Story: It begins again!

Chapter 1: Neverending cycle of pain and loss

The morning had been cloudy, everything was still. No animals could be heard, nor any bugs or insects. That was far unusual for the middle of summer in Japan. No demons were out and about, either. There was a good reason for this unusual silence, though.

There was going to be a storm. A huge Storm.

Inuyasha had been getting weird feelings all morning. When he'd woken up, he nearly grabbed for his sword, but he refrained from doing so. Nothing nor was in his room, except for his sleeping priestess, Kagome.

He gazed down at her sleeping form, only for a moment. He still couldn't believe they were married, after 50 years. She'd aged, that much was true. She tried to hide it from him, using things from her own time like 'hair dye' and make-up. He still did notice those things, though. He didn't notice the subtle wrinkles that were scattered around her eyes, nor the fact that her skin had paled, despite its constant exposure to the sun everyday.

Yes, they'd done it after so many years of trying. They collected all the jewel shards and but the jewel back together again. Miroku's wind tunnel had closed over after they had defeated Naraku, and he'd settled down with Sango, having three children. Two of which became slayer of evil demons, and the other became a monk. Now their children had Children of their own, and they were grandparents while Kagome and Inuyasha both were still only parents. Kagome would never admit to it, but she was always a little sad when she saw the grandchildren of her best friends. She and Inuyasha both knew that she would never live to see her grandchildren. They never brought it up, though. He didn't want to think about that.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he placed a hand gently on her shoulder, and shook. "Kagome…wake up." He muttered, his eyes soft as he watched her mumble something and turn over. A sigh came from the sleeping lump, and a hand popped out from under the covers.

"Morning? Already?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes sleepily as a yawn escaped her lips. Inuyasha chuckled, watching the whole scene with some amusement. "Yes, It's morning." He mumbled, looking out the window to the dark swirling mass in the air. He didn't like the look of those clouds, but he knew Kagome would go to the shrine, whether it looked bad outside or not.

Kagome opened her eyes, and followed her husband's stare out of the window. A small smile spread across her lips, and she shook her head. "It'll be fine. The weather doesn't seem to be /that/ bad." She murmured before she kissed his cheek, and stood up. He nodded absentmindedly, trying to ignore the horrible feeling growing in his stomach.

later that morning

The smell of cooking eggs and baking bread could be smelled throughout the house. "Kids! Breakfast!" Kagome yelled cheerfully, happy despite the terrible weather conditions. A loud bang and a crash came from the other side of the house, followed by a growl and a yelp of pain. Sighing, Kagome shot Inuyasha a look, and he stood up without a second that and trotted back towards the source of the noise. Two yelps were heard this time, followed by a, "Hey! Put me down!" Inuyasha returned moments after leaving, with to bundles under his arms. One was thrashing, trying to get at his father playfully, the other was to scared to move, clinging to her father's arm.

Both were three quarters the size of their father, but both knew they couldn't take him. Grinning, the two looked at each other, and winked. Grabbing their father's legs, the pulled roughly, tumbling them all into a rather awkward lump.

Kagome blinked and looked down at the small group on the floor, she frowned, and crossed her arms as she watched the girl squirm away from the two, and her frown deepened as she watched the two boys begin to wrestle. "Nock it off Inuyasha! Tenshimaru!" She barked, and the girl giggled and crossed her arms like her mother.

"Yeah Tenish, nock it off stupid." She called, grinning as the younger boy was distracted long enough to make him lose the fight. Inuyasha grinned as his son stood up after yelling "Ow! I give up! I give up!" He stuck his tongue out at his sister. "I'm not stupid!" he growled, pouting slightly. She raised an eyebrow, and grinned brightly. "You gotta be stupid if you think you can take daddy!" she stated, earning another glare and a tongue being stuck out at her.

"Kyoko! Be nice to your brother /please/." Kagome sighed as she rubbed her forehead gingerly. Kyoko turned to look up at her mother, and scowled deeply. "But, but, but! He started it!" she cried, growling at her brother who had a smirk plastered on his face. Now it was Inuyasha's turn to sigh. "Just behave and listen to your mother!" he barked, his left eye twitching slightly.

Tenshimaru nodded twice, while Kyoko gave him a dark look and muttered threats under her breath. Her brother smirked at her again, when both her parent's backs were turned. She growled, and returned the insult. Only, she got a mouthful of eggs shoved into her mouth. Coughing, she swallowed the eggs, gasping for breath. She stared up at her mother with wide eyes, disbelief written in them. "You…you could have choked me!" she cried, rubbing her throat tenderly. Kagome shrugged, turning back to the eggs. "It was the only way I could be sure to get food in you." "I could have DIED!" Kyoko countered, her mouth falling open slightly. "You wouldn't have died... stop being so dramatic. We would have made sure you would live." Inuyasha stated, grinning down at her.

"You guys are horrible!" she cried as her lower lips shot out in a pout. Turning around, a small noise which sounded like a 'humph' coming from her, she marched down the hall to her room before slamming the door. Kagome watched the whole thing with mild amusement, fixing the young girl a plate and leaving it on the table. Washing her hands quickly, and walked around the rough made table to her son. Tenshimaru didn't notice her, however, until her lips where pressed against his forehead. Blinking, he stared up at her with a questioning look. "What was that for?" he asked, tilting his head to the right a bit. Kagome smiled brightly down at him. "Just a mother's love." She answered, winking at him. He smiled in return, before continuing his breakfast. She watched for a moment, before traveling over to her husband and placing a small kiss on his cheek. Inuyasha smiled faintly, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Promise me you'll be careful today?" he muttered, pulling her into a tight hug. She gave him a puzzled look, but agreed all the same. "I promise that I'll try." She answered, kissing his cheek gently again.

He nodded, knowing that was the best answer he was going to get from her. She pulled away from his arms, and picked up her worn yellow backpack. She walked out the door, waving good-bye to her love, and her son. She called out a good-bye to her daughter, but got no reply.

Inuyasha waved back until he could no longer see her. He still had that uneasy feeling in his stomach, but it only got worse when he couldn't see her any longer

Sometime later, the wind pelted the side of the small house, blowing branches and stones against it. The walls moaned at the assault, protesting against the abuse but refusing to give way. Everyone was inside the house, watching the storm grow even more outside. "When's it gonna stop dad?" Tenshimaru complained, pouting cutely with his head in his hands. Kyoko grabbed a small rock that had blown in from the window ,and threw it at her brother. "OWOWOW! What was that for!?" he mumbled, rubbing his head tenderly. "Shut up! You're so annoying!" Kyoko growled, displaying the temper she had gotten from her father. "The storm will let up when it-" the rest of her sentence was drown out by a rather large explosion coming from the east.

Inuyasha bolted up, pulling his Tessaige up with him. "What was that?" Tenshimaru asked, his eyes wide, the mirror image of his sister's. Kyoko knew what was in that direction, and so did Tenshimaru. "The shrine…" Kyoko mumbled, a strand of brown hair falling in her face. "Kagome!" "Mom!" everyone was standing now, heading for the door. Inuyasha stopped the to children, looking down at them. "Stay here." He barked roughly. Tenshimaru and Kyoko froze, staring after their dad as he raced out of the small cabin, the wind tearing at his clothes and hair violently.

His ears pricked up, the sound of a much small but still terrible explosion hitting them. This time, the were accompanied by three feminine voice, scream in pain and terror and anger. He slowed down a bit when a young girl stumbled towards him, holding the side of her face.

The complete right side of her body was blackened and covered with burns, the white of her bone showing through on her arm. Her skin flaked off as she ran towards him, tears of pain streaming down her left cheek.

Inuyasha knew this girl. She was one of the shrine maidens that Kagome was training. He felt sick to his stomach, watching the helpless girl as she fell to her knees, blood spurting from cracks made in her flesh. She removed her hand from her face, unable to keep it there any longer. It was all Inuyasha could do not to heave up the contents of his stomach.

Her face was black ,and her ear was melded to the side of her now bald and blackened head. Her eye lids had melted away, leaving her eye ball naked and staring as it reeled around in the socket. Her lips were only half there, the right side of her jaw exposed showing, red, burned and gushing blood. She pointed towards the shrine and mouthed something that could have been 'Lady Kagome' before she fell forward, her arm falling from its socket to blood soaked ground beneath her. She died, her spirit passing to the netherworld. Inuyasha gagged horribly at the scene, but he continued on to the shrine. He had a worse feeling that Kagome was going to end up in worse shape than the girl he just saw. When he arrived, though, what he saw made his eyes grow wide.

His breath whooshed out of his body at the sight of the scene. A demon, male possibly with a human appearance, had two arrows sticking out of his left arm, the hand of that arm holding the Shikon no Tama. The worst didn't stop there. Kagome lay some distance away, her lower part of her legs seemingly burned clean off just below the knees. Scratches and cuts covered her whole body, yet she was still fighting.

Everything went into slow motion then. The demon lunged at kagome, his eyes flashing with fury and hate, the claws of his free hand pointed towards her heart. Inuyasha regained the ability to move, and ran towards her with all the speed he had. But his speed wasn't good enough. "Kagome!!" he cried out, pain thick in his voice, his heart torn in two at the same moment kagome's shoulder was ripping almost all the way up.

The demon's fingers were buried to their base in her chest, soaked with her blood. A smile of malice and joy spread across his face. Kagome convulsed, blood trickling down her chin from her mouth. She didn't scream. She merely fell backwards on the blood soaked ground, her chest heaving with the effort to breath. The demon spat at her body, grinning wildly as he looked upon his work.

"MOM!" twin voices screamed, grabbing the attention of the demon. Tenshimaru and Kyoko were standing at the edge of the forest, froze to their spots in horror. Inuyasha turned numbly, staring at his children. "I…told you two to…stay at the house…" he muttered, dazed as he looked back at the demon.

Said demon grinned again, bring his fingers up to his mouth to lick some of Kagome's blood off of his fingers. It shot out suddenly, heading straight for the young demon girl at the edge of the forest.

Kyoko didn't move, she couldn't. Her eyes grew wide, before the closed and she waited to die. She didn't feel pain though, but she was pushed down. She opened one eye, and stared up at Tenshimaru who was standing above her. The demon's claws had raked his back, from his left should to his right hip, and from his right shoulder to his left hip. "Sister…" he mumbled, before collapsing forward on his sister. "Tenshimaru!" she cried, tears trickling down her face.

Inuyasha's face contorted in anger, fear and pain. In a blind fury, he jumped at the demon, aiming for the jewel and his heart. The tip of the Tessaige hit the jewel, shattering it into hundreds of pieces once more. But the sword didn't stop there. It continued on, piercing the demons chest. The demon howled, snarling at Inuyasha as he grabbed the half-demon's right arm. His sword arm. He twisted at the elbow, twisting it straight out of the socket. He didn't stop there, he stabbed Inuyasha shoulder, causing it to pop out of it's shoulder. Gasping in pain, Inuyasha fell to the ground, the Tessaige laying next to him in it's original form.

The demon smirked, holding his chest were his heart was supposed to be. "I can't die…" He growled, disappearing in a raise of wind and leaves. "I'll be back…for your family." He whispered before he left, leaving said family alone in the destroyed shrine.

Inuyasha crawled over to Kagome, who was still clinging to life feebly. "K...Kagome…" Inuyasha whispered, holding her head with his one good arm. She opened one eye, a blank stare in it. Her eyes were clouding over, everything was fuzzy to her. "Inuyasha?..." she whispered, staring past him to the sky. "Hold on Kagome! I'll get help-"

"No…." she whispered, shaking his head. "It's to late for me. I know I'm going to die….and at least I could live my life with you." She whispered, a faint smile forming on her face. A tear dropped onto her cheek as Inuyasha's tears were flowing freely. "I…I love you…I'll see you soon…" he whispered, holding her body close. "I love you...too, Inuyasha. I'll wait for you…until you come." She whispered, smiling as her eyes completely clouded over.

That day, there was a funeral for her. In both her time, and his. Sango and Miroku came with their children and grandchildren, honoring their family friend for her courage.

And this is where the story begins a new. New friends, a new evil, and the jewel. A never ending cycle.

Author- Hope you enjoyed this chapter thingy! I'll update as soon as I can! Read and review please!

Later!