Seriously I did not expect that last chapter to garner so much feedback. You guys are the best audience in the freaking planet!

Only a few days left to vote on tumblr feudal connection and ya'll I'm so excited! Even if we don't win we all know this story is all kinds of angst!

Anyway...wow that was a rough school week. I can't wait for you to read what happening with our favorite couple this week!

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Kagome

Three Weeks Later

She leans over the well…again.

They've been at this for weeks, trying to force it open, morning, noon, and night, and all she can think of is how scared she is for her two daughters. Did he remember? It isn't that she didn't trust her mother to raise her daughters, but Izayoi doesn't look human, with white hair, golden eyes, claws, fangs and wiggly, fuzzy dog ears on top of her head. She can't blend in.

The well bursts into an explosion of virulent blues, pinks and hues of violet, throwing her and Taisho onto the ground…again.

Her back is on fire, her shoulders ache. Taisho's back isn't much better but his yoki heals it faster than hers. He rises off the ground, grunting and wiping his nose. "This is ridiculous." He joins her by the well again to try to pry it open.

Inuyasha is resting nearby underneath a tree rubbing his forehead. He has a fever, a rash has broken out on the soles of his feet. It's painful and often bleeds. Jinenji wraps his feet in clay and herbs to alleviate the pain, he's nearly as tall as the tree that Inuyasha is sitting under. Nearby Miroku and Sango watch while some of their younger children happily run incircles in Inuyasha's forest.

"She won't give up?" Sango asks while her youngest son Hiroshi runs circles chasing his sisters in the grass.

"No," Inuyasha grimaces while Jinenji removes the poultices from his blistered feet. They are stained in blood and yellow ooze.

"There's nothing else to try?" Miroku asks the hanyou who towers over them.

"I've tried all my herbs. Sesshomaru-sama sent new ones. I haven't seen this kind of illness before," he speaks quietly, and thoughtfully.

On Sango's lap, Kirara mews and yawns finding a place in her lap. "I don't like this. It's like something dark is hovering over us."

"It'll be fine," Inuyasha says confidently.

Kagome observes the conversation from the well, hoping that they are right and that it will all be fine, but there are things she knows and she is cursing herself for never asking more questions, for never prying it out of him. Is this it? Fear takes her as she gazes at her lover, is this the Disease that he said killed them? Is this why I never saw you in the future? It had always vexed her that she had never met Inuyasha in her future. Sesshomaru adjured her on many occasions that Inuyasha was there.

She thought perhaps hidden. Maybe he couldn't say where he was.

"Try again," she tells Taisho as she gathers her spiritual power. It swirls around her, wrapping her in blinding, tepid pink light. "Taisho?" she yells at her son. He wants to give up and she knows it.

"It's not working Ka-san," he says defeated. "That's it. It's shut," he sits down next to the well. "They're stuck." His face is crestfallen, he breathes heavily.

"I don't accept that!" she yells at her son. "Help me!"

"It's over Ka-san…I'm going to pack my things and head back to Ojisama's house," he kicks the Well as he walks away to their hut.

"Taisho!" she calls to him. This child will be the death of her, if she can still call him one. He's eighteen now, defiant, his own person.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha calls as he pants underneath the tree.

Her eyes soften seeing him, the others have left and that makes her relieved. There is a red sheen around his eyes, his cheeks are bright. She makes her way to her lover. His feet are wrapped in bandages that are already soaking through with blood. She sits down next to him and touches his forehead. He has already made his mother's liver broth. It didn't help. The herbs from Nobuatsu's garden have helped somewhat but not enough.

He coughs lightly, rubbing his forehead, "I feel horrible." He's slumped against the rivulets of the deep brown trunk behind him.

"You don't look good," Kagome leans underneath his arm to hoist him off the ground. "We should take you to the river and wash those feet."

"This is after they were cleaned. Just let me sit," he says exhausted. "I'm normally not sick for this long."

"You said you felt better last night," she reminds him. "The fever broke, why did it come back?"

"You tell me, you're the nurse," he says proudly. "At least you were able to finish before the well closed."

She bursts into tears turning from him. How can she cry when he feels so awful himself? "I can't do this," she whispers sadly. "You have to get better, Inuyasha. I can't lose you too."

"I'm tough, you worry too much," he says as he accepts her help to get off the grass. His eyes follow his son who has packed his small bag. Sayako and Sota left two weeks earlier. They'll go visit them when he feels better. She smiles thinking of Tatsuo, the gorgeous little boy that has stolen her heart. The child smiles as if there are no cares in the world and nothing can harm him.

"Your feet are bleeding and you've been running a fever for weeks," she whispers. Please don't let this be the disease he spoke of.

Taisho sits down with them. "I'm ready to go. I'm sorry Ka-san…I'll come back in a few weeks to try again."

"He can't teach you about your spiritual powers Taisho," the mother reminds her son. It's going to rain soon. The sun is covered with angry grey clouds. Plump rain drops begin to fall from the sky. "It's starting to rain."

"The easier to get there without someone tracking me," he says nervously. "They need me Ka-san."

"We need you," Kagome says, but is stopped by a hand on top of hers. It's then she feels the raising bumps of blisters growing on the palm of his hand. "We need to find a Healer."

"I'll send Nobuatsu," Taisho offers. "When I get back."

"Jinenji is the best there is. If he can't get these to calm down, I don't know," Inuyasha forces a smile on his tired face. "Just go. I'll be here when you come home."

"Bye To-san," he hugs his parents and jogs into the forest.

They arrive back at their hut and she immediately sets him down on the furs on the floor that Rin and Sesshomaru sent for him. His eyes close, but before she can get up to tend to the village, Inuyasha grabs her around the waist bringing her back down. "It'll be okay Kagome…you'll see. The well will open again, the girls will be fine."

"I can't help it," she lays down next to him. "I'm worried about them."

"Your mom will take care of them."

"I know…I'm almost offended that he thinks there is a better place than here."

"It's easier for him to be who he is there. Besides, when Sesshomaru sent the letter he said that Yuki was attacked by monks. Rin was injured, they almost lost Hisato."

"You two talk quite a bit now," she smiles. It was better than them always fighting.

"Some things are in the past. Hideki threatened Taisho a few days ago. He didn't want to worry you, but he attacked him."

"That kid has been a nuisance since he was born," Kagome snorts. He was the same child that had thrown Taisho in the river when he was two years old, the same one that attempted to seduce Rin when she was a girl and the same one the two boys had pummeled until he finally married and was too inundated with children to bother them. "What happened?"

"Taisho beat the hell out of him," he laughs proudly. "He's learned more with Sesshomaru than I could teach him. He has better control over his poison and he makes my skin crawl when he calls on the full extent of his spiritual powers. They were happy with us," he claws her hair. "They just need to be where they belong."

"And you?"

"It was never easy here…it's why we live on the outskirts. He sent the warning because he's worried they will come back here."

"Should we leave?" It hasn't occurred to her that the fight would be brought to them.

"I don't know. For now, Sango and Miroku will fight for me. I have you," he kisses her brow. "Nothing bad is going to happen."


Nothing bad is going to happen? Please Review and tell me what you think of that!

Story Plug: I'm going back to Kiss of Fate by me and the awesome Kimmigirl9 because the shit is about to hit the fan in that story and we just posted a yummy lime...

Coming Next! Natsuki-past February 13th...what's happening back at Gobodo-sama's castle?


Kimmigirl9: Yes I agree with you! It made me shed some tears too. That moment between Sesshomaru and Yuki is so freaking cute!

HarukasempaiX2: Yuki is totally a daddy's girl but it was unintentional that she didn't apologize to her mother directly. I may put that in later. She is a total brat and yes I felt like she needed a whooping too. I actually asked the husband if it was overboard and he said NO because she almost got other people killed!

Mechine: Yes Yuki deserved a big consequence for running out of the barrier acting like she was above the rules. They don't see Rin as inferior Gobodo-sama doesn't favor one daughter in law over the other in fact she favors Rin, because everything she has done has been to keep Rin from death...perhaps not in the best way possible. I also liked her and Katsumoto. Obviously he will not do anything with her until she is well over 130-150 somewhere in there, but I wanted to show the start of both of them sensing something about each other that is completely non-sexual. Yuki is a complex girl, she's not so easy to understand.

GuesswhoX2: The chapters are hopefully coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can follow me on twitter or tumblr same username for updates. I loved showing the family dynamic too, because Rin was beaten as a child why would she want her daughter to be, but Yuki really, really badly crossed a line that almost brought her mother and guard death sooo...Yes different times and oddly enough I asked my husband if it was 'too much' and he told me no...because the times and the fact that she endangered other people so it's acceptable, not that we want Yuki beaten but that moment at the end where they talk about it and make up for it...oh yes dark times are acoming!

Ginax2: Yes I should not have to explain but the problem really is that people are so hung up on Fanon there are certain nuances I probably know nothing about because I don't follow them...things with the two swords is probably part of it. Were you able to vote?

Morality: They are in love but he is not Prince Charming, he is a dog-demon who is drawn by natural, uncontrollable instincts and she is human, which means they are meshing two worlds together and they are allowed to fight. All couples fight. It's never easy to combine two individuals and fighting does not equate an unhappy relationship.

Mother Fudger: Kagome beat Rin once remember? In Sengoku this was a normal punishment for a child that misbehaved so I would argue Sesshomaru isn't psychotic. He is practical. Inuyasha was not raised better than Sesshomaru? Remember he tried to kill Kagome...he wanted to kill Kikyo, in fact it took beads to calm his ass down. I love your passion but if you place 21st century standards on a story-line that takes place 500 years ago you are going to be appalled. Minorities didn't have rights, women didn't have rights, children were beaten often...watch Dororo, it gives you a very clear picture of how women/children were treated back then...it weren't pretty we just have a hard time swallowing that pill. And like everyone else said, she deserved it.

Ivriel: Thank you! I thought the mother daughter moment was cute too. Voting is open until tomorrow so we shall see how it goes.