Higurashi Kagome was six the first time she fell into the creepy old well at the back of her family's shrine. Her new little brother had just come home, and her mummy and daddy loved Souta more. Grandpa said that it wasn't true, that they still loved her as much as they had before, but that right now Souta needed more taking care of... But Grandpa loved Souta more too, so Kagome didn't believe him. She'd decided to run away. She had a filled her book bag with some snacks and put on her favourite winter kimono (even at six she knew that it got cold at night, even if it was only autumn), and gone to the creepy old well house.

She'd eaten all of her snacks before she heard Grandpa calling for her. He was looking for her, but she didn't want to be found, so she'd pushed the lid off the creepy old well a bit, and climbed down the ruts that had been carved in the side like a ladder and were covered in centuries of dust. Kagome jumped off the last rut onto the bottom of the well just as she heard the door to the well house open, and there was a big flash of blue light.

For a moment, it felt like she was floating, and then she was on the ground again, but it was much too light. It had been afternoon, but the well house only had small windows, and the lid on the well had blocked out even more light. Now, it was light like there was no lid or well house at all. The ruts that she had climbed down on were gone too. Actually, the creepy old well didn't look quite as old as it had either.

The bone by her foot added to the creepy though.

Kagome screamed when she noticed it. She screamed long and loud and shrill, and when she ran out of breath for that first scream, she started sobbing and yelling and begging for anyone to hear her and get her out of the creepy well. Kagome was curled up on herself and crying softly before anybody came.

"Oh Kami! Someone get a rope – there's a little girl at the bottom of the Bone Eater's Well!" a female voice yelled.

Kagome looked up, and yes, there was an old woman there, wearing a kimono like Grandpa always wore.

"Do not worry little one, we shall get you out soon. Are you injured?" she called down.

"No," she answered quietly, but clearly, then hiccuped as she brushed the last of her tears from her face with her sleeve.

"Here's the rope Kaede-sama," a younger man – though he looked to be about the same age as her father – said, appearing beside the old woman. He was wearing kimono too. "Shall I fetch her out?"

"Aye," Kaede said eagerly. "She says she is not hurt, but I should like to get her to my hut to check her as soon as possible. Thank you Genjo-dono."

The man – Genjo – nodded and soon the rope was down the inside of the well, and he was climbing down to Kagome.

"Hello little one," Genjo said. "Can you climb on my back? Then I will bring us both out of the Bone Eater's Well."

Kagome nodded silently. The name he was calling the creepy well just made it even more creepy. She hastened onto his back and clung with all her might until old hands wrapped around her middle and began to gently pull, saying that it was safe to let go now. Gratefully, Kagome set her feet on the grass that had not been in the creepy old well house. But then, the creepy old well house wasn't here any more.

"Come child, I have soup in my hut and I think you could do with something to eat," Kaede said gently.

"Thank you," Kagome said quietly. "My name's Higurashi Kagome, what's yours?"

"I am Kaede little one. I'm the miko of our village. This man who helped you out of the well is Genjo, the head man of our village," the old woman answered kindly, taking Kagome's hand and leading her to the village.

Kagome stared as she walked along with Kaede and Genjo. The houses were all small huts, and everybody was wearing simple, old kimono, many of them with patches. Women and men were working in rice paddies while children pretended to do battle, played with dogs, or minded small herds of pigs in their pens. It didn't look like Tokyo. It didn't even look like the old pictures of Edo (which later became Tokyo) that Grandpa had. Kagome was only six, but Grandpa told her stories of some of the relics in the shrine sometimes, and he had paintings of ugly red men that he called ogres raiding villages that looked kind of like this. They were really old paintings.

Then Kagome was inside one of the huts, sitting on a dirt floor and being served soup by Kaede.

"How did you come to be at the bottom of the Bone Eater's Well Higurashi-chan?" Kaede asked gently.

Kagome took a tentative slurp of her soup, and then began to explain everything to the kind old woman. It didn't take too long, and it didn't take long for Kaede to figure out that Kagome had come from a different time, as strange as it sounded even to her. The inherent magic of the Bone Eater's Well, as well as the incredible spiritual power of the small child in front of her, left Kaede willing to believe in this near impossibility. After all, it wasn't like they really knew how the Bone Eater's Well worked.

Kaede tucked Kagome in for a nap in her hut, then went to find Genjo.

"Kaede-sama, how is the child?" Genjo asked. "Do you know where her home is? Her family, if they live, must be very worried about her by now."

Kaede was glad to have found him alone. She did not want the rest of the villagers knowing this strangeness. It would unsettled them too much, and the child would be in danger because of it.

"At your complete discretion?" Kaede asked softly.

Genjo nodded slowly. It was the practice of holy people to keep their secrets. Those who were permitted to share in such things knew better than to break a trust. "My word on it," he promised.

"She is well and her family live, but as strange as it is, her home is beyond the well. She came to us by magic Genjo-dono. I came to ask that someone carve a ladder down the inside of the well for the child," Kaede explained.

Genjo frowned. "If she simply needs to go down the well to return home, why should we carve a ladder?" he asked.

"Because she has the potential to become an even more powerful priestess than my late sister Kikyo was at her peak, and there is no one at her home who can train her in her powers," Kaede answered. "If we carve a ladder for her, she can come here for training regularly, and still be with her family."

Genjo nodded. "You have been seeking an apprentice," he said speculatively. "Even if the child does not stay here, just that we are training a child priestess will draw another to us eventually." He was silent a moment before nodding. "I will carve the ladder for the child," he promised.

"Thank you Genjo-dono," Kaede said, bowing gratefully to the head man.

~oOo~

After that, Kagome returned to what she knew only as 'the distant past', every Sunday for lessons with Kaede-sensei on how to use her energy for different things. Kagome learned how to write sutras, how to create and sustain barriers, how to heal, and even how to harm. She wasn't all that keen on the last one, but with bandits and demons being somewhat common, it was necessary.

Back home, Kagome went to school from Monday to Saturday, and (since Grandpa had caught her practising, and having trouble with, the strengthening exercises that Kaede wanted her to do) she went to different clubs after class every day.

Monday was kendo (though Grandpa sometimes called it kenjutsu by mistake or wishful thinking, which is the name for the older way of the sword), Tuesday was kyudo (the way of the bow, though Grandpa grumbled that she'd be better off learning kyujutsu: the art of the bow, even if that used to be strictly the realm of the lost samurai class), Wednesday was sword work again, Thursday was taijquan (which wasn't Japanese at all, but was as close to any martial arts as even Grandpa was going to let his little princess, since it was done slowly when not being used in battle), Friday was more archery, and on Saturday she went again to what roughly approximated to 'slow motion karate'. All, Grandpa was adamant, were good for a young person to study. These three, he said, were about being centred and at peace with one's self as much as doing well. Kendo was the fastest of all three, and most of the time at kendo was going through the forms over and over until they were perfect. Grandpa said these were noble arts. He also balanced them by teaching Kagome about the tea ceremony in the evenings, and all the thousands of aspects of beauty that could be incorporated into it.

Her mummy and daddy had objected to Kagome doing so much, wanting to know why, but before Grandpa could give his speech about teaching the next generation all the noble arts of their ancestors, Kagome had pouted and asked why her parents were so against her doing things that she enjoyed with her friends.

She had a friend in every club she went to now, and not all of them were boys, so why weren't they happy? One friend in every club was three friends more than she'd had before, and considering she hadn't had any friends her age before, that was a big deal for the little girl.

Her family had no idea where she went on Sundays though. That was her secret.

~oOo~

Kagome was an oddity in her school. She ignored the uniform protocols completely, as in, she simply refused to wear the girl's uniform. Ever. At all. She wore kimono and hakama instead, in the colours that her uniform was supposed to be, but heavy white kimono and green hakama were a far cry from the light cotton shirt with a sailor collar and a short pleated skirt. When the principle called her in about it, she had stated firmly that as a priestess for her family's shrine she would not expose her form and flesh so indecently. Because she had Grandpa's backing (and because of the excuse that because she wore such clothes all the time anyway, her skin was particularly sensitive to sunlight and she would burn very easily if she wore anything less covering) this was permitted. She even wore the flowing hakama on sports days, rather than switching for more fitting jeans – and somehow managed to still keep up in all the general sports and win all of the races she entered.

Higurashi Kagome was declared old fashioned by the girls who were more interested in make up and boys. A lot of the boys were impressed, but likewise weren't interested in such an extremely traditional girl. There were a few boys who had screwed up their courage to ask her on a date, but she always politely turned them down. She always told these boys that she simply didn't have the time between all her clubs and her duties as a priestess at the family shrine.

These days, she sometimes told her parents that she had dates with boys on Sundays, and always came back from the distant past saying that the boy was not up to standard. Of course, that the men (for beyond the well when a boy reached her age he was a man) who were of the distant past she had just come from would often try to woo her in their own ways when she came to the village as well meant that she always had some factor to give as an excuse when her parents asked what was wrong with that week's date. She didn't use the date excuse every week though. She claimed going out with friends or just going for a walk as often as anything else, and sometimes simply disappeared without a word – a habit they had gotten used to in her younger years.

It was Saturday, taijiquan day. Saturdays were the shorter days for school in deference to children really not having such an excellent attention span, which meant it was actually a more inconvenient time for their parents to pick up their 'precious boy'. The school that Souta attended, that Kagome had attended when she was his age, was less than a block from Kagome's school, and she would collect him from soccer practice and walk home with him when she was done at taijiquan. The clubs were conveniently timed that way, and Kagome was certain that it was pure coincidence.

"Higurashi-san?" came a questioning voice from behind her as she was on her way to the club room.

Kagome turned around. "Yes, Hojo-san?" she asked when she recognised the boy. He was in her class, four seats in front and three to the left. Her neighbour on the right, Sakajima-san, was always giggling about him between classes.

The boy smiled in broad relief at even this much acknowledgement and visibly plucked up his courage. "Higurashi-san, would you do me the honour of a date next Sunday?" he asked.

Kagome sighed within her mind. "No," she answered. "I am sorry Hojo-san, but I have duties at my family shrine normally, and I am being given special allowance next Sunday to attend an archery competition, after which, I will be making up for missing out on my duties," Kagome explained to the boy, making sure that he knew that asking again would be pointless, as she had explained to many others before now. She sometimes wondered why it was that they continued to ask when she gave all of them the same answer, varying only when she was participating in a competition. "Besides which, Sakajima-san might never forgive me, as she has been hoping you might pose that question to her," Kagome added pleasantly.

Hojo blushed and looked down at his hands, biting his lip. Finally he nodded in acceptance.

"Good day Hojo-san," Kagome said, turning to continue down the hall.

An hour and a half later, Kagome left taijiquan and went to fetch Souta. Because soccer went for two hours on Saturdays, rather than the usual one, this gave Kagome an opportunity to watch her little brother's face light up with joy and close down in complete focus (or as focused as he could get at nine years old).

Kagome had long gotten over the resentment and false belief that Grandpa and her parents loved Souta more. Only her parents loved Souta more than her, as Grandpa loved her better for how seriously she took everything he taught her. Her parents loved Souta better for being a more normal child than Kagome had been, but apart from the worry of her taking on too many clubs, they loved her very well still as well. Souta was just an easier child for them, so they loved him better. Kagome had come to realise that parents having a favourite child – despite their best intentions not to – was completely normal. They didn't love her less than they ever had. They just loved their son more.

Kagome decided to see this as pride that the Higurashi name would continue into another generation, and not begrudge her baby brother. It was easier. Holding onto resentment was hard, especially when she was working as hard as she was in all of her lessons and clubs. It was even harder in the face of just how cute her little brother was, as well as the way he blatantly adored her once he was big enough to recognise people. He was adorable when he was being adoring, corny as it sounded.

"Kagome-onee-san," Souta greeted when the practice was over and he'd cleaned up a little. "I am ready to go home now."

Kagome nodded silently and stood. "You ran well today Souta-chan," she said with a gentle smile once they had passed the gates.

Souta beamed up at her, ecstatic to have received a compliment from his Kagome-onee-san. She didn't say things she did not mean to say after all, and was not inclined to give false praise. Kagome-onee-san (and he was always properly formal with his big sister, it felt... wrong to be overly casual with her somehow, even as much as they loved each other) didn't know much about soccer, so she never told him that he had played well. When she complimented him after picking him up, it was because he had performed a good kick, displayed good co-ordination, had appeared to work well with his team mates (again, she didn't know soccer well enough to be sure about that), congratulated him on scoring a goal, or – as today – for running well. These were things that she knew about after all, and it always pleased Souta to have impressed his impressive older sister.

His friends and team mates called her Higurashi-dono – without any prompting from him or anybody else. It just felt right to give Kagome-onee-san every respect.

"Kagome-chan," called Grandpa when they reached the top of the steps to the shrine and their home. "A word with you if you please?"

"Yes Grandpa," she answered, then turned briefly to Souta. "I will see you inside, alright?" she said.

Souta nodded and dashed for the house.

Kagome walked calmly to her grandfather. The poor man had gotten shorter in his old age, and Kagome was still growing taller. She was two heads higher than him now. Silently he turned, motioning for her to follow him, which she did. He led her to the well house.

"I was surprised to find how clean the old well house was when I came in here today," he said archly. "Especially since I only clean it every ten years or so and the greatest involvement your parents have with the shrine is to help during festivals or the occasional bit of building maintenance when it is needed. Souta-chan, I know, thinks that the old well house is haunted and frightening, and so avoids it at all costs. Kagome-chan, I would appreciate an explanation, if you feel that you can give one."

"This is where I disappear on Sundays," Kagome answered simply. When she was out of school for the summer, she planned to disappear through the well for a more lengthy stay. She was old enough now to be a little self-reliant after all. Not old enough to leave home completely, but a summer vacation on her own wasn't completely out of the question – as it had been when she was younger.

The old man hummed speculatively as he nodded, his eyes on Kagome's face. "And when you disappear, where do you go?" he asked.

Kagome smiled. Anybody else would have assumed from her statement that she simply disappeared to this place. Her grandfather, however, picked up on the truth she had veiled within a half-truth.

"The past," she said softly. "It is so beautiful there Grandpa," she continued, trailing fingers over the side of the well. "No cars or factories filling the air with pollution, more trees and flowers everywhere. It is a rough life there, more dangerous, but still so much better than the lives people have here. It is simpler in a way."

The old man nodded again, still eyeing his favourite grandchild. At last he spoke: "I think it is time that you had your own sword," he said. "I know you have sometimes practised with one of the rusted old swords I keep at the back of the store house, but you are an accomplished young woman and should have a more fitting blade. Especially if you are going to travel in such a dangerous place as our nation's past. You are satisfied with your bow?"

"Yes Grandpa," Kagome answered with a smile. "It is a wonderful bow." It had been a gift from him one Christmas. "Thank you for the honour of a sword."

~oOo~

It was the summer of his four-hundredth-and-twenty-first year. Just a little under fifty years ago, he had fought and won a war against a tribe of panther demons who had been trying to encroach on his territory. Currently, he was seeking the sword that his late father had bequeathed to the son he had died protecting: the half-breed. At the same time, he absently held to the belief that the great Inu no Taisho was a fool to have gotten himself killed like that, when if he had but rested an hour between his battles he would have lived.

Myoga, his father's vassal, had admitted to these facts when Sesshoumaru had questioned the flea demon. It had taken a frustrating amount of time to track down the parasite. Myoga was most adept and running away, and Sesshoumaru's own vassal, Jaken, was small enough that Sesshoumaru didn't bother to notice when he stepped on the minor toad demon. Seeking out a flea was most annoying.

Currently, he was moving in the direction of a stretch of trees that was called InuYasha's Forest by the local humans – and that because InuYasha was sealed there. The foolish half-breed was a shame on the family, but then, his father hadn't exactly been shining in his later years either. He was taking a moment in a clearing that held nothing more than an old well and the scent of a female – though much too clean to be human, and not acidic enough to be demon – before he would go to his sealed half-brother and see what he could learn from the fool about his sword. He had brought an unmother to peer into the half-breed's heart and draw his secrets from him, though the seal may yet get in the way.

When he reached the great tree to which his wretched half-brother was bound, Sesshoumaru was mildly surprised to find that the female scent from around the well was stronger here. Indeed, it was as though the source was... His golden eyes snapped up to the branches of the great tree. She was right above him.

"Greetings demon lord," the female said pleasantly. "May I enquire as to your business so near a human settlement?"

Sesshoumaru did not growl. The female was being respectful enough, even if her curiosity was slightly impudent – but she was the female who smelled so clean and pleasant. Not even the finest demon females of his mother's court had such an inoffensive smell.

"I have business with the half-breed," he answered, gesturing to the pathetic creature that the plants had long grown around. "What is your business in that tree?"

The female smiled. "I meditate here sometimes," she answered. "But today I came here because I felt that this was where I needed to be. How will you conduct business with the puppy if he is sealed Lord Demon?"

"This unmother," Sesshoumaru said, gesturing to the demoness he had brought with him, "shall look into his heart."

The female in the tree shook her head. "You will get no answer from him while he is sealed, even with such a measure," she informed him. "That seal is the last desperate act of a dying priestess of some power. I suppose I could remove it for you, but the people of the village fear him."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "If you can remove it, then you can weaken it," he stated. "I need information from him, not his company."

The female nodded and disappeared into the foliage for a moment before a rope dropped down and the female climbed down, dropping softly to stand on the plant growth that surrounded the half-breed. A small glow of power later, and the mongrel was awake.

"Kikyo!" the brat snarled at the female's face as soon as his eyes focused on her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Who?" she asked pointedly before stepping aside. "Lord Demon," she said more softly, stepping aside.

"Sesshoumaru?" the half-breed questioned, though no less furious with his presence than he had been with the female's.

"So you remember your older brother. Do you recognise this soul I have drawn out from the underworld for you?" Sesshoumaru asked as he gestured for the unmother to approach the restrained whelp.

"M-mother?" he asked, stunned as he stared at the unmother.

"My boy," she cried, going to him and wrapping her arms around him.

Sesshoumaru stood beside the female on the ground and watched as the unmother pulled the information he wanted from his half-brother.

"Myoga's ramblings make sense at last," Sesshoumaru grumbled, then stepped up to order the unmother aside. He had a gateway to retrieve from the half-breed.

"May I accompany you Lord Demon?" the female asked, careful to not use his name before he had given it himself. "I admit to curiosity over this matter."

Sesshoumaru frowned as he considered. "You aided this Sesshoumaru and your scent is not unpleasant. You may have this favour," he allowed.

The female bowed to him. "I thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said. "I am Higurashi Kagome," she added, in response to his telling her his name.

He nodded and withdrew the black pearl from the half-breed's eye. "Jaken," he called softly, summoning his vassal.

"Here milord!" the toad answered, running up to him with the staff he carried. A staff that was adorned by two heads.

Sesshoumaru took the staff, dropped the pearl, and tapped the base of the staff to the gem. Obediently, the gateway opened for him and he led the female and Jaken into the grave of his father.

"Wow," the female breathed in awe at the sight of the gigantic skeleton. "I am not usually impressed by mere size, but wow."

Sesshoumaru tucked away a smirk. "Yes," he allowed. "My father was very impressive in life, and continues to be even in death."

The female looked to him now with awe. "That is an impressive heritage," she said, then smiled almost slyly. "So that's what the constant use of energy I sensed from you was: hiding how big you must be."

"This Sesshoumaru does not hide," he snapped.

The female shook her head. "I was not implying that," she said. "Not intentionally. I can only imagine how inconvenient being of such great stature must be on a daily basis."

Sesshoumaru nodded, mollified, and brought her and Jaken inside his father's bones. A swathe of the bones of lesser demons made the floor inside, uneven and shifting as it was, and a small stone, round and flat, had a sword standing upright from it, only the tip embedded into the rock.

The female frowned. "But the sword at your side is so much finer," she observed. "What is the appeal of this one?"

"The Tensaiga," Sesshoumaru said, laying a hand on the sword at his side, "is useless. It heals of all things, instead of cuts. My father used it to bring his mistress back to life and save my wretched half-brother just before dying himself. The Tetsusaiga, however, can level one hundred enemies with a single stroke."

The female's frown did not lighten. "I am more impressed by the Tensaiga," she admitted. "I have never heard of anything with the power to bring the dead back to life in such a way, and my education has been vast. Being able to kill hundreds though... surely you can do that already Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"I can," he conceded with a huff. "It is the principle of the matter. What would the snivelling half-breed do with this sword?"

The female approached the sword and studied it. "Judging from my brief exposure to him, he would probably ridicule it as a piece of junk," she said flatly. "Since that's what it looks like. Unless he knows what it really is of course."

Sesshoumaru snorted. That did indeed sound like his ignorant half-brother. However, he ignored the praise for the sword he carried. For him, it was worthless. He had no desire to raise the dead, as much as it was a power he alone held. The Tetsusaiga was the weapon he sought, and now he approached it and reached for the grip.

"A barrier," he nearly growled, when a sphere of sparkling yellow energy rose around the hilt and prevented him from touching it.

"It makes no sense milord," Jaken said. "Why would your father place a barrier to prevent you from taking the sword?"

Sesshoumaru growled at his vassal. "He willed it to the half-breed," he reminded the incompetent.

"So fetch him here to remove it for you," the female said, stating it like it were the most obvious thing in the world. Perhaps it was. "If he stays here, then he won't be a threat to the village, so I'll unseal him for you."

Sesshoumaru smirked. He liked this idea of the female's, and brought her and Jaken out of the tomb to face the half-breed once more.

"Kikyo," InuYasha growled again, his eyes fixed on the female. "What are you doing hanging around Sesshoumaru."

The female frowned. "My name is not Kikyo," she said firmly to him, stepping up onto the plant growth and drawing something out of her sleeve. A rosary.

Sesshoumaru wondered why anybody would just carry around a rosary, but dismissed it when she began to chant and the beads began to glow and move from the string she held to surround InuYasha's neck. Once the last one disappeared, she grabbed hold of the arrow and jerked it out.

InuYasha instantly tore at the wood that held him in place still and moved to strike the female.

"Sit," she said firmly.

InuYasha crashed to the ground. "What was that!" he demanded once he could peel his face away from the grass.

"Subjugation," the female said smugly. "I hope this does not offend you, Lord Sesshoumaru."

He shook his head. "The half-breed was already a shame on the family," he stated, then turned his attention to his worthless half-brother. "InuYasha, you are going to accompany me to the tomb of our father, and you will draw Tetsusaiga from its place and give it to me."

"Why should I?" InuYasha growled.

"Higurashi-san, if you would?" Sesshoumaru requested. She had earned enough respect from him to warrant the mild suffix to her name, as well as the use of it, since she had given it to him. To simply call her 'woman' would be inappropriate for her.

She bowed slightly and politely to him, and focused her gaze on InuYasha again. "Sit," she repeated dispassionately.

InuYasha's face was once more forced into the earth.

Sesshoumaru almost smirked. It was actually quite amusing. "I will continue to allow this to happen, I will continue to encourage this to happen, unless you do as I say."

InuYasha grumbled, but complied once he was on his feet again. Of course, he didn't stop scowling the whole time.

"You want this piece of junk?" the half-breed questioned once they were in the tomb and he was staring at the Tetsusaiga.

The female, Sesshoumaru noticed, quickly raised a hand to her mouth and her eyes danced with mirth. Clearly she was amused at having been right about InuYasha's reaction to the blade.

"There is a barrier preventing me from drawing it," Sesshoumaru stated. "On the theory that it was left for you, rather than me, you should be able to."

"If it was left for me by the old man, then why would I want to give it to you? Even if it is a piece of junk," InuYasha answered.

"Higurashi-san."

"Sit."

"I get it, enough already!" InuYasha growled, pushing himself up with one hand while another dusted demon bones from his hair. "Shit, why are you helping this bastard anyway Kikyo?" he growled.

The female narrowed her eyes. "My name is not Kikyo," she reiterated.

"Then why do you look so much like her, huh? How can you smell so much -" he cut himself off, sniffing again. "You're not her."

The female cut her eyes across to Sesshoumaru, silently asking permission.

"At your leisure, Higurashi-san," he allowed.

"Sit." The word came out through clenched teeth.

"Ow!" whined the half-breed, before once more pulling himself up and dusting the bones off. "Pull out the sword," he said sullenly, moving across the bone floor to stand on the stone circle, where he took hold of the hilt.

"He got passed the barrier," the female noted blithely. "Doesn't seem to be having much luck with the 'pulling it out' part though."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Why?" he whispered fiercely. He wanted to know. He needed to know. Why couldn't he or the wretch it was actually bequeathed to free their father's legacy?

"May I think out loud, Lord Sesshoumaru?" the female asked.

He nodded his silent permission.

"What does your half-brother have, that you do not?" she asked.

"Human blood," Sesshoumaru answered, even as he watched the half-breed continue to attempt to free the Tetsusaiga. "Are you suggesting that is what let him past the barrier?" he demanded lowly.

The female shrugged. "I don't know much about barriers made by demons," she admitted. "I have studied barriers as they are made by humans, and no barrier made by a monk, priestess or priest would make such a distinction. For all I know, the barrier is based on the intent of the one trying to draw it."

Sesshoumaru's face went blank, the last conversation with his father ringing in his mind. "Do you have someone to protect?" his father had asked him. He'd responded negatively, and he had also given his reasons for wanting the sword – conquest. His half-brother, weak as he was, was trying to draw the sword because he had been ordered to. His human blood giving him enough 'something to protect' to get through the barrier, but not enough to pull it.

"Thank you, Higurashi-san, you have been most helpful," Sesshoumaru said. "But tell me, your concerns for the village, what sparks them?"

The female smiled softly. "Kaede-sensei, the priestess who lives in that village, is old and frail. Too old to fight very much at all these days, so the village is somewhat vulnerable to demons who would destroy it. The men of the village are also farmers more than they are fighters, and have barely fended off bandits in the past," she explained. Then her smile softened just a little further, and her brown eyes glowed with warmth. "And the children are still so delightfully innocent and eager to please. Some of the little girls are always racing to bring me crowns and necklaces of flowers that they have made when I come to the village."

Making such things was an art largely lost to her time, and she always took delight in the gifts.

"You would protect them if there were a threat?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"I would," she said. "I have done," she added. "A centipede demon attacked the village one day when I was visiting. She crushed houses and injured many people without even thinking of the destruction. I cut off her head."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "You try," he instructed.

The female blinked in surprise, as did Jaken and InuYasha, both having heard the order.

InuYasha backed away from the sword that had come no looser despite his tugging, and the female stepped up, unsure.

For her, the barrier was completely non-existent, and the sword tip was released from the stone it had been stuck in with the lightest tug from her.

"How is this possible?" shrieked Jaken, gaping at the female who stood before them, holding his father's legacy.

"Someone to protect," Sesshoumaru said softly, and breathed deeply of the scents present in the tomb. There was the scent of his father, the scent of his vassal, the scent of his half-brother and the scent of the dead bones beneath their feet... and there was the scent of the female. He knew that the barrier around the Tetsusaiga couldn't be to just keep all demons away from the sword, or his father could not have held it. It was about intent. His father had commissioned the sword so that he could protect InuYasha's frail, human mother. The princess whose only knowledge of warfare was that it was something men did. Sesshoumaru's mother was a fierce and powerful demoness. She didn't need protecting. Inu no Taisho had not needed the sword before he decided to claim the human.

He watched as she eyed the sword speculatively, lowered it so that the tip was just above the ground, then closed her eyes for a moment in concentration. The Tetsusaiga, legendary fang of destruction, crafted by Totosai from one of his own father's fangs, came to life in her hands. A gentle thunk sound signalled that she hadn't the strength to lift the large weapon. It was almost as long as she was tall, almost as wide as her waist, and weighed down with the might of his father after all. She should have known better than to believe she could be mistress of this sword so easily.

"Okay, that's really impressive," she said, smiling, and with laughter dancing in her eyes. "And really heavy," she added, just as brightly before turning to Sesshoumaru. "So, if I hand it to you, will the barrier burn you again as it did before?" she asked, withdrawing her energy from the sword and watching it return to its previous state: appearing to be a blunt and very beaten-looking but otherwise normal sword. She shifted her gaze to InuYasha, who was gaping at the sword now and ignoring her completely. "And if I hand it to you, will you know how to wield it?"

"He will not know how," Sesshoumaru said firmly. "Not without being told, and I will still yet be denied by the barrier around the sword," he continued, ending in a low growl.

"Shall I keep it then?" the female offered. "Until you can get passed the barrier?"

Sesshoumaru nodded, then withdrew himself, the female and Jaken from the tomb, leaving InuYasha behind to rave after them. He closed the gateway behind them, preventing InuYasha's leaving and becoming a bother, and melted the black pearl with the poison in his claws dispassionately.

"And so he will never be a threat to anybody again, unless he is fetched out by some fool," Sesshoumaru said, then inclined his head slightly to the female. "We shall meet again, Higurashi-san."

The female bowed respectfully back. "As you say, Lord Sesshoumaru," she answered, not rising, indicating that she would wait that way until he had gone.

Sesshoumaru nodded to himself and walked off, Jaken trailing behind him. His thoughts were on the female though, even as he left her behind; and her words. It frustrated him slightly that he still was in some doubt to her species. She just didn't smell like anything he'd crossed before. It was quite frustrating. It was also somewhat enticing.

~oOo~

Kagome enjoyed this time, this place in her nation's history that was accessible to her through the old well. She enjoyed stopping in the evenings to set up camp and practising with her weapons before meditating and going to sleep for the night. She didn't train with the Tetsusaiga as though it were a sword though. There was no way, even though she flooded her body with her powers so that lifting it wasn't an issue any more. The sheer size of the thing was ridiculously impractical for the katas that she practised with her regular blade. No, she treated it as a zanbatou-eku, which is really what it was as far as length and breadth were concerned. That is to say: it was really long and it was really wide. However, it also had a curve to it, making attacking from the back foot the most effective practice... If she didn't want to just broadside someone in the head with the flat of it and knock them out, which was also a completely viable option.

She did wonder about the sort of attacks that the demon lord had talked about, being able to kill a thousand with a single stroke, but she wasn't all that keen on mass slaughter. If she ever drew this sword in battle it would be to intimidate.

What truly made her days a joy though (apart from the days that she found hot springs to bathe in), was meeting people, and at that moment she was on her way to a village. She was in sight of it when she heard it: screams of terrified women and children, yells of frightened men who were trying to save their families and failing, and a horrible undercurrent of snarling, hungry animals that were taking their meals out of the human population.

A normal person might have taken that moment to turn around, to veer off, to pick a different destination and avoid the village were death was happening to so many people so brutally. A brave and foolhardy person might have grabbed the nearest weapon and charged in, yelling and trying to kill as many of the enemy as possible. A weak but compassionate person might stop, waiting just out of the way until the sounds of animals ceased, and then continue forward to offer what help they could.

Kagome just kept walking. She would reach the village soon enough, and reaching it tired because she had run the last way was not sensible. Walking also gave her time to check her weapons and her medical supplies. She was going to need both, of this she was quite sure. So it was, a mere minute later, that a battle-ready Higurashi Kagome walked into the village that was being set upon by wolves. She had set armour over her arms and her sword, the one given to her by her grandfather, was drawn and held down by her side. Her long black hair was tied back in the high tail worn by so many killers through Japan's history; killers who were skilled with the sword but not of the samurai class – not worthy of wearing the top-knot.

Wolves were cut down as she passed them. She did not run, she did not charge, she barely sought them, and her step did not falter. As the wolves approached her, so were they dispatched at her feet.

"What the hell is going on here?" demanded a male voice from behind her. "My wolves!" the same voice yelled, having apparently found the dead canines, and being quite unhappy to find them no longer alive.

Kagome finally halted, the last wolf dead at her feet, and turned. The male had ice-blue eyes, claws, fangs, and was dressed in armour and wolf-skin in a highly unconventional style. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was a wolf demon, or that she had just slaughtered his pack... or that he was really, really pissed off right now.

Kagome flicked her sword, removing most of the blood, then pulled a handkerchief from a pocket in her sleeve and wiped the rest of the blood off the blade and sheathed it. She took two arrows from her quiver and pulled her bow off her back. She levelled the weapon unconventionally – so that it was horizontal instead of vertical – and drew back, one arrow on either side of the fist holding the bow. By the time the arrows lodged, one each in the throats of the two wolves who had come with the wolf demon and stood at either side of him, the bow was returned to its place at her back.

"You murderer!" he yelled, blue eyes wide and filled with hate. Then he was charging her, his claws to the fore.

Kagome drew the Tetsusaiga quickly, flushing her energy through herself and the blade, and holding the demon-crafted weapon before her. Holding it between her body and the charging demon.

He halted sharply when the edge of the blade was thrust up to just touch the skin of his throat – and it didn't waver. It should have wavered in the hands of the small female who held it. Hell, she shouldn't have been able to hold it off the ground at all, even with both hands!

"You did not think it murder to let your wolves eat these people," she pointed out to him calmly. "I am not a wolf, so I cannot murder a wolf. What did you expect to happen?"

"I expected my wolves to come home well fed," the demon answered with a growl.

"You did not think the people would fight back?" she asked, just a little coldly.

"Humans are weak," the demon answered. "They can't fight back."

"You will find that humans are fast learners," Kagome countered, pressing the sharp edge of the blade into the wolf demon's neck, only just breaking the skin enough to draw a slow bead of blood, which rolled down, down, into the white-furred guard – which absorbed the blood but was not stained by it.

"What are you?" the wolf demon demanded. "You don't smell like a demon, but you've got a demon blade. You don't smell like a filthy human either."

Kagome suppressed a laugh at the question, stamping it down until it was nothing more than a slight twitch of the lips as she briefly wondered if Sesshoumaru had been just as baffled by the smell of her soaps. She was saved from having to come up with some witty answer by a small girl-child who had almost been caught by one of the wolves before she'd cut it down.

"She's an angel!" the girl-child declared, moving to cling to some of the loose fabric of Kagome's hakama.

The wolf demon's eyes became wide with the proclamation, and then wider still when Kagome released a little bit of the holy energy she had long learned how to control and use as she desired. It burned at his claws, which were the furthest forward part of himself as he had simply frozen when the massive blade appeared at his neck.

"Leave and never look back," Kagome instructed.

The wolf demon growled, but backed up. He didn't turn his back on her, but when he was ten feet back from where he had been, Kagome sheathed the Tetsusaiga once more. He took that moment to charge her again, roaring in fury.

Kagome's hand closed around the hilt of her own sword and drew it swiftly, turning slightly to protect the child still clinging to her hakama and take herself out of the path of the wolf demon. As he went past her, his head was separated from his shoulders.

"Angel-sama?" the girl asked. "Are you alright?"

Kagome smiled sadly at the child and crouched down. "What is your name little one?" she asked. "Where are your mama and papa?"

"They're dead," the child answered. "Papa was killed by bandits last summer, and Mama died of some kind of fever in the winter. Rin is alone."

Kagome's heart reached out for the little girl. "Oh Rin-chan," she said, patting the girl's hair softly. "Is there someone here in the village who cares for you?"

Rin shook her head silently.

"Would you like to come with me then?" Kagome offered, swiping a little bit of blood and dirt off the girl's face with her thumb.

Rin's face lit up with a bright smile. "Really, Angel-sama?" she asked eagerly.

"Really Rin-chan. But my name is Higurashi Kagome, Rin-chan, not Angel-sama."

~oOo~

The wolves were skinned and their pelts turned into furs that could be sold by the villagers. They gave a couple of pelts to Kagome in gratitude for her saving them, though Kagome was more interested in claiming the teeth and claws than the furs – which she did as well – but the furs would keep Rin warm on cool nights. After they left the village, Kagome took Rin to a hot spring where she had bathed the little girl thoroughly, tended to all of her wounds. She then modified one of her kimono to fit the four-year-old girl, stitching the fabric in to the garment as was the traditional method, allowing for the seams to be let out as the owner of the garment grew.

And Rin called her Kagome-tenshi-sama.

They were setting up camp on the last bit of soft grass before the ground became barren and rugged – they hoped to completely cross the rocky area the next day and make camp on grass again the next night – when Kagome heard the quiet sounds of rapidly pounding feet and desperately gasping breaths. Someone was running. In their direction.

"Get behind me Rin-chan," Kagome instructed, drawing her bow as she sought out the source of what she could hear.

There! A bloodied woman was running, fear in her eyes, as she held a child to her chest. Beyond her was her pursuer, a red-eyed demon riding on a cloud. The only blood on him was a few drops on his cheek and a streak of it on the naginata he was carrying. The cloud-riding demon scowled at her, then threw his weapon down. It went straight through the woman's back, sticking her to the ground.

"Mama?" a small voice cried, the landing jarring the child out of her hold. "Mama!"

Kagome loosed the arrow at the same time the demon had pulled back his arm to throw the weapon, and she hit him square in the middle of his throat, but it was too late for the mother.

"Kagome-tenshi-sama?" Rin asked quietly. "Is the bad man dead?"

"Yes Rin-chan, the bad man is dead," Kagome answered softly, "but so is the little one's mother."

The child had clearly heard her, because it started yelling denials. "No! No, Mama can't be dead! Papa killed the bad man that was hurting her, and then that bad man killed him and I don't want to be alone! Mama get up! Get up and show them that they're wrong! You're not dead!" the child wailed, pushing against his mother's shoulder.

"Kagome-tenshi-sama, will you help this boy like you helped me?" Rin asked solemnly, clearly able to see the other child's pain.

Kagome nodded her head silently and moved towards the boy where he was crying over his dead mother. Mutely taking in the fluffy tail, pointed ears, and furry feet that she hadn't noticed both mother and child sporting until just then.

"I am sorry I was not faster to save her for you little one," she said softly, crouching down next to him and gently stroking his hair.

The boy sniffed, wiping at his eyes and nose, banishing his tears. "I want my mama back," he whispered hoarsely. "I don't wanna be alone."

"You don't have to be alone," she said gently, kneeling properly and pulling him into her lap. "I know I'm not your mama, but I'll care for you, if you'll let me."

The boy nodded silently, tears once more streaming down his face. "Thank you," he whispered, turning in her lap to bury his face in her kimono.

"I'm Higurashi Kagome," she told the tiny demon child. "What's your name?"

"Shippo."

~oOo~

It was a week after Shippo joined her and Rin, and the two children were curled up together in her tent asleep, just a little way from the edge of the water. Kagome herself was in her sleeping yukata, awake, sitting on a rock beneath the waterfall that fed the pool, watching the fire that she had built on the shore. She had been asleep in the tent, but a dream she didn't remember had woken her with a start. She'd gotten out of the tent so as not to wake the children, and she was only just now suffering from shock. Delayed shock over what she had done first in the village where she had met Rin and then to save Shippo. Twice she had killed demons with human faces.

It was something she had done before, certainly, but she'd never killed ones that looked quite so human before. It was more common to be faced with demons that either looked more animal than they did human, or that looked like grotesque pieces of something larger.

"I have heard rumours of an angel travelling the lands, giving aid and protection wherever she goes," announced a voice, deep and male, from just beyond the firelight.

Kagome's head snapped up, her decent into shock put off once more for another time.

"Shall I tell you the name I have heard people call her? They call this angel Kagotenshi-sama," the voice continued as its owner stepped into the light at last.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, greetings," Kagome said. "Have you come for the Tetsusaiga? It is there by the fire," she offered, gesturing to where the sword of his father lay beside the sword and bow given to her by her grandfather.

The demon shook his head however. "I have not come for the sword," he said. "I have come to learn more of you, Angel."

"I am not an angel, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said quietly.

"No?" he asked, then chuckled softly. "Perhaps not," he allowed, the slightest smile touching the corner of his mouth. "From here you look more like a siren."
Kagome blushed. Sirens were supposed to be beautiful women who lured men to their deaths in the water by singing to them and stealing their breath in underwater kisses. "I am not a siren either, Lord Sesshoumaru."

"Who else would wear a thin white yukata under a constant flow of water, but a temptress?" the demon lord asked, now truly smiling.

Kagome's blush burned even brighter. "Someone who didn't think they'd be having company any time soon," she answered heatedly, though her voice was quiet in deference to the children sleeping not far from her. She also made no move to further cover herself. Everything currently was covered, even if the covering was sheer thanks to the water. To move would actually show more than remaining still, simply because once she moved the wet yukata would start to stick to her in different ways. Ways that were even more provocative than her current situation supplied.

~oOo~

It had been a full moon cycle since he had attempted to retrieve the Tetsusaiga from his father's grave when the rumours reached him. Rumours of an angel walking the lands, lending aid to everyone she met and even killing a powerful wolf demon that had let his pack of wolves loose on a somewhat prosperous village. Rumour agreed that the angel had black hair to her knees and brown eyes that were as soft and warm as a mother's embrace (though some of the men claimed lover's was the word that should be used). Some rumours suggested that she was an avenging angel, or a protecting one, because she carried two swords and a bow and a quiver full of arrows – and used them with such proficiency that even samurai exclaimed at her skill. There was one quietly whispered rumour that said one of the angel's swords was more than a mere blade, that it was magic and had powers no mortal could comprehend.

They called the angel Kagotenshi-sama.

Sesshoumaru smiled to himself. The female, Higurashi Kagome, had been in his thoughts a great deal since their meeting and parting. He had been puzzling over what she was mostly. Her scent still frustrated him, hinting to neither human or demon. This rumour of heavenly origin could well be completely true. She could be an angel. For all he knew from her scent, she could be a spirit from the netherworld or a kami, but that word: angel. It suited her more than anything else did.

There was a rumour that the angel had adopted two children as well. One human girl from the village that had been attacked by wolves, the other a fox-child. The humans whispered that she had caught it and killed its parents. Demon rumour said that the parents of the fox-child had been killed by a demon from the lightning clan, and she had killed the one responsible when she came across the frightened little one.

Due to the fact that the demon rumour could be traced back to a tanuki who lived in the area of the angel's supposed confrontation with the lightning demon, Sesshoumaru was more inclined to believe the demon rumour than the human one in this instance.

Normally, he didn't debase himself with something so below him as listening to idle gossip, that was largely what he'd kept Jaken around for. The imp was a fiend for rumour and idle chatter, and could concisely recite all the most reliable information for him at any moment. It was the toad who had mentioned that the leader of a northern tribe of wolf demons had been cut down by someone being called 'Kagotenshi-sama' and brought this line of reasoning to Sesshoumaru's attention.

Some of the weaker demons mumbled about feeling the power of the Shikon no Tama in the same area as the angel, and Jaken relayed that some had even attempted to take the jewel from the female. Apparently, all who faced her with intent to bloody their claws or fangs were swiftly put down.

Sesshoumaru dismissed Jaken, with instruction to only seek him out if there was news of another powerful demon attempting to make a move on the Western Lands, and left to seek out the angel for himself.

When he found her, his breath stuck in his throat as he watched the firelight dance over the water as it cascaded over her form. For a while, he simply stood there in the darkness and stared at her, soaking in her presence, her scent over the water, the image of her, until the fire crackled and shifted – and he remembered how to speak again.

~oOo~

"Ah, this Sesshoumaru meant no offence Tenshi," he said, though he was smiling. "The rumours also say that this angel keeps a human girl-child and a young fox demon in her care as well. Is this true?"

"This is true. They sleep in the tent," Kagome answered softly, gesturing to the canvas structure just as she had to the Tetsusaiga moments before.

"What will you do with the fox child?" Sesshoumaru asked. "Do you know the customs of his people to teach him?"

Kagome shook her head. "I do not, and this troubles me some nights," she said, answering the second question first. "Soon I shall have to return to my home, and I will be unable to spend more than one day in every seven here until next summer."

"Why?" Sesshoumaru asked, his brow furrowing.

"I have responsibilities at home that must have my fullest attention, and it would not be taken kindly for me to appear with two small children," Kagome answered with a sigh, running a hand through her wet hair underneath the fall of the water. It was soon plastered flat to her head and back once more. "Until the time I have to return, I will care for them. After that, I know that Kaede-sensei would be able to watch Rin, but I doubt she could handle two children, and I don't want to separate them. They're so close already. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"What are these responsibilities?" Sesshoumaru asked, distracting Kagome from her worry for the moment.

"Mostly to my education at the moment. I have no choice but to attend schooling until my seventeenth year. I am yet only fifteen. This year I shall turn sixteen. Also, I have a duty to my grandfather."

"Your parents are passed?" Sesshoumaru asked, almost apologetically. He may not have liked his mother, and he may feel shame for his father's actions just before he died, but losing a parent still hurt.

Kagome shook her head. "They live," she said. "And I have some duty to them as well, but for them is my brother, so I have a lesser duty to my parents. Grandpa is the one who has guided me the most in my life."

"Tell me about your grandfather," Sesshoumaru instructed gently, curious about this figure who meant so much to the angel before him.

Kagome smiled. "He insisted that I learn the sword and the bow, as well as how to defend myself should I ever be without them. He personally taught me the correct way to conduct tea ceremonies, and is very traditional. He was the power behind my words when I began to wear clothes other than the ones dictated by the institute of learning that I attend, saying that I was not to wear what he believed to be shameful for a young woman of my position."

"What is your position?" Sesshoumaru asked. "What was the required dress that it was shameful?"

"My grandfather is the keeper of a shrine, a shrine he is determined that I shall inherit. Until then, I am a shrine maiden, and I should be dressed according to the dictates of the keeper of the shrine. The clothes dictated by the owners of the institute were... revealing," Kagome explained.

"More revealing than your current state?" Sesshoumaru asked with amusement.

Kagome's eyes flashed with power in warning, but she did not move from her place. "The hem would have ended here," she indicated, bringing the side of her hand to cut across an upper part of her thigh. "And be constructed in such a way that a fast movement or light breeze would reveal all that is supposed to be hidden. The fabric was also as clinging to the form dry as my yukata is now when wet, but much lower and more revealing here," she continued, running her hand down from where her collar covered to just above her breasts, indicating how far the neck-line would drop. "When we are instructed in light sports, students are required to wear even less."

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru lost himself for the briefest moment as he considered that which had been described to him by the angel. Such revealing clothing on her form would be a sin, a crime against her person. To dress one who was so pure as though she had less dignity than a whore – ! He felt his fangs grow slightly in rage at the thought of the angel being put on display, even for others of her heavenly race.

At the same time, however, he could not help but consider the female before him. He truly had invaded her privacy, and was almost shaming her purity as it was, to be present when her modesty was compromised by the waters. His claws, glowing slightly green, were clenched into his palms to preserve his self control.

The angel was a siren, and though he resisted in mind, his body was beginning to ache for her temptations. The temptations she did not even give intentionally.

Forcibly he calmed himself. He wanted the angel. He would have the angel. But there was a right way and a wrong way to go about getting her. Probably there were a thousand wrong ways to the only one right way. He was going to have to be very careful about making sure he stepped only on the single correct path.

Another question was called for, something to remove the image of a scantily clad angel from his vision. Tempting enough already that she was wet before him. She had said something earlier that he could question. That would suit for distraction.

~oOo~

"You are a shrine maiden?" he asked. "An angel for a shrine maiden."

Kagome smiled wryly. "You are not giving up on the idea that I am an angel, are you?" she countered, though her question was rhetorical. "Yes, I am a shrine maiden. My father should inherit the shrine and become the head priest, but he has no such inclination and neither does my mother, but they are not suited to the keeping of a shrine anyway, even if we do all live in the house of the shrine-keepers. Grandpa decided that since I was the only one so interested in the shrine, and particularly since I have so much power, the shrine will be mine when he passes away. He is only seventy, his death will not come soon."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the number. It was greater than any human lived to. Even the priests and priestesses in peaceful areas rarely saw more than sixty, so for him to have some time to live yet at seventy implied that he was not a mere human. However, at the same time, seventy would not see a demon old enogh to be inclined to be mated, let alone with children who had children of their own. The mystery of Higurashi Kagome deepened, and he was steadily becoming more certain that she was of a different race than he had ever encountered before.

"You have duties that you cannot leave until you have an heir," Sesshoumaru observed.

Kagome chuckled, bowing her head slightly, and the water that cascaded over her face then looked like she was crying. The scent had not become salty though, so Sesshoumaru knew that it was simply the water of the fall.

"I suppose I do," she admitted with a smile, though the smile was not all happy. "And not one decent prospect for providing one either. Perhaps I should risk scandal and take the children back with me after all. Or my brother could have an heir who will be suitable."

"Is it such a terrible scandal among angels to bring a human child and a demon child to their world from earth?" Sesshoumaru asked. He would have thought that caring for children was something that angels delighted in.

"First there will be problems with where they came from," Kagome said, dismissing the angel comment in favour of answering the actual question. "The possibility of kidnapping charges, and those who work in child protection will have all sorts of questions best not asked in this situation," Kagome sighed. "And then there is the possibility of completely upsetting history by taking them out of their natural place. I will need to look over the records when I return home." A small smile lit on her mouth and a distant look sprung up in her eyes. "Grandpa will enjoy helping me with the task. He's so fond of his records."

"Upsetting history?" Sesshoumaru questioned. "What of saving villages? How could saving two children be a greater problem?"

"The village I saved from the centipede will some day become a town called Edo, the town of Edo will later become the city of Tokyo. I saved the village as a whole, not the individual people. They are all ordinary people and I have had minimal contact with the villagers, really only speaking to Kaede-sensei and Genjo-san, the head-man of the village," Kagome explained.

"What of the wolves and the wolf demon you killed?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Wolves will learn to fear people and avoid their settlements, and demons must learn subtlety if they are to survive as long into the future as they have already lived," Kagome answered, her gaze turning once more to the fire and focusing on it instead of the beautiful male demon, or her thoughts.

"This Sesshoumaru hopes that you appreciate that your case against being an angel is becoming weaker as you speak," he said.

Kagome shook her head, simply amused that the facts of her life when viewed without full understanding could give such an altered vision. "I am not an angel," she repeated.

"Then what are you?" Sesshoumaru asked. "Your smell was neither human nor demon when we met."

Kagome blinked in surprise. "I don't smell human?" she asked. "I mean, the wolf demon said that I didn't smell like a 'filthy human', but I had assumed his only measure was people who were always covered in sweat from running for their lives." Soap could remove the smell of human itself? No, surely not! But then, what was it?

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru considered Kagome's words of having no prospects to sire an heir for her line. He was in part gladdened by this statement as it meant that he had no rival for her affections. Another part of him was frustrated that she was dismissing him; either rejecting him, or not recognising that he was such a prospect. It was something that he was going to have to correct.

Testing his self-control around the angel, Sesshoumaru removed his armour. He set the Tensaiga down with Kagome's weapons and the sword of his father. Absently, he kicked off his footwear. He tied the kosode sleeves of his kimono behind himself and rolled up his hakama to his knees.

This done, he stepped into the water and approached the girl where she sat, wading nearly silently through the water until he stood before her, close enough to be bathed in her scent despite the constant flow of water.

"I caught your scent before I saw you," he told her softly, getting only the smallest of water droplets on his kimono. "The scent of female. I was not sure what type of female, but certainly female. Too clean a smell to be human, and lacking the acid undertone of all female demons. You still smell too clean to be human, and there is no acid to your scent at all. Do not tell me that you smell clean because of the water flowing over you. Water temporarily removes some scent, it does not change it. You smell clean. Not even the purest water carries such a smell." He looked her up and down as the water flowed over her. "I am amazed that no one has tried to claim you for their own yet," he whispered, his own lust screaming that he should perform that exact at immediately.

Kagome was wide-eyed and her breath was caught in her chest through his little speech. At his last whispered comment, at least some of her senses returned to her.

"Some have tried," Kagome said, staring up at him now through, careful to angle her head so that her vision was not impeded by the water flow.

"You said that there were no prospects," Sesshoumaru countered. "How can there be no prospects if there are males trying for you?"

"No welcome prospects then," Kagome corrected herself. "I have so far refused and resisted all advances."

Sesshoumaru raised a delicate silver eyebrow and bent a little closer to her. "Why?" he asked.

Kagome went still, in part because of how close Sesshoumaru was, but also because her mind was suddeny racing. Trying to figure out exactly why it was she gave rejection after rejection, apart from that she was genuinely too busy to date.

"They have unattractive minds," she answered at last.

That covered the too simple, the too naïve, the too boorish, the too arrogant, the too obsessive, the too passive, the too aggressive... Pretty much every fault that wasn't purely physical.

Sesshoumaru wanted to smirk, and silently wondered what made a mind attractive to the water-logged angel. Rather than ask though, he said "When you return to heaven, Kagotenshi-sama, I will care for the children until your return. The fox child will be properly taught of his heritage and no harm shall befall the girl."

Kagome smiled beneath the water flowing down her face. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama."

The change in the way she addressed him was noted by the demon, and he could not help but think it a good thing.

The first grey light of pre-dawn bled into the sky.

~oOo~

"Kagome-tenshi-sama!" Rin and Shippo yelled as they burst from the tent.

"I'm here," she answered gently. Sesshoumaru had left with the appearance of the grey light, giving Kagome time to dry herself and dress for the day. He'd returned just as she began warming up her bow to hunt breakfast – two dead rabbits in hand, already cleanly killed and gutted. "Sesshoumaru-sama, may I present to you my wards Shippo-chan and Rin-chan. Children, Sesshoumaru-sama is a demon lord and to be accorded the proper respect, am I being clear?"

"Yes Kagome-tenshi-sama," the children chorused, then together they bowed deeply to Sesshoumaru. "We are honoured to meed you Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru nodded in return, smiling slightly and softly for the children. He'd never admit it, but they were cute kids.

Sesshoumaru turned to Kagome. "Will you be moving on today?" he asked.

Kagome shook her head. "Not today," she answered. "We just pitched camp last night, and we have most everything we need for a while right here. I was planning on staying here three days. Relax, go through some lessons, let the children play maybe."

"Yay!" Shippo and Rin cheered, dancing around at the word 'play'.

"Spinning tops!" Shippo declared.

Rin clapped her hands in appreciation. "And making toys out of grass and flowers!" she cheered.

"And lessons," Kagome emphasised, a smile tucked away in one corner of her mouth. "Don't forget about those. You have to do well in your lessons before you will be allowed to play."

"Yes Kagome-tenshi-sama!" the children answered, but they were still grinning. They liked to play, but lessons were interesting too.

"Now go wash your hands and faces, and then we'll have breakfast," Kagome instructed.

"You have them well trained already," Sesshoumaru said softly as he watched the children jump and run to the stream. There, they splashed carefully rather than exuberantly as other children might in their situations.

Kagome nodded absently as she stirred the rice over the fire. "That's what a little love will do for children," she said. "They flourish and strive harder to please the person they love, simply because they love loving. Hugs are a good example of this," Kagome added with a smile.

Shippo and Rin returned just then, and Kagome served breakfast for them all. Even Sesshoumaru ate rather than declining 'human food'. Snobbery wasn't part of an 'attractive mind' after all, even if Kagome hadn't actually said so. The demon lord would not be relying on his physical beauty to see him through to win the heart of the angel he would now be travelling with.

~oOo~

Kagome wasn't sure where he got it from, but Sesshoumaru had gotten a bow from somewhere for Rin to learn with. As well as that, he'd gotten a blade for Shippo. The fox-child looked like a tiny roruni once he'd tied it to his waist. Kagome had to forcibly restrain herself from 'aw'-ing over how cute it was. Still, now she could actually train them properly with weapons, and the smile never left her face at how seriously they were taking it.

"Thank you Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome said quietly while the two children had a nap after exhausting themselves training.

There were a great many answers available to him at that moment, since she had made the comment with no prompting and in fact the only thing he'd done in the last five minutes was sit down. He was tempted to say "whatever for?" and drag out of her just how wonderful she thought he was for whatever it was that she was thanking him for. As he was fairly sure it was for supplying the training weapons for the children though, or perhaps for catching the boar they'd had for lunch and would finish up at dinner time, he answered instead: "You're welcome."

He was rewarded with a smile that lit up her face with a soft glow that danced like starlight in her eyes.

"Not just for getting those two weapons to learn with, or for doing the hunting," she continued. "Though I really do appreciate it. I mean thank you for just being here. Back home, I only have my grandfather to talk to really. When I started learning to fight, I made a couple of friends who were also learning, but they moved away, for one reason or another. We write to each other, but it's not the same as having someone to talk to."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Sharing conversation with you is a pleasure," he assured her. It was true too. He didn't talk much in general, but the conversations that he had with Kagome were less one-sided than he was used to.

Kagome smiled again, a little broader, and began making tea for them to share. "A mutual feeling," she assured him. "Tell me more about your duties?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru chuckled, and launched once more into an explanation of his role as Lord of the West.

~oOo~

"There it is," Kagome announced as their little group exited the trees and entered the clearing. "My portal home," she finished, pointing to the old well that stood alone on the top of the hill.

"I admit, I had not expected a dry well to lead to heaven," Sesshoumaru said. "The netherworld perhaps, but not heaven."

Kagome sighed in exasperation, which made Shippo and Rin laugh.

"I'm not an angel," Kagome insisted for the what was probably the thousandth time. "And it doesn't lead to the netherworld either." Kneeling down, Kagome gave her full attention to Rin and Shippo. "I'll be back in seven days, and I'll talk to my grandfather about you coming through, alright?"

The children nodded and hugged Kagome tightly.

"Be good for Sesshoumaru-sama," she whispered in their ears. When they nodded, she continued. "I love you, and I will miss you while I'm gone."

"We'll miss you too Kagome-tenshi-sama!" Rin wailed softly, already sniffling into Kagome's shoulder.

"We'll be good for Sesshoumaru-sama," Shippo added in his most stubborn, strong-man voice, though the cloth under his face was getting just as damp as that under Rin's.

Kagome nodded and gave them a last quick squeeze before standing once more and facing Sesshoumaru.

"If any suitors ask after you," Sesshoumaru said tentatively, searching Kagome's brown eyes earnestly for signs that what he was about to say would be welcomed rather than rejected. "Please tell them that you are already being courted?" he asked, hope shining in his golden eyes.

Kagome smiled that soft, contented and happy smile he was beginning to believe she kept reserved for him. Then she stepped forward and lightly kissed his cheek.

"I will," she promised. "Though I'll have to check with Grandpa first about actually accepting the courtship of a demon lord. I'm sure I can make him amenable to the idea though," she added.

Sesshoumaru felt as though a knot had been released in his chest and he could breathe easier. He smiled back and nodded his agreement. It wouldn't be proper, after all, for him to court Kagome without the permission of her family.

Kagome adjusted her belongings over her back one last time, then hopped over the side of the well.

A gentle blue glow flooded the depths and she was gone.

~oOo~

Grandpa laughed. He laughed and he laughed and he laughed. Then he cried.

At first, he cried because he was laughing so hard, then he cried because he little Kagome was growing up.

His granddaughter, the famous Kagotenshi of legend. The one who's eldest daughter founded the Higurashi line and who's first son built the Higurashi shrine. Kagotenshi who was married to the great Lord of the West.

If Kagome hadn't just spent almost her entire summer getting to know Sesshoumaru, then she would have been a little put out about having her future written down in the legends of the past.

On the other hand, it meant that her grandfather insisted on Kagome bringing her 'family' through the well with her next Sunday so that he could meet them. It might be tempting fate to show them the records that the Higurashi shrine actually kept of the time, and Kagome wondered how Sesshoumaru would take to finally having it hammered home that Kagome was actually as human as she had been saying she was.

Part of her wondered if he would believe it. Another part of her hoped that he wouldn't care. Quietly, a much, much smaller part wondered if, just maybe, he was actually right, and that there was something particularly unique about her rather than it just being a matter of soap that made her smell clean. After all, according to Grandpa's scrolls, 'Kagotenshi' had lived a rather staggeringly long life – from when she'd first appeared in the late 1530's (about half way through the Muromachi period) until the beginning of the twentieth century (the end of the Meiji). Though there was also a bit of a gap where 'Kagotenshi' disappeared for a few decades at the end of the Muromachi period.

Privately, Kagome suspected that would be the time when she would be back here, tending to the shrine after Grandpa died. She wasn't going to tell him though.

Turning her thoughts to more pleasant things, Kagome realised that she'd probably also need to get masks for Sesshoumaru and Shippo when they got here. Sensitive noses and all. Maybe Rin too, since Kagome was beginning to think of investing in one for herself. After a summer of a pre-industrialised Japan, Tokyo really did not smell very nice.

~oOo~

She'd had a week to think about it. A week to talk to her grandfather about it. When she climbed down the well on Sunday morning, Kagome had made up her mind once and for all.

"Kagome-tenshi-sama is back!" Shippo cheered, peering over the edge of the well into its depths.

"Kagome-tenshi-sama?" Rin echoed from beyond the rim, and then she was looking down over the side as well. "You're back!" the little girl squealed happily.

"Of course I am!" Kagome answered as she began the climb out of the well. "I told you I'd be back after all."

"We missed you!" the children declared, wrapping their arms around her legs and burying their faces in the many folds of fabric that made up her hakama just as soon as she'd swung her legs over the side of the well.

"I missed you too," she answered softly, bending a little awkwardly to hug them back.

Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around Kagome's waist as soon as she straightened up. "And me?" he asked softly, his lips brushing against her ear.

"I'll have you know that Grandpa found records that say you and I will have a long and happy life together, so I thought about you a lot. I'm surprised I managed to pay attention to my teachers at all, the amount of time I was thinking about you," Kagome informed him, smiling happily as she leant back against his armoured chest. "And Grandpa wants to meet all of you," she added, untwisting her neck so she was looking at the children instead of up at Sesshoumaru. "Which means us all going through the well together."

Rin and Shippo promptly leapt into Kagome's arms, latching onto her shoulders. She would have fallen or dropped Rin (as the larger of the two children) if Sesshoumaru hadn't been standing behind her to steady her, and had slipped an arm around the little girl's waist, holding her tightly to Kagome.

A light jump backwards by Sesshoumaru had the quasi-family falling to the bottom of the well. At about half-way down, blue light surrounded them as it usually did Kagome when she passed through. Sesshoumaru touched lightly down on the bottom of the well, and set Kagome's feet on the ground as well.

"What is that smell?" he asked wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"Industrialisation," Kagome answered with a sigh, then removed from her pocket three of the masks that sick people wore to keep their germs to themselves, and that people with allergies wore so that they didn't have to breathe in pollen. "Put these on," she instructed kindly. "They should filter out the worst of the smell." Her tone was sympathetic and apologetic as she handed the largest of the masks to Sesshoumaru.

Shippo and Rin gladly took the smaller two masks as well.

"How can you smell so clean if you come from a place that smells like this?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Kagome shook her head. "I don't know," she said honestly. "But have I convinced you that I don't live in heaven now?"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "You have," he said. "You have not convinced me, however, that you are not an angel."

Kagome laughed happily and motioned for Rin and Shippo to start climbing up the ladder and out of the well.

"Kagome?" Sesshoumaru asked softly. "Where have we come to?"

"Through this well you have just travelled approximately five hundred years," she answered, just as softly. "I've got a couple of years left of school here before I can leave, and when Grandpa dies I'll have to come back until Souta or I have a child and they are old enough to take over for me, but according to Grandpa's records we'll have some four-hundred years together."

"Four hundred years does not feel like enough," Sesshoumaru admitted, whispering into Kagome's hair.

"Well, the name Kagotenshi really just falls completely into myth then. Not sure if I'll actually die. Not sure how I'll live that long either, but I guess we'll find out," Kagome said, then gently kissed the little bit of Sesshoumaru's cheek that wasn't covered by the mask.

"We will indeed," Sesshoumaru agreed.

~oOo~

"Higurashi-san, I was hoping you would do me the honour of taking you to the movies this weekend for a date?"

Kagome looked up from her lunch and textbooks, her gaze blank for a moment as she tried to place the boy who was asking her out. It took a moment. He wasn't actually in any of her classes or even any of the clubs that she was a part of.

"I don't think my fiancé would like that very much Asaka-senpai," she answered with a small smile, placing him at last as the older cousin of one of one of the girls who was in her history class. "Even if I did have time on the weekend, which I don't."

"F-fiancé?" Asaka spluttered, wide-eyed.

"Fiancé?" chorused all the girls sitting nearby, their eyes alight with the temptation of juicy gossip.

"Ne, Higurashi-san, since when?"

"You've never even dated once! When did you get a fiancé?"

"Forget fiancé, when did you get a boyfriend?"

"Is he handsome?"

"Is he rich?"

"Is he tall?"

"When do you have time to see each other if you're always so busy with clubs and the shrine Higurashi-san?"

Kagome laughed at all the questions, closing her textbook and giving her attention over to her female classmates she had been eating lunch near.

"Yes, fiancé. I met him during the summer vacation when I was travelling on my own. He asked and received my grandfather's approval just before school started back. We weren't ever exactly boyfriend and girlfriend, as such. Yes, he's handsome, and rich, and tall. We spend time together now on Sundays, talking while I do my duties at the shrine," Kagome answered. "Since Grandpa is leaving the shrine to me when he passes, my fiancé wants to learn about all the duties involved in keeping it up with me."

This was true actually, and Sesshoumaru had insisted on learning all that he could about the time that 'his angel' was born in so that, when her grandfather passed, he would not need to be separated from her for the duration of the time she would be required to tend it. Rin and Shippo were also being schooled in various things by her grandfather on Sundays. Her parents still had no idea beyond that Kagome was finally home on Sundays and was being visited by a 'young man of excellent standing'.

Grandpa was going to explain it to them eventually, but not too soon, and certainly not in its entirety. Another reason among many for Kagome to love her grandfather. The only thing she had to worry about was finishing school and then arranging a wedding. She didn't even have to think about how she was going to live as long as the records said that she would, since Sesshoumaru was looking for that answer.

Yes, for Higurashi Kagome, shrine maiden, high school student, time traveller, unknowing immortal bearer of the Shikon no Tama, future life-mate of Sesshoumaru and Lady of the West, and some-day mother of at least fourteen children (not including all the strays she would adopt like Rin and Shippo)... life was good.

~The End~