~Chapter Thirty Five~

I've Known You For Fifteen Thousand Years

All she's got is the way he looks
Many miles on the other side
He had overheard her choice
And he delve off the cliff side

The daylight hours were waning, as was the moon.

Time was slipping through her fingers like spring ice down a warmed mountain slope. Kagome knew Itachi was anxious about it as well. They were a day and a half away from Konoha and were still a half-day's run from the port in the Land of Waves.

Itachi relieved his stress by staring at inanimate objects for elongated periods of time. Currently, the object of his fixation was the writhing ochre flames. They were low and restive things. Just enough heat and too little light to discreetly warm Kagome's aching body.

"When we leave the country we cannot light anymore fires," Kagome murmured into her damp stinging knees. She squirmed further into her cloak as the cold midnight rains drizzled from the canopy above.

The farther they got from Konoha, the wilder and darker the forests became.

"Your health is a priority for this mission's completion," Itachi reminded. His dark listless eyes reflected the gold oscillations. "As is your safety. I will not hesitate in killing Naruto-kun if the Kyuubi poses a threat, Kagome."

Kagome watched the wood crack and pop under the heat. Flurries of embers danced like small cloudlets of fireflies. "Naruto is still in a coma…"

She had already received a missive from Sakura. Once they passed the borders, Sakura would run them personally as the risk of interception grew greater.

Sakura had relayed in her message of Sasuke's condition. He was stable which was a small comfort compared to the ever growing possibility that he may never wake. The dread and guilt that crept on Kagome's senses was paralyzing. Yet, Itachi's small words of comfort and gratitude kept her going.

Sakura's second report was that Naruto would need more time to been drawn out of his coma. The Kyuubi's chakra was still reacting violently every time they eased off the tranquilizers. Once recovered, Naruto would be sent immediately to Mizu to further Kagome's training and to assist them with their secondary mission in recovering Kagome's dormant powers.

Though, Kagome wanted Naruto here now.

More so than ever when Shisui trampled from the dark forest and into their little circle of camp light. "Oh good, I was able to find you guys."

"Did you really have trouble relocating our camp after your patrol?" Kagome's asked in a flat tone.

"Sarcasm obviously," Shisui snorted. "Why the fuck are we still roasting marshmallows for everybody within 5 miles to see our location?"

Shisui's humor was having an edge when pointed at her lately. There were resentments forming from her involvement with his clan. It was natural, an outsider into a clan posed an array of risks and although his trust in Itachi's judgment was endless, Shisui had still just seen his youngest cousin killed less than a handful of days prior.

A flash of Sasuke's pale face interrupted her thoughts. Kagome shuttered.

"Sit down, Shisui," Itachi commanded. "I already have enough of my crows patrolling to keep us safe. The three of us need to discuss matters now that we are out of the village and not near the Copy-nin."

Kagome and Shisui exchanged a glance. They both shrugged.

Oh shit. Things were definitely serious if Itachi was gathering them.

The Uchiha Prodigy leaned forward, laying a palm flat above the flames. The element reacted to him like a nest of baying dragons. They rose and fell in a symphony of heat and light.

"Kagome what did the Kyuubi show you?" Itachi's eyes met hers and the Sharingan tomoe were spinning. They resembled tadpoles in a pool of blood.

Kagome felt the familiar buzz of Genjutsu rush over her. It was a light, harmless illusion but still no shinobi ever liked the feeling.

Itachi literally wanted her to show him. Even if there was the faintest chance of someone eavesdropping there would be no words for them collect.

Shisui's chakra signature was quickly included in Itachi's Genjutsu and soon the only sound that could be heard were their thoughts.

No lips moved.

Show me, Itachi's voice echoed. Shisui you will not speak during this exchange.

Shisui nodded his head dutifully.

Kagome conjured thoughts, particularly the first memory she ever had come forth.

She remembers…

…

The smell of pollen, the sight of frosted plum-buds, a cold spring, the rustle of silk on stone, the heavy footsteps of a demon…

Kagome turns to her name. "Sesshoumaru," she chirps and plucks up her kimono. The fabric is a crisp, cold ivory marked by a spindled helix of scarlet honeycomb and flowers. "InuYasha is with Kikyo-nee again," she pouts and smashes her sandals on nascent daisies.

She looks up and the sun is his halo. Kagome smiles at his radiance.

Sesshoumaru was not unlike a god to her.

"Midoriko instructed you to not wander, Hime," he says and his voice is so, so cold. His eyes are warm though, like liquid sunlight.

"I don't care what haha-ue says," she twiddles her thumbs. "I don't wanna train. I don't wanna be with InuBaka."

A silent movement and those beautiful hands of his rise to the bridge of his nose and pinch it. Kagome fixates on his claws, the translucent flesh, the blue lace of veins beneath, the violet markings…

"Very well… for now," he concedes so easily to her and with a rustle of silk, armor, swords and fur he settles himself next to the toddler too articulate for her own good. "Sit."

And like a pup, she does and pulls his kimono sleeve over her knees like a blanket.

"Sesshoumaru?"

"Hm?" The sound he makes is so deep she swears the earth will split.

"Why do you and InuBaka have swords?"

"To repay a debt," he says and Kagome remembers when those fangs used to seethe with

bitterness and venom. "You know this.

"Hai, but InuBaka says you do it to protect me and nee-sama."

"Kikyo's existence is inconsequential, you are the heir, Hime. Do not let her presence rile you so."

He was avoiding the question. "Do you kill with a sword, Sesshoumaru?"

He glances down, his ethereal profile bows to the sheathed sword at his hip, the woven hilt, the embroidered obi coiled around. "Not with this one, no."

Kagome smiles. She knew this as well. She is so smart! "What does it do then?"

His eyes drift to her and she feels the weight of the world upon her tiny shoulders. "It once was able to save a hundred with one stroke… now it has but enough power to save one. It is a curse of my house, Hime. You know this as well."

Kagome shrinks into rimed grass, smashed daisies and silk. "Is it meant to save me, Sesshoumaru? Am I going to die?" That is what was lying in her mind, creeping in the back of her thoughts. Kikyo whispered wicked things sometimes and they weighed on her.

"If this Sesshoumaru does not falter from duty, no, Hime, you will not and this sword will remain unused."

"Good, now can we go find InuBaka?"

"This Sesshoumaru will not."

"But I want you to! He was mean to me today."

"And what will this Sesshoumaru do once said half-breed is found?"

Kagome shrugs. "Make him cry."

"And what will you do in exchange for this Sesshoumaru's service?"

"I'll scratch behind your ears again."

"Very well."

And he rises with the swell of sunlight and she follows closely behind…

Servitude never was so innocent.

…

The memory faded and Kagome felt such a sever ache throttle her heart.

Sesshoumaru, her thoughts yearned.

Itachi's vermillion eyes darted down, for once not meeting hers in their usual unflinching gaze.

Kagome… that memory is the only truth you know. That memory came forth on its accord much unlike the stories the Trickster told you. Itachi's thoughts echoed like the deep roar of a distant storm. What else did the Kyuubi show you?

Kagome brought forth old words.

…

Why do you believe there is an ocean inside of your mindset?The Trickster queried.

The Child thought back to her previous experiences -times when she wandered her subconscious and treaded over glassy planes. I do not know. It lays atop of my past, my memories…

Your power as well is at the bottom, pup. The ocean is the form the seal on your powers has taken.

Then how do I undo this seal?

You cannot, not yet. But know the ocean is symbolic for something much more literal.

Literal?

Yes, your homeland in this life is that of the Dog General. The land from where you were born and the rest of my kind were banished to lays across a vast ocean, far to the west.

So my family…

Yes, but is across an unreachable distance. Few even know of the lands' existence. And for good reason, pup. It is a savage place. One where even your greatest shinobi would be vanquished by.

Then how did Madara find me? How did he reach me, conquer this Dog General and take me away?

I do not know… Nobody does.

…

Itachi's eyes were still hooded. Again, another truth it seems.

Stop being so fucking vague, Kagome's mind roiled. You told me you knew everything. Tell me everything you know NOW!

The Genjutsu shuddered, Kagome's emotions were stripped bare for all to see and the illusion was not strong enough to take it.

Itachi, please… Kagome begged.

And then just as suddenly, a snap of fingers and the Genjutsu shattered.

The two illusionists looked over to a pensive Uchiha Shisui at the fire's edge. He lightly poked the flames with a branch letting small bursts of embers dance in the night.

"I won't have it," Shisui spoke up. "She needs to read our old tablets. This Genjutsu is just another illusion and any story told from my lips or Itachi's or even some old demon that claims to be there won't be enough. She needs to read the tablets Itachi - even you know that." She needed to feel the old marks hammered into stone, smell dust, see the old blood spattered across the old slabs. "You're being so… so…" He drifted off and let his dark grey eyes drink in the flames.

"Be enough for what?" Kagome echoed eerily with wide eyes swimming with starfire. "Be enough for what?" she repeated when the two Uchiha seemed to pull farther away from her and into their thoughts.

Itachi nodded. For once cousin, you are right.

"You need to be on our side, Kagome," Shisui's voice hitched and his eyes paled to a near frantic grey. The fear danced about his irises like a ghost's vapor.

Silence pooled between them as the fire died down for the night.

Kagome retreated back into her cloak and before nodding off she had just one last thought…

Whatever war may come, why is it the Uchiha fear and want me so?

…

A thin lacy shroud of marine layer veiled the port. The first rustle of fisherman, merchants and dock laborers rallied with the dawn light. The cloying odor of rotting kelp of an old tide wafted along with rubbed dry salt and fish blood.

Kagome wrinkled her nose as she re-shouldered her pack and pulled her porcelain lynx mask over her face.

"FUCK this stinks!"

"I would never live in such a place."

It did not take a prodigy to presume which phrase belonged to each Uchiha. Kagome broke through the final line of sugar pine and the sun flooded her sights. Two dark figures ahead were perched on outcropping overlooking Nami no Kuni.

They were not unlike two crows perusing carrion.

The dewy scrub oaks and sagebrush with the occasional flowering buckwheat carpeted the rolling misty slopes. The silver ocean danced and lapped at the soft blanket of a coastline.

Both Uchiha swiveled on their heels, their masks illuminated by a soft crescent of pink sunlight.

"You ready?" Shisui barked.

Kagome smiled feeling a sudden surge of energy and strength.

Whatever their intentions, she could not help but be extremely fond of the two older Uchiha.

"Good, well your dear Kakashi-sama – yes, Itachi told me what you call him— is late."

Kagome shrugged. "Typical."

"Well we just missed our last boat, Chibi!"

Kagome plopped into the sandy soil and ran her fingertips over the grains. "It's way too early to cancel a day's worth of ferries.

"There is a storm coming," Itachi supplemented as he glided over to her and knelt down. He traced her movements in the sand with gloved fingers.

"I'm going to get breakfast," Shisui huffed before darting into the chaparral and down the rugged path into the port.

"Kakashi is in the area," Itachi told her with his dark eyes slipping beneath the porcelain eyelets. "He is corresponding with his summons – the little fat dog."

"Pakkun."

"Hn, yes. That one." He stopped his tracing of whirlpools in the sand. "He is approaching now." Itachi stood in a fluid motion, hovering over her.

Hatake Kakashi crested the hill with a thin halo of sunlight outlining his shaggy silver hair. His rhythmic gait matched the movements of his single grey eye scanning the pair.

"Ohayo Kakashi-sama," Kagome greeted and knelt next to the little pug at the Copy-nin's heels.

"I imagine you just passed my cousin," Itachi added with a surprising smoothness of conduct in his voice. The usual edge he typically regarded Kakashi with had vanished altogether.

Then it donned on Kagome, We're on a mission. Personal resentments were deemed inappropriate and would be cast aside.

They'll actually get along. She smiled to herself.

"Saa, I informed him of our lack of transportation to which he cordially replied to 'fuck off'."

"Any word from Konoha?"

"Ah, yes, Itachi-kun. Pakkun has informed me of Naruto's awakening. Yamato will accompany him here to rendezvous at a location of our choice."

"A curious coincidence of weather and awaiting Naruto-kun's return leaves our secondary mission interrupted…" Itachi shot a very pointed look at the Copy-nin.

"Saa, I planned on it. No reason to rush off to a foreign land without laying the groundwork for our primary mission. I would like our jolly trio to analyze Kagome-san's energy with our respective Sharingan and identify it before we expose her to Kyuubi's influence."

Itachi took an audible step forward. "Expose Kagome?"

Kakashi's lips twitched beneath the navy blue mask. It was rare for him to gain a tidbit of information that the Uchiha Prodigy did not wish to lose. "Yes, Itachi-kun. I have reason to believe that the Kyuubi is not reacting to Kagome but consciously fluctuating it's energies alongside a weakening seal to bring out Kagome's dormant powers."

"You mean that the demon has ulterior motives," Itachi mused. Imagine that.

Kagome promptly elbowed the Uchiha in the thigh. "Don't act like you have none either."

"Kagome-san is right. The sooner we all drop our guises and cast pride aside, the sooner we can remedy a rather dire situation. We need to get a handle on Kagome-san's powers or live with consequences." Kakashi took a glance to the west as a fiery billow began its onslaught against the sun. The storm was starting to roll in. "Your last prideful intention left your brother exposed to a petty rival to be killed."

In his pursuit for his latest promotion of Captain Commander of the ANBU, the great Uchiha Prodigy had made a mistake and it had near cost him what was most precious to him.

Sasuke.

Itachi's brows knitted as he shifted his weigh from the throbbing leg. "Fair enough." He let his palm rest on the top of Kagome's head. Her jet-black hair seemed to be sprouting from her scalp daily. The ends curled around her ears and dusted inches past her shoulders. "Since we are being frank, Kakashi-san and cooperative," Itachi nearly winced at the word. "I have also brought a relic of great value from my clan's old vaults."

Kakashi's brow rose. "Pakkun, you are dismissed." He would give Itachi the courtesy of fewer ears.

A puff of smoke and the three shinobi were left alone with just birdsong and the soft roar of the nearby ocean.

"Itachi what are you talking about?" Kagome hissed. She was getting extremely tired of the Uchiha always jerking her chain and piquing her interests with nothing but metaphors and dust in her mouth as a return.

And just like that, a dusty scroll twirled about his long fingers.

Kagome instinctively lunged—

Only to have Itachi evade her grasping just inches that her height would allow. The Uchiha who was a good handful of inches over six feet lazily waved the rolled parchment in front of the preteen who barely cleared five.

Kakashi's chastising view of the two dark-haired nin's relationship softened just a little.

There was a playful tenderness in how Itachi handled her.

Kakashi cleared his throat.

Itachi relented in the same moment.

Kagome eagerly unrolled the stiff yellowed vellum. It nearly cracked with age and the writing was an ancient, near unreadable kanji. "It's a summoning scroll."

Her eyes searched the contents. Other than the layer upon layer of old blood smudges, something else caught her eye.

"And it has my name on it."

…

International affairs and personal destinies aside, first things were first as far as the newly instated Captain-Commander was concerned…

"Dango! There's always fucking time for dango!" Shisui bemoaned as he stared out the barred window of a meekly furnished room they had rented. A glossy white sheet of impenetrable downpour was their view ever since the storms had finally waltzed through the port.

Kakashi was in another room. It was unsaid that Uchiha do not room with the thief of their Kekkei Genkai.

Itachi handed Kagome a skewer of sweet dumplings. They were huddled by a low burning hearth. These small comforts and playful teasings were Itachi's way of consoling Kagome's anxious mind.

Kagome understood the unsaid words in his dark looks, however. Cooperation with the Copy-nin was key but he was an outsider. She had not asked why her name appeared on a centuries old scroll nor why Itachi had called her his little sister just days prior.

No, Kagome knew full well now…

That unsaid bond that lured our souls together.

Itachi and Kagome had shared many lives together.

"Everything. I know absolutely everything." His old words reverberated crystalline in her mindset.

Now the context and exact details were lost on her but she felt that could indeed trust the Uchiha Prodigy. She spied him out of the corner of her eye. She rarely studied him nowadays.

To start, he had horrible posture. His long body was trimmed of fat and his long muscled limbs were gracefully well-placed. His cheek bones were painfully sharp jutting out from under the hollow canyons beneath his even darker eyes. The skin beneath his eyelids held the faintest of lavender hues. His skin was like the moon, alabaster and pockmarked with bloodless scar tissue. Then came his hair, not quite as dark as hers but several shades darker than Shisui's charcoal mane but not quite as glossy as Sasuke's blue-black tresses. It held no volume; it was as limp and straight as a dead snake. Loosely bound at the nape of his neck, it spilled down his back with a few long strands dripping past his sharp features.

His thickly lashed eyelids fluttered.

"Do you have a horn protruding from my forehead, Higurashi-san?" Itachi queried as he set a worn iron kettle over the hearth.

Kagome's eyes dipped the embers. "No, just a zit."

Itachi's lips twitched. "Rest assured, I have an excellent complexion."

Shisui snorted. "Yeah, puberty alongside you was annoying. Fucker never had so much as a blackhead. But at least I can grow facial hair."

Kagome giggled. "Honestly, Itachi I just find you very handsome."

Shisui's head whipped around and Itachi dropped the teacup he was fiddling with.

"What? Can I not give a compliment?"

So she let him into her heart and signified this with the simplest of gestures.

Her little hand anxiously accepted the sweet and gobbled it down.

Shisui scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I'll give you two some space…" His image flittered out of existence and away he went.

Now Kagome felt truly self-conscious. "What in the Seven Hells is wrong with giving a compliment?"

Itachi's hand shot out against her fire-warmed cheek. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." His ashen skin took on a cherry glow. "It is rare for our kind to be so genuine, Kagome. Shisui was just granting us privacy."

Kagome's little hands interlaced with the long fingers clutching her jaw. "Well… I meant it."

"I am sure you did."

"Do not get conceited on me. I know how many fan girls you and Sasuke have."

Itachi's eyes darted to the fire. "And does that bother you?" he asked distantly.

Kagome shrunk away. "Yes," she whispered. "In a foolish way that only little girls care about."

"You are still a little girl, Kagome."

"I know!" she hissed. "I know I'm plain and small and hot-tempered and boyish looking…"

"You are… very misguided." Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose. Petty female insecurities evaded him. "You are very short. Even for your age and have strangely large eyes in regards to the proportions of your head."

Kagome raised one pert brow. "You're not helping."

Did she not find his observations complimentary? She was amusing to look at it.

"Hn… I…" This was going to hurt. "I like your hair."

"Excuse me?"

"Sometimes when you are asleep, or even when you are completely awake to the world. I touch it unnecessarily."

Kagome felt a tingle down her spine. "You sound creepy." She smiled back. "Thanks."

"Also when you are slumbering, your eyelashes touch your cheeks not unlike a crow's primary wing feathers."

Kagome leaned forward. "Keep going." Progress, he was making progress.

"You also have the smallest hands. Much too soft for shinobi life and I imagine I could encompass both your fists within one of my own." Itachi paused. "And then, your lips are always chapped and furiously pink… it is tempting to say the least."

Kagome lunged forward and kissed him roughly.

All that torturous hesitation and spellbinding tension exploded into small gasps and pressed warm skin.

They both withdrew just as suddenly.

"We will be having more of those," Kagome added. "The cat's out of the bag. We might as well enjoy our road to hell."

Itachi was not nearly as amused. "Kagome, no matter we justify this relationship. It is wrong."

A furious bubble of frustration blossomed in her chest and popped. "So you will just deny me then?"

Itachi grabbed her by the neck, fixing her sights on him. "No I am saying I care for you enough to wait, you foolish little girl…"

And he kissed her again, but there was no hesitancy nor urgency in his movements.

Just sadness, complete and utter sadness.

The type of sadness that brings about so many other emotions…

The whisper of despair that hollows out your chest leaving you too bone dry to even weep at night. The taste of longing that leaves you too brittle to ask for help. The absolute sharpest of wonders of what could be that haunts every single fucking thought.

This was their last kiss for a long while.

They were in a trance. She opened her mouth for him and he poured his fury into her.

He was so very angry with this world. He was too old of a soul to not be. He had done his duty time and time again and still he was deprived of what was his by birthright.

His tongue moved with hers, dominated it and then wandered down her neck. He lingered and lapped at her milky skin until she had nothing more to give him.

His limbs surrounded her like a gilded cage and he was shaking.

"You need to remain pure," Itachi whispered near frantic. "If I give into temptation, I will. Lose. You."

What on earth is he talking about? Kagome wondered for the umpteenth time when Uchiha Itachi was concerned.

"Itachi, breathe," Kagome hushed. "You're scaring me." His heart rate was erratic, his eyes were pressed shut and tremors wracked his body.

Uchiha Itachi was terrified.

And then, just as suddenly, Itachi calmed himself and gathered back his cool calm façade. He breathed a few audible breaths before his vitals stabilized and demeanor was back.

The great ANBU Captain had let a crack in his mask be exposed if only for a moment.

Itachi withdrew from her completely. "Tea?" he offered as he poured the amber liquid into the small ceramic cups.

"Uh, yes…" She just merely held the cup, unable to drink as her eyes studied him. "Hm, you are truly an amazing creature, Uchiha Itachi."

"As are you, Higurashi Kagome." His eyes flashed with his Kekkei Genkai devilishly as he sipped.

A few more moments passed and they exchanged a handful of coy glances.

"About that scroll…" Kagome started.

"What of it?"

"I want to try and use it."

"I do not believe your Ki is at adequate levels yet."

"Ki?"

"I know absolutely everything, Kagome. Remember that. What I choose to reveal to you is for your own mental and physical wellbeing." Itachi set down his cup. "Your chakra will soon be completely replaced by a life energy known as ki. Unlike chakra, not all organisms possess this energy source. The only recorded cases are with demons and the Sage of Six Paths. Once again, unlike chakra which manifests through an affinity for an element such as fire or water – ki manifests according to the duality of the user's character."

"Good or evil," Kagome supplemented. "So that is what you meant by keeping me pure… What about when I nearly made you blind? My… ki—" Her tongue experimented with the word. "—is strongly opposed to your Sharingan."

"One of my clan's most honored secrets is that we share lineage with an old Youkai. My Sharingan has remnants of demon's blood, Kagome. It will always haunt my clan and our legacy."

Your purity and my tainted blood will forever clash.

"And the sage was good, I presume?" She remembered the old tails of how the Sage had conquered the unimaginable Ten Tails scattering the Tailed Beasts and begin laying the foreground for the future villages. "So you're saying that I'm related to him?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"So we're mortal enemies?"

"Not quite…" Itachi mused. She was taking the first bits of a very long story quite well— almost too well. "There's a bit more to our history."

Kagome was already across the room, rummaging through Itachi pack. A pair of shuriken, flint, tinder and a whetstone went flying across the room as she searched before she triumphantly surfaced with the scroll.

"Kagome, I assure you your Ki is not strong enough and your disappearing chakra is misaligning your energy axis to properly do any sort of Jutsu."

"Shut up," she snapped as she splayed out by her knees next to the fire. The dim red shadows danced over old blood. She bit her finger and speared it. Concentrating her energy centers.

Nothing happened.

"Well, fuck." The smartass was right. "Wait – Itachi look at me."

He did.

"No, no, no with your Sharingan."

He did just that and the hearth-glow made him look truly demonic. What is rattling around in that tiny little skull of hers?

"Our energies conflict. The Kyuubi knows this too. He's a demon. He knows to get my dormant powers kick-started that he would have to expose me to his tainted Ki. Now use your Sharingan to hypnotize me with every bit of energy you have and your offense should trigger my defense."

It was decidedly risky…

But the outcome could save them months of training.

And we do not have even weeks, he mused before shutting his eyes. "This will be painful as your nervous system will completely reject my energy's presence." Every nerve in her body was about to light up like a match.

"Bring it on, Uchiha," Kagome growled, keeping her crouching position and thumb fixed on the old scroll. The anticipation was already causing a heightened awareness of her energies, she could feel the oncoming swell.

The fire died down and complete darkness other than Itachi's burning scarlet eyes bloomed in the night.

Kagome tensed awaiting the massive onslaught of energy about to assault her.

Instead there was a subtlety to his energy, a warmth, a slight sleepiness that only someone with fine tuned senses could decipher.

His scarlet eyes hovered unwavering. They were an entity in of it themselves disjointed from their master.

They were beautifully ponderous creations!

She fell into them feeling such a distinct familiarity to them that she had searched for her entire life. That familiar warmth spread over her body and cradled her heart's hopes and all her previous lives' sorrows.

And then, the pain started.

Agony was not even a word to describe it. It was rooted in her chest and spread to her throat. Each breath was terrible suffering that made every long second pass like a year only to bring another wretched cycle of season after season of despair.

She was trapped in a time warp that was completely within her own mental limits.

The torture was too intense, she labored at it…

Moon after moon, year after year…

Eons passed this way. There were moments—no centuries—that it seemed she wanted to accept it—no them—those orbs.

Her sun and moon. Her creator and destroyer. Her gods and her demons.

They were all that mattered in this momentary Universe.

Some days the left eye sung to her and she screamed out. Other days the right whispered tales and she wept and wept for him to stop.

Then there were days where she laughed and rejoiced in her insanity.

What a wretch she was!

And she peeled her skin off in her mind's eye only to be stitched back up to be torn again and then cast to the wind.

She felt like dust on the wind except she was aware of every forsaken grain and the feeling of absolute disconnect with the world.

She wanted death. She wanted an end to all ends.

And she received it. She died in spirit every moment. Only to be resurrected as some cruel sick joke.

Fifteen thousand years passed until the smallest of whispers came upon her.

Life is a choice.

"I choose to live!" Kagome triumphed with her words and the fires of sanity, free will and real time flood back to her awareness.

And then, Itachi snapped his fingers and all was right again. "Fifteen seconds," he murmured as he waved a hand over the dead hearth. Flames licked to life. "You screamed the entire time."

Kagome collapsed onto the floor feeling the most profound relief come over her. "And I have nothing to show for it…" She stared numbly off at the dancing firelit shadows.

"I would not be so sure, Kagome… You fought me every step of the way and did not succumb."

It was in the fray that she failed to realize a solid source of warmth emanating from her stomach. She sat up slowly, her impossibly tense and sore muscles aching with every movement. The solid ball of heat slipped to her lap, brushing her legs.

Her hands fumbled in the dim light. Fur?

She looked down at the small creature in her lap.

A pair of ruby eyes stared back, unnervingly.

"Mew."

At that sound, a single name exploded from her tongue eagerly at recognition.

"KIRARA!"

…

Sacrifice he just wants to help
Holds the world like a baby
Takes his mask off and lulls his head
Then she sees him in the screen

–Let it be

Author's Note: HEY HEY HEY HEY! Remember the talented and beloved Passionate Crow Rat? Well she is coming BACK! I'm sure if you love Memoirs of a Prodigy then you have also adored it's twisted twin Rebirth? Well what could be even better than Rebirth coming back, you say? Well what's better than Fanfiction? ...MANGA! Yes, yes, yes! You heard me. Crow has poured her blood, sweat and tears into writing Rebirth along with creating a beautifully twisted, reverse-harem inspired manga. Now I ain't talking about that hand drawn penciled manga that went into a scanner to be uploaded on DeviantArt (Nothing wrong with that... but Crow is LEGITIMATELY a Mangaka) and what is even better than all of this? IT IS FREE. All she wants is for people to read her story and get lost into her little devious creation (and be free of the Mature Content filtering that FFnet puts on us). Ok now I'll shut up and give you the link:

semi DOT inkblazers DOT com

So please, please take a gander and support my very creative and very dear friend in her endeavors as an author by doing just THREE things.

1.) Type in the URL above (dot=.) & no spaces (^.^)

2.) SIT BACK AND ENJOY one of the my most guilty pleasures of a storyline

3.) Bookshelf her Manga to show your support!

THAT IS ALL.

~KK

Update Schedule

45+ = (three weeks)

30+ = (one month)

20+ = (two months)

10+ = TBA