Frog Bunny: I'm glad you like it. ^_^
Xing: Evil? You ain't seen nothin' yet.
Dragon's lover: *Blush* You are too kind.
Future Repercussions
Chapter 3
Kagome took the meat Kouga offered her and sat across the fire from him. He took some meat for himself and began to eat. Kagome nibbled at hers but just couldn't seem to get into it. Kouga, who just a moment ago seemed to be ready to talk, was now absorbed in his food.
"Kouga?"
"Kagome, are you not hungry? Would you like a bath, I can step out." He asked quickly.
"No Kouga, the food is fine and I bathed before I left. I want to know where my mate and son are. Where is my family? The shrine? Hell, where is Tokyo? Did I not go all the way through? What year is it? Did you kidnap me again? Is this about me choosing Inuyasha over you? And…" She stopped when he raised a hand for silence.
"The year is 2003, and why the world you knew is gone I only have a guess. As for Inuyasha, Shippou, and the others…That is a tale that needs to be told from the beginning." Two things he said registered in Kagome's brain. The first was that she had made it back to her own time and the other was that Kouga had just called Inuyasha by his name, not dog-turd, or mutt-face, or half-breed. "I'd also like to ask your forgiveness for my forward behavior at the well, but demons have been staking it out for the last 400 years, and I had to get you out of there."
"You are forgiven and I'm listening." She said softly.
"This isn't an easy tale to tell, and I'm sure it won't be any easier to hear." He paused to collect his thoughts, "I guess it all started not too long after you left, only a few years. You may not believe this but Inuyasha and I got really close." Kagome raised an eyebrow and Kouga smirked, "That's right, we put our old rivalry aside. I asked him to be my blood brother and invited him and Shippou to join the pack. But you know Inuyasha, always the lone wolf, so to speck." He chuckled, "No, he decided to stay and protect Kaede's village. Of course, it soon became known as Inuyasha's Village. Things went fine for a while. I settled down with a nice wolf bitch and had some cubs, two boys and a girl. Miroku and Sango had a son, took after his father. Asked my daughter, Ami, to bare his child when he was five." Both of them chuckled.
"It was around then that it all got started. Inuyasha had taken Shippou on a week long survival trip." He spotted the confused look on her face, "In canine demons –dogs, foxes and wolves included- they must pass a coming of age task. It usually is surviving a week on your own, relying only on your instincts. You have to hunt, cook, and fend for yourself. But the young ones are taught every thing they need from an early age, so it's really more of applying what you've learned."
"Anyway it was about five years after you left, Inuyasha and Shippou were out of the village at the time, leaving only Sango and Miroku to guard against attack; Kaede having died in her sleep the year prier." He paused, "In the end I guess she was the lucky one."
Flashback: five years after Kagome left the feudal era
Sango sat on her porch in Inuyasha's village as she polished her boomerang. It had been years since she had last used it, but she still maintained it in her spare time. She watched her young son, too much like his father, as he wrestled with some of the village boys. It was one of those days that felt like nothing could go wrong, like for just a moment in time the world was at peace. The feeling sent old chills down her spine. It had felt this way the day Naraku was defeated, and the unexpected attack had almost lost them the battle.
She shook her self mentally; the idea was stupid. They hadn't had any real battles since that day. Sure they had had a few tussled with some minor demons from time to time, all looking for the sacred jewel, but nothing that couldn't be handled easily. But some how she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was a foot.
"My dear Sango, what is troubling you?" Miroku asked, his eye filled with concern for his wife.
"I don't know Miroku," she sighed, "The day just seems to be with holding something and with Inuyasha and Shippou gone…I guess I'm just edgy."
"You feel it too then." Miroku frowned and Sango looked in to his eyes.
"What do you suggest we do?" Sango asked. Miroku furrowed his brow.
"I must attempt, I am at a loss on this one. I don't want to alarm the villagers for no reason as we really have no proof of anything, but I don't want everyone to be caught off guard either." As he spoke a cloud passed over the sun and darkened his features.
"Mommy, Daddy, what's that?" Moruki, their young son, asked and pointed to the sky. Sango and Miroku looked up. The cloud that had covered the sun was thick, black, and alive!
"Moruki get inside!" Sango yelled "Kirara transform and worn the village! Come on Miroku!" the two rushed off the meet the coming horde.
End Flashback
"What happened?" Kagome asked not really sure if she wanted to know. Kouga took another bite of meat, more to buy time then to stave off hunger.
"Well, exactly how the battle went, I can't tell you. Inuyasha was the first to discover the village, two days later. He called to the pack for help, but if anyone had survived the initial attack, they were already dead by the time we got there.
Flashback: Two days after Village is attacked
Inuyasha rushed through the forest with Shippou clinging to his back. He had picked up the smell of fire and blood coming from his village. What had happened in his absence? Where Sango and Miroku all right? They where the only family he had left, they had to be ok.
He burst from the trees to be greeted with his worst fear. The scene that lay before him was as terrible as the massacre of Sango's village. Human and demon bodies lettered the blood-covered ground. Every thing that could burn had, leaving only smoldering piles of ash in its wake. He felt Shippou tighten his grip and gasp. They stayed rooted to the spot for what seemed an eternity, just staring in horror. How many villages had they come across during their search that where in a state such as this? None of them could count. But it was a whole different feeling when it was your own village. Finally coming to his senses Inuyasha rushed forward into the remains of the village.
"Sango! Miroku! Anyone! Answer me!" He screamed. He stopped to turn over and check villagers for life, only to find everyone of them dead. The demons had killed indiscriminately. But still no sign of his friends.
"Inuyasha!" Shippou called from his shoulder, "Call Kouga, we need help!" The only answer the kit got was for the older demon to stop and throw his head back and howl. The howl was returned shortly from some where off to the south.
Kouga and his pack were quick to arrive to find Inuyasha and Shippou still as frantic to find survivors, and still not having any luck.
"Brother, what happened?" Kouga yelled to Inuyasha as the dog demon turn over another body only to find it lifeless as the rest.
"I don't know. Shippou and I found it this way just a little while ago. We still haven't found any survivors and Sango and Miroku are still missing." Inuyasha replied.
End Flashback
"We spent the rest of the day cleaning and searching. I sent some of my wolves into the surrounding woods in search of some clues. We buried the humans and burned the demons." Kouga finished.
And what of Sango and Miroku?" Kagome asked. Kouga looked up and pursed his lips, seemingly debating how much to tell her. "Please Kouga, I have to know." Kouga sighed and ran a clawed hand through his hair.
"Ok Kagome. It was dusk before we found them. One of my wolves brought us to the God Tree."
Flashback: Dusk of the same day
Inuyasha, Kouga, and Shippou followed the wolf into the God Tree clearing. There they found Sango, Miroku, and their son Moruki hang naked by their wrists from the branches. Their bodies where decorated in thousands of deep cuts, bruises, and dried blood that was also pooled below them. Their heads lolled to the side and their eyes where glazed, unseeing, and filled with pain.
Shippou screamed and crawled into Inuyasha's shirt to hide. Inuyasha clutched the shaking ball of fur to his chest as he screwed his eyes shut against the sight. His nose told his they were long dead and the smell of suffering, tears, pain, and heartbreak still hung thick in the air. What had happened here and why?
End Flashback
"The cub had died first, then Sango, and finally Miroku. They were tortured to death, slowly. The best guess we had was that the demons wanted something from them. Something that only they had. It would be a long time before we knew the reasons." Kagome stared at him in horror. How could things have gone so wrong?
"What happened…?" Kagome choked out.
"After we cut them down and buried them, I invited Inuyasha and Shippou to join the pack again. But they wanted to hunt down the ones responsible and make them pay. I can't say that I blame them, I felt the same way after Naraku destroyed my pack. So I offered them shelter whenever they needed it, and the whole pack at their beckon call. It would be many years before I heard from either of them again."