A/N - Refresh the page if you don't see a word count at the bottom. I uploaded the wrong chapter first.

Also, I just want to thank those of you who read and leave reviews. I know this is a very slow build-up and we haven't even gotten to Kouga yet, but we're getting there. Thanks for your patience and support!

Chapter 4 - An Unveiling of Truth

Kagome stepped past the boundary of the forest and took shelter under the canopy of darkness provided by the branches overhead. A glance over her shoulder showed the girl who had been following her hesitating at the outskirts. Kagome did not gloat, but she did relax.

It was always the same. Some student or another would bombard her with aggression and questions. She would try to ignore them, but they were persistent and always followed her, muttering expletives, and telling her she didn't belong here. It wasn't until she reached the forest and took shelter there that they left her alone.

She sighed and turned away from the girl walking away. Setting her backpack down, she knelt and pulled out the collapsible long bow and sheath of equally collapsible arrows. It took several minutes to set everything up, but after that first encounter in the woods, she made sure to never enter unarmed again. Nestling her backpack into the roots of the nearest tree, she tossed her quiver over her back, attached her water bottle to a belt loop, and gripping her bow, strode further into the woods.

The forest was as peaceful as it always was—dark and cool, filled with bird sound and skittering animals in the underbrush. Though Kagome wondered what stopped the other students from following her into the woods, she didn't really question it. All the better for her, to have a sanctuary they would not tread upon.

Striding through the woods, she made her way to the small clearing she'd claimed as her own. It was the same one she'd helped that little boar youkai in. Though she had not sensed any other youkai after that day, she still came a few times every week to search.

Settling down with her back against a tree, she set her bow in her lap and drew an arrow—just in case.

A deep breath and she settled into the core of her power. This part had gotten easier over time as she sank deep within the purity overlaying her soul. Another breath and she spread out a net of purity, covering the forest inch by inch. Even with her eyes closed she could see the flickering souls of the animals that made their home here, the soft lights of the trees and plants that made up the forest.

As always, it was quiet. It had been months since she'd seen that first youkai. Kagome would have thought it was her imagination if not for the new scar on the inside of her wrist from trying to hold and calm the baby boar.

Though disappointment was a stone in the pit of her stomach, she turned her attention from searching the forest to stretching her powers. She already knew she could cover the whole of the university campus and the surrounding town—today she wanted to see how much further she could go and maybe that would be a balm for the sorrow the stone etched into her stomach.

Except-except there was something. Something wrong, simmering with dark purity.

It was on her before Kagome could fully pull herself out of the core of her powers. Thrown so roughly out of her meditation, it took her a moment to reconcile she was now laying on her side several feet from the seat she'd taken against the tree. Dazed, she noted that her bow and the arrow were still clutched tightly between her fingers.

Scrambling up, she readied herself—but there was nothing. Something had just sent her sprawling several feet from where she'd been sitting, but she couldn't see anything. Gritting her teeth, she spread her powers out around her again—and threw up a barrier just as something slammed against it.

This time, Kagome could see. It was…it was another miko. She'd never seen miko robes like these before though. In place of the red hakama she was accustomed to, there were red leggings that rode high, up to the waist. A white haori was tied at the waist and over it lay a red breast plate, held in place by a white sash. From the elbow down to the palm was more of that skin-tight red material, the white sleeves of the haori puffing out at the elbow. Her knees were covered by red armor and her elbows, shoulders, and forearms were all covered in white plate armor—all held in place by white ties and red ties, respectively. Her face was covered in a red mask from the nose down. Her eyes glowed with malicious purple intent.

It was so similar to the outfit Sango had worn that she was thrown for a moment and her barrier fell. She raised her metal compact bow just in time to block a blow from a katana glowing with that same wicked power. "Who are you?" she demanded, breaking contact and raising her bow up again.

"Who are you?" the other woman demanded and slashed out with her sword again—only to glower as an arrow knocked her blade off course. "You are breaking the covenant."

Kagome had a second arrow nocked before the first landed. "What covenant? That doesn't explain anything!"

"Don't play stupid, miko!" Snarling, she lashed forward—and promptly found herself flat on her back across the clearing.

Watching from behind the barrier, Kagome frowned. "You're a miko too. I didn't know any others had powers in my time…" Tilting her head, she considered the dark miko on the ground across from her. "Did you follow me through time? I've been searching for two years for some sign that others existed, that youkai survived."

"Follow you through time…" The dark miko frowned behind her mask. It wasn't possible. Was it? "What's your name?" she demanded as she scrambled up.

Kagome hesitated. There was something about that question that was almost…reverent. "Why should I tell you my name when you attacked me for no reason?"

"You're her, aren't you! The Shikon no Miko. Kagome of the Shikon no Tama. The devastation of youkai!" Sheathing her sword, the dark miko yanked a flare gun off her hip and did not hesitate to fire it into the air. A pure pink flare fired high into the air, far above the treetops. "You're coming with me. Take her to Sute."

The what now? Devastation…of youkai? Before Kagome could even comprehend what that meant or ask another question, something slammed into the back of the head. She slumped to the ground, darkness dancing in her eyes.

She felt someone tying her arms behind her back and she struggled to summon a barrier to protect herself. Purity flared in her hands and a man's voice cursed—before she heard something heavy hit the ground next to her and her powers guttered out.

There was muffled cursing then and Kagome vaguely noted a flare of more of that dark purple purity before the sounds of battle drowned out anything else and darkness finally claimed her.

o.O.o

"She's waking up!"

Kagome recognized that voice. Didn't she? Why was it so loud? She groaned and tried to sit up, but nausea roiled at the back of her throat. "I'm going to be sick," she whispered—and felt herself hauled over the edge of something where she promptly emptied her stomach.

"Probably got a concussion," another voice said, worry clear in the rough tone of his words.

Another voice she knew, which meant this was a dream?

"The miko has suffered worse."

Another one? "What kind of dream is this?" she muttered and frowned when she heard a snicker further back from the voices surrounding her.

"I'm happy to say it is not a dream, Kagome-sama."

Kagome finally managed to open her eyes and found herself face-to-face with worried gold ones. "Inuyasha?" she whispered, blinking the fog from her eyes. Dropping her gaze down, something like disappointment soured her stomach when she did not see the familiar red fire-rat haori. Instead, he wore a red t-shirt and…jeans. It really was a dream, then. Inuyasha had always hated denim.

Turning her attention from the hanyou hovering over her, she spied all her friends. Sango and Miroku looked several years older than when she had left them 502 years in the past. Shippou…she thought it was shippou, but he was so much older. And bigger. Even Sesshoumaru-sama looked slightly older. And they were all wearing modern clothing.

"At least you're not all covered in blood this time," she mumbled, and promptly fainted.

"Covered in blood?" Sango frowned before she turned to her daughter for an explanation.

Yukiko sighed. "She hasn't told me any of the specifics, but she has mentioned not sleeping much because of nightmares."

"She's thinner than she used to be," Inuyasha muttered. He was holding her hand, something she hadn't seemed to notice, and he didn't like the way he could practically feel the indents of every bone in her fingers or see the way her joints stuck out so prominently in her wrists and elbows.

"Yes. She's gained some weight since she started training with me, but she could stand to gain some more." Yukiko sighed again and studied the group surrounding her unconscious friend. "You need to remember that it's only been two years for her. You've had so many years to grieve and grow and learn and heal together—time she thought you all had been dead and she's been learning to survive and live alone."

Sesshoumaru studied the miko. Disquiet, a feeling he was least familiar with, settled into his bones like weights. "This Sesshoumaru has much to repay." He spared a glance for his first daughter who sat curled into the Kitsune's side. "The debts will be repaid."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know," Inuyasha muttered. He let go of Kagome's hand and stood, shoving his own into the rough pockets of the denim he still found uncomfortable. "When she wakes up, we'll explain everything to her. It's a lot to deal with. For now, all of you clear out."

There were many mutters and resigned sighs, but ultimately all but Inuyasha left the room Kagome rested in. He took his vigil by the open window and contented himself to wait until she woke.

o.O.o

It had not been a dream.

Kagome stared down into the cup of tea still steaming between her cupped palms. There was a part of her, once the initial euphoria had passed, that worried she'd look up around the room and it would be empty—that she would not see her friends squeezed in around her at the low table in Yukiko's living room. Only Sesshoumaru-sama sat away from them, lounging in an armchair as he paged through a newspaper.

"Tell me again," she said finally, and looked up to meet Inuyasha's eyes. Something like relief slumped her shoulders and she leaned forward on the table when he was still where he had been sitting for the past ten minutes..

"Most of it was guess work, since we didn't know what ya wished," he said. "But we've figured out that we're not immortal. We can all still be killed."

"There have been more than a few close calls. Injuries and sickness can still take us." Miroku glanced at Sango as he spoke and laced his fingers through hers.

It was on the tip of Kagome's tongue to ask who they had lost, but there was something about the sorrow weighing down Sango's shoulders that held her silence.

"Mama! What did you wish for?" Shippou's voice, deepened with age, echoed around the otherwise quiet room.

"Mama…" she repeated, turning the word in her mind. "At least some things stayed the same."

Shippou grinned at her and held tightly to Rin's hand beneath the table. He'd been worried she wouldn't want him to call her mom anymore—it would have been like losing her a second time. "So your wish?"

For a long moment the room was silent as they all stared at the miko. Her wish had been a matter of many debates, even arguments, over the centuries. What had she asked for that garnered the near immortal status of her friends circle?

"Kagome?"

Kagome lifted her eyes to Sango's at the quiet plea in her name. Though the results had been unintended, it seemed her actions had cost her friends a great deal. "I didn't make a wish on the jewel," she said. Letting go of the cooling cup between her palms, she held her hands together to hide the tremble of her fingers. "I made a deal with it."

The silence was thunderous. Knowing they needed a moment to process what she'd just declared, she plowed on. "When Inuyasha and I were inside the jewel in the final battle, I realized two things. First, the jewel was…is a sentient being. It has desires and needs and feelings just like all of us in this room."

"The second thing?" Sesshoumaru demanded. He leant forward, his elbows digging into the dark slacks he wore so that slender magenta stripes showed themselves around his ankles.

She sighed and finally took a sip of the tea. It was tepid. "The jewel showed me a future where it did not exist—where a stronger, more deadly evil existed. If I had made a wish on the jewel it would have faded from existence and balance would have been lost. Something eviler would have taken its place in the universe. I couldn't let that happen."

"So you made a deal," Miroku said. He contemplated his friend. He could not decide if what she had done was foolish or wise. He knew well the havoc that came from making deals.

"So I made a deal," she agreed and hoped they would understand.

"You could have consulted us," Sango snapped. Ripping her hand free of her husbands, she slammed her hands on the table. Tea sloshed out of cups on either side of her. "It wasn't only your decision to make."

Before anyone could come to her defense, Kagome looked her best friend in the eye and held her ground. "It was my decision. The jewel was ripped from my body by Mistress Centipede and I was forced to the feudal era when I was only fourteen years old. Maybe that wasn't such a young age in that time period to go galivanting around hunting evil half-demons, but it is in this time period. I was a child," she said, the words barely audible to her over the pounding of her own heart. "I was a child and I was the only one with a pure claim to the jewel. It came from me and it belonged to me. And now it's a part of me, until the end of time."

"So yes, it was my decision." She stopped, forced herself to take a deep breath. The people at this table had all sacrificed so much in the feudal era fighting Naraku. She had thought it was a worthwhile sacrifice on her part to give up her future if it meant the security of what they had all lost so much over. "I will be the protector of the jewel until the end of all time. Death cannot claim me—not in age, sickness, or injury. I will outlive everyone at this table to ensure no evil as great as Naraku can take advantage of the jewel again."

"You made a deal to become immortal?" Sango demanded, rage burning in the sorrowful depths of her eyes as she burst to her feet.

"What the hell were you thinking Kagome! You know the jewel perverts everything it touches!" Inuyasha barked, hands balling into fists on his knees.

Kagome stood and trembled with anger and hurt. "I made a deal to serve the jewel for my entire existence in return for the surefire happiness of all those effected by the jewel." She met Sango's gaze unflinchingly as the others looked on in stupefied silence. "I was useless in the final battle, Sango. I couldn't do a single damn thing except fire a handful of arrows and purify the jewel. I thought by making a deal with the jewel I was keeping your future safe and free of potential dangers. I'm sorry if it didn't. I'm sorry my decision has made you think I'm the kind of person who would put my happiness above the happiness of all the people in this room."

"Kagome-sama, wait-"

Not bothering to hide her tears, she turned on her heel and strode out of the room and ignored the calls of her name. It was all too much. Suddenly all of her friends were still alive. Youkai still existed. She had her whole family back. And yet they had all looked at her like she was a foolish child.

A sob ripped free of her throat, and she ran through Yukiko's house to the backdoor. Like the cottage Kagome rented, it too led to the forest. She was almost at the tree line when a soft croon broke through the torrent of emotions deafening her. Pausing, she looked for the source of the sound and found A-Un curled up by Yukiko's garden shed.

"A-Un," she murmured and diverted her path until she was leaning over the reclining dragon. "You're here too. I'm so glad!" She wrapped herself around the dragon's two heads, laughing a watery laugh as they curled around her and rubbed their chins against her back and shoulders. "Can you guys get me out of here for a little while? I need to clear my head."

The twin-headed dragon chittered against her back and let her go so she could climb atop their backs.

Relief was a blanket across her tattered nerves. Nestling into the dragon's saddle, she gripped the reins and held on tightly as A-Un jumped into the sky. At least this way, only the wind could feel her pain.

o.O.o

Sango watched Kagome escape and then slumped down next to Miroku. When he settled his arm across her shoulders and tugged her into his side, her tears ripped free and she sobbed into his chest.

Across from them, Inuyasha slumped in his seat. "I didn't know she felt so useless."

"How could she not!" Shippou snapped, five tails twitching behind him, "You always compared her to Kikyou and told her she would never be as good?!"

White ears twitched and laid flat. "I know okay!? I was a stupid kid back then! If I could take it back, I would!"

Shippou snorted and turned his irritation to the sobbing demon hunter. "And you! What's wrong with you, speaking to Kagome like that! She didn't do anything wrong and if you try to pin your sorrow's on her I'll make sure you never get to speak to her again!" Red fur bristled in his tails and only Rin's soft palm at the base of his spine was enough to sooth him.

"I'm sure Sango-san did not intend to blame Kagome for…well for those unfortunate accidents." She smiled kindly at Sango even though the other woman could not see it. "I think perhaps emotions are just a little high right now and everyone let theirs run a little wild. I'm sure when Kagome-sama returns Sango-san will apologize."

"The miko made the best decision she was capable of making at the time. She could not have known the consequences." Sesshoumaru stood and tucked his newspaper into the pocket of his suit jacket. "This one will ensure she faces no harm on her…joy ride."

After Sesshoumaru left, Yukiko studied those who remained. "You forgot," she said.

"What did we forget, Yukiko?"

She looked at her father. "You forgot that Kagome has been alone for two years now. Do you think she's told her family on this side of the well about all the pain and death and struggle you all faced in your battles against Naraku? Do you think she has had anyone to share the traumas with? Do you think at fourteen, thrust into an unfamiliar world you've always been taught was a myth, that you would have handled all the death and danger and sorrow with as much grace as Kagome did?"

Sango forced herself to meet her daughter's eyes, to sight up straighter even as her hand clung to Miroku's. "But—

"No buts. You've told me stories about Kagome from the time I was young enough to say her name. She would never intentionally do something to hurt you and I'm ashamed of you for even thinking to blame my sibling's deaths on her. You should be ashamed of yourself." She turned to her father, then to Inuyasha and Shippou and Rin. "You've all had years and years to heal and learn from your experiences. You might all look the same age as Kagome, but she's still a child in this time and she needs your unwavering support."

Yukiko stood and shoved her hands into her pockets. "Instead of supporting her, you acted as if what she did was evil. But I'm proud to know her, proud to know what she has sacrificed for our future. She will watch all of us die, eventually. Even an ageless life can be ended." Turning, she strode towards the door but stopped at the threshold. "Tonight should have been a reunion. Instead, she probably feels even more alone now than she ever has before."

Ch. fin

Word Count - 3570