A/N: Not sure how to follow up the last chapter, but I shall try. (strikes a heroic pose none of you can see thankfully) Anyways, glad to see so many of you liked it. Now to get down to the nitty-gritty of the story and really get to writing. I think these next few chapters might be longer than the last not sure. Anyways, read and review. Love you guys.
When Kagome woke up the next day she instantly went to the nursery. When she didn't see her pups in their crib she freaked out. She ran down the halls and followed Shippou's aura to the gardens. If anyone would know here her pups were it would be Shippou.
"Shippou! Have you seen my pu-" Kagome stopped midsentence when she saw Nala, Nami, and Loki running around the gardens with Kotari and Haku, while Kilala, Zero, Rin, and Shippou watched.
"What is it mama?" Shippou asked walking over to her.
"Nothing." Kagome said with a relieved smile.
"Oh, sorry. But I noticed that they were trying to get out of the crib so Zero and I brought them out here. They've been walking since early this morning." Shippou said finally understanding what had his mother so stressed out.
"It's fine. Have they said anything yet?" Kagome asked walking over towards Rin and sitting next to her.
"Not yet kaa-san." Rin said with a smile.
"Okay." Kagome said as she turned to watch her children run around the gardens. They seemed to have a certain kind of grace to their movements, even though they were just trying to catch Kotari and Haku.
'At least I didn't miss their first words.'
'True. And we still get to teach them how to fight so it's okay.'
Kagome sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun was shining and yet it was still so cold.
"Kaa-san?" Rin asked and Kagome looked over to her.
"Yes sweetie?" Kagome asked.
"When are you going to start training them?" Rin asked looking back towards the three pups who had finally managed to catch Kotari.
"When they start talking." Kagome said smiling when Kotari managed to get away.
"It shouldn't be too much longer before they start talking." Shippou said from his place behind Rin.
"Hm." Kagome said, then an idea came to her.
"Nala, Nami, Loki, come here." Kagome said in a soft voice and all three pups turned their heads up to look at their mother. They stopped chasing Haku and ran over to her. They stopped right before her seeming to be debating with themselves if it was okay to hug her or not. Kagome pulled them into a hug and they all smiled.
"You guys will start training as soon as you start talking. So take your ti-"
"Training how?" Nala asked in a soft voice.
"Who will be teaching us?" Nami asked in a bell-like voice.
"Will you and daddy be training too?" Loki asked in a soft baritone voice.
'Well so much for that.'
"They talked!" Rin said excitedly.
"That they did." A voice said from the doorway of the gardens. They all turned to see Sesshomaru leaned against the doorway.
"Otou-san!" Nami, Nala, and Loki called in unison as they ran towards him. They stopped before him like they had Kagome. He looked over at her and she just smiled. Sesshomaru took knee and pulled them into a hug and they all smiled. When he pulled away and stood back up he had a small smile of his own barely visable on his face.
"Seems like their training will start today." Sesshomaru said as he walked over to Kagome with Nala, Nami, and Loki attached to his legs. Kagome couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"It would seem so. We'll start after lunch." Kagome said standing up and picking up Nami and Nala. Sesshomaru bent down and picked up Loki.
"Alright then. After lunch it is." Sesshomaru said before placing a kiss on Kagome's forehead.
"Shippou you and Rin stay out here a little bit longer, Sesshomaru and I will take the kids inside to the library." Kagome said. She wanted to know the extent of her pups' knowledge.
"Okay mama." Shippou said as Kagome and Sesshomaru headed towards the library. Once there Kagome set Nami and Nala next to Loki infront of the fireplace. Then she and Sesshomaru pulled out a variety of different books. They set them infront of the children and they started to read them aloud.
"Twenty years ago a demon named Omashu was legened to be..." Nala read from a book titled Demons and Their Reigns Over the Centuries.
"...and no matter what Cinderella knew she'd live happily ever after..." Nami read from one of the books Kagome had brought from her time for Rin when she was still younger.
"The battle between the two houses raged on for centuries with neither side winning. It seemed that..." Loki read from a book titled Tales of War.
"Seems they are quite intelligent." Kagome said with a smile.
"Just like their mother." Sesshomaru said and Kagome blushed.
"So what now Sesshy? How will we train our pups?" Kagome asked as she walked over to one of the empty chairs and sat down. She watched as her three pups got lost in the stories they were reading.
'Seems they like to read as much as I do.'
Kagome thought with a smile.
'That is a good thing, but focus on training our pups. Once the ball is over you can focus on whatever you wish.'
Kagome sighed to herself.
'Fine.'
"Well after lunch, we shall take them out to the dojo, which has been repaired since yesterday." Sesshomaru said with a smile and Kagome blushed.
"Sorry about that." Kagome said sheepishly, but she had really enjoyed her fight with Kilala.
"It is fine. Who do you want to teach?" Sesshomaru asked pulling Kagome up, sitting in the chair she was previously sitting in, and pulling her down onto his lap.
"You know you could have just sat in the other chair." Kagome said with a blush.
"Yes, but then I wouldn't have been as comfy." Sesshomaru said as he nuzzled her neck.
"Whatever." Kagome said as she tried to keep her voice steady.
'He has no idea what it does to me when he does that.' Kagome thought to herself. She heard him growl only low enough for her to hear.
'Then maybe again he does.' Kagome thought with a smile. That's when she remembered he had asked her a question.
"Well, if I had to choose only one then I'd say Nala, but I could I'd like to train both her and Nami." Kagome said as she turned to look at their pups quietly laying in the floor reading their books.
"You'd leave this Sesshomaru to train our son?" Sesshomaru asked in a mock shocked tone. Kagome turned to look at him and growled.
"I thought we agreed you wouldn't do that unless in the presence of the other Lords?" Kagome asked.
"Hn." Was the only answer she got. She sighed and turned around in his lap.
"You're so impossible." She said as she leaned in and kissed him briefly.
"Hai, but so are you." Sesshomaru said with a smirk.
"Alright, how 'bout this. We'll let them choose who they want to be their teacher." Kagome said finally coming to a conclusion.
"That is fine by me. Come, it will be lunchtime soon." Sesshomaru said and Kagome got up off his lap. They told the pups to put up their books and they all headed out of the library and to the dining room. Just as they sat down a servant came in and sat lunch down on the table. Sesshomaru nodded and everyone started to eat. Shippou and Rin stopped by briefly to snag some food, then left saying something about going on a picnic. When lunch was done Sesshomaru and Kagome led their kids to the dojo and told them to sit down.
"Okay, well from today on your father and me are going to train you so you will be ready for the ball coming up." Kagome said and all three pups nodded their heads.
"What we want to know is who do you want to train you?" Sesshomaru asked. None of the pups said anything.
"You can choose who you want to train you. But one, or two, of you will be trained by one of us while the other, or others are trained by the other one." Kagome said.
"I want my father to train me." Nala said standing up. Sesshomaru nodded his head and she walked over to him.
"I want to train with kaa-san." Nami said, making Kagome smile. She stood up and walked over to Kagome.
"I...I want to be trained by...daddy." Loki said in a small whisper. Sesshomaru nodded again and Loki walked over to him to join his sister.
"Okay, it's settled. Sesshomaru will train Loki and Nala, while I train Nami." Kagome said as she walked over to Sesshomaru.
"I'll train inside the dojo, you go train them somewhere else." Kagome said before kissing him briefly.
"Hn." Was his response before leaving with Nala and Loki following. Kagome turned to Nala who was fiddling with the hem of her kimono.
"Alright then, let's get started." Kagome said as she walked over to the wall of weapons. She picked up a small shortsword and walked back over to Nami.
"Here, use this." Kagome said as she handed her daughter the sword. She took it and looked questioningly up at her mother.
"What will I use this for?" Nami asked.
"To defend yourself. Come on, I'm going to teach you the basics for swordplay by the end of the day." Kagome said as she drew Kensaiga.
"A-Alright." Nami said taking a stance. Kagome almost laughed at her daughter's footing. The way she stood a wind could knock her over. She walked over to her daughter and corrected her.
"Like this. You have to be strong, don't let anything knock you down." Kagome said softly and Nami nodded. Kagome took her stance again and raised her sword.
"Now just try to block this." Kagome said before charging at Nami. She tried to bring up her sword, but wasn't fast enough and Kagome knocked her down. Nami stood back up and took her stance, this time with correct footing.
'She's a fast learner.'
Kagome thought with a smile before charging at Nami again. Nami managed to block Kagome's sword, but was still knocked to the ground.
'Yes, but she has no will to fight you.'
Kagome helped Nami up and her daughter took her stance again. Kagome could see in her eyes that her beast was right. Her daughter had no will to fight against her.
"Nami, don't worry about hurting me. I've fought against your father countless times. Go all out. Even if you do hurt me I can just heal myself okay?" Kagome said with a smile, but got no response from her daughter. She sighed and crouched down before Nami.
"Baby look, how 'bout we make this whole thing a competition?" Kagome said with a smile. When working with a child, think like a child.
"What do you mean kaa-san?" Nami asked.
"I mean let's see if we can't make you stronger than your brother and sister. But to do that you'll have to go all out, alright?" Kagome asked and she could see Nami's eyes light up at the thought of beating her brother and sister in something. A smile spread across Nami's face before she answered.
"Okay kaa-san."
"Good. Now let's try this again." Kagome said as she stood up and took her stance. Nami did the same.
"Now this time try to attack me." Kagome said and Nami nodded before charging at her. Kagome blocked Nami's attack and pushed her back slightly and charging at her. Nami blocked it and stayed upright.
'She's improved.'
Kagome thought as she blocked one of Nami's attacks and charged for her again and Nami blocked it again.
'Because you gave her something to fight for.'
"Alright, seems like you've gotten the basics. Now let's try something else." Kagome said when Nami had managed to block all her attacks and actually managed to land a blow to her side.
"Like what?" Nami said as she cocked her head to the side.
"We'll try actually fighting against one another. Don't worry about hurting me, and no matter what always get back up okay?" Kagome stance as she took her stance again.
"Okay kaa-san." Nami said doing the same. Both raised their swords before charging at eachother. Nami attacked Kagome and she blocked her. She pushed off from her only to charge at her again. Nami blocked Kagome's attack and swung out with her foot trying to trip her, but Kagome jumped out of the way. She pushed off from the wall and brought her sword down. Nami blocked it, then backflipped out of the way. She landed in a crouch across the room.
"Not too bad, now I'm going to go all out. Ready?" Kagome asked. Nami nodded and Kagome lunged for her. She knocked Nami's sword from her hands and brought Kensaiga down, but Nami blocked it with her claws. They jumped back from eachother and Kagome sheathed Kensaiga.
"If you're going to fight with your claws then so will I." Kagome said before charging at Nami. Kagome pulled back with a yelp and held her hand close to her chest. She looked back at Nami and saw that her daughter had inheirited her father's poison claws.
"Kaa-san are you alright!" Nami asked as she ran towards her.
"I'm fine baby. You just surprised me." Kagome said as she looked at her hand. The flesh was burned pretty badly and it stung as the poison continued to eat away at her skin.
"I'm sorry kaa-san, but you said not to hold back." Nami said as she started to cry.
"I know I did baby, don't cry. Look, I'm already healing." Kagome said as she focused her miko energy to her injured hand and it started to heal. Killing the poison in her system. Nami stopped crying and smiled.
"All better see?" Kagome said as she toussled Nami's hair.
"You still want to fight?" Kagome asked and Nami nodded.
"Okay then. It seems like you've mastered the basics of both swordplay and hand to hand combat, let's see if we can't get you a special technique only you can use shall we?" Kagome asked with a smile.
"Okay kaa-san." Nami said with a smile.
Kagome thought a moment before smiling to herself. If Nami had some of Sesshomaru's attributes then she should also have some of hers right?
"Nami come here." Kagome said with a smirk.
"Yes kaa-san?" Nami asked as she walked over to Kagome.
"I'm going to teach you how to use your miko powers okay?" Kagome said softly.
"Miko powers? How can I have miko powers when I am a youkai?" Nami asked skeptically.
"Because sweetie, I'm a miko demoness. Since you had some of your daddy's powers, I think you might have some of mine as well." Kagome explained as she sat crosslegged in the dojo.
"Okay." Nami said doing the same.
"Alright, well close your eyes and focus in on where your youkai energy is stored. If you have any miko powers, then they should be there as well. Do you see a different orb of energy besides your youkai?" Kagome asked slightly hopeful.
"Hai, I do." Nami said with a smile and Kagome sighed in relief.
"What color is it?" Kagome asked. She was doing the same thing Kaede had done with her.
"It's red, like a ruby." Nami said and Kagome smiled.
"Okay, now see if you can't change it into a shape. Any shape you want." Kagome softly instructed. Kaede had done the same thing with her when she was teaching her how to call upon her miko powers when she first arrived in the Feudal Era. Kagome smiled when she saw sparks of red show up in Nami's hands, then grow into the shape of a wolf.
"Very good, now stay focused on the shape you want and open your eyes." Kagome said. Nami did as Kagome said and a smile spread across her face whens he saw the ruby colored spirit wolf sitting in her hands.
"Now, try to make it move." Kagome said. This was the tricky part. If Nami didn't stay focused then her miko powers could hurt her.
"Right." Nami said. Slowly the wolf stood up and walked out of Nami's hands. It started to walk around slowly at first, then started to run around. Nami started to laugh and the energy forming the wolf sparked out of control.
"Nami focus!" Kagome said. Nami stopped laughing and the wolf's form went back to normal.
"Sorry kaa-san." Nami said quietly.
"It's fine, but just remember until you have full control over your miko powers they are dangerous not only to you, but to those you love." Kagome said repeating the exact words Kaede had said to her all those years ago.
"Okay kaa-san."
"Alright, seems like you can control it pretty good. Let's see if you can fight with it." Kagome said as she closed her eyes.
"What do you mean?" Nami asked, but Kagome didn't answer her. She just focused and called forth her miko powers. She opened her eyes and a blue spirit inu was standing next to her. Kagome stood up and Nami did the same.
"Alright, this is something I came up with on my own, but I've never had a reason to use it. It's a secret, not even daddy knows how to do this okay?" Kagome said and Nami nodded.
"Okay kaa-san, I won't tell anybody." Nami said with a smile. She was happy that her mother had shared something with her.
"Alright. Take your stance again. Focus on your energy and use it to control your wolf. Make it move with your thoughts and your will." Kagome instructed as she had her inu circle around Nami's wolf. The wolf slowly started to do the same.
"Good, now try to have it attack." Kagome said. Nami nodded and did as Kagome said. The wolf jumped and tried to attack the inu from above, but Kagome had it jump out of the way and slash the wolf's side.
"Ah!" Nami cried out in shock.
"It was a good idea to attack from above, but it was too obvious. Try again, and try waiting for an opening." Kagome said. Nami nodded and had her wolf move again.
OoOoOoO
"Alright, now which one of you wants to go first?" Sesshomaru asked his daughter and his son as they reached a clearing big enough for them to train in.
"I will daddy." Loki said stepping forward. Sesshomaru nodded and got into his battle stance. When Loki did the same he lunged for him, poison claws ready and attacked him. Loki just barely managed to block Sesshomaru's attack.
"Good, now try to attack me back." Sesshomaru said as he jumped back and attacked Loki again. This time he managed to block Sesshomaru's claws in time and swiped his own to try and hit Sesshomaru in his side. Sesshomaru elbowed him in the gut and Loki doubled over.
"Get up, when fighting you can't show any kind of weakness. You're enemies will use it against you." Sesshomaru said. Loki stood back up and took his stance.
'Good, he is persistant. Though he has a weak will.'
'We can fix that.'
'Yes we can, but Kagome will not be happy.'
'Would you prefer mate to be happy or pup to be safe?'
'I refuse to choose between the two.'
Loki tried to attack Sesshomaru again and Sesshomaru knocked him to the ground. He noticed that his lip was bleeding. Loki noticed the scent of his own blood and started to cry.
"Stop that this instant. No son of mine is going to cry over something as trivial as the sight of his own blood." Sesshomaru ordered making Loki cry even more.
"I said stop it!" Sesshomaru yelled and he stepped forward to grab Loki by the shirt, but Nala stepped infront of Loki and growled at him.
"Don't make my brother cry." She said through clenched teeth.
"He shouldn't cry over something as trivial as seeing his own blood. He is weak." Sesshomaru said simply.
"Father you need to be more considerate. Loki is trying the best he can, it's not his fault if he's not very good at combat." Nala said.
"Then whose fault is it?" Sesshomaru asked getting annoyed. How dare his daughter talk to him like this.
"I don't know, but it's not his. So stop treating him so...so coldly!" Nala hissed.
"Look here, I am training him so h-"
"Training him? Bullying him is more like it!" Nala said.
"Enough out of you." Sesshomaru said as he lunged for Nala. She jumped out of the way and came up from behind him and slashed her claws through the back of his hatori. Sesshomaru's eyes widened in surprise before going back to their normal emotionless state.
"Stop being so mean to him!" Nala said as she crouched down infront of Sesshomaru.
"Hmph." Was all Sesshomaru said.
"Nala it's fine, daddy was just-"
"No Loki it's not fine, he is our father, he should be nice and loving and kind. Not mean, and hateful, and cold!" Nala yelled.
"I will not have my child talk about me so." Sesshomaru said.
"Then how 'bout this father. You beat me and I will apologize to you and treat you with the proper respect, but if I beat you then you must apologize to Loki." Nala said with a smile.
"Fair enough, though I will win this little challenge of yours." Sesshomaru said as he got into his battle stance.
"We'll see about that." Nala said as she started circling around Sesshomaru.
'She has too much of her mother in her.'
'Is that not why you liked mate in the first place? Her will to defy you?'
'In my mate yes, in my child no.'
"Don't hold anything back father, you might regret it later if you do." Nala said before disappearing from Sesshomaru's sight.
'Irritating child.'
Sesshomaru sensed something to his left and turned to face it and was struck from behind.
"Don't rely on your sense of auras father, I know lots of ways to hide mine." Nala's voice said from seemingly everywhere. Sesshomaru smirked as he crouched down just as he heard the soft sound of footsteps behind him. He turned and his claws barely missed Nala's nose, but she ducked out of the way.
"And you should not be so cocky in your fighting abilities, you are still a child." Sesshomaru said.
"That was only a miscalcuation, it will not happen again." Nala said before disappearing again.
"We shall see." Sesshomaru said as he took off after the sound of his daughter's footsteps. He came to a different clearing and stopped. He sniffed the air, but couldn't smell anything but grass and the winter air. He tried sensing anything, but came up with nothing. He even tried listening for something, anything, but again he came up with nothing. Suddenly he heard laughter.
"I told you not to rely on your senses." Nala's voice said before Sesshomaru was suddenly forced to the ground. Sesshomaru forced her off him and she went flying into a tree. Sesshomaru stood up and walked over to the debris only to find that Nala was gone. He felt a trickle of power coming from his right and turned in time to have Nala's claws dig into his skin. He howled out in pain and jumped back, dragging her claws out of his skin. He tried lifting his right arm, but found that he couldn't.
"What in the-"
"I have paralyzing poison in my claws father, you won't be able to use your right arm until the effects wear off. Which won't be until sunrise." Nala said with a smile.
'Hn, seems like she does have some skill. Definately the most skilled out of the two.'
Sesshomaru charged at Nala again with his poison claws out and she blocked them with her own. Sesshomaru swept out with his feet and knocked Nala to the ground, but before he could pin her down she jumped out of the way and landed in a tree some distance away.
"I'll give you this, you are definately pretty skilled so far." Sesshomaru said as he focused his energy into his poison whip. "But nothing compared to me." He said as he flicked it towards the tree Nala was sitting in. The light green whip flew throught he air and hit the tree. It melted as soon as it was hit, but Nala was nowhere to be seen.
"If you say so father." Nala said from behind Sesshomaru. He turned around to see Nala twirling two poison whips similar to his own only a dark amythest instead of light green. Nala jumped from her spot beneath a tree and landed behind Sesshomaru. She spun and her whips flew through the air towards Sesshomaru. He tried to block them using his whip, but it only managed to block one of them. The other cut through his hatori and slashed across his stomach. As soon as it hit Sesshomaru realised it was like her poison claws. Sesshomaru fell to his knees unable to move. Nala cut the power to her whips and they disappeared. She walked over to her father and stood before him.
"I believe I have won father." Nala said in a serious tone. Sesshomaru growled to himself and looked up into her angelic face.
"Loki, I am sorry." Sesshomaru said as Loki walked over to the two of them.
"It's fine daddy, I'm already healed see?" Loki said pointing to his lip. It was completely healed.
"I'm through with this, I'm going to check on mommy and Nami. Loki, you can heal him if you want, but I wouldn't if I were you." Nala said as she walked to the edge of the clearing before disappering into the forest and heading for the dojo.
'She is a fighting prodigy.'
'Indeed she is. Now if only my son would be like that.'
Sesshomaru thought as he sat on his knees on the ground. Loki walked up to him and laid his hands on his right side first, where Nala's claws had dug into the first time. They glowed a dark emerald green and Sesshomaru slowly started to regain feeling in his right side.
"I'm really sorry daddy. I'm not as good a fighter as Nala, or you. I know I'm weak and you don't like weakness, but I really do want to become stronger." Loki said as he moved and laid his hands on Sesshomaru's chest.
'So he knows he is weak and wishes to become stronger. He is just like me when my father died. I was so weak as a pup and wanted to become stronger.'
'You did become stronger, but you also became cold. When we saved Rin we became less distant, but we thought ourselves to be weak because we saved her.'
'Yes, but because I did I had someone to protect so I became stronger in order to do so.'
'Then when mate showed up we became even stronger so we could protect her. Now we have pups, we must also be strong, as well as caring.'
Sesshomaru thought about what his beast was saying and realized it was right. He had noticed that Kagome seemed to be stronger when she had something to protect, just as he had become stronger when he was protecting Rin and Kagome.
"If you wish to become stronger then you must find something precious to you to protect. If you have the will to protect that which is dear to you then you will have the will to become stronger." Sesshomaru said as Loki finished healing him and Sesshomaru could move again. He stood up and looked down at his son. Loki had a thoughtful expression on his young face.
"So if I have something dear to me to protect it will help me to become stronger?" Loki asked as he looked into Sesshomaru's eyes.
"Hai. Do you have something dear you wish to protect?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Hai." Loki said as he nodded his head.
"And what is that?" Sesshomaru asked slightly curious as to what Loki held dear to him.
"Mommy, Nala, Nami, and..." Loki trailed off.
"And?" Sesshomaru prompted though he had an idea as to who the last person was.
"And you father." Loki said quietly. Sesshomaru didn't say anything, he wasn't exactly sure what to say. He wasn't used to having people trying to protect him. He couldn't believe his son felt that way about him after how he had just treated him.
"I understand that you think I am weak and that I will not become strong but-" Loki's sentence was cut off. Sesshomaru knelt down and hugged Loki close to him. Sesshomaru's sudden show of affection shocked Loki so much that he didn't react.
"I may have thought you to be weak, but you're not. If you are willing to do everything in your power to protect that which you hold dear to you then you are already strong." Sesshomaru said as he pulled away. He smiled down at his son and Loki smiled up at him in return.
"Thank you father." Loki said as he wrapped his arms around Sesshomaru's leg and hugged him. Sesshomaru smiled and pat him on the head.
"Come on, I think I know a way to help you become stronger." Sesshomaru said as Loki pulled away. He got into his stance and Loki hesitantly did the same.
"You wish to become stronger to protect the ones you love, use that will to fuel your powers into something that will help you do just that." Sesshomaru said as he lunged for Loki. Loki brought up his claws and blocked Sesshomaru's, then jumped back. Sesshomaru smirked when he saw that Loki's footing was off and he swept out with his leg to knock him down, but Loki jumped out of the way and landed in a branch on a nearby tree.
"Seems you learned something from watching the fight between your sister and I." Sesshomaru said with a smirk as he turned to look up at his son.
"Maybe a little." Loki said with a smile of his own.
OoOoOoO
Loki was so happy that his father seemed to understand his need to become stronger to protect the ones he loved. Loki jumped down from his place in the tree and landed behind Sesshomaru. He struck out with his claws only to have them blocked by his father's. Sesshomaru turned and hit him in the gut. It sent him flying into the forest. Loki slowly stood up and coughed up a little blood. He felt hot tears stinging his eyes, but quickly wiped them away.
'No tears! Tears won't help me protect the ones I love! But then what will?'
'Let me help you?'
'Who are you!'
'I'm your innerself. And if you truly want to protect the ones we love then use your youkai powers to your advantage.'
'How?'
'Just trust in your will to protect the ones you love.'
'What do you mean?' Loki asked confused, but didn't get an answer.
'Trust in my will to protect the ones I love.' Loki thought to himself. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slowly let it out. He saw a spark of dark green somewhere deep inside himself and he called it forward. He felt it surround his entire body before it faded away. He slowly opened his eyes to see two exact copies of himself looking straight at him.
"Ah!" Loki yelled jumping back and his clones did the same.
"How in the?" Loki asked as he stepped closer to one of them. He reached out and touched it. It felt real, just like his sisters and mother and father.
'What are they?'
'They are what will help you protect the ones we love.'
'But how did I-"
'Like I said, you trusted in your will to protect the ones you love.'
'Do they do the exact same thing I do?'
'Experiment and find out.'
'Okay.' Loki said to his innerself before strengthening his will and running back through the forest to where his father was still in. His clones following close behind him. Loki masked his aura and his clones auras before he reached the clearing. He jumped into a tree and his clones followed him. He focused and made his clones move away from him to seperate trees. He looked down and saw Sesshomaru looking around trying to find him. He smiled before jumping down and attacking his father. His clones doing the same. Sesshomaru punched one of the clones and they fell to the ground. Sesshomaru thought it was the real thing so continued to advance on it. Loki jumped on his father's back and dug his claws into his shoulders and had his clones attack different parts of him as well. All three of them managed to pin Sesshomaru down and Loki held a clawed hand to his throat. He called back his clones and they fused with him and disappeared. He saw that his father's golden eyes widened in surprise.
"H-How did you-"
"I just did as my innerself said and trusted in my will to protect the ones I love." Loki said with a smile.
OoOoOoO
Sesshomaru was completely shocked. He'd never before heard of any demon being able to make copies of themselves that could function in a fight. Sesshomaru turned his head to the side in a sign of submission and Loki stood up to let him up. Sesshomaru grabbed Loki by the back of his shirt and pulled him down onto the ground with him and pulled him into a hug.
"Well done Loki. You've already become strong just by your will to protect the ones you love." Sesshomaru said as he looked down at his son with nothing but pride in his eyes.
"You really think so father?" Loki asked.
"Hai, I do. And you will continue to get stronger. Come on, let's go see your mother and sisters. Your training for today is over." Sesshomaru said as he stood up.
"Hai." Loki said as he stood up afterwards. They both headed through the forest until they reached the dojo. They walked through the door to see Kagome and Nami in the middle of a battle, but not using swords or claws. Nala was leaning agains the wall watching intently.
"What's going on Nala?" Sesshomaru asked as he and Loki joined her. She turned and glared at him before turning to look back to the fight between her mother and her sister.
"Nala it's fine, father helped me become stronger." Loki said sensing why his sister was being so hostle towards their father.
"Oh?" Nala asked sincerely surprised.
"Hai, I'll show you what I mean tomorrow. Just know that he completely changed after I healed him." Loki said with a smile before turning to look up at Sesshomaru who only smiled as he watched Kagome and Nami continue their fight.
"Mom and Nami are in the middle of some sort of spirit battle is the best I can guess. I'm not even sure how they're doing any of it, but I think Nami might be winning." Nala said with a smile.
"It would seem so." Sesshomaru said as he continued to watch Kagome and his daughter fight. The ruby colored wolf jumped and landed on the blue inu's back. It dug it's claws and teeth into the inu's back and wouldn't let go no matter how much the inu tried to shake it off. Finally the inu went down and disappeared, then Kagome fell to her knees.