I finally managed to update. Sorry for the long wait but I've been very busy with summer classes and now my fall semester has just started. This is not going to be an easy semester either. I'll do my best to get the updates to you asap.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
Ch. 4: Collecting a Debt
Naomi led Kagome to a clearing several hours away from Inuyasha's camp. It was time to make a call. She pulled out the necklace Sesshoumaru had given her and whispered his name under her breath. There hadn't been time to tell Kagome what she had in mind, so it was best if she did before the miko realized who was coming. Naomi opened her eyes and looked over at Kagome.
"Now will you tell me what's going on?" Kagome asked. Shippo nodded in agreement.
Naomi nodded. They'd have time while they waited on him to get there. "I'm calling in a favor and teaching Inuyasha a lesson."
Kagome tilted her head. "What lesson?"
"That there are some things he can't change, such as the past." Naomi looked up at the moon and her eyes grew distant. "Sometimes, you can only accept the way things are and learn to live with it. Inuyasha never caught on to this and it frequently makes him miserable."
"Well, why are we leaving? Shouldn't you stay here to teach him?" Kagome asked her in confusion.
"No. Some lessons are learned the hard way. If I take something from him, something important that he can't have back until he lets go of something else, then maybe he'll see that the future holds more weight than the past." Naomi turned her attention back to Kagome. "If I make Inuyasha let Kikyo go, he might finally learn to let go of his past. To learn from where he'd been rather than dwell on it."
"So you're taking me away," Kagome stated with some disbelief. "That won't help. He cares about Kikyo more than he does me."
"Then this will change nothing for him and help you," Naomi replied with a shrug in her voice.
"How will this help, Momma?" Shippo asked her curiously. Kagome wanted to know the same thing.
"It'll give you space from him and still take care of your responsibility to the jewel. Time to think and decide what you want to do if he truly does love Kikyo." Naomi gave a small humorless smile. "You can't put your life on hold after all, Kagome. Eventually, if Inuyasha doesn't change, you'll have to let him go and move on." The hanyou looked up at the sky and said almost to herself. "One of you will be letting go of something. I hope it will be Inuyasha letting go of his guilt for his past."
Kagome looked down at the ground as she admitted that Naomi was right. If Inuyasha chose to keep holding onto Kikyo then Kagome couldn't hold on to him anymore. Maybe going along with Naomi was just what she needed. She'd get a definite answer about Inuyasha's feelings one way or another. Then she could decide what to do next.
She nodded. "Alright, Naomi. Let's do this your way."
"I intended to," the hanyou replied with a warm smile. "As you've noticed, I tend to do exactly what I want regardless of anything or anyone else."
"Who did you call by the way?" Kagome asked.
Before Naomi could answer, a cold voice said, "What do you want, Hanyou?"
Kagome let out a small squeak and her eyes widened as she looked over Naomi's shoulder. The wolf hanyou turned slowly with a wry smile as she asked, "Do you have to just pop out of nowhere, Lord Sesshoumaru? You could give someone a heart attack doing that."
He merely watched her with annoyance.
"Umm, Naomi, are you sure about this part of your plan?" Kagome asked her friend in a shaky voice. "Sesshoumaru doesn't exactly like us."
Naomi nodded with a grin. "Yes. I'm sure." Her eyes moved back to Sesshoumaru. "Lord Sesshoumaru owes me a debt."
He sighed in resignation. Sesshoumaru had known that he would hear from the hanyou again the moment he'd admitted to owing her. What would she ask for? Money? Power? Any of the other things that others wanted from him? He watched her and waited for what he believed was inevitably going to be a greedy and selfish request.
"I was hoping you wouldn't mind some company for a few weeks," Naomi told him with a serious face. "Kagome needs some time away from Inuyasha and I can't protect her alone. At least not while she's carrying jewel shards with her. I'm good but not that good."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Of all the things you could ask for, you want protection?"
She shook her head with a grin. "I want protection for Kagome. I can take care of myself."
He considered the hanyou for a moment. It wasn't like he could refuse her simple request. He owed her for saving Rin from Naraku, and the Lord of the West always repaid his debts when possible. Still, of all the things she could ask for, she chose something so simple. It was a bit of a shock to know that someone out there wasn't thinking of themselves all the time.
"As you wish," he agreed. Sesshoumaru almost asked why she wanted this but chose not to. That would give her too much importance. The last thing he wanted was to admit that he was at all curious about this wolf hanyou.
Kagome released the breath she'd been holding in relief. He hadn't killed them...yet. The miko could only hope that Naomi knew what she was doing. She looked at Sesshoumaru and had to wonder if maybe Naomi was a little on the crazy side.
Naomi smiled. "Thank you, my lord."
He turned and began walking back towards his camp. Naomi and Kagome, who was still carrying Shippo, followed him silently. The fox kit looked up at Kagome and knew that Naomi was right. His momma needed to get away from Inuyasha for a while. That way the dog hanyou would finally realize just how special Kagome was and treat her right. Then maybe his momma would be happy. That's all he wanted. Well, there was one other thing... "Umm, Naomi?"
The wolf hanyou glanced over her shoulder at Shippo with a smile. "What is it?"
"Can you teach me to fight? I mean basics. I've never learned any and I want to." Shippo looked down at the ground, a little nervous now. "You said you taught Inuyasha that so I hoped you could teach me."
"Of course, Shippo."
The fox kit looked up at her with a big smile. "Really?"
She nodded with amusement in her eyes. "Really."
Sesshoumaru looked at the hanyou with surprise in his eyes, even if it didn't show anywhere else. "You taught Inuyasha?"
Naomi looked up at him and sighed. "Yes and no. I was teaching him when he got it into his head that he knew it all and no longer needed training." The hanyou smiled a little. "Just to answer all the questions you're not going to ask, my lord. I raised Inuyasha after his mother's death. A little over a hundred years ago, he left to see the world thinking he was ready, despite me telling him he wasn't. You know the rest."
Yes, he knew the rest. His little brother had then fallen in love with a priestess named Kikyo which led to him being pinned to a tree for fifty years. This explained how Naomi could order Inuyasha around. Sesshoumaru knew the kind of power someone had when they'd raised you. To this day, his father was the only one who could ever order him around. Which translated to no one could, since his father was dead.
It still left him with only one question. Why did she raise Inuyasha? Did she know Izayoi? He almost asked. The questions were the on the tip of his tongue, but he looked away from her. No. He would not give her any importance. Not even curiosity. She was a hanyou, therefore was worth nothing. Some voice in his head reminded him that she was now traveling with him which meant she had worth. Sesshoumaru not only ignored that little voice, he shoved into a box which he then threw into some deep dark part of his mind to be forgotten.
The demon lord led them to the clearing where he'd left Rin. The little girl saw Naomi and ran forward shouting the hanyou's name. Naomi grinned and knelt down, catching Rin with ease. Rin began chattering with excitement as she saw that Kagome was there too. She was even happier when she met Shippo since the demon was a child just like she was. The two kids became friends almost instantly.
"Well, at least she's thrilled," Kagome said with a soft smile.
Naomi nodded in agreement. "They're both happy. Kids are easy to please." She turned her attention to Sesshoumaru. "So what now, my lord?"
Before he could answer, Shippo asked, "Why do you call him 'Lord', Naomi? Even Kagome doesn't do that and she's very polite."
"You didn't notice where my compound was did you?" Naomi asked with a slight shake of her head. Of course they didn't. Inuyasha had pushed them to the point of exhaustion. When they'd gotten to her compound, they'd been too tired to notice anything. "In the western lands. In fact, the entire mountain I live on is in Lord Sesshoumaru's lands."
Sesshoumaru glanced at her. There was only a few mountains that were entirely in his lands. Of those, only one of them had a compound on it. He'd never gone there personally because there was never any trouble in that area. Now that he knew who lived there, he was willing to bet she was the reason the area was so peaceful. He said nothing and began walking.
Naomi ushered Kagome and the children after him. The wolf hanyou kept quiet for the most part as they walked. Silence didn't really bother her all that much, since she'd lived alone for the last hundred years. One got used to silence after a while. In fact, she'd almost missed it during the last few weeks she'd spent with Inuyasha and his gang. They were a loud and crazy group. Naomi smiled a little. Still, they were a good group of kids.
The children chattered around them, playing and talking about their different experiences. Naomi sighed in contentment. Okay, so maybe she didn't miss silence so much. She'd missed the sounds children made. Inuyasha hadn't been this young in quite some time and she'd almost forgotten how cute he had been as a pup. She knew Sesshoumaru was keeping an eye on her. How long, she wondered, before he gave in to the urge to ask her questions? It would happen eventually. Sesshoumaru wasn't one to deny himself for long, even for pride.
As the excitement began to wear off, Shippo and Rin started yawning. It still wasn't quite morning and their sleep had been interrupted. When Rin stumbled, Naomi scooped her up. Rin mumbled something about not being sleeping seconds before falling asleep in the hanyou's arms. Naomi smiled in amusement. All children seemed to say that right before going to sleep.
Kagome lifted Shippo, who feel asleep before he had time to complain. The miko examined Naomi carefully before saying, "Why aren't you mated?"
Naomi looked at Kagome in surprise. "What?"
"Why aren't you mated?" Kagome repeated. Her eyes held the same confusion as her tone. "You're not exactly bad looking, you're strong and smart, you obviously want a family. So why don't you have one?"
The hanyou looked at the little girl she held in her arms. "Because I'm a hanyou."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Hanyous don't belong anywhere. You must have noticed it while traveling with Inuyasha." Naomi looked up to meet Kagome's eyes. "Humans fear us because of our demon abilities, and demons shun us because of our human blood. Who would take a hanyou as a mate?" When Kagome's eyes filled with sadness, Naomi shook her head. "Don't be sad, Kagome. Life isn't all bad."
"But you really want that family. I can see it," Kagome objected.
Naomi's tone was philosophical. "We don't always get what we want."
"This is what Inuyasha and you were talking about when you first found Rin, isn't it?" Kagome asked. She'd thought it had been strange when Naomi made a comment about accepting her life out of the blue like that. Now she understood.
"When I get the yen to spend time with children, I just go to one of the villages near my compound. They're usually happy to see me since I protect them from demons." Naomi smiled. "It helps that I've watched most of them grow up and even seen their parents grow up."
"How long have you lived on the compound?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Naomi thought about it. "Nearly all my life. I was maybe ten years old when I began living there, so it would have had to be about three hundred and ninety years now."
"You don't look that old," the miko commented in surprise.
"Most demons don't look their real age." The hanyou grinned. "Inuyasha is two hundred."
"What?" Kagome glared. "Then why does he have the maturity of a teenage human."
Naomi laughed. "Because he is a teenager by our standards."
"Oh..." Kagome thought about that for a moment then frowned. "Our aging difference could be a problem."
"Not really," Naomi disagreed with a shrug. "There are ways to extend your life to match his if you wish. Actually, a mating ritual would do that."
Sesshoumaru listened to the conversation as they walked. The hanyou seemed to be rather philosophical with her outlook on life. He'd known many, demons and humans, who couldn't be that accepting of life. It was a refreshing change to meet someone who didn't complain about the problems in their life...What was he thinking? He glared at nothing in particular. It was beneath him to give any hanyou a compliment.
He was starting to wonder if he would survive the time these girls were under his protection. The hanyou got under his skin way to easily for his comfort. Sesshoumaru glanced at her briefly. The hanyou was carrying Rin so carefully and there was a gentle look in her eyes every time she looked a the little girl. Sesshoumaru was well aware that Rin was important to him – he'd just never admit that out loud. To see this hanyou taking such care for the little girl softened something in him. He didn't like it. Hopefully, the hanyou and the miko would be gone before he lost his mind entirely.
- With Inuyasha -
He'd returned to camp to find both Naomi and Kagome gone. Inuyasha didn't worry about it too much at first. Maybe they'd gone for a walk or to take a bath. Or Naomi could have taken Kagome to the well so the miko could return home for a while. Then he saw that Shippo was gone too. Now the fear began to settle in. They wouldn't have waken the kit unless they had to. What would force them to wake Shippo but still let Miroku and Sango keep sleeping? His stomach began to turn into knots. They wouldn't have...
"Sango, Miroku," he snapped out, jerking the two out of sleep. "Where's Kagome, Naomi, and Shippo?"
"I know know," the monk yawned. "They were here when I went to sleep."
Sango sat up. "They left."
"What?" Inuyasha shouted.
"There's no need to shout. I can hear just fine, Inuyasha." Sango kept her eyes on Inuyasha. Her job was simple. Naomi had told her what had happened and that Inuyasha had to learn a hard lesson. Sango was to keep an eye on him and make sure he thought about what he was losing very carefully. "Naomi said that Kagome couldn't stay here anymore because she needed a break from you. Since Kagome will need help, Naomi went with her."
Inuyasha stared at Sango in shock for about three seconds before looking away. He crossed his arms and said with confidence, "They'll be back. Kagome always comes back."
"Yeah, but Kagome didn't have Naomi to support her before," Sango pointed out.
The hanyou merely shrugged as if that didn't make any difference, but fear kept nagging at a small portion of his mind. What if Sango was right? She wasn't. She couldn't be. Kagome always came back. This time wouldn't be any different.
All done with this chapter. I'll get the next one up as soon as possible. Don't forget to let me know what you think.