"I could be cold
I could be ruthless
You know I could be just like you ."

-Three Days Grace 'Just Like You'-


Kagome Higurashi, to those that had known her, would say that she had perished years ago. Would even go so far to say that she had been killed during her battle with Naraku. Such a comment might be able to be considered true, and false all at the same time. It wasn't best to worry one's brain over the enigma of such a statement. One would have to find the woman named Kagome Higurashi, and ask her the meaning of it. She hadn't been seen for almost six years in either time. Her family had by now considered her truly dead, as she had not appeared through the well in all that time. Even in Sengoku Jidai had forgotten the young miko that had surely changed the outcome of an extremely time period. If she had not defeated Naraku, all the inhabitants of the world would be doomed to death, or many things much worse. The Shikon No Tama would also strike a subject of speech when the phantom miko came into discussions. It had been returned to it's original state and purified by the miko powers that she held within her body. It was fought over whether or not she had made a wish, for some still dared to say that youkai and hanyou all alike could still feel the throbbing presence of the wish-giving jewel.

The well was destroyed, not by Naraku, and not by a demon that wished to keep the miko in the past, hoping to get it's claws on the Shikon Jewel, when it had been found destroyed by the old priestess Kaede, she did not find the markings of a demon's destruction, but an arrow had been imbedded within the wells broken sides. Had it been the dead miko Kikyou who had destroyed it, or better yet, Kagome? So many questions surronded her, and yet it no longer seemed to matter to the miko. Nothing seemed to matter to the miko, who had lost everything that she had cared and come to care for. She lost her friends from the Feudal Era, she lost her family in modern-day Tokyo, she had been dragged through hell, and had come out the only one to survive.

She rivaled even the most controlled demon with her mask of cruel coldness. Her face had lost it's childish plumpness and was returned with a womanly face, her cheekbones high, with a slender nose and full pink lips. Not that it was her mature beauty that could best a demon, it was the fact that her face seemed numb to emotion, if she had been seen at the most painful part of her life, besides the battle with Naraku, not even a sword through the belly would earn a reaction on her features. Pain, fear, apprehension, caution, none of the 'emotions' could change her features. They stayed frozen, fierce and thick. She did not hide from the world necessarily, but she no longer bounded into companionship, as her younger, more trusting self had done time after time. She was no longer the Kagome had captured the attention of so many with her innocence and purity, yet this could not be completely stated in truth either. She was still pure, and held some sort of innocence, but it seemed that the cruelty of fate and the world had stripped some of it away from her. She knew the world for what it was, and no longer seemed content to fight against the powers of darkness.

Why should she? No matter how hard she fought, no matter how many died, evil was always present in the world, it was inevitable. She could fight for the rest of her life, and yet the darkness would always remain. So why fight? Such splendid love and trust of the world around her had been tarnished. And therefore, Kagome was nothing more than a wandering soul over the earth, with no purpose and no goals set to keep her from falling into the dark abyss that she had surronded herself in.

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"Well momma told me,
when I was young.
Said sit beside me,
my only son,
and listen closely to what I say.
And if you do this,
it'll help you some sunny day.
....Be a simple kind of man."

-Shinedown 'Simple Man'-

Sesshomaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands, stood silently underneath the shade of the tree's branches. Golden eyes staring down at the simple marker of the dear one that had passed away. Actually, she had been gone for a few years, four to be exact. She had not died of an attack, no one had killed her out of evil intentions. She had retained a sickness, and her human body had not been able to fight off the disease. And neither had the great demon been able to save her, no longer did his sword of life, bring exactly that. It had refused to slash away the gremlins that had started to drag off Rin's soul. It had betrayed him. He had to bury the ningen girl that had changed his life for the better, even if he hated to admit it. The shell that he had started to peel himself out of, the emotions that he had started to show, all disappeared with the death of the girl.

Jaken though was still around, much to the bitter sniveling of Sesshomaru. Sometimes he truly began to wonder why he kept the toad-demon around, he was truly disgusting and really held not much power to be reckoned with. He was annoying to the brink of tears, boring in everything he said, a coward and to boot he usually brought them into more trouble than was necessary. At such an unwanted thought, the toad was somehow summoned to his Masters side. With a tentative clearing of his throat, his three-fingered hand grasping tightly at the Two-Headed Staff, he took a grip of Sesshomaru's pure white clothing and gave a tug.

"Lord Sess-shomaru? I cannot bare to be the bearer of bad news, but there are rumors of a youkai uprising on the Southern borders."

The tall taiyoukai turned with swift, precise steps, letting his booted foot collide with the toad's face as he continued his steps. An uprising? It would do him well to release some of his pent-up energy from months of inactivity. With an impassive face, the cloud was summoned under said feet as he rocketed up into the clear skies. The ki of other demons brushed across his pale skin as he neared the border, but strangely enough, the energy that he felt arising from that particular area was not entirely consisted of demons. No, not demon at all, but not yet entirely human either. It was familiar, which did not bode well for the Lord Taiyoukai, he did not like the fact that it was familiar. Not at all.

He landed down to find a single figure amongst the growing amount of fur and fangs. To normal sight the figure looked nothing more than human. Dull fingernails, half-blind eyes. Dull teeth and such. On even closer inspection, the ningen was of a female gender, whirling around in defense, a blade flashing dully in the muted sunlight. Tetsuiga? He could not pinpoint why this human was so familiar, and was just as confused at the sight of his father's fang. Why of all people would a lowly human be weilding the sword as if she owned it? Yet it was her expertise with the sword that eliminated most of the youkai in her presence, but it was the bright flash of miko power, purifying those nearest to her into ashes, that tipped the scales and ended the battle. With only one remaining, and in fear of the Miko power, it fled into the forest.

Raven black hair whipped around once more, flaring up in the airs currents. Dark blue eyes latched onto his cold golden one's without as much as a simple emotion crossing over her cream features.

"Lord Sesshomaru, it has been many years has it not?"

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Authors Note: I am quite aware that I may have portrayed things incorrectly. As well as might have even mis-spelled a few words in the process. I assure you all that I have tried to be as accurate as I could be, but I will now take this time to state that in no way, form, or shape do I own Inuyasha and the rest of both story and idea. What I have written is only what I wish to happen. I will go ahead and take the time to sincerely thank those that read and review.