Kurama snarled and paced and shook his head. Youko and he were having trouble catching the story that twirled around them on everyone's lips but never really seemed to be whole. It was like he never had…Youko stopped.

Kurama stopped.

Hiei twisted by default, not wanting to engage in a scuffle that would have ensued from the sudden stop his comrade made.

Kurama whirled around to face his friend. "Exactly how old is the miko?"

Hiei appeared to regard him seriously about the question and it seemed he had deigned to not answer before he changed his mind. His eyes cleared of thought and sharpened to focus directly on him, and Kurama could feel the effect of the Jagan's heavy glare upon his person as well. "What have you been told?"

"Just some riddle about her being both twenty one and infinite, or something of the like."

Hiei smirked. Kurama could almost see the twisting temptation in those ruby eyes to simply reiterate that cryptic response, but the hybrid lost his almost playful expression with a backward glance to the miko who was heavily leaning on Onigumo, and started. "Kagome would be 21 had she remained human, but she became the miko without time- so she is infinite."

Kurama was still confused, but his attention was dawn by the storming figure of Jin and one who had been called Kohaku. His reply was distracted… "But what exactly does that mean?"

Hiei sighed, and as Jin and the warrior came up to them, forcibly and visibly calming themselves down, Kurama had the fleeting thought that maybe he didn't really want to be involved in such a group of friends and allies… 'Who the hell am I kidding?'

'Not me, for certain.' Youko thought back in glee, rubbing his hands together with his eyes going impossibly wide, trying to take everything in at once. Jin gave him a polite nod, and the other male scoffed and snarled before he settled, slightly turned away from them, his eyes flashing around the grounds anxiously, taking in all that had once been beautiful and pristine and powerful.

Now the power was mourning, and Kurama was hard pressed to sort out all the outside influences on his soul. He was sure that the large sacred tree that had remained untouched, save for some soil turned at its roots, was pulsing with anger and worry; and he wasn't so certain of the shed a little away from the once swept main grounds that seemed to flare with power and anger…and he wasn't sure of the grounds and broken plants that seemed to weep and beg forgiveness. He answered to Jin's questioning look. "I asked what it meant for Kagome to be infinite."

The wind user let out a sighing breath, having it crystallize on the rapidly cooling night air. "She is tha' timeless miko moron, what do ya think it means?" Kurama could only guess, from that short tone of voice, that Jin had many a time answered questions quite like this one and was weary of answering it over and over again when it was so clear to him.

The warrior companion let out a slightly amused grin, it falling off his face like water on rocks as he caught sight of the miko; standing by Onigumo and mouthing a silent apology into the air and to wherever her mind had taken her. It was completely different from the miko they had seen since they'd met; the miko of serenity and wisdom and power. The constant sense of her aura that had seemed to ground her to the very earth she walked was faint now, and Kurama noticed many of those gathered giving her worried glances as she stood and whispered and a few tears trailed down her cheeks.

Koenma hesitated only slightly from beside them as he approached. Kurama knew that he had been vaguely listening to their conversation in muted shock. He too was staring out at the miko, and he distractedly came to stand closer beside their little group before his gaze turned to the warrior. "Kohaku-san. I am told that you are a Taijiya, you have had ties with this miko since your adulthood, and surely you can shed some light on our situation."

The now confirmed Kohaku snarled, turning to Koenma with a furious stomp of his foot as he twisted to fully face them. "That clan is dead."

Koenma simply raised a brow and persisted. "But you are here, and you have the skills necessary for this. You have the information we need." Kurama's eyes sharpened on those words, taking the mutterings of Youko in the back of his mind and the reactions of Jin and Kohaku to Koenma's phrasing.

'There is no way that he meant it the way it sounded!'

Youko rose up so his voice could resonate into his thoughts, the conviction behind the words steadying Kurama and causing him to listen as he paid some faint attention to the gathered group. 'I'm sure even he doesn't realize what that sounded like, but that's not what matters.' His ear distractedly flicked to the two who were directly involved with the Highers before Ketsueki, and Kurama turned his gaze to them. 'It matters that it sounded like a bargain for their betrayal of Kagome to them, they will not take this lightly.'

"That clan was killed long ago! Get it straight!" Kohaku growled out, rather convincingly for someone not quite a bestial demon, and then stalked off with the proverbial storm cloud actually gathering around his form. Jin glared slightly in worry after him, but his glare turned menacing as it returned to the prince of reikai at his next comment.

"What's with him?"

The wind that constantly mussed Jin's hair seemed to whip about more frantically, and the red haired wind user snarled slightly, exposing both of his fangs entirely. "You pissed off a good man, Prince Enma. You would do well to leave good enough alone, lest you put your nose in places where it is unwelcome." His accent left him with his ire…

Hiei glared in amusement and scoffed, Jin snarling slightly before Hiei looked at him in scathing curiosity. Jin only flushed slightly and opened his mouth. "Kohaku-sama's a very prominent ninja in the makai, he no longer is part of tha Taijiya clan- as tha lad said they died long ago. They're completely opposite occupations. Confusing 'em is like a blow to tha honorable retreat he left his life in, an' spits upon his loss." Jin growled slightly, turning to the right and crossing his arms over his chest.

Hiei seemed to gain an expression of enlightenment, and Kurama could only watch confused as the much more involved hybrid casually went to stand beside the wind user, glancing up briefly before making a soft sound of amused agreement. Jin relaxed and nodded before going over to speak with the woman wind user, having her snap her fan open and then flick it closed in her irritation and anxiety as she watched the miko grieve and apologize. He soon left, the still strong portal shifting its destination that they could see to forests and mountains that clearly denoted the Northern lands as he followed the ninja shinobi.

Kagura huffed and walked over to them, her fan still opening and closing with her irritation. "Just what exactly are you asses doing to piss of my two protégées?"

Koenma stiffened with his eyes narrowing, and then they softened into curiosity and determination. "We wondered at the infiniteness of Kagome. It would seem impossible since she is neither demon nor anything non-human."

Kagura laughed, Hiei smirking slightly at the airy sound and turning around to face them all from where he had been staring out over the desecrated grounds. "Here we are all working to put together these desecrated gardens and here you are wondering about our miko's age?" Her laugh sounded out again before she sobered, giving them all an appraising looks over her open fan. "Kagome is not a demon; no, she does not have our blood in her veins. It would conflict too much with her powers."

She sighed in thought as her gaze drifted to somewhere not quite in this time, where she reminisced about something relating to their conversation ('hopefully', Youko iterated, realizing that age did not always make a sharp mind). Hiei chuckled darkly. "You get lost in thought at the most inopportune times onna."

Kagura bristled, mouth pouting and her fan starting to shift back and forth as she fanned the blush from her cheeks. Kurama was surprised that Hiei didn't get a smack down from the woman, far older and powerful than even his friend could be until he released his infamous attack. "I am the wind Hiei, you know this well. Get over it." She shook her head of something she was about to say, but then she turned to them and deemed to answer. "Kagome was there at the beginning of the world, as she needed to be. And so she is infinite."

She nodded decisively.

Kurama settled back, amused even through his frustration at not being able to grasp the validity of this answer. It was far easier for him to gain amusement since Koenma himself was spluttering in annoyance and Youko was laughing his tail off. 'Do you think this is true? Is it possible that Kagome is older than even the barrier itself?'

'I'm not sure, but I get the feeling that a lot of these demons are older than the barrier itself, they are very comfortable along the human members of the miko's family. They would need to have been around a lot of holy power, only possible before the barrier, to feel comfortable with them and this plot of land.'

Onigumo had tensed up beside the miko and Kurama and Youko both watched as their power levels rose in silent understanding of each other before Onigumo knelt passively at the priestess's feet. They gaped quietly and unobtrusively. Her eyes blinked out of her stupor, and she closed them once again as she placed a hand on the retainer's wavy hair, briefly stroking the dark locks as she took in a deep breath and tapped his shoulder.

Onigumo stood, towering over the short miko and offered her his hand, which she took, and guided her to the portal. He looked up and motioned Kagura over and she complied docilely enough, leaving Youko to point out the rank that was emerging before their eyes. 'She has two protégées but is under this Onigumo even though she is the head of the Northern politics. Makes you wonder what rank Hiei has since he was teasing her.'

Kurama briefly let a smile catch his lips, still thinking over one question that distracted him from fully displaying his amusement. Youko paused in his enjoyment, taking note of his counterpart's distraction and following the thread of his thoughts to grasp what kept him from the present amusement.

Kurama abruptly turned to Hiei beside them, his eyes searching for something as their long time comrade gazed back at him steadily and confidently, knowing that whatever the redhead was searching for would need to be answered.

"Kagome didn't use the call?"

"Kagome isn't a demon." Hiei stated calmly, fully turning to face them directly, ignoring the curious group around them as if they weren't even the leaves that shuffled along the shrine grounds on the earthen turmoil beneath them.

"Kohaku is a demon?"

"In a way…I guess." Kagura had come up to them and answered this question, Kurama briefly looking over her shoulder to spot Kagome entering a portal to some different lands of makai that he hadn't been in before. He continued, not letting them distract them from his direction of questions.

"If Kagome can't use the call, it was another demon that used the one previous to Jinenji's?" This was how he got when he had scented something, following up with questions that didn't even seem to make sense to anyone other than his silver friend, and even then if Youko hadn't been in the red heads mind and had not grown up with him he might have found uncovering his true intent confusing at times as well.

Kagura gave him a sharp glance. "How…?" She shook her head, "I suppose that we did hand you off to Onigumo. It's not like we shouldn't have expected some awkward questions."

Hiei stiffened, and Kurama had to wonder what everyone knew about the Highers. There was always information that some one knew and another didn't, as he and Youko had been observing earlier as they listened into the conversations around them. Kagome had been apologizing to no one, her mouth moving to express her repentance even as some of the demons around Kurama voiced to each other that they knew nothing she would be sorry for.

But then the demons around them had constantly been leaving and arriving and returning and delivering…there was the possibility that the story had gotten mixed up along the paths and conversations that were sure to be happening. And then it might be that Kagome did have a reason to repent, and few knew the true reason for her guilt. It was a sobering thought, for both he and Youko could think of nothing the gentle miko would do to feel so guilty and frightened.

Kagura sighed, fanning herself in an irritated manner before she smirked in determination and answered his question with a question. "Did you know that the East had a child heir before? Some stupid humans caught the child and decided to experiment like they do to so much of their world- destroying it and causing it's eventual demise." she paused and shivered. "That call that rang was the tremor of the earth that year- Souten, Shippou, and Kagome; the air, the land and the spirit."

Youko hissed to attention at the back of his thoughts, and Kurama tuned himself out of the wind witch's ramblings to pay attention to his cohort. 'The kit statuette! Kagome was close enough to the kit for her spirit to cry at his capture- the statuette must have been the kits visage.' "But Kagome can't make the call…she's human."

Kagura's surprised eyes were revealed as she lowered the fan and closed it before placing it in her sleeve, blinking once to clear her eyes before she answered. Hiei himself had perked up, turning his full attention to the wind witch. "Kagome is bonded to the lands…the lands are what made the call." She shook her head before standing up straighter and looking into the swirling portal, watching it shift between destinations as others used it to walk to and from this shrine and their destinations.

Kouga walked up to her, coming from a pacing Onigumo, nodding briefly to Hiei and Kurama (whom he had met the first time he had been witness to the Highers gathering). There was short meaningful conversation between the two, Kouga briefly tapping the wind users shoulder and that now familiar technique of jolting ki that was exchanged- like Hiei and the miko had days previous.

Youko and Kurama both perked up, trying to keep their curious gaze as inconspicuous as possible as they strained to hear what little words that were spoken aloud. "To the east she went, I too as well." The wolf paused, "The Central Lands have offered sanctuary to the Higurashi until their lands have been restored."

Kagura's eyes got a hazy look of thought, the red clouding over to something kin to sunset pink on clouds, and then she snapped out of her daze and nodded curtly. "I will escort them and the reikai tantei…" her gaze shifted to the stairs, directing their attention there as well while Kouga slipped away mostly unnoticed. A duo of reikai detectives - the most human of their very own group – tiredly crested the gargantuan concrete steps of the shrine and spotted them with a lazy wave and distracted shuffling of their bodies to head their way.

Koenma stuttered and blushed, Kurama's eyes sharpening on him at the almost guilty expression on his face. Kagura caught on as well, the sharp glace she cast to the prince of reikai casing him to tremble slightly and looked about for some distraction or excuse. She wasn't having any of it. "You called your detectives? You should know that our problems are not of your concern unless we involve you- this one just so happens to be of your making for interference." She condemned now, her eyes darting about the lands and the two tiredly curious males approaching. Her next sentence was but a hiss of wind from her lips, causing shivers to travel down Kurama's spine from the ferocity of her glare. "We need to explain to you the impact of your foolish actions prince, before you get yourself further into our ill graces."

They followed numbly, Yusuke and Kuwabara joining them with confused and wary expressions as they walked to the standing portal and it shifted once again to the central lands, joining the waiting Higurashi as they gazed out sadly over their shrine lands and gardens. "Koenma called us, but what exactly are we here for?" Yusuke's harsh and confused whisper reached up to his ears, and Youko cocked his head curiously at the prince as he flushed unbecomingly with guilt.

"I hadn't known we would come here, but this is just as well. We might get some answers if we all work together." Koenma hissed back just as quietly, but Kurama noted the way the short haired wind users ears twitched, and he had to wonder if the very wind itself didn't aid her in hearing their hushed conversation. Yet she didn't turn around to face such blatant stupidity from the young ruler of the spirit realm, only shaking her head slightly and ushering the family in gently and soothingly to the central lands.

Kurama stepped forth as well, ignoring his foolhardy boss and taking in the odd feel of this portal as he stepped through. They would be only attending to the central lands this night, but he knew the feel of those lands, having visited the few times since the battle of Ketsueki and his boss' weird fascination with the miko.

They were led through the halls with a rather unceremonious decorum, Kagura glancing back briefly after a few twists and turns to ensure they were still following her even as the three of the Higurashi clan were led down a different hall, Souta glancing at them curiously and somewhat warily over his shoulder before the family was led out of sight.

Kurama opened his mouth to call out his question, but Hiei spoke from beside them; startling him because previous he had been ominously silent. "The Higurashi have separate quarters from the manse kin, their ki doesn't merge well with ours as they try to rest…" his eyes flashed up to his quickly before looking ahead at Kagura, "the quarters designated for them have been so for centuries, as many a holy person have visited these lands over the years."

Kurama closed his mouth and paused, taking the tidbit of information for what Hiei had intended it to be. It was an offer of regret- Hiei had been close to him for years, since his human body was still a child in the elementary school system, and for him to have kept a secret and not felt the least guilty about this would have been a blow to their partnership. Kurama smiled slightly and tilted his head as he closed his eyes.

It would seem that he was going to learn some about the Highers, little tidbits of information that would piece together- and little tidbits that his boss and the two buffoons surely wouldn't catch.

So he settled himself down to their pace and couldn't help the thrilling feeling that rushed along his senses. As much as it pained and excited him- he knew that this puzzle was ending soon. Reikai would only be permitted here until the perpetrators were found- then his chance would be over. But Youko smirked in the recesses of his mind. 'We just may become part of this puzzle you know, I have heard rumors of believers being accepted as honor guards if they prove themselves.'

Kurama found he liked that idea, but doubtful that it would happen. 'We need more pieces, we'll get them tomorrow but I find there is something wrong with this.'

Youko paused, the stillness in his mind seeming to echo off every memory and thought before it surged back to them and he broke it. 'I agree.'

Kurama sighed at their agreement, finding that someone sharing his paranoia helped in easing it a little. They would both be on guard. He silently communicated with his human teammates, from years of practice and battles they picked up his cues and became the lazily alert predators they had grown to become. Hiei only sent them a sly look from the corner of his eyes, entering a room farther down the hall and nodding a goodnight to them.

Somehow, Kurama felt they would need their rest tonight.

.x.X.x.

OMG I ALMOST FORGOT TO UPDATE THIS! Lol, I have two projects coming due in school and totally forgot to write this chap., sorry for any rushiness that ensues. U . Despite that, Hmm, all done! Well the chapter anyway. And boy do I have plans for this! I hope I surprise you all! Heeee. I can't wait and I hope for reviews of suggestions and comments and questions! I looooove reviews. Lol. Toodles!