Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. But I will one day.

Chapter 21: Night of the New Moon

Kita walked around the main room in InuYasha and Kagome's hut, holding and lightly patting Gina as her eyes slowly closed. Makoto was leaning on the doorframe waiting for Kita to join him. He watched her as she held the pup, listening to her soft humming. He couldn't help the lopsided smile that crept up on his face. Seeing her like that made him think of how they might be… one day… in the far future. She was beautiful. Everything about her was beautiful. From her slightly scarred skin, to her emerald eyes, midnight-black hair, twitchy wolf-ears, all the way down her slender yet muscular legs.

Makoto caught himself just before he stumbled out of the door; gulped and wiped away the drool that had collected at the corners of his mouth. That girl would be the death of him one day, she really would, and she didn't even know it. Makoto smirked. He'd make sure Kita knew how much she affected him, how much she meant to him. And to think, it all started from being knocked down by the girl. Who knew what the fates had in store for them later on down the road. Makoto would have never guessed it. And frankly, Kita wouldn't have guessed either.

Kita placed the now sleeping Gina in her basket. The pup had been so quite for the past few days, barely uttering a sound unless she was hungry. Her twin brother, on the other hand, was going though some terrible growling spells. Kita knew it was only because he was tired of getting passed from one person to another, but the pup growled at everyone and everything! She shook her head and smiled. Kagome and InuYasha were lucky. They were all lucky to have such a family. She was lucky to be welcomed into their family with no second thoughts at all.

Kita glanced at the inu-hanyou leading against the doorframe and blushed. Had he been watching her the whole time! Her blush only deepened as the object of her affection pushed off from the door and walked to her wearing a broad smile. She felt her knees grow weak as he held out his hand for her. Without breaking eye contact, Kita accepted his hand and allowed Makoto to lead her out the doorway into the evening sunlight and up the hill to sit under their tree.

She sat down with her feet curled to her side as Makoto flopped against the tree trunk in front of her. They just sat there neither saying anything until Makoto leaned forward, grabbing Kita around the waist and pulling her into his lap. Kita gasped at the sudden closeness, now nearly nose to nose with the silver-haired hanyou. She instantly felt her breathing shallow and her heartbeat start to race. She knew he felt it too, with an added smug smirk on his lips. Makoto wrapped his arms more securely around her and nuzzled his nose on her neck.

Kita sucked in a quick breath after feeling Makoto's lips barely graze her jaw-line, making his way past her cheek and no more than brushing gently across her lips, doing nothing more than teasing the girl. Then, very softly, he kissed her. Kita responded by shifting herself in his lap and pressing harder against him, deepening the kiss herself. Suddenly she stopped, turning her head with a blush and a frown at her boldness with the kiss. Makoto hooked her chin with his hand and turned her to look him in the eye.

"What's wrong, Kita? I thought…do you…I…" he sighed and shook his head. "I thought you were okay with… you know…"

"I-it's not that."

"Then what is it? You can…talk to me… if you want to."

"I'm…I'm…" Kita grabbed the front of Makoto kimono and buried her face in his chest. "I'm scared, Makoto! I don't know what's going to happen. Haru and Taru aren't just going to let me escape from them, he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants! Kagome, InuYasha, your friends… I led Haru straight to them! As soon as he recovers he's going to come looking for all of you."

Makoto let out a deep sigh as he rubbed the she-wolf's back soothingly. "I don't know what's going to happen, either. We'll have to face him soon, all of us. You're going to have to face him again. But this time, you're not alone. I won't ever let anything happen to you Kita, not ever. And if that sorry excuse for a youkai shows up here with Oyaji being as up-tight as he is right now, I feel sorry for him." Makoto smirked as Kita let out a small laugh. "Okaa would have to 'sit' him a hundred times before he stopped hacking at pieces of Haru left. I'm surprised he didn't do it years ago at the castle, if that story was true."

Kita cringed at the mention of the castle, the castle with the Inu Lord, Sesshomaru, where she had almost successfully gotten herself killed. She was sure if she ever did cross his path again, she wouldn't be so lucky.

Makoto sensed the girl's dread and decided to lighten up the mood again. It wasn't right for her to dwell in the past, wishing for punishment for the crimes she was not really all that guilty for in the first place. He nuzzled down into Kita's hair, earning another shocked gasp as he started to nibble on her earlobe with his sharp fangs. Soon the feel of dread in the air was replaced by contentment… and a bit of nervousness. Makoto took in the girl's scent, kissing his way down her neck, across her jaw line, until finally coming to a rest on her lips, pressing firmly against them.

Kita wrapped her arms around Makoto's neck, pulling him down closer to her. He picked Kita up off his lap and laid her in the grass, lingering over her and supporting himself on his elbows placed on either side of her. He instantly lowered his head and once again captured her lips with his. He was lucky. He was lucky he had found her. Lucky to have her. And he was going to be sure she knew it. His tongue pushed past her lips and invaded her mouth, tasting her, losing himself to her.

Kita couldn't keep herself from letting out an approving growl at the new sensation. She blushed at her forwardness, but didn't dare even think about pulling away. Instead she let one of her hands fall from his neck and down his back, feeling the muscles underneath his kimono. She was lost in his touch, lost in every loving caress. A hand went up, rubbing one of her ears and Kita felt the rumbling growl from deep within Makoto's chest. Everything was perfect, the mood, the love, the feeling; until a sudden familiar feeling fell upon the two hanyou.

Makoto sighed and pushed himself up off the ground as soon as he felt the changes begin. Kita did the same. With long dejected facial expressions the waited for the changes to stop. A pair of dog and wolf ears disappeared beneath black hair, giving rise to human ears at the sides of two heads. Long claws and fangs shortened; sight, sound, and smell dulling continuously throughout the process. After a few minutes, two humans sat alone under the stars.

Nothing was said. Nothing spoken. Makoto pulled the girl to sit between his legs, Kita leaning back against his chest while his knees hugged her sides, his chin resting on her shoulder, and arms wrapped securely around her stomach.

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For once, InuYasha was more than happy to be human. If he had his hanyou hearing at the time, he was sure he would have gone deaf from the wailing and screaming and crying fits the pups had broken into as soon as the sun had gone down. Both he and Kagome were prepared, though, for the pups' first new moon. It had been the same way with Makoto, and InuYasha was pretty sure it had been the same way with him, and all other hanyous that can't figure out what had happened to them.

Mehiji's hair had turned completely black, just as InuYasha and Makoto on their human nights. His eyes had changed to brown, claws and fangs also human. The amount of air traveling through his lungs and back out though his crying was anything but human. The kid could make a deaf man cover his ears from the noise.

Gina, on the other hand, preferred small, heartbreaking sobs. InuYasha took the time to look over his now human baby-girl. Something was strange about her, something different. Not bad, but not completely good, either. Her hair and eyes were still as silver as the day she was born, though the rest of her looked completely human. There was a change in her aura, at least that's what Kagome had told him. His little girl really was something special. How special? Only time would tell.

"InuYasha, please?" InuYasha shook his head and sighed. Kagome had been trying to convince him to let her out where they could all go to the hill over the village, just as they had with Makoto on his human nights.

"You're to weak, wench. Even Miroku and Sango agreed that you shouldn't move off of that futon for another two weeks at least. And you can forget going outside this hut for a month."

"InuYasha…" Her tone was sweet and sour, a mixture of happiness that her mate cared so much for her, depression cause she was so weak, guiltiness because she knew that he was probably right, and sadness that she would share the same memories with these pups as she had Makoto on his first human night.

InuYasha's ear twitched. He was almost too afraid to look behind him. When InuYasha finally did dare to face her, his outer shell completely collapsed. She was on her futon, rocking back and forth with the wailing Makoto, covered in a heavy blanket and propped up by a stack of cushions. What got to him, though, was the fact that the girl's bottom lip was turned under in a childish pout, and she was batting her eyelashes across her big doe-like brown eyes that stared right though InuYasha's soul.

He stood to his feet, mumbling something to himself, and put Gina and Mehiji in their baskets. Without a word he wrapped Kagome tight in her blanket, He looped Gina's basket on one arm, Mehiji's on the other, and picked up Kagome with little effort. Kagome nuzzled against his neck with a smile, giving his cheek a light kiss.

"Keh."

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Kita and Makoto sat on the hill overlooking the village, watching as the firelight from each of the huts went out as the villagers settled down for the night. Still wrapped in his arms, Kita closed her eyes and wiggled against Makoto into a more comfortable position. He sighed at the sound of two crying babies getting closer, and shifted himself to turn around and watch the approach of his parents and new siblings. He wasn't surprise to see InuYasha carrying all three in his arms.

"Oyaji." Makoto stated to Kita as she gave him a questioning look. She nodded and sat up to sit next to Makoto instead of on top of him. He gave a dissatisfied grunt but allowed her to do so. InuYasha sat down the pups' baskets and Kagome on the ground to the right of Makoto and Kita.

"Silver?" Makoto indicated to Gina.

InuYasha nodded. "Silver. Kinda a bit strange if you ask me. Human but still has silver hair and eyes. Dunno where she got the silver eyes in the first place." He turned to his other side. "You okay, Kagome?" she still looked sickly, and smelled sickly when the hanyou had their senses, and InuYasha didn't like having her out one bit.

"I'm fine." She smiled hand reached into one of the baskets, pulling out Mehiji to set him on her lap facing the village. InuYasha reached into the other basket and put Gina in the same position in his lap. The two still sniffled every once in awhile, but most of their cries quieted. "I can only imagine what's going through their minds right now, turning to human for their first time." A collective sigh came from the three human-hanyou.

"Lost. Confused. Scared. That's what I remember feeling when I was a small pup. None of it made any sense." Makoto pulled Kita closer and then continued. "I remember being brought up here by Okaa, or to Goshinboku. It was a constant, something I could hold onto. I knew we would come here."

"All I remember was hating human nights like this." Kita shivered and snuggled closer to Makoto. "Always so weak and vulnerable. Can't smell anything. Can't sense anything. Kinda like being blind and deaf for one night."

"Keh. Yea. Being chased by everything with teeth and claws." InuYasha crossed his arms. "And everything going straight for the ears. Why the ears!"

Kagome laughed. "Because they're so cute and soft and everyone wants to touch them." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"Awe…is Oyaji blushing?" Makoto ducked from the half-hearted blow that swooped over his head. "His cute wittle ears…"

"Makoto…" InuYasha growled out a warning.

Kita poked Makoto's ribs and gave him a look.

"What is it, Kita?" His eyes followed her gaze down to Gina in Kagome's arms and he gasped. InuYasha and Kagome where already staring, too. Everything fell quiet. All too quiet. The little pup's eyes were glazed over, her aura glowing brightly silver all around her. Gina's hair flowed in the air around her, making the scene surreal.

"InuYasha?" Kagome questioned in a shaky voice. InuYasha just shook his head and stared. He didn't know what was going on, either. Something strange was growing within the small pup, something Kagome just didn't know how to explain or even identify. A power of sorts, yet not altogether…present. Like having an ember without the flames of a fire, there was a chance of fire, but no flames to show it exists. Dormant. Waiting for something to cause it to ignite.

The pup was completely still and the light continued to surround her. Mehiji gripped InuYasha's haori and buried his face within the firerat cloth with a growl and a soft whimper. InuYasha covered with pup with the sleeves of his haori as he watched the light begin to fade. The glaze over Gina's eyes melted away as she became more attentive again. It took all of five seconds for the pup to start sobbing and mimic her brother by burying her face in Kagome's kimono.

"Oi, what was that pup!" InuYasha nearly yelled in a confused voice.

"Shhh…InuYasha, they're already scared out of their wits."

"Well excuse me for wandering just what that was! I mean, pups don't just start…start… glowing like that! Did you see her Kagome! Did you feel that radiating off of her!"

"InuYasha, please calm down." Kagome snuggled by his side with a sigh.

InuYasha snuggled back against his mate mumbling under his breath. He didn't mean to scare the pups any further. Truth was, he was more that scared enough for all of them. He would rather face a thousand youkai on his own than have to deal with losing a member of his family. He had almost lost Kagome, Shippou, Miroku and Sango many times. He had a few close calls with Makoto, too. And Gina… for a while he had lost her. Now something else was happening, something he knew nothing about and didn't know whether on not it was something they should worry about or not.

He looked down at Kagome who was comforting Gina as best she could, then over to Makoto holding the nearly asleep wolf-hanyou snuggled up against his chest, and finally down at the village below. Yes, they had been though a lot over the years. Yes, they had more than their fair share of close calls, but they always managed to make it though. InuYasha nodded to himself. Whatever was going on with his little girl, he was just going to have to deal with. Nothing was going to happen to her, nothing.

A/N:

…a new chapter? A new CHAPTER! Wow….

Sorry, been very, very busy this summer. Next chappie will be out soon. Promise!