I do not own Inu Yasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. I do not wish to face your wrath anymore Lady Artimes Blaine than I already have (BTW I got that review at like 4:30 in the morning and I laughed my ass off, I think I woke up my momma). I hope you enjoy it. Sugar

The next morning, true to yōkai nature, the koumori was up and slightly irate. The anger was not directed at anyone in general, but the barrier that was keeping him in with the miko. His instincts were telling him that should he try to walk through the barrier, it would mean his death. He would live, that was all that mattered to him right now. Sure he felt a little bit of pain from the wound, but it is bearable.

His eyes turned from the opening of the small cave to the even smaller miko that healed him the night before. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for what she did, but her kind were made by the kami's themselves to kill his kind. I will not kill you, you are in need of aid, her words cut through his thoughts. Now that I am able to fight will she kill me now? He asked himself before he started watching the coals of the fire.

Sure she was small, smaller than the imiko that Yoko had let join their group of thieves. It was through that teme that Kuronue knew that even the smallest of adversaries could be the biggest trouble, especially if said opposition was a miko or houshi.

"Oh you're up," the onna said as she was sitting up from her sleeping bag. She rubbed her cloudy azure eyes to try and get the rest of the sandman's sand out of her eyes. "Do you need anything?" She asked as nicely as she could at this early hour in the morning.

"No miko, I do not require anything." He told her as he rolled the kinks out of his neck from sleeping on the cold ground. Last night was, of course, his first time sleeping like that since he joined up with Youko. His pride was still hurting from having to rely on the help of a ningen, and a miko at that, to stay alive.

"In that case I need to go back to the village that has offered me shelter for the time being." She told the male as soulless black eyes were sinking in deep blue. "Kuronue, please stay here for a little while longer. You are still not fully healed, I will be back soon and we can get you back to your hideout. I am sure that my son would love nothing else, as long as you don't mind him coming along." She said as she stood and started to pack everything back in her bag, he gave her a brief nod when she looked up at him once completed with her task. "When I get back I will change your bandages, I am out of the herbs needed to prevent infection unfortunately."

"Be safe, Miko." The koumori told her as he watched her leave for the time being. Well, that answers that, she will not harm me yet, he though with a perverted grin forming on him lips. Now those are legs that I would love to have wrapped around me as I push her into a wall.

Kagome didn't need to turn around to know that her new friend was watching her as she walked away. She knew that as long as she did not attempt to harm him, he would do the same for her. He sure did love to talk in his sleep, so much so that it woke up her up shortly after she feel into the embrace of sleep.

She knew that she should go back to the village with the scent of an unknown yōkai on her, or that of blood but she need to hurry. She didn't want to deal with Inu Yasha after his betrayal, though he was never hers to begin with.

Forcing herself to keep walking she made her way back through the forest and stumbled upon the charred remains of Honekui no Ido. First she was shocked to see just how far she was from the village, but than reality set in and she knew that someone, most likely the baka, thought that she went back to her time and with the well destroyed she would no longer be able to return to the Sengoku Jidai. Unknown to them, their plan back fired and she was now trapped in this time period, never to see her family again, for she was just mortal and would be dead long before her ojii-san would even be born.

She did not know what to except when the village came into her line of sight, but the villagers celebrating something not it. The huts looked as if nothing was wrong but appearances can be deceiving. She looked around and she couldn't see any of her other traveling companions.

"Okaa-san!" A young kit said as he came rushing towards the miko that was still hidden in the shadows of the forest. "The baka said that you would not be coming back." He told her as he buried himself into the chest. "He told Kaede-obaa-san that he would not be coming back before he ran off with Kikyo." That would explain why they are so happy this morning, the miko thought as she hugged her son to her.

"I'm sorry, I know that I smell of blood and healing ointments," she looked into the forest green eyes of the young kitsune that she held to her. "I met an injured koumori yōkai last night, he was on the brink of death so I had to help him."

Shippou looked up at his okaa-san, she was one of the ones that would help you no matter what. It was because of that fact he loved her as much as he did. Her heart was as big as her soul and it never ceased to amaze him. He knew that she special and it never took much to remind him of how strong she is. "Will I get to meet him?" he looked as if he was going to started jumping in her arms.

"Of course you will be able to, I just need to get a few things off of Kaede-sama and we will be on our way." She told the excided kit before she started walking once more. The more she thought about it the more that she realized that she was free from Inu Yasha, she no longer had to worry about how much he would blow up over Kuronue. "Did Miroku and Sango get back from the Taijiya Village yet?"

"Nope," the young kitsune said as he scurried up her left arm and on to her shoulder. "How long will we be gone?" He asked the miko.

"I do not know," She answered honestly. "He hasn't told me how far that he and his companions were away from their hideout. I just know that they were after a rumor about the Shikon no Tama." She didn't look up at the redhead knowing that he was giving a look of disbelief. "He said that they not trying to use it for power but to protect it from those that would. He sounded truthful to me but that is why I want you there to determine if I should tell him that I have it or not. I will be able to keep it hidden until you decide, if you think that he was tell the truth I will tell him who I am, if you think that he is lying I will not tell him." She started to pet her sons head, getting him to gently growl in comfort.

"But," he said as he started flail his arms around, trying to get her to stop what she was doing. Once he succeeded in doing so, he tried again. "But what if he finds out about it before you have the opportunity to tell him yourself? What if he thinks that you stole the tama from the Shikon no Miko? What if once you tell him that you are the guardian of the tama, and then try to take it from you?"

"We will have to wait and see what happens," She said trying not to show that she had the same doubts about it herself. "All that we can do is to go with the flow. If we try to guess what could happen, it won't." She kept on walking and tried not show outward signs that the night before brought a lot of questions to her mind, the main one circling around his last question.

The young green eyed kit still couldn't see how the miko could allow such uncertainty when it came to the Shikon. Most of the time he chalked it up to the fact that she had such a large heart and soul, but to allow this unknown yōkai that close to the tama was simply mind blowing to him. The fact that she was still alive, with everything that she has done, it was astonishing that she only came away from so many unknown yōkai without getting more than a bump or bruise. There were times when he thought for sure that his okaa-san would not make it back for one reason or another, but she managed.

"We will have to be extra careful than," the young yōkai told the miko as they spotted the elderly miko's hut at the edge of the village. "We do not know how long we will be with him, so we must be prepared for anything that could happen." The kit had a way of expressing the worries of the others, even if they would never express them aloud to the rest of the group. He was just so adorable when he was acting like he was older, and the onna from the future couldn't help but laugh at her kit.

"That is the plan," she told him before they walked into the hut with the miko that was kind enough to let the group of misfit travelers stay with her, while others would turn them away.

"I thought that ye would not be returning from ye home," Kaede told the young onna, not looking up from the stew she was stirring, when they took one step into her hut.

The miko in training took a seat across from her teacher. "I did not return home before the Honekui no Ido was burned. I was taking care of something that came up, unexpectedly." Kagome said thinking quickly on her feet, for she knew that her mentor would not like what she was truly up to the night before.

"Well Inu Yasha went after ye, when ye did not return before dinner. He came back and told us that he could not find ye scent but the ido was destroyed, we feared the worst. He told us that he would not be back, but I am sure that Shippou has already told ye that." Kaede said as she finally looked up at the duo that was before her. "Ye do not plan to stay either, do ye?" she asked not needing to truly see the reaction in the others blue eyed gaze.

"No we do not, at least not in the foreseeable future." The young onna said looking down at the ground, for some reason it was more interesting than the others in the hut. "I am sorry Kaede-sama, but I cannot stay here. This village will always remind me of home, of the time that I cannot return to. It just hurts too much to be this close but at the same time so far away." She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she would break down and cry in front of others.

"If that be the case," the elder said as she turned around to get a bundle from behind her. "Ye will need this." She handed it over to the others in the hut. "I will tell Sango and Miroku ye plan." While she knew that this was coming, she didn't want to see the young onna leave the village. Sure she knew that she could keep herself safe from any yōkai that would attack her, but she still didn't like the fact that the Shikon no Miko would be traveling alone with just a kitsune kit to keep her company. "While I gave ye some herbs, there is only enough until ye can find more. If I would have given ye more, they would not be effective by the time that ye used them." She explained as she watched the two in front of her start to go through the gift.

Without thinking, the young miko put the small offering down and lunged at the other onna. They wrapped their arms around each other in a farewell. "I will miss you," she said as she started to tear up.

"I will miss ye as well child," the elderly miko replied as she let her arms fall from the other onna. "Kit, keep ye okaa-san safe out there," she told the kitsune that was holding her around her neck. She briefly petted the young yōkai's tail before the miko and her kit moved away from the village miko. "Here ye go," she handed the two travelers a bowl of stew for lunch. "It would be a good idea to have some food in ye stomachs before ye start ye travels once more."

"Arigatō," the two young ones told her as they took the bowls and whispered an "itadakimasu," before they dug into the food they gratefully received. They all ate in silence, knowing that this would most likely be the last time that they would eat together. "Gochisosama," they said before they sent the elder a smile and stood to leave. "Arigatō, for everything Kaede-sama," the miko bowed and turned to leave.

The two left the hut and were in the tree line before they stopped so the miko could look back at what she was leaving behind. She didn't know what she was going to do after she helped Kuronue back to his hideout, but she knew that she would not be going back until after Naraku was destroyed. "Well my son, are you ready for this?" She asked the yōkai as she started walking once more towards the cave that was hers and the koumori's shelter the night before.

Not one for silence, the young kit started to complain about the quiet getting his okaa-san to play a game with him. Not being able to say no to her kit, she taught him how to play I Spy, "Here I will go first. "I spy with my little eye, something blue." She laughed while looking into his eyes, trying not to give away what she was really looking at.

"Is it the sky?" The hyper kit asked looking all around the two of them. He received a shake of her head, telling him no without saying the word. "The little stream there?" another shake, "My shirt?" once more a shake, "Your kimono? another shake. "Um, um," he started to really think about it. "I don't know!" He cried out sinking down onto her shoulder.

"It's your bow, my little one." She told him with a chuckle. The game continued as they progressed passed the burned ido and deeper into the forest. The deeper the two of them went the stranger what the two of them saw. At one point he saw a squirrel, while she saw a crow that was flying overhead.

"Okaa-san, there is a yōkai around here!" The kitsune said as he buried himself in the miko's hair knowing that she would protect him no matter the cost.

"It's just Kuronue, you know the one that I told you about." She soothed his nerves, as she pulled him out of her hair and into her arms. She walked into the mouth of cave and over to the koumori who was sitting against the wall.

"I thought that were not going to be coming back." Black eyes locked with blue. She didn't respond to him, but she did start to take the used bandages off of his torso and unwrapped the thong that was holding the parting gift from Kaede-sama around her waist. "So that must be you son," he told her but was looking at the kit not at the miko that was putting more ointment on the wounds and wrapping him back up with clean coverings.

"Hello," the kit spoke up and looked him in the eyes. "The name is Shippou, it is a pleasure to meet you." He surprised the older yōkai by bowing to him.

"Kuronue," he said before he grunted at how tight she wrapping his injuries. "Not so tight love," he told her getting her to blush.

"There you big baby," the miko said as she was gathering everything up and placing it in her bag. "Are you sure you are up to walking this soon?" She asked the injured yōkai, knowing that he should still be resting to heal faster.

"Yes, miko," he sighed out before standing up. "We could get a good half day in if we leave now. The miko nodded at his logic before she shouldered her bag and got ready to leave as well. The kit not wanting to leave his okaa-san without some form of protection from this unknown yōkai hopped up on her shoulder as she was scattering the coals from the fire the night before. When she was asked why she did so she replied that it would prevent an unwanted fire from starting. With everyone ready the group left the cave and started to head towards the north, away from Sesshomaru-sama's land and towards the land of the tatsu's.

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am so sorry that it took so long to get all these updates out but I couldn't think of how to pull of chapter 10 of You Live When the Past is Done for the life of me, or the fact that I had writers block for all my other stories didn't help much either. Oh before I forget, yes Hiei will be making an appearance sometime in this story, I just love that yōkai *sigh*.

Until next time, kisses

Sugar