Kagome watched as InuYasha walked out, and sat down again. His face was impassive, almost cool, but there was something flickering in his eyes, and she fought back the impulse to sigh.
Miroku, feeling the uncomfortable silence, cast about for something to break the silence.
He was saved from doing it when the door slid back and Izumi walked out. The four of them looked up.
InuYasha looked at her, and then grew uneasy. She had that look, the same one she wore when she answered some of their questions, a time that seemed so long ago. Questions she knew they wouldn't want the answers to, but that they needed to hear.
"How is he?" Kagome asked.
"Resting, as you said." Izumi walked over, and knelt by the little table again. She seemed to be staring at it, lost in thought for a few moments, and then she started clearing back the candles on the table.
Blinking, Miroku and the others all moved, gathering up the candles for her, shifting them back to shelves or the floor, out of the way. It was apparent Izumi wanted the table for something.
Once it was cleared off, Izumi spoke, holding out her hands, "There is something you all need to see. I have gotten his permission. It is vital, I think, for you all to watch this. Watch it closely, and understand."
"His permission?" Kagome said quietly, "Are you talking about DarkWind?"
"I am."
A small ball of light formed in between her hands, and she placed it on the tabletop as if it were a glowing baseball. It started to grow.
InuYasha suddenly stood up, "I've got no desire to see anything he has to show."
"Where will you go?" Izumi asked gently, "Outside?"
The wind buffeted the side of the hut, as if making Izumi's point.
InuYasha cursed, "I'd rather be out there than in here, that's for sure."
The ball was now about the size of a beach ball, and still growing. Izumi kept her eyes on it, "InuYasha, sit down."
"You heard me, I'm not-"
"Sit down." Izumi's voice, while not loud, was suddenly sharp, and very intense.
InuYasha found himself suddenly sitting, having dropped in place in a second. He scowled. Izumi had one of those voices that had you listening before you knew you were listening.
The glowing ball was about two feet round now, and it slowed, and stopped growing altogether. Izumi sat back, regarding her handiwork, and nodded.
"Now then...watch...and I will tell you a story."

Within the ball, images started to form. At first they looked like moving paintings, just squiggles of colour, but they quickly sharpened, and the images became clear.
The place was somewhere in a mountainous region. Giant mountains, tinged a dark green, seemed to run everywhere. Where the mountains sloped away, huge fields and valleys, rich with grass and flowers grew. Glacial lakes ran down the mountains, crystal clear.
The sky was a mixture of pinks and purples, with stars twinkling in it. From what Kagome could see, there were what looked like planets visible in the sky. They were banded with colour, similar to Jupiter.
In the very middle of the scene, was a massive structure. It looked like a tower, only it was enormous. Kagome thought it was wide enough around to house half of moder day Tokyo. It soared higher than anything she could have imagined, the top dwarfing some of the mountains on either side.
A pure, brilliant white, it almost seemed to be made of lace and frost, delicate, fragile-looking loops and whorls and spirals graced the outside.
Izumi spoke softly, "The Spire."
Kagome leaned forward. DarkWind had spoken of something called The Spire. Had spoken of it with BloodStar as well.
"Is it a castle?" Sango breathed, "It's so huge."
"It is a world," Izumi said quietly, "It is the home of the Vangen."
Miroku frowned, "The...Vangen?"
"A people you will never have heard of, Miroku. Do not try to think of them. I can honestly tell you, you four here are a few of only a handful of humans in the entire world who has ever heard of them, much less seen them."
The image shifted, zooming in to The Spire, soaring in through the window. The view followed a twisting path, up alabaster lanes, through windows that looked like they had been carved out of ice. And everywhere inside was colour.
Blues, greens, reds, purples, yellows, oranges...every colour you could think of. Curtains, carpets, paintings, rugs, cushions, colour everywhere. Though nothing clashed, for each room they sped through had one colour as it's main theme. In this room there were only greens, from the darkest forest green to the lightest lime, to the palest ice green. Over here were reds, from crimson to the orange reds of iron rocks. There the blues of the sea seemed to be.
The furniture was a mixture that seemed to defy Kagome's grasp. Tables, chairs, beds...both western and eastern styles, and then things that she was sure was furniture, but she could make no heads or tails of them. Some things made music that was so beautiful it almost brought her to the verge of tears, and then they would be swooping through another room where music was drifting from some strange object that made her think of all the times she had triumphed.
Just when she starting thinking she was going to start getting motion sickness, the view slowed, and settled into one room.
Here was a woman, seated at a table, reading some papers.
At first glance, she looked human. Elegant, aged, grey hair pulled back in an exotic style of whorls and swirls. Earrings hung from her earlobes. She wore a lovely pale green robe decorated with runes or pictures or maybe just designs. Kagome's eyes didn't seem to want to really focus on them.
After a closer look, though, one could see she was not human. Very slender, and very pale, her eyes almost seemed a tiny bit too large for her face, her ears too small, though she was not unpleasant to look at. Her earlobes seemed to be a little longer than normal.
Her hands, holding the papers, revealed there were two more joints in her fingers than a human had, almost making her fingers tentacle-like, but the skin was pale and soft. She had no fingernails.
She put down the papers, and stood, and they suddenly realized she was easily 8 feet tall if not taller, and slender as a willow. She seemed to be elderly, yet there were no wrinkles on her face, and her eyes showed no sign of age.
She moved to stand at a window, looking down, down, into one of the fields below.
Izumi spoke, "That is one of the Vangen. Do not ask me what they are, for even I do not know, for they come from a world beyond those I know. They come from a world beyond Mother Amaterasu's control. They had their own Gods and Goddesses.
Very powerful, more powerful than I, as powerful as Gods themselves, the Vangen were. Their own Gods, then, powerful beyond imagining.
But their Gods and Goddesses, when they made the Vangen, only made a limited number. And as ancient as they grew...they were not mortal. They were dying out."
Miroku spoke, "There were no children?"
Izumi spoke, "The Vangen could not reproduce. There were no children."
Kagome spoke softly, "What kind of Gods make people but don't let them have children? How do they go on as a race?"
"They do not," Izumi spoke, "And as they grew older, they began to fear."
As they watched, the door behind this tall, lovely, ancient lady opened, and two others entered.
One was a woman, the other a man, and like the first, they were just human-like to be recognisible, but just non-human enough to seem strange. The two newcomers were as tall and slender as the woman. Kagome found herself wondering why, if they couldn't reproduce, they had been made as apparently male and female...but that certainly wasn't her place to ask.
"Mallaki," the male said to the woman they had been watching, "The meeting is starting."
"I know. Let us go, Yokali."
Kagome frowned, leaning forward as they spoke, noticing her friends doing the same. THey hadn't said "Mallaki" and "Yokali", exactly, but that was close as they seemed to understand it.
The scene changed, and now there was a large room, with about 12 of them all in there. Kagome noticed they all had different skin hues, but all were some shade of lavender, from a dark, vivid purple, to the one called Mallaki who seemed almost white. They were gathered around a table, talking.
Arguing.
"No! We were not given permission to do this!" one of the men was saying. His eyes were an alarming white, with no pupils or colour.
The woman sitting next to him had two different coloured eyes, one green, the other orange, "We were not, but what choice did we have? Do you want us to die off, to vanish, leaving nothing behind? Do you want The Spire to be empty, only echoes moving through it's halls?"
"Enough," Mallaki stood up, and all conversation ceased. Everyone looked at her , giving her their full attention, and it was apparent she was some sort of leader.
"We have not been given permission from our Gods to do this. No. But they did not give us any choice. Two more of our numbers have vanished, leaving only their clothing behind, on their floors. Our time is running out.
We have no children. We have seen enough of other worlds, now, to know that we are lacking what we need to go on. For whatever reason, our Gods did not see fit to allow us to continue. So we will take that matters into our own hands. We will make our own children."
The strange, white-eyed man spoke, angrilly, "We will bring their wrath down on us! Besides, we do not even know if we can do this! Even trying will anger them! I say no! We do not do this!"
Arguments started up again, arguments for, and against, their plans.
"It does not matter!" another woman, a dark purple with red eyes exclaimed. Her hair was black and very short, "We are arguing over something we do not yet even know can be done!"
Mallaki spoke quietly, "It can be done."
Silence. Everyone looked at her.
"But how can you be so sure, Mallaki?"
A pause, and then the older woman spoke, "Because I have already done so."
The silence was palpible. Everyone gaped at her. The white-eyed man rose from his chair, "What? You have done what?"

The scene shifted. The 12 of them were in a smallish room, crowded in. The room was in all shades of orange, save for a white rug on the floor. Everyone stood, staring at what looked like a large glass sphere in the middle of the room.
Within that sphere, was DarkWind.
He was floating in some sort of liquid, crystal clear. He was naked, his long hair unbraided and floating gently. His face was peaceful, as if asleep, dark lashes against his cheeks. There was no mark on his face.
"How...how did you...?"
"That, I will show you all, if you so desire."
"You made him from yourself, didn't you?"
Mallaki nodded, "With some changes, of course. He will be able to reproduce. I suggest we all ensure that of our children, or they will face what we face now, at a later date."
The white-eyed man was livid, "You made him from yourself! Does he have your powers, then?"
Mallaki said nothing for a moment, then spoke, "He is my child."
"And how do we know he won't turn on us the moment he emerges? Mallaki, you are the eldest of us. The Gods made you first. You have the most power of us."
Mallaki frowned, "He is a child. I will teach him right from wrong."
The white-eyed man shook his head, angry, "And what if he accidentally destroys us all while you are teaching? I do not think he will do so willingly, but you are taking all your powers and putting them in the hands of a child. We have seen children from other peoples. We understand that children do not understand serious things.
We need to discuss this, Mallaki."
The scene darkened out, and Izumi spoke, "They voted. Mallaki was not allowed to vote. It was decided that since Mallaki was the eldest, and the most powerful, her creation would not be allowed to awaken. He would remain asleep, for while they couldn't risk waking him up, they still loved him, and could not simply destroy him.
And so he stayed there, asleep...and centuries passed.
The next scene was of the Spire, and now there were two types of people walking about. The Vangen...and others.
Kagome knew they were Kageri...but none of them looked like Kageri. None had the symbols on their faces, or the strange cloth gauntlest, so like Miroku's, that marked them as Kageri. Yet they flew about, talking, laughing. The Vangen looked so happy, so joyous. Although "born" at roughly the age of 18, the new people were like children in that they were full of life. Happy, laughing, playing, chasing each other around.
Izumi spoke, "Time passed. Mallaki grew angry and was full of hurt. While she delighted in the children they had made, she had put all her heart and soul into her own, and although the eldest, he slept.
And so one day, in secret, she woke him.
Once awoken, he could not be sent back. They could not kill him, and so he entered their world."
Izumi's voice came again, "There was a great happiness. The young ones had few boundaries, were free and wild in a way most of us can never understand. They lived in what was, for them, a paradise."
Another scene. Now there were a great many of the Vangen's children, out on the great plains. Like the Vangen themselves, the children came in many colours and hues, but they all appeared to be a cross between demons or humans in appearance.
They were playing.
But these children played with toys no one had ever imagined. One "child", a young man with vivid red hair with a black streak in it and green eyes, rose into the sky. His clothing, consisting of crimson robes, flapped about his feet as he rose. Raising a hand, he conjured up a massive ball of fire, hovering a foot above his hand. It crackled with energy. A huge smile on his face, he twisted, and threw it with all he had.
It angled downwards, racing towards another "child", this one a woman with dark blue hair and eyes, her ears pointed as a demons. Laughing, she "caught" the fireball in her hands, and turned, tossing it in the air, above her head. It seemed to ripple, and then exploded into a ball of multihued butterflies, spreading out around her like flying rainbows.
To the side were two others, racing across the open plains on bare feet, two young men, laughing. They literally seemed to fly, passing speeds that were unbelievable, and yet they laughed at their play.
"The others...the other "children" seemed drawn to Mallaki's child, right away. It was as if they recognised, somehow, that he was the eldest of them, although awake the shortest amount of time. They seemed to listen to him, to defer to him."
The scene changed. Here they saw the one they knew as DarkWind, only different. He was standing in a long, ornate hallway, talking to the others. They gathered around him, smiling, laughing. Mallaki's child drew them to him as if a beacon. And he was happy, and light-hearted. A young woman walked up to him, talking, and Kagome instantly recognised her as the Kageri...or once-Kageri, she had seen in that village. Here her hair was almost a midnight blue, her skin a lighter colour, eyes seafoam green. There were two small gills just under her ears, pears gracing her neck. Kagome saw how they smiled at each other.
Kagome was instantly reminded of how the Wolf Demons deferred to Kouga, gathering around him, always watching him, smiling. There was that same deferrence to the one she called DarkWind. And she noticed how often he smiled.
"The others saw this, and grew worried. For while Mallaki's child was not angry or violent, Mallaki, unlike the others, made him with no restraints.
The others all had certain powers given to them. Some had the power over water, others plants. But Mallaki's child seemed to have power over many things."
The scene changed, and now it showed Mallaki standing in a large room, tending to some plants. The door behind her opened, and the one Kagome knew as DarkWind entered.
It was strange seeing him like that. He wore his boots and pants, as usual, and his vest, but he had no markings of a Kageri, and his hair was long and loose, much like InuYasha's.
"Mallaki!" his voice was younger, too, happy and bright, "Here you are!"
The older woman, Mallaki, turned, and smiled. She seemed older, though again it was hard to say how. No wrinkles...but she moved slower. Almost as if afraid if she bumped into something a piece of her would break off.
"Ahh StrongWind, there you are."
StrongWind, Kagome thought.
"I have been looking for you. Why are you not outside in the sunlight with the others?"
"I had to tend my plants, StrongWind. They are ready for planting now."
The plants in the pots were unlike anything Kagome had seen anywhere. They looked like something you expect to see growing on Mars.
"Let me carry that," StrongWind picked up the entire tray with ease, and carryed it to the window, where the natural light would help her.
Mallaki chuckled, "Why are you not with the others? I think DawnStar has been looking for you?"
"She has?" StrongWind looked pleased, almost blushing.
"I think so, yes."
StrongWind adjusted some of the plants on the tray, "I...did not wish to stay outside today."
There was a silent, and Mallaki spoke softly.
"They are talking again."
StrongWind nodded, his face pale.
"I suppose it is to be expected. When we made you all...we gave you our powers. But you do not have our years, and it is understandable you all feel a need too...break away."
StrongWind shook his head, angrilly, "They speak of walking away from The Spire. Of turning their backs on you all. Some even..."
Mallaki turned, regarding her "child" closely, "Yes?"
StrongWind shook his head, then spoke, "Some even speak of claiming The Spire for their own."
Mallaki looked agast, "What? Who?"
StrongWind looked away, "BrightStar, and others. They say...they are more powerful than you now. That you should...go to the lower levels."
Mallaki looked furious, "Do they? I will tell the others."
"Mallaki...will there be trouble?"
The old woman looked grim, "I fear so."