Out of Balance
By Namiyo11
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 1-Beginings revisited
Four young looking people rode in a bright yellow compact through Tokyo's evening rush hour. Two women and two men, chatting as they made their way through the busy streets, clearly trying to get somewhere important.
The couple in the front were married from their demeanor. Not to mention the worn, matching antique silver wedding bands that were on their left hands. The woman's hair was short and seemed to be dyed a rich red, with large, bright brown eyes and sharp, yet delicate features. She was lovely and polished looking, her very long nails had been manicured to within an inch of their lives, every detail of her clothing perfect as she sat with unconscious grace. She wore a flirty white sun dress and sandals, and a brown purse was tucked next to her. Silver hoop earrings glittered while she watched her husband drive with a fond, possessive smile.
He was a handsome looking fellow, black hair cut short with a shock of bangs over dark eyes concealed by sunglasses. His face was heart shaped, and a kind smile seemed to be constantly lurking, and was clad in jeans and a blue polo shirt. There was a strong family resemblance between him and the pair in the back seat. Both men were lean, well built and handsome and the girl had similar facial features.
"Ichiro, mind that car," his wife chided.
"I see it, you know," Kurosaka Ichiro noted with a sigh.
"Hm. Just checking, my sweet," she grinned.
"She's got a point, big brother, you're pretty timid behind the wheel. Who elected you driver, anyway?" Akiyoshi noted in the back, the youngest one in the car sighing as he was scrunched in the small car's black interior. He hated the back seat-especially one lacking in leg room. His own black hair was in a half tail, with two locks loose in front with bangs like his brother's framing his face. Several small gold hoops were in both ears, and he wore a grey buttondown shirt with dress pants. He smoothed the suit jacket that was folded in his lap as he glanced up, his odd looking nails tapping it gently. They seemed...thick, somehow.
He wished his own newly chosen mortal fiance had been willing to come. Yatsumi...she didn't like these reminders of his true nature. He kept hoping, though-she'd have to get used to all of this. Still scared of youkai, damn it. Except him. That's what he got for meeting the right girl on his mortal day when he snuck out for some groceries.
"Yours is in the shop and Sanae's license was revoked for...what was it, reckless driving?" Ichiro asked archly, glancing back.
"Oh...not so bad. I get it back next month. Why make a car that'll go fast and then make a limit that says they can't be driven that fast? It's senseless! Utterly senseless!" Sanae sighed in the back as everyone laughed at her. She was the eyecatcher, really, the middle child of the trio. A lithe, graceful woman who lounged beside Akiyoshi, somehow contriving to be comfortable in the cramped space as she regarded the traffic. The young looking woman was dressed in a tight pair of low cut white pants and an emerald green belly shirt that showed off her superb figure. A rich tumble of curled black hair fell over her shoulders, and dark eyes glittered when she checked her watch, her own long, manicured nails flicking it absently.
She caught her little brother worrying again and sighed. That stupid little mortal he was sniffing around, no doubt. Thank the Kami she was luckier. Her latest mortal playmate Oyoto-well, playmate until Daddy discovered his existence and ate him or something-he wouldn't care about it, at least. He was a total adrenaline junkie, yes, a helicopter pilot...but fun to be with and not some snooty issue-filled shopgirl. Oyoto would be cool with it if he knew he was dating a youkai. She knew it. Sanae made a mental note to make sure to shower better for the next weekly family dinner, though. Almost got caught last week with his scent on her. She adored her sire, but he did not approve of her dating habits-or of her lack of virginity while unwed. At least Mom understood it wasn't the old days...but Akiyoshi needed cheering, and she turned her attention to that.
"Come on! This is the day, Aki! It'll be fun. If we get there in time!" she exclaimed excitedly. He smiled at her, and she patted his arm fondly.
"We'll get there! damned nags, all of you," Ichiro rolled his eyes as he made the last turn and pulled up to a parking lot.
They got out and all four looked conspiratorial as they pulled a video camera and equipment out of the hatchback. They'd just have time if Mom's recollection was right. They'd gotten the first half a few days ago...time for the sequel. So, they headed down the street to a small, quiet family Shrine. And looked around-before they slipped into the trees with a grace that was literally inhuman.
An accurate description since despite appearances...only Ichiro was actually the ordinary human he seemed to be. Akiyoshi grinned and crouched-and the mortal climbed up on his brother's back as they shot through the trees and up on the rooftops. Perfect. They were downwind, with a clear shot of the wellhouse and the Shrinekeeper's home.
Time to set up. Akiyoshi pulled out a small box, and paused, glancing at the woods around the Shrine...then grinned for a moment. Soon-a small concealing magic was ready to activate, to hide them after they set up the cameras and got ready, waiting patiently. They watched, invisible to human or youkai as an old man in robes and a young boy prowled the courtyard and outbuildings, yelling for a girl.
"Kagome!"
"I told you, Grandpa-she fell into the well!"
"We checked there, my boy, she isn't there."
"No, Great Grandpa, she isn't," Sanae giggled. In fact, she'd been quite busy-elsewhere the last few days.
"Eh, poor old fellow, he's so worried for her," Akiyoshi sighed.
"Yeah," Ichiro agreed, and glanced at his wife, "Ayame love, did we bring any snacks?"
"No, we forgot. We'll hit the fast food when we're done," The wolf suggested.
But then, twenty minutes later...a girl was hauled out of the well. The video camera caught the moment she emerged from the wellhouse in robes herself. Weeping, terrified, fifteen year old Higurashi Kagome all but collapsed as her family comforted her and took her inside.
"Awww. Mom's-crying? Why is this??" Sanae commented, startled. She was stunned by that. By the fear and terror she smelled from the young girl. Her Mom was utterly fearless. Always had been.
"What girl wouldn't? Remember, she was just an innocent mortal, Sanae. Think of any average human of today facing all that. She freed Inuyasha, fought youkai, and found out about the Jewel. Pretty scary for a child like that," Ayame said sadly as they watched. Ichiro sighed and took his wife's hand as the girl was taken inside by her kin.
"We've got-what? Two hours or so? Anyone want to do a sandwich run?" he asked.
"Like I'm missing any of this! Honestly, Ichiro, have some sense of occasion here. We must offer our respects to our ancestors as well before we leave. Sanae, did you set the camera at the dining room window?" Akiyoshi chided. Yes, he was the youngest one here, but he often took charge to everyone's amusement. He merely felt it was proper to do so since someone had to. Sanae rolled her eyes at Ichiro.
Akiyoshi was very much like their maternal Great Grandfather Higurashi, really.
"Yeah yeah, archer boy. Like we don't every time we come to the ancestral Shrine," the mortal said indulgently as Ayame grinned.
"Hmp," Akiyoshi pouted when Sanae giggled.
"Ohhh, don't be grumpy, little brother, I set it up, no trouble. Besides, ignore the puny mortal, like I keep telling you. Do you listen? No."
"Fine words, twin of mine. If it weren't for me-you'd be a hanyou, you know," Ichiro shot back.
"I know, and I thank you for it, mortal twin," Sanae grinned.
"Just remember it, youkai twin." Twins. One youkai, one human. Both immortal...by two different means.
"I for one wouldn't ask for anything but your being my mortal, sweet husband," Ayame sighed fondly. Ichiro grinned at her and stuck his tongue out at his sister.
"Now that is the lovely wolf I married and matebonded to," Ichiro answered affectionately.
"Gah! Such sugar. Nothing wrong with being hanyou-I ought to know, rotten ingrates. Who do you think bought the shielding kit that hid the pack of you so you could watch this? Me. A hanyou, thank you very much," Akiyoshi made a face and they all laughed softly. He was, after all, the only one with truly mixed heritage of their parent's breeding. He also was a talented warrior, though he preferred the bow to a sword. Poor Ichiro lacked even their Mom's Gifts or a warrior's skills.
"Send us a bill!" Ayame shot back. Kitsune temp shields, basically a barrier in a can. Had to love them, the modern magical conveniences.
Then-an hour and a half later...it happened. They had cameras trained to catch it all-and three keen, canine noses warned them first. Strong. A loner. Hands instinctively drifted to various concealed weapons at the smell of an outcast, tainted with humanity, a little crazy as all outcasts were. Unpredictable. Dangerous. Ayame moved in front of her mate protectively as both his siblings glared, sniffing. Ichiro noted all the sudden bristling, and sighed. Youkai. They know something's going to happen, then get a scent in their noses and reason goes right out the nearest window.
"Ahem. He's here then, I take it-" Ichiro started, peering over her shoulder-and if he'd blinked twice, he'd have missed it. A red blur to his human eyes.
To the youkai watching sheepishly...not as much. A figure methodically moving at full speed, quartering the area in moments. Confirming his location and sorting the local feel of the place, making sure he could follow the way back to the well at need. Then efficiently finding the trail he lost in the wave of new scents, all with inborn skill and accuracy that only canine types of youkai possessed. Then...
He stood still a moment. Firerat cut in a traditional kimono. No sword...but a lean and hard eyed youngster stood glowering, eyes flicking about, posture slightly crouched, and seeming nearly feral. Silver hair flowed down his back, an annoyed expression-that masked the pure terror, confusion, and fury the youkai smelled radiating from him. Inuyasha's nose wrinkled at the bizarre to him mix of sight, scent and sound that was modern Tokyo. He straightened his shoulders, and looked ready to face hell itself as he arrowed in on a single thread of scent.
"So...she's this way," the hanyou grumbled, and stalked directly for the Shrinekeeper's home. Sanae hit a remote control for the camera hidden in the shrubbery outside the dining room window...and they got it all. Inuyasha's coming for his wench for the first time. Coming here to modern Tokyo for the first time, and meeting his future in-laws.
"Who told you you could go home?!" They all heard it, the relief hidden in the young voice...and grinned hugely at the treat.
When Kagome dragged him to the wellhouse not long after and shut the door, they sighed.
"He's already falling for Mom, you could see it! So romantic, already he'd chosen to ward her as his own, and places his armor and scent on her to mark her as his to protect in there," Sanae sighed. Her hands were clasped together in excitement as she watched.
"Romantic? Sanae, they're going to fight that girl...eh-" Ichiro tried to remember.
"Yura of the hair," Akiyoshi filled in, smiling. He carefully didn't look over into the trees.
"That is romance! Coming for her so bravely, and taking her away like that!" Ayame agreed, smiling too.
"Looked more like she dragged him," Ichiro shrugged, and his wife made a face. Even so, both guys looked at each other and sighed. Yep. It was romantic. Poor guy. Only a kid, a fresh off the tree bumpkin, just beginning the adventure that would win him eternal renown and fame as a great warrior-and the hand of his future wife, the noble Priestess Kagome, revered by youkai and called by the honored title, Jewelguardian. They just called her Mom.
"Who'd have guessed our Dad was so-feral, though? Kinda shocking really," Akiyoshi managed.
"He doesn't get much better by the time I meet him," Ayame agreed.
"You never mentioned it! Come to think of it...you don't talk about the Jewel much," Ichiro complained, and she smiled with embarrassment.
"I wasn't in it for long, dear, and did you really think I'd say anything bad about my father in law?" Laughter.
A couple were seated in a tree overlooking the Shrine's courtyard, watching the spectacle as well. Both of the shows, really.
"So it begins again, baka."
The woman who spoke had short black hair and warm brown eyes, wearing a peach shirt and a cream colored skirt. The man with her had unfashionably long black hair and blue eyes, wearing khaki's and a cream shirt with rolled up sleeves. A set of beads hung around his neck still, and they rattled softly. He held her steady as they watched, but-he looked mortified. They'd gotten here before the children and their daughter-in-law...whom they'd told to stay away today.
Not that any of them had listened, of course.
In truth they hadn't expected them to, they'd been careful setting up and neither saw a need to bust them. Besides, how many children got to see part of their parents' courtship as it played out? Neither could say they blamed them for being here, this evening-when it really began. Except their father was now feeling rather humiliated that they'd seen what just happened.
"That fucking moron! He totally missed that crowd on the damned roof, and us! Crap," Inuyasha groaned.
"Of course he did. Akiyoshi put up a concealment just like mine. No way a youkai like him would pierce it," Kagome soothed, and he frowned as she winced. Whoops.
"What's that supposed to mean?" the voice was deeper now, and just as suspicious.
"Just-that the magic hadn't even been developed yet, my dearest. Akiyoshi knows we're here, you know. I bet he smelled the trails into the cloud barrier," Kagome nodded to a small circle of paper around the tree. The tree was visible-but not it's occupants, not a sight or scent betrayed them. Their hanyou son's nose would have picked up their trails into it nonetheless.
"Keh. Dumb pups. Cameras! Of all the baka ideas. He'd have killed them all if he spotted them and considered them a threat, did they think of that? No," Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Well, I think it's sweet. It explains why they all said that they were getting us something special for our wedding anniversary this year. I bet they make us a DVD of it. Besides, it was romantic to see it again, and nice for the little ones," Kagome noted as she snuggled back into his arms. He rested his chin on the top of her head and sighed. Tactfully-she didn't point out that the other watchers could easily handle one relatively inexperienced hanyou without even his sword to hand. She let him have his pride.
"Idiot wench. Romance? Yura nearly gets us both killed. Remember?"
"I do. Yura...and all the rest. Besides, a girl has to take what she can get in that department sometimes. Remember why I came home? You wouldn't even say my name-and had tried to kill me too," a smile lurked as she chided him.
"Not seriously! Just wanted to scare you is all, and get the Jewel that way. I could've gutted you in a heartbeat if I'd wanted to before that old hag used the beads. Or just let Mistress Centipede do my dirty work and killed her after, you know! Would've saved me a world of trouble," Inuyasha meant the dangers of the Jewel Quest-but it didn't come across that way.
"Oh?" a dangerous interest crept into her tone as Kagome regarded him over her shoulder.
"N-no! Not like that, 'gome. Really! I got to have you out of it! Of course, you are more important than any jewel, my beloved treasure," the hanyou-not full blood...winced as soon as he said it. If she was thinking of old times...oh crap.
"You didn't say that when the Thunder Brothers abducted me. Or when you tried to steal my shard by the river earlier! Or when Miroku hit on me when we met him, or when Kouga abducted me and tried to marry me-or when you'd run off after that pottery shop reject!" Kagome looked annoyed, and he slumped. Uh oh.
Five hundred years had passed...Kikyo meant nothing to him now, except a sad twinge of regret. A first love usually sucked for a human or a youkai, even when it ended better than his had. She'd never come back, just had been made a shadow he had only owed a merciful end to. Inuyasha, now a seven hundred year old and father of three, understood that. But that poor half feral hanyou kid they'd just watched wouldn't know how to deal with it.
Time for desperate measures, she was about to use the word. Danger signs abounded as she glared at him.
"You know-I was peeping when you bathed that day. When I asked you to take those clothes off...I meant get naked. You just didn't go for it, Kagome," a sly grin as her jaw dropped open. Five centuries-and he'd never admitted it. A hole card kept for an emergency, really. Being fifty feet up from hard ground with a rapidly growing furious woman counted as one to his mind.
"Pervert! I knew it!" Kagome announced.
"Hell, wench, you're the pervert of the two of us-having the hots for a hanyou. You molested me first, my dear-and in public! Mid battle, practically," Inuyasha commented in a smug drawl.
"It's the ears. Can't help it. Of course, it got me a thousand year lifespan with that same annoying baka and three odd children, so I'm not sure who got the better deal from our matebond," Kagome answered with a warm laugh as she reached back for one. He let her, glad she seemed to have gotten over her little fit of temper. For a moment they just sat, remembering as he leaned his head into her scratching.
"Of course, I'm so saying it a bunch of times when I'm not up in a tree for all manner of things that boy's going to put that poor girl through." At that mild aside-he paled.
"You said it then! A lot! All the time, constantly!"
"Yep. And you wondered why I never took them off. Been waiting for this!" Kagome grinned.
"Evil wench."
"Of course. I'm a Priestess who not only screwed a hanyou and didn't purify him for it-but let him mark me as his mate. Pretty evil by some standards you know. In fact, I plan to let him thoroughly despoil me again tonight if he's so minded," she answered. Arms tightened fondly around her and her own rested along them.
"Eh...I'd say there's a pretty good chance there. Not like he didn't try and got hit for it, mind you! Might as well make it up to him," Inuyasha said. A little boy grin met her smile.
"Ought to have done it sooner, really, would've done us both a world of good and taken care of all that sexual tension between us," Kagome chuckled. They both laughed.
Two and a half years later.
A short, nondescript man frowned as he watched two people walk down the street. A girl in a uniform and a hanyou in a ball cap. The girl was untouchable, and the Shards never left the Shrine without her hanyou guarding her. A hanyou that was also off limits. Naraku, the Beast...he had to die for all of their sakes. No sane youkai in modern Japan bothered them or went near the time travelers.
Touzoku had a finely honed sense of self-preservation, no way he'd risk that snake pit. He was revered by his own people for his cunning, his ruthlessness and daring, but had limits. That charming little miko was perfectly safe from him, as was the baka. No way he'd ever harm them or allow another to do so-and stealing her shards would indeed be more trouble then they were worth. Months now-and he hadn't been able to get near the needed equipment. The biggest prize ever, and he, the kitsune Touzoku...couldn't get his hands on the key needed to open the last door.
Not those, anyways.
It had meant patient hunting and research-but a possible alternate method had been found. A slim chance to take the richest prizes he could ever dream of...and Touzoku had great dreams indeed. His retirement hit. Should he pull it off, limitless wealth, power, perhaps even rulership of his Clan was possible. Certainly the elusive ninth and final rank tail he'd chased for years would be his.
He pulled out his cell phone when it rang.
"Tell me good news, please," he directed, sighing.
"We have located another item." That got his attention.
"It is certain?"
"Yes. The provenance is verified, and they have no idea what they have."
"Perfect. Set up a meeting of our associates," he hung up, and smiled. The Jewel Quest had ended with Naraku's death and the loss of the bulk of the Jewel, but three shards had been unaccounted for. Even the Jewelguardian had missed them in years of on again, off again searching for the fragments. But they didn't ever have his resources, his connections-or his need. He'd called in every possible favor, and owed a lot of unpleasant people, but it was worth it. One was located in a Noh mask-too late.
One was still unaccounted for. But now...one of the Lost Shards was found.
His ticket to the past, courtesy of the Bone Eater's Well. Any youkai could use the passage once it had reopened, but a Shard had to be used to activate the portal for any not of the bloodline of Inutaisho or attuned to the Jewel. A sucker was pulled out of his pocket, unwrapped, and stuck in his mouth. The eight tail had to sigh as he considered the twists of fate that had led him to this path. Again the Jewel came into his life, at the end of a storied career as it had started it.
Touzoku hadn't always been called that. Once he'd had another name...that had died long since. As they thought he had centuries before when he picked a path they would never have approved of if they'd known.
"Good luck, adopted Mom and Dad. You'll need it-and so will I. You wouldn't approve of this either, especially this, but I'm doing it. One last job and it's over, I promise," the kitsune who'd once been called Shippo said aloud as he watched them and planned. He'd only have a small window to work in once that Shard became active. The adult Kagome of now would know, as would that little mortal boy of hers. He had her sight, if not her powers. Ichiro.
Figure a night arrival, well prepared...and he could go and do it. Soon. His most daring theft. Robbing the past. Plenty was on his shopping list. Totosai. The old fool was sitting on a treasure trove. A true Totosai, even a non magical one, was worth millions now. Take his stock of plain weapons, and sell them as the antiquities they were to rich youkai. Maybe pick up a few human artifacts of interest as well. Say, something from the Tokugawa. Get an item with a crest or Clan providence that would truly date to pre-Shogunate times, and human or youkai private collectors would be climbing over themselves to buy. The possibilities were endless. One era's junk was another's treasure, after all.
Best of all, he would not have to harm his adoptive family in the process. Kagome didn't deserve that anymore than Inuyasha did. Shippo would never harm them or their kids. No. No taking the Jewel, or the Swords, or Totosai's magical toys, or anything like that. No. He still had some standards, damn it.
Others...lacked them. Who also knew of the Shards, and of those who could see them.
Author's notes- Well! Here we are at last! This is a story about (Yet again for me) familiar ground in fan fics with hopefully a few twists. Kagome and Inuyasha's children. I actually count Shippo in that number for this one since they largely adopted him. The scene they are watching is of course from er-I think it's 'Down the rabbit hole and back again' when Kagome finally goes home for the first time in the anime.
Working out their characters, names, and natures has been rather fun, if difficult. Yes, Sanae and Ichiro are twins, Sanae is a full youkai, Ichiro a full mortal who is not a fighter or Priest. Akiyoshi is a hanyou like Inuyasha himself, if an archer like Kagome. I know what you're thinking, 'but Inuyasha is a hanyou? Why aren't the kids like-a quarter or something?' I'll cover it in later chapters. Ayame? Well, she's often gotten a bad deal from me, so this time she's one of the good ones. I just can't see her with Kouga, though, he's been rotten to her in the anime and I think she's interesting in this one. Akiyoshi and Sanae's significant others also show up a bit.
As for the kitsune made portable wards, well, why not? A lot could be developed in five hundred years. Kitsune, in Japanese lore, have multiple tails depending on their rank and/or strength. Nine seems to be the highest from what I can find. And yes-Shippo isn't exactly nice people, but I gladly admit I don't care for him much. Sorry, Shippo fans! Thanks for reading!-Namiyo