Disclaimer: these things are getting really annoying…refer to a previous chapter if any of you care…but I'm sure you don't…eep! runs away from person who is very angry her for insulting their almighty system
To All My Devoted Readers: I am SO SORRY for not posting in Lord-knows-how-long. I was in Grease (The musical) & it took over my life! I have not abandoned this fic by any means! In fact, as a special treat I will post two chapters this week. I will never procrastinate again. I love you all, thank you, and hang with me.
Chapter V– Truce
It was peaceful and quiet as the Inuyasha gang made their way toward Naraku. Too many thoughts were occupying their heads to speak, so they said nothing. They all simply expected this awkward, yet appreciated, silence to linger all the way to the end of their destination.
Oh how wrong they were.
Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped in his tracks, and began to growl deeply as a loathed scent reached his nostrils. And the others turned just in time to hear his growl form a single word, a name, "Kouga"…
"Yo Kagome!" a very excited voice called from absolutely nowhere, before the speaker landed on Inuyasha's head (A/N: yes, on his head. Kouga has a very interesting habit of jumping on Inuyasha's head very randomly…it's quiet funny).
"Damn it, wolf! Get the hells off of me!" Inuyasha snarled, as he was trying to shred Kouga's gravitating mass with his claws. It was a wonder he could still stand.
The okami jumped off his living perch before the inu youkai could touch him, and landed right in front of Kagome. He was half-smiling because at the joy her presence, and half-smirking at Inuyasha's dismay. The seething dog demon was quickly ambushed by his friends.
"And how is my woman?" he then turned to an enraged Inuyasha, "Dogface, you better be taking care of her, she's mine after we go fight Naraku, you know."
"DAMN YOU TO HELL, KOUGA!!!!!!!!!!" the hanyou yelled at the top of his lungs while being held in place by Shippo, Kirara and Miroku, who were barley keeping him from tearing to wolf into tiny pieces.
"Hi Kouga-kun suffix for friend or honorable person " the miko said cheerfully, without a bit of vengeance toward Inuyasha in her voice…well, okay, maybe a little.
Sango walked up to the prince, "What do you mean, 'after we go fight Naraku'?"
"Me and my tribe, I'm not going to fight him on my own, of course!" Kouga replied.
The slayer sighed while sweat dropping at the wolf's vague answer.
Kagome, however, was more collected, "You mean you also know that Naraku is going to use the Jewel soon, Kouga-kun?"
"Of course." he answered.
"So you're going to fight him?" she glanced around, "But where are–"
"Oi ne-chan little sister !" came a voice nowhere once agian. (A/N: …huh…that must be a Yourozoku Kouga's wolf tribe thing…or it could just be a demon thing, but most likely it's a Anime thing… Monty Python Crowd get on with it!)
Before she knew what was happening, Kagome was swept up in a playful embrace and spun around high in the air.
"Get your gods damn hands off her!" Inuyasha yelled, and fought Shippo, Kirara, Miroku, and Sango (who had just joined them in holding back of the dog demon) with a new vigor.
But Kagome was laughing, and once she was carefully set back on the ground, the miko threw her arms around the neck of the person who had just lifted her. "Hakkaku! I missed you so much!"
She let go of him to embrace the other okami, in his human form, waiting for his hug.
A split second later she released him to see that all the rest of Kouga's comrades had arrived at their Prince's side. "I missed all of you guys!"
"We missed you too, sis," An okami demon named Ginta (Whom Kagome had just embraced) said while ruffling her hair much as a big brother would do.
The young miko smiled, "So you guys are going to fight Naraku?"
"Hai." Ginta answered
Hakkaku looked at Kagome "After we kill him will you and come and live with us, ne-chan?"
At that Inuyasha let out a very deep, very loud growl.
The girl looked down. "I don't know."
Ginta smiled warmly "That's ok."
Kagome smiled a relived smile as she glanced around at the Yoursozoku. Most of them looked like oversized wolves, for they weren't powerful enough to take a human like form. But others were in their humanoid form, like Ginta and Hakkaku; she was closest to them.
A few years ago she would've denied their referral to her as "sis" on a impulse, but after a while she had gotten used to it…it meant they trusted her and wouldn't ever hurt her. Once a bound with a wolf was established it was never broken.
You see, she kind of liked the fact that she would always had friends in the tribe. At first they merely thought of her as "Kouga's woman" but after randomly meeting her time after time they began to actually enjoy her company, and accepted her as one of their own. Also, they respected her, after seeing her fight on many occasions, not to mention the fact that she had saved their lives on many occasions.
Inuyasha hated her friendship with any of the wolves; he thought it meant she had decided to go with Kouga…but she would always think of them as just good friends, just friends, even the prince himself who had confessed his love to her some time ago.
Finally, Inuyasha threw the two demons and two humans off him and leapt in front of Kouga to glare daggers at him. "Listen, wolf, Naraku is mine so mind your own damn business."
The prince glared back at him. "Don't be so selfish, puppy, Naraku killed my comrades, or have you not been able to remember that?"
"I remembered; I just don't care."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said sharply with a glare of her own.
Kouga smirked as Inuyasha told Kagome to "Shut up" which she returned with a "sit" and that, of course, that sent the dog demon crashing to the ground and cursing into the dirt.
While Inuyasha was still subdued Miroku approached Kouga. "Perhaps it's best if we put away our differences for now, and ban together in order to defeat Naraku, or if not together, then at least on good terms. The enemy will have an advantage if we are distracted by our rivalries with each other." In saying that last part he turned to give Inuyasha a blank look as he was dusting himself off, still grumbling.
The inu-oni glared at the monk. "Nani?!"
The monk just shook his head and turned back to Kouga to recieve his answer.
The wolf put a hand on his chin as he contemplated. "Good point monk, hai, we will be one team in this fight." He looked at Inuyasha "Dogface! We will continue our fight for Kagome after Naraku is dead."
The addressed exploded in rage, "Kouga!!!! Naraku is mine and you'll never get Kagome, bastard"
Kouga, however remained stoic, "He killed my brothers and I'll destroy him for
that…besides you should leave this (and Kagome) to a real youkai, half-breed."
"Fuck. You." The hanyou returned in a very low voice.
"What is it that you what to avenge so badly?" questioned the prince innocently.
"None of your damn business, that's what." Inuyasha replied, using the same deep tone. But then, out of the corner of his eye he saw pain flicker across Kagome's own hazel eyes, unnoticed to all but him. She knew whom drove Inuyasha to kill Naraku. And though she wouldn't ever admit to the protest of it, it was there, buried deep in her heart.
At the site of her Inuyasha softened; he had hurt her enough. But, being Inuyasha he replied with a. "Keh, fine, do what you want, but don't expect to live very long during the fight…or after for that matter…I still haven't got back at you for kidnapping Kagome."
As the inu was talking he stubbornly crossed his arms inside of his haori and looked away, signaling he was finished negotiating, and that he could care less.
Sango, Shippo and Miroku sighed at their arrogant friend in unison. The slayer among them was the first to speak. "Well, lets go, no time to waste"
"Make haste girl, we haven't all day, I have half a mind to leave you behind!" The servant of the Great Lord Sesshoumaru exclaimed impatiently while waving his staff frantically to emphasize his words.
"Shut up, Jaken!" Rin yelled back with equal vigor. She filled her hands with water and drenched her face with it, them sighed a delighted sigh as the cold water rushed down her skin.
"Come on!" Jaken yelled once more.
"Fine!" the girl growled, quickly filled up her water flask and strapped it back on her hip, then quickly stood and spun on her heels back to where Sesshoumaru was waiting patiently for her on a rock.
She politely bowed in front of the youkai lord, half way out of respect, and half just to make Jaken angry. "Gomen-nasai sorry , Sesshoumaru-sama"
He looked at her, his features unreadable, as always. "That's fine, Rin." Gracefully as ever the Western Prince stood. "You're not a youkai, and you push yourself far more than a normal human should, so I do expect that you need rest sometimes."
She ran to his side "Hai, but…" Rin bowed her head, "I feel as if I'm a burden, and I don't want to be…"
"Do not think that way." Sesshoumaru stated stoically.
Jaken caught up to Rin, "You are lucky he favors you, girl!" upon saying so he squealed, and stopped frozen in his tracks to await the wrath he was to receive for his insolence; suggesting Sesshoumaru thought of a mere human girl as more than a traveling companion!
But much to the chibi demon (and Rin)'s surprise, it never came; Sesshoumaru simply kept on walking forward leaving the other two behind to exchange confused glances. For a second all was quite.
He turned to him with stone-like features "Are you two coming, or are you just going to stand there and let Naraku claim all the lands in Japan as his own?" With that he turned back around.
Seconds passed…then "Wait for us, Lord Sesshoumaru!" they cried out in unison and ran to his side once more.
The Youkai Lord stopped in his tracks.
"Nani Sesshoumaru-sama?" asked Rin when she saw the slightest bit of an indescribable emotion flicker in his amber eyes.
"It seems, Rin, that you will finally get to meet my half-brother" he said dully.
The girl gave him a blank look. "You say that as if it's a bad thing."
"And have you thought that perhaps it isn't? Inuyasha is a half-breed!" Jaken exclaimed.
Rin cocked an eyebrow "So?"
"So!?"
"That's what I said!"
"Be silent you two." Sesshoumaru said calmly, which still broke their quarrel. On impulse the youkai lord stepped in front of Rin, not exactly sure why he felt the need to protect her, but doing so anyway.
For the first time ever, Rin laid eyes on the one called Inuyasha and his companions long enough to take in their features. She quickly confirmed which one was Sesshoumaru's brother:
He had the same long slivery-white hair, the same lean, muscular build, (A/N: yeah, I see you drooling), the same handsome features, the same amber eyes, which promptly narrowed to slits, the same clawed hands which went to the hilt of his trusty sword Tetsusaiga, the sword Sesshoumaru used to be so desperate to get at. And apparently he had the same bad temper as he growled deeply, and the same territorial-protective streak as he moved in front of a woman dressed in strange clothes.
Sesshoumaru however showed neither compassion nor hate toward his little brother. "So, we meet yet again, Inuyasha."
He smirked, "Long time no see Sesshoumaru, have you given up taking the Tetsusaiga or are you here to fight me? Either way is fine."
That was the one of the first differences Rin saw– he was arrogant beyond the bounds of arrogance, he also didn't dress regally like his brother, but the red outfit he wore suited him well.
"After all this time you still haven't matured any, brother," Sesshoumaru said calmly, "But iie, I am not here to take your sword, I have no need for it anymore, not after mastering Toukijin."
The youkai lord stoically continued "I have no quarrel with you today, I have more important matters to attend to."
Inuyasha snorted, "Like what?"
"Do not tell me you haven't noticed Naraku's power has been on the rise lately." answered the Western Prince.
"I have…what does that have to do with anything?" the hanyou replied, slowly shedding his edgy position.
"I have my own means of vengeance on him as well as you do, dear brother." he answered, the name by which he addressed Inuyasha dripping with satire.
"Fine…not that I care." Then being the smart puppy he is, Inuyasha noticed for the first time a human girl that seemed to be about sixteen standing behind his older brother.
At that he drew his Tetsusaiga, transforming it into a fang as it left the scabbard and pointed it toward Sesshoumaru. "That's despicable, I don't know why you have a human girl with you, but I won't allow you to keep her as your slave."
At his words, Rin's eyes widened. Leave Sesshoumaru. That was her one and only fear that had surfaced as a child and would never let her alone. Fortunatly she regained herself before she did anything completely rash.
But, being the brave girl she was, she pushed in front of Sesshoumaru and walked to the middle of the space dividing the two teams.
She bowed before deeply, them, then straightened. "I am not Sesshoumaru-sama's slave, I'm his companion, my name is Rin, I met him some time ago…and yes I am a human."
The young woman that Inuyasha was guarding stepped from behind him and met Rin in the clearing to bow just as she had.
When she straightened Rin saw she was very pretty, with long wavy raven hair, bright hazel eyes, looked to be just a few years older than her, and was wearing the weirdest outfit Rin had ever seen. She had a bow and quiver filled with arrows on her shoulder.
The girl smiled sweetly, but her in her eyes she was concocting something, "My name is Kagome…" her voice trailed off for moment, as she studied Rin further. Finally she hit upon it, "You're the little girl!" Her smile brightened even more, "The little girl that Naraku kidnapped…wow…you've grown up…"
Another young woman walked up to Kagome's side, her clothes were more recognizable; a pink kimono with a blue scarf tied around her shoulders and green skirt, with black skin-tight material under the sleeves of her arms and around her ankles. She had on pink eye shadow and was also pretty and fit like Kagome. Her eyes and hair were both a deep brown. A katana was strapped at her waist and huge boomerang dawned across her back– a youkai exterminator. Why was a slayer traveling with demons?
The woman smiled too and bowed "My name is Sango of the Taijiya clan," she gestured to a small, yellow, two-tailed fire-cat with orange eyes on her shoulder "And this is Kirara."
The kit mewed a hello then jumped on Rin's shoulder and lightly nuzzled her face. Rin giggled and reached up to pet her, glad this little demon had broken the tension between the two groups.
"She likes you," said Sango with a smile.
"I like her too," Rin said, taking the fire-cat off her shoulder and cradling her in her arms then looked up eager to meet this new group of people– she was liking them already.
Kagome smiled and directed to an annoyed looking hanyou who had come to stand behind her, arms crossed. "And you've probably already guessed this is Inuyasha."
Her hand moved to rest on the head of a little demon that reached her knee in height, who had slipped to her side unnoticed. He had blue eyes, red hair pulled back in a ponytail, which showed his pointed ears. He wore blue pants, a lighter blue patterned with leaves shirt and a vest, and he was a very, very cute chibi.
Rin placed her hands on her knees and closed her eyes to little arcs in front of the kawaii demon. "And who is this? He's cute."
He blushed and bowed slightly. "My name is Shippo."
Rin smiled and straightened, then she was introduced to another human, a monk. He had black hair, with a small ponytail at the back. He wore the traditional monk robes, although his were black with a deep violet over them, and they left it up the imagination to what he was built like. A golden colored staff jingled as he walked. His blue eyes were shining along with the mischievous smile on his face, he was handsome, but for some reason, Rin thought he was up to something.
She soon found her suspicions confirmed, when he introduced himself as "Miroku" then took both her hands in his.
Rin noticed he had his right hand wrapped up in the purple material of his robes. Was he injured? No, although he had sky blue prayer beads wrapped around his wrist…why?
Miroku smiled. "Your name is Rin, hai? What a beautiful girl, now you see, my right arm has been cursed by Naraku. If in the unfortunate event that Naraku survives this fight, then this void will sallow my body and kill me. So, there is something I need to ask you–Will you bear my child?"
"Hentai pervert !" Rin screamed momentarily before jumping away from him and slapping him across the cheek as she felt his hand rubbing her backside.
Miroku sighed as Inuyasha smirked at the red hand mark in his face. The lecher shrugged "It was worth a try."
As Kagome and Sango (in a fit of laughter) went over to a frustrated Rin to explain to her that he did that to all girls, Miroku felt a very icy glare on him 'who?' he looked around to see the threat was coming from none other than 'Sesshoumaru!?…odd…perhaps there is more to this human girl than we know.'
Rin decided to forgive Miroku, for now. She smiled at the okami behind the Inuyasha gang, "Are they part of your group too?"
Inuyasha gave a "feh". Kagome smiled beckoned for a wolf to come up to her side.
She gestured to him, he had brown hair pulled up in a high pony tail, sky-blue sickle-shaped eyes, pointed ears, through his arrogant smirk-smile Rin could see his fangs, which promptly gave her the conclusion he was a youkai, but a very powerful one to keep up a human image like that.
He was handsome, had a brown tail and wore armor. Kagome introduced him, "This is Kouga, the Prince of the Yourozoku okami/"
"And this is his tribe" She held swept her hand over the pack, standing behind the confrontation, "They want to fight Naraku too, so we've teamed up with them."
"For now." Inuyasha muttered audibly.
Kagome heaved a relived sighed "And that's everyone."
Rin smiled, "Arigato for your introductions, it was nice to meet you all." With that she handed Kirara to Sango, and with sad eyes turned around to stand with Sesshoumaru and Jaken. She was glad to stay with them…but she wanted to learn more about Inuyasha and his strange team.
"Inuyasha, since we are here I might as well tell you that I am calling a truce between us." Sesshoumaru said, though his face remained the same, as usual.
Inuyasha almost fell over in shock (and he wasn't the only one) as his eyes widened. He reared on his brother "Nani what ?!"
"I do believe you heard me;I no longer feel the need to take Tetsusaiga, it is clear now it was meant for you, and I do believe our father distributed our swords to each other with a purpose, and we should honor that." Sesshoumaru answered calmly.
The hanyou just couldn't stop staring.
Seeing his brother's shock, the Prince of the Western Lands continued, "And I believe it wise if we stay on the same side during the final battle with Naraku, and you cannot stop me from fighting with him, and knowing your stubborn nature, I doubt I can stop you, so it is pointless to quarrel with you anymore, consider us on good terms."
Kagome blinked her confusion, 'Sesshoumaru is calling a truce?! And not just until Naraku is dead, but forever?! But…' She looked down at the green grass at her feet, 'Now that I think about it, he is lot more down-to-earth than Inuyasha'. For some reason, Kagome couldn't shake the strong suspicion that Rin has something to do with this new attitude of his.
She turned at the wide-eyed hanyou beside her "So, Inuyasha?"
He blinked, breathing as if her hadn't for a few seconds. "This week is getting more and more interesting, but…" he glanced at Kagome, as if her presence could give him reassurance, "I accept, I guess."
Kagome smiled brightly as the rest of her friend's gaped. She felt the need to über hug, Inuyasha but pushed it away before she could think more on the subject.
Sesshoumaru remained silent through all of this, then spoke, "Good, now, we have a long way to go, so it's best we get started."
Rin smiled and followed him as he led the way towards Naraku's now very apparent youki.
Inuyasha suddenly straightened up "Just because we aren't fighting any more, don't think you can tell us what to do! Are you listening to me, Sesshoumaru?!"
Owari Chapter Go
Inuyasha: are you insane?! I would never call a truce with Kouga OR Sesshoumaru!
Amehana: shut up dog boy…
Inuyasha: no, you're crazy damn it!
Amehana: and you haven't figured this out yet?
Inuyasha: …
Amehana: glad I got my point across besides…you have to start getting along with Sesshy SOMEtime because…erm you just…should…
Turns to readers Sorry this is so long…next chapter…the hunt for Naraku is on! Done Done Done!
What will happen next? Will Naraku be defeated? Will anyone die in the fight? Will three new teams get along?
Inuyasha: will this story ever get to the freaking point?
Amehana: YES! hits him anyway stick with me people, it's going to get better, I swear it !
Allow me to explain something my beloved readers now that I think of it. The reason the Yourozoku call Kagome "little sister" is because in Japan if you're close to someone you give them the name of the appropriate family member, cool huh? Same reason Shippo would call Kagome "older sister" and ECT.
Now do me a favor and REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!REVIEW OR DIE!!!!