Inuyasha stood in front of the stoic demon lord, his fangs bared as he grasped the hilt of his sword so tight his knuckles were white.
"What the fuck do ya want, you bastard?!"
"Inuyasha! Language!" Kagome shouted, as she stood up and tried to get between the brothers, hoping the two wouldn't get into a colossal fight just then.
A deep growl rumbled in the hanyou's chest as he tried to push Kagome behind him, "Dammit Wench! Get back!"
"No! This is no time to be getting into meaningless fights Inuyasha and you know that! It's obvious we know nothing about whats going on and one of the only people who does, is right in front of us," she gestured at Sesshomaru.
"I don't trust him," Inuyasha growled.
Kagome threw up her arms in frustration and turned to level a glare at him.
"Can't you for once just talk to him like a normal person without waving your sword around like a lunatic? He helped us with Naraku and that right there should tell you that he's trustworthy and has honor. We don't have a lot of options here to find answers. So how about you shut up and swallow your pride so we can get some straight answers and get ahead of this thing for once?"
"I ain't gonna ask this asshole nothin'!"
"Inuyasha, don't make me say it," Kagome threatened, getting into his face.
"Wench.." he snarled.
"Miko."
The two finally stopped their argument and turned towards Sesshomaru who had been patiently waiting for them to stop their useless prattle.
Kagome grimaced and backed off, "Sorry about that Sesshomaru. Was there something you wanted to know?" Inuyasha muttered obscenities as Kagome elbowed him and hissed at him to put his sword away.
"This Sesshomaru came across a scent, one that should be sealed away. Can you explain why you have this scent mixed in with yours, Inuyasha?" he leveled a cool gaze on the hanyou.
Inuyasha scoffed and slid his sword back into the sheath, crossing his arms, "And what damn scent would that be? There's a lot of scents in the air. You're gonna need ta be more specific."
Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and took a step closer.
"Do not lie to me boy. This scent is unique and curiously mixed with one that reeks of that abomination Naraku. Why is that?" His voice came out in a low growl and Kagome backed up and step as Inuyasha pushed her behind him instinctively. It was clear this was a touchy subject, though they had no clue why.
"Hey don't take your anger out on us bastard. We don't know jack shit about this, but you sure seem to know something. So why don't you tell us whats goin' on?"
Kagome meekly stepped out to the side much to Inuyasha's chagrin and hesitantly approached the demon having trouble keeping his anger at bay.
His nostrils flared as the scent of ages past swirled around him, mixed with that filth Naraku. Memories long since buried resurfaced as it seemed to taunt him, reopening old wounds that he thought long since scarred. It was like a slap in the face to all the hard work he'd done to subdue that damn thing that it was out somewhere walking free once again.
"Sesshomaru?" Kagome whispered, gasping as his eyes pinned her in place, red swirling within his golden depths, "Would you like to have a seat and maybe we can talk about what we found and you can tell us anything you wish to share," she made sure to keep her voice level as she regarded him and noticed the tension leaving his body as he finally gave her a brief nod. Sesshomaru had a seat on one of the steps and waited as Kagome settled down at a respectable distance, pulling a grumbling Inuyasha down with her.
Inuyasha was still bristling over having to get help from his bastard of a brother but at the same time they had no other clues so he had to suck it up and put up with his presence, for now. He scooted closer to Kagome, eyeing the demon with distrust, making sure he wouldn't have the opportunity to hurt her if he did lose control of his temper. He had no clue just what the hell Sesshomaru had to do with all this, but it was clear he was deeply involved and could possibly give them a lead to whoever was behind all this. He had to admit his curiosity was peaked when whatever was rolling around inside his mind made his demon rear up enough to seep into his eyes. There was history here and no one save him, another demon and the one who was supposed to be sealed, knew. He was jolted out of his thoughts as Kagomes voice explained just what had happened.
"...So when I felt the jewel reawaken I immediately knew something was wrong and we decided to go to the cave where it had been sealed."
"The slayers village," Sesshomaru interjected.
Kagome nodded, "Yeah, but I knew something was off when we started into the cave. Where there had been a powerful barrier to protect against people sensing the jewel, nothing remained."
Sesshomaru stiffened, his eyes narrowing, "Do you mean to say the barrier was erased? How is that possible? No one save you, could have the power to do such a thing."
Kagome chewed her lip.
Inuyasha growled and leaned in close, hand once again on the hilt of his sword, "You sayin' Kagome did something to the barrier?"
"Inuyasha, he isn't saying that." She tried to soothe his hackles, knowing he was just being protective of her and her abilities.
"The hell he isn't!"
"Inu.."
"This Sesshomaru merely wished to get all the facts straight, nothing more," Sesshomaru stated in his most emotionless tone.
"See?" Kagome said calmly looking pointedly at Inuyasha, "He meant nothing by it."
Inuyasha snorted and looked away, still bristling. He jumped slightly when he felt Kagome thread her fingers through his between their bodies away from prying eyes and stroked her thumb along his hand. Kagome smiled slightly as she watched him blush out the corner of her eye. All it took was a slight touch and he'd calm down. He was getting better at controlling his temper but every once in a while he still showed signs of the brash youngster he was when they first met.
She turned back to the demon lord and continued her story. "Anyway, we ventured into the main cave and found nothing but rubble where there used to be a huge stalagmite of Midoriko in the jaws if a mighty demon."
Sesshomaru nodded absently, thinking over the facts. He himself had never gone into the cave but knew from previous descriptions from this group what was inside. "And the jewel? What of that?"
Kagome slumped. "Gone. Sango had seen what sounds like the jewel being split apart again. So, we can probably assume that it is once again scattered into hundreds of pieces. How many, I can't say."
"Is there a reason Miko, that this Sesshomaru smells that abomination Naraku on your group?"
The group all turned their eyes towards the monk as he sat up straight, still tired from what happened earlier and met the demons eye without flinching. "We fear he has been somehow resurrected my Lord."
"You have proof of this Monk?"
Miroku nodded and pushed up his sleeve showing the purple wrap adorned with prayer beads around his right hand.
"So, he has indeed returned." Sesshomaru murmured. The fact that his wind tunnel reappeared was beyond any fact that the vermin was once again walking free to wreak havoc on the world. But the question remained just how he managed that when he was sure they'd completely obliterated his existence from the world.
"We also found something in the cave Sesshomaru." Kagome interjected bringing his attention back to her.
"What did you find, little Miko?"
Kagome looked towards Inuyasha who used his swords sheath to push a lump across the way towards the demon with a sneer. Everyone watched as the demon Lord zeroed in on the immobile lump with a ferocity that swirled through the air.
Kagome swallowed hard, trying to keep her powers from surfacing and angering the already pissed off demon further. "Have you seen this before Sesshomaru?" She whispered. From his reaction it was more then obvious he had but they still needed confirmation.
His eyes snapped up to hers and studied the group for a few minutes before baring his teeth in a snarl. "Indeed, little Miko. I have seen this disgusting creature before long, long ago."
Inuyasha growled, clearly impatient with his pussyfooting around the questions. "Well? Ya gonna tell us or not bastard?"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome admonished.
"What? We need information and this assholes keepin' it from us." he turned back to his brother and fingered his swords sheath. "So, you gonna tell us what we wanna know or do I hafta beat it outta ya?"
"Dammit Inuyasha, you have no tact!"
"Whaddya mean?" his brows scrunched.
"You can't just demand stuff like that."
"The hell I can't! We gotta know.."
"This Sesshomaru will tell you what you need to know and nothing more halfbreed."
"Why you.."
Kagome slapped her unoccupied hand over the hanyou's mouth and smiled weakly, "Of course Sesshomaru. Anything you wish to share would be immensely helpful."
Sesshomaru turned to look up into the night sky, his mind sifting through long buried memories for a few moments. "It was indeed a formidable demon that this Sesshomaru faced long ago. The immense power radiating off that creature was one that rivaled even that of my fathers and had I not heeded my instincts this Sesshomaru would've not survived."
The groups eyes went wide and even Inuyasha sat there not saying a word, which was saying something. It was one thing for Sesshomaru to admit someone was stronger then him, it was another to say that he almost died from the confrontation.
Inuyasha shook himself out of his stupor, "You mean ta say that you almost got your a-"
Kagome slapped her hand back over the hanyou's big mouth with a nervous laugh as Sesshomaru turned back towards them. "Ehhehe, pay him no mind." She turned and gave a glare to the hanyou and he grunted as she slipped her hand off his mouth, turning a thoughtful gaze back to the demon lord. "So, you said you heeded your instincts, what exactly does that mean?"
"It means, Miko, that this Sesshomaru required help dispatching this formidable foe," he replied, dryly. But they could see that saying such a thing wounded his pride. Or was it something else?
"Ok," she nodded, "So should we go find this per-"
"That is none of your concern, Miko," he interjected with a cold gaze.
"The hell it ain't!" Inuyasha bellowed.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome hissed.
"Look here ya bastard. If this things as powerful as you say it is we might need whoever it was to help again, especially if Naraku's in the mix!"
Sesshomaru scowled at his half brother, but also he looked thoughtful.
Kagome cleared her throat hesitantly, "While Inuyasha could have worded that a bit better, he does have a point my Lord. We aren't trying to dig into your past because we want to. We just want to be prepared if things go to hell, which they normally seem to do around us," she laughed softly, earning a few chuckles from their group as well.
Sesshomaru sat in silence, studying the young priestess for a long moment before he nodded slightly, "If it comes down to that, this Sesshomaru will take care of it," he stood swiftly, signaling that was the end of the discussion, "For now, go back to the old woman's village and await more news," he summoned his cloud and took off into the night, his mind completely lost in thought.
"Dammit! He barely told us anything!" Inuyasha shouted, glaring at the fading demon.
"I think perhaps we should heed his advice and go back to Kaede's village for the time being." Miroku offered, the exhaustion creeping into his voice as he yawned.
Sango nodded in agreement as Kagome picked up the now snoring kitsune out of her lap and set about putting him into her sleeping bag to get ready for bed herself looking contemplative.
"Kagome?" Sango spoke up, startling the young woman out of her thoughts, "What is it?"
"Oh, sorry I was just lost in my thoughts," she laughed softly.
"You've obviously got somethin' on yer mind, so spit it out wench," Inuyasha clearly hadn't recovered from Sesshomaru's visit.
The girls leveled a dirty look on the hanyou making him cough and shift uncomfortably under their stares.
Kagome shook her head and stroked her fingers through Shippo's bangs, "Well, it's just that this whole debacle reminds me of one of my grandfathers old stories."
Inuyasha snorted, "Ya know that old man's full of shit. Half the crap he says comes across as total garbage."
"Ok, while most of the things he says is wrong or skewed a lot of his stories always seem to have a kernel of the truth," she tapped her bottom lip, "In fact I know of some old scrolls that were passed down through my fathers family who ran the shrine in our store house. I'm sure if I bribed gramps with some old artifacts he'll let me go through them."
The others nodded as they all settled down for the night, "Sounds like a plan lady Kagome," Miroku muttered, "So tomorrow we go back to the village. Meanwhile let's all try to get some sleep."
Kagome settled into her sleeping bag and cuddled Shippo close to her body, smiling as he buried himself down into the sleeping bag to snuggle against her tummy. A light thump caught her attention as she blearily looked around spotting Inuyasha was settling against the wall barely a couple of feet away from her. That caught her off guard since he usually opted to sleep outside in a tree or on the roof to keep watch, but she suspected he was responding to the very real threat that something powerful was out there. He obviously didn't want to go very far from his pack. She smiled softly as he opened an eye spotting her still awake.
"Go to sleep wench. We got a long way to go tomorrow and we need to be awake and alert if we don't wanna get caught unawares," He rumbled, nudging her with his knee.
She nodded, snuggling into her pillow with a sigh knowing he would be watching over her and their group.
"Dammit, there's too much dust in here!" Inuaysha shouted, opening the store house doors to wave some of it out, hacking in the process.
Kagome and Inuyasha had barely gotten out of the well before Kagome's family ambushed them demanding hundreds of questions.
"Are you alright sis? You took off so fast we didn't know what was wrong?! What was that purple light about? You gonna be floating like that all the time?"
"Kagome dear, you gave your mother quite a start. Now what's this I hear bout the jewel? Something happen we should know about?"
"Oh I'm so glad to see you're alright!" Kagomes mother had grabbed onto her daughter and just about crushed her, refusing to let her go, "You don't know how worried I was young lady! What happened? Where'd you go? What was that light?"
It had taken nearly an hour to calm them down enough to fill them in on what was going on and finally after a few choice bribes to her grampa, she'd managed to finagle the store house keys from him.
Kagome coughed and waved her hand to clear some of the dust, "It can't be helped Inuyasha. That scroll is in here somewhere and gramps hasn't been able to get in here to clean, he's getting too old for many of the chores around here. Just suck it up and help me look," she perched on a step ladder sifting through the things on the top shelves.
Inuyasha grunted and began looking through the lower items, "So whats this damn thing look like anyway?"
"A scroll," She deadpanned.
"No shit! I meant does it look any different from a regular one or what?"
She sighed and coughed again after accidentally getting a lungful of dust. "Nope. I'm afraid its just a normal looking wrinkled old scroll. Doesn't look any different."
"Great, that means we'll be here all damn day."
"Oh shut up and grab an armful so we can go through them."
They moved a pile of the scrolls to the opening of the store house and sat down to get out of the dust while they searched. The air was filled with crinkling and the smell of musty old parchment as they made their way through the pile.
Kagome cleared her throat gaining the hanyou's attention, "Do you think this demon is really as powerful as Sesshomaru says?" She whispered.
"Keh. While I ain't thrilled we gotta rely on that bastard for anything I know he wouldn't lie about something like that and if they brought Naraku back to life we know for sure this thing has some major power," He sneered.
Kagome nodded, "It just seems like whenever we think we're ahead someone else comes along stronger and even more dangerous." She whispered.
Inuyasha paused and shifted his golden eyes to the young woman beside him, seeing her slumped shoulders, "Hey," he waited until she turned to meet his gaze, "You know I'll always protect you, no matter what, right?"
A tentative smile broke over her face as she threaded their fingers together, "I know Inuyasha, thank you. I have faith in you."
He coughed as a blush spread across his cheeks and they went back to their searching. He still wasn't used to showing his emotions, but he was getting better at it with Kagome's help.
"Hey!" Kagome screeched, startling Inuyasha as he whipped his head around looking for danger before his vision was clouded by white. He pulled back and noticed it was a scroll that Kagome had shoved in his face excitedly.
"Here it is Inuyasha! This is the one!"
He tenderly grabbed the scroll and scanned the words as she leaned over to read with him. It was definitely old from the looks and smell of it and there were a few words he didn't know
"Think Kaede could help with some of the translating on here?" Kagome murmured, tracing a few characters absently.
"Couldn't hurt to try," he muttered back, turning the parchment this way and that.
Kagome jumped up and grabbed his hand dragging him towards the well house.
"Well, come on then. No time like the present! I'm sure the others will be happy we found something."
"Geez, wench slow down," he grumbled, but clasped onto her hand with a tilt to his lips. Sometimes her enthusiasm was contagious.
As he circled Kagome's waist and jumped back into the time stream Inuyasha suddenly felt the surge of demonic auras in their vicinity, but shrugged it off thinking it was coming from the feudal era and not hers. They hadn't ever found any trace of demons in her time, so he thought nothing of it.
