Disclaimer: xxxHolic does not belong to me. Inu-yasha do not belong to me. The seas of space belong to everyone.

Yuuko Ichihara gently placed the re-sealed monkey's paw on her carefully warded shelves. The nature of the objects that came through her shop meant that the haphazard-seeming storage methods were actually meticulously constructed with the proper magical precautions. It had to be so, or the 'objects' may get a bit irritated.

The monkey's paw was one of the problematic ones, one that took power as it was used. Even its creator would have to sacrifice much to destroy it now. Every once in a while, the paw acted out - it latched on to an person and made sure that 'owner' was of the exact kind of character that would open and activate it. What happened next was inevitable.

That it happened just in time to underscore the one thing she had been drilling into her unknowing apprentice was also inevitable. He would have learned the lesson sooner or later – that once put in motion, there are things that gather too much momentum to be stopped without paying dearly.

"Oh? I was not expecting a visitor at this time." She did not take her eyes off the sealing tube, watching until the subtle tendrils of magic subsumed the internal flailings of the sealed paw. Some things refused to be caged.

"I wondered," came a calm voice. Yuuko was not fooled as she turned to impassively meet the burning gaze of a pair of blue eyes. "what kind of person would let a fatally dangerous artifact loose on the world. It appears to be another wanna-be immortal playing god with innocent people's lives. Bored now."

Yuuko's lips curved into a smile, eyes crinkling. Because she was honestly, honestly amused.

"The life of a simple shop-keeper is not of great interest to most," she agreed readily, ignoring most of what was said with cheerfully casual aplomb.

"Cut the bullshit," the woman grit out. "Two people are dead. Do you even care?"

Yuuko studied her silently, face unreadable once more.

"All things are inevitable," she finally said.

"That's stupid. They only died because of something that should not have existed."

Yuuko's eyes fell into the half-lidded state they normally were, infuriatingly enigmatic lips curling up just slightly in a smile that said nothing.

The azure-eyed woman seethed.

"Mistress! Mistress!"

Skeins of dark hair whipped up dust as the blue-eyed woman whirled. Her eyes took in the two girls – Yuuko took note of their sudden widening and the fact that the woman fell into what surely was a combat stance.

"What the actual fuck?"

Yuuko's eyes narrowed, imperceptible to most. Did the intruder sense Maru and Moro's soulless state? The woman had power, to even enter the barriers without her consent. She sighed inwardly. She would have to redo a few of the configurations.

"Fuck~! Fuck~!" the two chanted, skipping around each other cheerfully. The woman winced.

"Hey, forget I said that, okay? It's not something you should be saying."

"I think you've done enough," came the pleasant voice of the shop owner. Then she smiled, once again cheerful. "Unless you have a wish?"

The woman stiffened. That was an interesting reaction, but not really unique. There were many who were burned by wishes, unknowing or unheeding of the consequences of simple asking.

"Like he~eck I do," she snarled as she turned her back on the three. She threw parting words over her shoulder as she left. "This isn't over. I'll be watching."

"Watching, watching~! I'll be watching, yay!"

"Watching what?"

Yuuko's gaze fell on the second speaker to interrupt her thoughts today. Her eyes brightened.

"Watching for you so you could bring me all the sake I want, of course!" She patted Watanuki on the head like the good puppy he was as she passed him, striding readily to her favorite drinking spot on the porch.

"Yeah, yeah, slavedriver. Maru, Moro, maybe the fish for dinner?"

The answer resounded.

"Fuck yes~!"

It silenced the house for a few moments of incredulous disbelief. The boy reddened, then paled, then reddened again so fast he could have been a streetlight. He recovered first.

"NO SAKE FOR A MONTH!" Watanuki thundered. Yuuko's eyes widened.

"Wh-what? B-but it wasn't my fault!"

She was ignored.

"NO SNACKS EITHER! And who else would they have learned it from, you corruptive trafficker!"

"Watanukiiiii!"

Her wails did little to stagger his conviction, nor did any sort of puppy eyes. She would have attempted bribery if he hadn't finished cooking at that point and plunked down a bowl of plain rice and two tiny fried fish in front of her. Maru and Moro had at least five unique fish dishes in front of them.

"Waaaaah, Mokona~! Watanuki's being mean!"

It was all the fault of the sapphire-eyed young woman who had so disquieted her – she still didn't know why – that she had called on Maru and Moro to serve as a distraction.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

I hate Japan, Kagome Higurashi moaned silently. She'd put off going to the family shrine for over a week now. She wasn't even in the same ward. But even just a week wandering Tokyo was hell on the wallet.

She had spent several days discreetly poking about the spiritual community – something she promised herself not to do years ago. She'd managed for years until she came back. One more thing to dislike that woman for.

The damned 'simple shopkeeper' kept a shop that sold wishes. Freaking wishes.

Just like that, the entirety of her adolescent travails was suddenly at the forefront of her mind when she thought she had banished that pain long ago.

She had no intention of getting involved in something of that magnitude again, no matter what she told the shopkeeper. She well knew the stories of the monkey's paw. She'd been living in Britain for the past year, after all. Reading folklore, after her grandfather's training, was a hobby. It was also inexpensive and didn't need her to socialize much.

She went to the wake of the student who had wished her life away on the cursed paw, internally asking why, why had she wished on something so vile? Said student didn't have Kagome's experience with the Four-souled Jewel, but still. Few obstacles in life can't be surmounted with belief in yourself.

Who was she kidding? Most people were lazy, venal, and opportunistic deep inside. That college student, her first wish had shackled her. But shackles could be broken. Then she made the second wish, the wish that damned her. After that, even Kagome probably couldn't have stopped her. Asking why was a futile endeavour. Maybe the shopkeeper was right.

No. She shook her head at that line of thinking.

The death of the woman at the train station was unnecessary, pointless. A suicide? Inevitability be damned. The shopkeeper should have kept the paw away from people.

She sighed. Why was she giving herself a headache over this? She wasn't involved. As long as the woman kept away from her she would ignore the shop as best she could. Her resolution to retire from the supernatural business was wavering enough as it is.

The fact that she found herself taking the long way past the area that contained the shop more than once, or that when in that part of Tokyo her supernatural spidey-sense was on full alert, was definitely a coincidence. Yes, a coincidence. Everybody needed exercise every now and then, right?

She was jostled out of her thoughts by a change in the air. She blinked at the clean stone courtyard and the traditional buildings. Shrine, her mind supplied easily. The natural (some called them divine) wards around a powerful shrine or temple often filtered some of the city's pollution.

"No way," she flatly said. It was a very familiar temple. She had walked into one of the places she had been trying to avoid for the last week. The priest's wife was acquainted with both her grandfather and mother – they would be obliged to inform her family that she was here. Was the universe laughing at her?

She turned to leave.

"Ane-ue."

"Geez!" She jumped and whirled into the politely enquiring gaze of Shizuka Doumeki.

"Good afternoon, Kagome-sama."

She peered at him. "Stop lurking, and since when are you this polite? Don't call me -sama."

"I was going about my business when some stranger wandered into the shrine while staring into space. I was about to call the cops because she might be a runaway from an institution. Then I saw that it was just you."

"You're just as rude a kid as you ever were." Then her arm whipped out at near-inhuman speed. He was in a headlock before he knew it. "I'm supposed to be the one asking about your health, you big baby. Well, I guess you're fine if you're going about shrine duty so energetically."

He was still looking at her quizzically from under her elbow. Damn, he was as unflappable as his grandfather.

"I'm not here for anything, just, er, nostalgic. So I'm gone. See you around, Shizuka." She let him go.

"Ane-ue." His hand caught her wrist insistently.

"I'm fine, Shizuka. But damn, you're stronger. Do you manhandle every woman this way?" She grinned teasingly at him. "You know, I better be going before auntie catches us together and thinks you're dating an older woman."

"Kagome-chan," a slightly scolding voice said.

Crap.

She turned on her heel and smiled with all the charm she could muster.

"Aunt Shino, lovely to see you again. Have you been well?" Alright, so the politeness drilled into her as a child had not left her completely after Inu-yasha showed up.

"Don't be so formal, Kagome. You know you're always welcome with us. Dinner will be soon, alright?"

Kagome let her lips curl into a comfortable smile and Shino Doumeki took it as assent before she started gliding toward the back of the shrine where the family house was hidden from sight behind cleverly constructed walls and gardens.

Kagome was doomed.

"Oh, and Kagome?"

"Yes, aunt."

"Your usual room will be prepared."

Doomed.

"You didn't have to," she said weakly. Then relented at the woman's look. "Thanks, Aunt Shino."

A satisfied smile crossed the older woman's face and her features softened. "It's good to see you again, Kagome."

"You too, aunt."

There was a short silence before the Doumeki male spoke. "Where's your hotel? I'll help you with your luggage."

"You inherited too much from your mother, the way you just assume things to be the way you want," Kagome grumbled as she glared at him.

He simply waited expectantly.

"You're not just trying to get out of chores, right?"

"Hm."

"It's just one bag."

"I have some things to buy as well."

"I'm not going to run away. Your mother's scary, Shi-kun."

"Hm."

"Fine. Might as well go shopping." She'd been living out of a bag in a cheap motel. A proper hot soak sounded great just now. If her sneaking around was over, she might as well get the perks.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

The temple was comfortable, even if her brother and mother called every couple of days or so after they got wind of her whereabouts. There were remarkably few questions on what she had been doing for the past three years. It was really a good thing Aunt Shino was too polite to press the point.

If she were back home, Souta would have been firing question after question until their mother would put a stop to it by subtly interrogating her love life. She was already twenty-five after all.

This part of Tokyo wasn't as quiet as the hill her family's shrine was at. But the traffic-thick areas and twenty-four hour businesses were a long way from the Doumeki family temple too. There was a certain serenity in the place, even looking at the rushing lights in the distance.

She still didn't know what drew her back to Japan, maybe she just missed the familiar sights, the familiar language, the familiar-looking people. The point was, now that she was here, she really didn't know what to do next, so she was treating it as some kind of vacation. Apart from helping out at the temple, she took walking tours. Not the touristy stuff, though there was some of that as well, but simply going where the streets would take her.

She could probably map out this part of the city street by street if she were paying attention. But she was just walking, re-familiarizing herself with the many quirks of this side of town. Maybe when she shook off the odd feeling of disassociation that had been plaguing her for weeks, she'd take a short visit home. It had been a month since she had returned to her native country and she was still feeling out of sorts. She'd even taken to practicing the bow with Shizuka. He was going to be a better archer than she was, the brat.

She stiffened as a tingle raced across her skin. What now? She'd been ignoring the warnings of supernatural happenings around the city because there appeared to be someone taking care of them. But this was entirely too close.

She stood on the roof whose tiles she had been reclining against. The surge of malicious energy was within the temple grounds – something that was near impossible unless one of the priests was an active exorcist. The only exorcist she knew here was Shizuka's grandfather. Ji-san had been dead for years. What's more, the strength of his wards was unquestioned.

The heavy feel in the air rose. Was someone calling evil spirits? Her eyes hardened as they swept across the still and innocent breadth of the grounds. An itch formed at her shoulder-blades. She stretched to get it out.

The malicious feel disappeared as suddenly as it spiked. She dropped down from the roof.

"Kagome-chan, really! The roof?"

She turned with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, Aunt Shino. It's peaceful up there, you know?"

"Should we start checking you for fox-spirit influences?"

"Don't think that'd work," she mumbled before catching sight of the platter slowly being filled with watermelon slices. "Is that dessert?"

"It's for Shizuka and his friends. We have plenty anyway."

"Oh?" She shook off the lingering uneasiness. "Oh, he's not the lone brooding type anymore? You must be happy, right, auntie?"

She snagged a slice, smiling innocently at the quelling look she got in return. "Kind of late for a study session though. And it's summer vacation."

Her chest tightened a little at that. Summer vacation? Why was that leaving her feeling apprehensive? Besides, didn't the heat drive away evil spirits? Or at least, it should.

"Oh, it's not for school. His friend's employer wanted to rent out a room. They specifically asked for one near the viewing room – the atmosphere apparently."

Dread.

She choked on her watermelon. "They're not -" she coughed. "telling ghost stories?"

"Well, now that you mention it..."

"'Scuse me, aunt."

She sprinted toward the morgue, not noticing her abandoned companion's confused face.

A hundred ghost stories. Harmless, really. But whoever set this up specifically asked for a specific area. In a shrine, no less.

Near the last vestige of their mortal lives, spirits lingered. A place where bodies are kept would generally be crawling with them if not for the temple wards. Death-touched places could be dangerous if improperly handled. Calling spirits into the domain of the storyteller was easy enough, near a place where they were prepared after death. Weak spirits, even if they banded together, could be repelled by a simple ward. If they knew to set up under shrine protection, they had at least that. She doubted they were going for the full hundred stories anyway. It wasn't as if they were training demon-hunters.

But that informal set-up didn't count on her. On the Four-souled Jewel that was hidden within her. On the subtle influences it still exerted on the world around her.

A yelp sounded audibly and a nauseating energy spiked. She yanked the door open, smoothly flipping out the small butterfly knife she kept on her person at all times. It was a poor substitute for her bow but who carried medieval weapons openly these days? She was just grateful she learned a little of fencing sabers in England.

" - the eye!"

She got a glimpse of a stone-faced Shizuka quickly aiming an arrow of pure ki – huh, interesting – before her own spirit energy washed across and out of the knife, forming a shining blade one meter long.

"Kagome-oneesan?"

She leaped after Shizuka's arrow as it hit dead center of the thing's iris. The eye closed and it was her turn; she sliced with the sword at full extension to sever the single ocular appendage form the rest of the writhing body.

Another arrow hit the long arm wrapped around the neck of a spectacle-wearing boy that had to be spirit-bait with the aura he was emitting and Kagome slashed at another that was lunging for the lone teen-aged girl's energy. She did a double-take at the said energy. Wow, Shizuka had fairly odd friends. Then again, his aura was that of a born exorcist.

Just like that and it was over.

She looked at the three teen-agers. "You guys alright?"

"Y-yes," the girl managed.

The boy coughed and inhaled a breath shakily. "Gyaah! Sword!"

She grinned at the last teen-ager, adrenaline still flowing. "Yo, Shizuka! I didn't know you were in training. I coulda given you some pointers, you know." She pocketed the now ordinary knife.

"Kagome, was it?"

Disbelieving, she whirled at the woman that stepped out of the shadows. She hadn't sensed her. She couldn't help but notice that the woman's step was light and measured, battle-ready without showing it. Sesshoumaru had a similar casualness of movement. Some of those hits on the soul mass weren't just Shizuka's arrows. She likely shielded herself so thoroughly that Kagome didn't feel her. But...

"You! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ara, I believe I was here first when Kagome came bursting through the door. Considering your words the last time we met, perhaps you are stalking me?"

"Like hell. Though if ever there was a woman that begged to be stalked, it would be you." She noticed the looks the three other people were giving her – no, it was four, there was an odd black-colored creature beside the woman – she quickly clarified. "Not like that! That kind of shop is suspicious, is all."

"You know each other?" the glasses-wearing kid spoke up, glancing fishily at the shopkeeper before looking at Kagome sympathetically. "She didn't coerce you into buying anything, did she?"

The fan in the woman's hand thunked firmly onto the boy's head.

"Yuuko-san is Watanuki's part-time employer." Shizuka said to Kagome helpfully. "Watanuki and Kunogi are in the same grade I am."

"I didn't know Doumeki-kun had an older sister," the girl, Kunogi, murmured while smiling shakily at Kagome.

"I'm a family friend, actually. Call me Kagome." She bowed belatedly, casually. The girl returned the gesture, more politely.

"Are you alright, Watanuki?" Yuuko was poking a prone Watanuki with her fan.

"Stop it, Yuuko-san! I almost died, dammit! Give me a moment to celebrate my life!"

"On the floor? How dedicated, Watanuki! Then while you're down there, you should make sure to grovel and thank Kagome for your life, alright? I know," she perked up visibly. "How about we start with unagi and wash it down with Doumeki-kun's premium sake?"

"You're just wanting to drink again, aren't you?" Watanuki pulled himself upright from the floor. "And you're commandeering other people's booze while actually in their house! Don't you have enough at the shop?"

"Don't you think it's more polite to commandeer the alcohol from in the house rather than away from it? It would be weird otherwise, right?"

Watanuki was about to retort when a knock sounded and nearly everyone tensed. Doumeki stood to slide the door open to see his mother with a large platter in her hands.

"Oh, Shizuka. I have watermelon for you and your friends."

He thanked her quickly and she smiled at him fondly. "Enjoy."

They listened to the soft padding of her feet as she left.

Kagome sighed at the sight of deliciously chilled red watermelon. "Your mom's awesome."

"Hm."

The blue-eyed time-traveler reluctantly glanced at the other full adult in the room and found that she was studying Kagome with an impassive smile and piercing eyes that lost their edge once she noticed someone was looking. It made Kagome all the more loath to apologise. Except she had to.

"Sorry," she said. "I seem to have made your hundred ghost story experience more exciting."

"Oh?" The modulated curiosity had Kagome narrowing her eyes at the older woman – she had to be older, the timeless look was rarely carried so assuredly on the shoulders of the young. Her glare didn't get any response but a slight widening of that enigmatic smile.

Watanuki's eyes widened. "Ah, don't worry about it, Kagome-san! It's probably my fault anyway."

"Your fault?"

"Oh, all kinds of spirits find Watanuki here irresistible!" piped up Yuuko. "I assume you are similar, Kagome?"

Kagome nearly twitched at the overly-familiar address but refused to give the woman the satisfaction of reacting visibly.

"Yeah," she answered instead. "The barriers you set up were better than most but stuff like that goes a little funky around me. I normally use charms," she held up her hand to show them the bracelets encircling her wrists. "to suppress my spirit signature. But it's not foolproof."

"You can do that?" Watanuki's eyes were sparkling.

"It won't work."

Kagome snapped her mouth shut on the affirmative she was about to give. The flat statement and the abruptly serious face of the shopkeeper made her curious.

"Whaaat? But Yuuko-san -"

"That is to say," continued Yuuko. "it won't work for you the way it does for her."

Shizuka and Kunogi had gravitated to the platter of artistically arranged watermelon slices, but they still had kept an ear on the conversation.

Kunogi spoke up. "But surely there's some benefit? Even if it helps Watanuki-kun a little..."

"That's true." Yuuko joined them, bending an eye to choosing the best melon slice. "Weak spirits won't bother him, so it will lessen the burden. But he's been wearing charms since childhood, correct? So effectively, little will change."

Kunogi nodded sadly.

Watanuki nudged the platter closer to her. "It's alright, Himawari-chan! I've been dealing with it for years, so it's little bother to me now. How about I make something nice to go with this watermelon?"

"Besides," Yuuko put in blithely. "You can always call Doumeki-kun to make all your fears go away. Like a cuddly toy!"

"Whaaaaaaa? Never!"

"I want flavored ice in return," Shizuka reacted immediately. "and inarizushi, lemon -"

"What did you say, idiot? I'm making food for Himawari-chan! Arrogantly spouting off orders like I'm some lackey! I bet you don't even know where the kitchen is, you pampered poncy -!"

Doumeki pointed promptly, presumably in the direction of the kitchen. "We have ingredients for barbecued -"

"I'm not listening! What do you know about cooking? Watch the master at work before you open your mouth!"

Kunogi clapped her hands, laughing. "I'll help!"

"Thanks, Himawari-chan!" the boy trilled, then turned to see Shizuka and abruptly scowled. "See that, you! At least Himawari-chan actually helps out. You just sit there and shove food into your gaping maw."

Kagome nibbled at her watermelon, entertained by the one-sided argument that was making its way to the house proper. She glanced at Yuuko, who was left with her and the diminished plate of watermelon. A brief look of melancholy on the other woman's face vanished with the three teens, replaced by the mask.

"So," she started, unwilling to let silence foment between them. "Watanuki-kun's problem is more than just an excess of power?"

Half-lidded eyes – a rather unusual red, Kagome realized in surprise – slid to her.

"Oh, you're interested in our Watanuki?" she asked, eyes suddenly innocently widening. "I suppose a wide interest in partners isn't so unusual these days."

"What." Did the woman just imply what Kagome thought she did?

"I'm so disappointed! And I got complimented on my appearance earlier too. I guess I'll have to lose out to a younger generation."

Earlier? Then she realised the woman was referring to the earlier charge of stalking as a compliment. What illogical reasoning was that? Also, she was not a stalker!

Kagome wanted to hit her. "I'm not stalking you."

"So it wasn't you I saw several times from the shop? My eyes must be really going. Oh well, they do say I look better with spectacles." She pulled out a pair of glasses from gods-knew-where, put them on, and affected a pose. "What do you think?"

"I'm in shock and can't decide," Kagome said flatly. "I've never been insulted more than twice in a single minute. Excuse me while I get my equilibrium back."

Yuuko laughed lightly. "I am sorry. This night held many unexpected things."

"You can say that again." At least the woman sounded sincere. Kagome decided. She held out her hand in the Western greeting, to the other's amusement. She reddened but refused to retract it. "Kagome Higurashi."

Yuuko took her hand. "You shouldn't give your name out so readily, you know."

"In modern Japan?" If she was back five hundred years in the past, maybe. "You want to call me something like pockilover33?"

"Oh, that was you? Eh, you're into that sort of entertainme-"

"It was just an example!" She really didn't want to know. "What kind of sites do you frequent, anyway?" Damn you, runaway mouth.

Yuuko smirked slyly, with a sliver of ironic amusement in her eyes. "I'm on a site for magical girls and special effects systems."

What the hell? Was she serious? A sudden thought involuntarily tugged her lips up in a wry grin. "Do you have videotape of your transformation and a trademarked pose too?"

The woman's smirk grew a tad more pronounced but she stayed teasingly silent. Kagome tried not to roll her eyes at the shop-keeper's look, that was almost inviting her to find out.

"I'll just call you Yuuko if you're not going to introduce yourself." She shook the woman's hand once and dropped it, abruptly realizing they'd been holding hands for longer than was needed.

"That's fine."

Kagome left it at that, changing the subject. "Are you the one training Shizuka?"

"Oh no. Though his grandfather's blood is strong in him. This was Doumeki-kun's first use of his abilities."

"What?" Kagome was horrified.

"That I know of."

"You-!"

Berating someone who only smiled blandly through your rants was surprisingly therapeutic, if non-satisfying. A novice holding off bad spirits? Gods. That was a recipe for disaster even if the shopkeeper had power of her own. She cut the woman some slack because she couldn't have anticipated Kagome's presence. Though she wanted a second shot when she realized that the woman had never answered her question about how Watanuki's spirit-bait attributes were so strong.

Uncontrolled spirit-bait. Novice exorcist. Cursed catalyst. Kagome frowned. The woman was up to something.

Hiding one's name was an old precaution. Names were said to hold the innermost reflection of things. Ancient civilizations from Rome and Athens to Japan believed this superstition – know the real name of something and you can influence its soul.

The implication was that the woman wasn't using her own name too. What kind of things would someone be into, she wondered, that they had to conceal their true name?

She spent a sleepless night in thought.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

It was the flash of silver and white that snapped her out of her sulky stomping though the great green-clad Japanese countryside on a sunny summer's day.

She narrowed her eyes and saw it again. Was it the fluttering of white robes? She walked after it. And walked. And walked.

"Dammit! I'm not here to play hide-and-seek!"

There was no answer. She had a faint suspicion she was being led around in circles. Still, she needed this. She'd come here to talk to him after all. She grit her teeth and walked.

The afternoon sun was just starting to cool when she heard the word.

"Miko."

She glared at the coolly austere, perfectly poised Sesshoumaru in front of her. She was hot, hungry, dripping sweat, and her hair had been tugged and snarled by various low branches and wide-spreading shrubs. She was not in any mood for pleasantries.

"You," she snarled.

"Yes. You sound surprised. Were you not here to beg a boon of me?"

That was almost teasing. She decided it was the heat. "You're an ass. You couldn't have shown yourself closer to the town?"

"Towns are for humans," he said, almost as sneeringly as he would have five hundred years ago.

"As if you could be bothered by us weak humans."

"All the great Houses have felt their power diminish and their lands fall to human industry. The House of the West has not been spared."

Kagome felt some of her irritation melt away. Enough to feel a pang of regret. The words came out unbidden. "I'm sorry." She wished she could take them back the moment they were said. It was not her place to apologise and the words would only irritate the daiyoukai. Surprisingly, he answered calmly.

"Do not be. The world has spoken. Our time on this plane is coming to an end. Some of my children have already left to the world of spirits. I will soon follow."

What was there to say to that? Kagome was silent for a while, catching her breath, before she made sense of a rather important part of the conversation. Her eyes widened and she sputtered.

"You're married?"

An uncharacteristic smile lifted the stern lips. "I found a good mate, yes."

"It's not Rin, is it?"

"No. She returned to the humans and lived a full life."

She studied him openly.

He blinked at her. It was not something she would have done aged fifteen. Her time in other lands had clearly changed her.

"You watched over her?"

"She retained our favor until her death."

She nodded and surprisingly, grinned at him.

"I'm glad you found someone."

He merely raised his brows at her and held out his arm. "We are going."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

The House of the West was teeming. Kagome likened it to a bustling day at the market, if that market were set in a mountaintop shrouded in clouds. She didn't know whether to smile at the nostalgic sight or cry. For all her resolutions not to make contact with the world of spirits, here she was - in youkai central as a guest of the House's lord.

Damn that woman for making her think overmuch.

"You are here about the Jewel."

Sesshoumaru spoke from beside her, similarly staring out at the clouds and, when those moved, the verdant greenery and the cheery crowds below.

She wasn't surprised he knew. It was his ward-barrier after all, his and the priest's, that was holding it inside her.

"It's doing something," she said reluctantly. If she were to be honest, she would say it was the feeling that something was happening with the Jewel that had given her thoughts of returning to her homeland. She just didn't want to admit that that world would be the cause of her coming back to Japan.

"Is it not a desirable state," he said after a while. "that you are faster and stronger than the ordinary human?"

Of course the bastard had noticed that in the hour and thirty minutes that she had been flailing futilely against the Japanese countryside.

"You know what's happening?"

"You were told when it was sealed that a single human soul could not hold it forever."

"I didn't think it would happen this fast!" At least not within fifty years.

"It has been happening since the sealing, miko." His tone was admonishing. Younger Sesshoumaru would have sneered, Kagome thought in surprise. Maybe the wife and kids mellowed him out? "But this rapid deterioration of the seal was unanticipated."

Kagome was silent for a long moment. "I...okay."

"Your spiritual energy is tainted," he said, making her flinch at the certainty in his tone. "And you have not felt it."

Crap. Damn that otherworldly perceptiveness.

His eyes hardened.

"When did you last use your power, miko?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

He only stared expressionlessly at her. She crossed her arms and held his gaze.

"Two days ago."

"And before that?"

She twitched involuntarily and a smug light entered the Dog Lord's eyes.

"I do use it," she insisted. Though knowing she'd lost the subtle contest, it was more of a pout than a firm conviction.

Sesshoumaru's ear twitched. He turned away from the view. "Come."

Kagome followed, to see they were being led by a woman clad in traditional kimono. She glanced at the stern lord gracefully pacing ahead of her but he didn't say anything until the wine was poured.

It was a fruit wine, mulled hot with various spices. Kagome felt heat jolt though her limbs with the first large sip. She swallowed her cough. Another, smaller sip had her relaxing.

"You have grown weak."

Damn. She was tense again.

Kagome sent him a brief glare. "I want to live a life without the supernatural steamrolling over it. Is that too much to ask?"

"For one such as you, yes."

Kagome expected that bluntness but she still stared at the expressionless visage, denial rising in her throat. Before her lips could give it sound, the Dog Lord spoke again in tones as measured as the grain from a tight-fist's scale.

"Were you not the miko who met my brother, travelled the Bone-eater's Well, and kept the Jewel, a life such as you mentioned would be possible. Were you not the child who learned to wield weapons in the warring era of this land, who came into her powers as a miko, who fought against numerous enemies at numerous battles, it would be possible. Were you not the woman forged in warrior's fire, whose soul once rang in anticipation of war, it would be possible. Do you truly believe such a person would be content to be one of the unseeing, unknowing pedestrian hordes that now populate your human cities?"

She forced herself to speak, forced the light tone into her words. "I didn't know you thought so highly of me." Even then it wasn't an answer to the question. She was afraid that if she said yes, her uncertainty would prove the great dog spirit's claims.

His eyes bored into hers. "Two nights ago, you wielded your power to protect once more. Did your blood not leap to the occasion, your limbs eagerly spring to action, your heart beat faster in the call of battle?"

Even when he was attempting to ruin her life Sesshoumaru could be surprisingly poetic, came a whimsical thought. That thread of thought was immediately lost in the swell of her anger. Her hands clenched, wine forgotten.

"What is it you want? Me to use my abilities? Are you not the one who said the old spirits were leaving this world? Do you want me to thin out the eight million gods?"

Cold amber eyes held her gaze seriously.

"Do you feel human right now?"

What?

She saw the tray set before her overturned and she didn't remember touching it. She was halfway to her feet.

She sat back down and breathed deeply. Anger that was pushed to the fore by something within her yet not her calmed. The visible veins on her arms relaxed and receded. The extended nails did not disappear however. She was left with a half-inch of claw. She stared at her hand expressionlessly, hiding her fear.

"What. The. Hell."

"You are a fool," came that infuriating voice. She snarled but the suspicion that he had provoked her earlier anger deliberately kept her in her seat. And her senses told her that the number of retainers in the room had suddenly doubled. "It was never a matter of you using your abilities or not. You reject what you are."

"Oh gods, why did you pick this century to be so talkative."

"Perhaps your mind has so enfeebled itself that it behooves others to think for you."

"I never knew you cared," she snarked.

He made to speak again, eyes narrowing in warning.

"Shut up," she moaned. "I get it, alright?"

"I expect you will start remedying the problem immediately."

She silently cursed Sesshoumaru's cold unflappability. It was irritating, maddening, infuriating.

But was that anger hers?

She dropped into a meditation. Do you feel human right now? She closed her eyes.

"So I'm turning into something...demonic."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

How the hell did Sesshoumaru keep his mountain so cold in the summer? Kagome slumped against the leather-covered train seat. After only five days in the dog lord's castle, the Tokyo summer heat made her skin feel like it was peeling off and the wine was curdling in her stomach.

She took a long pull at her waterbottle, glaring at the already setting sun like she could mentally make it drop deeper behind the mountains with her ire. The water did quell the heat-caused nausea a little.

Her mind not on her roiling stomach anymore, it turned to the many discussions she and Sesshoumaru held. She sighed, almost wanting the sick feeling back.

She only wanted a peaceful life. She didn't know how much she had pushed for it until Sesshoumaru pointed out that she had repressed her abilities to the extent that the energy within the Jewel, tainted with the ire of a thousand demons, was leaking into her being.

She exited the train, took a deep breath and grimaced. Her taxi to the temple was wonderfully free of the smells of sweating passengers and the mix of perfumes that permeated the train and the station. She sighed blissfully.

She opened her eyes just as the shadow of someone riding a massive bird flew across the fully engorged moon.

She closed her eyes again. She wasn't going to do it.

"Stop right here."

This is ridiculous, she berated herself as she leaped out of the taxi. There were a dozen places a giant spirit bird could land within a five mile radius alone. Besides, someone who could control something that massive had things well in hand. Was this worth going after it?

The stern face of Sesshoumaru drifted across the forefront of her mind. She had spent years denying herself, her powers. One month back in Japan and this is what happens?

"Fine."

Her eyes narrowed as the human figure waved its arms about and the bird banked. The rider nearly fell off.

Was he really in control?

She looked around quickly then leaped onto a fence, using it as a springboard to a quiet roof. Five days at the Western Fortress was very...educational.

Sesshoumaru had kept news of her old friends until they died, which was good of him, even if he had stared at her arrogantly and stated that his memory would have been fresher had she sought him out sooner. Jerk. She didn't tell him that after she couldn't enter the well anymore, she really didn't want to hear that they had all died so she threw herself into 'normal' activities and college. He would probably say something about overly sentimental humans and their weak wills or some such.

Besides, like ten years was anything compared to the five hundred that had passed since they last met. Still, she was happy for her friends. They all had led interesting but happy lives, according to him.

After the wine was finished, Sesshoumaru seemed to have said all he wanted to say and had reverted to his more familiar persona of expressionless indifference. Then she got to see how strong the court of the Western Lands still was, with the numerous retainers, guests and allies that treated the fortress as home or sanctuary.

When they heard about her, a number tried to help. It was disquieting, exhausting, exhilarating trying to use her miko abilities on such a constant scale again. Especially when they came with extras she was unsure she really wanted. Her eyes didn't look entirely human now, though they retained their blue pigment. That wasn't so bad, most people don't look into someone else's eyes long enough to take notice. But her canines enlarged on occasion and her fingernails hardened into claws when she didn't watch herself.

She was losing it.

All the times she had proudly stood as a human against enemies that sneered at her heritage. How ironic that she had now lost her humanity in the name of protecting it. Those were dark hours before the healers at the Fortress determined that she was still human. A momentary relief, at least.

"Are those skateboards?" she muttered in surprise, watching the dogfight in the sky above unknowing suburbia. Enhanced sight caught the stubby white wings on the small beings' backs and sharp ears heard the declarations of vengeance. Karasutengu, huh? She wondered if they were as young as they looked or if they lost their power over the years. They seemed to retain their control over the winds. If they were really even karasutengu. The vast number of spirit forms in Japan could mean they were only peripherally related or even a subspecies. The crow demon spirits of her experience would have shredded the enemy by now.

Her brow twitched as she watched the combatants. Did he just let go the reins?

She shifted as the boy – Watanuki, Shizuka's friend, she now realized – fell and was caught in a riot of small lights. Just as suddenly, she crouched on a rooftop perch and stopped the headlong run to catch him. The boy had the favor of a vestal spirit – how lucky was that? She wondered what kind of vestal spirit it was. Not the psychopathic kind at least.

She waited until he was alone – she didn't really want to meet another spirit after five days in Sesshoumaru's lands. Technically, all of the Kanto area was overseen by the Western Lord but the cities were given to humans. She leaped across a few rooftops and landed beside the boy. "Hey, kid."

"Gyaah!" He started flailing, all the more ridiculous because somehow he was keeping his hands cupped around something as he did it.

"Geez, calm down."

"Kagome-san!"

"So what's with the glowing dumpling?" Gifts from spiritual entities were often complicated.

He glanced at her hesitantly, then at the glowing ball in his hands. "That's...ah...Doumeki's soul..."

Kagome looked at the floating piece of balled-up rice again.

"And you're keeping it in snack food? That's hilarious." And really, stupidly, dangerous! She was freaking out inside. How did that even happen? She kept her demeanor calm; Watanuki was anxious enough without her adding to it.

"That's all you have to say?" He looked really stressed. Then he abruptly bowed. "I'm sorry, it's my fault!"

Kagome looked at the bowed head and she huffed a small smile. She reached out and petted the dark hair. He looked up in surprise.

"It'll be fine." Those were the words she longed to hear most, a long time ago. "His body's nearby right?"

"Y-yes. Yuuko-san's looking after him."

Of course. There can't be many people actively in contact with the extranatural in this part of the city, can there? People with enough power to compel a bird spirit of that caliber.

"Alright then. It's better to hurry though." Bad things happen when you separate a soul from a body for too long. Even she knew that.

"We're on a roof!" he realized, then started moving this way and that. "How do I get down?"

Okay, that unrestrained flailing was amusing.

"What are you doing on my house!?" yelled an irate woman from below.

Kagome grabbed the panicking boy and jumped. That definitely didn't help his panic. Though he did have enough presence of mind left to shout "Sorry!" to the still screaming housewife.

She winced. After all those times she admired Inu-yasha's enhanced hearing, having it was such a pain.

They touched down none too gently on the street. Watanuki dropped immediately to his knees. "Why?" he moaned. "Does the ground hate me tonight?"

In answer, the large bird he'd been riding earlier winged its way down and landed on a flat roof near them. Kagome smiled at him sympathetically. "Looks like its tossing you up in the air again."

She grasped the back of his uniform jacket and jumped to a roof once more. Watanuki eeped a bit, but he quickly ran to the bird once he had his feet under him. He looked at his hands, then the wings of the giant bird. He looked like a lost puppy, Kagome snorted. She stepped close and laced her fingers together, offering a boost up.

"Ah, you don't have to -"

"Just get on, kid."

He climbed on, after a grateful glance.

"Thanks for the help, Kagome-san!"

"No problem, Watanuki-kun. Just remember that its alright to ask for help once in a while, okay?" She glanced at the goggles-wearing pilot. The black creature that accompanied that woman during the ghost story fiasco.

"Hi. I'm Kagome."

"Mokona is Mokona!"

She smiled a little at the cheerful creature. "You better get going."

"Roger!" cried the...Mokona. "Taking off!"

It was really odd, she mused, that more people didn't know about spirits and the spirit world considering the blatant in-your-face way they sometimes appeared. Then again, she probably wasn't the only person who didn't want the hassle of acknowledging that the world was more deeply complicated than it seemed on the surface.

The bird blasted the area with near-gale-force winds and they were once again flying across the unusually large moon.

Yuuko, huh? Apparently the woman was more than a simple shopkeeper. She already knew that, of course. But it seemed like she was also the one keeping the local otherworldly population in check. Or maybe she was just training Watanuki...an apprentice? And then there was her feel.

It was unnatural. Not the normal unnaturalness of an ordinary human being seeing a demonic spirt, but something unnatural to even the general turning of the world.

The universe saw her, paused to contemplate her, then flowed around her. The normal eye slid over her obvious foreignness with the intentional blindness of the supernaturally non-initiated – and even the initiated eye generally only saw a woman of striking appearance and definite power.

Kagome's eyes, first torn open years ago and held perpetually open by what she now carried inside her, saw only a bit more. The silence around Yuuko was similar to the way the world stilled around a deity stepping onto the mortal plane. But she didn't feel like a goddess or even her avatar. It was similar, yet different. It was something that didn't belong to the world.

Ugh, this was giving her a headache. She didn't really want to get into it right now. What Yuuko was or wasn't could wait.

She looked around for another taxi and was disappointed. She didn't do much even if she had followed the monster bird anyway, so why couldn't she have sat quietly in her air-conditioned taxi until she got to the relative comfort of the temple and her soft, uncomplicated bed?

Face it, Higurashi, a voice answered in her head. Maybe Sesshoumaru was right. You can't leave this life.

Gods and goddesses preserve you.

She hunched her shoulders and walked to the temple, her thoughts painting a pensive frown on her face. Maybe she sould have been better off not returning to Japan.

A part of her felt a frission of alarm at the thought. She smiled wryly. No, she accepted that her homeland would always have a hold on her; she never could not return.

"Guess I'm just a massive idiot."

She narrowed her eyes as the temple came into view. And she was surely going to give a talking-to to that other massive idiot that got his soul stolen and stuck into a dumpling.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

On a night when the moon was fully in its power, there was nothing better than sitting in a garden and basking in its light with excellent alcohol. Mokona tipped back a cup. Then drums sounded, a stringed instrument twanged melodically, and Mokona spoke:

"Among the flowers, with wine, beneath the sky,

Alone I drink — no friend or kin, just me.

I raise my cup to greet the moon on high -

That's two of us; my shadow makes it three.

Alas, the poor moon knows not wine's delight,

And my shadow only imitates a living thing,

But fast with moon and shadow I unite

In joyful bond, to seize the last of spring.

I sing: it sets the moon to rock in time.

I dance: my shadow shatters in its pace.

Sober, we share companionship sublime;

But drunk, we drift apart in space —

Lost to worldly things, until some day

We'll meet again, beyond the Starry Way."

Watanuki, who had come around the corner, fought to keep his eye from twitching and his jaw from dropping. Yuuko had no such compunction. She clapped gaily, cheering without abandon for the bowing Mokona, like a spectator on Race Day.

"Watanuki," intoned Mokona in a regal voice. "Pour me some more wine."

"Pour it yourself, like you've been doing the whole evening."

"Mokona-sensei! You're so cool! Can I pour your wine?"

"But of course," grandly said the little black stuffed-toy-like creature. "Have some yourself, and let us drink to life and the spring moon."

"Yay~!"

Watanuki intercepted the sake bottle from reaching Yuuko's hands and replaced it with a cool mug. "Just choco for you."

"Waah! Save me, Mokona-sensei!"

Watanuki ignored her firmly, putting a pitcher of cool sweet chocolate drink beside her.

"And what spring, it's already nearly past summer," he told them. Of course, he knew the two generally ignored cold hard facts when they were like this. Or even when they were not like this, actually.

It was the principle of the thing.

"Watanukiii..."

He narrowed his eyes at his employer, who was holding out an empty bowl with a pout. At least she was not drinking the alcohol. "How many snacks can you eat in one sitting?"

"As much as possible!" came the twin chorus. "We're celebrating Watanuki's first date!"

"You made the guest of honor a servant?! And it wasn't a date!" He snatched the empty snack bowl and rushed to the kitchen before they got into the swing of teasing.

Yuuko grinned wickedly at his back. He was going to pay for the alcohol ban he'd enforced for the last weeks. She was going to prank him unmercifully.

Her grin faded as she felt someone entering the shop. A figure walked around the house. Oho, and here was the root cause of it all.

"Kagome-chan," she lifted her mug invitingly. "Won't you join us?"

The woman looked like she would decline, but then took the mug from Yuuko's fingers.

"Careful, it's potent."

She watched the woman prepare herself for the taste and take a sip. Kagome choked on the unexpected sweetness when she was expecting bitter alcohol and Yuuko hid a smile. Point to her.

"Chocolate doesn't seem like you," the blue-eyed woman said with a brief glare at the shopkeeper, before she took a longer sip of the drink anyway.

"It's Watanuki Punishment Number 10!" Mokona raised the a-ok sign.

The woman suddenly looked amused and just like that, Yuuko felt her point up vanish.

"Oh? You get punished often? Well, who knew you were into such things?"

Yuuko sighed sulkily and pretended the question didn't exist. "So what brings Kagome to my door? Alas," she said dramatically. "we cannot offer you wine. The tyrant of the kitchens has spoken."

To Yuuko's surprise, their visitor slipped a bag off her shoulder and offered it to Mokona. "Guess you'll be the one to drink this, then."

"A present?" A teasing smile hovered on Yuuko's lips. "Oh my, Kagome is certainly doing this properly, isn't she? Will I expect a visit from your family head next?"

Mokona looked up with twinkling eyes, seeing an opportunity, then flash-dressed into a traditional haori and an impressive white beard. "What are your intentions with our Yuuko, young lady?"

Blue eyes widened. "It's not like that! It's just a token of thanks for keeping an eye on Shizuka."

Yuuko gave Mokona a discreet thumbs up. Point to her again! Better take advantage of the momentum.

"Oh no! How cruel to reject me so quickly! What will Society say? I may never be a bride after this."

"Who'd want you for a bride?" Kagome got over her incredulous stupor pretty quickly.

Yuuko lifted the sleeve of her kimono to half-cover her face and turned away as if delicately hurt. "Why would you say something like that to an innocently dreaming young maiden?"

"I'll remember not to if I ever meet an innocent young maiden."

Yuuko wilted. Point gone again.

Mokona, giggling, took pity on her and hopped over to the bag he was handed earlier. "Is it wine?" he started to untie the drawstring.

"Yeah."

Yuuko was sulking dramatically in a corner. Then she caught sight of the revealed jug.

"Oh! Is that the famous plum wine from the holy mountain, the wine that only spirits can drink?"

Kagome looked taken aback by the suddenly sparkling eyes that were trained intensely on her.

"It's that well-known?" she muttered. The youkai at the fortress had just negligently tossed a couple of jugs at her when she left.

She found herself grabbed at the waist by a still seated Yuuko, the shopkeeper's perfumed kimono wafting its scent up to her while its wearer pressed her cheek into Kagome's stomach in a delighted embrace.

"Hey, stop hugging me!"

"But you brought me what might be the best wine in this dimension, I can't help it!" Then that damnably sly smile showed, even if her eyes lowered in ostensible shyness. "Or is it that Kagome wants more?"

"What the hell are you saying? Dammit, I'm leaving."

Yuuko laughed in delight as Kagome stomped away. Mokona waved. "Bye and thanks, Kagome!"

The woman paused in her retreat to lift a hand in farewell before she disappeared. She ignored Yuuko, to the shopkeeper's semi-indignation. Mokona smirked the pouting shopkeeper, then sobered a little.

"Ne, Yuuko."

"Hm?"

"Didn't she have a wish?"

Yuuko took a moment to pour the plum wine. She sipped, savouring the taste.

"If she ever enters the shop to have her wish granted," she said at last, momentarily serious. "I think I will be very sad." She took another sip. It was really heavenly wine.

Mokona would have asked what she meant, but Yuuko only revealed things in her own time. So he poured her more plum wine and they sat watching the moon.

"Yuuko-san."

Yuuko's eyes widened, the wine-cup just touching her lips. No time to hide it. She had forgotten the teen-ager in the kitchen.

AN. The poem Mokona was reciting is a loose translation of a classic Chinese poem called 'Drinking Alone Under the Moon' by Li Bai.

I'm clearing some of the unfinished fics out of my files. Really, I'm cheating by setting them up as one-shots. ;) Good for me they could stand as PWP one shots.

Another disclaimer; if you're expecting accuracy in regard to Japanese folklore and customs, then sorry, my knowledge is from anime.