Chapter 10

The group of shinigami and Kagome rushed outside. Looking up into the sky, they spotted two figures. Kagome squinted to get a better look at the two demons only to have her eyes widen in shock.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome whispered.

Renji heard her speak. "Do you know this demon?"

She started to say yes, but stopped. He looked similar in appearance, but the youki was all wrong. Sesshomaru never held this much malice. Even when he was trying to kill Inuyasha over Tessaiga.

"No…but he looks similar to one I knew." She replied.

Hayataro took notice of the gathering outside the warehouse entrance and sighed. How had they detected his presence? He'd done well to suppress his youki so the human wouldn't sense him. Had he miscalculated her sensory abilities? Instead of drawing his blade, he lowered himself to the ground across the street from the gathering.

"You're better than I thought, Miko." He spoke, looking the girl in the eyes.

Kagome couldn't believe what she was seeing. This man was almost the splitting image of Sesshomaru. There were a few distinguishing features. His hair was shorter, only coming to his mid back and he only had one fuchsia marking on each cheek instead of Sesshomaru's two.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked, taking a step forward.

The man smirked, a look she would never find on Sesshomaru's face. He was too arrogant to show any emotion. "I'm almost hurt that you have to ask."

Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you and what do you want?"

He gave an over exaggerated bow. "Hayataro, lord of the western lands."

"Lord…? Don't tell me…" Kagome stuttered.

Renji looked down at Kagome. "You know what he's talking about?"

Kagome ignored Renji. "What happened to Sesshomaru?"

The demon snorted. "He died protecting a human…a filthy human woman."

Kagome blinked. Who was strong enough to kill the greatest demon ever? "How? Who?"

"You have no inclination at all as to who he would risk his life for? You make me sick, Miko."

"I didn't ask who the girl was, I asked who killed him." Kagome clenched her fists. She didn't need to ask who he was protecting. Only one female came to mind when it came to Sesshomaru and that was Rin. She was like a daughter to him.

"Oh? So you do remember that stupid wench?" Hayataro spat.

Kagome took another step forward only to have Renji grab her shoulder. He didn't say anything, just gave her a gentle squeeze. She stopped moving forward, but that didn't stop the threatening look she gave the demon in front of her.

"Did I hit a nerve?" Hayataro smirked.

Renji looked down at the top of Kagome's head as her reiatsu spiked. "Kagome…don't let him get to you. He's doing it on purpose."

Captain Hitsugaya decided it was a good time to step in. He too felt the spike in the girl's reiatsu and knew if he didn't do something she was going to fly off the handle. "Are you the one behind the hollows?"

Hayataro looked over at the small captain and shrugged. "Who knows." He looked back over at Kagome and took notice of the hand holding her back and the steady rise and fall of her shoulders. He could smell her frustrations. "Rin. Yes that was her name. It's been so long since I've had to say that cursed name. She was an annoying brat. Always worshipping the ground Chichi-ue walked on. It felt so good to feel her life slip from her body as I squeezed her small, fragile little neck."

"Bastard!" Kagome pulled away from Renji. She grabbed her bow and notched an arrow before any of the shinigami could react.

"You are the same as her. Demon loving whores." He mocked.

Kagome didn't say anything, she just released the arrow. Instead of the arrow purifying Hayataro, he reached up and grabbed it out of the air. He glanced at the arrow and back at the miko who fired it.

"Were you trying to hit me?" He snapped the arrow in half. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to hurt me."

Kagome just stood there in shock. Sesshomaru had done the same thing to the first arrow she fired at him. Only he melted it with his poison…

"It's been nice chatting with you all. Ja ne!" A blue orb of light enveloped his body and in a flash, he was gone.

oOoOo

"What do you mean you found her?"

"You heard me, Stupid. I found her. I found Kagome!"

"Where?"

"Quick! If we hurry she still may be there!"

oOoOo

Kagome sat against the wall of the warehouse with her forehead pressed against her knees. She always wondered what happened to the bright eyed young girl that traveled with Sesshomaru. Now that she knew, she wished she remained ignorant. How could he kill her? Rin meant so much to Sesshomaru.

How old was Rin when all that happened? Did she have a chance to thoroughly enjoy life? Did she have children of her own? Did she ever get married? It wasn't until she went to brush a few strands of hair from her eyes did she realize she was crying. She wiped the tears away, ashamed to be seen crying in front of so many people.

Renji watched Kagome, not sure of what to do. He never was good with crying women. That and he hated to admit it; he didn't do well with snot. People always snot when they cry. It was a simple fact. He under stood why she was upset. The demon had obviously hit a lot of her buttons. He didn't know who Rin was, but he could only assume it was somebody she was close with.

He sighed. He hated seeing her cry and wanted to make her stop. He looked around the warehouse, his eyes settling on a particular large breasted woman. She always knew how to make people laugh. He approached her, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Renji! What can I do for you?" Matsumoto smiled.

He motioned for her to lower her voice. "How do I deal with that?" He pointed to Kagome.

She raised a brow. "Are you asking me for advice on how to seduce a woman? I figured you already had her…"

Renji interrupted her before she continued by clamping his hand over her mouth. "Not that you pervert. How do I get her to stop crying?"

She nodded in understanding and Renji removed his hand. "Well there are a couple of different ways. A bottle of sake could do the trick."

He shook his head. "No alcohol…its illegal for people under twenty-one here to drink. Besides, I think that would only make matters worse. Is there anything you can do? I mean, you're good at cheering people up."

Hisagi overheard part of the conversation and came over. "You talking about Higurashi?"

"Yeah. It seems our little Renji's growing up and becoming a man." Matsumoto grinned.

"Shut up!"

"Really?" Hisagi looked at the girl crying in the corner. "I guess she's not bad looking, if you're into younger girls."

"She may be young, but look at her assets. She's got nice strong, long legs, a nice chest, though not as good as mine. And look at her hips. Those are nice, child bearing hips." Matsumoto explained as she moved her hands to help her get her point across.

Renji, now the same shade of red as his hair, sighed. Maybe asking her for help was the wrong thing to do. He was ready to turn away from the two shinigami when a hand dropped on his shoulder. He looked over to see Kira standing beside him.

"If you want to show you care, just be there for her. If she needs to talk about things, listen. If she needs a hug, give her one. It's that simple. Right now though, I'd let her get it out of her system. She took several large blows and needs time to process them." His friend explained.

"Yeah…I suppose you're right."

"Aw, Kira you're such a party pooper." Matsumoto stuck out her tongue.

Kira chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry."

Standing by the entrance to the warehouse, Hitsugaya stood looking where the demon once stood. It infuriated him that he was unable to detect even the slightest change in the demon's aura when he disappeared. The only reason he knew the demon was at the warehouse in the first place was because he touched the barrier. At first he was unsure if it was the demon, but the look on Higurashi's face was enough to confirm it.

That wasn't the only thing bothering him. The two swords he carried were different. The sword at the demon's waist had a similar feel to a zanpakuto, a spirit blade, but the one strapped to his back wasn't. It had a different feel. He knew it wasn't normal, but neither was it a zanpakuto. The only thing he could think to compare it to were the dolls the bounts used. A manifestation of their power. He planned on asking Higurashi about it, but he decided to wait until the girl recovered.

He was ready to go have a conversation with his group when he caught movement outside. He watched as a young man with long black hair barreled full speed towards the warehouse. Normal people couldn't see the barrier, but humans shouldn't be in the area anyway. There was a secondary barrier around the warehouse that gave humans an uneasy feeling and coaxed them to go the other way. The young man slammed face first into the barrier and flew back several feet. Behind the young man was another person, this one slightly shorter with auburn hair. This one however was more cautious. Instead of running or walking into the barrier he stopped in front of it and held out a hand. Hitsugaya felt the moment his hand came in contact with the barrier.

The auburn-haired boy offered a hand up to his fallen comrade. They both stood facing the barrier. The dark haired one brought his fist up and started banging on it, causing Hitsugaya to flinch with each punch. It wasn't painful, just annoying. The auburn haired boy shook his head and took a different approach.

"Kagome! Kagome!" The boy yelled much to Kagome's surprise. "Kagome!"

Hitsugaya turned to look at Kagome. She still had her head buried in her knees. She didn't seem to hear the person calling her name. The other shinigami however all heard it and rushed to the doorway to see what was going on.

"Abarai, is one of them her brother?" He asked. "You mentioned she had one that could see us, right?"

"Yeah I did, but those two are not him."

Hitsugaya left the door and approached Kagome. "Higurashi."

Kagome lifted her head and wiped away a few stray tears. "Yeah?"

"You have visitors outside the barrier."

"Visitors?" She looked confused.

"They are beating on the barrier calling your name. They don't look hostile or dangerous. Just annoying."

Confused, Kagome stood up and made her way to where the others were gathered. They let her pass and Kagome's eyes about popped out of her head at who she saw. She was at a loss for words. She never thought she'd see him again. She wasn't positive who the auburn haired kid was, but she had her suspicions. Ignoring questions from Renji, she ran out the door and through the barrier. She threw herself at the dark haired man and hugged him tightly.

"Koga!"

Koga caught Kagome with ease and held her close. He buried his nose in her hair, taking a deep breath of her relaxing scent. He'd almost forgotten what she smelled like. "I never thought I'd see you again, Kagome."

Kagome pulled away. "Where have you been hiding? I searched all of Tokyo looking for signs that you guys were still here. I…I thought all of you died." She felt tears rolling down her face again.

Koga gave her his signature grin. "We are still around, Kagome. We've just developed a better way of hiding. Between humans and the shinigami trying to wipe us off the face of the planet, we didn't have much of a choice."

Kagome stepped back and looked at the other person with Koga. His light auburn hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, similar to Koga's and his emerald green eyes stared at her with happiness.

"There's no way…Shippo-chan?"

He nodded and launched himself at her in a hug so fierce, Kagome thought she was going to topple over. "Kagome!"

"Oh Shippo…" The tears fell a little faster, this time being tears of joy.

"Kagome. Who are these people?" Renji asked, walking up to the three of them.

Kagome didn't miss the deep throaty growl Koga let loose and the way Shippo's hand tightened around her.

Kagome managed to pry Shippo loose. "Koga, Shippo please…they're my friends."

"Friends? Kagome, don't you realize it was these friends that tried to exterminate us?" Koga growled.

Renji, not liking the way the dark haired man was looking at him, reached for the hilt of his zanpakutou. Kagome noticed and took a step towards Renji. She covered his hand with hers and shook her head.

"Renji don't. And Koga…I know what happened, but these shinigami aren't the same people responsible for what happened to the other youkai."

"Would you be saying that if I told you they are the reason Inuyasha is dead?" Koga replied.

Kagome stumbled away from Renji, her mouth hanging open in shock. They killed Inuyasha? She shook her head. No…that can't be.

Renji glared at the dark haired man. He just had to go and say something to upset her further. With Kagome's hand no longer stopping him, he unsheathed Zabimaru. "How dare you, you dumbass. We finally had her smiling and you had to go say something like that. Are you a fucking idiot?"

Koga growled, flexing his fingers, summoning the Goraishi to his hand. "What did you call me?"

"You heard me, Dumbass."

"Abarai…" Hitsugaya sighed in frustration. He was almost as bad as Kurosaki when it came to flying off the handle.

Renji ignored the words of the captain and took a step closer to the demon. He brought his sword in a fighting position, only to have Kagome step between them.

Kagome stared down at the concrete below her feet. "Enough. Hasn't enough blood been shed?"

"Kagome…" Koga could smell her distress. He cursed under his breath.

"No more fighting. I can't lose anybody else." With that, Kagome took off running.