Inuyasha was sitting in the war room, ready for another boring meeting but none of the others were there. It was strange since he was late most of the time. Shesshomaru entered and as soon as he sat down he spoke

"Narku claims to know where she is"

Inuyasha's anger flared up and a tint of red was in his eyes. When his brother told him that Naraku wanted her, the decades-long fight that they were having with the same enemy became personal. He had a suspicion that Sesshomaru liked this change, his newfound drive to kill their enemy.

"How does he know? and where is she?" said Inuyasha

"He claims to know, it does not mean that he does" replied Sesshomaru

"Then why tell me? This is useless!" said Inuyasha looking again through amber eyes at his brother.

"You have been using resources from The Clan..."

Inuyasha interrupted, "So what fucker? Are we going to have a problem? because I have been doing a very good job of…"

"DO NOT interrupt me little brother, know your place" said Shesshomaru with his claws on Inuyasha's neck, he had moved fast and was making him submit. Inuyasha rolled his eyes but didn't struggle. The usual act of rebellion without going full treacherous, typical Inuyasha. Sesshomaru let go.

"Your plans have flaws, if you use enormous resources, the chances of having a spy or an error increase also. And it seems that someone talked. Naraku knows what you know, that she is with the cubs in this city, but nothing more"

Inuyasha growled

"We do not have time to trust everyone so I gathered the information myself. Reports indicate the fringes, though no one has made the conexion but me for I have met her."

"You saw her ONCE, you hardly…" Inuyasha stopped mid sentence for the look Sesshomaru gave him.

"The fringe has always been a good place to hide." said Sesshomaru rather mysteriously and waited for Inuyasha's reaction.

'This is fucking weird, what he said sounded almost like a compliment, yes, maybe he likes her, I'll have to find out how much tho.' thought Inyasha. He grew suspicious, Sesshomaru usually acted forced by the law or attracted to power.

"why are you helping me? Aren't you supposed to stay neutral?"

He replied smirking, "She is her own master. The West has no conflict of interest"

Inuyasha didn't speak but didn't seem convinced either. He was going out of his way to help and that was so not in his character.

The Lord of the West watched and smelled in his second the apprehension and decided to confess, if he was going to demand a payment the honorable thing would be to disclose the deal.

"I believe that she is your mate"

Inuyasha was about to interrupt when a murderous look from his lord refrained him.

"As your mate she will fall under my protection one day, as her ruler, and as her family. The moment will come when you will be the one offering my family your protection. That is the way of the Inu family, of our family is it not?" said Sesshomaru and Inuyasha nodded astonished.

"Dismissed" said Sesshomaru and Inuyasha immediately went to talking to his ruler, to talking to his brother

"So is it true? Have you kidnaped a barmaid and intent to mate her? that is the rumor" said Inuyasha with a wide grin

"This Sesshomaru doesn't waste time in gossip, such announcements are formal proceedings that I will not be doing any of them at this time."

"So, it's true but you'll wait to make her yours to say it" Inuyasha said, laughing now.

"It is the prudent thing to do, we have many enemies." He waited in silence for a brief moment and continued "If not enemies, another yokai may claim what I know to be mine. I wouldn't do such a foolish thing. This is the most important thing in any yokai's life." he said as if Inuyasha didn't know and exited the room with a smile. Sesshomaru was always doing the perfect thing and making him feel like shit.

.

Koga went out to the tribe to make the announcement, anyone who found her and brought her alive and well to him would have anything they wanted, even Ayame he said and went back inside. She was surprised by his actions only because he offered her, but she knew that he would give anything for the human, the miko. That piece of knowledge changed everything about the girl, no longer feigning innocence and kindness but choosing it instead of obliterating everyone at her feet. She heard that she wasn't only a miko but one of the very best. She was a force of nature that chose to nurture rather than destroy and Ayame found herself wanting to be friends with her.

Her feelings for Koga were as strong as ever but she decided to be more like Kagome and comfort him even when he wanted another.

"She is safe, at least right now, Naraku would boast about if he had her" said Ayame and koga looked up

"I know, I feel like shit tho"

"Why? there is nothing you could do, she left you," said Ayame with a puzzled expression

"I could have forced her" whisper Koga knowing she would scream at him, but she surprised him

"You couldn't do that, it's low and dishonorable, not at all like you" she smiled.

"You think of me as someone that is better than I truly am" he said

"I see the best of you and what you can be, you didn't see that in her did you? You saw only a common woman and let her go but now you know of her power and want her back, maybe you should have looked better the first time" she said smiling again and leaving him with his loneliness. Maybe he hadn't looked properly, maybe Ayame was right and he hasn't looked at anyone properly before. Searching for flaws in everyone, and of course everyone had them but that was not the thing to value in them because there were also things that were worthy. As her red hair floated out of his place he understood that he had been judging her also.

.

Sota and Shippo had many friends, at first Kagome was wary of dicrimination but it seemed that being looked down by the rest of the society only increased appreciation of diversity and acceptance within the outcast community. Most wives were jealous of their husbands drinking themselves silly in her company but soon realized that she was a widow, for Kagome referred to the boys as their sons and wanted male company as much as she wanted to be stung by a bee. In the month that passed, they knew almost everyone from the little community. When the boys started to speak about a new friend, one who was alone in this world and worked in a building with smoke, she got worried. Kagome instructed the boys to invite him to play with them, she had a plan to help him out.

The next night as her shift had ended and she was waiting for their return, she thought of Inuyasha. How his kind-of-royal blood saved him from this life of struggle, and staring to the West she remembered their childhood together. As she saw in the distance the glow of the pearl, the very same glow she watched in koga's legs, his heart fluttered, but it was just a moment because this was a single point of light unlike Koga's 2 fragments, and also the position was higher, maybe in the neck of a yokai, it was coming down the street and she had a funny feeling. On close inspection she realized that it was a child, a human child with a fragment of the pearl on his upper back. And with Sota and Shippo by his side.

Kohaku was the name of the child and he was living in the streets alone. He hadn't eaten for a couple of days when he found a rat and the rest of his story was told in the shed, since Kagome invited him to stay with them. She perceived a great deal of sadness in the child and thought of Inuyasha once more, wishing to have his keen perceptions of a mood by smelling emotion. Debating whether it was intrusive or not, she went quiet for a while, fuming in her mind, fighting the ghost of Inuysha inside her. Quite oblivious of them talking about her, Sota and Shippo told Kohaku of their mothers greatlove, a yokai that was stupid but brave and they comfessed that she seemed to do this kind of thing everyday. To them, their reunion was a matter of time. The rest of the evening was spent playing games and the first to go to sleep, for the day ahead was heavy with obligation, was Kagome.

The plan was working, he gathered intelligence and went to Kagura every day to a nearby place. His cover was that he was working as child labor and everyday he turned to Kagome's house with money. The problem was that she did not ask him to give her the money, she did not ask him to give her the fragment of the pearl, she didn't question his movements, she asked nothing of him, giving him gifts, food and comfort instead. It was confusing. She was meant to be a black miko, one that used and consumed children.

When he confronted Kagura about it she took him to see Kanna and they wiped his memory of the doubts, and of everything else, returning to him his real story in order to preserve his cover. At the sound of the bells he would recover his knowledge of the plan and they would have someone infiltrated in her midst. An attack on the front and on the back, such was the way to trap a powerful miko, show her a tragic child, that she could not help but love, that someday she could not kill, not even to save her own life. And Kohaku would know nothing, confess nothing, it was a matter of time.

After his memory was wiped, he was living with Kagome by night, working at a factory by day and trying, in vain, to find his real family in the times between. That was his new cover story but Kagome and the boys didn't notice any difference, Kohaku was always shy and introverted anyway. Kagura was the one who had the assignment now. She would spy on her for a few days and then find her weaknesses. The attack would come later, Kohaku would awake and Kagura would win. As the nights went on Kagura saw Kagome hugging Kohaku, It was a very good plan indeed.