Onigumo was one of the Highers left waiting with their miko, for she was certain that they would have made their decision soon enough that the wait wouldn't be long, and Onigumo was not averse to spending time in her company no matter whom else was there. His baser youki thrummed in contentment just with her near presence, and he felt the bemused smile on his face in answer to her brilliant one.

Ever since he could remember, and he could remember a lot thanks to the curse of his demons, she had not been weary in extending any her hand in friendship. He was one of the many surprised when he became her brother.

They shared a bond not many understood, though Onigumo had the suspicion that Hiei would soon know the full extent of her attachment to those torn apart by their inner demons and the struggle for survival.

He winced at the reminder of his own inner struggle that had been tearing him apart for his own foolishness, and it only made him thank the gods for his sister miko even more. His demons had been settled thanks to her, although he cursed the fact that he had inflicted these pains upon himself without any real thoughts in his head. He supposed the jewel did that to people.

It was a sentient being after all, and it needed to gain power to help guard itself. Any wish would be twisted and warped. But Onigumo had to wonder about its like of their miko. Kagome was one who the jewel adored- no question of it.

Onigumo mused briefly on the location of the jewel, and its odd connection to their miko before Kagome stood and brought him from his thoughts. The brilliant smile she threw at him over her shoulder had a very I-told-you-so feel to it, and Onigumo sighed as he stood and walked to her side to watch the tantei come into view.

Onigumo growled good naturedly as Kagome elbowed him discreetly, and watched the rather happy Spirit Detectives as they came closer. He could only guess they were delighted because they were all together.

He shook his head but couldn't help the smirk, because when his miko thought someone would be able to live like them she was usually right. That she had refrained from saying anything about the Spirit Detectives before now was a miracle in itself, and he wondered when his miko would start chatting because her mirth would be too much to contain.

Even now he could see her smile breaking forth and her fingers twitching and clenching in an effort not to squeal and glomp the new comers.

Onigumo chuckled and gestured for Kohaku to come sit beside him, wanting a quiet commentary from his battle hardened friend on the reactions of the new arrivals and their miko.

He had found some form of kindred sir tin the young lad, after years of first bringing him out of his guilt ridden shell (was it normal for all those goody two shoes to place guilt on themselves even when their villain sat beside them?) and then the process of getting him to speak and put aside his warrior training (and do all those shells have to make sure they are strong enough to never let it happen again? It takes a bloody long time…) and then the stage of yelling and tantrums that actually were rather nice compared to his shy stoicism (And Onigumo could truthfully say this because it was rather fun to watch the boy go off on the silly silver hanyou when he did something stupid around their miko…not that Onigumo needed someone to avenge the miko for him mind you. It was just that Kohaku could be very creative should the situation call for it, and it was harder to blame Onigumo for the mischief if he really had no part in it).

After the shy stoicism it had been the era of travel; when Kohaku couldn't bear to be in one place for any given amount of time and resorted to exploring the blossoming ningen world with the eye of the put out reikai on his collar.

And then Kagome had approached him, and then dragged him to a private meeting with the boy who had been threatened and coerced into staying in one room for what eventually became known to the other Highers as the Incident because they had absolutely no clue what had happened.

He grinned and nudged the boy, watching him glare up at him with good humor before and straightened and set one hand on his dagger and braced the other on the ground.

Ever the fighter he was.

They both looked up at their miko before turning to face the new four.

Shippou jumped up and clapped his hands, a grin stretching his lips and revealing a flash of white fangs before his mate stood up and tugged his arm to calm him down. He gave her a sheepish look, watching the amused and weary faces around him before his smile came back out as Kagome laughed.

"Welcome, I suppose!" Kagome laughed again. "Seeing as how you didn't bring your little prince with you, I have come to the conclusion that you are allying yourselves with the best!"

Onigumo felt his shoulders slump, quite the opposite of his natural reaction to laugh, but he caught the bewildered looks on the two more ningen tantei, and he also caught the teasing light entering the eyes of the redhead of Koenma's- that one was a fox, so this meant he would get a show.

Best to encourage it with rapt silence.

(Onigumo was always rather partial to a little drama now and then; and two kitsune meeting for becoming allies would prove to be just that.)

"Yes we have allied to the best, as you've guessed. So you'll understand that we will be returning to the ningenkai and our work."

Shippou gasped outrageously, hands grasping his robes over his heart and his arm going heavily around his mate to support his now theatrically sagging frame. Onigumo snorted, almost predicting the next words to come from the kits mouth… "You wound me with such speech. The humble Highers have always been known for their ways…being the best and all that jazz."

Kurama raised an eyebrow and purred out a response. "The humble Highers take pride in their work, and negate all their prestige for being humble, I dare say that reikai would love to hear of the hypocrisy that holds them at bay."

Shippou grinned this time, eyes squinting with the force of his cheeks rising. "Reikai would love to hear a lot of things," his shrug was blasé, Onigumo decided. "But that doesn't matter now does it."

And Kurama grinned to match their Shippou. They both bowed to each other, and Onigumo, while aware of kitsune and their little nuances of language within language, wondered exactly what they had shared beside the obvious.

Kohaku muttered under his breath as Hiei made his way over to sit near Kagome. "I'll always be thankful I am not part of that muddled race."

The hybrid snorted as he settled, and his amused claret eyes shot them a glance. "I am sure the kitsune could say the same of us, what with our depraved tendencies and ignorant ways."

Onigumo let out his chuckle this time.

Kagome sat forward, face smiling and cheeks flushed with excitement as Yusuke sat near a tree and Kuwabara stayed near him.

Sesshoumaru stood and dusted off his hakama. His head came up with a piercing gaze, and the whispering of the Highers fell and the mood deepened. "So it has come to be that you are of us, yet we need to know the full extent of what loyalties you can provide."

Kuwabara leaned his forearms on his raised knees, looking at them with honest eyes. "For your guidance I can give you my help should you call. I stay in ningenkai but won't run away from the makai."

Yusuke sniffed, rubbing his nose nonchalantly as he leaned against the tree behind him. "I stay with my team, and have friends in both worlds that I won't mind spending extra time with." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.

There was a titter from Kikyou, and she sent a sideways glance at her mate before Kagome broke out laughing again. Jaken scowled from his short height and waved his staff about menacingly (for him anyway, Onigumo had always thought that the staff was the only thing truly menacing about the kappa, although they were both ugly enough to scare off those with weak stomachs).

The Kappa demon spoke, the ire in his voice reminiscent of when he had the children under his charge. "That may be true but what do you have to offer and what do you vow?"

Yusuke growled, causing Jaken to squeak out something and several of the Highers to snicker. Kagura herself smirked lazily and flicked open her fan in response. "Though this is fun we don't want to spend all day in the gardens, and we still need to see exactly what can be done about your boss."

Kurama came to attention in an oddly detached way, and Onigumo tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. Being around Kagome a lot also meant being around Shippou a lot. And this little trick was how most kitsune revealed little tidbits of information that were really interesting…Onigumo made sure he paid rapt attention.

"Funny thing about that…" his voice was a nonchalant purr. Onigumo could practically feel Kagome light up with understanding. "See we had already paid off our debts some while ago, as it were we had to work longer to be kept under tabs, so to speak." His eyes flashed to them from where he had been calmly looking at his hand, green and gold and feral. "It was quite simple really, to ensure that Koenma only called on one of us for the next twelve months for reports and then our freedom."

Ayame giggled, her white wolf tail wagging madly and making a thump sound against the dirt. "This is perfect, the guard I sent has helped me send in some more infiltration, and he's doing such a good job that reikai is requesting his services despite my warning that he wasn't loyal to them."

Kouga barked out a laugh. "Dumb shits."

Inuyasha let out a snicker, nose crinkling in his malicious mirth. "So now we can keep watch over them, and we have the possibility to plant stupid ideas in their heads about us."

Even Kanna smiled slightly, and her faint wisp of a voice startled most as she whispered. "Reikai has never really understood the full potential of the races working together."

.x.x.x…

Sango sighed and regarded her friend and close to sibling relations with a weary but fond smile. She had not known how to react to her best girl coming back…ages older and far wiser than one as innocent as she should be. And as she watched the young…not so young now, miko settle on the forest floor and draw from the folds of her traditional miko haori the packets that she placed her herb seeds in, she wondered exactly how Kagome felt about all this. She had known on some level that the girl felt like people were trying to shove her into a role that was her predecessors, and on some level Sango could also emphasize with the futuristic girl- she herself had been pushed to fulfill her mother's shoes after all.

But the miko went about her work with this unfailing uniqueness that sometimes put Sango on edge- surely she couldn't be that altruistic? Surely a girl who had no real reason to help them would be less prone to place herself in danger to aid their cause? Maybe even that the girl could simply hide herself away and wither and die…? But Kagome wasn't like that. "So how did it actually go?"

As female to female, this was when the truth actually came out. If the males truly knew what was going on in Kagome's life they would throw one of those violent possessive and overprotective fits before they calmed down and then still watch Kagome like a hawk for the next few days. Sango guessed that being a female herself (and a very active one at that- something Kagome had called a tomboy) she was less prone to these fits because she somehow understood where the girl was coming from. And right now the silent apology for throwing one of those overprotective possessive and ultimately stupid fits was in the air.

Kagome smiled; "I broke all the fingers on my left hand within the first week away."

A pause, there really was no reply to that acceptance of apology other than the suitably incredulous look before Kagome smiled mischievously and Sango burst out laughing.

x.x.x…

Kagura smiled at her and Onigumo shifted with his smirk. Kohaku fell back into the grassy earth, and Yusuke spoke up.

"I can offer my alliance from the ningenkai, and my fists if a fight comes." His brown eyes practically glowed with the renewed thought of sparring with a worthy opponent, and Onigumo smirked as he recognized the look lighting up many of those present in the gardens.

Kurama nodded. "I will continue living with my mother, but later I will probably come to seek quarters in the makai, and my mind and weapon will be your own in trade for resources and time."

There was a murmur of agreement and Onigumo nodded, certain that he had found another companion in the soul hanyou. He would be one to scrounge up every nuance of their tales, and he supposed that after all this time they needed someone to piece together the entire tale for future generations.

It would be fun to play with him.

Onigumo jumped at the finger poking his shoulder, and looked over to the amused Kagome as she gave him challenging smile. He let out his laugh; certain she knew what he was thinking and proud in a way that she accepted it.

Hiei nodded his head, hand resting over the hilt of his sword and eyes firm on Kagome as she smiled and nodded in return. She already had Hiei's sword, and with his sword came his honor.

They needed nothing else.

Onigumo stood and paced before he sat down upon a new knoll of grass, feeling eyes on him and curious auras wavering to ask questions. He nodded his head, giving the floor to whoever wished it and listening to the Highers converse openly with the reikai four

It was nice to hear new voices…

.x.x.x.

Kohaku looked up blankly at the woman who emerged from the shrubbery, taking in the smooth stride of her passing and understanding on some level that, although she was a fighter, she wasn't one of his own.

He shook his head violently.

He wasn't a Taijiya anymore.

He had no right to be a part of that family.

He was drawn into horrifying memories, blood and demons and screams…

But he watched the strange woman stop, and then he watched her face smile, although most was covered in cloth he found there was this feel about her- he knew she was smiling.

"Kohaku…" she murmured, drawing him from his self loathing thoughts and making him stand to attention like he'd been taught.

Then her smile was sad, welcoming and understanding…but sad.

"Yes, lady stranger?"

"Things happen that we can not control, and they cannot be helped. What makes us who we are is what we do about our lives after, and how we go about making sure it cannot possibly happen again."

And Kohaku followed the lady back to his sister, and he followed the lady to his killer and puppet master, and then he followed the lady through the establishment of the Highers and Court, and then he found himself drawn into a new family.

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

This chapter was too long, hence it was broken into two….press the review button…or the next chapter button.

And enjoy!

PS; Sorry for previous mistakes, but I was trying to get this up before midnight and panicked because it didn't happen. U—

So here's a little extra!