Time of The Twilight Rose

Chapter Four

"Even with power that high it doesn't mean she knows how to use it. Hell for all we know she isn't aware of it. It could have reacted on it's own. I sincerely doubt she knows anything about our kind." Hiei put his two cents in before eating the meal that was placed before him.

"I believe Hiei is right. Odds are being a miko it merely reacted due to our presence. There is no reason for her to know of youkai. Almost all humans are kept from knowing about the Makai. I suggest we follow her at a safe distance once she leaves here." Kurama smiled watching Hiei tearing into his food with gusto. "When was the last time you've eaten Hiei?"

"Yesterday, why?" He glanced up from his plate.

"Because you might want to taste it." Yusuke looked down at his own plate not having much of an appetite.

"I suggest you eat Yusuke, while you can. Try not to stare so much or you'll give her cause to worry." Kurama suggested, he could only guess when the boy would have the chance to eat a decent meal again.

They finished their food minutes before they saw the girl get up, she walked up to the counter to pay. The man behind the counter was smiling, obvious he was trying to flirt with the girl. As soon as she walked out the door Kurama headed to pay for theirs.

Kagome sighed in relief once she was outside in the fresh air, she was free. She'd make sure to give her friends a good earlashing the next time she talked to them. What was it going to take for them to stop trying to set her up. If it wasn't Hojo it was some other guy they thought would be good for her. Didn't they think her capable enough of finding her own boyfriend?

Not wanting to think about it she started her walk back to the shrine. What a way to waste an hour of her life. Hojo had asked her out twice while she'd been in there. Thoughts of claiming herself a lesbian crossed her mind, maybe that would do the trick. That probably still wouldn't faze the poor boy, he was relentless. Of course her friends didn't help matters either. One of them should date him and get it over with since they thought he was so great.

She wasn't ready to start dating again, not anytime soon. It would take someone very special to make her want to set herself up for the heartache again. Hojo was cute but he wasn't the one for her. She waited for the light to change then crossed the street.

Seemed her day was getting worse by the minute, were they following her? She sensed them without having to turn around. All three of them were keeping a safe distance behind her. Was it a mere coincidence? She'd give it a while before deciding on the matter. She let her mind wonder back to her problem at hand.

Her friends had never understood her relationship with Inuyasha. How could she explain it to anyone? They would have to know the full truth, even her mother didn't know it all. They went through so much together, it had formed a bond that could never be broken. She just hoped he was happy with his new life. That was all she wanted now, to know he was happy.

'Okay they are definitely following me.' The shrine was a few minutes away if she ran. She turned around and met the eyes of the little one. He stopped in his tracks when she met his eyes over the distance seperating them. She turned on her heels and began running as fast as her legs would carry her. Thankfully they didn't give chase, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Her legs were burning from the strain when she hit the shrine steps. They would be here in a few minutes, she'd be ready. Her bow was in the new storage shed Grandpa had just built. The old man was sweeping inside when she came running in. He gawked at her when she grabbed the weapon and ran back out. "Kagome, where are you going with that thing?"

"No time to explain." She could feel them getting close now, she notched an arrow as she went back down the steps. They turned the corner as she hit the last step, she took aim before they could move. She released the arrow, she felt like clapping when it hit the ground between the red head's feet. He had to jump back as the aura flared around it. "Don't move or the next time I'll aim a little higher."

All three men stopped to stare at her in disbelief, none moved. Her arrow was aimed at the one in the middle. She blinked and the smallest one was gone, her barrier went up. Her head turned when something slapped into it. He was standing next to her with a scowl on his face, she thought about sticking her tongue out at him.

"Kagome, what's going on here girl?" Gramps came running down the steps broom in hand. "Youkai! Quick get behind me, I'll take care of them."

"Gramps, don't." Kagome groaned in embarrassment when the old man ran up to the small youkai slapping a ward on his forehead. The man growled and went for his weapon, she stepped in front of the old man. She watched the youkai rip the paper off his head along with the headband to reveal a third eye.

"It's hideous, kill it girl!" Grandpa screamed from behind her.

"I should kill you, you old fool." Hiei had his katana out ready to kill the old bastard.

"Hiei." Kurama's voice reached him as the two men approached. "Put it away, you aren't helping matters."

"Hn." He put the weapon away for the time being. "Fine but if he puts another one of those things on me, he dies."

"Kagome? Gramps? What's going on down here?" Souta came running down the steps to join them. He eyed the three men standing there. The first thing he noticed was the man with the third eye. "Way cool, he has an extra eye. I need to get me one of those but I think it would be better in the back of the head. That way you can see everything behind you as well." He ran next to his sister smiling, "Are they all youkai sis?"

"What the hell are you two doing down here? Good thing they aren't bloodthirsty or you'd both be dead." She screamed at them in astonishment, she couldn't believe these two.

"Jeez lighten up, you don't have tell yell at us. We're standing right next to you, you are so crabby." Souta yelled right back at her causing her to blush.

"Shut up you little twerp before I stab you in the eye." She glared at him, ignoring the snickers coming from behind her. "No one told you to come down here and be nosey in the first place."

"I'm allowed to, you aren't the boss of me." Souta stepped on her foot, "No wonder Inuyasha left you, all you know how to do is yell."

"You little shit, I'm going to kill you." She screamed as he ran up the steps. Grandpa grabbed her arm, she slapped at it. "Get off me."

"Now, Kagome you know he didn't mean it." He tried to soothe her anger.

She smiled sweetly at him, "You're right." She waited for him to release her arm. "But I'm still going to choke him just for saying it." The old man's screaming was heard as she ran up the steps after the boy. How dare he say something like that? And in front of those three men at that, that got her to stop in her tracks mid-way up. They were still there watching, should she go see what they wanted?

Gramps saw the girl turning around and coming back. "Now what do you three want?"

"We wish to speak to the girl nothing more." Kurama spoke for them as they waited for her to come back down. He looked her over as she approached, she was very pretty. Then again he could see some resemblence between her and Yusuke.

"What do you want?" Her voice rang out as she approached them. Now that she looked none of them looked at all threatening. Except for the way the little one kept glaring at Gramps. "You can leave now Gramps, they want to talk to me not you."

"Fine, call if you need help." He walked up the shrine steps leaving her alone with them.

Kagome wasn't sure what to expect from them. Over a year ago she would have been worried about them wanting the jewel but it was gone. She had nothing of value that they would want. Still having them follow her home didn't sit well with her. Sure all three of them were cute but she doubted they'd followed her to ask for a date.

Yusuke waited for the old man to leave before speaking. He didn't know how to bring up the subject nor how to say it. So he just said what he'd come to tell her, "Yeah, why we are here. See the thing is you're my sister."

"Keh," She wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh at him or deck him one. She'd heard some lame excuses before but this had to take the cake. "You better come up with a better one than that." He threw his hands behind his head and sighed. She saw the red head shake his head while the short one snorted.

"You should really learn some tact." Hiei couldn't believe he'd just blurted it out like that. Then again this was Yusuke.

"Let me handle this, Yusuke. Can I speak to you in private?" Kurama could see that the girl didn't believe him and thought he was lying. "Please, I will explain everything to you."

"Fine but it better be good." Kagome let the pretty one lead her away. What did that guy take her for? She had a brother and he was waiting inside for her to give him a good beating.

Kurama made sure they were far enough away from the others. "Listen, I'll explain everything to you. What I tell you, you don't have to believe me but I have no reason to lie to you. None of us know you, but we were at that cafe waiting for you to show up. If I'm not mistaken you are Kagome Higurashi aren't you." At her nod he continued, "Good, now that we know we have the right girl, I'll explain. Yesterday Yusuke found some papers that his mother had kept. One of them was a birth and death certificate of his fraternal twin. We examined the papers something was off, the blood work didn't match up. So we did a little digging into the facts. We found that there was a few oddities with the files, seems the baby girl his mother gave birth to wasn't the one that died. So we did some tracking and found the nurse that had actually done the swapping. I won't give you a name or tell you why she did it. But we got the name of whom the baby was given to and that child's name. That child is you Kagome."

"Wait a minute how do you know that nurse isn't lying just to cover her own ass?"

"Because she didn't offer the information volunteerly. That third eye you see on Hiei has the ability to read minds. I'll just say we found the woman, he snuck in and did a little probing into her memories. So lying was not an option for her, it was the truth he saw. She swapped you with another child, you are the child of Atsuko Yurameshi. I'm sorry, Yusuke should have given you time before telling you but he's never been known for thinking. I speak the truth."

"If it's true wouldn't my mother know?" Kagome found it all hard to believe.

"No, she didn't get to see you before the swap took place. She didn't get to see you until the next day, so she never got to lay eyes on her real child. Ask her if you wish, you'll see that I speak the truth. She knows nothing of it, she believes that she was given the right child. I know even if you accept the truth, telling her that the child she thought was her isn't, would hurt her. Plus, she'd have to be told that her real child died two weeks after she was born. So I'd suggest not telling her, there is no need for your family to know. Let them believe what they always have."

"In that case why did I have to know?" She screamed at his face, time to shoot the messenger.

"I'm not sure, you'll have to ask Yusuke that. Since he was the one that told you." Kurama backed up some seeing her aura flare. "Here let me give you my address, I'm sure you want some time alone to think." He handed her one of his stepfather's business cards, "If you call ask for Shuichi."

She snatched the card before running up the shrine steps, needing some time alone. Souta looked at her with wide eyes as she ran past him. She didn't stop until she hit her room, her bow deposited on the floor.

Yusuke saw her run off and thought of running after her, "How did it go?"

"Well, there's a good chance she believes me. Give her sometime to think about it, think of how she must feel. It has to be a great shock to her, I think you both need sometime to accept it. She will call when she is ready." Kurama placed a hand on the boy's arm trying to comfort him the best he could.

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