Kuwabara admired the fine blade upon the wall, and he stroked the demon cat upon his shoulders distractedly as it continued to purr. The sword was rather short, either intended for a female or a child, but he found the crafted hilt admirable and the sheen of the unused blade awing. A quiet presence was at his side, and he only shifted slightly to spot the elderly retainer to the Eastern couple. He bowed slightly but continued his perusal of the sword.

A chuckle came that was short and raspy and ancient. "I see you like the sword I forged for Lady Sango. She was very good with the blade, but she much preferred the one she had forged in her home. And she would have rather used her main weapon."

Kuwabara gave him an incredulous expression. "She wouldn't use this sword - your sword - for another piece of probable far less quality?"

The man lost his chuckle, but the faint smile was still there. "Lady Sango was born in the Taijiya village, their weapons forged from the enemies they had vanquished. She was taught the art by her father," a sharp glance sent his way, but he smile remained –"Whom she lost along with the rest of her village." The bent man turned to face down the hall. "It was a great source of pride and honor that led her to use the weapons her father had first created, and it would not do for you to not understand this."

Kuwabara blushed heavily, understanding on some level (somehow he had offended him or the spirit) but not completely comprehending that vengeance with a far lesser blade could appease honor if not for death that could come. Lesser quality meant a possible weakness; surely the clan would understand this and forge or use only the strongest to avenge themselves.

The old man beckoned him. "Come this way, you will learn."

Kuwabara sheepishly followed after the man, cautiously examining his feelings and finding it rather like he was being scolded by a respected and well-meaning grandfather.

They entered a room that was rather ill lit, but Toutousai snapped his fingers and blew on the wall torch, and the rest of the torches in the room lit as if the fire was summoned directly from him like the first.

"Kagome once befriended a demon slayer, of the Taijiya clan. At first they were enemies, manipulated by circumstance and another's greed and lies. Sango was a strong woman, seeking revenge for the slaughter of her clan and manipulation of her younger brother. She was deceived; believing that Kagome's companion be the one that had entered a rage and slaughtered her entire village over some petty tool."

The old fire demon shook his head, sighing softly and raising a hand to smooth over one side of his white mustache and walked further into the room. Now well lit the fire seemed to dance menacingly across the weapons upon the shelves and tables and hooks, adding a light of malice and unique personality to every edge he looked upon. The hunched man led him to the back of the room, coming to the best lit area. The weapons here caused his eyes to widen, their power testament to the people who had wielded them and infused their spirit into their weapons through blood and sweat and effort.

Toutousai smiled nostalgically at them before he looked back at him and gestured to a giant bone shaped like the Australian boomerangs…only much, much bigger. "This was Sango's choice weapon, carved from the distilled bone of her downed enemy and forged by her and her father. Blood and sweat were put into the making of this weapon, and her and her father shared a close bond before he was slaughtered in front of her eyes. That emotion was infused into the very essence of this weapon" The demon sighed and then waved a hand casually at the feminine sword near the boomerang. "And though her favorite weapon was Hiraikotsu she also had forged a blade with her father."

Kuwabara made a movement to speak, but the hunched and grey demon cut him off with a wave of his hand as his eyes drifted back in time. "I believe that you know Kohaku…he was Sango's younger brother, killed by a manipulating demon who had used the boy to slaughter a small hunting group in front of her- and he had wounded her as well."

Kuwabara's sharp intake of breath couldn't have been missed; Toutousai was a demon after all. Yet the old man only nodded his head to some thought he possessed solely for his own benefit, and he turned and gazed around the room in pride and some awe that colored his aura something pulsing and powerful. Kuwabara shook his head. If that were true then Sango had been an enemy to Kagome, and they were honoring her memory as if she were a close comrade. And Kohaku shouldn't be alive. "Are these all Taijiya weapons?"

Toutousai laughed, his head thrown back and the silvered ponytail of his hair shuffling against the thick fabric of his kimono. "Kami no, Kagome only wanted to keep weapons that meant something to her…and theses are those." Kuwabara followed the old man down a certain aisle, making sure to dodge any extending bits that would have snagged him even in the cleared and set aisle- they were that big. "This is from the monk Miroku, pervert though he was he protected Kagome unfailingly with it."

The faint chuckle from the elder alerted Kuwabara to an amusing story, but he withheld and stilled his curiosity, there was no telling what the old man – and subsequently the Highers – would be willing to tell them. He could feel the holy powers still pulsing through the shakujou, and that was enough testimony for him at the moment.

"This is a kusari no gama, one Kohaku used before he renounced the clan name and left it in honorable history…and this here was used by Koharu- a female they rescued and one who later aided them in their quest." Toutousai seemed to hum with restrained glee amongst all the weapons, and Kuwabara gave him an odd but humoring look before he let his eyes trail elsewhere.

Looking around the room again Kuwabara was surprised to find coves in the walls, shadows encasing metal that only had faint highlights of fire red, strangely like blood flickering across the blade. Kuwabara gasped and had to brace himself on the wall stones, his head pounding and his eyes burning…

.x.

Yusuke's head snapped up as he felt the burn along his sense that told him Kuwabara was using one of his powers. He sensed no threat, and so he sat and waited it out, wondering how long he would be using his ki and how long it would take for him to seek him out. It always went like that. They supported each other and Kuwabara usually had the most exciting visions that helped them in their work. Yusuke briefly thought of what could have triggered it this time, giving up and settling back on the grass.

The miko had left him too at ease to ponder too much, so he settled back and sighed as he cradled his head in his hands. It would take a while for Kuwabara to finish his vision anyway…

.x.

The shouts of battle were all around him; blood splattered the grass and soil that was once a peaceful field. Turmoil was palpable and desperation was intense as it rushed along his senses, but he got the disjointed sensation of knowing it wasn't directly his. And that made it all the more terrifying.

Two humans were battling it out beside each other, protecting each other's backs, and Kuwabara watched the weapons he had just been introduced to as they defended and attacked together in unison that only came from battles experienced together. These people attacked far better than even his team mates ever could- and he wondered if that thought was what made the chills trickle up his spine or if it was something else entirely.

But he could spot the faint worry that creased their brows, the sweat of exertion that shined on their visible skin, and the worrying and loving glances they sent at each other in breaks of their own separate battles. His vision moved along the bloody grasses and shrubs, finding one who was so obviously a miko but so obviously not Kagome down with a wound to the leg and holding close to her the hanyou with the dog ears- his eyes covered in blood and his sullied hands weakly groping for his sword as he muttered about having to fight and protecting them all…

There were some struggling forms of other allies, demons and humans and spirits fighting together and supporting each other- and he was seeing it all. There was a two headed dragon, a small water sprite calling forth the waters from the very air around them…and from the blood. He recognized detachedly the large and bloody form of a saber cat as it shrunk from energy and blood loss- a cat he had just had upon his shoulder purring at his attentions.

They were all struggling for each other, while struggling for themselves in truth. They would all crumble if but one fell.

Kuwabara winced at the sentiment, being able to closely relate it to many experiences in his life as he moved on. It made this strangely more realistic and believable, bringing it down to some human level he understood with every fiber of his being.

And he found Kagome then.

Her usually thick and almost unruly hair was weighed down and matted by blood, both hers and others, and her dirt streaked face was twisted in grief and anguish as the battle around her seemed to avoid her beleaguered presence by mere feet so she could gaze unhindered at her comrades.

Watch as they fall.

Notice wounds of blood.

Listen as they screamed.

Look as they mourned.

See as they die.

A tear escaped down her dirty cheek, cleaning a trail that went under her chin as her mouth twisted into a silent cry of despair and forlorn hope- a call to get up and fight, to join her and aid her so she could save them, a call that was as much motivation as it was desperation. And they didn't hear it, couldn't have answered her even if they had.

The broken bow hung uselessly from her hand, arrows scattered from their cask upon the ground, stepped on and driven into the turmoil of earth and blood and death. Kagome paid it no heed, staring around, frantically shifting her head from side to side and then behind her; trying to keep track of all her allies and find someway that she could help.

And then a fox kit broke through the foliage near Kuwabara, actually careening through him on his path towards the miko as tears went down his face and he called out to her – his mother. The surprise on her face as she spun to fully greet him was turned to horror as she made a step to shoo him away from the danger- and he persisted.

There was a flurry of motion as others of her allies realized the danger, and there was a struggling attempt to save the fox kit, Kuwabara belatedly realizing that one bloody, gory, and broken figure was actually the demon lord of the west- in his battle glory.

The movement of allies struggling to save the kit stopped in shock and horror, the High miko falling to her knees in terror and numbed devastation as the kit abruptly stopped his frantic calling and fell to the ground, blood beginning to pool in his clothes and drip onto the grass to join that of the others who had fallen. And the miko let forth a despairing wail of a mother- clutching her head and stretching one hand to her kit, and then she stood.

Her gaze rested on the two humans, leaning obviously on each other and bodies heaving with exertion; the two lovers - miko and hanyou – as they grieved for being unable to help the battle or each other; the demon lord, standing but broken, without any of his former glory and somehow so much more glorified in his newer robes of crimson; landed briefly on the other struggling forms of lesser allies that seemed to have no less affect on her grief; and then she looked back to her kit.

Allies struggled with renewed fervor, a light to their eyes that spoke of the craze in loss and suffering; Kuwabara could see the tension in every line of their bodies and every move of their weapons. The weapons were all theirs, they were made by their hands and they had been wielded only by their hands- their weapons were as much a part of them and their honor as they were.

Images blurred and faded together, Kuwabara's forehead beading with sweat as his own powers struggled with the powers of this room and the vision that had ensnared him

There was a striking blow to the enemy's leader – the laughing face falling and crumbling to pain and rage as his body stumbled to the ground – and the miko walked calmly up to him. The rest of their opposition flailed with the lack of leadership, fleeing or staying to death, but they wouldn't interfere.

The miko approached the dying man, Kuwabara watching as he realized his death in the miko, fear and rage and bitter spite twisting his features into something far more demonic than anyone could have ever looked. 'My name is Kagome,' she smiled, 'I hope to see you soon. Greet the dawn.' And she touched his forehead and his eyes rolled back and his body fell into the welcoming and warm arms of the miko.

.x.

Yusuke sat up slowly and stretched as he felt Kuwabara's power fade, knowing that on some level he would be immensely thankful later that he shared the bond with his larger teammate. It had something to do with them sharing spirit energy in battle, Kuwabara even reviving him from death once after Suzaku, so they felt each other's power fluxes when they occurred.

A rather neat fail safe really…

Yusuke shook his head clear of his drowsiness and stood with a back popping stretch. He should probably start making his way to his teammate…he glanced around him at the gardens in slight appreciation overshadowed by his still lethargic body…he would make his way: just very slowly.

.x.

Kuwabara gasped as he came out f his vision, knowing on some level that he had seen even more than he had been expected to. His powers must be growing to get that extra tidbit in; he knew the memory – for that is was what it was, vivid and unadulterated in its truth and clarity – had been meant to prove the honor in using those weapons. But he had caught the final piece of battle, the final piece that helped him and spun ideas through his head as he slowly slid down the wall he had been supporting himself on.

Toutousai was beside him worriedly, checking his temperature and pulse and making little worried exclamations about that never happening quite so before and that he was worried and that Kagome would have his hide and that…. "Nnhhhggg." He had a headache.

Kuwabara was helped from the room, finding the old man surprisingly strong in the shoulders to support his weighty arm across his neck and leaning body at his side. They had made it some ways down the hall before the blurred form of Kagome came worriedly at them, Kuwabara's haywire senses telling him that she had just a while ago left the presence of his own team mate before he went cross-eyed slightly, seeing far too many Kagome's than even nature would allow, and his powers fizzed out for a second.

The brief sensation froze him with terror and the increased tension only increased his headache.

"Doushitan des ka?" She said worriedly as she approached, a hand outstretched to his forehead even as he winced away from the inevitable touch- it would probably irritate his head even more. He opened his eyes in surprise as the cool feel of her fingers alleviated the ache behind his eyes, and his headache completely cleared to see her give the elder a close-eyed glaring look.

The old man looked around scratching his head in confusion. "Where am I?" He tilted his head as the oddly blank and confused expression turned his features into that of a harmless old man. Kuwabara stared on stupidly in shock. "Can you tell me where I was going?" A wry smile slowly formed on the miko's lips and she smacked the elders arm before smiling full out and Toutousai scratched his head in sheepish admittance of guilt. He smiled gently at the girl before turning to him and briefly touching his shoulder in palpable regret. "I'd not known you were so sensitive, I only wanted you to understand."

Kuwabara only nodded dumbly, watching the fire demon walk away shaking his head in some personal amusement. Kagome patted his hand as she lowered it from reaching out, and she glanced behind her before she gave him a small smile. She giggled delightedly as she left him, and he gazed after her in shock as well until he was jolted out of his stupor by Yusuke.

"What's up with ya?"

He turned, still gaping, to his team leader and pointed wordlessly at the receding back of the miko as she jogged and called out to the retreating elder. Yusuke's face grew confused before it cleared into a look of mutual understanding and amusement. Kuwabara bristled before he let out a chuckle, and Yusuke smiled and nodded his head.

So he closed his mouth to get it under his control and not the control of his emotions, and he pulled Yusuke to a side cove and explained the demon and the weapons and the vision and the miko…and even as he found there were so few words to explain so much, Yusuke understood.

That was a far better comfort than all the wisdom the vision had gifted him with- Yusuke believed him and would stand by him. And as Yusuke explained his own encounter with the miko- far more real than his own vision escapade, he ginned at a brief thought of triumph that fluttered across his mind. They might not share the very tangible bond he had seen in those allies and warriors, but he and his team mates did share a bond. And that would pull them through.

.x.

Yusuke leaned against that window as his demonic comrades came to join him and Kuwabara. Those gardens he had just been in were calling out with promises of a good solid nap- but he didn't know if the brat prince would find him and rudely interrupt his rest this time. God knows why he had called them into this mess in the first place.

It briefly came to his attention that some of the Highers were gathering in the gardens he could see, and leaving together further in. He watched for some minutes as Kurama shared a quiet conversation with Kuwabara, and Hiei came up beside him to watch as well.

His voice was quiet; "you have found what you needed to know."

More a statement than a question but he answered with a decisive nod and a slight smile. He took in a deep drag of air into his lungs, holding it for a second as he watched the Highers return with even more…gathering around the miko and the old fire demon as they entered the green expanse.

Kurama caught the gathering movements and broke off the conversation of the redheads to come and watch. "I do wonder what they are talking about…"

Yusuke snickered as he looked to Kuwabara, sharing a knowing glance between the bodies of their demon comrades. It was very ironic that Kurama was the one searching most for the solution, and here they two knew more by themselves than he had amassed in all his time spent with the Highers and their kin. Hiei sent them both a quelling look, one that couldn't hide his amusement.

Yusuke guessed the little spitfire knew what was going on and was deriving his own form of petty amusement from it just as they were. He snickered again and Hiei rolled his yes before turning to face forward.

That's the way it worked he guessed, they needed each other to accomplish their goals- they were a team. And right now as he watched the Highers gathering in the garden from their vantage point, he couldn't help but see that the infamous and revered Highers were simply the same.

But, he supposed with a demonic grin of mischief, they could wait for Kurama to actually seek them out for information before they told him anything.

Kurama craned his neck a little as he spotted the miko sitting down, and many of the other demons hustling to prepare a much nicer place of soft grass for her even as she laughed and waved them off.

Kuwabara smiled at him and quietly, behind the backs of their comrades, they shared a solid handshake. Hiei only smiled as he kept his gaze forward.

.x.X.x.

Doushitan desu ka? Means; is everything all right? Were you hurt? Yadda yadda…blah. You get the picture.

Staff: Miroku's staff, known as a Shakujo, is a wooden staff with a circular golden charm on the top. XP

Kusari(no)gama is a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of kama (Japanese for sickle) on a metal chain with a heavy iron weight at the end. Attacking with the weapon usually entailed swinging the weighted chain in a large circle over one's head, and then whipping it forward to entangle an opponent's spear, sword, or other weapon, or immobilizing his arms or legs. This allows the kusari-gama user to easily rush forward and strike with the sickle.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

.x.X.x.

Oooh, almost all in one pov! I'm actually quite shocked I hit that much inspiration…hmm. Like or no? Like my effect with Kuwa's power struggle? Lol. I had so much fun with the italics there…too much fun ne?

And I am very sad to say that this story is coming to an end, it will not reach past twenty chapters (that's hoping U-- ) and will probably only be sixteen or seventeen, so sad. I am wary to finish writing it because I enjoy it so much, but then there is the intense rush of pride I get for accomplishing something so many people like. Hmmm, so I guess I might be finished by the end of February, I do have my finals coming up. So keep your eyes open and heads up…and review so I can accomplish this completion without feeling so sad!

I AM disappointed with my reviews, they keep on declining- this makes me think that you people are not interested in my work, and highly discourages me from writing/updating more