A few days went by and no one spoke of the prophecy. Shiroku sat outside of her balcony looking upon the lands of the west. The greens and browns mixed together forming the colors of earth. She wore her usual attire, her dark purple hakama pants and her purple haori. She actually had her armor on now and looked like a warrior. She was sitting with her feet dangling off the railing. She sighed; she used to sit like this when she was younger, when she lived her with Sesshomaru. He only took her in because she was practically starving and she guessed Sesshomaru felt sorry for the pathetic, half starved girl. That was nearly 80 years ago. Shiroku thought.

The night breeze blew, blowing her white hair around. She spent most of her life in this castle. When she got older, she began to travel on her own. She remembered coming back one day ten years ago, Sesshomaru was home, she figured she'd go at least say hello. She walked inside and caught the scent of a human girl. This puzzled her. When she went to the third floor, where her room and Sesshomaru's room was, she saw a little brown haired human girl playing in the hall.

"Hello!!" the girl cried out cheerfully, not frightened at all about Shiroku.

"Hey. Who are you?" Shiroku asked.

"My name is Rin. What's your name?"

"Shiroku"

The little eight year-old looked at Shiroku and smiled.

"Do you live here Shiroku-sama?" Rin asked,

"Sometimes, my room's over there" Shiroku said and pointed to the door a few feet down from Sesshomaru's.

"Lord Sesshomaru said my room's right there!" Rin cried and pointed to the room directly across from Shiroku's.

"That's nice" Shiroku said and walked forwards to her room. Then, she turned smiled at Rin and asked,

"Have you ever been fishing?"

Shiroku smiled at the memory. That moment had started a friendship with Rin that soon turned into a sister like relationship. She had always come to Shiroku with almost every problem she ever had. Sesshomaru had taught Shiroku how to fight with her sword and defend her self. So, Shiroku taught Rin. Of course Sesshomaru taught her also, but Shiroku was always right there to encourage her.

She heard a small knock on her door. She jumped down off the balcony and walked to her door and opened it. A little boy and two girls stood at her door.

"Aunt Shiroku, will you come play with us?" Namiko asked.

"Mommy and daddy are too busy and said they can't play so we came to ask you"

"Sure, what do ya' want to play?"

"Tag!!!" Kyo touched Shiroku and yelled. "Tag you're it!!!!" and all three children ran down the hall screaming with laughter.

"Damn, of all the games, they had to pick this one" Shiroku said and raced after the kids. She ran down the hall towards the steps but turned left and chased after Kyo. She ran down towards Sesshomaru's study and towards the back stair case. She jumped and grabbed Kyo and slipped and the two went flying down the steps.

Sesshomaru was leaving the kitchen and was planning on going up the back staircase to his study. He reached the bottom of the steps and heard a child's laughter.

Shiroku and Kyo fell down the steps, Kyo laughing hysterically the whole time.

Sesshomaru looked up just in time to see his sister and nephew falling down the steps and crashing into him.

Shiroku sat up and looked around. Kyo was sitting in her lap laughing at Sesshomaru, and the fact that he had just fallen down steps. Shiroku looked at Sesshomaru as he stood up and looked at her.

"Shiroku" his voice was stern "I do believe you are too old for those games"

"Keh, I was entertaining the kid"

"And it was sooo fun!!!" Kyo yelled and laughed.

Seiya and Namiko ran down the steps and jumped on Shiroku and nearly knocked her down.

"Shiroku, calm them down. It is late and I don not want any disturbances"

"Fine. Come on you three" Shiroku said and walked towards the kitchen.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and walked up the stair case to his study.

Shiroku walked in the kitchens and sat the three kids down at a small table in the middle of the kitchen that the cooks used to eat at.

"Hi Hiroshi" Shiroku said.

"Hello Shiroku, how are you today" the head cook Hiroshi said looking up from chopping vegetables.

"I'm all right, you got anything for these brats to eat?" she said and smiled.

"Yeah, I made some fried dumplings early, their in the big pot over their. You know where the bowls are"

"Thanks. Ok you three come here"

The three children got up and walked over to Shiroku. She reached in a cabinet and pulled down three bowls. They were white porcelain. She gave one to each child and walked them over to the pot. After she poured their bowls, they went and sat down with their bowls and chopsticks and ate.

"Aunt Shiroku, why did you get our stuff for us, why didn't you have a servant get it?" Kyo asked.

"I'm surprised you asked that Kyo, even though we are royalty, that gives us no right to look down on people. Just because he works as a cook doesn't mean I should boss him around. When I lived her for ten years, I got everything myself, I helped was my own linens and hung them out to dry, I got my own food, I did almost everything on my own, but I also helped out when I could. I was and still am quite capable of getting things myself and I much rather do it myself than make someone else do it for me. You three are capable of doing things yourself, so you should do them" Shiroku told her nephew.

Sesshomaru was getting ready to open the door to his study when he saw InuYasha opening doors and looking inside. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at his little brother.

"Hey Sesshomaru, have you seen my kids"

"They are in the kitchens with Shiroku" Sesshomaru said.

"Great, just where they need to be, with Shiroku. She'll get them all hyper and then they'll never get to bed" InuYasha grumbled and went down the back staircase.

InuYasha walked in the kitchen just in time to hear the last part of Shiroku's speech to her nieces and nephew. He looked in amazement at the three kids. They were sitting quietly, eating with chopsticks, not their finger. They weren't putting food in each other's hair, and they sat quietly and listened to Shiroku.

"How did you get them to be so good?!" InuYasha asked.

"What are you talkin' bout InuYasha? They're always good for me" Shiroku said and smiled knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Yeah whatever, come on you three, your mother's want you in bed now."

"Oh pleeeeease let us stay up longer" Kyo said.

"No Kyo"

"But paaaaapaaa!!" Seiya said.

"No!! You are going to bed!!"

"But Uncle InuYasha, we wanna hear a story from Shiroku" Namiko said.

"Look, your mother's sent me to get you three, I've seen Sango mad and I've seen Kagome mad and they don't do nice things to people when they're mad, so come on!! It's late and you need to go to bed!"

Shiroku raised an eyebrow and looked at the small clock on the table. It's eleven o' clock already?

"You three should go to bed, I'll tell you a story some other time" Shiroku said.

"You promise?" Kyo said and eyed her.

"Yea brat, I promise" Shiroku said and ruffled his hair.

InuYasha looked at his sister oddly for a moment. Now what's her problem?

"Go ahead up stairs, and be quiet going past Sesshomaru's study!!" he yelled as the three ran up the stairs. He watched for a minute to make sure they were gone then turned to his sister.

"So, where ya' goin" InuYasha asked.

"How'd ya know?"

"If you didn't have somewhere to go, you would've sat there and let me argue with them until they threw a fit" InuYasha said.

"Yeah, well I have somewhere important to go to" Shiroku said.

"Alright" InuYasha said and started to leave, he now realized where his sister was going

"Hey Sis"

Shiroku turned her head and looked at him.

"Be careful"

"I will"

Shiroku sat for a minute at the small wooden table, her cheek resting on the palm of her hand. She was thinking for a moment and didn't notice her good friend Kaze prance into the kitchen. He sat beside her for a moment.

"Shiroku? Are you ok?"

Shiroku jumped at the sound of his voice, she looked down to be greeted by a pair of shining green eyes.

"Hey Kaze, where've you been?"

"I had some things to take care of" the wolf demon said, "any word on the new enemy?"

"Nope, nothing. We did find this old prophecy though; I doubt it has anything to do with this person" Shiroku said.

"I'll take a look at it tomorrow" the wolf said. "I would assume cold ass has it?"

"Sesshomaru?" Shiroku laughed at her friend's words "yeah, it's in his study"

Shiroku glanced at the clock, it was eleven thirty.

"I gotta go out for a bit Kaze, I'll be back in an hour or so" Shiroku said as she got up, the big black wolf sat up also.

"I'm heading back to the room, I'm tired"

"I'll walk with you; I have to get my cloak from there"

Shiroku walked out to the stables and called for Takai. The big black horse pranced over to Shiroku and nickered quietly.

"Good boy, you know where we're goin', don't ya?" Shiroku patted the black stallion's neck and got on his back.

The horse galloped off the western estate and into the woods. Shiroku rode on for a while, trying to find the tree she was looking for. Damn, it's not hard to miss. Shiroku thought. She listened for the sound of a small stream, if she found that, she would find what she was looking for. She soon smelt the water and turned Takai towards it. As they got closer, she saw the huge willow tree. She stopped Takai on one side of the little creek. She walked across the stream and over to the tree.

She knelt down beside a small grave stone and ran her hand over it. She smiled weakly as the wind blew.

"Hello Taku, it's been a while since I came to visit you. We defeated Naraku about five years ago. And I inherited my father's lands in the south. I have a big castle that I live in. InuYasha and Kagome finally are mated, and they have to kids, Kyo is the oldest, he's five, he was born the day after Naraku was killed. He looks exactly like his father, and acts like him too. Then there's Seiyaryu, but we all call her Seiya, she has black hair, like Kagome, but has our family's eyes, she's three. Then Sango and Miroku had a baby, her name's Namiko, she's a beautiful human girl. She has Sango's brown hair, but Miroku's violet eyes, but acts just like Sango. And Rin, she's so beautiful. Her hair's not black, but it's like a little lighter than black, she's got big brown eyes and she's just beautiful. Sesshomaru is still Sesshomaru, but I think that my brother might actually have feelings for Rin, just by the way he's been acting around her. Koga and Ayame just had a pup about six months ago." Shiroku looked around the darkness, she saw Takai patiently waiting for her on the other side.

"But, the final battle wasn't easy. We all got hurt, I screwed my leg up really badly, I broke my right leg a couple times, and it healed wrong so I walk with a limp. But everyone else healed well. And everyone made a wish on the jewel. I made my wish and I know I should've wished you back, but I couldn't do that. It would interfere with Earth's circle of life, so I wished to see my parent's, not to bring them back, just see them. But so far I don't think it's happening. Kagome wished for the well to stay open, and InuYasha wished for Kagome to have the life span of a half demon. Rin wished for Sesshomaru's arm to grow back. Sango wished for Kohaku to have peace in his death and I can't remember what Miroku wished for. Shippo, the little runt, he's also grown a lot, but I haven't seen him since we killed Naraku, he wished that all the human's that were there have a life span of a demon, and that their children do also. He's a good kid."

"Sesshomaru's the only one that didn't make a wish, or at least one out loud, so I have no idea what to tell you about that. Right now, everyone is at the Western Castle, some stuff came up and so everyone's here. I have to ride Takai when I go places because of my leg, but that's no big deal, it just sucks when I go out for a run and my leg starts killin' me. I miss you a lot Taku, I try not to dwell on it much, but it's hard. I usually play with my nephew and nieces, me and Yasha just claim Namiko as out niece, and I tell them stories and I take them out side to play, and Rin always comes with us. Rin's always been like a little sister to me. I love takin' them brats out and playin' with them, just tonight they wanted me to play tag with them and I ran to grab Kyo and slipped on the stairs and we went crashing down the stairs right into Sesshomaru! He wasn't the happiest person in the world. I can't believe Rin's eighteen now. She's my demon age now, of course she's not 180 years old, but it's still weird to think about. I don't think Sesshomaru's happy about her being eighteen, he get's all pissed off because he get's letters form demon lords on the outer islands and from the continent asking to marry Rin and stuff, I just think it's funny."

"I'm gonna head back now Taku, I told everyone that I would be gone for only an hour, so I better head back now. But I will be in the west for a while so I'll be back" Shiroku got up and smiled and the small stone she stood for a minute and let the wind blow around her and then headed back across the stream and mounted Takai and rode back towards the castle.

"Youso! That's it!! That's how we'll kill the hanyou!! I'll bring back her lover and possess him to kill her!! That way she will feel the pain of betrayal when she dies at the hands of her lost love." Shikyo smiled evilly and started working on her plan.

"This will take time, it's hard to bring someone back from the dead, but I can do it. Shiroku's fate is now at my disposal" she said, her brown eyes flashing to red.

Shiroku walked into the castle and headed up the stairs to her room. She wasn't really paying attention and almost ran into Sesshomaru in the hallway.

"Where were you little sister?"

"Out, what are you doing up so late big brother?" she said sarcastically.

"I was in my study looking over some treaties of peace and other annoyances hardly worth my time"

"I'm on my own vacation away from that paper work crap, I just want to relax until that demon attacks"

"You do know that the Great Gathering is in a few weeks and is going to be held here?"

Shiroku sent her elder brother a dark glare.

"I hate those stupid things!! And it's gonna be here! That's even better! There's so much paper work and I have to stay up all hours of the night and crap working, and all the snobby lords from the outer islands and the continent will be here with their aggravating daughters who think there so much better than each other" Shiroku was fuming at this thought.

"At least this Sesshomaru told you in weeks advance"

"Stop referring to your self in third person, and what do you mean?"

"If that brother of ours does not stop aggravating me, then I will make sure he does not find out until the day before, the he will not have time to plan for the work"

Shiroku smiled at Sesshomaru "That's so wrong, but yet funny"

"Is Rin in bed?" Shiroku asked.

"Yes, I sent her to bed an hour ago, she was in my study helping me with some papers, and I was also teaching her about what she will need to do at the gathering, since this is her first time working as my note keeper, she also is going to be my mediator"

"I thought that was Jaken's job." Shiroku said.

"Jaken acts like a fool and has stared more wars than he has stopped them" Sesshomaru said.

"That's good at least Rin will have something to do, she doesn't like feeling useless"

"I know, Rin is very intelligent, she could do wonders"

"I'm going to bed, night"

"Goodnight"

Shiroku walked into her room and pulled her armor off and set it on the chair. She changed into her sleeping kimono and got in her bed. She was in the same room she stayed in when she was younger, Sesshomaru told her it was her room and she could do whatever she wanted with it. She loved her balcony and would often sit on it at night when she was young.

Shiroku rolled over and looked out the large window and sighed. The next few weeks were gonna be hell. Everyone would be busy, getting ready for the other lords to arrive.

These went on every year and Shiroku and her brothers always went, not like they really had a choice. She hated them because none of the other lords, except for a few thought of her as a ruler of the south, and it wasn't because she was a hanyou, it was because she was a girl. The lords never spoke to InuYasha like they did her, of course Shiroku fired things right back at them, but then she had to put up with the lords daughters, who always commented about Shiroku being the Lady of the Southern Lands and how she should wear a kimono instead of her hakama. But those snobby little brats don't go out and defend their lands, or fight along side their armies. And then they always made comments to Rin, which made Shiroku hate them even more. They hated Rin because even though she was human she was prettier than all the lords' daughters. And strictly because of the fact she was human and was with Sesshomaru. And now Rin was going to be the mediator between the lands. That's not good. Half the demon lords can't stand humans, and would slice Rin into pieces. But they'd also have to get passed her and her brothers.

Rin was apart of the family, or what strange family they had. Oh well, better to have a strange family than not to have one at all.