AN: I hate the summer sometimes. It's always so hot and I always have less energy to do things because of the heat…and I end up sleeping until the afternoon everyday. That means I get less time to do things that I want to do such as try out my new Chinese ink sticks, reading, and writing.

The end of this chapter is a little odd, and may be hard to read but when I listened to it in my mind, I couldn't write it any other way. Any way, here's the next chapter. Please R&R!

- Air Angel

Condemn me for Eternity

Chapter 7 – Siblings

I woke up early the next day and was all set with my uniform in a shoulder-strap bag by the time I heard my apartment buzzer go off. Heading downstairs, I slipped my ID and seal into the clear photo pockets in my wallet. It was mostly empty anyway, containing a few select photos of my family. Upon reaching the front door I was surprised to see Miroku leaning against his car waiting for me, "Change of plans again?"

"Sango was running late and since I was in the area and on my way over to UCS anyways, I offered to pick you up."

"She really is a busy person isn't she," I stated while heading to the passenger door as he moved away over to the driver's side.

"Yup, She's a real jack-of-all-trades if you asked me. That's why I love her, plus she has a great ass," he said winking before getting in the car.

I opened the passenger and stood stunned for a moment, "Uh, is this suppose to be some kind of sick joke?"

There in the passenger seat was a life-size blow-up doll. Miroku just laughed while reaching over and pulling her…cork almost instantly deflating her, "Nothing to be scared of, it's just a little trick I have to use the high-capacity lane."

Eyeing the seat warily, I slowly got in and buckled up, "So anyone else know you have an obviously disproportioned blow-up doll in your car?"

"Well Inuyasha does, he kind of just shook his head and said he'd sit in the back seat though. She's not really disproportioned is she?"

Raising an eyebrow I looked at him, "That doll probably couldn't fit in a bra unless you didn't fill her up completely, and then it probably would look like she's sagging."

Shifting uncomfortably, I sat waiting for my test to start but so far, all I had been doing for the last ten minutes was sit while my examiner kneeled a few feet away from me. I had no idea if I was suppose to do something or not. She just stayed there, watching me intently.

A few more minutes passed before she began to rise and head towards the door. Once gone, I continued to sit there confused until someone else came in and told me it was okay to leave now. Walking out of the room, I followed the signs on the walls until I reached the room where he had said that Sango would be waiting for me when I finished my testing.

Inside Sango sat talking on her cell phone. Looking up from some papers she held in her hand when she heard the door click open, she smiled, "Looks like she's done, we'll be there soon," hanging up, she stood, grabbing my bag which sat on the chair beside her, and walked over to me, "How'd it go?"

"Well…I would tell you but I really don't know what happened myself. She just sat there watching me for what felt like forever then she just suddenly gets up and leaves! I have no idea what is going on at all," I whined taking the bag from her. I hated it when things were happening around me and I didn't know what was going on, particularly if they involved me.

"Ah she was probably just reading your aura."

"Oh god, not that stuff again."

Sango just laughed, "Well it's just a guess, you can tell a lot about people just from their auras just like how demons and tell how strong another demon is just by sensing the others' youki."

"Right…Well what about my results then?"

"Don't worry about it, it's likely that's it's getting filed right now and Keade will have it in her office soon. What we have to worry about is the meeting in three hours."

"Three hours? You mean it's already one o'clock!" I asked shocked.

Glancing at her watch, she nodded, "One o'clock seven minutes and thirty-two seconds."

"Wow time flies fast…"

"It sure does, and we're not even having fun."

I laughed, "Well what do I have to do now?"

"Our schedules should be free for a bit so how about getting some lunch?"

"Lead the way!" I could already feel my stomach growling, "Should we ask the others to join us?"

"Miroku and Inuyasha got stuck on the welcome committee for the new team. I wouldn't suggest going to get them right now."

"Why not?" I asked while following her out of the room and down the hall.

"Well for one thing, Inuyasha is probably going to freak out when he finds out just who exactly is on the team that the sent for…"

"Is it someone who's had a disagreement with Inuyasha?"

"I guess you could call it that... it's his brother who is coming. Well, technically half-brother."

"So it's sibling rivalry?"

"Something like that…" Sango stopped moving for a moment and turned to me, "Whatever you do, don't call them brothers."

"O-okay…"

Her serious expression quickly dissolved into a smile and she directed me out of the building and down the street for some lunch at WacDonalds.

After our hour lunch break, we went back to UCS to get ready for the meeting. By ready, it meant to change into our uniforms. We went into the changing room of one of the gyms and changed. It didn't take long as it wasn't very complicated thankfully. Slipping back into my shoes, I hoped no one would notice my old runners I was wearing.

"Isn't it a bit early for us to be all dressed up?" we still had about two hours until the meeting.

"True, but you need to get comfortable being in the uniform. Sometimes the fabric is a bit stiff so it's doesn't feel that great against your skin. I usually suggest washing the uniform first with some softener but I didn't get anytime to tell you that yesterday."

"Its okay, when I still lived with my family we took turns doing the laundry, unfortunately when my grandfather did them, it always seemed like our clothes turned into boards."

"Well, what do you want to do now?"

Sango paused for a moment, "We could go see the guys, but I'm not sure if Inuyasha would be in a good mood yet. I'd give it another hour and even then he'll still be moody until Sesshoumaru leaves."

"So Sesshoumaru is his brother's name?"

"Yeah, do you recognize it or something?"

I shook my head, "No, it's just…now that I think about it, I think I've heard Inuyasha's name before."

"I would assume so, you did meet already," she teased.

"I don't mean it like that," I gave her a small glare while locking my other clothes from earlier in a locker. They were fingerprint coded so I didn't have to worry about a lock, "I think I heard it before I ever even moved here. Back when I still lived with my family."

Sango sat on one of the locker benches and motioned me to sit beside her, "What do you mean? Inuyasha isn't a very common name."

"I know it's strange but I honestly think I have heard it before," I said while slowly sitting down. Where HAD I heard his name from? Sango was right, it wasn't very common and I was sure I had never met Inuyasha before our not-so-welcome introduction a few days back.

"Aha!" Sango jumped up, almost making me topple over from her outburst, "Maybe you heard it from a legend or something! People in myths, folklore and legends tend to not have very common names. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why his name is the way it is, after all, he's probably well in his hundreds by now."

I nodded slowly, "That would make sense, my grandfather was and still is the caretaker of a shrine, he probably told me it in one of his stories. Hey!" I said narrowing my eyes at her curious expression, "Don't even bother asking me about anything, I never really listened to what he said."

"Too bad," her voice obviously laced with disappointment, "It would've been something neat to tell Inuyasha, especially if it were one of those embarrassing ones with morals where the person does something completely stupid."

"I highly doubt it was," I said dryly, "If I remember correctly, it was pretty sad."

"I thought you said you didn't remember."

"I don't, it's just the feeling I'm getting now that I'm actually trying to remember where I heard his name from," suddenly a mischievous smile spread across Sango's face, "What are you thinking?" I asked while narrowing my eyes.

"Oh nothing," she replied sweetly, a tone that made my eyebrow twitch. She was definitely planning something.

"Nothing my ass, tell me now"

She slowly made her way to the doorway, the same smile across her face, "Well, I just wondered what would happen if I told Inuyasha you said you heard his name before."

"And why would that matter?"

"Maybe I'll tell him a few other things as well…"

"Other things?" I asked, standing up and moving towards her before dawning fell on me, "You're going to make something up to embarrass me aren't you!"

She made a small noise sounding similar to the word "busted" before dashing out of the locker room and down the hallway. I stood frozen for a moment before I took chase after her. I knew deep down she probably wouldn't have made up a lie to embarrass me like that and that she was just teasing me, but I couldn't help but try to catch her before she did something, anything, that would embarrass me in front of anyone.

"Na, na, you can't catch me!" she sang while rounding a corner.

"Get back here you!" I shouted after her. Of course, this whole act was pointless. Sango was quick and agile which probably came from all the work from hunting rogue demons in the past where as I… well, I had the record from high school of being fifth . . . from last place in a group of twenty-three. I lost her in less than a minute. After taking a few minutes to catch my breath, I started walking down the hall, following where I had last seen her. Since this was a race, my mind reasoned, she would probably expect to hear my running footsteps, and not my walking ones. That might give me a way to catch her off guard if she were waiting somewhere, having (obviously) lost me behind.

I walked slowly but as normally as I could, however normally would sound for walking. About five minutes later, I was beginning to get irritated; I couldn't get a glimpse of her anywhere. Sighing, I leaned the wall beside the closest doorway. That's when I heard Sango's voice from within the room. Happy I had finally found her, I was about to open the closed door before I heard Miroku's voice from within as well.

"He's still upset," Miroku said calmly inside the room, "It seems that they asked for the wolves' assistance as well."

"The wolves? Are we really so short-handed that we had to ask them for help?" Sango's voice rang clearly.

"As you know the attacks have been increasing."

"Well, they could always send us out; it's not as if we're doing much here at headquarters anyways."

"You say that, but we've still got the last case on our hands and you know the rules, we aren't allowed to take on another mission, unless we have no other missions lined up or our latest mission has been 'completed'."

"They've already called in Sesshoumaru's group to handle the rest though."

"True, but until then after our meeting, we'll have to remain on standby."

"I hate waiting, you never know what's happening outside. . ."

"Just be patient, it's more than likely that the meeting will have Sesshoumaru's group take over, Kouga will be sent to the outskirts as he and his team are well known for their speed, and we'll be sent back out on our regular duties once again."

"Still, it's taking so long," Sango's voice paused for a moment, "And they all know how Inuyasha feels towards Sesshoumaru and Kouga. To have them both called here at once must mean more than they let us know."

"You can't blame them; we aren't the highest up in rank anyways."

"But we're the most efficient group in our section! You'd think they'd have a little more faith in us. Plus we're going to get stuck with a moody Inuyasha for at least a day."

"Why does it seem that this whole conversation keeps revolving around Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Kouga?" I heard Miroku sigh.

"You know how it is every time they come around here. When it's Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha tends to take offence to every little thing he says, even when he makes a valid point. When it's Kouga, they just compete, compete, and compete! What is with dogs? They drove me nuts last time. To have them all here are once, it's going to be a nightmare, especially since Kagome is here now. She's only been here a few days; I don't want her to become traumatized over their acts."

"Well for Kouga, I suppose it really is a dog-demon instinct. He's a wolf and he probably sees Inuyasha like the average domesticated dog, of course he's going to provoke Inuyasha while Inuyasha will take up his fight because he simply is too prideful. For Sesshoumaru, it can't be helped. They are half-brothers after all. Sesshoumaru may be cold, but he is very intelligent. Inuyasha probably hates how his brother always seems to be a step ahead of him. You should know, after all, you have a brother."

The room went quiet for a moment, before Sango responded frostily, "You mean HAD a brother."

"Come on Sango, he may still be alive. They never found his body back in Nagoya."

"They didn't find much of anyone back in Nagoya," she spat back, "after all, majority of the bodies had been turned to ash!"

"Sango I didn't mean to upset you, I was just trying to get you to see-"

"Stop, I don't want to be apart of this conversation anymore. We either talk about something else, or I'm leaving right now. Kagome's probably still looking for me anyways."

I heard some shuffling inside the room, and I decided I probably heard something I shouldn't have. Taking a few silent steps back, I jogged towards the doorway again, this time opening the door, "Sango, are you in here?"

"Kagome, there you are!" she said cheerfully, though it seemed a bit forced.

"You run too fast Sango, how did you expect me to catch up with you!" I accused lightly, did she see through me? Did she know I had heard part of their conversation?

"Sorry, I didn't realize you don't run much. I was going to head back but Miroku popped out of no where and dragged me in here to talk. Inuyasha was driving him crazy, just like I told you would happen."

"Oh, hey Miroku! I didn't notice you," I lied, "How was welcoming the others?" I choose my words carefully in my head, not using Sesshoumaru's name but the word others, hoping, that just maybe, they would tell me this Kouga person now so I wouldn't accidentally slip up later."

"Everything went according to plan, we picked them up and didn't get attacked on the way," he teased, "Though Inuyasha kept complaining the whole time. I assume Sango has told you about Sesshoumaru already. Though you shouldn't have to worry about him that much, it's Kouga who you'll want to stay away from as long as Inuyasha is nearby."

"Kouga?" I asked innocently, "Who's that?"

"He's a wolf demon; he and Inuyasha don't get along very well. They almost act like rivals except their competitions against each other tend to be very violent, and almost always one of them ends up with a hole somewhere."

"Miroku!" Sango scolded, "Don't scare her!"

"Don't worry Sango, I'm sure she can handle this, can't you Kagome?"

I nodded slowly, unsure of how I should answer, "As long as I don't end up with a hole in myself I think I'll be fine."

"See?" Miroku said triumphantly, "She's quite brave. I believe she'll be fine."

Sango walked over to me, "Just stay away if they start arguing, I don't want you to get hurt over something petty."

"Petty?"

She nodded, "Almost every fight they have is over something completely ridiculous. Once they fought over who had to do a mission. Kouga used to work at this base before he and his team were moved over to Hokkaido. Back on topic though, it was originally sent to us to do, but Kouga tried to take over saying that he could get the mission done in one quarter of the time it would take for Inuyasha to do it. This, of course, pissed off Inuyasha."

"You only complain because while they were arguing, you and I left to do the mission without them, it was stressful, and they were still arguing by the time we got back," Miroku added.

"Who wouldn't complain? There were three attacks in one area, three of them! We had to get it all under control before there were increased casualties! There can be only so many people killed before they start noticing things out of the ordinary and we can't cover it up anymore."

"Sango," I said grabbing her attention from her complaining to Miroku, "Do you mean that whenever someone dies in an attack, their family isn't told the truth why they died?"

She winced, "I wouldn't say it'd be a complete lie. Most of the time we tell them that they were attacked, which is true, but we can't just go out and tell them that their bodies were half eaten by a youkai, they would become paranoid or think we're crazy and try to do something probably drastic."

"It's just, it's sad," I whispered quietly, "There are a lot of people whose lives change when someone close to them has died, aren't you worried that those people still alive might take it upon themselves to try to right something anyways?"

"There are times where the family wants to see the killer, sometimes we negotiate with the police to have it set up that another recent human murderer take the blame."

"So you lie to them again?" I shouted angrily, "And you place the blame on another person who had nothing to do with the death!"

"It's not like they weren't in jail for killing someone else!" Sango sighed exasperated, "Look, I know it may seem morally incorrect to do what we do, but what else CAN we do? If you'd like, you can say it's our fault for not making it in time to save them!"

Casting my eyes away to the floor, it became silent. She was right, what could we do? If we were to tell them, we'd be probably branded as liars or mentally unstable. On the off chance they did believe us, we'd create more problems and possibly tip the already tilting balance of our lives as it was, "I understand but a part of me still doesn't agree with what you've done."

"It's okay, it's the way you were brought up," Miroku said placing a hand on my shoulder, "In school's they teach you that lying and fighting is wrong, that you should be honest and peaceful but if you think about it, as long as two people are alive, there will be arguments and possibly lies being told to each other. It's not wrong to wish for a peaceful life but I would be lying if I told you it would be easy to obtain."

"He's right; the world right now is having many drastic changes. Wars between humans are bad enough, wars between youkai are even worse. That's why we're here," Sango said smiling softly, almost forgivingly.

"Why ARE we here?" I asked. I thought I knew but now I didn't. Maybe I hadn't known at all to begin with.

"We're here to make it so that the dream of a calm and peaceful life can at least be obtained by a few. It's the lives of those who want that life we try to protect as well as we can."

My mind began to wander and suddenly an image flashed in my mind. One were Souta was a mangled heap on the ground, lying in a puddle of blood. Would I really want to know that a youkai had been trying to devour him? No, I thought, I wouldn't.

Feeling ashamed of myself, I began to understand a bit more than before. That these people may have gone out and killed many youkai, lied to families whom lost loved ones to those youkai, and left people unknowingly in danger at times; but they still were just like any other person. They were trying their best, and trying to protect the lives of others so that they wouldn't have to experience the lose that death brought as well.

I closed my eyes and said the only thing I could, "I'm sorry."

They both smiled lightly, "You're forgiven."

My eyes began to tear up and I choked back a sob. Sango moved quickly over to me and pulled me into a hug. It was comforting but it didn't make my tears go away.