"So, what, you won't help unless you can see him?!" Hikari screamed, gesturing widely with her arms.

"Yes!" Kagome snapped. "That's exactly what I'm saying!"

"I've told you why I can't let you see him why can't you understand that?!"

"Because I've seen him in your mind already. It shouldn't matter."

"Well it does! Seeing someone in someone else's mind is different from seeing them in person." Hikari crossed her arms and refrained from smirking. If she knew her mother at all, she knew where this conversation was heading and she knew that she'd already won the argument.

"It is the same thing!"

"Oh," Shippo winced. "She walked right into that one."

"What one?" Sango asked, arms crossed.

InuYasha smacked his forehead. "I even saw this one coming," he muttered.

"Alright," Hikari smirked, unable to hide it any longer. "Then you don't need to see daddy, you can just look at him in Aunt Sango or Uncle Miroku's mind." Kagome scowled. "Same thing, right?"

"That's different!"

"Let's just go." Hikari turned triumphantly and began to walk into the forest.

Kagome groaned and reluctantly followed her. She found comfort in the fingers that laced itself in between her own, even if she couldn't see them.

"So what is it exactly that we're looking for?"

"A flaw in her trail," Hikari answered quietly.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked.

"I think what she means is, if Hitana is covering her trail somehow, she has to slip up somewhere, grow week and have to rest. A fault line of sorts that marks where one stream of energy ends and another begins."

"Exactly," Hikari grinned.

"Well, we've been traveling for almost a day with nothing to show for it," InuYasha grumbled.

"We should make camp for the night," Sango agreed.


"We'll have to pick up as soon as the sun comes up," the tall, dark haired boy muttered as he sat on the tree branch next to Hikari.

"I know," she sighed, leaning against him.

"It's kind of weird seeing my parents so…"

"Young? I know what you mean," Hikari muttered. The boy laughed and wrapped an arm around her.

"I was going to say 'strong' but either one."

"Both your parents are strong at home," she said, referring to their own time. "It's just, this is like their peak before Hitana ruins everything."

"She didn't ruin everything," he murmured.

"Yukito," she sighed. "You are really clueless."

"Yeah," he smiled. "But I'm happy that way." Hikari rolled her eyes.


"What is going on?" Kagome whispered to herself, leaning heavily against InuYasha at the base of a tree. InuYasha wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and said nothing. But that's all she needed. Acknowledgment that she wasn't alone. "I could tell you," she said suddenly, "who she imprinted on—"

"I already know," he thought to her.

"You do?" InuYasha squeezed her shoulders.

"Her scent…"

Kagome nodded. "Unmistakable. But what difference—"

"Just trust her, Kagome," InuYasha thought.

Kagome's quiet laughter filled the air and InuYasha stared at her blankly. "You've gone soft, InuYasha," she giggled. He huffed and turned his head away from her in denial. "InuYasha…" Kagome reached out carefully and felt blindly through the air for him. Her fingertips brushed the collar of his kimono. She slid her hand up his neck and stopped on his cheek. His hand landed on top of hers and he turned toward her.

"You know I love you, right?" Kagome whispered, wishing with all her heart that she could see his face, even if only for a fleeting moment; she needed reassurance that he loved her back.

"I do. And I'm sure you know that I love you, too." He grabbed her chin and she felt his lips against hers.


"It's disgusting," Hikari snarled.

"Come on," Yukito laughed. "It's not that bad. It's nice to see your mom so…"

"Happy?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," he murmured. "I mean, she's so different when he's around. It's amazing."

"It almost makes me want to kill Hitana," Hikari whispered. She sighed and sat up straight on the tree branch. "Anyways, where are your parents?" She looked around them.

Yukito sighed and pulled Hikari against him so she would stop looking for them. "You know how you're four years older than I am?"

"Yeah…" Hikari looked at Yukito's face and it all clicked. "Oh," Hikari muttered. In this time, she was three… "How do you know that's what they're doing? Maybe when we take down Hitana it'll be the celebratory sex that does it."

"Hikari!" Yukito groaned.

"I'm just saying."

"Well don't just say anything," he murmured, kissing her swiftly.