"Toddler!" Yusuke shouted as he slammed into the room. Botan scrambled behind him, a panicked and apologetic look on her face.
Kurama strolled sedately behind the pair, shutting the door softly and leaning against it to prevent interruptions. He crossed his arms and nodded to Yusuke to proceed.
"Alright, you pint sized tyrant!" Yusuke marched up to the desk, placed both hands on it and leaned into Koenma's face, "What the hell do you want with my twin… if you even think abo-"
"Yusuke!" Koenma interrupted, standing in his chair. He glanced back at Kurama and met his piercing stare, "Kurama." Koenma eyed Yusuke for a few seconds of silence.
"What do you know about the barriers and their formation?" Koenma asked Yusuke, before sliding his gaze back to Kurama, including him in the question.
"They weren't around five hundred years ago. Kagome meets up with youkai all the time. If they were, they sure as hell weren't affective." Yusuke backed off from the young god and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He began to pace back and forth in front of Koenma's desk.
Kurama watched the toushin for a second, thoughtfully, and then turned to Koenma, straightening away from the door. He brushed a hand thoughtfully through his hair.
"The barriers were formed right around five hundred years ago… give or take, actually. Koenma, what does that have to do with Kagome? Her goal is to collect and reconstruct a jewel. She has no plans at all of separating the worlds."
Yusuke had swung around to stare at Kurama, astonishment on his face. Then he turned back to the child god and opened his mouth to start yelling again.
Boom!
"Very nice, Kagome!" Miroku grinned as the tree fell that Kagome had been using for target practice.
"Very practical." Sango said, as she went to gather some wood from the tree that had been felled.
Miroku grinned at his lady wife and kissed her as she passed. Inuyasha glared a bit at both Miroku and Kagome, but he grabbed his share of the tree.
The group was currently working to repair some damages to a village they'd come across and were taking the trees to be used for the repairs. Miroku decided to have Kagome practice using different powers. Some spirit energy, some miko energy. The spirit energy felled the tree. It wasn't the first tree, but it was probably going to be the last.
"Okay, now time for some miko energy." Miroku turned towards Kagome's pack and grabbed her physical bow.
Kagome took it with a tired smile and bent down to pull more out of her pack. Miroku paced out the distance he wanted her to fire and cut a small target onto the tree that suited his range tastes. Then he turned and strode back to the miko. She looked up from putting on her arm guard and smiled.
"Ready." Kagome stood and focused on the spot he'd created.
"Kagome, where did you get that?" Miroku gestured to indicate the band she now wore on her left forearm.
Kagome glanced down and fiddled with it for a second, "A friend from home gave this to me. He said it would help focus my powers through it… as well as protect my arm."
Memory Scene:
"Here."
Kagome looked up from meditating at the sound of Hiei's voice. It was rare he spoke and it surprised her. Even more surprising was that he was holding a bundle out to her. She cocked her head to the side and gently took it from him. She unwrapped the cloth and found… something.
"Thank you, Hiei." She glanced back up at him and then back down at the item. She twisted it and felt something strange coming from it. It was a strange black leather with a dragon etched into it. There were straps on the edges that seemed to go together. Nothing really gave her a clue as to what it was though. "It's beautiful. What is it?"
"Hn." He bent down and reached for her arm. He looked up to her, as if for permission. When she nodded he took the item from her and gently grabbed her left arm. He situated it how he liked and strapped the gift onto her arm. "It's an arm guard. It will protect you from the string when you shoot your bow. It's not necessary for your reiki, but you can still wear it then. It is from the Makai and was created to aid in the focus of energies. It hasn't been tested for miko ki, but since it was created for a conduit, it will likely work."
Kagome scrambled to her knees and threw her arms around Hiei. The surprised apparition patted her awkwardly on the back.
"Thank you so much, Hiei!" Kagome pulled back and released him, a blinding smile about her face, "I will keep it with me and wear it!"
End memory
_
Miroku waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "He, eh?"
The miko glared and smacked the back of his head, "Hentai! Hiei isn't like that! He's a very good friend, that's all! Not everybody is like you and after a piece of…" Kagome trailed off and blushed… she was spending way too much time with her brother.
Miroku smirked, glad to have gotten such a spirited reaction out of the girl. He was married and couldn't touch other women anymore, but he could still enjoy the beauty of the female species… and when Kagome got upset her cheeks flushed becomingly. Besides, she had seemed so out of sorts lately, almost melancholy.
"I apologize, Kagome-sama." Miroku grinned, "I was not meaning to upset you. If you would, please fire an arrow at the target I drew. No reiki please."
Kagome released that arrow, and several after, hitting the tree each time. Her aim was improving tremendously. So was her control over her powers, but it would still be awhile before she could consider herself in Kikyo's class when it came to archery and other miko abilities.
Kagome grabbed the arrows out of the tree and stuffed them back into her quiver. She turned, tossing her hair over her shoulder, with a huge smile at Miroku.
Miroku met her smile with one equally large and nodded at her, proud of her progress.
"Why you!" The pair both turned to Inuyasha's shout and shortly a higher, taunting, shout came through the trees.
"I'm going to tell Kagome! Put me down, right now!"
Kagome sighed and slung the quiver over her shoulders, adjusting it as she walked back towards her bag. Miroku snatched the handles before she could reach it and heaved it onto his left shoulder. They both began the short walk to the village.
"Kagome…"Miroku glanced at Kagome and bit his lip before finishing his question, "do you know what is going to happen when the jewel is completed?"
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked as she grabbed a tree to support her as she scrambled over a rock. They hadn't taken the path from the village out here so as to prevent someone from stumbling on their lesson and being hurt. Once she'd finished maneuvering around the debris, she looked over at Miroku and cocked her head.
"Well," Miroku ducked under a branch and held it for Kagome to pass, "we're not certain, but we all have assumed that the jewel shards are what allowed you to travel to and from this time. The completed jewel brought you here… but you had help from external sources. When the jewel is complete, will you be stuck here? Will you be forced forward? Or will you still be able to traverse time?"
Kagome paused. She raked her fingers threw her hair, tugging at one of the locks and twirling it as she thought. She'd never thought to ask those questions. It had never even occurred to her that something would stop her from going back and forth.
"I don't know, Miroku." Kagome breathed, panic obvious in her eyes, "I had never thought of that. I don't know what I would do! What if I am trapped here? What if I am trapped there?" Kagome thought of Yusuke and Kurama, Momma and Souta and Grandpa. She thought of Hiei and Yukina, Shizuru and Keiko, and all the rest of her friends in the future. Then she thought of her friends here in the past. "I have family on both sides!"
Miroku went silent and continued their trek back to the village. He heard Sango scolding Shippo for taunting Inuyasha and realized they were closer to the village than he'd thought.
"If nothing changes… if you are still able to traverse time when the jewel is complete. What is going to happen to it?" Miroku stopped walking and crossed his shakujou over his body and leaned forward on it, "Inuyasha has expressed that he doesn't want the wish anymore. Will you remain its guardian or do you have a wish prepared?" Miroku trailed off, remembering that she had gained demonic friends and enemies in the future as well, "The completed jewel will be dangerous, no matter what time period it resides."
"I don't know." Kagome looked towards the village you could see peeping out of the trees, alarm clear on her face, "I don't know Miroku."
"And so, as you must see, it is imperative that she finish the jewel!" Koenma slammed his hands onto the desk in emphasis.
Yusuke clenched his fists and looked away from his former boss, "What happens after… if she does it?"
"Kagome believes that the jewel shards are what allow her to travel to and from the past." Kurama exchanged a worried look with Yusuke, "What do the records show of happening to her?"
"I do not know." Koenma looked away, "There are no know records recording what happens after she completes the jewel."
"You can go to hell!" Yusuke turned to exit the room, "And leave my sister alone, while you're at it!"
The room shook as Yusuke slammed the door on his exit. There was a few moments of silence before Kurama broke it with a question that had been weighing heavily on his mind.
"Koenma, what happens if she doesn't?"
"She already did."
Author's Note: Thanks for your reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Please review!
Zeika