listen to music from the future. He'd grumbled good-naturedly about her keeping secrets from him but left it at that – the past was over and done with, and it was one more way to defend herself and her allies.

Shippō was excited! Papa had told him a really big secret a sennight ago! Every single year, kitsune had examinations that showed how strong and tricky they were, and they were staying at a kitsune inn so that Shippō could take part in them!

Now, Shippō knew that his papa was expecting him to prank or trick the rest of the pack for the examinations… But Shippō was gonna do one better than that! Because while his pranks always impressed Papa, he would be even more impressed if Shippō managed to get one over on him. Shippō had asked Mama about that and she had agreed with him and promised she wouldn't interfere so long as his prank wasn't mean or harmful. Shippō could tell by the smile on her face that saying that was reflexive – Mama knew better than to think that Shippō would hurt or be mean to someone who wasn't hurting or being mean to someone else. It made Shippō wonder about the place Mama came from, that warning him like that would be a reflex, but he tried not to think about that. Mama was here now, and would be staying here, and that was all that mattered.

Mama had confessed to him that the place she came from had never really felt like home to her, and when she first came here was the first time she ever felt like she was at home, so even if the mean old Shikon hadn't prevented Mama from ever going back there again, she still would have stayed here. Especially, she told him, once she had met him, which had made Shippō oh so very happy. His mama loved him so much!

Of course, she loved his ani-sans just as much as she loved him, but Shippō didn't mind sharing at all, because Mama's capacity for love was endless and eternal.

It was really funny watching the other kitsune trying to trick his pack though, because it just wasn't working! Miroku was so utterly devoted to Sango by now that all those kitsune looking like ningen girls just could not catch his eye, and Papa knew what was going on, and Yasha-ni was still pretty suspicious of anyone who wasn't pack, so nothing they did could trick him. Shippō's family was awesome, seriously! Kirara seemed to know what was going on, too, if her encouraging him to prank his papa was anything to go by.

So Shippō sat in Mama's lap and spun his prank. First he had to get the bare bones of it going, decide what he wanted to do, and he decided that slime would work! Mama wouldn't want to touch Papa when he was like that, but Shippō wouldn't make it a long prank – less than half a candle mark. Then he decided on a colour (blue, like Papa's lightning marks, that would do), and a texture (thicker than most slime, so that Papa couldn't shake it off), and decided that yes it would stick to Papa even in his ghost form. So he spun and worked and fiddled until it was ready, before running to his Papa and hugging him around his neck, placing the prank on the side of it. Then, he stood back and set it off. Slime exploded around Papa and clung to his form, soaking into the fur and sticking quite well to his body.

Oh was the look in Papa's eyes priceless!

As was the laugh that echoed into his mind when Papa shook and it didn't come off, transformed and it didn't come off, play-tackled Shippō and it didn't come off.

"Shippō you little rascal, you pranked me! Good job, kit, I was not expecting that in the least. Now look, you have a paper!"

Oh! He did!

Shippō picked up the paper, and the two kitsune standing beside him gasped, "He got eight ranks at once!"

Glee! Mama and Papa were so proud of him! Today was the best day ever!

Kagome smiled proudly at her youngest son and cuddled him close to her. He was such a clever boy for managing to not only even think about pranking his papa (very few kitsune would have the gall to prank the Inu no Taishō) but to actually do it and make it work. And gaining eight ranks at once! Well, they had known right from the start that Shippō was a daiyōkai kit, but this just proved his sheer competence; he was still only seven, for Kami's sake!

The rest of the pack was looking on, highly amused at this turn of events, and Kagome was pleased with all of them; she felt bad for all the kitsune trying to trick them because it was just, well… Not happening. Her pack was strong, devoted, loyal, and not easy to pull the rug out under.

Kagome, however, had other things on her mind, and was glad when they left the kitsune inn the following morning. She needed to think.

The Shikon was, essentially and effectively, part of Kagome. Her power was given to her by the vile thing, her body was forever changed by it, and she had abilities that were beyond unusual because of it. Given that, and the fact that she could detect the shards that had been scattered all over… Shouldn't it mean that she had some measure of control over the jewel, even though it was separated from her? If so, then everything would be easier – they had half of the jewel already, and it had been nearly six months; tension was mounting because Naraku, despite his blatant cheating and cowardice, had not done anything in the past month or so and was clearly gearing up for their final confrontation with him. He would lose, of course, but he might do all manner of things with the portion of the Shikon in his possession before that point; including shattering it again.

But what if… What if.

That "what if" had been plaguing her for a sennight now; something was rattling about in her mind, some half-formed idea that she had not yet been able to grab hold of – until yesterday.

What if… She could call the shards to herself?

Theoretically, it was possible, plausible, believable. It made sense, in theory, that she could do such a thing. But theory did not always correlate to fact, so Kagome had to test this, to find out if her theory had any merit, to find out if oh, so very soon she could be mating her beloved Toga because the stupid jewel was back in her body and he was fully, wholly regenerated again.

But how to go about doing such a thing…

Oh! Ideaaa! "Miroku-ni, please watch the pack for me, and be especially observant, but do not panic."

Slowly, with everybody watching her after her strange statement, she pulled the vial – packed full with glimmering pink shards – over her head, and handed it to her adopted elder brother. "I want to test something out."

The monk's violet eyes first widened, then lit up, and he gave her a slow smile. "It would be most fortuitous indeed if you were able to give me a reason that would normally make me panic, imōto-chan, but I promise I shall not do so if your test is successful."

Good! He had cottoned onto her theory with only minimal evidence (then again, she had told him about the half-formed theory and query rattling in her mind almost as soon as it began, in the hope that he could help her figure it out, but he had, with a twinkle in his eyes, merely told her that if she still couldn't figure it out in a fortnight he would tell her his own theory), and would not be all too shocked if it worked. His confidence in her was encouraging, so she shared her theory with her mate, who first stilled beneath her, then dashed off into the forest with her on his back, running for ten full minutes before he came to a stop. "If your theory is correct, little one…"

"I know. It could be the bare minimum you thought it would take, instead of labouring for Kami knows how much longer for us to finally be mated."

He nuzzled her hair and laid next to her as she began to meditate, slowly sinking into herself, seeking out the part of her that could sense the shards, connecting with it, examining it, and finally… Tapping into it in a wholly different manner. Her shards were the only purified ones in the whole of Nihon, so it was ridiculously easy to find them, and this time, instead of merely sensing, she pulled. And pulled, and tugged, and called, and that was it!

It took but a second for her to be holding the vial that was previously in Miroku-ni's possession. "Whoa! They… They teleported! Toga, this is wonderful!"

She pounced on her betrothed, happy tears soaking into his fur as he growled contently beneath her. It worked!

They were finally here. It was finally time. The last battle in this war, and they were losing; barely. Naraku was winning; barely – but it was a lie.

A front. A cover. An illusion. In reality, Sesshōmaru-kun, Miroku-ni, Sango-chan, Yasha-kun, Kirara, Dai, Kikyō, Ginta-kun, Hakkaku-kun, and Kōga-kun were all holding back, not using their full power, lulling Naraku into a sense of false security so that his arrogance would overcome him, whilst Kagome ever so slowly worked her trick. She had to be exquisitely careful because Kohaku-kun was here and he had to be taken care of in a certain manner or he would be lost forever.

Kagome wasn't paying attention to the battle surrounding her as she sought, found, pulled, called. And then it was done, she was holding most of the rest of the Shikon in her hand and she yelled out, "Now!"

Everybody launched their attacks at once, rushing the spider hanyō, and then…

It was done.

He was gone.

Kagome wasted no time at all, gave them no chance to celebrate, because she wanted this stupid part of her destiny to be fulfilled as soon as possible, so she could move on to the rest of her life. "Kohaku-kun."

The young man walked over to her solemnly as she took out her vial and opened the cap, her purified shards joining with the purified half of an orb in her left hand and joining together, complete except for one last piece. Sesshōmaru stepped up now, and as soon as Kagome took the shard directly from Kohaku's neck, waved Tenseiga over the still form. Everybody in the clearing held their breath – and then Kohaku pushed himself up and Sango rushed him, enveloping him in a hug.

It didn't last long though. The now-purified shard was slid into place, and Kagome stated into the still, silent air around her, all eyes watching her, every being in the clearing wondering what her wish would be, how she would thwart the inherent tainted vileness of the Shikon, "I wish that the Shikon no Tama would return to from where it was pulled back into this world."

The well was destroyed now, which meant that Kagome was the only remaining option for that wish.

The bloody clearing filled with light, and the completed jewel in her hands slammed into her body, causing her to cry out in both shock and pain as it forced itself into her chest. Agony poured through her body, every nerve on fire, power sizzling through her, escaping from every pore as the light which had once been in the clearing was now escaping from her body, and all the while the Shikon was sinking further and further into her skin. Pain coursed through her, and it felt like she was being turned inside out, like she was being torn apart and put back together, like every atom of her being was separated and then condensed together again.

It lasted forever and ever. She was lost, gone, as eternity sang through her mind, as the jewel whispered into her ears, congratulating her viciously and venomously at first, but then thanking her and warning her. She could never die. It would never die. Everything she did now would forever be tainted by its power and "You did not expect this, little Kagome, but We thank you anyhow because now We shall last into eternity."

It was a very good thing that that barrier had been put into place in her mind because she had expected this, she had known what she was getting into, and she could absolutely not allow the Shikon to find that out or everything they had worked so hard for would be ruined.

Finally, the little pink orb finished merging with her body, her mind, her soul, and she collapsed, panting and whimpering, tears still falling from her eyes as pain continued to wreak its havoc throughout her body. She knew now that that had been her only chance, her only wish, that even when the Shikon sank into sleep she could never rid herself of it because it was her now. Kagome and the Shikon were one being together and she would pay the price of her wish forever – but this time around, that price meant an eternity of life, rather than eventual, painful death.

The Shikon intended for her to lose Toga, in the end, because even the strongest yōkai were not truly immortal, death would eventually claim them, but then it picked up from her mind that the mating ritual would tie their lifespans and existences together, make them one existence rather than two, and Kagome braced herself for more pain – when it finally stopped.

Apparently, the Shikon didn't really care all that much so long as it stayed alive.

Kagome pushed herself up, whimpering lightly as aftershocks of stinging power seared her skin – before she was gently picked up, strong arms hooking beneath her knees and curling around her back. She looked up only to see Toga – oh and he was real, he was there, he was solid even though Raimei was still tucked into her obi. "How long?"

Her voice was hoarse from screaming in pain, and she wanted to know how long she had been merging with the Shikon, how long he had been complete, how long the deed was done. Her beloved gripped her more tightly to him and softly stated, "An hour and a half. I dismissed the rest of the group as soon as you began screaming. I became whole as soon as you made your wish, but as we have not yet mated even I would have been purified into ash had I come within four metres of you about five minutes in. What did it do to you, koishi?"

"Higurashi Kagome and the Shikon no Tama are one and the same, now."

From the moment her betrothed had picked her up he had been walking – slowly, so as not to cause her any more pain than she was currently experiencing – but her words stopped him in his tracks as he stared at her, golden eyes wide with shock. "What?!"

She nodded solemnly and sadly; she had not informed him of her plan so that just in case, the Shikon could not find it out – but even she had not expecting it to merge with her soul; only with her body and mind. "The Shikon no Tama is eternal, as is Higurashi Kagome. Even when the world ceases to be, until the Kami Themselves gather together and force a cessation upon this vessel, upon this body, nothing can kill or harm it. It had intended for me to lose you eventually, but didn't seem to mind all that much when it found out that our existences would be one and the same upon mating."

Toga growled lightly, before taking a breath and exhaling. "Of course it wouldn't. The beings powering the Shikon are intelligent; you are more likely to care about the world and change the world as long as you still have some tie to the world; whilst my death would cause you pain and pleasure the Shikon in that manner, in the end it would be more detrimental to its goals and expectations. Do you wish to know why I knew that it had indeed done something to you?"

She nodded and looked up at him again, and he nuzzled her hair lightly. "You have aged. Not enough to match your maturity, but enough that in our previous world you would be considered a full adult no matter where on the planet we were. You are taller, more filled out, and your voice is more husky – it is not just hoarseness from screaming that is causing it to sound lower, now."

"Eh?! No wonder it hurt so much and felt how it felt to me; changing my body like that… But to what end?"

Toga began walking again as he stated, "You are likely to remain unchanged from now on. It is much easier for someone of your apparent physical age to command authority and have people listen to and obey them than it would be for someone of only fifteen."

That made sense. Basically, giving her more of an opportunity for it to go play through her will as her will would be obeyed more often. She couldn't really find the energy to be upset at that, however; instead she was rather pleased. "Anywhere" in the previous world meant even America, where the age of full adulthood was only reached at twenty one years old. One could not legally drink anything alcoholic before then in that country, after all. Kagome had always felt out of place in her body once she reached around the beginning of her teens, though, so she was rather happy with this development. Even if she was still mentally older than she appeared, it was not by all that much any more, and at least now she would seem more like a mature woman than someone just coming of age.

"Good. We'll both need me to seem authoritative once I am the Lady of the South. Where are we going now?"

Her lover smirked down at her and kissed her forehead. "I told Sesshōmaru not to expect us back for several days, and gave him command of the pack. We are going some place secluded so that our souls can finally be joined."

Kagome smiled softly and buried her face into Toga's kimono. It was about damn time.