Kagome and Inuyasha had finally reached that village to the Far East the headman's wife spoke about. It was a nice, lively village inhabited by humans and demons that happily coexisted with one another. There were even a few half-demon children running around playing with human children. Kagome was in awe at the beautiful sight. She turned to Inuyasha who was surprised by what he had seen.

'Times are really changing.' He thought.

As they slowly walked further into the village a woman shrieked upon seeing them. Kagome shrieked in horror after hearing the woman's shout and Inuyasha stood in front of her protectively. The young woman ran towards them and bowed. She looked like she was around Kagome's age. She had brown hair and blue eyes.

"Please forgive me, Lady Priestess. I recognized you from afar and I was overwhelmed to see someone of your stature pass through our village."

Kagome smiled and greeted the woman. "Don't worry about it!" she chuckled. "My husband and I—"

The woman shrieked again upon seeing Inuyasha. "Master Inuyasha! The powerful half demon! I'd recognize you anywhere from all the legends spread across the lands."

He stared at her for a moment as she bowed before him like he was a Dog God. 'This girl is weird.'

Kagome laughed nervously. "I'm flattered that you're familiar with who we are. We've come to your lovely village looking for a man named Kanzen."

The woman ceased her bowing and stood up. "Kanzen? He is one of the village elders and the last descendent of a powerful priestess who passed many years ago. His house is this way." She pointed and began walking in the direction.

Kagome and Inuyasha followed as villagers bowed before them as they walked by. The children playing in the fields waved and Kagome smiled and waved back. 'Such a peaceful and wonderful village.' She thought.

The village woman stopped at a large white house in the middle of the village. "Master Kanzen?" She called through the door, which was ajar. "Priestess Kagome and Master Inuyasha have come to our village to speak with you!"

Seconds later, a short elderly man with a short black ponytail wearing a brown hakama came outside to greet them. He bowed before the two and welcomed them into his home. Kagome and Inuyasha stepped inside the large house filled with many jars, scrolls and paintings of demons, maidens and swords.

"What a beautiful place you have."

"I give you my thanks, milady. My predecessors who all lived here together left this house to me and I am the last living in my family. I was the only son they bore. But please! Have a seat and I'll bring you some tea!"

The two sat down as Kanzen exited the room. Inuyasha was looking around at all the paintings and noticed a painting of Midoriko on the wall to the far right. Kagome saw him staring and looked in the same direction.

"We'll probably find out everything we need to know from him." She said in a low voice. Inuyasha nodded as Kanzen reentered the room with tea.

"Please excuse my state of dress. I was not expecting company."

"Don't worry about it! Thank you for the tea."

"No trouble at all. It's the least I can do. I am honored to have a visit from you. Although, I think I have a good idea as to why you've come to see me."

Inuyasha took a sip of his tea. "The headman's wife from a village to the west of here said she was a friend of yours. She told me about the Katana No Kami."

"Sayuri…" He said happily. "She and I grew up together. I haven't seen her in ages. I'm glad to hear she's still alive." He quickly came to his senses after reminiscing about his younger days. "But yes! I figured that's why you were here. Before my mother Yasu, the last living priestess of the Kamui group passed away. She made me vow I would find someone who was worthy of wielding this sword. She told me there were dark priestesses who knew of this sword and would do absolutely anything to wield it. She said those who coveted the power of the sword, became possessed by the thoughts of having it. That is why I had to find one who was pure and had noble motives for wielding this sword."

"So I'm guessing the Kamui Group was the secret society of priestesses who gathered behind Mt. Hakurei?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yes. They all lived here. My mother was the priestess who came closest to wielding the sword but her obsession with power made her unfit to touch the sword, even after completing the trials. She was a good woman, but all of the women of Kamui women were more interested in power than anything else. My mother was obsessed with this blade. She painted many pictures of it and talked about it constantly."

"May we see those paintings?" Kagome asked hopefully.

"Yes, of course. Follow me." He led the two upstairs to his mother's old room. It was a small cozy area with a futon and the walls were completely covered with scrolls and paintings of the sword.

'What an obsession she had' Kagome thought.

'Damn. This must be one powerful sword' Inuyasha thought to himself while staring at the paintings.

The sword in the painting had a large orb at the hilt and slightly above the hilt was a strange design in the shape of an X. The blade was thick and the painting made it look like an extremely formidable weapon. Kagome was in deep thought about the sword after looking at it. She wanted to know what made it so powerful besides the way it looked.

"Kanzen, what is it about this sword that makes it so powerful?" She finally spoke up and asked.

"This sword was forged by a swordsmith named Toshio. The powerful priestess Maru, Midoriko's mother had brought him the remains of a possessed dragon that begged Maru to slay him so his soul could be saved. He was the last demon she slayed. When she had grown old, she infused her spirit with the sword and became its guardian. It was her wish for Midoriko to join her in the sword to assist whomever needed their powers. The sword grows stronger overtime with each priestess, sorceress or even demon whose soul finds freedom and wishes to lend her powers to the chosen one. The power of this sword is limitless, hence why the sword is so choosy of its master. The one who wields it cannot be reckless or foolhardy. She cannot be selfish or only seek power. This sword is dangerous if wielded by the wrong person."

Inuyasha was staring at Kanzen with his mouth agape. 'Damn.' he thought to himself. 'That sounds like an amazing sword.'

"So what do you think?" He asked his wife.

Kagome was looking down. She seemed to be nervous.

"Lady Kagome" Kanzen spoke up, noticing the worried look on her face. "I believe you will be the one to wield the sword. Another priestess I spoke with years ago told me you'd be the one."

"Lady Kikyo, you are honestly saying you have no interest in the sword?"

Kikyo stared at him with an expressionless look on her face. "I do not. However, there is a woman who has my likeness and she may be fit to wield this sword. She goes by the name of Kagome."

Kikyo stood up to leave Kanzen's hut. "I bid you farewell."

'Kikyo, huh?' Since Kikyo's passing, Inuyasha often thought about her. Not because he couldn't get over her, but just because. He was glad her soul was saved. As he was deep in thought he looked at Kagome, thinking about how she saved his soul, too.

Kagome's face was flushed pink at the thought of Kikyo's kind words. 'She really thought that highly of me?'

Kagome's looks of uncertainty suddenly turned into looks of determination as she took one of the sketches of the sword out of Yasu's room. "I hope you don't mind." She said shyly to Kanzen.

He waved his hand and smiled at her kindly. "Take whatever you may need. I will wait downstairs for you and leave you to study the information." He bowed and excused himself from the room.

Kagome intently studied the scrolls and paintings on the wall.

Inuyasha was on the other side of the wall when a very descriptive map caught his eye. "Kagome look at this."

Kagome turned her attention to what Inuyasha was pointing to.

"So this map shows exactly how to get to that cave from here. I guess we really do have to go through the mountains. I guess we'll be seeing Koga on our journey."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Keh!"

Kagome gave him an angry glare. "Inuyasha! Stop being so childish. Let's go."

She pulled him by his ear down the steps as he kept trying to pull away. The two met Kanzen at the table and he stood up before them.

"We'll be on our way now. Thank you so much for everything." Kagome said humbly before bowing.

"No, no thank you for the visit. It was such a pleasure to meet with you both."

Kagome smiled and headed out Kanzen's house.

"Take care, old man." Inuyasha said before following behind Kagome.

It was late afternoon when the two had finally finished at Kanzen's house. That same woman from earlier was playing with her son nearby who happened to be a half demon. He had deep blue eyes, black hair, green scales covering his cheeks and claws.

"He's adorable!" Kagome said as she approached the woman. She bowed and thanked Kagome for the kind words.

"I have a daughter. Her name is Musouka. She has cute dog ears like my husband and the mark of his father on one side of her face."

The woman's face glowed in awe at the description. "She sounds beautiful!" The woman cooed.

A young half demon boy from the village ran up to Inuyasha. "You're Inuyasha!" The boy exclaimed. The young boy had black hair and silver eyes. He had dog ears atop his head like Inuyasha and as the two stared at each other their ears wiggled in unison.

"Nice ears." Inuyasha said with a smile.

"One day I'm gonna be a great half dog demon like you!" The boy said confidently. "My name is Tetsuo."

Inuyasha nodded. "Well it'll take a lot to get as far as I have. Just train hard and don't let anyone bring you down. You can do whatever you want if you try hard enough."

The boy's eyes glowed with happiness upon hearing Inuyasha's encouragement. He ran excitedly to his hut. "I'm gonna be a hero like you!" He said running off.

Kagome came up to Inuyasha and stood in front of him staring at him cutely. She gave him a look that made his heart melt.

"You ready to go?"

The woman overheard Inuyasha and ran up to them. "Go? Already? You're more than welcome to stay in my home for the night!" The woman said, almost desperately.

Inuyasha was never the type to stop for leisure but he figured Kagome would be tired since it was getting late.

Kagome bowed to the woman and accepted her kindness. "We'd love to!"

The woman's face lit up with excitement. " I am Kei. My son's name is Iwao. My husband Naoki has gone far south to visit his brother. He'll be gone for many weeks so your company would be nice."

They followed the woman to her hut, which was much larger on the inside than it appeared. There were three bedrooms. She turned down the futon in the third room that was practically empty. The only thing in there was a small window and a scroll with a haiku on it.

"We're planning to have another child soon. That's why this room is empty now. You are free to use it. I'll be making dinner momentarily."

Inuyasha quickly lied in the bed and waited for dinner. Kagome sat on the edge of the bed rubbing Inuyasha's stomach, which she learned over the years he liked very much, assuming it probably appealed to his dog instincts. He squirmed around the bed whimpering like a puppy.

"Good boy!" Kagome said happily.

Inuyasha gave her a sullen look. "Hey, don't treat me like a dog!"

Kagome laughed at the angry look on his face. It was too cute to be fearful.

He growled at the humiliation. "Since you think I'm a puppy…" He pinned her to the bed and started licking her face.

She laughed and squealed trying to push him off of her. Regardless of what Inuyasha had said before, this journey definitely felt like old times.

When he finally thought she had enough, he licked her face one last time before he kissed her. Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. His mind was muddled with dirty thoughts when he considered that later in the evening they would finally have privacy for the first time since Musouka was born.

Kei called them in for dinner. The two broke apart and went to the table hand in hand.