Author's Note: Sorry about not updating most of Christmas vacation. I was sick for most of it, and also working on another story (not posted) for a friend. Updating will return to its irregular schedule. Oh, pairings posted below after the disclaimer incase you don't notice.

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

Pairings: Yus/Kag, Botan/Hiei, San/Kur, and Inu/Kik

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Chapter 5 - Maker?

Botan touched her egg, golden energy trickling into the egg. All of the others simply got their energy eaten and they staggered back. On the other hand, Botan was finding she instinctively knew how to control how much she fed her egg. She acknowledged it probably was information from her other life, but she didn't want to know. Sometimes memories leaked out, and that only made her more determined. She would take the benefits from her past life, but she didn't want the memories, or anything else that came from it.

She also attempted to keep the power she was showing a secret. If they saw her controlling how the egg ate this way, there would be too many questions. At least, from the boys there would be. She had a feeling at least Kikyou and probably Kagome had an inkling of her past life. More than she did perhaps.

Right now she tried to push all of the worries about what she might have been before, focusing all her attention on her pink egg that was glowing golden as her energy slowly trickled in. In the background she could hear Sango picking out an egg while asking Kagome and Kikyou what exactly it had done, for Kikyou had chosen an egg shortly after Kagome. She shook her head, pushing her thoughts away again when the egg took an extra large bite of energy do to her wandering mind.

With all of her attention on the egg, it was probably why she forgot all about keeping others from seeing how she was feeding it. As a consequence, Hiei took notice to the way she was feeding the egg and Botan suddenly had a suspicious fire apparition standing in front of her egg.

"How are you doing that?" Startled out of her control, the egg grasped the tendrils of energy and ate it all at once, making Botan stagger back from the egg before focusing her pink eyes on the demon.

"Do what?" Botan asked, panic welling up in her. She didn't even know how she was doing that, and she certainly couldn't explain it.

Botan heard Hiei growl and she frantically looked around, her eyes briefly catching on the form of Sango who was being held back by Kurama. Apparently she didn't like it when the egg stole her energy. Oddly, the older kitsune did manage to calm her down, a feat in itself considering Sango's temper. Botan snapped back to reality as Hiei spoke again.

"The egg. The energy. How did you do that?" Botan shook her head, trying to clear it as she felt something probe at her mental defenses. She frowned. She could have sworn she just saw something glow behind the bandana he wore.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was just feeding my egg!" The panic seeped into her tone and she could see that for some reason he looked shock. It must have been him who had been trying to get passed her mental defenses. She couldn't even bring them down; she hadn't put most of them up in the first place. They blocked her from her past life, and she didn't even know who had put it up.

Crimson eyes narrowed and one of Hiei's hand was moving dangerously close to his sword before Kagome bounded up and awoke both of them to the realization that they still were in camp and any confrontation would be seen by anyone. Hiei's hand moved away from his sword with a confused and frustrated growl as Kagome looked down at Botan's pink egg with a dubious look.

"Everyone's eggs are stunted I think. You all have plenty of energy. The eggs should be much bigger. But, hey, you got your favorite color." What sounded awfully like an amused and disbelieving snort came from the watching fire apparition when the Easter egg look alike was announced to be adorned with Botan's favorite color.

Kagome raised any eyebrow at the fire apparition and exchanged a look with Botan. "Is there a problem with the color pink?"

Hiei eyed them warily, obviously not liking the look they had exchanged. He settled for a neutral, "Hn" before Kagome looked behind him towards the claimed eggs.

"And I suppose the nice, evil looking, mostly black with a few red strips mixed in egg is yours? By the impression you've given so far, it seems to fit."

"Yes, all darkness with a nice tinge of bloodshed," Botan added as Hiei eyed them both warily, looking for some trick in their statements. They spoke as if it was common place to talk to him like this. Shouldn't darkness and bloodshed make them at least a bit uneasy?

"Hn." In an attempt to not be confused any further by the girls Hiei turned his back on them and strode in the direction of where most of group was gathered around the other eggs.

Botan and Kagome exchanged quick grins. "I really thought that would have been harder. But, he doesn't seem to like talking much anyway, from what I can see. So, how were you doing that with the egg?"

Botan jerked back in surprise as Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "I do have ears you know. You were too busy feed the egg and he was too curious about how you were doing it. Weird memory thing?"

Botan nodded in relief, seeing her friend was about to drop the subject. "Yeah. I saw you got your favorite color egg too. Though, watch that we won't get anything even close to the shell colors when they hatch."

Kagome grinned, a fond glance finding her own egg before she let her eyes wander and her eyes widened. "Kikyou got an egg! And it's a dark cherry red, her favorite color too!"

Kagome and Botan gave delighted giggles as they both ran forward to look at Kikyou's egg. Sango's head snapped up from contemplating her dark green egg when the laughter reached her ears. "I don't see why you're celebrating. They suck out energy!"

Inuyasha muttered something nasty from his spot besides Kikyou and Kagome scowled, apparently taking umbrage at the comment. "Yeah, while Inuyasha takes all the happiness out of the air, but no ones done anything about him yet. At least there are supposed to be useful when they hatch!"

Inuyasha snarled, and it was about this time Yusuke slipped out of one of the boy's tents and seemed to be contemplating going back in when it seemed Kagome and Inuyasha were again going to get into a fight.

"Inuyasha, Kagome, stop this. Kagome, you're supposed to be our leader. Inuyasha, perhaps you should refrain from saying anything insulting in Kagome's presence. Or perhaps anything at all if that is not possible." Kikyou's cool tone took both of the teenagers down a notch. Kagome let the tone roll off of her shoulders and simply shrugged.

Inuyasha muttered out a, "I'm sorry Kikyou," and crossed his arms, glaring darkly at Yusuke when he looked between him and Kikyou with a knowing smirk. Kikyou nodded, pretending she didn't notice the dark look Inuyasha was throwing at Yusuke or the unseemly sneer Kagome had placed on her face whenever Inuyasha was around.

"You're forgiven Inuyasha." Inuyasha and Kagome both swung around to stare in shocked silence at the double meaning behind the words. It was obvious he was forgiven for more than just this fight. Kagome gaped at her sister, wondering is she had finally snapped. After all those times of telling her never to trust anyone, especially those with demon blood, she was suddenly forgiving the hanyou of his past transgressions.

In pure astonishment Kagome took a few steps backwards and landed beside her egg, watching as Kikyou and Inuyasha seemed to have a conversation with only their eyes. Finally Inuyasha's ears drooped and he nodded his head. "Thank you."

Kikyou frowned at her sister's reaction. Really, she was just trying to take a page from her book in the forgiveness and making friends' category. She didn't have to make it seem like she was betraying them to an enemy. That had been years ago, and despite the immature fights Kagome and Inuyasha got into, they were both more mature now. And dog-demons, even a halfing, never broke a promise without good reason, and Inuyasha was sworn to them. Finally Kikyou frowned and shrugged. She would never understand her younger sibling. She could swing from one mood to another without warning. She got it from her father, as she did so much else.

Yusuke now stood beside Kagome and was frowning at the hanyou and elder miko sister. "What was that about?"

Kagome looked up with confused sapphire eyes and shrugged helplessly. "Which part? I'm not really sure what any of it was about, except of course Inuyasha being himself."

"Why do you two hate each other so much anyway?" Kagome tore her eyes away from Yusuke's suddenly demanding ones and stared at the ground.

"A fight a long time ago. He did something I don't see myself forgiving anytime soon. Ironically, my sister who never forgets and rarely forgives has found that she can." She could sense Yusuke was frustrated from her reply, obviously Inuyasha had kept his promise not to tell anyone.

"Damnit, can't anyone give me a straight answer?" Kagome looked back up at him, bringing her knees to her chest to rest her hand son them as she tilted her head questioningly.

"And if anyone of my team went up to any of yours, I suppose they'd just spill everything about their entire lives? At the moment my team doesn't trust yours and yours doesn't trust mine. What we eventually have to do is make it so there is one team, not two. Don't expect any straight answers until then. As for Inuyasha, he made a promise, it's that simple." Kagome rested her head on her arms and watched as Yusuke sat down on the ground next to her and glared.

"Stop being so damn logical. It's annoying." Kagome giggled at the angry mutter and shook her head.

"Sometimes it is. But if we went around without thinking, where would we be?" She taunted, knowing that he would count it as logic.

"We'd be a lot better of, probably," Yusuke said, glaring at her. She looked towards Inuyasha and then back to Yusuke pointedly.

"Is Inuyasha better off? Because he'd have no promise to keep if he had stopped to think before he decided to do something unforgivable." Kagome watched Yusuke's mouth open and then snap shut. Fortunately they were both saved from perhaps getting into an argument by a small bundle of fur knocking Kagome backwards to lie flat on the ground.

Kagome quirked an eyebrow up in amusement at the small kitsune demons chocolate covered face. "Shippo, who gave you chocolate? Wait, where'd some one get chocolate?"

"Sango gave it to me. Kurama even said it would help get my energy back. Then after I ate it and tried to talk to them they said I should tell you all about where I used to live. We lived in a nice little community with both demons and humans. Our house was halfway under ground! My best friend used to be a little human girl but almost a year ago something bad happened to her, and then something good, and she got taken away. We had some big fields near our house, and all sorts of insects were there. I bet I can name them all!" Kagome almost whimpered when the kit started naming them all and managed to sit up, kitsune in her lap. Narrowed sapphire eyes saw Sango laughing and Kurama trying to hold back chuckles across the camp.

Kagome turned her glare on Yusuke when he began to laugh, but he ignored her and instead put his attention on the kitsune. "If you know all the names of those, what about the ones around camp? There might be different types around here."

Shippo's forest green eyes widened as he looked at the grass and got off, sitting between Yusuke and Kagome while staring at the ground. He was silent for a minute and Kagome looked up at Yusuke and saw him smirking triumphantly. She rolled her eyes but smiled gratefully when he gave her an offended look.

"Hey! These are different. The ants at home were red! These are more of a dark brown. Then again, the town isn't nearby." Shippo tried to catch the insects on the ground, eventually getting frustrated. Kagome watched curiously as he gathered a few on some pieces of grass, curling them upwards. She heard Yusuke swear in surprise as the pieces suddenly melded together into a smooth tiny green basket. Shippo bent a piece of grass at the top and created a handle.

"Shippo?"

Shippo looked up, not understanding the confusion in her voice. "Yeah Kagome?"

"How'd you do that?" The name of a type of being twinged in the back of her mind and her eyes traveled to the basket. She frowned, but let him answer before jumping to conclusions. She barely took notice as Inuyasha and Kikyou started walking up, paying close attention to Shippo's response.

"That? I don't know. My father says it was because I was something called a maker." Shippo looked around in confusion as all four people froze and Kagome and Kikyou exchanged resigned glances. "Why? Can't everyone do that?"

~_~_~

Hiei snorted as once again the girls had gathered around the fox kit to encourage him to explore his powers. He was a Maker, but that was nothing special. There were always a few in a generation. They could shape natural objects into almost anything, but never into another material. What Hiei was watching wasn't the kit; it was that Botan girl. No one should have been able to do what she did.

The barriers around her mind shouldn't have been that strong either; they didn't match her own power level. There was something else interfering besides her. That his jagan eye couldn't penetrate the defenses meant they were either very strong, or could weave very complicated barriers.

Hiei growled as the girl went to feed her egg again. Ever since he had caught her, in the week since they'd been here she had been feeding the egg the same way everyone else was: in one chunk. Hiei still believed she knew something more than she was sharing. He didn't even moved his head when he heard the branch beside him creak under more weight than it was used to.


"Don't you have anything else to do than watch the girls suspiciously? Even I at least talk to them."

"Probably because you like the elder miko hanyou." Hiei ignored the growl that came from the dog-eared boy in favor of continuing to watch the camp.

"I see no reason to socialize with them. We fight alongside them and finish our mission, and go onto the next until this war is finished." Hiei heard the hanyou sigh beside him, obviously disliking his attitude.

"Our mission could take a lot longer than you think. We not only have to find the Shikon no Tama; we have to protect it. And first we have to wait for the stupid eggs to hatch so they can give us the information or ship us off this planet. Either way, we're probably going to be stuck with them for months, maybe years!" Inuyasha stopped, seeing the fire apparition was ignoring him pointedly. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and bounded across the trees until he was crouched on a branch over Yusuke's head. Like Hiei, he was watching a girl, but there was no suspicion in his gaze.

"Keh."

Yusuke craned his neck backwards to look up at the half dog demon. "Inuyasha."

"Doesn't anyone have anything to do besides watch a girl? You seem to get along pretty well with the kid; you'd probably be able to get him to explore his powers much easier. Better than him spewing out bowls made from flower petals anyway. Who wants to eat from a bunch of flowers?" Yusuke snickered and simply pointed to Kurama who had gotten through the four girls and now was holding up a perfectly smooth cup made from what looked like pink flower petals. He looked more delighted at what the kit had made than any of the girls had.

"Apparently Kurama does." Inuyasha glowered at Yusuke. Yusuke shrugged. "What? He does. Besides, eventually they'll get past making pretty things into making other objects. If they don't keep draining him everyday between them and the egg the kid's exhausted when he goes to sleep."

"What, is the great Yusuke Urameshi concerned for a little demon kid?" Inuyasha smirked and it was Yusuke's turn to glower.

"Stuff it dog-boy."

"At first I thought you were just pretending to be nice to the damn runt to get closer to the wench." Inuyasha had turned back to watching the girls and didn't bother to turn and feel Yusuke's glare or watch his back stiffen.

Yusuke glared at the hanyou while trying to decide a reply. He knew perfectly well what Inuyasha was talking about, but he hadn't thought he was that obvious. Either that or Inuyasha was just guessing. Finally Yusuke replied. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? While you talk to the other three bitches, the only girl you actually seek out is Kagome." Inuyasha smirked, and was sure if Yusuke had dog-ears; they'd be lying flat on his head right now if the angry expression on his face was any indication.

"Yes."

Inuyasha looked puzzled and narrowed his eyes. "Yes? So you admit it, not that everyone-"

"Yes I think your stupid." Yusuke grinned and instinctively ducked the claws that had smashed towards his head.

"I'd think if anyone was trying to get closer to someone it's you and Kikyou," Yusuke commented before ducking under another swipe and lashing out with one fist to catch the hanyou across the head. Inuyasha snarled, but the attack didn't have any real power behind it, like his swipes had been purposely slow.

"Damn it, probably because Kikyou's the only one who I can even get near without getting glared at." Inuyasha claws swept forward again, dodging another couple of punches after Yusuke dodged his claws.

"Oh, go to hell Inuyasha, the only reason any of us glare at you is because you're keeping secrets from us. The girls just hate you." Yusuke smirked as Inuyasha lost all of his tempt and actually gave a real attack. Yusuke dodged out of the way of the irate hanyou and settled back to get ready for the comfortable routine of watching Inuyasha destroy everything but him.

"Honestly, can't you two ever just spar, instead of attempting to kill each other every time?" Kurama asked while still holding the bright pink cup that Shippo had melded together.

Yusuke and Inuyasha exchanged a glance and then in unison shook their heads. Yusuke looked around and noticed everyone else had spread out around them to watch. Kikyou was looking on in disapproval, which in turn made Inuyasha wince and Yusuke smirk.

"Inuyasha, I believe that in order for us to work together, we all have to be alive, don't we?" Kikyou asked, looking meaningfully at his claws and the spirit energy blazing around Yusuke.

"Keh, I wouldn't have killed him."

"I think she was talking about me killing you Inuyasha." Yusuke grinned as he heard Kagome choking back a laugh and Inuyasha snarled at him.

"You bastard-"

"You really shouldn't talk about yourself that way Inuyasha." Yusuke dodged as Inuyasha lost control again and lunged at him. He could sense Kurama and Kikyou's exasperation. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. Until Kagome suddenly stopped trying to hide her giggles and was suddenly silent as her head snapped to the west of camp.

"Kagome?" Sango asked. Yusuke and Inuyasha paused, both staring as first Kagome then Kikyou and finally Hiei all stared off into the west.

"Hn." Hiei looked back down at the other three males, his face blank but his whole body tensed as the demons creeping towards them registered on his senses.

"There's a small pack of medium to high level demons coming," Hiei said to the questioning looks. Kikyou confirmed it while Kagome was still staring. Finally, Botan rolled her eyes and tugged on a lock of Kagome's hair while Shippo looked on worriedly.

"Stop counting them Kagome. We don't need the exact number." Botan waited and after a moment Kagome blinked and smiled at Botan, shrugging her shoulders.

"19, wait, 20, two of them are twins I think." Kagome watched the boys faces, except for Hiei who didn't show any expression, turn into shock. Inuyasha especially. She really had grown since in the last couple of years.

"How far away?" Yusuke addressed the three of them and Kikyou and Kagome looked at each other, including Hiei in their silent conversation. Finally all three seemed satisfied, though Yusuke was unsure what the hell they'd been doing. He doubted it had been telepathy, they'd just looked at each other.

"About 20 minutes away I think. Maybe 25, depends on if they start rushing as they get closer. They're definitely heading here, and reading we can get says their not here to help. Looks like someone decided we were getting bored and sent us something to do. Or something to kill as the case may be." Even as Kagome spoke the other three girls were heading over to their side of the camp, various weapons coming out from various places near the tents where they had been hidden.

"Shippo, why don't you stay back when the bad demons get her, ok?" Shippo looked up at Kagome with a pout, but obediently trotted off to maneuver his way under the girl's hovercraft, taking a bag of natural objects that he could use for illusions if he needed to, or form them together into a weapon.

Yusuke watched for a minute as Kagome retrieved her bow and got out some arrows. Yusuke looked over to Inuyasha questioningly. He shrugged. "She never could do that before. Bet when she gets closer she'll even know what kind of demons each and every one of them are."

Yusuke shrugged at Inuyasha's statement, and then went to reluctantly get out the standard gun all of them had. With his Spirit Gun and the other attacks, he really had no need of it, but regulations said they had to have it on them during battle.

"Don't worry, I don't like using mine either." Yusuke spun around in shock to see an amused Kagome leaning against a tree a few feet away. He scowled when she let out a small giggle.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people when they're getting ready for a fight. Good way to get yourself killed." Kagome shrugged at his statement before looking pointedly at the eggs all huddled into a pile.

"What do we do with them? We can't really leave them here if there are demons coming you know. Then we could say bye to ever seeing them hatch." Yusuke considered the eggs and looked to where there was a small game path to a smaller clearing they had found. Yusuke grimaced, looking back to the growing eggs and said to the first thing that came to mind.

"Damn it. Stupid eggs, they should develop harder shells."

Kagome shifted and rolled her eyes as Yusuke made no move to do anything about it. She moved over to the hovercrafts and started carefully picking up the eggs and moving them in. She stopped at her, knowing it would take her energy that she needed for the battle if she touched it. Suddenly the egg was gone and she blinked in confusion, tilting her head at the spot where the egg had been laying. Someone coughed and she blushed when she looked up to see Yusuke smirking. She moved aside and he placed the egg in the back of the hovercraft.

"Thanks Yusuke. I'll be right back. The clearing's that way, right?"

"Yeah. Hurry up or we'll kill all the demons without you."

"As if you could. Who saved who when we met again?" Kagome grinned when he scowled at her, her sweet smile not shaken in the least when he continued glaring.

"I had everything under control." Kagome raised an eyebrow at that remark as she got into the hovercraft.

"Sure you did." Yusuke continued scowling for the five minutes it took Kagome to settle the eggs in the other clearing and come back. He peered into the back and didn't notice her egg.

"How did you get your egg out without touching it?"

Kagome grinned and held up her now gloved hands without answering. Yusuke gave her an unimpressed look. "And what if it had taken your energy through the gloves anyway?"

"Then you all would have been lost without me." Kagome's eyes sparkled with mirth as Yusuke looked skywards for a moment in exasperation. He was saved from saying by the smooth skinned demon with pale blue coloring, silky dark green hair, and coal black eyes.

"Lost, would they? If so, they'll be even more lost when I kill you both," It hissed, sounding oddly like a snake.

Yusuke turned to Kagome and she looked slightly guilty at his questioning look. "So I was slightly off in my timing. Can we kill it or what?"

Yusuke looked back at the demon that was getting increasingly annoyed. He shrugged and smirked at her. "Sure. Do you want to get it or shall I?"

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Review Responses:

Fire Kitsune Goddess
Yup, Kagome/Yusuke it is. Actually, I've had them all posted in my bio since the beginning of December.

Shadow Stone
Yes! You got all of them correct! You get the prize of a cyber prize of ramen. Not exactly helpful, but you also get my gleeful maniacal laughter. Isn't that nice?

Sozoku
Thanks for reading them all! Sorry I haven't updated anything for awhile!

Mystic Rain
Half right. Inu/Kikyou and Botan/Hiei, but the other two were right. I'm sort of experimenting with other pairings in this story. The only pairing that stays throughout all my stories is Yus/Kag. Review again.

Kiharu
Because I don't think they are the perfect couple. Certainly they're a nice couple, but I think Yus/Kag is the perfect couple. I just don't share your opinions. But, thanks for the review anyway, and review again!


SilentDark
Thanks, here's another. Sorry it took a bit longer than it should have!

blazingsunstar
Thank you. Review again.

Winged Knight
Nope, not Kurama/Botan. And what comes out of the eggs will be a creature in it's own right, but have a mental bond with the one who they chose to feed them energy. So, nope, not going to make him an adult warrior. It will be useful protection for times when they need Shippo's Maker powers in battle however.