I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY EVERYONE. I HAVE PLENTY OF EXCUSES BUT I'M NOT GOING TO FEED THEM TO YOU, WHETHER YOU FORGIVE ME OR NOT IS ENTIRELY YOUR DESCISION.

Chapter 7

It was a day that should have been pouring down rain. The skies should have been dark with clouds, lightening should have been striking, thunder should have been roaring. It was a day that should have been the stereotypical battle zone.

Instead it was night. The sky was lightened by the blue moon, the indigo crescent making the skies look like the ocean. The stars and wind assisting with the rippling effect. There were no signs of clouds, there wasn't even any fog. There was no rain water, there were no strikes of electric power, and there were no roars that came thereafter the lightening streaks. The battle zone that others would have expected to see on this day, at this moment would have been shocking, but no less terrifying than the ones that would later be seen during the Persian Wars, or the war between England and America.

It would be seen ten, if not more, times scarier than the future wars.

The showers did not come from the sky as clear liquid, but instead it flew in all directions from the floor, in dark shades of red and murky fluid from squashed tentacles. The bolts of raw energy did not come from unleashing clouds but from the powerful beings locked in combat. And the roaring was no aftereffect. It was screams of rage and power unleashed, shrieks of terror and pain, yowls of demonic beings.

And most of those in the battle were far more conflicted internally than those in the future.

Naraku's vicious laughing rang through their ears, making them cringe. If it was even possible the laughter was harsher, more malignant, than that of the horrendous wounds covering each of their forms.

Miroku and Sango were both panting on the ground, unable to hold themselves up any longer. The fatigue and gruesome wounds devastating their bodies squirting blood were keeping them down.

Kagome was kneeling a little behind Inuyasha, a couple of feet away from the older pair of humans. She was hanging onto the bow for support, one end lodged partially into the earth. Blood seeped from the wound in her head, matting her hair as the crimson liquid reddened her lips and teeth, filling her mouth with the metallic taste.

Kirara was standing beside Inuyasha who was posed in front of their pack in a protective stance. Her larger form was snarling at the kumo in rage though keeping wary eyes on the creature that had been forced to attack them.

Jaken was out cold, the Staff of Two Heads lying a yard away from his outstretched hand. A puddle of red life pooling under him.

Inuyasha was glaring at his enemy, searching for any weak point. His ears were pressed protectively to his skull, seeing as how the bastard had already swiped at them, trying to knock off his equilibrium, his fangs bared. The Tetsuaiga was unsheathed and transformed into the fang but was unfortunately not as much use as he would have hoped. His left shoulder had been clipped from a small burst of power, just a tiny amount and yet his entire shoulder was exposed bear, pink muscles and white bone along with glistening rivulets of gorgeous, half breed blood. Unlike his pack mates he was barely wounded, leaving the main reason his legs were shaking to fatigue and fear.

Naraku was standing there in all of his glory. His dark head thrown back as he laughed to the skies, a sardonic smirk plastered on the spider's face.

Byukkua was standing on his origami bird that was floating in place on top of them all. Unlike his father, the illusionist was petrified of the creature they now possessed, horrified by the power he contained. It was obvious to them all that the man wanted nothing to do with the beast, it was obvious he didn't trust him. And it was obvious that he didn't underestimate him.

Naraku on the other hand was thrilled by the power. Thrilled to know that he was the one who controlled the destruction. But, foolishly he felt that the beast had no chance of escape, that the fools that constantly stood in his way of winning were finally going to fall.

The beast stood besides the jackass. He was tall even though he stood upon four feet, reaching to Naraku's waist, possibly giving a few inches. He appeared to have no flesh whatsoever. Instead of skin and clothing the beast housed a strange…almost liquid substance. It was blue and white in color, crackling up and around everywhere like unbelievable imitations of lightening. A long tail swung out behind him, flowing in the breeze as if it were made of wind or water, the ki emanating from the powerful form strong enough to make the earth around him shrivel and fly. The mouth was more of a jagged, open line, his teeth no longer white or pure solid and the entire form glowed. But his eyes were pure white, shining out with an even stronger intensity than that of the full moons. And the growling that came from his throat was more of a rumbling gurgle that threatened all who heard.

But, there was a specific object around Naraku's neck that ensnared the group's attention. Hanging around his neck, held on by a single cord was…

"INUYASHA! WAKE UP!"

The young half demon started, his being practically jumping out of his skin as he lurched upwards out of his slouched position. Kagome's grandfather was glaring at him, the tiny old man kneeling directly in front of him with an aggravated scowl on his face.

Inuyasha swiveled one ear behind him when he heard Sesshomaru's startled whines and growls. Both demons had been sleeping peacefully – or somewhat peacefully – before the old bastard screamed at them.

"What is your problem?! I should kill you for pulling a stunt like that!"

The old man's glare faded into nothing and instead the dark eyes moved up to the Taiyoukai resting on the sofa. The hanyou was drawn to the fiddling of the human's hand and saw something that made his eyebrow twitch something dramatically, a sweat drop forming on his head.

The grandfather was playing with a sticky, homemade ofuda.

"I need you to move so I can purify that demon," he whispered. "Kagome and the others are asleep, now is the perfect opportunity to save my brothers and sisters from the threat that lays before us!"

Inuyasha twitched and growled before bopping the senile old fool on the head. "You idiot! When are ya going to learn that you can't purify things?! And even if you could what makes you think I would let you?!"

Tearing up from the growing bump on his head the elder moaned sadly, "But I thought you hated him…"

"That was before. This is now."

Both males looked up to see the females of the household in nothing but pajamas and bath robes standing in the threshold between living room and stairway. They each had slight bags under their eyes, assisted with the weary composure as they scowled, hands on hips.

"Father, I can't believe you would try this again. I thought we established yesterday that Sesshomaru was not a threat!"

"Besides, do you mind not shouting? Not only did you wake Sesshomaru up," Kagome gestured towards the growling youkai. "You woke us up and we were the ones who were up all night dealing with his wounds!"

They were really. Inuyasha glanced at the gruesome wounds adorning his brother's body and how each were smothered by stitches, bandages and some form of healing paste. Kagome's mother had gone out after they had told them what had happened and purchased as many supplies that she could, and came rushing back to the house. With only the exception of eating, going to the bathroom, and putting Souta to bed the pair of females didn't leave Sesshomaru's side as they tended to him.

And Inuyasha didn't leave either.

Something that Kagome noted with happiness. Inuyasha had been hovering over them the entire time, growling softly to his sibling when the elder whimpered and watching with wary eyes, their every move. Once they finished he still didn't move, in fact he sat in front of the sofa with his back to the cushions, falling asleep but at the same time ready to jump up and defend the inu at a moment's notice.

And he was still sitting there.

"Sorry," the old coot mumbled dejectedly, standing and hobbling to the kitchen. "I'll go read the paper…"

Mrs. Higurashi siged and ran a hand through her hair. "I guess I'll go get breakfast ready. It is eight after all…" Following her father's footsteps she said over her shoulder, "Kagome. Can you wake Souta up? And after that will you check on our guest? Thank you dear."

The miko rolled her eyes. Really, why bother putting the requests in question formats when all said requests were really going to turn out to be orders? Grumbling she made her way back upstairs to her little brother's room where she proceeded to pull the blanket off of his shivering form, forcing him awake.

Coming back down she was met with the pleasant sight of Inuyasha rubbing behind his brother's ear to lessen his discomfort and to silence the unhappy whimpers and growls. It was amazing how quickly the pair were coming together. It had been only been one day and yet Sesshomaru was allowing Inuyasha to touch and be near him without Kagome having to be there.

She wanted to say it was because Sesshomaru truly didn't distrust his little brother but the priestess knew that was only an assumption and a wrong choice. In truth, the main reason the injured lord was accepting Inuyasha's presence so close to him was because he was in an unfamiliar area with strange sounds and horrendous smells. The demon had no idea where they were or what was going on, nor did he know Kagome's family. And like all living creatures the inu youkai was willing to be close with the ones he knew, despite how much he professed to hate them.

Grabbing the thermometer off of its place in the medicine cabinet she walked over to the brothers, shaking her head when Inuyasha immediately removed his knuckles where they were just kneading the skull of the most powerful demon she's ever met. Obviously the half breed didn't want anyone to know he cared for his elder brother, at least a little.

Kneeling next to her friend and crush the girl grabbed the manual for how to care for dogs off the table. After all, Sesshomaru was a dog demon so caring for him would practically be the same as taking care of a mortal dog…right?

With some perks of course.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes cautiously as Kagome started checking on Sesshomaru. As she placed the thermometer in his brother's mouth he didn't understand why he went and tried to comfort the bastard when he started growling.

"What is this?"

"Relax…just let it sit under your tongue. It won't hurt you."

The hanyou forced himself to look away and instead thought about the dream he had. Obviously the enemy was Naraku, but who and what was that thing that was standing beside him? And what was so important about the necklace?

Inuyasha scowled, ears flattening. He personally didn't see anything interesting about the jewelry around his enemy's throat but some instinctive force was telling him it was something very significant. Something that would undoubtedly lead to their death if they weren't careful.

"May I have some coffee dear? Ah thank you."

One gold eye moved to the direction of the kitchen where the old man's voice originated. It made him remember the amusing and frustrating events that took place when grandpa stepped through the door and saw his brother.

Naturally he freaked and went searching for everything and anything holy around him and once he had ofuda's and prayer beads in hand he ran back to the living room in an attempt to purify the threat. Only for it to be defeated by the females of the household as they quickly tore him away from his 'weapons', sat him down and told him of the situation.

Just because he nodded in understanding and consent didn't mean he had to like serving under their rules, and he obviously, still very much wanted to destroy his brother.

SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN UPDATES. AND DISREGARD THE AGES LAST CHAPTER…I WANTED TO GO WITH SOMETHING BUT I REALIZED IT WOULDN'T WORK OUT SO I WENT WITH SOMETHING ELSE. AND I REALLY DO WANT TO UPDATE THIS FASTER BUT UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THOSE PLAY IT BY EAR FICS BECAUSE I'M SIMPLY HAVING SOME ISSUES WITH IT.

THANKS TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED.

JA NE