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Curiosity - Chapter Nine - "Follow The Leader"

Together they stood embracing for, what to them, had seemed like hours. But that wasn't true for the moon was still high in the sky. They relished their reunion embrace for just a while longer until they finally relinquished their hold upon one another. Both were held at arms length, neither one believing the other was truly there, that they were finally reunited.

"Izayoi I'm," Touga choked, his emotions were taking over again, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you or our son." He looked down to his mate to see a small, sad smile grace her features. "Even when she is sad, she looks like a goddess."

A petite hand caressing his cheek brought him out of his thoughts. "Beloved, I was never mad at you for I knew that someday we would be together again." Sadness began to enter her scent as she tilted her head down to look at an interesting blade of grass. "The only thing I regret was... was you and I weren't there to watch Inuyasha grow up. We weren't there to take care of him and..."

Touga interrupted her by tilting her head up so he could look into her saddened brown eyes. "It's ok Izayoi. That is one thing I regret myself, but I bet we could find him now. Sesshomaru told me in my rage that Inuyasha somehow managed to stay alive all these years. Perhaps we could try to make our way back into his life."

"You mean he's alive? Oh, that is wonderful news my beloved." She smiled as she stared up into the boughs of the sakura tree, memories of a silver haired child running through her mind.

Both stared at the swaying boughs for a few moments until Touga spoke, "You were right."

Brown and amber eyes stared at each other at this statement, one set surprised, and the other set calm. "What on earth do you mean 'I was right'?"

A hearty chuckle was heard throughout the forest at that, "Don't you remember mate?" He turned her to look at the trunk of the tree, "You said the day we planted this tree that as it grew throughout the years, our love would grow. What you said was true, for I love you more now than I ever did all those years ago."

He felt her body tense after that last sentence, and the scent of fear permeated the air, "Izayoi, what is wrong?"

She took a deep breath before answering, "You said 'all those years ago,' from how you said it years have passed. How...?" Touga shushed her with a single claw to her lips.

"I really hoped you wouldn't find this out, but I knew it would come up eventually. Izayoi," a hesitant pause answered her name, "It has been two hundred years since we walked this plain. Izayoi!" Touga looked down at the woman in his arms to see that she had fainted. "Keh, I knew it would surprise her, but I honestly didn't think it would have affected her this much."

Without trying to jar her to much, Touga hoisted her into his arms and began to walk away from the tree and the river. As he walked away, he never noticed that the stone that once marked Izayoi's resting place had vanished.

About twenty minutes later, Izayoi was finally starting to regain her consciousness. "Hmmm, that was a wonderful dream. I finally got to see my beloved again after so long. In fact I can still feel his arms around me. Wait..." Slowly she opened her eyes and she saw the proof that her dream was in fact reality. "It was real, we've finally been reunited."

"So, you've decided to wake up have you?"

The small woman he held frowned at the smirk that appeared on his face, "Well, I can't help that I was shocked when you told me how long we've been gone. What could have happened to Inuyasha during all those years? How much has changed in Japan since our *gulp* time?"

"I understand mate and it will take a while to find out what all has changed. But we will find out what happened to Inuyasha soon enough. I caught a whiff of his scent a few minutes ago, which I'm following now, and from what I can tell he isn't alone."

"He isn't alone? Oh no, you don't mean?"

"No, no mate, I don't mean that there is an enemy after him. They other scents don't contain anything hostile, in fact, the whole lot smells as if they are a pack." "A startlingly mismatched one at that."

Izayoi was once again shocked, but this time not to the point of fainting, she just stared up into the dark night sky.

A small giggle pulled Touga out of his reverie as he turned his face towards the woman in his arms. "You know, we met, became one, and brought Inuyasha into this world all on the night of the full moon. It is only proper that we be brought back together on a night so significant to us."

He looked up to stare into the full moon's glow, "Ah, my mate is so smart, one of the many things I love about her. Now I believe you should get some sleep, I promise not to drop you." He smiled wistfully.

"Don't you think two hundred *yawn* years of sleep is enough?"

"Ah, but I wouldn't exactly call that sleep. Don't you want to be well rested in case we come across Inuyasha tomorrow?"

Skeptical looks crossed Izayoi's face, "Touga, I know your limits. If you truly wanted to find him tonight you would."

Touga's face became soft as he leaned down to be within centimeters of his mate. "But, that would mean I had less time to spend with you." He closed the space between them to share their first kiss of this ne chance at life. When he pulled away, he saw Izayoi's eyes drift shut, announcing her arrival in dreamland. "Sleep well my mate, soon we will be a family again."

*Next Morning*

The streaming sunlight flittering through the treetops was what awoke Izayoi the next morning. Sleep hazed eyes slowly opened to see birds flying overhead and wisps of smoke in the air. That was when a heavenly smell drifted into her nose, which she inhaled deeply and desperately, as if life depended on it. "Oh that smells heavenly."

Izayoi turned her head towards the source of that enticing aroma and opened her eyes fully to see Touga twirling some sort of meat over a fire. "That smells divine darling."

Touga turned to look at his mate with a smirk, "Well of course it should, I cooked it. It's boar meat, which if I remembered correctly, is your favorite." His question was answered by the rumbling of her stomach.

A blush dusted her cheeks at that noise from her body. Gradually she rose up to stroll her way to her mate and the delicious meat that awaited her. As she sat down, a slight sting at her neck caused her to smack her hand there to kill whatever it was. But when she brought her hand down, all that as on her palm was blood.

Suddenly, another smack sounded off from her right side, where Touga was. When he drew his had away from his neck, she saw something floating down from his neck and land on his open palm, only to then pop back into whatever had been it's original form.

"Master it really is you! Oh what a glorious day this is, to have you and your mate back in this land again! We must celebrate."

"Ah Myouga, let me guess you could tell by our blood right? What you wouldn't do for a free meal. Must not be any danger around since you are here." Touga glanced over at Izayoi and winked which made her giggle, for she too knew the ways of Myouga the flea.

"Ugh Mi'Lord, this noble servant would never do such a thing!"

"Sure you wouldn't." "What brings you here Myouga? Can I not spend the morning in peace before I go off following Inuyasha again?"

"Oh, that wouldn't be wise, no not at all. He wouldn't believe you to be you Master, nor the Lady Izayoi his mother."

It was that last part that caused Izayoi to join in on the conversation, "What do you mean he wouldn't believe us? Did something happen while we were gone so for long?"

Myouga began to look nervous and started to sweat, "Well, what I mean is... is... uh..." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts when an idea struck him. "It would be easier to get him to, well, accept you if one of his friends was on your side, so to speak."

"Just what is he trying to hide.. Hmm..." Touga thought, "Just what do you propose we do then Myouga? You seem to know a lot more about how to handle this situation than we do."

"I believe your best bet would be to get Lady Kagome on your side, she has the most, shall I say 'leverage' against Inuyasha. She is with Inuyasha all of the time, so you would have to wait until she heads back to her home to be able to confront her."

As Touga was churning this information over in his mind, he removed some of the meat from the fire so that Izayoi could calm her rumbling stomach.

"It is settled then, we will continue tracking after Inuyasha after breakfast and wait until this Lady Kagome returns home to confront her."

A smirk came to Myouga's face as he eyed an tantalizingly good looking vein. "Speaking of breakfast..."

"Don't even think about it."

"Oh well, such is the life of a flea."

*Later*

About two hours after breakfast, they heard a commotion ahead of them. Touga used his youkai ability to hide their scents as they bent down to be hidden by the foliage. Together, the three travelers witnessed the fight between our miko and hanyou. All let out a sigh of relief when they convinced Kirara to not reveal them to the group. And they watched as the miko flew off towards what could only be thought of as her home.

Once the gang was out of the clearing, our travelers stepped forth.

"It is obvious that he inherited your temper beloved." Izayoi said as she looked towards up towards her mate. A snort was her only reply as Touga kept staring at where his youngest son had taken off to.

"Mi'Lord, I suggest you take on your true form so that you two will be able to keep up with Lady Kagome and get to talk to her before she returns to her homeland."

Touga turned to his shoulder with a quizzical look, "What do you mean by 'homeland'?"

Myouga gulped due to the fear of the secret he had almost spilled. "I believe that it isn't my place to tell you Master. Oh, I just remembered that I promised to help a friend today, I must be leaving now!" And within seconds, he was gone.

"Well, shall we be going my dearest? The sooner we talk to this woman, the faster we will be reunited with our son." Izayoi said kindly.

No response was given as Touga took her by the elbow and took off into the sky, transforming before he even reached the tops of the trees and taking off after the two-tailed cat.

*Somewhere in the mysterious beyond*

A woman sat looking into what to a normal person would be considered a bird bath. But to her, it was her gateway, a sort of looking glass if you will, to the outside world.

"Well part one of your plan is complete. What is the next step?" A gentle voice asked, as a man walked to the woman's side.

"Now we must bring together what was taken apart."

"But they are already piecing back together the jewel."

"There is something else that must be connected for this world to survive. We need skill."

"I don't understand." He replied as his bro furrowed.

The woman turned to face the person standing above her, "There are yet a few more major events that must take place for the world to be saved."

Chapter End Notes:

A/N - Who could these mysterious people be? And what else needs to be brought together? Anyone have any guesses...

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