Hey everybody!! Sorry this took so long to get out, but be happy I'm
getting this out now... I still have 3 reports to do, and a book that
sounds more boring than anything to read. All by Tuesday, thank-you-very-
much. Plus, I had to finish a report yesterday, and had to run errands
today. And tomorrow. And Monday... Like I said, be happy I'm getting this
chapter up this weekend. I could make you wait. I considered making you
wait. But I promised, and so... here's your chapter!! Enjoy!!!
And I still don't own them!! (not even our new character, she's owned by all the wonderful people who voted... Thanks again!!)
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Ch. 18 A visit from OLD friends and loves
Kagome breathed deeply the moment her feet touched the packed earth at the bottom of the well. She felt the person to her right move a bit, and heard bones crunch, and knew that Koshu now knew first-hand why it was called the "Bone-Eater's Well".
As she smiled at the snickers the other two demons gave off, she noticed that the moonlight shining into the well wasn't as bright as it usually was. One glance upwards told her why. There, all around the lip of the structure, peering down, was Kouga's pack. She tugged on the hand of the wolf leader, and on the hand around her waist. There was a momentary pause, where she got the feeling all the demons around her were silently challenging each other for something, but it ended when Shippou's hand around her tightened, pulling her up against his body. Of course, this caused her to blush as he leapt up and out of the well, followed closely by two slightly annoyed wolf-demons.
Koshu knew that the kitsune had won, that Kagome would be going with him and not the pack like his father and himself would. He couldn't help but feel slightly saddened, almost as though he was not good enough to be loved by the likes of her, but then was snapped out of his reverie by the oddest feeling. Kagome was hugging him!!! Turning wide eyes down to the miko whose arms were wrapped around his torso, he saw her look up at him and smile.
"Kouga said you have to leave soon. I just wanted to say goodbye." 'So I was right, she IS staying with the fox...' "I'm gonna miss you, Koshu. You're a great guy. A lot like your father, actually. Be sure to come and visit sometime, ne? And don't forget to drag your parents with you. I still want to meet your mother." He could only nod dumbly at her request, but felt himself puff up in pride as she compared him to his father. 'That's more true than you know, Kagome. We both cared for you as potential mates, but you chose someone else over us each time. And if my father can heal and love again, then so can I. I hope.'
The pack leader stepped away from the wolves he had been conversing with, a smug smirk plastered on his face as he wrapped his arms around the young priestess from the future. "Ah, Kagome, it was kind of you to take us with you, even if it was unintentional. And I promise my mate, son and I will come and visit soon. Perhaps I can bring some of my other pups as well. After all, my whole pack knows your story." His smirk stretched into a grin. "As you can tell, the number of my youkai around here is smaller than when we left. It seems they returned home and told the others of your arrival. Now I have to go and keep them from coming and having a holiday for you."
Kagome laughed. "Yeah, and I doubt Shippou would like this entire clearing filled with wolves for days on end, it might interrupt his hunting or sleeping. We all know how you guys tend to howl at the moon." She grinned as she picked on him, knowing that she had never heard him howl at the moon, only the normal wolves. But she was surprised beyond belief when, after exchanging a glance with his son, Kouga tipped his head back and let loose a howl that sounded more like a wolf than the ones often heard on tapes or in movies. This was the pure, raw animal sound that could only be produced by the creature before her. And it was beautiful.
Then the rest of the pack joined in, Koshu first, and sang a melody to the moon above them. The tune was haunting and enchanting at the same time, drawing her in until she wished for nothing more than the ability to join them as they called to the white orb in the sky.
She started for a minute when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, and looked down at the clasped hands before her, noting the claws on the fingertips before looking up and behind her into Shippou's face. She didn't know why, but since she had first seen him as an adult, she had been changing the way she saw him. She could still imagine the child who begged for chocolate, lollypops, and crayons, but now she focused on the man behind her, smiling as he watched the wolves howl in near-perfect unity at the moon.
"It's called an awakening song." She almost started again at the kitsune's soft whisper in her ear. "It's when they call all things sleeping, all things quiet and even those dead and gone, and wake them for as long as they keep howling. I've only heard it once before, and that was when Kouga finally accepted you were gone. When he found his mate. He called for you, actually, to be happy, and he called for those of his pack who had died to see the outcome of all their trials." He sighed now, and Kagome realized just how old Shippou was. He had lived longer than most humans could, and was therefore wiser than any man now living. And Kouga was undoubtedly wiser. After all, 'With age comes wisdom', right?
He hugged her, and she looked up at him curiously. "Shippou, they can call specific people back?" He nodded. "Just as long as they keep it up?" Another nod. "Shippou... who are they calling?"
The kitsune looked down at his love, then one he had missed so much as both a child and an adult. Whom he had once seen as a surrogate mother, but now as the wonderful mother she would one day be, and basked in the hope that she might be the mother of HIS kits. He shook his head slightly, both to clear it and to show his lack of an answer, and turned his sensitive ears back to the wolves, taking in each rise and fall in the volume and pitch of the howls. Then he caught the odd fluctuation that had only been used once... EVER... before him. When Kouga had called to Kagome, he had apologized for the pain Inuyasha had caused her. And now, that name was being repeated. Over... and over... and over.... And Kagome tensed up in his arms, and he knew what he would see if he relaxed his eyes enough to let the lines blur.
Sure enough, the moment he had loosened his focus on the details, he could make it out. The familiar red and white that had always been associated with his father figure that had seemed at times more like an elder brother. And next to him was another form of red and white, but this one with black mixed in. He knew immediately who it was.
Inuyasha and Kikyou had returned.
Shippou felt Kagome begin to shiver in his arms, and he tightened his grip as he looked over the woman by Inuyasha. Their forms were still soft, almost transparent, but they were there in vivid enough detail to see the pained smile on the hanyou's face. The sound of the wolves around them seemed to fade as the pair stepped forward, Inuyasha's hand reaching out to almost pass through Kagome as he attempted to touch her face.
"Kagome..." It was so soft, barely a whisper, but it was one of the most familiar voices he could have ever heard. Although he had usually heard it with more anger and heat than the quiet whisper he heard now. Even Kikyou's face seemed softer, and she was smiling at Kagome almost kindly.
"I'm sorry, my rein- Kagome. I never should have done all the things I did to you. The only excuse I can possibly give is that it wasn't me doing those things, but a shell formed in the shape of my body, filled with nothing but the anger and hatred I had felt before my death. In this way, I suppose you are stronger than I ever was. I could never accept the idea of the one I loved betraying me, but you... You lived, you forgave him, even when he came with me. I respect you, young one. You will truly be a great miko. You fought me, and survived." A soft laugh. "You're a survivor, Kagome. And though I know I can never make up to you all the things I did, I feel as though I must at least apologize. Gomen, Kagome. Gomen nasai for making your life so difficult..."
Kagome stared, wide-eyed, at her incarnate's lowered head. She actually felt the need to reach out to her, to let her know that she didn't hate this Kikyou, and that the spirit was tormenting herself for something not her fault. Gently, she slipped from Shippou's arms, and stepped past her former love to try and wrap her arms around the older miko. To her shock, she could almost FEEL Kikyou's body as she embraced the tearful priestess. "It's okay, Kikyou... Don't worry about, okay? Just... Make Inuyasha happy, and I'll forgive you for everything." She attempted to smile at the older woman, only to watch as she burst into silent tears.
"Ah!! Gomen!! What'd I do?! Please don't cry!! Calm down..." Kagome kept trying to make Kikyou stop sobbing softly, but a brush of wind at her shoulder made her turn and look into a pair of golden eyes she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Don't worry, Kagome. She's crying because she's been living with this for 72 years..." He looked away from her then. "So have I. I don't know how you can forgive us, Kagome. We both hurt you so much, and I think I'm the one who did the most damage..." Kagome felt tears spill over as she stared at the sorrowful half-demon. "You accepted me, Kagome. You became my friend even when I tried to push you away. You made me listen to you, sometimes by force." He chuckled softly and tugged at the rosary around his neck. "You made me accept myself, Kagome. You taught me that who I was, was just fine. That I didn't need to be a full-demon to be strong, or to be respected. And I hurt you repeatedly."
Kagome finally couldn't handle watching him stave off tears, and moved forward to wrap her arms around him as she had done for Kikyou. He smiled at her attempt, and wrapped insubstantial arms around her shoulders as well. After a moment, he released her and leaned forward to actually kiss her lips lightly. She hiccupped once afterwards, trying not to break down and cry painfully at the sight of her former love and his own love.
"Now, now, Lady Kagome, there's no need for that. After all, it's not like we're COMPLETELY desolate in the afterlife..." Her head snapped up and her eyes widened at that voice, accompanied by the soft chiming of metal rings, and she found herself looking behind Inuyasha at what she had earlier missed.
Sango and Miroku were there, smiling at her.
Sobbing softly, she looked at the four people before her, three allies, and one enemy. Correction, FORMER enemy. Sango stepped forward and smiled lovingly at the woman she considered a sister. "Hey Kagome," she whispered softly, "See if one of my descendents can find my old sword, and if so, sharpen it up, and get it looking as good as new, and train you with it. After all, you need to be able to fight with more than a bow and arrow. And I think Shippou would volunteer to teach you. Maybe you can even learn to wield Hiraikotsu, ne?" At Kagome incredulous look, Sango laughed. "Okay, but maybe your kits could. After all, they should be strong enough."
Kagome raised a confused eyebrow at her best friend who merely smiled and looked over to where Miroku was attempting to slap a blushing Shippou on the back with an ethereal hand. Kagome felt her own face heat up, but immediately was drawn out of her thoughts by the slight fading of the group. They looked sadly beyond Shippou and Kagome, nodding slightly before coming up to say their goodbyes.
Tears streaming down her face, she said her farewell to her best friends and Kikyou, leaving only Inuyasha behind for a moment. After another airy hug to her, Inuyasha glared at the fox-demon who was toeing the ground with the cute fox-feet Kagome always liked to play with. "You had better treat her good, brat. Otherwise, I'll see to it I'm reincarnated as one of your kids, and torture you till the end of my days. Got it?" After Shippou's nod, Inuyasha merely grinned. "Although, now that I think about it, that ain't a bad idea..." His grin widened and he spun around, running off into the distance where everyone else waited for him. "Hey guys!! How'd you like to be reincarnated as Shippou and Kagome's kits?!"
Here Kagome lost all control on her jaw, and could swear it had actually made contact with the ground. And she was certain Shippou was in the same state. But everyone merely cheered and waved a happy farewell to them as they went off to make plans. To be reincarnated, no doubt, and further annoy the couple who simply stared at the fading figures.
They were both pulled out of their shock, though, when Kouga and the rest of the pack came over to them, slightly out of breath from the long melody they had been howling. The miko turned tearful eyes to her former admirer, and she hugged him like she couldn't hug Inuyasha or any of her friends. She cried against his chest, then on Koshu's as he had embraced her in his own farewell, and finally against Shippou as the wolves made their departure, bowing to the sobbing priestess as they left, leaving a living legend alone in the arms of the man who obviously loved her, and whom she obviously cared for.
"Don't worry, Kagome, we'll see them again soon. After all, they live to bother us, remember?" Shippou tried to make the woman in his arms smile, or at least stop crying. He heard a soft laugh, quiet but still there, and began to tug her back to where his home was. "Come on, it's late, and you've had a hard day... try and get some sleep, ne?" She nodded slowly as she made her way back to the hut, her face and eyes downcast.
After providing her with a futon and blankets, and even a pillow Sango had made him long ago, he sat next to her and watched her drift off to sleep almost instantly, her deep and even breathing calming his own tired muscles.
When he was certain she was in a deep sleep, Shippou leaned forward and whispered in her ear, part of him wishing for her to hear, and part wishing she didn't, "I love you, Kagome..." He leaned back to watch her better, but was shocked at her reaction.
She curled up slightly, almost into a ball, and whispered back, her voice slurred with sleep, "I love you too, Shippou..."
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Hey there!! Wow... I um... didn't mean for it to be so angsty... Man... and while some of you might yell at me, saying that she said she loved him too soon, well, SHE WAS ASLEEP!! Hehe... Some of us (like me) talk in our sleep, but only when provoked. You know, like someone asks you a question in your sleep, and you answer it? Thing is, you always answer truthfully, since it's your subconscious answering, rather than your conscious mind. Ah, and another chapter ends... Good night, everyone!! At least one (or two) chapters left! Along with an epilogue... aw, how cute... they're sleeping!! Maybe I should make a pic... anyways, good night, and ja ne!!
And I still don't own them!! (not even our new character, she's owned by all the wonderful people who voted... Thanks again!!)
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Ch. 18 A visit from OLD friends and loves
Kagome breathed deeply the moment her feet touched the packed earth at the bottom of the well. She felt the person to her right move a bit, and heard bones crunch, and knew that Koshu now knew first-hand why it was called the "Bone-Eater's Well".
As she smiled at the snickers the other two demons gave off, she noticed that the moonlight shining into the well wasn't as bright as it usually was. One glance upwards told her why. There, all around the lip of the structure, peering down, was Kouga's pack. She tugged on the hand of the wolf leader, and on the hand around her waist. There was a momentary pause, where she got the feeling all the demons around her were silently challenging each other for something, but it ended when Shippou's hand around her tightened, pulling her up against his body. Of course, this caused her to blush as he leapt up and out of the well, followed closely by two slightly annoyed wolf-demons.
Koshu knew that the kitsune had won, that Kagome would be going with him and not the pack like his father and himself would. He couldn't help but feel slightly saddened, almost as though he was not good enough to be loved by the likes of her, but then was snapped out of his reverie by the oddest feeling. Kagome was hugging him!!! Turning wide eyes down to the miko whose arms were wrapped around his torso, he saw her look up at him and smile.
"Kouga said you have to leave soon. I just wanted to say goodbye." 'So I was right, she IS staying with the fox...' "I'm gonna miss you, Koshu. You're a great guy. A lot like your father, actually. Be sure to come and visit sometime, ne? And don't forget to drag your parents with you. I still want to meet your mother." He could only nod dumbly at her request, but felt himself puff up in pride as she compared him to his father. 'That's more true than you know, Kagome. We both cared for you as potential mates, but you chose someone else over us each time. And if my father can heal and love again, then so can I. I hope.'
The pack leader stepped away from the wolves he had been conversing with, a smug smirk plastered on his face as he wrapped his arms around the young priestess from the future. "Ah, Kagome, it was kind of you to take us with you, even if it was unintentional. And I promise my mate, son and I will come and visit soon. Perhaps I can bring some of my other pups as well. After all, my whole pack knows your story." His smirk stretched into a grin. "As you can tell, the number of my youkai around here is smaller than when we left. It seems they returned home and told the others of your arrival. Now I have to go and keep them from coming and having a holiday for you."
Kagome laughed. "Yeah, and I doubt Shippou would like this entire clearing filled with wolves for days on end, it might interrupt his hunting or sleeping. We all know how you guys tend to howl at the moon." She grinned as she picked on him, knowing that she had never heard him howl at the moon, only the normal wolves. But she was surprised beyond belief when, after exchanging a glance with his son, Kouga tipped his head back and let loose a howl that sounded more like a wolf than the ones often heard on tapes or in movies. This was the pure, raw animal sound that could only be produced by the creature before her. And it was beautiful.
Then the rest of the pack joined in, Koshu first, and sang a melody to the moon above them. The tune was haunting and enchanting at the same time, drawing her in until she wished for nothing more than the ability to join them as they called to the white orb in the sky.
She started for a minute when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, and looked down at the clasped hands before her, noting the claws on the fingertips before looking up and behind her into Shippou's face. She didn't know why, but since she had first seen him as an adult, she had been changing the way she saw him. She could still imagine the child who begged for chocolate, lollypops, and crayons, but now she focused on the man behind her, smiling as he watched the wolves howl in near-perfect unity at the moon.
"It's called an awakening song." She almost started again at the kitsune's soft whisper in her ear. "It's when they call all things sleeping, all things quiet and even those dead and gone, and wake them for as long as they keep howling. I've only heard it once before, and that was when Kouga finally accepted you were gone. When he found his mate. He called for you, actually, to be happy, and he called for those of his pack who had died to see the outcome of all their trials." He sighed now, and Kagome realized just how old Shippou was. He had lived longer than most humans could, and was therefore wiser than any man now living. And Kouga was undoubtedly wiser. After all, 'With age comes wisdom', right?
He hugged her, and she looked up at him curiously. "Shippou, they can call specific people back?" He nodded. "Just as long as they keep it up?" Another nod. "Shippou... who are they calling?"
The kitsune looked down at his love, then one he had missed so much as both a child and an adult. Whom he had once seen as a surrogate mother, but now as the wonderful mother she would one day be, and basked in the hope that she might be the mother of HIS kits. He shook his head slightly, both to clear it and to show his lack of an answer, and turned his sensitive ears back to the wolves, taking in each rise and fall in the volume and pitch of the howls. Then he caught the odd fluctuation that had only been used once... EVER... before him. When Kouga had called to Kagome, he had apologized for the pain Inuyasha had caused her. And now, that name was being repeated. Over... and over... and over.... And Kagome tensed up in his arms, and he knew what he would see if he relaxed his eyes enough to let the lines blur.
Sure enough, the moment he had loosened his focus on the details, he could make it out. The familiar red and white that had always been associated with his father figure that had seemed at times more like an elder brother. And next to him was another form of red and white, but this one with black mixed in. He knew immediately who it was.
Inuyasha and Kikyou had returned.
Shippou felt Kagome begin to shiver in his arms, and he tightened his grip as he looked over the woman by Inuyasha. Their forms were still soft, almost transparent, but they were there in vivid enough detail to see the pained smile on the hanyou's face. The sound of the wolves around them seemed to fade as the pair stepped forward, Inuyasha's hand reaching out to almost pass through Kagome as he attempted to touch her face.
"Kagome..." It was so soft, barely a whisper, but it was one of the most familiar voices he could have ever heard. Although he had usually heard it with more anger and heat than the quiet whisper he heard now. Even Kikyou's face seemed softer, and she was smiling at Kagome almost kindly.
"I'm sorry, my rein- Kagome. I never should have done all the things I did to you. The only excuse I can possibly give is that it wasn't me doing those things, but a shell formed in the shape of my body, filled with nothing but the anger and hatred I had felt before my death. In this way, I suppose you are stronger than I ever was. I could never accept the idea of the one I loved betraying me, but you... You lived, you forgave him, even when he came with me. I respect you, young one. You will truly be a great miko. You fought me, and survived." A soft laugh. "You're a survivor, Kagome. And though I know I can never make up to you all the things I did, I feel as though I must at least apologize. Gomen, Kagome. Gomen nasai for making your life so difficult..."
Kagome stared, wide-eyed, at her incarnate's lowered head. She actually felt the need to reach out to her, to let her know that she didn't hate this Kikyou, and that the spirit was tormenting herself for something not her fault. Gently, she slipped from Shippou's arms, and stepped past her former love to try and wrap her arms around the older miko. To her shock, she could almost FEEL Kikyou's body as she embraced the tearful priestess. "It's okay, Kikyou... Don't worry about, okay? Just... Make Inuyasha happy, and I'll forgive you for everything." She attempted to smile at the older woman, only to watch as she burst into silent tears.
"Ah!! Gomen!! What'd I do?! Please don't cry!! Calm down..." Kagome kept trying to make Kikyou stop sobbing softly, but a brush of wind at her shoulder made her turn and look into a pair of golden eyes she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Don't worry, Kagome. She's crying because she's been living with this for 72 years..." He looked away from her then. "So have I. I don't know how you can forgive us, Kagome. We both hurt you so much, and I think I'm the one who did the most damage..." Kagome felt tears spill over as she stared at the sorrowful half-demon. "You accepted me, Kagome. You became my friend even when I tried to push you away. You made me listen to you, sometimes by force." He chuckled softly and tugged at the rosary around his neck. "You made me accept myself, Kagome. You taught me that who I was, was just fine. That I didn't need to be a full-demon to be strong, or to be respected. And I hurt you repeatedly."
Kagome finally couldn't handle watching him stave off tears, and moved forward to wrap her arms around him as she had done for Kikyou. He smiled at her attempt, and wrapped insubstantial arms around her shoulders as well. After a moment, he released her and leaned forward to actually kiss her lips lightly. She hiccupped once afterwards, trying not to break down and cry painfully at the sight of her former love and his own love.
"Now, now, Lady Kagome, there's no need for that. After all, it's not like we're COMPLETELY desolate in the afterlife..." Her head snapped up and her eyes widened at that voice, accompanied by the soft chiming of metal rings, and she found herself looking behind Inuyasha at what she had earlier missed.
Sango and Miroku were there, smiling at her.
Sobbing softly, she looked at the four people before her, three allies, and one enemy. Correction, FORMER enemy. Sango stepped forward and smiled lovingly at the woman she considered a sister. "Hey Kagome," she whispered softly, "See if one of my descendents can find my old sword, and if so, sharpen it up, and get it looking as good as new, and train you with it. After all, you need to be able to fight with more than a bow and arrow. And I think Shippou would volunteer to teach you. Maybe you can even learn to wield Hiraikotsu, ne?" At Kagome incredulous look, Sango laughed. "Okay, but maybe your kits could. After all, they should be strong enough."
Kagome raised a confused eyebrow at her best friend who merely smiled and looked over to where Miroku was attempting to slap a blushing Shippou on the back with an ethereal hand. Kagome felt her own face heat up, but immediately was drawn out of her thoughts by the slight fading of the group. They looked sadly beyond Shippou and Kagome, nodding slightly before coming up to say their goodbyes.
Tears streaming down her face, she said her farewell to her best friends and Kikyou, leaving only Inuyasha behind for a moment. After another airy hug to her, Inuyasha glared at the fox-demon who was toeing the ground with the cute fox-feet Kagome always liked to play with. "You had better treat her good, brat. Otherwise, I'll see to it I'm reincarnated as one of your kids, and torture you till the end of my days. Got it?" After Shippou's nod, Inuyasha merely grinned. "Although, now that I think about it, that ain't a bad idea..." His grin widened and he spun around, running off into the distance where everyone else waited for him. "Hey guys!! How'd you like to be reincarnated as Shippou and Kagome's kits?!"
Here Kagome lost all control on her jaw, and could swear it had actually made contact with the ground. And she was certain Shippou was in the same state. But everyone merely cheered and waved a happy farewell to them as they went off to make plans. To be reincarnated, no doubt, and further annoy the couple who simply stared at the fading figures.
They were both pulled out of their shock, though, when Kouga and the rest of the pack came over to them, slightly out of breath from the long melody they had been howling. The miko turned tearful eyes to her former admirer, and she hugged him like she couldn't hug Inuyasha or any of her friends. She cried against his chest, then on Koshu's as he had embraced her in his own farewell, and finally against Shippou as the wolves made their departure, bowing to the sobbing priestess as they left, leaving a living legend alone in the arms of the man who obviously loved her, and whom she obviously cared for.
"Don't worry, Kagome, we'll see them again soon. After all, they live to bother us, remember?" Shippou tried to make the woman in his arms smile, or at least stop crying. He heard a soft laugh, quiet but still there, and began to tug her back to where his home was. "Come on, it's late, and you've had a hard day... try and get some sleep, ne?" She nodded slowly as she made her way back to the hut, her face and eyes downcast.
After providing her with a futon and blankets, and even a pillow Sango had made him long ago, he sat next to her and watched her drift off to sleep almost instantly, her deep and even breathing calming his own tired muscles.
When he was certain she was in a deep sleep, Shippou leaned forward and whispered in her ear, part of him wishing for her to hear, and part wishing she didn't, "I love you, Kagome..." He leaned back to watch her better, but was shocked at her reaction.
She curled up slightly, almost into a ball, and whispered back, her voice slurred with sleep, "I love you too, Shippou..."
~~~~~~
Hey there!! Wow... I um... didn't mean for it to be so angsty... Man... and while some of you might yell at me, saying that she said she loved him too soon, well, SHE WAS ASLEEP!! Hehe... Some of us (like me) talk in our sleep, but only when provoked. You know, like someone asks you a question in your sleep, and you answer it? Thing is, you always answer truthfully, since it's your subconscious answering, rather than your conscious mind. Ah, and another chapter ends... Good night, everyone!! At least one (or two) chapters left! Along with an epilogue... aw, how cute... they're sleeping!! Maybe I should make a pic... anyways, good night, and ja ne!!