Shikuro: A Caribbean Fairy Tale

by Inuma Asahi De

Inuyasha was as bad as pirates came, according to his legend. Kagome was a woman of propriety, destined to marry for her family's honor when all she wanted was to live on the sea. What happens when their eyes meet by chance or perhaps by daring fate?

105. Heaven and Hell

Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).

Chapter One Hundred and Five

Heaven and Hell

The snow crunched under their feet once more as they walked through a strange labyrinth of overgrown trees and wild plants of every type imaginable. Inuyasha's ears twitched on his head, desperate to hear any sounds that might make it clearer as to where they were. He could hear a variety of birds, their wings and the twitters of their little tones assaulting him. He could hear the shuffle of critters in the underbrush and the sound of squirrels as they dug for nuts they had hidden long ago in the early autumn.

"Normal sounds for a normal forest." He told himself as he glanced at his brother's back. Almost immediately after the explosion of Tetsusaiga the man had started off without a word. The only indication that he, and Takeshi of course, were supposed to follow a slight waving of his fingers. "Where is he leading us?" He narrowed his eyes and scented the air for any signs his ears would not be able to pick up. He could only smell melting snow, musty and mixed with the deep penetrating aroma of dirt and wet moss as well as leaves.

Up ahead of him, Sesshoumaru came to a slow stop before a fork in the road. Inuyasha and Takeshi stopped as well, staring at the man's regal and ridgid shoulders as he looked down both diverging paths with a strange calm about him. "We're almost there." He commented as he turned and looked at both younger men over his shoulder.

"Almost where?" Inuyasha immediately countered as he stared into the molten gold that belonged to his brother's naturally narrowed eyes.

"The shrine." Sesshoumaru answered simply as he turned back towards the path before them his head moving slowly from left to right, from path to path. "Tell me Inuyasha, which path do you think we should take?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow from the strangeness of such a question. "Why are you asking me?"

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, he didn't even turn around; instead, the older demon stayed silent his eyes staring at the place between the two roads, where no path lay.

Clearing his throat, the half demon refrained from sighing with frustration. He gripped the handle of Tetsusaiga carefully hoping that the sword, unlike Sesshoumaru, might help him but it didn't. "I barely know where we're going," He grumbled to himself as he looked from one path to the other wondering why Sesshoumaru was asking him. "How the hell should I know?" He snorted as he looked at his brother's back and, irritated, blew his bangs out of his face. "You're the one who knows where we're going."

For a moment longer Sesshoumaru said nothing but his shoulders did noticeably tense. "Close your eyes Ototou." His voice was clipped but contained as he gritted his teeth.

Deciding to be amused by his brother's irritation, Inuyasha raised an almost cocky eyebrow. "Why—gonna attack me again?" He clicked his tongue at the end of the sentence and smirked when he heard Takeshi snicker behind him from the sight of a vein in Sesshoumaru's forehead beginning to throb.

"You're worst than a five year old pup." Sesshoumaru inhaled deeply and sent his son a dangerous glare. "And I should know—you were a pretty awful one."

Takeshi's ears drooped instantly and he looked away from his father, a blush forming on his cheeks.

Pleased, Sesshoumaru turned his focus on his brother once more, who was laughing at his nephew's chastisement. "So were you." He dead panned watching as Inuyasha's own ears went back in a very familiar way.

Crossing his arms over his chest Inuyasha snorted, "I was a perfect pup!"

"You were a walking disaster." Sesshoumaru amended for him as he raised his eyes upwards as if asking the kami for help. "Every time you walked into a room all the maids started praying for mercy."

"That is such a bit of sh—." Inuyasha's words stilled on his tongue as a strange feeling suddenly welled up within him that he couldn't explain.

Sesshoumaru's head instantly snapped back towards his brother from the silence, his eyes darkening a bit as he noticed the way Inuyasha seemed to hold his body perfectly still as if the snow had frozen him. "He can feel it." The demon lord straightened his shoulders and looked his brother dead in the face. "Do it," He commanded, his voice firm and undeniable. "Close your eyes, Ototou."

Normally, Inuyasha would have growled and not obeyed but, for whatever reason, he found himself closing his eyes. Whatever the reason, the second he closed his eyes he felt off, dizzy, and a little tilted. It was almost like something was suddenly pulling at his body, yanking on his feet and heart and mind and soul until he stepped forward against his will. He didn't hear the snow as he crushed it, pushing it down further into the soil, and he didn't hear when Sesshoumaru stepped out of his way. He just felt his body being pulled by something he couldn't even fathom. It was a hot, white, burning feeling that made his heartbeat quicken in his chest and his feet move a little faster. In his mind's eye, he could almost see what was pulling him, the glistening of metal in the sun and the fraying of an old handle.

"Come—."

His eyes snapped opened and he inhaled sharply as the word consumed him to his very core. He panted as his heart continued to race and he shook his head hastily as the world came back into view. He found himself, much to his astonishment, standing in front of the fork that had gone to the left. A soft breeze blew through the trees, a little whistle humming in his ears from that wind. He felt it catch his hair and then push at his back as if it was telling him to go forward.

"This way." He said the words but for the life of him could not remembering thinking them or even moving his lips.

"Lead the way." Sesshoumaru whispered as he looked back at his young son. "Come Takeshi."

"Chichiue," The boy whispered as he stared at his uncle's back completely baffled. "What just happened?"

"What do you think, pup?" His father filled in as Inuyasha started to move forward completely dazed to their words. "Can you feel it too?" The father wondered as he glanced back at his son but judging by the boy's confused look, he could not.

"I have no idea." Takeshi told him as he stared at the retreating back of his uncle. "But—it was powerful, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement and without looking back, began to follow his brother.

Takeshi hesitated a moment as his ears swiveled in the direction of crunching snow under his elders feet. Finally, the fear of being left alone pushed him forward and he allowed his feet to hastily hit the snow. His golden eyes took in the path as they continued down it, studying every leaf and bit of snow that rested on the trees. It only took a moment for the path to widen, the trees moving farther and farther away from them on either side. He blinked, confused by the strange way the trees had seemed to suddenly distance themselves from one another and fueled by perplexity looked back behind him. The young boy nearly choked on his own tongue as he witnessed the very trees that had once been far apart from each other, shift back into place, making the path way they had just easily walked on dense and impassable.

"Chichiue?" He whimpered out the name as he turned on his heel and hurriedly pushed himself forward towards his father and uncle not wanting to be separated from them in a place such as this.

"Keep close." Sesshoumaru whispered as he felt the warmth of his son, practically trying to meld with him, touch his skin. "The trees are different here."

"I gathered." Takeshi mumbled back as he eyed the trees, sending them warning glares that did not go unnoticed by them.

"Be careful," Sesshoumaru warned in a low voice as the trees began to shake a little as if upset. "They get violent rather quickly."

Takeshi's eyes grew to twice their normal size in an instant and he gapped at his father before forcing himself closer to the man nearly tripping him.

"Takeshi." Sesshoumaru reprimanded in an exasperated voice reserved only for his children in many ways. "Don't get so close."

"Well," Takeshi countered barely able to keep the fear out of his voice. "Don't tell me the trees get violent!"

Up ahead, barely seeing the moving trees before him, Inuyasha felt his feet move as if by a will of their own. His heart had calmed completely in his chest, sustaining a steady gentle rhythm, which made each breath come deep and controlled.

"Come."

He couldn't stop his ears from twitching on his head as if he could hear the call that went directly to his heart. Tetsusaiga rattled on his side, shaking as if it too had heard the inaudible noise. Without even a slight twitch, the dog demon lowered his hand to the hilt of the sword, grasping it with relaxed fingers in an attempt to calm it. The sword only vibrated faster as his eyes began to register a shape that was neither tree nor bush in the distance. The trees seemed to part around him as he approached that unknown object and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he, quite suddenly, found himself standing in a clearing.

In front of him, a tiny shrine with the same architecture as the shrine's he remembered from his childhood stood. Red wood, aged by wind and snow and rain, formed high arching peaks on the roof top and tiny white triangular prayer scrolls blew in the wind between wooden slats in the windows.

"What is this place?" Inuyasha asked as he looked at the small building before them.

"When you were born, Chichiue built this place to keep our inheritance from the generals." Sesshoumaru told him numbly as he came to stand beside his brother in the snow, Takeshi still glued to his side. "The clothes you wear, for instance," He paused as if to collect his thoughts before continuing. "The sword you carry and," He glanced down at Tetsusaiga for just a second, studying the way the sword seemed to shake incessantly in Inuyasha's hand. "That swords mate."

Inuyasha's eyes grew huge and he turned towards his brother his face questioning. "Tetsusaiga's mate is here?"

Sesshoumaru didn't answer as he walked further into the clearing passed his brother and towards the front of the shrine. Not wanting to be left alone, Takeshi followed him until he reached Inuyasha and then much to Inuyasha's surprise chose to stay next to his uncle. The boy leaned in close to Inuyasha without actually touching the man as he had his father. It was merely a subconscious action, the young boy needing the comforting connection of a fatherly figure to help him feel safe.

Not giving much thought to his son's shift in company, Sesshoumaru approached the shrine steps. "Only one of Chichiue direct descendents can find this place." He explained the unasked question as he stopped just before the little stairs that lead towards the door. "It's enchanted—connected to our blood." He reached out a hand and touched the wooden railing with his clawed fingertips. "The forest is enchanted as well, it changes continually." He smiled ever so noticeably to himself before pulling his hand away, the happiness that had momentarily invaded his expression ebbing instantly. "The part of you that is connected to our father, your demon blood, allows you to find your way through the constantly changing paths."

"So, that's what was calling me." Inuyasha reasoned as he glanced towards the shrine, his mind reeling with so many thoughts that he felt dizzy. "Chichiue's demon guided my demon."

"Could I do it too?" Takeshi asked slowly as his eyes shifted from his father to his uncle unaware of his uncle's current turmoil.

"Yes." Sesshoumaru answered slowly as he looked back at his son with his normal controlled expression, although his eyes seemed to be filled with faint amusement. "You have my blood," He pointed out to his son, the child's eyes widening as he realized his own mistake. "Therefore, you have his."

"Of course." The boy bowed his head slightly as he tried to find anything to look at other than his father.

Inuyasha didn't even bother listening to the conversation between his brother and nephew as he stared at the small shrine. It seemed so unintimidating, so normal and yet there was something about it that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Carefully, he took a step towards that shrine, moving to where he was standing very close to his elder brother. His large golden eyes stared at the red wood and the arching peaks of the roof taking in the contrasting whiteness of the pure snow that had gathered about its edges. He felt Tetsusaiga shake a little at his side and he lowered his hand towards the sword as if to comfort it.

"Inuyasha."

The voice came like a wisp of wind on the breeze, just musing the fur on his ears as it darted passed him and into the ever changing forest beyond. "Is this—," He found his mouth moving and words projecting from his throat but they sounded impossibly strange to him as if they were not actually controlled by his mind. "Where the other sword is?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru answered without any emotion creeping into his voice except eerie calm.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as a particularly cold wind ran through the clearing hitting his body with great force so that he shuddered momentarily with cold. "Why," He dared to pose the question as he finally managed to look away from the shrine and towards Sesshoumaru. "Have I never heard anything about it?"

"Because—," The older demon answered bluntly as he closed his eyes and inhaled the cold air deep into his lungs. "It was not left to you," He opened his eyes again, the calm coolness of his own gold irises striking on his expressionless face. "It was left to me."

-break-

Kagome's eyes felt as if she were falling, her whole world going topsy-turvy as the feeling of her body spinning and whirling through some unnatural abyss assaulted her. She tried to scream as her body continued to crash downwards but no sound came from her throat. Desperately, she reached out all around her, unable to see within the darkness that seemed to be either encompassing her or caused by her eyes being squeezed shut (whether her eyes were closed or not, however, she couldn't tell). Her fingers scrapped at the side of something but it was smooth, leaving nothing for her to actually grasp.

"Oh god!" The thought ran unhindered through her mind as she felt her eyes well with tears. "Kilala!" She tried to scream but the sound would not emerge and the cat demon form. "I'm going to die." She thought as the hair on her arms began to stand on end as if it knew what was coming. "Please—."

"I've got you, Kagome."

The entire world stopped moving as the words entered her very soul. She felt for a moment as if she were hanging in space the sound of her heart pounding in her chest the only thing she could hear in that vast vacant darkness.

As if by magic, the warmth of the sun suddenly filled her to her very core as she came back into reality. It seemed to dance against her skin, making her flesh with the beauty of the sensation. She tilted her head back without thinking, basking in the heat. Her bare toes curled with pleasure and she frowned as she became aware of the burning sand underneath her but years of having walked on such ground kept her steady. She furrowed her brow (her eyes still tightly shut) and pressed her heels deeper into the shifting ground. Within seconds, her body found the coolness of the hidden sand beneath her feet and she sighed from contentment.

The gentle hands of the wind suddenly pulled against her hair, dragging each curl away from her body before releasing it playfully, the echo of their delight filling her soul as the wind whistled in her ears, "Open your eyes," it whispered and instantly her eyelashes parted, fluttering opened.

Immediately, she was blinded by a brightness she had forgotten could even exist. Salty air filled her lungs as she gasped and squeezed her eyes shut in disbelief. "Sun—so bright." She mumbled and moaned as her eyes burned just a bit.

More carefully this time, she opened her eyes wincing slightly in an effort not to be blinded once more. The sun hit her pupils making them retract hastily and she breathed in deeply as she finally was able to see the world around her: a million shades of blue. She stepped back from the brightness of the color and amazed allowed her jaw to fall opened. For endless leagues before her was the ocean, waves peaking and falling in the distance, slowly making their way to shore where they become nothing more than white foam as they tumbled onto the beach. The darker, wet sand, accepted them only momentarily before pushing them back, forcing them to retreat into their aquatic home.

The high azure sky fell to meet the relentless sea, the colors of their different waters mixing on the distant horizon. "The sea," Her heart skipped a beat and tears began to bud on the edge of her eyes. "This is—." She turned around, already partially knowing exactly what she was going to see. A landscape she had know since she was seven reached her eyes, walls encompassing a township, houses of friends looming above the lowest points of that wall, their bright colors and ornate frames beautiful in the sunlight that swept over them. "Jamaica." She stepped forward in complete disbelief, the hot sand shifting underneath her calloused toes. "I'm in Jamaica." She felt her eyes water inexplicitly and quickly raised a hand up to brush at the tears there.

"You would cry at the sight of your own prison?"

She jumped and turned to look towards the voice that had somehow sprung into existence at her left. Instantly, she saw the child that had brought her here and frowned. "My prison?" She repeated his own words and biting her lower lip looked back at the city with stormy eyes. The walls seemed taller and the houses darker as she stared at them now. It was almost like all the happiness had been sucked out of them. "Is this—how he sees it?"

"The houses of the rich," He spoke once more his eyes narrowing dangerously with such animosity that it was almost shocking on such a young face. "Of the blind."

"Blind?" Kagome furrowed her brow in confusion as she stared at his darkened features, her stomach sinking from the sight.

"You're one of them right now Kagome," He snorted his features darkening only momentarily before they suddenly lightened as if shifting back into his control. "I'm sorry—you're not—you just weren't here yet."

The young woman bit her lip at his words, her eyes too clouded still to really comprehend the shifting in his personality. "I don't understand."

He shook his head and raised up at hand without really responding. His dark eyes, filled with unexplainable sadness looked out down the coastline. He blinked slowly and raised up his hand higher, pointing one finger down the beach.

Raising up her chin, Kagome followed that appendage with her eyes wide opened. A small dilapidated house or, that is, shack loomed out of the sand. Its frame was nearly falling down the hill it had been built into and in place of a proper door was something akin to a curtain although nowhere near as nice. The shingles on the roof were coming off, leaving the residents (if there were any) within exposed to the outside world. She stepped forward as she gazed at it, the utter separation between it and humanity apparent in its location on the outskirts of the city. "Why have I never seen this before?"

"It was torn down by the time you came to live here." He lowered his hand dejectedly as he spoke, his dark eyes filled with something so desperate that it made Kagome sick to her stomach. "I don't even remember it—only stories lead me here."

Kagome flinched at his response finding it unnerving as she glanced down at the child. "Who lived there?"

He didn't speak for a second but instead pursed his lips together and looked down at the sand. Little grains of it were being blown by the coastal wind and his dark eyes followed them relentlessly for a moment as if they were going to help him formulate his answer. Besides the sound of the wind whistling, however, no answer came from the tiny grains and he gulped. "My—," The words became stuck on his tongue and he squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to control his emotions. "Just look Kagome." He motioned towards the house without opening his wet eyes.

Without question, the young woman obeyed her grey eyes turning back towards the little shack. Standing outside of it now, a rather large basket strapped to her back, was the most beautiful woman Kagome had ever seen. Her skin was dark, the color of mahogany and her hair a shiny perfect carbon black. Her tight, ringlet curls, which any fashionable woman would have paid her own dowry off to have, clung to her ears and neck even as the wind relentless yanked at them as if asking them to play. Her lips, a dark almost unnatural red, held an easy smile as she pulled up her skirts revealing smooth and shapely legs.

"She's beautiful." Kagome whispered as she watched the woman step away from the shack and start down towards the shoreline.

"Almost," He hesitated again as the woman reached the edge. "Tragically beautiful."

Kagome turned back towards the boy quickly staring at him with confusion on her face. She had only heard of women such as Helen of Troy described in such a way, it seemed odd to describe a normal woman as tragic. She tilted her head momentarily to the side before realization filled her. "Is it because she's a slave—or, is there a greater tragedy?"

"She was a slave." The ghost boy spoke as if he had heard her very thoughts. "And that lead to her greatest tragedy."

"How—," Kagome's voice died in her throat as a tiny cry filled the air. Her heart tightened violently in her chest from the sound of it and her stomach turned violently. "A baby?" She blinked and forced herself to look back at the scene. The woman had stopped walking and had lowered the basket on her back to the ground. A sweet smile covered her face as she reached into the basket, producing a tiny bundle of wailing infant.

"T'ere—t'ere boy." She spoke with a thick accent as she rocked the child in her arms, her voice like a wind chime as it entered the air. "Maa-ma here." She smiled as the baby continued to cry, love shinning from her dark eyes.

"He's gotten big in just two days."

Kagome froze at the invasion of the masculine voice, her grey eyes snapping towards the source of such a sound. Almost paralleling her, the gorgeous woman also froze, her dark eyes turning to look at the man wide and panicked. Two women saw the same face standing on the hill above the shack, his handsome demonic features highlighted by the brightness of the sun.

"Mr. Morgan?" Kagome felt her whole body quake at the sight of the man as he walked down a small path that had been forged in the sand.

The young woman meanwhile grabbed the child close to her breast as she tensed, prepared almost to run away. "Henry." His name dropped from her lips and the man actually flinched much to Kagome's amazement.

"What the—?" She blinked from the familiarity of the words and hastily looked between the frozen woman and the unnaturally sad eyes of the approaching Henry Morgan.

"Henry—pease—pease." She held the child closer to her breast as she began to beg for reasons Kagome couldn't even begin to guess. "Do't be takin' him from me!"

"I'm not coming to take him." Mr. Morgan paused for a second as if he was contemplating how to phrase his next thought. "I—I've come to take you both."

The woman's death grip on the baby relaxed just a bit as she eyed the man skeptically. "What ya mean?"

"Don't get too excited," He sighed heavily as if some great burden was befalling him. "It's only temporary."

Her grip on the child doubled and she stepped back with fear brimming in her eyes. "Temp'ry?"

"I can't let the scandal of all of this get out." He looked down at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with her. "You will be his nursemaid—until he's old enough to live without a teat."

Kagome felt a lump jump into her throat as realization began to dawn on her. "This is—that child—?" She felt her hands shake and her head spin a little bit as she took an involuntary step back in disbelief.

The woman who seemed to be the center of Henry Morgan's affection shook her head as if trying to shake the very idea from her mind. "I—."

"Take it." He spoke far harsher than he probably meant to, the way he winced showing just that. "It's the only way you'll see this child at all."

Her ruby lips trembled and her dark eyes swirled with both emotion and thought. "I—I can't." She finally whispered even as tears began to fall from her eyes, collecting on long stunning lashes.

"He will be yours until he's old enough to remember." Henry Morgan finally looked at her, his tired eyes showing a hidden feeling that Kagome didn't miss: love. "It's the best I could do—politics—all of this," He looked away and for the first time since the conversation had started, lost his composure. "I'm sorry but that child—no one can ever know he's a half breed." He stepped forward, one hand raising up as if to reach for her and in that instant the pain in his eyes grew. "It would ruin his life." His voice was desperate and imploring as he continued to hold out his hand in the space between them, frozen and unable to move further towards her. "As long as people think the mistress is the mother, he will be accepted and adored and have everything—," He paused for a moment and allowed his hand to fall away from her as if he were letting something precious fall. "If word ever got out, you would sentence him to death."

She sobbed at his words and held the infant closer, the baby crying just as loudly as herself.

"At least this way—," He looked away and out towards the ocean, towards Kagome who he couldn't see. "You'll have something."

The scene began to fade from view just as the woman seemed to lose her ability to stand completely. Kagome gasped as the urge to run towards the woman overwhelmed her but found her feet stuck in the thick sand.

"There's nothing you can do Kagome." The little boy whispered as he looked at the disappearing image of Henry Morgan and the slave who had bore his child. "This has all passed."

"But—I—." She turned back towards the child as she tried to hold back her own tears.

It was only then as she looked at him through her tears that she began to see what she had never allowed herself to see. The darkness of his hair, the slight curl of it, the deepness of his eyes so black that even his pupils could not be seen and the olive color of his skin so unlike the family he had come from. She whipped her head around to look at the woman and the baby once more but just as she moved, the images all around her plummeted into the ground, throwing her into darkness.

-break-

The younger of the two adult dog demons felt his heart jump into his throat as his brother's words permeated his thick skull. "Left to you?" Inuyasha blinked several times not understanding how it had never occurred to him that Sesshoumaru might have been left an heirloom as well.

"It is a powerful sword," Sesshoumaru told him nonchalantly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I learned much from it," He paused for just a moment as a soft look of fondness found its way onto his face. "But only with Rin's aid."

Ignoring the gentle look on his brother's face, Inuyasha licked his lips and shook his head. "Is it," He cleared his throat and tried to produce the words again. "I mean—my sword is so—devastating," He looked towards his brother with disbelief on his features. "Did he leave you one like that, like Tetsusaiga?"

"Yes and no." The older man answered cryptically and he finally took another long overdue step towards the staircase that led up to the little shrine. Snow had collected on each of the four steps and as he approached it he acknowledged the little mounds of white only by bringing up his foot to gently sweep them onto the ground. "Tell me Ototou," He spoke softly as he continued to clear the snow with his boot absently. "When you held Tetsusaiga and released that attack," He paused for just a second and straightened as if in great thought. "What," He stopped sweeping the snow completely and set his foot on the ground before slowly turning back towards his brother. "Was it like?"

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha blinked a few times as he heard his nephew's foot steps behind the two men, the boy edging his way closer in order to hear the softly spoken conversation.

"Just," A trace of a small and melancholic smile formed on Sesshoumaru's features just before he looked away from his brother and went back to work clearing the steps. "Describe it."

"Um," Inuyasha shook his head from left to right as he tried to recall the moment he had unleashed the vicious attack. It seemed so surreal looking back on it now, as if it had been something from a dream and not reality but he knew it was real. He could still remember the heat of the sword in his hands and the static feeling of electricity as it pulsed through his body. "I—I felt hot," He winced feeling stupid for even uttering those words. "I mean—not hot—damn a-a," He shook his head and closed his eyes as he tried to form the proper words. Memories of the sword convulsing and a strange tugging/nagging feeling in his stomach made him squeeze his eyes shut a little tighter until they suddenly snapped open. "I felt something in me," He paused as that swirling sensation in his memory began to taunt him. "It was like there was something inside me that was getting harder to control and then I just kind of—lost it."

"Energy." Takeshi interrupted before biting his tongue apologetically. "Sorry." He let his ears droop and tried to hide inside his haori like a turtle afraid to come out of its shell.

"No," His father sent him a slight smile over one sloping shoulder, a little bit of a spark in his eyes that looked similar to pride. "Go on."

"Could it be that," The boy licked his lips and slowly drew his head out of his clothes so that he could look at both his uncle and father. "Inuyasha Ojii-san was feeling his demon energy?" He spoke with little confidence as he raised an eyebrow towards his father from his guess. "It does come from—from the inside, right?"

His father nodded once sharply and turned back to his work. "Exactly right." He told both the half demon and the three-fourths demon behind him as he finally finished dusting the powdery snow from the first step, revealing the bright red wood that had been hidden underneath. "Inside all demons there is energy," He explained as he began to slip his shoes from his feet, even as the leader of this land he would not disgrace his father by treading on sacred ground with covered feet. "The part of us that is connected to our animalistic heritage." He took a step up, his bare feet landing on the cool wind as he sighed.

Inuyasha felt a spark of realization in him at the mention of such heritage. "Myoga told me about that." He whispered as he took a step forward as well, his already bare feet touching the cold ground without him caring. "The animal spirit that is inside of us." He explained as he reached the steps hesitating with great uncertainty as he debated about whether he should approach them further or not. "It manifest in our appearance and our abilities."

"The part of a demon that separates them from humans." Takeshi supplied the end of the lesson, a lesson he knew just as well as his uncle.

"Very good." Sesshoumaru nodded as he began clearing the next step with his now bare feet. "We are different from humans because our energy connections to a spirit animal deep within us, instead of the cosmos."

"Cosmos?" Takeshi questioned slowly as he looked at his father. "What's that?"

"The universe." Sesshoumaru supplied carefully as he glanced upwards and out at the world around him, seeing everything in all its infinite possibilities. "Humans get their life energy from this universe, they all share it; demons, on the other hand, get there's from a single spirit within them, which they do not share with anyone else," He shook his head and pulled his eyes away from the world, shutting it out. "It's almost as if we receive our own universe of energy in the form of a spirit animal deep within us—our soul is that spirit; a humans soul is part of the universe."

"Is that why we live longer than humans," Takeshi spoke slowly as if he were afraid to actually ask the question. "Because we're connected more—um—firmly to our energy?"

"For some breeds, it depends on the type of spirit within us." Sesshoumaru added as he nodded his head once slowly as he finished clearing the second step and allowed his body to rise to the third. "Sometimes the spirit is very weak, like some fish demons and rats, so it cannot provide enough energy to last even as long as a human's lifetime." The full blooded demon actually clicked his tongue as he let the information settle in his two pupils mind. "There are humans who," He began very slowly, being careful not to look at his brother. "Are similar—."

"Like Kagome—like a Miko?" Inuyasha felt his head jump up as he took in the words in wonder.

"Yes," Sesshoumaru agreed although he stilled in his work as if he knew where this was headed. "Miko are what Nihon-jin call human women who—."

"Can they," Inuyasha interrupted again, his mind completely focused only on one thought. "If they're similar then, their life span, Kagome's life span—I might not be alive but our child—." A worry he had almost forgotten jumped back into his soul as he gulped and stepped towards Sesshoumaru. He bit his lip as he stood, one foot on one step and the other on the next one down. "Live longer than a normal human?"

Sesshoumaru frowned instantly as if already knowing exactly why his brother had asked such a question. "No." He said the word softly, as if it were as ethereal as the snow that was just now beginning to fall around the shrine once more halting his progress.

Inuyasha felt his heart stop in his chest and he inhaled sharply through his nose. He blinked and looked away from his brother, his face contorting with bitterness. "It'll only know its mother for such a minute bit of time," He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. "Just like me—is this why demons and humans shouldn't have children?"

Sensing the desperation in his brother's every nerve, Sesshoumaru quickly cleared his throat to change the subject. He did not need to be told the direness of his brother's situation to empathize with it. "There are humans who are connected to both the cosmos and something deeper," He licked his lips slowly as he turned his attention back to the third step of the shrine clearing the snow away carefully. "They also have access to an animal entity but it is not inside them; it is within the spirit realm."

"So," Takeshi, who had remained quietly fixated on both his elders throughout the conversation, interjected. "Miko—are not like a normal human?"

"They are not and they are all at once," His father offered as he glanced at his brother who said nothing, only continued to stare at his bare feet in the cold snow. "It's more than just Miko, however," He continued on as he forced himself to keep his voice even and his expression calm. "There are men who have this spirit guide they can access as well but they are rarer now." He sighed but didn't move his hands as a normal person would have to rub the tension from his neck, instead he remained still, hands at his sides. "It is said that the spirit guides for men are always female in the spirit realm—and the spirit guides for men are always male."

Takeshi tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips in almost arrogant thought. "That's really—weird, don't men usually have more power than women?"

"No," Inuyasha answered before his brother actually could, finally raising his head up away from his shoes to look at his nephew. "I know plenty of women who can kick my ass." He drug out the word making sure that Takeshi heard it.

"As do I," Sesshoumaru agreed and for a moment, a small smile played on his lips as thoughts of his own Miko filled his head.

"That's a little disturbing." Takeshi grumbled while sending both his father and Inuyasha a strange look.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru began again, redirecting the conversation. "And humans like them are connected to a spirit guide, which allows them access to the same energy we have within us; however, it does not grant them elongated life or animalistic features like ours." His older brother continued without stopping, there was nothing he could do anyway, what was done was done. "Kagome, no doubt, has met her spirit guide by now—if her power is any indication."

Inuyasha nodded and made a mental note to ask his wife about that later. "But why—," He pressed as he forced his head to rise and brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "Why do they have that ability at all; why aren't they like normal humans and get their energy from," He waved his hand as if to indicate the entirety of everything. "Wherever the hell it comes from?"

"Rin told me once the myth the Miko of her shrine believed in." Sesshoumaru explained easily as his foot finished brushing off the last bit of snow from the third step, although the action now seemed futile. All around them the snow had started to fall, coming down a bit heavier with each passing minute. "The gods gave selected humans their connection to an animal spirit guide in an attempt to give equality to the human and demon races during a time of great war." He sighed as he looked towards the first step once more, the shinny whiteness of snow catching his eye. "If that is true or not, I do not know."

"The knowledge is lost." Takeshi inferred as he looked at the ground solemnly, mourning a concept he barely understood.

"As I was saying though, demons, unlike these humans, are born with the spirit already within us." He continued, pulling his eyes away from the dusting of snow on the first step and back to the forth, the last. "It is as much a part of us as we are a part of it." He spoke softly, his voice deep and rich, warm. "And depending on that spirit is how much life energy a demon, at least," He added as he glanced towards his brother quickly before pulling his eyes away. "Receives."

"Life energy?" Inuyasha pressed as he narrowed his eyes. He could recall vaguely having heard somewhere of such a thing but he couldn't for his life remember where or why.

"The energy within us that gives us life—our soul so to speak." Sesshoumaru whispered as he finished clearing the last step, his expression tightening as he finally raised his head to look towards the door in front of him. "Without it we would cease to live." He inhaled slowly as his eyes focused on the ancient wood, staring at a great demon transformed into his animal counterpart that stared directly back.

For centuries the demon had rested there, its white painted fur slowly being stripped away by the elements, leaving nothing more than the dark black outline (which had been burned into the wood by none other than Totosai four centuries before) for him to see. Fangs that had once been yellow and red, dripping with the blood of his enemies, held no color other than those that naturally occur in wood and the once golden eyes that had stared at Sesshoumaru for real in his childhood were just as dark and emotionless. It was a haunting depiction of a man who had once been the most powerful demon in the whole of Nippon; a heartrending caricature of a once fierce man.

"All living creatures contain life energy." He spoke without really acknowledging his words as he brought up a hand and carefully placed it against the burned outline. "Only a powerful demon or human with spiritual connects can release that energy, however," He narrowed his eyes as he felt the flow of his own power ripple inside him before coming into his palm. "Without the fear of dying from losing too much of it." He gritted his teeth at the end of his sentence and pushed all his energy outwards from his palm into the demon carving on the door. "Our connection to the spirit either within us or within the spirit realm allows it."

Instantly what had once been white became white again, the color flowing from Sesshoumaru into the figurine like water flows from the mouth of a stream into the ocean. It seeped into every corner stopping only where the scorch marks created a fence to house it. The energy changed colors the second it hit the fangs, becoming yellow as they had been once and red where the blood had dripped. It shot up further into the golden eyes hitting them with great force before becoming the beautiful shade of amber than haunted both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's face. The whole of the depiction glowed with all the energy, the eyes becoming brighter and brighter until they were almost molten.

Inuyasha stepped back at the dangerous site, memories flashing in his mind from his childhood. He had only seen his father transform perhaps once or twice in the entirety of his life but looking back on it now he could honestly say even that had not been this intense. Maybe it was because he knew that creature was his father and he trusted that man with his life or maybe it had been because he was young and naïve; whatever the reason, looking at this small caricature glowing with the intensity of a thousand summer suns, he found himself feeling small and utterly insignificant.

Gritting his teeth more firmly, Sesshoumaru suddenly growled and pushed even more of his energy into the creature until the eyes practically turned to flame. The energy that consumed the dog soon lashed out from the wall, slipping into the air so quickly that it seemed to explode from the intensity of its new found freedom. But then, as quickly as it had come into the world, the energy retreated back into the dog and further still into the very wood of the door until all of Sesshoumaru's energy seemed to soak into the wood and disappear. There was a soft click as if something had unlocked and, as the dog demon lowered his hand from the now dormant creature, the door cracked opened splitting the dog in two.

"We, like Miko, use this energy in order to protect ourselves—an offensive and defensive attack." Sesshoumaru spoke quietly as he looked through the tiny opening towards the darkness within. "But, also like them, we need to properly channel it when we use anymore than what I just released."

Stunned and wholly silent, Inuyasha looked from the door that was just barely opened to Sesshoumaru and then down towards Tetsusaiga. "Channel?" He blinked, images of the bow that Kagome carried popping into his head instantly. "Is that what a demonic sword does—," He raised his head upwards to look at his brother imploringly. "It channels the energy inside us like Kagome channels it with her bow?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru confirmed as he looked back at his brother finally, his eyes dropping towards the sword that rested on the other man's hip.

"So, I channeled my energy through Tetsusaiga?" Inuyasha followed his brother's eyes downwards towards the sword once more, his expression changing from taunt to somewhat pliable as his focus shifted to the heirloom. "But—," He glanced towards his hands slowly, studying his claws with utter scrutiny. "I've done it without Tetsusaiga." He looked up at Sesshoumaru slowly, trying to gauge the man's reaction to what he was about to say. "I've placed all that energy into my hands and—released it through my claws."

For a briefest of moments Sesshoumaru looked surprised but the expression faded quickly. "Did someone teach you?"

"No." Inuyasha spoke slowly carefully as he turned his palm over looking at his hand with curiosity. "I don't even remember learning it—I've just always, since I lived in Ireland anyway, known how." He trailed off slightly and glanced towards his brother expecting that look of surprise to still be on the older man's face but there wasn't one.

"You do it naturally," It was definitely a statement and not a question as the man looked away from his brother and finally pushed the door opened. It squeaked on the hinges and groaned as the wood was pushed and pulled.

"That's probably why you learned to handle Tetsusaiga so quickly." He commented as he looked into the dark, his eyes able to see within the tiny room with such ease that he didn't bother to garner any sort of light as he stepped into the musty shrine. "You already had control of your demon life energy."

Inuyasha didn't comment as he followed his brother up the steps, Takeshi not too far behind him. "So, if Tetsusaiga channels demon energy—does this other sword also?" He asked as they crossed the threshold into the tiny shrine. "It's so small—." He thought as he inhaled the damp air of the tiny room, his eyes scanning every corner slowly taking it all in.

There were crates made of plain wood stacked up against the walls, which most likely contained treasures he couldn't even imagine. Scrolls, rolled up tightly so as not to allow too much air to touch them, were overflowing from a half opened chest which rested underneath the only window in the room. It was tiny and permitted only a slight amount of light into the room, enough to reveal the dusty wooden floor that hadn't been polished in years and more curiosities that actually hung from the walls.

The young dog demon froze as one of those curiosities caught his eye, his breath catching in his throat as he saw golden eyes fixated on him. They were narrowed ever so slightly, fierce as if prepared for battle. Jagged scars lined both cheeks and a delicate nose, which Sesshoumaru had inherited, turned slightly upwards in an almost cocky gesture that Inuyasha recognized as one of his own. "Otou-san." He whispered unable to stop himself from releasing the breathy word as his eyes followed the choppy angle of his father's bangs, so much like his own.

Sesshoumaru paused and turned to look at the ink painting as well, his own golden eyes so much like the man's in the painting that it was almost like looking in a mirror. He glanced towards his brother, taking in the obvious western features of his mixed heritage and smiled slightly. "You look like him and yet you don't, all at once."

Inuyasha blinked and turned towards his brother surprised. "Huh?"

"You got his color, gold and silver," Sesshoumaru shrugged slightly, a gesture that seemed wholly inappropriate for a man such as himself. "But your features—are very western," He stopped for a moment and sighed heavily. "Like your mother." He shook his head in a barely noticeable way and began crossing the room once more, heading towards the farthest wall from the front entrance.

Inuyasha followed his brother's movements easily, the darkness not hindering his sight at all. Takeshi stepped to stand at his shoulder, the young boy looking towards the portrait of his grandfather with more interest than the rest of the room. Glancing at his nephew out of the corner of his eye, Inuyasha noted the similarities between this child and his paternal grandfather. The delicate nose had been passed down from father to son and to grandson, it seemed. "Will my child—have the western nose or the eastern?" He smiled halfheartedly at the very idea, imagining a small girl with bright grey eyes and a Nippon nose for the briefest of moments before he forced himself to let it all go. "I'll probably never know."

Sesshoumaru reached the end of the room his feet feeling cool against the smooth dusty wood. "You asked if Chichiue second sword channeled energy like Tetsusaiga." His words brought Inuyasha back into the present instantly, the younger man stepping forward and blinking as he looked towards his brother and passed him, to what rested against the wall, a small alter hidden in darkness. "It does channel energy but there is a difference."

Inuyasha stared at the alter that rested on a small platform, raised no more than a few scarce feet above the ground. It was made of wood, the edges of which were painted a soft ornate blue instead of red as if showing that there was something wholly different about this one spot within the shrine. And, on top of it, held by a metal katana stand that was painted a dark relentless black, was a sword identical in every way to the one currently on Inuyasha's hip except that it had no sheath. It gleamed even though there was not really enough light to create a gleam and as Inuyasha stared at it he couldn't help the way his stomach knotted and his feet dug into the ground. His hair stood up on his arms and legs and for one brief moment he felt as if the sword was watching him just as he was watching it.

"This sword is so different from Tetsusaiga," Sesshoumaru's voice brought Inuyasha back into focus, his eyes drifting from the sword towards his brother. "That I cannot use it."

"What?" The captain blinked and looked back at the sword gazing at its unassuming handle, wrapped in wilted fabric. "Why?" He narrowed his eyes as he tried to process his own thoughts. "Why would Otou-san leave you a sword you can't use?"

"I've contemplated the same question for centuries, Inuyasha." The man's voice was so calm that it made his words almost seemed rehearsed, as if he had contemplated how to tell Inuyasha this for a hundred years at least. "And to this day I'm not sure why." He pulled his eyes from the sword and towards his brother, making sure to look the man in the eye as he continued to speak. "Perhaps—it was because he didn't want your mother to know it existed."

Inuyasha's eyes went wide as his mind was filled with images of the woman long since dead. "Why," He forced himself to keep his feet planted firmly on the ground even as the urge to take a step backwards made his toes itch. "Wouldn't he want her to know?"

"Our father and your mother had an odd relationship." Sesshoumaru spoke bluntly and unapologetically as he stared his brother down, his eyes firm and focused. "Both were powerful and dominating and had very different ideas about you—." He stopped dead, the words falling from his tongue so violently that they crashed into the floor. He inhaled and turned away, blinking finally as he looked towards the door of the shrine and towards the snow outside. "Sometimes I think," He paused again and watched as one little snowflake made its way to the ground. "Their differences in opinion made them secretive with even each other."

Inuyasha felt as if his mind was about to shut down. He had never thought of his parents' relationship as anything but loving and perfect. They were two halves of a whole or at least that was what he had always assumed. "I," He opened his mouth as he lowered his head and closed his eyes so as to collect his thoughts. "You mean," He lifted up his head but didn't open his eyes just yet. Instead, he stared at the image of his mother that seemed to form in the blackness of his mind. She was smiling and laughing but no noise came from her mouth. "He wanted me to," He inhaled deeply as his mother changed before him, her expression shifting becoming sad, her eyes becoming dark and clouded by pain. "To use it and she would have—disagreed?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru answered the question as he had almost all of Inuyasha's questions: bluntly. His golden eyes continued to follow the snowflake as if using it to keep himself calm or, better yet, escape this harsh reality.

"Why would she not want me to use it?" The younger brother asked as he opened his eyes once more, the image of his mother disappearing instantly.

"I don't know." The older man replied and both knew to a certain degree his words had to be a lie. "It doesn't matter." He yanked his eyes away from the falling snow finally and back towards his brother. "All I know is that he left me a sword that I could never use but," He waited until his brother raised his head to look at him, his words hanging in the air angry and harsh. "As Rin showed me, someone with your blood could."

Inuyasha looked away from his brother and towards the sword once more. He felt the skin on the back of his neck grow suddenly slick with sweat and he licked his lips as his stomach knotted and twisted with understanding. "My blood—Rin's blood?" He glanced towards the portrait of his father, the differences between their faces suddenly becoming greater as he took in the pointed ears and the jagged scars that became more pronounced the longer he looked, both marking the man's blood clearly. "Then—?" Inuyasha felt realization beginning to fill him as he allowed everything to drift away from him except that sword. "It doesn't channel demon energy—?"

"No." Sesshoumaru confirmed but didn't fill in the blank, he didn't have to.

"It channels human." Inuyasha realized as his whole world flipped upside down from his body to his very thoughts.

-break-

Kagome's fingers scrapped against the ground as she came back to herself once more, the roughness of the dirt barely acknowledged by the pads of her hands. She blinked, the world not really coming into focus and shook her head as colors of green and grey filled her vision. "Where am I?" She asked herself as she pushed her hands up away from the ground, sending her body upright. The world came with her slowly, her mind twisted as if she were drunk until everything automatically seemed to focus.

Large trees with dark brown trunks meet her vision and she blinked in confusion. The wind picked up and the sweet fragrance of ripening fruit mixed with salty water made her stomach coil from hunger. It was only then that she noticed the mammee fruit hanging, almost hidden, in the small waxy leaves of the Jamaican apple tree.

"Papa used to grow them." A little voice informed her, making her jump nearly out of her skin as she whipped her head around to face the source of the sound.

"Papa?" She repeated the sentiment as images of Henry Morgan flooded her brain and made her nauseous. "Oh my god," She gulped as she began to process exactly what that meant. "The boy," She thought as she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed her mind would stop swirling. "That's his voice—it's—," Her eyes snapped opened as her stomach sank into her knees violently. She stared into the twin black orbs that greeted her noticing instantly that they were a little lighter than the ones he had as an adult. "Naraku."

He smiled at her gently, almost apologetically and nodded his head. "Hello, Kagome." His voice was so soft, tender as if he were nothing like the man she had come to know at all but instead someone far different; maybe even an entirely dissimilar person.

She began to shake as everything around her finally slowed down to the point of freezing. "You—," Images jumped into her head of that boy as a man, standing over her with dark malice filled eyes that wished to tear her apart. She jumped backwards and gritted her teeth as a rush of heat filled her to her very core. "You—," Kagome knew she was about to cry as her mind was filled with images of her father wrapped up in Naraku's hateful words. "You killed him!" She yelled unable to contain herself.

The boy winced but didn't say a thing as he looked right back at Kagome, his eyes miserable and full of regret.

"You killed my father." She sobbed and tightened her hand into fist. "Why?" She pleaded as she stared at the boy.

"I don't know." The boy replied and looked away from Kagome unable to bring himself to look at her anguish. "That was me—and it wasn't me."

Kagome's who face widened with surprise and she gulped not sure exactly what the boy meant. "But—you—I saw it—you told me," She stumbled her words confused and her mind rushed, unable to really remember anything about the incident except Naraku's detestation filled eyes at the moment. "You—killed my Papa, in cold blood you killed him."

The boy didn't speak as he blinked once slowly, before tilting his head back and looking towards the clearing all around him. The leaves of the trees were being mused by the wind and the hot Jamaican sun was beating down from the sky. He watched as a leaf was pulled and pushed until it was actually ripped from the sanctuary of its home. "My mother died here." He began slowly, the strangeness of his words catching Kagome off guard. "Right there," He raised a hand, a slow claw pointing towards one of the Mammee apple trees that rested against the back fence of the orchard. "The woman I called mother, hanged her from that branch."

Kagome was stunned into silence as she followed Naraku's claw just in time to see the beautiful woman she had watched fight for her child, slowly swaying back and forth—back and forth—back and forth. Her hair was cut down to her scalp, places bleeding where it had been ripped out by the root. Her eyes were opened, bulging and sightless, the whites of her pupils murky and smeared with blood that dripped down her face. Her lips were busted and bruised as were both her cheeks, hollow and white as they were. Her body was naked except for a cloth that loosely hung from her waist, protecting some sort of modesty she might have had. Bruises littered her legs and arms but even more so her stomach and her breast, which still looked round and filled with life. Had she still been nursing a baby when she was beaten and hung from that sweet bough?

Horrified, the Miko turned and promptly lost the contents of her stomach as she fell to her hands and knees shaking violently. Even after everything she had experienced she had never seen anything as horrifying as that. "Make it go away!" She screamed in her mind unable to open her eyes.

"I saw it." Naraku continued as if he hadn't heard her, his voice flat and vacant of any emotion. "I was two—maybe three—but I remember, I saw Mama drag her across the yard by her hair."

"Please," Kagome tried to beg not wanting to hear even though she knew deep down she had to listen. "Please don't."

"I followed—," He sounded almost amazed with himself as if wondering why he had done such a thing. "I watched."

Kagome's neck snapped upwards and she looked straight at the child, her whole body quacking and trembling.

"I smelled the blood." He whispered as his eyes grew distant as if he were going back to that very day, the day they were currently standing in. "And Mammees—I loved Mammee apples—," He paused for a moment and gulped, his throat visibly pulling down from the action. "Now they make me sick." He began to shake and the calm he had carefully maintained began to waver. "I heard—I heard the screams."

"Pease—pease misses—pease 'on't—argh!"

Kagome jumped nearly out of her skin as the screams echoed all around them, hitting her ears abusively.

"I followed them, why did I follow them?" He shook his head and looked down at the ground. His chest began to move rapidly as he took in great gulps of air, his fingers quivering as he pulled them up and stared at them. "Why did I open the door—why did I go outside?" His voice broke and he squeezed his eyes shut as he tried not to sob. "She—she wasn't dead when I got here."

Kagome shook her head and wished she could run away but her legs wouldn't move and her body wouldn't shift.

"She—she," He lost control of his voice, his words coming out as nothing more than a sob as he finally turned and looked straight at Kagome. "She looked at me—I knew her and I didn't—she was a slave and I was her master's son."

The young miko stared back at him, his dark irises lighter than the one's he had in adulthood, they were more brown than black, and filled with such insurmountable pain that it made her heart break. And, for the first time, she looked at him; she actually looked at him. "Why did I never notice?" She asked herself as she took in the dark curls that looked nothing like his brothers straight, platinum blond locks, and the curved almost human like ears which were hidden by them. "This is," A lump formed in her throat from the instant realization that filled her up until she was certain she would drown from it. "Why didn't I put it all together," She looked back towards those eyes, his mother's eyes. "He's a half demon."

Unaware or simply not effected by Kagome's realization, Naraku pulled his eyes away from her and sobbed. "She looked at me—my wet-nurse—my—my," He couldn't bring himself to say the word 'mother' as he broke down, his voice squeaking. "She said—I love you." He broke, his body seeming to shatter into a million horrible emotions he could no longer contain. "She was the only one." He brought his watery eyes up towards Kagome who watched them glisten in the bright light. "No one else—not one—she—she—she-e was the only one," His lips trembled and her heart broke. "Who ever loved me."

Kagome felt her body teeter and her whole mind explode with the intensity of the information. Images of the boy she had seen at parties flashed into her mind. The distant expression that had always been on his face, the way he had hidden as if he somehow subconsciously knew he didn't belong, the pain that had surfaced whenever one of his brothers looked towards him and laughed (they had always known), and the desperate way he had looked towards his father as if pleading with the man to be seen.

"How did I never notice? Why did I—," Tears dropped down her face as she stared at the man feeling a sympathy that made her sick. "Why did I not open my eyes?"

The boy's face grew even more forlorn and he lowered his head down without saying a word at first. A lock of that black wavy hair fell over his shoulder and his eyes narrowed before closing completely. "I know—I know now why—why Mrs. Morgan killed her." He whispered and the sound carried all around them, mocking both Kagome and the child himself. "—Papa—Papa loved her," He raised his head up and the pain within him was so intense that it rocked Kagome's very soul. "And—she—had another baby."

Kagome didn't move and didn't breathe, she didn't even think, she couldn't.

"Mrs. Morgan killed her," His voice became distant as if he was detaching himself from the situation completely. "Killed her and—my sister." His last word was nothing more than a breath but Kagome heard it as clear as if it had been shouted. "And then—she killed herself." His eyes glistened and the sun grew warmer as it seemed to cook them alive from up above. "And it was all my fault."

Time seemed to stop moving around her and, against her will, she turned and looked towards the woman who still was swaying back and forth—back and forth—back and forth. At the woman's feet, tiny and unnaturally still was a bundle of white clothe stained with blood. A demoness, ethereally beautiful was standing over the tiny body, her blond hair, curled at the ends by a hot iron, was splattered red and her ice blue eyes were staring unfocused at her hands as if the red color that dripped from her claws was strange to her.

"What did you do!?" Henry Morgan screamed as he ran across the lawn, his heart breaking for the forbidden love he had known. He shoved his wife out of the way and fell at his dead child's side. The man Kagome had always knew to be regal and stoic broke as he scrapped his knees in the dirt of the orchard, his hands shaking as he reached for his child. "You—you," He sobbed and turned around to see his demon wife covered in blood. "Monster!"

The woman stepped back, her bloody claws bright with what once had been life. "You're the monster." She whispered her voice tight and tense as she sent him a cold and hollow look that could only belong on the face of someone who legitimately didn't care about what they had done. "You fathered two of those heathens!" The words ripped from her throat followed by hysterical laughter she couldn't control. "How sick is that?"

"Please," He hung his head in shame as he tried to gather himself, tears dripping down his chin as he failed to. "You embarrass yourself." He screamed at her as he raised his head and glared at her through tear filled eyes. "Killing a weak human woman because of your own damn pride!" He gulped down air to keep his voice steady as he pulled his child to his chest, heart breaking. "Neither of us care for the other let alone love one another, why can't you just—let me be happy."

The woman laughed darkly and shook her head at her husband on the ground holding his half breed child while his human lover hung above his head. "You won't have to worry about me hindering your happiness any longer." Her voice was clipped as she raised a hand towards her throat, bloody claws crimson and threatening.

"What are you—?" He wasn't even able to finish his sentence before the woman drove her own claws into her throat, blood splattering onto the ground of the orchard like a rouge wave.

Kagome screamed at the sight, her screeching voice shattering the scene around. It broke Henry Morgan's face in half and the swaying woman's body into a thousand pieces. Mrs. Morgan's blood seemed to spatter on every glass pane as Kagome continued to scream, squeezing her eyes shut against the sight as the images of the trees cracked and fractured. She threw her body downwards and grabbed for her hair, yanking on it as the image of the woman ripping open her own throat repeated over and over again in her mind.

"Make it stop!" She yelled as the pieces of broken memories began to fall around her, hitting the ground of the orchard with loud crash after loud crash.

Her eyes snapped opened against the sound and she gasped as she stared at the shards all around her, dripping with blood from both the woman's deeds. She shook her head and cried out as her body began to shake as violently as one of the leaves that had been so carefully swaying from the trees. More pieces from the memory fell around her and she sobbed as images of mammee trees and the fruit that grew on them exploded against the floor like bombs.

"Make it stop!" She pleaded once more and as if answering her prayers, the sun suddenly shattered above her head. She fell backwards from the sound, it was so much like a cannon in a fight. Her bright grey eyes reflected the beauty of the falling shards of sunlight. It was almost like a firework had been set off above her head. She stared at it wide eyed the beauty not lost on her as it began to fade, as if all the light of the earth was being washed away as it finally disappeared, leaving Naraku's memory as nothing more than blackness.

-break-

"Human energy?" Takeshi whispered behind his uncle as he stared at his father completely perplexed. "So only a human like—Okaa-san and Kagome-obaa-san or a—ano—a monk, I don't know any monks but like them," The words sounded jumbled and a bit confused but packed with truth. "Only humans like them can use Jii-san sword?"

"Correct," Sesshoumaru whispered as he stared at his brother's completely unnerved face over that of his son's. "Except you left something out." He stared Inuyasha down the two brother's eyes mirror images of one another. "There are other people in this world with human blood who might have this power," He didn't blink as he paused, perhaps wanting Inuyasha to actually realize the answer first. "People like you."

The half demon in question looked at his brother without really seeing him, his whole core tightening with confusion. Slowly, and strangely, he looked down at his hands drawn to them in that moment for some weird and unexplainable reason. Gingerly, he stared at them as if he were seeing them for the very first time. He had never really thought anything about the way his claws were slightly shorter than a normal demons, it had never really concerned him too much. After all, his claws could still cut, his claws could still slice deep, and his claws could still kill, so why bother focusing on the difference between his claws and a full demon's claws? As he looked at them now, however, he suddenly saw something very different in those slightly too short claws.

"The evidence of human blood." His subconscious jumped up and rattled him as he yanked his eyes away from his hands and back towards his brother.

As if he had been waiting for Inuyasha to look at him, Sesshoumaru immediately began to speak. "As a half demon, you have both human and demon life energy." He filled in, his eyes focused and determined. "We know the demon life energy is connected to the animal spirit inside of you; we need to find out if the human, however, is connected to the spirit realm like Kagome or to the universe like a normal human." He turned away just long enough to look at the sword over his shoulder. "If you are able to, this sword should work for you."

"But," Inuyasha licked his lips and raised his head to look at his brother as if the man had grown a second head. "What advantage does channeling human energy have?" He took a step backwards as his head began to spin a little bit from the peculiarity of the whole day. "Demon energy is," He shook himself and grabbed the sword at his waist pulling it out to show Sesshoumaru by shaking it in front of the other man's face. "Did you not feel it when I fried you? You looked like a damn piece of charred meat."

"Smelt like one too." Takeshi commented only to cower in fear when his father sent him a rather intense glare.

"Why would I want to use human energy when I can fucking turn people into dinner?" Inuyasha continued on as if his nephew had never spoken.

Trying to keep his eyebrows from twitching with irritation, Sesshoumaru sighed and appeared to almost count to ten silently in his head. "Is human energy," He began slowly without really looking at either his brother or son. "The opposite of demon?" The last part of his sentence barely seemed to enter the air as if he had thought of that singular question for years and was now afraid to actually say the words out loud.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the very idea of what Sesshoumaru was suggesting. "Are human and demons all that different?" He asked himself as his mind poured over everything Sesshoumaru had revealed to him throughout the duration of the conversation. "No," He seemed to realize as images of Kagome's power shielding them or consuming creatures out to kill him (mongoose as it were) invaded his mind. "We get their power from the same source—a spirit either within or outside ourselves."

Sesshoumaru didn't speak as he looked at his younger brother watching the realization dawn on his face.

Inuyasha licked his lips slowly and unable to stop himself took a step away from his brother, his eyebrows knitting together as his sharp mind comprehended exactly what his brother was suggesting without words. "You think," He stopped, hesitated for the quickest of seconds before nodding once sharply to himself, confidence and just the essence of apprehension in his eyes. "I have both?"

The older demon inhaled as if prepared for a battle. "Inuyasha there are two types of life energy within you: that of a demon and that of a human." He spoke slowly as if trying to insure the younger man was not offended by his words but took them for the truth they were trying to speak. "If you can use both types simultaneously there's no telling what you can do."

"But—you're assuming I have both types." Inuyasha shook his head and chuckled slightly at his brother as if he thought the other man was crazy. "We know I have the animal spirit inside me like any demon but," He openly laughed the sound uncomfortable in the cold air. "What are the odds of me being connected to some sort of—spirit thing?" He threw up his hands even as he felt Tetsusaiga shake a little at his side as if telling him he was wrong. "Not all humans are born connected to one, right? Only Miko and—whatever the hell the men are called." He pointed at Sesshoumaru waiting for a response but only received one in the way Sesshoumaru slowly dipped his chin. "So there's nothing that says I'll have both."

Sesshoumaru once more didn't speak, instead he looked away from his brother and towards the ink painting of their father on the wall. His expression became tense and meditative and his eyes darkened as if he were trying to communicate with a man who had been dead nearly four hundred years. "Chichiue," He whispered the name as if calling the man to life but the painting never faltered, it merely stayed stoic and emotionless. "He," He said the next word so slowly that it made Inuyasha nervous. "Thought you did."

The younger demon was stunned into silence as Sesshoumaru's words dropped onto the floor between them. He shook his head as Sesshoumaru raised his own and gave his brother the single most apologetic frown Inuyasha had ever seen in his life.

"He made this sword because he thought you had both, Inuyasha." The man's voice was as monotone as ever but there was something about it in that moment that made it thick with emotion all at the same time. "I don't know about your Okaa-san but I know he believed you could."

Inuyasha felt his breath hitch in his throat and, without his consent, his head turned towards the painting of his father on the wall. The golden eyes, that matched his own, were staring at him as if they were trying to speak and tell him all the things fathers are supposed to say to their children:

"I'm proud," They seemed to whisper and for a moment became soft, the same look Inuyasha recalled from his childhood when he was frustrated with a lesson he didn't quite understand. "I believe in you." The words seemed to echo from those eyes and into the room, the intense gentleness of them making him heart sick.

Unable to look at those eyes anymore, he yanked them away towards the floor and focused instead on the wooden pattern in the floorboards. Even there, however, he could discern in the random grains shapes that formed into a face: his father's face. "How," He asked after several seconds, his eyes staring at the outline of his father's shoulders, studying each crack and grain in its surface individually. "Do I figure out if I have both?" His eyes followed the edge of the grain that made up his father's chin and then the edge that made one of those fiery eyes. "Do I need to know my spirit guide like Kagome?" He winced realizing it was a stupid question the second he let it out of his mouth.

"No." The older brother looked towards the floor as well but didn't quite see what Inuyasha did. "You don't need to meet your spirit to use their power; it's just good to know them." The demon lord sighed and straightened up, rolling his shoulders so that he stood at his full height, which still wasn't as tall as his baby brother. Swiftly, he turned around and his eyes came in contact with the silent sword that had witnessed the conversation behind them. "Our only chance," He spoke clearly as he reached for the unassuming sword his fingers tingling as he plucked it hastily from its shrine. "Is to try." He turned quickly and before Inuyasha could even think, threw the sword towards his brother.

With the swiftness of a man who has had many things thrown at his face, Inuyasha raised up his hand and without thought wrapped each finger around the sword, catching it midair. Instantly, a rush of energy exploded all around him like a violent electrical storm. He gasped as his hair flew back and the room became suffocatingly hot before the door behind them burst opened brutally. It clattered as it hit the side of the shrine making the windows rattle and the floorboards moan. The half demon gasped as the weight of the sword seemed to yank his hand to the floor but he stood firm, tightening his grip even as something dangerous began to swirl inside him.

Behind him Takeshi covered his face as heat from the explosion of power burned his eyes and Sesshoumaru swiftly crossed the room to protect his pup. The older demon grabbed the child and pushed him hastily behind his back without taking his eyes off of Inuyasha for even a second. "So much energy." He thought to himself as he too winced from the sure illumination of that energy hitting his retinas.

Unaware of his brother's amazement Inuyasha continued to hold onto the sword with all the power he possessed in his arms. Energy pulsed through his veins, that swirling feeling in his stomach making him exhilarated and light headed all at once. "It's completely different." He thought as the energy inside of him cooled his mind even as it burned through his veins.

The energy was just as hot as Tetsusaiga but, somehow, it felt more controllable as if it would listen where the demon energy instead just acted. His hand began to shake as the energy from the sword grew more intense, hotter, yet somehow less suffocating. He took a deep breath, his eyes watering as he tried to keep his eye on the sword as it began pulse and whisper to him in a language only he could actually understand.

"Power."

He blinked and the sword became heavier in his hands while the swirling sensation in his stomach began to sizzle and yank. He gasped as it turned from yanking and sizzling to sharp desperate pain as if it was begging desperately to be released. His eyes snapped shut and the wind that was all around him became more vicious. Distantly, he heard Sesshoumaru say something to his nephew, an encouragement maybe or a reprimand. Whatever it was, it was lost to his ears as the sword grew hot to the touch and screamed in his mind.

"Power!"

His mouth dropped opened in a silent scream and before he quite understood how or what he was doing, the swirling, brutal storm within him was released. He howled as if rushed from his stomach up into his throat and back down again, the energy racing through every corner of his body wanting desperately to be let out and into the world. It didn't take it long though for that energy to find its exit.

It flew through his right hand, jumping from his palm, into the air, and into the sword like static electricity from fingers to metal. Instantly, the sword sparked to life. The sheath, the handle, the blade hidden from sight, all of it seemed to catch fire in a way Tetsusaiga never could. The brilliance of that light filled the room completely blinding everyone and everything that happened to be trapped within the shrine. Even the painting of the sword's creator, hanging nonchalantly against the wall, seemed to wince from the intensity of such light before it was completely blinded by its radiance.

The silent scream Inuyasha had emitted turned to true sound, echoing all around them as the heat from the energy in his body made his skin tingle and burn. It seemed to almost ignite and spark as the energy grew more and more intense. Desperately, he fought to control whatever was happening to his body but control alluded him. "What the hell is happening?!" He felt the words echo all throughout his head just before the demon spirit deep within him roared with such verbosity that Inuyasha thought for sure it was trying to escape his very body.

The demon continued to struggle as Inuyasha finally lost the ability to stand hitting the floor with the top of his knees so hard they started to bruise instantly. He gasped from the actual pain of it in disbelief. He could never recall anything some insignificant feeling that painful. The demon yelped inside him and then broke into a loud combination of yipping, whining, and practically crying out in pain.

"Make it stop!" The words ripped from his mouth, followed by a yell that seemed to fill the entire room with panic and pain. His body began to feel like a lead weight and his hands began to burn, the smell of his burning flesh hitting his nose just before an explosion of power from the sword made him whole body feel as if it was ripping apart. He screamed again as the light of true supernatural power turned into actual flame. It consumed his body for a minute, his skin feeling as if it was being sheered away.

"Let go!"

The sound of the demon within him barely hit his head before the sword flew from his hands hitting the wall of the shrine. The light vanished as if it had never been in the room and unable to stay conscious, Inuyasha fell forward his body slamming into the floor.

"Ototou!" Sesshoumaru actually screamed before literally flying forward grabbing his brother as the sword clattered to the ground, the half dog demon's black hair making him nearly blend in with the dark wood grains underneath him.

-break-

Kagome came back into consciousness slowly; her heart aching violently in her chest because of what she had seen only a few precious moments before. She breathed in once deeply and was met by the sensation of laying on something cool and soft. Surprised, she tried to open her eyes but found she couldn't make them part. Confused, she pushed her palm into the cool, softness beneath her and tried to find some form of control over her body. With great effort she pushed herself upwards and grunted but the voice that hit the air sounded strange to her, like it wasn't her own.

"What's—going—?" She froze as the sound of her voice reached her ears and her eyes snapped opened with surprising ease only for a wave of dizziness to assault her brain.

The whole world, painfully bright as it was, spun and before she could stop herself she fell on her side, hitting the ground with a distinct thump. She gasped as vertigo swarmed her body from every angle and made bile rise into her throat. Sounds hit her ears like screeching sirens and she moaned loudly against the assault. Quickly, she brought her hands up and covered her ears as she pulled her knees to her chest forcing herself into a fetal position as the pain ran unhindered within her.

"Make it stop!" She tried to yell but no words left her mouth as her skin began to crawl with heat from the sun but it felt stronger than normal, as if her skin were eating it. She inhaled sharply from the pain and within seconds gagged in regret. "Dear lord the smell!" She coughed violently and covered her nose with one hand as her head felt pulled this way and that, going nearly upside down and backwards from the battering of so many new sensations.

Everything that once had felt or smelt wonderful was suddenly overpowering and dangerous. It was like the world was brighter than normal and louder than normal and stank more than normal. It was unexplainable and made her nauseous to the point that she knew, any minute, she was going to throw up again.

"Ignore the outside world."

Her eyes snapped opened as the voice spoke to her inside her own mind. Instantaneously, her head spun from the sharpness of everything about her. She could see the sea before her but clearer than she had ever seen anything in her life. It was almost as if she could see every grain of salt and every possible color the water could turn into: jade, aqua, violet, and a thousand other shades she could swear did not exist. She blinked rapidly and before she even realized what she had done, found herself on her feet staggering backwards not able to understand why everything looked so crisp and precise.

She gasped as the feel of the coolness she had woken to changed to scorching heat and, snapping her head downwards, stuttered from the sight of every grain of sand that rested underneath her feet. It was almost as if she could see them all, count them all, view every color and every sea shell that had been crushed to make them. "How?" She gulped and once more the voice was not her own.

"You're seeing what I see Kagome."

She flinched and desperately looked around herself trying to find the speaker. The world moved unnaturally quickly around her and she froze and she felt motion sickness well up in her stomach. She brought a hand to her mouth, covering it and another to her stomach holding onto it for dear life. Her brain swam like she was drunk and her eyes blinked as if she were about to cry.

"Concentrate on my voice."

"Voice?" She thought to herself as her mind hazily registered the owner of the sound. "Naraku—Naraku's voice?"

"Yes."

She frowned and blinked and tried not to swallow too hard. "You're—in—in my head?" She managed to think and as if he was standing right in front of her, felt him nod.

"Better yet," He whispered the sound of his voice an echo to her brain. "You're in mine."

She nearly lost her footing again as the information assaulted her and suddenly everything made perfect sense. "I'm in your body." Kagome felt her chin wobble, or better yet the chin of this boy.

Carefully, she pulled her hands away from her body and stared down at the skin, far darker than her own, and nails with just the slightest hint of sharpness. She looked even further towards the flatness of her chest and the tininess of her body and stumbled backwards in shock but somehow managed to stay upright. She shook horribly as she turned her hands over and over again, her mind reeling as she realized that everything she had ever thought true about the man she had once been destined to marry was false. Her hands (his hands) shook and her knees (his knees) buckled all at once but still she did not fall or even teeter, the body she was in would not let her.

She blinked a dozen times as the world around her came into abject focus that made her dizzy. "This is how you see," She looked at the ocean, watching as the white waves peaked and fell able to make out the shimmer of scales from the fish that surfed within them. "This is how a half demon sees?"

"Depends on the breed." The soft voice of Naraku in her head explained carefully, sounding so unlike himself that she grew even dizzier. "Some other breeds see far better, hear better, smell better; Inuyasha for example—even I can't imagine how he perceives the world."

"Everything I know—everything—everything," She realized as her eyes moved downwards to her feet, staring at them but not actually seeing them. "Everything is wrong."

"Naraku!"

Her heart (or better yet the heart of the ghost) stopped dead in her chest as the name flew over their heads. Turning Naraku's breath caught in his lungs, Kagome's body experiencing the same sensation as the boy's demonic eyes took in a figure that had just appeared a little ways away from them.

"Come boy," Henry Morgan yelled as he walked towards the small boy on the path, his eyes filled with a strange combination of concern and irritation. "It's time."

"Time for w'at Papa?" The little boy stuck his finger in his mouth out of habit, making the woman inside of him shift awkwardly. Unlike Naraku she hadn't sucked her thumb in years.

"Boy—," The man hesitated and growled slightly to himself before simply reaching forward and grabbing Naraku by the arm. His fingers dug into the flesh and internally Kagome winced from the pain that immediately started running up her arm. "I don't have time for this—come on."

"Papa!" The child cried out as he was drug across the sand, bruises already beginning to form on the delicate flesh of her forearm. "Papa—it 'urts!"

"Stop your whining!" His father hissed back as he looked around himself as if checking to see if anyone was looking. "Your brother's wouldn't cry." He snarled in the child's face as he drug Naraku off his feet.

The boy immediately started to cry, squeezing his eyes shut so Kagome couldn't see but only feel the fear and self-hatred that were already starting to form in the boy's heart. "I'm—I—," He hiccupped and tried to control himself but his chin wobbled making it impossible to do so. "Swerr-ry."

"Dear lord." His father's voice was stiff and somehow confused as the grip on his son's arm started to loosen.

Scared and in pain, the boy opened his eyes slowly revealing the sight of his father's tired face. For a moment, the two were frozen as evidence of regret hovered in the thin line of Henry Morgan's lips. It seemed, in that brief instant of time, that Henry Morgan was facing some sort of dilemma that none were privy to but, from within Naraku, Kagome could see and feel easily. She could feel the self hatred the man had, the pain, and even deeper the fear of something she would one day understand: the fear of having a child the world hated.

Mr. Morgan slowly let go of his son's arm and bent down in front of the child. Pain immediately crossed his face as he looked at the boy and Kagome could tell from the bottom of her soul that it was because Naraku looked like his mother. With shaky fingers, the man reached forward and touched a lock of Naraku's black curly hair, the evidence that he was an illegitimate as well as a half breed. "When this over," The man spoke as if his words would make the child forgive him for every trespass he had committed. "You'll thank me." He gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he pushed himself back up and let his hand fall from the child's soft hair.

The boy hiccupped and with the childlike innocence of someone who trusted a parent without hesitation, nodded. "Okay." The boy whispered and much to Kagome's surprise reached up for the man wanting to be carried like any toddler would.

Mr. Morgan hesitated only a moment before bending down and picking up the child. He hugged him close, the warmth of his affection something Naraku barely knew. "It will be all over soon." He whispered in Naraku's ear, the sound of his voice surprisingly gentle. "Papa will fix everything—everything."

Kagome felt her stomach sink into her very toes as the scene shifted right before her eyes. The trees disappeared, melting into the ground as the sea and sand evaporated into the air. The aqua of the ocean intertwined with the tan granules, becoming a spiraling mixture of beautiful tints of blue and brown. They rose into the air mixing until nothing but the color of mud remained.

Kagome, within the body of her host, narrowed her eyes as a familiarity came to mind from the color. It was specific, as if she had seen it before, and unable to help herself she reached for it. The clawed hand of Naraku entered her vision as she tried to grasp that intangible shade but it was futile. She shook her head and lowered her hand as she tried to see what she could not see. Lines began to form in the mud and the color shifted becoming darker and darker, like cherry wood. She frowned and tilted her head to the side trying to determine what exactly she was seeing.

As she moved her head, though, a softness she could not explain brushed against her cheek. She froze and shifted her eyes downwards, the white of a sheet meeting her vision. "A bed?" She thought but somehow knew that this wasn't a bed but something made to look like one so it wasn't so sinister. Curious, she tried to pull away from it to gain a better view but her body met resistance and horrified she yanked hard against some unknown object only for her wrist to snap back downwards. Her heart began to hammer in her chest and despite already knowing she looked down at her wrist. Metal greeted her vision, and the tiny arms of Naraku's infant body. "Oh god."

The hand that had been free only moments before was now chained to a table that appeared to be a bed but was not even close. Terrified, she turned her head to the other side as she tried to move her opposite arm but once more was met with the unnerving clank of chains and the control they brought. Her heart thumping in chaotic beats, she tried to move her legs but they too seemed glued to something she could not see.

"Help!" She yelled but it was Naraku's voice that reached her ears and not her own. And for some reason, it was in that moment that everything finally made since.

"This is Naraku's memory." Her heart stopped as she realized that it was his arms attempting to break free, and his feet struggling to kick and his pain shooting through his baby wrist and legs. She felt his hot tears roll down his face as he cried for his father not understanding yet deep down knowing that nothing good would come of this. "Those tears," She felt his eyes squeeze shut as the salt stung them. "Might as well be my own."

"Papa!" The little boy screamed as he yanked and pulled and cried in fright.

"Hush, Naraku." The voice of his father entered the child's ears and he stopped moving. The boy looked up from the false bed sheet in time to see his father standing just beside him a tense expression on his regal face. "You're fine—just—just be quite." He nodded to himself and looked away from Naraku towards something or, better yet, someone in the room behind him. "Will this," His lips moved slowly, Kagome in Naraku's small body watching every word form and leave his mouth. "Fix him—make him like his brothers?"

"It will," A soft sweet voice echoed throughout the room even though the speaker wasn't there. "At least create the illusion."

Thick eyebrows creased at the words, and Henry Morgan's eyes turned into flits of his breed. "Illusion?"

"He will seem to be a demon," The voice continued to speak in a breathy way that reminded Kagome of someone she knew but couldn't place. "No one will be able to tell he has human blood."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Morgan's voice was tense as if he didn't quite believe the speaker.

"Positive."

The man licked his lips and nodded before looking down at his young son carefully. "You'll be alright." He tried to maintain eye contact with Naraku but it was impossible as he ripped his eyes away from the child and cleared his throat. "I'll see you soon." He told the boy without looking at him and turned away, his tense shoulders the only thing Naraku could focus on.

"No!" The boy screamed and yanked and pulled against the chains that bound him. "Papa!" Tears blurred his vision to the point that Kagome couldn't see the figure of Henry Morgan disappearing but she could hear the soft click of the door as it shut behind him. "Papa, please—p-p-!" The child sobbed and pulled with all his might but it was utterly useless.

"It's pointless to struggle, child." The gentle voice reached his ears and Naraku froze, Kagome freezing with him as she began to panic even more so, not wanting to know what memory she might possibly experience in that moment. Even if the voice sounded gentle, it still must have malice within it if it had dared to chain a child to—whatever she was laying on.

Slowly, dread mounting in the child's body, he turned his head to see a figure sitting in a chair. Sitting only a few feet away, one bright blue eye shimmering with unrelenting knowledge was a person, whether male or female was impossible to tell. A cloak covered the face, disguising all the features except that piercing and haunting eye. That eye was fixed on the child on the bed, unrelenting in the way it stared as if it could see everything and anything, every possibility. The figure itself was sitting in a chair, a long white gown covering every part of its body as it leaned casually (too causally) against the armrest on its right.

"Plee—," Naraku stumbled over the word as he tried to form it, Kagome feeling his panic in her own heart as he struggled to say it correctly. "Please," He forced out, his voice squeaking and tears blurring his eyes. "Papa—I wanna see Papa!"

"Your father," The figure's tone was unsettlingly gentle, feminine as it shifted and the eye closed for just a moment. "Is too weak to see this."

"Please!" The boy cried his face scrunching up as he yanked and pulled at the chains so horrified that warmth began to spread across his pants legs and Kagome knew the terror he felt had caused him to wet himself. "Let me go—Papa!"

"I can't do that." The figure spoke again, regret forming in a voice Kagome knew was a woman's. "There is too much at stake here." Slowly, hands reached up moving towards the cloak's edge and grasping it tightly. With fingers that actually shook, the person pulled the cloak away from their face revealing an old face that Kagome recognized. "I can't change fate."

"Kaede Cummings!" Kagome screamed from inside Naraku's brain as the old woman's features greeted her stunned conscious.

The eyes were wrong but the face was identical, old and wrinkled (not quite as much as she remembered) and with a back that hunched slightly as if in pain from arthritic bones. The soft brown eye Kagome recognized was heavily overshadowed by the blue one that sparkled. An image of the letter, flashing with fiery defiance, jumped into her head: Everything you know is wrong. She felt her breath hitch in a throat that was not her own as the image began to shake before exploding into evaporating light.

"This is for the best anyway," The woman whispered as she leaned over Naraku, her eyes so apologetic that Kagome felt as if something was still not being shown to her. "You won't remember your mother," The woman's voice wavered as she looked down at the child who was still whimpering. "You won't remember seeing her die." Kaede's old hand reached out and touched Naraku's hair, brushing it so sweetly that the boy's eyes snapped towards her and he froze. "Fate is cruel to have given you a human mother and I—I can't make it so it never was." She leaned down slightly as she mused the boy's hair.

"Then why are you doing it?!" Kagome wanted to scream at the woman, to pull Naraku's hands free and shake her until she explained what the hell was going on in her mind.

"In the end, this will benefit us both." Kaede spoke softly as she continued to stroke the boy's hair her free hand dipping down into a pocket that was unseen in her white gown. "You will forget your hardships and I—," She cleared her throat almost dramatically. "There are things I want in the world." She sighed and looked away from the boy as her hand stilled on his soft waves and her other hand reappeared, a small shard of the Shikon no Tama in her hand. "And this is how I get what I want."

The boy hiccupped not understanding what the old woman was saying at all. "Please." He whimpered and Kaede turned to look at him once more, the expression on her face that of complete sorrowfulness.

"I'm so sorry." She told him as she held the shard in front of her watching it glisten in the light. "I'm sorry you had to be the pawn," The woman looked into the jewel as if it were showing her Kagome's very face. "But there are things I need to do—people I need to find and this, this is how I'm going to do it." Her eyes closed, the blue eyes disappearance actually making the room a little darker. "The Mambo who gave me this eye said I could have it without restraint—only if I did this to you." Her eyes opened again and she tightened up her jaw. "An eye for an eye—as they sometimes say." She stared at him for a second, a momentary debate seeming to cross her features before she pushed down whatever question she might have and instead sighed. "This will hurt."

The hand with the jewel fragment jumped forward without warming, slamming into Naraku's chest. Instantly, blinding light filled the room and pain that was undeniable flared in every corner of Naraku's body knocking all the oxygen out of his lungs, leaving him and Kagome within him gasping painfully. His scream pierced the air as the pain ripped throughout his chest, his heart spasming once before feeling as if it was being ripped out. He snarled and his hands heaved against the restraints as his back left the table. Kagome could feel the muscles in his arms tensing to the point of near explosion just as Naraku released a long piercing howl into the air.

It echoed through the room becoming an uncontained roar that shattered Kagome's eardrums as she tried to breathe through the pain that was now tearing through her from her heart to her stomach. Kaede pressed her hand more firmly against the boy's chest, her blue eye fixated and merciless as she did what fate demanded must be done.

Inside Naraku's stomach, knives jabbed and slashed and pierced every inch of flesh without restraint as the jewel was shoved farther into his heart. Kagome felt his back come off the table and the hot wetness of tears as they slid harshly down his cheeks. She felt his mouth as it tried to form words and she heard his thoughts as he begged for mercy that would never come and then—she felt absolutely nothing.

Silence, complete silence, deathly silence took over Naraku's mind. It was almost as if every thought that he had ever had, every emotion that had ever touched his soul suddenly ceased to exist. He was blank, as blank as fresh parchment; he was nothing, absolutely nothing. Within him, Kagome became consumed by such emptiness that she was sure her soul was slowly being eaten away, leaving her as nothing but a husk of what had once been a person. Darkness even clouded her vision through Naraku's eyes and she realized his world was becoming dark. A slow and horrid feeling of hate pushed into her soul as the blackness seeped into his peripheral vision.

"I'm sorry." Kaede's voice entered the air and slowly pure black eyes turned towards the old woman.

Kagome could see her through the dark haze that covered Naraku's vision and she gulped. Etched across Kaede's face was a depth of self-hate Kagome could not even begin to understand. It lined every wrinkle making the woman appear suddenly older and it tinged in the her one deep brown eye. The blue one, however, continued to stare with such relentless animosity that it made Kagome dizzy.

"I'm sorry," Kaede repeated and suddenly that eye was not looking at Naraku but straight into Kagome's very soul. "—but everything you know is wrong."

End of Chapter

Please Review

A/N: It took forever to get all these ideas down in a way that made sense and I'm still not sure if I have explained all of it to the point of complete comprehension. However, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was one hell of a chapter to write!

Also, once more thank you for the great reviews. I love your speculations on the story and I have to say that some of your ideas just blow me away! Thank you for the honor of your praise.

Bonus Point:

What book does Helen of Troy come from?

Last Chapter's Bonus Point:

Naraku it seems was the ghost child! I was impressed with the variety of ideas that popped up though, thank you for taking the time to make some very interesting guesses:

InuRiotGrrl, pretty baby las, AiydamWarrior, Surfy, Luchiia, ahancock0030, hms5375, Nina Morenos, Glon Morski, Jelly-Me, kittyzwuvme1234, atem4321, ryndc-chan

Next Chapter:

My Father; My Master

See you then!

UNEDITTED

POSTED

10/11/14