Kouga smiled at Kagome and walked to her like he was going to hug her but stopped abruptly at the warning growl from Aidan. He smiled sheepishly at Aidan and said, "I forgot that you were courting Kagome." He scratched the back of his head "…I'm getting old, Sesshomaru just reminded me the other day."
Putting his arm around Kagome's waist, Aidan replied slowly, "I remind you every time I see you wolf, that Kagome is mine."
"Calm down Dracula, I was just going to give her a friendly hug. I'm not trying to be her mate anymore." Kouga responded back just as slowly.
Kagome was smiling from their exchange and asked Kouga, "Did you say Sesshomaru? Is Sesshomaru with you in the area? I'd love to see him! Are Shippou and Inuyasha here? Why are you in Amer-" She was cut off when Aidan put his hand over her mouth.
"Breathe dear. Stop talking and let him answer." She just nodded and looked at Kouga expectantly. She wanted to know what happened to her friends.
Kouga laughed. "Never thought I'd see the day when Kagome took orders so easily."
Kagome looked aghast and was ready to say something when Aidan beat her to it. He looked at the Cullens and said, "And this class is an example of the mindless wolves we've dealt with; they seem to speak with out thinking." Aidan grinned.
Kouga growled quietly enough so that Bella and Kagome couldn't hear. "Are you calling me stupid?"
Thunder started to roll around in the sky, letting everyone know it was going to rain like they predicted earlier.
Smiling mischievously, Aidan said, "Of course not…" Kouga relaxed. "I called you mindless; it would have been a compliment if I called you stupid. Stupid people have the capacity to learn…mindless beasts such as yourself are incapable…such a shame really."
Cracking his knuckles Kouga responded with a grin, "Well, shall we see whose better Dracula? Try to keep your teeth to yourself this time."
Kagome looked at Aidan, not really worried that he was going to fight Kouga. "You bit him?"
Without taking his eyes off Kouga he replied with disgust, "Hell yes, and a mistake I will not be repeating. Wolf blood tastes dirty."
"Ok, timeout." Kagome said calmly. "Let's talk first and then you guys can go play."
Aidan whined, "Babe don't make it sound like we're friends."
Kouga scoffed, "Do you need permission from Kagome to do everything?"
Emmet made a whipping noise.
Aidan was about to reply when Kagome said, "Shut up Kouga."
Aidan smiled cheekily at Kouga.
"Can everyone sit down on the ground? Ugh, my aches and pains from the day are catching up with me." Kagome asked as she sat down in the grass and everyone following suit. Aidan moved Kagome into his lap and Bella looked at them longingly. She just wished her and Edward didn't have to be so careful about every touch and kiss they shared.
Kagome smiled at Kouga. "Tell me why you're in America and about everyone else."
Kouga cleared his throat. "How about a short version, yea?" At Kagome's reluctant nod he continued. "I'm in the area checking out a problem my pack has been having with intruders on our land. I was just at the local pack when I caught your scent. I didn't think it was really you…but then the Alpha Sam said they were late meeting me, because they ran into some crazy Japanese girl who could disintegrate vampires." Laughing at Kagome's read outraged face he said, "I followed your scent here after the meeting."
Neil asked Kouga what kind of problems the intruders were causing. He answered, "Humans were killed and left on my lands. We had to dispose of the bodies ourselves so we wouldn't get unwanted attention from the media. It's getting really annoying and needs to stop."
Crossing her arms Kagome asked, "Are you annoyed because humans are being murdered? Or that their carcasses are left on your land?"
Kouga looked angry. "Just because I'm demon- don't make me heartless- you should know that. The facts are that murder happens every day and no, I don't like it…especially when some ass holes were leaving their killings anywhere they pleased, like they had the right. If this problem doesn't stop soon, my pack looks weak, saying anyone can shit on us with out any repercussions."
"I'm sorry Kouga, I shouldn't have said that. I'm grumpy from my long day and taking it out on you." Kagome looked at him hoping to find forgiveness.
He replied softly, "You forgot to mention that you're stinky from your long day too." Kagome knew her old friend forgave her.
Aidan asked, "What were the conditions of the bodies found."
"Bled dry." Kouga stated.
Everyone looked at each other. Aidan spoke for everyone. "It seems we might have the same problem to solve. We could work together."
Kouga looked curious. "We both have vampire problems?"
"Volturi." Aidan said with annoyance.
Emmet crossed his arms and scoffed, "Same thing."
"Not the same thing." Aidan replied the like he was talking to a child.
"It is." Emmet said seriously. "I don't care about the past- what I know is that now the volturi are a group of power hungry vampire crazies, and that their Grand Poobah is a touchy feely creep who likes to get into people's minds." Rosalie was giving him silent support, glaring at Aidan. "So excuse me," He finished, "If I don't like being called something other then vampire."
Aidan, Neil, and Liam stood up- angry that this kid was talking to them like that; the Grian men all had anger issues…
"Do you like being a whiny little bitch?" Aidan said quietly so that Bella and Kagome couldn't hear, but louder he said to Emmet, "Your Bella is human, and I don't hear her complaining about being called that, even though there are humans out in the world killing people."
"She's my Bella." Edward said through clenched teeth.
Kagome stood between the now standing Cullens and her future family. She was trying to stay calm as she spoke to the Grian men. "He's right," She looked at Aidan when he was about to speak up and continued before he could saying, "I know what it's like to be called something that I felt I wasn't. Everyone in the past called me Kikyo's reincarnation and I was always compared to her. It's annoying and sucks not to be seen as you."
She looked at the Grian's exasperated. "Does it really matter that they want to be called vampires? They don't want to be grouped with the group of volturi they know."
"It's their species Kagome." Neil said matter of factly.
"Yes, and I'm the reincarnation of a woman who just wouldn't stay dead, but you better not be saying that to my face, or I'll break yours." She finished with a pleasant smile.
Laura looked at Kagome with sympathy. "Your friends were wrong to compare you with someone you were not. You're Kagome, a human miko, who just may or may not be a reincarnation. They are volturi and that's how it should stay. We don't say it in a derogatory way; it's just the facts."
"I'm not going to tell my kids they can call themselves demons when they aren't. Listen, we will try to not to say you're volturi in negative way all right? Right Aidan?" Colleen looked at her oldest son.
"Sure mother."
Emmet made a whipping noise again.
Growling in annoyance, Aidan declared with his fangs bared at Emmet, "Do that again little volturi," Kagome just covered her face with her hands as she walked back over to Aidan. He continued unperturbed. "And I'll show you how real vampires play."
Emmet just shot back, "Would you like to get permission first?" He nodded toward Kagome.
"Oh. My. God." She looked at Bella asking, "Do I come across as some controlling woman?"
Rosalie answered, switching her glare from Aidan to Kagome, "Yes."
Bella smiled at her, "No, you don't."
"Thanks Bella." Kagome said looking at Rosalie with 'What the hell' kind of face. She looked at Neil, pointing at Rose. "Lemme guess: Spoiled girl dealing with turmoil at the end of her living years."
Neil's eyes glowed white briefly. "You're correct."
"Hey!" Rosalie said shrilly. "Don't go into my mind without permission." Neil looked like he didn't care, so she moved her ever present glare back to Kagome.
Kagome just rolled her eyes. "Jeez- I can't read your mind." She pointed to herself and said slowly, "Human. I can, however, read your soul and aura since I'm a miko." She wiggled her hand at her saying, "It told me all of that- I just wanted confirmation from Neil."
Rose looked startled. "We don't have souls."
"Of course you do- you aren't evil." Kagome didn't see the surprised looks from the Cullens. She was looking at Emmet and Aidan, who were still giving each other a stare down. "Can you both do your male bonding time later? We really need to figure out what to do next."
"I will not be bonding with him." Aidan said plainly.
Looking disgusted, Emmet pulled Rose a little in front of him muttering, "That's for damn sure."
"Ugh, boys. They have to make everything sexual." Bella whispered as Alice giggled.
"Well Kagome, I definitely didn't expect my reunion with you to be like this." Kouga laughed.
Aidan pulled Kagome close and muttered, "Yea, me neither."
"Oh?" She asked.
"Yea, you had a lot less clothes on." He was waiting to hear her yell but was surprised when she squeezed the hand on her hip and jokingly said, "The day isn't over yet."
Aidan and Kouga's mouths dropped.
"Eww," The twins whispered to each other.
"Damn Kagome, keep it in your pants." Kouga said sarcastically.
"What? I was just kidding!" She rolled her eyes. "I traveled with Miroku for years; you think nothing would rub off?"
"Is that all you got from him?" Kouga asked mischievously.
"Eww," She said with a shudder.
Colleen interrupted everyone. "Now that we know Kagome is a pervert, can we continue?"
Kagome whispered to Aidan, "I was just joking!"
"Maybe a few of us can go with you to see if we can catch any scent trails." Neil glanced at the sky and continued to say, "We should go now before the rain hits us…who wants to go?"
Emmet, Jasper, Alice and Carlisle went with Neil and Kouga to check out Kouga's land. Edward was going to take Bella home. She told her dad that she would be home for dinner since he missed out on lunch with her. Kagome gave her a hug before she left. "It was nice meeting you Bella. Us humans got to stick together eh?"
Bella smiled. "Same here. I'll probably see you tomorrow." Edward led her to his car.
Esme grabbed everyone's attention. "Why don't we all wait for their return inside the house?"
Kagome and Aidan were in the back of the group with the twins. Timothy was holding onto Kagome's hand asking her a million different questions while Chris was asking Aidan if he was going to be fighting Emmet and Kouga.
"If you fight one of them Aidan, will you let me and Tim watch?" Chris looked at him expectantly. Before Aidan could respond, Chris kept talking. "How are we supposed to learn if we can't watch? Mom never lets us do anything. You know Billy, back at home? He's two years younger then us, and his dad lets him fight with a sword. A sword! So unfair!" He pouted hoping to get some sympathy from his older brother.
Aidan was trying not to laugh. He picked up his pouting brother and put him on his shoulders.
Aidan told him, "I'll talk to mom for you ok? Maybe you should try acting more mature so mom doesn't treat you like little kids." Aidan jumped a little to make sure he was listening. "And forget about Billy- he's an annoying twerp. I bet his dad is just hoping someone stabs him in a fight."
"Aidan! I can't believe you said that!" Kagome looked shocked. Chris and Tim were giggling. Tim tugged on Kagome's hand to get her attention. "Billy really isn't that nice Kagome."
"Just because he isn't nice, doesn't mean you should be mean back…and I'm sure his dad doesn't really want him dead." Kagome finished uncertainly.
Aidan said seriously, "Kagome, vampires are different from humans. Some of us have higher instincts then others…so some have the mentality of survival of the fittest. If your child isn't strong enough, they don't deserve to live."
Jaw dropped, Kagome whispered, "That's horrible. I would never do that, even when I become a vampire. I know I'll love all my children." She leveled him with a glare. "You better too."
Before Aidan could defend himself, Chris interrupted excitedly, "Do you think you guys could have some kids soon? I bet your kids will still have your spiritual powers and they could zap stupid Billy in the face."
Tim looked at his brother like he was stupid. "It doesn't work like that Chris. They would be small for a while before their growth spurt."
Chris jumped down from Aidan's shoulders, startling Kagome. Chris yelled, "Fine, they could just sit there and then zap Billy from the ground!"
"Freakin' vampire kids." She muttered with a hand over her heart, startled from how quick Chris jumped to the ground.
Aidan grabbed her hand. "And how many 'freakin' vampire kids' do you want to have?"
Kagome blushed. "Hmm, well I always wanted a big family, what about you?" She asked as they entered the front door of the Cullen home.
With a thoughtful look on his face he responded, "I never really thought about kids really…the only thing on mind for five hundred years, was getting you back and starting our life together."
Kagome's eyes started to water as she kissed him.
"Don't cry Kagome." Aidan begged, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm not crying," She blubbered.
Esme took Kagome's coat- which Aidan gave her earlier that day- and hung it up for her. "Kagome, why don't you got take a shower?" Esme asked her kindly. "You've had a long day."
"That would be great Esme! I have an extra set of clothes in my bag…that I left outside." Kagome pouted. She needed to go shopping. Since she only brought a few things with her to America.
"I'll go get it and leave it outside the door ok?" He leaned in and kissed her forehead. He sniffed louder then he needed to and said with mock horror, "Go shower immediately, you smell naaaassstyyy." He jumped out of the way of her flying fist.
Hand on hip, Kagome huffed, "I fought off two volturi and played a game of tag, so sorrrrrry that I got a little sweaty."
"I forgive you!" He yelled and ran away.
Kagome looked at the smiling Esme, who never had to deal with sweaty days, "Do I really smell?"
"Of course not dear," Esme told her politely. "You use any of the soaps and shampoos you want. The towels are in the closet. Just bring me your dirty clothes down stairs with you and I'll wash them. I haven't washed clothes in years!" Esme didn't notice Kagome looking at her strangely.
As Esme entered the kitchen, where everyone was sitting, Aidan ran up the stairs quickly, dropping the bag off at the bathroom door. He leaned against the wall and knocked on the door. Kagome opened the door, still dressed, and smiled in thanks, taking the bag from the ground. "Thanks Aidan." She said with a quick kiss.
He touched her cheek gently, "We need some alone time later Stinky, I don't like having to share my time with you, with everyone."
"You're being a little possessive Dracula. We are together again, and will be forever."
"It's in my nature to be, Stinky." He pushed her gently back into the bathroom. "Now go get naked, and try not to think of me." He winked at her, laughing at her red face.
He walked back into the kitchen to catch Esme asking his mother, "I would really love for you and your family to stay with us; we have plenty of room. It makes more sense for us to all be together."
Laura and Colleen looked at each other uncertainly. Esme added, "Please say yes. It would be so lovely having children around." Said children were building a fort with all the books in the house…there were a lot of books.
Laura smiled kindly. "It would be nice for us to all be together in case something happened. I'm sure our mates won't mind."
"Excellent," Esme looked at them uncertainly. "We don't sleep, as I'm sure you know, but do you all need sleep? I wasn't sure with us being slightly different."
Colleen laughed lightly. "I understand, don't worry about setting up bedrooms for us all. We also don't need to sleep, but we do mediate often to keep our blood lust down. Our children do need to nap every once in awhile, but don't worry about them, they are happy napping on the grass." She waved her hand in Aidan's direction. "Aidan was the same way, always happy to be outside, must be a boy thing."
"I know my girls loved to be inside doing their hair and not getting dirty." Laura commented casually.
"Speaking of children," Aidan interrupted. "The twins tell me that Billy is allowed to fight with a sword?"
"That boy is lucky his mother is alive, I swear his father wants him dead." Colleen shook her head disapprovingly.
"That's horrible!" Esme shouted.
Not fazed by her emotions, Colleen told her matter-of-factly, "We're vampires. We don't think like humans."
"We aren't humans." Rosalie stated with a high and mighty tone.
"But you wish you were." Aidan snapped back. Rose looked a little shocked, but tried to hide it.
Colleen spoke loudly, to bring the attention away from Rosalie. "No, you aren't humans now, but you were. You may be volturi now, but you probably still remember what it was like to think like a human."
"So back to the main point," Aidan said bordely. "I think you should let the twins practice with swords too. They need to learn how to defend them selves." Colleen gave him a skeptical look as she turned her attention to her twins. They stopped building to listen in. Noticing they were caught they ran to their mother on each side, begging silently to be allowed to play with swords.
Putting her hand to her forehead she muttered, "Why couldn't I have cute girls?" With a stronger voice she said, "If it's ok with your father, it's ok with me. Now before you celebrate," The twins dropped their arms from their air pumping motion and listened to their mother. "You need to realize that if you learn to fight with a sword, you are no longer children. That means there will be no whining anymore and you will need to be running more to stay fit. I'm sure your brother will love to run with you." She looked at Aidan sarcastically.
"Thanks mom!" The twins shouted in unison as they hugged her. They high-fived Aidan and then went back to building their fort.
Around this time Edward came back and sat around the island in the kitchen. "Oh Edward, I didn't expect you back so soon. You aren't staying at Bella's?" Esme asked.
"Hm, Charlie wanted a boyfriend free dinner. He thought I wouldn't mind, since I seem to never eat. I'll go back to Bella's when Charlie's in bed anyway." He said flippantly.
Esme was going to say something else when Colleen's eyes flashed white briefly.
"Hmm…it seems that Kouga and everyone found some information…if they stop for the night and head back, they'll be back in ten minutes. If they decide to track for a little longer…they'll run into trouble and be back in an hour." Colleen informed everyone distractedly.
Scratching his head with little concern, Aidan asked, "How many will they run into?"
"Only three crazy volturi, nothing we need to worry over dear." Colleen said waving her hand.
Edward looked unconvinced, so Aidan teased in a baby voice, "Maybe you should be worried…I mean we had to come here and save everyone from the lover's feud and all. You all probably can't find your way out of a paper bag."
Jasper spoke up wearing a grin, "Oh we know how to fight just fine. Maybe we should be worried about you old vampires, you might be getting rusty after all."
"Why don't we have some spars tomorrow morning…oh wait, tomorrow's Monday." Aidan said smiling broadly. "You have schooooool tomorrow."
"Don't worry old man, we can fight when we get back…actually, why don't you meet us at school and we can go from there to our hunting grounds. That way we won't have to worry about people seeing us fight."
"Old Man," Aidan said agitated. He wasn't a vain vampire, but he didn't want to be called old.
"Calm down son. You're lucky Emmet isn't here to see you getting upset at being called old." Colleen spoke to her son in another language. "He would tease you with it constantly. Why don't you take the boys hunting for rabbit? Kagome will enjoy that I'm sure."
Aidan reigned in his temper; he really didn't need to be getting upset about something stupid. He told Edward, "We can meet you at your school; we'll walk there, so we'll need to get a ride from you guys." Aidan then looked at Esme. "Do you mind if I use you stove to cook Kagome and the boys some rabbit?"
Esme sat up straighter. "Of course dear, but I'm sorry to say we don't have any here."
"My brothers and I are going to go hunting." He glanced at the excited twins who over heard the conversation. "Come on, you're men now, let's hunt."
"Do we get to cut them with swords Aidan?" Chris asked as they were walking out.
Tim hit his arm saying quickly, "You don't cut rabbits with swords stupid."
Colleen looked at Esme with her hand under her chin. "Are you sure you're ok with us being here?"
X
X
Kagome came down stairs with her dirty clothes in her arms. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a green long sleeved shirt. Esme saw her and happily took her clothes and left with a smile on her face.
"I've never seen anyone that happy to do laundry." Kagome said in awe.
Edward said, "Alice has us only wearing our clothes once. So since we are constantly getting new clothes, we never have laundry to do."
"Oh, well I will gladly let her do mine when ever she wants." Kagome smiled.
"I would love to Kagome!" Esme said from behind her, causing Kagome to jump.
Hand over her heart she muttered, "Damn, I'll never get used to that."
"Sorry dear." Esme said as she patted her shoulder.
"No, it's ok. Hey, where's Aidan? I could feel him getting angry."
Colleen told her, "He took the boys hunting, so I hope you hungry for rabbit."
Rubbing her belly she responded, "That sounds yummy."
Jasper asked curiously, "How did you feel his emotions? Do you have that gift like me?"
"Ooo you can feel emotions? That must get annoying, but no I don't have that as a gift. Aidan gave me a courting mark that lets me feel his emotions when he's near. We need to be close and I can tell he isn't close now because I can hardly feel him."
Jasper grinned, "Yea, it can be daunting at times to feel other's emotions, but I can change them."
Laura told Kagome softly, "If you expand your aura Kagome, you should be able to locate him easily."
"That's true." Kagome said and she did just that. She expanded her aura and sent it out, letting it wash over everyone around her; it surprised the Cullens on how strong and pure it felt. "Yup, I found him. Oh, I can feel the others far away. I think they're in a fight!" Kagome got nervous, "We should go help…well I can't run that fast to reach them time but maybe you all could?"
Colleen waved her hand dismissively, "Don't worry, they'll be fine. Since they're fighting, they'll probably be back later." Kagome just nodded her head.
"Kagome," Edward said getting her attention, "Tomorrow Aidan will be taking you to our school. We're going to have some mock fights to test each other's limits."
"Ooo, that sounds like fun. Will we fight just hand to hand?" Kagome asked eyes lit with excitement.
Jasper smiled at her in disbelief. "I was sure you wouldn't want to fight. You are not like other human girls."
"Well that should be obvious," Kagome responded smoothly. "I'm a time traveling miko who's dating a vampire."
Everyone laughed lightly as Jasper said back, "That's true. Well I can't wait to see your fighting prowess."
"No I'm nothing to get excited over really. Though I would like to see how Aidan fights now." She glanced out the window. "Speaking of Aidan, why's he outside?"
Colleen told her, "He took the boys out hunting for you. This is maybe their third time hunting, so they were really excited."
Laura said quietly, "They'll probably scare the rabbits away with their amazing stealth tactics."
"What?" Kagome asked confused.
"They fight over who will do the killing and end up scaring their prey away." Laura informed.
"Aww I wish I could see them hunt, they're probably really cute." Esme thought aloud.
"Esme, do you think I could get a bowl to bring the meat back inside?" Kagome asked the day dreaming vampire, volturi, whatever.
"Of course dear," Esme went and grabbed a rarely used bowl and handed it to Kagome. As Kagome walked away, Jasper yelled to her, "Do you want a knife to cut up the rabbit?" He pointed to the block with knives sitting by the kitchen sink.
Kagome shook her head 'no' as she pulled a knife out of no where. "I'm good, thanks." She left to find her hunting vampire.
"Where was she keeping that knife?" Jasper asked.
Colleen spoke fondly of Kagome. "She may down play her abilities, but she can fight rather well." Laura touched her arm to get her attention. They spoke quietly in another language, so no one knew what they were talking about.
Colleen looked at Jasper and said, "We think now would be a good time for you to practice meditating; this will lower your blood lust. Why don't we go out and find a spot away from Kagome to meditate. It must be annoying being around humans almost every day."
"It does get hard at times and if this meditation will work…my life will become much easier." Jasper said with slight emotion.
X
X
Kagome found her boys cleaning offfour rabbits. "Wow! You guys caught four rabbits, that's great!" She said with a lot of enthusiasm. She missed Aidan shaking his head at her.
"I caught them all Kagome!" Chris declared. He winced when Tim punched his arm.
"Stop saying that!" Tim growled. "You make it sound like I didn't help at all!"
"Boys…" Aidan started to say.
"I'm telling the truth. I caught them." Chris said sounding like he was far more superior then his twin.
Tim growled quietly but his face was the picture of calm when he looked at Kagome. He told her pleasantly, "Chris is right, Kagome," Causing Chris to smile and nod his head, "Chris sucks at hunting, so I had to track all the rabbits and show him where they we-" Chris tackled his brother to the ground.
Kagome gasped at the speed that they were wrestling with each other. She looked to see what Aidan would do and noticed that his eyes were closed and looked like he was doing a breathing exercise to stay clam.
"Boys…" He started to say- but was they weren't paying attention- being too focused on throwing insults at each other as they fought.
Kagome saw Aidan open his now white eyes as he looked at his brothers. They flew apart from each other like someone pulled them back from their shirts. Kagome's jaw dropped. She never asked what Aidan could do as a vampire.
"I can see why my parents waited so long to have more kids after me." Aidan mumbled.
The twins were twitching slightly as they sulked over to Aidan and started to whine in another language. Whatever Aidan said back shut them up quick.
"Um, translation please?" She asked hesitantly.
"They don't like when I do that to them." He gave his brothers a scathing look. "But they weren't listening to me and needed to be punished."
"And what exactly did you do?" Kagome asked bewildered.
Aidan walked over to her and rubbed her cheek softly. "I'm sorry if I scared you my little miko. We haven't had time to ourselves to just talk yet. Well, after I matured I gained extra powers. I'm able to go into someone's mind and change what they were thinking or make them do something. I was able to make the boys want to jump away from each other but I let them know that I did it. So this leaves them feeling weird- hence them twitching like addicts." Both of them looked at the twitchy twins.
"So…" Kagome looked up at Aidan. "Can you get into my head?"
Aidan leaned his forehead against hers. "I would never try Kagome. You're going to be my mate and I want you to always trust me."
Kagome hugged him tight. "I do trust you Aidan." She rubbed her face against his chest. "Do you think that my miko powers would prevent you?"
Aidan thought aloud, "I know that Edward can't hear what you're thinking, but he's not as strong as I am so that might be a factor." He wasn't gloating, just telling it like it was- with age came experience. "My dad can get into some small parts of your mind, like what you want to eat or what you wanted to do that day, but I'm not sure if he can look deeper."
"Hmm, well let's head back…I'm hungry."