Story: Kagraku
Chapter 36: Aftermath
Story by Aero Tendo(Feudal Era)
(Within the Guardian's mountain)
Koga and Aneko were resting in the same room where they'd first discovered that Aneko was a princess along with their other friends. It was the least damaged room out of the whole place. Those who had survived were being treated for their injuries within the same room along with their friends.
Koga had his arm around Aneko as she laid her head on his shoulder, sleeping a bit peacefully with her eyes closed. Koga looked at her as he remembered how very hard she had fought to drive those two… he didn't know what to call them. They hadn't been human or demon exactly, so the best that he could come up with was that they were monsters and even though he had detected Naraku's scent it was as if they'd only been around him and of him like his past children.
Koga leans over and gives Aneko a soft kiss on her forehead, which causes her to stir just for a moment before she just turns her cheek to nuzzle into him a little more. This makes Koga smile softly just for a few moments at her before his smile fades as the sound of someone in pain is heard.
Koga looks in that direction and sees Kagome applying some of her future medicine upon the injured fox demon with Inuyasha helping her by holding him still long enough for her to apply it properly.
Koga still felt a bit protective of Kagome since she was his friend and because of that, when he saw the cut on her left cheek, which she had covered with her band-aid from her time, and even though she had assured him that she was ok, he still hated to see her hurt. He knew that Inuyasha would be able to protect her and keep her safe, especially since he knew that they were in love with each other, as he could smell it every time he was around them.
Aneko stirs with a soft sound, which brings his attention back to her and she moves to sit up which makes her reveal a few holes in her clothes that had been caused by the intense battle with the two monsters.
Aneko slowly opens her eyes to look up at Koga and sees the concern and care within his eyes the moment their eyes meet. She smiles up at him before she says, "Hey there…" She then realizes that she'd been sleeping on his shoulder and says with a soft blush on her cheeks, "Sorry Koga, I guess I fell asleep on your shoulder."
Koga softly smiles at her and says, "Don't worry about it, I rather enjoyed having you sleeping on me." He then sees her blush even more before he reaches up to her chin and gives her a quick kiss upon her lips.
Aneko smiles at the quick kiss from Koga and leans to kiss him again before she winces at a little pain from one of her wounds. Even though she was a fox demon, she knew that it would still take some time for her to heal. Koga sees the pain on her face and says, "Don't push yourself too hard, that was a rough battle for anyone and you fought with more courage than… well, even me."
Aneko giggles softly and says, "Aw, don't sell yourself short Koga honey. You fought very some very tough battles right alongside me and even though it was tight in a few places I never felt more happy or safe than when I was beside you."
Koga's cheeks blush a little which makes Aneko smile more before she leans to kiss him softly on the lips and when she pulls back she softly whispers, "I love you Koga." Koga is speechless for a moment before he smiles at her in return and says just a notch louder than her, "I love you too Aneko." Before he wraps his arms gently around her, being careful to avoid hurting her.
Kagome sits up after she finishes treating a wound on another fox demon that had been hurt by a wall falling down on top of him when one of the two human-like creatures aimed a blast at him. The Guardian had been lucky he hadn't been hit directly because she'd seen what happened to the Guardians when they'd been hit. As it was, Kagome figured that he would be up and to his usual self within a day or two if he was anything like Inuyasha or Shippou.
The Guardian fox demon says, "Thank you Kagome, you are a very kind human." Kagome smiles down at him and says, "You're welcome, I am just glad I could help." The Guardian nods and says, "I saw you fighting against those creatures, you were incredible! I am sure glad you were here to help. I shudder to think what would have happened if you and your friends hadn't been here to help."
Kagome softly blushes, "Please, you're too much." The Guardian softly chuckles before he looks over to Inuyasha and says, "I saw the way you were fighting with her Inuyasha. You two make quite the unstoppable team. I am just glad you guys didn't choose to fight outside our mountain when I was out there. I think now that we would have lost even though we outnumbered you."
Inuyasha says, "Yeah, there's no demon that I can't handle in a fight and Kagome is about as good as me when she gets mad." The Guardian says, "Well Inuyasha I wouldn't let her escape if you know what I mean. She'd be someone I would want by my side if I thought I could claim her." His eyes look back and forth between Kagome and Inuyasha to see if his suspicions were correct and judging from their faces he was right on the money.
Inuyasha growls softly at the thought of another person trying to claim Kagome as theirs when he had finally just gotten rid of Koga trying to do the same thing when the Guardian laughs and says, "Fortunately I already have a little lady of my own and I doubt she'd be happy if I went after someone else."
Kagome smiles and reaches across the Guardian fox demon to wrap her arms around Inuyasha before he can say anything else and gives him a big kiss right on the lips! This sudden kiss surprises Inuyasha for a moment before he realizes he's being kissed and relaxes to reach out and hold her back while they kiss for a minute.
The Guardian watches the two kiss for a while and remembers what young love was like, letting them kiss for a while before he starts to feel a bit uncomfortable as their kiss grows more heated. He clears his throat loudly enough to break the two out of their passionate kiss.
The Guardian says, "Ahem, not that I didn't enjoy the sight of you two kissing but if my wife showed up I think she would get the wrong idea. Do you think you two could continue kissing elsewhere?"
Inuyasha blushes and grumbles something while Kagome giggles before she takes his hand in hers and pulls him away as she says to the Guardian, "Sorry about that, we'll go help someone else now." The Guardian chuckles and says to the two of them as they walk away, "Have fun kissing her after each patient Inuyasha!" which gets a giggle from Kagome and a "Shut up!" from Inuyasha.
Miroku was tending to a wound of Sango's on her left arm, which she had received when shrapnel from one of the Guardian weapons was sent flying back at the group. Sango had managed to block most of it with her giant boomerang but some hit her left arm and right leg. They both looked up when Inuyasha had yelled "Shut up!" at some Guardian for some reason.
After they saw that Kagome was giggling and towing a blushing Inuyasha, they figured that the Guardian had said something to embarrass Inuyasha before they looked at each other. They had been so close to each that their eyes met and for a moment to the two of them, all time seemed to freeze for everyone but them.
Sango looked deeply into Miroku's eyes and felt her heart beat more quickly, a part of her wanting to kiss Miroku while another part of her wanted to push him away because she still had that promise she'd made to herself about her younger brother in which she would forsake everything until got him back and out of Naraku's clutches. Still, she was a woman in love and the man she was in love with was just inches in front of her gazing deeply into her eyes.
Sango could feel Miroku's warm breath on her lips and her lower lip trembled just a little as a tiny panicked voice said, "Miroku's going to kiss me!" while another voice that didn't sound panicky said, "Miroku's going to kiss me!" She starts to close her eyes to the halfway point with their lips so very close to each other now as she waits for Miroku to kiss her when she felt something on her rear and she thought "Oh no… he wouldn't!"
Midoro was laying against the wall with Soten and Shippou sleeping in her lap with her hands resting upon each of their heads in a tender, comforting way. She was very proud of the two children for they had both been through a very tough battle with two human creatures and together they'd been able to save the lives of at least six Guardians.
Midoro suddenly hears a loud slap and looks in the direction of the sound to see a very red faced Sango and an even redder handprint on Miroku's face. She softly sighs and thinks, "When are those two going to learn?" Looking down, she sees that the loud slap didn't bother the two kids and she guessed that Shippou must be used to the sound of Miroku being slapped by now even as Soten must be used to loud sudden sounds being a demon from a valley where lightning happens all the time.
Midoro runs her fingers through Shippou's and Soten's hair in a tender, motherly way. She loved her son Shippou and had come to adore Soten as a kind of a daughter with everything that they had all been through. A part of her wondered if Soten would be a good match for her son. She had seen that Soten could be very brave and willing to fight for her friends, both of which were admirable qualities in someone so young.
Midoro had to admit to herself that she wouldn't mind having Soten as a daughter-in-law as she looked at Soten before she let her eyes drift back to Shippou and wondered what he thought of the young thunder-demon girl who had fought so hard beside him. She had to smile to herself as she remembered how it felt to fight beside her husband against demons before she had her children and how when she saw Shippou and Soten fight, it made her feel as if she was watching her husband and herself fight from the outside.
Midoro brushes her fingers through Shippou's hair some more before he turns a little in his sleep and turns towards Soten a little bit which makes her smile a little at the cute scene. A Guardian approaches her and she quickly brings a finger up to her lips to signal to be quiet before she glances down at the two sleeping. The Guardian nods and walks up to her before he pulls out a scroll that had the royal seal upon it.
Midoro nods to the Guardian who bows slightly to her before he turns to walk off, leaving her to open the scroll. She opens the scroll and takes care not to wake the children as she does so. She gasps softly as she reads the message sent to her from Negi and thinks, "This can't be!" before she looks down at Shippou to see that he is still asleep. She then looks at where Aneko is to see that she is still with Koga.
Midoro very slowly and carefully move both Shippou and Soten so that she can stand up and with one last check to see them sleeping side by side so cutely, she walks off to find Negi and have a word with him about what she wrote to him and why he felt it was necessary to not tell her such information in person. She grinds her teeth a little as she thinks of a reason and a few Guardians get out of her way, wounded or not after seeing the hostile vibes she was sending out.
Soten eventually wakes up on her own before Shippou does and blushes at how close he is to her, but she doesn't move because she was enjoying the sight of his face so close to her own as they laid facing each other. She had to admit that Shippou was so darn cute as he slept.
Soten sees that Shippou has a hand out as he slept and she slowly inches her hand towards his, trying to be quiet about it. She very slowly and gently places her hand over his, feeling the warmth and hidden strength of his hand that had once battled her to a even standstill once upon a time.
Soten had seen Shippou battling the horrid creatures that had invaded the mountain and knew that somehow Shippou gained even more courage and fighting ability to just barely surpass her own. She wanted to stay his equal in all things and so she promised herself to work at making herself stronger. She wanted to be someone that he would be happy and proud to have by his side.
Soten blushes softly as she wriggles a finger up and down over a finger and watches his face as he sleeps, thinking that she could just watch him sleep all day and never get bored. She looks at his open hand and traces a finger lightly over the lines of his hand, feeling the calluses that he'd gained in his travels with Inuyasha and the others.
All the touching of his hand starts to stir Shippou out of his sleep and he cracks an eyelid open to see what was touching his hand. He is surprised to see Soten with a dreamy smile and blushing cheeks playing with the palm of his hand.
Shippou just watches for minute in his sleepy state as his mind slowly catches up to what Soten is doing to his hand. For a few moments he is frozen in surprise when his mind finally catches up and he opens his eyes with a sudden movement and his hand flexes.
Soten notices the flexing of his fingers so she looks at his face and sees the surprise upon his face! She blushes very redly and whips her hand away from his as if she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
The two of them just look at each other with red faces, not sure what to say to each other before Soten says, "S-Sorry… I didn't mean to wake you up… you just looked so cute sleeping and I… (Did I just say he was cute? I can't believe it!) just wanted to see if your hands were ok from all that fighting."
Shippou blushes some more and nervously says, "It-it is ok, no harm done… I guess. (She called me cute! Does that mean she likes me?) My hand is fine." And so he waves the hand she'd just been touching to show that it is all right. The two of them just lay there until they realize that now they are awake, that they didn't have to continue to lie down.
Shippou is the first to sit up with Soten following and they manage to stop blushing but they still don't know what to say to each other. He looks down at his hands, poking his first fingers together in thought while Soten twirls a finger over the ground in a kind of S pattern as she too thinks.
Sango and Miroku do not miss the nervous tension of Shippou and Soten. The two of them watched the two children from a distance with the smallest of smiles upon their faces in case either Shippou or Soten happened to look their way.
Both Sango and Miroku thought that their young love was cute and Miroku whispers to Sango, "Looks like our young friend has a girlfriend." Sango looks at Miroku and whispers back, "Just don't go teaching him anything, I want him to keep his girlfriend."
Miroku looks at Sango with hurt eyes and says, "Why you wound me Sango, "I think I could teach Shippou much in the ways of women and love." Sango changes her position to look right at Miroku and lowers her eyes to glare at him, "The only thing YOU could teach him is how to be lecherous and Soten deserves better than that."
The two stare at each other for a few moments before Miroku says, "What if I promised not to teach him any of my lecherous ways, with you there to make sure?" Sango seems to think this over for a few moments before she says, "Very well, but only when I am around, got it?"
Miroku bows his head a little before saying, "Yes, and I shall not disappoint you my dear Sango." Sango is surprised at the way Miroku suddenly behaves towards her and a very light blush comes to her cheek and to keep Miroku from seeing it she turns her head away and her eyes fall upon the two young demons.
Sango whispers, "Miroku, look!" and so Miroku looks at the two young demons and smiles as he sees that they had come to lay on each other's shoulder and the sides of their heads were just barely touching, making it look as if they'd fallen asleep while leaning against each other.
Sango and Miroku just smile softly as they watch, letting the two young demons have their moments together for they'd earned it.
AN: Well, I certainly hope that you all enjoy this fluffy chapter. I did this as much for all you readers as I did for my own sanity. It was very hard to write that scene (which I was told gave nightmares to one of my readers) in the previous chapter. Anyway, it looks good for our heros so far but did Kagraku and her sister succeed in what they were trying to do or did they fail? These questions and more will be answered soon! Please read and review!
Mika-Girl102: I apologize for the scary battle but it was necessary for what will happen later on in my story. I hope that you like THIS chapter much better. See, no battle in this one. :)
Shippogirl: Yeah, I know it was intense and stuff, and one of the hardest chapters I've ever had to write for ANY story but also crucial. It also linked the dream Aneko had in a previous chapter. I tried to refresh the dream tale in the chapter itself and I'm glad that worked out well.
BeccaPatty: Nice ideas but unfortunately if there was a prophecy I would have revealed it by now. - As for what their goal truly was... you'll just have to wait and find out like everyone else (grin)
Trekker4life: I am glad that you enjoyed this story and I am also happy to hear that you'll recommend this story to your friends. I like knowing that people enjoy reading a story enough to share it with friends.
Kagome's Twin Sister: Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
Shel: Here's another update! yay:)