To wonder was for you think and to think, you had to know things. But sadly, some things are unknown, especially to those who desire to know. Even now, no one had said anything or even questioned what had occurred. With Hoshiko, there was only hesitation they received. What was the point anyway asking her if the only reply they'd receive is only avoiding the whole topic altogether? It was disheartening to know she didn't trust them. It was like she had an unbreakable chain around her heart with a lock no one could unlock. If anything really, it was more annoying and saddening. She knew their past. She hesitated telling them hers. Everyone wasn't pleased by the demonesses secrecy and the way she always hesitated to even let them have information about her past. But what could they do? It wasn't like they could bear to tie her down and force the words out of her. She would only evade it more so. They could only wait. If only waiting weren't so hard for them. Especially for those who had come to love her.

'Patience is a virtue,' was all their thoughts combined.

Hoshiko had returned to the village by dusk after a long prolonged hike with tears in her eyes and a frown set deeply in her face. The demoness had barely spoken since her return. When Kagome had asked if she was okay, the demoness had merely nodded and avoided the topic. Myoga hadn't returned, either. When asked about the flea's departure she had responded he had taken off somewhere and would return in a day's time. Then she had gone back into a lapse of silence. She refused to speak to them, even Rin. Hoshi barely ate and that night, didn't sleep. Rin was so worried she thought her mother was losing her mind. Sesshomaru had disappeared before her return so he wasn't around currently. He, besides Rin, was the only other who could open her up enough. But even Rin wasn't able too. By now it was mere noon and Hoshiko still hadn't moved from her place on her mat staring out the window. Rin wandered over slowly. This silence was scaring her. The look in her mother's eyes was so distant she wondered if she was only there in body now.

"Momma?"

Hoshiko slowly looked at her with a heartbroken expression, her eyes returning to life a bit but the distance remained there in those sparkling blue gems.

"Hai?"

"Are you okay," she whimpered.

"I am sick at heart, Rin. I'll be okay. Really I will. I'm just thinking."

The child wandered to her mother's side and sat down in her lap. What else could she do? She could only offer the mere presence of her comfort. Hoshiko's reaction was slow, but her arms slowly wrapped around the child before squeezing her tightly. Rin buried her face into her mother's neck. She didn't believe her mother's words. She was not okay at all, she knew that. But neither of them commented to the lie that hung in the air. The demoness finally broke the silence.

"Rin."

"H-Hai?"

"I know you don't understand right now," she whispered softly. "I know I hurt you by avoiding talking to you about my pain as I do with the others. One day, though, I hope to look you in the eye to speak of you of the past I have I have come to so dread and hate."

"When will I understand?"

"Sooner than you think, little one, I promise. Do something for me."

Her eyes searched Hoshi's in question and wonder.

"Go to the others and tell them all to come here at dusk tonight. Then go to Jaken and retrieve the others with him. Please. I need everyone here."

Rin looked weary. Hoshi must have seen the hesitation in her eyes. She couldn't explain, not yet. That would be for tonight, when she would reveal her background. Who had raised her and treated her as his own blood. Her story would be brought to light at long last. She shuddered lightly.

"Please, pup. I'll explain tonight."

"Okay, Momma."

Hoshiko had to almost force herself to release the child. She didn't want her to go. Little Rin was one of the few things that eased the pain beating in her chest. But she ignored the fact as her pup got up and quietly left the hut without another word. It was better to remain silent about her pain for now. She missed the worried glance Rin cast at her before departing but she did sense the child's hesitation at the door. Rin was so worried for the demoness. The shadow disappeared from the doorway and she was left alone again but that didn't matter, she had her pain with her. She felt her talons scrape at the side of her neck but she didn't tear the skin. She was in painful silence.

'Why won't she talk to me,' Rin mourned.

The child slowly walked down the path to the village. She didn't understand! Hoshiko had apologized for her secrecy but it still didn't lift the burden of it. She wanted her mother to be open with her, with the others. With Sesshomaru. She kicked at a small pile of rocks sending them rocking down the path. She sighed sadly. She wanted to understand her mother. She wanted to be the friend she needed but at the same time, her daughter. She moved toward the village, sad. When would she tell her? Sesshomaru? The others?

Hoshiko could hear the rocks tumble down the path but she barely responded to it. The sound however jolted her into reality for a split second. She wasn't that young girl that used to be traveling in the company of a demon lord. She was older now, he was gone. The reality hurt now. Even her pup seemed to grow distant since her silence. But how could that be, the little girl she loved so dearly? She buried her face into her hands and felt the tears come down her cheeks. Why wouldn't the pain end? But it would spill out this dusk, the pain would finally be revealed tonight. Everything. Her story. Her father. Her mistake. Everything. No holding back.

"Do you think," her inner demon suddenly whispered. "That they will hate us?"

"How can I know? You and I don't have an insight on the future."

"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about our pup. Our Sesshomaru. They are our world now. What will happen if we lose them?"

Hoshiko froze.

"Our reason to exist will cease. We will have no reason to live."

"We do. Our promise to father."

"Do you have to remind me of such a thing?"

"We promised. We cannot die. We said we would live on and live on we shall."

"I know, but forever will we mourn our loss. We're already so broken, how can we bear to lose pup and Sesshomaru?"

"We will shatter."

"And we will perish in our own agony."

Hoshi and her demon knew it. Rin wasn't the matter, however. It was Sesshomaru. What if he hated her because she was the reason his father had perished. What if he couldn't forgive her mistake? She remembered dimly Myoga telling her it was not her fault but how could she forget the naïve choice she had made that had determined the Inu No Taisho's fate? She couldn't bear it if Sesshomaru hated her, she had come to love him, as she did with her pup but ever so much more. She couldn't lose him! If he left her, she reasoned, Rin would be torn from her. Rin was his pup first and if he wished, the child would go with him. To lose Rin would hurt so badly as if watching her own child murdered before her eyes. But Inuyasha was also a matter. He was one of her best friends. Could she bear his hate? Her mistake risked him losing his father the night of his birth leading into the fact he was raised without his father to protect him and guide him through life. If she lost any of them, it was going to be a crack in her already bleeding heart. She was already in agony, how much more could she take? So lost in her pain and sorrow she did not hear the footsteps enter her hut.

"Hoshiko."

Her eyes bulged at the sound of the people's voice. Forever would she remember that voice though many years had passed between them. The demoness whipped around. Hoshi's eyes met the large eyes of a demon.

"Totosai!"

"It really is you!"

"Do you think I'd lie," Myoga squealed from Totosai's shoulder.

No one paid the flea any attention. The swords forger moved forward to place a large hand on the demonesses shoulder. He gazed at her in amazement. When the flea had come to tell him in excitement Hoshiko was alive he'd been in disbelief. The demoness under the Master's care had flourished until now? He had thought she had died, going to the Underworld with the Master! But here she was, so grown and beautiful, before him. Hoshiko with welcoming tears in her eyes placed a hand over his. She squeezed it in affection. These were one of the demons who had been at her side with Father. He had helped raised her, even. Myoga and Saya, too.

"Totosai," she again whispered.

"Hoshiko!"

She turned to look over Totosai's shoulder to see none other than Saya. Her eyes widened a bit. He looked more haggard since she had last seen him over 200 years ago but still, his eyes glowed as he gazed upon her. He approached her. She, despite her painful tears, had to smile warmly.

"Saya!"

"You are alive," he wondered aloud. "I cannot believe it, but now I remember. You weren't with the Master when he died. Saddening, really."

She winced.

"Saya," both Myoga and Totosai chastised.

"It is alright, my friends. I need to remember my past, I cannot run anymore."

They gazed at her with admiration. But they could see the haunted look behind her eyes, the one that wouldn't go away. Something lingered in those eyes usually filled with such love and devotion that was disturbing. She knew something, something that haunted her until this day. Something that had driven her from them, away into her own hell, and had only returned now. What was she hiding, what did she believe? Was it the fact she believed she was the reason for the Inu No Taisho's death? Maybe that, but something else she knew was the reason too. They knew she had known the Master best, out of all of them, despite her shorter time with him. They had served him for far more years. But she was the one following in his footsteps every day. She battled with him. She was there with him constantly for over 3 centuries. She spoke to him about everything. She was even there with him and his human mate. She knew him. Sometimes, they wondered, how much. Did she know him better than his own friends and his mate before Izayoi and even after? They knew the answer to that.

"Hoshiko," Myoga finally said. "You have grown. You aren't the demoness I once knew."

"No," she answered as she looked down. "I'm not. All these years have changed me."

They knew. The Master's death had a huge impact on her, enough to impact her today. The time she perhaps spent with Izayoi and the newborn Inuyasha. The years she was alone in the world again. Until now, when she had met Inuyasha and the others. She could no longer be the demoness she once had been. She had been destroyed. She had been reborn as a new demoness. Her soul was still beautiful, but more dangerous. They could feel raw and strong power emanating from her that had not been before. She was older and wiser too. Haunted.

"We brought you your chest," Saya finally said.

"Where," she answered with a gasp.

Totosai moved to the side to reveal the foot tall chest behind him. It was quite wide, at least 3 feet. She lunged for it. She ignored the slight chuckles from her male companions. She slid her hand across the smooth wood. Tears dripped down her cheeks in joy, as if welcoming an old friend. She felt Saya's hand on her shoulder.

"Hoshiko?"

"So many memories. . ."

She slid open the lid. The others glanced a look in curious what she desired again so badly. It was filled with small scrolls to the large left compartment but to the right contained what appeared to be at least 2 small kimono's at the bottom. Upon them were several necklaces. But across everything laid a bleach white spear. Its point had been sharpened to a deadly one that would impale even the softest material. On the other end a large diamond had been forged into the frightening spear. The grip had been forged out of silver. It was lifeless. It was a cold weapon.

"My old weapon," she murmured. "Father had this forged for me. He called it Nagareboshi."

"Fallen Star," Myoga murmured.

To name the large spear after her seemed a bit cruel. Her name after all meant child of the star. Then to name her weapon Nagareboshi, the fallen star, was cold. He wondered why the Master would have such reasoning. Hoshiko simply gazed at the weapon. Slowly grasping it she held it up to gaze at it.

"Why choose the name Nagereboshi?"

"I am a fallen star so why not name my old weapon after my agony? It was the weapon of death after all in my hands."

"Will you use it?"

"Of course I will, once again. It is powerful. It has the power of Nisshoku, or the solar eclipse. When I spin it in a circle in a certain way it will glow blood red and send out rays of light that destroys enemies on impact and if touched only, it will kill them slowly."

They stared, suddenly weary. The Inu No Taisho had given her that? A simple spear to hold such a cruel power to kill. She sighed sadly and placed it aside, wiping tears from her face.

"To see this again is saddening."

Suddenly, Hoshiko found herself in Totosai's embrace. She froze in shock. It had been so many years since she had seen the old demon, yes, but for him to openly show affection was different. He would never do this to another. Saya placed a hand upon her head and Myoga stared up at her with joy. She could however see the small tears in all their eyes. They were overjoyed to know she had survived. In that moment she realized they had grown attached to her in her younger years. With a watery smile, she hugged them. Her family before the others, far longer before Rin and Sesshomaru. She knew she would never part from them again.

Hoshiko's reunion with her old family (most of them, anyway!) Totosai, Saya, and Myoga. I hope you guys enjoyed this, I had a hard time writing this because of no ideas until I came up with this :P. The next chapter, I promise, is the unveiling. Hoshiko's past will be revealed and why she has the haunted look in her eyes shall be brought to light. Enjoy and Review, PLEASE! :3