The Pure Heart of A Child

A/N: Nothing to report at this time.

Disclaimer: Don’t own anything.

The Pure Heart of A Child
Chapter 3: A Personal Mission

Hiei growled at the cheerful Botan as she stepped through a portal. “Well, Hello there, Hiei! Koenma wants to speak with you all!” she said, opening another portal to the ruler’s office. He held his displeasure in as he went through the portal.

He wasn’t in the mood for anything except to find out what the toddler wanted, who he was supposed to kill, and then get back to better things. Of course, no one else was to know those ‘better things’ involved watching over a human with a broken ankle. He didn’t know why he was even bothering with the silly human. She fussed over him, which was annoying in itself, and she even made him sit down and have lunch with her today. He hated to admit it, but it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara came through similar portals into the demigod’s office.

Kurama instantly picked up on his friend’s rare demeanor. ‘Wonder what’s up with him…’ Kurama thought silently, earning a glare from Hiei. His eyes widened in surprise and he wisely kept his focus back on Koenma.

“What’s the word, toddler?” Yusuke said brashly, a look of annoyance on his face. “Lets get this meeting done and over with so I can get back to my nap.” He said, yawning loudly.

“What did I tell you about calling me a toddler!? Oh, never mind…” Koenma replied, biting down on his blue pacifier as everyone focused on him.

“The reason you’re all here today is that we have been informed that a human girl under our protection has been threatened. The girl is extremely important to us, and if the demon who’s threatened her gets to her, all three realms will be in enormous danger.” He said seriously.

“Yeah, yeah. Like we haven’t heard THAT before. Who is he, and where is he so we can get down to business?” Yusuke shouted out with a wave of his hand.

“Trust me, Yusuke. This isn’t like your normal missions. This demon is a very real threat and I advise you take this a little more seriously. He could be as powerful as Toguro. Maybe even stronger.” Koenma said, his voice taking on a serious tone that they had rarely heard from the demigod.

Everyone’s heads snapped up at his sentence. “More powerful…than Toguro? How is that possible?” Yusuke asked, his heartbeat instantly increasing in pace. Hiei looked over to Koenma and sensed that he wasn’t lying.

“It’s possible, Yusuke, because he has been in the Makai for over five hundred years. Any demon living there for that long will have become extremely powerful. Another reason is that he has been feeding on other demons, taking their power as his own.” He said, placing a finger to his temple.

“So you have a name for this guy or what?” Kuwabara asked, his normally dopey looking eyes on the alert.

“His name is Naraku, and he has been a threat to this girl before.” Koenma replied, getting a growl from Hiei. ‘It’s her…that bastard is still alive somehow, and he’s after her…’ he thought, getting everyone’s attention with his rare display.

“You know of him, Hiei?” the demigod asked, looking in the fire apparitions direction.

“Hn.” He replied, not revealing anything else he knew.

Koenma held his tongue, knowing that Hiei wasn’t one to give up any information he knew. “Anyway, the girl you are protecting is the guardian of the Shikon no Tama. She is a very powerful miko, but mostly her powers are untrained, and highly unstable. The reason we know that she is a powerful one to begin with is the fact that whenever she is under extreme stress or in danger, her powers come to light in a very big way.” He informed them, as a screen came down with an image of a shrine on it.

“This…” Koenma began, “…is Sunset Shrine. This is the location of the well she used to go through time, as well as a very old, very powerful tree known as the Goshinboku. Sources tell us that the girl was born with the Shikon no Tama in her body, but only recently discovered that she had it. Up until about a year ago, the girl had been traveling through time, approximately five hundred years in the past to reassemble the jewel. The first time she ended up going into the well, she shattered it, therefore, she traveled the past to reassemble it.” He informed them. ‘So far, so good…’ he thought to himself, before gulping. They were going to skin him alive. As usual, their files were incomplete, and not knowing what happened was the worst part. If they could discover how the battle in the past ended, maybe they could find out how to stop this demon now.

“Figures. Count on a girl to break something important.” Yusuke said gruffly, only taking in some of what Koenma was saying. Hiei held back a growl and instead focused on the little information the demigod was offering. He almost scoffed at how little they knew about her story.

“So why did she stop traveling through time? You said she did until about a year ago…why?” Kurama asked, paying close attention to the information provided.

“Good question, Kurama. Unfortunately, we have no idea. All we know is that the well has been sealed, and no longer works as a portal. We have our suspicions, but nothing is confirmed.” He said, sighing heavily.

“So what about this Naraku demon? What can you tell us about him?” Yusuke asked, wanting to size up his opponent better, the image of Toguro on his mind.

“We know very little about this demon. He is an expert in covering his tracks, and we have only rumors that tell us about him. One of these is that he is after the Shikon no Tama, and has been for many years.” Koenma said, sitting down.

“So why are you worried for this girl now?” Kurama asked, puzzlement on his face.

“Because, we received this message just a day or so ago.” He said, pressing play on the tape player.

“I see you are still in charge, Koenma, but trust me, you will not hold that position for long. Once the Shikon no Tama and that miko are in my possession, you will not have to worry about your precious position of power, as I will rule over everything. Oh yes, I know that the little miko has been born, and that she has the Shikon no Tama in her possession, just as she did those five hundred years ago, only, this time, she is without her precious friends to protect her. Sit back and enjoy, Koenma…it’s going to be a bumpy ride…”

Then an evil laugh echoed around them and the tape stopped. An involuntary shudder went through everyone except Hiei at the voice.

“So…who is this girl?” Kuwabara asked, breaking the silence.

Koenma nodded and clicked a button on his remote, bringing up another picture…this one being of Kagome.

“This is…” he was interrupted by Yusuke and Kuwabara as they both shouted in surprise, “Kagome!”

“You know her?” Koenma asked, puzzlement in his voice. “Yeah, she was in the same class as us, but she missed a lot of time, almost as much as me!” Yusuke said, his mouth dropping open in surprise.

Hiei looked to him a moment and hid his anger. ‘They know nothing of her…’ he told himself, focusing on her picture.

“She was the one who gave me Aiikijii.” He said fondly, thinking of his little kitten.

“So this Naraku bastard is after her, huh? Why her? Other than the jewel?” Yusuke asked, scowling slightly.

“I’ve been informed of a prophesy that was laid down the same day the jewel was formed. But I have yet to decipher it’s meaning.” He sighed again before Kurama asked, “So how was the jewel formed?”

“What? Oh, yes. Ages ago, there was an epic battle between a powerful miko named Midoriko and numerous demons. She was powerful enough to stop many of them, but not all of them. Instead of dying and leaving the demons to live, she trapped their souls, along with her own, into a jewel that became known as the Jewel of Four Souls, or the Shikon no Tama. This jewel retains the power of the demon’s souls and Midoriko’s, but is easily tainted by evil, that’s why it has to be under constant protection by a miko, to keep it pure.” He said, changing the picture to one of the Shikon no Tama.

“So what of this prophesy?” Hiei finally asked, getting everyone’s attention.

“Well, so far we know it does have to do with Kagome, as well as Naraku. It refers to someone having the pure heart of a child, and someone with a soul as black as the pits of hell themselves. We can only assume that this would be Kagome and Naraku, but this is where it gets confusing, it also mentions the power of an unknown, that only the pure heart will know who it is.” He said, before Yusuke snapped, “Just tell us what it says and quit trying to figure it out for us!”

Koenma sighed heavily and brought out an ancient looking book and began to read:

“Once the evil is stopped, peace will arrive swiftly, but the time will come once again for evil to be known. The pure heart of a child will be needed along with the love of an unknown to stop the evil once more. The evil will come from a creature with a soul as dark as the deepest pits of hell, that no amount of compassion can heal. Demons flow through the creature’s soul, further tainting the soul into oblivion. This creature is untouchable, and only the pure heart of a child will be able to purify it’s soul and fix the imbalance of evil and return power to its rightful owners.” he looked up, closing the book once more.

“So you mean, that, you’re in danger too, Koenma sama?” Botan asked, worry on her face as she took a step forward.

He looked grimly to the girl and nodded, sighing again. Yusuke blinked once and looked to the demigod in disbelief. He had never had to deal with a situation like this before. Koenma was never in any real danger before, but he was extremely worried, and the spirit detective didn’t like it, not one little bit.

“Then lets get going and kick some demon ass!” Yusuke shouted, getting a smirk on his face. Everyone looked up at his outburst and Kuwabara added, “Yeah, Urameshi! You know I’m gonna be the one to kick his butt, right?” he grinned goofily, his eyes narrowed slightly at his friend.

“In your dreams, Kuwabara!” he yelled back. Koenma cleared his throat before things progressed any further and he said, “You guys didn’t forget, you have to protect her too.” He put the picture back to Kagome.

They looked to him a moment before asking, “So what are we supposed to do about it? We have to kill the demon, no one said anything about babysitting her.” Yusuke said, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

Hiei growled, finally losing his patience, and getting everyone’s attention. “Problems, Shorty?” Kuwabara asked, before he was hit over the head by Yusuke.

“Hn.” He said, before Kurama asked, “Does she know that Naraku is after her?”

‘Hell no…she is under the impression that that bastard is dead…’ Hiei thought, frowning as he looked back to Koenma.

“She doesn’t, I’ll leave it to you to inform her of the situation.” He said, the screen going back up.

“But, you said she’s a miko…” Kurama said a little worriedly.

“Yes, I did, but you don’t have to worry about her purifying you. She has a history that is unique for a miko. She had a hanyou friend in the past, as well as other demons that she befriended. If you pose no threat to her, she will not harm you.” Koenma said, shuffling papers from her file around, signaling the end of the meeting.

‘A miko…being friends with a demon? Interesting…’ Youko thought, finally taking in the situation. ‘A hanyou, no less…’ Kurama added, similar interest coming up in his mind.

Hiei caught their fleeting thoughts and suppressed a growl. ‘They will not come near her…I don’t care if they are allies or not…’ he stopped himself at that thought. ‘Why do I care? She is just a human…I am nothing to her…why is it that I am caring?’ he asked himself, just as Botan opened a portal to the shrine and they all stepped through.

Kagome looked up as she felt four powerful energies come into her consciousness. Getting to her feet via her good foot, she grabbed her crutches and hopped slowly towards the auras. Seeing three familiar faces, she calmed. She looked to Hiei first, and noticed that he seemed uncomfortable. Suddenly, he spoke in her mind, ‘Don’t let them know that I know you, Kagome.’ He asked, looking away from her.

She nodded to herself, knowing that he was a very reserved demon, and didn’t like others knowing more than he wanted them to know, relationships included, whatever they may be.

“Kuwabara kun!” she shouted out, smiling. “Yusuke.” She added stiffly, narrowing her eyes at the boy. “Higurashi! How are you, and what happened?” Kuwabara asked, walking up to her. She focused her attention back on him and said, “I’m okay, just fell down and broke my ankle.”

“You were always clumsy, Higurashi.” Yusuke said, a drip of sarcasm in his voice. Kagome narrowed her eyes again at him and said, “And you always have a burr up your ass, so I guess that’s the reason for your lack of personality.” She said, smirking.

Hiei held in a grin at her comeback, watching to see where this argument was going. “Wench…we should just let Naraku come and take you.” He said, not realizing the effect of his words.

Kagome’s mouth opened in shock and tears instantly assaulted Hiei and Kurama’s noses. The fire apparition was instantly at her side as she fell noiselessly to the ground, her heart stopped in her chest.

“Breathe, Kagome!” Hiei ordered harshly, placing a rare gentle hand to her back. “Kagome!” Kurama shouted out, worry overtaking him. They had barely been there two minutes and already she affected him to no end.

Hiei leaned in closer to her, picking up her thoughts as they swirled dangerously around her mind.

‘He’s…there’s no way he knows about…he can’t be alive…we…we killed him! Naraku…there’s no way…how does he know? How am I going to…Inuyasha…he’s gone…Sango and Miroku too…Shippou might be able to…no, I’d never…Sesshoumaru? I doubt it…Kouga? He would…but…how can he be alive?!’

“Kagome!” he shouted again, this time next to her ear and in her mind.

‘Hiei…you…kami…how could this happen?!’ she shouted out frantically, her power flaring wildly.
‘Breathe, Kagome!’ he shouted to her, ‘And calm down! Your energy is out of control!’ he ordered again, a small tingling coming to his skin as he held her.

She trembled in his arms and it made the demon inside Hiei flare up with energy. He could smell her fear and it wasn’t a pleasant scent to mix with her normally sweet gentle one.

‘I’m here, Kagome. Calm down, or you’re going to purify me.’ He said softly, a soft growl in his voice. At that statement, her brain stilled, concentrating on Hiei.

Yusuke and Kuwabara watched as the changes took place in her body, backing away from her as she began to glow a dark pink. Kurama let her go as the energy surrounded herself and the fire apparition.

“Hiei, look out!” he shouted, fear in his voice. ‘She’s lost control, she’s going to purify him!’ he thought quickly, before Youko said, ‘Look…the energy is disappearing…she’s getting back control of it…’

She looked at him, her breathing returning to normal, or, as normal as it could be, considering the circumstances. He looked at her blue eyes that sparkled with unshed tears, and Kagome saw the concern in his own crimson tinted eyes and that was all it took to break down her defenses as she launched herself up at him, sobbing uncontrollably.

Hiei didn’t like the smell of her tears, but he couldn’t do much to stop them. He smelled the deep fear running ramped through her scent and held her closer, trying to get her to calm herself enough to ease her fears.

No one questioned his extremely rare display of comfort to the girl, but everyone wondered what had made her so afraid in the first place. Yusuke looked guiltily to her, mentally berating himself for mentioning Naraku’s name. ‘Well, that means she remembers him, but her reaction like that can’t be good.’ He thought, a frown coming to his face. Kurama looked quizzically to his friend as he held the crying girl closer to him.

‘This is unusual…Hiei is offering her comfort he has not even offered his own sister. Who is this girl?’ he asked himself, taking in her features. Everyone’s heads snapped up out of their thoughts as a loud sniffle came from Kagome, followed by an angry choked voice that said, “Don’t you ever mention that bastard to me ever again, Urameshi. And don’t you EVER threaten me with him, do you hear me?” she looked away from Hiei, her face covered in tears, her eyes bloodshot, and her demeanor conveying deep anger.

He stepped back, unsure of how to respond to her. ‘Apparently I struck a nerve…’ he thought, his frown becoming deeper on his face. Kuwabara watched, abnormally quiet throughout everything, confusion on his face.

“Thank you, Hiei…” she said softly, so no one could hear except himself. He barely nodded to her and she wiped her tears away, taking his hand to get to her foot again.

“So he isn’t dead, is he?” she said harshly to herself, her aura flaring up again. She thought back to the final battle, trying to figure out how he had managed to escape…

“You’re dead, Naraku!” Kagome said loudly, her body trembling in his grips as she called forth her powers. The pink enveloped them, dissolving his body as her miko aura intertwined in his miasmic form. The jewel, purifying in the energy, came forth to Kagome, bonding itself to the rest of the jewel shards around her neck. His scream echoed in her ears as she fell in slow motion to the ground, her energy expelling itself to surround the last of the evil hanyou, destroying the last bit of him except for the last trails of his miasmic poison, which floated up to the sky and dissipated…

“It had to be that little bit of vapor…he had to survive somehow…” she said to herself, balancing on one foot.

Everyone stared at her, not sure whether to laugh or not as she stood there, ignoring everything else and talking to herself.

She looked up, finally taking in everyone and their expressions. “How do you know about Naraku, Urameshi?” she said, not feeling up to calling him by his first name as she had done before.

“Koenma sent us here to protect you from him. Apparently, this guy is bad news…” he was interrupted by Kagome as she said, her voice going from one of anger to one of slight fear, “You have no idea…none at all…”

She began shaking again but she held herself together once more, taking a deep, calming breath.

“So why don’t you inform us, Higurashi?” Yusuke shouted. He wasn’t one to stand around and wait for the fight to come to him.

“Baka. Don’t even begin to talk of things you don’t understand. Don’t think you understand Naraku. He has done more evil things than you can even attempt to comprehend. He is not to be taken lightly.” She said darkly, her eyes flashing anger.

Hiei noticed her changed demeanor, and wondered just how bad this demon was to affect her so greatly. Just the mention of his name sent her into a simmering rage and he could visibly see her aura swirl dangerously around her tiny form.

Kurama stepped forward, getting her attention. “Who are you?” she asked, her voice calming slightly, and then on second feel, she questioned quickly, “How is it that there are two souls in your body? One is human, but the other is demon…how is that possible?”

He looked to her a second before saying, “My name is Kurama, and I have a demon spirit that shares this body with me.” He didn’t know how much he should tell her, so he refrained from offering anymore information.

“I see.” For the moment, she seemed content with his answer. “So you are all here to protect me from Naraku, are you?” she sighed, her heart clenching in her chest.

“Kagome, I don’t know about these guys, but I would protect you anyway, orders or not.” Kuwabara said, stepping forward.

She looked up to him, a tear rushing down her face. “Thanks, Kuwabara. But I have to know, who is your boss? Who ordered you to protect me, and how do you know that Naraku is alive?” she asked, her mind pondering what her next moves would have to be.

“I suggest we sit down, being on that hurt leg isn’t doing it any good.” Kurama said, a sugar melting smile on his face. Kagome nodded, getting his interest yet again. Usually, girls would faint at that smile, but she seemed not to notice. On the contrary, she noticed, but she wasn’t going to become goo at his feet over it. She had a job to do, and it seemed her task was going to get a lot more difficult if Naraku was still alive.

She limped on her crutches into the house, taking a pot off of the stove in an attempt to make them all some tea. Kurama took it from her gently and said, “I’ll make it, Kagome. Sit down, rest.”

She sighed deeply and nodded, her exhaustion playing out on her normally happy face. Hiei sat next to her while Yusuke and Kuwabara sat in the other chairs.

“So how was it that you guys ended up in this situation?” she asked again, looking warily to each of them in turn.

“Koenma is the leader of the spirit world, and a message was sent to him yesterday by Naraku, saying he knew you were born, and that you still had some jewel.” Yusuke said quickly, not wanting to get on her bad side again.

“Yeah. We’re spirit detectives, and apparently, he’s been watching over you, making sure you were safe and everything…what is this jewel they keep talking about though?” Kuwabara asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“The Shikon no Tama. Do you know how it was made?” she asked, looking to him.

“Yeah, something about a miko sealed her soul with some demon souls and it made the jewel.” He replied, making everyone take attention to him as he wasn’t acting as dense as he usually was.

“That’s right.” She said, wondering who this Koenma person was.

“So where is it?” Kurama asked, taking over the seat on the other side of her.

“Right here.” She said, placing a hand over her chest to bring out the pink sphere. They looked closer at it a moment before Yusuke scoffed, “It doesn’t look that special.”

They were interrupted as the kettle began whistling, so Kurama got up and began pouring up cups for everyone. Kagome took it and let the warmth seep into her hands, as she stole a glance at Hiei. He hadn’t said anything since she heard that Naraku was alive.

“So who is this Naraku demon? Koenma didn’t tell us much of anything about him.” Yusuke asked, taking a sip of tea.

“He is the most ruthless, vile hanyou I’ve ever met in all my travels in the Feudal Era and here.” Her eyes went wide and she looked down.

“We already know of your travels to the past.” Hiei said nonchalantly, noticing her fear and worry spike up.

She visibly relaxed and looked up, her hand clenching softly around the mug again.

“That’s nothing new, I mean, who is he?” Yusuke asked again, his temper threatening to flare again.

Kagome looked to him, and her head went back down. Hiei picked up her stray thoughts as they filtered out to him. ‘He wants to know the story of Naraku…can I tell it again, without breaking down? What would Sango and the rest of them say if they were here right now? How would they feel if they knew that we didn’t defeat Naraku?’ then he felt waves of panic come off of her as she thought, ‘Miroku!! What if…what if he didn’t get rid of the wind tunnel? What if he ended up getting killed from it? What if…’ she stopped thinking as a pair of tears slowly fell from her eyes and onto the table.

Everyone looked to her as she put her mug down and placed her head in her hands. “Miroku…” she whispered out, soft sobs shaking her body.

“Dammit, quit your crying, wench!” Yusuke shouted once more, irritation in his voice. On reflex she shouted back, “Shut up, Inuyasha! Sit boy!!”

Everyone stilled and stared at her a moment before she recognized her mistake, which only fueled her tears further.

Hiei’s hands clenched in anger. Yusuke was an ally, but he wouldn’t hesitate in putting the detective in his place if he didn’t back off of Kagome. She was trying to deal with this the best way she could, and he wasn’t helping matters. How would he feel if Suzaku had ended up living, therefore putting Keiko back in danger? His growl was low and menacing, getting Yusuke’s attention.

He felt the anger radiate off of the fire apparition, and Kurama took notice of it. He had not felt this amount of anger from his friend in a long time, and he mentally hoped Yusuke would back off of the girl.

Said girl looked up when Hiei growled, and wiped her tears away. She gathered her strength and began speaking in a weak voice, resigning to fate that she would have to tell her story once more.

“Naraku used to be a human named Onigumo. He lived over five hundred years ago, and at that time, he had somehow suffered from severe burns. He couldn’t move, so a local village priestess named Kikyou took care of him until he decided to become hanyou. He fell in love with her, and when he found out that she fell in love with another hanyou named Inuyasha, he had the demons around him devour his soul so he could have mobility.” Kagome paused, her eyes going wide.

“That’s it!! That’s how he’s still alive!!” she shouted out, getting to her feet quickly, wincing as she fell back down painfully, but her pain was nothing compared to her excitement.

They looked to her quickly, and saw her excited expression on her face. “He doesn’t have a soul! The demons devoured his soul, so he was living with the souls of others, just like Kikyou! Except they were demon souls…but still!” she said, looking to Hiei.

Hiei nodded to her, forgetting that the others were there for the moment.

Everyone looked to her and Kuwabara questioned quickly, “What are you talking about, Kagome?”

She huffed quickly, as she began talking in a fast voice, “Kikyou and Inuyasha were tricked into betraying one another by Naraku, so he could get the Shikon no Tama. But when Kikyou died after pinning Inuyasha to the tree, she had the jewel burned with her, so he didn’t get it. Well, after I was pulled into the bone eaters well, it was brought back, actually, it was ripped out of my body, but anyway…” she said, shaking her head quickly and continuing just as fast, “…since I am Kikyou’s reincarnation, the evil witch that wanted to bring her back couldn’t because her soul was already inside me, so instead of taking it all, a piece of my soul broke off and that’s how Kikyou was allowed to keep her body’s shape. Then, she used the souls of dead woman to keep her body on the earth. Do you understand?” she asked quickly, looking at each of them in turn.

“I think so, Kagome.” Kurama said, digesting her information as fast as he could.

“So someone brought the dead priestess back to life, only to have her walk around as a corpse because she stole the souls of other women?” Yusuke asked skeptically, looking to her.

”Precisely.” Hiei said, answering for her.

“I think you’re crazy, Higurashi.” He said, just as Koenma popped up on the table, shocking everyone, even Hiei, though he didn’t show it.

“Crazy doesn’t even begin to describe her story, but trust me, Yusuke, she is telling the truth.” He said, looking to Kagome quickly.

“So you know the situation you’re in now, Kagome?” he asked, wanting to meet the girl for himself. He could feel the Shikon no Tama’s presence and sighed. It was just as Midoriko had foretold.

“H-hai, but…who are you?” she asked, her heartbeat returning to normal.

“Sorry, but I am Koenma, leader of the spirit world. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?” he asked, his teenage form itching to come out at her appearance. Hiei could smell the toddlers slight arousal and he hid a growl. He could feel Kagome’s uneasiness around the demigod and scooted a tiny bit closer to her.

“Just from these guys. If you’re the leader of the spirit world, could you tell me something? How…how did Miroku and Sango…how are they doing?” she asked, her heart stopping in her chest as she awaited his answer.

“The monk and taijya that traveled with you? They lived long, human lives, and yes, that Kazanna curse that the monk had was gone after your battle with Naraku. The curse was broken because your group weakened him considerably.” He said, walking closer to her.

“What about…Inuyasha?” she asked softly, her head down as he came closer to her.

“He is alive…in the Makai.” He said, making her gasp and look up.

“You’re…you’re not lying, are you?” she asked, getting to her feet again, and again, she sat back down as pain shot up her leg.

“No, I’m not. The hanyou did not go to hell with the priestess Kikyou. Somehow, he ended up in the Makai, and she ended up in hell.” He said, getting even closer to Kagome.

She frowned in concentration, not paying attention to him as he walked even closer to her. She looked up just as he reached her, and she scooted back, her uneasiness rolling off in waves. Hiei growled in warning, getting the toddlers attention.

‘Step away from her, or I will give you a reason to replace your body.’ He said, his eyes narrowing at the demigod.

Koenma stepped back, and Kagome unconsciously moved closer to Hiei, earning a look from him. Her eyes held a silent ‘thank you’ and she looked back to Koenma, her eyes holding a spark of distrust.

“Naraku is back, and you are ordering these guys to protect me...why don’t you have the power to stop him yourself?” she asked, her frown turning into a look of anger.

“I wish it were that simple, Kagome. But he is much more powerful now than he was five hundred years ago. I’m sure you can remember how much power the hanyou had then. I assure you he has increased in power dramatically.” He said, not looking forward to her known temper.

She looked to him and then bowed her head. “How are we supposed to defeat him then? We barely got away with all of our group working together, and even with the Tetsuseiga…” she stopped, the wave of mixed emotion penetrating Hiei to his demonic soul.

“There is a prophesy that one with the pure heart of a child and the love of an unknown will be able to rectify this imbalance of darkness and light. But as to how, I have no idea.” He said, taking another step back, feeling her miko power flare around her once more.

“I…” she stopped, shaking her head. ‘How will we be able to defeat him…for good? Do I have to wish on the jewel again? I wished for happiness for everyone…Sango and Miroku seemed to get their wish, and even Inuyasha…he’s most likely a full demon if he is in that Makai place or whatever…maybe…maybe my happiness will be when we defeat Naraku. Maybe I can use the jewels power to help us? But, the jewel is so easily tainted…I wouldn’t even risk it…’ she stopped thinking and looked up to everyone, who was abnormally quiet throughout the talk between Kagome and Koenma.

She gave everyone a false, bright smile and took a deep breath. “Well, nothings going to get done if we just sit here all day. What is our first plan of action?” she asked, looking to Yusuke.

He nodded to her, a fierce look coming to his face. “Now you’re talking my language, Higurashi. Lets kick some demon ass!” he said loudly, making Kurama and Hiei roll their eyes at him.

“First of all, Kagome, we get you somewhere where you can be more easily protected.” Koenma interjected, trying to get her attention back to him.

“And that would be…?” she replied in an annoyed voice.

“Genkai’s. She will also be able to help train you somewhat with your powers.” He said, knowing that would get the miko’s attention.

“Seriously?! That would be great!” she said happily, clasping her hands together.

She picked up her crutches and began to stand to go upstairs, when a burst of wind came rushing through her house, knocking her to the ground painfully.

~*~


A/N: Sorry bout the cliffy. It was getting a little long for my tastes. I’ll update soon, okay?

A/N: Thanks to all you reviewers! I :: heart :: you guys lots!!

A/N: Survivors