Alone In The Wake

Chapter 2

Anger

Silence once again fell among the group as each member began to think of possible reasons for the recent event. The bloody cloth, the purple foul smelling smoke and the angered dog demon. All strange things, all leaving more questions in their wake than answers. There was so much uncertainty, so much out of the norm and now they couldn't even blame it on the Jewel. Not that the great demon Lord would fall victim, but at least it would have given them a start.

"Any ideas?" A soft female voice asked breaking the silence and the others' thoughts. She thought she had come up with every possible thing, from a poison to a curse. Hell she'd even went so far as to assume a woman had made the great demon act as they had seen. Yet, each one was shot down with the simple facts she knew of the demon. In her heart she knew nothing could have caused this, aside from her first assumption of the rag; Rin's death.

"None that I can figure. After all from what we know of the Lord he doesn't seem the type to act this way so carelessly..." Miroku answered easily with a dishearted sigh. He too had thought of as much as she and had discredited it all., for the very same reasons as she. He knew the great Dog Demon and he knew this was something to be leary of.

"The only thing I can think is something happened to Rin... you know the brat?" A harsh female voice offered. Sango was still rather pissed off at the poor miko. She was angered by how the miko had handled the jewel, how carelessly she wished and how she made a choice on her behalf. A choice Sango had wanted the opposite of.

Flashback

One by one the members of the taichi rose to their feet, slowly checking their forms over for wounds. Each had done their part, each had slowly weakened the horrible created half breed. Even Shippou had helped in the smallest way, he had kept the demon's attention away from Kagome just long enough for the girl to finally launch the killing blow.

"I-it's.. over... i-it's finally over..." One voice offered as the smoke cleared. The being's heart and tears finally letting go of the pain and hurt this horrible creature had caused notonly her but her friends. Slowly the girl's form slumped to the ground and she held the newly completed jewel in her hand.

"Indeed. It is..." Another deeper, smoother, more elegant voice stated before the source simply left as he had come. His duty and promise to the group finally taken care of. He had no more business with the small rag-tag group. Slowly his elegant form disappeared from view. Yet, had he stayed just a little longer he could have seem with his own eyes what was to become of the Jewel, not that he really cared either way as he trusted the Miko, trusted her to do the right thing.

"Kik... you..." Another voice whimpered before going silent in mourning. The normally strong male was doubled over in pain as he held the unmoving clay figure of his once intended. She was cold, hard and now lifeless. A sight he though he'd be ready for but quickly found as the battle ended, he was not. The tears came willingly and he held no shame for the sight he was presenting. Even heroes need to cry.

"... Over... father it.. it's over." The second male'svoice weakly stated, his eyes grazing over the once cursed hand. The hand that once had caused so much trouble, yet saved him equally as much. The poor Monk was in shock, yet it was only caused by relief and happiness. His life long quest was over.

"Over.." The last adult offered weakly before she once again fell to her knees. She was free of her revenge, free of the sadness of the loss of her family. She even believed she'd be free to allow her brother to rest. Yes, she wanted him to live if he could, but not with the risk of him suffering with the memory he could not forget. So after much thought she let him go from her heart as well and felt peace.

The small holy female made her way to the middle of the battle field. Her steps making no sound as she moved with grace across the blood soaked grass. With each step, however, she let out a small unheard whimper. She was sore, bleeding and tired, but she had a job to finish. A jewel to get rid of. Once she reached the dimly glowing orb she bend down and slowly reached for it.

"Still hard to believe this small thing caused so much trouble..." She said as her fingers lightly touched the jewel, making the purple stain disappear from its depths with just that little brush. Once she was sure the crystal remained pure she slowly got to her feet. It was time.

"Momma... M-m.. wh-what do we do now?" Shippou asked his mother as he tugged on her leg. His emerald eyes showing his stress and tiredness. He had fought as well as he could against the lesser demons that attacked with the major ones. He had wounds all over his small form but none life threatening.

"Now... now I make a wish.. A pure.. wish." She managed to get out before looking down at her son. She had thought long and hard about it. She could not bring everyone back as it was her own desire. She could not wish for anything that she had felt was right, was needed so. Yet at the same time any wish she made would not really be pure. Yet if it helped everyone and would not benefit her in the least than it would be pure would it not? So she had settled with one. The only wish she could think of.

"Jewel of Four Souls... I, The Shikon Miko. Thecurrent protector of the jewel, am ready to make my wish. I wish for the life of Kohaku and the life of Kikyou to be returned. I wish for nothing more but those two." Her strong and commanding voice rang through the clearing. A bright pink, blinding light surrounding the group and when it had disappeared, as had the jewel, leaving nothing but the ghostlyfeeling behind.

Seconds, minutes and finally an hour passed and nothing happened. Nothing moved, not even the group itself. Yet inside two of the beings were a whirlwind of emotions. One was happy, at peace and thankful, yet another was raging, fuming and wanting nothing more than to bring actual harm to the girl.

Kagome never even asked Sango if that was what she wanted. If that was how she now felt. Kagome never even glanced back at the woman. She simply did as she had wanted and brought back a scarred boy. As she was thinking she saw him step from the tree line. His eyes empty, a void. He had remembered everything and Sango saw he had relived it.

End Flashback

Kagome looked over at the woman she had claimed as a sister with sad eyes. She knew why she was so mad, yet it still confused her. How was she to know that that was the wrong course of action? How could she had known when the slayer hadn't told her she'd had a change of heart. Yet even with the sadness filling her heart she calmly replied.

"I guess that can be the only th-" Kagome tried before her friend interrupted her as always.

"Yea well I just think the bastard finally snapped. Maybe the ice melted out his ass or somethi-" Inuyasha's voice trailed off as his ears twitched and a low growl grew from his chest to his throat. "Get ready... we have company..."

As soon as the words escaped his mouth a low chuckle was heard, followed by several other mimicking giggles, all sounding rather amused. Slowly the group backed into each other forming a loose circle of protection, a simple yet effective method.

"Silly bunch... You have no chance in beating us as you are... And with what you are..." A deep scratchy voice mocked. The sound was haunting to the group, but even as this threat arose, they all steeled themselves and thought; 'If we could have beaten Naraku we can beat whatever this is'.

"Well I don't know... Maybe the kit has a chance to beat us. Don't you agree Bushin?" Another scratchy voice offered with a laugh. It was clear how this group felt about humans and those bred with their blood.

"Oh yes. He is the only one here even close to being a challenge.. oh wait. Not even he is. Stupid humans... Oh and look they have a puppy.. I almost missed him." Bushin replied, his voice echoing around the group, yet nothing was seen by said group.

"Bushin, Sosuke... shut up." The first voice offered before the owner stepped from the trees and smirked at the lot. He was a large thing. Almost the size of a shire horse. His fur was a deep honey brown, eyes orange and glowing, his tail swished and swayed with his blissful emotion and his large triangle ears faced his prey.

"Damned, fucking cats. I hate 'em." Mumbled Inuyasha, his own ears pinned back in annoyance, but his sword was drawn and he was ready for their attack. Cats were clever and Inuyasha refused to be caught off guard.

"Go the fuck away, you stupid felines! We don't have time for this shit!" A female voice growled, the outburst was followed by a few eye rolls, a sigh and a mewl.

"What did you say stupid bitch?" The leader growled taking another step towards her. His large form towering over her small one, yet she refused to back down and the rest refused to move to leave her side.

"I sai-" Kagome never got a chance to finish her statement as a large paw came out of no where and threw her and her child against a near by tree, knocking the child out and wounding the miko.

"You bastard! How dare you hit Kagome!" Shouted a rage filled voice. Wasting no time at all, Inuyasha points his weapon at the offending beast and swings for him. Yet having missed him completely he tries again with the same results. Over and over Inuyasha tries to hit the demon yet fails. He manages to glance back at the other three to see them now engaged in battle. Yet before he can see Kagome he gets hit with a large clawed paw and is thrown aside like a rag doll.

"Foolish pup... even for a half-breed you are no good. You think you can stand against Tohru? The great forest lord? Ha!" The large feline mocked before turning his attention back to the Miko. He watched as the wound he had inflicted upon her form heal. Seal itself and vanish as if it never existed. Tohru soon found himself actually quite interested in the female. This human was strange, yet unique. He quickly found he could not remove his eyes from her form even as she got to her feet.

Quickly, however, Inuyasha recovers and in his foolish rage, launches an attack; the wind-scar. With a shrill cry he swipes his blade downwards and watches as the red and blue streaks collide with the tall white draft, causing the attack to hit not only the attacking Nekos but also his friends. With wide, shocked yellow eyes he finds himself lowering his sword. He had hit his friends with one of his strongest attack.

"S-Sango... MIROKU! KILALA!" He screamed before rushing to them as fast as he could but he never made it another step as a second Neko hit him from the side, knocking his form through the air into a large rock. The last thing he saw was the limp, lifeless forms of his three friends, the struggling form of his best friend and then, just darkness.

Mark 2 Rewritten September 18, 2015