"Whoa!" Kagome gasped at the sight of the huge temple that Inuyasha knew the Diamond of Restoration would be. The only thing that would make Shippo and Kagome turn back into their former selves.

When they approached, a huge samurai stepped out from the front door, glaring at them. Even before he spoke, Inuyasha knew he'd have to fight him.

"Halt!" the samurai shouted, holding up his hand. "If you wish to use the Diamond, you'll have to prove your worth, and need."

"Young Kagome and Shippo here, have been victim to an age stealer demon." Miroku shouted out before Sango could, gesturing to the young ones. "We wish to restore them to their rightful age."

The samurai glared at the two children. Sango held Shippo in her arms like a mother as the samurai glared them all down. Without a single word, he stepped closer and began to draw his sword.

"Show me no fear and I shall allow you to use the Diamond." The samurai said, looking at Inuyasha. He never felt so helpless, but something inside him made him not dare move as the samurai slashed at him. Sango and Miroku gasped while Kagome screamed in horror as the edge of the blade stopped, just touching Inuyasha's skin.

They stood there for a moment, neither of them daring to move. When the samurai pulled his sword away and sheathed it reverently, he looked at them all and smiled.

"You may enter." he said turning his back to them and walking toward the temple. Miroku stepped over and slapped Inuyasha on the shoulder and got the most threatening glare he'd ever gotten from him.

"Don't you ever touch me!" Inuyasha said, his eyes flaring with rage. Miroku swore his hand would've caught fire if he'd've kept it to close to him. Inuyasha didn't say anything as he led the way behind the samurai.

Inside the temple, Inuyasha realized why it was called the Temple of the Doomed. Everyone he saw, mostly servants or maidens, were all sick and several laid on the floor, obviously on their last breaths of air.

"What are they doing?" Sango asked as the walked.

"This is a temple for the dying." the samurai spoke up. "Plague, curses, the like. Everyone in this temple is doomed to a slow death. We take them in and comfort them until they're gone from this world. The Diamond is in here."

The samurai revealed to them, a huge set of double doors. When he opened them, Inuyasha felt a strange aura. Then he saw it. It was a clear, shining diamond sitting in the middle of the room, the rest of the room having been completely clean and spotless.

"Now just leave your victims here and stand aside while I return them to their original states." the samurai said as he stepped up and grabbed the diamond.

Just as Inuyasha watched Sango set Shippo on the floor, he heard a crack and looked up just as a fist collided with his face. As Inuyasha flew back, Sango quickly attacked Niya who'd just appeared between them and the samurai.

"You'll never get their ages back!" Niya screamed as Sango threw her huge boomerang at him. He barely managed to dodge it as Miroku slapped a scroll onto his shoulder. Before he could grab it, Miroku slammed his staff into him and brought him to the floor. Just as Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga to finish him, the samurai grabbed Niya by his shoulders, and lifted him off the ground.

Niya's eyes and mouth lit up and a bright beam of light shot out from them as he screamed. Inuyasha noticed that the samurai had been holding the diamond against the demon's chest. When the lights finally faded, Niya disintegrated into a pile of dust on the ground.

"What did you do?" Kagome asked, who was hiding behind Miroku, Shippo sleeping on her back as she held him by the arms.

"After I saw you Monk, exercise him, I knew his physical being was weak so I sent his soul to Hell before he had a chance to recover. Tis not the first time I've met this one." There was a long pause. "His real name was Titsuguay. He's been after this Diamond for years."

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about him now huh." Kagome said, setting Shippo on the ground gently. The aged samurai's eyes looked as though they would burst into tears as he looked down at the diamond.

"I'm afraid, Age Stealing Demons have one power that prevents that. That's the third time I've faced Titsuguay. Each time I've sent him to Hell, but he still comes back. How he does it, I don't know, but he does." The samurai then looked at the young ones again. "Let us cure them before we continue."

The samurai began to mutter a spell as the diamond began to glow, and floated out of his hand. Two lights shot out of it, swirling lazily through the air. They slowly approached Kagome and, the still sleeping, Shippo. When they found them, Kagome began to grow, as Shippo's teeth began to regrow.

When Kagome was back to her full age, and aware as to what was going on around her, she shrieked.

--

The samurai's huge kimono hung below her knees as she tied the sleeves to tighten it around her. Inuyasha grumbled in a corner as he did everything not to show the pain in his back from the four 'sit' orders on impact of Kagome realizing that, while she did grow, her small clothes, didn't.

"Thank you very much for helping us kind sir." Miroku said, bowing to the large, now barebacked samurai. He smiled as he finally felt a cool breeze on his hairy chest for the first time in years.

"It was no problem at all, just try not to fall for that curse again."

With that, the friends, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha all took their leave.

"Hey! What about me?!" Shippo ran out of the shrine to catch up, having just woken up. "Wait up!" he ran as fast as he could. They stopped and waited just as he accidentally tripped and hit face first into the dirt at Inuyasha's feet. He looked up at him. "You left me!"

"Inuyasha, you said he was still sleeping in Sango's pack." Kagome glared at him. From the twitch in her eye, he knew what was next.

"No wait, Kagome, I-"

"SIT!"