Chapter?: Not Strong Enough

*************

Kagome arrived at Kaede's hut only to find Inuyasha sitting up against the door sulking, whilst Miroku paced back and forth repeatedly in front of him. Kaede and Sango were no where in sight.

"What happened Inuyasha?", Kagome walked over to her mate and sat down beside him, leaning up against him and wandering why he had chose to sit in this location, rather than his preferred tree.

"I brought her to Kaede, the old hag mumbled something about 'fading auras' or some shit and made us leave.", he glared menacingly at Miroku, "and I think the monks going crazy.."

Miroku acted as if he didn't even hear Inuyasha, or notice the presence of Kagome…more than likely he really didn't..Instead, he continued to pace back and forth, occasionally kicking a pebble that kept getting in his way. Not once did his gaze lift from the ground..even more disturbing was the fact that he seemed to be mumbling something along the lines of, "This is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad bad, very bad, Sango, I love Sango, love her, love her, lover her, Don't die Sango, alive, alive, alive, our baby..the poor helpless baby, my child, my child, my child, don't die, alive alive alive…"

Kagome raised an eyebrow and turned to Inuyasha, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Have you managed to get any information out of him?"

"Feh, the stupid monk's either been chanting or trying to shove me out of the way so he can get inside since we've been here.."

"So that's why your up against the door…Inuyasha..do you think she's going to be okay?"
Inuyasha had suddenly found looking at the ground to be an extremely interesting form of entertainment,
"How am I supposed to know?!"
"Inuyasha..?", she attempted to make him meet her gaze, grabbing him by the ear and tugging it in the direction of herself..rather than the ground.

"Hey! That hurts, remember!", he glared at her, but at *least* now he was looking at her.
"Inuyasha, you know much more about scents than I do…and I know you know something that your not telling me….hey! Isn't that why you were mad at me just yesterday! For keeping something from you!?", now Kagome was getting seriously angry, he was being such a hypocrite!, She stood up with her hands on her hips, "Inuyasha SI-"

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! I'll tell you…", he tugged on her arm so that she would sit back down beside him , "but keep you voice down…I don't wanna upset him anymore than he is already..", he glanced pointedly at the chanting monk.

"-bad, bad, bad..love her..don't die…bad, bad , bad, love, love, love, bird demons are bad, Tsuyu is mean, mean, mean, mean, why? , why, why , why-"

Kagome's anger was beginning to die down, there were more important things than being angry with Inuyasha right now, she lowered her voice so that only Inuyasha could hear, "Alright..what do you know?"

He said nothing, only glared at the bulge on her stomach meaningfully. She glanced down to see what he was looking at.

She laughed nervously as she reached down into her kimono, grabbed a fluffy tail, and pulled.

And there was Shippo, held out in front of her by the tail. Noticing how Inuyasha-like that appeared, she sat him down in her lap carefully.

The little kitsune looked up at her, eyes wide with innocence…or..at least that's what he was going for anyway.

"Sorry Shippo-chan, I need to talk to Inuyasha..alone.."

"But Kagome..I want to know what's wrong with Sango!"

The sweet little voice melted Kagome's heart, she looked to Inuyasha pleadingly. "Inuyasha..can't he listen?"

Inuyasha looked back and forth between the two, trying to decide on the best course of action.
Finding there really was no way out of this, especially after Kagome had gone and made the runt into her pup, he sighed dramatically.

"Alright, the runt can stay.", he glowered at Shippo, "But If *you* say one thing to *anyone*, I'll make sure you want be saying *anything* anytime soon!"

Shippo winced but nodded his head in affirmation, hoping Inuyasha wouldn't treat all his children like this..a-dopt-ed or not..

Inuyasha gave him a rough pat on the head, remembering just what he was supposed to be to Shippo now. Shippo was rather surprised by the strange display of..affection? But chose to keep silent..this really wasn't the time to make fun of Inuyasha.

Quickly, Inuyasha averted his attention back to Kagome, "okay..are you sure you wanna know?"

Kagome was beginning to grow very very impatient, Inuyasha really was pushing his luck today.

Seeing her look, that look that said 'If you don't hurry it up I'll sit you till the next new moon', he decided maybe he should just cut to the chase.

"*Sango* is going to be fine..she's unconscious..but more than likely that was just from the pain..something hit her in the stomach..hard.."

"What about her..baby..?"

Inuyasha shook his head remorsefully, "I really don't know..it doesn't look good Kagome.."

Shippo didn't say anything, instead, he made himself comfortable in Kagome's lap, looking generally distressed.

Kagome just nodded, still determined to be the strong one, absently, she stroked her fingers through the kistune's hair.

Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her shoulders, knowing how this was affecting her, and proud that she was able to keep her self so controlled in such a situation..unlike *some* people.

Miroku continued to chant.

******

Kaede had brought Sango over to a futon and stripped her of her demon exterminator suit, replacing it with her yukata. Strangely, it had been much easier for her to find it than it had been for Miroku and Sango..

She was distracted by Sango's aura. It felt all wrong. Something was missing from it..

"Tis not good..tis not good.."

Opening the girl's yukata to reveal her stomach, she examined it.

There really were no tell tale signs yet showing that she was pregnant,, Kaede shook her head as she realized that there was a chance now that there might never be.

There was a shallow cut right along the center, it appeared as though a claw had been drug across it sharply, already there was a large purple bruise beginning to show.

Shaking her head yet again, she left the girls side in search of some appropriate herbs for the wound, not to mention some that might take away some of the bruising.

Having been gathering, grinding, and sorting herbs for the past few weeks, she found what she was looking for easily.

She added some water to a few ground herbs so that it formed a paste. Having done that she grabbed some bandages and returned to the wounded girl's side.

She bandaged it quickly and without really even thinking about it, the result of years of practice.

With her wounds dressed, it was now time to examine that strange quality to her aura.

The old woman sat down beside Sango and closed her eyes, concentrating.

Yes, something was definitely missing from it..not necessarily missing..but..more precisely, detached.

The rest of her aura seemed weakened, but still relatively healthy…but that one part…it was withering away, slowly but surely.

It didn't take the herb loving woman too long to figure out what that meant..the part that had detached..had only recently *attached*..It was the aura of the baby..

Kaede bowed her head and recited a quick incantation, not much of a guarantee, but it wouldn't really hurt.

Slowly she rose from the ground and went to retrieve an herb that would wake the unconscious demon exterminator.

Kaede began boiling water over her fire, when the water began to boil, she added in the waking herbs, hopefully the aroma would wake Sango.

Deciding it was alright to let the others come in now, she went to open her door.

****

Inuyasha had been sitting peacefully with Kagome and Shippo, amusing himself with watching the thoroughly freaked out monk.

Being so caught up in trying to understand what Miroku was saying…he really hadn't been expecting the door behind him to open..neither had Kagome for that matter..

So, as soon as Kaede pulled open the door, their backrest was removed, and they both fell backwards into the room, taking Shippo with them.

"Oi! Give us some warning next time why don'tcha?", Inuyasha rubbed his head over-dramatically.

Kagome rolled her eyes at Inuyasha and stood up, dusting herself off. Shippo hopped up onto her shoulder.

"Kaede-sama? How is Sango?"

The old lady pointed at the chanting monk outside, "bring him in..I prefer to tell you all at once."

Kagome stared at Inuyasha, silently willing him to go get Miroku…after all, she certainly didn't want to mess with a crazy person.

Inuyasha finally stopped rubbing his head and stood up.

"Feh."

And then, after receiving yet another glare from his mate, he left the hut, grabbed Miroku around the waist, and heaved him over his shoulder, much like he had done back when he had been dead…

"Hey! Put me down Inuyasha!", apparently, being rudely and roughly plucked off the ground and tossed over someone's shoulder like a common sack of potatoes has the uncanny ability to wake one out of one's stupor. The monk hit the hanyou over the head with his staff, which, from his current position, was definitely quite a feat to pull off.

"Stop it bouzo or I'll drop you.", Inuyasha hastily made his way back to the hut.

****

Soon they were all gathered around Sango, waiting for her to awake, as Kaede refused to tell them anything until she did.

"Sango's going to be alright right?!", Shippo, so far, had done an excellent job of not letting on that he knew more than anyone else.

"Babba, why don't'cha just tell us and get it over with?!"

"Hush Inuyasha. Or I'll say it!"

"Feh.."

"Sango! Oh my dear Sango..my child..is she alright? Are they alright?".

Kagome was beginning to feel nostalgia for the chanting..anything was better than miroku's incessant questioning.

"Shut up! All of you! Is this what you want her to wake up too?!"

All four of them turned to glare at the old woman. Even Kirara looked offended from her post, curled up beside Sango.

Before anything could come of that, rustling was heard from Sango, followed by a low moan of agony.
All heads turned to stare at the slowly rousing girl.

Miroku was at once at her side, grasping her hands. "Sango!? Are you okay?"

"Erm..ergh..Hoshma…Miroku..?", The girls face betrayed utter confusion, and pain. But as realization took over, her eyes widened until they were so big they looked like they were going to take over her face.
She clutched her stomach at once, whimpering.."the baby…"

"Alright babba she's awake now! Start talkin'!"

Kaede shot Inuyasha a disapproving look and turned to Sango, "Listen up child..can you hear me?"

Sango took a break from her whimpering to acknowledge Kaede, "y-yes.."

"Alright..", all eyes were on the old miko, eager and afraid of what information she was about to bestow, "you will be fine Sango…but your baby..I'm afraid your body isn't strong enough…I don't think it will make it…I'm very sorry.."

The little kitsune burst into tears, whilst everyone else seemed to be in shock.

"That's NOT fair!", Inuyasha growled, slamming his fist to the floor, "We don't fucking deserve this! What the hell is wrong with the gods!?"

"My..my..child..", It was strange..Miroku hadn't even held the child in his arms yet, hadn't even laid eyes on it.., or even felt it moving around in Sango's stomach..but there had been some bond between them..a tie..He could always have another child..they could always try again..but it wouldn't be the same..his child..had been..taken away from him..he was heartbroken..completely devastated… it was all he could do not to break down right there.

Sango's face was completely blank. Not an ounce of emotion, her eyes seemed lifeless. She brought herself up into a sitting position, wincing slightly as the muscles in her abdomen contracted. She turned to face Kagome.

"Thank you for saving me and Miroku, Kagome … you too Inuyasha.", such a dead voice….

Kagome didn't know what to say…how did Sango know that she had saved them? But that wasn't her main concern…Sango was acting strange..cold..Miroku was clearly in shock..a normal reaction..but the way Sango was acting was disturbing her. She laid a hand on Sango's shoulder for comfort.

"Sango-chan…"

Sango glanced at the hand that had been placed on her shoulder, a flicker of some emotion passed through her eyes..but then it was gone..almost as if it hadn't been there in the first place. "I'm fine Kagome."

"But..Sango..?"

"I'm *fine*.", this time her voice was stern, much more harsh, she emphasized the word 'fine' as if she were daring Kagome to prove other wise.."If you don't mind, I think I would like to be alone now"

Kagome nodded, scooping up the still bawling kitsune in her arms and grabbing the scowling Inuyasha by the hand. For once the usually stubborn hanyou made no move to resist, instead he simply followed her willingly out the door.

Sango waited a few minutes, eyeing the houshi, finally, coming to terms with the fact that he couldn't read her thoughts, she stated the sentence that she had been mentally trying to send to him. "I said I would like to be alone.."..She hated saying that to him..it sounded so cruel..mentally would have been better.

Miroku glanced up, surely she didn't mean him *too*..was she talking to Kaede? It wasn't very nice to ask someone to leave their own hut.

"What..me?"

Seeing the hurt look on Miroku's face, her expression softened somewhat, but it didn't reach as far as her eyes, they still stayed blank. "I'm sorry Miroku..I just..need to be alone right now..I need to think..you understand..right?"

Miroku quickly covered up the hurt he was still feeling with a stoic mask, one he had developed long long ago..but..this was the first time he had used it since the death of Naraku..

"Sure Sango. I understand."

Sango watched him leave the hut, regretting hurting him..but she really did need to be alone.

Kaede rose from the floor, leaving to go grind herbs or something, "If you need me, I shouldn't be too far away."

Sango nodded, still sitting up on the futon, stroking the soft fur of her cat demon companion..for once thankful that Kirara couldn't talk.

******************

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo, were all perched up in a tree,having taken post there after Sango had ordered them to leave. Needless to say, each one of them were surprised when they picked up the scent of Miroku right below them.

"Miroku?", Kagome called down, unsure of herself..After all, shouldn't Miroku be with Sango?
Having not received a reply, Kagome turned to Inuyasha, hoping her nose wasn't broken or something.

Inuyasha sighed, "Its him.", Wordlessly, and without warning, he simply shifted his weight and dropped down gracefully to the ground, miraculously landing on his feet.

Kagome stared down through the leaves, some 30 feet above the ground, wandering just how the hell Inuyasha had managed to do that…and so damn gracefully too..

"Shippo..how does he *do* that?!"

Shippo smirked lightly, his tears had stopped shortly after leaving the hut. "Someday you'll be doing that too.."

Kagome shook her head, seriously doubting that.

Suddenly, she found herself face to face with a VERY terrified Miroku…a miroku being held out at arms length by the collar, hanging perilously in thin air.

"Inuyasha! Put him town! Your scaring him!"

Reluctantly, Inuyasha stood up and put Miroku on the branch parallel to his own. The thoroughly horrified monk quickly leaned over and wrapped his arms around the limb, holding on for dear life.

Kagome stared at Inuyasha as if he had gone mad, Shippo watched Miroku in amusement.

"Why did you bring him up *here*! If he falls he'll die!".

Miroku's already paled face grew even more white..if that were even possible.

Inuyasha sat pack down, leaning his back up against the trunk and beckoning Kagome to join him.
"Come over here, its safer."

"What about MIROKU!"

Inuyasha shrugged, "He'll be fine."

"I am *far* from being FINE right now Inuyasha!", the monk had finally braved opening his mouth and talking, relieved that that didn't mess up his balance and send him toppling to his doom.

Inuyasha growled, aggravated, and jumped back over to Miroku's branch. He pried him off of the limb and sat him down against the trunk, so that he could lean his back up against it.

Satisfied, Inuyasha returned to his own branch, once again leaning his own back up against the trunk, now unhappy with the short distance between himself and Miroku.

Finally, deciding that simply pushing Miroku down to his death wasn't the best solution, he once again beckoned for Kagome to come sit in his lap, at least that way she would be closer than Miroku.

This time Kagome obliged, noticing the contemplative glances Inuyasha kept shooting at Miroku..and then at the ground. Shippo hopped over to Miroku and sat atop his shoulder.

"ACK! No Shippo! You'll mess up my balance."

Shippo stared at the monk dryly, not moving. "I'm pretty sure your gonna be just fine unless Inuyasha pushes you.

Now that everyone was situated, Kagome posed her question yet again, "Why did you bring him up here?"

She could feel him shrug behind her, "He was down their mourning and shit, you don't need to be alone after you just got that kinda news! He might've went and jumped off a cliff, and besides, I wanted to know just what the fuck happened back there.

Kagome narrowed her eyes, "How touching.", her voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

"Hmpf"

"Miroku?", Kagome softly urged the monk to explain what had happened.

Miroku kept staring at the ground, swatting at his shoulder where the kitsune kept playing with his pony tail.

"Hmm..Why do you always have your hair tied back Miroku? I bet Sango'd like it if you let it down..I betch'd look better too."

Inuyasha reached a hand out and grabbed the annoying kitsune, placing him in Kagome's lap.

"What happened back there monk?"

Miroku sighed, there really was no excuse for not telling them..sad as he was..they did deserve to know..

"Kaede had asked us to go get herbs..I thought it was too dangerous..but then Sango made some comment about herbs shoving themselves down our throats..and I relented.."

And so his tale began.

*************

It didn't take long for Miroku to finish explaining what had happened, in fact, it would have gone quicker if he didn't keep looking down at the ground and shuddering every so often. But who could really blame him? He never had been one to climb trees … and he was most certainly far from being a demon … if he were to fall … well … he didn't even want to think about that …

"so…you say it was some kind of bird demon?..", Kagome glanced at Miroku, waiting for his confirmation.

"That's what I think at least..they are the only kind I know of that behave in that way..that can make such strong barriers..:"

Inuyasha grunted, confused., "There's still something I don't understand though, why'd it attack you? It couldn't have been after the shikon No tama, and even if it was, why did it let ya live? Its as if it didn't even *want* to kill you.."

Miroku sighed, "I've thought of that..it's like it wasn't targeting us…it even apologized.."

"Apologized?", Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo both stared at him.

"yes right before it kicked Sango.."

Shippo looked thoughtful for a moment, "Maybe it didn't want to hurt you…maybe it was after the baby..and it didn't want to hurt it either.."

Miroku nodded at Shippo, "yes..but if it didn't want to hurt the baby..then why did it.."

"Maybe it *had* to.."

"But why..why would anyone hurt a harmless child!"

Shippo's supply of answers stopped there, that really didn't make since..hurting an unborn pup.

Miroku sighed again.."We've all had our losses..each of us..this isn't any different..time heals all wounds.."
The impassive mask was placed yet again on Miroku's face.

The thought of losses brought Inuyasha's mind back to Kikyou, remembering what he had been meaning to ask Miroku.

"Hey Miroku, I forgot to tell you, Kagome killed Kikyou the other day, But this time when she died, She turned into some kinda apparition or something and said 'thank you for freeing me' or some shit like that."

Miroku raised an eyebrow skeptively at Kagome. "Kagome seems to be killing a lot of people these days.."

Kagome blushed..she was still uncomfortable about the whole Kikyou thing..it disturbed her that she had done something like that..without even wanting to..

"I really choose not to know how that came about..but as for your question..It's just as I thought really, that Kikyou walking the earth for all this time wasn't really her, just a small remnant of her..and as long as the remnant existed, her soul was trapped, unable to move on…It is never right for a soul, AND its reincarnation to be around at the same time…My guess is that the new soul had to free the old soul..in this case, by destroying the body it was trapped in.."

Inuyasha glared at the monk, "Ya know, you could really spare us a lot of grief if you'd share your little musings with us some of the time."

Miroku smiled sadly, remembering of how he had warned Sango that it didn't feel right out..that something was wrong..

"You know Inuyasha .. I really don't think anyone would listen…"

In an uncharacteristic display of affection..or maybe pity, Inuyasha patted the monks back.

"Things will turn out alright…they always do.."

***************

Sango still sat on the bed, now mending the tear down the middle of her battle suit. Kaede had provided her with the utensils, and so here she sat, unwanted thoughts blaring in her mind..

She already knew what she was going to do…she could fix this..her baby would live..

Kaede's voice echoed in her mind..'your body's not strong enough.."

Sango smiled bitterly, 'Not strong enough am I? Well..we'll see about that..'

*************************And Finally, the long awaited, SESHY MARU UPDATE*****

"Seshy-shou-maru-sama?", The girl atop Seshy's shoulder tapped him on the head, "Rin's getting tired of all this traveling..looking for the wind lady.."

"We will find her Rin. Soon."

"But … it's been so long … what if wind lady is dead?"

"She's not dead Rin."

"She *could* be."

"She's *not*"

"But how do you *know*?"

"Because the grass is green Rin, because the sky is blue. That's how I *know*."

Rin considered this for a moment.."But what if the grass isn't really green, and the sky isn't really blue..what if we all just *think* it is..but its just our imaginations?"

Damnit, the girl was as strong willed as he was. She just wouldn't give up! Great characteristics to look for when choosing a mate..'A YOUKIA mate…', he corrected..Rin was human, NOT a youkia..though..if she were..she really would make a great mate when she got older…'What am I *thinking* this for?'

"Rin?", Seshoumaru tried his best to make his voice sound impassive as ever, banishing all of his previous thoughts from his mind.

"Yes?", she knew what was coming..he always did this when he wanted her to-

"Shut up"

Right..when he wanted her to shut up.

And so Rin, being young and easily bored, looked around for something to entertain herself with..There really wasn't anything that immediately came to mind, she had no possessions to her name.

She searched her mind for anything..she could hum..but Seshy-maru didn't like that..he was tired of her talking .. so that ruled talking out..she looked down at the top of Seshy's head..he really did have such pretty hair..long and white …. shiny and clean..not one split end …. such pretty hair..hair that would be fun to play with..

Not long after , the great Seshoumaru, lord of the western lands , walked the land, in , god help him , two , floppy , not too nicely done , pig-tails

*****a/n****

That was my longest chapter ever, exactly 4000 words!

Well..I hope that got out soon enough…

Vold: Thanks for adding me to your favorite author list!

Angry shadow: thanks for the really long reviews, I love long reviews! Thanks for the encouragement..and coul luck with the men in white coats..

Oh, and heres a but of advertisement, You should all go read Bunny's fic..that's her username.. Bunny …Its really good, and she doesn't have near as many reviews as she deserves! So yeah! You should all go read it..its REALLY good..

Bunny: well you asked me to send reviewers your way…

Okay, next chapter should be out in 3 to 5 days.

Well..Please review..I'm putting the 15 review rule in effect again..I worked really hard on giving you all a long update..so show your aprecciation by reviewing!

That girl,
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