The Choice

Kagome woke slowly, her mind stirring from the rose fog as her body curled contentedly into her mate, his strong hands warming her back, scent surrounding her just as it should... until a cold wave of dread washed through her. The lessons her soul had learned... she shuddered and pulled away, nearly throwing herself out of the bed, curling around herself as she frantically tried to distance herself from InuYasha's panicked pleas. It took several minutes for the full horror of what she had learned to sink in, her heart breaking, turning to ashes within her as she slowly turned dead eyes to the one she loved - one she could never have.

"Inu, I am fine, please. Go back to sleep, it was only a dream." Her mask almost cracked at the sudden, vicious growl that came from the deepest reaches of his soul.

"Wench, that was no dream and we both know it. You need rest, and you need to tell me what has made your aura turn so cold. Soon, wench, or I will not be responsible for my beast any longer." His eyes flickered from red to an anguished gold, full of worry, protectiveness... and love... that final realisation breaking her resolve. She could deny her own heart easily... but not Inu's. Never his. She could feel the path of her sobs, drawn from the very depths of her heart as she broke down again, unable to even think as the horror of her choice overwhelmed her – not that there was really ever a choice to make.

Tougaou and Mafuyu frowned at each other, their laughter dying on their lips as both had their attention drawn to the twisting pain darkening their ijirashii's aura. Without a word needed, they took off, feet barely touching the floors until they tumbled into InuYasha's chambers, Youki almost feral at finding the little tenshi a hysterically sobbing mess, Inu's rumbling attempts to comfort her seemingly only making her sob harder. Tougaou's heart went out to his son as he raised pain-tinted bronze orbs to his own in a plea for help.

"Chichi-ue please... She won't tell me what's wrong... I..I can't..." His eyes flashed totally crimson, his beast managing to whimper out it's distress "Mate...hurt...please" it's frustration and pain at being unable to help her bleeding through into a tortured howl that brought his mother running, blood icy with trepidation. Mafuyu slowly approached the pair, ignoring the half-hearted growls of the boy's Youki, its dislike of other males near its mate pushed aside in favour of anyone – anything – that might stop her pain. Quietly, the alpha detatched the boy's desperate hold

"Peace, Inu... maybe her alpha may help where her mate cannot". He curled the girl into his own lap, rocking her, his beast murmuring to her soothingly as Tougaou placed his hand on his son's shoulder, a similarly soothing growl shaking his own chest. Gradually, the combined rumbles seemed to calm her slightly, the bone-shaking sobs slowing, although the pain was still twisting her aura, disfiguring it in a way none could bear. As her tears began to slow, Mafuyu tilted her head up with one claw.

"Kagome-chan, will you tell what has caused such upset in your aura? This one would not see you so pained without good reason." He frowned deeply as the tiny girl shook her head, clinging to his shirt desperately.

"Th..there is nothing you can do..." her choked whine almost undid him, speaking of nothing but pure loss, pure heartbreak. He frowned more deeply still.

"Kagome, there are few times when I enforce my role as alpha, the protection of my pack being one of them. This most certainly falls under that. You shall tell your alpha what concerns you pup." Drowned eyes stared up at him in shock, before closing again behind the pain.

"H..hai, alpha-sama..." She took a shuddering breath, and blurted it out all in one go. "I...I can't mate the one I want because the reiki in my aura will overwhelm their soul and kill them... It happened to Midoriko-sama, its why she got so cold at the end, she killed the one she loved when they... when they..." she blushed furiously through her tears, ducking her face into her alpha's chest, unable to watch as InuYasha's Youki burned brighter and brighter, twisting with pain, his anguished howl echoing the one ringing from her soul. "Mate".

Gekidoku growled darkly in his new den, frustration and anger vying for dominance within him. All those youkai he thought would jump at a chance to overwhelm the ningens... soft and pathetic worms refused him, chose death over the destruction of a few helpless, stinking humans. Still... he smirked. Some of those youkai had tried to fight him... to protect their pups. He turned towards the huddled mass, weak from bloodloss and his overwhelming Youki... puling babes, noone to miss them, noone to alert his brother of his return... his whip lashed out, pulling another away from the terrified group, venting his frustrations, glorying in the blood that soon coated him, his beast revelling in the fear, the pain... his mind replacing the child's face with a half-remembered memory... black hair, muddy brown eyes... and those ears... so much fun to shred, leaving a drop of his poison in each cut... screams of hysterical fear, horror, broken tears... and a cold lifeless body discarded like the trash it was... he snarled in distaste. This one was no fun... it didn't scream the same way... didn't have that same desperate revulsion on its face... didn't try to fight him – one swipe ended sent the broken, bloodied carcass to the floor.

"Eat it or starve, filth." He stalked out of the room, binding the door tightly behind himself, leaving the children trapped, alone in the dark.

Sesshoumaru frowned deeply, his tightly honed control allowing him a lucidity that the other Inu were not able to employ at that moment. Carefully he stilled his beast's anger at the pup's emotional torment, placing it aside with the empathy he felt with his otouto's Youki, to be rationalised another time. His gaze travelled from his father, InuYasha tightly clasped by his side, eyes a worrying rust colour despite the hours that had passed... on to the little onna, curled in her Alpha's lap, eyes dead, every tear shed as Mafuyu's Youki desperately soothed her. This one needs more information. Smoothly he rose, his every step like the coiling of a spring as he tracked across to the onna, lowering himself to his haunches in front of her, one viciously clawed finger gently tilting her head up until she met his gaze.

"Kagome, exactly how did Midoriko word the dilemma? It is my experience that with such beings of power, the solution is often contained within the phrasing of the problem." He suppressed the urge to smile in relief as a spark of hope flitted through the darkness of her Youki, dead eyes focussing on his face for the first time. Her soft voice, hoarse from crying, echoed in the quiet room, calming his brother's Youki instantly.

"She...she said that when a Miko and Youkai join, no matter what the intent is, the powers react... and only one soul will survive the conflict... It's not just death, there won't be one living and one dead soul... there will only be one soul left." Her voice darkened in fear and pain at the mere thought, trembling in her Alpha's soothing grip. Sesshoumaru rose again, beginning to pace. Two souls in...and one out. Where has this one heard such before? He allowed his surroundings to dim, barely hearing his Otouto call for his mate as he lost himself in his thoughts.

"K..Kagome? Mate... please... I need..." The pain in his voice was tangible, bringing Kagome out of her despair with a sorrowful gasp. She looked at him for barely a second before tearing herself from Mafuyu's grasp with a soft cry and throwing herself at him, both Hanyou ending up in a tight coil of limbs on the floor, comforting growls coming from both as they soothed each other. Tougaou met his friend's eyes, silently taking the blankets from the bed and covering the two before the two Inu retreated to the farthest corner of the room, settling to watch his elder son pace, cold golden eyes fixed on the wall with an expression reserved for the most detested of opponents on the battlefield.

"HA." The sharp sound jolted four Inu from a fitful sleep. InuYasha's head rose long enough to glare at his brother, before nuzzling his beloved, soothing her from the hyper-alert fear that always seemed to beset her if she woke suddenly. The two Alpha's blinked away the sleep that had stolen upon them at some time in the night, looking over at Sesshoumaru questioningly. Tougaou relaxed after a moment, smiling softly and proudly at his eldest pup.

"I take it you have found the solution, then? You always excelled in finding the trap in a being's words, son." Sesshoumaru raised one eyebrow, eyes sparking with what in any other person would be called mischief.

"This one cannot take credit, father. The solution lies in what you taught this one many centuries ago." He paused as Inu sat up, uncurling his cocoon of blanket and onna long enough to resettle her in his lap, facing his aniki. Tougaou drawled wryly

"Well, I am sure you are desperate to use my own words to prove how far you outstrip me in reason, pup... so have your moment of arrogance, then tell us." Mafuyu barked a laugh, even drawing a soft smile from the broken onna barely visible beneath her protector's chin. The sour look on Sesshoumaru's face as his ego was so abruptly deflated just too funny to ignore, even in such a desperate situation.

"As you wish, Father." He allowed an almost insufferably smug expression to drift across his face for a long moment, holding it until he heard the tiny giggle from within his brother's nest, before relaxing back into his normal expressionless facade. "As I told Kagome, the solution lies within the phrasing of the problem. Two souls enter the event, and one exits." He paused again as his father drew in a sharp breath, eyes lighting up. "Indeed, Chichi-ue. Midoriko did not explicitly state that in every event one soul must be terminated, merely that in her case one soul overwhelmed the other." He turned to Kagome and softened his tone minutely. "Kagome, you will not be aware of the importance of this. There are two forms of mating. One merely unites the bloodlines, the other unites the souls. The soul bond is permanent and irrevocable, only occurring between couples who love each other beyond their own lives. In a soul bond, the two souls literally blend during the mating, to form one composite soul encompassing both bodies." He turned back to face the Alphas, his voice once again taking on the brisk ice of one used to command. "It is the belief of This Sesshoumaru that Kagome-chan's miko abilities prevent matings for power or prestige, possibly as a mechanism of defence. By allowing only mating within a soulbond, the Youkai-Miko is prevented from being coerced into a mating within which the dual power could be abused. InuYasha and Kagome may therefore still have the option of mating – but only" here he turned and stared at them, cold warning clear in his gaze. "only if they are sure that the result of the mating will be a soul bond. A failure of formation of such a bond will lead to one or the other being annihilated, depending on who has more innate power."

-o0o-

A/N: Whoo... things are picking up a bit. Writer's block is a terrible thing... you can go weeks on end with no inspiration, then write a whole chapter in... a little under three hours. Slightly more happened here than I wanted, but the pace seemed right – I had intended on dragging out the solution for a chapter or so, but my hunk of a muse demanded reconciliation... such a strange thought, that he's secretly a romantic... psh he's even taking me to see Phantom of the Opera! Squee!

(No, I am not crazy. My muse is real. He has a name, and an address... and Phantom tickets! Wheeeeeee...)

* ahem *. Again I say... tell me if the dark passages get too dark for the rating... I tend to go by my own experience of being 13 to guide me... but I think I may have been exposed to too many horror movies in my preteen years to be shocked by this sort of thing...