Chapter 23

Kiretsu and Mageru stood at the edge of the forest. They knew full well that the fire birds summoned by the half-demon called Akage did not know that they were there. The two simply observed the group sleep for a few minutes before slipping away deeper into the forest. They reached their cave after a short run and say down to discuss their plan.

"So," Mageru began, "You really think that we should do this?"

"It's the only way to figure out if they are the ones we need." Kiretsu told.

"They're just kids!" Mageru said.

"We were kids once too." Kiretsu pointed out, "You remember what we were doing then?" Mageru simply nodded, trying to keep the images from flooding back.

"Fine." He conceded, "But we make this painless for them if they fail."

"No promises, but we'll try." Kiretsu promised. The two nodded said their goodbyes for the time being and headed their separate ways to make preparations. Time is a delicate thing to play with.

Sai awoke that morning in Kaze's lap, just as she had gone to sleep the night before. She sniffed the air. A strange scent was faint in the air, but she was sure that whatever it came from was long gone. She woke Kaze and they jumped down from the tree to join the others who were already making breakfast.

"Nice of you two to join us." Akage remarked jokingly.

"Yeah whatever." Kaze shot back, "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, I had an idea about that actually." Sai said.

"What is it Sai?" Nami asked.

"Well..." She began, "Kaze and I are getting married, so I figured that we should at least let our parents know."

"Sai that's going to take forever." Umi complained, "They've probably already moved back to the village. Sesshomaru's patience isn't that long, even if he is expecting a child with Rin."

"No I've thought this one out." Sai assured her, "I can run all the way there and so can Akage. You guys can travel on Akage's birds."

"It's not a bad plan." Akage agreed, "We'd be at your village by the end of the day."

"You sure you can keep birds going that long?" Kaze asked.

"Yeah." Akage said, laughing off the question, "I've done a lot crazier things. Keeping three birds in the sky while I run isn't that difficult of a task."

"Hey Akage, this means that you can meet my parents." Nami pointed out.

"Alright then." Sai said happily, "Let's head home." The group agreed.

Sai and Akage took off at a run. Their pace would have killed any normal human, but it was pretty easy for them. The other three would have been able to keep up for a few hours, but after that they wouldn't be able to move for a few days, so they were in the sky flying on Akage's birds. Sai wished that they traveled like this everywhere since it was so much faster, but the constant strain on Akage wouldn't be fair. He put on a strong face for this, but Sai knew that multiple days of this would be very taxing. Thankfully, though, they were making progress faster than Sai thought try would. The group was passing Sesshomaru's castle by just after midday. Umi had been right. Her village was no longer living there anymore. They simply kept going towards where they had been attacked so long ago. If they kept going like this, then they would arrive before dinner was served.

Akage kept conversation with Sai lively the entire time. All he seemed to want to talk about was Nami. It seemed that he was doing his best to find out everything he could about her. Sai knew her better than anyone, except for maybe Umi, and was less likely to tell Nami about the questioning, so Sai was the best choice. His questions ranged from what her favorite food was to what made her happy when she was irritated and everything in between. Sai answered them all. She really wanted this relationship to succeed. After all, she wanted her friend to be happy and settle down with someone that would do that for her. Akage seemed to be the best bet in that regard.

The group kept going for a few more hours and the village came into view from the air just before the sun began to set. They arrived within the hour. Akage called the birds down to land as they approached the outskirts. Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku were all waiting for them. Sai never stopped running. She ran straight to her parents and took them into a massive hug.

"MOM! DAD!" She yelled delightedly, "I missed you so much!"

"We missed you too Sai." Her mother said, tears coming to her eyes.

"We're just glad that you're okay." Her father said, emotion creeping even into his voice. A similar, tearful reunion was happening with Miroku and Sango's family. They had been waiting expectantly for hours. Inuyasha had caught their scent while they were still a long way off. Nami introduced Akage to her parents as her boyfriend and he was quickly welcomed into the family reunion. Sai and Kaze would save their news for dinner that night, which Kagome had already prepared and suggested that they all go and eat together.

The feast that Kagome had prepared was massive. It was obvious that Inuyasha and Miroku had hunted extensively to get all the food and that Kagome and Sango had spent every moment cooking it. Every morsel was delicious. Their parents could not stop asking questions. They seemed to want to know everything. Even Sai's father was showing quite a bit of interest.

"So you fight anything worth a damn?" Inuyasha asked during the meal.

"We've had a few battles that I guess could fit that description." Sai told him.

"Are you kidding me Sai?" Umi burst, "You've nearly been killed on multiple occasions!"

"What?!" Kagome yelled, worried, "Sai what happened?"

"Well we kinda ran into the emperor and his true army..." Sai said.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked, realizing that there was more to it than what she had said.

"The emperor isn't human." Sai began. This stunned the parents at the table, "He's a powerful demon named Konton that had massive armies of demons under his control. His goal with the purges is to rid the world of demons that oppose him or are more powerful and he's willing to use humans to accomplish that goal."

"That's sick!" Inuyasha growled, "Did he hurt you?" Sai proceeded to tell him the entire story of their first encounter with Konton and their battle against his demons. The others jumped in constantly with details that Sai left out.

"This is very disturbing news." Miroku said, troubled, "Do you have any idea how to defeat Konton?"

"Yes actually." Nami jumped in. She proceeded to tell them about their encounter with the old man and their search for the embodiment of love.

"Do you know of any way to find this object?" Sango asked.

"No, but we do have this." Kaze said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a sheet of paper. He handed it to his parents who shared it with Inuyasha and Kagome. After they had gotten a look at it, he kept talking, "That's the symbol that was left when the old man disappeared. It's our only lead."

"Hmm..." Miroku said, thoughtfully, "This is troubling. However, we should not worry about these things now. This is a time for celebration! Let us be happy and rejoice that you are all alright!"

"I'll drink to that!" Inuyasha called out. Everyone else agreed as well and continued with dinner. The spent the rest of the meal laughing and telling happy stories.

After about another hour, everyone had finished with dinner. All of them were simply sitting around the table talking while the fire died. Suddenly, Sai got up and motioned Kaze to join her. They stood together in front of everyone.

"Mom, dad, Aunt Sango, Uncle Miroku, we have an announcement to make." Sai said happily. She paused and scanned her parents expectant and curious faces and the knowing smiles of her friends, "We're getting married!"

"WHAT?!" All of them shouted in unison. The parents immediately got up and ran to embrace their children.

"Oh Sai, that's wonderful!" Kagome said.

"Is that why you guys came back?" Sango asked. Sai blushed.

"Just a little bit." She admitted. After a few more minutes of hugging, congratulations, and assorted tearful comments about how they "grew up so fast," they all asked the same question,

"When will the wedding be?"

"Well we don't really have any idea." Kaze told them, embarrassed.

"Well, son, that just won't do." Miroku said matter-of-factly, "You'll have to have it here. I'm thinking probably about two weeks from now would be a good time." Sai and Kaze's jaws dropped.

"Two weeks from now?" Sai asked incredulously.

"Why not?" Inuyasha asked.

"It seems like as good a time as any." Kagome pointed.

"It just seems a little... soon." Kaze said.

"Don't worry Kaze." Sango said cheerily, "We'll have everything ready by then."

"Great..." Sai and Kaze said, doing their best, which wasn't very good, to feign excitement. However, their parents didn't catch on and beamed. Then Inuyasha walked up to Kaze and looked him straight on the eyes, a serious expression on his face.

"You take care of my daughter, alright." He commanded.

"Yes sir." Kaze said, nodding his head, "I'll protect her with my life." A smile broke out across Inuyasha's face.

"Well then, welcome to the family!" He said loudly, taking Kaze into bear hug. Kagome followed in the welcome, though, a little toned down. Miroku and Sango did the same for Sai.

After a while, everyone started to head home to get some sleep. It had gotten late and they would need the rest. Sai slept in her house, while Kaze, Umi, Nami, and Akage all slept in Miroku and Sango's house. Inuyasha and Kagome stood over their sleeping daughter.

"Our little girl is growing up so fast." Kagome said.

"Yeah." Inuyasha agreed, "She's not so little anymore. Taking on thousands of demons and getting married aren't things that little girls concern themselves with. She's a woman now and I'm proud of her."

"I am too." Kagome said, clinging onto Inuyasha. A thought hit Kagome, "Hey Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?" He said.

"You know... It's been a while..." She told him.

"Since what?" He asked, confused.

"Oh you know..." She said, winking. Kagome took him by the hand and led him to the bedroom, Inuyasha catching on to what she meant.

Sai awoke late the next morning. The sun was already shining brightly in the sky and her parents were nowhere to be found. Sai yawned loudly, then got up and got dressed. She went to eat breakfast and found a plate of food had been laid out for her. It had a note by it. It read,

"Sai, meet me by the well. Your father and Miroku left to go slay a demon and earn some money to pay for the wedding. We'll have a mother-daughter day today!" Sai laughed.

"Oh mom," She said to herself, "you're the best." Sai quickly ate breakfast and went to the well. She left her swords behind since she wouldn't need them. If there was any danger, she could summon her other weapons or just use her claws. Nothing around here was all that strong anyway.

Sai found her mother sitting on the well waiting for her. She turned her head up as she heard Sai's footsteps.

"Sai!" Kagome cried cheerily, "You're a late sleeper." Sai laughed.

"Well I ran all day yesterday to get here. I figured I could use the sleep." Sai told her.

"I guess so." Her mother said, getting up. Kagome got up off the well and walked over to Sai and hugged her, "I'm just glad you're back in one piece."

"With a fiancé no less." Sai joked. Kagome laughed.

"I must say I wasn't expecting that one." Her mother said, breaking away from the hug, "That's actually why I wanted you to come here. I wanted to talk to you about that."

"What is it mom?" Sai asked.

"I figured that you should hear my story." Kagome told her, "Your father and I don't talk about it much, but now that you're getting married, I figured that you should know."

"What does the well have to do with that?" Sai asked, "I mean, I know that it's how you came to this world, but what else does it have to do with anything?"

"This well means a lot to me and I'll tell you why you owe everything to it." Kagome led her daughter over to the well, "You're right that this well is how I first came to this world. You know that I traveled back and forth between the two periods of time with your father when we traveled fighting Naraku, but have you ever stopped to wonder why I haven't gone back? My family is there, yet I haven't gone back once. Why do you think that is?"

"I never really thought about it. Is it because you have family here?" Sai asked.

"That's part of it, but the main reason is because I can't. I can't go back to my own time and see my family." Kagome told her, sadness creeping into her voice.

"Why?" Sai asked her mother, "Why can't you go back?"

"It's fairly complex, but essentially, it's because the Shikon Jewel no longer exists." Kagome told her, "When we defeated Naraku, I made the jewel disappear. Inuyasha and I popped out on the other side of time from the void that we were in. I was so happy that we had won, but a few moments after we had arrived, Inuyasha was pulled back into the well and it closed. I was trapped in the future, separated from your father. However, after three years of desperately wishing that I could go back to be with your father, the well finally reopened for one last time. It allowed me to come back and be with your father, to live here again, and to have you."

"Mom that's incredible. I never knew that." Sai said.

"I know." Kagome told her daughter, "I don't really like to talk about it all that much. It's painful to think about those three years where I couldn't be with your father. They were the worst years of my life." Sai nodded and looked down at the well.

"So it's closed forever?" Sai asked.

"Yes." Kagome said softly.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Came a voice from behind them. The voice laughed. Sai and her mother whirled around to face the sound, Sai flexing her claws.

"Who are you?" Kagome demanded.

"Someone who must test your daughter and her friends." The voice said. Then a blur rushed from the edge of the woods and slammed into Sai sending her flying back into the well. A massive flash of white light shot from the mouth of the well and suddenly Sai was gone.

"SAI!" Kagome screamed, "SAI!"