lostmoonchild: I don't own Inuyasha or anything else unless I say otherwise.

Chapter Thirty Six

What had they done wrong?

Hana kept silent as Kagome and Inuyasha tried to explain why they were sending Shippo and Hana to stay in Sesshomaru's castle. "All we have to do is see if we can't get more support." Kagome tried to explain.

"Then ask the Makai kings!" Hana shouted. "Tell them that Naraku's threatening to overpower them! That if he takes over Ningenkai, then there's nothing stopping him from taking over the Makai or even the Reikai!"

Kagome admitted that they could ask the Reikai for help but she then remembered that Koenma had actually come by the house a couple hours before they went back to Feudal Japan with a warning.

---------------flashback--------------

"Do you guys really have to go back to your era, Inu-nii-san?" Souta questioned with wide eyes.

"Yeah. We only agreed to stay for a week." Inuyasha said.

"YUSUKE NO BAKA!"

They turned and saw a familiar boy run into the house followed by an angry girl. Kagome started laughing as she grabbed the girl and said, "C'mon, Kei, he's died twice already. If he died a third time, I don't think the Reikai would let him leave."

Keiko glared at Yusuke who had chosen to retreat behind Miroku. "Hey, I can't be the only one blamed." Yusuke said trying to defend himself.

"What'd my idiot cousin do this time to piss you off?" Kagome questioned.

"He got me pregnant."

Kagome's eyes widened a little and she started yelling with happiness before going over to her cousin and bashing him on the head. "Ow! What'd I do?" Yusuke asked rubbing his sore head.

"Baka." Kagome stated before whispering in his ear, "She doesn't know how long a hanyou pregnancy is, does she?"

"Hey, I'm the hanyou."

"My point exactly. So do you realize how long the pregnancy will be?"

From the look on Yusuke's face, he didn't. From the look on Kagome's face, she was going to have fun telling Keiko so she could beat Yusuke up. Warning her friends to stand clear of the flames, Kagome took a deep breath. "Hold up, I don't wanna know!" Yusuke said looking scared.

"Six months."

"HOW MANY MONTHS?!" Keiko screamed before attempting to strangle Yusuke.

Kagome fell backwards on the couch laughing as Yusuke ran around the room trying to avoid being killed. "What is all this commotion?!" Mr. Higurashi shouted.

"HOLY FUCK!" Yusuke shouted coming to a complete stop causing Keiko to crash into him.

"YUSUKE!"

Yusuke rubbed his sore head and grinned up at his uncle. "Uh… hey! You're home. That's good." Yusuke said with a grin.

"Just what is going on?" Mr. Higurashi questioned.

"Yusuke and Keiko are gonna have a baby!" Hana said excitedly. "In six months, I'm not gonna be the baby anymore!"

Mr. Higurashi looked at Yusuke before leaving the room muttering something about teenagers not waiting until they were married. Kagome snickered a little before saying, "Thanks, Yusuke. Now I'm REALLY looking forward to leaving."

"Hold on a minute," a voice said not sounding to happy.

"KOENMA!" Yusuke and Kagome shouted at the same time.

Hana started laughing sensing her cousins' emotions and ran over to Koenma to give him a hug. "HI! See, look! I'm all better now! My eyes are still broken but that's okay!" Hana said excitedly.

"Yes, Hana, I see." Koenma said.

"Take her away from me, I dare you." Kagome said, her voice warning. "Hell opened once, if you take her away from me so help me I'll open Hell myself."

"I didn't come to play social services, Kagome. I just wanted to find out how well Inuko is adjusting to being in a family." Koenma stated.

Kagome rolled her eyes sensing he wasn't telling the full truth. "Guys, this is Koenma. Koenma, you already know who everybody is." Kagome said with a slightly annoyed look.

"So how is Inuko adjusting?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess. Calls me "mama-Kagome" every once in a while but… hold on a minute! You never really cared how well the kids were adjusting before so what makes this one so different?!"

"You know full well that I can't disclose that information."

"Koenma, either tell me or I'll…"

Koenma sighed at Kagome's tone and said, "You know just as well as I do how delicate bringing youkai and hanyous back into this world is. Especially when we're separating the children from the parents."

"Which is why you guys chose to have orphaned and abandoned children brought to Ningenkai first." Yusuke pointed out knowing what his cousin's job involved. "And Spirit Detectives all over the world are watching those children carefully when the nannies can't."

"Exactly."

"So what the hell makes Inuko so different?" Inuyasha demanded, having grown protective of the small inu-hanyou.

Koenma looked at Inuyasha for a minute before looking at Kagome. "Listen, no matter what happens or what anybody suggests… under no circumstances are you to ask for help from the Reikai."

"Why not?"

"Just don't ask."

Kagome sighed in defeat and nodded. "But I've got to agree with Inuyasha. What the hell makes Inuko so different?" Kagome questioned unaware Inuko was sitting on the stairs listening.

"When Inuko was first placed under your care, don't you think It strange that we didn't even have any idea who her parents are?"

"We don't know that with half the kids we've got."

"True. But she had absolutely no memory of where she came from."

"Okay, that takes out half of those kids."

Koenma sighed a little before saying, "A couple of my father's Spirit Detectives were on a retrieval mission deep in the Makai when they found a lab. The lab was full of bodies and unborn children."

"Inuko is NOT one of…"

"Kagome, I know you've always felt something different about her."

"Don't you dare…"

"We have reason to believe that…"

"NO!"

They spun around and saw Inuko looking both angry and scared. "MY MOMMY AND DADDY ARE ALIVE SOMEWHERE! MAMA-KAGOME SAID SO!" Inuko shouted before running outside.

Kagome looked annoyed and said before heading outside, "Koenma, Inuko may not be my responsibility anymore, but I'll always consider her to be one of my babies. So next time you decide to tell me that you suspect that my little sister is an experiment, tell me in the Reikai and not in my own home."

-----------end flashback--------------

It had taken nearly two hours just to calm Inuko down enough to come inside. Kagome felt guilty about leaving her mother with a child who was asking "What am I?" and was furious at Koenma for even suggesting anything before they even had any proof. Now here they were trying to explain to Hana and Shippo why they had to go to Sesshomaru's castle.

"I don't want to go!" Hana shouted angrily.

Kagome rubbed her forehead beginning to get a headache and said, "Hana, it'll only be for a week. You've been away from us before."

"But I don't want to stay with Sessho."

Inuyasha smiled a little at Hana's way of saying Sesshomaru's name and said, "Don't worry, pups. I'm sure you can handle staying with the bastard."

That's why they were standing outside Sesshomaru's castle a few days later. When they were allowed inside, Inuyasha nodded a little to Sesshomaru. "Thanks a lot, Sesshomaru-sama." Kagome said with a smile.

Sesshomaru looked at the two children that were currently trying to hide. "Rin's upstairs if you two want to go play." Sesshomaru said.

"I want to go with Ka-ka and Inu-papa."

Sesshomaru raised a questioning eyebrow at Inuyasha who shrugged and answered, "Don't ask me. She started calling me that not too long ago."

Kagome smiled a little and hugged the two children. "Behave for Sesshomaru. He's being kind enough to keep you two here until we return." Kagome said with a smile.

"Why can't we go?"

"Because we don't want you two to get hurt."

Hana and Shippo nodded slowly and watched as Kagome and Inuyasha left. Sesshomaru cleared his throat a little and said, "I'll show you to your rooms. Feel free to go anywhere in the castle and on castle grounds. If you have any intentions on leaving castle grounds, you tell somebody so they may escort you."

A frown appeared on Hana's face as she looked up at Sesshomaru. "I know the rules, Sessho-sama. You don't have to explain them to me." Hana said with a look of obvious boredom.

Sesshomaru looked at Hana and Shippo, managing to hide his surprise. Nodding slightly, Sesshomaru lead them upstairs ignoring everybody who stopped to bow to him and stare at the two children following him. "If there's anything you need, tell one of the servants and they'll bring you what you want."

"Yes, Sessho-sama."

"Okay, Sesshomaru-sama."

That night, Rin woke up to hear somebody crying. Quietly, Rin got up and started walking towards the source of the sounds. "Hana, don't cry. It's okay. Mama's going to come back." Rin heard Shippo say.

Rin knocked on the door and opened it a little before poking her head into the room. "Is everything okay?" Rin asked.

"Hana thinks Kagome abandoned us." Shippo said trying to calm Hana down.

Rin went into the room and closed the door behind her. "I'm sure that's not the case, Hana." Rin said sitting on the bed next to the sobbing girl.

"What would you know? Nobody ever abandoned you promising to come back." Hana sobbed.

"Sesshomaru-sama has left Master Jaken and myself many times." Rin said honestly.

Hana gripped her pillow tightly and Shippo shook his head. "But he's always come back! Mommy said she was leaving for a while and she never came back! Ka-ka adopted me because Mommy said that she was the one who's supposed to take care of me! Now Ka-ka's gone and she might not come back! That's how it always works! SOMEBODY GOES AWAY AND THEY NEVER COME BACK!" Hana cried loudly.

"Hana, you'll wake Sesshomaru-sama. He doesn't like to be woken at night." Rin said rubbing the other girl's back trying to comfort her.

Hana fell silent occasionally allowing a sob to escape her lips. "Hana… will you finish that story?" Shippo questioned knowing what might help his sister calm down.

"F-fine." Hana said sitting up and wiping her tears away.

"You should listen too, Rin. It's really good." Shippo said with a pleased look.

"W-where were we?"

"Um… The inu-hanyou had just been pinned and the strange priestess had discovered him." Shippo said with a grin.

Hana nodded a little before saying, "Right. Cautiously, the strange priestess walked up to the tree and looked at the strange boy. That's when she noticed his ears. Cautiously, she reached up and began rubbing his ears…"

The next morning when Sesshomaru woke up and dressed, he went to check on the pups that his half brother and his bitch had left in his care while they gathered allies. He opened the door and was surprised to see Rin curled up with the other children. It didn't take too much effort to realize what had probably happened. The faint smell of tears could be picked up, although he didn't know if half demons or even if a full demon that was as young as Shippo could smell the tears.

What had happened during the night to cause one of the children to cry and Rin to come? Why hadn't anybody gone to get him or better yet, why hadn't he heard?

A small hand pulling on his kimono drew Sesshomaru from his thoughts. "Uncle Sessho?" Hana murmured rubbing her eyes.

Sesshomaru jumped and nearly smiled at the how the child broke his name down to suit her. "What?" Sesshomaru asked looking down at the small child.

"Thank you."

Sesshomaru raised a questioning eyebrow at the small child and watched as she left the room to go outside to sit for a while. What was she thanking him for? If it was because he was letting her and Shippo stay with him until the miko and his idiot brother got back, then she didn't need to. This was a favor to the priestess and his brother since they would be taking care of Rin eventually for a few days.

Deciding that all pups were confusing, Sesshomaru woke Rin and Shippo up before telling them that if they wanted breakfast, they had better get up soon.

lostmoonchild: Ah, Sesshomaru's got a nickname other than "fluffy" isn't that sweet? Not sure what'll happen next chapter but leave a review to find out!