A/N: First off I'd like to thank Nizuna Fujieda for her review on chapter 5, thank you. =) I'd also like to thank anyone who added this story or it's author to their lists, thanks again. =)

Here the story really gets going and the main plot is properly introduced. Enjoy! =D

Timeless

Chapter 6 - Visitors

Waking up that morning as the sun streamed onto her face Kagome sighed softly and snuggled more deeply into the warmth that was right next to her. Contentment washed through her and she felt like she never wanted to wake up. It was around that time that she began to remember roughly what the warmth next to her could be. And shot straight up, all thoughts of more sleep having fled from her head.

And sure enough it was Inuyasha next to her. He grumbled slightly and reached out to where she had been before, also missing the previous warmth that had been there. Getting up ever so quietly she made her way towards Kaede's hut and slipped into the small room that made up the whole living space. Thankfully no one awoke so unless Inuyasha mentioned something or even remembered in the first place, everyone would think that she had slept here the whole night. All of her thoughts flew around like hornets in her head. Had she really enjoyed sleeping next to Inuyasha that much? And then immediately coloured when other connotations with that sentence arose. Miroku was most definitely never finding out. And Sango would never be allowed to tell Miroku. Or Shippo for that matter. Or even remind or ask Inuyasha about it.

Holding her head she gave up all pretenses of sleep when Yukari got up, the young woman obviously having recovered from the hardship from the day before. She looked extremely well rested.

"Do you feel any better?" Kagome turned her body to face the woman as she drank some water.

Taking another sip Yukari nodded. "Yeah, I feel much better already. It just always takes a lot of effort when I use those powers. At least if I use them for temporal or dimensional travel." She smiled down at Kagome. "We'll be leaving this morning though, probably within the next couple of hours so I'm hoping I can get some stocks before we leave again. Sesshomaru might be able to survive on raw meat alone but Kohaku and I most certainly can't."

Kagome laughed. "And Jaken and Ah-Un?"

"Ah-Un's a herbivore so that's all covered and Jaken eats whatever he can find I guess. At least I've never really seen him actively partake in a meal that anyone else has created." Yukari's brow furrowed in though, obviously thinking about what Jaken didn't and did eat.

"Yeah that's true." Kagome smiled again as she got up, all thoughts of sleep now thrown away. She had to get ready too. She was the miko in residence now after all.

~.~.~.~.~

Two hours later found the whole group united once more, standing outside at the outskirts of the village looking into the distance.

"So he's gone then?" Inuyasha turned to Kagome, she had been the only one awake when Sesshomaru and his group had left.

She nodded. "Yup. They left about an hour ago."

"So that bastard just up and left again, did he?" Inuyasha growled. Now he remembered why he couldn't stand Sesshomaru again.

"Well I guess we should have expected it." Miroku sighed as he saw his friend's angry face. Sesshomaru just wouldn't change he guessed.

"But he did leave this." Kagome held up a letter after taking it out of her miko robes. "Here you go." She handed it to Inuyasha. "He told me to give it to you."

Expectantly Inuyasha opened the letters and quickly scanned over it, the others standing behind him and reading over his shoulders.

"He wants us to come to the Taishou castle in a few months time after his travels so that he can introduce us to the clan." Sango looked slightly dazed.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Miroku asked Inuyasha as he helped Sango sit down. The pregnancy was beginning to wear her out.

"I don't think we have any choice." Inuyasha grumbled as he looked at the letter. He knew better than anyone else what happened when the clan got upset. And the clan would most definitely be upset by this. Especially the clan elders.

"There's more." Kagome squinted at the last paragraph at the bottom. "He said that he would come and collect us after taking care of something." Her brow furrowed. "He also said that he would try to find out what has caused the crest to appear on us."

"Keh. Trust him to say that. He probably just wants to find some way to reverse it." Inuyasha muttered. He obviously was pretty annoyed about the whole affair himself. Miroku had the sneaking suspicion that Inuyasha had been planning to do what Sesshomaru was doing right now. And he was probably more annoyed about the fact that Sesshomaru had done so before him rather than being annoyed about Sesshomaru leaving.

Kagome glanced sideways at Inuyasha. "Well there's nothing we can do about it. I mean we could go out and search for the person who did this ourselves but that wouldn't work with Sango being pregnant."

"I'm sorry." Sango looked regretful.

"Why? There's nothing you should be sorry about. I was just saying that it would be very inconsiderate of us if we did." Kagome reassured her friend quickly.

"Thank you Kagome." A tear rolled down Sango's cheek.

"Sango?" Miroku asked, completely confused now.

"It's nothing." Sango waved her hand quickly and wiped the tear away.

"Pregnant women." Inuyasha muttered.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome's voice took on a dangerous ring. "Sit boy!"

"He'll never learn." Shippo said wisely and nodded his head wisely. She rolled her eyes back at him. Both of them were in strong agreement about this.

"What did he say?" Sango and Miroku turned to Kagome as she began to stamp off.

"Nothing." She bit off, marching towards the village.

"Ow..." Inuyasha began to get up. He was distracted from the pain of making a new crater in the ground as he caught a scent in the wind. It wasn't one he particularily liked. "It couldn't be..." He growled just as a whirlwind raced past him.

"My sweetest and most fairest Kagome." Suddenly Koga was on the ground in front of Kagome on one knee, holding one of her hands as he reached down and kissed it.

"Wolf..." Inuyasha was growling dangerously.

Koga completely ignored him. "How long have I waited to catch a whiff of your scent. I knew that if I waited long enough I would be able to see your beautiful face again..." And on went the round of compliments. Kagome seemed to be temporarily stunned into silence. It had, after all, been quite some time since Koga had appeared in front of her so spontaneously.

"Isn't he married?" Shippo turned to Miroku.

"I thought he was..." Miroku trailed off, attempting to keep the amusement off of his face. Inuyasha was still suffering from the after effects of the spell and trying with all his might to get up.

"Mew!" Kirara had seemed to think so too.

"Koga!" A shout behind them made them all turn around. Kagome seemed to wake up, shaking her head viciously.

"He is married." Sango smirked as Ayame arrived at the place where they were all gathered.

"What do you think you're doing?" She looked absolutely furious.

"Koga!" Another shout made them turn around. Ginta and Hakkaku were arriving several minutes after their leader as usual. In Kagome it called forth a nostalgic feeling.

"Ayame!" Hakkaku panted as he came to a stop along with Ginta. Several wolves collapsed on the ground around them. Miroku didn't want to know how long they had been running for.

"Koga. Ayame. And Ginta and Hakkaku. It's so good to see you all again." Kagome smiled, happy tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"It has been too long my sweet Kagome..." Koga began once more.

"Koga..." Twin voiced growled out his name. One of them was Ayame as she had her hands fisted at her side. The other was Inuyasha as he lunged at Koga.

"Get your hands off her you manky wolf!" Koga danced around Inuyasha as the former lunged at him again and again with his claws.

"Mutt, I guess it's good to see you again." Koga stopped at what he percieved to be a safe distance from Inuyasha. He forgot all about Ayame.

"Koga!" Now she lunged at him and got him by the ear. In what seemed to be a very painful position she pulled him across the meadow by the ear. Soon they were out of sight. The demons present winced though at the dressing down she was giving him. Sometimes it would be better not to have such enhanced hearing.

"Wasn't that Ayame?" Kagome turned to the others present.

"Yup." Ginta nodded. "She and Koga are married now."

"I'm sorry Kagome." Hakkaku truly did look sorry.

"Why should you be?" Kagome looked confused. She was happy that Ayame and Koga had finally gotten together, in her opinion they always had belonged together.

"Didn't you love Koga?" Ginta wasn't one to be particularily tactful at that moment in time. He was still out of breath from having to run after Koga and Ayame for the past two days non-stop alongside Hakkaku.

Kagome's face turned bright red and the others all shuffled in embarrassment. It had only ever been the wolf demon tribe who had thought so. Everyone else had seen that Kagome had already given her heart to a certain hanyou.

"Um... not...not really." She managed to stutter out, unsure of how to tell her two friends that she hadn't been in love with their leader despite their convictions that she had been. "I mean, I love him as a friend... but nothing more!" She quickly blurted out, not wanting to hurt anybody's feelings. She still had a soft and caring heart after all and she was pretty sure that Koga was listening with at least one of his ears. Ayame probably still had the other one in tight control.

Miroku just sighed tiredly. He guessed that the wolf demons would never learn. Kagome would never admit it to anyone but Sango that she was in love with Inuyasha, but to the rest of them it was as clear as day. Even to Koga, which was probably one of the reasons why he couldn't stand Inuyasha as much as he did. Miroku was pretty sure that Koga thought that he was still the better option for Kagome, despite being married. He guessed that some loves just wouldn't die. But the same went to both Kagome and Inuyasha. He and Sango should just conspire against the two to admit their feelings for each other outright. It was infuriating watching his two friends being so stubborn about their admissions to one another. He grinned to himself. That was actually a very good idea, he should propose it to Sango as soon as possible. She might disagree at first, due to her sense of honour and decorum, but she would eventually agree. He knew she would. She wanted those two together even more than he did.

Suddenly Inuyasha looked up at the sky, sniffing the air precariously. His ears twitched and his eyes widened as some sort of realisation seemed to hit him. Kagome was still stammering on in the background to the uncomprehending Ginta and Hakkaku that she did not, in fact, love their leader as they had percieved it.

"It can't be..." Inuyasha muttered in annoyance. There was no way in hell that he was picking up her scent. As far as he knew, she never even left the castle that was situated in the mountains to the far west of here.

But just as he thought he had been imagining things a bright ball crashed into him and he yelped as he and the ball crashed into the nearest tree. It was just his luck to be assaulted by both that manky wolf and now this old hag as well. He guessed the good luck from yesterday just didn't want to stick around. At least now he knew why Sesshomaru had taken off so suddenly. If his brother had even suspected that this woman would be turning up then it truly was no wonder that he had wanted to leave straight away the evening before. He growled softly in annoyance. Sesshomaru could have warned him at least.

Koga and Ayame immediately appeared in the meadow beside Ginta and Hakkaku. They had, of course, heard the crash and had immediately come to investigate.

"Oh, it's you." Inuyasha glowered up at the form of his stepmother. He and her had never been on especially good terms. One of the reasons being that she always tended to crash into him whenever she arrived. He swore that she did it just to annoy him. When she had done it the first time shortly after his mother's death, he had been perilously close to ripping her head off. He knew he wouldn't have stood the chance but at that moment in time his emotions had been exceptionally raw.

"Lady Taishou, I never fail to understand why exactly you do that." Another figure got up off the ground next to him and he was surprised to see a black inuyoukai. His stepmother was travelling with someone else now?

"Hmpf." His stepmother was obviously deciding to ignore that last statement of the demoness. "Inuyasha, it's good to see you again."

"The pleasure's all mine." He snapped out in annoyance.

"Inuyasha, who is that exactly?" Kagome asked carefully, seeing only too well his enraged features. The person, or to be more precise, demoness, who had crashed into Inuyasha was a small graceful demoness who surprisingly reminded her of Sesshomaru. They certainly bore the same crescent moon on their foreheads. Only that Sesshomaru's was a tad darker. And the other demon, who was quite a fair bit taller than the white-haired demoness, had called her 'Lady Taishou'. Could this be Sesshomaru's mother? Why then had he run?

"This here is my stepmother, Lady Satomi Taishou of the Western Lands." Inuyasha bit off. He just wanted her to go again. He had never been particularily comfortable around his eccentric, and most certainly slightly insane, stepmother.

"Oh pffsht, you make me sound so old. Just call me Lady Satomi." She smiled charmingly at the company around her and they all weren't certain whether they liked her or not. For one they had heard several stories from Inuyasha about her. And the wolf demons certainly didn't like her that much, especially Koga.

"Is my son somewhere around?" Lady Satomi looked around herself, trying to pick up the scent of her son. She had been sure that he had been here.

"He took off this morning with the rest of his group around about four hours ago." Inuyasha decided to grace her with an answer. The sooner she knew that Sesshomaru wasn't here, the sooner she was likely to leave.

"Was Yukari with him by any chance?" The other demoness looked at them imploringly, worry for her friend written in her eyes.

"That other woman?" Miroku asked.

Rina nodded her head up and down. Sesshomaru never travelled with anyone, much less a woman. It could only be Yukari.

"Yeah, there was another woman with him. They didn't seem to get along very well though." Miroku was perplexed at the smile that overcame both demoness' faces.

"It was her then." Lady Satomi nodded wisely.

"You be happy that she left with Sesshomaru, she would kill you for what you did if she were here." Rina turned indignantly to Lady Satomi who just waved her hand nonchalantly.

"Just let her try. Anyway it's not my fault that she was the one who delivered the present to Sesshomaru."

"You put her up for it." Rina retorted quickly.

"She'll get over it." Lady Satomi turned back to Inuyasha. The doubt in Rina's eyes spoke otherwise though. Yukari was known to hold a grudge if insulted deeply enough. And she was pretty sure that this time the insult had been deep enough.

"So he's left already then." Satomi turned to the horizon. "He must have sensed it too then." Her eyes held a faraway glance. The worry in them was what bothered Inuyasha.

"Sensed what?"

"The return of the one you call Naraku." Satomi whispered softly. Everyone stiffened. It had gone a deadly silent.

"What?" Inuyasha was incredulous, it couldn't be possible.

"But we killed him." Kagome declared indignantly. "I purified him myself."

"I truly don't know how, but on our way here we smelled him and sensed his growing prescence. Something has happened between that demon's journey between this world and the next. Something that disrupted his transition. He will be back once he has the power to do so. I believe that my son will try to vanquish him before it comes to that."

Her news left them all in a state of shock. Naraku couldn't be back. He couldn't. They had purified him, defeated him after running after him for such a long time. Naraku couldn't be back. If he was then they were all in danger again because that monster was sure to want his revenge for being defeated before. Inuyasha clenched his fist. Now he understood why Sesshomaru had wanted to leave so urgently. He had wanted to be the one to kill Naraku.

"I came here to bring those news, nothing more." With that Satomi turned away again and began to form an orb around herself and Rina. They had to be getting back to the castle.

"Wait!" Kagome called out. Satomi turned to her with amusement in her eyes. What could this human girl possibly want?

"Sesshomaru asked me to give this to the white-haired woman that would come looking for him. I think I'm right in assuming that it's you." Kagome handed her a missive which Satomi took gracefully. What would her son have to say to her?

She winced as she read the first page of the letter. In it he was mainly ranting on and on about the audacity of her to give him the present she had. She was pretty sure that a lot of it had come from Yukari too. The second page had her stare at it in shock though. She turned slowly to the others around her. "You are now a part of the clan?" Inuyasha winced. Why had his brother told his stepmother that again?

He nodded weakly, not being exactly sure what her reaction would be. He certainly didn't expect the wide grin that appeared on her face, revealing some of her fangs.

"Rina, come on we have to hurry back to the castle. We have to get everything ready for their appearance and introduction to court!" They all stared at her in horror, the demoness called Rina included.

"What?" Sango echoed the thoughts of everyone present.

"Well now that you are part of the clan it is my duty to ensure your successful entry into court. Don't worry I will take care of all of it. I may have to send Rina back though to take some measurements so that we can make you some fine clothes..." Lady Satomi turned away musing and rumbling and suddenly the sphere formed around her and Rina. "Come on, we have to hurry now!" She exclaimed and they zoomed off. Shippo swore that the poor dark-haired demoness looked slightly ill at the sudden motion.

"We're in trouble. She's absolutely mad." Miroku muttered. He did not want to be introduced to a demon court full of nobles.

"In every sense of the word." Sango muttered.

"We're doomed." Inuyasha plonked down on the floor.

Shippo just nodded sadly in agreement, at a loss for words.

"Naraku and your stepmother. Now I'm afraid." Kagome shivered slightly despite the warm air around her and the sun in the sky. She wasn't sure which of the two she feared more. A vengeful demon out to kill them or an insane stepmother, intent on introducing them to a demon noble court. Now she knew why she didn't like having visitors.