A/N: Omg, guys! How long has it been since I updated this story? So, when I began and was rapidly publishing chapters, I was in some minor hypomanic episode and idea after idea and stamina to write. Then I hit a slump and struggled with inspiration. I feel more energy coming on now, enough to energize my inspiration.
This is only the first half of this chapter! I just can't stay awake any longer and must try to go to sleep. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story and has had faith that I may one day return to it. XOXO
Chapter 13
It was warm this morning. Even in the dark depth of the old well she could feel it. She breathed deeply, a quiet sigh escaping her lips as they curved into a contented smile.
It could have been nearly freezing outside and snowing. She felt relief just being away.
Kagome slung her bulging backpack over one shoulder and began the climb up the familiar vines. It wasn't long before she reached the crest and lifted her arm toward the well's surface…
When she was abruptly jerked out.
"Ah!" Kagome hollered as she was pulled roughly from the vines and onto her feet, the force toppling her to her knees.
"What the heck?!" she sputtered, rubbing her left shoulder where her backpack had slammed into her as she fell.
"At least I didn't tell you to 'sit' and do it on purpose," muttered a familiar voice.
Kagome snapped her head over and upward, meeting a familiar pair of amber eyes. She let go of her heavy bag, rising swiftly to her feet and briefly dusting her skirt. Two minutes in the Feudal Era and her new not green skirt had grass stains. Great.
Kagome lifted her gaze again, glaring daggers and the hanyou. "You could have said you're sorry."
"Keh…" Inuyasha scoffed. Then his eyes narrowed in concentration. He sniffed the air.
Kagome furrowed her brows in confusion. What on Earth was he doing now?
Inuyasha sniffed. He sniffed again. He stared at Kagome, looking at her alarmingly, anger gleaming in his golden eyes.
"You REEK of that flea-bag. What the hell were you doing with him back there?!"
Kagome's eyes bulged and her face flushed crimson. "And just how is anything that I do or we do any of your business?!" she hollered back incredulously.
Inuyasha reached his clawed hands forward, impulsively latching onto Kagome's shoulders and shaking her. "I TOLD you that wolf won't be able to love you!"
Kagome grabbed his hands, using all of her strength to remove his hands from her shoulders, but to no avail. "You don't know what you're talking about, Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha shook his head in frustration. "I…"
"Get you paws off MY woman, you stupid MUTT!" a certain wolf demon roared. Inuyasha and Kagome startled. Inuyasha had barely let go of Kagome when BAM! The hanyou soared through the air and crashed into a tree behind the well.
"What the hell, wolf?!"
Kouga ignored him, turning his attention to Kagome, grabbing her hands tenderly as always. "Are you ok, Kagome?"
Kagome was already blushing, feeling his hands touching hers. Her body remembered the last time he touched her. She dared to glance up and meet his gorgeous ocean blue eyes, so transfixed upon her. She imagined them darkening the way they had before.
"Keh, I'm out of here! I'll be at the village when you two are finished doing, whatever!" Inuyasha yelled, bounding into the trees on his way to the village. He couldn't tolerate the change in her scent.
When Kouga scented her, however, he smirked. She was really aroused by him. His eyes gleamed with darker intentions as he lowered his lips to her ear, his warm breath sending a shiver through her body. He smirked with self-satisfaction, leaving one tantalizing kiss upon her neck before burying his nose into her long black locks.
He scented again. And again. He raised up, an eyebrow cocked curiously. "You still have my scent all over you."
"Huh?!" Kagome startled, blushing deeply. 'What the heck do I say?...'
"Oh, um, it must be because I didn't wash this shirt. It's the same one I wore when I was last here, and we had a lot of physical contact, so that must be why…' she trailed, chuckling nervously.
Kouga seemed satisfied with that answer.
"So how was your visit with your tribe?!" Kagome half hollered at the wolf demon, desperately trying to distract him.
Kouga furrowed his brows in thought. "It was…complicated," he responded slowly.
Kagome grabbed Kouga's clawed hands gently, dipping her head to try and study his distant gaze. "Kouga, what happened?"
Kouga sighed heavily. "A lot. The tribe is fine. They were instructed to follow Ginta and Hakakku until my return. My father and mother are there. Father is livid that I refused to mate Ayame…" He carefully omitted that his father vehemently opposed his union with the miko.
"And your mother?" Kagome inquired softly.
Kouga smiled. "She and I talked. She always calms me down. Loving and supportive. Just like you," Kouga added with a tender smile.
Kagome blushed and smiled. "She sounds wonderful, Kouga. You said you and she talked?"
Kouga gently released Kagome's hands, looking to the side and running a free hand through his long midnight pony tail. He sighed. "We did. About a lot. What she told me was perplexing."
Kagome scooted around to meet Kouga's face again. "What was it about?"
Kouga stared seriously at Kagome. "Dokan."
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"I'm so happy to see you!"
"Me too!"
"You look so adorable!"
"No, no. I am so fat! But look at you. You look so great!"
Three men buried their fingers into their ears, risking hearing loss just to deafen the pain of squealing women happy to see each other. Miroku, Inuyasha, and Kouga finally found a commonality.
"Sango," replied Kagome seriously, taking her friend's swollen hands into her own, "you are a beautiful woman and pregnancy just adds to your glow."
Sango smiled genuinely, "thank you, Kagome."
"Will you be travelling anymore before baby arrives?" Kagome inquired.
Sango rubbed her belly and grunted, trying to adjust her sitting position. Her perfectly trained husband ran to her side and assisted her in adjusting before she thanked him with a smile and a small wave and sent him back to the boys. "No, absolutely not," Sango chuckled through a grimace laced smile. "The baby will be here in around a month and a half, give or…take," Sango grunted. "Hopefully less so this creature quits kicking my insides apart."
"Keh, just means he'll be strong."
Miroku and Sango stared at Inuyasha. "What did you just say, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked with intrigue.
"The baby's strong?" Inuyasha offered confusedly.
"No, no. Before that," Miroku said.
"Keh?!" Inuyasha replied impatiently.
"You said 'he'," Sango said softly. "He will be strong."
Inuyasha's eyes darted nonchalantly between a stunned Miroku and Sango. "Yeah. He. What of it?"
"How do you know he is a boy, Inuyasha?" Miroku implored.
"Because demons can scent the sex during pregnancy. A woman's scent is different carrying a male or a female. Geez, humans are helpless." Inuyasha stood up, folding his arms in his hamaka.
Miroku and Sango shared a brief, intimate gaze. They were having a baby boy.
"I'm so happy for you two," Kagome offered her two closest human friends. They nodded and smiled to say thank you.
"Good thing you have a strong woman to handle you and your male offspring, monk," Kouga offered jestingly.
Miroku smirked. "I knew I picked the perfect woman to bear my children."
Inuyasha sighed impatiently, his arms unfolding so he could place one hand upon his aching forehead. Damn all that high-pitched ear piercing female nonsense. "So now that we're caught up and everyone has had their happy squealy baby chatter, there is a matter of another holy-powered male who is also half demon and trying to kill us."
Everyone turned their unamused attention toward the moment-ruining hanyou.
"I'll check on our girls to see that they're still taking…a nap," Sango grunted as she shakily stood, leaving her fleetingly comfortable position. She rubbed her sore, strained back. "This baby really needs to come out sooner than later."
Miroku leaped up to support his wife. "Sango, I'll tend to the girls. Is there anything else I can do for the mother of my children?"
Kagome beamed upon Miroku's words. His devotion to and love for Sango was so palpable in that moment.
Sango smiled appreciatively at her helpful husband. "Yes, there is. Please ask Lady Kaede if she may keep an eye on the girls for us while we venture farther from the village to have this complicated conversation with more privacy."
Miroku took Sango's hand into his and kissed it while looking lovingly into her hazel eyes. "Taken care of."
Upon returning from his task, the quintet meandered to the village outskirts and settled in a clearing used for village gatherings.
"Ok, enough gabbing. There ain't any time to waste!," nagged Inuyasha, sitting cross-legged on the worn earth beneath, legs and arms tucked in impatiently.
"Clearly I thought there was time to waste figuring this out," Sango hissed sarcastically while pointing dramatically at her swollen belly.
Miroku's body shook with a stifled giggle at his feisty, sarcastic wife. His amused look was met with a hazel-eyed death glare.
Kagome cleared her throat. Time to get Inuyasha off everyone's backs and prevent Miroku's imminent demise.
"Ok, everyone. Let's start with what we know. According to Miroku's uncle, and the history books I've read in my time, Dokan was born with the name Sukenaga Ota and took on the name Dokan when entering Buddhist monastic life. The poor man worked for the Uesugi clan. Something made them question his loyalty and they killed him. He died in 1486 at age 54."
Miroku interjected, "so his apparition is of his 54 year-old self, now 25 years following his death. My uncle reported that Dokan was friends with my father, or rather a mentor of sorts during my father's time in monastery. Unfortunately, that was the only information he could provide at the time."
Kouga furrowed his eyebrows. "My mother insisted we learn more about who he is. I don't know why, other than she said he may not be the true enemy. All I know is he's trying to hurt Kagome and I would die before letting that happen. We know that he is obsessed with Kagome and continues to call her 'his love'. In fact, the last time Kagome was here in our time, Dokan kidnapped her and started calling her Kasumi. Presumably the name of his past lover."
Inuyasha blanched. He remembered that moment clearly. He tried to tell her, but she wouldn't hear it. Now he had to confess what he knew of Dokan to an entire group. Wonderful…
"Speaking of that," Kagome began, "I read a book in my time that confirmed a legend of Dokan having a great love. With a miko. Maybe that's why he believes I'm Kasumi!"
"You must resemble Kasumi very much as well," Sango chimed in.
Inuyasha audibly gulped. All eyes abruptly turned his direction. 'Shit.'
"Any info you want to share with the pack, Dog Shit?" Kouga chided.
Inuyasha was uncharacteristically pensive. He sighed. "Yeah."
Kouga narrowed his eyes. The humans widened theirs.
"All right, Mutt. We reported our findings. It's your turn."
Inuyasha sighed again. He was about to unleash a can of worms…
"I know who Kasumi is, and she's still alive."
The human groupmates gasped audibly. Kouga continued to scrutinize Inuyashsa.
"I…" Inuyasha stammered. "I met her a few months ago in a village far away." He looked up at Kagome and met her curious gaze. "She does resemble you, Kagome. Enough that someone could mistake her for you…"
Before the group began inquiring further, Kouga felt a sinking sensation resonating with Kagome. His eyes turned to her in what felt like slow motion. Her thoughts were almost palpable. He sensed what she must be thinking. He stared speechlessly as her face morphed from shock, to sullenness, to rage.
"You met her because you thought she was Kikyo," Kagome stated with quiet anger.
"Kagome, I…" Inuyasha began.
"THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW YOU KASUMI IS?!" Kagome roared, flying to her feet from her sitting position.
Inuyasha stared blankly toward Kagome. Kouga, Miroku, and Sango stared daggers at him. Inyuasha could think of nothing to say. He had to tell them to get rid of the holy demon menace. To protect Kagome from one demon, he had to bring up another demon from the past.
"Yeah…that's how I know," stated Inuyasha, suddenly interested in the forest nearby.
Kagome's body was shaking with silent fury. Kouga stared at her tumultuous trembling, fighting himself from running to her and sheltering her body with his. Then he turned his glare toward the red clad hanyou, ready to kill. Miroku stared at Inuyasha with incredulity, while Sango was more concerned at the moment with her best girlfriend.
Then, to the unlikely quintet's chagrin, Kagome started laughing. Everyone watched confusedly as she placed her hands on her hips while sarcastic laughs spilled from her torso.
Kagome placed a hand thoughtfully upon her forehead. Then, looking determinedly toward the hanyou, with a confident stance and smile gracing her lovely lips, she simply stated…
"I'm done. I am officially done. Thank you, Inuyasha, for your important informative contribution to our Dokan Ota mystery. I believe everyone here could agree your task will be to find this miko, this Kasumi, who looks so much like me and Kikyo and bring her back here to help us fight."
"Kagome…" Inuyasha stammered.
"You heard Lady Kagome," Miroku stated flatly, standing up with his arms crossed defiantly into his robes. "Be off on your mission. Your task is vital to the success of understanding and defeating Dokan Ota."
"But I…" the hanyou began
"Need to be on your way. Yes. You need to run along away from here," Sango hissed, glaring daggers at the hanyou. If only she had her trusty boomerang right now…
"Rrrrrr," Inuyasha growled irritably, "I have to talk to her…"
"NOT happening, Dog Shit!" Kouga boomed, standing to full height, claws extended and fangs bared. "Go fetch your own fake 'beloved' like the dog you are!"
"Keh," Inuyasha muttered defeatedly. "This ain't over. When I get back, I will be talking to her and clearing this shit up." And off he bounded, into the darkness of the forest brush.
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