A/N: I'm sorry for not updating in such a while, but you should know by now that I'm not that committed. ;
Also, in response to Lady-Sttar's question (Is this fic a Sesshoumaru/Kagome): Hell no! That is probably the one couple I hate the most, it just doesn't make any sense. Sorry if I scared you, just remember that I'll never write a Sesshoumaru/Kagome fiction!
Also, I'll be gone for vacation in a few hours before posting this, so it's not at it's best. I just had to get it posted before I left, it was driving me crazy! But I'll fix it up a little when I return, so enjoy for now and ja ne!
DISCLAIMER: I don't have anything clever to say... so yeah.
"Granny Kaede?"
Sango gently pulled back the straw door to Kaede's little hut eagerly, poking her head inside to see if the elderly miko was home.
"Yes, Sango? Is something bothering ye?" Kaede turned around to face the taijiya, hearing eagerness and excitement in Sango's voice.
Kaede had aged drastically over the many years, wrinkles deeper, eyes faded. But her spirit hadn't dampened at all, and her health was oddly excellent for a human her age. The villagers had always wondered why the woman had lived for so long, but now the thought barely bothered them. All that they knew was that when Kaede finally passed away, the miko in training, a young woman named Shika, would take over as the village miko.
Sango smiled and stepped into the small hut that Kaede called home. "Yes, there is something I'd like you to see. Taku, come in with our little friend!"
The young taijiya soon ambled into the hut as well, dragging a hesitant Kiyoshi along behind him by the sleeve of his sleeve. Kaede spoke up before Sango had the chance to babble on more, her old eyes setting upon the new hanyou.
"My... you look remarkably similar to our Inuyasha."
She smiled softly and walked over to him. Kiyoshi didn't say anything but instead stared at the elderly miko, wondering what he should do next. What was there for him to say?
"Ye only recently acquired these youkai attributes, didn't ye, child?"
"Yes, how did you - "
"Kagome wore strange clothing as well..." She interrupted the boy, referring to Kiyoshi's modern-day clothes, "…I knew ye would return."
Kiyoshi titled his head in confusion. "Return..?"
Kaede just smiled.
Sesshomaru said that Inuyasha's reincarnation was here only recently, he couldn't have gotten that far then…
A flashback of the times when Inuyasha gave Kagome piggy-back rides suddenly entered her mind, destroying her first thought.
What am I thinking? If he has those same youkai powers, then he could be VERY far away by now!
Kagome sighed in frustration and quickly turned to leave the forest, feeling as though she should just give up. She looked up from the grassy ground to see the village that she so often visited twenty years ago… Kaede's village.
"Perhaps someone knows something here…"
Kagome stumbled down the hill, nearing the familiar village as she went. Her heart was being torn in two more than ever now… so many good times she had spent with her beloved, silly, stupid hanyou in this village and to return here filled her mind with those beautiful and heartwarming times. But now that he was long since deceased, the blissful memories became everlasting scars, painful reminders of what she lost and what she would never have again. It was bittersweet, just as everything in Kagome's world had become.
She shook the thoughts away, but the emotions remained.
Just find Kiyoshi, take him and get out of here… Nail up the shrine and well, never speak of this again…
Tears started forming on the sides of Kagome's eyes and when she blinked them away and looked up, she realized that she had reached the village already. Wiping away a tear, the miko looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. When she noticed an elderly woman walking down the dirt road, she ran over to her.
"Excuse me, but have you seen a young boy fifteen years old nearby? He has black hair, brown eyes.."
"Kagome-sama?" The woman gasped, recognizing the miko even though Kagome had aged twenty odd years. "The miko that left so long ago? You've actually come back?" The woman was shocked to see the miko return
Inside the hut, Kiyoshi's new ears twitched at the woman's words from outside, finding his head turning in the direction in which it had come from. He turned and ran out of the hut to see his adoptive mother in the near distance.
"Mother!"
Kiyoshi exclaimed happily as he started to run to her.
Kagome's knees went weak. Kiyoshi looked too much like Inuyasha. The hair, the eyes, the claws, oh gods even the ears… It was as though he had returned from the dead. Despite this, Kagome felt happiness flood her heart. The woman caught Kiyoshi in her arms, hugging him tightly.
"Inuyasha.. you look too much like Inuyasha." She exclaimed with tears in her eyes. Kiyoshi's eyes widened and he pulled away a little.
"You too? What's going on?"
"I'd be happy to explain it to the both of you, just come inside." Kaede said with kindness in her voice.
"Granny Kaede? Is it really you?" Kagome exclaimed happily, letting go of her adoptive son to go to Kaede in the doorway of her hut. Kagome embraced the elderly woman.
"I missed you so much... Sango!"
Sango smiled brightly at seeing and hearing her best friend return. Kagome soon let go of Kaede to hug her best friend, crying with happiness.
"I'm so sorry, Sango. I didn't want to leave you like that, I just…"
"Hush. It's alright, Kagome."
"Taku, what's going on?" Kiyoshi asked his new friend at seeing each others mother hug.
Taku shrugged. "Got me."
After a few moments, all had calmed and sat down, ready for Kaede to speak. Kaede looked from Kagome to Kiyoshi, a small smile playing upon her aged face.
"As I am sure ye all know, young Kiyoshi here is the reincarnation of our Inuyasha. I think I know why this has happened…"
Kaede paused for a moment before continuing.
"Inuyasha's soul never left the grave. He resided there, even though we couldn't see any apparition. Fifteen years ago, his spirit became restless. It was easy to sense that. I believe that he was trying to warn us of a danger to come, but we couldn't decide what it was. Eventually, his spirit disappeared almost completely. I, nor anyone else, could feel his presence there again. This explains why."
Kiyoshi frowned slightly. "So the spirit of Inuyasha just suddenly disappeared?"
"Precisely. That was fifteen years ago... around the time ye were born, correct?"
Kiyoshi blinked and nodded. "So then... it disappeared because it had reincarnated into another body... me."
The elderly priestess nodded. "I believe that he reincarnated so that he could come back to finish whatever it was that he did not complete in his first life."
Kagome looked puzzled. "But Granny Kaede, if that was the case then how would he be able to return to this time era to do so?"
Sango nodded in agreement. "I was wondering that too."
"The Bone-Eaters Well."
Everyone paused for a moment and Taku spoke up. "But how would the reincarnate know where to find the well? And how to use it?"
A thought suddenly struck Kiyoshi. "Because I was reincarnated as Kagome's adoptive son. I'm not biological, but I'm still a big part of her life." He looked up at Kaede. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Everyone looked to Kaede and she nodded.
"Yes child, ye are. Fate made you Inuyasha's reincarnation because then it would be close to the well and able to return. Kagome was the link to this era."
The hanyou nodded. "I understand that, but what I don't is this. Why did I gain Inuyasha's youkai traits?"
"Inuyasha was part youkai, so his soul was part youkai as well. The powers you now have are his, passed on to you."
"But why have I gotten them recently? Wouldn't I have been born with them?"
"No. That youkai blood had to be awakened. To awaken it, you had to say Inuyasha's name while at the place where his soul was put to rest, his grave at the Goshinboku."
Kiyoshi remembered reading out the name on the tree. Inuyasha must have been buried there.
The elderly woman yawned after a few moments of quiet. "And that is about all I have to tell ye. Well, this old woman needs to rest." Kaede yawned again and slowly lay down.
"Alright, sleep well Granny Kaede." Kagome said softly as she left the hut with Kiyoshi and Taku. "Sango, are you coming or not?"
"I'll catch up in a minute. Taku, take our guests home." Sango turned back to Kaede when the four left.
"Why didn't you tell her what Inuyasha's soul needed to resolve?"
"It would break her heart to know… I cannot tell her."
Sango frowned. "Then I will. She will find out sooner or later anyways."
Kaede sighed. "Ye are right, I know."
Sango silently nodded and bid Kaede goodbye, turning to leave the hut.
"Sango-chan, why has Kaede lived this long? Her age for this time seems uncommon." Kagome asked her old friend as the walked through the forest to Sango's village together.
Sango sighed. "Stubborn as a mule, that woman is. She's stronger than you think, and she just never gives up on life. Says that she won't die until this is resolved."
"Until what it resolved?"
Sango froze. How do I tell her?
Up ahead of the two women were Taku, Kiyoshi and Kirara. They too were chatting.
"Do you just live with your mother? Where's your dad too?" Kiyoshi asked.
"…Father passed away a month ago."
"Sorry, I didn't -"
"No, don't apologize. I'm tired of people saying that they're sorry for something they know nothing about." Taku grinned lightly at his new hanyou friend. Kiyoshi grinned back.
"I like your attitude."
Taku chuckled. "Hey, you know Inuyasha? My father was a close friend of his."
"Kagome-chan.." Sango started to speak but couldn't decide on where to start.
"What is it?" She asked, worried by her friend's behavior.
"Kagome-chan, do you remember Kaede saying that Inuyasha sensed a danger to come? And that he reincarnated to finish the job?"
"Yes, I do, why?"
Sango gulped.
"Kaede didn't tell you what Inuyasha had to finish..."
"Sango, what is it? What did Inuyasha have to do?"
"Naraku.." Sango stuttered. "..is still alive."
All the colour in Kagome's face drained.