A tinkle of laughter.
Kagome scrunched her eyes trying to catch the fading remains of sleep.
"She's waking up." Hushed voices which sounded excited. A little too excited.
"Shh, Father, you'll wake her up."
The feminine voice tugged at something in Kagome.
A gruff voice which was oddly endearing barked, "Isn't that the whole point? She's been sleeping for hours, now."
"Yeah!" Childish voice voices chimed in unhidden glee.
A soft hand touched her hair lightly, "She looks just like you, Monamiru."
That soft laughter again, "Really father? She looks human."
"You know what I meant."
"Yes yes. Children, must you really be so loud? Your sister is resting."
"BUT WE WANT TO PLAY WITH HER!" Words shrieked in her ears.
Kagome's eyes flew open and her hands flew to over her ears.
Silence fell over the room as she sat up and pulled away from the people crowding the room. Her eyes darted from person to person. She blinked.
They held their breath as if waiting for her to say something.
Kagome drank in their features.
So perfect.
They looked angels, assuming that angels looked like this. Their skin glowed, luminous with happiness. She didn't know how she could tell but joy radiated from them. Long silken hair, seemed the family trait here. Their ears were pointed, and they looked cautious. Beautiful blue eyes, no so unlike her own.
"Um?"
Apparently, she must have broken the ice because everybody broke into chatter all at once. Two red headed children, holding bows, rushed towards her and grabbed her by her midsection, cried out, "Sister!"
Giving out a startled cry, Kagome fell back on the bed and tried to disentangle the two stubborn imps from her, but they were already sitting on her legs and her stomach and examining her.
One of them cried out in delight as he lifted her shirt to reveal her stomach, "Look Haru! She has the same birthmark as us!"
"-Hey! Get off me, you-"
Her protests were ignored as the other examined her ears, curiously, "There is something wrong with her ear, Kita!" Haru cried in dismay, "It's round."
"WHAT!?"
The one called Kita immediately rushed up to examine said appendage, his knees knocking into Kagome's stomach making her gasp as the breath was knocked out of her. "Get off!"
Her struggles were in vain as the two were very conveniently sitting on her limbs, rendering all movement ineffective.
Kagome growled in anger, "I'm going to kill you brats!"
"Children!"
The two froze and then their heads turned, simultaneously, towards the speaker of the reprimand, "You're hurting her!"
"We're just trying to -"
They were plucked off Kagome by two strong arms. A tall man came in to Kagome's vision. His pitch black hair swung slightly as he tucked each wriggling child under his arm.
"Le'go!"
"We wanna-"
"All right! Which one of you kicked me?!" He snarled. Both children fell quiet, refusing to look at each other.
"Father!"
He turned to look at the woman whose golden hair flowed like a mystical waterfall. Those laughing blue eyes were affronted and she was struggling to look stern. She was so beautiful that Kagome ached.
"One of your brats kicked me!"
"They are your grandchildren! Don't call them brats!"
"Yeah, Gra'mpa."
"Ahan, that so rude."
"I feel unloved."
"Unwanted."
The children chimed in, adding to the growing confusion.
Kagome just watched, not understanding what was going on.
"Will someone please -"
All eyes turned to her. The woman moved forward and sat on the bed. Kagome froze as a delicate pale hand lifted to stroke her hair and then her cheek. Those beautiful blue eyes shone with tears as the woman murmured, "I never thought I would be able to lay eyes on you again. You are so beautiful."
"Again?" Kagome gripped the hand stroking her cheek and turned bewildered eyes on the speaker, "What do you mean, again? Have we met before? Because I don't think I would have forgotten someone like you."
The woman looked uncertain, "I do not know how to explain, where to start."
The man snorted but before he could speak, one of the twins piped up, still dangling from his grandfather's side, "You're our sister. She's our mother. And this is our gram'pa."
"W-What?"
The woman sighed, "Monamiru. My name is Monamiru. And yours is Kagome. The name your mate gave you when he found you."
Kagome's eyes darted around wildly, "Seshoumaru! Where is he?!"
"You're in a self induced coma right now. He is by your side, by your body, that is."
Kagome looked at the man who was supposed to be her grandfather. She edged away from everybody, "Look, this has to be some kind of mistake. I already have a family! I have a grandfather and a mother and even a brother."
"Yes, but they are not your blood. They are your family, but we are your true family."
Kagome tried to process all this but it was becoming more and more difficult to. She took a breath. Another. "Where are we?"
"In the spirit realm. "
"What? What is that?"
"It is where those who are not dead and yet not living reside."
"So, um, " Kagome tried to wrap her head around it, "I am not dead, but not alive, either?" Her eyes widened, "Am I undead?"
"That's not even a word." The man snorted.
"Father!"
"Oh, sorry." He looked properly chastised. Kagome looked at him. His aura seemed fierce like that of a warrior, his build and height, frightening. He spotted her looking at him and to her shock, winked at her, before wearing that somber mask again.
Kagome looked at the red haired children in his arms, who were not struggling anymore, instead they were studying her now with open curiosity.
"You're not that pretty." One of them declared.
"Haru!" His brother cried in horror, "She is too!" He looked at Kagome, a shy smile on his face, "I like your ears."
Kagome touched her them in reflex, and murmured, in an uncertain tone, "Thanks, I think?"
"Kagome."
Kagome looked at the woman, her mother. She was gripping her hand in hers, her eyes intent on her face, "I know you have a lot of questions. And I will answer them all. But you need to understand -"
"Why did you abandon me?" To Kagome's surprise, her voice actually shook.
The soft hand trembled, before steadying. "I- I didn't have a choice, my love. I had to leave you. Your destiny is - " She struggled to find the words. "Your destiny is so vast. Your path is so difficult and filled with so much pain and loss, that if I had my way, I would shelter you in my arms forever. But -" Her shoulder shook as sob tore from her, " I have to let you go. I had to let you go then and I have to let you go now."
"Monamiru. Daughter."
She shook her head at the tender words and straightened her shoulders, her golden hair catching the light, "You cannot trust everybody, Kagome. People will lie to you. They will betray you. There are a scarce few you can trust. Some you have already found. Some you will meet in the near future and some are already looking for you."
"What do you mean? What destiny? What betrayal? I don't understand!" Kagome's voice rose in panic.
"Calm down, sister. Mother tends to get dramatic."
The other spoke up as well, "A lot."
They received a jostle and gave evil glares to their grandfather who glared back at them. "Can you be more respectful?"
"Sorry, mama." They chimed in unison.
"It's okay, darlings."
Kagome looked at them and suddenly something occurred to her, "Wait, are you all dead? Is that why you're in this sprit place?"
Her mother and her grandfather exchanged uneasy looks, "Not exactly. We are frozen. Like you were till your mate found you."
"Frozen? Wait, what?! I was what?"
Her mother looked a little amused, "You do realize that you are a millennium older than your mate, do you not?"
"What? How?" Kagome studied her hands as if expecting wrinkles to break out all of a sudden.
"When you were born, our village was in the process of being attacked. " A dark shadow passed her mother's face as if remembering something painful. Even the children went quiet. "The minute you let out your first cry, I bundled you up, and ran towards the woods. I knew. I already knew what your destiny was. Your grandmother had the gift of sight, you see. I put you in a basket and left you in a small clearing, weaving a protection spell around it. I returned to get your bothers but he had arrived. I had to protect them. I spun time. To protect them, to protect the village, I had to freeze them in time. They couldn't be killed, but they're frozen in that exact moment of time. You too were included. Until your mate's aura found you."
Kagome swallowed, "Bokensuno said something about a war. He said something about me being a phoenix, as well."
"You are one, my dear. You are the greatest of us all."
"Don't let it get to your head though, sister."
Kagome ignored the grinning boy. "What does that mean? Am I like a youkai?"
Her mother shook her head, "No. You are so much more. You will find out yourself, slowly. But heed a few words, daughter mine. You are in grave danger. You have untapped power but it needs to be trained. You need to find me. Find us. "
"You're not -"
"We're alive. But you need to find us and release us from time."
"I-I don't know how."
Her mother smiled warmly, "When the time comes, it will come naturally to you. You need to wake up now."
"Wait! We want to say goodbye too!"
The children struggled more ardently, till their grandfather was forced to release them. Kagome edged backwards, suspiciously, "I don't want either of you near -"
Her words were cut off with an 'oomph' as they tackled her, their small arms going around her neck.
The words whispered in her ears made her eyes widen.
"We are closer than you think."
As they released her, her grandfather approached and put his hand on her head, "Look." He coughed, awkwardly, "I know you think you don't know us and this is uncomfortable. But you need to trust what we tell you. A war is coming and you need to be ready. So find us quickly. There is a lot for you to learn."
The twins waggled their eyebrows and winked at her. Kagome couldn't help but smile at them.
She looked towards her mother, "This is a lot to take in. Everybody keeps talking about a war. And I don't want the people I love to get hurt in this so called war." She met her mother's eyes, "I'll find you. I promise."
Her mother smiled and whispered, "Then wake up."
Kagome blinked.
A pair of golden eyes swam into her vision, "Kagome?"
She let herself be drawn into strong arms. He buried his face in her hair and breathed. "You have been unconscious for days."
Kagoem held onto him and her eyes opened and she pulled away to look at Seshoumaru. "I think I met my family."
As she proceeded to tell him what happened, her eyes fell on the fallen form across the room, "Uh, what happened to Kouga?"
"The wolf falls down frequently."
A.N: And so the journey begins.