Early the next morning, the group set out from Edo village. Kohaku and Miroku gathered herbs and various plant life along the way, under the direction of Inari. InuYasha hovered over Kikyo when he wasn't carrying her. Shippo listened intently to Sesshomaru and Elias quietly discuss the merits of specific battle tactics and fighting techniques with Bishamon as they led the way. Between minor forays for herbs, Inari joined them and gave her thoughts. To Sesshomaru's dismay, she poked holes in some of his preferred techniques while Elias choked back laughter.

Around mid afternoon, the travelers paused once again to gather nearby herbs. As they came to a stop, however, there was a stillness to the forest that hadn't been noticed before. In the distance, yokai ears picked up the sounds of fighting. Sesshomaru, Elias, and Shippo ran ahead as Bishamon explained to the two humans what was going on.

"Hurry after them," Bishamon urged. "Inari and I will remain with the hanyou and his mate."

As Miroku and Kohaku ran through the forest after the other three, they started to hear sounds of fighting. The pair shared a look and readied their weapons as they ran faster.

Suddenly, a large tree shuddered and started falling across their path. Both men heard flapping wings then felt talons wrap around their upper arms. Miroku struggled against the talons and managed to break free, falling under the path of the tree.

As a wave of yoki swept over him, Miroku froze. He saw Kohaku stop struggling as he was carried away.

"BAY HAH!" he heard shouted from behind as he realized the tree was crashing above his fallen form.

"BAY HAH! BAY SOIYE AHM!" Miroku heard a voice growl, as tanned hands pulled him from under the tree just before it hit the ground.

Miroku felt another wave of yoki and turned to see an eagle yokai winging back to the battlefield.

As he ran after, Miroku heard more familiar sounds among the fighting— Sango and her Hiraikotsu, Sesshomaru's sword. As he found the edge of the battlefield, he saw Kohaku's chain scythe strike a dark being behind one of the eagle yokai that had saved them from the tree.

Before Miroku was able to join the fight though, the last of the dark beings was struck down by Sesshomaru's sword.

Sango looked around the field and spotted her husband. She ran to him as Shippo and Sesshomaru took the measure of the newcomers. There were four of them. Sesshomaru kept his sword drawn as he circled the new yokai.

The two eagles were quite distinguishable, with dark tanned skin, feathers in their black hair and beaded jewelry. He paid them no mind, as it had already been shown they meant no harm to his pack. The other two he was wary of… The Inu lord was unsure of their breed.

All sounds quieted again as Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi entered the clearing. At the sight of them, the four new yokai fell to their knees and bowed their heads. Tsukuyomi touched each of them on the crown of their head while his sister kneeled in front of the larger eagle male and pulled his chin up to look at his face.

"Why do you kneel, my friend?" she asked quietly.

Hesitantly, the eagle answered, "we have not earned the privilege of looking upon the Wakan Tanka."

Amaterasu smiled while the others expressions ranged from shock to confusion to amusement.

She helped him to rise and said, for his benefit and that of his companions, "I am no great mystery, friend. I simply wish to aid in your journey."

From where he stood behind the four, Tsukuyomi saw Bishamon and Inari come to the edge of the clearing with InuYasha and Kikyo in tow. He waved for Bishamon to join them, Inari continued around the group with InuYasha to find Shippo.

Amaterasu saw wariness creep back into the eagle's onyx eyes as Bishamon stopped beside her. She gestured for them to stay calm. One of the others behind the eagle, a slightly shorter male with lighter skin and dark brown hair, wearing bone bead decorated buckskin breeches and shirt stepped forward and reached out to Bishamon. He was held back by the outstretched arm of the big eagle.

"No, brother." he hissed. "That is a trickster, not the messenger we seek. Can't you feel it?"

Sesshomaru stepped toward them in shock, having understood their words. He was greeted by growling and bared fangs from the fourth member of the small group. A female, he assumed. She was significantly shorter than the males around her, with thick brown braids that fell to her tiny waist and dark tanned skin, wrapped in furs of some canid species. The smaller eagle, with black braids and three feathers behind his right ear, quickly stepped to her side and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. He quickly whispered something in her ear and she silenced her growling.

The Inu looked to Tsukuyomi then Amaterasu and asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "How is it we can understand them now when before we could not?"

Bishamon scoffed. "Isn't that obvious, dog lord?" he asked. "Tsukuyomi gave them knowledge of your language."

The others looked confused. Miroku stepped up beside Sesshomaru. "That doesn't explain how we were able to understand them, though" he said.

Bishamon rolled his eyes as Amaterasu spoke. "The knowledge of languages was awakened in their minds. It has been done to all of you, but not as noticeably."

The female and smaller eagle stared openly at Miroku. The big eagle, noticing the direction of their gaze, quickly apologized. "Please forgive our rudeness. This has all been a shock to us." He looked to his companions, then back to Amaterasu. "Is there somewhere nearby that we may rest and tend to our mates?"

At the mention of mates, all of the others, except the gods, looked around in confusion.

Sango stepped closer, then. "If your mates are close, there is a village not far from here. We have some space there you are welcome to use." she said with a smile.

The two larger males shared a look, and the smaller of the two grinned at her and said simply "our mates are quite close."

At the discussion of mates, Sesshomaru narrowly hid an eye roll as he stalked off in the direction of the village. Elias followed behind with Inari and her charges. The others soon followed as well.

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The able bodied villagers lingered near the edge of the village, makeshift weapons in hand. Rin tended the injured in a large, hastily built hut behind them. A newly arrived priest from a neighboring shrine shouted an alarm.

"Incoming yokai!" he yelled. "And there's a bunch of 'em!"

As the men readied themselves for an attack, Rin stepped out of the makeshift hospital.

Through the throng of raised pitchforks and sharpened wood spears, Rin saw a shock of red hair above twinkling emerald eyes and shouted her joy at the returning group. This startled the men in front of her, and they blocked her from running to her friends.

She yelled Shippo's name in hopes he would be able to hear… She was not disappointed. The crowd was parted by Sango and her hiraikotsu. But instead of the smiling green eyes of the yokai she had come to love, Rin found her gaze locked with warm amber.

"Lord Sesshomaru! When did you awaken? How are you feeling? Are you ok?" she babbled.

Rin grew quiet when she noticed the narrowed eyes of her father figure. Sesshomaru only had to scent her once to know who's close company she had kept…

Angrily, he turned to the kitsune at his side. Shippo didn't have enough time for a breath before he found himself pinned against the nearest tree, the Inu lord's hand closing around his throat.

Sesshomaru growled his displeasure at how much the kit's scent permeated Rin's clothing. "What is your intent with my daughter, fox?" he barked.

Shippo's eyes went wide as he struggled to answer, but his vocal cords were pinched beneath Sesshomaru's hand. Miroku edged close, making sure he was in the big dog's line of sight.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Miroku began. Sesshomaru's furious snarl cut him off. Miroku felt a small hand on his shoulder and looked down into large brown eyes. He stepped back at Rin's silent urging.

Rin stepped in front of Shippo and laid her hand on Sesshomaru's forearm. She looked at Sesshomaru, eyes welling with tears, and softly asked "did you mean that, when you called me your daughter?"

Sesshomaru's eyes softened and he dropped the kitsune. The hand that had been wrapped around Shippo's throat came to rest gently against Rin's cheek. As tears started to roll down, his large thumb brushed them away. "I do not say what I do not mean, daughter," he said.

Rin threw her arms around the daiyokai's waist and buried her face into his unarmored chest. As he wrapped his adopted daughter in a warm embrace, he heard a muffled "thank you, father."

Sesshomaru fixed Shippo with a stoney glare and said quietly "we will have words later, fox."

As the stunned crowd was ushered away by Sango and Miroku, Sesshomaru's attention turned to the newcomers. Maneuvering Rin so she could see while his arm still rested across her shoulders, he drew her attention to them, as well.

"Rin, we have new…. allies." he started. "They will need accommodations. Do you have a place they may rest?" After he saw her nod and her acknowledgement of the four new yokai, he addressed them, as well.

"You said you would need space for your mates, also. Is it safe to assume they will arrive later today?"

The larger eagle, the apparent leader of the small band, responded quickly. "It was not our intent to mislead our generous hosts, but our mates have been here the entire way." He looked meaningfully at the smaller eagle and the fur clad female.

Sango, who had rejoined the group followed by her husband, caught his attention when he turned back.

"I don't mean to interrupt," she said, "but what may we call you?"

The eagle grinned at her and splayed a hand across his chest. "My name is Calian." he said proudly, then gestured to the buckskin clad male. "This is my spirit brother, Shiriki." Shiriki smiled and dipped his head in acknowledgement.

Calian motioned to the female in furs as Shiriki approached her. "That is Shiriki's mate, Dyani." He motioned for the smaller eagle to join him. Calian's eyes shined with pride as he placed an arm around the waist of the other eagle. He smiled fondly while looking into golden eyes. "And this," he said quietly, "is my mate, Nitika. She's a holy person to our tribe."

Sango started to stutter a response to this particular introduction, but was tactfully stopped by Miroku's intentionally ill-placed hand. Predictably, she slapped him. As she glared at his red marked face, Miroku spoke with a genuine smile. "We look forward to getting to know more about your people, Calian. May I introduce our group?"

At Calian's nod and Sesshomaru's grunt of approval, he began with the demon lord. "This temperamental dog," he said, earning a growl and a glare from the yokai, "is Sesshomaru, Lord of the West." The Inu Lord was unimpressed with Miroku's jesting introduction.

"Beside him," the monk continued, "is his daughter Rin." Miroku continued around the group until everyone was introduced, excluding the gods.

Sango, having finally recovered from her near misstep, touched her husband on the arm. "My dear husband, I believe our guests need time to rest." she suggested. "They look exhausted."

Calian and Shiriki both nodded. Calian spoke. "It has been a long journey."

Rin pulled away from her father and waved to the four new faces. "Follow me," she told them. "I had a couple extra huts built for visitors." As she led the smaller group away, Sesshomaru stepped toward Shippo again.

Shippo turned to run, but stopped when he realized Miroku had stepped behind him.

"I warned you he wouldn't be happy…" Miroku said. "Now you need to make it right."

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A/N 2: My muse broke. That's all I can say. And I debated taking this whole thing down, but stopped after weeks of consideration. I am SO SO SO SORRY! Please don't give up on this tale. As always, I am entirely self edited. Please let me know (NICELY) if you find any absolutely catastrophic editing errors so I can correct them.

Bear in mind, in this story, much is not as it seems. Some things can be taken at face value… Some absolutely can not. The author's notes however… Yeah, those are all face value. And ridiculous. And kinda annoying. But they still make me giggle. Irrelevant as they may be, I haven't removed them. Yet. It could happen in the future, but not today.

And now, for the educational type bits:

The words the eagle yelled at Miroku and Kohaku are in the Kiowa language.

BAY HAH! means Get up!

BAY SOIYE AHM! means Hurry up!

Wakan Tanka- the Great Mystery, a supreme being.

The new character names were chosen with a purpose. Relevance may make itself known later.

Calian: Warrior of life

Nitika: angel of precious stone

Shiriki: Coyote

Dyani: deer