Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to my lovely friend, FluffyLemonn, who harassed me via e-mail, telephone and AIM to hurry up and finish. And I've also decided to up the rating on my story as there's a bit of gore in this chapter and I don't want to get in trouble for underrating my stories. And now, finally, some romance/fluff, lotsa action and even more foreshadowing and character development. Hoo hah!
Aamalie: Thanks so much for reviewing. I know – or at least think – that you're big on Sango/Miroku action, so I put some in to please you, but the majority of Sango/Miroku stuff won't be happening until the next chapter and so on. And sorry that it took me a while to update.
FluffyLemonn: Now that you've actually read it, can you say that it's good with the same confidence? Oh, and all the Yura action is for you, lover, and the fact that you thought that Kouga needed more fangirls.
Disclaimer: I own InuYasha. –crickets chirp- Just kidding! Jeez, why the hell would I be writing fanfiction if I owned InuYasha? I'd be out there writing some kick ass Sango/Miroku and Kagura/Sesshoumaru episodes!
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"-And that one time when we strung the freshmen's gym shorts around the cafeteria?"
"What about when we took over prom?"
"I think the confetti fiasco was the best."
"What did I tell you two about mentioning that incident again?" Kouga growled, glancing over at Hakkaku who was laughing with Ginta and several other youkai and humans alike, happily reliving the fonder times of their highschool years.
"... Something about yanking my tongue out if I ever mentioned it"
"So why are you?"
Ayame giggled, looking up at Kouga from her cross-legged position on the floor. "What's wrong, Kouga? It was so funny!"
An eyebrow rose in her direction and Kouga sniffed the air carefully, his youkai nose not missing a thing. "Ayame... What have you been drinking?"
"Ayame?"
"... I dunno."
"Ayame."
"Kou-ga, don't look at me like that!"
"Kouga, relax," said a dark haired girl whose lips curled back in a seductive smile as she draped her arms over his shoulders. "She can take care of herself."
He growled lightly as she traced her hands along his chest, her lazy smile growing as she leaned over the back of the couch.
"That's enough, Yura," he said simply, shrugging her arms away.
She sulked, moving back before smiling at his pony tail and running her fingers through it. His hair was incredibly soft for a wolf's. Wonderful.
"Kouga," she began, leaning over him again as she twirled a lock of his hair around her fingers and brought her face near the back of his jaw. "Could I just have the ends?"
Ayame narrowed her eyes, getting more of an eyeful down the other demon's shirt than she ever would have asked for. She hoisted herself onto the couch, swatting at Yura in annoyance.
"G'way, Yura," she mumbled.
"You, on the other hand, need to take better care of your hair." The demon plucked at one of the wolf's pigtails in disappointment, furrowing her eyebrows together as she ran the coarse hair through her fingers. "Such a pretty color, too."
"G'way." Swat, swat.
"My, my, my, aren't you possessive?" she asked, leaning against Kouga again with a smirk and tapping her fingers against his abs.
"Go give someone else a lap dance."
Yura traced her fingers along Kouga's neck slowly until he knocked her hand away. With a small sort of chuckle she walked off, eyes scanning the people for someone else with beautiful hair.
Kouga shook his dark bangs out of his eyes, watching Yura walk away. The red-head muttered something and snuggled into his shoulder as he casually draped an arm around her waist.
Ginta and Hakkaku looked at one another, at Yura's retreating back, then at each other again before both jumped up and dashed after her, trying to get there first.
Shaking her head, Ayame said, "She only has eyes for you."
"Or anyone else with nice hair."
"That too."
A small silence descended on the two as Ayame half smiled and nudged Kouga with her elbow. "Stud."
He growled playfully, nuzzling her cheek as she laughed.
"Isn't that what you love about me?" he asked, leaning towards her and pressing his forehead against hers.
"Mmmhmm." She smiled, putting a hand to the back of his head and swinging one of her legs onto his lap.
"Hey, get a room!" came the loud voice of InuYasha from across the room as he scowled at them from the middle of a game of darts.
Kouga looked over his shoulder, snarling at the hanyou. "Shut up, you mangey mutt."
"What did you call me??"
"You heard me, idiot."
"That's it, you're gonna pay..."
"InuYasha!" Kagome said sternly, taking him by the arm and dragging him back towards her and the others as Ayame turned Kouga's attention back to her. "Get a grip!"
"Feh, he's the one who's-"
"I don't want to hear it," she snapped, shoving a dart in his hand before grabbing a bowl of chips and salsa and settling in an armchair.
Sango made a face of exasperation and grabbed the food, setting it on the small table between the armchair and love seat so that it would be accessible by all. She sank into the small, plush sofa and nibbled at a chip. Her eyes traveled towards Miroku who suddenly appeared from pretty much nowhere, but looked over his shoulder and touched his rattail enough to make Sango guess that Yura was somewhere behind it all.
"A love seat? Oh, Sango, you shouldn't have," he commented, moving to sit next to her, but being pushed away by her foot. His smile only faltered ever so slightly as he scooted away. "Have to start somewhere."
Kagome shook her head at them and turned her attention back to the "game" of darts that was going on. "Come on, InuYasha."
The hanyou glanced over at her before taking careful aim on the board and threw his dart. It landed a hair's-breadth away from a bull's eye.
"Not bad, InuYasha," one of Kouga's wolves said, nodding his head in approval.
"Feh, it's not a bull's eye, so what does it matter?"
"Lighten up, InuYasha. It's only a game." Kagome crunched a salsa covered chip in her mouth while throwing him a grin. "It's not the end of the world."
The hanyou snorted. "You're sounding a bit cocky, Kagome."
"Gonna do something about it, InuYasha?"
"Yeah, I challenge you to a game. Loser tells my brother that Kagura called when he was out."
The girl's face suddenly drained both of color and expression - until horror quickly flooded to it. "WHAT? That's not fair! You picked up the phone! Besides, you're family. He wouldn't kill you!"
"Wanna bet?"
One of Sango's eyebrows rose and she leaned towards Miroku, a hand to the side of her mouth so Kagome - and hopefully InuYasha and his delicate ears - wouldn't hear her.
"What are they talking about?" she whispered, magenta eyes scanning Miroku's face for an answer. He was InuYasha's best friend, after all. He should know something, right?
"Sesshoumaru's ex," he replied, grinning at Sango's surprise. "Yeah, can you believe it? They had a really messy break up around Christmas - something about some other guy I think - and if you even mention her name, Sesshoumaru'll kill you on the spot."
"... It was that bad, huh?"
"Are you kidding me?" InuYasha said angrily, whipping his head in their direction. Apparently he had heard after all. "All I did today was say "Kagura ca-" and his eyes turned red."
"Why would she call if they broke up so long ago?" the magenta eyed girl asked, looking between InuYasha and Kagome.
Her best friend sighed and shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know, Sango. InuYasha said that she said something about a jewel, the Shikon no Tama I think, and then the line went dead."
Sango's eyebrows knit together. The Shikon no Tama? Hadn't her father mentioned that jewel a few nights ago? It was just beginning to come back to her when a hanyou's snarl brought her out of her thoughts.
"Who cares?" he snapped angrily, balancing the dart between two fingers as he aimed for the target. His anger, however, caused his dart to barely even hit the board, much less be anywhere close to a bull's eye.
Kagome tilted her head from side to side, cracking her neck loudly, and then tossed one of her darts - dead center.
"Kagome..." Sango began in surprise, blinking at her friend.
"I've had lots of practice."
"I can tell."
"I've had practice too," Miroku said smoothly, wrapping an arm around Sango's waist and, of course, groping her butt.
"Pervert!"
"Ow! Sango, it was a good luck grope!"
"Good luck in what?"
"... Hitting me properly?"
Sango grumbled something and scooted even further away, wanting to put distance between herself and her perverted friend. Actually, if it wasn't for him constantly groping her butt, she wouldn't have even thought about moving away. She really liked being around him, as long as there was something between them or his hands were occupied. Throughout highschool, they had gotten a lot closer with their best friends "unofficially" going out and all and now she almost thought that -
"Haha! I won! Take that, InuYasha!"
"I'm not going to tell my bastard brother that Kagura called. I don't wanna die!"
"InuYasha, you're the one who set the rules."
"I didn't think I'd lose!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kagome's eyes narrowed suddenly.
"I think you went a little too far that time, InuYasha," his best friend said, wincing for him. "She may not be as vicious as Sango, but I wouldn't want Kagome mad at me."
"Feh, I'm not scared."
Kagome's eyes flashed and she pointed to the small couch as Sango stood up quickly and pulled her t-shirt down to cover her stomach, yanking on Miroku's arm to get him to stand out of the way as well.
"Sit, InuYasha," she snapped and InuYasha instantly sat down and quite heavily, cowering a bit under Kagome's long stare.
He smiled weakly, tilting his head to the side innocently. "Hey, Kagome..."
At his smile, weak as it was, she sputtered, finding her anger at him slowly draining away. "Sometimes I don't know wether to hit you or kiss you..."
"The second sounds less painful," he suggested with a small shrug as he looked up at her through his thick bangs, a roguish look on his face.
"InuYasha!" she protested in surprise as he took her by the arms and pulled her towards him. But her words were cut off short when InuYasha smirked slightly and pressed his lips against hers.
"Now who needs to get a room?" Sango asked, rolling her eyes and taking the chips and salsa to a new location. Miroku followed, naturally, and threw a happy arm around her shoulders.
"If it's not any inconvenience to your plans, we too could 'get a room' and see where the evening takes us..."
"Pervert!"
"Sango! Not the chips! Please, not the chips!"
"I wouldn't be worried about the chips if I were in your position, Miroku."
][
"What was that?" Kikyou asked. She jolted up out of her chair, narrowing her eyes as she scanned the room.
"Relax, Higurashi," the demon slayer replied, pulling her back into her chair while he leaned back in his own.
"I heard something, Taijiya."
"You've been hearing things since we got the Shikon no Tama. A human would be louder than anything you've heard and I can sense demon presences. Do us both a favor and relax."
She let out a sigh and leaned one of her elbows on the oak dining table. Her long gun laid in her lap and she ran her fingers lightly over the silencer and inscription on the barrel, "Sacred Arrow."
"Sorry. I'm just nervous," she apologized, clenching her molars together.
He smiled reassuringly, dark eyes drifting from the scattered remains of a small cardboard box and the elaborate case that held the Sacred Jewel within it.
Kikyou clenched her fist, rapping her knuckles lightly on the tabletop. "I'd feel much better if your children weren't here."
"Sango's out with friends and just might end up spending the night away from home."
"But your youngest is here."
"Kikyou, relax," he said in a low, commanding voice. "Nothing is going to happen. This is just a precaution." Seeing that nothing he was saying had reassured her in the least, the man leaned forward, tapping the butt of his weapon on the ground to attract her attention. "Higurashi, how was the Sacred Jewel delivered?"
"We've been here since nine," she responded in a drone. "At 9:15, you left for the post office where you got a package with Kohaku's name on it. When we opened the box, there were letters and other trinkets including a model truck. Inside that truck was the box that held the Shikon no Tama."
"And would anyone have followed such a difficult trail, not even knowing who to follow, when we purposely set out some distractions?"
She shook her head absentmindedly, running a hand through her hair and pushing her bangs away from her forehead. She leaned back slightly, trying with all her power to relax. Her body tensed visibly when a car was heard pulling up to the house. However she swallowed heavily to calm herself when the voice of her younger cousin rang out loudly.
"Sango! Call me tomorrow, ok?"
The other teenager laughed and said something that couldn't be heard before letting herself in the front door. Two pairs of eyes instantly traveled towards her as she quietly walked past the dining room, squinting in the darkness to make out the two people sitting at the table watching her.
"Sango, did you enjoy yourself?" her father asked as he glanced at his watch. "It's 12:57 so I'll assume that you did."
She smiled a big sheepishly and shifted her weight like a guilty child before nodding at Kikyou. "Hi, Kikyou."
"Sango."
"It's late. I'll talk to you in the morning," he continued, smiling fondly at her as she ran up the stairs towards her room. Kikyou, however, seemed only more unsettled by his daughter's appearance.
"Now both your children are home, Taijiya. We should have had the jewel delivered to my apartment," she pressed.
"The agency decided that there were too many civilians there to risk anything."
To that, she had no reply. She only looked back at her gun, checking it for probably the hundredth time that evening. However, as it grew closer and closer to sunrise, even she began to relax. Maybe nothing was going to happen after all...
She woke with a start from her half asleep state, an uneasy gut feeling keeping her from making any noise. She glanced over at her partner who had a tense expression on his face and had tightened his grip along the staff of his weapon.
"A demon aura."
Kikyou nodded, swallowing heavily as her ears strained. If she listened carefully enough, she could hear light footsteps in the living room and the soft rustling of cloth.
The two of them stood, raising their weapons and advancing slowly. They moved fluidly, sure-footed despite the adrenalin in their veins. This was exactly what they had been trained for, after all.
Then, the footsteps stopped. For countless, incredibly tense, seconds the only thing the two humans could hear was their own breathing.
Both of their hands tightened on their weapons as a tall demon came into their line of sight, a fan opened across her face to hide everything below her blood red eyes from view.
"Demon, this is your chance to leave without a fight."
Her lips curled into a smirk, something the two agents couldn't see. "I will have the Sacred Jewel, human. This is your chance to get out of my way."
She flicked her wrist and half a dozen blades snapped out of her fan, glittering in the dim light. The trio stood in a silent stalemate before she lunged forward, too quickly for an untrained person to detect. The two FBI agents, however, were anything but untrained.
The man parried her attack with a sweep of his scythe-like weapon and then lashed out with the butt of the staff, attempting to knock her unconscious.
"Is that all you can do, human? You're pathetic," she sneered as she leapt back, landing gracefully on the ground before whipping out another fan and whipping it open. Just like before, blades snapped out and she struck a fighting stance, one fan shadowing her face and the other raised over her head.
An oddly long bullet flew by her, missing her head only when she jerked it to the side with inhuman reflexes. Kikyou's eyes narrowed as she aimed once more at the youkai who only smirked coldly.
"You chose death, did you?"
][
Sango jerked awake, a fighter's instinct telling her to remain absolutely silent. Almost holding her breath, she threw the covers away from her body and slid out of bed. She glided over her floor with a silence to rival that of a cat youkai.
Very carefully she opened her bedroom door, sticking her head out just enough to see if the coast was clear. When she saw nothing, she entered the hallway just as her brother opened his door, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"Sa-"
She silenced him instantly by pressing a finger against her lips and nodding her head towards the stairs. The two of them strained their ears, hearing nothing in the silence. Kohaku yawned, ready to go back to sleep, when a loud crashstartled him and his sister out of ten years of their lives.
Sango tensed. "A demon aura."
Her brother swallowed, tightening his fingers on the long sleeves of his dark blue pyjamas as he whispered, scarcely daring to speak, "What do we do?"
"Stay here," she breathed. "I'm going to see what's going on."
"Are you crazy, Sango?" he hissed, eyes widening in horror. "Dad and Kikyou are the agents, not you!"
She bit her lip, ears struggling to hear the quiet sounds of the fight below them. Without another hesitation, she slipped back into her room. Seconds later, she reappeared, a large boomerang held behind her back.
"Sango!" Kohaku hissed urgently as she slowly descended the stairs with almost cat-like grace, poise and silence. "Sango!"
Her bare feet made next to no noise on the carpeted steps. She wiped one of her hands on the side of her boxer pyjama bottoms, drying it of the nervous sweat that had accumulated on her palm. Sango paused at the bottom of the staircase, pressing herself against the wall to listen to the sounds coming from the living room.
A male voice grunted in pain as a heavy body hit a wall with a thud. Sango's heart leapt into her throat and she felt her blood pounding in her ears.
"Father..."
But just as she pushed herself away from the wall to run into the room to do something, anything, to help, something crashed through the bay window across the room from her, spraying glass everywhere.
She held her weapon in front of her, shielding herself from the flying shards, as three new demonic auras flooded her senses.
"Ah, Bankotsu, it's a girl. I'll leave her to you," one of them said, twirling his sword expertly with a jaunty expression. The second, Bankotsu, glared as his partner blew him a kiss and leapt eagerly to the battle in the living room. As for the third, he disappeared into the shadows with a growl as suddenly as he appeared, eyes searching for blood.
"Hiraikotsu!"
Bankotsu threw his attention back to the girl just in time to see a large boomerang flying towards him with deadly speed. He jumped up, flipping out of the way.
He growled as she caught the weapon, sliding back a foot or two from its force, and struck a ready stance. He held his double-ended weapon in front of him, flipping his braid out of his way.
"And for that, you will pay."
Sango parried his attack, struggling slightly to keep her ground as the more powerful demon bared down on her. Throwing caution to the winds, she spun her weapon and flung it to the side, causing Hiraikotsu to fly through the wall separating her from the living room, taking her opponent's weapon with it.
At the exact same moment, two people called out her name: her brother at the top of the stairs, sickle in hand, and her father who stared at the destroyed wall and her in complete shock.
"Sango!"
In the brief moment of calm that followed, Kikyou and her partner fell back as Kohaku dashed down the stairs and stopped at his sister's side. Bankotsu dove through what had been the wall, grabbing his weapon as he skidded to a halt near his partner and Kagura. The last demon was still nowhere to be seen, but Sango continued looking around frantically, knowing that she had seen three appear.
"Jakotsu," the wind sorceress snarled, spitting poison at him. "This is my mission."
"Naraku didn't think you could do it alone," he replied with a wink. "He told Juuroumaru to come here and naturally Bankotsu and I volunteered ourselves."
"Huh, do what you like with the humans. The Shikon no Tama is all I care about."
The demon's lips turned up in a smirk. "With pleasure."
Jakotsu and Bankostu lunged forward, each targeting one of the agents that still stood defiantly in their paths.
Kikyou fired a round from her gun, the bullets digging deep into the demons' arms, legs, and even stomachs. But, as they were youkai, it wasn't nearly enough to stop them. She fell back, reloading her weapon as quickly as possible as her partner jumped forward, brandishing his weapon defensively.
"Higurashi! Get my children and the Sacred Jewel and get out of here!" he bellowed, gritting his teeth together as he locked weapons with the shorter of the two demons.
She darted to the table, a hand stretched out to grab the jewel from its box. Just as her fingers closed around it, her eyes widened in pain and her mouth fell open in a soundless scream as a long blade dug into her back.
The woman fell to the ground, blood pouring from her wound as she struggled to right herself once more. She cried out in pain as a heavy body leapt onto her back, pinning her to the ground. A feral, untamed snarl left the demon that now clawed at her injury, relishing in the blood that stained his claws.
"Hiraikotsu!"
The boomerang flew across the room, catching the light haired demon in the side and flinging him away. In the few seconds she had, Kikyou rolled onto her back, still clutching the jewel in a hand as she almost blindly fired at the crumpled, but still living, youkai. The bullet left her gun, a strange purple light glowing around it.
Juuroumaru only had time to snarl and attempt to leap out of the way before he was caught in the chest by the impossibly powerful attack. His wild eyes widened as a hole, growing in size rapidly, appeared in just to the side of his heart. In the blood-lust that filled his senses, all he could think about was returning to his victim, even as his body disintegrated.
"Kikyou!" Sango cried, running towards the fallen woman and sinking to her knees beside her.
"Take your brother... the jewel... run," she rasped, pressing the Shikon no Tama into the young woman's hand and tightening her fingers around it. "Find help."
Sango swallowed heavily, tightening her fingers around the jewel until her knuckles turned white. She stood, her weapon in one hand and the jewel in the other, eyes frantically searching for her little brother.
"Kohaku!"
Jakotsu smiled evilly, twirling his sword once as he took a step towards the boy. "You should've stayed out of sight while you had the chance."
"Jakotsu! Leave the kid alone!"
"Shut up, Kagura! No one can live to remember this night."
Kohaku's hands shook in fear as he automatically raised his weapon, yet with no clue what to do. He froze, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, as the demon laughed coldly at his attempt to protect himself.
A bullet flew by his head, nicking the tip of his ear and imbedding itself deep in the railing of the stairs. His head whipped around and he narrowed his eyes at the bloody agent. Kikyou, apparently, still had a few shots in her.
He snarled, raising his weapon and starting towards her as a heavy blow caught him in the stomach. The attack flung him into the wall and he winced, looking up at Sango who stood before him, Hiraikotsu held in her hands like a baseball bat. She exhaled heavily through her nose, eyes flashing with an adrenalin rush like no other. Countless years of training in dojos and with her father were extremely evident.
The sickening sound of a blood soaked body slamming to the ground echoed throughout the room as her father's lifeless body collapsed to the ground. Bankotsu put his foot to the man's back, using his own weight as leverage as he tore his bloody blade out of the human's neck.
"Taijiya!" Kikyou shouted, the sound making her partner's killer turned to her. Knowing that there was nothing left for her to lose, she fired bullet after bullet at the demon, praying for the same miracle that caused the one that killed Juuroumaru to bless her one last time, if only for the children to get out alive.
Bankotsu growled, either dodging or allowing the somewhat harmless bullets to hit him as he charged her, blood dripping off his weapon. Kikyou blood curdling scream rang in her attacker's ears as she raised her hands in a helpless attempt to protect her head and face as he struck again and again and again.
Those few moments were all Jakotsu needed to retrieve his weapon and strike at Sango's exposed back as she, along with her brother, stared in horror at their father's fallen body. She cried out, blood seeping into the fabric of her white tank top as she sunk to her knees, Hiraikotsu dropping uselessly at the ground beside her.
"Sango!" Kohaku cried, running towards his sister. He lifted his weapon, striking out at Jakotsu, his anger fueling him as he parried, dodged and attacked. He spun the chain in the air, using the weighted end to lash out at the youkai and attempt to throw his sword from him.
His sister struggled to straighten herself, or at least get a hold of her weapon, as a barefooted demon calmly padded up to her. Kagura knelt down, easily wrestling the Shikon no Tama from Sango's clenched fist. The two locked eyes and suddenly Sango found herself hearing Miroku's words echoing in her mind, "Sesshoumaru's ex. Yeah, can you believe it?"
"K-Kagura..." she gasped, grabbing the she-demon's wrist with a blood covered hand with shocking strength for her weakened condition. "You... Sesshoumaru..."
The red eyed demon's veins filled with an icy terror as she ripped her hand out of the girl's grasp and took an automatic step back. She'd never met the girl before! How did she know who she was?
If she lives, Sesshoumaru will know I was part of his. He will hunt me down.
"Jakotsu, I have the jewel. Leave the children," she barked out, sudden realization hitting her with the force of a semi.
Yes... He must find out, she thought, turning away from the fallen teenager.
In that moment, Sango managed to raise Hiraikotsu over her head and crash it down across Kagura's unprotected back. The demon stumbled forward, an expression of pain on her face. Both Jakotsu and Bankotsu instantly were upon Sango, mercilessly attacking her, unable to risk losing yet another youkai on this mission.
Kohaku... Sango thought weakly, helplessly, hardly able to ward off the two youkai's attacks. Get out of here.
"We have to get out of here now!" a low voice said as Sango fought a lost battle to keep her consciousness.
"Can't you hear the sirens? We cut it too close."
"No..." Sango could hear the sound of the fragments on the necklace with the Shikon no Tama tinkling together as it was tossed up once. "This jewel will allow me to get us out of here easily."
The last thing she was aware of before losing consciousness was the sound of sirens, finally detectable by her human ears. By then, her vision had gone black, along with most of her other senses and all she could do was slip into the soothing nothingness of unconsciousness.
Kohaku... Please be safe...