Rewritten. A Lot. It's all you reader's fault. Every bit of it. I hope you enjoy.

I do not own Inuyasha. There's this thing called Copyright infringement… The law scares me.

Ivy

Chapter twenty;

Convergence of a circle

The hospital smelled of death, pain and illness. He wrinkled his nose as he followed his mate toward the room where her grandfather had been placed. The doctor had said that it was dementia and that the old man might languish for another year to five years in the hospital or in a convalescent home. They had made sure to miss her brother and mother primarily because, though Kagome had not returned in the two years before Naraku had been defeated, Inuyasha had admitted to her early on that he had gone through the well several times in search of "ninja food" and to play video games with her brother. He'd reported on her safety to her mother and had happily helped her grandfather shortly before he fell ill. The half youkai could not confirm the last day he had visited the Higurashi shrine and so Sesshomaru had placed several of his servants and retainers near the shrine to watch the progression of events until it was certain that the well had closed for good and Kagome could go back to her family without interfering with her own future.

Still, when her grandfather had fallen so terribly ill, she had to go and see him. They entered his private room quietly and she sat in her usual chair. Sesshomaru had ensured that the elderly man had his own room and specialized care in his infirmity. Kagome had tried to thank him, but he had silenced her with a kiss. He is your family and so he is my family, beloved. He had said and she could not fight with his rational. Now he stood at the window looking out over Tokyo trying to imagine the country of his youth. The country where he'd fought beside his mate, sired his children within her and walked for countless sunsets.

She took her grandfather's hand and squeezed it gently. Centuries before she had found the only family that shared her name in the whole of the country and, with the help of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, had resettled them at the shrine that had been built around the god tree and the well. Their lives had been eventful and full of adventures, great love and also great loss. They had decided to halt the birth of more children after the twins for a full millennia much as the others of their circle had. Inuyasha and Sayoko had four children, Kouga and Hitomi had three and Shippo and Rin had five before they had decided to end their procreation. Kagome had discovered a way to still their reproduction within the females of the pairs for up to a millennia, which all had decided to do. The process was irreversible until the duration was concluded. It was a decision that had brought a good deal of heartache, especially with the dawning of the twentieth century.

Kagome had begged them not to ask her for her reasoning for where they made their home in the twentieth century. She had chosen Canada in the lush forested mountains. She convinced all who she loved based only upon the fact that she had come from the future. One day in 1936, she had been sitting on the porch of her and Sesshomaru's grand mansion home. She was looking to the West, trembling softly, tears streaming down her face.

"Mother?" Her daughter had asked, standing beside her. She looked up and met her daughter's azure eyes. "Why are you crying? What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you, Kaede." She said softly. In only a short span of time, her country would be bombed. Her people would die. Her heart was rending, but she knew she could not stop what was to come. If she tried, she could destroy the series of events that would lead to her entering the well that fateful day when she was fifteen. "I can't..."

Kaede frowned and sat next to her. "Something terrible is going to happen in Japan with the war, isn't it? Mother... We have to go there if something horrible is going to happen. We have to..."

"We can't interfere in the future, Kaede."

"We wouldn't be." She said softly. Of her three children, Kaede was the most like her. She had her spirit, her beauty and her purity. The girl had even inherited some of her miko abilities. She could heal others, save them from terrible wounds. "Mother, all I'm talking about is going and tending the wounded. We wouldn't be inter..."

"Kaede, no. You don't understand. What will happen..." She stared deeply into her daughter's eyes. "Baby, what will happen might consume us all. It might kill us. It's best to stay away."

Kaede stood swiftly, looking wounded. "Mother, I refuse to sit here and watch as my own countrymen are massacred..."

"If you go, the chances are good that you will die, Kaede." She said, staring her daughter down. "I can't lose a child... Not again, baby..."

She shook her head fiercely. She looked to her father as he joined them on the porch with Akira and Souta. "She wants us to hide, Daddy. I won't hide here when I know I can do good there."

"Kaede, you must stay..." Sesshomaru started. There was a look in his eyes. An acceptance. The youkai had left Japan, abandoning it when the humans had begun their war. It was not just because of Kagome's warnings. It was because they did not want to be devoured by the human's wars. They had not begun them.

"I will not! You are not human. I am hanyo! All of your children are and still it seems I am the only one of us... The only one of all of those who are hiding here who even cares what it is we are hiding from. There are people who will die who had nothing at all to do with what is happening and is to happen. Children. What do we say to them, Daddy? Would you turn and walk away from them as you did to Rin? How many times can you resurrect people before your sword stops working?" She snarled lightly. "Oh, that's right. You have to care for it to work."

"Kaede, enough." Kagome said, standing, watching her daughter carefully.

"No, Momma. Not nearly enough." She met Kagome's gaze and for a moment it was as if she were looking at herself centuries before, impassioned and enflamed with the desire to help people... So much so she had convinced the stubborn Inuyasha who cared for no one but himself to fight for the innocent. When had she lost that part of herself?

She trembled and looked defeated at her child, her perfect little girl and embraced her suddenly. "Nothing I say will change your mind. Nothing I do will stop you. If I tried, I would fail because I see you in me, Kaede, and there was no one in the world who had power enough over my heart to slow my momentum."

Kaede trembled, stunned. She embraced her mother and closed her eyes. "I'll be careful, Momma. I promise I will be careful."

"Stay away from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kaede." She said, weakly, meeting her daughter's eyes. "Promise me that, please, baby. Go nowhere near them, please."

Kaede nodded. "I promise."

"Liar..." Kagome whispered, seeing the sudden determination in her daughter's eyes.

Kaede looked away and stepped back. "I promise to try... But if that is where the terror will occur, that is where I must go."

"Kaede..." Sesshomaru said, catching his daughter's gaze. "Stay. You have wandered through life until now. Never taking a lover or mate. Never seeking anything for your self. You deserve to find happiness, Little Flower. You deserve to find your purpose."

She'd smiled then. Her eyes shimmered and for a moment Kaede was almost the mirror image of her mother the day that she had purified the Shikon no Tama and made her selfless wish except for her long, silver hair. "This is my purpose, Daddy. This is what I was meant to do. I don't understand why, but it is. And I'm not afraid."

Kagome trembled and moved to her beloved. He'd embraced her and kissed the crown of her head, then looked to his daughter again. His beautiful little girl. "Then I cannot make you stay and I will not try. Go and find your destiny."

She nodded and turned from her parents and brothers. She walked to the shrine that had been built on their lands to house the ashes of those lost. She entered and knelt beside her grandmother who was praying silently and joined her in meditation.

"So you will be going." It was a statement of fact. Satori did not need to know what had transpired between Kaede and her parents to know what the girl's decision had been.

She opened her azure eyes slowly and turned to meet her grandmother's gaze. "I will be. Tomorrow I will begin the journey back to our homeland."

"You will not go alone."

"Akira doesn't want to come."

"I did not think he would, child, but you will not be going alone." Satori said simply and smiled a hollow half smile. "For centuries I have been living a hollow existence. Though your father and mother and all of their children have given me joy, I still have been empty of a purpose. I have simply become very busy. Now I see the danger your mother has been anticipating creeping closer and I realize as you have realized that it is futile to sit so idly by. Through your mother, I have come to appreciate innocence and purity. So many innocents are devoured by war. Together we might be able to ease their pain and so I will accompany you there."

Three days later they had made their trek to Japan. They did what they could and then, when the bombs fell, Satori and Kaede roamed the cities saving whom they could. They learned during those days what no youkai nor other spiritual being had known before. There was a way to kill a youkai, even a taiyoukai or one as powerful and ancient as Satori.

The radiation had weakened her significantly until she was no stronger than she would have been as a human woman. Her spiritual powers protected her from death as Kaede's did for her, however they could do very little else. One night as the two women nursed a group of children they had found hidden in the rubble on the outskirts of Nagasaki, a group of lost soldiers, overwrought with their country's defeat, came upon them.

They offered them food, rest and tending for their wounds, but when faced with two beautiful, almost ethereal women, the monsters in the men reared their ugly faces.

When Akira came upon the scent of his grandmother and sister's blood, he wasn't sure what to make of it. He hovered above ground in his energy form, a gift he had inherited from their father. When he found himself as weak as his sister and grandmother had been once he had his feet on the ground, he realized why there was so much blood and his concern only grew. He knew fear then. For the first time in his life, he knew what terror was. He raced toward where his senses told him that his sister was. Where his Kaede was. Their minds were still tied together as they had been within their mother's womb. The closer he came, the more he realized how close to death she was.

He found her lying in tall grass near the bodies of several children who had been slain. In her hand was the fine katana their father had commissioned for her centuries before. Around her were a few soldiers who had been decapitated. Her slender body was cut deeply into her sides. Even in her weakened state, she should have been able to heal herself. She shouldn't have been so close to death. He knelt beside her and cradled her against his chest, caressing her face. He felt crimson heat on his hands where he held her back and he whimpered. He looked down and saw a bullet hole in her back. The bullet was still inside her. She couldn't heal herself around it.

"Hold on… Please, hold on…" He gasped and pulled a dagger from his belt. He laid her on her stomach in the grass, resting her brow on his knee. He tried to cut the bullet from her, feeling her life fade with every moment he could not locate the deadly piece of lead still lodged within her. She cried out suddenly and he turned her over, brushing her silver hair from her face. She opened weak cobalt eyes and met their mirror as he stared at her in worry and fear. "Kaede… You've been shot…"

"I know… Grandmother went after him… Where is she?" Hot tears slipped down her perfect face and he cradled her close to him. She shivered suddenly. "I'm so cold…"

She was fading. "Kaede… Sister, please! I need to cut the bullet out."

"I won't survive it… I'm too weak to heal myself and you cannot heal as Momma and I can heal… Either the bullet kills me and we have time to say goodbye or you kill me trying to save me and never find a way to forgive yourself." He sobbed and she reached up a trembling hand to push a strand of silver from his face. "Warriors don't cry. You need to be strong…"

"I should have been here to protect you. I shouldn't have let you and Grandmother go alone, Kaede!" He held her tight against his chest, kissing her cheeks and hair. He felt the bond between them beginning to sever and started to panic. His twin, his sister was dying and he couldn't save her. He was too late to save her. "Kaede, don't! Please don't leave me!"

"You always were afraid of the dark." She laughed weakly and kissed his cheek.

"You never were." He murmured, tears slipping down his cheeks onto her face. She began to cool in his arms, her heart slowing to a stop.

"I love you." She whispered, trembling. "Why is it so cold?" She gasped for breath suddenly, more tears coursing down her cheeks only they were chilled. "Promise me…"

"Anything." He gasped, fighting to hold onto her through their bond.

"That you will forgive them… This is our home. You have to learn to forgive them… Help our family forgive them… Help Souta and Momma and Daddy… Please, Akira. Promise me."

"I can't promise that."

"I won't be able to rest until you do. I won't be able to move on to the next world."

"Then haunt me." He whispered severely and met her disbelieving eyes. Their mother's eyes. "Haunt us. Drive us insane with your presence, only do not leave us, Kaede."

"You said anything…" She whimpered, the ghost of a smile kissing her lips.

He laughed, and then choked on a sob, pressing his brow to hers as he felt their bond break no matter how tightly he held her to him. Her breath rattled and she stilled. He shook and held her corpse possessively against his chest. "I lied."

It took him hours to gather his senses and self enough from the void that had swallowed his sister into death to continue his search for their grandmother. He found Satori several hundred yards away, barely damaged with the exception of the bullet hole that had destroyed the crescent moon that adorned her beautiful brow. He snarled and sniffed the air for the foul one who had shot and killed both his sister and grandmother. Somewhere off in the distant trees he caught the drifting scent of mortal blood and death. He laid his sister beside his grandmother and walked up into the forest to find a soldier with Satori's sword impaled in his chest.

Akira reached out and pulled the sword from the soldier and proceeded to cut the dead man into small pieces without even a cry of rage. Hours later, covered in blood, carrying both the corpse of his sister and grandmother in his arms, he walked out of the range of the radiation far enough for his power to return and shifted into his energy form. He traveled back across the ocean, back to the wilds of Canada, back to his parent's home. His soul was numb and cold. His heart was broken. He had never felt more lost.

He laid both Satori and Kaede at his father's feet without a word. He heard Sesshomaru and Kagome call his name. He heard his brother's exclamation as he smoothed Kaede's bloodied silver hair and kissed her brow reverently. He heard them, but he did not respond. He had not a single word that could express his agony. His twin was dead. The other half of his soul was dead and he felt entirely broken.

Someone grabbed his shoulders and shook him, forcing him to stand. He snarled in rage and broke free. He focused on his brother's face finally and shook. They were all there. Looking at him. Their eyes were so confused and enraged and full of agony. There were simply no words to say.

"Akira… Tell me what happened. Tell us what happened now!" Souta snarled, trying to pull his brother back.

"She's dead." He said with the faintest whine behind his words. "My Kaede is dead. She died in my arms… I couldn't find it… The metal he put in her. She couldn't heal herself around it and I couldn't find it… She asked me to forgive them. How in the fuck am I supposed to forgive them!? Tell me how!" His rage overtook him suddenly and he shook, clawing his hands through his hair, falling to his knees. He felt his brother's hands on his shoulders and he flinched, looking up into Souta's gaze. "She was so brave. They cut into her… She was defending a group of children… They cut into her and she cut into them and then… He shot her in the back. She didn't even see him. How can I forgive him or any of them for such a dishonorable act? She wasn't a warrior, she was a healer! She shouldn't have ever been there alone! I should have been with her!"

"Akira, stop! What you've said doesn't explain why she's dead. She should have been able to survive that… Even Satori should have been able to survive her wounds."

"The bombs, Souta." He snarled and shook. "The bombs the humans made and dropped. They… There's something they let off. It fills the ground and it stops our powers. I had to walk five miles before I was far enough away from it to transform and return here."

"The radiation…" Her words were weak and broken. She knelt beside her daughter, beside her mate. Her eyes were distant and lost. She stood slowly and began to walk away. "This is my fault."

"Kagome?" Inuyasha frowned deeply and reached out to grab her arm. Her blue eyes were fractured and lost. "What are you talking about? How could this be your fault?"

She looked back on her family, on her mate who was now cradling his dead daughter with such tenderness, smoothing her brow reverently. Her eyes fell onto Satori, the only mother she'd had since the well had sealed. "I knew what was going to happen, Inuyasha. I knew about the radiation. I knew everything and not telling them before they left cost them their lives."

He snarled and grabbed both of her shoulders, shaking her suddenly so she would look at him. More tears slipped down her face and he felt himself join her in sorrow as heated wet slipped down his cheeks. "Did you know it would dampen a youkai's powers? Did you know that a bullet would be enough to kill them once they were in the thick of it? Did you know that, Kagome? Did you know any of it?"

She sobbed suddenly and fell to her knees. He guided her down and held her as she wept into his embrace. She shook her head and clung to him fiercely. "I didn't… I didn't know…"

"Then it isn't your fault, damnit." He growled, feeling his rage build as his eyes fell on his brother still holding Kaede. The taiyoukai was crying silently, simply staring at his little girl. He gently pulled away from his friend and met her eyes meaningfully. "He needs you, Kagome. Your mate needs you. Your sons need you." He leaned and pressed his brow to hers and he felt her shudder. "We all need you to be strong. You're the only light we have now."

She gripped his wrists and nodded slowly. She stood with his help and walked to her mate and caressed his jaw with her fingers. He leaned into her touch but did not respond. "Sesshou."

"She won't wake up." He whispered and shivered suddenly. He clutched his daughter to his chest with all of his strength. "She's so cold, Kagome."

She felt her heart break. She knelt behind him and wrapped her arms around him and bit back the sob that threatened to claim her. He leaned into her embrace, shaking with tears and growing rage. "We need to take her and Satori inside, Love. They won't wake up and we need to make them ready."

"No." He snarled and pulled away from her, darting back from the group. His eyes bled to crimson suddenly as he stared at his mate. She stood and put out her hands gently, reaching for him and their daughter. He fought back his beast and tried to breathe. Slowly his eyes returned to their liquid amber. He looked down on his daughter's cold; still form and slowly he realized what his heart had been unable to comprehend. "She's dead." He whispered and felt a shudder run through him.

Kagome fought the tremor that almost overtook her and walked to him, tracing his jaw with her fingertips. "We need to take them inside."

He nodded slowly and met her gaze. "Yes." He whispered and looked to Inuyasha who was already gathering Satori in his arms.

"Father…" Souta's voice was hollow. When their amber eyes met, they exchanged the same haunted expression. "Tenseiga… Has it pulsed?"

Sesshomaru reached to the hilt of his sword, cradling Kaede's full weight in the crook of one arm. He had kept it near him since Kaede and Satori had ventured back to Japan in case they returned in such a state. It had not pulsed. It was that confirmation that he could not save either his mother or precious little girl that had sent him nearly into insanity and fully into grief. He could only guess that it was because the sword had been forged to resurrect humans and both women possessed the blood of a youkai. No doubt the residual radiation in their bodies did not help either, but he was too far from reason to recognize that fact. "I cannot save them…"

Souta nodded and shuddered. He helped his younger brother back to the house. As he ascended the stairs he met the gaze of his beloved and felt some part of him that was all rage and brokenness still. Tears slipped down his cheeks and he reached out to her, caressing her cheek as they joined their family within to ready Kaede and Satori for cremation.

Several decades later, Kagome and Sesshomaru both sat by a dying old man who didn't even recognize his granddaughter who he'd loved so dearly for so long. She kissed the old man's brow and stood with her lover and mate. He slipped his arm around her waist and led Kagome out to the car that waited for them to take them back to their home in the mountains. His castle still stood, though it was hidden from human eyes. In Tokyo they lived in a fine three story town house in the center of town.

Sesshomaru had become wealthy over the centuries. At first it was his own shrewd ability, which had compiled his coffers. In the twentieth century, it had been his mate who had gently shifted his attention to good business ventures that, at the time, had seemed fool hearty. Computers, cars, earth quake proof construction techniques and other such modern marvels had made them richer than they could have imagined. Unless the world fell apart, the Lord and Lady of all the youkai lands of Japan would never have to want for anything.

Once they'd reached the townhouse, Sesshomaru scooped up his mate and ascended the stairs to the front door, then rode their private elevator up several stories until they reached their floor. She curled into his arms, weaving a silken strand of his hair around her fingers. He smiled faintly and opened the door, then walked to their sofa. He sat with her for a long while without saying anything. As the sun set he looked down into her azure eyes and traced her jaw.

"How is my pretty mate fairing?" He asked softly. In some ways he had become more mellow than he ever had been before. The death of Kaede had broken the parts of him that had allowed him to care about humanity and so all his love, all his tenderness was directed inward to his circle and family and especially to his mate.

"Tired and sad, Love." She breathed, tracing his jaw with his fingers. "But glad to be home with you. Glad to be in your arms, safe and loved."

"Always, Kagome." He whispered and kissed her deeply. "Long after the stars go out."

She smiled and met his golden eyes with fervent, deep love. "As long as it's eternity with you."

He kissed her again and they clung together, silent. "Do you still think about her... About..."

"Always, Love." She whispered, knowing exactly who he was speaking of. Their daughter. Their lost baby girl. "She's never far from my heart."

He clutched her tighter and she felt the sudden wet of his tears on her shoulder. She ran her fingers through his hair, kissing his shoulders and neck gently.

"Shhh... She... She died doing what she felt was her destiny. That's why we let her go..." She murmured.

"She died in agony, Kagome. She was torn from her destiny by men who will never face the punishment for their actions."

"Sesshou..." She breathed and gently pressed her brow to his. They had special bracelets that used illusionary magic to hide their markings, but they still could see them. The illusion was only for humanity's benefit. "She was a chosen of Kami, just like me. Those men were punished... I am certain. We must find peace knowing she is at peace somehow. Somewhere."

He nodded after a moment and kissed her gently. "I need you..." He whispered, laying her back onto the couch. In these moments, the only thing that could make the pain ease was her as their bodies entwined. The comfort was always fleeting, but it was enough to help them move on. Nearly seventy years later and the wounds were still fresh. They would be for centuries. They might never heal. But as their souls and minds and bodies climaxed over and over again, crashing together in a long known dance of pleasure, passion, love and need, there were moments when they could simply float in a place where there was no pain, no doubt, no loss. Only their love and the love they held for their offspring that was, had been and someday, in time, would be.

------

He watched her as she walked the bow of the ship with her delicate fingertips tracing the metal of the guard rail. For the last few decades they had traveled the world by boat from one continent to the next. They were distanced from the world and its people. They were distanced from almost everything and everyone except themselves, their children and the small circle that had become an extension of their consciousness. Inuyasha loved her more now than he had ever thought it was possible for him to love. Kikyo was like a bad dream in his mind now and Kagome the fondest memory of his youth. They had several thousand years still before they would be claimed by age or infirmity and thousands more before a natural death would catch up with them and he knew that their love would only deepen as those years passed.

Sayoko turned and met his amber eyes with her lavender ones. She'd soften over the centuries. She'd traded in her sword practice for the lyrics of songs that had lulled their children to sleep and soothed both of their inner beasts. The calloused touch of the warrior woman had become the silken touch of the loving mother so seemlessly that it was hard to imagine her to be much different from the girl he'd pulled from the river and saved from drowning. On the boat, far from society and the ritual of human life, the two hanyou could be themselves. Their children looked human without the aid of an illusionary bracelet because of the spiritual bond they shared, much like Kagome and Sesshomaru. However, they were far from normal and in a world that would study them scientifically before treating them like people if the illusionary magic failed, the pair had chosen to live their lives away from humanity until either society again began to accept the existence of youkai or the world fell in on itself and everything started over again. One way or another, it was only a matter of time.

He stood and walked to where she stood near the bow of the ship and snaked an arm around her waist. She leaned against him and the faintest of sighs passed over her lips. "You miss them?"

"Always. It is wonderful like this, here with you, but I miss Hitomi and Kagome and Rin. I miss hearing their voices and seeing our children."

He smiled faintly and kissed her neck. "Then we will return to Tokyo. It has been about a decade, hasn't it?"

She nodded and smiled, caressing his arms. "That it has."

"I'll turn the boat..."

"Wait." She breathed and leaned more fully against him. "Just a little longer."

He smiled and held her tighter. "Changing your mind?"

"No... Just savoring what I know I'll be missing in about five years... The two of us curled together like this with no one but ourselves to have to deal with."

He chuckled and stood with her, supporting her against him gently. Time had changed them both, but their closeness had remained the same. Their love had stayed and that was all that mattered.

------

She moved with the grace and dexterity of a feline as she slipped into the home of the despot who was splitting his time at the moment between selling children as sex slaves and shipping tainted drugs by the ton throughout the world. For almost five years she'd watched the fat, greasy man who so incited her ire and hatred. She would kill him tonight.

Outside the mansion he was stalking, hunting and slaying the rank man's guards slowly to ensure his lover completed her task. Governments and wealthy nobility had hired them as their assassins for almost two centuries. They were believed to be a line of killers rather than two who were consistently employed. Humanity had forgotten the spiritual of the world. It had become the realm of myth and legend and so, the myths and legends had learned to live in the shadows until the time came when they again could slip into the light.

His eyes fell on the slender curves of Hitomi as she slid open the door on the second story balcony. Currently they were doing something that made her particularly happy. They were assassinating someone for free. It granted her the ability to take her time, to plan everything in detail. She loved making a "perfect kill" and he could never deny her. He loved the act as much as she did. They only disposed of the truly evil, however, in this world, in this time there were far more in existence than they could kill on their own. They settled on the worst and let the rest of the world take care of those who remained. The world itself was as ruthless as they were.

She crouched down by his bed and watched the monster sleep with a small girl in the crook of his arm. She smelled of her own blood and was naked and bruised. Hitomi felt as if she could wretch. She would take the girl away from and, if no family could be found to care for her, help her heal, she and Kouga would raise her together. They had done as much several times over their centuries together. They were not monsters, after all.

Hitomi slipped the Novocain soaked cloth from her pocket and free from the plastic bag it had rested in, and then put it to the girl's nose gently so she was completely unconscious for what came next. The girl had been raped and tortured by the bastard who held her and she didn't need to see him murdered before her. She couldn't be older than eight. The knowledge of his death would soothe her later once she was safe and home with the youkai-assassin couple.

When she was satisfied that the girl was deeply unconscious, she did the same to the man, then pulled the girl away and went to work. As her lover took care of his men outside the room, she tied the fat man down and gagged him, then simply waited for him to wake. When he did, she was hovering over him in her human form. She met his eyes and spoke softly in his native tongue. "Hello. I wanted you to be awake so you would know what I am going to do to you. You've murdered and enslaved so many innocents, that I decided this had to be done slowly. You should know that there's no one coming to save you. Your men are all dead and your security feeds have been cut. I have a full two hours before anyone will even suspect that what is happening is something other than you dealing with your cliental, so feel free to scream. I do so like it when they scream…"

He did, in fact scream. He died slowly, agonizingly over the course of the next hour. When she'd finished, she felt her lover's eyes on her. She slipped off the bed and smiled to him. Kouga was holding the small girl in his arms and smiling a wolfish grin. "I love to watch you work."

She moved to his side and kissed him deeply over the form of the girl. "I love it when you watch me."

"I assume we are going to be caring for the girl?"

She nodded. "If we leave her, she will be either enslaved or killed. I thought about finding her a family, but we could provide for her much more adequately than any human couple could…"

"And you have been feeling the chill of an empty den of late." He said, chuckling as they made their way out of the house.

She blushed and nodded as they slipped into their car and drove away from the slaughterhouse they'd left behind. The girl was lain on the back seat and buckled in carefully. Kouga had wrapped her in a blanket, though she was still naked. "Love… I was thinking perhaps we should go back to Japan."

He smiled. He knew that it had been coming for a few months. She missed her sister and Kagome and Rin. The four of them were fast friends and took great pleasure in each other's company. For decades after the Second World War, Hitomi had remained by Kagome's side and refused to leave for any reason for longer than a few days. The Lady mourned with her Lord, but it had been Hitomi's presence that had helped Kagome through some of the hardest times. Sesshomaru had refused to allow Kagome to box up his daughter's things for nearly a decade, claiming that it was like killing her all over again. And while Hitomi had comforted Kagome, Kouga had done his best to help Sesshomaru.

"Shall we catch a flight tonight, Love?" He asked softly.

"Tomorrow… Once the girl is awake and has been told what she needs to know. It would be difficult for her to wake on a plane considering what she fell asleep to." She said softly and took his hand in hers, squeezing gently.

He squeezed her hand in return, caressing her palm with his thumb gently. Over his years with her, he'd found himself entranced with how perfectly their lives and hearts had fit together. He had found, though he could never commit to very much in life, he could commit to her and their love. She brought out the best in him without having to try and, to his delight, he brought out the best in her.

By the time they reached the house they had been renting, the girl was beginning to stir. They slipped out of the car and took her up into their room where Hitomi bathed the child before she woke completely. Hitomi slipped her into one of her own shirts and it covered her like she was in a nightgown. She looked up into Hitomi's unnatural violet eyes with her own deep brown ones.

"Senora… Are you an angel?" She asked softly. Hitomi had her illusionary bracelet on, so she looked human aside from her eyes. She'd refused to have them be hidden.

Hitomi smiled and pushed back the girl's hair carefully. "No, sweetheart. My name is Hitomi and you are safe now. My husband and I took you away from the bad man who hurt you. He is dead now and we will take care of you."

The girl trembled and clung to Hitomi, sobbing. "He killed Momma and Pappi… They worked for him and wanted to quit to take me to America… And then he killed them and took me away and… And…"

"Shhh, baby." Kouga said softly and sat behind the girl, caressing her back, helping the her calm. "He's gone now and will never hurt anyone ever again."

Hitomi met her lover's gaze and smiled sadly as she smoothed the girl's chocolate hair where it flowed down her back. She looked back to the girl. "What's your name, Sweetheart?"

"Elsbeth." She said softly and met Hitomi's gaze timidly.

"Elsbeth… Have you ever heard of a place called Japan?"

She nodded. "I learned about it from Pappi when he taught me to read. It's an island in the Pacific Ocean across from California in America."

"Your Pappi was very intelligent then."

"Pappi was a professor. Then he went into debt to the bad man. Momma said that we had to work for the bad man until Pappi had paid back his debt."

"Do you know how to speak any other languages?"

"English. Pappi had started to teach me Japanese and Mandarin and French. He said someday everyone would need to learn to speak to each other because the world was getting smaller."

Kouga smiled. "Would you like to come with us to Japan, Elsbeth?"

She trembled and glowed, though tears began to flow down her cheeks. "You really want to take care of me?" She looked to Kouga, meeting his blue eyes. There was kindness there and warmth.

"Yes, baby. We can't replace your Momma and Pappi, but we can help give you the life they would have wanted you to have."

"What… What do you want from me?" She asked, suddenly afraid.

"Nothing, Elsbeth." Hitomi said, firmly, but with warmth. "We aren't angels, sweetheart, but we try to do good in this world that's so full of bad and bad men like the one who had you. We won't hurt you and the only thing we want from you is to be happy. We only want you to find peace."

The girl nodded and curled against Hitomi, trembling as she cried again. She fell asleep and then, the next morning, they took her shopping for clothing and everything else she would need. That evening they boarded the chartered jet bound for Tokyo, Japan to renew the old circle and again be family as it was always intended.

------

Rin lay curled against his chest in the dying sunlight. Twilight was their favorite time of day. As they lay on the soft grass of the French country side, the pair found peace and solace in the red, lavender and orange hues that danced along the skyline and reflected on the young green of the lush grass all around them.

They'd lived in Europe for fifty years and in France for thirty. Their children had grown and slipped into the world without much difficulty and made their own lives. Kagome had bonded each of them with those they had chosen to love and mate with and Sesshomaru had given them each the funds they'd need to start their lives. While Sesshomaru and Kagome had found the strength to return to Japan, Rin and Shippo only visited now and again for a few years so that they could be near their mother and father.

After Satori and Kaede had been murdered, they'd both been torn apart in grief, but nowhere near as deeply as Kagome and Sesshomaru had been. Nor Akira. Nor Souta. Souta had run with his mate to Europe in despair. Rin and Shippo had followed them on their parent's request to ensure that they were safe. When they'd found them in the ruins of a world that had been torn by war, Rin had looked at her brother, the beautiful boy who she had once sworn she wanted all of her children to be like because he was so perfect.

She walked to his side and took his hand and he grasped hers in return. "Souta…" She whispered. They'd tracked him to England. He was looking over the Tames, his mate and beloved sitting nearby with her hands resting over her belly where their child rested. They'd only had Lady Kagome still her fertility for a few centuries rather than a millennia considering they had much less of an eternity.

He looked and met his sister's eyes, gripping her hand a bit tighter. "There's nothing that anyone can say that will make the pain any less difficult to bare, Rin. They murdered her. They killed her without honor or mercy. We should have been with her, Akira and me. We should have followed her there and protected her. Maybe she'd still be with us if we had."

"Souta, you can't blame yourself. For the sake of your mate and the child she carries, you need to continue on and live as you know Kaede would have wanted you to."

"I keep thinking of everything she never did or had. She never loved. She never had a child. She never did a lot of things or knew a lot of things or had a lot of things. She was pure and had remained that way because she wanted to. And… When she was returned to us all of that purity and innocence had been ripped away when her soul was ripped from her body." He released her hand and grasped the railing where he stood, still staring at the water below them. "When she was born I… I almost hated her. I didn't want a sister. I didn't want that kind of… Responsibility. To be a good brother, not just a strong brother. To have someone other than my mate and children to protect. I didn't want her. And then she smiled at me and I swore I'd use the rest of my lifetime making that up to her. I didn't want her, but I needed her. She made me better. She made me stronger. And now she's gone… Stolen from me. Stolen from us. I can't forgive myself for that."

Kagome gasped from where she sat and trembled. He was at her side without a thought, his arms wrapped around her protectively. She guided his hand to her abdomen and smiled as he gripped gently. "It moves." She whispered and he held her tighter to him.

Rin watched her brother and smiled faintly as Shippo wrapped around her. They'd been so afraid for him. They'd wanted to save him and bring him back. Yet, as that sunset had painted the water, the dying yellow light resting on her brother and his mate for a few moments more before night claimed their world, Rin and Shippo realized that they couldn't ever save him. They didn't have that power. Only his mate and the tiny, fragile life she held within her could have done that.

Years later they lay in a similar sunset, happy for the moment. Kagome and Souta had returned to Japan when their parents had along with Akira. The boy had been broken when his twin sister had been murdered. He had been a playboy for most of his life, but when she'd died, he'd abandoned such diversions. Still they all worried for him. He refused to fall in love. Many times he'd come close but had diverted his gaze. Sesshomaru had asked him why once when Rin had visited them in Tokyo.

"Before she died, I asked Kaede why she'd never found a mate for herself… She'd had plenty of opportunities and she declined them all." He smiled faintly to his father. There was sadness in his eyes. "She said that there was no point in settling on someone who seemed a reasonable choice when her heart hadn't found the one it wanted. There were plenty of men she could have given herself to and known you and Mother would have approved but she didn't love them. Not any of them. She said she would mate the man who captured her heart and he hadn't come into her life yet. After she died, I found I pitied him even though we'd never met… That man whom she was saving herself for. But I understood what she meant. In all the years I've played around, I've never loved any of the women I've taken to my bed. That's why I have no mate. And that is why I am not indulging myself as I was… There's no love in me for them. Until there is, I will not indulge myself as I did."

It had been accepted of him after that. Kagome and Sesshomaru had resigned themselves to the possibility that their son might never find happiness as they had. Several years later, the half youkai had enrolled in Tokyo University for a fourth degree in psychology. He'd met a girl who was studying abroad named Alexis who was from New York. She was fluent in Japanese and, from the beginning, Akira was certain there was something different about her.

She was tall and slender with sharp green eyes and fiery red hair, typical of her Irish heritage. She was the daughter of a first generation American who had married a young man who was half Native American. There was a certain magic that emanated from her that no one of his family could even place. It was only when he'd followed her back to her home that he discovered what it was. Her father was a quarter youkai from the North American bloodlines and her mother was half fae. It was because of the strange mixture of blood that she seemed so unusual to everyone. Her parents recognized him immediately for his youkai blood and, while not actively voicing their relief; they had openly welcomed him into the family.

He'd brought her to Paris with him to meet Shippo and Rin shortly before he'd asked her to be his mate. She was a delightful creature who seemed to exude magic wherever she walked.

"Do you love her, Akira?" Shippo had asked softly as the two men watched Rin and Alexis gathering roses in the garden.

"Yes." He said softly and smiled a mischievous smile. "She is perfect."

"Does she love you?"

He nodded softly. "She has said so and the girl is incapable of lying. She knows how old I am and where I have been… What I have done and she loves me not just for everything else that I am other than that… But for that as well. I feel incredibly blessed."

"Have you told our parents?" Shippo asked, smiling.

"They knew before I left to follow her. But no. I haven't said the words yet. I won't until I return to Japan with her in a couple of months and ask my mother to bond us."

They had returned only a month before and, looking into the sunset, both the kitsune and his equally mischievous and curious mate were wondering whether or not they should return to their family again. No word had come of their joining or their wedding and so both were terribly curious.

"You know, we should go, Love?" Rin began quietly.

Shippo chuckled and hugged her tightly. "I know. I was just waiting for you to say the words."

"Why for me to say them?"

"Because then, when we're asked why we decided to come I won't have to tell them because I was too curious for my own good."

"It will be because you were appeasing me?"

"Exactly."

She laughed and kissed him deeply. "Trouble maker."

He only smiled and kissed her again.