Return of the Hanyou

By: Lady Tiger LiLy

Chapter 3: Old Rivals

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"Miroku, lunch is almost ready!"

Miroku stood and turned away from his work in the vegetable garden. "Yes, oh beloved wife!" he smiled to Sango. Even after all these years, he still liked to put on the ol' Miroku charm just to stay on good terms with his dear wife. After all, she could strangle him easily. "Ah, Sango, you look just as beautiful as the day I first met you!"

"You should know by now that I'm not quick to fall for you flattery, Houshi-sama," she smirked as she leaned on the doorframe of their home.

Miroku winced when she called him 'Houshi-sama'; the formal title she used for him until they had wed.

Sango's smirk turned into a gentle smile. She really did like her husband's kind words. Of course, she had a hard time deciphering whether he was saying them to be sweet, or saying them to get out of trouble.

Suddenly, Sango heard her husband cry out in pain. She watched as he fell to his knees in the dirt. "Miroku? Miroku!" she shouted as she hurried to his aid. She got to the edge of the garden when he shouted to her.

"No, Sango! Stay back!" he grunted.

"Miroku! Are you ok?" she asked urgently.

"Stay back!" he repeated. "Please!"

Sango stood frozen in her spot, feeling helpless as she watched her husband let out one more stretched cry of pain. Realization hit her, as well as horror, as she saw the revelation before her. She then knew what she had to do. She quickly ran back to the house.

---

Shippou and Inu-Yasha left to return to the scene where Saikyou had beaten Shippou just outside the village. Shippou stood behind his elder as he scanned over the disturbed terrain. He then turned to Shippou. "Well? Don't just stand there! We gotta find their scents before the trail grows cold!" Inu-Yasha ordered as she got down onto his hands and knees and began sniffing the ground.

Even though Shippou was grown now, Inu-Yasha still has this strange ability to make him feel like an inferior kit again. Shippou nodded quietly as he, too, got down on the ground and began to try and find either Junko's or Saikyou's scent and which way they went.

After crawling around for some time, Shippou raised his head. "I think they headed east."

Inu-Yasha lifted up his head as well and agreed. "Alright, let's get going before we lose the trail."

"Yes, let's."

Inu-Yasha and Shippou turned to find both Kagome and Kaede. Kagome was carrying a bow and quiver that was given to her by Kaede.

"No way, Kagome! You are staying-"

"She is my daughter too!" Kagome interrupted her husband's much foreseen objection.

"I don't want you getting into any danger either so you are better off staying here in the village!"

"Inu-Yasha, I'm going whether you like it or not so don't make me say 'the word'!"

"I take it that the beads still work as they had long ago?" Kaede spoke.

"Yep," Kagome responded without taking her eyes off of her husband to look at Kaede. Being the two of them were once again traveling to the Feudal era and so often, Kagome took the necessary precautions and had replaced the beaded necklace around her husband that renders him subdued at her command. Though, getting them back on him had been a struggle.

Inu-Yasha growled quietly in his throat as he and his wife seemed to be trying to stare the other down. But, as usual, his wife had the upper hand.

"Feh!" he responded with a turn of his head, secretly signifying his surrender without actually saying it.

If the circumstances weren't so serious, Kagome would probably feel more triumphant about her victory against her stubborn husband. But now was not the time for such pettiness. Their daughter was in trouble and they had to find her. For Kagome, nothing else but the safety of her daughter mattered. She couldn't just sit around waiting for Inu-Yasha and Shippou to go find and rescue Junko; all the while she sat with Kaede waiting for news of her daughter's safety.

"Let's get going. You said yourself the trail is growing cold," Kagome spoke to Inu-Yasha as she stood waiting.

Without a word, Inu-Yasha turned his back to Kagome, bent down, and waited for her to grab hold of his neck. He then hooked his arms around her legs and proceeded to stand back up. The two would be traveling in the same fashion as they had done in their younger days since it made for faster travel; piggyback.

Shippou noted to himself that Inu-Yasha and Kagome's relationship had not changed much except that now they have openly admitted their love for one another, now were mates, and had a daughter who was just as stubborn as the two of them; Junko… Shippou hoped she was well and that Saikyou hadn't tried to mate with her yet, though he's sure Saikyou will find that quite a task to perform given Junko's fiery spirit and stubborn disposition. Maybe he should worry about what will happen to Saikyou? Heh, one could only hope. That bastard deserves whatever pain Junko can throw at him in his place because once Shippou finds him, it will be his turn to take care of Saikyou.

---

The forest around them suddenly looked like a forest again rather than a blur of green. Junko was far too dizzy to start back on her rant. She needed to gain control of the wobbling forest around her. "I think I'm going to be sick," she noted aloud to herself. She then felt herself being lifted up and placed in a new position; cradled in her captor's arms.

"We are home."

Junko blinked at Saikyou before turning to see what he was talking about. She looked up and saw a bunch of caves that tunneled into the side of a mountain and a few other wolf demon people walking about.

"The clan has grown much over the years. And with you, my mate, our clan will continue to grow and our clan will be superior."

At hearing this, Junko suddenly remembered her rage that she had discarded temporarily a few miles back. "I am not your MATE!" she shouted, each word growing in volume as she spoke.

"We're not mates yet," he smirked, emphasizing the last word.

Junko did not like where this was going.

Saikyou swiftly took Junko up the mountain and into a small cave that was away from the others. He gently sat her on a makeshift bed forged out of straw and furs. He then sat on his heels in front of where she sat. Junko became uneasy though glad she was finally out of his hold. She couldn't help but glance at the mouth of the cave.

"You can't out-run me," he chuckled lightly.

Junko quickly looked away from the cave's only exit and glared at Saikyou. "I'd rather die trying then let you touch me," she spoke in a threatening manner. "Look, I don't want you for my mate!"

"And why not? I'm perfect mate material! I'm a strong male, prince of my clan, and an excellent hunter. I've shown that I am capable of protecting you, and I'm also fully capable of producing kin. What more could you want in a mate?"

"But I don't love you!"

Saikyou's blue eyes frowned. "What?

Junko hung tight to what little patients she had left. "I don't love you. That is why you can't be my mate," she tried reasoning with him.

"Well, I don't love you either."

Junko stared at him for a moment. "And you want me to be your mate anyway?" she asked incredibly.

"Love doesn't matter, it's finding a good mate that matters. And you seem like a good mate to me. Now, let us become one, my mate."

"No! Stop! Get off me!"

---

"I don't believe it."

Inu-Yasha, Kagome, and Shippou had followed the trail to a very familiar mountainside.

Inu-Yasha flexed his clawed hand. "Why is it always wolves?"

"Inu-Yasha, it's only one wolf that has Junko. The rest of them have nothing to do with it," Kagome spoke, trying to keep her husband focused.

The three of them began to climb up the side of the mountain, Kagome still on Inu-Yasha's back, when they heard the faint shout of a familiar voice.

"No! Stop! Get off me!"

"Junko!" both Shippou and Inu-Yasha exclaimed.

Shippou's look of worry melted into determination as he suddenly began to climb faster.

"Shippou?" Inu-Yasha puzzled at how fast the kitsune was moving now.

"Hurry, Shippou-chan!" Kagome shouted to him.

Once he got close, he jumped up onto the ledge of the mountain. He looked and spotted a cave to his left as he heard Junko cry out again. He hurried inside where he found Saikyou laying atop of Junko as she shouted for him to stop.

Rage quickly consumed Shippou. With his eyes glowing red, he quickly approached the two, grabbed Saikyou's shoulder to turn him around, and proceeded to punch him square in the jaw. Saikyou was sent back from the force of the blow, hitting the wall of the cave.

"Shippou!" Junko shouted, relieved to see him.

Shippou turned his angry youkai eyes from Saikyou to Junko, from where their red glow began to soften back to his normal eyes.

Junko screamed when suddenly Saikyou knocked Shippou to the ground.

"I'm going to kill you this time!" Saikyou snarled as he and Shippou rolled around the cave floor, fighting like common dogs.

"No! Stop!" Junko shouted helplessly.

"Junko!"

Junko looked to the mouth of the cave where she saw her father and mother standing to the side. "Junko! Get out of there!" her mother shouted.

Junko quickly dashed out of the cave, avoiding the wrestling youkai, and straight into her father's arms. "Daddy!"

"What the hell is going on?" a voice bellowed.

The three of them looked to the opposite side of the cave's entrance where a tall wolf demon stood with piercing blue eyes.

"Kouga-kun?" Kagome spoke.

"Kagome? Mutt?" Kouga replied in return.

Inu-Yasha growled, trying very hard not to lunge at his old rival. Just then, Saikyou's body came flying out of the cave, landing in the dirt face first between the two parties. He was groaning and moving slightly, signaling that he was still conscious though badly bruise, beaten, and bloody.

Soon after, Shippou came staggering out of the cave, holding his right arm, and was in just as bad of condition as Saikyou. Once he reached the mouth of the cave, he fell to his knees.

"Shippou!" Junko shouted as she pushed herself out of her father's embraces to be by Shippou's side. She would have thrown her arms around him, but was unsure of the severity of his injuries.

"This bastard tried to make off with our daughter!" Inu-Yasha scowled in answer to Kouga's previous question as he pointed to Saikyou.

Kouga looked at Inu-Yasha and Kagome then to Junko who was at Shippou's side. He then looked down at the young wolf demon that was trying to lift himself up from the ground. "Saikyou, if you were intending to mate with this female, then listen to me now and listen well. No son of mine is going to mate with a half-bread! Especially one of kin from this mutt!" Kouga said as he glared at Inu-Yasha.

Inu-Yasha growled as he tried not to leap at the wimpy wolf that had always insulted him.

'Son?' Kagome thought.

"Yes, father," Saikyou replied as he rose from the ground, facing his father but not meeting his eyes.

"Go clean yourself up," Kouga ordered. Saikyou said nothing as he walked passed his father and away from the group with a slight stagger.

Kagome was the first to speak. "You have a son, Kouga-kun?"

Kouga's faced soften as he looked to Kagome.

(Flashback)

The clouded night sky hovered over the wolf prince as he sat on a hillside, over-looking the river below.

"Kouga!"

Kouga looked down at the bottom of the hill to find Ayame looking up at him. "Ayame?"

"Kouga! I heard that the Shikon no Tama is whole! Is this true?"

He looked from her to the forest. "Yes."

She furrowed her brow. "D-did Kagome find them for you? You now have the jewel you've desired?"

"No," he replied without even looking at her. "Kagome has the jewel."

She then clenched her fists in determination. This was her chance! "I shall get it for you, Kouga! I shall retrieve the jewel for you!"

"No. She is gone. She… chose him. Besides, I know now that it is not mine to have."

There was a moment of silence between the two. Rain droplets began to fall from the sky during the silence. It wasn't until the rain came down harder did one of them speak.

"Kouga…"

He looked over at Ayame with a questioning look as water streaked down his face.

"Kouga, I will never abandon you like she did to you! Even though you've pushed me away; pushed me away for another woman, I haven't given up! I won't give up! I won't ever leave you! Never!" Tears began to fall down her cheeks like the rain.

Kouga looked at her with a surprised look written on his face. "Ayame…" he muttered.

Ayame stayed where she stood as she looked down, away from Kouga, wiping her crying eyes with the back of her wrist. She heard footsteps and looked up in front of her where Kouga now stood.

"Let's get out of the rain," he said to her as they both stood there soaking wet by this time.

She gazed up at him with her glistening green eyes and nodded in reply.

(End Flashback)

Kouga looked away with his eyes closed and a small smirk. "Yes. Sometime after you left me for this mutt, Ayame became my mate."

"She couldn't have left you if she was never with you to begin with!" Inu-Yasha corrected.

Kouga paid him no heed. "I apologies for the trouble my son has caused," he said, directing his apology to Kagome. He then looked down at Junko and Shippou. "He will not bother you again. Be sure of it."

Junko nodded her head to Kouga in response. Kouga then turned back to Kagome. "It was nice to see you again, Kagome."

Kagome nodded politely while Inu-Yasha growled low in his throat. With that, Kouga turned around and walked away from the group, back to his clan.

---

"OW!"

"Now hold still, Shippou-chan."

"Ow! But that stuff stings! And it smells awful!"

"I know, but this will clean your wounds. Trust me, I've taken care of Inu-Yasha's battle wounds at least a hundred times."

'Inu-Yasha makes it look so easy,' he thought. Shippou had never been so badly injured in his life.

Everyone was in Kaede's hut back in the village. Shippou squirmed uncomfortably as Kagome cleaned and dressed his wounds from his fight earlier with Saikyou. Inu-Yasha sat on the other side of the room from them, as did Junko. Kaede was busy cooking a pot of stew. Inu-Yasha was busy doing an inspection of Tetsusaiga, while Junko just sat and stared off as her mother took care of Shippou.

"You should come over here, Junko," Kagome spoke to her daughter. "You should learn how to take care of injuries."

Junko was sitting with her back to the wall and hugging her legs to her chest when her mother's words broke her out of her trance. "Huh?"

"Come over here and learn how to take care of injuries," her mother repeated.

"Why?" Junko asked with confusion and a slight frown.

"So you will be able to help Shippou incase he gets caught up in other fight, or just to help someone else who is injured."

"Oh…" Junko replied, shifting in her spot

"You seem troubled, child," Kaede spoke as she stirred the stew.

Kagome stopped in mid bandaging at hearing this and looked at her daughter. "Junko?"

"Um, I just need to step outside for a bit."

"Junko?" Shippou puzzled as he and the others watched her leave.

Kagome looked over at Inu-Yasha. After a moment, he found his wife's gaze on him and stopped cleaning Tetsusaiga. "What?"

"Didn't you sense something was troubling your daughter? You were the one sitting closest to her," Kagome pointed out.

Kaede moved to put more logs on the fire. "Aye, he may be hanyou, but he is also male."

"Hey! I'm a father too! So I will check on her in a minute!" Inu-Yasha barked at Kaede. 'I know my daughter and if there is something bothering her, she needs a moment alone first to figure things out.'

---

Junko sat with her back up against the outside of the bone-eater's well as she hugged her legs to her body and rested her chin on top of her knees.

"Hey."

Junko looked up to her right to see her father standing there. "Hey," she replied.

He turned around and sat down with his back to the side of the well adjacent to her. "What's on your mind, kiddo?"

"It's nothing," she replied.

"I think I know what's bothering you."

Junko looked over at her father and blinked. "You do?"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry, Jun, but I'm afraid you're stuck with those funny looking things on your head." He turned and lightly tugged on one of her white dog-ears.

"Dad!" Junko laughed as she pulled away to cover her hanyou ears with her hands to cease his tugging. "Very funny, Dad!" she spoke with a sarcastic tone, but also with a smile.

"So besides me, what's bugging you?" Inu-Yasha asked as Junko removed her hands from her head.

There was a moment of silence and Junko sighed. "It's just… I never realized how… uncivilized the Feudal era is until now. It's down right barbaric..."

There was a pause before Inu-Yasha spoke. "Yes, it is…"

"Girls getting married as young as thirteen years old, males fighting to near death over a woman… It's insane!"

"Maybe so, but this is all they know." He turned his head from Junko to look out ahead of him. "Remember, you are from a different time. The culture you grew up in is far more evolved than this time. Humans have evolved much since this time."

Junko was silent for a moment. "When I saw Shippou fighting Saikyou in that cave… it was like two wild animals attacking each other… I was terrified. I was terrified by what I saw, terrified for Shippou's life, and… I was even a little terrified of Shippou…"

Inu-Yasha then let out a sigh. "Now, if you tell anyone I said this I'll just deny it, but… Shippou's a good kid. I know he wouldn't hurt you, and not just because I've threatened his life if anything ever happened to you."

Junko rolled her eyes at that last comment. Though not exactly the greatest confession, that still had to be the nicest thing her dad has ever said about Shippou.

"He was really worried about you, you know," Inu-Yasha continued. "And if it hadn't have been Shippou in there, it would have been me beating the crap out of fleabag junior!"

Suddenly, Inu-Yasha felt two arms wrap around his neck from behind.

"I love you, Dad. Thank you for everything."

Inu-Yasha patted her arm. "No problem."

A sly grin graced her face. "I can't wait to tell Shippou that you really like him!"

"What? No! Don't you even think about it! I hate the fuzz ball!"

Junko giggled as she continued to hug her father.

He turned to her. "You know… if you don't like it here, you can always come back home…"

Junko's smile faded as she pulled back to look at her father. She hadn't thought about that.

"Am I interrupting?"

Inu-Yasha and Junko turned to see Shippou approaching with a slight limp, his right arm in a sling, and various bandages.

"Shippou!" Junko got up and hurried to him. "You should be resting!"

"I'll be fine. Demons heal pretty fast. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

Junko looked into his eyes that were no longer that of a raging demon, but gentle. They were a clear blue and looking down at her with concern. She took a breath and gave him a sincere smile. "I'm ok." She then turned slightly toward her father. "I'm ok..."

Inu-Yasha nodded.

"Oh!" Shippou reached into his sling where he pulled out a single yellow flower. "Here's one that's not squished," he said sheepishly.

Junko smiled and took the small offering. "Thank you."

Inu-Yasha watched the two. 'He has gotten a lot braver then when he was a kit… Maybe she will be ok with him…'

"SHIPPO-CHAN!"

"GAH! Hide me!" Shippou exclaimed as he hobbled behind Junko just as Kagome came into sight.

"Shippou-chan! There you are! I told you to stay put while I went to get more water! You need all of your wounds clean!"

"But I can't stand that stuff you use! That stuff that looks like water stinks and stings like hell!"

Junko giggled. "True enough, but just suck it up, you big baby!"

"I'm not being a baby!" Shippou retorted.

"Oh, you are too!" Junko scoffed.

"I am not!"

"You are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Inu-Yasha and Kagome both sweatdropped as they watched the couple begin another one of their quarrels.

'Why him? Why?' Inu-Yasha thought wearily.

"Isn't this a familiar sight."

Everyone turned to find two familiar faces.

"Miroku-sama! Sango-chan!" Kagome greeted happily.

Shippou had long forgotten his petty argument with Junko. "Miroku? Sango? What are you guys doing- AH!"

"Hello, Shippou-chan! Miss me?" giggled a familiar flirtatious fourteen-year-old girl.

Shippou had jumped and promptly spun around at the sudden pinch to his rear, taking cover near Junko. "Kohana?" he cried out in surprise at the girl who was dressed in normal attire over her demon slayer outfit like her mother, Sango.

"Oh, Shippou-chan! Are you ok? How'd you get all those wounds?" Kohana asked with great concern as she leaned herself on his chest. She then turned with a frown to Junko. "Did he get hurt while trying to save you again?"

Junko looked at her angrily, but could say nothing. A pang of guilt hit her at Kohana's words.

Shippou gently pushed Kohana away from him and looked at her. "What are you doing here?"

"We came here looking for you two, Kagome-chan and Inu-Yasha," Sango spoke on their behalf.

Sensing the seriousness in her voice, Kagome looked at her friend with concern. "What is it, Sango-chan?"

Sango let her husband explain the situation as he rolled up the right sleeve of his black robes to reveal his right hand wrapped in a familiar purple cloth and holy beads.

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AN: Dun dun DUN!