Hello everyone...I know that it took me a very long time to update this story again, but after that last chapter...I was kinda discouraged with the story when I received so many reviews telling me that I confused most readers. I feel that I must have done a rather bad job of explaining some of the theories involved with temporal mechanics. I failed miserably and couldn't find a better way to explain what I was trying to say. If you were one of the confused readers, then I do apologize, but after many more attempts to simplify it further, I just managed to confuse myself. So any explanation will have to come from a source other than myself since I seem to have burnt out on researching time and its nature.

Anyway, for those of you that did understand what I was talking about and those of you that are going to continue to read regardless of whether or not you figured it all out, this chapter is for you.

Also, I would like to thank the various people that nominated, seconded, and voted for my story at the Inuyasha Fanguild for best crossover! (Which I recently discovered that I won!).I was very surprised and happy when I received the notification that this story was being considered for the polls, and it was an honor to find that there were enough readers out there that liked the story, (even with all its cliches) to vote for it. So thank you all!

Enjoy...

Sylvannastar

Behind the Barrier

Kagome tried without success to filter out the angry vibes sizzling off of several of her friends and one tense kitsune walking mere inches behind her heels. They were crowding her, though they called it "protection." She grimaced at the ground, realizing that one simple misstep on her part would send most of the group crashing to the ground. The mental image would have been slightly amusing to her if it hadn't involved her being at the bottom of the pile...

They had been walking for several hours and so far, no one had muttered a single complaint. Strange as it may seem, each member of the team was currently occupied with their own thoughts. Kagome had expected them to continue probing and demanding answers and explanations. It was unlike them to have such a passive response to something like this.

The silence seemed so heavy in Reikai's lifeless atmosphere. Kagome took a brief look around her and ended up staring at the pale pink of the sun filtering through the lavender sky. It was a pretty sight, but was missing the most essential thing to make it truly beautiful. Kagome absently noticed the lack of birds and insects that gave the sky of her own world life. Life...

Am I really going to die? I know that I would eventually, but this...I never actually though about being dead before. Kagome continued to stare at the sky as she followed the red and white robes of Kikyo's silent figure. Sure I've thought about dying lots of times. It's hard not to when your life is in danger all the time. But I never really thought about being dead. It must have been so hard on her, Kagome thought and looked back down at her incarnate.

Kikyo easily ignored them all with the same ease that she had ignored things in the past. Kagome almost admired the other girl's ability to tune out the negativity that was sending shivers down her own spine.

Kagome was abruptly taken from her thoughts by the change in the air. The hum of magic, strong magic, informed her they were close to their destination before Kikyo ever spoke up.

"Here," Kikyo said and stopped.

The others shuffled to a halt behind her and spread out in a line to stare at the place she indicated with the delicate wave of her hand.

"I don't see anything." Yusuke glared and braced his legs apart to keep balance on the slight slope of the hillside they had stopped at.

"There is nothing here!" Botan exclaimed in surprise.

"No," Kuwabara corrected her. "There is definitely something here. I can feel it."

Kagome ignored them in favor of watching Kikyo. The other miko was standing with her head bowed slightly and her body relaxed and calm. Kikyo was waiting patiently for Kagome to move.

"What kind of barrier is this?" Kurama finally spoke up. "It is like none other that I have ever seen before."

"What barrier?" Yusuke insisted and pointed at Kikyo. "She led us to nothing."

"It is her barrier," Kikyo answered and turned her soulful eyes on Kagome. "It is of her making."

Kurama gave the dead priestess a dark look before facing Kagome again. The worry on her face made him roil with anger inside because he could not protect her from everything. He couldn't stomach the idea of a life without her and the notion of her dying only served to strengthen his vow to protect her at all costs.

"What do you mean that it is unlike any other you have seen, Fox?" Hiei asked from behind him.

Kurama didn't bother to turn around before answering. "Barriers are created to either contain or to protect. This one does both. It keeps whatever is inside from getting out. And what is outside from getting in."

"Kikyo," Kagome finally stepped forward and stood even with the other girl. "Do you know what is behind this thing?"

"All you said to me was that you had sealed away a hanyou. I do not know any more then that."

"So there may not even be a jewel shard here?" Yusuke demanded impatiently.

"Perhaps," Kikyo agreed.

Kagome firmed her posture and defiantly raised her chin. "Well, if I made it, I can break it."

She reached out her hands and walked forward until the air in front of her shimmered and resisted her pushing. The feeling of the magic that created this wall around her present goal felt so familiar to her that she gasped in surprise and dropped her hands to her sides.

"Kagome!" Kurama grabbed for her hands in concern.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Botan worried.

Kagome shook her head. "It just surprised me!" she exclaimed. This barrier feels like the ones between worlds."

"Oh, I- huh?" Botan stopped what she was about to say to stare at Kagome as if she had suddenly grown two heads.

"You mean there is another world behind there?" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei smacked him in the back of the skull. "Idiot."

"No, but there are similarities that I can feel..." Kagome explained. She aborted her hesitant statement and doggedly pressed forward again after freeing herself from Kurama's grip. She went back to her task with a renewed vigor and tensed when the blade at her hip began to burn her side. She had to step back and remove it before glancing at Hiei in confusion. Hiei merely took the blade from her hands and motioned for her to continue while he studied the katana. Kagome gave her sword a look of curious longing before turning back to her goal.

The shimmer in the air began to break in visible waves to the others and Inuyasha muttered a curse under his breath. "I can use the Tetsuseiga," he pointed out to the others.

"No you can't," Kikyo returned. "This barrier has some of the characteristics of the miko who made it inherent in its very structure. And your sword is a demon blade after all. It would be purified before it could even crack this shield."

"It's made with Miko energies?" Hiei frowned. He stared at the sword that he had made for Kagome in sudden understanding. "I forged this myself, but its original material is demonic by origin. The reaction between them is to be expected." He paused when another thought stuck him. "So we can not pass through..."

"You can't," Kuwabara taunted. "But I bet I could." He did a little dance for his small victory over the little fire demon and broke the quiet with a loud chortle.

"Shut up!" Botan hissed at him and wrung her hands together while Kagome pressed against the invisible structure parting them from the sealed hanyou. A clawed hand came to rest in reassurance against her shoulder and she reached up to grasp that hand while it was offered. "She'll be fine, Inuyasha," she told him with a smile.

"But we don't know what's in there," he answered her with his worry for his best friend evident in his words.

Kurama tensed and fisted his hands at his sides. He was unable to follow her already because of the purification magic attached to the barrier spell and was as of yet unable to see a hole in the spell to slip through. Never had he seen a containment spell so well manifested as it was here. His pride in his future mate's abilities was shadowed by the threat that hovered with so much malice over them all.

The jewel and the demon after it were never far from his mind. Every instinct was on edge. Every nerve taut and every reflex set to defend and destroy. He wasn't surprised to feel the swivel of his ears moving on top of his head, but he was very aware of Youko's lack of commentary for the past few hours. He could only assume that with the both of his counterparts so close to the surface in the face of recent developments, that they were all sharing this moment alike. Truly one for once, for however brief a time that it might be...

He didn't like the way that he had to let Kagome do this thing on her own. He hated his inability to offer her his help and support as she faced another sudden change in her life. The consequences of her time travel had dealt with only a vague issue of secrecy until now. Kikyo's revelations had altered Kagome's view of her own reality and he could only hope that she would turn to him if it became too much to handle as time went on. He couldn't change anything for her, but he would be there when she needed him. This, she had to do alone.

Kagome felt the tangled vibrations of magic but made no attempt to identify them past a very shallow exploration to discover the key to bringing it down. She instinctively knew the essence of her own personal energy as well as the faint throb of the shikon calling to her. The other forces at work were less personal and so, that much more intriguing.

A strange strand of magical binding whispered through her senses and Kagome reached out to grab it as if it were a physical thing that she could capture in her hands. The purity of her own powers rose up unbidden by her and flared through the air until the shimmering that surrounded her became a blinding globe of light that circled a wide clearing. One more steady push and Kagome found herself inside of the barrier and facing something that broke her heart. Curled in a ball in the center of the barrier, was the pale figure of a hanyou.

Like all the others, Kurama had to shield his eyes from the sudden flare of magic and light. When the glare had receded enough for him to peer through the brilliance, he automatically searched for Kagome. She was missing from his sight, but he could tell she was still there with them. It was only the barrier that separated them now. And he had faith that bring it down, she would.

"Damnit!" Inuyasha yelled. "Where is she?!"

"She's inside," Kikyo answered and folded her hands in front of her. "Do not worry so. She is stronger than you give her credit for."

"You were the one that always insisted she was just a pale imitation," he grumbled back. "Since when did you get so much confidence in her?"

Kikyo looked at him steadily until he began to get more flustered under her unwavering gaze. "Since she did what I could not," Kikyo finally answered.

"And what was that?" Yusuke huffed in annoyance. This twisted tale was nothing but a headache to him. All he was currently concerned about was the continued health of all his friends and the completion of this mission...oh and a good fight might be nice, but that was something that he already knew was unavoidable. They still had to find and defeat that Naraku character and all his mobs. As soon as they managed to find the single piece of jewel that had eluded them so far.

"Everything."

The tentai's gave the other miko a strange look and kept a wary eye on her. She made less and less sense with every word she spoke. But this was in fact, no time to be analyzing a woman long dead when the living and breathing girl they had loyally followed here was once again taken from their presence and their protection.

What she had found inside of that circle of light was a mystery they could only wait to discover. Kagome would return to them, but with what?....

Kagome's reaction to her discovery was violent and sudden. She controlled the urge to retch by cupping a shaking hand over her mouth. She tottered several steps forward until the details of her victim were forever etched into her memory. Two pale pointed ears were limply pivoted forwards and a long frizzy tail was trailing in the dust. Small clawed hind paws, much like Shippo's animal like legs, were drawn up to the chest of a small child, appearing no more then eight or nine as human's age. Longs stringy strands of pale lavender hair clung in loose curls over the child's sleeping face. The aura of abandonment and sadness was only shadowed by a loneliness that clung to her much the same way that it did to Kikyo.

The strangled sob was muffled between her fingers. As she approached the figure she realized to her horror that the figure trapped inside the barrier was not sleeping like she had first presumed but wide awake and staring straight at her through a pair of frightened grey eyes.

"Oh, no," she whispered. She knew that her legs were visibly trembling as she faced the lonely gaze of the creature huddled with her arms wrapped around her dirty knees. "Oh, Kami-sama...How could I have...?" Kagome felt the pressure in her chest increase when the little girl met her eyes and she saw the tiniest flicker of hope in those grey depths.

"Is it safe now?" the tiny figure whispered hoarsely, as if new to speaking. "Can I go home now?"

Kagome fell to her knees in front of the still child and hesitantly reached out a hand to trace a familiar binding necklace that hung much too large around her neck. The alternating black beads and white claws that formed the necklace were worn and chipped where the child seemed to have spent a great deal of time rubbing them between her fingers. Kagome stilled her fidgeting when a small clawed hand reached up and gently covered her nervous fingers.

Kagome felt her tears stream in two lines down her cheeks as the child took comfort in her presence.

"I knew you would come back like you said you would," the child informed her. "I knew that you would."

Kagome reached out and nodded as she took the little hanyou into her arms for a tender but intense hug. She was rewarded by a tiny sigh of contentment from the innocent as she snuggled into her hold as far as she could. Kagome stayed there on her knees for a long time while she tried to stifle her own poor sobs and suppress the quaking of her legs. She was certain that if she attempted to stand now, she would only fall again.

Time, already such an abused thing, seemed to stand still and rush past at the same time for the torn Miko in training. The anger and animosity that Kagome expected and felt she deserved, were missing from the youth in her arms. Instead, contentment and genuine relief were all that Kagome could pick up from the lonesome girl. The whispered humming from the young girl nestled against her was so poignant it hung in the air like the pure tones of bells. She wasn't sure how much time passed with them like that, and frankly, she didn't care.

Kagome finally managed to get her voice back and pressed her cheek against the dirty and matted lavender hair. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to the girl. "So sorry..."

A short giggle erupted from the skinny frame and made the child's shoulders shake. "You said that before," she said and continued clinging to Kagome's waist. "I remember. So, can we go now?" she asked again and looked up into Kagome's eyes. The wistful look was not lost to the older girl's senses and Kagome nodded and stood up with the child still wrapped around her middle.

"We can go now," Kagome confirmed past the lump in her throat. "Right now."

A full smile bloomed across grubby cheeks and Kagome found herself smiling hesitantly in return. She hugged the thin form to her tightly as she stepped with greater determination to edges of the still glowing dome over them. A spark of anger and focused determination lit her emotion charged eyes as she firmed her mouth and glared at the force of her own magic. The barrier trembled and pulsed long before she ever came in contact with it. She pushed with one hand at the straining wall and found it much more pliable then it had been on her trip inside. It shivered in response to her touch and easily burst apart in a shower of sparks and light that bellied the strength with which it was created.

The rest of the modern shard hunters and Reikai employees waited with increasing impatience and worry as time slipped through their fingers. Immediately after Kagome's disappearance through the barrier, the others had begun to grow anxious. There were so many unanswered questions about this barrier, this hanyou, this jewel shard, this question of time, that there was not a single one of them not waiting with baited breath for that slim figure to return.

As unhappy as they all were with the situation, not a single one of them made the slightest attempt to alleviate their pent up frustration on one of their teammates or companions the way that they would usually have done. Yusuke and Kuwabara especially managed to keep themselves on track while preparing for whatever demon would emerge with Kagome. The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness and each beat of their hearts had them tensing and clenching, stretching muscles one by one as they prepared themselves for some sort of action.

A fluctuation in the now visible dome of light made them reach for weapons or crouch in various stances in case they had to rush in and save their friend from some sad fate. A tremble in the magic of the barrier was all that preluded the shattering of the structure in a flash similar to the one that swallowed Kagome as she had stepped through it. The air around them charged with the free floating magic and sank into the ground at their feet.

Kagome felt the spell give and disappear under her fingertips even though she had not consciously made any effort to break the spell yet. She found herself suddenly back where she had started, only this time with her new companion in tow. Both girls blinked at the suddenness of the barrier's fall and stared wide eyed at the collection of people standing tensed and ready in front of them.

A silence fell that rivaled the natural stillness of the land of the dead and the first sound to break that awful silence was the muffled shriek as the child tried to bury her face in the dark cloud of Kagome's hair. Every immediately snapped back to attention and reality to examine the haunted look on Kagome's face and the grimy bundle of rags clutched in her arms.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha announced in relief. He felt the reassuring squeeze of Botan's hand on his shoulder.

"Kagome," Kurama chorused in a much quieter but equally rejoice full way.

All eyes shifted to the audibly whimpering creature in their friends arms. Kagome simply stared at them with an unfamiliar broken and defeated look on her face. In a flash so sudden that they missed the transition between them, Kagome grinned a reassuring smile at them all and gently lowered her burden to the ground until the slim back paws like those of a cat touched the ground.

They heard her voice soothing the terrified creature in the stillness.

"Shhh! They won't hurt you. They are friends," she assured the small hanyou still trying its best to hide in Kagome's arms. "Please, trust me," she continued but winced at her own words.

"Kagome, who is that?" Inuyasha asked of his best friend but kept his voice low when the small figure only trembled harder when he spoke.

Kagome rubs soothing circles around the child's back and choose the simplest answer that she had. "She's a hanyou...just like you."

The tiny child sucked in a shuddering breath and leaned back to stare with frightened but questioning grey eyes at Kagome. "Like me?" she whispered soft and disbelieving. "They aren't here...to hurt me?"

"No," Kagome encouraged the girl. "They won't hurt you. They are friends," she repeated.

The child gave them a sideways glance from under her tangled and dirty hair before darting back to face Kagome. "Truely?" she persisted with less fear and more hope.

Kagome nodded and turned the little girl around to face the others but allowed her to shrink against her stomach in false security. Kagome quietly pointed at the others one by one and introduced the silent team staring with disbelief at the pair kneeling in the Reikai dirt.

The child took a hesitant glance at each of them before returning to gaze in something akin to awe at Inuyasha's towering form. The intimidating red of his dated clothing or the scowl on his face did nothing to deter her from examining him at great detail. She finally tipped her head to the side and asked a question of her own. "Are you really a half demon?" she pursued.

"Keh! What's it look like?!" he crossed his arms and flipped his ears in her direction.

The child comically mimicked the motion with her own mobile points and stuck a dirty finger in her mouth. She whispered loudly for Kagome's benefit around her finger. "He must be really strong," she praised and stared at the dog hanyou.

Hiei snorted quietly at that statement but refrained from comment at Kagome's narrow look.

Yusuke wasn't as cooperative and crossed his own arms in a pose meant to appear more intimidating then it actually was. "What makes you say that?" He frowned at her.

The child pulled the finger from her mouth to point at Inuyasha with it. "Because he's still alive," she said matter of fact.

A muffled snigger from Kuwabara turned several disapproving stares his way. The larger human took immediate notice of the change of atmosphere around him and muttered a quick apology.

"Kagome?" Botan edged in and gave the tiny girl a nervous smile. "The shard?"

"Oh, I forgot!" Kagome blinked and looked back down at the young hanyou now staring around her in immense curiosity.

Kikyo lowered her head from where she had been watching the small interlude to study the sway of the soft grasses under her feet. It was obvious to her the moment the barrier had gone down that the shard had been found. But...she did not envy her incarnate the job ahead of her. With a soft sigh of her own, Kikyo offered up a quick prayer that Kagome could find the strength she needed to do what she had to do.

Kurama watched in fascination as his future lover tended to the strange child with all the love and care of a concerned parent, even though she had no actual ties to the little girl. He was dedicated to watching every movement, listening to every sound that anyone dared to make as he furiously searched for the slightest sign of danger to his love even if it came from within the group itself.

At the reminder of the jewel shard, he turned his full attention back to the surprised girl to find that she was steadily getting more and more pale until it seemed that all traces of blood had left her veins. He moved to her side in concern and ignored the jumpy child while he tended to Kagome. "What is it?" he demanded and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"It's here," Kagome answered horrified. "We found the shard."

He met her stricken gaze with gentle frown of confusion.

"But that's a good thing, right?" Yusuke shook his head at the unpredictable couple. "That's what we wanted," he continued.

Kagome turned her tear brightened eyes to face Yusuke and simply answered, "It's here. We have to see Koenma-sama."

Yusuke and the others looked to Botan and she nodded to their unspoken plea. "I can get us there in no time."

A portal to the main office of Reikai swelled to life at Botan's command and they hesitantly filed toward it. No one seemed to be in a hurry to cross its boundaries though, and they all hung back uncertainly at its mouth.

"What is that?" the child asked. She turned to stare at the dark hole swirling in mid air.

"It's a portal, kid," Yusuke answered the girl's curiosity. "Waiting to take us to the other side of Reikai." Yusuke was just as reluctant to step through and end this case, as everyone else, but there was only a limited amount of time...he shook his head. And he was leader, so he would have to take those first steps.

The child hanyou watched one of the strangers stalk though the portal and backed closer to the human at her back. "Waiting to take us there for what?" she persisted in a subdued manner as the others followed that example and disappear inside the curtain of darkness.

"I don't know." Kagome whispered back and circled her arms loosely around her new charge. "I just don't know. But what ever it is, I'll be there with you." she promised and ushered the girl and Kurama to the portal to pass through its depths at last. The case was over...now there was many questions to answer.