Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor Hellsing and make no money from these writings.

Like the Dawn

Chapter One

Growing old was hard. Integra stretched her stiff back before sitting in the plush desk chair of her private office. While she was still able to best most of the younger members of the Hellsing Organization's soldiers, but they were still green. She was well aware that she would only get slower and weaker. It was at times like this, when her body reminded her of her age, that her thoughts drifted to the same place. What would become of the Hellsing Organization when she was gone? What would happen to her family name? What would be done with her estate? Who would be the next to claim Alucard?

For thirty years she had worried little about most of those questions. The organization would fall to the government. The Hellsing name would fade into obscurity. Her estate would likely be sold off to the highest bidder. And it hadn't really mattered about Alucard. He'd disappeared that morning after the attack on London, and he hadn't been seen or heard from in three decades.

Except now the vampire Alucard was back in her home and under her control once more. Even if the rest of the Hellsing Organization was dismantled and done away with, she couldn't allow the government to gain control of her most fearsome weapon. Though Alucard had yet to ever turn on his master, it was frightening and intimidating to know that you had the power to release what was likely the world's most deadly predator for your own purposes. How could she ever trust another person, someone not of the Hellsing line who had learned the proper respect for Alucard's power, to take those reigns upon her death?

Integra sighed and slid her one good eye over to look at the second drawer down on the right side of her desk. She pulled the heavy hardwood drawer out far enough to reach inside. After shuffling aside a few files and folders, her fingers ran across a glass surface and she gripped the edge of a small frame.

It wasn't large or fancy. Cheap black wood surrounded a four-by-six photograph of a small family. Everyone in the picture looked happy and was smiling brightly. Running her thumb over one face in particular, Integra set the frame on her desk and shut the desk drawer again.

The man in the picture was someone she'd known quite well in her younger years. They'd met as teenagers. She had already been the head of the Hellsing Organization for a couple of years, and she'd decided to look into alternate methods of fighting vampires and other such creatures. In her research, she came across mention of priests and monks in Japan who were supposed to have the power to completely purify the impure and the tainted. It had taken a lot of leg work, but she finally tracked down one such young man who showed potential for this power.

He was around her age, only a year older, and had been very friendly when she'd shown up unannounced on his family's shrine grounds. Though he held potential, he'd never had a proper teacher and was untrained. These powers had become so rare that very few knew anything about them anymore, and finding a master in them was near, if not completely, impossible. The trip had been a disappointment, but Integra had kept in touch with the young man that had been so patient through her questioning and prodding. While she was off fighting monsters, he was falling in love and getting married.

She'd been happy for her friend. It was a life she doubted that she would ever have for herself, but she wished him the best. She'd even paid for their honeymoon as a wedding present. But hearing about his life made her question her own. Not necessarily the desire to have a husband or partner, but her eventual need for an heir. Integra was the last of her family line. She could have a child without a man, without a husband. There were plenty of ways. Though if there was one word Integra wouldn't use to describe herself, it was "maternal." She wasn't one to nurture or coddle. And beyond that, she simply didn't have the time to raise a child.

It was within the next year that an opportunity arose. Integra learned that her friend and his wife were trying to start a family, but they weren't having any luck. His wife was having issues with fertility, and they couldn't conceive. It was then that the idea struck Integra. She needed a blood heir, and they wanted a family. It would be a strange arrangement, but all parties would win in the end. Integra gave them a healthy egg to use for in vitro fertilization. In return, they would raise her child as their own, giving them a safe and happy childhood. They agreed to wait until they deemed the time to be right to tell the child.

The pregnancy took and the couple eventually had a baby girl whom they named Kagome.

Integra focused on the little girl in the photograph sitting on her desk. She was about five in the picture, if she recalled correctly. The girl ended up taking almost completely after her father with her black hair and fair skin, but Integra could see herself in the child's eyes, clear and blue. They were happy eyes, the eyes of a child that knew they were loved.

Kagome had only been around one year old when London had been attacked and Alucard disappeared. And as the years went on and her vampire didn't return to her, she began to question whether or not she should claim Kagome at all. She was with a family that she knew, a family that cared for and loved her. Integra herself felt affection when she thought of her daughter, but she didn't think that she could ever match what the Higurashi's gave her. So as time wore on, she eventually decided to let her role in Kagome's life remain a secret. Ending her family name was sad, but she would give that up as one of the only small gifts that she could give.

More time passed and her friend died in a car accident. The news had been shocking, but after it sank in, her reaction had been a bitter laugh. Of all the things that could kill a human in this world, he was killed by something as mundane as a car accident. Integra made sure to keep in touch with his widow. They had never been nearly as close, only meeting each other once or twice, but they had a common tie. She was informed of Kagome's milestones such as learning to ride a bike or entering middle school, but she was mostly in the dark on what kind of person Kagome was growing up to be. That was okay though. She'd decided to give her up and let her live a normal life.

At least, that was the plan before Alucard returned. He'd been back in the Hellsing mansion for about a month, and there was a decidedly different air covering the estate grounds. The younger men of her small army were on edge having only heard tales and rumors of the Hellsing's pet vampire. Even the older members were twitchy, they were just better at hiding it. Alucard's presence could be stifling and oppressive when he wished, but Integra almost took a source of comfort in it. It was something that she hadn't missed or even noticed until it was gone. It could suffocate and frighten, but she'd long ago come to associate it with safety. Integra was Alucard's master and at her word, he would do everything in his power to keep her from harm.

Yes, having a force such as Alucard at hand was a great and terrible thing. That much power could corrupt. It could turn the best of men mad and hungry for more. And so Integra knew that she needed someone that she could teach and possibly mold to fill her role one day.

'Though she would be in her thirties by now,' Integra thought with a deep sigh. Perhaps she should have claimed Kagome sooner. Children were able and willing to learn. Adults could be stubborn and set in their ways. There may not be any hope of having a successor that she would deem worthy at this point, but she wouldn't know until she tried. She had to at least meet Kagome, her daughter and only family, and find out.

With that decided, Integra turned on her computer, a very sleek and modern thing that Seras had insisted on when she mentioned upgrading from her old computer. Seras had actually talked her into making the family mansion quite modern to keep up with the technological age. Integra didn't care for it much one way or the other, but at least she didn't hate it.

Scrolling through her list of email contacts, she found the address that she was looking for. She opened a new message and began typing.

Hello Rena,

I believe the time has come.