Disclaimer: Well, everyone seems to have one... so here goes... I am Shmanda. Not Rumiko Takahashi. Rumiko Takahashi is the person who made these characters up, not me. So there.
Spoiler Alert: There is a mention of something that happens in the second movie. Kind of a spoiler. The timeline for this is close to episode 130 but it doesn't really matter. The only reason the timing matters is that they belive their jorney is nearing its end.
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"Keep him busy, Souta, I have to study!" With that, Kagome flung her schoolbag over her shoulder and locked herself in her room. Inuyasha, who had been standing in the hallway, flopped down to the floor in front of her door and folded his arms.
"I have some video games we can play," Souta gushed, "and you can listen to my CDs, or we could watch some anime, or..."
"Feh!" exclaimed Inuyasha, causing a depressed look to form on Souta's face. Inuyasha had been in a bad mood all day, and the last thing he needed was to be babysat by an 8-year-old. That morning, Kagome convinced him to return to her time with her. Naraku was out for blood, and Inuyasha was going to become human at sunset. Someone like Sesshomaru, however detestable, would never attack a half-demon in his weakened state but the honorless Naraku would sieze the chance. Inuyasha wasn't normally one to run from a fight, but Kagome's gentle persuasion was hard to resist.
Souta seemed as though he would start crying any minute. He tugged on Inuyasha's pants and then thought better of it, folding his arms in a gesture of frustration. Luckily, Kagome's mom stepped in with some ramen. "Hey, you two, why don't you have something to eat?"
Inuyasha's mood always improved after a good meal. Even Mrs. Higurashi knew that little trick. Souta wasn't much different. In fact, Souta and Inuyasha seemed to be very much the same at times. Inuyasha resigned himself to the couch and ate while Souta flipped through the TV channels with the remote. "Put on something with music," Inuyasha mumbled through his full mouth of noodles. Eager to please, Souta put on a popular rock band's video.
Spitting out some noodles, Inuyasha exclaimed "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?". Souta jumped and dropped the remote, cringing back toward the TV. "Wh-what? What's wrong?," he asked warily. "They're YOUKAI! I don't BELIVE you people let YOUKAI live here! Kagome said there were no youkai left in her era!" Inuyasha was thoroughly confused by this new development. Souta was equally baffled, not understanding why Inuyasha thought they were youkai.
A loud sigh came from Kagome's room. Next, a door slam. Two sets of eyes went to the stairs as they braced themselves...
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STUDY WITH YOU TWO MAKING ALL THIS NOISE?!?" said the voice from the top of the stairs.
Inuyasha flew up the steps in one leap, then perched himself on the top of the banister, looking straight at her face. "You didn't tell me you had youkai in your era. Why?" Kagome had no idea what was going on. She looked down and saw Souta pointing at the TV. "Oh, you mean you saw something on the TV? There are a lot of things on TV that aren't real. I thought I explained this to you Inuyasha."
"I'm not TALKING about THAT. Damnit Kagome, I'm not a CHILD. I'm saying I KNOW that woman! She's Sesshomaru's mother! She's one of the most dangerous youkai to ever take a human form." He pointed frantically to the image on the screen. Kagome's eyes slowly shifted between the TV and Inuyasha's face. She examined the woman's perfectly bleached hair, flawless complexion, and white fur coat. "So she's wearing fur and she colored her hair, that doesn't make her a youkai, Inuyasha."
"No! I'm sure. I'd never forget that face. She..." He paused and caught his breath while a distant look crept across his face. "She's evil. She shouldn't be allowed to live in this world." Kagome looked over his shoulder and motioned Souta to leave them alone. Her brother left the room after gathering up the leftover ramen. * "Sit down here, tell me about her. Could she have been alive all of this time? Is that even possible?"
Kagome sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her, but Inuyasha insisted on pacing back and forth in front of the TV. He was silent and she waited. She knew he'd open up eventually; that he needed a couple of minutes to form the carefully selected sentences. As usual, he'd keep the whole story from her in an effort to keep his feelings private despite the fact that she could always sense his emotions. He continued to pace with one claw tapping Tetsusiaga's hilt.
"Allright, Kagome. Fine. When I was young, after my mother died, Sesshomaru sort of... watched me. He followed me. I guess he didn't kill me because I was too young to defend myself, but he always kept track of where I went, even when I tried to cover my tracks. But his demon sense of smell was always stronger than mine so he always found me." He flopped down to the floor and sat indian-style, facing Kagome but looking at the carpet.
"It really pissed me off but there was nothing I could do about it except train harder so I could learn to fight him and win. But one day he came and he wasn't alone. He had an inuyoukai woman and two inuyoukai men with him. I figured they had to be relatives since there weren't too many left from Father's lands after the war." He was nervously clenching and unclenching his fists as he spoke.
"What the hell was I supposed to do about THAT anyway? I was pinned to that fucking tree. Sesshomaru's still pissed that I didn't show up, not that he would have even wanted me there representing our father if I had." Inuyasha was growling just at the thought. Kagome sat on the floor next to him. "You would have helped your family if you could have gone, even if they never accepted you. But that's in the past, you can't worry about it. What about this woman?"
"Oh, right. It turned out she was Sesshomaru's mother, a full pure-bred dog demon. Father controlled the Western Lands then, and - according to Mother - he was forced to take her as his mate to uphold his authority. After a while though Father met Mother and, well, here I am." Kagome let out a little chuckle at that one. Inuyasha seemed more relaxed now, so she welcomed the opportunity to squeeze one of his furry ears.
"AAAGH you know I hate that!" He protested in vain as he choked back a laugh. "Why can't I tell YOU to sit? Just once, I'd love to..." He stopped himself, suddenly getting back into his serious mood. 'I'd just love to hear him finish that sentence', Kagome thought mischeviously. "Go on. So she hated you because your father left her for your mother?"
"Yeah. Well, dog demons, they don't really mate for life. But she was still pretty pissed. She was royalty among the packs, and my father hated her." 'They don't mate for life?', Kagome heard. She mulled over that thought for a good minute before shaking it off.
"So she and two of her guards, along with that bastard Sesshomaru thought they would take out their frustrations on me." He pulled up his sleeve. "You know my body heals much faster than a human's. Well..." Kagome noticed the faint outline of a scar going up his forearm. "You didn't heal there?", she asked worriedly. He nodded and looked away.
"Yurzska. That was her name. Every night for two weeks she locked me in a cage with youkai she had under her control. She made me fight them. I didn't ever see Sesshomaru or the two dog demons except for the first night. But her, I saw her every day. I tried to fight but I was no match for my opponents. She would take me out of the cage in the mornings and leave me outside. By nightfall I was healed and it would start all over again."
"Oh, Inuyasha! That's Horrible!" Kagome held his hands in hers and tried to find the right words to say. "How did you ever get away?"
"She got tired of it I guess. I don't know. I KNOW that woman on the TV is her. Those other two demons, that was them with her on the TV."
"So you're saying it's possible for youkai to live that long?" Kagome had always been curious about the average youkai life expectancy but had never had an occasion to ask about it before. "Sure." Inuyasha answered quickly as if you asked him whether he wanted more ramen. He seemed confused as to why Kagome even asked.
"Well, what about you, how long will you live?" she carefully questioned. "I don't know. If I manage not to get myself killed I guess I'll start getting old after 100 more years. But full demons live as long as their hearts, or whatever they use for their center, are safe. That's why a lot of demons take out their own hearts and hide them. But that won't work for..." "... a hanyou. I'll still be old and weak like a human someday." His face crinkled at the thought.
"So how come there aren't more youkai running around in my time?" Kagome wondered. "It can't be possible that they've lived among us for this long. That woman on the TV, she is the bass player for Young Love. Those guys with her are in the band too. They're famous. They wear a lot of makeup. There's just no WAY they could be over five-hundre..."
"Of course it's possible you idiot. Now can I go rip her throat out or what? Where is she?" Inuyasha jumped up and started sniffing the TV. Kagome sighed loudly. "What? Where is she? Tell me!"
"You aren't going to find her or the rest of the band here. Famous people like that are travel in limos, er, really big cars, and they are guarded." "Feh! I can handle any guards!" Inuyasha tugged on Tetsusiaga's handle. Kagome stopped him, "no no, they are also followed everywhere by cameras, you know those things that make the pictures come on the TV? Well YOU would be on TV if you went after them, and we can't have that. Why don't you just fight her in your own time?"
"Leave me alone! What the hell would you know? She was supposed to be dead!" Inuyasha screamed as he stormed back toward the shrine. Kagome tryed to stop him. "Get back here! You know you can't go back there tonight! C'mon, she's been alive for a long time, it can wait until tomorrow. Besides, shouldn't you be focusing on Naraku right now?" Inuyasha continued walking, but at a slower pace. She caught up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Please. Just wait until morning. C'mon, why don't we go do something? It's still early and I can take you anywhere while you look like that. Where do you want to go? A movie? Shopping?"
Inuyasha looked at her and supressed a low growl. He was clearly agitated but he knew she was right. There was no way he could take on Naraku or even Yurzska without his demon powers. Kagome gave him a warm smile, sensing that all he needed was a break from fighting and something to distract his mind for the evening. "Fine, whatever you want to do.", he said, rolling his eyes.
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* The "sit" word Kagome uses here is the normal word used for humans. There are two different words in Japanese. Oswari is for a dog and will activate the rosary. The other word (whatever it is) won't.
Notes: This is my first fanfic. I didn't know what to do about chapter lengths, so they are going to be kind of random. Whenever the scene changes or I want to make time pass I will switch to a new chapter so that's how it's going to work. Thanks for reading! ^_^
Spoiler Alert: There is a mention of something that happens in the second movie. Kind of a spoiler. The timeline for this is close to episode 130 but it doesn't really matter. The only reason the timing matters is that they belive their jorney is nearing its end.
---
"Keep him busy, Souta, I have to study!" With that, Kagome flung her schoolbag over her shoulder and locked herself in her room. Inuyasha, who had been standing in the hallway, flopped down to the floor in front of her door and folded his arms.
"I have some video games we can play," Souta gushed, "and you can listen to my CDs, or we could watch some anime, or..."
"Feh!" exclaimed Inuyasha, causing a depressed look to form on Souta's face. Inuyasha had been in a bad mood all day, and the last thing he needed was to be babysat by an 8-year-old. That morning, Kagome convinced him to return to her time with her. Naraku was out for blood, and Inuyasha was going to become human at sunset. Someone like Sesshomaru, however detestable, would never attack a half-demon in his weakened state but the honorless Naraku would sieze the chance. Inuyasha wasn't normally one to run from a fight, but Kagome's gentle persuasion was hard to resist.
Souta seemed as though he would start crying any minute. He tugged on Inuyasha's pants and then thought better of it, folding his arms in a gesture of frustration. Luckily, Kagome's mom stepped in with some ramen. "Hey, you two, why don't you have something to eat?"
Inuyasha's mood always improved after a good meal. Even Mrs. Higurashi knew that little trick. Souta wasn't much different. In fact, Souta and Inuyasha seemed to be very much the same at times. Inuyasha resigned himself to the couch and ate while Souta flipped through the TV channels with the remote. "Put on something with music," Inuyasha mumbled through his full mouth of noodles. Eager to please, Souta put on a popular rock band's video.
Spitting out some noodles, Inuyasha exclaimed "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?". Souta jumped and dropped the remote, cringing back toward the TV. "Wh-what? What's wrong?," he asked warily. "They're YOUKAI! I don't BELIVE you people let YOUKAI live here! Kagome said there were no youkai left in her era!" Inuyasha was thoroughly confused by this new development. Souta was equally baffled, not understanding why Inuyasha thought they were youkai.
A loud sigh came from Kagome's room. Next, a door slam. Two sets of eyes went to the stairs as they braced themselves...
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STUDY WITH YOU TWO MAKING ALL THIS NOISE?!?" said the voice from the top of the stairs.
Inuyasha flew up the steps in one leap, then perched himself on the top of the banister, looking straight at her face. "You didn't tell me you had youkai in your era. Why?" Kagome had no idea what was going on. She looked down and saw Souta pointing at the TV. "Oh, you mean you saw something on the TV? There are a lot of things on TV that aren't real. I thought I explained this to you Inuyasha."
"I'm not TALKING about THAT. Damnit Kagome, I'm not a CHILD. I'm saying I KNOW that woman! She's Sesshomaru's mother! She's one of the most dangerous youkai to ever take a human form." He pointed frantically to the image on the screen. Kagome's eyes slowly shifted between the TV and Inuyasha's face. She examined the woman's perfectly bleached hair, flawless complexion, and white fur coat. "So she's wearing fur and she colored her hair, that doesn't make her a youkai, Inuyasha."
"No! I'm sure. I'd never forget that face. She..." He paused and caught his breath while a distant look crept across his face. "She's evil. She shouldn't be allowed to live in this world." Kagome looked over his shoulder and motioned Souta to leave them alone. Her brother left the room after gathering up the leftover ramen. * "Sit down here, tell me about her. Could she have been alive all of this time? Is that even possible?"
Kagome sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her, but Inuyasha insisted on pacing back and forth in front of the TV. He was silent and she waited. She knew he'd open up eventually; that he needed a couple of minutes to form the carefully selected sentences. As usual, he'd keep the whole story from her in an effort to keep his feelings private despite the fact that she could always sense his emotions. He continued to pace with one claw tapping Tetsusiaga's hilt.
"Allright, Kagome. Fine. When I was young, after my mother died, Sesshomaru sort of... watched me. He followed me. I guess he didn't kill me because I was too young to defend myself, but he always kept track of where I went, even when I tried to cover my tracks. But his demon sense of smell was always stronger than mine so he always found me." He flopped down to the floor and sat indian-style, facing Kagome but looking at the carpet.
"It really pissed me off but there was nothing I could do about it except train harder so I could learn to fight him and win. But one day he came and he wasn't alone. He had an inuyoukai woman and two inuyoukai men with him. I figured they had to be relatives since there weren't too many left from Father's lands after the war." He was nervously clenching and unclenching his fists as he spoke.
"What the hell was I supposed to do about THAT anyway? I was pinned to that fucking tree. Sesshomaru's still pissed that I didn't show up, not that he would have even wanted me there representing our father if I had." Inuyasha was growling just at the thought. Kagome sat on the floor next to him. "You would have helped your family if you could have gone, even if they never accepted you. But that's in the past, you can't worry about it. What about this woman?"
"Oh, right. It turned out she was Sesshomaru's mother, a full pure-bred dog demon. Father controlled the Western Lands then, and - according to Mother - he was forced to take her as his mate to uphold his authority. After a while though Father met Mother and, well, here I am." Kagome let out a little chuckle at that one. Inuyasha seemed more relaxed now, so she welcomed the opportunity to squeeze one of his furry ears.
"AAAGH you know I hate that!" He protested in vain as he choked back a laugh. "Why can't I tell YOU to sit? Just once, I'd love to..." He stopped himself, suddenly getting back into his serious mood. 'I'd just love to hear him finish that sentence', Kagome thought mischeviously. "Go on. So she hated you because your father left her for your mother?"
"Yeah. Well, dog demons, they don't really mate for life. But she was still pretty pissed. She was royalty among the packs, and my father hated her." 'They don't mate for life?', Kagome heard. She mulled over that thought for a good minute before shaking it off.
"So she and two of her guards, along with that bastard Sesshomaru thought they would take out their frustrations on me." He pulled up his sleeve. "You know my body heals much faster than a human's. Well..." Kagome noticed the faint outline of a scar going up his forearm. "You didn't heal there?", she asked worriedly. He nodded and looked away.
"Yurzska. That was her name. Every night for two weeks she locked me in a cage with youkai she had under her control. She made me fight them. I didn't ever see Sesshomaru or the two dog demons except for the first night. But her, I saw her every day. I tried to fight but I was no match for my opponents. She would take me out of the cage in the mornings and leave me outside. By nightfall I was healed and it would start all over again."
"Oh, Inuyasha! That's Horrible!" Kagome held his hands in hers and tried to find the right words to say. "How did you ever get away?"
"She got tired of it I guess. I don't know. I KNOW that woman on the TV is her. Those other two demons, that was them with her on the TV."
"So you're saying it's possible for youkai to live that long?" Kagome had always been curious about the average youkai life expectancy but had never had an occasion to ask about it before. "Sure." Inuyasha answered quickly as if you asked him whether he wanted more ramen. He seemed confused as to why Kagome even asked.
"Well, what about you, how long will you live?" she carefully questioned. "I don't know. If I manage not to get myself killed I guess I'll start getting old after 100 more years. But full demons live as long as their hearts, or whatever they use for their center, are safe. That's why a lot of demons take out their own hearts and hide them. But that won't work for..." "... a hanyou. I'll still be old and weak like a human someday." His face crinkled at the thought.
"So how come there aren't more youkai running around in my time?" Kagome wondered. "It can't be possible that they've lived among us for this long. That woman on the TV, she is the bass player for Young Love. Those guys with her are in the band too. They're famous. They wear a lot of makeup. There's just no WAY they could be over five-hundre..."
"Of course it's possible you idiot. Now can I go rip her throat out or what? Where is she?" Inuyasha jumped up and started sniffing the TV. Kagome sighed loudly. "What? Where is she? Tell me!"
"You aren't going to find her or the rest of the band here. Famous people like that are travel in limos, er, really big cars, and they are guarded." "Feh! I can handle any guards!" Inuyasha tugged on Tetsusiaga's handle. Kagome stopped him, "no no, they are also followed everywhere by cameras, you know those things that make the pictures come on the TV? Well YOU would be on TV if you went after them, and we can't have that. Why don't you just fight her in your own time?"
"Leave me alone! What the hell would you know? She was supposed to be dead!" Inuyasha screamed as he stormed back toward the shrine. Kagome tryed to stop him. "Get back here! You know you can't go back there tonight! C'mon, she's been alive for a long time, it can wait until tomorrow. Besides, shouldn't you be focusing on Naraku right now?" Inuyasha continued walking, but at a slower pace. She caught up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Please. Just wait until morning. C'mon, why don't we go do something? It's still early and I can take you anywhere while you look like that. Where do you want to go? A movie? Shopping?"
Inuyasha looked at her and supressed a low growl. He was clearly agitated but he knew she was right. There was no way he could take on Naraku or even Yurzska without his demon powers. Kagome gave him a warm smile, sensing that all he needed was a break from fighting and something to distract his mind for the evening. "Fine, whatever you want to do.", he said, rolling his eyes.
---
* The "sit" word Kagome uses here is the normal word used for humans. There are two different words in Japanese. Oswari is for a dog and will activate the rosary. The other word (whatever it is) won't.
Notes: This is my first fanfic. I didn't know what to do about chapter lengths, so they are going to be kind of random. Whenever the scene changes or I want to make time pass I will switch to a new chapter so that's how it's going to work. Thanks for reading! ^_^