--
InuYasha rushed to past the dark alley way, the smells of oil, decay and wood reaching his nostrils. He knew that Kagome and the children were in the old warehouse on the corner of the town square, because he knew that smell that was mingled with their scents, and with a burst of airdriline, he'd propelled himself out of the alley and into the road. Another two, dreadingly long blocks and he would be at said town square, but until then he had to keep running. He was surprised when he passed Ayame and Rin, sitting on the front porch of Ayame's house, sitting and drinking green tea and catching up the day's events.
One block to go, and he thought he spied what seemed to be Hojo with a curly brown haired girl he thought to be Ayumi and two small children. He nearly there, out of this dank alley, and right across the road was the warehouse he'd been searching for all this time. He felt his excitement awake, he was almost there! Kagome, Awaitenshi and that little brat Kenseiyasha, InuYasha would rescue them all shortly. And with a surprising blast of airdriline, he flew out of the alley and into the path of an oncoming car, going eighty or ninety miles an hour. InuYasha turned his head in surprise, the car's bright lights momentarily blinding him; he heard a honk and the screeching of tires, and knew no more.
"Are you all right!?"
"Someone call an ambulance!"
"Is he really alive?"
"There's no way!"
"He's opening his eyes!"
What had just happened? The last thing InuYasha had known was the car flying down the street at him, going close to eighty or ninety miles an hour. The hanyou groaned slightly and quietly as he tested his joints, jerking them slightly; when nothing appeared to be broken, InuYasha looked up groggily into a pair of emerald green eyes and the mop of bright orange hair. Shippo? The kitsune had changed in the past six years, he'd grown taller, broader shoulders had developed and of course, Shippo had obviously lost the schoolboy look that he'd had when they were back in high school.
"InuYasha?" Shippo asked, his eyes wide and unbelieving "Is that really you?"
"Of course it▓s me, who else would it be?" InuYasha snapped as he leapt to his feet, no time to waste, Naraku's henchmen could be plotting to burn down that warehouse as he wasted time here, chatting with Shippo and catching up on time... but he didn't have any time, at any moment, Naraku's lackeys could be doing what Naraku himself had been threatening to do since high school and part InuYasha and Kagome; forever... Suddenly he was flying again and he briefly wondered whether another car had hit him, but as he crashed against the dairy pallor▓s wall he realized that the pain's epicenter was at his right cheek. He felt someone grab the front of his t-shirt and slam him ever harder against said wall.
"THEN WHY HAVEN'T YOU GONE TO SEE KAGOME YET!" A blue eyed stranger yelled at him, furious at InuYasha's seemly lack of brains. "SHE'S THE ONE WHO MISSED YOU MOST AND YOU'RE GOING AROUND GETTING YOURSELF HIT BY CARS! WHERE IN THE HELL IS YOUR SENSE, INUYASHA!"
"WELL, FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I HAVE GONE TO SEE KAGOME!" InuYasha yelled right back. "AND I KNOW SHE MISSED ME! I DIDN'T MEAN TO GET HIT BY THE DAMN CAR! I STILL HAVE MY SENSE, KOUGA!"
People in the crowd were muttering, that man had just been hit by a car and then another man had attacked him, shouldn't they do something? Oh course not, it wasn't of their concern.
"You mean what little sense you graduated with," Kouga snarled, letting InuYasha down only slightly. "Where in the hell have you been for the past six years and why in the hell haven't you came back sooner!? Where are Sesshomaru and Miroku, I want to pound some sense into them too..." Kouga cracked his knuckles threateningly. He too, had changed in the period of six years, like Shippo he had lost the school boy look and Kouga seemed to have mellowed. In high school, if InuYasha had pulled that kind of stunt he'd still be pounding the shit out of him and that punch, however hard it might've been, was nothing compared to what Kouga could've done.
Then InuYasha's eyes saw the old ware house, that place was full of old cloth and textiles, the wood had dried so it would easily succumb to flames... the place was a giant cinder box, with Kagome inside. He didn't have time to be talking with Kouga and Shippo, he had to save Kagome and the children first.
"Look, Kouga, Shippo, I'd love to catch up, but," He said as he took off, towards the other side of the square. "But there's something I must do!" The words had barely left his mouth when Kouga and Shippo had caught up to him, and of course began to question him of said subject; until finally InuYasha found shelter in the so called cinder box warehouse. Kouga and Shippo didn't mean any harm, but Kagome and the twins were in danger and InuYasha didn't have anytime to elaborate. Glancing at his surroundings, InuYasha realized where he stood must've been an office, seeing as to get in, he'd crashed through a front window. "KAGOME!"
"INUYASHA!"
He'd definitely heard that, Kagome was alive and in here...somewhere.
"KAGOME, CAN YOU HEAR ME, I'M GOING TO COME AND GET YOU!" InuYasha yelled in relief. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"I'm on the fourth floor, in the fifth room, Awaitenshi and Kenseiyasha are with me." Kagome's voice sounded desperate. "Please, InuYasha, be careful."
"Don't worry, I'll have you out of here in no time." The hanyou said as he began to climb the rickety stairs. "Just keep talking so I can locate you."
"Okay." Kagome replied. "Uhm...Remember when we first met, you were driving the car and Sesshomaru was insulting you? Its funny how long ago, yet not that long ago, it was... you two looked like arrogant arse's even though you drove me to school..." Kagome's voice echoed around him, wrapping him up in a warm feeling. "Remember when we went to that beach party and acted like a couple of fools? You being an idoit with the guys and me an the girls chatting... that seemed like the only thing that mattered during high school..." she broke off with a sigh. He remembered all right, he remembered all of that and more.
Turn left at the top of the stairs of the second floor...go up the stairs again...
" How about Mayu, that little ghost, she gave me the Shikon no Tama and I got to see dad and Youkaino again... Naraku was a bloody coward, screaming for help as Mayu threw tables, chairs, stands, and piano at us...I was so scared, but you came through for me.." Kagome sighed. "It was about then when I realized how pointless our battles were...You know, Sesshomaru getting himself injured...now that I think of it, that happened an alful lot..."
Door number one... door number two...
."Remember the Truth or Dare episode?" Kagome laughed, her angelic chuckles vibrating in each fuzzy ear "How we teased Sesshomaru about revealing his feelings to Kinky and Sago having to make out with Miroku, then," Kagome was having a serious breathing problem because of her laughter ", how Kouga did the Bonanza Belly Dancer? Then, how you dared Kikyo to French kiss your brother!" Kagome was howling with laughter and InuYasha knew he must be getting close to where she was hidden. "And then we had seven minutes of heaven because of Rin..."
Third floor, stairs at the end of the hall... he was almost there...
"Remember our first kiss? How embarrassed you were?" Kagome laughed and InuYasha felt like smiling as he claimed the never ending stairs. "Then when Yetsu Kankuta kidnapped me, thinking I was Kikyo-chan? Then how he kidnapped Souta and it nearly killed Sesshomaru to get him back? Then," her voice trembled slightly ", when you left for a while and took the blasted Shikon no Tama with you? I thought you had left forever until you stopped Naraku dead in his tracks? And...got yourself hurt? I was so worried and you were being an arrogant arse at the time..."
The smell of smoke wafted past InuYasha's nose and the hanyou froze before glancing behind him. Fire, it seems like one of Naraku's lackeys had set fire to the place. InuYasha's head began to spin, but he slapped himself and took off again, scolding himself. "Kagome is in even greater danger than before and here I am freaking out over a little bit of fire... it▓s like a spark in a haystack." For some reason, that did not cheer him up, on the contrary, it worried him even more.
"And then how we beat Naraku? And... hey, InuYasha, why do you still have the necklace on, I thought I took it off you?"
"Well," InuYasha said, opening up the fifth door on the fourth floor. "It was in my bag when I got to boot camp, so, as a memento of you, I slipped it back on."
"InuYasha!" Kagome exclaimed, leaping at him and wrapping her arms around his middle, nuzzling her face into his chest. "You came, I knew you'd come for me!" InuYasha held her close, before looking at Awaitenshi and Kenseiyasha, who both were chained to a metal desk that was imprinted into the floor. Kagome's leg was chained to it as well and InuYasha, smelling the smoke, knew that he'd reluctantly have to cut the reunion short. But how would he do that? Kagome and the twins were chained to a desk that was attached to the floor and he didn't have a key.
Until a snide voice in his head, that sounded like Sesshomaru, told him to just rip the desk out of the floor. Doing that as easily as the thought had entered his head, InuYasha ripped the desk out of the floor, broke the chains and grabbed the children, nodded for Kagome to hold onto his back, before turning to face the window when suddenly a flaming rafter landed right in front of them, cutting off their only escape way. InuYasha swore quite fluently and violently, causing Kagome to hit him firmly on the back of his head, reprimanding him. He gave her a pathetic look that was a cross between 'we're in a life and death situation/why did you do that'?
She gave him a look that said 'no swearing in front of the children'.
InuYasha held his breath, then rocking on the back of his heels, took off before leaping over the flaming rafter and out the window, clutching a screaming Kagome, Kenseiyasha, and Awaitenshi to him as he fell/flew forty feet to the ground, the air whooshing past him, giving him a gentle breeze. He heard Awaitenshi and Kenseiyasha start laughing, yelling "wheeee" before their father landed with a soft 'thump' beside a startled Shippo and Kouga.
"InuYasha, aren't you a little old to be playing with fire?" Kouga asked smugly as InuYasha threw him a dirty look. Shippo sighed in relief as Kagome climbed off InuYasha's back. This was just like the good old days; except for the fact Awaitenshi and Kenseiyasha hadn't been born yet.
Neither had Rikon, Kai, Ejiki, Fubuki, and Waitaro, Kouga and Ayame's childeren. Or Shinsei, Shippo's daughter. To think so much could happen in a small period of six years, like Kouga's soon-to-be-six childeren, as Ayame was pregnant again as was Rin. "Shut it, wolf," InuYasha snapped, setting Awaitenshi and Kenseiyasha down with their mother.
"InuYasha!" Kagome glared pointedly at her mate. "Sorry Kouga, anyways, how's Ayame?"
"Moody and violent, like all pregnant women." Kouga sighed. "With the exception of Rin, of course."
"Rin?" Kagome asked. "Shippo, is Rin...?"
"Yup, a boy."
"Congrats!" Kagome beamed.
"Hey," InuYasha suddenly barked. "You over there, come out."
Suddenly, a medium sized, light haired man with a serious hygiene issue, that InuYasha recognized slumped forward, holding a knife.
"No no, I wouldn't do that in a public place." InuYasha warned, walking towards the offender. "That▓s a really bad idea..."
The man pulled back his knife before swinging it foreword brutally, InuYasha jumped up before spinning in midair and stuck out his left foot, aimed for the back of the offender's neck. However, the offender had ducked, grabbing Awaitenshi before feeling the wrath of her twin, Kenseiyasha's, claws. The offender howled, before pulling back, blood in his eyes. InuYasha had landed on the ball of his left foot, pulled up his right leg before delivering a hard kick in the man's back. The light haired offender nearly dropped his knife, which cost him as InuYasha cracked his knuckles before delivering a hard punch to the back of the offender▓s neck.
'The Offender' or Shishimi dropped down to the floor, unconscious.
"InuYasha!" Shippo exclaimed "Isn't that Shishimi, one of Naraku's lackeys, the one that went to jail!?" The kitsune suddenly had a spark of understanding. "Don't tell me Naraku's behind all of this!"
Kouga's eyes widened, before glancing at InuYasha. "Is that true!?"
It was well known that Kouga and Shippo detested Naraku just about as much as InuYasha, Sesshomaru, and Miroku did. Naraku had raped Kalie, Kouga's younger sister and had shot Kouga and Ayame in the past. Shippo detested Naraku for everything he'd done to him and his friends; which was to say quite a bit.
"He was behind all of this," InuYasha said grimly. "Sesshomaru killed him," then, he added grumpily, "I still think I should've got to kill him!"
"Sesshomaru's back too?" Kouga asked in surprise.
"Yup, so is Miroku."
"Bet Sango was thrilled to get a chance to try to kill him." Shippo smirked in amusement, knowing full well how upset Sango had been at Miroku's disappearance.
"I don't know, we only got back last night." InuYasha explained with a frown. "During the festival in fact..." The hanyou branched off, telling his side of the story before Kagome interrupted, telling Kouga and Shippo her side. Then InuYasha, after Kagome had explained how she was kidnapped ("I went to check on the childeren at five, and suddenly someone had clapped a morphine rag to my mouth and then all was black; when I came to, the childeren and I were where InuYasha found us.") at last, InuYasha explained how Naraku was killed and how he tracked Kagome.
"Wow," Kouga said as InuYasha finished his story. "Looks like you've been busy for the past six years after all. Here I thought you were running away from your responsibility as a parent."
"Shut if, wolf." InuYasha snapped, looking mildly pleased with himself.
"Anyways, InuYasha," Kagome asked. "If Miroku's went after Sango and Sesshomaru after Kikyo, shouldn't one of them be calling us by now." Her tone was clearly worried, and InuYasha felt a pang of guilt, he hadn't cared what happened to the others as long as he had got to Kagome and the childeren in time. He made himself promise to somehow make it up to Miroku, Sango, his brother, and Kikyo.
Suddenly, as if Kagome had cued it by her voice, his cell began to vibrate.
InuYasha picked it up, briefly glancing at the number on the red cell phone▓s speed dial before pushing the green button.
It was Miroku.
"InuYasha, you finally picked up!" There was urgency in Miroku's voice that made InuYasha slightly worry.
"Yeah, I just got out of a flaming building, sorry bout not picking up the phone, I was baking." InuYasha replied, covering up his worry with his sarcasm. At Kagome's, Kouga's and Shippo's questioning looks, he mouthed 'Miroku'; and at once the others nodded, before getting back to a different conversation about Ayame and Rin.
"Har, har, har." Miroku said, his voice still troubled. "Have you got Kagome and the twins back?"
"Yup, what about you and the triplets?" InuYasha asked.
"We're fine."
"No word from Sesshomaru yet?" InuYasha asked, rummaging through his pocket for his brothers new cell phone number. "Knowing that idoit, he probably got himself killed." He'd meant it as a joke, Sesshomaru was too much of an idoit to actually die.
"Actually..." Miroku began; InuYasha did not like the tone of his voice.
Then, before InuYasha could speak, he'd felt a small tug of his jeans, he briefly took his attention away from his cell phone to the pair of golden eyes staring challengingly up at him. Kenseiyasha always held a challenge in his gaze, but never yet had he looked so defeated.
"...well, you know..." Kenseiyasha muttered resignly. "...you're not so bad, you're incredibly tough..." the youkai looked away, as if embarrassed. "...for a half-demon...I am sorry for the things I said..." it seemed that Kenseiyasha was forcing these words out. "...father." Then, before InuYasha could say or do anything, his child had turned around and flounced back to his twin, who looked at him curiously even though he refused to answer her bombarding questions. Next to them was their mother, chatting happily with Kouga and Shippo, this time about Rikon and Shinsei's grades in Kagome's kindergarten class ("She's doing fine, she's an alful fast learner-" "Shinsei needs to practice her katakana 'ku' and her hiragana 'ko', but otherwise she's fine-").
"InuYasha? InuYasha?" Miroku's voice from the cell echoed.
"Yeah," InuYasha replied, a small smile on his face and slightly more chipper than he'd been a minute ago. "What is it?"
"Its about your brother..." Miroku said slowly.
"What do you mean?" InuYasha asked, his momentary happiness fading off his face and the smile turned into something of a worried frown.
"Kikyo called minutes ago...and..."
"And what?" InuYasha snapped, his worry increasing. There was no way Sesshomaru really could be dead...right?
"I don't know, she was frantic and it sounded like..."
"Like what!?" InuYasha snapped.
"Well, I think..." Miroku began slowly.
"You think what!?"
Why couldn't Miroku just come out and say it!? It was driving InuYasha nuts. He had to know what happened! Through all of his life, he'd only known one other time where he'd been this worried about his older brother. And that▓s when Yetsu Kankuta had kidnapped Souta and that idoit brother of his had engaged Yetsu Kankuta in a fist fight on top of the abductors car, before said car had pivoted over a cliff. With Sesshomaru and Yetsu fighting on top of it. InuYasha had been sure Sesshomaru had bit the dust until he'd found his brother, under twisted metal with that crazy pulse of his beating away, however slowly and faintly it might've been.
Hah, he'd found Sesshomaru's new cell phone number!
How excessively random was that?
"Well, InuYasha...ouch! Saiaiko!" Miroku yelped as InuYasha presumed he'd been glomped by his child.
InuYasha coughed, which presumably held a hidden snigger.
"Shut it, hey, Sango!" Miroku called from his cell, and InuYasha heard Sango say something and Miroku said something that sounded like, "chain up the puppies!"
InuYasha burst out in laughter, earning some startled looks from Kagome, Kouga and Shippo. Going red, InuYasha coughed and reassumed his normal cold facade.
"Sorry, anyways, what is it Miroku, you know, about my brother." the hanyou said, still red in the face.
"Well, InuYasha..." Miroku muttered. "I think he's dead."
--
A/N: Phew, long time no see, anyways, the next, and final chapter should be within the month.
