Holding on to the Past, Moving into the Future.

Chapter 3

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.

Truths Revealed

Kagome walked silently; Hiei following behind through an almost abandoned neighborhood. What she hoped to find there he did not know. There were no signs of life, ningen and yokai alike, though his Jagan eye told him differently.

Kagome seemed to know this too; for she had turned in the direction he could feel the auras of two demons. Hiei remained silent as they walked through the empty streets; his eyes trained on the demonic aura ahead. He could sense no threat but also did not know what lay ahead.

"Here." The word had been spoken so quietly Hiei almost hadn't heard it.

Pounding loudly on the door they waited as the larger yokai aura approached them.

"Yes?" The old demon asked with wide unseeing eyes as he looked Kagome up and down. "Is that you Kagome? Is it really?"

"It is Totousai (sp?). It's good to see you." Kagome replied in monotone.

"So the stories are true? You've really changed so much." Totousai asked as he sat back down after letting them in.

"Hai." She answered, and sat across from him with Hiei standing behind her.

He still didn't know what to make of the elder yokai.

"Oh, Lady Kagome. Lord Inuyasha would not have liked the way you have become." Squeaked another voice from the tabletop.

"Hello Myoga (sp?)." Kagome looked down at the small flea yokai.

"Lady Kagome why have you change so?" Myoga asked.

He didn't want to believe that his Ladyship had change the way the stories had told. This question also piqued Hiei's interest.

"I just lost the will to live. Myoga do you know who all died back then? I'll tell you this. Only Sesshomaru, Kirara, and myself survived. It hurt so much, and I will not go through that ever again. I have just found my adoptive ningen family has been killed. I don't know why I still live in this pitiful existence. I have fulfilled my purpose, and you can't say I haven't." Kagome's voice was empty as she stated the minor detail.

'We're somewhat alike.' Hiei thought as he watched Totousai shake his head as Myoga's eyes watered slightly.

"That is your choice. Yours and yours alone, and we can do nothing to change it. What have you come for, Lady Kagome?" Totousai said solemnly.

"I need you to make me a sword." Kagome answered; pulling out a small leather pouch.

"A sword? Why?" Totousai asked curiously.

"I have found out that I am no ningen. My parents were killed. I remember very little about my mother, but my father had managed to hide me at the Higurashi shrine before he was killed by the same people who killed my mother. He left me this pouch and book. This pouch holds his fang, and I would trust no other with this task." Kagome explained softly; handing the pouch to the stunned Totousai.

"This I will do, and with pride for my Lady. The original Lady of the West, now Lady of all Makai. You have matured a great deal since last I seen you." Totousai replied with a small smile.

"Thank you Totousai. I will expect to see you and Myoga at the Castle when it has been finished. You could stay for a bit. I must go now. Sessho is waiting for me."

"Goodbye, Lady Kagome." Totousai said as he started stoking the fires; prepping for his newest project.

"Goodbye, Lady Kagome. Please take care of yourself. You still have a reason to live." Myoga said with a small tear shimmering down his cheek.

"Oh? What is that?" Kagome asked as she rose to leave.

"Lord Sesshomaru has lost Rin some time ago. She was after all; only human. You are all he has left. I think that is the only reason he has not completely shut himself off is because he live only for one person. I think he survived only this long because of you." Myoga answered.

"I suppose your right, but I am only his sister. We will both die alone. We have no love for anyone other than family. Therefore we will die alone." Kagome said motioning for Hiei to walk to the door.

"There is one thing left to do before the Shikon No Tama can truly cease to be." Kagome said softly as if in an afterthought.

Her eyes held more of a faraway look to them now. As if remembering something from long ago.

"What is that my Lady?" Myoga asked fearfully.

"To stop the evil that is resurfacing, and for me to die. When I die then Shikon will go with me, and end all the suffering it has caused." She stated solemnly before walking away and out the doorway with Hiei at her side.

Out of sight.

"She doesn't know of the weight soon to be placed on her shoulders." Totousai sighed and shook his head.

"All we can do is hope. Totousai just now, when I was looking at the young yokai with our Lady I could see a likeliness. Maybe there is hope for our Lady after all." Myoga stated with a glimmer of a smile. 'Lord Inuyasha. Please guide her now as you were unable to do when you were alive. She needs it now more than ever before.'

Kagome waited until she was a fair distance from the home of Totousai and Myoga before she stopped to look back. Her eyes still held a far off look that Hiei could only describe as an internal cry.

He himself knows the look all too well. He held the same look in his own eyes when at his weak moments that he so despised. He could tell that she also hated being weak in front of others. So he decided to snap her out of her trance.

"Hn. What was that all about?" Hiei questioned in his own emotionless voice trying to bring her back to the here and now.

Hiei knew that she must be remembering something from long ago, but knew she had to return to what was happening in the present. It was not good to live in the past. This he also knew.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Myoga just doesn't know when to quit. That's all." Kagome replied looking to him with the same void eyes as when he first met her a few hours before.

"We should be going. Lord Sesshomaru will be waiting for your presence in the castle." Hiei stated calmly.

"Hai. Your right." Kagome replied and opened a portal to the castle in Makai.

As Hiei and Kagome approached the main gate the yokai guards eyed them carefully.

"State your purpose here." The first guard, a spider yokai, stated dryly.

Hiei was about to speak when Kagome held up her hand to silence him.

"I am here to see my brother." Kagome answered in a cold voice that rivaled Sesshomaru's own.

"What'ssss this brothersssss name?" Stated the other guard, a snake yokai, as he glared at her.

"Do not give me that look for you will be dead next time. I haven't the patience to deal with lesser yokai like you." Kagome growled deeply in her throat; her voice dripping with venom.

Hiei could see Kagome was growing rather annoyed with the guards at this point, and couldn't help but smirk. He decide to save the yokai guards lives even thought the murderous display in front of his was quite amusing, he wasn't to get on with things as it was drawing past dusk.

"She is Lady Kagome. Younger sister to your Lord Sesshomaru." Hiei stated calmly; though there was still the hint of a smirk on his lips.

"Heh, heh, heh. Nice try forbidden one, but she does not have the mark of the InuTashio family." The spider yokai chuckled nervously.

He knew as well as the next yokai of Makai the history of Lady Kagome. She was well revered among all of yokai blood. So much so that there had been others trying to claim to be her Ladyship as well. Trying to gain that status.

"You mean this?" Kagome stated as she brushed of the dirt, blood, and ash that seemed to cover most visible parts of her body; away from her forehead.

The crescent marking shone a dull hue of blue in the receding sunlight, and the guards gasped in shock while Hiei had remained indifferent. He knew this truly was the Lady that had disappeared five hundred years ago because of Jaken and the time he had spent with her already.

Immediately both guards knelt down in the respectful positions.

"We are ssorry for any hassstle we may have caussssed. There have been otherssss proclaiming to be you my Lady. We did not know for ssssure." The snake yokai said as the gates opened to allow them to pass.

"You are excused for your actions; just don't let it happen again." Kagome stated dully as both she and Hiei walked passed.

"My Lord Sesshomaru, I have just received word that Lady Kagome has entered the castle gates with the forbidden child. One of the workers for Prince Koenma of Reikai." Jaken said hurriedly upon rushing into the Makai Lords Study.

"Very well. Bring them to me immediately once they reach the castle doors." The Lord of Makai spoke sternly; just as he always had.

"As you wish my Lord." The small toad demon bowed as he left the room.

'So she has finally returned. I must speak with her. The world, and the lands have changed more then she will ever know.' Sesshomaru thought as he waited for his Imouto and the forbidden child to arrive.

"Ah, Jaken. I see you made it back alright. Where is Kirara?" Kagome said as she seen the small yokai vassal scurry out the doors toward Hiei and herself.

"Hai, my Lady. Your portal dropped us right of at the gate. Kirara is asleep in your quarters, and Lord Sesshomaru awaits you in his private study." Jaken replied; walking Kagome and Hiei to the doors.

"Alright then, Jaken. Arrange a guest room for Hiei. He may be with us for awhile yet." She stated; walking through the castle doors followed shortly by Hiei and then Jaken.

"Hai." Jaken nodded and walked off to talk to a few of the maids about a guest room.

"What do you mean I may be here for a while yet?" Hiei asked skeptically.

He was never told he'd be requested for a continued stay at the Lords castle, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. He didn't like the sense of peace that filled him when he was around her. It was foreign and unfamiliar. He didn't like it one bit.

"I mean that Lord Sesshomaru and I may still be in need of Reikai services. You are a part of the Reikai-Tetanai (sp?). Therefore you will still be needed until things are decided." Kagome replied not looking away from the door where they now stood.

Slamming her fist of the door, Kagome opened it to reveal the Lord of Makai seated behind his desk as he looked over a few scrolls. When the door opened he looked up slowly until he made eye contact with Kagome. Hiei froze in place. He didn't know what to do, and so stayed by the door as Kagome approached her adoptive brother.

"Sessho, Onii-San." She said as she hugged him hello.

"Kagome, my little Imouto." Sesshomaru and returned the hug with intensity. "It is good to have you back after five hundred years. Things have changed so much since then." Sesshomaru looked into Kagome's eyes; finding them to be more void then he remembered them having been five hundred years ago.

Was that even possible? He did not know, but it puzzled and worried him a little bit.

"It's good to be back, and how have things changed?" Kagome asked as Sesshomaru sat back down in his chair, and motioning her to one of the chair across from him.

Sitting in the seat indicated to her, Kagome looked to Hiei and made a motion of her hand to the seat beside her. Hiei stepped toward the chair swiftly to the silent request. His expressionless facade never faltering.

"Firstly," Sesshomaru started. "I must tell you that you are of proper age to choose a mate..."

Okay, that's the update. I'll have the next one up whenever I get the chance to. Hope you liked this chapter. Oh, and don't worry. All questions will be answered in future chapters. So, if you have any then please feel free to ask in your reviews if there's anything that troubles you, and I'll try my best to include the answer in the story. As an extra note: This is the only one of my current fics that is NOT on hold. Love Will Overcome should be completely finished within the next month. So don't push your luck ppl.

Now I'd like to make a few shout outs to thank those who reviewed for my last chapter.

Thank You's to:

shadow miko

Dark Inu Fan

regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan

Ryu

ptbear

Minday

SE

biolightning

Ryukotsusei

Rauru13

KougaLuvR15

Jade-8199hakkai-my-youkai

xxprincess-sakuraxx

Taeniaea

korokochan16

And lastly, I'd like to send out two last shout outs. These go out to two reviewers who helped me gain the strength of mind to continue on and update this fic.

So a special thank you to:

biolightning

and

SE

Thanks for all the great reviews! Keep'em coming!

Ryu