Disclaimer: I donot own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho

A/N: Here is a new fanfiction I've been working on. I don't know if I will continue it or not. It depends on the responses. :smile: Also something to note- This story is starting off in a different time and setting so beware of details- they are all important! Anyway, I hope you enjoythe story!

Beginnings Never Lost

Prologue - How the Pendulum Swings

Makai - 1700 A.D.

Kagome crawled through a window, feet landing soundlessly on the floor as she peered in to the room with her calculated, strangely bright cobalt eyes for any signs of traps or guards. Two women were laying on the floor to the right, still sound asleep in the middle of the night unlike the thieving child watching them now. Laughing at her own trickery over then inside her mind, she crept to the door as quietly as the wind, sliding the door open and glancing inside the empty inner corridors of the castle. Not a soul was in sight.

Perfect, Kagome thought.

Pulling an ancient-seeming scroll from her obi, she pulled it open to gaze at the map of Sesshoumaru's castle she'd bought off a shady merchant on the streets. Not the best idea, but she'd done stupider things.And by a twist of luck, the map had turned out to be legit. Even if the merchant had smelled horrible.

Her triangular black ears flicked backwards at the sound of footsteps, the young kitsune girl spinning around but not before a hand clamped over her mouth and another wrapped around her waist to pull her against a toned chest. Kagome snarled when she met the annoyed golden eyes of a young boy with silver hair and a rose pushed behind his ear. It was Youko.

"What are you doing her, Gomi?" He purred with a lilt of anger in his child-like voice, careful to keep his voice low as they moved in to an empty room to the right. They may be young, but they weren't novices at this. And only a novice would argue with a rival in the middle of a corridor for all sword-wielding guards to see.

"I could ask the same of you, baka!" Kagome seethed, crossing her arms over her chest after she had shoved him away from her. The scroll was still tightly in her grasp, and her eyes were focused solely on the boy in front of her. "I had this job marked months ago and I made sure everyone knew about it this time, so don't you dare try to accuse me of trying to steal your idea again!"

Youko snorted, becoming annoyed. They were in the same ragtag group of orphans that lived in the city stealing to get by and robbing high-ranking officials for fun. The two of them had grown up and trained together, developing an unsurpassable dislike for one another that was only expounded after five years of bickering/fighting. Kagome and Youko were the group's best thieves and the only kitsunes, however they could never see eye to eye with each other, always squabbling over "jobs" and getting in to fights. Kagome had marked this hiest, but he was determined to finish it even he had to deal with the annoying girl trying to rip out his heart later.

Kagome was the exact opposite of the rest of the girls in the city, Youko reflected again as she glared at him with blatant defiance. Always preferring to wear boy's clothes and tuck her thick, unruly ebony hair under a plain brown scarf so she looked like a boy. Freckles were sprinkled over her dainty nose from too much sunlight and her voice was loud and obnoxious. Her temper was as scary as theirs, and she lacked all the femininity that all the other girls possessed in the city. Her skills and fighting ability only redeeming enough to stay with the rest of the group, even though she was better than most of the boys in everything.

Kagome was struggling to keep herself riled under his calm gaze. She knew she was no beauty and acted less than feminine around him. It was never easy keeping the feelings she harbored for him secret, and more than enough that love warped in to raw hatred for him for his cruel teasing. There were times Kagome hated Youko more than anything in the world, and other times when she wished she could be just like any other girl so he would notice her.

Right now was one of the times she absolutely wanted to kill him.

"I wasn't going to," He responded, turning his thoughts back to the current situation. "It'd be stupid to use the same trick twice after all. You know that."

That never stopped you before, Kagome accused him sourly in her mind, looking up at the ceiling for a bit to keep her cool before turning back to him. "Then what are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you. You didn't come back last night and the others were worried as well." Youko said, his voice laced with concern that reflected on his strikingly handsome face, though still young and juvenile with less years of living then the more matured adults of Makai, it promised of a gorgeous man when he grew older.

Kagome was struggling not to blush, her eyes narrowing in heated anger. She knew he was playing with her; He was up to something and she knew she wouldn't like the end result. "Yeah right, all of you wouldn't care if I never came back." Kagome said, heart squeezing painfully at the truth of it. It was hard knowing the people you had grown up with for most of your life did not care for you at all once they reached a certain age and hormones came in to action.

Youko studied her as her face remained complacent, showing only a faint interplay of emotion behind the shield of her bright azure eyes. Guilt stung him and he was annoyed he felt anything at all. Kagome had been nothing but a pain since he met her, always arguing and too strong in her beliefs and naive notions to be thought of as a girl. He hadn't paid her much mind, he didn't even know her last name or how she came to be one of them, despite having had plenty of time to find out. However seeing no emotion on the ever-emotional face of Kagome, he felt bad in the first time for in a while.

"Stop being so melodramatic," Youko commanded gruffly, turning away from her. "It doesn't suit a boy-girl like you at all." Kagome ignored his obvious insult, moving to stand beside him and press herear against the door for any footsteps.

"You still haven't told me what you're doing here, Youko." Kagome spoke, watching him from the corner of her eye as she moved toward the doors. His expression didn't change as he answered.

"I came to help you."

"I don't need any help! Especially from you."

"You're just being stubborn. A puny girl like you can't take on the Lord of the West and his estate all by herself." He argued reasonably, giving her a grin. "You need help. My help."

Kagome opened her mouth to deny it, but snapped it shut as her thoughts caught up with her. Why refuse help when he's freely offering it? Besides, I knew it was going to be a pain trying to steal that book without the lord noticing. Youko can definitely help me with his botany magic to get pass the guards so I can focus on breaking any spells or barriers. Spells and barriers were Kagome's specialties after all. She didn't think Youko knew that. Kagome's eyes lit in deviousness.

"All right, but don't think I'll let you take all the credit for this." Kagome conceded, blue eyes flashing with a warning of future torture if he tried anything.

"Whatever the lady wishes," Youko sighed. "What's the plan?"

---

"How have you managed to live this long without killing yourself?" Youko wondered, eyes showing bothamazement and annoyance. He was leaning in the doorway of a study, the bodies of guards littering the hallway behind him. Between himself and Kagome, they had been easy to take care of. However, as the girl before him tweaked the barrier on the room, fingers skimming deftly along a barrier- onehe wasn't able to see, for that matter-to find how to break it and enter the lord's private study. He hadn't seen Kagome in action in awhile and he hadn't known she had improved hertechniques this much.

"It's not that hard once you understand how they work." Kagome answered softly, her voice distracted. "This is a reverse barrier, one of the harder ones to master. When someone enters the room and walk through it, they are just instantly turned away the way they came. It's kind of funny to watch the trespasser get frustrated when they aren't getting anywhere and can't figure out why." Kagome was smiling, a fond memory flitting across her memory that had Youko raising his eyebrow in curiosity.

"You know how to create it?" Youko asked. She had improved then. "Yet you said it was one of the harder barriers to master." Kagome glanced back at him, her skin glowing with challenge and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." Kagome teased cryptically. "And it's only hard for the inexperienced magicians."

Youko grunting, a sound of neither agreement or protest to her words. Kagome rolled her eyes at his lack of assertion, turning back to her work as the silver kitsune continued to study her. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. When Kagome was concentrating, she morphed in to an entirely new person at the happiness of the hunt. Someone not quite feminine, but definitely attractive.

Kagome bit her lip, completely ignoring the kitsune's observations. Her senses were scanning the barrier again as her fingers grazed the spherical surface of the shield. It was a deep maroon color, invisible to most eyes both demon or not. Very few were gifted with the talent of seeing the spells cast by others, which were normally only seen by the caster alone. Telling no one of it had been her safe little secret for years now. She had no problem showing Youko now though, her heart set on bragging to the arrogant kitsune who watched her so closely ever since she had tried cuffing a solider who guarded the study, who had turned and nearly impaled her with his broadsword. She had luckily ducked in time, kneeing the solider in the groin with Youko's rose whip wrapped tightly around his neck holding him captive. After witnessing her daring and questionable fighting skills, she knew he already questioned her sanity enough not to believe she could see the barrier. Not that she cared too much, Kagoem reassured herself. All she wanted was to tease him afterwards.

Her eyes averting to a small almost invisible snag on the barrier close to the ground, Kagome's blue eyes lit up in luminos delight. Kagome knelt, leaning forward with her slender fingers brushing over the inconsistency with a small exclamation of victory. Found it!

Pinching the maroon thread betweenthe pointsoftwo claws she yanked it, watching with satisfaction as the barrier began to unravel like a piece of frayed cloth. Starting at the bottom as it began to unwind, it went up, the threads disappearing as soon as it's protective purpose was lost. Kagome stood, giving Youko a small victorioius grin over her shoulder before she stepped forward past where to barrier stood in to the room it had protected. Kagome's quickly assessed the room, looking for any more traps while searching for any unusual magically-potent books with the desired content with her attuned senses. She felt a presence at her side, realizing it was Kurama as he too searched the room for her prize.

"There." Youko suddenly spoke, pointing to a book residing on the highest shelf. Kagome looked at it, eyes widening at how strong the aura of it was. Youko grinned. "The book of Infinitilia."

Kagome stared at it, a small smile tugging at her lips in happiness ashe she whispered breathlessly,

"The book of time travel."