Author's Notes:
Yay! I'm finished with another chapter! I loved writing this chapter. It was so…different. Thanks for bearing with me while I slowly write my chapters, and I really do appreciate all of the reviews I've been getting. And more Importantly: It's Spring Break! I got out of school today! I hope y'all have too! Love to all!
Things you must know: The Flashbacks might, and most likely will, be confusing. I have yet to explain them, but I promise…they will be clarified later.
Disclaimer: Iwas the second gun-man on the Grassy Knoll, as Ace Ventura so pleasantly put it. Lol. I do not own Inuyasha. The people that you don't recognize…they're mine…probably.
Akida411Searcher:I probably don't have the answer you're looking for. I'm sorry. ; )
Dark Inu Fan: In Shippou's memory? No, Naraku wasn't killed by Inuyasha, but he is dead in the present time.
Hearts of Eternity: Thanks. I sort of explained the memory above. And as for Sesshoumaru...when have their encounters ever been easy...besides the one time that Kagura was hurt...and the time that Sess. saved Kagome...I'll just stop now before I totally ruin my point.
Nalaravathered: Lol. I see that. We both like the same shows and quotes...and books and songs...kinda creepy. And the episode with Myoga's fiance...I loved it. Especially the part where Inuyasha was possessed and was "sweet talking" Shippou. I couldn't stop laughing.
Inu/Kag: This chapter explains whether or not Rin is able to have children.
Motoko:Um...When I said that Shippou felt himself falling in love with Kagome all over again, I didn't mean it in a school boy crush kind of way. More like a really close friend or parent. Strictly platonic. Kagome was like Shippou's mother in the past. Sorry for the confusion. I had wondered if people would get the wrong idea. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic! And I love the quote. Just about any Family Guy quote is enough to get me rolling.
Biogurl: I had seen your biopage and saw that you liked Buffy, so I used some of the quotes that I loved. Last year I was a Buffy-fanatic. Watched both back-to-back episodes everyday until the show ended. I was horrified when Caleb pushed Xander's eye out using his thumb. I couldn't believe it...anyway...on with the story.
I sense there's something in the wind
That feels like tragedy's at hand
And though I'd like to stand by him
Can't shake this feeling that I have
The worst is just around the bend
-Sally's Song
Sesshoumaru stood alone on the edge of his territory. The land that had once been alive and green was now lifeless and brown. He irritably looked around the bruised and vacant land. He'd stood in this very spot over two weeks ago when he'd come to receive Kagura, but it was different now. Naraku's castle was no longer here. It had just vanished. In fact, the only signs that it had been there at all was the bare ground where it had laid and the death that still clung to the air.
In a rare display of blatant fury, the inu-youkai slammed his fist on the ground and released a snarl. 'I failed...It was my duty to care for the land, to protect it from threats…to rid it of Naraku, and I failed.' Straightening up and regaining control over his palpable fury, he glanced over the decimated land again. His father's land. His land. It had been violated by an abomination. "This Sesshoumaru does not fail. Naraku will die." He turned on his heel and began to walk toward his castle. Kagura and Rin were waiting for him.
Closing his eyes, the Inu no Taisho concentrated on the energy that lay deep within him. Within seconds he was able to transform into a bright orange ball of light and shot toward his fortress.
Nazakaki stepped into the Garden of Loss. It was true…the castle no longer resided on the western lands. Naraku, in his infinite power, had slain Kurojaga, lord of the Southern lands, and now held control over what once belonged to the deceased jaguar youkai. A smile twisted on the dark youkai's lips when she remembered the youkai. 'Sesshoumaru ought to be getting a surprise very soon.' Yes, as she headed for Naraku, his famed Saimyoushou were delivering the message of Kurojaga's death to the Inu no Taisho, as was Kouga.
She looked up when she felt a small droplet patter on her shoulder. A grin spread across her face when she saw the crimson clouds swirling above her furiously. 'It's raining blood…' Lifting her kimono up, she twirled as the blood came down harder and raised her face to the sky, allowing the metallic liquid to flow down it.
She could feel the beast within her begging to be set free at the first taste of blood. Oh how she wanted to set it free. But there was still work to be done. She had to relay the news to Naraku. Kagura had escaped from the youkai.
She smiled as the beast within her continued to struggle. "Not yet, pet," she purred as she dreamily swayed her head back and forth to her own music. "…From the Darkness, risen hour of blackness, a flame, once burning like red blood, was seen by those that waited for the battle, to lead them to where blood will soon be shed." She stopped her humming and looked around Naraku's favorite thinking spot. "Master?"
"Nazakaki," his cursed voice rasped.
She followed the sound through the overgrown, dead weeds that towered above her, and soon came to the clearing where Naraku sat, wrapped in his baboon pelt, now stained with blood. She noticed he was staring intently into the crimson puddle at his feet. This was where he always spent his free time.
As she drew nearer, she was able to discern a woman's face in the reflection. 'Kikyou.' The name drew like bitter gall from within her.
The miko in the pool was bandaging a young boy's ankle, while he sat on the ground, furiously rubbing the tears out of his eyes.
'So, Kikyou's found a village to harbor her?' she thought resentfully. 'I told Master she wouldn't come back.'
"You're wrong, Nazakaki," the repulsive hanyou chuckled, startling the youkai. "I know you believe she won't come back, but just wait. You'll see I was right all along." He stroked the face in the puddle of blood, forming ripples and smiling when the reflection stopped her work and looked to the sky, into his eyes.
Nazakaki swallowed her surprise and cleared her throat. "I have news of Kagura."
"Really, now?" he asked, somewhat amused. "Only news?"
"Yes, Master."
The abomination sighed and dragged his eyes away from his beloved pool to stare into Nazakaki's eyes. "So…I suppose you came to tell me that a thousand youkai couldn't bring down that weakling?"
She remained silent.
Nostrils flaring and eyes flashing, he punched his hand into the liquid, shattering the image of Kikyou, and bellowed, "When I ask you a question, I expect an answer! You may disrespect Kagura and Kikyou, but you will not disrespect me! Am I understood?"
Recovering from her flinch, she lowered her eyes to the ground. "Yes, Master. Forgive my insolence. Sesshoumaru interfered in Kagura's destruction. I've heard that Inuyasha has also destroyed many of those you sent."
Naraku remained silent for several moments, contemplating his incarnation's words. Suddenly, he released a merciless chortle. "Well, well. Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Kagura. The web has been woven; the story winds to an end, Nazakaki." He stood, dropping the bloodied pelt in a crumpled heap on the floor. "Inform the remaining youkai that it is time. I aim to expand my territory, strengthen my army. We head to the Eastern lands tomorrow morning." A wicked grin formed across his malignant face. "Ushitsuyoi waits for us." He whirled away, laughing, and stalked out of the Garden of Loss.
Nazakaki watched her master leave. 'Ushitsuyoi—lord of the Eastern lands. After he is finished, only Kouga and Sesshoumaru maintain their claims on the Northern and Western lands.' Following after Naraku, she grinned. "They will be nothing once the Eastern lands are ours."
"Calm down, Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru may be a tight-ass, but he has changed," Shippou assured the tense hanyou tightly clutching Kagome's hand. However, the kitsune's words did little to calm him down.
Kagome bit her lip as his grip on her hand tightened even more. "Inuyasha, you're hurting me." He immediately loosened his grasp and offered her an apologetic glance. She sighed and stood on her tip-toes to brush her lips against his cheek. "I promise I'll allow you to shove tessaiga where the sun don't shine if he tries anything," she grinned.
A smile flitted across his features, but it left as suddenly as it had come. "Yeah, remember that promise." 'I can't believe I'm just walking in here with Kagome. What if it's a trap?' The miko had succeeded in making him feel a little more comfortable as Shippou led them through the richly decorated hallways. He was, however, still wary.
The kitsune led the couple through the beautifully decorated maze of hallways.
'This place is so…big,' Kagome thought in awe, as she let her free hand carefully glide across the dark oak surface of a side table they passed.
Before long, they were lead to large room, where a woman sat cuddling her child. She looked up when she heard the door open
"Shippou!" She beamed at him and leapt from the love seat, still holding her child. "Father said he sent you on an errand," she murmured as she leaned forward to brush her lips against his.
"Yeah." He gave her another kiss before pressing his lips to his daughter's temple. "Hey, baby. Were you good for Mama while I was gone?"
"Shippou? You have children?"
Rin frowned momentarily when she heard the weak voice coming from behind her husband. But the frown soon gave way to a smile, and she handed the little girl over to the kitsune. "I didn't know we had guests," she bubbled happily as Shippou side-stepped and the couple entered the room. "Hello, I'm…" she trailed off when her eyes locked with an eerily familiar pair of gray ones. "…I'm…" Eyes widening, she brought her hand to her mouth. "…Kagome?" The girl turned to Shippou, who offered her a small smile.
"Rin—" That was as far as Kagome got before the beautiful woman threw herself at her, wrapping her arms around her.
"Oh my goodness! Kagome! It's really you!" she cried happily, tears collecting in her eyes.
Kagome returned the strong embrace rather awkwardly. "Rin, you're all grown. And you're married to Shippou…and you have a child…"
Pulling away with a happy grin, Rin nodded to the little blond-headed girl clinging shyly to her father. "Three. All girls. Hareru is the youngest."
"Hareru," Kagome smiled at the girl, who, in return, grinned shyly, burying her face in the crook of Shippou's neck.
"She's spoiled rotten," Shippou muttered. "The middle one, Yuri, still sleeps in our bed every night."
Rin, meanwhile, had found something else astonishing. Inuyasha was standing behind Kagome. Her jaw dropped when she saw him leaning against the doorframe watching Kagome play with the little girl. He seemed to notice her eyes on him and shifted his gaze, offering her a nod of acknowledgment. Memories came flooding back to her.
Rin fought against the strong arms that held her, instantly ceasing her struggles when she felt the cold, jagged tip of the blade pressed to her neck. 'Lord Sesshoumaru, please come save me.' She stared at the beautiful woman standing before her, bow fiercely drawn and pointed at her and her attacker. Her eyes were so full of determination and passion as she stared down the girl's captor. 'Kagome.'
Finally, the miko dropped her bow and held her arms up in surrender. "Alright. I'll go with you as long as you let the girl go."
As her memory faded, she had to turn away, unable to bring her eyes to his. 'It's all my fault! I can't even look him in the eye.' She hurriedly reached for her daughter, taking him from Shippou's arms. Plastering a smile on her face, she kissed Shippou's cheek. "It's time for this little girl's nap." She kept her eyes trained on the floor when she passed Kagome and Inuyasha. "It's so nice to see you again," she murmured as she exited the room, perfectly aware of the confused looks her back was receiving.
The hanyou was the first to speak. "What's her problem?"
The kitsune frowned at the empty doorway his mate had just gone through. "She's probably tired. Hareru was up all night with a tummy ache…which means we were too."
Inuyasha raised his eye at Shippou's blatant lie but didn't push the subject. "Well…where is that bastard?"
Shippou nodded his head toward the double doors on the opposite side of the room. "In his office." He walked forward and knocked on the doors.
"Come in, Shippou," the voice drawled, muffled by the thick wood that separated them.
The kitsune pushed the heavy doors open and held them for Kagome and Inuyasha to enter. And of course the first thing Inuyasha did was bare his fangs and growl as he stalked up to his brother's desk.
Kagome, however, took the time to take in her surroundings, looking around the extremely tidy office. In one corner was a bookcase full of neatly stacked books, in another there was a large monitor that was currently shut off. In the center was the reason they was here in the first place. Sesshoumaru sat at his desk in a large leather chair, filling out one of his many stacks of forms. The Inu no Taisho didn't even bother to look up as the guests piled into the office. The miko noticed that he hadn't appeared to age a bit. The only difference was his hair, which was now much shorter, much more business-like, and his style of clothing. His battle armor was gone and replacing it was an expensive dark grey Armani suit.
"This Sesshoumaru was beginning to think you would never enter," he said at last, leaning back in his chair and eying his brother. "So I'm still a bastard?"
"Cut the shit, Sesshoumaru. Why the hell did you call us here?" he scowled, his hand resting on tessaiga's hilt.
He slowly stood up, leaving his chair and glanced at the hanyou out of the corner of his eye. "Lovely to see you too, baka," he said in his normal dead-pan voice while he smoothed the wrinkles out of his suit. "I see you've still got a head the size of a small planet."
Inuyasha snarled. "Why you sonofa bitch! I do NOT have a big head!"—That always was an issue with the hanyou.
"He's talking about your ego, Inuyasha, not the actual size of your head," the Kagome quietly remarked.
Silent, cold amber eyes fell upon her, sending shivers through her spine. They were the same eyes as Inuyasha's only without the passion her hanyou possessed. The youkai was capable of masking any emotion, of blanking his face in a heartbeat—a powerful defense that she hoped Inuyasha would never pick up. "Ah. My brother's miko. I was informed of your recent attack. I see you are getting more powerful."
She merely gaped at the sharply-dressed youkai. His knowledge of her encounter with Tademas Nikko chilled her to the bone. 'Does everyone know? Did the police just broadcast it to the world?' Her voice faltered as she spoke, "How do you know about that?"
He studied her for a moment; she was trembling and furious. 'Passion—it's the weakness of my brother and his miko.' "I have men everywhere," he stated simply, "including the police station."
That was all Inuyasha needed to hear. In a flash of light, the tip of tessaiga was hovering dangerously close to the youkai's throat. His eyes blazed dangerously in the sunlight that filtered through the blinds. "You're spying on Kagome? I didn't think you were that low, Sesshoumaru."
His brother stared at him blankly. "It's just like you to charge into every predicament with your katana. Not every problem can be solved by a swing of the tessaiga."
"Wanna find out?"
"You will not kill me, as I will not kill you. This Sesshoumaru will not stoop to fighting his brotherover five-hundred year old qualms and a sword he no longer desires." He paused long enough to let his words sink in. "However, I have need of a favor."
Kagome shifted uncomfortably at his words. Sesshoumaru had changed…but he was still the same...only different. She decided at this point that she wanted nothing more than to take a couple of aspirin and curl into her bed.
The hanyou seemed equally disturbed. "Come again?"
"I will not beg you, Inuyasha, if that is what you want. This is either something you will do or you will not do. I have not intention of trying to sway your decision either way."
For some reason, this statement bothered him the most. Kagome watched him think silently for a minute while he kept his sword pointed to the powerful youkai. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he contemplated the possibilities of the favor and what doing it could mean. He sighed and sheathed tessaiga, folding his arms across his chest. "Alright, let's hear it. What's the favor?"
He held out a scroll, sealed with the blue emblem of the Inu no Taisho. "I need you to relay this message."
Kagome bit her lip nervously, knowing what would happen next. …It did. Inuyasha pulled his trusty sword out again. "What!" he bellowed. "I am not your fucking lapdog. Get someone else to send your damn message. Or better yet, get off your lazy ass and do it yourself." He grabbed Kagome's hand and turned to leave, "Come on, wench, we're leaving."
"Do not be foolish, Inuyasha. You and your miko—"
"Kagome," she corrected.
"You and…Kagome are the only ones capable of delivering it." He stared intently at his brother's back, hoping he would make the right decision. Finally exhaling when the hanyou froze and perked his ears up, he continued. "I need you to give this message to me."
Inuyasha's head gradually swiveled around to face Sesshoumaru, his eyes wide in incredulity. "What are you talking about?" He had a feeling he already knew what the statement implied. 'The well…'
"I've known about Kagome's link to Sengoku Jidai for sometime now,' he clarified impatiently while thrusting the scroll at Inuyasha. "I want you to deliver it to me. It is of utmost importance."
"What!" Kagome looked horrified, standing before him with her hands on her hips. "Do you know what you're doing? You're talking about tampering with the past…which could change the present! No. No way! Give it back to him, Inuyasha"
For a moment, a very brief moment, Sesshoumaru allowed his emotional barrier to collapse. He smile sadly at her; his eyes were tired and weary as he reached for the roll of parchment in the hanyou's hands. "I am truly sorry to hear that. You are free to go."
Inuyasha's jaw dropped, and he pulled the scroll out the inu youkai's reach. "That's it. We say no, and you just let us walk out of here? What happened to you?"
The Inu no Taisho stood tall in all of his regal glory. "I will not resort to forcing you to do something that I also have doubts about. But I have done everything in my power. I have repaid my debt; it no longer lies in my hands."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"This Sesshoumaru refuses to endanger the present anymore than he already has. If you'll just hand me the scroll…"
Inuyasha stared at the parchment in his hand. He wanted to take it…not only because his bastard of a brother was being so indifferent about it, but also because something was telling him to take it—that he needed to take it. 'What the hell is written in this thing?' "Alright. I do it."
"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken cried as he ran throughout the Inu no Taisho's fortress.
"What's the matter, Jaken?" Rin asked as she hurriedly pulled Kagura down the corridor toward the toad youkai.
"Where is Lord Sesshoumaru?" he panted.
"I am here." Everyone turned to face the youkai emerging from the shadows. "What has happened, Jaken?"
"At the gates, my Lord…a message for you! Naraku's Saimyoushou dropped it off. Three of the guards were stung and killed before they flew away."
Without waiting for another word, the taisho turned for the gates, quickly followed by Kagura. He pushed through the castle doors and out into the sunlight. It was chaos. His men were bustling around murmuring rumors about Naraku and his ambition. Some had gone after the fleeing Saimyoushou. Others were huddled around a chest of purple satin.
When he reached the box, a familiar smell assailed his nose, but he theshoved the thought aside and pushed the top up. His features remained stoic when his eyes met with another pair of horrifying, watery ones framed by a mass of bloodied ebony hair. "Kurojaga." The head of his southern ally laid motionless in the chest, his features contorted in unbearable agony. Kurojaga and hismen had been defeated.
"It has begun," Kagura said softly behind him. "Naraku builds his army." She plucked a feather from her hair and at Sesshoumaru's questioning stare, said: "I will warn Ushitsuyoi and Kouga. They need to prepare for battle."
The Inu no Taisho placed his hand over her wrist before she could throw her feather into the air. "I will send some of my men to warn Ushitsuyoi. We willpay avisit Kouga."
"Great God!" Kouga shoved the chest away from him and stormed out of the cave.
Ginta was the first to hear his cry. "What is it, Kouga?"
"Kurojaga's hand," he spat. "Call for the rest of the wolves! I want every goddamn tribe here by nightfall!"
"But Kouga—"
"Call them!"
The livid battle cries of the wolves pierced the afternoon sky. Naraku had managed to ignite the passionate fury of both the Northern and Western lands with a single act, and now he was going to face their wrath.
Translations of Words and Names I Have Used:
Koi- beloved, loved one (Carved on the grave marker)
Raidon- thunder god
Kurojaga- black jaguar
Ushitsuyoi- strong bull
Hareru- Sunny
Yuri- Lily
Sumire- Violet (Shippou and Rin's oldest child)
Quotes of Not-So-Randomness:
"Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war" –Marc Antony (Caesar)… (I am aware that I've already used this one…it just seemed appropriate.)
The real world is my world. I immerse myself in its ugliness every day such that others are unencumbered to seek something more pure. –Camerlengo Carlos (Angels and Demons)
