Michiko was leaning on the couch with her eyes disinterestedly staring at the screen as the two boys named Yusuke and Kuwabara played a video game.
"So, when is this Prince supposed to show?"
"Well, it's Koenma, and we told him about 3 hours ago, so...another 3 hours? Maybe?" Yusuke answered while mashing the buttons to the controller.
Souta, who had arrived late in the night to find a strange boy in his bed, his sister returned with two nieces, and a brother-in-law at the shrine, decided to sleep on the couch and then was rudely awakened by these two numb-skulls banging on the door. He was not in the greatest of moods. "If you break it, you buy it." He told them with annoyance.
"Yeah, yeah."
"This is stupid." Michiko finally huffed, pacing. "You're doing nothing but stare at images on a box."
"What's up with her?" Kuwabara asked and Kagome smiled, "She gets restless easily. It's a shared trait they all have. And since she wasn't raised in modern times...she has no interest in television or video games or technology, really."
Kurama walked into the room, "I'll be back."
"You going somewhere?" Yusuke frowned.
"Yes. I promised Shuichi I'd bring him back a souvenir."
"Whatever. See ya."
Kagome shook her head and watched as Souta asked to join the redhead. Her mom sat down with her, Michiko sat down near them, to talk, while Izaiyoi just hummed away, drawing her pictures.
It was a little before Kurama and Souta were back when Kohaku was up and about, training with his infamous sickle weapon outside. Rin had just woken, so Kagome was tending to her.
Michiko had walked outside, a frown on her face, "Kohaku? Have you seen Oji?"
"Lord Sesshomaru went off for a bit, not sure why." He then frowned and glanced at the tree, "That other demon has been up there the whole time."
Michiko sighed in response, "By the way that demon's name is Hiei and those 'boys' are Yusuke, and Kuwabara. This is Kurama and that one is our Oji Souta. And you've met our Oba."
Kohaku smiled at them, "Nice to meet you all."
The pleasantry was returned and Michiko went to the trees. She hated this place, she decided. It was too noisy and smelled horrible. She stopped when she landed next to Hiei, who turned red eyes on her a bit harshly.
She ignored the glare and rubbed at her head, "How do you do this? Live here? This place..."
Hiei frowned and then looked away, "I don't anymore."
"But you did."
Hiei scoffed, "Not by choice."
She let out a breath and stood, folding her arms, her ears twitching as she tried to listen for her uncle. She couldn't even pick up his scent and ended up growling in frustration. "Where is that man?"
Hiei remained silent, having an idea of who she was speaking of.
She turned golden eyes to him, a frown on her face with folded arms still, "Did you happen to care enough to notice in which direction he went in?"
Hiei scoffed and closed his eyes.
Michiko growled at him, her ears flattening against her head, partly due to anger and partly to stifle the unwanted noises. "If every one of you is this unhelpful, then I'm glad I'm not part of this time."
Hiei frowned, turning annoyed red eyes on her. "I'm not here to babysit."
Michiko's lip curled upwards, "And exactly why are you here?'
"Hn. I don't have to explain myself."
Michiko twitched, ready to rip his throat out, as her claws started to twitch, she could feel rage starting to fill-
"Michiko."
She startled so much, she almost fell from the tree. Her golden eyes turned to another pair, staring up at her with a warning look. Concern hidden deep in his depths.
She let out a deep breath and easily jumped down in front of him, ignoring the now staring red eyes. "Yes, Uncle?" She muttered wearily now, acting like a guilty child.
He silently held up a sword, making her gasp as she quickly took it from him and immediately unsheathed it. "I thought we wouldn't find it." she mumbled in relief, checking the blade.
Her uncle just closed his eyes and walked by her, under the branch the fire demon was in. "It wasn't hard to detect. Your father's fang is distinctive."
Michiko sighed softly, expertly sheathing it back in place and looking at the sky before following him, ignoring their silent watcher. "Thank you, Oji-sama."
000000000000
It was near sundown when Koenma finally appeared, immediately regretting that he decided to just 'pop' in with Botan considering the fact that a very alert demon lord about ripped his throat out along with an arrow almost piercing his chest and a sword almost decapitating him.
Yusuke just laughed hysterically at him with Kuwabara while Kurama had to step in and state that this was indeed, Prince Koenma of Spirit World. The entity they'd been waiting to speak to.
Poor Botan looked ready to faint.
After they all seemed to have calmed down, Kagome decided to get some answers about this Shikon no Tama they found. As she couldn't even begin to sense anything right now.
"Right, well." He cleared his throat, staying as far from the demon lord as possible. "It's currently residing in Spirit World under high guard. It wasn't something we felt we should just walk around with, considering it's history. Either way, we were hoping you could enlighten us on how it could have re-appeared. We were all under the impression it faded from existence about 500 years ago."
Kagome looked away at that, "So did all of us. We stopped Naraku and had put the jewel back together years ago and managed to make it fade from existence by wishing for its destruction, finally freeing Midoriko's soul from fighting demons constantly for so long, even Naraku vanished with it. I also got kicked back here for a few years and then the Bone Eater's Well let me pass through once more..." She looked back at them as Izaiyoi started to climb onto her lap, still staring mistrustingly at the Prince and his assistant. "There has been a history of people trying to recreate a fake one, but that was before it disappeared completely from this world. There hasn't been any issues since."
Koenma gave a huff and folded his arms, "I've had this looked into, trust me, it's far from fake. Could it be because it's in the Spirit World?"
Kagome frowned at that before sighing and shaking her head, "I don't think that's right. I mean," she rubbed at her forehead. "I don't think the one you have is the same one..."
Yusuke had put his hands behind his head, "So what? A genuine new one exists now? That sound right?"
Michiko's ear twitched at that and she frowned at her mother, speaking before she could, "It's not like it's impossible. Midoriko pulled their power, weakened them along with herself, then trapped them all inside."
"But how? Her power was different than any others." Kagome glanced at Sesshomaru, "Have you ever heard of any other priestess with her powers since?"
Michiko scoffed and stood, folding her arms and pacing again.
Sesshomaru merely met Kagome's brown eyes, "I have not."
Izaiyoi hoped up, "Lookie, it's Kura-san!"
Kurama gave a slight smile as she ran at him. For some reason she'd taken a liking to him.
Another voice sounded then,"Maybe it was because Midoriko never had a chance to reincarnate before now."
Kohaku quickly stood, "Rin, you sure you should be up?"
She gave him a bright smile, "I'm fine Kohaku! Don't worry so much."
"But-"
"Of course!" Koenma slapped his fist against the palm of his other hand, "I'll have to do some digging, but that makes the most sense."
Michiko twitched again, her hand twitching at them.
"But why would she create another one?" Kuwabara questioned, confused. "I mean, didn't she die to do that?"
"Well, technically, she did." Koenma muttered. "But her soul wasn't released until after it faded... She was forced to fight the demon, the only help she could get stuck inside was from others with purification powers. It went to Kikyo at the time, she burned it with her, hoping to keep it from this plane of existence, but then Kagome here was born with it already inside her. It was part of her; Midoriko's temporary solution at the time. But then the well here activated and that opened up the rift to the past." He was pacing now, mostly mumbling. "True that she had to die the first time, but perhaps, unconsciously, she created another one. Maybe because she felt insecure or unsafe." He shook his head with a sigh. "Definitely have to do some research."
Botan was frowning as well, a finger to her lips, "But wouldn't she have needed a demon?"
Yusuke groaned, "This is a freakin' headache. And confusing as hell."
Kuwabara folded his arms, "Can't we destroy it?"
"Did the two of you even listen?" Michiko growled at them, golden eyes trained dangerously on them. "You can't just 'destroy' it. It's not that simple"
"I could throw a nice sized Spirit Gun at it. That should work."
"Yusuke, stop being ridiculous." Koenma glared at him. "Not only will that not work, but if the soul of Midoriko has been reincarnated as I suspect and this is her doing again, we can't risk destroying this new jewel. It could have dire consequences."
"So you just don't want to get your ass spanked by Daddy again." He snickered.
Koenma glared at him. "First off, my Father brought this to my attention. Second, does Keiko know where you are right now?"
Yusuke glared back, about to open his mouth.
"Regardless," Kurama decided to interrupt the immaturity. "Kagome, is there anything else you can think of on this? Any other suggestions other than this one?"
"Nope. You guys have the best theory. I can't think of anything else at all. But, I would like to see what we can do about getting us home. The well hasn't allowed any of us to cross back since we got here."
Koenma sighed again, "Right, of course. I'll see what I can do. But right now, it does look like you'll be stuck here for a bit. So please try not to draw too much attention."
The forced smile on Kagome's face made Koenma inwardly cringe, he cleared his throat, "Right well, I'll be in contact. I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I can."
After he disappeared, the occupants of the room all looked at each other.
Almost all, anyway. Sesshomaru claimed this was ridiculous and walked out the door, while Michiko had apparently left on her own at some other point while Mrs. Higurashi clapped her hands and announced that she will be cooking a meal large enough for everyone and that they were welcome to continue to stay as long as they needed.
Kagome smiled at her kindness, but couldn't help but think 'Oh boy'
