This chapter is a little break. I decided that I should go back to the mood that I started this story in, rather then in the rushed and hurried mood I've been writing it in of late. I don't know about you, but I prefer this style much more. I think that my writing is loads, correction, beyond loads better when I work off of inspiration and not pressure. Hint, hint Al-dearest.

Sesshomarufangurl: Nah, it's not elvish. What Jenny said in the first chapter was, but not this. That was just the alphabet reversed and modified so that it was pronounceable.

Remenescent: Thank you! Sorry that I couldn't come to book club today.

Disclaimer:

Me: Star light, Star bright…first Star I see tonight…I wish I may, I wish I might, have a wish I wish tonight.

Star: NO!

In The Sky

Chapter #30 of Turns Of Time

By Pwalefriend

A single starling called out in greetings to the newborn day. Kagome sat within Inuyasha's arms, the two of them staring up at the dawning sky that sprawled across the world. The sun was rising and everyone, the Inu-Pack, the Guardians, Sesshomaru and Rin, even Jaken and Ah-Un (who had showed up the previous night, Jaken complaining about something that a servant in Sesshomaru's castle had said about his staff…stupid toad.) were watching the most beautiful sunrise that any of them had ever seen.

The sun, a golden glowing orb was rising behind the forest that was directly underneath the hill the silent group sat upon. Its good morning rays were so bright that the forest became as black as midnight in comparison. Most of the sky was a vibrant orange, yet it was as calm a shade of orange as orange can be. It was like no other shade, and I cannot find the words to properly describe it to you, so that you can truly see it majesty in your minds eye. Suffice to say that it was such a tantalizing shade that even Death's grandmother would have been struck dumb at the sight of it's beauty. There were streaks of purple all around it as well, appearing in no particular order. The purple was a deep as the skin of a ripe plum, grasping to its twigs in it's last attempt to remain one with it's tree. The clouds, as pink as a budding wild-flower, were so puffy that they resembled wool, as if there were great big sheep floating across the sky.

Shippo was the first one to break the silence.

"Why is the sky up there?" He asked Kagome. "And not all the way down here?"

"Ah…" Kagome paused before she answered. She had a decision, she could give him what she knew to be true, scientifically…or…"Because," she said. "A long time ago the sky was down here with us. And you know how firm it looks, almost like you could touch it if you reached up high enough?" Shippo nodded. "Well that's because you can touch it. It is actually the most wondrous food known to man-kind…but…humans were greedy. It's a wonderful story, would you like to hear it?" She asked, leaning a little bit from Inuyasha's grasp and peering inquisitively into Shippo's eyes. The little kitsune, her little adoptive son, nodded fervently, his eyes already wide and sparkling with wonder.

A couple feet away from them Jenny looked up at Sesshomaru's face from where she was nestled in his lap. He looked back down at her, and though to the untrained eye it would seem as if he was regarding her with cool nonchalance, Jenny knew better. She knew Sesshomaru better, and she saw the loving twinkle that lay close to the surface in his eyes. Jenny smiled up at him softly and quietly she shook the half-asleep Rin. Rin looked up at her new mother through bleary eyes, for just as Sesshomaru had become the little human girls father, so had Jenny become Rin's mother. A job most would not expect from the rough-and-tumble Guardian, but one that she was oddly experienced with. Wink.

"Your Aunt Kagome is about to tell a story." Jenny told her softly. "Don't you want to hear it?"

At the prospect of hearing a myth from her new Aunt Rin immediately awoke and nodded as energetically as her new cousin, Shippo, had merely seconds ago. All these new family arrangements had not been discussed, but now everyone knew that they were all cousins and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters…except for Jaken and Ah-Un, and Kirara because they were all her people anyway. They already belonged to her in Cat Logic, after all.

Silently Rin scuttled out of Jenny's lap and over to sit next to Shippo. Quietly all the others began to ease themselves closer to Kagome, as to hear the story better. Except Jaken and Ah-Un, for they had fallen asleep. Well, Jaken had. Ah-Un didn't care.

Al was lying down, her head nestled in Mario's coat and Mario himself was glaring heatedly at Blake, who in turn was mouthing the words 'soap opera, soap opera' at him. KK (Who had returned from where ever he had taken Muso shortly before Jaken had arrived.) was eyeing Lia's foot with a intense fascination that would have disturbed anyone who had noticed, but no one did. Lia herself was eyeing Miroku and Sango, who were sitting suspiciously close to each other, with a strange sort of interest common in those who love to match-make. And yes, that little red flag that just went up in your mind was indeed a righteous red flag. Because, in case you haven't noticed already, Guardians tend to blow things out of proportion when they match-make.

Oblivious to all the undercurrents of action that were actually taking place in the group of her silent friends and family, Kagome began to tell her tale. And yes, this is an actual story. I don't own it, but I couldn't remember exactly how it went and so I tweaked it a little tiny bit.

"A long time ago the Sky and humans lived side by side. The Sky loved the humans, and so she provided food for them. She lived to close to the earth that whenever a person was hungry all he or she had to do was reach up and break off a tiny part of the Sky." Kagome reached her hand into the air, miming the action. "But soon the people became greedy and began to take more then their fair share of the Sky. The Sky became very sad, when she looked down and saw pieces of herself scattered on the Earth. So she warned the people, "Don't take more of me then you need, or I'll go to where you'll never be able to reach me." And for a short time the people heeded the Sky's warning, but soon the next generation had come along, and they didn't heed their elders when they were told of the Sky's warning. Soon these new younger people were too greedy, and once again the Sky grew sad as she looked and saw herself scattered on the Earth, but she loved those that she fed, so she warned the people a second time, "Don't take more of me then you need, or I'll go to where you'll never be able to reach me." And now this generation heeded her warning. But soon the next generation came, and the same thing happened. Except this time, when the Sky looked down on Earth and saw pieces of her majestic azure blue mass scattered on the ground she sadly picked herself up and carried herself up higher and higher and higher until she reached a spot where she knew the people would never reach her. Down on Earth the people cried and pleaded for her to come back, promising that they would never make the same mistake again, but the Sky was so high up that she never heard their pleas. And to this day, that is where she remains. Up above us where we can never reach her, a constant reminder to never be too greedy, and only take just as much as you need."

Kagome finished the story, substituting the moral that she had forgotten with one that had made sense to her. Silence greeted her. Blushing slightly Kagome looked around her at her friends, they were all staring at her with odd looks of attention on their faces, and many of them were blinking groggily, as if awakening from a spell. Kagome looked down at her hands, her blush strengthening now that she realized that everyone had been listening. Suddenly Inuyasha's large hands closed upon her own and bringing them up he began to clap them together. Kagome looked up into her beloved hanyou's face to see him smiling back down at her, his face alight with the love that she had desired to see there for oh-so-long.

Taking his or her cue from Inuyasha everyone else began to clap as well. Kagome looked around her at the faces that seemed to glow appreciation and love. It felt warm, so warm. In the dawning day it started with a demon slayer, her laughter ringing through the vale all around them, shortly followed by a futuristic miko and her hanyou swain. A monk arose and spun the demon slayer around in the air, at their antics the Guardians and the children that sat above on top of a big hill all began to laugh as well. Even the laughter of a normally cold inu youkai could be heard for miles in each and every direction. For at that moment, everyone on that hill in the Feudal Era of Japan felt as loved and as blessed as it is possible to be. At that moment the sky seemed to move just and inch closer to returning to us here on Earth.

And there it is, the end of chapter 30. I think I'm just stalling now…this story is going to end in the next two or three chapters Or maybe four or five. Grr! I keep end up having to make it go further whenever I try to wrap it up! This is EVIL! In the next chapter I will reveal all, so if you have any theories or suspicions I sincerely hope that you will review and tell me what they where, so that I can see what I've been hinting that I didn't realize. Since there is no way any of you could have gotten it…MWAHAHAHA!

Please remember to review! Till next time,

Lots of love and laughter

Pwalefriend.