Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha or Yuu Yuu Hakusho. InuYasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro, Shueisha, Viz Media, and Shounen. No profit or money of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.

Title: Love's Lies
Chapter Nine: Legend's Conclusion

Kagome walked towards him with sure steps. 'Why didn't he disappear with the Shikon?' was the question that repeated frantically within her mind. The only answer she could come up with was the same reason her and Inuyasha didn't disappear. They weren't the jewel, and therefore couldn't have disappeared with it. Her wish had been towards the jewel only, not towards any living being.

It made her so angry that he couldn't have disappeared as well, and it just had to figure he would come after her. Just because she shattered the darn thing didn't mean she had to continuously pay for that one mistake. It wasn't fair nor was it right. The only good thing was that she could tell he was nothing more than a weak shadow of himself. Five-hundred years without the Shikon had stripped him of all his borrowed power.

"May I help you sir?" she asked as nicely as she could.

His red eyes pierced straight through her, bringing back memories of a time and place so far beyond their reach. Two years ago would have found her knees shaking in fright from looking straight into his eyes, but now… All she felt was pity. He would be a mistake she would correct herself.

"Yes, I believe there is something here that would interest me greatly."

Kagome stared at him with thinly veiled curiosity, "Oh? And what may that be?"

"I couldn't help but overhear," he said, and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, "the legend you were telling those…boys. That's not the full story."

Cautiously, she led him towards the back of the house as he spoke. While they both knew to dance around the issue in this time as humans were entirely too ignorant, they both wanted to end their legend as soon as possible. One wanted an object; the other wanted a death. Either way, the legend would come to an end after so many centuries.

"What do you mean by that? That's the ending of the legend as passed down from generation to generation. What other way could it have ended?"

She clenched her teeth in an attempt to keep from hissing out in pain. The sudden grip he had on her upper arm was painful and near bone-crushing. "Don't you youkai know that human bones are more delicate than yours?" Kagome hissed, not wanting to make a scene until they were safely behind the shrine and away from prying eyes.

"I think you can handle it, miko," he all but snarled out. She was proving to be just as fiery as he remembered her. As soon as they stepped behind the shrine, he pulled her even closer to his body. His grip tightened even more on her arm and she was sure that in the morning, she would have some nasty bruises if not a fracture. "Tell me what you did to the jewel so I can extract it from you, Kagome."

She furrowed her brows together in confusion, "What are you talking about? The jewel's gone forever!" Kagome immediately whimpered in pain as she could feel the pressure being placed on her bones, "I wished the jewel out of existence, don't you remember Naraku!?"

They had been worried the second they arrived back at the shrine only to see no sign of Kagome. They hadn't been gone for even twenty minutes, yet she was missing from their sight! This was not how Kurama wanted Kuwabara or, worse yet, Yusuke, to find out that Hiei had been left behind to spy on the shrine, but it appeared it was inevitable. The person they most likely had to keep an eye on was missing, and only Hiei would have an idea as to what happened to her.

With a heavy sigh, Kurama resigned himself to the argument he knew would happen and said, "Hiei, what happened to Kagome?"

Both Yusuke and Kuwabara were shocked at the Jaganshi's abrupt appearance. "What the hell!? You were spying on her shorty? What the hell is wrong with you two!?"

"Please think rationally, Kuwabara-chan," Kurama replied, holding his hands up in a placating manner in an attempt to calm down both Yusuke and Kuwabara before anything got out-of-hand. "If you were searching for the Shikon no Tama, where would you first go to look?"

"That doesn't answer the question as to why Hiei was spying on her!" Yusuke shouted.

"Idiots," Hiei spoke up, "anyone with any sort of intelligence would seek out someone who knew of the Shikon. Your stupid woman approached the demon we were searching for and led him behind the shrine. Going to let your woman face a demon on her own, detective?"

"Fuck you, she ain't an object!" Yusuke retorted.

Kurama sighed again, but this time it was Kuwabara who spoke up. "Shouldn't we, you know, actually make sure she's fine and not dead or worse?"

Yusuke nodded as they watched a young boy run behind the house with a bow and a quiver of arrows. He recognized the boy from the first time he went to the Higurashi Shrine. Souta, the little brother of Kagome; and he had a feeling he knew what he was going to do with that bow. "And I know just who to follow to find them…"

They followed his line of sight to the young boy as he ran behind the shrine. Without exchanging another word, they ran after him hoping that they weren't arriving too late. So much depended on them arriving in time or so it seemed from the legend Kagome had told them.

"Tell me what you did to the jewel so I can extract it from you, Kagome!"

Those words greeted their ears, causing Kuwabara and Yusuke to stumble from shock. It seemed Kagome knew a lot more than she let on, and was not as normal as Yusuke had hoped. Kurama and Hiei took the knowledge easier; they had already come to the conclusion that there was much she was hiding. It wasn't as if they could blame her either, they were hiding just as much from her.

"What are you talking about? The jewel's gone forever!" The young boy ahead of them sighed heavily and gripped the bow and quiver tighter as Kagome shouted those words. It seemed even he knew more about Kagome than they did. The demons watching on winced as they could hear the tell-tale creak of bones about to snap, only for Yusuke to growl at hearing her pained whimper. "I wished the jewel out of existence, don't you remember, Naraku!?"

"If you want to save her, you might want to give her that weapon before he breaks her arm," Kurama said softly to the young boy.

Souta jumped, startled, but at seeing Yusuke there, he nodded. He knew from the moment Yusuke stepped into their house that he was different, like his sister but more demonic. Running forward, he called out his sister's name before tossing the bow and quiver towards her.

The four of them watched in awe as Kagome pushed Naraku away from her with her pure energy. Yusuke had been hoping that she was just a regular volunteer miko with no powers, but she had proved him wrong. She was a full-fledged miko with enough strength to purify off a demon's arm. Their curiosity overrode their desire to help; if she was truly in danger then they would help. At the moment, they wanted to find out exactly what she hadn't told them.

"You haven't lost your touch in five-hundred years, miko."

Kagome held up her bow, an arrow notched and ready to fly at any time, but she refrained. "Too bad I can't say the same for you… I would like to know why you didn't disappear with the Shikon though. You were bonded to the jewel, weren't you? Just like I would've been if I made the wrong wish, right?"

He gripped his bloody stump where his arm once was and sneered at her, "Only a fool would tell you. Just like it would take a fool to love you, the person who claims to have wished away the greatest artifact of pow-…"

Naraku never finished his sentence as Kagome released her notched arrow. His words struck a painful chord in her heart, and she didn't want to know what other foul words could come out of his mouth. In the end, he was right, only a fool could love her. Unfortunately, she had yet to find that fool as Yusuke was not likely to be him. No one could be that person if they ever found out the truth about her years spent in the Sengoku Jidai.

With a heavy sigh, Kagome shouldered the only remaining signs of her burden: a longbow and a quiver of arrows. "Thank you, Souta-otou," she said only to have any following words die in her throat. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Shuichi and their other friend were standing right behind her little brother and had most likely seen everything. "Damn…"

"I don't think damn begins to cover it, Kagome," Yusuke said.

Her shoulders slumped forward at his tone. "I'm sorry," she began.

"There's no need for it, Kagome-san," Kurama interrupted her as politely as possible. "I'm afraid we haven't been entirely honest with you either."