Kurama watched in a detached manner as the miko greeted her family as she returned. Hiei only looked up briefly from his perch on a window-sill, and her brother came running into the house from the yard, followed closely by a panting Kuwabara. Yusuke strolled in from the kitchen, leaning casually upon the doorjamb as if he lived here.

The miko laughed as her brother collided with her stomach and wrapped his arms around her waist. Their grandfather shook his head as he moved into the house, waving distractedly to the lady of the house as he passed and receiving a kiss to his cheek as he continued on obliviously.

Kuwabara smiled at the young boy and turned his grin up to Kurama. And Kurama couldn't help but notice that Kuwabara seemed content. He was prone to usually worry about the well-being of many, and that directly translated into the way he carried himself and looked behind his shoulder. None of this was in the way Kuwabara moved now, and Kurama had to wonder how much the peace of this shrine affected those with awareness…and those without.

Ms. Higurashi calmly walked into the room and calmly gazed at the assembled group. Yusuke stumbled and winced when he received a smack to the back of his head from her. He turned to her with an exaggerated wounded face and she glanced at him slyly. "That's for stealing the cookie dough."

Yusuke grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled. Kurama smiled; Yusuke was still a child at heart. 'You got that right, now shut up.'

'Youko…?'

'Shhh, I'm thinking.' There was a pause. 'She's intriguing.'

Kurama tuned into his other half, paying attention to the emotions rolling off Youko's soul as they watched Kagome. He was curious as always, but there was an underlying sense of awe that made Kurama wonder. She did have his full attention.

'You are very…' He was cut off by a rather abrupt and imperious motion and he shut himself up. When Youko got into one of these moods there was no sense in talking to him; all it got you was an irritated (and irritating) motion and the fox's cold shoulder for most of the day. Never interrupt him when he's thinking.

So Kurama sighed and focused his attention on his friends and the family, watching silently and wonderingly at the warm woman that was Kagome's mother. He could picture the eyes of Kagome, just like her mothers. They would be open and warm and dark chocolate like that, and you would always be able to see the smile threatening to come out in those eyes. He looked to the miko, now being affectionate with her brother in the teasing manner he assumed Kuwabara took with his sister on occasion. Her eyes were rarely open, him having seen her jewels only when they were in danger or asked by the Lord.

'It's a shame really.' He felt Youko's irritation at his stray thought before the fox went back to his musings, ignoring the interruption in his detective mode. He found himself amused slightly at the fox's antics before his attention returned to the family and his friends. It would seem that even the 'rebels' could find a place of acceptance in this shrine, and watching the two mostly-humans of his group joke around with such ease spoke volumes to his natural protective instincts for something that was wholly his.

He smiled and laughed when Kuwabara was attacked by the very large cat the family took care of, and smiled in delight when his nose caught the scent of freshly baked cookies almost ready to be devoured. Cookies were on his good list.

Cookies…

Kurama shook himself out of his sugar induced haze and watched the miko play fight with her brother. Well, they weren't exactly fighting. Souta would randomly let a hand fly in her direction only to laugh when she caught it in one of her own…and she always caught it.

It made him wonder how she'd have an accident that the grandfather was talking about with Hiei. He shrugged and settled himself into a chair, claiming it as his own for their duration in the shrine household. It was oddly endearing to watch this family.

Souta laughed and joked and became serious when the moment warranted, yet he still retained that boyish innocence and charm that labeled him as one who had little if no contact with the demon kind. Their mother was the epitome of a single mom, what every child wished they could have as theirs, and she extended that motherly affection to all who entered her household. The grandfather was crazy, but he welcomed you whole-heartedly as well, regaling you with stories of bygones and happenings, enticing you to listen for hidden meanings and secrets long lost.

And Kagome, the daughter and sister, she was there for you to ask a question or tell a story to. She would listen, and she would smile. She would laugh as well, ruffle her brother's hair, she would help her mom with the food, and she would indulge in her grandfather's babblings.

It was as if her blindness didn't really exist, and she was just a normal teenage girl who loved her family and enjoyed staying at home and working on the shrine grounds like her ancestors would have done.

"The baking smells wonderful hon." The conversation continued outside his thoughts, enticing him to join with the age in the old man's voice. His eyes lit up with childish delight. "Do you think we could have some?"

Higurashi laughed, patting her father on the back and reaching behind her toward a counter, she produced a tray of cookies and set them on the table, watching with a grin as the old man's eyes lit up and he quickly snatched up one of the treats. Souta giggled and Kurama caught something that caught him off guard. The miko's smile was awkward as she heard her brother's giggle. The family continued, only her grandfather giving her a sympathetic glance as he noticed the look that washed over her face before he went back to living their joy.

Kagome smiled firmly and excused herself, pushing out her chair from the table she stood quietly and made her way to the picture covered hallway and Kurama heard her walking up the stairs- and a faint whoosh of air rushing from a closing door. He focused his eyes back on the family, noticing that Souta kept on glancing up to where his sister left, and their mother always directed their attention elsewhere.

There was a knocking at the door, and Kurama was startled out of his thoughts and strongly reminded of one of Edgar Allen Poe's poems…Ms. Higurashi rose to get the door, walking out of the room with a smile and a nod from her father. There was a hushed silence in the room as they strained their ears to listen to the guest, the demons having an advantage over the humans – even those powerful humans – in the room. Yet, they only could hear snatches of the conversation, Kurama mentally noting that the various makai plants that inhabited the house were muffling all noises from farther in.

Kurama pulled himself from his musings when he noticed Souta giving his grandfather a telling glance and looking at the stairs pointedly. He just shook his head in return and returned to looking at the door to his daughter as Souta did the same. They heard the laughter of Ms. Higurashi growing louder, and they were shocked to hear the distinct drawl of a familiar voice coming towards them. "Yah know we can all feel her from ah'r side?" The recognizable face of the wind master Jin greeted them as he rounded the corner with Ms. Higurashi. "They're going crazy withouh' her there tah show 'em thah she…" He cut himself off with a surprised expression as he saw them, briefly glancing about the room before he rested his gaze on Yusuke. "What're you guys doing here?"

Yusuke smirked. "The question is what are you doing here?"

Jin smiled his little half smile as his fang poked out of his mouth, looking at Souta and Kagome's mother before he stepped fully into the room. "Ah has come fo' the Northern Lady, she's worried about miko-sama." Kurama narrowed his eyes at the redhead, wondering at the respect he showed the miko even as she wasn't in his presence.

Souta grinned and appeared right beside the wind master, startling the Spirit Detectives at his speed and stealth. "Do you have time to train me?" His grin faded as Jin's face lost its amusement.

Jin shook his head in the negative and glanced behind his shoulder to the stairs. He gave a glance to the Higurashis as they looked up at him, and he smiled sadly as he gave them a nod. His mood shifted and his face cleared into the genial expression of good nature as he underwent one of his famous mood swings and he smiled brightly to them as he left the room.

Kuwabara paused from his cat petting, creating a comical sight as both him and the tawny cat gazed after the demon in confusion; and then the cat swiped at Kuwabara's idle hand and jumped off his lap with its tail in the air and his nose to the stairs.

The cat disappeared form their view.

Ms. Higurashi smiled and asked them if they would like to stay for dinner, wondering out loud about how they could have stayed up all night hunting just to return to a restless day and reporting to the Highers. She sighed as she got a vague response from Yusuke and Kurama watched as she shook her head with a mothering smile before closing the curtains to the outside window.

Kurama was just about to ask why when he heard the voices, Jin and Kagome were outside, walking away from the house as it sounded and their voices gradually faded from his ears.

He turned back to the family with calculating eyes, watching Hiei look through the wall and will himself to see outside to the pair even as he knew he couldn't. Yusuke and Kuwabara shrugged it off, and were joking around with Souta as the family settled into the domestic scene that would welcome any rebel or misfit.

Kurama's eyes narrowed even more: 'Something isn't adding up…'

.x.

Jin had smiled to himself as he ascended the stairs from the hallway of memories- or so he had dubbed it. It was always amusing for him to walk down that hall and watch the family as it slowly shrunk…until he hit the gap in time where no pictures of Kagome were, and after that came all the pictures of her with those beautiful blue-grey eyes that she no longer had.

He sighed as he knocked on her door, opening it a crack to call out to her. "Kagome?" He found her sweating and breathing deeply and muttering under her breath- in the corner of her very sparse room.

The meditative pose she was in was trembling and her eyes were open and furiously blinking. The old posters of her earlier years framed her; the curling and yellowing sheets testifying forgotten days and memories and heralding change and overlook. Jin was strangely saddened by the sight, as he always was when he entered her room, he thought she must have been a very endearing teenager to have such warm mementoes once fresh upon her walls…but now she was theirs.

He shook his head vigorously as he took a small step into the room and closed the door quietly behind him. He took in a deep breath of her scent before he cleared his thoughts and regret. If she hadn't changed from the carefree child she was once she wouldn't be theirs…she wouldn't be their miko. And even if only a select few knew what she had truly gone through and accomplished- she was his precious person. Jin smiled gently as her head snapped to his position even as her empty eyes darted about searching for him.

"Ah'm righ' here."

"Jin…?" Her trembling whisper reached his pointed ears and he wondered at how such a small nervous creature could produce a trembling note of steel even when she was like this. He made sure his steps sounded distinctly in the room as he approached her and watched her for any sign of shock.

There was no telling what would set her off when she was like this.

"Do yah think we should go out?"

She nodded her head slowly and Jin resisted the urge to brush the bangs out of her wide eyes. Even if she normally could sense everything around her even in a weary state he had been summoned because right now…she couldn't. It hurt him to see her like this.

The strong woman he knew since he was young was still there, the reason he used to smile amidst battle was still there; but now the woman was trembling and even as she stood straight with her chin held high…her lip quivered as she reached out her hand to him in a show of trust- and vulnerability.

He knew it killed her to do this…to be this weak. He took her hand, pulling her to him gently to clasp her elbow to lead her in the walk down the back stairs of the house to the yard. The sacred Goshinboku was always where they went when she got like this, and Jin sighed in relief as its welcoming presence engulfed them and helped Kagome relax.

He felt the tree's odd energy wrap around his companion, and he fought the shivers that ran up his form as her eyes glazed over and the smile tilted her lips- even as the crease between her brows stayed and the chilled pallor of her skin remained. He led her to her bench, close to the tree's trunk and near the barrier to the sacred tree, and he watched her sit with the worry of someone who knew, and someone who cared.

She turned a smile to him – though it was strained – and he found himself smiling back in relief. "From whence did they call you, Windwalker?"

Jin grinned insanely at her nickname for him and found he was settling down on the ground near her feet. The energy he was usually overcome with settled as he sat near her, and he leaned back into her legs as her hands weaved through his hair. "Ah was in the east, a ruma' of faeries was aroun'."

Her fingers wiggled through his hair and he became victim of the urge to wiggle his ears in contentment. Her giggle reached him, but he still could feel the winds attempts to sooth her spirit and nerves- she wasn't relaxed enough yet.

He wracked his head for something that would ease her spirit, and he almost fell to giving up when he hit it. "Yah remember when we first met?"

He felt her form relax into the bench as her knees ceased to tense behind his form, the resulting position he found himself in was much comfier and he fought the impulse to purr. He too remembered meeting her, when he was still a young child with big eyes in the much larger world…

The woman he was watching stopped a few feet from completely passing him, and he watched in curiosity as she turned her body to actually face him. He shifted uncomfortably in the rags he ha managed to salvage and he altered his arms to hug tighter around his stomach to hold the protruding ribs, ribs he knew he knew he had, from her eyes. It was all for naught, as her eyes were closed. But Jin had the most confusing sensation; that no matter if her eyes were closed or not, she was actually seeing him. It was different from being looked through by those open eyes, this was like someone was seeing his soul, and he found it disconcerting to realize he couldn't do the same to her.

She held out her hand to him, and Jin stared at the dainty appendage in disbelief as he raised an eyebrow and gave the lady an unimpressed look. He caught himself from expecting her to react, and was very surprised when she did.

Her tinkling laugh came forth, and her shoulders rose before they lowered to lift him onto his two unsteady feet; he flushed hard under the attention, trying to hide the shaking of his legs from malnutrition, and hide the telltale tears that threatened when he felt the boils ache on his feet. There was nothing blocking his pain from her though, even as her eyes were closed and smile still in place she lifted him like he was a leaf in the wind and carried him away from the dirty market place and the filthy town.

He remembered looking over her shoulder, and past her thick hair, to glimpse his last view of the town that had housed him since he could remember.

'Good Riddance'. The dingy houses and shacks faded from his view and the smoky and dirty smell of the air cleared until he found himself in a green forest with a mountain rising proud far before him.

She set him down on the side of the path, and her hands were gentle as she tended to his feet with herbs from a small bag at her side, and her hands were forgiving to his ribs as she checked them for breaks or bruises. He was chary of her, understandably so, and he watched her warily as she settled back a few feet on her crouched legs and seemed to wait for something.

He gave in "Wha' yah want?"

She smiled oddly. "I seek nothing, yet I sense your need. Your name little one?"

Jin bristled, the lady set something off on his senses and he couldn't exactly pinpoint what. "Ah ain't giving it." He said petulantly.

Her smile turned genuine. "Well then Windwalker, I need you to come with me until you feel fit to leave on your own, unless you want to go to a place where I know the wind flows free and the breeze dances yearly."

Tempted as he was Jin hesitantly accepted in the face of this lady's proposition. She seemed nice enough, but so had his mother. His hand came out to shake hers, and he made sure to remind himself not to be too shocked when her hand rose to meet his, she could see him- in her own way.

The deal faired him well, and he found that piggybacking across the lands with Kagome had been fun, and eventually he had given his name- and gotten hers in return.

"Jin."

Her face turned to him in mild curiosity. "Your name then? Mine is Kagome." She smiled at him, and he felt the shock run along his nerves before he settled himself again onto her back. 'She couldn't be the same Kagome…'

They continued their journey.

The journey didn't last long, the trust gradually building between him and this strange woman with strange powers, and he found himself liking her even more as the days went by. If she was anything she was someone he could count on. It wasn't until the days when she reached her destination that he realized just how much that was true.

They entered the gates of the large manse, Jin in all his scared excitement darted his eyes about around him. He could feel the wind flowing free and the breeze dancing; it rushed along his senses and sent a heady rush to his soul. He grinned.

The servants directed the woman he was with to a large library, full of cushions and windows and the perfumed zephyr. Jin bounced around excitedly, reading titles in a glance and grinning as the pillows gave and shifted under his bouncing figure.

He stilled as he felt it; the calm before a storm, the herald of the passage, the epitome of control, the old winds. Jin gaped in awe as the elegant lady entered the library and rushed to embrace Kagome. They shared few tears, and many smiles and the graceful lady gestured to him in question.

Kagome smiled and motioned him over. He did so, caring not that he was openly staring at the lady until he reached Kagome and hid behind her legs. Surely this seasoned warrior would scoff at his pathetic control of the winds.

Kagome pushed him in front of her knees, but he made sure to grab a strong hold of her fighting gi so she couldn't push him totally away. The lady crouched down to his height, and he shocked himself that a lady of such high stature would demean herself in such a way.

"This is the child you think should be under me and mine?"

Kagome nodded. "His spirit is of the wind, and he has the personality. Kohaku could come and with you could make a fine warrior out of him; he just needs the freedom of the north in his blood." Jin looked up at his companion in awe, she wanted to make him a warrior, weak little Jin, she wanted to make a strong warrior out of him!

The lady nodded. "Jin of the wind, I am Kagura of the North Wind. Lady to the North Mandate and I hereby request your training be received under me and mine. Will you accept?"

"Like a gale is part of the storm!" He blushed at his outburst, but gave a hesitant grin when he noticed Lady Kagura's eyes lit up and a smile widen her lips. Kagome smiled and kissed the crown of his head before she walked with them to the gates. He watched her awkwardly; he liked her, but he got the feeling that she should be leaving….

"I'll probably be seeing you a lot now Jin of the Wind. Remember to visit me once in a while as well; the silent shinobi Kohaku will probably help you a lot." She leaned down and whispered conspiratorially at him. "I hear he has a soft spot for candy." she smiled as she put her finger to her lips and stood up straight.

The Lady of the North smiled at the strange woman Kagome; "The wind has your back, miko of time. May you always know that the refuge you seek is a whisper breezed away."

Kagome smiled and bowed, Kagura returning the bow as Jin stood there in shock. Kagome was the Kagome. The so-called miko drifting in time, the miko without time, the woman of true purity…

Jin shook his head as he heard her muffled giggle and he turned his back to watch her hand cover her mouth to hinder her laughter. He smiled lazily as he listened to it, knowing she was laughing at a memory of him and that it didn't really matter. She was relaxed again, and he sighed as he stretched out the kinks in his back from sitting too long.

He always was rather restless…

He took her arm and lifted her up out of her seated position, setting her down when she playfully smacked his arm and let him take her elbow to escort her into the house. He entered through the front door, taking his time to carefully guide her around the obstacles that lined her path.

She accepted this with a grim pride, reminding him of the strong and proud warrior he had experienced only once…but that was for another time. Right now their miko needed him, and he was never one to ignore his friends in need.

He smiled sadly as he guided her past her family; briefly glancing his tentative friends in the Spirit Detectives as he walked past that doorway, and he continued on to leave her in her room. He sighed as he watched her, he was sure that the Highers would want to see her when they heard how bad it had been this time, and he knew just who to tell that to.

Jin whispered a soft goodbye to the miko as she curled up at her window, closing the door and leaning against it for a brief moment as he memorized the shift the room's mood had taken since he got her calmed down, it was all he had that told him she would be alright. He made his way down the stairs and through the hall of memories as he approached the other guests and his friends. This should go over well…

.x..x.x.x.

Retainers: In the third chapter, I told you that one retainer was Toutosai, and it is very obvious that another retainer was Jaken. I am glad I confused you with the silent shadowy retainer! CHAH! Bow down before my plot device! Lol. Anyhow, here are the other hints.

There are seven retainers.

'…silver haired retainer snorted', "to subdue you…." 'hanyou retainer' 'One of Sesshoumaru's retainers, his younger brother if rumors were true'

'one of the western lord's advisors' "…Onigumo-chan."

'southern Lady's retainers; the one who'd called Kagome wench and another dark haired youkai' 'wolf retainer to Ayame-sama' 'barking laughter from Ayame's other retainer'(see #2 as well).

'the soft and quiet voice of Sesshoumaru's last retainer'

'A second female retainer, this one working for Kagura, nodded her head with her long black hair swishing in its ponytail.'

Where there is Kagura, there is always the other. (See #5).

If this doesn't help then I'll be happy to clear up all the confusion, in fact I might even be taking the whole group into Makai later and it will clear up the confuzzlement as well as the other pov's. Toodles! (Oh boy do I EVER have plans! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA hack.) -.-

Umm yeah and to sesshoumaruobsessed; there's Jin! (Though I had trouble with his speech, stupid brogue walks away muttering to herself)

Sorry for any stupid errors, but I hope you enjoy the new chappie! I didn't know what to do with the interlude of silliness, so I'm taking it away and all those who never read it tough luck! I know I enjoyed writing it. Heh. Toodles!