"Why. Do. They. Live. Up. So. Many. Stairs..." whined Tsukiyo.
"Shut up and walk, Tsu-nee," complained Tatsuya who was suffering right up there with her.
Nana had happily allowed them to take a few days off to visit their cousins. Then again they were going armed with an escort...namely Hibari who had been promised a proper fight if he agreed to come with them. Fon was busy training I-Pin at the moment, so was unavailable.
Finally they reached the top...only to see someone wearing period clothing with long silver hair, golden eyes and a cap.
"..."
"Who the hell are you three?" snarled the cosplayer.
Except Tsukiyo had become something of an expert at telling the difference between a recreated period outfit and the real thing.
And she had seen someone who looked a lot like this guy before some time ago when she was wandering with Ieyasu to visit another village one week. He was older and had a little human girl with him, but there was a resemblance.
"...Are you by any chance related to a guy named Sesshomaru?" she asked slowly.
The 'cosplayer' twitched and almost went for his sword. Hibari's eyes gleamed at the potential challenge.
"Inuyasha, SIT!"
The cosplayer went flat on the ground from an enchanted necklace around his neck, revealing two very furry ears on his head.
"I'm sorry about that. You know Sesshomaru?" asked a girl wearing a sailor fuku. Hibari looked disappointed.
"Ran into him once, with his adopted daughter. I don't care what he might say otherwise, demons don't allow human children to be part of their pack unless they consider them family. Are you Kagome?"
Kagome Higurashi blinked.
"How do you know my name?"
"Tsukiyo Sawada, and this is my brother Tatsuya. The grumpy panther next to me is a friend. I'm your cousin once removed," said Tsukiyo. "As for how I know Sesshomaru... well, it seems time traveling runs in the family."
Kagome wasn't the only one gaping. Inuyasha, if that was the half-demon's name, stared too.
Hibari... was just happy she compared him to a superior carnivore instead of a damn house cat.
"I think we need to sit down and talk about this properly," said Kagome after a moment.
Spotting the younger cousin, Souta, Tsukiyo grinned.
"I came armed with video games to bond with."
Souta and Tatsuya shared a look.
"Best. Sister. Ever," said Tatsuya, who grinned upon seeing what she had. Souta nodded in agreement, eyes glued to the game that he fortunately had a console for.
The two younger boys suitably distracted, Kagome set out some tea while Inuyasha tried to stare down Hibari.
"So...time travel?"
"There's another well made from the tree of ages in Namimori. I fell into it and found myself in the feudal era. Took me a few hours to figure out how it worked and that was mostly because I was captured by idiot bandits due to my resemblance to our grandfather. Or great great grandfather in your case. He was very shocked meeting me, because I'm almost a dead ringer for him."
She pulled out her phone.
"Fortunately Ieyasu-nii isn't one of those fools who believes cameras steal your soul," she said amused.
Kagome had to blink, before eagerly scrolling through pictures.
"Our grandfather isn't Japanese?"
"He's Italian, actually. And it's mostly my fault we're related... you see the blond with blue eyes standing at the edge?" asked Tsukiyo. Kagome nodded. "The two of them are still 'in the closet', since the time period wasn't exactly nice to people who didn't like 'acceptable' bed partners."
Kagome took a moment to process that for a moment, before she got it.
"Wait... if he likes the other guy then how..."
"I told him that if he wanted to keep that fact quiet and not stir up rumors, considering the time period, then to find a girl already pregnant who would be willing to keep her mouth shut in exchange for a husband who would take care of her and her child. Ieyasu-nii agreed it was a good idea, since he recently married our grandmother. She'll have a few heirs to keep people quiet in exchange for a bit of silence on his actual preferences... same for Alaude who married another woman for the same reason. From what I can tell your line is either an off-shoot of the first child or from the second son... I wasn't able to find any records to figure out which."
Kagome mulled over this particular bit of family history, before dragging her grandfather in.
He brought out a family scroll that had the previous generations until they hit "Ieyasu Sawada".
Sure enough, there he was next to the Higurashi name. Apparently Kagome was descended from the third child, which made them blood cousins. The first child died without any heirs during one of the many conflicts during the Warring States era...likely trying to find his birth father, if one were to be honest.
"So you said that there's another well in Namimori?" asked Kagome.
"I can give you the village name. Not sure if you could use it to go back and forth, but if you could then we could visit," said Tsukiyo hopefully. "Plus you get to meet Ieyasu-nii and the others. They already had some rather amusing reactions because I looked so much like him, so meeting his other granddaughter would be hilarious."
"I know the feeling," commiserated Kagome. "I look like his ex-girlfriend, who died fifty years by that time period. Worse, some idiot managed to resurrect her so now we have to deal with that mess."
"Ouch," said Tsukiyo with sympathy. "Look on the bright side... at least now you have someone to share the headaches of time travel and have girl talk without hiding the fact you go between time periods through a well."
Kagome could have cried with relief, it was that bad. Having to hide the truth was a total nightmare, especially on her grades. So having someone to commiserate with made her life a little bit easier.
So much so that she didn't hesitate to go into the well with Tsukiyo while Hibari kept an eye on the two boys.
Kagome had a rather wide smile.
"Kagome, you're back early," noted Sango.
"And who's this lovely lady?" asked Miroku.
"Touch me and I'll demonstrate exactly how much I know about causing pain in perverts," growled Tsukiyo. "This is your only warning and I will not hesitate."
Sango liked her immediately. Her grin was positively vicious.
"Tell me more."
"Is it alright if I hold your cat?" asked Tsukiyo hopefully. The nekomata was beyond adorable.
Sango nodded, and Kirara was happily purring in the other girl's arms.
Miroku, if he had heard even a fraction of the things Tsukiyo was happily sharing with Sango, would have been left terrified and worried about his man bits. Especially the man bits.
The fact Tsukiyo had absolutely no problem teaching Sango new ways to keep him in line was bad enough.
Eventually Kagome and Tsukiyo went back to their time period, but it was like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders now that they had someone to share their misery with.
Even if Inuyasha had to let Tsukiyo rub his ears for a few minutes. He would deny the fact she was really good at it though.
Two weeks later
Giotto looked at his other granddaughter with no little amount of shock and incredulity.
"You just had to find your cousins," he said, pinching his nose.
"To be fair, she's been at this longer and didn't know where to look," said Tsukiyo amused. "Though this really begs the question of whether it's something in your bloodline or possibly your Flames that allows this sort of thing to happen to begin with."
"True. And it brings the question of whether I can travel as well," mused Giotto.
"Not until you start producing nieces and nephews for me to potentially spoil," said Tsukiyo without hesitation. "I'm still baffled how I managed to bring Fon with me, since we haven't been able to do it twice."
Giotto pouted.
"I can't believe you call him Ieyasu-nii," said Kagome amused.
"Would you believe me if I showed up and called myself his great grandchild, when we look like siblings?" deadpanned Tsukiyo.
"Point," conceded Kagome. "How did you manage to get a Catholic priest to be tolerated in this time period anyway?"
"Compared the Western god to a Buddha mixed with a very diversified Kami on the same level as Amaterasu and told him to tone down the sermons. He's mostly treated like a Buddhist monk now," said Tsukiyo. "Once you know how the general populous reacts, the rest is easy. Add a bit of hair dye and most people learn to ignore the fact that Ieyasu and the others are technically foreigners. If it wasn't for Asari-san being so well respected in the area, they'd be lucky to have been able to stay this long before they were 'politely' asked to leave in a permanent fashion."
Kagome blinked, before nodding.
"Good point. They were about ready to lynch me the first time I traveled to this period simply because I was wearing my school uniform and was caught in Inuyasha's forest. They openly thought me a demon until the resident miko realized I looked way too much like her dead sister to be a coincidence."
"Wait... you're the girl who broke the Shikon no Tama?!" said Giotto incredulous. Kagome flushed at that. "How?"
"How do you even know about that?"
"I travel a lot and demons are more inclined to talk to the 'gaijin' than the locals until they get used to me. Besides, Sesshomaru drops Rin off every so often so he can get his own thing done while knowing we're not exactly inclined to take her away from him because he's a demon," shrugged Giotto. He eyed Inuyasha. "And while he's not really fond of you he does have a little bit of respect for the fact you've survived this long with minimal to no help. He just finds you irritating because you're still a kid in his opinion."
Inuyasha blinked at that.
"He does?" said Tsukiyo.
"He likes the fact we're respectful without running for the first exorcist we can find the second he reveals his less than human nature. In all honesty the Vindice scare the hell out of me more... he's just an overgrown dog with supernatural powers," shrugged Giotto. "Not that I'll ever say that to his face, of course. I like having it attached to the rest of me and not melted."
Because seriously if those claws of his weren't the demon equivalent of Storm flames he'd eat his hat.
That being said, Kagome and Tsukiyo were hardly the only ones to coo at the adorable baby that Giotto's wife had given birth to a couple of months ago. Sango was right there with them.
"Tsu-kun! Guess what I found in the mailbox!" said Nana smiling.
Tsukiyo took one look at the flier and immediately knew it was a total set up. Her paranoia was high as she kept an eye out for anyone suspicious in the area. A few times she almost caught a hint of something black at the edge of her vision, along with the familiar feel of a certain curse.
So much so that she was texting Fon during lunch about any particular news that had hit the mafia grapevine recently.
Reborn (Sun Arcobaleno) sent by Vongola Nono to train last acceptable heir to the rings to take over as Vongola Decimo. ~Fon
Tsukiyo blinked, before swearing quite viciously in English.
This Reborn wear primarily black? There's something that's been pinging at the edge of my senses for hours since Mama found suspicious flier in mailbox this morning. ~Tsuki
Reborn is a fully licensed tutor. Odds are he's still operating under assumption you are clueless civilian... his last student was rather spineless until he got through with them, from what I was told. And yes, his preferred color is black, though he has a very extensive cosplay closet. ~Fon
Great. Just what she didn't need...she'd sooner see the Vongola burn to the ground and rebuild it from the ashes of what it had become than deal with that many headaches.
The fact her suspicions were confirmed when she returned from school, only to find a "toddler" wearing an all too familiar pacifier around his neck and a small chameleon on his hat did not bode well for her mellow.
Tsukiyo took one look at Reborn before sighing.
She almost regretted throwing out the entire liquor cabinet. Almost.
Nana had been so unhappy with her, except Tsukiyo had been thoroughly disgusted by the fact that Iemitsu had tried to give Tatsuya "magic water" and wanted to send a message to the ass. Namely that she wasn't about to let the jerk get her precious little brother drunk on her watch.
Reborn at least waited until they were in her room before he confronted her.
"I'm here to turn you into a mafia boss," he announced.
Where had her peaceful life gone?