A Bond Across Time 

By: ChocolateEclar

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any other character from the anime/manga "Inuyasha." So don't try to sue me.  ^___^

Claimer: I only own Koinu (Nobara) and Shirakaba. ^_-

To TetsuoTsubushi: Thanks a lot! ^___^ I've definitely got enough ideas to write this sequel.

To Aarolye: I'm pretty sure its episode 26 that we find out about the Shikon Jewel's origins and Midoriko. Anyhow, thanks for reviewing!

To Tinuviel: I like Koinu and Shi too. You'll definitely see more of them… Thanks again!

A/N: This is under no one's POV.

A/N 2: This little epilogue thing just quickly shows what the Inuyasha group did for the next ten years… Now on to the story!

Afterwards: Ten Years

Kagome sat at her desk grading a young elementary girl's homework. She glanced at the framed picture by her elbow. It was of Inuyasha, Koinu, Shirakaba, and herself all standing in front of their new home. It was situated on a quiet little street in the suburbs of Tokyo, its white paint flashing in the sunlight. Two small bushes had been planted in front of the house and several beautiful flowers of various shades could be seen poking up in front of them. Koinu was seven years old and Shi was one in the picture. Young Nobara was holding her ototo and smiling happily, while Shi was gazing upward at Inuyasha.

She wrote an elegant letter 'A' at the top of the mathematics homework and turned to the next paper. She examined the homework and wrote a 'C' and a comment on it.

She smiled softly as she gazed at the picture one more time. Six golden eyes and two brown ones looked back at her.

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"Nobara Higurashi, how many continents are there?" a kyoukan asked the seven-year-old quarter inu-youkai in her class. It was the first day of school for the year. (A/N: Koinu's last name's Higurashi because Inuyasha doesn't seem to have a last name…)

Koinu looked up at the woman, whose dark hair was gathered in a loose bun and equally dark eyes were staring sharply at her. "There's seven," Koinu replied immediately afterwards.

"Very good," her kyoukan practically snarled causing Koinu to cock her head to the side in wonder.

'Why's she pickin' on me? I haven' done nuthin'.' she thought.

She watched as Mrs. Kijo glanced around the classroom asking other geography questions. Koinu's sensitive nose picked up a whiff of a strange scent and scrunched up her nose trying to pick it up again. She couldn't catch it again though, it was if the scent were being blocked. 'What was that?' she thought glancing around at her fellow classmates before returning her eyes to Mrs. Kijo. 'It kinda smelled like a youkai,' Koinu thought.

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Bebii Shirakaba stared blankly at his bebiishittaa, baby-sitter. The bebiishittaa was trying to feed the child a mushy pea bebii food to little avail. Shi's mouth wouldn't open to let the greenish globs in for all the toys in the world. His bebiishittaa, Gurinpiisu, sighed and said, "Come on, Shirakaba. Open up. Peas are my favorite food. You'll like them too." (A/N: *laughing* Gurinpiisu actually means green peas. Its stupid, but I felt like doing it anyway. ^_-)

Shi frowned and pushed the spoon away from his mouth before yelling, "Acky nickwick!"

Gurinpiisu sighed again and grabbed another bebii food jar from the kitchen countertop. "How about carrots instead?"

"Ca-rat yumily!" Shirakaba gleefully shouted.

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Shirakaba let out a sob and Koinu wailed in unhappiness. Kagome rushed out of the living room and to Koinu's room where the two had been playing.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked kneeling down beside her kodomotachi.

"The-The f-fishy's dead!" howled Koinu. She was pointing to the little fish tank in the corner of the room where a black, orange, and white goldfish was floating upside-down.

"Ohhh," muttered Kagome. She brushed one of her hands through Shi's white locks and explained as simply as she could without upsetting Koinu and Shi any more than they already were, "It'll be all right. Your fishy's resting in a happy place now."

Koinu nodded, her dark bangs covering her eyes. "With Rin?" she inquired after awhile.

"Hmm?"

"The painting of the lady in Uncle Sesshoumaru's office says 'Painted by Kaku Nigaogaki: in memory of the late Rin.' " Koinu explained. "Late means dead, right?" she added. (A/N: Kaku means to draw or to paint and Nigaogaki literally means portrait painter or drawing portraits. ^_^)

Kagome remembered that painting. It showed an adult Rin, her brown hair trailing over her shoulders, adorned in a vibrant floral kimono. "Yea, the fishy's with Rin," she said soothingly.

"Momma?" Koinu questioned a little later.

"Yea?"

"Can we get a new fish? A blue one?" Koinu asked looking up at her okaasan.

Kagome smiled gently. "Fine as long as Shi agrees," she replied.

"You want a blue fishy, right, Shi?" Koinu questioned the bebii who nodded as if he understood.

"A blue fish it is then," Kagome whispered laughingly.

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"Whatcha doin'?" now nine-year-old Koinu asked her Uncle Sesshoumaru as she hovered over his desk.

"What are you doing in here, youjo?" he questioned, ignoring Koinu's inquiry.

"I'm your mei, remember?" Koinu replied, grinning.

"Ah, how could I have forgotten such a little inu-brat was my mei…" Sesshoumaru humored Koinu. "What I meant was why are you in my office and not with your otousan?"

"Oh," Koinu said. "Well, I wanted to visit you too since I have nothin' to do today after school and all."

"I see," Sesshoumaru said eyeing the three-fourth ninjen. "You came here by yourself then?"

"Yep. My mom's still at school grading papers and Shi's with Gurinpiisu, his bebiishittaa, so I decided to come here," Koinu answered.

Sesshoumaru sighed and pushed a button on his intercom system. "Tanechigai."

"What do ya want, bastard?" came a retort from Inuyasha from the intercom.

"Remove your ojousan from my office," Sesshoumaru said evenly.

"Oh," muttered Inuyasha. "Fine, I'll pick up Koinu in a minute." And with that the electronic link to him was shut off.

"Koinu?" whispered Sesshoumaru in his usual monotone.

"That's my nickname. I don't like Nobara much," replied Koinu, smiling, causing her fangs to be displayed freely.

Sesshoumaru didn't reply he just watched as the door opened and his tanechigai appeared.

"Come on, Koinu," Inuyasha said without even glancing at Sesshoumaru.

"Sayonara, Uncle Sesshoumaru!" shouted Koinu as she followed her ojousan.

Sesshoumaru just turned back to his work. 'She's innocent…like Rin,' he thought.

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Kagome watched as eight-year-old Shi's white tresses turned black and his golden eyes changed to dark ones. He smiled and peered at his still quarter inu-youkai oneesan. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha whose hair and eyes were also now dark. It was the night of the new moon so both Inuyasha and Shi were full ninjen. This was because even quart-youkai become ninjen, twice a month to be exact. This was due to their majority of ninjen blood. As for Koinu, her two nights included the night of the full moon and the first quarter moon. Shi's other night was the full moon so they both were ninjen on that night. Myouga had explained this to them when Koinu was first born.

Fourteen and decked in a pale blue kimono, Koinu said in a mock-bored sort of way, "Another night, another transformation."

"Yep," Shi agreed. His now dark hair was a bit longish at the time, reaching his shoulders in the back and his bangs were dense. As for his oneesan, her thick white hair was held back by two clips on each side of her head and reached the middle of her back.

"Let's order in for dinner!" Shi continued, smirking as if nothing had just happened.

Koinu, Kagome, and Inuyasha laughed. "You've got a one track mind, bro," Koinu muttered.

"I just like food, nee-chan," Shi said.

"You love food," Koinu mumbled later as they ate dinner and Shi plopped mounds of food on his plate.

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A/N: So, that's it for this story. I've already started the sequel, which is called, "Moonlit Encounter: A Tale of Dogs & Wolves."

A/N 2: That was like a little collection of stories, some of which I nearly died in shame because they were so stupid. There lead into the sequel's plot.

Shippou: There's a plot?

Choccy: *darkly* Yes, there's a plot.

A/N 3: Here are the multiple Japanese translations for this chapter:

Kyoukan=teacher/instructor/professor

Kijo=demoness/witch/ogress/she-devil (A/N: ^_^ Yep, that's what Koinu's teacher's last name means. You'll find out more about her later.)

Kodomotachi=children

Okaasan=mother

Youjo=little girl

Mei=niece

Otousan=father

Tanechigai=half-brother/half-sister

Ojousan=daughter Nee-chan=an informal version of 'big-sister' Nani=what

As always, if I made a mistake please tell me.

A/N 4: Please review and tell me what you thought of this! ^____^ Kagome: Sayonara!

Shippou: Bye!

Inuyasha: Feh.

Koinu: Bye-bye!

Shi:  *gurgle*

Kirara: Mew!

Choccy: Good-bye for now! ^_______-