Kagome's mother smiled softly and shook her head with a sigh "He didn't join the soldiers." Kagome smiled at hearing her brother wasn't a soldier and fighting on the front lines, she could remember her brother talking about how envious he was that she got to go had have adventures and fight evil. She understood he was just a grade schooler and to a child her tales of battle and of the feudal era must sound like a cool fairy tale. She would sometimes find her brother in his room with action figures and would be playing out the stories she had shared with him. Kagome's mother smiled and looked walked over grabbing a can of beans and a spoon then handed it to her father in law "About two years ago was the last time we saw Souta. We fear he is dead…"

After hearing the news about her younger brother, Kagome's face froze in shock "What happened?"

Her mother looked at her with sad eyes and spoke, she knew she had to tell Kagome. Gramps normally never referred or spoke about Souta anymore. They had lost Kagome on the other side of the well and with no idea if or when she would be back. The two years without her in their home, was hard on all of them. At first they thought she was just preoccupied and was late her grandfather busied himself every morning making fake illnesses to excuse her from her schooling here. Her friends often dropped notes and anything at home tests the teachers would give them, he often asked about her and her health. Gramps would lie through his teeth saying she would be out of whatever health place he said she was at soon and back to school too. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and months into years, after two months gramps had stopped calling the school with fake illnesses and simply said that she needed to drop out due to her health.

After three more months he and Kagome's mother understood that she wouldn't be coming back and told Souta the sad news as well. He began to isolate himself in his room and was on the computer always researching about the feudal era and for anyway he could get his sister back. He even packed his own back bag and tried jumping into the well, only to end up going nowhere and crying his eyes out at the bottom of the well. Gramps had seen his grandson's interest and started teaching him how to be a priest. He was fearful that a demon would come take his grandson, just as the demon known as mistress centipede had taken his granddaughter and intertwined her fate in the feudal era. However her protective measures were in vain in the end, fate had also stolen his grandson.

"Kagome. The last we saw Souta he left the house and was on his way to school," Kagome listened as her mother explained and felt fear and sadness grow within her. She bit her lip and cursed fate and the deja vu she had hearing her brother also disappeared on his way to school. She remembered when she was fifteen and on her way to school before she went to help her brother find their cat in the old well house. A few minutes after that she was taken from her home into the feudal era by an evil demon, she looked at her mother and questioned "Did he get kidnapped?!"

"His teachers said he had made it to school and stayed for all his classes, they had let class out and his american friend Cody and him left the school grounds together. We spoke to Cody and he said he and Souta had walked their normal route and split on the main street to go their separate ways home. That was the last anyone saw him."

"That's it? Could he have been-"

Before she could speak anymore her mother cut her off and spoke more "The two years you were gone, he was very devoted in researching about similar places like our well that would allow people to go into the past. He would also research a lot on the feudal era and it's demons, it was almost becoming unhealthy. After you left Souta stopped socializing with pretty much everyone unless he was at school or eating at home. He would also often check the well house and your room to see if there were any clues you had left behind or to see if you were back. The day we reported him missing we went into his room and found his school supplies had been taken from his book bag and dumped on the floor and his favorite pajamas, some other clothes and much of his research was gone too."

"Did he run away?"

"We don't know, someone could of done that just to make it look like it he had been rather than if he were actually kidnapped. But then again he might of we don't know. We begged the cops to keep searching for him, but not long after he went missing the killings between demons and humans increased so much that the police had to place all their focuses on trying to prevent civilian deaths. Soon the police along with hospitals were all but destroyed as the violence continued until it became a full out war."

The female wolf demon looked at her mortal mother and tried to help unravel the mystery of her younger brother's disappearance. Kagome thought of something and quickly spoke it hoping to spark a memory that gramps or her mother may have all but forgotten, "Was he being picked on or anything? You said he was acting almost obsessive with researching and hardly socialized." The hope Kagome had in her reasoning vanished when her mother shook her head "No. But he was tormented by night terrors for nearly a year and a half before he disappeared. He almost never got more than an hour or two of sleep each night. I would also wake up from hearing his crying, I would go and try to comfort him. But he would then panic saying the may with blood red eyes was going to get me and if I stayed in his room too long the man with the spider mark would kill me, gramps and you."

"How did the Naraku get to him?!"

"Souta said the man would be in his dreams every night tormenting him or would come out of the well and speak to him. However that's impossible gramps would have sensed something and I would have heard if someone was in Souta's room. I became a very light sleeper after you disappeared," Kagome's guilt doubled as she thought of how she had stole and said goodbye to her mother when she had been asleep. Sesshomaru's eyes widened at the mention of Naraku's name, he and Rin were having their own private background conversation about how they would need start preparing for birth within the month. But Naraku's name had stopped their conversation and now both were paying deep attention into Kagome and her mother's discussion as was Koga. Sesshomaru looked at the elderly mortal woman with a heartless and uncaring stare that made her nearly shake with fright at his appearance. Kagome's mother noted how he powerful and scary he looked, she questioned her daughter uncertain of this demon "Um… Kagome."

"Woman are you certain your son spoke of about a man with a spider mark."

She nodded he spoke a statement as if it were a question and he worded it so formally "A sure you can trust this frightening man?" Rin smiled and got between both Sesshomaru and Rin she smiled and put her hands over his chest giggled "Oh he isn't scary. He is just… hard to understand until you get to know him, and sometimes even after that depending on a person. Besides you like Inuyasha, you should be able to trust his older brother too." Kagome's mother looked at the demon Lord with an untrusting look. Koga pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and smirked as pointing his thumb at his fellow male demon, Sesshomaru, "I hate to end this reunion of my Mate's family. But we got to get going."

"Koga! I haven't seen my family in four long years!"

"Kagome we are in the middle of two wars right now, we don't have time for chit chat."

Sesshomaru was surprised a bit by how the wolf demon showed little fear to his Mate and had actually tried dominating her in front of her family. Most the time the wolf had tried not to anger his Mate that is if he could help it, but right now he wasn't trying to avoid angering her. Nor was he trying to purposely angering her, he was using logic. Kagome casted a heated glare at her Mate, Sesshomaru spoke the silence making everyone in the room pay him attention "Staying in this era longer than needed brings danger to the group. I will not have my Mate be put in danger in her vulnerable state." Koga grinned a mocking smirk that showed his long fangs as he walked over and patted Sesshomaru on the shoulder. It was a friendly action that Sesshomaru seemed to be tolerating, if anyone other than an ally tried that no doubt they would be dead and ripped apart on the ground in less than three seconds. Koga chuckled and teased the Western Lord, "Oh are you a worried daddy?"

This caused Rin to giggle and she stopped when she saw the annoyed look on her Mate's normally stoic face. She knew she had been lucky to come to his era at all, it would be best not to irritate her Mate more. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes as he turned his gaze away from him Mate and back to his ally, the Lord of the East and Chief of the wolves. What he said surprised everyone but his Mate "Hn, you shall be worse than I, wolf." The emotionless Lord had replied with a teasing remark.

"He is right."

"That Dog couldn't be more wrong."

Kagome looked at her Mate with an arched brown and put her hands on her shoulders "Koga you nearly kill someone if they act weird around me or if they are rude to me in anyway. I can't even imagine how you will react when I'm pregnant." He made a shocked face started to stutter before pointing to Sesshomaru "The dog Lord does it too! He ain't so perfect!" Sesshomaru found this amusing and let a smirk lift the edges of his lips into a slight curve that only Rin seemed to notice. Sesshomaru decided to inform Kagome and Koga about what he would do if one acted 'weird,' or rude to his Mate, "I would do worse."

"Oh I nearly forgot mom, gramps I need you to seal the well with um…" She stuck her hand into the pocket of her sleeve and handed about six slips of sutras to her mom "With these. Then destroy the well anyway you can, that is after we leave this era." Kagome's mother had tears within her eyes they were so close to falling and running down her cheeks "If we do that… You won't ever be able to come back." Taking in a deep breath Kagome wrapped her arms around her mother and pulled her close "I'm sorry mom. But it's the only way I can keep you and gramps and everyone here safe from Naraku." through it we can't change this place anymore."

She felt her heart sink at her daughter's words. Tears fell from her eyes and down her dirt covered cheeks, daughter wasn't going to ever come back and odds are about the same for Souta. That would mean her and gramps wouldn't ever see them again and this would be it. Mother Higurashi sighed and thought about her deceased husband and deceased grams, "I believe in you. I trust that you are choosing the path that you believe is right and as your mother I must believe in you." Kagome smiled closed her eyes enjoying the hug her and her mother were sharing "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too... Now you better get going." When Kagome pulled away from her mother ending the hug she couldn't help but notice the tears her mother couldn't stop. Guilt filled Kagome again, her family here was suffering because of her. They had lost her and now they had lost Souta, to Naraku by the sounds of it. Turning around she walked over and bent down to give her grandfather a hug "I love you gramps." The old man wrapped his shaky arms around his granddaugther "I love you too. You best be off." Her gramps smiled a fake smile he was trying to hide his sadness, with a smile of happiness and pride in his granddaughter. He understood her she was trying to save the world and that meant some personal sacrifices, like losing her family. Koga helped Kagome leave the cellar and when she tried to turn around he wouldn't let her, he knew this had to hurt but she couldn't give in and live here with her family. If anything he knew they could possibly prevent this war, and that meant not staying in this cellar with her family. Rin and Sesshomaru followed they hadn't said or done much in this personal thing that Kagome was going through, seeing as they didn't have any business butting in. Sesshomaru was the last to leave the cellar and he shut the secret door and joined up with the rest of the group at the stairs that led down the hill Kagome's family's shrine sat on. He noticed the huge gaps and walked over to his Mate "Rin." She looked up at him and understood he was going to carry her down, to be truthful she didn't really mind. The less walking she had to do the better. She didn't want to admit it, but her feet were killing her. His strong arms scooped her up bridal style and she smiled giving him a kiss on his cheek as payment and to say thank you, he acknowledged the action with a simple "Hn." Kagome walked down the stairs, she had walked down a million times before. She stopped when there was a huge gap in the stairs and rubble was all that remained from the beautiful stone stairs that her grandfather swept everyday. A flash of what her grandfather once looked like flashed in her head, it was then followed by the horrifing image of him now. This war had changed everything and caused her family great pain. Naraku…

Naraku had been the result Kami rewarded her and changed her into a demon. And by the sounds of it he was responsible for Souta's disappearance as well. Taking a deep breath she jumped the gap where the stairs were no longer there, she landed perfectly on the next available stair and shook her head, 'I can't focus if I keep thinking this way. I came here to help Shiori and that's what I'm going to do.' Kagome looked to her right and saw her Mate with a smile of hope that she was alright, she smiled back reassuring him that she was. With that the two wolves proceeded down the stairs with Sesshomaru not fair behind. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Kagome and Koga waited for only a second or two Sesshomaru had joined them at the bottom of the stairs. Kagome and Koga were relying mostly on Sesshomaru and Rin for their high sense of smell, no one in the group wanted to cross paths with any of the mortals or demons who were currently at war with one another. That would put them in danger, danger that didn't need to be taken lightly. Rin looked at the strange buildings and abandoned cars then spoke "Kagome what are those and why do are your buildings so tall?" A soft smile formed on Kagome's face when she saw Rin walking beside her "Oh well we have lots of people, and so we have tall buildings to fit them all in. And those things there are cars, they are like metal wagons without horses." Sesshomaru listened in as well as Koga both were curious, however neither male wished to ask. The group proceeded quietly with everyone on alert, wanting to make sure they weren't noticed by anyone.

Sesshomaru casually threw his head in the air smelling for any humans or demon that maybe in the area fighting. The overwhelming scent of blood, gunpowder, smoke and many others have basically made Koga and Kagome unable to detect any smells, same with his Mate Rin. He was their only member that could sniff out any potential enemies and was the one who was solely keeping them unnoticed. His eyes narrowed at the scent he found lingering in the air he stopped in his tracks, noticing their scenter stopped the other three in the group copied him and paused as well. They waited for his reason to stop in a warzone and he turned his gaze to them and informed them his reason for stopping "They are coming from the south we must go north." Kagome nodded and turned east to walk down an alleyway "The best thing to do is to go through the alleyways and work our way up north. It will make it hard for anyone to follow us and odds are no one will be using the alleyways, they will probably be using the maid roads instead." Koga smirked at his Mate's brilliant idea of going north through these so called 'Alleys,' Sesshomaru followed behind her giving his silent approval and Rin walked beside her Mate not rejecting her friend's idea of her Mate's silent seal of approval.

With that the group were dodging in and out of numerous alleyways and were successfully avoiding both big and small groups of soldiers from the human's army and a few soldiers from the demon army that were traveling on the main road. Their destination of a local hospital that Kagome spoke of was becoming closer and closer to them, they were now only about four blocks away. However it seemed that they had company, smoke rolled into the alleyway in unnaturally thick clouds. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and his lips smashed together in a firm line as he had one arm around his Mate's waist so not to loose her in the smoke and another gripping his sword ready to do battle.

The Kagome as leader voiced a command, Sesshomaru was milliseconds from saying "Get in the middle Rin, we will protect you!" Sesshomaru quickly moved Rin from beside him to the middle and stood in front of her ready to attack anything that moves, Koga and Kagome were behind her and beside her making a protective triangle. Soon as she moved beside Rin and completed the protect triangle, she began coughing roughly and her eyes began to water "What is this?"

Sesshomaru voiced a sentence that made them instantly sense to everyone "Poison gas, it dulls the senses to an average mortals. Also hurts to breath it in." Instantly after hearing it Rin brought her tail to her face and wrapped it around her head like a scarf, she made sure to wrap it around her nose as well to block out the gas as best as she could. Sesshomaru noticed what his Mate did and repeated the process to himself with his own tail, at the moment he could care less about looking uncool. He cared more about his ability to protect her instead. Rin moved her hand and lightly touched his shoulder to get any ounce of attention he had to spare, "Sessh...I wanna go." He could tell instantly she was afraid, no more like terrified.

"Hn. In a second."

"Sessh-"

"Rin, it shall be fine."

Trusting her Mate's reasoning she stood in the middle of the protect triangle her Mate and friend created for her and waited for what would happen next. Most of the gas cleared to where they could see outside of the cloud of gas that had surrounded them earlier. Kagome's eyes widened in shock at the sight before her a huge tank, she realized that she was the only one in the group that knew what a tank was and what it could do "Run!" Out of nowhere the tank was shooting a artillery rounds at them disbanding the small group, Rin felt an arm go around her waist and suddenly her feet weren't on the ground anymore. Rin looked around to see where Koga and Kagome were only to see the ground they were standing on seconds ago exploded and it's stone and dirt scattered in all directions. Sesshomaru sat Rin down in a place he thought was safe in the alley, behind a few big pieces of rubble she could hide behind. He knew he had to make sure Kagome was safe if she wasn't they would never return home, they needed her blood and her spell to return, casting a glance behind him he ordered his Mate "Stay here, and don't die." He ran to the end of the alley way and engaged a few soldiers that were demon, he made quick were of a few but a few others proved more challenging. Kagome and Koga were busy fighting the soldiers alongside with Sesshomaru, Rin after all was safe, the alley ended behind her meaning no one would be able to sneak up on her, as long as they didn't let anyone pass them no one would reach her.

Rin watched her friends from her safe hiding place with worry on her face whatever that big metal thing was it shot explosives and seemed very dangerous. She watched as Kagome was fighting a demon who was coming out of the big metal giant then felt her blood run cold.

A scream from behind drew everyone's attention to Rin who was crouching and holding her stomach as a the wall behind her disappeared as if it hadn't ever even been there. Sesshomaru scolded himself 'A wall barrier demon,' his eyes widened as he saw what Kagome called a car charging right for his Mate, it was at alarming speed almost as fast as him he mentally though. Little did he or Kagome know the men who had the tank tricked them into thinking they had a dead end to rely on, only to have the wall demon to move leaving them open for an attack from behind. The tank shot another of its explosives, Sesshomaru quickly spun to used his acidic whip and cut it in half. He turned back around to race to his Mate only to see man stood between his Mate and the car charging right at her, the man raised his sword and charged toward the car. His blade magically slicing the car in half stopping it's approach to Rin. The man looked at the car he split in two and noticed there had been a brick on the gas petal and tnt filling both front and back seats of the car.

Sesshomaru heard Kagome and Koga scream they destroyed the tank with pride in their victory, hearing that he didn't have to worry about the tank harming his Mate. The Lord of the West pushed off the ground and quickly raced and appeared in between his Mate and the man who saved her, sure he had saved her from the car. However Sesshomaru still saw little reason to trust the man, he could have saved Rin just to take the pleasure of killing her for himself. Koga and Kagome just seemed to be caught up with the current situation as they noticed the man, both were surprised and raced to Rin as well.

The man who had saved Rin had shimmering snow white hair dipping to his shoulders, he wore a black outfit Sesshomaru had not seen before. He wore black a dark grey long sleeve shirt and pants with protective black armor all over his body, on his hip was a gun holster with a shiny pistol nestled within it. On his back was an M-16 and in his hand was a black sword on his left hip he had two other swords. The man had dirt lightly coating his face he had black war paint under his eyes and his eyes were a blazing gold. His voice was even and relaxed as he spoke to the Lord of the West before "I see that Akari and Eiichi aren't born yet."

The man in front of Sesshomaru wore a light smirk on his face, when he saw the interest on demon before him's face. The Lord of the West before him starred as if trying to figure out what who he was and if he was a threat, and without any emotion bluntly demanded "Your name."