Just settling things: Neither I, nor my kitten sisters own any of the characters used in this work. We just needed something to pass the time.

Oneesan Neko (Mrou)

Just to Be With You

Chapter 10: Your Past, My Future

The morning came, as dawn ever follows the dusk, and ten unlikely allies, drawn together by forces outside the mortal ken . . . sat down to breakfast.

Shippo perched on the table, hunched over his food stuffing it in as fast as he could. Kirara, in contrast, sat daintily on the floor, picking neatly at the bowls of fish and cream set before her. Miroku, Sango and Kagome made an effort to display their best manners, mindful of the fact that they were in the house of one of Japans greatest youkai, the revered lord of the west. Rin and Kohaku ate neatly, and seemed to accept it as normal when Sesshomaru would reach over and quietly correct their eating habits.

But it was Sesshomaru himself, together with Hanashi and Inu-Yasha whom all eyes were on.

One reason was the food. The humans had been served neatly arranged platters of rice and fish, with delicately carved vegetables and sweet beans. Shippo and Kirara too had received fish, along with rabbit for Shippo, and sweet beans, though they had no rice or vegetables. Kagome herself had received a plate of gorgeously arrayed steaks, perfectly marbled and cooked medium well. The other three inu-youkai though had platters of raw, red meat. Delicately arranged to be sure, shaped into flowers, sliced thin, beautiful if you ignored the fact that it still oozed blood.

Kagome stared at it in horror, glad that someone had filled the cooks in and she had not been served such a meal. And at the same time, horrified, because something in her thought that raw, red meat looked delicious.

Suddenly aware of the other members of his pack's staring, Inu-Yasha glanced up defensively, "What?"

"I expect little brother, that when you have been with them in the past, you have eaten as humans do."

Inu-Yasha nodded, "Of course. I took the main part of my meals elsewhere. Made sure the kit got some decent food too."

Sesshomaru turned to the other members of the pack, "I apologize if our meal offends you. Demons, particularly active, adult youkai must consume a certain amount of red meat per day to remain healthy. The fresher it is, the greater the effect. Lady Kagome, I presumed was not used to such a diet, and as a hanyou the need is less for her. But Hanashi and I are full youkai, and thus we usually do not bother with cooking our fare, to gain the most benefit from it. Inu-Yasha would take no harm from an occasional cooked meal, but even he benefits greatly from the occasional fresh kill."

Sango nodded, "I have heard of such things."

"But that is enough of such unpleasant talk," Hanashi cut in, "Let us eat, and then we shall take such talk to my Lord's office, where it belongs."

After they had broken their morning fast, Sesshomaru and Hanashi, with Rin and Kohaku trailing close behind lead the rest of the group to the office where they had met with Sesshomaru previously. "Now then," Sesshomaru began imperiously, "We have plans to make, and at some point we must have another talk with that infernal jewel. So, to begin with, you have had many talks such as the one I experienced yesterday with the Shikon I am given to understand."

"Yes elder brother, we have. The first was not really a conversation, Midoriko simply came out of the jewel and announced that there was a grand destiny yet to be fulfilled and gave Kagome her current form."

"And after that?"

"The next was more of a true conversation, in that we could ask things and she would answer. That was when she told us that the final battle must happen in Kagome's time, and that we should seek you out. She told us at that time that in addition to our group we would need you, Lady Hanashi, and Rin, and advised us to seek you, in particular. She said nothing about Kohaku until the time you were present, and seemed to have no clue that you and Hanashi might still be on speaking terms. And, now that I think on it, she referred to Hanashi as "The exiled princess of the eastern lands.""

"Were there further conversations between then and when I spoke to the jewel?"

"No."

"Very well. To answer your implied question, Hanashi was not always as she is now. She was born to the dogs of the eastern lands, the Frost Clan. Around the time you were born she was stricken by one of the great youkai plagues. A priestess of the Night's Song saved her life, in return for her life. Where once she was a princess of the Frost Clan, now she is a Lady of the Night's Song, a witch and a healer."

"Thank you, elder brother."

"So, she said nothing of Kohaku earlier. That is interesting. And we know the battle must occur in Lady Kagome's time, but not how we are to get there. If it is merely a matter of surviving until that time, there are youkai spell crafts that would ensure we all lived that long. But that seems . . . almost too easy. Hanashi and I have five centuries already, Inu-Yasha two. To survive another . . . how far in the future is you time, Kagome?"

"Perhaps five centuries."

"Five centuries then. Not so long as I had feared. But there must be some catch. At the same time, if we do not live those years, how are we to know the time in which we are to fight? A puzzle indeed."

Hanashi looked at him, "Perhaps a modified future dream? Though there must be some adjustments made, if Rin and Kohaku are to fight beside us the must reach at least fifteen years."

"Hmm, the stasis state would ensure that the humans would survive, and a future dream that allowed us to see the world as it changed . . . but as you say, Rin and Kohaku are too young as of yet. And some provision would need to be made for my lands, I cannot leave them to fall into squalor."

"Elder brother?"

Sesshomaru and Hanashi turned to look at Inu-Yasha, and Kagome, who was now seated beside him, hands fisted in her Kimono sleeves.

"Yes, Inu-Yasha?"

"Kagome says that Midoriko is quite interested in this discussion, and that she cannot hold her back much longer."

Sesshomaru took a closer look at the girl. Her face was deceptively calm, but he could see the tight muscles in her jaw that spoke of clenched teeth, and she sat rigidly straight in a way that had to be painful with her hanyou physiology.

"Kagome." The girl turned and looked at him, "I am sorry, younger sister," both she and Inu-Yasha seemed taken aback at his casual mention of what they all knew would someday be truth. "Allow the witch of the jewel to come out. If she had input to this conversation, I would hear it."

The girl child relaxed. It was hard, now that she bore the body of a hanyou of perhaps two centuries, for him to remember sometimes that she had aged only seventeen years. He would do his best for her. Now that Naraku was gone, and he had a sword of his own strength, there was no further quarrel between their packs in his mind. Yes, he would do his best for her. And for his brother.

The all two familiar nimbus spread across Kagome, the jewel glimmering between her hands. And then it spoke.

I am pleased to find you all here. I know the task before you is not easy, and to be truthful, I don't know all the details myself. For example, the boy, Kohaku, I was given the prophecy that lead to his being necessary only hour before I relayed it to you.

"A prophecy that was given to you? The words that come when we speak to you, are they not your own?"

Well, sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't. I've been mixing it up with some very particular and dominating personalities in here. Usually the just leave me a general outline, "Say this, do that" sort of thing. And sometimes, they think I'm not getting the point across well enough on my own, and take over.

"A conundrum indeed. Do these personalities of yours have any advice for us?"

They agree that you need to know the world you'll be getting into and that Rin at least, will need skills she doesn't have now. They also agree, surprisingly, that the western lands cannot be left unattended. But things are coming to a crux here. So some rules are going to be bent.

"How, exactly?"

There is a ritual, that I am going to give you. It's a one time use sort of thing, and what it will do is create a sort of . . . gateway in time. The trick is you only get one round trip ticket. Here, there and back again and that's it. It will put you in the right place, at the right time to do what you need to do. It takes all ten of you to activate it, so if someone dies you're in trouble.

"I see how that solves two of our problems, but what about that matter of Rin? And even Kohaku is younger than I would like."

Kohaku is young yes, but he has the skills he needs. He balances Sango, like her he is a human with no particular spiritual abilities from a demon slaying line. Rin needs to balance Miroku, and to do that she needs the power. Given time, prolonged exposure to your youki would create that power. As it is, we need another short cut.

"A short cut." Sesshomaru was looking distinctly unamused.

Well, yes. There are a number of ways to do so, to jump start the power she is already building, but the easiest, and the safest would be an adoption.

"A Blood adoption?"

Yes. If yourself and Lady Hanashi were to perform a youkai blood adoption on her, it would bring those powers to the surface.

"Should I even ask how you know about such things?"

No, probably not. It will work though, particularly if you have Kagome seal it so I can put some extra juice in there. The other thing that we all agree should probably happen is well . . .

"Spit it out you infernal woman."

Pack of my blood, Pack of my mind, Pack of my heart, Pack of my spirit.

"Pack oaths. The old fashioned way. You know what that will do to the humans."

From what I can see of Kagome's memories you had considered something similar yourself. It will give you the edge you need, and increase the chances of you all coming back from this alive.

"Very well, thank you for your input. Now release my sister. The pack has things to discuss."

Yes Sesshomaru. I will leave the spell with Kagome, she will know what to do when the time is right.

Kagome snapped upright, coming out of her trance with a start. "Yet another day on the Midoriko hotline. Did she at least give you anything . . . Oh, now that's a useful spell. I guess she did. What else came up, other than that?"

"She recommended" Sesshomaru snarled the word, "That Hanashi and I blood adopt Rin. I understand her reasoning, the ritual is well known as a way to unlock sealed powers, but to use it on a human. The number of ways it could go wrong . . ."

"Beloved," Hanashi cut in, voice calm and unruffled, "My clan has been performing such spells on hanyou for centuries. And a few humans in that time too. Midoriko is right, it will work we just need to take a few precautions."

Inu-Yasha looked up, "And the other?"

"Pack oaths. The old way, to bind a pack with more than family ties and strength. Those words she spoke? An old inu-youkai pack spell. The leaders of the pack: alpha male, alpha female, beta male, beta female, each spill blood into a bowl. The blood is mixed with hot sake and ginger, then each member of the to-be pack drinks some. The alpha male recites those words, and then binds the youki of each member of the pack to his, through the shared blood."

"And this works on humans how? Humans have no youki. Neither does Kagome at the moment."

"Kagome has youki, it is just sealed at the moment. And when used on humans, the spell grants them a small portion of the youki raised in the ritual. Not much, it wouldn't effect Miroku's abilities. But humans bound to a pack live as long as the youkai members of the pack. They are stronger, heal faster, and can perform feats most humans can't. In return, they need to be very careful to get enough fresh meat, and even bone, particularly when injured, or their bodies start to cannibalize themselves. A pack bound human who tries to leave the pack will die, their bodies having become dependent on the constant youki from their pack mates. It can be very dangerous, particularly if the humans don't realize what they are getting into."

"Is this similar to what Hanashi mentioned yesterday, a way for humans to live as long as youkai?"

"In a way. The ritual I suspect she was thinking of works differently. Yes it gives the human a store of youki, but it doesn't affect them except to slot their aging. They are free to come and go as they like, but when the youkai you cast the spell dies, so do they."

"Hmm."

"I suspect we all have much to think on. I shall see you all in the morning." Sesshomaru stood, Hanashi following him a moment later, and they walked out of the room, followed by Rin.

"Kohaku? You don't want to go with Rin and Sesshomaru?"

"Rin made her choice long ago. She is human now only in body. I need to think, and I would like to hear your thoughts as well sister."

"Then join us Kohaku," Miroku spoke, gesturing towards a spot beside Sango. "Kagome, Inu-Yasha, Shippo, Kirara you are our friends, but I think this is something the three of us need to decide for ourselves."

Kagome smiled sweetly, "I understand. We'll see you in the morning, okay."