Silence of The Wolf

Disclaimer: I don\'t own or profit from Inuyasha, Yu yu hakusho or Rurouni Kenshin. This disclaimer will go for every chapter contained within this story.

A/N: This is a triple xover and will be posted in all three categories. The pairings are Kagome/Saitou and Shizuru/Aoshi. The story will contain Angst, graphic violence and sexual content, please heed the warning. Reviews are welcome, please let me know what you think. Flames can\'t be stopped, just laughed at.

Chapter One

*Tokyo, Japan- the year 1882*


Hajime Saitou tossed the match on the damp ground, recently coated by the morning dew. A deep sigh escaped him, he steeled himself for what he was about to do. Times like these he really hated his job, it was a pain in the ass. Informing someone of a family members death was one thing, so was dealing with the ones responsible. Give him a good fight anyday, it was what he lived for. Nothing excited him more than having his blood rush through his veins while going against an opponent. It had been years since he\'d been able to test his skills against someone worthy. At times he thought to go bother Himura just for a good fight. Was a damn shame that doctor lady had informed the Battousai that his continued fighting was taking a toll on his body and immune system.

After last year Saitou had a lot of pent up emotion residing deep inside him just waiting to cut loose. His wife had passed on, stuck down by an illness of the lungs. She\'d gotten sick in December, it had steadily gotten worse over time. At first she\'d tried to assure him it had been just a mild cold, even refusing to see a doctor. The cough didn\'t improve nor did her condition. A couple of weeks later she had died late one night. It left him grief stricken, unable to express the deep sorrow. Most didn\'t even realize that he\'d been married. While chasing Himura, then going after Shishio he\'d been to busy to worry about his home life. Now years later she was gone and he was left alone.

Plainly speaking the Miburo Wolf was very bored with life. He was pushing the ripe age of fourty, even if he didn\'t look to have aged a day since turning thirty. Still in his prime, something was missing in his life. What was beyond him, there wasn\'t much more out there for him to discover. The most his job gave him to do now was tend to illegal fights, brawls and to investigate people for the government. He\'d been informed this morning of a body being found in a well on the outskirts of town. What made matters worse his information said it might be one of the Oniwanbanshu.

Now he stood at the door of Shinomori Aoshi, a former member of the group. Rumor was he was still considered a member, though their new leader was that weasel girl, Misao. Aoshi had taken up residence in Tokyo about a year ago, seperating himself from the group. Probably trying to get his life together after everything he\'d done. The man had betrayed the group he\'d been suppose to lead and care for. Forgiveness was something that came at a high price.

Saitou didn\'t care about the man\'s inner turmoil or for his former group. All he wanted to know was who the man was that was still stuffed at the bottom of a well. His men refused to go down after the corpse, saying it was too torn apart. A bunch of gutless pussies in his opinion, scared to get their hands dirty. If it was indeed one of the group he\'d have Shinomori help him bring the dead man up. It would have to be indentified before he could start searching for any leads.

He knocked on the door announcing his arrival to the silent man inside. His fingers dropped to the hilt of his new sword. Touching it brought a calming effect to his soul, relieving some of the strain on his anxiety. Where it had been forged or it\'s origins were unknown to him. A mission three months ago had lead him to an empty shack several miles from Kyoto. Inside had been stolen contraband, ranging from gold to clothing. The thieves had been arrested and dealt with along with most of the goods returned. The sword had caught his eye, so he looked in his report. No one had reported having something of it\'s description stolen. Naturally, he\'d kept the blade for himself.

It probably wasn\'t worth much now, swords being illegal for most. The blade itself was finely crafted, with the best steel. The hilt had the design of a small wolf howling, below it strange words were written. He was unable to read it for some reason. It wasn\'t fancy, the only jewel was imbedded into the wolf\'s eye. It was pink, nothing he\'d ever seen before, probably not worth much. It was also very small, not that he had any intention of selling the weapon. It seemed to suit him, it now belonged to him.

The door swung open, a stone faced Aoshi stood peering at him. Saitou could tell the man wasn\'t in a pleasant mood from his shoulders. This news wouldn\'t make him more pleasant to be around, might as well get it over with. That way he could get home for some breakfast. \"Morning, Shinomori,\" He nodded his head trying to be polite, he was on duty. \"I was wondering if you could come with me?\"

\"What for? I haven\'t broken any laws recently, so what are you doing on my doorstep?\" Aoshi glared at him, his meditation had been interrupted by the cold officer. He\'d woken up again from the same reoccuring nightmare. He didn\'t need Saitou to make his day even more shittier. Hell his week had turned from bad to worse. Trying to meditate was becoming a chore now, then Misao had come to visit him yesterday only to leave upset with him. He knew she had feelings for him that went beyond friendship. She couldn\'t seem to understand that he\'d helped raised her and thought of her like a younger sister. Taking her as a wife and lover would make him feel wrong. It wasn\'t meant to be, they weren\'t meant to be.

\"I didn\'t say you did. A body popped up not far out of town, I\'m hoping you might be able to indentify it for me. One of my men said he thinks it is one of the members of the Oniwanbanshu. I don\'t feel like traveling to Kyoto, not if you can identify it for me.\" Saitou inhaled the smoke waiting for the man to take in the information. As suspected the man nodded then said he\'d be back in a few minutes.

Aoshi quickly got dressed, his mind on what was said. He knew that Misao had stopped by Himura\'s yesterday after leaving his home. So she would be safe, it couldn\'t be her. For a second he thought of telling Saitou to get the girl to indentify the corpse then thought better of it. No need to subject her to it if he could get around it. He made sure to grab his kodachis then threw on his trenchcoat. Best to get this done and over with quickly so he could get on with his day. Saitou started walking down the street the moment he shut the door.



Neither man spoke on the trek, which took almost an hour. Both lost in their own thoughts and wondering what to expect once they got there. Saitou had been informed that it almost looked like a wild animal attack but human at the same time. How the hell that was possible he didn\'t know. The scene was described as gruesome, a brutal mauling. It was a good thing he\'d forgone breakfast that morning.

His men were all standing around talking when they arrived at the well. The faint scent of stale blood surrounded the area, confirming that there was indeed a mess in there waiting for him. He should throw them down there to teach them not to be so squimish. He lit another smoke as he walked to the edge. Flies were already starting to gather, all ready to eat off the man below. \"Why don\'t you go first Shinomori, let me know what you find.\"

Aoshi ignored the pungent scent wanting to just identify the person in the hole. He had suspected that Saitou would send him in the well, it didn\'t bother him. A smirk crossed his face seeing the horrified looks on the soldiers face\'s. Most of them couldn\'t handle death, made him wonder why they enlisted. Maybe he should tell the wolf, his men were nothing but a bunch of pansies. He leaned over the lip, it was wide enough for several people to stand up right in.

The moment his feet hit the bottom the sound of something snapping was heard. \"Shit, I think I just broke something. Give me a light, I can\'t see anything.\" Aoshi looked up to see Saitou looking down, a bored look crossing his features.

\"Doubt he felt it, just becareful. Don\'t need a bigger mess to clean up.\" He tossed the man a torch along with his matches. The light filled the pit giving it an eerie appearance and a good view of the mess below. Saitou grimaced at the sight, it was worse than he\'d thought. The man\'s head was torn completely off his neck with the spinal cord still fully intact, it rested beside the body. What was left of the spine, that Aoshi hadn\'t accidently stepped on.

Aoshi took his foot off the now severed spine and swore. It only got worse from there. It was apparent that the man\'s head had been grabbed from the back then torn from his body. It would take someone extrememly strong to tear a head off with the spine still attached. He grabbed the head to see if he recognized the face, he didn\'t. Whomever the victim was, he wasn\'t part of the Oniwabanshu. Instead of climbing out now that his job was done he stayed to examine the rest. The man\'s eyes looked to be dug out from the sockets. The wounds looked like claw marks, almost animal like in resemblance. The mouth hung open in terror, the look was forever etched on the man\'s face. The head was tossed up to the waiting officer, \"I don\'t know him, catch.\"

Aoshi went back to the corpse, turning it over to get a better look. The man had to been over six feet in height, weighing a good two-hundred pounds. The stomach was torn open leaving some of the entrails to ooze out. A hole was in the chest were the heart should have been, the organ had been removed. The same claw marks surrounded the opening, no animal could have done it. One of his fingers had been bitten off, he couldn\'t find it in the well. The next wound made him wince in pain, the man\'s testicles had been bitten off. There was also small puncture wounds on the penis. \"Wanna help me get this thing up?\"

Aoshi watched Saitou begin to climb down with a rope in hand. His thoughts went down at the poor creature near his feet. The bite and claw marks would indicate an animal attack. Yet no animal could tear a head off with that much force, leaving the spine attached. Nor would they dig the eyes and heart out in such a manner. An animal ate, they didn\'t dig out their prefered meal. The man\'s clothing was next to the body, so the man had been dressed. What beast would know how to undress their victim before they proceeded to kill. It had to be a man of great strength that thought himself to be an animal. Biting off a man\'s privates was too much even for someone like him. Killing a man was one thing, this went beyond sick.

Saitou could see some of the wounds as he climbed down. No wonder the other man looked horrified, someone was twisted. Someone had actually turned the man into some kind of perverted meal. He wasn\'t sure if coming down was such a good idea anymore. Seeing up close and personal made even him want to cringe. His feet was only two feet from the botttom so he let go of the rope. Surprise crossed his face when a blue light encased him, the ground changed before his eyes. \"What the hell?\"

Aoshi saw the blue light, he almost panicked until he realized that whatever was happening Saitou was also being affected. \"What did you do?\" The ground gave way beneath them, the light swallowed them up. He tried jumping, there was no escaping. They were floating through the light along with the corpse. Some blood landed on his cheek, his hand wiped it off. His head became dizzy, eyelids shut before he could voice his concern. He heard Saitou\'s curse then nothing as the blackness claimed him.


*Tokyo present day*

Kagome picked the broom up, the hair surrounded her feet. She would never understand why short hair was all the craze these days. Her hair was never going to get butchered off. She looked at herself in the large mirror, then again maybe with short hair she wouldn\'t look so much like Kikyou. But it was the one thing she liked about herself, she couldn\'t bring herself to get rid of it. The girl giggled at the new hair style she was sporting then thanked Kagome. The miko merely smiled then proceeded to clean up the discarded hair.

The day had been a busy one, all the kids out for the weekend. Not to mention with the new box office hit, girls were wanting their hair whacked off. Kagome never saw fit to follow some trend or fad, it just wasn\'t her. Then again she wasn\'t your average teenage girl. In a few months she would no longer be a teenager either. She hadn\'t been average since she\'d turned fifteen. Her trips to the fuedal era had ended right after the ripe age of seventeen for her.

The jewel was nestled in between her breasts hanging on a chain, along with a pretty ward. It kept youkai from being able to sense the power and from touching it. It had been completed that day so long ago, the day her journey had come to an end. So many questions were left unanswered for her, they\'d always plaque her mind. Inuyasha had been showing indecision on who he wanted to be with once more. Kagome finally began to hope for a future for them but it had been taken away.

For months they had believed that all the jewel shards had been located. So instead of looking for more the group and even Naraku had stopped searching, focusing more on the opposing group. Kouga had turned his two over to Kagome finally, which had pissed the hanyou off greatly. He was happy about getting the shards back, he didn\'t like the bold declaration of love that had come with them. Kagome had just been estatic about having them, it meant Naraku would never get them. Inuyasha hadn\'t seen it that way of course. Kohaku had given his to Kikyou ending his life in the process, which saddened Sango.

The final battle had come that fateful evening under the bright moon. Every detail still etched firmly in the miko\'s mind, like it\'d only been yesterday. She\'d done her best to fight, to fight for the man she loved. In the end it had been Kikyou who\'d taken the last few shards to complete it then purify it and Naraku from the world. Kagome felt like she\'d failed everyone, it had been her duty. After all wasn\'t she the guardian of the damn thing. It left her bitter and angry how things had turned out in the end.

Everyone had known that the only reason she\'d still been in that world was due to the jewel. With it gone then she would leave as well. Yet it had been used to get rid of Naraku. She had cried then, it had hurt so much. For the two minutes she\'d lasted after the destruction of the jewel it had been enough to shatter her foolish girl\'s heart. Inuyasha had ran to the injured Kikyou, wrapping his arms around the dead miko. His feelings could be heard in his voice as he muttered the words, \"My Kikyou.\"

The man she loved never looked her way as he held onto the woman he\'d finally avenged. Her heart broke when she started feeling strange, her hand became transparent before her eyes. Instead of calling out and taking the attention away from the couple, she watched. The two embraced each other, lost in one another. Sango was seen running over to Miroku, to hold the man she\'d soon start her family with. The one person who would have hugged the miko was knocked out, sleeping peacefully on the neko\'s back. Not a word fell from her lips as she watched her friends fade, leaving that part of her life behind.

She\'d woken up in her bed, the jewel fisted in her hand. Her mother had explained that was exactly how they found her three days before. It had taken her weeks of laying in the bed before she began to live again. The well was sealed to her even though the jewel was with her. Her mind accepted that she wasn\'t meant to go back, her life was here now. Inuyasha was forever lost to her along with her friends.

After closely inspecting the jewel one day she saw why it had returned to her. The power had been used but it was incomplete. A small piece was missing, she wouldn\'t even call it a shard. Just a small little grain actually, gone just the same. No wonder they hadn\'t thought to look for it. All the shards had been found all but a tiny fragment, that was lost somewhere in time.

Finishing school wasn\'t an option for her when it came time to get her life back in order. She\'d missed too many days and missed her chance to get into high school. Instead she had dropped and decided on getting a job. Her mother had payed for her to go through training to become a beautician. It had taken awhile to go through that schooling but it had been completed. She\'d gotten a job at one of the local salons over a year ago. Now she was rooming with one of her co-workers, her life was getting back on track.

\"Hey girl, might want to snap out of it. Your break will be over before you move from that spot.\" Shizuru looked up from the head of hair she was cutting. She hadn\'t been surprised to find Kagome in another daze, her friend often spaced out. They still had another hour before they closed for the night. The girl had started over a year ago and they became close friends immediately. It hadn\'t taken Shizuru more than a minute to pick up on the girl\'s power. Months later after becoming closer than most siblings the girl shared an apartment with her. It was a good arrangement, neither of them dated and were content to be alone.

Two months ago she\'d finally gotten Kagome to confide in her. At first it had been hard to believe the girl\'s tale of time traveling. Yet something told her the girl spoke the truth, it was in her eyes. After everything she\'d seen with her brother and the gang how could she not believe it. It gave them something in common, kind of. Both were aware of youkai and the strange things happening around them. They got along great, hardly ever bickered. When they did it usually caused both of them to laugh, it was an awesome friendship.

Shizuru looked at the clock, she was suppose to meet Keiko and Yusuke in two hours. He\'d been back for over a year now, both of them were now eighteen. Which meant plans for the wedding were being made. Everyone was surprised that Yusuke was actually going through with his proposal. Then again he had to if he didn\'t want to lose the girl, no one would wait for him forever. In her opinion no man was worth waiting forever on, not even Yusuke. She\'d thought herself to be in love once but he was dead now. He\'d blown himself up, which had put an end to her foolish dreams.

Kagome sat down on the chair watching Shizuru cut away at the other girl\'s hair. The girl should have left it long, with the hair gone it made her face look larger. The miko kept her opinion to herself not wanting to be a bitch today. Most days she felt like being pissed off at the world for her lot in life. Why couldn\'t she have had a life like the naive girl sitting in that chair? Her only worry was if her crush would like her new hairstyle. Kagome\'s had been if she\'d die by the end of everyday. She\'d been running for her life while her friends had been planning their next date and drooling over guys. Why had she been the one to be stuck with the responsibility of the jewel. She felt like swearing at someone for ruining her life. She\'d be thirty before she lost her damn virginity.

She\'d been asked out a few times since starting work, all turned down. The look in their eyes had told her what they\'d been thinking. It would take more than dinner and a movie to get in her panties. She\'d told Shizuru one night that she knew what she was looking for, a hero. Someone to sweep her off her feet, a man that would do something to prove that she meant more to him than his dead exlover\'s reincarnation. She wanted to be needed by the man she gave herself to. Well needed emotionally, not as a shard detector or a replacement. It was her dream to be loved for herself, for being Kagome.

True Inuyasha had cared, maybe even loved her. Yet it had all stemmed from her being Kikyou\'s reincarnation. If he would have chosen her in the end a part of him would have always regretted it. Just like a part would always see Kikyou in her. Kagome didn\'t want that, she wanted the man to see only her. Was that too much to ask, too much to hope for? At this rate she\'d never find someone in her life. It didn\'t help that part of her still pined for Inuyasha and what could never be. Sometimes it pissed her off that she even cared.

\"Stop thinking so hard, your brain will collapse under the strain.\" Shizuru laughed when she recieved the bird for her comment. She untied the girl in her chair and began to brush the hair off her shoulders. \"You\'re all done, what do you think?\" She almost laughed at the face Kagome made but hid the smile. The girl squeeled in delight, happy with the new style then ran over to her friend.

\"You should of told her she looks like a toad with her hair that short.\" Kagome picked at something imaginary under her nails. Sometimes the truth was needed when speaking to people. Why tell the girl she looked nice when the style didn\'t work well with her features? Maybe she wouldn\'t be this jaded if Inuyasha had been completely honest with her and not played with her feelings. He\'d known how she\'d felt about him, yet it hadn\'t mattered. Most of the time he might have apologized for yelling or insulting her. She\'d give him that much, but after so much of it the damage had already been done. Someone could only apologize so many times before it got old and worn out.

\"No cause then she won\'t pay, I\'m sure her date tomorrow night will let her know.\" Shizuru swept up the hair hoping that there\'d be no more customers that evening. Once done she sat down in her own chair and to look at herself in the mirror. It was hard to believe she was already in her twenties. Where had the time gone? Kuzuma would be married before she even had another date. Most of the men her age were immature and only after one thing. Most of the mature, attractive, older men were already married or assholes. It didn\'t leave many options for herself nor Kagome. She was only two years older than her roomie.

\"You two girls can head out if you want, I doubt we\'ll have many more in tonight.\" Their boss came out looking at their stations to make sure they weren\'t slacking. Satisfied she smiled and walked over to the cash drawer to make change.

\"Ready to head out?\" Shizuru got up and stretched her long legs. It gave her sometime before going to meet her other friends. \"I guess we better head on out before people start piling in at the last minute. Make our escape while we can if you know what I mean.\" Dusk had already fallen outside, a cool night setting in.

\"Sure, let me get my jacket.\" Kagome ran into the breakroom to grab the demin jacket. Her house keys jingled in the pocket, Shizuru owned a car but they walked to work. As long as it wasn\'t raining or the weather too cold. There was a slight chill in the air but a nice evening. She followed the older girl out of the shop ready to go home. The wind had picked up some blowing her hair across her face. They walked back in silence enjoying the peaceful stroll, then took the left that would take them home. Kagome stopped in her tracks suddenly, disbelief crossed her face.

Shizuru paused to look at her friend, worry filled her at the strickened look on Kagome\'s face. \"What\'s wrong? You act like you\'ve seen a ghost.\" She waited for the girl to answer, several seconds passed along with many emotions across her face.

Kagome wasn\'t sure if she should believe it but she definitely felt it. The tugging in her soul became strong almost unbearable, a shard was near. How was it possible when most of the jewel was laying against her chest. All but that one small chip, that had to be what she felt. \"A shard, I feel it.\" She turned and began running the other direction, needing to know where it was coming from.

\"Wait for me!\" Shizuru took after her, running along side the girl. Her senses screamed that they were running into something big, life changing. Still Kagome wouldn\'t stop, intent on getting to the source of her own feeling. So she followed her friend unaware of what lay ahead.




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