I thank ChibiChinaDoll for helping me.

Tetsusaiga, The Phantom Sword

Mai's father was outside of the house, just deep in thought as he looked up to the night sky. Shohei Samariba was slightly worried about his daughter, her transformation of being a half demon, traveling into another era and at a fleeting moment thought of his wife and how she would feel about it.

Then his thoughts were at ease as he saw a shooting star, flying across the sky. A shooting star was a good omen for those who need it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Inuyasha, I must return now to the netherworld." Izayoi said somberly.

"Do… do you have to?" Inuyasha said.

Izayoi was tendering looking at the medium sized lotus in her hands. Then she let go of the lotus as it started to fall apart and landed into the water.

"The petals, look into the water." Izayoi said to Inuyasha.

"Huh?" Inuyasha asked in confusion as he looked into the water as Izayoi guided him closer to the edge of the water.

The lotus petals started to move away as the water rippled in a circle forming a memory as a ball bounced across a bridge that reflected on the water.

Up on the surface on the bridge was young Inuyasha chasing the ball as he made it to the other side, kneeling for a moment. His mother was kneeling as she was surrounded by a small wall of hydrangeas, she smiled as she saw her child.

Young Inuyasha glanced over to his mother with the ball in his hand, then he tossed the ball away from him as he ran to his mother, welcomed in her arms.

The hydrangeas were in full bloom, beautiful in the plain scenery.

"That's me, back when I was still small…" Inuyasha said

The memory of the water showed Izayoi at the covered pier, holding younger Inuyasha in her arms as if she was trying to protect him against the world.

"You remember. That's good. As a child, I often held you that way. I held you to my heart, just as I am doing now." Izayoi said as she held him close to her as she did in the memory, she started to sink her hands deep into his back.

Mai was seeing the events unfolding between Inuyasha and Izayoi as she realized that something was wrong. Izayoi held him closer to her body with a tender look on her face.

"I'll never let go. Not now, not ever." Izayoi said.

"Mother…" Inuyasha said as he started to become unconscious.

'No! I've gotta do something! Come on! Damn it, body, move!' Mai thought, then she saw chains wrapping around her and Kagome as the imps surrounded them as the spikes were driven into the ground.

As the illusion started to fade and the water started to turn dark. As the lovely paradise around Inuyasha and Izayoi started turning into a nasty wasteland as the trees were dark and burden.

A skeleton of a bull half buried in the ground as a lizard crawled out from one eye socket to the other.

'I should of known. This is all an illusion!' Mai thought.

Myoga landed on Kagome. "Kagome! Snap out of it! It's me, me! Myoga the Flea!"

Mai heard Myoga and tried to get his attention as she softly growled in fury as her body wasn't responding to her, but it got Myoga's attention.

"Mistress Mai!" Myoga said as he went to her.

'Mistress?' Mai thought, confused on what he said as she tried to grunt.

Myoga could tell that Mai tried hard to get up. Then he thought of something and jumped up to Mai's ear and lightly tickled the inside of it, which she responded by flinching and quickly got up, turned her head and patted her hand to the side of her head to get Myoga out of her ear.

When the imps realized that Mai snapped out of the trance, they ran away from her.

"I see you got me up, Myoga. What's with this 'Mistress' stuff anyway?" Mai asked in seriousness as Myoga was on her shoulder.

"Well, since you have Inuyasha's blood within you, you have the title of a lineage of a powerful Demon, it shows signs of respect." Myoga explained.

Mai gasped as she realized Kagome was still in a trance. "Kagome!" She called as she ran to Kagome with Myoga landing on Kagome.

"Who've thought Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older brother, would be the one seeking the tomb! And what a foe he is! And here's Kagome, poor thing, chained head to toe. So wrapped up she couldn't even swat a… couldn't even swat a…" Myoga said as he gazed at her cheek.

Mai realized what Myoga was looking at and sneered at him. "Don't even think about it."

"Blood…" Myoga gulped as his throat was dry. He couldn't resist as he began sucking Kagome's cheek and grew larger from the blood he sucked up.

Then he was smacked by Kagome's hand as the imps ran away and the chains were undone.

"What do you know? I'm less paralyzed than I thought." Kagome said as she lifted up her hand. As Myoga was squashed flat, floating down to the ground and groaning in pain.

"Great ta hear it." Myoga said.

Inuyasha was slowly getting absorbed in the fake Izayoi body.

"My boy… my precious boy…" Fake Izayoi said, pulling even more closer into her body.

Jaken had arrived on a boat and quickly went to her.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Jaken said as he smacked her with his staff. "No soul sucking till I tell you!"

"Sorry." She apologized.

"You can have your way with him later, after he tells us how to find the tomb of Lord Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's father." Jaken said.

Kagome, Mai and Myoga were hiding in the grass, witnessing what was happening to Inuyasha.

"So that's Jaken, Sesshomaru's evil henchmen?" Kagome asked.

"Aye, but keep your eye on his staff." Myoga said.

Kagome nodded in understanding of his warning.

"Inuyasha. Inuyasha!" fake Izayoi said as he was subconsciously underwater wrapped in her arms.

"Your father's tomb… where is it? Please tell me." fake Izayoi pleaded to him.

"I don't know…" Inuyasha said.

"Then think harder! Let me see into your heart." Fake Izayoi said as her extended hands whirled in the water reaching for a glowing black pearl.

"What's that?!" She asked.

"Black pearl on the right…" Inuyasha mumbled.

"What black pearl? Where? We need more than that! Go deeper!" Jaken shouted.

"But Lord Jaken, if I delve deeper, his spirit will be broken." Fake Izayoi said.

"I don't care! Do it!" Jaken said.

Fake Izayoi nodded "Inuyasha, shh…" She said as she tried to choke him.

"Mother, I can't breathe." Inuyasha said as bubbles passed from his mouth as he turned and saw that his mother had no face with her long arms holding him.

"Huh? Her face… that means she… " Inuyasha started to choke as more of the fake Izayoi arms were tangled around him.

"What's taking so long?! Get a move on before Lord Sesshomaru comes back and-" Jaken said as his staff disappeared and Kagome stepped on Jaken.

"You mean, stinking little toad!" Kagome said as she swung his staff like a baseball bat which sent him flying and landed in the middle of the pond with a splash.

The false mother moved away, still holding Inuyasha in her body.

"Wait! Let him go, please!" Kagome begged as she chased the fake mother.

"No!" Fake mother moved away from Kagome.

"Hey get back here! And let Inuyasha go!" Mai yelled as she followed Kagome.

As Inuyasha was getting absorbed even further into her body until he almost disappeared.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" Kagome called as she grabbed his hair but she slipped and fell.

"She's sucking him into her! What are we gonna do?!" Kagome said.

"Kagome! His spirit. Awaken it!" Myoga said.

"Spirit? But how am I…" Kagome asked

"Behold, the Un-Mother! Born from the grief of losing children to famine and war. She seeks to fill the void within herself by taking the spirits of others, in this case, Inuyasha!" Myoga said.

"I'm with you so far, but how do you suggest we-" Kagome said as she gasped as she got an idea of what to do.

"I think...I have an idea what we could do." Mai said as she looked at the water.

"That's the way… Soon we'll be together, always…" Un-mother said.

"There's no time to-" Kagome said as she gasped in realization of how to awaken his spirit.

"Look!" Mai said as she pointed to the water's surface where it showed the Inuyasha as a young child being held by faceless Izayoi.

"That child, is he Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

"An illusion, but yes, that's how it works." Myoga said.

"So if I erase the illusion…" Kagome realized as she ran into the pond and swung the staff into the water.

"Inuyasha! Snap out of it!" Kagome shouted as the water disrupted the illusion.

The Un-mother screamed as she fell back and Inuyasha was released from her body with thud onto the ground.

Kagome went to him and sat him up, to make sure he was alright.

"Oh, Inuyasha… are you ok?" Kagome asked as Mai went beside Kagome as she looked at the Un-Mother.

Inuyasha panting as he was getting air in his lungs as he seemed to be in a trance and started to snap out of it.

"How dare she! You pretended to be… I fell for it! I can't believe I thought she was my…!" Inuyasha shouted to the Un-Mother.

"But it was Jaken and your brother, Sesshomaru who..." Kagome said.

"What did you-" Inuyasha said as he groaned in pain.

"Inuyasha... I know where it is now." Sesshomaru said clearly as he came towards them from the desolated fields.

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha shouted to his half-brother as Sesshomaru sped towards Inuyasha and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him to his level.

"You bast-" Inuyasha snarled but was interrupted by Sesshomaru as he tightened his grip.

"Of all the places for him to hide it… all this time, below our very own noses. Or to be technical, above our very noses. Right above, one might say. Father was determined to keep it a secret, which is why he chose here to hide it." Sesshomaru said.

Inuyasha struggled under his brother's grasps "What are you talking about?! You're making no sense at all!"

"Well then, little brother, since it was obviously done without your knowledge, how would you like to come with me and find out?" Sesshomaru said as he put his two claw fingers close to Inuyasha's left eye, zapping at it.

Kagome gasped in terror as she witnessed what was happening to Inuyasha and Mai was unsure what to do. As to say, interfering with them at that moment may do more harm than good.

"Lord Inuyasha!" Myoga shouted to him.

Sesshomaru still held Inuyasha by his neck as he gradually pulled out an object, then he put it in his hand. Sesshomaru let go of Inuyasha as he landed onto his back while he held his left eye unsure what had just happened.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted to him as she went to his side.

"What the hell happened?" Mai asked, still in confusion.

Sesshomaru chuckled a bit as he realized the answer to the riddle. "No wonder searching for it beneath ground was useless. 'Seeing, yet never seen. Protected, yet never known to its protector.' Our father's tomb, hidden inside a black pearl deep within your eye."

Inuyasha sat up still holding his left eye in anger, then he moved his hand as it revealed his golden left eye but there was no pupil.

"And all for something like that?! You pretended she was my mother!" Inuyasha said as he looked to the Un-Mother as she was on the ground still as stone.

"You're not amused?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Of course not! No one would be! It was sick!" Mai yelled in frustration.

"She's right, I'm not… You bastard!" Inuyasha reached out to attack Sesshomaru but he jumped in the air to avoid him.

"Die!" Sesshomaru brought out his poison whip and Inuyasha avoided being whipped by it a few times but then he got struck in the chest by the whip.

Mai went to the Un-Mother, glaring down at her with harshness and pity in her eyes.

"You started out a victim. Now you've become a monster. What would your real child think if they saw you like this? Would they want to see you with no face, absorbing souls?" Mai asked her to bring Un-Mother to clarity to the right side. "I don't give a damn about that. If that happened to my mother...I- it would be hard to imagine that.. Would you do anything for your child?"

Sesshomaru was still in the air ready to strike again with his poison whip at Inuyasha, suddenly the Un-Mother was in front of him taking the hit. Kagome was in awe of what the Un-Mother had done as she burst into pieces.

Inuyasha was stunned for a moment but turned to her as her head was the only thing left from the impact.

"The Un-Mother!" Myoga said.

"She gave her life to protect him." Kagome said.

"Demon spirit or not, she still had a mother's heart. And isn't protecting her child what a mother can't help but do?" Myoga said.

"My boy…" Un-Mother said fondly.

Then Sesshomaru brought out his whip again and the Un-Mother ceased to exist.

"Hey, you!" Kagome shouted at him.

"Kagome, don't! Or he'll kill us all!" Myoga said.

"Be quiet!" Kagome said.

Jaken woke up from being hit and was crawling on the ground.

"Jaken. Jaken!" Sesshomaru said.

"Ye, me Lord!" Jaken said as he went to Seshomaru with his staff in his hand. "Lord Sesshomaru, the Staff of Skulls is ours once more!"

Sesshomaru looked at the black pearl as he took the staff from Jaken.

"At last the moment has come." Sesshomaru put the black pearl on the ground as he raised the staff and hit it on top of the black pearl, breaking it.

The staff of two heads turned to the old man side, as it was re-animated and started to laugh.

"The old man laughs! That means the tomb will open!" Jaken said as the portal opened. Sesshomaru turned to look at Inuyasha, Kagome and Mai. Then he turned away from them and went through the portal with Jaken following behind him.

"They're gone!" Kagome said.

Myoga jumped onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "Inuyasha, we must move quickly before it's closed! Do you want your brother to take sole possession of your father's treasure?"

"Let him. What do I care?" Inuyasha said.

"But sire!" Myoga pleaded to him.

"I never said I'm not going there, ok?"

Although it was faint, Mai sensed something through the portal, as if something was calling to her. Inuyasha held his shoulder as he had an injury from battling with Sesshomaru.

"Say your prayers, Sesshomaru… You're dead! You stay here, it's too dangerous for yo- huh?" Inuyasha started but then saw Kagome half way in the the portal.

"What do you want? An invitation?" Kagome asked as she went all the way through the portal. Mai jumped through the portal following Kagome.

"Hey!" Inuyasha said as he followed them in pursuit of Sesshomaru.

Kagome and Mai were gliding through the portal.

"You realize Sesshomaru's there?" Inuyasha asked factually as he was right next to them.

"Well duh! That's why we've gotta go! No one does that no matter who he is!" Kagome said in confidence.

"I don't really care if he is there. I have my own reasons for going." Mai said with determination.

Then they were upside down as they saw stone hedges with white misty clouds around them but what stood out was a massive skeleton with armor.

As they were flying down to the stone hedges at full speed as Inuyasha grabbed Mai with one hand and Kagome with the other. Then a flying skeletal creature came up behind them, they landed on the back of the creature and headed towards the massive armored skeleton.

"Father…" Inuyasha said in awe of his father's body.

"Those bones there are your dad?" Kagome asked in astonishment.

"What else would they be?" Inuyasha asked, confused by what she meant about that.

As they circled around to avoid the other creatures and back to the massive skeleton.

"Not that he wasn't alive once too, but… what do you mean what else?! They're huge, ok?!" Kagome said.

"It's true! They're huge because he himself was of incomparable stature. Here he is in truest form, undisguised. The treasured sword imbedded in his bones... That is what Lord Sesshomaru is after." Myoga said.

Mai stood up as the creature they were riding was still moving. "Well, in there isn't where I need to go."

"Huh?!...What do you mean by that?" Kagome asked as she looked at Mai.

"Something's calling to me. I don't know why, but I feel like it's been waiting for me."

"Well if you go on this scavenger hunt, based on a feeling that something is calling you..sure go, but don't complain if you get left behind." Inuyasha said.

"Thanks... Inuyasha for being soooo supportive of me." Mai said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"If you sense something you need to find Mai, go ahead and find it...be sure to come back with us." Kagome said.

"Well...fine, just be sure to come back when it's time." Inuyasha said.

"Don't worry...I'll come back in time..if you need me just shout...I'll come and find you guys... Just..be careful alright. " Mai said as she went to search for what she was looking for.

"I'll come with you Mistress Mai." Myoga said as he jumped on Mai.

"Please...as I told you...call me Mai." Mai went away from Inuyasha and Kagome. What she didn't know was that she was being called forth to her destiny as fate was told from the words.