"I found it!" Kagome yelled as she furiously typed on the laptop.
"Found what?" Yash was currently connecting her new laser printer.
"The connection, the final heredity line of Midoriko. If the legend is correct then whoever is at the end of this line should be the guardian of the Shikon no Tama, or at least have a wealth of knowledge about its whereabouts."
"And once you find out its whereabouts, what do you plan on doing with it?" he asked.
"Nothing. I'm not going to disclose the whereabouts, it's too dangerous, especially if men like Naraku are after it." She sent a quick file off to the newly installed printer, waiting patiently as the photo she needed was printed off. "But I'm hoping to gain more knowledge about the jewel, and I'm hoping, like you, to use it as a way to keep ahead of Naraku. If I can find out this information, so can he, and I don't know how good his sources are compared to mine."
"How long will it take you to narrow it down to one person."
"An hour at the most," she said decisively. "As soon as I have a name you can use your connections and get an address or phone number at the very least."
He nodded and looked back to the videotape he was currently previewing, however, he wasn't really paying it much attention. Instead he was focused last night, or rather, early this morning after they had made the move to his bedroom. They had come together three more times after the initial sex frenzy in the basement, and true to her word, she didn't regret, and neither did he. But it had left him wondering what was going to happen after the case was solved and she moved back to her own apartment. Would they still maintain the connection they had? Would they continue to see each other as lovers, or would the time they spent here fade into memory. He really didn't want it to fade away.
For the first time since Kikyou, he had feelings about somebody, and they were strong, wholesome and refreshing.
She had spent the remainder of the night in his bed, curled up alongside him sleeping while he lay awake worrying about the upcoming events. What if Naraku manages to snag her from underneath his nose? He didn't want to think of the possibility, but knew he had to. He didn't want her to succumb to his nasty ways, to be tortured, brutally raped and finally left for dead. He couldn't fathom the very idea and found himself snarling at the mere thought.
She was his and he was going to protect her. Which left him wondering about his current display of possessiveness for the rest of the morning. It wasn't normal for him to be possessive about anybody, and certainly not anybody he had just recently met. Maybe they were destined to be more than just a case and an investigator. Maybe he did have a future with her. That thought gave him the solemnity to sleep until well into the morning.
"Inuyasha," she whispered, drawing his attention back to her. He looked upon her face, now pale, nearing a white complexion.
"What's wrong?" he was up instantly and to her side.
"It's me," she barely choked out.
"Huh?"
"It's me, the last of Midoriko's line." Her hand was beginning to violently shake as she moved it over the keyboard to bring up the information he needed to see. "Somehow, I'm loosely related to Kikyou, not directly though. There's a connection between us that dates back to about two hundred years ago. That's when we see the genealogical tree starting to split, with Kikyou's family lineage going one way, and mine going the other way, only when I started researching I didn't realize that it was my lineage."
He nodded as he followed along, understanding the logic behind what she was saying, but not willing to accept the fact that if what she said was true, she was in more danger than he initially thought. That didn't sit well with him at all.
"Once I got to my great grand-parents, it dawned on me that I knew the rest of the path without doing the research, but what bogged me down is all the branch families that come out of one family line." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, it all makes sense, my obsession with finding the jewel, the stories my grandfather had been sure to pass on."
"Did he know why he was passing the stories on?" he asked.
"I don't think so," she scrunched up her face in contemplation. If it were about any other topic he'd consider it adorable. "You have to know my grandfather to understand. He's a shrine priest, and he believes these stories regardless if they're true or not. He passed them down to my brother and I because he loved to do so, not because it was necessary. Mind you, he did tell me to pay particular attention to this story, but I think it's just because he knew I'd love the legend."
"So, if you're the Priestess of Legend, the guardian of the jewel, where is it?"
"I don't know, that's what I don't get. While there are other branches of my family, there isn't a single other branch that can be traced back to the Shikon no Tama. It's either Kikyou, or myself."
"Okay," he grabbed her hand and maneuvered them to the couch. "If this is all true, then you are in greater danger than we thought. For all we know, Naraku may have figured this out before and that's why you're now a target, because you are the guardian, not because you have the research that may lead to the guardian."
"But I don't even know it's true," she whispered again. "I mean, if I were the guardian, wouldn't I have some knowledge of this? Of the whereabouts of the jewel, or at the very least, feel something in me that makes me different from others? If this jewel is as powerful as it's claimed to be, why don't I feel anything in me that makes me more aware of it?
"Maybe you do," he answered. "Maybe that's why you've spent all your free time researching it, learning about it, tracing its origins. Maybe the jewel wants you know more about it before it decides to resurface and offer itself to your protection. Perhaps the jewel believes that in order to protect it best, you need to know it like you know yourself, so you have an understanding of what it is you're trying to protect."
She scoffed at him. "Now you're making it seem like the jewel is alive and has its own feelings."
"So, what's wrong with that? There's a reason why it's known as the jewel of four souls. If there are indeed souls trapped in that jewel, then it may well be alive and have a mind of its own. So it's quite possible."
"Hmm," she lay her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in the fact that he was still there next to her, helping her during her moment of crisis. "I need to find my grandfather. He would know more about this and would probably know how to unlock the mystery behind it all. He was very reluctant to do so for television, but he might now."
He sighed, unwilling to let her do this but knowing she had to. "Where is he? We'll need to arrange something behind the back of Naraku. If he's made the same connection as you did, then your grandfather and yourself could be in some serious trouble."
"I know, but I need to get a hold of him. He'll have the answers I need, I hope," she muttered under her breath. "Either way he can shed some more light on the situation." She leapt up from the couch and grabbed her new cell phone and dialed a number she knew by heart but hadn't called in years.
Inuyasha watched out of the corner of his eye while he went back to the computer to take a second look at her work. He was hoping she was wrong, very wrong, but he knew how thorough she was. Chances of her being wrong were slim to none, and it was scaring the hell out of him. He tracked through her research, checking for errors and inwardly cursing when he found none. It was entirely possible, even plausible for Kagome to be the guardian of the jewel. Was that what made her so special though? He knew there was something different about her when he first saw her, but it was it because of the jewel, or because she was special herself?
He turned back to look at her when she tapped him on his shoulder. If he thought she looked a little pale earlier, she was ghostly white now.
"It's too late," he said as he jumped up and grabbed his phone from his back pocket.
She merely nodded. "My grandfather didn't answer the phone. Naraku did."
"Fuck," he flipped open the phone and called the one number he swore he would never call. "Sesshoumaru," he growled into it. "I need your help."
Author's notes: Short post, I know, but the story is short and will soon be coming to a close. About 4 or 5 more chapters I should think. I've already got the next two written, so they should be coming hopefully in the next week or so.