Kagome closed her eyes and plugged up her ears to block out the screaming of her new baby brother, who seemed just as infuriated with the state of the world as it was as Kagome was. He had no right to be so upset though! Her baby brother had everything he could want! He'd never even known Daddy to miss him! Not like Kagome had…

Daddy… Why did you have to go die?

Tears coursed unheeded down her cheeks and she sobbed in distress, rocking back and forth as the feelings of hunger and discomfort from her brother leaked into her from his graceless projection. She moved into another room, but it wouldn't stop and suddenly Kagome had just had enough! Grandpa was sleeping and Mama was going to be gone for hours and she was all alone with a screaming baby brother and wasn't allowed to scream herself at how unfair the world was! She remembered that movie she saw last year at Chika's house and harshly whispered, even though she knew it wouldn't work – she just wanted to be able to say she had done something – "I wish the Goblin King would take you away, right now!"

The screaming stopped. Oh. Oh no. It was just like the movie! She didn't think it was real but it was oh no what had she done?!

"No! Sōta!"

She ran into the other room and saw – well he looked different, but that probably shouldn't be a surprise. However, there was clearly a yōkai there holding her baby brother, who had long strands of silver tangled in his fingers and stuck into his mouth, staring with wide brown eyes at the intruder – wait, was he an intruder if she had called him here? Probably not.

Kagome bit her lip and looked down at the ground before taking another peek at the yōkai holding her baby brother. Pale skin, crimson stripes on his cheeks and wrists, a lavender crescent moon adorning his forehead, beautiful golden eyes with crimson accents, pointed ears, long silver hair that went down past his hips… And his clothes! He was wearing an elegant outfit that was certainly older than anything she'd ever seen before. A kimono that was pristine white with crimson flower petals and hexagons on it, bright blood red staining the trailing edges of the sleeves. His hakama were the poofy kind – um, what did Grandpa call them? Sha- Sa- Sashi… Sa-shi-nu-ki! Sashinuki hakama! And they were just as white as the kimono was, but his boots were black. And he had a crazy obi in purple and yellow.

If a yōkai was the Goblin King (which made perfect sense to her; after all, goblins in Nihongo were yōkai, although they looked a lot different to other kinds of goblins) did that mean that yōkai were goblins instead of what western people thought were goblins? Or... Maybe… "Are you yōkai because we are in Nihon, yōkai-sama?"

The Goblin King blinked and looked at her, one elegant silver eyebrow raised slightly. "Correct. How intriguing. Are you not frightened?"

The raven haired child with cerulean blue eyes shook her head solemnly and answered honestly. "I'm not scared, I'm just sad, yōkai-sama. I didn't think you were real or I wouldn't have asked for Sōta to be taken away. Even though he was hurting me and I miss my daddy that doesn't make it right for me to make him lose Mama because I was selfish and stupid."

The yōkai blinked again and tilted his head, "How old are you, ningen?"

She rocked back on her heels before settling down once more, "Six and a half. My daddy died last month right before Sōta was born. I guess there's nothing that I could to to keep Sōta here… is there?"

Kagome said the last hopefully, knowing that if he chose to, she couldn't keep him from taking Sōta, but also remembering that at least one Goblin King wouldn't have actually turned the child into a goblin and would have made sure he was taken care of and raised well. Well. At least. The actor would have done. Thinking about it, she felt what the actors projected, not what the characters themselves would necessarily do. The yōkai disabused her of any notion of wrongness however, when he said, "Can you promise that this child will be raised well, protected, and taught to be intelligent until such a time as you are old enough to Run for him?"

That made her bite her lip and big blue eyes widened as she felt the slight sense of amusement coming from the yōkai, but also the compassion, seriousness, and – oh. He was lonely. Very lonely. Kagome took a breath in, and said, "Well. Do you think that I've been raised well? If you do, then I will do my best to help out so that Sōta is taken care of. And maybe.. Um. Maybe you could.. check in on him? To be sure I'm not messing up!" she clarified, not wanting the yōkai to know that she wanted him to be less lonely because she could tell that as honourable as he was, he was also proud and even though it wasn't pity, he would assume it was and reject her wanting to help.

Somehow she didn't think she was really fooling him, but thankfully he seemed amused more than anything else. Maybe it was because she was still little? "Hn. Your name?"

Oh! How rude of her! "I'm sorry! My name is Higurashi Kagome. That is Higurashi Sōta. Mama is Higurashi Naoko. Daddy was Higurashi Isamu. Grandpa is Higurashi Daisuke. Might I know your name, yōkai-sama?"

He raised an eyebrow at her again and made a soft noise of acknowledgement before answering. "Hn. Taishō Sesshōmaru. Former Lord of the West, son of the Inu no Taishō, Taishō Toga."

Kagome felt her eyes growing wide and she gasped, "Wow! The Goblin King is Sesshōmaru-sama? Wow!"

That seemed to give him pause, and he asked, "You know of this Sesshōmaru?"

Kagome nodded enthusiastically, "Grandpa runs Higurashi Shrine and is teaching me history and how to use my pink ki. Well, at least," she added wryly, "He's trying to do the last. It's not working very well. I'm doing better figuring it out on my own than Grandpa is at trying to make me use it how he uses his reiryoku. It just won't work that way. Anyway! You're in history, as is your father. You're famous, Sesshōmaru-sama."

"Make sure that your brother learns the history of yōkai as well, can you promise me that, Kagome?"

She nodded again and then smiled brightly, holding her hand out. "How old will I be when I run for Sōta?"

He shook her hand with the clawed hand not holding Sōta, and then transferred her baby brother into her arms, "Sixteen."

Kagome held her baby brother tightly to her before bowing low to Sesshōmaru-sama. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

Then he left, with Kagome having no knowledge that normally, chances were not given – the encounter was simply erased from the minds of young children and forgotten unless there were repeated attempts, in which case the child wished away was taken permanently. But Sesshōmaru was intrigued by this young miko and decided to see not only how the boy would grow up, but how the girl would grow up.

Intriguing, indeed. What a delightfully unusual child that onna is.

Sesshōmaru smirked; he somehow doubted that the Labyrinth would be Run when the girl came of age.