Chapter 23

It was no use. The raptor was gone. Kouga had let him slip through his fingers again. "Damnit!" he cursed punching the ground in rage. "I dawdled too much." He got back to his feet and looked around. There was no use staying here. Afterall, Jarra was gone.

Now, Kouga had to think of the next step to look for him. Jarra said he was going after Kikyo. So, all he had to do was find Kikyo and he would find Jarra. So, what was the easiest way to find Kikyo? "Inuyasha." Koga nodded to himself and took off.

"You know, Val, you should really take a trip through the well with me before the pups are born," Kagome said. "I think it would be good for you to get you out of this cave for awhile."

Valdrianth and Kagome were in conversation while Inu Yasha stood at the edge of the cliff's edge keeping watch.

Val looked up at Kagome and smiled. "You know, that sounds really fun," Val said. "It's my original time after all. It would be nice to spend a few days over there and take a break from this place. I'm sure they have all kind of great pup things over there as well. I'm tired of making clothing."

Kagome nodded. "Oh, most definitely. We'll get you some clothing for the both of them. Do you know what you're having? Boys, girls, both?"

Val closed her eyes and held her hand against her forming stomach. "Both."

"Wow, you can tell?"

Valdrianth nodded. "Yea. Ever sense. . . .the purge I've been discovering new things about myself. In a way, it left my soul open."

Inuyasha turned his head to look at the girls. Opened her soul? Then his nose twitched. "Something's coming."

The girls perked up and looked at him. "What is it?" Kagome asked.

"A human."

"Human?" Val questioned. "There aren't any humans that would dare come near this cave."

"Well, this one must be insane," InuYasha said. "He has the scent of a middle aged man, and . . .it smells like he's carrying violets with him."

Val got to her feet. "Violets?"

"Something wrong?" Inu Yasha questioned.

"Let him come here," she instructed.

Inu Yasha nodded and stood there. The three of them waited for the human to climb over the ledge of the cliff.

"Otou. . . heh. . .Shiro-sana?"

Shiro panted as he got to his feet. "Ah, good, I found you, Val."

"You know him?" Inuyasha questioned looking at Valdrianth.

"Hai," Val nodded. "This is Shiro-san. He was my adopted father when I had believed I was a human."

Shiro chuckled. "So you still don't consider this old fool your father do you?"

"Eh? Shiro-san, it's not like that. . . "

"No, no, I understand," he said raising his hand. He then looked from Val to Inu Yasha and then Kagome.

"Oh where are my manners!" Val realized. "This is Inuyasha and Hirugashi Kagome."

Shiro nodded. "A pleasure to meet you. Are you. . members of the wolf pack?"

"Wha?!" Inuyasha nearly fell over. "Hell no old man! Do I look like a wolf?!"

"Inuyasha! Don't be so rude to Val's Dad!" Kagome scolded. "Or you know what!"

Inuyasha drooped and sulked into a submissive state.

Val chuckled. "They're friends of the family," she said. "Inuyasha is a dog hanyou and Kagome the incarnation of a miko."

"Ah, I see," Shiro said. "Setting his sack down."

"But what I want to know is, why did you come all the way here?" Val asked. "You're not as young as you used to be."

"Well," he said, opening his sack. "You had forgotten something last time you were over at the village." He pulled out her mother's Kimono from the other time.

"Otou. . . I. ... ."

He handed it to her. "Go on, my miracle, it's yours. Your mother really did want you to have it. She told me so on her death bed."

Val took the kimono and held is close to her chest. "Thank you so much, Otou."

He smiled. "I also have something else for you from Tetsuo."

"Tetsuo?"

"Yea, he was a little upset when you didn't see him last time you visited," he replied. "He would've come with me, but he promised Sayo that he would go to Edo with her today."

Val nodded and Shiro handed her a handful of violets. They were just like the ones she used to pick for her mother. She smiled. "He remembered."

"Oh course he did," Shiro replied. "He's your brother."

"What about Ayumi?"

"Eh, she thinks I'm going to Edo too," Shiro chuckled. "She doesn't like long trips. That's a good thing. When I get home I'll just tell her that I was getting tired and didn't think I'd make the trip and decided I would come home."

"Val, is Ayumi the one you told us about?" Inuyasha questioned.

Val nodded.

"Feh, I would've rang her neck the moment I'd get a chance too." He cracked the jointed in his hands.

Shiro stared wide-eyed at the hanyou.

"Heh, he's not serious, Otou," Val assured. "He's a lot of bark. Not that he doesn't have bite to go with it. He just has a bigger heart than he lets on. Neh, Kagome-chan?"

Kagome nodded. "Yup, he's a real big softie!"

"Geh! Am not!"

Shiro looked around. He seemed to be looking for something. "Otou?"

"Hmm? Oh, gomen, Val," he apologized. "I was just wondering where this wolf of yours is at?"

"Oh, he'll be back pretty soon," Val replied. "He went go run an errand. Are you hoping to meet him?"

Shiro nodded. "Yes, I wanted to make sure he's taking care of my eldest daughter."

"Well you don't have to worry about that," Inuyasha replied. "As you can tell, he doesn't leave her by herself anywhere."

Valdrianth sighed. "Which can get kind of annoying."

"Feh, he's just worrying about his pregnant bitch," Inuyasha said, casually. "If my bitch was pregnant too I wouldn't leave her alone."

Kagome and Valdrianth felt like they wanted to fall over.

"Pregnant? BITCH?!" Shiro demanded. "Young man, how dare you say such ugly things about my daughter."

"Otou, calm down," Valdrianth assured him. "He didn't mean it as an insulting thing to say. It's a canine thing. They call their mates bitches. . well that's because that's what female canines are called. And they call their babies pups."

Shiro looked at him.

Val sighed then smiled. "And yes, Otou, I am pregnant for my Koga." He eyes softened. "I have two pups growing inside of me."

Shiro stared at his daughter for a moment then smiled. "Well then I guess I better get to work then."

"Hmm, work on what?"

"A crib for the babies. . er. .pups to sleep in."

Val smiled. "Thank you, Otou."

Then in the distance they could all see the whirl wind coming their way. "That was fast," Kagome stated.

The wolf demon then set down near them.

"So how'd it go?" Inuyasha questioned him.

"Feh, I couldn't track him."

"You mean he escaped."

"It's none of your damn business you stupid dog!" Koga yelled back at him. "He's friggen' sneaky! He's almost as hard as that damn Naraku is to track. By the way, I don't see you making any attempted to look for him."

"Feh, that's because someone decided to hire their woman on my to pretend to kill me, and I had watch my back for so damn long."

"Feh! Maybe I should've really had Val kill you."

"Only because you couldn't do it yourself."

"Osuwari!"

Inu Yasha fell face down into the ground. "Why. . . ." I should've destroyed this thing when I had the chance.

"I seriously need to get me one of those," Valdrianth said to Kagome with a sweat drop."

Koga then looked the way of the women and saw the middle aged man. "Umm. . . ."

"Oh! Koga, this is my adopted father, Shiro," Valdrianth introduced. "Otou, this is my Koga."

Koga walked over to the human and sniffed at him. "Are you the one that treated Val bad?"

"No Koga, it's his second wife that did," Valdrianth corrected seeing her father a little too frightened to answer the question. "Don't force yourself on him. It took a lot of strength for him to come here. He's getting old ya know."

Shiro chuckled at his daughter's comment.

"Say, you do have a familiar smell," Koga pointed out. "Do you have another daughter?"

"Hai," Shiro replied. "I have a young teenage daughter named Sayo."

"Sayo. . . ."

Inu Yasha was recovering from his recent sit. He was about to say something when Koga interrupted him. "Inu Yasha, come with me. We need to talk."

Inu Yasha blinked a few times. "Alright." The two of them took off to be alone to talk.

"What's up with him?" Kagome questioned.

"Heh, Otou, I apologize for his rudeness," Val commented.

"Oh, it's alright," he said. "I should be going anyway. Ayumi will be griping if I'm not home soon. Perhaps you could come pay me a visit next time and give this old bones a rest."

Valdrianth smiled at him. "Thanks, I will Otousan."

He gave a nodded and waved as he started to climb down the cliff. "Oh hold up." She jumped over to him and picked him up. "Let me help." She jumped down the cliff and set her father down on the ground.

"Haha, thank you Val," he laughed. "That certainly helped. Ja ne."

"Ja!" She jumped back up the cliff as he left. "Well that was a nice visit," she told Kagome. "Now where on off have the men run off to."

Kagome shook her head. "I don't know. Koga looked like he had a lot on his mind."

Val nodded in agreement. "Yea, it worries me when he goes off like that and talk without telling me anything." She pouted. "I'm pregnant, not stupid. I know something is going on. And I know it had to do with Jarra. And if he dragged Inu Yasha off, then it has to do with two things." She looked at Kagome. "Kikyo or Naraku. Maybe even both."

Kagome nodded. "I suspect the same thing."

Inu Yasha and Koga had climbed further up the mountain and stopped on a ledge. "This better be good, Koga," Inu Yasha stated.

Koga folded his arms across his chest. "I'm going to need your help," Koga said.

Inu Yasha narrowed his eyes. "Yea?"

Koga rubbed his noise. "We know Jarra is going after Kikyo. She betrayed him after all," he stated. "So I need your help to find Kikyo so I can find Jarra."

Inu Yasha lifted an eye brow at him. "What do you plan on doing to Kikyo? She did in fact help Jarra with Val's purge."

"Not to mention kill some of my kin," Koga reminded. "It's not my place to decide Kikyo's fate. That's yours." He looked at Inu Yasha. "But what my main concern is, Kikyo does have connections to Nuraku. She is the one that gave him all of those Shikon shards right?"

"Yea, so?"

"So, what do you think would happen if Naraku and Jarra met?" he lifted and eye brow. "I don't think the outcome would be good for anyone."

Inu Yasha looked away to the side. "I know. . .I know."

"Good, thanks for watching out for Val for me today." Koga jumped back down the mountain.

Geh, damn wolf! He's leaving it up to me to come up with the plan!

Inu Yasha jumped back down. "Kagome, ready?"

Kagome nodded and jumped on Inu Yasha's back. They left the wolf and the raptor.

"Koga?" Valdrianth questioned.

"Yea?"

"When Otou mentioned Sayo, why did you suddenly look in deep thought?"

"I. . . I don't know."

"Don't you lie to me!"

Koga cowered. "Well, it's just there was this girl. . . at your village. When I hunted Jarra that day, she stood in front of me and refused to let me pass to get to Jarra," he said. "I had recognized the same girl at your Otou's home."

"Could Sayo have nursed Jarra back to health?"

Koga shrugged. "Maybe. I think it was her," he stated. " 'Cause she reminded me of you."

"Of me? How?"

He chuckled and plucked her nose. "When I asked her why she wasn't running from me, she replied. 'I was taught never to runaway from something immortal.'"

Val blinked a few times. "That's the first thing I ever said to you when we were kids."

He smiled. "It sure was," he replied. "That's why I figured she was your sister. Well. . . half. . .adopted sister. . ."

Val looked down. "Does this mean my family is in danger?"

"Don't worry, I'll get the other wolves to watch over the village."

"What other wolves?" she questioned giving him a look.

". . . . . Oh. . . .that's right. They all went up north for mates. Then I'll look out for it. My nose will pick up anything that happens. I assure you." He grinned at her. "Don't worry about it Val."

She nodded. "I trust you."

------

Sorry I've been slow on this story. I've been trying to brainstorm it for awhile, but I come up with are fillers and conversations. I don't want to end it just yet, I don't want a bad ending ya know. I do have a small plan for what happens with the "pups" but I need to work my way up to that point.

And there's always the problem with that wolf youkai, Yukoni. And of course, what would happen if Naraku and Jarra struck a deal? How would that effect Jarra's curse ya know? Yea well, while this one is on hold. You can read my Kingdom Hearts Story and my original story on . Meh name there is Nikith.