Disclaimer: They belong to Takahashi, not me!!!

Chapter 35

"Why didn't you let me do this when I needed to study?"

"Keh, your textbooks are bigger than that thing."

"But you never even let me try."

"Aren't you supposed to be reading, wench?"

"Well I don't see why you will let me read this but not my geometry book when I am up here." Kagome readjusted herself so she rested slightly higher on the hanyou's back. "I don't know why you are insisting on this. It was you who got tired of reading last night. Shippo offered to continue where you stopped, but you wouldn't let anyone else near the book."

"Keh, all I hear is your babbling, wench. Everyone else is waiting."

"You're obnoxious, Inuyasha. You do know that don't you?" Her actions belied her words as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she leaned forward to place a quick kiss on his cheek before burying herself into his jet black hair.

"We've got a deal, Kagome. You read, I carry, you don't read and I drop you on your ass where I'm standing." His violet eyes twinkled with mischief, even though she already knew he would never do it. She rolled her eyes as he pretended to 'drop' her, "Better start reading, wench."

Giving into defeat, Kagome sighed as she opened the book to where she had stopped reading moments before. They had been on the road for close to an hour so far and her voice was beginning to feel strained from all the reading she had been doing. Finding a position that made it comfortable where she could read, she shared a brief smile with the rest of her companions before picking up the story from where she left off.

Sango's face fluttered with confusion at the young girl's sudden outburst as she slowly turned to watch Rin race across the village. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the village stood the young taijiya, his arms full of wood. Bracing himself as the young girl approached, he dropped the logs right before she launched herself into his arms. Surprise registered in the young man's eyes as he held his friend and connected eyes with his sister.


"Kohaku." Sango whispered before forcing herself from Miroku's hold to follow the same path the young human girl had taken moments before. Taking his time as he walked the same path, Miroku watched the emotional reunion with one eye while he inspected the construction being done on the village with the other. His previous suspicion quickly arose into certainty that the young taijiya had been the one to slowly rebuild the village.

Seemingly satisfied with his assessment, Miroku looked down at his daughter still wrapped in his arms. Kagome grinned at him as she reached for the earrings adorning his ears, the one temptation she could never resist. Intercepting her seeking fingers before they reached their destination, he kissed the hand to distract her. "It looks to be a special day, Kagome." He said, turning her around in his arms so she was facing the emotional reunion behind her as he walked. "That over there is your Uncle Kohaku. Your mother has been worried sick about him for this past year and I bet she can't wait to introduce you to him."

Figuring the infant had been confined long enough on the trip; Miroku leaned down and removed the backpack wrapped around the girl before placing her on the ground. Following behind the toddler as she took unsure steps toward her destination, her mother. Miroku watched as Kagome skipped the last several steps by optioning to lunge at her mothers legs instead.

Instinctively, used to having the girl underfoot, Sango picked her up and placed her on her hip as she spoke with her brother. Shock rippled across Kohaku's face as he stared at the young girl in his sister's arms. "Is that…she's so…" Shaking his head to clear his thoughts as he stared at his niece in disbelief. The young girl flashed him a toothy grin before flopping forward in her mother's embrace and stretching her arms out to reach for the young taijiya.

Miroku almost laughed out loud at the look of horror that crossed Kohaku's face as the tiny girl in his sister's arms reached out for him. "I..I..I can't hold her." He pleaded with his sister as his arms refused to listen to what his mouth was telling her. Taking the girl as she reached for him, he held her softly as if he was afraid if he moved she would shatter.

"She's pretty hearty, Kohaku." Miroku smiled watching the myriad of emotions that covered the taijiya's face as he stared at his niece. "You could drop her and she would just get angry at you for disrupting the attention she's getting. She's like her mother that way, refuses to admit that she's in pain."

Ignoring the indignant gasp beside him, Miroku watched as Kohaku visibly relaxed with the infant in his grasp. He even smiled as she grasped one of his fingers with her hand. "What's her name?"

"Kagome." Miroku answered quietly. Kohaku nodded, understanding lighting his gaze as he thought about the miko that had touched so many lives in the short time she had been here. Kagome released the finger she had imprisoned and reached for her mother again. Relinquishing his claim on the girl, Kohaku bent down to pick up the logs he had dropped at Rin's quick approach.

Sango quickly transferred her daughter into Miroku's arms as she bent to help her brother pick up some of the logs. Quickly moving to prevent her from succeeding in her effort, Miroku found himself between the siblings. "You've done wonderful things with the village, Kohaku." Miroku handed back their daughter to a glaring Sango. "How long have you been here working on all this?"

Grabbing the last of the logs, Kohaku smiled again before answering. "Eight months." He carried the logs to an abandoned house that it appeared he was working on, Miroku, Sango and Rin all walking along in his wake.

"But you have been gone over a year and a half, Kohaku. What were you doing before that?" Sango demanded as she attempted to pass off the infant to Miroku again. The monk backed away, refusing to take their child back from her mother. He could almost hear the annoyed growl coming from her at his efforts to avoid her.

"I don't know. I just did some traveling to begin with. When I got tired of that, I found myself back here. It wasn't anything I had planned but for some reason this is where I ended up." He began working on the repairs to the home as he explained.

Barely paying attention to what Kohaku said, Sango handed Kagome to Rin to watch before reaching down to pick up another one of the logs to help her brother with his repairs. Before she could pick it up, Miroku stepped in front of her and onto the log preventing her from lifting it. Flames burned in her eyes, but still Miroku ignored her.

"We hate to interrupt your work like this, Kohaku. You have done such a wonderful job here so far. If you don't mind it has been such a long journey, we will leave you be and take a rest." Settling a hand on Sango's shoulder he maneuvered her away from her brother as she dug in her heels in the ground.

"What is your problem?" She hissed as Miroku pushed her into the home she grew up in against her will. "I just want to help my brother rebuild our village. What could possibly be wrong with doing that? I don't understand you, Miroku! We haven't seen him in a year and a half and suddenly he's here with us. Naturally the first thing you do is drag me away to have some 'alone' time! You are such a hentai." She tried to maneuver past him to reach the door, but he was blocking her exit. " Miroku, let me out!"

"It has nothing to do with you, Sango." Miroku said quietly. "I needed to talk to you before you did something you shouldn't do."

"Like what? Just let me go to him!"

"I can't. You can't. Sango, we can't help him do this. He ended up here for a reason. He is trying to make it up to your family and village by rebuilding. Can't you see this?"

She slumped in his arms defeated, knowing he was right. "It isn't fair, Houshi-sama. It isn't his fault what happened here anymore than it is mine. It was only an accident, it could have happened to anyone. Why can't I help him do this?"

"He needs to do this on his own, Sango. He was eleven when Naraku first gained control of him, if not for that we probably would have never gotten him back. A child that young has great ability to adapt to situations that any adult would crumble under immediately. He'll never be the same as he was before, but he has been slowly healing himself these past few years."

"This is just a way for him to heal?" The hope in Sango's eyes was a palpable thing to Miroku. He knew she worried that the wounds from the things he was forced to do under Naraku's control may never fade.

"I believe he is trying to repair damages he believes he committed here, yes. What he is doing is very cathartic for him. But he must do it alone."

Sango sighed as she walked to the window, watching Kohaku rebuild the village as Rin sat picking flowers to entertain Kagome next to him. "I don't want to leave him here alone. It isn't fair for him to be all alone. This place deserves to live again, like it did when we were growing up."

"So, we will stay."

Sango gasped and turned around to stare at Miroku in disbelief. Hope evident in her eyes as she stood there speechless. "Are you serious? We can't leave Kaede just like that, can we?"

"We still have to do some things back there, yes. Resettling here shouldn't be too difficult for us though. Kohaku is your family, and you wish to be near him. He needs to be here. The choice is actually quite simple, Sango."

The delighted sparkle that entered her eyes as she stared at Miroku in disbelief, unable to do anything for a moment but smile at him. Miroku grinned as she launched herself into his arms. 'Now we can rest for a while', he couldn't help thinking as he quickly got lost in the kiss she bestowed on him.

"So they all ended up back in the taijiya village?" Kagome closed the book as she climbed off Inuyasha's back. She placed it back in her backpack for safe keeping as they entered the small town in search for something for lunch.

"Yep, we ended up in the taijiya village after that." Shippo said from where he walked next to Kagome.

"Where the hell were you during all of this?" Inuyasha demanded, turning to the kitsune with a glare. "I thought you stayed with them."

"I did!" Shippo said, avoiding the hanyou's eyes. "I probably stayed back with Kaede at the time. I didn't always go with them when they went places."

"So everyone just left Kaede alone when they-"

Kagome placed a hand on Inuyasha's chest, ending his tirade before it began. "Do you feel that?"

Shinju yanked her sickle from it's place on her back as she stepped in front of everyone. "It's Youkai isn't it? Several unconcealed youkai. I was afraid this would happen."

"Whatever their intent, it doesn't appear to be good. There is a dark aura surrounding this town." Makoto eyed the village before turning to Shinju. "What do you mean you were afraid this would happen?"

"Without me protecting the jewel, the youkai have an opportunity to revolt against the humans without retribution. I wasn't sure how long it would take them to realize they were in fact free." Shinju sighed as she bent down to check her concealed weapons on her schoolgirl's outfit. Seemingly satisfied that everything is in place she turned to Kagome. "Netawaki doesn't hold the power to contain them like I have. This is a sight that will probably get more and more common the longer we travel without getting the jewel back."

"Why are they unconcealed though? How does you having the jewel keep them concealed?" Kagome asked, confusion marring her brow as she stared at the small town ahead of them.

"I don't know, it has something to do with the chosen holder of the jewel. A human can only gain power with the assistance of both jewels, or so it is believed. Yet the chosen guardian to the Youkai jewel has the ability to balance them, keeping the youkai living amongst the humans with little interference."

"Keh, what if a youkai got it?" Inuyasha bit out, frustrated at the explanation.

"Well…then they would become pretty powerful. A youkai would have the ability to control ALL of them, and do whatever they wanted to the human race. I think what is happening here is what happens when they realize there is no one forcing them to live alongside humans."

The group turned to watch as a woman came racing down the path, running as fast as she could away from the town. "Monsters!" She screeched, stopping directly in front of Yuka. Grabbing the wolf demon by her shirt, the woman was bordering on hysterical. "You are going the wrong way! There are monsters in the village!" Kagome watched in shock as the small woman managed to maneuver Yuka to face the opposite direction in which they were headed.

"There's no such thing as monsters, baka!" Inuyasha bit out, yanking the woman away from Yuka with a scowl plastered on his face.

"Besides, that's where we're going. Someone's gotta get rid of the monsters." Shippo snorted as he grabbed Yuka, dragging her down the path and away from the woman.

"You'd better find somewhere safe." Kagome said, turning to the woman to give her some final advice before Inuyasha took off after Shippo and Yuka. "I wouldn't wonder too far from town, you should be able to return soon enough. We can handle this, can't we Inuyasha?"

The hanyou stared at the miko in disbelief. "Keh, this is nothing wench! You know that!"

"But you don't understand! They are killing people. I saw four people DIE in front of my eyes. I thought they were coming for me next, but somehow I escaped before they came after me."

"Well, we came prepared." Kagome indicated to her bow and arrows, strapped to her back before turning back to the woman. To her surprise the woman had a hand pressed against her mouth, fear illuminating from her gaze as she slowly backed away from the couple.

"I think we have a problem, Inuyasha." Makoto said in a soft voice, as not to frighten the human woman any further. "Shinju, get Shippo and Yuka back here to make sure they aren't having the same problem."

Nodding her head in agreement, the taijiya leapt on the firecat's back and headed after her companions. Still confused about what had happened to suddenly frighten the woman, Kagome watched as she fought Makoto as she screeched about monsters.

"Oi! What the hell is her problem?"

Kagome stifled a gasp, as she stared at the silver haired hanyou standing in front of her. She reached for the concealing necklace to make sure the spell was still in place, it was. Somehow the spell was not taking effect on him. "It's you, Inuyasha." She yanked a piece of his hair in front so he could see it. Confusion marred his brow as he held his hand out in front of him to stare at the claws that had formed.

"I think we have a problem." Makoto said as he watched Kirara return, with two unconcealed companions.

"You're all monsters!" The woman screamed, breaking free from Makoto before racing away from the companions as quickly as she could move.

"Not all of us!" Makoto yelled after the woman as she raced away.

"Let her go, Makoto." Shinju said as she inspected Yuka's concealment necklace. "We have bigger problems to deal with."

A/N

Hey everyone, sorry this chapter was so short. I have been pretty busy, not to mention my brand new computer DIED on me forcing me to lose everything I had. Luckily, I have a guardian angel who helped me recover most of it through IM logs she had. LOL Thank god for small favors!!