Disclaimer: No I do not own Inuyasha so there:P

hm so the newest story is a go!! Only problem is I can't treat this one like I treat my others. Normally I just wright what I want and screw any planning but a mystery needs planning so it might take me a while until then enjoy my newest also unplanned chapter!!!!

Chapter 18: In the King's Heart

Inuyasha had his arm about Kagome's waist as they passed more buildings. They were becoming progressively less damaged as they got closer to the heart of the city, the palace.

"How much farther?" Sango asked looking around cautiously. She hadn't got over the trap from before and was still a little freaked out by it.

"I don't know." Kagome said as they looked around at all the history around them.

"I know Singers used to be more powerful, but I didn't think there would be this many." Inuyasha said awed at the size of the buildings around them. They were over four stories high in some areas, each had a domed roof but there were no flying buttresses to stabilize them. Some buildings had collapsed completely while others were missing a roof.

"Hey, I just thought of something." Rikos said pausing.

"What?" Kagome asked turning around. She had been waiting for another message from her many times great grandmother but had received nothing.

"This war would have been all their worriers, right? So what happened to all the children and elderly and sick. Why didn't they stay behind?" he seemed confused.

Kagome was too. He had a point. The only reason her grandmother would have been on the battle field would have been if she was born there. Many children were born in battle fields, but you didn't take them along with you when you first left home. You would leave them with the old, sick, and injured. And not everyone was a worrier, scholars, noblemen, those not fit for battle like the pregnant women, all would have remained.

So...

"What happened here?" Kagome asked looking around.

The old women reached a point in the road and sighed in sadness when something caught her eye. Some thing was shining. She walked over to it and pushed back a large leaf. She gasped and stepped back as the body of a women was revealed. Her flesh had been ripped to shreds and she had a dead newborn at her side. Her eyes had been gouged out and the only thing that remained was a golden necklace.

Something shrieked and the women turned. Something had climbed onto the roof of a building. It looked like a giant winged insect with pure white eyes. It buzzed it's wings at her and studied her for a second. Then it lept...

Kagome gasped as the memory released her.

"What happened?" Inuyasha asked.

She ignored him and walked over to a garden at her right. She pushed away at some foliage and bent down and dug in the dirt.

"What you looking for?" Miroku asked.

Kagome saw something shine and carefully removed it from the earth.

"Oh, pretty shine." Rikos said as she lifted a golden pendant out of the dirt. She rubbed her finger over the front removing as much grime as she could. It had an engraving of a bird on it with it's wings out, lifted and Kagome immediately recognized it.

She walked out and back onto the road not letting go of it.

"What's that?" Kikyo asked looking at it over her shoulder.

"Some thing was here." Kagome said. "Vestar had sent other worriers of his to fight the city. He ordered his winged and flight worthy demons to attack. No worriers remained to defend the city, and they were quickly killed."

The necklace in her hands told her the last moments of the women's life. How she had grabbed her baby and ran, how the demon had pounced and killed both her and her child.

"Grandmother found one." Kagome looked up at the building where it had lept from. "What happened to you?"

The old women held up the box and opened it. A bright light immediately shot out and tore the bug to pieces scattering it in the winds. The old women breathed a sigh of relief. A premature one. With an angry hiss many more lept from their hiding places. And not just incest demons, but many more. The old women repeated the action and they all fell to the bright light without a corpse left.

A soft meow made her jump and see a small two tailed cat at her side. It meowed again and bumped her legs.

"Hello, small one." She said her voice cracked and aged. "You are a demon, yet you do not attack. Or are you incapable?" The cat meowed again and was ingulfed in flames and then before her stood a proud cat demon with fire along it paws.

"Ah, may you do me a favor then?" The cat bumped it's head against hers. "Guard this place for me."

She opened the box again and the cat was too engulfed. But instead of disappearing it just roared then the light was gone. "You shall guard this place for me, forever."

Kagome screamed, "Look out!" and Inuyasha turned in time to see the cat pounce.

He jumped out of the way just in time and landed a few yards away. The cat growled darkly.

Kagome held up her hands, palms out, and said in a calm steady voice, "We bare you no ill will."

The cat recognized the ancient language and walked toward her slowly. Inuyasha made a move as if to run to her side, but the cat had already bumped her head against Kagome's hand.

The old women walked next to Kirara. Kirara was glad she was able to understand the spoken language so well. "You will wait here for my ancestor. I know not when they will come, all I know is they will come. When they get here, put this memory in their head. If they see it they are of my blood, if not....well you know what to do." Kirara meowed in agreement.

"Kirara." Kagome said and smiled. The cat hissed happily and transformed into her smaller self. "Friends, this is Kirara, the jewel's guardian."

"Ooh, cool." Rikos said looking at it.

"She's so cute." Sango gushed as she knealed down and picked her up. Kirara was in heaven as Sango found just the right spot behind her ears that she hadn't been able to itch in a few hundred years.

"Listen, she's purring." Shippo said with all the delight of a kid.

"Will she help us?" Miroku asked.

Kagome nodded. "She had been waiting for us." And she started walking again.

"That is seriously creepy." Rikos said and Kikyo nodded in agreement.

They all started walking again. But no one, not even Kirara, noticed the shadow following them at a safe distance away.

They walked, passing buildings and marvles for hours before they finally found the royal palace.

It stood in a sea of green and plants with a long walk way leading to a pair of, what once was, large double doors. The marble in the palace wasn't just one color, it was shades of color. Lights and darks, pastels and vibrant. The windows were stained and the stone glistened in the sun where they had put precious gems in the stone to accent the amazing artwork of the stone.

"Damn." Rikos said staring at it.

"It's beautiful." Both Kikyo and Sango said.

"Let's go." Inuyasha said. "We're almost there."

And they turned and started walking into the Heart of Paradise, The King's Heart, The Royal Palace.

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Sorry guys. I would have updated last night but my damn Internet said 'not responding' and I had to x out without saving and rewrite it this morning. Hope you liked!