Yohime slowly awoke to the jostling of a cart. Sitting up, she blinked, then yawned.

"Did you sleep well, Yohime?"

Her head lolled back taking in the sight of Nura leaning casually against the pillows. She nodded. He smirked and chuckled softly.

"Ah!"

Suddenly remembering they had most likely left the village, and Totosai was not directly in the path to Edo, but close by, she started.

"Nura! That youkai I want to craft our rings is slightly to the south, at the foot of the volcano. It's only a couple miles out of the way, if you wa-"

She was interrupted by a finger placed on her lips.

Blink

"Thank you, I was wondering where he resided. I asked before we left, and Isamu said, once he and his niece gave their farewells, that he knew of a blacksmith youkai who lived at the base of a mountain to the south. I assumed that was the one you spoke of?"

A nod. His lip curled up as it did quite often.

"According to Karasu-Tengu, we should be there in about half an hour. And as I recall, you still have a story to finish."

Yohime sighed.

"Well, I guess I could tell you what happened next before we stop."

After Kagome had stayed in Itoigawa for a year, working at the local shrines, she departed to loop back around to Edo. Along the way, she noticed she was more frequently attacked by ayakashi rather than youkai. She also encountered more fleeing samurai. And they were all heading in the same direction.

West.

So she stored away this information and continued her travels. Coming across many villages she stayed at some weeks, others months, and there were several that she stayed for years. After fourteen years she was halfway to Edo when she was ambushed by ayakashi.

She had been going through a forest, humming a song. Then, the sounds of the forest quieted and she tensed. A blood covered man raced out from behind a tree, collapsing before her eyes. Without thought, she rushed forward, a dull pain shooting through her head, and the world turned dark.

"Supreme Commander!"

Yohime perked up at the sound of the tengu. They had arrived! Uttering a quick, 'to be continued', she jumped out of the cart, staring at the familiar sight of a skull with an surprisingly round hole on the top.

"Supreme Commander, I don't sense any life around here. Maybe they di-"

He was interrupted by a feminine shout.

"Totosai! How long do you plan on making me wait?!"

Dead silence. The ayakashi exchanged glances.

"Totosai!" Her voice turned sweet and gentle. "I'll give you exactly five seconds to come out or I shall be forced to call a certain youkai to ask for me!"

Lightning instantly fell down from the sky, along with the mooing of a cow.

"Ah, there you are, Totosasi!"

An old man, clutching a hammer, was sitting on a three eyed cow. Upon seeing the woman smiling at him, he fell off.

"I haven't done anything! Anything that evil youkai said I did, I didn't! Please spare me!"

While those behind her gawked in confusion, Yohime motioned Nura to come to her.

"Now, now, Totosai, when have I ever done anything to hurt you?"

Jumping up he pointed his finger at her accusingly.

"When you hit me because you were annoyed, when you hit me 'cause I refused to make another sword from that monster's fang!"

Yohime rolled her eyes.

"That was a long time ago, Totosai."

He snorted and added.

"When both brothers came here, they said if I didn't make a sword from their fangs once more, you would erase the aura from my creations one by one!"

From his position, Nurarihyon was probably the only one who noticed the mischievous gleam appear in her eyes.

"Oh? Well, seeing as it worked, that is a wonderful tactic to use!"

"No, I'm not making any more swords for that dog!"

"Totosai." Her voice was cold. "I'm not here for a sword, I'm here for wedding rings."

His attitude did a 180.

"Oh. Well then, come with me, you and your husband."

He marched into the skull, Yohime and Nurarihyon close on his heels.

Nura watched in interest as the sword smith went straight to a plain box. Plucking it off the crudely fashioned shelf, he thrust it into his hands, giving him a once over. He looked carefully between himself and his woman, face scrunching up in thought.

"These rings I crafted special. They're the only kind in this world. You," pointing at Nurarihyon, "need to hold this box for an hour. Then, she," pointing at Yohime, "gets to hold it for an hour. During this time, the rings will shape themselves according to the holder. Thus if each of you hold it for an hour, you," still pointing at Yohime, "will get a ring that reminds him of you, and likewise."

A smiled spread of his woman's face. She bowed.

"Thank you, Totosai. If they ever come to bother you again, tell them I said to sit down and chill out."

The old youkai grumbled, not bothering to answer, before he disappeared into the back of the cave.

Once they resumed their journey, Yohime continued with her story.

Kagome could feel herself waking up. She was suddenly aware of voices shouted and being flown through the air. As she struggled to open her eyes, a sweet smell invaded her senses and she drifted off again. This continued quite often. She would almost wake up, then be put back to sleep, the first several times she woke, she was moving through the air, but recently she smelled salt and water.

In the precious seconds before returning to her sleep, she deduced that she was traveling to an island. By the fifteenth time she woke, she concluded she was kidnapped by tanuki, flown over the mainland to an island, for what she hadn't worked out yet.

She discovered the tanuki part when she'd woken up during an argument, soon after this, she once again felt herself waking up, but this time no sickly sweet scent drifted up her nose.

Forcing her eyebrows open, the first thing she saw was a tanuki about the size of Hachi. Quick as she could, she grabbed him by his haori, pulling him closer she growled in his face.

"You could have asked. Nicely."

"But would you have come, human?" A voiced boomed, echoing from the stone cliffs around her.

"That depends on why I'm here," she replied letting go of the obviously frightened youkai, "and where is here."

She added, turning her head to take in her surroundings. She blinked. She was in a carved out nitch surrounded by hundreds of tanuki statues. And right at the end of this nitch stood a rather large tanuki in his true form, with a young man standing besides him.

"Please tell me you're friends of Hachi and are repaying his debt."

"There are many called 'Hachi' of our kind, we know not of whom you speak."

She slumped down.

"Yeah, I figured so."

The man standing besides the tanuki approached her, kneeling down to look her in the eye.

"Human, you will cure us."

Blink.

Blink.

"I'm sorry, what?"
He plastered a friendly smile over his face, even as his tone promised death.

"I said you will cure us. You will work until all of us have been cured and then we will consider returning you to where you found you."

Her eyes darkened.

"And if I refuse, I suppose you're just going to make me, huh?"

"Yes, that's correct."

She smiled sweetly, right before she tossed a rosary around his neck.

"Sit."

Ah, the nostalgic sound of a hollow brained idiot slamming into the dirt. Sigh. How I've missed you.

The man began screaming curses and fighting to take the rosary off. Raising his eyes to the still smiling miko, he lunged at her.

"Sit, that's a good tanuki."

"You-!" He grounded out through gritted teeth.

"Now," she said pleasantly, "I'm going to pretend you didn't kidnap me, bring me all the way out to god-knows where, and then order me to cure you. Not ask nicely, but order me. Then, you will explain what it is you were going to ask me to cure you of, where I am, and when you will return me to the place of my choosing."

"That won't be necessary," Again the voiced boomed, "I apologize for my hot-headed son. If you would sit before me, I would speak on our need for your powers, Miko."

She gracefully inclined her head, stepping deliberately over the prone body of the tanuki. She distinctly heard him mumble, "What part of her is an angel?"

She sniggered to herself.

Seating herself in front of the large tanuki, she waiting for him to speak.

"Miko, for the past several decades, our females have only given birth to a few, if any. Our numbers have dwindled down and we are in danger of disappearing. About a year ago, a samurai found his way to the island and spoke of an Angel that walked the Earth. So we decided to ask this Angel to cure us."

Thinking back over the history she learned in her time, though she was unsure of the year (she estimated around 1550) she figured Oda Nobunaga should be coming into power soon.

Pondering over she thoughts, she decided she would stay until the wars were mostly done, the tanuki cured, that way she would have a place to stay and avoid the humans fears when she did not age.

"Okay. I'll stay either until I die or I want to leave. Is that acceptable?"

The tanuki bowed, his forehead touching the ground.

"Thank you, Miko."

Standing up, she dusted off her hakamas and flashed a grin at him.

"Before I get to work, mind telling me exactly what Island I'm on?"

"Shikoku."

"What?!"

(Shikoku is the most isolated of the Japan Islands. It is also located 300 miles west of Edo.)

After learning of her whereabouts, she concluded it suited her better. She would've had to travel the Western Lands again, and that was not something she intended to do until she had finished her Quest to destroy the Jewel. After Inuyasha had rescued her from the void, the Jewel had returned to it's place in her body, and she told everyone it was wished out of existence. Only Sango, Miroku and Kohaku knew the truth. Also, she did not have to live through the early Momoyama Period, just the end when Tokugawa Ieyasu took control after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death. Deciding to put worrying about the years ahead, she put it out of her mind and set about to curing the youkai.

The reproductive abilities of the tanuki were mostly due to the males. A strange poison she had never seen before was corroding their systems. It was a long five years before she could accurately pinpoint and destroy the mysterious particles. It took two decades for her to eradicate the poison in every male that was brought to her, and it took even longer to cure the females. The females had another substance entirely that was preventing them from conceiving.

During this time, murmurs started circulating about how after almost forty years, she had not aged a single day. But none of them really cared because their wives and daughter began to have children once again.

In another ten years, the tribe of tanuki were as healthy as they had ever been. And then Kagome announced she intended to depart to Kyoto. The news of her departure was greeted with sadness as the young tanuki loved to listen to her stories and considered her as part of their family. Hugging each one, she bowed deeply at the tanuki whose rosary she had removed decades ago, and his father. With tears in her eyes, she departed on the back of a tanuki who carried her safely to the Mainland.

In the weeks that she had been gone, Kagome missed her youkai friends dearly. But nonetheless, she continued to Osaka, where she could buy a horse to ride to Kyoto, which was only 20 miles away. Four months later, she rode into Kyoto. The next six months were spend at a shrine, touring the city and ridding people's homes of ayakashi and youkai. Then, one day, as she was studying in the library at the great shrine, she felt the pull of the Shikon.

She set out for the head priest, whom she told she would not be returning and to please enshrine her bow as it possessed holy powers. After attempting to talk her out of leaving, he reluctantly agreed. And so she returned to her journey once more.

A/N Yup, I skipped lots. I got bored, the story needed to move on. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming...

Special thanks to Halley Vanaria! Thank you for reading, reviews are the sail to my boat.