This cursed existence was like a many layered hell; she could sense but not intact with her mother, acutely feel the passage of time but not have any sensory simulation, and now she had nothing but darkness to cast her consciousness out to. At first she had been controlled by fear and anger, later grief and despair; now she was calm and accepting having no choice but to gain maturity over the centuries.

Luckily Tsuryuko had found a way to strengthen herself, her reality whatever her subconscious made it allowing for weapon and power training. She suspected the jewel had some sort of influence on her since her powers were far stronger than any of her mind had managed before.

'Talking about strong, I wonder how Mr.Snarky is doing?'

Several times before this darkness a demon came upon the jewel, keeping it with him for a short time at the very end before tossing it away for the last time. He never sought the jewel out, but was strong enough to be a common target for those boosted with the jewels power. They got to know each other decently well with Tsuryuko coming to care a great deal for him, and truthfully she thought he'd returned her feelings.

Of course, that was before the fight. Too much time had passed for her to remember what it about, all she recalled was him being disgusted over what she was and who her parents had been. The ease with which he cast her and the jewel out tore her apart, even now a deep wound she had no real way of working through it. Part of her hated him for caring so little for her, but she also understood having dealt with the racism her entire free life.

If she were being honest the part that hurt the most was the loss to her childish wishes. Nothing in her life had been normal, and even more so after her Mama died. With all the years of mental, emotional, and sometimes physical torment at the hands of her Papa, she couldn't help the naive fantasy of falling madly in love. There were many times as she sat locked in her room that she'd only have her imaginings to keep her company, and a vast amount of those were of a prince charming or something even more ridiculous. When you're young love seems to be the most and only important goal, though most are able to experience enough life to learn better. Tsuryuko was lucky enough to be cursed before that opportunity presented itself.

'I've been thinking too much yet again, but what other choice do I have? As much pain as it would cause, I'd welcome the hatred of Mr.Surly if only something other than darkness existed.'

A very common topic for her to be on she wasn't expecting anything so it shocked her when she sensed a change outside. Pushing her consciousness outward it was still darkness, but this time there was sound. The cry of a baby echoed around her, a welcome if loud sound, and from even farther off and muffled she heard a female voice say;

"Welcome to the world little Kagome."

Over the course of the next couple hours the discussed the reality of the situation and the options at their disposal. Eventually introducing herself as Tsuryuko, she explains having her soul cursed to be attached to the sacred jewel for as long as it existed, working hard over centuries to to strengthen herself and her power in order to push her consciousness out which is how she was able to use Kagome's connection to the jewel to influence her. Then she told them about being bombarded by a vast amount of demonic power that twisted curse enough to allow her to take over any avaliable vessel embedded with jewel shards.

Alarm shone in their eyes as Miroku managed to speak first. "An available vessel? That makes it sound as if Lady Kagome's soul no longer resides within her body."

Tsuryuko gives the monk a gentle smile while tapping the spot over her heart. "I'm sorry for worrying you, it's nothing like that. Even with the changes this is her body, and since my soul is in the shards it still needs hers to keep it alive. Kagome's simply sleeping within her own heart."

Knowing her soul was unharmed gave them a level of relief they hadn't had since the ritual started. Continuing on they discuss ways to perhaps move Tsuryuko elsewhere, finally deciding to try creating a shikigami they'd embed the jewel shards into.

"Aye, a shikigami be easy enough to create, I have the tools at my disposal. I could have it made for ye by tomorrow."

Kaede's words seemed to be the boost everyone needed as they seemed to pick themselves back up and become energized at a solution being found so easily.

'I really don't want to take this from them, but doing something I know won't work will only make them mistrust me more later.'

Sighing softly to herself she interrupted the group as they started discussing the plan between themselves. "That would work if my demonic power wouldn't completely overpower it."

Miroku grimaced as his spirits started to fall once more. "I believe I speak for all of us when I say we have no knowledge on creating demon shikigami. Lady Tsuryuko could you make it by any chance? It seems the easiest choice at the moment."

"Unfortunately not, my father was more interested in me taking after my mother so didn't teach me anything other than the basics of demon knowledge. Trust me, if I could do this myself I absolutely would."

Inuyasha was able to smell the slight sadness and sincerity coming from her which set his irritation off once more. To him it didn't make sense for her to feel bad for herself when she wasn't even suppose to be here. "Okay, what the fuck is your problem? You keep waiting until we've found a solution before telling us some bullshit reason it won't work. How do I know you aren't just making it up so we don't force you out of Kagome?"

Miroku reached a hand out and tried half heartedly to calm him down, the thought having crossed his mind and well and wanting to not the answer to it.

"No, I'm not going to shut up this time! We've only got her word to go on and considering she's holding Kagome's body hostage, I don't really believe her. Who knows how many secrets this bitch is hiding from us?!"

Tense expectation filled the air while they waited for Tsuryuko to retaliate in some way, each one grabbing their weapons to protect their friend. Surprisingly enough she laughed softly and stretched her arms out before she stood and started to head out of the hut. Motioning for them to follow she spoke over her shoulder.

"You're more stupid than you look if you think you have any right to all of my secrets, but I'll show you one that's important for you to know."

Without pausing she headed away from the village towards a nearby clearing. It didn't take long for everyone to catch up, Inuyasha complaining and trying to rile her up which only amused her. Luckily it didn't take long before they reached their destination so Tsuryuko was able to hide her amusement from the half-demon if only just, the rest of the group taking notice of it with confusion. Clearly she was stronger than the dog, but she didn't react to his insults the way they expected one being insulted by a weaker being would.

"You think it's odd as well, don't you Miroku? I feel as if I'm waiting for the facade to drop and have it turn out she's one of Naraku's minions after all."

The monk nodded and rubbed his chin with a contemplative look. "Yes, I do agree with you. It would be nice if we could simply believe in someone's word, but things haven't been that kind to us in this life."

Kaede nodded from beside them. "Aye, the darkness of Naraku does it's best to choke out the light of hope. There be naught for us to do but follow and hope for the best, we have tried and failed in defeating her."

Sango and Miroku sighed in frustration at their predicament. "Yes, this Tsuryuko, whoever she is, knows our hands are tied so long as she's in Kagome's body. What I find odd is how she's able to stay in a priestess' body as a demon without being hurt."

"I agree with Lady Sango, there's many questions surrounding Lady Tsuryuko. Perhaps this secret will answer quite a bit of them?"

Kaede shrugged then straightened her shoulders with resolve. "I sense this demon could kill us if she wanted which could mean she be intending to use ye or be telling the truth. All we can do is wait and hope for the best, but I warn ye: should she turn on us, I will do what I must to fix what I have wronged."

There was nothing they could think to say and no time as they arrived at a clearing, Tsuryuko standing there and waiting as Inuyasha stood with crossed arms and a glare. What Kaede said was true however, all they could do was wait to see what happened.

"Alright, now that we're all here I can share the secret I promised you. The easiest way to do that is to show you, so if you could all stand back I could get started."

The half-demon complained a bit before Sango hit him with Hiraikotsu and forced him to stand back with them. Tsuryuko took a deep breath letting the nature around her sink in and resonate in her consciousness.

'Something that will adequately prove my heritage, hmm? How long has it been since I've needed to do something so debasing?'

For a few moments she went through the different possibilities, trying to decide on the best one before choosing instead to just have fun. It had been a very long time since she'd had the freedom to truly play around with her powers, and though not fully released, it was far more than she had had access to in a very long time. Raising her arms she seemed to be conducting the power while she danced, the image staying with the group forever.

Standing in the middle of the hut Tsuryuko started humming softly to herself as she swayed in place, connecting to her powers in her own way. The sway turned into a slow spin as a blue dragon of holy powers formed at her feet and began to slowly circle her. She wondered, briefly, if she should tone it down since she'd only just been released and met them but decided against it.

'Sooner or later they'll learn what I'm capable of, better to deal with it now so they don't freeze up in the middle of battle or something equally idiotic.'

Coming to a stop she held her hand out towards the dragon, a familiar stranger, and smiled softly as it began constricting around her, looking for all the world to take her over. With the demonic dragon acting as an aura haze she lifted her arms once more and set off bursts of demonic powers that took the form of fireworks all around her. Many little twinkling lights surrounded her as they began forming into chains and manacles. As soon as they were fully formed they lashed out at the dragon who fought back viciously.

The battle went on for several minutes, bits of each side fading away until the dragon took a final swipe that destroyed the last chain. Roaring in victory the dragon faded away leaving Tsuryuko standing on her own. When she looked towards the others she saw amazement, shock, disbelief and more. Not wanting to be the one to break the silence she waited until eventually Kaede spoke up.

"What are ye to be able to wield demonic and holy powers at once?"