Sugar0o – Don't worry Kagome's not going to be a push over, but I'm not going to make her crazy powerful like a lot of fics do.

Dark Inu Fan – Yea, next chapter he's going to have a bigger part. He's just not going to sit idly by.

Aznphoenix95 – I'll explain why Kohaku's there next chapter I promise and it will make sense, hopefully.

Mishap – Thanks, the whole sister shrine thing just came to me at the last minute. I wanted a valid reason for why they're there.

Neguam-tenshi – I'm not going to lie, I momentarily forgot about Shippo and I'm glad you brought him up. He is going to be older though I'm going to have him go in a different direction than most fics go. And I still haven't completely decided about whether Souta has any powers.

Thanks for all the reviews. ^_^


Secrets,

Chapter Two,

Broken

"I've been on the brink, so tell me what you want to hear,"


Physically Miroku looked the same as when he died, for the aging process had greatly slowed, mimicking that of a demon's lifespan. But his heart had grown weary. He had long lost track of exactly how much time had passed since his death. Although Soul Society was a lot like the era he had been born in, time here was just not the same. And why should it be, it was after all the resting place for the dead, though more often than not it didn't feel like it was. Resting place were the wrong words used to describe the afterlife.

There was still poverty, division amongst social classes, discrimination, and a lot of fighting. He was tired of so much fighting. It saddened him deeply that even in death people could not find the peace they deserved.

Sighing tiredly, Miroku sat cross-legged readying his body to start meditating. But it seemed his mind had other ideas as it was not yet ready to be cleared. Unlike every other soul that had entered Soul Society, he remembered. He remembered everything, his life as a human, as a monk more specifically and his journey to end his family curse. But more importantly, he remembered his love for a girl he would never see again.

He had tried looking for her. He had tried relentlessly for years but not once had he been given even a hint that she was even here. Slowly and painfully, he began to let go. He had to live with the fact that she had possibly been reincarnated. He had to forget her.

Slowly Miroku closed his tired eyes. He felt his mind gradually begin to lose conscience and he became aware of everything that surrounded him and nothing at all. He didn't even bother to open his eyes when he heard light footsteps make their way into his direction, nor when the screen door slid open and a figure was looming over him.

"Sir, your presence is required. They want every captain in attendance along with all the squad members," a rough voice spoke.

"Round up the others then Hisagi, and I'll meet you there," Miroku languidly spoke, still not bothering to open his eyes.


Kagome slowly opened her cobalt eyes. The sun was slowly rising in the horizon and sunlight started to spill around the shrine, illuminating the simplistic beauty of the grounds. The Sunrise Shrine wasn't as big as the one she had grown up on, but that wasn't to say it was small. For being in the middle of a city it was a pretty good size of land. And the cherry blossoms that surrounded the place gave it an ethereal feel. She was sure that once they finished fixing up the place, it'd gain some of its former glory.

She could get used to this place, but she would always miss her old home, especially the Goshinboku. That had been the one constant in her life. Wherever she was, whether it was the past or present, it had always been a comforting notion to know that the Goshinboku was there also. Like it was watching over her, but the truth of the matter was that staying at the Sunset Shrine was slowly eating away at Kohaku and herself. It was hard being there and not thinking about the past.

Sighing, Kagome turned her thoughts to the Kurosaki's; thinking about the past would only ruin her day. The four were a peculiar family, not like her family was normal or anything but that was beside the point. Power radiated off of everyone single one of them, though Karin and Yuzu's were untapped for the most part. Karin's was similar to that of her brother's and her father's, but Yuzu was a different story. It was a familiar power unlike the others and if she went untrained, no doubt a lot of demons would be attracted to her. It would be kind of cool to have an apprentice, someone to call her sensei. No doubt Miroku and Sango got a rush of superiority when she had called them that.

Shaking her head, she saved those thoughts for another time. She'd worry about that later; right now she had more important matters to attend to but first there was something she needed to grab.

Kagome glared at the two sleeping forms. She wasn't sure how the little brat had managed to get past her, but she was thankful that Sango would never know about this. She'd never let her hear the end of it if she found out that she'd let Souta sneak past her. Sighing, she thought of the best way to wake the sleeping couple.

In all fairness, she thought the scene before her was just so, so cute. Souta and Karin were both asleep on the couch, sitting upright. Souta had his arm wrapped around Karin's shoulder and her head was lying contently on his chest. Kagome really wished she had a camera at the moment. But alas, she had promised Kurosaki that she would keep a close eye on the young couple.

Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Kagome suddenly yelled, "Kurosaki-san, what a surprise. I didn't expect you here so early."

Souta immediately bolted away and shot off the couch like a rocket. Karin merely adjusted herself comfortably on the couch without opening her eyes, whilst mumbling an insult at her boyfriend, "Idiot."

Kagome giggled at the scene.

"What the he…"

"Language Souta," Kagome reprimanded him.

"What was that for Kagome," Souta growled out, glaring at his older sister.

"It was time for you to get up gaki," she stated innocently with a shrug of her shoulders. "Now since you skipped out on unpacking yesterday, you get to clean the basement."

"Kagome," he whined, "that's not fair."

"Oh really now, tell me what's not fair of you cleaning the basement after Kohaku and I unpacked by ourselves, Kohaku buying the groceries, and Kohaku cleaning the courtyard by himself," she sardonically inquired ,one hand on her hip, the other placed inconspicuously as she glared evenly at her younger brother.

Souta's attitude instantly deflated. Guilt started to set in.

"Fine," he drawled out, hating it when she played the guilt card.

Kagome immediately brightened up again.

"Don't worry little brother, Karin will be helping you."

"As if," the aforementioned girl mumbled, burying herself deeper into the couch.

"You can't make me."

"Oh but I can," Kagome grinned evilly. "Quoting your father and I quote `If you need help with anything, Karin will help you. Consider it her punishment for not telling me about her punk boyfriend'."

When the younger girl showed no sign of having heard her, Kagome smiled. Souta immediately backed up. He better than anyone knew what the smile meant and it sent a chill down his spine.

"Uhh, Karin you might want to get up," he tried to warn his girlfriend.

She ignored him.

Humming gaily, she pulled out a water gun that she had been hiding behind her back. In seconds Karin was drenched.

"What the hell," she angrily screeched.

"None of that in the shrine," Kagome admonished. "Now be glad that's all I did. My old sensei used to drag me out of bed and toss me into a lake if there was one nearby."

Karin wisely chose to remain quiet. Her only response was a lethal glare that probably would've affected Kagome more if she hadn't spent so much time on the receiving end of Sesshomaru's "death glare" as Shippo so dubbed it.

"Great! Now I'm going to get started on breakfast. You two begin cleaning and I might just bring you some."

Giggling to herself, Kagome watched with weary eyes as they young couple made their way to the basement. Faintly, they reminded her of herself when she was arguing with InuYasha.

"Idiot, why didn't you warn me?"

"Hey don't get mad at me. I tried to tell you."

A tear slid down Kagome's pale cheek. She quickly wiped it away. As she kept telling herself there was no use thinking about the past now. That part of her life was over and now a normal life was all that she was left with.


Miroku was bored, but thanks to years of practice, he successfully hid his boredom as no doubt Yamamoto would find it insulting, the old bastard. Seriously, he couldn't believe that they were having this meeting. Had the human world really become so incompetent that they no longer knew how to deal with demons? Killing demons had been an everyday routine for the people in his town.

Stifling back a yawn he desperately wanted to release, Miroku shifted his attention from the speaker to the other members of the meeting. The infamous substitute shinigami was there along with his friends. Personally, Miroku couldn't see what was so special about him. He could feel power sure, but he couldn't see it. In a way, the orange haired boy reminded him of InuYasha only not as crude or brash. Both the quincys were there also, surprising him. Yamamoto must be getting really desperate. He might have laughed if they hadn't been so desperate.

They were talking about strategies now. The entire Gotei 13 was feeling uneasy about the idea of being in the human world, but hallows till needed to be taken care of. They couldn't just abandon their duties, even at the risk of such a "supposed" threat.

The substitute shinigami was talking now. When the words Shikon no Tama, and warriors were mentioned by him, Miroku immediately started to pay attention. This could be bad.

"The jewel is only a myth," Miroku scoffed, interrupting whatever the boy had been saying. He turned to glare at him. Miroku only shrugged it off. InuYasha used to do that daily to him, along with a few verbal threats.

"Yea, a myth like demons, right?"

"Besides we should at least consider looking into this."

The others were beginning to agree. Miroku wanted to curse. Having the jewel resurface would only cause more chaos. That and he didn't know the exact date, and if they started hunting down the jewel, it could mess up the whole time line, setting off a horrendous chain of events.

"Nevertheless, we shouldn't waste our time looking for something that might not exist," Miroku persisted. "I am curious though. How did you hear about the jewel?"

The substitute shinigami blushed, surprising Miroku and the boy's friends.

"Higure is right. We shall continue to try and come up with more possible methods of dealing with these demons," Yamamoto said with a sneer. "But this Shikon no Tama should be looked into. It could turn the tide of events. Kurotsuchi, I want you to look into the jewel."

"Squad Nine, I'm sending you to the human world so be prepared," Yamamoto ordered.

"Hai Yamamoto-sama," Miroku smoothly replied. He had actually been kind of hoping to get assigned there.

"You shall be patrolling for the next month. Urahara if you don't mind."

"Yea, they can stay with me. There's plenty of room," he replied before slowly walking towards the former monk.

"Good, now the rest of the captains sans Higure, are to come with me so we can discuss this more." And with that the meeting was officially over.

"It's been a while Miroku."

"Only about a hundred years," Miroku sarcastically replied, sending him a sly smile.


Yuzu glanced shyly at Kohaku. He was actually helping her make lunch. No one had ever really bothered to help her in the kitchen before (well her father had once, but he had been more of a hindrance than helpful). But here he was, chopping up vegetables right besides her. She definitely wanted to blush and it too all her willpower (and thoughts of school) to keep the redness from her cheeks. They had made little conversation though Yuzu assumed it was in his nature to keep quiet.

He certainly did seem like the shy type. Kohaku was very handsome, and Yuzu had the urge to run her hands through his unruly brown locks. He was polite and soft spoken and had the cutest pair of brown eyes that she had ever seen. Everything about the older boy made Yuzu feel…weird. Like her stomach was churning.

Sighing, Yuzu reached for the salt, unaware that Kohaku had reached for it also. Their hands touched and she felt her face heat up.

"S-sorry," Yuzu stuttered, quickly retracting her hand.

"I-it's a-alright," Kohaku replied, turning his head in the opposite direction so she would not see his own blush.

An awkward silence fell over the two. Not liking the tense atmosphere, Kohaku asked, "So what did Kagome ask you earlier."

"Oh, that, she uh asked me if I wanted a job actually."

"A job," He raised an eyebrow curiously. Kagome had told him about Yuzu's spiritual power, nothing about a job.

"Yea, you know as a miko. Well more of a miko in training I guess. She said that she'd pay me to help around the shrine and stuff once y'all finish the repairs. And that'd she even teach me some stuff," Yuzu rambled on. She felt like an idiot and she didn't even understand what was going on. No boy had ever given her this strange feeling before and she barely knew him.

"Are you going to take it them," Kohaku inquired, trying to hide the confusion in his voice. He knew that the future was greatly different than his own era, but the position of a miko was a respected one. To have it treated as such a mundane, ordinary thing did not settle well with him.

"Ano, I don't know yet, and I still have to discuss it with my dad."

Kohaku nodded his head in response and the two resumed making lunch. Silence settled over the pair but it was no longer the same awkward one.

"Do you mind telling Kagome-sa, telling Kagome that lunch is ready," Kohaku quietly requested, turning his chocolate gaze to Yuzu. For a moment she felt as if she couldn't breathe. His eyes were so intense, at first glance they held an innocence in them that not many could possess, but as she gazed deeper she could see a deep melancholy in them that pulled at her heart.

"Su-sure," Yuzu agreed. She bowed her head politely before exiting the kitchen. Her heart was racing and she had to pause a moment before heading into the room Kagome said she would be in.

She felt as if she was looking at a painting. Standing off to one side stood Kagome. Her hair fell in inky waves down her back, reminding Yuzu faintly of an obsidian waterfall. She wore a simple pair of cargo shorts and a small green jacket. One hand was out-stretched, running lightly over an ancient looking sword, the other balled into a fist at her side. There was something in her eyes thought, some that triggered something deep down and make her want to cry.

"What are you doing Higurashi-san, Yuzu hesitantly asked, reluctant to break the mood in the room.

Kagome turned her cobalt-grey eyes to Yuzu and for the second time that day she forgot to breathe. Her gaze was just as intense as Kohaku's was, and that second felt like a lifetime.

"No need to be so formal Yuzu-chan. Just call me Kagome, plain old Kagome," She spoke, whispering the last part.

Her tone was light and any earlier evidence of her angst was gone.

"Okay Kagome-san," She said, stepping closer to the older girl. Looking back towards the sword, Kagome had just been touching; Yuzu felt her eyes go big. The whole wall was full of all sort of archaic weapons. There was a golden staff with rings hanging off of it, a huge boomerang with tassels on each end, and various others. She had never been much of a weapons person, but she was in complete awe at what she saw.

"Sugio."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Kagome smile sadly.

"Yea, they are pretty impressive, Kagome wistfully agreed.

"Do they, are they a part of the history of this shrine? I mean, Souta told us about how this shrine was built to hone some fallen warriors."

"H-hai. The wakizashi and the Hirakikostu belonged to the demon slayer, the shakujou a monk, the bow a miko, and the katana an inu hanyou. All of them the original shard group," Kagome slowly answered her eyes glazing over.

"Shard hunter group," Ichigo stated questioningly as he walked into the room, closer towards where Yuzu and Kagome were standing.

"Yea. You see it all started about a thousand years ago with the famous miko, Midoriko. She was said to be the most powerful being of her time if not ever with the power to completely purify a demon's soul."

Ichigo's eyes widened at that.

"But one day, a human who lusted after her gave up his body to demons in order to obtain her. For seven days Midoriko fought against this abomination and on that seventh day she used to the last of her strength to abstract the demon's soul along with her own. And with that the Shikon no Tama was born."

"What, so is that it?"

Kagome let out a hallow laugh, surprising both Yuzu and Ichigo.

"That is barely the beginning of the tale of the Shikon no Tama. Now hundred of years later the jewel made its way back to where Midoriko made her last stand, a village of taijiya now. They entrusted the jewel to a young priestess of great power, Kikyo. Eventually demons started to come after the miko including the inu hanyou InuYasha. Over time the two fell in love, but InuYasha wasn't the only one who wanted her. A wounded bandit name Onigumo who Kikyo was caring for, desired her also."

"A bandit! Why would she care for him?"

"Because it was the miko's way," Kagome answered Ichigo's little outburst before continuing. "Anyway, like the human years earlier, Onigumo sold his soul to countless demons, becoming the hanyou Naraku. He then tricked InuYasha and Kikyo into betraying one another. After pinning InuYasha to the Goshinboku, which is actually still standing at the Sunset Shrine, Kikyo succumbed to her own wounds and burned the jewel with her body."

"So what, the jewel was destroyed just like that," Ichigo unbelievingly asked.

"If only it was that simple. But the story is still just beginning and it isn't until the strange miko, Kagome appears that the jewel resurfaces again."

Ichigo arched an orange eyebrow. "A strange miko named Kagome."

Kagome blushed before sheepishly replying, "Yea, I guess you could say she's my namesake."

"Yo, dad's still waiting for us," Karin spoke up, pausing briefly by the doorway before rolling her eyes at the older duo.

Yuzu let out a small giggle before following her twin out the room, not that Ichigo or Kagome noticed.

"You know, I'd really like to hear more of this tale," Ichigo nonchalantly spoke as he dug his hands deep into this jacket pockets. Though he was twenty years old, he had never actually asked anyone out before. He was nervous.

Kagome smiled shyly, as she and Ichigo slowly made their way to the front door, "Really now. Not a lot of people are that interested in old legends anymore."

Ichigo shrugged, stepping out of the front door. "I'm not a lot of people. So uh what do you say about this Friday? We can go out to eat and talk some more."

Kagome giggled nervously. The only person who had ever asked her out had been Hojo.

"Are you asking me on a date Ichigo," She coquettishly replied.

"Yes, yes I am. So what do you say?"

"I say pick me up at six," she answered before shutting the door.

For a good few minutes Kagome just stood there leaning against the door giggling. She hadn't remembered the last time she had felt so, so happy.

Humming, Kagome was about to go get some lunch when she heard the doorbell ring. Surprised that there was somebody visiting (she hadn't been expecting any guest), she opened the door and promptly fainted.

TBC

AN: I was going to add more, but I'm tired. It can wait until next chapter though that may not be out for a while. I wanna work on Get Rogue before I continue anymore with this fic. Thanks for the reviews.