Summary: The demon was gaining on her. She couldn't die here; she still had questions for her mother! Desperate, Kagome tapped into a hidden power...

Calling

Puffing, Kagome pumped her legs just that bit faster. It was typical of her, really. Who else can get ambushed by a demon while their friends were all on an exterminating jaunt in the next village over? And now that the Shikon had merged with her, demons were even more eager to take a bite out of her.

The demon was catching up! "Where are you going, Miko? I didn't say you could leave!" he ended with a bout of evil cackling.

Kagome forced herself to go faster. Some Shikon no Miko she was turning out to be. "Inuyasha!" She screamed. But she knew he wouldn't come. What was she thinking, anyway, sending them off to another village? She should have known that she attracted trouble like a magnet! "Aagh!" The demon had tackled her to the ground. Unknown to him, her eyes glowed menacingly. "Spirits of nature, hear my plea," she whispered, "Turn my foe into a thoughtless, helpless pea!"

The demon glowed and shrank. He didn't even get a chance to scream before his mind was banished. Kagome stared at the small bean, then at her hands. Her mother had some serious explaining to do.

"Mama, I'm home!"

Her mother poked her head out from inside the storehouse. "In here, Kagome. I'm just helping your grandpa clean out the shed. No trouble in the Feudal Era, I hope?"

She smiled. "No problems this time. But, mama... I have a question." Her mother nodded for her to continue. "Who are my parents?" She made to interrupt, but Kagome shook her head. "You're pure human, mama. I just cast a spell that no human, even priestesses, should be able to do. So I ask again. Who are my real parents?"

Her mother sniffled suddenly. She gestured for them to sit on Goshinboku's roots, which they did. "I never met your parents. It was on a trip to Korea - I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk in the woods. About twenty meters in, I found you. A girl who couldn't be older than one year old. I took you in, and discovered you couldn't remember anything, so I named you Kagome."

Kagome sighed; she had always known she was adopted, but to hear it from her mother's own lips... "Can I go to Korea, then, mama? I want to look for my parents and their reasons for leaving me."

Suddenly, her mother hugged her. "I had a feeling we would say goodbye this time, Kagome," she said. "I've already packed all your things. You just need a plane ride to Seoul now." Kagome laughed and hugged her back. Her mother always had a good instinct for these things.

Less than a day later, Kagome was wandering the forest she had apparently been found in. It was beautiful, one of the few pockets of nature that were relatively untouched by man. Let's see... mama said I was near a waterfall... Speak of the devil. Laid out in front of her was the most gorgeous pond she had ever seen. The waterfall was like a shower, and now that she was nearer, Kagome could see that the pond even had ledges that were perfect for sitting on. She stuck a hand into the water. It was the perfect temperature for a bath!

Then she heard a muffled thump, as if something wrapped in cloth had fallen a long way. Kagome made her way to her right, and found a... carriage? It was! Except without the horses, and with a rope on top connecting to what seemed like the moon. The door opened. Kagome gasped. It was... a teenager acting like royalty! She cracked up laughing.

The King of Avalon stared. Charon stared. They stared at the human who had just seen them exit the lift (who was having the laughing fit of her life). The Prime Minister snapped out of it.

"Shall I get out the Memory Incense, sire?"

Kagome would have kept laughing if not for the fact that the 'Memory Incense' would probably do something to her mind. "Hey! Don't change my memories!"

The King was still staring. "Wait. Why is a human here?"

"This place is quite far from the main town, sire. It is unlikely she is here for a walk."

Kagome growled. "Watch it! I'm still here, you know!"

"Oh? So why are you here?"

"If you must know, I'm looking for my parents. I was apparently abandoned here when I was a baby."

Charon frowned. This place was so far from civilization, it wasn't even mapped completely by the humans. Why would a human child be left here to die?

It seems his royal highness thought the same. "Why do you think they'll be here?"

Kagome frowned. She could tell they weren't human, so she guessed it was safe to spill. "On my way back home, I was attacked, but I somehow changed him into a pea. It was obvious my parents couldn't be human, so I thought, why not?"

"You're crazy."

"Impossible."

"Why?"

"Because you're not human either."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. Immortals these days. "What tipped me off, you mean? Was it the unnatural beauty, the fact that you have blonde hair in an asian country, or the fact that your aura screams not-human? Or even that you just came crashing down on a lift that seems to have a rope on it leading to the moon?"

Charon was shocked. A human who could read auras? Unheard of. Unless... they weren't pure human.

The King smiled. They could afford to help one human, then wipe her memory clean. "Charon, I think Royal Inspector Pain is more suited to this. Call him down, will you?"

"S-Sire! You aren't thinking to-"

"Just do it, will you? I'm curious."

"Very well, sire," he said. "I'll call him now."

Ten minutes later, Pain teleported into existence. He looked decidedly cheesed off. "What is it, Charon? I'm busy, you know!"

The Prime Minister sighed. "Just ask his highness."

"Well, highness? You well know I'm busiest at this time of the month," he said. Kagome just barely kept in her giggles at the female meaning of that phrase. "And who's this?"

"Perform a parental check on her, Inspector. She believes her parents may be non-humans."

Pain shook his head. The King was as hard headed as ever. But truth be told, he was curious now. "Just relax," he said to the human. "Now. In her mind, memories of the ancestor are forbidden; so unleash the gate, and find that which is hidden!"

Two strings appeared: one was black, signifying death, leading behind Kagome. The other was blue, and ended at the King of Avalon. Pain sucked in a breath. It couldn't be - even his highness couldn't be that stupid. Charon was about to ask for an answer, but he waved him away. There must be a mistake.

"In her mind, memories of the ancestor are forbidden," he whispered almost desperately, "So unleash the gate, and find that which is hidden!"

It was the same result. It was the same result. Pain couldn't take it; he leaned against the nearest tree. "Sire," he managed to gasp out, "Have you had any liaisons with human women these past ten human years or so?"

"Hmm... Well, there was that one time seventeen years ago..."

Predictably, Charon started spluttering. "Sire! Why-"

"Relax, Charon. Nothing came of it."

"Nothing came of it! Nothing came of it! Sire, the spell says that you are her father!" Pain almost shouted. "This could be the biggest scandal since Oreadia!"

Kagome was through with being ignored. "Whoa! You're saying that I'm the half-human daughter of a King of a non-human species?"

"That's me."

"Can I come with you?"

"Whaaaat?" Was the general thought. After all, most faeries had to work hard just to get a chance to descend, and here was a (half-) human clamoring to go to Avalon. Charon was thinking of all the paperwork he would have to go through. A half-faerie was found on Earth, not to mention the Heavenly Honcho's own flesh and blood, even if she could never be a candidate for reincarnation. "Sire, you can't really think..."

"I can't just leave her here, Charon. Pain, go back and get a prep faerie, will you?"

He gaped. "You can't be seriously considering this!"

"I'm not considering, because I've already decided."

"Sire-"

Kagome giggled, stopping them from scolding his highness again. Who knew her father looked like a girl, even more than Sesshomaru? "So can I call you Father?" He came over and hugged her. My own child! he thought. He wondered if he should abandon his plan for re-inhabiting her body.

The King dragged her onto the lift. "Let's go. Tell me about your life so far on the way will you?"

Kagome sighed, leaning onto his shoulder. He was uncharacteristically serious (even she could tell), and draped a comforting arm onto her shoulders. "It's been an eventful two years, Father..."