A/N: This is the longest authors note I will ever post. I wrote this fic to help me ease back into writing before starting on my novel in earnest. However I want to make a few promises to anyone who reads my fic: 1) Point out any spelling or grammar mistakes and I will fix them. You aren't going to hurt my feelings and honestly I would be grateful for the help. 2) I will do my best to update once every 3 weeks at a minimum. 3) Any ideas or feedback will be responded to and is always greatly appreciated. 4) While this story is an exercise for me I will make it longer if enough interest is shown in it. I always like making people happy and if this fic does that for someone who am I to argue? (right now I'm not planning on writing more than 8-10 chapters) 5) All replies to feedback will happen in private messages. I hate nothing more than seeing a fic with 5k words only to find out half of it is replies to readers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any associated characters. Please read/reveiw and feel free to drop by this story's forum ww w. fanfiction fo rum/An-Okami-s-Blessing-AN-and-Updates/181764/ for updates. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows guys!
Chapter One: Fall only to Spring back up
Kagome lifted herself from the hot springs delighting in the spring seasons crisp breeze. Winter had broken a few weeks ago; she felt as if the life which swept through the lands causing it to stir from its slumber once more had begun to rejuvenate her as well. With each tree that budded back into wakefulness she too woke from her own emotional winter. During the fall all the adventures of the prior two years had culminated in Narakus' final defeat and her fateful wish.
It was the fall festival which in addition to its traditional honoring of the year's harvest served to celebrate her engagement to Inuyasha. After Kikiyos' death he seemed to wake from a fog, realized what he had with Kagome and proposed while Narakus' corpse was still fresh. She had been so happy during those blissful weeks. It was while she spent her time helping prepare for the festival when she had suggested that the opening celebrations should include the wish on the Shikon no Tama. Everyone accepted the idea readily, eager to put this last chapter behind them.
"What is your wish?" The jewel purred pulsing with her heartbeat. The wind stirred and caused her fire rat kimono, an engagement gift from Totosai, to dance and flutter at the power she had evoked. Around her the crowd became silent, all wondering what the wondrously pure and beautiful miko would wish for. Even the many bright lanterns lighting the predawn air seemed to dim in anticipation. She hadn't breathed her intended wish to a single soul before that moment.
"That all the lives lost because of the Shikon no Tama be returned to find peace and happiness." When she had spoken her selfless wish to the Shikon no Tama she hadn't imagined the consequences she was to bear. All across Japan families were celebrating, their loved ones had been returned to them. Kagome could feel their joy; a portion of the parting gift from her former incarnation Midoriko. Kagome had been surprised at this revelation. She of course didn't have much time to think about it as she was swept up in the festivals celebrations as the sun rose over the horizon. Looking up from a game she played with the village children she noticed that Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. Confused she extended her reiki, the full blossoming of her power and her mastery of it serving as the other half of the parting gift. Her heart stopped at what she found; Inuyasha's youki and the revitalized reiki of a familiar miko.
After getting dressed and hanging her towel to dry outside her cottage she looked over her modest homestead. After that terrible night she had fled; abandoning her new life and refusing to think of the one she had lost behind the now mundane well. In the exhaustion of her flight she had collapsed in this very clearing only to have been found by none other than Shippo's now revived parents. They had watched over her and their son from the afterlife and out of their gratitude had helped build her new home after consoling her and retrieving their son. She smiled brightly feeling the youki of Tsuna and Hiro, Shippos' mother and father, bustling about their home a few hundred meters away. She had been so grateful they didn't remove her adopted son from her life and instead embraced her as a part of their own family and settled nearby.
The kitsune family took her to the base of Mt. Fuji where a secret valley rested untouched by the corrupting influence of the Naraku Wars. There a shrine to the Okami Inari stood; a place she had learned was deeply sacred to all kitsune. In its center just under an exquisite statue of Inari the head of a stream babbled. After a modest offering to the Okami the kitsune family knelt wrapping their arms around the surprised miko.
"Okami Inari, we kitsune offer our thanks to you who are closest of all Kami to our kin. We humbly ask you recognize Kagome, who after our death took in our son as her own despite her human blood and position as a miko. She protected him and loved him with greater care than we could have ever hoped our son would find in our absence." At this point Kagomes tears were flowing freely at Tsuna and Hiro's words. They had never spoken their thanks to her but had shown it with every gesture. She had never asked or expected them to, their kindness was enough for her. A sob of overwhelmed joy escaped her lips as they continued. "We ask that you recognize her as a part of our own family. Though we share not the bonds of blood she is as a daughter to us…"
"And a second mother to me!" Piped up Shippo angrily "You better not even think otherwise!"
"Shippo!" his birth parents gasped, "That is no way to address the Okami!"
Any further words they might have had were cut short as Kagome began to glow a soft pink and was lifted into the air towards Inaris' statue. She couldn't hear Shippos frantic apology to the Okami, begging her not to take his youngest mother from him. All she could hear see or feel was the power that flowed through her. She became aware of new hues in the energy, heard new chords in the powers song and felt miniscule currents of air brush against her suddenly sensitive skin; as quickly as it began it ended leaving Kagome to float softly down to stand in the knee high spring waters. Looking down she blinked slowly taking in the foreign reflection looking back up at her through slitted pupils rimmed by forest and cerulean hues. Her hair had become a deep burgundy red and spilled in tumbling waves to her knees. Four tails of the same color swayed behind her and at her gasp of surprise two dainty fangs glistened like ivory. Upon her brow there was an unmistakably familiar pink four pointed star. As her heightened sense of smell finally overwhelmed her she collapsed into the awaiting arms of her new family.
Lifting a basket filled with the bounty of her foraging, the finding of which her new found senses had aided her immensely, she walked inside her home and began preparing a small bundle of roots for trade with a neighboring village. They had been distrustful of her at first since kitsune were known to be pranksters but she was after all Kagome and none of them could hold against her innocent charm for long. 'We wish to run.' Her inner beast sighed. 'It is far too beautiful today to spend picking ginger and bark from under our claws.' Kagome simply rolled her eyes at her beasts comment. 'You just want to hunt for a mate silly thing. We aren't going to find him stuck up in some tree like some sort of hopeless prince. Let life take its course. We just found ourselves a home and a family, let us not push our luck and run into some disaster like we always do and inadvertently lose what we already have.' 'You are no fun.'
The wind stirred and she felt the brush of a familiar and formidable youki. Dashing from her seat she ran outside and searched for Shippo relieved to see him some distance off with his parents who also had yet to notice the approaching youkai. Looking down at her layered jade kimono she frowned as she readjusted it doing her best to look the part of intimidating kitsune miko.
Some distance over the horizon the proud owner of that youki scanned the curve of the world as he sped towards the small kitsune settlement that had appeared just inside the border of his lands over the winter. Rumor had it that his half-brothers wench was seen heading that way and as little as he liked it he required her aid. Rin had gone missing after he had received a letter informing him of his wards deteriorating health while she was studying under Edo's mikos Kaede and Kikiyo. After the young Rin's powers began to manifest he had gone there to negotiate for her education and was surprised to learn the other wench had disappeared. At the time it had not concerned him but now that his ward was not only ill but missing he could not trust anyone else. Beyond himself and Jaken, for the toad had somehow become endeared to the girl and loved her like one of his own tadpoles, no others approached Kagomes love for the child. Reflecting on the bond the two had formed during their shared imprisonment at one of Narakus castles he was certain the woman would help him. She would leap to the girls' aid without thought of personal gain and that served his purposes just fine for he saw no reason to reward someone for following his orders. He was a High Lord after all.
The sun had just begun to set when he finally crested the tree line surrounding one of the small homes where a single kitsune stood waiting for him. Guessing the others had retreated to their own dens for the night he looked down at the small figure before him and masked his mild surprise. She stood tall, her hair cascading over her shoulders and exquisite jade kimono. Though her mane was slightly disheveled it combined with the power churning just under her skin gave her the air of a guardian forest spirit made flesh; the mark of power on her brow a testament to her strength. Amber eyes locked with her own emerald ones which sparkled with the streaks of cerulean from her slitted pupils. How had such a powerful demoness escaped his attention? Surely she had not been revived with the other throngs of souls and before Narakus time rumors of her existence would have surely spread. Power like this couldn't have gone unnoticed. He nearly growled to himself, he wouldn't tolerate any potential threats to his lands to be concealed from him.
As his feet touched the soft grasses of this new puzzle's garden he found himself irritated; why wasn't this demoness bowing and showing him the respect he was owed? He saw recognition in her eyes and the bristle of her five tails showed that she understood he was indeed powerful. "Demoness you will show This Sesshoumaru the respect he is due. You live on my lands and have remained here without permit only because This Sesshoumaru allows it. This One has come seeking information on the Shikon Miko." His youki flared. To his well masked astonishment however the demoness first looked shocked then tilted her head in a very kitsune display of confusion before she came to some realization. Her arms and tails wrapped themselves around her as she rocked with bell like laughter. Between her gasps of air he made little sense of what ever hysteria had seized the woman.
"He doesn't… have a clue" she wheezed trying to contain her fits of laughter. "The mighty Lord Sesshoumaru," she looked at him again through mirth filled eyes "… can't smell what's right under his nose."
Eyes flashing red he swept towards to shaking kitsune and seized her throat only to be zapped back by a painfully familiar reiki. In his fury he nearly missed the all too familiar bow and arrows in her hands and the determined nature of her stance. It was simply not possible. He was shocked out of his rage and quickly replaced his indifferent mask. "Miko?" he said flatly. "I thought you would be with the half-breed." His words much to his surprise caused her mirth to disappear in a wave of anger which swept over her like a storm.
"You will not speak of that traitorous excuse for a man in my presence!" She growled as she launched an arrow at him only to be dissolved in the mists of Sesshoumaru's poison. "If you have come searching for a quarrel with him then you have come to the wrong place. He is not here nor do I know or care where he is. Otherwise you will address me by my name. Ka-Go-Me. Kagome. What the hell is it with the Inu and not having the common courtesy to address a girl by her name?" She finished with a huff resting her fists on her rounded hips.
He raised a brow, her actions no longer angering him as he remembered she was much the same way before whatever transformation had taken hold of her. She had never feared him before and he strongly doubted she would start now. He pressed his lips together. "Understand this Kagome, you are not dead because This Sesshoumaru requires you to complete a task for him."
"Lord Sesshoumaru I couldn't care less what you require if me I-"
"Rin fell ill and has gone missing." He interrupted. He was pleased to see her confidence and irritation collapse into worry but was unsurprised to see it replaced with anger once again. He could have sighed; searching for his Rin alongside this woman was going to be an arduous task indeed.
"Why didn't you say that in the first place?!" She roared, eyes going red. She turned around and ran into her hut. From the commotion inside he gathered she was preparing to leave. A hushed voice began to whisper urgently to her. A fox hole must have connected to the dens of the other kitsune though Sesshoumaru found it odd he could not sense the youki the voice belonged to. "I'll be fine" She crooned soothingly. "Sister Rin needs me and your parents need you to look after them. If I am gone longer than a week expect receive word from me until then behave and look after my garden." Shortly after she emerged from her cottage; her kimono was replaced by a jade haori and black hakama. Her hair, almost the color of blood in the light of the setting sun, was tied into a high pony tail and braided into many sections giving the impression of dread locks. Shouldering her traveling gear she looked Sesshoumaru straight in the eye. "Ok you want my help you have it… on one condition."
Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It didn't matter what she said, he knew she would help regardless of whatever demands he chose to agree to or ignore. She was soft; her kindness would allow her no other course of action. 'She is strong.' His beast growled in protest. 'The weak could not survive such a nature. The fact she has not been slain or had her mind broken is testament to that you stubborn pup.' 'Silence beast. Only the weak are so easily swayed and it leaves her vulnerable to manipulation. She has survived only because she depends on the strong around her. That too proves her weakness. Since when did you begin to see any merit to such feeble sentiments?' 'Since we saw evidence that proved otherwise.' Sesshoumaru took a deep breath to temper his growing agitation. First the ningen and now his own beast had begun to cause him substantial irritation at their continued waste of time. Kagome unaware of Sesshoumaru's internal debate thought he only took a moment to consider her words before he finally responded with an air of disinterest "And your terms would be?"
"Allow Shippo and his family to remain here in peace so long as they wish. That is all I ask." She sighed and cast a glace to the tree line which hid the small family's den from view.
Sesshoumaru was vaguely surprised, "You do not wish for more land or riches to embellish your dens?" He was well aware of the kitsune love of all things gold and shiny.
"No, we want to accomplish that ourselves. I would not ask such an extravagant price for something I am inclined to do anyways." She turned her gaze back at him. One red eye told him she was sharing control with her beast. "You may not care Lord Sesshoumaru but you insult us in assuming we are nothing more than greedy hoarders."
Sesshoumaru studied her for another moment and smelling no lie on her he nodded slowly. "Very well. Come miko." He turned and leapt over the tree line towards Edo.
Kagome's eyes went red but before she could say anything she noticed the direction he was headed and her heart dropped. She hadn't gone back to the village since the night she had wandered from the festival towards the scene which had struck her at her very core. Hesitantly she leapt after Sesshoumaru as he wove his way through the forest. It was mere minutes before her youkai strength accomplished what a mere handful of moons ago had taken hours of desperate running.
Upon alighting on the lowest branches of the Goshinboku and looked towards Kaede's hut only to lock eyes with her cocoa eyed twin. "Kikiyo."