Author's Note: Well I'm back since a lot of you been asking fr an update and I couldn't let you all suffer. So here's the update as for the revisions, I'll just do them once the story has been completed. It'd be much easier that way. Enjoy and please don't be too mad that I took this long to update this story. I'm really sorry.

Chapter 19: Interlude: Mother Dearest…

"Ereka."

A whisper.

"Ereka…"

The voice was coming closer.

"Ereka…"

This time the voice was more forceful. Kagome shifted in her sleep but otherwise remained asleep.

"EREKA…"

This time, her name came out more forceful. She slowly crawled out of the futon she was sharing with Sesshoumaru. Kagome fallowed the voice to the stream near their camp ground. She was careful not to make a sound as she didn't want to disturbed the sleeping soldiers. She kept to the shadows to stay undetected by the guards on duties. She was still surprised when she made it pass them unseen. She momentarily thought of Sesshoumaru's reactions if he knew his guards were lacking. He would probable have a fit.

"Ereka…"

Her name brought her back to the task at hand. She wanted to know who was calling her. No one outside their little group knew about her deity status and she knew they would keep it quiet since she asked them not to tell anyone about it. It wouldn't be wise for Naraku to know this little tidbit of information. She needed all the advantages she could get and her deity powers gave her a bigger advantage now than she had when their quest started.

She came to a stop once she reached the water edge. The voice stopped there and she could feel a presence all around her.

"Ereka…my child…"

The voice was all around her but she couldn't pinpoint it to a single location. She looked down at the water and her worried reflection stared back at her. She watched as a mist came behind and slowly took shape. When she turned around, she came face to face with a woman. Kagome took a step back but stopped when she couldn't go any further without stepping into the water.

"Ereka…"

"Who are you?" Kagome asked.

"Don't you recognize me?" the figure asked.

Kagome shook her head. She didn't recognize the person…thing…well whatever it was that she was talking to. The figure's features were all blurry and she could see them.

"How could you have forgotten me, Ereka? I gave you life. I made you who you are and you don't remember me?"

The voice was sorrowful. Kagome felt guilty for being responsible for it.

"Should I know who you are? I can't even see what you look like so how can I recognize who you are?"

"So you really have forgotten me. Your own mother."

Kagome gasped. As soon as she said that, memories of her celestial mother flooded her mind. Until now, she hadn't given any thought as to why she didn't remember where she came from. Who had given her life? As the memories return, the figure became clearer. Kagome was startled to see how much they resembled each other. Well rather she resembled her mother. They were almost the same except her mother were green and she was older than Kagome was.

"You have your father's eyes," her mother smiled.

Kagome didn't know what to say. When this all started, she thought it was all a joke. All these things were unraveling right before her eyes and yet she couldn't grasp it all. Spending most of your life believing that you were nothing other than a normal high school girl whose only worries were passing her exams and finding a boyfriend and to discover that it was all a lie was a shock to the system. She hasn't had the time to deal with it yet. It kind got shuffle to the back of her mind as she dealt with more pressing matters.

"Come here, my child. I haven't seen you for so long." Her mother said.

Kagome stepped toward and was engulfed in her mother's arms. It was just like being back with her human mother. The warmth and safety she felt when she was with Mrs. Higurashi was the same but this one was more familiar and she was surprised when she realized that she missed it. She realized that she missed a lot of things from her past. Most of her memories were restored to her but still some were missing. And she sometimes wondered what else do these memories held that she wasn't aware of.

She didn't realize that they had sat down until her head was on her mother's lap and the latter was combing her fingers to her hair.

"How's dad?" Kagome asked.

"He's alright. He misses you. You were always his favorite."

"I miss him too. I miss all of you."

Her mother sighed.

"As much as I wanted to see you, I did come here for another reason."

"What is it?"

"I was sent here to convince you to come home."

"What? Why?"

She sat up and looked at her mother in disbelief.

"Why not? You don't belong here. You're a goddess. You can't live the rest of your life with these mortals."

"Why can't I? There aren't any rules against it."

"Don't you want to be with us?"

"I do but I also want to be with the friends I have here."

"It's the demon lord, isn't? You're in love with him, aren't you?"

Kagome blushed and lowered her head.

"Why do you keep doing this?" her mother asked, exasperated.

"What am I doing?"

"It's the same thing over and over again. What's so fascinating about living the same life repeatedly?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"You know he will die, right?" Her mother said.

"Sesshoumaru? You're lying."

"Why would I lie? He always dies protecting you. No matter how many times you try to change it, the fact remains he would always die for you. There's nothing you can do to change that. Why can't you give up already? This is getting old and I grew tired of your games, Ereka."

Kagome was hurt, angry but mostly confused.

"What on earth are you on about, mother."

Her mother sighed. She folded her hands on her laps and looked at the stream instead.

"You made a pact with the fates the first time you die. Your lover died protecting you and you die after avenging his death. You begged the fates for a chance to save him so they gave you another human life but took away your memories. The deal was for you to save Sesshoumaru. If you can save him, then the Shikon jewel will be destroy for good and you will be allow to come and go as you please between our realm and this one. But if you failed to save him, you're cursed to relive the same life over and over unless you decide to give up and return to us."

"What would happen if I decide to do that?"

"The jewel will remain on earth, you'll never be allowed to return and Sesshoumaru's soul will be lost forever."

Kagome didn't want to think about that possibility.

"Mother, why was I chosen as the guardian of the jewel?"

"You weren't. You took it upon yourself to destroy it when you saw the damage it was causing. You felt responsible because your sisters created it out of jealousy of you."

"But what about the legend."

"Humans and demons made that up."

"So what can I do?"

"The answer lies within you, Ereka. You know I can't interfere with mortal's affairs. Not even where you're concerned. As long as you're remained in this realm on your free will, I'm powerless to do anything."

Kagome laid her head back on her mother's lap.

"Why am I being punished for this?" she asked.

"You went against the fates when you allied yourself with the humans. But you can put an end to it. All you have to do is come home."

"You know I can't do that. Too many people would die. And I don't want that on my conscious. Like you said, mother, I started this and I should put an end to it."

"Ereka…"

"I'll be home soon, mother."

Her celestial mother nodded then kissed your forehead.

"I'll be watching over you. And may the gods be with you." She said as she faded away.

Kagome remained on the ground for a long time. She didn't return to camp until Sesshoumaru came to find her.

"Kagome…"he said.

Her mother's words echoed through her head. She knew she wouldn't let it happen. She couldn't let anything happen to this man…demon…that she came to love so much.

"Hi, Sess."

"Are you alright?"

"Just getting some fresh air. I needed to think."

He didn't ask what she was thinking about. She was grateful for that because she didn't know what to tell him. And even if she did say something, there's no guarantee that he would believe her. He sat next to her, in the same place her mother was.

They sat in silence fro the longest time, just looking at the crescent moon over head.

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The early morning sun found Kagome sitting on top of a cliff. The camp was bustling with activities as soldiers get ready for the day. She hasn't told anyone about last night encounter with her mother and what she learned from that conversation. She refused to believed that she was going to loose her lover. That knowledge had kept her awake all night, even after she and Sesshoumaru went back to their tent.

She didn't doubt that Sesshoumaru knew something was wrong with her. She could tell from the lingering stares he gave her. She knew he wouldn't pry the information from her unless she wanted to tell him. And how did you tell your lover that he was going to die protecting you?

She sighed and stood up.

"Well, better get ready."

She rejoined her companions at their campsite. Sesshoumaru was in the middle of giving instructions to his generals when she arrived. She offered him a small smile and he nodded in return. She went to find the rest of them but found Inuyasha first.

"Hey, Inuyasha."

"Where did you go?" He asked.

"For a little walk. Needed to clear my head."

He nodded. She felt awkward talking to him. It's been a while since she has done that.

"Inuyasha?"

"Umm?"

"I wanted to ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Are you angry with me?"

He was surprised by her question.

"Why would I be?"

"For being with your brother?"

He was silent for a while. Was he angry with her for being his brother's lover? He admitted that he felt betrayed at the beginning but he also knew he had driven her away in the first place. He couldn't honestly blame her for it. She had put up with so much of his shit for so long. There was only so much a person can handle. So really, he only had himself to blame.

"I'm not angry. If anything, I should be asking for your forgiveness for everything I've put you through."

"You don't need to apologize. I just wanted to know that you're still my friend."

"I made a promise to protect you and that hasn't change even though I haven't been doing a very good job at it lately."

She smiled.

"It's no biggie. I've had plenty of protection lately."

"If he makes you happy, I can handle that but I still hate his guts."

"The feeling is mutual, little brother," said a voice.

Sesshoumaru was heading toward them and most likely had heard most of their conversation. Inuyasha scowled. Kagome just chose to stay out of it.

"I require your presence for a moment," he said to Kagome. "gather the others and bring them to my tent," he said to Inuyasha.

She followed Sesshoumaru to his tent that had been transformed into a makeshift office set up for him to use. She immediately recognized Lord Koji but there were four new faces that she hadn't met before. Before she could ask about them Inuyasha and the others joined them. Once there were settled down, Sesshoumaru made the introduction. The newcomers were his generals, Hideki, Tanosuke, Seiji, and Hinotaka. Normally, Raizen would the one in charge of this meeting since he was Sesshoumaru's second-in-command and the generals reported to him. The generals were all equal in power but they were responsible for different divisions of the army and were in charge of large number of soldiers.

With the introductions taken care off, Sesshoumaru got down to business. Kagome was fascinated with this side of her lover. She envied his ability to keep his calm while they were in the middle of a war. She admired his leadership skills and how he handled his generals' question about their current situation with such ease.

She stayed silent and only spoke when spoken to. Normally she was very vocals but she had learned from Miyu the duties of the Lady and being silent didn't make you weak. On the contrary, the lady was the lord strongest ally. It was important that she knew everything that went on around her and what better way to learn than to listen.

Author's Note: I know boring chapter but we have to get it out of the way before we get to the good part. Hope you enjoyed it.