A short time later, Rin awoke this time with her memories. Pressure pushed against her temple, but it was not nearly as bad as the previous painful headache. Shuddering at the past sensation of the illusion's migraine, she peered around to observe her surroundings.

"Rin, come inside I need your help!" A stranger's voice called out to her. The call belonged to an older woman with cropped curly hair and an apron through an open glass door. Slightly unnerved, Rin approached slowly. The closer she got to the stranger, the more she recognized the same quirk of her lips that Kagome had.

"Your mom and dad aren't back and Uncle Sota isn't here yet. I need you to entertain your brother while I make dinner." The woman said, beckoning her inside with a wave of her hand.

Rin followed her into a strange room with a talking box and a toddler sprawled on its tummy coloring a piece of paper. Behind him, an old man was fast asleep reclined under a blanket table. As soon as the woman left the room, Rin approached the child with narrowed eyes. It looked at her cooly, no more illusions.

"What the hell was that, Zarashi-Washiki?"

"Hoshitobi."

"What?"

"Call me Hoshitobi. Mommy named me that. As for your question, girl, I merely made the illusion stronger. Now we're with all of Mommy's family and she'll never want to leave. That kind lady is Grandma."

"So we are in the future, huh," Rin mused, observing the alien layout of the home. The girl knew of Kagome's rendezvous through time, but she could never have imagined it would be this odd. Everything was too different to feel real.

Silence stretched between them as the child went back to its drawing, tongue poked out in concentration. A habit so similar to the miko it was unnerving. "What are you drawing?"

"My family. I suppose it's our family though," the toddler answered as a matter of factedly and didn't bother to look up. A small finger pointed to a tall man with a tiny drawn smile holding the hand of a woman with a big smile and blue eyes too big for the face. "This is Papa. He always looks super mad in Mommy's memories except for some of her new ones. I like this face the most. He's smiling because they're holding hands and they love each other."

Against her better judgment, a smile crept on Rin's face at the sentiment. So her father was in love with Kagome, and it seemed that the miko felt the same. The child could see into her mind and memories so where was the lie? She pointed to the figures next to them, a man with white dog ears and a woman with a bat for a head, and asked who they were. Hoshitobi responded with a bubbly giggle.

"That's Uncle Inuyasha. There isn't a clear memory of Aunt Shiori so I drew her face like a bat."

It was entirely too domestic and too goofy as the two sat together on the soft floor. Rin asked about the drawings and the child answered her questions. Later, they were called into the kitchen by 'Grandma' Higurashi. Hoshitobi grasped Rin's hand tightly as they walked together. The older girl couldn't help the drooping feeling of sorrow emanating from the child's smile.

As a family–as real as an illusion could be– they sat through dinner. Rin noted with intrigue that, illusion or not, the food was delicious. To her side, Hoshitobi slurped away at his bowl of noodles in a high chair. Grandma Higurashi sat with a rag in hand to wipe the mess off his face. When they were dismissed from the table, the child left with a look of love and adoration towards the older woman. It made her heart clench. Angry spirit or not, this was the spirit of a deceased child. A lonely one at that. She felt pity for the poor thing; while she never had a stellar childhood, she at least had Sesshomaru and Jaken and Ah Un.

Would she have been hateful if she were left for dead in that forest all those years ago?

"I know what you're thinking, Rin," Hoshitobi suddenly said, eyes looking into his bowl. "I don't want your pity and I am not hateful."

"In this illusion, you can see into our minds, can't you?" Rin asked softly. The child nodded. "Can you see the sadness in my heart from thinking I lost Kagome-sama?"

For the second time, the child nodded and averted its gaze.

"I don't want to be alone anymore," the words warbled and broke apart as Hoshitobi began to cry. He rammed his head into Rin's stomach, wrapping his arms around her.

"You're not alone, Hoshitobi, I'm here."

"Mommy came to me just as I was about to disappear into the depths of Hell. She pulled me from the chains and saved me. I wanted to give her something back that would make her stay."

"But you wouldn't be alone. Kagome-sama there is a piper who is kind and guides children to peace. Don't you want that? Peace?" Rin said to the child, her voice cautiously soft. Hoshitobi stared at her for a moment before wiping his snotty nose on his sleeve. His amber eyes were glued to the floor as he was unwilling to speak.

"You can't keep doing this, she should have a choice to stay or leave. Otherwise, she will die. Just like your first mom."

Hoshitobi began to scream. Dodging his wailing punches, Rin slid away from him quickly. The action turned his shrill outburst into an all-mighty tantrum that was so loud it felt like the earth was shaking. Rin looked around to see if they alerted the attention of the older Higurashi. Fortunately, she did not come.

"Stop this, you can't scream and lie your way out of this. Kagome-sama has a life that she needs to live out of here. See for yourself," Rin picked up the child's crude drawings.

"Uncle Inuyasha and Aunt Shiori are expecting a baby soon, she wants to be there for that. So are Miroku and Sango!"

"Stop it!"

"Your big brother, Shippo, is graduating from fox school and will want to see Kagome-sama before he seeks his adventure!" Rin pushed even harder.

"Stop!"

"I need her! She is my mentor and has become the closest thing I have had to a mother since my own died years ago." As soon as the sentence left her mouth, a pregnant pause filled the room.

"What happened to your mommy?" The child asked. Bleary golden eyes looked at her through tears.

"My whole family was killed by bandits when I could barely walk. I did not know what a true family was until I met Sesshomaru-sama." Rin replied. The words choked in her throat, but the memories did not come. Long ago, she willed those terrifying images out of her head. No longer would she cry for a family she could not remember. These thoughts didn't linger long when the child wrapped its arms around her middle in a tight hug.

"My mommy died because she was very sick. The gods were unkind to her as she gave birth to my original body. I'm sorry you lost your mommy too, Big Sister." The Zarashi-Washiki whispered. Rin frowned as she rubbed soothing circles on its back.

"It happened a long time ago. I have a family now that I love dearly, which includes Kagome-sama. She's helped me through so much of my life, I couldn't possibly think of living it without her. I need her."

"Does Papa needs Mommy too?" The spirit questioned with watery golden eyes, lip wobbling with a silent cry. It dug its head into her stomach to hide the tears streaming down its face. Rin's heart shattered at the pitiful display and nodded.

"He doesn't even know she needs him too," Rin replied. "It's up to us to fix that. We need to release the illusion before it's too late."

"I–I can't," the Zarashi-Washiki sobbed. "If I break the illusion now I would break Mommy's mind."

"Is there a way we can at least give her the power to escape?" Rin asked, her voice suddenly urgent with the new information. Hoshitobi nodded numbly.

"That demon you came here with. He needs to kill Mommy in the illusion." Hoshitobi answered.

"What?" Rin hissed in surprise. "Isn't there another way?"

"I forgot you're just a human, Big Sister. Think of this world like a dream. If we scare Mommy into waking, it'll only affect her here. She will be fine in the real world. I need to change the illusion to fit the circumstances, so I need you to step back."

A slight pause stretched between them before he motioned for her to step back. Rin obliged, gnawing her inner cheek. The logic made sense, but it felt entirely too risky. What if they broke Kagome's mind as a result? The determination etched into the child's face eluded that it was not being deceptive. Rin would just have to trust that it would work, or so help the wrath brought down by Sesshomaru's hand if it didn't.

The world was engulfed in darkness with a smack of the spirit's palms against the carpeted floor.