Chapter Eighteen: Vampire Meetings

That night, Inuyasha came to her window and waited for her to pull on her coat and climb through the window towards him. "So," she asked him as he jumped down with her in his arms and they began racing through the night.

"Where are we going again?"

"I never said where we were going," Inuyasha told her.

"Yeah," Kagome said a little grumpily. "So why don't you tell me now?"

"Why?" he asked "Where going there now, you'll find out once we get there."

"But I want to be prepared," Kagome said.

"You don't trust me?" Inuyasha asked shrewdly.

"It isn't a matter of trust," she answered. "It's just that you came over and, pretty much forced me to come with you tonight to meet your friends that I know nothing about. I mean, you didn't even tell me their names or what they're like."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Inuyasha!"

"I'm just saying…"

"Stop being a jerk!"

"What are you so nervous about?"

"How would you feel if you were going to meet a coven of vampires that you never met before?"

"No problem. I'm a vampire."

"But I'm not!"

"Just relax! I'm going to be there to."

"Yeah but…"

"Look!" Inuyasha said, finally losing patience. "I swear that I won't let anything happen to you ok? Just trust me."

She gave him a dark look before she nodded and stayed quiet for a few minutes until she asked something that had been bothering her for awhile.

"Just who are you?" Kagome asked looking up at him.

Inuyasha was so surprised at the question that he stopped running and stared at her as if she lost her mind. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. "You know who I am. I'm Inuyasha!"

"No," she whispered. "I meant who are you? Why are you here? And why are you taking me to meet your… ah… friends I guess? Why are you telling me all of this?"

Inuyasha frowned at her. But not as if he wanted her to shut up, he looked thoughtful, as if he too was trying to figure that out. "You know… I really don't know," he admitted. "But… I think you should meet them. They're good people. And I promise that they won't hurt you. Not if you're with me."

"You promise?" Kagome asked quietly.

"Promise…" he whispered.

"Ok, then," she said.

He nodded and he took off running.

*A few minutes later*

They were standing outside a large graveyard.

"How appropriate," Kagome muttered under her breath. Inuyasha stopped running and gently placed Kagome down. "Of all the places for me to meet a coven of vampires… you take me to a graveyard."

He smiled a toothy grin at her before he took her hand and led her through the large Iron Gate. "We were going to meet somewhere more cheerful, but this seemed fitting don't you think?"

"You got that right," Kagome whispered as they began walking pass dozens of graves. "You couldn't have picked a creepier place."

Onwards they walked, until they were in the very center of the cemetery… a tall shrine was raised there. It was a place where you pray to your friends or loved ones while you visited the gravesites. It was a tall, beautifully caved structure with old sutras and wilting flowers covering the entrance.

"It's beautiful," Kagome whispered. "But where are these friends of yours?"

"Why they're right here," said a cheerful voice from the shadows, causing Kagome to jump and hide behind Inuyasha. Inuyasha just laughed before he waved his hand out and called, "Sango! Miroku! It's ok!"

And just like that, two tall vampires came out from behind the shine, both with bright smiles on their faces. Kagome looked out from behind Inuyasha to get a better look at them.

There was a man and a woman coming towards them. Kagome didn't know what she was expecting… maybe some old balding, pointy eared, drooling monsters? But no. They were both unnaturally pale and thin, but other than that they looked no different than any other humans.

The man had a cheerful and good-natured face with a goofy smile plastered on. He had short black hair but just long enough to tie into a small ponytail in the back of his head. He was dressed in a dark blue and purple t-shirt over some worn jeans… and for some reason a large purple cloth was tied around his right hand, secured with beads. He came right over and clapped Inuyasha on the back as if they were brothers before Kagome turned her attention to the girl standing beside them.

She was a very pretty girl… with long brown hair that looked almost black and the most startling brown eyes with pink eye shadow. She was brushing off some leaves on her pink and red shirt and fixing her green skirt before she walked over to them. Clearly wanting to make a good first impression.

She smiled brightly when she saw Kagome and held out her hand. "Hi," said the female vampire. "My name's Sango. You must be Kagome… and let me say that it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Kagome hesitated for a moment before she relaxed and took Sango's hand. "The pleasure's all mind."

The man, who she assumed must've been Miroku, looked at her up and down before nodding and taking hold of her hands in both of his. "Dearest Kagome," he said as though they knew each other their whole lives. "It's a true delight to finally meet you face to face. And now that you're here, I want to ask you just one question?"

"What?" Kagome asked, feeling uncomfortable with him being so close to her.

"I just want to know if you're willing to bearing my children?"

Kagome felt her jaw drop. But before she could smack him, Inuyasha and Sango both punched him so hard that he landed face-first in the dirt.

"You pervert!" Sango yelled at him. "Will you stop acting like a dirty old man for once in your life and act serious?"

"I am being serious," Miroku asked. "That is a serious question!"

Miroku bounced up as if he was made of rubber and took Sango's hand. "Unless of course, you're suggesting…"

She smacked him across the face again. "Oh, grow up!"

Kagome stared at the exchange, not knowing either to laugh or not. Inuyasha leaned down and whispered. "They do this all the time. Don't worry. Not everyone you're going to meet tonight is as crazy as these two."

He took her hand and pulled her towards the shrine… where she was sure that everyone else was waiting. And sure enough, once Miroku pushed open the doors, there was a large group of people all sitting cross-legged on the floor and all talking to each other—well most of them were talking. There was one standing in the far corner of the room, looking bored.

"HEY!" Inuyasha yelled, getting everyone's attention. Everyone's heads turned towards them. Kagome felt her face beginning to turn red. It was like she was suddenly forced on stage in front of a crowd and she forgot her line.

Inuyasha took Kagome's upper arm and brought her upfront so everyone could get a good look at her. "This is Kagome. And I would like to say that no one is allowed to eat her. I'll kill anyone who tries to take a bite."

"OK!" yelled a girl with her red hair in pigtails and has green eyes. She also had a purple iris in her hair and a headband, as she looked at Kagome up and down as if trying to measure her up. "You don't have to threaten us!"

Kagome looked behind the girl to see the others. There was a young man with tan skin, long black hair that was tied in a ponytail like Miroku's was, but the one on this guy was a lot longer so that it resembled a wolf tail. He gave her a flirty grin, and Kagome felt herself go even redder as she turned her head away from him.

The one standing in the far corner of the room barely paid her any attention. He looked to be a little bit older than Inuyasha and there was a bit of an aristocratic look about him, with his handsome face and long white hair. As if he was some kind of… unfriendly gentlemen air about him. But his eyes… when he did finally turn to look at her, his eyes were unbearably cold. It was as if she was looking at two blue ice cubes.

There was another girl, one that looked to be around the same age as Sango. Out of everyone in the room, she looked like… like a cat. She had a slightly pointed face, cat-like red eyes, and long cream colored hair that was tied in two ponytails at the back of her head. But at the same time, there was a kind of—gentleness in her face. She nodded wisely at Kagome before she turned to the two youngest looking vampires next to her.

There was a young boy who looked no older than ten or eleven and the sweetest, most gentle face she had ever seen. He smiled kindly at her and Kagome couldn't help but smile back.

Lastly, there was a little girl that looked no older than 7 sitting besides the boy. She reminded Kagome of a ray of sunlight. She had an adorable little face, black hair tied up in a small tress on the side of her face and the widest, brightest smile that Kagome had ever seen.

"Hi!" the little girl called to Kagome, before standing up and walking over to her. "Nice to meet you!" she said.

"Uh, hi," Kagome said uncertainly. She sure wasn't expecting such a sweet little girl to be a vampire. But as the girl opened her mouth to talk, she could just make out the tips of her pointed fangs. She then pointed at herself and said, "I'm Rin," she then pointed to everyone else in the room, "I'm sure that you already met Sango and Miroku, but this here," she pointed to the girl with red hair, "Is Ayame."

Ayame smiled in a friendly way before she sat back down and hugged the arm of the black hair vampire that looked like a wolf. "This is Koga," Rin went on pointing to vampire with the flirty smile. She then pointed to the boy with the sweet face and said, "That's Kohaku, Sango's little brother."

Kohaku blushed slightly, and Rin then turned to the vampire standing as far from them as possible. But before she could say anything else, he already spoke for her. "I can introduce myself," he said in a calm and cold voice that sent shivers up Kagome's spine.

"Sesshomaru," he said to her with a slight nod.

"Do you always have to be so cold, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked bitterly.

"What I do is none of your business," Sesshomaru said, but then an icy smile crept onto his face and Kagome felt the temperature in the room drop, "Little brother."

Brother? This was Inuyasha's brother? Kagome looked at Inuyasha who was wearing a very sour look. "He's your brother?"

"Unfortunately," he muttered sulkily. "Normally, I try to forget that I have one."

Kagome then turned her attention to the last vampire sitting there. She got up and also decided to walk over to her. "Hi," she mewed in a gentle tone. "My name's Kirara. Nice to finally meet you. We've all been wondering when we would get to see the drink that Inuyasha has become addicted to.

Kagome didn't think it was possible to go any redder but she just did.

But before she could come up with a witty comment to come-back with, Rin said, "Hey… wait a minute. We're missing someone." She looked around her in a confused way. "Where's Shippo?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Inuyasha said unconcerned. "I noticed the kid wasn't bugging me."

"Must've gotten lost again," the guy called Koga said. "He's always getting lost."

"Don't you think we should look for him though?" Kohaku asked.

"We don't know how much time we have here though," Ayame said worriedly.

"Yeah but…" Sango began.

"Um… excuse me?" Kagome asked timidly, interrupting the argument. "I don't mean to be rude or anything… but… is there any particular reason why you asked me to come here tonight?"

"She's got a good point," Miroku said, startling them all. "We've been ungracious!" He took Kagome's hand again and pulled her inside. "Come sit down," he said happily.

Kagome didn't trust the way that this guy was smiling at her, neither it appeared, did Inuyasha. He leapt between them and snarled, "She'll sit over here."

Kagome couldn't help but notice the disappointed look on Miroku's face, but was glad that Inuyasha brought her to sight between himself and Rin as far as possible from him.

"Well, now that we got the sitting arrangements," Sesshomaru said coldly. "Can someone hurry up and tell her why we bothered to bring her here?"

"Alright," Koga said in a bored tone, "Keep your hair on."

"Yes, Kagome, now that you're finally here, I think you need to know…" Miroku said, the smile fading from his face, replaced a moment later by a look of complete seriousness. "The truth of where we came from and how we came to be here."

(Sorry for taking so long. I've been having a lot of trouble with writer's block on this story. And yes, I did make Kirara as one of the vampires. I think that it would be nice to hear her talking once in awhile. I don't know when the next chapter will be going up… as soon as it's done I guess. Again, sorry about the wait, and please enjoy.)