Fanart for 'Moon and Destiny' is featured on my Deviantart site as well as the fanfic (go to my profile to get the website address). Also, check my artwork as well! It'd make me very happy.

Act 17:

"Are you sure this will work?" Kagome asked.

"I put a location spell along with the other enchantments," Kikyo answered, "It will drain me a little, bit it will give us enough range so that we can reach the others," She then paused for a minuet and shivered. "We must hurry…we must start this right now,"

"Now?" Sesshoumaru asked. He had taken his place in his part of the magic circle with Rin and Kikyo, "What's happening?"

"A great shift in the magical power of this world is going to occur unless we hurry," Kikyo answered. She then turned to Yoshimori and Takeyama, "I'll need you two to watch guard while we perform the spell. My defenses will be down,"

"We shall do as you command," Yoshimori answered.

"Good," Kikyo answered. She then opened her mouth and began to chant.

Tsuki had her teeth clenched as hard as possible. Akumashugi had ripped off some of his kimono and soaked it in water for a little while. He cautiously dabbed Tsuki's forehead.

"How are you feeling?" Akumashugi asked her.

"…pain…" Tsuki grunted.

"The time must be near now," Akumashugi sighed.

"…I don't know…" Tsuki grunted again, "…some women go into labor…for…hours…"

"Hours?" Akumashugi answered, "Let's hope not. Having you in pain like this for hours ould be terrible,"

"What are you complaining about? I'm the one giving birth!" Tsuki yelled.

"Relax," Akumashugi answered, "Stress is bad for the baby," He then paused. "I'll boil you some water. All I need you to do is lay back and relax," He then kissed Tsuki. "Relax, love. Everything is going to be alright,"

"Can't you do something about the pain?" Tsuki grunted.

"I'm afraid not," Akumashugi sighed. He gripped Tsuki's hand, "Grab my hand if you feel any pain," Akumashugi yelped as Tsuki clasped his hand, digging her claws into his hand.

"I love you, Akumashugi," Tsuki answered. Akumashugi croaked in reply.

Each of the incantations lit up one by one in the magic circle. First, the incantations on the outside lit up. Every incantation lit up in a spiral until it finally began to reach the empty middle of the circle. Kikyo's chanting was the only noise heard in the room but it seemed to echo through the house as she uttered the words of power in several unknown tongues. Shippou had stirred a little as the incantations glowed and his eyes widened with a mixture of fear and wonder as the chanting's speed slowly began to increase. But soon he began to feel dizzier than before and passed out.

Reichou had slunk up to his room. He wanted to shut out the world and it's occurrences for a little while and just be completely alone. So much had happened in so little time and all he wanted to do now was rest a little. But as he laid in bed all alone and with the blanket over him, the occurrences of the outside world was haunting him like a lost ghost. Suddenly, there was a pain in his chest. He grunted as he rolled over in bed, his body starting to contort and jolt suddenly. It felt as if something was sucking the life from him. Reichou grunted again and he felt hot and dizzy just as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Shukuen was still puzzled at Reichou's behavior. He suddenly felt so guilty about it – as if it was his fault Reichou was so upset about something. He heard a noise from downstairs and walked towards the door. Suddenly, the room began to spin and he collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he saw was the meowing Fukakai before his eyes went into his head and everything turned black.

The pain was increasing with every minuet. Akumashugi did his best to keep Tsuki comfortable, but it was difficult in the cabin. He dabbed her forehead with his cool cloth and reassured her that it would all be over soon. Tears were forming in Tsuki's eyes as she clenched her teeth and held onto Akumashugi's hand. Akumashugi's hand was throbbing in pain from Tsuki's tight grip, but he didn't complain.

"It'll all be okay," Akumashugi whispered to Tsuki as he kissed her again, "All you need to do is keep calm, Tsuki. Is there anything I can do for you? Is there anything I can get you?"

"How about some painkillers?" Tsuki grunted.

Akumashugi kissed her again and ruffled her hair, "In a few more minuets, everything will be alright, love,"

Tsuki suddenly let out a yelp. She gurgled and groaned and held onto Akumashugi. Akumashugi tired to see what was wrong with her, but Tsuki groaned again and yelped. Finally, her eyes went into the back of head. Akumashugi gasped and tried to bring her back, but it was too late, Tsuki was gone.

Tsuki found herself in a strange place. It was dark all around her. She was surrounded by darkened mist – constantly swirling around with no sign of true land or solid ground in sight. She looked around, trying to see where she was and trying to see what was going on when she realized she felt unusually light. She looked down to see that she was no longer pregnant and that she was her normal self again.

'What is this place?' Tsuki whispered to herself – but even her whisper echoed loudly in the mists and it seemed like she was all-alone in eternity. She looked around, trying to see if she wasn't alone here, to see that she wasn't to spend all eternity here alone in the darkening mists. She looked around – trying to see if there was a shadow of any sort of person or thing in this dark place. In the distance, she could see something ambling lost and lonely in the mists. Tsuki began to walk over them only to discover that there was no gravity and found herself flying over.

'Do you know where I am?' Tsuki asked the person. Her voice seemed to echo in the eternity of the mists, 'Do you know where this place is?'

'Tsuki…?' said a voice. The person floated over to Tsuki. It was Shukuen – looking as lost and confused as she was. Shukuen's luxurious black hair was floating in the mists, 'Where are we? Is this…is this another world?'

'It might be…' Tsuki answered.

'Tsuki! Tsuki!'

Tsuki looked upwards to see Shippou floating down to them. By his side was Reichou. Shippou was looking healthy again – as if he had never been ill. He embraced Tsuki in a hug and Tsuki hugged him back.

'Shippou! You're alive!' Tsuki gasped, tears in her eyes.

Shippou nodded, 'Here I am. I don't think these are our physical bodies,'

'Are we…dead?' Reichou asked, 'Is this the afterlife?'

'No…I…I heard in the afterlife that we wouldn't remember anything about our previous lives…' Tsuki answered.

'You are not in the afterlife,' said a voice. It was a soft voice of a girl. Everyone looked upwards to see a glowing girl floating in midair, 'This is the second reality,'

'It's you!' Shippou said, 'You saved me! Your name was Rin right? '

The girl smiled, 'That is the name of my physical body. Here, there are no names,'

'Where are we?' Tsuki asked.

'You are in the second reality,' Rin answered, 'Another plane of existence used by those who dabble in the arts of magic. This is the first level of the next plane – The Land of Mists. It's a place where dead spirits go when they haven't been truly good or evil in their lives. I believe some Westerners call it 'eternal limbo','

'What are we doing here?' Reichou asked.

'You are going to make the next Jewel of Four Souls here,' Rin said, 'This is the only place where the magical part of it can be made without harming people in the process. This is where it's original power is forged. As we speak, the priestess Kikyo is summoning up the power of Four Souls to create it to combat the power of Four Angels,'

'Four Angels…' Shippou gasped, 'You mean…the Jewel of Four Angels is actually coming?'

Rin smiled sadly, 'It is coming right now,'

Tsuki was about to speak when she felt a pain in her chest again.

'What are you doing here?' Shukuen asked.

'My place in this ritual is to oversee the creation of jewel's powers,' Rin answered, 'Only one with an extrasensory ability can touch the powers without being burned,' She turned to Tsuki. 'Soul of Courage,' She turned to Shippou. 'Soul of Friendship,' She turned to Reichou. 'Soul of Knowledge,' She turned to Shukuen. 'Soul of Purity,'

Tsuki, Reichou, Shippou, and Shukuen croaked and their spirit bodies jolted as their skin began to pierce with light. soon, they no longer had spirit bodies in their shapes, but they were just chaotic globs of light. Rin chanting quietly as the light came to her. At first, she was scared to touch it – but found that it wasn't burning hot and was very cool. She collected it in her arms and the light melded.

'The Soul of Courage. The Soul of Friendship. The Soul of Knowledge. The Soul of Purity,' Rin chanting quietly, 'All shall come together to form the Four Souls. All shall come together to form the Four Souls of Light. All shall come together to form the Jewel of Four Souls. The jewel of light. A jewel to protect. A jewel to save,'

The spirits had molded together to form an orb of light – so small that it could fit into Rin's fist with ease. Rin stared at the tiny orb as it floated in midair.

'The Jewel of Four Souls has returned,'

"TSUKI!"

Tsuki let out a gasp as the ear shattering yell filled the air. She looked around and found herself back in the cabin and back with a worried Akumashugi. She looked around to see that she was no longer in the mists and that she was back in her body. But something was different. Something was very different. She felt more open and more networked now – as if she was somehow connected to Shukuen, Shippou, and Reichou on a second, more intimate level; a level far more intimate than a secret, or love, or sex. It was something entirely new. Akumashugi held and kissed Tsuki, seeing her alive and well.

"Tsuki, oh Tsuki, don't scare me like that again," Akumashugi said, "I thought something truly terrible had happened to you. Don't ever do that again,"

Tsuki could breathe, "Akuma…aku…" Seeing that it was too difficult to speak, Tsuki just hugged Akumashugi back tenderly. Akumashugi held back onto her. He kissed her softly again and Tsuki kissed him back. But Tsuki let out another yelp of pain – far louder than the other yells – and shrieked as she clutched her stomach.

"The child!" Akumashugi said, "I almost forgot!"

Tsuki let out a long string of curses as she held onto her stomach. It felt as if a knife was trying to rip her open from the inside. Akumashugi helped her lay down and felt her stomach. He could feel the rapid and violent movements inside of it. He bit his lip and made sure Tsuki was comfortable as possible in her current situation.

"Alright, Tsuki, relax," Akumashugi said, "It's your time. It seems you passing out was just enough to put you out of labor,"

A blinding light filled the room. Even Inu-Yasha had to close his sensitive eyes to the shining light. Kikyo continued chanting as best as she could, despite the fact that she was sweating and feeling tired. Sesshoumaru could feel a strange aura of power fill the room as he saw an orb slowly form in the air. Now came his role as the full blooded demon. Kikyo had told him of his role from before in the ritual. "The Jewel's power is chaotic when it first comes into the physical world. Only one of true chaos can touch it and that is a demon," Kikyo had stated. Sesshoumaru stood up and reached out for the jewel.

As soon as his claws touched it, he could feel the heat sweep over him and burn him. Holding back a cry of pain, he held onto the jewel as tightly as possible. The heating was making him sweat as well. Kikyo could see his discomfort but continued the chanting, blocking out all that was going around her. Inu-Yasha, Kagome, Takeyama, and Hoshimori could only watch as the light grew with a violent crackling noise. Electricity seemed to fill the very air as the jewel crackled.

After the crackling, the light disappeared. Sesshoumaru was still fighting pain with burned and bloody claws as he held the jewel. Kikyo slowly ceased chanting and she stood up. She outstretched her arms and took the jewel of Sesshoumaru. Kikyo observed the jewel in her palm for a little while in silence. It was silent all around.

"It is done," Kikyo stated, "the Jewel of Four Souls has returned,"

When the screaming and the crying was over, Akumashugi presented it to Tsuki. Tsuki was half delirious from the pain that she had gone through, but she looked at Akumashugi with a smile as he held a stained bundle.

"It's a girl," Akumashugi answered with a smile as he gave the bundle to Tsuki.

Tsuki looked down at the infant. It was a small little girl with tiny little claws. Her skin was pale and even though her eyes were half open, she could tell they were a ruby red. Her hair was white as well. An albino child, just like her father – except for one little thing: she had dog ears and a small silver tail.

Takeyama and Hoshimori stirred suddenly.

"We are too late," Takeyama muttered

"We have failed," Hoshimori answered.

"What?" Sesshoumaru answered as he picked an unconscious Rin up form the ground.

"What do you speak of?" Kikyo asked, "The Jewel of Four Souls has been created and the Jewel of Four Angels cannot harm us,"

"Not Jewel. The baby," Takeyama answered.

"What…?" Inu-Yasha asked.

Sesshoumaru's mind raced, 'When the most powerful of demons breed…' He then yelled, "NO! You can't be suggesting that after all of this…that you–"

Hoshimori answered him, "Powerful demons must not breed. Their spawn will be too powerful and kill many. They must be taken care of when they are infant or when the mother is with child,"

Sesshoumaru clenched his teeth, "Damn the Yousanjikai. Always trying to help themselves. You weren't here to originally save the world. No, you were here because you were supposed to kill the baby,"

"Your accusations are correct," Takeyama stated.

"I may not like the situation from which the child has been born," Inu-Yasha stated, "but it is still my grandchild and I won't let you harm it,"

"Her," Hoshimori corrected.

"Her…?" Kagome asked.

"The infant you speak of," Takeyama said, "is female,"

"She was born some few minuets ago," Hoshimori said.

"And she will die some minuets later by the hands of Yousanjikai,"

"Wait!" Kikyo commanded, "Did we not prevent the destruction of these worlds? Did we not save millions of lives, including yours?" Takeyama and Hoshimori were silent. "Does that not meant nothing to you Yousanjikai! Spare this child's life! It is not just some demon child to us; it is a part of a family!"

Takeyama and Hoshimori paused.

"We must do as we are commanded," Hoshimori answered silently. With this said, Takeyama and Hoshimori disappeared.

Tsuki quietly held little Shugotenshi, making sure not to make any loud noises around her so that she wouldn't frighten the infant. Shugotenshi was barely talking or moving, but her little eyes were observing everything around her. Most of all, she was staring up at Tsuki and Akumashugi. Akumashugi observed his child quietly.

"She looks just like her mother," Akumashugi whispered as his stroked some of the silver strands of hair on Shugotenshi's head. He then gently touched Shugotenshi's dog ears, "She's going to be a little dog goddess just like her,"

"This baby," Tsuki began, "she's fully demon isn't she?"

"Yes," Akumashugi answered, "If there is any human blood in her, the amount has to be insignificantly small. I think there must be less than a drop in her,"

"No matter," Tsuki answered, "Demon or no demon, this is my daughter,"

Akumashugi twitched suddenly and slipped off the bed. Two cloaked demons appeared in the cabin. Both of them looked the same and they were glaring at Tsuki and the baby she held in her hands.

"Who are you?" Akumashugi snarled, "What is your business here?"

"You know of us," the first demon said.

"We are Yousanjikai, the demon council," the second demon said, "and we have come for the infant,"

Tsuki held onto her baby, "…what?"

"The child is too powerful," stated the first demon.

"Give to us and it shall have a quick and painless death," stated the second.

"No!" Akumashugi yelled, "I won't let you Yousanjikai have my child!"

Shugotenshi was frightened by the loud noise and began to wail. Tsuki comforted and rocked the baby as best as she could. Shugotenshi continued crying. Tsuki glared at the demons and hissed, "You are idiots to think that we would give up our child. Leave…now,"

"We do not wish to harm you," the first demon said.

"We just want the child," the second demon said.

"You knew this would happen," the first demon said as he looked at Akumashugi.

Akumashugi growled, "No…I won't let you have my child! I'll be damned if I do!" Akumashugi reached into his kimono and pulled out a black and red jewel, stained with a little blood. The jewel pulsated with power and the demons quivered.

"The Jewel of Four Angels…" the second demon gasped.

Akumashugi clutched the jewel, "I knew you Yousanjikai would come for my child. I knew you would try to kill my child. I knew that this was the only thing that would stop you,"

"Are you mad?" hissed the first demon, "You'll kill us all!"

"Most demons would give their children up from money or glory or just to save their own damned skins! My mother did the same to me!" Akumashugi yelled, "She saw that her child was a demonic beasts and sold me off for a little gold just to make herself happy! She hated me and despised me! She hated her own son! Well, not this time. Not this time…" Akumashugi bitterly clenched the jewel. "My mother would sacrifice her child just to save herself. I would sacrifice myself to save my child.

The twin demons were silent, "This jewel may have the power to destroy entire worlds but it as it has the power of darkness, it has the power of light. It can destroy, but it can also create. I will create another world where my child, my lover and myself can be together forever and in peace from you damned demons!"

The twin demons were silent. Finally, the first demon spoke:

"We must do as we are commanded,"

Akumashugi spoke next, "Then die,"

The twin demons bared their sharpened claws and leapt towards Akumashugi and Tsuki. Tsuki screamed, too weak to move, fight, or defend herself or the baby, and Akumashugi stood there like a wall. He raised the jewel and it shined with light. The twin demons screamed in pain and collapsed onto the ground. Within minuets they were covered with sores and oozing wounds.

Pestilence: one of the four angels had attacked.

"…akumashugi…" Tsuki began, "…what's this all about?"

Akumashugi turned to look at Tsuki. He put the jewel back in his kimono and held onto her, "I'm sorry, Tsuki. Everything's going to be alright. I'll make sure our little Shugotenshi will be protected," Akumashugi took the Jewel of Four Angels and placed it in Shugotenshi's little arms. "This belongs to you more than I, little one. You were born with it. It is yours. I have no right to use it. I see it now. This is something that you must use. I see that now,"

Shugotenshi's eyes were still half open, but she seemed to understand what Akumashugi meant. This was her jewel. She would have to decide what to do with it. Her crying ceased and she simply laid there staring up at her young parents.

"You don't understand…" gurgled one of the demons, "…you'll never be safe…we will come…we will be ready…we shall take the child…we shall kill you...we shall kill the child…we must or all is lost…"

"All will be lost if you harm our baby," Tsuki answered. The twin demons let out a cry of pain and died from their wounds. They disintegrated into dust as soon as their life left them. Tsuki cradled Shugotenshi quietly and kissed the infant on her head, "They won't harm you, my little Shugotenshi,"

"Not while we still love you," Akumashugi answered.

Birds began to chirp. The sun was rising and another day was beginning with them in their new life.