Kagome found herself at a loss. Now that she was standing here in front of Bokuseno, who would have answers to her questions… she was scared to ask them. She was scared to know what happened to everyone else, what if everyone she knew was dead? What if Sesshomaru, her mate, was dead? What about Shippo, her beloved little kit?
"Kagome are you alright?" Clint asked concerned.
"I'm scared." She said quietly.
Bokuseno gave her a patient smile, "Nothing in life is to be feared child, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that you may fear less."
Kagome gave him a shaky smile before nodding and taking a deep determined breath, "What happened to them?" she asked quietly.
"I'm afraid you must be more specific child, there are many you could be speaking of." He wasn't saying it to be mean, there truly were many she could be asking about.
"Sesshomaru." Kagome's voice was barely a whisper, she needed to know what happened to him first.
Bokuseno gave a weary breath, "Your mate has been sealed away young one."
The color drained from Kagome's face as her eyes grew wide, "Sealed?" she felt Natasha wrap her arms around her shoulder to keep her standing.
"Unfortunately, yes. He lost control of his beast and started rampaging. The loss of you and the one growing inside you broke the western's lord iron clad grip on his beast. He became inconsolable and no one could calm him down. Sesshomaru though you dead once Naraku followed you though the well. He had forced Hakudoshi to summit to him before he tried for a month to find a way through the well, but the magic had been burned out when Naraku forced his way through. Many tried but nobody could stop him, he destroyed everything in sight. Inukimi had to make a difficult decision and was forced to use a very ancient technique to seal her son away."
"What kind of barrier did she use?" Kagome's voice was barely a whisper.
"An ancient spell that freezes whatever is trapped in the barrier in a single moment until it is broken."
If Natasha wasn't holding her up, she would have collapsed. Sesshomaru was stuck inside a barrier, frozen in time? "How can I break the barrier?"
Bokuseno smiled gently at her, "For you child, as easy as touching it. Inukimi made it so the barrier could only be broken by Sesshomaru's mate. As that would be the only thing that could calm his beast. If it were to be broken and you were not there, he would simply continue his rampage. Sesshomaru and the others locked in with him will stay in the barrier until you find where Inukimi has hidden the barrier."
"Others? What others were trapped with him?" Bruce asked the old tree.
"Hakudoshi and little Rin are contained inside along with the Western Lord. Both had been trying to calm the beast at the time Inukimi cast the barrier." Bokuseno answered him.
Kagome noticed the lack of one name that should have been with them, "What about Shippo?"
Bokuseno shook his head, "That is something I don't know young Miko. He went missing the same day you got sent back through the well."
"Missing?!" Kagome shrieked, "What do you mean he went missing? He was with Rin and Jaken. How is he missing but Rin was still there." She didn't really mean it how that came out, she cared about Rin just as much as Shippo. Rin had become her adopted daughter the moment she married Sesshomaru. She had known Shippo since her first month of going into the feudal era though. She had become his mother figure almost immediately, about a year later he had begun calling her mama. She had left Shippo with Rin, being protected by Jaken and Ah-Un. She wanted to know her son was okay!
"I am truly sorry child that I can not answer that question." Bokuseno said regretfully.
"Where is Inukimi living then? I can just go to her and then I can release Sesshomaru." She was desperate, she needed to be able to see somebody. Anybody from the feudal era.
"I can't answer that either I'm afraid. Inukimi went into hiding a century ago, demons started wanting to take the title of western lord from her. She went into hiding so that when you came back to break the barrier and free her son his title would be waiting for him. Inukimi never gave up hope that you were still alive and would come back. I fear she went back to her own castle, and wherever that has flown off to is anyone's guess."
"Flown off to?" Tony asked incredulously, "We are talkin about a castle, right?"
It was Kagome who answered, "Yes Inukimi has a floating castle." She smirked slightly, "Think Castle in the Sky, Laputa."
"How in the world does that work? Physics do no work like that!" Tony exclaimed, almost excitedly.
"Physics rarely apply when it comes to demons. They have magic to help them along." Kagome explained.
"What about Koga then? Aiko said that he's the Eastern Lord. Do you know where Koga is?" Maybe he could help her out.
Bokuseno smiled, "That one I can thankfully answer for you. Koga and Ayame have their home base located in America now. New York, I believe he told me the last time he came to visit. I do not have an exact location for you though, you will have to search for him yourself." He looked right into Kagome's eyes, "Is there anything else you wish to ask child?"
Kagome shook her head. If she were to continue asking questions she would never leave. She had a lead right now, a goal. Find Koga and Ayame. If she could find those two then maybe they could help her search for where Sesshomaru was. Plus, she needed to warn them that Naraku was around in this time and probably coming after Koga for the last loose jewel shard.
"Nuro, come here please." Bokuseno said suddenly. The group watched as an adult with green skin and moss like hair walk out from behind a nearby tree, "I have a favor to ask of you. Could you go and fetch the two I was talking about earlier?"
The man called Nuro apparently nodded silently, giving Kagome a long look before turning and disappearing into the forest.
"I have to be honest young one I knew you were coming, I felt your presence the moment you entered the forest. I have a surprise that I am sure you shall appreciate. Now why don't you sit down for a bit young one, you seem to be needing a break from standing. Nuro should be only a moment as I told who he is going to collect to stay close."
Kagome sat down on a nearby rock, to relieve the pain of her ankle. "Who is he going to get?" she asked curiously.
Bokuseno simply gave her a knowing smile but kept silent.
Tony decided that now would be a good time to discuss matters of Kagome moving in, "So Kagome, you'll be staying on Natasha's floor. They have a couple empty rooms that you should be able to pick from. When we get back today we can just have you mostly just settle in today. All of your stuff should arrive by tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow sometime you, Natasha, and Pepper could go out and do some shopping for you. You said yourself that you'll need some new clothes. Plus, you can get anything else you think you'll need. You can take one of my cards with you. Think of it as an all-inclusive shopping trip."
Kagome frowned slightly, "I don't want to be a bother, I'll pay you back somehow. Also, who is Pepper?" She said thoughtfully. She hadn't even thought about that before. Quite honestly it should have been something she was thinking about, but she had plans on staying in the feudal era before that was painfully ripped from her. She now had to support not only herself, but her baby as well. How in the world was she going to do that? She didn't really have experience in anything other than fighting demons, making feudal remedies and poisons, and shooting arrows. She had really given up on schooling after her first year of trying to balance everything out. Where in the world could she find a job?
Tony was also having a troubling thought process, he was at a crossroads. He knew that he had every right to spend as much of his money on Kagome as he wanted, he was her father. She didn't know that though, all she knew was he was her mom's college friend. He didn't want her wanting to pay him back, even if it was a nice gesture. Nobody had ever wanted to pay him back for the money he's spent on them before. Their mindset was always he was a billionaire so he wouldn't need the money back. Which was totally true, he wasn't hurting for money and he never would be. But that didn't help that Kagome, his daughter, was apprehensive about taking money from him.
"Oh, right you wouldn't know her. Pepper is my girlfriend and the CEO of my company. She's got a love of shopping for anything really and will most likely jump at the opportunity to have a girl's shopping day. But Kagome if you really want to find a job, I'm sure that we could help with that. I don't know how much we'll want you too far away from the tower with Naraku out there. The bastard could jump out at any time, we don't know where he is yet. But if you do get a job, do it for yourself. You're no bother Kagome. You can ask anyone, I spend money on the most useless things. Money is really not an issue for me. This way my money is being used for something productive. That and I literally won't accept any money from you. The money you make belongs to you, you earned it kid."
Kagome frowned again, not happy with that answer. She would find a way to repay him, somehow. Not only was he allowing her to live in his tower but he was also paying for anything that she would need. She could hear the determination in his voice however so she let it drop for now. "We'll see." She said instead before changing topics, "How will we find Koga?"
"I'll have Jarvis start looking for him the moment we get to the plane. His full name is Koga Okami, right? If he's going by that name it shouldn't be too hard to find him." Tony said as he quickly wrote a memo in his phone. He aggravatingly didn't have any reception here, he was blaming it on demon magic because he should have reception everywhere.
"Jarvis is your AI, right? When will I get to actually meet him?" Kagome asked, she has heard a lot about Jarvis and was intrigued by him.
"I'll let you fully meet him at the tower, he's more connected there than anywhere else. Oh, I'll have to get you a phone that has Jarvis connected into it. That way if you ever need anything you can just ask Jarvis. He's a real miracle worker in a pinch."
Bokuseno gave a low chuckle at the banter going on between the two, everyone else had just been watching and listening in amusement. It was odd for them knowing that Tony was finally having an opportunity to talk with his daughter, but Kagome not knowing at all. They would need to see when Tony was thinking of telling her, none of them wanted to let it slip by accident. That would probably not end well at all. "You are always able to surround yourself with colorful personalities aren't you Kagome?"
Kagome shrugged with a small smile, "Inuyasha said I had an annoying ability to pull people towards me. That I was able to make friends with anybody, even people who were supposed to be my enemy. It always annoyed him, but it wasn't like I tried to do it on purpose. I just don't see the world as black and white as he did."
"Ah, I do believe Nuro is coming back with our guests. Do prepare yourself Miko." Bokuseno said, with a small smirk.
Kagome was able to think 'prepare herself how?' before she was tackled by a small yellow ball of fur. Once she realized what was clinging to her shirt, purring constantly, Kagome's heart soared. "Kirara!" she shouted happily. She hugged the small kitten into her and for a brief moment she was truly happy. Not only had she found Buyo, but she also gained Kirara back all in the same day. Then her mind remembered that there was supposed to be two people she knew coming and she turned to look at Bokuseno to see who else was here and her jaw dropped in astonishment. Out of everyone, he was here?
"Jaken?" she chocked out.
Jaken gave her a look that was a mix of annoy-ment and happiness, "You're finally back wench, now my lord can be released."
Kagome felt everyone around her bristle at the way Jaken was treating her, but for Jaken that was him being nice. She rolled her eyes, "Good to see you too Jaken."