Three days after the death of Naraku…
Inuyasha was sitting in the roots of the Goshinboku waiting for his wounds to heal. The battle with Naraku was very long and lasted through the night. Sesshomaru and Kouga had shown up to help the gang or so it seemed.
Three Days Earlier
At sunrise, Inuyasha and his gang were in a clearing waiting for Naraku to show up. He made a deal with Naraku, both agreeing that they would battle in a remote area away from everyone. Now, everyone was waiting for Naraku to show his ugly face with his lackeys Kagura and Kanna. "Where the hell is he?" growled Inuyasha impatiently.
"Maybe he's waiting for us to drop our guard so he can attack," offered Kagome.
Inuyasha nodded and pulled out Tetsuiaga, "If that's true, then all of you need to pull out your weapons."
As soon as they brandished their weapons, Naraku, Kanna and Kagura crashed through the trees and stood before them. Naraku was wearing his traditional baboon cloak which covered his face as he looked at his opponents. Kagura looked even more pissed than usual and looked up at her creator in anger.
"Sorry I took so long," said Naraku with a smirk, "I had to punish Kagura again. But I'm sure she liked it anyway, right Kagura?"
Kagura growled at him and looked away while mumbling, "Bastard."
"Hm. I guess not…"
"Can we fight already? I want to kill you and go home," said Inuyasha with annoyance.
"Of course," Naraku replied. Tentacles came out from underneath his cloak and raised him in the air. When he pushed it away, it revealed that half of his body was tentacles and the upper half was normal looking, for him anyways. Shippo became scared and ran to Kilala, who was transformed, and jumped on her back. Kilala growled in Naraku's direction and bared her fangs. Sango and Miroku paired up and poised for battle with their weapons in hand as all waited for someone to make the first move.
Naraku couldn't take the tension anymore so he sent one of his tentacles at Kagome, hoping to kill her so she couldn't purify him. Inuyasha pushed her out of the way just in time to cut it in half. The battle was on; Kagura and Kanna unwillingly deflected and sent back any attacks that were sent to their creator. Sango and Miroku worked together to defeat any demons Naraku sent at them and tried their best to keep Inuyasha's and Kagome's battle with Naraku.
About an hour later, the battle raged on and it seemed as if the Inu gang was losing. Everyone was wounded in some way; even Shippo since he was using his fox fire to destroy some lower class demons. When it seemed as if they were done for, Sesshomaru and Kouga showed up, Kouga brought his soldiers to help.
"What are you doing here Kouga?" asked Inuyasha with a wince.
He was suffering from his wounds from helping protect Kagome and replied, "I came here to help. I don't want to see my woman get killed."
"Whatever Kouga, you were worried about us."
"Was not! I'm just worried about Kagome! Why would I care about some stupid half-breed?!"
Kagome interrupted their conversation, "Can we get back to fighting before we get killed?"
"Sure, my woman," Kouga replied. Kagome just rolled her eyes and continued shooting arrows at Naraku. Sesshomaru fought beside Inuyasha, which shocked the half-demon, but never spoke.
"Do you really think you pathetic excuses for human waste can stop me?" bellowed Naraku. The demons growled in anger but continued fighting. Later on in the battle, Kagura and Kanna decided to change sides which surprised everyone, including Naraku.
With added protection, the Inu gang gained more confidence. Inuyasha and Kagome decided to put their plan in action which was to take the Shikon Jewel out of Naraku's heart and use Tetsuiaga's ultimate move which included Kagome's sacred arrow. The hard part was getting the jewel out so that it wouldn't explode into a million pieces again. They fought their way up to Naraku's heart as Kagome pinpointed the Jewel's location which was in the danger zone. "Kagome, be ready okay?"
"Okay," she fully trusted in Inuyasha's protection but she was still nervous. Kagome climbed on Inuyasha's back who took her close to Naraku's heart. She clung to him in fright which Inuyasha noticed and was a little concerned.
"Are you okay Kagome?" he asked.
"I'm a little scared."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of you," he assured her. Kagome squeezed him and buried her head in his hair. Soon, they were close to the Shikon Jewel and found some stable land to settle on. Kagome said a certain chant to make the Jewel shoot out of Naraku's chest and into her hands. Naraku noticed his sudden change of power and slowly, his form shrank and about 75 of his demon minions disappeared. When he turned towards the priestess and the half-demon, they were already posed for their attack.
"You pathetic fools!" he yelled. The two smirked even though they were heavily injured and sent out their attacks. Inuyasha sent out his Backlash Wave and Kagome shot her strongest purifying arrow in the same direction. Luckily for them, the two attacks fused and went straight into Naraku's open wound; disintegrating him and purifying him instantly. Naraku was no more but just to make sure, Miroku used his wind tunnel on him just before it disappeared.
Inuyasha picked up Kagome and dropped back down to the ground were bodies of dead demons were covering it. As soon as they touched the ground, Inuyasha's vision got blurry and he collapsed on the ground, taking Kagome with him. Inuyasha was passed out completely so Kagome immediately checked him for any signs of life. When she found his pulse, she made a sigh of relief. Everyone who had fought with them came crowding around them and the most concerned one was Kouga. He pushed through them and pulled Kagome away from Inuyasha and put her in his arms. "Now that the battle's over, you can marry me like we agreed."
Kagome immediately pushed away and exclaimed, "What?!"
"Don't you remember? You said you would marry me if I helped fight."
"I did not!"
"Of course not," he replied sarcastically then pulled her into a kiss on her lips. Kagome pushed away from him and wiped her lips off. Miroku and Sango just sighed from where they were holding each other up and walked over to Inuyasha.
"What were you thinking Kouga?" asked Kagome angrily.
He laughed, "I just wanted to kiss you before the mutt woke up."
Kagome groaned, "You can go now. We're done here and I need to take care of Inuyasha."
"Fine," Kouga replied, a bit annoyed with Kagome's feelings for Inuyasha, "I'll keep in touch."
With a wave, Kouga left in a tornado of wind with his remaining demons following him. Finally, Hachi, Miroku's raccoon-dog friend came flying into the area in his typical yellow form. Miroku hefted Inuyasha, with the help of the others, onto Hachi's back and got on as well. But before they could leave, Kagura and Kanna appeared before them, both seeming less pale and more alive than before. "I know I haven't been the best to you but I just wanted to thank you for setting me free. I also kept these from Naraku, just in case."
Kaguru reached into her kimono and pulled out a bunch of jewel shards. She walked towards them, put them in Kagome's hand and closed the miko's fist around them. Kanna showed more life than she had before and actually smiled at them before Kagura got her on a giant feather and left.
Everyone loaded up on their transportation (Kilala, Sesshomaru's cloud, and Hachi) and rode back to the village where Inuyasha, as well as everyone else, could get medical treatment. Kagome had cuddled up to Inuyasha and Shippo had cuddled up to her, which soon after, the three of them fell asleep. About 30 minutes later, Keade's village became in sight so Miroku woke Kagome and Shippo up. Knowing that Inuyasha wouldn't wake up for a while, he left the unconscious hanyou. When they finally landed, they set off for Keade's hut after Hachi said goodbye to everyone.
Keade made an expansion to her small hut, so it now had the main room and three rooms off to the North, East and West sides. Seeing the injured and unconscious Inuyasha, she led him and the ones carrying him into the left room. Sango and Kagome were sent to the West room though Kagome insisted she had to take care of Inuyasha. Keade finally caved in and let Kagome take care of Inuyasha while she took care of the others.
Hours later, Inuyasha woke up in the middle of Kagome bandaging his last wound on his leg. His vision was blurry but he could smell Kagome close to him so he called out to her, "Kagome…"
His voice was soft and raspy but Kagome heard it. She immediately turned to face him and got close to hear him better.
"Hey Inuyasha…Are you okay?"
"If that means I feel like shit," he smirked at her with closed eyes. Kagome giggled and kissed him on the head which made Inuyasha blush. From then on, Inuyasha had been working on getting better.
Present Day
Sesshomaru was still there for reasons only Kagome knew. Inuyasha thought he was there so he could get back Tetsuiaga, 'Fat chance of that happening.'
No matter how wounded he was, he was not going to let Sesshomaru have his treasured sword. So when Kagome came walking in his direction, he chose to ask her about why Sesshomaru was still there.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called through the distance, "Where are you?"
Inuyasha decided to sneak up on her and slowly crept behind her until he was basically breathing down her neck. "Kagome."
Kagome jumped and turned around instantly, ready to purify any demon behind her. When Inuyasha saw this he backed up some until Kagome realized who he was. "Sorry Inuyasha. You shouldn't scare me like that."
"No kidding," he replied.
"I just wanted to let you know that dinner was ready."
"Thanks…Kagome, do you know why Sesshomaru is still here? What does he want?"
"He wants his arm back, which I plan to give to him later on this week so my body will be up for it."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"You'll see," Kagome smiled at him and turned back to the direction of the hut. Inuyasha was still confused but followed into the hut where his brother still rested. Sesshomaru had his eyes closed and was sitting with one knee up where his arm was holding his head up. He wasn't asleep though, Inuyasha could hear is uneven breathing. Inuyasha just glared at him and sat down on the dirt floor across from him. Sesshomaru opened his eyes after Kagome's scent filled his nostrils and yawned.
After moving an out-of-place lock of hair behind his pointed ear, he spoke, "When am I going to get my arm back?"
"When I'm strong enough. You'll have to be patient with me until them."
He grunted in agreement and went back to resting his eyes. Inuyasha growled at his brother's form and turned away from him. Kagome sighed and went to fixing everyone's bowl for dinner. Everyone had fish with rice except for Inuyasha who had Raman and Sesshomaru who didn't eat 'human food'. Even though Sesshomaru had sustained little injuries, Kagome was worried that he wouldn't heal correctly without any food in his system. "Why won't Sesshomaru eat anything?"
"He thinks that what humans eat is lowly of him since he is a demon lord," stated Inuyasha who then scoffed at the thought.
"So what does he eat?" asked Kagome with a worried tone.
"He used to eat humans until he met Rin. Now all he eats is live animals."
To that, Shippo and Kagome gagged. Inuyasha laughed at their squeamishness and continued eating his Raman.
Miroku and Sango had been spending a lot of time together ever since they confessed their love to each other. Miroku asked her, a day later, to marry him which Sango accepted. He had bought a jade ring for her and it now resided on Sango's ring finger. The two were cuddled up next to each other in one of the corners, eating their dinner and caressing each other. They were too busy with themselves to worry about why Sesshomaru had been there for the past three days.
Sesshomaru finally moved after an hour and walked out of the hut. "Where are you going?" asked Kagome.
"Hunting," he replied and ran off at his high speed. Kagome sighed and slumped onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "How's your wounds Inuyasha?"
"They're okay I guess, my stomach still hurts."
"Let me redo your bandages then."
"Do you have to?" he asked.
"Um yeah," she replied, "Unless you want them to get infected."
Inuyasha hurriedly pulled of his haori and undershirt. "Uh no thanks."
"Good."
Kagome went over to her giant yellow bag and pulled out clean bandages and peroxide. First she cut off his old bandages and set them aside to be thrown away later then she soaked one of the cotton balls in the peroxide. She cleaned off his wound carefully since she knew that it would hurt a lot when the alcohol touched his bloody wound. Inuyasha hissed in pain but let her continue what she was doing. When it was over, Kagome wrapped up his wounds in clean, new bandages and let him put his shirts back on.
When Sesshomaru got back from hunting, the smell of Inuyasha's blood filled his nose and he covered it in disgust. "Why is the smell of Inuyasha's blood so thick?"
"What's wrong fluffy? Is my lowly hanyou blood too great for the 'perfect' Demon Lord?" mocked Inuyasha.
"Oh shush Inuyasha," said Kagome, "I was just re-bandaging him. You can come back in when I get rid of these bandages."
Sesshomaru silently agreed with her and backed out of the small hut to see a two headed beast flying towards him. On it, rode Rin and Jaken; Jaken was sitting in the front with Rin in the back. When they landed, Rin immediately jumped off and ran to Sesshomaru who she greeted in a usual hug. "Hi Lord Sesshomaru!"
Jaken scoffed at Rin like he usually does, 'I don't understand why he keeps that human girl around.'
"Rin, Jaken; we will be staying in this village for a while so don't cause any problems or I will punish you both. Understood?"
Rin saluted him, "Yes sir!"
Jaken bowed repeatedly, "Yes Lord Sesshomaru."
Back in Keade's hut, Kagome had just disposed of the dirty bandages and was putting away all of her things. She decided that since she had nothing else to do she would meditate some and strengthen her powers. She changed into a completely white two piece kimono that looked like priestess clothing and left the hut, receiving some looks of awe and confusion. The place she went to was a small waterfall that had a pool of water at its base and the area around it seemed peace full and comforting. Kagome sat right underneath it and let the cold water hit the top of her head and shoulders.
Slowly, her aura began to feed in small amounts off of the living things around her and grow larger. Her aura covered her and went around her like a blue flame that was thirteen feet tall. Kagome was raised off of the stone that she was sitting on and floated a few inches above it, still in the sitting position. Then she moved into a standing position with her arms outstretched to make her body look like an arrow pointing to the sky. This lasted for a few minutes until little orbs orbited around her and her aura, seemingly attracted to her power. The orbs flew around her some more until they made a line above her head and went straight into her forehead. This made Kagome's blue-fire aura turn red and grow even larger than before. The flames seemed to engulf her body and jump like sparks in every direction. Surprisingly, the flames went out like some one had dowsed them in water and Kagome was lowered back onto the rock.
Kagome stretched like nothing had ever happened and jumped off the rock but she didn't go through the water, instead she just stepped on it. She was walking on water like it was nothing and started heading back towards the area where she had come from. She didn't realize that about five pairs of eyes had been watching her the entire time; Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Shippou and surprisingly, Sesshomaru. Inuyasha had his hand clamped over Shippo's mouth because he was started ask too many questions and get too loud like he usually did. Sesshomaru had demanded; "Keep that fox of yours quiet or I will silence him permanently."
Shippo gulped and Inuyasha put his hand over the little fox's mouth and was now holding it in a death grip. Now that it was over, Inuyasha let go of the poor kitsune's mouth and stood up from where he was crouching.
"So does spying on a priestess satisfy your needs, Fluffy?" asked Inuyasha in a mocking tone.
"Quiet you pathetic wretch of a half demon," replied Sesshomaru without looking at Inuyasha."
Inuyasha growled and reached for his Tetsaiga but was stopped by Miroku. "Don't engage your brother in battle; you're still wounded."
"That's never stopped me before! I'll just hack off his other arm!"
Sango hit Inuyasha over the head with her boomerang, "Stop being so pig-headed! The both of you are wounded and Kagome will be pissed when she finds out that one of you is severely wounded, not to mention how upset she'll be if you end up dead Inuyasha!"
Miroku nodded and whacked Inuyasha in the back of his head with his staff. Inuyasha turned to punch the monk but stopped when he heard his brother speak, "Seems like the humans have more sense than you do half-breed."
Sango turned to Sesshomaru, "And you're no better either; provoking Inuyasha like that when he's wounded. You're practically half a century old and Inuyasha's over two hundred yet neither of you act like you're adults!"
"She's got a point you know," added Miroku.
"He started it. Stupid flamboyant demon…" mumbled Inuyasha.
"See?! That's what I'm talking about! Both of you apologize!"
"I shouldn't have to apologize to that worthless hanyou."
Inuyasha pulled out his Tetsaiga "I'll show you worthless!"
"You need to be taught how to act in a true demon's presence." Sesshomaru pulled out his Tokijin and walked towards Inuyasha in a calm fashion. Inuyasha had had just swung his sword towards Sesshomaru when Kagome walked onto the scene.
"What's going on here?!"
Inuyasha stopped in mid swing letting Sesshomaru knock Tetsaiga out of his hands. The sword landed behind them and went back to being a rusty old sword.
"If you haven't noticed," said Inuyasha, "I was trying to kill Sesshomaru."
"SIT!" Kagome yelled. Inuyasha ate dirt as he plummeted into the ground, making an Inuyasha-shaped crater. Shippo tried to hold in his laughter at his fallen friend. Kagome sighed and stepped over Inuyasha as she walked to Sesshomaru.
"I know I said that I would give you your arm back but I'm starting to think that I'm going to have to make you temporarily loose the use of your right arm."
"You wouldn't dare, priestess," he replied in a low growling tone.
Kagome put her hands on her hips, "Yes I would, because it seems like you can't stand still for five minutes without trying to hack Inuyasha into pieces."
"If that stupid hanyou would use what little brain he had-"
Kagome interrupted him, "Stupid? Little brain? Inuyasha is a heck of a lot smarter that a lot of demons and human that I know of! And he certainly has more heart that you could ever hope to have!"
"Having a heart is a weakness, so is having feelings. Only the weak have feelings, especially feelings for mortals."
Kagome laughed at this, "How can you say that when you're taking care of a little human girl? She's a mortal and that means she'll grow old and die. Will you feel sadness for her? Remorse, pain, emptiness? Or will you kill her before she gets to be middle aged?"
Sesshomaru frowned and gripped his sword. "You have such a big mouth for a woman; it's time someone put you in your place."
Sesshomaru had started walking closer to Kagome with no expression on his face. Inuyasha was still under the affects of the beads' charm and couldn't move fast enough to get to Kagome before Sesshomaru did. Kagome had her had be hind her back and they were glowing. Of course Sesshomaru didn't see them but the others did and just watched while the demon lord got a few inches from her. Sesshomaru raised his hand up to grab her but Kagome pushed into him and blasted him with some energy. She quickly pushed Sesshomaru down on the ground and straddled him while using her powers to hold him down. "So who put who in their place, Sesshomaru?"
Sesshomaru growled at her, "Let me go human or I will-"
"Will what? Squirm? You aren't in much of a position to tell me what to do."
Of course Sesshomaru didn't believe her and tried to move. As she said, all he was doing was squirming around on the ground. Sesshomaru tried to transform but the purifying powers that was binding him was keeping him from doing so. The 'Great Demon Lord' had finally stopped moving, seemingly submitting to her.
"That's what I thought. I'll just take these now," Kagome was talking about Sesshomaru's swords. She pulled Tokijin from his hand and pulled Tensaiga away from him too then got off of him. Sesshomaru got up, dusted off his kimono and was glomped by Rin who was looking for him.
"Hi Lord Sesshomaru! Rin was looking for you!"
She was followed by Jaken who had just stopped to catch his breath, "My Lord, must we stay here in this human village?"
"Yes we must until I say otherwise."
Rin noticed that Sesshomaru's swords were gone, "What happened to your swords?"
"The village priestesses are taking care of them for me. Go play Rin."
"Okay Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin started to run off and left Jaken behind.
"Lord Sesshomaru, why are you letting that human take Tokijin and Tensaiga?" Sesshomaru arched in angered then he kicked Jaken a few times before walking off. After picking himself off of the ground, Jaken ran after Rin.
Inuyasha laughed at Sesshomaru with Miroku and Shippo, "You showed him."
Kagome looked at him with an annoyed face, "I did it because the neither of you act your age and you use your swords to sort out you problems instead of your words."
Inuyasha stopped laughing but Miroku and Shippo were still snickering. Kagome pulled Tetsaiga's sheath from Inuyasha who protested. "What are you doing?!"
"What did I just say? Neither of you use your words to sort out your problems so you're going to learn by losing the privileges of your swords. Plain and simple."
"You can't! I won't let you!"
"Yes you will. SIT!" Yet again, Inuyasha's kissed the dirt and made another crater shaped like himself. Kagome grabbed the rusty sword in the ground and placed it in its sheath. She then carried the three swords into Keade's hut and put a barrier over them so that neither of the demons could get to their swords.
When Kagome came back into the main room, she saw that Keade had come back from gathering herbs. "Do you need any help?"
"It would be much appreciated."
Kagome sat down next to her and helped the aged priestess sort, cut and store the various herbs that she found. When that was done, Keade made them some tea and started a conversation. "So how are ye and Inuyasha's relationship?"
"Okay I guess."
"Has he discovered ye's feeling for him?"
"No, not yet. I'm a little afraid of what he'll say. I'm afraid he won't feel the same way."
"Ye have nothing to be afraid of. When ye decides to tell him it will be the thing he wants to hear."
"You think so?"
"I know so," the older priestess replied with a smile.
"Thank you Keade. I'm going to go to bed now; all this excitement has made me tired. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Kagome."
Kagome decided to sleep in the same room as the swords just in case either of the demons got any ideas. Inuyasha was the first one to try to get his sword back and was 'sat' before he got past the door.