God, I really don't know how to write this anymore. After four months of not touching this story, I think I have forgotten everything, just like that. You see, I could have written on vacation during my hours of free time, but instead, I chose not to. Ever have a sudden lost of interest in something you have done for years? Guess this is what's happening and it sucks. I had a whole outline for the last 6 chapters of the story and now as I sit here, the outline is somewhere in my mind, lost, and so I am now left with just my laptop and Microsoft Word.

My mind is truly blank. I apologize for any awkwardness in this chapter. Perhaps after writing again I will gain that enthusiasm I once had, and perhaps not. Thank you for those who are still reading Deception.

Last chapter: The statue of Psyche and Cupid was wrongly labeled Daphne and Apollo at the temple. "Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home" was the clue given to them as well as the number 616. Now the four have to figure out where this "home" is and if 616 has anything to do with the treasure. The last chapter ended with them spotting something just in the forest.

Keep in mind that Rolling Thunder is Kagome's grandpa's crew. Angels nor Demons is Inuyasha's crew, that is until Kikyo took over.

Unity

Noun - oneness of mind, feeling, etc., as among a number of persons; concord, harmony, or agreement.

The sun's last rays upon the earth glowed on the mansion. Overgrown trees, stray weeds, and tall grassed surrounded the building. Statues of stone and bronze were littered the area—some broken with fragments on the ground around it.

The mansion seemed as if it stood once very majestic. Vines had crawled up the side of its stone walls and the large windows were musty with dust. The front wooden door rose about twelve feet high with a steel bar across it.

A large fountain was situated in the center of it all. It resembled the one that had told in the honor of Vestode H. Fealis with the wild flowers that grew around it and disparaging emotion that it provided without water spewing from it.

Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku walked slowly down the large brick path that led up to the mansion. There were two tall steeples rose towards the sky. From the steeples, ragged flags were hung. They were old and discolored from the sun, yet they continued to wave slowly in the light breeze. The two flags were different. One was Rolling Thunder's flag and the other was Angels nor Demon's.

Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and pointed with her other hand at the flags. "Look," she said barely above a whisper.

Miroku and Sango were right behind them. "That's our flag."

They stood in silence—not knowing what to make of their discovery. The mansion had their flags on them. Both of the ships were renowned across the seas, but why would their flags be hanging on the top of these steeples?

Inuyasha's memory began to swirl in his mind. He tried remembering all the stories that his mother had told him in the effort to get him to fall asleep.

A large castle seemed to always appear in these stories. The kids would play and run around in the castle, getting yelled at by the maids all the time. He could hear his mother's voice speaking of how the children were close friends. Two families had dwelled in the same mansion.

Kagome wrapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm as the wind picked up. Standing behind her, Inuyasha placed his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. She leaded her head back, resting on his chest—hearing his heart beat slowly.

"I don't understand," Kagome muttered.

"Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home," Inuyasha repeated, his arm still around her, "is this that home?"

Kagome smiled, "We'd have to be really lucky to find home just like that."

"I guess you're right."

She felt his warmth travel through her as he pulled her in even closer, hugging her tighter. She closed her eyes and time seemed to go on without them.

"Would you like to walk around?" Inuyasha suggested.

She nodded slightly even though she wanted to stand where they were for forever. He let her go slowly and reached for her hand. She wrapped her fingers around his and they walked towards the main path.

Kikyo slammed a stack of maps down onto the golden desk that had once belonged to Inuyasha. "How the hell would you not know their location? You're on this ship for a reason, now if you don't find out where Inuyasha is by tomorrow, I'm going to have you planked, got it?"

"I-I-I'm sorry," the pirate stuttered, "I will try again."

"Good."

Rubbing her temples, Kikyo fell onto the bed. They had been searching for days, and there was still no sign of Inuyasha. How was she supposed to find the treasure? She had no clue what any of the clues meant or what it even lead to. Her crew was starting to get restless, they were hungry and tired, but she kept hammering them down with tasks.

"Naraku, I will avenge you. I will kill Kagome and find the treasure."

Inside the mansion lay countless spider webs, dusty furniture, and creaky wooden floors. Lines of pictures hung on every wall, some were portraits and others were oil paintings, but they were all unrecognizable. The four continued their way down the hall, not knowing where they were or why they were here.

Kagome shivered as she felt a cold breeze pass her body. At the end of the hall was a single door, painted red. Inuyasha pushed slowly and little by little, it opened. In front of them was vast room. There was not a single piece of furniture on the floor.

"I guess this is the ballroom," Inuyasha whispered and led Kagome inside. Sango and Miroku followed.

The ballroom had four doors, two of which were red and the other two yellow.

"What now?" Miroku sighed as he stepped into the middle of the ballroom and looked around, "I think we should forget about this place. It creeps me out. Who could have lived here and 

abandoned it just like that? And why was our Angels nor Demons flag hanging outside, did we conquer it in the past or something?"

"I don't know," Inuyasha walked up to the single picture frame hanging on the wall, "maybe my parents did, or maybe my grandparents, or…I don't know." He touched portrait with his right hand, gently swiping away the dust. "Why does this look so familiar?"

Kagome let go of his hand and walked towards the other side of the room, inspecting the different colored doors. "Do you think that we have something to do with this place? After all, Rolling Thunder's flag is here as well."

"Let's keep walking then, shall we?" Sango spoke up. She eyed Miroku for approval and he lightly nodded. "Let's go through here."

The four had been walking through the corridor for hours, not finding anything of interest. As they walked down the hall, the scenery began to change. Instead of paintings aligning the wall, there were now statues, hundreds of them, lined down the hallway. Occasionally there would be a portrait or two between the statues, to where it was almost invisible to the eye.

As the corridor was coming to a close, Kagome gasped. She touched the portrait that stood in front of her. It had the words "traitor" written over it in bold letters. Looking past the messy words, there was of a man, a woman, and a little boy. The man and woman were about thirty years of age and the boy about ten. They were all smiling to each other, consumed in their own world.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha walked up behind her, tugging at her arm.

"I…" Kagome was lost of words, "this…this is my grandpa…"

"Land ho!"

Kikyo leaned against the flagpole as she watched her pirates dock her ship. Because they were low on supplies, she had ordered them to restock at the nearest island, Sapphire Island. As she looked to the shores, she could see the eyes of fearful men, women, and children watching them. They were frozen in their spots, not knowing what to do.

"I would raid their town, but I'm in a hurry," Kikyo said to herself. How she wanted to show off her strength, her power. How she wanted the people to cower in fear and bow down to her, but she had a treasure to find and was running out of time.

Kikyo walked to the front of the ship and stood before the people. "We are not here to harm! If you obey us, we will leave right away! Right now I supplies! Give me all you've got! Give me everything!

It took a couple of seconds for the people to understand what she had said, but after they did, there was a scrambling of feet as everyone ran to follow Kikyo's orders.

"Good." She nodded in approval and turned to the rest of the crew, "Help them out but don't give them anything in return. We're getting out of here as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, Corey, come here!"

"Yes captain!"

She whispered into his ears, "I want more information about Inuyasha or you're going into the water headfirst tomorrow morning."

He nodded frantically.

"What?" Inuyasha blinked.

"This is my grandpa," Kagome repeated.

Sango and Miroku walked forward to exam the portrait hanging on the wall

"But he's so young, how can you remember him?"

"Well, his features are about the same. When I was young, my grandpa used to draw pictures; he drew my grandma, my dad, and my mom. He was truly gifted." She looked at the woman in the picture, "This must be my grandma and this must be my dad…"

The others stood in disbelieve, wondering why a portrait of Kagome's family could be in the abandoned mansion, with the word 'traitor' written over it.

I'm really surprised, but I'm sure it's them. Even if I was only eight when my grandpa died, I remember his sketches very well. He drew many of them, sometimes a few every day. We would sit there, looking into the ocean, and he would begin to draw. This has to be them." Kagome sighed as she remembered the painful memories of the day Ghost of the Seven Seas attacked their ship and killed her grandpa. She tried to suppress the tears, but her eyes began to water.

Inuyasha, feeling her pain, stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. "It's okay," he whispered.

"I…" She let a single tear slip down her face, "think I understand now."

"What?"

"Don't you see Inuyasha? This place belongs to our ancestors, our grandparents used to live here. Why else would there be flags, our flags, hanging outside of this mansion?"

"I see your point but why would our grandparents live here, why two families? And why would they have abandoned all of this for the life of a pirate?"

"I don't know. It's starting to make sense though. I remember my grandpa telling me stories about how we were once rich and owned a permanent place to live. He said it was so big that I can have many rooms to myself and he promised to take me back there one day."

"My parents told me that after seeking the treasure, they would bring me to a place where I can run around and play freely every day."

"Why didn't I realize this before? I was trying to forget a lot of bad memories in the past that I managed to overlook this. "Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home." This is it Inuyasha, this is home."

Well, I think Sango and Miroku have a lot of catching up to do. Plus, they still need to find the treasure and Kikyo needs to appear some way or another to ruin everything, right? Once again, I apologize for the time it took me to write this chapter.