Chapter 3: Explanations

The Higurashi shrine had changed quite a bit in a rather short amount of time. It still had the main house, the God Tree, and the well house, but another, rather large building had been added, as well as a smaller building, while the old well house had been rebuilt. The entire area also looked much nicer, and better maintained.

At the moment, it also appeared somewhat more crowded, as the main courtyard held Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Botan. Kagome had phoned ahead telling her mother that they would be having numerous guests and to make extra food, so when Kagome walked into the kitchen, she wasn't all that surprised to find her mother preparing a mountain of food.

"Hi Mama."

Kagome's mother turned at her daughter's voice and walked forward to give Kagome a hug.

"Welcome back, did you have a good trip?"

Kagome nodded after breaking the embrace. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Kuwabara who had just entered the kitchen.

"Whoa! Man, that looks good. When do we eat?"

Kuwabara extended a hand toward some food that was finished but being kept warm, and Kagome moved to stop him.

"Kuwabara, wait until we've been called for dinner. Then you may have some."

Everyone turned toward the voice to find Kurama standing just outside the kitchen, eyeing Kuwabara with disapproval. With a grunt of disappointment, Kuwabara left the kitchen.

"Sorry about him, etiquette never was his strongest virtue. My name is Minamino Shuiichi, and it's a pleasure to meet you. But please call me Kurama"

As he said this, Kurama gave an elegant bow to Kagome's mother, who bowed in return.

"Thank you. You certainly seem to have etiquette as a strong virtue."

Kurama merely grinned slightly.

"My mother was always knowledgeable when it came to etiquette, and it rubbed off on me."

Kagome's mother chuckled lightly. She turned back to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner, so she completely missed the strange look Kagome gave Kurama. Kurama noticed the look. He walked out of the dining room, and as he passed Kagome, he patted her shoulder.

"I will answer any questions you have after dinner."

Kagome nodded. She followed Kurama out of the room. The sight before her made her stop and stare.

It seemed that the old team members mixed almost perfectly with the new...Kinda. Kuwabara was sitting with Miroku watching the TV. At the moment, the screen displayed a swimsuit competition, and Kuwabara and Miroku were cheering excitedly. Kirara was currently sitting on Hiei's left shoulder, while said fire demon was sitting cross-legged on top of a coffee table. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was glaring at everyone, daring them to say something about the two tailed cat sitting on his cloaked shoulder. Botan and Sango were sitting on the other couch, chatting amiably. Botan was dressed the pink kimono, which Kagome found rather cute. As did Sango apparently, as she kept fingering the kimono, and that was the topic of conversation between the two. Botan seemed to think that Sango's outfit was also quite adorable. It was a schoolgirl's uniform much like Kagome's, only with a much longer skirt. Kagome was tempted to join in the conversation, but she noticed that Kurama was missing.

Kagome closed her eyes slightly, and extended her senses. This trick was still new to her, so she cast about rather blindly for a moment as usual before things started to make themselves clear.

Kagome started to sort through the information that this new sense provided her with, and she recognized everyone's individual auras. Sango, with her powerful aura, Botan with the strange aura, Miroku with his holy, yet perverted aura, Kuwabara with an aura similar to Miroku's at the moment, Hiei with a powerful dark, burning aura, and Kirara with her own burning aura shaped like her much larger and more powerful demon form.

It was only once Kagome had cast her senses farther out did she detect Kurama's presence. It took a moment of casting about outside the house to locate him. The time trees aura obscured everything in the area, even inside the house. And as Kurama was standing at the base of the tree, it provided him with a spiritual camouflage.

Kagome opened her eyes and walked out of the room, heading for the front door. As she reached it, she stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, right hand held over her heart. Back in the feudal era, she had considered Shippo to be her adopted son. But something had changed in the fox kit.

(No, not kit. Not anymore.)

Kagome reached out with her right hand, and pulled the sliding door open. She then walked down the pathway to the steps leading down to the shrine of the Time Tree, and the old well house. As expected, Kurama was standing in front of the Time Tree, clearly visible. His long red hair was blowing in the wind slightly as he looked up at the tree with his emerald green eyes.

Kagome walked down the steps, and Kurama turned to look at her. He nodded to her as she walked up, and she lightly waved back with her right hand, an energetic smile on her face. Kurama smiled slightly in return, and then refocused his attention on the tree. Kagome followed his gaze to a very familiar hole in the tree bark, one she doubted would ever fade.

"Do you think he's still out there?"

Kurama turned to Kagome and studied her for a moment. After a moment, he returned his attention to the tree once again, and tucked his hands into his pant pockets. Kagome didn't want to admit it, but his calm gaze unnerved her. It made her feel as if Kurama could see right through her. It was so at odds with Shippo's personality that Kagome couldn't repress a shiver.

After a moment of pondering how to answer Kagome's question, Kurama spoke.

"I have yet to hear of Inuyasha's death, and I'm sure I would have, since he was widely known and respected for his power. But I have heard stories of some of his travels after the jewel was completed. Kagome, what happened between the two of you? All of us expected the two of you to marry, spend your lives together."

Kagome looked down at the ground for a moment, then up at the hole in the tree. She walked forward and reached out with her right hand, stretching up to barely reach it. When she spoke, her voice was choked.

"He...I'm sorry Shippo, but I can't tell you right now. Maybe after dinner when I've had some time to think."

Kurama nodded, his eyes on the woman he had thought of as a mother 500 years ago.

"Very well. We can exchange histories then. But call me Kurama. It is my name now. Shippo is..."

Kurama looked out over at the sun just as a heavy breeze kicked up, blowing his long hair out, and ruffling his red uniform.

"...gone, buried in the past. Yoko Kurama took his place."

Kagome turned and studied Kurama. Her mouth opened slightly, and she clenched her left hand over her heart as her long, black hair blew out, caught in the wind. Kurama's face was still impassive, stoic in every way, but she thought that she saw a hint of sadness in his eyes. The moment was broken when the door of the house opened and Kagome's Mother's voice called out.

"Kagome, Kurama, dinner's ready!!"

"Coming Mama!!"

Kagome turned and went to the house. Kurama studied the setting sun for another moment, and then turned and followed Kagome to the house. For a moment he paused, the sun still in the corner of his eye. He then continued on his way, convinced he was imagining things, that the place he was in was playing tricks on his mind.

But for a moment, he could've sworn he saw a figure outlined against the sun, dressed in a dark red kimono, with a huge sword resting against one shoulder, with long, silver hair, golden eyes, and two dog ears on top of his head. But the thing that left an icy feeling in the pit of his stomach was the figure, one as well known to him as Yusuke, had been missing a necklace of simple wooden prayer beads.

Inuyasha stared out of the window as the subway train barreled around another corner. For a moment, his eyes showed up gold in his reflection, but the moment passed so fast he thought he imagined it. Inuyasha turned his attention away from the window to study his two companions, and now teammates.

Kale was leaning back in his seat, his eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest, and legs crossed at the ankles. His backpack occupied the seat next to him, and Inuyasha and Yusuke felt that this was asking for trouble from the local thieves. But after dealing with one such thief rather...harshly, Kale was left alone.

Yusuke was also leaning back in his seat. But he had a cup of coffee with him, and was lazily sipping from it, while tapping his left foot against one of the metal chair legs. His left hand, unoccupied with the coffee was idly rolling a gold ring around between his fingers. The ring was rather wide, with rounded spike like protrusions on one side, and lumps uniformly placed so that they were in line with the spikes, set in the middle of the ring. Inuyasha surmised that you would wear the ring on your index finger, with the spikes facing the tip of the finger.

Inuyasha himself sat with his right leg bent at the knee, ankle resting on his left knee, elbows of both arms resting on the seat back behind him, hands dangling down. His braided hair was slung over his left shoulder, with the end resting in his lap. Inuyasha's right foot was currently twitching to a beat only it could hear, and Inuyasha watched it lazily while waiting for the train to get to their stop.

After watching his foot twitch for another half hour, Inuyasha finally recognized the tune as 'Jingle Bells'. He was about to reach out with his left arm and forcibly still the foot when the train screeched to a halt. His attention switched to Yusuke as he stood up and spoke.

"This is it. Come on."

Kale and Inuyasha stood, Kale swinging his backpack onto his back, and Inuyasha mentally commanding his foot to return to the real world. Both followed Yusuke out of the train, then past the ticket booth of the train station, and finally out into the air.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose slightly at the city air, while Kale looked around with interest. After a moment the two followed Yusuke, who had put a little distance between him and them by continuing to walk. As it was a lazy walk, not very fast, Kale and Inuyasha caught up with him quickly, and assumed their standard 'lazy walk pose'. If they had bothered to look at each other, they would have noticed how their stances were all but identical.

They walked with an unconscious slump to their shoulders, hands in their pockets, heads tilted downward slightly to see the ground in front of them. Yusuke had his hands tucked into his pant pockets, as did Inuyasha, while Kale his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. And while Inuyasha had his hands tucked into his pant pockets, there was a subtle set to his shoulders that his hands were better-set elsewhere. If one knew who Inuyasha was, they would've supposed that his hands would've rested in the large sleeves of his kimono.

After a few minutes of walking, the three came to Yusuke's home. Yusuke didn't bother knocking, or calling out that he was home, merely unlocking the door, and walking in. He slipped off his shoes, as did Inuyasha with a barely heard grateful sigh. Kale had to sit down and unzip his boots before taking them off, and following the other two deeper into the house.

They found Atsuko in the dining room, watching the news and drinking tea. Yusuke was glad that his mother wasn't drinking today. It was a new record, nearly a month since Atsuko had last gotten plastered. To others such as Iwamoto it would've meant that Atsuko was now sober for her 'tramp acts'. These people were very careful not to mention these opinions anywhere near Yusuke, less he send them to the hospital.

To Yusuke, it meant that his mother was slowly but surely breaking her addiction to alcohol. There was hope that she may one day be totally free of the stuff.

"Mom, I'm home."

Atsuko turned at her son's voice and nodded in greeting to him, before focusing on his friends. She wasn't sure what to think of either, since they were so different from each other. Kale was American, and had the battered appearance of someone who lived it rough more often than not. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was dressed in informal, but well kept, clothes, and had the look of a person who was rather well off. Yusuke noticed his mother's scrutiny of his two companions, and decided to make introductions.

"Mom, these are two new friends I met earlier today. This is Blaze Kale..."

Kale bowed slightly in greeting, which Atsuko returned as best she could from a sitting position.

"...and this is-"

"-Miamichi Hideko. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Yusuke looked at Inuyasha out of the corner of his eye as the hanyou bowed to Atsuko, who bowed in return. Yusuke gave a mental shrug and decided to play along.

"Hey, mom, me and these two need to talk about some stuff in my room, alright? Can you bring us some snacks in a little while? And can you knock before entering this time?"

Atsuko nodded, rather used to her son having secret discussions now, and not in the least bothered by the rudeness, since she could outdo Yusuke in rudeness and crudeness in every way. He had to learn from someone, after all.

In Yusuke's room, the three of them found comfortable spots to sit, and set about making themselves comfortable. Yusuke sat cross-legged on his bed, his chin supported by his right hand, the elbow of which was propped on his knee. Inuyasha took a 'warrior's at rest' position, leaning against one wall. Kale merely sat down in a spot out of the way of the door cross-legged, leaning forward, head supported by his hands, which were propped on his knees.

"So, which of us should talk first?"

Kale and Yusuke glanced at each other, then Kale replied to Inuyasha's question.

"You. I've got more than a few questions as well, if you don't mind."

Inuyasha sighed, then nodded his consent.

"Where have you been the last 500 years, what happened to the priestess of the legend, as well as the other people of your little band, and why are you human at the moment? Oh yeah, where did that katana come from?"

Inuyasha didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked down at the floor right in front of him for a moment, his face a jumble of emotions. When he looked back up and started to speak, his face had returned to a cool mask, which had a hard edge to it. Both Kale and Yusuke stayed silent, respectful of their comrade's feelings, and the struggle he had to go through to pull them back under control.

As for Inuyasha, he was battling his inner most feelings, feelings he thought that he had left behind 500 years ago. As he slowly brought his feelings under control, his mask softened slightly. Inuyasha felt a small bit of pride as his feelings came completely under control, and his poker face returned full force. It had taken him over a hundred years to control himself and develop his poker face. He had found out the hard way that being a hotheaded, fights-at-the-drop-of-a-hat idiot wasn't the best way to live, or keep a low profile.

And after the hundredth assassin, Inuyasha had become very interested in low profiles.

"For the past 500 years, I've traveled the world over. Went to college occasionally, fought in the occasional war, and started building a fortune in various forms of treasure. I also spent quite a bit of time studying magic."

At this point Inuyasha reached down toward the left side of his waist, and closed his fingers around something. The other two remembered the sword, and looked at the hand. Yusuke narrowed his eyes and was able to see the air ripple slightly around Inuyasha's hand. Inuyasha then reached forward, drawing the sword. After a moment, it cleared the scabbard, and he held it parallel to the ground.

"Is that...Tesaiga?"

"No. This is a sword forged for me when I visited the village of a powerful gray miko. She ordered this sword forged for me while I stayed in the village. I learned my first style of martial arts in that village. And it was there that I learned to place my human blood in the foreground, while shunting my demon blood to the background. Thus, I look exactly like your average human. Just a little stronger and faster. It was also in this place where I learned the magic that allows me to hide the sword."

At this point, Inuyasha sheathed the blade. He hesitated for a moment, then drew forth another blade. This blade, when compared to the other, which was well cared for, polished, and gleaming, was a rusted piece of junk. But when the new blade cleared the scabbard, and became wholly visible, Kale and Yusuke unconsciously scooted away from it, feeling immense power.

"THIS is Tesaiga."

Yusuke stood up and walked over to Inuyasha. He kneeled down, and held out his hand.

"May I?"

Inuyasha reversed the blade, holding it out to Yusuke hilt first. Yusuke took the blade carefully, staring at the pitted and rusted surface in awe. Now that he had the sword in hand, he could feel its power in much more definition than before. Yusuke could even feel how to activate the change to transform the blade. Yusuke stood, and turned away from Inuyasha. He held the sword out before him, parallel to the ground. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the desire to protect Keiko, the want to keep harm eternally away from her. As he did this, his forearms unconsciously tensed, and he felt the sword pulse in his hands.

Then he felt his arms filled with an unbelievable weight, and his arms were pulled downward. He then heard a rather loud crash, and felt the floor shudder.

Yusuke's eyes snapped open and he saw that the sword had fallen onto the floor blade first, and had sunk several inches into the floor. Kale and Inuyasha were too busy laughing to help him pull the blade free. Yusuke gathered some spirit energy into his arms, and heaved. The blade came out of the floor, but was in immediate danger of going back in. Yusuke increased the amount of energy into his arms.

"Damn...I might be able to get one swing in with this..."

Inuyasha reached out and took the sword from Yusuke, much to Yusuke's relief. Then Yusuke saw how Inuyasha held the sword one handed with no difficulty what so ever.

"What the...?"

Inuyasha grinned before explaining, sliding Tesaiga back into its scabbard while the sword was still transformed. Yusuke's mouth fell open as he stared at the sheathed blade.

"Tesaiga was a gift from my father, and it's a way of protection, both for humans, and myself. Because of that, I can lift the blade with ease. Others, if they can lift it at all, have incredible difficulty because the blade isn't meant to protect them."

Kale nodded at Inuyasha's explanation, as did Yusuke, albeit a rather dumb nod. Yusuke went and reclaimed his seat. After he sat down, he noticed that Inuyasha's swords had once again vanished.

"As for the rest..."

Inuyasha's face was partially hidden by his bangs, preventing them from seeing his eyes. But both Yusuke and Kale thought they caught a glimmer, as if a tear had gathered but not fallen.

"The miko returned to her home, while the rest followed her. I stayed behind. I eventually learned to keep a low profile, and you've heard how I spent my time."

At the words 'low profile', Inuyasha had grinned slightly, and Kale and Yusuke had grinned in return. The Inuyasha of legend was notorious for his lightning quick temper, as well as his strength. Yusuke idly wondered how many fights Inuyasha had been in before he learned to keep a low profile. As Kale looked at Yusuke and opened his mouth to speak, Yusuke spoke first.

"SO, Kale, what's your past like?"

Kale's mouth was stuck open for a minute before he closed it, looking at Yusuke.

"Not much to my past. Born in the demon world, I traveled around as a bounty hunter, and mercenary for hire. That's about it. SO Yusuke, what about you?"

Yusuke shrugged.

"Afraid there's not much to tell about me either. Born here, didn't know a thing about spirit world or demons till I died savin' some kid. Eventually I got trained by an old bat named Genkai, and started to really work for the spirit world. Took out a few high powered demons before going to the Dark Tournament."

At this point, Yusuke's voice became angry, frustrated.

"And then I was fired. Real pain in the ass."

Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak, but Yusuke's mother called out, stopping him.

"Dinner's ready!"

Kuwabara leaned back on the porch and belched.

"Ah, much better."

Miroku regarded him with humor, while nearly everyone else looked at him with varying degrees of disgust. Since he couldn't figure out why they were looking at him like that, Kuwabara asked what was wrong.

"What?"

Everyone looked away, shaking his or her head. Kuwabara thought he heard Hiei say 'idiot', but wasn't sure enough to make an issue of it. So he simply leaned back, and made himself comfortable. Kurama then walked out onto the porch, and regarded Kuwabara with a small amount of disdain.

"You could at least say 'excuse me'."

Kuwabara looked at him, puzzled.

"Uh...Why?"

Kurama shook his head.

"Never mind."

Kurama walked away to another part of the porch, leaving a confused Kuwabara behind, looking after him cluelessly. Finally, Kuwabara shrugged, and leaned back once again, this time falling asleep.

Kurama sat down on the steps, and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, chin supported in his left hand. He heard, and sensed, Kagome approach him from behind. She sat down on his right, about a hand spans distance away. Kurama knew what was coming, and he half wanted it to come, and half wanted it to stay in the future, never to be approached.

"Kurama..."

But Kagome had to know, she deserved to know.

Kurama was aware of the silence as he started to speak, telling them all about his past. About how, as he became older, his fur changed color, and how his powers changed, from illusions and the like to those of controlling plants. How he decided to go to the demon world, and take the name Yoko Kurama. How he was injured hundreds of years later, and how he fled to the human world, becoming the child of humans. And eventually how he had met Yusuke, joined his band, and went on to fight many demons of incredible power and cunning, and eventually, he told them all about the Dark Tournament.

Kurama refrained from mentioning Hiei's involvement with getting him to go after the artifacts of darkness. That was Hiei's story to tell, if he so chose. Until then, better for Kagome to believe that Hiei was in no way connected to the artifacts.

Night had fully fallen before Kurama had finished talking, the only illumination being the porch lights. Now that he was done, relief swept through him. Silence still reigned for the most part, broken only by Kuwabara's not so quiet snores. Kagome stood up, speaking as she did so.

"Thank you for telling us. For now, I suggest we all get some sleep, and talk more tomorrow. Good night."

Everyone but Kuwabara, who was still sleeping, stood up and started to head indoors. Sango stopped by the large boy and reached out to shake him awake when Hiei stopped her.

"Leave the idiot there. Better for everyone."

He then flickered out of view, reappearing in a nearby tree, though only Kurama knew that.

Sango stopped, her hand hovering over Kuwabara's shoulder, considering. She then nodded, and walked into the house, Kuwabara still asleep. Kurama shook his head, a small smile on his face, before heading inside as well, hands in his pockets.

:Author's note:

So, what do you think? Good, bad, totally out of it? Please let me know in a review so I can adjust the writing accordingly. Thanks.