Hanyou : Half-human Half-Demon
Miko: Loosely translated as a priestess
Hai: yes or acknowledgment
Goshinboku:God Tree the one inuyasha was pinned to for 50 years
Sama: lord or lady basically means Mr. Ms. or Mrs.
Chan: a suffix used when taking to someone who is of equal status
Kitsune: fox demon
hoshi:Buddhist monk trained to fight (miroku)
Shikon no Tama: jewel of four souls
Ohayao: Good Morning
Oi: Hey
Kami: god or gods
yukata:undergarment worn under a kimono
Haori: male kimono top much like a jacket
Harikatsu: Large boomerang made of demon bones ( sango weapon)
Kaze no Kizu: wound of the wind or wind scar a powerful attack of the tetsusiga
Tetsusiga: inuyasha sword made of his fathers fang
Neko: Cat
Koishi: Dear or beloved on
Tatta hitori no watashi: My one and only
Okaa-san: Mother or mom
Slowly the warm morning sun began to rise in the distance, dew glistened on the grass as the sounds of the night began to fade away. All grew quiet for a while, but that silence was soon shattered by a resounding SMACK followed by an echoing "HENTAIIIII!!!!!!"
Morning found a certain letch of a monk lying face down with an apple red hand print on his face, a fuming Sango standing above him sending death glares at the fallen monk.
Chuckling could be heard in a near by tree
"Oi, monk will you never learn" Inuyasha laughed out
"I cant help it, my hand has a mind of its own, when it see a beautiful lady it just has to 'grope, grope'…SMACK SMACK THUD
A smiling sango walked away leaving a very swirley eyed monk lying unconscious on the ground.
"Hey Sango do you think you might have overdone it this time, he looks pretty bad" came kagome's concerned voice
'grope' "Epp" SMACK
"I take that back sango, he's fine"
"Well if you are all through playing shall have some breakfast and get going, I want to be back to kiades before tomorrow night" Inuyasha said in an uncharacteristically mellow voice
Kagome, Sango and a half conscious Miroku all nodded and began to setup for breakfast
"Oi where's shippo at" Sango asked
"He was here a moment ago, maybe he went to relieve himself " Inuyasha answered
They continued setting up for breakfast, after inuyasha and kagome gathered some firewood a small cooking fire was built and water set to boil for ramen. A few minutes later shippo returned holding several fish, ready to be cooked.
"Hey runt were'd you get those at" Inuyasha asked
"From the stream near here, I figured that it would be better if we had some fish to go with the ramen" Shippo stated proudly
Inuyasha took the fish and inspected them carefully, checking to see if they had been properly cleaned. When he noticed that hey had been and also had been scaled he looked to the kitsune, smiled and patted him on the head. Shippo beamed with pride and ran over to kagome. Inuyasha offered the fish to sango who happily set to cooking them. It was nice to have something else to eat besides ramen, not that inuyasha would mind, if he had his way it would be ramen at every meal.
After breakfast they broke camp and resumed their journey to kiades. Usually inuyasha was rushing them and complaining about slow humans but today he was different. He walked at a normal pace and with kagome beside him, close beside him.
"I wonder what has happened between them, I mean its been two days and they haven't even argued once" Sango asked confused
"My dear sango, I believe that they have finally heard what their hearts have been telling them all along" explained Miroku
"But…You mean…Ohhh but what about kikyo? I mean didn't inuyasha promise to go to hell with her after he defeats naraku?"
"Hai, he did but that was before he had a reason to live, I believe Kagome has been able to reach the inuyasha that has been sleeping for many years"
"So you think he will go back on his word?"
"No, I don't, I think he will try to convince kikyo to release him from his promise"
"And if she doesn't? Then what, Kagome is like a sister to me, I can't stand to see her get hurt"
"I understand Sango, but it's for her to decide, she knows the risk and has apparently accepted it"
Sango looked up and saw Kagome and Inuyasha lace fingers and move closed together, she couldn't belive that inuyasha was acting this way, he never openly showed affection to anyone, something happened and she intended to find out. The group walked for the better part of the day, stopping only for a quick lunch of ramen. As night approached they made camp in a clearing off the main road. After camp was setup and a fire built inuyasha told the rest of them he would go hunting and would return in an hour or so. He had two reason for this hunt, one he wanted some fresh meat, two he needed to think. He left the camp in search of his prey. After walking for nearly half an hour he happened upon a deer, leaping into the trees above so as not to be seen, he waited for the right moment to make his kill. The moment arrived and he lept from his perch, using his razor sharp claws he sliced the deer's throat in one clean swipe. He skinned the dear and cut up the meat into manageable sized chunks, using his haori as a carrying bag he place the meat into it and hauled it over his shoulders. He began his trip back to their camp. He walked for about fifteen minutes and decided he would rest, that deer was pretty heavy, plus he still needed to sort his thoughts out. He came to sit near a fallen tree and placed his kill on the ground, he leaned back against the tree's trunk and closed his eyes.
"I can't belive this is happening to me, I didn't think I could ever find happiness. Kagome effects me in a way no one ever has before. I want her to become my mate. But what about her other life, in the future, I couldn't ask her to leave that life, I have no right. And what about kikyo" At that thought he paled "What if she demands that I go to hell with her, then what. I know it would be best for kagome if I had never told her how I feel, I don't what her to get hurt. Maybe I should just tell her I didn't mean it. No she wouldn't believe me, she knows how I feel for her now, beyond words. I guess we will have to face that together…together…(realization dawn here)…I'm not alone anymore, I haven't been for 2 years now, how come in never noticed this before. (Ok inuyasha will be having a converstation with himself, this is him ' and this is the smart voice in his head )
Its because your heart has been frozen, kagome thawed it out
'what are you talking about
Don't tell me you really didn't know this, kikyo destroyed your trust in people, you thought she betrayed you and in a way she did, she didn't trust you and only loved your human side. That's why she would only be with you if you used the wish to become human
'But I owe her my life, its only right, she died to follow me in death
You are right about one thing, you do owe her, but not your life, you gave her your life when you were pinned to the goshinboku, this is your second life, you already died for her, now all that's left is to avenge her death
'but what about my promise to go to hell with her, I can't break my word
do you really think that the real kikyo would want you to suffer? The kikyo that walks now is not the same, it looks and sounds like her but only on the outside, on the inside only hate exists and that hate will destroy both of you. You have a second chance now, its up to you to use it correctly.
Inuyasha just sat there, stunned, he was right, he had given kikyo his life, all that was left now was to make the bastard pay for what he did. He could feel a great weight lifted off of his chest, everything seemed so much brighter. He stood and shouldered his kill and ran back to the camp.
Sango decided that in inuyasha's absence that she would find out just what was going on. She asked her friend to take a walk with her.
"Alright kagome spill it, I know something is going on with inuyasha and you, what is it?"
Kagome could feel a blush rising on her face and decided to play the innocent "What are you talking about Sango?"
"Oi, I wasn't born yesterday kagome, I see how you two act around each other now, come on tell me"
"Ok ok" She knew that Sango had seen right thru her innocence "The other night, when inuyasha and I were gone, we talked about some things, about us, I told him how I felt and he feels the same way"
"Wha…you mean, he…"
"yeah I know it doesn't sound like him but you have to understand what he has been thru, he has had to act the way he does to keep himself safe"
"ohh kagome I'm happy for you, I know how much you love him, I'm glad you both finally admitted your feelings, took you all long enough though"
"Hey you knew?"
"Uh…yeah it was written all over both your faces"
"…."
"I do have one question though, what about kikyo"
This sent blocks of ice down kagome's spine "I don't know what he will do, I mean I know he loves me now, but I don't know what he will do when kikyo comes to claim his life, and I don't know what I will do if he goes with her, I want to spend my life with him here in this time."
"You mean you don't what to go back to your home in your time?"
"To tell you the truth, I feel at home here, I don't feel like my place is in my time anymore, I mean I don't want to lose my family or anything but I don't want to live there anymore and beside I can't leave everyone here, I have a family here in the past and I can't leave my sister"
Sango just stood there stunned for minute, "sister…you think of me as a sister?"
"yes Sango I do"
Sango didn't know what to say so she just wrapped kagome in a tight embrace, tears spilling down her face and whispered "I have a sister"
Inuyasha returned to camp and placed the deer filled haori on the ground next to the campfire.
"Where's Kagome and Sango?" He asked
"They went for a walk, I think sango had some prying to do" Miroku answered
"Speaking of Kagome Inuyasha, i have noticed how close you two have been, may I asked what has changed?"
"We told each other how we feel"
"Ahh, and I take it you both returned the same feelings?"
"Hai"
As they were talking they saw kagome and sango approaching their camp. Kagome looked at his haori and smiled, he had found something big, hopefully it's a deer.
"I see you were successful in your hunt" said Sango
"Hai, I found a deer, its ready to be cooked if you would like to start it" Inuyasha said
Sango opened the haori and took out several large chunks of the meat and set about roasting it on the fire. Inuyasha moved closer to kagome and asked in a low voice
"Will you walk with me, we need to talk about some things"
She nodded and he could smell the fear coming off of her, he smiled, she would be supprised at what he was going to tell her. They walked in silence away from the camp, inuyasha could tell she was getting more nervous the farther they walked. He noticed an incline that overlooked a small lake and motioned for her to sit with him. She complied and sat beside him, turning slightly so she could see him in the moonlight.
"Kagome, I have to tell you something, I need you to listen, ok"
"Ok but inuyasha before you tell me, I want you to know that no matter what you say I still love you"
"Kagome its about kikyo" As soon as the words left his mouth he could see the pools of water behind her eyes
"Don't cry just listen, while I was gone hunting I came to realization"
"That you love kikyo right not me!" Tears poured down her face like rivers
"Kagome!, just listen, As I was saying, I realized something, I have paid my debt to kikyo, I did die with her, it was you who gave me life again. The only thing I owe her is to avenge her death so her soul can rest. Kagome, I chose you, I love you and I want you to be my mate, that is if you will have me?
"You…you do" Now the tears streamed more freely down her face but these were tears of happiness.
"Wait, you want me to be your mate, ME!, Oh..Inuyasha YES, yes I will"
"I need you to understand something first, demons only mate once in their lives, I will be yours for as long as I live. There is no such thing as this de.vor.ce"
"But inuyasha I will only live for short time, what will you do after that"
"I know this, but i am willing to accept it, I would rather spend the next 70 years with you than spend the next 700 years alone. There is no other for me, only you"
"Will we be getting married, I mean i… it doesn't matter really but my mom will want us too"
"It is only right since I am half demon and half human and you are all human that we observe both customs, that way everyone demon or human will know we are taken"
Kagome smiled up at him and kissed him lovingly, he cupped her cheeks in his hands and placed his forehead against hers and they stayed like that, looking into each others eyes. They returned to camp shortly after and were met with smiles of approval and roasted deer. They ate and talked, kagome and inuyasha announced their engagement and soon all were asleep. Since there were no trees around that could support their weight, Inuyasha resigned himself to sleeping on the ground with kagome in her sleeping bag, he didn't like it too much because he couldn't keep watch over the camp, but at least he was near his kagome. Some hours later in the night, kagome woke up to a tossing and turing Inuyasha. His brow was scrunched up and had sweat all over his face. She wrapped her arms around him and gently nudged him to wake him up. He opened his eyes suddenly and she could see the flash of red in them and it scared her. She still had her hand on his chest and she felt the tetsusiga begin to radiate warmth, how she knew it was his fathers fang was a mystery but deep down inside she could feel it calming his soul. Slowly his eyes returned to their liquid gold color. He sat upright, breathing heavily and felt a pair of smooth arms snake their way around his waist, he cast his gaze beside him to see kagome looking at him worriedly.
"Inuyasha whats wrong, you were tossing and when I woke you up…if it wasn't for the tetsusiga being with you, you would have transformed"
"It was a dream?...but it was so real"
"What…what was a dream, what happened, please tell me"
"hmmm I guess you should know, but I have never told anyone before, I was dreaming about my okaa-san, I haven't had that dream in years and I don't know why its returned"
Flashback
Sunshine poured down over the valley and thru the window of a small hut near the edge of a village, inside two people were sleeping soundly wrapped in each other embrace. One was a dark haired young woman around 25, the other was a small silver haired dog eared boy about 5 years old. Despite their efforts they couldn't keep the sun from disturbing their rest, they knew it was time for them to awaken and begin their day but that didnt make the process any easier. Izayoi squeezed her eyes tigher in an attempt to block the percing rays of the sun. Finally she relented and rose from her futon and began to build a small cooking fire she would use to make breakfast. After starting the fire and placing a pot filled with stew on it, she moved over to the futon that was her's and her sons bed
"Inuyasha wake up, breakfast will be ready soon, its time to get up" Izayoi said
"Okaa-san is it morning already?" Inuyasha ground out sleepily
"Come on get up, we will have some breakfast and go to the hotsprings for a bath"
"Owww do we have to have a bath"
"yes and you know it, now come on, the stew will be ready soon"
Inuyasha finally raised off of his bed and trudged over to where him and his mother would eat their breakfast
Izayoi set about filling her and inuyasha's bowl with fresh stew, they ate, inuyasha asking for seconds of course. After finishing breakfast Izayoi gathered the bathing supplies and took inuyasha by the hand and began the walk to the hotsprings. The hotsprings was on the other side of the village, problem was they had to walk thru the village to reach it and that was never an easy task you see for Izayoi was mated with a demon and her son inuyasha was a hanyou. The people of the village hated both of them and wanted them gone. For this reason inuyasha was never allowed to stray far from their hut for fear the villagers would harm him. Since it was still early in the morning few people were moving about outside, they had made it all the way to the other side of the village and had not seen anyone yet.
"I cant believe that we made it here with out any trouble, that just seems too good to be true" Izayoi said
"okaa-san I hear something over there, its coming from the bushes it sounds like breathing"
"inuyasha get behind me and don't move, who ever you are come out, I know your there"
Izayoi waited a moment for anyone to emerge from the edge of the forest, she heard a twig snap and a several men stepped out from the edge of the trees.
"Ha look what we have here, it's a demons bitch and her filthly half breed son" one man said
"It looks like we get to have some fun today ae boys"
"I cant believe you allowed that filthly half breed to live, why didn't you drown him the moment he was born, it would have been better than he deserved"
"Well since you didnt drown him at birth we will drown him now and rid this village of having to live with a dirty hanyou"
"If any of you take one step towards inuyasha and me you will regret it" Izayoi snapped back coldly
"Ohh what are you gonna do, your demon husband isn't here to protect you, in fact no one will protect you, ill kill the half breed and take you with me"
The man advanced on Izayoi and inuyasha, Inuyasha just clung to his okaa-san's leg and cried, this wasn't the first time someone had wanted to kill him just because he was a hanyou. As the men came closer to Izayoi, she began to glow a faint blue, the blue hue was emanating from a small charm she wore around around her neck. It was a gift from her mate and inuyasha's father, to protect her and inuyasha. The blue hue begain to grow in a circle around them, moving out farther from Izayoi. One of the men decided he would rush her and knock her to the gound, grab inuyasha, kill him and be done with it. As he got closer to Izayoi the blue light engulfed him, he screamed as he was dissolved into dust. The other men seeing this, turned and ran. After this incedent Izayoi decided that inuyasha and she should return to their home, it was no longer safe to bath at the hotsprings anymore, she wasn't sure if she had the energy left to defend them again. Izayoi gathered inuyasha up into her arms and hurried back to their hut. She went around the village which took twice as long but had less of a chance of running into any trouble. Once they arrived home, she barred the door so no one could enter. Inuyasha was still upset over what had happened, his eyes were still red and puffy from crying and he still shook with fear. Izayoi cradled her son in her lap, rubbing his back in soft circles to attempt to calm him. It seemed to be working as he began to drift into a light sleep. Izayoi sat there holding inuyasha while he slept, she was lost in her thoughts when a knock at her door startled her. Izayoi woke inuyasha and set him down in the chair and told him to be quiet and if anything happened to run into the forest as fast as he could. Izayoi approached the door and ask aloud
"Who is it?"
"Its me, kitara"
Izayoi opened the door to the small hut allowing kitara to enter and asked her to have a seat while she made them some tea. She was so relieved that it was her friend and not the villagers. Kitara sat down near inuyasha as he looked up to her and smiled
"hello inuyasha, how are you" Kitara asked
"Tired , but I'm ok"
Inuyasha stood and climbed into her lap, she placed her arms around him as Izayoi brought their tea over to the table and motioned for them to join her.
"What brings you here today Kitara, is everything ok" Izayoi asked
"I came to warn you, the villagers have decided that having you and your son her is not acceptable, I'm afraid of what they will do."
"I gathered that after this morning at the hotsprings, several men attacked us, they had been hiding in the bushes waiting for inuyasha and I to arrive. If it had not been for the crysilis Inutasho gave me they would have drown inuyasha.
"Okaa-san I'm sorry I cause so much trouble, I didn't mean too" inuyasha said
"Oh inuyasha, its nothing, don't worry about it" Izayoi soothed
As Kitara and Izayoi talked of the events of this morning the villagers were planning what they would do to rid their village of the hanyou and his mother.
"So then tonight we will do it" One villager asked
"Yes tonight is the night, be prepared" the elder instructed them
"Izayoi I know we have been friends for years now and I think of you and inuyasha as my family, I don't want you to get hurt, tomorrow morning I think it might be best if you and inuyasha leave this village and find another to live in"
"But what about Inuyasha, this is the third village we have live in since he was born five years ago, will it ever end."
"I don't know but you need to leave before anything bad happens, the villagers are getting more daring now since Inutashio has passed. I will accompany you as far I can to help. There is a village about 3 days from here"
Izayoi sighed loudly, this was breaking her heart, no matter where inuyasha and her lived they would be chased off, it seemed hopeless. If only her mate hadn't died, things would be different, but she would do anything to protect inuyasha so leaving was her only choice.
"Ok we will be ready, let us leave before sun up"
Inuyasha heard this and looked up to his mother with tears in his eyes "Okaa-san why do we have to leave, its because of me isn't it, they all hate me!"
She moved to pick up her son, to try and sooth him "Shhh Inuyasha they just don't understand, we will be ok, I love you my son"
All that day they made ready for their journey the next morning, they went to bed early that night since they would be leaving before first light. A few hours later inuyasha awoke to the smell of smoke, and the feel of intense heat. He raised off of his futon and looked around the room, he could see the glow of fire and quickly woke his mother.
"Okaa-san okaa-san wake up, fire" he yelled
Izayoi woke up and realized that the hut was on fire, she raised to her feet and grabbed inuyasha by his hand and led him to the door, she reached down, pushing the door open and quickly ran out, as her hand passed thru the door she felt a warm sensation, then heard inuyasha scream. She turned around and looked back into the doorway, inuyasha was lying on the floor of the house crying, she ran back inside the hut and picked him up, turning around she made for the door but as she passed thru inuyasha was thrown back, it was then she realized that someone had sealed the hut with an ofuda, since he was half demon he couldn't pass thru it. She ran back inside and cradled her son in her arms, he was crying loudly now. She knew she could leave but their was no way to get him out until the part of the hut gave way and fell. Being the mother she was, she couldn't leave her son, so she did the only things he could, she went to a trunk that she used for storage, and pulled out a haori made of the fur of the fire rat, it was adult sized and had been given to her by her husband, inuyasha's father. She soothed him and wrapped him in the haori and told him that no matter what happened not to come out. She knew she would die but she had to save her son. Inuyasha lay on the floor wrapped in the haori floating between conciseness and unconsciousness, the smell of smoke burned his eyes and choked his lungs. He felt his mothers hands on him and he heard her whisper, Inuyasha my son I love you and then heard the thing that would haunt his dreams for the rest of this life. A Shrill pain filled scream that would made the Kami's themself cringe
"Okaa-san!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!"
Inuyasha layed there protected from the deadly flames while he listened to his mothers screams as she died burned alive in the fire.