Chapter Four: Sparrow and Hawk
Edo Period, The Western Territories
"It was total luck that I ran into you two. We were done with this village, but the kids wanted me to grab some goodies before we left." Kagome filled the silence as she helped the Sparrow back to the campsite.
The bird had been too stunned to protest after her unexpected rescue.
The Kitsune had given her true identity away by shedding her glamour and brandishing her claws and fangs. She felt silly—like some vampire cosplayer hissing at strangers—but it got the job done. At the first sight of her most of the farmers had fled, dropping their tools the ground and screaming mercies. The more stubborn fools that stood to face her followed suit shortly after, spooked as they gripped at the bruises and shallow scrapes she'd given them in their brief scuffle. Attacking a half-dead bird was one thing, but going toe to toe with a full powered fox was certain suicide. Little did they know she had postured more than anything and was no true threat to their lives.
Once she whisked the Tori Youkai and her fledgling to the safety of the treeline, Kagome offered her shoulder for support. It was a gesture that the young mother had taken reluctantly.
Kagome's grip at her waist tightened when she adjusted.
"I found this great taiyaki stand, the tea house next to it had the cutest little cherry blossom mochi , and—" There was a falter in her step that kept her from pitching forward as she tripped over her careless realization. "And I dropped them! Of course I did! No! There's no way I can go back now! Everyone there will be super on edge with strangers, no matter who I pretend to be! Now that they know I'm in the area. Maybe if I hadn't made such a crazy scene..."
She groaned and raked the her offendingly empty hand through her hair.
A head of black feathers caught her peripheral vision. The Miko peeked up through her lashes at the little boy tucked safely under his mother's own loose, mousy brown hair. She smiled when he dropped the curtain of locks to hide himself once more. He was tiny, maybe three or four centimeters shorted than Shippo, with amusingly small feather-speckled nubs that would eventually grow to be the grand hawk wings that the Kitsune had seen him hold high and proud in the future as he mounted his Oiseau and rode off with Rin.
The boy that would become Rin's mate.
"I shouldn't worry. They'll no doubt be too distracted to even notice that the snacks are missing. We met with a Ryuu at the beginning of the summer—he's protecting his clan's ancestral burial ground from the locals until it's safe and forgotten. But it's been ages since Rin and Shippo met someone their own age."
Ah-Un greeted the fox with a pleased huff from it's left head when they arrived in the otherwise empty clearing. Kagome lowered the bird near the fire pit, embers still hot from the morning's meal. Her official medical supplies from the future were growing thin, most of them wasted on Sesshoumaru and herself after bouts of training gone wrong. Still, she found enough gauze material to wrap a broken wing and bandages to plaster the deeper cuts.
The priestess figured that it was best not to spook the demoness with her Miko powers right off the bat, so she settled for good old fashioned first aid. She knelt behind the injured woman and gently pressed her fingers to the base of the appendage. The fledgling scrambled to occupy his mother's lap and avoid Kagome at all costs.
"This will probably hurt a lot." The priestess warned. "I'm sorry in advance."
She didn't bother to worry if her concern came across as too human. Didn't care if it was totally weird to bandage up a demonic stranger with compassion. It certainly wasn't the first time she'd done it and she wasn't about to stop. Following her own moral code was more important than playing the game of culture clash.
Shizume's shoulder blades stiffened. The Kitsune counted the seconds and held her breath before she delicately lifted the heavy wing into place like moving a wet canvas. Clawed hands dug grooved into the dirt.
The quiet only lasted a few minutes.
"Why aid us?" The woman that Kagome knew would one day become Sesshoumaru's most trusted general asked with a gasp. It was the first time she'd spoken since Kagome heard her scream. Her voice was softer than expected. "I'm injured. My presence will do nothing but burden your travels."
The Fox's laugh came out a sharp bark.
"If I turned away every injured being I've ever met, I wouldn't have any friends." She took extra care setting the break, but cringed when the Sparrow let out a startled cry.
Shizume wasn't yet the stoic fighter that she would become. The once-human girl sympathized.
"I'm helping you because you're hurt. I couldn't just leave you there, it wouldn't have been right. I don't care what's in their blood, nobody should take an innocent life." Kagome scowled. "You have every right and reason to live. Your little one needs you alive."
Uninjured wing furled, tense and intimidating in it's size and muscular structure but the woman's body shook with pain, not anger. Soon Kagome could smell the salt of the demoness' tears as they slid down her thin face. She brushed them away with the torn sleeve of her patchwork haori before they could fall into the spiked feathers that made up the child Toru's hair.
Kagome's ears flattened against the top of her head.
"Is it too tight? That's my bad. I've never wrapped a wing before, I can try again!"
"Not... that. It's perfect." Shizume made out between her small gulps for air. She folded herself over top of the little boy in a self-deprecating shell of a bow, almost pulling the strip of cloth from the Kitsune's grip. "I owe you my lif—"
Kagome interrupted her with a stern tug. "No, no, no. You don't." She scolded and pulled the woman back upright by the shoulder.
A sob tore through Shizume.
"I was ready to give up... My willpower wasn't strong enough."
Talk about turning the tables.
The wrap was tied off and the priestess sat back on her heels and watched the lady's back in silence as she cried. Kagome busied herself with primping and grooming the down, smoothing away frays and debris. She took care not to overstep.
Idly, the time-traveler wondered just how drastically her little stunt had changed the future.
The wolf, Kumiko, was supposed to be the one to save Shizume's life, not her. As much as she hated stealing the spotlight from the Ookami and altering the evolution of bonds and friendships, the event gave Kagome hope. The future could be changed. That meant she would be able to fix the wrongs with Kagami that she hadn't committed yet. He didn't have to become her enemy, not if she could help it.
If she could avoid any confrontation at all, she would.
That meant keeping her friends safe in the future.
And in the present.
Kagome's tall ears perked at a rustle. When the kids came bounding into the camp she had to herd them away from the birds so that Shizume had the space and time to put her pieces back together. Rin caught on to the situation quickly and went to sit quietly and discreetly among their bags by the two headed dragon. Shippo took longer to settle.
Her efforts were in vain, however, when Sesshoumaru's tall figure stepped from beyond the trees and into the light of the open clearing in his usual unimpressed manor. He didn't look her way once as he stalked over to the Tori and child.
His presence disturbed ripples in the pond. He was peeved. The Dog took advantage of how easily she associated with strangers in the villages, but it was a different story when those strangers were demons that Kagome brought within the barrier of their camp like little lost animals.
"Sesshoumaru, wait!" She tried to call.
The name echoed against ancient pine trees for the breath of a moment as their injured company took in just who she was looking at.
"Lord Sesshoumaru!"
Shizume fumbled to her feet, a little off balance without the equilibrium of both wings. She winced but her eyes were wide with shock, making her look as if she were fighting off a sneeze. A bow was quick to hide it.
She reigned in her shock and stood with courtly humbleness. "My apologies for this intrusion, your lordship. I am known as Shizume." She introduced herself. "My mate was the first commanding officer to Lord Horitomo."
Eyebrow arched high, Sesshoumaru hummed a contemplative sound, reappraising the situation.
"One of the Great Generals, the four Lords." He provided Kagome without prompt before she could ask who Horitomo was. "An ally to the East. My father spoke highly of your Mate's potential as a marksman."
"You honor mine, good Lord. The Late Inu no Taisho's favor shone strongly of your Father's just spirit."
"Hm. Despite countless offers, that Hawk never betrayed Horitomo's confidence. He is unwavering in his loyalties."
Kagome's brows knitted at the rally. Was he genuinely praising the man, or was he only speaking in accordance to social obligation? That was a side of him that she'd rarely seen in their three years of travels and even less understood.
There'd been no need for her to learn the etiquette of a dead court.
A shadow passed over the sparrow's already dark eyes. Her lips formed a grim line that belonged to her future self. It aged her tremendously. "Yes, he was."
Even though the Kitsune had known that the man had been killed after the separation, hearing it from Shizume while her wounds were still fresh made her breath hitch high in her throat.
Sesshoumaru gave her pause.
"I see. My condolences."
"Your..." The Sparrow looked over at Kagome, evaluating, as if she were really seeing her for the first time.
"Kagome." The Priestess supplied.
Shippo pulled away from his mother figure's hold to claim his rightful spot atop her shoulder where he had a front ticket seat to watch the scene unfold. He eyed Toru with wide, unabashed curiosity.
"Kagome." The Tori rolled the name, tasting it on her tongue. "She saved my life." Her next bow was deeper, she spoke to the rocks at her toes. "I offer my life and service to repay that debt. I do humbly hope that you accept." Had they been on floorboards she would have been nose to the wood.
Scrambling back to where Sesshoumaru stood over Shizume, the priestess leaned forward to place her hands on the woman's broad, bony shoulders. The Bird met her pinning look with shock. Toru's grip on his mother's calf tightened and he buried his face into the dark green fabric of her hakama.
"I didn't save you so that you could be our servant!" Her voice dropped low. "I did it so you can live happy and free. If you want to be myfriend, that's one thing. But I don't want you stressing because you think you owe me something."
Shizume looked up at the Inu Youkai in confusion and searched his face for direction. The vixen wasn't at all acting in accordance to the protocol and regulations expected within the presence of members of the courts. Her life walking demurely in the shadow of her mate, dancing with words and subtly had not prepared her for such a situation. Even without the anarchy of the past five years having muddled her perspective with distrust she would have had trouble believing that one of the Cardinal Lords could ally himself with such a brisk—no—flamboyant fox.
The priestess followed the demoness' onyx eyes to the Dog.
Sesshoumaru let out a deep breath and looked into the trees to avoid their collective gazes.
Eventually he took a step back and turned away from them dismissively.
When he spoke his words were only the barest bit quieter than they had been when he first addressed her. "The Western Lands are no longer under my dominion." It was an admission that he rarely spoke out loud, even though it was a fact that they were all aware of. "The courts as we knew them have been abolished. Neither Kagome nor myself will hold you to any self inflicted bounden duty."
Shizume deflated.
She went back and forth between the pair hesitantly before lowering her head. Unsure of herself and her place.
═════════════ Inuyasha X Yu Yu Hakusho ═════════════
"You don't have to sit here with us, Toru. You can go swim with Shippo and Rin. I'm sure they'll let you join."
Toru stared at her without response.
In the short days that Shizume had been with their group, the little boy hadn't left his mother's side for more than a moment. He hadn't smiled, spoken, or otherwise given the Miko any indication that he was aware of anything happening beyond his immediate radius.
He sat pulled tight against the curve of his mother's waist. His bare feet curled in the hot, bone-white sand of the small and isolated beach that they'd found for the day's reprieve. Kagome didn't need to be a child psychologist to see that he'd been traumatized by their years on the run and the death of his father. She didn't try to push him.
All she could do was offer her unconditioned support and hope that, over time, he'd let them in.
Shizume brushed his cheek and he looked up at her with mute expectancy.
"It is alright, feather of my heart." She soothed the air between them. "There are so many shells in this sand. Will you find for me one that shimmers as the water does in the sun?"
Reluctantly, the boy nodded and took to the task after extracting himself from the adhesive that kept him bound to his mother. He didn't wander far at first, not until he was absolutely sure that none of the shells closest to them satisfied the requirements. Soon enough he was right up to the water's edge, scouring the ground with the intensity of, well, a hawk.
A teeny tiny hawk with stubby little legs and dingy little wings.
Kagome watched Shippo splash his way to the shore, eager to help. Toru spooked and scuttled away, a hermit crab avoiding capture.
The older bird beside her spoke, drawing the Kitsune's attention away from the kids. "If I may ask; what is your goal in this new life?"
The priestess tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"You did not follow the countless others to the Demon's World to make a name for yourself. Yet you stand beside a Cardinal Lord as his equal without land or title. You wander and you train. You support the human Tokugawa as a ghost, yet your ultimate goal remains a mystery. To what purpose are you striving?"
"Oh." Kagome breathed.
She hadn't thought about that. Her purpose for returning to the past was to discover herself, to grow stronger with the intent of facing Kagami in the future—if she even had to fight him. But what did she desire beyond that? What did she want out of the life she'd been given?
"Well," The Miko said after mulling it over in the high noon sun. "I don't really have an 'end goal.' Surely most people don't, right? I just want to survive, really."
Kagome looked over to where Rin was presenting Toru with the shells that she had collected to see if they met his quality benchmark. The little fox kit was elbows deep in the waves, pulling up everything that he could grasp with his furred toes and egging on Jaken on the shoreline to get his feet wet and help. The imp squawked his protests of the salty water. He was a fresh water imp, ocean water was rough to his delicate complexion, obviously.
"Actually, no. More than that." She amended. "I want to create a place where they will always be safe. Where they can be free to laugh, to learn and enjoy all that life has to offer them without the threat of violence or need for Glamours. Neither Realm has a place like that right now. I think I want to help build one."
Shizume hummed and rested forward with her arms crossing her knees. She watched the children. Her son avoided looking at the Inu pup, skittish and displaced.
"That seems an impossible dream."
Kagome grinned. "Probably. But it will never be anything more than that unless we try."
The Tori froze. She was too sharp at reading between the lines. "We?"
Kagome's ear flicked as she stroked the hairs of the black tail sprawled across her lap.
She hadn't told either Shizume or Sesshoumaru about the Birds' lives in the future at the compound. The Dog General knew that she was from a distant era, but much to her gratitude he never questioned her about it. There was no telling what information would be too much for anybody to know. Sango and Miroku knew the most of her time spent with the Detectives, but even those stories were censored to a degree.
She was the future's card dealer, so Kagome had to chose her word's with care to not give anything away.
"You're welcome to stay with us, long term. I mean, if you want. There's safety in numbers and I'd like to get to know you better. The kids will always have company. And when the time comes, maybe we can change the world." Giddiness took root in her chest when she thought of how childlike that must have sounded. But she didn't want her intentions to come across as anything less than wholesome.
"Thank you, but I must decline." Shizume said gravely.
An "oh," escaped Kagome in a disheartened breath when she looked over at the woman with a pout. Shizume didn't meet her gaze, instead she focused on the tiny spiral shells in the sand cupped in her hand.
"I will be looking to leave once before the week's end. I have no place here and it would be improper of me to force my burden on your pack. Although, I do so appreciate your hospitality. I owe—I thank you, for that."
Despite the words she spoke on the beach that day, the bird never did leave their party for very long. It had only taken three short weeks until she'd ultimately found her way back to Kagome's standing invitation. She had decided to help the Kitsune fulfill that hopeless endeavor of a peaceful world to repay the life debt that she couldn't seem to brush under the rug so easily.
══════════════════ Tsarashi ═══════════════════
"So, are you even able to talk or what? What's the deal with that?"
"How can you even ask that!?" Rin said with an indignant squawk that made her sound an awful lot like their green nursemaid. "It's rude!"
The little fox didn't look up at her as he plopped an acorn onto an empty stick-framed square of their impromptu tic-tac-toe board and crossed his arms. "Well, it's bit like anyone else was gonna bring it up.: He squirmed under her shrewd stare but plowed forward. "They've been with us for like a month now. Have you ever heard him say anything?"
She ruffled like a grouse. "Even if I haven't, that doesn't mean that he isn't able to." The Inu pup set her flat stones to the side, unable to continue their game, and glanced at the smaller boy sitting silent beside them. Toru certainly looked old enough to be able to speak. Rin flipped her braid over her shoulder to twist the end and stared flatly back at Shippo. "Maybe he doesn't have anything to say. Not all of us need to hear our own voice every minute."
Shippo's face warmed, his cheeks glowed brighter than the auburn of his hair. "You're one to talk! And talk, and talk and talk!" He jumped to his feet to get the upper ground, but that only succeeded in making him eye level with the kneeling girl. "You ask more questions than I do!"
"At least I know when not to ask questions." She bit back.
Ne nudged the dirt beneath his paws, but held himself back from kicking away the pieces of their game like he wanted to.
"Oh, come on." The kit eventually glowered at his friend. There was no wire in it. "I waited!" He wined. "It's been weeks!"Actually, he'd been very good about that. His time spent with Kagome in the future when she was at her lowest had prepped him for treating those lost within themselves with tender patience and sympathy. But it felt crawly and weird doing that with Toru. He wasn't a brooding adult, he was just a little kid like him and Rin, no matter how much she pretended to act all mature and mighty. Shippo wanted to get to know the boy and play games with him—they finally had enough people to double dutch like the kids he'd seen in Tokyo!—but that was hard to do on tiptoes with an unreceptive hawk.
Rin sighed.
"You shouldn't rush him. He's been through a lot." She turned to address Toru, feeling bad for talking about him as if he wasn't sitting in their circle, watching them with trepidation. Waiting for them to attack. "Everything is very different than what you were used to." She said, channeling Kagome's kindness. "Take your time adjusting."
Abruptly Rin stood and brushed the dirt from her legs. An idea reverberated in her mind.
"Wait a sec?" She said without really asking before she marched across the clearing to where Kagome stood between the two taller demons.
The boys watched her without so much as a peep Shippo couldn't take the nerve eating silence any longer.
"You lived in that big demon city in the East, right? I bet you'd never been camping before—well, before the Jewel made the barrier. But that's way different! Camping is something you do with a a bunch of friends because you want to, not because you have to. We can ask Ma to take us sometime, yeah? There's this really nice pond that she likes that's super pretty in the fall..."
Shippo was grateful when Rin returned just then, cutting off his train wreck of a monologue.
Holding out two brightly colored skewered orbs towards the Toru she said "Here, pick a color."
The tiny bird eyed her suspiciously.
"It's candy." The Inu Youkai reassured him. "They're called lollipops."
Kagome saved them for special occasions and there was only half of a bag left, but Rin knew that they were just the thing the situation called for. With a poke and a prod, Toru eventually chose the purple over the highlighter green one. The fox hovered over the transaction as she taught to fledgling how to unwrap it too.
"Can I have the other one?" Shippo asked. Greedy lips were licked.
With a shrug the silver haired girl pulled off her own wrapper and plopped the sweet onto her tongue. She smiled, all innocence and flowers. "Sorry, you'll have to ask Kagome for another one."
He gaped at her, slackjawed with disbelief and rejection before settling into a nettled grimace. "You shoulda just gotten three." It was a barely audible grumble under his breath when he got up and brushed past her.
When the Kitsune was away, Rin sobered.
"They're sweet." She explained to Toru, twirling the pop between delicately clawed fingers. "So sweet that they hurt at first. Especially the first time. Your tongue stings and you don't think that you;ll ever be able to taste anything again. But then your mouth adjusts. The flavors calm down and it becomes fruity and delicious. You still remember the pain, but that makes it taste even better when it changes."
Obsidian irises searched her face for a lie or fib, unsure if the sugar stick would really be with the journey. Was it worth the reward? In a leap of faith, Toru placed the lolly in his mouth and cringed.
"I'm sorry about your father." Rin said before the twist of his face had time to smooth.
There it was.
The elephant that they'd left untouched for weeks.
He stared past her, still as a Buddha statue and puckered with overwhelmed taste buds. His eyes pricked with the tears that he'd kept tight under lock and key. When he pulled his legs to his chest Rin scooted against him, lending her supportive shoulder.
"Hey! Ma say you already have—!"
Shippo's words fell away to the wind as he bounded back towards them. His feet slowed.
Rin pulled a third lollipop from her shirtsleeve and handed it to him without comment. The kit took it without protest or complaint. He got it.
Though, he took a note to create code words with her so she didn't need to trick him next time.
"You and your mother aren't alone anymore." She let Toru know as silent but bulbous droplets rolled down his splotchy cheeks. "We'll keep you safe. We're like a family. And now you're part of that too, right Shippo?"
The Kitsune child settled down on the other side of Toru and intently examined the plastic wrapping paper protecting his candy. The red of the sunset reflected in the cellophane. Then he looked up to watch the adults as they discussed the plan for the next day's travels under the low hanging sun. The tall, sharp silhouette of the sparrow didn't look at all out of place beside the co-regents of their group.
Shippo licked the pop, flushed, unwrapped it, and tried again.
"They absorbed you two." He spoke after mulling it over. "We're pack. Pack looks out for each other. You don't gotta talk if you don't wanna, but let us know when somethings wrong so we can try and fix it. You can trust us to help." The kit leaned back on his palms. "And in return, you can help me dye Jaken's clothes pink. It's a two person job, but some goody-two-shoes won't ever—"
He shrieked when Rin threw one of her nearly forgotten game piece pebbles at him.
Satisfied with the lump she'd given the glowering bow, the once human pre-teen turned her attention to Toru.
"Is it a little better now?"
The Tori sniffed loudly and brushed away the tears with the back of his Yukata sleeves.
He nodded.
"...Yeah."
═══════════════ 犬夜叉 X 幽遊白書 ═══════════════
"I gotta pee!" Matsuko announced at the top of her tiny lungs as she came bounding onto the deck, hands clutching at her bottom. At nearly five years old she was plenty capable of going to the restroom by herself, but with the newest addition to the family there had been a drastic recoil in her self-sufficiency. Jealousy ran like a serpent in the veins of the temperamental tot.
"Shizume, hold him! Just a second!" The loosely swaddled baby was nearly thrown into the stunned Sparrow's arms as Sango grabbed her daughter with the grace of a linebacker and leapt from the deck to disappear behind the house.
She sat there wide eyed, staring at the tiny, infinitely delicate mortal bundle in her arms. She'd only just met the woman! She would have never let another being beyond the closest of clan mates handle Toru when he was that small, let alone a—
"You look like he's going to wake up and bite you." Kagome snickered, pulling the newly installed paper screens shut behind her.
Shizume responded with a puff of a laugh so dry it could have contained dust.
"As the son of a demon slayeress and a warrior priest, he very well may."
The priestess tittered. She sat down on the deck's edge and swung down her legs where she'd left her sandals. "Thank goodness for our sakes he's so well mannered! He only bites the demons that bite first!" Standing on the ground, Kagome tapped her toe to a stepping stone to ensure that her footwear was secured. "Be right back. They're out of rice in the kitchen, I'm going to go check the shed. Do you think you can handle him?"
The Bird deadpanned. "I am capable of holding infants."
As soon as the Fox was gone, Shizume shifted the babe to get a better look at him. He looked like a balding imp, shrived with age. It was oddly endearing.
"Hello, tiny human." She formally addressed the child. Whether by the rumble of her voice or the rigidity of his position, laid straight out along her thighs, the baby boy woke. Owl-large brown eyes blinked against the late day sun and settled to stare up at her. Sleep clouded his vision, but to anyone lacking the experience of children and couldn't recognize that would have said he was glaring. "Ah," She projected with amusement. "My apologies. Tiny Tourai."
Feet kicked against her stomach as they fought the fabric confining them. Shizume unraveled the swathing to grant them freedom in the warm light.
"I doubt that you will be small for very much longer." She assessed. "You have the legs of a dancing crane."
Long and thin, still too small to have stocked up a supply of chubby baby fat.
Shizume's heart melted away a glacier that washed warmth through her blood and down to her finger tips when the infant cooed up at her. Not even a threat on her life could have kept her smile from blossoming. She was a mother after all. And babies were babies, no matter the species.
When Kagome returned toting a sack of dried rice she found the Tori holding Tourai's feet up to her lips, blowing raspberries to elicit the most amusing look of shock from the boy. He was too small to laugh yet, so Shizume chuckled in his stead.
She froze when the Kitsune spoke, a thief caught in the act of stealing kisses.
"Don't... actually bite the baby, Shizume."
Humiliation painted her ears redder than a maple's leaves in the fall.
════════════════ With Reason ═════════════════
Shizume's wings shook and fluffed before she dipped them into the steaming hot water. Gently, she placed her towel on a snow dappled rock behind her and settled neck-deep into the spring. Next to her Sango let out a long, contented sigh.
Kagome's eyes were closed. She was leaned forward on a submerged boulder, her crossed arms had her head propped just high enough for her nose to breathe.
When Miroku had offered to watch the kids—He'd roped Sesshoumaru into it and bartered away the demon's freedom as well—to allow the ladies a much deserved break, they had jumped on it. It had been years since the last time his wive had been able to get away to relax and the two demonesses were just as grateful for some time to talk without the hyper-vigilant ears of their canine companion.
Did they feel guilty about leaving the two men alone with six children in their hands for a couple of days?
Not in the slightest.
Did they feel nervous about the sorts of trouble that the lot was capable of getting into?
Perhaps a little.
But the sirens song of the hot springs was quick to melt that away.
The sounds of the early winter's snowfall rustled through the forest. Crystalline icicles became sparkling chandeliers in the morning light. Each gust of wind sent them chiming, melodic tings and clacks that danced on the breeze.
A Bird's hearing wasn't particularly sensitive, especially when compared to that of a canine's, but it was so quiet that she was still able to make out the pattering of a rabbit as it dug the freshly fallen snow for the undergrowth. The Tori Youkai doubted that Sango would have heard that as clearly. She wondered what the human woman was hearing. What secrets did the forest tell her? What secrets were denied by her ears?
Shizume watched Kagome, watched as the fall and rise of her chest displaced water around her in soft ripples.
The companionable silence broke when she let one of her mind's many questions fall on her tongue.
What was it like?" Her words were nearly as quiet as the snow.
Kagome's lupine ears twitched and swiveled towards the sound. Head tilted just enough for her lips to touch the cold air. "Hmm?" She hummed without opening her brilliant blues. "What was what like?"
"Being human."
That woke the priestess out of her blissful stupor. She picked her head out of the water and looked over at Sango.
The young mother shrugged. "Miroku let it slip."
"Really?" It wasn't exactly a standard topic of conversation. They hadn't been keeping the Sparrow in the dark of that little fact out of malice. It just made things easier in the beginning. Less questions, fewer conclusions to jump to out of bias. As time went on Kagome had never thought to mention it. The what she was had stopped feeling as important when she'd started focusing again on who she was.
"I asked." Shizume admitted. "Your mannerisms have never quite allied with your breed. I will admit that my curiosity had bested me. If I've overstepped in any way..."
"No, it's fine, I don't mind at all!" The Kitsune chewed on the question like a particularly tough rawhide. "Lots of people have asked what it's like being a demon, but you're the first to ask the other way around."
Humming again, she slipped under the water. Bubbles rose to the surface.
Sango brushed away slightering strands of the Fox's hip length black hair when it fell loose from it's oversize topknot and blossomed in the spring like an ink spill on parchment. When she surfaced and shook the water from her ears, the locks clung to her body like a cloak.
"To be honest, I couldn't have told you what it was like to be human before my transformation. I just was. You can't really describe one or the other without experiencing both. When I first learned about them, I used to think that demons were so far separated from humans—like they were from totally different planets and had nothing in common. And at first, after the jewel, I did feel like I was in an alien's body. The world and everything in it felt wrong. But now? After I've had more than enough time to adjust? I don't feel all that different."
She worked on gathering the soaked strands of her hair to tie them into a knot at the nape of her neck.
"When you're human, changes in the weather make you sneeze all the time, the cold makes your bones feel like they've been turned to shaking pins and needles. Sickness makes it feel like you've got a melon stuffed up your nose. Forget to drink water and your head fogs up. There are a lot of little quirks that demons don't get.
"When you're human," Kagome continued, relaxed despite the intense scrutiny of her audience. "You don't notice how much weaker you are or how much shorter your life is; that's just part of living. When you do realize just how vulnerable you are as a mortal, fighting against or along side Youkai, it's frightening. You feel like fine pottery in the hands of a toddler. It's the same fear that I feel as a demon realizing that my power can overwhelm me. The frustration is the same.
"But my mind hasn't been altered, my personality is still the same. Sure, I'd probably be totally different if I'd been raised a Kitsune, but that's all a cultural difference, not an inherent one. We're more alike than we give ourselves credit for, at least in my experience."
The former demon slayer frowned.
"That's the conclusion I've come to as well." Sango said, reaching up to brush her razor straightened hair behind an ear. "It's a shame that more humans hadn't come to the same realization. With the new realm in place there won't be any opportunity for a cultural revolution to occur. Any hope of uniting humans and demons is out of reach. "
Kagome thought about the future, about the world where a barrier no longer existed between the realms. "Maybe there's still a chance. Humanity just isn't ready yet. Neither side is ready yet." The Kitsune sat back deeper in the water and rested the back of her head. "If Makai can really implement Democracy, I'm sure they can form some sort of political relations with the human realm. Getting the humans on board with the concept of demons would be the tricky part..." She mused to herself under her breath.
Shizume sat listening intently as the Kitsune and her human friend spoke back and forth about different ways of introducing demons to an unsuspecting population without sparking fear. It was a confusing conversation about a hypothetical human race that had all memory of Youkai erased from their history.
Perhaps the Sparrow would have understood it better if only she'd known what 'democracy' was.
═════════════ Inuyasha X Yu Yu Hakusho ═════════════
Not very much had changed in the three years since Shizume and her son had joined the pack. Yet everything had. Things were settling into a place of comfort.
Sesshoumaru and Kagome still maintained their physical, yet strictly business, relationship behind closed doors and slips off the trail, even though the Inu Youkai's needs were being satisfied without their weekly sparring matches. He had taken to training the Sparrow—a far more difficult feat than working with the priestess, since she didn't even have the basics to hold her neck straight. He worked with her as his father had him. Mercilessly.
The battles of the mortal realm were coming to their peek. Only ten more years until the unification of Japan, not that the fighting would settle for quite some time after that. Sesshoumaru used the plentiful human skirmishes to his advantage as a training resource for both women. Right then he was out in Okayama with Shizume, not out hunting marauding Oni with a band of animals but studying the strategy of the troops converged there.
Kagome was with the children, a half a day's journey North-East in Kyoto. The city was large and modernized for the era, a prequel of the looming iron streets that she had walked with the the Kuwabaras. While she set to work looking for a place to eat, stake out the local gossip, and lodging for the night far away from the temple, she sent the children to the streets with an allowance of coin and instructions to have fun, but to be back by sunset.
After wandering the shops and streams for hours, the kids found themselves backtracking to the outskirts of the city to a quaint little shrine and tea stand that they had passed on their way in. Toru, fond of salty snacks above all else, had seen that they were selling pouches of powered kombucha—a briny seaweed based tea—that he enjoyed and wanted to buy.
Cradling the small green sachet to his chest like a love letter, The Bird and the others slowly made their way through the beaten paths of the forest back to the city center.
"Maybe I'll get some glass marbles... or a new top. A metal one! I bet they'd have one here! Iron!" Shippo shook the coins in his pouch. "Do you think I have enough for an iron top?"
Toru and Rin shared a look before glancing back at the shorter boy. Even though the boys were taller in their Glamours to mirror the proportions of human children, their real height differences—much to Shippo's chagrin—were still reflected. Over the eight years that he and Rin had been packmates, the two had barely grown four centimeters between them. However, in Toru's shorter stay he had gained nearly a head over the Fox. He had gone from being the junior most member to appearing Shippo's senior. Even though they had long before assessed that the Kitsune was in fact a whopping twelve years older.
But, unfortunately, age and maturity were not linked.
That was doubly true for the almost unpredictable growth patterns of Youkai children.
Rin, who's height wasn't affected by her dark haired Glamour, nearly rolled her eyes. "You should really think about getting a new bag. That knot isn't going to last very long."
Blunt human fingers fidgeted with the haphazardly tied strap of his messenger bag. He'd worn the thing to rags and back, took it with him everywhere he went as a reminder of his tall goofy friend in the future. It had already been so long since he'd seen Kazuma and it was only going to be forever more until they'd meet again. He didn't want to forget the guy. His bracelet had already disintegrated years ago when he hadn't taken Kagome's advice and stored it away alongside her various trinkets and gifts in her little box.
It would hurt to let it go.
"You're such a buzzkill." He responded.
Laughter lightened Toru's face with a gentle smile. "What will you buy, Rin?" He asked as they entered a denser grove of trees, hiding them from the few huts and homes that speckled the path.
"I haven't decided yet. I might just save it. I can't think of anything that I need—"
"Hansha! Now!" A voice shouted out from the trees.
The disguised Dog found herself pinned to the ground by a child slightly older than herself wearing a noh mask of a young woman. Shippo screeched as as he struggled in the arms of a younger boy in a much more menacingly horned mask. They could have looked as if they'd just come from a festival, if not for the rags they were wearing for clothing.
"What about the other one!?" The boy asked in a panic when he saw the retreating figure of Toru's back running back towards the city.
"He doesn't matter! These two will be fine! Hold him still!"
They wrestled and fought, but the street kids were stronger. The Inu pup strained as the older kid—Hansha presumably—locked her elbows behind her back. She tried calling forth her demonic power to cut the air behind her with energy like she'd been practicing, but everything was sealed behind Kagome's handiwork.
A safety feature to keep people safe while Rin was beginning to learn her own abilities.
She groaned. Why didn't the 'safety' block have an emergency pull thread!? You know: tug here in case of mugging!
The pre-teen on her back locked an arm around her throat and pulled her back. "Stay still! You need to be still for this!"
"Just knock her out, Hansha!"
Rin's head twisted to look over to Shippo, the arm around her windpipe pinched tighter. The kit lay flat on his back, eyes closed. Chest breathing? Yes. Chest breathing. Good.
If they wanted to rob them, they could have done it and been gone already. But instead if grabbing the frog shaped coin pouch that fell from Shippo's hand to the ground, the boy gripped Shippo's shoulders. He concentrated, eyes pinched tight.
"What's wrong?" Hansha asked from behind her. "You're usually so good at this."
"I don't know, it's like—wait!"
Then he began to shift. His body molded like clay as it folded in on itself, recreating and reshaping. It only took a couple heartbeats for him to change completely into Shippo's diminutive, un-Glamoured form. Tail and all.
"What!?" The fake Shippo exclaimed in wild disbelief.
The grip on Rin's arms fell slack for a fraction of a second before contracting like a snake. "They're not human!"
"Hansha! Look out!" The false kit yelled, frantic.
Rin looked over in time to see Kagome enter the grove, her movements swift. Without so much as a second glance the priestess had pulled the older kid from the pup's back before the two ruffians had the time to react. Toru came in running behind her, panting and wheezing.
Hansha kicked and bit, but Kagome's hold didn't loosen. When the mask fell off and silver hair floated around her, Rin realized that her own appearance had been copied too.
"Rin, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She coughed and rubbed at her neck. "But Shippo is—"
"Let her go!" The little boy turned Shippo look-alike demanded. He stood his ground against the adult Kitsune, defiance lit his green eyes ablaze. "She's mine. Let her go!"
The elder demoness looked from the Shippo in front of her, balling his little hands into fists as if he were going to hit her, then over at the second Shippo laying unconscious on the beaten foot path.
"No way." She said, breathless.
"Kagami! Just leave me!" The little Kagemono girl ordered. "Get out of here!"
A bell tolled in the distance. Smoke rose on the wind.
The Honno-Ji temple was on fire.
Kagami stood firm.
══════════════════ Tsarashi ═══════════════════
Chapter Four: End