Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.

Strings of Destiny by Natala
October 31st
Chapter 6
Threads One and Three

Soft green eyes watched the boy by the well with sympathetic eyes. He had often done the same thing on the other side when he had been younger. It had been centuries ago, and he had been even younger than the barely adult demon down there. But for him, he had always known she would come back in his vigils. She was safe on her side of the well. Back then, she was in extreme danger.

His position in the God Tree was unnoticed by any of them, even by the young human man who came over with the ice apparition to try and persuade the lovesick toushin to come away for the day with them. For their troubles they were shouted at and treated with the sudden burst of temper before leaving him alone to rethink their plan.

Not that Yusuke had not gone away at all. In fact, over the week he had been frequently away. The kitsune had followed him as close as he dared, springing through branches and over rooftops as smoothly as he ran across the ground. Kitsunes were land animals, but he had trained himself well since he was a child. He had seen that moving through the trees was a harder mode of travel, but it was easier to be traced on the ground. People rarely looked up, and even less sniffed about up in a tree.

As the week progressed, the kitsune had grown confident that the toushin didn't even have the slightest suspicion that he had been followed everywhere from his own apartment, to both of the shrines he frequented, and had even thought of following him into Reikai when the boy had decided to go take things up with the Spirit World Prince. Fortunately he had decided he would wait for the information. Soon he would be getting it.

"Does she even know yet you've been spying on her?" The slight reproach was met with nothing more than a slight smile.

"How could she know? She would have wanted to know how it ended and I couldn't tell her that. Just like I can't give the last scrolls to Reikai. They aren't yours to have yet. I know the exact length of time that passed between her last passage to my time and the last battle. It won't be long yet. I believe by tomorrow morning I will be free to give them to you, and you will not be able to interfere, even if you had the abilities." He kept his eyes on the angry figure slouched against the well. He looked moody and angry, but every once in awhile there was a flicker of worry, and more importantly, hurt. The kitsune stifled his sigh. At least he cared for her, even if they were looking to be as dramatic as Inuyasha and Kagome had been.

"Do we? Koenma told Yusuke he had no way to help him, but with the way you act... Do we Shippo? Is there some way that we could get Yusuke back there that you know of?" The upset female was speaking barely above a whisper and when he dared look he could see the worry in her eyes.

"It would change the past. He never went back. The past has to go as it did, otherwise things will change. Leave it be, Botan." There was a flash of triumph in her eyes after he spoke and he realized he had avoided answering the question. In that very avoidance he had given her the answer she wanted. He really should have learned what times were proper for real morals and when it was time for morals that were more like Miroku's had been.

The thought sent a dull pan of pain through his chest and he glanced away. It had all happened so long ago, but now it was all happening again. Now he was only an observer from afar. He wished he could change some of it. In fact, he wished he could change much of it, but he could not. He couldn't change the past, because he would end up changing himself if he did.

"Will she live? I have to know, Shippo. If she's going to die, I don't care about the time rules you've set up for yourself and us. He cares for her. He's only known her a few months, and he doesn't open up to many people very often. I will tell Koenma that we do have the power to save her if it's needed." Her feet shook his branch only slightly as she slipped from her oar onto his high perch. Her hand felt heavy on his shoulder and he couldn't simply ignore her demand for an answer. But he could give her an indirect one.

"Come on. Let me show you some things." He pulled her oar to a horizontal position and waited until she reluctantly climbed on. Her gaze was cold and he felt her attempting to measure if this was some sort of trick. He didn't bother with an answer in words.

He bounded away from the property, expecting her to keep up. "Let me tell you a few things. The final battle does not go as any of us hoped. We had plans. Even I, little and weak as I was, had a place and a job. None of us lasted very long at them. We had to change the plans, and our strategies. Especially when Sesshoumaru came to claim his revenge out of Naraku's hide with little regard for the rest of us on the battlefield. We were constantly scrambling out of the way of Naraku's attacks, our own which were deflected by Naraku, and then even Sesshoumaru's attacks. He didn't care if he killed one of us accidentally."

Shippo stopped for a moment and frowned as he glanced around. This would make as good a place as any. His senses told him things that hers did not. Like the fact that there was a Makai portal nearby. One that one of her own acquaintances used, and would, if all rumors were correct, use again soon. He continued on with the tidbits he was feeding her. "It was fortunate, then, that Rin did. She was especially sympathetic towards Kohaku, who had no longer been in Naraku's control by this point. Things went from frustrating to bad when Rin jumped in front of a hit meant for Kohaku."

"Oh no. She died?" Botan was leaning on the edge of her seat, which was a very bad idea, considering the fact that they were very high off the ground.

"No, but she almost did. If Sesshoumaru had been angry before, now he even showed it. He became savage, but not berserk by any means. Kohaku became both, but he didn't leave her side. They both thought she was going to die, you see. But she, and Kohaku, did both live through the end of the battle. That she lived was the second greatest relief of the battle." Shippo stopped and saw the puzzled expression on her face. He didn't wait to answer it, instead dropping through the trees suddenly.

He knew she would demand answers for that, but he landed gracefully in front of an angry, battle ready fire apparition who was just out of Makai. Usually the kitsune wouldn't have minded giving a few demons a run for their money, but today was not the day to mess with this one. Instead, Shippo took one long jump over the fire apparition and in fact disappeared into the portal nearby, hearing the frustrated cry of the female grim reaper as she nearly collided with the fire apparition.

Shippo didn't plan to stay there long, and he never stopped moving once he landed in Makai. Instead he was in trees and across land, slipping smoothly into his larger fox form. He traveled the distance between the portal and his destination with ease in this form. He preferred his humanoid form for most things, including battle, but he had things to do. One of these things would be to be back to the shrine by sunset. It wasn't as simple as it should have been, considering there would be an angry female on the lookout for him.

He stopped briefly on top of a hill, looking down at the pack of demons in a nearby valley. One in particular caught his eye. His eyes crinkled in the closest he could come to smiling in his fox form. The blue eyes and white fur still bred true. Shippo closed his eyes and thought back, no longer grieving but accepting. By the time the battle had rolled around, unknown to them all, Ayame was pregnant. And Kouga died before he could see his unborn child. Died protecting him in fact. Because Kagome had asked it of him.

The wolf demon looked up and saw him, flashing sharp fangs in a familiar grin. Another wolf looked up, much older but still beautiful. She no longer looked like a teenager, but like a woman in her prime, She would stay that way forever until the day she died, protecting her pack. Shippo gave them a bark of greeting, his eyes saying what the fox form couldn't. The white alpha nodded and said simply, the sound carrying to his sharp ears, "Come back later and tell me the news."

He nodded sharply and looked one last time at the descendant of her and Kouga before he bounded off. Another family that he had check in so often over the years. His bark took on a mocking, laughing sound as a few demons tried to stand in his way as he entered lands that had a familiar scent on them. The old fool had claimed more since the last time he had seen him. Shippo's muscles coiled and then went taut as he sprang above them, passing them by without a thought to their dangers. He was stronger than they could sense.

"Can't you ever wait for an invitation?" An irritable voice asked when he finally stopped in front of a castle. He transformed, laughing and looking straight into golden eyes.

"You shouldn't expand so much. Some of the toushins will notice. Just because Enki presently has control doesn't mean they'll ignore you," Shippo said, ignoring the slight growl that the other was giving him. He knew none of his former associates would touch him. He was the only one who didn't have a price on his head if he went near Ningenkai. Reikai wasn't exactly pleasant to former human killers, even if they had reformed.

"Is it time?" The youkai asked shortly, brushing off the kitsune's arrogance in thinking he could advise him on how to handle land expansion.

"Almost. An hour or two yet. It will take me an hour to get back to Ningenkai. I've been running a long time. Then I suppose I'll check up on Urameshi's friends and make sure none of them have done a 180 and want Yusuke back at the shrine all of a sudden," Shippo said casually, his thoughts flashing to Botan. Souta should have been able to remove Yusuke by now.

"Good. Give us news soon." There was a flash of emotion in the dog youkai's eyes. Shippo waited, ready for him to say something.

Finally he asked, "Is that all, Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes. You're dismissed." The golden eyes looked past him, far into the distance, remembering humans and blood and a chuckling hanyou with his hands moving toward the precious shards.

Shippo bit off reminding him that it had been over a century since Shippo had needed to be dismissed by anyone. He was a kitsune. He roamed wherever the land took him. There was nothing in any of the three worlds that could truly capture him.

The fox paused and a couple of females popped into his mind. He laughed and it turned into a growl as he transformed. There was almost nothing that could capture him. As long as his heart was free, so was he. Unfortunately, his heart wasn't quite his alone.

His next stop was a different portal, one that led into a park in Tokyo itself. He slipped into his humanoid form and donned an illusion to hide his pointed ears and tail and make it look like he was wearing shoes. Then he was through, and popping into the trees, laughing low in his throat as he realized that not only was Yusuke was away from the shrine, but the other kitsune and the ex-girlfriend were trying to cheer him up. It was an interesting turnabout. Too bad the young majin barely noticed their efforts. Anger and Grief flared up around him and if Shippo had been anyone else and able to see that. He would have tried to ask what was wrong.

Having been part of what was happening to keep the boy's girl away from him, that was probably a bad idea. Shippo instead watched them go by, smiling slightly at the way the human girl and the kitsune exchanged warm glances when they dropped back and let the toushin stomp ahead. He watched them with dark green eyes, and watched as Yusuke stopped to turn and stare at them, sudden knowledge lighting in his eyes.

For the first time since Kagome had been gone, Shippo saw Yusuke almost smile as he gazed at his friends. The kitsune sighed when it faded and froze as Kurama glared up into the surrounding trees. It was a long minute before they moved on and this time the other kitsune moved with the grace of a wary predator. Shippo moved away from them, flying over the treetops and onto a familiar roof without so much as a hiss of air. He felt a bit proud of that, an unconscious pride that had been with him for years.

His eyes rose to glance at the sun and he was surprised to see that it was dipping beneath the horizon, painting the sky in dull purples and bright orange and a demonic red. It was a beautiful sunset. And fitting, in Shippo's mind.

"Is it almost time?" Another voice asked softly, hope and grief warring at each other. He hadn't told them yet either. He had only told them that this was the end of it.

"Has the grim reaper been by?" he asked, and saw Souta freeze. "Botan," He elaborated, fighting a smile at his slip.

"Oh. No, not since you left the tree. I managed to get Yusuke to go home, telling him I'd call him if we found out anything." Souta looked upset at that.

"You're a better liar than your sister. She never could lie that well." Shippo looked off reminiscently at the sunset.

"Shippo, you can sense someone lying. Heightened fear and faster heartbeat and all that," Souta pointed out, following his gaze.

"Well? Is that demon fox here yet?" An irritated and old voice asked. Shippo's gaze slowly drifted over to Kagome's grandfather with a slight smile, then to Kagome's mother. Forest green eyes lifted up to look at the sky as it darkened to disclude the orange, dusky purple fighting with the red that was dripping out of the sky.

"I am," he said to the sky, just loud enough for the humans to hear. Then, below what any but another canine could hear he whispered, "This time, I'm here."

He closed his eyes as the last sunbeams faded, savoring the memory of the last bits of red fading from the sky, leaving a twilight sky with the first stars coming through. "Well?" he heard the older female human ask, but he wasn't listening. He was hearing the earth turn and time creep forward. Every sense was heightened suddenly.

The faintest sliver of light came from the well, not yet enough for a human to see or any of them to sense the slight magic. His eyes snapped open, pupils dilated as he moved. He was off the roof and halfway to the well before the glow brightened, his paws digging into the earth, his illusion shattered as he used speed no normal human could hope to see. He was on the rim as the glow reached its peak.

As it faded he was landing in soft dirt, his arms outstretched, remembering clearly what he had seen. He turned it and he hoped.

They dropped into his arms, one holding the other, as if for balance. He grinned at them both, a toothy, joyful smile. "Hi girls."

"Shippo?" Kagome asked, moving the hair of her bangs away from her eyes.

"The one and only, Kagome," he said warmly, feeling so much more in awe than he would have expected. It had always seemed like a fairy tale, even to him who had lived part of it.

"You've grown so much!" The other woman exclaimed and he grinned at her, resisting the urge to remark that it happened in five hundred years. He doubted that part had sunk in yet. Instead he jumped out of the well with both of them and set them down on unsteady legs outside of the well house.

They clung to him and he savored it, the touch of his second family. It had been five hundred years and he had been left with graves and two children barely older than him. Kohaku and Rin had taken care of him as best they could, but only because Sesshoumaru watched over them were they able to survive until Kohaku reached adulthood.

"Kagome!" Her family cried and took her from him. They hadn't seen the other yet, hadn't realized that there was a confused young woman who was looking around with glazed eyes that were still grieving.

"Mama, Souta, Grandfather," Kagome began, suddenly formal as she tugged her mother's hand toward Shippo.

"This is Sango, a taijya from the other time. We kind of tripped."

In the mute shock that followed Sango tensed and Shippo closed his eyes, knowing how temperamental she would be in her grief. "Yes, in front of you are the only three survivors out of those who originally sought the Shikon no Tama. Go on Kagome, why don't you show them our prize."

Kagome looked up sharply at Sango's bitterness and Shippo groaned to himself. He had known this would take a lot of work, but Sango was looking to be difficult about it.

Kagome put her hands to her neck and something around her neck clicked lightly. She put her cupped hands out in front of her. "This is the Shikon no Tama, that jewel soaked with the blood of innocents and the power of the corrupt," Kagome intoned formally.

She opened her hands to a round orb, shining and pure and beautiful, light pink and singing out to the whole world, that it was over. There were no more feudal adventures, no more battles, no more juggling between the past and the present.

Shippo watched as the confusion came over Kagome's face. There would be no more laughter, no more looks, there would be no more of them fighting together as a unit, her arrows protecting him. Sango's arms would not ache at the end of the day from throwing her weapon into the air. They were free.

Kagome stared slowly down at the jewel. "What," she whispered, sounding uncertain and a tremble in her voice, "do I do now?"

/.../

End part. Yes, a bit short, but I couldn't have made it longer. I wrote it as long as it could be without unnecessary baggage. I know it took a long time, but this is a story that I can either write it, or I can't. And I promise I'll backtrack and tell what happened to Kagome.

Thank you to Akina, MysteryLady-Tx, Dark Inu Fan, tbiris, Foxylilraven, kogas-mate, Sukera, chinadoll27, Emidra, Cattibrie393, lil-sis4556, iyfanatic, Addanc-TSC, Iraine, TeaTwin, hakkai-my-youkai, Hokuikai, kagegrl, Ss JK, clutsyangel27, inu.-sess.fan, shadow miko, GundamWingFanatic90, regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Tenchi-No-Kaji, mooneyoukai, Shadow Kage, CrimsonEyes7806, Fire Kitsune Goddess, Tima-san, Fyyrrose, Mayalah, Reading Girl, Suuki-Aldrea, ParadiseNdarkness, pitbull123, silver starlight kitsune, Ayame Moonflower, and Kaaera for reviewing.

Ouatic-7: Nah, the daggers weren't made by Totosai.

Winged Knight: Heh, this chapter was probably a bit disappointing and a bit frustrating. More things about the feudal past will be explained next chapter.

Concrete Tenshi: Eh, I realized that e-mail i sent to you earlier was a bit sharp. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope everyone is at least moderately happy that some of them survived the battle.