Hey look I finally updated! (Seriously been busy tho with inukag week and college) PLEASE REVIEW. I spent a lot of time trying to edit this before I posted the chapter for once and I hope you like the surprise I have in store

;3

Moriko awoke with a headache once again. She hauled herself up, gripping her head, "Grandfather, what happened?"

"Ah forgive me. I miscalculated your mental strength." He said blankly.

"Are you calling me stupid?!" She raised a fist, only realizing that there was no one to hit but herself, ha! How ironic.

"Actually, on the contrary." Kagome scooted over as grandfather talked.

"Your mind is very strong-willed and imaginative. I can see why you pursue artistic endeavors. But that also means your focus constantly shifts, and your superior will backs it up."

"You don't have to skirt around it like it's a sensitive subject. I know I'm stubborn and I know when that can be a bad thing or a good thing."

"I would give you praise for the maturity of acknowledging and accepting your fallacies but you should know best of all how that would stroke your ego a little too much."

Moriko deflated at his words, not knowing how to respond at being thrown for an unexpected loop. And one filled with so many words at that. Kagome giggled, "I had realized the possibility that our children could become just as stubborn as the both of us combined."

"Really? My theory was that it was just women." I imagined grandfather smiling at mother as she continued to try and contain her amusement.

"Oh! Tell me about Inuyasha's mother, otou-san!"

"He didn't tell you himself?"

She sighed and sat back in a more comfortable position. Moriko on the other hand was sitting criss cross with her cheek in her hand, mind wandering while listening to the conversation.

"At first, he didn't want to talk about her at all. After we settled down I was able to coax out a few things out of him. But!" She raised her pointer finger as well as her pitch, "He doesn't remember how you two fell in love."

Grandfather chuckled at her wiggling brows. "It is a very entertaining story."

When he didn't continue, Kagome's eyes narrowed, "so why don't you tell it?"

"Ah. It is not meant for this young one's ears."

The 'young one' was about to protest when a thought tickled her brain. She thought back to when Yousuke and her had been more . . . Intimate. She specifically pulled up the memory of him spooning her as she had begun to awaken from their sweaty slumber.

Grandfather gave a sound of surprise but also somewhat repulsed. Kagome eyed Moriko and her daughter gave her a devilish side-smirk.

"Who's too young now?"

"Ah, it seems you are already aware of such . . . Experiences."

Kagome didn't know how to feel at what had been implied. Moriko's expression had remained casual as if she had already accepted whatever happened with this man. If Kagome knew anything from Inuyasha however, is that emotions were easy to hide on the outside.

She was about to ask when her daughter sniffed. She studied the air for a moment. "Mama? Did your scent change?"

"She is worried for your sake."

"My sake?"

"I can assure you Kagome-chan, that, while I don't agree with it, Moriko has learned her lesson on the negative consequences of her actions."

"Hey! I'm fine. It was just a casual thing. An . . . experiment."

Kagome smiled unexpectedly, "As long as you're okay!" She put one hand on her shoulder and the other to the side of her mouth, "Just don't let your father or brother hear about it!"

Moriko gaped. Grandfather was silent, shocked. Kagome's expression remained unchanged, a constant smile.

"I HAVE A BROTHER?!"

Every moment held something new.

He stood at the edge, his body strung taut and arms crossed. The sea lapped up from below. He couldn't say what was bothering him, but the air felt thick, heavy, and static as of yesterday. Today was no better. His kimono sleeves billowed and whipped about with an ocean wind that blasted the cave mouth unexpectedly. White sand-peppered tendrils seemingly floated as the breeze gentled.

As soon as she had pointed out the marks upon his cheeks, he knew something was wrong. Call it a sixth sense, as his mother once said, but his demon marks appeared when danger emanated.

Dark shapes wavered on the walls, fluttering and flicking sounds could be heard from above, but he had felt her coming for a while now already. Even his hanyou senses were sharper than these bats.

The gentle youki stroked his with comfort and affection. He closed his eyes from the sea, shutting off his other senses, acknowledging the comfort she offered and the love that filled the very air about him. He felt her on his shoulders, kneading out the stress between his pauldrons and his neck. The couple sunk in the moment, much like the day they met, when she had nearly drowned him by accident. His seductively-armored siren had his full attention now.

"How is your mother doing?" Her human parent was tough and beautiful like her daughter. It was obvious where the thick eyebrows had come from.

"The village is taking care of her well enough." She averted his gaze and walked past him, headed toward their den.

He grasped her wrist before she took another step. She didn't turn around as he brought the dark skin to his lips. He growled, "That is not an answer."

"She deserves to be happy with father in the next world. I am grown now and it is only expected that the pull of death grows stronger. Mates should be together always." Her words were distant, and he knew she was refusing to accept any of her feelings. He still agreed with her. Mates usually followed one another to death unless a child was born. It comes with sharing a demon's lifespan.

The air tugged at him, his instincts demanding he travel westward soon. Desperate to see that all was taken care of, he asked, "How long does she have?"

"A few months at best."

She knew he needed to go. She pulled her hand away dismissively. "Quit torturing yourself." She said, referring to his stubbornness at ignoring his instinctual drive.

Knowing she just needed some time, he brought her back to his chest plate, in his arms. She felt his intake of breath in her white hair. A pause in time. He couldn't find the words to make her understand, to understand that it's okay to feel and cry. He shouldn't leave her like this, but he has never felt such a strong instinctual pull like this before. He felt as if his grip on his demon could break at any moment. The only thing stronger than this is a mate's blood.

"Come with me." He choked, tears welling up in his eyes. His love for her warring with this pull. He didn't know if he could beg any harder.

She whirled around, capturing his face in her palms. She was about to kiss him for his effort and love for her when she gasped. The slashes on his cheeks were so dark they looked nearly black.

He didn't understand until her thumbs rubbed over his cheekbones tentatively.

She studied him. "Are you okay?"

Her fingers looked delicate despite being attached to a strong body. "I will be if you come with me-"

"Takeshi!"

His body jolted. He would have felt Kohaku long ago if he weren't so overwhelmed, Kirara even sooner.

"Inuyasha-sama asks for you."

Kohaku knew better than to enter the bat demon cave. Its outermost guards snarled at him warningly, despite being family and a friend. The bat clan was not used to many things like suddenly having many allies, the term friend not even in their vocabulary yet. They weren't used to having a hanyou leading them either, even if he could beat them all up senseless ten times over. It wasn't expected in Shiori's nature to be violent, as female bat demons were docile and calm, even if she was only half. It was the two of them together that made them acceptable enough, the amount of demon blood equivalent to a full demon and half of it was bat demon blood.

He and Kirara stood on the opposite cliff patiently until the notorious Mist Mates emerged. It was a ridiculous title that the humans had come up with when Takeshi and Shiori had fought off an enemy in a deep fog. Screams could be heard for miles and had reached nearby settlements. Their white hair legendary.

He snorted inwardly. Takeshi was human looking enough if it weren't for his hair. Unlike Inuyasha, he had human ears that were pointed ever-so-slightly that it was commonly overlooked. Anyone could mistake him for Sesshomaru if it weren't for the brows, red garb beneath his armor, the lack of the crescent mark and short hair. Even his attitude was often similar to the demon lord that Kohaku had traveled with all those years ago.

Shiori emerged first. She looked like a confident demon warrior in her feminine armor and magenta kimono. Her long white hair wisped into view from behind her back in the wind.

As was practically custom by now, she answered for Takeshi. Her voice rang clearly across the water, "Why has he been summoned?"

Kohaku frowned. Even he could tell that she did not look well. Her lilac eyes were outlined by dark circles, her expression grim. What could've happened? Why wasn't Takeshi looking after his mate? Was he even here at all?

He knew she knew what he was doing; analyzing the situation like every demon slayer would. Traveling with her and Keshi all those years got them accustomed to each other very quickly.

"Shiori-san, we have some new people for him to meet." Then he added, "Oh right, Sesshomaru-sama has become a father." He had been filled in on the events before leaving. As much as he wanted to go after his sister, Inuyasha held a sort of General or Commander status after Naraku and other events following the destruction of the jewel. He knew that there were no leads and his nieces were still recovering. Inuyasha needed Takeshi.

"It is best for Inuyasha-sama to explain."

Takeshi emerged and Kohaku eyed the demon marks.

"I must go anyway. Father didn't need to summon me."

"My lady?" He said, bowing to the darkness. "Though I am grateful, I cannot help but wonder why you have summoned me?"

"I do not choose who I summon, but you'll do very nicely, Hideyoshi-sama."

"Do?" He snorted, "I am to do your bidding?" The very thought consumed the small body which he owned with rage. At least his voice wasn't that of his pipsqueak of a descendant as well.

He could tell the bitch was calculating, measuring her words. He was a fox, a nine-tails, trickery was never something he couldn't perceive. She could not fool him.

"Why do you think you have come here? To me?"

"I happened upon you!" He snarled, snapping his jaws.

"Yet you have not left me." Her voice was sickeningly soothing and it irritated him.

"Yet."

"Perhaps. Now return the shard to me."

"Pff. Why would I do that?" He liked the tiny shiny sliver of a rock. Kitsune were fond of such articulate objects and he was no exception, especially stuck in this adolescent hormonal body. "Why would I do anything you wish?"

"The shard is of no use to you. It is not that of the shikon no tama, it does not grant you power or anything that which you desire."

"It clearly has a power embedded in it. I simply desire to own it, not expect anything of it."

"Fine. I have no need of it until I have collected the other shards anyway."

One of the hearts in the room began a nervous tempo. One of the three captured was conscious. The demoness seemed inattentive to the change, and he wondered at her. Was this not a secret meeting of sorts? Was she not hiding away in this dark chamber in the mountain?

"Humans are of no concern of mine. Their lives are too short to matter. My interest lies in demons, specifically ancient and powerful demons. Do away with them in any way you wish."

"How old are you actually?"

She blurted it right out. Kagome looked unusually young for- what she calculated as- 40+ years old but she sure as hell didn't look it.

"Oh, I don't know actually. I suppose I'm pretty old though huh? You lose count after a while being mated to a half-demon."

Kagome was moving about making dinner and Moriko was trying to think while sifting out all the scents of herbs. Being part-demon was still new and frustrating. She tried to focus on the more delightful smells. Kagome tried not to giggle as her daughter went to crouch over her bottles, sniffing over her bottles and folded-paper containers of her crushed dry herbs similar to how Inuyasha would when he was tracking a scent.

Moriko's ear twitched and she sat up, as flushed as the fire-rat. Kagome hadn't been able to suppress her giggle. Moriko started to mumble "Gomen-"

"No. There's no need for you to restrain yourself. Be who you are."

"I'm still trying to figure that out. This . . . Change really makes me question everything around me. This person smells like this and that tree smells like that. Ugh! It's a lot to sort out and memorize. I would be going insane if it weren't for all these events to distract me. I can never seem to catch a break, even when I get some down time."

"I see." Kagome plucked an envelope-like packet from the assortment and brought it towards her face for inspection. When her ears twitched, Kagome smiled knowingly, "Inuyasha seems to like it when I use this one."

"I was actually about to recommend it." Moriko replied. In fact, Kagome hardly looked a year older than Grandma's picture of her on the shelf.

After sifting some of the nice smelly-stuff into the soup, she put her cheek in her hand, studying her daughter, "Ne, what sort of food do you like?"

"Me?" Moriko took a moment to think back. She pictured several foods; yakisoba, tuna sandwiches, sushi, spicy ramen, french fries, steak, salmon, queso and chips, ice cream . . .

"What sort of food is that?!" Moriko jumped at the voice in her head. He had been quiet for a while.

"Gomen." Grandfather apologized, "But as you imagine these . . . Foods, you also imagine the taste, which I can sense as well. I must say I've never heard of these delicious foods! How long have I been dead because I am seriously missing out."

"You don't know how long you've been in the afterlife?" Kagome had been pondering the same question for a while.

"The dead have no sense of time. They simply enjoy what the afterlife provides." He replied matter-of-factly.

Moriko looked at Kagome, her previous question still on her mind. "Well how old is dad?"

"Dad?"

"Hm? Oh you know; father, papa, outo-san. It's English."

Grandfather was puzzled, "You've learned another language at such a young age?"

"Well, I'm no expert at it," Moriko scratched her chin with the edge of her claw, looking away from her mother, "But I did spend a couple years in Texas as a transfer student."

"Oh wow! We're there cowboys? Rodeos? Western movies?" Kagome had stars in her eyes.

"No. No. And No. They also get pretty pissed when foreigners stereotype them. Can we get back to my question please? It's like you guys are avoiding it."

Kagome sighed, and Moriko strained her ears forward expectantly. She was beginning to lose her patience as her mother collected her thoughts.

"It's not something we're comfortable with. After all, we're going to outlive many of our friends."

"Well if Souta's old enough to have kids then you must be in your forties, at least?"

She smiled at the thought of her little brother having kids. "Yes. Though I have aged little physically, I must be somewhere in my late-forties."

"But how old is my son?" Grandfather pressed lightly.

"Inuyasha estimates that he is about two hundred and fifty years old. He keeps track by the human generations."

"That's a sad way to know your age."

"It makes sense. Once a demon reaches adulthood, age is of no consequence. There is still significance between the old and young but mostly from experience and lack thereof. Numbers matter little, but perhaps they have more value to Inuyasha than they would me."

"So how long have you been dead then?" Moriko asked.

"Moriko, you seem unfazed by this." Concern creeping in Kagome's voice.

"What? Nothing surprises me anymore really. This world of youkai is so different and interesting."

"Ahem. That means I've been dead for about two hundred and fifty years. But these foods must have been invented only in your era."

"Oh right. Hey mama, Grandfather knows about when you came through the well to . . . Well, erm, leave me there."

Kagome's hands tensed in her lap. Her whole body went rigid. Her eyes were hidden beneath the shadow of her bangs. She was beginning to mumble something, when Kurenai sat up with a gasp.