A/N: So I looked at that knocking stuff and I was like, "What is this crap?" Seriously. And I don't swear much! So yeah, anyway, I went back and changed it a little. Go back and read it. Or not.

And I'm going to briefly explain why I make Inuyasha swear. I don't know much Japanese, so I don't know how much he actually swears. What I do know is that he speaks in a way that is very rude and disrespectful. In Japan this would be different verb conjugations and pronouns (the most well known of which I believe is "Temee" which is a really rude way to say "you" and is usually translated as "bastard" or something similar) the thing about this is that it's hard to express in English. So basically the swearing is a way to make him seem more coarse and disrespectful. Not quite the same I know, but…oh well, I'll try not to over do it.

Well, that fulfills our random digression for the chapter, let's get on with the story.

PS. I still haven't gained the rights to Inuyasha.

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Chapter 6: His Resistance

Ten minutes later, Inuyasha was still cursing. Fortunately, or unfortunately for him, he had no way of dissuading Kagome once her mind was set, and she was determined to go with the two strange, but so far harmless demons, to see their leader. Inuyasha was obviously not willing to let the girl run off into danger (as she always had a habit of doing, the foolish girl) again and therefore was forced to comply with the demons' wishes. That didn't mean that he had to be happy about it, though, and Inuyasha was determined to make sure the girl didn't forget how much he didn't want to go.

"Damn it! Look at this place!" he grumbled. They were presently making their way through the surprisingly clean, (though Kagome, ever concerned with cleanliness, still had a grimace of distaste stuck on her face) sewers of the city. It felt plain wrong. Inuyasha knew not to trust anyone who led you into an enclosed area from which escape would be difficult at best.

"I don't think anything bad is going to happen."  When he scoffed loudly she added. "If they wanted to attack us they could have sent enough demons to take us all out when we were unsuspecting." Mildly, thoughtlessly she finished with, "I know you don't like it but you're going to have to trust me."

That word. How he hated that word. Detested it, the vile twisted word that it was. Trust. Yes he trusted Kagome. And no he didn't. He didn't trust her not to die. No, he hadn't trusted Kikyo. Yes there was something that had been broken when he thought she was attacking him, some element of comfort he had felt around her. Trust was a complicated subject. And as Inuyasha's life was currently dealing him all the complications he could handle while remaining sane, he was less then pleased to hear the subject brought up. Even if it was casually. Even though he was pretty sure she didn't realize it.

"Keh!" He said loudly, causing 5 heads to whip around surprised and questioning. "Don't bring up such stupid things. Why are you asking things like that at a time like this, idiot?" Kagome drew back a bit (she had been hanging quite close by his side) looking slightly hurt. It wasn't so much the words as the strange anger in his voice. It was…defensive and unsettled.

"Inuyasha?" She questioned, using his name in place of the questions she couldn't seem to find a way to word. He pulled inside himself, something she noticed and frowned at but no one else did. They were holding everyone up.

"Let's go." he ground out. Not waiting for her, he strode ahead of her walking just behind their guides, one hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga. He heard Shippou and the Uzura girl falling back to walk with Kagome. He was angry and confused. It was so much the same between them. His short temper, her unpredictable one. Her tenderness and his anger. He wanted things to be different, though he wasn't sure how. But he also…the way they were had always been fine. It had been friendship and he enjoyed it. Well, not necessarily this side of it, but still. He wondered if it bothered her. Then he concentrated on walking. He listened to Kagome tell frivolous stories about her life in her time. Shippou pitched in with stories of he and Inuyasha's time. They were light stories, that weren't really fit for the darkness of the sewer. Inuyasha growled low in his throat. Things in this new time were unpredictable and dangerous. He didn't like them. He didn't trust them.

"And then my grandfather accidentally ended up burning down the whole thing." Kagome laughed at her own story, accompanied by a, as it turned out, still contagiously cheerful Shippou-chan and Uzura-chan's own unsure laugh. "Mama was so mad! She had really been looking forward to the booth at the festival and all that survived was a few metal charms. Grandpa cried for a week over those lizard tails…" Kagome smiled wistfully not allowing herself to feel any of the pain that came with the undeniable fact that her time was now lost to her. She knew later she would cry herself to sleep, probably more than once, as much as she knew that neither Inuyasha nor Shippou-chan would say anything about it. For now she laughed at her recounting of her Grandfather's botched sanctification of her mother's first attempt at a festival booth for the shrine. She smiled and laughed along as Shippou chimed in with his own story of a small adventure in a festival back in the feudal ages. She was surprised that she had never heard it before, as the kit had always been very talkative.

Unfortunately, they could not remain in pleasant denial of the present for long.

"Stop for a moment." The female demon, who was the friendlier of the two (which said not much at all) ordered them flatly. Ignoring the slight (well more than slight in Inuyasha's case) bristling on the part of Kagome's two demon friends, she smiled slightly as she looked to her left and realized (with a small, amused smile) that although Uzura-chan had no demon aura, she too bristled ever so slightly. Although no doubt still on edge due to her general unfamiliarity with demons, the girl was obviously not accustomed to taking orders. Kagome couldn't say she was at all sure that this was going to go well. Things like this never went well for her.

Sure enough things went rapidly past bad into worse when the male demon demanded sarcastically, "You won't be taking your sword in, though I know it must pain a barbarian like yourself to be without his primary method of communication. Leave it here, don't worry, no one will remove it." His annoying impression of knowing more about Inuyasha than he let on was overshadowed by the fact that he had just told Inuyasha to willingly release the Tetsusaiga.

"NO!" Inuyasha shouted, possessively tightening his grip on the Tetsusaiga. Kagome, decided to interrupt.

"He can't leave the Tetsusaiga!" She explained urgently. "He may seem like a violent, unthinking jerk, but he won't attack anyone unless absolutely necessary." Inuyasha looked haughty.

"I wouldn't need the Tetsusaiga to deal with you, bastards anyway." The male demon opened his mouth to respond but the female demon spoke up first, addressing him harshly.

"Ganzo! You know that we're not to remove the sword from him, you feather brained fool!" It was the first possible sign of personality that she had shown, and Kagome was unaccountably reassured by it.

Even more surprising, the male demon was visible flustered. In fact, he seemed to puff up with it. "I still don't understand! She makes these ridiculous allowances! And no explanation!" he made an odd huffing noise. The female demon smiled at him in a commiserating way.

"You know she has her reasons." At this point Inuyasha'a patience ran out, though the other three were watching with keen interest.

"Are we going to see your damn boss or not?" he demanded. At that moment Kagome contemplated the possibility that Inuyasha and the male (was it goose?) demon were roughly the same age (discounting the large portions of time Inuyasha had spent in timeless sleep). They were currently wearing similar scowls, which were now aimed at each other. The demon, apparently called Ganzo, tossed his head and readopted his indifferent coldness. The female, whose name was still unknown to them, placed a hand against what Kagome identified as a complex barrier spell.

The next second they were standing in the midst of several dangerous looking demons. Of these Kagome found that she recognized some of the species. A kitsune was among them, with hair of a darker red than Shippou. This Kitsune was female and serious, no trace of Shippou's playful nature on her face. But Kagome did notice her eyes lingering on the kit, with faint traces of something that might have been approval. There were also a couple species of wolf demon present, one looking like the big, burly, Royokan, who she had met near the beginning of her friendship with Inuyasha  others looking more like Kouga-kun, though their hair was a lighter shade, as were the pelts they wore as clothing, which suggested that they were from a different tribe.

With a start Kagome realized that the wolf prince might well be alive. It whispered happily through her breast, the possibility of another friend who had not yet succumbed to time.

The demons scrutinized them, but abruptly lost interest and they spotted the two demon guides. One, who looked to be an old bat demon, grunted a short greeting,

"Ganzo, Koeno. We've been wondering when you would return. She was growing impatient." He seemed to be an important figure the two demons as both offered a respectful bow, which was a rare occasion between demons, particularly between demons of different species. Shippou followed suit immediately, apparently also catching onto whatever status this demon held. Uzura gave a short nod of her head, proud and untrusting. Kagome, never one to appear rude when she could help it joined the rest in the respecting of the old bat demon. She didn't expect Inuyasha to do likewise and was not disappointed.

"Zasshuro-sama. We acted as quickly as possible, given the constraints placed upon us." Ganzo's voice was formal and respectful, though Kagome thought that he still seemed a bit sulky and indignant.

"The hanyou and human girl were found in the presence of human warrior Noroibushi Uzura and the Kitsune who calls himself Higurashi Shippou." Kagome was startled to hear her own last name applied to the kitsune. She glanced at him, along with Inuyasha who also looked surprised, despite himself. Shippou smiled ruefully. It was very odd. She would have at least thought that he would take Sango and Miroku's family name. The female demon continued as if the group were not carrying on as they were, with silent, expressive glances. Even the demon Ganzo was joining in, looking mockingly at Shippou and questioningly mocking at the rest of them. "The hanyou, Inuyasha was at first unwilling to accompany us, and desired to fight. His cooperation is not guaranteed, however it is likely that he will join with us if the human miko is with us." Her tone was more clipped and professional that her companions had been.

"Very well, though there really isn't any need to sound quite so stiff, Koeno, as I have mentioned before." He looked at the four guests, ignoring Inuyasha's red face. "It's this way. I will just warn you to trust that we are not the enemy." He was directing his speech at Inuyasha, but nobody questioned this. There was no mistaking who he was warning anyway. "It has been a long time since you walked the earth."

Kagome found his message slightly chilling and forbidding. Inuyasha tensed further and she forced away the apprehension, grumbling internally about always having to be the mature one. He didn't want to be here, but did he have to be so stubbornly on guard?

The hallway was straight now, and a little wider than the sewer. It was made of the same material, and was equally dreary but, thankfully, very clean. It was sad though, Kagome was pretty sure that to a demon, used to being out in the air and unconstrained, this dim underground facility must feel suffocating. She didn't like to think of Shippou spending the better part of his life here. Had he been a child here, or an adolescent, trapped in a gray cement tunnel? She hoped he had been at least the equivalent of her age before he had been forced underground. She didn't know how demon ageing worked.

At the end of the hallway was a regal looking wooden door. It was a deep reddish color that seemed warm against the concrete underground they had seen so far. The old demon pounded a wrinkled fist against the door and the noise echoed in the hallway. Inuyasha winced slightly, but the other demons didn't seem to mind it. A female voice that Kagome was sure she had heard before rang out like a bell.

"Come in." a wind blew the door open with a bang that made Kagome jump and 'Eep" and Inuyasha curse.

Shippou was tense and Kagome was beginning to fill with dread as that added another piece to the puzzle. Shippou knew who they were about to meet, and was uncomfortable about it. He hadn't said anything about who it was, but now looked rather ill. And an underground wind had just blown the door open.

"Oh, HELL no." when Inuyasha swore again, Kagome was pretty sure. The next second they stepped into the room and her hunch was confirmed. It was Kagura.

If she had not been shocked by the calm figure before her she might have been awed by the elegance and illusion of the room. The way the floor was carpeted in a thick green carpet. The way the walls were covered in creeping vines. The sunlight that streamed through the canopy of trees that was the ceiling. The trees themselves. The fresh air. As it was she barely tore her eyes away from the wind using demoness long enough to spy little Kanna as emotionless as ever, mirror showing Kagome's own pale face.

"Inuyasha. I imagine that you must-" She began. Her voice was different, calmer, and less cruel than Kagome remembered it. Inuyasha interrupted her.

"KAGURA! I'LL KILL YOU!" Tetsusaiga was halfway out when Shippou grabbed the hanyou's arm and twisted his wrist, breaking his grip and sending Testsusaiga sliding back into down into its sheath. There was a pregnant pause. Kagome pushed her mind to reach some sort of conclusion.

On the one hand, Kagura had, on a rare occasion or two, suggested that she despised her creator and his hold over her. She had not told Naraku when she discovered Inuyasha's changing night…or so it seemed. Maybe she didn't need to tell him. Who knew how deeply they were connected. That was another point. How could Kagura be the leader of the resistance against Naraku? His hold over her had been complete.

On the other hand, she was undeniably different, from her calm and almost warm aura to her apparent ability to command the respect of the demons in this underground world. In fact, there was a reason that it had been Shippou who stopped Inuyasha from attacking. The other three were kneeling in the doorway, heads down. And Shippou…he had known it was her, he must have, and yet he had wanted them to come, and obviously trusted her.

While Kagome's mind was racing, the action in the room couldn't just stand still. Inuyasha whirled and looked at Shippou in shock. The kitsune glared back, looking ruefully apologetic, but also angry.

"Idiot!" he spat at his dog demon friend. "Do you really think this is some elaborate trap?" Inuyasha was thrown. The kit was challenging him.

"It's Kagura, you stupid brat! She's the same as Naraku! He made her! Of course it's a damn trap!" Shippou twisted his wrist more. Inuyasha snarled and broke the grip.

"You have to THINK this time, dog boy!" Shippou admonished, increasing Inuyasha's bristling. "Just smell her! She isn't the same!"

"Stop!" Kagome cried at that moment, having just come out of her thoughts enough to perceive the several fights Inuyasha was possibly preparing to fight.

Inuyasha gave her a look of disbelieving anger. "You're taking his side! You know it's her, damn it!" He growled and shoved the kit out of the way. "I don't care what you think!" Tetsusaiga was quite suddenly drawn. Every demon in the room besided Kagura and Kanna prepared to attack, until Kagura held up a delicate hand and glared at each of them. Her gaze rested on Kagome.

"Well girl, I see the little nap you gave him didn't improve his senses did it." Kagome glared half heartedly at her.

"I didn't say that I believed you. I remember you as well as he does. What you did to Kouga-kun, to us." Kagome stepped to the side, placing herself between Inuyasha and Kagura. "I want to hear what you have to say. You went through a lot to get us here. Shippou trusts you, and I don't (glare back at Inuyasha) think that he would lead us into danger on purpose. So…I guess you just better talk, because Inuyasha isn't very patient." She passed an appraising gaze over the youkai woman in front of her. "But for what it's worth, you do seem different." Kagura smiled slightly and nodded at the girl.

"No one stands in front of me, bitch!" Inuyasha muttered angrily in her ear. She ignored him, but stepped to the side, placing a restraining hand on Inuyasha's hands, gripped tightly on Tetsusaiga, then removed it a moment later. Too much effort to restrain him would only make him more angry.

"Inuyasha. I became free from Naraku's control about 700 years ago." Her voice was the same as Kagome remembered it…but calmer. Where the wind youkai she remembered was flamboyant and arrogant, she now spoke confidently, but also with respect that she had not showed before.

"It was because Naraku followed you into the future. Later I learned that you had died. When I reached the time period where Naraku was again existent, I learned that he could take this world. But I couldn't stop him. I had survived, and so had Kanna, as free beings, we were changed, a bit in scent, and by the centuries." She sighed at Inuyasha's continuous glare, and the way that his hands still gripped the Tetsusaiga in unwavering readiness for battle. As an aside she added, "I suppose we can't say the same for you. But then…I wouldn't have expected it." There were strong hints of her old biting wit in the statement, but it lacked the cruelty.

The hanyou muttered under his breath, and Kagome was almost happy that she couldn't make them out. From the way their new demon acquaintances bristled, the way Shippou balked and the way Kagura laughed, they were better off remaining unheard. She was only grateful that he seemed intrigued enough by her words to hold back. Maybe he had been willing to give her the benefit of the doubt more that Kagome had suspected.

Kagura continued. "We were some of the number of demons who retained our full power, or near it in any case. The age of demons, what you, Kagome, know as the Feudal Ages, came to an end. Demons changed, some less and some slower than others. To make a long story short, there was a reason that you were never attacked by demons in the future, girl. Demons became peaceful and most of us also became less powerful. We hid from society, but I'm sure some of us came in contact with you Kagome, I don't know why you didn't notice us, I'm sorry. Perhaps a mental block? But I'm going on to long, aren't I, Inuyasha?" he didn't respond.

"We were no match for Naraku. He was a surprise. Most didn't realize who he was until he killed them. He infiltrated our infrastructures first, killed our leaders. He freed the elements of our society that longed to return to the violent savagery that we had left behind. Of course there were demons who challenged him, but it happened so fast, and they had grown peaceful. He demolished them. Your brother was among them Inuyasha."

"Keh, that bastard?" Inuyasha said, in what Kagome assumed was his version of a polite response in this situation.

"He took the world too easily. There were too many youkai who already felt restless, or were opportunistic and stupid enough to think they could profit off of his rise." She paused and laughed a bitter laugh, looking up at the illusionary sky.

"I wasn't involved of course. I don't even know if he felt it, or tried to pull me back. The day he came into this world I felt my heart being pulled back toward him. It took all my strength to resist it long enough." Her angry red gaze flickered over to Kanna.

"She didn't feel it. She didn't have a heart. What heart she has now she built over time. She stayed with me, even though I know that she knew he had come, and helped me some. I built this place under the ground, as close to Naraku as I could." She smirked and Kagome suddenly felt a wave of sympathy.

Even if she still had her doubts, even if she knew that if Inuyasha decided to attack or to leave without doing whatever it was that she had brought them here for she would stand by him, even with the fear that still lay in her heart when she looked upon this old enemy, she couldn't deny the pity and empathy in her heart. It only increased when Kagura finished her story.

"I vowed to kill him. Only through his death will I be free again. And I want freedom. If you don't believe that over the centuries that I was free of him I changed, believe that I want him to die." She glared at Inuyasha and neither of them looked away. Uzura was looking away, scowling inexplicably. Shippou was looking away. Kagome cleared her throat, bringing the attention in the room to her.

"I…believe you Kagura. But I'm not sure I understand all the details of what's happening here." This was too true. The more she learned or guessed about the world following her death the more confusing it became. She knew that Inuyasha felt similarily, from his strange outbursts of anger or his strange lack of anger…well it was confusing, but she had been hanging by his side long enough to read him a little, at least. He was disoriented, like her, and with Inuyasha that would, in the end, probably only lead to bloodshed.

"KEH! So you need us to do your dirty work for you? The way I see it, with your little set up here, maybe you want to just finish what he fucking started!" Inuyasha's anger had variations, as was logical considering how often he spent angry. This anger was a derisive, confident type. In his mind he had just figured out why it was all a trick, and therefore something in the world had just clicked back into place.

Kagome knew he tended to pick the explanation that satisfied him the most, but in this case she couldn't help thinking that he might have a point. After all, Kagura obviously took well to a leadership position, and she had never, despite her apparent wish to be free, really seemed remorseful, or worried about anything but her own freedom. Kagome was surprised when Shippou spoke in defense of her. It was strange hearing him speak up, especially with the careful tone he adopted now, rather than the more familiar, casual, friendly note his voice usually held.

"You don't understand at all Inuyasha. She isn't the same Kagura that we knew. I think she's really changed. I worked for her for over a hundred years. She isn't like him, not anymore. We have to trust her." Kagome noticed that when he spoke of her, the same admiration shone in his eyes as shone in the eyes of the three strange demons.

"Keh! She hasn't! She obviously still likes manipulating people." Kagura frowned.

"Manipulating. Yes, you do remember well, don't you Inuyasha? Though I guess it's only been mere, what? Weeks, since we last fought? It's more clever than I would have expected from you, connecting the control over living beings with the manipulation of corpses. Of course, it's still wrong, but I'm impressed." She sounded so sincere that Kagome wondered if the words had actually been meant as a compliment.

It was silent for a long while in the strange room. Then Inuyasha surprised everyone by sheathing the Tetsusaiga. He replied to their shocked stares indignantly.

"KEH! Well for now it seems like she doesn't plan on killing us. Once Naraku's dead it'll be easy to kill her! And she'd trapped in this little box for now." He smirked at her. "You send someone after us and I'll bring this pathetic place down, Kagura. Trust! Keh, I'm not stupid!" Ganzo stood for the first time since they had entered the room.

"I don't know if the rest of us would agree to that, now, Inuyasha." He tossed his head in a way that was becoming familiar. "Even your human bitch has more sense than you."

"Hey! Who're you calling a-" sure Inuyasha called her the same and worse everyday, but…still, why did she always end up the one being insulted by demons?

"That's enough, hatchling. Inuyasha is indeed more than he seems. We need him." Despite his hatred for the wind user, Inuyasha puffed up a bit.

"Damn right, even Kagome could take you, weakling, and she fights like shit!" Kagome's eye twitched.

"Inuyasha." he looked at her suspiciously.

"You wouldn't-"

"Osuwari!" She huffed. "You're such a jerk!" Shippou clapped his hands together.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed over Inuyasha's loud cursing. "I knew that that would always be funny!"

"On that note," Kagura said, moving gracefully toward them, "I believe that we should begin the tour. Ganzo, Koeno, Zasshuro-jiisan, you may all take your leave. Return to your posts. I believe your superior has a new assignment for you two, by the way. Her voice was warmer, and Kagome wondered what was more real. The sarcasm or the warmth that she seemed to have gained.

As far as Inuyasha was concerned, the whole thing was ridiculous. He didn't want to go along with it. He didn't want to listen to the little brat blabber about how great that bitch Kagura was. He didn't want to see Miroku's brat follow along in stony, distrustful, attentive, silence. He didn't want to watch Kagome be hesitant in her trust. In his mind she was meant to be trusting to a fault, eager to believe in the good in anyone. It was part of her strength and also her most foolish fault. He knew that it was partly a figment of his mind, in the small place in his brain where he admitted that he was wrong. She didn't trust everyone automatically. But it was the best way for him to reconcile the fact of her unerring faith in him.

In the end he wouldn't have to decide just then. In fact he wouldn't have to weigh out his feelings about the wind user for a while. At that moment a youthful looking guard staggered in out of breath and slightly bloody.

"Kagura-sama! It's him, Kouga-sama! He's gone mad again. Escaped. He-He's looking for you…and someone else, we think. We're not sure. But someone said he was asking for..."

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Till next time then…