Holding on to the Past, Moving into the Future.
Chapter 2
By: Ryu Katanna
Beta: Miyu Suzuki
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Returning Home
"What now toddler?" Yusuke asked boredly.
It was noon in Ningenkai and the whole team had been called into Reikai for a new mission. Yusuke entered the office to find Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara already there. As was Botan and what looked like a toad demon in old brown servants robes. The demon held a staff with the head of an old woman on one side and the head of an old man on the opposing side.
Shrugging off Yusuke's usual rudeness Koenma moved onto the more important matters of their next mission; for he knew the urgency of the development.
"Team, we need you to find someone. Her name is Kagome Higurashi. She is seventeen years old, and lives somewhere in Tokyo. We haven't any more information than that. For some unknown reason it has been erased from the Ningenkai data banks."
As Koenma spoke a picture of a young woman appeared on the television screen behind him. She looked to be petite; not much taller than Hiei. She looked to be a bright and cheery teen with rosy cheeks. Her brown eyes sparkling while her waist length black hair blew back softly with the breeze.
There were unspoken thoughts of the girl throughout the room.
'Wow she's cute she looks like such a free spirit. What could Koenma want with her?' -Botan
'Gyah gyah, she's hot! I wonder if she'll go out with me.' -Kuwabara
'Hmm, why would Prince Koenma want us to seek out a human girl. I gotta admit she is cute. She looks like someone I feel I should remember. From Yoko's life. Hm, I guess we'll find out later.' -Kurama
'Could it be? It is! That's my cousin who was adopted into the ningen half of my family. She lives five to six blocks from my new apartment in that old shrine. What does Koenma want with her?' -Yusuke
'What could he want with a girl such as her?' -Koenma
'Hn. She looks trusting. She also looks like... no, it couldn't be. She disappeared five hundred years ago.' -Hiei
'Oh Lady Kagome. If only you were the same way that you were before the battle. Kirara, please keep her safe from that happening again. It would kill her.' -Unknown
"Hey Koenma, what exactly is it you want with my baby cousin?" Yusuke asked shocking everyone in the room.
'So it's his cousin huh? This could be amusing.' Hiei thought, letting the shadows of the room cover him.
"Your cousin? Well that makes her a little easier to find at least!" Botan said smiling in relief.
"Yusuke, you never told me you had a pretty cousin." Kuwabara said admiring the photograph of the dark haired beauty.
"No, I don't think he has; has he?" Kurama stated glancing to Hiei.
$She is kinda cute isn't she? She looks so untouched of all the evils of the world. Wouldn't you agree?$ Kurama thought so Hiei would hear clearly using his jagan eye.
They often spoke this way so the others wouldn't hear.
Hn. I do agree, but nothing is always as it seems. Hiei replied as he still gazed at the screen.
$Your right. Lord Koenma wouldn't be sending us after her if there wasn't something to her.$ Kurama thought, contemplating what the ruler of Reikai would want with a girl from Ningenkai who just happened to be the baby cousin of their leader.
Ooh a mystery girl. Pretty too. Hey Kurama think she'd go out with us? Yoko said with a perverted grin that both Kurama and Hiei could see in their minds.
$No!$
But...
Shut up fox. Koenma's talking.
"Well, Yusuke I had no clue she was your cousin. As I said all of her files are missing from the Ningenkai data base. Other than that information there is nothing on her. It's quite troubling really. It isn't even us who are requesting her presence. I really have no say in the matter." Koenma said shaking his head and looking to the demon beside his desk with staff in hand.
"Then who?" Kuwabara asked following Koenma's gaze, as did everyone else in the room.
"Him?" Yusuke asked incredulously.
Taking a look at him again Kurama acknowledged the servant robes that the seemingly centuries old demon wore.
"No, it is a yokai of royal blood that requests her presence. Thing is, who?" He stated aloud, thinking.
"Yes, you are correct. It is not I, but my Lord Sesshomaru of Makai who wishes Lady Kagome's presence in his home. I am Jaken, and I am his retainer. I have served the royal family of the West for over eight hundred years now." The toad now known as Jaken replied.
Letting out a nervous laugh as Yusuke recalled what he knew of the Lord of Makai; he had to ask one thing.
"Well what does Lord Sesshomaru want with Kagome then? She's only a ningen. She was adopted into ningen half of my family when she was I think two years old, but I don't know that much about her. The last time I seen her was about nine years ago when our Grandmother died. She lives with our Grandfather, my Aunt, and her little brother Sota about four to seven blocks from mine and Keiko's new apartment." Yusuke said keeping a wary eye on Jaken.
After all when a Yokai Lord as powerful as Lord Sesshomaru requested something; it was hardly a request.
"Great!" Botan giggled with false joy that the team easily picked up.
She obviously didn't like the idea of just handing a young woman from Ningenkai to a powerful Yokai Lord.
"Well, we did not know she had any other family. Lord Sesshomaru wishes to speak with Lady Kagome about certain matters that not even I know. If you want to know more, you may try asking Lady Kagome herself. That is if she'll even tell you. If it was nine years ago that you last seen her then you are in for surprise at how much she has changed. My young Lady has been through more then you could ever know. I cannot say anymore than that for it is not my place to do so." Jaken said somewhat sadly.
Realizing something Hiei stated carefully.
"You called her 'My young Lady' and 'Lady Kagome'. Always putting the title of Lady next to her name. Could it be that she is the Lady of the Western Lands that disappeared five hundred years ago."
The room was in silence for several minutes as the team thought of this concept. Carefully Jaken looked to Hiei.
"Ah, the forbidden child. Such sharp senses. You'll just have to find out for yourself when we find her. Now won't you?" Jaken said looking to Botan. "Lady Death would you be so kind as to make one of your portals so we are near the ancient Goshinboku Tree. We should find her within that area."
Botan blinked a few times and then smiled.
"Sure can!" She giggled and within a few minutes she had created a portal six feet in length, and four feet in width.
"Well team, move out. When you find her take her directly to Lord Sesshomaru's palace in Makai." Koenma said as Kuwabara, Yusuke, Kurama, Jaken, and Hiei walked through the portal.
Sealing the portal Lady Death looked to Prince Koenma.
"Do you think that this girl can really be the younger sister of the Lord?" Botan asked; thinking of what would happen if Lady Kagome were to return to the Palace after so long.
"I don't know Botan. If this Kagome Higurashi is Lady Kagome; she will have come of age where she must choose a suitor. Demons all over Makai will file in for the role to try to get to Lord Sesshomaru and take over Makai, but we cannot know for sure what will happen. All we can do is wait and hope that is not what happens.
"Usually when born to the throne as Lord Sesshomaru was, the child is betrothed at birth, but Lady Kagome had been adopted into the family. My father says she was always a kind and compassionate person, but that all changed when she lost her brother; Lord Inuyasha and her close friends as well as her adopted kit in a battle against a great evil. She grew hard and cold to everyone one, no longer letting anyone into her heart. She needed no one but her brother and her loyal friend, a neko demon. They say that shortly after the battle she disappeared with the neko, and they still don't know what happened to her.
"There is a possibility that this girl is the Lady of Makai, and if she is, then there is a chance we may have trouble on our hands."
When the spirit detectives stepped out of the portal; the air was filled with a suffocating smell. Stepping forward Yusuke looked on in shock.
The Higurashi shrine was on fire; as was the well house. Everyone looked on as the embers enveloped the house. After a moment the figure of a young woman walked into sight from the back of the house with a gas can in one hand, and a book in the other.
Her black jeans and black tank top covered in blood. Her long black hair tied into a ponytail, and a small neko demon on her shoulder. The neko demon watched the group from her shoulder carefully though the girl herself seemed unconcerned of their presence.
As she approached the group her chocolate brown eyes void of emotion, void of thought, studied each one of them. Blood and ash streaked her face; covering in her forehead completely. When her eyes focused upon Jaken, he bowed low, and she tilted her head in approval.
The Spirit Detectives didn't know what to say; not even Yusuke. The girl seemed so detached from the world they were stunned to silence. Even Hiei.
Yusuke couldn't believe it. This couldn't be the same happy go lucky Kagome. She was changed. He felt like he was at a loss.
The group waited for her to speak as she opened her mouth to do so.
"Jaken. I must speak with Sessho immediately. I need you to go back to him, and tell him I will arrived as soon as I can. There is something I must do." Her voice held no life; just as her eyes.
There was no way this could be the same person shown on the screen in Koenma's office. The girl had to be a whole other person.
"Yes Lady Kagome, and what of your family?" Jaken asked; not once making eye contact with the girl.
The spirit detective was surprised to see her eyes showed a tinge of red.
"Kirara and I didn't make it to them in time. I take it these are the people he sent with you." Kagome stated more than questioned.
"Yes my Lady. He sent them to help you if you need it, and to guide you through Makai, the Demon realm. A lot of things have changed in the last five hundred years of you absence, my Lady." Jaken said and looked over to the detectives who had stayed silent the whole time.
'That is good. Even if Yusuke is her cousin, she would still kill him if he annoyed her or showed disrespect.' He sighed on the inside.
"Fine. Take Kirara and go back to Makai. Inform Sesshomaru. Now." Kagome said, and nudged the small neko.
Jumping down from her shoulder, the demon eyed the Spirit Detectives wearily as it was enveloped by flames, and grew larger. Surprising them even more when the neko growled and glared at them as Jaken climbed onto her back. Looking to Kagome she took off into a portal her mistress created.
Looking to the Detectives, Kagome nodded once as Kurama and Hiei knelt in recognition of the younger sister of the ruler of Makai. Yusuke and Kuwabara stayed standing.
"I am Kagome, younger sister to Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Inuyasha. You are?" She said in monotone.
"I am Kurama." The red head stated looking to the others.
"Kuwabara." The human with orange hair said as he just now realized who she was, and bowed low.
"Hiei." The yokai with gravity defying black hair stated coolly.
"Yusuke. Your cousin." The hanyou with greasy slicked back black hair replied. "Aunt Eiko was attacked? By who, Kagome?"
Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei looked from Yusuke to Kagome and back again.
"Yes, I remember you from, what was it? Nine years ago? At grams burial. Yes mother was attacked. So were Sota and Grandpa." Kagome replied; her emotionless expression never faltering.
"Who attacked them?" Yusuke asked again when she left out that little tid bit.
"An old enemy. It's none of your concern anyway. It's mine and my own." Kagome said hoping to end the discussion, but Yusuke would have none of it.
"Old enemy? Who?" Yusuke questioned impatiently; ignoring her earlier statement.
"Yusuke, don't." Kuwabara warned when he felt Kagome's aura spike in annoyance.
Hiei and Kurama shook their heads to Kuwabara when Yusuke didn't respond. The stubborn hanyou would have to learn not to disrespect those in the royal court. It was something not even Hiei dared to do.
If there was anyone he had an ounce of respect for; it would have to be Lord Sesshomaru. This girl being his sister had earned a bit of that respect. She had been adopted into the family, meaning she must have a great deal of power to gain the respect of both of the Lords. He also knew the legend of the great evil she had fought against just as Kurama and all the demons of Makai.
"It does not concern you. You should listen to your friend. I haven't seen you in over nine years. You may be my cousin by my adoption, but in my eyes you are not family Detective. Watch yourself. I may kill you next time." Kagome growled; her eyes tinted red.
Yusuke stopped questioning her. Knowing that she was not his cousin anymore. She had changed. Her eyes were no longer the eyes of a carefree child. No. Her eyes were eyes that had seen too much for her years, and nothing could, or would be able to change that. His cousin had been full of life, while now she held none.
"I am sorry, Lady Kagome." Yusuke said diverting his eyes to the ground.
"Lady Kagome. If I may ask what is it you must do before going to Makai?" Kurama asked.
"I must go see an old friend. A very old very good friend." She replied, and made a portal just as she had for Jaken. "You may go home if you like. It is getting dark. I only need one person to come with me. Don't worry. I'll tell Sessho you were all good 'bodyguards.' Just that I sent three home to rest." Kagome said and waited for them to beside.
"Hn. I'll go." Hiei said and walked up to Kagome to stand beside her. "You all have someone waiting for you at home. I don't. I'll go." he stated dully as Yusuke was about to protest.
"He's right. My sister; Shizuru is waiting for me to get home. Keiko's waiting for Yusuke, and Kurama's mother Shiori is waiting also. We better go." Kuwabara said.
"It's good that you all have someone who's waiting for you. I'll return Hiei to you later. Goodbye. It was nice to meet you all." Kagome said walking into the portal. Followed shortly after by Hiei.
The three boys watched as the two departed then looked toward the setting sun.
"She seems so... dead. Her skin was so pale." Kuwabara stated glumly.
"She hasn't always been like that." Yusuke said thinking of what could have changed his cousin so much.
"Let me tell you the story of what happened five hundred years ago..." Kurama said softly.
End of Chapter
