lostmoonchild: HAPPY HALLOWEEN (and for any Wiccans who read this story, hope you have a good Sahmain)! Since today is my favorite of all holidays, I'm giving you all a new chapter! I don't own anything other than what I say I own.

Chapter Twenty Two

''Are you almost ready, Ka-ka?" Hana asked impatiently. "I wanna go already!"

"Patience, Hana. Remember, I'm packing for a group of seven now. Not six." Kagome scolded gently.

Hana fell silent and began playing with a doll she had gotten recently from Kurama and Hiei as a present. "I packed for Lixa." Hana said happily.

"Lixa?"

"Yeah. She was kicked out from her clan because she's forbidden." Hana said gently rocking the doll.

Kagome smiled at her cousin's imagination and looked at the folder on the counter. A small smile spread across Kagome's face as she imagined her friends' reactions when she told them her surprise. But then again, tonight she'd have to have a serious talk with Inuyasha. She didn't know how he would react but she was hoping he'd be alright seeing as they did want to start a family of their own but seeing as Naraku was around it was too dangerous to even start a family that didn't consist of foster children.

Sighing softly, Kagome closed the flap over her bag and smiled brightly. "Okay, sweetie, time to go." Kagome said grabbing Hana's hand.

Hana cheered and held onto Kagome's hand tightly with one hand and the doll with her other hand. She knew something was on Kagome's mind seeing as she had been acting distracted all day. "Ka-ka, that folder?" Hana questioned.

Kagome stopped and pulled her hand away long enough to grab the folder off of the counter. "Thank you, darling." Kagome answered shoving the folder in her bag and leading the small girl outside.

Hana giggled a little when she felt the warm sun on her face and raised her arms as high as she could before spinning around in a circle. A laugh left Kagome's lips as she watched the small girl act as if she was a flower that couldn't get enough light. But then again, that's what 'hana' translated into. Flower.

Kagome's eyes showed sorrow as she watched the small girl raise her face towards the warm sun, unaware that she was staring up at the sun that she would only barely remember in distant memories. The sun, moon, stars… all of it were nothing more than distant memories now. The faces of her family and friends were only seen because of somebody offering their spirit energy to clash against another's energy for the child to see. But no amount of energy would allow the child to see the things she loved the most.

Sighing softly, Kagome took Hana into the well house and admitted silently that traveling back and forth between eras had actually been good for Hana. The small girl had gained plenty of confidence and was quickly learning how to use purification energy from Miroku and how to use a weapon to slay a demon from Sango. Probably helped considerably that after some begging, Hana had managed to talk Sango into making her a smaller version of the hiraikotsu. At first Kagome was less than pleased but then she saw that her foster daughter/cousin was getting physically stronger and was gaining even more balance than Hiei could have expected.

They jumped through the well and felt the gentle tug of time. When they landed on the ground, Hana eagerly began climbing the vines followed by Kagome. It wasn't long before they felt the warm sunshine on their faces and began walking towards the village. "Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome asked when they got to Kaede's hut.

"THERE YOU ARE! THOUGHT YOU COULD GET PAST MY NOSE, DID YOU?!" Inuyasha shouted before getting tackled by Hana. "Yes, hello, Hana. I missed you too now let me go."

Hana let Inuyasha go before starting to play with Shippo. "What's that, Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked noticing the folder in Kagome's hand.

A mischievous smile spread across Kagome's face and she said, "Well, I was thinking if you guys were interested, we could spend some time in my era."

"You know just as well as I do that the well won't let them pass." Inuyasha said.

Kagome smiled innocently and said, "I pulled a few strings."

"What'd you do, Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked.

"Swore that I'd be civil at the next diplomatic meeting and that I'd be solely responsible for whatever you guys do if you come to my era for a visit."

"That wasn't much comfort to Koenma-sama." Hana added showing Shippo a book. "He thought you'd attempt to take them to the River of Styx."

"That's why being in the Reikai during their visit is off limits." Kagome said pretending to be unhappy.

"How long will we be able to be in your era, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked. "I mean, we really are allowed to the world beyond the well?"

Kagome nodded and looked thoughtful. "Well, let's see, Koenma said that his father would be on vacation for about a week which means if we're in my era for the week that he's gone and leave before he gets back, Koenma won't get his royal butt paddled."

Hana giggled a little bit and made an innocent face. "We'll do a lot of fun things! We'll get to go see grandma Genkai, auntie Yukina, Keiko, Shizuru, a lot of people!"

Kagome shook her head a little before looking at her friends. "So how about it, guys? A week in my era?" Kagome questioned.

"It would be interesting." Miroku said with a thoughtful look. "You've told us about the advances in technology the people in your era have made, it would be interesting to see."

"And it would be a nice vacation."

"Feh. It stinks there."

"Oh, did I forget to say that we'll be able to go to a ramen shop? All sorts of ramen."

"Feh."

Hana giggled again knowing that Kagome had said the magic word. "Kagome-chan, before we go to your era, would it be possible for me to go back to my village?" Sango asked.

Kagome nodded a little and said, "If you would like, Sango-chan, we can go with you."

Smiling softly, Sango nodded a little bit. "I'd like that." Sango answered. "Very much. We can go to your era afterwards, that sound fair?"

"Very fair." Kagome answered with a smile.

The adults watched as the two children got into a wrestling match that resulted in both children growling playfully at each other. If this was how they acted now, how would they act when they passed through the well?

That was one thought nobody wanted to think about… at least not yet anyway.

lostmoonchild: Okay, that's done. Again, Happy Halloween (or Samhain) and I hope you all will leave me a review to substitute for candies. See you next week hopefully!