DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha *sigh*. Sad, I know.
Inuyasha: "Not really."
Aradia: "Hey if I owned you, you and Kagome would already have gone way past first base by now."
Inuyasha: *starts crying*
Kagome: *pats Inuyasha on the back* "There there Inuyasha, there will always be the fanfics."
Aradia: "Well on with chapter eight."
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Chapter Eight; Time To Go Home
It was later that afternoon when the small group left the house for the well, Kagome turning around to hug her mom before going.
"Sorry about not staying as long as I planned," said the young woman. Her mother shook her head, "Don't worry about it honey. Something came up and now your friends need help. Speaking of which, since we now know your friends can come to this time I want you to bring them to your wedding here."
Her daughter nodded. "Yes mom. I'll try to be back with the others in about a week and half. See ya later."
"Bye bye Mrs. Higurashi, it was nice meeting you," squeaked Inari from Katsue's shoulders. When her sister pinched her ankle Inari added, "Thank you for the clothes!" "It wasn't a problem. Though when I have a granddaughter I expect them back."
The little girl nodded, no one except Katsue and Kouga noticing Inuyasha and Kagome's blushes, all four knowing that day could be soon enough if it was actually a girl in her stomach. They all waved then went into the well house. Katsue, Inari, and Kouga went in together first, then after them Inuyasha shouldered Kagome's pack, wrapped his arm around his love's waist, then jumped in… and landed right on top of Kouga.
"DAMN IT HOW MANY TIMES WILL PEOPLE LAND ON ME IN THIS GOD DAMN FORSAKEN WELL!"
"Sorry Kouga," the couple said sheepishly. Inuyasha scooped Kagome into his arms and jumped out of the well next to Katsue and Inari, followed by a very pissed off Kouga. The wolf demon growled at them. "Three times in less than two days. I AM NEVER GOING BACK INTO THAT WELL!"
This had Katsue growling at him. "Oh yes you are, for Kagome-chan's wedding. If I have to drag you in by your tail you will go through that well." "You'd have to catch me first wench." The she-demon smiled, "That's a challenge you're gonna regret."
With that the cat demon started chasing the wolf while her sister cried "GET HIM KATSUE!" from her perch on the young woman's shoulders. Inuyasha and Kagome smiled to each other before Kagome said, "Are you gonna let them beat us to the village?" A cocky smile appeared on his lips, "Not a chance." With that they were off like a shot after the village bound demons, catching up quickly as they approached Goshinboku. By now Katsue had managed to climb onto Kouga's back and was holding onto him tightly with one arm while Inari was on her back, hanging on to her just as tightly. The fact that the cat demon was covering up Kouga's eyes with her free hand while they were running made the scene even more hilarious and Inuyasha and Kagome let them know it by laughing their heads off.
"Shut up. Not my fault she can't get enough of me," said an overly cocky demon. For it he received a whack upside the head from the girl on his back, though she had to remove the hand from his eyes. As soon as he could see he stopped to shake his passengers off his back.
"Ow! You don't have to be so ruff Kouga-kun. You almost made me crush my sister. If that had happened you would have a very put out koi. And you don't want to know what a put out koi won't do." She smirked at the terrified look on his face before going up to him and kissing him on the cheek.
"EWWW! CHILD PRESENT!" cried a momentarily forgotten Kitsune/cat child on her sister's back, whom sounded rather annoyed at that. Inuyasha and Kagome, who had stopped when their friends had, couldn't help but crack up laughing. Inuyasha also decided to add his own comment, mainly, "Really Kouga, Katsue, if you're going to do stuff like that get a hut far, far away. I have a feeling she won't be quiet." "What does that mean?" "NOTHING! SIT BOY! Oh shit!"
While trying to keep the impressionable young girl demon's mind clean, the miko forgot that Inuyasha still had an arm around her, though she was thankful he had set her down to stand beside him, so she went down next to him and not under. She had a feeling that wouldn't have been good for the baby. Inuyasha on the other hand, well lets just say he's not happy.
"DAMN IT WOMAN! I THOUGHT WE HAD GOTTEN PAST THE SITTING ME EVERY TIME I DO SOMETHING YOU DON'T APPROVE OF!" yelled the hanyou when the spell let up some. Kagome got up and growled in a very demon like growl, "You shouldn't speak of such things in front of impressionable children." Katsue nodded in agreement, then turned on Kouga, "SAME TO YOU BUDDY!" The two males gave each other identical looks of terror, both thinking 'Damn they're scary when they're mad.'
All thoughts were interrupted when a red blur whizzed past them and straight into Kagome's arms. Soon the area was filled with the excited voice of Shippo saying, "KAGOME YOUR BACK EARLY! What brought you back so soon?" Then the little fox child sniffed at his adoptive mother and gave her a confused look. "And why do you smell like Inuyasha?"
"Katsue, Kouga, and Inari brought us back. Apparently a lot has happened in just less than a day of us being gone." said the girl. Her eyes grew large when her eyes fell on the gash that went across his left eye, across the bridge of his nose and to his right cheek. "How did this happen?"
Inari hopped off her sister's back and cautiously approached Shippo and Kagome, head bowed in shame, "I did that Kagome-sama, yesterday right after I found out…" she trailed off then looked up into the slightly older boys eyes, hers filled with remorse while his good eye seemed to be filled with understanding. "Even if I was overcome with grief, I shouldn't have done what I did to you and all those people in the village. Can at least you forgive me? I understand if you don't."
The fox boy shook his head as he jumped out of Kagome's arms. "Don't worry, it's not your fault. What ever Kirara said must have been really bad if you did all that. What did she say anyway?" he asked, his voice so light and forgiving it startled her, as if all she had done was step on his foot. Then he got serious. "Though a lot of the villagers are out for your head. I think it's a good idea if you don't go there for a while, at least until they wouldn't try to skin you alive." The thought of being skinned alive was a scary prospect for the girl so she nodded in agreement. "I'll wait here until we go to the Southern lands."
Katsue nodded and then turned to Shippo. She kneeled beside and smiled at him. "Since you don't seem to wish harm upon her, I want you to stay with Inari until we leave to get Sango and Miroku."
The boy nodded then remembered he had asked them a question. "So what did Kirara say? I'd have asked her myself but I don't understand her and she's been unconscious since the two of you fought so I couldn't have asked her even if I did understand."
Inari looked like she was about to burst into tears so Inuyasha came to the rescue, "She doesn't want to talk about now, whelp. We'll tell you later." The boy nodded, and then he and his friend went to play in the god tree while the others went to the village. When the children were out of ear shot Katsue turned to her friend and said, "Than you Inuyasha for saying that to Shippo. I'm not sure if she is totally ready to discuss what's happened." "No problem," Inuyasha grunted, "Now lets just get to the village. I want to see how much damage your sister really did."
That being said they walked the rest of their way to the village. To the surprise of Katsue and Kouga, the village looked the way it had before Inari went out of control earlier this morning, except that not a villager could be seen outside their hut. Instead of asking their companions for an explanation, Inuyasha just led the way to Kaede's hut. Inside they found the old priestess treating some injured village men. She heard them enter the room and only looked up for a moment to acknowledge them, then went back to treating a deep gash on a young man's leg before talking to them. "I see the well worked for you, Kouga and Katsue. That's good. Now Kagome before you and the others go to get Sango and Miroku from the Demon Lord of the Southern Lands I would like it if you left me some of your future medicines. I also want you to take Kirara with you, she will be waking up soon and I doubt she'll like being left behind while you go to get Sango."
The small group of shard hunters stood there very confused, all wondering how she knew where their friends were and how the village was repaired so damn quickly. Katsue was the first to find her voice, "How did you find all this out Kaede-sama and how did the village get repaired so quickly?" Kaede looked up and frowned. "Five demons came here about an hour after you, Kouga, and Inari left. Shippo was away at the time so he didn't hear the news they told me. They said they were messengers and kin of the Great Demon of the Southern Lands and that they came to have me tell you that your father is summoning you home to get Miroku and Sango and for Rubii's cremation and that they would escort you and the others. They were quick to restore the village when they heard what caused the destruction." The old woman turned to Katsue and bowed her head, "My condolences to you for the lose of your little sister. May Oni still be alive and well wherever he is." Katsue nodded and Inuyasha spoke up in an annoyed tone, "Anything else?"
"Well yes now that you mention it," said the old woman after a minute of thinking, "Sesshoumaru stopped by this morning before Inari went on her rampage to have me tell you if you came back early that he and the other two were going to see an old friend of the family's." The hanyou shrugged, "Whatever, like I give a damn what he does. Lets pickup Kirara and the kits and get the hell out of here."
The others nodded. Kagome gave Kaede the medicine while Katsue picked up Kirara. Then they all went out and headed for the god tree. Kagome was deep in thought as she walked beside Inuyasha. Said hanyou noticed this and was curious. "What's with you? You seem kinda distant."
Kagome was startled out of her thoughts but immediately calmed down, "I was just wondering," then she turned to Katsue, "If those demons were supposed to escort us then where are they? And would you have any idea who they are?"
Katsue, who was standing beside Kouga, shrugged. "I have a lot of relatives so there are many possibilities. But if my father was thinking of our safety and wanted us to get there unharmed that narrows it down a lot. Hmm who could they be? Who could they- AHHHH!"
She was cut off as two medium sized blurs jumped on her. They turned out to be two boys with ginger colored hair who appeared to be a little bit older than Onikisu. They were followed by two more guys, one with black and orange hair and the other with chestnut brown colored hair, about Kouga's age in appearance and a female with golden sandy colored hair about Katsue's age, followed by Inari and Shippo. Their most noticeable attributes were their ears (except one of the ginger haired boys who had human looking ears), tails, and, in the case of the girl, feet were rather catlike. Not to mention they had claws and three of them had yellow eyes, the brown haired one had chocolate eyes instead.
When Katsue finally got a clear vision of whom they were she squealed like a little schoolgirl. "KINSHA, JINGAA, SHOUGA, ISHOKU, KURIIRO! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT CAN BE YOU ALL!"
"You better believe it 'cause we didn't come all this way to pick up some little girl who doesn't know us," said one of the ginger haired boys. His human eared twin nodded, "Shouga is right, no way would we come for some weak little girl whose part human." "Why Jingaa, you just gave us a perfect definition of yourself," said the girl, her face lighting up as Katsue, Inari, and the other cat demons except Jingaa laughed their heads off. Said demon boy growled, saying, "SHUT UP KINSHA I AM NOT A GIRL!"
The chestnut haired male smirked. "But you can't deny being little, weak, or, especially, part human." "Kuriiro, you shouldn't speak of our cousin that way, you're leaving out Shouga. You know one can't be insulted without the other." The remark the black and white haired demon said once again had all the others except Kouga, Kagome, Inuyasha, Shippo, and the twins cracking up. The shard hunters looked on confused at what seemed to be some sort of family reunion that involved a lot of playful insults.
"Well at least our mother isn't a demon bitch," countered the one they guessed was Shouga. The one called Kuriiro and the one with the bi-colored hair shrugged, both saying, "We know she's a bitch, why else would we be half dog demon?"
"Excuse me Katsue, but who are your friends?" Kagome finally asked shyly for the others, afraid of what would happen if she interrupted this tight group's conversation. They all looked up at her smiling. Katsue stepped away from the others, her smile quite possibly the largest. "Oh they aren't friends, they're my cousins. Allow me to introduce them to you all." She first pointed to the twins, "Those two are Shouga and Jingaa. Jingaa is the one without the cat ears. Their mother is a human who mated one of my uncles. God only knows how they got that colored hair, both their parents have black hair." She then pointed to the chestnut and black/white haired boys, "The one with brown hair is Kuriiro, and the black and white one is his elder brother Ishoku. Their mother, as stated earlier, is a dog demon." Then she turned smiling to the other girl with strange catlike feet appearing at the bottom of her kimono. "And this is Kinsha, possibly one of my favorite family members. She is the result of my aunt mating with a half-kitsune half dog demon. These five would have to be the demons most tolerant of my existence back home."
"And these must be your other friends that those two humans told us you were traveling with," said an interested Kinsha. She walked over to the others and examined Kagome closely, while the older boy demons looked over Inuyasha and Kouga, already having met Shippo. The cat/kitsune/dog demon smiled, "So you and the doggy over there are mated eh? And with pup too, lucky girl." Kuriiro, who was looking Inuyasha over slapped the half demon on the back. "You lucky dog. He got a pretty one too, for a human."
Inuyasha tried not to kill Katsue's cousin for saying that as he did when the demon slapped him on the back. Instead he just growled a warning, which immediately got Kuriiro away from him and back to playing with the children. Ishoku sniffed at Kouga and eyed him angrily. "You smell like Katsue." That got the attention of the other four cousins and they came over to sniff at him, then growl and give him the evil eye. The sniffing didn't bother Kouga; it was just the way they stared at him with pure hatred. "What did I do?"
"Did you bed with our cousin?" asked Shouga bluntly, his voice full of malice. Kouga's eyes got big and he shook his head quickly. "No! I did not mate with Katsue. We just slept in the same bed." When he saw them, if possible, get even angrier, he knew he was screwed. 'Oh shit wrong thing to say.'
"WHY NOT?" All five demons shouted, causing Kagome, Katsue, Inari, Inuyasha, Kouga, and Shippo to fall over anime style. Katsue quickly got back on her feet, went over to her relatives, and whacked all five upside the head and gave them death glares. "WE WILL MATE WHEN WE FEEL LIKE MATING OK YOU NITWITS!"
After she and Kouga realized what they were saying they started blushing while their friends tried to hold back giggle fits. When they both shouted "SHUT UP!" the others couldn't help but laugh so hard they fell over. Kagome was the first to compose herself enough to speak without laughing. "We should really get going. How long of a trip is it to the palace?"
Katsue stopped blushing, happy to have the laughter coming a close, as well as the subject of mating, and quickly answered the question. "Well if we ran with Inuyasha carrying you and Shippo and me carrying Inari it could possibly take three or four days." "THREE OR FOUR DAYS! When was the last time you went home?" chastised Kinsha. Kuriiro nodded in agreement then said, "Why the hell would we run when it would be faster for one of us to transform and carry the rest?"
Katsue shrugged, saying, "It's been awhile since I've traveled while in my other form, how the hell was I supposed to know?" "Well excuse me, didn't mean to insult the intelligence of the great Katsue." "WHY YOU! LET ME AT HIM!" Katsue ready raring to go at it with her cousin, despite the fact that Kouga, Inuyasha, and Inari had to hold her back while her family laughed at her. By now she had gone to swearing. "DAMN IT JINGAA, SHOUGA YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LAUGH YOU TWO ARE MORE HUMAN THAN I AM GOD DAMN IT! AND IF YOU THREE DON'T LET ME GO I WILL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE VERY MISERABLE! ESPECIALLY A CURTAIN WOLF DEMON THAT WANTS TO BE ABLE TO MATE!" That got Kouga to let the she demon go. This got more fits of laughter from the other demons, Kinsha saying, "You go Katsue," and Ishoku cackling, "You can tell who the dominant one in that relationship will be."
"I'LL KICK YOUR ASS FOR THAT COMMENT YOU SON OF A BITCH!" and this time Katsue managed to break free and held back the angered demon. Though this time her methods of getting him to stop involved her kissing and nipping at his neck. But before he could do anything to her in return she backed away. He gave her 'Damn it bitch why did you stop' glare and she purred out, "Sorry my dear koi, but Kagome-chan is quite right. We need to get moving," then she turned to her family, "So which one of you will transform?"
"Why one of us?" asked Jingaa. Shouga nodded, pouting, "Yea me and Jingaa can't transform and Kinsha's form is so small I bet that little cat the human is holding couldn't ride her." Kinsha growled at them but immediately turned to Katsue, smirking, "You don't remember the way do you? If you did you wouldn't be asking one of us to transform 'cause you'd do it yourself." Katsue got an embarrassed look on her face but nodded. Kinsha sent death glares to her cousins that said 'Laugh and die assholes', and smiled at Katsue, "Don't worry. Kuriiro will be happy to carry us. Isn't that right cousin?" With a glare from the female the male demon nodded and transformed into a rather stunning creature that was about the same size as Katsue or Sesshoumaru when they transformed and definitely looked like a cross between a cat and a dog. Inuyasha wrapped his arms around Kagome's waist before jumping onto the demon's back, followed by the other demons. As soon as he started running the cousins started arguing, Inari now in the mix, which meant six part cat demons hissing and cursing each other out, the demon they were on thankfully was to busy to notice the fight on his back.
One thought ran through Inuyasha, Kagome, Kouga, the now half-awake Kirara, and Shippo's minds. 'This is gonna be a long ride.'
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A/N: Sorry about being a little less than two weeks late on this chapter. Had the end of school to take care of and some writers block. If the title for this chapter sucks say so. I couldn't think of any good ones. Next chapter will hopefully be soon. And oh yes I want the readers of this fanfic's opinion on something.
Katsue: "Hey didn't you say I'd be going back home in this chapter?"
Aradia: "Yes but I decided to post pone it until the next one."
Inuyasha: "So what do you want the readers' opinion on?"
Aradia: "Whether I should have a Katsue/Kouga lemon in it."
Katsue & Kouga: "WHAT?"
